ON THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAi'LKS. - 21 



of tables. There is also a separate room for making extracts and pre- 

 paring MSS. 



/. The laboratory is open at 7 a.m. in summer and 8 a.m. in winter. 

 In particular cases special arrangements can be made for access at unusual 

 hours ; but the staff cannot undertake to have the Laboratory cleaned before 

 the above-mentioned times. 



g. Any occupant of a table is free to accompany and take part in tlio 

 fishing- and dredging-expeditions of the Station. He may thus learn the use 

 of the dredge and the towing-net and the other means employed for pro- 

 curing specimens. 



h. The cost of the ordinary wear and tear of the instruments and appa- 

 ratus is borne by the Station to the extent of 20 francs. Damages to a greater 

 extent than this must "be paid for by the occupant of the table. 



The working-tables thus equipped and disposed in several rooms constitvite 

 the Laboratory of the Station ; and of these, of course, the interest and im- 

 portance are purely and exclusively scientific. 



The large aquarium on the ground-floor has, on the other hand, a double 

 function. It is partly a popular exhibition, and the payments of visitors consti- 

 tute a not inconsiderable and, it is to be hoped, an increasing item in the in- 

 come of the Station. It serves also as a large field of observation for scientific 

 investigators desirous of learning something about the habits of animals. 



When our great ignorance on this subject is considered, in relation to the 

 morphological importance with which the theory of natural selection and 

 descent has invested even apparently small details of the working of animal 

 economies, the large aquarium may, after all, seem no less a laboratory than 

 the working-table. 



It will of course be understood that the general public, who are admitted 

 on payment to view the large aquarium, are carefully excluded from the 

 laboratories proper, though the occupants of tables in the latter have free 

 access to the former. 



The staff of the Station consists of : — 



a. Dr. Dohrn, the general director. 



h. Dr. Eisig, who has direct command of the laboratory, and whose duty 

 it is to superintend all the arrangements of the tables, to arrange for the 

 providing of the material, and to preside over the distribution of instruments 

 and reagents. In Dr. Dohrn's absence Dr. Eisig acts as his substitute. 



There are also two other scientific assistants, one to superintend the large 

 aquarium and the fishing, the other to arrange for the collection and pre- 

 servation of animals for the use of the Station or for distribution abroad. 



c. Three engineers, four house servants, and four fishermen. 



Such are the general arrangements of the Station for scientific work ; and 

 your Committee can report (from the personal experience of two of their 

 number during the past winter) that these arrangements are carried out in 

 a thoroughly satisfactory manner. 



2. The nature of the worTc for the carrying on of which the Station offers 



facilities, 



a. Investigations into the morphology and emhryology of Marine Animals. — 

 It is needless to say much on this poiat. The advantages, first, of an 

 organization to secure the animals which it is desired to study, and, secondly, 

 of a laboratory in which to work on the animals thus obtained, are too 

 obvious to require pointing out. 



