6 
In the endeavor to increase this fund sufficiently to es- 
tablish the support of the Garden upon a basis more secure 
than that of current receipts from admissions, the Board 
has received suggestions from some of the large loan-hold- 
ers of the Society, to the effect that much of the loan would 
probably be willingly contributed by its holders, upon 
proper application being made. This, if it may be ac- 
complished, is the more desirable, as the sale of the tickets 
annually issued to loan-holders decreases the gate receipts 
to the amount of some thousands of dollars in each year. 
As the original holder of the tickets, under the most favor- 
able circumstances, receives little more than one-half of this 
amount, it does seem probable that many of your number 
would be disposed to benefit the Society to the extent of 
their holdings, when it can be done at so slight a cost to 
themselves. To this end, the Board have appointed Messrs. 
Joseph R. McElroy and M. H. Howe, of No. 205 South 
Sixth street, as the agents of the Society, to solicit and re- 
ceive donations either of loan or money, and as an induce- 
ment beyond the public-spirited inclination of loan-hold- 
ers, they have agreed to issue, when desired, for each fifty 
dollars of loan transferred to the Society, a life-membership 
ticket to any one person indicated by the party contrib- 
uting, or, for each two hundred dollars of loan, a perpetual 
ticket which may be transferred once in each fiscal year, 
upon the books of the Society. 
The Directors do not hesitate to ask contributions from 
loan-holders and the public generally, towards the perma- 
nent fund of the Society, for the reason that the educational 
and social importance of zoological gardens is such that 
they are fully recognized, wherever they have been estab- 
lished, as institutions which should meet with liberal support 
from those in a position to extend it. 
It is greatly regretted that the small sums at the dis- 
posal of the Board during the past few years have not per- 
mitted of certain alterations, which are almost imperatively 
demanded, to some of the buildings. The most necessary of 
these would be to convert the old Aviary into a house suit- 
able for the proper care of reptiles and amphibians, in both 
