\ 
ing the summer of 1859, at Naples and at Capri, I endeavored to gain 
as wide a knowledge as possible of the marine fauna. In the following 
winter, at Messina, I devoted my entire attention to the investigation 
of the radiolaria, and thus obtained the material which forms the 
basis of my monograph of this class (1862). Daily boat trips in the 
harbor of Messina made me acquainted with all the forms in the 
pelagic fauna which make this classic spot, in consequence of the com- 
bination of uncommonly favorable conditions, far richer for planktonic 
study and investigation than any other point on the Mediterranean 
(3, pp. V, 25, 166, 170). 
For a full generation, since that time, the study of plankton has 
remained my most pleasant occupation, and I have hardly Jet a year 
pass without going to the seacoast and, by means of the pelagic net, 
574 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
getting new material for work. Various inducements were offered £6 
mein addition; on the one hand the radiolaria, on the other the siphono- 
phores and meduse, to which I had already given some attention while 
at Nizza in 1864. The results of these studies are given in my mono- 
graphs of these two classes (1879 and 1888). In the course of these three © 
decades I have by degrees become acquainted with the entire coast of 
the Mediterranean and its fauna. I have already made reference, in 
the preface to my “System of Medusve,” p. Xvi, to the places where 
I have studied this subject. In addition to the Mediterranean I have 
continued my planktonic studies on the west coast of Norway (1869); on 
the Atlantic coast of France (1878); on the British coast (1876 and 
1879); at the Canary Islands een! ); in the Red Sea (1873), and in 
the Indian Ocean (1881-82), 
By far my richest results and my deepest insight into the biology of 
the plankton were vouchsafed me during a three months’ residence 
at Puerto del Arrecife, the seaport of the Canary island Lanzarote 
(in December, 1886, and in January and February, 1887). The pelagic 
fauna in this part of the Atlantic is so rich in genera and Species ; 
the fabulous wealth of life in the wonderful “animal roads” or Zain 
currents (18, p. 309) is, every day, so great, and the opportunities for — 
investigation on the spot are so favorable that Lanzarote afforded 
me greater advantages for planktonic study than all the other places 
ever visited by me (excepting perhaps Messina). Every day the 
pelagic net brought to me and to my companions (Prof. Richard Greeff 
aud my two students, N. Miklucho-Maclay and H. Fol) such quanti- — 
ties of valuable tow-stuff (Auftrieb) that we were able to work up only ~ 
avery small part of it. At that time I concentrated my chief inter- 
est on the meduse and siphonophores, and the larger part of the 
new material which is worked up in my monographs of these two 
classes was collected at Lanzarote. All my observations “On the 
Development of the Siphonophores” (1869) were made there. 
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