Z()()rX)(iK'AL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



695 



Zoological Gardt'ii will be out- of the most df- 

 lightfiil memories of India. The splendid Indian 

 Museum, and the tablet marking the historic 

 Black Hole, together with the Zoological Gar- 

 den, completes the list of definite "sights" which 

 Calcutta has to offer to the visitor, although to 

 western eyes, every street is an absorbing spec- 

 tacle, every native shop a treasured memory. 



SOLENODON. 



THE SOLEXODOX. 



FOR the past three years we have watched 

 with keen interest and sympathy the scientific 



chase of the elusive Solenodon. For a brief 

 period the standing-offer price for living speci- 

 mens was .f.>0 each; and for a period, the price 

 asked in this country was cheerfully jirohibitive. 



But a change has come over the Solenodon 

 market. Quite recently ^Ir. Franklin Adams, 

 Secretary of the Bureau of American Republics, 

 and his wife, ^Irs. Harriet Chalmers Adams, 

 the well-known traveller, author and lecturer, 

 captured six specimens in Hayti. and brought 



five of them to New York, alive. Three of them 

 were generously presented to the New York 

 Zoological Park, and two to the Washington 

 Zoological Park. The finest specimen that 

 came to us is shown herewith. Since the arrival 

 of these specimens we have received news of the 

 great success last year of ]\Ir. Thomas Barbour 

 in his efforts to secure Solenodons for the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge. 

 The scientific results secured by him are now 

 available to the world in the form of an elabor- 

 ate memoir on the Solenodon genus, bv Dr. 

 (Jlover M. Allen. 



The Solenodon is ;in animal about two sizes 

 smaller than a Virginia opossum, belonging to 

 the Order Insectivora, which contains the moles 

 and shrews. Its nearest relatives are the 

 shrews. At present only two species are known, 

 (uie of which is found in Hayti and the other in 

 Cuba. In appearance the Haytian animal is 

 very odd. It has a very long, slender, conical 

 snout ; thick legs, and powerful, naked feet and 

 claws for digging; a body like an ant-eater, and 

 a long, naked, opossum-like tail. Its dentition 

 is clearly inseetivorian, but its strong teeth and 

 really powerful jaws go far beyond the demands 

 of an insect bill of fare. The Solenodon does 

 not hesitate to crunch and devour a whole Eng- 

 lish sparrow, and its best food in captivity is 

 said to be the heads of freshly-killed chickens. 

 This strange creature is nominally a burrowing 

 .inimal, but it is quite at home in a hollow log, 

 or a standing tree with an interior apartment to 

 let. 



In capti\ity. thus far it appe.-irs th.-it the life 

 of the Solenodon is usuallv ^■ery brief; though 

 one specimen has been known to live as long as 

 a year. Our experience with our three speci- 

 mens has been very tantalizing. All three of 

 tjiem died during the first week following their 

 arrival, despite the elaborate attention that was 

 given them by men skilled in the care of difficult 

 animals. Dr. Blair's autopsy revealed, as the 

 cause of death, a large stock of internal jjara- 

 sites of a kind new to him, which had invaded 

 the peritoneum, and even the stomach itself, and 

 jiroduced acute peritonitis, which was the cause 

 of death. 



Of course the time will come when Soleuodmis 

 will be obtained in goodly numliers. and settled 

 down in captivity for exhibition. In such cases 

 as the present, a thorough breaking of the spell 

 tiiat originally binds every new species soon 

 leads to more specimens, and better knowledge 

 regarding their care. Five years henee Soleno- 

 dons should be as plentiful in zoological gar- 

 dens as sloths now are. W. T. H. 



