894 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



MALLARD DUCKS 



ZOOLOGICAL PARK NOTES 



Albino Alligators. — Through the interest and 

 courtesy of Mr. George L. McVey, the Reptile 

 House possesses five albino alligators. So much 

 of the coloring pigment is lacking in the skin 

 of these reptiles that they are of a pinkish white 

 hue, while the eyes are very pale, though appar- 

 ently as sharp and alert as those of any normal 

 saurian. These little alligators were captured 

 near Miami, Florida. They are now about nine 

 inches long, lively and healthy, and indicate 

 a disposition to rapidly develop. 



Giant Spiders. — The collection of giant 

 spiders of the tropics is of marked interest. 

 Some of our examples have been exhibited con- 

 siderablj' over a year, and all of them have spun 

 intensely white silk tubes in their cages. These 

 spiders regularly shed their skins. When the 

 old skin is about to be cast it splits up the back, 

 the spider withdraws its legs from the original 

 easing, leaving the former covering so intact as 

 to appear like another spider. The keepers have 

 several times been deceived in cleaning the cages 

 by cautiously poking aside the shed skin of one 

 of these creatures, while the living inmate of the 

 cage was actually hiding in its silk tunnel. 



A Long-Lived Beetle. — Although the small 

 insects are supposed to live for comparatively 

 short periods, we have an interesting record of a 

 beetle that was captured on the borders of the 

 Sahara Desert by a lady visiting the Pyramids. 

 This lady picked up the beetle and placed it in 

 what she believed to be an air-tight tin box ; her 

 intention being to have the insect mounted upon 

 arriving in America, as a souvenir of her trip 

 to the desert. She believed that the insect would 

 die immediately after being placed in the box. 

 Arriving in America three months later she dis- 

 covered the box in her trunk, and upon opening 



it was astonished to find the beetle, which had 

 been all this time without food and water, in a 

 livel_v condition. She presented the insect to the 

 Society, asking that it be installed in one of the 

 cages of the Insect Collection. This creature 

 died on April 10 of the present year, after 

 having been in our possession for seventeen 

 months. Curiously enough, it was seldom 

 noted to partake of food during the period it 

 was exhibited here, althougli it remained uni- 

 formly lively up to the time that it died. 



Biishmaster and Lancehead Snakes. — From 

 Mr. R. R. Mole, who sends us many interesting 

 South American reptiles and insects, we have 

 just received a fine example of the fer-de-Iance 

 and a large specimen of the South American 

 bushmastcr. These two serpents represent the 

 deadliest species of reptiles of tlie new world. 

 The lance-head snake is about six feet long and 

 the bushmastcr is about eight feet in length. 

 The latter is of a beautiful salmon hue, the 

 body crossed by sooty-black bands. The scales 

 are so rough as to suggest the surface of a 

 pineapple. In his letter relating to these ser- 

 pents, both of which were captured on the 

 Island of Trinidad, Mr. Mole explains that 

 the great pit vipers of that island are now be- 

 coming very rare, owing to the activity among 

 their numbers of the Indian mongoose, which 

 was imported to Trinidad some years ago. De- 

 spite its habit of killing poisonous snakes, the 

 mongoose is not rated as a verj- valuable 

 mammal in Trinidad, owing to its habit of fre- 

 quently killing poultry. 



New Tigers Arrive. — A fine pair of young 

 Bengal tigers has been placed on exhibition at 

 the Lion House. The male was born in 1910 

 and the female is a year older. 



Neiv Monkeys. — The happy family in the 

 south lobby of the Monkey House has been 



