Hopkins Marine Station (1918-1950)
ANNUAL REPORTS 1940s
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 5 DECEMBER 31, 1940
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1940
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Miss Hilda van Sicklen, of San Francisco, $500.00 to establish the F. W. van Sicklen Memorial Scholarship in Ichthyology.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The resident staff consisted of Walter K. Fisher, Rolf L. Bolin, C. B. van Niel, Tage Skogsberg. Additions to the staff were Gilbert M. Smith, spring quarter; A. R. Moore and Frank W. Weymouth, summer quarter.
RESEARCH
The Director has begun a revision of the Echiuroidea of the Pacific Coast. This is a phylum of worm-like animals which provides material very favorable for experimental purposes. Although engrossed in a war, the British government has undertaken the publication of his report on the sea stars of the "Discovery" expeditions. In spite of delays and hazards of transportation the report was in page proof at the end of the academic year.
Mr. James P. Heath completed an intensive study of the nervous system of the kelp crab.
Dr. Rolf L. Bolin continued his studies on the fishes of the Marshall Field Brazilian Expedition and pursued as well investigations on the marine fishes of the Pacific Coast of North America. Two minor notes on very rare fishes and a report on the gross embryology of Orthonopias triads are now in press, while an extensive review of the marine Cottidae of California is nearing completion.
Miss Dixy Lee Ray began preliminary work toward a thesis on the innervation of the luminous organs of the Myctophidae. It is hoped that the homologies of the individual photophores may be determined by this method, and that an understanding of the evolution of the various light patterns in these deep-sea fishes may be gained.
Miss Zoe Ann Hill continued her investigation on the skeletal system of the Embiotocidae, a family of fishes which has never been subjected to careful osteological examination.
Mr. John G. Carlisle, Jr., working under the direction of Dr. Bolin and in close co-operation with the California State Division of Fish and Game, undertook an investigation of the embryology of the commercial abalone, Haliotis rufescens. The problem of fertilizing the eggs in the laboratory, which has baffled several previous investigators, has been solved by the discovery that normal spawning may be induced in laboratory tanks by subjecting the mature animals to extended exposure to the air. Material has developed to the late veliger stage and attempts are being made to carry the larvae through metamorphosis.
Dr. A. R. Moore's work during the summer quarter was as follows:
1. The osmotic equivalent of the force of invagination in the larvae of Dendraster excentricus. The method employed was that described last year (Moore and Burt, Journal of Experimental Zoology, 82, 159-68 [1939]), according to which the larvae were reared in a solution of sea water + M/l sucrose. After the tenth division the larval wall is no longer permeable to sucrose molecules. When such larvae are returned to sea water the osmotic pressure of the sucrose molecules is exerted from the inside. This can be rendered sufficient to inhibit the invagination of the gastrula and in the early stages to reverse it. The minimum pressure which would just inhibit invagination was found in occasional cultures to be 0.15 atm. In most of the cultures during the early part of the summer the value was 0.30 atm., while in late July and in August values of 0.60 atm. were found. In comparing the osmotic effectiveness of the different sugars, the disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, and maltose) were found to be equal. Dextrose was much less effective, and any effect it produced tended to disappear in the course of three hours. This raised the question whether the lower effectiveness of dextrose might not be due to the fact that part of the dextrose was metabolized by the cells of the larva. This question was put to the test by the use of a series of different sample carbohydrates, which differ among themselves as to their metabolic availability. Those used were: ethylene, glycol, glycerol, butylene glycol, rhamnose, sorbitol, mannitol, dulcitol, and erythritol. In general it may be said that compounds with the same number of HCOH and COH groups are equally effective, those with less carbons being less effective. Hence metabolic availability made no difference; only the number of hydrated carbons in the molecule did. Whence it must be concluded that the differences in the behavior of the carbohydrates tested is due to differences in the readiness with which they were able to penetrate the walls of the larvae.
2. Directive excitation as a factor in integrated activity of an 8-rayed Patiria miniata (sea star). In this rare example the number of rays is equal and they are of approximately equal size and activity. As a result, the two quartets often pulled in opposite directions causing the animal to assume a lengthened form. This, as previous work has shown, is presumably due to the fact that the conduction of impulses in the central nervous system is limited to adjacent rays. In diffuse light the righting reaction was confused, but with unidirectional stimulation (illumination) co-ordination approximated that in the normal 5-rayed individual. This is apparently due to the reaction of the rays away from the light.
The following is the report of Dr. C. B. van Niel and his coworkers:
Microbiological investigations have comprised the following major subjects:
(1) Physiology and biochemistry of the green and purple bacteria.
(2) Studies on the role of carbon dioxide in the metabolism of non-photosynthetic organisms.
(3) Studies on the relationship between catabolism and anabolism.
(4) Studies on the bacterial decomposition of agar and cellulose.
(5) Taxonomic studies of the Cytophagas.
(6) The biochemistry of mutants of micro-organisms.
1. It has been possible to obtain purple bacteria capable of oxidizing various simple alcohols instead of the usual acidic compounds in their photosynthetic reactions. This has led to an investigation by Dr. J. W. Foster, National Research Council Fellow, of the biochemistry of the decomposition of the alcohols. The finding that secondary alcohols invariably are oxidized only to the corresponding ketones has made it possible to show unequivocally that the organic substrate in such cases functions exclusively as hydrogen donor, and that the cell substances are synthesized from carbon dioxide. The results will be published in the September issue of the Journal of General Physiology.
Further experiments have furnished evidence for the adaptive nature of the enzyme systems involved in the oxidation of primary alcohols and of molecular hydrogen. Thus the results form a connecting link with the previously reported experiments of Dr. Gaffron on the utilization of molecular hydrogen by green algae.
The cultures with various alcohols have, in addition, supplied some fifty strains of pure cultures of purple bacteria to the collection. Among these are now represented all the previously described types. Through a knowledge of their metabolic properties it will soon become possible to set up culture conditions which will lead to the isolation of any one of the known species at will.
A comparative study of the oxidative and photosynthetic metabolism of the purple bacteria has fully substantiated the expectation that respiration and photosynthesis are here equivalent. This in turn has made it possible to investigate whether the formation of cell material in the presence of fatty acids proceeds, during photosynthesis, exclusively from carbon dioxide or whether intermediate stages in the oxidation of the organic substrate are themselves used for the synthetic reactions. The experimental results leave no doubt that the latter is the case.
Mr. S. F. Carson has started to make a study of the nutritional requirements of the green bacteria. This was necessary for the maintenance and preparation of large quantities of green bacteria cultures. It has been established that extracts of soil and mud contain substances necessary for the normal growth of these organisms. Fractionation experiments are under way.
In this connection mention should be made of the discovery, by Dr. J. W. Foster, that the clumped growth of certain species of purple bacteria can be completely prevented by the addition of calcium to the medium. Dr. Arnold has continued his studies on the effect of intermittent light on photosynthesis by algae and purple bacteria. The experimental results show that the chlorophyll/carbon-dioxide ratio, the so-called chlorophyll unit, is considerably smaller for the purple bacteria than for green plants. It seems possible that the absence of chloroplasts in the former might bear some relation to this difference. It has thus become important to determine this ratio for representatives of the blue-green algae, which show a photosynthetic mechanism similar to that of the green plants, but resemble the purple bacteria in their lack of chloroplasts. The isolation of pure cultures of blue green algae has so far been achieved with only one species (Chroococcus spec.), which, because of its size and rapid growth, should lend itself admirably to such studies. Mr. R. Y. Stanier has ably collaborated in culture experiments with various representatives of the blue-green algae.
There is, however, reason to believe that the above-mentioned ratio, so far an experimental fact attributable to various interpretations, may be related to a hitherto unrecognized reaction in the photosynthetic mechanism. Such a reaction revealed by Dr. Arnold's mathematical treatment of the intermittent light data, seems to bear a relation also to the long known but not understood "induction period." It is a reaction which appears to limit the rate of photosynthesis after a period of darkness, and which has a very long lifetime. A further study of this reaction, particularly with purple bacteria, is being planned.
2. The function of carbon dioxide in the metabolism of micro-organisms has been studied not only with photosynthetic organisms but also with various colorless bacteria and molds. In these studies, carried out principally by Mr. S. F. Carson, the valuable co-operation of Drs. Ruben and Kamen of the University of California should be acknowledged. Experiments have been performed using the radioactive carbon isotope as a source of carbon dioxide. These studies have made it possible to demonstrate that carbon dioxide enters into synthetic reactions apart from photosynthetic ones. The synthesis of succinic acid from carbon dioxide and a three-carbon compound has thus been experimentally demonstrated with cultures of propionic acid bacteria. (Carson and Ruben, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, June 1940). Extensive preparations have been made for a study of similar processes with a variety of micro-organisms.
3. Dr. Doudoroff has completed a study of the relationships of catabolic and anabolic reactions with Pseudomonas saccharophila, n. sp. By using a number of similar compounds a conversion of two out of every three carbon atoms of three- and six-carbon compounds into cell material has been established. Also the important intermediate role of pyruvic acid in these conversions has been demonstrated. Although the manuscript has been accepted for publication by the European journal Ensymologia, it is likely that the publication may be delayed indefinitely.
A striking case of the occurrence of assimilatory reactions during the anaerobic breakdown of sugars has been investigated in collaboration with Mr. E. H. Anderson. The amount of synthesis during alcoholic fermentation of sugars is unexpectedly large (about 30 percent of the fermented sugar). Thermodynamic considerations, together with the experimentally obtained facts, show the inadequacy of the concept that the synthetic processes proceed from the foodstuffs with energy released during the catabolic process. In connection with the above-mentioned studies on Ps. Saccharophila the evidence at present points to the existence of a strictly chemical mechanism for the linkage of catabolism and anabolism.
4 and 5. Mr. R. Y. Stanier has completed an extensive survey of the bacteria that decompose agar. Among the representatives isolated in pure culture were found some marine bacteria with morphological characteristics reminiscent of the cellulose-decomposing Cytophaga species. In view of the fact that the morphology and taxonomy of the last-mentioned group have presented difficulties which have led to innumerable controversies, a careful study of the morphology of the marine agar-decomposing bacteria was undertaken, as well as a comparative study of these organisms and the Cytophaga group. The outcome may be deemed of great importance from the standpoint of bacterial taxonomy; the experiments have revealed the existence of a complete series of forms intermediate between the true Cytophagas, represented by the marine agar-decomposing bacteria, and the higher Myxobacteriales. Thus the second important series of relationships among the bacteria proper has become established, the only other known group being represented by the series from the Corynebacteria to the Actinomycetes.
The new series also establishes the relations between these bacterial representatives and the blue-green algae beyond a doubt. (Manuscript accepted for publication by the Journal of Bacteriology.)
Among other noteworthy results should be mentioned the experimental demonstration that the prevailing methods for determining the sugar utilization by bacteria are inadequate. Many previous and conflicting results have now been explained and synthesized.
6. Dr. Foster has continued his studies on mold metabolism, primarily with the aim of working out methods for the use of the Warburg manometric technique in the study of sugar breakdown.
As a partial corollary of these studies Mr. H. Bliss has started an investigation of the biochemical reactions of a number of mutants obtained experimentally from molds and yeasts. It is hoped that some results of the latter investigations may throw light on the biochemical factors in mutations and variations.
Three conferences on photosynthesis, in collaboration with investigators from the University of California, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington at Stanford University were held at the Hopkins Marine Station.
Also, the winter conference of the California biochemists was held here. This meeting was attended by some eighty biochemists from Los Angeles, Stanford, San Francisco, Berkeley, Davis, etc.
It has long been known that the plankton along the coast of California is rich in Hydromedusae. So far these forms have been studied relatively little and only in a superficial manner. This condition can be traced in part to the fact that most of these organisms have life-history stages which can be found neither in the plankton nor in the tide pools. As far as can be judged from available data, these missing stages occur in somewhat deeper waters, where they are difficult to obtain because of their delicate structure. Hence these forms must be raised artificially in the laboratory. Culturing marine plankton organisms has long been a difficult problem which so far has not been worked out successfully. From the beginning of this academic year Dr. T. Skogsberg has devoted himself to this task and to a general study of the Hydromedusae of our local waters. For the culturing of these forms a special apparatus has been constructed which appears to be superior to anything so far built. Although only a few forms have been submitted to culture conditions in this apparatus and it is too early to pass any final judgment on the relative merits of the attempt, we can at least say that the results look promising.
Under the direction of Dr. Skogsberg, Mrs. Frances Becker has continued studies on Sipunculid worms along the following lines:
1. Observations on the behavior of living animals, especially with regard to feeding habits, circulation of blood and coelomic fluid, and ciliary activity.
2. Preparation of material for histological study, using a variety of fixatives and stains. Some specimens received previous treatment which, it is hoped, will in the fixed material reveal certain facts about digestion and about the regeneration of the bodies normally present in the coelomic fluid.
3. Studies of serial sections cut at different planes. Drawings have been made of characteristic portions of the body wall, tentacles, digestive tract, and nephridia.
4. Further check of articles and text references concerning Sipunculids and related forms.
During the summer quarter, Mr. Irving McClurkin undertook a study of the ecology and life history of the Amphipods living on the sandy beaches of central California. This study, which was under the general direction of T. Skogsberg, was initiated by a general survey of the field and by investigations on methods of ecological sampling.
During the spring quarter, Dr. Gilbert M. Smith continued work on his monograph of the marine algae found on the Monterey Peninsula.
Professor F. W. Weymouth with the assistance of Mr. Shannon Allen and Mr. John Evans, graduate students and assistants in physiology, has continued, during the summer of 1940, the program of investigation in invertebrate physiology in progress by members of the staff of the Department of Physiology. Collections of the kelp crab have been made regularly during the quarter and studied on the basis of size frequency and stage of the intermolt cycle. Various tissues from these crabs, chiefly exoskeleton, muscle, midgut gland, and haemolymph, have been analyzed for the content of water, glucose, calcium, and fat. This analysis is intended to serve as a background to tissue metabolism studies of the same animal, initiated last summer.
During the summer quarter, Dr. Winnefred Bradway carried on a series of tests on the reactions of tadpole larvae and metamorphosed young of the tunicate, Clavelina huntsmani, to various neurophil substances.
Morphologically the nervous system of the free-swimming tadpole embryo of tunicates is higher in the phylogenetic scale (i.e., nearer to the vertebrate) than the nervous system of the definitive metamorphosed form. By use of reactions of organisms to neurophil substances, Dr. Moore obtained evidence that among invertebrates increasing phylogenetic complexity goes hand in hand with increasing chemical complexity of the nervous system. In order to shed some light on this problem the reactions of the tadpoles and young metamorphosed forms of the tunicate, Clavelina huntsmani, were tested with regard to relative number and sensitivity to neurophil substances. An abundant supply of organisms was used in the series of experiments, but evidence from the results with nicotine, caffeine, strychnine, atropine, phenol, camphor, and tetraethyl ammonium chloride point to the conclusion that the nervous system of the tadpole is less like that of the vertebrate than the nervous system of the metamorphosed form.
Dr. Berry Campbell, on a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, continued the work begun last summer on the locomotion of the hagfish. The project is now focused on an attempt to define the concept of behavior patterns (as distinguished from reflex activity) in neurological terms ("Integration of Locomotor Behavior Pattern of the Hagfish, Journal of Neurophysiology, pp. 323-28, 1940).
During the spring quarter, Dr. B. R. Coonfield of Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, worked on the general problem of regeneration in the ctenophore, Pleurobrachiai bachei. Dr. Coonfield states: "Although the experiments have been of an exploratory nature to a considerable extent they have shown certain reactions of this animal in response to injury to its body. Pleurobrachia bachei has the ability to regenerate plate rows and tentacles with a fairly high degree of regulation. In most instances the exact number of plate rows which had been cut away will be reformed. The excised pieces will regenerate lost parts only provided the piece of animal has retained the apical organ. Those pieces from which the apical organ had been removed did not show any signs of regenerating. Excised pieces of this animal failed to regenerate the apical organ. This feature together with the comparatively slow rate of regeneration of plate rows and tentacles show this animal to be unlike Mnemiopsis leidyi in these aspects. Certain observations were made in connection with the mechanics of regeneration of the plate rows. This animal does not possess the ability to reorganize itself to the high degree exhibited by Mnemiopsis leidyi."
During the year several thousand specimens of barnacles have been identified for the United States National Museum by Mr. I. E. Cornwall. These specimens were from all parts of the world, and included almost every known genus. One new genus and one new species were described.
During the summer quarter, Mr. D. Davenport of the Department of Biology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, investigated the effects of certain drugs on the heart of the commercial crab, Cancer magister. The effects of the chemical mediator, acetylcholine, on the arthropod heart were observed as well as of the ganglionic block, nicotine. For this work the heart was isolated from the animal and perfused. Work was conducted in the controlled- temperature room at a temperature of 15° C. This room was found to be extremely convenient for this type of work in which large quantities of per fusion fluids must be used continuously and kept at a uniform temperature.
Dr. J. D. Ferry, Society of Fellows, Harvard University, investigated the jellies of the jellyfishes Polyorchis, Pelagia, and Aurelia, and the slimes of the hagfish Polistotrema and slug Ariolimax. Extraction of the Polyorchis mesoglea with water yielded a mucoprotein with 25 percent carbohydrate, similar to that present in the jelly of the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis. Such proteins were absent, however, in Awrelia, and Pelagia. Proteins of alkaline character were obtained from Polyorchis and Pelagia. The slime of Ariolimax consisted largely of a mucoprotein of a very high carbohydrate content. The hagfish slime secretion contained a small amount of mucoprotein, and in addition small coils of protein fibers which in water unrolled to produce a tangled fibrous network. The substance comprising these fibers, termed mitin, resembled silk in containing tryosine but no cystine and but very little carbohydrate.
Dr. Herbert W. Graham, associate professor of zoology, Mills College, spent the summer investigating the dinoflagellates, particularly the genus Ceratium and unarmored forms, of Monterey Bay. Miss Mary North, student assistant working under direction of Dr. Graham, was engaged in collecting and preserving material for the Mills College collections of marine invertebrates.
Dr. N. H. Horowitz, National Research Council Fellow in Zoology, during the summer quarter investigated the chemistry of the respiratory pigment urechrome from the eggs of the echiuroid worm, Urechis caupo. Work consisted of (1) determination of the hydrogenation value by Warburg method; (2) measurement of oxidation-reduction potentials by electrometric titration; (3) analysis of the pigment for copper and iron.
During the summer quarter, Dr. R. E. Hungate, of the University of Texas, continued investigation of the mineral requirements for in vitro survival of the cellulose-digesting protozoa in different colonies of Zootermopsis nevadensis and Z. angiisticollis. The sodium chloride concentration was found to be of importance. Although the same species of cellulose digesting protozoa are found in all the colonies the optimum salt concentration varies according to the colony studied, the salt requirement being correlated to some extent with the species of termite from which the protozoa are taken. The metabolism of the protozoa was also found to vary according to the colony used and in this case also the evidence suggests that
the species of termite determines the type of metabolism shown. Whether this difference is due to physiological modification of the protozoa by the host or is due to differences in the relative numbers of the various cellulose digesting protozoa becomes an interesting problem in the evolution of the termite species and their relation to their intestinal fauna.
Dr. W. W. Newby, associate professor of zoology, University of Utah, continued his investigations on the worm, Urechis. The present study is the histology of the glands secreting the slime tube which the worm uses in feeding.
Dr. Daniel C. Pease, National Research Council Fellow, during the summer quarter worked on the determination of the bilateral plane of Dendraster eggs by chemical concentration gradients. An apparatus has been developed and used which allows a chemical concentration gradient to be formed and maintained across the Dendraster egg. At the same time the eggs are locally stained with a vital dye so that only the region exposed to the greatest chemical concentration is stained. When the eggs are reared to plutei it is therefore possible to specify the relation of the bilateral plane to the concentration gradient. A considerable number of chemicals have been tested to determine whether or not they exert an effect upon the bilateral determination. Certain substances, for example cyanide, have a very decided effect, and the bilateral plane develops in accordance with the concentration gradient. It is to be supposed that enzyme systems controlling morphogenesis are inhibited more on the one side than on the other. And it is eventually to be hoped that the data may be correlated with specific enzyme systems so that by knowing what substances inhibit, and what have no effect, it will be possible to tell the system or systems involved in the bilateral determination.
Mr. J. B. Phillips, Division of Fish and Game, resident at the Hopkins Marine Station, continued his program for the investigation of the sardine. His present chief problem is to attempt to determine the nursery grounds and the relative abundance of young sardines of the year along the California and Lower California coasts. Two annual surveys have already been made relating to this problem. An investigation of the rockfish fishery is also being continued as a secondary problem. A completed report upon the osteology of the sardine (Sardinops caerulea) is now in press.
Mr. Robert D. Byers, another member of the Division of Fish and Game, stationed at the Hopkins Marine Station, is also connected with the sardine investigation. His duties have been to make periodic examinations of the commercial sardine catch in the Monterey region and also to assist with the tagging program. As a secondary problem, Mr. Byers has been making a study of the shark fishery of California which has skyrocketed from a minor to a major position in the fisheries of the state. This leap to prominence is due entirely to the present demand for vitamins and the discovery that shark livers are rich in vitamin A. A preliminary report, "The California Shark Fishery," was published in California Fish and Game (quarterly) for January 1940.
In addition, various members of the staff of the California State Fisheries Laboratory have made the Hopkins Marine Station their temporary headquarters from time to time, while occupied with certain specific marine fishery problems in this region.
During the year Dr. Laetitia M. Snow, formerly of Wellesley College, has carried on a study of Oscillatoria, with the objective an attempt to produce colorless forms from normal blue-green species and to test their ability to use H2S. In order to do this, absolutely pure cultures are necessary and so far the attempt to free the cultures from fungi and bacteria has met with indifferent success. Using a number of methods successful with other organisms, it was found that the fungi invariably overgrew the algae. Using liquid cultures, however, repeated transfers from below the surface of the liquid have in nearly all cases finally eliminated the fungi. The elimination of the bacteria is more difficult since they cling to the gelatinous sheaths of the filaments and grow out with them. After trying a number of methods, repeated transfers of the cleanest filaments seems to be the only one that promises any results. One of the fifteen cultures in the group appears at the present time to be pure, but many more transfers are necessary for absolute proof. A second objective is to determine the morphological characters which are constant and of taxonomic value, since the present keys are often rather vague and difficult to use in the identification of species. For this the morphology of the fifteen cultures, in liquid or on solid media, or under both conditions, is being studied at intervals, drawings made and measurements recorded. From the work so far some doubt is cast upon the value of the absence of a sheath in the classification of this group, since many obviously oscillating forms have definite sheaths.
Dr. David Spence continued during the year his studies of polymerization reactions, more particularly in reference to the variations which occur in both latex and rubber as a practical matter. An account of this work appeared in the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, London, 58, 345-51 (1939), entitled "Some Causes of Variation in the Quality of Raw Rubber and Latex; the Sol: Gel Ratio in Relation to the Ultimate Physical Properties of Rubber."
Mr. Thurlo B. Thomas, of Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, during the summer quarter, gathered materials for a study of the comparative microscopic anatomy of the islets of Langerhans in fishes. Representative members of fifteen families of bony fishes were collected for their pancreas. The distribution of islet cells in the zymogenous tissue, the types of specifically granulated islet cells present and their cytological characteristics will form the substance of this study.
Among visitors to the Station for short periods were: Dr. Caryl Haskins,
Director of the Haskins Laboratories of the General Electric Company ; Dr. Erik Heegaard, California Institute of Technology; Dr. Michael Heidelberger, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York; Dr. Winston Manning, University of Wisconsin; Dr. E. McAllister, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Joseph Needham, University of Cambridge, England; Dr. John Raper, Harvard University; Dr. W. L. Schmitt, United States National Museum; Dr. M. Welsch, University of Liege, Belgium.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER, Director
PHYSIOLOGY
During the summer quarter at the Hopkins Marine Station Professor Weymouth, with the assistance of Mr. Shannon Allen and Mr. John Evans, graduate students and assistants in physiology, has continued the program of research in invertebrate physiology previously detailed in these reports. Collections of Pugettia producta, the kelp crab, were made throughout the season and these were studied on the basis of size frequency and stage of the intermolt cycle. From selected stages certain tissues, chiefly exoskeleton, muscle, midgut gland, and hemolymph, have been analyzed for the content of water, glucose, calcium, and fat. This data is intended to furnish a background to studies, now under way, of the tissue metabolism of the same animal.
FRANK WALTER WEYMOUTH
Professor of Physiology
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
ROLF LING BOLIN :
Brown ragfish taken at Monterey: California fish and game, 26: 287-289, July, 1940.
A re-description of Luvnrus imperialis rafinesque based upon a specimen from Monterey, California: Ibid., p. 282-284.
LAWRENCE ROGERS BLINKS :
Bio-electric potentials in Halicystis. VIII. The effects of light: Journal of general physiology, 23:495-520, March 20, 1940.
The cell sap of Hydrodictyon. (With J. P. Nielsen) : Ibid., 23: 551-559, May 20, 1940.
TAGE SKOGSBERG:
The fishes of the family Sciaenidae (croakers) of California: California. Department of natural resources. Division of fish and game. Fish bulletin no. 54, 1939. 62 p.
A new genus and species of marine Ostracods from South Georgia: California academy of sciences. Proceedings, 4th series, 23: 415-425, December 29, 1939.
DOUGLAS MERRITT WHITAKER :
The brine-shrimp Artemia and its environment: Scientific monthly, 51:192-193, August, 1940.
Determination of polarity in Pelvetia eggs by centrifuging. (With E. W. Lowrance) : Growth, 4: 73-76, May, 1940.
The effect of alkalinity upon mutual influences determining the developmental axis in Fucus eggs. (With E. W. Lowrance) : Biological bulletin, 78:407-411, June, 1940.
The effect of shape on the developmental axis of the Fucus egg: Ibid., 78:111-116, February, 1940.
The effects of ultra-centrifuging and of pH on the development of Fucus eggs: Journal of cellular and comparative physiology, 15:173-188, April 20, 1940.
On the effects of extreme cold and high vacuum on the development of Artemia cysts. (Abstract): Anatomical record, vol. 75, supplement, p. 109, December, 1939.
The tolerance of Artemia cysts for cold and high vacuum: Journal of experimental zoology, 83: 391-399, December 5, 1939.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 51 DECEMBER 31, 1942
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1942
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The resident staff consisted of Walter K. Fisher, director, Rolf L. Bolin, C. B. van Niel, and Tage Skogsberg. Additions to the staff for the summer quarter were Gilbert M. Smith, A. R. Moore, and Elisabeth Deichmann. William A. Arnold, a resident staff member, has been absent since December 1941, engaged in war work.
RESEARCH
Director Fisher completed a monograph of the Echiuroid worms of the North Pacific, and continued studies on Sipunculoid worms of the same area.
Dr. Rolf L. Bolin continued his systematic studies on the marine fishes of the eastern Pacific. Owing to the reluctance of institutions to leave valuable scientific material in a zone of possible military action, similar studies, which were being pursued simultaneously on fishes from Japan and from South America, were interrupted in December by requests from the United States National Museum and the Field Museum of Natural History for the immediate return of borrowed collections.
The loan by Mr. John Steinbeck of a valuable 16 mm. Bell and Howell motion-picture camera equipped with telephoto lenses has enabled Dr. Bolin to take a number of colored pictures of the activities of marine organisms. Initial attempts have been so gratifyingly successful that a film library is planned for the Hopkins Marine Station, which will eventually include films on such ecological subjects as "Foods and Feeding," "Reproduction," and "Protective Coloration," as well as simple portrayals of rare marine organisms.
Miss Dixy Lee Ray continued her investigations on the nervous system of the Myctophidae. Since the war has made it impossible to collect adequate additional material of these deep-sea fishes, the difficult problem of the innervation of the photophores has been reduced to a minor part of the research program and the problem as a whole has been expanded into a comparative neurological study of the fishes of the order Iniomi.
Dr. Elisabeth Deichmann during the summer quarter worked on the systematics of two groups, the Alcyonaria and Holothurioidea, for which she is the recognized American authority.
During the summer quarter Dr. A. R. Moore investigated the mechanics of gastrulation, using lithium exogastrulation as a means of analysis.
Dr. C. B. van Niel and associates have continued experimental work on the group of nonsulfur purple bacteria, and a complete survey has now been made of the general morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics of the numerous strains available. The morphological variability has made it particularly desirable to compare the effects of environmental factors, so that a better evaluation of the significance of morphology in the taxonomy of the group could be attempted. Dr. Arthur L. Cohen has ably assisted in this phase of the work by taking some 2,500 photomicrographs, representing an equal number of cultures of different strains under a variety of conditions (media, age, etc.).
A manuscript on the culture, morphology, general physiology, and taxonomy of the group of nonsulfur purple bacteria has been almost completed.
With Dr. Cohen a study was made of the biochemistry of the yeast Candida albicans, with special reference to its fermentative and oxidative metabolism. The results have been published.
Mr. R. Y. Stanier has made an accurate study of the variability of some Actinomyces species characterized by the production of a litmus-like pigment.
One of the most satisfying developments in our understanding of the microbial decomposition of cellulose has been the demonstration that the reputed inability of Cytophaga species to utilize any carbohydrates except cellulose - invariably and frequently claimed since the discovery of the cytophagas in 1919 - must be ascribed to the production of toxic substances during the sterilization of sugar solutions by heat. An entirely normal attack of the hexoses and of cellobiose, as well as excellent development in the presence of these sugars, has been observed when the substrates were sterilized by filtration. Herewith one of the most persistent anomalies in a unified concept of carbohydrate metabolism has been disposed of.
Mr. Edward H. Anderson definitely established that both the thiazole and pyrimidine halves of the thiamin molecule are necessary for growth of the colorless alga Prototheca sopfii. Studies on the effect of thiamin on the metabolism of this organism have been continued.
Mr. Howard S. Bliss started a study of the "iron bacteria." Methods for the isolation in pure culture, necessary for further physiological and biochemical studies, have been satisfactorily worked out. Mr. Bliss also succeeded in obtaining additional pure cultures of a number of blue-green algae, and started some studies on the physiology of these strains, especially when grown in darkness. Owing to the outbreak of the war the Haskins Fellowship was temporarily discontinued.
Dr. Gilbert M. Smith completed field work on a monograph of the marine algae of the Monterey Peninsula, and the manuscript describing in detail all algae of the area is in an advanced stage of preparation. It is hoped to have this manuscript completed and ready for publication early next spring. This study has shown that there are approximately 400 species in the local area, a number slightly larger than the total number of species on the Atlantic Coast from Hudson Bay to Virginia. Twenty-three of the species found during the course of this survey are new to science and about 75 others have not been known from the Monterey Peninsula previous to this study. A paper describing the new or imperfectly known brown algae is now in press and a paper on the new red algae, written jointly with G. J. Hollenberg, is ready for publication.
Dr. T. Skogsberg continued his work on culturing marine organisms, particularly members of the coelenterates, a phylum in which he is especially interested. In conjunction with this culture work, he carried on investigations on the cytology of a coelenterate genus.
Mr. Irving McClurkin continued his ecological studies on the Amphipods of the sandy beaches, concentrating on growth and age studies which imply extensive culturing of these forms in the laboratory.
Mr. J. B. Phillips, Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Division of Fish and Game of California, continued his residence at the Hopkins Marine Station. His main duties concern biological research on commercially important marine fishes, particularly sardines and sharks. The sardine program is one of long standing, but the shark program was undertaken at the start of this year. The federal government is interested in sharks from the standpoint of vitamin A, which is present in concentrated quantity in the livers of Soupfin shark (Galeorhinus zyopterus), in particular. Our government is very much interested in canned sardines as a food for the armed forces and for lend-lease shipments, and has asked that the entire output of sardines, during this season, be set aside for governmental requirements. Last season's efforts were in this same direction and a banner pack of more than five million 48-pound cases of sardines were packed in California.
Mr. Phillips has been co-operating with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in a joint scale-reading project involving the California sardine, or Pilchard (Sardinops caerulea). The purpose of the project is to determine the seasonal proportion of age groups present in the California fishery. Approximately 10,000 sardines were aged during the six-months long 1941-42 season. Close agreement was reached by three readers independently. Projection apparatus for reading fish scales has been set up at the Hopkins Marine Station, as well as at Jordan Hall, Stanford University.
A 37-page anatomical article, by Mr. Phillips, titled "Osteology of the Sardine (Sardinops caerulea)," was published in the Journal of Morphology.
Owing to present war conditions, Mr. Ben Glading, Bureau of Game Conservation, Division of Fish and Game of California, terminated his residence at the Hopkins Marine Station in June. Mr. Glading is still in charge of the quail survey program for this region of California, but has taken up residence in the field as a war economy measure.
Owing to war conditions too, there was an absence of visiting investigators, who in normal summers have utilized all available space.
Among visitors for short periods were: Dr. M. D. Bryant, University of California; Dr. A. H. Reginald Buller, University of Manitoba; Dr. C. M. Child, Stanford; Mr. Albert E. Galligher, Berkeley, California; Dr. Olga Hartman, Allan Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California, Dr. O. Loewi; Dr. C. W. Tseng, Lingnan University, China. The Station received from Dr. and Mrs. John Robertson, Jr., the gift of 1000 feet of 16 mm. colored moving-picture film dealing with seashore animals of the Pacific Coast.
WALTER KENRICK FISHER, Director
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
ROLF LING BOLIN :
Embryonic and early larval stages of the Cottid fish, Orthonopias triads Starks and Mann: Stanford ichthyological bulletin, 2: 73-82, November 27, 1941.
CORNELIUS BERNARDUS VAN NIEL:
The main outlines of bacterial classification. (With R. JY. Stanier): Journal of bacteriology, 42:437-466, October, 1941.
On the metabolism of Candida albicans. (With A. L. Cohen): Journal of cellular and comparative physiology, 20:95-112, August 20, 1942.
Radioactive carbon as an indicator of carbon dioxide utilization. VIII. The role of carbon dioxide in cellular metabolism. (With others): National academy of sciences. Proceedings, 28:8-15, January, 1942.
IX. The assimilation of carbon dioxide by Protozoa: Ibid., p. 157-161, May, 1942.
TAGE SKOGSBERG:
Redescription of three species of the polychaetous family Polynoidae from California: California academy of sciences. Proceedings, ser. 4, vol. 23: 481-502, July 30, 1942.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 74 DECEMBER 31, 1943
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1943
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
CARMEL-STANFORD HOUSE
Mrs. Edith B. Shuffleton of Fairfax, California, presented to the University her Carmel property which had been operating as a hospital and later as "Forest Lodge," to be used for some appropriate University purpose. It is to be occupied by one of the staff of the Hopkins Marine Station (some six miles distant) and to be available to visiting scientists. With the resumption of normal activities it will be an invaluable and much-needed addition to the Marine Laboratory. It will be known by some such title as "Carmel- Stanford House" and will fill the lack which we have had at the Marine Station of housing facilities for visitors desirous of availing themselves of the uniquely rich marine life of the Monterey Bay region.
The retirement this year of Professor Walter Kenrick Fisher from active duty as professor of zoology, director of the Hopkins Marine Station, and an eminent authority on starfishes of the world and on other echinoderms, completes many years of valued services to the University and to science. Dr. Fisher was appointed director of the Station, while a staff member of the Department of Zoology, twenty-five years ago. The Agassiz Building was then brand new and the first to be erected on a newly acquired site. Its newness and want of facilities marked the beginnings of growth and improvements which finally brought into being the splendidly equipped teaching and research laboratories of our present Hopkins Marine Station. Of course, admixed with these visible developments were the isolation, privations, conflicting concerns, and other handicaps which are among the humanly natural conditions that usually are not recorded. The truer estimates of human accomplishment require the factor of time. Dr. Fisher's colleagues and many friends are glad to express here their grateful recognition not only of the well-known results of his scholarly and administrative labors but also of the less tangible personal qualities that entered into his enduring achievements.
Professor Lawrence Rogers Blinks, a member of our Biology staff who has been associated with ours and various other marine laboratories in this country and abroad, has been appointed to succeed Professor Fisher as director of the Hopkins Marine Station.
BIOLOGY
Professor Blinks, in collaboration with Professors Whitaker and Twitty, has devoted most of his research time to war problems under government contract, results of which cannot now be published. In this work Drs. Robert B. Dean and Morgan Harris, and Messrs. W. E. Berg and Emerson Reed have co-operated. However, Dr. Blinks has devoted some time also to investigating the cultural conditions of Halicystis, which has been kept in the laboratory for well over a year, provided a low temperature (12°) is maintained, and mineral nutrients added to the sea water. This technique will give a supply of cells between the natural collecting period (in the spring) and aid in future year round research. This will be continued at the Hopkins Marine Station, of which Dr. Blinks becomes the director on September 1. Under the direction of Dr. Blinks, Miss Suzanne Biossay investigated the effect of partial shading and shortened-daylight exposures on the anatomy and rubber content of the guayule plant. Mr. Phillips M. Brooks submitted his Doctoral dissertation on "The Effects of Sulfur Dioxide on the Aquatic Plant Elodea," based on work done under tenure of a fellowship from the American Smelting and Refining Company.
CHARLES VINCENT TAYLOR
Herzstein Professor of Biology
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The resident staff consisted of Walter K. Fisher, director, Rolf L. Bolin, C. B. van Niel, and Tage Skogsberg. Additions to the staff for the summer quarter were Gilbert M. Smith and A. R. Moore. William A. Arnold, a resident staff member, has been absent since 1941, engaged in war work.
RESEARCH
Director Fisher has continued studies on Sipunculoid worms in the collection of the United States National Museum, of which institution he was appointed Associate in Zoology, prior to his retirement at the end of the academic year.
Dr. Rolf L. Bolin continued his systematic studies on the marine fishes of California and, using material collected from albacore stomachs, pursued investigations on the osteology of the Myctophidae, a family of deep-sea fishes whose skeletal system has never been studied.
Miss Dixie Lee Ray continued her work on the comparative anatomy of the nervous system of fishes of the order Iniomi.
During the summer quarter Dr. A. R. Moore completed a study on maternal and paternal inheritance in the hybrid pluteus larvae of the sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and S. franciscanus, which is now in press. He conducted experiments on the effects of pyocyanine and lithium on the initial development of the eggs of sea urchin and sand dollar (with E. H. Anderson and Howard S. Bliss). Material was also gathered for a note on the development of larvae from the eggs and sperm of a gynandromorphic sand dollar.
The following is the report of Dr. C. B. van Niel and associates: For the new edition of Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology the Board of Editors has requested a detailed taxonomic-determinative treatment of the genus Propionibacterium and of the order Thiobacteriales. The manuscript of the former has been submitted and accepted. The classification of the sulfur bacteria has presented many difficulties which have necessitated new studies on members of the group, particularly of the colorless marine sulfur bacteria.
The recent investigations, in which Miss D. L. Ray has ably assisted, have clarified many points, and the detailed classification of the colorless sulfur bacteria has been completed. A similar approach to the purple, brown, and green sulfur bacteria is now being worked out.
The monograph on the culture, morphology, general physiology, and taxonomy of the non-sulfur purple and brown bacteria is nearly finished in MS.
Experimental work has been started on the following subjects :
I. The sugar fermentation by Aerobacillus macerans
This fermentation is characterized by the production of acetone, and is therefore at present of great industrial importance. The normal yield of acetone is about 8 percent of the fermented sugar; it is accompanied by a three-times larger quantity of ethyl alcohol. Theoretical considerations of the possible mechanisms of the fermentation process made it appear likely that special environmental conditions could influence the subsequent fate of a number of postulated intermediate substances, so that the final fermentation products would occur in a ratio much more favorable to acetone. The experiments to date have- shown this to be correct, but the extent to which the modification in fermentation products is possible has not yet been determined. It seems, however, that the fermentation can be guided in such a way that the main product is acetone rather than ethyl alcohol.
II. The bacterial retting of guayule shrub
This investigation, a continuation of a project started many years ago, and then temporarily interrupted, aims at the establishment of conditions whereby the yield and quantity of guayule rubber can be improved by a previous retting process. That such improvements are possible has been shown in the past. On the other hand, results have also been reported in which it is claimed that a previous retting of the shrub does not affect either the quality or the quantity of the product.
It has recently been established that the rubber milled out from guayule contains appreciable amounts of heavy metals, especially iron, manganese, and copper. Since these substances are known as powerful oxidation catalysts it may be postulated that the poor quality of most guayule rubber is in part due to oxidative decompositions of the rubber hydrocarbon.
Since various types of decomposition must be admitted as occurring simultaneously during an ordinary retting process, in which many kinds of bacteria participate, it seems likely that only certain of these decomposition processes exert a favorable effect. Rather than by studying the retting with a large variety of pure cultures of bacteria, a theoretical approach has been adopted for further experimental study. On the supposition that during the retting the generation of sulfide, not uncommon in microbial decompositions, would cause the precipitation of the heavy metals as metal sulfides, which in turn would counteract their participation in catalytic oxidations, it became desirable to conduct retting experiments under such conditions that an abundant generation of hydrogen sulfide was insured.
Such experiments have been started, but it has not yet been possible to carry out an analysis of the retted material.
III. The gradual poisoning of land for the cultivation of guayule
The group of plant physiologists at the California Institute of Technology (Drs. F. W. Went, James Bonner, and co-workers) has shown that guayule plants secrete substances in the soil which cause an inhibition of the growth of neighboring plants. The chemical nature of the inhibitory substances is not yet completely known, but they appear to present similarities with dihydroxy- stearic acid, long ago reported as a root-excretory substance with inhibitory action on certain plants.
The general occurrence in soils of micro-organisms capable of oxidizing various organic substances thus made it logical to investigate whether a relationship exists between the microflora of "poisoned" and "non-poisoned" soils.
Special attention has been paid to the number of organisms capable of decomposing dihydroxy-stearic acid.
The results, so far restricted to a study of a very small number of soil samples, have shown that in the now abandoned nursery beds of the Salinas guayule experimental station the number of bacteria capable of decomposing dihydroxy-stearic acid exceeds many times that found in soils not previously planted with guayule. Inoculation experiments with the isolated bacteria have been planned.
IV. The enzymatic synthesis of polysaccharides
With Miss D. L. Ray a study has been undertaken of the peculiar polysaccharide synthesis which characterizes the activities of certain lactic acid bacteria. The perplexing aspect of this problem has been that such a synthesis occurs abundantly from sucrose, but not from the constituent monosaccharides, glucose and fructose, either present alone or in combination. This situation has, in the past, led to two opposite views:
a) The mode of decomposition of disaccharides is fundamentally different from that of the constituent hexoses.
b) The decomposition of disaccharides leads to the formation of "active" hexoses.
Although the latter view appears preferable to the former, it suffers from the failure to specify what the nature of the "active" hexoses is, and thus represents little more than a paraphrase of an experimentally demonstrated fact.
During the past few years the studies on the decomposition of polysaccharides by higher plants and animals have indicated that the initial depolymerization of such substances must be considered as a "phosphorolysis" rather than as a hydrolysis. This led to the idea that sucrose, too, might be attacked by the above-mentioned lactic acid bacteria through an initial phosphorolysis. In that case the first products of the breakdown of the disaccharide would consist of phosphoric acid esters of the monosaccharides, and it seemed possible that a spontaneous polymerization from such esters might be demonstrable.
Our experiments have confirmed this view. Synthesis of the specific polysaccharides has been achieved with crude enzyme preparations of Leuconostoc mesenteoides and of Streptococcus salivarius from both sucrose and glucose-1 phosphate.
V. Physiology of protozoa
Miss Ray has also studied certain morphological and physiological aspects of soil amoeba. The possibility of culturing this organism in the presence of any one of a number of pure cultures of bacteria, and the abundant cyst formation, combined with the ease of obtaining trophozoid development from the cysts, made it tempting to study the heat-resistance of the, cysts by experimental methods. So far, the only available information with respect to the inactivation of amoeba cysts by heat is contained in a study by W. C. Boeck (1921) and the conclusions of his work rest exclusively on staining reactions because cultivation of the amoeba from the cysts was impossible.
Surprisingly, the cysts of the soil amoeba can withstand heating at 70° C. for 10 minutes in liquid suspensions, after which growth of the trophozoid occurs normally. It is thus possible to kill the bacteria with which the protozoa had been growing (by using pure cultures of a variety of non-spore forming bacterial species) while not affecting the viability of the amoeba cysts by this treatment. In this way absolute pure cultures of the soil amoeba can readily be obtained. Some preliminary studies on the nutrition of such pure cultures have been carried out, but until now growth has not been observed with media of known composition.
VI. The influence of stresses in the environment of the direction of growth of micro-organisms
Dr. Stanier has observed that certain myxobacteria respond to stresses in the culture medium in much the same way as do nerve cells. The results of this investigation have been published.
VII. The Ph.D. dissertations of Mr. J. O. Thomas and of Mr. E. H. Anderson have been completed; Dr. Stanier's Ph.D. thesis has been published in full.
Dr. T. Skogsberg finished a study of the taxonomy of the Coelenterate family Polyorchidae and the resulting manuscript has been accepted for publication. In addition he carried on work on the cytological aspect of digestion and on the relation between light and the spawning activities of a member of this family.
Mr. Irving McClurkin continued his studies on the systematics and ecology of the local species of the Amphipod family Orchestiidae and had brought this work close to completion when he was appointed to a position with the United States Bureau of Entomology and hence interrupted temporarily his work with us.
Of prime importance to the Station has been the completion by Dr. Gilbert M. Smith of a monograph describing all the marine algae found on the Monterey Peninsula. This is now in course of publication by the Stanford University Press. Each of the 425 species of the local flora is described in full and illustrations are given of about three-fourths of them. During the course of this investigation approximately 25 new species have been discovered and about 80 previously known species have been collected on the Monterey Peninsula for the first time. Some of the results have been incorporated in two papers published this past year, one discussing brown algae, the other (a joint publication with Professor G. J. Hollenberg of Redlands University) discussing red algae.
During the year Mr. Howard Bliss has been a research assistant, under a grant from Merck and Company of Rahway, New Jersey. This assistantship was established to investigate the effect of penicillin on the metabolism of micro-organisms.
Dr. Earl H. Myers has for the past eight months worked as a visiting scientist and Research Associate in Paleontology on funds from the Geological Society of America and from Sigma Xi. He is engaged in studying the ecological relationships of the Foraminifera and their role in marine sedimentation in relation to paleo-ecology and petroleum geology. During his sojourn at the Station, two papers and two reports have appeared as outgrowths of his major problem which is a qualitative and quantitative study of the Foraminifera of the Java Sea and the conditions that limit the geographic distribution of species. The material for these studies was taken by him over a period of 16 months from stations situated at intervals of one degree and from many coral islands of the region.
Mr. Julius B. Phillips, Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Division of Fish and Game of California, continued his residence at the Hopkins Marine Station. He has been co-operating with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in a joint scale-reading project involving the California sardine or pilchard, Sardinops caerulea. Data from two sources have now been accumulated in which the daily age composition of the commercial sardine catch at the different ports has been determined. This project is furnishing facts regarding abundance, mortality rates, and the rate of growth of the different age groups constituting the catch.
Owing to current war conditions, the research program of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries is suffering because of loss of personnel and of boats to the Armed Forces. As a consequence, little more than the necessary routine work can be carried on.
During the period from August 1942 to February 1943, Mr. James T. Deuel and Mr. Motje W. Hansen also resided at the Hopkins Marine Station, as members of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries. They assisted with the sardine program by sampling, daily, from a biological standpoint, the commercial sardine catch in the Monterey region. In February, Mr. Hansen enlisted in the Navy, while Mr. Deuel entered the Army. Dr. David Spence throughout the year confined his work almost entirely to problems connected with the production of rubber from various plant sources, more particularly from Guayule, Kok-Saghyz, and Cryptostegia.
As consultant to the Office of Rubber Director in Washington, he initiated studies on the extraction of rubber from these sources and on the treatment of rubber in order to avoid deterioration in processing.
Owing to war conditions there has been an absence of visiting investigators, and student attendance during the summer quarter has been about one-fourth normal.
Among visitors for short periods were: Dr. C. M. Child, Stanford; Dr. P. Burkholder, Yale University; Mr. Albert E. Galligher, Berkeley, California; Dr. Harold Hibbert, McGill University; Dr. Laszlo Zechmeister, California Institute of Technology.
WALTER K. FISHER, Director
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
CORNELIUS BERNARDUS VAN NIEL:
Biochemistry of microorganisms: Annual review of biochemistry, 12: 551-586, 1943.
EARL HAMLET MYERS :
Biology, ecology, and morphogenesis of a pelagic foraminifer: Leland Stanford junior university. Publications. University series. Biological sciences, 9:1-30, 1943.
Ecologic relationships of some recent and fossil Foraminifera: National research council. Division of geology and geography. Report of the committee on marine ecology as related to paleontology, May 2, 1942; Appendix N of annual report of the Division for 1941-1942. Washington, D.C., National research council, 1942. p. 31-36.
Life activities of Foraminifera in relation to marine ecology: American philosophical society. Proceedings, 86: 439-458, July 8, 1943.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 97 DECEMBER 31, 1944
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1944
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
The staff through the year consisted of Lawrence Rogers Blinks, Cornelius Bernardus van Niel, Tage Skogsberg, professors; Rolf Ling Bolin, associate professor; and Daniel Chapin Pease, research associate (acting assistant professor, summer quarter). Further additions in the summer quarter were: Gilbert Morgan Smith, Douglas Merritt Whitaker, professors; Arthur Charles Giese, associate professor; Edward Lawrie Tatum, assistant professor; Arthur Russell Moore (University of Oregon), lecturer; and Emerson A. Reed, research associate. William A. Arnold, assistant professor, continued on leave of absence for war work. Visiting investigators were Earl H. Myers, David Spence and members of the State and Federal Fisheries Offices.
Due to war conditions, a minimum of visiting investigators and students were in residence throughout the autumn, winter and spring quarters. The summer quarter, however, showed a gratifying increase of students to about double the number of the previous war years. Several of these were able to come because of the division of the summer quarter into two halves of six weeks each; this also enabled the classes with most field work to utilize the better tides of early summer. Some 35 different students and scientific workers were in residence for varying periods.
Although the war also prevented a full realization of plans, a start was made in making the Marine Station a more integral part of the biology department, as well as increasing its utilization by biologists from other institutions. Professor Blinks continued to give many of the lectures in his course of general physiology at the campus in the winter quarter; and professors Smith, Whitaker, Giese and Tatum participated in courses at the Marine Station in the summer. This policy will be continued and extended in the coming year. A consolidation of library collections was greatly aided by the periodic visits of Fred M. Falconer, assistant librarian, who is in a position to coordinate all the scattered biological libraries.
An important aid in making it easier for campus and other scientific workers to use the Station for short stays was the advent of "Camel-Stanford House." This attractive building in Carmel Woods, five miles from the Station, was given to Stanford in 1943 by Mrs Edith B. Snuffleton. Some 30 visitors, in addition to the director and his family, were accommodated during the first six months of the year, before the building was leased as a convalescent annex to a Carmel hospital. After this emergency, it is anticipated that the building will play a growing role in the development of the Station. The adjacent cottage continues to house station staff. The transfer of a station wagon from the department of geology helps to make this property accessible for those without cars, and serves many other laboratory functions such as collecting and field trips.
RESEARCH
Walter K. Fisher, emeritus professor, spent the autumn quarter at the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C., working on literature appertaining to echiuroid and sipunculoid worms. Publication of several papers on these animals is delayed on account of the war Professor Blinks continued work, in collaboration with Dr. D. C. Pease and Mr. Emerson A. Reed, on a contract with the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Reports were submitted to this agency, which may later be released for publication. Dr. Blinks also continued Hopkins Marine Station research on the effects of enzymes and of surface-active substances, on the freshly extruded protoplasmic surfaces of the large-celled alga, Bryopsis using both electrical and visual criteria of alteration. So far, neither proteinases nor lipase have altered the surface, though other agents (detergents, tannin, etc.) do so. Apparently the orientation of surface layers is such as to protect hydrolyzable linkages from the access of enzymes. A start has also been made on the study of lime deposition by calcareous red algae (Corallines).
During the summer quarter Mr. Maxwell S. Doty and Mr. Richard Northcraft worked on physiological problems related to algal ecology.
Professor Bolin completed a taxonomic monograph of the marine cottid fishes of California. In order to promote the primary purpose of the work of A handbook for the identification of specimens, and to confine it within reasonable limits, all discussions of the phylogenetic patterns were omitted. It is proposed to publish these discussions and to explain the reasons for the drastic nomenclatural modifications in a series of separate papers dealing with individual genera or groups of closely related genera.
Work was also continued on the osteology of the lantern fishes.
Miss Dixy Lee Ray made excellent progress on her investigation of the nervous system of the fishes of the order Iniomi. Improved technique has permitted the tracing of the peripheral nerves in much greater detail than in any other study of similar magnitude dealing with fishes. It has finally been possible to trace the nerve endings to the body photophores of the Myctophidae, and it is hoped that the homologies of the individual organs may be definitely established and some understanding gained of the evolution of the various light patterns of these deep-sea fishes.
Dr. Herbert W. Graham of Mills College made a brief visit during which he developed further a colorimetric method for estimating the phytoplankton content of sea water.
Dr. A. R. Moore, during the summer quarter, completed measurements of the oxygen consumption of sea-urchin eggs, for a paper on the effects of lithium and of pyocyanine on respiration and development. He also collected data for the study of races in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, using measurements of larval skeletons; and obtained records of the effects of acetylcholine and eserine on the musculature of Nereis and Ureohis. He directed the work of two students, Mr. and Mrs. Hess, on an embryological problem.
Dr. Earl H. Myers continued work on the ecology of the Foraminifera of the Java Sea in relation to local stratigraphy and petroleum geology. The work will be illustrated by photographs taken with an originally designed camera that combines high magnification with an unusual depth of focus. Dr. Myers was made a member of the National Research Council Committee on Marine Ecology as related to paleoeoology; he is also acting as consultant to the Trade Commissioner of the Netherlands East Indies in the post-war planning for oceanographie and fisheries programs. Reports were submitted to the National Research Council, and an article written on Science and Scientists of the Netherlands East Indies. A grant in aid was received from the Society of the Sigma Xi for the purchase of special equipment.
Professor van Niel completed and published a monograph on the culture, morphology, physiology, and classification of the non-sulfur and brown bacteria.
A survey of the present state of knowledge, especially of the carotenoid pigments of the purple bacteria, led to the conclusion that it is badly confused, and in many respects most uncertain. After consultation with Dr. L. Zechmeister, of the California Institute of Technology, it was decided to resume work on these. Dr. van Niel familiarized himself with the newest and most satisfactory methods during a months sojourn in Dr. Zechmeisters laboratory. At that time a cooperative investigation of the stereoisomerization of spirilloxanthin, the main earotenoid pigment of Rhodosplrillum rubrum, was initiated. The results of this study have been prepared for publication.
A study of the nature and distribution of various carotenoid pigments in other species of purple and brown bacteria, started in Dr. Zechmeister’s laboratory, was continued at the Hopkins Marine Station, in collaboration with Mrs. Mary North Allen. Of especial interest at this time are the results obtained with the brown photosynthetic bacteria. These organisms appear to possess two chief carotenoids, hitherto not found elsewhere. Adequate amounts for a chemical investigation of these pigments have not yet been available. They have, however, been isolated in pure crystalline form, and characterized by the determination of their absolute absorption spectra. A quantitative method for their estimation has been worked out on this basis.
With this method it has been shown that, in the presence of oxygen the yellow pigment is partly converted into the red carotenoid. Experiments have also established that this conversion represents a biological oxidation, and depends for its occurrence on the active metabolism of the cells. A reconversion of the red into the yellow compound under reducing conditions is indicated by results obtained thus far, but cannot yet be considered as conclusively demonstrated.
While a special biochemical function of carotenoid pigments in metabolism of plants and animals has long been suspected, no convincing experimental evidence has yet been produced as to the nature of their role except in the case of retinin, the carotenoid pigment of the retina, which plays a part in the biochemical mechanism of vision. It now appears possible that a study of the carotenoids of the brown photosynthetic bacteria may contribute another instance where a specific function could be ascertained.
Present knowledge of the essential nutrient requirements of the non-sulfur purple and brown bacteria is still incomplete. That special growth factors are needed was demonstrated or indicated by previous experiments on the nutrition of the organisms. With Mrs. Allen, experiments have been carried out with six representative strains of this group. From the available results it can be concluded that these strains need riboflavin and biotin as the only special nutrilites, but differ in their quantitative requirement for these vitamins.
It is hoped that the contemplated continuation of these studies may contribute to an understanding of the specific biochemical function of biotin in metabolism.
Dr. Mortimer P. Starr, National Research Council Fellow, has started work on the nutrition and metabolism of the plant-pathogenic bacteria, especially of the members of the genus lanthomonas. In addition to the general aspects of this study, a special investigation of the yellow pigment(s) produced by these bacteria has been started.
Mr. F. Haxo, who had begun a study of the pigments of Neurospora crassa and some of its mutants at the campus, continued this work at the Hopkins Marine Station during the summer. Methods for the separation and identification of the several components of the pigment complex were studied.
Under the auspices of a research fellowship, established by Merck and Co. for this purpose, Mr. H. S. Bliss continued the study of the effect of penicillin on susceptible bacteria until January, 1944, when he joined the armed forces. The results obtained in this work have been communicated in reports to Merck and Co. Due to difficulties in finding qualified collaboration, the work has since been suspended.
Dr. van Niel has been occupied since February 15, 1944, as consultant to the B.A.I.C. of the Emergency Rubber Project of the U.S.D.A. at Salinas, Calif. Much work has been done on the micro-organisms associated with the microbial decomposition of guayule shrub, the studies being conducted in close collaboration with the Salinas program. The principal aspects have dealt with investigations of the specific microflora of satisfactorily retted shrub, and with the development of methods for the large-scale practical application of this process, which results in a considerable improvement in the quality of the crude rubber.
J. B. Phillips, Senior Fisheries Researcher, of the Division of Fish and Game of California, continued his residence at the Hopkins Marine Station. His duties concern biological research on commercially important marine fishes, particularly the California sardine, or pilchard. During the past year, as a representative of the Division of Fish and Game, he has continued cooperating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a joint scale reading project involving the sardine. The daily cannery catch at the ports of San Francisco, Monterey and San Pedro have now been analyzed for three consecutive seasons. An interesting disclosure is that one year class, of 1939 origin, has dominated the fishery for the three seasons under consideration. This important year class has yielded a total of over 700,000 tons, or about 46% of the total tonnage landed in California during the past three seasons. Mr. Phillips is also working on the problem of rate of growth and sex ratio in the sardine.
R. D. Byers, Senior Fisheries Researcher, of the Division of Fish and Game of California, carried on the field sampling and statistical analysis of the commercial sardine catch in the Monterey area from August, 1943, until July, 1944. At that time he resigned to accept a similar position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work on herring in Alaska. Mr. Byers is co-author with H. C. Godsil of a manuscript, now in press, dealing with the comparative morphology of the economically important tunas in the California fishery.
In January and July, the fisheries research staff of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Division of Fish and Game, held staff symposia at the Hopkins Marine Station. Fields of review and discussion were: Fishing Mortality and Fish Tagging.
Mr. J. C. Marr of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in residence during the summer. Mr. Horacio Rosa of Brazil assisted in his studies.
Professor Skogsberg continued his work on the spawning activities of the Genus Polyorchis and initiated work on the gametogenesis of Coelenterata, especially of the local sea anemone, Anthopleura xanthogrammica.
Professor Smith’s research activities have centered around study of the sea lettuce (Ulva). Collections have been made daily and it has been found that this alga becomes fertile every two weeks. The periodicity of reproduction has been correlated with the time of day plants are exposed by tides and the length of exposure. Studies have also been made on the factors causing fusion of the gametes liberated by Ulva.
During the past year the Stanford Press has published Professor Smith's Marine Algae of the Monterey Peninsula. This book is based on collections made for the past 15 years and is the first complete account of the seaweeds along any portion of the western coast of the United States. It will naturally be invaluable for investigators and students at the Marine Station for many years to come; but since it also covers 80jl of the species along the entire Pacific Coast of the United States, its field of usefulness is much wider than its title indicates.
Dr. David Spence has confined his activity, practically entirely, to problems of the Office of the Rubber Director, in Washington, in connection with both natural and synthetic rubber. Studies have been made on means to improve the quality of Guayule rubber and the plasticizing of synthetic rubber (GR-S).
Visitors for short periods during the year Included: Professor Richard M. Eakin, chairman of the department of Zoology, University of California, and Professor and Mrs. S. C. Brooks of the same department; Dr. Bradley T. Scheer, director of the Kerchkoff Marine Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology; Professor Arthur Svihla, chairman of the department of Zoology, University of Washington; and Dr. Lynn T. White, Jr., President of Mills College. It is hoped that closer relations with all these institutions may result from these visits. Dr. Earl K. Darrow, of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, gave a seminar talk on "Entropy" during the summer quarter. Various staff members and visiting investigators contributed other seminar addresses.
It seems apparent that the Hopkins Marine Station has a place in Stanford, and in Pacific Coast, biology, and that after the war it will see new growth, carrying forward its excellent traditions, built up by its director of the past quarter century, Dr. Walter K. Fisher.
LAWRENCE ROGERS BLINKS
Director
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Bolin, Rolf Ling. A review of the marine cottid fishes of California; Stanford ichthyological bulletin. 5:1-155, October, 1944.
van Niel, Cornelius Bernardus. The culture, general physiology, morphology, and classification of the non-sulfur purple and brown bacteria: Bacteriological reviews, 8:1-118, March, 1944.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 120 DECEMBER 31, 1945
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1945
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Faculty in residence throughout the year included: Lawrence Rogers Blinks, Cornelius Bernardus van Niel, Tage Skogsberg, professors; Rolf Ling Bolin, associate professor; and Mortimer Paul Starr (National Research Council Fellow), research associate. In the summer quarter this staff was augmented by Gilbert Morgan Smith, professor; Arthur Charles Giese, associate professor; Ray Leighton Watterson (University of California), acting assistant professor; and Arthur Russell Moore (University of Oregon, lecturer Visiting investigators. working through the year were: John C. Marr (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Earl H. Myers, Julius B. Phillips (California Division of Fish and Game), and David Spence. During the summer, or for briefer stays, visitors included S. C. and M. M. Brooks (University of California); Berry Campbell and Rosalind Novik (University of Minnesota); C. M. Child (Stanford); Maxwell Doty (Northwestern University); Alfred Marshak (U. S. Public Health Service); and Albert Tyler (California Institute of Technology);
The Station was honored during the past academic year by the election of Professor van Niel to the National Academy of Sciences.
The autumn, winter and spring quarters continued to be quiet, due to the war, and to the participation of Professors Blinks and Bolin in teaching courses at the campus one quarter each. However, the laboratories were filled to capacity during the summer quarter, for the first time in many years. The number of students registered reached 29, or nearly double that of the previous summer (which had in turn doubled 1943). Some of the students were enabled to come because of the division of our summer quarter into two six-week terms; but more than half the number stayed the entire summer. The quality of the students was as gratifying as their quantity; and the geographical distribution improved, with several coming from Midwestern states. Housing conditions were difficult, but were met by personal canvassing of local residents, and the establishment of a men's dormitory in the Agassiz Laboratory. It will probably be necessary to regain Carmel-Stanford House next year to accommodate students and visiting investigators. About 45 different students and investigators utilized the laboratory in 1944-45.
Walter K. Fisher, professor emeritus, carried on determinations of species of Sipunculoid and Echiuroid worms and of hydrocorals forwarded by the Smithsonian institution, of which he is Associate in Zoology. He identified the collection of Sipunculoidea and Echiuroidea belonging to the American Museum of Natural History.
Professor Blinks continued investigations as to the nature of the freshly extruded protoplasmic surfaces in Bryopsjs, utilizing the polarizing microscope in their study. These surfaces extend out beyond the highly birefringent cellulose wall, and are at first fairly free from chloroplasts; a faint though definite birefringence is visible at the protoplasmic surface, indicating that it is not a purely liquid structure, but has some degree of orientation. There are also some remarkable sphaerocrystale extruded upon crushing or cutting; these are probably protein, and many times larger than starch grains.
Investigations were also continued on the concurrent effects of temperature and of ionic content of the sea water, upon the bio-electric potential of Halicystis. The magnitude, as well as the duration, of the potassium effect is increased by low temperatures, and decreased by higher temperatures. It is possible that this is due to the more rapid entrance of potassium at the higher temperatures, thereby decreasing the experimentally altered gradient across the surface; but even more important appears to be a real alteration in the response of the protoplasm to potassium, possibly in connection with metabolism. The influence of respiratory poisons and stimulants upon the effect is also under study.
With Mr. Francis Haxo, studies were undertaken on the role of phycoerythrin in the photosynthesis of red algae, using monochromatic light sources (mercury arc plus filters), and employing the polarographic method of oxygen determination to test photosynthetic rates. High efficiency in the green wave lengths is indicated.
Mr. Richard Northcraft continued studies relating the ecological position of various algae to their tolerance of temperature, oxygen requirements, and desiccation.
Professor Bolin continued his studies on the systematics and morphology of the marine fishes of the Pacific Coast of North America. These include an attempt to plot the evolutionary history of the Cottidae, and studies on the squamation and on the reproductive organs of the members of this family, as well as an investigation of the osteology of .the Myctophidae. In addition, at the request of the California State Division of Fish and Game, a much needed systematic review of the commercially important family Scorpaenidae was initiated in cooperation with Mr. J. B. Phillips. In the summer quarter Dr. Bolin taught a new course in Ichthyology, which should prove useful in the training of fisheries workers.
Miss Dixy Lee Ray completed her dissertation for the doctorate on the peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus with comparative notes on other Iniomi. This investigation clarified numerous points in the comparative anatomy of the nervous system of fishes, resulted in the discovery of two sympathetic ganglia and several nerves hitherto unknown in the class, and yielded interesting incidental information on other systems. For example, it was found that in the Myctophidae the swim bladder has been transformed into a fat-storage organ (a unique development), and the kidneys have fused into a single median organ, that in Tarletonbeania crenularis a portion of the endorhachis has split off and developed into an independent ligament which suspends the eyeball from the skull.
Mr. Rene Sanchez Nunez, working under the direction of Dr. Bolin, undertook an investigation of the biology and life history of the bienny eel, Cebidichthis violaceus in an attempt to evaluate the adequacy of the present legal size and catch limits as measures for the protection and conservation of this food fish.
Mrs. H. M. Brooks was in residence during two weeks of the spring quarter, carrying out studies on the oxidation-reduction potential of the medium surrounding developing echinoderm eggs.
Dr. Campbell, with the assistance of Miss Novik, made electrophysiological studies on conduction through synapses and cell-bodies of nerves in Elasmobranchs.
Dr. Child made several visits to the Station to investigate early development in the tunicate Clayelina.
Dr. Doty studied the flora of the intertidal zone, with special attention to the correlation between certain critical tide levels and the vertical distribution of algae.
During the summer quarter Professor Giese collaborated in the teaching of two courses with Professor Blinks. With Miss Margaret Briggs he also carried out studies on the effects of ultraviolet light on gametes of echinoderms. A great difference in sensitivity was found, the sperm being much more susceptible than the eggs. If this is a true difference in sensitivity to ultraviolet and not merely a decreased resistance of the sperm to all unfavorable conditions, it has considerable theoretical interest. The sensitivity of sperm and eggs of the sand dollar Dendraster exeentricus to heat, alcohol and unbalanced salt solutions was therefore studied. Sperm seem even more resistant than eggs to heat near the lethal temperature, the eggs fertilized with such sperm developing normally and at the same rate as the controls. Sperm are only slightly more sensitive than eggs to alcohol near the lethal concentration. Over most of the range tested, the gametes show similar sensitivity. The general conclusion is reached that the gametes do not show very great differences in sensitivity to various noxious factors; therefore the differential response in the ultraviolet indicates a fundamental difference in sensitivity. This is perhaps due to the greater exposure of the sperm nucleus, which is protected by only a slight amount of cytoplasm as compared to the egg.
Under the direction of Professor Giese, Mrs. Elizabeth Grossman began her thesis problem on the physiology of Tigriopus, a tide pool crustacean, Miss Margaret Briggs continued her studies on the pure culture of a soil nematode, and Mr. Duane Heath continued his investigation of the comparative physiology of anesthesia.
Mr. Marr carried out work on the oil content of the northern anchovy (Engraulis Mordax Girard). The immediate aim was to determine whether or not this species is capable of supporting a profitable reduction fishery. Other biological data were collected during the course of this study. An attempt to raise eggs and larvae of E. mordax in the laboratory was planned, but no material could be obtained. Other work included the completion of a manuscript entitled "A preliminary boat-catch analysis of the Oregon-Washington pilchard fishery", and a systematic study of the genus Aristostomias, particularly A. scintallans Gilbert.
Dr. Marshak investigated the possible antibiotic properties of the lichen Ramulina.
Professor Moore made studies of the formative and metabolic effects of the oxidative catalyst 2,4-dinitrophenol on the developing eggs of Dendraster. He also investigated the chemical stimulation of the nerve cord of Urechis and the significance of .its action potentials.
Dr. Myers continued his work on the biology of the Foraminifera.
Accepted reviews will appear in the National Research Council report on Marine Ecology, and Science and Scientists of the Netherlands East Indies. He has also submitted reports on the post-war plans of the Fisheries and Oceanography Department of the Netherlands East Indies, and for the resumption of International Cooperation through visits of scientists to the Netherlands East Indies, to appear in the August issue of "Chronica Botanica."
Professor van Niel conducted studies on the morphology, ecology, and classification of the purple and green sulfur bacteria, preparatory to the detailed treatment of this group of organisms for the next edition of Sergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Experiments upon the function of biotin in microbial metabolism have made slow progress; specific conclusions cannot yet be drawn.
Studies on growth factors for non-sulfur purple and brown bacteria, carried out in collaboration with Dr. M. P. Starr, National Research Council Fellow, have also progressed slowly. Nutrient requirements among the various species of this group differ considerably, but in a given species they are the same whether the organism develops photosynthetically (in illuminated cultures in the absence of air) or non-photosynthetically (in cultures maintained in darkness with access to air).
Further experiments on certain species of non-sulfur purple bacteria have shown that the conversion of a yellow into a red carotenoid, induced by the presence of oxygen, may not be reversible. However, the results are not yet fully conclusive.
Work on microbial action on guayule shrub, carried out in collaboration with the Emergency Rubber Project of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has led to a better understanding of the specific organisms and principles involved. In a satisfactory "ret" there is a succession of special bacterial types, and methods are now under development which will permit of a large-scale application of the responsible organisms under controlled conditions. Industrial rubber companies report substantial improvement in the quality of the rubber obtained by this process.
Mr. Phillips continued work on the age analysis of the commercial catch of sardines (Sardinops caerulea). He has also commenced an age analysis of several of the important rockfishes (Scorpaenidae) of California. In conjunction with Professor Bolin he is working on a handbook of the rockfishes of California. During January 29-31, 1945, biologists of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Fish Conservation and Bureau of Game Conservation, all representing the California Division of Fish and Game, met at the Hopkins Marine Station to discuss fisheries and game management.
Professor Skogsberg continued his work on the Coelenterata. However, most of his time during this year was spent in an analysis of the thermal records of the water of Monterey Bay collected during the last years of the Hydrobiological Survey of Monterey Bay, i.e., during 1934 to 1937, inclusive. This will supplement the already published results of the long series of thermal records begun in 1929 and carried on uninterruptedly during nine years.
Professor Smith's researches continued upon the reproduction of various species of Ulva; with confirmation of the previous summer's observations on periodicity. Mr. Richard Northcraft continued observations on changes in the flora when algae begin to recolonize rocks from which all algae have been removed. Some of the test plots have been running for more than 18 months, but as yet none of them has developed the algal flora present at the time the rocks were denuded.
Dr. Starr investigated various aspects of the metabolism of Phytopathogenic bacteria including nutritive requirements of the genus lanthomonas and of the gram -positive bacterial phytopathogens; chemistry of the Xanthomonas carotenoid; serological relationships in the genus Xanthomonas; systemstics of the gram-positive, monotrichous, nonsporing species; miscellaneous morphological, biochemical and cultural work. In collaboration with Mrs. Phoebe Betty Starr, a study has been under way concerning the microbial degradation of some "unfermentable" forms of anhydro-levulose.
During a brief visit in the autumn quarter, Professor Tyler carried out investigations on the immunological behavior of various invertebrate eggs and sperm. These have possible evolutionary significance.
Professor Watterson was occupied largely in organizing his course of Comparative and Experimental Embryology. However, he found several problems in this field worthy of further research.
Seminars by visiting investigators and invited speakers were held each week during the summer quarter. One of the most valuable of these was a field expedition conducted to regions of ecological interest by Professor Wiggins, Director of the Natural History Museum.
LAWRENCE ROGERS BLINKS
Director
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS' MARINE STATION
Blinks, Lawrence Rogers. Carbon dioxide as a facilitating agent in the initiation and growth of bubbles in animals decompressed to simulated altitudes. (With others): Journal of general physiology. 28:225-240, January 20, 1945.
Muscular activity and bubble formation in animals decompressed to simulated altitudes. (With others): Journal of general physiology, 28:213-223, January 20, 1945.
Bolin, Rolf Ling. A review of the marine cottid fishes of California: Stanford ichthyological bulletin. 3:1-135, October, 1944.
van Niel, Cornelius Bernardus. Biochemical problems of the chemoautotrophic bacteria: Physiological reviews. 23:538-354, October, 1944.
Principles and practice of Guayule shrub retting. (With P. J. Allen and R. Emerson): Salinas, Calif., CU. S. Dept. of Agriculture Emergency rubber project, Guayule rubber extraction research unit, Microbiological section, 1944. 15p. (Mimeographed)
Recent advances in our knowledge of the physiology of microorganisms:
Bacteriological reviews, 8:225-234, December, 1944.
Studies on the pigments of the purple bacteria. II. A spectroscopic and stereochemical investigation of spirilloxanthin. (With A. Polgar and L. Zechmeister): Archives of biochemistry, 5:245-264, October, 1944.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN SEVENTH SERIES, No. 142 DECEMBER 31, 1946
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1946
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Faculty in residence included: Lawrence Rogers Blinks, Cornelius Bernardus van Niel (on sabbatical leave after January 15, 1946), and Tage Skogsberg, Professors: and Rolf Ling Bolin, Associate Professor. During the summer quarter of 1946, Professors Gilbert Morgan Smith and Arthur Charles Giese, augmented the staff; and Ray Leighton Wetterson (University of California) was Acting Assistant Professor, teaching the course in embryology. Dr. Mortimer P. Starr completed his second year as National Research Fellow. Visiting investigators included Dr. Alfred P. Marshak and collaborators, of the U. S. Public Health Service; Professor C. Y. Chang (Peking University) and Dr. Louis DeLanney (San Jose State College). Julius B. Phillips of the California Division of Fish and Game and John C. Marr, of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, continued with headquarters at the Station.
Professor Bolin taught for two quarters at the Stanford Campus, and Professor Blinks for one.
The year just finished was the largest in point of enrollment for some 12 years, 4-8 students having attended. Host of these (40) were concentrated in the summer quarter, but a number of graduate students did research or special problems throughout the year. The geographical distribution was broad, students coming from six or more Midwestern universities as well as from major western ones. China, India, Mexico, Canada and Venezuela were represented among the foreign countries. The quality of students was extremely good, the returning veterans being outstanding in their interest and application.
Including faculty and visiting investigators, over 60 people utilized the laboratory in the academic year. The temporary dormitory in the Agassiz laboratory was completely filled during most of the summer, and was a convenience throughout the year.
Interesting seminar talks were given by Professor Chang, on conditions of science during the war years in China, and by Dr. H. A. F. Gohar, Director of the Ghardaqa Marine Station, Egypt, on "The Red Sea." A new colored motion picture film, taken at the Station by W. H. Oliver, Jr., was shown at another seminar. A copy of this film has been given to us by Mr. Oliver, and is acknowledged elsewhere under "gifts".
An account of research activities follows: Professor Emeritus W. K. Fisher revised the phylum Echiuroidea (a group of marine worms), this work having been published by the U. S. National Museum. A paper on new genera and species in this group and in the Sipunculoidea was submitted for publication. Routine identification of species was carried on for the National Museum and for the University of Hawaii.
Professor Blinks continued studies of bio-electric phenomena, and of photosynthesis. An advance in the former field consisted of direct perfusion of the long cylindrical cells of Bryopsis, whereby solutions could be changed at the inner, (vacuolar) surface of the protoplasm. This is the second case known where this has proved possible: as in the former instance (Halicystis) the vacuolar-surface, while responsive to changes in ion content of solutions (K for Na, NO3 for Cl), is much less sensitive than is the outer surface. Extraction of the pigment phycoerythrin was continued from appropriate red algae, several grams of this colored conjugated protein having been obtained. It is hoped to make photochemical studies of its behavior. A promising lead in this direction is the quenching of its brilliant fluorescence by small quantities of quinone.
With Mr. Warren G. Proctor a grating monochromator was assembled and tested for application to these studies. Sufficient intensity was obtained throughout the first order spectrum for photosynthetic measurement by the polarographic oxygen method (with stationary platinum electrode) and for the orientation of Fucus eggs and Cladophora swarmers. Mr. Klaus Odenheiraer applied the "Cartesian Diver" to the measurement of photosynthesis.
Professor Blinks summarized the results of the group working on aero-embolism (Professors Twitty, Whitaker, Blinks and collaborators) under the Committee on Medical Research of the OSRD. This will be published as a chapter in a forthcoming book on Aviation Medicine under the auspices of the Subcommittee on decompression sickness.
Professor Blinks attended the meetings of the AAAS in St. Louis in March, giving a paper on "Rapid Recording of the Time Course of photosynthesis. Advantage was taken of this visit to the middle west to show the Robertson color film of Pacific Coast invertebrates to groups at several midwestern universities.
Professor Bolin continued his investigations on the marine fishes of the eastern Pacific Ocean. In addition, work was initiated on a systematic revision of the lantern fishes (family Myctophidae) of the world, for which purpose a Guggenheim Fellowship has been granted which will enable him to study type specimens and other material in the major museums of Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.
Under the direction of Dr. Bolin, Mr. Fred Tarp has undertaken a systematic review of the surf perches (family Embiotocidae) of the world. Life history studies on several California fishes have also been started; Mr. Harbans Lall is investigating the toad fish, Porichthys notetug. Mr. Rama Prasa is studying the goby, Clevelandia ios. and Mr. Ved Vrat, the stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Mr. Rene Nunez, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fellow, concluded his investigations on the blenny eel, Cebidichthys violaceus and Mr. Wu Tsou finished his study of the technological methods employed in the exploitation and conservation of the California sardine, Sardinops caeruleus.
Dr. DeLanney undertook a partial ecological investigation of the tidal fauna of local areas, a collection of marine invertebrates, and a study of methods of preserving marine fauna.
Mr. Francis Haxo, Rosenberg Fellow, completed his doctoral dissertation studies on the pigments of Keurospora. Part of this work was made possible through the courteous cooperation of the California Institute of Technology.
Mrs. Elsa Hempl Hill devoted several weeks in the spring to work with the local fauna and flora, with a view to a possible application of microscopic work in mental therapy.
Dr. Alfred Marshak spent part of the spring, with two assistants, on a large scale extraction of antibiotic substances from "Spanish Moss" (the lichen Raaulina). Pronounced activity against tubercle bacilli was found in vitro and the material is being further tested in animal experiments.
Professor van Niel spent the first quarter of the academic year in completing sections on sulfur and purple bacteria for the new edition of Sergey's "Manual of Determinative Bacteriology." (Now in press). Since January 15 he has been at the California Institute of Technology studying new concepts in chemistry, under tenure of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He attended the Westinghouse Centennial Celebration giving a paper on "Life and Light; Photosynthesis" (to be published in a collection of these addresses.) ^ He also attended the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium in July giving a paper: "On the classification and natural relations of bacteria," (to be published in the Annual Symposium volume.)
Mr. J. B. Phillips continued in residence at the Hopkins Marine Station, being primarily associated with the sardine research program. He has completed a manuscript on growth rate and sex ratio in the sardine.
During January 14-16, 1946, the biologists of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Fish Conservation and the Bureau of Game Conservation, all representing the California Division of Fish and Game, met at the Hopkins Marine Station to discuss the measurement of animal populations, as conducted by the different bureaus.
Professor Skogsberg finished his analysis of the hydrographic material collected during the last years of the Hydrobiological Surrey of Monterey Bay carried out by the Hopkins Marine Station during nine years preceding the War. The resulting report has been accepted for publication. He also worked on problems pertaining to the reproduces activities of members of the Coelenterate phylum.
The following graduate students worked under Professor Skogsberg direction:
Eleanor Boone worked on the spawning and early development of some members of Polycladida of Monterey Bay. Gotte's larvae, as well as Muller's larvae, were obtained.
W. Gordon Fields investigated mating and spawning habits of the squid Loligo opalescens. The embryology and adult morphology of this species were also studied.
Nathan W. Riser commenced a study on the systematics and morphology of the Cestode parasites of the sharks, skates, and rays of Monterey Bay. Special attention was paid to Phyllobothriidae (Tetraphyllidea),
Fred Telonicher continued his work on the Pelecypoda, especially on the genus Macoma. Studies were made on the morphology of the digestive tract of this genus. Observations were made in regard to methods of ciliary feeding, and preliminary observations were made on the digestive processes.
Professor Smith's studies on reproduction of Ulva, commenced in 1945, were completed this summer. A manuscript describing the results has been completed and is ready for publication.
Mr. Richard Northcraft, van Sicklen Fellow, completed his studies on colonization of rocks by marine algae; the results have been incorporated in a dissertation submitted to the Committee on Graduate Study,
Mr. Fred Telonicher has studied reproduction in the green alga Cladophora trichotoma. He finds a periodicity much the same as in Ulva; but the cycles are not as sharply delimited.
Miss Claire Michelson studied periodicity in fruiting of Ulva at Mussel Point. Her results are in agreement with those found at Cypress Point for this alga.
Dr. Mortimer Starr completed studies on phytopathogenic bacteria under tenure of a National Research Council Fellowship. Mrs. Betty Starr undertook the preservation of Prof. van Niel's microbiological cultures, by the new technique of "lyophilization".
The death of Charles Vincent Taylor, Dean of the School of Biological Sciences is reported elsewhere in this volume. His loss is felt keenly by the Hopkins Marine Station, of which he was Associate Director for 20 years. His great influence and high scientific ideals meant much to the development of the Station in that period. We have lost a strong and wise friend.
Gifts have been received from the following donors: W. H Oliver, Jr., Motion picture of marine invertebrates Jean McKay, two books (out of print) for class use Professor Francis E. Lloyd, Photomicrographic apparatus.
LAWRENCE R. BLINKS
Director
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Bolin, Rolf Ling. Lantern fishes from "Investigator" station 670, Indian ocean. Stanford ichthyological bulletin. 3:137-152, May 31, 1946.
Fisher, Walter Kenrick. Echiuroid worms of the North Pacific ocean: United States national museum. Proceedings. 96:215-292, April 11, 1946. Plates p. 20-37.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE FIFTY-SIXTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1947
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1947
SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Professor Smith (see also Hopkins Marine Station) continued isolating sexual strains of the one-celled alga Chlamydomonas and made a start toward determining the cultural conditions under which species of this alga develop sexual substances. During the summer, Dr. Smith participated in the Bikini Scientific Resurvey, an expedition to Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands conducted by the United States Navy to investigate the effects of the atomic bombs a year after the explosions. He studied the condition of the marine algae and of their reproductive capacity. During the year Dr. Smith served on the editorial boards of Biological Abstracts and the Botanical Review, and edited a book on the algae now in the press of the Chronica Botanica Co. He also served on the Council of the Botanical Society of America and as the first president of the newly organized Phycological Society of the Americas.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
Resident faculty members were: L. R. Blinks, C. B. van NIel, T. Skogsberg, Professors; R. L. Bolin, Associate Professor; F. T. Haxo, Research Associate. During the summer quarter the staff was augmented by G. M. Smith, Professor; B. T. Scheer (University of Southern California), Acting Assistant Professor; and A. R. Moore (University of Oregon), Lecturer. Timothy Hopkins Lecturers were A. Szent-Gyforgyi (Budapest) and T. A. Stephenson (Aberystwyth). D. Benedict and N. Riser were teaching assistants in the summer quarter.
The academic year was one of the most successful in the history of the Station. Over one hundred students and investigators were present at the peak, this being reached in the summer during the participation of the University of California, which offered courses for six weeks, in addition to our own courses, most of which were crowded to capacity. All teaching laboratories were shared on alternate days by different classes during this time. There were 40 students from Berkeley, 31 from Stanford, and about 20 from other institutions. Drs. Pitelka, Bullock and Smith taught the students from Berkeley, and occupied three offices, plus two large laboratories.
Despite the crowding, the experiment in collaboration was a good success, and it may be anticipated that its continuation can be worked out satisfactorily.
Professor van Niel returned from his sabbatical leave in January, and Professor Bolin departed on his at the end of the summer. Both held Guggenheim Fellowships.
Dr. Blinks continued work on electrical properties of Bryopsis and on the photochemical properties of pigments from red algae. The aqueous solution of phycoerythrin shows brilliant fluorescence, which is quenched by oxidized dyes. The latter are sometimes slowly reduced in the light, and there is a slight shift of oxidation reduction potential. Conditions favoring this are being further investigated. With Dr. Haxo, a monochrometor of good purity and intensity was constructed, for tracing the absorption and action spectra of various algae. Published curves for green algae were confirmed, and those for brown algae greatly refined. In the latter case the accessory pigment fucoxanthin is additive to chlorophyll in its action spectrum. But the phycoerythrin of red algae seems to be the chief active pigment, despite the presence of chlorophyll in good quantity. The action spectrum closely coincides with the absorption spectrum of phycoerythrin, with maxima in the green region instead of the blue and red. The light absorbed by chlorophyll seems to be ineffective in the production of oxygen (which is determined by reduction at a platinum electrode).
During the last five weeks of the summer quarter, Dr. Blinks was on leave of absence, to participate in the Bikini Scientific Resurvey, a joint army-navy expedition to investigate the effects of the atom bomb explosion after one year's lapse of time. He was concerned with the physiological alterations of marine algae.
Mr. Haxo submitted his doctoral dissertation on the pigments of Neurospora.
Mrs. M. Dretzer made measurements of the photosynthetic and respiratory rates of several calcareous and non-calcareous red algae (chiefly Bossea and Prionitis). There appears to be a higher photosynthetic rate in the calcareous forms, which may account for their desposition of calcium carbonate.
Mr. H. J. R. Stevenson completed research on the electrical resistance and capacity of the protoplasm of Halicystis cells. Both alternating and direct current recordings were made, particular attention being paid to deviations from static capacity, both with frequency and with current density. A remarkable breakdown and recovery of potential was found in larger inward (anodal) currents; this is the first instance of "stimulation" by such currents found in plant cells. The results will appear in an M.A. thesis.
Mr. J. Anderson, working at the campus under Dr. Blinks' direction, investigated the effects of direct current flow upon the amoeboid motion of myxomycete plasmodia. The direction of the effect was found to be influenced by acidity of the medium.
Professor Bolin pursued his work on a world-wide revision of the fishes of the deep-sea family Myctophidae. In addition, studies were continued on local marine fishes. The following students worked under Dr. Bolin's direction:
Mr. H. L. Arora completed an investigation of the breeding behavior, gross embryology and early larval stages of the toad-fish, Porichthys notatus.
Mr, H. G. Orcutt initiated a study of the life history of Platichthys stellatus, a commercially important flat-fish.
Mr. R. R. Prasad continued his work on life history of the goby, Clevelandia ios. That portion dealing with the embryology and larval stages is completed.
Mr. F. H. Tarp pursued his work on a revision of the viviparous surf-perches (family Embitocidae) of the north Pacific.
Mr. V. Vrat continued his investigations on the life history and variability of the stickle-back, Gasterosteus aeuleatus.
Mr. J. C. Briggs completed an investigation of the effects of Stevens Creek Dam (Santa Clara County) upon the stream bottom fauna, comparing the productivity of the stream above and below the dam, and evaluating the effect of the dam in stabilizing temperature and water flow.
Miss S. Wheatland undertook a study of the feeding techniques employed by various starfishes.
Professor van Kiel, working in collaboration with Dr. H. A. Barker of the University of California, has obtained experimental evidence that organic substrates function exclusively as hydrogen donors in the photosynthetic carbon dioxide reduction by purple bacteria. The experiments also permitted computation of the "carbon dioxide turn-over" in many cases, without ambiguity due to CO2 production from the substrate. This was because radio-active carbon dioxide was employed. This opens the way for determination of the quantum yield in bacterial photosyntheses. Experiments with labeled carbon compounds also have supplied the necessary link between oxidative (dark) and photosynthetic metabolism of the purple bacteria. They furnish proof that in the dark, oxygen replaces carbon dioxide as the ultimate hydrogen acceptor; they also show that carbon dioxide can be replaced by any one of the 4-carbon dicarboxylic acids, succinic, fumaric, malic and oxalo-acetic acids, in the dark oxidation of certain substrates notably fatty acids. The 4-carbon acids are effective in such small amounts that they may be deemed catalytic.
These results, obtained in collaboration with Dr. S. R. Elsden, Dr. B. Volcani and Mr. W. Vishniac, suggest a metabolic cycle analogous to that discovered by Krebs for acetic acid oxidation in mammalian tissues. However, in purple bacteria a different cycle must operate, since neither ketoglutaric, iso-citric, nor citric acids can replace carbon dioxide or the dicarboxylic acids mentioned. These results are of importance in understanding the mechanism of photosynthesis.
Mr. Vishniac also worked on the pure culture and properties of the alga Haematococcus pluvialis and the bacterium Thiobacillus thioparus. The latter may provide a clue to the interpretation of an anomaly of strictly chemo-autotrophic bacteria: the alleged inability of such organisms to metabolize organic compounds.
Dr. Elsden, Scientific Officer of the Agricultural Research Council of Great Britain, was in residence for six months, during which time he studied a number of strains of marine and fresh-water photosynthetic green sulfur bacteria. These were isolated for a more complete study of the morphology, taxonomy and physiology of this group than has hitherto been attempted. During this isolation, anaerobic agar-decomposing organisms appeared and were carried into enrichment cultures, and specific isolation was attempted. In collaboration with Dr. van Niel, a study of the oxidative mechanisms of Rhodospirillum rubrum was undertaken.
Dr. Volcani, Staff Member of the Daniel Sieff Research Institute, Palestine, was in residence several months, under tenure of a Fellowship of the Weizmann Institute of Science Foundation. He worked on the bio-synthesis of blue pigment produced by Pseudomonas indigofera. Although the organism can grow in various media, the pigment is produced only in certain peptones, and in the presence of sucrose. The amino-acid requirements were therefore studied. A greenish color develops with asparagine-sucrose, and a strong blue color when casein hydrolysate is added. A rust-red pigment is produced from tryptophane, and from indole plus serine, but not from either of the latter alone. This indicates that tryptophane may be first synthesized by the organism, and then converted to pigment.
Professor Skogsberg continued work on the trematodes of bony fishes of the tide pools; the studies centered on Podocotyle of the family Allocreadiidae. The marine members of this family are little known on the Pacific Coast; and indeed, little is known of the life histories of marine Trematodes in general. The following students worked under Professor Skogsberg's direction:
Miss E. Boone compared the embryology of three Polyclad species. Two Leptoplanidae laid eggs which developed into swimming larvae in the laboratory. More limited material of a Cotylean was studied. Light was required, and laboratory temperatures were satisfactory, the larvae developing until the food of the egg is exhausted. Growth then stops and the larvae shrink and die; provision of adequate food is the next major problem. The peak of egg laying occurs from April to June. Species of Acotylae develop into a Goette's larva, while Cotylea produce Muller's type. One Cotylean is present in Monterey bay in sufficient numbers for embryological study.
Mr. W. G. Fields completed study of the adult morphology of the squid Loligo opalescens, and continued investigations on the embryology and natural history of this form.
Mr. D. M. Wooton carried out preliminary work on the embryology, gametogenesis and digestion of Polyorchis montereyensis, a hydrozoan medusa; this work is supplemented by observations of the hydroid stages of the medusa Phialidium gregarium.
Mr. F. Telonicher continued study of the morphology and physiology of the digestive tract of Lamellibranchs, as represented by Macoma. Ecological observations were also made. This clam ingests large quantities of sand and silt, along with organic food materials. Feeding, sorting and digestion of food was compared with these processes in mussels and oysters, which are better known.
Professor Smith supervised work by Mrs. Kretzer during the spring quarter on periodicity of reproduction in Ulva and development of zygotes, which were carried to plants visible to the naked eye. This is necessary to complete proof of the alternation of generations in this alga.
Mr. P. Silva began study of the algae on the coast south of the Monterey Peninsula, under guidance of Professor Smith. The California Division of Fish and Game continued to occupy space in the Agassiz Laboratory. Mr. J. B. Phillips continued research on commercially important marine fishes, with emphasis on sardines and rockfish. He collaborated with Dr. F. Felin of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Stanford, on a paper summarizing the results of six seasons of sardine age readings in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. Mr. K. Cox, Jr., assisted Mr. Phillips in the local fisheries work. During the summer Mr. J. G. Carlisle continued study on the spawning and early development of the red abalone.
Dr. and Mrs. R. Turner of Stanford were in residence during the summer, working on problems of neuro-anatomy and physiology in worms and other- invertebrates. Some of this work was done in association with Dr. T. Bullock of the University of California (Los Angeles) and Professor A. R. Moore, of the University of Oregon. Dr. Bullock was especially interested in synaptic events in the giant axons of squid. Dr. G. Q. Voight and Mr . T. P. Condron working on the U. S. Navy "SOFAR" project (underwater sound fixing and ranging) utilized oceanographic data taken earlier by Professor Skogsberg's hydrographic Survey of Monterey Bay. Temperature and salinity data were important to determine the depth of minimum sound velocity, which is used to locate underwater microphones off shore. This project is devised for air-sea rescue procedure, and will monitor the air lane from San Francisco to Hawaii. This is an example of how data taken for totally different, and strictly scientific reasons, may suddenly find a new and practical use.
With increased travel from Europe, we are being favored with more visitors from foreign institutions. In addition to Drs. Elsden and Volcani, mentioned above, Dr. H. Holter of Copenhagen, Dr. 0. Lindberg and Dr. Fries of Stockholm paid brief visits. Dr. T. Stephenson, of Aberystwyth, began a detailed study of local ecology, as part of a tour to various American Stations. Several of these visitors, and Dr. G. Clarke, of Harvard gave seminar addresses.
LAWRENCE ROGERS BLINKS
Director
HOPKINS' MARINE STATION
Blinks, Lawrence Rogers. Cavitation from solid surfaces in the absence of gas nuclei. (With D. C. Pease): Journal of physical and colloid chemistry, 51:556-567, March, 1947.
Blinks, Lawrence Rogers Photosynthetic action spectra in red algae. (With Francis Haxo): American journal of Botany. 33:836, December, 1946.
Bolin, Rolf L. The evolution of the marine cottidae of California with a discussion of the genus as a systematic category: Stanford ichthyological bulletin. 3:153-168, August 25, 1947.
Haxo, Francis T. The carotenoid pigments of Neurospora: American journal of botany, 33:335-836, December, 1946.
Haxo, Francis T. Phytofluene in Neurospora. (With L. gechneister): Archives of biochemistry. 11:539-541, November, 1946.
Haxo, Francis T. Photosynthetic action spectra in red algae. (With L. R. Blinks): American journal of botany, 55:836, December, 1946.
Haxo, Francis T. Thickening of the epidermis by ultraviolet radiations, protein coagulants and skin irritants. (With A. C. Giese): Anatorical record, 96:88-89, December, 1946.
Skogsberg, Tage. Hydrography of Monterey Bay, California. Thermal conditions. Part II, 1954-1937. (With A. Phelps): American philosophical society. Proceedings. 90:350-586, December, 1946.
van Niel, Cornelius Bernardus. The classification and natural relationships of bacteria: Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology, 11:285-501, 1946.
van Niel, Cornelius Bernardus. Light and life- Photosynthesis: Science and life in the world. N.Y., McGraw Hill, 1946. vol. II, p. 149-161.
van Niel, Cornelius Bernardus. Review of; ZoBell, Claude. Marine microbiology. 1946: Quarterly review of biology. 21:502-503, September, 1946.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY BULLETIN
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
FOR THE FIFTY-SIXTH ACADEMIC YEAR
ENDING AUGUST 31, 1948
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
1948
SCHOOL Of BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Professor Smith (see also Hopkins Marine Station) continued studies on sexual substances of the one-celled alga Chlamydomonas. The results show that these are formed only in light but there is no correlation between the quality of light and their formation. He also continued to serve on the editorial boards of Biological Abstracts and Botanical Review.
HOPKINS MARINE STATION
High academic populations continued to reflect themselves in the utilization of the Hopkins Marine Station. Some twenty-five workers carried on research throughout the year at the Station, and the number of students and investigators surpassed one hundred during the summer. Space, apparatus, and salt water pumping equipment were taxed to the utmost during the latter quarter.
The resident staff consisted of Lawrence Rogers Blinks, Cornelius Bernardus van Niel, and Tage Skogsberg, Professors; and Rolf Ling Bolin, Associate Professor (the latter being on sabbatical leave under Tenure of a Guggenheim Fellowship during 1947-48). During the summer quarter Professors Gilbert Morgan Smith and Arthur Charles Giese joined the staff to teach courses; William Eugene Berg (University of California) was Acting Assistant Professor; John Samuel Hensill, (San Francisco State College), Clark Hubbs and Nathan Wendell Riser were Acting Instructors; Arthur Russell Moore (University of Oregon), Lecturer; and Jacob L. Stokes, Research Associate. Assistant Professor and Mrs. Robert S. Turner, of the Stanford Medical School, carried on research during the summer. Visiting Investigators from other institutions included Professor T. A. Stephenson (University of Wales), acting as Timothy Hopkins Lecturer; Professor Olin Rulon (Northwestern University); Dr. Gosta Fahraeus (Uppsala, Sweden); Dr. Helge Larsen (Trondheim, Norway); Dr. Erik Zeuthen (Copenhagen, Denmark); Dr. Irving Tittler (Brooklyn College); Dr. Mary Belle Allen (Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York); Dr. Oskar Baudisch (Saratoga Springs); Dr. Irwin Gunsalus (Indiana); and Dr. Jean Wiame (Brussells). Shorter visits were paid by Professor Henri Prat (Montreal); Dr. Leo Szilard (Chicago); Dr. Poul Heegaard (Copenhagen), and a great number of other biologists passing briefly through Pacific Grove.
As in 1947, space was occupied in the Agassiz laboratory for six weeks in the summer by a class of 25 from the Zoology Department of the University of California, (Berkeley), which was taught by Drs. Ralph Smith and Frank A. Pitelka, of that institution.
Emeritus Professor W. K. Fisher spent a part of the autumn quarter at the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C., doing bibliographic work covering two groups of worm-like animals, the Echiuroidea and Sipunculoidea. He has identified collections of these animals made by the U. S. Navy Antarctic Expedition of 1947-48, and the collections made in 1946 and 1947 at Bikini and vicinity. A review of the Boneliidae (a family of Echiuroidea) was completed and submitted for publication as well as a paper on a new Echiuroid from Hawaii and one on Additions to the Echiuroid Fauna of California. Substantial progress was made on a monograph of the Sipunculoidea of California.
Professor Blinks researches continued to center on photosynthesis in marine algae. The Importance of the chromoprotein pigments of the red algae, already shown in relative action spectra, was further emphasized by absolute measurements.
Mr. Conrad Yocum, research assistant, performed determinations of quantum efficiencies using polarographic and Winkler determinations of dissolved oxygen, the Warburg manometric method, and the Fenn volumetric method (the latter apparently finding its first utilization in photosynthetic studies). Efficiencies of 12 to 16 quanta per mole of oxygen were found throughout most of the visible spectrum in green and brown algae, indicating participation of all the absorbing pigments. But in red algae the quantum efficiency fell in the regions of chlorophyll absorption to low values (40 or more quanta per mole 02), while remaining fairly high (14. to 18 quanta) in the green and yellow regions best absorbed by phycoerythrin and phycocyanin.
Klaus Odenheiaer, research assistant, confirmed some of these findings with the Cartesian diver technique, using a few or even single cells of algae. Attempts were also made to confirm these relative efficiencies by means of carbon-dioxide determinations; the photosynthetie quotient (03/002) remains nearly the same throughout the spectrum, and in the red, brown and green algae, indicating the participation of true C02 reduction in all cases. Large quantities of phyooerythrin were extracted from appropriate red algae for photochemical studies in vitro.
Mr. John Anderson continued study of galvanotropism in the slime mold Physarum. The orientation is clearly by inhibition of growth toward the anode, not by stimulation toward the cathode. Apparently the protoplasm is gelled toward the anode, preventing normal streaming in that direction. Thresholds of current density to produce this, and the possible role of various ions (especially Ca and H) were investigated.
Miss Isobel Burwash began a study of the acidity of the brown alga Desmarestia. Mr. James Nash made measurements of respiration and photosynthesis in the green alga Chaetomorpha at various salinity values. Miss Beth Childs made a survey of algal ecology at several points on the Monterey Peninsula.
Dr. Oskar Baudisch gave a seminar on the role of magnetic compounds in biology, and made studies of the growth of algae in mineral spring water.
Professor Bolin briefly studied collections of fish in Amsterdam, (Leyden, and Brussels; then spent most of the winter in the British Museum of Natural History; and the spring at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Copenhagen. He was Stanford's delegate to the International Zoological Congress in Paris in July, then went to Monaco, Berlin and Vienna for further study of ichthyological collections.
Mr. R. Raghu Prasad was awarded the Ph. D. Degree in June, his dissertation being completed in Dr. Bolin's absence. Others of his students have pursued their work toward the Ph. D. Degree as follows:
Fred H. Tarp continued a systematic study of the fish family Embiotocidae. This included measurements, skeletal analysis and statistical work.
H. G. Orcutt studied the starry flounder, Platiebthys stellatus, with emphasis on embryology and early development; age studies by scale and otolith readings; observations of gonads to determine age at first maturity; biometric analysis with reference to sexual dimorphism, and observation of habits and habitats.
Under Professor Giese's direction, Mr. James Nash completed experimental work toward a Master's thesis in the spring quarter on osmoregulation in Sipunculid worms. Mr. Schuyler Hilts measured the carbohydrate content of the body fluids of echinoderms.
Dr. Poul Heegaard (Copenhagen) studied plankton hauls during the summer, with special reference to arthropod larvae.
Dr. A. R. Moore studied development of the pluteus and metamorphosis in Dendraster excentricus.
Professor van Niel conducted experiments designed to show the possible accumulation of oxidized materials in purple bacteria during illumination in the absence of external reducing agents; the results were negative, probably due to the small amounts produced in the cycle, and to methods not sufficiently sensitive, Isopropyl alcohol has been found to function as a simple hydrogen donor for sulfate reduction, being converted to acetone without being used for the synthesis of cellular material (the latter being elaborated entirely from carbon dioxide and inorganic salts). The culture of various "iron bacteria" has been begun: these organisms present many physiological and biochemical problems.
A grant from "UNESCO" was received to support the collection of pure cultures of micro-organisms. This was used to continue lyophilizations; lyophilized cultures have been found viable after two years storage.
A chapter on "Comparative biochemistry of photosynthesis was prepared for a forthcoming book edited by Loomis and Frank.
A three year grant from The Rockefeller foundation was received in support of Dr. van Niel’s researches.
The following investigators worked under Dr. van Niel's supervision:
Dr. Mary Belle Allen investigated the physiology and biochemistry of thermophilic bacteria. This study included comparison of the catalase of bacteria grown at high temperatures and at low temperatures; growth factors for high temperature organisms; the chemistry of agar decomposition by thermophilic bacteria.
Dr. Gosta Fahraeus carried on experiments on cellulose decomposition by the Cytophaga and other bacteria, investigating the effects of glucose upon this process, and nutrient requirements for growth.
Dr. Howard Gest (American Cancer Society Fellow) cultured purple bacteria on phosphate-poor media. He found an interesting fermentation of glutamic and aspartic acids, with the production of hydrogen in the light.
Dr. Irwin Gunsalus carried on studies of lactic acid bacteria, soil bacteria, and the utilization of citric and c- keto-glutaric acids by purple bacteria.
Dr. Helge Larsen (Fellow of the Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) isolated two new strains of marine green sulfur bacteria in pure culture. These utilize both sulfide and thiosulfate as hydrogen donor in photosynthesis, the sulfur compounds being oxidized to sulfate, as in purple sulfur bacteria. Calcium and iron are essential for the growth, iron being involved in the formation of the "chlorophyll". The absorption spectrum of the living cells gives the characteristic absorption maximum at 730 pu. The "chlorophyll" is very unstable after extraction with organic solvents. The corresponding phaeophytin is stable and gives absorption maxima at 753, 672, 612 and 545 mu in carbon tetrachloride.
Dr. J. L. Stokes investigated the metabolism of Escherichia coli with respect to the nature and quantities of fermentation products, the nature of the hydrogen activating enzyme systems and the effect of CO2 on dehydrogenases.
Dr. Irging Tittler (Fellow of the American Cancer Society) investigated the effects of carcinogens on the growth of the ciliate, Tetrahymena geleii. in thiamine-deficient media with glucose, Tetrahvmena causes an accumulation of pyruvic acid, resulting in an abnormally early decline of the cultures.
Mr. Wolf Vishniac (Standard Brands Fellow) continued studies on certain colorless sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Some progress was made in elucidating the pathways of oxidation of sulfur compounds, but the critical enigma persists, as to why they do not use organic substances in their metabolism.
Dr. Jean Wiame (Fellow of the Belgian-American Educational Foundation) advanced the problem of thiosulfate oxidation by bacteria which carry out this process in the absence of air by reducing nitrate. Crude cultures contain two types of bacteria, of which the minority organism seems to be the sought-for type.
Miss Barbara Wright completed work for the M.A. degree, her thesis being entitled "Studies in the Biosynthesis of the Amino acids Glycine and Serine by a variant strain of Escheriachia coli." Glycine appears to be formed by a decomposition of serine, the latter proceeding via ketomalonic and glyoxylic acids.
Mr. J. B. Phillips continued as resident Marine Biologist of the California Division of Fish and Game. Sardine (pilchard) investigations were the main work, as in previous years. In this he was assisted by Mr. Keith Cox. Mr. Harold G. Orcutt joined this Division in a half time capacity in April, investigating the life history of the crab Cancer magister.
Dr. Olin Rulon investigated the effects of various respiratory poisons on the larvae of Dendraster. Plutei with nearly radial symmetry developed in some cases.
Under Dr. Skogsberg's supervision the following students continued graduate work:
Miss Eleanor Boone (Mills College) continued studies, on the earljer development of the polyclad, Leptoplana acticola. Larvae produced by 50 adults collected once per month have been raised in constant temperature baths at normal ocean temperatures. Permanent preparations were made for subsequent study and numerous photomicrographs taken.
Mr. W. Gordon Fields continued study of the squid (Loligo opalescens), its embryology, adult morphology and natural history being covered.
Mr. Nathan W. Riser continued studies on the Tetraphyllidea (Cestoda) begun in January of 1946. Additional collections were made from Elasmobranchs of Monterey Bay and San Luis Obispo Bay. Portions of the Linton collection were donated by the University of Pennsylvania for redescription. A small collection was donated by Dr. R. T. Young of the San Diego Zoological Society. At the request of Dr. J. L. Linsdale, an investigation of the genus Taenia parasitizing carnivores on the Hastings Natural History Reservation was begun. A paper on a new Cestodarian was submitted to the Journal of Parasitology.
Miss Sarah B. Wheetland completed work for the M.A. degree with the thesis entitled: "The Life History of Aglaophenia struthionic”.
Mr. D. W. Wootton collected Psolidae, with special emphasis on the development of Thyonepsolus nutrians. This sea cucumber was fixed stained and sectioned for morphological study.
Under the direction of Professor Smith, Mrs. Merilyn Kretzer made a study of the reproductive cycles of algae through the autumn, a per: which had not received much local study. Mr. Paul Silva continued a study of algae between Monterey and Point Conception, and on the Santa Barbara Islands. Mr. Ralph Lewin attempted cultural studies of red and green algae, with reference to alternation of generations. Miss Margaret Dean attempted similar study in Spongomorpha.
Dr. T. A. Stephenson, as Timothy Hopkins lecturer through September and October, gave addresses at the Station and the campus. With Mrs. Stephenson, he made intensive studies of the ecology of the shores of the Monterey region, as part of a world survey in which comparisons will be made with other North American, European, South African and Australian intertidal zones.
Professor and Mrs. R. S. Turner carries on oscillographic recording of nerve impulses, especially of giant fibres in the sabellid worm Eadistvlia, with a view to physiological mapping of its nervous system.
Dr. Erik Zeuthen (Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation) studied metabolism during cell division in different marine eggs. With Dr. Giese he found that the killing of the photosensitive red protozoan Beloharisma is accompanied by a great increase in oxygen uptake. In both investigations a refined Cartesian diver technique was employed.
Several honors have come to members of the Staff; Professor van Niel has been elected to the American Philosophical Society, Professor Smith to the National Academy of Sciences, and Professor Bolin to fellowship in the Linnean Society.
There were two outstanding gifts to the Marine Station. A 22 foot steel lifeboat, with 4 cylinder engine, was acquired from the U. S. Maritime Commission. When certain repairs and alterations are completed, this will be a most useful addition to our collecting equipment. Our library and research bibliography were enriched by a legacy of books and reprints, but especially of an exhaustive card index of Pacific Coast Invertebrates, prepared through many years by
Edward F. Ricketts of Monterey, whose tragic death occurred this spring as the result of an accident.
Both of these acquisitions will be invaluable research tools in the future, toward which the Station turns in confidence after the most successful and active year of its history.
LAURENCE ROGERS BLINKS
Director