384 Coe — A Century of Zoology in America. 



Biological Stations. 



No insignificant factor in the development of biological 

 science has been the establishment of biological stations 

 where investigators, teachers and students meet in the 

 Summer vacation for special studies, discussions and 

 research. The most successful of these laboratories have 

 been located on the seashore and here the study of marine 

 life in Summer supplements the work of the school or uni- 

 versity biological courses. The famous Naples Station 

 was founded in 1870, and was shortly after followed by 

 several others. Similar biological stations are now sup- 

 ported on almost every coast in Europe and in several 

 inland localities. 



The first such American school was established by 

 Louis Agassiz at the island of Penikeese on the coast of 

 Massachusetts in 1873, succeeding his private laboratory 

 at Nahant. During that Summer more than forty stu- 

 dents gained enthusiasm for the work of future years. 

 Unfortunately the laboratory so auspiciously started was 

 of brief duration, for the death of Agassiz occurred in 

 December of the same year, and the laboratory was dis- 

 continued at the end of the following Summer. Shortly 

 afterward Alexander Agassiz equipped a small private 

 laboratory at Newport, Rhode Island, and W. K. Brooks 

 established the Chesapeake Bay Zoological Laboratory. 



At this time the United States Fish Commission was 

 engaged under the direction of Spencer F. Baird in a 

 survey of the marine life of the waters off the Eastern 

 Coast. Between 1881 and 1886 the Commission estab- 

 lished the splendidly equipped biological station at 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Both here and at the Fish 

 Commission Laboratory at Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 much work in general zoology as well as in economic prob- 

 lems is accomplished. These laboratories are designed 

 particularly for specialists engaged in researches con- 

 nected with the work of the Fish Commission. 



A need was soon felt for a marine laboratory along 

 broader lines, and one available to the students and 

 teachers of the schools and colleges. To meet these 

 requirements the Woods Hole Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory was started in 1887, as the successor to an earlier 

 laboratory at Annisquam, and has since become a great 

 Summer congress for biologists from all parts of the 

 country. It is safe to say that no other institution has 



