ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
years ago a few white rhinoceroses still re- 
mained, the fine for killing one was £250; but 
months ago in the Trans- 
how different nine 
vaal! 
MR. DITMARS’ PURCHASES IN SAN 
FRANCISCO. 
EW and interesting specimens are steadily 
N arriving. Two orang-utans, a slow loris, 
five Prevost’s squirrels, a twenty-foot 
regal python and a_ twenty-two foot black- 
tailed python were recently brought from San 
Francisco by the writer. They arrived from 
Caleutta and Singapore, on the steamship 
Granite State. It is seldom that so large a 
collection of interesting animals arrives on the 
Pacific coast, and in this instance it was neces- 
sary to send a member of the Park stat to 
inspect, purchase and care for a consignment 
during the transcontinental journey. ‘This 
seemed particularly urgent in the case of orang- 
utans, in memory of the recent loss by a dealer 
of a fine orang-utan that was shipped unat- 
tended from California to New York, with safe 
arrival guaranteed. 
The writer was kept thoroughly busy during 
nine days in San Francisco, chiefly in protect- 
ing the orangs from changes in temperature. 
The days were warm and the nights decidedly 
cold. On two the temperature 
dropped as low as 48 degrees. As there were 
no places to quarter them, the larger orang— 
of rather savage disposition—was placed in a 
south (and sunny) room of a warehouse, where 
he fared well during the day, but shivered at 
occasions 
night. He was provided with an army blanket. 
and fortunately had enough intelligence to 
wrap up in it. 
The smaller orang was kept in the writer's 
room at the Hotel Saint Francis upon reluctant 
permission from the management. Our consid- 
erable stay in San Francisco resulted from the 
arrival of a pair of anoas, or pygmy water 
buffalo, described in a previous paragraph. 
When the writer was able to leave for the Kast 
he transported all of his specimens as baggage, 
through special permission of the Southern 
Pacific Company, having been given sufficient 
room on the Overland Limited, a three day train 
to Chicago. This arrangement gave immediate 
access to the animals, and the facilities of 
kitchen and refrigerators of the dining car. 
The animals fared well, and really seemed to 
rejoice in the heat across the desert and the 
Nebraska plains. At Chicago, some generous 
115 
courtesies were extended by the officials of the 
New York Central Lines. The 
quickly transferred to a baggage compariment 
on the Lake Shore Limited, and reached New 
York twenty-four hours later. Thanks to the 
generous co-operation of our railway friends 
these animals were subjected to only four days 
of travel. En route the orangs and other mam- 
mals were fed moderately, three times a day 
animals were 
and safely placed on exhibition in the Park. 
The orang additions were particularly gratify- 
ing, for these additions had long been desired. 
—R. L. D. 
ZOOLOGICAL PARK NOTES. 
By Raymonp L. Dirmars. 
San Lions—The Seal Rocks 
near Golden Gate Park. San Francisco, always 
Francisco Sea 
a point of great interest to visitors on the 
Pacific coast, are not densely populated this 
summer. Evidently the sea lion herd has 
migrated to the Farallone Islands. The few 
sea lions on the rocks, however, are of large 
size, with a quite majestic bull of the Stellar 
sea lion species in spectacular prominence. Mr. 
John MacLaren, Superintendent of Parks, in- 
formed the writer that a huge bull steadily fre- 
quented the rocks for a period of about twenty 
years. One day it was found dead, and washed 
up on the beach, apparently a victim of old age. 
This fine specimen, which appears to have 
weighed at least twelve hundred pounds, is now 
mounted in the fine lion group in the 
museum building in Golden Gate Park. 
sea 
Reptiles—Eachanges with the London Zoo-— 
The Zoological Gardens of London, through Dr. 
E. G. Boulenger, Curator of Reptiles, recently 
asked us for an exchange of reptiles, and we 
immediately shipped them the following speci- 
mens: 10 timber rattlesnakes, 4 water mocca- 
sins, 2 copperhead snakes, 4 hog-nosed snakes 
(northern), 2 hog-nosed snakes (southern), 6 
water snakes, 2 coachwhip snakes, 1 gopher 
snake, 2 bull snakes, 2 king snakes, 3 spotted 
turtles, 4 wood turtles, 3 painted turtles, 4 box 
tortoises and 4 large bull frogs. The shipmeit 
left on the Cunard steamship Albania. All 
the specimens arrived in good condition. In 
return Dr. Boulenger shipped us the following 
species: + black mambas or spitting cobras, 12 
European vipers, 6 grass snakes, 6 dark-green 
snakes, 1 smooth snake, 2 sand boas, 12 pond 
turtles, 4 spike-tailed lizards, 1 Indian monitor, 
1 cyclodes, 12 salamanders and 2 fire-bellied 
toads. 
