ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY BULLETIN 



EDITED BY THE DIRECTOR 



Elwin R. Sanborn, Asst. Editor. 



Published at the Office of the Society, II Wall St., Ne'w York City. 



Copyright, iq03, by the New Vork Zoological Society. 



No. i6. JANUARY, 1905. 



Subscription price, 50 cents for four numbers. 



Single numbers, I 5 cents. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



©ffitrrs of tbr ^ottctp. 

 ptcsibtnt : 



HON. LE\'I P. MORTON. 



iJEfccutitJC Committee : 



Charles T. Bakney, Cliairmait, 



A WARNING TO OUR MEMBERS 

 It is well for members of the New York Zoo- 

 logical Society to know that about ninety per cent, 

 of the published stories of fearful adventure by 

 and with the animals of the Zoological Park are 

 fictitious. 



As a hot-bed for the generation of blood-curdling 

 stories, our Reptile House is a wonder. One week 

 "Curator Ditmars" permits a (wholly imaginary) 

 collection of twenty-eight newly arrived rattle- 

 snakes to escape from their box, and spread terror 

 that thrills the presses of this city to their inmost 

 vitals. The next week, "Keeper Snyder" has a 

 fierce "Battle With a Monster Python" — all in 

 the mind of a reporter who had been ordered to 

 "get a story." In the dog-days of 1903, when 

 dullness reigned, a pickled tarantula in a bottle 



served as a fulcrum on which to raise a blood- 

 curdling 800-word pipe-dream of "Curator Dit- 

 mars' Fight With a Tarantula." 



As a fearful e.xample, take a recent case. 



One afternoon, a small puma, which is about as 

 dangerous as a cross fox terrier — no more, no 

 less — sprang to catch its piece of meat as the 

 keeper threw the food into the cage. The animal 

 muffed it, knocked the meat back through the 

 open door, and sprang after it, to recover it. Having 

 seized its ration, it withdrew to the nearest corner, 

 outside the cage, to eat it. The keepers procured 

 their nets, and in endeavoring to recapture the 

 animal without being scratched, finally drove it 

 under certain temporary cages that stood near. 

 W'hile visitors passed along the walk, close by, and 

 in sight of the men at work, a shifting box was 

 brought (by Mr. Merkel), the animal was driven 

 into it, and quickly replaced in its cage. 



This whole event consumed about fifteen min- 

 utes; and the passing visitors did not even know 

 that anything in particular was taking place. Now 

 note the result outside. 



In some of the newspapers, the animal appeared 

 as a mountain lion; which is all very well, that 

 being one of its names. In two or three journals, 

 it was "A Lion" that escaped, and spread terror. 

 And this is the story as it was received by London, 

 published in the Daily Telegraph and innocently 

 copied therefrom October 6th in the Paris edition 

 of the Herald : 



Lion Hunt in New York 



New York, Tuesday. — A great lion hunt occurred to-day 

 at the New York Zoological Gardens. When the keeper 

 entered the cage the lion bounded clean over his head and 

 made a dash for the forest. Fifty men armed with guns 

 and agricultural implements went in pursuit, and finally 

 the lion took refuge behind the monkey-house in a dark 

 corner. A portable cage was now procured, and a big 

 piece of beef was placed inside. 



This temptation failed, so a fire hose was procured. 

 The lion did not like the water and sulkily entered the trap 

 prepared for him, after which the door was closed amid 

 cheers. 



From the inception of the Zoological Park down 

 to date, only three really e-xciting incidents have 

 occurred within its bounds. The first was the 

 escape of a black-tailed python from a temporary- 

 cage, before the Reptile House was completed. 

 The second was the episode of the newly arrived 

 black bear, that broke out of its travelling box, and 

 bit two persons in being captured. The tliird was 



