Mr. James Pinson Ludwig 
Kure LORAN Station 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Dr. Winston Banko, Director, 
Pacific Project, Smithsonian Institution 
WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 
November 9» 19^3 
Dear Dr. Banko, 
When I interviewed with Dr. Humphrey for go* the Pacific Project 
I was told that it would be possible to gather the material for a doctoral 
dissertation while engaged in the work of the project. I would like to 
request at this time permission to work on the three species of the genus 
Sula for a doctoral thesis. 
When I left the University of Michigan to take this position with 
the Smithsonian I had completed 39 hours of graduate credit and passed the 
Preliminary Graduate Examination which qualified me to proceed towards the 
doctorate and exempted me from taking a Master's prior to the doctorate. I 
am in a position to use data gathered in the Pacific Project to work up 
thesis problem, and I trust that this can be arranged, particularly in view 
conversations which I had with Dr. Humphrey on this subject. 
The particular problem which I have in mind involves the inter¬ 
specific adaptations of each species in the genus. I wish to do an ecological 
( i.e. field ) problem,not strictly a taxonomic problem. Here at Kure Atoll 
the three species are present in large enough populations to do a field 
problem on the genus. My approach would center around definition of the 
niche which each species occupies here, and the physiological and structural 
modifications which suit each species best in their niche. Food Habits and 
behavior studies would be used to unravel the picture. Kure Atoll seems to 
be a different atoll from the rest in the chain of the leeward Hawaiian 
Islands because of vegetation, and the apparent sterility of^a^oll in 
comparison with other more active marine communities in the other islands 
of the chain. 
My purpose in directing this letter to you now is to make you 
aware of my interests in the booby populations, and ray interest in obtaining 
thesis information from the project. When I get to Washington in late 
December I will have sounded out a possible doctoral committee at the 
University of Michigan, and I expect to have a tenative plan of research 
at that time. At that time ^will be most interested in determining 
whether or not it will be fesible to carry out such a program of research 
and indeed if such a program can be fitted into the larger designs of 
the project. 
I trust that these matters can be arranged in December and I 
will look forward to our conversations at that time. I am. 
