54 



THE AQUARIUM BULLETIN 



Annual Exhibition of the 

 New York Aquariuni Society 



The Eighth Annual Exhibition of 

 the New York Aquarium Society was 

 held on October 12th, 13th and Uth, 

 the American Museum of Natural 

 History. 



No better setting could have been 

 desired for a display of this character. 

 The little exotic and gold fish were 

 merely another natural wonder added 

 to the many thousand housed in this 

 great public institution. The beau- 

 tiful animated little fish formed a 

 pleasing contrast to the many still- 

 life exhibits of the animal kingdom 

 on display throughout the big 

 museum. 



The walls of the exhibition room 

 were hung with a large number of 

 the vivid colored "Under The Sea" 

 paintings by Hoft'man, which 

 harmonized with the general scheme 

 and added a feature of interest. The 

 tanks were nicely arranged, on tables 

 around the sides of the room, also 

 on two long tables holding two rows 

 of tanks each, running the entire 

 center length of the room, with 

 spacious passageway between all 

 displays. The skeleton wood work of 

 the tables was neatly hidden with 

 drapery of green burlap, and with a 

 number of |)alms placed here and 

 there, gave all a touch of natural 

 beauty. 



The fifty or more larger tanks, 

 l)laced around the side walls contained 

 many fine specimens of the fancy 

 varieties of gold fish of various sizes 

 and forms, and a combination of 

 colors that strove for su]ieriority, in 

 competition with the paintings. 



Brooklyn and Philadelphia were 

 well represented in the gold fish group 



by some of the best specimens. The 

 gold fish might be said to be lackinj^;' 

 in numbers, but this was more than 

 offset by the high quality of the fish 

 exhibited. 



The tropical fish were arranged in 

 smaller tanks through the center of 

 the room. These small tanks were 

 of uniform size and w^ell planted with 

 various aquatic plants. The highly 

 colored and active little fish dartint'; 

 in and out among these plants, and in 

 the clear crystal water, afforded a 

 rare pleasure to the lover of nature. 

 Many of the rarest varieties of the 

 tropical fish were represented. The 

 most popular fish of the show, with- 

 out question, were the young 

 Pterophyllum scalare. The home 

 waters of this wonderful little fish are 

 the upper tributaries of the Amazon 

 River. The largest of these babies 

 could have been covered bv a silver 

 quarter dollar, while a gold piece of 

 the same area was necessaiT if one 

 W'ished to take a sample of this beauty 

 home. 



Java was represented by two rare 

 importations of small beautifullv 

 marked aquaria fish. One in 

 particular was very attractive, a flnt 

 little fi.sh, its narrow body was almost 

 a perfect circle in outline and marked 

 with large "polka dots" on a lisrht 

 silvery ground, with fins so deliratp 

 and transparent that one found it 

 necessary to look close to detect their 

 presence. 



Another very pleasing feature was 

 two small tanks devoted exclusively 

 to a few small varities of local fresh- 

 water fish, and crustaceans. 



On the afternoon of the 13th ATr. 



