Feb. 28, 1889] 



NATURE 



417 



total weight being 1000 kilogrammes. Two windows on 

 the northern side are closed by wooden covers, which, 

 when opened, present two ample working tables. The 

 building-up of the station at the first place to which it was 

 sent (a pond near Biechovic) required two hours and a half. 

 The scientific work began in the second half of June, 

 and since that time, every week or fortnight, Dr. Fritsch 

 with his assistants has visited the station. After the 

 temperature of the air, and of the water on the surface 

 and at different depths, has been noted, the surface 

 fauna is taken by a tow-net (Fig. 2, i). This contains 

 mostly Copepods, Rotators, and Daphnia kahlbergensts, 

 Schoedler. Then the fauna at a depth of i metre is 

 taken by a net fixed on a long bamboo (Fig. 2, 2). The 

 net contains generally the genera Daphnia, Bosmina, and 

 Leptodora. Next, the fauna at a depth of 2 metres is 

 taken by a long net (Fig. 2, 3), on which weights are 

 fixed, and which is drawn out of the water by a string 

 that closes the net by tightening it in the centre. This 

 manipulation prevents the fauna from a depth of 2 metres 



from being mixed with that of the higher portions of the 

 water. Large Daphnids are found here in great numbers. 

 The same instrument is used in deeper parts of the pond. 

 Mud is carried up by a strong net (Fig, 2, 4), and washed 

 in sieves (7 and 8). The Allona leydigii is a common 

 appearance there. These operations finished, the littoral 

 fauna at various places is taken, consisting most com- 

 j monly of large Sida and Lynceus. Fishing has been 

 carried on in the same way by night, in January, under 

 the ice-cover. Sometimes carp {Cyprinus carpio) have 

 been taken at night, that the contents of their alimentary 

 canal might be examined. The living material acquired 

 in this manner is carefully killed by osmic and chromic 

 acids, and preserved in strong alcohol. 



The investigations will be continued throughout the 

 year, and the results afterwards published in the Archiv 

 fur naturwissenschaftliche Landesdurchforschuiig von 

 Bohmen. The station will, by and by, be transferred to 

 some of the ponds in Southern Bohemia, or to one of 

 the mountain lakes. 



NOTES. 



Arrangements are being made by the Berlin Academy of 

 Sciences for an interesting scientific undertaking. During the 

 summer of this year a ship is to be despatched for the investi- 

 gation of the pelagic fauna of the Atlantic, especially along the 

 coast from Greenland to Brazil. Prof. Hensen, of Kiel, will 

 be at the head of the party, which is expected to start in July. 



The death of M. G. Meneghini is announced. He had been 

 Professor of Geology at Pisa from 1849, and died at the age 

 of 78. 



We have also to record the death of Dr. Heinrich Ernst Karl von 

 Dechen, the eminent geologist and mineralogist, well known for 

 his numerous works on geology. He was born at Berlin on March 

 25, i8oo, and died at Bonn on February 15. 



