| THE BERMUDA ISLANDS AND THE BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL STATION FOR RESEARCH. II. |
By Professor EDWARD L. MARK,
DIRECTOR OF THE ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
BEFORE speaking about the life in the seas I wish to say a few words about the Bermuda Marine Laboratory. Not very long after my conversations with President Eliot, and when I was considering ways and means of providing an opportunity for students to work at Bermuda, I had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of Professor Bristol, and hear from him for the first time a glowing account of his experiences of several years, and his plans and hopes regarding a somewhat similar undertaking. Our aims had so much in common that cooperation seemed desirable to both of us, and we at length agreed to undertake, with the aid of the Bermuda Natural History Society, to equip and manage a provisional laboratory, which might serve till such time as the colonial government should be able to put at the disposal of biologists a permanent station. Chiefly through the enthusiastic interest of Dr. Bristol, in cooperation with the Bermuda Natural History Society, the colonial government had been led to entertain the idea of establishing a public aquarium for the enlightenment and amusement of people resident in the islands as well as the tourists, and in connection with it a marine laboratory for biological investigations. A joint committee of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, consisting of Sir S. Brownlow Gray, chief justice, Hon. Eyre Hutson, colonial secretary, and assemblymen J. H. Trimingham, Nathaniel Vesey and A. Gosling, was appointed to consider the advisability of establishing such a station, and in due time reported favorably on the undertaking. The governor, Lieut. General Geary, at the suggestion of the committee, entered into correspondence with many institutions and individuals in both Europe and America, with a view to ascertaining their opinions as to the desirability of establishing such a station and the possibility of their cooperation. The replies were all favorable, and a certain amount of support was promised. Early in 1903 Professor Bristol and I were invited by the Natural History Society to visit Bermuda for the purpose of looking into the conditions and giving advice with regard to the general plan and certain matters of detail. This we did toward the end of April. Upon our return, and after the money necessary for the undertaking had been secured, we issued to biologists in the name of
