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THE AQUARIUM, near the sea wall in the southwest of the Park, contains large collections of fishes and marine life. The large floor tanks are devoted to seals, sea lions, sturgeon and other large species; and the l00 wall tanks contain fresh and salt water fishes. The most striking exhibits are of Bermuda angelfish, parrotfish, moonfish and other brilliantly colored species. The balanced aquaria tanks on the second floor should not be overlooked.
There are shown in all some 3,000 living specimens. The daily supply of 300,000 gallons of salt water is furnished from a tidal well beneath the building, and there are heating and refrigerating plants to control the temperature of fresh and salt water. The Aquarium is maintained by the city. It has an average of over 5,000 visitors daily and io,000 on Sundays. On August 20, 1898, the day of the reception of Admiral Sampson's fleet, the Aquarium visitors numbered 47,360.
CASTLE GARDEN.—The circular building of the Aquarium was originally a fort, Castle Clinton, built for the defense of the city against the British in the War of 1812; and the spot where it stands was then an island 200 feet from the shore. When, in 1822, Congress ceded the property to the city, it was converted into a place of amusement, and was named Castle Garden. It became the home of opera, and was a place for great public gatherings. Here on Lafayette's return to America in 1824, six thousand persons assembled to greet him; and among the others who from time to time were given public receptions here were Louis Kossuth, Presidents Jackson and Tyler and Van Buren, and the Prince of Wales. Here in 1835 S. F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, publicly demonstrated by means of a wire coiled about the interior of the Garden, the practi¬cability of controlling the electric current. Here in 1850 Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, made her American debut, under the management of P. T. Barnum. From 1855 to 1890 Castle Garden was an immigrant bureau, through whose portals millions of immigrants entered America. The building was opened as an aquarium in 1896.
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