TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 63 



and American zoologists will do well to be thinking now of that 

 task. Already the New York Zoological Society has taken defi- 

 nite steps looking toward the rehabilitation of the collections of 

 the Antwerp Gardens, just as soon as the Germans have evacu- 

 ated Belgium. 



ATTENDANCE OF VISITORS. 



Quite contrary to our expectations, the attendance last year 

 of visitors at the Zoological Park increased instead of diminished. 

 The total for the year 1917 was 1,898,424, a gain over 1916 of 

 241,604. The total attendance at the Park for the eighteen years 

 from 1900 to 1918 was 24,934,499. The monthly figures for 

 1917 were as follows: 



1917 1916 



January 74,238 67,129 



February 83,353 38,791 



March 89,853 79,645 



April 208,723 175,002 



May 195,859 233,425 



June 263,912 170,582 



July 246,944 235,873 



August 250,050 185,965 



September 216,267 175,934 



October 131,467 143,948 



November 108,421 84,712 



December 29,337 65,814 



1,898,424 1,656,820 



WAR ACTIVITIES AT THE PARK. 



In several w^ays the Park force has been drawn into activi- 

 ties connected with or contributing to the war. 



Military Company of the Zoological Park. — Immediately 

 after the declaration of war, it was decided to form in the Zoo- 

 logical Park a military company, incidentally for the defense of 

 the Zoological Park against possible riots, but chiefly as a contri- 

 bution to the defense of the city of New York and its vicinity. 

 In accordance with this purpose, 48 picked men of the Zoological 

 Park forces were organized as Company A of the Zoological Park 



