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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 223. 



logical experiment stations with the fish 

 hatcheries, very much as chemical labora- 

 tories are now necessarjr adjuncts of various 

 manufacturing interests, or agricultural ex- 

 periment stations are connected with the 

 higher development of agricultural possi- 

 bilities. There is, however, a still further 

 demand which has led to the formation of 

 institutions of the general type which we 

 are considering. The water supply of our 

 cities has always been a serious problem, 

 and one of increasing interest in connection 

 with crowded conditions in the more thickly 

 settled countries of the world, and the bio- 

 logical examination of the water, undertaken 

 of necessity, has led to the organization of 

 biological laboratories connected with the 

 water systems of great cities, both on the 

 continent, and in our own country. 



Having thus discussed the causes which 

 have led to the establishment of limnobiolog- 

 ical stations, we may now consider, briefly, 

 the types which they pi'esent, and the par- 

 ticular results which may be expected from 

 a given sort. Of course all probable vari- 

 ations may be found, and it is difficult to 

 make any classification which is complete 

 or even just, and yet, for convenience, we 

 may divide these enterprises into a few 

 great groups, recognizing the fact that cer- 

 tain of them do not belong singly to any 

 one class, but combine features of different 

 types. But before outlining this classifica- 

 tion, let me say that I do not regard the 

 existence or non-existence of a building or 

 structure devoted to the purpose of investi- 

 gation as a necessary mark of a biological 

 station. Some of the most valuable contri- 

 butions to general and special questions in 

 this field have come from investigators or 

 groups of investigators who have had no 

 abiding place, while, on the other hand, 

 stations well equipped with buildings and 

 apparatus have in some instances, so far 

 as can be ascertained, contributed noth- 

 ing even after several years' existence, to 



the progress of scientific knowledge. Ma- 

 terial equipment is valuable, and, in gen- 

 eral, conduces to better results, and yet it 

 is the results themselves which finally de- 

 termine the character of any enterprise and 

 the position which it should hold in the 

 esteem of the woi-ld. 



For the purposes of this discussion I pro- 

 pose dividing biological stations into, first, 

 individual resorts, second, periodic resorts, 

 and thn-d, permanent stations. Individual 

 resorts are such as are characterized by the 

 work of one or more individual investi- 

 gators, working for the most part independ- 

 entlj% and solving their problems by virtue 

 of their individual investigations. There 

 are, of course, a large number of such places 

 where some investigator has made sporadic 

 or single eflbrts at the determination of the 

 faunal character of a water basin, or has 

 paid a number of occasional visits to such 

 a localitj'^ for the same purpose. On the 

 whole, these stations have accomplished 

 comparatively little, although we find strik- 

 ing contradictions of the general statement. 



They may also be of a more regular and 

 definite character, and some of these per- 

 sonal investigations have been most valuable 

 in extending our present knowledge of fresh 

 water life. It may be noted here that the 

 permanence or regularity which contributes 

 to the success may be either in the location 

 of the point at which the investigations 

 are carried out, or in the definiteness of 

 the purpose which is followed ; thus Im- 

 hof's investigations on the pelagic fauna of 

 the Swiss lakes were permanent in their, 

 value, and Zschokke's investigation of the 

 biological character of elevated lakes carried 

 on at numerous points in the Alpine chain, 

 has resulted in fundamentally important 

 contributions to the lacustrine fauna of high 

 altitudes. Yet neither of these was at all 

 confined to a single localitj', though limited 

 by a definite purpose. 



Periodic resorts are those to which groups 



