ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Or|i;ti tinril! ■■ : 



rublishcd bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 

 111 Broadway, New York City. 



Yearly by Mail. $1.00. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, 191S, by the New York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 



; contribution. 



and the proof reading 



Elwin R. Sanborn, 

 Editor rind Official Pkotographt 



Vol. XXI, No. 5 



SEPTEMBER, 1918 



THE JOHN .1. PAUL GIFT OF BOOKS 



In the first instance, every great zoological 

 library is founded upon a certain number of 

 the great illustrated folios of birds and mam- 

 mals, such as the average young zoologist ard- 

 ently longs for but rarely achieves until their 

 usefulness — to him — has passed. 



For ten long years, dating back to the open- 

 ing of the Administration Building at the Zoo- 

 logical Park, we have longed for the sumptuous 

 works of Gould and Audubon and Elliot, with- 

 out having achieved a single folio volume. The 

 Society had so many other lines of endeavor 

 that the Library simply had to wait. 



Now, at last, our library's Good Genius lias 

 appeared. His name is John Jay Paul, and 

 his habitat is Watertown, Florida. We have a 

 suspicion that he is interested in the lumber in- 

 dustry; but in any event the printed catalogue 

 of his library is sufficient to excite envy in the 

 breast of every book-worm. 



Mr. Paul observed the yawning chasms in our 

 half-Hedged library, and then his gifts began to 

 come in, in a stream that seemed to be intended 

 to make up in one grand coup the deficits of 

 twenty years. Beginning with Cuvier's "Ani- 

 mal Kingdom." in sixteen volumes, and Gray's 

 "Illustrations of Indian Zoology," the scene 

 shifted to Richardson's "Fauna Boreali Ameri- 

 cana," the various exploring expeditions of the 

 western hemisphere, and ran the gamut of the 

 best zoological treatises of America. India, Af- 

 rica and the Far East. There came also a fine 

 series of books of zoological travels. 



All these, however, represented merely a fore- 

 taste of the splendid folios that followed. To 

 show a sample of each of the latter on Mem- 

 bers Day required a series of tables twenty feet 

 long. The truly great folio works, representing 



thousands of dollars in value, were the follow- 

 ing: 



Audubon & Bacliman's "Quadrupeds of 

 North America." 3 vols, and text. 



Cuvier & Saint Hilaire's "Natural History of 

 Mammals." I vols. 



Gould's "Partridges of America." 

 Grau's "Illustrations of Indian Zoology." 

 2 vols. 



Elliot's "Monograph of the Birds of Para- 

 dise." 



Elliot's "Monograph of the Ant Thrushes." 

 Elliot's "Monograph of the Hornsbills." 

 Elliot's "Birds of North America." 2 vols. 

 Taken altogether, Mr. Paul's gift of books 

 forms a noteworthy collection, and goes far 

 toward taking out of the mouth the bad taste of 

 ten lean vears. 



BEQUEST OF COL. OLIVER H. PAYNE 

 Through a bequest contained in the will of 

 Col. Payne, for many years a member of the 

 Board of Managers of the Society, our library 

 has fallen heir to a fine copy of Audubon's 

 "Birds of North America." in three double ele- 

 phant folio volumes, and also a copy of Audu- 

 bon and Bacliman's "Quadrupeds of North 

 America." in three volumes of the same size. 



REMARKABLE ABNORMAL GROWTH 

 OF ELEPHANT TUSKS 



A letter recently received from Mr. A. G. R. 

 Theobald. State Shikari of Mysore, transmits a 

 photograph of a dead elephant in a bamboo jun- 

 gle, bearing remarkable abnormal tusks. Mr. 

 Theobald's description of this strange case 

 follows: 



"Last year my son shot three rogue elephants 

 which were proscribed by the Government, as 

 they had become vicious mankillers. and ter- 

 rorized the Forest Department Staff and the 

 surrounding jungle tribes. One of these ele- 

 phants had a very unique pair of tusks. Instead 

 of growing in the usual manner, they grew out 

 almost at right .ingles to the head, like the up- 

 per tusks of a wild boar, and making a sharp 

 curve formed a full semicircle. The tip of one 

 had penetrated over six inches into the head 

 just behind the eye. leaving an open, festering 

 wound. The animal was in an emaciated con- 

 dition, and must have suffered excruciating pain 

 from the wound, wihcli was probably the cause 

 of it becoming so vicious. I am enclosing a 

 photograph of the elephant, showing the curious 

 formation of the tusks." 



