ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 445 
an extraordinary fact, and it applies at present to the whole vast region 
of the West Indies, thus from 1877 until 1898 the region of the Tor- 
tugas, Florida, was noted for the variety and richness of its floating 
life, but since that time the pelagic animals have become rarer year by 
year until at present the region is almost a desert sea. 
In August, 1907, he presided over the meeting of the seventh Inter- 
national Zoological Congress at Boston, and his presidential address is 
an account of the publications which had resulted from his many 
expeditions, and the reports of those to whom he had sent collections. 
These include the most noted specialists in all of the highly civilized 
countries of the world. 
In the winter and early spring of 1908 he visited the equatorial lake 
regions of Central Africa, the expedition being mainly a pleasure trip. 
Between 1907 and 1909 he published five papers upon Pacific echini 
with Dr. Hubert Lyman Clark as joint author, and other papers of this 
series are still to appear. 
In common with all students of pure science in our country, Alex- 
ander Agassiz was far more highly appreciated abroad than he was at 
home, for in our country practical applications and the invention of 
mechanical devices compass nearly all that the general public cares for 
science, and indeed our republic is without means to confer honors upon 
its scientific men. Thus while he was an honorary member of all of 
the great scientific societies of Europe and had been recognized officially 
by the republic of France and the German emperor, only one American 
university (his alma mater) conferred upon him an honorary degree. 
In 1898 he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor of France 
and in 1902 a Knight of the Order of Merit of Prussia. He was a 
foreign associate of the Academy of Science of the Institute of France, 
the only American associates of that time being Agassiz and Newcomb. 
He was foreign honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
foreign member of the Royal, Linnean and Zoological societies of 
London, honorary member of the Royal Microscopical Society of 
London, and honorary member of the academies of Berlin, Prague, 
Gottingen, Leipzig, Munich, Manchester, Vienna, Upsala, Stockholm, 
Copenhagen, Liége, Moscow, Rome, Bologna, Geneva, Mexico, ete. 
He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1885 
and from St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1901, Ph.D. from Bologna in 1888 
and honorary Sc.D. from Cambridge in 1887. 
In 1878 he was awarded the Prix Serres by the Paris Academy, 
being the first foreigner to be thus honored, and in 1909 he received 
the Victoria research medal of the Royal Society of London. 
After the publication of the results of the Maldive and eastern 
Pacific expeditions, one great and final task lay before him. This was 
to present a summary of the results of his twenty-five years of study 
