44 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Clerk at the New York Aquarium. His services were long, effi- 

 cient and faithful, and many of the members and officers of the 

 Society feel that they have lost a valued friend. 



NEW YORK AQUARIUM. 



The New York Aquarium under the skillful management of 

 the Director, Dr. Charles H. Townsend, has been greatly im- 

 proved by the completion of the new salt water system. 



The one overpowering fact in regard to the Aquarium has 

 been the enormous attendance, the size of which is almost be- 

 yond belief. The figures for the year 1909 amount to 3,803,501, 

 a daily average of 10,417, making this unquestionably the most 

 popular scientific and educational institution in the world in point 

 of attendance. The largest attendance for a single day was 

 64,795. The number of visitors for the past thirteen years now 

 exceeds twenty-five millions. 



The reservoir of stored sea water, which has now been in 

 use eighteen months, has enabled us to maintain the salt water 

 collections in better condition. Losses of specimens due to foul 

 water have been eliminated from all tanks connected with the 

 reservoir, and the keeping of marine species is easier than ever 

 before. The life of such species in captivity has been materially 

 lengthened, and we have now only such difficulties to deal with 

 as are connected with the proper feeding of tropical species in a 

 situation remote from their original habitat. 



Three West Indian seals have been received ; also three great 

 leather-backed turtles, but like all other specimens of this kind 

 they did not survive, it being impossible to induce this species to 

 take food ; three shipments of tropical fishes have been received 

 from Bermuda. The U. S. Bureau of Fisheries supplied the 

 Aquarium fish hatchery with fish eggs of different kinds as usual, 

 and the hatchery was kept in operation about nine months of the 

 year. 



The enormous crowds confined in the comparatively small 

 Aquarium building have taxed the resources of the Aquarium 

 forces to the utmost. It has been a matter of pride with the 

 Society, that for seven years, during which the collections have 

 greatly increased, and the attendance from 1,700,453 to 3,803,- 

 501 per annum, that the amount allowed for maintenance, viz., 

 $46,000, has not been changed. The Society, however, as will be 

 shown by the Special Report of the Director of the Aquarium, 

 must now face a new and serious problem. The Aquarium must 

 be enlarged either by doubling or trebling the number of ex- 



