68 
THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL. 
"W- S. Ea.ltOX-. 
NEW YORK, APRIL, 1877 . 
The New York Aquarium Journal will be pub¬ 
lished monthly at the Aquarium, corner of 35/6 
Street and Broadway, New Fork City. 
Though intended for distribution among the 
patrons of the Aquarium, the Journal will also be 
forwarded for one year, by mail, or delivered by 
carriers to any address on receipt of one dollar, which 
sum is a mere nominal one, since it includes postal 
charge and expense oj mailing and delivery . 
All communications should be addressed to W. 
C. COUP, corner 35 th Street & Broadway. 
The many parents and teachers whose presence 
at the Aquarium with their children and pupils 
is an evidence of the high esteem with which 
they regard it, will not have failed to discover 
that the institution is accomplishing an import¬ 
ant service as a popular educational agent. Were 
further proof of this desired we need but refer to 
the children’s page of the Journal. Already 
has Uncle Octopus become a recognized char¬ 
acter in the list of our young friends’ acquaint-, 
which have appeared in former numbers prove 
plainly enough that the little ones have their in¬ 
terest already engaged, and require but the op¬ 
portunity and a gentle prompting to make rapid 
advances into the rare and beautiful realms of 
nature. It has been the repeated testimony of 
those who visit the Aquarium, even though they 
be advanced in years and acknowledged attain¬ 
ments, that owing to the lack of just such an 
opportunity as is here afforded them they have 
until now lived in ignorance of the wonderful 
world of the sea. If, then, the Aquarium affords 
such valuable opportunities for increased knowl¬ 
edge to those who are already learned, what must 
be its additional value to the child who adds to 
the pleasure of all newly acquired knowledge the 
youthful fancy which clothes every new discovery 
with wonder and beauty. 
It would not aid our purpose, nor is it in ac¬ 
cord with our own convictions, to decry book 
learning, that we might exalt the claims of nature 
as a teacher; and yet it goes without the saying 
that a child will be the better able to accept the 
testimony of those who have explored further, 
if he himself has even skirted the borders of the 
mystical land of which he reads. 
In thus making a plea for the children, can¬ 
dor should compel our readers to believe that 
their presence at the Aquarium is the occasion 
of a satisfaction which is independent of any de¬ 
sire, however worthy, to secure its financial 
prosperity. As it is nothing against our great 
educational institutions that a price is set on the 
privileges there offered, so the manager of the 
Aquarium claims from the teachers and parents 
an honest confidence in his desire to improve 
the minds as well as enhance the pleasure of the 
little ones. 
RECENT ADDITIONS. 
The visitors to the Aquarium, whose ac¬ 
quaintance with the subject is such as to ren¬ 
der them specially observing, will have dis¬ 
covered in several of the smaller tanks objects 
of peculiar interest; among these we direct 
attention to several of the more rare and cu¬ 
rious specimens of marine life recently added. 
The last, and on many accounts the most in¬ 
teresting additions, are the 
blind fish from the mammoth cave. 
Every American child has been taught to 
regard the famous Mammoth Cave of Ken¬ 
tucky as one of the seven of our natural 
wonders. Crossing this cavern is a deep and 
silent river, having its source no one knows 
where, and flowing none can tell whither. 
Enveloped in the gloom of an everlasting 
night the very ripple of its waters suggest a 
mystery. The first venturesome fisherman or 
naturalist who dared to trespass on this do- 
moin was rewarded by so marvelous a “catch” 
that the fish secured have since been regarded 
as among the most interesting of natural 
wonders. Like the Proteus described else¬ 
where, an I which also has its home in a cave- 
lake, these fish are white and blind. The 
Craw-fish, from the same cave, of which sev¬ 
eral specimens are now on exhibition, are also 
white and eyeless. At an early day we shall 
give more extended attention to these fish, 
since their peculiarities of structure are such 
ns to merit it. At preseuT it may Be~'st 8 !Ee£t" 
that the absence of eyes is due to the simple 
fact that, living in the dark, eyes would be of 
no service, and so are eliminated. 
On the table near the globes containing 
the blind fish and craw-fish may be seen 
three 
SALAMANDERS. 
These creatures were presented to the Aqua¬ 
rium by Capt. Mortimer, whose services as a 
collector and student have so long been rec¬ 
ognized and esteemed that it is with special 
pleasure we have been permitted to place his 
name in the list of contributors to the Aqua¬ 
rium. The Salamander has been the theme 
of many a natural history romance, and in 
the early days of tradition and fable they 
were believed to be endowed with various 
marvelous attributes. That they could resist 
the fire was so firmly believed that to this day 
the name is a synonym for all that is proof 
against the forces of the flames. So impressed 
was Pliny with the truth of this idea that it 
was not until he had placed one on the fire 
and seen it burned to a crisp, that he ventured 
to correct the story. It is, however, claimed 
that the Salamander does secrete a liquid in 
certain pores which will protect the surface 
of the body for a brief period against the ac¬ 
tion of a moderate flame. It was also long 
supposed that the bite of this creature was 
fatal, and moreover that if the flesh be eaten 
instant death follows. Referring to this belief 
it is actually recorded in the “Acts of the 
Academy of Natural Curiosities,” as a fact 
worthy of note, that “a man had survived 
after having eaten a Salamander which his 
wife had put in his food in the hopes of be¬ 
coming a widow.” The porous secretion 
which doubtless does exist, was also believed 
to be poisonous, and it has been said that the 
leaves of any shrub over which the creature 
crawled would at once wither and die. All 
this and more might be told of this innocent 
reptile which the writer has handled with im¬ 
punity, and which lies snugly at home in its 
moss bed in the fern case allotted to it. 
Still another new arrival, and one which 
will be recognized by its kinship to the Kin- 
giyo, is the 
JAPANESE TELESCOPE FISH. 
The two fine specimens of these fish were 
recently brought direct to the Aquarium from 
Germany, though they hail originally from 
Japan. Like the Kingiyo they are a species 
of carp, the name being given to them on ac¬ 
count of the peculiar form of the eye. On 
examination it will be seen that these organs, 
instead of occupying a cavity, are placed at 
the extremity of two abnormal protuberances. 
It is a well-known fact that certain insects are 
endowed with the same peculiarity, and can 
simply by the turning backward of these pro¬ 
jections see behind them. In addition to this 
peculiarity of eye structure these fish have 
alse the “ three tails,” similar in general form, 
though less marked, than in the Kingiyo. 
A fourth addition, which is less recent and 
yet which has not received the attention which 
it deserves, is the 
JAPANESE TURTLE. 
' ’ " W ' " ~~ — ■ .... 
This little creature differs from others of its 
kind in that its shell is covered with a rare 
growth of algae, which, when the creature 
is swimming, trails out behind like a natural 
appendage. This turtle often figures in an¬ 
tique bronzes, and takes a high rank in the 
esteem of those odd people with whom to be 
grotesque is to be rare and highly prized. 
In the department of fish-hatching, although 
the following warm months may necessitate 
less active operations with the salmon and 
trout, yet the services of Mr. Mather will be 
constantly engaged. Already have the 
skates’ EGGS 
become objects of special care and interest, 
and the successful hatching of one of these 
proves that the Aquarium is possessed of fa¬ 
cilities for this work that are unrivaled. In 
tank 12 may be seen a number of these odd 
looking eggs, having the appearance of brown 
pods, and a critical examination proves that 
the processes of incubation are rapidly going 
forward. These eggs were laid in tank 36, 
from which they were transferred to their 
present home in order that the temperature 
and circulation might be more carefully reg¬ 
ulated, and also that they might be more ac¬ 
cessible and more carefully watched and 
studied. 
It is with pleasure that the manager of the 
New York Aquarium takes the liberty of making 
a public acknowledgment of his obligations to 
Mr. W. A. Lloyd, whose long experience in 
the management of kindred establishments ren¬ 
ders his advice and counsel of marked assistance 
in this our first home enterprise. 
