GROUP OF GIRAFFE GAZELLES (IN THE AUTHOR’S POSSESSION) PREPARED BY ROBERT BANZER OF OEHRINGEN. THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS SHOWN IN ITS CHARACTERISTIC ATTITUDE WHEN BROWSING ON TREES OR BUSHES.
GROUP, ALSO PREPARED BY BANZER, SHOWING A SNOW-WHITE “BLACK-HOOFED” ANTELOPE, ATTACKED BY A BLACK SERVAL AND TWO OTHERS.
A SPECIMEN OF THE NEW SPECIES OF HYENA DISCOVERED BY THE AUTHOR IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA (HYENA SCHILLINGSI, Mtsch., NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON).
Happily in recent years our colonial collections have been considerably augmented. An extraordinarily large quantity of material has been forwarded to the Berlin Natural History Museum, amongst others, by officials, private individuals, and members of the garrisons abroad. Hence valuable results have been obtained for the zoology of these regions. Amongst the satisfactory results of the ever increasing activity in the zoological exploration of the Dark Continent are surprising and repeated discoveries of unknown species of animals, such as the Okapi (Ocapia johnstoni) and a black wild hog, till now completely unknown (Hylochœrus meinertzhageni, Oldf. Thomas). With the help of these collections, Professor Matschie, dealing with the mammalia, and Professor Reichenow with the birds, have succeeded in establishing the fact that each separate region of the Dark Continent possesses its own characteristic fauna. And most important conclusions with regard to the distribution of animals have thus been derived from these great systematic collections. My friend Baron Carlo Erlanger, the well-known African traveller, and the only one who has ever traversed Somaliland from end to end, though unhappily cut off by an early death, was able to confirm these theories, with reference to the countries he explored, by the ample collections he systematically formed. The whole science of zoology in relation to geography has been turned on to new lines of research, and has given the most important and most valuable results. Everything should be done to support efforts of this kind.
C. G. Schillings, phot.
DWARF MUSK DEER, (NESOTRAGUS MOSCHATUS Van Duben) FROM THE AUTHOR’S COLLECTION IN THE BERLIN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM.
