SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. 61 



I 

 the increase of the collection of bears, the importation of a choice 

 lot of mammals from Japan, China, and the East Indies, and 

 the purchase of a fine lot of mature North American mammals 

 in Maine, the stocking of the Beaver Pond, and the starting of 

 a collection of Wild Sheep and Goats. 



Primates. — On December 22d the new Primates' House was 

 opened to the public with 114 specimens, representing 42 

 species, gathered from a wide range of sources. The rarest, and 

 in some respects the most wonderful specimens in the collec- 

 tion, are two gelada baboons of the largest size, and in very fine 

 condition. So far as can be learned, these are the only speci- 

 mens in captivity, and their acquisition was a piece of good- 

 fortune. These specimens are native to Southern Abyssinia, 

 but were found in Moscow, Russia, by the son of Carl Hagen- 

 beck, and purchased by cable at a cost of $750. Of all the ba- 

 boons, the gelada is the most wonderful in form and habit, and 

 it is also one of the largest in size. Like most baboons, it is 

 quite ferocious in disposition. Its heavy mane and body man- 

 tle of wavy dark-brown hair strongly resemble the hair on the 

 shoulders of a musk-ox. Unlike other baboons, its nostrils are 

 placed far back on the muzzle, and the endless grimaces of the 

 animal are quite beyond description. 



At one time during the past summer the collection of an- 

 thropoid apes contained five orang-utans and one chimpanzee. 

 Several of the former were trained to eat at table in human 

 fashion. During warm weather daily exhibitions of the largest 

 specimen, " Rajah," were given in the open air before immense 

 crowds of visitors. Unfortunately, in October there occurred 

 among the apes an outbreak of septic ulcerative dysentery, 

 caused by the presence of a deadly microscopic organism known 

 as Balantidium coli, which caused the death of all the anthropoid 

 apes except the female called " Sally." This animal has been 

 in the Park for nearly two and a half years, and was cured of 

 the dread disease which conquered her companions. Fortu- 

 nately we have thus far succeeded in preventing the spread of 

 this disease beyond the group of animals first attacked by it. 

 Just how this deadly protozoan first reached our orang-utans 

 remained for three months a complete mystery. A diligent 

 microscopical search of all possible sources of immigration was 

 finally rewarded by the startling discovery that the giant tor- 



