4110 The Zoologist — August, 1874. 



Report of Committee appointed " To obtain Information 

 respecting the Subject of a Marine Aquarium, with the 

 view of promoting an efficient Institution of the kind in 

 Birmingham.^'' 



[The intense interest I have taken in Aquariums ever since they were 

 instituted on a small scale by Messrs. Bowerbank and Warington, more 

 than forty years ago, must be my excuse for introducing the following 

 " Report" into the pages of the ' Zoologist.' I am aware that copies have 

 been liberally distributed in the locality to which it more particularly 

 refers ; both th^ object contemplated and the subject so ably and in- 

 structively treated have a far wider application, and therefore merit a more 

 extended circulation. — Edward Newman.] 



Your Committee has held five meetings, at the first of which 

 Messrs. Hughes, Parsons and Wills were requested to sketch out a 

 draft circular, to be addressed to the promoters and superintendents 

 of existing and projected aquaria, both in England and abroad, 

 with a view of obtaining accurate information as to the cost, 

 management, &c., of such establishments. At their second meeting 

 a circular was approved and ordered to be forwarded to the 

 managers of the following aquaria, viz.: — In England: Crystal 

 Palace, Brighton, Dublin, Hastings, Kingstown, Liverpool, London 

 (Zoological Society), Manchester, Kamsgate, Scarborough, and 

 Soulhport. On the Continent: Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, 

 Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, Havre, Naples, Paris, Vienna. 

 In America: New York. The enquiries which it embodies are of 

 an exhaustive character, embracing the date and conditions of 

 establishment, amount of capital, present market value of shares, 

 profit realized, attendance of visitors, cost of foundation and main- 

 tenance, number and size of tanks, mode of circulating and aerating 

 their contents, stale of health of the inhabitants, and many other 

 important particulars. Finally, an opinion was requested as to the 

 possible injury which might result frou) the impurities which con- 

 taminate the atmosphere of a large manufacturing town. 



Your Committee regret that they received direct replies to this 

 circular from only two English aquaria, and from the same number 

 of foreign establishments. They have, in addition, obtained in- 

 formation, more or less complete, as to several other projected 

 aquaria in this country, but in most instances it is proposed to 



