26 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Larval Sacrifice. 

 The Black Reed- Wasp. 

 The White-footed Wasp. 

 The Forest Shell- Wasp. 

 The One-banded Dauber. 

 The Blue Huntress. 

 Paralyzed Provender. 

 Controlled Pupation. 



Part IV — Supplementary Chapters 

 Notes from the Hinterland of Guiana. 



Walter G. White. 

 Indian Charms, James Radical/. 

 General Index. 



THE TROPICAL RESEARCH STATION 

 IN 1919 



THE Tropical Research Station of the Zoo- 

 logical Society in Bartica District. British 

 Guiana, will be opened in March and work 

 carried on throughout the year. Director Beebe 

 will sail on February 21 with a corps of assist- 

 ants and artists, and will be followed during the 

 spring and summer by a number of well-known 

 scientists who will take advantage of the unusual 

 opportunities to carry on their various lines of 

 research in the tropical jungles. 



The permanent headquarters of the Station, 

 known as Katabo. at the junction of the Maza- 

 runi and Cuyuni Rivers, two miles up-river from 

 Kalacoon, will be occupied for the first time this 

 year. Here bungalows and a large laboratory 

 are already built ready for occupancy. Especial 

 attention will be devoted this year to sending 

 live animals to the Zoological Park, in view of 

 the depleted condition of the collections, as well 

 as the gathering of material for a new volume 

 of Tropical Wild Life. 



ITEMS OF INTEREST 

 By Raymond L. Ditmars 



Beavers' Winter Food. — During the Autumn 

 months we hear numerous queries from visitors 

 about the habits of the beavers in building an 

 elongated island of brush in close proximity to 

 their aquatic house. This island has been con- 

 structed each year and in the same spot. We 

 call this structure the food levee. The beavers 

 swim with sticks and brush from the shore and 

 lace these into a structure about twenty feet 

 long. Their object is to provide a generous 

 supply of food-wood for the winter and the bark 

 is not gnawed from this brush until the severe 



winter weather is at hand. Each beaver, dur- 

 ing a single afternoon, will make as many as 

 twenty trips, sometimes towing a branch eight 

 or ten feet long. But a small proportion of the 

 food-wood actually shows above water, and it 

 is interesting to watch the industrious animals 

 diving in order to lace the branches well under 

 water. The oject of this is to have food that 

 may be reached beneath the ice, when the pond 

 is solidly frozen over. The animals make di- 

 rect trips from the submerged entrances of their 

 house to the food levee, and during periods of 

 severe cold carry on an active existence without 

 being seen. During thaws they break a hole 

 through the ice and feed upon the exposed 

 branches of the levee. They keep a hole open 

 in the ice as long as possible, but zero weather 

 and absolute closing of the surface does not 

 appear to lie much of an inconvenience, owing 

 to their previous care in submerging ample food 

 supplies for such emergencies. 



New Baetrian Camels. — The loss of our sin- 

 gle specimen of Baetrian camel, which had been 

 ailing for some years, has been amply compen- 

 sated by the purchase of an exceptionally fine 

 pair and a young specimen of this species. 

 These animals are quartered in a range at the 

 southwest corner of the Park, near the Crotona 

 gate. The young camel was born in July. 1918, 

 and is the gift of the children of Mr. and Mrs. 

 Finley J. Shepard. The Shepard children 

 have named the young animal "Victorine." 



An Interesting Monkey. — Another arrival is a 

 large and particularly interesting monkey of the 

 entellus type, from India. The common entellus 

 monkey is very delicate in captivity. The 

 species on exhibition comes from northern India 

 and is said to be found in the Himalayan Moun- 

 tains at altitudes as high as ten thousand feet. 

 It is new to the Park collections and attracts 

 immediate attention from the extraordinary 

 length of its tail. In a sitting position this 

 animal is about two and half feet high. It 

 is of very slender build and the tail is about 

 four feet long. This animal's agility is truly 

 remarkable. Without effort it bounds from the 

 floor of its cage to a shelf fully five feet high, 

 jumps to the mesh ov.r the skylight, which is 

 about eight feet higher, then lightly drops the 

 entire distance to the floor of the cage. Its 

 antics are as light and airy as the bounding of 

 a toy balloon. We have identified this specimen 

 as Semnopithicus shistaceus. 



Reliable Weather Prophets. — We have always 

 had considerable respect for the members of the 

 prairie-dog colony as weather forecasters. 

 During the past six weeks these rodents have 



