Nov. I, 1883] 



NATURE 



17 



well provided with diving dresses. The animals are kept in a 

 large tank, which is large enough for specimens of considerable 

 dimensions. 



France, apart from the laboratory of the Science Faculty at 

 iMarseilles, which has an aquarium and a boat, possesses five 

 seaside laboratorie?. They are distributed as follows : one at 

 \'illefranche, superintended by M. Barrois ; one at Banyuls, 

 near Port Vendres, superintended by M. Lacaze Duthiers ; 

 ano:her at Concarneau, on the south coast of Brittany, super- 

 intended by MM. Robin and Pouchet ; another at Roscoff, 

 on the north coast of Brittany, superintended by M. Lacaze 

 Duthiers ; and one at Havre, superintended by M. Paul 

 Bert. Besides these principal establishment?, there are 

 two or three others, such as those of Arcachon and 

 Lucquef, which have been founded either by provincial scien- 

 tific societies, or by professors who have received some 

 .'light aid from the corporations of the towns where these labora- 

 tories are established ; but these laboratories pos-ess neither 

 special tenants, boats, nor sailors, therefore they are only of use 

 to their founders and a limited number of pupils. 



The laboratories of Villefranche, Roscoff, Concarneau, 

 Banyuls, and Havre are founded and kept up by the French 

 Government ; in some cases the corporations have given money 

 or granted land. The laboratories of Concarneau and Roscoff 

 present two varieties widely different. 



The laboratory at Concarneau is situated at the entrance to 

 the port ; it was founded by Coste, the well-known embryo- 

 logist, who wished to study the different conditions attending 

 the reproduction of marine animals. The building consists of 

 two stories : the ground floor is used for the aquariums, three in 

 number ; on the first floor are the workrooms. The rocks 

 facing the laboratory have been utilised, and are transformed 

 into eight basins or re=ervoirs of water, each from 300 to 1200 

 feet square, and from 15 to 20 feet deep. The aquariums are 

 filled with water by means of a pump set in motion by the wind. 

 There is only one boat belonging to this laboratory, but the 

 French Government always place a war sloop at the disposal of 

 its director ; this summer some of the laboratory workers wanted 

 to dredge a long w ay out at sea, and the Government lent them 

 a despatch boat. The coast abounds in marine animals, but is 

 poorer in invertebrates than that of Roscoff; it is more espe- 

 cially a coast for sardine fishing. The surrounding scenery is 

 lovely. 



Roscoff perhaps offers greater advantages, though fewer at- 

 tractions. Cabbage-fields and tracts of land devoted to the 

 cultivation of artichokes, though a proof of the mild and de- 

 lightful climate of this little seaport, are by no means an accept- 

 able substitute for the beautiful scenery of Concarneau, but the 

 treasures of the sea here, more abundant than on the coast of 

 Concarneau, or indeed on any other part of the w hole French 

 coast, are ample consolation to the crowd of workers who annu- 

 ally avail themselves of the facilities for studying and carrying 

 out researches which the Roscoff laboratory, founded by M. 

 Lacaze Duthiers, affords them free of coat. 



The coast of Roscoff offers peculiar advantages for a seaside 

 laboratory, or, in French terminology, station zoologique iiiari- 

 tiiiie. The numerous boulders of granite serve as places of 

 shelter for the neighbouring marine animals. It also presents a 

 vast expanse of sand sea-shore and a large bay of slime, thus 

 all the different kinds of marine animals are within reach. 



Notwithstanding these remarkable qualifications which M. 

 Lacaze Duthiers quickly detected, he had considerable difficulty 

 to get a footing for his laboratory. It now consists of a large 

 house bought by Government, to which has been recently added 

 the village schoolhouse {Ecole Cominiinale), abandoned, since 

 education has become compulsory, for another affording increased 

 accommodation. A third liouse, opposite to the one bought by 

 Government, is hired for the convenience of the laboratory 

 workers. It must be remembered that Roscofi" is only a little 

 fishing village, and it is often difficult to find a room during the 

 summer season, therefore M. Lacaze Duthiers offers a bedroom 

 to all wlio w ork in his laboratory. 



There are two sailors belonging to the laboratory ; and one of 

 the attendants from the Sorbonne laboratory is on duty at Ros- 

 coff during the summer months. The garden of the laboratory 

 reaches down to the sea. A large reservoir, measuring 4200 

 feet, has been constructed, where are kept marine animals, either 

 at liberty or in cases. On a small island opposite the laboratory 

 there is a " bed " where animals of sedentary habits are kept 

 almost at liberty. 



The laboratory has three sailing boats adapted for taking ex- 

 cursions among the rocks and on the neighbouring shores, also 

 for dredging either with the usual drag, oyster-drag, or with a 

 coral-fiahing apparatus. The fishermen also take a considerable 

 quantity of marine animals to the laboratory. ; 



Tliis Roscoff station zoologique maritime, which M. Lacaze 

 Duthiers had so much trouble to found, is now in its fifteentli 

 year. The French Government by degrees added to its local 

 habitation, which, if even at the present time not perfect, is 

 nevertheless of immeasurable utility to scientific workers, and 

 therefore contributes to the progress of science. 



The Roscoff laboratory is perhaps more frequented than any 

 other, and is an enduring testimony to the patience and laudable 

 determination of its founder and director. The expenses are 

 defrayed from the fund annually voted by the French Parliament 

 for public instruction. Here, as in all establishments in France 

 for higher education, no fees are paid ; but this success was 

 hardly won ; the necessary sum was with difficulty wrung from 

 the Government, and the local authorities, notwithstanding the 

 evident advantages such an establishment brings to the village, 

 were equally tardy to grant the concessions eventually obtained, 

 unlike tbose of Banyuls, who conceded a building site, also a 

 yearly revenue, and subsequently presented the laboratory with 

 a boat. 



The most recently organised seaside laboratory is at Havre ; 

 the building it occupies was formerly a public aquarium, which 

 the corporation handed over to M. Paul Bert. It is supported 

 from Government ar.d corporation funds, and is more especially 

 destined to facilitate physiological research. Doubtless, when 

 the arrangements now in course of completion .are perfected, 

 they will offer all the requirements for studying this branch of 

 science, a qualification evidently all but absent in laboratories 

 founded by zoologists. 



It must be admitted that all these seaside laborataries, or sta- 

 tions :oologiques maritiines, taken both separately and in the 

 aggregate, render important service to biologists of all nations. 

 Every year there is a large percentage of foreigners among the 

 workers, the English element bearing always the largest propor- 

 tion, a proof that our countrymen fail to appreciate their good 

 fortune in possessing a more extensive sea-coast than that of any 

 other country, or they would be able to offer this useful form of 

 hospitality as well as seek it. Nevertheless, considering the 

 scanty encouragement given by the public and the English 

 Government to biological science, it is to be feared that many 

 years will pass by before stations zoologiques niaritiints exist on 

 the English coast. 



The only similar laboratory in Holland belongs to the Uni\er- 

 sities of Utrecht and Leyden. The Dutch coast is not rich 

 enough in marine animals to suggest the advisability of esta- 

 blishing many zoological laboratories, therefore a movable or 

 migratory laboratory has been organised, which consists of a 

 wooden house, easily taken down and put up again ; there are 

 three rooms in it, a large workroom, and two smaller ones used 

 for the aquarium and fishing apparatus. At the beginning of 

 every summer it is set up on the coast on a piece of land hii ed 

 for the purpose, or more frequently lent by the nearest village ; 

 thus the Dutch scientists visit the entire coast, study its marine 

 animals, and even that of their neighbours. Russia has a 

 laboratory on the Black Sea, and Austria possesses one at 

 Trieste. 



In connection with the above communication, we may state that 

 Mr. Romanes writes to Tuesday's Times forcibly pointing ( ut 

 the need of a thoroughly equipped zoological station on ihe 

 British coast, and its value both to science and to our fisheries. 

 Referring to the recent manifesto, so influentially signed, printed 

 in our columns, Mr. Romanes hopes the executive committee 

 will see their way to adopting its suggestions. 



THE ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN 

 NA TURALISTS AND PHYSICIANS 

 •PHE fifty-sixth annual meeting of this flourishing association 

 -'- was held this year in the city of Freiburg, Baden, under 

 the presidency of Dr. A. Claus. The proceedings opened with 

 an informal gathering in the Concert Hall on Monday, Septem- 

 ber 17, and concluded on the following Saturday with an excur- 

 sion to the romantic watering-place of Badenweiler. During the 

 four intervening days the several Mathematical, Physical, Bio- 

 logical, and Medical Sections met regularly in the old University, 



