36 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



my friend, Dr Chalmers Mitchell, Secretary to the 

 Zoological Society of London, had assured me that 

 I might anticipate a very enjoyable day there, a 

 promise that was amply fulfilled. Of the aquarium, 

 on the other hand, I heard nothing until Dr 

 Shufeldt, a distinguished writer on natural history 

 and other subjects, took me to see its wonders. 

 The round shell of the old fort has been transformed 

 into a very paradise for fishes and other cold- 

 blooded creatures, like turtles, seals and alligators, 

 all of which are made welcome, from manatees to 

 the larvae of mosquitoes. In addition to the usual 

 series of tanks round the walls, which line both 

 gallery and ground floor, great pools have been 

 built into the central pavement to accommodate large 

 sharks, sturgeons, drumfish, tarpon and other 

 monsters, of which the visitor is thereby enabled to 

 get a better view than would be possible in the 

 wall tanks, since the fishes have no opportunity of 

 hiding from the public eye. 



To argue the Aquarium not susceptible of im- 

 provement would be to go much further than 

 Mr Townsend himself, for he is ambitious of 

 reform in more than one direction, and even 

 contemplates early removal to a more spacious 

 building. 



At the time of my visit, to mention only one 

 imperfection, I noticed that the water in the tanks 

 was very muddy, a condition, in all probability, pre- 

 judicial to the health of the fishes, and certainly 

 disagreeable to the spectator. Mr Townsend in- 

 formed me that this was the result of the recent 

 heavy rains, but that a new installation of pure 

 water storage was nearing completion. The 



