VI. 



A Portable Zoological Station in Bohemia.' 



SINCE the establishment of the commission for investigating the 

 Natural History of Bohemia in 1864, it has ever been one of its 

 chief objects to study the life of the lakes, ponds, and streams. So 

 early as 1871 Dr. Anton Fritsch began to publish some of the results 

 of his work in this direction in the Archiv of the commission; and 

 since that date much valuable research has been accomplished both 

 by Dr. Fritsch and other authors. For nearly twenty years, however, 

 the task could only be undertaken in a very unsystematic and 

 spasmodic manner. There was no provision for making observations 

 on fresh material on the spot. Dissections and microscopical work 

 could not well be done in the open air, and it was impossible always 

 to find a convenient and quiet cottage near the various pieces of 

 water where the naturalist could temporarily take up his abode. 

 Moreover, it was difficult to extend the period of collecting at any one 

 spot, and to examine the fauna and flora under varying conditions. It 

 therefore appeared to Dr. Fritsch, who was foremost in directing the 

 undertaking, that a small movable laboratory might be constructed 

 at very little cost to obviate all difficulties ; and by the summer of 

 1888 a convenient portable hut was eventually obtained. Thus was 

 inaugurated on a small scale the systematic study of the fauna and 

 flora of the European lakes, which has since been carried on more 

 exhaustively elsewhere, and which led to the establishment of the 

 well-known station on the Lake of Plon (Holstein), opened by Dr. 

 Zacharias in 1892. 



The Dutch had already constructed a small portable station for 

 the study of the life on the coast of Holland, and Dr. Fritsch 

 arranged his building on much the same plan. A view of the exterior 

 is given in Fig. i, and of the interior in Fig. 2. The structure is of 

 wood, consists of about 80 parts, and has a total weight of 1,000 kilo- 

 grammes. It can be erected in two hours and a half, pulled down in 

 one hour and a half. The fioor space is 12 square metres, and on 



1 Untersuchungen iJber die Fauna der Gewiisser Bohmens. — IV. Die Thierwelt 

 des Unterpocernitzer und Gatterschlager Teiches, als Resultat der Arbeiten an der 

 iibertragbaren Zoologischen Station. By Professor Dr. Anton Fritsch and Dr. V. 

 Vavra. Archiv. d. naturw. Landesdurch/orschimg von Bohmen, vol. ix., no. 2, 1893 

 (1894). [This work is well illustrated, and we are indebted to the authors for the 

 loan of the four photographs here reproduced.] 



