BIOLOGIC^ AT. STATION. FAIRPORT, IOWA. 5 



operation and iininternipted experimental work. During some parts 

 of tlio year, as ninv ho desirable and practicable, the personnel 

 responsible to this l-ilioratory is much enlarged. The temporary 

 associates or employees, comprisin": investigators skilled in special 

 lines, scientific assistants, practical fishermen, or others, make it 

 jiossible not only to increase the eftectiveness of the station, but to 

 broatlen the territory of its operations. 



About 00 acres of land, extending from the banks of the Mississippi, 

 on a two-hfths of a mile front, to the brow of a hill a c|uarter oi a 

 mile back, afford ample space for the distribution of ponds and the 

 suitable location of buildings. The slope of the ground is such as 

 to assure proper drainage and to make it feasible to have a gravity 

 flow of water from the storage reservoirs, located on or beneath the 

 ground at suitable elevations, to the ponds and buildings. 



There are in all 36 ponds, 14 of which are small and made of con- 

 crete, and 22 of which are dug out of the earth, simulating the condi- 

 tions of natural ponds and varying in area from one-tenth of an acre 

 to an acre or more. There are two water systems, the natural river 

 water, pumped into a large storage reservoir and flowing thence to 

 the several ponds, and filtered river water which is stored in low and 

 high pressure cisterns and used for domestic and laboratory purposes. 

 There is also a complete underground sewage and drainage system, 

 which conveys the waste water and sewage into the river well below 

 the source of supply. 



The buildings comprise a main laboratory building, a small tank 

 house, a boiler and pump house, a boat and seine shed, a storehouse 

 and carpenter shop, a small shell-testing shop, and other necessary 

 Hving houses and outbuildings. In some of these will be found 

 pumping machinery for the two water-supply systems, machinery 

 for cuttmg and finishihg buttons in testing work, and such shop and 

 field tools as are necessary to make the station as nearly self-contained 

 as practicable. 



The principal building, of concrete, stone, and brick, with ground 

 dimensions of approximately 100 by 55 feet, has a fully finished 

 basement besides two full stories and a finished third story over the 

 center and larger portion of the building. The present laboratory 

 accommodations for 16 investigators can be extended by conversion 

 of other rooms into laboratories. A well-lighted library, chemical 

 laboratory, photographic room, museum, tank, and aquarium rooms 

 are features of the building essential to the efficient accomplishment 

 of biological and chemical investigations of fishery problems. To 

 afford necessary accommodations for temporary investigators at 

 certain seasons, there are provided also a kitchen, a dining room, 

 and a number of bed chambers which may be converted into labora- 

 tories as required. The building is lighted by electricity. 



SERVICE RENDERED. 



WHAT IS DONE FOR MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 



The services of the Fairport station to the pearly mussel industries 

 have consisted in the propagation of mussels, the survey of mussel 

 resources, the investigation of mussel problems, and the promotion 

 of the protection of mussels. 



