ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
41 
imminent retreat of the German troops increases 
considerably the danger of extermination of the 
animals, and thus extinction of the species is 
to be feared.” In fact it seems that all or 
nearly all the remaining wisents have been shot 
by the inhabitants and the retiring German sol¬ 
diers, among whom discipline had been under¬ 
mined by the revolution. Notwithstanding, Pro¬ 
fessor Matschie of Berlin, who is well acquainted 
with the territory, told me that in his opinion 
it is very possible that wisents may still exist 
in impenetrable thickets of the forest. Unfor¬ 
tunately, there has been no corroboration of this 
view. 
About the end of the seventeenth century the 
first news of wisents in the Caucasus reached 
Europe. Since then little was known of the 
species till Professor Filatow made three trips 
to the district between 1909 and 1911 for the 
express purpose of studying the animals. The 
Caucasian wisent varies but slightly from the 
type in Bieloviesh; the shape of the skull and 
the horns, which resemble those of the American 
bison, being the chief peculiarities. It is known 
as Bos (Bison) bonasus caucasius Greve. At 
one time the Caucasian wisent lived in the dis¬ 
trict of Mount Elbrus, but its territory has been 
reduced to a comparatively small area in the 
Kuban region in northwestern Caucasia. Cut¬ 
ting down of the forests was the chief cause 
for the diminution. The last known area, where 
Caucasian wisents lived is as follows: Its north¬ 
ern limit is south of the towns of Atschcha and 
Atschesehbok, then along the bend of the Umseh- 
ten and Sehischa Rivers to the mouth of the 
Besymjanka, and somewhat south at the mouth 
of the Maltsehepa. The whole area is fifty 
versts between east and west and twenty versts 
between nortli and south. According to Eila- 
tow, the number of animals was “scarcely fewer 
than 100, but under no conditions as many as 
1,000.” Since the revolution the Kuban cos- 
sacks have demanded the return to them of 
these hunting grounds, which had been leased 
by them to the Grand Duke Sergius Michaelo- 
witsch, who endeavored to protect the wisents 
there, and thus an extermination of the species 
is also to be feared. Professor Matschie thinks 
that the remaining Caucasian wisents have 
abandoned their old range and emigrated to other 
regions, at present unknown. 
The herd of Pless above mentioned was 
founded in 1864 or 1865, when a bull and three 
or four cows were presented to Prince Pless 
by Czar Alexander II. and the former placed 
them in his extensive estates in southwestern 
Upper Silesia. The animals increased there 
considerably. In 1893, five more cows were 
introduced from Bieloviesh. In 1918 there were 
about sixty animals there, but according to Pro¬ 
fessor Pax of Breslau the animals in Pless have 
been severely decimated since the German revo¬ 
lution and total extermination is to be feared 
at the hands of poachers.* 
The present war between Poland and the 
Bolsheviki has again passed over the Bieloviesh 
region, continuous disturbances are taking place 
in the Caucasus, and Upper Silesia is in per¬ 
petual unrest because of the differences and 
antipathies between Poles and Germans. Be¬ 
sides the wisents still extant in Pless, and pos¬ 
sibly in Aseania Nova, there remain a few speci¬ 
mens in zoological gardens. But, if we sum up, 
we must nevertheless conclude that the extinc¬ 
tion of the species is imminent. 
DR. ALWIN K. HAAGNER 
O N February 20, at its Charter Day Gradu¬ 
ation exercises, the University of Pitts¬ 
burgh conferred upon Alwin K. Haagner, 
of Pretoria, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of 
Science in recognition of the work of the recipi¬ 
ent in zoology and wild life protection in South 
Africa. Mr. Haagner’s name was presented by 
Dr. W. J. Holland, Director of the Carnegie 
Museum at Pittsburgh and a Trustee of the Uni¬ 
versity, and the diploma was received by Dr. 
William T. Hornaday to be transmitted to the 
absent recipient. In a brief address Dr. Horn¬ 
aday laid much stress upon the value of acade¬ 
mic recognition, by great institutions of learn¬ 
ing, of the w r ork of isolated scientists on the 
frontiers of civilization, where only the bravest 
and the best men can cope with the difficulties 
surrounding scientific w r ork. 
Dr. Haagner is Director of the National 
Zoological Gardens of South Africa, situated at 
Pretoria, President of the Transvaal Game Pro¬ 
tective Association, and Vice-President of the 
South African Biological Society. His pub¬ 
lished works include “The Birds of South 
*The above reference recalls to the officers of the 
Zoological Park a very disagreeable episode. In 
1903 Mr. Carl Hagenbeck bought of the Prince of 
Pless three adult pairs of supposedly “breeding” 
European bison. One pair was purchased for the 
Zoological Park, and the other two pairs went to 
zoological gardens in Germany. 
After a lapse of about two years, it was dis¬ 
covered by all parties in ownership of those bison 
that each male bison had been so operated upon that 
breeding was entirely impossible. The operation was 
very simple, entirely new, and conceived and executed 
with such devilish cunning and skill that it was for 
two years absolutely invisible. 
We have good reason to remember his highness, 
the Prince of Pless.—W. T. H. 
