The aquarium or tank room, to which visitors are admitted on payment of a small charge, was not designed primarily for public display, but was intended principally to facilitate scientific observations on the habits and life histories of marine animals. This original purpose it has never lost, but of recent years it has increasingly catered also for the steadily growing number of people interested in natural history, and for numerous classes of school-children brought by their teachers. Since the aquarium was re-opened in November 1946 attendances have shown a big increase over comparable pre-war figures.