MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATIONS Marine biological stations are laboratories situated at conven ient places on the sea coast, where the water is free from pollu tion and where there are good grounds for collecting living marine plants and animals. Vessels, equipped for trawling, dredg ing and other biological work at sea, are usually attached to the stations. The latter have always aquarium tanks and biological apparatus, etc. These institutions collect and describe the organ isms inhabiting the region accessible to the workers. They also study seasonal changes in the abundance of marine life ; the ecology (q.v.) of the species of plants and animals (that is, the natural conditions under which they live), modes of repro duction and life-histories of species. All these objects oblige the investigators to deal with the living organisms.
Formerly biological stations were established in order to give opportunities of study to investigators who had professional duties elsewhere and who could afford to spend vacations at some research work. Although all the stations still make pro vision for such research workers as well as for students in train ing, who can thus supplement ordinary university work with observations of plants and animals in the living state, most of the marine biological stations now maintain resident staffs.
There are important marine biological stations all over the world. The most famous one is at Naples. This was founded in 1872 by Dr. Anton Dohrn. It was maintained partly by privately obtained funds and partly by contributions from many foreign universities and governments. There is also a station at Monaco,
founded by Prince Albert I. and now carried on, in connection with an oceanographical museum, Monaco, and an institute in Paris, under a foundation. The best known American station is at Wood's Hole on the coast of Massachusetts. This is perhaps more frequented than any other similar institution in the world. Other important American stations are established on the At lantic coast at Mount Desert Island, Maine, and at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, N.Y., and on the Pacific coast at La Jolla, Calif., Pacific Grove, Calif., and at Friday Harbor, Washington. The principal German station is at Heligoland, but there are sev eral other well-known laboratories at lake stations. The principal British station is that founded by the Marine Biological Asso ciation of the United Kingdom ; it is situated at Citadel Hill, Plymouth. Other English and Scottish biological and fishery stations are now working at Cullercoats in Northumberland, Port Erin, in the Isle of Man, Millport and Aberdeen in Scot land and at Lowestoft. There are 26 French stations and one im portant one in Japan. Most of the British and foreign stations have aquaria to which the public are admitted.
See C. A. Kofoid, The Biological Stations of Europe (Iwo), for excellent accounts of the various institutions. (J. A. J.)