ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 59 
leaves the uninformed beholder with a wide field 
of territory and ignorance to range in. 
No guide book or printed catalogue of the 
2,700 creatures inhabiting our ZOO supplements 
that label, because the Lincoln park commission 
does not issue one. It says it can’t afford it. 
New York SysteM DirrERENT 
In front of the three acres of inclosed land 
and water where the beavers build and play in 
the Bronx zoo stands an ample signboard 
painted green—green so that it won’t clash with 
the foliage of the park—and lettered in black 
with these words: 
American Beaver 
(Castor canadensis fondator.) 
The beaver now exists only in widely separated 
fragments of its former habitat. Found in 
Maine, the Colorado River delta, the Adiron- 
dacks (by restoration), and a few other locali- 
ties. Plentiful only in the Algonquin Park region 
of Canada and a few other localities. 
Remarkable for its constructive ability in the 
building of canals and dams, the cutting of trees, 
and the of winter The 
original stock of this colony came from Algon- 
quin National Park, Ontario, Canada. 
May, 1912. 
construction houses. 
Received 
Supplementing that label are a couple of 
pages of entertaining narrative—not mere rou- 
tine data—about beavers, their wonderful ways, 
and their unconquerable shyness—in a 200 page 
guide book prepared for the big public. 
Easy Test ror CHILDREN 
In the “Wild Animal Stamp Primer,”” pre- 
pared by the authorities of the Bronx zoo for 
children, are two more pages about beavers, 
written, not in namby-pamby, but in graceful 
language, readily comprehended by a child. 
The print is large. At the top of the first 
page about the beavers is an indicated space, 
where the child may paste an authentic 2x3 inch 
beaver picture in colors after he has searched 
it out in an oil paper packet of fifty animal pic- 
tures attached to the back cover of the book. 
Both books are written in a singularly ingrati- 
ating, friendly style, and are packed with in- 
formation. If an adult visitor thoroughly as- 
similated the contents of the larger guide book 
he would be a pretty decently informed zoolo- 
gist. As for the primer for children, it is fasci- 
nating. I puttered away a whole evening past- 
ing up one of them, and by the time I had fin- 
ished felt as learned as a Buffon. 
Norep Scientist IN CHARGE 
When I reached Dr. Hornaday’s office on my 
way through the Bronx zoo, and there congratu- 
lated him on his system of labels—which is al- 
most the first thing that captivates you in this 
wonderland, that is at the same time a school— 
he said: 
“We have made a specialty of our labels. We 
tell all we can on them and are sorry we can’t 
tell more.” 
When I confessed to him that we had no 
guidebook to our zoo, he looked up startled— 
and sort of irritated, too—and said, “That's too 
absurd !’’—adding, “‘Inexcusable !” 
You see, Hornaday, the director and general 
curator of the Bronx zoo, is a man of science 
and an educator as well as a provider of public 
entertainment, and such an omission as ours 
in an institution on which we spend $75,000 a 
year irks him to the soul on the ground that it 
deprives the public of all the instruction and a 
large part of the entertainment. 
He knows, as every instructor knows, that an 
object concerning which the beholder possesses 
not one iota of exact knowledge, takes but a 
feeble hold on either his imagination or his 
memory. So he spreads information unobtru- 
sively, but everywhere through the park. 
Easy Way tro Learn 
As you are standing in front of the capacious 
rhinoceros your eyes wander involuntarily to a 
bright hued map that tells in a few bold colors 
where in the world the rhinoceros flourishes. 
You glance above the map and there is a sheet 
about the size of a T'ribune page which tells you 
in vigorous black lines how many kinds of 
rhinoceros there are, and what are their habitats, 
and how it is found in America only as fossil 
remains, and how it lives well in captivity, and 
so on. 
After that you feel as if you had got on a 
certain basis with the box-headed and friendly 
creature in front of you. 
The information has not been rubbed in. 
just happened on it. 
You 
DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE 
IN AFRICA, ITALY AND FRANCE 
Eye-witNess TESTIMONY OF AN AMERICAN 
TRAVELER 
A Letter from Cot. Henry W. SHOEMAKER, 
Member of the New York Zoological Society. 
“VW HAVE returned from a 3,000 mile trip 
through Morocco and Algeria, principally 
to study forestry matters, but have kept a 
close eye on game, asking questions everywhere. 
