Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/428

362 popular than ever; whilst the recent publication of various excellent works illustrated with photographs of living creatures under natural conditions will tend greatly to increase the number of those who take greater pleasure in watching the habits of living mammal and bird, reptile and fish, than in examining mere museum specimens of the same animals.

The various splendid zoological gardens of Europe have for many years contained a considerable amount of material for study; yet such material seems after all to have hardly received the attention that it has deserved. These institutions should not be regarded merely as resorts for crowds of curious sightseers, but rather as extensive and very valuable biological laboratories where the fascinating science of zoology may be studied by means of note-book and camera rather than by the academic aid of microscope and scalpel. If fed on suitable food, and allotted abundant room for exercise, captive animals will afford much instruction to any naturalist who will study them systematically; and, although results may be somewhat vitiated by the absence of the proper surroundings of the species under observation, at any rate this method is extremely convenient for the naturalist himself, especially if he have no leisure for foreign travel. It is hoped that the following notes I have made on various inmates of continental menageries during the last four years will not only be interesting, but also contain much that is new. The animals now to be considered are as follows:—

Canis jubatus (Maned Wolf).—An example of this very rare beast has been living for several years in the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens, its long ears and spidery legs constituting it one of the most striking exhibits in the menagerie. In walking the Maned Wolf carries its head almost on a level with its shoulders, and much lower than would have been supposed from an examination of museum specimens, which are probably mounted by taxidermists unfamiliar with the appearance of the living animal. The gait of the Maned Wolf is not at all clumsy, but quite the reverse, in spite of the long legs, the animal stalking about its cage like a shadow, and moving with considerable gracefulness; on account, however, of the great