VOL. IV,] The Hopkins Seaside Labo7'atory. 59 



establishment, is the Zoological Station at Naples. The success 

 of this great institution is due to the enthusiasm and ability of 

 its founder and director, Dr. Anton Dohrn. This institution has 

 been often described, so that something of its work is very gen- 

 erally known. But it is not well known that in Europe there is 

 a large number of well-equipped and well-supported seaside lab- 

 oratories. It is from these laboratories that the most important 

 biological work of the present time is issuing. 



In our own country the history of the seaside laboratory, while 

 it contains some noteworthy undertakings and bids fair to have 

 a brilliant career, is more briefly told. All naturalists are per- 

 fectly familiar with the first notable step in this direction made 

 by I^ouis Agassiz at Penikese. The natural impetus which came 

 to American biological studies from the inspiration engendered 

 by this movement can never be overestimated. Since the death 

 of Agassiz and the closing the school at Penikese, other 

 very successful laboratories have been maintained on the 

 Atlantic Coast, the results of which have been of great value to 

 biological science. The most important and successful of these 

 thus far have been those of the Marine Biological Laboratory 

 and the Laboratory of the U. S. Fish Commission at Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., and the one maintained by the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, which has been moved from point to point. Popular 

 accounts of these have appeared at various times. The Marine 

 Biological Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Whitman, has 

 been especially successful. It has developed very rapidly into a 

 place where a considerable number of biological investigators 

 with a large number of students assemble every year both for 

 research and elementary study. This station is already regarded 

 justly as a very important one and it contributes largely to the 

 current of biological thought in this country. The commendable 

 ambition of its eminent director, if backed as it should be, and 

 no doubt will be, by proper financial support, will make the 

 station at Wood's Holl even more a center for biological research 

 than it is at present. 



With all this activity in biological study pursued hy modern 

 mjsthods, there is every reason why the splendid advantages of 

 the Pacific Coast should be made to contribute to the progress of 



