ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



971 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Reptiles 

 Raymond L. Ditmars 



Drpcirtmntts 

 Manini als 

 \V. T. HORNADAY. 



Birds Aquarium 



C. William Beebe. C. H. Townsend. 



Lee S. Crandai.l. Raymond C. Osbirn 



Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 

 11 Wall Street. New York City. 



Yearly by Mail. $1.00. 



.MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, WIS, by the .\rn- York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 



and the proof reading of his contribution. 



Eluin R. Sanborn, Editor. 



Vol. XVI. No. .56. 



MARCH, 1913 



NEW MEMBERS. 

 (Elected Since January 1, 1913.) 



Life Members. 

 Robert L. Pierrepont, Edward W. C. Arnold, 



Annual Members. 



Copley Amory, Jr.. 

 Mrs. Warren Kinney, 

 Howard Menn, 

 Carroll T. Suinmerson, 

 Alden Sampson, 

 John B. Rombough, 

 Mrs. K. E. Willson, 

 Dr. Louis Livingston 



Seaman, 

 George W. Seligman, 

 Mrs. George P. Rowell, 

 Mrs. Burke Roche, 

 Mrs. Hilborne L. Roose- 

 velt, 

 Augustus D. Shepard, 

 James A. Roosevelt, 

 Mrs. William M. V. Hoff- 

 man, 

 Edward H. Floyd-Jones, 

 John M. Haffen, 

 Mrs. Edith P. Morgan, 

 J. Lawrence Aspinwall 

 Mrs. Charles Phelps, 

 Henry B. Piatt, 

 Mrs. "Charles G. Peters, 

 Gerard Beekman. 

 Jas. M. Motley, 

 Pierre J. Smith, 



Charles E. Peck, 

 P. Stuyvesant Pillot, 

 George E. Perkiins, 

 T. J. R. Muurling, 

 Lewis L. Delafleld, 

 Gouverneur Morris, 

 George H. Prentiss, 

 Robert S. McCreery, 

 L muel C. Benedict, 

 James H. Schmelzel, 

 Henry McBurney, 

 Jeremiah Beall, 

 Alexander H. Spencer, 

 William C. Ferguson, 

 John W. Frothingham, 

 Louis H. Porter, 

 Mrs. Wm. Lanman Bull, 

 Charles Hopkins Clark, 

 George W. Wingate, 

 Ernest J. H. Amy, 

 Henry deB. Schenck, 

 W. A. Street, 

 David Paton, 

 Wm. Ives Washburn, 

 John Barry Ryan, 

 Mrs. W. Bourke Cockran, 

 Mrs. Albert Gallatin. 



ATTENDANCE AND THE WEATHER. 

 It might be supposed that during bad weather 

 when people cannot remain out of doors the at- 

 tendance at indoor places of amusement and rec- 

 reation would be increased. The records at the 

 Aquarium, however, seem to indicate that the 

 New Yorker remains at home in inclement 

 weather. 



The month of January, 1913, was remark- 

 ably mild, with the result that there was a 



quite unusual attendance at the Aquarium, total- 

 ing 126,931 for the month, which was 27,284 

 more than for the same period last year. The 

 beautiful April-like Sunday of January nine- 

 teenth brought out 9,548 visitors, the largest 

 attendance for any day in the month. The 

 greatest number of visitors on any single day 

 for January, 1912, was 6,211 on Sunday, the 

 twenty-first. As the exhibits were just about 

 the same as last year, the great increase in at- 

 tendance for this month seems, without doubt, 

 to be due to the unusually fine weather. 



VERTEBRATES AT THE AQUARIUM. 



IN the Annual Report of the New York Zoo- 

 logical Society for 1912, the writer has given 

 a complete list of all the vertebrated ani- 

 mals that have been on exhibition in the Aqua- 

 rium since this institution was opened to the pub- 

 lic, more than sixteen years ago. The catalog is 

 accompanied by notes in regard to the length of 

 life of these animals. While the list is entirely 

 too long for publication in these pages, it may 

 be of interest to repeat certain data in more con- 

 cise form. 



The list contains nine species of aquatic mam- 

 mals, namely, white whale, common dolphin, 

 manatee, California sea-lion, Alaska fur-seal, 

 harbor seal, California elephant-seal, harp seal 

 and West Indian seal. Due to the conditions 

 of indoor confinement, most of these animals 

 succumb in less than a year to pulmonary 

 diseases. The record for longevity is held by a 

 harbor seal which lived eight years. A West 

 Indian seal lived five years and a California 

 sea-lion that has been on exhibition for five 

 years is still apparently in fine condition. 



The onty bird that has been on exhibition 

 was a young loon that occupied a place in the 

 center pool for a few weeks before it was sent 

 to the Zoological Park. 



Thirty-four species of reptiles have been on 

 exhibition during this time, of which thirty were 

 turtles. The longest lived of these have been a 

 specimen of the Pacific green turtle, fifteen 

 years, and a loggerhead turtle, twelve and one- 

 half years. Both of these are still living. The 

 fresh-water turtles usually last only a couple 

 of years, but specimens of the snapping turtle 

 and soft-shelled turtle, still living, have been 



