REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
13 
do to avenge himself. But he turned when they did and moved away 
as calmly as if nothing had happened. Some of the unregenerate 
younger men found it a severe tax upon their self-restraint to keep back 
their mirth, and every now and again a spasm of laughter would be 
followed by a deprecating cough. They were bound for the refreshment 
room, near the entrance, and the ascetic quietly and unostentatiously took 
the first opportunity of leaving the gardens. 
BABOONS 
MRS. AND MISS MACG 
Although no properly constituted Zoo could keep its self-respect 
unless it had a well-populated monkey house, it is a surprisingly rare 
thing for one to have a native-born baby monkey on view, for they very 
seldom breed in captivity; therefore when one does make its appearance 
the event is looked upon as one of considerable importance. When a 
baby was born some years ago to a fine yellow baboon in the Melbourne 
Gardens it was the first monkey birth within the memory of two or 
three generations of children, and so the mother and baby held first 
place in the affections of Zoo frequenters for a long while. The fame 
of the pair having gone abroad, a newspaper reporter went there to 
interview them and to get their portraits for his journal. The silly 
season was at its height, and there was space and to spare for such 
biographies. He was delighted with the two, and after gleaning all 
available information about them, he asked if they had names. Yes, 
he was told, they were the yellow baboons. But surely two important 
animals like that would have had special names bestowed on them ? They 
had, it was admitted, but the staff did not know whether their special 
names were for more than home consumption. Oh, surely they were? 
How could their biographies be written without their names being 
supplied? Besides, what was in a name? Well, they were known in 
the gardens as Mrs. and Miss MacG. . It wasn’t MacGregor. It 
was an unmistakably Irish name that cannot be told here, because some 
people mislaid their sense of humor when the story was first printed, and 
such a thing cannot be allowed to happen again. The publication of 
the illustrated history of the two proved to be a highly popular item in 
the night’s bill-of-fare, but that by no means exhausted the news value 
