257 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII. 
and he recognises that the Zoological Gardens’ Managing Committee set an 
excellent example in this respect, He would venture to suggest that from the 
records of the Committee and the recollections of their able Superintendent 
it would be possible for them to produce a hand-book, which might be of 
great use to the numerous nobles and other persons who, ona smaller scale, 
keep collections of animals or birds in captivity.” 
A meeting of the Committee of Management was convened on the 2nd April, 
1890, for the purpose of considering the suggestion embodied in the Lieutenant- 
Governor’s Resolution ; and, as the result of its deliberations, it recommended 
the appointment of a Sub-Committee for the purpose of giving effect to it. 
A Sub-Committee was accordingly formed ; and, after mature consideration, 
it drew up a plan for writing the suggested work. It is on the lines adopted 
by the Sub-Committee that the present hand-book has accordingly been 
prepared by Babu Ram Bramha Sanydl, the Superintendent of the Gardens, 
under the supervision of Mr. C, E. Buckland, ¢.s., one of the members of the 
Committee. For the purpose of writing this work, the author, as he informs us 
in the preface, has had to prosecute a good deal of original research in the 
shape of examining the collection of the vertebrata in the Indian Museum, 
Calcutta, for the purpose of identifying the little-known forms. 
The work consists of two parts, preceded by an admirably drawn up table 
of contents, containing a list of all the species of animals that have been 
exhibited in the Gardens up to the present time, classified under their re- 
spective orders, families, genera, and species. The first part treats of the 
mammalia, and the second of the aves, or birds, The reptilia, which would 
have formed the third part of the present work, could not be included in it ; 
for the author informs us that, “asa considerable portion of it was already 
in type when we commenced the New Reptile House, we did not, after all, 
think it worth while waiting longer to incorporate the reptiles in the present 
edition.” 
The work has been drawn up on an admirable and exhaustive plan, for 
under the heading of each species of animal, its nomenclature, both scientific 
and vernacular, and habitat are first given ; in the next place the length of its 
life in captivity in the Gardens; then its treatment in health ; then its 
treatment in sickness ; and, last of all, the observations made in the Gardens 
on its habits and instincts, supplemented, in some cases, by a list of the 
authorities who may be consulted for further information regarding it. 
Under the heading of treatment in health, suggestions, based upon ex- 
periences gained im the Gardens, as to the best way of housing, feeding, and 
transporting animals in captivity, as well as remarks regarding their breeding in 
the Calcutta Zoo, are given. With reference to housing animals in captivity, it 
may be observed that the old idea of keeping captive wild animals in small 
cramped cages and dens still prevails in this country among Indian chiefs and 
nobles who maintain menageries on a miniature scale. Even in England, this 
