662 
MR. P. BALFOUR BROWNE ON A 
new era commenced ; but it was for some time almost neglected 
under the new regime except for a few independent workers, such 
as Fritsch in Bohemia, who, about 1871, began his limnological 
investigations and Forel in Switzerland, who commenced his 
studies upon the Lake of Geneva about the same time. The 
investigations of Weismann on Lake Constance, Apstein upon the 
Holstein Lakes, of Imhof on the pelagic fauna of the Swiss Lakes, 
and Zschokke on the biological characters of elevated lakes have 
all been done more or less recently, and are examples of the work 
done by independent observers. 
It w r as probably in connection with fish culture that the first 
laboratories for fresh- water research were instituted ; but the first 
permanent station for the biological investigation of inland waters 
was, I believe, that at Plon, founded, in 1891, upon the same 
principle as the Marine Laboratory at Naples, by Dr. Zacharias, 
the present director. 
To-day there are permanent fresh-water stations in France, 
Germany, Hungary, Russia, Denmark, Finland and in America. 
Great Britain does not figure among the countries possessing one, 
but the survey of the fresh-water lochs of Scotland, at present 
being carried out under the direction of Sir John Murray, is 
a co-operative undertaking, which, although primarily bathymetrical 
and only secondarily biological, is a move in the direction of 
a Biological Institution. 
Except for this survey, I believe no organised work has been 
carried out in Great Britain as far as fresh-water biological research 
is concerned, and contributions towards the knowledge of the life 
and physical conditions of inland waters other than those of 
Scotland have been most meagre. 
Through the opening of the Sutton Broad Laboratory, the 
opportunity has now arisen of carrying out definite research upon 
the Bionomics of the Norfolk Broads, a district which, in the 
agitations which have from time to time been raised for the 
founding of a British fresh-water station, has been specially 
suggested as suitable for such an institution. 
Mr. Gurney’s desire with regard to the Sutton Broad Laboratory 
is, that it should serve, as far as possible, the purposes of a Fresh- 
water Biological Station, and since I have been in charge of the 
establishment I have been given an entirely free hand to develop 
