172 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 1897. 



number of fairly large rooms, easily accessible from a corridor between 

 them. Besides the laboratory of the Director, and of an assistant, 

 there is a larger apartment for researchers visiting the station, then a 

 room for the nets, and a library. On the ground-floor are aquaria, 

 ventilated by a petroleum motor of two-horse power. 



*' The catches are exactly measured, and then counted as indi- 

 viduals, after Professor Hensen's method, — a very tiresome and 

 lengthy proceeding. For our work in Bohemia, where we have to do 

 with shallow water, the quality of which and the plankton vary 

 suddenly and often, this method is not to be recommended ; more- 

 over, we obtain sufficient knowledge of the distribution and composi- 

 tion of the plankton by horizontal dredgings of 100 metres, going 

 metre by metre. 



" The results of Dr. Zacharias and others working at the labora- 

 tory are published in the Forschungsbericht, of which three volumes 

 have appeared up till now. 



" The establishment of the institution, as well as its direction, 

 are still of a provisional character, which hardly conduces to pro- 

 sperity. When we consider the happy progress that has been made 

 in the investigation of fresh water by the institution of the three 

 stations in Plon, on the Miiggelsee, and in Trachenberg, it is strange 

 that opinions as to their value should be so diverse. People under- 

 estimate the problems set before such institutions, and forget that 

 the individuals who are to cope with them, must first be discovered, 

 that they must make systematic studies throughout many years, 

 and above all, that they should be placed in a position untroubled by 

 anxiety as to their future, and not compelled to supplement by other 

 undertakings the insufficiency of their material situation." 



I hope that you who in England are supporting this movement 

 for a fresh-water station, will be able to convince people of the great 

 practical, as well as scientific value, of such an institution, and that 

 we on the Continent may soon hear that your wealthy country has 

 done her duty by fresh-water biology. 



Anton Fritsch. 

 Prague. 



