﻿NOTES 



Dodo Skeleton 



The United Slates National Museum has recentlj purchased, for 

 exhibition at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, the skeleton 

 of a dodo, Didus ineptus. The specimen lacks the back pari of the 

 skull and the ribs, and the pelvis is imperfect behind. Some of the 

 phalanges have been restored. As mounted, the height of the skele- 

 ton is 0.66 m. Beside this skeleton, the National Museum po 

 a cast of the foot and of the dried head which are in the museum of 

 Oxford University, and also a cast of the skull in the Royal Zoolog- 

 ical Museum at Copenhagen (Nos. 16,954, 55, 57). By the aid of 

 these casts and the excellent drawings published by < >wen in the 

 Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, it is anticipated 

 that the skeleton can be completely restored without difficulty. — 

 F. W. True. 



An Elephant as an Arctic Traveller 



[Abstract translated from article by Julius Schott, Director of the Zoological Garden at Copenhagen, in 

 the " Zoologische ( .. 



It has long been known that tropical animals generally endure the 

 lower temperatures of our climate better than polar animals do the 

 higher degrees of heat that occur in our regions. Pachyderms 

 are no exception to this rule. The author of this article saw with 

 the greatest interest in the early days of the year 1900 an elephant 

 in the Berlin garden exposed in the open air to a temperature of 

 — 1° Cent. The ground was covered with a thin layer of snow, but 

 the old fellow found himself very comfortable yet showed marked 

 signs of excitement at the unusual sensations. 



That elephants bear cold well we have known for a long time, as 

 we have all read in Livy how in 215 B.C. Hannibal succeeded in 

 leading over the snow-covered passes of the Alps a portion of his 

 band of 37 war elephants. However, the world's record for endur- 

 ance in this line must certainly be given to the elephant "Topsy" 

 belonging to the showman Philadelphia. Five years ago, partially 

 clad in reindeer skins, she undertook a winter journey nearly as far 

 north as the arctic circle. 



On February 12, 1900, her trainer found himself in the city of 



5 1 " 



