666 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BLTLLETIN. 



AFRICAN ELEPHANT HEAD. 

 Loaned by Samuel Thome, Esq. 



double sati.sf'acti()ii tliat it will he found duly in- 

 stalled when the Collection i.s first shown to the 

 members of the Zoological Society, and to 

 American sportsmen generally. It will play an 

 important part in hastening the day when a 

 special building will be provided for the heads 

 and horns, in order that the millions of visitors 

 to the Park may have free access to a collec- 

 tion that certainly has provoked much curiosity. 

 The Tjader elephant head is assuredly one of 

 the most perfectly and beautifully mounted ele- 

 phant heads that we have ever seen. It is to 

 be borne in mind that the taxidermist, Mr. Lang, 

 saw the animal shot, and it was he who photo- 

 graphed it, measured it, skinned it, and pre- 

 served the skin in the field. The anatomy of 

 the head has been reproduced with marvelous 



fidelity, and the s])ecinun is even more true to 

 life tiian if the head had been cut off the animal 

 and hung in the flesh upon the wall. The pe- 

 culiar reddish-brown color of the skin is evi- 

 dently due to the color of the ground on which 

 tile animal lived. Because of the industry and 

 persistence with which elephants cover them- 

 selves with dust, to keep off insects, every ele- 

 phant is bound to partake of the color of the 

 dust of its environment. The animal measured 

 ten feet, four inches, at the shoulders. The 

 tusks are six feet, nine inches in length, and 

 weigh 160 pounds. It rarely happens that a 

 mounted elephant is permitted to possess, in a 

 museum, such fine tusks as these. Very often 

 the tusks are reproduced in plaster, or papier- 

 mache. W. T. H. 



