BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 4° 5 



VoB. MI, IVo. 28. Washington, D. C. »ec. 7, a 8 S3. 



Ol THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES, ITALY. 



By Prof. ANTON DOIIRN. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Bai/d.] 



Inasmuch as I have thrown my whole existence into the creation of 

 zoological stations, I shall give you all the information I am able. You 

 are right in supposing that there is no description of the establishment 

 which I have founded here. General descriptions exist in almost all 

 European languages; since the zoological station offers a charming oc- 

 casion for newspaper articles. But such descriptions would not help 

 you a bit, as they leave out all that is technically important. 



I think it advisable to send you a series of photographs which have 

 been made lately for a present at the silver wedding of the German 

 crown prince and crown princess. Both have been very intimate with 

 every particular of my enterprise from its very beginning. Both make 

 visits to the zoological station, and I have the honor of giving them 

 annually a verbal and several written communications on the progress 

 of the establishment. 



Perhaps you kuow from earlier communications that I have intro- 

 duced a system of so-called "tables," which forms the basis both for the 

 scientific use and for the maintenance of the station. A table means 

 the right to occupy a working table in the laboratory of the station, and 

 to use all the help which is offered by the entire establishment. Such 

 tables are paid for by different Governments, with 2, 000 francs per an- 

 num. Italy has hired 4 tables, Prussia 3, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, 

 Baden, Hesse and Hamburg together each 1, Russia 2, Holland 1, Bel- 

 gium 1, Switzerland 1, Hungary 1, the University of Cambridge 1, the 

 British Association 1, University of Strasburg 1, Berlin Academy 1. 

 The latter gave me a steam yacht in exchange for ten years use of a 

 table, and Strasburg keeps its table for fifteen years as recompense 

 for 100,000 marks being put into my establishment by the German Im- 

 perial Government. 



The United States are not represented. I believe I wrote some years 

 ago to you about this; certainly I sent Professor A gassiz an account 

 of it. Several American naturalists have applied for admission. Some 

 months ago Professor Huxley asked me to permit a pupil of his, Miss 

 Nunn from Ohio, to occupy one of the English tables. I told him that 

 I could not do so, except as a special kindness to him, since the Eng- 

 lish tables were only to be occupied by Englishmen. He requested that 

 special favor, for at least a few weeks, till an Englishman could be ap- 

 pointed. This being now the case, Miss Nunn having also expressed 

 most urgently her desire to be permitted to continue her work here, I 

 am at a loss what to do. I ought to send her away. That is a duty 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 83 28 



