ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1123 



iridescent green, with yellow abdomen, so that 

 altogether it is a most valuable acquisition. 



The Sooty Synallaxis ( SynaUa.ris pudica 

 nigrifumosa) is the first member of its family 

 {Furnariidae) , to reach the Zoological Park. 

 The very few individuals of a South American 

 member of the grouj) which have reached Eu- 

 rope have survived for only a very few days, 

 hence our specimen is of experimental as well 

 as purely exhibitive value. 



Many of the tanagers are of exceptional 

 beauty. Passerini's Silver-Beak is intense, 

 velvety black, with the back brilliant scarlet ; 

 the Costa Rican Green Tanager is grass green, 

 with blue crown, the male having a bright yel- 

 low breast; while the Gold-Masked Calliste is 

 a combination of bright blue, green, dense 

 black and golden buff. 



Among the finches are Richmond's Sparrows, 

 nearly as large as robins, bright green with gray, 

 brown-striped heads and yellow inider wing 

 coverts; a little greenish Siskin, found only 

 in the high mountains of the interior, and tiny 

 Seed-eaters and Grassquits of four species. 



The mammals include a fine adult male Red 

 Spider Monkey, Raccoons, Coatis, ^lurine 

 Opossum and Red-Bellied Squirrels. There 

 are numerous species of frogs and toads, a 

 number of tadpoles, snakes, one a small fer-de- 

 lance, turtles, fishes of several species, and 

 some interesting millipedes of two sorts. 



When all packed ready for the journey, our 

 collection was decidedly bulky and when, at 

 the last moment, we were informed that the 

 freight car we had engaged had been left down 

 the line by a forgetful conductor, we were 

 more than nonplussed. After much general e.K- 

 citement, however, a not over-clean stock car 

 was produced, and our boxes were packed 

 forthwith. 



The run from Guapiles to Port Linion, which 

 occupied the entire day, was far rougher than 

 anything exjjerienced during the week on the 

 steamer. The car bounced madly from side t'l 

 side, and it was necessary to lash everything 

 securely to the floor and slatted sides. 



Fortunately, there are no export duties or 

 wharfage charges on animales vivos, as there 

 are on almost everything else, so it was ))os- 

 sible to ship our collection on the next day 

 without undue formality. We were blessed 

 with good weather for most of the homeward 

 trip, and we were so fortunate as to be able to 

 land our specimens, with very little loss, safely 

 in New York. 



THE AARI)-\'ARK. 



The Society has been almost in possession of 

 an exceptionally rare animal, the Aard-Vark, of 

 Africa, which would have been, perhaps, the 

 first rejjresentative of this strange species to 

 reach the United States alive. A fine specimen 

 consigned to us by Carl Hagcnbeck left the 

 African coast in thriving condition. We en- 

 tertained lively anticipations of this coming ex- 

 hibit, until informed that the animal had died 

 at sea when but two days from this port. 



The Aard-Vark is a gigantic representative 

 of that series of the primitive mammalia con- 

 taining the sloths, anteaters. armadillos and 

 pangolins. Formerly all of these animals were 

 embraced within the order Kdeniata, but the 

 pangolins and Aard-^'arks are now considered 

 to represent distinct orders, respectively. The 

 Aard-Varks, three species in number form the 

 order Tubulidentata* their removal from the 

 edentates resulting from the distinctly charac- 

 teristic formation of the teeth. In full grown 

 s])eciniens there are usually five teeth on each 

 side of both upper and lower jaws, but the 

 total number of teeth developed is from eight 

 to ten in the upper and eight in the lower jaw 

 — the anterior ones falling out as the animal 

 attains maturity. When unworn, these teeth, 

 which are of considerable size, have rounded 

 summits. They are composed of a number of 

 closely packed denticles and are traversed b}' 

 a series of radiating tubes. Such structure of 

 the teeth is elsewhere unknown in the whole 

 mammalian class. 



The specimen destined for the Society rep- 

 resented the Cape Aard-Vark, Orycteropus 

 cappttsis, which inhabits South and South-East- 

 ern Africa. It is a powerful animal, attaining 

 a maximum length of six feet. The general 

 coloration is j-ellowish brown, with a tinge of 

 red on the back and sides. 



The Aard-Varks are strictly nocturnal and 

 live in deep burrows, which are often con- 

 structed in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 tall mounds formed by the termites — an ant- 

 like insect. It is upon food like this that the 

 Aard-Vark subsists, and to capture the food 

 in quantities the animal is provided with an ex- 

 ceedingly long, mobile tongue such as is pos- 

 sessed by the ant-eaters of the Edentata. 

 Wherever these animals are numerous a number 

 of half formed holes are seen in the ground 

 and on the sides of the great anthills, which 

 have been commenced and .abandoned. The 



*Osborn's classification. 



