Annual Meeting. 
2 
[May 7, 
arose during the course of the work, were successfully solved, and 
the principal result of these deliberations, the proposed plan of the 
Natural History Gardens, was printed and circulated among the 
members of the Society in the shape of a letter to the Park Com- 
missioners bearing date of December 31, 1889. A copy of this 
was sent to each member of the Society and is also now republished 
as an Appendix to this report together with the favorable reply of 
the Park Commissioners, dated Feb. 10, 1890. 
In this communication the Council asked the Commissioners to 
approve of a proposed modificatiau o£t,he original resolution, which 
enjoined the raising of the^nlife/sfam 3o£Wo ttundred thousand dol- 
lars before work could be begun upon any part of the gardens, and 
proposal had been received the Council reported to the Society at 
the meeting of April 2, 1890, and recommended the following res- 
olution which was passed by unanimous vote. 
“Voted — That in pursuance of the policy recorded in the vote of 
March 28, 1888, and adhering to the conditions therein required, 
the Society authorizes the Council, as soon as one-third of the final 
sum required for the establishment of its National History Gardens 
and Aquaria has been raised, to proceed with the establishment of 
the Aquarium at City Point, in accordance with the plans laid down 
in the letter to the Park Commissioners of December 31, 1889.” 
The slow pace of our preparations has been also in part due to 
prudential considerations. These have prevented the Committee 
from recommending that the Society should begin with the inau- 
guration of the New England Zoological Garden at Franklin Park, 
the only site now open for occupation, unless a large fund should 
be offered for that specific purpose. It has been felt after careful 
investigation that this would probably not be a self-supporting di- 
vision of the Natural History Gardens, whereas, the other two 
divisions, the Marine Aquarium and the Fresh Water Aquarium, 
will probably be not only fully as attractive to the public, but, if 
established first, help to make up deficiencies which might arise at 
Franklin Park. The reasons for this opinion were given in the 
last Annual Report and do not need reiteration. 
The site of the proposed Fresh Water Aquarium has been select- 
ed by the Park Commissioner with ample water privileges, but this 
will not be ready for occupation for some time. 
