XOVKMBEK 9, ISSi.] 



SCIENCE. 



()19 



tion of Professor Hoffman, its president, the Zoo- 

 logical society of tlie Netherlands voted to erect a 

 zoological station on the shore of the North Sea. A 

 c6ninuttee, composed of Messrs. Hoffman. Hubrecht, 

 and Jloek, decided on the erection of a station which 

 could be easily transferred from one point to another 

 on the Netherland coast. With its sandy shores 

 and gradual slope, Holland has, it is true, a com- 

 paratively poor zoological fauna. The committee 

 thought, therefore, and rightly, that a movable station 

 would be more serviceable, as it would permit suc- 

 cessive exploration of various parts of the shore. 

 Tlio appeal made by the Netherland society to the 



forms which constitute the wealth of rocky bottoms. 

 Few species can resist the sand which covers and 

 .sraotliers them. But while the downs extend west of 

 the city of Hclder, at the north there rises a spur 

 of granite and basalt, in the irregularities of which 

 numerous animals find shelter: it is the only point 

 on the coasts of Holland where seaweeds are found. 

 The minister of the marine h.iving consented to place 

 twice a week a steam-launch at the disposal of the 

 commission, the little dredges invented by Wyville 

 Thompson and the apparatus of Lacaze-Duthiers 

 were employed, and a hundred and thirty species 

 obtained. 



TUE DUTCH ZOOLOGICAL 8TAT 



generosily of the state, to scientific societies and 

 private individuals, met with a response ; and the sum 

 of ten thousand francs was soon obtained. Work was 

 immediately begun. The choice for the first season 

 fell upon the city of Helder, situated at the northern 

 extremity of the province of North Holland, at a 

 I)oint where an arm of the sea, called Hdsdeur, sep- 

 arates the mainland and the island of Texel. The 

 material, loaded in a wagon drawn by cattle, reached 

 its destination, .July 8, 1870. Three days after, the 

 station was in readiness, and stmlies were begun. 



As throughout the coasts of the Netherlands, the 

 bottom of the sea is, at Helder, chiefly composed of 

 shifting .sand; and one can scarcely, under such cir- 

 fumstances, expect to meet with those fixed animal 



The second year the station was eslabli>hed at Fles- 

 singue; and the coast of Zealand proved not less rich 

 in animal forms than the slope of Nieuvediep and the 

 bank of Helder. In the years following, the station 

 was at Bergen-op-Zoom. 



During these latter seasons, the commission has 

 not wholly devoted itself to the examination of ani- 

 mals which live on the coasts of Holland. Researches 

 at the station have since aimed to furnish oyster-cul- 

 tivators with information as complete as possible, 

 on the anatomy, the embryology, the enemies, and 

 diseases, in a word, on the biolouy, of the oyster. 

 The eastern Scheldt has to-day become an important 

 centre for oyster-culture; so much so, that the two 

 stations, Kruiningen in Zealand, and Bergen-op- 



