Finally Dr. Griffin arrived in New York and registered at the Pacific Hotel. Reporters soon learned that the mermaid was in town, and the polite and genial agent of the Lyceum of Natural History allowed them to look at his curiosity. Barnum had meanwhile prepared illustrations of the mermaid and printed 10,000 copies of a pamphlet describing it. These were stored in the Museum until the time came to use them publicly. Barnum, of course, had written the three news letters and sent them to friends in Montgomery, Charleston, and Washington, who could be trusted to mail them from those cities; the newspapers of the day were not particular about the source of their news, if it was news. Barnum called upon the editors of the _Herald_, the _Mercury_, and the _Atlas_, with his engravings of the mermaid. He told them that he had hoped to use these engravings when he exhibited the mermaid at the Museum, but that Dr. Griffin had decided that as agent for the Lyceum of Natural History it would be quite impossible for him to exhibit his curiosity in public anywhere except in London. Therefore, Barnum magnanimously offered his engravings, now worthless to him, for the editors to print. They thanked him, and the following Sunday each newspaper printed a different picture of the mermaid, and each editor realized Barnum’s deception only when he saw the rival newspapers. [Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE FEJEE MERMAID Inserted by Barnum in _The Sunday Atlas_] The public was now interested in the mermaid. Most newspaper readers had seen at least one illustration or one of Barnum’s out-of-town letters. The 10,000 pamphlets were turned over to newsboys to sell at a penny each in all the hotels, stores, and public places. Then Barnum hired, through an agent, Concert Hall on Broadway, and the newspapers printed advertisements which announced that Dr. Griffin, because of the solicitations of gentlemen of science, had consented to exhibit his mermaid for one week only at Concert Hall. Dr. Griffin would also show, for one week only, the other scientific specimens he had collected for the London Lyceum of Natural History, including the Ornithorhinchus, or the connecting link between the seal and the duck; two distinct species of flying fish, one from the Gulf Stream and one from the West Indies, which undoubtedly connected the bird and the fish; the Paddle Tail Snake of South America; the Siren, or Mud Iguana, a connecting link between reptiles and fish; the Proteus Sanguihus, a subterraneous animal from Australia; “with other animals forming connecting links in the great chain of Animated Nature.” Darwin did not publish _The Origin of Species_ until seventeen years after Barnum’s unique natural specimens were exhibited in New York. [Illustration: THE CORRECT LIKENESS OF THE FEJEE MERMAID From _The Sunday Herald_]