70 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



feeding voluntarily may possibly be a disappointment to our vis- 

 itors, owing to the novel spectacle on the days the python was 

 forcibly fed. 



Two additional specimens of the regal python, each about 

 twenty feet long, were purchased during the past year. 



CENSUS OF REPTILES, DECEMBER 3I, I908. 



Chelonia 44 352 



Crocodilia 3 62 



Lacertilia 39 241 



Ophidia ""] 340 



Batrachia 19 287 



Total 182 1,282 



The total census of the Zoological Park collections on Decem- 

 ber 31, 1908, is as follows: 



SUMMARY OF COLLECTIONS. 



Species. Specimens. 



Mammals 217 682 



Birds 563 2.61 5 



Reptiles 182 1,282 



Total 962 4.579 



Increase over .1907 97 545 



CONTRACT WORK IN GROUND IMPROVEMENTS. 



Conducted under the Direction of the Park Department for the Borough 



of The Bronx. ]\[artin Schenck, Chief Engineer. 



W. P. Hennessy, Assistant Engineer. 



The ElcpJiant House. — Work on the Elephant House w^as dili- 

 gently prosecuted by the contractors, ]\Iessrs. F. T. Nesbit & 

 Company, and on November 15 the building was turned over 

 to the Society for occupancy. The structure is as nearly perfect 

 as it was possible to make it. Externally it is very handsome, 

 its interior is highly successful in every way ; it is well lighted, 

 easily heated and ventilated, and affords a spacious and com- 

 fortable home for the animals that it contains. The work of the 

 contractors has been ver\- satisfactory, and the pcrfecti(~>n of the 



