August 24, 1893] 



NA TURE 



405 



region has been the field of the naturalist. It was here that 

 Cuvier, during the Reign of Terror, made his studies on marine 

 invertebrates which were to precede his " Regne Animal." The 

 extreme westernmost promontories of Briitany have, for the 

 last halfcentuty, been the summer homes of Qaatrefages, Coste, 

 Audouin, Milne-Edwards, and de Lacaze Dulhiers. Coste 

 created a laboratory at Concarneau, but this ha,s come to be 

 devoted to practical fish culture, and is, at the present day, of 

 little scientific interest. It is owing to the exertions of Prof, de 

 Lacaze-Duthiers of the Sorbonne, that the two government 

 stations of biology have since been founded. The first w.is 

 established at RoscofT, in one of the most attractive and 

 favourable collecting regions in Brittany, and has continued to 

 grow in importance for the last twenty years. As this station, 

 however, could be serviceable during summer only, it gave rise 

 to a smaller dependency of the Sorbonne in the southern- 

 most part of France, on the Mediterranean, at Banyuls, 

 which had the additionjl advantage of a Mediterranean 

 fauna. 



"To these French stations should be added that of Prof. 

 Giard,at Wimereaux near Boulogne, in the rich collecting funnel 

 of the Straits of Dover ; that of Prof. S ibatier at Cette, not far 

 from Banyuls, a dependency of the University of Montpelier ; 

 that of Marseilles, and the Russian station at Ville-Franche, 

 near the Italian frontier. An interesting station in addition, is 

 that at Arcachon near B >rdeaux, founded by a local scientific 

 society, and having at its command the collecting resources of a 

 small inland sea, famous for its oyster culture. Smaller stations 

 are not wanting, as at the Sables d'Olonne. 



" At Roicoff the laboratory building looks directly out 

 upon the channel. In its main room on the ground floor, 

 work places are partitioned off for a dozen investigators ; 

 this on the one hand leads to a large glass-walled aquarium- 

 room, while on the other opens directly to adjoining build- 

 ings which include lodging quarters, a well-furnished library, 

 and a laboratory for elementary students. Surrounding 

 the building is an attractive garden, which gives one any- 

 thing but a just idea of the barrenness of the soil of 

 Brittany. From the sea-wall of the laboratory one looks out 

 over the rocks that are becoming exposed by the receding tide. 

 A strong enclosure of masonry serves as a vivier to be used for 

 experiments as well as to retain water for supplying the labor- 

 atory. The students are, in the main, those of the Sorbonne, 

 and are under the direction of Dr. Prouho, their maitre de con- 

 fi'rences. They are given every opportunity to take part in the 

 collecting excursions, frequently made in the laboratory's 

 small sailing vessels, among the rocky islands of the neighbour- 

 ing coast. Strangers, too, are not infrequent and are generously 

 granted every privilege of the French student. Liberality is 

 one of the characteristic features of Roscoff. The stranger who 

 writes to Prof, de Lacaze-Duthiers is accorded a work-place 

 which entitles him gratuitously to every privilege of the 

 laboratory — his microscope, his reagents, even his lodging- 

 room should a place be vacant. It seems, in fact, to be a 

 point of pride with Prof. Lacaze that the stranger shall be wel- 

 comed to Roscoff, and upon entering the laboratory for the 

 first time, feel as much at home as if he had been there a week. 

 He finds his table in order, his misroscope awaiting him, and 

 the material for which he had written displayed in stately 

 array in the glass jars and dishes of his work-place. So, too, 

 he may have been assigned one of the large aquaria in the 

 glass aquarium room— massive stone-base stands, aerated by 

 a constant jet of sea water. He finds a surprising wealth of 

 material at Roscoff, and his wants are plentifully and promptly 

 supplied. 



"At Banyuls, the second station of the Sorbonne, the build- 

 ings are less imposing than those of Roscoff. It is a plain, three- 

 storey building facing the north, at the edge of the promontory 

 which shelters the harbour of Banyuls. The vivier is in front 

 of the station, behind is a reservoir cut in the solid rock — 

 receiving the water of the Mediterranean, and distributing it 

 throughout the building. On the first floor is a large aquar- 

 iumroom lighted by electricity, well supplied with tanks, and 

 decorated with statuary given by the Administration of the 

 Beaux-Arts. The bust of Arago occupies an important place, 

 as the laboratory has been named in his honour. The wealth 

 of living forms in the aquaria shows at once by variety of bright 

 colours the richness of southern fauna. Sea lillies are in pro- 

 fusion, and are gathered at the very steps of the laboratory. 

 The workrooms of the students are on the second floor, 



NO. 1243, VOL. 48] 



equipped in a manner similar to those of Roscoff. The director 

 ol this station is Dr. Frederic Guitel. It is usual during the 

 holidays at fall or winter, for the entire classes of the Sorborne 

 to spend several days in collecting trips in the neighbourhood. 

 The region, with its little port, is famous for its fisheries, and 

 one in especial is that of the Angler, Lophius. 



" The station on the Straits of Dover, at Wimereaux, has 

 earned a European reputation in the work of Prof. Giard. It is 

 but a small frame building, scarcely large enough to include the 

 advanced students selected from the Sorbonne. The laboratory 

 is, in a way, a rival of Roscoff, and it is noteworthy that its 

 workers seem to make a point of studying the laboratory methods 

 of the German universities. 



"The marine laboratory of .\rcachon, one of the oldest of 

 France, was built in 1867 by the local scientific society, and 

 was carried on independently until the time of the losses of the 

 Franco- Prussian War. Its management was then fused with 

 that of the faculty of medicine of Bordeaux, with whose assist- 

 ance, aided by that of a small subsidy from the government, 

 the work of the institution is carried on. Arcachon, in itself, 

 is a most interesting locality near Bordeaux. It has became a 

 summeringplace, noted for its pine-lands and the broad, sandy 

 plage, picturesque in summer with swarms of quainilj-dressed 

 children, the local head-dress of the peasant mingling with the 

 latest toilets from Paris. Here and there is to be seen that 

 accompaniment of every French watering-place, the goat boy 

 in smock and berret, fluting to his dozen charges who walk in 

 a stately way before him. The Bay of Arcachin is a small, 

 tranquil, inland sea, long know n for its rich fauna. In large 

 part it is laid out in oyster parks which constitute to no small 

 degree the source of wealth of the entire region. Shallow 

 and warm waters seem to give the marine life the best 

 conditions for growth and development. The laboratory is 

 placed just at the margin of the water. It includes a dozen or 

 more work-places for investigators, well supplied with aquaria, 

 a library on the second floor, a small museum containing col- 

 lections of local fauna, including the numerous relics of Ceta- 

 ceans that have found their way into this inland sea. A small 

 aquarium-room, opened to the public, is well provided with 

 local forms of fishes, and like that of Naples, is eagerly visited. 

 Those who are entitled freely to the use of the work-places are 

 instructors in French colleges, members of the Society, and all 

 the advanced students from the colleges of the State. For 

 other students work-place is given upon the payment of a fee 

 whose amount is regulated each year by the trustees. As at 

 Roscoff, material is plentifully supplied. 



"The zoological station at Cette is a direct annex of the 

 University of Montpelier. The present temporary building is 

 to be replaced by one of stone, which will enable Prof. Sabatier 

 to add in no little way to the working facilities of his students. 

 The region, in every essential regard, is similar to that of 

 Banyuls. 



"The station at Marseilles is devoted in great part to ques- 

 tions relating to the Mediterranean fisheries, and owes, in a 

 measure, its financial support to this practical work. 



"The station at Ville-Franche is essentially Russian. An 

 account of this with figures has recently been publi.shed 

 (Russian text) in Cracow. The station itself is well known 

 through the work of Dr. Bolles Lee, and it is here that Prof. 

 Carl Vogt has been a constant visitor." 



After a description of the Plymouth laboratory, Mr. Dean men- 

 tions those of Liverpool and St. Andrews, noriheastof Edinburgh 

 concerning which he remarks : "The work of these stations is only 

 in part purely biological ; the practical matters of fisheries must 

 be considered to insure financial support. In addition to these 

 there are several stations, notably one south-east of Edinburgh, 

 and another, recently equipped, on the Isle of Man. 



"At St. Andrews, Prof. Macintosh has studied the questions 

 relating to the hatching and development of the North Sea 

 fishes. Its situation upon the promontory leading into the 

 Firth of Forth seems to have been especially favourable for the 

 study of the North Sea fauna — the locality, moreover, is far 

 enough northward to include a number of boreal forms. The 

 importance of St. Andrews is at length better recognised, and 

 a substantial grant from the Government will enable a large and 

 permanent marine station to be here constructed. The facilities 

 for work have, up to the present time, been somewhat primitive 

 — a simple wooden building, single-storied, has been partitioned 

 off into small rooms, a general laboratory, with workplaces for 

 half a dozen investigators, a director's room, aquarium, and a 



