32 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



its individual membership, to make renewed efforts for the im- 

 periled natural life, the loss of which to the country will be little 

 short of a national calamity. That this is not an overstatement 

 is proved by the universal protest against the destruction of the 

 Bison, and by the truly national movement and sentiment to pre- 

 serve this noble animal. 



Zoological Research. — This is the third great object to which 

 the energies of the Society should especially be devoted. Already 

 an enviable reputation has been made through the splendid publi- 

 cations in natural history of Dr. William T. Hornaday, Mr. Madi- 

 son Grant, Mr. C. William Beebe, Mr. R. L. Ditmars and Mr. 

 Charles H. Townsend. These publications have been based 

 partlv on the collections brought together by the Society in the 

 Park and Aquarium, partly as the result of travel, and partly as 

 the result of remarkable experiments carried on in the Park 

 itself. Of the latter, the experiments of Mr. C. William Beebe on 

 the plumage of birds, as published in Zoologica, our scientific 

 periodical, have attracted world wide attention. A number of 

 persons have thereby become interested in the future work of the 

 Society, and have contributed generous sums to carry on this 

 work. 



A distinct line of investigation of an especially humane charac- 

 ter is that which the Society has been conducting from the very 

 first on the life, health and happiness of its captive animals of all 

 kinds. These investigations are now being assembled in two 

 important volumes, which will be published as part of the celebra- 

 tion of the Decennial of the Society, from the Zoological Park 

 and the Aquarium respectively. 



The members of the Society are individually and collectively 

 invited to aid in these great movements, which will not in anv 

 way interfere with, but rather will tend to increase the beauty 

 and attractiveness as well as permanence of the Zoological Park 

 itself, which, it is always to be remembered, is the first object 

 for which the Society was formed. The buildings of the Park 

 must be extended, the collections must be made more comprehen- 

 sive, the natural beauties of the Park must be preserved, the edu- 

 cational value of the collections to the people of the City of New 

 York must be constantly kept in mind. 



With the fulfilment of these ideals, which have been before us 

 from the beginning, and with the establishment of an Endowment 

 Fund, the Society will begin its second decennial with confidence 

 in another decade of still greater usefulness. 



During the past year the Zoological Park and the Aquarium 

 have grown in popularity with the public, as is proved by the 



