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THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GABDENS. 



During the winter months the additions to the Zoological Society's 

 Menagerie usually fall below the average of those of the summer, both 

 in number and importance. In December of last year they were not 

 very numerous, but one or two are worthy of a passing notice. First 

 and foremost may be placed a young male of the Greater Kudu, from 

 Somaliland, presented by Major Irvine. There are now in the Gardens 

 three examples of this species, which has many claims to rank as the 

 most beautiful and graceful of all Mammalia. 



The unrivalled collection of Bears, containing two or more examples 

 of the Sloth, Polar, Malayan, Himalayan, Japanese, American Black, 

 Grizzly, Brown, and Syrian, has been enriched by the presentation of a 

 very fine three-year-old specimen of the Manchurian or Kamschatkan 

 Bear, described from its alleged propensity for Salmon poaching as 

 Ursus jriscator. Judging from its form and general appearance, how- 

 ever, this specimen appears to represent merely a local race or sub- 

 species of the Brown Bear (U. arctos), though distinguishable from 

 examples of the European form of that animal by the profuseness of 

 the hair-growth on the ears. 



Examples of Insectivora, if we except the Common Hedgehog, 

 are always rare in menageries. The Society may therefore be con- 

 gratulated upon having received upon deposit three specimens of the 

 Tenrec (Centetes ecaudatus), the giant of the order, and an inhabitant of 

 Madagascar. Unfortunately the exclusively nocturnal habits of this 

 animal render it an unsatisfactory object for exhibition from the 

 visitors' point of view. 



In the Monkey House may be seen two recently received examples 

 of the West African Baboons, Pajno sjohinx&nd. P. anubis; also a young 

 specimen, from Northern Nigeria, of Pousargue's Guenon [Cercopi- 

 thecus ponsarguei), a species not previously exhibited in the Gardens, 

 and two fine deposited representatives of the Lion Marmoset (Midas 

 rosalia). Marmosets do not, as a rule, thrive in captivity, and have 

 seldom lived long in the Gardens. The attempt, however, is now 

 being made to keep them under glass as a protection against draught 

 and a prevention against indiscriminate feeding by visitors. What 

 measure of success, if any, will attend this experiment remains yet to 

 be seen. 



