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stations, having granted me their table*; ^but having, for the 
purpose of getting further acquainted with the fauna of the 
Mediterranean, become connected with the institution for a 
short time, I shall not be in England until after the last 
meeting of the session, and so send a letter that you may 
read, if you see fit, when there is a dearth of subjects for 
conversation. 
The zoological station is connected with an aquarium 
which is more generally known, but is the least important 
part of the institution, and it was for the sake of the former 
that the undertaking was started and has been carried on 
by Dr. Dohrn. There are, in rooms above the aquarium, 
tables for twenty-four to work, and the greater part of these 
have been taken up by different governments, but some by 
other institutions — as the British Association and the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge, and Dr. Dohrn is anxious the whole 
number should be taken, in order to place the station in a 
Satisfactory position. 
As the full advantage of such stations are not known to 
all, a word or two on the opportunities for scientific utility 
may perhaps have an interest for some of my friends of the 
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. 
The station has been established by Dr. Dohrn two years, 
when he built, as I have before said, an aquarium, together 
with convenient rooms for study, library, and museum. As 
the most important direction of zoological research is at the 
present moment embryology and the study of development, 
it is natural that it should be principally used for advancing 
science in this direction, and, as I shall show, in no branch 
are the advantages more felt ; and although this, I believe, 
was fully appreciated by Dr. Dohrn, when he determined to 
erect an aquarium at Naples, it was not merely with the 
idea of advancing zoology in this branch, but that natural- 
ists should have the opportunity of using it for any purpose 
which they found might forward the branch of science they 
