ZOOLOGICAL SOCIKTY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY liLLLETlN 



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 11 Wall Street. New Vork City. 



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Copyright, 191': bv the Xeir York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientilic accuracs 



and the proof reailins of his contribution. 



Envis l{. Saxborx. 



Eilitor and Olticiiil Photographer 



Vol. XVIII. No. k 



JULY, 1915 



WILD LIFE CONSERVATION. 



"Wild Life Conservation," by Dr. William T. 

 Hornada}', recently publi.slied by the Yale Uni- 

 versity Pre.ss, has been given an extensive no- 

 tice in the London Atheneum, which echoes the 

 appeal for the benefit of our Engiish cousins. 

 The following paragraph is from a page review: 



"It is a truism that America does nothing liy 

 halves. That by criminal folly a colossal heri- 

 tage has been wantonly squandered none can 

 gainsa}-; but, on the otlier side of the picture, 

 the splendid efforts of an enlightened few have 

 in recent j'ears launched a scheme of sj'stem- 

 atie reparation on a scale which can onlj- excite 

 the envy and amazement of all who are working 

 along similar lines in England. The problem in 

 America is very different in its details from that 

 which our protagonists have to solve, but the 

 underlying principle is the same." 



RABBIT DESTRUCTION IN AUSTRALIA. 



Work of the Vermin Destruction Act ix 

 THE State of \^ktoria, Australia. 



From our Corrcsporulinjf Jlember in .Viistralia, D. 

 Le Soiief, Es(i., Director of the Zoological Gardens 

 of ilellioiirne, we have received the following report 

 on the efforts now being made in \'ictoria to eradi- 

 cate the rabbit pest. — hilitur. 



Eor the months ending February 28, 1915. 

 about IS million of strychnined apple and car- 

 rot baits have been used by this Department, 

 and about five times that qu;intity in free-feed 

 Experience has proved that about seven poi- 

 soned baits to a rabbit is the fair thing. This 

 would be about six and a h.alf millions. There 

 are the rabbits that are killed also with the 

 phosphorized bait, digging out, fumigating, etc.. 

 wiiich would be some millions more. Say a total 

 of eight or nine millions equal easily to over a 



million sheep, or their equivaleut. But these 

 figures are notliing compared to the quantit}' the 

 operation of the Act causes the deaths of. That 

 is, of course, imjjossible to determine closely ; 

 but the oul}- way to arrive at a knowledge o» 

 the vast quantity' killed in the State is to go by 

 the (Jovcrnment Statist's figures. Take 1913 as 

 a basis, as I have not got the 1914 figures; and 

 anj'way, the}' were greatly affected by the war. 



The total number of exported skins lor 19 la 

 was 24 millions. As a fair proportion is known 

 to come over the border from the Rivcrina and 

 also from Tasmania (of which no record is 

 kept) sa\' 20 millions from \'ictoria. 



For many reasons the number of rabbits that 

 are skinned is a verj- slight proportion, indeed, 

 to those that are killed and not skinned. The 

 immense quantities killed in summer are not 

 worth the skinning. The enormous numbers of 

 young ones are not worth skinning at any time. 

 Of the rabbits killed by phosi^horized pollard 

 and gr.iin, eight to one die in the burrows. The 

 great number killed by fumigation are not even 

 seen. In short, the many other ways and meth- 

 ods of killing them. How many landowners 

 trouble to skin anywa}? They prefer to look 

 upon the rabbit in its proper light, — as vermin 

 only. This brings the total to very big figures. 

 I am, and so are my officers, perfectly satisfied 

 that not more than one in twenty are skinned ; 

 and most landowners will bear me out in this. 



Supijosing, however, for argument's sake, the 

 proportion is brought down to ten to one ; we 

 have then considerably over two hundred mil- 

 lions ! Of course, this covers from the young 

 rabbits in the nest, (untold numbers of which 

 die when the mother is killed), to those in other 

 stages of maturity. 



1 do not for one moment wish to claim the 

 full credit of this vast destruction, but I do s.iy 

 that the controlling influence of the ^ ermin De- 

 struction Act has a very large share in it. In 

 this connection it is interesting to mention that 

 the export of frozen rabbits in the same year 

 was two million pair.s.. Can such a trifle be 

 weighed for a moment ag.ainst the vast good 

 acconi])lished by dealing with the rabbit as ver- 

 min only, and not as a commercial commodity,' 

 F. E, Allen, 

 Chief Inspector, I'. D. Act, 1890. 



DEATH OF GUNDA. 



On tlie recommendation of the Director of 

 the Zoological Park, and after full consideration 

 by the Executive Committee, the Zoological So- 

 ciety authorized the death of its large adult male 

 Indian Elephant, Gnnda. Last week Director 



