THE PUBLIC AQUARIUM 283 



conducted," which adds passenger fares to express rates. Where a 

 circulation of water can not be kept up en route, as on steamers, the 

 tanks must be aerated artificially and water added by any means 

 available. It costs more to transport one big sturgeon or shark than 

 500 small fishes, and the chances of having something to exhibit in 

 the end are much less. Is is cheaper and safer to send a lot of king- 

 crabs to England than to bring one large-sized sturgeon from the 

 Delaware River. 



The public aquarivnn must collect its living exhibits with its own 

 apparatus of capture, as there are no purveyors for an institution of 

 this kind. For the most part the exhibits are procured from the 

 lakes, streams, and coasts of the region in which the aquarium is 

 located. If there are other aquariums within a clay's railway jour- 

 ney, profitable exchanges of specimens can be made. Long hauls are 

 unfavorable. 



In the work of collecting from local waters the haul seine is the 

 chief reliance. There must be a supply of portable tanks for the 

 transportation of specimens. Food and game fishes are obtained, to 

 some extent, from State and national fish hatcheries, especially if the 

 aquarium maintains a small fish-cultural exhibit and can otl'er quan- 

 tities of young fry in exchange. Specimens of many kinds can be 

 obtained by cooperation with local net fishermen, but the aquarium 

 collector should receive and care for all specimens when they are taken 

 from the nets, as market fishermen do not realize the necessity of 

 careful handling. Fishes intended for exhibition should reach their 

 destination not merely alive but uninjured, if they are to survive in 

 captivity. A 5-foot boat-shaped floating crate is of great service in 

 holding the catch while the work of seining is in progress. When 

 filled it is towed by a skiff to the well boat or to the shipping tanks 

 on the beach. With a painter at each end it is hoisted aboard the 

 boat and the catch spilled into the well. Fishes taken in gill nets 

 generally are injured and worthless for exhibition, but those selected 

 from haul seines, pound nets, and fyke nets usually are in sound con- 

 dition. Fishes captured with hook and line need not be injured if 

 unhooked carefully. 



During transportation the shipping tanks require constant atten- 

 tion. If specimens are crowded, the water must be aerated with an 

 air pump or by lifting with a dipper and pouring back slowly. In 

 warm weather the temperature of fresh water may be kept down with 

 ice. which, however, should not be put in the water but allowed to 

 drip from a piece of netting or burlap. Some of the common fresh- 

 water fishes in the New York Aquarium are taken with seines in the 

 lakes of the various city parks. In fact, the aquarium has stocked 

 some of the lakes with bass, perch, sunfish, roach, and other common 

 species as sources of supply. In collecting these fishes the seines, 

 dip nets, and tanks are loaded into a wagon and the lakes visited in 

 turn by a seining party of four men. As long as the wagon is in 

 motion the splash of water in the tanks is usually sufficient for aera- 

 tion without the use of the dipper. Shipping tanks should not be 

 crowded if the best results are to be attained. 



When more distant waters are visited the collecting outfit is 

 sent by train to the point selected, where a wagon is hired for the 

 day's work. In shipping by train the aerating dippers are kept in 



