aptivity and
which go through their act like domestic cats. That isn't what the
public wants. A sensation--the realization that every animal in the cage
is a wild animal and that he is liable to remember it at any minute--is
what holds attention. That is why I always use jungle animals when I can
get them, for, although they can be as well trained, they always perform
under protest and it makes it exciting. But the losses from fighting
among themselves make it mighty expensive to keep up the big groups
which the American public demands."

"That's one of the things which drove me out of the show business," said
the Press Agent as he set his empty glass on the table and signaled to
the waiter. "A guy named Merritt and myself had a snake show in New York
a few years ago which presented the most complete collection of reptiles
ever gotten together, for it contained specimens of every species of
wriggler known to herpetology and a good many that were not described in
the books. That man Merritt was an inventive genius and had the
California sharp, Burbank, beaten a mile when it came to inventing new
species. When business was dull he'd take a lot of common, ordinary
snakes into the back room and with a bottle of peroxide of hydrogen and
an assortment of aniline dyes he would bring out albinos and spotted and
striped snakes which made the scientists open their eyes and kept 'em
busy inventing new Latin names.

"His biggest success was 'The Great Two-horned Rhinoceros Serpent,'
which made 'em all sit up for a month, and if I hadn't seen Merritt
working over a common boa-constrictor with a pair of shark's teeth and a
dish of bird lime it would have fooled me. That snake was proud of the
horns which Merritt glued on his head, too, and he used to chase the
other snakes around the cage and butt 'em like a giddy billy-goat. But
in spite of all his ingenuity in originating new varieties, business was
dropping off, for the public demanded quantity as well as quality and we
had skinned the local snake market clean. We were sitting in the office
one day, figuring on where we could get additions to our collection,
when a stout, red-faced little man who had 'sea captain' written all
over him came in and asked if we wanted any more snakes. Merritt allowed
that we did if the snakes and the prices were right and asked where we
could inspect them.

"'Well, I've got one that I brought from Borneo and he's on a ship down
in the harbor,' say