12 
WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
THE AARb-VARK. 
HOW THE PLATYPUS BREEDS. 
This question is now satisfactorily settled. 
The platypus lays eggs, and Mr. Caldwell, Nat- 
ural History Fellow of Caius College, Cam- 
bridge, has been credited with the honor of the 
discovery. Mr. Caldwell, though not responsible* 
to any scientific body in this country, was never- 
theless good enough to appear before the mem- 
bers of the Linnean Society of Sydney, and veri- 
fy his discovery. He exhibited the eggshells, 
made a statement, and answered all questions put 
to him. The eggs were round rather than oval, 
the shells hard and of a calcareous composition. 
Mr. Caldwell dissected over 600 female speci- 
mens before getting one with an egg in it. The 
female in which the egg was found had layed an 
egg just shortly before she was caught, and the 
embryologist, who had suffered so many disap- 
pointments from a similar cause, feared that he 
was to be again doomed to disappointment; but 
such, however, was not the case, for on dissec- 
tion another egg was found, and then, and not 
until then, was this vexed question decided. It 
is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the 
most notable and important scientific discoveries 
of the nineteenth century. Students to the phil- 
osophy of Darwin are quite alive to the import- 
ance of this discovery, and it has been hailed 
with delight by Professor Mosely and many 
other eminent scientists. The platypus ( Orni - 
thorhynchus) has bridged the hiatus that hitherto 
existed between birds and mammals; in other 
words, the most important of Darwin’s “missing 
links” has been discovered, and the chain of con- 
nection between reptiles and man is now very 
nearly complete. Much credit is due to Profess- 
or Liversidge, of the Sydney University, for the 
promptitude with which he cabled the discovery 
to the Royal Society, then sitting at Montreal; 
and I am personally much indebted to that gen- 
tleman for kindness in furnishing me with Mr. 
Caldwell’s address and forwarding him my let- 
ters. I shall be very thankful to your correspon- 
dent, “Platypus,” if he will forward me those 
spirit specimens of platypus eggs to the Austral- 
ian Museum, Sydney. During my absence from 
Sydney Mr. Ramsay has kindly promised to take 
charge of all specimens that may arrive for me at 
the museum. — From an Australian exchange. 
We have the Platypus, Ornithorhynchus ana- 
tinus, as skins, stuffed specimens, skeletons, and 
entire in alcohol. 
A NEW WORK ON TAXIDERMY. 
Unless all signs fail we are at last to have a 
work on taxidermy, collecting and museology 
which will do these subjects justice. Mr. Hor- 
nady is now diligently at work on the MS. of a 
work of this kind which he has had in contem- 
plation for several years, and for which he has 
during that time been making notes and experi- 
ments. In fact the portion of the book which 
relates to collecting is already finished, the most 
of it having been written in the jungles of India 
and Borneo. Mr. Hornaday announces his in- 
tention to make the work as complete in every 
part as he knows how, and it will be very fully 
illustrated by more than two hundred figures 
drawn expressly for it. No pains or expense 
will be spared to make the work eminently use- 
ful to the taxidermist, collector and curator. It 
is not expected that the work can appear before 
1887, but we know enough of the author, both as 
collector, taxidermist and writer, to assure our 
zoological friends that its appearance will be 
hailed with delight by every museum-builder. 
BIRDS 7 EGGS. 
We keep constantly on hand a large assort- 
ment of both North American and foreign birds’ 
eggs (also reptiles’ eggs) ; parties making collec- 
tions will do well to obtain our catalogues, ten 
cents each. Among our rarest foreign eggs may 
be mentioned Condor, Lyre Bird, Ostrich, two 
species, Rhea, Emu, Apteryx oweni and mantelli. 
We also have nests of many species, noticeable 
among these the Guacharo Bird and several 
Weaver Birds’, some of the latter four feet long. 
THE AARD-VARK. 
The Aard-vark (Orycteropus capensis ) is one of 
two very specialized species of edentates forming 
the sub-order Fodientia. It and the Giant Ar- 
madillo are the rarest forms of its order, and 
although occupying so important a place among 
its fellows, it is very rarely met with in the mu- 
seums of America. Formerly it has very seldom 
been possible for us to obtain specimens of this 
animal ; but on his recent African trip Prof. 
Ward made arrangements by means of which 
we shall be able to obtain about one a year. 
We now have on hand a fine stuffed specimen 
which we offer for sale for $75. 
Below will be found a cut copied from an old 
geographical work on Africa, that illustrated its 
descriptions of various parts of the country by 
depicting the more prominent zoological pecul- 
iarities. This figure has reference to the story 
that the lion and elephant, enraged at the manner 
in which the aard-vark destroyed the level of the 
plain, joined forces for its annihilation. The 
elephant, unable to capture the obnoxious animal, 
brought water in his trunk by means of which it 
was drowned out of its burrow to fall a prey to 
the more agile lion. 
The facial expression of the aard-varks in the 
cut differs strikingly from that of any we have 
handled; and would, we believe, justify the cre- 
ation of a new specific if not sub-generic term. 
“CHEEK.” 
Don’t write us a letter like this one, received 
some time ago— it is a needless waste of time, 
although full of the freshness of springtime and 
— the West. 
Cedar Rapids, Linn Co., Iowa, May 7, 1885. 
Prof. Henry A. Ward: 
Sir — I wish a favor at your hands. I deal in 
shells; now would you be kind enough to give 
me the full address of parties who deal in or who 
purchase shells in the countries you have visited, 
and to whom I could write. Any information on 
these points will be received with many thanks. 
Yours respectfully, etc., 
Send for our new Catalogue of Shells, 
JUMBO’S HUMERUS. 
The more we worked upon Jumbo the more we 
came to appreciate his colossal size. To say that 
he was so many feet higher than the ordinary 
adult elephant fails to convey any tangible idea 
of his immensity. One of his front legs was a 
fair load for two men in moving them about dur- 
ing the process of mounting the skeleton. The 
humerus alone severely tasked the strength of a 
strong man to hold it in place during the work of 
articulating the legs. It was found to have the 
enormous weight of 69 lbs. 
COYOTE CUNNING. 
While riding across the prairie one day last 
autumn, I noticed three coyotes trotting along 
together at a little distance. Presently one of 
them stopped. About 80 rods further on a sec- 
ond stopped and dropped into the tall grass. 
Hardly had the third disappeared over the brow 
of the hill beyond, when number one ran to a 
“buffalo wallow” and from among the weeds 
started out a “jack rabbit.” He gave chase at 
his best speed, skillfully directing the rabbit to- 
ward number two, who took up the chase with 
equal zeal. Interested to see the outcome of 
this piece of strategy, I rode to the top of the 
hill just in time to see number three take in the 
outwinded rabbit after a short run. They bore 
their game away to a rocky bluff, making a long 
detour to avoid me. I was much disappointed at 
not being able to see how the spoil was divided. 
A ranchman tells of having seen two coyotes 
approach his house on a foraging expedition. 
The family was absent at the time, and the gen- 
tleman himself was making hay a half mile from 
the house. The two coyotes came up on a little 
knoll which overlooked the premises, and one of 
them posted himself there to keep watch. The 
other ran down, caught a chicken and hastily de- 
voured it; then caught another, which he carried 
out to his comrade on the hill, who made his 
meal more leisurely. There seems to be honor 
even among these thieves. b. 
Mr. Baker writes us as follows from western 
Kansas (near the 100th meridian): January just 
past was the most severe ever experienced here. 
Storms accompanied by extreme cold prevailed 
almost without interruption during the entire 
month. The cowboys reported numbers of “jack 
rabbits” and “cotton tails” frozen to death, also 
several antelope, which had drifted against wii'e 
fences during a blizzard and perished. Prairie 
dogs were seen on January 1st, but did not ap- 
pear again during the month. 
