35 



unexceptionally graceful and pleasing to tlie eye, while 

 their ornamentation, form, and dimensions have been con- 

 sidered with the special object of adapting them to the 

 purposes for which they will be erected. Withal, they will 

 have a warm tone of color, which wdll offer a pleasing con- 

 trast to the other Exposition buildings. The illustrations 

 herewith presented will doubtless render unnecessary any 

 elaborate description, since a consideration of them will 

 enable one to form a correct estimate of the leading 

 features of Mr. Cobb's design. 



The main or central structure is rectangular in form, 450 

 feet long and 150 feet wide. This will be the great central 

 hall, where will be displayed all that pertains to com- 

 mercial llshing and lish culture, including apparatus of 

 capture, boats, vessels, products, models of fish-breeding 

 establishments, ponds, etc. 



Connected with each end of the main hall by an elegant 

 curved arcade is a jDolygonal building about 135 feet in 

 diameter. The one at the east, nearest the lake shore, will 

 be devoted to an exhibit of living specimens of fish and 

 other forms of aquatic life. Let me say that this building 

 will have a grand central rotunda 180 feet in circumference, 

 around which will be placed the largest aquaria that it is 

 practicable to use ; while in the centre will be a pond 

 twenty feet in diameter, with a beautiful fountain, beneath 

 the spray of which will disx)ort many ornamental fishes. 

 Entering the galleries near the side of the building, the 

 visitor will pass between two rows of large aquaria, in 

 which, as in those previously alluded to, there will be 

 representations of the fauna of the Atlantic, the Gulf of 

 Mexico, the Pacific and interior waters, including the 

 Great Lakes. No words of mine will, I believe, convey 

 anything like an adequate idea of the beautiful archi- 

 tectural effect of this aquarial building, to the construction 

 and equipment of which the Exposition authorities have 

 very generously contributed. I will not, therefore, attempt 



