NA TURE 



249 



THURSDAY, JULY ii, 1901. 



ROTHSCHILDS NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE. 

 Novitates Zoologicae. A Journal of Zoology in con- 

 nection with the Tring Museum. Edited by the Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild, Ernst Hartert and Dr. K. Jordan. 



IT has long been the custom of some of the principal 

 museums of natural history in all parts of the world to 

 maintain a periodical devoted, more or less exclusively, to 

 the publication of the discoveries made by the members 

 of their staffs and based on the collections placed under 

 their care. The long series of Annales du Musee and 

 Archives die Musee issued by the naturalists of the great 

 French museum in the Jardin des Plantes are well known 

 to all workers in biology. The Xational Museum of 

 Holland issues \\.% Notes from the Leyden Museum, wiih 

 great regularity, and of not less importance to zoological 

 science are the Annals of the Museo Civico of Genoa. 

 On the other side of the Atlantic, we find the Bulletin 

 of the American Museum of Natural History at New 

 York, and the similar publication of the National 

 Museum of the U.S. at Washington, both mainly devoted 

 to the work performed by the naturalists of those insti- 

 tutions, and in South .America the Museums of Para and 

 S. Paulo issue corresponding publications. One advan- 

 tage of this plan is that it helps to make the existence of 

 the museum and its working staff more generally known, 

 and another that it supplies a convenient medium for the 

 exchange of publications with other similar institutions. 



Shortly after Mr. Walter Rothschild had founded the 

 Zoological JNTuseum at Tring, in order to house his 

 large collections, and to render them more accessible for 

 scientific research, he wisely determined to establish an 

 illustrated periodical for the publication of the results 

 of his own work and that of his fellow-labourers in 

 the new institution. 



Novitates Zoologicae is the appropriate title of this 

 " organ," and quite deserves its well-chosen name. 

 Beginning in 1894, it has now completed its seventh 

 annual volume ; and the eighth (for 1901) is in full 

 swing. But before we speak of the contents of this work, 

 a few words may be said about the building in which 

 Mr. Rothschild's treasures are housed, and which stands 

 in a quiet corner of the little town of Tring on the borders 

 of Tring Park. Lord Rothschild's son has been from 

 early youth a devoted student of natural history of all 

 kinds, and has well employed his almost unrivalled 

 opportunities for hunting up new and rare specimens in 

 every quarter of the globe. Active agents under his 

 directions have explored the mountains of New Guinea, 

 the little-known islands of the Northern Pacific, and the 

 forests of South America with great success, and have 

 reaped a large harvest of zoological specimens which have 

 accumulated under his care. After the collections thus 

 made had outgrown the accommodation that could be 

 given to them in a private establishment, Mr. Rothschild 

 determined to establish a building for their special recep- 

 tion. This was accomplished about 1S91, when a museum, 

 plain in structure, but admirably adapted to its object, 

 arose, under Mr. Rothschild's directions, at the corner of 

 NO. 1654, VOL. 64] 



Tring Park, and has since that period become famous 

 amongst naturalists as the " Zoological Museum, Tring." 

 The Tring Museum consists of two departments — 

 the public galleries and the working laboratories. 

 The galleries contain a fine series of mounted speci- 

 mens illustrative of all the leading orders of animals 

 and admirably mounted and arranged for the edifica- 

 tion of the general public, who are admitted to 

 inspect Mr. Rothschdd's treasures four days in the 

 week. Mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, shells, 

 corals, sponges and other marine animals crowd 

 the shelves, and amongst them are many speci- 

 mens of special interest on account of their rarity or 

 remarkable forms. The mammals and birds of the 

 British islands are specially attended to, and a cabinet of 

 glazed drawers, accessible to every visitor, contains a 

 nearly complete series of British butterflies and moths, 

 which renders the identification of these insects easy to the 

 mquirer. Amongst the rarities in the order of*mammals 

 IS a stuffed specimen of the extinct quagga {Eguus 

 guagga), one out of the four or five still known to exist in 

 European museums. Another nearly extinct mammal 

 well represented at Tring is the white or square-mouthed 

 rhinoceros of South Africa (Rhinoceros simus). Two of 

 the few remaining examples of this huge animal were 

 shot in Mashonaland by Mr. R. T. Coryndon in 1S92. 

 One of these is now in the British Museum, while the 

 other was secured by Mr. Rothschild. The specimen in 

 the Tring Museum, which has been splendidly mounted by 

 Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co., stands more than 6 feet 

 at the withers, and is upwards of 1 2 feet in length. It is the 

 original of the excellent figure of this species given in 

 the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1894. In the 

 bird-series, humming-birds, parrots, game-birds, apteryxes 

 and cassowaries are some of Tring's strongest points, 

 whilst the set of bones of the extinct .Epyornis of 

 Madagascar is unrivalled, and will strike everyone with 

 admiration. 



Such are some of the more striking objects in the 

 public galleries of the Tring Museum, but still more 

 important are those stowed away in the laboratories where 

 Mr. Rothschild's naturalists, Mr. Ernst Hartert and Dr. 

 Jordan, will be found hard at work. Mr. Hartert devotes 

 his time mainly to birds of all classes, of which there is 

 a splendid series at Tring. Dr. Jordan bestows his 

 attention on the invertebrates, and especially on the 

 lepidopterous insects, or moths and butterflies, in many 

 branches of which the Tring collection is almost un- 

 rivalled. Both these naturalists, as well as Mr. Roths- 

 child himself, publish most of their contributions to science 

 in Novitates Zoologicae., of which we have given the title 

 at the head of this article, although contributions aie 

 likewise made to the Novitates by many other specialists, 

 to whom specimens are sent from the Tring Museum for 

 e.xamination and description. Seven bulky volumes of 

 this excellent periodical have now appeared, and the 

 eighth is in rapid progress. They are, we need hardly 

 say, printed in excellent type and on good paper. They 

 are also accompanied by numerous beautiful plates 

 drawn by the best zoological artists of the day for the 

 illustration of the special noxelties described in the text. 



Commencing with the first volume, which appeared in 

 1894, we find articles on mammals, birds, reptiles and 



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