318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Elephants themselves are of the average size, this mountain ivory 

 is probably as small as any to be found in Africa, sixty pounds 

 being a very good pair of tusks." 



The question of the desirability of training and using the 

 African Elephant for transport is one which will become more 

 important as Africa is opened up. Provided something could be 

 done to stop the wholesale slaughter of Elephants by English 

 sportsmen, there is still a probability that the whole of our 

 Somali Protectorate would become restocked, for in the chaos of 

 rugged gorges which descend abruptly from the Harar Highlands 

 into Ogaden there are still plenty. 



We note that, in addition to the author's route map, there is 

 a very good "Hunting Map," so called, of Northern Somaliland, 

 which will enable the reader to identify the haunts of the different 

 kinds of wild animals mentioned in the text. 



London Birds and Beasts. By J. T. Tristram Valentine. 

 With a Preface by F. E. Beddard. Post 8vo, pp. i — xii, 

 1 — 319. London: Horace Cox. 1895. 



We confess to have been somewhat startled by the announce- 

 ment of a new book by Mr. Tristram Valentine, happening to 

 know that, to the regret of his many friends, he died just two 

 years ago — in August, 1893. Neither on the title-page nor in 

 the preface do we find any mention of this fact ! 



Whether it was wise to publish this collection of essays 

 from periodicals without some revision or correction in the 

 shape of editorial notes, is a question upon which it would 

 seem there is some difference of opinion. We cannot help 

 thinking that greater justice would have been done to the 

 deceased author if his editor bad shown that his observations 

 (some of them written six or seven years ago) were in the 

 main correct at the date of their original publication, but 

 have since become incorrect, or perhaps we should say in- 

 complete, by lapse of time. For example, in the chapter on 

 " the English Wild Bull" (pp. 51-59), written in July, 1890, we 

 find an allusion made to the arrival at the Zoological Gardens of 

 a young white bull, presented by Earl Ferrers, from his famous 

 herd at Chartley, in Staffordshire, an animal " new to the collec- 

 tion." So far so good ; but since those lines were penned a 



