A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



Signer Lo Bianco and his assistants, who sort the ma- 

 terial, and send to each investigator in the work- 

 rooms whatever he may have asked for. 



Of course surface-skimming is not the only method 

 of securing material for the laboratory. The institution 

 owns a steam-launch named the Johannes Midler, in 

 honor of the great physiologist, which operates a pow- 

 erful dredge for securing all manner of specimens from 

 the sea-bottom. Then ordinary lines and nets are 

 more or less in requisition for capturing fish. And in 

 addition to the regular corps of collectors, every fisher- 

 man of the neighborhood has long since learned to 

 bring to the laboratory all rare specimens of any kind 

 that he may chance to capture. So in one way and 

 another the institution makes sure of having in tribute 

 all that the richly peopled waters of the Mediterranean 

 can offer. And this well-regulated system of collecting, 

 combined with the richness of the fauna and flora of the 

 Bay of Naples, has no small share in the success of 

 the marine laboratory. But these, of course, were fac- 

 tors that Dr. Dohrn took into account from the be- 

 ginning. 



Indeed, it was precisely with an eye to these im- 

 portant factors that Naples was selected as the site of 

 the future laboratory in the days when the project 

 was forming. 



The Bay of Naples is most happily located for the 

 needs of the zoologist. It is not too far south to ex- 

 clude the fauna of the temperate zone, yet far enough 

 south to furnish a habitat for many forms of life al- 

 most tropical in character. It has, in short, a most 

 varied and abundant fauna. And, on the other hand, 



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