MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 71 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Port Erin Biological Station was established by the 

 Liverpool Marine Biology Committee primarily for 

 purposes of scientific research. The first building, the 

 old Laboratory on the shore below the Bellevue Hotel, was 

 opened by Sir Spencer Walpole, then Lieutenant-Governor 

 of the Isle-of-Man, in June, 1892. The second building, 

 the old Aquarium, was added alongside the Laboratory in 

 March, 1893, for the double purpose of permitting of 

 observational and experimental work, and of enabling the 

 public to see something of the wonderful variety and 

 interest of life in the ocean and on the sea-shore. 



In 1901, a working arrangement for combining 

 economic sea-fish hatching with the scientific investiga- 

 tions was agreed to between the Government of the island 

 and the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee; and, as a 

 result, the new Biological Station, Aquarium and 

 Hatchery was erected on the south side of the bay, near 

 the base of the ruined breakwater, and was occupied and 

 opened for work in the summer of 1902. 



The elevation (fig. A) shows a plain, but substantial 

 two-storied stone building, of nearly 100 feet in 

 length by over 40 feet in breadth, with a light railing in 

 front, and a large yard enclosed by a wall behind (fig. B). 

 At the western end (fig. C) is the open-air spawning-pond, 

 excavated from the rock, measuring about 90 feet in 

 length, nearly 50 feet in breadth, varying from 3 to 

 10 feet in depth, and capable of containing about 130,000 

 gallons of sea-water. 



The Biological Station consists of three blocks (see 

 fig. B.) : — A central part, open to the public, and 



