Zoological Society of London

“ Our Science of Zoology has suffered a most severe loss by the death, at his residence, 26, Stanhope Gardens, on the 1st of July last, of Sir William Flower, until lately Director of the Natural History Departments of the British Museum, and for the last twenty years President of the Zoological Society of London. ”

“ D. Sharp, is published by the Zoological Society of London, and therefore cannot be suspected of enumerating an undue proportion of American articles. As a matter of fact, it errs somewhat in omitting several works published in this country, which cannot easily be obtained in London; while no doubt its list of European writings is very complete.
The latest volume of the Zoological Record to hand contains the titles for 1900, including also a small proportion of papers accidentally omitted from previous volumes. ”

“ Having lived close to the Zoological Gardens for over twenty years, and being a Fellow of the Society, I have spent a great deal of enjoyable time rambling about its ever-interesting collection. The "Zoo" is very like London itself—one never exhausts its interest. There is always a surprise in store for those even most intimately acquainted with it. One suddenly comes across an object of interest that has existed in the place for years, but one has not happened to pass at the moment that object appears. ”

“ Monkeys are sad victims to pulmonary disease; every London fog kills, it is said, a few of them. The reptile house is, however, cool and pleasant; and the ponds for aquatic birds are very charming resorts. Altogether, if the great carnivora and the great crowds be shunned, the Zoological Garden becomes distinctly pleasant; its walks, moreover, have all the unexpectedness of "Alice's" peregrinations in the "Live-Flower-Garden," where, continually, round some bowery corner, she came face to face with strange and uncanny-looking beasts. ”

“ Again, and in the same volume, we read:—"The zoological collections in the British Museum may be briefly dismissed. The whole collection of insects is contained in four small cases; nor are these completely filled. The birds and mammiferous quadrupeds are arranged according to the order of Linnaeus, but want of room prevents their being placed in situations sufficiently accessible for inspection. The species of quadrupeds are not numerous, owing, I believe, to the decay which too speedily takes place in stuffed specimens, particularly in the atmosphere of London. ”

“ The Botanical Department, besides its botanical specimens, has a museum of woods similar to that at Kew Gardens. A Cabinet of Anatomy contains a collection of skeletons of animals, &c. The Zoölogical Garden is the most interesting and most frequented part of the grounds. The lions, tigers, bears, elephants, hyenas, and other beasts have spacious enclosures, as in the Zoölogical Gardens at London, though not so well arranged, nor is the collection so extensive. ”

“ Crows and jackdaws are often to be seen upon the backs of cows and sheep, but one would have imagined that a deer was too timid an animal to allow a large bird to perch upon it.
In the Gardens is a fine concert-hall; and here I may remark that in nearly all foreign Zoological Gardens there is such a music-hall, which on concert nights is packed to overflowing, adding largely to the revenue of the Gardens. It has always been a puzzle to me why our Council in London do not try to attract more people by the erection of such a hall and the engagement of the best artistes. ”

“ Despite the fact that these creatures seldom live in captivity longer than a few months, they are always being sought by zoological gardens. The agents of the New York Zoological Society are constantly on the watch for an opportunity to procure and send hither a good specimen of this wonderful creature ”

“ Clarence Bartlett the Zoological Society is lucky in possessing a thoroughly practical and clever man as superintendent, and in Dr. Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., etc., the Society possesses as Secretary one of the most energetic, learned, and distinguished of zoologists in Europe. No wonder, then, that with such men at its head, and under the Presidency of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, this Garden has remained, and will remain, one of the best managed, the most healthy, and one of the richest in Europe. ”

“ Our wild creatures are not immortal; and, like human beings, they live out their allotted lives and pass away. The great majority do not perpetuate themselves in captivity, 6 and the depleted ranks must be filled by new gifts and new purchases. Gifts of specimens, and funds for purchases, must constantly be forthcoming.
In the acquisition of certain representative species of great variety but particular desirability, the Society has been much favored by its friends, both at home and abroad. ”

“ Only the next time they go to the Zoological Gardens in London, let them go to the reptile-house, and ask the very clever and courteous attendant to show them the Sphenodons, or Hatterias, as he will probably call them—and then look, I hope with kindly interest, at the oldest Conservatives they ever saw, or are like to see; gentlemen of most ancient pedigree, who have remained all but unchanged, while the whole surface of the globe has changed around them more than once or twice. ”

“ Thus civilisation is in some measure restoring the balance of wild life, and offers to the most persecuted of our birds a quiet and secure retreat. I was able at the close of February, 1902, to witness a striking example of the results of wild-bird protection in increasing some species of wild-fowl which for half a century had steadily dwindled and disappeared, and were practically unknown anywhere in the neighbourhood of London. ”

“ One hundred and ten species breed or bred until recent years within the county boundaries, but it is among the casual visitors rather than the residents that the deficiency is apparent.
The authors have, however, produced a volume which will not only be of value to all lovers of birds in Cheshire, but will afford interesting reading to that ever-increasing body, the intelligent students of British natural history. In fact, such books as these, which freely enter country houses, must do much to foster a love of nature in circles where more scientific zoology is taboo. ”

“ The keynote struck at that meeting was that the Zoological Society should be developed as a Scientific Society, and that its leading aim should be to stimulate a love of natural history amongst the people. ”

“ The purely British zoologist is a recruit from many non-academical centres: he is often a good observer, with little technical knowledge; his tastes are frequently bionomical rather than widely biological; his knowledge of the living habits of an animal are generally in an inverse ratio to that of its phylogeny and ontogeny; he is practically a field naturalist, and knows the haunts of his creatures rather than the facts of their evolution; he is more concerned with the appearance of the living form than with its structure ”

“ The final plans for the location of the buildings, ranges, dens, aviaries, and other enclosures for animals, and the ponds, walks, roadways, entrances, &c, for the Zoological Park in South Bronx Park, New York City, were lately submitted by the New York Zoological Society to the Department of Parks, and approved and adopted by the Park authorities. The Society has raised 65,000 dols. ”

“ That the average person should be more conversant with the vertebrates than the invertebrates is, to a great extent, the natural outcome of association and training; a possible influence is to be found at the outset of one’s career in the many illustrated nursery books depicting game and domestic animals, but seldom, if ever, any of the invertebrates; and this impression tends to be further fostered in later life by visits to the zoo, where we meet in person most of the nursery book animals, and perhaps some of the lower forms, such as insects ”

“ Why, I can show you photographs of my zebras and flamingoes, my lions and my antelopes, standing out in deep snow, and preferring it to a stuffy enclosed den. The secret of how to keep wild animals well is fresh air. They must have fresh air. All my lions can walk from their warm dens out into an open-air den. That’s why they are well. Your lion house in London is no good. You have outside cages, it is true, but the animals are only allowed there in the summer months. Must animals be allowed fresh air only in the summer? ”

“ The collection of insects injurious to the field & garden with the transformation, parasites &c for £100.The Australians are showing thus early a commendable zeal for Natural History,—expending considerable sums for collections, and books; and and Entomological Society has been formed out there. For the sake of Curtis’ widow & young children, I rejoice the collection has been disposed of to such advantage for them; but its local value ceases, in a great measure, with its removal from England; and it will be a loss for many years to all future labourers on the Insect Fauna of Britain. ”

“ Turning his attention early to natural history, he became a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1798, and in 1801 contributed a paper ‘On the Hinges of British Bivalve Shells’ to the ‘Transactions’ of that society. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1812. About 1801 he removed to London, where he practised till 1815, when he entered into business as a bookseller in the Strand, dealing chiefly in works on natural history. ”

“ Although the Zoological Society will continue its experiments with some of these preserve species, and will always strive to exhibit some of them, our original hopes regarding them have been abandoned. We are certain that the difficulty lies not in the food, but in climate conditions, that are beyond our control, and especially our very salty atmosphere. ”

“ But on account of the difficulty of securing and maintaining certain species, and their shortness of life in close captivity, our zoological gardens can only properly carry out their programme so long as it is possible for them to continually renew their stock of animals. ”

“ Most difficult of all collections to settle satisfactorily in a modern zoological park or garden is the great omnium gatherum of small species—and some large ones, also—which fall within the meaning of the term “small mammals.” ”

“ Many Londoners will recall an odd character, an aged print dealer who used to sit alone, like a hoary spider in its web, in his little shop in Great Russell Street, close to the British Museum, and another of similar type, who may still haunt a better known landmark, the old "naturalist's shop" in Oxford Street, not far from Tottenham Court Road and but a minute's 12 walk from the spot where most of Audubon's Birds were engraved. Both had seen the naturalist walk the streets of London and had known him in business relations. ”

“ The Zoological Society had been founded in 1826, and was thus in only the seventeenth year of its existence; the Entomological Society was but ten years old. The Ray Society was not started till the following year (1844) , and is therefore one year younger than 'The Zoologist.' In the year that 'The Zoologist' first appeared there was published the concluding volume on the Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle,' the vessel in which Darwin made his celebrated voyage. Lyell was steadily preparing his 'Travels in North America,' which was published in the early part of 1845. ”

“ Our "Notes and Queries" afford a good index to the animals which are most observed by our readers and contributors; but we still hope, as is our annual custom, that these neglected orders may receive more attention. We do not ask contributors to neglect or go beyond their own subject, but they would confer a service to zoology by enlisting any students and observers of invertebrates—especially marine—with whom they might come in contact as correspondents to 'The Zoologist,' and thus make the Journal still more recognized as the record for zoological observations. ”

“ However, I accept all your kind sayings as coming from a friend, and one himself devoted to that beautiful department of science, Ornithology." My subscribers are yet far from enough to pay my expenses, and my purse suffers severely for the want of greater patronage. The Zoölogical Gardens improve daily; they are now building winter quarters for the animals there. The specimens of skins from all parts of the world which are presented there are wonderful, but they have no place for them. ”

“ Much may be done by private enterprise, and here in Yorkshire several of us, who are much interested in preserving from extinction some of our rarer breeding species, have employed a watcher with marked success. Many landowners and game-preservers only need to have the usefulness of certain birds pointed out to them, by those who know what they are talking about, to give immediate orders for their protection ”

“ This collection included fourteen wapiti, seven zebus, two mountain zebras, two Burchell’s zebras, and thirteen kangaroos, besides other animals and a valuable collection of birds.
In 1831 the King presented to the Society the collection of animals in the Tower. The armadillos bred in the Gardens. An elephant paddock and pond were erected.
In 1833 a parrot house was erected.
In 1834 an additional space of ten acres of ground along the south-western verge of the South Garden was acquired. Examples of twelve species of mammals and twenty-six species of birds were exhibited for the first time. ”

“ The object of the Association is to ‘promote researches leading to the improvement of zoological and botanical science, and to an increase of our knowledge as regards the food, life-conditions, and habits of British food-fishes and molluscs.’ Although a high average of scientific work has been displayed in the published ‘Memoirs’ connected with the Plymouth laboratory, great attention has also been paid to matters of practical interest. ”