APPENIDX 4. 



REPORT OX THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



Sir : I have the honor to present the following report on the opera- 

 tions of the National Zoological Park for the fiscal year ending June 

 30, 1918: 



The sum of $100,000 was provided by Congress in the sundry civil 

 act for all expenses except printing and binding, for which an addi- 

 tional allotment of $200 was made. Virtually the entire appropria- 

 tion was needed for actual maintenance, the cost of which continues 

 to increase from year to year, and only small sums could be expended 

 on necessary repairs or minor permanent improvements. There has 

 been difficulty throughout the year in keeping the required number 

 of employees in all departments of the force, while the resources of 

 the park have been taxed to the utmost to care properly for the 

 greatly increased number of visitors. Notwithstanding the diffi- 

 culties of the wild-animal trade and the great reduction in the num- 

 ber of specimens reaching this country from abroad, the collections 

 have been kept up to a fair standard in numbers without serious gaps, 

 and the popular and scientific value of the exhibition has not been 

 impaired. 



ACCESSIONS. 



Gifts. — There were added to the collection by gift a total number 

 of 103 animals. The list includes many valuable and important ac- 

 cessions, among them several species not previously exhibited in the 

 park. 



The first specimen of the glacier bear (Ursus errbJiionsii) ever 

 known to have been captured alive was received at the park July 25, 

 1917, as a gift from Mr. Victor J. Evans, of Washington, D. C, who 

 has made many donations to the collection in past years. The glacier 

 bear, or blue bear as it is sometimes called, has a very limited distri- 

 bution in the region of the St. Elias Alps, near Yakutat Bay, 

 Alaska. It was first described in 1895 and since that time only one or 

 two skins have been brought into Yakutat by the Indians each year. 

 The specimen secured by Mr. Evans was captured as a small cub by 

 an Indian at the head of Disenchantment Bay, a continuation of 

 Yakutat Bay, about the middle of May, 1916, and was soon after sold 

 to a trader in Yakutat. As one of the rarest and least known of the 

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