THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY, 



SEPTEMBER, 1910 



THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES 



By Professor CHARLES LINCOLN EDWARDS 



TWENTY centuries ago the rain of ashes and pumice-stone from 

 Vesuvius buried Pompeii, and, at the same time, a stream of 

 mud sealed up Herculaneum. Within the period of the last three 

 hundred years, four times in succession, Torre del Greco has been 

 covered by the flowing lava, but each time this town has been rebuilt. 

 The great lava-stream of the eruption of 1906, lying just beyond Torre 

 Annunziata, is an ominous demonstration of the evil possibilities still 

 within old Vesuvius. To-day the small white cloud of smoke above the 

 summit of the volcanic ash-cone merely hints of these latent forces that 

 may again overwhelm some community at the base, while now the 

 great mountain rests in its beauty and historic interest, overlooking the 

 blue waters of the Bay of Naples. To the right are the massive build- 

 ings of the city intersected by narrow passage-ways, all crowded between 

 the shore and the high wall of the hills which stretch from the Pallazzo 

 Capoclimonte to the Posilipo. Par away at either side of the Bocca 

 Grande are the islands of Capri and Ischia, at times clearly outlined, 

 or again almost lost in the haze of opalescent mist. 



All through the day many groups of fishing-boats are scattered about 

 the bay while the men cast and haul their nets. Over the stone sea- 

 wall others pull on the end-ropes of a drag-net that has been set far 

 from shore, until at last the great burden of fish is safely unmeshed. 

 Here and there divers go down to scrape" the rocks and sand of the 

 bottom for mussels which are placed in a bag worn at the waist. Prom 

 an anchored skiff a man dredges with a scoop-net attached to a long 

 pole contented with many of the living things that appear, for strange 

 creatures are welcome in the Neapolitan market. Thus, without plant- 

 ing or cultivating, the people gather from the sea an unending harvest. 

 But from under the cliff of Sorento, to the wave-eroded rocks of Ischia, 



VOL. LXXVII. — 15. 



