SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 45 



Board of Estimate and Apportionment to secure this amount. 

 If granted, the Society will be in a position to prepare the Park 

 sufficiently to meet the requirements of the large influx of visitors 

 to be expected at West Farms upon the completion of the Rapid 

 Transit system. 



ATTENDANCE 



The attendance of the year 1902 was 38^ per cent, over that of 

 the year 1901; in other words, there were 731,515 visitors, as 

 against 527,145 during 1901, an increase of 200,000. During the 

 month of August alone nearly 127,000 persons visited the Park. 

 The care of these visitors on crowded days, and the proper pro- 

 tection of the collections against mischievous and malicious peo- 

 ple will become increasingly difficult as time goes on. 



The relations between the Society and the Mayor, the individual 

 members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and above 

 all with the Hon. John E. Eustis, Commissioner of Parks for the 

 Borough of the Bronx, and his staff, have been of the most cordial 

 and satisfactory character. Mr. Eustis has been at all times a 

 zealous advocate of the Society's work, and has done everything 

 in his power to advance the development of the Zoological Park. 

 The Executive Committee desire to take this opportunity of ex- 

 pressing their appreciation of the cordial co-operation of the 

 municipal authorities with its work. The business arrangements 

 with the Comptroller's office have been greatly simplified, so that 

 the delay in repayment of money advanced by the Society has 

 been reduced to a minimum. The present method of the Society 

 is to pay all its bills in the first instance, and to send them to the 

 Park Department and Comptroller's office for approval and re- 

 payment. This, however, as in the case of the Aquarium, neces- 

 sitates an overdraft of considerable amount. This has been met 

 by an agreement with the Knickerbocker Trust Company under a 

 bond of indemnity signed by all the individual members of the 

 Executive Committee. 



FUNDS FOR THE PURCHASE OF ANIMALS 



Animals are purchased from three sources, namely : the fran- 

 chises of the Park, the balances of the General or Membership 

 Fund, and gifts of special animals and collections. 



Franchises. Franchises of the Park have yielded during the 

 past year about $7,000. the proceeds of which have been devoted 

 to increasing the collections, according to our agreement with the 

 Citv. 



