MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATIONS OF EUROPE. 229 



figure, is adorned with frescoes in a truly Italian style. It 

 looks out into a long loggia with view of the sea and Capri, 

 where the student is wont to retire in after luncheon hour 

 with easy-chair and book. The working library is of the 

 best and is sure to contain the results of the most recent 

 researches. The desk shown in the figure is one on which 

 each day is to be found the latest publications. In the 

 upper pigeon-holes are the cards prepared for each investigator 

 on his advent to Naples ; with these he replaces the volumes 

 which he has taken to his work place. Every division of the 

 laboratory is carefully organized and is under the charge of a 

 special assistant. Prof. Hugo Eisig, the assistant director, has 

 taken the welfare of each student under his personal charge, 

 and it is not until the end of his stay that the visitor recognizes 

 how much has been done for him. 



There is no more interesting department of the station 

 than that of receiving and distributing the material. Its 

 headquarters is in the basement of the physiological laboratory, 

 and here Cav. Lo Bianco is to be found busy with his aids 

 and attendants amid a confusion of pans, dishes and tables, 

 encountering the Neapolitan fishermen who have learned to 

 bring all of their rarities to the station. The specimens are 

 quickly assorted by the attendants ; such as may not be needed 

 for the immediate use of the investigators are retained and 

 prepared for shipment to the universities throughout Europe. 

 The methods of killing and preserving marine forms have been 

 made a most careful study by Lo Bianco, and his preparations 

 have gained him a world-wide reputation. Delicate jelly-fish 

 are to be preserved distended, and the frail forms of almost 

 every group have been successfully fixed. The methods of the 

 Naples station were kept secret only until it was possible to 

 verify and improve them, as it was not deemed desirable to 

 have them given out in a scattered way by a number of 

 investigators. 



Lo Bianco has made the best use of the rich material passing 

 daily through his department, and has been enabled to prepare 

 the most valuable records as to spawning seasons and as to 

 larval conditions. He knows the exact station of the rarest 



