Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/173

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EDITORIAL GLEANINGS.
141

follows the valleys occupied by the railway from Whitby to Pickering. Thence, in the absence of a natural boundary to the south of this point, an arbitrary straight line has been drawn to Weaverthorpe village, and thence to Flamborough Head."


An excellent example of comparing the faunistic records of old authors with the existing fauna of the present day has been set by Mr. J.W. Carr in 'The Naturalist.' He has written an article on "Fishes of the Nottinghamshire Trent in 1622, recorded by Michael Drayton in the 'Poly-Olbion'; with notes on their present occurrence." "In spite of the enormous growth of the city since Drayton wrote, and the pouring into the river of great volumes of foul water from the numerous dyeing, bleaching, tanning, and other works, as well as the effluent from the sewage farm, the fish-fauna seems to have undergone comparatively little change during the interval of 275 years since the publication of the 'Poly-Olbion.'"


In this month's 'Windsor Magazine,' Mr. C.J. Cornish gives some interesting particulars as to "How Animals come to the Zoo." We can only give the following extract:—"The readiest source from which to fill up lacunae in the 'Zoo' is the stock-in-hand of the wild beast dealers, such as the Jamrachs, Cross of Liverpool, or the surplus stock of foreign menageries, or of men like Mr. Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, who both own menageries and import wild animals obtained by their collectors abroad. The animals at the English dealers, are recorded weekly in the 'Field'; but the prices paid for really rare animals do not as a rule transpire. The first expensive purchase made for the 'Zoo' was an Indian Rhinoceros, bought in 1834. The price was merely alluded to as 'heavy'; but, as for that year the cost of purchasing animals was £1200, while in the previous year only £160 was spent, the animal probably cost not much less than £1000. The Society had extraordinary luck in their Rhinoceros collecting, whether by purchase or otherwise, though the animals cost a small fortune. In 1875 they bought of Mr. Jamrach a Rhinoceros, never before seen in Europe, for the great price of £1250. This was believed to be a Sumatran Rhinoceros, though it came from Chittagong. A few months later some undoubted Sumatran Rhinoceroses were shipped to England, and one was purchased, also of Mr. Jamrach, for £600. This was found to differ from the first, which was not only a new species, but at that time the only specimen known to exist! It was named the 'Hairy-eared Rhinoceros,' and several have since been obtained. Another Rhinoceros, from the Straits of Sunda, was then bought for £800, so that at a cost of £3850 the Zoological Gardens were able to exhibit all the species of Rhinoceros found in