Two Years in the Jungle

Abstract

THE author of this somewhat ponderous volume was sent to India by “Professor” Ward, the well-known purveyor of natural history specimens at Rochester, New York, for the purpose of collecting various zoological desiderata, and especially skins and skeletons of the larger mammalia, and of crocodiles. The importance of this kind of collecting is greater than would be supposed by those who have no experience of its difficulty, and the task of securing specimens, and of preserving them so as to render them useful for scientific study, demands no inconsiderable amount of courage, perseverance, and knowledge. The majority of the skins and skeletons of the larger mammalia in European museums are derived from the specimens, generally dwarfed in stature, and very often diseased, obtained from menageries, and if these are to be replaced by the spoils of wild individuals, hunters who have a considerable knowledge of taxidermy must be engaged to collect. Many of the largest and most remarkable mammalia of the world are being rapidly exterminated, and before they share the fate of the dodo and Rhytina it is to be hoped that good skeletons, at all events, may be rescued for the study of future generations. Two Years in the Jungle: the Experiences of a Hunter and Naturalist in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo. By William T. Hornaday, Chief Taxidermist, U.S. National Museum, late Collector for Ward's Natural Science Establishment. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., 1885.)