REPORT OF THE 
DIRECTOR OF THE AQUARIUM 
TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS 
N DECEMBER 31, 1919 the New York Aquarium com- 
pleted its twenty-second year. The patronage by the public 
was large, the number of visitors exceeding 1,850,000—a larger 
number than was recorded for any year of the war period, but 
still short of the usual prewar attendance of over two millions 
annually. During the twenty-two years of its history it had 
over forty-three millions of visitors, doubtless a world record 
for any kind of museum. 
The Director has little more than routine matters to report, 
all improvement and repair work having been reduced to the 
minimum as a result of a reduced maintenance fund and a less- 
ened number of employes. 
The living exhibits of the Aquarium were maintained in 
their usual variety and numbers except as to certain tropical 
forms. As has been set forth in several previous reports, the 
collections of the Aquarium cannot be enlarged until additional 
exhibition space is created by radical alterations in the building. 
The recent enlargement of half of the ground floor tanks by 
removing their rear walls and setting them farther back, served 
the desirable purpose of increasing their capacity. Alterations 
of this kind should be continued throughout the ground floor 
series, but mere enlargements cannot be accepted as substitutes 
for additional tanks. 
It would be possible to increase the number of exhibition 
tanks both on the main floor and balcony fully one-fifth, by re- 
moving the cumbersome pumping plant to an outside building or 
to the basement, which is capable of enlargement by excavation 
The crying needs of the Aquarium, especially those relating 
to the dilapidated condition of the ancient building which it occu- 
