ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BLTLLETIX. 



647 



BRONZE TABLET ON THE WAIT. OF THE AQUARIUM. 



described in the April number of tlie Zoological 

 Society Bulletin for that year. It came from 

 the coast of New Jersey. Big lobsters are rare 

 in these days of excessive lobster fishing. Ac- 

 cording to Professor Herrick. author of an im- 

 portant monograph on the American lobster. 

 twenty-five pounds is the limit of size attained. 

 A large lobster taken off Atlantic Highlands. 

 New Jersey, in 1897, and brought to the Aquar- 

 iunij is recorded to have weighed thirty-four 

 pounds. This specimen is now in the American 

 Museum of Natural History, and its size indi- 

 cates that the weight recorded is not far from 

 correct. Some of the largest lobsters taken dur- 

 ing recent years have been found off New Jer- 

 sey. This is doubtless due to the fact that lob- 

 stering is but little practiced so near the south- 

 ern limit of the lobster's natural distribution, 

 and the small numbers existing there have a 

 chance to grow. 



sitting in their chairs in- 

 stead of standing on them. 

 As to a name, he has 

 been called "Frankic" for 

 the week he has been with 

 me, but this is not to be 

 considered as binding upon 

 you. If your experts de- 

 cide that the name is inap- 

 pro|n'iate call her ".losie." 

 The s])ecimen was a c - 

 cepted and the following 

 answer sent to the donor: 



Please accept my thanks 

 for the specimen of AUi' 

 r; (I i () r mississippiensis 

 which you have been so 

 kind as to send to the 

 Aquarium. Be pleased al- 

 so to accept my t h a n k s 

 for your sprightly letter 

 of transmittal which you 

 will pardon my saying, is worth more than the 

 'gator, being much rarer. 



The Aquarium gets a million or two baby alli- 

 gators a year from returning Florida tourists, 

 but there is of course always room for a few 

 more. AVhen they get too thick, we send 'em 

 back to Florida for the restocking of depleted 

 waters, as alligator leather is becoming scarce 

 owing to the activity of the above mentioned 

 tourists. 



The name is no longer a matter of importance 

 as we ran out of names so long ago that the 

 clerk's "Accession number" serves the same pur- 

 pose, hope that the lady clerks in your office 

 are now enjoying freedom from alarm. 



Dear Mr. Aquarium : A fair correspondent 

 of the "New York World" lately visited Florida 

 and thinking that I possessed every necessary 

 and comfort of this life f.rcept a live alligator, 

 sent me one which I am forwarding to you un- 

 der sejiarate cover. While the lady's intentions 

 were of the best, her conclusions were wrong. 

 I really do not need an alligator this winter. 

 Another reason for parting with my gift is that 

 affairs in this office may resume their normal 

 business level and the ladv clerks do their work 



Young Sea Horses. — As an illustration of thi' 

 importance of pure sea water to an aquarium, the 

 keeping of the common sea horse will afford a 

 good example. A few of these fishes procured 

 a year and a half ago, after the new water sys- 

 tem was placed in operation, lived more than a 

 year, and one still survives. They were all 

 voung sjiecimens of less than two inches in 

 length when received. 



Early in April of last year some of the 

 females spawned, depositing their eggs, after 

 the manner of these fishes, in the brood pouches 

 of the males, after which the females died. On 

 .\))ril '22. three of the males liberated from their 

 liouches from 150 to 200 young, each. Every 

 effort was made to supply the young with nat- 

 ural food but without success, none of them 

 surviving longer than two weeks. One of the 



