NA PLES AQUA RIUM. 2 1 



by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for the 

 use of students who might gain the right of study. 

 The aquarium is fitted up with the usual tanks, &c., 

 on the ground floor, and is opened to the public at a 

 certain charge. The money thus received is applied 

 towards defraying the expenses of the institution. 

 Already some highly important natural history work 

 has been done here, notably researches in the em- 

 bryology of certain fishes. 



Shortly after the Naples station was founded, a 

 similar aquarium was commenced at Penekese Island, 

 the expense of which was defrayed by the munificent 

 act of one of the New York merchant-princes. It was 

 placed under the charge of Professor Agassiz, who un- 

 fortunately died almost before the institution had got 

 into working order. The undertaking is now under 

 one of the Professor's sons, and the scientific investi- 

 gations promised to be of great service to zoology, 

 but it has not hitherto proved so successful as was 

 expected. There is no reason in the world why all 

 our great public aquaria should not prove as effective 

 to pure scientific research as they already are to the 

 public educationally. Practical students might be 

 attached to each, whose time could be devoted to 

 zoological research. The time of the curator, how- 

 ever scientific may be his attainments, must neces- 

 sarily be too much taken up by the general manage- 

 ment for him to carry out observations which require 

 constant and assiduous watching. 



