the new
laboratory. This was built in a large garden situated nearly at the edge
of the sea. We say _nearly_, as the garden in fact was separated from the
sea by a small road. The plan in Fig. 1 shows that this road makes an
angle; but formerly it was straight, and passed over the terrace which
now borders upon the fish pond. How many measures, voyages, and endless
discussions, and how much paper and ink, it has taken to get this road
ceded to the laboratory! Finally, after months of contest, victory
rewarded Mr. Duthiers's tenacity, and he was then able to begin the
construction of a pond and aquarium. All this was not done at once.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PLAN OF THE ROSCOFF LABORATORY.]

Another capital improvement was made in 1882. The public school adjoining
the establishment was ceded to it, the separating walls fell, the school
became a laboratory, the class rooms were replaced by halls for research,
and now no trace of the former separation can be seen--so uniform a whole
does the laboratory form. No one knows what patience it required to form,
piecemeal as it were, so vast an establishment, and one whose every part
so completely harmonizes.

During the same year a park, one acre in area, was laid out on the beach
opposite the laboratory. This is daily covered by the sea, and forms a
preserve in which animals multiply, and which, during the inclement
season, when distant excursions are impossible, permits of satisfying the
demands that come from every quarter. All, however, is not finished. Last
year a small piece of land was purchased for the installation of
hydraulic apparatus for filling the aquarium. This acquisition was
likewise indispensable, in order to prevent buildings from being erected
upon the land and shutting off the light from the work rooms opposite.
Alas, here we find our enemy again--the little road! Negotiations have
been going on for eighteen months with the common council, and, what is
worse, with the army engineers, concerning the cession of this wretched
footpath.

The reader now knows the principal phases of the increases and
improvements through which the Roscoff station has passed. If, with the
plan before his eyes, he will follow us, we will together visit the
various parts of the laboratory. The principal entrance is situated upon
the city square, one of the sides of which is formed by the buildings of
the station. We first enter a large and beautiful garden ornamented with
larg