Jan. 29, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
legislation prohibiting the wholesale slaughter of our 
game. 
For years this, has been a "close preserve" for a few 
English naval officers and their friends, and while they 
enjoyed first-class spoi't the country reaped very little 
benefit, and in one notable instance the country, its cli- 
mate, resources and even the very game that afforded 
such sport year after year were all basely libelled in the 
leading English newspapers by one who had received 
nothing btit the warmest hospitality from our people. 
Just now the eyes of the outside world are being opened 
to our magnificent resources, and diu-ing the next few 
years we will certainly have increasing numbers of tour- 
ists visiting our shores. 
The great trouble heretofore has been the expense of 
visiting the island, added to which was the uncertainty of 
the means of transit and the dreaded sea voyage, with 
its accompaniments of danger from fog and ice. These 
difficulties are completely obviated, or at least minimized, 
by the splendid facilities now at hand. With a tri- 
weekly connection with the neighboring continent — 
the palace steamship Bruce covering the distance in 
about five hours— and with railway accommodations of 
the latest and most approved style, including Pullman 
palace, dining and sleeping cars, and all this at very 
reasonable rates, a great influx of the wealthy and lei- 
sure classes, both of America and Great Britain, will 
certainly take place during the next few years. 
The climate in Summer when tempered by the balmy 
sea breezes is bracing and health-giving, and when 
compared with the torrid heat of countries in the same 
latitude in America and Europe, the wonder is that 
thousands of health and pleasure-seekers have not 
sought it long ago. The scenery is such as the poet sings 
of in our opening quotation, and nowhere will you find 
a nobler or a lovelier scene than this. 
Vast deer parks there are in the interior as yet untrod- 
den by the foot of man. The rivers and lakes teeni with 
the gamiest salmon and large mud and salt-water trout, 
and visitors invariably testify that the people are kind 
and hospitable. The rate of living is comparatively low. 
And "when the wind sweeps the broad forest in its sum- 
mer prime, as when some master hand exulting sweeps 
the keys of some great organ," and "the trees give forth 
the music of the woodland depths, a hymn of gladness 
and of thanks," then may Newfoundland be not inaptly 
styled the "sportsman's paradise." W. J. Carroll. 
Evening: on the James. 
Light air, barely sufficient to give steerage way, wafts 
the 3racht over the waters. 
Wing-and-wing, she glides smoothly onward, the main 
sheet just skimming the surface, shattering the clear-cut 
reflection of boom and sail into crinkling fragments as 
it trails. 
At intervals comes a puff of renewed energy, to which 
the canvas responds, swinging the boom ponderously 
forward, to bring up suddenly with heavy jar and rattle 
of tackle, as it snaps the trailing ropes from the water. 
For an instant I catch the glisten of bright drops flung 
from the now tense and rigid sheet. Anon it is sagging, 
the boom swings slowly back, till presently a soft purling 
tells me it is trailing again. 
We are slipping quietly along to our anchorage, Avithin 
a stone's throw of the ruins of the old church at James- 
town. 
No one speaks, the scene is too lovely for word-dis- 
turbance. 
Cap leaves the wheel to join me at the rail, where to- 
gether we watch the sunset. 
The western sky is aflame with color, the farther shore, 
with its heavy fringe of cypress, standing out inky black 
below. 
Abreast of us the island is bathed in a flood of mellow 
orange that touches and glows here and there upon the 
buge trunks of the forest trees. Somewhere among the 
tangled vines that hang above the quiet graves near the 
ruins a cardinal lingers to flute a vesper hymn. 
His clear notes, crisp and true, ring on the still air, 
and lend such exquisite charm to the evening .stillness 
that when they cease our breathing seems to have in- 
sensibfy deepened. 
"F^orward there?" Cap's voice startles me with its sud- 
den inquiry. 
"Ready, sir!" comes the response. 
A pause as the echoes die — 
"'Let go!" and the anchor plunges to rest. 
WiLMOT TOWNSEND. 
Gift to Yale University. 
At a meeting of the corporation of Yale University, 
held Jan. 13, Prof. O. C. Marsh formally presented to 
the University the valuable scientific collections belong- 
ing to him, and now and for a long time in the Peabody 
Museum. The collections thus presented — six in num- 
ber— are described by Prof. Marsh in his letter to the 
corporation as follows: 
"These various collections, now deposited in the Pea- 
body Museum in New Haven, include six of special im- 
portance, which may be briefly described as follows: 
"(i) The Collection of Vertebrate Fossils. — This is the 
most important and valuable of all, as it is very ex- 
- tensive, contains a very large number of type specimens, 
rnany of them unique, and is widely known from the de- 
scriptions already published. In extinct mammals, birds 
and reptiles of North America this series stand's pre- 
eminent. 
"This collection was pronounced by Huxley, who ex- 
amined it with care in 1876, to be surpassed by no other 
in the world. Darwin, in 1878, expressed a strong de- 
sire to visit America for the sole purpose of seeing this 
collection. Since then it has been more than doubled in 
size and value, and still holds first rank. The bulk of 
this collection has been secured in my Western explora- 
tions,' which have extended over a period of nearly 
thirty years, during which I have cro.ssed the Rocky 
Mountains twenty-seven times. 
"(2) The Collection of Fossil Footprints. — These spe- 
cimens are mainly from the Connecticut Valley, and 
thus have a special local interest. They also form one 
of the most extensive and complete collections of the 
kind in this country, if not the most valuable of all. 
"(3) The Collection of Invertebrate Fossils. — This in- 
cludes a large number of interesting specimens from 
many formations and localities, both in this country and 
in Europe. Some of these fossils I collected myself, 
but the greater number were secured by purchase. 
Among the series of specimens especially valuable may 
be mentioned several thousand from the famous Mazon 
Creek locality in Illinois; a very extensiA'^e collection of 
crinoids from Crawfordsville in Indiana; the largest 
collection of nearly entire trilobites yet discovered, and 
one of the rarest series of Silurian sponges known, in- 
cluding important type specimens. 
"(4) The Collection of Recent Osteology. — ^This is be- 
lieved to be the most complete collection in this country 
for purposes of study. I have made special efforts for 
many years to secure the skeletons of rare existing ver- 
tebrates from every part of the world, particularly of 
mammals, birds and reptiles. The collection is especially 
rich in anthropoid apes, the gorillas being represented 
by no less than thirteen individuals, and the other genera 
by rare characteristic specimens. 
"(5) The Collection of American Archeology and Eth- 
nology. — This collection is the best in the country in 
several branches of the science, being particularly rich 
in Central American antiquities, several thousand speci- 
mens in number and many of them unicjue. Some of 
these I obtained myself in Central America, and among 
the others is the famous deZeltner collection, rich in gold 
ornaments, Avhich I secured by purchase. The specimens 
from Mexico are also of great interest, and the series 
is a representative one. It includes the well-known Skil- 
ton collection. 
"(6) The Collection of Minerals. — This is a limited 
collection, but contains many valuable specimens, among 
them probably the most interesting series known of Nova 
Scotian zeolites. These were mainly collected by myself 
before I graduated at Yale during six expeditions to 
Nova Scotia. 
"The three principal collections in the above series, 
numbered i, 4 and S, have practically no other repre- 
sentatives at Yale, and hence their importance to this 
institution. 
"Besides the six main collections named, I have sev- 
eral others of less value, which include fossil plants, 
casts of fossils, geological specimens, and recent zoolog- 
ical material. There also are deposited in the Peabody 
Museum, and are covered by the present deed of gift" 
It has long been known that it was Prof. Marsh's in- 
tention ultimately to present these invaluable collections 
to the University, and this has now been done, subject 
only to certain conditions, of which the most important 
are these: 
"(i) The scientific collections I now give to Yale Uni- 
versity shall be kept in the Peabody Museum building 
or in additions thereto equally safe from fire. 
"(2) During my life these collections shall remain as 
now under my supervision and control, available for 
my own investigation and description, or for the work 
of others designated by me. 
"(3) At my decease, and forever after, these collections 
shall be under the charge of the Trustees of the Pea- 
body Museum and their successors, and in the special 
custody of curators recommended by them and appointed 
by the corporation of Yale University. 
"(4) The type specimens and others of special im- 
portance in these collections shall not be removed from 
the museum building. Less valuable specimens, how- 
ever, especially duplicates, may be so removed by vote 
of the trustees of the museum." 
There is probably nowhere in the world any collect 
tion of vertebrate fossils which is so rich as that which 
Prof. Marsh has brought together in thirty years of work 
and at a cost of a sum of monej'^ that is to be reckoned 
not by thousands, but by hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars. Among the forms best known may be mentioned 
the series of fossils illustrating the genealogy of the 
horse, as made out by Prof. Marsh and accepted by Prof. 
Huxley, who used it as the basis of his New York lec- 
tures; (2) the birds with teeth, nearly 200 individuals, 
described in Prof. Marsh's monogTaph "Odontornithes" ; 
(3) the gigantic dinocerata, several hundred in number; 
eocene mammals described in his monograph on 
this group; (4) the brontotheridae, hiige miocene 
mammals, some two hundred in number; (5) 
pterodactyles, over 600 in number; (6) the mosasaurs 
or cretaceous sea' serpents, represented by more than 
1,500 individuals; (7) a large number of dinosaurian 
reptiles, some of gigantic size. Besides these are various 
other groups of mammals, birds and reptiles, most of 
them including unique specimens. 
It is well known that to Prof. Marsh Y^ale University 
owes its Peabody Museum, the gift of George Peabody, 
Marsh's uncle, as well as thirty years of enthusiastic 
unpaid service as Professor of Paleontologj^, and it is 
natural that a man who has done so much for the Uni- 
versity should now do still more. It was Prof. Marsh 
who thirty years ago had the genius to discover, to 
grasp the full rheaning of and to thoroughly exploit 
the rich fossil-bearing fields of the trans-Missouri region, 
and the vertebrate fossils now given to Yale University 
have come in large measure from these fields. 
New Southwestern Mammals. 
In Vol. XX. of the "Proceedings of the United States 
N;n;onal i\Tuseum" Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, of the U. S. 
Army, publishes two papers fiving preliminary descrip- 
tions of the new mammals collected during the recent sur- 
vey of the boundaries between United States and Mex- 
ico. The advance sheets of the first of these papers w^ere 
issued Jan, 12, 1897, and of the second Feb. 11, 1897. 
In tbe first paper are desciibed two new subspecies of 
Lynx rufus under the names respectively eremims and 
mUforniciis. The former of these inhabits the eastern 
and western desert tracts on the Mexican line, the latter 
the Pacific coast' tract of California and lower California. 
Two hubspecies of gray fox are also described, a new 
species of skv.nk (Spilogale aiiihigim) and a new sub- 
species (Mephitis occidentaKs holsncri) conclude the first 
paper. 
The second openswith a description of a rtew species of 
sknnli {Mephitis millefi) from Arizona. Dorcelaptms crookiis 
is anew species of blacktaii deer, which, from the descrip- 
tion, one would imagine to be nearly related to D. columbi- 
amis. Dr. Mearns regards the animal as showing a com- 
promise between the characteristics of the whitetail and- 
the mule deer, A new subspecies of mule deer A. 
eremicus) is described from the most arid portion of 
Sonora, Mexico. It is remarkable for its size and for the 
heavy and divergent beams of its antlers. A new sub- 
species of peccary {D. a. sonoriensis) is described from 
Sonoraj^ Mexico. 
Menagerie Notes. 
It is learned with great regret by all interested in 
menageries that the Zoological Garden Co., of Cincin- 
nati, has failed and gone into the hands of a receiver, 
These gardens have been well known for a good many 
years, and were long managed with 1 cmarlcable success 
by our correspondent Mr. Frank Thompson, eminent as 
a" collector of wild animals, and as a field naturalist. 
Under Mr. Thompson's administration the gardens, 
viewed from the naturalist's standpoint, were strikingly 
successful, but since he left them things have been going 
from bad to worse, until the present climax has been 
reached. 
Mr. Thompson's interesting contributions to Forest 
AND Stream on the capture of wild animals in Africa 
and the adventures which he met with while engaged 
in this pursuit are no doubt still remem'jered by many 
of our readers. His sketches were always graphic and 
full of interest. 
The last week or ten days have been notable m two 
menageries in and near New York for the bii'th of wild 
animals. In the collection in Central Park two tmy 
grizzly bears were born about the 15th of this month, 
but lurfortunatelv neither survived. It was different 
with four lion cubs born in Mr. Starin's menagerie m 
Glen Island, which at last accotuits were said to be doing 
well. 
mti^ ^^^^ 0^^^' 
Megantic Club Banquet. 
The Megantic Fish and Game Club and their guests 
filled the dining hall of the Copley Square Hotel last 
Saturday evening to repletion, The occasion was the 
annual banquet of the club, which the sportsmen of Bos- 
ton, and in fact many other localities, have been looking 
forward to with anticipation for a long time. The com- 
pany marched into the banquet hall at 7:50 P. M., and 
very soon after were engaged in an attack on the appe- 
tizing solids and dainties before them. Dag.gett's or- 
chestra played all the popular songs, and the company 
were not slow in joining an excellent quartette in the 
' choruses. Myron W. Whitney, the well-known basso, 
sang the "Three Fishers," which was received with 
thundering encore. The decorations were very pretty 
and suggestive. Back of President Arthur W. Robin- 
son were draped two beautiful flags, with a magnificent 
elk head, and a giant eagle did guard duty. Around the 
hall suspended from the walls were thirty or torty pau'S 
of caribou antlers. At the lower end of the room a great 
moose head stared at the company and listened to the 
proceedings with apparent interest. 
The invited guests of the club were: Col. H. A. 
' Thomas, postmaster of the city of Boston; Hon. John 
L'. Bates, speaker of the Massachusetts House; Col. • 
Benj. S. Lovell, Mr. Horace G. Rockwell, Mr. Godfrey 
Morse, Mr. E. Noyes Whitcomb, president of the En- 
glew^ood Fish and Game Club; Rev. E. C. Butler, of 
Quincy, and Mr. E. W. Gleason, of New 'York city. 
At 9:30 o'clock the dinner was Ovier, chairs were - 
pushed back, cigars lighted, and the company prepared 
to do homage to the feast of oratory which was to fol- 
lows President Robinson complimented the club on its 
prosperity during the past years, stating tliat the result - 
of good management and economy had reduced the club 
indebtedness to the amount of $1,700; the full limit of 
300 members had been reached a long time ago. He 
also mentioned the success which has attended the 
hatching of fish at Big Island Pond, saying that 85,000 
trout and 50,000 salmon bad been liberated during 1897. 
Over 200 members and guests had visited the preserve 
last year. After reading letters of regret from the Gov- ■*• 
ernor and Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, he 
introduced Postmaster Thomas, who put the company - 
in good humor by several amusing stories. The post- 
master took advantage of the opportunity to speak of - 
the proposed reduction of the force of letter-carriers, 
and spoke in- condemnation of such a course. He con- 
gratulated the club on its success, and regretted that he'- 
was not a sportsman himself. _^ " 
Speaker Bates followed with aft eloquent speech, fe- . 
ferring to the great area of the club's preserve, its game 
and fish, and excellent membership. He also spoke of 
the game and fish laws of Massachusetts, the introduc- 
tion of the Mongolian pheasants, and touched on many 
subjects which seemed to interest the assembled sports- 
men greatly. 
After a "sleight of hand" performance by one of the 
actors of Keith's Theater, President Robinson introduced 
the Hon. Godfrey Morse, who was followed by Col. 
Benj. S. Lovell, Mr. Martine, of Plainrield, N. J., and 
the Rev. E. C. Butler. The last sneaker of the even- 
ing was E. W. Gleason, of New York city. This gentle- 
man was a favorite at last year's dinner, when he made 
a very eloquent speech. His remarks were therefore 
awaited with interest, and proved that the silver tongue . 
was still equal to an occasion of the kind, for his de- 
scriptions of experiences in the woods, what he had 
learned there, and the benefits of a life of that kind Avere 
realistic in the extreme. 
