230 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



mals, both large and small. It was believed tlien that many of 

 these would not only be suitable for scientific museums, but 

 would also be far more attractive and instructive than ordinary 

 specimens. A design for a group of orang utaiis was prepared 

 and submitted to Professor Henry A. Ward, with whom the 

 writer was then associated, at his Natural History Establish- 

 ment, with a proposition to prepare such a group as was there 

 represented. After considerable hesitation Professor Ward 

 finally decided to let the experiment be tried, and the group was 

 prepared according to the design. 



I do not deny the soft impeachment that in one respect this 

 design was highly suggestive of the methods adopted by my 

 European rivals to secure attention to their work, or, in other 

 words, it was a trifle sensational. The group in question repre- 

 sented a pair of immense and hideously ugly male orang utans 

 fighting furiously while they hung suspended in the tree-tops. 

 The father of an interesting family was evidently being assailed 

 by a rival for the affection of the female orang utan, who, with 

 a small infant clinging to her breast, had hastily quitted her 

 nest of green branches, and was seeking taller timber. The 

 nest which she had just quitted was an accurate representation 

 of the nest constructed by this great ape. 



In the middle of the group, and at the highest point, was 

 another nest in the top of a sapling, on the edge of which 

 another interesting young orang utan a production evidently 

 of the previous year, was gazing down with wide-eyed wonder 

 at the fracas going on below. The accessories to this were so 

 designed and arranged as to represent an actual section of the 

 top of a Bornean forest, at a height of about thirty feet from 

 the ground, representing the natural trees, with leaves, orchids, 

 pepper-vines, moss, and vegetation galore. For such a subject 

 an unusual amount of care was bestowed on the accessories. 

 Although the design of this group included the theatrical feat- 

 ure of a combat between animals, there was method in this mad- 

 ness. This feature was introduced for the specific purpose of 

 attracting attention to the group and inviting discussion. 



The remainder of the group was of such a character that it 

 seemed no scientific observer could find fault with its natural- 

 ness. All the various members of the group were represented 



