the
group, though it is now represented by but two recognized species, was
in comparatively recent times quite rich in varieties, a fact which
raises the presumption that the existing kinds are open to
modification by the selective process. As the elephant is not mature
until it is near thirty years old, probably not reproducing until
about that age, there is little inducement for any person to undertake
the process of breeding them in the selective way; if the task is ever
done it will have to be accomplished by government action or by that
of a society which is pledged to such tasks. If the effort to bring
the elephants into a more permanent relation with man is not made and
the race is allowed to perish, we may be sure that in the time to come
people will gravely censure us for any such neglect of the
opportunities which this world affords as would be involved in the
loss of this noble brute. It is clearly our duty to see that all such
resources are preserved for the inquirers of the future.

Among the other tropical mammals which, because they have not as yet
proved of economic value, are on account of their size and their
attractiveness to sportsmen in danger of extinction, we may note the
various species of rhinoceros, the giraffe, and the several African
forms which are akin to the horse. None of these forms have been
turned to use, none of them appear likely to be adopted by man for
the service they can do; but they are, in common with all the host
which cannot be mentioned here, of great interest to the naturalists
of our time. Their importance in the inquiries which are hereafter to
be made by our ever expanding science of life cannot be estimated. It
certainly will not be possible to overreckon it in this very practical
age. This plea for the sparing of the mammalian species in no case
needs to be made so strongly, and in no other instance is so well
entitled to a hearing, as when it is raised for the life of the
monkeys. These interesting animals because of their collateral kinship
with man afford precious evidence as to the stages of intellectual
development which is likely to be of exceeding value to students in
that field of inquiry. There is unfortunately little chance that any
of the monkeys will ever prove useful; their habits are such that they
are generally troublesome neighbors; moreover, their weakness makes it
easy to exterminate them. The result is that some species have
probably already been de