238 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 9. 



AMERICAN STUDENTS AT THE NAPLES 

 ZOOLOGICAL STATION. 



In another number of Science the steps 

 leading to the establishment in 1892 of the 

 United States Table at Naples, by the 

 Smithsonian Institution are described. Up- 

 on behalf of Harvard College, Prof Alex- 

 ander Agassiz subscribed for a second table 

 at the same time. ]\Ir. Willian E. Dodge, 

 of New York, has recently visited the Sta- 

 tion, and has offered to contribute $250 a 

 year for three years toward a thu-d Ameri- 

 can Table. In response to this offer Dr. 

 Anton Dohrn has sent to Mr. Dodge the 

 following interesting letter, giving a com- 

 plete history of American work at the 

 Naples Station up to the present time : 



" When I established the Station I had a 

 correspondence with Professor Louis Agas- 

 siz, who greatly applauded my plans, but 

 at the time was not in a position to estab- 

 lish any relations with us. In a later letter 

 he told me that he had also begun to work 

 in the same direction, having procured a 

 sum of money and a suitable locaUty in 

 Penikese Island, where he would try to es- 

 tablish a school of marine biology. In the 

 year 1881 Professor Whitman, now of Chi- 

 cago University, came to Naples, on his re- 

 turn from Japan, where he had been pro- 

 fessor at Tokio for two years, and asked for 

 permission to work in the Zoological Sta- 

 tion. Although there was no American 

 Table for him I offered him hospitality, and 

 he remained for six months. Half a year 

 later came Miss Nunn, availing herself of 

 the table of the University of Cambridge, 

 also for six months. In 1883 Dr. Sharp, 

 from Philadelphia, spent two months 

 at the Bavarian Table. In the same year 

 the first American Table was engaged by 

 Williams College for one year, and this table 

 was first occupied by Prof. E. B. Wilson, 

 now at Columbia College, for six months, 

 and was engaged later by Professor Clarke, 

 of Wilhams Colleae, but owing to sickness 



he postponed coming until the year 1884. 

 In 1885 the table was subscribed for one 

 year by the University of Pennsylvania, 

 and was occupied first by Dr. DoUey and 

 later by Dr. Patten. Dr. Patten was also" 

 received for six months as our guest. 



"All my efforts to secnre the cooperation 

 of other American colleges proved unsuc- 

 cessful, and again the American naturalists 

 took advantage of the English and German 

 Tables. Dr. Cobb, of Massachusetts, occu- 

 pied the British Association Table for two 

 months. ISIr. Norman, of Indiana, occu- 

 pied the Hamburg Table ; Mr. Ward, from 

 Ti'oy, the table of the Grand Duchy of Baden, 

 and Mr. Kaufman one of the Prussian 

 Tables. This Avas in the spring of 1891, 

 when Major Davis first visited Naples and 

 became acquainted with the state of things. 

 He immediately offered, in a most generous 

 way, to engage a table for his counti-ymen, 

 and asked me not to admit any more Ameri- 

 cans to the European tables. His table 

 was immediately occupied bj' Dr. Russell, a 

 botanist, who worked here during four 

 months ; by IMiss Piatt, of Boston, for three 

 months, and again in the second year by 

 Professor E. B. Wilson, then of Brya Mawr. 

 Dr. Corning, also an American, but occu- 

 pying the post of assistant in Prague Uni- 

 versity, came iipon one of the Austrian 

 Tables, and Dr. Bashford Dean, of Colum- 

 bia, upon the Bavarian Table, while the 

 Davis Table was occupied by others. In 

 the year 1893 the Davis Table was occupied 

 bjr Dr. Field, of Baltimore, and Dr. Parker, 

 from Harvard College. In the meantime 

 Dr. C. W. Stiles, of Washington, who ha4 

 paid a short visit to the Zoological Station 

 in 1891, led a movement for the establisli- 

 ment of more direct official relations between 

 American institutions and the Zoological 

 Station, and finally upon the unanimous re- 

 commendation of the Society of American 

 Naturalists, the secretary of the Smithson- 

 ian Institution entered into a contract for 



