ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



PnhJished by tlie New York Zoological Sob-i 



V^oL. XVIII 



MARCH. 1915. 



Number 2 



THK AQlARIKiM OF OUR DREAMS 



III/ ('. H. ToWNSK.N'D. 



THE l)c;iutiful model of the proposed en- 

 largement of the New York Aquarium, has 

 just been moved from the Museum of Nat- 

 ural History where it has long been on exhibi- 

 tion, to the Aquarium in Battery Park. The 

 model is welcome and there will be a certain 

 satisfaction in contemplating this Aquarium of 

 Dreams, but we would rather have a real build- 

 ing even if it were only a little larger and better 

 than the present one. 



In 1912 the Executive Committee completed 

 plans for a new Aquarium building, which were 

 accepted by the City as satisfactory, and were 

 then carefully filed. They are still filed and 

 may remain so indefinitely. 



It may be, as we are assured, quite impossible 

 to provide funds for a new Aquarium, but under 

 present conditions the institution cannot have 

 an}' growth. It has the niisfortuiie to be housed 

 in an unsuitable building, which it long ago 

 completely filled. The character of its exhibits 

 is prescribed by the character of the water sys- 

 tems with which it is equipped. While its col- 

 lections are attractive and the number of visit- 

 ors remains as large as the building can accom- 

 modate, the Aquarium is at an enforced stand- 

 still. Like the crab and the lobster, the Aqua- 

 rium cannot grow without shedding its old shell. 

 Other museums have room for new exhibits but 

 the Aquarium has not. When especially attrac- 

 tive specimens arrive, those of less interest mist 

 be fed to the sea lion or the porpoise to make 

 room for them. 



The Aquarium cannot even change the char- 

 acter of its exhibits without modifying its me- 

 chanical equipment, and this would merely 

 allow a change, not an increase. The i)resenl 



building is probably the most unsightly struc- 

 ture in New York. Its entire upper part is of 

 the flimsiest wooden construction, which would 

 burn like a haystack. Constructed a century agj 

 as a fort, it has never had the light or ventila- 

 tion desirable for a museum attracting five thou- 

 sand per.sons a day. It has never had enough 

 space for coal, supplies or repair shop and can- 

 not be administered economically. There is no 

 longer space for an additional exhibition tank, 

 a pump or a filter. Its reservoir is located 

 under Battery Park, as the Aquarium has no 

 basement. Its depressed furnace-room floor and 

 coal bunker are always invaded by the sea 

 whenever the tides reach their highest levels. 

 These are some of the disadvantages under 

 which the Aquarium lives and has its being. 

 During the past few years, considerable money 

 has been spent on alterations and improvements. 

 Little more can be done to the ancient shell to 

 better its light, ventilation or safety for the 

 public. 



Other museums in New York are endowed 

 with millions of dollars, but it seems that the 

 Aquarium does not appeal to those who make 

 bequests. Its annual maintenance is less than 

 one-fourth that allowed each of the larger mu- 

 seums of the city. A building like that pictured 

 on the ojiposite page, would double the space 

 for living exhibits and permit of their best care. 

 It would allow suitable room for administrative, 

 laboratorv and library purposes, and permit of 

 comfort for the public. 



The purpose to which the present Aquarium 

 building is devoted, must be worth while or 

 there would not be two millions of persons a 

 year passing through its dingy doorway. 



