Hopkins Marine Station (1918-1950)
ANNUAL REPORTS 1920'S
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 1919
TRUSTEES' SERIES No. 34
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE TWENTY-NINTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1920
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The faculty of the department for the summer quarter consisted of Walter Kenrick Fisher, director; Harold Heath and Edwin Chapin Starks of the Department of Zoology; Ernest Gale Martin and Frank Walter Weymouth of the Department of Physiology, and James Ira Wilson McMurphy of the Department of Botany.
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
During the academic year, Mr. Fisher was engaged in organizing the equipment, library, and museum of the station. He spent part of the autumn quarter in teaching at the University, and saw through the press a government report on the sea-stars of Philippine seas and adjacent waters. A daily record of oceanic temperatures and salinities, badly needed for Monterey Bay, has been carried on.
During the summer quarter, Mr. Heath has continued investigations on the embryology of chitons, a group of mollusks.
Mr. Martin was engaged in completing a report, for the United States Public Health Service, on Industrial Fatigue.
Mr. Weymouth investigated the distribution and life histories of edible bivalve mollusks as a continuation of a survey of the State begun during the spring quarter under the auspices of the State Fish and Game Commission.
Miss Helen Lucile Williamson, graduate' assistant in Physiology, completed work on a thesis entitled, "A Statistical Study of Muscular Strength and Symmetry in Children."
Mr. McMurphy has been making a survey of the hill flora of the Monterey Peninsula for comparison with that of the Mendocino Plains, two similar plant associations widely separated in the same general life zone.
During the autumn quarter of 1918 Miss Olive M. Willoughby, a graduate student in Zoology, studied the barnacles of Monterey Bay and prepared a report on the results of her work.
From February 15th to August 30th, Mr. Rollin G. Myers, assistant professor of chemistry in Tulane University, investigated, under the auspices of the Department of Chemistry of Stanford University, the chemistry of the blood of a number of representative marine invertebrates as well as of two species of whales. The results of this work, in a practically new field, present features of great interest.
Miss Caroline B. Thompson, Professor of Zoology in Wellesley College, spent most of the spring quarter studying castes among the species of termites found on the Monterey Peninsula. Miss Thompson's problem is the origin of castes.
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1920
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, was open the entire year for investigators and special students. During the summer quarter courses were offered in Zoology, Physiology, Botany and English, as detailed below.
Investigators making use of station facilities were as follows:
The Director continued his work on the second volume of a monograph of the Sea Stars of the North Pacific and Adjacent Waters, which will require several years to complete.
During the Christmas vacation Messrs. H. C. Hampton and L. G. M. Baas-Becking, of the Department of Botany, Stanford University, investigated the occurrence and behavior of enzymes in algae. Their problem was to determine if there occurred any catalase in algae; if that catalase followed the same laws as the known catalases; and if there were differences in the behavior of the catalase in different groups of algae.
Mr. W. F. Hamilton, of the Department of Zoology, University of California, during the same period, made an enquiry into mechanical factors in the coordination of the common echinoderms of the region. A special emphasis was laid on coordination in locomotion and righting.
Dr. N. L. Gardner, of the Department of Botany, University of California, worked on local algae.
From January 7 to March 10, Dr. Frank R. Lillie, Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago, and Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, worked on problems of fertilization using the two species of common sea urchins. Dr. Lillie was assisted by Mr. J. Nelson Gowenlock, University of Manitoba, and assistant in Zoology, University of Chicago.
During the spring quarter, Dr. H. H. Newman, Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago, worked on hybridization and artificial parthenogenesis, using sea stars and sea urchins.
During the latter part of the spring quarter and the summer quarter,
Dr. T. H. Morgan, Professor of Zoology, Columbia University, Dr. A. H. Sturtevant, Dr. C. B. Bridges, Miss E. M. Wallace, and Miss P. C. Reed, of the Carnegie Institution, investigated problems in genetics as illustrated by the fruit fly, Drosophila.
Dr. Otto Louis Mohr, Professor of Anatomy, University of Kristiania, Norway, also worked on genetics, using Drosophila.
Dr. Lund, of the University of Minnesota, spent a few days during the latter part of August working on the physiology of hydroids, and at the same time Dr. Frank A. Potts, University of Cambridge, England, visited the station to see the commensal annelid worms of the region.
Members of the State Fish and Game Commission have occupied quarters at the Station since November, 1919. Mr. W. F. Thompson, Research Assistant, assisted by Mr. Elton Cette and Miss Helen Edwards, has investigated the life history of the sardine and albacore. Professor F. W. Weymouth, of the Department of Physiology, Stanford University, has been working, under the auspices of the Commission, on the life history of commercial mollusks.
During the summer quarter members of the teaching staff were engaged in research, as follows:
Dr. E. G. Martin and Mr. Blake Wilbur, a student, investigated the resisting power of the brine shrimp (Artemia) to various media, considering especially the effects of varying the concentrations of the individual constituents of the brine in which it occurs.
Professor Edwin C. Starks finished the preparation of a zoological key to the families of the fishes of the West Coast of the United States, for publication in the California Fish and Game Commission Quarterly.
Dr. J. P. Baumberger and Dr. J. M. D. Olmsted investigated the physiology of the molting of certain grapsoid crabs. The problem was divided into two parts: (1) A biometrical study of the relation of the lineal measurements and weights of three species of crabs. (2) A physiological study of the swelling involved in molting. It was possible to recognize three stages in the molting cycle, and determinations were made of the hydrogen ion concentration, osmotic pressure, bicarbonate reserve and leucocyte count of the blood, and specific gravity and water content of the body.
Professor J. I. W. McMurphy has spent much time in becoming better acquainted with the local algae, and has made an attempt to preserve some of the more common ones in fluid media in as nearly as possible their natural colors. As collaborator for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, a trip was made to Summerland, near Santa Barbara, to see the condition of the kelp beds. Material of decaying kelp was collected and a few bacterial cultures have been made and compared with bacteria from the kelp near the station.
Dr. Gertrude Van Wagenen started work on a monograph of the actinians and corals of Monterey Bay. This work is to be continued through the winter and spring of 1921.
The members of the teaching staff were as follows: James Percy Baumberger, Walter Kenrick Fisher, Ernest Gale Martin, James Ira Wilson McMurphy, Edith Ronald Mirrielees, James M. D. Olmsted, Edwin Chapin Starks, Gertrude Van Wagenen.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER,
Assistant Professor of Zoology and Director.
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 1920
TRUSTEES' SERIES No. 37
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTIETH ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING AUGUST 31, 1921
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The Director has continued, during the first three quarters of the year, his study of the Asteriidae, a family of .sea stars. The results are to form a part of the second volume of his "Asteroidea of the North Pacific," the completion of which will require two more years. Daily records of the temperature and salinity of the sea have been continued through the year.
Dr. Leroy Abrams, of the Department of Botany, while teaching during the summer quarter, read proof on his "Flora of California."
Dr. J. P. Baumberger, of the Department of Physiology, in collaboration with Dr. Olmsted, continued work, during the summer quarter, on the physiology of the molting of grapsoid crabs, a problem begun last year. The statistical aspect of the problem is ready for publication.
Mr. W. J. Allexaht, a student, during the summer quarter worked with Dr. Baumberger on the problem of the nature and location of the receptive substance of Langley and the action of curare.
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
Dr. Edwin Grant Conklin, Professor of Biology, Princeton University, spent six weeks during the spring quarter in studying spermatogenesis in gastropod mollusks.
During the Christmas vacation, and again in May, Dr. N. L. Gardner, of the Department of Botany, University of California, continued his studies on marine algae.
Dr. William A. Hilton, Professor of Zoology, Pomona College, during part of September 1920, studied the Pycnogonida found in the vicinity of the Station.
Dr. Myrtle E. Johnson and Miss Gertrude Peirson spent several weeks in studying and figuring some of the commoner living invertebrates. Dr. Johnson has in preparation a manual of the marine invertebrates of the coast, a work which will prove very useful in the teaching work of the Station.
Dr. Albert Mann, of the Carnegie Institution, and one of the foremost diatomists of the world, spent several days at the station in August. In addition to his interest in the local marine diatoms, Dr. Mann's mission was to arouse interest in the study of this most important group of marine plants.
During July, Dr. F. M. McFarland continued his investigations of the Aeolid nudibranch mollusks.
Dr. T. H. Morgan procured material for a special problem connected with early cleavage stages in sea-urchins' eggs.
Dr. J. M. D. Olmsted, while teaching during the summer quarter, investigated the functions of the central nervous system of marine polyclad worms, with especial reference to the regeneration of lost parts, and coordinated movements in locomotion. With J. P. Baumberger he continued work on the physiology of the molting of grapsoid crabs.
Professor Myra Sampson, of the Department of Physiology, Smith College, worked from December until June on the chemistry of fertilization.
Dr. Tage Skogsberg, of the University of Uppsala, Sweden, was in residence at the Station from November until July investigating the marine ostracod Crustacea of Monterey Bay.
Professor E. C. Starks, of the Department of Zoology, having been placed in charge of an investigation of marine mammals, by the California Fish and Game Commission, spent the summer in reporting upon the whale fishery at Moss Landing, Monterey County, and upon the present condition of the sea lions and seals.
Mr. W. F. Thompson and Mr. W. L. Scofield, of the California Fish and Game Commission, have spent the greater part of the year at the Station investigating the life history of the sardine and albacore. Mr. E. A. McGregor, working under the direction of Professor J. O. Snyder, has been studying the salmon.
During three quarters, Dr. Gertrude Van Wagenen, as a University Fellow, studied the sea anemones and corals of Monterey Bay.
Professor F. W. Weymouth, of the Department of Physiology, has recently published a paper, "The Edible Clams, Mussels and Scallops of California," (Fish Bulletin No. 4, Fish and Game Commission, January 10, 1921) embodying the results of work carried on in large part at the Hopkins Marine Station during 1919 and 1920. A second paper dealing with the life history of the Pismo clam (Tivela stultorum) and presenting extensive data on the physiology of growth covering a period of three years is nearing completion. With Dwight L. Wilbur he is carrying on an investigation of certain phases of digestion in Actinians.
Mr. W. S. Wallace, Assistant at the Station, has been assiduously collecting and classifying the numerous species of local hydroids.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER,
Associate Professor of
Zoology and Director.
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 1922 TRUSTEES' SERIES No. 33
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-FIRST ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING AUGUST 31, 1922
THIS BEING THE NINETEENTH REPORT SUBMITTED, TO WHICH
ARE APPENDED THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE
TREASURER AND COMPTROLLER
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1922
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The Director continued during the year his study of the Asteriidae, a family of sea stars. The autumn quarter was spent in the east, where all pertinent material in the U. S. National Museum was examined, as well as that in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, and in the Yale Museum, New Haven. Bibliographic work was done at the libraries of the
Philadelphia Academy of Sciences and of the U. S. National Museum. In September he served as a delegate from the University to the Third International Eugenics Congress, New York. The Zoological Laboratories of the University of Toronto, and of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Chicago Universities and of Smith and Wellesley Colleges were visited.
Daily records of the temperature and salinity of the sea have been continued through the year.
Dr. J. P. Baumberger, of the Department of Physiology, investigated the causes of the changes in osmotic pressure in crabs during the molt cycle. The osmotic pressure had been shown to change, by Drs. Baumberger and J. M. D. Olmsted, in the summers of 1920 and 1921.
Dr. Bradley Moore Davis, of the University of Michigan, while giving a course on the morphology of algae, began a study of the life history of the kelp, Alaria lanceolata. This involved the germination of zoospores, and cultures in the laboratory of the succeeding sexual generation, a matter of some technical difficulty covering a number of weeks. Material was also
collected for a cytological study of the reduction divisions preceding spore formation. Dr. Davis made substantial additions to and entirely rearranged the collection of algae belonging to the station.
Dr. Caswell Grave, Professor of Zoology, Washington University, St. Louis, made a brief reconnaissance of the compound ascidian fauna.
Dr. Bertil Hanstrom, Landskrona, Sweden, spent six weeks during the spring quarter in studying comparatively the finer structure, of the brains of various crustaceans.
Dr. Libbie H. Hyman, Department of Zoology, University of Chicago, investigated, during May, changes at fertilization in sea urchin and sea star eggs; regeneration in the hydroid, Tubularia; effect of hydrochloric acid on the oxygen consumption of invertebrates; water content of sea anemones at various sizes.
Dr. A. Pringle Jameson investigated during May the myxosporid parasites of various local species of fishes.
Dr. Harald Kylin, University of Lund, Sweden, spent two weeks during July in studying and collecting marine algae, principally Rhodophyceae.
Dr. T. L. Patterson, of the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery, while teaching during the summer quarter, made observations on the movements of the empty stomach in the abalone (Haliotis rufcscens), with a study of certain extra- and intra-gastric stimuli on the inhibitory control of its neuro-muscular mechanism. Preliminary studies along similar lines were made on the great chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri) and on the hagfish (Polistotrcma stouti.)
Mr. W. L. Scofield, of the California Fish and Game Commission, continued during the year investigation of the life history of the sardine.
Dr. C. V. Taylor, of the department of Zoology, University of California, while teaching during the summer quarter, procured embryological material and reared larvae of several marine animals.
Dr. Gertrude Van Wagenen, of the department of Anatomy, University of California, spent two weeks in August studying parasites of sea anemones.
Mr. Lawrence Irving, a graduate student, continued with Dr. Baumberger, an investigation of the digestive process in the sea star. The study of the problem was begun last summer by Mr. Irving. This year the regulation of the hydrogen ion concentration of the digestive juices and the end products of digestion were studied. The titration of the buffer action of sea water was commenced and will be continued.
Mr. J. A. Craig, a student, worked with Dr. Baumberger on the rate of penetration of strong and weak acids at different' hydrogen ion concentrations. The effect of the acids on the ciliated cells of the mussel gill was used as a criterion.
Messrs. W. P. Farber, John F. Kessel, Gordon H. Ball, and E. Van Slyke, graduate students of the department of Zoology, University of California, studied various marine invertebrates.
Mr. W. S. Wallace, general assistant at the Station, continued studies of the local hydroid fauna.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER,
Associate Professor of Zoology, and Director.
PHYSIOLOGY
Acting Instructor T. L. Patterson, working at the Hopkins Marine Station during the summer quarter, studied the movements of the empty stomach in the abalone (Haliotis rufescens), together with the effect of certain stimuli on the inhibitory control of the neuro-muscular mechanism in this same form. He also made an investigation on Cryptochiton stflleri andsome preliminary observations on the hagfish (Polistotrema 'stouti)
Associate Professor Fisher, in charge of the Hopkins Marine Station, continued his work on a monograph of North Pacific sea stars.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-SECOND ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1923
THIS BEING THE TWENTIETH REPORT SUBMITTED, TO WHICH
ARE APPENDED THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE
TREASURER AND COMPTROLLER
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1924
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The Hopkins Marine Station was occupied to capacity during the summer quarter. It is of significant importance in our biological work. The purchase of some of the neighboring land about the Station now gives us full control of the whole of China Point with a small harbor suitable for a short wharf, and space enough for the five or six additional buildings required to adequately prepare the Station for that unique service in economic marine biology and in pure research for which it is fitted.
The Hopkins Marine Station has had a most successful summer quarter. All of the students applying there could not be received. The importance of marine biology is constantly becoming more evident. In order to take full advantage of the unexcelled marine life in Monterey Bay in the training of students and in research, plans are now being made for the installation of academic work at Pacific Grove both in the spring and summer quarters. By the transfer of members of the staff of the biological departments during these quarters and by the appointment of a certain number of visiting professors additional instruction can be given at Pacific Grove without difficulty. The faculty of the School of Biology has worked out a program leading to the degree of A.B. along the following lines: Sixty units of work in Biology, so chosen that there shall be fifteen units from each of three departments of the School. Provision is made for modifying the fifteen unit departmental requirement to the effect that upon completion of ten units in any department the student may substitute work in another department upon securing the consent of the departments concerned and of his adviser in the School. The general program must be properly approved. Students are urged to include a summer quarter of work at the Hopkins Marine Station.
The Hopkins Marine Station gives Stanford a unique opportunity in the biological field. More and more the need of research in marine forms of life is becoming evident to the scientist, the economist and the commercial fisherman. Because of their importance I am including here a letter from Professor E. G. Martin on the relationship of physiology to the School of Biology and one from Professor J. O. Snyder on the value of the collection of fishes.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The Director was in residence throughout the year and continued his studies on North Pacific sea stars. A revision of the family Asteriidae is well under way. A daily record of temperatures of sea water was continued, and samples of plankton were also taken daily for the Scripps Institution.
Professor J. P. Baumberger, of the Department of Physiology, worked on the chemistry of the molt of crabs.
Mrs. Anne B. Fisher investigated the effect of diet upon infections of Streptococcus haemolyticus.
Mr. Henry W. Fowler, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, made a brief visit in February to study the collection of fishes belonging to the Station.
Doctor Charles W. Greene, of the Department of Physiology, University of Missouri, while teaching during the summer quarter carried bn the following investigations: The "singing fish," Porichthys notatus, which spawns at tide water along the rocky coast of Monterey Bay, is unique in that (1) it has over 700 phosphorescent organs, (2) it has a closed swim bladder, and (3) it makes a low resonant note. Data has been accumulated to clarify the functions of these structures. For the first time the act of giving off phosphorescent light was observed to occur on disturbing the fishes. Numerous analyses of swim bladder gases have shown an active separation of the gas by a vascular-glandular mechanism, and the gas has been shown to consist largely of oxygen. Injected nitrogen is rapidly removed. The detailed structure of the vocal apparatus has been determined and the occasions of its natural use observed. An investigation of the amount and distribution of the fats in the different types of muscular tissue of the commercial mackerel-like fishes has been begun. Like the salmonoids these fishes have a sharp differentiation of the great lateral musculature. The "dark type" of muscle is unique in its content of intra-muscular fats, as has been shown for the salmon. No one has called attention to these facts in this new group, yet the scientific facts are probably in the last analysis the explanation of the difficulties in collecting and conserving this great food source. This problem is large in its physiological ramification and can be solved only on prolonged study by the methods of histology and biochemistry.
A minor activity to which some attention has been given is the adaptability of the common hagfish, Bdelostoma stouti, to physiological laboratory teaching purposes. Its musculature, its circulation with three heart-like mechanisms and open blood-lymph spaces, and its respiratory adaptations to a blind and parasitic life are peculiarly available for advanced courses in the physiology of marine forms. Incidentally the interesting hagfish natural history has been further observed.
Mr. Carl Hubbs, of the Zoological Museum, University of Michigan, studied the tide-pool fishes of the region as part of an extensive investigation covering the whole west coast.
Mr. Lawrence Irving, a graduate student, during a brief visit in August continued work on the physiology of the sea star, Patina.
Doctor John Sterling Kingsley, Professor of Zoology Emeritus, University of Illinois, spent the latter half of July at the Station and worked on a bibliography of invertebrates of the west coast.
Doctor F. M. McFarland, Department of Anatomy, while teaching during the summer quarter, continued his. studies of the nudibranch molluscs of the Monterey region.
Doctor Ernest Gale Martin during the summer quarter with Miss Helen H. Greene, research assistant, studied the influence of acids and alkalies upon the duration of life in Artemia salina and also made some observations bearing upon the influences of the size of the individuals on their ability to withstand submersion in highly concentrated brine. Miss Greene also carried on a series of experiments studying the reaction of Artemia to various stimuli, heat and light, the life cycle, the reaction to changing environment, the development of cysts and the physiology of the Artemia.
Mr. Philip N. Baxter and Miss Greene carried on similar experiments with Copepods found in the splash pools located in the rocks on Cabrillo Point.
Mr. E. G. Moberg, Scripps Institution, La Jolla, in December, investigated numerous samples of sea water to determine the daily range in hydrogen ion concentration.
Doctor Sergius Morgulis, of Creighton University, made analyses of the blood of certain decapod crustaceans. Doctor H. H. Newman, Department of Zoology, University of Chicago, in residence from March 29th, to June 15th, worked on the embryology of the sea star, Patiria miniata, and on the effects of temperature on the development of sea star and sea urchin eggs.
Professor George J. Peirce (with Mr. Fremont Ballou), while teaching during the summer quarter, made a study of the kelps, especially the Giant Kelp, to ascertain certain features of its physiology and reproduction.
Exploration of San Jose Canon has disclosed the presence there of certain liverworts possessing extraordinary features of the vegetative and reproductive organs.
Mr. W. L. Scofield and Mr. O. E. Sette, of the State Fish and Game Commission, continued work during the year on the life history of the Sardine.
Professor J. O. Snyder of the Department of Zoology, while on the staff during the summer quarter, studied the ecology of tide-pool fishes.
While teaching during the summer quarter Doctor C. V. Taylor undertook to culture and study some of the marine ciliates which occur in abundance in Monterey Bay and Elkhorn Slough. Several of the forms studied appeared to be new and so far as could be ascertained are probably not described. Of those tried out 18 different cases lived and multiplied vigorously in laboratory cultures. Stained slides on some of these were made for future study. Some attention was also given to the regeneration of the Hypotrichous ciliate Uronychia. They were cut in various planes by means of a microdissection apparatus. The parts were then isolated in watch glasses containing water in which the animals were found thriving. In 11 out of 15 trials the nucleated parts regenerated normally, while all of the enucleated parts died. One apparently nucleated piece lived at least 18 hours (from 3 p.m. until 10 a.m. the following day. At 2 p.m. on that following day the piece could not be found).
Doctor D. H. Tennent, Department of Zoology, Bryn Mawr College, worked on problems of fertilization and development, using sea urchins' eggs.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER,
Associate Professor of Zoology, and Director.
PHYSIOLOGY
The staff of the Department of Physiology consisted of Ernest Gale Martin, professor; Charles Wilson Greene, acting professor for summer quarter; Frank Walter Weymouth, associate professor; James Percy Baumberger, Laurence Becking, James Rollin Slonaker, Arthur Gibson Vestal, assistant professors; George Daniel Shafer, instructor; Flora Murray Scott and Frederick Spruyt, assistants in instruction in General Biology.
The teaching activities of the Department were in the main of a routine character. A number of advanced students carried on studies in the laboratory. These will be mentioned in connection with the reports of the activities of the professors under whose direction they worked.
Acting Professor Greene, who was in residence at the Hopkins Marine Station during the summer quarter, studied the "singing fish" (Porichthys notalus), which spawns at tide water along the rocky coast of Monterey Bay and is unique in that (1) it has over 700 phosphorescent organs, (2) it has a closed swim bladder, and (3) it makes a low resonant note. Data have been accumulated to clarify the functions of these structures. For the first time the act of giving off phosphorescent light was observed to occur on disturbing the fishes. Numerous analyses of swim bladder gases have shown an active separation of the gas by a vascular-glandular mechanism and the gas has been shown to consist largely of oxygen. Injected nitrogen is rapidly removed. The detailed structure of the vocal apparatus has been determined and the occasions of its natural use observed.
An investigation of the amount and distribution of the fats in the different types of muscular tissue of the commercial mackerel-like fishes was begun. Like the salmonoids these fishes have a sharp differentiation of the great lateral musculature. The "dark type" of muscle is unique in its content of intramuscular fats, as has been shown by Professor Greene, also, for the salmon. No one has called attention to these facts in this new group, yet the scientific facts are probably in the last analysis the explanation of the difficulties in collecting and conserving this great food source. This problem is large in its physiological ramifications and can be solved only on prolonged study by the methods of histology and biochemistry.
A minor activity to which some attention was given is the adaptability of the common hagfish (Bdelostomi stouii}, to physiological laboratory teaching purposes. Its musculature, its circulation with three heartlike mechanisms and open blood-lymph spaces, and its respiratory adaptations to a blind and parasitic life are peculiarly available for advanced courses in the physiology of marine forms. Incidentally the interesting hagfish natural history was further observed.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN
JANUARY, 1925
FOR THE THIRTY-THIRD ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1924
THIS BEING THE TWENTY-FIRST REPORT SUBMITTED, TO WHICH
ARE APPENDED THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE
TREASURER AND COMPTROLLER
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The teaching staff of the station during the summer quarter consisted of Walter Kenrick Fisher, Harold Heath, and Harrington Wells in zoology James Percy Baumberger, Ernest Herman Brunquist, and Laurence Irving in physiology; Lawrence Becking in physiology and botany; Emily Mary Bartlett in botany. Dr. John Sterling Kingsley gave several lectures on the theoretical aspects of vertebrate morphology, and Dr. L. Michaelis, two series of lectures covering the activity of ions and the swelling of colloids as influenced by the valence of salts present.
Dr. Fisher conducted four classes: (1) the marine invertebrates, intended to acquaint students with the natural history, classification, and obvious morphology of the principal invertebrates of the intertidal zone of Monterey Bay and neighboring estuaries; (2) individual work which a
number of students essayed on special groups and ecological associations; (3) natural history, intended to demonstrate the different sorts of environment within 50 miles of Monterey and the response of plants and animals to these, with especial reference to the factors of temperature and moisture; (4) bionomics, a course of reading.
Dr. Heath conducted a class in general zoology for beginners, and a large class in embryology. He also supervised classes in comparative anatomy and mammalian anatomy, the laboratory instruction being given by Mr. Harrington Wells. In connection with these courses Dr. Kingsley gave several lectures.
The course in elementary physiology was given by Doctors Baumberger, Becking, Brunquist and Irving. An entirely new plan was tested, with success. The course was organized on the basis of closely supervised individual work on special problems, correlated by intensive group discussion. The course began with a thorough consideration of the properties of water and their biological aspects. The students then selected special problems, these being in all cases phases of investigation upon which the instructors were engaged. This is a very essential part of the plan of the course, for it was believed that the student would get more insight into method and more ability to think in physiological terms by intimate contact with an investigation in progress. A unique and valuable circumstance of the work has been the fact that (from necessity) the instructors and students carried on their research in the same laboratory at the same time. The interest shown by the students and the quality of the work accomplished justify a continuance of this type of instruction, although laboratory space is too restricted for the best results, or for the accommodation of more than a few students.
Dr. Becking and Miss Bartlett gave a course in algae, intended chiefly as an introduction to a general biology of the algae and not as a taxonomical or anatomical review of the groups. The physiology of the various types was emphasized. Collecting trips to various points along the coast gave the students an idea of ecological zonation. Considerable material was added to
the station herbarium, and a collection of 50 representative types was preserved in formalin.
The total number of students, tallied by eleven courses offered, has been
RESEARCH
During the autumn quarter the director visited for study the Marine Biological Station at Plymouth, England, that at Villefranche, France, and the Musee Oceanographique of Monaco. A short visit was made the Oceangraphic Institute at Paris. He spent several weeks studying the collection of sea stars at the British Museum, London, and that of the Museum d'Histoire
Naturelle of Paris. The Musee Oceanographique is noteworthy for combining with an unequaled assemblage of instruments illustrating all phases of submarine exploration, a superb collection of marine animals arranged according to bathymetrical distribution, so that the faunas of various depths can be inspected as an ensemble. Bathypelagic forms are especially well represented, this fauna having been a specialty of the late Prince of Monaco. The museum also conducts a good aquarium and is equipped for the work of a modern marine biological station. December was spent at Washington in work on material in the U. S. National Museum.
During winter, spring, and summer quarters tHe director was in residence. Progress was made on the second volume of a monograph of North Pacific sea stars. A report on the sea stars of the Tanager Expedition (under the joint auspices of the federal government and the Bishop Museum, Honolulu) was completed, as well as four short papers. One of these deals with a case of alternation of asexual and sexual propagation in the genus Sclerasterias—a curious survival of a primitive phase of reproduction in rather highly organized creatures.
A daily record of water temperatures has been kept. Miss Emily Mary Bartlett, during the summer quarter, investigated the California species of the liverwort (Anthoceros) with special emphasis on a comparison of the sporophytes. Fruiting plants taken from San Jose Canyon,
Carmel, and similar situations where the water supply lasts practically the year around were compared with others of the same species collected on the Stanford campus, where the growing period begins with the first autumn rains and is over by May. Although the present unfinished state of the work hardly warrants definite conclusions, it may be said that there is some indication that the greater size of the sporophyte attained under the more favorable conditions is accompanied by a significantly more advanced internal structure.
Dr. J. P. Baumberger continued an investigation of the physiology of molting in crabs. Determinations of the freezing-point depression and conductivity of crab juice were made to determine the relative importance of electrolytes and non-electrolytes in the osmotic pressure changes which were shown to take place during the molt cycle. Mr. Morton Gibbonsassisted Dr. Baumberger in this work.
Dr. Lawrence Becking, together with Dr. Irving, has been studying the relation of the coralline algae to the calcium magnetism in the sea water. (See Dr. Irving's report.) An anatomical study of the corallines revealed a peculiar structure, hitherto unnoticed, in the spindle-cells. These cells show a peculiar behavior under the petrographic microscope. They are insoluble in strong sulphuric acid. Dr. Becking will continue a study of these structures in detail, assisted by Miss Lois Wilbur. Considerable time has been devoted to the construction of a micro-spectrophotometer, in which endeavor there has been partial success. Absorption and fluorescence spectra of single cells or plastids can be studied quantitatively with this method.
Dr. Becking supplemented his monograph on the growth of algae by additional measurements on Chatomorpha. He also made observations on the influence of electrolytes on pigment emission in Rhodophyceae. The quantitative results obtained are almost identical with those of Harald Kylin, who used an expensive' spectrograph, while our instrument cost not more thanone hundred dollars.
Dr. E. H. Brunquist of the University of Colorado, while teaching during the summer quarter, prosecuted a study of the cardiac rhythm of the brine-shrimp, Artemia, as affected by certain changes in the medium of the organism.
Mr. R. V. Ellis, a candidate for the master's degree, continued a study of spider venom, especially the comparative physiology of the poison.
Miss Elisabeth Deichmann of the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, studied the sea-cucumbers, or holothurians, of the Monterey Bay region. She also wrote a report on a collection of West Indian holothurians made by Dr. Fisher in 1918.
Miss Helen Greene continued her study of the life cycle of Artemia, in completion of a thesis for the master's degree.
During the summer quarter Dr. Harold Heath completed one phase of the work on the development of castes in termites, or white ants, and continued work on later development of chitons.
Professor Florence Hague of the Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, made a morphological study of earthworm embryos (Helodrilus sp. and Sparganophilus elseni Smith) which were in various stages of twinning.
Some were united by only the first one or two segments; some had a single anterior portion with two posterior ends, or vice versa; and some had the middle portion united into one (but containing the elements of two) with two very short anterior and two longer posterior ends.
Dr. Laurence Irving in collaboration with Dr. Becking investigated the lime deposition of corallines. These algae are abundant and widespread in range, and active in their effect upon sea water. Five grams of coralline will, in about 24 hours, reduce the excess base (base combined with carbonate and bicarbonate) of sea water from a normal value of about 0.0026 N to 0.0014 N in the presence of light, but to only about 0.0018 N in the dark. Coralline survives well under experimental conditions of aeration in Pyrex flasks, and these changes represent evidently final end points for each condition of light and dark. Published analyses and some preliminary determinations by Dr. Becking show that the lime secretion of corallines contains a
considerable amount of magnesium as well as calcium carbonate. This is significant because most lime secretions by organisms are chiefly calcium, and the corallines may supply an important source of the extensive magnesium constituents of dolomite deposits. They believe the reduction in excess base to be caused by secretion of calcium and magnesium carbonates and they are developing analytical methods for the detection and differentiation of these substances under experimental conditions.
Dr. Irving is working particularly on the methods of following changes in the acid base equilibrium by appropriate titration methods which naturally follow from his previous study of seawater. He is also developing a method for the determination of magnesium and calcium by an electrometric titration with alkali. In the alkaline region magnesium and calcium are precipitated and, during the time of their deposition, addition of alkali causes no increase in alkalinity because of apparent quantitative precipitation. It appears that this method will be extremely useful and convenient for analysis, in addition to giving important data on the general condition of the solution. The coralline experiments appear to be very suggestive for an extensive series of investigations on the nature and behavior of calcium and magnesium in organic processes, as well as on their presence and deposition in the sea by organic and other action.
Dr. John Sterling Kingsley, during July, worked in the general field of the comparative anatomy of vertebrates.
Dr. Leonor Michaelis of the University of Nagoya, Japan, spent about two weeks at the station studying the swelling of colloids and gave a series of lectures, as noted above.
Mr. W. L. Scofield of the State Fish and Game Commission continued his work on the life history of the sardine.
The "University of California Table" was occupied by Mr. Gordon H. Ball, Mr. Harold Mestre, and Miss Margaret Schell of the Department of Zoology, University of California.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER,
Director.
PHYSIOLOGY
Professor C. W. Greene, of the University of Missouri, who served on the staff as acting professor during the summer of 1923, stressed, while at the Hopkins Marine Station, the exceptional opportunity afforded for the development of special instruction in marine physiology. Following his suggestion the courses offered this year in physiology at the Hopkins Marine Station were courses in marine physiology, planned to give the students direct contact with the problems presented by the marine environment, and an introduction to the methods of studying such problems. Incidentally the lessons to be drawn in general physiology were to be carefully developed.
Under the supervision of Assistant Professors Baumberger and Becking, and with the able assistance of Acting Instructors Brunquist and Irving, the above plan was put into effect. The method was to introduce the students directly into the laboratory in which the staff members were carrying on their researches in various phases of marine physiology. During the first third of the time opportunity was made to present the ocean as the external environment of marine organisms, with a laboratory study of the properties of sea water, supplemented by lectures on the same topic. All the students cooperated in this part of the work. Following this work each student selected a topic for personal study, judged in the choice by the staff, which had previously been at pains to interest the students in problems for which adequate facilities for serious work were available, in- general, phases of problems on which staff members were themselves engaged. In these personal studies the remainder of the time was spent. The results were very gratifying. Although the students were at various stages in their college training, and differed widely in biological and general scientific background, suitable problems were found for all, and all worked enthusiastically and effectively. The fact that the students were cooperating with experienced investigators, rather than performing set routine exercises, lifted the instruction at once to a high plane- It was felt that the students
learned as much physiology as they would have under the plan of routine teaching, and gained in addition an insight into research methods and into the meaning and ideals of scientific investigation that no routine teaching could impart. It is planned to make this method the regular program for teaching physiology at the Hopkins Marine Station.
The research activities of the members of the department were as follows : Acting Instructor Brunquist investigated the effect of changes in the surrounding medium on the cardiac rhythm in Artemia. Other small crustacea were examined with the same problem in mind, but Artemia proved best suited of all the available forms. Dr. Brunquist was assisted in this study by Messrs. Pallette and Ankele.
Assistant in Instruction and Acting Instructor Laurence Irving completed, and embodied in his Doctor's thesis, the results of several years work on three topics, as follows: 1. Ciliary Currents in Starfish; 2. The Carbonic Acid-Carbonate Equilibrium in Sea Water, with Special Reference to Respiration; 3. Regulation of the Hydrogen-ion Concentration and its Relation to Respiration and Metabolism in the Starfish. This work was under the immediate supervision of Assistant Professor Baumberger.
Dr. Irving also studied, in cooperation with Assistant Professor Becking, lime secretion by some of the red alga—the corallines. With Miss Hunter and Mr. Meehan excretion in the starfish was studied, and with Miss Hunter certain ciliary currents in the same form. With Miss Boyce the salinity and hydrogen-ion concentration of samples from various ocean and brine-pool sources were examined, with reference to the influence of these factors on the life of the region. Assistant Professor Baumberger continued his study of the physiology of molting in crabs, publishing during the year a joint paper with J. M. D. Olmsted. of the University of Toronto, on the topic. Dr. Baumberger began a study of lecithin from the standpoint of its physico-chemical properties as significant in the organization of living protoplasm. He began, also, with
Mrs. Levy and Miss Langer, an investigation into the nature of the decomposition of visual purple in the light and, with Mr. Bresee, continued a study of the rate of penetration of hydrogen ions into tissues, using acids with different dissociation constants for comparison.
In cooperation with Dr. Irving, and with the assistance of Mr. Stephens. an investigation was begun at the Hopkins Marine Station of the general mechanism of lime secretion by corallines. Professor Becking devoted himself primarily to the influence of light on the process, and Dr. Irving to determinations of magnesium and calcium by an electrometric titration method. The entire matter of calcium and magnesium deposition and solution is of great biological and geological significance, and the particular forms investigated seem to offer exceptional advantages for the purpose. It is hoped that facilities and opportunities will be afforded for carrying this investigation consistently forward, according to a broad program which is
being formulated. Further studies by Dr. Becking included the development of a microspectrograph, and studies of the influence of radiation on permeability.
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 1922 TRUSTEES' SERIES No. 33
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN FIFTH SERIES, No. 3 JANUARY 1, 1926
FOR THE THIRTY-FOURTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1925
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1926
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
During the Spring Quarter the teaching staff of the Station consisted of Walter Kenrick Fisher and Harold Heath in zoology, and Earl Theron Engle in anatomy; during the Summer Quarter, of Walter Kenrick Fisher, Harold Heath, Herbert Spencer Jennings, Tage Skogsberg, and Harrington Wells in zoology; Ernest Gale Martin and James Montrose Duncan Olmsted in physiology; LeRoy Abrams in botany; John Sterling Kingsley, lecturer on comparative morphology.
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
Dr. Fisher conducted during the Spring Quarter a course in marine zoology for beginners and one in marine invertebrates for advanced students. This latter was repeated during the Summer Quarter, when special work was also offered.
Dr. Heath conducted a class in comparative embryology and supervised the work of several graduate students.
Dr. Jennings gave a course of five lectures per week on "Heredity and Environment,“ their interaction in producing the characteristics of organisms.
Dr. Skogsberg gave a course for beginners (marine zoology) and participated in Course 101, special work.
During the Spring Quarter Mr. Engle gave a course on the comparative anatomy of vertebrates, which was repeated during the Summer Quarter by
Mr. Wells, who gave the same course last year.
During August, Dr. Kingsley gave a very valuable series of lectures on the theoretical aspects of morphology, which became a part of the required work of students in embryology, comparative anatomy, and invertebrates.
The teaching in physiology by Doctors Martin and Olmsted was in two courses, one elementary, the other advanced. In the elementary course, the students were encouraged to attempt the solution of simple problems in the physiology of marine forms. The problems were so selected that during the quarter each student was brought into experimental contact with most of the main fields of physiology. The results obtained by individuals were reported to the whole class, and discussed and criticized informally by students and instructors. The advanced course was purely individual. The students carried on research problems under the direct guidance ofinstructors. Their activities are recorded in the reports of research.
Dr. Abrams gave a course on the classification and ecology of flowering plants, for which the Monterey Peninsula is especially well adapted.
During the Spring and Summer Quarters a new teaching schedule was tested with very satisfactory results. On the basis of a full six-day week the five-unit laboratory courses were scheduled on alternate half-days, three times weekly, an average of twelve hours per week being required. Not more than two laboratory subjects per day are possible under this system, and owing to facilities for intensive work the quarter has been shortened to eight weeks.
The total number of students tallied by four Spring Quarter courses was
26; by twelve Summer Quarter courses, 82. In addition to these, a number of visitors attended Dr. Jennings' lectures on Heredity, and those of Dr. Kingsley on "Germ Layers and Organ Systems of the Metazoa."
RESEARCH
The Director was in residence four quarters. Progress was made on the second volume of a monograph of North Pacific sea stars, upon which he has been working for several years. Three short papers were completed. A daily record of water temperatures was kept and samples of water and plankton.
Dr. Abrams carried on taxonomic studies of the Brassicaceae of the Pacific states.
Dr. David Causey investigated mitochondria in the cells of sponges.
Miss Elisabeth Deichmann of Corinth, Denmark, completed, during the Autumn Quarter, a monograph of the Holothurioidea of the California coast.
Professor Florence Hague of the Oregon Agricultural College investigated annelids of the family Tubificidae.
Professor Health concluded an investigation of certain problems relating to the early development of the egg cell in one species of annelid. He also continued his study of the development of the coelom in various of the lower animals. The experimental work on the formation of the different termite castes has also progressed to a point where the more important results will probably be ready for publication during the coming year.
Dr. Kingsley carried on work in the field of vertebrate morphology.
Mr. Max de Laubenfels, a graduate student, made a taxonomic and ecologic study of the sponges of the region.
Professor Martin, with the co-operation of Mr. Earl Gray, continued the study of the reactions of the brine shrimp, Artemia salina principalis Simon to various environments. A new criterion of activity, namely the rate of beat of the appendages as made maximal by exposure of the animal to strong light, was employed. The influence of changes in osmotic pressure and in the viscosity of the medium was particularly investigated.
Professor Martin also continued work during the quarter on the textbook of physiology that he is writing in collaboration with Professor Weymouth.
Dr. Olmsted undertook a quantitative determination of blood sugar in different marine invertebrates and vertebrates and attempted to locate the islet (insulin-producing) tissue in various fishes. With Mr. L. C. Rudolph, S.J., an investigation was made of the effect of insulin on toads kept at different temperatures and of the disappearance of sugar injected into toads together with insulin. This work was undertaken with the object of throwing light, if possible, on the way in which insulin acts.
Mrs. Margaret Wynne, a graduate student, made a study of the origin of the sex cells in the brine shrimp (Afternic,) and of the development, internal and external, of the entire reproductive system.
Mr. H. S. Warren, a graduate student, is engaged in the study of the entire development of the brine shrimp from the nauplius stage to the adult with the expectation that the resulting data will throw light upon various problems relating to the homologies of various arthropod systems of organs.
Mr. W. S. Selle of the California Fish and Game Commission has continued work on the life history of the sardine. In the spring Mr. W. L. Scofield, who has been conducting this work for several years, moved to the State Fisheries Laboratory at San Pedro.
Dr. Othenio Abel, Palaeobiological Institute of the University of Vienna, made a short visit in May. Dr. Abel is interested in the ecology of fossil species, and desired information on the ecology of numerous marine invertebrates.
Dr. Peter P. Sushkin, Academy of Sciences, Petrograd, Russia, visited the Station in July, being also interested in the ecology of marine forms.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER
Associate Professor of Zoology, and
Director of Hopkins Marine Station
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN FIFTH SERIES, No. 25 FEBRUARY 15, 1927
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-FIFTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1926
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1927
COMPTROLLER’S REPORT
A small cottage to house the watchman and janitor at the Hopkins Marine Station has been completed at a cost of $3,550. The removal of the janitor's quarters from the first floor of the main laboratory has released valuable space for additional laboratories.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
One of the most important events of the year to the School of Biology was the gift from the Rockefeller Foundation of an additional sum of $50,000, bringing the total gift to $100,000, for erecting and equipping a physiological unit at the Hopkins Marine Station. Plans for this unit, which is to be named the Jacques Loeb Laboratory, are nearing completion. It is hoped that the laboratory will be ready for occupancy before the middle of next year. The present plan is for Professors Becking and Irving to devote a major part of their time to investigation and teaching at the new laboratory. It is hoped that the exceptional facilities for work of a fundamental nature in biology to be made available at the Station by the completion of the new unit will be utilized by investigators from all parts of the country to the great benefit of biological science.
ERNEST GALE MARTIN
Chairman, Executive Committee
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The teaching staff of the Station during the spring quarter consisted of
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
Walter Kenrick Fisher, Harold Heath, Frank Mace McFarland, Charles Henry O'Donoghue (University of Manitoba) and Charles Vincent Taylor. During the summer quarter it consisted of Messrs. Fisher, Heath, and O'Donoghue, and in addition, Robert Cunningham Miller (University of Washington) and Tage Skogsberg in zoology; Arthur Russell Moore (University of Oregon) and Frank Walter Weymouth in physiology; Gilbert Morgan Smith in botany.
Dr. Fisher conducted classes in marine invertebrates and supervised the work of several graduate and special students.
Dr. Heath, in addition to supervising the work of several graduate students, gave two quarters of embryology.
Dr. McFarland taught an introductory course in marine zoology during the spring quarter. This course was given by Dr. Miller during the summer.
Dr. Skogsberg gave; during the summer quarter, a course in marine zoology more advanced than a purely introductory one, especial emphasis being laid on the relationships of larger groups and their developmental characteristics.
Dr. Taylor gave a course on the biology of the Protozoa during the spring quarter and supervised the work of several graduate students in the same field.
Dr. O'Donoghue gave a course in the comparative anatomy of vertebrates during the spring and summer quarters.
During the summer quarter Dr. Weymouth and Dr. Moore conducted a class in elementary physiology, using invertebrate material. Several graduate students worked on various problems connected with the physiology of invertebrates.
Dr. Smith gave a course on the morphology of marine algae. Special emphasis was laid upon becoming acquainted with the marine algae of the Monterey Peninsula.
RESEARCH
During the autumn quarter the Director visited the National Museum at Washington for study, and after January 1 was in residence. Work on North Pacific sea stars was continued. The sea stars of the Arcturus expedition were received for study. Three papers, "Sea Stars of the Tropical Central Pacific," a revision of the genus Pisaster, and a short taxonomic article were published. A short paper was prepared for the press. A daily record of water temperature has been kept.
Students working under the direction of Dr. Fisher were as follows:
Mr. M. W. de Laubenfels completed a paper begun last summer on the sponges of Monterey Bay and made progress toward a revision of the classification of the group. Mr. Laubenfels has shown unusual aptitude for this rather exacting type of work.
Mrs. D. W. Schneider worked on the anatomy of the common California sea mussel, with especial reference to the nervous system.
Mr. George E. McGinitie studied intensively the natural history of a "mud flat" estuary, Elkhorn Slough.
Mr. R. P. Hays worked out the post-embryonic development of a hermit crab, finding the early stages as free-swimming plankton organisms.
Miss Nettie L. Murray worked on the ecology of mud-loving Crustacea, using Elkhorn Slough as a station.
Research work under the direction of Professor Heath centered chiefly in the investigation of problems relating to various homologies among the Crustacea. In this field, Mr. H. S. Warren completed a thorough-going investigation of the morphology and embryology of the brine shrimp, Artemia salina. Mrs. Margaret Wynne, using the same species, completed a study of the anatomy of the male and female reproductive systems. Mr. T. H. Shaw studied the life-history and anatomy of a new species of copepod crustacean. Mr. L. E. Herz investigated the life-history and external anatomy of two species of barnacles. Miss M. A. Borquist, in connection with certain physiological studies, investigated the embryology of a starfish, paying especial attention to certain features that have a bearing on the general problem of the relationships of the echinoderms. Miss Eleanor S. Boone made a study of several species of flatworms occurring in the Monterey Bay region.
During the spring quarter Dr. McFarland continued his studies of the nudibranch fauna of the region.
Dr. Miller investigated the marine boring molluscs, Teredo and Bankia, as an extension of his well-known work on the problem in connection with the San Francisco Marine Piling Survey.
Dr. A. R. Moore investigated the physiology of luminescence in a cirratulid worm. Work carried on under the direction of Dr. Weymouth and Dr. Moore was as follows :
Mr. Donald H. Fry, Jr., studied the effect of temperature on the rate of heart-beat in the squid and in several species of crabs. Mrs. D. W. Schneider studied the relation of the size of the individual to, and the effect of temperature on, the heart-rate and ciliary movement in the mussel Mytilus. Miss May Borquist worked on the effect of thyroid and thyroxin on cell-division in sea-urchin eggs and the nervous control of heart-rate in crabs. Mr. O. W. Richards, in addition to assisting in the laboratory work, studied the mechanics of contraction in molluscan smooth muscle.
Dr. O' Donoghue prepared a paper on the Bryozoa of the region and worked also on the nudibranch molluscs.
Dr. Skogsberg has been finishing a paper on marine ostracods of the genus Cythereis, including two new subgenera and twenty-one new species, some of which are from Monterey Bay.
Dr. Smith has made numerous collections and fixations of Codium for the purpose of working out the cytology of gamete formation in this alga during the coming year. The purchase of available centuries of Collins, Holden and Setchell's Phycotheca Borealis Americana has supplemented the Station herbarium of algae and this new material has been mounted and distributed according to genera and families. A start has also been made on a collection of typical forms for class work, and considerable time has been devoted to collecting and fixing reproductive stages in the various algae for future class work.
Dr. Taylor and Mr. Douglas Whitaker worked on the mechanics of cell division with the aid of Dr. Taylor's micro-dissection device, using sea-star and sea urchin eggs. Very successful results were achieved.
Working during the spring with Dr. Taylor, and later independently, Mr. Paul L. Radir investigated a large form of marine amoeba, which is apparently a new genus. He has been able to demonstrate a characteristic protoplasmic movement activated as the result of internal directive forces; the result of gradual transference from salt to fresh water and return; characteristic granular endoplasmic inclusions in the form of definitely constructed crystals; an unusual interkinetic nuclear activity related to variations in metabolism; and division as the result of a form of sporulation. The evidence for the latter is still incomplete, but the missing stages are likely to be supplied in the near future. In addition to approximately one hundred and seventy-five mounts of the amoeba, the work has included the permanent preparation, and ecological study, of a number of the ciliate protozoans existing in this vicinity, the latter having as its object a future survey of those forms.
The work of the State Fish and Game Commission on the sardine has been continued by Messrs. Ralph Classic and C. B. Andrews.
The following made brief visits to the Station more with a view to gain an impression of the fauna and flora than to carry on investigation: Dr. W. E. Agar, University of Melbourne; Professor T. D. A. Cockerell, University of Colorado; Professor Harold Hagan, University of Utah; Miss Kathleen M. Drew, Manchester, England; Mr. Ira E. Cornwall, Victoria, B. C.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER
Professor of Zoology, and
Director of Hopkins Marine Station
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN FIFTH SERIES, No. 41 NOVEMBER 1927
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-SIXTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1927
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1927
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The new Jacques Loeb Laboratory for Marine Physiology is under process of construction at the Hopkins Marine Station on Monterey Bay. This laboratory is a building of reinforced concrete and will have a special tank and pump house for its saltwater supply. It will contain a general chemistry laboratory with adjacent rooms for thermostats, balances, store rooms, rooms for physiology and bacteriology, constant-temperature rooms, dark rooms, and a number of small well-equipped research laboratories. There is also a library with study-room and a reading-room. The Rockefeller Foundation made a gift of $100,000 for the construction and equipment of this building.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The teaching staff of the Station during the spring quarter consisted of Walter Kenrick Fisher, Harold Heath, James Eric Lynch, and Tage Skogsberg. During the summer quarter it consisted of Messrs. Fisher, Heath, and Skogsberg, and in addition Gordon Floyd Ferris, Lot Duncan Howard, and Charles Vincent Taylor in zoology; Arthur Russell Moore (University of Oregon) in general physiology; and James Ira Wilson McMurphy in marine botany.
Dr. Fisher conducted classes in marine invertebrates and supervised the work of several graduate and special students.
Dr. Heath, in addition to supervising the work of a graduate student, gave two quarters of embryology.
Dr. Skogsberg, during the spring quarter gave an introductory course in marine zoology and during the summer quarter the regular advanced Course 540, marine invertebrates. He also supervised the work of several special students.
Mr. Lynch gave the course in vertebrate zoology during the spring quarter and Mr. Howard the same during the/summer.
Professor Ferris gave the introductory course in zoology during the summer quarter.
Professor McMurphy gave a course on the morphology and classification of marine algae and supervised the work of a research student during the summer term.
Dr. Moore, while carrying on his research, supervised-graduate work in physiology.
Dr. Taylor gave a course on the biology of the protozoa during the summer quarter and supervised the work of four graduate students during spring and summer quarters.
RESEARCH
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
The Director was in residence during the year. He completed for publication by the United States National Museum, Volume II of his monograph on the Asteroidea (sea stars) of the North Pacific and adjacent waters (80 quarto plates). The area covered includes the coast of Asia north of Japan, Bering Sea, the western part of the Arctic Ocean, and the Pacific Coast of North America, north of Lower California. In Volume II a part of the order Forcipulata is treated, namely the new suborder Brisingina and a part of the new suborder Asteriadina (Zoroasteridae andAsteriidae with suborders Labidiasterinae, Pedicellasterinae, Coscinasteriinae, and Pycnopodiinae). Work was continued on Volume III, which will be completed during the next year. A report on the "Sea Stars of the Arcturus Expedition" was prepared. A study was begun of Pacific Coast species of Echiuroidea, a group of archaic worms.
Students working under the direction of Dr. Fisher were as follows:
Miss Dorothea Fox began a study of the seasonal fluctuation of plankton organisms, as a contribution to a program of work on the biological phases of the oceanography of Monterey Bay. Miss Fox will eventually carry her study through the year. The summer quarter was spent in a reconnaissance of the microfauna and microflora in order to gain an acquaintance with characteristic forms. Record drawings were kept on cards of standard library size.
During the autumn quarter, Mr. M. W. de Laubenfels continued in absentia his studies on West Coast sponges. On invitation of the Carnegie Institution of Washington he transferred his operations during the summer quarter to the Tortugas Marine Laboratory, near Key West, Florida. Miss Josephine Boyce prepared a paper on the gymnoblastic hydroids of the Monterey region.
Mr. George E. MacGinitie continued studies begun last summer on the natural history of Elkhorn Slough, a sheltered estuary emptying into Monterey Bay. This slough has a salinity equalling that of the ocean, and numerous stations favorable for observation. He has been very successful in discovering the habits of timid animals which dwell below the surface of the mud. He is collaborating with the Director in a study of the Echiuroidea.
Mrs. Nettie Murray MacGinitie has specialized on the Crustacea of Elkhorn Slough and has prepared two papers for publication.
Professor Heath completed the study of the life history of one of the most primitive termite, or white ant, genera known. It is believed by economic entomologists that remedial measures leading to the more or less complete extermination of these pests can be applied more efficaciously when the various stages of colony development are clearly understood. Furthermore, the results of such an investigation have a wider bearing on the question of polymorphism of insects especially. He also finished the study of a unique type of organism combining features which are reminiscent of the rhabdoceles in some respects and of the polyclads in others. The relationships of the first group particularly have been the subject of extended investigations for many years, and the organization of this new form affords a possible clue to what hitherto has been an insoluble problem.
Miss Eleanor S. Boone working with Dr. Heath completed a paper on the polyclads of the California Coast.
Mr. J. E. Lynch investigated trematode parasites of the large sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus).
Professor McMurphy studied marine algae of the region while Miss Janet Plowe, a graduate student, mapped the distribution of algae on a restricted area of rocks near the Station.
Dr. A. R. Moore studied the physiology of development in the sand dollar and common sea urchin (gastrula and gut formation), and advanced stages in the development of the larvae of the sand dollar, including metamorphosis.
Mr. R. J. Main of the University of Oregon, under direction of Dr. Moore, worked on the general problem of retinal stimulation and tension of body musculature in fishes.
During the autumn quarter, Dr. Skogsberg worked on marine ostracods of the genus Cythereis (paper in press). During the winter and spring quarters he investigated annelid worms with a view to revising the California forms of the complicated family Polynoidae. He also worked on a paper covering a new genus of Ostracoda. During the summer quarter in collaboration with Mr. G. H. Vansell, a graduate student, he completed a paper on the ecology and morphology of a specialized marine amphipod of the region.
During the summer quarter of 1927 Dr. Taylor investigated by means of microdissection the regeneration of the marine ciliate Uronychia which occurs abundantly in the aquarium room. It has long been known that during binary fission of a ciliated protozoon certain profound changes occur involving a complete reorganization of all its differentiated parts. These changes are strikingly evident in the hypotrichous ciliates whose cilia are commonly grouped in pencil-shaped locomotor organs known as cirri or comb-like groups called membranelles. Highly differentiated structures of this sort come to be completely resorbed and differentiated in the dividing ciliate whereupon an altogether new set of cirri and membranelles are redifferentiated in each of the daughter individuals. Microdissection studies of the ciliate Euplotes undertaken some years ago by C. V. Taylor give evidence that similar deep seated changes occur during the regeneration of a ciliate. Further investigations this summer quarter on the marine hypotrich Uronychia clearly establish this fact, which is of fundamental importance. Regeneration in this highly complex ciliate involves the resorption of all the cirri and membranelles and the differentiation of a wholly new set in the regenerating piece.
Miss Laura Garnjobst continued her researches on induced encystment and excystment of marine ciliates of the family Euplotidae. An apparently new species of Diophrys found in considerable numbers in near-by tidepools and cultured readily in the laboratory were induced at will both to encyst and excyst by means of regulated evaporation of the culture medium within fairly definite ranges of controlled temperature. A paper giving the methods and results of these studies was prepared as a thesis for the Master's degree and will be offered for publication in the near future.
Howard C. Day furthered his studies on the origin and behavior of the contractile vacuole in the large ciliate Spirostomum, ambiguum. Definite homologies were established between the canal-type vacuolar system of this ciliate and non canal vacuolar systems in several other Protozoa, as indicated by the complete disappearance of the contractile vacuole and successive coalescence of other adjacent vacuoles to reform an entirely new contractile vacuole. Fluid in the canal of Spirostomum was found by Mr. Day to be replenished by the coalescence of minute vacuoles with the canal. This phenomenon indicates further that the "wall" of the canal and that of the vacuole are fundamentally identical. Both represent gelated regions of protoplasm which reverts to the sol state at the point of contact, with the resulting coalescence. Comparative studies are in progress on the rhizopod Actinosphaerium which possesses the exceedingly interesting multivacuolar condition.
Paul L. Radir has made further studies on a new species of marine amoeba which he has described as Trichamoeba schaefferi in a recent publication. By means of microdissection Mr. Radir has succeeded in demonstrating the persistence of a monaxial polarity in this species. This affords the first experimental evidence for this condition in any of the rhizopod Protozoa. Studies are now in progress toward completing the reproductive history of this species. These amoeba have been found in considerable abundance at various times for more than a year in one of the aquaria in the laboratory. It is, therefore, a striking and perplexing fact that of many thousand individuals thus far examined, as yet not one dividing form has been found.
Professor Wesley R. Coe of Yale University studied the morphology and development of nemertean worms, concerning which Dr. Coe is a leading authority.
Mr. Florencio Talavera studied, during three quarters, growth problems in several mollusks and crustaceans.
The work of the State Fish and Game Commission on the sardine has been continued by Messrs. C. B. Andrews and S. S. Whitehead.
Brief visits to the Station were made by Drs. Chiyomatsu Ishikawa, Mikinosuke Miyajima, and Naohide Yatsu of Tokyo, Dr. W. H. Longley of Goucher College, and Dr. Henri Fredericq of Liege.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER
Professor of Zoology, and
Director of Hopkins Marine Station
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN FIFTH SERIES, No. 61 NOVEMBER 1928
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1928
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1928
HERZSTEIN BEQUESTS
Under the will of the late Dr. Morris Herzstein the following bequests were made to Stanford University. The sum of $100,000 for the establishment of a Chair of Biology in the University, the principal duty of the occupant of said Chair to be the promotion of original biological and physiological research and the conduct of scientific investigation toward that end and the dissemination of knowledge acquired thereby and thereof, the Chair to be named in honor of Dr. Herzstein.
The sum of $20,000, the income to be used jointly by the University of California and Stanford University for medical lectures.
BUILDINGS
The Jacques Loeb Laboratory, a new unit of the Hopkins Marine Station at Pacific Grove, was completed in June. This building, constructed at a total cost of $112,497.58, of which $103,338.41 represents a gift from the Rockefeller Foundation, is a two-story, concrete structure 95X152 feet, and provides special research laboratories, aquaria, and library facilities. The building was designed by Bakewell & Brown and constructed by the Ray Construction Company.
Since his return in June, Dr. Becking has been engaged, under the direction of Dr. W. K. Fisher, in the organization of the new Jacques Loeb Laboratory of the Hopkins Marine Station.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The teaching staff of the Station during the spring quarter consisted of Walter Kenrick Fisher, Harold Heath, Libbie Henrietta Hyman, and Tage Skogsberg. During the summer quarter it consisted of Messrs. Fisher, Heath, and Skogsberg, and in addition, Lot Duncan Howard, George Eber MacGinitie, and John Otterbein Snyder in zoology; Charles Vincent Taylor in biology; Gilbert Morgan Smith in botany; Henry Bryant Bigelow in oceanography; James Percy Baumberger, Laurence B. Becking, Arthur Russell Moore, and Thomas Leon Patterson in physiology.
Dr. Fisher conducted a class in marine invertebrates during the spring quarter and one in beginning marine zoology during the summer (with Lot D. Howard and G. E. MacGinitie), in addition to supervision of the work of a graduate student.
Dr. Heath gave two quarters of vertebrate embryology.
Dr. Skogsberg, during the spring quarter, gave an introductory course in marine zoology and, during the summer, the advanced Course 541, marine invertebrates, in addition to supervising the work of several special and graduate students.
Dr. Hyman gave the course in vertebrate zoology during the spring quarter and supervised special work for a number of advanced students.
Professor Snyder, during the summer quarter, conducted a class in the natural history and classification of fishes for both beginning and advanced students.
Dr. C. V. Taylor supervised the work of three advanced students in the general subject of the biology of protoplasm.
Dr. Smith conducted a class in marine algae and supervised the work of several graduate students, in addition to research work at the Carmel Coastal Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution.
The course in the algae as offered in past summers has been based exclusively on the study of living materials. While the study of algae at the Station should always be based in large part upon fresh material, there are many critical points of structure and of reproduction that are best taught from prepared sections. The appointment of Dr. Ruth Walker, of the University of Wisconsin, as a botanical technician for the summer has made possible a start toward a series of preparations that should materially increase the value of the regular course work in the algae in future summers.
Dr. Bigelow lectured to a large class on the subject of oceanic biology.
During his research on the oceanography of Monterey Bay with the State Fisheries steamer "Albacore," he took many of the students on demonstration cruises to illustrate methods of oceanographic investigation.
Dr. Moore, while carrying on his research, supervised the work of two advanced students in general physiology.
Dr. Baumberger and Dr. Patterson conducted a course in elementary physiology of marine organisms and also supervised the work of several advanced and graduate students.
RESEARCH
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
During the autumn quarter the Director spent several weeks at the United States National Museum working on North Pacific sea stars and revising the galley proof of Part II of his monograph on the Asteroidea of the North Pacific, which was published in June. He also made brief visits to the zoological laboratories of the Universities of Chicago, Michigan, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins. In connection with the construction of the new Jacques Loeb Laboratory, he visited the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole to observe materials and construction of their extensive sea-water system.
Manuscript of Part III, Asteroidea of the North Pacific (95 plates), was completed and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution for publication. A short paper describing two new sipunculid worms was published and, in collaboration with George E. MacGinitie, two papers on the anatomy and natural history of a new echiurid worm, Urechis caupo.
Much time, otherwise available for research, was spent in overseeing the construction of the Jacques Loeb Laboratory and in providing for equipment. In connection with the latter, valuable aid was rendered by Dr. J. P. Baumberger.
Under the general direction of Dr. Fisher, Mr. M. W. de Laubenfels continued in absentia his work for the Ph.D. degree on West Coast sponges. During the winter and spring quarters he worked with Dr. H. V. Wilson, our leading authority on Porifera, and during the summer, again under the patronage of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, at the Tortugas Marine Laboratory, near Key West, Florida.
During the spring quarter Mr. Andrew Lester, a graduate student, worked with Dr. Fisher on the ecology of intertidal animals.
The following problems were studied under the direction of Dr. Baumberger: Mr. P. Wells followed the changes in inorganic phosphate and hexose diphosphate in the blood, muscle, and hepato-pancreas of the crab (Cancer productus) during the molt cycle. These changes in phosphate distribution were related to the great tissue and blood volume changes taking place, as well as to calcium content, which was determined by Mrs. Kathleen Bardwell (research assistant in physiology), using a modification of Van Slyke's method. A carbon dioxide-snow technique was developed as a substitute for the usual liquid air method of handling tissues. Thisinvestigation of the physiology of molting is a continuation of work on which four papers have already been published by Dr. Baumberger and his associates; the latest of these, a contribution from this laboratory, will appear in the October Journal of Physiological Zoology (J. P. Baumberger and J. M. D. Olmsted, "Changes in the Osmotic Pressure and Water Content of Crabs during the Molt Cycle"). Miss S. Sigurdsson studied the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of certain sipunculid-worms at different hydrogen ion concentrations in the presence of cyanide. The Van Slyke monometric gas apparatus was used in this study following a technique in the development of which Mrs. Bardwell assisted. Miss Sigurdsson also made a study of the chemical constitution of the crystalline style of the clam (S' chisothaerus nuttallii) and its possible role in anaerobiosis. Observations were also made on the effect of cyanide on the development of melanin. Miss S. Miller made a study of the oxidation-reduction potential of echinochrome from strongylocentrotus purpuratus and a spectroscopic study of the respiratory pigments of a cirratulid (Amphitrite') and sipunculid worms. Mr. J. H. Wales investigated the osmotic pressure regulatory mechanism of bony fishes by determining the rate of urine production and the urine osmotic pressure in Scorpaemchthys marmorata and by a study of the distribution of chlorides between two solutions separated by a membrane of fresh gut of Sebastodes.
Dr. Henry Bryant Bigelow, acting professor of oceanography and leading American oceanographer, during July conducted an oceanographic survey of Monterey Bay. For this work the State Fish and Game Commission, through Mr. Norman B. Scofield, loaned their steamer "Albacore."
Mr. E. C. Scofield acted as assistant. A survey of temperatures at various depths and stations was made, and samples of water taken for the determination of oxygen, silica, phosphates, and nitrates. At the same time hauls were made with plankton nets at different depths to obtain a picture of the pelagic and bathypelagic fauna and flora in relation to currents and the physical state of the water.
Miss Maurine Leslie, of the Scripps Institution, assisted Dr. Bigelow through July by making the appropriate chemical analyses. Mr. Milton Lindner also acted as assistant in chemical work. Dr. Skogsberg co-operated in the survey work.
Professor Heath continued his experimental work, much enlarged in scope, on caste formation in termites. Also he has begun the study of the embryology of three species of echinoderms of the Monterey Bay region,, which are especially favorable for experimental work, and whose normal development must be more fully understood before the significance of their modified development can be determined. In addition he has made some progress in an investigation of the segmentation of the head in one species of amphibian and two species of reptiles.
Dr. Libbie H. Hyman, during the spring quarter, investigated oxygen consumption of sea stars and sea urchins.
Dr. A. Pringle Jameson, of Mills College, investigated myxosporid parasites of fishes.
Mr. J. E. Lynch, of the University of California, studied rhabdocoele parasites of the common sea urchin.
Dr. A. R. Moore's research during the summer quarter was as follows:
1. Preparations finished for the study of geometrical relations of nuclei and cells in the gastrulae of Strongylocentrotus and of Dendraster.
2. Work on the photodynamic action of fluorescein derivatives on sea urchin eggs was extended, and the conclusion established that the photodynamic action of the dye depends upon its chemical constitution, not upon fluorescence.
3. Miss Bradway continued the study of Dendraster-Strongylocentrotus hybrids, which Dr. Moore began a year ago. In connection with this work, further experiments in culturing echinoderm larvae were carried out.
4. Mr. Hovey, a student, was engaged in determining the parts played by tropisms and conditioned reflexes in the behavior of starfishes and flat worms. The results so far indicate conclusions of unusual importance in the field of comparative psychology and brain physiology.
Mr. Alden E. Noble, a graduate student of the University of California, investigated the Acinetaria, a subclass of infusorian Protozoa.
The following research was completed by Dr. Thomas Leon Patterson, acting professor of physiology:
1. The influence of the vagi on the motor activity and tonus of the cardia and the stomach in the hagfish (Polistotrema stouti).—Acute experiments were conducted on the hagfish. Simultaneous records were recorded from the cardia and the stomach proper by means of a double balloon, one placed in the lower end of the esophagus and the other in the stomach. Stimulation of the vagus nerves has demonstrated that motor nerve fibers pass to the gill sacs, constrictors to the cardia, and inhibitory fibers for tonus to the stomach and intestine. These results are in confirmation of similar findings on Necturus maculatus (Patterson, American Journal of Physiology, 1928, LXXXIV, 631-40).
2. The physiology of the gastric motor mechanism in the crab {Cancer productus).—Comparative studies in the physiology of the gastric motor mechanism have been extended to the Crustacea. By the balloon method it has been shown that the contractions of the crab's stomach are continuous, and that vibrations in gastric tone are exhibited characteristic of the stomachs of vertebrate animals. The nervous control of the gastric apparatus and the function of certain muscles anchoring the stomach to the carapace in relation to the gastric contractions are now under investigation.
3. The physiology of the peristaltic movements in the stomach of the sea hare (Tethys californica).—As yet there are insufficient data to show the differences and similarities between the types of gastric activity in the various animal groups, and this is notably true in the case of the invertebrates.
During the summer of 1922 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Dr. Patterson carried out a series of experiments of this nature on certain gastropods, namely, Haliotis rufescens (abalone) and Cryptochiton stelleri (Patterson, American Journal of Physiology, 1923, LXIII, 420). The gastric contractions exhibited by these animals are continuous, the movements of which are inhibited by the introduction of weak acid or alkali directly into the empty stomach. The work on the sea hare is a continuation of the former investigation in which continuous peristaltic contractions of the stomach have been observed, but the activity is more vigorous and greater variations in gastric tone are exhibited in this animal. Otherwise, there is a marked similarity existing between the gastric activity of these animals.
Miss Eleanor S. Boone under the direction of Dr. Patterson has worked on the following problem: Peristalsis in the stomach of the gaper clam (Schizothaerus nuttallii) as produced by muscular contraction rather than by a rotation of the crystalline style.—Studies made on the peristaltic activity of the stomach of the gaper clam by the balloon method before and after surgical removal of the crystalline style demonstrate unequivocally that the rotation of the style is not a substitute for gastric peristalsis. This is in contradistinction to certain views existing in the literature at the present time. In fact, the contractions after the removal of the style are practically identical with those obtained when it is in its normal position in the style sac.
Dr. Tage Skogsberg, during the autumn quarter, completed the following contributions: "Modified Water Regulator for Small Tanks" (Science) ; "A Commensal Polynoid Worm from California"; "Structure and Behavior of the Amphipod, Polycheira osborni." He continued studies on polychaet worms of Monterey Bay and began a systematic study of marine fishes, which was continued at Stanford University during the winter quarter.
These studies were continued during the spring and summer quarters, special attention being paid to the Sciaenidae, the variability of which will be treated in a paper to be completed soon. Proof-reading consumed considerable time, involving a paper on the genus Cythereis (Ostracoda) and a large monograph on the Dinoflagellata of the eastern Pacific (with C. A. Kofoid).
Organization of a systematic hydrobiological survey of Monterey Bay, which has been under advisement for a year, has been completed and will be under the general direction of Dr. Skogsberg. Dr. Bigelow's survey was undertaken as a part of this program, and his knowledge and experience have been available during the organization of a campaign. Dr. Skogsberg has had previous experience in this work in the North Sea. Of those who will participate in this program it is of historical interest to note that Doctors Bigelow, Heath, and Fisher served their apprenticeship in oceanography on the famous United States Fisheries steamer "Albatross."
The investigation has two aspects, the hydrographic and the biological, with the emphasis placed on the latter. The seasonal and annual fluctuations in the physico-chemical conditions and in the currents of the waters of Monterey Bay will be investigated, and the qualitative and quantitative changes, both seasonal and annual, in the pelagic fauna and flora will be correlated with the hydrographic data.
Essential to the prosecution of this program is the informal co-operation of the California State Fish and Game Commission. It is evident that the results of these investigations, if assiduously carried out, may lead to deductions of far-reaching practical importance. It is intended that one of the boats of the Commission will be put at the disposal of the Station, and that a member of the Commission, Mr. E. C. Scofield, will participate in the survey.
Research activities in botany at the Station have been chiefly along taxonomic lines, and four students have been devoting all or part of their time to investigations in this field. Mr. Fred Klyver, Jr., has been investigating the distribution of certain primitive freshwater algae and has practically completed the study of the life cycle of one of them. Miss Katherine Hoppaugh has continued her work on a monograph of the algal genus Vaucheria, and Professor DeForest, of the University of Southern California, has collected various marine algae of the Monterey Peninsula. During the past summer, Miss Belle West has completed her investigations on the structure of pollen grains in the Amentifereae. As stated above, Dr. Smith has been carrying on research work at the Coastal Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution.
The investigations of C. V. Taylor and graduate students, Agnes Plate and Waldo Furgason, have had to do with the structure and protoplasmic reorganization in a species of Diophrys, during its binary fission, conjugation, and induced encystment and excystment. This species is probably new. It occurs abundantly in tide pools of Monterey Bay and cultures readily in the laboratory. It promises to be, for this and other reasons, an exceptionally suitable organism for experimentation. Its binary fission, involving the resorption of its differentiated organelles and the outgrowth of a new set in each resulting daughter, corresponds closely with fission in other hypotrichous ciliates. Apparently, the same holds for conjugation. Encystment and excystment may be readily induced in this Diophrys by modifying the concentration of the medium within fairly definite temperature range.
The improvement of apparatus designed to measure with precision potential differences between the interior of the cell and its outside medium was also undertaken by C. V. Taylor. A triple-electrode amplifying set installed by Dr. Floyd DeEds, of the Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D.C., was connected in series with a Type K potentiometer and a galvanometer of high sensitivity. With the use of microelectrodes which can be introduced directly into the cell-interior, this equipment, which eliminates the passage of current through the electrodes, represents distinct progress in potentiometric studies within the living cell.
During the year the California Fish and Game Commission have maintained an office at the Station. Messrs. S. S. Whitehead and C. B. Andrews have continued work on the sardine.
The construction of the new Jacques Loeb Laboratory was completed, about mid-July, although it was occupied at the beginning of the summer quarter. Dr. A. R. Moore, a student of Jacques Loeb, was the first investigator to move in and carried on careful reaction experiments, while dodging plumbers and steam fitters. Others who carried on research during the summer quarter in the sumptuous new quarters were: Dr. Baumberger and students, Dr. Bigelow and assistants, Dr. Patterson and students, Dr. Smith, assistant and students, Dr. Taylor and students.
Dr. Fisher and Dr. L. Becking spent considerable time during the summer quarter on the equipment of the new laboratory. Dr. Becking attended at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, a meeting of the committee on oceanography of the National Academy of Sciences.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER
Professor of Zoology, and
Director of Hopkins Marine Station
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN FIFTH SERIES, No. 81 NOVEMBER 1929
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE THIRTY-EIGHTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1929
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1929
Within the School of Biological Sciences proper, a number of important programs of collaborative research are in progress. Especially noteworthy are those at the Hopkins Marine Station at Pacific Grove. The recently added Jacques Loeb Laboratory houses four resident investigators associated with L. B. Becking, who, with excellent equipment, are attacking a variety of fundamental problems of marine life and marine environment. The ecological physiology of marine organisms again represents in scope and importance a field of investigation that requires the collaboration of a group of specialists.
The program of investigations includes studies in the photosynthesis of purple and green pigments in bacteria and marine algae by means of refined biochemical and spectrometrical methods; the genesis of mineral oils as related to bacterial decomposition; systematics of micro-organisms; cyclic decomposition of marine products and resynthesis microsymbiosis in relation to higher organisms; physical factors in environment, both normal and unusual; decomposition of plant pigments in the blood of lower vertebrates; deposition of various salts in relation to organisms; salt equilibrium of organisms living in strong salt solutions, involving micromethods; hydration and oxygen absorption of black mud; the absorption and fluorescence spectra of the green leaf and the nature of green pigments in plastids.
Another extensive program of co-operative investigation at the Hopkins Marine Station is the hydrobiological survey under the supervision of Tage Skogsberg, which was undertaken about one year ago in conjunction with the California Fish and Game Commission, with quarters in the Alexander Agassiz Laboratory. In collaboration with Skogsberg are Fisher, Heath, and MacGinitie. This program comprises: (1) the hydrography of Monterey Bay; (2) the ecological distribution of the planktonic organisms of this Bay correlated with hydrographical data; (3) life histories and migrational habits of the fishes of this region based upon plankton studies; and (4) deep-water investigations outside of Monterey Bay. Already two hundred hydrographical stations have been established, at which 1,700 water samples have been taken at various depths and analyzed for total solids, phosphates, and silica. Determinations of acidity and of dissolved gases, current measurements, upwelling, and the mapping of isotherms are other projects now under way. The data thus obtained will serve as the basis for ecological studies of seasonal and annual distribution of the plankton of Monterey Bay. In turn, it is evident that data on planktonic distribution at various periods may be useful in predicting hydrographical conditions. A preliminary survey has already indicated extreme differences in the fertility of various regions of the Bay. This, correlated with hydrographical peculiarities of those regions, will yield results of basic importance with respect to the general metabolism of ocean forms. Such data are of first importance, also, in furthering studies on the life-histories and ecology of the fishes of this Bay. Especially when applied to sardines, commercially the most important fish on our Coast, these investigations will be of much value to the fisheries industries. Still another promising phase of this hydrobiological program is that of deep-sea investigations. Within ten miles of the Hopkins Marine Station, depths down to 1,000 fathoms offer advantages for the study of abysmal life that are unique among the marine stations of the world. Facilities will soon make possible the beginning of researches on this interesting and little-known region of ocean life.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
With the completion of the Jacques Loeb Laboratory for Marine Physiology, admirable facilities are available at the Station for advanced students and for research. A large, number of students and teachers are taking part in the activities of the station. By action of the Board of Trustees the original building at the Station has been designated as the Alexander Agassiz Laboratory of the Hopkins Marine Station.
Through the combined efforts of the California Fish and Game Commission and the staff of the Station, a hydrobiological investigation of the Monterey Bay is being made.
I. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The opinion has been voiced that the facilities of the Hopkins Marine Station should be reserved for advanced study and research in order to realize as much as possible on the considerable investment there. Attention has been called, however, to the fact that to fulfill the present departmental requirement in zoology at least one quarter must be spent at the Station, and furthermore that the printed announcement of the School urges School majors to spend at least a quarter there. It is argued that the policy of expecting all majors in biological science to obtain some first-hand acquaintance with marine biology is sound and should be continued. Some are disposed to go even farther, and to maintain that the facilities of the Station should be open, perhaps only one quarter a year, to non-biology majors who are nevertheless interested in biology, partly for what they can get out of the contacts with marine biology and partly in the hope of attracting advanced students who might otherwise be missed. The hope has been expressed that a man competent in geology and paleontology may be added some time to the staff of the Hopkins Marine Station, to foster progress along some lines where marine biology makes contacts with geology.
The School of Biological Sciences curricula.— There appears to be a consensus of opinion that duplication of material should be avoided in courses which are ordinarily taken in sequence. It was also pointed out that the Hopkins Marine Station conducts certain courses which are to a considerable extent duplications of Campus courses, but it was also realized very generally that this is to a certain extent necessary and not wholly undesirable. However, the opinion was expressed by one consultant that in all such cases the situation should be scrutinized carefully in order to determine each such case on its individual merits. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that such partial duplications may be a convenience to the student even when they restrict otherwise desirable diversification of faculty effort.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The teaching staff during the spring quarter consisted of Laurence B. Becking, Harold Heath, George E. MacGinitie, Harold Mestre, Tage Skogsberg.
During the summer quarter it consisted of the foregoing and, in addition, Ivey Foreman Lewis, Joseph Needham, Gilbert Morgan Smith, Charles Vincent Taylor, Frank Walter Weymouth. Dr. Becking, during the spring quarter, conducted a class in elementary physiology and during the summer quarter supervised the work of a graduate student.
Dr. Heath gave two quarters of vertebrate zoology and during the summer quarter supervised the work of a graduate student.
Mr. George E. MacGinitie, during the spring quarter, gave a course in marine zoology for elementary students, and during the summer supervised special work of three undergraduates (Course 542) and of a graduate student.
During the summer quarter, Dr. Mestre gave a course in the ecology of marine organisms (Course 511) and also laboratory instruction in the application of physical methods to biological problems.
Dr. Skogsberg, during the spring quarter, gave a course in vertebrate zoology; during the summer, one in marine invertebrates; and in addition to graduate students, handled a number of undergraduates doing special work (Course 542).
Dr. Smith and Dr. Lewis conducted a class in marine algae and supervised the work of five graduate students.
Dr. C. V. Taylor supervised the work of several research workers.
During the summer quarter teaching in physiology was under the direction of Dr. Weymouth, assisted by Dr. Needham.
RESEARCH
Illustration by Walter K. Fisher
The Director was on leave during the spring and summer quarters. During April a visit was made to the Barro Colorado Island Laboratory, Gatun Lake, Canal Zone. This institution is remarkable for its situation at the edge of an unspoiled tropical forest and for its opportunities for study of tropical forest life. It deserves whole-hearted support. A short paper on South American sea stars was completed.
Mr. M. W. de Laubenfels, working with Dr. Fisher, completed his Doctor's thesis on California sponges.
Professor L. B. Becking has been occupied with the equipment and organization of research in general physiology at the Jacques Loeb Laboratory.
Later in the year he worked on organisms living in strong brines, using salt samples from various parts of the world. The thermotolerance of several groups was especially studied. Ralph Hawkins assisted in the work on the salt-gradients, and Mrs. Danella Straup Cope is still engaged in a minute physico-chemical description of sea water and its concentrates.
Tadaichi Hashimoto was employed as a research fellow of the American Petroleum Institute and is still engaged in the analysis of diatom oil. The project is continued, with Lewis A. Thayer as Research Fellow, chiefly along bacteriological lines.
Work on the mechanism of calcium and magnesium deposition, including a petrographic description of the forms studied, has been started (with Mr. Wayne Galliher). It is hoped that the connection with the Department of Geology will continue, as other geobiological fields of equal interest seem to be open (black mud, silica, etc.).
During the summer Dr. Herbert S. Warren worked in Dr. Becking's laboratory on the physical and chemical properties of the blood of the brine shrimp. R. Hollenberg made a preliminary physiological study of Halicystis, the peculiar coeloblastic alga.
Professor Heath completed the study of a remarkable deep-pelagic organism which appears to be a link uniting the typical polychaets with the echiuroids. He is also carrying on an extensive series of experiments which it is hoped may lead to the solution of some of the problems relating to the origin of castes in termites.
A special student, Shirley Witt, was engaged under Dr. Heath's direction, in the study of the early development of a starfish which possesses several unique organs reminiscent of features in the larval differentiation of Balanoglossus and allies.
Mr. George E. MacGinitie's work included: (1) ecological investigation of the mud flats of Elkhorn Slough; (2) a survey of the fauna of Newport Bay for the California Institute of Technology; (3) a survey of the fauna of the lower reaches of San Francisco Bay, at the request of Dr. C. V. Taylor; (4) rearing, preparation, and preservation of material to be used in the study of the development of an echiuroid worm, Urechis caupo Fisher and MacGinitie; (5) a paper on "The Natural History of the Mud Shrimp Upogebia pugettensis (Dana)"; (6) a paper, jointly with Mrs. N. M, MacGinitie, on "The Anatomy and Natural History of the Mud Shrimp Callianassa californiensis Dana"; (7) collaboration with A. C Pillsbury in two motion-picture reels of marine life of Monterey Bay region.
Much of the time of Dr. Mestre has necessarily been taken up by the organization of the biophysical laboratory, including the design and construction of much of the apparatus. A densitometer-comparator for the rapid measurement of negatives of the absorption spectra of organic substances, of new design, has been built. With its aid it has been possible to interpret numerous spectro-negatives of leaves, made by Dr. Mestre at Palo Alto during the preceding year, and definite progress has been made in the determination of the nature of the green pigments of the plastid, as they exist in the living plant. Work has also been nearly completed on a large aperture spectrograph for spectroradiometric study of the pigments of marine algae and bacteria in the intact organism. During the summer quarter, in collaboration with others, work was begun on a systematic study of the ecology of the tidal zone immediately in front of the Station.
With the aid of transportation expenses from University funds, Dr. Mestre attended the New York meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a paper on "The Green Pigments of the Plastid" was read before the American Society of Plant Physiologists. Advantage was taken of this opportunity to visit a large number of the important laboratories of the East, and the experience has "been of the greatest benefit. A total of one month was occupied by this trip.
Studies were made by Dr. A. R. Moore of fertilization and development without membranes in the eggs of sea urchin and sand dollar. The experiments showed that embryonic membranes are essential to the formation of the blastula, but without membranes the blastomeres still hold together by means of hyaline cell bridges which can readily be seen. The part which these structures play in the formation of blastula and gastrula was considered.
Miss Bradway, working with Dr. Moore, has carried out experiments on the metamorphosis of Clavelina, which show striking effects of sodium ions and iodine in accelerating metamorphosis, and of magnesium ions in retarding it.
The following is a report of the work of Dr. C. B. van Niel, who joined the staff in January, 1929: "Although during the first two months an investigation of the marine agar-liquefying bacteria and of the group of iron-bacteria was undertaken in addition to the study of the purple bacteria, which latter formed the main subject for the year 1929, both the former projects had to be discontinued soon afterward as the study of the purple bacteria proceeded. The chief results of this investigation were communicated at the meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine in Pacific Grove and at a seminar during the summer quarter.
"This investigation, including also a study of the group of green bacteria and of the Streptococcus varians-group, will be continued during the year 1930.
"During the months July-August two weeks were spent in Yellowstone National Park, where, under the guidance of Dr. E. T. Allen, of the United States Geological Survey, and with the collaboration of Mr. Lewis A. Thayer, samples were collected for a study of the microorganisms in the park, especially near the hot springs, in order to elucidate their function and importance for the deposition of some of the characteristic minerals; for example, travertine and silica. This work has been continued in the laboratory, and a report will be sent to Dr. E. T. Allen."
From July 1 Dr. van Niel has supervised the work of Mr. Lewis A. Thayer, Junior Research Fellow of the American Petroleum Institute (Biological Project No. 5; directors, Dr. L. B. Becking and Dr. C. F. Tolman), on the bacterial decompositions which might lead to the formation of hydrocarbons, this in relation to the problem of the genesis of mineral oils. In addition to this study of the bacterial decompositions an investigation is being made of the conditions which might influence the mass-development of the diatom species Aulacodiscus kittoni, as this diatom is supposed to be one of the sources of mineral oil in California.
The hydrobiological survey of Monterey Bay, which was begun last year in collaboration with the California Fish and Game Commission under Dr. Skogsberg's general direction, is now well under way. During the first eight months of this year, not less than 208 hydrographical stations were made, at which 1,853 water samples were collected and analyzed for temperature, salinity, phosphate, and silica. In addition, water samples analyzed in a similar manner were taken almost daily at a place near the Hopkins Marine Station. The field work was carried on largely by Dr. Skogsberg with the assistance of Mr. E. C. Scofield of the California Fish and Game Commission, while the chemical analyses were made by Miss Lucina Stanford, who is employed by the Station for this particular purpose. Besides water, samples, samples of the surface plankton were made regularly. A study of these as well as of the occasional collections of pelagic deep-water organisms (down to 600 meters) yielded interesting results.
Several graduate students have collaborated with Dr. Skogsberg in this survey. During the summer quarter these students were: Miss Harriet Baker, on Dinoflagellata; Mr. Austin D. Bond, ecology of littoral forms; Mr. P. Gilman, Hydromedusae; Mr. G. Kranzthor, pelagic amphipods; Mr. George Meyers, deep-sea fishes; Mr. E. Scofield, the California sardine; and Mr. J. Wales, the California rock cods. Finally, Mr. R. Bolin has been investigating the California Cottoids, under Dr. Skogsberg's direction, since January, 1929. He received his Master's degree in the spring quarter for a thesis bearing on this subject.
Besides his work on the hydrobiological survey, Dr. Skogsberg has devoted some time to a study of the pelagic Ostracods of the Michael Sars Expedition, 1910 (now in the press), and to the marine fishes of California.
The research activities of Professors Smith and Lewis were centered chiefly in an attempt to build up the Station herbarium so that it may contain specimens of all marine algae native to the Monterey Peninsula. This survey has brought to light certain algae not previously recorded for the West Coast and several not previously reported from the local area. A report on these observations is in preparation for publication. In addition, Professor Smith has continued his studies on the life history of Codium, the activities of the past summer centering around the cytological phases of the subject.
It is becoming increasingly evident that if the studies on marine plant life carried on at the Station are to be placed on a firm basis, permanent accommodation must be provided for this phase of the Station's work. The present policy is to house this work in such rooms as are not otherwise occupied. During the past two summers there has not even been running sea water in the quarters assigned to research in the algae. Such makeshift quarters have greatly hampered cultural and cytological investigations in progress and have seriously interfered with the efficiency of the investigators.
The investigations of Dr. C. V. Taylor and students working with him during the summer quarter have had to do with protoplasmic differentiations and organization in certain marine ova.
C. V. Taylor and A. C. Giese studied the relative developmental capacities of cortical and medullar parts of eggs of Patiria miniata. The former (with membrane) fertilized and produced swimming larvae. The latter medullar portion (without the membrane) did not develop. Similar studies were undertaken on the eggs of Urechis caupo but without success due largely to the exceedingly tough membrane and more fluid endoplasm of these eggs.
C. V. Taylor, D. M. Whitaker, and A. C. Giese undertook a study of polarity and micromere formation in fragments of the eggs of the sand urchin Dendraster excentricus. Results were unsatisfactory owing to the obscurity of polar bodies and absence of any micropyle—structures which are necessary for identifying the polar axis of these eggs.
M. G. Brown and C. V. Taylor investigated relative strengths of the membranes of the following marine ova: unfertilized and fertilized eggs of Patiria miniata, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and S. franciscanus, Dendraster excentricus, and Urechis caupo, by a special method of micromanipulation.
L. Shapovalov, under C. V. Taylor's direction, studied developmental rates in nucleated and non-nucleated fragments of eggs of Dendraster.
C. V. Taylor investigated the persistence of polarity in the immature and unfertilized eggs of Urechis caupo by centrifuging them from one to twelve hours under a constant temperature of 18° C. with a force of approximately 3,600 gravities. The results indicated a gradual modification of polarity. The polar axis, as shown by the position of the polar bodies and the first and second planes of cleavage, tended more and more to coincide with the axis of stratification as the period of centrifuging increased from one to ten hours.
The California Fish and Game Commission continued its work at the Alexander Agassiz Laboratory chiefly on the natural history of the sardine.
D. M. Borodin investigated the effects of mitogenetic radiation from dividing eggs of Dendraster excentricus, Patiria miniata, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and Urechis caupo upon the rate of multiplication of yeast cells.
The work of Professor Sumner C. Brooks, of the Department of Zoology, University of California, during the summer quarter, consisted almost wholly of preliminary studies of the availability, viability, normal development, transparency, and in general the suitability of various cells for research on the physiological effects of infra-red light of short wavelengths. There is naturally little that can be said at so early a stage. Minor groups of experiments were done on the infra-red sensitizers used in photography, which proved to be too insoluble in sea water for biological use; on the toxicity and corrosibility of certain newly developed "rustless" steels; and on a suspected effect of diffuse daylight on unfertilized eggs of various animals. The presence of such an effect could not be confirmed.
Mr. Carleton, a graduate student of the University of California, carried on experiments on the rate of oxygen consumption by the developing eggs of various invertebrates, as affected by a series of heavy metals, and on the rate of penetration of the same metal into living cells of Halicystis.
Mr. Leitch made complete series of measurements of the swelling of eggs of Dendraster, Patina, and Urechis in hypotonic solutions, and collected massive samples of these eggs for subsequent analysis.
Mr. and Mrs. Giese completed measurements of the electrical potentials developed between different salt solutions separated from one another by membranes of living onion-bulb scale epidermis. These experiments lend interesting support to the theories developed by Michaelis for membranes permeable to cations only. This work is at the moment of writing about to be prepared for publication. The four students mentioned above worked with Dr. Brooks.
Professor William H. Cole, of the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry,
Rutgers University, contributes the following account of his work at the Jacques Loeb Laboratory between June 25 and August 25, 1929: "Having found last year that the rhythmic expansions and contractions of the thoracic cirri—a feeding and respiratory mechanism—of the rock barnacle, Balanus balanoides, were reliable indicators of environmental stimuli, it became of interest to make a general study of the responses of several species to various physical and chemical stimuli. During 1929, it was planned to investigate the effects of altering the chemical environment of the Pacific Coast species. It was soon found that the common inter-tidal forms were not suitable because their movements were not regular, and could not be studied easily. The deeper water species—Balanus tintinnabulum—however,
suited the purpose of the experiments sufficiently well, and has been used throughout the study.
"Under uniform conditions of temperature, illumination, rate of water flow, and in the absence of mechanical vibration, many animals have been observed in 'normal' sea water, and in various solutions. Attention has been paid to the character and rate of the movements of the cirri, using them as criteria of effects."
Professor Joseph Needham, of Cambridge University, England, and Mrs. Dorothy Needham have contributed the following interim report on work done at the Hopkins Marine Station during the summer of 1929:
"The subject of our investigations was the phosphorus metabolism of developing invertebrate embryos. The classical paper of Plimmer & Scott in 1907 records the changes in the distribution of this element during the development of the hen's egg, an element, it may be noted, which, almost more than any other, indicates by its distribution the changing amounts of important types of compound within the system. Plimmer & Scott estimated the lipoid P, the water-soluble organic and inorganic P, the phosphor protein P, and the nucleoprotein P, but we have elaborated the technique so that it gives, in addition to these, the phosphagen P, the preformed inorganic P, and the stable organic water-soluble P. It is hardly necessary to point out that the investigation of marine invertebrate eggs in this connection has other advantages besides the extension of our knowledge to other forms than the avian embryo, for this latter organism, though well adapted in some respects to chemico-embryological studies, does not lend itself to the examination of the earliest (cleavage and gastrulation) stages. Even from the comparative point of view, however, the work is of much interest, for the avian egg is cleidoic and marine invertebrate eggs are not.
"Owing to the shortness of our stay at Pacific Grove (six weeks) we confined ourselves for the most part to the raising of echinoderm embryos (Dendraster and Patiria} in numbers large enough for chemical analysis, and to the making of dry powders of the material with calcium sulphate. Subsidiary amounts of material were made in the case of a gephyrean, (Urechis) and a crustacean (Emerita). We shall be able to work up these anhydrous powders at leisure in Cambridge. The water-soluble fraction, however, was investigated at the Hopkins Marine Station, as it contains the labile forms of P, such as creatine or arginine phosphate."
Dr. A. A. Schaeffer, of the University of Kansas, worked on the movement of amebas, and contributes the following report:
"The main object was a further study of the bio-isomers, which are believed to be the mechanism of spiral movement in organisms, in the large ameba, Trichamoeba schaefferi, described from this Station two years ago by Dr. Paul Radir. This ameba differs from other species in that it is predominantly right-turning in its movement around glass rods, in the ratio of about 1.9 right to 1 left; while a number of other species, studied previously, are predominantly left-turning in the ratio of 1.4 to 1. The optimum temperature (as measured by highest rate of movement) is also very low—24° C., while the others move most rapidly at about 36° C. Moreover, the death-point for T. schaefferi is correspondingly low, namely, about 32° C.
"The variation in size in this ameba is also striking. Division occurs in individuals from about 100 microns to 125 microns in length, but has not been observed in the larger sizes of 200 microns to 350 microns. There is good reason to believe that the large sizes are hypertrophied and incapable of division. There appears also to be a reproductive cycle of well over a month in length, at the end of which the large hypertrophied individuals lose their crystals and become thicker, shorter, quite clear and very sluggish of movement. Just how the new cycle begins has not been observed.
"Just before these amebas lose their crystals and become sluggish, the body shortens somewhat so that the width is one-third or one-fourth of the length (instead of one-fifth to one-seventh, which is the ratio during the middle of the cycle) and in this stage they frequently cling closely to the substrate in the shape of a rosette. The motile individuals in this stage are sometimes very strongly left-turning (7 to 1).
"The effect of light-intensity changes is the same in this ameba as in the others; that is, a weak light following a strong induces (or permits) more right turns, proportionately. So that, although this species differs markedly from the others heretofore studied, its spiraling mechanism seems nevertheless to consist of the same two kinds of bio-isomers, i.e., right and left, as are found in other amebas, and the right bio-isomer, in this as in other amebas, is more sensitive to light than the left."
Dr. Robert F. Weill, International Education Board Fellow and assistant, University of Paris, France, investigated a number of coelenterates with reference to the comparative morphology and cytology of their stinging apparatus or nematocysts. Dr. Weill finds that the nematocysts are of great value in constructing a natural classification of the Coelenterata.
Several meetings of scientific societies took place at the Station, largely as a result of the completion and equipment of the new Jacques Loeb Laboratory—notably the Western Society of Naturalists and the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. During the spring quarter, Dr. Heath served as Acting Director and for the summer quarter, Dr. Taylor.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER
Director
The activities of the staff members, other than teaching, were as follows:
- Acting Professor Needham, who was accompanied by his wife, Dorothy
- Moyle Needham, also a physiologist of note, worked at the Jacques Loeb Laboratory of the Hopkins Marine Station on the "Chemistry of Marine Embryos."
- At Hopkins Marine Station, Dr. Joseph Needham, of Cambridge University, England, was acting professor of physiology for the six-weeks term.
- Professor Ivey Foreman Lewis, of the University of Virginia, was acting professor of botany. Ten members of the regular staff were on active duty for the session.