284 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The Brighton Aquarium has had a chequered career ; the 

 original cost of the building is stated to have been over £130,000, 

 it was opened in 1872. In 1900 the Aquarium and its contents 

 were purchased by the municipality for i'30,000. The Corpora- 

 tion took possession in 1901, and soon after leased the building 

 to a private company, but resumed occupancy in 1906. It is 

 now open daily to the public at a small charge. 



The Superintendent at the time of my visit was Mr. E. W. 

 Cowley, and the Keeper Mr. F. B. Brown, who has had so many 

 years' practical experience of the management of fish and other 

 aquatic animals in captivity. 



There is no need in this paper to describe the building or 

 the system of water supply, but the large size of some of the tanks 

 should be noted, especially No. 6, which is said to be 110 ft. (or 

 33'53 metres) long, and capable of holding 110,000 gallons (or 

 500,060 litres) of water. 



The collection of live animals is by no means restricted to 

 fish, and deserves longer notice. 



The Mammals consisted of fifteen Monkeys, representing 

 three African and three Asiatic species, a curiously coloured 

 Bear, which Mr. Brown told me has now lived for over twenty 

 years here, and four Seals {Phoca vitulina), one of which was 

 remarkably tame. 



Of Birds there were Guillemots and representatives of two 

 species of Sea-Gulls. 



Besides one small Alligator-Terrapin, nineteen European 

 Pond-Tortoises, and one small and one medium- sized Alligator, 

 the Eeptile collection contained two noteworthy individual 

 animals. First, a Snapping Turtle (Macroclemmys temmincki) of 

 enormous size (in Tank No. 20), which Mr. Brown told me has 

 lived in the Brighton Aquarium since about 1879, thus about 

 rivalling in age the old Snapper of the same species in the 

 Amsterdam Zoological Gardens. Secondly, a Mississippi Alli- 

 gator, now about eight feet in length (in Tank No. 18), which 

 was received here in 1877 when but fifteen inches long, so 

 almost as old as the celebrated Alligator " Old Dick," which 

 arrived in Regent's Park in 1876, and which still flourishes 



* " Old Dick " died Jnue 8th, 1911 



