ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. 1147 



' 



class ; they will do the work, and they will help to find the 

 money ; but if the undertaking is to prosper, it must obtain 

 support from classes who are a good deal more wealthy 

 than naturalists. How these classes can best be appealed 

 to is the question which ' A Naturalist ' seems to ask, 

 and probably his letter furnishes the most effective answer. 

 If the advancement of science is too remote and abstract an 

 object to touch the imagination of the wealthy, surely they 

 cannot refuse to give when the appeal is made in the name 

 and on behalf of the oyster." 



Well, we must find that out. We must endeavour to 

 learn the truth of that last sentence and how r best to answer 

 it. I think the most straightforward way will be to con- 

 trast the brilliant promise of i883-'84 with the present state 

 of the affairs of our grand laboratory. 



To begin with, take the following paragraph from the 

 Athenceum, November 22, 1890 :- 



" . . . . On the whole, the Association appears to 

 be displaying a considerable amount of activity in spite of 

 rather limited income. As was reported at the time in 

 these columns, a deputation waited upon the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer to request an increase of the present grant 

 of ^500, and it is much to be desired that the Association 

 should be enabled to undertake more elaborate investiga- 

 tions, and to cover a larger coast-line than is at present in 

 its power." 



That certainly does not look very promising, does it ? 



Now let us look at the Zoological Station at Naples. 



The Naples Station was equipped, and is now sup- 

 ported, it is manifest, at no little expense. Its annual 

 income is derived from admission fees to the public aqua- 

 rium, the sale of its publications and its microscopic pre- 

 parations and preserved animals, governmental subsidies, 



