15 
one of the same age from Mr. John H. Starin of Glen 
Island, New York. 
Two have died from old age since the date of the last re- 
port. Much care has been exercised in the selection and 
breeding of these noble animals, and it is doubtful if better 
specimens are now in existence than those in our possession. 
Having in view both self-interest and the obligation 
which the Society should acknowledge towards this vanish- 
ing race, the question of providing larger and more suita- 
ble enclosures for them is becoming important. 
Similar proj^^ision must soon be made for the elk. 
The interior of the new Monkey House was completed 
and opened to the public in the month of September, and 
the experience of the winter has been most gratifying as to 
its fitness. The outside cages, which alone remain to com- 
plete the plan, are now under contract, and it is expected 
that they will be ready for use early in the summer. 
The past year has witnessed two noteworthy additions to 
the number of zoological gardens in the United States, one 
at Pittsburgh, in our own State, where a collection of im- 
portance is being formed in Shenley Park, and the second 
in New York. Within the present year the New York Zoo- 
logical Societ}^ has received from the city a grant of 261 
acres of land in Bronx Park, upon which it is proposed to 
establish a zoological park on a scale heretofore unequaled. 
In the near future, collections of living animals will exist 
in nearly all of the larger cities in the United States. Our 
own Society may feel just pride that its example was the 
first in America, in a field the importance of which is re- 
ceiving such widespread recognition, but it must not be 
forgotten that it follows as a necessary result of thus realiz- 
ing one of the Society's objects, that if the pre-eminence 
which has hitherto been accorded to its Gardens is to be 
maintained in coming years, it can only be through the co- 
operation of all influences, public and private, to which 
that end appeals as one worthy of accomplishment. 
By order of the Board, 
ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN, 
Secretary. 
