Z()()L()(]ICAI. SOCIl.'l'^ lUI.I.I. 



227 



includes a map of api)r()xi- 

 mate distribution, and a por- 

 trait for the identitication of 

 the individual referred to. 

 Of course, the lifetime of 

 any painted label in a cli 

 male as changeable and 

 severe as that of New York 

 can harflly cxc eed two years. 



Tliu-- far it has |)ro\en a 

 dillicull matter to find a 

 colorless varnish which will 

 not crack under the ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold. 



Indoors, the providing of 

 printed labels under glass is 

 merely a question of labor 

 and e.\])en<5e; but, as in mvi- 

 seums, it is impossible to 

 provide descriptive labels for 

 very many of the small s|)e- 

 cies. ( )ur etTorts are nece.s- 

 sarilv confined to the species 

 that are of commanding im- 

 portance, and to the most 

 interesting groups. 



We show herewith e\- 

 am])les of descri|)ti\e labels 

 such as have been |)rovided 

 for the Bear Uens, Ostrich 



House and Reptile House. ^!~iT77I77~K~r^r^. 

 These, of course, are perma - 

 nent. We have attem|)ted 

 various things in labels for 



the large hoofed animai> of ihr temperate zone, 

 ])ermanently (piartered in the open air; but even 

 our speciallv designed water proof, moisture-avoid- 

 ing met:d frame> for ungulate laliels printed on 



DIslRllll'ilON ()!• UN- roisDNOls SN.\Ms OF THK OLD WORl.l) 



RKI'TII t 1 101 ^t: LABEL. 



|iaper are only partiall\' successful. At preM'iit, in 

 our label-making problems, we can only renew our 

 resolves to resolve ]all our difficulties, and keep on 

 trying. ' w. T. n. 



.Vr;.' .1j//w.//.v. DuriM^ tin- |iasl l..iliii'^lu, a numl)(.T nf 

 rare animals havr arrivi'il. Friini Hucnos .\yrrs, Soulli 

 .\nuTi(a, ihe StraiiHT Coronda l)rouj;lit us a great ant-eater, 

 tun line eupybaras, a pair i)f j^uanaeos, an adult specimen 

 of one of the largest species of South .American deer, three 

 eight-banded armadillos, and two spoeinicns of .Xzara's 

 dog. The birds in this shipment eon.sistcd of two crested 

 .screamers, three blaek-neeked swans, two Iree-dueks and 

 three rosy-billeil ducks. Of this entire lot, all Ihe species 

 represented, save two, are new to tlie Zoologiial Park col- 

 lections. 



Our collection of .Asiatic deer has been strengllu'Mi-d by 

 the arrival, direct from the jungles of Lower Burma, of a 

 fine adult pair of Burme.se brow-anllered deer, or thameng 

 (Ccrviiselili), characterized by antlers that describe almost 

 a half-circle, and po.sse.ss a very long brow-tine. This 

 species has long been desired, and the s])ecimcns now in 

 hand, and another female to arrive in July, arc a special 

 gift fn.ni Mr. William Rockefeller. 



l-or the collection of small carnivores in the Small- 

 Mammal House, we have secured an adult pair of black- 

 footed ferrets il'iilorius iiigripcs), a species which probably 

 never has been exhibited in captivity out.side of Washington, 

 Philadelphia and New York. This animal fretiucnts the 

 prairie-dog towns of western Kan.sas and Nebraska, and 

 is often called the " prairie-dog hunter." It was disciwered 

 in 1851 by .\udubon, but the only skin .soon disappeared, 

 and the species remained lost to science until alnrnt 1S87, 

 when it was re-di.scovcrcd. 



For the first time since the Zoological Park began we 

 have living specimens of Siren hicerliiia, or the miscalled 

 "Mud-Kel," of the South. This is the eel-like amphibian 

 which has only one ])air of legs, situated near its head. 

 The collection of poisonous .serpents has received four very 

 large cobra-de-capellos, a full-grown king cobra, and four- 

 teen rattlesnakes from the New York and >ra.ssachusctts 

 boundary. .■X collection of desert lizards and horned " toads" 

 has been installed in a ca.se, in front of the Reptile House. 



