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‘ JAMRA CH ’ S 
chance menagerie at Jamrach’s a character quite 
distinct from any exhibited collection. The creatures 
are there for sale, not for show, and meantime are 
kept as quiet and as close together as due attention 
to health permits. The panthers’ room was shared 
by an African black-buck from the Cape, a black- 
tailed jackal, various kangaroos and wallabies, and 
a pair of demoiselle cranes. On another storey were 
a happy family of monkeys, lemurs, and Chinese dogs, 
a pair of cassowaries, a viscacha, foxes large and small, 
“ native companion ” cranes, a brown Tasmanian 
opossum, coatimundis, a beautifully-marked civet cat, 
and two small Siamese porcupines. This list, though 
apparently no bad nucleus for a Zoological Garden, 
is only a fraction of the number which is usually 
stored in the depot by the docks. There is a sudden 
and unprecedented increase in the demand for wild 
animals at present, not only for the Continent, but 
for the United States. The stocks in most of the 
European Zoological Gardens have decreased of late 
— a shrinkage partly caused by the closure of the 
Soudan by the Dervishes. In America the popularity 
of the great menagerie at the World’s Fair has created 
a sudden demand for wild animals of all kinds. 
Circuses and private menageries are competing with 
the Zoological Gardens and scientific societies for 
rare and interesting animals, and the demand for 
America is far greater than for the continent of 
Europe. After five or six years of neglect, there 
is such a “ boom ” in the wild-beast trade as is hardly 
