90 NEW “YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
gard private fish raising as a matter of great importance in view 
of the widespread practice in America of polluting public waters. 
It is now considered by fishery officers that the continued pollution 
of our streams is rendering ineffective much of the important 
work of public fish propagation. 
The Aquarium has been brought into close relation with this 
work through its fish-hatching exhibit, its large collections of liv- 
ing food fishes and its correspondence with the public at large. 
Another publication emanating from the Aquarium, entitled “The 
Pollution of Streams,” has also been widely reprinted. 
AID TO SCHOOL TEACHERS. 
Small marine aquaria have been placed in more than 300 schoo] 
houses in the city, the aquaria being furnished by the Board of 
Education, the animal collections by the New York Aquarium. 
The work requires but a portion of the time of a single em- 
ployee, while the animal life is supplied by the collector in con- 
nection with his regular field work. The furnishing of the ma- 
terial for school aquaria is thus only a nominal cost to the 
Aquarium. 
Classes in biology accompanied by teachers continue to visit 
the Aquarium Laboratory where there are facilities for observ- 
ing the smaller forms of marine- and fresh-water life. 
The number of pupils and teachers thus accommodated dur- 
ing the year was 5,218, and the number of school aquaria stocked 
was 86. This work has been under the personal supervision of 
Mr. Spencer of the Aquarium staff. 
International Fisheries Congress.—On the forenoon of Septem- 
ber 28 the Fourth International Fisheries Congress, meeting for 
the first time in the United States, was specially entertained at the 
Aquarium. Most of the foreign delegates were surprised to find 
that New York maintained a distinctly larger and better-stocked 
aquarium than is to be found anywhere in Europe. It collects 
and succeeds in keeping aquatic forms, the exhibition of which 
is not attempted elsewhere. The Congress, after a very active 
meeting in Washington, spent a day in New York and then 
visited the principal fishing centers of New England. Delegates 
were present representing many countries. A splendid series of 
papers was presented relative to the promotion of fishery indus- 
tries, the conservation of fishery resources, international fishery 
regulation, fish culture and biological research. 
