tosrs 



NEWS BULLETIN 



OF THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Number 4. Issued by the NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, H Wall St., N. Y. May, 1900. 



COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ALLIGATOR POOL IN THE REPTILE HOUSE. 



IN THE REPTILE HOUSE. 



There seems to be no question regarding either the at- 

 tractiveness of the Reptile House, or its fitness to meet all 

 the requirements of its living contents. It is only the echo 

 of public sentiment to assert that it is a success. On all Sun- 

 days it is densely crowded with visitors ; but were it five times 

 its present size, standing room would be at just as high a 

 premium as now. 



The interior of the building is lofty and dignified, and the 

 view down the main hall, from the eastern end toward the 

 Alligator Pool, is highly impressive. More palms are need- 

 ed, very urgently; but at present it is impossible to find any 

 which can be purchased without money. With a very insig- 

 nificant allowance of funds, Mr. Merkel has contrived to 

 make a surprisingly creditable showing of plants, not only on 

 the main floor, but in the conservatory and the reptile cases. 

 All the plant furnishings have been arranged with excellent 

 taste and judgment. 



The experimental Turtle Crawl in the centre of the main 

 hall, and the big Alligator Pool, have both resulted satis- 

 factorily. Both these installations are quite new in design. 

 They show off the living reptiles to good advantage, and 

 the reptiles in them are in excellent health. The alligators 

 are so comfortable and contented they have all become quite 

 tame, and even friendly. " Jumbo " has added four inches 

 to the original twelve feet one inch which he brought up from 

 Indian River, Fla., last July. 



The fine condition of all the reptiles testifies more forcibly 

 than words to the intelligence and industry of Mr. Ditmars 

 and his assistants in the Reptile Department. Time after 

 time, lizards of the larger species which have arrived in a 

 very emaciated condition, and refusing all food, have been 

 seen to revive in the genial warmth of the large cases, begin 

 to eat, and in a month's time become actually swollen with 

 prosperity. 



The building carried its contents through the past winter 

 very successfully, not a single specimen having been lost 

 through cold, and there is no further occasion for anxiety on 

 that score. 



The most striking and novel feature of this building is 

 the pool and gravel banks for large Crocodilians. Hereto- 

 fore, in all other reptile houses which we have examined, 

 these animals have been installed in masonry tanks in the 

 central floor space, in which anything like natural surround- 

 ings are quite unattainable. No amphibious animal should 

 be kept in a stone box, seeing nothing of the world save the 

 roof which covers him. In this installation the necessity for 

 a conservatory in connection with the Reptile House has 

 been utilized to the utmost, thereby securing not only an 

 abundance of light, but also a pleasing background of trop- 

 ical verdure, which greatly softens the effect of the concrete 

 rim of the pool. The pool is 35 feet long by 9 feet wide, 

 contains four feet of water, on a bottom of white gravel' 

 and is warmed to 95 ° by concealed pipes of hot water. 



