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MAI UU TCT tYCSe yu Vy ° é fey o4 aa 2 verems e°e FN NGL Ute cawawie jay dec Ne ecef? psy? Pa all Aa Wb nee "adv Ae EET Whe ADEE ‘ | > z 8 . | re _ ae. duu | AS , Ws _ ler \d. Atte dedi wee , PEEP ry eee, 44 ypoXXL. No.1 AO) JANUARY, 1918 SOC TY. BULLETIN iin i oe. Mi Published by THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | A i — ITUATION ULL ETO S STOTOETT MVNA AA NOT od nego gall WI lll HNN LEY Frey Pr Coa CPP YT UR OTE ora Nem York Zoological Society GeneraL Orrice, 111 Broadway, New York Ciry. President Henry FarrrieLtp Ossorn. Hirst Wire-President Serond Vice-President Mapison GRANT. Frank K. Srtureis. Oreasurer Asst. Treasurer Percy R. Pyne, 20 Exchange Place. Tut Farmers’ Loan anp Trust Co. Secretary Mapison GRANT. Exerutinve Committee Mapison Grant, Chairman. Wm. Pierson Hamitton, Warson B. DickeRMAN, Percy R. Pyne, Frank K, Stureis, Antuony R. Kuser, Witiiam Wuire Nites, LisPENARD STEWART, Henry Farrrietp Ossorn, ex-officio Board of Managers £x officia: The Mayor and The Presipent Department of Parks, City of New York. Glass of 1918 Levi P. Morton, Henry A. C. Taytor, Lewis RutuHerrorp Morris, ANDREW CARNEGIE, Frank K. Srurais, Arcuer M. Hunrineton, Mapison Grant, Gerorce J. Goutp, Henry M. Titrorp, Witiiam Wuire NItsgs, Oepen Mits, E. C. Converse, Glass of 1919 Percy R. Pyne, C. Lepyarp Buarr, Antuony R. Kuser, Georce Birp GRINNELL, Freperick GitBertT Bourne, Watson B. DickerMAN, Grorce C. CrLark, Wma. Austin Wapswortu, Mortimer L. Scuirr, Crievetanp H. Doper, Emerson McMituin, Freperic C. Watcort, Class of 1920 Henry Fairrietp Osgorn, Gerorce F, Baker, Epwarp S. Harkness, *Wittiam C. Cuurcn, Grant B. Scutey, WituiaMm B. Oscoop Fiexp, LisPENARD STEWART, Wo. Pierson Hamitton, A. Barron Heppurn, Cuartes F. Drerericn, Rosert S. Brewster, Wirti1am Woopwarp. General Officers Witi1am T. Hornapay, Director Zoological Park. Cuartes H. Townsenn, Director, New York Aquarium. R. L. Cerero, Bursar. C. Grant La Farer, Architect. H. Dr B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer. Grorce S. Huntineton, Prosector. Officers of the Zoological Park Wiriiam T. Hornapay, Director. H. R. Mircuett, Chief Clerk. H. W. Merxet, Chief Forester. Raymonp L. Dirmars, Curator, Reptiles. W. Rew Buarr, Veterinarian. WituiaMm Beese, Curator, Birds. G. M. Berrsower, Engineer. Lee S. Cranpauu, Asst. Curator, Birds. WituiamM Mircuepy, Cashier. Erwin R. Sansorn, Photographer and Editor. Officers of the Aquarium Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director. Wasuinctron I. DeNysr, Assistant. Rogerr Sutrcyuirre, Clerk. Louris L. Mowsray, Assistant. Ipa M. Metten, Secretary. Groree A. MacCatuvum, Pathologist. *Deceased. AOOL OECTA ~sOCLE TY BULLE DIN CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1918 PAGE SYR G > ANGST REN OV AGAIN ER eee rc Ree eae wee. Prontispiece PAGES TT KeVer EVAURICRIE O RSAUNIT'S ee at Bibs Saeed an RT ee a William Beebe 1561 sROOPS ORM CHIMP AWN: WKS t ater ee ee ee es ee 4 Letter from R. L. Garner 1566 Soutn American FRoGs . co. Richard Deckert 1567 BUR DMR An VAmE UES O12 U/L IO Nima eee eee eee ae Pee ac tree Sees SiR eee Shee AMeERICAN-CaNnaDIAN Birp Treaty ac tctecer trees Neca .W. T. Hornaday 1568 Wixtp Lire Loses a CuampPrion .... _W. T. Hornaday 1568 Game Protection Nores .....Vew York Sun 1569 Brnavior oF Witp Grizziy CUBS... From a Member of the Society 1570 Vitra Ours bik Dsl COME SROM ees te ee el Le ee S$. Crandall 1571 LaBeL MAKING IN THE FIELD ............ William Beebe 1574 Ant Pests AND ANT-EATERS .....0.0:0:0-0-0------ feet et S. P. Verner in Panama Star and Herald 1575 IremMs OF INTEREST... CBT ROnGEl a Bex Sodeies Depa ee At. LL. Ditmars 1576 Army anp Navy Mascors Liserty Bonp SuBSCRIBERS SnakeE-Bire SeruM War-TIME FreepING Persistent Zero WEATHER Park CoLitections NorMAL Recorp or Events KaNnGAROO COLLECTION Our Service Fiac An Aviator Goar AU SECOND SUMIPERTAT DARROW 22022 Bee Wash see William Beebe 1578 Cover LineaTeD PHEASANT SILKY ANT-EATER “At a touch, the little creature assumes a most remarkable attitude” ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Published by the New York Zoological Society Vou. XXI. JANUARY, 1918 NuMBER 1 AD SILKY KATER OF ANTS By Witx1aM Brese. iT HREE million years ago a perfectly good white ant lived on the earth. His fossil- ized remains have been so well preserved that there is no doubt of his presence and activ- ity in that dim, distant past. Together with many of his fellows, he left the impression of his body in the mud of that far off time, and since then the mud has hardened to stone, been buried under thousands of centuries of other mud and stone, and at last split open by inquis- itive scientists and the ant impressions recog- nized from their striking resemblance to their rather distant relatives living on the topmost stratum of the earth today. Hence my right to the adjective “white” in referring to fossils, an adjective of considerable importance, as it in- dicates that these insects are not really ants at all, and removes them from Soloman’s entomo- logical advice, in identity although not in un- worthiness. For white ants or termites are re- lated much more closely to dragonflies than to ordinary ants. Though today they have devel- oped a marvellously intricate social life, yet they and their relatives trace their lineage back with almost no change in structure an unthinkably longer time than man and his immediate fore- bears have taken to evolve. I have devoted this whole paragraph to the white ant because of the importance of his re- lation to my subject from quite another view- point—a rather unkind one that of the food which he, and his billions of brethren, scattered over all the face of the world, furnish to hosts of animals, birds, reptiles and ant-eaters in par- ticular. True ants, Soloman’s kind, which make slaves and wage wars, are devoured by many creatures, but these insects are all flavored more or less strongly with formic acid, and must be an acquired taste. White ants or termites, on the other hand, are, by all insect-eaters and some others, considered a universal panacea for hunger, and I have seen fishes leaping for them, lizards risking dangers from hawk and man, dogs, cats and Bornean squirrels snapping up the winged hosts, while they furnish by far the larger proportion of food of pheasants and many other birds. The little Malayan bear has been recorded several times as clawing apart their nests and feeding upon these insects, al- though the amount of debris which must be in- cluded, makes this an exceedingly adulterated diet. Termites are today so important an article of diet on the earth, that certain animals have been developed with this sole means of nourishment in view. I have already related something of the scaly ant-eater of Borneo.* In South Amer- ica, where these insects are exceedingly abun- dant, there are three animals set apart from all others in structure and mode of life, to which the ants are actually la raison d’etre. They would probably become extinct or at least hard pressed for food were the supply of termites and ants to fail for a few weeks. Some of the white ants build their nests in trees, others are content with lowlier positions ; some of the nests are large and extremely hard, some are smaller and less cement-like, while still lesser structures are not lacking which offer but little resistance to outside force. Like the various sizes of big and little bears, we find *Zool. Soc. Bull. XVII. No. 1,141. 5, p- 1562 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY EULLETIN measured exactly eight feet. This species is wholly terrestrial and is occasionally to be seen making its way through the jun- gle or along the Indian trails, or, as I have twice observed it, swimming wide rivers and creeks. The head, and the long hair of the back and tail project above the water, and the crea- ture makes surprisingly good time. The tamandua or lesser ant- eater is less frequently seen and always in trees. Last year one was discovered rolled up in a ball resting in a low crotch. He was picked out and we kept him alive. The Pygmy or Silky Ant- eater is by far the rarest of its family. There are few speci- “HAVING OBTAINED A FIRM GRIP WITH BOTH HIND FEET, THE mens in museums and not one LITTLE CREATURE BENDS FORWARD ” has been brought alive to a northern zoological garden. In three types of ant-eaters adapted to the varied July, a year ago, as I paddled along a jungle building sites and the durability of the antnests. creek I saw my first Silky Ant-eater. It was These three animals whose forms and activ- an overcast, late afternoon and the little crea- ities have been moulded upon a single article of _ ture had begun her hunting early, climbing diet are the Great Ant-eater : or Ant-bear, (Myrmecophaga jubata), the Lesser Ant- eater or Tamandua, (7'aman- dua tetradactyla), and the Little Silky Ant-eater, (Cy- clopes didactylus). It is said that the latter occasionally feeds on the larvae of ants and wasps, but this has not been confirmed. All three are found about our tropical re- search station in British Gui- ana and all have now been represented by living speci mens in the Zoological Park. Perhaps the best known is the largest, which is by no means innocuous, although its diet is of so humble a charac- ter. No man, single-handed, could overcome an ant-bear, so strong are its muscles and so effective its claws. The last one observed in our vi- cinity was killed at the Penal Settlement by Mr. Frere, which from nose to tail-tip “NOSE AND ALL FOUR FEET COME TOGETHER ”™ ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN MRL “NO MATTER HOW MUCH HE IS TEASED, NOT A SOUND ESCAPES HIM” slowly along a branch overhead. I was quite certain of her sex, for I could distinctly see a young ant-eater clinging to her fur, half be- neath and half to one side. I had no gun, so could only watch her through my glasses and curse the horde of stinging ants which made any ascent of the tree impossible. A boviander gold miner was descending the lower Cuyuni rapids late in September of the present year, when an unexpected eddy swung his boat toward shore, and it crashed into some bushes. When he _ had pushed out again into the still water below, several small boughs — re- mained on board. On one of these was a round ball of fur, which, when poked, turned toward the man with such a comical, supplicating’ gesture that he laughed and allowed the small creature to remain. When the Penal Settlement was reached I lifted the little ant-eater carefully and received the same ludi- crous salaam. This was the first liv- ing captive specimen of which I ever had heard, so I devoted myself to making him comfortable, both out- side and in. His external wants were simple in the extreme—in comparison those of Omar were complex, with only the bough in common, and this to sit upon and not under. He was happy 1563 in a cubic foot of space throughout the day, and unless disturbed never moved from the spot he had chosen at dawn. No circle plotted by mathe- matician could be rounder than this small being when engaged in pass- ing the useless hours from dawn to dusk. For him the sun is a wholly useless member of the planetary sys- tem, light is an evil thing, day some- thing to be forgotten in sleep. Having obtained a firm grip with both hind feet upon a branch, the little creature bends forward and down, until nose and all four feet come together. Then the long pre- hensile tail curls around, so evenly that without unwinding it, one can- not tell which side it starts ends. It is always curled from the right side around in front of the feet, behind the left leg. From here on, the bare, pinkish- red tail-grip forms a tiny cup be- tween the feet, in which the sensitive little nose is safely buried. The palms of the forefeet are pressed together, which brings the inbent, twin claws of those limbs close above the face, thus effectively shielding all the delicate parts of the body. Homer describes the Cyclopes of old as gi- gantic troglodytes, cannibals with a single eye, living a pastoral life in the far west, ignorant of law and order, and fearing neither gods nor on or SORE “HE TURNED WITH A SUPPLICATING GESTURE” ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN body into the blow and the claws come down on the branch or any- thing which intervenes with most surprising force. My assistant incautiously received a slight scratch from such a stroke, and required two weeks’ treatment to avoid blood poisoning. Although thus quiescently awaiting attack, the Silky Ant-eater is far from being unarmed, even in addition to his claws. His thirty-two ribs are wid- ened and flattened until they form a veritable box of bone, and with the dense, matted coat of fur, must of- fer an almost perfect protection to an attacking snake, small owl or car- Though concealed beneath a camouflage of fur, yet the ribs pro- tect the vital organs as completely as the external plates of the scaly ant-eater or the armadillo. nivore. “HE ENGENDERS A FEELING OF PERFECT BALANCE AND SURENESS OF FOOTHOLD” men. With our modern little spherical Cyclopes we can find no parallel, except as to the final phrase. But though more prosaically arboreal, insectivorous, et avec deux yeux, yet the Silky Ant-eater is not an unworthy namesake. At a touch, at a trembling of the branch, the little creature straightens up and assumes a most remarkable attitude. The tail takes a tight grip about the branch. Both arms are raised in front of the face, the red soles and the bright pink muzzle showing as three strange bits of brilliant color. The claws are laid along the snout back of the tip, and this weird posture brings to the imagination thoughts of some strange gnome performing an equally strange religious rite, or an eery dwarf go- ing through the movements of some unknown, silent dance. Thus swaying from side to side, in slow inexplicable rhythm, the little ant-eater awaits further attack on the part of his disturber. At the least touch on the upraised palms or the snout, both limbs are brought down as quick as a flash, and one has to be on the alert to avoid getting a vicious slash from the strong claws which, like stilettos, shoot forth from the line of the snout. If the disturbance creature puts its is severe, the back and whole The color of the fur on the body of this ant-eater is, in general, a grizzled buffy grey, the hairs being long, dense, and with a silvery gloss. On the head and legs and tail this becomes a cold grey. A narrow blackish-brown line on the crown broadens sud- denly on the neck and back, narrowing and dying out on the lower back. These colors and patterns are emphasized on SKIN OF GREAT ANT-EATER The animal measured exactly eight feet from nose to tail-tip. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN the under surface, and, added to the rosy spots of color of the soles and muzzle, give it an un- describably strange aspect. The sides below are yellowish buff, while toward the center this color changes to whitish grey. Down the full length of the body in sharp contrast with the surrounding hues extends a broad black line, of even width, except where it widens out on the throat. This sturdy little erect column of grey, yellow and black fur, apparently faceless, top- ped by a triangle of red, is like nothing else in the world, and when at a tap on the branch it suddenly arises from a mass of green leaves, all efforts at similes or exact descriptions are hope- less. His eves are black, prominent and mouselike. When open wide they are quite round, but more often they are mere slits or are closed. Strange- ly enough the latter is the case at the moment of expected attack, the ant-eater preferring to shelter his eyes with the claws, and to trust to reacting to the slightest touch, rather than to be forewarned by sight. With all his strangeness he is but a tiny beast, not more than fifteen inches in length, of which more than half is tail. In walking, the two pairs of feet are used m very different ways. The front feet are remark- ably modified, with the third toe developed at the expense of all the others, and armed with a large stout claw. The second finger has a small slender claw but the remainder do not appear above the skin. When walking on a flat surface, the two claws are bent inward and the foot rests upon a great pad of flesh, a sort of globular palm, which bulges like a boxing glove on the outer side of the hand. On a branch, however, the claws are slipped over and the branch rests in the hollow of the front, flat part of the palm, the claws forming one side, and the inner side of the boxing glove the other. The hind feet are interesting in a wholly dif- ferent fashion, but even more efficient as organs of climbing. Their grip is chameleon-like, zy- godactyl, the sole being much extended heel- wards, and very mobile, so that any irregularity is seized, chameleon wise, with the four nearly equal claws grasping one side and the pliant, muscular sole and heel, the other. The great sole cushion is supported by an exaggerated heel bone, and a large, made-to-order, sesamoid ossicle. The ant-eater depends almost exclusively on the grip of the hind feet and tail, seldom re- leasing more than one at a time. These have such power that, without effort he can rise slow- ly to full height, or lean sideways almost hor- 1565 izontally from the branch with no other sup- port. All his movements are slow and deliberate. He engenders a feeling of unusual strength, perfect balance and sureness of foothold. When walking slowly down one branch, if he can reach even a single leaf of another, he clasps it firmly and draws it toward him; then carefully steps, one foot at a time, upon it, keeping his tail hold until the last. No matter how much he is teased, or annoyed, or shaken or left alone, no sound, not even sigh or hiss escapes him. His strange appearance and posturing have caused many strange legends to arise among the natives, one of which is that he is the author of the caprimulgine cry which echoes through the jungles at night, like the cry of a lost soul— Poor-me-one-oh-oh. His senses seem extremely dull, and he pays no attention to a threatening hand or stick swung a few inches from his eyes. If I sit or stand quietly, he climbs slowly and painstakingly, all over me, showing not the slightest fear, nor the knowledge that I am a living creature. But the least tremor of the branch not wind-born, and he stiffens, ready, if the disturbance should increase, to rise into the weird upright column, with hands raised in a salaam of preparedness. My Silky Ant-eater was wholly nocturnal, and remained rolled up all day. It is probable that this fact makes his claws more of a defense against danger, than sapping tools, for at night the hosts of termites stream forth, sometimes unprotected, more often beneath the flimsiest of earthen tunnels, which need but a touch to ex- pose the hurrying hosts within. I placed a half broken termite nest at his disposal, but he paid little attention to it and ate but few of the in- habitants. He thrived on two small saucers of egg and milk each day, leaning over the saucer, with forelimbs partly raised or on the ground. He took the liquid with rapid darts of his long worm-like tongue, occasionally getting his whole mouth immersed, which made him choke a bit. Even more than the tamandua, the Silky Ant- eater is structurally specialized for an arboreal life, his hind feet being preeminently fitted for climbing. His large collar bone and the unu- sual breadth and size of his ribs emphasize his arboreal character. But he is quite at home on the ground, even more so than his near rela- tive. Once my specimen escaped from his box and walked easily and with considerable speed around five rooms looking for an exit to the jungle. At last we found and rounded him up as he was making for the one open door. The written accounts of this creature show 1566 almost a total ignorance of his actions in life. Illustrations which show him upside down, slothlike, and with a short rounded snout are wholly at fault. He never suffers the inverted position for a longer time than it takes to clam- ber topside again. As to his snout, it is quite long and slender, with a curious Roman break in it, which with his usual half-shut eyes con- veyed an air of peevish aloofness which was very characteristic and amusing. When given the run of a large packing case, he was constantly making his way over the branches and twigs, occasionally taking a few laps at his milk and egg. When the first hint of dawn appeared, he chose a small calibred crotch, or the crossing place of two twigs, se- cured a firm grip with both hind feet, one facing front, the other backward, bowed into a perfect sphere, and gave himself up to the luxury of Cyclopean day-dreams. OF CHIMPANZEES, ON OPEN PLAINS. A LETTER OF THRILLING INTEREST FROM Mr. R. L. Garner. Fernan Vaz, Gabon, Congo Francais, October 1, 1917. Dear Mr. Hornaday: Your letter of June 18 came about the 20th of August, and found me camped in a tent on the south bank of Lake Ntyonga, an arm of Lake Fernan Vaz, about four hours by canoe, north-east of Omboueé, where the post is located. TROOPS I have an ideal place here for our purposes and if I had designed it myself, I doubt if I could have done it so well as nature has. I am building a new house here to shelter myself and comrades from the approaching rains that are now beginning. My new abode is on the margin of the lake on the edge of a great plain stretch- ing miles away to the southward and extending about the same distance east and west. The plain (or plains) is traversed by wide belts of forest which afford asylum to vast num- bers of antelope, buffalo, chimpanzees, monkeys and birds of countless kinds and numbers. On the opposite side of the lake about a mile away is a boundless forest, one of the favorite resorts of the gorilla and the home of herds of elephants. During all my experiences in Africa, through- out twenty-five years of travel and sojourn in the heart of the habitat of the chimpanzee, I have seen here what I never saw before, and that is schools of chimps playing out on the open ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN plain, and crossing the plain in full view, a dis- tance of nearly half a mile, and within three hundred yards of a dozen natives at work on my house. One day a school of ten passed over the plain in full view and the younger ones were gambol- ing like human “kids.” Another day three adults came within less than two hundred yards of us and seemed intensely curious to learn what we were doing. Another day two mothers, each carrying a baby, one on her back and the other with the babe under her arm, clinging to her side. Yesterday a big, stoical-looking fellow passed within two hundred yards of us, and seemed quite indifferent to the presence of my fourteen crewboys, cook, houseboy and myself. More than a dozen times within the last few weeks, from one to ten crossed from bush to bush, and rarely showed the least timidity. I am preparing to entertain them next year in my garden, where I shall try to have a boun- tiful supply of sugar cane and pineapples for them to steal. I have postively forbidden any of my people disturbing them in any way, by chasing, yelling or otherwise, as I want to see how near I can come to taming them in a wild state. Not that I expect, in any sense, to tame them as they are tamed in captivity; but to get them so that they can be closely approached, studied and photographed in the open. No doubt after the war closes there will be a rush for such animals to restock the decimated gardens of Europe, but the supply will be great- ly restricted because of the new and stringent regulations of the chase in these colonies. I am truly glad of them, because in the past anybody could go out and slaughter whole bands of ani- mals for $1.50 a year. Now, the sporting li- cense is $1,000, and the commercial license $200, and there are many restrictions on them. For example, the chimps enjoy absolute protection under all licenses, and it is almost as great a penalty to kill one as it is to kill a man. The maribou and several other kinds of birds are absolutely immune, and hence the reckless slaughter that formerly prevailed is now much reduced. Just at this moment five maribou are feeding on the plain, three of them about sixty yards away. They seem to be utterly indifferent to the presence of a score of people, nineteen of them trying to persuade the twentieth man to shoot one of those stately birds to feed a multi- tude of ebony-colored gluttons. Here they come! At this moment seven chimps are crossing the plain, and now that they ZOOLOGICAL are about half way across four more are just in sight, following in their wake. I am utterly amazed at the conduct of these apes, and it is to me certainly a new phase of their life. I insist that Mr. Aschemeier, my taxidermist companion, will not shoot at anything near our domicile. A mile has always been my limit, and I have always observed the rule myself except for game birds. I can’t bear to have my ani- mal neighbors murdered, and they seem to know that, for I long had three schools of monkeys that made their home in the bush around my clearing and often came to my fruit rack, within ten yards of the house, and stole bananas. For four years, two ibises nested in a tree just in front of my house, and mixed with my chickens in the yard. Three schools of chimps boarded on me for over four years, and three or four antelope used to come three or four times a week to eat manioc in my garden. Three pairs of mocking-birds (?) nested for several years in a palm that stood within ten yards of my door. In fact, I have always guarded my wild neigh- bors; and they seem to realize it. Here I have the finest Zoo Park possible, and I shall try to keep it stocked. But I don’t know how long it will be my home. Five times today I have seen chimps crossing the open plains near us, in groups of eleven, five, three, one and two, counting the first two groups as one, because they were all in sight at one time. Yours very truly, R. L. Garner. SOUTH AMERICAN FROGS. By Ricuarp Deckert N THE amphibian collection of the Reptile House are several large specimens of the five fingered frogs, a species common in northern South America, where they take the place that the bullfrog occupies in the United States. These creatures are not true frogs, belonging to the family Cystiqnathidae, which is more closely related to the toads and tree-toads. The determining characters, however, are purely in- ternal, therefore we will speak of these animals as frogs, especially since they resemble our trve frogs in appearance. The specific name, Leptodactylus pendactylus means slender-fingered five-fingered, and is giy- en this frog on account of the possession by the males of a spur on the inside of the hand, in ad- dition to the regular four fingers. The color SOCIETY BULLETIN 1567 above is rich chocolate brown, with darker cross bands and marblings. The concealed part of the thigh is brilliant crimson, the sides of the body lemon or whitish yellow, and the throat and abdomen are pale gray with purplish mar- blings. A black band extends from the tip of the snout through the nostril and eye, curving over the ear-drum and ending at the insertion of the arm. The eye is large and prominent. The lower half of the iris is black, and the upper half a beautiful pale bronze tint. The skin is smooth, moist, and when handled, very slippery, owing to a strong and acrid secretion. This secretion has a very peculiar odor, is intensely bitter to the taste, and serves perhaps, as a protection against some of the frog’s enemies. On _ the sides of the body are several rows of large glands, some round and some oval in shape. The head is very large. and the mouth is unusually wide, even for a frog. There are no webs on the feet and the fingers and toes are long and slender for a frog of five and one-half inches head and body length. The habits of this species are terrestrial and nocturnal. In their terrarium, they sit bunched together in the darkest corner during the day, but at night they are quite active, continuously making the rounds of their cage by means of short leaps. Although shy creatures, they do not jump up- on being touched, but at first squat close to the ground with head lowered, hissing loudly with every breath. When continually annoyed, one specimen raises itself on its limbs as high as possible, and with body slanted toward the in- truder, tries to rid itself of its tormentor by but- ting vigorously. In this position the brilliant crimson of the inner sides of the thighs appear like fresh blood flowing from a wound. When taken up suddenly, one of our speci- mens will utter a series of loud, piercing cries, like a kitten in acute pain. These cries are pro- duced with the mouth wide open, whereas the regular calls of frogs and toads are made with the mouth closed. Among the many species of amphibians ob- served by the writer at the Reptile House, none can approach this one in quickness of movement. When food, which consists of roaches, grass- hoppers, frogs, toads and sometimes mice, is in- troduced into the vivarium, the frog seems at first not to pay the slightest attention, but should the unsuspecting victim, either toad or insect, venture too near, it will be pounced upon and devoured with startling rapidity. 1568 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Departments : Mammals Aquarium W. T. Hornapay. C. H. TownsEnp. Birds Reptiles WILiiaM BEEBE. Leg S. CRANDALL. a Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 111 Broadway, New York City. Yearly by Mail, $1.00. MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. Copyright, 1918, by the New York Zoological Society. Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy and the proof reading of his contribution. ELwin R. SaNnBorn, Editor and Official Photographer Vou. XXI No. 1 JANUARY, 1918 RayMonp L. Ditrmars. RESOLUTION REGARDING MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY At the Annual Meeting of the Zoological So- ciety, held on January 8, 1918, the following resolution was adopted: Whereas, the Congress of the United States in- vited the Government of the Dominion of Canada to enter into an international treaty for the protec- tion of North American migratory birds from the destruction which rapidly has been exterminating many valuable species, and Whereas, the Government of Canada, despite the distractions of her participation in a great war, promptly accepted the proposal of our Congress and diligently and forcefully carried it into complete effect; now therefore be it Resotvep, that the New York Zoological Society hereby respectfully directs the attention of the Presi- , dent of the United States and the House of Repre- sentatives to the disquieting fact that the American enabling act to provide regulations for the enforce- ment by the United States of the aforesaid treaty has not yet passed the lower house of Congress, and that immediate action is necessary in order to keep faith with Canada, to avoid affronting a friendly nation, and at the same time to place our migratory birds on the basis of protection that long has been desired for them by the people of the United States. WHAT ABOUT THE AMERICAN- CANADIAN BIRD TREATY? Our enabling act for the international treaty for the protection of all migratory birds, fully negotiated in 1916 between the United States and Canada, is at last making progress in the lower house of Congress. On January 15 the House Committee on Foreign Relations formal- ly reported the enabling-act bill to the House. We proposed that treaty to Canada. Unhin- dered by her heroic part in the war, Canada promptly accepted our overture, gave the mat- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN ter diligent attention, and finally ratified the treaty, down to the last detail. Canada already has passed her enabling act into statute law. Our Senate has passed our enabling act, but the House of Representatives has not acted. Of two things, however, we all may be abso- lutely sure. Canada is watching to see what we are going to do with our end of the treaty that we invited her to negotiate; and if for any rea- son our House of Representatives fails to pass that enabling act, it will be to Canada a slap in the face and a first-class affront! Let us make no mistake about that. Great nations are not supposed to trifle with international treaties. Unquestionably the situation depends on the lower House of Congress. Will that body de- feat our own treaty, or not? ““War measures” will not be accepted by anybody as an excuse for neglect or failure on our part. Canada has shown us that even in the midst of a terribly exacting and exhausting war she was able to pass a bird-treaty bill, and secure for it the nec- essary concurrence of a large group of proyvin- cial governments, all of whom were busy with war troubles of their own. Again it seems to be a case of the spring- shooters of Missouri against the American na- tion. And what will the House of Representa- tives do about it? Moo dba, Il. WILD LIFE LOSES A CHAMPION The passing of an ideal champion of wild life is a loss to the country at large. Three years ago the game situation in New Mexico was in a well-nigh hopeless condition. At that time there stepped into the arena, as the champion of the remaining game, Mites W. Burrorp, and a few other men like him. They resolved that the situ- ation should be saved, partly for the benefit of the present, and partly for the benefit of pos- terity. The result of their work has proven to be an object lesson of such illuminating power that it shines afar; and what has been done in New Mexico has been a great source of encourage- ment to the wild life defenders of other western and southwestern states. Miles W. Burford, first president of the New Mexico Game Protective Association, died at his home near Silver City on November 8; but he has helped to make history. In March, 1916, there was organized the New Mexico State Game Protective Association, with Mr. Burford as its president. In quick succes- sion eight local organizations, with an aggregate membership of over 1.000, and each member soi- ZOOLOGICAL MILES W. BURFORD emnly pledged to a common platform of princi- ples and action, sprang into existence almost in a day. New Mexico was transformed. Miles Burford, facing the state with a thou- sand men at his call, was the same vigorous, ge- and young Burford who eight years before “tied into” Silver City, riding alone. Looking neither to the right nor to the left, he promptly attempted the accomplishment of the A true sportsman, and also a true nial generous impossible. cattleman, he won his way by demanding, in the name of the people, the protection of their herit- age of wild life. Out of a clear sky, politely but firmly, he demanded of the political powers the appointment of a non-political state game war- den, to be selected on a basis of fitness only, hy the Game Protective Association. The politicians laughed in his face. The job- The bystand- ers smiled and made wise remarks about “‘theo- But the loyal thousand members of the Association stuck, and stood by hunters gasped in astonishment. rists’ and “fanatics.” with their votes in their pockets, while the news- papers found much good copy in a situation so novel in politics-ridden New Mexico. New Mexico has today a real game warden, backed by every The cause of progress won. SOCIETY BULLETIN 1569 sportsman in the state. The man who deliber- ately violates the law, be he of humble estate or the landed nobility of politics, steps up and pays in full view of the applauding public. The man who ignorantly violates the law is bombarded with publicity and educational material in a manner equally effective. While the wild life of New Mexico is yet far from being saved, its ultimate preservation is at least well within the bounds of possibility. Miles W. Burford did these things; and while doing them died. His fight is over, but his work is not. The flaming spirit that gave out courage and en- thusiam in life will live forever. The slogan in New Mexico is “Remember Burford and Carry On!” Wiewian kts GAME PROTECTION NOTES From the N. Y. Sun. Under a new law Colorado permits land own- ers and tenants to capture or kill pheasants de- stroying crops, provided a permit is first ob- tained from the Game Commissioner. the partridges and ring-necked pheasants except in Iowa has closed season on Hungarian four counties, and on quail until 1920. Idaho has shortened the grouse season by one month, turtle doves two months and a half, deer two weeks, and reduced bag limits generally. Arkansas by a new law protects does, turkey hens, prairie chickens, grouse and woodcock un- til 1922. By a new statute California permits civil war veterans to hunt free of charge. By regulation Alaska has prohibited the kill- ing of deer on Hinchinbrook and Montague Is- lands, in Prince William Sound, before August I LOWS: It is unlawful, according to a new statute in Michigan, while hunting, to skin or otherwise destroy the identity of any bird. California now includes the black-tailed jack- rabbit as a predatory animal. Utah has prohibited the hunting of quail, sage hen, grouse and dove. Florida has shortened the deer and game sea- son by ten days. Ohio has added the bob white to the list of protected game birds. Wisconsin has established close seasons on partridge (ruffed grouse), spruce hens, prairie chickens and pinnated and sharp-tailed grouse until 1919. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN THE BEAR SKINS AND THE CUB In Wisconsin automobiles may be seized when it is believed they contain game illegally in possession. California now prohibits the sale of aigrettes, birds of paradise and goura or numidi. Wyoming has added six new game preserves to its total, making eleven in all. Indiana is giving greater protection to the squirrel. BEHAVIOR OF WILD GRIZZLY CUBS.* Contributed By a Member of the Zoological Society. AST May when I was out bear hunting in the Rocky Mountains, one of our party shot a female grizzly with three cubs. We had no dogs, as they are not allowed in bear hunting in Wyoming, so the cubs escaped. We skinned the mother and left the carcass lying where she fell, hoping the cubs would return on that account, but though we visited it every day, we found no them for weeks. trace of about three Then the warm weather came and the carcass ripened and the three little cubs returned to feed upon it. We tried to rope them several “The most interesting feature of this unusual in- stance of bear behavior is the failure of the two cubs to recognize the dead body of their mother, and their keenness in recognizing her furry coat.—Ed. times, but they were so very small and so very quick and the trees so dense that this proved futile, but we eventually caught one in a trap made out of a He was quite fierce, but after his paws were tied together and a stick and rope put through his mouth for a gag, he became fairly docile. box. He traveled quietly on the back of a horse for several hours until, as we reached camp, he started squealing and struggling violently, and upon being released, made a dash, pulling after him the men who were holding him towards the four bear hides we had strung on a rope near the tents. Still crying, he jumped upon that of his mother, and clung to it with his teeth and claws so firmly that we could only remove him eventually by hitting him gently but decidedly over the head with a stick. About a week later we caught one of the other cubs, a little female, and exactly the same per- formance was repeated. We kept them in camp about two weeks, and their only happy moments were when clinging contentedly to, or cuddled up upon, their mother’s hide—the hide of the mother they had eaten with so much pleasure and appetite,— where they would spend quiet, peaceful hours every day. As as taken away, they would cry and fight, even when ta- ken half a mile from the camp so that we could sleep at night, and no amount of food and kind- ness were ever able to tame them. We endeavy- soon ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY THE GRIZZLY CUB CLINGING TO ITS MOTHER'S HIDE. ored many times to make them pay some atten- tion to the other bear hides we had, but with no success whatever. WHERE OUR BIRDS COME By Lee S. Cranpatu. FROM. IRDS are so widely dispersed over the sur- face of the earth that barren indeed is the spot without avian life. The great gift of flight has carried them to the farthest cor- ners of the globe. Perfect plasticity of form and habit have allowed adaptation to a multi- tude of changing conditions. From Arctic to Antarctic, birds have fitted themselves to every conceivable type of environment. Every land, however inhospitable, has its share of the 20,000 forms of feathered life. The study of the geographical distribution of life on the earth has led to the recognition of well defined areas, distinguished by the char- acter of their fauna. Six main life zones, cor- responding in general to the continental bodies, have been separated. Each has numerous sub- divisions but for our purpose, the six will suffice. Briefly, North America forms the Nearctic Region; southern Mexico, the West Indies and South America, the Neotropical. Europe, north- ern Africa are included in the Palaearctic Re- BULLETIN 1571 gion, while southern Asia and the neighboring islands are known as the Oriental. Arabia and Africa south of the tropic of Cancer are as- signed to the Ethiopian Region; Australia, New Guinea and the East Indies to the Australian. The sequence of these regions in point of numbers of species represented in our collection is interesting. It depends in some degree on the number of forms indigenous to the zone un- der consideration, but chiefly on their accessi- bility. The 802 species of birds now living in the Zoological Park are grouped as follows: Neotropical, 287; Nearctic, 162; Australian, 118; Ethiopian, 84; Palaearctic, 81; Oriental, 78. Forty-two species either are cosmopolitan or range extensively through more than one re- gion, so that they may not fairly be assigned to one. The order of the first two probably would obtain under normal conditions, the greater abundance of species in South America more than balancing propinquity in the north. Since the beginning of the world war Europe, Africa and the Orient have been almost entirely cut off, and most of the species which still repre- sent them have been in our possession three years or more. The position of the Australian area is abnormally high, the same factors which have interrupted our supply in some cases hay- ing had the reverse effect in this. The trade in Australian birds has been diverted from Europe to America and there is no doubt that New York now has the finest collection of Australian fauna ever gathered by a single institution outside that country. The maps which accompany this article give a diagrammatic idea of the broad geographical area represented in the collection. The origins of 879 typical species are designated. As far as possible, sedentary forms have been chosen. When widely dispersed or strongly migratory birds have been used, a point approximating the center of their breeding grounds has been in- dicated. The object has been to emphasize ex- tent of distribution rather than the numerical precedence of the various regions. Every extreme of habitat has contributed its mite. The ice fields of the far north, the drip- ping jungles of the tropics, the giant peaks and the seas of many lands, have been skillfully searched. The gathering of such a company is a heren- lean task. A group of tiny finches, a brilliant bird of Paradise, a flock of penguins, each could tell a tale of adventure and romance that would enthrall the listener. One may get a hint of 0 GALAPAGOS |S. Greenwich C.Blanco PAUMOTU 1S: A> = 7ROPIC-OF-CAPRICORN ci HOW THE WORLD HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE Without an ocular demonstration, few persons can realize how much of the habitable globe is represented by the 813 species of birds now on exhibition in the Zoological Park. As an aid to the understanding, Mr. Lee S. Crandall, Assistant Curator of Birds, has marked on a map of the world, as shown above, the localities represented by about 379 important species. All of these are now living in our collections and enjoying life. The Large Bird House is nothing less than an avian treasure-house, and the happiness of this feathered throng from far distant lands is quite evident from the strange mixture of song. While it is impossible to show the names of these selected species, they appear on our reference map, which holds all the keys to this exhibit. Extreme LIVE BIRD COLLECTIONS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK. It is unnecessary to suggest to the careful observer the amount of human effort, and also avian endurance, that has been involved in gathering all these birds, and hundreds more, from near and from far, caring for them in their infancy, and transporting them, without starvation, to their present home. Nor do we need to suggest the quality or the quantity of the skill and indus- try that is required of the staff of the bird department, to take this cosmopolitan assemblage of appetites and wants, and enable these 2799 specimens to live together in this one spot. It is believed that all the efforts represented on this map of the world, and by the birds not indicated thereon, will be appreciated by the public. Wik. H. 1574 ZOOLOGICAL this from the descriptive labels on the cages. New Caledonia, Formosa, Pegu and Patagonia are good material for castles in Spain. But for full realization of the meaning of these names, one must visit the wharves and docks and the shops of the great importers, where come the men to whom New Caledonia and Formosa are not mere words on a label. That brilliant if diminutive Gouldian finch, gravely wheezing his ludicrous song, represents the climax of the effort of a succession of human minds and hands. Some Australian bushman has spent weeks in the lonely scrub of the north- west, keeping vigil at the only water hole for miles about. At last, a single pull of the net- rope has enmeshed dozens of gaudy mites. Then the gruelling trip back to the outposts of civili- zation, where the catch is turned over to the local dealer. After a long trip at sea, in charge of the agent of an American or European tra- der, comes the arrival at New York, San Fran- cisco or “somewhere in Europe.” Here the birds are resorted and reshipped to the many retailers who distribute them among the final owners. In India, much the same system prevails, ex- cept that the trapping is done by natives. In the neighborhood of Bombay and Calcutta, pro- fessional bird-catchers ply their trade. The great markets of these cities have many bird stalls, each well supplied with potential song- sters. Farther north, collecting is more casual, and less skillfully done, so that few birds reach us from that region. The course followed in Africa is a middle one. Here the collector is usually in quest of the mammals which abound, and to him birds are of small consequence. Such as he does get are obtained quite by chance from natives, as the caravans are passing. ‘There are, however, a few dealers who gather birds from the native catchers and dispose of them to traveling agents. The South American method is quite differ- ent. Here are no proper trappers, skilled in their art. Although the Neotropical Region boasts of far more species of birds than any other, its possibilities are almost entirely unde- veloped. In the public markets of most of the larger cities, birds of a few common kinds are generally to be seen. Occasionally one finds a man, usually a Portuguese, who conducts a sort of zoological clearing station. But for his wares he depends on more or less nomadic In- dians, who bring their hand-reared pets from the interior. The only birds commonly trapped are the smaller finches and tanagers, which are SOCIETY BULLETIN caught in some numbers, as occasion demands, by small boys. This region has been exploited chiefly by American dealers whose steck in trade consists of parrots and monkeys. Few uncommon or deli- cate birds reach us from this source. By means of our own expeditions and the permanently es- tablished Tropical Research Station, we have done much to overcome these obstacles. The latter, especially, has brought us many rarities. But not until the dealers who control the market have acquired more of both skill and initiative, will the zoological treasures of the great south- ern continent fully be opened to us. LABEL MAKING IN THE FIELD. By Wit11aM BEEBE HEN one has reached some remote field \ \) of research in tropical jungles or else- where, at the cost of considerable ex- pense and many days of travel, every moment is of scientific worth. Foresight should have so arranged that all possible details and prepar- ations are already provided for, so that in the field every activity of body and mind may be concentrated on the work in hand. Labels are one of the time-consuming neces- sities that sometimes can not be planned in ad- vance, especially in those cases where places, dates and other minutiae are incapable of pre- diction. I have spent many weary and _ thor- oughly begrudged hours in writing series of la- bels, whose items I could not have forseen. ‘Frop.Research Station How dors 2oal.Socteuy * Eeinertst sah rch Station bol Sockeky Resare Station Research Station trop Hew ore Zool Seckeuy Trop Rassarch Station Hew Tork Zool Seckety = rob Station isa Society ‘Trop.Research Station Sew Tork Zool .Bockety ‘Trop.Research Station Hew Tork tool Sockety x fad TYPEWRITTEN LABELS REDUCED BY PHOTOGRAPHY Proper spacing of the typed matter—before photograph- ing—is important. In this instance, the space be- tween the columns was 1%4 inches, and the hori- zontal spaces were 5-16 of an inch. To facilitate cut- ting apart, dotted lines could be made through the horizontal spaces on the copy. Assuming that the scientist has an ordinary photographic outfit, I can suggest a method of fulfilling all the requirements of label duplica- tion in the field, no matter how intricate or !o- calized may be the data. This method is to ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN print with clearness, or, much better, to type- write a sheet of the required labels, and to re- duce these on a photographic plate to any con- venient size. Then by printing on ordinary un- glazed paper or making common blue-prints, any desired number are available within the hour or two necessary for making the fixed, dried prints. It is so simple a matter that I would hesitate to record it, were it not that my memory is still very vivid of the times I wearily wrote labels by the hour on many expeditions, before this solution occurred to me and was put into prac- tice, instantly and successfully. ANT PESTS AND ANT-EATING ANIMALS By S. P. Verner. From the Panama Star and Herald HE ant-eaters are close kin to the sloths, but they live on the ground also, whereas the sloths live on trees. The ant-eating animals comprise the great or maned ant-eater, (Myrmecophaga jubata); the lesser ant-eater, or tamandua (J'amandua tetradactylus); the two-toed ant-eater, (Cyclopes didactylus); the armadillos; the pangolins; and the aard-varks. These six groups of animals are usually all classed under the order of the edentates, al- though they differ widely from one another in many respects. The ant-eaters and the arma- dillos are Central and South American animals; the pangolins and the aard-varks are Afro- Asiatic. The main point of interest common to these animals presented for consideration here is the fact that they devour ants, and that they may possibly be put to a useful economic purpose because of that fact. The extent to which farming and gardening in Panama is handicapped by the presence of certain species of ants is a fact well known to everybody who has had the least experience in the matter. The difficulty of getting rid of the insects within the limits of the expense that could be borne is almost unbelieveable unless one has tried it. The main reason for it lies in the marvellously intelligent routine habits of the ants. They have their central fortress, which is their home, food warehouse, nest, queen's palace, all in one; and from this center they have their long marching lines of workess and soldiers moving along in a continuous cir- cuit to the trees or shrubs which they attack, 1575 and back again to their base; this being so con- tinuous a movement that if one followed up the line outside of the nest in the ground and mash- ed them all, there would still be immense num- bers of them in the subterranean galleries and chambers; while if the latter were blown up, and the lines left outside, there would be a suf- ficient number left outside for them to go off and start a new colony. Moreover, the minute a disturbance starts they scatter round so that it is almost impossible to get them all. They are extremely suspicious and wary; it is almost impossible to poison them, or to get them on sticky substances, or to trap them; while the usually prescribed use of carbon bisulphide has not been either completely efficacious or cheap enough to meet the requirements. Of course it is possible for men to beat ants. By using dynamite, or the wholesome applica- tion of poisonous liquids or gas, or even by per- severing digging and killing, they can be elim- inated, but to get rid of a single well-developed colony by any or all of these methods would cost not less than ten or fifteen dollars, some- times much more. Some of these colonies hon- ey-comb the ground over an area of a hundred square yards and to a depth of two yards, thus requiring the excavation of two hundred cubic yards of earth to get rid of the nest. The damage they can do is amazing. A col- ony has been known to strip an avocado tree in a day; another to destroy a hundred hills of yam-vines in the same time. Any kind of prod- uce which they like cannot be raised near the nests; and their tastes are unfortunately very much like man’s The possibility of using the ant-eating ani- mals to combat these pests is therefore inter- esting. I am not aware that it has ever been done, and do not know how such an experiment would work out in practice. But ant-eaters would feed themselves on the work; they are known to tear the hardest and toughest nests all to pieces to get at the larvae, and in this way they also expose and probably destroy the They could be harnessed so as not to interfere with their working powers, and as they also eat other insects they could be kept at little expense when not eating the ants, though there are ants enough here to keep a good many busy all the time. queens. All this at least would warrant the capture and preservation of any ant-eater found here. Armadillos are fairly common, and all three of the ant-eaters are found in Central America. ZOOLOGICAL ITEMS OF INTEREST Zoo.toaicaL Park Army and Navy Mascots.—Owing to a gov- ernment ruling that no large animal mascots may accompany our soldiers on army transports during the voyage to France, the Park has be- come a sanctuary for several army and navy pets. One of these mascots is a particularly interesting white-tailed deer of a variety that never previously has been on exhibition at the Park. This fine, young male specimen was captured near the United States-Mexican boun- dary, and was presented to the Society by the Ist Troop United States Military Police, through Sergeant Charles L. Bajart, Jr. This troop is now quartered at Camp Upton, Long Island. Other mascots that are on exhibition include three black and cinnamon bear cubs. Two black bears were presented by Sergeant Skinner, of the Sunset Division, U. S. A., through Mr. John Hays Hammond, President of the Rocky Mountain Club, New York City. Young bears appear to be favored mascots. Snake-Bite Serum.—Since establishing a base at the Park for the distribution of anti-venom- ous serum, we have had a number of calls for this valuable antidote for snake-bite, and so far as we can learn, all the cases treated have re- sulted in complete cures. The Society recently sent a large number of tubes of serum to army medical posts along the United States-Mexican boundary. These tubes were produced specific- ally in the Brazilian government laboratory at Sao Paulo, by Dr. Vital Brazil, for the treat- ment of rattlesnake bite. While comparatively few cases of bites cf wild poisonous snakes in the United States are reported, accidents are rather frequent from the careless handling of captive specimens. The majority of these cases occur in traveling shows. Our last assignment of serum went to the Har- lem Hospital, in this City, where a young man was suffering from a wound on the thumb, produced by a large Texas rattlesnake. The in- jection of the serum brought speedy improve- ment, and the patient was soon discharged. Persistent Zero Weather.—The month of De- cember, 1917, has broken all weather bureau records of the past forty years for persistent cold. Four cold waves — each of particularly long duration — covered a period of fully two- thirds of the month. Between these spells of cold, storms prevailed, greatly increasing the severity of existing win- ter conditions. Temperatures below zero on the 29th, 30th and 31st were unprecedented in the intense severe snow SOCIETY BULLETIN history of the Park. On the night of the 30th, our thermometers registered between 12 and 14 degrees below zero. Under those conditions practically all the hydrants supplying drinking troughs in the animal ranges were frozen. The few hydrants that continued running, accumu- lated immense and fantastic mounds of ice, and the keepers assigned to outside work toiled throughout the day chopping away the ice and carrying water to the animals. Throughout the cold period, the animals con- tinued in splendid condition, and the only cas- ualty among the mammals was a very young fawn axis deer that wandered out of its stall and died of exposure. We discovered several guinea fowl that had sought shelter in nooks along the buffalo shed, were frozen to death. Despite the activity of the great flock of ducks and geese in the Wild-Fowl Pond, this large stretch of water closed to such a small area that hundreds of birds were forced to take refuge in an opening not more than twenty feet in diam- eter. Record of Events——A motion picture series has been prepared at the Park showing certain activities here during the present strenuous year. These pictures were exhibited at the Annual Dinner of the Board of Managers given by Mr. Geo. F. Baker on the evening of December 27, and also formed part of the program at the Annual Meeting of the Society at the Waldorf- Astoria on Tuesday, January 8. The series of events illustrated, included the ceremonies at- tending the raising of the large national flag on Baird Court early last April. This flag was the gift of the officers of the Zoological Park Staff. The event was attended by a mobilization of the Boy Scouts to the number of over a thou- sand. The war farming activities in the Park dur- ing the year, and the planting of the elk range, wild-horse ball fields and other areas with corn, cabbage, carrots, mangles, sunflowers and other needed products were shown. There were several scenes illustrating the midsummer utilization of the crops, the use of one of the elephants in delivering hay, and the training of the Park rifle company. There were interest- ing views of the target range with squads of our men practicing with the Springfield rifle, the large and flourishing Red Cross working base at the Lion House, and a number of the Park animals. range, Our Service Flag.—A large service flag now hangs in the Reptile House, and its field con- tains nine stars. ZOOLOGICAL Dr. W. Reid Blair, Veterinarian of the Park. has received a major’s commission and is on active duty at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Va. Innes Hartley, Research Assistant of the Society’s Tropical Research Station at Kalacoon, joined the Officers’ Training Camp at Plattsburg, New York, early in the year. He received a 2d lieu- tenant’s commission, and recently has been pro- moted to Ist lieutenant, attached to the 302d Ammunition Train, and is stationed at Camp Upton, Long Island. Curator William Beebe, of the Bird Depart- ment, enrolled with the French Aviation Serv- ice that came to the United States to instruct our aviators, and after much technical work be- gan the instruction of United States volunteers. Among the men under his instruction, twelve are now in France in the flying corps. During his instruction work, Mr. Beebe experienced a fall and received severe injury to his wrist, making it necessary to discontinue active work for some months. During his recuperation he is abroad on an observation trip. The Park stock-accountant, Cyril J. New- man, has enlisted in the Navy, and is now on active duty in the transport service as a yeo- man. Howard Engeholm, of the Bird Department, is acting corporal of Co. K, 325th Infantry, at Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga. T. Donald Carter, likewise of the Bird Department, is an acting corporal in Co. 13, 4th Battalion, 157th Depot Brigade, also stationed at Camp Gordon. Ed- ward Reuter, a gateman, is a private in the 307th Infantry at Camp Upton, Long Island, and Frank Doyle, of the Forestry Department, is with the American Expeditionary Forces, in France. The excellence of the training and discipline of the Park Rifle Company, which is officially connected with the New York Police Depart- ment, is well exemplified by the recognition ac- corded the men of the Company who have joined the colors. Those not already commis~ sioned have been advanced in the ranks, and one of them has received orders to prepare for examination for a commission. The location of some of our men cannot be determined at present. Liberty Bond Subscribers——The members of the Park statf—officers, keepers and other work- ers—have subscribed liberally to both issues of Liberty Bonds. The sum of seven thousand dollars was subscribed to the first issue, and four thousand dollars to the second issue; making a total of eleven thousand dollars from our force. SOCIETY BULLETIN 15 ~ ~I This amount was raised to sixteen thousand by subscribing five thousand dollars that had accumulated in the Pension Fund. The Society has extended aid to its employees in purchasing government bonds by arranging for payments in installments. Our employees are also pur- chasing War Saving Stamps. War-time Feeding.—War conditions have cre- ated radical changes in feeding the animals. Coarse corn bread has proven a very successful product, and we are cooking large batches of it daily. This bread is made in square loaves of about two and a half feet square by four inches thick. Some of the animals prefer it to any other food—and this is particularly marked among the bears. We are now drawing heavily upon the stock of vegetables raised during our farming operations. Park Collections Normal.—With the close of 1917, our census of the collections reveals in- teresting and satisfactery conditions. The total number of species of mammals listed at the close of the year is 204, which is a very superficial drop of but three species below the total re- corded at the close of 1916, and the total num- ber of mammal specimens at the close of the past year (610) was within seventeen of the total of the previous year. These are gratify- ing conditions, in the face of the practical ex- tinction of the world’s animal market. The Bird and Reptile Departments show a similar condition. The Kangaroo Collection—With substantial additions by births to the collection of kanga- roos and wallabies, our series of these interest- ing and characteristic Australian animals be- comes probably the largest and most elaborate series ever exhibited in the United States. And Mr. Ellis Joseph, who furnished the collection, states in a letter that it is the equal of the one at Melbourne, Australia. The collection now contains forty-one specimens representing six- teen species. One entire side of the Small Deer House is occupied by these animals. The im- mature specimens are especially interesting to our visitors. An Aviator Goat.—One of the most interest- ing of the animal mascots deposited by the 98th Aerial Squadron, is a goat, with long, lustrous jet black hair. For years we have maintained an adamantine rule against the exhibition of do- mestic animals, but the members of the Squad- ron were soon to leave for France, and they pleaded so earnestly for their pet, on the grounds that he was particularly famous, that ZOOLOGICAL ee a ~_ ae = DOMINICA—THE HOME OF an exception to the rule was made. This goat has traveled over 500 miles in trial trips of fast United States flying machines, and, from ac- counts, appeared to heartily enjoy such expe- riences. A SECOND IMPERIAL PARROT. By Wit.1amM Breese IVE years ago the Zoological Society add- EF ed a live Imperial Parrot to its collec- tion of birds, and of the details of this val- uable accession I have already written.* Since then, this extremely beautiful and rare bird has remained unique, until last summer when we were able to secure a second specimen, a male in full plumage, and bring it safely to the Zoo- logical Park. To this the way was paved by correspondence with the Hon. A. M. Mahaffy, Administrator of Dominica. On my way south to the Station in British Guiana, I visited Government House, and through the in- terest and kindness of Mr. Mahaffy was able to arrange for a pair of birds to be ready when In this interval the fe- Research I passed north again. *Zool. Soc. Bull. XVI. No. 51, May, 1912, p. 868. SOCIETY BULLETIN THE IMPERIAL PARROT male escaped so that I was able to obtain only a single bird. It was exceedingly tame, at once adapted itself to life on shipboard, and is now in good health and on exhibition in the Park. I was interested to learn from Mr. Mahafty that the bird laws on the island were being en- forced rigorously, and that the Imperial Parrot, while still restricted to a small area in the cen- tral range of mountains, was holding its own. On a recent trip which he had made around the island he had seen and heard a number of these birds, and was convinced, for the present at least, that their perpetuation is assured. Dominica is a worthy island to be the last earthly home of such a splendid parrot. No other of the West Indies quite impresses one with such tropical luxurience as Dominica. The view from the steamer passing close to shore is magnificent—a constant succession of tumbled mountains and ravines, completely covered with the densest, most lush growth of vegetation, come swirling down the valleys from the high peaks, showing as dense, streaming, pale-blue mist or as oblique lines of rain, yield humidity, to which, suspended or precipitated, the luxuri- ance of the tropical plant life is due. GENERAL INFORMATION MEMBERSHIP IN THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Membership in the Zoological Society is open to all interested in the objects of the organiza- tion, who desire to contribute toward its support. The cost of Annual Membership is $10 per year, which entitles the holder to admission to the Zoological Park on all pay days, when he may see the collections to the best advantage. Members are entitled to the Annual Report, bi-monthly Bulletins, Zoologica, privileges of the Administration Building, all lectures and special exhibitions, and ten complimentary tickets to the Zoological Park for distribution. Any Annual Member may become a Life Member by the payrnent of $200. A subscriber of $1,000 becomes a Patron; $2,500, an Associate Founder; $5,000, a Founder; $10,000, a Founder in Perpetuity, and $25,000, a Benefactor. Application for membership may be given to the Chief Clerk, in the Zoological Park; C. H. Townsend, N. Y. Aquarium, Battery Park, New York City, or forwarded to the General Secretary, No. 111 Broadway, New York City. ZOOLOGICAL PARK The Zoological Park is open every day in the year, free, except Monday and Thursday of each week, when admission is charged. Should either of these days fall on a holiday no admis- sion fee is charged. From April 15 to October 15, the opening and closing hours are from 9 o'clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset. From October 16 to April 14, the opening and closing hours are from 10 o'clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset. NEW YORK AQUARIUM The Aquarium is open every day in the year; April 15 to October 15, 9 A. M. to 5 P. M.; October 16 to April 14, 10 A. M. to 4 P. M. Open free to the public every day in the year. PUBLICATIONS Annual Report No.1............ Paper $ .40 Souvenir Books: Series No. 8, 48 pages, 7x9 inches, 78 be Y ta Baieele eee cine Oe 75 Cloth $1.00 illustrations from four color plates. ............. .50 hs Fe ra : and ‘: each.. 2 he ie (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.) ae cL aby Oy 8. aor ~ 1.00 a 1.25 Animals in Art Stamps: Album of 32 Pages, providing ns ss ee SAQI ens LOM ee Rt “ 1.25 es 1.50 space for mounting 120 art stamps in four colors oF ne Gan bel a 18, 14, 15. made from selected photographs of animals taken 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, al, ache nes aS 1.00 Bs 1.25 in the Zoological Park, complete with stamps....... .75 Our Vanishing Wild Life (Horna- (By mail, postage 6 cents extra.) day) postpaid..............-- x 1.65 Wild Animal Stamp Primer: 96 page cloth bound book Destruction of Our Birds and Mam- containing 49 animal stories, illustrated by 50 four- mals (Hornaday).....-.....-. 15 color stamp reproductions....... Sentient an rk 85 Notes on Mountain eesoe of North (By mail 7 cents extra) America (Hornaday)........-. 40 a ‘ rl * 7 “ Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. Animals The Caribou (Grant)............ 40 .60 : £ : i zo z and views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets ies OrEtn and Bee acuenp ah the of 2 subjects. Per set, postpaid................. 25 arge Mammals o ort mer- i ica Grant) Vaated AGinoth Mase Ste “4 1.00 Souvenir Map-Fan: A combined fan and map of the . “ ZOOIGBIGAW Park, Oot. vies divi win sie wi byeleie\eie +e) «ele «+ .10 The Rocky Mountain Goat (Grant) 1,00 (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.) zonlogics WO LISTER VESTS IN “ 2.80 Panorama of the Zoological Park: Reproduced in colors Te eh ROE TNE LOD OO RAR OTE a & from an original drawing in perspective. Sold Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 12, 18 and 14. pee 25 flattors im tolderctormieseni titer iatacee tulete ashe weyers 10 o Gao ee 18 Asa tee “ 2 (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.) so URI Titty eee * 195 Enlargements: 11x14 inches. 12 subjects in black and ss iP pose etal ht on eet A fs 30 WIDE ERGIM fa Parcis ters ctcin ete teen tiete clots coat. whelibicie el'euce 25 . neh fer athuny i SOR Sens fete ostte ‘Y 25 Dnotone Brow neceach syn vairle eirictelel els Ale cveyals a elaine 35 WY COAT ges S534 a i i PA O 25 Hand Colored (10 Subjects), each.......,-..+..-- 15 mf i i‘ i Bosealeynleinscies el 125 Photo-Letter: (folding) 18 pictures, photogravure...2for .10 " reer aery) sand AAGSOL “ e - i * a 1 ASCOLOTEie 321s; lele-s 2for .10 Zoopathologica Vol. I. No.1...... " 25 New York Aquarium Nature Series 5) Nite Payee « 25 SearShareslite UMayer)(ors se ntre eueliae ey netdnnlsitioy. fe $1.20 Bulletin Nos. 1, 6, 8, 85, 48 and 46 .. Out of Print Goltive on OF ees im Hondeat Tow nsen) rete e eee au * ; d ‘hameleons o = s . Bulletins—Bi-monthly......... 20c. each; Yearly by mail 1.00 Northern Elephant Seal (Townsend) “95 Bulletin Nos. 5 to 28 inclusive, set, cloth bound,........ 5.00 | Care of Home Aquaria (Osburn). ........-2.-00seseeee 25 wy “24 to 60 4 PBR NGAP ii) dace Raae tr ere tee atc 10.00 | Porpoise in Captivity Gace ges 25 Official Guide to the New York Natural History of the Whale Shark (Gudger).... een a Taplogical Park MRIOTMAtaYy)) secs class es/elenstctate wan uate .25 | The Gaff-Topsail Catfish apadeer): Reena nae ee BD Souvenir Postal Cards: Series of 75 subjects in colors, Tama tes pe thee One uray Book On Views os sold in sets of 25 cards, assorted subjects......... 25 y (By mail, postage 2 cents per set extra.) Aquarium Post Cards: Colored. In sets, each..... pal’ /-) Publications for sale at 111 Broadway, Zoological Park and the New York Aquarium. Vou. XXI. No. 2 ASO) MARCH, 1918 A inna paar wa AU uns es) "TOOLOGICALI oh SOC LET == BULLETIN inn i, Published by ' A THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY A Wi fr DONATO 1 TCO a AMM ANN AEN ATRL TTT TOTLLA NEUEN AAG wali ATA ACTOR TTT TTT f Win PTY LL EP Ce UR PecunG ‘e112 New York Zoological Society GeNeRAL Orricr, 111 Broadway, New Yorx City. President Henry Farrrietp Oszorn. Second Vice-President Frank K. Srurais. Hirst Wice-President Mapison GRANT. Asst. Greasurer Tue Farmers’ Loan anp Trust Co. Greasurer Percy R. Pyne, 20 Exchange Place. Secretary Mapison GRANT. Executive Committee Wm. Pierson Hamitton, Frank K. Srurais, LIsPENARD STEWART, Watson B. DickeRMAN, Antuony R. Kusrr, Henry Farrrietp Osporn, ea-officio Mapison Grant, Chairman. Percy R. Pyne, Wirtiiam Wuite Nites, Board of Managers €x ofticia: The Mayor and The Presipenr Department of Parks, City of New York. Glass of 1918 Levi P. Morton, ANDREW CARNEGIE, Mapison GRANT, Wiriiam Wuire N11es, Percy R. Pyne, Georee Birp GRINNELL, Grorce C. CLark, Crievetanp H. Dones, Henry Fairrietp Osporn, *Wiriiiam C. Cuurcu, LisPENARD STEWART, Cuartes F. Dietericnu, Henry A. C. Taytor, Frank K. Srurais, Gerorce J. GouLp, Ocpren MILxs, Glass of 1919 C. Lepyarp Bratir, Freperick GILBERT Bourne, Wm. Austin WapswortTu, Emerson McMituin, Glass of 1920 Grorce F,. Baker, Grant B. Scutey, Wo. Pierson Hamitton, Rozgert S. Brewster, General Officers Lewis RurHerrorp Morris, Arcuer M. Hunrineron, Henry M. Tirrorp, E. C. Converse. Antuony R, Kuser, Watson B. Dickerman, Mortimer L. Scuirr, Freperic C. Watcort. Epwarp S. Harkness, WitriaM B. Oscoop Fiexp, A. Barton Hepsurn, Witt1am Woopwarp. Witu1am T. Hornapay, Director Zoological Park. Cuartes H. Townsenn, Director, New York Aquarium. C. Grant La Fares, Architect. R. L. Cerero, Bursar. H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer. Grorce S. Huntineton, Prosector. Officers of the Zoological Park Witiram T. Hornapay, Director. H. W. Merket, Chief Forester. H. R. Mircuett, Chief Clerk. W. Rei Bratir, Veterinarian. Raymonp L. Dirmars, Curator, Reptiles. Witu1aM Berse, Curator, Birds. G. M. Berrsower, Engineer. Ler S. Cranvatu, Asst. Curator, Birds. Witi1am Mitcuey, Cashier. Exwin R. Sansorn, Photographer and Editor. Officers of the Aquarium Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director. Wasuineton I. DeNysz, Assistant. Rosert Sutciirre, Clerk. Louis L. Mowsray, Assistant. Ipa M. Me ten, Secretary. Grorce A. MacCatuium, Pathologist. *Deceased. ZO OG OrG ft CALL S- OFC ICE hey: AQUARIUM NUMBER CONTENTS FOR MARCH, Fronr Evevation ann Grounp Pian or THE AQUARIUM Is THE Aquarium To Have a Square Dear? Atiesn (Crojevnzpanes IN RGISeian, ee : Care or SmMatui Saut-Warer AQuaria SALMON SPEARING FROM A SHADED Booru ................. Sea Horse oF THE Buack Sa .............. ; Tre Most ReEMARKABIE Frise NET KNOWN, occ csccccscccccecccccccsccsee essences CEM SARGASSUIM, HSH sce ee ee eee ComMMoNn SNaILs New Memsers RAINBOW AND STEELHEAD TROUTS 2... IrTeMs OF INTEREST ................. BOY A dem Re ee LarGe Ocropus. Oxp Doors or THE AQUARIUM. More Larce TANnkKs. ATTENDANCE. Wuate Meat as Foon. Oxp Doors oF THE AQUARIUM ................... PAGE nee: ..... Frontispiece 6. He Tounsend 1581 Ida M. Mellen 1582 Lda M. Mellen 1584 eRe creas C. H. Townsend 1586 Louis L. Mowbray 1587 _E. W. Gudger 1588 Louis L. Mowbray 1590 ..lda M. Mellen 1591 1595 eben Sei. MnO C. H. Townsend 1595 _C. H. Townsend 1596 Furp Savine av THE AQUARIUM. Brrp Visirors at Skea. AtKa-FIsH. Rep SNAPPER. Cover BULLETIN 1918 bake iSrecce, Amey =e} 4) FRONT ELEVATION OF THE AQUARIUM SHOWING PROPOSED THIRD STORY his addition is made necessary by the removal of the machinery from the rear to the front of the building == fra Aoom VA se 7 a Y ge OFFICE = MAIN, ENTRANCE GROUND PLAN OF THE AQUARIUM SHOWING POSITION OF BOILER AND PUMP ROOMS It is proposed to remove the entire mechanical department from the rear, to the basement of the front of the building. The space now occupied by engines and boilers would, in case of their removal, be available for exhibits. 1580 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Published by the New York Zoological Society Vou. XXI MARCH, 1918 NuMBER 2 IS THE AQUARIUM TO HAVE A SQUARE DEAL? HE Director of the Aquarium cannot re- frain from expressing once more his re- gret at the repeated failures to secure long needed improvement of the building. During a few days of each month wet coal has to be shovelled into the furnaces by firemen wearing rubber boots and standing knee deep in water. The sea has always invaded the fireroom floor and the underground pipe galleries during new moon tides. This almost impossible condition has been tolerated under constant protest. The Aquarium needs to have its mechanical department removed to the unused basement at the front of the building where it can be pro- tected during high tides. The installation of the machinery at the front of the Aquarium will render necessary the creation of a third story. The space vacated by pumps and boilers can be made available for exhibits to good advantage. During the high tides one of the pumps be- comes entirely submerged and ceases to operate, and the steam heat is cut off from the entire building until the tide falls; a serious matter in cold weather. The coal storage space is so limited that the Aquarium always has had to depend on two deliveries each week. This win- ter we are operating on the precarious basis of daily coal deliveries. If these should cease for forty-eight hours, the Aquarium would lose its collections, and be put out of business until next summer. The high tide of January 15 invaded the fire- room, flooded the ash pits under the boilers, and covered the day’s coal supply completely. It al- most covered the iron wheelbarrow from which wet coal was shoveled into the furnaces; in fact, the water was so deep, that the rubber hip-boots worn by the fireman were not high enough to protect him, and he was forced to abandon his duties for an hour. The return pump submerged and stopped, so that heat was cut off the entire building all the forenoon. was For evidence that the above described draw- backs have not been overstated, the reader is invited to study the accompanying photographs which were made in the fireroom of the Aqua- rium on January 15, 1918. If more evidence would be of interest, the following letter from the Architect of the Park Department is submitted. Mr. Kraus saw the fireroom when it flooded on October 24, 1917: CID OF was NEW YORK—DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. Boroughs of Manhattan and Richmond. Municipal Building, 10th Floor. Cabot Ward, Commissioner. October 1917. Mr. C. H. Townsend, Director, New York Aquarium, New York. Dear Sir: I visited the boiler room in the Aquarium this afternoon to see the conditions there during a high tide. I entirely agree with you that the present condi- tions are intolerable. The boiler room is cramped and the coal storage space very limited. 24th, Having seen the fireman in rubber boots shovel- ling wet coal into the furnaces, with the ash pits, at the same time, half filled with water, I must con- gratulate you on having been able to successfully 1581 FIRE ROOM, NEW ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Photographed by L. L. Mowbray YORK AQUARIUM Flooded at high tide. operate your mechanical department all these years with such handicaps. You can count on me for such asi can render in your endeavors to convince the City authorities of the urgent need of a change in the location of the machinery department as described in your recent report. assistance Very truly yours, (Signed) Jaros Kraus, Architect. The wretched and unsanitary conditions that exist in the Aquarium building are of long stand- ing. The Director is on record as having pro- tested many times during the past fifteen years against the official that ignored conditions which would not be tolerated in any other City building. neglect has The Aquarium had 1,595,118 visitors during the past year, and this attendance was lower than usual. It would seem that a museum pat- ronized by the public to such an extent should be put on a safe and sanitary basis without fur- ther argument. THE CLIMBING MUSSEL (Mytilus edulis) By Ipa M. Metien Illustration from a pen drawing by author HE sea mussel is not a home-body like the oyster, which settles in one spot for life; nor is it a great traveler. It does not use its foot to plow through the bottom mud, as do the fresh-water mussels, as it is a less ac- Rather, it prefers to gather with its friends upon the ledges or wharves at low water mark, where, holding fast to its moorings, it may feel the rocking of the sea and benefit by the rise and fall of the tides. If satisfied with the spot selected, the sea mussel remains an in- definite tenant. If food or other conditions turn out unfavorably, it moves on. tive species. The sea mussel has not sufficient strength in its small foot to support it against the sweep of the waves, nor even to permit it to walk without assistance. But its foot is quite equal to both ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1583 eappauacnaness —— Photographed by L. L. Mowbray FIRE ROOM, NEW YORK AQUARIUM Flooded at high tide. emergencies in the possession of a means for manufacturing what might be called provisional hands and arms. It is advisedly that we say the mussel’s foot is equal to the emergencies, since its brains are under its foot and the foot is therefore as good as a head. Indeed, rather better than some heads. In the end of the foot is a byssogenous cavity containing a byssus gland whose function it is to secrete slender threads of conchiolin called byssus threads which become hard and tough on contact with the water. Each thread may be likened to a long white arm with an open hand at the end. The arm remains attached to the base of the foot and can be broken off; but the hand, once fixed, adheres permanently to the spot. When the animal wishes to change its posi- tion, it puts out its foot and extrudes numerous provisional hands and arms, or byssus threads, which it attaches to the nearest objects upon either side of it, as well as before and behind, drawing them taut as far ahead as it can reach, in order that it may pull itself forward by means of their support. The doned with each change of its moorings and the threads in actual use may number seventy-five or more. old threads are aban- On glass, the sea mussel’s tracks ap- pear to the best advantage. The illustration shows the track of one as it traveled up the glass in a tank of sea water, searching, no doubt, for low water mark. It spent some days in the ascent, but after climb- ing eight inches, desisted and dropped to the bottom, resuming the ascent a week later. Other, smaller mussels in the same tank, climbed pa- tiently till they reached the which necessitated a journey of nearly twelve inches, and settled there. surface, They all stop occasionally when traveling, sometimes for several days at a time, perhaps to rest or manufacture new byssus material, or both. They have a preference for attachment to shells. One voung specimen fixed itself to 1584 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN THE CLIMBING SEA-MUSSEL Three of the positions that the mussel held during its ascent are shown a mud snail, and at the time of this writing is still traveling without exertion on its part—but has not yet reached its desired destination at the top of the water.* The shells they generally cling to are those of their own species, and bunches of mussels may be seen almost any- where along the shore attached to the rocks and spiles and ends of wharves—one might almost say, holding hands. The food of the sea mussel consists of micro- scopic organisms and bits of floating matter that drift to it. Until recent years mussels have not been con- sidered palatable in this country, though they have long been used extensively for food in Eu- rope, and are cultivated in “parks” in France, where stakes are driven in the mud and the in- tervening spaces filled in with wicker work for their accommodation. Clinging together in clusters in these enclosures, they are said to be gathered like grapes from a trellis. *For twenty-four hours the mud snail remained in one spot, an inch from the surface; but the mussel did not alight. SALT WATER AQUARIA IN THE HOME By Ipa M. Me.ien eae peculiar beauty and charm of animal and plant life in the sea arouses in our minds a natural craving to enjoy it close at hand. This is comparatively an easy task for residents of the coast, who may collect plants and animals for themselves and procure plenty of sea water; but for the inland aquarist it is a matter requiring more delicate care and closer concentration. Salt water, with the animals and plants, can be shipped inland from the coast. Formulas for the preparation of artificial sea water have been devised, but we do not know of anyone who has succeeded with them. That salts in water are not subject to evapor- ation, is illustrated by the eternal salinity of the seas, whose evaporation is replenished by water from the rivers that constantly flow into them; and though they acquire some additional salt from the rivers, their loss of that substance is so small that the new salt acquired really adds to their salinity. It is therefore quite practic- able to compensate the loss through evapora- tion in the salt water aquarium with fresh water from the faucet once a week, and a watering can is very good for the purpose. It is 75 years since the first salt water bal- anced aquarium was established in England, and many experimenters have been at work in the field since that time; but to secure a per- fect balance of marine animals and plants, it is still difficult to suggest an infallible rule. As with fresh-water forms, the animals depend largely upon the oxygen thrown off by the plants, while the plants absorb the carbonic acid The aquaria hav- ing capacities measured by the gallon are more satisfactory than those holding only quarts. There is small danger*from an excess of plants. but too much animal life is certain to prove fatal. All-glass aquaria are the best for salt water. and are the only kind used at the New York Aquarium for small marine balanced aquaria. gas exhaled by the animals. Marine collections of the happy family or- der are successfully maintained at the Aquari- um in eight-gallon jars, with two kinds of plants and as many as eleven forms of anima] life. The plants are the red alga (Soleria chor- dalis), sometimes attaching itself to rocks and again living free at the bottom, and the green sea-lettuce (Ulva latissima) buoyed with bits of cork to cover two-thirds of the surface and allowed to hang down ten inches from the top ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1585 BALANCED SALT WATER AQUARIUM on the side of the jar nearest the light. The animals are: Northern white coral (colonies ranging in size from 2 to 6 inches in diameter) ; Brown anemones (3 or 4) ; White anemones (3 or 4); Tunicates (Molgula) (3 or 4); Killifishes, 2 inches long (2 or 8); Variegated minnows, 2 in. long (2 or 3): Prawns, 1% inches long (2 or 3); Young eels, 3 or 4 inches long (1 or 2); Mud snails (Nassa obsoleta) (1 to Oyster (1); Little-neck clam (J’enus mercenaria) (1). Warning has been given to the beginner by limit his animals, It can be seen one to from the list just given that a gallon will accommodate more than one animal—even more than but in with much moderation cannot be urged at the start. some aquarists to the gallon of water. four experiments marine aquaria too Sea-lettuce is absolutely essential for the bal- anced aquarium. Other plants may be with it, as the red called flame (Grinella americana), and dead, sun-dried hy- used alga weed droids such as Sertularia argentea and S. pin- nata, make good ornamental effects. Other animals that fully in balanced aquaria are can be confined success small mussels say a quarter of an inch in length, rock bar nacles, annelids (especially the tube dwellers), and small crabs. Large crabs tear the plants and catch the fishes, but small mud and very spider crabs, of one-half inch or so in diameter, only truly comical animals) but desirable, as they pick up from the bottom. The hermit crabs are especially good scavengers. It is well to place an two of fine pebbles, white sand, or bird gravel on the bot- tom of the jar, and a few stones must be added for the attachment of and for the erabs to hide under. must be taken to wash the sand thoroughly. Bird gravel is very dirty and will ruin the aquarium if put in before are not interesting (crabs being seraps small inch or anemones Care cleansing. Hermit crabs should be provided with empty shells of a suitable size so that when they out- grow the home they are living in and go house- hunting for a larger one, the new tenement will be at hand. fight hard for the possession of a desired shell. They are pugnacious, and two will Little-neck clams and oysters, whose siphons are always busy, are valuable as clarifiers. Snails that avoided. The periwinkles do not thrive as w ]] consume vegetation should be in standing water, but no balanced aquarium is complete without a few mud snails (Nassa ob- soleta). They do not harm the vegetation ap- preciably, preferring animal food, and besides being excellent scavengers, are always interest- ing to observe as they move about with their in- quisitive siphons traveling a little ahead like an advance agent. Young specimens of starfishes may be kept. They live on mollusks, however, and a supply them Wt would not be possible to keep an oyster, clam, or any other mollusk alive in the jar with a starfish, and at best the starfishes are not long- lived in captivity. of the mud snails is necessary for Probably the most attractive of all small fishes is the sea horse; and the general desire to own one is so great that people even inquiré if they could not keep one in the same jar with their goldfishes! The little creature is difficult to provide for, except with running sea water and salt water Gammarus—the minute shrimp that infests the sea-lettuce. Some aquarists have succeeded in maintaining sea horses for a num- ber of months in balanced aquaria by feeding them with fresh chopped prawn on the end of a stick, which the little fish soon grows tame enough to take. A New York dealer in aquaria and aqua rium supplies, who sells sea horses, tells us that he feeds them on daphnia— the common 1586 water flea of the ponds—by taking the sea horses out of the salt water and the daphnia out of ihe fresh water, and putting them all into brackish water one-third salt and two-thirds fresh. Within an hour the sea horses are re- placed in salt water, and this process he re- peats each day. Fresh-water shrimps are a wel- come substitute for the salt water variety, and will live several hours in sea water. During a shortage of Gammarus, we have suc- ceeded in enticing some of the sea horses to eat the fresh water worm Tubifex, which will live for half an hour in salt water, and some were also coaxed to partake of enchytrae. One of the Chicago department stores maintains an aquarium and has succeeded in keeping five sea horses alive since last summer by feeding them on the new-born young of small, fresh-water viviparous fishes. These little tropical fishes are well known to aquarists, and include Guppyi or rainbow fish, Helleri or swordtails, Gam- busia, ete. Other fishes, also crabs and prawns, annoy the sea horses. but it is possible to keep anem- ones, barnacles, oysters and clams in the same jar with them. The salt water aquarium requires strong light, but should have very little direct sunlight, —none in the summer and not over an hour or two a day in winter. The most useful cover is one made of glass of the same diameter as the jar, with bits of cork glued to its edges at sev- eral places in such wise as to allow it, when set on the jar, to rest on the corks a quarter of an inch above the top of the aquarium. Such a cover prevents the escape of crabs, snails, etc., retards evaporation, and keeps out dust. Animals in all balanced aquaria at the New York Aquarium are fed three times a week with macerated clam. Care is taken to drop small pieces from the end of a stick or long wooden forceps upon the tentacles of the corals and anemones, which then may be seen to carry the food to their mouths. All food not eaten within a few hours in carefully siphoned off with a glass tube. For the inland aquarium, dried shrimp, des- sicated cod fish after the salt has been soaked out of it, fresh-water mussels, or fresh fish, fine- ly chopped, would serve. Fresh fish, however, is oily, and even an expert aquarist must take unusual care in using it. A bit of wood fastened at the end of a stick and covered with felt or cheesecloth, is useful to clean the inside of the glass. In the matter of impurities in the water, an ounce of preven- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN tion is worth many a pound of cure; particular- ly in the inland marine aquarium. The speedy removal of dying plants and dead animals is very essential. For this, a long wooden forceps is a convenient tool. Some aquarists advocate a bit of charcoal placed under the rocks as a clarifier. During a succession of gray days, the water may be aerated by lifting out a dipper full at a time and letting it fall back from a height of several inches. When the sand appears dirty, it is well to siphon off the bottom with a rubber tube until about four inches of the water have been drawn. This can be used again by filter- ing through four or five thicknesses of cheese- cloth, or letting it seep through a sponge placed in the bottom hole of a watering can. The same method may be employed if the water appears a trifle cloudy. What is only difficult, may appear to the novy- ice impossible. He must not be discouraged if his first efforts fail, however, but remember that “Patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles.” and, as a wise lady once remarked, the only difference between the difficult and the impossible is that the impossible takes a little longer time. SPEARING SALMON FROM A SHADED BOOTH By C. H. Townsennd METHOD of fishing to be seen, prob- ably, nowhere else, is that practised by the Wintun or Digger Indians of the Mc- Cloud River in northern California. When the salmon run begins in this mountain tributary of the Sacramento, three hundred miles from the sea, the Indians erect booths of branches and green leaves overhanging the wa- ter, through the half open bottom of which they strike salmon with the spear. The booth or bower is shaped like a conical tent and is high enough to accommodate a standing man, while the long shaft of the spear projects through the leafy top. The booth is supported on a framework of poles set firmly in the bank, its rim in close contact with the surface of the water, the bot- tom being without floor except for a mere shelf close to the bank on which the spearman stands. It is erected over a shallow pool or eddy just below a rapid or rifle where the upward moving salmon are likely to pause before rushing into more rapid water. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN BOOTH FOR SALMON SPEARING Built of branches and leaves by the Indians of McCloud River, California From a photograph made by C. H. Townsend in 1888 Being heavily shaded so that the light within is dim, while the water beneath is well illumin- ated by the light of day, the spearman can strike to good advantage. The spear used by the Wintun has a detachable barb, which is secured to the shaft by a stout cord, permitting enough play to prevent the heavy fish from tearing out the barb or breaking the shaft. With an Indian constantly on watch in a shelter of this kind, a good many salmon can be secured in the course of a day. In all our explorations of salmon waters in the region inhabited by the Wintun tribe, we observed this form of fishing employed only on the McCloud. The photograph was made on a bend of the river, just above the government salmon hatch- ery at Baird. THE SEA HORSE OF THE BLACK SEA By L. L. Mowbray In the summer of 1905 it was my good fortune to spend several months along the coast of the Crimea, with headquarters at the navy yard in Sebastopol. The docks about this locality are covered with marine life. Between the rise and fail of the tide the area exposed is covered with mussels (Mytilus), algae, and tube worms (Serpula). Below low tide mark there are hydroids and polyzoans in abundance. Among these the sea in considerable horse feeds and can be found numbers. It is a small species, not more than three inches in length, and of a bright yellow color. One day while leaning over the rail watching them feeding, I determined to catch some. Hay- ing no dip net, I took a boat hook and twisted a piece of wire round the end to form a loop six or eight inches long and three or four wide. When the loop of wire was placed near one of the sea horses, it would in most cases coil its tail around the wire and allow itself to be drawn to the surface of the water, rarely releasing its hold. In this way I many specimens, and secured the same species also about the shores of Balaklava and in tlt tide pools around Cape Khersones. succeeded in capturing Dried sea horses are frequently to be seen for sale on the streets of Sebastopol. 1588 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Bepartments - Aquarium C. H. Townsenp. Mammals W. T. Hornapay. Birds Reptiles WILLIAM BEEBE. Raymonp L. Ditmars. Lee S. CRANDALL. Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 111 Broadway, New York City. Yearly by Mail, $1.00. MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. Copyright, 1918, by the New York Zoological Society. Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy and the proof reading of his contribution. Ewin R. Sanporn, Editor and Official Photographer Vor. XXI No. 2 MARCH, 1918 THE MOST REMARKABLE FISHING- NET KNOWN—THE SPIDER’S WEB NET By E. W. Gupeer, Professor of Biology, State Normal College, Greensboro, N. C. OUIS BECKE, author of many interesting iG books on the life and customs of the South Sea islanders and on the habits of the fauna found therein, in one of these books, "Neath Austral Skies (London, 1909), tells the following interesting story: He says that many vears ago he was discussing the customs, habits, and manner of life of the inhabitants of western Polynesia with Dr. J. S. Kubary, a German nat- uralist and traveler of high standing. They were at the time traversing a path through the mountains of Ponapé, one of the islands of the Caroline Archipelago, lying northwest of New Guinea. It was early in the morning and spiders’ webs with the dew on them were found everywhere. They were very large, so much so that oceasion- ally one of them would obstruct the path of the travelers, and would have to be broken through with a stick. The size, strength, and beauty of these webs were so extraordinary as to attract Becke’s attention, and he spoke to Kubary of them. However, the German assured him that these were nothing compared to those which he had heard were to be found in the vicinity of Astrolabe Bay on the northeastern coast of that strange island-continent, Papua or New Guinea. Kubary told his companion that he had read in either a letter or a publication by the dis- tinguished Russian naturalist, Baron Nicolai Miklucho-Maclay, the statement that the moun- tain-dwelling tribes about Astrolabe Bay used similar spider-web nets for catching fish in their mountain streams. Now Miklucho-Maclay was a_ scientist of high standing, especially in ichthyology, a tray- eler of wide acquaintance among the savage can- nibals of New Guinea and the South Sea Islands, and had for some time resided among the tribes inhabiting the shores of Astrolabe Bay. Whether or not the Baron had actually seen the natives use the large spider-webs for catch- ing fish, Kubary could not say; but he certainly believed that the former had grounds for mak- ing the statement. Kubary’s own notion was that the natives somehow or other were able to remove the nets whole and uninjured from the branches of the trees between which they had been spun, and having fastened them with proper supports across the narrow streams, drove the fish into them. Becke next relates that years later, in a conversation with Sir John Robertson, Premier ot New South Wales and father-in-law of Mik- lucho-Maclay, he spoke of the death of the lat- ter from fever in New Guinea, and expressed great regret that the loss of the collections, journals, ete., of the naturalist probably made it impossible ever to trace down the spider-web fish-net story. Sir John, however, laughed at the story and expressed his belief that his son- in-law was simply playing on the credulity of the German. I have had careful search made of all the works available in the Library of Con- gress of both Kubary and Miklucho-Maclay, but with barren results so far as finding anything confirmatory of this interesting story. However, from another source we now come to a most important confirmation of the spider- web fish-net story. During the past summer while at work in the American Museum of Nat- ural History, New York City, on the Bibliogra- phy of Fishes, under the editorship of Dr. Bashford Dean and Dr. Charles R. Eastman, I examined a considerable number of books of travel to get fish references. Among these was one entitled Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals: a Naturalist’s Sojourn Among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea (Lon- don, 1906). The author is Mr. E. A. Pratt. a natural history collector of standing, and Gill Memorialist, 1891, of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain. Mr. Pratt spent two vears in New Guinea, mainly among the aborig- ines in the vicinity of Yule Bay on the south- east coast where he collected insects and birds- of-paradise. This book gives an interesting ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1589 NEW GUINEA NATIVES FISHING Reproduced from Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals, account of his experiences during this time. On pages 266 and 267 is found the following re- markable account of fishing with the spider-web nets. The accompanying figures are reproduc- tions of Mr. Pratt’s plates: “One of the greatest curiosities that I noted during my stay in New Guinea was the spiders’ web fishing-net. In the forest at this point (Waley, near Yule Bay), huge spiders’ webs, six feet in diameter, abounded. These were wo- ven in a large mesh, varying from one inch square at the outside of the web to about one- eighth inch at the centre. The web was most substantial, and had great resisting power, a fact of which the natives were not slow to ayail themselves, for they have pressed into the sery- ice of man this spider, which is about the size of a small hazel-nut, with hairy, dark-brown legs, spreading to about two inches. This dili- gent creature they have beguiled into weaving their fishing-nets. At the place where the webs are thickest they set up long bamboos, bent over in a loop at the end. In a very short time the spider weaves a web on this most convenient frame, and the Papuan has his fishing-net ready to his hand. “He goes down to the stream and uses it with great dexterity to catch fish of about one pound in weight, neither the water nor the fish sufficing to break the mesh. The usual practice is to stand on a rock in backwater where there is an eddy. There they watch for a fish, and then dexterously dip it up and throw it on to the bank. Several men would set up bamboos so as to have nets ready all together, and would then arrange little fishing parties. It seemed to me that the substance of the web resisted water as readily as a duck’s back.” Since writing the above, a third brief refer- ence to the spider’s-web fish-net has come to light. In 1913, Captain C. G. Rawling, a fel- low of the Royal Society of Great Britain, pub- lished in London a work bearing the title “The Land of the New Guinea Pygmies. An Account of the Story of a Pioneer Journey of Explora- tion into the Heart of New Guinea.” His ex- plorations were done in Dutch New Guinea, on the southern side of the western end of the island beginning in 1910 and covering about a vear and a half. On page 289 is found this in- teresting statement: the Bei) Sab NEW GUINEA NATIVE AND HIS SPIDER-WEB NET Reproduced from Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals. 1590 ZOOLOGICAL “The bushes round the camp (at the village at Ata- bo on the numbers of an im- coast) contained large mense spider; I do not know its name, but it is well known in other parts of New They soft balloon-like bodies. and Guinea. have spin a web of great strength. It has been commonly stated that these webs are utilized by the as fishing- nets, and that large fish are natives secured, but I am afraid that this is an unsubstanti ated yarn. Nevertheless, it fact that the children do take the webs off entire is a by slipping a ring of cane below, and that in them they fish the size of will carry sprats.” THE SARGASSUM FISH. CaLtLtep Marspiep ANGLER AND ‘TOADFISH. Pterophryne histrio. Ba le. e: Mowsray HIS fish, without doubt, is one of the most ab interesting and curious of fishes, and can be classed as a true subject of Aeolus, for it has no definite line of migration, is purely pelagic, and is dependent upon the course of drift of the sargassum weed. It is most abun- dant in tropical and sub-tropical seas, but has been taken on the coast of Norway. When it leaves the Strait of cast into the Atlantic clinging to the air vesicles that measure anywhere from the size of a man’s hat Florida and is of a floating mass of sargassum may it is at The strong west and northwest winds drive large to several miles in length and breadth the mercy of the winds and currents. beds of the weed easterly out of the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras and between the latitudes of 20° and 40 ways north, where there is almost al- an abundance of weed to be found. The little fish makes these floating beds of weed its whole world. Its color matches that of the weed, it feeds on the many forms of crusta- cea that live in the weed—principally shrimp, and there it builds its nest, fastening its eggs to the fronds by silk-like threads. SOCIETY BULLETIN rHE SARGASSUM FISH Sometimes called Marbled Angler and Toadtiish. Peter O’Phryne, as the fish is jokingly called by naturalists, is almost helpless without a mass of weed to cling to, being a very poor swimmer and dependent upon its hand-like pectorals for grasping and for darting at its prey. Holding fast to the weed, it dangles its little fishing rod, that nature has so cleverly set over its gaping mouth and whose quivering movement attracts As they attempt to nibble at the natural bait the rod is thrown back and the fisher strikes with lightning speed. passing animals. If the Sargassum fish is placed in a jar of water, it will settle to the bottom, resting on ventral and pectoral fins. pectorals are turned forward. In this position the The fish changes its position only occasionally, resting for hours at a time, motionless. If fishing is not good in will turn and fish as long facing the other way. one direction, it around When a shrimp is dropped into the jar with the fish it will start quivering its bait. There seems to be something magnetic about it, as it does not take long to get the shrimp interested. I have taken hundreds of these fish in the course of many years’ collecting in the Bermuda Islands. In size one finds them ranging from inch to half inches in length, the average size being from three-quarters of an four and a two to three inches. Like other anglers, they lose their bait at times, or have their fishing rod broken, and it is by no means rare to find one with the bait miss- ing from the end of its rod, or the rod broken off at various lengths. ZOOLOGICAL As previously stated, the sargassum fish is entirely pelagic, and when found along the shores it is there because it has followed some mass of floating weed. Another fish that looks to the untrained eye to be the same, but is found on careful examination to be of another genus, is the Marbled Angler (Antennarius scaber), which lives on rocky shores and about coral reefs. It can be recognized by its rough skin, the skin of the sargassum fish being smooth. THE COMMON SNAILS. Tuerr Retation to BaLtancep Aguartia. By Ipa M. Me.tien Illustrations from Sea-Shore Life and pen drawings by author. ALANCED aquaria, whether of salt or fresh water, are never quite satisfactory without snails; and most snails, especially very active varieties, are so attractive that no one who observes them closely can help develop- ing some interest in them. The snails are members of that group of mol- luses called gasteropods, which are character- ized by an unsymmetrical body, a well-devel- oped head, and a one-piece or uniyalve shell which is readily distinguished from the double or bivalve shells of clams and oysters. The amount of oxygen in the water is sup- posed to determine the growth of the shell. Snails differ in habits and structure. Some (principally the land and fresh-water species) have lungs, while others (mostly the marine forms) breathe with gills. There are certain kinds which die very soon if they become dry, and others, after spending years in a natural- ist’s cabinet, apparently dead, have been known to resume activities when placed in water. Some are separately sexed, while others are not. Most snails lay eggs, but a few bring forth their young alive. The hard shell of certain species, provided with a horny door or operculum with which the animal closes the shell’s opening after retreating within, serves as a protection against enemies; others, with thin, doorless shells, are defenseless and fall easy prey to aquatic insects, beetles and fishes. Shells are subject to erosion from the action of chemical and mechanical stimuli upon the prismatic layer. The tongue of the snail, also called a lingual ribbon, is set with even rows of minute teeth, only the forward sets of which are used. As these wear down, the rows behind, which are continually being formed, move forward on SOCIETY BULLETIN 1591 their membrane, and by this process of constant renewal the snail is always in possession of a serviceable rasping apparatus. This is drawn back and forth over a plant leaf or other edible substance, scraping and comminuting it pre- paratory to swallowing. The eyes are generally situated at the base of the tentacles. Snails possess some powers of regeneration even in the shell; and a hole cut in the shell of a common pond snail was observed to heal com- pletely in six weeks. Salt Water Snails—The Periwinkle (Littor- ina littorea), though prettily shaped, is not hardy in balanced aquaria, nor particularly to be desired because of its preference for a vege- table diet, which is inimical to the aquatic plants. If one lives near the seashore, however. he may keep periwinkles in his aquarium for a few months by feeding them with sea lettuce. which they will eat fresh or partly decayed. If provision is made for them to crawl up out of the water, they will do so, clinging to a stick or stone for hours as though waiting for the tide to rise. The Seaweed and Salt Marsh Snails (Lit- torina palliata and Melampus bidentatus) are also vegetarians, and fishes prey upon the latter. The Oyster Drill (Urosalpinz) is a hand- some little shell and will survive for some time, but as the presence of an oyster or clam is high- ly desirable for clarification in the salt water balanced aquarium and this small carpenter will bore his way through either, it is obvious that the helpless giants must not be placed at the mercy of the Lilliputian. In truth, no other molluses, even small ones, can be maintained with the oyster drill, which is a thorough can- nibal. Other seashore snails, such as the Rock Snail (Purpura lapillus), whose natural food is barn- acles, have proved fairly hardy in the home aquarium, but experiments to date point to the conclusion that the best of all salt water snails for this purpose is the mud snail. The Mud Snail (Nassa obsoleta) is found in all parts of the world. On the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts to Florida, it is the com- monest of small molluses, darkening the rocks and infesting mud flats and tide pools. When adult it moves only on solid surfaces, though the young hang by the foot to the sur- face of the water after the manner of fresh-wa- ter snails. Miss Dimon, who has made special studies of this species, thinks it effects locomo- ZOOLOGICAL Center: SEAWEED SNAIL PERRIWINKLE OYSTER DRILL: Right: Left: tion by the extrusion of mucus, “affording a semi-solid rod against which to push.” This is probably the method of locomotion of many snails. However, considerable difference of opinion exists on this point, some observers maintaining that snails move by muscular con- traction and relaxation of the foot, other theo- ries variously holding that they effect locomo- tion by means of a blood flow to the foot tissues ; by peristaltic contraction of the foot in undula- POTOMAC SNAILS tory waves; by action of the cilia on the foot and not by motion of the foot itself, ete. The mud snail requires considerable oxygen. Its siphon supplies the gills with oxygen from the water when submerged, while, when left dry at low tide, air is inhaled through the siphon and life sustained as long as there is some water remaining in the mantle cavity. Moisture is ROCK SNAILS SOCIETY BULLETIN to its existence, and it dies much sooner when deprived of it than when prevented from rising to the surface for air. Indeed, it is a burrower, and will bury itself in the mud and remain quiescent for a considerable period. necessa ry The sexes are separate but there are no ex- ternal distinguishing marks. Under natural conditions eggs are laid during the warm months. In small aquaria they appear at all seasons on the sides of the tank or attached to the sea-lettuce. The capsules, shaped like miniature urns, are dirty white, semi-trans- lucent, and may contain as many as seventy-five ova. The young hatch as invisible, free-swim- ming veligers, and, for several days prior to leaving the egg, the cilia of their large “ears,” under magnification, can be observed already in rapid vibration. The shell is only partly formed at hatching, but a couple of weeks’ growth com- pletes it, and the tiny creature now having lost its means of locomotion, no longer swims, but, snail-like, crawls on its large foot. Typical of snails, this species is a scavenger. It takes food only under water. It will eat al- gae and sea-lettuce but does little damage to the plant life of the home aquarium. Its favor- ite food is fresh meat in the shape of other mol- luses, worms, shrimps, crabs and dead fish, and it will assiduously clean up all the scraps fror the aquarium, only the eel surpassing it in seay- enging ability. For a slow-moving animal, bur- dened with a shell uncommonly heavy in a mol- It is recorded that several together have been ob- luse of its size, it is extremely voracious. served to capture a clam-worm (Nereis) and devour it alive, though we suspect that the worm must have been caught napping. The mud snail is nearly black. The upper surface of its foot is heavily pigmented, and the The shell is marked with deep, brownish grooves, and is so much subject to erosion that some specimens are worn away to the innermost layer. under or crawling surface is pale gray. When full grown it measures about an inch in length. closing the opening of the shell when the body The operculum is small, only partly is withdrawn. The animal often carries around a pretty lit- tle roof garden of waving green algae, and occasional specimens are so densely overgrown with the fringe-like plant Enteromorpha, that at first glance they might be mistaken for sea mice. The species is unique in the possession of a long inquisitive siphon that can be turned in any direction, and which, traveling on before ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1593 like an elephant’s trunk, tells its owner the na- ture of the object it is approaching. Small aquarium fishes do not molest it, and next to the minnows, eels and shrimps in activ- ity, the mud snail, without which no salt water balanced aquarium can be complete, serves as a useful and interesting pet. Fresh Water Snails —There are numerous species of American fresh-water snails, and most of them are preyed upon, either in the young or adult stage, by fishes. One of the few that attains a length greater than one inch, is said to avenge all the others by attacking and devouring little fishes. The two species most commonly used in our balanced aquaria come from other shores: the Red Ramshorn of Europe and the large brown Japanese Snail. The commonest of American fresh water snails are the Pond Snail (Lymnaea), its near relative Physa, the little fresh water limpet, Ancylus, the coiled shells called ramshorns, and the Potomac snail. The horn-colored fresh-water limpet, or river limpet (4ncylus), is a very small, sluggish and almost flat snail. It is a lung breather and has been observed to spend an entire winter out of water. It is hardly above a quarter of an inch long, and desirable only in an aquarium for ani- mals smaller than fishes, since the latter will prey upon it. Physa is one of the species credited with re- sisting dessication. It is a spiral snail with no operculum and a thin shell easily crushed in a fish’s jaws; and most species of the pond snail answer the same description, being thin-shelled and doorless like Physa, slightly longer and more pointed. One species of the pond snail, however, found in northern New England (es- pecially in Vermont) and called the Niagara snail (Lymnaea stagnalis), grows to be two inches in length and is large enough to be kept with goldfishes. But it has the reputation of capturing little fishes such as sticklebacks, also small salamanders; and it will attack the plants if not provided with special food, such as lettuce. The common pond snail is the most interest- ing of fresh-water snails, a pulmonate—that is to say, an air breather, having a lung and no gills. Crawling upside down, at the surface, on its broad, flat foot, it imbibes air so audibly that even small specimens can be heard sucking it in, and feeds on floating vegetable and animal sub- stances. Drawing small edible objects to its foot, which is provided with threads of fine cilia, whose action attracts like a magnet, it curls the foot so as to hold the food substances thus captured, and carries the repast below to be de- voured under water. It can drop to the bottom or rise to the top in an instant, and all feats of FRESH-WATER LIMPET aquatic motion are familiar to it except that it cannot swim through the water like a fish. Its most interesting performance is the man- ner in which it ascends from the bottom on a string of mucus extruded before it as it rises, Left: POND SNAIL; Right: PHYSA Physa is a near relative of the Pond Snail, When held in the same position, one shell opens to right and the other to the left. later descending upon the same string. These mucus strings are invisible unless they remain long enough to gather a covering of silt, but their presence is easily detected by passing a stick over or under the suspended animal. ay oR RED RAMSHORN SNAIL AND YOUNG The young—much enlarged—shown marked difference in shape of shell and size of eye and syphon. The pond snail is omnivorous, feeding largely on vegetable substances, but refusing nothing that is edible. A defunct comrade is soon cleaned out of its shell, and no scraps left by the fishes will escape the snail’s attention. It is MUD SNAIL, EGG CASE AND YOUNG Egg case and young much enlarged 1594 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN hermaphroditic, both sexes being present in each individual, but the eggs are cross-fertilized. The eggs number from seventy to one hundred. according to the species, are laid in horse-shoe shaped masses of gelatin attached to plants or to the sides of the aquarium, and hatch in two or three weeks. The ramshorn shells are of a very ancient type, being found in fossil remains of great an- tiquity. They are of numerous species, the com- monest being the brown Planorbis, a clumsy snail measuring scarcely more than half an inch in diameter. It lays about eighteen yellow eggs in gelatin and does well with little fishes such as shiners, banded minnows and dace. It often carries on its back a menagerie as well as a roof garden, colonies of protozoa and rotifers, water bears and other minute animals. Specimens are said to have become active after being without water for four months. There is a ramshorn shell (Planorbis magni- ficus) indigenous to certain streams of North Carolina, that is the giant of its type in this country, some specimens measuring one and three-eighths inches in diameter. It is called the Cape Fear River Snail. It has been ob- served chiefly for scientific data, has eyes when young which later degenerate and, becoming covered with cuticle, render the adult sightless. It is probable that the rarity of this large shell will prohibit its general introduction into home aquaria, although, as its name indicates, it is a magnificent snail. The European Red Ramshorn (Planorbis corneus rubra) originally introduced from Ger- many and numbers of which are now bred in America, is the ramshorn shell most commonly used in home aquaria; a handsome, active snail an inch and a quarter in diameter, ruby bodied and ruby-shelled when young, the shell becom- ing striated with brown and black as its size in- creases. It is also called Copenhagen, Coral, and Red Post Horn Snail, and occasionally Trumpet Snail. It breathes by means of a lung, often visiting the surface for air, and manages its shell more dexterously and gracefully than the American Planorbis, never giving the im- pression that it labors under an embarrassing weight. This is partly due to the advantage of having a longer body to control both the foot and the shell. Like most pulmonate shells (lung breathers) it is hermaphroditic and cross- fertilization takes place. The pink eggs, num- bering from ten to forty-five, are enclosed in an ovate mass of gelatin attached to the stems of plants. The eyes and the siphon (which is at the side of the shell, behind the body) are enormous in newly hatched specimens, and the shell at birth is thimble-shaped and shows no convolutions, the color being dirty yellow with faint touches of pink. The baby snail just out of the egg is barely visible to the naked eye, but begins ac- tivities at once, and can travel an inch in five minutes. The eggs are preyed upon by microscopic ani- mals of various sorts, but given a clean aqua- rium, a little lettuce and scraps of meat or fish, with chalk, gypsum, ground coral, plaster of paris or cuttlefish to provide lime for the grow- ing shells, and the red snail will breed rapidly. It is desirable to place only full grown speci- mens with fish, the younger ones being likely to fall prey to their finny companions. The red color is, speaking eugenically, a recessive trait, and is lost if the snail is bred with our native, sombre-hued ramshorns. The Potomac Snail (Viviparus viviparus, formerly Paludina) and the Japanese Snail (Viwviparus malleatus) have the fault of becom- ing somewhat dormant in the winter, moving about only on the milder days or when the sun is upon them. The Potomac Snail, whose shell measures an inch and a half in length, is gen- erally more sluggish than the larger Japanese variety, which is over two inches long. This sluggishness is so dominant a quality that those who have interbred them record the resulting progeny as sluggish and short-lived as the Po- tomac Snail. The males of both species have one tentacle shorter than the other, while those of the female are of even length. Both the Potomac and Japanese Snails are ovoviviparous, the eggs being retained within the mother’s shell till they hatch. The young shells are hard enough at birth to protect them from smal] aquarium fishes. It is believed that the female of the Japanese snail after once mat- ing, remains fertile the remainder of her life. Both species have remarkably small appetites, yet help to clarify the aquarium, and are of an ideal size to be kept with goldfish. They are gill breathers, not needing to rise to the surface for air, and have a horny operculum for the complete closure of the shell. The dark brown shell of the Japanese Snail often presents a fuzzy green aspect, because of the dense growth of minute plants with which it is overgrown. The only fertile specimen the present writer has observed, produced fourteen young in seven days and then rested. At birth the Japanese ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Snail is larger than the Potomac, and is an ex- quisite creature, of a delicate gray tint with slender brown tentacles and a single brown band in the translucent shell. A European snail now bred in this country and to some extent used in home aquaria, is the Transparent African Snail, also called African Paper-Shelled Snail (Lymnaea auricularia). It has a light, horn-color shell, over an inch in length, and a spotted brown body. The eggs and young are preyed upon by fishes, and only adult specimens are therefore desirable for aquaria. It is a short-lived, rapidly-breeding species and an excellent scavenger. In shape the shell is similar to that of the common pond snail, except that the opening is much larger, giving it the popular name of Ear Shell. It has a broad body whorl, and depressed spire. The Four Horned Snail (Ampullaria gigas) from South America is a vegetable feeder and destroys plants indiscriminately. It is large, like the Japanese snail, and has the peculiar habit of laying its eggs above the water in such a position that when the young snails hatch they may drop into the water immediately. Another snail of the same family, dmpullaria pinei, from Florida, grows over three inches long. These snails are attractive and a study of their habits will afford many pleasant and profitable hours; but if one wishes snails only to act as scaven- gers in his aquaria, the most desirable are those which will not attack the plants except to keep the fine plant growth cleaned off the glass, and will consume the scraps left by the fishes. The best fresh-water snails for this purpose that are readily procurable, are the European red ramshorn, the Japanese snail, and—when it is not asleep—the Potomac, common in nearly all our ponds and lakes. Of these the last two are the cleanest, but the red ramshorn is the best scavenger, though necessarily requiring more care, and will survive several years in cap- tivity. More than one variety of snail is not amiss in an aquarium, since tastes differ even among: snails. NEW MEMBERS July 1, 1917-December 31, 1917 BENEFACTOR Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson Founpers IN PERPETUITY Emerson MeMillin, Mrs. Russell Sage, Schiff Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, E. C. Converse, Mortimer L. ASSOCIATE Edwin Thorne, Joel W. Thorne, = or © or Founvers Samuel Thorne, Jr., Mrs. Richard Tjader. Patrons William Pierson Hamilton, Joseph A. McAleenan, Mrs. Samuel Thorne, W.V.S. Thorne, H. M. Tilford. Lire James Douglas, Coleman duPont, H. EK. Huntington, ANNUAL Beach, William N., Black, Mrs. Robert C., Bliss, Miss S. D., Bryce, Miss Mary T., Case, J. Herbert, Cornell, Miss Emily I.., Day, Miss Laura V., deForest, Henry W., Delano, Moreau, Dodge, Mrs. Cleveland H., DeTynfo, Ignacio, Hagard, Rowland G., Ibbeken, A. G. Karcher, Frank Joseph, Kennerly, Miss M. M., Lawrence, Mrs. W. W., Lichtenstein, Oscar R., MacFadden, C. K., Maxwell, George T., Milliken, Mrs. Gerrish H., Moore, Mrs. Barrington, Norrie, Mrs. E. L.. Breese, Pomeroy, Daniel E., Pond, Miss Florence L., Post, William H., Potter, James Brown, Pratt, Samuel, Richard, O. L., Richardson, Mrs. D. E., Rumsey, Mrs. Charles C., Schmidt, Fedor, MemMBErs H. deB. Parsons, EK. R. Sanborn, Rodman Wanamaker. Members Scribner, Charles, Shulhof, Otto B., Silliman, James R., Simon, Robert E., Smith, Geo. Stuart, Snyder, Valentine P., Soldwedel, Frederick A., Soule, Louis H., Spalding, H. Boardman, Stallforth, F., Stewart, Cecil P., Stillman, Joseph F., Stimpson, Edwin B., Stone, Charles A., Strauss, Mrs. Nathan, Jr., Thompson, LaMarcus A., Thursby, Sidney, Tiedemann, Theodore, Timolat, James G., Todd, W. Parsons, Townes, W. G., Townsend, H. N., Van Cott, Harvey A., Wagner, Charles H., Walbridge, Henry D., Walter, William I., Watson, Mrs. J. Henry, Weiler, Mrs. Julia O., Wheelock, Wm. H., Williams, Clarence E., Winter, Emil, Wrightsman, Charles J. RAINBOW AND STEELHEAD TROUTS Both Now Called Salmo irideus By C. H. Townsenp. ATURALISTS for some time have been of the opinion that these two trouts were identical. The steelhead is merely a rainbow trout that enters salt or brackish waters and has acquired the anadromous habit. As a result it becomes much changed, having a larger size when it re-enters the rivers, and a more salmon-like appearance. While the rainbow trouts of our Pacific coast states vary somewhat according to the streams they inhabit, the sea- run steelhead, wherever taken, remains uniform in appearance and ranges farther north, enter- ing streams in southeast Alaska. The writer has seen freshly captured steel- heads at the McCloud River hatchery on the 1596 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN RED SNAPPER Sacramento, three hundred miles from the sea, the appearance of which was very different from rainbows taken at the same point. It is now known that the so-called steelheads introduced with remarkable success by the Bu- reau of Fisheries into Lake Superior, are re- cognizable as rainbow trouts when they enter the streams. Moreover, the young rainbows artificially propagated in streams flowing into Lake Michigan, acquire to some degree the ap- pearance of steelheads. The appearance of trouts is affected by the waters they frequent, and this probably ac- counts for such changes in coloration as take place when the rainbow moves from streams into large lakes. As rainbows were introduced into streams tributary to Lake Michigan before the first so-called steelheads were introduced into Lake Superior, the presence of fishes re- sembling steelheads in Lake Michigan cannot well be explained otherwise. ITEMS OF INTEREST By C. H. Townsend A Large Octopus.—Dr. W. H. Dall the vet- eran curator of Mollusks in the U. S. National Museum, recently visited the Aquarium. While looking at a photograph of an octopus, he gave an account of one he saw captured in Alaska in 1880. It was observed in shallow water in the har- bor of Unalaska, and was soon harpooned and taken on board the Coast Survey vessel of which Dr. Dall was then in charge. When hung by the body from the main boom over the stern, the relaxed arms touched the surface of the water from a height of sixteen feet. This means that if measured across the out- spread arms the distance would have been more than thirty-two feet. Ancient Doors of the Aquarium. — These doors. like the building itself, are over one hundred years old, and are of consider- able interest to visitors. They are, in fact, the doors of a fort—West Battery, as the building was first called—and were constructed to withstand almost any force except the cannon shot of that period. Today they seem as out of place in New York as though they belonged to the Tower of Lon- don. It is not unlikely, however, that some other forts in the country have doors like them. The great doors of the Aquarium are each twelve feet high, five feet wide, and seven inches thick. They are constructed of three layers of heavy cross planking, thickly studded with bolts, the heads of which are over two inches in diameter, all riveted on the inside. The bolts on each door are in twelve vertical rows, with thirty-two in each row, a total of 768 bolts, five inches apart, for both doors. The hinges, three to each door, are propor- tionately massive. The small sentry, or postern door cut in one of the large doors. is fifty-seven inches high and twenty-one inches wide, with a ponderous lock, the key to which must have been three times the size of the key to the Bastile, that Lafayette presented to Washington and is now exhibited at Mount Vernon. The large doors were fastened with heavy timbers, the ends of which were let into the ma- sonry at each side. More Large Ewhibition Tanks—The work of enlarging the glass-fronted tanks at the Aquarium has been carried on until more than half of the ground-floor series have been extend- ed toa depth of twelve feet back from the glass. Most of these tanks have been rebuilt by the employes of the Aquarium, and all of them with material charged to the regular maintenance fund, without extra cost to the City for con- struction. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1597 The extent of this work may be seen by a glance at the ground plan of the building on page 1580 of this BuLietin. The enlargement of the exhibition tanks constitutes the most pronounced im- provement made in the Aquarium during recent years, and the increased swimming space attorded has been directly beneficial to their living occupants. Attendance. The total number of persons who vis- ited the New York Aqua- rium in 1917 was 1,595,118. an increase over the preceding year of 95,451. Fuel saving at the Aquarium—In compliance with the orders of the Fuel Administrator, the Aquarium was closed to visitors on January 18 to 22 inclusive. It was also closed on the Mon- day following. Steam heat was cut off all parts of the building, leaving it about as cold as a barn with the roof off. Just enough steam was generated to keep the pumps going and warm the water for tropical species that would other- wise have been lost. The engineer states that there was a saving in coal of about fifty per cent. The employes were on duty and kept warm by engaging in vigorous house-cleaning. Bird Visitors at Sea.—Most of the land birds that alight on vessels at sea, do so for the pur- pose of resting. But some water birds, in no way under the necessity of finding a dry perch. often make themselves quite at home on a ves- sel cruising near their nesting rocks. This is a common trait of the various species of gan- nets (Sula) called boobies. During the investi- gations of the U. S. Fisheries Steamship dAlba- tross in the Gulf of California, boobies often rested on the rigging of the vessel, especially when the vessel was working about the rocky islets where they breed in great numbers, There is little reason to believe the booby the stupid fowl sailors have always credited it with being, since many birds unaccustomed to the presence of man are quite fearless. The writer made the accompanying photo- graph on the deck of the Albatross, while clouds of black smoke from the funnel drifted past the boobies perched on the main boom without dis- turbing them in the least, and the sailors were able to catch some of them with their hands. ATKA-FISH OR ATKA MACKEREL The