17 
ably fine specimen, has been purchased to mate the female 
now in the collection, but has not yet reached the Garden. 
In replacing the old animals which die from time to time, 
great care is exercised to procure only young and perfect 
specimens, even in cases when it is necessary to wait for 
some time before such can be procured. This policy, rigor- 
ously carried out, has been productive of excellent results, 
as there are to-day few animals in the collection which are 
unworthy representatives of their kind. In the larger carniv- 
ora, especially, it is believed that a series of more perfect 
individuals of all the well-known species cannot be found 
in any zoological collection existing. 
The hippopotamus, purchased in the spring of 1884, con- 
tinues to thrive and gains rapidly in size. It has proved to 
be one of the most attractive animals in the Garden. 
The aviary contains more than its usual number and 
variety of inmates, the series of parrots especially being 
more attractive than ever before. 
It is frequently suggested, and is indeed desirable, that in 
an American garden the collection of North American forms 
should be as complete as possible, but the difficulties are 
such as seem to be almost impossible to overcome except in 
the cases of our most common species. The greater propor- 
tion of our largest and most interesting animals are now 
found only in the far north, or west of the Mississippi river. 
There is in this country no organized capture of wild ani- 
mals for purposes of exhibition, such as those from which 
African and Asiatic specimens are drawn, and the chances 
of purchase are therefore wholly accidental, and even when 
occurring, the great expense of transportation to a shipping 
point and the heavy express charges, with the risk conse- 
quent on neglect or improper care during transit, shut off all 
but the few cases from favorable localities. 
It appears, further, that the lack of some nutritive ele- 
ments which have hitherto eluded detection proves speedily 
fatal to nearly all the herbivorous animals from the far 
west, the elk and the bison being the only exceptions 
among those whose domestication has been attempted in 
the east. In both of these cases it is interesting to obs erve 
