THE AQUARIUM AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 149 



assemblages living together iii the same waters. The 00-foot tank, for example, showed 

 the hshes of the Mississippi River and its larger tributaries ; the sunfish family were 

 displayed in another 13 feet long; numerous examples of the minnow family and other 

 smaller species were thrown together in still another aquarium of intermediate size. 



The central pool was used for a time as a receiving tank in which cars of live fish 

 were unloaded as they came, kept until adjusted to their new conditions, and then 

 transferred to their proper aquaria. It usually contained, consequently, a miscella- 

 neous assemblage of material from all sources, and was made the permanent home of 

 several of our largest fresh- water specimens. 



The pioneer inmates of the new aquarium, a lot of 0,000 young lake trout, year- 

 lings and two-years old, came from the Northville station March 21, and remained 

 for many weeks a principal ornament of our exhibit. Next followed a large load from 

 Washington, mostly carp and ornamental fish. Then, April 10, another car came in, 

 the first from the field, containing a thousand specimens, representing 26 river species. 

 Storms blew from every quarter, driving our crews out of the lake again and again, 

 and floods arose until rivers were miles wide on our principal collecting-grounds. 

 But what we could not do in one way and place we usually managed to do in some 

 other, and by May l- ; 11 carloads had arrived, large and small, 5 of them fresh-water 

 collections, 4 of bred fish from the stations of the Commission, and 2 from the 

 Atlantic on the Carolina coast. Thus, on "opening day," we had in our tanks 

 numerous representatives of 60 species from rivers and lakes, and of 42 from the sea. 

 Field collections were continued throughout the summer, as required to main- 

 tain and improve the exhibit, and especially to make good our heavy losses from dis- 

 ease. Not less than 50 carloads of specimens were received from all sources between 

 March 21 and October 0. Of these, 7 came from the Great Lakes; 5 from smaller 

 lakes, mostly from Spirit Lake, Iowa; 15 from the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and 

 4 from smaller rivers and streams, including the grayling streams of northern Miehi 

 gan — 31 in all from fresh- water situations. To this number may be added 6 carloads 

 of fresh-water species from the stations of the U. S. Fish Commission, and 1 from the 

 New York Fish Commission station at Caledonia in that State. Twelve carloads 

 came in from the sea, 5 of them from Woods Holl, 4 from the North Carolina coast, 

 2 from the Pacific (California and Washington), and 1 from the Gulf at Tampa Bay, 

 Fla. The total number of species and well-known varieties represented in the aqua- 

 rium during the season by living specimens was 208; 93 of these were marine and 115 

 were fresh-water forms; 102 of the latter and 54 of the former were fishes; the remain- 

 ing 39 of the marine species were miscellaneous invertebrates. 



The force in charge cousisted of a director, whose duties were mainly administra- 

 tive; two superintendents, one for the fresh-water aquaria and one for the marine; 

 two attendants for the latter, both engaged the greater part of the time in policing 

 tlie tanks, feeding, and otherwise caring for the fish, and, at intervals of a day, 

 in emptying, washing, and repacking the sand and gravel filter. On the freshwater 

 side five attendants were required, their time being so divided that three were usually 

 present at once. The care of the aquarium at night required the attendance always 

 °f <>ne and sometimes of two of the above force. In the pump-room were three 

 •'ngmeers, and the services of a fireman were needed when heat was wanted in the 

 building. One additional employe collected minnows as food for species which could 



