6 



MARINE AND FISHERIES 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 190^ 



tank, and supplies the porcelain wash basins, one of which is provided at each worker's 

 table. Near the location selected, at some little distance from the station, and adja- 

 cent to the seashore, a salt-water pump, with a Rider hot-air engine, 6 inch cylinder, 

 and pump, are placed, and is connected by a pipe with a spacious salt-water tank on 

 the roof of the building at the anterior end. From this tank a delivery tube, 1 inch in 

 diameter, of galvanized iron passes close to the skylight into the interior of the station 

 immediately under the horizontal cross-beams of the roof, giving off lateral branch 

 tubes, five on each side, and supplying the salt water by special nozzles to the respec- 

 tive porcelain basins used by each worker. From this delivery tube temporary tanks 

 can be supplied as required, and the final outflow empties into the salt-water tank 

 in the tank-room next to the chemical room, at the rear end of the station. Along each 

 side of the laboratory, under the workers' tables, a convenient drain carries away waste 

 water, and has its exit beneath the laboratory. The station possesses a gasoline launch,. 

 22 feet long, fitted with a Sintz engine, intended to be used for conveying the workers 

 conveniently to points within easy reach. It was originally planned that this launch, 

 which is 2| h.p., should be utilized for bottom dredging, and for surface or mid-water tow- 

 netting with capacious plankton and other nets ; but it has proved to be not well adapted 

 for that work, on account of its insufficient power. A handy little row-boat was also 

 purchased for the use of the staff. The equipment of the station includes a number of 

 dredges of various sizes, a drag-seine 60 feet long, two large triangular nets after the- 

 Scottish model designed by Professor Mcintosh, a beam-trawl, 15 feet across, and a- 

 number of fine silk and cheese-cloth tow-nets and dip-nets. In addition to a number of 

 Agassiz store tanks, a series of copper store-tanks of various sizes have been procured. 



While there is of course much to be added to the equipment, many of the workers 

 have expressed themselves as well pleased with the provision in the way of nets and- 

 other necessary apparatus : but the desirability of the purchase of a tug or launch of 

 some power, for deep-sea dredging, has pressed itself upon the attention of the staff. It 

 is to be hoped that at an early date a suitable vessel will be secured. 



Of course the complete equipment of a scientific marine station, the first of its kind 

 in British North America, is a matter of time. Fittings and apparatus must of necessity^ 

 be added as growing needs require. The most famous and splendidly equipped stations 

 in the world have become such only after the lapse of many years. As Professor 

 Stephen A. Forbes, Director of the Illinois State Laboratory on the River Illinois, 

 remarked in his first report (1893-94) : — ' It will be seen that our season's work has 

 fully opened up the field, and shown us what is necessary to the continuance and 

 development of our enterprise. I am entirely satisfied with the locality, and wish to 

 occupy it next year in a more permanent manner, with a view to continuous work there- 

 for several years, probably no less than five. The present arrangements, while fairly 

 satisfactory for this preliminary year and clearly the best that could have been made, 

 were very inconvenient in some respects, and wasteful of the time and strength of the 

 Station force.' 



Every institution of this kind has had a similar experience and it must be a matter 

 of sincere congratulation that the Canadian Biological Station, during the first three- 

 seasons of its existence, has been able to accomplish a large amount of useful and 

 valuable work, and, in the scientific reports which follow these remarks, is able to present 

 an instalment of results of a permanent character. 



The Station possesses the nucleus of a library, including the fifty magnificent 

 volumes of the report of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, a munificent gift, obtained 

 through the kind offices of the Right Honourable Lord Strathcona, from the British 

 Government, with the special approval of the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, 

 His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies. As a large number of 

 important works are at this very time being added to the library, further remarks upon 

 this subject will be reserved for a future occasion ; but it must be admitted that the 

 members of the staff have been considerably hampered through lack of a good working 

 library, furnished with the most recent memoirs and treatises, and in a great many cases 

 the workers have had to borrow from University libraries and other sources, the standard' 



