34 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
to do so, when it was learned that not only the Commissioner but 
also the Mayor and other officers of the city government were 
warmly interested in the plan of transfer. 
A bill empowering the Society to take the Aquarium was intro- 
duced in the New York Assembly by the Hon. J. Mayhew Wain- 
wright, and in the Senate by the Hon. Joseph P. Hennessey. This 
measure became a law and is known as Chapter 146 of the Laws 
of 1902. A second bill was introduced by Hon. Julius H. Sey- 
mour in the Assembly, and Hon. Nevada N. Stranahan in the 
Senate, authorizing the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to 
enter into a contract with the Society for the transfer of the 
Aquarium. This measure became a law April 10, 1902, and is 
known as Chapter 441 of the Laws of 1902. The Executive Com- 
mittee desire to take this opportunity to express their thanks to 
the above named gentlemen for their services in this connection. 
A contract between the Society and the City providing for the 
transfer of the Aquarium was signed on the 13th of October, 
1902. By this contract the City provides a maintenance fund of 
not less than $45,000. The actual amount appropriated for the 
year 1903 was $46,500. The method of administration is as 
follows: the Society pays all the Aquarium bills in the first in- 
stance, and these, after approval by the Park Department and in 
the Comptroller’s office, are repaid by the City. 
The Society has organized the administration of the Aquarium 
on practically the same basis as that of the Zoological Park, with 
a scientific director and staff of practical assistants and a scientific 
council, which secures the best professional expert advice which 
can be found in the city. After consulting the best authorities, the 
Society invited Mr. Charles H. Townsend, of the United States 
Fish Commission, to assume the directorship, and he accepted the 
appointment. Mr. Townsend has been connected with the United 
States Fish Commission since 1883. He was the naturalist on 
the Arctic explorations of the U. S. S. “Corwin” in 1886, and 
for the deep-sea explorations of the “Albatross ;” and many of 
his writings relate to the discoveries made on that trip. In 1887 
he was made a member of the National Behring Fur Seal Com- 
mission, and later in the same year became chief of the Fisheries 
Commission of the United States Fish Commission. In the sum- 
mer of 1902 Mr. Townsend was selected by Secretary Hay to 
represent the United States at the Hague in the arbitration of 
the fur seal question between the United States and Russia. Tak- 
ing advantage of this trip abroad, Mr. Townsend, at the con- 
clusion of the arbitration conference, which was decided in favor 
