ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS—LOISEL. 437 
and to indigenous mammals as well as to a collection of mollusks 
and polyps derived for the most part from the Dutch colonies. 
The garden, including the library and museum, is administered 
by Dr. J. Biittikofer, a naturalist to whom we owe the greater part 
of our knowledge of the fauna of Liberia. This director, appointed 
by the council, has quarters in the garden and receives a salary of 
4,400 florins. He really directs the garden and disposes of the sum 
voted annually by the council for the general expenses of the estab- 
lishment. Besides, he can appoint or remove the employees of the 
garden, except the chiefs, whose appointment or removal he can only 
recommend to the council. 
The society has established a special fund for the medical care 
and pensions of its employees. 
The garden is situated northwest of Rotterdam upon a marshy 
subsoil which in many places has given trouble as to foundations. 
Its-area is about 13$ hectares. The general design of its shrubbery 
and flower beds is very pleasing. In certain localities distant per- 
spectives are introduced which make one forget the city, essentially 
commercial in its character, that surrounds one on all sides; there 
are picturesque bridges spanning water courses, and ponds fed by 
the Diergaarde Singel, one of the numerous canals of Rotterdam; 
handsome walks conduct the visitor to lawns shaded with great 
trees, in which are nesting at liberty herons, ravens, and storks; well- 
kept beds of flowers and rocks covered with alpine plants break here 
and there the monotony of the landscape, and, in the large hothouses 
one may specially admire the Victoria regia, whose leaves cover the 
surface of a large basin, and the tree ferns, one of which is 9 meters 
high. 
A large number of the animals in the garden are presented by 
colonial employees of the Government and by planters. The society 
has also an agent in Batavia, who buys directly from the natives. 
On entering the garden by the main entrance the first building on 
the right is the monkey house (pl. v1). This edifice, which is the 
finest and best constructed of any that I have seen up to this time, 
was completed last year and cost 86,000 gulden ($36,000). It is 42 
meters long, 14 meters wide, and 9.5 meters high; lies east and west, 
has a blank wall on the north, while along its southern side, orna- 
mented with sculptured monkeys and pretty designs in enameled 
brick, is a series of exterior cages. 
The principal entrance, situated at the western end, leads into a 
large hall (pl. vir) flanked on either side by the cages of the mon- 
keys ornamented by clumps of green plants and by the spray of two 
fountains surrounded by flowers. This hall is divided into three 
parts by two arcades, marking the entrance to the service corridors, 
which I will mention further on. 
