NA TURE 



[November i6, 189; 



SOME LA BORA TORIES 

 BIOLOGY. 



OF MARINE 



'T'HE description of some of the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tories of Europe, contributed by Mr. Bashford Dean to the 

 American Naturalist for July, and reprinted in Nature, 

 August 24, was continued by the author in the August number 

 of our transatlantic contemporary. Some of the most important 

 laboratories were omitted in the first article, but they are in- 

 cluded in the second, from which the following account has 

 been taken : — 



" The Staziono Zoologica at Naples during the past twenty 

 years has earned its reputation as the centre of marine biolog- 

 ical work. Its success has been aided by the richness of the 

 fauna of the Gulf, but it is due in no small degree to careful and 

 energetic administration. The director of the station, Prof. 

 Dohrn, deserves no little gratitude from every worker in science 

 for his untiring efforts in securing its foundation and syste- 

 matic management. Partly by his private generosity and 

 partly by the financial support he obtained, the original or 

 eastern building was constructed. Its annual maintenance was 

 next assured by the aid he secured throughout (mainly) Germany 

 .and Austria. By the leasing of work tables to be used by repre- 

 sentatives of the universities, a sufficient income was maintained 

 to car-y on the work of the station most efficiently. A gift by 

 the German government of a small steam launch added not a 

 little to the collecting facilities," 



After commenting upon the attractiveness of the Naples 

 station, and the general air of quietness which results from the 

 excellent system that 'prevails in every branch of the station's 

 organisation, Mr. Dean goes on to describe the aquarium room, 

 which is lighted only through wall-tanks. "There are in all 

 about two dozen large aquaria embedded in the walls of the 

 sides and of the main partition of the room. The water is clear 

 and 'blue. The background in each aquaria, built of rockwork, 

 catches the light from above and throws in clear relief the living 

 inmates." 



" There is no more interesting department of the station than 

 that of receiving and distributing the material. . . . Neapolitan 

 fishermen 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 farms have been made a most careful study by Cav. Lo 

 Bianco, and his preparations have gained him a world-wide repu- 

 tation. Delicate jelly-fish have 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." 



There are at present two American tables at Naples, one sup- 

 ported by the Smithsonian Institution, and the other by gift of 

 Agassiz. 



" The entire Italian coast is so rich in its fauna that it is due 

 perhaps, only to the greatness of Naples, that so few stations 

 have been founded. Messina has its interesting laboratory well 

 known in the work of its director. Prof. Kleinenberg. The 

 Adriatic, especially favourable for collecting, has at Istria a 

 small station on the Dalmatian coast, and at Trieste is the 

 .\ustrian station. Trieste possesses one of the oldest and most 

 honoured of marine observatories, although its station is but 

 small in comparison with that of Naples, Plymouth, or Roscoff. 

 Its work has in no small way been limited by scanty income ; it 

 has offered the investigator fewer advantages, and has, therefore, 

 become outrivalled. During a greater part of the year it is but 

 little more than the supply station of the University of Vienna, 

 providing fresh material for the students of Prof. Claus. Its 

 percentage of foreign investigators appears small ; its visitors 

 are usually from Vienna and of its university." 



Dr. GraefTe is the director of this station. With regard to 

 laboratories of marine biology in Germany, Norway, and Russia, 

 Mr. Dean says : — 



" The German universities have contributed to such a degree 

 to the building up of the station at Naples that they have 

 hitherto been little able to avail themselves of the more con- 

 venient but less favourable region of German coasts. The col- 

 lecting resources of the North Sea and of the Baltic have 

 perhaps been not sufficiently rich to warrant the establishment 



NO. 1255, VOL. 49] 



of a central station. On the side of the Baltic, the University 

 of Kiel, directly on the coast, may itself be regarded a marine 

 station. At present the interest in founding local laboratories 

 has, however, become stronger. At Plon, not far from Flens- 

 burg, is established a small station under the directorship of 

 Prof. Zacharias, and the first number of its contributions has 

 recently been published. In addition the newly-acquired 

 Heligoland has become the seat of a well-equipped Govern- 

 mental station, under the directorship of Dr. R. Heincke. The 

 island has been long known as most favourable in collecting 

 regions, and its position in the midst of the North Sea fisheries 

 gives it especial importance. 



"Norway, like Germany, is strengthening its interest in local 

 marine laboratories. It has succeeded in establishing two 

 permanent stations, one near Bergen, the other, most recently, 

 on an out-jutting point of the North Sea almost westward of 

 Christiana. The former is interested especially in matters re- 

 lating to the North Sea fisheries, and is supported partly by 

 the contributions of a learned society and' partly by a subsidy 

 from the Government in view of its relation to the practical 

 fisheries. The second and smaller station is devoted almost 

 exclusively to research in morphology. It is a dependency of 

 the University of Christiana, and is under the directorship of 

 one of its professors. Dr. Johan Hjort. With the richest col- 

 lecting resources these new stations may naturally be expected 

 to yield most important results. 



"Russians have ever been most enthusiastic in marine re- 

 search, and their investigators are to be found in nearly every ij 

 marine station of Europe. The French laboratory on the 

 Mediterranean at Ville Franche, as has previously been noted, 

 is supported essentially by Russians. At Naples they are ofien 

 next in numbers to the Germans and Austrians. The learned 

 societies of Moscow and St. Petersburg have contributed in no 

 little way to marine research. The station at .Sebastopol on 

 the Black Sea has become permanent, possessing an assured 

 income. That near the convent Solovetsky on the While .Sea, 

 though small, is of marked importance. It is already in its 

 thirteenth year. Prof. Wagner, of St. Petersburg, has been 

 its most earnest prooioter as well as constant visitor. He in 

 fact caused the Superior of the convent to become interested 

 in its work and secured a permanent building by the convent's 

 grant ; he was then enabled by an appropriation from Govern- 

 ment to provide an equipment. Its annual maintenance is due 

 to the Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg. The matter of 

 the appointment of a permanent director for the summer 

 months is now being agitated. The station Solovetskaia is 

 said to possess the richest collecting region of the Russian 

 coasts. It is certainly the only laboratory which has at its 

 command a truly Arctic fauna." 



The article concludes with a brief description of the Swedish 

 zoological station on the west coast near Gothenberg. The 

 station was founded by Dr. Regnell about fifteen years ago, 

 and Dr. Hjalmar Theel is its present director. The students 

 are mainly from the university of Upsala ; indeed, no foreigners 

 are admitted to it. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The accommodation for students in the Radcliffe 

 Library has been improved by the removal of ths sub-libra- 

 rian's office to the room under the central tower and the pro- 

 vision of several new reading tables in the space thus created. But 

 as the numbers of scientific students continue to increase, it is clear 

 that some more extensive and permanent addition will very soon 

 be necessary. The number of regular readers in the library 

 this term is seventy-nine ; ten years ago it was only thirty-one, 

 and in the previous decade it was seldom that more than i^'it or 

 six students made use of the library in a single day. These 

 figures give some idea of the gradual growth of scientific studies 

 in the University. A proposal has been set on foot, which, if it 

 is carried out, is likely to affect scientific studies in Oxford very 

 beneficially. It is, that besides the existing means of obtaining 

 a degree by examination, facilities shall be given for obtaining a 

 degree for research in any recognised subject. It is proposed 

 that a residential qualification of two years shall be imposed on 

 any candidate for such a degree, and that evidence must be 

 brought forward of continuous research and study, to the 

 satisfaction of the board appointed for the purpose. At n 



