will suffice, perhaps, to give at least a general idea of
the manner of thing which the worker at the marine laboratory is seeking
to discover when he interrogates the material that the sea has given
him. In regard to the publication of the results of work done at the
Naples laboratory, the same liberal spirit prevails that actuates the
conduct of the institution from first to last. What the investigator
dis* covers is regarded as his own intellectual property, and he
is absolutely free, so far as the management of this institution is
concerned, to choose his own medium in giving it to the world. He may,
and often does, prefer to make his announcements in periodicals or books
issued in his own country and having no connection whatever with the
Naples laboratory. But, on the other hand, his work being sufficiently
important, he may, if he so desire, find a publisher in the institution
itself, which issues three different series of important publications,
under the editorship of Professor Mayer.

One of these, entitled _Mittheilungen aus der Zoologische Station
zu Neapel_, permits the author to take his choice among four
languages--German, English, French, or Italian. It is issued
intermittently, as occasion requires. The second set of publications
consists of ponderous monographs upon the fauna and flora of the Gulf
of Naples. These are beautifully illustrated in color, and sometimes a
single volume costs as much as seventeen thousand dollars to issue. Of
course only a fraction of that sum is ever recovered through sale of the
book. The third publication, called _Zoologischen Jahresbericht_, is a
valuable resume of biological literature of all languages, keeping the
worker at the laboratory in touch with the discoveries of investigators
elsewhere.

The latter end is attained further by the library of the institution,
which is supplied with all the periodicals of interest to the biologist
and with a fine assortment of technical books. The library-room, aside
from its printed contents, is of interest because of its appropriate
mural decorations, and because of the bronze portrait busts of the two
patron saints of the institution, Von Baer and Darwin, which look down
inspiringly upon the reader.

All in all, then, it would be hard to find a deficiency in the Stazione
Zoologica as an instruement of biological discovery. A long list might be
cited of the revelations first brought to light within its walls. And
yet, as it