The Robertson Museum is also a by no means unimportant part of the Institution. "Mrs. Robertson having kindly handed over to the Committee the collections of her late husband, it was found that the cases fitted up round the walls of the Museum afforded quite inadequate accommodation for all the specimens. A large double case was accordingly added, fitted with forty-eight drawers and trays, to receive the valuable collections of Carboniferous and Glacial Fossils, and these collections will be exhibited to any who are interested in them, besides being at the disposal, for reference, of specialists or others working at the Station."
The Gatty Marine Laboratory of St. Andrews, directed by Prof. W.C. Mcintosh, does not publish Annual Reports, but still continues to effect a great amount of active work. As the Professor writes to us, "Marine zoology proper and the zoology of the fisheries form the chief pursuit." At the end of 1896, however, there was published at Dundee an excellent brochure on the Gatty Marine Laboratory, written by the Director, in which, among other matters, reference to the chief laboratories at present in existence was made. "It is a remarkable fact that whereas about thirty years ago no such institution existed in any country, a chain of them now encircles the world." On the question whether a Marine Laboratory as that of St. Andrews, which sprang into existence for the sake of the fisheries, should be in connection with the University alone, or subsidized by a Public Department, is answered by Prof. Mcintosh in favour of the former. "A University Marine Laboratory gives greater freedom in investigation, and the administration is untrammeled by the frequent demand for results as a quid pro quo for the public expenditure (which may only cover the original equipment and the attendant); in short, is no longer under the necessity of showing what it has done for the fisheries of the country, and is removed from the intricate network of the political sphere."
St. Andrews as a site for the study of marine animals has a reputation probably as ancient as the foundation of its University—founded in 1411 — "for amongst the early records of the latter allusion is made to the marvels of the sea and its inhabitants as a means for improving the minds of its students." The new Marine Laboratory owes its existence to the generosity of Dr. Charles Henry Gatty, who presented the University with a sum of £2500 for that purpose. The number of naturalists who resort to this establishment, and the papers published by the Directors and others connected therewith, bear ample testimony to the great work done at St. Andrews for marine zoology.
The Jersey Biological Station is, we are surprised to learn, run by purely private enterprise, and that of one man. Mr. James Hornell, its Director, writes us:—"You may not be aware that the work done here is
