. in southern waters. 
' JANUARY 4, 1884.] 
THE MARINE LABORATORY OF THE 
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 
Tue Chesapeake zodlogical laboratory was 
instituted by the trustees of the Johns Hopkins 
university as part of the biological department 
of that university in 1878, and Dr. W. K. 
Brooks was appointed director. Its purpose 
is twofold, —to furnish complete facilities for 
original studies in marine zodlog ey, and a place 
for more elementary instruction. The fauna of 
the southern waters of the United States was 
selected for study. In providing thus a place 
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SCIENCE. 
7 
Topsail Inlet, ten miles west from Cape Look- 
out, protected from the ocean, except in its 
worst moods, by a broad sand-bar, and yet so 
near that an hour’s sail carries one out upon the 
high seas. Owing to the configuration of the 
coast-line, the warm Florida current flows by 
and almost bathes the shore. This warm cur- 
rent, setting up from the shores of the Gulf, 
sweeps along with it many pelagic animals 
which belong to a hotter climate. Yet, while 
the ocean-life is decidedly southern, the climate 
of Beaufort is not oppressive : indeed, the place 
and its neighbor, Morehead City, are summer 
MARINE LABORATORY AT BEAUFORT. 
for advanced work, this university has taken 
the initiative among American colleges; the 
various summer schools held along our coast 
being more particularly concerned in instruc- 
tion than in investigation of new problems. 
The first and second sessions in 1878 and 1879 
were held in the lower parts of the Chesapeake 
Bay. In 1880 the laboratory was moved to 
Beaufort, N.C. 
Beaufort has been a favorite haunt of natu- 
ralists ever since 1860, when it was visited by 
Drs. Stimpson and Gill. No better place could 
be selected for the study of the forms of life 
It lies at the mouth of Old 
resorts. The town, standing almost in the 
ocean, is swept by nearly constant breezes, 
which temper the heats of July and August. 
The place is quite accessible, being only two 
miles from Morehead City, the eastern termi- 
nus of the North Carolina midland railway, 
and may be reached by steamer from Norfolk 
vid Newberne, and by rail from points north 
and west vid Goldsboro. 
The site of the laboratory at Beaufort is 
most convenient, being at the very water’s 
edge. A pier built out from the front gate to 
the deep water crosses a flat of black soft mud, 
bare at every low tide, and a place where the 
