ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. 1137 



would permit themselves to be beaten by such an insigni- 

 ficant State as Naples ? ( z ) Not for a moment. Perish 

 the thought ! No sooner had Professor Lankester and the 

 Duke of Argyll appealed to the patriotic principles of our 

 enlightened government than Hey ! Presto ! a wondrous 

 Scientific Palace arose a Marine Biological Laboratory ; 

 and what could you wish for more ? A Laboratory, con- 

 cerning the practical value of which a correspondent of the 

 Times (July gth, 1884), writing to the Editor, says :- 



Sir,- -The practical importance of the results which 

 can be obtained by providing duly-trained scientific men 

 with a biological laboratory on the sea-coast, where they 

 may be enabled to study fully and carefully the history and 

 habits of sea-fishes and shell-fishes, cannot be better shown 

 than by a reference to the results obtained by Professor 

 .Brooks and his associates, in the Marine Biological Labo- 

 ratory founded by the Johns Hopkins University of Balti- 

 more. By careful study, such as can only be carried out 

 successfully by a qualified naturalist, Professor Brooks has 

 elucidated the history of the American oyster, and has 

 enabled others to undertake successfully the artificial culti- 

 vation of oysters. Professor Brooks has given a summary 

 of his observations and the applications to which they have 

 led in a recent report to the Johns Hopkins University, 

 which is so interesting that I venture to ask you to repro- 

 duce it in full. 



The recently-established Marine Biological Associa- 

 tion of the United Kingdom is proceeding rapidly in its 

 task of collecting funds for the erection of a sea-coast 

 laboratory on the English coast. When this has been 



j 



( 2 ) See an interesting article on this subject " The Zoological 

 Station at Naples " in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, 

 New Series, Vol. X. 



