670 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Barney, will not soon be surpassed. The F. H. 

 Barber South African Collection, presented by 

 Messrs. Frederick A. Schernierhorn, Lispenard 

 Stewart, Frederick G. Bourne. Charles F. 

 Dieterich and William D. Sloane, contains not 

 only a great number of species, rare and com- 

 mon, but also many records. Such collections 

 as this are brought together only through years 

 of patient and industrious effort, and many sac- 

 rifices ; and we say again that when Mr. Grant 

 secured the subscriptions that purchased this 

 important series, he scored another grand coup 

 for New York. The most important specimens 

 of the Barber Collection are the following 

 records: Cape Buffalo. Greater Kudu. Water- 

 buck, Lechee Antelope, White-Tailed Gnu. 

 Wart-Hog, Springbuck and Steinbuck. 



The gift of Edward .1. House is at once ren- 

 dered noteworthy' by its magnificent Reticulated 

 Giraffe head, with a full-length neck. Mr. 

 Percy Madeira's gift is made conspicuous by its 

 Hippopotamus head. I\Ir. George L. Harri- 

 son's beautiful group of antelopes and gazelles 

 contains the rare Addra Gazelle, White-Eared 

 Kob and the Thomas Uganda Kob. 



The Donaldson-Smith Collection, presented 

 by Mr. George .T. Gould, through Mr. Grant, 

 contains four large heads of special value and 

 interest, of Abyssinian Buffalo, Gaur, Indian 

 Buffalo and Reticulated Giraffe. The collec- 

 tion given by Newland. Tarlton and Company, 

 of Nairobi, is particularly strong in specimens 

 of Jackson Hartebeest. of which there is a large 

 series. Mr. J. W. Norton's Eland. Waterbucks 

 and Pallahs make a very satisfactory feature of 

 the African continental exhibit. 



With the matchless Reed-McMillin Collection 

 from Alaska. New York is now fairly familiar. 

 It was the first — and the largest — individual 

 gift, and fortunately was in such shape that it 

 was immediately presentable to the public, pic- 

 torially. It is very rich in Giant Moose from 

 the Kenai Peninsula, Grant Caribou and 

 Alaskan Brown Bear. At first the two largest 

 and finest bear skins were hung upon the wall; 

 but a little later it was found that the great 

 space they occupied was so imperatively de- 

 manded by the heads and horns of the continent 

 of North America that it was necessary to take 

 them down. 



In planning the arrangement as a whole, it 

 was decided that so long as the collection re- 

 mains in the Administration Building, several of 

 the individual-gift collections will be kept to- 



gether, even in the zoological series. This idea 

 has been carried into effect, and because of this, 

 the systematic arrangement of about one-third 

 of the zoological series is imperfect. The 

 groups representing the Deer Family, the Wild 

 Cattle, the Sheep, and the Goats, Ibexes and 

 Rupicaprines, are fairly satisfactory, and they 

 at least serve to indicate what will be possible 

 when we secure a building of ample size, spe- 

 cially designed to accommodate the National 

 Collection for the next hundred years. 



In the Geographic Series, the Asiatic exhibit 

 is weak, chiefly because of the fact that what 

 would have been its strength has been bestowed 

 in the Zoological Series. From Asia we need 

 all the Markhors, nearly all the Sheep, and 

 many Deer. And this reminds us of a very 

 pleasing episode. 



At the ver}' moment when the Contributors' 

 Fund became exhausted by important purchases. 

 ^Ir. H. Casimir de Rham subscribed to that 

 fund $2, .'500! Forthwith, portions of it were 

 used in acquiring the monster eighty-nine inch 

 horns of an Indian Buffalo — now in the Asiatic 

 section — the head of an Astor Markhor for the 

 Zoological Series and two fine sheep heads — 

 Ovis harelini and 0. nigrimontana — that were 

 collected only last year in Eastern Turkestan 

 by ^Ir. Douglas Carruthers. The last-named 

 species had not before existed in the collection ; 

 and we doubt whether there are more than four 

 or five specimens in all the museums of the 

 world. In Mr. Rowland Ward's fifth edition of 

 his Records of Big Game, the species is not 

 mentioned. It is like a small edition of O. 

 kari'liiii, which in turn is like a small edition of 

 Ovis poll. 



The Contributors' Fund, to the making of 

 wliieh thirtv-six sportsmen subscribed, has been 

 of very great service in the founding of this 

 collection. By means of it thirty-four speci- 

 mens representing thirty-one species of particu- 

 lar scientific value and rarity, have been pur- 

 chased ; and through it a number of gaps have 

 been filled. 



In the Zoological Series, we can eontemjilate 

 our Deer Family with considerable satisfaction; 

 for it is much more than a beginning; and the 

 same is true of the Wild Cattle, Sheep, and the 

 Goats and their allies. All these are so far 

 along that the zoological gaps in them are not 

 very conspicuous. As Captain John S. Barnes 

 trenchantly remarked after viewing the Zoolog- 

 ical Series, "It will now take a smart man to 

 tell what this collection lacks !" 



