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;;;;:PAGE SIXTHE COLLECTING NETThe Coilecting NetA weekly publication devoted tothe activities of the Marine BiologicalLaboratory and of Woods Hole mgeneral.BOARD OF ADVISORSRobert Chambers, Prof, of Anatomy,Cornell University Medical School.Edv.-in J. Conklin, Prof, of Biology,Princeton University.Lorande L. Woodruff, Prof, of Zoology,Yale University.EDITORIAL STAFFWare CattellEditorDorothy Alexander Asst. EditorHugh Montgomery Art EditorMrs. L. V. Heilbrunn. .General NewsHelen S. Morris General NewsJack FoggWard L GreggMary HardestyContributing EditorsSport NewsJelly FishEmbryologyT. G. Adams Cilia and CiliaAnonymousOur BaciaBusiness StaffKatharine Underv.-ood. . . . Bus. Man.Use MichaelisAsst. Bus. Man.(Application for entry as second-classmatter is pending.)The Universal PressNew BedfordWoods HoleMassachusettsAn ApologyWe humbly ask the indulgenceof our readers for the manyand varied errors which occurredin the last issue of The CollectingNet. They will not occuren masse again. Ratherthan permit mistakes to creepin with such frequency we willlet the number come out onMonday instead of Saturday.But this must not happen, andcan be avoided if we send ourcopy to the printers in sufficienttime. The bulk of thematerial must be in our handsbefore noon on Sunday so thatwe can put it on the boat leavingfor New Bedford on Mondaymorning. The remainderof the copy must follow on theearly boat Tuesday morning.Short items of importancecould be taken care of as lateas Tuesday evening, but thesemust always be limited.We view with chagrin thecondition of The Collectinq Netfor July 16. But we can alwayssee a bright side to theworst situation. What fun itwill be to watch ourselves imrprove, and how much more aperfect number will be appreciated!A day of sunshine atTuscon is just another day, buta day of sunshine at WoodsHole is the day!The Sad Fate of a Youthful Sponge(Tune: "John Broivn's Body.")There was a little blastula no bigger than a germ,Who performed invagination in his mothers mesoderm,And soon his nascent cilia with joy began to squirmIn ecstacy supreme.Chorus:Kci)i'.lt at'tLTi-neh vt'l'se.Oh, the joys of locomotion,Down within the depths of Ocean,Oh, to feel the great commotionWithin each blastomere.No protozoan e'er can guess the pleasure he did feelAs he felt within his ectoderm a growing pastrocoelWith joy and pride his polar cells began at length to reelIn foolish self-content.His gastrocoel was filled "with pride that comes before a fall.And he felt his mother's ectoderm to be exceeding small,So he freed himself from all restraint by rupturing the wall,And floated out to sea.But oh, alas for youthful pride, as upward he did soar,He caught the topmost spiculae upon his blastopore;And, trying hard to get it off, his ectoderm he toreA great, big, ugly rent."come ciuickly now and"Oh, Mother dear," he cried in grief,try . ,To heal my little ectoderm, or else I'll have to die;But his mother dear was sessile, and could only sit and cryFrom her excurrent pore.Now every night his little ghost within the depths is found,Lamenting to the annelids that burrow in the ground;The hydroids wave their tentacles and shudder at the soundOf that familiar strain.H. H. Wilder.Amphioxus{Tune: "Tipperary.")A fish-like thing appeared among the annelids one day;It hadn't any parapods or setae to display;It hadn't anv eyes or jaws or ventral nervous cord.But it had a lot of gill-slits, and it had a notochord.Chorus ;Repeat aftereach verse.It'sIt'sa long way from Amphioxus,It's a long way to us;a long way from AmphioxusTo the meanest human cuss;It's good-by, fins and gill-slits,Welcome, skin and hair;It's a long, long way from Amphioxus,But we came from there.It wasn't much to look at, and it scarce knew how to swim.And Nereis was very sure it hadn't come from him;The molluscs wouldn't own it, and the arthropods got sore.So the poor thing had to burrow in the sand along the shore.It wriggled in the sand before a crab could nip its tail^;And said, "Gill-slits and myotomes are all of no avail"I've grown some metapleurial folds, and sport an oral hood.But all these fine new characters don't do me any good."It sulked awhile down in the sand without a bit of pep.Then stiffened up its notochord and said, "I'll beat em yet;I've got more possibilities within my slender frameThan all these proud invertebrates that treat me with suchshame.""My notochord shall grow into a chain of vertebraeAs fins mv metapleural folds shall agitate the seaThis tiny dorsal nervous tube shall form a mighty brainAnd the vertebrates shall dominate the animal domain.'SCHOLARSHIP FUNDGETS TEN DOLLARSDr. Ralph Cole, owner of"Cole's" store in Falmouth, hasmade the initial donation to"The Collecting Net ScholarshipFund". On hearing aboutthe Fund and its purpose he immediatelywrote out a checkfor ten dollars payable to theFund. Dr. Cole's donation isappreciated by every one at theLaboratory and likewise hisrequest to "call again next summerfor another one".DIRECTORY ADDENDAADDITIONSHuifes, R., supt., Bureau of FisheriesTo The Collecting NetIndividually scientists seemto be more or less indispensibleto a community—mostly more.Collectively, the reaction seemsto be reversible. At least thatmust be the sad conclusionreached by one who, though farfrom scientific, knows the differencebetween fresh, sparklingH-O and the excuse for waterthat is perpetrated at WoodsHole. Have you had your irontoday? Healthy it may be, butfor flatness, tastelessness andcolor-scheme it is inconceivablyappalling.Isn't there some noble, unselfishscientist who can tearhimself away from seardh andre-searching long enough tobring Woods Hole water back toa state of normalcy? Let himprove that scientists en masseare not quite as legarthic andhopeless as they now seem tobe, and gain the fervent thanksof oneUnscientific Sufferer.A MYSTERIOUSSILENCEREIGNSWe have heard absolutelynothing about Mr. Clark andMr. Cushman and the object oftheir get-together. The conditionshave been diagnosed asbefore the storm"."the lullSentimental Salt''Wed me, my affinity,"Fervent Fluorine cried.Sweet maid Sodium shyly said,"For you I would have dyad."Fickle Fluorine falsely .fledWith Silly Kate, who jeers:"Content yourself with old Chlorine-Shed sodium chloride tears."Hal Ide, pH. D.