82 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
tion already effected constitutes a genuine 
tragedy. 
There are times and places wherein the killing 
of animal pests is justifiable; but each case 
needs to be tried and judged on its own merits. 
A sweeping rule is like a two-edged sword, as 
dangerous to the user as to the usee. 
It seems incredible that many persons of in¬ 
telligence pay so little attention to the balance 
of nature; but in these topsy-turvy days we 
must expect a percentage of mistakes in man’s 
dealings with wild animals. 
W. T II. 
THE NEW CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
T HE best and the strongest men of Chicago 
have resolved that the present is an auspi¬ 
cious moment for the founding of a Zoo¬ 
logical Park for that city which shall be thor¬ 
oughly modern and up-to-date, and adequate to 
the needs of the second greatest city in the 
United States. To this end strong forces now 
are concentrating their influences and their ef¬ 
forts. Primarily these forces consist of the 
Cook County Forest Preserve Commission 
(Frank J. Wilson, Chairman Zoological Com¬ 
mittee), the Chicago Zoological Society (John 
T. McCutcheon, President), and the Chicago 
Commercial Club. 
The desire to create an institution that shall 
be carefully planned, and executed, in every¬ 
way worthy of the city of Chicago, seems to be 
unanimous. The fine tract of suburban land 
presented to the Forest Preserve Commission 
by Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick, with a 
view to its.possible utilization as a site for the 
new institution, proves to be well located and 
thoroughly eligible. It is situated on the east 
and west axis of Chicago, only eight miles from 
the lake front, and in close proximity to the 
well built area of the city. It is equitably ac¬ 
cessible to the people of Chicago from the north, 
east and south, and no section can complain of 
having to travel unnecessarily in order to reach 
it. 
Like all the land in the central district of 
Chicago, the site is practically level, but it has 
the advantage of being bounded on one side by 
the Des Plaines River, a stream of substantial 
importance and beauty which will constitute a 
great asset to the attractions of the new institu¬ 
tion. The site is bounded on the west by Salt 
Creek, which as its name implies, is a smaller 
stream but which in its turn will also be very 
useful. These two streams are bordered by a 
natural forest, and the interior of the two-hun¬ 
dred acre tract is wide open for artistic land¬ 
scape treatment. The art of the landscape 
architect and the skill of the engineer can alter 
this plain into hills and knolls, ponds and 
sunken gardens, which will completely trans¬ 
form it and produce a generally pleasing effect. 
The groups of men responsible for the crea¬ 
tive work and management of this undertaking 
are proceeding with commendable studiousness 
and caution. It is their intention to develop 
it on a scientific-popular basis which will place 
it unquestionably in the ranks of the educational 
institutions of Chicago. There is every reason 
to believe and hope that in ten or fifteen years 
the new Chicago Zoological Park will constitute 
one of the great show places of its home city 
and yield recreation and instruction annually 
to millions of visitors and take its place in the 
front rank of the zoological parks of the world. 
W. T. H. 
ARRIVAL OF A LIVING PLATYPUS 
O N July 13 Mr. Ellis S. Joseph arrived 
directly from Australia with one living 
duck-billed platypus and a large collec¬ 
tion of kangaroos, birds, lizards and snakes. 
He brought to the Zoological Park the first and 
only platypus, whose other name is Ornitho- 
rylinclius paradoxus, that ever landed alive in 
any country outside of Australia. Its arrival 
alive represents the final triumph of the efforts 
of Mr. Joseph throughout five years to find out 
how to keep the platypus alive in captivity and 
transport it. Thus far not a single specimen 
of this animal ever has reached Europe, and 
even in Australia it has not been considered 
possible to keep it alive in a zoological garden, 
and exhibit it. But Mr. Joseph has accomp¬ 
lished the impossible, showing that even the 
most difficult animal in the world not only can 
be kept alive in captivity in Australia on his 
own farm, but can be delivered in good health 
and as good as new at New York’s Zoological 
Park. 
The contrivance in which it has been brought 
to America is a wonder, beside which the most 
complicated incubator ever created is as simple 
as a child’s toy. In due course this wonderful 
tank home and its many-celled substitute for a 
bank burrow will be fully described. 
