Page 33 - KBHA BULLETIN 2

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This and other happenings led to a complete split between the Zoology Department and Sea

Fisheries, a split which persisted until I took over the Department in 1975 and was at last able
to rectify matters. Hogben himself did not remain very long at the University and in 1931

Allan Stephenson took over the headship of the Zoology Department. (Fig.2.8.) Stephenson

was a marine biologist of repute, who came to us from the Great Reef, and took up the study
of the distribution of the marine biota where Gilchrist had left off. He was as convinced as

Gilchrist had been that this geographical distribution was to be understood in terms of

physical oceanography, and particularly with regard to differences in temperature. But
whereas Gilchrist had tried to study everything marine, Stephenson wisely confined himself

to just one habitat - the rocky intertidal shore. He made thorough and meticulous collections

from rocky shores around the South African coast, particularly noteworthy being his
comparison of the biota of rocky shores in False Bay with those on the west coast. He was

also fascinated by zonation patterns of the rocky-shore fauna and developed concepts of

zonation, largely from this False Bay work, which were found to apply to rocky shores world-
wide. It was this work that brought the Zoology Department to the attention of the

international marine science community and marks the beginning of the international

reputation of the Department.

During this period, the St. James aquarium was little used and it began to fall into disrepair. It

was consequently closed in 1936 and later demolished. The date of demolition I have is as

late as 1948, but I have not been able to confirm that. (The probable date of demolition was
sometime in the early 1950s as on 10 July 1951 the site was transferred to the Municipality of

Cape Town with strict conditions as to its future use. [Eds.]). (Fig. 2.9.)

In the late 1930s Stephenson acquired a research assistant whose name was John Day. (Fig.
2.8.) At the outbreak of war in 1939, John Day joined the RAF, becoming a Squadron Leader

of Bomber Command, being twice decorated, losing a leg in action and returning to Cape

Town after the war as the new Head of the Zoology Department. He continued Stephenson’s
work on rocky shores and greatly improved our knowledge of the fauna of False Bay, among

other areas. However, he was particularly interested in estuaries and developed ideas of

estuarine ecosystem functioning which greatly enhanced the reputation of the Department. He
ruled the Zoology Department with a rod of iron until his retirement in 1974, when I myself