434 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



imposed upon me by all those who pay regularly for a table even 

 when it is not occupied ;i year or more. Some weeks ago I got another 

 application, from Mr. Wilson, of the Johns Hopkins University. He 

 wished especially to obtain the method of microscopical work used 

 in the station. Be Bays that he has no claim to a table, but hopes I 

 may be able to find him a way out of his difficulty. A year ago Dr. 

 Whitman, who was in Japan, came here to ask the same favor. I per- 

 mitted him to work here as my personal guest. Dr. Scott, fr< m Prince- 

 ton College, told me he would have some students, too, if America had 

 a table. Others have told me the same. I should be only too glad if 

 I could permit all of them to study here. I believe there is now no 

 laboratory in the world which oilers such a combination of means, both 

 technical and other, as the Naples station. But I must stick to my 

 rules and laws in order to maintain the existence and further develop- 

 ment of the institution. 



I think now there is nobody in America in a better position to regu- 

 late this affair than yourself. Is it not possible for the Smithsonian 

 Institution, or the National Museum, or the United States Commission 

 of Fish and Fisheries to keep permanently a table in the Naples station? 

 1 have written to Dr. Wilson, also, to try to persuade the Johns Hop- 

 kins and Princeton Universities and Harvard College to combine and 

 have a table.* I believe it would be a mutual benefit if such could be 

 brought about. The price of a table per annum is 2,000 franes, or £80, 

 a sum which certainly does not exceed the financial powers of American 

 institutions. Miss Nunn told me that she had asked Dr. Seudder and 

 Professor Hyatt to he'p in this matter. 



The zoological station is a purely private enterprise, for which I am 

 alone responsible. Besides the income of the twenty-one tables, it de- 

 rives annually 30,000 francs trom the entrance fees to the aquarium, 

 and 10,000 to 15,000 francs by selling preserved specimens. This would 

 not cover expenses, and therefore Germany gives an annual subscrip- 

 tion of 30,000 marks. To justify this expenditure the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment has asked me to hand in every year a table of my accounts; 

 and I think it may interest you to see one of them, which 1 inclose. 



Some German and other Governments pay also subscriptions towards 

 the publication of our three periodicals. Thus I am enabled to conduct 

 the whole station in a satisfactory way. 



At present I am about to add a new part, viz, a laboratory for com- 

 parative experimental and chemical physiology. As soon as that is 

 started I shall try to establish more special arrangements for solving 

 questions relating to fishes and all the problems which the sea offers. 



Napoli Stazione Zoologia, 



Naples, February 10, 1883. 



This has ninco been accomplished. — C. W. S. 



