MAYOR (FORMERLY MAYER), ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH

(b. Frederick, Maryland, 16 April 1868; d. Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas, Florida, 24 June 1922),

marine biology, taxonomy, ecology.

A pioneer in jellyfish and comb jelly taxonomy, Mayor was the author respectively of the monumental three-volume Medusae of the World and the classic Ctenophores of the Atlantic Coast of North America. Also the founder and director of the Tortugas Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the first tropical marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere, he later conducted seminal work on the ecology of coral reefs.

Education and Formative Career . The son of the noted American physicist Alfred Marshall Mayer and Katherine Duckett Goldsborough, Mayor evidenced an interest in natural history and scientific illustration at an early stage of his life, but, following the wishes of his father, enrolled in a program in engineering and physics in the Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, New Jersey. After graduating from that institution in 1889, he pursued advanced study in physics, first at Clark University and later at the University of Kansas, but decided in 1892 to enroll in the zoology program at Harvard University.

As a student in the marine biological laboratory of Alexander Agassiz, in Newport, Rhode Island, during the summer of 1892, Mayor displayed a special affinity for the study of jellyfishes and extraordinary skill in illustrating them in color. His ability soon came to the attention of Agassiz, a renowned marine zoologist and director of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. Agassiz invited Mayor to coauthor a book with him on the medusae, or jellyfishes, of the western Atlantic Ocean. Mayor gladly assented, but, because of his early interest in butterflies and moths, his mathematical ability, and the influence of the Harvard zoology instructor Charles Benedict Davenport, Mayor elected to conduct a study of lepidopteran wing scales as the topic of his dissertation. He completed this statistical study under the direction of the morpholo-gist Edward L. Mark, and received the doctor of science degree from Harvard in 1896.

In the meantime, he accompanied Agassiz on collecting excursions to the Caribbean in 1893 and to Oceania on three occasions between 1896 and 1900. During this time, Agassiz also sent Mayor to several locations on the eastern coast of North America and to the Dry Tortugas to collect specimens of medusae and ctenophores. In addition, Agassiz appointed Mayor as an assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Despite chafing under the authoritarian style of Agassiz, Mayor held that position until 1900, when he was appointed as the curator of zoology for the Brooklyn Museum.

Director of Tortugas Laboratory . By then, Mayor was the author or coauthor of numerous articles and monographs and had gained international notice for his work, which included (either alone or with Agassiz) fifty-three new taxa, or scientific names and descriptions, of jellyfishes and comb jellies. During his four-year tenure at the Brooklyn Museum, Mayor succeeded in building the collections of that institution, launching two scientific journals, and continuing his research. He yearned for a higher position, however, and, in 1902, shortly after learning of the interest of the newly formed Carnegie Institution of Washington in establishing a marine biological laboratory, he began a vigorous campaign to persuade its trustees to develop such a station in the Gulf of Mexico, on Loggerhead Key, in the Dry Tortugas, with the hope that he would be appointed as its director. His efforts came to fruition late in 1903, when the Carnegie Institution established the Tortugas Laboratory, and appointed Mayor as the director of the first tropical marine biological laboratory in the Western Hemisphere.

The initial group of researchers arrived at the Tortugas Laboratory during the late spring and early summer of 1905. Open only from late March to early August of each year, the laboratory proved to be ideal for the study of tropical marine life, but it faced formidable problems because of its isolation and the frequency of hurricanes in the area. Nevertheless, Mayor attracted scores of able scientists to the laboratory, and conducted research on his own as well, including many studies of jellyfish pulsation. He also continued his taxonomic research and his work on the medusae book, a project from which Agassiz withdrew in 1904.

Mayor decided to expand the scope of the work, and titled it Medusae of the World. Published in 1910, the three-volume study gained immediate recognition. Comprising 735 pages of text, 428 text figures, and 76 colored plates, all prepared by Mayor, this work was still being cited frequently almost a century after its publication. In 1912 Mayor published a book on the ctenophores, or comb jellies, of the western Atlantic, and it has endured as well. Eighty-seven taxa of jellyfish and comb jellies described by Mayor and Mayor and Agassiz remain valid today.

In 1913 Mayor extended the mission of the laboratory to encompass the South Pacific, and began to focus his research on the ecology of coral reefs. He continued his seasonal studies there through 1921, investigating the effects of temperature, depth, and silt on coral growth and conducting research on the nature of reef-formation. He employed a diving helmet in an effort to develop a fuller understanding of the origin and development of reefs. One of the several grids he laid out was located many years later, making a long-term comparison possible. In recognition of his contributions, the National Academy of Sciences elected Mayor to membership in 1916. An ardent patriot who blamed Germany for launching war in 1914, he came to loathe his Teutonic-based name, and had it legally changed from Mayer to Mayor in August 1918.

Personal Information . In 1900 Mayor married Harriet Randolph Hyatt, daughter of the able naturalist Alpheus Hyatt and a gifted sculptor. They had four children: Alpheus Hyatt, Katherine, Brantz, and Barbara. Harriet contracted tuberculosis around 1910, and later spent many months in a sanatorium and in Europe in an effort to recover. Her condition improved, and she lived to the age of ninety-two. Mayor later caught the disease, and, debilitated by its effects, died at Loggerhead Key on 24 June 1922, after fainting and falling into shallow water there. A year later, friends and fellow researchers at the Tortugas Laboratory erected a monument to him on Loggerhead Key. After the death of Mayor, the Tortugas Laboratory received less support from the Carnegie Institution, though it continued to operate through the 1939 season. Mayor’s legacy continues, however, through his classic books, one hundred publications, eighty-seven valid taxa, nineteen patronyms, and a host of significant papers published by the scientists who conducted research at the Tortugas Laboratory during his administration.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of Mayor’s publications appears in Lester D. Stephens and Dale R. Calder, Seafaring Scientist. Major collections of Mayor’s papers are in the following repositories: American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Brantz and Ana Mayor Private Collection, Hanover, New Hampshire; Brooklyn Museum Archives, Brooklyn, New York; New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections, New York, New York; Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton, New Jersey; Syracuse University, E. S. Bird Library, Special Collections Department, Syracuse, New York.

WORKS BY MAYOR

Medusae of the World. 3 vols. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 109. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1910. Reprint edition, Amsterdam: Asher, 1977.

Ctenophores of the Atlantic Coast of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 162. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1912.

OTHER SOURCES

Betz, Joseph J. “Pioneer Biologist.” Sea Frontiers: Bulletin of the International Oceanographic Foundation 11, no. 5 (1965): 286–295.

Colin, Patrick L. “A Brief History of the Tortugas Laboratory and the Department of Marine Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington.” In Oceanography: The Past, edited by Mary Sears and Daniel Merriman. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1980.

Davenport, Charles Benedict. Biographical Memoir of Alfred Goldsborough Mayor, 1868–1922. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1926. Although informative, this account is flawed by its eugenics bias.

Ebert, James D. “Carnegie Institution of Washington and Marine Biology: Naples, Woods Hole, and Tortugas.” Biological Bulletin 168 (1985): 172–182.

Stephens, Lester D., and Dale R. Calder. Seafaring Scientist: Alfred Goldsborough Mayor, Pioneer in Marine Biology. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006.

Lester D. Stephens