120 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



audience of more than one thousand persons. Numerous photo- 

 graphs of the porpoise fishery were also secured. Mr. Nye also 

 presented the porpoises sent to the Aquarium in June. 



The keeping of porpoises in captivity has presented some 

 difficulties with the water supply, as their abundant excrement 

 tends to discolor the water. The pool cannot be drained empty 

 daily and cleaned, like those used for seals, as stranded por- 

 poises beat the ground with their tails so fiercely that they would 

 be injured by the emptying of the pool. The water is now being 

 kept fairly clear by carrying extra pipe lines to the pool and 

 greatly increasing the flow of water. They are being kept in 

 the brackish and rather foul water pumped from the Harbor, as 

 it is not practicable to supply them with pure sea water from our 

 large storage reservoir, on account of the fact that they would 

 rapidly discolor the pure water so important to the health of the 

 large collection of marine fishes in the Aquarium. The neces- 

 sity of keeping them in the harbor water and exhibiting them in 

 a public exhibition room which has to be heated during the win- 

 ter, makes it impossible to exhibit them under the most favor- 

 able conditions ; but it is a great satisfaction to be able to re- 

 port that the animals are apparently doing well. 



All of our specimens are of the "bottle-nosed" species (Tur- 

 siops tursio). This is the only species ever taken at the Hatte- 

 ras fishery, and Hatteras, singularly enough, is the only place in 

 North America where it is practicable to drag porpoises to the 

 beach with seines. The type of seine used is made of extra heavy 

 twine and is about one thousand feet long. The fishery is main- 

 tained for the sake of both oil and hides. 



The porpoises, which died, were presented by the Zoological 

 Society to the American Museum of Natural History, the College 

 of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology at Harvard University. 



ATTENDANCE. 



The attendance at the Aquarium increases slowly from year 

 to year. The total number of visitors for the year 1913 was 

 2,205,729, an average of 6,043 per day — an increase in attend- 

 ance over the year 1912, amounting to 61,374. The largest 

 monthly attendance was that of August, 271,468, an average of 

 8,757 for the month. 



The total attendance for the 17 years since the Aquarium 

 was opened to the public is 34,939,508. Tlie annual number of 



