January io, 1901 J 



NA TURE 



253 



ably, the sweeping away of the enormous herds of many 

 species, like those of the American bison, may have been 

 an inevitable accompaniment of the march of civilisation 

 and progress ; but there is no sort of excuse to be made 

 for the fact that in certain instances naturalists failed to 

 realise that species were on the very verge of extermin- 

 ation, and that they were actually allowed to disappear 

 from the world without being adequately represented in 

 our museums. Nor is it by any means certain that even 

 the present generation is altogether free from reproach 

 in this matter, although it cannot be said that any 

 species hovering on the verge of extermination are 

 absolutely unrepresented in collections. Whether, how- 

 ever, sufficient specimens of such species are being pre- 

 served for our successors may be an open question. 



It is not our intention in this article to allude to the 

 host of animals whose numbers have been reduced in 

 such a wholesale manner during the century as to render 

 them in more or less immediate danger of impending 

 extermination, but to confine our attention in the main 

 to those on whom this fate has already fallen. And here 

 it may be mentioned with satisfaction that India enjoys 

 a remarkably good record in this respect, for, so far as 

 we are aware, it has not lost a single species of mammal, 

 bird or reptile, either during the nineteenth century or 

 within the period of definite history. It is true that the 

 numbers and range of the Indian lion have been sadly 

 curtailed during the last fifty years, and that if steps are 

 not promptly taken for its protection that animal may, 

 ere long, disappear from the Indian fauna. But, at any 

 rate, it has not done so at present ; and even were it 

 exterminated in the country, this would not mean the 

 extermination of a species, and possibly not even, of a 

 local race, since it is not improbable that the Persian 

 representative of the lion (which is still abundant) may 

 not be distinguishable from the Indian animal. Of large 

 animals peculiar to India, perhaps the great Indian 

 rhinoceros is the one that requires most careful watchmg 

 in order that its numbers and its range may not be 

 unduly reduced before it is too late to take adequate 

 measures for its protection. And in this connection it is 

 perhaps legitimate to call the attention of sportsmen and 

 native princes to the urgent need of a fine specimen of 

 this magnificent animal for the collection of the British 

 Museum. 



We have said that the century is responsible for the 

 extinction of no inconsiderable number of the world's 

 animals. But it must not for one moment be supposed 

 that, within the historic period, no such exterminations by 

 human agency had taken place in previous centuries. 

 We have to go back so far as the year 1615 for the last 

 evidence of the existence, in a living state, of the great 

 flightless rail {Aphanapteryx) of Mauritius and 

 Rodriguez ; while the journal of the mate of the 

 Berkley Castle^ in 1681, is the last record of the dodo 

 being seen alive. Again, the tall and flightless solitaire 

 of Rodriguez is not definitely known to have been met 

 with by Europeans after 1691, although there is some 

 evidence to indicate that it may have lingered on in the 

 more unfrequented portions of the island till as late as 

 1 761. Of the extinct geant, or Mauritian coot {Leguaiia), 

 we have no evidence of its existence subsequent to 1695 ; 

 while our last record of the crested parrot {Lophopsit- 

 tacus) is as far back as 1601. Again, the great northern 

 sea-cow {Rhytina gtgas), which was only discovered on 

 the islands of Bering Sea in the year 1741, had entirely 

 ceased to exist by about 1767, Moreover, the giant tor- 

 toise of Reunion appears to have ceased to exist on its 

 native island previous to the dawn of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, although at least one exported example has survived 

 till our own day. 



Neither can the nineteenth century be held responsible 

 for the extermination of the South African blaauwbok 

 {Hippotragus leucophoeus), a smaller relative of the 



NO. 1628, VOL. 63] 



familiar roan antelope, since the last known example is- 

 believed to have been killed in or about the year 1799. 

 It had always a curiously restricted habitat, being^ 

 confined to a small area in the Swellendam district. 



On the other hand, the great auk is a bird whose loss 

 we owe to the carelessness of the naturalists of the- 

 middle of the nineteenth century, for there is Httle 

 doubt that if protective measures had been taken in time 

 it might have been alive at the present day. From the 

 American side of the Atlantic it probably disappeared 

 somewhere about the year 1840 ; while the summer or 

 1844 witnessed the destruction of the last European pair 

 of this remarkable bird, the last British representative 

 having been hunted to death in the neighbourhood of 

 Waterford Harbour ten years previously. 



One of the most sad stories of extermination, and 

 that, too, at a comparatively recent date, is revealed in 

 the case of the South African quagga. According to 

 Mr. H. A. Bryden, who has devoted a great deal of 

 attention to the subject, the extermination of this zebra- 

 like species in the Cape Colony took place between the 

 years 1865 and 1870, and probably between the latter 

 year and 1873 i" the Orange River Colony, which was- 

 its last stronghold. The extermination of this species 

 may be attributed entirely to the pernicious trade of hide- 

 hunting, for in the first half of the century it was to be met 

 with in thousands on the grass veldt, and formed the 

 staple food of the Hottentot farm labourers of the Graaf 

 Reinet and many other districts. What makes the 

 matter still more melancholy is that specimens of the 

 animal could easily have been procured in any numbers^ 

 both for our menageries and our museums, but that 

 (probably owing to the circumstance that naturalists were 

 ignorant of its impending fate) no steps were taken in 

 the matter. In the year 1851 a female was purchased by 

 the Zoological Society of London, while seven years later 

 a male was presented to the same body by the late Sir 

 George Grey. The latter survived till 1872, and was thus 

 one of the last survivors of its race. Although the fact 

 of the practical accomplishment of the extermination of 

 the species at that time appears to have been unknown 

 in London, the skin of Sir George Grey's specimen was 

 luckily preserved, and may now be seen mounted) 

 (albeit in a somewhat worn and faded condition) in the 

 British Museum as the solitary representative of the 

 species. Fortunately the skeleton of this specimen was 

 likewise preserved for the national collection. 



Several photographs of the above-mentioned indi- 

 vidual are in existence, and the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons possesses a small oil-painting, byAgassiz, of one of 

 a pair of quaggas which were driven in harness by Mr. 

 Sheriff Parkins in Hyde Park early in the nineteenth- 

 century. Of these two animals the College likewise 

 possesses the skulls, which were acquired with the col- 

 lection of Mr. Joshua Brookes on its purchase in 1828. 



In addition to Sir George Grey's specimen, the British 

 Museum formerly had the skin of a young quagga, ii>. 

 very bad condition, which was presented by the traveller 

 William Burchell, and was subsequently described by 

 Hamilton Smith as a distinct species, under the name of 

 Hippotigris isabellinus. Apparently London museums 

 possess no other relics of this lost species, of which^ 

 however, we believe there is an example in the museum 

 at Edinburgh. As the animal yielded no trophies- 

 worthy the attention of the sportsman, it is unlikely that 

 there are any specimens in private collections, unless, 

 perchance, a skull or two may be in existence. The lack 

 of other relics of such a common species affords a signal 

 instance of lost opportunities, and should serve as a 

 warning against our permitting a similar remissness to- 

 occur in the case of any other species threatened with 

 extermination. 



Mention has already been made of the extermina- 

 tion of the giant land tortoise of Reunion during thfe 



