22 



HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



General A. R. Hoskins presented a very 

 nice Chita from Somaliland, and Captain E. H. 

 Buxton, a Hermit Ibis from Birijek on the 

 Euphrates. 



3. — Gezira Aquarium and Fisheries 



51,659 people visited the Aquarium, a 

 number only surpassed once in former years. 



Owing to shortness of staff available for 

 for collecting, the number of live fish on 

 exhibition fell rather below the usual standard. 



A commencement was made with a re- 

 search laboratory for Egyptian food fishes, run 

 jointly by the Zoological Service and the Coast- 

 guards and Fisheries Service. 



In January 1919, at the kind invitation of 

 El Miralai G. F. G. Purvis Bey, Director- 

 General of Coastguards, Major Flower and Mr 

 J, L. Bonhote accompanied him, El Kaimakan 

 K. Dowson Bey, and Lieutenant G. Paget on 

 a short expedition in the Red Sea to investigate 

 fishery grounds and oyster beds. 



Major Flower was appointed in 1918 the 

 Government delegate on the Council of the 

 Sultanic Hydrobiological Institute, which has 

 its aqaurium, museum, laboratory, and library 

 at Alexandria, 



4.— Giza Zoological Museum, 



The Curator, Mr. J. L. Bonhote, left Giza 

 on leave on July 23, and resigned his appoint- 

 ment as from December 8, 1919. 



The Curator's work was taken over by the 

 Director, assisted by Mr. M. J. Nicoll. Mrs. S. 

 S. Flower also very kindly gave voluntary 

 assistance by working at the Museum, and 

 among other things, re-spirited where necessary 

 the whole of the large collection of mammals, 

 reptiles, fish,, etc., which is preserved in alcohol. 



By arrangement with the Entomological 

 Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, it 

 was agreed to hand over the collection of insects 

 to that Department, and Mr. G. Storey took 

 over the collection on behalf of Dr. Lewis H. 

 Gough, the Director. This saves the over- 

 lapping of work between the two departments 

 and it is obviously better to have one collection 

 as complete as possible in Cario than to have 

 two collections, one in Carlo and one in Giza, 

 each possibty more or less incomplete. 



For similar reasons arrangements are being 

 made to hand over the collection of marine 



invertebrates to the Sultanic Hydrobiological 

 Institute at Alexandria, 



A large central natural history museum for 

 Egypt situated at Giza would perhaps be the 

 ideal plan, but for the present there is neither 

 the building nor staff available. 



The most striking addition to the exhibition 

 gallery made during 1919 is a life-size wooden 

 model presented by the late Mr. E. W. Buckley 

 of a Nile perch (Lates niloticus), which he caught 

 with rod and line on Lake No in the Sudan, 

 and calculate the weight of as being 199 lbs. (or 

 90^26 kilogrammes). 



General Notes. 



By John D. Hamlyn. 



THAT a Hindu has been found dead, says the 

 Exchange, in the Lions' cage at the Bombay 

 Zoo, and two lions were snarling over his 

 remains. It is believed that he committed 

 suicide, as the cage was completely protected. 



At a Ceylon elephant drive two keepers 

 were crushed to death by wild elephants. 

 The efforts to capture them was witnessed 

 by the Governor and the principal residents 

 of the island. 



THAT the " New York World " states that on 

 June 20th last 7,000 Park elk were killed by 

 market hunters last year when these tame 

 animals strayed from the Yellowstone sanc- 

 tuary. If it were not for these National 

 Park systems, our wild life would soon be- 

 come exterminated. The Board of Manage- 

 ment of the United States Park Systems has 

 shown great enlightenment and courage in 

 dealing with this problem. The work needs 

 the support and encouragement of the Ameri- 

 can public, and should be supported and 

 helped as much as possible. It is up to 

 Congress to pass the necessary laws and 

 provide the necessary funds. Think of the 

 sportsmanship of platoons of hunters who 

 fired volleys into massed herds of elk which 

 strayed from this Government park and then 

 shipped the carcasses away by the car-load. 

 We believe that it would be wise for humani- 

 tarians to aid the Government and Congress 

 in making the park system more efficient in 

 protecting wild life. 



