96 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



comprising 125 specimens. These are especially interesting as some 

 of them are highly specialized for life under desert conditions. 



Shrum's Chinchilla Kanch, of Front Eoyal, Va., presented a male 

 chinchilla, and the Greeson Chinchilla Farm, of Arlington, Va., de- 

 posited in the Zoo for a short time four chinchillas {Chinchilla chin- 

 chilla) , a pair and their two young. These attractive little creatures 

 formed an interesting exhibit. 



Through the interest of Mrs. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty, the Gov- 

 ernment of Australia and U. S. Consul General Donald Smith pre- 

 sented a pair of great gray kangaroos {Macropus giganteus). 



The Hecht Co. of Washington presented 15 young monkeys repre- 

 senting 6 different kinds. These had been on exhibition in the Hecht 

 Co. store windows and were desirable additions to the Zoo collection. 



The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, through the kindness 

 of State Game Warden Norbert C. Faass, sent two pronghorn 

 antelopes {Antilocapra americana) , the first the zoo has had for many 

 years. 



Robert W. Macdonald, of the National Marine Bank Building, 

 Baltimore, Md., acting on behalf of the people of the Republic of 

 Indonesia, presented a Malayan sun bear {Helarctos malayanus). 

 The Isthmian Steamship Co. brought the bear to the States. 



The New York Zoological Society, through James Oliver, gave 10 

 arrow-poison frogs {Dendrobates aiiratus) and 10 of the very beautiful 

 yellow atelopus frogs {Atelopus varius zeteki). The arrow-poison 

 frogs are particularly interesting, as the secretion from their backs is 

 used by the Central American natives to poison the tips of their blow- 

 gun darts. 



Joe Walkup, of the Safeway Stores at Landover, Md., gave the Zoo 

 a very beautifully marked necklace snake [Erythrolamprus aesculapii) 

 that he had found in food material received from the Tropics. 



Mario DePrato, principal keeper in the National Zoological Park, 

 gave to the Zoo 10 different kinds of small creatures that he obtained 

 on his vacation. Especially interesting were the narrow-mouthed 

 toads {Microhyla carolin^n.se) not previously exhibited. 



With the growth of the Washington metropolitan region there has 

 been a constant increase in the number of helpless local wild creatures 

 rescued by kind people and brought to the Zoo. Some of those that 

 seem to have a fair chance of survival are liberated, some are ex- 

 changed for material needed for the Zoo, and occasionally some are 

 given to persons who will give them good care. During the past year 

 127 Peking ducks, 71 rabbits, 40 opossums, 33 hamsters, 13 gray squir- 

 rels, 12 skunks, G robins, and various other creatures that had been 

 pets, or were found when young or injured, were turned over to the 

 Zoo. This gives unduly large accession and removal lists, but to re- 



