TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT 67 



The Indian elephant developed quite early in the year his 

 annual fit of "musth," and while we had hoped that it might 

 be less severe than usual, it proved to be more so. His bad 

 temper was so pronounced and dangerous, and his rage at his 

 keepers so constant, it became evident that at last old Gunda 

 was suffering from the confinement that was necessary to keep 

 him even measurably under control. Accordingly the Director 

 advised the Executive Committee of these facts, and recom- 

 mended that the life of the animal be terminated without delay. 

 The Committee accepted the recommendation, and ordered that 

 it be carried into effect. 



Mr. C. E. Akeley, the successful and famous hunter and 

 collector of elephants in Africa, was asked to kill Gunda, by 

 shooting, and accepted that painful task. On June 21, a single 

 bullet from a .26 caliber elephant rifle traversed the brain of 

 the great animal, produced instantaneous paralysis of the brain 

 and the whole nervous system, and was as painless as chloro- 

 form at its best. The skin and skeleton were presented to the 

 American Museum of Natural History, and were prepared for 

 mounting. 



The female gorilla, Dinah, died on July 31 of loss of ap- 

 petite and malnutrition, after having been over eleven months 

 on exhibition in the Zoological Park, and about two years after 

 she was acquired by the Society's agent in Africa, Mr. Garner. 

 She was entirely free from tuberculosis, and although her in- 

 ternal organs seemed to be sound and healthy, her appetite 

 utterly failed to sustain her. 



Among other mammal losses during the year were a harte- 

 beest, a musk-ox, the pygmy African elephant, and two aged 

 bison. Aside from the losses due directly to accidents, infirm- 

 ities of temper and old age, the death toll during the year was 

 by no means great. Fortunately there were no epidemics. The 

 pygmy elephant, Congo, had become hopelessly afflicted with 

 neuritis, and after having lived in the Park since July, 1905, 

 he was destroyed on November 3, 1915. 



The foreign wild animal market has been seriously injured 

 by the war, but thanks to our connection with G. Tyrwhitt- 

 Drake, Esq., the owner of a large and excellent private men- 

 agerie at Maidstone, England, we have received during 1915 

 some excellent accessions. Our single-humped camel, from Mr. 

 Drake's collection, is a particularly fine and handsome animal, 



