Annual Meeting.] 
290 
[May 6, 
few of such tropical and subtropical forms as will bear 
a winter confinement ; and nothing short of the necessary 
public support need prevent this division from becoming 
not only the first in New England but one of the most 
important in the world. 
THE MARINE AQUARIUM AT CITY POINT. 
In the territory at City Point, now being reclaimed 
from the sea by the Park Commissioners, is another spot 
of about eight acres bordering upon the partially enclosed 
bay at the Marine Park. This affords a good opportunity 
for salt-water pools and basins of considerable size, suit- 
able for seals and the smaller Cetacea, — dolphins, por- 
poises, and white whales, — and also for wading birds and 
all such animals as frequent the borders of the sea and 
can be most advantageously shown in the open air. 
The more varied and interesting collections will be 
placed in aquaria protected by a suitable building. The 
visitor will first enter a hall devoted to the exposition of 
the relations of animals and plants to their surroundings, 
together with a small synoptical collection which, by the 
aid of dissections and proper guides, will unfold the dif- 
ferences between the great groups of animals and marine 
plants, and the correlations between their habits and nat- 
ural surroundings and also between these and their struc- 
ture. The suitability of organisms to do the work they 
have to perform will be illustrated in many ways, and 
clear ideas of some of the fundamental laws of organic 
modification will be presented to intelligent visitors and 
students. Thus, the changes which have taken place in 
the structure of the descendants of air-breathing land 
animals in order to fit them for life in the sea will be 
abundantly illustrated. 
