134 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1284 



Protection whicli operates under the authority 

 of the Department of the Interior, the first 

 thoroughly national conference on wild life 

 protection which operates under the authority 

 of the Department of the Interior, the first 

 thoroughly national conference on wild life 

 protection was held in Ottawa' in February, 

 1919. Eepresentatives of all the provinces and 

 leaders in wild life protection took part in the 

 conference. The purpose was to bring together 

 every one in the Dominion specially concerned 

 in the protection of the important wild life 

 natural resources of the country and by the 

 exchange of ideas to develop cooperation and 

 efficiency throughout the country in the con- 

 servation of wild life. 



A COLLECTING BOAT FOR THE NEW YORK 

 AQUARIUM 



The New York Aquarium will soon improve 

 the method of collecting its living marine ex- 

 hibits, the New York Zoological Society hav- 

 ing provided funds for the construction of a 

 large well-boat for that institution. 



Hitherto the marine collections of the Aqua- 

 rium have been transported in shipping tanks 

 of limited size, such as could be readily 

 handled on launches or wagons. This method 

 is a primitive one and subjects the occupants 

 of the tanks to more or less crowding and 

 rough usage, with considerable losses in transit. 



With a collecting boat available, specimens 

 can be transferred directly from the nets used 

 in capture to the spacious well of the boat, 

 where they will remain undisturbed until their 

 arrival at the sea wall behind the Aquarium. 



The boat is nearly completed and will be 

 launched early in August. It has a length of 

 thirty-five feet and a depth of water in the well 

 of two and a half feet. It is driven by a 

 twenty-five-horse-power engine, and is also 

 sloop rigged. There are cabin accommodations 

 for four men and stowage space for nets and 

 dredges. 



This boat is of staunch construction and will 

 be capable of going anywhere along the adja- 

 cent coast. The well being ten feet square, 

 will not only accommodate fishes of larger size 

 than it has hitherto been practicable to trans- 

 port, but will carry large numbers of speci- 



mens without loss. It is important that living 

 marine animals intended for exhibition should 

 reach their destination not merely alive, but 

 in condition to survive in captivity. 



While the hundred or more exhibition tanks 

 of the Aquarium usually contain five or six 

 thousand specimens, of two hundred or more 

 species, they have never exhibited half the 

 wealth of species available in the New York 

 region. This has been due solely to lack of 

 facilities for getting the best results. The 

 boat will be manned by the employees of the 

 aquarium and should be able to do all the col- 

 lecting that will be necessary on week-end 

 trips. It is estimated that the cost of operating 

 the boat will offset the cost of hiring wagons 

 and launches, while the results secured will be 

 immeasurably better. 



The aquariiun has for many years freely fur- 

 nished small marine forms of life to the schools 

 and colleges of New York City. An increased 

 supply of such material should enable the 

 aquarium to be still more generous in the dis- 

 tribution of its surplus for educational and 

 yesearch work, while the two millions of per- 

 sons visiting the institution yearly, will see 

 many northern marine forms that have not yet 

 been exhibited alive. C. H. Townsend . 



THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL AND 

 THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION 



At a meeting of the Executive Board of 

 the National Eesearch Council, held in June, 

 on behalf of the Division of Physical Sci- 

 ences, Mr. Millikan, as retiring chairman, 

 recommended that a commimication be sent 

 to the Rockefeller Fomadation requesting an 

 annual appropriation of $20,000 for two or 

 three years' traveling expenses in connection 

 with the plan of stimulating and organizing 

 research in physical subjects through the for- 

 mation of groups of research men in these 

 subjects. The executive board voted to ap- 

 prove the forgoing recommendations of the 

 Division of Physical Sciences and that the 

 chairman of the council be authorized to ad- 

 dress a letter to the Rockefeller Foundation 

 requesting an annual appropriation of $20,000 

 for two or three years in support of these 

 plans. 



