OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 415 



It is needless to observe that such a zoological station as has 

 been proposed here by our distinguished associate, Baron de 

 Miklucho ]\Jaklay, would involve a series of expenses which it 

 would be absurd to suppose within the means of our Society. For 

 this purpose, therefore, when our plans are matured, the as- 

 sistance of the State must be requested. And it appears to me 

 that the present conjuncture of affairs suggests the establish- 

 ment of such a station for research, in conjunction with an 

 aquarium for popular instruction and amusement, as a portion of 

 the constructions now commenced for the New South Wales In- 

 ternational Exhibition. I am sure that no portion of the display 

 would attract more attention than the opportunities thus afforded 

 to ourselves and to strangers for observing the forms and habits 

 of the little-known creatures which throng our sea margins — 

 fish, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, corals, and innumerable 

 other animal and vegetable organisms. Few in this country have 

 ever had the good fortune to " gaze upon the secrets of the 

 deep " in such establishments as are found in Brighton, West- 

 minster, and many other British towns ; at Naples, or the Texel, 

 on the continent of Europe ; and, if not elsewhere, in Newport, 

 U.S.A., under the hospitable superintendence of Professor A. 

 Agassiz. And there are few places in the world in which the 

 requisite buildings could be placed with such advantage for the 

 supply of all conceivable forms of marine life, in order to their 

 exhibition to a large city population, as in Sydney. The po- 

 sition of the establishment, if combined with aquaria open to the 

 public, must evidently be somewhere on the borders of Farm 

 Cove, in or near the sea fringe of the Botanic Gardens. From 

 the old quarry in the grounds of Government House on the west 

 to near Garden Point on the east, there is no ground which would 

 not serve for the purpose, or in which a well-designed structure 

 would not be ornamental. But for various reasons, the eastern 

 corner, beyond the present enclosures, offers the finest position. 

 If, to use a vulgar phrase, it had been made on purpose, it could 

 not be better adapted for the purpose. 



Though such an institution is beyond the means and, in part, 

 even outside the scope of this Society, it is so entirely in 



