WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
11 
A Much-Traveled Walrus. 
A Great Ornithological Work. 
NEW CORALS. 
Readers of the first Bulletin may, perhaps, 
remember that we noted the receipt of a large 
Walrus from the neighborhood of BafBns Bay. 
Since then the animal has been stuffed, and is 
now on its way to Australia, where it is destined 
to grace the Melbourne Museum. The history of 
this specimen is not uninteresting, as bearing on 
the collection and distribution of natural history 
material. In 1879 the specimen was captured by 
the crew of a Scotch whaling steamer, and taken 
to Dundee. This whaler, by'the way, was com- 
manded by Captain Adams, who rescued the 
crew of the Polaris from the floating ice fields, 
and whose steamer — the Arctic — was the year 
following crushed by the ice. Purchased in Dun- 
dee by Prof. Ward, the Walrus was sent to Liv- 
erpool, and thence to New York. Now, after a 
sojourn of eight months at Rochester, it goes 
around the Cape of Good Hope to Australia. 
The animal, when mounted, measured twelve 
feet in length and about fourteen feet around the 
chest, being altogether a most uncouth looking 
animal. 
Singular as the creature is by nature, it has 
been grossly slandered by many artists, both an- 
cient and modern, who have not hesitated to call 
upon their imagination when their stock of facts 
became low. Their vagaries are well illustrated 
by these two cuts taken from Gesner’s Historia 
Animalium, published in 1558, and figured with 
others by Dr. J. E. Gray, in the Proceedings of 
the Zoblogical Society for 1858, and also by Mr. 
J. A. Allen, in his Monograph of North Ameri- 
can Pinnipeds. 
In both of these cuts it will be noticed that the 
artist has united in one animal the attributes of 
both fish and mammals, while the lower figure of 
the two rejoices in the possession of a pair of wings 
in addition to its usual four limbs, a character 
commonly supposed to belong to angels alone. 
The Walrus now under way for the antipodes 
is one of the finest that has ever passed through 
our hands, and by a curious coincidence measures 
exactly the same in length and girth as one killed 
by Mr. H. W. Elliott, at the Pribylov Islands, 
and noted by him as the largest in a herd of 
twenty. We still possess fine skins of both the 
Atlantic and Pacific Walruses and a few skulls 
of the latter species. 
Comparatively few people are aware of the 
vast extent and importance of the scientific work 
now going on in India under the direction and 
support of one private individual. Some years 
since, Mr. A. O. Hume, C. B., C. S. I., Secre- 
tary to the Government of India, undertook the 
gigantic task of making a systematic ornitho- 
logical survey of British India, which includes 
all Hindoostan, Ceylon, British Burmah, Ten- 
asserim, the Malay Peninsula and even the 
Andaman Islands. Mr. Hume was able to bring 
to the support of this undertaking a love of field 
work, habits of close observation, a ready pen, 
an unlimited capacity for hard scientific work 
—and a modest salary of $25,000 per year! Be- 
sides doing a vast amount of field work himself 
for several years past, he has constantly kept 
from one to three well-organized corps of col- 
lectors in the field, and has received hundreds of 
bird skins, eggs and nests from correspondents 
in all parts of India. Everything undertaken is 
done on a liberal scale. As an illustration of 
this we may cite the expedition to the Andaman 
Islands in 1878, when Mr. Hume chartered a 
steamer for a month, invited a corps of naturalists 
to accompany him, and with several of his col- 
lectors on board, visited and explored that little- 
known Archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, as a 
summer vacation. 
Among the results of this work and expendi- 
ture of money, we may enumerate a collection 
of over 45,000 bird skins, and unnumbered eggs 
at Simla; a superb four- volume work upon the 
Game Birds of India; a monthly ornithological 
journal called Stray Feathers ; a work on the 
Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds; sundry volumes 
of Rough Notes, and various other works of 
greater or lesser importance. 
In Singapore I had the good fortune to meet 
one of Mr. Hume’s collectors, Mr. William 
Davison, who had just completed the ornitho- 
logical survey of Tenasserim. In that territory 
he collected 580 species, several of which were 
new to science, and in Burmah 728 species. Mr. 
D. was then just beginning work in the Malay 
Peninsula, witli a probability of being occupied 
two or three years in that and adjacent terri- 
tories. He informed me that Mr. Hume intends 
to publish as soon as possible a very complete 
and finely illustrated work on the Birds of India, 
which may well be the crowning result of so 
many years labor. W. T. II 
ANATOMICAL MODELS. 
The justly celebrated Auzoux models, for 
which Prof. Ward is agent, are undoubtedly the 
best that are made, but their cost and the time 
required to fill an order for them, deter many 
from purchasing who nevertheless feel the need 
of illustrating lessons in physiology in such a 
manner that they can be readily understood. 
For this purpose the papier mache models of 
Ramme and Sodtman are admirably adapted, 
being well made and at the same time moderate 
in price. There are over thirty of these models, 
most of which are constantly on hand, showing 
the anatomy of various portions of the body, and 
especially of the head, eye and ear. 
F 01 full description, see Catalogue of Human 
Skeletons and Anatomical Preparations. Price 
15 cents. ’ ’ 
lyre birds. 
Among the numerous bird skins recently re- 
ceived from Australia are many fine Lyre Birds. 
These remarkable and handsome birds are ordi- 
naiily quite expensive, but as these were col- 
lected under peculiarly advantageous conditions 
we are able to offer them at the following low 
prices: 
Male — skin, 
“ mounted, 
Female— skin, _ _ _ ' _ ~ . 
mounted, 
These skins were collected last y 
in excellent order. 
.. $5 00 
■ $10 to $12 
$2 00 
- $7 00 
ear, and are 
We have now on hand an immense amount of 
Invertebrate material recently received from 
Australia and the East Indies, which we have 
not } r et had time to work up. We hope to have 
this in shape before the issue of No. 4, and that 
number will contain a list of the more rare and 
interesting forms. We give below a list, with 
prices, of a few species of the corals: 
Tubipora musica, . $0.30 to $8.00 
Seriatopora lineata , . 1 . 00 “ 3.50 
Pocillopora damicornis, 20 “ 3.50 
“ mceandrina, 75“ 6.00 
Distichopora nitida , - 10“ 2. 00 
Sly laster sanguineus, 10 “ 5.00 
Mussa multilobata, 35 “ 4.00 
Fungia repanda, .20 “ 1.25 
Herpetolitha foliosa, 75 “ 2.50 
Halomitra pileus, 1.75 “ 3.50 
Podabacia Crustacea, 3.00“ 5.00 
Lophoseris pmtorta, 75“ 3.00 
Merulina ampliata, 1.50“ 8.00 
Madrepora spicifera, .20“ 2.00 
“ hystrix, 25“ 2.00 
Alveopora dexdalea, 1.75“ 5.00 
Dendrophyllia nigrescens, 25 “ 5.00 
Answers to Correspondents. 
F. T. W. — The best work on Taxidermy is 
still unwritten. Coues' Field Ornithology con- 
tains fuller and better instructions for mounting 
birds than are given in any other work we are 
acquainted with, but unfortunately says nothing 
regarding other animals. Try Batty’s for them. 
A word of criticism: Don't cut out the radius 
when you make a bird skin, Dr. Coues to the 
contrary, notwithstanding. For other directions 
in regard to bird skins, see No. 2 of the Bulle- 
tin. 
H. M. E.— For recipe for arsenical soap, see 
Bulletin No. 1, page 12. 
W. S. G.-- -There is something better than saw 
dust for stuffing a deer’s head. Use straw for the 
neck, and tow about the head. 
N. C. — Adamite does occur at the mines of 
Laurium, Greece, although this locality is not 
noted in the books. 
Prof. Ward writes us that he has recently 
secured a fine egg of Apteryx australis , which 
leads us to call attention to the remarkably full 
series of eggs of Struthiones which we are now 
prepared to offer: 
StrutMo camelus — North African Ostrich,. $3 50 
Struthio camelus (pneridionalis )— South Afri- 
can Ostrich,... 3 qq 
Rhea Americana — American Ostrich, 3 00 
Dromaius Nova Hollandce — Emeu, 2 50 
Casuanus Bennetti — Cassowary, 3 50 
Apteryx Mantelli — Apteryx, 15 00 
Apteryx australis — Apteryx, 15 00 
Apteryx OwerijR - Apteryx (cracked), 6 00 
Apteryx Oweni — Apteryx (cast), 100 
Dinornis Moa. (cast); length of egg, 9 in., 2 50 
^ Just as we go to press, word comes from San 
Iraucisco that the large collection sent thereat 
the request of the Academy of Sciences, has been, 
purchased for that Institutipn, 
