TH E 
POPULAR SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 

SEPTEMBER, 1910 

THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES 
By PROFESSOR CHARLES LINCOLN EDWARDS 
hates centuries ago the rain of ashes and pumice-stone from 
Vesuvius buried Pompeii, and, at the same time, a stream of 
mud sealed up Herculaneum. Within the period of the last three 
hundred years, four times in succession, Torre del Greco has been 
covered by the flowing lava, but each time this town has been rebuilt. 
The great lava-stream of the eruption of 1906, lying just bevond Torre 
Annunziata, is an ominous demonstration of the evil possibilities still 
within old Vesuvius. To-day the small white cloud of smoke above the 
summit of the voleanic ash-cone merely hints of these latent forces that 
may again overwhelm some community at the base, while now the 
great mountain rests in its beauty and historic interest, overlooking the 
blue waters of the Bay of Naples. To the right are the massive build- 
ings of the city intersected by narrow passage-ways, all crowded between 
the shore and the high wall of the hills which stretch from the Pallazzo 
Capodimonte to the Posilipo. Far away at either side of the Bocca 
Grande are the islands of Capri and Ischia, at times clearly outlined, 
or again almost lost in the haze of opalescent mist. 
All through the day many groups of fishing-boats are scattered about 
the bay while the men cast and haul their nets. Over the stone sea- 
wall others pull on the end-ropes of a drag-net that has been set far 
from shore, until at last the great burden of fish is safely unmeshed- 
Here and there divers go down to scrape the rocks and sand of the 
bottom for mussels which are placed in a bag worn at the waist. From 
an anchored skiff a man dredges with a scoop-net attached to a long 
pole contented with many of the living things that appear, for strange 
creatures are welcome in the Neapolitan market. Thus, without plant- 
ing or cultivating, the people gather from the sea an unending harvest. 
But from under the cliff of Sorento, to the wave-eroded rocks of Ischia, 
VOL. LXxvit.—15, 
