10S Fish Ciilturists Association 



of New York and vicinity, and that they should give it every 

 encouragement in their power. Mr. Coup has very kindly 

 placed these rooms at our disposal for this, our annual meeting, 

 and given us a free entrance to his magnificent Aquarium, and 

 entertained us so magnificently last night, that I feel we cannot 

 make the resolution too strong in recognition of his kindness 

 and his public spirit. 



Mr. Coup : I think you are altogether too complimentary, 

 Mr. Blackford. I am already under obligations to yourself and 

 others, as I acknowledged last night. Of course in the begin- 

 ning of the Aquarium we knew that there were a great many 

 difficulties to overcome, and in fact we found more than we had 

 at first anticipated. A great portion of the material had to be 

 brought from the other side, and the collections have been far 

 more expensive than we had at first anticipated. However, I 

 have had several flattering letters, and among the rest one from 

 Mr. Lloyd, who is the originator of the Aquarium in London, 

 saying, that from our catalogue it compares very favorably with 

 that of the English Aquarium. In fact we have a great many 

 specimens here that they have not been able to procure there 

 yet. Of course they have some that we have not. The expense 

 of building the Aquarium here was, of course, very great, and 

 I am glad to say the public seem to appreciate it since its 

 opening ; and if we had had ordinarily good luck in our collec- 

 tion, it would have been certainly an established success at the 

 present time. I hope it will be now, and that we can succeed 

 in keeping the collections alive that have been brought, at a very 

 great expense, so far. I want again to acknowledge my indebt- 

 edness to you, gentlemen, for your assistance, and I hope you 

 will have your annual meetings in this room if the Aquarium 

 does succeed, and we intend to use every effort to keep it as a 

 first-class institution. 



