SEC. 5. At each annual meeting, or at special meetings should occasion so demand, the Board of Directors of the Canal Zone Biological Area shall appoint an executive officer whom they may authorize to carry out functions of the Board. With the approval of the Board the executive officer may select and designate a resident manager to assist in carrying out the policy, conditions, and regulations approved by the Board of Directors of the Canal Zone Biological Area in compliance with the purposes of this Act. The executive officer and the resident manager shall receive such compensation for their services as may be allowed by the Board of Directors of the Canal Zone Biological Area.

SEC. 6. All moneys received by donation, subscription, fees, or otherwise, except the moneys appropriated pursuant to section 7, for carrying out the purposes of this Act shall be deposited into the Treasury as trust funds and are hereby appropriated for such purposes. Disbursements of such funds shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury through the Division of Disbursement on requisitions or vouchers signed by or on authority of the executive officer of the Board of Directors of the Canal Zone Biological Area.

SEC. 7. There is authorized to be appropriated annually, from money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, not to exceed $10,000 for expenses necessary in the administration of this Act and for the maintenance of laboratory or other facilities provided for carrying out the purposes of this Act. Approved, July 2, 1940.

We would be glad to have a statement from you now, Dr. Jewett.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Dr. JEWETT. My statement, Mr. Chairman, will be very short. I am President of the National Academy of Sciences and, as such, as provided in the act, I am chairman of the Canal Zone Biological Board. I am not, however, a biologist and, consequently, I am not in a position to speak with regard to the details of the work there as well as two of the other members of the Board, who are here-Dr. Barbour and Dr. Wetmore. My statement will simply be to the effect that this Biological Area, which was constituted by the Congress last Spring as a permanent area to be devoted to biological purposes. It has been used for these purposes since the Island became an island with the creation of Gatun lake, under, as I understand it, a continuing succession of actions by the Governors of the Canal Zone. It has been supported over the years by private donations of individuals, foundations, universities, etc., who have carried on botanical and biological researches in that region, which is a very fine area for that purpose.

One of the difficulties which this past arrangement has always presented has been that those who were minded to make donations were reticent about making them in large amounts for permanent Installations because of the uncertainties as to the future. They were there on sufferance of the Governor of the Canal Zone. The result of that was that Congress, last year, passed this act which is before you. This set the island aside in perpetuity and creates the biological area and designates a board of governors for that area, which is made up, as indicated in the act, by the President of the National Academy of Sciences as chairman of the board, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution as the vice chairman, the Secretaries of War, Interior, and Agriculture, and three biologists to be selected by the president of the National Academy of Sciences with the ap proval of the four Secretaries, that is, with the approval of the Secretary of the Smithsonian and these three Cabinet officers.

The bill also provides that money to the extent of $10,000 may be appropriated by Congress annually.

The Board, at a meeting, organized and appointed Dr. Barbour, who was instrumental in the foundation of the laboratory, as its executive officer. He knows more about the work down there than anybody else, had been much interested in it and had been primarily interested in getting, over the past twenty-odd years, the financial support which has kept it going.

The Board felt, as did the people who had previously been interested in it, that with the island set up as a permanent biological station, many of the difficulties which had been experienced in the past of the kind I have mentioned in getting permanent support, would be overcome, and the island could be maintained as a very much more efficient biological and botanical station than it had been before.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much of a set-up is there there now, Doctor? Dr. JEWETT. On those details, I think either Dr. Barbour or Dr. Wetmore can tell you. I have never been there myself; but, as I understand it, some buildings have been constructed that are now in a bad state of repair; there are some docks and I think they have a boat or two to ferry things back and forth across the lake. But on matters of that kind, either Dr. Barbour or Dr. Wetmore, I think, can give you direct, positive information of a kind that I can only give by hearsay.

Mr. WOODRUM. Does anyone wish to ask Dr. Jewett any questions? If not, thank you, Doctor; I think that is all.

Now, Dr. Barbour, do you want to make a statement to us?
Dr. BARBOUR. Yes.

SOURCE OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRESENT SCIENTIFIC WORK BEING CARRIED ON AT BARRO COLORADO ISLAND

Mr. WOODRUM. The committee would like to know how long this thing has been going on, how much money you have had, how much your annual donations are, how many people are down there, and so forth.

Dr. BARBOUR. I have prepared here, just as an example, thinking it would be something that would interest you, a list of 393 contributions to science, which were based on work carried on at Barro Colorado Island during the 18 years of its existence. I think that list would have been doubled if I had had another week or 10 days to dig around for the information.

Mr. WOODRUM. There is no reason for this to go in the record? Dr. BARBOUR. Oh, no.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. What is the total amount of contributions there? Dr. BARBOUR. We have 13 institutions that contribute $300 a year, each, to maintain tables. Maintaining the table means that scientists representing those institutions go there and pay a little less than visitors from institutions which do not maintain a table. Then the total income varies from year to year, according to the number of people who go there to work, because they pay a per diem while they are there. Then the balance has been made up, in one or two cases, by small grants from the National Research Council, which we were originally affiliated with, but, in most cases, by passing the hat at the end of the year. And the change of status really became acute when two of our principal benefactors died, and the passing of the hat became more and more difficult. As Dr. Jewett said, the fact is we have been to several foundations with a view of getting an

endowment, particularly for grants-in-aid to bring people to work there both from South America, Central America and North America, and the answer has always been-how do you know you are going to be there 10 years from now?

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Will there be any additional money asked by the Army or Navy for this?

Dr. BARBOUR. No. It is out of their zone entirely; they are not interested in Barro Colorado Island. It is too far from either coast; it is right in the middle of the Canal Zone and is not high enough. Mr. FITZPATRICK. The reason I ask is that something was said about someone being appointed from the Army and Navy.

Dr. BARBOUR. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of Navy are members of the Board controlling the laboratory.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. But it won't bring in any additional expense? Dr. BARBOUR. No. The island has been surveyed time and time and time again, from the point of view of defense, by the Army people, and our hills are not high enough to make them attractive for antiaircraft, and there are bigger hills around us in all directions.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much funds have you had with which to operate the last few years?

Dr. BARBOUR. Oh, I should think that would run in amounts varying from $5,000 to $9,000, sums insufficient to maintain the plant in good condition.

Mr. WOODRUM. A year?

Dr. BARBOUR. A year. I forgot to say that Carnegie Foundation has given us some money, to help make up deficits. It gave us $9,000 last year, after serious harm from a terrific storm.

Mr. WOODRUM. But you included everything in the amount you gave, including the amount for deficits and all that?

Dr. BARBOUR. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. Have you an over-all statement of that kind?
Dr. BARBOUR. No. We never kept that.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. A few years ago, did not the Army send an Army officer down there to make surveys and check the figures?

Dr. BARBOUR. Yes; you bet, that was the basis of this map.

Mr. HOUSTON. Was $9,000 the basis of expenditures at that time? Dr. BARBOUR. Yes; and that is why we are in such bad shape now; why the buildings are in very bad repair; because we have never been able to keep them up properly.

Dr. WETMORE. Of course this money has not included all the investments in structures and buildings.

Dr. BARBOUR. No.

Dr. WETMORE. That has simply been money available for annual

maintenance.

Dr. BARBOUR. Absolutely.

Dr. WETMORE. The $10,000 here contemplated looks to the repair and maintenance of buildings that we have difficulty in handling at the present time, and their replacement with simply constructed,

efficient units.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much land is there, Doctor?

Dr. BARBOUR. Seven thousand four hundred acres.

Mr. WOODRUM. Who has the title to that?

Dr. BARBOUR. The United States Government.

Mr. HOUSTON. As I understand it, that is property which has been put under the control of this Board which Congress has set up? Dr. BARBOUR. Yes.

Dr. WETMORE. Here is a map of the island, which was prepared from the survey mentioned.

Mr. WOODRUM. The whole island is involved in this station?

Dr. WETMORE. Yes. The Island is approximately 31⁄2 miles across, each way.

AMOUNT OF FUNDS REQUIRED

Mr. WOODRUM. Now, are there going to be any additional funds required, other than this $10,000?

Dr. BARBOUR. Not for some time to come, certainly; because I feel perfectly sure with this $10,000, which will take care of the place adequately, that we will now be able to go to foundations and get money for our grants-in-aid. Harvard University gives a fellowship each year for one of its men to go to Barro Colorado Island, and I think the University of Michigan has done it, but not regularly. And they have done it because they had faith in the thing and were perfectly sure it was going to continue.

Mr. WOODRUM. When was it first started?
Dr. BARBOUR. In 1923.

VALUE OF PRESENT BUILDINGS AND OTHER PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Mr. WOODRUM. What would you say would be the value of the buildings and the physical properties that you have down there?

Dr. BARBOUR. Oh, I don't know. The initial cost of the buildings was very considerable. We spent certainly $12,000 or $14,000 the first year, and then Dr. Chapman, of the American Museum, contributed a house, which has been available for dormitory purposes since; I built a house there, and several other people combined together to give us our library, which is very inadequate, and much too small. It is fireproof. And then people have given apparatus-one fellow a moving-picture camera, another a microscope, another a microtome, another an electric bath for histological material.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Is there anything produced on the island at all? Dr. BARBOUR. Oh, it is all a jungle.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. It is all a jungle?

Dr. BARBOUR. Yes. We bought out three settlers there, three homesteaders-we bought those out the first year.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. How many people were on the island at that time?

Dr. BARBOUR. Three families, three banana farmers, small farmers. It turned out they were a blessing in disguise, because the return of those farms to forests has been one of the most interesting processes to study.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. How do they get off of the island-in small boats?

Dr. BARBOUR. Yes; in small boats, in dugouts. We have a launch now, that was given to us by Mr. Allison Armour. But that is not as new as it was.

EFFECT OF APPROPRIATION UPON FUTURE CONTRIBUTIONS

Mr. HOUSTON. This $10,000 that Congress has set will not curtail your contributions any from the outside, will it?

Dr. BARBOUR. No; I think it will help them. That is the whole thing. I am perfectly sure I can guarantee, with $10,000, to keep that place up in shape.

Mr. HOUSTON. It will be a perpetual income?

Dr. BARBOUR. Exactly.

PURPOSE AND SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF BARRO COLORADO ISLAND BIO

LOGICAL AREA

Mr. WOODRUM. What is there today; what are the arguments for baving the thing at all? You went into that fully before the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, but why don't you say a word or two here for the record? What is the purpose of the venture, and what is the principal study from a scientific standpoint?

Dr. BARBOUR. I do not know but Dr. Wetmore is better competent to speak about that than I am. Since I have been going down there the most interesting single feature is the continuous work on termite protection. As you gentlemen all know, termites are the most destructive curse of the tropics, and I suppose they cost the government of the Panama Canal more in expenditures each year than almost any other factor you can think of. Now, for the last 16 years, we have had buried in the woods, under natural conditions, blocks treated with all of the different substances that have been devised to protect wood from termite destruction, and several of those have turned out to be quite effective. We would like to run them a great many years more in order to be perfectly sure they will give a permanent protection for wood; but new substances are being developed all of the time and chemical companies that are working on these problems prepare these blocks of wood and send them down to be put in what we call the "termite cemetery." They are set out in rows in the woods and records are kept of each one and they are inspected regularly every 3 months to see how they are standing up. Some of the most touted protective substances have turned out to be rather termite baits and, if the Panama Canal had grabbed them up and used them, they would be much worse off than they are now.

Then the island has been used very extensively in connection with the Department of Agriculture's fruitfly studies. Most of the wild fruits are attacked by fruitflies and serve as the host for these parasites to breed and then invade the cultivated areas. We know of about 27 species of fruitflies all of which have been found wild on Barro Colorado Island, and very important results have come from the study of the life histories, habits, and so on, with a view to protecting the mango orchards and cultivated crops of the Panama Canal Zone, and the farmers on both sides of the zone.

And, you know, malaria parasites have been found now in monkeys and birds, much the same as in man. Whether those are exactly the same as the human parasite is somewhat of a question, but there is a great deal of medical work to be done along those lines, and we are