ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



955 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Brjrartmcnts .- 

 Mammals Reptiles 



\V. T. Hornaday. Raymond I.. Ditmars 



Birds Aquarium 



C. William Beehe. C. II. Townsend. 



Lee S. Crandai.i.. Raymond C. Osburn 



Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society. 



n Wall Street, New York City. 



yearly by Mail, $1.00. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, WIS, by the New York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 

 and the proof reading of his contribution. 



Ki.wix R. Sanborn, Editor. 



Vol. XVI. No. .55. 



JANUARY, 1913 



Mr. Archer M. Huntington has been elected 

 a member of the Board of Managers, class of 

 1915. to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Mr. Hugh J. Chisholm. 



On November 28th, 1912, Governor Dix re- 

 appointed Mr. Madison Grant, a Bronx Park- 

 way Commissioner, for a term to expire July 

 25th. 1917. 



ANNUAL MEETING. 



The Annual Meeting of the Society will be 

 held in the Grand Ball Room of the Hotel Wal- 

 dorf-Astoria, Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth 

 Street, New York City, on Tuesday, January 

 11th., 1913, at 8:30 o'clock, P. M. Mr. John 

 L. Cadwalader, Vice-President of the Society, 

 will preside, and Mr. Madison Grant, Chairman 

 of the Executive Committee, will lay before the 

 meeting the report of that Committee for the 

 year 1912. Twelve managers will also be 

 elected to succeed the outgoing class. 



The reports of the Executive Committee, of 

 the Treasurer, and of the Directors of the Zoo- 

 logical Park and the Aquarium will be printed 

 in full in the Annual Report of the Society, 

 which will be forwarded to members during tbc 

 early part of 1913. 



Immediately after the business meeting the 

 following addresses will be presented: 



"The Paleolithic Hunter and His Own Pic- 

 tures of His Game." by Madison Grant. 

 An address illustrated from the mural decora- 

 tions recently discovered in the French and 

 Spanish caves. 



"Saving the Elk," by S. N. Leek, with mov- 

 ing pictures, showing the great wapiti herds 

 of Wyoming, and the efforts made to preserve 

 them from starvation. 



Refreshments will be served, and each mem- 

 ber is entitled to bring one guest, including 

 ladies. 



OUR AFRICAN EXPEDITION. 



Undaunted by the fact that our first gorilla 

 lived only ten days after arrival in the Park, 

 the Zoological Society decided to send to West 

 Africa another expedition for the capture of 

 live gorillas. The untimely death of the first 

 gorilla was due to a combination of circum- 

 stances beyond our control, and there is good 

 reason for the belief that another effort, made 

 with a liberal margin of time for the working out 

 of details, will be completely successful. If 

 gorillas can be landed here, having even a fight- 

 ing chance for survival, we believe that we can 

 be just as successful with them as we have been 

 with orangs and chimpanzees. 



Mr. R. L. Garner is now on his way back to 

 West Africa, in quest of gorillas for the Park, 

 and it is our expectation that he will eventually 

 return to us with some good, healthy specimens 

 that will "live long and prosper." 



A GREAT PAINTING. 



In view of the rapidity and thoroughness 

 with which some of our game animals are being 

 exterminated, it is high time for them to be 

 preserved on canvas, in bronze and in museums. 

 It is probable that ere long the prong-horned 

 antelope will remain to us only in those forms. 

 The masterpiece of wild-animal painting 

 which is reproduced on page 951, is a worthy 

 memorial of the fine species it depicts. It is 

 Mr. Rungius's largest and finest production (60 

 by 75 inches), and as a gift it is almost as note- 

 worthy as the Reed-McMillin collection of 

 Alaskan heads and horns. 



This is the third Rungius painting of Ameri- 

 can big game that the Society has acquired 

 through the generosity of Mr. Emerson McMil- 

 lin; and to the best of our knowledge and belief 

 it is the finest wild-animal painting in America. 

 Temporarily it hangs in the East Gallery of 

 the Heads and Horns Collection. 



In connection with this subject there is to be 

 noted a strange and unaccountable state of fact. 

 The public art galleries of America contain 

 good representations of every branch — and 

 even every twig — of pictorial art, except pic- 

 tures of wild animals. So far as we can recall, 

 or learn by inquiry, there is not one public art 

 gallery in all America that contains even one 

 noteworthy painting of an American wild ani- 

 mal. The wild animals of the world offer to 

 painters a magnificent field that as yet has 

 barely been touched by the brush. 



W. T. H. 



