THE GREATEST BIOLOGICAL STATION. ■ 421 



directed by a German, subsidized (in an excellent manner described 

 below) by most European governments, including even those of 

 Switzerland, Hungary, Holland, Belgium and Spain, the members of 

 the staff and the naturalists at work in the institution may be of any 

 nation and usually are of many ; and at any hour of the day at least the 

 four languages, French, German, English and Italian, may be heard 

 among the busy groups in the laboratory and the library. 



But the Xaples Zoological Station is not wholly for the scientific 

 man — in fact many visitors to Xaples do not know that science has 

 anything to do with it. The more public department of the institution, 

 the celebrated ^^.cquario," is one of the sights of Naples and is well 

 known to and highly appreciated by the more intelligent of the tourists 

 you meet at the hotels. The whole institution is usually known to the 

 English-speaking tourist as 'The Aquarium,' and few, even of those 

 who visit and enjoy it, seem to know or wonder anything about the 

 remainder of the great white edifice into the ground floor alone of 

 which they are allowed to jienetrate. 



The zoological station of Xaples in its present condition (it was 

 once smaller, and will probably some day soon be larger) consists of 

 two great, white, flat-topped buildings of imposing appearance, con- 

 nected by a central yard and large iron galleries, placed on the Chiaja 

 in the Villa Nazionale, the beautiful public garden which occupies that 

 part of the shore of the wonderful Bay of Naples. Surrounded by 

 palms, cactus, aloes, with groups of statuary, fountains and minor tem- 

 ples, looking out upon the incomparable panorama from Vesuvius by 

 Sorrento and Capri to Procida and Ischia, there is probably no finer 

 situation in the world than that occupied by what is unquestionably 

 the most important of zoological institutions. 



As to this importance, no university laboratory approaches it. 

 There is no other laboratory where the work-places are occupied by 

 some forty or fifty doctors and professors and investigators of estab- 

 lished reputation from all parts of Europe and America, who have come 

 there to do original work, attracted by the fame of the institution and 

 its director; no laboratory where forty such workers can be kept sup- 

 plied with abundance of fresh material for their researches (of the most 

 diverse description) brought from the sea at least twice a day: no 

 laboratory where there are such excellent facilities for work and such 

 charming opportunities for scientific intercourse. 



The staff of the institution now consists of : 



1. Professor Dr. Anton Dohrn, the founder and director. 



2. Seven Scientific Assistants — viz.. Dr. Eisig, tlie administrator of the 

 laboratories; Dr. Paul flayer, the editor of the publications, Dr. W. Giesbrecht, 

 the assistant editor, and the supervisor of the illustrations; Dr. Gast, also con- 

 cerned in the publications in addition to other work ; Dr. Schcebel, the 

 librarian; Dr. Lo Bianco, the administrator of the fisheries and preparateur; 



