ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1011 



a half, if one considers the button as the 

 nucleus of another rattle. It is quite probable 

 that the rattles increase in number for a 

 certain number of years; remain that number 

 during another period of years, and then 

 degenerate as the snake attains its natural 

 longevity. To prove this would seem im- 

 possible, as this snake does not thrive many 

 years in captivity, and in its habitat, even 

 though it strictly employs discretionary tac- 

 tics, its life history is quite likely to have an 

 abrupt and violent termination in any other 

 than the hands of a scientist, who might have 

 located one specimen with the idea of follow- 

 ing out this interesting problem. It is rea- 

 sonable to suppose that the process of growth 

 and decay is essentially the same with the 

 rattle as are those of the horn and antler 

 growths of the hoofed animals; a period of 

 increase, a period of sustained growth, and a 

 period of degeneration. 



The development of the antlers of a male 

 deer presents a less bewildering problem, in- 

 asmuch as it is possible to prove beyond 

 doubt that the points on his antlers have no 

 bearing whatsoever on his age. In the first 

 place several species may be reared in captiv- 

 ity with as much certainty as domestic cattle, 

 and therefore the recovery of the shed antlers 

 before they are destroyed either by decay or 

 the teeth of rodents is an assured fact. With 

 such means no other testimony need be pre- 

 sented than the cuts from the photographs of 

 two series of antlers, one from an American 

 wapiti and the other from an axis deer. 

 Both series have been photographed in the 

 order of the successive years of the shedding 

 of the antlers. The wapiti is yet in his prime, 

 while the axis deer has attained that period 

 of life where the degeneration incident to the 

 nearly completed term of longevity has had its 

 corresponding effect upon the antler develop- 

 ment . 



The first antlers of the wapiti bear eight 

 points, which, according to the popular theory, 

 gives him the age of eight years. In reality, 

 as he was born in June, 1906, at the time this 

 first pair of antlers had attained their maxi- 

 mum size — in September, 1907 — he was 

 exactly 1? months old. Although the antlers 

 of the wapiti are somewhat battered and 

 broken, in this case it is not degeneration inci- 

 dent to old age, but a result of the natural 

 inclination of the animal to reduce fences, 

 trees and all stationary obstacles to a state of 

 utter uselessness. 



The' series of axis deer antlers is shown to 

 illustrate the years during which the antlers 

 increased in size, the period of sustained 

 growth and the degeneration due to advanced 

 age. Both animals were born in the Park. 

 The elk was seven years old in June, 1913, 

 and the axis deer eleven years old in March 

 of the same year. E. R. S. 



MILLINERS WIN SENATE FINANCE 

 COMMITTEE 



The feather trade has captured the majority members 

 of the Senate Committee on Finance! On June 17 that 

 committee agreed on an amendment which, if it prevails 

 will greatly damage the measure in the new tariff bill in- 

 tended to prohibit the importation of wild birds' plumage 

 for milliner's use, which passed the House unanimously. 



The amendment demanded by the feather trade pro- 

 vides for the use of the plumage of all foreign species of 

 birds killed for food, as "game", and all the birds that 

 could be killed as " pests ". and would, if adopted, permit 

 the use of the ■plumage of 231^2 species of birds! The fight 

 will now be carried to the Democratic caucus, and the floor 

 of the Senate. 



NEW MEMBERS. 



(April 3, 1913— June 24, 1913.) 



Life Members. 



J. Sanford Barnes, Jr., 



Temple Bowdoin, 



Miss Emily Buch, 



George William Burleigh, 



Winthrop Burr, 



Richard A. Canfield, 



Frederic E. Church. 



George Crawford Clark, Jr., 



Louis John DeMilhau, 



J. Henry Dick, 



C. Temple Emmet, 



Mrs. Wm. B. Osgood Field, 



Miss S. Grace Fraser, 



Mrs. F. G. Goodridge, 



DeForest Grant, 



Pierpont Morgan Hamilton, 



F. C. Havemeyer, 



Miss Margaret Hoe, 



Mrs. Clarence M. Hyde, 

 Adrian Iselin, Jr., 

 Arthur Curtiss James, 

 Otto H. Kahn, 

 Alfred E. Marling, 

 Ogden L. Mills, 

 Lewis Rutherfurd Morris, 

 Clarence Porter, 

 Fairfield Osborn Sanger, 

 Evander B. Schley, 

 Malcolm Douglas Sloane, 

 Wm. Rhinelander Stewart, 



Jr., 

 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, 

 John Jay White, Jr., 

 Cornelius Vanderbilt 



Whitney, 

 Clark Williams. 



Annual Members. 



Mrs. J. Muhlenberg Bailey, 

 Mrs. L. P. Bayne, 

 Miss E. Mabel Clark, 

 Nicholas E. Crosby, 

 George E. Dadmun, 

 Miss Frances Abbey Dallett, 

 Otto L. Dommerich, 

 Mrs. W. B. Dinsmore, 

 Mrs. Stuart Duncan, 

 Edward B. Finch, 

 Frederick T. Fleitmann, 

 Henry S. Fleming, 

 Mrs. George S. Graham, 

 Mrs. Ferdinand Hermann, 

 William B. Isham, 

 George T. H. Konig, 

 Mrs. Richard P. Lounsbery, 

 C. H. Ludington, 

 W. Markham, 



Rev. William Hude 



Richard McCall, 



Frederic C. Mills, 



Adolph S. Ochs, 



Dudley Olcott, 



Mrs. Adolph J. Outerbridge, 



Junius Parker, 



Dr. Charles B. Penrose, 



H. L. Pratt, 



Ogden Mills Reid, 



Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, 



Mrs. Edward W. Sparrow, 



Mrs. John J. Staples, 



Paul Eve Stevenson, Jr., 



James Stokes, 



Mrs. R. B. Suckley, 



Henry Francis Tuzo, 



S. H. Vandergrift, 



J. S. Woodhouse Company 



Miss Ethel Zabriskie. 



Neilson, D.D. 



