ZOOLOGICAL SOCIET\- BULLETIN. 



357 



Up to this date sixty distinguished foreign 

 zoologists have registered as members of the 

 Congress, and expressed their intention to 

 attend. The number of American guests will 

 probably reach 200. Naturally, the visit of 

 the Congress to New York is of interest to all 

 persons who in any way are connected with 

 the zoological institutions of this City, and 

 the zoologists of New York have formed a 

 local committee to provide for the entertain- 

 ment of the members of the Congress during 

 their visit here. 



THE AUTOMATIC SHOT-GUN. 



Mr. G. O. Shields and his supporters in the 

 campaign against the automatic gun have won 

 a victory in an important engagement. The 

 State of Pennsylvania has recently enacted a 

 law. and it has been signed by the Governor, 

 prohibiting in hunting the use not only of the 

 automatic shot-gun, but also of the well-known 

 "pump-gun" which has been in use for several 

 years. The battle was fought hard on both 

 sides, but the longer the subject was illumin- 

 ated the stronger grew the feeling that auto- 

 matic guns of all kinds should no longer be 

 used against wild life; and the final majority 

 was overwhelmingly against those weapons. 



At first Governor Stuart was inclined 

 against the measure, but the arguments against 

 the deadliest guns soon convinced him that 

 the interests of wild-life preservation war- 

 ranted his approval of it ; so he signed it, and 

 sent the pen to Mr. Shields, to hang alongside 

 the one with which President McKinley signed 

 the admirable "Lacey Bird Law." 



Seven of the provinces of Canada have en- 

 acted laws against the automatic gun, but it 

 was left to Pennsylvania to show the way to 

 other states on this side of the international 

 boundary. All honor to Pennsylvania, and 

 the grand army of her citizens who worked 

 for and voted for the new measure, and to the 

 Governor who signed the bill. We congratu- 

 late Mr. Shields upon this signal testimonial 

 to the correctness of his judgment regarding 

 the mechanical shot-guns. 



THE ELEPHANT HOUSE SCULPTURE 

 COMPETITION. 



In response to the request of several sculp- 

 tors of wild animals the work involved in 

 providing the animal sculptures for the Ele- 

 phant House, was thrown open to competi- 

 tion. After a careful consideration of the 



whole subject, the Executive Committee de- 

 cided to invite six sculptors to compete, and a 

 suitable amount was appropriated for the ex- 

 penses of each competitor. The following per- 

 sons were invited to compete : A. P. Proctor, 

 Eli Harvey, F. G. R. Roth, Miss Anna V. 

 Hyatt, Charles R. Knight and B. C. Rum- 

 sey. Owing to her departure for a prolonged 

 stay in Europe, Miss Hyatt was unable to 

 enter the competition. 



The models of the five competitors were de- 

 livered on Saturday, June 8th, at the Lion 

 House, and were displayed in the studio of 

 that building, where the light was well adapted 

 to the purposes of the occasion. All models 

 were submitted without signature or sign save 

 a distinguishing mark, under seal. In entire 

 ignorance of the origin of any of the models, 

 the Executive Committee of the Society made 

 its official inspection at a special meeting held 

 at the Zoological Park on June 19. The de- 

 cision was awarded to the models which it was 

 presently discovered were submitted by Mr. 

 Proctor and Mr. Knight ; and finding it ex- 

 tremely difficult to choose between these two 

 sculptors, the work was divided, and one-half 

 of it awarded to each. 



THE LION HOUSE MURAL 

 DECORATIONS. 



For a considerable period the six smaller 

 outside cages of the Lion House have lacked 

 their mural decorations. The three large 

 cages were so successfully decorated, by Mr. 

 Carl Rungius, the well-known painter of wild 

 animals, that the completion of the original 

 scheme has only awaited a reasonably conven- 

 ient season. 



At no small sacrifice to his own plans and 

 work, and solely because of his keen interest 

 in the general work of the Zoological Society, 

 of which he has long been a member, Mr. Run- 

 gius has taken time to complete the original 

 design. During the spring months, with ex- 

 cellent assistance from Mr. E. A. Costain, of 

 the Zoological Park force, he decorated the 

 rear walls and all partitions of the six smaller 

 cages, and brought the whole work together 

 in one continuous panorama, stretching from 

 end to end of the outside cages. 



As the members of the Society already 

 know, the combination of rocks and painted 

 background behind them in the three large 

 cages proved an unqualified success, but the 

 completion of the scheme has more than 

 doubled the effectiveness of the three isolated 

 panoramas. 



