ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. §7 



Messrs. W'm. Currys* Sons of Key West. Florida, presented two 

 unusuall}' large specimens of the hawksbill or tortoise shell turtle, 

 which had been living in a salt water pond at Key West for 

 eight years. 



Mr. Frederick H. Shelton of Philadelphia presented twenty- 

 seven specimens of fresh-water turtles, representing five species, 

 some of which were new to the Aquarium collection. 



!Mr. Emil Gottsleben of Rum Clay, Bahama Islands, presented a 

 large hawksbill turtle. 



Other important gifts of aquatic animals were received from 

 Dr. Alfred G. Mayer, Director of the [Marine Biological Labor- 

 atory at the Dry Tortugas, Florida : Capt. Paul Jacob, of the 

 Hamburg American Steamship Graecia : ^Master Billy Clark, of 

 Xew York, and Master Edward Redfield and Miss Bessie Red- 

 field of Closter, N. J. 



Captain Jacob presented to the Zoological Park, tlirough the 

 Aquarium, specimens of iguanas from the West Indies. Mr. 

 Henry Bishop of Baltimore presented several Japanese goldfishes. 



The late Mr. Philip Schuyler purchased and presented to the 

 Aquarium a collection of excellent negatives of living fishes of 

 Florida and the West Indies, which will be reproduced from time 

 to time in the publications of the Society. 



AX OLD PICTURE OF THE AQUARIUM BUILDING. 



The frontispiece to the present report, showing the interior of 

 the Aquarium building, formerly called Castle Garden, in 1850, 

 is reproduced from an old and rare print. 



Some of the older members of the Zoological Society will 

 doubtless recall the occasion when Jenny Lind made her first 

 public appearance in America, which it commemorates. The 

 following historical note is reprinted from the Aquarium Infor- 

 mation Circular as an accompaniment to the picture : 



"The Aquarium building was erected in 1807 by the United 

 States Government as a fort, called Southwest Battery, and after 

 the war of 181 2 was called Castle Clinton. It has a battery of 

 30 guns, the embrasures for which still remain in the outer w'all, 

 which is 9 feet thick. The old ammunition rooms are surrounded 

 with walls of masonry 15 feet thick. In 1823 the building was 

 ceded by Congress to the City of New York and used as a place 

 of amusement called Castle Garden, which had a seating capacity 

 of 6.000. It was connected with Battery Park by a bridge, the 

 intervening space having since been filled in. General Lafayette 



