100 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



present obsolete quarters should be provided to house properly the 

 living animals, to maintain them in health, and to exhibit them 

 <o the more than two million visitors who come annually to view 

 llieni. 



FUNDS rOR THE PURCHASE OF ANIMALS 



The collection at the National Zoological Park is augmented each 

 year by various gifts, and through unusual success in the breeding 

 and rearing of animals, the park has been able to exchange speci- 

 mens with other zoological parks so that it has maintained a rea- 

 sonably well-balanced collection of the living animals of Ihe world, 

 always lacking, however, representatives of certain important and 

 interesting species. For instance, there has never been a giraffe 

 at the park. There is no rhinoceros, no pigmy hippopotamus, and 

 no Indian elephant. Such animals as these, when offered to the 

 park can not be considered owdng to the entirely inadequate fund 

 for the purchase of animals, and opportunities are frequently lost 

 to fill definite gaps in the collection, as well as to replace species 

 lost through death, by the i)urchase of most desirable animals that 

 are offered for sale. 



An increased appropriation to cover cost and transportation of 

 animals has been requested, but it seems advisable also to repeat the 

 suggestion made in previous reports that an animal purchase fund 

 be inaugurated and deposited with the Smithsonian Institution. 



REVENUES OF THE PARK 



A zoological park itself is not expected to finance the refresh- 

 ment of visitors. There are in the National Zoological Park, how- 

 ever, as in other parks, a refreshment stand and a restaurant wdiich 

 are rented to private parties. The money from these concessions, 

 under present regulations, goes to the United States Treasury and 

 can not be used for the park, although repairs and other costs in 

 connection with the restaurant must be borne by the park. It is 

 earnestly recommended that the revenues from the restaurant con- 

 cession, which serves only to benefit the public, be turned into the 

 animal fund of the park instead of into the general fund of the 

 Treasury. Such is the established practice in other parks, munici- 

 pal and otherwise, which often derive considerable funds for the 

 purchase of animals from such concessions. 



Respectfully submitted. 



W. M. Mann, Superintendent. 



Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 



Secretary^ Smithsonian Institution. 



