and to JNoank in general, it is plainly and simply, "The 

 Fish House." Most of the work of the party is done 

 in their boats, but here the collections are preserved, dis- 

 sections are made, and field-notes are v ratten up. 



At the start it must be confessed tL the attractions 

 of the other laboratory, and of the dredging work, are . 

 much the greater to our visitors — both on account of 

 the novelty of the work and the greater variety of liv- 

 ing forms brought up in the dredge-net. It is the mis- 

 fortune of most persons to grow up with the impression 

 that fishes were created only to be eaten : the names of 

 fishes are usually associated with damp, slimy market- 

 stalls, and the hideous clammy masses of flesh so often 

 to be seen there. No one considers a fish "a curiosity," 

 but the strange and lovely creatures drawn up from the 

 unexplored bottom of the sea are new revelations, un- 

 expected visions of beauty. Not a whit less curious 

 f.nd beautiful are our finny friends, if you see them as 

 we see them, in their native element; every motion in- 

 stinct with grace, their colors as delicate as these of a 

 pearl or as brilliantly gorgeous as those of fire-opal. 

 Here in the laboratory are only dead specimens, the 

 ouhy traces of their former beauty lingering in the note- 

 book of the collector and in the portfolio of the artist. 

 Then too, the apparatus used in collection consists 

 merely of modifications of the nets and lines used by 

 fishermen from time immemorial, and as familiar t&all 

 as the plough and the axe. Still a few words on the 

 work and the laboratory, may be of interest. 



In front is a platform-wharf, about twenty feet long, 

 the end of which is occupied by a large reel on which 

 the nets and seines are wound at night to diy. On 

 the platform are piled oars, nets, coils of rope, and 

 here may usually be seen several large fishes awaiting 

 their fate, — sharks, sturgeons, skates or rays, brought 

 in by the collecting parties or by the smacks. 



In the channel lies the "Cygnet," our little sloop- 

 rigged* working yacht, and near by are moored the 

 seining boats. Close at hand are tied the floating viva- 

 ria, the live car, a little covered boat with numerous 

 holes in its sides and bottom, in which living fish are 

 towed, and the Green hatching boxes used in the experi- 

 ments in the artificial propagation of food-fishes. 



A force pump supplied from the channel, furnishes 

 fresh sea water to the aquarium, and aids in the fre- 

 quent cleansing? of the establishment. Entering the 

 bouse we are saluted by the odor of alcoholic speci- 

 mens, disagreeable at first, but sweeter than any incsuee 

 to the nostrils of the naturalist, 



