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Vou. XVII. No. 1 449.) JANU oe 1914
j/ -«
poe CrET Y
BULLETIN
REM ASSESS
SipHElees MASE MEA ESTA NE AS
fl I
Published by af
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCI
AA II on AULSOONTANNA UMTS UUL USNs UONTN AOL SSAS ESOT EECCA HTT
mn AMEN NCA AM TTT ATA
wit ee a ae a ae TAT
AEDHTA HRP HL Peet AWE
Ti FREUND rere
Officers of the New York Zoological Society
President
Henry Farrrietp Osporn.
AB xst Vice-President
SamMvuEL TuHorNe.
Second Vice-President
Joun L. Capwavaper.
Secretary Creasurer
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street. Percy R. Pyne, 80 Pine Street.
Executive Committee
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
’. Percy. R. Pyne, SaMuEL TuornNe,
“Wituiam Wuire Nites,
Levi P. Morron,
Wm. Pierson Hamitron,
Lispenarp Srewart,
Frank K. Srurais,
The Mayor of the City of New York.
Henry FarirrireELp Osporn,
Wituiam C. Cuurcu,
LisPENARD STEWART,
H. Casimir ve Ruan,
Levi P. Morron,
ANDREW CARNEGIE,
Joun L. Capwa.aper,
Mapison GRANT,
F. Aueustus SCHERMERHORN,
Percy R. Pyne,
Georce B. GrinneE.u,
Grorce C. Crark,
Board of Managers
Ew Officio
» Class of 1914
Hvuen D. Aucuinctoss,*
Cuartes I’, Dierericn,
James J. HI,
Georce F. Baker,
Class nf 1915
Witiiam Waite Nites,
SaMuEL THORNE,
Henry A. C. Taytor,
Frank K. Srurais,
Class of 1916
CieveLtanp H. Doper,
C. Lepyarp Burairr,
Freperick G. Bourne,
W. Austin Wapsworrtu,
Henry Farrrietp Oszorn, Lax Officio.
The Presiven’ of the Department of Parks.
Grant B. Scutey,
Wm. Pierson Hamivron,
Rosert S. Brewster,
Epwarp S. Harkness.
i
Grorce J. Goutp,
Ocpen MILts,
Lewis Rutuerrorp Morris,
Arcuer M. Huntineton.
Emerson McMittin,
Antuony R. Kuser,
Watson B. DickerRMANn,
Mortimer L. Scuirr.
General Officers
Wituiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenn, Director of the Aquarium.
La Farce & Morris, Architects. H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntineron, Prosector.
Officers of the Zoological Park
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director.
C. Witu1aM Breese, H. W. MerkeEt,
L. S. Cranpatu, W. Reip Burair,
Exwin R. Sanporn.
G. M. Berersower,
Grorce A. Dorn,
H. R. Mircue tu,
Raymonp L. Dirmars,
Officers of the Aquarium
Raymonp C. Ospurn, Assistant.
Rosert SurcwirFe.
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director.
Wasuineton I. DreNysz.
* Deceased.
ee Fe
Za@OrOsk CO GL Coxe, “s,0-'OCLEREY, BULLETIN
» ee
/ on yan nstity.
CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1914 lan
\ JAN 3 1914
\ f,
National Nusev>~
PAGE
(© VESTA VAAL SST AS |e ene rs pe Ae Frontispiece
A Resuxt or Our Victory Over THE FEATHER TRADE Qc cee W. T. Hornaday 1061
Two Booxs Apovr Our ANIMALS Qc. cece =e hes 1062
Tue Socrery’s AFRICAN EXPEDITION... occ eee (A letter from R. L. Garner) 1062
Tue Mikapo Pueasanr ..W.. ss selgss Saeed meee ke REE OI RE Ap Nae ..C. William Beebe 1066
Arry.-Grn. Carmopy’s Assautt on THE Micrarory Birp Law, ........-. W. T. Hornaday 1068
AGS RHR ORETGIOUS| ORR GUAT 27.2 ees Re eo arti iss nee eae (Chicago Inter-Ocean) 1068
Our Girt Bison Hepp... PIR Oa ae coeene bse Se Ein aes (Cincinnati Times-Star) 1069
MEETINGS ........... TT Tra enn OE cee ey et ng neta an ost 1069
INE IN USI VATE UB RIS aca oece en cpt eu ef mee 20 Un ln eo oa SR ae ae NS 1069
Ties cay sO gia LENT Fle Sp ween es Ir A NN ef cet ce eal ck oe E sea Ee leiapeee fMeea ee 1071
a Merrec WAV ATID TD ol OHACNUAUERY, fase Ocoee oR cee or SS ons headless setae nn Sh Et bea ee Lee S. Crandall 1076
Destruction or Poxrar Bears ............ Be fede nee seme S reses Ry ei a Lorenz Hagenbeck 1077
YOUNG FEMALE CHIMPANZEE
SUSIE
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCTE Tx
BULLETIN
Published by the New York Zoological Society
Vot. XVII
JANUARY, 1914
NuMBER 1
A RESULT OF OUR VICTORY OVER THE
URING the recent struggle in the United
States Senate for the exclusion of wild-
bird millinery, the friends of the birds
persistently maintained that the closing of our
market would inevitably result in a marked
diminution in bird slaughter. We claimed that
with our ports tightly closed, the quota of birds
annually slaughtered for the American market
hereafter would not be killed. We did not,
however, anticipate the quick confirmation of
our views that has reached us.
From Mr. James Buckland, of London, one
of the foremost champions of the birds against
the British feather trade, we have received a
set of the catalogues of the London feather auc-
tion of October 14, 1913, carefully annotated
as to sales, prices and withdrawals from sale.
They show that exactly ten days from the sign-
ing of our tariff law by President Wilson, the
London feather market suffered a tremendous
decline. Out of 1174 lots that were offered,
368 had to be withdrawn, because of bad
prices and no buyers.
It is with much interest that we have made
a complete summary of the contents of the prin-
cipal lots that had to be withdrawn because of
the closing of the American market. The list
is as follows:
AND FEATHERS UNSALABLE IN
LONDON ON OCTOBER 14, 1913.
SKINS
1203 skins of Greater Bird-of-Paradise.
127 . Rifle Bird-of-Paradise.
761 os Emu.
1212 se Eared Pheasant, (‘“Nuwmidi’).
1237 oe Lady Ambherst Pheasant,
FEATHER TRADE
790 skins of Golden Pheasant,
142 s Impeyan Pheasant.
105 oe Pelican.
318 ee Marabou Stork.
22810 = Kingfishers.
173 % Searlet Ibis.
3321 a Terns, (“White Sea Swallows’).
400 oS Gulls.
30 ss Owls.
308 ma Cockatoo.
1759 ss Parrot.
Egret plumes, (and some Heron),
= 14,964 birds.
17402 wing and tail feathers of Condor.
1993 s y Eagle.
34681 a = Hawk.
544 wings of Macaw.
2494 ounces
Today, Germany is much disturbed by the
contest between the defenders of the birds and
the German millinery trade. Professor C. G.
Schillings is vigorously agitating, but he is ha-
rassed by lack of funds, and apathy on the part
of many German ornithologists and zoologists.
Apparently the German zoological societies are
doing nothing; and on the other hand, the mil-
linery trade is well organized, well financed and
ably led. The apathy of the bird-lovers of Ger-
many is truly amazing. As in England, the
feather trade is seeking to throw dust in the
eyes of the people by solemn talk about “ex-
perimenting’” and “colonizing” and “breeding”
plume birds for the feather trade. This may
deceive many ignorant persons, but all those
who know something about wild birds are well
aware of the fact that years before any such
experiments could by any possibility succeed,
the wild “plumage” birds would all be dead—
unless given absolute protection immediately.
1062 ZOOLOGICAL
The Director of the New York Zoological
Park has addressed to the Royal Zoological So-
ciety of Amsterdam (of which he is an hon-
orary member) a lengthy memorial, urging that
powerful Society to inaugurate a campaign to
induce the Dutch Government to at once forbid
by imperial decree all exportations of wild
birds’ plumage from all the islands of the
Dutch East Indies. ‘The memorial was submit-
ted to the council of the Society, and a commit-
tee was immediately appointed to take steps to
secure the end desired. Its first official act was
to cable a request for copies of all the litera-
ture of the recent struggle in America, and of
the resulting law.
If the Netherlands Government siiould decide
to take the action suggested, it would electrify
all Europe, and deal a staggering blow to the
exterminators of the various species of birds-
of-paradise, crown pigeon, and many other
species. Stranger things than this have hap-
pened.
Under date of November 28, a letter from
the Baroness von Robberg, of Baden, Germany,
conveys the following highly significant infor-
mation regarding the effect of the new Ameri-
can law on the feather trade in Germany and
in France. The Baroness writes as follows:
“The fruits of the decided victory in Amer-
ica are beginning to show in this country. An
article in a milliner’s paper—not a fashion
journal, but a circular issued for the trade—
informs us that the fashion for aigrettes has
come to an end, due to the new American laws
and the proposed Fnglish bill. These feathers
are now selling in Berlin at 20 per cent. dis-
count. The “Kolnische Zeitung’—one of the
principal newspapers—publishes an article
dealing with the same subject. They say the
Paris fashions are being altered in accordance
with the new laws, and that a prohibition in
England will not throw the feather-trade-
centre to the Continent, but make an end of it
altogether.” Week. de
TWO BOOKS ABOUT OUR ANIMALS.
WO charming little books, wholly devoted
to our animals, have recently appeared.
Both are books of verses. “Sonny Boys’
Days at the Zoo” is by Stanley C. and Ella B.
Arthur, (The Century Co., 90 cents, net). It
is beautifully illustrated by Mr. Arthur, and
Mrs. Arthur’s verses admirably fit the pictures.
In many of the pictures the figure of the win-
some little lad looking at the wild beasts is
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
very appealing to all those who are yet so old-
fashioned as to love little children.
“Wild Animal Verses” by Mrs. A. M. Cas-
tello (Broadway Publishing Co., $1) is a thor-
oughly commendable collection of very droll
and often mirth-provoking poems about our
beasts and birds. It is suitably illustrated.
Mrs. Castello has a genuine sense of humor,
and her versification is excellent. Among the
best of the poems are “An Australian Suffrag-
ette,’ which deals with an emu and an ostrich;
the “Lament of the Tasmanian Devil,” “Every
Doe Has Her Day,’ “The Chipmunk” and
“What the Horned Owl Thought About It.”
Making verses about wild animals is to be
classed as hazardous employment. Many are
called, but few are chosen; and we are glad
that this attractive little volume makes good.
Because of a belief that these two volumes
will be of interest to the members of the Zoo-
logical Society and to Park visitors, they will
be kept for sale at the information burean ‘in
the Lion House. We TB
THE SOCIETY’S AFRICAN EXPEDITION
R DITMARS has recently received the
M following graphic letter from Mr. R. L.
Garner, who is now in the French Con-
go, searching for gorillas:
“Nomba Sanga, pres Iguela, Gabon,
“Lae Ngovi, Congo francais.
“T have word that my wire gratings are on
the way. They will probably arrive by the next
periodical flat-boat, which is due here—that is.
in Fernan Vaz—about the 30th October—but
it may be a month late.
“Yes, you have to be on the spot to know
what gorilla collecting means here, but you may
depend upon it, even with my leg now much
mutilated, I will get ’em, and when I get ’em
I'll find some way to keep ‘em.
“T have now one of the very best specimens
you ever saw. It is not the biggest, but the
best—because it eats bread and bananas. Bread?
Well at 20 cents a pound for flour you would
call it eating bread. This little beggar eats—
and destroys—about a pound a day. I have
had to send to Nenglie Sika, about ninety kilo-
metres (sixty miles) for some flour, and have
just received twenty-five kilos (about forty-
eight pounds) today.
“At present I have to keep my gorilla caged.
I have a very comfortable affair about twenty-
seven inches by four and a half feet long and
SUSIE IN FOUR POSES WHICH SHE ASSUMED HERSELF
1064
thirty-five inches high—so the little seamp is
not really cramped. I am building it a house
about seven by eleven feet square and nine feet
There we will get better acquainted. At
present I can’t handle it, although it recog-
nizes me and readily distinguishes me from
high.
other natives. I allow no one else to feed it or
to clean out its cage or to put in its bedding,
and it knows whom it has to depend upon for
such things. I keep a native boy to carry away
the waste, sweep up the veranda and to search
for native food for it. I am not depriving it
entirely of its natural diet, and periodically I
give it a good feed on the things it likes. It is
very fond of ntonos (a species of wild ginger)
and it eats the flowers, buds, stalks and leaves
of this plant, with avidity. Rice? No, not
even a smell of it. It also eats some sweet ba-
nanas, at least, it eats part of the rinds and a
little of the fruit.
“My gorilla shows a higher degree of intel-
ligence than I had hitherto attributed to the
race, and is now becoming more amiable, but
she has some ideas of her own. Every day I
draw the grass bedding out of the cage in order
to exchange it for clean, dry bedding for the
night. Every time I begin this operation she
protests. Sometimes by seizing as much of the
straw as possible and packing it close in a back
corner of the cage. At other times she lies
down on it, face downward, spreads out both
arms and both legs to cover as much space as
possible. Always, in putting the fresh straw
into the cage, she gets busy and helps to draw
it through the bars and arranges it with much
care and concern. If she sees anyone except
myself touch the box or basket in which I keep
her food, she at once wants to fight and some-
times makes an angry outcry. Today (Sept.
9th) I think she has eaten nearly a pound of
bread, and for the first time has eaten some
of the crust. She shows a decided preference
for fresh bread. Today she has been in a fine
mood. Several times she has beaten a tattoo
on the end or floor of the cage, and twenty times
or more has made that peculiar beating of the
breast. I only hope that I can hand her over
to you in this condition.
“Now a word, apropos to your remark about
the temperature of 94 degrees. For some
strange reason or the lack of reason you good
Christians in the so-called temperate zone, im-
agine that it is so hot in the tropics that hens
lay hard-boiled eggs. Yes, sometimes I want to
send to the coast for an overcoat. Just what I
have done within the last two weeks: I have
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
slept under two blankets every night for three
months, but the temperature has ranged (I im-
agine) along in the 50’s or perhaps a bit lower.
I don’t think I have ever seen it 94 degrees F.,
here. I have no thermometer of any kind, but
the Centigrade is the standard here, and I think
36 to 38 degrees is about the hottest thing we
have to handle here. In fact, 33 to 35 degrees
is, I think, about the run of the kiln here in
February, March and April, and the other
months a bit lower. But June, July and Aug-
ust are the cold months here, and for the last
seven or eight weeks I have suffered more from
cold than from heat. Of course, gauze under-
wear and khaki suiting are not insufferably
warm clothing, but I have a two and a half
yard, double width, West of England cloth
(suited for overcoating) and a cotton blanket
of the ordinary kind. Besides those I have
double sheeting of twilled stuff and a double
waterproof under me, with a waterproof cloth
spread under the bed and a mosquito-bar over
all. In spite of all this I have to keep myself
well tucked in to avoid the cold. In January.
February and March I usually sleep under a
single blanket, but no night is warm enough
to induce me to sleep without one at least over
my loins and back.
“You must excuse my crooked writing, as I
have a very badly swollen thumb, due to a
splinter stuck under the nail about a quarter
of an inch while hewing out by hand a piece of
timber for the door of my gorilla house. The
wound is very painful and necessitates a kind
of whole-arm movement in writing.
“ec
I add a paragraph, as we haye just had a
bit of excitement in my back yard, and I am
sorry I can’t send you a moving picture of the
scene. I wasn’t at the battle of Waterloo, but
I have read some graphic accounts of it, and
I imagine that it was about like the scene I have
witnessed today in killing a python about 12
feet long. The snake had come within some
twenty feet of the galley while eight men were
at work in building a new one and caught one
of my full-grown chickens. At the sound of
alarm given by the other fowls my head man
sprang to the fore and instantly cried out
‘Mboma mpolo!’—a big boa. Then he and an-
other native seized each a pole of about fifteen
feet in length and the battle began. I shall
not undertake to describe to you the manoeuvres
of my black brigade, but briefly stated, they
would make a comic opera sit down and look
on. By the laws of physics that I was taught,
called communicated force or motion, I imagine
that the antipodal denizens are now feeling the
TREE KANGAROO
1066
shock, which they will innocently report as a
seismic disturbance.
“Hoping to receive a detailed letter, I am,
“Yours very truly,
September 4, 1913. “R. L. Garner.”
THE MIKADO PHEASANT.
By C. Wituiam Breese.
ERHAPS the rarest bird which has been
Pp acquired by the Zoological Society during
the past year is the Mikado Pheasant, a
cock and two hens being now in the pheasant
aviary. The cock is blue-black, with a purple
fringe to the feathers of the neck, mantle and
breast, each enclosing a velvety black spot.
The remainder of the upper plumage is edged
with steel-blue. The secondaries and many of
the wing-coverts are tipped with white, while
the tail feathers have white cross-bars. The
female is harmoniously clothed in quiet hues of
olive-brown, rufous and buff.
Seven years ago Mr. Goodfellow, while on a
collecting trip in the highlands of Formosa ob-
tained two long black and white tail-feathers of
an unknown species of pheasant which were
subsequently placed in the British Museum and
received the name of Calophasis mikado. These
were obtained from the head-dress of a native
hunter.
The following year the skin of am adult male
was obtained, but nothing was learned of the
living bird or its habits until 1912 when Mr.
Goodfellow went to Mount Arizan in central
Formosa and with much difficulty secured no
fewer than eleven live Mikados, eight cocks and
three hens.
These birds are confined to the steep slopes
of this one mountain and as the birds will prob-
ably soon be exterminated every fact in regard
to their life history is of interest.
These splendid pheasants do not occur be-
low an elevation of a mile above the sea and
keep to the sharp ridges which jut out from the
mountain. In many places these slopes are cov-
ered with thick forest, in addition to an equally
dense undergrowth of bamboo higher than a
man. In such places, with the dominant trees
cypress, junipers, oaks and pines, the hardy
birds make their home. On some of the slopes,
the steepness and rocky character permit only a
growth of grass and here it is impossible for a
man to descend without the aid of a rope. In
early morning and evening the birds come out
of the dense forest, over the ridge to feed on
the slopes, and it was only by setting hundreds
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
of snares along the summit of this ridge that it
was possible to capture the pheasants alive.
They were scattered and not numerous and sel-
dom were any observed. Besides the pheasants,
tree partridges, pigeons, babbling thrushes,
woodcocks and a monkey were captured in the
snares.
Once a cock and two hens were seen, the lat-
ter flying down the cliffs at once, and the for-
mer remaining behind clucking until a second
Mikado cock was flushed. The birds could not
be baited with grain and indeed their diet
seemed to consist chiefly of green food and vari-
ous insects. When captured it was with diffi-
culty that they were taught to eat rice. Mar-
tens seem to be the worst enemy these pheas-
ants have, and after the birds were in camp in
cages, these blood-thirsty animals would come
close to the tents, requiring constant vigilance
to keep them from injuring the birds. Both
sexes of the Mikado pheasant make a cheeping
noise like young turkeys, and when cornered
and frightened, the cock hisses like a snake. In
a wild state they nest about the end of April.
The hardiness of these pheasants is evident
from the fact that not a bird was lost in transit,
and all reached England safely, where they
were deposited in the aviaries of Mrs. John-
stone. Here in the summer of 1912 I saw them
and was thrilled at the thought of their rarity
as only an enthusiastic ornithologist can be.
The females laid in due season, and from ten
eggs sent to the London Zoo nine chicks were
hatched. Of these the New York Zoological
Society has been fortunate enough to secure a
trio of birds in perfect health, from which it is
hoped to maintain the species in this country.
These pheasants in spite of the very different
coloring of the cocks, are closely related to El-
liot’s Pheasant. The period of incubation, how-
ever, is twenty-eight instead of twenty-four
days, and the eggs are larger and the chicks
darker than their ally of the mainland of Asia.
Wind Cave Bison Herd—The herd of bison
which left the Zoological Park in charge of
Chief Clerk Mitchell, Mr. Rush and Mr. Dille
arrived at the Wind Cave National Park on
schedule time. Instead of stock cars, the Amer-
ican Express Company provided two steel ex-
press cars with modern equipment for running
in high speed express trains. The bison were
swiftly crated, placed in the cars at Fordham,
New York City, and travelled the entire dis-
tance in fast express trains. Mr. Mitchell re-
ports that all connections were closely made
and the bison safely liberated on their range.
YOUNG MALE AXIS DEER, BORN IN THE PARK
1068
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Bepartments -
Mammals
W. T. Hornapay.
Reptiles
Raymonp L, Dirmars
Birds Aquarium
C. WittiaM BEEBE. C. H. Townsenp.
Lee S. CRANDALL. Raymonp C. OsBpuRN
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1914, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.S
Etwin R. Sansorn, Editor.
Vor XV UL ENon iT. JANUARY, 1914
ATTORNEY-GENERAL CARMODY’S AS-
SAULT ON THE MIGRATORY
BIRD LAW
On November 8, the Attorney-General for
the State of New York set up a new States
Rights bogey, and under its benign influence
formally and officially declared that the fed-
eral migratory bird law was “unconstitutional.”
Later on, he declared that his opinion would
be strictly enforced throughout the State of
New York.
The officers of the New York Zoological So-
ciety to whom this opinion was referred im-
mediately challenged the legal soundness of it,
and disputed its accuracy as to the enforce-
ment of the federal law in this State. In the
lengthy correspondence with Mr. Carmody that
followed, and the exploitation of the subject in
the press, the Society’s position has been thor-
oughly sustained. In the beginning we as-
sumed that the National Government, whether
our Conservation Commission co-operates or
not, will enforce the federal migratory bird law
in the State of New York. Desiring, however,
to be well grounded in that belief, we referred
the matter to the Attorney-General of the
United States, and requested information.
Promptly we received from the Assistant
Attorney-General, Mr. Ernest Knaebel, a let-
ter which closed with the following statement:
“Tt goes without saying that the Attorney-
General of the State of New York cannot pre-
vent the enforcement of a federal statute, and
it is not to be assumed that he has attempted
to do anything of that kind.”
In view of the foregoing, and of the further
fact that officers of the United States Govern-
ment are now actually looking after the en-
forcement of the migratory bird law in the
State of New York, it seems very desirable
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
that the public should be informed that at pres-
ent, and until it is set aside by the United
States Supreme Court, the federal bird law is
fully as constitutional as any other federal law
on our statute books.
Surely no argument is necessary to convince
any one save Mr. Carmody that every law is
in force until it is regularly and adequately re-
pealed, or set aside by formal process from the
bench.
The Attorney-General has invited us to join
him in bringing a test case, in order that he
may, if possible, prove that the best bird law
now in force is unconstitutional! So long as
the United States Government enforces that
law, we are entirely satisfied with its status.
In any event, however, we hope that this State
—the foremost in wild life protection—never
will be disgraced by being made the plaintiff
in an action against the United States to de-
stroy the McLean law. In time a test case
may be brought, but let it be by the enemies
of the birds rather than by a representative of
the people who did so much to bring the fed-
eral bird law into existence. W. To:
A SUPEROFFICIOUS OFFICIAL.
Despite the fact that the Congress of the United
States has passed the McLean act for the protec-
tion of migratory birds, which seems the greatest
measure yet placed upon the statute books of the
country for the protection of bird life, and despite
the further fact that this law has not yet been held
unconstitutional by any properly qualified court,
Attorney-General Carmody, of the State of New
York, has taken it upon himself to exercise judicial
functions for the entire country and to proclaim
that the law will not be obeyed in his state.
Attorney-General Carmody, in an opinion given at
the request of the New York State Conservation
Commission, has characterized the act as “an unwar-
ranted invasion by the federal government of a
power that belongs under the federal Constitution
to the state exclusively.” In a letter addressed to
Mr. Carmody, Dr. William T. Hornaday, Director
of the New York Zoological Park, shows conclu-
sively that Mr. Carmody has been superofficious in
attempting to usurp the power of the courts.
Dr. Hornaday makes the very sensible point that
a state officer has no right, by mere dictum, to set
aside any federal statute, this province only vesting
in the federal courts. Thus he says:
“Surely it requires no legal acumen to con-
clude that if a State Attorney-General can, by
the writing of an official opinion, set aside a
federal statute, then no federal statute is safe
in any state. As a layman the logic of common
sense pointed out to me the conclusion that
nothing less than a federal court can set aside
or nullify a federal statute.”
ZOOLOGICAL
The matter of course, can only be determined by
the courts. lt would seem that the nation has the
right, by law, to protect migratory birds which,
owing to their habits, are not native of any state or
section. In any event it is not a matter for the law
officer of any state to determine. If the law officer
of a state can, by an opinion, nullify a federal law
there is no use passing national laws.— Chicago In-
ter-Ocean December 3, 1913.
OUR GIFT BISON HERD.
When Pot-Hunters were killing buffalo for their
hides at $2 a head, and transcontinental trains were
often delayed waiting for herds to cross the tracks,
the man would have been regarded as crazy who
prophesied that within fifty years buffalo born in
captivity in New York City would be transported
in crates to guarded preserves in the West, in an
effort to prevent the race from becoming extinct.
Yet that is what happened this week. And the move-
ment of fourteen individual buffaloes is regarded by
animal experts as the biggest thing that has hap-
pened in years.
The men who are trying to keep the one distinct-
ive American animal from dying out have been en-
couraged in late years to note a slow but certain
increase in the various herds—some in caged cap-
tivity and some in fenced ranges or preserves. The
experts have been worried, however, by the prob-
able results of continued inbreeding. They have
feared the development of constitutional weakness
creating a uniform liability to some special and ac-
curate variety of pip, which might, thus, with a
fair start, put an entire herd off the map, so to
speak. It is to avoid this danger that fourteen of
the animals in the Bronx Park Zoo are being shipped
to the Wind Cave National Park, near Hot Springs,
South Dakota. The shipment includes seven of each
sex and the individuals run from frisky calves to
morose and hairy bulls. The crates will have to
be carried twelve miles from the nearest railroad
station to the spot where the animals are to be let
loose to find their own three-a-day in a state of
nature instead of eating oats from a box or peanuts
through a fence. Animals from other herds will
also be liberated on this range, and it is believed
that a new and vigorous strain of buffalo blood will
be established after domesticity has followed the
scraps of early acquaintance. Anyway, the whole
thing is a pretty soft snap for fourteen buffaloes
that were born in Bronx Park, and have been kept
in paddocks about as big as a country estate in New
Rochelle. —Cincinnati Times-Star, December +, 1913.
Meetings: The Annual Meeting of the Zoo-
logical Society will be held in the Grand Ball
Room of the Waldorf-Astoria—as in former
years—on the evening of January 18, 1913.
The Annual Meeting of the Board of Man-
agers will be held at the Down Town Associa-
tion at 3 o'clock P. M. of January 20, 1913.
A. O. U. Meeting: On November 10, 1913,
the American Ornithologists’ Union gathered in
New York for its thirty-first annual meeting.
Morning and afternoon sessions were held at
SOCIETY
BULLETIN 1069
the American Museum of Natural History,
luncheon being served daily by the Linnaean
Society. On Friday, the members became the
guests of the Zoological Society. The Aqua-
rium was visited in the morning, the party leay-
ing in time to reach the Zoological Park about
one o'clock, where the visitors were entertained
at luncheon at the Rocking Stone Restaurant.
The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to
the inspection of the collections, the birds form-
ing the center of attraction.
Recent Arrivals: Nubian giraffe; great ant-
eater; two snow leopards; white-handed gib-
bon; two yaks; tree kangaroo; hartebeest;
Diana monkey; two squirrel monkeys; green
monkey; vervet monkey; spider monkey; coyote
fox; gray fox; two mink fox; sharp-nosed opos-
sum; prehensile-tailed porcupine; six golden
agoutis, a number of small rodents and a col-
lection of seventy-five reptiles; many of them
rare and interesting.
NEW MEMBERS.
JuNE 24, 1913, To JANUARY 1, 1914.
LIFE
Blodgett, Wm. Tildon,
deHeredia, C.,
MEMBERS.
Maxwell, Robert,
Niles, Mrs. Florence B.,
Harriman, Mrs. E. H. Painter, Kenyon V.,
McKinney, Glenn Ford, Pierce, Henry Clay,
Winthrop, Egerton, L.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
Millward, Russell Hastings
ANNUAL MEMBERS.
Graf, William,
Hackett, James K.,
Holzmaister, Louis V.,
Hoyt, Miss Virginia Scott
James, Henry, Jr.,
Jenkins, A. W.,
Keyes, Mrs. Charles W.,
Lea, Churles M.,
Adams, John Dunbar,
Adler, Dr. I.,
Baker, Charles D.,
Baker, Charles H.,
Bell, Louis V.,
Bernard, Pierre Arnold,
Boese, Quincy Ward,
Bradbury, Harry B.,
Brady, James Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Stewart,
Chamberlin, William B.,
Chisholm, Mrs. H. J., Sr.,
Christiancy, George A. C.,
Church, Louis P.,
Clark, Herbert L.,
Cochran, G. D.,
Converse, Miss Mary E.,
Curie, Charles,
Dodge, Francis P.,
Donaldson, Robert M.,
Dow, Charles M.,
Fairchild, Benjamin L.,
Farrell, James C.,
Goldmann, Nathan,
Goddard, Morrill,
Mather, Samuel,
Moore, Mrs. Russell W.,
Nickerson, Hoffman,
Niles, Miss Florilla,
Norrie, Miss Mary,
Piatti, Dr. Virgil C.,
Porter, Alexander J.,
Potts, Jesse W.,
Roosevelt, Mrs. J. West,
Ruhe, Louis
Shipman, Richard D.,
Squire, Eben H. P.,
Steinbrugge, Edw., Jr.,
Suffern, Robert Adams,
vonDreele, W. H..,
Wessel,.Henry.
ay} paemoy 3 ‘pula Yytou ayy Wooly MolLA
NUGUVO HSUVN AHL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Batrachians: Another Reptile House exhib-
it rapidly increasing in size is the series of
Batrachians. We have of late given much more
attention to the frogs, toads and salamanders,
and a considerable number of new cages and
small tanks have been installed. We note that
our visitors are particularly interested in these
small creatures when attractively labelled, al-
though the labelling proposition with these
diminutive cases and tanks has been rather a
puzzle. Among the additions to this collection
is the interesting mountain toad which appears
to represent a giant race of our common toad,
that inhabits elevated regions in the Eastern
states. A careful examination, however, fails
to demonstrate any characters of sub-specific
value. Another recent addition is the big Cali-
fornia toad, the striped frog, Rana virgatipes,
and many species of the American salamanders,
both aquatic and terrestrial. We have received
terrestrial forms of the axolotl so that our ex-
hibition of these interesting specimens now
shows both phases. Among the examples of
the aquatic axolotls are both the black and al-
bino forms. The Old World batrachians are
now quite elaborately represented. Among
them are: The Japanese giant salamander, the
blind salamander, or proteus from the Adels-
burg Cave in Austria; the European salaman-
der, the ribbed newt, the marbled newt, Aus-
tralian newt and the brilliantly marked fire
newt of Japan. There is also a good series of
European frogs and toads. While adding to
the series of batrachians we are now preparing
large shallow tanks for the better exhibition of
the more strictly aquatic frogs of both Europe
and America.
Big Horn: The larger of the two big-
horned sheep has been transferred from the
Zebra House where it was temporarily quar-
tered to the northerly enclosure of Mountain
Sheep Hill. This powerful animal seems to be
in superb condition, despite the general asser-
tion that we would have difficulty in maintain-
ing the species as a captive. Thus far these
two animals have been in splendid health, al-
though we were at first worried about the prob-
ability of their becoming acclimated.
Great Anteater: For the first time in about
five years we are able to exhibit a splendid spec-
imen of the great anteater. This is an excep-
tionally vigorous example and has been quar-
tered in one of the larger cages of the Primate
House, as the uniform temperature of that
building is well suited to the animal’s require-
BULLETIN 1071
ments. It has been provided with a section of
soft log and amuses itself the greater part of
the day in tearing at the wood with the power-
ful claws of its forefeet. Happily, this is an
active specimen and our visitors have ample op-
portunity in observing him parading about the
cage.
Mouse Deer: It is our belief that we have
broken records in maintaining in good health
the mouse deer, or Chevrotain, which is a no-
toriously delicate animal, seldom surviving cap-
tivity more than a few months. Our specimen
has been on exhibition considerably over a
year’s time. The only trouble we have had
with this animal has been with its feet, which
were apparently very soft and tender and rap-
idly developed bad sores on a wooden or cement
floor. Our specimen is quartered in the Primate
House, at a uniform temperature of about 70
degrees and to protect its feet, the floor has
been entirely covered with a soft blanket. Since
the floor was thus treated the feet have healed
and the animal now appears to be in pertect
condition.
The Walrus: The Atlantic walrus presented
to the Park by Mr. Paul J. Rainey has been
exhibited in the Park for four years. When this
animal arrived here it weighed 149 pounds; its
weight at present is 406 pounds. The tremen-
dous appetite of this vigorous creature is worthy
of note. Compared with its weight, the food
it consumes is quite out of proportion with
other animals. The walrus consumes about
forty pounds of clams and fish each day, while
a cat animal of the weight of this walrus would
consume ten to twelve pounds of meat the day.
However, the members of the Pinnipedia are
voracious feeders and immediately show signs
of emaciation, unless their appetites are fully
satisfied. The walrus is provided with salt
water, which is kept at about ocean density by
the addition of sea salt and frequent tests with
the salinometer. We are rendering the tank
of the California sea lion slightly saline as we
have noted that in fresh water this animal
shows a tendency to develop bad sores.
Large Rattlesnakes: One of the most dan-
gerous consignments to arrive here consisted
of a erate of nine diamond-back rattlesnakes.
These creatures were captured in one spot not
far from Orlando, Florida, as they were pre-
paring to retire.into their dens for the winter.
The big rattlesnakes of Florida hibernate a
short time during the cooler months, and, like
the smaller species of the north, congregate in
considerable numbers at such periods. The col-
1072 ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
BISON FOR THE WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH
Crating the last Bison, Zoological Park, November, 1913.
lector who captured these rattlesnakes informs
us that his troubles were many in transporting
a large bag containing these heavy reptiles to a
wagon, some six miles distant. Placed in a cage
of the Reptile House, the big snakes rattled
almost incessantly for several days, and the sin-
ister buzz attracted many visitors to their cage.
Several of these snakes are over six feet long
and have a head as broad as the top of a man’s
hand.
New Arrivals: A valuable consignment of
animals has arrived from Carl Hagenbeck at
Hamburg. This consisted of a male Nubian
giraffe, eleven feet, seven and a quarter inches
in height, a pair of yaks, one Lelwel harte-
beest, two snow leopards and one tree kanga-
roo. All of these animals are in splendid con-
dition. The yaks, hartebeest and tree kanga-
roo represent species new to the collection,
School: The New York Zoo-
logical Society has recently donated a series of
Animals in
DAKOTA
The Bison leaving the Zoological Park, November, 1918.
mammals and birds to the Washington Irving
High School. In this magnificent school build-
ing, one of the largest in New York, a room
has been provided with large and attractive
cages for the exhibition of a representative se-
ries of mammals, birds, reptiles and _ fish.
Classes are admitted at various times of the
day, and it has been explained that some of the
children visiting this zoological collection have
for the first time seen wild animals of any kind.
Miss Lillian Sage is in charge of the collection
and explains that in this room the children will
receive the elementary instruction which will
fit them for later and more serious study at the
American Museum of Natural History and the
Zoological Park.
Hibernating Rodents: The erratic tenden-
cies of the dormice and spermophiles to hiber-
nate have puzzled the keepers of the Small
Mammal House. On one occasion six dormice
were reported dead and the specimens brought
THE WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH DAKOTA
Bison from the Zoological Park on their range, Wind Cave National Park.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE MARSH GARDEN
View taken from the east bank, looking toward the Eagle and Vulture Aviary.
to Mr. Ditmars’ office in an agate pan, after-
wards to be tagged and sent to the ice box.
Left in the warm office for a half hour, the men
concerned were surprised to find these dormice
actively running about the place. The temper-
ature does not seem to play so important a part
with the dormant tendencies of these animals,
since there are times when they are as lively as
their tropical allies in nearby cages. Within an
hour several of them may be lying apparently
lifeless in corners of the cage and remain in
this condition for a day or so. These hibernat-
ing traits are very deceptive; the animal show-
ing no signs of life when handled. The eyes re-
main closed and there is no external indication
of breathing. The keepers are now very wary
about reporting such examples as “dead.”
Wild Home Builders: Judging from the ac-
tivity of the prairie dogs, and the squirrels that
are free in the Park, we are led to imagine
that an old fashioned winter is being inaugu-
rated. The gray squirrels that are running in
generous number about the Park are storing
their nests with leaves, shed feathers from the
birds and soft bark from such trees as the ce-
dar. Several ornamental benches made of cedar
boughs have been stript clear of shaggy bark
by the industrious creatures within the past ten
days.
The Anthropoids: The series of Anthropoid
apes, composed of five orang-utans, four chim-
panzees and one gibbon demand more elabor-
ate care as these animals grow older. Most of
these creatures have passed from the state of
infancy and some of them have become dan-
gerous. The chimpanzee Baldy is now quite
matured and so savage at times that it is dif-
ficult to enter his cage. Quite recently he was
barely prevented from injuring one of the keep-
ers with a pitch-fork, which he wrested from
the man’s hand. The two larger orangs are
even stronger than this chimpanzee, but are less
savage. At times they are very stubborn and
one of them would be more than a match for
a powerful man. The larger of the orangs has
a spread of arms of seven feet and weighs 120
pounds.
The Tree Kangaroo: A vigorous example of
the black tree kangaroo, Dendrolagus ursinus,
is the first specimen of arboreal kangaroos ex-
hibited in the Park. This animal is slightly
larger than the common wallabies which are at
all times on exhibition. Its pelage is quite
dense, imparting a decidedly stout appearance.
. a v.
THE OUTLET OF THE MARSH GARDEN
The broad leaved plants transform a commonplace stream into one of beauty.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Tree kangaroos are recognized by the general
proportions of the two pairs of limbs—the
length of the front pair being but slightly less
than that of the hind limbs. The tail is very
long and thickly furred. Four species are rec-
ognized; all members of the genus Dendrolaqus.
Little is known of any of the species in the na-
tive haunts, although it appears they spend
most of their time in the trees. The home of
these creatures is in the dense tropical forests
of New Guinea and the north of Queensland.
Rodent Collection: The collection of small
rodents which was formed in the Reptile House
with the view of displaying the injurious spe-
cies of these creatures together with their natu-
ral enemies, has quite outgrown its quarters.
Over a dozen new cages were recently added.
This is now a valuable series and represents
about forty species. A rare species of mouse
was recently added—the Egyptian desert
mouse, Meriones crassus, of Egypt and Arabia.
Another of the new desert species is the gila
chipmunk, Tamias dorsalis. The Arizona wood
rat, Neotona pinetorum, is another new arrival.
One of the most interesting examples in this
series is the big pack rat, from Nevada, which
animal is feverishly engaged the greater part
of the day in building an elaborate nest, then
changing its mind and transporting the entire
nest to another corner of the cage, and vice
versa. Lie, 15 1D
The Mocking Bird: In the winter of 1911-
12, a mocking bird remained for several months
about the southern boundary of the Botanical
Gardens, near Fordham Road. This year either
the same bird or another of the same species
has taken up its home near the entrance on the
Southern Boulevard. On November 27,.it was
observed feeding on berbridge (Berberis Thum-
bergi); two days later it was eating catbrier
(Virburnum prunifolia) and on the 2nd and 3rd
of December its diet had changed to nanny
berries (Smilax rotund). SAMUEL Stacy.
The Marsh Garden: During the transfor-
mation of Bird Valley it was decided to form
a water and marsh-garden, on the east side of
the walks in front of the Zebra House.
Luckily the first requisite for such a garden.
water, was at hand, in the copious drainage of
the Elk Pond. A good clay subsoil and sufh-
cient material for grading purposes, made it
easy to use this water in forming the series of
pools which are now the nucleus of this garden.
It is already one of the beauty spots of the
Park, though the shrubs and various perennials
were planted only this spring, and then had to
BULLETIN 1075
struggle against many foes. Mallard ducks,
Canada geese, and other voracious water-fowl.
soon discovered that the ponds contained lotus
and water-lily shoots, and other tender pro-
vender that suited their palates better than that
provided by the regular commissary depart-
ment.
One of the most delightful of all gardens is
the water-garden. Water and marsh plants
begin to bloom early in the season, and when
the selection of plants has been carefully made,
they will continue to flower until frost, and
yield a great diversity of color and forms. They
remain fresh, and luxuriously green during the
hot, dry spells of summer when everything is
sere and yvellow—that is, of course, if the sup-
ply of water does not give out.
Whenever one thinks of water-gardens, the
thought is associated with the water-lily at the
same time,—gorgeous white, pink, red, yellow
and blue flowers from many climates. But un-
doubtedly the real charm of the water-garden
lies in the shore or marsh plants, and their re-
flections mirrored clearly on a calm day, or in
the distorted ripples that the water colorists
love to paint, when the surface of the pool is
disturbed by the wind. Even in winter, when
the snow lies on the ground and the marsh-
garden is covered with a blanket of ice, the
leaves of the long stemmed reeds and rush-like
plants wave and flutter gracefully over the
pool, as though conjuring spring to come and
open the door of ice to the green plants below.
In the selection of plants for our marsh-
garden, our old rule to give indigenous plants
the preference, has been observed to a great ex-
tent. Iron weed, boneset, pokeberry, cardinal
flowers, marshmallows, and many other shore
plants, fronted by arrowhead, wild rice and
lizard tail, the most sweet scented of them all,
fill the space close to the shore; while far in
the rear, both to lend height and dignity, and
to sereen the Service Road, are many of our
best American shrubs, such as silky- and red-
twigged cornee, sweet pepperbush, coral-berry,
arrowhead and buttonhole bush.
It was hoped that we could establish a colony
of lotus in one of the smaller pools, but the
ducks and geese decreed otherwise. They de-
stroyed in one night, the whole planting. Other
plants have been devoured several times, but we
have managed to establish permanently most of
them, and by careful guarding and persever-
ance, we hope to have most of the worth-while
water plants in abundant quantities in another
year. H. W. M.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
THE MARSH GARDEN
Water-lilies and border line of marsh plants.
THE WILD CANARY.
HEN one considers the obscurity which
beclouds the origin of many of our do-
mestic creatures, it is a great satis-
faction to know that the ancestry of one, at
least, is well established. The plain little wild
canary continues to exist abundantly in the iso-
lated groups of eastern Atlantic Islands, as
the Canaries, the Azores and Madeira, while
its domestic descendants, disguised in a great
variety of form and color, brighten the homes of
men in the four quarters of the earth. Five
specimens of this species have just been
brought to the Zoological Park by a collector
who secured them at Las Palmas, on Gran
Canaria. They are still in the sober brownish
garb of the young bird, but will later assume a
brighter plumage, in which the upper parts
are ashy brown, with the cheeks, crown and
abdomen greenish yellow.
Early in the sixteenth century, canaries were
first brought to Europe. They at once became
popular as cage birds, and the Germans soon
began the improvement of the song by select-
ive breeding, an art in which they continue
unrivalled at the present day. The breeding
of canaries was soon taken up in other coun-
tries and it was not long before certain defi-
nite varieties appeared. From then on, the
history of the canary parallels that of most
other domestic creatures, skillful breeders fix-
ing and accentuating slight variations, until we
have the great variety of canaries of modern
times. The English and Scotch devoted their
energies to the fixation of certain types of form
and color, rather than to quality of song, and
have produced among others the breeds known
as the Yorkshire, the Norwich, the Border
Fancy and the Scotch Fancy
Not least interesting among the color varie-
ties is the cinnamon. As is well known, many
species of European birds occasionally produce
albinistic, pink-eyed individuals of a pale
brownish color, and the wild canary is no ex-
ception. These cinnamon birds seem to have
a marked propensity for variation and may
have had much to do with the production of
other color varieties.
In this connection, Mr. John Robson, an
English authority, has formulated an interest-
ZOOLOGICAL
ing theory. On examining a series of over fifty
skins of various wild British birds and cap-
tivity-bred hybrids in the cinnamon plumage
phase, he found these, without exception, to
be females. Experimentation with cinnamon
canaries proved this character to be a sex-lim-
ited recessive, and it was found that a cinna-
mon female will never produce young of this
color, unless mated with a bird of cinnamon
parentage. As wild males of this color seem
never to occur, it is evident that such a race
would be very unlikely to increase.
Among the wild canaries, therefore, there
was little likelihood that the color would gain
headway, because all of the young of a chance
cinnamon female would revert to the normal
color of the species, unless, as is very unlikely,
she happened to mate with a bird the mother
of which was a cinnamon. The green offspring
of the union of cinnamon and green would be
expected to produce young of each color, in the
Mendelian proportion of three greens to one
cinnamon, but the chance that brother and sis-
ter would be brought together at the beginning
of the next breeding season is remote.
As soon as the cinnamon sports appeared
among captive birds, however, the race was
fixed. This was accomplished by mating the
male offspring of cinnamon females to others
of this color, when cinnamon males at once
appeared. LS: €.
DESTRUCTION OF POLAR BEARS.
By Lorenz HaGenseck.
HE annual catch of polar bears is decreas-
ing every year, because these animals are
now being hunted about twice or three
times as much as they were thirty or forty years
ago. From Tromsoe, alone, sixty-one vessels
outfitted for Spitzbergen and East Greenland
in 1918; and besides other things they have
brought back seven live polar bears, 125 dead
ones and 200 reindeer. Counting the vessels
leaving from Hammerfest, Wadsoe and a few
less important towns also, about 100 vessels
left Europe in 1913 for the purpose of the cap-
ture of northern animals. Many of these ves-
sels are provided now with motor-boats, so as
to be able to penetrate further into the ice.
In former years there were two to three
large tourist’s vessels leaving the port of Trom-
soe for the purpose of hunting polar bears.
Usually they were hired by rich Englishmen,
Germans or Austrians, and brought back from
SOCIETY
BULLETIN 1077
forty to sixty polar bears shot within five or
six weeks’ time.
During the last few years the capture of
polar bears near the east coast of Greenland
has so greatly decreased that in 1913 only one
vessel with tourists was sent there. The other
vessels are lying idle, and it is not worth while
to equip them.
Since 1890 a number of bear hunters from
Tromsoe and Hammerfest have established
hunting stations for the winter months on the
Spitzbergen Islands. They consist of wooden
houses, located at a distance of 100 or 200 kilo-
meters from each other, and there are either
two or three men at each station. These men
set traps, and also lay out poisoned meat or
seal’s bacon. One must reckon, however, that
fully one-half of the animals killed through
poison in this way are lost, as the polar bear
has the habit of drawing near the water if it
feels sick. Thus it happens that the sick ani-
mals are drowned or frozen fast in the broken
ice. One company has thus been able to kill
and secure ninety polar bears during one year.
As a check on this deadly commercial pur-
suit, during the past three years the Norwegian
Government has prohibited the killing of polar
bears by poison on the Spitzbergen Islands.
Unfortunately, however, as the land belongs to
nobody, the hunters generally do not care for
this, for there is no police authority on the spot
to control them.
During the last three years there have been
comparatively few skins of polar bears at
Tromsoe and Hammerfest, although those cities
are the principal markets for them. As it is
known with certainty that the polar bear wan-
ders, it may be possible that it again exists at
the old capture places, so that a larger number
may be caught again, but it is very doubtful.
One thing is sure, however, and that is that the
polar bear is far less numerous now on the
east-coast of Greenland and Spitzbergen than
was the case between 1860 and 1880.
Electric Trail.—The electric cable stretching
across the space, fronting the Service Building,
is now a regular road-way for two squirrels
that have a nest in a big oak upon which the
cable hangs. Every night between four and
five the little animals skip gaily across this
perilous tight wire to their nest. Mr. Merkel
was greatly puzzled when he saw a squirrel
pass the window. annarently walking in space
until he moved in a position where the cable
could be seen.
WHITE-HANDED GIBBON
A rare anthropoid recently added to the collections of the Park.
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
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 May 1 to November 1, the opening and closing hours are from 9
o'clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset. From November 1 to May 1, the opening and
closing hours are from 10 o’clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, New York City.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM.
The Aquarium is open every day in the year: April 15 to October 15, from 9 o'clock
A. M. to 5 o'clock P. M.; October 16 to April 14, from 10 o'clock A. M. to 4 o’clock P. M. No
admission is charged.
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‘f
Vou. XVII. No. 2 CON MARCH, 1914
== =i lia
‘eenevaran
- SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Pu u ls li is he e al i y
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Hl A il ain QEASTNCUOAT OUTLAY
ul LLM MMMM
Officers of the New York Zonlogical Sorciety
President
Henry Farirrieitp Oszorn.
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
SamvueLt TuHorne. Joun L. Capwaraper.
Secretary Treasurer
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street. Percy R. Pyne, 50 Pine Street.
Executive Committee
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
Percy R. Pyne, Samuret Tuorne, - Frank K. Srvrais, Witiram Wuire NILes,
Wm. Pierson Hamitron, ~ Lispenarp Stewart, Watson B. Dickerman,
Henry Farreierp Osporn, Ea Officio.
Board of Managers
Ex Officio
The Mayor of the City of New York. The Present of the Department cf Parks.
Class nf 1915
Levi P. Morron, Wittram Wuirte Nites, Georce J. Gouxp,
ANDREW CaRNEGIE, SamMvuEL TuorRNeE, OcpeN Mutts,
Joun L. Capwataper, Henry A. C. Taytor, Lewis Rverurrrorp Morris,
Mapison Grant, Frank K. Srvurais, Arcuer M. Hentinaton.
Class cf 1915
F. Aveusrvus ScurrMeruorn, Crirevetanp H. Doper, E.merson McMi1uin,
Percy R. Pyne, C. Lepyarp Brair, Antuony R. Kuster,
Georce B. Grinne.u, Freperick G. Bourne, Watson B. Dickerman,
Grorce C. Crark, W. Avstin Wapswortn, Mortmer L. Scuirr.
Class cf 1917
Henry Farrrietp Oszvorn, Cuarves F. Dierericn, Wn. Prerson Hamitton,
Wiriiam C. Cuvurcn, James J. Hint, Rozrertr S. Brewster,
LisPENARD STEWART, Georce F. Baker, Epwarp S. Harkness,
H. Casimir pe Ruan, Grant B. Scutey, Winuiam B. Oscoop Firtp.
Geurral Officers 2
Wittiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
La Farce & Morris, Architects. H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntincton, Prosector.
Officers of the Zonlogical Park
Witiram T. Hornapay, Director.
H. R. Mirerett, C. Wii11am BEEBE, H. W. Merket, G. M. Brerereower,
Raymonp L. Dirmars, L. S. CranpaL., W. Rem Brair, Grorce A. Dorn,
Erwin R. Sanporn.
Officers of the Aquarium
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director. Raymonp C. Osevurn, Assistant.
Wasnuinetron I. DeNyse. Rosert SuTcwirFe.
MOOnnOe Le AL, SOc PE TY | BU nh Tt N
AQUARIUM NUMBER
Prepared by C. H. Townsenp, Director, and R. C. Ospurn, Assistant Director.
CONTENTS FOR MARCH, 1914
PAGE
A Haut or THE PORPOISH SINE cece. cece As men Deere Sa NW eae Ee . Frontispiece
PACT MINS S GTO OTAEO NS ILOREOVSES cesses ee arse ccc oe pe ce ner ee 1081
Tuer ScALE aS AN INDEX TO THE AGE OF A FISH oi o.cii-cccccccccccsececee eect Ue Meiiae BRT An ae : 1084
Tue Haur-Moon Fisu .............. fe ts ee RE) EER ORORL ee, OR OLE SERACSONY MOO AL Sir Gn Cs 1085
FUR GOWER VA1OK AN VVOUINDED) MENISED oe oe cece eee et At CERO eee 1086
BeprnanContTroulor MireRaTORY ISIS 222.00) ice eee ee ee 1087
Bb seven OsAUNT Com Rime lens WRIST AUT ON eee ee a ee ee C 1088
IN pekuaeelV leenifsicr 2 Senne ree eee re cere ee FA ee seers 1089
Tue Retation or Aguatic ANIMALS TO THE Water IN Wuicu TuHey Live,
Prof. G. G. Scott 1090
New AguariuMs IN AMERICA AND EvROPE ........
SrrmliniGREASED (Wan AWTON (OR! CARP) occ. oj cccccc ccccceese eee sence ee eee es rem 1094.
PES Hiaiie CO EUAN UES IES EINUD Yate AUT AIVICAUIN TD FOR eee Be a A eaten Reach eee J 1096
New AguariumM PUBLICATION ........
Anoruer Oxtp Print or trHE AQUARIUM . Pere ET AE nd een the Aas iyebeeh: p 1098
PACE ENTDAUNICE) CANIS ELIS, AQ ARDUOMD ceecccctccesceeececeeecedeeceettseenr score essence seteesesonse SF Fee casa renee ae 1098
“HIGL ‘SL 4OQUIDAON sttoyyeE odup
UNIAS ASLOdWOd AML AO TOVH ¥
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Published by the New York Zoological Society
Vout XVII
MARCH, 1914
NuMBER 2
AT LAST—A SCHOOL OF PORPOISES.
By C. H. Townsenp.
FTER several discouraging attempts with
animals more or Jess injured, the Aqua-
rium has, not merely a single healthy por-
poise, but a school of them. ‘They were re-
ceived without injuries of any kind, and have
already lived in the building much longer than
any single injured specimen hitherto received.
After three and a half months in a pool thirty-
seven feet in diameter and seyen feet deep,
they continue to be in apparently the best of
condition, feeding, leaping, and otherwise dis-
porting themselves after the manner of por-
poises on the high seas.
No more popular exhibition of marine life
has ever been made in the Aquarium. To have
these lively rangers of the open ocean dwell-
ing in our midst is fascinating, and every citi-
zen who has failed to pay them a visit should
do so at once, for, although present prospects
are good, there is no certainty about the fu-
ture with wild animals in captivity.
Two previous attempts were made to bring
porpoises from Cape Hatteras. Although ar-
rangements for their shipment were perfected,
the instructions given were not carried out by
those to whom the shipments were entrusted.
In the first instance all the animals died before
they could reach New York, as they were un-
fortunately shipped dry and could not survive
the journey without the cooling and supporting
medium of water. The next attempt, made last
June, when the same blunder was made, gave
only slightly better results. Four of the six
porpoises shipped died between Hatteras and
Norfolk, Virginia. At the latter point the ship-
ment was met by the Director of the Aqua-
rium, who promptly filled the tank containing
the two survivors with water. One of the ani-
mals died soon after reaching New York, but
the other lived two and a half months, not-
withstanding the fact that the heating it had
undergone during the first stage of shipment
produced numerous festering sores, which
eventually ended its career.
Firmly believing that plenty of cool water
would insure safety during transportation, the
Director of the Aquarium went to Hatteras No-
vember seventh, to make sure of the details of
shipment which, entrusted to others, had been
neglected. As far as the adult animals are con-
cerned, the results have been satisfactory.
There are five adults about eight feet long still
living, but the four half-grown porpoises died
soon after their arrival in New York. The
adults gave no trouble during shipment, while
the young were exceedingly restless and con-
tinually bruised themselves by their struggles
in the shipping tanks.
Porpoises are warm blooded, blubber-covered
mammals and give off so much heat that the
water of the shipping tanks becomes actually
warm, requiring to be replaced by cold water
every five or six hours. Immediately after
their capture at Hatteras, where they were
dragged on the beach with a seine about a thou-
sand feet long, the porpoises were placed for
twenty-four hours in a salt water pond just
back of the ocean beach. No chances what-
ever were taken in the matter of temperature.
On the beach their natural heating would no
doubt have been accelerated by the hot sun-
shine. The following day they were seined out
of the pond and placed in the shipping tanks,
which were then hoisted on board a schooner
1082
ZOOLOGICAL
THE PORPOISES ARE COMING
and filled with water. During the voyage up
Pamlico Sound and even through the Great
Dismal Swamp Canal the fresh water in the
tanks was changed whenever it became warm.
After reaching the New York steamer at Nor-
folk the cooling of the porpoise tanks en route
was greatly simplified by the use of the salt
water hose.
The shipping of porpoises alive is therefore
a simple matter. Adult animals readily stand
transportation, while the young animals do not.
If carried in long, narrow boxes just sufficient-
ly large to accommodate
them without rubbing, and
if kept supplied with sufk-
cient cold water to support
and cover them, they can
be handled easily enough.
There is probably no rea-
son why a porpoise, under
such ccnditions, should not
be carried in a tank many
times the distance from
Hatteras to New York.
Our porpoises are rather
expensive boarders, consum-
ing between eightv and
ninety pounds o: fresh her-
ring or tomcod a day. For
a few days after their ar-
rival they would eat noth-
ing. Within a week they
began to take a few live
fishes and, after having once
started to feed, it was not
SOCIETY BULLETIN
difficult to get them to take
dead fish. A few days of
hunger brought them
around. as it does in the
case of the newly captured
seal or sea lion.
Cape Hatteras, singular-
ly enough, is the only point
in North America where a
porpoise fishery has ever
been regularly conducted.
The bottle-nosed porpoise
appears to winter off our
South Atlantic coast and is
quite common in the vicin-
ity of Cape Hatteras dur-
ing the fall, winter and
spring months. Schools of
porpoises may be seen pass-
ing every day just outside
the surf. They are taken
with a net about one thou-
sand feet long, which is
placed a couple of hundred yards outside the
line of surf and parallel with it. At each end
there is a boat in waiting, ready to carry the
haul lines directly ashore as soon as a band of
porpoises has passed between the net and the
surf. After the lines have been carried ashore.
the porpoises are considered fairly secure, for
they do not often attempt to cross the lines and,
even when they do, can usually be frightened
back by having someone shake and jerk each
line continuously. It requires some time to
bring the ends of the big seine to the beach,
DRAGGING A PORFOISE FROM THE NET
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN- .
10838
A DECK LOAD OF PORPOISE TANKS; DISMAL SWAMP CANAL
but even then some of the porpoises may get
away by leaping over the net or attempting to
dive under it. The former can be prevented to
some extent by sending a boat to the outer
curve of the net, which serves to keep the por-
poises from crowding against it. Some of those
that attempt to dive underneath become en-
meshed and, being air breathers, are soon
drowned.
Thirty-three porpoises were beached in the
haul of the seine which provided our specimens.
Although porpoises have been taken at Cape
Hatteras from time immemorial, the fishery has
been conducted in a merely desultory manner,
with but little capital invested. The greatest
number taken in a single year appears to have
been about one thousand. Porpoises are valu-
able for their jaw oil, body blubber and hides,
the value of each being in the order given. The
oil derived from the jaws represents the great-
er part of the value, being worth ordinarily
twenty-five dollars a gallon. This oil is ex-
tracted from the broad posterior branches of
the lower jaw. It is practically the only oil
used for the lubrication of watches and similar-
ly delicate mechanisms.
The bottle-nosed porpoise (Tursiops tursio),
is the only species of porpoise that has ever
been taken at the Hatteras fishery. Our eight-
foot specimens represent the average size. A
number of specimens were measured in Novem-
ber, however, which exceeded nine feet in
length. The greatest length for this species
at Cape Hatteras is twelve feet, but this is
altogether unusual. The specimens were pre-
sented on the beach at Hatteras by Mr. Joseph
K. Nye, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the
proprietor of the fishery. They were trans-
ferred to New York at the expense of the
New York Zoological Society.
The porpoise exhibit in the New York
Aquarium is absolutely unique. No other aqua-
rium in America or Europe is fitted with pools
large enough to accommodate porpoises, and it
is doubtful if there are at the present time
any other specimens in captivity.
Our bottle-nosed porpoise (T'ursiops tursio)
closely resembles Delphinus delphis, a species
of porpoise or dolphin more abundant in the
eastern Atlantic and in the Mediterranean than
along our coast. The latter is the dolphin
known to the ancients, and which, for unknown
reasons, has been systematically caricatured by
painters and sculptors since the very begin-
nings of art. Sculptors now have an oppor-
tunity to visit the Aquarium and see what the
real dolphin looks like.
1081 ZOOLOGICAL
RECAPTURING THE PORPOISES IN THE SALT-WATER POND
In the matter of name there is some latitude.
All porpoises and dolphins belong to that fam-
ily of the order of whales called Delphinidae,
or dolphins, of which there are at least fifty
different species, and the names porpoise and
dolphin are to some extent interchangeable.
The former is, however, usually applied to the
short-jawed kinds. The name “‘bottle-nose’’ is
inapt in the case of such animals, as the nose
or nostrils of all dolphins and porpoises is on
top of the head.
The name dolphin is also applied to a fish
(Coryphaena), celebrated for its changing
colors.
THE SCALE AS AN INDEX TO THE AGE
OF A FISH, AND THE AGE OF
THE PACIFIC SALMON.
MEANS of determining definitely the age
of a fish at any time has long been sought
by ichthyologists and fish culturists. This
is of importance in finding out the ages at
which fishes reach sexual maturity, as well as
the length of life of the various species. In
the case of the Pacific salmons of the genus
Oncorhynchus the problem has a special sig-
nificance, since in all cases these fishes die after
spawning,* and much discussion has been waged
over the question of the age at which these
fishes return to the fresh waters to breed.
It has been discovered that the scales bear
*A possible exception occurs in the case of certain
young male chinook salmon, which mature precocious-
ly at 3 to 7 in. long, without having gone to sea. The
fate of these is not yet known.
SOCIETY BULLETIN
marks which indicate not
only the length of life, but
also the relative rate of
growth in different years.
This has been thoroughly
tested on the Atlantic sal-
mon in Scotland, and has
been shown to apply also in
the case of the trout and to
other fishes as widely separ-
ated as the carp, eel, bass,
cod arid flounder.
The eminent ichthyolo-
gist, Professor Chas. H.
Gilbert of Stanford Uni-
versity, has recently pub-
lished the results of studies
on the Pacific coast sal-
mons** in a paper from
which the substance of the
present article is drawn.
While the general character of the scale and its
markings are well enough known to the ichthy-
ologist, it may be well here to quote from Pro-
fessor Gilbert: “The scale in general persists
throughout life and grows in proportion with
the rest of the fish, principally by additions
around its border. At intervais there is pro-
duced at the growing edge a delicate ridge upon
the surface of the scale, the successive ridges
thus formed being concentric. . . . each repre-
senting the outline of the scale at a certain pe-
riod in its development. Many of these ridges
are formed in the course of a year’s growth, the
number varying so widely in different individu-
als and during successive years in the history of
the same individual that number alone cannot be
depended on to determine age. For this pur-
pose we rely upon the fact that the fish grows
at widely different rates during different sea-
sons of the year, spring-summer being a period
of rapid growth and fall-winter a season when
growth is retarded or almost wholly arrested.
During the period of rapid growth the ridges
are widely separated, while during the slow
growth of fall and winter the ridges are
crowded closely together, forming a dense band.
Thus it comes that the surface of the scale is
mapped out in a definite succession of areas,
a band of widely spaced rings always followed
by a band of closely crowded rings, the two
together constituting a single year’s growth.”
(See the accompanying figure.)
The matter is not quite as simple as it might
appear, however, for, as Professor Gilbert
**Age at maturity of the Pacific Coast Salmon of
the Genus Oncorhynchus.—Bull. U. S. Bureau of
Fisheries, Document No. 767, March 20, 1913.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
DOG SALMON SCALE
Mature Male 3114 inches long, fourth year.
(Copied from U.S, Bureau Fisheries Bulletin.)
points out, irregularities occur, due to other
causes than purely seasonal ones, and consid-
erable experience is necessary for the correct
interpretation of many cases, while a small
number of doubtful scales have been found.
These latter are too few, however, to affect the
general results, and further study may entirely
eliminate them.
The five species of Pacific salmon: Sockeye
or Red Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), King
or Chinook Salmon (O. T'schawytscha), Silver
or Coho Salmon (O. kisutch), Dog Salmon (O.
keta) and Humpback Salmon (0. gorbuscha),
were all investigated.
Reference to the following summary of re-
sults will show interesting differences in the
spawning age and habits and the time of the
seaward migration of the young of the various
species of this genus. The humpback, for ex-
ample, is much less plastic than other species,
spawning always at a definite age and running
to sea as soon as hatched, while the chinook fe-
males may spawn in the fourth to the seventh
year and go seaward either as fry or yearlings,
while a few males develop precociously and
never enter the salt water. As they all die
after spawning, the same differences in length
of life naturally obtain.
1085
Summary of Gilbert’s Results.
The sockeye spawns normally either in the
fourth or fifth year, the females being prepon-
deratingly four-year-old fish. The young mi-
grate seaward shortly after hatching or may
remain in fresh water until the second spring.
spawn the
fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh year, but four-
year-old females preponderate. The young mi-
grate soon after hatching or remain in fresh
water till the second spring.
Chinook salmon normally in
Silver salmon spawn normally only in the
third year. The young migrate either as fry
or yearlings, but adults are developed almost
exclusively from the latter.
Dog salmon mature normally in the third,
fourth or fifth year and pass to sea as soon as
they are able to swim.
Humpback salmon mature always in their
second year and migrate to the sea as soon as
they are free swimming.
Pacific salmon “grilse” are precociously de-
veloped and conspicuously undersized fish
which sparingly accompany the spawning run.
So far as known they are male only in the chi-
nook, silver and dog salmons, and usually so
in the sockeye, except in the Columbia River,
where the two sexes are about equally repre-
sented. Grilse of the silver and dog salmon
are in the second year, of the chinook in the
second and third, and in the sockeye in the
third year.
The great differences in size of the individ-
uals in a run are closely connected with age,
the younger fish always averaging smaller than
these a year older, though the size curves over-
lap somewhat. ltt, (C, (2
THE HALF-MOON FISH.
OCAL fish fanciers have in the past few
months been greatly interested not to
say excited, over the introduction of a
strikingly handsome. little fish su‘table for small
aquaria. ‘This is the half-moon fish (Pterophyl-
lum scalare, Cuvier & Valenciennes), called also
butterfly fish by the fish fanciers, although it
has no relation whatever to the butterfly fishes
of the tropical seas.
The species has been known for some time
to German aquarists, but has only recently been
ZOOLOG!ICAT,
1086
HALF-MOON FISH
Side and front views.
imported thence to this country, and was first
shown at the public exhibitions of the Brooklyn
and New York Aquarium Societies during the
past fall. In December the New York Aqua-
rium was fortunate enough to secure four speci-
mens of this very attractive fish.
The species was first described in 1881 from
Brazil and, although it has since been men-
tioned by a number of writers on South Ameri-
can fishes and is known to be widely distributed
in British Guiana and Brazil, little or nothing
seems to have been recorded concerning its hab-
its and general natural history. It is said to
be very common in the shallow waters of the
upper Amazon region and that they may be
most readily caught at night. So far as is
known, there is only one species in the genus,
which belongs to the family Cichlidae, a family
which in its general ecology replaces the bass
and sunfish family of North American waters.
The half-moon fish reaches a length of a little
more than three inches, measured from the tip
of the snout to the end of the middle rays of
the caudal fin. It is very deep-bodied and quite
compressed, the height being several times the
thickness of the body. In color the body is
dusky above and silvery below. A distinct dark
bar extends vertically across the body through
Fiom a dead, mutilated specimen.
SOCIETY BULLETIN
the eve, and a broader bar
runs vertically from the
front of the anal fin upward
to the front of the dorsal,
whence it is continued on
the dorsal fin. There is a
distinct dark vertical bar
also at the base of the cau-
dal fin. Fainter dark bars
are found between the dark-
er ones and also on the cau-
dal tin. The dorsal and
anal fins are extended into
long flaments and lobes of
the caudal fin are also simi-
larly extended. The pec-
toral fins are unmodified,
but the ventrals are enor-
mously extended into long
white flaments.
The species has a remark-
able ability for rapid change
of color and under excite-
ment the dark bars become
vividly and intensely black.
The change appears to be
practically instantaneous
and the normal coloration
may be resumed again with
equal rapidity. This change is so great and so
sudden as to be positively startling.
As these fishes require very warm water they
are kept in a specially heated tank at a tem-
perature of about 75 degrees.
The common name refers to the outline of the
body with the dorsal and anal fins and is quite
appropriate in the perfect adult fish. R. C. O.
REMARKABLE RECOVERY
WOUNDED FISH.
T is well known that many invertebrates have
remarkable powers of regeneration so that
parts injured or removed by mutilation may
often be entirely regenerated. Take, for ex-
ample, the ordinary starfish, which can be torn
in two with the result that each of the parts
will eventually regenerate the lost organs, and
develop into two perfectly formed starfishes.
In some cases this may even go so far that a
single detached arm of the starfish will evolve
a whole new body with the other arms. Among
vertebrated animals, however, this regenerative
power is confined as a rule to the healing of
wounds or to the redevelopment of comparative-
ly unimportant parts of the body. Observa-
OF A
ZOOLOGICAL
WOUNDED BUTTERFISH
tions have indicated and experiments confirmed
that certain species of fish at least are able vo
regenerate the fins, provided they are not en-
tirely removed at the base. When scales are
lost by abrasion they quickly begin to grow
again.
Fishes which show recovery from wounds of
considerable extent are sometimes taken, but
these are usually on the fins, gill covers, ete.,
and do not as a rule, indicate a very deep
wound. The most remarkable case of recovery
from a serious wound which has come to the
writer's attention was that of the butterfish
shown in the accompanying figure, which was
taken in Buzzards Bay during the last summer.
This was an adult specimen about one foot 1m
length and was captured, along with many oth-
ers of its kind, in the poundnet set by the col-
lector of the United States Fisheries Station
at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This indicates
that it had been travelling in a school with
other butterfish and was not particularly imea-
pacitated by the absence of the lost portion.
How the wound may have occurred one can
only conjecture, but from its nature it would
appear that the portion had been bitten out by
the sharp teeth of some predatory fish. Al
though the wound was so extensive, involving
a large amount of muscular tissue and appar-
ently going within a short distance of the
body cavity and reaching nearly to the spin-
al column, the fish recovered in the condition
shown in the figure. A large section of the anal
fin was completely bitten out, leaving this re-
gion somewhat distorted even after recovery.
The wound was entirely healed when the fish
was captured, but there remained ample evi-
dence of the healing process in the large amount
of sear tissue which covered the wound and in
the fact that the scales had not been regener-
ated over the sear, although the skin had re-
formed.
SOCIETY BULLETIN
1087
Numerous experiments
have shown that when the
skin or even the scales of a
fish are removed from a
considerable portion of the
body, the fishes often die
from inability to control the
density of the body solu-
tions. For a full explana-
tion of this matter the read-
er is referred to the article
by Dr. Scott on “The Rela-
tion of Aquatic Animals to
the Water in which they
live.’ in another part of
this Buxiuetixn. Being a
bony fish, the blood of the butterfish would
naturally have only about one half as great
a salinity as the sea water. How a fish with so
much of the flesh exposed could manage to ex-
clude excess salts until the skin
ated is a matter of conjecture.
was regener-
FEDERAL CONTROL OF
FISH.
MIGRATORY
About three years ago when the question of
Federal contro] of migratory birds was so seri-
ously considered, it was felt that the Federal
control of migratory fishes was of equal im-
portance, and possibly more easily secured.
Public sentiment, however, crystallized rapidly
around the bird question, on account of the su-
preme importance of maintaining the birds, and
through the efforts of public spirited men who
clearly saw the dangers to which our birds were
becoming increasingly exposed, the matter was
brought to a successful issue by the passage of
the Weeks-McLean Bill. Of even more im-
portance on account of its relation to the pub-
lie food supply is similar legislation requiring
federal control of migratory fish.
Almost every state in the Union, by unwise
methods, is unintentionally curtailing the pub-
lie food supply through inadequate regulation
of the food fishes.
The bill introduced by Representative Lin-
thicum of Maryland. on August 26th, 1913, H.
R. 7775, referred to the Committee on Merchant
Marine and Fisheries, upon which a hearing
will soon be held, is of very great importance
to all classes of citizens, whether fisherman, fish
dealers or cousumers, and should have the sup-
port of every thinking person.
1088 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Departments -
Reptiles
Raymonp L. Dirmars
Mammals
W. T. Hornapay.
Birds
C. WiL.tAM BEEBE.
Lee S. CRANDALL.
Aquarium
C. H. Townsenp.
Raymonp C. Ospurn
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copuright, 1914, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Evwiy R. Sansorn, Editor
Vou. XVII. No. 2. MARCH, 1914
FISH CANCER INVESTIGATION.
There is no disease more dreaded by human-
ity than cancer.
of money have been devoted to the study of
this disease in special laboratories founded for
the purpose, and to stimulate research in the
medical institutions already established. Thus
far all efforts to discover the cause of the dis-
ease or to find some infallible specific for its
cure haye been without avail.
In recent years large amounts
Theories as to the cause of cancer have been
numerous—their very numbers indicating their
inadequacy. In these the cause has been re-
ferred to bacteria and other parasitic unicellu-
lar organisms of both plant and animal nature,
to embryonic cells caught up by growth in other
tissues and delayed in development, to a dis-
cordant pernicious growth of epithelial tissues,
ete., ete. But thus far none of these has
proved satisfactory. It is true that bacteria
and other unicellular organisms have some-
times been found in cancerous growths, but ef-
forts to connect them with the disease in the
human have been unsuccessful.
In view of so much fruitless investigation,
it would not be strange if those engaged in it
had wearied of the search. However, the diffi-
culties and reverses seem only to have stimu-
lated them to renewed effort, and never has
there been research the
causes and treatment of any disease as exists
today in regard to cancer.
such an active into
Failing to find the cause of cancer in man
himself, investigators have taken up the study
of the disease in lower animals, in the hope of
finding there the clue for which they seek.
Cancer is known to oceur in other mammals,
SOCIETY BULLETIN
in birds and in fishes.
even been described in plants, though whether
these may be attributable to a similar cause is
somewhat doubtful.
Similar growths have
Very recently Dr. Peyton Rous, of Rocke-
feller Institute, and Dr. Leo Loeb, of St. Louis,
seem to have shown conclusively that certain
cancers found in chickens are due to bacteria.
According to newspaper reports of the work of
Dr. H. R. Gaylord on fish cancer, not yet pub-
lished in full, fish cancer also appears to be
due to bacterial action, though this does not
seem to have been positively proved, nor has
the germ been discovered.
On account of the suggestion contained in
the newspaper accounts, that fish cancer might
be transmissible to higher animals, the pre-
liminary account of Dr. Gaylord’s work has
attracted much attention and has served to
cause considerable excitement and apprehen-
sion.
It is well known that certain kinds of fishes,
particularly the salmons and the trouts, when
reared artificially in hatcheries, often develop
tumorous conditions of certain glands of the
throat known as the thyroid glands; the con-
dition being commonly called fish goitre. About
four years ago, Dr. Marine and Dr. Lenhart,
of the Medical Laboratory of Western Reserve
University, published in connection with the
Pennsylvania State Fish Commission, the re-
sults of extended experiments upon this fish dis-
ease, in which they showed that the fish thyroid
disease is similar in general character to goi-
tre in the human being. This was proved not
only by the histological condition of the diseased
gland, but also by the response to the iodine
treatment, which has been so successful in cases
of human goitre. At the same time they did
not deny the posibility that actual cancer might
develop in connection with the diseased tissues
of the thyroid gland.
If the preliminary newspaper accounts of
Dr. Gaylord’s work are accurate, Dr. Gaylord
believes that there is no dividing line between
this goiterous condition of the fish and true ean-
cer of the thyroid. Or, in other words, the
two are mild and pernicious phases of the same
disease. Dr. Gaylord has been unable to prove
that the disease is infectious, although he made
experiments in an attempt to discover this
point. He apparently believes that some mi-
cro-organism is responsible for the spread of
the disease, and attempted to infect higher ani-
mals, dogs and rats, by giving them to drink
water in which the scrapings from the fish tanks
had been placed. Some of these enimals, in the
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
course of four to six months, showed indications
of thyroid trouble (but not definite cancer)
while others gave negative results. ‘This mat-
ter is an extremely interesting and suggestive
one, but apparently it will need to be substan-
tiated by further experiments along the same
line before it can be accepted. Though many
efforts have been made by various investigators
to inoculate healthy animals with cancer, all
such experiments have failed except when the
inoculation has been confined to the same vari-
ety of animal. Also, efforts to transmit the dis-
ease by feeding cancerous tissues have been un-
availing, and this was the case even with
Dr. Gaylord’s experiments with fishes. While
it is not beyond the range of possibility
that the exciting cause of cancer might be
transmitted in the drinking water, the failure
of all efforts to transmit the disease directly
must make us hesitate to accept the above men-
tioned experiments with dogs and rats as con-
clusive. Also, it must not be forgotten that
parasites in general are very specifically re-
lated to definite hosts, so that the transmis-
sion of parasites from one species to another
is, as a rule, impossible. Even among the mam-
mals it usually has been found impossible to
transmit parasitic diseases beyond the range
of a single species.
The cause of goitre, like that of cancer, has
been long sought for without success; but the
two diseases have always been considered quite
distinct, though of course it is quite possible
for cancer to develop in diseased thyroid tis-
sues.
As to the possibility of transmitting fish can-
cer to the human being, there is at present no
occasion for alarm. Even if it were possible
to inoculate human beings with fish cancer,
which seems highly improbable, there could
be no danger in eating fishes with incipient
cancer, since cooking would naturally destroy
anything which would tend to excite the disease
in man. No one, of course, would care, on gen-
eral principles, to eat fishes in which any dis-
ease was evident.
Thyroid goitre of fishes has been known in
trout and salmon hatcheries for many years,
where it is supposed to be due to over feeding,
over crowding, and other unhygienic conditions,
and it is known to respond readily to the iodine
treatment and to greater cleanliness in the
hatchery tanks and ponds. There has been no
evidence of any increase in human goitre or
cancer among the employees working in such
hatcheries, or the people living in the vicinity
and drawing their water supply from these
sources.
1089
There is, then, no cause whatever for alarm
that cancer will become infectious because of
the prevalence of this thyroid disease in cer-
tain dish hatcheries.
R. C. Ospurn.
NEW MEMBERS.
January 1, 1914, ro Marcu 1, 1914.
LIFE MEMBERS.
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1090 ZOOLOGICAL
THE RELATION OF AQUATIC ANIMALS
TO THE WATER IN WHICH
THEY LIVE.
By Pror. G. G. Scort,
College of the City of New York.
“IT marvel how the fishes live in the sea.”-—Shakespeare.
ID you ever wonder why fishes do not get
drowned? Or how they can breathe in
the water, which, after all, is really the
same question as the other? Or how it is that
they do not keep drinking water all the time?
Or why a salt water fish dies in fresh water
and vice versa? I am not going to answer
these questions at all, but instead will discuss
a bit of dry physics and chemistry as a proper
setting for what apears to me to be a fascin-
ating story.
When two gases are confined in the same ves-
sel, they mix or diffuse into one another. Thus
light hydrogen gas will diffuse downward into
heavy carbon dioxide and the latter will diffuse
up into the light hydrogen. The force is due
to the difference in the partial pressures of
the two gases. A similar behavior is observed
when two solutions of different substances are
brought into contact. Diffusion between the
two continues until the concentration through-
out the vessel is everywhere the same. The
driving force by which this result is obtained
in the case of solutions is called osmotic pres-
sure and can be measured.
One of the most characteristic features of
living things is that substances must pass to
and fro between the external world and the
living cell in order that that cell may obtain
energy for its work and get rid of its waste
substances. The cell wall is a membrane sep-
arating the living substance within from the
material outside, and through this there must
be an incurrent and excurrent stream of ma-
terials.
In the lower aquatic animals the entire body
is surrounded by water and the substances
which the cell needs are in solution. Although
the simplest forms may take food particles di-
rectly into the cell, yet it soon occurs, in the
evolution of more complex forms, that the cell
can absorb its food in liquid form only; and if
the food at hand is not in liquid form the cell
secretes a solvent which changes the solid food
into the form of a solution. In higher animals
with many organs composed of a multitude of
cells, the blood carries the food in soluble form
to all the various cells of the body. But these
substances had first to get into the blood, and
SOCIETY BULLETIN
in every step they must pass through mem-
branes. So we observe that there is a constant
and repeated passage of materials in and out
through membranes formed of cell walls.
We said above that when two solutions of
different concentration, or of different osmotic
pressure, were confined in the same vessel, the
molecules undergo a change of position until
finally a condition of equilibrium is attained.
If we stretch a permeable membrane across
this vessel, dividing it into two compartments.
and place a solution of low osmotic pressure
in one and a solution of great osmotic pressure
in the other, a condition will soon obtain in
which the osmotic pressure will be the same
on both sides of the membrane. This process
probably plays a great part in the life of the
cells of the body. The degree of permeability
of cells to various substances has been the sub-
ject of much investigation.
The waters of the ocean contain solutions of
salts of various kinds, one of the principal
salts, as every one knows, being sodium chlor-
ide or common salt. Now the osmotic pressure
of ocean water is a little over 22.4 atmospheres,
the pressure of one atmosphere being 15 Ibs.
to the square inch, so the driving force of the
molecules in such a solution is very large. The
Mediterranean Sea is saltier than the ocean,
hence the osmotic pressure, about 28 atmos-
pheres, is greater even than that of the ocean.
The Black and Baltic Seas receive a great
deal of fresh water and hence are less salty
than the ocean, and so the osmotic pressure of
these waters is less than that of the open ocean.
The water of New York Harbor is very dilute,
due to the great volume of water flowing in
from the Hudson River, and the osmotic pres-
sure is only a little over one half that of ocean
water. Distilled or pure water of course con-
tains no salts in solution, hence its osmotic pres-
sure is zero. The osmotic pressure of spring
water or river water is very small, being less
than half an atmosphere. When pure distilled
water is taken in great quantities into an empty
stomach, we have a solution of no osmotic pres-
sure bathing the walls of cells, whose osmotic
pressure, in the human being, is about 7 at-
mospheres. The great difference in osmotic
pressures causes injuries to the cells. The small
amounts of salts present in our drinking waters
are just sufficient to counteract this. The
harmful effect of eating snow and ice is rele-
vant to this action, since snow and ice are prac-
tically frozen distilled waters.
Now aquatic animals inhabit all the waters
of the earth, which present a great degree of
ZOOLOGICAL
variation as far as the content of dissolved
salts is concerned, and therefore of their osmot-
ic pressures. What is the relation of all the
various groups of aquatic animals to the exter-
nal medium? As far as we can say the osmotic
pressure in the cells of an animal is probably
the same as that of the blood, which can be
easily measured. Now, aquatic animals could
adapt themselves to the osmotic pressure of the
water in various ways. For example, they
could construct membranes at the surface of
the body in such a way that these membranes
would be absolutely impermeable to the external
medium. In the second place, all parts in con-
tact with the water could be freely permeable
so that the interior of the cells would be prac-
tically living matter or protoplasm permeated
with the water and with its salts in the same
proportion as they exist in the water. Or,
thirdly, some of the parts in contact with the
water could be freely permeable and other
parts less so.
Undoubtedly the first animals were formed
in the sea and the same salts were present in
this primeval living organism as are found in the
sea and in the same proportions. Even in the
jelly fishes, which are somewhat complex ani-
mals, this is true, and they are in perfect osmotic
equilibrium with the sea. Later arose animals
like the crustaceans with their hard external
parts. They have certain structures which pro-
tect them from the sea without, yet even here
also, on account of the permeability of other
parts, the blood is in osmotic equilibrium with
the sea water. While in higher forms, like the
mollusks and the crustaceans, the animal is not
as freely open to the sea as is the jelly fish,
nevertheless the blood has the same osmotic
pressure as that of the sea water. For example,
if we studied these animals from the Mediter-
ranean, we would find that the osmotic pressure
of the blood is like that of the water from that
sea. In the more dilute waters of the Baltic,
the blood has the same concentration as that of
the water outside. Moreover it has been shown
experimentally that the osmotic pressure of the
blood changes according to the external medium.
Now, of course, there are limits to which this
change can take place. We might say that liy-
ing matter is so constructed that its activities
can be manifested only within a certain range
of external conditions. The osmotic pressure of
the human blood is quite constant at about
seven atmospheres. The blood of the marine
invertebrates along our shores, as we have seen,
is equal to about 22.4 atmospheres, and is even
higher than this in the case of those forms
SOCIETY BULLETIN
1091
found in the Mediterranean and much lower in
those found in the Baltic. The range of os-
motic pressures which the blood of these lowly
forms may take and yet be compatible with
life is large.
If, as we have said, the blood of these forms
becomes modified—i. e., more dilute as the ex-
ternal medium is made more dilute—water must
get into the blood of the animal or the salts of
the more concentrated blood of the animal must
get out. It is probable that both changes take
place. But through what part of the body?
Three possible structures have to be examined.
These are the skin on the surface of the body,
the wall of the intestinal tract and the gill
membranes. Observation and experiment show
that it is probably through the gills that the
exchanges usually take place—for example,
when an oyster is “fattened” by being placed
in fresh water, water enters and salts leave the
oyster through the gills, with the result that
the oyster swells up.
Oysters sometimes grow in very brackish or
even fresh water. This is explained by the fact
that marine invertebrates placed in a medium
differing in density from that to which they are
accustomed, immediately respond by losing
salts and taking on water to the end that soon
their osmotic pressure is near or the same as
that of this external medium. Of course, if
they were placed at once in fresh water they
would die, but it is quite possible that, by sub-
jecting some of these invertebrates to success-
ive small reductions in the density of the wa-
ter, we could finally get them to live in fresh
water.
Biologists tell us that the sharks and skates
are among the lowest of the fishes. In the os-
motic pressure of their blood they resemble the
marine invertebrates. That is, it is the same
as that of the external medium. The blood of
sharks from the Mediterranean is more concen-
trated than that from sharks of the more dilute
Atlantic ocean. However, extensive experi-
ments have shown that, while these animals re-
semble their invertebrate ancestors in this
respect, the change is not as great as that which
occurs in invertebrates under the same condi-
tions. In a certain series of experiments car-
ried on by the present author it was found that
the changes induced in the osmotic pressure of
the blood of dog-fishes were about one-fourth
of the magnitude of the changes made in the
external medium. A shark would, of course,
be killed in fresh water.* I found that the
*It must not be forgotten that one species of shark
(Carcharias nicaraguensis) occurs in Lake Nicaragua
in absolutely fresh water, 1 (eNO)
1092
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE NEW BERLIN AQUARIUM
osmotic pressure of the blood of dog-fishes in
the New York Aquarium was distinctly lower
than that of dog-fishes from Buzzards Bay,
where the water is much more concentrated
than the dilute harbor water in which the fish
live at the Aquarium. But the blood of these
Aquarium dog-fishes would not have as low an
osmotic pressure as that of invertebrates living
in the same water. (This conclusion is drawn
from what we know of the behavior of the in-
vertebrates and not from actual observation.)
The point is that the sharks and shark-like
fishes are to a certain extent independent of the
osmotic pressure of the external medium, where-
as the invertebrates have little if any means of
protecting themselves.
But what shall we say of the marine bony
fishes (cod, mackerel, ete.) which, in contrast
with the sharks and marine invertebrates, have
an osmotic pressure of the blood considerably
less than one-half of the sea water in which
they live? Important changes in the blood have
taken place, and in these fishes the gills have
become practically impermeable barriers to the
more highly concentrated outside medium. In
spite of the fact that the sea water has an os-
motic pressure of over twice that of the blood
of these fishes, the diffusion of its salts is pre-
vented. ‘The parts of the body exposed to the
sea water of such high osmotic pressure are
constantly bombarded, so to speak, by the high
pressure without. The scales covered with the
slimy membrane effectually prevent the changes
taking place through the skin, the wall of the
intestinal tract is equally efficient, and the gill
membranes, through which the gaseous ex-
changes must still take place between the blood
and the water, are so modified that they also
act as barriers to the high salt pressures with-
out. In our study of the osmotic pressures of
the blood we find no connecting links between
the conditions found in sharks and those found
in the bony fishes.
It has been found that the osmotic pressure
of the blood of fresh water bony fishes is
slightly less than that of the salt water forms.
The fresh water streams and lakes, in all prob-
ability, became inhabited by forms which had
their original home in the sea. In this adapta-
tion the blood has become slightly modified
from the condition found in the marine bony
fishes. This would go to show that, whereas
the bony fishes are practically immune to the
ordinary high external pressures, yet extreme
changes in these would produce some effect.
Thus I found that the blood of the tantog living
in brackish water at the New York Aquarium
had an osmotic pressure slightly less than that
of the same fishes living in the more concen-
trated waters of Buzzards Bay. Furthermore,
if the bony fishes are affected in no way by
the changes in the osmotic pressure of the ex-
ternal medium, then we would expect that the
blood of the anadromous bony fishes, which go
from the sea to fresh waters or back again,
would remain practically stationary under
these changed conditions. But this is not the
case, for, as Greene found in the case of the
Chinook salmon, the blood has a slightly lower
osmotic pressure in the fresh waters of the
spawning beds as compared with that in sea
water. Dakin in England found the blood of
the eel in fresh water slightly different from
that of the same species in the sea. I have
noted a similar condition in the white perch.
The osmotic pressures of the blood of these
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1093
THE AQUARIUM, MARINE PARK, BOSTON.
By permission of the American Architect
forms is not quite as high as that of exclusively
marine nor as low as that of exclusively fresh
water forms.
The amphibians (or frogs, toads and sala-
manders) are fish-like in the tadpole stage, and
have about the same osmotic pressure of the
blood as the fresh water fishes. It is of great
interest to note that, when they emerge from
the aquatic stage to lead a terrestrial life, they
take with them on the land the same kind of
blood which was developed in their fish-like
bodies. We suppose that the reptiles arose
from the Amphibia, and reptilian blood has an
osmotic pressure quite similar to that of the
frogs. The birds and mammals were divergent
lines of evolution from the reptiles, and the os-
motic pressure of the blood is similar to that
which preceded. In this way we can explain
the presence of salts in our own blood today.
It is an inheritance carried along through all
the ages during which the living world has
evolved. It came about in the first place in
the creation of living matter in the sea, and
the salts of the sea played, and to this day play
an important part in the processes which we
call living. Professor A. B. MacCallum has
shown that our blood today contains the same
salts in the same proportions as they existed in
the seas of primeval days.
It becomes continually more evident that to
properly understand man and the other mam-
mals, we must study the lower forms, too.
Scientists have already devoted a great deal of
attention to structures; they will give more at-
tention in the future to the study of the evolu-
tion of living processes.
NEW AQUARIUMS IN AMERICA AND
EUROPE.
WO American cities outside of New York
have supplied themselves with public aqua-
riums of considerable size. A photograph
of the aquarium in Boston, opened about a year
ago, is shown in this number of the Butietin.
The building is attractive both inside and out,
and is equipped with fresh and salt water tanks.
The collection is small as compared with that
of the New York Aquarium, but is well
1094
exhibited. The Boston Aquarium has been a
popular institution from the start, and had, it
is understood, nearly a million visitors the first
year.
The aquarium in Detroit, of which, unfortu-
nately, no picture is available, was opened in
1904. The building is 260 feet long by 72 feet
wide, and is now visited by more than a million
persons a year. It contains both fresh and salt
water equipment and collections.
The aquarium in Philadelphia, which has
been in operation for a couple of years, is situ-
ated in Fairmount Park and is installed in an
old building which originally formed part of
the city water works. Although handicapped
by its location in a structure of this kind, it
is well patronized by the public, and additional
and larger exhibition tanks are being installed.
The new aquarium in Berlin, a picture of
which is presented in this Bunievin, is situ-
ated on the Kurfurstendamm, near the elephant
gate of the Zoological gardens. It contains in
the lower story the aquarium proper, the room
being equally divided between fresh and _ salt
water, with fourteen large tanks and twenty-
five smaller ones. An upper floor is devoted to
terraria, with nineteen large and about sixty
smaller receptacles for reptiles and amphibians.
A large glass-covered room is constructed to
hold a tropical creek, with sandbanks upon
which crocodiles may bask and pools in which
turtles may swim about, while the border is
planted with bamboo. The uppermost story
houses an insectorium.
In another portion of the same building are
administration and service rooms and labora-
tories for scientific study. In the basement are
located the pumps and reservoirs for both
fresh and salt water. A water tower contains
distributing tanks which supply the aquaria
with water directly.
The public aquarium idea has taken a pretty
firm hold in this country, and doubtless we shall
soon have as many as Europe. The city of
Chicago is now making great efforts for the
establishment of an aquarium and will prob-
ably have one before long. The Director of
the New York Aquarium has been from time
to time called upon to furnish information rela-
tive to its equipment, to officials of most of the
large cities in the country.
There is every reason to believe that a large
aquarium will be a feature of the coming Pan-
ama Exposition in San Francisco, and certain
public-spirited citizens are exerting themselves
to have it made a permanent feature of the
city of San Francisco. (Cas Gd
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE INCREASED UTILIZATION
CARP.
ROBABLY no fish has been the subject of
more discussion regarding its edible quali-
ties than has the German’carp. Moreover
it would be difficult indeed to imagine a wider
range of opinion in regard to the general econ-
omic status of any fish. Among the adyocates
of the carp there are those who consider it a
delicacy; those who consider it a coarse food
suitable especially for the poor, to whom it may
afford a suflicient quantity of a meat diet at a
low price, and those who value it only as a
source of food for the game fishes. On the
other hand, there are those who consider it as
unfit for food for anyone at any price; who
believe that it is highly destructive to our na-
tive game and food fishes by devouring eggs,
by destroying breeding places and by fouling
the water; who mark it with the stigma of
“spawn eater,’ and who would eradicate it
from our waters entirely.
OF
The original home of the carp is in eastern
Asia. Just when it was introduced into Eu-
rope seems to be problematical, but it reached
England as early as 1514. According to De-
Kay it was introduced from France into the
United States in 1831, by Henry Robinson, and
was reared successfully by him in his ponds at
Newburgh, N. Y. In 1872 Mr. J. A. Poppe
introduced five small carp from Germany into
his private ponds at Sonoma, California. The
offspring of these fishes were distributed to
numerous places in California and thus the
carp industry of that State was established.
(Report U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for
1878.)
The vogue in carp raising dates from 1877,
when, under the influence of the late Professor
Spencer F. Baird, then United States Com-
missioner of Fisheries, they were again intro-
duced and widely heralded as most desirable
pond fish. Within a few years carp ponds be-
came very common throughout the eastern and
central states. As a rule the farmers who con-
structed these ponds became discouraged in a
short time, upon finding that the carp had to
be fed if they were to grow and multiply rap-
idly, and that when taken from stagnant, muddy
ponds they did not possess as fine a flavor as
they had been led to expect. The breaking of
dikes and water gates in time of freshets per-
mitted the carp to escape to the streams and
lakes, where they at once proceeded to estab-
lish themselves.
They have now become so widely distributed
in the larger lakes and streams that their eradi-
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
cation is impossible, however desirable such a
project might be. Like that uncontrollable
pest, the English sparrow, they have come to
stay. However, the carp is not, like the spar-
row, an unmitigated nuisance. It is true that
he sometimes eats the eggs and destroys the
breeding places of more desirable fishes and
disturbs the waters continually, but at the same
time the carnivorous fishes take a heavy toll
of young carp for food. But what is of much
greater importance, the carp is gradually find-
ing a market, especially in the larger cities,
that bids fair to have a place in the much-dis-
cussed reduction of the high cost of living.
Just how important this is becoming may
best be judged by recent published reports.
Thus carp are stated to be the most valuable
commercial fish of the Illinois River, which
yields a total annual product of twenty-four
million pounds of fish. One hundred and fifty
tons of carp are reported to have been taken
thus far this season in the Kalamazoo River,
Michigan. Sandusky, Ohio, is a great center
for the carp industry, and supplies especially
the large eastern markets of New York and
Philadelphia.
A new type of fishing industry has grown up
in connection with the shipment of live carp
from Sandusky, especially to the eastern mar-
kets. Although this business is now only about
three years old, it is estimated that from
500,000 to 1,000,000 pounds of live carp are
now shipped annually from Sandusky, in which
place this work has become one of the most
important lines of the fish industry. The meth-
ods employed are outlined in the Fishing Ga-
zette (January 3, 1914).
Shipping the living fish in quantity to a dis-
tance of 600 miles appeared at first to be a
difficult problem, and the first attempt, made
some three years ago, to send a carload of
6,000 pounds met with so little success that
only 100 pounds remained alive when the car
reached its destination. Specially built cars,
provided with tanks in which the water can be
aerated with an air pump and in which the
temperature can be regulated, have at last
solved the problem so satisfactorily that now
seldom more than 100 pounds are lost in a car-
load of 6,000 to 10,000 pounds. Several cars
are loaded each week at Sandusky and are
rushed through by fast express.
The extensive marshes and shallow water
areas, together with the slow flowing streams
about Sandusky Bay, are the chief sources of
these carp. When caught, the fishes are held
in pounds and large live cars until they can
1095
be shipped, and shipments are made all the
year round except when the ice prevents the
removal of the carp from the pens. As the
carp are worth only four and one-half to six
cents per pound at Sandusky and bring fifteen
to twenty cents per pound alive in the eastern
markets, there is still considerable room for
profit after transportation charges are deduct-
ed. When the carp are shipped dead they bring
only five to eight cents per pound on the New
York markets, so there is left an extra margin
of about ten cents per pound to pay for the
greater expense of handling them alive. Fur-
thermore, there can be no doubt that they are
far more edible when shipped alive, as they are
given time in the pens and during transit to
get rid of the mud from the intestines, which
causes the flesh to be so permeated with its
ill flavors when carp are allowed to die imme-
diately after they are caught.
Under favorable conditions carp reach a
marketable size in one year, sometimes attain-
ing the length of one foot in nine or ten months.
A three-year-old has been known to weigh
thirty pounds, though an average weight at this
age is probably only about three or four
pounds. According to Dr. T. H. Bean (Fishes
of New York) the carp increases in size up
to the thirty-fifth year and has been known to
reach a weight of ninety pounds. The carp
will spawn when one year old and, as a four
or five-pound female will produce 400,000 to
500,000 eggs, the rapid increase of the species
in favorable conditions is easily understood.
While carp will eat almost anything, they live
chiefly on vegetable food and may be fed on the
coarsest diet, such as cabbage, potatoes, corn,
ete. Apparently the rate of growth is depend-
ent chiefly on the amount of food they can con-
sume and there seems to be no limit to their ap-
petites. While they are found to some extent in
clear streams and rivers, they seem to thrive
best in the sluggish back waters and bayous of
slow flowing streams, and in marshes that are
often almost uninhabitable by any other food
fish. Thus it happens that the chief centers of
the carp industry are found in such places as
the Illinois River and the extensive marshes of
northern Indiana, Ohio and southern Michigan.
If they would only limit their distribution to
such localities no one would have the least cause
for complaint.
Because of the habits of the carp the flesh is
usually somewhat ill-flavored and muddy to the
taste, unless proper care has been taken to rid
it of this objectionable quality. If the freshly
caught fish is thoroughly bled and cleaned at
1096 ZOOLOGICAL
once when taken and then placed in salt water
for a few hours, the muddy taste disappears;
but it should never be allowed to lie with the
entrails and blood in it. Still better is the
method of keeping them alive in pure water
for a few days until the intestine has been emp-
tied and the blood purified as in the process of
marketing alive.
Dr. E. E. Prince, Dominion Commissioner of
Fisheries, in his annual report has taken up the
cudgels against the further introduction of carp
into Canada. In stating the arguments for and
against this fish Dr. Prince admits the follow-
ing points in favor of the carp:
1. It has some value in the United States
markets and is regarded by some persons as
possessing edible qualities.
2. There are inferior waters adapted for
carp culture.
3. They are reared with little difficulty.
4. They are very prolific and grow rapidly
on very poor food.
5. Some anglers find carp fishing an enjoy-
able pastime.
Against these he opposes the following argu-
ments:
1. The cool, pure waters of Canada are well
adapted for fishes superior in quality to the
carp.
2. Carp are nomadic in their habits and, like
undesirable weeds, spread everywhere.
3. They are voracious and omnivorous.
4. Their market value (in Canada) can never
be great.
5. They consume the food of better fish and
multiply so fast that they are injurious and
even destructive to the better kinds.
6. They ruin the waters by destroying vege-
tation, rooting up the banks and disturbing the
bottom.
7. They are destructive spawn eaters and no
spawning ground is safe from their attacks.
8. They are especially subject to parasites
and contagious fish diseases.
Mr. Louis Radcliffe, of the Bureau of Fish-
eries, defends the carp (Fishing Gazette, Jan-
uary 31, 1914) in reply to Dr. Prince’s attack,
and gives figures showing the rapid growth and
great importance of the industry. In 1908,
Mr. Radcliffe points out, with figures taken
from the census report, the yield, of carp
amounted to 42,768,000 pounds, valued at
$1,135,000, equal to 2 per cent. of the total
value of all fisheries products, including shell-
fish, ete. From seven of our inland states, I]-
linois, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin,
Towa and Minnesota, were taken nearly a mil-
SOCIETY BULLETIN
lion dollars’ worth of this fish. In Illinois the
value of the carp was greater than that of all
other species combined. Even in 1908—and
the carp industry has increased rapidly
since that time—the carp was outranked in val-
ue in the United States by only six species,
viz.: salmon, cod, shad, squeteague, halibut, and
haddock.
Probably Professor Prince is quite right in
arguing that no fish culturist should determine
to introduce these fish without fully considering
the grave possibilities associated with their eul-
tivation, and perhaps it would have been better
if the carp had never been introduced into
American waters. However, since they are
here and since there is no possible means of
getting rid of them, and since they will prob-
ably spread throughout our waters in the course
of time, it is encouraging to note that these fish
are beginning to find favor in the market, that
the demand for them is steadily increasing, and
that the method of marketing them alive has
been perfected, thus insuring a much better ar-
ticle of diet than when handled in any other
manner.
From the standpoint of the sportsman the
carp undoubtedly makes a nuisance of himself
by destroying the spawn and food of the more
desirable game fishes, and perhaps he may even
prove to be a serious menace to fishing indus-
tries based on the more desirable food fishes
of the fresh waters. However, if this much
maligned alien will only help to solve that ever
increasing and difficult problem, the high cost
of living, for the considerable portion of our
population who are not anglers and who are
unable to afford the more costly foods, he may
prove in the end a not altogether undesirable
citizen. R. C. Ossurn.
EUROPEAN BLIND SALAMANDER.
LONG with other material from Europe,
received early in December, were two liv-
ing specimens of the blind cave salaman-
der (Proteus anguinus). The family Proteidae,
to which this salamander belongs, is, so far as
known, limited to three species, each belonging
to a different genus. The other species are the
common mud puppy (Necturus maculatus) of
eastern North America, and the blind sala-
mander (T'yphlomolge rathbuni) from artesian
wells of Texas.
The mud puppy is always kept on exhibition
in some numbers at the Aquarium. While they
are nocturnal in habit the eyes are fairly well
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
EUROPEAN BLIND SALAMANDERS
developed, although, as in the others of the
family, there are no eyelids. The subterranean
Typhlomolge from ‘Texas, which is entirely
blind, has been exhibited twice at the New York
Aquarium, the specimens coming from deep
artesian wells at San Marcos. The Proteus
has not before been exhibited.
This species inhabits subterranean waters of
Carniola, Carinthia and Dalmatia, about the
head of the Adriatic Sea. “The vast caves of
Adelsburg, not far from Trieste, are especially
celebrated for the occurrence .... of this ani-
mal. The river Poik disappears into the lime-
stone hills and rushes through enormous stalac-
tite grottoes . . . . There deep down below the
surface, in absolute darkness, in an almost con-
stant temperature of about fifty degrees Fah-
renheit, is the home of Proteus.”
The species reaches nearly a foot in length
and our largest specimen is about nine inches
long. As might be expected in the case of a
cave species, the body is colorless, except that
the blood gives a slight pinkish tinge to the
body, and the three pairs of external gills are
brilliant carmine. According to Gadow, quoted
above, “the white skin is almost as susceptible
to light as is a photographic plate. If light is
not absolutely excluded the white skin becomes
in time cloudy, and if exposed to strong light the
whole animal turns ultimately jet black.”
Though our two specimens have been kept in
the same tank, exposed to strong daylight since
their arrival on December second, one of them
shows no indication whatever of any color
change. The other specimen has become almost
uniformly light grey.
1097
Although constant effort has been made to
induce our specimens to feed, they have as yet
eaten nothing; but, according to Gadow, speci-
mens are known to have existed for years with-
out taking any nourishment. They swim read-
ily in an eel-like manner in the aquarium jar.
Occasionally they may rise to the surface to
take a new supply of air into the lungs, after
which they usually drop without any muscular
action toward the bottom. Sometimes they may
come to rest upon the plants in the aquarium,
and may remain in this position for some time
without moving.
’ The limbs of this species are very small and
degenerate. The fore limbs are provided with
three toes. The hind limbs, which are some-
what smaller, have but two toes. The vestigial
eyes are entirely covered by the skin of the
head, and thus are scarcely visible. The tail is
strongly keeled above and below, for the pur-
pose of swimming. In the aquarium tank they
appear much more active than the mud puppy,
crawling about over the vegetation and occa-
sionally swimming actively.
Another publication in this series has just
made its appearance under the title, “The Care
of Home Aquaria,” prepared by Dr. Raymond
C. Osburn, Assistant Director of the Aquarium.
Ever since the opening of the New York Aqua-
rium there have been constant calls for informa-
tion in regard to this subject. In the New
York Zoological Society Butietin for April,
1908, Director Townsend gave a brief discus-
sion of the subject. The Burierr for March,
1912, was entirely devoted to a discussion of
“The Balanced Aquarium,” by Dr. Osburn, but
the edition of fifteen hundred copies was ex-
hausted by sales at the door within a few
months.
Still the demands for information did not
cease and to meet this need the present work,
1098
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
AN OLD PRINT OF THE AQUARIUM BUILDING
which is an amplification of the article in the
1912 BuLuetin, was prepared and is now of-
fered for sale. The volume of sixty-four pages
with twenty-nine cuts, is devoted especially to
the methods of setting up, stocking and caring
for balanced aquaria suitable for the home
and classroom. Some of the topics discussed
are: The meaning of balance, temperature,
planting the aquarium, stocking the aquarium,
feeding, cleaning, marine aquaria, diseases and
parasites, etc., ete. The booklet in paper cover
may be obtained from the New York Aquarium
for twenty-five cents.
ANOTHER OLD PRINT
AQUARIUM.
The Aquarium building, long known as Castle
Garden, has been put to many uses and sub-
jected to many alterations in its century of
service. The Aquarium library has gradually
acquired a collection of old time prints which
present many different aspects of the strue-
ture.
Originally it was a circular fort. During the
many years when it was used as a landing place
for immigrants it acquired superstructures and
OF THE
was surrounded by accessory buildings. When
it became an Aquarium the upper story was re-
modeled to some extent and the surrounding
buildings removed. Prior to 1869 it was
brought within the limits of Battery Park by
the filling in of the shallows and the construc-
tion of the sea wall which now encloses it.
Some of the prints referred to have been re-
published in the bulletins and annual reports
of the New York Zoological Society, as follows:
Butietin, April, 1907; April, 1908; March,
1910; AnnuaL Report, 1906. A photograph of
the bronze tablet placed on the building in 1909
will be found in the BuLtetin for March, 1910.
The date of the print reproduced in this num-
ber of the Butietin is not set forth on the
print, but it was of course prior to 1869.
CC) Her:
ATTENDANCE AT THE AQUARIUM.
During the year 1913, the total attendance
at the New York Aquarium was 2,205,729.
This is an average of more than six thousand
persons a day. The attendance has increased
slowly from year to year, notwithstanding the
fact that the exhibits cannot be increased nor
greatly altered in the present building.
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
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 May 1 to November 1, the opening and closing hours are from 9
o'clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset. From November 1 to May 1, the opening and
closing hours are from 10 o’clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, New York City.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM.
The Aquarium is open every day in the year: April 15 to October 15, from 9 o'clock
A. M. to 5 o’clock P. M.; October 16 to April 14, from 10 o’clock A. M. to 4 o'clock P. M. No
admission is charged.
PUBLICATIONS
Annual Report No. 1............. Paper $ .40 Sea-Shore Life (Mayer) stan Sooke Cloth 1,20
A % Bee Rae or Narersy ees 3, cre % .75 Cloth $1.00 The National Collection of Heads
“ Ae eo 7 “ orns. (Hornaday) arge
3 and 4, each, -40 -60 Quarto. Parts land 2, each... Paper 1.00
6 e . ae Haut Bulletin Nos. 1 and 6........... Out of Print
“ EURer a) ne gonala” ¢s 1.00 “ 1.25
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“ TAU) Peek GQ. et ae 1.25 “ 1.50
“ “ : 11, 12, 13, 14, Bulletin Nos. 5 to 23 inclusive Set, cloth bound, .... 5.00
hy Beh CELA SG COS cmGuEG neo aD Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (Hornaday)
Our Vanishing Wild Life (Horna- ———s—s—si tt tt nner eee eee eee eee e ene e teen eeeeee 25
Gag) BDOSUD AAG. stosieieis ps )e\e setetelcs ss 1.65
Souvenir Books: Series No. 2, 36 pages, 544 x 714 inches, 33
Destruction of Our Birds and full page illustrations in colors. Price, 25c.;
Mammals (Hornaday) ........ - 15 postage 3c.
Notes on Mountain Sheep of Series No. 3, 48 pages, 7x9 inches, 73 illustra-
North America (Hornaday).... “ -40 tions from four color plates. Price 50c., post-
The Caribou (Grant) ........... a 40 -60 Beale:
The Origin and Relationship of Souvenir Postal Cards: Series of 72 subjects in colors, sold
the Large Mammals of North in sets of 24 cards, assorted subjects, for 25
America (Grant) ..........--. see I200 cents; postage 2 cents per set.
The Rocky Mountain Goat (Grant) ee 1.00 Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. Animals and
. views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 1-11 inclu- of 2 subjects. Price 25 cents per set; sent
RUGE ROliote cieisiniststeiete ts niater siren nis ’ 2.30 postpaid.
Publications for sale at the Zoological Park and at the New York Aquarium.
f
Jot. XVII. No. 3 MAY, 1914
—
on
>
“SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Published b y
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Z3 i) aM
im NATRONA
MOANA CNC AN MOO TMT CHGS SST MSHA
mm
Officers of the New Uork Zoological Soriety
President
Henry Farrrietp Osgorn.
First Vice-President Serond Vice-President
Samvet THorne. Joun L. Capwavaper.*
Secretary Treasurer
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street. Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street.
Executive Committee
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
Percy R. Pyne, SamMvueL THORNE, Frank K. Srvurais, Wirtuiam Wuire NILes,
Wma. Pierson Hamitton, LisPENARD STEWART, Watson B. Dickerman,
Henry Farrrietp Ossorn, Ex Officio.
Board of Managers
Ex Officio
The Mayor of the City of New York. The Present of the Department of Parks.
Class cf 1915
Levi P. Morron, Wituiam Wuirte Nites, Greorce J. Goutp,
ANDREW CARNEGIE, SaMuEL THORNE, Ocpen MILLs,
Joun L. CapwaLaper,* Henry A. C. Taytor, Lewis Rutruerrorp Morris,
Mapison GRANT, Frank K. Strurais, ArcuHer M. Huntineton.
Class of 1916
F. Aveustus ScHERMERHORN, CuireveLanp H. Doner, Emerson McMituin,
Percy R. Pyne, C. Lepyarp Brair, AntTuony R. Kuser,
Georce B. GrinneE.Lt, Freperick G. Bourne, Watson B. DickerMaAN,
Georce C. Crark, W. Austin WapswortnH, Mortimer L. Scuirr.
Class of 1917
Henry Farrrietp Osporn, Cuartes F. Dierericn, Wo. Pierson Hamitton,
Witiiam C. Cuurcn, James J. Hit, Rosert S. Brewster,
LisPENARD STEWART, Georce F. Baker, Epwarp S. Harkness,
H. Casrir pe Ruan, Grant B. Scutey, Wiriiam B. Oscoop Fre.tp.
General Officers
Wituiam T. Hornavay, Director of the Park.
Cuarues H. Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
La Farce & Morris, Architects. H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntineton, Prosector.
Officers of the Zoological Park
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director.
H. R. MitrcuHett, C. Witi1am Berese, H. W. Merket, G. M. Beersower,
Raymonp L. Dirmars, L. S. Cranpatt, W. Rem Braire, Winriam MircHetr,
Exiwin R. Sanporn.
Officers of the Aquarium
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director. Raymonp C. Oseurn, Assistant.
Wasuinectron I. DeNyse. Roxpert SuTcuLiFFe.
* Deceased.
ee ee ee Te a,
ZOO twOoG YP CAL SOCLETY. BULLE
CONTENTS FOR MAY, 1914
Sea Guitt Monument in Sacr Lake Ciry..
A Trisute To THE Sea Guin
Goriutas IN THEIR Own JUNGLE ....
Mepat ror Dr. Hornapay
War with THE FratHerR TRADE .... eee
CarRNEGIE PENSION FUND .............- :
{ Joun LaMBERT CADWALADER.....
Opitvuary:
VJoun ET ONGsR DI EIORD i eens eee es ne :
Trickery By tHe Lonpon Frearuer TRADE... .... CSO eS Oe
INiWwiMinntBRS) foe tent Be ee nO Se ea b ten
Blvems or INTEREST WW
Seen AGS | COBBAN see... pak ie eer ee een aD ,
CuHaNGEs IN Pevace or SamBar Derr .............
‘1 Dreuah cea wonine CONg) Gurstiop |) Bey om o8 | G-(oXo}<) 0) eee esenmee te aentseer IIIS SOO NUH UN nnND ea eerane i es eee
SESE ATENDCTER TENT Gemee ESO SOV Tene a nT COHAN Stas ete eS a a eat ea ee St ect csn ne nseicortvinctaletsccurnbdcncodens
se
PAGE
Frontispiece
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abi tal
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Seton scre se 1115
sscrcomsabeee 1116
SEA GULL MONUMENT IN SALT LAKE CITY
Erected in remembrance of the gulls that saved the crops from destructive insects.
om
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Published by the New York Zoological Socie
. MAY @ 1914
Wr,
Sion Muses’
Vou. XVII MAY,
1914
NuMBER 3
A TRIBUTE TO THE SEA GULL
By G. O. Sutewps.
ISITORS to Salt Lake City will hereafter
V have the privilege of beholding the first
monument ever erected by grateful peo-
ple to any bird. We have monuments all over
the civilized world, commemorating the deeds
of great men and events of every sort, but
never before has man expressed his apprecia-
tion of the work of insect-eating birds by such
a tribute.
A photograph of the Gull monument is shown
as the frontispiece of this issue of the Butie-
tin, and herewith appear two of the bronze
tablets which decorate two sides of the pedestal.
The story that the monument stands for is
interesting, quite to the verge of romance. In
1848, a year after the first pioneers had set-
tled in the great Salt Lake Valley, when their
first wheat crops were growing and represented
well-nigh the sole sustenance of the colony for
the coming year, the tradition exists that hordes
of grasshoppers descended from the adjacent
mountains and began to devour the grain and
everything else that was green in the valley.
The pests moved in a line that was miles in
length, like a great army going into battle, and
devoured every vestige of vegetation, leaving
the ground behind them looking like a bed of
ashes. The settlers were heartbroken, and
panic-stricken, because they saw starvation
stalking behind them.
Down at the lake, a few miles away, so the
legend goes. were thousands of snow-white
herring gulls, and the visitation of grasshop-
pers did not long eseape their keen eyes. There
was a great commotion among the flock of gulls,
and those flying in the air in every direction
seemed to be calling to their mates to go to
the fields and help destroy the insects.
The birds soon located the invading army,
circled over and about it, then swooped down
upon it and began to devour it. The insects
were powerless to offer resistance, and the
birds scooped them up literally by millions.
As fast as the foragers loaded their crops to
their full capacity, they took wing and flew
away to the banks of a neighboring creek,
to digest their great load of grasshoppers,
while others took their places in the work of
destruction. And so the slaughter went on
through the day. At night the gulls returned
to the lake, but at dawn the next morning they
were again on the scene of action; and they
continued until the army of grasshoppers was
literally annihilated.
The pioneer farmers and their wives were
filled with gratitude, and many of them fell
on their knees and returned thanks for their de-
liverance from the starvation that had stared
them in the face. From that day to this, the
descendants of these early settlers have held
the gulls in grateful memory. It has been
generally known throughout the state of Utah
that any man or boy who would dare to kill
one of these birds would be liable to pay the
penalty with his own life, and so far as is
known, in all these years no one ever has killed
one of these birds in that state.
A few years ago the gratitude of the people
of Salt Lake City to their deliverers took
tangible shape. A young newspaper reporter,
named Isaac Russell, and who is now on the
New York Times, wrote a Christmas story for
Aeaonian retitage
>
1102 ZOOLOGICAT,
SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE;}DESTRUCTION OF THE CROPS AND THE
COMING OF THE GULLS.
one of the Salt Lake City papers in which he
recounted the great achievement of the gulls,
and said that the people who were directly
interested should build a monument to that
species.
Fisher Harris, who was Secretary of the
Commercial Club, at once took up the sugges-
tion, and started a movement among the well-
to-do people. which resulted in the raising of
$40,000, with which to defray the cost of a
monument.
Mahonri Young, a young sculptor and a
grandson of Brigahm Young, now a_ resident
of New York City, was commissioned to de-
sign and build the monument. He performed
his task sympathetically and well, and the re-
sult was unveiled October 1, 1913.
The monument consists of a granite shaft
fifteen feet high, on top of which rests a great
ball, and on this two gulls in gilded bronze,
are in the act of alighting. The pedestal bears
four historic bronze plaques, in relief, and is
surrounded by a fountain forty feet in diam-
eter, in which goldfish disport themselves, and
lilies and other water plants are growing.
The people of the state of Utah have thus
set an example for the world; but unfortunately
there are few instances where birds have been
permitted to work out the complete salvation
of the farmer from his insect enemies. The
birds are trying it every day, all over the land,
but they are met at every turn by bloodthirsty
REAPING THE HARVEST.
men and boys, armed with guns and reenforced
by dogs, and the majority of the farmers whose
property these birds are trying to protect, al-
low the vandals to range over their fields far
and wide, and hunt the birds to death.
GORILLAS IN THEIR OWN JUNGLE.
URING the past twenty years I have.
from time to time, kept gorillas on my
premises for the purpose of studying
their vocal sounds, habits and mental faculties.
In all, I have had twelve specimens, and some
of these for several months in succession. Be-
sides this I have spent most of that time in the
chief centers of gorilla populations, where many
good opportunities were afforded for studying
them in a state of nature. From these various
sources I have gathered many facts not gen-
erally known to the scientific world: but the
space here available precludes an elaborate re-
port of them. I shall therefore confine myself
to a brief account of two specimens that I have
on hand at this time.
“Dinah” is a young female, now apparently
about three years of age, and beyond question,
is the finest specimen of her race that I have
ever seen in captivity.
As a rule, the gorilla is stoical, morose, often
sullen, and evinces a strong aversion to human
society. Some individuals, even after months
ZOOLOGICAL
of patient care and kindness, remain spiteful
and ferocious; but “Dinah” is a conspicuous ex-
ception to the rule. When I first acquired her,
a few days after she was captured, she was as
vicious and savage as any that I have ever seen;
but now, after five months in captivity, she is
as tame and playful as a house cat.
“Dinah” is the only gorilla that I have ever
known to attempt a laugh or even a smile; but
she does both. When tickled under the arms
or on the bottom of the foot, she chuckles aud-
ibly, in a manner closely verging on a real
laugh, and she seems to enjoy being tickled.
She is a real tomboy, and often challenges me
for a romp. Frequently when I enter her big
cage, she climbs upon my shoulders or head.
or slaps my cheeks in a most human-like fash-
ion, beats a tattoo on my back, or snatches off
my hat as a mischievous boy would do. She
has a real sense of humor, and it often mani-
fests itself in pranks which clearly indicate
that she is conscious of being funny.
Her varied poses on the trapeze are quite
unique, and some of them would arouse the envy
of a professional acrobat. She often indulges
in a game of solitaire football. She clutches a
bunch of straw between her feet, and, using
her arms as crutches, rushes across the floor
of her long cage, tosses the wisp against the
wall, then catches it in her hands and scuffles
with it in a boisterous manner, as though it
were some living thing trying to get away from
her. After a bout or two at this she occasion-
ally rises to an erect position and beats a rous-
ing tattoo on her breast with her hands; strik-
ing alternately, with surprising rapidity and
force.
To watch her movements and expression in
searching for the gorilla behind a mirror is
not only amusing, but is a study of animal
psychics worthy of attention. With great cau-
tion she reaches her arm around the mirror and
feels for the image. Not finding it, she peeps
over, and under and around the sides of the
glass. To her it is a strange elusive ape, and
she has never become convinced that it is not
a real gorilla. The interest, anxiety and dis-
appointment in turn depicted in her black face
are too human-like to be imagined on the visage
of an ape, but she never tires of the futile
search. Nothing else that she sees seems to
interest and absorb her so profoundly as that
mysteriously vanishing gorilla behind the
mirror.
The companion of “Dinah” is a young male,
perhaps not more than eight or nine months old.
Because of his persistent habit of charging at
SOCIETY BULLETIN
11038
windmills in the early days of his captivity, I
named him Don, in honor of Don Quixote,
whose historic capers he so zealously emulates.
Don is a timid little waif; but not malicious.
His nerves are highly strung and he is very
easily excited, but gradually he is becoming
more tame as he becomes accustomed to his new
surroundings. However, in three months he
has made less progress along that line than
Dinah did in half the time, although she was
much less tractable at first than he was.
A practical joke that seems to afford her
great amusement is frequently played upon her
little companion. While he sits quietly nib-
bling at some morsel of food, she rushes across
the cage and in passing him, throws out one
leg, hooks her foot about his neck and tumbles
him sprawling on the floor. He invariably
cries, and sometimes swears; whereupon she
runs to him, helps him up, caresses him in a
motherly fashion, and then repeats the joke,
perhaps a dozen times in a day.
The difference in temperament in these two
apes is as distinct and pronounced as that of
any two human children of corresponding ages.
Dinah is a real rollicking rowdy, with an air
of “rough house’ in every act and gesture,
while Don is as prim and stoical as a wooden
Indian. Nothing resembling a smile ever soft-
ens the rigidity of his spectral countenance and
the deep searching stare of his grave eyes is
like that of an inquisitor. Dinah is as fat and
buxom as a pet pig, and eats like a gourmand,
while Don is as lean as a lath, and breaks and
minces his food as daintly as an epicure. She
eats five or six times as much as he does, and
if not constantly watched while eating she in-
variably rebs him of whatever he has.
In so far as their dietary is concerned, both
of these apes are now fairly well civilized,
which is a great consummation. ‘They both eat
bread, various kinds of cooked meats either
fresh or cured, sweet bananas, mangoes, pine-
apples and other cultivated fruits in certain
stages of ripeness. Nevertheless, they are
rather capricious and sometimes fastidious
about their food. At one time they will eat
the crust of bread and refuse the crumbs, and
at other times they exactly reverse this order.
Occasionally they will eat both, and in these
whims they do not always act concurrently.
Sometimes they eat the succulent part of
bananas, at other times only the skin, and at
still others they eat only the thin inner lining
of the skin. On many occasions they bite off
the points and eat them, while at other times
they peel the fruit, break it in two about the
1104 ZOOLOGICAL
middle, take a bite from each of the freshly-
broken ends and throw the rest away. They
are both especially fond of uncooked ham and
also of roast or ragout of chicken; but they do
not relish fried meats, if they can get other
kinds; although sometimes they eat fried bacon.
The universal notion that gorillas are vege-
tarians is, in my opinion, an egregious error.
Nearly all of my gorillas have been meat-eaters
and I have had abundant evidence in the jun-
gle that it is a general habit. A fact well
worthy of notice is that almost every item of
vegetable food chosen by the gorilla in a wild
state is of a distinctly bitter, acid or pungent
taste, and some are even acrid. I know many
of the plants that constitute a large part of
their diet, and I do not know of one with a
sweet flavor and but few neutral ones.
This is my first methodic attempt to change
the dietary of the gorilla; and thus far the ex-
periment has been successful. Just what effect,
if any, the change may ultimately have on their
health and longevity, is difficult to predict, but
up to this stage it appears to be salutary.
R. L. Garner.
Fernan Vaz, French Congo Territory.
LADIES’ AND MEMBERS’ DAYS.
Members’ Day will be observed at the Zoo-
logical Park on May 21, 1914. Good music
will be provided and refreshments served. Ar-
rangements also have been made to serve tea
to the members of the Society on the afternoons
of May 28, June 4 and June 11, at the Ad-
ministration Building in the Zoological Park.
Ladies’ Day will be observed on May 14.
1914.
RECEPTION AT THE AQUARIUM.
A reception will be given the members of
the Zoological Society at the New York Aqua-
rium at 8:30 o'clock of the evening of May 4,
1914. This is the first of such functions that
hereafter will be held annually. Music will
be provided and refreshments served. Each
ticket will admit three persons; the bearer and
two guests. All responses should be forward-
ed to the Secretary of the Society, 11 Wall
Street.
AWARDS A MEDAL
DR. HORNADAY.
An event of recent occurrence in France is
of unusual interest to American protectors of
birds. On March 28, 1914, there was _ be-
FRANCE TO
SOCIETY BULLETIN
stowed upon Dr. W. T. Hornaday, at Paris, a
gold medal for international work in the pres-
ervation of wild life. In view of the numerous
enemies that the protection work of Dr. Horn-
aday has made for him, both at home and
abroad, the action of the two affiliated French
societies in making the award forms an agree-
able counterpoise.
As given by the Secretary of the French
National League for the Protection of Birds,
the title of the medal is “Grande Medaille
Hors Classe,” bearing the effigy of Isidore
Geoffroy St. Hilaire. It was awarded jointly
by the National Acclimatation Society, which
is really the leading Zoological Society of
France, and the affiliated French National
League for the Protection of Birds, “for inter-
national work in the protection of wild life.”
Of course this “international work’’ relates to
the enactment of our law for the suppression
of feather-millinery in this country.
In awarding this medal, the two National
Societies named have taken a very bold stand
against the feather trade of France and the
world at large. Before the award of the medal
was decided upon, the two Societies named
were approached by the feather dealers, and
requested to form a “Committee for the Eco-
nomic Study of Birds,” similar to that which
was formed in England by the feather trade.
After fully considering the facts and argu-
ments that were presented, the joint Council
of the two Societies reported, unanimously, that
“the evidence submitted to the Congress of the
United States and Parliament of Great Britain,
against the continuance of the trade in wild
birds’ plumage, is reliable and conclusive,’ and
the two Societies firmly declared themselves un-
willing to co-operate in any way in the forma-
tion of the dilatory Committee of Economic
Study that was proposed. The next action was
a decision to award the Society's Grand Gold
Medal of Honor to Dr. Hornaday.
It was first proposed that the medal should
be awarded at the joint annual meeting of the
Acclimatation Society and League for the Pro-
tection of Birds, to be held on March 29, at
the Museum of Natural History, in Paris; and
the American Ambassador, Mr. Myron T. Her-
rick, had promised to attend and receive it.
The President of the Republic, and the Min-
ister of the Colonies who was to take the chair,
had engaged to attend, with the Ambassadors
of several foreign powers. The plume-traders’
syndicate, having heard of this, apprized the
Government that if the medal was delivered
at the public meeting, “it was to be expected
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
that the workmen of the plume trade would
in some violent manner publicly manifest their
disapprobation.” The feather trade strenuous-
ly objected to the presence of President Poin-
care at the presentation, even though he is
known to be in sympathy with the work of the
two Societies in the preservation of the birds
of the world. In order to avoid an unpleasant
episode, the officers of the two Societies reluc-
tantly decided to alter their program some-
what; but it is reported that “the American
Ambassador acted most gallantly in the mat-
ter, saying that in any event he would attend
the meeting and if any stones were to be
thrown he wished to take his share.”
The presentation of the medal was made at
the American Embassy, on March 29, by a
delegation of officers from the two Societies,
composed as follows:
Mr. Edmond Perrier, Member of the Insti-
tute of France, President of the Acclima-
tation Society of France.
Mr. Magaud d’Aubusson, President of the
League for the Protection of Birds (sub-
section of Ornithology of the Acclimata-
tion Society ).
Mr. A. Chappelier, Secretary of the League.
Mr. Maurice Loyer, General Secretary of
the Acclimatation Society.
Mr. Pierre Amedee Pichot, Honorary Mem-
ber of the Council.
Mr. Ch. Debreuil, Member of the Council.
On receiving the medal, Ambassador Her-
rick made the followimg response:
“In awarding an honorary medal of your
Society, one of the most distinguished of
France, to a citizen of the United States of
America, you are honoring the Nation as well
as the person upon whom such distinction is
conferred, and it affords me special and par-
ticular satisfaction to receive your medal on
this occasion in behalf of Dr. William T, Horn-
aday, who greatly regrets that his lectures at
Yale University prevents him from being pres-
ent, so as to receive it personally.
“The fact that this eminent Society has
deigned to bestow such an honor in recognition
of services rendered to the cause of bird pro-
tection throughout the world, is most signifi-
cant. It indicates that the destruction of wild
animals, pursued in all parts of the world, has
assumed so grave an aspect that it has attracted
the attention of scientists, of statesmen and of
society in general.
“In awarding your honorary medal to one
of the most ardent champions of your cause in
1105
the world, unremittingly engaged in the de-
fense of wild birds and animals in their pain-
ful conditions of existence, the Acclimatation
Society of France has boldly challenged the
persistent demands of fashion, and expressed,
in a manner that cannot be misunderstood, its
desire to see the slaughter of wild birds for
the sake of trade come to an end.
“The American people, having witnessed the
brutal destruction of the vast herds of buffaloes
and deer, as well as of wild birds, desired
that law and order with regard to those mat-
ters should prevail in their own country, al-
though it could not be done without strife, and
they will know how to fully appreciate the
moral courage which has resulted in this act
on your part, which will be approved by all
those whose judgment is based on a_broad-
minded and impartial examination into this
matter.
“In behalf of Dr. William T. Hornaday, it
becomes my pleasant duty to thank you fer
your appreciation of his services, and to assure
you that he will continue to devote his efforts
to this noble cause, and persist in his attempts
to save from destruction the animals and birds,
—so beautiful and useful,—which are now be-
ing slaughtered without pity or mercy.”
It is well to point out clearly the courage
of the leading zoologists of France in mak-
ing this award, in the face of the feeling
in Paris against us on the part of the feather
trade. Even when it was privately announced
that the medal was to be awarded, there were
those who did not believe that it ever would
come to pass, because of the probability that
the feather trade of Paris would object so
strongly that the idea would have to be aban-
doned. It seems, however, that the zoologists
and ornithologists of Paris have quite as much
courage and determination as the leaders of the
feather trade. Naturally this episode is keenly
interesting to all American defenders of birds,
and it affords good grounds for the belief that
eventually the zoologists of France will bring
the French nation up to the highest level in
this cause. Mapison GRAnv.
A NEW ANGLE IN THE WAR WITH THE
FEATHER TRADE.
In sharp contrast with the courageous action
of the French bird protectionists, there comes
to the New York Times the following cable
news of the struggle that is being made in the
British House of Commons to defeat the excel-
Engine Room
PHREE VIEWS IN THE NEW WORK SHOPS IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK
ZOOLOGICAL
lent Hobhouse bill. The last paragraph shows
that the “defeat” is not nearly so serious as
the first paragraph implies. Wis el
“Lonpon, April 25.—The Government has
been defeated on the Plumage bill, designed on
lines similar to the measure enacted in the
United States last year, and certain amendments
have now been introduced which make it value-
less for the purpose originally intended.
“To a certain extent the suffragettes must be
held responsible. Mr. Glyn Jones moved an
amendment that the expression ‘person’ should
not include any woman over 21 years of age.
He said it would be going too far to dictate to
an adult woman as to what she should wear in
hats.
“The Government, he said, must give women
either feathers or votes. The bill, as it stood.
would present to suffragettes the easiest road
into jail which could possibly be devised. If
it became a law many thousands of women
would adopt as the emblem of their great or-
ganization a cheap foreign feather, and would
probably be seen walking with it in their hats
round the Houses of Parliament to show their
contempt of Parliament.
“Mr. Glyn Jones finally altered his amend-
ment so that the expression ‘person’ should not
include any woman unless engaged in the im-
porting, buying or selling of plumage. This
amendment was carried, and women will still
be able to wear feathers without the prospect
of being fined or imprisoned.
“The provisions of the bill to which the per-
sons engaged in the feather trade so strongly
object remain.”
CARNEGIE PENSION FUND.
SHORT time ago Mr. Madison Grant,
Chairman of the Executive Committee of
the New York Zoological Society, placed
before Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the need of the
Society for a Pension Fund for the employees
of the Zoological Park and the Aquarium. The
small salaries paid in those two institutions,
which are under the sole control and manage-
ment of the Zoological Society, render a pen-
sion fund imperatively necessary, and there is
no expectation that such a fund could ever be
supplied by the City. There are one hundred
and thirty-nine persons employed at the Zoo-
logical Park, and thirty-two at the Aquarium.
As a final reply to the application made to
Mr. Carnegie, for a Pension Fund, the follow-
SOCIETY BULLETIN
1107
ing letter was received and laid before the Ex-
ecutive Committee :
Andrew Carnegie,
2 Kast 91st.
New York, March 17, 1914.
My dear Mr. Grant:
After due consideration I hay decided that the
Zoological Society’s admirable staff deserv the de-
sired institution, viz., a Pension Fund, and in accord-
ance with your note of March 12, I will provide the
$100,000 which you find necessary when you notify
me that the organization is ready to receiv and
administer this fund.
Let me say that I hav never been more surprised
in my life than at the exhibition given us at your
recent dinner, which proves thal life is everywhere,
even down to the gnats, which had to be magnified
an hundred fold in order to let us see that the fam-
ily existed among these midges as completely as in
the monster elephant.
Having seen several of the celebrated Zoological
Gardens of the old world, our institution in New
York seems a giant among pygmies. Several of iny
foreign friends who hay visited it with me hav
reached the same conclusion.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) Anpvrew Carnecte.
Madison Grant, Esq.,
Chairman, Executive Committee,
New York Zoological Society,
Bleven Wall Street,
New York City.
The employees of the Park and the Aquarium
will contribute annually 2 per cent. of their
salaries, and any sum that may be lacking in
financing the plan now about to be carried into
effect, will be made up by the Zoological So-
ciety.
The Pension Fund was formally accepted at
a meeting of the Executive Committee held
March 28, 1914, as follows:
March 23, 1914.
Andrew Carnegie, Esq.,
1093 Fifth Ave., City.
Dear Mr. Carnegie:
I have the honor to notify you that at a meeting
of the Executive Committee of the New York Zoo-
logical Society held this day, a quorum being pres-
ent, your very generous proposition of donating to
the Society the sum of $100,000 for the purpose of
forming a Pension Fund for the benefit of the em-
ployees, to be known as the Carnegie Pension Fund,
was accepted with the most sincere gratitude and
thanks.
It is the intention of the Executive Committee to
proceed to organize a Pension Board, which shall
have charge of all the details connected with the
Pension Funds, its administration and distribution.
The principles which will obtain in this respect, are
along the lines already presented to you.
I haye the honor to remain,
Yours very truly,
Mapison Grant,
Chairman,
1108 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Departments :
Mammals
W. T. Hornapay.
Birds
C. WitttaM Berse.
Lee S. CRANDALL.
Reptiles
Raymonp L. Drrmars.
Aquarium
C. H. Townssenb.
Raymonp C. Ospurn.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1914, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Eiwiy R. Sansory, Editor
Vor. XVII. No. 3 MAY, 1914
Se
JOHN LAMBERT CADWALADER.
At the meeting of the Executive Committee
of the Board of Managers of the Society on
April 2, 1914, the death of John Lambert Cad-
walader on March 11, 1914, was recorded by
the following resolution:
“The Executive Committee of the Board of
Managers of the New York Zoological Society
desire to express the esteem and honor in which
they hold the memory of their late colleague.
John Lambert Cadwalader, one of the Found-
ers of the Society and of the New York Zoo-
logical Park.
“With his close friend, Philip Schuyler, Mr.
Cadwalader stood by the Society in the early
days of its formation between 1895-1898 when
it had neither plans, friends, nor influence. He
was one of the original Board and faithfully
gave all the meetings of the Executive Com-
mittee between 1895 and 1902 his unrivalled
counsel and advice and the prestige of his great
reputation at the bar. He carefully examined
all the successive legal steps by which secure
foundations were established for the future ad-
ministration of the Society and the Park.
“As in all other causes for the public wel-
fare in our city and country he gave freely
of his valuable time and most generously of
his fortune. He loved the Park as it devel-
oped and was a frequent and delighted visitor.
In our meetings we shall always miss his seri-
ous, genial and often humorous presence as
well as the delightful hospitality of his home.
“This tribute and memorial would be incom-
plete without a record of his formal service to
the Society: An original member of the Board
of Managers. elected May 7, 1895; a member
of the Executive Committee from May 21, 1895,
until January 21, 1902; Second Vice-President
from January 21, 1902, until his death; a mem-
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
ber of the Board of Managers until his death;
elected Associate Founder during 1897; Found
er December 14, 1900; Founder in Perpetuity
December 6. 1910. During his life he contrib-
uted nearly $12,000 to the development of the
Park, and on his decease he gave further evi-
dence of his interest in the bequest of $20,000.
so that his name will be permanently enrolled
as one of the Benefactors of the Society.
“May his example as a citizen and patriot
inspire many men of the rising generation to
render similar service to the City, the State
and the Country.”
Re ee
JOHN HOWARD FORD.
At the meeting of the Executive Committee
of the Board of Managers on March 5, 1914,
the death of John Howard Ford was recorded
by the following resolution:
“Resolved. that the Executive Committee of
the Board of Managers of the New York Zoo-
logical Society learn with deep regret of the
decease on Monday, March 2, 1914, of John
Howard Ford, who became a Patron of the
Society on January 18, 1898; and desire to
place on the minutes a record of their appre-
ciation of his interest and assistance during
the early and critical period of the Society's
development.”
TRICKERY BY THE LONDON
FEATHER TRADE.
On March 10, the British Government bill
for the exclusion of wild birds’ plumage from
Great Britain, introduced in Parliament by
Postmaster-General Hobhouse, passed its see-
ond reading in the House of Commons. After
a three hours’ debate, the opposition was
smothered by the enormous majority of 295 to
15. In view of this vote, and the number of
hearings that have been held on the Hobhouse
Bill, any fair-minded person would naturally
conclude that an overwhelming majority of the
people of England desire the passage of the
proposed legislation.
Incidentally, the members of the New York
Zoological Society will be interested by the fact
that the long and strong resolution in favor of
the Hobhouse Bill, and appealing to the Zoo-
logical Society of London to support it, was
most favorably received by the London Society,
immediately endorsed by that body, and 5,000
copies of our Memorial were printed and cireu-
lated throughout Great Britain in the follow-
ing form:
ZOOLOGICAL
RHE = ROYAL, SOCIBRDY TOR THE
PROTECTION OF BIRDS.
23 Queen’s Anne’s Gate,
London, S. W.
The Director of the New York Zoological
Park informed the Hon. Secretary of the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds that
at the annual meeting of the Zoological So-
ciety of New York held on January 13, 1914,
at which upwards of a thousand members
were present, it was resolved to cable to the
Zoological Society of London the following
message:
“The Zoological Society of New York,
having been largely instrumental in se-
curing the passage of our national
measure for the protection of the birds
of the world, by preventing all impor-
tations for purposes of fashion or mil-
linery, hereby extends its greetings to
its fellow-members of the Zoological So-
ciety of London, and expresses the hope
that the Society which represents the
other great metropolis of the world, will
lend its unanimous support to the Hob-
house Bill, now before Parliament, which
is designed to re-inforce the protective
measures passed by Congress.
“The effect of the American law has
been instantaneous and widespread, and
is now receiving unanimous support all
over the United States. The very pass-
age and enforcement of the law has
created a sentiment for wild life pro-
tection in many quarters where it did
not exist before. The Millinery trade
has adapted itself to the new conditions.
and the law is acknowledged to be most
beneficial in its results.”
The Royal Society for the protection of
Birds have heard with great satisfaction that
at a meeting of the Zoological Society of Lon-
don, held on February 4th, 1914, a vote in
sympathy with the Government Plumage Bill
was passed.
ith February, 1914.
* * * *
But the clearly expressed wishes of the peo-
ple of England are of no importance to the
feather trade—which now is resorting to the
most shameless trickery, in order to kill the
Hobhouse Bill by delay, or by amendments.
We are in receipt of a list of forty-two “amend-
ments” that have been proposed to the Impor-
tation of Plumage Bill, up to Tuesday, March
31! In this well-nigh endless series, every
form of trickery that can be imagined is at-
tempted, and it is evident that the tools of the
feather trade are desperately anxious to defeat
the bill at all hazards. Four members of the
House of Commons,—Sir Edmund Cornwall
and Messrs. Denniss, Hinds and Timothy Da-
vies.—appear as the feather-dealers’ quartette,
and twenty-four of the proposed amendments
SOCIETY
BULLETIN 1109
are fathered by them. They are feebly assisted
by Mr. Glyn-Jones, Mr. Watt, Sir. J. D. Rees,
Mr. Dawes and Mr. Rothschild.
Apparently, American legislators have much
to learn from our cis-Atlantic cousins of the
noble art of obstruction and parliamentary
delay. Occasionally some of our members of
Congress exhaust themselves by long debate in
opposition to measures which they disapprove;
but they never yet have made themselves su-
premely ridiculous before their country by the
introduction of an endless chain of silly amend-
ments.
Our advice to the Royal Society for the Pro-
tection of Birds,— which is bearing the brunt
of the campaign,—is to publicly expose, in the
most complete manner, the methods of the
feather-dealers’ quartette. Wie
NEW MEMBERS.
Marcu 1, 1914, ro May 1, 1914.
LIFE
Davis, Wm. T.
Hagenbeck, Heinrich,
Hagenbeck, Lorenz,
MEMBERS.
Wendell, Evert Jansen,
Wharton, William P.,
Willets, Elmore A.,
FELLOW.
Stockard, Dr. Charles R.
ANNUAL
Allen, Rey. Arthur H.,
Anderson, Mrs. J. Scott,
Baird, Allen V.,
Ballard, Sumner,
Booth, Enos S.,
Bopp, John,
Brooks, Miss Bertha G.
Chalmers, Arthur A.,
Campbell, J. W. C.,
Clapp, A. V.,
Clancy, John Evarts,
Conkling, Paul B.,
Conrad, Miss Alicia D.,
Cory, Daniel W.,
Crocker, Robert S.,
Dallett, Frederic A.,
Davis, David T.,
Dery, D. George,
DuBois, Dr. Eugene F.,
Eckart, Edmund,
Edwards, Wm. Seymour,
Embury, Mrs. Jas. W.,
Estabrook, Arthur F.,
Faber, Eberhard,
Fahnestock, Dr. Ernest,
Fahnestock, Mrs. Ernest,
Fraser, Mrs. Geo. C.,
Garrison, Mrs. J. H.,
Greenwood, Joseph R.,
Guggenheimer, Miss E.
Harper, Harry,
MEMBERS.
Jones, Dr. Israel C.,
Kahn, Felix E.,
Keil, Francis,
Kephart, Rev. Wm. H.,
Lawrence, R. Warren,
Lee, George C.,
Leggett, Warren F.,
McClintock, Gilbert S.,
McCrea, W.S.,
Main, Frank H.,
Paddock, Mrs. Chas. H.,
Perry, Winthrop H.,
Putnam, H. St. Clair,
Quincy, Charles F.,
Robertson, Julius,
Smidt, Thos.,
Schwarzler, Albert J.,
Straight, Willard,
Sutro, Lionel,
Swan, James A.,
Thomas, Seth, E., Jr.,
Tuska, Benjamin,
Uhl, Oswald W.,
Vanderpoel, Ambrose E
VanDyke, R. B.,
Vesper, Karl H.,
Walker, Dr. John B.,
Weatherbee, Mrs. FE. H.,
Weigle, Charles H.,
Weil, Richard,
Winter, Julius,
Wyckoff, Mrs. Peter B.,
”
MUSK-OX IN ‘THE Z¢
t
z
a
+f
z
ZOOLOGICAL
ITEMS OF INTEREST
A New Chimpanzee—We have been fortu-
nate in obtaining a particularly fine male chim-
panzee, and have named this animal “Baldy
II.” The new arrival is about four years old,
and is unusually active and intelligent. He is
much inclined to have his own way and exhibits
occasional stubborn traits that will be elimin-
ated through sympathetic care and teaching.
The species represented is technically known
as Pan chimpanse.
Life History of Amphibians.—Several inter-
esting life histories are now illustrated in the
amphibian series exhibited in the Reptile House.
Particularly interesting among these is the life
history of the wood frog and that of the leop-
ard frog. Owing to the tardy spring weather,
our keepers collected the first frogs’ eggs
some two weeks later than has been the case in
four or five years. We obtained our first lot
of eggs on the fourth of April, and these eggs
hatched within three days.
Visitors were much interested in noting the
development of the little tadpoles as they grad-
ually uncoiled and moved about in the eggs be-
fore hatching. After they emerged they looked
like tiny leeches clinging to the empty, jelly-
like ege-masses. Succeeding days brought
marked changes in their form and actions, and
these developments were closely followed by a
considerable number of school children who
regularly came to the Reptile House to study
our specimens. The development of this par-
ticular frog is rapid, and becomes complete in
the early summer. That of the leopard frog
is more prolonged, and the development of the
bull-frog tadpoles may take as long as two
years. Among the life histories prepared for
school children this spring will be those of the
wood frog, green frog, bull-frog, the common
toad, the spade-foot toad, spotted salamander
and axolotl.
Tardy Spring—While really warm spring
weather is very tardy in arriving, our observa-
tions point to this being the safest type of
spring. Abnormally warm days, coming early,
tend to excite and open the buds and stimulate
the vegetation generally. This is often fol-
lowed by sharp frosts which sometimes do
serious damage. Thus far there is little indi-
cation of spring among the trees and shrubs.
The only sign of the times comes from the grass,
which is becoming very green, and the lively
chorus of tree toads from the various pools
about the Park. We have transferred a num-
ber of these amphibian songsters to the Reptile
SOCIETY
BULLETIN 111i
House, and the cheerful notes of the spring
“peepers” help to mitigate our impatience to-
ward the eccentric weather conditions.
Trinidad Whip-Snake-—We have recently re-
ceived a very beautiful example of the green
whip-snake from Trinidad. This reptile is
about four feet long, of a satiny leaf-green,
and has exceptionally large eyes with a bright
golden iris. Tree snakes are difficult to catch
because they are both timid and active. The
greater number of them are harmless, although
some among their number have very small fangs
that inject a paralyzing venom and which is
used in subduing birds and lizards. One curi-
ous feature of the specimen exhibited is the
color of its throat. It has a habit of widely
opening its mouth when disturbed, and when
in this attitude the throat parts are seen to be
of a deep purple color. Our specimen is sat-
isfied to confine its diet to small frogs.
A Fine Brazilian Tortoise—Another recent
arrival is an exceptionally large tortoise which
comes from the Roosevelt Expedition, in South
America. It represents a species known as
Testudo tabulata. The specimen is remarkable
in being far over the average in size, and weigh-
ing forty pounds. It is evidently a very old
example, as the bright yellow markings which
are characteristic on the upper shell of this spe-
cies are altogether lacking. It is contentedly
browsing with others of its kind upon lettuce
leaves and bananas.
New Iguanas—In early April a batch of
very large iguanas arrived from Venezuela.
Some of the specimens are nearly six feet long,
brightly colored and decorated with a row of
high standing spines from the neck to the tail.
When adults of this species are captured they
seldom do well, but we are trying our luck with
them owing to the fine facilities offered for
sun and exercises in the commodious lizard
yards. The new specimens are now exhibited
in company with the black Mexican iguana, the
banded Central American iguana, and the rhi-
noceros iguana of Hayti. These big lizards
ean deal a powerful lash-like blow with the tail
and our keepers exercise due care in going
among them to distribute the pans of food.
Contrary to former assertions the iguanas are
not altogether herbivorous. We feed them al-
ternately from pans containing fruit and lettuce,
and a mixture composed of fragments of raw
beef mixed with beaten eggs.
Another Bear Cub.—Our Russian brown
bear that has successfully reared several litters
of fine cubs issued from her hibernating quar-
1112
ters on the fourth of April and proudly exhib-
ited a single cub which had made so much noise
during the winter and early spring that we had
anticipated the appearance of two or three
youngsters. ‘The young bear was born on the
19th of January and tollowing the habits of
the greater number of bears, the mother re-
mained in the den with it, refusing all food
until the latter part of March, when she occa-
sionally appeared to partake of a sparing meal.
At birth the bear cub is the most helpless of
mammals, being blind and sparsely clad. It is
necessary for the mother to remain with it con-
tinually as the fragile body would be quickly
chilled. From the snarls and grunts that issued
trom the hibernating den our bear keepers of-
fered various estimates as to the number of
cubs in this litter. We were disappointed to
find that all of this noise had come from the
single specimen, but hope that his unusual lung
power will indicate the development of a fine
bear. He is a hybrid between the hairy-eared
bear Ursus piscator, and the Russian brown
bear U. arctos.
Elephants in Spring.—We have had but two
really warm days the present spring and on
one of these we were tempted to give the ele-
phants their first exercise this year. Their an-
tics were as humorous as energetic and it is
possible that some of the trees in the corrals
suffered some damage. The African elephant
“Khartoum” dug great holes in his yard, and
in these he wallowed until smeared with mud.
It has often been noted that this mud bath is of
marked benefit to the animals’ skin and that if
they have suffered any skin trouble during the
winter the sores quickly disappear after they
have had four or five days’ frctic in the outside
corrals. R: iL. dD:
Contemplated Purchases—The following ani-
mals have been ordered of Carl Hagenbeck’s
Sons: One pair of Blotched Giraffes, from
German East Africa; one pair of Siberian Ibex,
two and one-half years old; one male Orang
Utan, ten years old, and a male Oryx Antelope.
Aquarium Committee —Dr. Charles R. Stock-
ard of Cornell University Medical School of
New York City, has been elected a member of
the Aquarium Committee and also a Fellow of
the Society.
Expeditions—Mr. Crandall of the Bird De-
partment of the Zoological Park is now in the
jungles of Costa Rica in search of new material
for the bird collections of the Park.
Under the auspices of the Society, also, Mr.
L. L. Mowbray has been sent to Louisiana to
collect large fresh water fishes in the Missis-
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
sippi River, such as extra large sized catfishes
and giant gars. ‘These hardy tishes will be sent
to the Aquarium.
Animal Paintings ——The Art Committee of
the Society announce that both the large oil
painting ot a herd of prong-horned antelope or-
dered about one year ago of Mr. Carl Rungius,
and a smaller painting of a snow leopard,
ordered of Mr. Charles R. Knight, have been
finished, delivered, and accepted. Both of the
paintings have been hung in the Administration
Building in the Zoological Park.
At a meeting of the Art Committee held on
March 30, 1914, Mr. Rungius and Mr. Knight
appeared. After careful consideration of a
sketch in oils, an order was given Mr. Rungius
for a painting of mule deer in the Bad Lands,
to be of the same size as the sheep and antelope
pictures. From Mr. Knight the Committee or-
dered a painting of a jaguar, a sketch for which
will shortly be submitted to the Art Committee.
Canvasback Ducks on Cayuga Lake.—On
March 21, Mr. W. W. Grant sent us the follow-
ing interesting note regarding the return of the
canvasback to Cayuga Lake. There is no other
group of birds on which the beneficial effect of
protective laws is so quickly apparent as on the
ducks and geese. A quotation from Mr. Grant's
letter, follows:
“T am happy to be able to report that this
spring the canvasback seemed to be quite plen-
tiful, for at this end of the lake as many as
300 were seen at one time.
“The greater scaup ducks were the most
plentiful, as many as 500 being seen at one
time. Owing to the intense cold this winter,
all the duck-feeding grounds were frozen over,
and the birds would have fared very badly, had
they not been fed by our game-warden, and
other public-spirited men.”
THE BLACK COBRA.
N reply to a query of Curator Ditmars con-
| cerning the Black Cobra, Mr. Garner, who
is stationed in the French Congo in the
service of the Society, replied as follows:
“Yes, I know the black cobra with the yel-
low neck, and have heard many thrillers about
its habit of spitting. It is one of the most
diabolical members of the order of reptiles.
Rey. Mr. Reed, an American missionary for
many years in the Congo, recounted to me his
experience with this cobra with the yellow neck
and if you can find this traveller who now re-
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
INDIAN SAMBAR DEER
Note the heavy, warm pelage grown by this tropical animal after three years’ acclimatization.
sides somewhere in your city, no doubt he can
give you some valuable information about that
sputtering demon. The universal report of its
venomous saliva is that it instantly produces
total blindness when it strikes the eyes of the
victim. In some cases the eyes are utterly de-
stroyed, but in others the blindness is only
temporary, lasting twenty-four to forty-eight
hours, during which time the victim suffers
great pain.
“The only efficient treatment for it that I
have ever heard of is fresh warm milk.
“I could recount many interesting stories
that I have heard of this monster and a few
of my own experience. It is the only snake in
this country that I ran from, and the only one
that I know
slightest provocation. A dozen times, perhaps,
I have come within a close shave of these
fiends when they showed fight, and on one oc-
casion one of them pursued me fifty yards or
more. They grow to be at least eight or nine
feet long and move with considerable speed.
When provoked, or in the act of attacking, they
spread the neck after the manner of the cobra
de capello and the Egyptian asp, but do not
appear to spread the head as the viper does.
When the snake poses to spit, it coils, rears its
head and more than half of the body straight
up in the air, and assumes the form of an old-
fashioned candle-stick, only that it turns the
head to a horizontal position.
“T have never examined one of them minute-
ly, but I am told that it has two small openings
resembling nostrils, one on each side of the head,
of that will attack without the:
from which are ejected the sprays of liquid
poison, and I am surprised to learn that he can
force the spray as far as eight feet, but if I
ever learn by experience it will be accidental,
for I habitually give this villain the right of
way and I go in the other direction.”
IN PELAGE OF SAMBAR
DEER.
T IS of particular interest to note the thor-
ough acclimatization of the two fine species
of Sambar deer exhibited for some years
in the Park. The species represented are the
Indian Sambar Deer, Cervus unicolor and the
Malayan or Horse-Tailed Sambar Deer, C.
equinus. Both are large, showy animals, pro-
lifie breeders and little troubled with the gas-
tro-enteric diseases common among cervines.
The following notes may be of interest to the
reader who is studying the possibilities of stock-
ing game preserves, or breeding deer for sale
or study.
Both C. unicolor and equinus are in the large
deer class. An adult male of either species will
weigh five hundred and fifty pounds. In tem-
perament both species are more tractable than
either the wapiti or red deer, and they closely
rival the latter in size and appearance. The
bucks of both species are bold and dangerous
during the breeding season, but the does of the
Sambar deer are usually uniformly docile, even
when caring for their young. In build both
species are quite similar. The body is stout
and vertically broad, with rather short, power-
CHANGES
1114 ZOOLOGICAL
AXIS DEER IN SUMMER
A very satisfactory tropical deer. Readily endures
severe cold.
ful limbs. The antlers are short and _ thick.
The general build, except for the larger size,
rather resembles the North American mule deer.
In 1904, when we first arranged our collec-
tion of Asiatic deer, we referred to the Sambar
deer as “thinly haired.” We presently discoy-
ered that a rapid phase of evolution probably
would render these animals less susceptible to
the vigors of our vacillating weather, and ma-
terially change their appearance.
During the first winter the Sambar deer were
quartered in a large room of one of our stand-
ard deer barns, and the bitter cold of severe
nights was tempered by means of a small stove.
Care was taken not to raise the temperature
above 40° F. or permit it to go below 25° F.
During mild sunny days the animals were per-
mitted to run in the yards, but were shut in
the house at night. With the spring we noted
a marked thickening of the animal’s pelage.
The hair had become thick enough to entirely
cover the creature’s naturally oily skin.
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
TROPICAL DEER IN THE SNOW
An acclimatized Sambar that has grown heavy pelage and
endures severe winter weather.
With the second winter the herd of these deer
was quartered in a tight barn without a fire.
All of the animals grew fine coats of hair, and
were out on some of the coldest winter days.
Their pelage had begun to grow thick and
heavy. Two winters had thus sufficed to par-
tially acclimatize these fine, tropical animals,
and render them able to endure severe winters
without artificial warmth, and with no special
provisions different from those of our native
deer excepting a closed barn at night. After
three years in captivity our Sambar deer grew
pelage heavy enough to appear unusually well-
clad, even beside the winter coats of our deer
of the temperate zone. Several photographs
presented here show this rapid evolution in
pelage.
The Axis Deer, with its snow-white spots, is
the most beautiful deer in our collection, and
one of the most satisfactory. Although its
habitat embraces the warmer portions of India,
it quickly becomes acclimated, and we believe it
WINTER PELAGE OF THE MULE DEER
Compared with an acclimated Sambar, this deer of the
temperate zone is no better clad.
MALAYAN SAMBAR DEER
Showing the thin, oily pelage of the Sambar before this
-climated to our severe
eather.
tropical deer become
winter
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1115
COLUMBIA BLACK-TAILED DEER IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK
To rear these beautiful American deer was one of the most trying problems that the Society has solved.
We can boast of
four fine specimens, two born in the Park.
will yet be able to live in unheated barns, like
the Sambars. With our Axis Deer, however, we
constantly maintain a small stove during the
winter to moderate the chill, as the greater num-
ber of the fawns of this species are born in
midwinter. A few years in captivity here has
produced a very noticeable thickening in the
pelage of this species, but the effect is less
marked than with the Sambars, and the present
animal is less bold in venturing from its shelter
during severe cold waves. tts 1p, 1D):
THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOOSE.
By C. Wittram Beese.
Curator of Birds.
N the collection of the New York Zoological
Park there has been for a year a solitary
male Blue Goose. Lately a second speci-
men, a female, has arrived, and another pair is
shortly expected.
While the completion of the life histories of
our North American birds will give occupation
to many generations of ornithologists, yet so
much has been done, and so many facts already
recorded that it would seem that the general
outline of this work must at present be fairly
well filled in. It is thus surprising to learn
that the life of one of our geese—that family
of birds which never lacks attention, at least
from sportsmen—is almost as little known as
when Audubon made the error of supposing it
to be the young of the Snow Goose. He writes:
“The Snow Goose in the gray state of its plu-
mage is very abundant in winter, about the
mouths of the Mississippi, as well as on all the
muddy and grassy shores of the bays and inlets
of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Texas.” This
probably refers to the bird which we now call
the Blue Goose, known to ornithologists by the
Greek and the Latin names of Chen caerules-
cens.
About this bird and its life and home there
has been and still is a mystery which has never
been solved. While one of the rarest of our
water-fowl, it has occasionally been shot by
gunners, both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
In southern Louisiana, however, this bird has
1116
recently been found in winter in great numbers,
thus confirming the assertions of Audubon. In
the delta of the Father of Waters, flocks of
thousands were seen, in fact they were so
abundant and hungry that they were denuding
whole delta islands of grass as completely as it
could be done by a herd of sheep or an army of
caterpillars.
Not only do the birds feed upon the green
tops and tougher stems of the pasture grasses,
but even dig up and devour the roots. Each
individual goose scoops out a hole in the mud,
uncovering and devouring the roots as it works,
and as the geese feed quite close together, these
rounded pits soon touch and coalesce. when the
birds move on to a new feeding place. They
keep more or less in long lines as they feed,
reminding one of soldier ants or the famous
army worms.
The continued effect of this is to change rad-
ically the condition of the land. In some cases
the ground is so low that the slight excavations
fill at once with water and thus pastures are
altered to marshy lands. Where great numbers
of the birds have occupied these places as
roosts, the pressure of their feet has so reduced
the general level that actual lakes are produced,
in which henceforth only aquatic plants can
find a roothold.
In one locality men with horses and guns
were hired to keep on the move all day and
try to drive away the geese. but this was not
suecessful and about two thousand acres of
pasture lands had to be abandoned to the birds.
Elsewhere in the United States, one Blue Goose
is the average among every ten thousand other
geese shot; here one sees a white Snow Goose
to about every two or three score of Blue Geese.
Concentrated as these birds are in this one
region, it would be thought that they were in
constant danger of extermination, but two
causes will prevent this; first their extreme
wary nature which keeps them away from traps
and beyond shot-gun range, and second, the still
more important fact that a good section of their
feeding grounds has been acquired as game pre-
serves, where they will be safe forever during
their winter sojurn in the south.
Usually where birds are so numerous that
they are harmful to man, as, for example, the
bobolinks in the rice-fields, we know where they
breed extending over a wide area of the con-
tinent. But the mystery of the Blue Goose is
that we have not the slighest hint of where
these thousands go when they rise from their
southern island pastures in early spring and
fly northward. It is surmised that it may be
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
in Ungava, the great unexplored region lying
between Labrador and Hudson Bay. The Es-
quimau say that in the impenetrable bogs and
swamps of this land, guarded by the hosts of
black flies and mosquitoes, the Blue Goose
makes its home.
This goose is over two feet in length. The
head and upper neck are white, while the rest
of the body and wings are a beautiful bluish
grey or brown. In many ways it is our hand-
somest wild goose, and while the only one
which does any real damage to man’s interest.
it is at the same time one of the rarest, of
whose life history we know nothing. A few
have been kept in captivity but no eggs have
been laid under such conditions. In Louisana
it is known as the Bald or White-headed Goose.
Oie Bleu, Blue Brant and Blue Snow Goose.
Elsewhere it is not well enough known to have
received any special name.
BREEDING BROWN PELICANS.
By C. Wituiam Beese,
Curator of Birds.
T is a great compliment to the conditions
under which birds in captivity are kept
when such a large and wary species as the
Brown Pelican will breed successfully. For
many years these birds have played with sticks
in the large flying cage, gathering them into
tentative heaps and allowing them again to be
scattered. Two seasons ago when a severe wind
storm had filled the cage with a large quantity
of twigs, the birds seemed to receive a corre-
spondingly strong stimulation and went to
work with a will, erecting a firm, well-built
structure. One stick at a time, however small,
was brought in the very tip of their great beaks
and with the utmost seriousness added to the
nest, tucked in with gentle pokings, sometimes
only to be removed and placed elsewhere. A
single egg was laid but nothing came of the
venture.
This year an abundance of sticks and twigs
was supplied as soon as the birds were placed
out of doors and nest-building began at once.
Two pairs were thus occupied, and near the
edge of the water two nests were built. One
nest resulted in failure, but upon the single
egg of the second pair of Brown Pelicans, pa-
tient incubation soon began.
At last the reward came and the first young
pelican ever hatched north of Florida broke
ZOOLOGICAL
through its shell. There are few more ugly
things in the world than a young pelican. Ly-
ing prone in the nest it appears wholly lifeless
and of the color and texture rather of a bit of
water-soaked beef than a bird. It seems to
have no definite organs or symmetry. It is
naked, dirty-gray, with tiny, crooked, worm-
like wings and a blind, featureless head. The
newly hatched chick is an avian postulate which
we must accept but which requires all our faith
in Mother Nature—and the pelican. Neverthe-
less in the little creature are the latent possi-
bilities of a splendid winged creature which can
swim upon the water, walk on the land, soar
for hours at a time on almost motionless wings
high in the heavens, and finally dive into the
ocean in pursuit of its prev. Surely the peli-
can in the course of its development offers the
utmost antitheses of helplessness and achieve-
ment.
After a fortnight our faith has its reward,
for the gray nesting worm has sprouted a garb
of grayish-white down; its eyes have opened,
and in the somewhat lengthened beak we may
even discern the promise of the future capa-
cious pouch. In place of helpless quiescence it
moves about, and when chilly pushes beneath
the warm breast plumage of the mother, and
at times clamors for food. In the last newly-
acquired character lies one of the most interest-
ing facts in the life of this species. It truly
calls for its food. Not, to be sure, with the
pleasant, urging of young chicks, but at least
with a decided vocal demand—a rasping croak,
so strong that it may be heard many yards
The far distant ancestors of pelicans
undoubtedly had need for voices. They may
even have had a song for all we know. And
now, to the chick, as long as it requires food,
is vouchsafed a voice. When it begins to forage
for itself and takes up the serious business of
life —that of fishing — silence falls gradually
upon it, the croak becomes weaker day by day,
and soon the hiss of air rushing through the
throat is the only sound it can produce. The
only voeal sound that is, for it can clatter its
beak vigorously when it strives to frighten an
enemy. On Pelican Island I have listened with
wonder to the uproar from the throats of scores
of young birds, while the parents were leaving
and returning, all mutely, dumbly busy with
their life work. It is a problem, both interest-
ing to the ornithologist and significant to the
philosophical lover of wild things, why the ears
of the old pelican remain so keenly attuned to
the cries of the young birds, while they them-
away.
SOCIETY BULLETIN
Uglies
selves are wholly unable to communicate with
one another.
To the few naturalists who have enjoyed
watching a breeding colony of Brown Pelicans
the method of feeding has always attracted at-
tention. Heretofore we have known it in New
York from descriptions and photographs, but
now we may look forward each season to the
opportunity of observing it at first hand in the
aviary of the Zoological Society. The mother
has fed, fish after fish being engulfed and swal-
lowed whole, and after a time she returns to
the nest, her great wings fanning the air, yet
allowing her to come to rest so gently that the
topmost twigs are hardly disturbed. The young
bird renews its imperious clamor, and, clad in
its fluffy white down, stands in front of the
parent, wildly waving the stumpy, crooked or-
gans which represent wings. The croaks never
cease until the mother pelican opens her im-
mense beak, points it downward, and the young
bird, eagerly pressing forward, pokes its head
into the gaping, leathery pouch. Farther and
farther it goes, at last actually stepping upon
the rim of the beak. At this point the spec-
tators begin to be nervous and more than once
have been on the point of summoning keepers
to prevent the horrible tragedy about to be en-
acted before their eyes. All sympathy is with
the young bird as it apparently pushes on to
its doom, a quick death in the deep interior of
the mother. From this point, however, events
proceed too rapidly for intervention. Up and
up, and then down goes the young bird, until
he has pushed his way beyond the beak and
down the neck. Then begin contortions which
turn the sympathy of the spectators to the
mother, for a terrible contest is apparently tak-
ing place between the young bird and its parent,
and it seems inevitable that one must emerge
from the conflict, mangled and disabled. After
a moment of quiet the nestling pelican again ap-
pears in the light of day, not only unhurt but
replete with a bountiful repast of fish, which
stills the croaks until a few hours have passed,
when hunger again arouses him to vocal utter-
ance. He steps out of his mother’s beak, bal-
ances for a moment on very wobbly legs, looks
about wholly unconscious of the varying emo-
tions he has aroused in the onlooker, and turn-
ing, burrows deeply beneath the living coverlet
of feathers which for so many weeks has pa-
tiently sheltered him day and night from cold,
from rain and the threatened attacks of other
birds in the great cage which is his world.
FIVE YEARS AGO, WHEN ELK WERE STARVING
Photographed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, by S. N. Leek before Congress took hold to save the elk
ELK HERD TO-DAY IN JACKSON HOLE
They have been fed all winter by the Government and will seek their grazing ground in the hillsas soon as the snow goes off.
Phere are 887 elk in this picture and behind the camera are many more, Photographed by S. N. Leek, February, 1914.
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
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 May 1 to November 1, the opening and closing hours are from 9
o’clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset. From November 1 to May 1, the opening and
closing hours are from 10 o'clock A. M. until one-half hour before sunset.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, New York City.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM.
The Aquarium is open every day in the year: April 15 to October 15, from 9 o'clock
A. M. to 5 o’clock P. M.; October 16 to April 14, from 10 o’clock A. M. to 4 o’clock P. M. No
admission is charged.
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~ FG a
o. XVII. No. 4 Kod JULY. 1914
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BULLETIN
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THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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Officers of the New UYork Zoological Society
Secretary
Mapison Grant, 11
Percy Rk. Pyne,
Wo. Pierson Hamitron,
Samurt THorRNé,
President
Henry Farrerietp Ossorn.
Wall Street.
Creasurer
Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street.
Executive Committer
Mapvison Grant, Chairman.
Frank K. Srvurais,
LisPENARD STEWART,
Wittiam Wurtre Nives,
Warson B. DickerMAN,
Henry Farrierp Ossorn, Ea Officio.
The Mayor of the City of New York.
Levi P. Moron,
ANDREW CARNEGIE,
Joun L. CapwaLaper,*
Mapison GRANT,
I’, Avueusrus SCHERMERHORN,
Percy R. Pyne,
Gerorce B. GrRinNeELL,
Grorce C. Ciark,
Henry l’arrrietp Ossorn,
Witiram C. Cuurcn,
LisPENARD STEWART,
H. Casimir pe Ram,
Winuiam T.
Buard of Managers
Ew Officio
The Pr
Class nf 1915
Wituiam Wuite Nixes,
SamueL THORNE,
Henry A. C. Taytor,
Frank K. Srurais,
Glass of 1916
Crevetann H. Dover,
C. Lepyarp Brairr,
Freperick G. Bourne,
W. Austin Wapswortn,
Glass of 1917
Cuarves F. Dierrericn,
James J. Hitt,
Grorce F. Baker,
Grant B. Scurry,
General Officers
esiDENT of the Department of Parks.
Georce J. Govutp,
OacpEN MILLs,
Lewis Ruruerrurp Morpis,
Arcuer M. HuntInGTon.
Emerson MecMituin,
Antruony R. Kuser,
Watson B. Dickerman,
Mortimer I... Scuirr.
Wa. Pierson Hamitron,
Rozert S. Brewsrer,
Epwarp S. Harkness,
Wittram B. Oscoop Frerp,
Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuarves H. 'Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
La Farce & Morris, Architects.
H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Grorce S. Hentinetron, Prosector.
Officers of the Zoologiral Park
Witviam T. Hornapay, Director.
Witiiam Berse, H. W. MerkKeEt,
S. CranDALt, W. Rem Brair,
Eriwin R. Sanporn.
G. M. Breersower,
Wittiam Mitrcuety,
Ee
Raymonp IL.
Mircue ty, (Os
Dirmars, 1
Officers of the Aquariunt
Raymonp C. Oseurn, Assistant.
Ropertr SuTcLirre.
Cuarvtes H. Townsenr, Director.
Wasninaron I. DeNyser.
* Deceased.
Aeon GICAL SOC TE EY BULL Ehren
CONTENTS FOR JULY, 1914
PAGE
WILD PARSNIP IN FLOWER wicceccecceccccceccccsseeeeeee : Ba Ns) Sh re ats tai ee) & . Frontispiece
Exprpition to Costa Rica, L. S. Crandall, 112]
DIMI BAUARID) WARK: 9 cen sre cenit 11238
Connecticut Birp Lire 1125
Our Native Hummine Birps Lae Sete : 3 AO, PEN ee PO a PA7/
ENFORCEMENT OF THE Micratory Birp Law 1128
SenatoriaL Roiti or Honor ... 1128
Piume Draters or Paris ................. aan 3 Cael ne 1129
AG Eo Gi GANE MSANGRUARY 22 c.cccn a cencccs ; bc IR 1129
ZOOLOGICAL Park Nowves 2.0... oe Bile Met ee otk RR ee ee ere es 1131
BYP ONVSMONIE MARK By ri CENSUS) a cscckode sect cace te nsenteen Seances teeee ceases : 1137
1137
MN enwyen IVI NTS TERE S 0 = cee oe oe ace cncgdnissuscncesececenans
NI dINSUVd GM
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIELY"
JUL @ 1914 _ ,
B U L L E T I N ational musers
Published by the New York Zoological
ad
Society
Vou. XVII
JULY, 1914.
NumBer 4
THE SOCIETY'S
EXPEDITION TO COSTA RICA
By Ler S. Cranpatu,
Assistant Curator of Birds.
N MARCH 21,1914, the writer, accom-
panied by T. Donald Carter, a student
at the Zoological Park, left for Costa
Rica, for the purpose of securing living crea-
tures for the collections of the Zoological So-
ciety. Six weeks were spent in the field, the
total result being more than 3800 living speci-
mens, including mammals, birds, reptiles, ba-
trachians, fishes and insects, a great majority
of which had not previously been exhibited
here.
The round trip was made in the United
Fruit Company's steamer “Calamares.” The
Company's representatives were courteous and
interested throughout, and without their co-op-
eration, the success of the expedition would
have become a much more difficult matter.
The southward journey was uneventful, Port
Limon being reached on March 30. In spite
of the combined efforts of the Fruit Company’s
agent and ourselves, it was found to be quite
impossible, except by the consent of high
officials, to enter our bulky equipment without
the payment of heavy duty and wharfage
charges, so that a journey to San Jose, the
capital, became imperative.
There is but one first-class train daily from
Limon to San Jose, leaving the coast city at
10 A. M. The early part of the ride is along
the sea-coast, exhibiting the most luxuriant
type of tropical vegetation. Once above Siquir-
res, however, the train follows the course of
the Reventazon River, and as it mounts slowly
upward, the scene is one of truly marvelous
beauty. The slopes of the Caribbean water-shed
are very densely forested, most of the trees
being hard-wood. This region is very sparse-
ly inhabited, except in the neighborhood of the
larger towns. Several extinct volcanoes are
seen—Turrialba, more than 11,000 feet in
height, and Irazu, of somewhat lower altitude,
on the Caribbean side, and Barba and Poas
after the continental divide has been passed.
As the higher altitudes are reached, signs of a
much more numerous population become evident,
and once on the plateau, almost all of the land.
with the exception of the higher slopes, is seen
to be under cultivation.
San Jose, which is a delightful city, is
reached at about 4:30 p.m. Here, after a de-
lay of two or three days, arrangements were
finally completed for the free entry of our lug-
gage. Unfortunately, none of the very able
local ornithologists was to be found, so, as no
reliable advice was to be had, the original plan
was adhered to, and Guapiles, a village at the
terminus of a branch railroad about 59 miles
from Limon, was chosen as a collecting point.
Several days passed before active work could
be commenced, as freight is carried two days a
week only, and we could do nothing without
our apparatus. Comfortable quarters in a pass-
able little “hotel” were secured, and through
the kindness of the Fruit Company, we were
provided with a shed for the housing of our
collection.
Guapiles has an elevation of about 800 feet,
being on the northern slope of Turrialba. It
once was surrounded by extensive banana plan-
tations, but as the fruit was attacked by a mys-
;
Le
ZOOLOGICAL
1) bee
CITY OF SAN JOSE
terious blight, the trees were removed, and the
land turned into pastures. These pastures are
exceedingly rough, and the land dotted over
with smail patehes of bush and bits of jungle.
As it is not possible for fence posts of dead
wood to withstand for long the constant damp-
ness, small poles are set in the ground about
two feet apart, and the wire attached to them.
The posts at once send out shoots and soon
=zow into trees of respectable size, forming
permanent supports. Thus every field is sur-
rounded by an often dense hedge, which offers
a retreat for many birds.
After walking a mile or so, either north or
south, one enters the primitive jungle. The
trees here are of great size and the under-
growth very dense, so that in many places it is
quite impossible to progress without free use of
VOLCANO TURRIALBA
View from the hotel
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
the machete.
abundant,
Bird life in the jungle is fairly
and it is not difficult for the skin
collector to secure many spetimens. Except in
one or two instances, however, it was quite im-
possible to use our trapping outfit to advantage,
and it was only in the more open portions that
we could work with any degree of success.
We arrived just at the end of the so-called
dry season, although there is almost daily rain-
The
nesting time had just commenced, and the birds
were widely scattered. No fruit was ripe, so
that the concentration of frugivorous birds on
which we had depended, was entirely lacking.
However, by dint of much strenuous exertion,
we were able to secure a very representative
fall on the lower slopes at all seasons.
series of specimens.
HOTEL IN SAN JOSE
One of the most interesting and certainly
the most showy of the birds, is the Montezuma
Giant Cacique (Gymnostinops montezuma).
This bird, which is of the Oriole family, is near-
ly two feet in length. It is chocolate brown, the
head being darker, with the tail bright yellow.
The beak is very long and pointed, black with
a red tip. There are bare, bluish patches on
the face, and a gular swelling of a pinkish hue,
at each side. These birds live in colonies in
the highest trees, building pendulous nests
often four feet in length.
The Trogons form a group of birds with rep-
resentatives in both hemispheres, but which,
with the possible exception of Cuban species,
are practically never seen in collections. We
were very fortunate, therefore, to be able to
capture and safely transport, a specimen of the
Gartered Trogon (Trogon caligatus). This
species has the upper parts and chest brilliant,
ZOOLOGICAL
iridescent green, with yellow abdomen, so that
altogether it is a most valuable acquisition.
The Sooty Synallaxis ( Synallaxvis pudica
nigrifumosa) is the first member of its family
(Furnariidae), to reach the Zoological Park.
The very few individuals of a South American
member of the group which have reached Eu-
rope have survived for only a very few days,
hence our specimen is of experimental as well
as purely exhibitive value.
Many of the tanagers are of exceptional
beauty. Passerini’s Silver-Beak is intense,
velvety black, with the back brilliant scarlet;
the Costa Rican Green Tanager is grass green,
with blue crown, the male having a bright yel-
low breast; while the Gold-Masked Calliste is
a combination of bright blue, green, dense
black and golden buff.
Among the finches are Richmond’s Sparrows,
nearly as large as robins, bright green with gray,
brown-striped heads and yellow under wing
coverts; a little greenish Siskin, found only
in the high mountains of the interior, and tiny
Seed-eaters and Grassquits of four species.
The mammals include a fine adult male Red
Spider Monkey, Raccoons, Coatis, Murine
Opossum and Red-Bellied Squirrels. There
are numerous species of frogs and toads, a
number of tadpoles, snakes, one a small fer-de-
lance, turtles, fishes of several species, and
some interesting millipedes of two sorts.
When all packed ready for the journey, our
collection was decidedly bulky and when, at
the last moment, we were informed that the
freight car we had engaged had been left down
the line by a forgetful conductor, we were
more than nonplussed. After much general ex-
citement, however, a not over-clean stock car
was produced, and our boxes were packed
forthwith.
The run from Guapiles to Port Limon, which
occupied the entire day, was far rougher than
anything experienced during the week on the
steamer. The car bounced madly from side to
side, and it was necessary to lash everything
securely to the floor and slatted sides.
Fortunately, there are no export duties or
wharfage charges on animales vivos, as there
are on almost everything else, so it was pos-
sible to ship our collection on the next dav
without undue formality. We were blessed
with good weather for most of the homeward
trip, and we were so fortunate as to be able to
land our specimens, with very little loss, safely
in New York.
SOCIETY BULLETIN 1123
THE AARD-VARK.
The Society has been almost in possession of
an exceptionally rare animal, the Aard-Vark, of
Africa, which would have been, perhaps, the
first representative of this strange species to
reach the United States alive. A fine specimen
consigned to us by Carl Hagenbeck left the
African coast in thriving condition. We en-
tertained lively anticipations of this coming ex-
hibit, until informed that the animal had died
at sea when but two days from this port.
The Aard-Vark is
of that series of the primitive mammalia con-
taining the sloths, anteaters, armadillos and
pangolins. Formerly all of these animals were
embraced within the order Hdentata, but the
pangolins and Aard-Varks are now considered
to represent distinct orders, respectively. The
Aard-Varks, three species in number form the
order Tubulidentata,* their removal from the
edentates resulting from the distinctly charac-
teristic formation of the teeth. In full grown
specimens there are usually five teeth on each
side of both upper and lower jaws, but the
total number of teeth developed is from eight
to ten in the upper and eight in the lower jaw
—the anterior ones falling out as the animal
attains maturity. When unworn, these teeth,
which are of considerable have rounded
summits. They are composed of a number of
closely packed denticles and are traversed by
a series of radiating tubes. Such structure of
the teeth is elsewhere unknown in the whole
mammalian class.
a gigantic representative
size,
The specimen destined for the Society rep-
resented the Cape Aard-Vark, Orycteropus
capensis, which inhabits South and South-East-
ern Africa. It is a powerful animal, attaining
a maximum length of six feet. The general
coloration is yellowish brown, with a tinge of
red on the back and sides.
The Aard-Varks are strictly nocturnal and
live in deep burrows, which are often con-
structed in the immediate neighborhood of the
tall mounds formed by the termites—an ant-
like insect. It is upon food like this that the
Aard-Vark subsists, and to capture the food
in quantities the animal is provided with an ex-
ceedingly long, mobile tongue such as is pos-
sessed by the ant-eaters of the Edentata.
Wherever these animals are numerous a number
of half formed holes are seen in the ground
and on the sides of the great anthills, which
have been commenced and abandoned. The
*Osborn’s classification.
1124 ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
CAPE AARD-VARK
Consigned to the Society, but died on shipboard.
animals usually spend the entire day asleep in
their burrows, but may occasionally be seen
abroad during the very early morning. Their
powers of digging are so great that in a few
minutes they can bury their large bodies, even
when the ground is hard and sun-baked. In
digging they work with their fore-feet and
throw out huge clods of earth between their
hind legs. While shy, and usually making off
toward the burrow if disturbed, they are furi-
ous fighters when cornered, and even a power-
ful dog has but a secant chance for life if with-
in range of the fore limbs, with their huge and
sharp claws.
Little is known of the breeding habits of these
animals beyond the fact that the young are
born in May or June, and that there is seldom
more than a single offspring at birth. The
few captives that have come to Europe have
been fed upon chopped raw beef mixed with
beaten eggs, which is the standard diet for
ant-eaters when on exhibition. The Aard-Vark
(earth pig), is a title applied by the Boers.
The first specimen ever brought alive to Eng-
land was captured in 1869 near Algoa Bay,
Natal, and sold for $750. It lived in captivity
nearly ten years. From 1900 to 1902, ten
specimens were captured and offered for sale,
but since that time interest in the capture of
the “Earth-Pig” has waned. It is reasonably
certain that these animals never will become
common in captivity.
The first skin of an Aard-Vark that ever
was seen in Europe was taken in 1812. There
is now in the South Kensington Museum of
London, a mounted skin that dates back
to 1814, and it is not strange to hear that it
was badly stuffed.
Reeve
Mr. Cuarues R. Miter,
Managing editor of the New York Times, and
life-long friend of animals, both wild and cap-
tive, and discriminating judge of wild-animal
treatment, is in Europe, enjoying a much-needed
vacation.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THE STATUS OF BIRD LIFE IN CON-
NECTICUT IN OCTOBER, 1912.
By Daniet Carrer Brarp*
WENTY years ago in any of the Long
Island villages, or the rural districts in
Connecticut, the song-birds, particularly
the robin and wood-thrushes on Long Island,
were so plentiful that in the spring at half-
past three in the morning, they always awoke
me by the indescribable din they made with
their chirping and singing among the trees.
Now in similar locations when I am awake be-
tween three and four o'clock in the morning at
the same time of year, the birds are so few
that I can locate each one by its voice without
rising from my bed. There will be one robin
chirping over to the right and another one to
the left maybe, and one or two others in some
other location, and seldom, if ever, do I hear
a wood-thrush. The decrease in the twenty
years must amount to at least eighty per cent.
among the robins, and probably as great per
cent. among the other birds.
It is not generally known that all of our
songbirds are exceedingly local in their habita-
tion. If robins nest in the tree next to my
house one year, unless some accident befalls the
pair, I can count to a certainty that I will find
them nesting within fifty feet of the old nest
the following year. I have tested this over
and over again with certain birds that I could
identify, either by some peculiarity of their
plumage or some individual characteristic of
their song. For eight successive years, a pair
of cat birds nested in a certain lilac bush on
my lawn on Long Island. For four consecu-
tive years a certain pair of orioles nested in a
certain maple tree at Flushing. So local was
this bird in its selection of its nesting site, that
at one time three of its nests representing three
consecutive years, hung so close together that
every breeze caused them to bump against each
other. In a tree on the farm of Mr. Harry
Lounsbury at the foot of the hill upon which
stands Stormfield, the home of the late Mark
Twain, a pair of orioles have nested for eight-
een consecutive years. Five of these vears I
have verified myself. In my log cabin in Pike
County, Penn., a pair of humming birds have
built in the swale near my house, usually select-
ing the dead lower branches of the pine tree for
*Mr. Daniel Carter Beard, the famous artist, author, natur-
alistand National Boy Scout Commissioner, has closely observed
the struggle for existence of the birds of Southern Connecticut,
and the decrease of several important species. The careful
observations herein recorded are of special value at this time,
when the defenders of our migratory birds are endeavoring to
save them through the new law.—W. T. H.
BULLETIN 1125
the location of their tiny nest, for almost twen-
ty consecutive years. I only give these in-
stances to show how local the birds are in their
nesting habits, and consequently how easy it is
for anyone interested to keep a record of them,
and in this way note the gradual but alarmingly
rapid decrease of the bird population.
When I bought my farm at Redding, Conn.,
five years ago, I located all the birds between
my house and the depot, a distance of 2% miles.
In my front yard, or around the house, there
were three pair of house wrens. There was
also a robin’s nest in the eaves of my studio.
In each of six large spruce trees there was one
or more, and one in the sugar-maple tree. There
was one barn-swallow’s nest in the horse shed,
one in the loft of the wagon shed, and one
chimney swift’s nest near the barn-swallow’s
nest in the loft of the wagon shed. There was
a large colony of the latter birds in the chim-
neys of my farm house, and a phoebe bird’s nest
in the chicken coop.
At the Mark Twain Library corner there was
an oriole’s nest in the large maple tree, and a
blue bird’s nest in the hollow of a spruce tree.
The chirping sparrows’ nests, I have kept no
track of. Turning the corner to go to the depot,
there was an oriole’s in the elm tree, a catbird’s
nest in the brush at the right. Then we came
to the home of a yellow-breasted chat, then to
the high bridge with a phoebe bird’s nest under-
neath it; next to a farm with a rose-breasted
grosbeak; then to a thicket with an indigo bunt-
ing and a humming bird’s nest, both of which
birds you could find every morning between
nine and eleven perched on the telephone wires
opposite their respective homes. After this, you
passed a pond filled with buttonwood bushes in
which the red-winged blackbirds nested; then a
bank which the second year was used by a bank-
swallow; then the open meadow through which
the Saugatuck flows where the bobolink nested;
next a robin’s nest in a tree to the left-hand
side of the road and then three pairs of orioles
in the elms near the depot. I omitted one blue-
winged warbler in the pasture lot.
The various birds enumerated were
those which occupied positions adjoining the
public road, consequently ones which I could
observe without leaving my carriage while
driving to and from the depot. The orioles
next door to my house have transferred their
abiding place to one of my spruce trees because
their old homestead site in the boughs of a big
maple is gone, the tree having died and been
cut down. The three families of wrens have
met with some accident, and none have come
above
1126 ZOOLOGICAL
this year to take their place, although these
three families stayed with me for four years.
The barn swallows in the horse shed are still
living; but the ones in the loft have not re-
turned, nor the chimney swift in same location.
The red squirrels have driven most of the rob-
ins away from my fir trees. One season I picked
up twenty-one young birds on my lawn killed
by those marauding robbers, and every year
they destroy most of my tame pigeons. This
year we had but two pair of robins breeding in
our fir trees.
Last year a pair of blue birds took posses-
sion of the fence post. Blue birds are be-
coming so rare that I took great care not
to go near them until they should become
thoroughly settled in their home. A little while
afterwards I was attracted to the fence-post
by the fact that I had missed the call of the
blue bird and feared some accident had befallen
them. When I went to examine the hole in the
fence post, a wren flew out and began to scold
me. Upon making an examination I
ered that the male blue bird upon entering the
hole had accidentally slipped its leg down a
crack in the wood and its foot had prevented it
from pulling it through and freeing itself, con-
sequently the poor thing had died there from
starvation. But the most astonishing part of
this story is, that the wrens had taken posses-
sion of the building site and made their nest
on top of the body of the blue bird. This year
there has not been a blue bird in the whole
distance of two and three-quarter miles to the
depot.
Last year a robin built in a bush at the cor-
tier opposite the Mark Twain Library but it
did not come back this year. The one on the
telephone pole opposite the oriole on tie left
was on hand, but the cat-bird on the right has
disappeared, after four consecutive years build-
ing in the same spot. The yellow-breasted chats
still occupy their usual location. The phoebe
bird under the high bridge is missing; the rose-
breasted grosbeak is on hand again this season;
the bank swallow which came last year again
occupied its hole in the bank; the humming bird
after four consecutive years of occupancy of
the same spot, is missing; the indigo bunting
did not appear this spring. The swamp black-
bird, apparently were as plentiful as usual, but
I missed several pair of the bobolinks. The
robin near the depot did not appear this year,
and the three pair of orioles are also missing.
discoy-
This is the record of a short stretch of time.
There are no new birds coming to take the place
of the birds that have left, and the record of
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
this little stretch of country road can be dupli-
cated all over the United States. It means
that our song-birds are not only rapidly de-
creasing, but they are on the verge of extermin-
ation, and the total extinction of our birds is
only a matter of a few vears. As Dr. Horn-
aday says it is time for the American people
to wake up, for outside of the sentimental value
of birds, there is a money value which will
appeal to our money-loving brothers. We have
almost reached the condition of the birdless
country described by Longfellow, and so far
the only efforts to counteract this by acelima-
tization is the introduction of the pestiferous
English sparrow and the squeaking starlings.
Our ancestors had one or more martin boxes
on every farm, on the roof of almost every
public building in the villages, on the lawns of
all the suburban besides which the
skulls of old horses, and the slaughtered cat-
tle were preserved on the farm and fastened
to the trees and old fence posts for the birds
to build in. The old-fashioned barns were alive
with the barn swallows, and the eaves encrust»
ed with the mud nests of the cliff swallows.
The robins covered the lawns and grass plots;
the wrens and blue birds occupied every knot
hole, and also made nests in the old hats which
the farmers used to nail up under the eaves
for that purpose. The whistle of the bob-white
could be heard in every field that you passed
by; the meadow larks were thick on all the
meadows; we had no serious scourge of insects.
But now, in spite of the spraying of our trees
and our gardens, according to the most careful
estimates, the insects cost us the immense sum
of $420,000,000 a year.
The following is a summary of five years’
observation on a short stretch of country road
at Redding, Connecticut:
New arrivals: One golden-winged wood-
pecker in apple tree in back of my studio; one
bank swallow on Dart Meeker’s farm,
houses,
The following are missing: Three pair of
wrens around my studio; one pair of barn swal-
lows; one pair of chimney swifts—from horse-
shed; four pair of robins from around the
house; two pair of robins at Mark Twain Li-
brary corner; one pair of cat-birds, a little be-
yond toward Redding Station; one pair of
indigo birds; one pair of humming birds; one
pair of robins near the station; three pair of
orioles near the station; one pair of king birds,
opposite my farm house; one pair brown
thrashers opposite my farm house; one pair of
bobolinks in my pasture lot.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
arg
MEDAL PRESENTED TO DR. HORNADAY
Obverse and reverse of the medal of the National Acclimatation Society of France.
In the Spring and Fall, thousands of birds
are killed by strikng the telephone wires. The
other day, I picked up four birds, a rail, two
olive-back thrushes and one white throated
sparrow—all within the space of twenty feet.
Among those that I picked up at different
times under the telephone wires, I can recall
five or six ruffed grouse, four or five woodcock,
one bluejay, one golden shafted woodpecker,
and five or six unidentified birds. These were
small birds which were beheaded by attempting
to fly through the network of the wires. There
were also several varieties of thrushes, various
kinds of sparrows or finches, a Wilson thrush.
all of which were accidental finds.
The telephone wires being along the sides
of the road, when the birds strike them, they
fall into the weeds and underbrush where they
are concealed from view, but in front of my
own house, Mrs. Beard tells me that she can
often hear them strike the wires and sometimes
see them do it when she is sitting at the win-
dow sewing.
Redding, Conn., October 14, 1912.
OUR NATIVE HUMMINGBIRDS.
There are certain groups of native birds
which do not thrive in captivity and are
always liberated when brought to the Park
by well-meaning friends. Among these are
kingfishers, nighthawks and whippoorwills
and until very. recently the Rubythroated
Hummingbird was included in their num-
ber. On May 20, 1918, an Italian laborer
appeared at the Park with a feathered mite,
safely enclosed in a very dirty milk bottle.
On inverting the bottle, the little creature fell
out and proved to be a female Ruby-throat.
She was in very wretched condition and quite
exhausted from constant fluttering against the
bottle. Without the slightest hope of being
able to revive her, liquid food, which forms
the diet of the Sun-birds, was placed near and
the hummer’s beak dipped in it. She supped
the sweet fluid eagerly and seemed much re-
freshed. Still stiff and numb, she was placed
on a shelf in the sun and about ten minutes
later was buzzing about the room. After some
difficulty the tiny bird was recaptured and
placed in a large cage covered with wire mos-
quito net, once utilized for hatching moths from
cocoons. This proved an ideal home for the
hummingbird, which at this time is in as per-
fect condition as if she were at full liberty.
Hummingbirds have been taken to England
from South America on several occasions, but
have never survived longer than a few weeks.
The Ruby-throat is one of the smallest of the
hummingbirds and if it survives for a reason-
ably long period, a wonderful new field will
be opened to us, for tropical America abounds
with the most gorgeous species of humming-
birds, many of them much larger than our own
and therefore apt to be more long-lived in cap-
tivity. IDG thik Or
During the severe electric storm of the night
of June 25, a very fine female Grant zebra,
only two weeks in the Park from East Africa,
dashed in fright against her range fence and
broke her neck.
1128 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Bepartments -
Mammals Reptiles
W. T. Hornapay. Raymonp L. Dirmars
Birds Aquarium
C. WILLIAM BrEBeE. C. H. Townsenp.
Lee S. CRANDALL. Raymonp C. Ossury.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1914, by the New York Zoological Society
Each author is responsible for the scientifie accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Euwis R. Saxsory, Editor
Von. XVII. No. 4 JULY, 1914.
ENFORCEMENT OF THE MIGRATORY
BIRD LAW.
In a short time the enemies of the migratory
bird law will, with great glee, announce once
more that the law is “unconstitutional.” This
time the statement will have a little more to
rest upon than the soap-box decisions of
learned spring-shooters of wild fowl who never
even saw the national constitution.
In eastern Arkansas at Jonesboro, on May
27. in the United States District Court, the
case of the United States against Harvey C.
Schauver, for a violation of the Federal mi-
gratory bird law, was heard by Judge Jacob
Trieber, who decided that “the law is uncon-
stitional.”” Of course the United States will
carry the case up until it finally reaches the
United States Supreme Court, where, with
extra expedition, a decision may be expected
in about eighteen months.
The first decision on the status of the migra-
tory law was that rendered in South Dakota
on April 18, 1914, by Judge J. D. Elliott of
the Federal Court, who decided, in the case of
A. M. Shaw, that the law is constitutional.
Mr. Shaw pleaded guilty, and was fined $100,
which was paid.
The friends of birds need feel no alarm over
this incident, nor anything more serious than
mild interest. Unless the United States Su-
preme Court deliberately elects to pull down a
full score of laws that the representatives of
the American people have enacted in Congress
for the greatest good of the greatest number,
the federal migratory bird law will stand. The
side of the People and the Birds will be taken
care of, if need be, by a hundred able lawyers.
who are fully convinced that the law is consti-
tutional. and that its stability can be demon-
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
strated to the satisfaction of and
logical legal mind.
any open
In addition to the score or more New York
and Washington lawyers who have offered their
services to this cause, some of whom already
have prepared extended briefs, Mr. Frederic
R. Coudert, one of the most distinguished mem-
bers of the American bar, has volunteered his
service on the side of the birds.—an offer which
undoubtedly will be accepted. The United
States Department of Justice, headed by At-
torney-General McReynolds, can confidently
be trusted to conduct the People’s fight for the
birds with all the legal acumen and resources
of that Department.
The decision of Judge Trieber in the East-
ern District Court of Arkansas will not in the
least affect the enforcement of the national mi-
gratory bird law in other States, nor even in
other districts. In the forty-seven other States
of our country the migratory bird law will be
rigidly enforced, and those who violate it will
be brought to book and punished.
Meanwhile, the negotiations for the inter-
national treaty are going right on, just as rap-
idly and satisfactorily as is possible in such a
matter. The Canadians realize that in protect-
ing the migratory birds we are doing our best
to give them a square deal. In due time the
treaty will be signed, and presented to the
United States Senate for ratification; and when
that is done, we believe that the Senate will
ratify it. The resolute action of the Senate, 45
to 17, restoring the House appropriation of
$50,000 for the enforcement of the migratory
bird law, by two yea-and-nay votes, shows once
more that the United States Senate is an im-
pregnable Gibralter of wild life protection, and
even foes within are powerless to turn it over
to the enemy! W.
(By mail, postage 2 cents per set extra.)
Maw) POStPAIM ges deel wg Pe ske a 1.65 Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. Animals
i : and views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets
Destruction of Our Birds and Mam- of 2*subjects. MPer’set, postpaid ss). serie easy es 25
mals (Hornaday)............- es 15 S ir M z S . P,
7 Souvenir Map-Fan: A combined fan and map of the
Notes on Mountain Sheep of North eeOlOEres PD tie eda Oa lane aOR A tne AAS ems ad 10
America (Hornaday).......... os et) (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
oe a rt “a Panorama of ‘the Zoological Park: Reproduced in colors
rhe Caribou (Grant): ee Ee Se ao 60 from an original drawing in perspective. Sold
The Origin and Relationship of the flatiorkiny foldenmormit kasc cc teeee ee eats 10
Large Mammals of North Amer- : (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
ica (Grant)................-. 1.00 ETE Es at 14 inches. 12 subjects in black and
mR z oe ' sk RATTLE Se TCL Ort pe min Aen Ce OROROROIEID A eee een ere 25
The Rocky Mountain eat grant) 1.00 Duotone Brown) gen «os. 2. wis ee lee cote we 35
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 1-11 inclusive, Hand Colored (10 Subjects), each................ 15
DEL Sais EAS oct Otoitht Siena oe 2.7
" SEL 4 “ a0 New York Aquarium Nature Series
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 12, 13 and 14. -25 Searshore suites (Maven) miccicuiviaie «> sleet seis «in Ie20.
“ i OE, Sin ted Sart 25 Cultivation of Fishes in Ponds (Tow nsend) .
b a Taw
Bulletin Nos. 1, 6, 8, 35, 43 and 46 .. Dy Ege || PO Naame
Bulletins—Bi-monthly......... 20c. each; Yearly by mail 1.00 | Care of He
Bulletin Nos. 5 to 23 inclusive, set, cloth bound,......... 5.00 | Porpoise ir
Official Guide to the New York
MOOIBICS Park (HOMMAGAY), sie ie dc iics wes rere een cles 25 Aquarium
Publications for sale at 11 Wall Street, Zoological P;
dl ye 3 7 j
Vou. XVIII. No. 1 ety | JANUARY, 19158
| in il
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THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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Officers of the New York Zoological Soriety
President
Henry Farrrietp OsBorn.
Secretary Creasurer
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street. Percy R. Pyne, 80 Pine Street.
Executive Committer
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
Percy R. Pyne, SamMuet TuHornNe, Frank K. Srurais, WitiiamM Wuire Nixes,
Wm. Pierson Hamitton, LisPENARD STEWART, Watson B. Dickerman,
Henry Farirrietp Oszorn, Ea Officio.
Board of Managers
Ex Officio
The Mayor of the City of New York. The Preswenr of the Depariment of Paris.
Glass nf 1915
Levi P. Morton, SamueL THorNE, Ocpen Mitts,
ANDREW CARNEGIE, Henry A. C. Taytor, Lewis RutHerrurD Morris,
Mapison Grant, Frank K. Srureis, Arcuer M. Huntineron,
Wituram Wuirte Nites, Georce J. Goutp, Henry M. Titrorp.
Glass nf 1916
F. Aveustrus SCHERMERHORN, Cxievetanp H. Doper, Emerson McMILurn,
Percy R. Pyne, C. Lepyarp Buair, Antuony R. Kusrer,
Georce B. GrinneELL, Freperick G. Bourne, Watson B. DickerRMAN,
Georce C. CLarK, W. Austin Wapswortu, Mortimer L. Scuirr.
Class of 1917
Henry Farrrietp Osporn, Cuartes I. Drerericnu, Wma. Pierson Hamitron,
Wituiam C, Cuurcn, James J.. Huu, Rosert S. Brewster,
LisPENARD STEWART, Georce F. Baker, Epwarp S. Harkness,
H. Casimir pe Ruan, Grant B. Scutey, Wivuiam B. Oscoop Fiexp.
Geurral Officers
Wituiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
H. J. Suorrer, Assistant Secretary. R. L. Cerero, Assistant to the Treasurer.
La Farce & Morais, Architects.
H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntinetron, Prosector.
Officers of the Zoological Park
Witiram T. Hornapay, Director.
H. R. MircuHetu, C. Wituiam Besse, H. W. MerkKEL, G. M. Brerrsower,
Raymonp L. Dirmars, L. S. Cranpatu, W. Rew Brair, Witiiam MitrcHetu,
Erwin R. Sanporn.
Officers of the Aquarium
Cuartes H. Townsenpn, Director. Raymonp C. Oseurn, Assistant.
Wasuincton I. DeNyse. Rogpert SUTCLIFFE.
HEAD OF THE AFRICAN RHINOCEROS, VICTORIA
Leo .OulL O Gale@ Ari
SQ hE TY, Bow C Lebet tN
CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1915
Goritta, Younc FeEMAL.e ..................
GoriLuas, Past AND PRESENT
InprivipuaL Traits or ELEPHANTS
PAGE
es Frontispiece
Spesesrn cade tect W. T. Hornaday 1181
Raymond L. Ditmars 1185
Wreck or THE Boston ZooioaicaL Park... cote eee nee W. T. Hornaday 1188
First News From THE ANTWERP ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS... Mord SI 2 ra 1189
A SAMPLE OF OPPOSITION ~.W. 1189
INiaas VEO TOTRS). ss: gsr ese A oe rea eee eT eT 1189
Irems or INTEREST ........... eee aeeehaymond L. Ditmars 1191
FS) CONTE EUPANEN Ee VIVASN IVAN os feteee ese neo, ee een w..Raymond L. Ditmars 1194
Repairs AND BerrerRMENTS IN THE Park... pet oe ae Hermann W. Merkel 1196
TRANSPLANTING Brrps or PARADISE
Eeret Farmine in InpiIa..........
1196
ee eee -W. T. Hornaday 1197
Usiastawniy IRHes ters ey opin 1BhiCey aS Ways pS )ye 05 0p ieee paaeeeee suena nnuO NENT rt oo UO OS pee acute ee 1198
“MOUIED TU MI AG “PLOL ‘1@ gsnany “M1 [BOLAO[007 aT] 04 yUsno1g
sAVNIG,, “VTTHMOD WIVNAA ONNOA
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Published by the New York Zoological Society
Von. XVIII
JANUARY, 1915
Numser 1
GORILLAS,
PAST
AND PRESENT
By Wituram T. Hornapay.
NDOUBTEDLY, the highest desire of
U every zoological garden and park, and of
every showman, is to own and exhibit a
real, live gorilla of a size sufficiently large to
compel both admiration and awe. The human
mind loves to contemplate, with a suitable inter-
vention of bars, the apes that stand nearest to
man, and at the same time human nerve-centers
love to be racked and thrilled by a beast that
is both ugly and fearsome.
Even after all has been said about the gorilla
that the devotees of Truth can say, The half
hath not been told. The life history of that
species is a black mystery. Even the geograph-
ical range of the genus Gorilla is definable only
in general terms. If we are moved to accept
some rather cloudy, ancient history, we may be-
lieve that Hanno, the Carthaginian, on his fa-
mous but mysterious voyage to Fernando Po,
something like 550 B. C., discovered the gorilla,
and first made note of its existence. But it may
have been a chimpanzee; and probably it was;
and a captive chimpanzee, at that. We think
there is small chance that Hanno ever saw a
gorilla, alive or dead.
A gorilla skull was discovered in 1846 by
the Rey. Dr. J. L. Wilson. The gorilla as a
living animal was discovered by Paul B. Du
Chaillu, in 1856, and by him properly and
painstakingly exploited in his book, “Adven-
tures in Equatorial Africa,’ in 1861. The real
discovery of this remarkable species occurred
on August 24, 1856, near an abandoned native
village, on the top of a small mountain range
at an elevation estimated at 5,000 feet, drained
by the Ntambounay River, which flows into the
Muni River, sixty miles north of the Equator,
opposite Corisco Island. The precise spot is
seventy miles north of the Equator, and 115
miles from the coast; and it was not on the
Gaboon River at all.
Skulls and science are all very well; but for
our knowledge of the gorilla we owe most to
Paul Du Chaillu and his popular book, “Equa-
torial Africa.’ It was through that hair-rais-
ing and altogether masterful presentation that
the greatest and most fearsome of the great
apes burst upon an astonished world. It is a
matter of history that when the doughty ex-
plorer landed in America with a priceless col-
lection of gorilla skins and skeletons, expect-
ing and deserving an ovation, he was bitterly
disappointed. At that time American zoology
was still in its swaddling clothes. There were
few museums of any kind, and few persons
who cared about ape skins or ape stories from
far distant Africa. As a result, Du Chaillu
resentfully gathered up his collection and took
it over to England, where it was better appreci-
ated.
Going or coming, the gorilla is a most elusive
animal. All the observations of living speci-
mens that ever have been made, added together
(but not duplicated), would not make one small
book. Only one gorilla ever has lived in cap-
tivity long enough to establish a record and
constitute a case worth while. That unique in-
stance of longevity occurred in Breslau; but
if we were as careful to avoid all references to
German zoological gardens as all German
writers are to avoid all references to the New
York Zoological Park, we never would mention
it! Strange to say, the Breslau gorilla is so
little known in literature and among mammal-
ogists that even the latest and largest work
on the primates does not even mention it by
title; but it lived in captivity seven years!
1182
FOOT OF THE GORILLA
Upper and lower surfaces.
The objectionable features of the gorilla are
its much too savage habits, and its aversion to
food and life in captivity. It is not an animal of
philosophic mind, nor is it given to intelligent
reasoning from cause to effect. It reminds one
of children who refuse to taste a new kind of
food because they know in advance that they
won't like it! And what can we do with a wild
animal that is not amenable to the pangs of
hunger, and would rather die than yield? The
first gorilla that came to us, in 1912, was on
arrival in a low state physically, from food-
refusal, and its food preferences and aversions
were at once the rage and the despair of its
keepers.
Of the score of good things offered that go-
rilla, and of which it should have eaten, it par-
took of not one. It refused the finest bananas,
but it did attempt to eat microscopic portions of
the inner lining of banana skins. It desired
either plantains, or the succulent centers of
banana plants; these, and nothing more. The
New York Botanical Gardens loyally sacrificed
to science, as represented by the emaciated
body of a food-sick gorilla, two perfectly good
banana plants, and their hearts were duly con-
sumed. By the time we had secured a small
lot of spoiled plantains from New Orleans, and
two dozen good ones from Cuba, the gorilla was
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
dead; which, as a purely logical proposition,
it deserved to be, for its obstinacy.
It took us nine months to recover from the
shock of our first gorilla. Then we formulated
a plan of campaign by which we hoped to se-
cure at least one gorilla that should reach us
not only alive but in good health. We believed
that if we could secure a specimen in that state
we could make it live for at least two or three
years. Having failed three times to secure
gorillas by ordinary purchase from Hamburg
and London, because in case the animal
died before shipment, or before reaching our
shore, we abandoned all hope of winning in that
way.
each
We decided that we could win a good gorilla
by sending Mr. Garner to the gorilla country,
contract to collect gorillas,
keep them there in their home country in com-
fortable captivity, teach them to eat civilized
food and become personally attached to him.
Then, whenever one or more specimens had be-
come well grounded in captivity, he should
bring them to New York, on the most sanitary
and sumptuous basis that steamer accommoda-
tions could offer.
with a two years’
This plan was carried out, in every detail.
Mr. Garner secured two gorillas, Dinah and an
understudy named Don. The latter died at the
HAND OF THE GORILLA
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
CONFLICT BETWEEN GORILLA AND NATIVE HUNTERS
Group modelled by William Umlauff (Hamburg) to illustrate an actual occurrence in German East Africa,
in which two hunters were killed by a Gorilla.
end of a three months’ sojourn at Fernan Vaz,
of general lack of stamina. Dinah, a lovely fe-
male gorilla three years of age, landed in New
York on August 21, 1914, the last wild animal
to come out of Africa prior to the complete em-
bargo of war! Thanks to the kind co-operation
of the Zoological Society and Gardens of Rot-
terdam, where Mr. Garner and Dinah inconti-
nently landed to escape the war, the gorilla was
handsomely cared for during the anxious weeks
that elapsed before it became possible to se-
cure steamer accommodations to New York.
Those were the days that tried the souls of
tourists and gorillas alike.
It is the firm belief of Mr. Garner that, taken
all in all, Dinah was at that time “the best
gorilla that ever came out of Africa.” For a
wonder of wonders, she was (and _ still is)
cheerful, good-natured and affectionate, instead
of being, like other captive gorillas, morose,
savage and resentful. She ate with relish sev-
eral kinds of civilized food, and drank quanti-
ties of water. In order to improve the shining
hour, she was immediately placed on exhibition,
and even the great throngs of people who
flocked to the Primate House to see her did not
seem to annoy her in the least.
Without any violent jar, her affections were
skillfully expanded until they embraced her
new keeper, Fred Engeholm, who was detached
from the service of all the common baboons and
monkeys of the collection and concentrated on
the anthropoid apes. Dinah made friends with
many persons, including secretaries, directors,
curators, keepers, reporters and photographers.
She posed for scores of pictures, moving and
fixed, and in every way strove to fill the high
position in the zoological world to which nature
and the Zoological Society had elected her.
When Dinah arrived, the first thing seen of
her was her nose. Its half human elevation is
a general focus of attention. Her whole face
is jet black, and as shiny and smooth as _pol-
ished ebony. Next to her nose, her most cap-
tivating feature is her large, liquid-brown eyes
that make a distinct appeal to human sympathy.
They are indeed human-like, and in develop-
ment far above the elfish, cunning orbs of the
chimpanzee, or the small, pig-like eyes of the
orang. I cannot recall that thus far any ob-
server has pointedly called attention to the
humanlikeness of the gorilla’s eyes, but really,
it is the second feature that should be noted in
that remarkable animal. Both in shape and in
1184
DINAH SELDOM WALKS ERECT
Sometimes in this position the fingers of her hands are
doubled under.
size, the ear is nearest to the ear of man, being
much smaller than the huge, wing-like ear of
the chimpanzee and much larger than the ab-
surdly small ear of the orang.
The short arms, long legs and mannish hands
and feet are all of them much nearer to the form
of those members in man than can be found in
any other member of the Order Primates. The
fingers and toes are short, and in walking they
usually lie flat upon the ground, instead of
being doubled under as they are in the orang
and chimpanzee. The entire skin of this gorilla
is black. The hair is abundant, but not long
as in the orang, and on this three year old speci-
men it has the peculiar gray tone of a dark-
This gray
advancing
grizzly bear.
with
colored “‘silvertip”
tone becomes much
age; and an old male gorilla usually is as gray
stronger
as a badger.
In walking, our gorilla does not stand erect
one-half the time. Her favorite posture is on
all-fours, and when she does stand erect, her
legs are not as straight as one expects to see
The knees are always slightly bent,
which has the effect of giving the figure a
slightly stooping posture.
them.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
On September 1, 1914, Dinah weighed forty
and one-half pounds. Her standing height
was three and one-half feet, and the extreme
spread of her arms and hands between the tips
of her middle fingers was four feet two and one-
half inches.
In view of the food-habits of our first gorilla,
Dinah’s menu is interesting. When her appe-
tite was at its best, (in September and Octo-
her daily food
follows:
ber, ) program was about as
At 8 a. m. she took a raw egg beaten up in
5
milk. At 10:30 she was given a fruit course,
consisting of the best fruits in season, whatever
they chanced to be,—apples, bananas, oranges,
pears or grapes,—two or three different kinds.
At 11:30 she received a small ration of bread,
1:30 came her most
meal, a dinner in fact,
brought hot from the Rockingstone Restaurant
in a dinner-carrier conveyed in a tight box.
or crackers and water. At
substantial regular
This meal always contained a good cooked-meat
dish, either roast beef. broiled chicken, or lamb,
with gravy, mashed potatoes and bread. She
would not eat ordinary vegetables! She scorned
boiled potatoes, spinach, beans and sprouts.
At 3 p. m. there was another diversion with
Between
received milk and a raw egg, as in the morning;
and at 8:30 her day closed with a drink of plain
milk.
fruit and bread. 5 and 6 o'clock she
Drinking water was either given frequently, or
While in Mr. Gar-
kept accessible at all times.
THE MOST PROMIN * FEATURE IS HER NOSE
Her liquid-brown eyes are very human-like.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
ner’s possession in Africa and aboard ship, she
drank great quantities of water, sometimes as
much as three guarts in one day.
Dinah’s health remained excellent—until No-
vember 15. Then it was noticed that in a very
strange manner she kept all her fingers con-
stantly closed. She walked upon them e¢losed;
she climbed with them closed. At once we be-
gan a treatment of massage and liniment; which
seemed beneficial.
By November 25, it had to be acknowledged
that Dinah’s appetite was failing somewhat,
and that the muscles of her legs and arms were
not up to the mark of robust health. The fail-
ure of certain leg and arm muscles to perform
their functions looked like locomotor ataxia, or
infantile paralysis. A careful examination of
the case by Dr. Amoss, of the Rockefeller In-
stitute of Medical Research, revealed the fact
that the spinal chord was free from the bacteria
that cause infantile paralysis; and therefore we
are led to hope that if Dinah’s appetite will
only support her adequately, she will outgrow
her locomotor ataxia.
There is not the slightest reason to hope that
an adult gorilla, either male or female, ever
will be seen living in a zoological park or gar-
den. Large specimens cannot be caught alive
in condition to long survive. The savage and
implacable nature of the animal is against it.
Only young specimens, usually under two years
of age, can be captured and civilized; and even
when a specimen has been so taken and settled
down, it is due to die overnight, and from no
understandable cause.
The average lifetime of a gorilla in Europe
is about nine months, or less. In captivity go-
rillas are utterly lacking in stamina, and instead
of rivalling the orangs and chimpanzees, they
are as difficult and sensitive as howling monkeys.
There is no excuse whatever for Dinah’s loco-
motor ataxia; and therefore we hope that with
the aid of the electrical treatment and massage
that she is receiving she will eventually recover.
I think that the popular idea of the great
strength and ferocity of the adult male gorilla
on his own ground is not in the least exagger-
ated. Although the height of a big male is only
five feet six inches, its breadth of chest and
general muscular development are such that
even were its powerful teeth eliminated, it
would be impossible for enough strong men to
get around an “old man” gorilla to hold him
and put handcuffs on him. No one ever has
weighed an adult male gorilla, but it would
seem that an estimate of 400 pounds would not
be far from the truth.
1185
One of the difficulties involved in the capture
of young gorillas lies in the fact that the
French Congo Territory contains the best go-
rilla country, and the French government reso-
lutely prohibits the importation of gunpowder
for use by the natives. It was impossible for
the Zoological Society to procure permission for
the importation of five pounds for Mr. Garner
to give to the hunters whom he desired to send
out to capture gorillas for us. Without firearms,
it is only the boldest and most reckless native
who dares to go hunting for gorillas.
It is unfortunate that the ape that, in some
respects, stands nearest to man, never can be
seen in adult state in zoological gardens; but we
may as well accept that fact—because we can
not do otherwise.
ELEPHAN’
INDIVIDUAL TRAITS OF
By Raymonp L. Dirmars.
HERE are no group of wild animals
where individual traits are more strikingly
apparent than among the elephants. Five
elephants representing three species are on
exhibition in the Zoological Park and each of
these animals exhibits markedly different men-
tal characteristics. Idiosynerasies, we might
say, are common among pachyderms; and the
large female Indian elephant Alice, is a good
illustration.
In her stall Alice is a gentle and obedient
animal, with no bad traits. Under such con-
ditions she is calm, and not disposed to be
mischievous. The same demeanor prevails as
she wanders during the warm months, about
her spacious yard. Taken away from her usual
quarters and subjected to scenes in any way
foreign to her usual routine, she becomes dan-
gerously erratic and seems possessed with a
blind passion to destroy. During such exhibi-
tions of her erratic temper, there is no inclina-
tion on the part of Alice to attack any human
neighbor. Her energies are directed against
inanimate objects; and at times she is utterly
beyond control, and deaf to all commands. We
have experienced two such illustrations from
Alice—when we moved her from one building to
another—and the line of her progress was
marked by a trail of overturned refuse cans,
damaged saplings, overturned benches and bent
fence-posts. And yet to observe Alice in the
elephant house, she seems a uniformly calm and
docile elephant, which she is—so long as she is
at home.
Alice is very fond of Congo, the round eared
pygmy elephant. Though Congo is a well-ma-
1186
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
INDIAN ELEPHANT, GUNDA, TRYING OUT A NEW INVENTION
He can walk across his corral attached by a chain to the cable that extends from his stall to a staple in the
round near the center of the yard.
tured animal, his small size causes Alice to
treat him as a tender infant. Owing to a bad
case of rheumatism Congo recently was re-
moved to a temporary hospital building. For
several years he had occupied the stall with
Alice. When he was taken out, Alice stren-
uously objected, and for a few hours was in-
clined to resent any intrusion from the keepers.
During part of that day our men were warned
by the gleam of her eyes to keep away from
her. She restlessly paced the stall, trumpeted
frequently and was distinctly grieved for some
days.
Congo's individualism is manifest in utter
stubbornness. When taken for a walk he has a
decided inclination to stop and make leisurely
inspections on the way. Nothing can budge him
until he decides to go, and if he imagines there
is a possibility of force being used by the keep-
ers, he seeks a soft spot, practically stands
upon his head and drives his long tusks into the
ground, as an anchor, against further disturb-
ances. He never has been savage or destruc-
tive.
Sultana, the female of the pair of Sudan ele-
phants, is the most docile member of the collec-
tion. Her idiosynerasy is indicated in an unfail-
ing interest in labels. No label, unless of boiler
iron, can withstand her curious and rough in-
vestigation. An elaborate board label, hanging
temporarily near Sultana’s stall, finally was se-
cured by this elephant after she had stood upon
her hind feet, and made heroic efforts to reach
the prize. This board had involved much work
on the part of our label painter, and we were
surprised and grieved to flnd that Sultana had
for a time paraded about with it in her mouth,
and ended her diversion by endeavoring to
stand with all four feet upon it. The label was
then beyond recognition to all but its makers.
All present labels within reach of Sultana are
of heavy plate iron, rigidly bolted to the cage-
work. Sultana is constantly engaged in investi-
gating the security of these fastenings, and
constantly hopes to undermine them.
The male Sudan elephant which arrived
with Sultana seven years ago is the most mis-
chievous pachyderm in the building. Kartoum
was captured on the Blue Nile in 1906, and we
have estimated that he is about eleven years
old. When he arrived at the Park in June 1907,
he was a mere infant, four feet nine inches in
height. and weighed 1285 pounds. He is now
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
seven feet three inches in height, and weighs
over 4500 pounds.
While Kartoum is ever restless and very de-
structive, he is not savage, although at matur-
ity African elephants usually become erratic
and dangerous. His huge, flappy ears, narrow
head, corrugated trunk and swinging gait make
of him the most spectacular of our elephants,
although this point might be disputed by the
mighty Gunda, with his nine-thousand pounds
of bulk towering aloft in the adjoining stall.
Kartoum’s favorite sport is to employ his
head as a battering ram in an endeavor to
loosen masonry, doors and cagework. In these
attempts he is untiring and the Elephant House
frequently thunders and vibrates under his
destructive industry. It has been found neces-
sary to protect the doors and other vulnerable
places with bristling armaments of sharp spikes.
Trees, fence posts and corners of the buildings
have been tirelessly butted by Kartoum, and
the animal’s tusks, once promising and well-
grown, have been worn down deep into his
leathery lips.
Kartoum’s minor sports consist of wild
rushes and whirls, like frantic dances. Nothing
movable is for a moment permitted in his stall,
because he can and will raise objects of con-
siderable weight and toss them at his visitors.
His antics are clownish, but his colossal strength
makes it necessary to confine his manoeuvres
within solidly-bounded limits.
Gunda, the great male Indian elephant, al-
ways is of great interest to visitors, owing to
his impressive bulk and his reputation for vig-
orous temper. Gunda is a creature of the sea-
sons. To say that he suffers from captivity
is to quite misunderstand the situation. There
are good and bad elephants. Some become so
utterly bad as to require chains for life. We
do not believe Gunda ever will need to be class-
ified among the rogue pachyderms. He is of
high caste, a patrician among elephants, and
is wilful and desperate only at specific times.
There is a period each year when most adult
male elephants are more or less disturbed. This
occurs in the spring, and the breeding period is
designated as “musth.” The maturing Gunda
indicated this condition in the spring of 1913.
He had been daily becoming more surly and one
morning when Keeper Thuman was leading him
out of the stall where the animal had been at
liberty, Gunda charged, hurled Thuman to the
floor and badly gored him with one of his tusks.
Thuman was dragged out by Keeper Richards,
who bravely entered and drove Gunda out into
the yard.
1187
When Thuman returned to the Park, after
three months painful absence, it was with un-
conquerable feelings of friendliness for the big
elephant. He had begged that Gunda be given
“one more chance.’ Gunda was chained in his
stall for the greater part of the time, but finally
given liberty in his yard as he again became
tractable the following fall. During the spring
of 1914, Gunda again broke out. He became
so dangerous that Director Hornaday ordered
him chained fore and aft. Without so doing
it was impossible to enter and clean his stall.
The chains were attached or shifted with great
difficulty, because Gunda was bent on mischief.
A number of visitors who were not versed in
the ways of elephants were much moved to pity
at the sight of the chains, and assumed that the
animal was suffering tortures. There have been
instances of bad elephants in this country that
were permanently chained under far more
strenuous and uncomfortable conditions than
Gunda, without any public outbreaks regarding
them. At the same time our feeling for the
great beast was that of sympathetic interest,
not revenge.
Despite Gunda’s lunges, charges and blows,
Keeper Thuman remained uniformly friendly.
Nothing was more remote from ‘Thuman’s mind
than punishing the elephant. As Gunda re-
covered from his period of “musth,’ Dr, Horn-
aday had a heavy wire cable stretched from
the front of his cage across the outside yard,
close to the ground, and to this Gunda was at-
tached by a single chain with a sliding ring.
He was practically at liberty, and restrained
only from a direct charge to any considerable
distance. This arrangement, which was made
as soon as it became safe to make the change,
was accepted as satisfactory.
The sympathetic reader will imagine that
Gunda exhibited exuberant joy at his release
from the chains in his stall. Was that the case?
Not at all! The massive stall doors were thrown
back and Gunda walked out into the yard and
sunlight. He walked about for an hour, then
returned to his usual place, in the stall where
he swung back and forth and surveyed the
crowd! That was his daily performance. Con-
trary to all romantic theories, Gunda’s princi-
pal diversion is to stand in his stall, solemnly
munching hay and rocking to and fro like a
boat in a cross swell.
While on that cable, and practically free,
he spends much more than one-half of the day-
light hours standing quietly in his indoors com-
partment.
1188
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Departments -
Mammals Aquarium
W. T. Hornapay. C. H. Townsenpb.
c Raymonp C, Ospurn.
Birds
Reptiles
Raymonp L. Ditmars.
C. Witt1aM BEEBE.
Lee S. CRANDALL.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1915, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Etwin R. SANBORN,
Editor and Official Photographer
Vot. XVIII. No. 1 JANUARY, 1915
WRECK OF THE BOSTON ZOOLOGICAL
PARK.
In 1910, after thoughtful and effective study,
the Board of Park Commissioners of Boston,
headed by Robert S. Peabody, a distinguished
architect, completed and published an excellent
plan for a zoological garden in Franklin Park.
The new institution was designed on broad and
dignified lines, it was reasonable in scope and
it laid the foundation of a zoological park in
every way worthy of the fifth city of the United
States. The site chosen was admirable, and of
little use for other purposes.
The funds necessary for construction were
obtainable without recourse to taxation, or even
to bond issues for the borrowing of money. The
income of the great fund bequeathed to the city
by Francis Parkman, for the development and
improvement of the city parks of Boston, made
available $200,000 per year for expenditure in
building an aquarium and zoological park; and
the Park Board and Mayor Fitzgerald agreed
that for its outfit of buildings and other im-
provements, “the zoo” should have $200,000 per
year for five years.
The approved plans were handsomely pub-
lished in October, 1910, and immediately the
Park Board began to carry them into effect. A
fine aquarium was built at Marine Park, and
bear dens, a great flying cage and bird house
were built in their allotted places on the zoo-
logical park site. An expert was brought from
the Bermuda Aquarium as director of the Aqua-
rium, and Mr. Arthur B. Baker, assistant su-
perintendent of the Washington Zoological
Park, was secured as director of the zoo, and
duly installed.
In their mild and dignified way, the people
of Boston were well pleased. There was not a
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
breath of criticism or opposition. The new
benefits to accrue to the wage-earners of Boston
seemed fairly within their grasp.
In 1913 Mr. Curley was elected mayor. He
took office on January 1, and by July 1 the plan
for the Boston Zoological Park was a complete
wreck. The director of the Aquarium was out,
and a political swimming-teacher was rolling
around in the directorship, like a pebble in a
gourd. Mr. Baker resigned in disgust and went
back to Washington. Just who is now director
of the zoo, we do not know, nor care. A gar-
dener named Dillon was appointed by Mayor
Curley to the presidency of the Board of Parks,
and for a dozen reasons Mr. Peabody and Mr.
Coakley resigned.
In the sacred name of economy—economy of
money not furnished by the taxpayers of Bos-
ton,—the Peabody plan for a zoological park
worthy of Boston was thrown upon the scrap
heap of politics, and there it lies today.
But all was not lost. The administration ac-
cepted as a gift three Indian elephants, and
now is (supposed to be) erecting an elephant
shed—it cannot properly be called an elephant
house—at a cost of $25,000 for those three ele-
phants alone. If a real elephant house ever is
built in the Boston zoo, that shed will not even
be as useful as a lean-to; but this is economy.
At present, we repeat, that the plan for a great
and worthy Boston zoo is a wreck. Thus far
two men of Boston, Dr. J. C. Phillips and
C. Emerson Brown, are the only men interested
who have had the courage to publish their pro-
tests against the Mayor’s course. The Mayor
accuses his critics of selfishness and a desire to
loot.
The effort to create a Zoological Society of
size and power to safeguard the Boston zoo end-
ed in failure, several years ago, and there being
no one in the field to safeguard the interests of
the public, Mayor Curley has smashed things
with joyous freedom and entire immunity from
active opposition.
Fortunately for the American people, the ele-
vation of an ordinary man, or even an inferior
man, into the highest municipal office, usually
has a sobering effect. Usually it brings out
the best that is in the man, and inspires him to
do his level best to rise to the occasion. City
institutions rarely are wrecked, or even crip-
pled by such men, especially after institutions
have become going concerns.
But from such mayors as Mr. Curley, safe-
guarding bodies of strong men are necessary.
Since 1896, New York City never has had a
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
mayor who would have wrecked the Zoological
Park even if he could; and even Boston may not
have another in a hundred years; but for the
present, Mr. Curley is there.
As a partial voucher for the situation, Mr.
Alexander Pope was led into giving the indi-
vidual animals in Franklin Park a clean bill of
health as to care and treatment; but it is not
with the individual bears and monkeys of 1914
that we are concerned. We are angry and
disgusted because ignorance and folly have
wrecked a fine plan for a great zoological park.
As a result, it now may safely be predicted that
Boston never will have a zoological park or zoo-
logical garden worthy of serious consideration,
or worthy of that city. Wiel Ee
FIRST NEWS FROM THE ANTWERP
ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN.
From the date of the bombardment of
Antwerp, great apprehension has been felt re-
garding the fate of the beautiful and costly Zoo-
logical Garden of that city. Messrs. Lorenz and
Heinrich Hagenbeck, both of whom are yet in
Hamburg, alive and well, have furnished us with
a copy of a letter received by them from Dr.
Buttikofer, director of the Rotterdam Zoological
Garden, which reads as follows:
All the bears in the Antwerp Zoological Garden
were shot prior to the bombardment. The large
feline carnivora were put into strong transportation
cages and removed to the rear of the garden, like-
wise prior to the bombardment, while the small fe-
linae were transferred to cages in the cellars of the
Festival Building. A few days before the surrender
of the city, when the heavy cannonading started fires
in all parts of the city, which could no longer be
put out in consequence of lack of water, the large
carnivora were likewise shot by resolution of the
Board of Directors, adopted contrary to the director's
advice. None of the other animals were killed, with
the exception of a few venomous snakes. During
the bombardment only one shell dropped into the
garden, striking the ground in the open space for
the turtles, where it fortunately did no material
damage. Mr. L’hoest and his two younger children
were my guests from October 5th to the earlier part
of November, while the other members of his family
likewise came to Rotterdam towards the end of the
bombardment. Mr. L’hoest himself, whose mind had
suffered severely from the effects of the terrible ex-
citement and of the successive events which over-
powered him, also came to Rotterdam for a few
days, after the bombardment.
By the earlier part of November all the members
of the family had returned to Antwerp.
The garden and the animals kept there have suf-
fered no further damage during the siege, but you
will readily understand that the number of visitors
has so decreased as to be practically nil, while the
membership will undoubtedly be reduced to such an
extent that the very existence of the garden will ap-
parently be put into serious jeopardy.
1189
Everything here is in good shape, although there
has likewise been a large decrease in our receipts,
which compels us to be exceedingly economical. I
presume that similar conditions prevail in all the
Zoological Gardens in Germany, as well as in your
country.
With kindest regards IT remain
Yours very truly,
I. Burrixorer.
A SAMPLE OF OPPOSITION.
The following letter, reproduced as written,
may be taken as a fair sample of the opposition
to the federal migratory bird law that occasion-
ally is discovered:
Wie, Jee
JACKSON UNDERTAKING CO.
Fine Funeral Goods.
Chicago, Ill., May 22, 1914.
Dr WT: Hornaday, 5
Dear Sir
Just a gentle reminder. if old
and yourself was posessed of some real christian char-
ity instead of your misplaced efforts on migratory
birds, both of you could really help humanity by de-
voting that money to the improvement of orphan
and needy children. us western hunters will kill all
the birds’ we want to kill.
Yours sincerely,
Frank O. Baker.
NEW MEMBERS.
July 1, 1914-December 31, 1914.
Life Member.
JosepH A. McALEENAN.
Corresponding Member.
G. Tyrwuirt-Drake.
Annual Members.
Arthur C. Mack,
Dr. Philip Manecke,
Miss Lucy B. Marks,
Robert W. Martin,
Fritz vonBernuth, Jr.,
Ernest Abs-Hagen
George J. Bryan,
C. L. Carpenter,
Edward H. Clark,
Case Edwards,
Louis J. Ehret, A.R. Walty,
George Lauder, Jr. W. P. Willis,
Joseph Wittman.
Growth of the Stellar Sea Lion.—When first
installed with the other pinnipeds the Stellar
sea lion was not particularly noticeable, as he
was of smaller size and similar color. This
animal has steadily grown until now it appears
to weigh over two hundred pounds. His mas-
sive build, large eyes and hoarse. guttural ery
at once attract attention. Adult males of this
species attain a length of ten feet, and a weight
of about fourteen hundred pounds.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1191
GIANT RED KANGAROO
Resting is an art with this awkward animal.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Recent Arrivals—Among the recent arrivals
at the Park is a series of exceptionally interest-
ing amphibians from Australia. Several of the
species have never before been exhibited alive
in the United States. Among these are the
beautiful golden tree frog, marbled with gleam-
ing bronze and metallic green, White's tree
frog, which is a gigantic member of its race
and the silver frog. The call of the White's
tree frog resounds throughout the Reptile
House, and is a novel diversion in a building
where silence usually reigns among the thous-
and or more inmates. Another Reptile House
addition is a big anaconda, from Venezuela.
Few mammals have been recently added to
the collection, as war conditions in Europe have
practically closed the foreign animal market.
A splendid example of the Abyssinian lion was
recently purchased. The name of this beautiful
creature is Menelik, and he is particularly no-
ticeable owing to his pale coat and almost
golden mane. He is long of body, with the
straight back so admired by animal sculptors.
Important among recent mammals received
are two Rocky Mountain goats from the Can-
adian Rockies.
The Venerable Sultan—For many years a
reigning favorite among animal sculptors, and
posing for fully a hundred works of art, Sul-
tan, our oldest lion, now shows marked signs
of old age, and has been assigned a spacious
cage where he receives special care. Sultan is
a Barbary lion, with a particularly fine mane
of rather a dark hue, and which pleases the
He stretches out with perfect abandon.
sculptors and painters because it is not tov
abundant, and does not mask the muscles of the
shoulder. He arrived at the Zoological Park
twelve years ago, and was then five years old.
He is the gift of Mr. Nelson Robinson.
The average “old age’ of captive lions is
thirteen years, but this seventeen year-old pa-
triarch still remains fairly active. Director
Hornaday has prepared a special label that
has been posted upon Sultan’s cage and which
explains to visitors that the lion’s apparent in-
firmities are the result of old age only, and
stating as well the favorite’s useful career in
the world of art.
Sultan recently was given a large felt mat
upon which to sleep, but our kindly intention
was misconstrued. The mat was fastened to
the floor, then the lion was run into the cage
from the outdoor enclosure. When Sultan ob-
served the mat he charged upon it with great
energy, tore it from its fastenings, then proudly
carried it about in his jaws as he furiously
growled. The performance lasted for an hour
or more, with a final result that the mat was
badly torn and the lion much exhausted. We
have since been unable to induce Sultan to be-
lieve that the mat is not some strange type of
living intruder, to be subdued only by the vig-
orous use of teeth and claws.
The Yak Family—One otf the interesting
sights of the Park is to be observed at the new
Yak House. Our pair of black yaks is proudly
exploiting a calf three months old, which is a
really attractive infant. The youngster is blue-
black, and its coat is exceptionally thick and
woolly. The mother never permits it to wan-
YAK CALF
der more than a few feet away, and it causes
her much anxiety, owing to its continuous in-
clination to gambol and play over the rolling
This playful nature
was probably inherited from the father, who
for some time has leaped and capered in circles
about Keeper McEnroe, until we have become
suspicious about his antics in maturity, as we
have some doubt regarding his present inten-
tions. Although inclined to cavort about his
keeper, and to make amazing jumps and leaps,
he has developed a trait of backing away, paw-
ing up the ground and plowing furrows with
his long horns, all of which are actions now to
be viewed with suspicion, on a basis of safety
first.
surface of the big range.
The Gorilla——A large outside cage room has
been constructed for Dinah, the only gorilla
now living in captivity. This was done by
entirely lining the large outside cage at the
Primate House,
with glass panels. Dinah may go out when
she likes. The new room is not heated, and
if she becomes chilled she may return to the
inside cage, as do the smaller monkeys at the
south end of the building, which run out-of-
doors into an unprotected enclosure and play
for hours—even in the snow—on severe winter
north-eastern corner -of the
days. In her play-room Dinah has a spring-
board, ropes, swings and various indestructible
The intention
in thus arranging her quarters was to permit
her to become accustomed to air at a lower
temperature than that of the Primate House,
and produce, if possible, a certain immunity
against pulmonary troubles so common among
captive Unfortunately, just at
playthings of which she is fond.
anthropoids.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Dinah is weak from malnutrition, and
her out-door quarters will be of no use to her
present
until she recovers.
The Laughing Hyena.—Much consternation
is to be noted on the faces of visitors near the
Bear Dens when the big spotted hyena indulges
At feeding periods,
which
in his vocal eccentricities.
the peculiar laughing sound, is quite
ghastly when in close proximity to the animal,
is likely to really
startled. The most frequent and characteris-
tic accomplishment of this hyena, however, is a
cause visitors to appear
siren-like wail that may be heard a considerable
It is the most penetrating sound pro-
duced by any member of the Park collections.
When the hyena gives voice it reminds the
nearby visitor of the effect produced by a big
distance.
steam whistle on the deck of a boat when one
is but a feet The hyena and the
South African hunting dog are occupying north-
few away.
erly compartments of the small bear dens,
which are enclosed in glass. We think the
animals will do better under these conditions
during the winter than within a heated building.
GIANT RED KANGAROO
Supporting himself on his tail while the tips of his toes pre
serve the balance. An attitude for offense or defense.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1193
AN ACROBATIC GOAT—HIMALAYAN TAHR
This hardy and skilful mountaineer, in lieu of rocks to climb, ascends the great oak in his corral.
Success with the Gibbons.—l'rom time to
time we have pointed out with some pride the
continued good health of the white-handed gib-
bon. Animals of this type are extremely deli-
cate as captives. This gibbon remains in
splendid health and attracts much attention
owing to its wonderfully agile acrobatics and
its weird calls. A hoolock gibbon, now in the
Primate House about seven months, responds
to the cries of the older specimens, and the
result is ear-piercing, particularly.so when the
baboons and lemurs join their varied voices as
a chorus.
An Infant Baboon.—For the fourth time
since her arrival at the Park ten years ago,
the female long-armed baboon is a happy and
faithful mother. The infant baboon is carried
in her arms, and cuddled in the same fashion
as a human baby. The mother never permits
it to play farther than a foot away from her.
Upon the least suspicious sound the youngster
is snatched to her breast, and she retires to the
highest and most inaccessible part of her cage.
This baby has much worried its parent by a
persistent habit of playing with his long tail, in
the course of which it has worn the hair away
from the tip of that appendage. The mother’s
method of punishment is to gently bite the little
baboon’s fingers, varying the pressure of her
teeth according to the gravity of the offence.
Signs of Winter.—According to the actions
of the outside animals we are destined to ex-
perience a severe winter. Severe cold came
early this year. A few days before Thanks-
giving the mercury dropped to eighteen de-
grees, and the Park ponds were frozen from
shore to shore. The squirrels have built ex-
ceptionally large nests, and the prairie “dogs”
were never busier than now in gathering bun-
dles of dry leaves for bedding. Moreover, these
latter animals are carrying below ground a
considerable amount of their food. They are
extremely fat, and locomotion is but an aw k-
ward waddle. Within two or three weeks they
will retire for the winter, and venture abroad
only on abnormally mild days. The colony is
in good condition. i JU, ID,
1194
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
THE WOMBAT
An interesting marsupial mammal from Australia.
SOME RARE MAMMALS.
Dirmars.
\ N JE believe that many of our visitors do
not fully appreciate the importance of the
collection in the Small Mammal House.
Many visitors quickly pass through this build-
ing in the search to find the installations where
the big animals are exhibited. Yet the Small
Mammal House has long been a congregating
center for students who visit the Park for the
specific purpose of making systematic studies of
mammals.
By Raymonp L.
This installation is important from the num-
ber of orders of mammals represented there.
Representatives of from seven to eight orders
are at all times exhibited under the one roof,
with a large key label showing bands of the
different colors that are employed to indicate
the respective orders. Each cage label has a
band of color that immediately designates the
order of the inmates, the accepted scheme of
classification.
The Small Mammal House has always been
particularly rich in rodents and the smaller car-
nivora. Among the particularly interesting ro-
dents are the gigantic and gaudy Malabar
squirrel—the largest known species of the squir-
rel genus. The largest rodent in the collection,
however, is the capybara, which from gross
examination looks more like one of the mem-
bers of the wild swine group. This somewhat
sluggish animal of tropical America is semi-
aquatic with markedly webbed feet. Its coat
is harsh and bristling, and through the sparse
hair may be seen the blackish, greasy skin. A
medium-sized capybara will weigh forty-five
pounds. This is the largest known species
among the gnawing animals.
Another of the big rodents is the tree rat of
Cuba, which attains a weight of eight pounds.
Rarer among the rodents, though of smaller
size, are the beautiful squirrels of the tropics
of both the New and Old Worlds. ‘The prevost
squirrel is particularly beautiful, with bands of
pale cream and rusty red upon a coat of lus-
trous blue-black. This is a Malayan squirrel,
and is rivalled by several species of the Amer-
ican tropics. One of these is a small animal
of Central America with a coat that may be
likened to shining bronze; and another is dull
grey above, but as he dashes about his cage the
observer will be startled as the creature flashes
an underside of fiery red. These smaller spe-
cies are closely related to the small red squirrel
of the United States.
In the canine series of the smaller carnivores
the foxes and their dog-like allies are well rep
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1195
THE BINTURONG OR BLACK “BEAR-CAT”
Interesting because of its strange form and the fact that it is the only prehensile-tailed mammal of the Old World.
resented. These are rather hardy animals, and
thus more or less satisfactory for purposes of
exhibition. The Mexican stripe-tailed dog has
a heavier head than a fox, but the tail is long,
and beginning on the posterior portion of the
back and extending to the tip of the tail is a
growth of jet black hair. Upon the gray coat
of this animal, this character is particularly
marked. Most curious among these dog-like
forms is the raccoon dog, of north-eastern Asia.
Coming from a cold country, this little animal
is profusely haired, and appears like a walking
muff. Few of these wild canines become tame
because they are excessively nervous.
Among the carnivores at the Small Mammal
House are several species of civets that are vet-
erans among the animals living in the Park.
Some of these specimens were among the first
live creatures purchased for exhibition here,
sixteen years ago. The most unusual carnivore
in the building is exhibited in the same series
of cages as the civets. This is what appears to
be a fisher. It came from Venezuela, and we
have been unable to locate him in the scanty
literature that delineates the mammalian fauna
of that region. He appears destined to become
a new species and contrary to the reputation of
his allies, the mustelines, he appears to be a
hardy creature. As a rule the North American
animals of this type survive in captivity but a
few weeks.
The most curious animal in the collections
described is the hyrax, a diminutive creature,
looking somewhat like a guinea “pig” but actu-
ally occupying a position in classification that
immediately follows the ungulates, or the hoofed
animals. From the dentition of the hyrax,
which is the Coney of the Scriptures, there is
some relationship with the hippopotami.
Students are always interested in the marsu-
pials, or pouched animals, and our small mam-
mal collection contains a number of them. Al-
most debarred from the series, owing to his
size, is the Australian wombat which for the
moment might be mistaken for the capybara as
size, color and bodily aspect are the same. In
habits the wombat is like a rodent, as it lives
in deep burrows. It comes forth only at night,
and feeds upon roots and tender plants. It
hardly seems possible that this ponderous and
_ odd-looking creature belongs to the same order
as the dainty and agile murine opossum, the
brilliantly spotted dasyure or the strictly carni-
vorous Tasmanian devil. This latter animal is
well worth close observation. The greater por-
tion of it appears to consist of the head, with
its powerful jaws. His appetite and temper are
quite in keeping with his general appearance.
1196
YOUNG OCELOT
The ocelot is easily tamed and becomes then an interesting pet.
REPAIRS AND BETTERMENTS IN THE
PARK.
Renovating the Primate House—The house
for apes and monkeys has had a thorough over-
hauling. Much of the cage work was re-con-
structed and improved, and as it stands it is
practically vermin proof. All the partitions
between the large cages were removed, solidly
filled in with bricks and mortar, then covered
with vuleanized fibre board. All cage supports
were supplied with sanitary bases of concrete.
All the wood work was removed from the back
and the cages were permanently
opened underneath. The railings inside the
building were moved farther back from the
cages, covered at the bottom with sheet iron
three feet wide, and above that wire netting
was erected to a height of eleven feet. This
effectually prevents feeding the animals, or at-
tempting to kill them with matches, needles and
other strange objects such as formerly were
thrown in by mean visitors. The protection of
the animals is now more complete, and depre-
dations of mice and insects will be greatly
reduced.
The ventilating apparatus has been reno-
vated and altered, and the fresh air ducts have
been placed under the outside cages on the
east side, thus affording very direct draft. Two
of the ape cages have been furnished with new
fronts of steel bars, and an outside shelter cage
has been constructed for the great apes, for
winter use.
passages,
Reptile House-—The tiles on the roof of the
Reptile House together with their supports
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
have been replaced on the entire south side and
over the lobby.
Lion House—In this building ten
were re-floored with oak and entirely over-
hauled. Much of the terra-cotta and the adja-
cent brick work on the eastern wall was reset
and re-pointed. An interesting experiment is
being conducted to ascertain the virtue of steam
pipes under the floors of the sleeping dens to
keep them warmer than heretofore.
cages
Bear Dens.—The damaged floors of three
dens were rebuilt, and three pools were re-
placed by entire new concrete construction.
Flying Cage.—Sixteen years’ exposure to de-
structive New York weather has at last so
damaged the top third of the great Flying Cage
that it requires new wire and some new frame-
work. The scaffolding is already erected, pre-
paratory to replacing the worn out wire work.
With the wire weaving machinery in our shops
this task can be accomplished at a net saving
of about 60%. About 600 square feet of
woven wire can be made in a day by one man.
Comfortable for Winter—In preparation for
the winter, the heating apparatus in all of the
buildings has been overhauled, storm doors,
windows and shields have been placed at the
Bird House, Elk House, Small Deer House and
Bear dens, and a wind-break at the Yak Shel-
ter. At the same time, leaks in roofs have been
repaired. These preparations have rendered
the animal buildings better prepared for the
winter than ever before. There has been more
extensive repairs made this year than in any
other year since the opening of the Park, and
the buildings in general are in better condition
than any time during the past five years. Dur-
ing the prolonged sleet storm of the first week
of December, it was a satisfaction to make a
complete tour of all the heated buildings for
animals, observe the comfort in which the ani-
mals were housed, and note their contentment
with their surroundings and care.
HerRMANN W. MERKEL.
TRANSPLANTING BIRDS OF PARADISE
VERY interesting attempt at the trans-
A plantation of the greater bird of paradise
from the Malay Archipelago to the West
Indies is now in progress on Little Tobago,
which is a tiny islet forty-five miles northeast of
the extreme northeastern point of the Island of
Trinidad. In that little sanctuary, happily des-
titute of rats, and also well nigh snakeless, Sir
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
William Ingraham, in 1909, set free forty-seven
living greater birds of paradise, (Paradisea
apoda). ‘This is one of the species that is on
the high road to extermination on account of its
gorgeous golden-yellow plumes.
The transplantation of a wild bird species
half way around the world to a new state of
self-support is necessarily a long shot, with a
limb in the way. In the colonization of any
wild species, nothing should be expected in less
time than ten years. With birds especially it
is the rule that of the colonized individuals, the
majority succumb to the enemies that every-
where beset bird life, and to the difficulties in-
volved in learning to live on utterly strange
food.
Already there is noticeable a disposition to
pronounce Sir William’s apoda experiment a
failure; but surely such a verdict would, to say
the least, be quite premature. In August, 1914,
Mr. Robert Herold, the caretaker of Little To-
bago, reported having seen four male birds, ten
females and one young of sex unknown. “There
may be two or three more,” says he, “but there
are certainly no less.”
Now even that stock, already settled down
and known to be breeding, is sufficient to stock
the whole West Indies provided the birds can
survive. With such a foundation, apoda has on
Little Tobago much more than a fighting chance,
and we have a right to hope for the complete
success of that very plucky and well conducted
experiment. Weis EI:
EGRET FARMING IN INDIA
T last there has appeared an item of reli-
able testimony revealing an instance of
successful egret raising for plumes, and
the actual taking and marketing of a commer-
cial product in hand-reared “aigrette” feathers.
For fear that it may escape the attention of the
feather trade, we hasten to point it out.
The Journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, for June 30, 1914,
contains an illustrated article by Mr. George
Birch, Assistant Commissioner of Sind, N.-W.
India, setting forth the author’s observations of
egret raising for plumage as now carried on by
the fisherfolk of the inland waters of that
province.
In the village of Ber, on the edge of Chango
Lake, Larkana District (population about 200),
about 1,000 egrets are kept in captivity, and
regularly plucked of their plumes for the feather
1197
trade. The birds are kept in mat-enclosed run-
ways twenty feet by eight feet by eight feet,
very much as pheasants are kept. They are fed
on small fresh fish, so liberally supplied that the
birds eat to satiety. The birds are really tame,
and permit themselves to be seized and handled
by their owners, quite as such birds do in zoo-
logical gardens.
The breeding season commences in March and
continues irregularly up to the end of Septem-
ber. “Eggs are laid never less than twice dur-
ing the season, and sometimes as many as four
or five times; and it takes twelve months for
a bird to reach maturity. The plumes are
plucked without injury to the birds, and in view
of the fact that the fish supply costs nothing
but human labor, the business is sufficiently lu-
crative to justify its existence.
According to the statement of Mr. Birch, the
people of Sind have apparently been about thir-
ty years in developing the industry he describes.
At all events, the Commissioner states that prior
to that period the natives killed the egrets in
order to secure their plumes; and after they
began to keep the birds alive they very cruelly
blinded them by sewing up their eves, to keep
them from escaping.
Although Commissioner Birch does not state
how the birds seen by him are prevented from
flying away, it is absolutely certain that they
must be pinioned as to the flight feathers of one
wing, for otherwise there would be no such
thing as keeping them in roofless enclosures, or
controlling them.
The feather dealers of London and Paris, and
their scientific allies, have demanded that the
trade in the plumage of wild birds be continued
pending efforts to supply the market with “aig-
rettes” and paradise plumes derived from do-
mesticated birds. To this, the reply of the
Societe d’ Acclimatation of Paris, and other
defenders of birds has been, that by the time
experiments could be made and bird farms es-
tablished yielding a world supply of plumes, all
the wild birds would be dead and past all help;
which is literally and everlastingly true.
Naturally, every bird protector would be glad
to see created a great bird-raising industry for
the supply of the fancy-feather markets of the
world; but the idea is utopian, to say the least
of it; and the proposal to continue the slaugh-
ter of wild birds until it is fully carried into
effect is utterly preposterous. The new indus-
try can best be stimulated by an immediate and
complete cessation of the traffic in the plumage
of wild birds. Viva Whe JS le
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN (OVIS CANIDENSIS) UNDER PROTECTION
These wild animals, which when hunted are exceedingly wary and elusive, have under absolute protection in Colorado
become so trustful that they can be approached closely. These fine photographs were taken by
Mr. Tod Powell, at Ouray, Colorado, on March 8, 1914.
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
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.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, New York City.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM
The Aquarium is open every day in the year: April 15 to October 15, from 9 o'clock A. M.
to 5 o'clock P. M.; October 16 to April 14, from 10 o’clock A. M. to 4 o’clock P. M. No
admission is charged.
PUBLICATIONS
Annual Report No.1............ Paper $ .40 Souvenir Books: Series No. 2, 86 pages, 512x7} inches,
es . fe ie 15 Cloth $1.00 33 full page illustrations in colors ..........-..+ 25
re i oi a 40 .60 (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.)
ca am ix 5 ‘ ip Se “15 te ye 00 Series No. 3, 48 pages, 7x9 inches, 73 illustrations
‘ ee
fc A ila wlan, eae San tad fekelag ot 1.00 a «185 from founscolor: plates tiescicue aut on oe ne hs 50
“ te fs ah i 18 Cec 1.25 1.50 (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.)
; : lee an Var ae et aot “ “ Souvenir Postal Cards: Series of 72 subjects in colors,
Hib di TRICE or Sst ap macs ou 128 sold in sets of 24 cards, assorted BUDIECUSs were cic shste 125
Our Vanishing Wild Life (Horna- (By mail, postage 2 cents per set extra.)
Av, MPOSUP AIG aisehetelle) asians ee = “= 1.65 Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. ele
: 7 "1 and views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets
Destruction of Our Birds and Mam- of 2 subjects. Per set, postpaid a lvtakonvelsteratavons wine 25
mes (Stila bo paiegee cs at Me Souvenir Map-Fan: A combined fan and map of the
Notes on Mountain Sheep of North LOOP IGA Anka spate taper tctn = el -ysieie sy aparece adsense silo 10
America (Hornaday).......... 0 (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
5 ete “ ‘ Panorama of the Zoological Park: Reproduced in colors
The Caribou (Grant)....-.....-. A) -60 from an original drawing in perspective. Sold
The Origin and Relationship of the flat or in folder form. -.. 00. 0- wees eee eee nee 10
Large Mammals of North Amer- (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
ica (Grant)...-......--...--- 1.00 Enlargements: 11x14 inches. 12 subjects in black and
The Rocky M tain Goat (Grant) et Wane Gaelib se sds seo dacs bdibacobaodsegdcsAnon 25
he Recky Mountain: Goat (Gran 1,00 MuotoneeBrowneachhss ve sce scsasrele ctareelocie’s 33
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 1-11 inclusive, Hand Colored (10 Subjects), each.............--- 75
KEIN pra SC RD Se Stee cu mcoraGHer 2.30 New York Aquarium Nature Series
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 12, 13 and 14. ss 25 Sea Shore Life (Mayer) ..-.....5..6+ sen ssees
a ree NOL Toei. ys deiner oe 25 Cultivation of Fishes in Ponds (Townsend)
é a 5 Hi
Bulletin Nos. 1, 6, 8, 35, 48 and 46... Out of Print Chameleons of the ea (row nsend)
Bulletins—Bi-monthly......... 20c. each: Yearly by mail 1.00 Care of Home Aquaria (Osburn) WMT E cree. Sy aieicya.shachiototeevebare
Bulletin Nos. 5 to 23 inclusive, set, cloth bound,......... 5.00 Porpoise in Captivity (lownsend)...........-.2-.2-06
Official Guide to the New York ae
Zoological Park (Hornaday) lot jasvarers seen cicle siecle -cvein ©,0 +25 Aquarium Post Cards: Colored. In sets, each..... ai
Publications for sale at 11 Wall Street, Zoologica) Park and the New York Aquarium.
G im ih
Vor. XVIII. No. 2 he \. MARCH, 1915 |
iin ey ee i i iu
Published by i
M | | 1 > THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY |
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Officers of the New UYork Zoological Society
Secretary
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street.
Percy R. Pyne,
Wan. Pierson Hamitron,
SamureL THORNE,
President
Henry Fairrietp Osporn.
Exrcutiuve Committer
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
LisPENARD STEWART,
Frank K. Srvurais,
Treasurer
Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street.
Wituiam Wuite Nixes,
Watson B. DickerMAN,
Henry Farrrietp Osporn, Ex Officio.
The Mayor of the City of New York.
F. Aveusrus SCHERMERHORN,
Percy R. Pyne,
Georce B. Grinneut,
Georce C. Crark,
Henry [arrrieitp Osporn,
Wiciiam C. Cueurcn,
‘LIisPENARD STEWART,
“\Hs.Casruir dE Ruan,
ov
Levi P. Morton,
ANpDREW CARNEGIE,
_Mapison Grant,
© Wituiam Wuire Nixes,
Buard of Managers
Ex Officio
Class of 1916
Crievetanp H. Dopeér,
C. Lepyarp Brair,
Freperick G. Bourne,
W. Austin Wapswortnu,
Class nf 1917
Cuar-tes F. Dretericnu,
James J. Hitt,
Georce F. Baker,
Grant B. ScuHtey,
Glass of 1918
SamvueL THORNE,
Henry A. C. Taytor,
Frank K. Srureis,
Georce J. Govtp,
General Officers
The Presipent of the Department of Parks.
Emerson McMituin,
Antuony R. Kuser,
Watson B. DickerMan,
Mortimer L. Scuirr.
Wm. Prerson Hamitton,
Rosert S. Brewster,
Epwarp S. Harkness,
Wixtuiam B. Oscoop Frexp,
Ocpen Mitts,
Lewis RurHerFuRD Morris,
Arcuer M. Huntinetron,
Henry M. Titrorp.
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenn, Director of the Aquarium.
H. J. Suorter, Assistant Secretary.
Bh,
H.R. MircHeELy,
Raymonp L. Drrmars,
Cuarves H.
Wasuincron I.
C.'Grantr La Faroe, Architect.
R. L. Cerero, Assistant to the Treasurer.
H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntineton, Prosector.
Officers of the Zoulugical Park
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director.
C. Witiiam Berese, H. W. MerkeEt,
L. Ss CranDatu, W. Rem Brair,
Exiwin R. Sanporn.
G. M. Beersower,
Wituram MircHetu,
Officers of the Aquarium
Raymonp C. Oseurn, Assistant.
Rogpert SUTCLIFFE.
Townsenpd, Director.
DeNyse.
BOW OG Neer Asd, 9S OC LE TY -BU, LL ET LN
AQUARIUM NUMBER
Prepared by C. H. Townsenp, Director, and R. C. Osnury, Assistant Director.
CONTENTS FOR MARCH, 1915
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ZOOLOGICAL
BULLETIN =",
Published by the New York Zoological Soviety.
SOCIETY
( "MAR & 1915
al Must
Vou. XVIII
MARCH, 1915.
NumBer 2
THE AQUARIUM OF OUR DREAMS
By C. H. Townsenp.
HE beautiful model of the proposed en-
largement of the New York Aquarium, has
just been moved from the Museum of Nat-
ural History where it has long been on exhibi-
tion, to the Aquarium in Battery Park. The
model is welcome and there will be a certain
satisfaction in contemplating this Aquarium of
Dreams, but we would rather have a real build-
ing even if it were only a little larger and better
than the present one.
In 1912 the Executive Committee completed
plans for a new Aquarium building, which were
accepted by the City as satisfactory, and were
then carefully filed. They are still filed and
may remain so indefinitely.
It may be, as we are assured, quite impossible
to provide funds for a new Aquarium, but under
present conditions the institution cannot have
any growth. It has the misfortune to be housed
in an unsuitable building, which it long ago
completely filled. The character of its exhibits
is prescribed by the character of the water sys-
tems with which it is equipped. While its col-
lections are attractive and the number of visit-
ors remains as large as the building can accom-
modate, the Aquarium is at an enforced stand-
still. Like the crab and the lobster, the Aqua-
rium cannot grow without shedding its old shell.
Other museums have room for new exhibits but
the Aquarium has not. When especially attrac-
tive specimens arrive, those of less interest must
be fed to the sea lion or the porpoise to make
room for them.
The Aquarium cannot even change the char-
acter of its exhibits without modifying its me-
chanical equipment, and this would merely
allow a change, not an increase. The present
building is probably the most unsightly struc-
ture in New York. Its entire upper part is of
the flimsiest wooden construction, which would
burn like a haystack. Constructed a century ago
as a fort, it has never had the light or ventila-
tion desirable for a museum attracting five thou-
sand persons a day. It has never had enough
space for coal. supplies or repair shop and can-
not be administered economically. There is no
longer space for an additional exhibition tank.
a pump or a filter. Its reservoir is located
under Battery Park, as the Aquarium has no
basement. Its depressed furnace-room floor and
coal bunker are always invaded by the sea
whenever the tides reach their highest levels.
These are some of the disadvantages under
which the Aquarium lives and has its being.
During the past few years, considerable money
has been spent on alterations and improvements.
Little more can be done to the ancient shell to
better its light, ventilation or safety for the
public.
Other museums in New York are endowed
with millions of dollars, but it seems that the
Aquarium does not appeal to those who make
bequests. Its annual maintenance is less than
one-fourth that allowed each of the larger mu-
seums of the city. A building like that pictured
on the opposite page, would double the space
for living exhibits and permit of their best care.
It would allow suitable room for administrative,
laboratory and library purposes, and permit of
comfort for the public.
The purpose to which the present Aquarium
building is devoted, must be worth while or
there would not be two millions of persons a
year passing through its dingy doorway.
ey
1202
THE CARE OF GOLDFISHES.*
By C. H. Townsenp.
HE general principles of aquarium man-
agement, so far as they relate to the form
of the aquarium, its plant life, water sup-
ply, temperature, position with reference to
light, and the feeding of its inhabitants, apply
not only to goldfishes, but to most other species
ordinarily kept in small aquaria.
An aquarium holding eight or ten gallons of
water will be easier to maintain in good condi-
tion than one of small size, and will contain a
larger number of fishes with a greater degree
of safety. An aquarium of rectangular shape
is by far the best for permanent use. It should
be of strong, clear glass—preferably plate glass
—set in a metal framework, and with a slate
bottom. Its corners, however, accumulate dirt
which is not easily removed.
Aquaria of rectangular form, made wholly of
glass, can be purchased and are cheaper, but
the glass is never quite clear, and they crack
more readily from changes in temperature.
Cylindrical, glass aquaria are still cheaper, but
they distort the forms of the objects they con-
tain to some extent, and are also liable to crack
from water pressure. However, aquaria made
wholly of glass have the advantage of being
absolutely water-tight, while they remain in
sound condition, whereas the joints of metal-
framed aquaria often leak.
Globes are worthless. Good results cannot
be expected with them. The restricted surface
of a globe at the top lessens the amount of
water surface exposed to the air. The more
surface exposed for the absorption of air, the
better.
The aquarium should be placed where the
amount of light reaching it can be well con-
trolled. A north window is best, an east win-
dow will do, but exposure in other directions
will make its care more difficult. If large, the
aquarium should be permanently located before
it is filled with water.
Sunlight should not often be allowed to fall
directly on it, as it stimulates the growth of
alge, and is liable to overheat the water, the
temperature of which should be kept steady.
not rising above 70 degrees or falling below 40
degrees. A temperature of 50 degrees to 60
degrees is best, and it should not be allowed to
vary. Warm water holds less air than cold
*The care of goldfishes being a subject of constant
inquiry, this article has been reprinted from the Bur-
tetin for April, 1907, which has been exhausted.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
water, so that a high temperature is more to be
guarded against than a low one.
Water plants are necessary in the aquarium
for the aeration of the water, since under prop-
er conditions of light and temperature they give
off oxygen which animals require, while the lat-
ter exhale carbonic gas. A balance between the
animal and plant life of the aquarium is essen-
tial for suecess. Too much plant growth can
be checked by reducing the amount of light.
which may be shut off by the use of a sereen
or shade. A greenish film of alg or conferve
will at times develop rapidly on the glass and
obscure the contents of the aquarium. It will
have to be rubbed off occasionally, but it is just
as well to let it grow on the side next the win-
dow, where it will serve to restrict the light and
also aerate the water. The growth of alge is
lessenel by placing the aquarium in a more
shaded position. Snails eat algw rapidly and
should be introduced for that purpose, and also
because their serve as food for small
fishes.
Allow the aquarium to absorb air from its
plant life and from the surface of the water
for a day or two before putting in the fishes.
The latter should be few in number at first.
Snails may be added later. Dealers in aqua-
rium supplies usually keep plants, snails, tad-
poles, newts and other small creatures as well
as fishes.
With running water, plant life can be dis-
pensed with. A collection of large goldfishes
in the New York Aquarium has been kept in
good condition for many years in flowing Croton
water, enduring its low temperature in winter
very well. The fish are, however, much more
active in summer and feed more freely.
eggs
The following named water plants are those
most frequently used by aquariists: milfoil
(Myriophyllum), hornwort (Ceratophyllum).
fanwort (Cabomba), water-weed (Anacharis).
tape-erass (Vallisneria), arrow-head (Sagittar-
ia) and pondweed (Potamogeton). Many other
species will serve the purpose. Plants may be
anchored by pressing them down into the sand
or gravel. Thin strips of lead wound loosely
about their roots will hold them securely.
In a well-balanced aquarium the water should
not be changed at all. It is in fact better with-
out any additions, other than required to re-
place what is lost by evaporation. Water should
never be added until it has been kept in the
same room with the aquarium long enough to
acquire the same temperature.
In siphoning out water from the bottom of
the aquarium to clear off sediment or refuse,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
the water should be saved and strained back.
The supply of water may be aerated at times
by lifting it with a clean dipper and ‘letting it
fall back slowly. A sprinkling can will also
serve for this purpose. All vessels and appara-
tus used in connection with the aquarium should
be perfectly clean, and it is well not to put
the hands into the water at all. Assistance in
the way of keeping the aquarium clean may be
had by introducing a few tadpoles and small
newts to act as scavengers, but the latter should
be of very small size.
The bottom of the aquarium should be covered
to the depth of a couple of inches, with fine
gravel, or clean white sand in which fishes may
rub themselves; it is also essential for the root-
ing of plants.
There should not be too much animal life in
the aquarium. The fewer and smaller the fishes
the less likely is the air in the water to became
exhausted. Two or three small goldfishes to
each gallon of water is a safe rule to go by, if
the aquarium is large. If small the proportion
must be reduced. The question the aquarium
presents, when it has been supplied with water
and plants, is simply, how many fishes or other
air consuming creatures can be accommodated
in the quantity of water available? Overstocking
may disturb the balance within an hour.
It is probably safe to say that a little neglect
in the matter of feeding is better for the per-
manence of the aquarium than over attention.
It must not be presumed that because fishes will
live for months without feeding, it is right to
treat them in that way. Fishes left without
food are simply fishes kept hungry and in a
condition of slow starvation, which can only be
described as cruelty. When there is a large
supply of plants in ‘the aquarium the fishes hold
out longer, the very small ones especially get-
ting some nourishment from the young shoots
of Anacharis and other plants.
Many aquariists feed every day. carefully re-
moving all uneaten food, which soon decays and
fouls the water. Wafer food, made of rice
flour, and other prepared foods kept by aquaria
dealers are safe, and should be supplied at least
every other day. Finely crushed vermicelli
is also good. Some of the ordinary household
cereals are available as goldfish food, but the
beginner should experiment with them cautious-
ly. Other foods are, however, desirable at
times. Once a week, pieces of very small earth
worms, or bits of fresh beef should be furnished.
If they can be given to each fish on the tip
of a broom straw the chances of contaminating
the water by waste food will be lessened. All
1203
uneaten food must be picked, dipped, or si-
phoned out, or foul water and a disturbance
of the delicate balance of the aquarium will be
the result. A milky appearance of the water is
usually a warning against careless feeding.
Nearly all diseases which appear among wold:
fishes indicate that the aquarium needs looking
after. The unsightly growths of fungus on
fishes, caused by the plant parasites, Saprolegnia
and Devoea, indicate careless handling of the
fishes, or bad conditions prevailing in the aqua-
rium. When the conditions are right, diseases
are not likely to appear. Too high a tempera-
ture favors the growth of fish fungus.
This disease is hard to deal with and infected
fishes should be removed at once and kept by
themselves, where, under proper conditions,
they may possibly recover. A pinch of salt put
in the water with them may arrest the disease,
but when in bad condition a teaspoon of salt
to each gallon of water will be necessary. If
other fishes are obtainable, it is just as well
to kill diseased specimens, since the fungus
penetrates deeply into the flesh and can not
be destroyed if the growth is far advanced.
Animal parasites on fishes should be picked off
after the fish has been carefully lifted in the
dip net.
One of the first indications of trouble in the
aquarium is the presence of the fishes at the
surface with their mouths out of the water,
showing that they are suffering for lack of air.
The water may be dipped up and allowed to
fall back slowly, but the relief afforded will be
merely temporary. The temperature of the
aquarium should be observed and some of the
fishes removed. It may be necessary to in-
crease the quantity of plant-life or stimulate
its growth by admitting more light. If the
reathiee is not cold ond the window can be
opened, air blowing across the surface of the
water will be helpful since it may only be
necessary to aerate the water and lower the
temperature somewhat. There may be refuse
at the bottom which should, of course, be re-
moved.
In taking care of the aquarium, a few, simple
implements, such as a half-inch rubber tube
for siphoning out the water, a glass “dip tube”
for removing small particles of dirt from the
bottom, a shallow dip net of cheesecloth for
lifting fishes, and a cloth-covered pad or rubber
scraper with a long handle for cleaning the
glass, will be necessary. The dip tube is op-
erated by closing the top opening with the
finger to admit or exclude the water as desired.
A pair of long wooden forceps and a slim
WORVOAOV WHOA MAIN SUTd OUD MOV TE ANY OVSSVYN
WIOQUDy “Yy Uae fig YavIBopougy
ZOOLOGICAL
stick are also useful for removing plants and
other objects without putting the hands into
the water.
One other aid in the management of the aqua-
rium should not be overlooked: A reliable book
on aquaria and their care is essential, and the
amateur will need to refer to it frequently.
There are books on this subject to be had at
most book stores. ‘The New York Aquarium
has published a 63-page pamphlet on The Care
of Home Aquaria, which will be sent postpaid
for 27 cents.
The small aquaria in the laboratory of the
New York Aquarium will be shown to visitors
making inquiry about them, and their manage-
ment in detail explained by those in charge.
THE ASCIDIANS OR SEA-SQUIRTS.
By Raymonp C. Ospurn.
HIS group of animals is distributed ali
4 over the world in salt water, and several
species are common in this region, yet the
average person who finds them seems to have
not the slightest idea of what they are, or of
their relationships. Some of these are fre-
quently brought or sent to the Aquarium for
identification, and the questions which accom-
pany these requests for information are al-
most as interesting as the animals themselves.
“Please let me know what sort of sponge this
is and whether it has any value?” “I am
told that these things are ‘Mother of eels.’ What
are they and have they any connection with
eels?’ ; “I am told that there is a good market
for these things for fish food. What is their
value and how are they prepared for market?”’:
“These things are eating up the piles of my
boat dock. How can I get rid of them?”;
“What sort of fishes are these? There have
been thousands of them washed up on the
beach,” ete., ete.
However, when we consider that until less
than fifty years ago the zoologists were all
wrong with regard to the relationships of this
group, we may pardon the average person of
today for being misinformed concerning them.
The older naturalists placed some of them
among the sponges, the zoophytes, the mollusea
and molluscoidea. The great Cuvier first gave
them a class name, T'unicata, and placed them
intermediate between the Radiata and Vermes
of his classification. It was not until in 1866
that Kowalevsky traced the development of the
larva and discovered that the ascidians are, in
fact, related to the vertebrates, but that, by
SOCIETY BULLETIN 1205
a wonderful metamorphosis, the tiny tadpole-
like larva becomes transformed into a creature
so unlike a vertebrate that its real nature had
not been suspected.
The ascidians (ascus=a sac), or tunicates, are
provided with an outer coat or tunic, secreted
by the epidermis, which consists of a substance
of the same chemical nature as cellulose, but
which, since it is found in animals instead of
plants. has received the name “‘tunicin.”
The tunicates fall naturally into three classes:
The Larvacea, Ascidiacea and the Thaliacea.
The first group includes a very few minute, free
swimming forms, which undergo no metamor-
phosis, and in which, therefore, the larval char-
acters are retained. These forms in the adult
stage retain the tail, which is provided with a
notochord (the precursor of a vertebral column),
a complete dorsal, tubular nerve and gills which
open into the pharynx. While of great interest,
they are known only to the zoologist, and need
not be further considered here.
The Ascidiacea, or ascidians proper, are
numerous and widely distributed, occurring
from the Arctic regions to the equator and from
between the tide limits to great depths of the
ocean. Some of them have been dredged from
a depth more than three miles. Certain species
grow singly, others bud to form colonies, some
of these consisting of thousands of individuals.
In some cases the individuals are almost micro-
scopic in size, while in others they may reach
nearly a foot in length. They may be almost
transparent, or brilliantly colored, but frequent-
ly they are obscured by a layer of mud or sand
adhering to the tunic. On account of the rounded
form which many of these animals assume, they
were known to the ancients as sea-eggs and they
are still so called in many places by the fish-
ermen.
Of the simple ascidians, Mogula manhatten-
sis (De Kay) is perhaps the commonest local
form. This species is often very abundant
about the docks and lives well in the Aquarium,
either in the balanced aquaria or in the larger
tanks supplied with the harbor water. This
is the species charged with devouring the piles
of docks, though of course it is perfectly harm-
less and the real malefactor was merely ob-
scured beneath the layer of the Molgulas at-
tached on the surface. Also, this is the form
supposed to have a market value as fish food;
etc., though, of course, it has none whatever.
This common Molgula is a small swollen sac.
resembling a small bladder, not more than an
inch in diameter, and is attached by the tunic
at the side opposite the mouth. The mouth
1206 ZOOLOGICAL
opening leads into a capacious pharynx, pro-
vided with numerous slit-like gills. There any
microscopic food which the water may contain
is separated out and passed into the coiled
or looped intestine. A current of water, pro-
duced by the action of cilia on the walls of
the pharynx, passes through the gill openings
into the atrial cavity within the tunic and to
the outside by another opening, the atrial pore,
which is situated near the mouth. The intes-
tine ends in the atrium near the pore and the
current of water sweeps out the excretae. Of
course the looped form of the intestine and the
position of the incurrent and excurrent open-
ings near together on the upper surface are
merely adaptations to the mode of life. The
same conditions are observed in the Bryozoa,
Sipunculoid worms and numerous other at-
tached and tubicolous forms of animals.
The sex cells, when ripe, may be carried out
also by the excurrent stream of water, or, in
other cases, the eggs may be retained in the
atrial cavity, where they undergo development,
and finally the free-swimming larva, resem-
bling small tadpoles, are released through the
atrial pore. These swim about for a short time
to distribute themselves, and to find some solid
substance to which they may become attached
by a special adhesive disc and so remain fixed
for the rest of their lives. The metamorpho-
sis takes place immediately after they become
attached. In this process the tadpole-shaped
larva loses the tail and notochord, develops the
tunic and takes on the form of the adult.
The tough tunie seems to be an ample pro-
tection, for, in spite of their numbers, few
animals ever seem to feed on them. Undoubt-
edly some fishes are able to bite through the
tough cover, but they must be disappointed
at the small amount of nutriment to be obtained
as the result of their labors.
Molgula often occurs in such numbers as to
cover the surface of piles, rocks, ete., with a
close layer and may be obtained in large quan-
tities for the purpose of study.
A larger form, Boltenia, occurs in somewhat
deeper water off our coast. This ascidian has
a long stalk with a grapple-like expansion at
its base for attachment and an oval enlarge-
ment or body at the upper end, giving the
animal somewhat the appearance of an Indian’s
warclub, a resemblance further borne out by the
size, as it grows to be nearly a foot high. It is
often richly colored. When red it is known
to the fisherman as a “‘sea peach,’ when yellow-
ish, as a “sea lemon.”
SOCIETY BULLETIN
The compound ascidians are always smaller,
and are either developed at intervals on a
stolon, sometimes resembling miniature melons
on a leafless vine, or they may be closely set
and embedded in a jelly-like mass forming a
common tunic for the colony. Some of these
form considerable masses, either spreading over
rocks, shells or piles or sometimes growing erect
in masses or strands even to the height of a
couple of feet. The colony figured was 15 inch-
es high. The small areas showing on the sur-
face represent clusters of one-half dozen to two
dozen individuals. The writer has dredged them
up by the bushel from the bottom of Vineyard
Sound. These masses are known to the fisher-
men as “‘sea pork,” or are often mistaken for
sponges or what not. Some of the clustered
forms were known among others to the ancients
as “‘sea grape” or “‘sea fruit’—the “uwva marina”
of Pliny. Rondelet, 1554 (De Picsibus Ma-
rinis, p. 180) and Gesner, 1587 (Historia Ani-
malium, p. 1044) figure such a sea fruit or “wva
marina” which is undoubtedly a colonial ascid-
ian. Pliny is responsible for the remarkable
statement.—which one may disbelieve if he
chooses,—that sea grapes rotted in wine and
drunk cause a loathing of wine thereafter in
drunkards on acount of its fetid marine odor.
The ancients believed that “like cures like”
(“similia similibus curantur”) and did not hesi-
tate to apply heroic remedies.
One genus, Botryllus, is of frequent oecur-
rence at the Aquarium, growing in a thin layer
on the wall of a tank or the sides of a glass
jar and occasionally spreading over nearly a
square foot of surface. It often encrusts the
leaves of eel grass and other sea weeds in shal-
low water with its slimy layer.
In another species, 4maroucium pellucidum,
the jelly-like mass is often impregnated with
sand to such an extent that it is rendered quite
firm. This species was originally described as
a bryozoan. The accompanying figure repre-
sents a colony six inches in diameter, dredged
by the writer in Vineyard Sound.
All together about thirty species of these
tunicates occur in the neighboring waters.
The Thaliacea or salps which constitute the
third group of the Tunicata are entirely pelagic.
While at first they appear to have no similarity
to the sessile sea-squirts, the differences can be
explained for the most part by the difference
in the mode of life. That an animal which
spends its whole life time swimming at or near
the surface of the ocean must be constructed
on a different plan from one that remains in
one place attached to the sea bottom seems
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 1207
axiomatic. Yet that these differences need not
be fundamental, is shown by the structure and
development of this and the foregoing group of
tunicates.
The meaning of the common name “‘salp’’ is
not clear. The term is very ancient, for Pliny
used “salpa” in reference to a kind of stockfish
(fish dried without salting). Whether the diffi-
culty of getting any nutriment out of this sort of
steckfish, which had to be soaked and beaten
before it could be eaten, led to the term “salp”
being facetiously applied to these tough and in-
nutritious pelagic tunicates seems at least a
possible interpretation.
The individual salp resembles a miniature
cask with both ends knocked out. The wall con-
sists of the tough transparent tunic, through
which appears a series of circular muscle bands
resembling hoops, which are, however, on the
inside instead of outside. The open ends are
necessary to the mode of locomotion, which is
altogether unique. Water is taken in at the
anterior aperture and a wave of constriction
runs over the circular muscles, each in turn
narrowing the diameter of the tube and forcing
the water backward and out of the posterior
opening. This process causes the salp to move
slowly forward, much as though it were actually
drinking its way through the water. In its
course through the body the water passes over
the gills and supplies oxygen, and food is also
removed and carried into the intestines by the
action of cilia.
These animals are occasionally so numerous
in the summer months that they seem to fill the
ocean for many miles, so that dozens or even
hundreds may be dipped up with every bucket
of water. Sometimes they are thrown on shore
in countless numbers. They are often highly
phosphorescent.
Our commonest species in this region is S.
zonaria—cordiformis. As a rule the salps are
about an inch or so long by nearly half as broad.
One larger species, Salpa tilesii—costata reach-
es a length of eight or ten inches and appears
to be rare. A single specimen from Matinicus,
Me., sent to the Aquarium last year for identifi-
cation, was taken in a lobster pot at a depth of
20 fathoms. This is much farther north than it
has hitherto been reported on this coast.
Among the interesting features of this group
is a peculiar mode of reproduction by alterna-
tion of generations. There are two types of
individuals, usually quite unlike one another, so
that in most cases they were given different
names before their connection was suspected.
The hyphenated specific names, like those given
above, are not therefore indicative of aristocra-
cy, though the salps are no doubt a very ancient
family, but merely show that these names have
been applied to the two generations of the life
eyele. One of these, the solitary generation,
occurs singly, and reproduces asexually by
forming a string of buds, which develops into
a string of aggregate or chain salps. These,
which form the second or sexual generation, are
attached side by side, often in long strings look-
ing like well-filled, transparent cartridge belts.
Each individual of the chain develops sexual or-
gans and produces eggs which may give rise
to tadpole larvae or may develop directly into
the adult solitary asexual form. Reproduction
goes on with great rapidity in the warmer
months, hence the appearance of enormous
numbers in middle and late summer.
Porpoises.—At one time in the month of
October the Aquarium had in the building speci-
mens of three different genera of porpoises,
two of them alive and on exhibition, the third
having arrived dead. One of these was the
fine Tursiops eight feet long, received from
Hatteras, N. C., in November, 1913; another, a
Delphinus seven and one-half feet long from
Seaside Park, N. J., and a Phocena, four feet
long, from Provincetown, Mass.
The Delphinus, like other porpoises captured
by fishermen, did not live long. The Phocena,
called harbor porpoise, is the smallest of the
porpoises which inhabit our coast, seldom ex-
ceeding five and one-half feet in length. It is
also the commonest, entering harbors freely,
where it is often called “herring hog” and
“puffing pig.”
It is a pleasure to record again the good
health and liveliness of our bottle-nose porpoise
(Tursiops truncatus), which has now completed
its fifteenth month in the building.
We are unable to detect anything like dis-
content in its conduct and have never had a
more expensive boarder. It consumes twenty-
five pounds of fish a day, and would take more
if supplied. Whatever the market affords
cheapest, butterfish, weakfish or herring, is
taken promptly, provided it is fresh.
We have watched this endurance test of the
porpoise in captivity with great interest and
not without misgivings. It is most gratifying
to see this ranger of the ocean adapt himself to
restricted quarters with apparent contentment.
CH i.
1208
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Bepartments :
Mammals Aquarium
W.T. Hornapay. C. H. Townsenb.
~ Raymonp C. OssBurn.
Birds
Reptiles
Raymonp L. Dirmars.
C. WiittaM BEEBE.
Lee S. CRANDALL.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1915, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Extwin R. Sangsorn,
Editor and Official Photographer
Vou. XVIII. No. 2. MARCH, 1915
ROSWELI. MORSE SHURTLEFF.
Mr. Roswell Morse Shurtleff, a member of
the Aquarium Committee of the New York Zoo-
logical Society, died January 6, 1915, at the
age of seventy-five.
Mr. Shurtleff was a member of the National
Academy of Arts, of several clubs and societies
in New York and a veteran of the Civil War.
He had been a member of the Aquarium Com-
mittee since 1902.
PROFESSOR L. L. DYCHE.
We regret to have to report the death of
Prof. Lewis Lindsay Dyche at Topeka, Kansas,
on January 20, at the age of fifty-nine years.
Prof. Dyche, in addition to his duties in
the State University of Kansas, was also State
Game and Fish Warden and devoted his atten-
tion especially to experiments in the pond cul-
ture of fishes under the conditions existing in
Kansas. In this work he had great success.
Bringing to this field of effort a wide experience
in the study of animals and a keen insight into
the nature and limitations of the work, he was
able in a short time to secure astonishing re-
sults.
The particular problem in which he was most
interested was the creation of fish ponds that
would yield a maximum of food fish at a mini-
mum of expense and care. His idea was to
give the Kansas farmer something that he could
use to advantage and that would be a source of
income instead of an interesting plaything.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
He was a regular attendant at the meetings
of the American Fisheries Society, and the re-
ports of his work and experiments were always
with the greatest enthusiasm. The
extensive State fish-cultural ponds at Pratt.
Kansas, are a monument to his energy and inter-
est in this work. His death is a great loss to
American fish-culture and his place will not
readily be filled.
received
THE AMERICAN
This Society has been doing splendid service
along all lines of fisheries work for forty-four
years and deserves the support of everyone in-
terested in any branch of fisheries or aquatic
biology. It has been active in securing the
passage of laws for the protection and propa-
gation of aquatic animals and its annual vyol-
umes of transactions are a mine of information
on all branches of the work with which they
deal.
The transactions for the past forty-three
years have been issued in the form of an an-
nual volume, but they will henceforth appear
quarterly under the editorship of Dr. Raymond
C. Osburn of the Aquarium. The first number
of the new quarterly (Vol. 44, No. 1) bears the
date December, 1914.
FISHERIES SOCIETY.
A complete index to the first forty volumes
of the Transactions of the Society has been pre-
pared by Mr. Daniel B. Fearing, of Newport,
R. I., and this will be published shortly by the
Society. This will be of great service to all
those who find it necessary to examine the liter-
ature of fisheries work covering the years from
1870 to 1910.
The Society enrolls among its members prac-
tically every working fish-culturist in the United
States and Canada, besides many zoologists of
the various universities and others interested in
fish and fisheries. At the last meeting, held in
Washington, D. C., thirty-four papers were
presented, besides motion pictures illustrating
methods of fish-culture and the results of con-
servation and protection.
Mr. Daniel B. Fearing of Newport, R. L.,
was elected President; Prof. Jacob Reighard of
the University of Michigan, Vice-President;
Mr. C. W. Willard of Westerly, R. I., Treas-
urer; Dr. Charles H. Townsend, Director of
the New York Aquarium, Corresponding Sec-
retary. and Dr. Raymond C. Osburn, also of
the Aquarium staff, was re-elected Recording
Secretary.
ZOOLOGICAL
4 New Work on Medical Entomology.—In
a Handbook of Medical Entomology recently
published by Profs. Riley and Johanssen of
Cornell University (Comstock Pub. Co., Ithaca,
N. Y.), one is not surprised to find that those
noxious insects which are aquatic in the larval
stage, namely, the mosquitoes, black flies and
horse flies, are given considerable attention. The
portion of the text dealing with these pestifer-
ous aquatic insects amounts to about 70 pages
in a total of 256 of descriptive matter. The
relation of these pests to such diseases as ma-
laria, yellow fever and filariasis is fully dis-
cussed, together with the methods of avoiding
and controlling outbreaks of these diseases and
of the insects by which they are communicated
to man.
Other noxious insects, as well as mites, ticks.
etc., are given the same careful treatment. The
descriptive matter is followed by keys for the
identification of these “hominoxious arthropods”
and by an excellent bibliography.
The control of epidemic diseases can be sat-
isfactorily accomplished only with the co-opera-
tion of the general public, but the public is not
readily interested in matters which it does not
understand. Much has already been done to
familiarize the people with the dangers and the
possibility of control of these insect dissemin-
ated diseases, but there is still much to be done
along this line and the above-mentioned work
will find an important place in supplying in-
formation. It is so clearly and simply written
that one need not be an entomologist nor a
physician in order to appreciate the value of
the study of these pests and the necessity for
controlling them. Its (C5 (0);
A NEW SPECIES OF FISH.
The New York Aquarium has again exhib-
ited in its collections a species of fish new to
science. The species in question belongs to the
sea-bass family, Serranidae, and was brought to
the Aquarium in a small collection from Key
West. Florida, by Mr. S. Greenlee, of the Mal-
lory Liner Comal.
It was first taken by a Key West fisherman,
by whom it was held in captivity for some time
before Mr. Greenlee obtained it. As a result
it was in poor condition when it reached the
Aquarium and lived only twelve days after it
was received on December 26, 1914.
SOCIETY
BULLETIN 1209
It was recognized at once as belonging to a
new species and a description of it has already
been published under the name Dermatolepis
marmoratus, by Dr. Osburn and Mr. Mowbray
of the Aquarium staff in Zoologica, Scientific
Contributions of the New York Zoological Soci-
ety, under date of February 25, 1915.
The genus Dermatolepis is found only in the
warmer marine waters of America; two species
being hitherto known on the Atlantic and one
on the Pacific coast. The only well known spe-
cies is D. inermis, which is fairly common at
Bermuda and is an excellent food fish. It lives
in holes and crevices in the rocks at the depth
of several fathoms and is very shy; darting out
after its prey and returning at once to its re-
treat.
We have no knowledge of the habits of the
new species, D. marmoratus, as only the one
specimen is The type, which was
twenty-four inches long and weighed nine and
a half pounds, has been deposited in the collec-
tions of the American Museum of Natural His-
tory. The specific name marmoratus refers to
the marbled coloration of the body.
known.
Other species described from the Aquarium
are Hippocampus kincaidi, 2 new sea-horse
from Bermuda, described by C. H. Townsend
and Thomas Barbour (Buttetin No. 22, p. 305,
July, 1906) and Angelichthys townsendi, a new
angel fish from Key West. Florida, described by
John T. Nichols and L. L. Mowbray (Bulletin
of the American Museum of Natural History,
Vol. 33, Art. 37, pp. 581-583, Oct. 8, 1914).
NEW FISH PHOTOGRAPHS.
Mr. E. R. Sanborn has recently made a series
of excellent photographs in the Aquarium, three
of which, Calico Bass, Porkfish and Nassau
and Black Grouper are reproduced in this Bu1-
LEVIN. Others will be published from time to
time.
The photograph of a school of Calico Bass
(Pomowis sparoides) is the best picture that has
yet been made in this dark building. The de-
tail is sharp enongh to permit the counting of
fin rays in most of the numerous specimens
shown. It is seldom that every fish in the tank
can be caught clearly on one photographic plate.
Mr. Sanborn’s excellent photographs made in
the Zoological Park and the Aquarium have long
been familiar to readers of the BuLietin.
qi
Photograph by Elvin R, Sanborn
ARIUM
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PORKFISH:
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
1211
RONDELET, 1554 GESNER, 1587
THE SEA-HORSE IN ANCIENT
HISTORY.
By Raymonp C. Ospurn.
HESE strange little fishes apparently in-
terested mankind in former centuries as
much as they do at present and nearly
all the older naturalists had something to say
of them. To be sure, they knew but little about
them, but lack of knowledge is not necessarily
a hindrance to a writer, and apparently their
ignorance only gave freer rein to their imagina-
tion.
For one thing, they could not make up their
minds where to place it, and as the term “fish”
was applied to nearly all aquatic animals, as it
often is today, it is not possible to determine
just what they thought of its relationships.
Rondelet (De Piscibus Marinis, 1554) does not
discuss it with the other fishes, but places it be-
tween a crustacean and a starfish, in the section
on “Insects and Zoophytes.” Gesner (Historia
Animalium, 1587) gets around all the difficulties
of classification at once by arranging all the
aquatic animals in alphabetical order, so in this
work Hippocampus appears between another
fish, Hepatus, and the Hippopotamus.
The accompanying illustrations are taken
from the works of Rondelet and Gesner men-
tioned; from Mouffet (Theatrum Insectorum,
1684), and from Goldsmith’s “Animated Na-
ture,” edition of 1822. All of these are good
for their time, but no particular advance in the
interpretation of their structure is shown. In
fact, the figure from Goldsmith, while much the
finest plate, is poorer in other respects than
MOUFFET, 1634
GOLDSMITH, 1822
Rondelet’s as the filaments are not shown and
the dorsal fin is exaggerated to resemble a
horse’s mane. Mouffet shows both sexes, but,
as far as I have been able to discover, he gives
no discussion, so it is impossible to tell whether
he considered them different kinds or whether
he meant to show the sexes (the fact that the
male carries the egg-sac, being liable to misin-
terpretation on this point).
It is amusing to note that the older writers
were much concerned with the poisonous quali-
ties (!) and the medicinal virtues (!) of the
sea-horse. Thus Rondelet devotes the major por-
tion of four quarto pages (in Latin of course)
to a discussion of these matters. He gravely
quotes from the Greek writer Dioscorides (first
and second centuries A. D.) and from the Ro-
man Aelianus (third century A. D.) and others,
the interesting information that the ashes of
the sea-horse, administered in wine, produce
spasmodic coughing, hot flushes in the head,
discharges from the nostrils of a fishy odor,
swelling of the abdomen, and eventually death.
If perchance any should recover, such persons
have ever afterward a strong desire for the prox-
imity of the water and for continual bathing.
Used as a medicine, however, the ashes of
the sea-horse mixed with oil of marjoram or
with liquid pitch and rubbed on cures baldness
of the form known as alopecia, while mixed with
water it is a cure for canker and leprosy. Ad-
ministered internally it counteracts the poison
(sic) of the sea-hare, and is a sovereign remedy
for the bite of a mad dog!
How such peculiar notions with regard to
these dainty little fishes could arise is a matter
1212
of conjecture, but they are of a nature with
other statements concerning the qualities of the
other animals and plants known to the ancients,
especially when they were rare or of unusual
form.
The name Hippocampus, by which this fish
was known to the ancient Greeks and which
was borrowed by the Romans, and which is now
used as the scientific name of the genus, is not
to be translated “‘sea-horse.” Instead it is a
combination of two Greek words, the first of
which means horse and refers to the body, which
is like the head and neck of a horse, while the
latter part of the word means a worm or some
sea monster and refers to the tail. Rondelet and
other older writers go very fully into the deri-
vation of the name, apparently to prove to their
readers that the Hippocampus is not to be con-
fused with the mythical sea-horse with the tail
of a dolphin, such as Neptune drove to his
chariot and which was written about by the
classical Greek authors.
The name “‘sea-horse,”” or rather its equiva-
lent in the languages of various Mediterranean
countries, was in use in the middle ages. Cheval
marin, chaval, chevalot were in common. use, as
were also a number of other names meaning sea
dragon, and sea salamander, sea cock and the
like.
THE CARE OF YOUNG ALLIGATORS.
POND TURTLES AND TORTOISES.*
By C. H. Townsenp.
OUNG alligators do not thrive in the
hands of the amateur, especially in winter,
if one may judge by the number of emaci-
ated specimens annually presented to the Aqua-
rium.
The returning Florida tourist usually has
some baby alligators, which refusing to feed in
our chilly northern climate, are brought to
the Aquarium, perhaps during intensely cold
weather, in nothing warmer than a pasteboard
box. If this last thoughtless act does not finish
them at once the attendants are usually able
to pull them through with the aid of warm
water. Cold-blooded reptiles, such as alligators
and turtles, must have warm quarters. They
should be kept in aquaria or other vessels into
which sunlight can enter, and the vessel placed
where it will not become cold. If kept near a
window for the benefit of the sunshine, which
“The care of these animals being a subject of
inquiry at the New York Aquarium, this article
has been reprinted from the Buitetin for April, 1907,
2 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
is life to them, care should be taken that they
are also near a heater.
The temperature of the ordinary living-room
in winter is scarcely high enough to keep alli-
gators active, since they need a warmth of 75
to 85 degrees, a higher temperature than the
human habitation should have. They require
not only warm water, but a place where they
can crawl out at times. The water need not be
more than a few inches deep, and the platform
or small log on which they rest should be placed
in such a way that they can climb upon it easily.
Alligators in captivity are most comfortable
and active when they have access to water that
is nearly tepid, and it is their habit to float
much on the surface. Pond turtles require not
only warm water, but also the heat of the sun.
For that reason turtles do not flourish as well in
the New York Aquarium as they would in a
building more accessible to sunshine. The tem-
porary warming of torpid alligators or turtles
in boxes set near a heater is useless. If they
can not be kept where both air and water are
permanently warm, they should be dispensed
with.
The numerous chilled and weak alligators
sent to the Zoological Park each year, are
placed in the sunny Reptile House in a tank
of water with a steam pipe in it. After a
thorough warming up in water of 80 to 90 de-
grees temperature, they begin to feed, and in
three years will be a yard long, and weigh
twelve or fourteen pounds. The State of Florida
is making a mistake in allowing the present
heavy export of young alligators, which are
practically all lost by being carried north.
Large alligators are now scarce, and the supply
of alligators for leather is almost exhausted.
Since alligators and turtles do not feed unless
kept permanently warm, it is necessary to first
provide them with quarters where they will
have a temperature of certainly not less than
75 degrees of both air and water, and the tem-
perature should really be higher. They should
also have the benefit of sunshine. Forcing
cold alligators to eat by cramming food into
their mouths is admissible only temporarily.
They will eat freely when the water and air
are warm enough, and will grow amazingly.
They eat such a variety of foods that it is
easy enough to provide for them.
Alligators and snapping turtles are flesh
eaters and may be provided with small minnows.
frogs, tadpoles. worms, grubs, crayfish, shrimps,
and small crabs, either dead or alive. When
these can not be had, they will eat fresh
chopped meat, fish, clams, and oysters. Many
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
kinds of turtles will eat all the above named
foods, as well as snails, small aquatic mollusks,
and insects. Others like very tender, green
vegetables, such as tomatoes, lettuce, celery,
and various water plants. The food of some
species consists largely of the bulbs of sedges,
(Cyperus), while with others it is chiefly small
water mollusks.
Some of the turtles are active fish eaters, and
will do well if supplied with live minnows. The
wood-“‘turtle” and other species which forage
on land as well as in the water, are fond of
berries, mushrooms, and many kinds of fruits
and vegetables, while nearly all kinds will eat
grubs. The box tortoise eats berries, mush-
rooms, and some garden vegetables as well as
grubs and worms.
Turtles should be provided with a variety
of foods until the kinds suited to each species
are ascertained. | Some species of turtles feed
only under water, consequently it is absolutely
necessary for them to have water
when they are fed.
access to
If their surroundings can be made to ap-
proach natural conditions—that is. if they can
have access to a compartment in their quarters
where there is dry sand, earth and sods, where
grubs, worms, and other food can be thrown in
abundance—success in keeping them will be
more likely to follow. And it is remarkable
how quickly they learn the exact location of
food and drink. Once fed in a certain location.
they will invariably seek that place when urged
by hunger.
A SEARCH FOR GIANT GARS.
By L. L. Mowzray.
N April, 1914, the writer left the New York
4 Aquarium for the Lower Mississippi to
make a collection of the fishes of that region,
particularly the large gars and eatfishes which
are to be found in the largest numbers in the
states of Mississippi and Louisiana.
There are many places where the gars can
be taken, but the most essential point was to
secure the specimens as near a railroad station
as possible, the journey back to the Aquarium
being a long one at best.
Maddox, on the Yazoo Pass, Mississippi, was
selected owing to its proximity to Moon Lake.
where Mr. Ira BE. McGehee makes his head-
quarters in carrying on a fishery industry. The
principal feature of the work is the taking of
the spoon-bill catfish (Polyodon spathula), the
1215
GIANT GARS, YAZOO PASS, MISSISSIPPI
eggs of which are used in the preparation of
caviar.
On arrival at Maddox the fishery was found
to be concluding for the season, but on learning
that the Aquarium was desirous of procuring a
collection for exhibition purposes, Mr. McGehee
kindly offered his services and equipment and
immediately set to work locating large gars.
He stated at the outset, however, that it was
too late in the season and that the gars, if
taken, would be very weak owing to their hav-
ing spawned.
The great gar (Lepisosteus tristoechus) rep-
resents a very interesting family of fishes and
the floor pools of the Aquarium present a very
good opportunity of exhibiting it. If specimens
are once located safely at the Aquarium it
should be a matter of little effort to keep them.
The long and short nosed gars, which are ex-
hibited in the wall tanks on the fresh water
side of the building have been in captivity for
twelve years and with sufficient space for free
movement the keeping of the giant gars of the
Mississippi would be compartively easy.
Several weeks of continuous fishing were
spent in every known locality of Moon Lake,
in an endeavor to secure a good supply of giant
gars, but on the second or third day after cap-
ture they would either succumb or become too
weak for shipment.
Mr. McGehee and his men, who are trained
in handling the fishes of that region, used every
effort possible to keep the fishes with sufficient
vitality to warrant the trip north but failed.
After having tried repeatedly, without success,
to secure the gars, the writer started for New
York with a good collection of small fishes from
the Moon Lake region, which seemed to be in
WORVOOV WUOA MUN *SSV& OOITVO
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
great abundance in the lake. Four varieties of
sunfishes, yellow bass, rock bass, white perch
and mud fish, as well as turtles that had been
taken in the various hauls of the seine and held
in live cars awaiting shipment were included.
Specimens of the large alligator snapping tur-
tles which are found in this region were also
sent to the Aquarium and still remain interest-
ing members of the collection. The long-nosed
gars (Lepisosteus osseus) were taken in almost
every haul and were more easily handled and
lived much better in the live cars than did the
giant gars.
It was brought to the attention of the writer
by several of the fishermen in the locality that
gars were known to have been dug up in the
mud and that, when the caked mud was washed
off, were found to be in good condition. Avail-
ing myself of this information I packed a gar,
encased entirely in mud, in a box just a trifle
larger than the dimensions of the fish itself.
This was shipped to the Aquarium, but on ar-
rival was found to be dead and from all appear-
ances had been dead for some little time. It
may be that the fish has to accommodate itself
naturally to this comatose state. However, the
mud had settled during shipment and a part of
the animal was exposed. This may have had
something to do with the defeat of the experi-
ment.
There was no difficulty in locating the gars,
owing to their habit of rising to the surface and
tal.ing in air which is liberated in bubbles at
intervals, after the gars have gone down into
deeper water. Walking slowly along the shores
of the lake one can watch for the bubbles ris-
ing to the surface and thus follow the track
of the gars. This method of locating giant gars
seems to be never failing ‘and obviates many
fruitless casts.
Some specimens were taken which measured
over eight feet, but it was very difficult. after
capture, to keep them alive in the live-cars as
they were much weakened by the terrible fight
which they put up in their capture. Many sets
of the net were made and a number of gars en-
compassed but repeatedly they would bite their
way through the seine.
The seine in which the gars are captured is
two and one quarter miles long, made of thread
about 14 of an inch thick, woven in meshes of
about four inches and is used for the capture
of spoon-bill ecatfishes. The net is laid out from
a small barge or scow which is towed by a
motor boat and reaches across the lake and back.
making a spread of about one quarter of a mile.
It is drawn in by motor power and eight men
1215
are required in laying it out and drawing it in;
which operation takes about three hours.
When the specimens are encompassed and the
net drawn in, a large dory is filled with water
and held at the outside of the net, the side of
the dory being pressed down under the water
so that the giant gars ean be rolled into it from
the net to avoid possible bruising. The water
is frequently renewed in the dory, and the gun-
wale is kept about six inches above the surface
and attached to the scow until the day’s fishing
is completed. The gars are taken to a mooring
and either placed in a live-car or held in the
dory until shipped, in which ease the water has
to be frequently changed to prevent it becoming
too warm. The changing of the water, how-
ever, has very little to do with the keeping of
the gars as they continually rise to the surface
for air, but sufficient room is necessary to per-
mit the specimens to rise and return comfort-
ably.
On examining the stomachs of several alliga-
tor gars I found calico bass, small buffalo fishes.
white perch, sunfishes and frogs. The above
varieties seem to be their principal diet.
The gar has very strong jaws—so powerful
in fact that when it seizes the net, with a vigor-
ous twist of the body it can go completely
through it; tearing a hole of sufficient size to
allow its escape. The negroes engaged in the
work at Moon Lake claim that an infuriated
gar has a strength of twenty horse-power, and
when we take into consideration that the net
through which he can go so easily is made of
tarred cord almost an eighth of an inch in diam-
eter, this contention has some basis of fact.
AQUARIUM NOTES.
Tarpon from New York Bay—During the
summer the Aquarium exhibited two living tar-
pons about four and a half feet in length, which
were captured in pound nets at Belford, N. J..
in the lower part of New York Bay. Both spec-
imens were injured in capture and neither lived
as long as two weeks. The average commercial
fisherman is not a good collector of live speci-
mens and seldom handles fishes with the care
necessary to insure satisfactory living exhibits.
The trained Aquarium collector can bring hun-
dreds of fishes from Florida or Bermuda with
a loss in transit of little more than five per cent.
and the specimens often live in captivity for
several years.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE DETROIT
It is not uncommon for the tarpon to wander
northward late in the summer and _ stragglers
are taken in pound nets in Long Island and
Massachusetts waters nearly every year.
Manatee From Porto Rico——The Aquarium
received on August 31, a manatee (Manatus
latirostris) from Porto Rico, as the gift of Hon.
John A. Wilson of San Juan, Porto Rico, who
also secured free transportation for the speci-
men from the New York and Porto Rico Steam-
ship Company.
Unfortunately the manatee was injured in
capture and did not live quite three weeks. Al-
though supplied with brackish-water eel-grass,
a food on which the manatees formerly kept at
the Aquarium fed freely, it ate but little. One
of the manatees received from Florida lived in
the Aquarium seventeen months.
The manatee from Porto Rico has been pre-
sented to the American Museum of Natural
History in Mr. Wilson’s name. It was seven
feet seven inches long and weighed four hun-
dred and thirty-seven pounds.
The Detroit Aquarium.—The Aquarium
which was completed in 1904 took its place at
AQUARIUM
once as the most popular museum of the city.
Its attendance has always been large; for the
past five years the annual number of visitors
has exceeded nine hundred thousand and in
1911 exceeded one million.
The Detroit Aquarium is situated in Belle
Isle Park. The building is 260 feet long and
72 feet wide. It contains +4 glass-fronted ex-
hibition tanks and three floor pools, and has res-
ervoirs holding 22,800 gallons of stored sea
water which is used as a permanent supply.
The tanks contain both marine and fresh water
exhibits.
For the accompanying photograph, the Bur-
LETIN is indebted to Mr. Conway who is in
charge of the Detroit Aquarium and who was
formerly on the staff of the New York Aquar.
ium. In the Buttetin for March, 1914, will
be found a photograph of the New Boston
Aquarium. The public aquarium idea is taking
hold, and municipalities all over the country
have applied to the New York Aquarium fon
plans and methods of construction.
The Economic Value of Amphibians.—In the
Zoological Bulletin of the Division of Zoology
ZOOLOGICAL
MANATEE (MANATUS LATIROSTRIS
of the Pennsylvania Department of Agricul-
ture, May-July, 1913, Dr. H. A. Surface has
collected a large number of observations on
the food and habits of the thirty species of
amphibians known to inhabit that State. The
pamphlet also contains descriptions and nu-
merous illustrations, but is especially devoted to
the study of the useful qualities of these ani-
mals. The data on the food were collected
from the examinations of the stomach contents
and in the more common species large numbers
were examined.
As was to be expected all the species are
largely insectivorous, but many of them also eat
earthworms, a few are cannibals, and some of
the larger species such as the hellbender and
the bullfrog may devour fishes, crayfishes and
other larger animals. The bullfrog especially
has a wide range of diet and will apparently
eat anything that it can swallow—amice, birds,
crayfish, fish and small turtles are devoured, as
well as other amphibians and larger numbers
of all sorts of insects.
Attention is called to the
fact that none of the am-
phibia are poisonous in any
way, that any of them that
are large enough are good
to eat, and that all are ben-
eficial to a greater or less
extent
The paper is written in
a very popular style for dis-
tribution among the people
of the State; but this does
not detract from its value
to the scientist, who will
find it of interest on ac
count of the notes on food.
enemies, habits, reproduc-
tion and distribution.
Another somewhat similar
paper, though less concern-
SOCIETY
FROM PORTO RICO
BULLETIN 1217
ed with the economic phases
of the subject is found in
the Michigan Geological
and Biological Survey, 1912.
This paper, The Amphibi-
ans of Michigan, by Crystal
and Helen Thompson, deals
with the eighteen species of
amphibians inhabiting Mich-
igan, and discusses the hab-
its, habitat, and other mat-
ters of interest.
lite (CO)
Reception at the Aquarium—The reception
held at the Aquarium last May was so well
attended that the Executive Committee has se-
lected the first Monday in May as the date
for a reception to be held there annually. More
than 600 members of the Zoological Society
were present to enjoy the occasion. There
were floral decorations, motion pictures, refresh-
ments and music, in addition to the regular
exhibits of the place. Indeed some of the
younger people were dancing before the eve-
ning was over. They said the floor was perfect.
For the coming reception on May 38, special
efforts will be made to add to the attractiveness
of the exhibits and to provide a program that
will exceed that of last year in interest.
The attendance at the Aquarium has fallen
off to some extent since the commencement of
the war in Europe. It is reported that other
museums of the City have also had fewer
visitors.
ee ae
OUR OLD SEA-LION
1218 ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Imbert Del.
LANDING OF
At Castle
Sandfish or Whiting—This species, (Mala-
canthus plumieri) was brought to the Aquarium
for the first time in October, 1914, from Key
West, Florida, where it is called sandfish. It
is known by the name of whiting in Bermuda.
The whiting lives on grassy bottoms, making
conspicuous tunnels into the eel grass, which
may be clearly observed through a water-glass.
The tunnels are from five to ten feet long
and have a diameter of four to eight inches.
The fishes rest in them with their heads pro-
truding. They are best taken by trolling and
are very often caught at night.
The whiting is a very good food fish and
reaches a weight of twelve or fourteen pounds
in deep water. It attains a length of over three
feet, but averages about half that length. The
most effective bait for taking it in Bermuda is
the spiny lobster or salt water crayfish and the
fish is gamy and a good fighter. The usual
coloration of the whiting is a rich olive green;
the tone of the eel grass in which it lives. At
times it exhibits a black band between the eye
and the snout.
Its habit is to lie quietly, but when alarmed
it moves with wonderful rapidity.
ei eM.
Sam! Maverick Sct
GEN. LAFAY ET TB,
Garden, New-York, 16 August L824.
An Old Print.—Old prints of the Aquarium
building, formerly called Castle Garden, turn
up from time to time and are usually purchased
for the Aquarium library. The oldest so far
received is reproduced in this issue of the Bur-
LETIN and shows the landing of Lafayette in
1824. The tower at the extreme right of the
picture appears only in the oldest of the views
of the Battery that are known.
A Hardy Sea Lion—The large California
sea lion, (Zalophus californianus) in the Aqua-
rium was received in October, 1907, and has
therefore lived indoors nearly seven and a half
years—the Aquarium’s best record for mam-
mals.
The animai has always been very active, a
habit quite necessary for aquatic mammals if
they have to live in a building no better lighted
and ventilated than the Aquarium.
This sea lion is a well behaved specimen of
his species, playful enough to entertain visitors
and not given to noisy barking. His tendency
to fatness which might result in laziness and
inactivity, is controlled by careful feeding.
Believed to be about two years old when re-
ceived, his present age is not far from ten
years. Chea
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
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.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, New York City.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM
The Aquarium is open every day in the year: April 15 to October 15, from 9 o’clock A. M.
to 5 o'clock P. M.; October 16 to April 14, from 10 o’clock A. M. to 4 o'clock P. M. No
admission is charged.
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a os ae 3 .75 Cloth $1.00 33 full page illustrations in colors .............. 25
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“ “ “ ow vue rr 1.25 FLOM LOU COlOGs PIG@tess secrets cial ele terete ee velehe ale 50
ry rr “ Hi 12 10, =e 1.25 1.50 (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.)
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Hay) postpaid’ 2). kc). es ana a ne “1.65 | Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. Animals
. 5 and views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets
eee tion of ou Birds and Mam- a of 2 subjects. Per Set, postpaid!........-...5.5..... 25
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Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 1-11 inclusive, Hand Colored (10 Subjects), each............0005 15
set BGe Sa te” a are 2.30 New York Aquarium Nature Series
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“ MW NON G15 5 hx ove ne exe» sf 25 Cultivation of Fishes in Ponds (Townsend)...........
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Official Guide to the New York a
Zoological Park (Hornaday)....... ah pealylia Were a eseie itt
Samuet Tuorne,*
President
Henry Farrrietp Osporn.
Executive Committee
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
LisPENARD STEWART,
I'rank K. Srurais,
Creasurer
Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street.
Watson B. DickerRMAN,
Henry Farrrietp Oszorn, Ea Officio.
The Mayor of the City of New York.
F. Aveustus ScHERMERHORN,
Percy R. Pyne,
Georce B. GrinNeELL,
Georce C. Cuiark,
Henry F’arrricitp Osporn,
Wituiam C. Cuurcn,
LisPENARD STEWART,
H. Casimir pe Ruan,
Levi P. Morton,
ANDREW CARNEGIE,
Mapison Grant,
Witiiam Wuire Nites,
Board of Managers
Ex Officio
Clase of 1916
CieveLtanp H. Doner,
C. Lepyarp Buair,
Freperick G. Bourne,
W. Austin WapswortuH,
Class nf 1917
Cuartes F. Dierericnu,
James J. Hitt,
Georce F. Baker,
Grant B. Scutey,
Glass of 1918
SamurL THorNnE*
Henry A. C. Taytor,
Iranxk K. Srurais,
Georce J. Goutp,
General Officers
The Presivent of the Depariment of Parks.
Emerson MecMi.uin,
AntTHONY R. Kuser,
Watson B. DickerRMAN,
Mortimer L. Scuirr.
Wo. Pierson Hamitron,
Rosert S. Brewster,
Fpwarp S. Harkness,
Witiiam B. Oscoop Fre.p,
Ocpen Mitts,
Lewis Ruruerrurp Morris,
Arcuer M. Huntineron,
Henry M. Titrorp.
Witxiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
H. J. Suorter, Assistant Secretary.
C. Grant La Faroe, Architect.
R. L. Cerero, Assistant to the Treasurer.
H. De B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Dr. Georce S. Huntineton, Prosector.
H. R. MircHe..,
Raymonp L. Dirmars,
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director.
Wasurnctron I. DeNysz.
* Deceased.
C. Witiiam Berse,
L. S. Cranpatu,
Officers of the Zoological Park
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director.
Exiwin R. Sanporn.
Officers of the Aquarium
H. W. MerkeEt, G.
WW. Rem Brarr,
M. Berrsower,
Witiiam MircHetu,
Raymonp C. Oseurn, Assistant.
Rospert SUTCLIFFE.
Wituiam Wuirte NIxes,
AOI OG CAI °S:O}C 1 hk Y
BULLETIN
CONTENTS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1915
Tire BREEDING OF THE PMU oiccccccccccccccceceseeeeeceee ee eee ts
Our CoLiectTion: or SwimMMinG Frogs .. 2
Tue BREEDING OF THE PENGUIN @.00ceccce Re Prenat ft pete
iIhrmiCRocoprmnans: INGRSERY .2.20- ee. cipal atin te I Ei
THE BEAVER OF THE ADIRONDACKS ooiicisccccccccccccccccsee cecceeececcceeeeeentneeeee
Birp-Kintine Stoppep in THE Durcu East INnpies
Protection Funp ror Witp ANIMAL LIFE oe
Successrut Birp INSTALLATION .................... BS FAS es Mere RS thes
Breepine Resuuts iN THE Birp DeparrMent, 1915
AMEN OTRNITDDUITSTSISD ron ko dates ree Pena wo Reet et oe SE Bee ets
ATGsTyTeNINTS FO Je UNGAVES FRIST nena pec eerie cn ncck no ste egress
Tire GREAT Brieiep RAVEN occ ccc 2
PAGE
eset Cover
Frontispiece
. Lee S. Crandall 1261
Richard Deckert 1264
.. Lee S. Crandall 1265
Richard Deckert 1266
Vi IES VEL. 1268
pete 1268
1269
1269
_ Lee 8. Crandall 1270
C. William Beebe 1271
ees Je lg ID) 1273
.. Lee S. Crandall 1276
‘MOLLE JUIOd JO NOs saliu OOg
JNq PUB afOIID OFPOIY oY} JO YOU ‘BYSBLY Us1eyjs0U ‘ynqey JdBo SEM ATT "pac {JAOU AUIA1}XO UF SOYSt[Ge|sa vag UMOIG UBYSELY SILL
ae
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Published by the New York Zoological Society
Vou. XVIII.
SEPTEMBER, 1915.
Numser 5
THE
BREEDING
OF THE EMU
By Lee S. Cranpatu,
Assistant Curator of Birds.
HE domestication of the ostrich, which
without doubt has saved that bird from
extermination, is now so well established
that its propagation is carried on as simply and
systematically as that of the common fowl. The
great ranches of the west yearly produce their
hundreds of ostriches, while on the well-estab-
lished farms of South Africa even greater num-
bers are reared.
This interest in ostrich breeding has origin-
ated, of course, from purely commercial sources.
The wild birds were yearly becoming scarcer
and the demand for plumes constantly increased.
Progressive settlers conceived the idea of rear-
ing ostriches in captivity, and once the start
was made, and the experiment proved success-
ful, the movement quickly spread. The produc-
tion of plumes is now one of the great industries
of South Africa, and is destined for a similar
future in America.
The mere fact of the low market value of the
plumage of other struthious birds—rheas, cas-
sowaries and emus—accounts for their never
having been thoroughly domesticated, as has
their greater congener. Cassowaries, it is true,
with their unconquerable pugnacity, present
great difficulties to the would-be breeder, and
there is no record of their reproduction in con-
finement. Moreover, the birds cannot endure
cold or dampness, and require warm housing in
winter.
Rheas have been bred in England on several
oceasions. The rearing of the young birds ap-
pears to present no particular difficulties, and
has generally been left to the parents, or at
least to the father, for once the eggs have been
laid, the female takes no further interest in
their welfare. These birds are perfectly hardy
and there is no reason to suppose that their
artificial cultivation could not be made as thor-
oughly successful as that of the ostrich. The
only missing factor is the stimulation of pecun-
iary reward. For the sake of the preservation
of the rhea, which is rapidly becoming reduced
in numbers, it is almost to be hoped that this
lack may sometime be supplied.
In 1914, a pair of Great-billed Rheas (Rhea
americana) nested in the New York Zoological
Park. Although the male bird incubated faith-
fully for the required period of six weeks, his
efforts were in vain, the eggs proving infertile.
The rhea has yet to be bred in America.
Emus, although less quarrelsome than casso-
waries, still are sufficiently choleric to make
their keeping a matter of some difficulty. Still,
they are bred occasionally in England, though
not so frequently as is the rhea.
In 1914, on the completion of the new Yak
House, our flock of emus was removed to com-
modious quarters there. It was soon found
necessary to separate a pair of adult birds from
four younger specimens, because of their con-
stant quarreling.
This pair passed the following winter entirely
without heat. During the day they ploughed
through the snow of their large corral, and at
night were driven into a small vestibule, not
more than six feet square.
1262
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
THE EMU FAMILY
The youngster is now entirely clothed in feathers, and has reached half its father’s height.
One frosty day in January, a great green egg,
beautifully embossed in a darker shade, was
found in the sand of the vestibule. This event
was not unexpected, and a large, oval stone,
painted a delicate green, was substituted for
the egg, which would soon have frozen if al-
lowed to remain where it was deposited.
At intervals of about five days more eggs
appeared, until a total of six had been laid.
Our supply of egg-shaped stones was soon ex-
hausted, but evidently enough were left to sat-
isfy the birds. On February
18, the male was found estab-
lished in a shallow depression
in the sand, fondly covering
three green stones. It was
evident that his intentions were
of the best, and the six eggs
were quickly substituted.
Then followed a trying vigil,
the longest required of any
bird. The female wandered in
and out, taking small interest
in the proceedings, but for a
period of more than eight
weeks her mate was never seen
to leave the nest. When feed-
ing time arrived, he would rise
on his tarsi and eat greedily,
but as scon as his appetite had
been appeased, he at once set-
tled on them again. After in-
cubation had progressed for
weeks, it was found that unlike brood-
ing domestic hens. the emu was becoming enor-
mously fat, so that it became necessary to great-
ly reduce his ration.
some
After two weeks had passed, the eggs were
examined and three which were found to be
infertile were removed. On the fifty-eighth
day. the faithful service of the bird was re-
warded by the appearance of a fine, healthy
chick. Of the two remaining eggs, one, already
chipped, rolled from the nest and became chilled,
MALE EMU AND CHICK
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
while the young bird contained in the other ap-
peared to lack vitality, and failed to emerge.
The young emu stood about six inches high.
It was beautifully striped with white and brown
longitudinal bands, each dark one being cen-
tered with a lighter zone. The legs were strong
and well-developed, and from the first the little
bird was able to run about actively.
About this time, the male’s dislike for the
presence of his mate became decidedly marked,
and it was necessary to remove her to another
enclosure. This step evidently had the full ap-
proval of the father, which at once became much
more quiet and docile.
Soon after hatching, the -chick took its first
meal of finely chopped lettuce leaves. It was
not long before it accepted the addition of boiled
egg and ground zweibach, a diet on which it
throve mightily. When the youngster was
about six weeks old, the egg was omitted, and
Spratt’s Game Food substituted for the zwei-
bach, a change which seemed perfectly agree-
able.
For the first two weeks of its life, the young
bird’s chief ambition appeared to be to escape
from its enclosure, an object quickly achieved
by means of impassably small apertures. It
was necessary, therefore, to confine the one-
sided family in one of the inner cages of the
Yak House. At the end of this period, the
father’s control seemed better established, and
the odd pair was given the freedom of the pad-
dock.
The youngster grew amazingly. Early in
July, feathers began to replace the thick down
of the head, rapidly spreading down the neck.
At this time, when the bird stood erect, its head
was at least two feet above the ground.
The complete success of this experiment
seems assured and the happy result leads us to
hope with confidence that a family of young
emus may become a yearly feature of the Zoo-
logical Park.
Preparing for Hot Weather—The shedding
of our big Alaskan bears the present summer
was so pronounced that the animals were almost
devoid of hair. This was particularly marked
with Ivan, the largest bear in the collection, who
weighs more than a thousand pounds. Ivan’s
mighty bulk has been a source of amazement to
visitors, but the complete shedding of the long
and shaggy winter hair from his massive frame
caused a surprise to us all. He appeared to be
fully a third smaller than during the cold
months.
1263
cata. ‘3 Seen eae
PART OF THE AXIS DEER HERD
Ten specimens of these beautiful deer are offered
for sale.
AXIS DEER FOR SALE.
The Zoological Society offers for sale ten
head of Axis Deer (Cervus axis), to reduce
the size of the Park herd.
In the opinion of the undersigned, the Axis
deer is the finest of all deer for American parks,
either public or private, and there is no draw-
back to its maintenance that is at all serious.
The axis is the handsomest of all deer, being
beautifully spotted all the year round; and it
is physically so sound and strong that (here)
none ever die of disease.
and pacific.
It is very prolific
Rarely does it happen that a male
becomes so quarrelsome that he cannot be left
in the herd; and there is less fighting between
the members of this species than in any other
species we know.
Our Axis deer are always fat and in fine
condition; and no one ean resist their beauty.
The only drawback in their keep, in comparison
with the fallow, sika, and our native deer, is
the fact that in the three cold months of winter
they need in the centre of their barn a cheap
base-burner stove, and about two tons of coal,
to keep their shelter dry, and slightly warmed.
They need to run in and out freely all winter,
through a small and low door.
A small herd of Axis deer is well worth all
the trouble that it costs to keep it. We have
for sale pairs of various ages, at the following
prices: one year old, $75 each animal; two years
old, $100 each; three and four years old, $125
cach; and orders will be booked in the order
in which they are received.
Mish Abe ls be
1264 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
AFRICAN SWIMMING FROGS
They assume varied and ludicrous poses.
These creatures never leave the water.
OUR COLLECTION OF SWIMMING
FROGS.
HE frogs comprising the Superfamily dgq-
lossa, or Tongueless Frogs, have been
popularly called “swimming frogs,” from
their thoroughly aquatic habits. They live in
permanent pools, in their tropical habitat, which
they have never been observed to leave volun-
tarily. Three species of the genus Xenopus,
belonging to this remarkable group are on ex-
hibition in the Reptile House. The largest is
known as the “Smooth Clawed Frog,” (Xenopus
laevis). It attains a length of body of four
inches and has a smooth skin, except for several
rows of thread-like filaments on the head and
body. Its color is dull olive, with large vari-
ously-shaped spots on the back and limbs. The
throat and abdomen are white, sometimes faint-
ly spotted with brown. The head is compara-
tively small, flat, with small eyes, situated on
top and looking upward. A star-shaped pat-
tern of fine white filaments surrounds the eye.
The mouth, which has teeth in the upper jaw
only, is very wide. The three inner toes carry
sharp, horny claws at their tips. The home
of this frog is tropical Africa southward to Cape
Town.
The second species is known as the “Tentacled
Clawed Frog” (Xenopus muellerii), and inhab-
its East Africa. In general outline and pro-
portions it resembles the species first described,
but is smaller, rarely exceeding two inches in
length. It has a short tentacle or ““feeler” un-
der each eye. The color of the back and limbs
is muddy green without spots. Throat and ab-
domen are white. In addition to the three claws
on the inner toes, this frog has a spur on the
heel. The third species is called the Pigmy
Clawed Frog, (Xenopus calcaratus). Its maxi-
mum length is slightly over an inch. West
Africa is the habitat.
The two first described species were brought
from Europe by Mr. Ditmars in the spring of
1909, and we rate them among the hardiest and
most satisfactory amphibians exhibited in the
Reptile House. They are thriving in a large
aquarium with coarse gravel and planted with
Sagittaria. Their food consists of small pieces
of raw beef, given once a week and varied oc-
casionally with small earthworms.
The smaller named species of Xenopus was
brought from Africa by one of the late Carl
Hagenbeck’s collectors, and bids fair to rival
its relatives in hardiness,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 126:
The swimming frogs are greedy feeders,
snapping up the food as it slowly sinks or
searching for it among the gravel, with curious
shoveling motions of the forelimbs. They are
very deft in the use of their “hands,” picking
up an insect or worm, transferring it to the
mouth, and, if found too large to be swallowed
immediately, manipulating and turning it until
it is in proper position to be gulped down.
Very large earth-worms are torn with the aid
of the claws, the frog violently kicking forward
and holding the worm with the jaws and
“hands” at the same time.
Visitors are often attracted to the aquaria
containing these queer frogs by the grotesque
attitudes assumed, as they float near the top
with only the nostrils and eyes showing above
the water, the body in perfectly straight posi-
tion, giving them a strangely human aspect. At
other times they will lie sprawled out on the
grayel at the bottom with legs bent, and webs
extended to their full breadth. All species of
these frogs are exceedingly rare in American
zoological collections. An accompanying pho-
tograph shows their grotesque posing.
Ricuarp Deckert.
THE BREEDING OF THE PENGUIN.
By Ler S. Cranpatuz,
Assistant Curator of Birds.
ENGUINS, with their seal-like habits
P and unbird-like appearance, always
arouse the interest of the casual observer.
The wonderful motion pictures which have re-
cently been exhibited, showing various species
of penguins in their Antarctic homes, have given
a great number of people at least a glimmering
of knowledge concerning these strange birds.
In the light of these facts, therefore, it is always
a distinct shock to hear the oft-repeated opin-
ions of visitors at the penguin pool, that the
inmates are “young seals’ or “some kind of
duck.”
Because of this strong interest of the public,
it is our endeavor to keep penguins constantly
on exhibition. Two factors have militated
against us—the extreme scarcity of the birds
and the difficulty, especially in hot weather, of
keeping them, once obtained.
We had been without penguins since 1910,
and so in March, 1914, were much pleased to
be able to secure a single specimen of the
Black-footed Penguin (Spheniscus demersus).
This bird soon became acclimatized, and in July,
five more were added. This flock was placed
BLACK-FOOTED PENGUIN
The young bird, after the immature plumage had
been attained.
in the walrus pool, but soon showed evidence of
distress from the heat. They were at once re-
moved to the cool interior of the Aquatic Bird
House, where they passed the summer, under-
going a thorough molt during this period.
As soon as cool weather appeared, the pen-
guins were returned to the outdoor pool. They
were now in much better physical condition,
and the coming of frost found them in excellent
spirits. Winter had no terrors for them, once
they had learned to enter the low hut for pro-
tection from the deep snow, and they bathed
daily in the icy water.
On rare oceasions, black-footed penguins have
been bred in Europe. Of continental institu-
tions, the Jardin d’Acclimatation in Paris seems
to have been the most successful. In 1906, two
chicks were hatched in the Zoological Gardens
of London, for the first time in England, and
this success has since been repeated.
Early in the spring of 1915, two of our own
birds began taking a decided interest in each
other, and it became evident that our hopes of
successfully breeding the penguin in America,
were not without foundation.
On April 9, one of the birds was found
closely guarding a chalky white ege, which had
been deposited in a shallow hollow in the saw-
dust which floored the hut. Two days later a
second egg appeared. From the first, the nest
was guarded with the utmost devotion. The
birds alternated in incubation, relieving each
other at intervals, apparently without regularity.
At feeding time, the one off duty gulped a
few pieces of fish, and quickly waddled into
the hut to allow its faithful mate to go out to
eat. Frequently the male regurgitated several
large pieces of fish for the benefit of his mate,
which ate them while remaining on the nest.
1266 ZOOLOGICAL,
The nesting birds gave no evidence of quar-
relsomeness, but for safety’s sake it was deemed
best to remove the remainder of the flock.
Suitable quarters for the unmated birds were
found in the shade of the Goose Aviary, which
seems well suited to their needs. To protect
the breeding pair from the sun, a large tarpau-
lin was rigged over the corner of the enclosure
which includes the shelter. After some effort,
a means was found for providing a steady flow
of water in their tank, so that a cool bath was
always available. These means have appeared
perfectly adequate as a safeguard against our
tropical heat.
On May 17, thirty-eight days after the first
egg was laid, a tiny youngster, sparsely clad
in grayish down, was found in the nest. Two
or three days later, a second appeared, but it
was never strong, and soon succumbed. The
older bird was more vigorous, and throve from
the first. In the early stages, it strongly re-
sembled a young gull, except that it lacked the
ability to move about so freely as that preco-
cious nestling. It piped vigorously, with a
shrill whining voice, but otherwise showed few
signs of activity.
by the middle of June, the scraggly, baby
down had been replaced by a dense, velvety
second coat, and the bare spaces of the face
were demarcated. It was now enormously fat,
and about ten inches in length, but still unable
or unwilling to stand upright. It moved from
place to place on all fours, shuffling along with
surprising speed, propelled by feet and stubby
wings.
By the first of July, the young bird could
stand erect. When disturbed, it assumed a curi-
ous, crouching attitude, arching its back and
neck until the head nearly touched the ground,
and moving it slowly from side to side as it
gazed at the intruder.
All feeding of the young bird is done by
regurgitation. At first, this was a quiet and
gentle act, the parent, with lowered head, stand-
ing over the chick, which thrust its head and
beak upward as far as possible into the chasm
of the old bird’s throat. Later, feeding time
was the occasion for what seemed a rough and
tumble fight.
There was much rivalry between the parents
as to which should be the first to minister to
the wants of the chick. The contest opened
with a foot race. If one bird could win by
sufficient margin, its reward was the privilege
of a violent affair with the bulky youngscer,
which resulted in the emptying of the contents
SOCIETY BULLETIN
of the stomach of the old bird into that of its
offspring.
On the other hand, if the race ended in a
tie, a ludicrous wrestling match at once ensued.
Each bird entwined its head and neck about
that of its mate, pushing and shoving and in-
dulging in all sorts of tricks and shifts in order
to reach its goal, the gaping throat of the chick,
which hovered constantly about its struggling
parents. It was seldom that bird could
outdo the other fairly, but finally one would
reach across the others back, and the head of
the young bird would instantly disappear from
sight in the throat of the victor. Once the de-
feated bird realized what was taking place, it
at once ceased its efforts, and meekly stood aside
until the exhaustion of its mate’s supply of
partly digested fish gave it an opportunity to
disgorge likewise.
one
About July 20, when the bird was two months
old, the chick down commenced to be replaced
by feathers. The change was quickly com-
pleted, and by the first week of August the
young penguin was completely clothed in the
immature plumage of its species—a light bluish
drab above, and white below.
In the wild state, young penguins are said
never to enter the water until the immature
plumage has been attained. Strangely enough,
our youngster was observed in the water with
his parents, on July 25, when in the middle of
his molt, and on the twenty-seventh he was diy-
ing freely.
Up to the present (August 20), although
fully the equal of his parents in aquatic ability,
the young bird has not learned to feed for him-
self, but for sustenance is still dependent on his
parents.
THE CROCODILIANS’ NURSERY.
NE of the most striking groups exhibited
in the Reptile House is the batch of small
and half grown alligators, crocodiles and
turtles, occupying the marine tank, situated at
the eastern end of the turtle bank on the main
floor.
These creatures often crawl, to the number
of a dozen or more, upon the bench in the centre
of the tank, and will lie there, basking, sprawled
out over, under and alongside one another, with
all outward signs of contentment and comfort.
After they have settled down, they will usually
remain motionless for hours, some of them in the
most grotesque poses and seemingly strained
positions, such as widely opened jaws, stiffly
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
1267
BULLETIN
A COLONY OF CROCODILIANS
They are the Orinoco Crocodile, Central American Crocodile, Broad-nosed
Crocodile of West Africa and the American Alligator.
Four species are to be seen.
outstretched limbs, or, in the case of the turtles,
fully extended necks.
This exhibition always stimulates questions
by visitors, as to whether the reptiles are alive,
or only stuffed, some remarking on the “natural
poses” of the supposedly mounted specimens.
Inquisitive urchins will throw pebbles and other
small objects at the reptiles, often actually
striking an alligator or turtle, but the reptiles
usually pay no attention to such trifles, and
never even wink. Suddenly some visitor will
lean over the rail farther than usual, when the
spell is broken, and the whole assembly of croc-
odiles, turtles and alligators tumbles and scram-
bles pell-mell into the water, causing many
exclamations of astonishment.
By the keepers the crocodilians in the col-
lection of the Reptile House are divided into
four groups, according to size. Every year
numbers of baby alligators are brought by re-
turning tourists, as souvenirs from Florida; but
interest is soon lost in the queer “pets,” and
they are taken to the Reptile House at the
Zoological Park, usually as a last resort to save
their lives. The majority of the baby “ gators”
received thus are in poor physical condition,
having been kept for weeks, perhaps months, in
a starving condition. Naturally all attempts
to make them eat sugar, bread, cake or candy
end in failure. Of course the greater number of
these victims to the souvenir-habit die
after arrival at the Reptile House, but a few
are successfully reared each year. Upon arrival
at the Reptile House these young “ ’gators” are
soon
placed in a cage in the lobby, where they have
bottom heat from hot water pipes extending
underneath the cages. A large shallow pan of
tepid water is also provided. The temperature
in this cage is never allowed to fall below 72
degrees Fahrenheit. Once a week the young-
sters are fed on yery small pieces of butterfish,
which they soon learn to take from the forceps.
This diet is varied occasionally with large earth-
worms. Once the baby alligator has started to
eat, the chances of rearing him are in his favor.
When the
eighteen inches or more, they are transferred
to larger cages, provided with proportionately
larger and deeper tanks. They are now fed
with strips of butterfish, and thrive on this diet.
Upon attaining a length of two feet or more, the
young reptiles have grown too large for this
second ‘nursery,’ and are again transferred,
this time to the marine tank, where the water
has a depth of eighteen inches, and is kept at
a temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The tank is about twelve feet long and eight
feet wide.
infants have reached a size of
Ricuarp Deckerv.
Interesting Mammals.—The Small Mammal
House has lately acquired several new and ex-
ceedingly interesting specimens. Among the
arrivals is a rare flying squirrel from Australia,
a young example of the African bush pig, a
pair of echidnas and two very large African
porcupines.
1268 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Departments -
Mammals Aquarium
W. T. Hornapay. C. H. Townsenp.
= Raymonp C, Ospurn.
Birds
Reptiles
Raymonpb L. Dirmars.
C. WiLttaM BEese.
Lee S. CRANDALL.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1915, by the New York Zoological Society.
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
ELwin R. Sanzorn,
Editor and Official Photographer
Vou. XVIII, No. 5. SEPTEMBER, 1915
ee EE
SAMUEL THORNE,
BENEFACTOR.
ES
The President of the New York Zoological
Society deeply regrets to announce the death of
Mr. Samuel Thorne on Sunday, July 4, 1915,
at Millbrook, New York.
Mr. Thorne was one of the early members
of our Board, and had been a member of the
Executive Committee since 1902, and Vice-
President of the Society since 1909. He al-
ways was devoted to the interests of the Society,
and contributed most generously to its general
work, and particularly to the development of
the Zoological Park.
THE BEAVER OF THE ADIRONDACKS.
The successful restoration of the beaver to
the Adirondacks is a permanent memorial to
the late Harry V. Radford, of New York, who
was murdered by Eskimo hunters, about two
years ago, on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.
The restored beavers have so completely pos-
sessed many portions of the Adirondack wil-
derness that to the owners of a few camps in
that region, they have become a menace. In the
cutting of trees Castor canadensis is no respect-
or of persons, and occasionally he commits the
tactical error of cutting a one-hundred dollar
shade tree in front of a ten-thousand dollar
“camp” when a two-dollar tree in a spot of no
esthetic value ought to be “just as good.”
Last year certain gentlemen were so peeved
by the activities of neighboring beavers that
they even went to law about it, and at the end
SOCIETY
BULLETIN
of the first round secured against the State a
verdict of $1,900 for damages. The case has
been appealed, by the State, and the end is not
yet, and we opine that it may be difficult to
prove so much damages from beaver causes.
It is natural for an Adirondack man to go
around with a chip on his shoulder, daring any
public beaver to knock it off. Naturally the
Adirondack trappers would welcome an open
season in Harry Radford’s beavers; but we hope
that no such season ever will be granted, in our
day.
The way out of any real beaver difficulty that
might arise is plain, and easy to follow. In
our very excellent code of State game laws, Sec-
tion No. 158 expressly provides that whenever
wild birds or quadrupeds in any locality “be-
come destructive to public or private property,”
the state conservation commissioner may issue
to a state game warden, or even to a private
individual, “ a permit to take such species” and
dispose of them as the commissioner may direct;
and the permit shall expire three months after
its date.
It is therefore desirable that all owners of
property in the Adirondacks should know this
law, and in times of beaver peril they should
apply to Conservation Commissioner Pratt for
the measure of relief that the law wisely af-
fords.
The beaver was restored to the Adirondacks
nine years ago, at the expense of the State, by
the liberation of about 25 individuals. Now it
is estimated that the number of beavers in the
Adirondack wilderness is not far from 3,500.
Wate He
BIRD KILLING STOPPED IN THE
DUTCH EAST INDIES.
Auu Species Save Turee Prorecrep sy Ricip
Emparco Act.
(From the New York Sun.)
Notwithstanding the horrors of war at her
very doors and the burden of caring for 300,000
helpless Belgian refugees, Holland gallantly
has gone to the rescue of the bird species of
her East Indian possessions that were being
killed and sold for millinery purposes. It ap-
pears that throughout the whole of her vast
island empire in the Malay Archipelago, 3,000
miles long by 1,000 miles wide, all bird species
save three are now absolutely protected against
the feather trade, with a probability that even-
tually no exceptions will be made.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
It was about two years ago, immediately fol-
lowing the great victory in the United States
over the feather trade of the world, that Dr.
Hornaday addressed a formal memorial to the
Royal Zoological Society of Amsterdam, calling
the attention of that powerful organization to
the alarming exportations of skins of birds of
paradise, crown pigeons and other species of
birds from the Dutch East Indies. It was
strongly urged that the Netherlands Govern-
ment should be asked to protect its colonial bird
fauna by prohibiting all exportations of skins
and plumage save a few for educational pur-
poses.
While the subject was not a new one to the
Royal Zoological Society, the American victory
gave opportunity for a new attack. Through
the keen initiative of Dr. C. Kerbert, director
of the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens, and Prof.
Max Weber, a commission was immediately
formed by the Royal society to start a new
movement and to pursue it. A report upon con-
ditions in the Dutch East Indies and also gen-
eral assistance was sought of Dr. J. C. Kon-
ingsberger, the director of the botanical gardens
at Buitenzorg, Java, who, in the interim, has
journeyed to Holland and returned to Java.
During all the time intervening Dr. Kerbert
has reported satisfactory progress and predicted
important results. The director of the New
York Zoological Park recently received from
him the news that a sweeping and almost com-
plete protective measure has been extended to
the birds of the Dutch East Indies. The fol-
lowing is the text of the letter:
Amsterdam, July 12, 1915.
To William T.
Dear Sir:
We are pleased to be able to inform you that the
committee for the adyancement of a prohibition of
the export of birds and parts of birds from the Dutch
colonies has received from the corresponding member
of the committee, Dr. J. C. Koningsberger, director
of “’s Lands Plantentuin” at Buitenzorg, Java, the
following information about the shooting of birds
of paradise:
Hornaday, Esq., New York.
1. This year (and probably also in future) the
shooting is limited to these species: Paradisea minor,
Seleucides nigricans and Ptilornis magnificus. The
export of skins of all other species is prohibited by
the Dutch Colonial Government, and.these skins have
therefore no commercial value.
2. Shooting is totally prohibited in the islands of
the Radja Ampat group (Misole, Salawatti, Batanta
and Waigou) and in those of the Geelvink Bay in
New Guinea, as well as in two large reservations on
New Guinea, on both sides of the Geelvink Bay.
By these means the protection of the rarer birds
of paradise is obtained, and we have eyery hope that
1269
in future the shooting of all birds of paradise will
be totally stopped.
Sincerely yours,
C. Kerserr, Chairman.
Ly. pe Beaurorr, Secretary.
In plain English, the three species not yet
fully protected in all areas are the lesser bird
of paradise, the twelve wired bird of paradise
and the rifle bird. Inasmuch as bird protection
never loses ground, and always gains in public
favor, it is safe to predict that within a reason-
able time all the birds of the Dutch East Indies
will receive the complete protection that an em-
bargo on exportations easily can afford.
In this connection is to be noted that on Jan-
uary 1, 1915, a law prohibiting the importation
of wild birds’ plumage for commercial purposes
went into effect over the whole Dominion of
Canada; and thus the prohibition now covers
all North America north of Mexico.
PROTECTION FUND FOR WILD ANI-
MAL LIFE.
The permanent wild life protection fund,
which W. T. Hornaday has been instrumental
in collecting during the past two years, now
amounts to more than $84,750. The income of
this fund is to be used for conducting a nation-
wide campaign during the next hundred years
in behalf of wild life protection. Efforts will
be made to stop the sale of wild game, promote
laws to prevent unnaturalized aliens from own-
ing or using rifles and shotguns, stop all spring
and late winter shooting, stop all killing of
insectivorous birds for food and of all birds for
millinery purposes, increase the number of game
preserves, etc. It is proposed to inaugurate next
September, a campaign in favor of creating
game sanctuaries in the national forests on a
very comprehensive scale.—Scientific American.
SUCCESSFUL BIRD INSTALLATION.
That most captive birds are happier in large
cages is a fact which has been amply demon-
strated in the Zoological Park. A comparison
of the condition of the small finches, weavers
and waxbills in our large aviaries with that of
birds kept in the usual small cages is convine-
ing evidence. Some of these atoms have in-
habited their present quarters for considerably
more than five years, and still are in perfect
health. The thrushes also are infinitely better
in roomy cages, as they are inherently wild,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
BREEDING BIRDS IN THE FLYING CAGE
White and Black-headed Ibises are seen on their nests.
and seldom become reconciled to close confine-
ment. On the other hand, they soon become
tame and confiding when they have room to fly
about, and will keep in perfect condition for
many years. In fact, with certain exceptions,
all birds thrive in confinement in direct pro-
portion to the amount of room they are allowed.
That there are exceptions to this rule comes
as a surprise to many. There is no doubt, how-
ever, that there are many birds which, from
one cause or another, do much better in small,
individual cages. Here they can be provided
with special food and care, which they are able
to enjoy without disturbance by greedy or quar-
relsome cage-mates, and they also are more eas-
ily protected from dangerous draughts. A few
are quarrelsome as well as delicate, and cannot
be associated with other birds.
In 1911, a series of ten cages, 42 x 28 x 20
inches, and 25 x 82 x 20 inches, was erected at
the sides of the passage from the Parrot Hall
to the Glass Court. Their complete success
was so evident that early in 1913, sixteen more
were added. At present, these cages house
thirty-one birds of twenty-seven species, all in
the most perfect condition, and many of them
have been there since the erection of the first
cages. All are of uncommon interest, and many
are very rare. They include eight species of
parrots and parrakeets, two of lories, a hoopoe,
Burchell coucal, Cuban green woodpeckers,
African roller, barbets, red-starts, flycatchers,
kinglets, honey-eaters and others. All of these
birds are physically delicate and temperament-
ally shy. A few, it must be confessed, are quar-
relsome as well, and previous experience has
shown the impracticability of keeping them with
other birds. Thus these individual cages
enable us to exhibit many species which could
not be kept otherwise, and form in themselves
one of the most attractive exhibits of the Large
Bird-House.
Ls. (SiG
BREEDING RESULTS IN THE
DEPARTMENT, 1915.
BIRD
LTHOUGH weather conditions during the
spring and summer just past were uncom-
monly adverse, breeding activities among
our birds have been equally unusual. A special
effort was made this year to increase the num-
ber of young birds annually reared, and much
credit is due the various keepers whose interest
has made possible our success.
Most important, of course, at least from the
popular point of view, are the young penguin
and emu, mentioned elsewhere in this number
of the Butietin. But what may prove to be
of even greater interest, are the really remark-
able attempts at reproduction, by the birds in
the Flying Cage. Unfortunately, most of these
efforts were abortive, but the mere fact of their
nesting leads us to hope that another season
may bring more satisfactory results. It is a
pleasure even to be able to record that two pairs
of snowy egrets built, laid and incubated, in
company with a colony of white and_black-
headed ibises and roseate spoonbills. ‘Two white
ibises were successfully reared, and a young
spoonbill—no doubt the first in captivity—was
hatched. 25
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Bulletin Nos. 5 to 23 inclusive, set, cloth bound opfivistee Same 5.00 | Care of Home Aquaria (Osburn). .. 0... +e eee reer eee es 25
& 94 1060 “ 10.0 Porpoise in Captivity (Townsend). ..-....--.- 0 eee eens 25
Ses fe Natural History of the Whale Shark (Gudger)......-... .30
Official Guide to the New York ==.
Zoological Park (Hornaday)........ Smet clacton s IAA 25 Aquarium Post Cards: Colored. In sets, each.....- = 395)
Publications for sale at 1i Wall Street, Zoologica) Park and the New York Aquarium.
ou. XVIII. No. 6 & NOVEMBER, 1915
POOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLET LN
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THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
LZ if DOCDACONTULTSUNUTUOTMLTALL LEAL TECONTAY OLN TON OTTER
~OENNTTATTALNAONRN
(it fe eee
ie APTANA EAT
THUR FREUND yo12
Percy R. Pyne,
Officers of the New Uork Zoological Society
President
Henry Farrrietp Osporn.
Creasurer
Percy R. Pyne, 80 Pine Street.
Secretary
Mapison Grant, 11 Wall Street.
Executive Committer
Mapison Grant, Chairman.
Witiram Wiute NItes,
Samvuet THorNE,* Frank K. Srvureis,
Wm. Prerson Hamitron, LisPENARD STEWART, Watson B. Dickerman,
Henry Farrrietp Osporn, Ex Officio.
Baard of Managers
The Mayor of the City of New York.
F. Aueusrvs ScHERMERHORN,
Percy R. Pyne,
Georce B. GrinNELL,
Georce C. Crark,
Henry Farrrietp Ossorn,
Witiiam C. Cuurcn,
LisPeNARD STEWART,
H. Casimir pe Ruam,
Levi P. Morton,
ANDREW CARNEGIE,
Mapison GrRAnv,
Witiiam Wuire Nites,
Ex Officio
Class of 1916
CieveLtanp H. Doneer,
C. Lepyarp Brarr,
Freperick G. Bourne,
W. Austin WapswortH,
Class nf 1917
Cuartes F. Dietericnu,
James J. Hitt,
Georce F. Baker,
Grant B. Scutey,
Class of 1918
Samuet TuorRNe *
Henry A. C. Taytor,
Frank K. Srurais,
Georce J. Goutp,
General Officers
The Presiwent of the Department of Parks.
Emerson McMixuin,
AntTuony R. Kuser, o
Watson B. Dickerman,
Mortimer L. Scurer.
Wn. Pierson Hamitton,
Rogert S. Brewster,
Epwarp S. Harkness,
Witiiam B. Oscoop Fiexp,
Ocpen Mitts,
Lewis RurHerrurp Morris,
ArcHer M. Huntineton,
Henry M. Titrorp.
Witiiam T. Hornapay, Director of the Park.
Cuartes H. Townsenp, Director of the Aquarium.
H. J. Suorter, Assistant Secretary. R. L. Cerero, Assistant to the Treasurer.
C. Grant La Faroe, Architect.
Dr. Grorce S. Huntineton, Prosector.
H. Dr B. Parsons, Consulting Engineer.
Officers of the Zoological Park
Wittram T. Hornapay, Director.
H. R. MircHett, C. Witiiam Beeser, H. W. Merket, G. M. Breersower,
Raymonp L. Ditrmars, L. S. Cranvatt, W. Rep Brarr, WitiiamM MircHett,
Erwin R. Sanporn.
Offrers of the Aquarium
Cnartes H. Townsenpv, Director.
Wasuineron I. DeNyse.
Louis L. Mowpray.
Rosertr SuTCLIFFE.
* Deceased.
AOrOnnO G he sAnk. -SOLC LET Y
AQUARIUM NUMBER.
CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1915.
WU CGARCCRGIISET, eee ees es ce an
REN RANT) OR MISES) 2 2 8 eerie a es
Power OF SHARK-SUCKER’S DISK onic
ScrENCE AND DOMESTICATION OF FISHES, 20.0... cecsceseeeseeeeeeeeee
Hixepya Banriny OF ISHS 2
Hore ror THE Sea OTTER 22200...
SAM IATONSUAIN DOL ISEUMR MR Nis ee et ee yn
Firtertnc Harpor Water ............ bre
RePorn OF STATE Hise (CULTURE BUREAU 2 ct-ccccccsccecec cece se ecesteeeee cence
DRaiOsBuRN RESIGNS 622
Tue Tuna on THE ATLANTIC COAST ...
Tre Ms or JIN TEREST 2.2 z
REAPPEARANCE OF TILEFISH .... .000-
FarrmMountT Park AQguaRIUM ..
BEAVER IN SULLIVAN COUNTY ..................
iia Aquaria PORPOISE .20.-. 2. cons
A New Species or Fisu
Bow Woe be IN
PAGE
eee OOET:
Frontispiece
C. H. Townsend 1281
Sergius Morgulis, Ph. D. 1283
_C. H. Townsend 1286
C. H. Townsend 1286
R. C. Osburn 1289
R. C. Osburn 1291
C. H. Townsend 1293
C. H. Townsend 1294
Vm. E. Meehan 1294
C. H. Townsend 1296
_C. H. Townsend 1297
LL. L. Mowbray 1298
wsoques ‘yy uray Aq Ydessojoyd & WOT
‘yuny oy
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN. © i,
( deh
1915
Published by the New York Zoological Soareegye™
Vou. XVIII,
NOVEMBER, 1915
NuMBER 6
THE POWER OF THE SHARK-SUCKER’S DISK
By C. H. Townsenp.
HE shark suckers or Remoras are fishes
well known for their habit of accompany-
ing sharks, to which they cling by means
of a broad sucking disk which covers the entire
top of the head. They also attach themselves
to sea turtles, porpoises, large oceanic fishes
and even to the hulls of vessels.
The largest shark sucker in the New York
Aquarium, (Echeneis naucrates) is thirty-two
and one-half inches long and has a sucking disk
seven inches long and three inches wide. The
head disk in such fishes is capable of taking a
marvelously tight hold of any smooth surface
it may attach to.
While the writer was naturalist of the United
States Fisheries Steamer Albatross, we caught
many of these fishes, nearly all sharks hauled
on board being accompanied by one or more of
them. When such fishes were thrown into tubs
or pails of sea-water to await further examina-
tion, they at once took hold of the vessel and
could not be detached without the use of consid-
erable force. On board the Albatross I have
frequently taken a shark sucker by the tail and
lifted it with the bucket containing more or less
water, without making the fish loosen its hold.
In order to test the power of attachment of
which the cephalic disk is capable, I recently
made experiments with shark suckers in the
Aquarium.
The first specimen tested was two feet long.
A stout cord was tied around the tail and the
fish dropped into a four-gallon galvanized pail
half filled with water. Lifting steadily on the
cord, I raised the pail and water without the
fish’s grip giving way an inch. The pail and
water weighed twenty-one pounds.
The second specimen was twenty-six and one-
half inches long, and its cephalic disk five and
one-half inches. Lifting the fish by the tail,
the bucket with more water added, was raised
entirely clear of the ground, some of the water
spilling out. The bucket and remaining water
weighed twenty-four and one-quarter pounds.
Had a deeper bucket been used, the fish might
have lifted a greater weight, but the specimens
were valuable and severer tests were not at-
tempted.
Mr. Mowbray of the Aquarium staff, suggests
that with such weights of water as we used in
our tests, the fish cannot relax the grasp of its
disk, and that greater weights would only tear
the fish apart at some point. He once mutilated
and killed a shark-sucker in trying to forcibly
detach it from the bottom of a boat into which
it had been thrown.
In several of the published descriptions of
the shark-sucker, reference is made to the ac-
count given by Columbus, who said it was used
by natives for the capture of turtles and fishes.
With a line attached to its tail, it was liberated
from the canoe near the turtle to be captured.
Its hold was always tight enough to permit
of the sea turtle being hauled within reach.
The account seems to be straightforward
enough, but considerable research has failed to
bring to light any corroboration of it, as con-
cerns American waters. So far as can be as-
certained the natives of Cuba make no use of
shark-suckers in fishing and have no knowledge
of its use in the past.
But we do not have to depend wholly on the
narrative of Columbus. In the Proceedings of
the London Zoological Society for 1884, Mr.
SHARK-SUCKER
Lifting a pail of water weighing 24 pounds.
Holmwood, British Consul at Zanzibar, pub-
lished an account of fishing with the shark-
sucker as practiced by African natives, the
method being the same as that described by
Columbus. I have heard that Chinese fishermen
at Singapore, also employ the shark-sucker in
fishing.
It has been said that these fishes are used
for fishing purposes in Japan, but so far as the
literature on this region has been examined the
statement is not corroborated.
By way of testing its fish-catching capacity,
a shark-sucker sixteen inches long was liber-
ated in one of the tanks of the Aquarium con-
taining fishes. It took hold at once, and by
hauling on the cord fastened to its tail a good
sized grouper was brought to the surface of the
water, although it could not be lifted out of the
tank. When the fish began to struggle the
shark-sucker let go. When tried on a fifteen-
pound sea turtle, the latter could easily be
drzwn to the surface.
There can be no doubt that with a line at-
tached to a large remora, a much larger sea
turtle could be hauled in without difficulty.
Shark-suckers of several species are common
in summer along our coast and specimens are
usually to be seen at the Aquarium. It is not
unusual for them to live a year or more in
captivity.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Shark-suckers often attach themselves to the
glass fronts or concrete walls of the exhibition
tanks. When resting upon the bottom they lie
either in the natural position with the dorsal
surface uppermost, or turn over and attach the
cephalic disk to the floor of the tank.
The inherent tendency of the fish to attach
itself to something is very strong.
Its name Echeneis, meaning ship-holder, is an
ancient one, the peculiar habits of the fish giving
rise to the myth that ships were retarded by it.
This species (Echeneis naucrates) has, like
many other marine fishes living in the Aquarium,
the power of making instantaneous changes in
its markings. The white stripes along the sides
often disappear for a few minutes.
Tarpon from New York Bay.—During the
summer the Aquarium exhibited two living tar-
pons about four and a half feet in length, which
were captured in pound nets at Belford, N. J.,
in the lower part of New York Bay. Both spec-
imens were injured in capture and lived less
than two weeks.
It is not uncommon for the tarpon to wander
northward late in the summer and stragglers
are taken in pound nets in Long Island and
Massachusetts waters nearly every year.
C. H. T. photo
SHARK SUCKER (| Echeneis naucrates)
Showing disk on top of head.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
C. H. T. photo
SHARK-SUCKER
Lifting a pail of water weighing 21 pounds.
SCIENCE AND THE DOMESTICATION
OF FISHES.
By Sereius Morcuuis, Pu. D.
very extensive plan has been worked out
by the Government for the domestication
of food fishes, and the rivers and ponds
of the country are stocked with millions of fish
reared yearly in hatcheries. Numerous private
concerns also derive profits from raising fish for
the market. The full utilization of the water
resources of the country, for propagating and
rearing fish by artificial methods is something
which must come in the future. There is no
reason for doubting that some day each farmer
will raise fish just as he raises fowls today.
The part played by science in the develop-
ment of various industries is too obvious to
require any comment. Agriculture and pure
science have become inseparable as is evidenced
by the large number of research institutions and
experiment stations organized to promote its
special interests. The appreciation of the need
of applying modern, scientific methods to the
study of various aspects of fish life is also
Note—At the request of the U. S. Bureau of Fish-
eries, laboratory space in the New York Aquarium
has been furnished to Dr. Sergius Morgulis who is
engaged in studies of nutrition in fishes, under the
auspices of the Bureau. The work has been going
on for several months.-—Director of the Aquarium.
1285
awakening. Above all, from the practical stand-
point, it is necessary to obtain scientifically
qualified knowledge of the dynamics of fish life,
of their functions and energy transformation,
since the complete success of the future domes-
tication of fish will rest upon this.
The task of investigating physiologically and
biochemically aquatic organisms is a particu-
larly difficult one, owing to the nature of their
environment. It is not surprising, therefore,
that in its first stages this study should be em-
barrassed by erroneous observations and faulty
deductions. Even very recently some biologists
of renown believed that aquatic animals derive
all, or at any rate, part of their nourishment
from substances dissolved in the water. It would
take us far afield to discuss at length this hy-
pothesis, but it will suffice to say that much
eareful analytical work was required to defin-
itely dispose of this erroneous conception of the
nutrition of fish.
Considering the organism merely as a ma-
chine, it depends upon the consumption of raw-
material food for energy to perform work, such
as locomotion, search for nourishment, etc., and
to maintain its vital functions, such as the pul-
sation of the heart, respiration, digestion. secre-
tion and so on. Besides, the organism requires
energy for its growth and propagation.
The food materials of which all living organ-
isms partake are of three princpal kinds: pro-
teins, carbohydrates and fats. In a_ general
way the first are distinguished by the fact that
their elementary composition includes nitrogen.
Meat and white of egg are typical representa-
tives of this group of food stuffs. Carbohy-
drates (sugar, starch) and fats contain the ele-
ments carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the former
being particularly rich in oxygen and the latter
in hydrogen. As the amount of energy yielded
by the combustion of hydrogen, weight for
weight, is greater than that of carbon, the en-
ergy value of fat is the higher. Food, when it
is digested, becomes absorbed and incorporated
in the organism where it sooner or later under-
goes oxidation or combustion, thereby setting
its potential energy free, usually in the form
of heat. This is then transferred into other
forms of energy or work according to cirecum-
stances. The digestion, absorption and oxida-
tion of the food are very complex phenomena.
Much of these phenomena is still beyond our
ken.
The final products contained in the urinary
excretions as well as in the gases given off in
breathing have been thus far very little investi-
gated in the case of fish, though they have been
1284
extensively studied in all other domestic ani-
mals. ‘The decomposition of protein in the or-
ganism is followed by studying the nitrogenous
content of the excreta, while the destruction of
carbohydrates and fats, which on combustion
vield water and carbonic acid, is appraised
through knowledge of the respiratory exchange
of gases. It is very important for the fish cul-
turist to understand the phenomena which un-
derlie the utilization of foods in the body. The
utilization of food in the higher animal organ-
isms has been exhaustively studied by students
of dietetics. This problem is equally vital with
regard to fishes.
It was my privilege to be entrusted by the
United States Bureau of Fisheries with the
study of the nutrition of fish. The experiments
are partially conducted in the New York Aqua-
rium. The laboratory facilities there for scien-
tific research in this line are unfortunately very
inadequate, but I wish to acknowledge my grat-
ification to the Director and employees of the
Aquarium who have helped me greatly in the
work.
The procedure which I follow in my investi-
gation is essentially the same as that employed
in nutrition researches on man or other domestic
animals. The different conditions of existence
of my experimental animals necessitated, of
course, different methods. This much may be
stated: by analyzing the food of every feeding
and the foecal and urinary excreta following
each feeding, a careful comparison of intake
and outgo is made possible. One is thus ena-
bled to draw up a balance sheet which, at a
glance enables one to determine whether or not
a particular food, or food prepared in a par-
ticular way, is well utilized by the fish. The
utilization of each constituent part of the food
can thus be expressed in percents and standard
conditions thus may be worked out, a deviation
from which would unmistakably indicate the
relative efficiency of the organism or the rela-
tive nutritional value of the foods. Thus the
brook trout does not utilize cooked food as well
as uncooked, while a fast even of short duration
impairs seriously its capacity for utilizing food,
especially fats. From the balance sheet of in-
take and output it is futhermore possible to
discover exactly how much of each element the
organism has added to or lost from its bodily
reserves. We can tell whether it grows at a
normal rate, putting on flesh and fat and can
regulate the conditions to obtain the best results.
Domestication invariably means the substitu-
tion of artificial contrivances for natural condi-
tions. Science. determining the facts with the
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
aid of objective and careful methods. furnishes
the fundamental principles in the adjustment
of means to particular ends.
progress together.
The two must
A HAPPY FAMILY OF FISHES.
NE of the lessons the Aquarium keepers
have to learn is not to put different kinds
of fishes in the same tank without consid-
ering the compatibilities. Fishes commit mur-
der and indulge in cannibalism with alarming
frequency. ‘Their morals, like those of some
other vertebrates, are no better than they should
be. Fishes of the same species when kept in
Aquarium tanks must usually be of about the
same size or the very small ones may turn up
missing.
Fish like to eat fish and generally do so when
they get the chance.
When fishes of the same size fight among
themselves it is necessary to sort out the chief
aggressors and locate them elsewhere.
Experience teaches the keepers what combi-
nations can be made without losses of specimens.
The Happy Family of fishes shown in the
accompanying frontispiece has been slowly
growing since the photo was made _ several
months ago.
The tank now contains the following species
which manage to get on together without seri-
ous quarrel:
Red Hind (Epinephelus gquttatus), Rock
Hind, (EKpinephelus adscencionis). Black
Grouper (Myctoroperca bonaci), Green Moray,
(Lycondontis funebris), Spade-fish, (Chaetodip-
terus faber), Pork fish (Anisotremus virgini-
cus), Dog Snapper (Neomaenis jocu), Spot
Snapper (Neomaenis synagris), Gray Snapper
(Neomaenis griseus), Schoolmaster (Neomaenis
apodus), Mutton fish (Neomaenis analis), Cre--
valle (Carana hippos), Yellow Mackerel (Car-
anx crysos), Neverbite (Caranx rubra), Blue
striped Grunt (Haemulon striatus), Golden
Grunt (Haemulon melanurum), Red Hogfish
(Lachnolaimus maximus), Spanish — hogfish
(Harpe rufa), Blue Angelfish (Angelichthys
isabellita), Black Angelfish (Pomacanthus ar-
cuatus), French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru),
Squirrelfish (Holocentris adscencionis), Queen
Triggerfish (Balistes vetula), Common Trigger-
fish (Balistes carolinensis), Blue Parrotfish
(Scarus coeruleus), Chub (Kyphosus sectatria).
Cy He.
SPINY LOBSTERS, SQUIRREL FISHES AND STONE CRABS
From a photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn
HOPE FOR THE SEA OTTER.
fi HE sea otter (Latax lutris), an important
marine fur-bearing animal of the North
Pacific region, has during recent years
been brought close to the point of extinction. It
was fortunately included in “An Act to give ef-
fect to the convention between the Governments
of the United States, Great Britain, Japan and
Russia, for the preservation and protection of
the fur seals and sea otter which frequent the
waters of the North Pacifie Ocean, concluded
at Washington, July 7, 1911.” The killing of
sea otter is therefore prohibited until November
1, 1920. The species still exists in the Aleutian
and Commander Islands, and in isolated spots
to the southward, along the coasts of North
America, and Asia, to Lower California and
Northern Japan.
It is the most valuable of all fur-producing
animals and is captured only by the most ardu-
ous hunting. While the catch has never been
large, as compared with other fur-bearers, the
value of the skin is great. Statistics relative
to sea otter killing are limited to few sources
and are difficult to obtain. The following fig-
ures relate to otters taken in the Aleutian and
Kurile Islands, the very limited catch from
more southerly regions not being available. The
data collected by Captain Hooper, presumably
from the records of the Alaska Commercial Co.,
places the total number of sea otter skins mar-
keted from Alaska waters from 1873 to 1896
at 58,184.
More recently the catch of sea otters from
the Kurile Islands stretching southward from
Kamtschatka has been compiled from official
Japanese records by Captain Snow of Yoko-
hama, for many years engaged in sea otter
hunting. His figures place the total number of
skins marketed from 1872 to 1909 at 12,453.
During the period from 1873 to 1888 the
catch of sea otters in Alaskan waters ranged
from 1,000 to 4,000 annually. Since 1888 the
catch has been limited to a few hundreds each
year, although the efforts put forth by otter
hunters were prosecuted as vigorously as ever.
In Asiatic waters (exclusive of the Command-
er Islands, where the otter has been partially
protected) the catch ranged from 1,000 to 1,500
a year. Subsequent to 1879 the number of
skins from the Kurile Islands marketed yearly
has been only a few hundreds with the supply
steadily decreasing.
The Russian authorities have long regulated
the killing of sea otter, at the Commander Is-
lands, and while conserving the supply of otters,
have marketed many skins. The catch from the
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Commander Islands is not at the present writ-
ing available.
The catch of sea otter, along the coast of
Vancouver Island was formerly so important
that during the early days of British Columbia,
the otter fishery was considered one of the most
valuable resources of the province.
The treaty of 1911, to which the Powers con-
trolling the coasts and islands included in the
sea otters range are committed, should insure
the safety of the existing scattered remnants.
There is reason to hope that by the expiration
of the treaty in 1920 the sea otter will have
re-established itself.
C.-Eeag
SEA LIONS AND THE FISHERMEN.
By C. H. Townsenp.
N visiting the coast of British Columbia
during the past summer, the Chairman of
the Executive Committee, Mr. Madison
Grant, learned that at the instigation of the sal-
mon fishermen a government bounty had been
placed on the Steller sea lion and that pay-
ments had already been made on 2,875 of these
animals, when the bounty fund became exhaust-
ed. In addition to sea lions, bounties were paid
on 2,987 hair seals. The total payments for
1914 and 1915 aggregated $14,329.50.
This is the usual procedure with fishermen
who may be depended upon to attribute the
depletion of fisheries to other causes than the
wasteful fishing methods practiced by them-
selves.
Mr. Francis Kermode, Curator of the Pro-
vincial Museum at Victoria, already had ap-
pealed to the Provincial Government on behalf
of the sea lions, with the result that a com-
mittee of the Biological Board was appointed
to make inquiries regarding the charges made
by the fishermen, the food habits of sea lions,
the effects produced by the bounty and other
matters connected with the subject; the fishery
industries of the province being very important
Mr. Grant wrote to the members of this
committee directing their attention to the dan-
gers already surrounding wild life, the constant
tendency toward its destruction, and urging the
fullest possible inquiry in view of the prejudice
against the sea lion.
He called the attention of the committee to
the history of the campaign waged against the
destruction of the sea lions by the fishery in-
dustries of California and Oregon some years
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
YELLOW-FINNED GROUPER (MYCTEROPERCA
From a photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn.
before. In this case an inquiry concerning the
food habits of sea lions was made by the United
States Commission of Fisheries, with the result
that the claims made by the fishermen were
shown to be largely without foundation.
According to information received from the
fisheries authorities of Canada, the report of
the committee of the Biological Board is hoped
for at an early date.
In this connection it may be well to discuss
a little further the subject of sea lions and
other seals in their relation to the fisheries and
to point out the generally injurious effects of
bounties paid for the destruction of animals
presumed to be harmful.
The destruction of wild life is by no means
limited to game animals taken for sport and
food or to animals valuable for their skins, oil
or other products. Sometimes a species that is
not valued commercially, may be seriously
threatened by men through mere ignorance or
prejudice.
This is the case with the two species of sea
lions inhabiting our west coast. From the fact
that such animals at times eat fish, it occasion-
VENENOSA)
ally becomes necessary to defend them against
the attempts of fishermen and legislators to
destroy them by wholesale methods. Many
kinds of harmless birds and mammals have been
the victims of bounties that eventually were
shown to be both expensive to the taxpayer and
injurious to the agriculturist.
About fifteen years ago, naturalists went_to
the rescue of the California sea lion which the
fishery interests of the Pacific coast proposed
to destroy by the thousands. It was asserted
that there were 30,000 sea lions on the coast
consuming salmon in large numbers.
An investigation by the federal authorities
showed that there were probably less than
5,000 sea lions in that region and that their
food consisted chiefly of squid and only to a
moderate degree of fish and those of species of
no great commercial value.
Sea lions sometimes get into fish traps and
do damage to both fish and netting, but the
charge that they were annihilating the salmon
was easy to make and difficult to prove.
Before the advent of civilization on the Pa-
cific Coast, both salmon and sea lions were
1288 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Departments :
Mammals Aquarium
W. T. Horwnapay. C. H. Townsenp.
Birds
C. WictiaM BEEBE. Reptiles
Lee S. CRANDALL. Raymonpb L. Dirmars.
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society.
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Yearly by Mail, $1.00.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Copyright, 1915, by the New York Zoological Sociely
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy
and the proof reading of his contribution.
Eiwin R. SAnsorn,
Editor and Official Photographer
Vou. XVIII. No. 6. NOVEMBER, 1915
abundant the salmon being numerous beyond all
parallel during their annual runs into the rivers.
Salmon became increasingly important commer-
cially until the annual value of the fishery
reached several million dollars. The fishing
was exhaustive and the supply of salmon de-
clined rapidly, but restrictive measures were
long in coming and were never popular enough
to be very effective. Man had disturbed the
balance, but he placed the blame on the sea
lions.
And so the sea lions were killed in consider-
able numbers by state authorities and fishermen
until they became rather scarce about the
mouths of certain salmon rivers. Permission to
kill them on Government lighthouse reservations
where they breed was fortunately refused by
the Treasury Department. In June and July,
1899, the late Prof. L. L. Dyche, of the Uni-
versity of Kansas, examined the stomachs of
twenty-two sea lions on the coast of California
without finding any traces of fish. The food
found consisted chiefly of squid.
He also found good fishing for rock cod with-
in a few yards of long established rookeries
inhabited by hundreds of sea lions which indi-
cates that they do not feed to any great extent
on rock cod.
The food habits of the fur seal are better
known than those of the sea lion. The stom-
achs of 128 fur seals examined on the decks
of sealing vessels in 1895 by C. H. Townsend
showed that squid is the favorite food, that
small oceanic fishes come next, while salmon
and cod amount to very little.
The food of the elephant seal, so far as
known, consists chiefly of squid or other cuttle-
fish.
Sea lions are found all along the west coast.
The California sea lion extends from the Gulf
of California to the southern end of Vancouver
Island, while the Steller sea lion ranges from
Central California to Bering Sea. Both spe-
cies are common throughout most parts of their
respective ranges.
They inhabit at some season of the year
practically all of the smaller coastal islands and
outlying rocks throughout their entire habitat.
They are little disturbed by man as their com-
mercial value does not warrant the labor of tak-
ing them. In some places they are of great
interest to the public as at the seal rocks off
San Francisco, Santa Catalina Island and other
points along the coast.
The extermination of supposedly noxious
wild animals by bounties is a measure that
should never be adopted except in rare cases.
The Pennsylvania bounty on hawks and owls
was a disastrous example. Not only were use-
ful birds destroyed in large numbers, but a
great sum of money was wasted.
The bounties paid by western states on coy-
otes, not only proved expensive and led to fraud
but created plagues of jack rabbits, that could
only be kept down by expensive wholesale
drives, when thousands would be killed in a
single day.
The harbor seal, now comparatively rare
along the North Atlantic coast, was destroyed
through bounties at the instigation of fishermen,
yet the animal is not specially harmful.
The extremely valuable fur seal has been
saved to commerce only through the suppression
of pelagic sealing by international treaty.
The West Indian seal (Monachus tropicalis)
once abundant throughout the greater part of
the West Indian region and valuable for its oil.
is now approaching extinction, the survivors be-
ing restricted to a few small islets in the Gulf
of Campeachy.
The Hawaiian seal, belonging to the same
genus, and known only from small islands north-
west of the Hawaiian group, has been reduced
to small numbers, but may be saved as its habi-
tat has been included in the Hawaiian Islands
Reservation.
The northern elephant seal, once abundant.
was killed in large numbers for its oil. It is
now restricted to Guadalupe Island off Lower
California, where probably not more than 100
still survive.
All the seals above referred to belong to the
North American fauna.
Sea lions are still common, but we cannot
view except with alarm, any wholesale slaughter
of them for the sake of doubtful advantages to
the fisheries.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
FILTERING HARBOR WATER.
The greatest drawback to successful work it
the New York Aquarium has always been the
foul condition of the water pumped from the
harbor.
Its low salinity, about half that of pure sea
water, makes it bad enough for Aquarium pur-
poses, but its pollution with sewage is a more
serious feature.
The reservoir for stored sea water, built a
tew years ago, made it possible to keep all ma-
rine collections in the glass-fronted tanks, in
good condition, but the occupants of the large
floor pools could not be safeguarded in that way.
These animals, seals, porpoises, sea turtles and
fishes of large size have suffered on account of
bad water, it being impossible to apply the
stored-water system to these -heavy feeding
creatures.
Filters for the water of the harbor have al-
ways been needed but room in the crowded
Aquarium building could not be found for them
without sacrificing space devoted to exhibits.
The difficulty has now been met by converting
the elevated supply tanks into filters. This
arrangement is a makeshift, as it lowers the
“head” of water, but it is now possible to filter
out practically all of the dirt held in suspension
in the harbor water. The water is actually
clear, but it is not expected that the filters will
remove the disease carrying bacteria which it
holds. Its salinity is of course as low as before.
When as fine a specimen as the porpoise, which
lived twenty-one months in the Aquarium, dies
of sheer filth infection, it is one more sign that
the building is not large enough to do the work
demanded of it.
(Cou) & bol he
REPORT OF THE STATE BUREAU OF
FISH CULTURE.
The Annual Report of the State Fish Cul-
turist for the year 1914, by Dr. Tarleton H.
Bean, has recently been distributed and contains
some interesting information.
The total number of fishes distributed during
the year was 556,543,016 at a cost of $78.46
per million, including all expenses. The num-
ber of species propagated and distributed was
thirty-nine, although some of these were used
merely for exhibition purposes. The most im-
portant species numerically were shad, frost
fish, white fish, lake herring, brown trout, rain-
bow trout, lake trout, brook trout, smelt, mus-
callunge, small-mouthed black bass, yellow
1289
perch, pike perch, and flat fishes, besides lob-
sters. The plan for stocking inland lakes with
white fish and lake herring has been followed
with success, and the lake trout is satisfactorily
increasing in the larger lakes.
It is interesting to note that the policy of
wintering small-mouthed black bass for spawn-
ers has almost entirely been given up, as adult
fish approaching the spawning condition can be
secured in outside waters in spring at much less
expense.
Dr. Bean calls attention to the rapid decrease
in the shad fishery in the Hudson as the resuli
of pollution and obstruction. This reduced the
output of the hatcheries handling this species.
On the other hand, it is gratifying to note that
the pike perch is rapidly increasing in stocked
waters, and that white fish have been acclimated
in the larger lakes of the state to such an extent
that vast numbers of eggs for hatching may be
secured from stocked waters.
Brief reports from the various hatcheries of
the state are included as well as notes upon va-
rious species. R. C. Ospurn.
DR. R. C. OSBURN RESIGNS.
The Butrerry announces with regret the
resignation of Dr. Raymond C. Osburn from
the service of the Zoological Society, to accept
the chair of Biology at the Connecticut College
at New London.
Dr. Osburn has served as assistant director
of the Aquarium since 1910, in connection with
his duties as assistant professor of Zoology in
Barnard College, Columbia University.
During this period he constantly made im-
portant contributions to the BuLtietin, and pre-
pared one of the pamphlets of the Aquarium
Nature Series, entitled The Care of Home Aqua-
ria. a very useful document.
Being a most accomplished zoologist, his as-
sistance in handling the corespondence of the
Aquarium and in dealing with the scientific
aspects of the institution, has been very valuable
to the Society.
Had the funds available for the maintenance
of the Aquarium been as large as they should
have been, the services of Dr. Osburn might
have been retained permanently. He takes up
his new work not only with the advantages of
the experienced teacher, but the accomplish-
ments of the trained zoologist. Connecticut Col-
lege is to be congratulated on having secured
his services as the head of its department of
biology.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
THE TUNA ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.
By Raymonp C. Ossurn, Pu. D.
N the Buxttetin for November, 1910, notice
i yas made of the occurrence of the tuna or
tunny in considerable numbers off the New
Jersey coast. Many of these fish were taken
that summer off Barnegat and Asbury Park, and
reports of their occurrence have reached the
Aquarium every summer since then.
To be sure, the tuna is an old resident on all
the Atlantic coast, but he has been masquerading
under such pseudonyms as Herring-hog, Horse-
mackerel and the like, which are both uncom-
plimentary and misleading, since they are also
applied to less aristocratic animals. The Cape
Cod, Gloucester and Nova Scotia fishermen,
from time immemorial, have been harpooning
the big fellows occasionally when they had
nothing else to do, or wanted a little practice
with the “iron,” or when there was nothing else
in sight to eat. Misunderstood and unappreci-
ated from every point of view, the greatest of
all the modern bony fishes has serenely pur-
sued his wonted course in the wake of the her-
ring and menhaden shoals along our coasts, when
he would have been perfectly justified in giving
a contemptuous flip of his tail and heading for
the Mediterranean. There he would receive a
warm welcome from the whole race of Italian
fishermen. There he would at least be eaten!
But the tuna’s day is coming when he may
reap the reward of his patient waiting. Thanks
to the late Dr. Chas. F. Holder and his justly
famous Tuna Club of Santa Catalina it be-
came known a dozen years or so ago to the
world at large that the tuna furnishes the great-
est possible test of the angler’s skill and endur-
ance. As a result anglers from all the Atlantic
States flocked to the California coast, all anx-
ious for a try at the big fish in the hope that
they might be able to land a hundred-pounder
with the approved tackle and so have their
names entered on the rolls of the Tuna Club.
All this time the tuna was ranging our own
coast in large numbers, too proud to court at-
tention, too conservative to advertise. However,
the anglers have somehow awakened to the fact,
long known to the ichthyologists, that the same
species of tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linn.), is
found in all the great seas of moderate tempera-
ture and that his habits in the Atlantic do not
differ from his behavior in Pacific waters. Ey-
erywhere he is the great tuna, the “leaping”
tuna, surpassed in actual bulk among the bony
fishes only by the ocean sun-fish or Mola, rival-
ing in speed and endurance any fish that swims,
always hungry and ready to oblige an angler.
1291
The waters about Nova Scotia have furnished
the finest kind of sport for several years past,
and the world’s record for the capture of a tuna
with rod and reel was made there at Port Med-
way on September 5, 1914. According to For-
est and Stream (November, 1914, pp., 596-7),
a tuna weighing 710 pounds, after the loss of
much blood and measuring ten feet four inches
in length and seven feet in girth, was taken by
Mr. Laurie D. Mitchell, after a fight lasting
eight and a quarter hours. The line used was
250 yards of single 39 line, attached to which
was a double strand of seventy-five yards of No.
36 line and piano wire leader fifteen feet in
length. This is so far ahead of all former rec-
ords that it seems doubtful if it will ever be
surpassed, though larger fish are taken every
summer by other methods.
Along the New Jersey coast the anglers have
not been quite so successful, though numerous
smaller fish have been taken. The big ones are
there, however, for a 1,080-pound tuna was har-
pooned at Wildwood, N. J., on July 27 of this
year, according to the Philadelphia Daily
Ledger tor August 4, in which appears a photo-
graph of the fish after its capture. This fish
towed a dory with its crew for fifteen miles in
three hours before a second harpoon could be
thrown.
In the region about Block Island the tuna
seems to be particularly abundant and for the
past seven years has been taken in large num-
bers. Hundreds of sportsmen have there en-
gaged these hardiest of all game fishes and with
great success. A flourishing tuna club has been
organized with permanent quarters on the island.
Mr. Charles W. Willard of Westerly, R. I.,
commissioner of fisheries for that state, is presi-
dent of the club.
In the Annual Report of the Rhode Island
Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, January,
1914, Mr. Willard calls attention to the develop-
ment of the tuna fishing industry at Block Is-
land. According to this report, large numbers
have been taken on hand lines, baited with a
wooden jig, made bright with aluminum paint.
Only the smaller fish, weighing fifteen to sey-
enty-five pounds, can be handled in this manner,
as larger ones either break the lines or tear
out the hooks and escape. Some idea of the
abundance of the tuna in Block Island waters
may be gained from the report of the deputy
assigned to the task of collecting data on the
fishery in 1913. “From the twenty-fifth day
of July to the twentieth of October, 10,000
were caught by hook and line, averaging from
fifteen to thirty pounds. In the same period,
ZOOLOGICAL
1292
-~
a
.
A TAME PENGUIN
Probably Spheniscus humboldti
500 taken in traps weighed from 500 to 800
pounds, and taken with the sword-fish iron, 150
ran 400 to 900 pounds.”
But it is not only in the realm of sport that
the tuna is now attracting attention. He is
beginning to cut a figure in commercial circles.
It seems to be a law of humanity that what is
cheap in price and plentiful in quantity is not
good enough for the ordinary man. Thus
horse-mackerel in 100-pound slabs given away
or sold for a few cents a pound at most is
very unattractive. But pack a 2-ounce portion
in a can, label it TUNA in vermillion letters
with a figure of a large glistening fish leaping
out of a turquoise sea with picturesque foreign-
looking shores in the background, and charge
an altogether unreasonable price for it and it
becomes a tidbit. So the humble horse-mackerel
of the fishermen too poor to afford anything
else has become under another name the piece
de resistance of the fashionable luncheon. The
tuna has at last got into society! Incidentally,
a number of other large members of the mack-
erel family, poor-relation-like, are very apt
to be found representing his lordship at the
table, for a good deal of the canned tuna is said
to be albacore, little tunny, ete. Perhaps, even
SOCIETY BULLETIN
the humble dog-fish may be utilized in this way,
who knows? But these are all just as good
eating as the tuna.
What will be the effect of the entry of com-
mercial interests upon the angling situation is
not yet evident, but probably it will interfere
somewhat by reducing the number, as has so
often happened with other species. However,
this is scarcely a sufficient reason for interfering
with the utilization of a good and ample food
supply that heretofore has been chiefly wasted.
NEW MEMBERS
JuLty 1, 1915—NoveMBeErR 1, 1915
LIFE MEMBERS.
Kinney, Morris,
Osburn, Dr. Raymond C.,
Binns, Walter,
Garner, R. L.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER.
Gillespie, T. H.
ANNUAL MEMBERS.
Bauer, R. M., Henderson, Norman
Bryce, Miss Edith, McBride, Mrs. Herbert,
Cheney, Jr., Mrs. Knight D., Schumann, Jr., John J.,
Downer, J. Halsey, Tucker, Mrs. Agnes J.,
Eberhart, Charles, Webb, J. Griswold,
Ebel, M. C., Weinig, Bernard,
Williams, William H.,
THE PENGUIN IS VERY FRIENDLY
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
Yh
C. H. T. photo
A LARGE SPONGE FROM CUBA
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Hawksbill Turtle—A tortoise-shell or hawks-
bill turtle has been presented to the Aquarium
by Mr. Emil Gottsleben of Nassau, Bahama
Islands.
The specimen is of medium size with the top
shell fifteen inches long and weighs fourteen
pounds. This is the third hawksbill presented
by Mr. Gottsleben. The species is quite valu-
able, furnishing the tortise-shell of commerce.
The Nurse Shark.—A young specimen of the
Florida nurse shark, nearly four feet long, re-
ceived in October, 1918, is still living in the
Aquarium and has grown appreciably since that
date. A large-sized adult which was brought
to the Aquarium, lived only a few days. This
is usually the fate of large specimens.
This species, notwithstanding its large size
—sometimes ten feet in length, is entirely harm-
less to man. Its mouth is quite small and
adapted only to gathering from the bottom the
crustaceans on which it feeds.
A Tame Penguin.—It is not proposed to turn
the Aquarium into an aviary, but when as inter-
esting a sea bird as the penguin comes along, it
is welcome to all the salt water diving space
and sea food it wants.
The penguin, presented by Mr. W. O. Swat-
ridge of Brooklyn, has proved a most attractive
exhibit. Mr. Swatridge obtained it on the
coast of Chili, and presented it to the Aquarium
on July 12. It adapted itself to the new situa-
tion at once and gives every indication of en-
1293
joying life, swimming actively and feeding
freely every day. A small raft in the sturgeon
pool serves as a diving board and resting place
in the daytime. At night it is sent to an open-
topped pen on the gravel roof, where many
hours in the fresh air should be beneficial after
the long day indoors.
Our penguin is a sociable little fellow. He
likes to have his head rubbed, and would rather
take pieces of fresh fish from the hand than
hunt for live minnows in the water. He sub-
mits cheerfully to being carried or handled, and
waddles rapidly after his keeper whenever
called, even following him upstairs. In stair
climbing each step is taken at a jump.
This penguin is in immature plumage. For
want of convenient literature it has not been
identified with certainty. It is not that most
northerly of penguins Spheniscus mendiculus of
the Galapagos Islands nor S. magellanicus of
the Straits of Magellan, with both of which the
writer has had personal experience, but is prob-
ably Spheniscus humboldti of western South
America.
When in the water the bird does very little
diving as compared with swimming on the sur-
face. In swimming it depends entirely upon
its wings, the feet being extended backward
with the soles at the surface of the water.
Even in diving the feet are scarcely used except
in turning.
When perched upon its raft, preening its
feathers, the penguin takes many strange and
even remarkable attitudes which might be bet-
ter described as contortions.
In the matter of food, the bird sticks to the
original diet of fresh fish cut in slices and
scorns all mollusks, crustaceans and sea-weed.
Its weight on October 4 was eight pounds.
A Huge Sponge—Hon. Henry Brenneis,
United States Consul at Cardenas, Cuba, has
sent to the Aquarium the large sheepswool
sponge shown in the accompanying photograph.
It is nearly round and is twenty inches in
diameter.
The sponge fishery of southern Florida has
long been important, but there are also extensive
sponge industries in Cuba, the Bahamas, Hayti,
Colombia, and some parts of the Mexican and
Central American coasts. The annual yield of
sponges from American waters is valued at about
$1,500,000. The United States Bureau of Fish-
eries has made great progress in the propaga-
tion of sponges by cuttings.
1294
REAPPEARANCE OF THE TILEFISH.
By C. H. Townsenp.
HIS remarkable deep-water fish was dis-
covered in 1879, by the fishing schooner
William V. Hutchins, while fishing near
the hundred-fathom curve, south of Nantucket.
Several thousand pounds were caught and a
specimen was sent to the United States Fish
Commission, where it was found to be new to
science and described as Lopholatilus chamaele-
onticeps.
It proved to be a good food fish, but before a
regular fishery could be established, something
unusual happened at the bottom of the sea and
more than a million dead tilefish floated at the
surface. This happened in 1882. and has been
attributed to a sudden change in water tempera-
ture at the bottom.
The tilefish has of late become abundant on
the old fishing grounds off Nantucket and the
hundred-fathom curve off Long Island.
An effort is now being made by the United
States Bureau of Fisheries to introduce it com-
mercially. Under the auspices of the Bureau,
shipments were made to the markets of New
York City and specimens were exhibited at
the Aquarium. At the request of the Bureau of
Fisheries a desk in the office of the Aquarium
was assigned to its representative during his
publicity work in New York.
The fishing schooner Stranger, chartered by
the Bureau, landed 8,000 pounds of tilefish at
New York on October 21. The fish were dis-
tributed through market dealers. many going to
hotels and clubs.
The largest fish, a thirty-pounder. was sent to
President Wilson; the next largest, weighing
twenty-three pounds, to the Aquarium, where it
was exhibited on ice for a few days. This speci-
men was thirty-six inches long. A photograph
of it appears on the cover of this BuLieTin.
The tilefish which were marketed, attracted
decided interest, many buyers of small lots re-
turning with larger orders. The catch made
by the Stranger was obtained in depths of fifty-
eight to seventy-two fathoms, south of Nan-
tucket.
It is believed that the tilefish is abundant
enough to support an important fishery, and
that it will be the means of adding an excellent
food fish to our markets. It is easily caught
and seems to be abundant at all seasons of the
year within 100 miles of the coast. The tile-
fish reaches a length of three feet and a weight
of thirty pounds, the average of those now being
marketed being about eighteen pounds.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
More Notes on the Tilefish—Since the above
was written, the Stranger made a trip to the
tilefish grounds 100 miles southeast of New
York Bay. She fished with trawl lines set in
depths ranging from 62 fathoms to 107 fath-
oms, and in two days caught 816 tilefish, weigh-
ing about 11,000 pounds.
The largest fish weighed thirty-five pounds
and was forty-two inches long. There were many
of these large fish in the catch, most of them
being taken in the lesser depths stated above,
the smaller fish coming from the deeper water.
The fish sold much more rapidly than the first
catch landed the week before, the entire lot be-
ing taken from the vessel in about an hour and
a half, at five cents a pound.
A walk through Fulton Market, just after
the sale. showed that the tilefish had been well
distributed among the fish stalls of the Market.
The vessel will return at once to the tilefish
banks and additional catches will be landed at
New York and Boston.
The effort of the Fisheries Bureau to intro-
duce this splendid deep-water fish to the mar-
kets has been crowned with a high degree of
success.
New Porpoises—As the Butietin goes to
press, word comes from Cape Hatteras that
four porpoises have been captured for the Aqua-
rium. They should reach New York about
November 2.
THE FAIRMOUNT PARK AQUARIUM.
By Wn. E. Meenan, Superintendent.
Formerly Commissioner of Fisheries of
Pennsylvania.
HE Fairmount Park Aquarium in Phila-
delphia, occupies the buildings originally
constructed for the Fairmount Water
Works, on the banks of the Schuylkill River,
and at the foot of the picturesque hill from
which Fairmount Park receives its name. At
present a temporary exhibit of fresh water
fishes is made in old-fashioned, all-glass tanks
in a large hall that is a part of the Aquarium
group of buildings. The permanent exhibit is
to be installed in two large so-called, subter-
ranean rooms fronting the bank of the river
and with the east side washed by a seal pool
nearly 300 feet long and about 75 feet wide.
The roofs of these two structures form a
plaza dotted by small buildings.
One room of the permanent Aquarium is 100
feet long and 50 feet wide, and the other is
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
GROUP OF BUILDINGS NOW BEING RECONSTRUCTED
Fairmount Park Aquarium.
200 feet long and 65 feet wide. The smaller
is about completed and ready for occupancy.
Until the other room is ready the smaller room
will be used for both sea-water and fresh-water
fishes, but when the larger room is finished, the
smaller will be used entirely for tropical marine
fishes and invertebrates. For the first there are
twenty-five tanks with glass fronts, each seven
feet long, five feet high and holding twelve hun-
dred gallons of sea-water, also one tank fifteen
feet long by six feet high with a capacity of
nearly three thousand gallons.
For the invertebrates there are eight central
all-glass tanks averaging each five feet in length
with a width and height of two and one-half
feet.
The larger room now under construction will
have forty-four tanks five feet long and five feet
high with a capacity each
of about one thousand gal-
lons and one tank thirty
feet long and five feet high.
This tank is in reality an en-
closed pool, having a capac-
ity of thirty thousand gal-
lons of water. One side of
the room will be devoted to
marine fishes of the temper-
ate zone and the other side
to fresh-water fishes. In ad-
dition there is to be a cen-
tral line of tanks averaging
three feet in length for va-
rious types of gold fishes,
tropical fresh-water fishes
and small fresh-water fishes
of the temperate zone, most-
ly carried in still water.
1295
The exhibition tanks are
constructed of concrete.
lined with asphalt and fitted
with the best and most mod-
ern devices obtainable to
maintain the fish in good
health. Travertine, a fos-
siliferous stone obtained in
Ohio, is used for ornament-
al rockwork at the back of
the tanks. Sea plants of
certain species are being
specially grown for planting
in the tanks for ocean fishes
and invertebrates.
The large hall now occu-
pied by the temporary ex-
hibit is to be fitted up as a
lecture hall for free public
lectures on aquatic life and
for classes of school children to receive nature
lessons. One of the small buildings on the plaza
has been equipped with troughs and jars and
with a green house for the hatching of fish
eggs; another is utilized as the administration
building. Two others are to be fitted up for
exhibits and an open pavilion used for music
on summer evenings and Sundays.
The City Councils of Philadelphia authorized
the establishment of the Aquarium the ‘latter
part of 1911, and the temporary exhibit was
hurriedly installed in order that the public
might have something to see until the perma-
nent buildings were completed. Unsuited as the
hall is for the purpose, the temporary exhibit
sprang into instant popularity and is visited
HALL FOR MARINE EXHIBIT
Fairmount Park Aquarium.
BEAVER HOUSE ON BERGER BROOK
annually by more than 300,000. Sometimes as
many as 10,000 visitors have crowded into the
hall, fifty feet by fifty feet, on a fine Sunday.
The Aquarium was designed by Superintendent
Meehan, who also has supervision of the con-
struction of the permanent plant. The Aqua-
rium in Fairmount Park is under the direction
of the Park Commissioners. The money for
building and maintenance is supplied by the
City of Philadelphia. While not definitely set-
tled, plans are under consideration for a huge
cascade to fall from the top of old Fairmount
Hill into the open-air seal pool, a height o7
eighty feet, and for an exhibit on the grounds
and perhaps in the buildings of pre-historic
dinosaurs and other monsters, fashioned in con-
crete after the pattern of those in Germany.
THE BEAVER IN SULLIVAN COUNTY,
NEW YORK.
“Ye shall know them by their works.”
O introduce beavers into new territory and
four months later find that they have
felled trees, built houses, constructed
dams and taken up the usual activities of bea-
ver life, is to be quickly repaid for one’s labors.
This is what has happened on the estate of Mr.
Ambrose Monell. In May, 1914, Mr. Monell
placed eight beavers on one of the small streams
on the extensive tract belonging to him in Sulli-
van County, New York.
The animals were lost to sight until their
presence was made known by their works, when
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN a
it was found that they had
built four houses with dams,
in as many different places,
no two being nearer togeth-
er than one mile, the ex-
tremes being four miles
apart as the water courses
flowed. The largest dam
situated on Berger Brook,
is about seventy-five yards
long and has a shorter sup-
porting dam immediately be-
low it. The house erected
by this family of beavers
rises from the water just
inside the rim of the dam.
(See cut above.)
Another family located on
the Bushkill, a deeper
stream, built a higher dam,
with the house on the bank
fifty yards above it. (See
cuts on page 1297.)
C. H. T. photo
These beaver families were well established
when the writer visited them in June, 1915, and
there is reason to suppose that they will in-
crease faster each year. As Mr. Monell’s lands
include several thousand acres of forest with
many brooks, the outcome of his experiment
with beavers will be followed with interest by
all conservators of wild life.
The restoration of the beaver to the Adiron-
dacks has been a notable success. It will un-
doubtedly make itself at home on any forest
stream where it can remain unmolested by man.
Beavers were once abundant in all our northern
forests and their skins were collected annually
by thousands and sent to all countries where
furs are worn.
Since the above was written at Mr. Mon-
ell’s place in June, Mr. Edwin C. Kent of Tux-
edo, informs me that the beavers have built still
another dam on the Bushkill a quarter of a mile
above the original dam, and have flooded a large
part of the swamp. They have added consider-
ably to the dam on Berger Brook and have
built a new house on the brook about a quarter
of a mile below the dam.
The activities of the beavers threaten to inter-
fere with the owner’s plans for trout fishing, as
the dams already appear to harbor pickerel ra-
ther than trout. It is quite possible that these
beaver dams in creating larger bodies of water
will have the effect of modifying the character
of the local fish fauna.
CP ol:
carer ep
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
BEAVER DAM ON THE BUSHKILL
Sullivan County, New York
THE AQUARIUM PORPOISE.
HE bottle-nose porpoise (Tursiops trun-
catus) which lived in the large central
pool of the Aquarium for more than twen-
ty-one months, died on August 21.
The cause of its death was a mixed infection,
which in a few days attacked every part of its
skin, covering the smooth, glistening surface with
unsightly pustules. This infection was clearly
the result of keeping the
animal in water pumped
from New York Harbor, the
only supply available for
the large floor pools. under
present conditions. The wa-
ter of the harbor is always
of low salinity and is
charged with sewage, being
especially foul in mid-sum-
mer.
The porpoise had grown
perceptibly since its arrival
on November 15, 1913. Its
weight at death was 293
pounds and its length, eight
feet. Four other porpoises
received at the same time
lived seven months in the
Aquarium, when they died
of pneumonia in rapid suc-
cession.
Like the one referred to
above, their skins at death
1297
were also filth infected, al-
though not to the same ex-
tent. Our experience has
shown that the porpoise
readily endures captivity
and might live much longer
if pure sea water were avail-
able. Other porpoises will
be obtained in November,
and equipment has at last
been installed for filtering
the harbor water. It will not
be possible to clear this
water of bacteria, but it has
been made much cleaner,
and is now quite clear.
Our school of porpoises
contained both sexes and
they were often observed
mating. The loss of the fe-
males was especially disap-
pointing as the prospects
for breeding in captivity
were promising. All of these
porpoises were constantly active. Cy He ae
C. H.T. photo
A Deep Water Lobster—While fishing on
the Tilefish Grounds, 100 miles southeast of
New York, on October 25th, the schooner
Stranger brought up a very large lobster from
a depth of 100 fathoms, measuring thirty-nine
inches from tip of tail to end of large claw, and
weighing sixteen pounds. The specimen is now
on exhibition at the Aquarium.
C. H. T. photo
BEAVER DAM ON THE BUSHKILL
Sullivan County, New York
HARBOR PORPOISE
A NEW SPECIES OF FISH FROM
FLORIDA.
By L. L. Mowszray.
HILE engaged in collecting fishes at
Key West for the New York Aquarium.
I obtained, on August 8, three speci-
mens of a species hitherto undescribed.
It belongs to the family Haemulidae or
grunters.
I saw this Haemulon three years ago on the
reefs near Key West, and was unable to trap
it until this year. The specimens taken were
adults from ten to twelve inches in length, and
have been on exhibition at the New York Aqua-
rium. ‘Two of them are still living.
This grunt has a greater range of color
changes than any other that I am acquainted
with but its golden pectorals and the stripe ot
gold along the ridge of the back, which glistens
in the sun, make it easy to distinguish. It is a
very shy fish and darts from
crevice to crevice.
It may be described as
follows:
IHaemulon crysopterum,
new species.
Head, 274; depth, 275,
1D) INS soe TELS te
seales, 9-56-15; gill rakers,
10 x 14; eye, 4%; maxil-
lary, 2; second anal spine.
314; Interorbital, 3144 in
head; snout long, about 2
in head; fourth dorsal
spine the longest. 17%, in
pectoral; 21% in head; sec-
ond and third anal spines
strong. about equal in
length; tip of pectoral}
PHOCAENA COMMUNIS
Photographed at the Aquarium, 1914,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN
reaching vertical of de-
pressed ventrals; preoper-
cle moderately serrate;
maxillary with a _ gentle
curve. Body deep; ante-
rior profile straight to ver-
tical through orbit, gently
convex to dorsal; ventral
outline straight or nearly
so; mouth large: red with-
in; teeth strong for the
genus.
Color in life silvery gray:
interorbital to snout brown-
ish; greater portion of pre-
orbital, the whole of preop-
ercle and opercle silvery
gray. A median line of brown from interorbital
to first dorsal spine. Sides with four clearly de-
fined lines of brown, two above the lateral line,
C. H.T. photo
one on and one below; the one below running
straight from center of eye to base of caudal:
A broken wavy line, somewhat oblique, between
this and the line above. Ventral surface freckled
with brown, but subject to great change. Inter-
spaces between base of dorsal and first and see-
ond lines on sides, upper edge of caudal pe-
duncle and pectorals bright golden: Outer
margin of dorsal rays, inner rays of anal and
caudal, golden: The bases of all the fins dark;
ventrals very dark, their anterior edge white.
Eyes bluish: a dark blotch at angle of preoper-
cle, Rare. Taken at Key West, Florida, August
8, 1915. Type No. 4,782, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist..
New York.
New York Aquarium, October 21, 1915.
L. L. M. photo
A NEW SPECIES OF GRUNT
Haemulon cryusopterum, sp. nov.
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 Reports, 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 payment 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.
Applications 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. 11 Wall Street, 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-October, from 9 o'clock A. M. to 5
o'clock P. M.; November-March, from 10 o’clock A. M. to 4 o'clock P. M. No admission is
charged.
PUBLICATIONS
Annual Report No. 1 40 Souvenir Books: Series No. 2, 36 pages, 542x712 inches,
> 75 Cloth $1.00 33 full page illustrations in colors Se
xs ve 3 a) -60 (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.)
Re ae fe Tih it 1.00 Series No. 3, 48 pages, 7x9 inches, 73 illustrations
a -00 a (1 frommtour colons p] ates; nists cits ial sittin te seae 50
either Cee ines 25 1.50 |, (By mail, postage 3 cents extra.)
fee aa “ “ on Souvenir Postal Cards: Series of 72 subjects in colors,
UG 817, 1809. Cachiekrscs oes 1.00 1.95 LIE NEL ESM CE: oar ee ;
PAVEMIRhine Wild) life. (Hor sold in sets of 24 cards, assorted subjects.......-- 25
pure A ostpatd 1 we orna- * tee (By mail, postage 2 cents per set extra.)
sd Re ae 8 ‘Bin aye ta he a ’ ; Photogravures: Series of 12 subjects in sepia. Animals
pene on @ our irds and Mam- and views in the Zoological Park. Sold in sets
mals (FH ornaday ASLO ae -15 of 2 subjects. Per set, postpaid... ......00.e0eee 25
ete Goo) of North a Souvenir Map-Fan: A combined fan and map of the
Bi LOY elms = rane nein : Kaila yeicition St Ao un Tere ores Moone dade oc .10
The Caribou (Grant)............ fe 40 .60 (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
The Origin and Relationship of the Panorama of the Zoological Park: Reproduced in colors
Large Mammals of North Amer- from an original drawing in perspective. Sold
le VG e sn RAE a= Bae Aer snter “€ 1.00 flat or in folder form. ~ 10
The Rocky Mountain Goat (Grant) poet 00 (By mail, postage 2 cents extra.)
Zoologica Vol. 1. Nos. 1-11 inclusive, Enlargements: 11x14 inches, 12 subjects in black and r
MEN trae ns aA oY 78 Oy 2.30 white, each.:.-..-- ; Pra vepetcsysterasatorallal rate tarepreceren dates 225
p . ¥ . “ ‘ Duotone, Brown, each . 35
Zoologica Vol. is Nos. 12, 18 and 14. é +25 Hand Colored (10 Subjects), each -15
“ ea No: WS RaeAL on Caan ee or 2 Photo-Letter: (folding) 18 pictures, photogravure 10
ub CER RONG ites acta ee 35 ss Y re Oe a ST COLOLB ir aisietes apse 10
§ Rm me QM es sr se Tt o= 30 New York Aquarium Nature Series
RRC SD sictoeic. cine 25 Sea Shore Life (Mayer)... 226+ cess ete epee ree eee eee $1.20
Bulletin Nos. 1, 6, 8, 35, 43 and 46... Gubuon Prana cone nen of hishie 3m / Fonds tr pwnseud) ree
* a § Si eld
Bulletins—Bi-monthly........ _. 20c: each: Yearly by mail 1.00 Northern Elephant Seal (Townsend) 225
Bulletin Nos. 5 to 23 inclusive, set, cloth bound, ... 5,00 | Care of Home Aquaria (Osburn). .........- 25
“ “© 94 to 60 “ “ “ “ 10.00 Porpoise in Captivity (Townsend). .....20.2¢0e sence 25
et” kobe f Natural History of the Whale Shark (Gudger)......-..- .30
Official Guide to the New York ae
Zoological Park (Hornaday)........ Monae spant Pau wdtie ed ths 25 Aquarium Post Cards: Colored. In sets, each..... ~ 25
Publications for sale at 11 Wall Street, Zoologica) Park and the New York Aquarium.
rs
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