Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/510

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506
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY
Fig. 1. The Laboratory, looking southeast. The sea reaches the bluff immediately beyond the fence. The writer is indebted to Professor H. V. Neal for the use of the photographs reproduced in this article.

One feature may appear, to some investigators, a serious drawback, and that is the lack of running water. The experience, however, of those who have carried on protracted series of experiments involving the keeping of living material throughout the season has been that no inconvenience has been felt by the absence of running water. The main reason for this is that the temperature is so low that one may keep material standing in dishes in the laboratory for many days without even changing the water. Thus one may keep hydroids, echinoderms, and even the "candles" of dog-fish without difficulty.

The laboratory is supplied with several small boats and with a motor boat, similar to the one which is used by the fishermen of Casco Bay. It is wonderfully seaworthy and safe, and for the collector it is ideal. If occasion demands, additional motors may be rented at low fees by the day or week from the fishermen. An ample supply of seines, dredges and trawls is maintained at the laboratory. The stock of chemicals and reagents is large, and whenever additional supplies of this character are required they are readily obtained from the larger dealers of Portland, who keep constantly on hand all but the more exceptional reagents. In fact, this city may be drawn upon for supplies rarely found in other cities of its size.

Accessibility to the laboratory is assured. The city of Portland is the terminus of the Grand Trunk System, and of the Boston and Maine and Maine Central railways and of several coastwise lines. The Maine