19 
Batrachia. 
Trachystomata, 
Proteida, . . . 
Urodela, . . 
Anura, .... 
167 19 13 
9 specimens, of 1 species and 1 genera. 
^ u u u ^ a 
98 " " 8 " 7 " 
52 " " 9 " 4 " 
Reptilia. 
Ophidia, 500 specimens, of 47 species and 21 genera 
Lacertilia, 165 " 18 " 12 
Testudinata, 138 " ''18 " 14 " 
Crocodilia, ....... 112 " "2 " 2 " 
915 " " 85 " 49 " 
The few zoological gardens which have been established 
in this country are yet in their infancy, and in estimating 
their importance, they are therefore obliged to bear com- 
parison with the many long-established institutions of simi- 
lar nature in Europe. In this comparison, they suffer under 
some disadvantages which should be taken into considera- 
tion. Almost all animals from other countries have to be 
procured from European centres, and in so doing the cost 
and risk of the voyage across the Atlantic must be added 
to that which has previously been undergone ; and to this 
also, a third and not the least item of expense, in the heavy 
customs duties imposed upon all foreign animals entering 
into the United States. 
With our native fauna, the enormous distances, imperfect 
means of transportation in the far West, increasing both cost 
and risk, with the fact that the small demand has not yet 
created the sources of supply which it is hoped may some 
day exist, make it almost possible to say that animals can 
be procured from any quarter of the globe more readily 
than from the more distant portions of our own. 
With these difficulties to contend with, the Society's collec- 
tion may fairly claim to rank among the first. 
