TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 63 
and American zoologists will do well to be thinking now of that 
task. Already the New York Zoological Society has taken defi- 
nite steps looking toward the rehabilitation of the collections of 
the Antwerp Gardens, just as soon as the Germans have evacu- 
ated Belgium. 
ATTENDANCE OF VISITORS. 
Quite contrary to our expectations, the attendance last year 
of visitors at the Zoological Park increased instead of diminished. 
The total for the year 1917 was 1,898,424, a gain over 1916 of 
241,604. The total attendance at the Park for the eighteen years 
from 1900 to 1918 was 24,934,499. The monthly figures for 
1917 were as follows: 
Suey 1916 
eu Ve oe oe ee es 74,238 67,129 
Mebnuary ees. =e 83,353 38,791 
UIT cyl Siac BO ee 89,853 79,645 
TNT OVE ag Sete ete ca 208,723 175,002 
JU LIN As ee eet AO ces 195,859 233,425 
“luna Vey ee tear te ered ete 263,912 170,582 
SU eee Roe es Ss. 246,944 235,873 
AICUST 2 ee 250,050 185,965 
September —..25. a. 216,267 175,934 
October eee 131,467 143,948 
November .3 108,421 84,712 
December ............ ye ea 29,337 65,814 
1,898,424 1,656,820 

WAR ACTIVITIES AT THE-PARK. 
In several ways the Park force has been drawn into activi- 
ties connected with or contributing to the war. 
Military Company of the Zoological Park.—Immediately 
after the declaration of war, it was decided to form in the Zoo- 
logical Park a military company, incidentally for the defense of 
the Zoological Park against possible riots, but chiefly as a contri- 
bution to the defense of the city of New York and its vicinity. 
In accordance with this purpose, 48 picked men of the Zoological 
Park forces were organized as Company A of the Zoological Park 
