126 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



known as Castle Garden, proved to be of decided interest to the 

 public. The original edition is exhausted, but still being in de- 

 mand, it will be reissued at an early date. 



The following Information Circulars, used in handling the 

 correspondence of the Aquarium, were reprinted : No. 2. The 

 Care of Goldfishes ; No. 7. Notes on the Public Aquariums of 

 Europe. 



Motion Pictures of the Northern Elephant Seal. — The 

 Aquarium has come into possession of the unique motion film 

 made at Guadalupe Island in 1911, just after the rediscovery of 

 the Northern Elephant Seal, a species long supposed to be ex- 

 tinct. 



The elephant seal, largest of all seals, was rediscovered by 

 the U. S. S. Albatross expedition, then engaged in deep sea in- 

 vestigations in the Lower California region under the direction 

 of C. H. Townsend. The large skins brought back, together 

 with several young which were exhibited alive at the Aquarium, 

 now compose the splendid group of this species in the American 

 Museum of Natural History. The Zoological Society published 

 Dr. Townsend's photographs and descriptions of the animals as 

 observed alive by him, the former being with one exception the 

 only photographs ever made of the live seals. 



Acting on the recommendation of Dr. Townsend, a pro- 

 ducer of motion pictures, Mr. Albert Blinkhorn, went in a small, 

 chartered vessel, to Guadalupe Island, then uninhabited. The 

 excellent film secured was shown at the New York Aquarium, 

 and at the Brooklyn Museum, after which the owner went out 

 of business and the film disappeared. After inquiries extending 

 over several years,, it was located in a film storage house in New 

 York and the negative purchased for the Aquarium. 



The northern elephant seal {Mironnga angustirostns) has 

 led a precarious existence for more than half a century, and is 

 doomed to extinction, being totally without protection on its 

 last outpost on desolate Guadalupe. When it finally disappears, 

 the admirable pictures showing this great seal and its young, 

 both in and out of water, will have a new interest and an added 

 scientific value. 



Positives are being made from the negatives for such zoo- 

 logical societies and natural history museums as may be dis- 



