THE AQUARIUM 



Issued in the Interests of the Study, 

 Care and Breeding of Aquatic Life 



Publisht monthly except July and August at 



I 3 I I Sansom Street, Philadelphia 



by the Aquarium Societies of Brooklyn, 

 Chicago, New York and Philadelphia 



Send all manuscripts, exchanges, books for 

 review, etc., direct to the Editor-in-chief; 

 ail other matter to the Business Manager 



Editor-in-Chief, EUGENE SMITH 

 Bank for Savings Building, Hoboken, N.J. 



Business Manager, W. F. DeVOE 

 Box 383, Baldwin, Long Island, N. Y. 



Subscriptions,^! Single Copies, ioc 



:: Advertising Rates upon Application :: 



Vol. I 



APRIL, 1912 



No. I 



Our Aim 



The aim of tliis magazine is twofold. 

 First, to interest tlie wider public in an 

 im]>ortant subject of nature study. Within 

 the last few years the aquarium has 

 gained greatly in public a])preciation, tlio 

 it does not yet hold the ])rominent posi- 

 tion to which it is entitld on account of 

 the great possibilities it offers of opening 

 one of nature's less known fields. To the 

 scientific student, the fish breeder, the ad- 

 mirer of beauty, or the simple lover of 

 nature, the afjuarinn) becomes an object 

 of value. 



This larger i)oint of view will be kejit 

 foremost, and while we purjiose being 

 scientific we also intend to be ])o))ular. 



Tlie second ])ur])o.se is to bring before 

 the members of the several acjuariuin so- 

 cieties matters which may be of general 

 interest to them as well as of mutual help 

 in the furthering of the art of aquarium 

 keeping. In other words, to combine the 

 scientific and the practical into a har- 

 monious whole. Our call therefor is to all 

 who are interested in the life of the water 

 and of its more immediate surroundings. 

 We co\ er the domains of river, lake and 

 marsh as well as of the seaside. 



The value of mutual help may be best 

 appreciated by a short retrospect of what 

 has been done in the past. INIany years 

 ago the editor started out with an aqua- 

 rium, which was anything but an aquarium 

 except in name. For want of proper 

 knowledge and for lack of experiencd 

 counsel he groped his way from point to 

 point, from failure to failure, until he in 

 the long run discovered for himself the 

 underlying principles which tho well 

 known to a few, were buried out of sight 

 in scarce and unknown volumes. His ex- 

 periences were only those of many another 

 amateur jilodding by himself, unbeknown 

 of his colleags. 



There was a dearth of information and 

 no source availalile known. 



In this way a number of people gradu- 

 ally workt out success for themselves, tho 

 in complete ignorance of the things others 

 were doing along the same path. 



Early in 1893, five persons who had by 

 chance become acquainted, founded a 

 small society which, tho now no longer in 

 existence, was the mother of the present 

 New York Society, which originally em- 

 braced a membership from the five New 

 York boroughs as well as from the adja- 

 cent part of New Jersey. The New York 

 Aquarium Society is thus the oldest in 

 the field and has had the usual vicissitudes 

 of all pioneer organizations. 



The Philadelphia Society, numerically 

 the strongest, was formd independently of 

 New York, fourteen years ago and has up 

 to the i)resent time devoted its energies 

 mainly to goldfish culture. 



The Brooklyn Aquarium Society was 

 formd early in 1<)11, chiefly from the mem- 

 bershiji of the New York Society residing 

 on Long Island. It too is successful and 

 had cstablisht a small monthly bulletin in 

 its own interests. 



The Chicago Fish Fanciers Club also 

 is M young and thriving grouj) of people 

 intcrc stcd in ;u|uatie life. 



