208 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



male Cape giraffe to this country, as a present to" Queen 

 Victoria on her Diamond Jubilee. By Her Majesty's order the 

 animal was to be deposited in the Gardens. It suffered con- 

 siderably on the passage, and was moribund when it reached 

 the Park. The box was taken into the paddock, but on 

 removing the bar and opening the door the giraffe was found 

 lying dead. Great disappointment was felt at this mischance, 

 for hopes had been entertained that the Jubilee giraffe, as it 

 was popularly called, would prove a suitable mate for Daisy. 

 Other introd actions were the Altai deer, the Dominican cat, 

 the Uvaean parrakeet, the pygmy goose, Smith's bronze-winged 

 pigeon, the thick-billed penguin, and the white-legged falconet. 

 A monkey received early in the year was tentatively referred 

 to as a species exhibited in 1840, and described by Ogilby as 

 the Tantalus monkey in the Proceedings (1841, p. 33). 



A very fine example of Daudin's tortoise was deposited by 

 the Hon. Walter Rothschild. This huge reptile, originally from 

 the Aldabra, had been in captivity in the Mauritius for about 

 150 years, and was believed to be the largest living land 

 tortoise. The length, over the curve of the shell, taped 5 ft. 

 6 in., and in a straight line 4 ft. 7 in. ; the width in a straight 

 line from side to side was 2 ft. 10 in., which was also the 

 height from the top of the carapace to the ground ; and the 

 weight was about 5 cwt. At Mr. Rothschild's request, Mr. 

 Arthur Thomson Avent to Marseilles to bring the tortoise to 

 London, but although he had engaged a waggon to take the 

 reptile across Paris to the Gare du Nord, owing to some 

 misunderstanding he had to stow the crate on the top of an 

 omnibus. As he himself expressed it, he felt anxious lest the 

 tortoise should break down the roof and travel inside. 



One new anthropoid and two new monkeys were received in 

 1898. The siamang gibbon, presented by Mr. Stanley Flower, 

 was the first seen alive in Europe, although Sir Stamford Raffles 

 had described it in the Transactions of the Linnean Society in 

 1822. Dr. H. 0. Forbes gave an interesting account of a young 

 pet siamang which he kept in Sumatra : 



The gentle and caressing way in which it clasps me round the neck 

 with its long arms, laying its head on my chest, and watching my face 

 with its dark brown eyes, uttering a satisfied crooning sound, is most 



