MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT POUT ERIN. 47 



" The year 1912 completes the first decade in the 

 history of our present building-, and it has occurred to 

 the Curator that a few words by way of retrospect may 

 not be without interest to those who have supported, as 

 well as those who have actually participated in, the work 

 of the institution. Examination of the Station Records 

 has shown that during the ten years 225 researchers and 

 students have paid altogether 385 visits to the Station. 

 The University of Liverpool has contributed by far the 

 largest number, but that of Manchester has been 

 represented every year by an enthusiastic, if small, 

 contingent. The Universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, 

 Leeds, Sheffield, and Edinburgh, and the University 

 Colleges of London, Reading and Nottingham, and the 

 Bedford College, London, have been represented, almost 

 every year in the case of the two first named Universities, 

 and a small number of private workers make up the list. 



" The total number of visitors to the Aquarium 

 during the ten years is 137,000. These figures make a 

 striking commentary on the prediction of a prominent 

 resident of Port Erin, who, when the building was in 

 course of erection, told the Curator in confident tones 

 that without a band the Institution would never be a 

 success ! The record of the attendance of visitors shows 

 that even during the first year the Aquarium won for 

 itself an assured position in the esteem of the large 

 numbers who visit Port Erin in search of health and 

 pleasure ; and though the numbers have fluctuated some- 

 what from year to year, that position has been well 

 maintained. 



" The work of the fish hatchery has resulted in the 

 liberation in the sea of nearly forty millions of young 

 plaice (fig. 7) and a considerable number of lobster 

 larvae. This branch of our work has been beset by many 



