REPORT OF THE 



DIRECTOR OF THE AQUARIUM 



TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS. 



'pHE year 1917 is the fifteenth in the history of the Aquarium 

 under the management of the Zoological Society, and the 

 twentieth since its inception. 



While the institution has always had the patronage of the 

 people to a degree quite unusual among public museums, it has 

 not received official support commensurate with its popularity, 

 its actual field of work and its possibilities for greater usefulness. 



The unprepossessing external appearance which the Aqua- 

 rium presents to the visitor is due to the fact that it is housed 

 in an old and inadequately cared for building. It remains the 

 same unsightly structure that it has been for the past one hun- 

 dred years. Its interior aspect is better, and the structural de- 

 fects of the building are largely overlooked in the presence of 

 its admirable and extensive living exhibits. 



The Aquarium must, by reason of its great interest for the 

 public, be classed as a public museum, and its staflF has always 

 been under the necessity of performing duties similar to those 

 of curators in such museums. The fact cannot be overlooked 

 that its work has hitherto been carried on under such serious 

 disadvantages as lack of exhibition and oifice space and facilities 

 for collecting and caring for its exhibits. 



The space devoted to exhibits reached its full capacity years 

 ago, so that reasonable growth of its collections has been alto- 

 gether impossible. 



The inadequacy of the building to the work required of the 

 Aquarium has not been due to lack of w^ell prepared plans for 

 its improvement. The needs of the Aquarium have been recog- 



