382 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Brackish water for the large floor pools is 

 pumped from the Bay through a well under 

 the building. The salt-water wall tanks, now 

 being supplied from the Bay, will soon be 

 supplied from a reservoir holding 100,000 

 gallons of pure stored sea water. This water, 

 to be brought in by steamer, will be used as 

 a "closed circulation," the water being pumped 

 through the exhibition tanks and falling 

 thence, through sand filters, back to the reser- 

 voir. The supply pipes to all tanks are of 

 vulcanized rubber. The drainage pipes from 

 the salt-water tanks to the reservoir are iron 

 pipes, lead lined. 



Exhibits. The exhibits include fishes, tur- 

 tles, crocodilians, frogs, salamanders, marine 

 mammals and invertebrates, and are both 

 northern and tropical in character. There are 

 usually about 200 species of fishes and other 

 aquatic vertebrates on exhibition. The total 

 number of specimens, exclusive of inverte- 

 brates and young fry in the hatchery, varies 

 from 3,000 to 4,000. Many individuals in the 

 collection of fishes and turtles have lived in 

 the building from five to ten years. 



The fish hatchery, maintained as a fish- 

 cultural exhibit, produces yearly about two 

 millions of young food and game fishes, which 

 are afterward deposited in New York State 

 waters. Fish eggs are supplied by the U. S. 

 Bureau of Fisheries from Government hatch- 

 eries. Most of the local fresh-water and salt- 

 water species are collected by the employees. 

 Tropical fishes are brought by steamer from 

 the Bermuda Islands. 



Laboratory for Education and Research. 

 There is a laboratory containing many kinds 

 of small marine invertebrates, which is visited 

 by 4,000 or 5,000 school children with their 

 teachers during the year. One member of 

 the Aquarium staff assists the city school 

 teachers in maintaining small aquaria in 150 

 or more schools in Greater New York. Small 

 marine forms of life are supplied free to 

 teachers from the reserve tanks of the Aqua- 

 rium. The laboratory is used at times by 

 university professors in the city for marine 

 biological investigations. It is equipped for 

 photographic work on aquatic life. 



Library. The library attached to the Di- 

 rector's office contains at present about 600 

 volumes, and is limited to works relating to 

 fishes, fish-culture, fishery industries, angling 

 and aquatic life in general. 



Publications. The Aquarium publishes an- 

 nual reports and occasional bulletins, which 

 are issued as publications of the New York 

 Zoological Society. The first volume of a 

 proposed Neiv York Aquarium Nature Series 



has already appeared under the title of "Sea- 

 Shore Life," a popular account of the in- 

 vertebrates of the adjacent coast region. 

 Other volumes are in course of preparation. 



Staff. There are, e.xclusive of the Director 

 and clerk, 25 employees whose duty is to at- 

 tend to the supply and temperature of the dif- 

 ferent water systems, feed and care fur the 

 collections, clean the building and tanks and 

 look after visitors. The Director is Mr. 

 Charles H. Townsend, formerly Chief of the 

 Division of Fisheries in the United States Fish 

 Commission. Mr. W. I. De Nyse is the as- 

 sistant in charge of marine collections, and 

 Mr. L. B. Spencer the assistant in charge of 

 fresh-water collections and public school 

 aquaria. 



Hours. The building is open FREE, every 

 day in the year. It is closed on Monday fore- 

 noons except to school teachers with their 

 classes, and to members of the New York 

 Zoological Society. When a holiday occurs 

 on Monday the public is admitted as on other 

 days. 



The hours for visitors are: 



9 A. M. to 5 P. M. from April 15 to Oc- 

 tober 15. 



10 A. M. to 4 P. ]\I. from October 16 to 

 April 14. 



Attendance. The attendance for the ten 

 vears ending December 31, 1906, amounted to 

 17,103,328 — an average of 4.685 visitors a 

 day. The attendance for the year 1906 was 

 2,106,569 — an average of 5,771 a day. 



Cost of Maintenance. The annual appro- 

 priation for the Aquarium is $45,000. 



CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 



THE Central Park Menagerie, under the 

 control of the Department of Parks, was 

 founded about 1861. It is situated near 

 the southeast corner of Central Park at Fifth 

 Avenue and Sixty-fourth Street. 



It has, according to the last report of Hon. 

 Moses Herrman, Commissioner, a collection 

 consisting of 360 mammals, 581 birds and 

 twenty-five reptiles, among which may be 

 mentioned the elephant, rhinoceros, hippo- 

 potamus, camel, cape buffalo, bison, zebu, gnu, 

 oryx, nylgau, wapiti, aoudad, polar, grizzly, 

 black and cinnamon bears, leopard and Man- 

 churian tiger. 



The two-horned African rhinoceros and 

 the pair of hippopotami have lived continu- 

 ously in the menagerie for twenty years, the 

 hippopotami having given birth during that 

 time to eight young, all of which have been 



