24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, li>20. 



others; and some necessary minor improvements, such as new con- 

 crete steps, drainage gutters, and new fences. 



PojDular interest in the park continues to increase, the total number 

 of visitors during the year being 2,229,605, the largest yearly attend- 

 ance ever recorded. The educational value of the zoological collec- 

 tion is emphasized by the fact that 98 schools and classes, comprising 

 about 9,000 individuals, visited the park during the year. 



The number of animals in the collection at the close of the year 

 was 1,427, representing 419 species. Of this total, 496 were mam- 

 mals, 847 birds, and 84 reptiles. While this number is 124 under the 

 record year, nevertheless the monetary and scientific value of the col- 

 lection is much greater than ever before. Specially interesting 

 among the 127 animals presented to the park during the year were a 

 number of accessions from South America, including the rare black- 

 headed ouakari monkey, two snowy egrets, a scarlet ibis, a specimen 

 of the rare matamata turtle, a white-backed trumpeter, the most im- 

 portant addition to the bird department during the year, a Mexican 

 kinkajou, and other rare South American species. The most inter- 

 esting among the animals born in the park is a hippopotamus, which 

 attracts much attention from visitors. 



It is gratifying to be able to report that the sundry civil act for 

 1921 carries an appropriation of $80,000 for the purchase of a 

 frontage of 625 feet on Connecticut Avenue, which will enable the 

 park to have a dignified approach at this important entrance without 

 the danger of encroachment by private dwellings or other buildings. 

 Among the important needs of the park the superintendent mentions, 

 in an appendix to this report, a suitable public restaurant for the 

 increasing number of visitors, the purchase of a narrow strip of land 

 between the park boundary and Adams Mill Road near the south- 

 eastern entrance, outdoor inclosures for lions, tigers, and certain 

 other animals, and increased compensation for certain of the em- 

 ployees, particularly keepers and policemen. 



ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. 



The work of the observatory at Washington consisted largely of 

 preparation of tables of results for publication in Volume IV of the 

 Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory, and of reducing the 1919 

 observations made at Mount Wilson and comparing them with those 

 obtained by the Smithsonian observers in Chile. The agreement be- 

 tween the two sets of results, after allowing for systematic errors, was 

 excellent, the average deviation of the two stations for 50 values ob- 

 tained on corresponding days being only 0.013 calories, or 0.65 per 

 cent. A remarkable confirmation of the variation of solar radiation 

 on the earth was given by photo-electric observations on the planet 



