TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT 117 



and pump rooms on the ground floor is equal to one-fourth of 

 the space now devoted to glass-fronted tanks. The same is true 

 of the tank room space above as compared with the series of 

 glass-fronted tanks on the gallery. 



The space now occupied by machinery on the ground floor 

 would aff'ord room for several glass-fronted tanks much larger 

 than any now in the building, while the space above them would 

 provide the Aquarium with a feature it has never had — a well 

 lighted exhibition room for the smaller and more delicate forms 

 of aquatic life. The outside machinery plant need not encroach 

 upon Battery Park as it could be built upon the shoal behind 

 the Aquarium. 



LABORATORY. 



To add another story to the front of the Aquarium would 

 be a comparatively simple matter and would afi'ord ample room 

 for laboratory work not possible under present conditions. 



There is nearly always at the Aquarium a large amount of 

 material from both fresh and salt water available for biological 

 investigation. This material is not being utilized for scientific 

 investigation for lack of facilities for studying it. 



A well equipped biological laboratory would be of great 

 benefit to the Aquarium itself, as well as to science. There is 

 but little known of the fife of most of our aquatic animals. The 

 embryology, physiology and adaptations of these forms ofl'er 

 interesting fields for investigation. 



The Aquarium has frequent requests from investigators for 

 assistance in the matters of laboratory space and material. It 

 is even now sharing its limited office space with a special inves- 

 tigator of the United States Bureau of Fisheries and material 

 is constantly being supplied for researches conducted under the 

 auspices of our city educational institutions. 



Among the well known investigators who have been sup- 

 plied are Professor Loeb of the Rockefeller Institute, Professor 

 McClure of Princeton University and Professor Morgan of 

 Columbia. 



Considerable quantities of small sea shore invertebrates are 

 annually given to school teachers for class work. 



The Aquarium should be so equipped that it could take care 

 of investigators in a way that would be creditable to the Zoologi- 

 cal Society. 



