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THE LIBRARY
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AMERICAN MUSEUM
JOURNAL
VOLUME XI, 1911
NEW YORK
PUBLISHED: BY THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
OLA
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry FarrRFIELD OSBORN
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
CLEVELAND H. DopceE J. Prerpont Moraan, JR.
Treasurer Secretary
CHARLES LANIER ArcHER M. HuNnTINGTON
Tue Mayor or tHe City or New York
Tur CoMPTROLLER OF THE City or New York
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE A. D. JuILLrarRD
GEORGE 8S. BowpboIn Gustav E. Kissen *
JoserpH H. CHoatrr Seta Low
Tuomas DeWirr CuyLEerR OagpEN MILLs
James DouaGuas J. Prerrpont Morcan
Mapi1son GRANT Percy R. PYNE
Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHn B. TREVOR
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES Fevtrx M. WarBuURG
Water B. JAMES GrorGE W. WICKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Director Assistant Secretary
Freperic A. Lucas GEORGE H. SHERWOOD
Assistant Treasurer
Tuer Unitrep States Trust Company or New YORK
* Deceased
Tue Museum 1s Open FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR.
Tue AMERICAN Museum or Natura History was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. 'The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
Ariniral/;- MEGmDers: ae eo eee snes $ 10 INGO Soe else aie otal eve tate $ 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... 25 Patrousac eee RY rs 1000
Bifewviembersine a.tsc ee cucrinic : 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
THe Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a.m. to 5 P. M.
THe Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GUIDES FOR Stupy oF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied: Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WORKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tue Mirra RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room {is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
Scientific Staff
DIRECTOR
FrepeRIc A, Lucas, Sc.D.
GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Epmunpb Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
MINERALOGY
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator
GeorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
L. P. Gratracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca
WiLu1AM BrEuTENMiULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera
Joun A. GrossBeck, Assistant
Prof. Witt1AmM Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata
CHARLES W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera
ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY
Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles
Louis Hussakor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fishes
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes
Mary Cyntruta Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY
Prof. J. A. AtLEN, Ph.D., Curator
FranK M. CuapMan, Curator of Ornithology
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy
W. De W. Mitter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology
VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
Prof. Henry FarrFieELp Ossporn, A.B., Sc.D., LL.D., D.Sec., Curator Emeritus
W. D. Marraew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
WaLTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles
Wituram K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
ANTHROPOLOGY
Cuark Wissier, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
Purny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator
Rosert H. Lowis, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
HERBERT J. SpINDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
CHARLES W. Mrmap, Assistant
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant
PHYSIOLOGY
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC HEALTH
Prof. CHARLES-EpwaRD Amory Wrnstow, S.B., M.S., Curator
Joun Henry O’Ner, 8.B., Assistant
WOODS AND FORESTRY
Mary Cyntaria Dickerson, B.S., Curator
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Ratpao W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Prof. AtBerT S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus
Grorce H, SHerwoop, A,B., A.M., Curator
ILLUSTRATIONS
Absorbed in study of the meteorites, 221
African boy carrying leopard, 89
African Hall, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19
African warriors, 12-13
“Age of Mammals,” 67
Arabopo River, 290
Awaiting their turn to enter for a lecture, 242
Bagobo ‘‘burden basket,’ 171; hemp fibre,
169; man’s carrying bag, 167; scarf,
166; textile for woman's skirt, 169;
women, 165, 168; youth, 164
Bakuba pilecloth, 17
Beehive in Insect Hall, 250
Bella Coola family making ‘‘bread,”’ 137
Bickmore, Prof. Albert S., 189, 230
Birches, Jesup estate, 42
Bird houses made by schoolboys, 258
Black walnut, Jesup Collection, 38
Bullfrog Group, cover (Oct.), 186, 202, 204
‘*Caliph,”’ 173, 176, 177, 178, cover (May)
Canoe Builders, cover (April), 109
Catalpa Flowers, Forestry Hall, 253
Central Andes, Western Colombia, 294
Chilkat blanket weaving at a salmon river
camp, 134
Children have favorite exhibits, 233
Chinese bronzes, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Coloring from the live frog, 207
Congo battle-axe, Kasai District, 16;
carved wooden vase, 18; pygmies in
the death dance, 19
Contact (double) beds, 146
Coppermine River, Museum’s Arctic Ex-
pedition, 271
Copper Queen Mine, Cavern in, 305
Crocodile, Skeleton of an extinct marine, 68
Crow Indians, Adoption lodge, 180
Dinosaur mummy, 6
Dinosaurs, Duck-billed, 8, 10
Dominica, Fording a stream, 270
Driftwood (polluted) Picking up, 147
“Dry Camp,’’ Gray Bull River, 87
Elephant, Head studies, 92; herd, 5
Eohippus, 84, 85, 88
Eryops from the Lower Permian of Texas,
197
European frog showing external vocal sacs,
209
Flatboat, Red Deer River, 273
Flea, Human 96; Rat, 95, 96
Flowering dogwood, Jesup Collection, 37
Forests on Andean Coast Range, 296, 298
“Fossil Aquarium,’ 160
Fossil fish field work, 303
Fossil in position, 277
Fossil ripples in sandstone, 280
Four-toed horse, Eohippus, 84, 85, 88
Fur Seal Group, 50, 51
Fur seals, Pribilof Islands, cover (Feb.)
Giraffe, Five-horned, 91
Ground Sloth Group, 114, 116, 119
Guiana Indians, 289, 291, 292
Haida Canoe, Steaming and decoration, 109
Hippo, Measuring and skinning, 90
House posts, 82
Tcterus fuertesi Chapman, 20
Impalla, 91
Indian tipi, Studying home life within, 222
Infectious diseases, Photographs to teach
prevention, 238, 239
Intermittent sand filters, 144, 145
Ireng River, Looking over the dense canopy
of the forest toward valley of, 286
Kaieteur, the Great Falls of the Guianas,
266
Lacrosse, Menomini game of, 138, 139, 141
Malarial mosquito exhibit, 241
Mangbetu natives, Congo Expedition report,
190, 191
Maori carved canoe prow, 53, 55; warrior, 54
Map showing exploration and field parties,
1911, 269
Marine Group, Model for, 251
Mesohippus, 85, 88
Monitor (Water), Habitat Group, 206;
modeling manikin for, 207
Moose Group, Studying the, 226
Mount Wilson, View from, 40
Mounting the skin of a lizard of Tropical
America, 212
Mural panels in North Pacific Hall, cover
(April), 109, 128, 134, 137
Museum building, Design for east facade,
154
Museum of Celebes, 149
Newt’s method of shedding skin, 208
North American geography at close of Coal
Era, 198
Okapi, 46, 47, 72
Oriole, Fuertes’, 20
Orohippus, 85, 88
Pine seeds for planting, cover (May)
Pines, Jesup estate, 34, 41
Potaro River below Kaieteur Falls, 283, 284
Prospecting in Wind River Basin, Wyoming,
87
Rat, ‘‘Norway,"’ (Mus decumanus), 97, 98
Red Deer River, 272, 275, 276, 279, 280, 281,
282
Rhinocerus, Hook-lipped, cover (Jan.);
Square-mouthed, 2, 4
Roraima, Mount, 290, 291
Salamander, Japanese giant, 203
San Ildefonso pottery, 192, 193, 194, 195
vi INDEX
Savannahs, Brazilian, 286, 287
Saveritik, Camp on Guiana border, 292
School children visiting special exhibits at
the Museum, 218, 222, 225, 226, 233,
237, 241, 242, 243, 248, 249, 250, 252,
2D0, 201, ZOL, 202
‘*Sea elephants,’’ 108, 110, 111
Septic Tank, 146
Sketching for North Pacific Hall panels, 131
Skin-laden mules, Africa, 93
Spoonbill or paddlefish, 120, 121, 123, 125
Spoonbill caviar, Preparing, 124, 125
Stikine River, 132
Stone seat from Ecuador, 83
Successful kill by Guiana Carib Indians
289
Sugar maple in the Forestry Hall, Studying
the, 237
Sun Dance among Plains Cree, 299
Tamanawas board, Bay Center, Washington,
Whe
Totem poles, cover (March), 76, 78, 79, SO,
81
Trachodon mummy, Portion of skin, 9
Travelling case of birds, 245
Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162
Tree sloth, Modern, 117
Trickling filters, Columbus, O., 142, 143
Tsimshian family making eulachon *‘butter,”’
128
Turtle (soft-shelled), Wax cast, 210
Turtles (spotted), Wax cast, 210
Water moccasin, Wax cast, 211
Wax casts, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211
Whale skeleton cases from Japan, 23
Zebra Group, 172, 173, 174
INDEX
Capitals Indicate the Name of a Contributor
Accessions:
Anthropology, 30, 83, 102, 150, 184, 216
Geology, 310
Invertebrate Palaeontology, 151
Invertebrate Zoblogy, 264, 309
Mammalogy and Ornithology, 31, 71, 72,
102, 183
Mineralogy, 30, 216
Public Education, 71, 189
Vertebrate Paleontology, 69, 264
Paintings of Peary meteorites, 102, 264
Administrative Offices, 214
African Large Game, 173-178
“‘Age of Mammals,”’ 30, 65-67
AuueNn, J. A. Habitat Groups of Mammals
and Birds, 248-249
The Okapi, 73-75
American Museum and Education, 242
Amphibians of the Great Coal Swamps,
197-200
Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 59-65
AnprEws, R. C. Around the
the Museum, 21—24
Modern Museum of Celebes, 149-150
Anthropological Field Work for the Year.
299-300
Anthropology, Arrangement of Exhibits, 254
Appointments, 151, 215
Appropriation for Museum Extension, 213
Around the World for the Museum, 21—24
World for
Bagobo Fine Art Collection, 164-171
Benepict, L. W. Bagobo Fine Art Collec-
tion, 164-171
Bickmore, Professor Albert S., Educator, 229
Bicetow, Maurice A. Educational Value
of the American Museum, 234-235
Bird Collections on Deposit, 182
British Guiana and Brazil to Mount Ror-
aima, 283-293
Brown, Barnum, Fossil Hunting by Boat
in Canada, 273—282
Bumpus, Hermon Cary, 30
Burrage, Guy H., 182
Byrne, Mary B. C.
seum, 262—264
Tuesday at the Mu-
CHAPMAN, FranK M. New Oriole from
Mexico, 20
Zooblogical Expedition to Western Colom-
bia, 295-298
Zoobdlogical Exploration in South America,
52
Child Welfare Exhibit, 30
Children’s Room of the Museum, 260-261
CriarK, ANNA M. The Museum a Labora-
tory for Classes, 2839-240
Crark, James L. Preservation of Mammal
Skins in the Field, 89-94
Congo Expedition, Reports from, 44-48, 191
Contents, Table of, 1, 33, cover (Mar.), 105,
POS LOD eee Oo
Cooéperation in Education, 219
Copper Queen Mine, Newly
Cavern in, 304-307
Crampton, Henry E., British Guiana and
Brazil to Mount Roraima, 283—293
Educational Aims of the Department of
Invertebrate Zodlogy, 250-252
Crow Indians of Montana, 179-181
Discovered
INDEX vil
Dean, Basurorp, Collecting Fossil Fishes
in Ohio, 302-3038
Exhibition of Reptiles and Amphibians,
201
The New ‘‘Fossil Aquarium,” 161
Dickerson, M. C. Foreword on the New
Mural Paintings, 129-130
Rare Elephant Seals, 109-112
Some Methods and Results in Herpetol-
ogy, 203-212
Dinosaur, Fort Lee, 28—29
Dinosaur Mummy, 7-11
Educational Spirit in Museums, Evolution
of, 227-228
Educational Value of the American Museum,
234-235
Expeditions: Alberta, 213, 214, 273-282;
Alaska, 300; Arctic, 31, 72, 100, 215,
308; Arizona, 304; British East Africa,
99; British Guiana, 215, 283-293;
Canada, 300; Colombia, 100, 151, 295-
298; Congo, 44, 99, 183, 191; Florida,
309; Guadaloupe, 109; Japanese Whal-
ing Stations, 100, 216, 309; Lower
California, 100; Nebraska, 214; New
Jersey 300; Northern Plains Indians,
126, 300; Ohio, 215, 302-303; Pine
Ridge Reservation, 214; Southwest, In-
dians of, 300; Venezuela, 100, 215; West
Indies. 100, 215; Wyoming, 85, 214, 311
Exploration Work, Review of the Museum’s,
267
Exploring and Field Parties of 1911, 269
Extension of Museum, Plans for, 155-158
Fassett, E. C. B. A Treasure of Ancient
Bronzes, 59-65
New Mural Paintings, 130-137
Fast Vanishing Records, 270-271
Finley, (John H.) A Word of Congratula-
tion from, 220
Flea Carriers of Plague, 95-98
Forestry and the Museum, 39-43
“*FPossil Aquarium,” 161
Fossil Egg from Madagascar, 70
Fossil Fishes in Ohio, Collecting, 302-303
Fossil Hunting by Boat in Canada, 273-282
Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach, 246
Four-Toed Horse, A New Specimen of, 85-88
Gift from Ecuador, 83
Gift of Peculiar Value, 189
Gifts to the Museum, 30, 69, 71, 83, 101, 102,
189
GRANGER, WALTER, A New Specimen of the
Four-Toed Horse, 85-88
GreGcory, W. K. ‘‘Age of Mammals,
67
Ground Sloth Group, 113-119
Guide Leaflets, 183, 184, 215
> 65-
Habit and Structure in the Insect World,
27-28
Habitat Groups of Mammals and Birds, 248
Herpetology, Some Methods and Results in,
203-212
Hovey, E. O. Newly Discovered Cavern in
the Copper Queen Mine, 304—307
Professor Albert S. Bickmore: Educator,
229-233
Huene, Dr. Friedrich von, 214
Hunter, Grorce W. Museum and High
School United for Health and Economie
Welfare, 236
Hussakor, L.
Mississippi,
Spoonbill of the
121-125
Fishery
Indians of the Northern Plains, Research
and Exploration among, 126—127
Invertebrate Zoédlogy, Educational Aims of
the Department, 250-252
Jesup Collection of Woods, 37, 38, 43, 184
Jesup (‘Morris Ketchum) and the American
Museum, 35-36
Kunz, GrorGe F. New Zealand Jade, 57-58
Lana, Hersert, Reports from the Congo
Expedition, 44-48, 191
Lecture Announcements, 32, 72,
p. 3, cover, (Oct.) 311
LerpziceR, Henry M., The Museum and
the Public Lecture, 220
Library, The Museum, 252-253
Lower California Expedition, 100
Lowie, R. H. Crow Indians of Montana,
179-181
Industry and Art of the Negro Race, 12-19
New South Sea Exhibit, 53-56
Lucas, F. A. Evolution of the Educational
Spirit in Museums, 227—228
Fast Vanishing Records, 270-271
Human Interest in Museum Exhibits, 187
Lutz, F. E. Flea Carriers of Plague, 95—98
Relation between Habit and Structure in
the Inseet World, 27-28
103, 152,
Mammal Skins, Preservation, 89-94
Man, Exhibit Showing Antiquity, 310
Marruew, W. D. Amphibians of the Great
Coal Swamps, 197-200
Fort Lee Dinosaur, 28-29
Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach,
246
Ground Sloth Group, 113-119
Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162-163
Maxwetr, W. H. Codédperation in Educa-
tion, 219
Meap,C. W. A Gift from Ecuador, 83
Medicine Pipe, 24—26
Members, 29, 71, 101, 182, 213, 215, 264, 307
vill INDEX
Members’ Room, 102, 264
Menomini Game of Lacrosse, 139-141
Metropolitan Sewerage Commission Exhibit,
151
Minerals, Hall of, 216
Mollusks, Hall of, 151
Mural Paintings, 129-137
Murray, Sir John, 182
Museum, A Laboratory for Classes, 239-240
and High School United for Health and
Economic Welfare, 236
and the Public Lecture, 220
Exhibits, Human Interest in, 187-188
How One Crowded High School uses the,
240-241
Increasingly Helpful for Ten Years, 236
News Notes, 29, 71, 101, 150, 182, 213,
264, 307
of Celebes, A Modern, 149-150
of the Future, 223-225
Tuesday at the, 262-264
Museum’s Work, Cordial Recognition of the,
236-241
Museums Association’s Meeting, 214
National Academy of Sciences, 264
Negro Race, Industry and Art, 12-19
New Zealand Jade, 57-58
Oceanographic Work on the Albatross, 159
‘““Oceanography,’’ lecture by Sir John
Murray, 182
Okapi, 73-75
Oriole from Mexico, A New, 20
Ossorn, H. F. A Dinosaur Mummy, 7-11
Museum of the Future, 223-225
Plans for Extension of Museum, 155-158
Osborn, H. F., 30, 65, 71, 213
Panama Canal Project, 310
Preapopy, James L. How one Crowded
High School Uses the Museum, 240
Pot hole from Russell, N. Y., 310
Pottery of San Ildefonso, 192-196
Primary and Grammar Schools, Symposium
of Expressions from, 255—260
Public Health, Appointive Committee, 101
Question of, 142-148
Public Schools, Coéperation with, 242
Publications, 106-108, 183, 184, 215
Reptiles and Amphibians, Exhibition of, 201
‘“‘Revealing and Concealing Coloration in
Birds and Mammals,”’ 200
Rhinocerus, Square-mouthed or White, 3-5
Robb, J., Hampden, 99
Roester, Acnes, The Children’s Room of
the Museum, 260
RooseEVvELT, THEODORE, The Square-
mouthed or White Rhinocerus, 3-5
Roosevelt, Theodore, 200
Sacre, L. B. The Museum Increasingly
Helpful for Ten Years, 236-239
Schaffer, Dr. Franz, 214
Scientific Staff, Changes in, 71, 99, 101, 102,
150, 183, 213, 214
Seal Group, 49-51
Seals, Rare Elephant, 109-112
Senckenberg Museum, Historic Fossil from,
69
SHerRwoop, G. H. Codédperation
Public Schools, 242—245
Gift of Peculiar Value, 189
SKINNER, ALANSON, The Menomini Game of
Lacrosse, 139-141
Smith, Harlan I., 215, 301-302
SmiruH, Haran I., Totem Poles of the North
Pacific Coast, 77-82
Societies, Meetings of, 31, 103, 151
South America, Bird Fund, Contributions
to, 101
Zoological Exploration in, 52
South Sea Exhibit, 53-56, 71
SpinpEN, H. J. The Making of Pottery at
San Ildefonso, 192-196
Spoonbill Fishery of the Mississippi, 121-125
Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition, 31,
72, 100, 215, 308
with the
Totem Poles, North Pacific Coast, 77—S2
Toumey, J. W. Forestry and the Museum,
39-43
Tower, R. W. The Museum Library, 252
TowNseENpD, C. H. Oceanographic Work on
the Albatross, 159
The Finished Fur Seal Group, 49-51
Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162-163
Trustees, Annual Meeting, 99-100
Elections to, 99
Vertebrate Paleontology Expeditions, 214
311
Walker, Dr. J. R., 216
Wild Boar Habitat Group, 183
Winstow, C-E. A., A Question of Public
Health, 142-148
Winslow, C-E. A., 183, 216
Wisster, Criark, Anthropological Field
Work for the Year, 299-300
Arrangement of Exhibits in Anthro-
pology, 254-255
Medicine Pipe, 24-26
Research in Anthropology, 126-127
Zodlogical Expedition to Western Colombia,
295-298
THE
AMERICAN JIUSEUM
JOURNAL
Volume XI] January, 1911 Number 1
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THE AMERICAN Museum oF NATURAL HIstTory
New York City
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry Farrrirtp Osborn
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
J. Prerpont MorGan CLEVELAND H. DopGsE
Treasurer Secretary
CHARLES LANIER J. Hamppen Ross
THe Mayor or THE Ciry or New York
Tue COMPTROLLER OF THE City oF New York
Tue PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JuImLiiarp
GEORGE 8S. BowpboINn Gustav E. Kisseu
Josera H. Cyoatr Seta Low
THomas DeWitTr CuyLeR OGDEN MILLS
James DouaGuas J. Prsrpont Moraan, Jr.
Anson W. Harp Percy R. PynE
ArRcHER M. HUNTINGTON WiLuiAM ROCKEFELLER
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. Joun B. Trevor
ARTHUR CuRTISS JAMES Frevirx M. WarBuUuRG
GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Director Assistant-Secretary and Assistant-Treasurer
Hermon Carty Bumpus Grorce H. SHeRwoop
Tue Museum 1s Open Free To THE Pusptic oN Every Day IN THE YEAR.
Tue AmpricAN Museum or Naturaut History was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
‘the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
AmmnuUal IMI@MBDeEnss wines ec cles ms $ 10 OL OW Sey wise Wie OUR cee ies $ 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 IPathOns aes) crea ataiarn ero t arg 1000
AGife BVLEIMB CIS) Gea ce ci rene 168 ares ees 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
Ture Musrum LIBRARY contains over 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of publi-
cations issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library is
open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. m. to 5 P. M
Ture Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GUIDES FoR Stupy OF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tar Miria RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
The American Museum Journal
CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1911
Cover, Photograph by James L. Clark
The’ Black or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros
Frontispiece, Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt
The White or Square-mouthed Rhinoceros
The Square-mouthed Rhinoceros. ..........THEODORE ROOSEVELT 3
An account of the white rhino from personal observations in the Lado
A Dimosaur Mummy.................HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN ri
Trachodon annectens purchased through the Jesup Fund. With reproduction
by Charles R. Knight
Industry and Art of the Negro Race.............RosBert H. Lowrie 12
Plan of the African Hall. New theories of the negro’s relation to civilization
A. New Oriole from Mexico. ................. FRANK M. CHapmMan 20
With colored plate
Around the World for the Museum.............Roy C. ANDREWS 21
ithe, Wedicme: Pipe sie. o. ok £2 08 so) poe oho eos es CLARKS Wissimnrr 24
The Museum gains phonograph records of Indian prayers and songs
Relation between Habit and Structure in the Insect World
FranK E. Lutz 27
Marts Lec inOsatins fis. aca sp ete ee foals bee Ds Mie
IVIGISETIMEINGWWSRINOLES face orca tea eee ieee Ceo oy ee, ei)
REPUTE ATINOUNGCCHICINES: feo Pe eee eh Crk Oe ee kee
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, Editor
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy
A subscription to the JourNau is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of
the Museum
Subscriptions should be addressed to The American Museum Journal, 30 Boylston St., Cam-
bridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Parlkk West, New York City
Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass.
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt
THE SQUARE-MOUTHED RHINOCEROS
The white or square-mouthed rhinoceros is now found only in a game preserve in South
Africa and on a narrow stretch of territory along the west bank of the Upper Nile
The American Museum Journal
Vou. XI JANUARY, 1911 No. 1
THE SQUARE MOUTHED RHINOCEROS
By THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Colonel Roosevelt has presented to the American Museum two specimens of the rare
White Rhino, and gives to the JOURNAL from his personal experiences and
observations in Africa the following account of this great horned beast of the
Lado. On the arrival of the skins at the Museum, work will begin at
once on the task of preparing and mounting them for exhibition.
N our trip in Africa for the Smithsonian, in addition to the series
of specimens of big game for the Smithsonian itself, we also pre-
pared a few skins of the largest and rarest animals for other col-
lections: a head of the white rhinoceros for Mr. Hornaday’s noteworthy
collection, a bull elephant for the University of California, two cow ele-
phants and a bull and cow of the white rhino for the American Museum of
Natural History. I was especially anxious to get this pair of white rhinos,
because the American Museum is in my own city, because my father was
one of its founders and because my admiration is great for the work of the
men who have raised this institution to its present high position. The
skins of the two cow elephants were prepared by Carl Akeley, with whom
I had gone after them; the other specimens were preserved by Edmund
Heller and R. J. Cunninghame as a labor of love.
The white rhinoceros is, next to the elephant, the largest of existing mam-
mals. There are three groups of existing rhinoceros: the two-horned species
of Africa, the one-horned species of the Indian region and the little Sumatran
rhinoceros — the three separate stems of ancestry going back at least to early
Pliocene and probably to Miocene times. At one time rhinos of many dif-
ferent kinds and covering the widest variety of form and habit abounded in
America, and in Europe species lasted to the days of paleolithic man.
There are two wholly distinct kinds in Africa, differing from one another
as much as the moose does from the wapiti. They are commonly called
the black and the white; but as in fact they are both of a dark slate hue, it
is better to call the former the hook-lipped and the latter the square-mouthed.
They intergrade in size, but the square-mouthed averages bigger and
longer-horned. The hook-lipped or common black kind is still plentiful in
* The illustrations are used through the courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons.
3
4A - . » | a eT A ~
eh WOR by eS A Aaa Bes
From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt
many places from Abyssinia to the Zambezi; it is a browser and feeds
chiefly on twigs and leaves. The white or square-mouthed kind is now
found only in a game preserve in South Africa and on a narrow stretch of
territory along the west bank of the Upper Nile. It is purely a grazer.
In its range the square-mouthed rhino offers an extraordinary example
of discontinuous distribution. It was originally known from South Africa,
south of the Zambezi, and was believed to exist nowhere north of that river.
Then, when it had been practically exterminated in South Africa, it was
rediscovered far to the north beyond the equator. In the immense extent
of intervening territory it has never been found.
We spent over a month in the Lado, the present habitat of this huge
sluggish ungulate. We collected a good series of specimens, nine in all —
bulls and cows and one calf. Of course, we killed none save those abso-
lutely needed for scientific purposes. All told we saw thirty or forty
individuals and Kermit got some fine photographs, the first ever taken of
living members of the species. Their eyesight was so dull and their brains
so lethargic that time and again we got within a score or so of feet and
watched individuals as long as we cared to.
They drank at night, either at the Nile or at some pool, and then moved
back, grazing as they went, into the barren desolation of the dry country.
About nine o’clock or thereabouts they lay down, usually under the scanty
shade of some half-leafless thorn tree. In mid afternoon they rose and
grazed industriously until sundown. But as with all game, they sometimes
varied their times of resting, eating and drinking. Ordinarily we found the
bulls singly and the cow along with her calf; but occasionally three or four
would go together. Cow herons frequently accompanied them, as they do
elephants and buffaloes, perching unconcernedly on their heads and bodies.
They were not difficult to get as our trackers followed their trail with
little difficulty; and they seemed less excitable and bad-tempered than their
hook-lipped cousins, although on occasion they charge with determination,
so that a certain amount of care must be exercised in dealing with them.
4
velt
y Kermit Roose
b
copyriaht,
ntograph,
a phe
m
HIGH TIMBER
IN AN OPEN FOREST OF
ELEPHANT
OF
A HERD
yards distant
twenty-five
Colonel Roosevelt has presented two elephants to the
and
r
ground
five or six feet from the
limb of a tree
point of the
Vantage
Photograph taken from the
The
addition to his valuable
Museum ln
mammals.
the largest of existing
are
gift of a bull and cow of the white rhino
square-mouthed rhinoceros
elephant and the
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A DINOSAUR MUMMY
By Henry Fairfield Osborn
WO years ago, through the Jesup Fund, the Museum came into
possession of a most unique specimen, discovered in August, 1908,
by the veteran fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg of Kansas. It is
a large herbivorous dinosaur belonging to the closing period of the Age of
Reptiles, and is known to paleontologists as 7'’rachodon, or more popularly
as the “duck-billed dinosaur.”
The skeleton, or hard parts of these very remarkable animals has been
known for over forty years, and a few specimens had preserved with them
small areas of the impressions of the epidermal covering, but it was not
until the discovery of the Sternberg specimen that a knowledge of the
outer covering of these dinosaurs was gained. It appears probable that
in a aumber of cases these priceless skin impressions were mostly destroyed
in removing the fossil specimens from their surroundings because the ex-
plorers were not expecting to find anything of the kind. Altogether seven
specimens have been discovered in which these delicate skin impressions
were partly preserved, but the “trachodon mummy” far surpasses all the
others, as it yields a nearly complete picture of the outer covering.
The reason the Sternberg specimen (Trachodon annectens) may be known
as a diaosaur “mummy’’ is that in all the parts of the animal which are
preserved (i. e. all except the hind limbs and the tail) the epidermis is
shrunkes around the limbs, tightly drawn along the bony surfaces and
contracted like a great curtain below the chest area. This condition ot
the epidermis suggests the following theory of the deposition and _preser-
vation of this wonderful specimen, namely: that after dying a natural
death the animal was not attacked or preyed upon by its enemies and the
body lay exposed to the sun entirely undisturbed for a long time, perhaps
upon a broad sand flat of a stream in the low-water stage; the muscles
and viscera thus became completely dehydrated, or desiccated by the action
of the sun, the epidermis shrank around the limbs, was tightly drawn down
along all the bony surfaces, and became hardened and leathery; on the
abdominal surfaces the epidermis was certainly drawn within the body
cavity, while it was thrown into creases and folds along the sides of the
body, owing to the shrinkage of the tissues within. At the termination of
a possible low-water season, during which these processes of desiccation
took place, the “mummy” may have been caught in a sudden flood, carried
DUCK-—BILLED DINOSAURS
Fossil reptiles with spreading webbed feet, compressed tail and duck-like bill, all of which indicate
a more or less aquatic existence. Compare with restoration, p. 10
The jaws are provided with a marvelous grinding apparatus composed of a complex of more than
two thousand separate teeth
A DINOSAUR MUMMY )
Pl
WS om
4 Sa
~~ af
are
PORTION OF SKIN FROM TRACHODON MUMMY
This reptile had neither scales nor bony covering, but a thin epidermis made up of
tubercles of two sizes, the larger size predominating on surfaces exposed to the sun
down the stream, and rapidly buried in a bed of fine river sand intermingled
with sufficient elements of clay to take a perfect cast or mold of all the
epidermal markings before any of the epidermal tissues had time to soften
under the solvent action of the water. In this way the markings were indi-
cated with absolute distinctness, and as the specimen will soon be mounted
in a glass case, the visitor will be able by the use of a hand glass to study
even the finer details of the pattern, although of course there is no trace
either of the epidermis itself, which has entirely disappeared, or of the
pigmentation, or coloring, if such existed.
The discovery of this specimen discloses the fact that although attain-
ing a height of fifteen to sixteen feet and a length of thirty feet, the
trachodons were not covered with scales or a bony protecting arma-
LHOINYH “HY SSTYHVHO AS NOILVHOLSSYH AYVNIWIISYd V “YNVSONIO GC317118-HONG OL
A DINOSAUR MUMMY 1]
ture, but with dermal tubercles of relatively small size, which varied in
shape and arrangement in different species, and that not improbably asso-
ciated with this varied epidermal pattern there was a varied color pattern.
The theory of a color pattern is based chiefly upon the fact that the larger
tubercles concentrate and become more numerous on all those portions of
the body exposed to the sun, that is, on the outer surfaces of the fore and
hind limbs, and appear to increase also along the sides of the body and to
be more concentrated on the back. On the less exposed areas, the under
side of the body and the inner sides of the limbs, the smaller tubercles are
more numerous, the larger tubercles being reduced to small, irregularly
arranged patches. From analogy with existing lizards and snakes we may
suppose, therefore, that the trachodons presented a darker appearance when
seen from the back and a lighter appearance when seen from the front.
The thin character of the epidermis as revealed by this specimen favors
also the theory that these animals spent a large part of their time in the
water, which theory is strengthened by the fact that the diminutive fore limb
terminates not in claws or hoofs, but in a broad extension of the skin,
reaching beyond the fingers and forming a kind of paddle. This marginal
web, which connects all the fingers with each other, together with the fact
that the lower side of the fore limb is as delicate in its epidermal structure
as the upper, certainly tends to support the theory of the swimming rather
than the walking or terrestrial function of this fore paddle, as indicated in
the accompanying preliminary restoration that was made by Charles R.
Knight working under the writer’s direction. One is drawn in the con-
ventional bipedal, or standing posture, while the other is in a quadrupedal
pose, or walking position, sustaining or balancing the fore part of the body
on a muddy surface with its fore feet. In the distant water a large number
of the animals are disporting themselves.
The designation of these animals as the “duck-billed’’ dinosaurs in
reference to the broadening of the beak, has long been considered in con-
nection with the theory of aquatic habitat. The conversion of the fore
limb into a sort of paddle, as evidenced by the Sternberg specimen,
strengthens this theory.
This truly wonderful specimen, therefore, nearly doubles our previous
insight into the habits and life of a very remarkable group of reptiles.
Hai
r
Ree Oe inn AS -
Saas phe adie
WARRIORS WITH SHIELDS, SINGING AS THEY MARCH
INDUSTRY AND ART OF THE NEGRO RACE
THE EXHIBITION IN THE MUSEUM’S AFRICAN HALL ENFORCES NEW IDEAS
AS TO THE CAPACITIES OF THE NEGRO RACE AND REVEALS THE
GROUND ON WHICH ARE BASED SOME NEW THEORIES
REGARDING THE NEGRO’S RELATION TO CIVILIZATION
By Robert H. Lowite
Decorative illustrations from African Hall frescoes by Albert Operti
HILE a few years ago all the Museum’s ethnological material from
Africa could have been conveniently placed in a few cases, the
acquisition of two unusually large collections from the Congo
seemed to warrant the installation of a hall especially devoted to African
12
ethnology. The great
\ preponderance of ma-
terial from the Congo
as compared with
other regions of Africa
made necessary the
allotment of an ap-
parently dispropor-
tionate amount of
space, a large rectan-
gulararea in the center
being set aside for this
purpose. There is a
certain measure of
justification, however,
for the prominence
thus given to a single
region. The Congo
embraces within its
boundaries tribes rep-
resenting with special
clearness the develop-
ment of negro culture
as uninfluenced by
external causes; it in-
cludes not only divi-
sions of the Pygmy
race representing per-
haps the lowest of cultural stages to be found in Africa, but also a num-
ber of Bantu-speaking negroes whose artistic work may be fairly taken as
representative of the capacities of the African natives.
The plan of arrangement was designed to be, as nearly as possible,
geographical. The as yet uninstalled collections from parts north, east,
south and west of the Congo are to be placed ultimately in corresponding
positions with reference to the large central rectangle; within this central
area devoted to the Congo a similar geographical plan was actually
followed as rigidly as the nature of the material and other practical condi-
tions permitted. Thus, the visitor entering the African Hall is confronted
by a row of cases exhibiting material from the southern Congo, while a
series of mats from the same district is stretched in frames above. Passing
to the east, he finds along the eastern border of the central area the material
from the eastern Congo, while the space, as yet unoccupied, between this
13
Portion of transparency in
African Hall. The shaved head
and abundant neck and ear orna-
ments are typical of East Africa
ip ah ah aps
row of cases and the windows is to be dedi-
cated to East Africa. Here, as throughout
the perimeter of the Congo area, spears,
shields, battle axes and other specimens are
grouped on pillars or fastened in frames above
the cased material from the same territory.
A rather novel device was hit upon to illus-
trate phases of native life such as can
scarcely ever be represented adequately by
actual specimens. Thus, the pastoral life of
the Masai is not clearly shown by an exhi-
bition of milk jugs, and the crossing of a river
on a native bridge cannot be very vividly
presented to a visitor by a cased section of
the bridge. Similarly, the necessarily piece-
meal installation of garments and objects of
personal adornment from some district hardly
permits the construction of a picture of the
fully-dressed warrior. Accordingly, there was
obtained a large series of standard photo-
graphs illustrating various aspects of African
culture; from these, colored enlargements on
glass were prepared, and placed in the lower
window frames as transparencies. These
transparencies, which embrace in scope the
entire African continent, supplementing the
material on exhibition, are likely to convey
to the general public a clearer and more
impressive picture of aboriginal African cul-
ture than could otherwise be hoped for.
So far as the exhibition of the material
itself is concerned, especial care was taken
to emphasize certain broad features which
:
4
4
al
4
>
STSLELELELE LALA LELELELARLELELELeL eee cic c ee Leelee eee ele elec ci ei cicicicicl
(LALZLALALALALAL
PRIS ALALALALALALALALALALALALALsa lel ele Leelee LeeLee LeLeLaLeLeALeLeLeLals!
the average layman is not likely to associate with the African aborigines,
but which are nevertheless in the highest degree characteristic of them as
apapapahar 4h eh ap apared
aa
SMALL SECTION OF AFRICAN HALL
Editorial Note: Frescoes along the gallery above, a frieze spanning the distance from
pillar to pillar and colored transparencies in the windows produce a strong decorative
effect in addition to correlating vividly the technical exhibits in the cases with African life
and customs. These plans for the hall are accredited to Director Hermon C. Bumpus who also
is the originator of the idea carried out in this and in other halls as to the apportionment of
space. That is, the space along the east and west sides of the African Hall from north to
south is destined to indicate the relative geographical distribution of the various tribes
around the great heart of Africa, the Congo. So that in walking the length of the hall along
the right, and back along the left, one may pass in review African industry, art and tribal
customs as if actually traveling north from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean,
east of the Congo, and south again, west of the Congo — in other words, from the Bushmen
to the tribes of the Nile and from the Sahara tribes to the Hottentots. Such a plan gives a
forceful and natural arrangement for the disposition of any collection of heterogeneous mate-
rials from a region. The installation of the collections in the cases is the work of Robert H.
Lowic, Assistant Curator in the Department of Anthropology.
BATTLE AXE FROM KASAI
DISTRICT CONGO
These axes are remarkable
for their openwork patterns
and for the human heads cut
upon them
compared with the races of other continents. First and
foremost among these is the fact of a native African metal-
lurgy. While the highly developed tribes of Polynesia had
not advanced beyond the stone age at the time of their dis-
covery by white men and even the inhabitants of ancient
Mexico and Peru had not learned to smelt iron from the ore,
practically all the tribes of Africa have in historical times
practised the iron technique, some having attained a high
degree of perfection in this industry. This fact is so striking
that scientific travelers of the highest rank, such as Dr.
Schweinfurth and Professor von Luschan, have advanced the theory that
the African negroes were the originators of the technique and transmitted it
through the intermediation of other peoples to the ancestors of our civilized
16
women embroider upon it
hahahah ahah ar ae,
‘es a plush-like fabric
ap aparara
then the
abhapararared
oO
z
>
<
Ww
=
ar
”
5
wl
a
u
°
w
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a
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wi
z
<
a
B
°
= |
re)
w
a |
a
<
oO
=)
ne
<
a
The men weave the cloth from the fibres of the raphia palm,
geometrical patterns and give a final shaving which produc
r
(ALR LAL Lee
nations of to-day.
PAP ADAP AP AP ah ahah ahah ahah db abababababab apap ap apabapabababapabapabapapapab apap adap arapapapabap
nigh a aie a eee —— _— ;
Guu —r yr
a
hh a Aah ih eh ih i ie A eo Sl te Sl tn Dy te ee te LLL LLL LLL
ah apap ar ar arh ar ar.
Should this theory prove tenable, it is obvious that a
complete revision of popular beliefs as to the negro’s relation to modern
CARVED WOODEN VASE, KASAI DISTRICT
In this excepticnally beautiful piece the
more usual angular design in imitation of the
interlacing strands cf hasketwork has heen
transformed into a fyattern of gracefully
curved lines
PeTeiecisi
hd
~~
abana
civilization would be a necessary
consequence. However this may
be, it was clearly essential to em-
phasize metal-work in the African
Hall.
smiths, which had been in the pos-
A group of negro black-
session of the Museum for a
number of years, was given a con-
spicuous. place in the northern
section of the Hall, and in the dec-
orative panels overhanging the
cases, as well as on the pillars mark-
ing the perimeter of the Congo
area, African spears and battle-axes,
throwing-knives and scimitars were
made to predominate.
Another phase of activity which
is not usually associated with the
African race has underlying it a
strong development of the zesthetic
sense, and the new exhibits are likely
to carry conviction on this point.
The number of different types of
musical instruments utilized by
the negroes contrasts favorably
with their relative scarcity as ex-
hibited in other halls. Far more
imposing, however, is the array of
decorative woodwork and pilecloth
Tene a ae ae abana
ee 2
Photograph by Rev. G. W. Stahlbrand
CONGO PYGMIES IN THE DEATH DANCE
from the Kasai District of the Congo, the patterns of which occasionally
rise to classic beauty of composition. Even the ironwork, aside from its
excellence from a utilitarian point of view, is at times equally impressive by
the almost incredible virtuosity of its ornamentation. The exhibits are thus
likely to temper current misunderstandings as to the capacities of the
negro race and to carry home to a wider public some of the most funda-
mental and now firmly established conceptions of ethnological science.
v
a
.7
a
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a
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— . in
ied 7 a ae i ee *~<
¥.
MUELAULALALAL LAL ALALALALALALAL SL eo eLeLeLeLeLes!
A NEW ORIOLE FROM MEXICO
By Frank M. Chapman
MONG the most interesting results attending the Museum’s expedi-
tion to Mexico to secure material for a habitat group of tropical
birds, was the discovery of a new species of oriole. The bird is
most nearly related to our orchard oriole, which prior to this time has
been distinguished by the fact that it had no close relatives, its rich chest-
nut colors being strikingly unlike the orange dress of most members of the
genus Icterus.
The new bird was discovered by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist
of the expedition, and in view of this fact, as well as in recognition of his
invaluable services to ornithology, it has been named, in the January issue
of the vlwh, the official organ of the American Ornithologists’ Union, [cterus
fuertesi. The colored plate of the new bird, drawn by Mr. Fuertes, is here
reproduced through the courtesy of the Union.
The discovery of this very distinct new species in a region the bird life
of which was supposed to be well-known, illustrates how extremely restricted
is the range of many tropical birds, and at the same time emphasizes out
comparative ignorance of the bird life of tropical America.
Four specimens of Fuertes’s oriole were secured. They were all taken
on the banks of the Tamesi River, some thirty-five miles in an air-line and
seventy-five by water from Tampico on the Gulf coast of Mexico. The
members of the Museum expedition were here the guests of Mr. Thomas
H. Silsbee, on the sugar plantation of Paso del Haba, and the new birds were
found only in the serubby second-growth which has appeared on the banks
of the river from which the forest had been cleared in establishing the
plantation. Whether they also inhabited the somewhat scanty growth
away from the vicinity of the river, we did not ascertain since the surpris-
ing abundance of birds in the river-forest claimed all our attention.
At this time (April 3-9, 1910) the great vellow-headed parrots (lmazona
oratriv) so popular as cage-birds, together with somewhat smaller red-
headed parrots (Amazona viridigenalis) and two species of paroquets were
beginning to nest, and several pairs had selected hollow limbs in the trees
about our camp. There were also trogons (Trogon ambiguus), motmots
(Momotus lessonii), chachalaccas (Ortalis vetula mecalli) and many other
birds characteristic of the tropics, most of which were at the northern
limit of their range. The region, therefore, has an especial interest as the
nearest point to New York City at which a well-developed tropical fauna
can be found.
20
ICTERUS FUERTESI CHAPMAN
ADULT MALE AND FEMALE
(Two-thirds natural size)
AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE MUSEUM*
By Roy C. Andrews
HROUGH the coéperation of the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington
with the Director of the American Museum, I received a temporary
appointment on the United States ship Albatross to do collecting,
principally of mammals and birds, on an expedition to Borneo and the
islands of the Dutch East Indies. By agreement, the types of new species
and series of duplicates were to go to the National Museum, the remainder
of the material collected being reserved for the American Museum. This
was in the summer of 1909 and the Albatross at the time was cruising in
Philippine waters.
Leaving New York in August, 1909, I sailed from Seattle to Hong Kong
by way of Yokohama and after waiting four days in Hong Kong for a
typhoon to subside, left just in time to meet a second storm about halfway
across the China Sea. At Manila I learned that the Albatross was on its
way from Zamboanga and that almost ten days must elapse before she
would be ready to leave for the southern trip; consequently the time seemed
opportune to make a short expedition to the island of Mindoro for the
purpose of ascertaining the whereabouts of a great number of whales which
had been reported as coming ashore near Calapan. Consequently I went
to Mindoro and made arrangements for transportation the next day in a
native canoe to the spot where the whales were supposed to be. That
evening, however, telegrams were received from Manila stating that a
typhoon was on the way. All of the white people in the little village and
many of the natives hurried to the old Spanish fort and prepared to spend
the night there. It was well that this was done, for the typhoon struck
the north end of the islands with tremendous violence and for two days
we were practically kept prisoners in the old fortress. It was a most inter-
esting experience and the disagreeable features were very shortly forgotten
after the typhoon had ceased. All attempts to reach the whales, however,
were useless because of the heavy sea that was running and the tremendous
surf pounding the shore all along the north coast.
Returning to Manila I found the Albatross already there and Captain
McCormack kindly consented to take the ship to Calapan. The trip
resulted in disappointment, however, because the bones of the whales had
*This article, an itinerary and general statement of the collecting trip made for the
Museum in 1909 and 1910 by a representative of the Department of Mammalogy, will be
followed in iater issues of the JourNaL by detailed reports of work and places visited.
21
oe THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
become so softened by being buried with the flesh in the damp sand that only
two skulls and a few other parts of skeletons were available.
The Albatross finally left Manila in late October and after a three days’
trip reached Sibattick Island, British North Borneo. Here I had my first
experience collecting in a tropical forest. Great white camphor-wood trees,
some stretching up nearly two hundred feet, and the “Kayu Rajah,” or
king-tree, equally as high, were hung with vines and creepers forming a
tangled network. Palms were interspersed here and there throughout the
forest and banana trees were growing in every little clearing. Bird notes
could be heard, subdued because of the great height of the trees and some-
times drowned in the shrilling of myriads of locusts and beetles.
The Albatross then visited the North Celebes. In Limbe Strait I
collected a number of monkeys, a pig and one of the rare ursine phalangers
together with a good series of birds among which were four large hornbills.
Another stop, Ternate, was interesting as the place where many of the
paradise birds from New Guinea are marketed and sent to Paris and London
for millinery purposes.
We got to Makassar for Christmas and were most hospitably received
by the Governor and the European residents of the town. It was here that
I met His Excellency, Baron Quarles de Quarles, Governor of the Celebes,
who has a splendid museum of his own illustrating the anthropology and
ethnology of the East Indian native tribes. He became interested in our
work and very generously presented to the American Museum a collection
of ethnological material, otherwise impossible to obtain.
The Albatross returned to the Philippine Islands in January and ex-
changing the Filipino members of the crew for white sailors, put out again
in heavy weather for Formosa and the Loo-Choo Islands, and then made
straight for Nagasaki, Japan. Here we were received with great cordiality
by the Governor and the American Consul and obtained information result-
ing in a trip to Shimonoseki where permission was secured from officials
of the Oriental Whaling Company to visit their stations for the purpose of
studying and collecting Cetacean material.
Returning to Nagasaki, I definitely arranged to leave the Albatross and
eventually forwarded much of my material to Shimonoseki. First I went
to the whaling station at Shimidzu on the island of Shikoku. So few whales
were taken at this station, however, that I transferred to Oshima, where
were taken a splendid blue or sulphur-bottom whale 79 feet in length, the
jaws alone of which were nineteen feet long, a sei or sardine whale 46 feet
long and a killer of 26 feet length. After being carefully crated these were
put on board a schooner and sent to Shimonoseki, whence they were trans-
ferred to the Hamburg-American liner Aragonia for New York. With
AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE MUSEUM 2
them was also shipped a killer skeleton which had been taken in Korea and
presented by the whaling company with the other material.
The Museum was desirous of securing a large sperm whale and with this
end in view I went to the station at Aikawahama, three hundred miles north
of Yokohama. Here I remained for more than three months going out
on the whaling ships and studying the different specimens as they were
brought in. Four species of large whales were taken and there were excep-
tional opportunities to obtain valuable scientific data, but although some
twelve sperm whales had been killed, none were over 47 feet in length. |
had almost despaired when finally Captain Fred Olsen of the whaleship
Two of the 27 cases of whale skeletons from Japan. The larger crate has 2 space
measurement of 26 tons and contains a sperm whale which yielded 20 barrels of spermaceti
Rekkusu Maru brought in a specimen 60 feet long and fortunately none
of the bones had been broken by the four harpoons used in the capture.
During the time spent at this station, a finback whale 70 feet in length
and also ten porpoises of four different species were secured, one of which
is apparently new to science. After considerable difficulty the enormous
crates containing the skulls and bones of the whales were transported to a
village some twelve miles away, loaded onto a Nippon Yusen Kaisha liner
and sent to Yokohama, thence being shipped direct to New York by the
steamship Welsh Prince.
The courtesy shown to me as a representative of the American Museum
24 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
of Natural History was very great both by the president and officials of
the Oriental Whaling Company and by the various station masters and cap-
tains of the ships. Not only did the company present all of the skeletons
to the Museum, but also gave every facility for prosecuting scientific work.
This whaling company is the largest in the world, notwithstanding that
the industry in Japan dates back only about fifteen years. Superior
methods are used and by making both whale flesh and blubber serve as
food, the product of the industry is disposed of in the most profitable way.
After seeing the skeletons safely on board the Welsh Prince I left Japan,
going directly to Egypt, touring afterward through Italy, Austria, Germany,
Belgium, France and England to inspect the zodlogical gardens and museums
and do comparative work on the study collections in the various institutions.
THE MEDICINE PIPE
ITS RITUAL OF PRAYERS AND SONGS GIVEN TO THE MUSEUM IN VALUABLE
PHONOGRAPH RECORDS
By Clark Wissler
N the exhibit for the Plains Indians stands a magnificent medicine
pipe. This is one of the most important medicine bundles of the
Blackfoot Indians; when belonging to them the pipe and its acces-
sories were never unwrapped except with the appropriate ceremony and
never spoken of lightly. That it should be exposed to your gaze from day
to day, as it now is, would shock even the most hardened iconoclast of that
tribe. There once came to visit the Museum a mixed-blood Piegan, long
schooled and practiced in the ways of the white man; but when looking
at the exhibit for the Plains Indians he shrank away from the sight of that
great pipe and asked that we allow him to walk on the other side of the
hall. To give reasons why these people so feel toward this object would be
a long story and belongs rather to the scientific interest and purpose of the
Museum, while our present fancy takes us in another more human direction.
That this pipe can be exhibited here is another testimonial to the devo-
tion of The-Bear-One. We had hoped to record fully the ritual and other
information pertaining to the medicine pipe as a contribution to the Mu-
seum’s investigation of Plains culture and, knowing that our friend was
formerly a medicine-pipe keeper, selected him to give that information.
He, like others of his kind, freely gave us such information as we asked for,
told us how the first pipe was handed down by the Thunder, how the bundle
THE MEDICINE PIPE 23
must always be opened at the first sound of thunder in the spring, how it
may be opened by a vow or to cure the sick, and how it must be cared for.
Yet we wanted more; the ritual for that pipe contains prayers and songs
in a fixed order which we wished to record with a phonograph.
Before our friend was confronted with this ordeal we made him ac-
quainted with the phonograph. The instrument was not new to him for
every trader at his agency owned one; on trade days they ground out
the latest and best in solo, chorus and orchestra, all no doubt a great din
to his Indian ears. That the machine talked like a white man he knew well
enough, it was but in keeping with other performances of that remarkable
race. One day when he called we explained that we wished to record his
voice, to have it always to keep in memory of him and hoped he would
consent to sing a song into the horn. He complied rather indifferently,
selecting a common song of his people. At the end he leaned back in his
chair with the unmistakable air of one who listens. We adjusted the
reproducer to the cylinder just taken and turned on the motor. He listened
rather curiously to the scraping and buzzing that always preceded the
bursting tone of the record but when the first phrases of his own song
struck his ear there was a flash of light from his eyes that we can never
forget. That the machine could speak the language of the Indian was,
he said, almost beyond belief. He asked many questions, but was partic-
ularly anxious to know how we came by such a machine. The fact that its
originator was yet alive impressed him.
He sang other songs for us and always asked to hear his records when he
called. He even went so far as to repeat certain prayers we heard him
offer up at the sun dance, but cautioned us that such were not to be trifled
with and asked that they be not repeated to his or other Indian ears. At
last as time went on, we found ourselves working out with him the ritual
for a medicine pipe and when we came to the songs, we suggested the phono-
graph. He considered the matter for some minutes, then in a low but
distinct voice made a long prayer to the spirits of all the departed medicine
pipe keepers, the import of which was that he was about to do something
questionable, but that our purpose was noble and honorable and not a
mockery, and that he begged their indulgence to do this thing. He then
announced himself ready to proceed. Now there are about a hundred
songs in this ritual, too many for one sitting; so we stopped before half
of them were recorded. He seemed quite enthusiastic and promised to
return on the morrow to his task.
We were happy for we could see in our possession the long line of wax
records bearing the ritual of this great pipe — but on the morrow he came
not. On the following day he appeared, announcing that he would sing
26 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
no more in the phonograph for he had received a warning. Even as he was
singing that day a messenger was galloping in to call him home where his
wife had been seized with a hemorrhage, something she had never before
experienced. Was it not sufficient that this affliction should come on his
home the moment he began this serious business and to him of all others,
the greatest “blood-stopper”’ of the tribe? Hence, not again. We talked
long and earnestly of bleeding and its causes. We learned from him that
it was a bad case of nose-bleeding that gave him his fright. We produced
a bit of surgical cotton and explained its virtues when properly manipu-
lated and offered our assistance at the next attack. He tucked some of the
cotton in his belt and went his way.
We worked with other Indians on less difficult subjects and waited.
At last The-Bear-One surprised us by announcing that he would proceed
with the phonograph. He gave no explanations and we asked for none.
Fortunately, nothing occurred to interrupt him and the ritual was com-
pleted.
It was some time after this that we made our first formal request of
The-Bear-One. We asked his aid to secure a medicine pipe bundle. He
made no comment beyond stating that since we now had the ritual and the
songs the request was reasonable.
We did not see him for a long time after this, but heard it talked about
that The-Bear-One now had a pipe bundle in his tipi and had had a dream
in which he was asked to give it to a certain white man, also seen in the
dream. To these Indians, dreams are sacred and not to be disregarded;
hence, though to their minds a terrible fate threatened the pipe, there
seemed no remedy. The hope was that the certain white man would shrink
from the responsibility. One day our friend sent for us. When seated in
his tipi he recounted our request, his dream, and pointed to the bundle.
The transfer was arranged and finaily executed without hindrance. The
event was something of a scandal in the tribe, but nothing was said before
us and the prestige and medicine power of our friend was too great to
permit calling him to task. Yet of talk there was no lack. Strange to
say no Indian seemed to question the reality of the alleged dream; but
while The-Bear-One never broke faith with us to our knowledge and ever
seemed sincere, we never felt quite certain about that dream.
So when you look upon this pipe do not forget the hopes and fears of
many that once clustered around it; that even its story is not yet told;
that though The-Bear-One has become as the dust of the plains, the works
of his hand and even his voice are here.
RELATION BETWEEN HABIT AND STRUCTURE IN THE
INSECT WORLD
By Frank E. Lutz
K do not know whether an insect has a given structure as an adap-
tation to its habits of life or whether the habits have been devel-
oped to conform to changed structures. Following the work of
Darwin, most biologists believed that the greater number of structures
arose gradually either through the natural selection of variations favorable
to a given habit or by the effect of use, and the term “adaptation”’ has
come to imply as much. Specifically, this would mean that a grasshopper
has long powerful hind legs either because of the fact that its ancestors
with the longest, strongest hind legs were the best jumpers and so were
most successful, or through continued use by its ancestors of their hind
legs for jumping.
In this connection two things must be said. First, not a single instance
of the inheritance of the effect of use or disuse upon anatomical characters
has ever been experimentally proved, while there are numerous cases of
experimental negative evidence. Second, in recent years many cases have
been recorded of large heritable variations arising suddenly. Among these
is that of abnormally large hind legs in no less common an animal than the
domestic cat. Now when these “rabbit cats’? run they do so by a series
of leaps. The large hind legs are not adapted (in the technical sense) to
jumping but the habit of jumping is adapted to the large hind legs. A
cockroach’s flat body enables it to live in cracks and crevices. If its body
were of such shape that it could not, it would live elsewhere as its relatives
do. Natural selection doubtless accounts for the failure of many variations
to be perpetuated, but doubtless many variations are perpetuated either
because the eliminating action of natural selection is dodged by a change
of habits, that is by habit becoming adapted to structure; or because they
are of neutral value fitting in with the habits of their possessors in the
struggle for existence — that is, natural selection does not effect them at all.
There is another class of characters. They are very striking but no
use can ever be imagined for them. To this class belong most of the pat-
terns of coloration, many of the horns and spines, and the unusual develop-
ment of some parts of the body. These are explained as having come about
either through orthogenesis or the effect of the environment or in other ways
which are too complex to be mentioned here. If this be true, is it not
probable that some, at least, of the characters which are used by insects
27
28 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
are merely used either because the insect is forced to, as in the case of the
long hind legs for jumping, or because it finds it convenient, as living in
crevices when the shape of the body enables it to do so?
Therefore, let us be on the safe side and use the non-committal phrase,
“the relation between habit and structure,” rather than the committal
one, “adaptation of structure to habit.” Examples of such relation are
legion. The large wings and slender bodies of dragon flies make them su-
preme in the air but clumsy on the ground. The ground beetles have legs
of such length and suppleness that they are enabled to run swiftly. The
“electric light bug’’ whose home is the water has paddle-shaped legs and a
keel-shaped body. The water striders skate over the surface of ponds and
streams by virtue of slender, hair-covered feet which do not break the sur-
face film. The mole cricket burrows in the ground by using the spade-
shaped front legs. The mantis catches its prey with its toothed front legs.
The scalpel-like ovipositor of the katydid_ slits leaves and the bar-like
one of the ericket makes holes in the ground for the reception of eggs.
The subject is most fascinating and therefore one in which we are
apt to lose our judicial balance. At any rate, however the relations come
about, they are not only numerous and striking but, as is shown by the
dominance of insect life, effective.
FORT LEE DINOSAUR
By W. D. Matthew
Fort Lee almost within the city of New York is of exceptional
interest to New Yorkers. It was found on the red shales which
HE discovery of a fossil reptile skeleton, probably a dinosaur, at
underlie the Palisades and outcrop at the river’s edge opposite 160th Street
almost directly in front of the site of old Fort Lee and just south of the
boundary of the Palisades Park, being discovered there by three post-
graduate students of Columbia University, Messrs. J. E. Hyde, D. D.
Condit and A. C. Boyle, through whose courtesy and the good offices of
Professor Kemp, the Museum has been enabled to acquire this specimen.
The red shales and sandstones in which this fossil was found belong to
the Triassic period, the early part of the Age of Reptiles. The formation
extends over a considerable part of New Jersey and is found also in the
lower part of the Connecticut Valley and at other points along the Atlantic
Coast, but fossils are everywhere rare and vertebrate fossils especially so.
Great numbers of footprints indeed have been found in two or three locali-
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 29
ties, at Turners Falls on the Connecticut, near Boonton and elsewhere in
New Jersey. But of the animals which made these footprints only two or
three partial skeletons of small species have ever come to light.
This animal probably lived among the hills and valleys where now New
York City stands. He was one of the lords of creation in his time — some
ten million years ago, for the dinosaurs were the dominant land animals
then and long after until the higher quadrupeds appeared. He was not
indeed the “oldest inhabitant,’ for many a race of animals had lived and
died before his time, and no doubt they lived on what is now Manhattan
Island as well as elsewhere, but he is the oldest whose mortal remains have
actually been preserved to our day. Could he have arisen from his mauso-
leum in the rocks at Fort Lee, he might have supplied us with a rather
startling volume of “ Recollections of Early New York.” For in his time
there were no Palisades, and from the eastern bank of what is now the
Hudson River one might look across a broad estuary to the west and south-
west, while the East River and Long Island, as far as we know, were not
yet in existence.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES
SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member-
ship in the Museum:
Patron, Mr. Henry C. FRIcK;
Life Members, Messrs. Larz ANDERSON, GreorGE F. Baker, JR.,
LYNFORD BrppLe, W. Lyman Bropie, J. INSLEY BLatr, ANDREW CARNEGIE,
Ricuarp M. CouGate, Marcetius Harritry Dopnce, JoHN SHERMAN
Hoyt, Ricuarp S. Huncerrorp, WriLtttAM ApAMs Kissam, Epwarp DEP.
LIVINGSTONE, GEORGE GRANT Mason, JoHn G. McCuntoucnH, Moses
CHARLES MiceEt, GeorcE B. Post, Jr.. Henry H. RoGERs, SCHUYLER
ScHIEFFELIN, H. M. Titrorp, and Henry Watters, Mr. and Mrs. Pau
M. Warrurc, Dr. GeorGE T. HowLanpd and Murs. ANNE W. PENFIELD,
Fenix M. Warsure and WILLIAM SEWARD WEBB;
Sustaining Members, Messrs. James Marwick and Freperic S$. WELLS
and Mrs. BENJAMIN BREWSTER;
Annual Members, Messrs. J. J. ALBRIGHT, A. CHESTER BEATTY,
Winuram Apams Brown, CHARLES DU PoNnT COUDERT, CHARLES CURIE,
Jr., Bryan DauGuerty, MELVILLE EGLESTON, WILLIAM FARNSWORTH,
Joun W. Garrett, Ropert GARRETT, RusseELL Hopkins, ARTHUR INGRA-
HAM, NORMAN JAMES, Emory S. Lyon, WILLIAM G. Matruer, Paut. Morton,
Henry F. pu Pont, CorNELIUS VAN Vorst Powers, WILLIAM SPROULF,
30 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
THomas H. Srryker, JOHN DAVENPORT WHEELER, A. LUDLOW WHITE
and ELmMore A. WILLeTs, Drs. WaLtrer Brooks Brouner, A. MONAE
Lesser, Morris Mances, Matcorm McLean, Stewart Patron and
THomas M. Weep, Rev. WitttiAmM GREENOUGH THAYER, HONORABLE
Henry 8. Quinsy and Mes. Jonn R. Drexer, Jonn Henry HAMMOND
and REGINALD DE Koven.
Tue “ AGr or MamMats”’ by President Henry Fairfield Osborn has come
from the press of the Macmillan Company and will receive notice in a
later issue of the JOURNAL.
THERE has just been presented to the American Museum of Natural
History and placed on exhibition in the Morgan-Tiffany Gem Room a
specimen of the new gem Morganite (rose beryl). It is a long oval stone
of rich rose color and weighs 57% carats. This gem was named by Dr.
George Frederick Kunz, the Honorary Curator of Gems of the American
Museum, at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences on December
3, 1910.
Director Hermon Carey Bumpus has recently been decorated by
His Majesty, King Charles of Roumania, with the Grand Cross of the
Commander of the Order of the Crown. This highest rank of the Order
is bestowed upon Director Bumpus in recognition of his well-known ser-
vices to science.
Dr. A. D. Gaspay of New York City has presented to the Museum a
valuable collection of ground and polished shells from California and Japan.
These specimens with their convolutions and superb nacre make objects
of great beauty. They will be installed in certain sections of the Hall of
Mollusca, illustrating the economic and ornamental uses of shells.
DurinG the past month the Museum has received, as a gift from Mr.
D. C. Staples, a small but very interesting collection of archeological and
ethnological material which comes from the Provinces of Esmeraldas and
Manabi in the extreme northern part of Colombia, South America.
Tue Cottp Wetrare Exartsir will be held during January in the
Seventy-first Regiment Armory, New York City. At this exhibit the
Museum will illustrate the work it is doing in coéperation with the public
schools. It will show the loan collections sent to the schools, photographs
and descriptions of the Children’s Room at the Museum and of the Room
for the Blind, drawings and models made by children in these rooms and
MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES 3]
photographs of permanent exhibits especially interesting to children. As
a part of the exhibit an automatic stereopticon will display pictures used in
the pupils’ lecture courses.
TWENTY-THREE Cases of zoélogical material representing several hundred
skins of birds and mammals have arrived in New York as the first ship-
ment of specimens from the Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition.
MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Public meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated
Societies are held at the Museum according to the following schedule:
On Monday evenings, The New York Academy of Sciences:
First Mondays, Section of Geology and Mineralogy.
Second Mondays, Section of Biology.
Third Mondays, Section of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry.
Fourth Mondays, Section of Anthropology and Psychology.
On Tuesday evenings, as announced:
The Linnzean Society of New York, The New York Entomological
Society and the Torrey Botanical Club.
On Wednesday evenings, as announced:
The New York Mineralogical Club.
On Friday evenings, as announced:
The New York Microscopical Society.
The programmes of the meetings of the respective organizations are
published in the weekly Bulletin of the New York Academy of Sciences and
sent to the members of the several societies. Members of the Museum on
making request of the Director will be provided with the Bulletin as issued.
a2 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
PEOPLE’S COURSE
Given in coéperation with the City Department of Education.
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7: 30.
’
The first five of a course of eight lectures on ‘‘ New Movements in Old Asia.’
January 3— Dr. ArrHurR JupsoN Brown, ‘‘New World Conditions in the Far
East — the Forces at Work.”
January 10 — Dr. ArtHurR Jupson Brown, ‘Imperial Japan.’ Illustrated.
January 17 — Mr. Epwin Emerson, “ The Russo-Japanese War.’’ Illustrated.
January 24 — Dr. Arruur Jupson Brown, “Independent Korea.’ Illustrated.
January 31— Dr. ArtHur Jupson Brown, ‘The Struggles between Russia and
Japan for the Leadership in the Far East.”
Saturday evenings at 8: 15 o’clock. Doors open at 7: 30.
January 7 — Dr. Hermann M. Biaas, ‘‘The Health of New York.”’
January 14— Dr. Wituram Hatiocnu Park, ‘‘Communicable Diseases — Their
Prevention.”
January 21— Dr. H. D. Pease, “The Relation of Flies to the Transmission of
Disease.”
January 28 — Dr. Ernst J. Leperue, ‘The City Milk Supply and Its Control.”
LEGAL HOLIDAY COURSE
Fully illustrated. Open free to the public. Tickets not required.
Lectures begin at 3:15 o'clock. Doors open at 2: 45.
January 2— Mr. Roy W. Miner, ‘Corals and Coral Islands.”
February 22 — Pror. C-E. A. Winstow, ‘Insect Carriers of Disease.”’
Scientific Staff
DIRECTOR
Hermon Carey Bumpvus, Ph.D., Se.D., LL.D.
GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
MINERALOGY
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator
GeorGe F, Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Prof. Hmnry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca
WILLIAM BrUTENMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera
Prof. Wr~tt1am Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida
Prof. Aaron L. Treapwe tu, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY
Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator
Frank M. CHapmMan, Curator of Ornithology
Roy C. Axnprews, A.B., Assistant in Mammalogy
W. De W. Mituer, Assistant in Ornithology
VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Prof. Henry FarrrreLtp Osporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Honorary Curator
W. D. Marruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Acting Curator
WALTER GRANGER, Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals
BarnuM Brown, A.B., Assistant Curator of Fossil Reptiles
Witiiam K. Grecory, A. B., A. M., Ph.D., Assistant
Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes
Joun T. Nicuous, A. B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes
ANTHROPOLOGY
CuaRK WIssLER, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
Puiny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator
Haran I. Smuiru, Associate Curator
Rosert H. Lowir, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
HrerBert J. SpINDEN, A.B., A.M.. Ph.D., Assistant Curator
» CHARLES W. Mean, Assistant
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant
PHYSIOLOGY
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC HEALTH
Prof. CHARLES Epwarp Amory WINsLow, 8.B., M.S., Curator
WOODS AND FORESTRY
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., in charge
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Prof. RatpH W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
ANTHONY Woopwarp, Ph.D., in charge of Maps and Charts
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Prof. Aubert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus
Grorce H. SHERwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
FOR’ THE, -PEOPEE
FOR EDVCATION
FOR:S CEN GE
_— er —_>{ —
THE
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM
JOURNAL
FUR SEALS (ADULT MALES), PRIBILOF ISLANDS
Volume XI February, 1911 Number 2
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THe AMERICAN Museum or NaturaL History
New York City
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN
First Vice-President
J. Prerpont MorGan
Treasurer
CHARLES LANIER
Second Vice-President
CLEVELAND H. DopGE
Secretary
J. HamMppen Ross
Tue Mayor or THE Ciry or New York
Tue COMPTROLLER OF THE City OF New YorK
Tue PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT S. BICKMORE
GEORGE S. Bowboin
JosepH H. CHoatr
Tuomas DeWitr CuyLer
JAMES DouGLAS
Anson W. Harp
ArcHER M. HuntTInGTon
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR.
ArtTHUR CurTIss JAMES
GEORGE W.
A. D. Jutmutarp
Gustav E. Kissen
Setu Low
OGDEN MILLS
J. Przrpont MorGan, Jr.
Percy R. Pyne
WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER
JoHun B. Trevor
Fevix M. WarBURG
WICKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Director
Hermon Carey Bumpus
Assistant-Secretary and Assistant-Treasurer
Grorce H. SHERWOOD
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The American Museum Journal
CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1911
Cover, Photograph of Fur Seals, Pribilof Islands
Frontispiece, Photograph of Pines on the estate of the late
Morris Kk. Jesup
Quotations Concerning Morris Ketchum Jesup and the American
Miusemmiaf 3: 2-26. 28S = RIAA eth I Sire eeN LR sates Se Fe 35
Rorestry: amar the Vinseuny 2.4..c 050 or Poco odes nek J. W. Toumry 39
The museum a power for education in important questions of the period
Report from the Congo Expedition................. HERBERT Lana 44
Hunting the okapi from a chain of isolated camps in wet jungle
The Finished Fur Seal Group............... CuHariEes H. Townsend 49
With a brief review of the fur sealing question
Zodlogical Exploration in South America........ Frank M. CoapMan 52
Pie New SOUL: Oa LUXMIOUes © wii i.8o%, ne < Sion’ oie Ropert H. Lowie 53
Notes on the South Sea Hall and the statue of the Maori Warrior
[he P/E Eh eta bad 0 (=a GEORGE F. Kunz 57
The world’s largest known block of jade in the South Sea Hall of the American
Museum
A Treasure ot Ancient Bronzes. 2.2. gs aks 0 ee Ee GC. B.. Basserr. (59
A collection of such importance that it is difficult to make another its equal in
China to-day
“The Age of Mammals”— A Review.......... WiiuiaM Kk. Gregory 65
Historic Fossil from the Senckenberg Museum....................- 68
Hoss leo front Madarasear 06. 2 henna eA tains ee api nets 70
DA Ser ee EWS NOLES. uti ics shc's cdlhue fe Sed alee Hera ast c. vase ede Rote en as 71
Mer UT eeAMNOUNeCIMents:,.. 162 .iinckeergs 2 o:took alan Sone os ee ee acer 72
Mary Cyntata Dickerson, Editor
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy
A subscription to the JourNnau is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of
the Museum
Subscriptions should be addressed to the AMericaAN Museum Journat, 30 Boylston St.,
Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City
Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass,
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
From Trees and Forestry [In press;
MASSACHUSETTS
LENOX,
JESUP,
PINES ON THE ESTATE OF THE LATE MORRIS K,
The American Museum Journal
Vou. XI FEBRUARY, 1911 No. 2
QUOTATIONS CONCERNING MORRIS KETCHUM JESUP AND
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM!
HEN Mr. Orr called upon Mr. Jesup to request his consent to his
nomination as President of the Chamber of Commerce, he
found him engrossed in the study of some building plans which
covered his table. “Mr. Jesup,” said Mr. Orr, “I have got a piece of
interesting news to give you.” “All right,” said Mr. Jesup, “just wait a
moment until I show you this plan.” “ But, my dear Jesup,” remonstrated
Mr. Orr, “this business of mine is important. I have come to tell you
that I wish to nominate you for President of the Chamber of Commerce.”
“Indeed,” said Mr. Jesup, “I am glad to hear it, but, look here, I want to
show you what a splendid plan this is.’ And he turned back again to
the papers on the table. It was only after he had relieved his mind of this
paramount interest that he had leisure to appreciate the new honor and
responsibility to which his colleagues of the Chamber invited him.
The plan which Mr. Orr found Mr. Jesup studying was that of the new
wing of the American Museum of Natural History. The place which the
Museum held in Mr. Jesup’s regard, the long and devoted service which he
rendered it, and the eminence which it attained under his leadership are
well known. For more than a quarter of a century it was his controlling
interest, and it remains to-day his most enduring monument.
“The two grandly distinctive features of Mr. Jesup’s administration,”
writes President Osborn, “were, first, the desire to popularize science
through the arrangement and exhibition of collections in such a simple and
attractive manner as to render them intelligible to all visitors; and secondly,
his recognition that at the foundation of popular science is pure science,
and his determination, which increased with advancing years, that the
Museum should be as famous for its scientific research and explorations
as for its popular exhibitions of educational work.”
1Morris Ketcuum Jesup: A Cuaracrer Sketcu. By William Adams Brown.
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910.
35
30 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
On December 29, 1906, a large and representative audience gathered in
the lecture room of the Museum to witness the presentation to the Trustees
of the series of busts of eminent American naturalists which now adorns
the spacious anteroom through which visitors approach the Museum.
The idea was Mr. Jesup’s, and he provided the funds. The gift fitly sym-
bolizes his conception of the part played by science in the complex circle
of interests, of whose joint efforts the Museum is the expression.
“T suppose,” says Mr. Choate, his fellow founder and trustee, speaking
some years later at the Chamber of Commerce, “that I may speak with
authority of Mr. Jesup’s services to the world in the Museum of Natural
History. I should hardly venture in the presence of Mr. Morgan to claim
for him a monopoly of the generosity that endowed that institution from
the beginning; nor would I forget the abundant aid of many other generous
benefactors; but I will say that he was the chief factor, the most powerful
and effective agent in bringing it to the great eminence that it enjoys
to-day.”
This great service was fitly signalized by his fellow trustees on February
12, 1906, when in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his
presidency, they presented to him a loving cup beautifully designed in
gold, with inscriptions and symbols in allusion to those branches of science
in which he had taken a special interest. On one face of the cup reference
was made to the forestry of North America; on another his interest in
vertebrate paleontology was indicated, and his gift of the Cope collection
of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles was mentioned; on the third face was a
design symbolizing the work of the Jesup North Pacific expeditions, the
last and greatest of the enterprises toward which his efforts were directed.
“Tt is not because of the long period of his service,” writes Professor
Bumpus, “nor because of his unfailing devotion, nor yet because of his
innumerable gifts, that Mr. Jesup’s administration of the affairs of the
American Museum of Natural History will mark a distinct epoch in the
history of the institution... .
“Tt is because he served long and also well; it is because he was devoted
and at the same time exercised good judgment; it is because he not only
gave but gave wisely, that he finally enjoyed the fruit of his labor, that his
devotion to the Museum ripened into absorbing affection, and that his
example of giving infected those associated with him.”
From Trees and Forestry {In press)
FLOWERING DOGWOOD, JESUP COLLECTION OF WOODS
The models of leaves, flowers and fruits are so perfectly executed that it is often difficult to dis-
cover even by careful scrutiny how much is the original and how much is reproduced
From Trees and Forestry (In press]
BLACK WALNUT, JESUP COLLECTION OF WOODS
Full-grown black walnut trees practically no longer exist in America’s forests Thus the Jesup
Collection is already beginning to prove its value as an historical record
FORESTRY AND THE MUSEUM
THE MUSEUM A POWER FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC REGARDING
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF THE PERIOD
By J. W. Toumey
(AcTING DIRECTOR OF THE YALE FOREST SCHOOL AND MORRIS K. JESUP PROFESSOR OF
SILVICULTURE, MEMBER OF THE APPOINTIVE COMMITTEE OF WOODS AND FORESTRY OF THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY]
T no period of our national life has the public been so keenly alive
to the importance of our forests and what they mean to the future
welfare of the nation. We have in comparatively recent years
segregated more than 190,000,000 acres from our national domain and with-
drawn it from settlement that it might remain forever the forest property
of the nation. We are asking in the Weeks Bill! now before Congress
that large areas in the Appalachian and White Mountains be purchased
outright by the national government to form a part of the forest property
of the nation. Many of the states, as is the case with New York and
Pennsylvania, have already purchased large tracts of forest property and
set them aside as forest preserves. The present outlook appears to indicate
that many such reserves will be established in the states east of the Great
Plains in the near future. As a nation we are demanding the conservation
of our forest property and asking private owners of forest property to manage
it in accordance with the ideas of scientific forestry. Although the public
is fully in accord with the idea of national and state forests and fully realizes
the need for a better utilization of our forest property, it is yet woefully
ignorant regarding the forest as a living thing and has but little information
1 The Weeks Bill is scheduled to come up for Senate vote on February 15, 1911. It is
as follows:
“To enable any state to codperate with any other state or states, or with the United
States for the protection of the watersheds of navigable streams, and to appoint a
commission for the acquisition of lands for the purpose of conserving the navyiga-
bility of navigable rivers.”’
This bill, the product of the combined study of some of the ablest men in Congress, is a
general conservation bill for the creation of national forests. The immediate interest, how-
ever, lies in the Appalachian and White Mountain region controlling the watersheds of the
most important rivers of the East and the South and containing a great part of the timber
supply.
The question of reserves for the East has been under discussion for ten years. The
Weeks Bill itself has previously passed the Senate three times and the House once. In the
sixty-first Congress it again passed the House, June 24, 1910; it was filibustered in the Senate.
however, so that Congress adjourned without a passage of the bill.
From Trees and Forestry [In press]. Department of Woods and Forestry
of the American Museum. 39
MOL UNA SIOATI PU SIYSZNOAp ole 9.19Y JOUILUMS UT OTT
‘SPOOP SULSVUUBP UL POISVA ST JOJVA SITY ‘SodO[s oY} WOIJ IND OAV SySo1OJ OY J] *S]OAT JOMOT OF JOVVA JO ATddns
1@ Ul JOWUUNS OI}
patelePeiateniep! {] MOS nO JUaS BG OF ‘osuods vB UL SB SISO1O] SUuTpUunO.INS tq PIsy pue poqsosqR are sul INOUL JO SMOT your oy suds uy
NOSTIM LNNOW WOXS MBIA
[ssoud uy fh.AQSa40y PUD S79at7T WIOAST Of
A WHITE PINE ON THE ESTATE OF THE LATE MORRIS K., JESUP
This tree was a particular favorite and was saved in spite of the adyice of landscape
gardeners
DR se
~ oe ei
pe Nre:
ya
a Pe
;
Fre es
aw SE
Ve...
{In press]
and Forestry
Trees
From
ESTATE OF THE LATE
BIRCHES AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF DARK TREE TRUNKS,
DECORATIVE
E.
MASSACHUSETTS
LENOX,
JESUP,
MORRIS K,
FORESTRY AND THE MUSEUM 45
regarding the many ways the forest affects our present prosperity and how
vital its conservation is to the future life of the nation.
The usefulness of a Museum depends upon how fully it serves the
public as an educational institution, whether the instruction concerns the
preservation of forests, of the country’s mammals and birds, questions
along lines of public health and public education or yet other directions
of work. To a very large degree its power to instruct is measured by its
effectiveness In commanding attention regarding the things worth while
in everyday life. For this reason at one period of its history a museum may
have to direct public attention to events and things quite different from at
other times, depending upon the particular needs of the period. The old
idea of a museum as a storehouse for miscellaneous objects from all corners
of the earth is of the past. A new idea prevails, that a museum is to a large
degree a place in which objects are exhibited in such a manner as to convey
to the public the greatest amount of useful information of present interest.
The Forestry Hall of the American Museum at present and in its future
development along lines following out Mr. Jesup’s original interests and
pioneer work in forest preservation! has a great work to do in education.
The present interest in forest conservation and the need for public educa-
tion regarding the life of the forest and the important uses that the forest
serves in our national economy, clearly point out the direction that the
future development of the American Museum must take in reference to
this important subject.
1 On December 6, 1883, Mr. Jesup presented in the Chamber of Commerce the following:
“To THE HoNoRABLE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF New York, IN SENATE AND As-
SEMBLY CONVENED:
May it please your Honorable Body:
The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York is alarmed at the dangers which
threaten the water supply of the rivers in the northern part of the State through the destruc-
tion of the forests which protect their sources.
The Chamber believes that the preservation of these forests is necessary to maintain
an abundant and constant flow of water in the Hudson, the Mohawk and other important
streams; and that their destruction will seriously injure the interna! commerce of the State.
As long as this forest region remains in the possession of private individuals, its protection
from fire and lumbering operations will be impossible. Believing, then, that this matter is
one of very great importance, and that the necessity exisis for immediate legislative action,
we humbly pray your Honorable Body to adopt such measures as will enable the State to
acquire the whole territory popularly known as the Adirondack Wilderness, and hold it
forever as a forest preserve.”
[That the proposed legislation was eventually secured and that New York has its state
forests to-day was largely due to the unceasing efforts of Mr. Jesup.| Here, as so often, his
work was that of a pioneer. To-day forest preservation has become an accepted national
policy; but twenty-five years ago this was not the case, and the action taken by the Chamber
of Commerce on Mr. Jesup’s initiative was an important factor in educating the sentiment
which has made the wider movement possible.
From Morris Ketchum Jesup, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910.
REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION '
By Herbert Lang
[The Museum's Congo Expedition sends word of the health of its members and the
success of its work in zoédlogical survey, with the story of hunting the rare okapi from a chain
of isolated camps in the hot, wet jungle. The next issue of the JourNav will contain a colored
plate of the okapi with an account of present knowledge regarding the species.— Editor]
K left Avakubi December 7, 1909, with fifty-five porters and
after increasing our collections at N’Gayu and Bafwaboka,
arrived at Medje January 13. As we heard about good hunt-
ing grounds, possibly with okapi, south of Gamangui, we made the neces-
sary preparations and set out at once. After more than six months’ work
in a lonely uninhabited tract some eighty miles square, we returned to Medje
July 17. Since then we have made several transports and stored safely
all our collections, besides accumulating the necessary equipment with
which to set out next Saturday, October 15, for the Uele.
We profit by this occasion to thank all those who have extended to us
the privilege of carrying on such interesting work in regions that well deserve
to be called the “ Heart of Africa,’ and who by their great generosity have
provided us with an equipment that makes it comparatively easy to main-
tain good health even under a most trying and disagreeable climate. Though
camped for nearly six months in or about the dense forest, we both enjoyed
excellent health.
All our native helpers have always been in good condition. All our
equipment including firearms and tents is in perfect order. Our supplies
are sufficient to carry on the work without interruption. The active per-
sonnel has remained practically the same — eighteen native assistants.
One Loango had to be sent back to Leopoldville on account of the ill-health
of his wife, and has since been replaced by an intelligent Mangbetu, whose
services are very desirable in this region of the Mangbetu people.
The plans for porterage have worked very satisfactorily, and although
the natives are true cannibals and are seldom seen without poisoned arrows
or other weapons, we have succeeded well in enlisting their services. This
may best be illustrated by the fact that the Congo Expedition since leaving
Stanleyville has employed and paid more than 3,400 natives and has never
experienced the slightest accident in handling them.
The record of the expedition shows a total of 4,952 specimens collected,
exclusive of at least 15,000 invertebrates, and 1,120 pages of data and
descriptive notes which are supplemented by 800 photographs. It is
mir
1 Selections from the Annual Report of the Congo Expedition by Herbert Lang. Manuscript
sent from Medje, Haut Ituri, October 8, 1910; received at New York January 13, 1911.
44
REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION 45
probable that these are the largest and most important collections ever
gathered by a single expedition in the midst of the dense forest of the
Congo, and they represent a completeness of series that will be surprising.
How true this is may be ascertained from the work with regard to the okapi,
but all departments have equally profited.
All the skins have been safely stored away in the expedition’s large
galvanized iron tank originally brought in sections to Avakubi, where
it has been put up in one of the government magazines. The remainder of
our collections is stored in a government magazine in Medje, which we our-
selves have lately made fireproof by constructing a ceiling of beams and
sticks, covered with reeds and a layer of soil.
The record for large mammals is as follows: 402 specimens covering
50 species = a nearly complete series of the larger mammals of the dense
Congo forest, 206 pages of descriptions, 76 skeletons, a large collection of
foetal specimens, 18 plaster casts and many photographs.
For nearly six months we camped as close as possible to the haunts
of the okapi and though we profited by the skill of the most experienced
native trappers, who were engaged in catching okapi for food purposes,
during the first two months we secured no reasonable success. The super-
stition of the natives, and the hot moist climate, counteracted our best
organized efforts. After interminable palavers, however, the native trappers
consented to allow our native assistants, who were trained to skin large
mammals independently, to camp with them in the forest.
Therefore we established three camps at a distance of fifteen to twenty-
five miles from our main camp, thus adopting the native system of hunting
in small parties, for in these perfectly uninhabited forests it is an impossi-
bility to provide suitable food for any large company of men. Whenever
the native trappers succeeded in killing an okapi, some of them would march
day and night toward our main camp. In the meantime our native assist-
ants who camped with them would take off the skin and cure it as much
as possible until I could reach the place. Within two months from the time
of organization of this plan, we had added to the two skeletons of male and
female already obtained, three perfect skins of females and that of a young
okapi.
Two months later we at last succeeded in obtaining a good sized male.
This okapi like all the others had been caught by a noose around the foot,
but in an almost impenetrable swamp. Unfortunately in its struggles
to free itself, it rubbed a portion of the skin, which however can easily
be repaired.
The following month we secured the accessories for the group on the
very same spot where one of the males had expired, which chanced to be
46 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Through courtesy of the British Museum
HEAD OF MOUNTED OKAPI, BRITISH MUSEUM
Young male okapi presented by the late Mr. Boyd Alexander, 1907. Welle River near
northern border of the Congo Free State. From Monograph of the Okapi by Sir E. Ray
Lankester, 1910
one of the most typical portions of the haunt of the okapi. The acces-
sories represent twenty-five loads of material. Of the larger trees the bark
only has been taken, and everything has been so numbered that there will
be no trouble in readjusting the different sections or pieces of bark. Many
leaf moulds have been made. Mr. Chapin has prepared very exact and
beautiful color sketches of the different leaves. Besides, typical twigs and
leaves of all trees, bushes and low plants are preserved in formalin.
The casts of the heads of male and female okapi are deserving especial
mention. The exterior of the head shows no giraffe-like characters which,
judging from the skull, were supposed to exist. Indeed, the lips are not
prehensile in any way and on account of the somewhat square mouth and
rather small eyes there is much more resemblance to the head of a large
deer. The prehensile tongue, the palate and sections of the four divisions
of the stomach have been preserved in formalin. There is also the complete
skeleton of a large-sized embryo showing a very interesting stage. The
descriptions are rather complete with regard to habits, food, calving season
and haunts. Detailed measurements have been secured. Over forty-five
excellent photographs will guarantee correct representation of the group
work. Detailed photographs of every form of vegetation have also been
secured.
REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION 17
With regard to elephants, I sincerely hope that we shall succeed in pre-
paring the skins of one or two large specimens. Permission to collect four
specimens has been granted by Son Excellence, le Vice-Gouverneur Général
de la Colonie, F. Fuchs, at Boma.
The Lado Enclave, with its white rhinoceroses, is now out of our reach,
as on account of the demise of His Majesty, King Leopold, these regions
have been returned to England. Ona the other hand according to some
reports lately received, it is not impossible that we may find these interest-
ing creatures in the eastern portions of the Uele.
Of small mammals there are 1,054 specimens collected. During several
Through courtesy of the British Museum
PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVING OKAPI ONE MONTH OLD
Photograph taken by Monsieur Ribotti on the Welle River. The photograph was shown
at the meeting of the British Association at Leicester on August 5, 1907, and reproduced in
Illustrated London News, September 7, 1907
48 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
months the expedition had from 300 to 500 traps set and daily revised.
The Mangbetu have displayed remarkable skill in capturing the smaller
mammals with their own native traps.
A collection of 1,885 birds covering 290 species is accompanied by full
and exact data. Very many of the species are represented not only by
both sexes, but also by a series of young in different plumages. ale “ Merycochoerus Oxydactylus
Seas “fs Fe een Peneeus
it bal Schnee & Rae : : Z arahippus
ee = is Diceratherium PP
: ——— eee Pe mete Eporeodon
wi elise Ba Sec Promerycochoerus Steneofiber
a 3 = =i : Entelodon
SO i aT Leptauchenta Pe atacerse
eal Neal eee ee ae ey a A ee ee ee
We} 4 Poébrotherium
Oo = 4 Oreodon Mitamynodon
o > zh Hydenodon
Oo bee Hgracodon
5 o g] Leptomeryx
z ler Titanotherium 0ty/opus
a) Co) eee Mesohippus
(UTAH Trigonias
y= 2 Epthippus
= n—lacodorn PEELS
i (wY0,) Der Dolichorhinus
ca -——- ? J Amynodon
= = Hobasileus ae ae
= Uintatherium /2a/aeosyops
> Q Notharctus
S Orohippus Fatriofelis
at |= PP Metacheiromys
O eS Se SS ee
Oo |«|e Eotitanops Systemodon
ul > S = Beene Pachydena
5) z Lambdothertaum Phenacodus
= |= z Coryphodon fohippus
Diagram from Professor Osborn’s Age of Mammals showing the supposed time sequence
and equivalence of the principal fossil mammal bearing deposits of the West. The Zones”
are time divisions named from characteristic mammals found in the succcessive formations
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WOASAW DHSSNSNONSS SHL AG GSLN3SSYd ATIGOOOHD ANIYVW LONILXA NV SO NOL313mS 89
HISTORIC FOSSIL FROM SENCKENBERG MUSEUM
HE valuable fossil described in the accompanying letter has been
accepted for the American Museum by President Osborn with
expressions of appreciation of the gift not only as such but also as
an “index of the peculiarly cordial relations which prevail between the
Senckenberg Museum and the American Museum and of the spirit of
broad scientific interest which antmates both.”’
SENCKENBERG NaTURAL History SOCIETY
FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN. December |6, 1910.
HONORED COLLEAGUE:
The Senckenberg Natural History Society has wished for a long time
to dedicate a gift to the American Museum in token of especial high
regard. Since our Museum has recently received the best specimen yet
found of Mystriosaurus bollensis Cuvier we are able to release our older
specimen, likewise very fine, a photograph of which I enclose. In their
meeting of December 7 the administration of our society concluded there-
fore to present this specimen to the American Museum of Natural History.
In the meantime our trustee, Dr. Lotichius, has informed us that your
Museum would be disposed to arrange an exchange of our Mystriosaurus
for a skeleton of the American short-legged rhinoceros. Although I do
not deny that the Senckenberg Museum would welcome with great pleasure
the possession of a good skeleton of Teleoceras, we beg that in consideration
of the decision previously reached by us, you will feel free to receive the
Mystriosaurus as a gift and we hope for its friendly acceptance.
I add the following data in regard to the specimen. The Mystrio-
saurus was obtained at Holzmaden in Wiirttemberg in the Posidonia zone
of the Liassic. It was described by H. G. Bronn (Abhandlungen uber die
gabialartigen Reptilien der Liasformationen, Stuttgart 1841) who stated it
to be the largest and most complete of the German skeletons. Andreas
Wagner (Abhandlungen Kgl. Bayer. Akademie Wissenschafter Bd. II
p. 545 ff, 1850) considered the species identical with Mystriosaurus miinsteri
Wagner. Bourmeister (der fossile Gavial von Boll, Halle 1854) established
for this species the older name VW. bollensis Cuvier. The specimen which
vou receive is, therefore, the type specimen of the invalid species MW. senclen-
bergianus Br.
With the expression of our highest consideration and with friendly
greetings, I am,
Yours very sincerely,
Ernst RoeEDIGER,
Director of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History.
69
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A FOSSIL EGG FROM
MADAGASCAR
N egg that is two feet, eight inches long and two feet, two inches
around and that has a capacity of about two gallons is a new posses-
sion of the Museum, one hundred dollars having been the purchase
price. Che specimen is a fossil from Madagascar and has been in the
British Museum on loan since 1892. It is unusually perfect, the shell
unbroken although finely pitted in places showing effects upon it before it
passed into this unchangeable state.
Fossil eggs of this description first came to the notice of scientists in
1850 when discovered in the bed of a torrent in Madagascar. The natives
were familiar with them, using them sometimes as vessels for domestic
purposes; and these natives had also a tradition of a bird large enough to
carry off an ox. At the time of the discovery there was much discussion
by scientific men as to whether what came out of these eggs in ancient
times was bird or reptile and after a few bones discovered somewhat later
decided in favor of bird which was named A*pyornis, there was much
difference of opinion as to its kind and relationships. Some placed it with
dodos, others with auks, and still others with vultures or large birds of
prey. Some fifteen years later, in 1867, various less incomplete fossil
remains came to light, which decided definitely that the bird was not only
of massive proportions, but also that it was short-winged, thus proving tts
alliance to the Dinornis of New Zealand and to the Apteryx. Its height
was supposed to have been six or seven feet although previous calculations
had placed it at twelve feet.
There is no fossil specimen of the bird itself in the American Museum,
but exhibited in the Geological Hall are some of its more or less distant
relatives, the Apteryx, the Moas — fossil New Zealand birds which were
nearly wingless — and the gigantic Dinornis, standing nine feet high. The
egg will be placed on exhibition soon and when seen in comparison with the
eggs of birds of ordinary size or even with that of the ostrich will make
clear that knowledge of these eggs in prehistoric times may well have given
rise in oriental fable to the stories of a giant “roc able to carry off an ele-
phant in its— talons.”
Mr. W. DeW. Mitver, Assistant in the Department of Mammalogy
and Ornithology, has been honored by an appointment as inspector of
imported live birds at the Port of New York under the direction of the
Chief of the United States Biological Survey.
70
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES
SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member-
ship in the Museum:
Life Members, Messrs. ALLIsoN V. ArMouR, ARTHUR D. Garpay,
Witiiam Perkins WapsworrH and Gen. THomMas Huspsparp;
Sustaining Member, Mr. Epwarp J. bE Copper;
Annual Members, Messrs. Puitie G. Barrett, JuLtus HENRY CoHEN,
WILLIAM N. CoHEN, Harry A. CusHING, JULIUS GoLDMAN, Epcar HurpeE-
KOPER, FREDERIC E. Humpureys, C. D. HuyLer, MIcHAEL JENKINS,
S. KELLER, JoHN DrypDEN Kuser, WILLIAM MircHeLL, WILLIAM S. Myers,
CHARLES J. OBERMAYER, JOHN OFFERMAN, EDMUND PENFOLD, F. Port,
JAMES H. SCHMELZEL, R. A. SCHNABEL, HARPER SILLIMAN, CHARLES L.
TIFFANY, JoHN J. D. TRENoR, Drs. CHARLES Browne, L. PreRcE CLARK,
JAMES Morury Hirzrot, Witutiam J. MERSEREAU, TrEoFILo Paropt,
A. Emit Scumitt, Rev. Dr. WaLtrer THompson, MMes. WiLtiaM LANMAN
Butt, B. OcpEN CuHIsoLM, RuFus CoLe, CLARENCE M. Hyper, SAMUEL
Keyser, WittiamM N. KreMER, JOSEPH SHARDLOW, and Miss Epirn M.
KOHLSAAT.
PRESIDENT HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN was made Curator Emeritus of
the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the meeting of the Execu-
tive Committee on January 18, 1911.
THe New York ZoOLoGicaL Soctery has presented to the Museum a
series of six hundred animal photographs taken from time to time through
a long period of years at the Zoélogical Park.
One of the attractive features of the opening of the new South Sea
Islands Hall on January 25, 1911, was a collection of thirty-one paintings
made among the South Sea Islands by the late John La Farge and loaned
by Miss Grace Edith Barnes.
Mr. CHarves L. BerRNHEIMER has recently presented to the Museum
a splendid collection of whaling implements including harpoons and a
bomb gun; also, by the efforts of Mr. Frank Wood of New Bedford, Mass.,
a complete outfit for a whaling boat has been secured through exchange.
These are important additions to the Museum’s collections, for even at
this date it is exceedingly difficult to get many of the articles which went
to make up the equipment used by the deep sea whalers of New Bedford
and a few years from now will be quite impossible.
Ar the meeting of the Executive Committee on January 18, 1911,
Miss Mary C. Dickerson was appointed Curator of the Department of
Woods and Forestry and Assistant Curator in Herpetology.
71
~I
bo
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
THe Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology has recently received
from the Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition a valuable collection of
mammals and birds made during 1909 and 1910 by Dr. R. M. Anderson
along the Arctic coast and islands from the Mackenzie delta westward to
Point Barrow. The birds include water-fowl and land-birds characteristic
of the high North, such as jaeger and other gulls, the spectacled eider and
other ducks and geese, various species of shore birds, large series of two
species of ptarmigan, Lapland longspurs, redpolls, snow buntings, wheatears,
yellow wagtails, horned larks, ete. The mammals include ground squirrels,
lemmings, voles, Arctic fox, weasels and shrews. The Colville River was
ascended to the Endicott Mountains, in which district were obtained a
good series of the white sheep and sixteen specimens of the Barren Ground
caribou. The route of the expedition was for the most part through un-
explored ground, and the birds and mammals obtained are thus of the
highest interest.
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
MEMBERS’ COURSE
The spring course of lectures to Members will be given in March.
PEOPLE’S COURSE
Given in vodperation with the City Department of Education.
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30.
The last four of a course of lectures by Dr. ARTHUR JUDSON Brown.
February 7— ‘Dependent Korea.”’
February 14 — “Changing China.”
February 21 — ‘‘America in the Philippines.”
February 28 — “Siam.”
Saturday evenings at 8:15 o clock. Doors open at 7:30.
The last four of a course of eight lectures on Publie Health.
February 4— Dr. Lrvinaston Farranp, ‘Tuberculosis: The General Problem;
the Organized Campaign against the Disease.”’
February 11— Dr. JAMES ALEXANDER Mruuer, “Tuberculosis as a Social Problem.
Method of Treatment.”
February 18 — Pror. C-E. A. Wrnstow, ‘‘ Water Pollution and Water Purification.’
February 25 — Mr. Lawrence VeIuuErR, ‘Housing and Health.”
?
LEGAL HOLIDAY COURSE
Fully illustrated. Open free to the public. Tickets not required.
Lectures begin at 3:15 o'clock. Doors open at 2:45.
February 22 — Pror. C-E. A. Winstow, “Insect Carriers of Disease.”
Scientific Staff
DIRECTOR
Hermon Carey Bumpus, Ph.D., Se.D., LL.D.
GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
MINERALOGY
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator
GeorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Prof. Hrnry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca
WILLIAM BrureNnMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera
Prof. Witu1AM Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida
Prof. Aaron L. Treapwett, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY
Prof. J. A. Auten, Ph.D., Curator
FraNK M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant in Mammalogy
W. De W. Miter, Assistant in Ornithology
VERTEBRATE PALHAONTOLOGY
Prof. Henry FarrRFieLp Ossorn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Sc., Curator Emeritus
W. D. Marruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D.; Acting Curator
WALTER GRANGER, Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals
Barnum Brown, A.B., Assistant Curator of Fossil Reptiles
Wituiam K. Grecory, A. B., A. M., Ph.D., Assistant
Louis Hussaxkor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes
JoHN T. Nicuots, A. B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes
Mary Cynraia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator in Herpetology
ANTHROPOLOGY
CLARK WIssLeR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
Pury E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator
Haran I. Smiru, Associate Curator
Rosert H. Lowir, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
HERBERT J. SPINDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
CHARLES W. Mean, Assistant
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant
PHYSIOLOGY
Prof. Raupo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC HEALTH
Prof. CHartes Epwarp Amory WINSLOow, 8.B., M.S., Curator
WOODS AND FORESTRY
Mary Cyntura Dickerson, B.S., Curator
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Ratepo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
ANTHONY Woopwarp, Ph.D., in charge of Maps and Charts
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Prof. Apert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus
Grorce H. SHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
FORST HE “RE@PLE
FOR EDVCATION
BORK S ChE NG E
THE
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM
JOURNAL
MARCH, 1911
CONE ENATs
The Okapi ; : : ; ‘ - J. A. Allen
Totem Poles of the North Pacific Coast Har/an/. Smith
A Gift from Ecuador : ¢ - Charles W. Mead
The Four-toed Horse ; : - Walter Granger
Preservation of Mammal Skins in the Field
James L. Clark
Flea Carriers of the Plague . , Frank E. Lutz
Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Expedition to Lower California
VOLUME XI NUMBER 3
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THe AMERICAN Museum or NaturRAL History
New York Ciry
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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CLEVELAND H. DopGe - J. Prerpont Moraan, Jr.
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CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HuNntTINGTON
THe Mayor or THE City or New York
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE Crty or New York
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ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE A. D. JurLuIARp
GEORGE S. BowpDoINn Gustav E. Kisseni
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Mapison GRANT Percy R. Pyne
Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER
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ARTHUR CurTISsS JAMES Fretrx M. WarpurG
Watrer B. JAMES Grorce W. WICKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Acting Director Assistant Secretary
CHARLES H. TowNsEND GrorGceE H. SHERWOOD
Assistant Treasurer
Tue Unirep States Trust Company or New York
Tse Museum 1s Open FREE TO THE PuBLIc ON Every Day IN THE YBRAR.
THe AMERICAN Museum or Naturau History was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
codperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
Annual Members. ................ $ 10 HOMO WS! iii As te he sak sees 3 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 (PAUPOUS a tet t cls eterno ts epee 1000
Wye AVV CRUD ONS ye cares we tars eral yale malo k 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
Tue Museum Lisrary contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. Mm. to 5 P. M.
Tue Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GuIpEs For Stupy or Exursits are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tue Mitta RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
From Annales du Musee du Congo
OKAPIA JOHNSTONI SCLATER. ADULT MALE. MOUNTED UNDER THE DIRECTION
OF M. DE PAUW AT THe UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS
The American Museum Journal
Vou. XI MARCH, 1911 No.
eu)
THE OKAPI
BY J. A. ALLEN
~
The American authority on mammals, Professor J. A. Allen, gives in
the following an account of the okapi, of its discovery in 1901 when it was
thought to be a relative of the horse, of the proof later in the same year that it
is related to the giraffe and to certain extinct forms from the Miocene of south-
ern Europe and of India. Although the okapi has been known for a space of
ten years and is covered by a literature of more than half a hundred titles from
the study of okapi skins and skeletons, the living animal, at least till recently,
has never been seen in tts native haunts by a white man and the realistic okapi
group to be constructed in the American Museum as a result of the six months’
work of the Museum’s Congo Expedition in the Great Forest of Africa will
prove a notable event in the scientific world.
N November 20, 1900, a letter was read at a meeting of the Zoélogi-
cal Society of London from Sir Harry Johnston, announcing that
he had obtained evidence “of the existence of a very remarkable
new horse,” which appeared to inhabit the Great Congo Forest. At the
Belgian post of Mbéni he found that this animal was called “okapi”’ by the
Bambuba natives of the region, and he was fortunate enough to obtain
pieces of the skin that had been made into waist-belts and bandoliers.
These pieces exhibited the stripes of the legs and hind quarters, and indi-
cated an animal different from any known zebra or wild ass. These
fragments were forwarded by Sir Harry to the Secretary of the Zodlogical
Society and exhibited at a meeting of the Society held December 18, 1900.
Thus was obtained the first definite knowledge of a horse-like animal
marked with black and white stripes referred to by early Dutch and
Portuguese writers as existing in the great forests of Central Africa.
At a meeting of the London Society held February 5, 1901, these frag-
ments were shown and described by Dr. P. L. Sclater as representing a new
species of zebra, which he named after its discoverer, Sir Harry Johnston,
Equus johnstoni, the reference of the species to Equus being tentative. At
a meeting of the Zodlogical Society held three months later (May 7, 1901),
73
74 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Dr. Sclater exhibited a water-color drawing of the animal made by Sir
Harry Johnston from a fresh skin secured through the Belgian authorities
of Fort Mbéni. From this drawing it became evident that the new animal
was not a zebra, nor even a member of the family Lquide, but a species
allied to the giraffe. The drawing was published as Plate I of Volume II
of the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society for 1901. This skin and also
two skulls, obtained by native soldiers of the Congo Free State near Fort
Mbéni, were forwarded by Sir Harry to the British Museum, where they
arrived June 17, 1901, and served as the basis of a paper presented by
Professor E. Ray Lankester the following day at a meeting of the Zodélogical
Society. From these specimens he was able to give the principal characters
of this strange animal and discuss its relationships. He found it to repre-
sent a new genus, allied to the giraffe and also to certain extinct forms from
the Miocene of southern Europe and India. He gave to the new genus the
name Olapia.
This skin was mounted by Rowland Ward for the British Museum, where
it was placed on exhibition in August, 1901 — the first example of the “ mys-
terious okapi” installed for public exhibition. Colored drawings of the
mounted specimen were immediately given wide publicity in various popu-
lar as well as scientific publications. The discovery of an animal so strange
and striking naturally excited great interest, and the okapi was soon famous
throughout the world.
Since 1901 numerous specimens of this animal have been taken in the
Congo region, nearly all of them through the agency of the Belgian Govern-
ment. They include not only skins and skulls of adults of both sexes and
of various ages, but also a number of complete skeletons, representing alto-
gether some thirty or more individuals. While much of this material has
been retained for the museums of Belgium, many specimens have been
presented, by direction of the late King Leopold II, to other European
museums. Permission has also been generously granted to several private
expeditions of other nationalities to enter the Congo Free State in pursuit
of the okapi, but apparently they have met with little success, except in
the case of the Alexander Gossling expedition, which secured skins, skulls
and skeletons for the British Museum, and, as noted below, of the Lang-
Chapin Congo Expedition of the American Museum.
The material thus acquired by European museums, notably that in the
Museum at Tervueren, has furnished the basis for several important mono-
graphs of the species, and for a large number of minor papers, resulting in an
okapi literature numbering more than half a hundred titles, so that the
external and osteological characters and the affinities of few species are
now better known than are those of the okapi. j
DISCOVERY AND RELATIONSHIPS OF THE OKAPI 79
In the character of limbs and length of neck the okapi differs little from
the ordinary type of ruminant, as for example a deer or an antelope. Al-
though it differs widely in external appearance from the giraffe which has
elongated limbs and enormously lengthened cervical vertebree, the structure
of the skull and teeth show it to be a member of the giraffe family. It has
also two small frontal horns, somewhat similar to those of the giraffe but
less developed, differing in this respect from ordinary ruminants. The lips
are not prehensile and its small eyes give the head somewhat the appearance
of that of a deer. The colored plate of the okapi sufficiently indicates its
general appearance in respect to form and peculiar coloration.
The okapi is said to live in pairs in the depths of the forest and to feed
on the leaves of the undergrowth. Up to a recent date it was said that no
white man had ever seen the living okapi in its native haunts, or was likely
to, as it is extremely wary and shy, and nocturnal in its habits. The speci-
mens taken have all been captured by the natives, who are said to be able
sometimes to steal up to the animals and kill them with spears, but usually
they take them in traps. Sir Harry Johnston, in an account of his trip to
the Congo Forest for okapi, thus speaks of its haunts: “ Provided with
guides, we entered the awesome depths of the Congo Forest. For several
days we searched for the okapi, but in vain. We were shown its supposed
tracks by the natives.... The atmosphere of the forest was almost un-
breatheable with its Turkish-bath heat, its reeking moisture, and its powerful
smell of decaying, rotting vegetation. We seemed, in fact, to be trans-
ported back to Miocene times, to an age and a climate scarcely suitable
for the modern type of real humanity. Severe attacks of fever prostrated
not only the Europeans but all the black men of the party, and we were
obliged to give up the search and return to the grass-lands with such frag-
ments of the skin as I had been able to purchase from the natives.”’
It was on the borders of such a region that the members of the American
Museum Congo Expedition, under the leadership of Herbert Lang and
James Chapin, camped for nearly six months and were successful in obtain-
ing specimens of the okapi and the necessary accessories for a large realistic
group of these animals for this Museum. While the Congo Expedition is
to be congratulated on the results of its laborious efforts, these were
rendered possible only through the generous and hearty coéperation of
the officials of the Congo Free State under most favorable instructions from
the Belgian Government. All the specimens were trapped by the natives by
means of nooses set in the “terrible swamps” of the Great Congo Forest.
(do) UO SONS URN POArRo OY) []OS JOU PTNOM suvIpUT OT) WinosnyY UeoWoUury
“RySVLY Udouynas ul {QUNOD OLUTYSS, OY OF PUNOg jowNg Ulod SPuopNo YOM “OWN Oo
od t
JO otlos
LSVOO Old!IOVd HLYON SHL NO ADOVITIA ANV J4O IWNLVAA SNONDIdSNOOD V SHV S3A10d WALOL QZ
TOTEM POLES OF THE
HUGE CEDAR CARVINGS OFTEN SO
HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR MEANINGS.
ANCESTRAL LEGEND OR IS THE
NORTH PACIFIC COAST
OLD THAT THE INDIANS THEMSELVES
EACH TOTEM POLE TELLS SOME
“BADGE” OF A FAMILY OR CLAN
By Harlan I. Smith
Photographs by the Author
N some villages of the North Pacific Coast of America a totem pole stands
in front of each house and the houses stand in a row facing the sea.
From a distance the poles look like stubs of a dead forest fringing the
edge of the sea and not till one ap-
the
houses appear nestled in the vegeta-
When seen
proaches nearer do squatty
tion just back of them.
near at hand the poles are grotesque,
some of them still exhibiting, even
after the many years of exposure to
wind and weather, faint traces of the
color with which they were originally
painted.
Totem poles are a conspicuous
feature of any village on the North
Pacific Coast of America, so conspic-
uous indeed that the Indian tribes
living here have sometimes been
‘alled “Totem Pole Indians.” The
poles mark the area of the North
Pacific Coast culture, which extends
from the vicinity of Puget Sound
along the coast to the Eskimo coun-
The influ-
ence of this culture, to be sure, extends
try in southern Alaska.
southward along the coast but at
Puget Sound it begins to lose its
strongest characteristics. Indica-
tions of its influence are found also
in the interior especially along the
water-ways. Some of the best totem
poles are not seen by the tourist
who makes the delightful scenic trip
to Alaska by way of the calm inland
TAMANAWAS BOARD, BAY CENTER,
WASHINGTON
This crude carving, now in the possession of
the Museum, shows totem pole influence south
of the North Pacific Coast culture area
77
7S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
passage, but are to be found in remote villages far up some of the mighty
rivers of the North Pacific Coast.
Totem poles are carved from cedar. On this rainy foggy coast which is
never very hot in summer nor bitter cold in winter, the forests are noted for
their gigantic cedars. The Indians here are preéminently a woodworking
people; they have become clever in the arts of splitting, bending, splicing,
carving and inlaying. The house is made from split cedar planks on a
framework of adzed cedar logs. The canoe is dug out of a huge cedar trunk.
Much of the clothing is made by weaving shredded cedar bark. Spear
handles are whittled out of cedar wood while the masks used in the cere-
monies are also often carved from cedar.
The carvings on the poles most often represent animals, among those
commonly shown being the beaver, bear, raven, frog, finback whale and
squid. Mythical monsters are also represented, while the human face and
figure are common. Sometimes the carved figure of a man forms the top
a &
ee Lem -
THE TOTEM POLES STAND IN A ROW FACING THE SEA
Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands
TOTEM POLES
of a totem pole to represent the speaker or orator
employed by an Indian host giving a banquet or by a
financier making an investment somewhat as we have
a lawyer represent us at court. Some of these are
hollow figures in which a slave or servant may be
secreted to make speeches through the open mouth.
Frequently such a figure is carved standing upon the
head of another carved figure representing a slave,
tending to show that the owner of the house was rich
in slaves.
The art of the average totem pole is on the whole
symbolic and conventional though rather realistic in
appearance. This is true not only in the case of the
totem poles but also in nearly all of the art of the
Northwest Coast peoples. On the other hand, the same
motifs, animal and human, may be employed for purely
decorative purposes and some of the baskets and occa-
sionally blankets show geometric designs, many of
which, however, probably symbolize ideas also, while
decorative carvings without symbolic meaning may be
inserted here and there on a totem pole to fill up blank
spaces between the symbolic carvings. One method of
conventionalizing a carving frequently consists in ex-
aggerating some salient feature of the animal repre-
sented; for instance the carvings of a beaver and a wolf
look very much alike except that the beaver is indi-
cated by prominent incisors and a flat tail. Again, the
artist has sometimes distorted to fit the field what would
otherwise have been a nearly realistic figure or a slightly
conventionalized one. It must not be forgotten that
among Indians as among other peoples great artists are
rare, and that men of wealth who desire to have a fine
totem pole must pay enormous prices in such things as
blankets, canoes or slaves in order to have the most
perfect work.
Carved house and grave posts are akin to totem
poles. On entering the houses we find that some of
the posts supporting the rafters are carved so much like
totem poles that where a house has gone to decay and
only the posts remain, they may quite naturally be
mistaken for small totem poles. Sometimes the house
posts are plain, and carved posts which do not bear any
Bik
iy
Tlingit modern to-
tem pole at Wrangel,
Alaska, contrasting
sharply in idea with a
mission church near.
The lowest carving is
a beaver as shown by
the teeth and tail
SO
Before’ the
Chief’s house,
Wrangel
Looking out
to sea at Old
Wrangel
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
part of the weight of the frame are placed
against them. Again if one pushes through
the nettles and salmon-berry bushes to the
graveyard, he will find there many carved posts
which may be mistaken for little totem poles.
There is another object which when removed
from its proper position resembles the totem
pole: this is the carved “grease trough.’ It
is supported like the ridgepole of a house in
such a position that it hangs above the fire, a
magnificent chandelier, and the grease with
which it is filled runs out of the giant carved
mouth and falling upon the fire causes it to
blaze up and illuminate the surroundings —
probably at the festivities of some great ban-
quet to the honor of the host and his family.
The style of the totem pole and of other
carved posts varies more or less from tribe to
tribe. Grave posts and house posts among
the Salish tribes of Puget Sound are rather
flat bas-reliefs and there are few, if any, tall
totem poles. Among the Haida the totem
poles are tall, massive, carved in the round
and of excellent workmanship. Totem poles
are rare among the Nootka and though this
tribe makes many small figures of wood, these
are not of excellent workmanship. At Victoria
I found a Nootka Indian carving a_ large
totem pole and learned that he was copying
to order from a photograph a Haida pole for
a curio dealer. The curio dealer informed
me that he intended to put this on the roof
until it was weathered enough to resemble an
old pole. Sepulchres are made in some totem
poles, notably among the Haida and Tlingit.
There are several poles of this type at Wrangel.
Such totem poles have at the back some dis-
tance from the ground a niche in which the
body is placed.
The complete significance of a totem pole
TOTEM POLES
is not always clear to-day even to the Indians
themselves because the original meaning of
the carvings and paintings has in many cases
been forgotten. Also, although some of the
most competent American anthropologists
have seen and described these poles of the
North Pacific Coast, the interpretations they
have given of them have only too often been
avowedly incomplete. Probably on some of
the poles the carved figures illustrate a legend-
ary dream or exploit of the ancestor of a
family or clan. This legend is, then, the
property of the family and together with the
family dance and song is often believed to
have been obtained by the ancestor from the
totem animal. Thus the totem animal has
come to be regarded as the “badge”’ of the
family or clan, somewhat as the eagle is the
symbol of the United States. Although
the totem animal does frequently figure as
the guardian of the family or clan, these
animals must be sharply differentiated from
the guardian spirits of the eastern Indians,
in so far as the totem animals have come
into relation to the family through the an-
cestors of the groups and not through any
living individuals belonging to the group.
Property sentiment has become strongly as-
sociated with the poles and the ideas the
poles stand for so that no two families can be
found claiming identical totem poles. Often
the meaning of any given pole has become
very complex because marriages and impor-
tant family events, such as great potlatches
or the killing of slaves in order to show the
great wealth of their owner may have been
inserted on the pole in carvings additional to
those representing the traditional legend.
It has been found difficult to get totem
poles for the Museum. In the first place they
S]
Wrangel
art at
Wrangel
Overgrown
with grasses
and vines, Old
Primitive
Old
S2 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
are seldom if ever owned by an individual but rather
by a family or group and it is as difficult to close a deal
with them all as to get a quit claim deed from all the
heirs of an estate. The second reason for the difficulty
in getting possession of totem poles is that the Indians
who still retain their regard for old customs and institu-
tions will not think of parting with one of these symbols
of aristocracy, which is also interwoven with their religious
ideas. If, on the other hand,
Soi
the Museum representative
goes to the Indians who
have been under the influence
of missionaries and Govern-
ment teachers, he finds that
they have no totem poles,
for almost as fast as the
Indian loses his regard for
the totem poles he is willing
House post from
Comox, sritish
Columbia, now in
the American Mu-
seum. Speaker
represented as
standing on the
head of a slave;
to chop them up and burn
them. He is often urged to
do so by the missionaries who
desire to remove every re-
minder of the old life, believ-
ing that the Indian will then
quickly adjust himself to the
new ways taught by the
white men.
Notwithstanding the dif-
ficulty in getting possession
of totem poles, the American
Museum is relatively rich in
these primitive carvings, the
Haida and Kwakiutl being
best represented, the Tlingit
and Tsimpshian least satisfac-
torily. Altogether there are
some fifty specimens in the
Museum’s collection which for
the most part is on exhibition
in the North Pacific Hall. Carved house post, Bella Bella
A GIFT FROM ECUADOR
By Charles W. Mead
HE collection presented cecently to the Museum by Mr. D. C,
Stapleton contains two stone seats found near the Port of Manta,
Province of Manabi, Ecuador. Such stone seats have been dis-
covered in great numbers on the summits of Cerro de Hojas, Cerro Jabon-
cillo, Cerra Jupa and Cerro Agua Nuevo and form the most remarkable
feature of the archeology of Manabi, nothing resembling them being known
from any other part
of the Americas.
The specimens in
the various museums
of Europe and Amer-
ica have come for the
most part from Cerro
de Hojas, found in
prehistoric heuse
sites. All of these
seats appear to have
been carved from
andersite or from
argillaceous — shaly
sandstone — the two
presented by Mr.
Stapleton are of the
latter —and all may
be described as U-
shaped, although
there is considerable variety in their width and in the curve of the sides.
Usually the crouching figure supporting the seat represents a man or a puma,
but bird, lizard, bat and monkey-like forms also occur and some specimens
have been found in which the supports and bases are without figures.
In addition to the stone seats from Manabi, Mr. Stapleton’s gift to the
Museum includes some thirty specimens from the Province of Esmeraldas,
about one-half of which were excavated from prehistoric burial mounds,
the balance coming from the Cayapa Indians who inhabit the province
to-day.
Of the archeological part of the collection, second to the stone seats in
interest are the pottery stamps as showing the status of the ornamental
art of this unknown people. In all probability these stamps were used
to ornament cotton and bark cloth.
83
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oyeys Avis JO WNjRAYS B UL poppoquaT sem IF “SuIMOA AY ‘UISVG WIOP] Sig ‘AAT [TING ABD oY} JO YINOS spur] peq oy} UT Puno] SVM UOJQOTOYS STULL
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EOHIPPUS OROHIPPUS MESOHIPPUS
A NEW SPECIMEN OF THE FOUR TOED HORSE
EARLIEST KNOWN ANCESTOR OF THE MODERN HORSE, THE SMALL FOUR-
TOED EoHIPPUS, DISCOVERED IN THE BAD LANDS OF WYOMING
By Walter Granger
HE continent of North America has produced the most complete
and best preserved fossil remains of the horse; and it chances that
of all institutions, the American Museum possesses the finest col-
lection of fossil horses. Aside from fragmentary material, there are eight
mounted skeletons in the Hall of Fossils, covering a remarkable series of
connecting links from the little four-toed Hohippus of the early Eocene to
the large, modernized, one-toed Equus of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period,
at which time the horse became extinct in North America.
The skeleton of Eohippus at present mounted in the Museum is of the
most advanced species of that genus and is from the Wind River formation
of Wyoming. It was of especial interest therefore, when the expedition
of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology sent to Wyoming the past
summer, discovered a nearly complete skeleton of one of the most primi-
tive species of Eohippus, previously known to science merely by fragments
of jaws containing the teeth. This was found in the extreme northwestern
corner of Wyoming, in the Wasatch formation of the Big Horn Basin.
After the close of the great Age of Reptiles, at a time roughly estimated
at 3,000,000 years ago when the region was at sea level, there occurred
an uplifting of mountain ranges and a general elevation of the country.
The Big Horn Basin was one of several formed by this raising of mountain
chains, and into the basin ran the sediment washed from the rocks of the
higher surrounding regions. Here in a moist, warm climate and probably
with an abundance of vegetation, many primitive mammals including the
little Eohippus lived and died, and their bones became buried in the slowly
accumulating clays and sands, and eventually petrified. Approximately
these conditions existed until there had been deposited in this Basin a great
mass of sediment 2,000 feet thick; the Basin was nearly filled and a drain-
85
S6 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
age outlet to the north into the Missouri River was formed. Then condi-
tions changed, the process of deposition ceased, and that of erosion began
and has continued to the present time. To-day the Big Horn Basin is
4,000 feet above sea level in its lowest parts, it is arid, in fact almost barren
except along the few water courses which lead down from the mountains,
and the erosion has removed the greater part of the original 2,000 feet of
sandstone and clay. A few high, flat-topped buttes, left by the erosion,
indicate the level of the Basin at the time when the erosion began, but for
the most part the formation has been worn down nearly to its base, and the
country presents great areas of low, rounded knolls and sharp, steep ridges
comprised chiefly of gray and red hard, brittle clays with occasional layers
of sandstone, and often absolutely bare of any vegetation. Such areas are
known to the geologist as “bad lands,” and it is here that the fossil collec-
tor makes his search for the petrified remains of these ancient animals.
As the hills are slowly worn away by the heavy spring rains or an occasional
cloud-burst in summer, the bones which have been entombed for so long can
be detected by the trained eye of the prospector. Often it is merely a
worthless fragment of bone, sometimes a fragment of jaw or a skull, and
in rare cases a nearly complete skeleton such as the present one. In such
instances it is probable that the body of the animal became buried soon
after its death, before the bones could be scattered by carrion eaters or by
the action of water or other agents.
The present skeleton was found by Mr. William Stein, who has been
employed as cook and teamster of the Wyoming expeditions for several
seasons and who spends his spare time in searching the bad lands, with
the rest of the party. The finding of fossils is largely a matter of keen
eyesight, of a certain amount of training in knowing what to look for, and
of ability to spend long days walking or slowly riding through the broiling
heat of the bad lands. It was the bleached fragments of the bones of the
hind legs which attracted the attention of the collector as they lay on the
sloping surface of a knoll. These surface fragments were carefully gathered
up, and a little careful prospecting showed the hip and backbone of the ani-
mal extending into the solid clay of which the knoll is composed. By remoy-
ing the overlying rock the whole upper part of the skeleton was exposed as
it lay on its side in a horizontal position. Instead of removing the bones
one by one from the rock, the whole skeleton was taken out, with such of
the encasing rock as was necessary, the entire mass being bound up, as is
usual in collecting such specimens, in heavy bandages of burlap and paste.
In the laboratory the bandages will be removed, and the slow, rather
tedious task of removing the small and extremely fragile bones from the
rock will begin. It took three days to excavate the specimen in the field,
One of the Expedition’s ‘‘Dry Camps” in the heart of the fossil fields south of the Gray Bull
River. Dr. Sinclair and Mr. Olsen, two members of the expedition, worked for more than a month
from these dry camps, which were supplied periodically with water and provisions from the main camp
on the river.
Prospecting in Wind River Basin, Wyoming. Much of the preliminary prospecting and the
geological reconnaissance work is done on horseback but the actual search for small fossils must
be done afoot. 87
SS THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Eohippus, the four-toed horse. Restoration by Charles R. Knight. The animals were
searcely larger than the red fox
but it will probably require three weeks to free the bones from the matrix,
before the mounting of the skeleton for exhibition can be commenced.
As the work of clearing the rock progresses, one point of anatomy will
be keenly watched, and that is, whether this earliest known horse possesses
the remnant of a fifth toe on the front foot and of the fourth toe on the hind
foot. If it does, this places it a decided step nearer to the still earlier but yet
undiscovered ancestor of the horse, which undoubtedly possessed five toes
on both fore and hind feet.
PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS IN THE FIELD
By James L. Clark
{Mr. James L. Clark was at one time animal sculptor in the American Museum and
has recently spent fourteen months on a hunting trip in Africa. His account of the practical
field work necessary for the preservation of the skins of large animals will be followed by an
account of the task of the animal sculptor in the Museum who builds on the work done in
the field in Africa to make these animals ‘‘live’’ for the people of another continent in the
American institution's exhibition halls.— Editor]
ROM the point of view of the ma-
jority of visitors to the Museum,
who see mounted and often won-
derfully lifelike animals exhibited there,
it is unlikely that the initial labor, and
in a large number of cases the perils
encountered in securing the material for
the finished work, are at all considered.
They probably go no deeper into the
matter than that the rhino, for instance,
was killed in Africa, transported overseas
and set up for public instruction. But
the actual work and how it is accom-
plished by the collector in the field, the
endurance of hardships, the skill and
perseverance necessary in the pursuit of
specimens, is little known.
In making a collection the work in
the field must often be carried on under
Tn Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt
Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons
the case of a large animal, for example, Native bes teare iden tie itecoard
this work must be done just where the shot by Kermit Roosevelt’
kill is made, whether in a swamp, on a
the most unfavorable conditions.
rocky ledge or a sun-scorched plain. Under the most trying circumstances
the collector’s one anxiety and aim must be as always for perfect results,
and he must gather all data, field notes and measurements, sketches and
photographs that will add to a fuller knowledge of the animal and thus
assist in its restoration later by the taxidermist.
Perhaps the Museum has planned a group of animals and has decided
what particular species shall be displayed. The collector is then sent into
1 This photograph and the one on page 93 together with the photographs of white rhinos
and elephants in the January JourNaAL are from Colonel Roosevelt's African Game Trails
and are used through the courtesy of the author and publishers of that book.
89
90) THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Rt
hy J
Photograph by James L. Clark
The taxidermist’s work of measuring and skinning the hippo must usually be done in
the water. Kisii boys are waiting to get the meat, which they consider the best of all
African game because it has a large amount of delicious fat
the field to gather the necessary material. He it is who picks from the herd
the specimens which will best show the physical differences at varying ages,
or in the case of horned animals, it may be a series of males which will illus-
trate the growth of the horns from the young spikehorn to the matured and
typical horn or antler.
After the selected specimen has fallen to the rifle, photographic records
must be made, for they prove most valuable to the taxidermist, not only in
showing the animal in full but also in furnishing important details of both
front and side views. If possible a plaster cast of the face or entire head is
made. Careful description is essential as to the color of the eyes, eyelids
and nostrils or any fleshy portion which may undergo a change when the
skin is dried, and exact measurements of the body and limbs are recorded.
Great difficulty is frequently encountered when collecting hippos, for
PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS 9]
they are often shot while they
are in deep water, where they
may sink to the bottom or float
down stream. Because of this
many fine specimens have been
lost. The surest way is to sur-
prise and shoot them on shore,
if possible. This must be done
at night however, as during the
day they readily scent approach-
ing danger and rarely leave the
water. The best method there-
fore in shooting the hippo is to
plan the work at a point where
the carcass if it drifts down
stream, will lodge in the shallows
or on a sand bar. Then the
“boys” (natives) gather about
and roll it as near the shore as
possible. But even then it is
likely that all the measuring
and cutting up must be done in
the water.
After careful taking of notes
and measurements, the carcass
isskinned. The African natives,
and especially those of the Wa-
kamba tribe, are very skillful
with the knife and are of great
assistance in this work. One
boy, in particular, could take a
specimen as large as a zebra,
skin it perfectly, with the legs
“round” (that is, not cut), salt,
dry and fold it for carrying.
Not a serap of flesh goes to
waste as the natives are decid-
edly carnivorous. If several
animals have been killed all the
meat is carried to camp, and
after the choicest parts have
Photograph by James L. Clark
Giraffe (female) of the five-horned variety.
Photographs and color studies are made for
use in the later mounting of the skin.
Photograph by James L. Clark
Impalla, considered by many the most beau-
tiful buck in British East Africa
92 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Photographs by James L. Clark
Head studies of a female elephant on the Guasha
Ngisu Plateau. This elephant, accompanied by
its young, charged Mr. Akeley and Mr. Clark and
had to be killed when it reached some thirty-five
yards distance
been laid aside for the collec-
tor and his party, the rest is
given to the boys, who, after
eating all they possibly can,
dry what is left and later,
when on the march, trade
portions of it for milk, honey
and potatoes.
For the preservation of
skins nothing can surpass
common table salt. This is
not only a preservative but
it also draws out so much
water that the salt is dis-
solved and the skin dries
rapidly. By leaving the
skin rolled up for some hours
after treatment, the salt is
absorbed into the tissues and
remains there after the
drying out. Decomposition
must be carefully guarded
against until after a skin is
once dried, when the danger
is very slight. Even with a
salted skin which cannot be
opened flat, there is the
possibility of its “sweating”
in the folds during drying.
These places therefore must
be closely watched and the
skin turned about to allow
the air to reach them. If
facilities are at hand, the best
results are obtained by placing the skin in brine after it has been left rolled
up in salt for several hours; the skin will be kept not only soft but as well
protected from the ravages of destroying insects as though placed in cold
storage.
Forced drying, near a fire or in the strong sun, is a method treacherous
in its results, but may be successful if great care is taken that the skin is
not allowed to become too hot. The method of drying without the aid of
PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS 93
salt or other preservative is sometimes necessary. With this method of
drying, the skin must be pegged or stretched out perfectly flat, although
such pegs or ropes often cause ugly holes or distort the skin so that there
is difficulty in restoring it to its natural shape. In the case of a valuable
specimen when no other means are available, this method is better than
none.
Salt is a great aid in softening the skin when finally to be prepared
for mounting. That which has remained in the tissues readily absorbs
the water in which the skin is put to soften and the time thus consumed
in the process is very short. With a sun-dried skin, on the other hand, it
will sometimes be days before the heavier parts are thoroughly soaked, and
meanwhile the thinner portions must also remain wet and run the danger of
the decomposition which will cause the hair or epidermis to “slip.” It
would naturally be supposed that dried skins could be softened in salted
water, which would at the same time act as a preservative. This, however,
is not the case. A skin will soften only in fresh water.
‘
SS
-
« RASS
%
-
Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons
Group of skin-laden mules passing by the Bondoni waterhole on the way to the railroad
94 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
To preserve heavy skins successfully, like those of the rhino, hippo and
elephant, which may be one and one-half inches thick at certain points, it
is imperative that they be salted immediately upon removal, and after that
they should at once be cut or shaved down on the flesh side to about half an
inch in thickness. Then fine salt, generously applied, will penetrate through
the tissues to the epidermis or base of the outer skin, preserving it and hold-
ing the hair tightly in place. As this outer skin is a natural waterproof
covering to the animal, it does not absorb readily and all treatment
must be applied to the flesh side. Powdered alum may be used locally,
but only when absolutely necessary, as it hardens the tissues to such an ex-
tent that no “life” or elasticity returns when the skin is finally prepared for
mounting.
Climate plays an important part in the successful preparation of skins
and for this reason the dry, tropical atmospheric conditions of Africa are
ideal. The power of the sun is tempered by a morning and evening breeze,
not only grateful to human beings, but also very useful in rapid drying. For
example, a zebra skin if hung up in the early morning will be dry by nightfall.
During the rainy season — from about the middle of March to the middle of
June and again in the month of November — drying is more difficult,
owing, of course, to the amount of moisture in the air. But nearly every
day during this season there is a brief period of warm sunshine so that a
salted skin may even then be properly dried.
The preservation of the skeleton, particularly the bones of the legs,
shoulderblades and pelvis, in addition to the skull, is of the greatest impor-
tance as they are necessary later in the proper mounting of a specimen,
since the taxidermist must set them up in their proper position and model
with clay the correct anatomy of the muscles about them.
The method of transporting the accumulated specimens in the field in
Africa is of necessity a primitive and often a difficult one. The entire out-
fit is made up into sixty-pound loads and carried on the heads of the natives,
unless some load prove too heavy for one in which case it is carried, litter-
wise, on a pole between two bearers. When the amount of material to
be transported becomes very large a base camp is established, and the
specimens stored there in the care of two or more porters, until such time
as the trophies can be sent to a railroad station and shipped as direct as may
be to the Museum.
FLEA CARRIERS OF THE PLAGUE
THE PLAGUE GERM IN MAN IS IDENTICAL WITH THAT IN THE RAT AND
FLEAS MAY CARRY THE GERM TO MAN
By Frank E. Lutz
CIENCE was late in discovering and the world in accepting the knowl-
edge that insects may be common carriers of disease. In fact it is
not so very many years since science isolated the minute germs
themselves for identification in such cases as typhoid, malaria, yellow fever
and plague. ‘To-day flies and mosquitoes stand convicted the world over
as carriers of disease germs and the warfare against them is wellon. In
this case there are three factors concerned in the battle and man conquers
the germ by exterminating the insect.
Fleas as disease carriers have been conspicuously before the world of
late; they also stand convicted, but the question concerns the interrelation-
ship of four: man, the flea as carrier, the rat or other animal on which the
flea is parasitic and the disease germ. Again warfare is against the insect
but to be successful it must be directed with full force against the rat, its
host. Would that in all instances the whole trio —rat, flea and germ —
Head of rat
flea. Many
plague germs
may be carried
on the mouth
parts of a flea
and 5000 or
more in the
stomach where
they will live
for 15 to 20
days
Photomicrograph
1 Flea illustrations from Doane’s Insects and Disease by courtesy of Henry Holt and
Company. Other cuts by courtesy of McClure’s and Country Life in America
95
96 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
>, aes could be put out of
»| existence as easily as
they are said to have
been on incoming ocean
liners in San Francisco
harbor. These vessels
are nearly gas-tight and
two tons of sulphur
were used to fill up and
fumigate each one for
five hours, after which
it is reported that fif-
teen to twenty buckets
of dead rats were re-
moved.
=
Human flea, Pulex irritans, found inall parts of the inhabited The heavy ce Nee
globe. Occasionally occurs on cat and dog, rats and mice RZOn plague now raging in
parts of the Chinese
and Russian empires, where little has been done to strike at the acknowl-
edged purveyor of the disease, stand strongly contrasted with the very
small loss of life from the recent outbreak in San Francisco. That the
The rat flea, Lemopsylla cheopis, is the ‘‘plague flea’’ but the human flea and the _cat
and dog flea live on the rat also and thus may carry plague germs as well
FLEA CARRIERS OF THE PLAGUE 97
plague reappeared in all parts of that city in 1907 after having been
stamped out in Chinatown in 1900 was probably due to the scattering of
the city’s rats during the earthquake and fire. Energy was directed at
once however toward the extermination of the rats, fully one million were
killed, and as a result the plague was checked.
It is known now that an outbreak of plague is always preceded by a
similar scourge among rats, because bubonic plague is primarily a rat disease.
Yet so blind has the world been to the interrelations of animals and man
in cases of infectious disease that notwithstanding the terrible inroads made
by the “black death” in various parts of the world during historic times,
no report is made prior to 1800 of the coincident inroad upon rats. It was
in 1894 that Yersin of the Pasteur Institute isolated the bubonic plague
bacillus (Bacillus pestis) and proved the germ to be the same in rats and
man. But this was only a few years ago. Knowledge came late. Bubonic
plague had well-nigh encircled the globe before this, breaking out first in
seaboard places probably having travelled from country to country among
ship rats. The effect of this discovery which turned the attack upon the
rat is shown well in Bombay where the death rate of 20,788 in 1903 was
reduced to 5,197 in 1909.
As yet the rats of the northeastern United States are not plague in-
fected, but this is not necessarily a permanent condition. There may be at
any time in New York or other eastern seaport an outbreak of plague such
as occurred in Suffolk, England, last September. For plague is not limited
to the tropics or semi-tropics although it has flourished there because of
less sanitary conditions. Fleas are common in the eastern states. In-
quiries concerning them reach the Mu-
seum at all seasons of the year, but
Washing his face and scratching his ear
in rat contentment. The brown or ‘‘Nor-
’
way’ rat, Mus decumanus, which has to-
day colonized well nigh the whole earth driving to the wall the black rat, Mus rattus, the
species of romance and history. He is more ‘‘sinned against than sinning’’ in the plague
matter for bubonic plague is a rat disease, in any given outbreak the rat mortality being to
human mortality as ten to one
9S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
especially in the fall after houses which have been closed during the summer
are reopened. Larval fleas have uninterrupted opportunity during the
summer to develop into adults which sometimes make a house literally
uninhabitable. Fleas are considered degenerate members of the Diptera,
the order to which flies and mosquitoes belong, and they are wingless,
winglessness often accompanying the parasitic state, perhaps through
disuse of these organs. ‘That the flea lacks wings may make the spread of
plague less rapid; the lack of flight powers, however, is counteracted by the
fact that fleas are carried long distances by their hosts.
In the East, practically the only flea that gains access to the house is the
rat and dog flea (Ctenocephalus canis), the human flea (Pulex irritans)
being rare. Measures for ridding a house of fleas must plan to attack not
only the adults but also the eggs and larvee. These are likely to be in the
dust of the animal’s bed and in cracks and crevices about the house and
furniture. The remedy lies in making it impossible for the eggs to develop
and the larvee to live in these places, in providing for the cat and dog sleep-
ing places that can be kept clean with all dust removed and burned. A
liberal use of pyrethrum powder should be made in all places where it is
possible that flea eggs may have fallen. Kerosene or benzine are valuable
if milder means do not suffice while in extreme cases fumigation with hydro-
cyanic acid may be necessary.
The rat flea (Lemopsylla cheopis) is known as the “plague flea,” but
both the human flea and the cat and dog flea also live on the rat so that any
one of these may act as a carrier of the plague germ if they chance to travel
from a plague-infected rat.
It has developed through a few deaths in California directly traceable
to handling ground squirrels that here too danger lies, that the plague
bacilli have reached these rodents probably from rats which use the squirrels’
holes in fields. The discovery may mean the necessity of extermination
of the squirrels in infected regions.
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
HE Forty-second Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the American
Museum of Natural History was held on Monday, February 13,
1911, at the residence of the late William E. Dodge, where the
Trustees were the guests of Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge. The following were
elected officers for the ensuing year: President, Henry Fairfield Osborn;
First Vice-President, Cleveland H. Dodge; Second Vice-President, J.
Pierpont Morgan, Jr.; Treasurer, Charles Lanier: Secretary, Archer M.
Huntington.
Dr. Walter E. James and Mr. Madison Grant of the Zoédlogical Society
were elected as new members of the Board to fill vacancies in the Classes of
1915 and 1912 respectively.
Resolutions were adopted with reference to Mr. J. Hampden Robb,
Secretary, who died January 21 after a brief illness. J‘or more than twenty-
five years Mr. Robb has been an active member of the Board of Trustees
of the American Museum.
Dr. Charles H. Townsend was appointed to continue in the administra-
tive office of Acting Director, with the understanding that he will return
later to the direction of the New York Aquarium, and Mr. George H.
Sherwood was reappointed Assistant Secretary. The United States Trust
Company was made Assistant Treasurer.
The scientific staff for the year 1911 was approved, involving the follow-
ing promotions and appointments —
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology: Dr. W. D. Matthew, from
Acting Curator to Curator; Mr. Barnum Brown from Assistant Curator
to Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles; Mr. Walter Granger from Assistant
Curator to Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals;
Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology: Mr. Roy C. Andrews
from Assistant in Mammalogy to Assistant Curator cf Mammalogy; Mr.
W. DeW. Miller from Assistant in Ornithology to Assistant Curator of
Ornithology;
Department of Public Health: Mr. John Henry O'Neill, Assistant;
Department of Ichthyology and Herpetology: Professor Bashford Dean
of Columbia University, Curator.
The expenditures for the past year were reported as follows:
Byvthe City 250" x SR re cst Se ee ee . $185,757.00
By the Trustees, General and Special Funds . . . 207,435.85
Grand Total Be eRe Rie ee ts:
For the coming year the two African expediticns at present in the field
will be continued, the one under Mr. Carl Akeley in British East Africa
99
100 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
and the other under Messrs. Lang and Chapin in the Congo; also the
Stefansson-Anderson Expedition along the Arctic borders of British America
will be maintained. New expeditions are projected in the West Indies, in
Colombia and Venezuela. Another whaling expedition will be sent to the
coast of Japan in November. Altogether $62,906.63 has already been
subscribed or pledged toward the exploration work of the Museum during
the coming year in various parts of the world.
EXPEDITION TO LOWER CALIFORNIA
HROUGH a fortunate codperation between the American Museum
of Natural History and the United States Bureau of Fisheries,
the large government steamer Albatross sailed from San Diego,
February 25, on a two months’ collecting expedition to Lower California.
Dr. Charles H. Townsend, Acting Director of the Museum, is in command
of the expedition. He is well acquainted with the region, having previously
made several zoélogical and fishery trips in this part of the Pacific; also he
knows well the work of the steamer Albatross since he was the naturalist
of the vessel on several voyages, and even participated in this vessel’s deep-
sea investigations under the late Professor Agassiz.
Dr. Townsend is accompanied by seven investigators and collectors,
certain of them representing the United States National Museum at Wash-
ington, the New York Zodélogical Society and the New York Botanical
Gardens all of which bear a share of the burden of the expense of the trip
and participate in the collecting.
Dr. Townsend will begin the work with a line of deep-sea dredgings to
Guadalupe Island some two hundred and fifty miles from San Diego.
The dredging will extend even to depths of two and one-half miles. Mr.
G. C. Bell of the preparation department of the American Museum is a
member of the staff of the expedition and will make molds of the various
deep-sea fishes and invertebrates as soon as they are collected. Deep-sea
species have previously been known by the public only in the form of
unattractive alcoholic material and if successful plaster and glue molds
can be obtained and lifelike casts made, the triumph will be great for the
preparator’s skill and a work will be done that has never before been at-
tempted.
From Guadalupe Island the Albatross will work eastward to begin a
fishery survey of the Peninsula of Lower California. The fishery resources
of the region will be studied with a view to the establishment of closer fish-
ery relations with Mexico, and if possible, to opening the way for fishery
trade and the utilization of the important fish and oyster resources in our
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 101
southwestern states. It may even be possible that the pearl shell from an
important pearl shell industry of this region can be transplanted to Florida.
There will be work on shore also. The Peninsula is seven hundred and
fifty miles long and will be studied along both coasts. During the progress
of the vessel along these coasts collecting parties will be landed each day
to procure the mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes of the region, which are
of especial interest to naturalists because so large a number of them are
peculiar to the locality. Altogether, it is expected that the work of the
expediticn will bring large results along fishery, oceanographic and_bio-
logical lines.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES
SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member-
ship in the Museum:
Benefactors, Mr. J. Prerpont MorGan and Mrs. Morris k. Jesup;
Patrons, Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE and Mrs. Epwarp H. Harriman;
Life Members, Messrs. WrLutaM GouLp Brokaw, IF. AMBROosE CLARK,
MIcHAEL JENKINS, JoHN Rocers, Paitie A. Rotiins, WALTER WINANS,
Mrs. Marian von R. Puoetres, Miss FRANCES von R. PHELPS and MAsTER
PHELPS VON R. PHELPs;
Sustaining Member, Miss Susan D. GRirFitH;
Annual Members, Messrs. E. B. Croweti, GHERARDI Davis, J. WIL-
LIAM GREENWOOD, TowNSEND JONES, T. W. Lamont, Nicott LupLow,
FranK J. MUHLFELD, JosepH H. SparroRD, Epwarp W. Sparrow, EDWARDS
SPENCER, CHARLES H. Werner, Drs. CHARLES REMSEN and ARTHUR L.
Houianp, Mes. Tueo. B. BLEECKER, CHARLES S. FATRCHILD, RUSSELL
WELLMAN Moore and PAyNE WHITNEY.
Dr. J. A. ALLEN was appointed Acting Director pro tem at a Special
Meeting of the Executive Committee, February 20, 1911, for the period
of Dr. Townsend’s absence on the Albatross expedition to Lower California.
In its meeting of January 18, 1911, the Executive Committee of the
Board of Trustees approved the following Appointive Committee on Public
Health named by President Osborn: Dr. Simon Flexner, Mr. John M.
Glenn, Mr. J. Waldo Smith.
Tue following persons have contributed to the South American Bird
Fund and have been made Life Members of the Museum in recognition
of their gifts: Messrs. George B. Case, Evans M. Evans, W. F. Patter-
son, George P. Shiras and F. C. Walcott.
102 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Avr the Special Meeting of the Executive Committee on February 20,
1911, Mr. John A. Grossbeck was appointed Assistant in Invertebrate
Zoology.
Mr. ALBertT Operti, official artist of the Peary Expeditions of 1896
and 1897, has presented to the Museum twenty-four sketches in oil, showing
the excavation of the great meteorite “ Ahnighito”’ and its transfer to the
ship ready for the journey to New York.
Tue Museum is indebted to Mr. Walter Winans for the gift of a series
of wild boar including adults and young of both sexes, collected with a view
to their use in the construction of a habitat group. He has also sent us two
fine specimens of the European red deer. All of these specimens were taken
in the Sachsenwald, Friedrichsruhe, Germany. These specimens are the
first good examples of the species that the Museum has received.
A Cius Room FoR MEMBERS was opened on February 28. This room
situated on the third floor near the elevators is one of the most attractive
in the building and has been furnished to serve as far as may be the comfort
of the Museum’s patrons. A formal presentation of the portrait of the
Honorable Joseph H. Choate, painted by the Princess Lwoff-Parlaghy and
presented to the Museum by the artist, was made the occasion of the open-
ing and of an informal reception. The other portraits owned by the Mu-
seum hang in this room also at present, awaiting the time when the extension
of the Museum building will allow a Portrait Hall especially designed and
lighted where can be told the history of the Museum as shown in its founders
and benefactors.
Miss Mary Loris Kissevu has just returned from a four months’ trip
to the Pima Indians of southern Arizona and brings with her a basketry
collection in which are several artistic “carrying baskets”? woven with dyed
thread made of maguey fiber and six “medicine baskets’? of Papago make.
The latter are rare in collections because of the great difficulty that exists
in obtaining them.
Mrs. R. O. Steppins has recently presented to the Museum the col-
lection made by the late Dr. R. O. Stebbins of the Arctic Club of America.
The gift is largely ethnological, comprising Eskimo, Javanese, Chinese
and Plains Indians material, but includes also a collection of minerals as
well as specimens of mammals and invertebrates.
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 103
THe membership of the Museum for the year 1910 shows a net increase
of ninety-three over that of the preceding year.
. 5 y , Cie i F . .1°
Pus.ic meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated
Societies will be held at the Museum according to the usual schedule.
Programmes of meetings are published in the weekly Bulletin of the Academy.
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
MEMBERS’ COURSE
The following lectures illustrated by stereopticon will be given during March to Members
of the Museum and persons holding complimentary tickets given them by Members.
Thursday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:45.
March 2— Mr. D. E. Grist, “Tibet and the Himalayas.”
Mr. Griib!] will present the history of Buddhism in Tibet and the hierarchy of the Dalai
Lama. He will describe the life and ceremonies of the people and explain the significance of
the recent political changes in the Dalai Lama’s realm. Mr. Griibl obtained during his travels
some splendid pictures of the Himalayas and the borderlands of Tibet.
March 9— Mr. FrepErIcK C. Hicks, ‘“‘Glimpses of the Far East.”
During a trip of about 30,000 miles, Mr. Hicks procured much interesting and instructive
data on conditions in the Orient, as well as many photographs of the points visited. In his
lecture he will speak of Korea, of China and its Great Wall and of the vast country traversed
by the Siberian Railway.
March 16 — Mr. CiaupE N. Bennett, “The Panama Canal — The EBighth Wonder
of the World.”
Mr. Bennett is the founder and manager of the Congressional Information Bureau at
Washington. He has recently spent a month in the Canal Zone and made a thorough study
of the Canal and the surrounding country. His lantern slides and moving pictures cover the
work which has been accomplished to the present time.
March 23 — Mr. DovucGuas WILson JOHNSON, ‘“ Physical History of the Grand Canon
District.”
Given in codperation with the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Sociely
Mr. Johnson's lecture deals with the principal events in the physical history of that
portion of the Colorado plateau province lying in northern Arizona and southern Utah.
Especial attention is given to the effects of the physical history upon the scenery of the dis-
trict. Most of Mr. Johnson's lantern slides are of points not commonly visited by tourists.
March 30 — Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘‘From Japan to the Dutch East Indies.”
In November Mr. Andrews returned from a fifteen month’s absence during which, on
board the United States ship Albatross, he visited Japan, Formosa and many of the islands
of the Dutch East Indies. He will illustrate his lecture with a very complete series of lantern
slides
PUPILS’ COURSE
These lectures are open to the pupils of the public schools when accompanied by their
teachers and to children of Members of the Museum on presentation of Membership tickets.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 o'clock.
March 20 and April 17 — Mr. Roy W. Miner, ‘Early Days in New York.”
March 22 and April 19 — Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘A Visit to the Orient.”’
March 24 and April 21 — Dr. Louris Hussaxor, “Scenes from Pole to Pole.”
104 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
March 27 and April 24— Mr. Joun T. Nicuous,. “Natural Resources of the
United States.”
March 29 and April 26 — Mr. WaAvTer GRANGER, “Famous Rivers of the World.”
March 31 and April 28 — Mr. Haruan I. Smita, “Life among Our Indians.”
April 3 and May 1— Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘“‘Travels and Life among the
Japanese.”
Apri! 5 and May 3— Dr. Lours Hussakor, ‘South American Scenes.”
April 21 and May 5—Mnrs. Aanes L. Roester, ‘‘Around the World with
Children.”
PEOPLE’S COURSE
Given in codperation with the City Department of Education
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:15.
The first four of a course of eight lectures on music by Mr. DanteL GREGORY
Mason. Illustrated at the piano.
March 7 — “Edvard Grieg.”
March 14 — “Antonin Dvorak.”
March 21 — ‘“‘Camille Saint-Saéns.”
March 28 — “César Franck.”
Saturday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:15.
The first four of a course of six lectures by Mr. Aubert Hate. Illustrated.
March 4— ‘The East Coast of South America: Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine
Republic, from the Amazon River to the Rio de la Plata.”
March 11 — ‘‘The West Coast of South America: Chili, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.
The Andes and the Incas.”
March 18 — ‘‘The Caribbean Sea: Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. The Moun-
tain Tropics and the Isthmian Canal.”
March 25 — ‘‘The Island Republics of the Gulf: Cuba, Haiti and Santo Domingo.
The early Discoveries of Columbus.”
JESUP LECTURES
Given under the auspices of Columbia University in codperation with the Museum
The last five of a course of eight lectures on “Scientific Features of Modern Medi-
cine” by Freprric 8. Ler, Px.p., Professor of Physiology in Columbia University.
These lectures are open to the public.
Wednesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock.
March 1— ‘Bacteria and Their Relation to Disease.’
March 8 —‘‘The Treatment and the Prevention of Infectious Diseases.”
March 15 — ‘“‘The Problem of Cancer and Other Problems.”
March 22 — ‘“‘Features of Modern Surgery.”
March 29 — “The Role of Experiment in Medicine. The Public and the Medical
Profession.”
Scientific Staff
ACTING DIRECTOR
Cuarves H. Townsenp, Sc.D.
GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
MINERALOGY
L.-P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator _
GeorGce F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca
WILLIAM BrUTENMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera
Joun A. GrossBeck, Assistant
Prof. Wizt1am Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of -Arachnida
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata
CuHartes W. Lenc, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera
ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY
Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles
Louis Hussaxkor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes
Mary Cyntura Dickrrson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY
Prof. J. A. Atten, Ph.D., Curator
Frank M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy
W. De W. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology
VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
Prof. Henry Farrrietp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Curator Emeritus
W. D. Marraew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles
Wiii1am K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant
ANTHROPOLOGY
Cuark WisstErR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
Purny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator
Haruan I. Smiru, Associate Curator
Rosert H. Lowis, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
HERBERT J. SprnpEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
CuarLtes W. MEap, Assistant
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant
PHYSIOLOGY
Prof. Raupu W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC HEALTH
Prof. CHarLtes-Epwarp Amory Wtnstow, 8.B., M.S., Curator
JoHN Henry O'NEILL, 8.B., Assistant
WOODS AND FORESTRY
Mary Cyntrura Dickerson, B.S., Curator
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Rate W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Prof. AtBpert 8S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus
GeEorRGE H. SuHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
FOR: THE PEOPLE
FOR: EDYCATION
FOR S Cl Bee
——
THE
AMERICAN [SIUSEUM
JOURNAL
FROM MURAL PANEL IN THE NORTH PACIFIC HALL
Volume XI] April, 1911 Number 4
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THe AMERICAN Museum or Natura. History
New York City
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry Farrrietp OsBorN
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
CLEVELAND H. DopGe J. Prerpont MorGan, JR.
Treasurer Secretary
CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON
THe Mayor or THE City oF NEW YorK
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE City OF NEW YORK
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD
GEORGE 3S. BowpboIn Gustav E. Kisseu
JosepH H. CHOATE Sera Low
THomas DeWrtrr CuyLer OGpEN MILLS
JAMES DouGLas J. Prerpont MorGan
MapIson GRANT Percy R. PYNE
Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHN B. TREVOR
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES Fevix M. WaRrBURG
Water B. JAMES GerorGE W. WIcCKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Acting Director Assistant Secretary
CuHarues H. TowNsEND GErEorRGE H. SHERWOOD
Assistant Treasurer
Tue Unitep States Trust Company oF New YORK
Tse Museum 1s OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR.
Tue AmeRIcAN Muspeum or Natura History was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
Ware GACY Grea ofeiesh, Ss oo geben eae en $ 10 MEMO WS arte perches eee eee 3 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 Ratrons=... Aas ne eee Sea 1000
PATCMVEGMP EPS sor py alone heroes Po eee 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
Tue Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a.m. to 5 P. M.
THE Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GUIDES FOR Stupy oF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WORKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tue Mirza RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
The American Museum Journal
CONTENTS FOR APRIL, 1911
Frontispiece, “Canoe Builders’, by Will S. Taylor
I ; ;
From mural panel in the North Pacifie Hall. Reproduced in color
Rare Elephant Seals for the Museum... ....
Dr. Charles H. Townsend in command of the Albatross Expedition in the
Pacific sends representatives of an almost extinct species
Illustrated from photographs which are the first ever published of the ele-
phant seal of the Pacific
Bhe Ground sloth. Group. 2.0 7k.2e oc oe eae ee, = Ne EL Wy
The Spoonbill Fishery of the Mississippi......... Louris HussaKkor
Research and Exploration among the Indians of the Northern Plains
CLARK WISSLER
New Viral eeatntineS et, occas os Se ahi pa edeaae ee b. NGSmETT
Mural decorations in the North Pacific Hall by Will S. Taylor
The Menomini Game of Lacrosse..............ALANSON SKINNER
A Question of Public Health..................C-E. A. WinsLtow
The Museum to show an exhibit of models illustrating scientific methods of
sewage disposal
A Modern Museum of Celebes.................Roy C. ANDREWS
Miuseum> News: (Notesiees 20/0. 5 Ss cheS oe Soe. Aen eee eee
Mecture Announcements. <4 ids. 4:5: Ais © oc sche RO ee oa ence
Mary Cyntura Dickerson, Editor
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy
109
126
129
146
150
152
A subscription to the JourNAL is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of
the Museum
Subscriptions should be addressed to the AmMertcan Museum JourNat, 30 Boylston St.
Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City
Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass.
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS, 1910
The American Museum of Natural History
The scientific publications of the American Museum are issued in three series:
The Bulletin in which are published short articles embodying the results of the
research work of the various departments of the Museum. These articles are
less voluminous and of more general interest than those which appear in the Memoirs.
The Bulletin was founded in 1881, and the number of volumes which have been issued
is twenty-eight;
The Memoirs composed of special articles covering research requiring more
exhaustive treatment. They have been published at irregular intervals since 1893.
Ten complete volumes and parts of four others have been issued;
The Anthropological Papers, similar in character to the Bulletin, but devoted
exclusively to the results of field work and other research conducted by the anthro-
pological staff of the Museum. ‘The publication of these papers was commenced in
1907, six volumes having been issued up to the present time.
The scientific publications for the year 1910 are as follows:
BULLETINS AND MEMOIRS
J. A. ALLEN, Editor
Bulletin XXVIL The Orders of Mammals. By William Kk. Gregory. pp. 1-525,
32 text figures.
Bulletin XXVIII (Twenty-nine plates and 100 text figures)
Art. I— The Black Bear of Labrador. By J. A. Allen. pp. 1-6.
Il — Mammals from the Athabaska-Mackenzie Region of Canada.
By J. A. Allen. pp. 7-11.
III — Mammals from Palawan Island, Philippine Islands. By J. A.
Allen. pp. 13-17.
IV — Description of a Skull and some Vertebrie of the Fossil Cetacean
Diochotichus vanbenedeni from Santa Cruz, Patagonia. By
Frederick W. True. pp. 19-82, pls. i-v.
V — On the Skull of Apternodus and the Skeleton of a New Artio-
dactyl. By W. D. Matthew. pp. 33-42, pl. vi, 5 text figs.
VI — On the Osteology and Relationships of Paramys, and the Affini-
ties of the Ischyromyide. By W. D. Matthew. pp. 43-
72, 19 text figs.
VII — On some Orthoptera from Porto Rico, Culebra and Vieques
Islands. By James A. G. Rehn. pp. 73-77, 1 text fig.
VIII — Some Parasitic Hymenoptera from Vera Cruz, Mexico. By
Charles T. Brues. pp. 79-85, 1 text fig.
IX — Additional Mammals from Nicaragua. By J. A. Allen. pp.
87-115.
106
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 107
XN — The North American Species of Neuroterus and their Galls.
By William Beutenmiiller. pp. 117-136, pls. viii—xiii.
XI — The North American Species of Aylax and their Galls. By
William Beutenmiiller. pp. 137-144, pl. xiv.
X11 Mammals from the Caura District of Venezuela, with Deserip-
tion of a New Species of Chrotopterus. By J. A. Allen. pp.
145-149.
XIII — On the Genus Presbytis Esch., and ‘Le Tarsier’ Buffon, with
Descriptions of Two New Species of Tarsius. By D. G.
Klhiot. pp. 151-154.
XIV — A Note on Siphostoma pelagicum (Osbeck). By John Tread-
well Nichols. pp. 155-157, 1 text fig.
XV — A Note on the Identity of Caranx forsteri Cuvier and Valen-
ciennes. By John Treadwell Nichols. p. 159.
XVI —On Two New Blennys from Florida. By John Treadwell
Nichols. p. 161.
XVII — New or Little Known Reptiles and Amphibians from the
Permian (?) of Texas. By E. C. Case, pp. 163-181, 10 tex
figs.
XVIII — The Skeleton of Pacilospondylus francisi, 2 New Genus and
Species of Pelycosauria. By E. C. Case. pp. 183-188, 3
text figs.
XIX — Description of a Skeleton of Dimetrodon incisivus Cope. By
K.C. Case. pp. 189-196, pls. xv-xix, 5 text figs.
XX — A Comparison of the Permian Reptiles of North America with
those of South Africa. By R. Broom. pp. 197-234, 20
text figs.
XXI— Tertiary Faunal Horizons in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming,
with Descriptions of New Eocene Mammals. By Walter
Granger. pp. 235-252, pls. xx—xxiil, 6 text figs.
XXII — The North American Species of Aulacidea and Their Galls. By
William Beutenmiiller. pp. 253-258, pls. xxiv-xxvi.
XXIII — Three New Genera of Myrmicine Ants from Tropical America.
By William Morton Wheeler. pp. 259-265, 3 text figs.
XXIV — The Cretaceous Ojo Alamo Beds of New Mexico with Descrip-
tion of the New Dinosaur Genus Kritosaurus. By Barnum
Brown. pp. 267-274, pls. xxvii-xxix, 7 text figs.
XXV — Fossil Insects and a Crustacean from Florissant, Colorado.
By T. D. A. Cockerell. pp. 275-288, 4 text figs.
XXVI— The Phylogeny of the Felidae. By W. D. Matthew. pp.
289-316, 15 text figs.
XXVII — Collation of Brisson’s Genera of Birds with those of Linnzeus.
By J. A. Allen. pp. 317-335
XXVIII — Observations on the Habits and Distribution of Certain
Fishes taken on the Coast of North Carolina. By Russell
J. Coles, pp. 337-348.
Memoir XII (Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VIII)
Part I—Chukchee Mythology. By Waldemar Bogoras. pp. 1-197.
108 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Memoir XIII (Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. 1X)
Part I The Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus. By Waldemar Jochel-
son. pp. 1-133, pls. i-vii, 1 map
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS
CxLarRK WissLeR, Editor
Vol. IV. Part Il — Notes Concerning New Collections. (Edited by Robert H.
Lowie.) pp. 271-337, pls. iv—viii, 42 text figs.
Vol. V. Part I— The Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. By Clark
Wissler. pp. 1-176, pls. i-viii, 103 text figs.
Part II — Contribution to the Anthropology of Central and Smith Sound
Eskimo. By Ales Hrdli¢ka. pp. 177-280, pls. xi—xxiii.
Vol. VI. Part I— The Archeology of the Yakima Valley. By Harlan I. Smith.
pp. 1-171, pls. i-xvi, 129 text figs.
Part Il — The Prehistoric Ethnology of a Kentucky Site. By Harlan I.
Smith. pp. 173-241, pls. xvii-lxiv, 1 text fig.
Other publications issued by the Museum are the American Museum Journal
and the Guide Leaflets. All the above publications with the exception of the Memoirs,
vols. VIII to XIV inclusive may be purchased from the Librarian of the Museum.
Vols. VIII to XIV of the Memoirs are published by E. J. Brill, Leiden, Holland, and
may be obtained through G. E. Stechert, Bookseller, 129 West 20th Street, New
York City.
After Peron et Leseur. Paris, 1897
‘*SEA ELEPHANTS"
Comparison of this cut with the reproductions of photographs on pages 110 and 111
suggests something of the advance in accuracy zooiogical illustrative work has made in the
past one hundred years
The American Museum Journal
VoL. XI APRIL, 1911 No. 4.
RARE ELEPHANT SEALS FOR THE MUSEUM
REMINDERS OF AN EXTINCY! MULTITUDE, A LOST INDUSTRY AND A LOST WEALTH
WHICH ARGUE FOR ADOPTION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSERVATION
N February 25 the Government steamer Albatross carrying an ex-
pedition commanded by Dr. Charles H. Townsend sailed from
San Diego for work in deep sea dredging and for a scientific
investigation of Guadalupe Island, which lies some two hundred and fifty
miles off the coast south of San Diego. On March 6 the vessel was again
in port at San Diego to send to the East news of the expedition’s success,
and certain valuable freight, as told in the fellowing extract from Dr.
Townsend’s letter:
Our success at Guadalupe Island was quite beyond expectation. In addition
to work on the birds and plants and various land collections of the island, we cap-
tured alive six sea elephants for the New York Aquarium and the Zodlogical Park
and succeeded in getting four skins and two skeletons of adult sea elephants for the
American Museum.
The three old males were monsters sixteen feet long, with proboscis as long as
the head. We have one skull two feet long. We wound up the young seals in nets
so tightly that we could handle them like bales. The skins of the old bulls were
very heavy; each one flensed and salted was packed in a full-sized barrel which it
completely fills and that without the skull.
When all was packed and ready, then the work really began, for we had to get
our loads through a heavy surf to the ship. A single specimen made a load and the
ship lay more than a mile away. We had four ‘‘upsets’’ but lost nothing. The
series of photographs which we obtained are the only ones of the species in existence,
and there are none published of the Antarctic species that show large males.
The ship is taking on coal and we are off to-morrow [to Cedros Island]. We came
back only on account of the six young sea elephants. The six cases of live seals go
by express; the seven barrels of skins and skeletons we are sending by freight.
The elephant seal is a “true” seal (Phocid@), although in breeding
habits and in the fact that the males greatly exceed the females in size, it
resembles the sea lion and the fur seal as well as the walrus. There are two
species, a southern (Macrorhinus leoninus) not found north of 35° south
latitude and a northern (MW. angustirostris) not found south of 24° north
latitude. The two forms differ little in habits or in external features, the
classification being based on skull structure. The long isolation of the
northern and southern forms would make them valuable for the study of
109
Ol
Sfosoqoid GB YOR] S[VOS ONIRUILUT PUB SoyVUOy, —"][EM YR pojoodoa puke popuRdxoe oq URO pu puo oY) Ve SBuruodo [LMsOU oY) sey ,,yuNAy,, 10
Stosoqoid JOYS OL *(STBOS poavo SuOWe sv) AoT][VUS YON oTRUoy “Joos ZZ oyeul JO Yasuo, wiNuEXvUT tsnayem oy} SuNdooxe jou ‘spodruurg [ye Jo Isosav7q
(SS1VW 117NGvV) GNVIS!I 3adNIVaYND NO .SLNVHd31a3 VAS, YO S1V3S LNVHd374
puasumnoy “EY “9 hq ydvuabojoyd
Tg ee
4
Photograph by C. H. Townsend.
With proboscis erected, and mouth opened, revealing formidable teeth, the sea
elephant sends forth guttural roars which carry for a considerable distance
Photograph by C. H. Townsend
The male sea elephants fight desperately — ‘* beach-masters"’ the sealers in the Antarctic
called them — and their necks and breasts bear evidence of many encounters 111
112 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
geographical distribution and its effects on species formation, if sufficient
material could be brought together for the work; but sea elephants were
nearly exterminated before exhaustive museum collections were made, so
that specimens are now rare. The American Museum prior to 1911 had
in its relatively large collection representative of the seals no single example
of this species, but at Just this time when word of the new material comes
from the Pacific, the institution has gained possession of two skulls from
Kerguelen Island in the Antarctic.'
No better instance than the elephant seal can be given of the extermina-
tion of a species through the wastefulness and commercial greed of man,
making clear the necessity of conservation as a principle directing human
action. The elephant seal, unlike the fur seal, has a deep layer of blubber,
sometimes six or seven inches thick, and the oil is superior even to whale
oil. Elephant seals existed in vast numbers one hundred or more years
ago and might still have been yielding a profitable industry. One has only
to read the vivid descriptions by Captain Scammon, 1874, and by H. N.
Moseley, Member of the Scientific Staff of the Challenger, 1879, to realize
that here existed great wealth. Captain Scammon says of Heard’s Island,
“There were remains of thousands of skeletons. Bones lay in curved lines
like long tide lines on either side ef the plain above the beaches marking
the rookeries of old time and tracks of the slaughter of the sealers.”
The case is only several stages advanced beyond that of the fur seal.
With the latter there is still the chance to handle the herds in a restricted
industry and thus husband them until they can yield a larger industry
without fear of loss of the species. Such must be in future the order for all
industries dependent on wild animal life. For man has upon him at last
the responsibility of knowledge, not only of the limitations cf that life but
also of the relative rapidity with which a species succumbs. By conserva-
tion, the era of strict economy in this line, as in others, will be delayed for
coming generations, if not averted. Some species now approaching extinc-
tion can be restored through legislative protection and artificial breeding,
some not yet endangered can be transplanted from continent to continent
and domesticated; but no conservation is likely ever to make up for losses
which have come through the actual exterminaticn of whole races of animals
of economic value. The elephant seal is only one of the many examples
of extinct or nearly extinct fur-bearing or oil-producing animals or those of
high food value, but it stands recorded in the world’s history a scathing
comment on the status of man’s knowledge and of the development of his
ethical sense in the nineteenth century.
Wt, (C5 DE
1 Through the efforts of Mr. Frank K. Wood of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP
By W. D. Matthew
EARLY two centuries ago a Spanish colonist in the Viceroyalty of
Buenos Aires, now the Argentine Republic, discovered the skeleton
of a huge animal muy corpulente y raro in the River Lujan, a
few miles from the city. The skeleton was sent to Madrid, where it was
finally mounted and is still preserved in the Royal Museum.
This was the first fossil skeleton ever mounted. It was recognized by
the finder as unlike that of any animal of his acquaintance. But it was the
great Cuvier who recognized its relationship to the tree sloths and other
animals of the Edentate order, and named it the Megatherium. Subse-
quently, in 1833, Charles Darwin on his voyage in the Beagle, visited the
Argentine coasts and brought away various remains of this and other
extinct animals, and between 1845 and 1860 several more or less complete
skeletons of the Megatherium and other huge “ ground sloths,” as they came
to be called, were sent to England and were studied and described by the
great anatomist Richard Owen.
Since that time numerous fine skeletons of these animals have been
disinterred from the vast loess or loam deposit which underlies the Pampas
of the Argentine and is known as the Pampean formation. They are pre-
served in various European and American museums, and a splendid series
of them is the pride of the two great museums of Argentina, the Museo
Nagional and Museo de La Plata.
A fine collection of these and other extinct mammals of South America,
made by Senors Ameghino, Larroque and Brachet, was exhibited at the
Paris Exposition of 1878 and passed into the possession of the late Pro-
fessor Cope. It was purchased for the American Museum in 1900 by a
113
THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP
This group was completed in February, 1911, and installed in the new Quaternary Hall of the
American Museum
114
THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP 115
number of the Trustees of this Museum, and its principal specimens are or
will be exhibited in the South American section of the new Quaternary Hall.
The center-piece of this exhibit is the new Ground Sloth Group, just
completed. It consists of four original skeletons representing two genera
of these animals, Lestodon and Mylodon. The largest skeleton, Lestodon
armatus, ranks next to the Megatherium in size, but differs in various particu-
lars, especially in the shape of the head, characters of the teeth and number
of claws on the feet. The three smaller skeletons belong to two species of
Mylodon, M. robustus and M. (Pseudolestodon) myloides.
The skeletons are grouped around a tree trunk, in poses indicating the
supposed habits and adaptation of the living animals. The Lestodon,
standing on his hind legs, is endeavoring to reach up and drag down branches
of the tree. One of the Mylodons is busily digging and tearing at the roots
to loosen and break them and so help his big friend to uproot and pull the
tree down. A third animal is coming around the base of the tree to assist
in the digging operations, while a fourth stands at a short distance, ready
to add his weight to drag down the branches when they are brought within
reach.
These poses illustrate the theory of the habits of the ground sloth de-
duced by Owen from the study of the skeletons —a model of scientific
reasoning whose accuracy has never been impugned. Among the earlier
students of this animal, the cautious Cuvier had contented himself with
observing that the great clawed feet indicated that it was more or less given
to digging in the ground. Some of his learned contemporaries were bolder
‘
in their speculations. Pander and D’Alton regarded:it as an ‘enormous
earth-mole which obtained its nourishment beneath the earth’s surface
through continuous exertion of its colossal strength; and when, perhaps by
sinking of the ground to the sea-level, it was driven to live on the surface
of the earth, its vast powers, lacking exercise, degenerated, and its size
dwindled, until finally it became the weak and puny tree sloth of to-day.””!
Lund at a somewhat later period, held a view scarcely less fanciful.
He believed that the Megatheriwm was arboreal, like the modern sloth,
and observes: “In truth, what ideas must we form of a scale of creation
where instead of our squirrels, creatures of the size and bulk of the Rhino-
ceros and Hippopotamus climbed up trees. It is very certain that the
forests in which these huge monsters gambolled could not be such as now
clothe the Brazilian mountains, but it will be remembered... that the
trees we now see in this region are but the dwarfish descendants of loftier
and nobler forests....and we may be permitted to suppose that the
1 Translated and condensed from Pander and D’Alton’s Das Riesen Faul-Thier, 1821,
p. 16.
Podisop SB podayyeR oq pynoo sosod oy. IVY. OS oqeasn{pe AyIsvo oae sjaed JoOyIO pur squay ou
dNOYD HLOIS GNNOYS SHL HOS TSAGOW NOILONYLSNOOSO AIVWS OTT
THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP Is
By courtesy of the New York Zodélogical Society
THE MODERN TREE SLOTH
This is the nearest living relative of the ground sloths
vegetation of that primeval age was on a no less gigantic scale than the
animal creation.” !
Owen very properly ridiculed these fanciful theories. In point of fact,
the mere size of the animal would render either of these modes of life im-
possible so long as the laws of physics and mechanics hold true. The mode
of life which is practicable to a mole or a squirrel is an utter physical
: Translated in Owen 1842, “Description of the Skeleton of an Extinct Gigantic Sloth.”’
11S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
impossibility to an animal the size of the Megathertum. It could not have
been other than terrestrial or aquatic, and of the latter mode of life there is
no indication in its structure.
In his brilliant and masterly argument the great English anatomist
showed how the teeth were adapted to the bruising and crushing of leaves
and twigs, how the structure of the jaws and skull and arrangement of the
nerve channels indicated loose, flexible lips and long prehensile tongue
adapted to browsing; how the long loose-jointed forelimbs would enable
it to lay hold of branches or small trees and drag them down within reach;
how the powerful claws would enable it to dig around the roots of larger
trees and loosen them, and the massive hind quarters and tail would give
the necessary weight and fulcrum to pull down these trees when loosened
in order to feed upon the upper foliage thus brought within its reach. In
incidental support of this theory, he pointed to the frequent occurrence of
fractures in the massive, heavy bones of limbs and skull. One of the
skeletons in this group has a naturally healed fracture of the bones of the
hind leg very likely due to a tree falling upon it in the course of its lumbering
operations — lumbering, perhaps, in more senses than one.
Such is the theory of the habits of life of the ground sloths, which this
group is designed to illustrate. As to their appearance, we know from
recent discoveries that the Mylodons were covered with a thick coat of
furry hair, somewhat like the brown bears of Alaska.
OOO Fe Ey Meg WT I
a \ 4am» Fb, , “ vy ye Ue “ey WEE
kD 5 “yd pvt, D
aoe Fy yt
ve
J
ley
Wi) Ao
SKETCH RESTORATION OF THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP BY ERWIN CHRISTMAN, I9I1I
Photo by Dwight Franklin
One may seize a five-foot paddlefish by the ‘‘nose”’ or the tail and haul it into the boat
A MISSISSIPPI SPOONBILL FISHERY 12]
Photo by Dwight Franklin
THE DAY'S CATCH
THE SPOONBILL FISHERY OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI
By Louis Hussakof
AST spring the Museum sent an expedition to the State of Mississippi
to collect material for an exhibition group of the paddlefish or
spoonbill-cat. This is one of the most singular fishes found in
American waters. The name paddlefish is given it in allusion to the
extraordinary, long, paddle-shaped jaw or “nose.” It is a large fish, often
reaching a length of six feet and a weight of one hundred and sixty
pounds. It is found only in the water-ways of the Mississippi valley,
ranging as far north as the Great Lakes.
From the name spoonbill-cat by which it is often known, one might
think it a catfish; but it is not a catfish. It is a ganoid, or a member of
that ancient group of fishes which includes the sturgeon and a few other
122 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
forms. In earlier geologic times ganoids were the dominant race of fish,
at one period of their evolution even outnumbering all the other kinds of
fish put together. But they have since then fallen upon evil times, and
are now reduced to only a few genera, which play but an insignificant
role in the fish-life of to-day.
The paddlefish reaches its largest size and is found in greatest abundance
in the smaller lakes connected with the lower Mississippi; and it was at
one of these lakes — Moon Lake, in Coahoma County, Mississippi — that
material was sought. Here Mr. I. E. McGehee carries on an extensive
spoonbill fishery, and through his courtesy, admirable collecting facilities,
including the use of his fishing paraphernalia, were obtained. The Museum
party consisted of Mr. Dwight Franklin of the Department of Preparation
of the Museum, and the writer; the expenses of the work were defrayed
by the Dodge Fund.
Until about a decade ago the spoonbill was of little economic value; it
was interesting merely as a zodlogical curiosity. About that time however,
the fact was discovered that when smoked it makes a tolerable substitute
for smoked sturgeon and that its roe makes excellent caviar. Since then
spoonbill fisheries have sprung up at various points on the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers.
The fish is usually taken in a seine. A practical method of operating
a large seine has been introduced by Mr. McGehee at Moon Lake and is
worth noting. The seine is wound on a huge spool-shaped reel which is
mounted in a flat-bottomed boat. It is laid by unrolling this reel; and it
is wound up by having the crew walk up the spokes of the wheels as on a
ladder, so that the reel is made to revolve. As the seine is gradually
wound up and the fish are confined to narrower and narrower space, they
dart wildly about seeking means of escape. One may then study the
paddlefish at close range. It is an exceedingly clumsy creature, hardly
making an effort to escape capture. Its sense of sight is poorly developed,
as indeed one might infer from its small beady black eyes. If its “nose”’
is caught in the seine it makes only feeble efforts to free itself, and usually
fails in doing so. The contrast between the clumsiness of the spoonbill
and the alertness of an active fish, is strikingly brought out if any garpike
are in the haul; forthe gar makes tremendous efforts to escape and unless
rendered unconscious by a blow with a mallet, will flash through the seine
as if it were gauze. Leaning over the side of the boat, near the cork-line
of the seine, one may seize a five-foot paddlefish by the “nose” or the
tail and haul it into the boat; the only resistance is that of weight. The
fish has absolutely no sport value. The number of spoonbill taken in a
single haul varies; sometimes only a few are brought up, and sometimes
Seining for spoonbill on Moon Lake, Mississippi
Photo by L. Hussakof
The crew walk up the spokes of the wheels as on a ladder thus causing the reel to revolve and wind
up the seine
Photo by Ty. Hussakof
Of course other fish are caught, such as bass, carp, crappie and drum; but they are of secondary
importance and the game fish taken are thrown back
124 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
as many as a hundred. Of course other fish are caught, such as bass, carp,
crappie, and drum; but they are of secondary importance and the game
fish thus taken are thrown back as they are safeguarded for the angler by
state law.
The paddlefish are cut up in the manner shown in the photograph.
Their heads and fins are usually discarded, but sometimes they are boiled
for their oil. The roe is then removed to be prepared into caviar. It
Photo by L. Hussakof
Removing the roe for the preparation of caviar. The roe weighs from two to fifteen or
twenty pounds in a single fish. The heads and fins are usually discarded but sometimes they
are boiled for their oil. The body of the fish is smoked and becomes ‘‘sturgeon”™
A MISSISSIPPI SPOONBILL FISHERY
.
: bp ey esi woe
Photo by Dwight Franklin
Preparing spoonbill caviar. Theroe is put on a
coarse wire sieve and rubbed by hand across the
wires until the eggs are separated from their mem-
branes and drop into the pan beneath
are separated from their membranes and
drop into the pan beneath the sieve. The
raw caviar is mixed with “German” salt
and is ready for shipment. It must under-
go still further preparation however, before
it is in the form familiar to us. In its
raw state it brings about half-a-dollar
a pound. It is said that spoonbill caviar
is the best known, having received
the highest award at one of the World
Expositions.
pounds, in a single fish.
125
'/ weighs from two to fifteen or twenty
It is put on
a coarse wire sieve and rubbed by
hand across the wires until the eggs
Photo by L. Hussakof
The spoonbill
spathula)
or
paddlefish
(Polyodon
RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION AMONG THE INDIANS OF
THE NORTHERN PLAINS
By Clark Wissler
URING the summer of 1910 the research staff of the Department
of Anthropology made further progress on the systematic sur-
vey of the Northern Plains Tribes, returning collections from
the Crow, Dakota and Village Indians. In central North America there is
a large area drained by the Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan rivers,
grass-covered land for the most part, the home of a number of Indian
tribes of peculiar interest to anthropologists. Here in buffalo days lived
eleven different tribes,— the Sarci, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine,
Crow, Dakota, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Hidatsa, Arikara and Mandan.
Kach occupied a more or less definite territory, and spoke a distinct lan-
guage, generally recognized as belonging to one of four widely distributed
linguistic families, Algonkin, Siouan, Athapascan and Caddoan. At
present representatives of these aboriginal tribes survive on reservations
in various parts of the area. The cultures of this group of northern Plains
Indians, as presented in museum collections, show striking fundamental simi-
larities in contrast to diverse linguistic origin and offer therefore an inviting
field for museum collecting and investigation.
In 1906 the Department of Anthropology selected this area for con-
tinuous systematic exploration, to seek data for formulating the manner
in which special ceremonies like the sun dance and the medicine pipe, es
well as distinctive traits of material culture and art, were distributed
throughout the region, one of the more important groups of problems
now confronting serious students of American anthropology. Fortunately
for this plan, the tribes concerned were neither closely confined nor forced
to abandon their aboriginal economic life until after 1865, the change being
gradual and continuous to the present day so that the domestic life and
other aspects of culture, while much modified, are still cherished in the
memories of old Indians from whom data and specimens may yet be ob-
tained. Naturally with each succeeding year comes the obliteration of
more and more of these precious memories, rendering the labors of our
field workers less and less productive. The realization of this has led to
the vigorous prosecution of the work by our field staff to the extent of avail-
able funds.
Field exploration has been conducted among practically the full list of
tribes contemplated in the plan, the Sarci, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Nez
Perce, Northern Shoshone, Crow, Teton-Dakota, Hidatsa, Arikara, Mandan,
Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa. In most cases however, the work is still
126
RESEARCH IN: ANTHROPOLOGY 127
far from complete and some important divisions of several tribes have not
vet been visited. In every case more than a beginning has been made while
in several instances the data accumulated are quite sufficient for the de-
tailed study of the area necessary to the development of anthropology in
America.
Regarding publications of results of this exploration, the following
series has been issued: Some Protective Designs of the Dakota, Gros Ventre
Myths, Ethnology of the Gros Ventre, Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians,
Mythology of the Northern Shoshone, Mythology of the Assiniboine, and
Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. In addition to these seven papers
the following will appear in due time: Social and Ceremonial Culture of
the Blackfoot, Ethnology of the Crow, Ethnology of the Teton-Dakota, the
Hidatsa and the Sarci. Other papers will appear as soon as the field work
is sufficiently advanced. No other institution has given much attention
to this area and while the older historical literature contains much valuable
data of a desultory character, the only other specific publications not found
in our series are a few minor studies on the Crow, Blackfoot, Hidatsa and
Dakota, none of which are sufficiently comprehensive for a serious compara-
tive study of the area as a whole. The field work has been conducted by
the staff of the Department of Anthropology, Messrs. Clark Wissler, P. E.
Goddard, Robert H. Lowie, Herbert J. Spinden and Alanson Skinner,
also by Dr. J. R. Walker and Rey. Gilbert L. Wilson, not connected directly
with the Museum.
Supplementary to this plan, Mr. Harlan I. Smith conceived and devel-
oped a plan for the archeological survey of the Upper Missouri basin. The
part of this area falling within the state limits of Wyoming and Montana
is practically unknown to archeology. Mr. Smith’s explorations have so
far been confined to eastern Wyoming, the results of which will be presented
in a future publication. This work enjoying not only priority, but being
conducted in a systematic manner will be an important contribution to our
knowledge of the area and, it is hoped, will afford some basis for a conclu-
sion as to the early inhabitants of the region, a matter of no small impor-
tance in the general comparative results of the ethnological survey now
nearing completion.
Museum anthropology is confined to the aspects of culture represented
by collections. Our collectors have met with favorable conditions so that
their returns, supplemented by gifts from private collectors and patrons,
give a fair start toward an efficient study series for the area as a whole.
The Department has developed plans for an entire exhibition hall in which
the general aspects of culture so far discovered in the area may be presented,
showing with some detail the peculiarities in distribution for the distinctive
traits.
Mural panel by Will S. Taylor
A TSIMSHIAN FAMILY MAKING EULACHON “ BUTTER”
The glow of the ember fire is on the girl’s face as she waits for stones to heat. In the box
at the right, fish are being boiled by means of the heated stones; the oil thus removed from the
fish forms ‘‘butter.”’ The residue is being strained by the woman at the left. The artist has
used the medium of steam here and in the ‘‘Canoe Builders”’ to distribute the color effect of the fire
128
FOREWORD ON THE NEW MURAL PAINTINGS IN THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM
HE first large commission for mural decoration in this country was
given for Trinity Church, Boston. That was in 1870 and the
artist was John La Farge, working in co6peration with H. H.
Richardson, architect. Since that time and particularly in the past ten
vears there has been great advance in mural painting in America. Great
public buildings are no longer built for utility only, but are given beauty
and a character fitting their purpose by the codperation of the artist with
the architect. In a Museum, as a public building which entertains and
educates the million or more people who visit it annually, there is oppor-
tunity for a high standard in the architecture and decoration of its halls,
harmonizing design and color with the spirit as well as with the details of
each accompanying exhibit. In this, mural decoration is fitted to play a
large part, for the mural painting can often perform forcefully and with an
effect of beauty what can be accomplished in no cther way: it can vital-
ize an exhibit by setting forth the life and the country that the exhibit
represents.
In the summer and fall of 1909 the American Museum sent an expedition
to the North Pacific Coast, with Mr. Harlan I. Smith, ethnologist in charge,
and Mr. Will S. Taylor, artist. On this expedition Mr. Taylor made studies
for a series of mural panels to represent the North Pacific Indians as they
were one hundred years ago when uninfluenced by white men. Sketches
of landscapes were obtained, color notes on the different tribes and many
photographs. Most of the old industries had disappeared however — as
had also the old costumes — so that with all effort these mural paintings
have had to be largely restorations. This has entailed tedious study of
museum material and the literature of the subject on the part of the artist
since his return. His study has been rewarded however; the ethnological
staff of the Museum and Lieutenant Emmons, who has generously helped
in the work of scientific supervision, pronounce these paintings rarely accu-
rate presentations. Landscapes although idealized give the color and
feeling of particular spots which a visitor to this northern country can
locate, while each canvas shows good type portraits of the tribe represented.
The four panels from north to south in the Hall are in series, with color
graded from the cool country of the northern part of the coast to the warmer
country toward the south, and with design regulated in rhythmic sequence
as in a mural frieze. The composition in each panel is simple and the
action is readily understood. There is an evident center of interest and
129
130 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
the lines of the various figures, of mountain gorges, of masses of steam, of
clouds, of tree branches either lead toward this center or serve to tie in the
composition. Dignity appropriate to the subjects has been gained by a
conspicuous introduction of vertical lmes—a thin column of smoke, trees,
totem poles, erect figures. Steam has been cleverly used in two of the
pictures as a medium for the distribution of the color effect of fire.
Mr. Taylor considers himself fortunate in the position of the paintings
in this Hall among old weathered totem poles, canoes and other symbols
of Indian art. It has allowed him to portray the simple out-of-door life
of the people with true local color and in a broadly decorative way unham-
pered by the usual modern architecture and ornament. The panels certainly
meet the requirements of true decorations as well as serve their scientific
purpose. They blend with their surroundings, an integral part of the color
scheme of the Hall; they are flat in effect, clinging to the wall like tapestries
though with relief high enough to give an effect of reality to the scenes end
of increased space to the Hall.
The imagination sees also in these paintings something beyond the
industry represented, something more than satisfying design and _ color.
One finds himself picking out the various items that signify a development
of love of beauty in this primitive race; speculating on the fact that the
grandeur of this country has its concomitant in the earnestness of its people;
and seeing in the pose and expression of certain of the figures evidence that
mind and spirit, here as in all primitive races, have developed with the
training of eye and hand. It is thus that Mr. Taylor’s work done with
high seriousness of aim meets the final demand of mural decoration.
Ns.CaDy,
THE NEW MURAL PAINTINGS AND THE INDUSTRIES THEY
PORTRAY
By E. C. B. Fassett
HE first four of a series of mural decorations by Mr. Will S. Taylor
are completed and in their places in the Hall of the North Pacific
Coast Indians. They invest this Hall with atmosphere and local
color. They hang like tapestries between the weathered totem poles and
dealing with themes of industry, combine truthful illustration with land-
scapes that would seem to be purely ideal. Here are mountains forested
with hemlock and cedar. Yonder are glimpses of blue glaciers and veils
of mist that suggest the cool atmosphere of the northern summer. In Mr.
Taylor’s sea-girt, mountain-sheltered scenes we behold the homes of the
NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 13]
weavers, carvers, basket makers and canoe builders whose works are gathered
together in this Hall of the North Pacific Coast peoples.
The arrangement of the Hall is planned in such a manner that the mate-
rials are divided into seven arbitrary groups representative of the various
tribes from the Columbia River to Mount McKinley. The Tlingit materials
from the coast of Alaska occupy a space near the northern end, one section
illustrating the material industries, another the social affairs and cere-
monials. The collection from the Haida people who occupy the country
immediately south of the Thingit, including the Queen Charlotte’s Islands,
follow and are arranged similarly. In like manner succeed the exhibits
of the Tsimshian, Bella Coola, Kwakiutl, Nootka and the southern coast
Salish peoples; while the new mural decorations are so placed that those
opposite each exhibit represent the general characteristics of the country
from which the Museum collections came.
THE FIRST PAINTING
The Blanket Weavers
The first of Mr. Taylor’s series of mural paintings is placed on the west
wall of the space occupied by the Tlingit collections. He has chosen for
the subject of this decoration the rapidly disappearing art of the Chilkat
blanket maker. The origin of this type of wool weaving is attributed to
As many as possible of the sketches were made in sunlight in order better to roduce
out-of-door effects when painting the decorations later
132 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
On the Stikine River at the Great Glacier. The artist visited all the country along the
coast making color studies and collecting facts
the Tsimshian; but the art passed from them through the Tongas, the
Stikine and the more southern Tlingit to the Chilkat tribe, a division of
the Tlingit family which lives about the head of Lynn Canal in southeastern
Alaska. This migration of art is attributable to the intermigratery habits
of the people. Canoe life in the netwerk of island channel-ways permits
free intercourse between the tribes and an exchange of commodities which,
together with the practice of intertribal marriages, accounts for the dis-
semination and perpetuation of similar arts among neighboring peoples.
The Chilkat blanket is undoubtedly the best possible expression for this
group, not only that it is the emblem of the clan but also, as is always true
of art objects, that it sums within its textile limits suggestions of the
mythical lore and history of its people. Not least interesting is the fact
that this textile is a copy from a painted design.
In the canvas against an impressive background of mountains, whose
snows and glaciers are tinted with blues and purples and greens, a Chilkat
blanket hangs in process of making, and around it is grouped the family
engaged in the work. The man stands passively at the left. Carved
emblems on the uprights of the looms, also the painted pattern board at the
right of the composition, are his share in the work. The old woman seated
at the right with lower lip distended by a mouth ornament indicative of her
wealth and rank, is engaged in spinning a strand of the wool from the moun-
tain goat.
For the weaving of a Chilkat blanket all the long coarse outer hair of the
goat is discarded, since only the soft fine under wool is used. The wool is
NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 133
spun by hand, and then dyed in the yarn. ‘To prevent the hanging warp
from tangling, it is divided and tied in bags of skin as indicated in the paint-
ing. ‘The weaving is a marvel of patient execution with the unaided hand,
in technique similar to one type of the basketry work of this tribe. The
small coler fields are woven separately and very ingeniously united by
interweaving. Several of these small interwoven fields form = divisions
which are united with fine sinews, as thread is used by the European tapestry
weavers. Technically the Chilkat blanket is a tapestry.
THE SECOND PAINTING
The Canoe Builders
The mural decoration on the west wall, next to that of the Tlingit,
portrays the Haida Indians as woodworkers. They are engaged in canoe
building just in front of a wooden structure which extends from the right
of the composition. This structure is an example of the community house
of these people. The timber is hand-hewn and _ skillfully jomed. The
boards of the walls are bevelled to slide in a groove and close up to one
another with great nicety. Those important structural features, the corner
posts and totem poles, the placing of which is the initial step of the building
and the oecasicn of important ceremonies, are broadly indicated as befits
their position in the composition.
The North Pacific Coast Indians are a fishing people. Their homes are
largely among islands and Mr. Taylor could have chosen no better object
illustrative of their lives than the canoe. It is their chief means of trans-
portation and in it much of their lives is spent. The red cedars of
Queen Charlotte’s Islands produce logs from which are made huge canoes,
sometimes from forty-five to sixty feet in length. The Haida are master
craftsmen since there is no other type of dugout canoe so light, graceful
and seaworthy as this one they construct.
In Haida canoe building, the outside contour is first hewn and carved.
Wooden pins are driven through the outer surface to indicate the varying
thickness of the walls of the canoe, and the interior is dug out to the depths
thus fixed. The spread of the beam is attained by steaming the wood.
The canoe is partly filled with water into which red hot stones are dropped
producing steam which softens the wood. The sides are forced out by
wedges which are afterward replaced by permanent seats. Beds of hot
embers are kept near the canoes to dry the outer surface.
Not only is the Haida process of canoe building well suggested in this
second painting, but also we get in this decoration the atmosphere of the
Mural panel by Wiil S. Taylor
WEAVING A CHILKAT BLANKET AT A CAMP ON A SALMON RIVER
The blanket is being made for the man of the family who stands at the left. The young girl
has stopped in the process of separating the strands of the cedar bark to be used for warp. The
woman at the right has looked up from her work of spinning the wool
134
NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 135
region, a sense of the mists and the dampness. The attention centers on
the boat builder, who is about to drop from long wooden tongs a red hot
stone inte the water within the canoe from which rises swirling steam,
while the glow from the ember fire illumines his well-developed figure and
reveals an intensely interested face. The cloud of steam gives life and
movement and plays a strong part in the pictorial composition and color
scheme, while the diffusing mist veils subordinate detail and holds all in
harmonious relation.
THE THIRD PAINTING
The Butter Makers
In this delightful composition, which Mr. Taylor calls “The Butter
Makers,” we find the eulachon industry illustrated with much detail. This
group of busy Tsimshian is placed in a semi-realistic landscape of great
beauty. We discern the flanks of mountains veiled by cloud masses, and
the green slopes that reach down to the shore of the Nasse River. The
stream is splendid at this point near its mouth where the candlefish come
in from the sea. The eulachon or candlefish are caught during March and
April in great numbers with dip nets and rakes or with seines.
This party in the picture has made a temporary camp here in the “ lean-
to” at the left, to harvest the run. Two methods of preservation are
indicated. At the right a man is hanging eulachon to dry. The other and
more important process is the extraction of the oil, which is a greatly valued
delicacy used like butter by these people. This oil and the dried eulachon
are exchanged up and down the coast by those Indians so fortunate as to
control the catch.
To extract the oil, the fish are permitted to decompose slightly, after
which they are placed in boxes of water and kept at the boiling point by the
use of red hot stones. The oil is then skimmed off as it rises to the surface,
and so precious is it that even the residue is worked over.
The column of light smoke at the left of the painting and the glow of the
ember fire indicate the heating of the stones. The woman with the tongs
is about to take one of these stones to keep the water boiling in the boxes,
and the old woman at the box with the straining mesh is working over the
residue.
These quite literal facts are expressed simply while the balance of the
composition in line and color mass is well maintained. The artist has
invested the whole decoration with poetic charm and the treatment of the
clouds, smoke and steam is masterly.
136 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
THE FOURTH PAINTING
The Bread Makers of the Bella Coola
This scene is in the beautiful Bella Coola valley, about eighty miles up
the fiord at the delta of the river. The narrow valley lies between moun-
tains covered in places with perpetual snow and glaciers.
The purple of the mountains with the delicate greens of cottonwoods
ranged along the river’s edge, are portrayed in the upper planes of the
painting. In the lower plane, beside the winding glacial stream, are swamp
lands where skunk cabbage is abundant and hemlocks grow. At the left
of the composition the man supported high on the tree trunk is scraping
away the inner bark or cambium and dropping the moist strips to the cedar
mat held below by the woman and the boys.
The edible value of the cambium is well understood by Indians; that
of the pine, spruce and fir is eaten in the spring time, while that of the
yellow pine, hemlock and red alder is preserved for winter use. A hole in
the ground is lined with hot stones, which are covered with the leaves of
the skunk cabbage to keep the bark from burning. Within this the muci-
laginous strips are packed and covered with the skunk cabbage leaves,
then over all are placed layers of bark and cedar mats. In four days the
cambium steamed to a pulp is ground with a pestle on a flat stone, then
formed into brick-like cakes and dried in the sun.
This fourth painting has especial distinction because of the sense of
space conveyed and of the highly picturesque character of the landscape.
The simplicity of the grouping of the figures and the admirable arrangement
of the masses of light and dark coloring complete a composition which can-
not fail to have lasting charm.
Both the Museum and the artist are to be congratulated. Not every
painter would have striven with such sincerity to tell the simple stories of
the handicrafts of these various tribes. The color scheme holds together
in these four canvases as well as it would in a suite of old tapestries. There
is self-restraint and subordination of detail; and there is good measure of
the literal and the educational. Art has prevailed over all. Mountain
mists and steam-clouds are gracious mediums for invoking the ideal; and
yet these are good portraits of the lands where live the Tlingit and the
Haida, the Tsimshian, and the Bella Coola.
From mural panel by Will S. Taylor
A BELLA COOLA FAMILY MAKING “ BREAD
The man is gathering hemlock bark, which is later steamed in holesin the ground lined with
hot stones; thus is made a kind of native bread
In each canvas the figures are good type portraits of the tribe represented
SUPERNATURAL THUNDERBIRD CHARMS OF THE GAME ON THE MAT AT THE LEFT
THE PRIZES CONSISTING OF BLANKETS AND STRIPS OF CALICO
138 SORTING THE STICKS AND SO CHOOSING SIDES‘*
THE MENOMINI GAME OF LACROSSE
By Alanson Skinner
Photographs by the Author
HE Menomini Indians, about fifteen hundred in number, are intelli-
gent and progressive farmers dwelling for the most part in sub-
stantial log cabins and frame houses on their reservation in northern
Wisconsin, yet about one half of them adhere to their ancient ceremonials
and to the legends of their race. One of my early experiences after reach-
ing the reservation in the summer of 1910! was attendance upon a cere-
monial to the Thunderers, given to appease the wrath of these Indian
gods of the storm, so that there might end the drought from which the
country was suffering; and another consisted in witnessing a ceremonial
game of lacrosse, which is interwoven with the legend of the Thunderers
and revolves about the idea of the birth of these spirits in man.
THE GAME STARTS
At the lacrosse game the Menomini nation was well represented. The
smooth field stretched before us. The prizes, blankets and strips of calico,
were hung at one side. Warriors rapidly gathered as the chief moved
toward the place where the prizes were displayed. They gathered in a
1The gratitude of the Museum goes to the Wisconsin friends who contributed to the
success of this expedition of 1910. Those to whom greatest indebtedness is due are Special
Agent of the United States Government, Mr. Angus Nicholson, and all his staff, as well as
the late agent, Mr. Wilson. As for the Indians, those to whom thanks should be given are
very many. Perhaps the ones who have been most liberal and helpful are Mr. John V.
Satterlee, Chiefs Perrote, Wiuskacit and Niopet, Messrs. James Blackcloud and. Antoine
Shibicow, and Jane Shibicow and Mrs. Petwaskun. i
139
140 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
dense mass about him while he entered upon a speech advising how to play
the game to the satisfaction of the Thunderers. As soon as this ended
attendants passed among the warriors and collected the game sticks and
bringing them to one spot mixed them well together, afterward quickly
spreading them out in two opposing rows on the grass. The players fol-
lowed watching, each making an effort to locate his own stick in one row
or the other. When he had done so he knew on which side he was to play
and also, for by that time each warrior was standing before his own stick,
just who were to play with him, who against. The warriors of one side
marked the left cheek with a heavy stroke of vermilion for recognition in
the game. Each took up his stick and all seemed ready and waiting for
some signal. Suddenly a ball was tossed into the center of the crowd and
with many whoops and a great rush the game was on.
The following is the story connected with lacrosse as gained through
the interpreter from one of the oldest Indians of the tribe. Knowledge of
the legend makes clear many things about the game, such as the honored
position near the prizes accorded to the supernatural war club and lacrosse
stick belonging to the Indian giving the game.
You ask who are the Thunderbirds. I will tell you. You have seen the black
clouds roll up in the spring. You have seen the rain fall heavily and you have seen
the great flashes of light that shoot from the heavens, and you have heard the rum-
bling noise that follows. What the Wabskuat (Paleface) says of these things I do
not know, but the Indian understands well that they are made by the Thunderbirds
hunting.
“ar, far away in the West where the sun sets, there floats a great mountain in
the sky. Above the earth the rocks lie tier on tier. These cliffs are too lofty to be
reached by any earthly bird. Even the great war eagle cannot soar so high. But on
the summit of this mountain dwell the Thunderbirds. They have control over the
rain and the hail. They are messengers of the Great Sun himself, and their influence
induced the Sun and the Morning Star to give the great war-bundle to our race.
They delight in fighting and great deeds. They are the mighty enemies of the
horned snakes, the Misikinubik. Were it not for the Thunderers these monsters
would overwhelm the earth and devour mankind. When the weather is fair, then
watch when you travel abroad, for the snakes come out to bask in the sun, but when
the weather is cloudy you need fear nothing, for the Thunderers come searching from
behind the clouds for their enemies, the Misikinubik.
Now this is true and our people know it well, that these Thunderers have a
great love for us. Often they come down to earth and are born as men. He who
bears a Thunderer’s spirit has power to understand nature and to foretell the weather
and he is strong in war. But a man who has such a spirit is not like other Indians.
As a child his parents never punish him for fear his spirit will be shamed and leave
his body. Instead they honor him and make for him a war club and lacrosse stick,
the one to protect him in time of war, the other a symbol that he is a child of the
Thunderers. For lacrosse is a warlike game and therefore the Thunderbirds delight
in it. Anyone who has a Thunderer’s spirit in him must have the game played at
least once a year. He must offer great prizes to the winner of his game and he must
THE CHIEF INSTRUCTS THE PLAYERS
send out gifts of tobacco to all the people as an invitation to come and play. He
himself takes no part but sits and watches and the Thunderers are satisfied.
Before I left the reservation I saw three additional ceremonial lacrosse
games, besides other interesting ceremonies such as that of the Society of
Dancing Men. Ceremonies of all kinds among the Menominiare becoming
more and more curtailed every year and adherence to legendary lore more
rare, and it is probably a question of only a few years more when all will
have passed into tradition.
The Menomini Indians have always been exceedingly friendly toward
the white man and they were well pleased when they learned that a system-
atic effort was to be made by the American Museum to record their old
life and collect their ancient articles. In the words of Chief Niopet, who
presented the Museum with several handsome examples of beadwork, the
following is their idea: ‘‘ We wish to put these things into the ‘ great house’
where they will be kept with care, where our children’s children may go
to see them when our race has followed the white man’s road until it has
forgotten their use.”’
A SCRIMMAGE NEAR THE GOAL, THE FIRST SIDE SCORING FOUR GOALS WINS
A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
EXHIBIT OF MODELS ILLUSTRATING POLLUTION OF NEW YORK HARBOR
WATERS AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS FOR THE DISPOSAL OF CITY SEWAGE
By C-E. A. Winslow
ITY life presents pressing and peculiar biological problems. When
a great number of human beings are concentrated within a small
area, the fundamental needs of individual life must be met by the
latest perfected methods. Especially should this hold true in the preven-
tion of epidemics, which always threaten crowded communities; and in
guarding against disease the first essential is the proper removal of the waste
products which accompany all living processes. One of the greatest prob-
lems which confronts a modern municipality is here encountered, for from
every large city there pours out a river of waste material which pollutes
streams, harbors and foreshores, spoiling what should be the pleasure-spots
of the city, damaging property and even endangering health and life.
New York is more fortunate than most cities in the large bodies of water
which wash its shores, but to-day the disposal of its waste material has
become a serious problem and one which demands prompt solution. The
Metropolitan Sewerage Commission which has recently published the results
of its important investigations will shortly make an exhibit of its work at
the American Museum, and the Museum’s Department of Public Health
has prepared a series of models illustrating on the one hand local conditions
142
PANORAMIC VIEW OF TRICKLING FILTERS, COLUMBUS, OHIO
The most efficient device yet discovered for the purification of a city’s sewage — stones
on which bacterial growth may gather and a regulated supply of sewage in fine spray and
of air
with regard to harbor waters and on the other hand the various devices
which may be used for the disposal of city sewage by sanitary methods.
When sewage is discharged in small volume into a relatively large body
of water the aim of all sewage purification is attained. The bacteria nor-
mally present in the water attack the organic matter and oxidize it, and at
the same time the typical sewage bacteria, finding themselves in an un-
favorable environment, gradually die and disappear. In New York,
however, the present method of disposal by the haphazard discharge of
sewers into the waters of the rivers and harbor at the piers or bulkhead
lines, is manifestly unsatisfactory. The sewage oscillates back and forth
instead of passing promptly out to sea, and the local nuisances at certain
points are extreme.
Besides the fact that this brings about conditions offensive to the senses,
real danger to health is involved. The germs of typhoid and other infec-
tious diseases are always present in a city’s waste, menacing the lives of
those to whom their contact is inevitable. For instance all along the
waterfront, driftwood and other floating objects are picked out by the poor
and carried to their homes. In Jamaica Bay and neighboring waters shell-
fish are grown in close proximity to both public and private sewers and while
some processes of cookery destroy the typhoid germs, others do not. The
greatest risk is run by bathing in the polluted waters and in New York
several of the free floating baths maintained by the city are placed sufficiently
143
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ISH YSNU SIT, “SULWOedOS AG poATOs st asvMos AjIO JO [Rsodsip oy} UL WeTqoad ysay ou,
SLLASNHOVSSVW ‘NOLMOONS ‘SH3aitIS GNVS INSLLINYSLNI
buijog a0 are) fo fis).
. espana eS RO
A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 145
near sewer outlets to furnish excellent opportunity for infection of various
sorts.
The first problem in the disposal of city sewage is the elimination of the
coarser floating particles by some form of screening. In some cases this
alone is sufficient, but generally sedimentation must also be employed. In
sedimentation excellent results have come from the use of a deep tank hay-
ing a conical or pyramidal bottom. Into the lower part of this tank the
sewage enters, spreads out in the conical section as it rises, progressively
diminishes in velocity, and when the effluent flows off at the top, leaves the
suspended solids behind.
The sludge which accumulates in the sedimentation tank must itself
be disposed of in some way and the modified sedimentation basin known as
the “septic tank”’ is designed to minimize this nuisance by holding the sludge
under such conditions that it may be liquified by anaérobic bacteria. One
tank of this type, the Imhoff tank used extensively in northern Germany,
has met with marked success.
. After the removal of suspended solids, the liquid sewage remains to be
purified. The most primitive method of disposal consists in its distribution
over the surface of suitable land, what is called “broad irrigation.”” Under
proper conditions the living earth renders organic matter harmless and
changes it into food material for the higher plants. Paris and Berlin to-day
utilize this method of disposal. But broad irrigation requires large areas
of land of suitable soil and would be a costly method for a city situated as
Intermittent Sand Filter Bed. Photograph of a model in the American Museum
146 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Septic Tank or modified sedimentation basin. Model in the American Museum
is New York, where the waste would have to be carried a ereat distance
before final disposition of it could be made.
At Lawrence, Massachusetts, through the experiments of the Massa-
chusetts Board of Health, a more scientific and intensive modification of
the irrigation process was devised known as intermittent filtration. It
consists in the application of sewage in regulated quantities to the surface
of properly prepared beds of sand in which nitrifying bacteria colonize and
oxidize the organic matters in the sewage into harmless mineral form. The
construction of this filter is simple in regions like those in the northeastern
part of the United States where there is suitable soil from glacial drift.
Even the intermittent filter requires a large area of land however, and
Double contact beds for purification of sewage on the plan of “ broad irrigation ’’ but
without the necessity of large areas of land. Model in the American Museum
A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 147
still more rapid processes have been devised to meet the needs of com-
munities which have no ample sand areas at their doors. It was shown by
a series of English investigators that the nitrifying bacteria could be grown
on coarser materials like broken stone as well as on sand and that by filling
a bed with such materials and letting sewage stand in it for a short time in
contact with the stone, a considerable purification would take place. Such
a purifying device is known as a “contact bed.”
The most efficient device of all is the “trickling” or “percolating” bed
which represents still another method of combining the three required
Picking up polluted driftwood on the Battery steps. Model in the American Museum
elements, sewage, bacteria and air. In 1894, at Newport, Rhode, Island,
the late Colonel George E. Waring experimented with the purifying of
sewage at high rates by blowing air into a bed of coarse stone from below,
while sewage ran down through it from above. Theoretically good, prac-
tically the method fell short of perfection; but success has finally been
reached along another similar line by applying sewage, not in bulk, but in
a fine spray distributed as evenly as possible over the surface of the bed.
By this method the liquid trickles in thin films over the surface of the filling
14S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
material while the spaces between are continually filled with air. The
trickling bed, which may be defined simply as a heap of stones or other
material of such size, depth and texture as to support a bacterial growth
sufficient for the work in hand, is considered one of the most promising and
effective of any known device for sewage purification and particularly well
adapted for use in large cities, for it exhibits the simplicity which dis-
tinguishes the best scientific application —a pile of stones on which bac-
terial growth may gather and a regulated supply of air and sewage being
the only desiderata. In this way the dangerous organic waste material
produced in the city of human habitations is carried out to the city of
microbes on their hills of rocks and it is their duty to turn it into a
harmless mineral form.
The removal of disease bacteria is not necessarily accomplished by these
newer processes of sewage disposal which are primarily designed to remove
putrescible organic matter. This end, which is an important one in a sea-
board city because of its adjacent shellfish industries, can be met by special
chemical treatment. The application of ordinary bleaching powder or
chloride of lime in small amounts of fifteen to thirty parts of powder to a
million parts of sewage will effect a satisfactory reduction of bacteria at a
very reasonable cost.
There are yet many unsolved problems in the purification and disposal
of a city’s sewage, yet the work of the last ten years in the United States
and England foreshadows ultimate success. To-day the engineer is limited
in the perfection of his work only by the amount of money the community
is prepared to expend; and the City of New York can go as far along this
line as its citizens choose to afford. It should unquestionably go farther
than it has gone to-day.
7 | i) i sere
sc — “adil Kua
= “SARITA
A MODERN MUSEUM OF CELEBES
By Roy C. Andrews
HEN a naturalist’s wanderings in the South Seas carry him to a
native city of comparatively small white population, and he
finds there a museum embodying modern ideas of exhibition,
he experiences considerable surprise. It was my good fortune on Christmas
Day of 1909 to find such a museum and also to visit it with its founder
and curator, His Excellency Baron Quarles de Quarles, Governor of Celebes.
The Albatross had but recently dropped anchor in the Bay of Makassar.
While driving in Makassar, the principal city of South Celebes, we came
upon a large; oblong building set on piles and having an entrance-way
projecting from the front. As usual the little shaggy brown horse drawing
the rickety “carametta”’ in which we were riding was rushing along at a
furious pace and we had almost passed the house before we caught sight
of an English sign reading “ Museum.” The building was closed, but its
keeper was finally located and although he spoke only Dutch and Malay,
we managed to exchange ideas and made a brief inspection of the place.
Later Captain McCormack and myself visited the Museum, conducted
by Baron de Quarles, who presented to the American Museum a small
collection representing some of the most characteristic features of the native
149
150 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
life of Celebes. The building was formerly the residence of the deposed
Raja of Boni, a potentate who for some time ruled one of the large provinces
of the Island, and itself furnishes a most interesting example of the royal
dwellings of these native princes.
The collections contained in the museum are strictly local, but represent
in a form quite complete the basket work and other industries, the dress
and customs, in fact all the principal features of the life of the natives in
and about Celebes. All the material has been collected and arranged under
the supervision of the Governor. Plaster casts have been prepared to
illustrate the natives and the dress of the different tribes. There are also
miniature models of fish-traps, houses, and boats, as well as models to show
pottery making and basketry. Around the walls are hung spears, knives,
shields, and other articles of warfare, and their uses are explained by admir-
able labels in Malay, Dutch and English. One room contains many ob-
jects which made part of the furnishings of the household in the time of the
Raja of Boni.
The entire museum gives such evidence of attention to details and
of thought and care in selection and exhibition of specimens that it reflects
the greatest credit on Baron de Quarles. He has extended the scope of the
Makassar Museum’s work by making up and presenting to expositions in
various countries of Europe collections representing the chief features of
the ethnology of the natives of the Celebes. It is to be hoped that there
will be a continuance of the growth of this institution which, although the
years of its existence have been few, is already doing important educational
work, and that the example so admirably set by Baron de Quarles will be
followed by the officials of other native cities.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES
Ow1nG to ill health, Dr. J. A. Allen, Curator of Mammalogy, has given
up his duties as Acting Director and the President has appointed Dr. E. O.
Hovey, Curator of the Department of Geology and Invertebrate Paleontol-
ogy to serve as Acting Director pro tem during the absence of Dr. Townsend.
Tue Department of Anthropology has recently received the gift of a
Sioux tepee made entirely of buffalo skins. This tepee is of peculiar interest
from the fact that for at least the past thirty years buffalo skins have not
been used in Indian house construction.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 15]
Mr. FRANK M. CHAPMAN sailed from New York March 14 for Colombia,
South America, where he is to join Mr. William B. Richardson, who has
been in that locality collecting birds and mammals for the Museum for
several months. Mr. Chapman-expects to get into a region where no col-
lecting of birds has been done; there he will make a systematic survey,
probably obtaining some undescribed species and many new to the Museum
collections. He will also get material for several new bird groups. He has
taken an assistant and expects to remain until July, when Mr. Richardson
and the assistant will continue the work.
Dr. GeorGeE H. Girry of the United States Geological Survey, who has
recently presented to the Museum a series of fossil invertebrates, has been
made a Life Member of the Museum in recognition of his generosity.
Art the meeting of the Executive Committee on March 22, Mr. Frederick
H. Smyth was appointed to the position of bursar of the American Museum
of Natural History, the appointment to take effect April 1, 1911.
THe METROPOLITAN SEWERAGE COMMISSION In codperation with the
Department of Public Health of the American Museum will hold an exhi-
bition at the Museum during the last two weeks of April. The exhibition
will illustrate conditions of sewerage and sewage disposal in the metro-
politan district of New York and will include models, charts, diagrams and
apparatus used by the Commission in its Investigations.
Toe Hai or Mouwuscs which has been removed from the fifth floor
to make room for the new administrative offices is still in preparation and
will not be open to the public for some time. The shell collections of the
Museum, which are among the earliest of its acquisitions, are being re-
arranged in accordance with the modern spirit of museum exhibition.
Pustic meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated
Societies will be held at the Museum according to the usual schedule.
Programmes of meetings are published in the weekly Bulletin of the Academy.
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
PUPILS’ COURSE
These lectures are open to the pupils of the public schools when accompanied by their
teachers and to children of Members of the Museum on presentation of Membership tickets.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 o'clock.
March 20 and April 17 — Mr. Roy W. Mrner, ‘Early Days in New York.”
March 22 and April 19 — Mr Roy C. AnpreEws, ‘‘A Visit to the Orient.”
March 24 and April 21 — Dr. Louis Hussaxor, “‘Scenes from Pole to Pole.”
March 27 and April 24— Mr. Joun T. Nicuous, “Natural Resources of the
United States.”
March 29 and April 26 — Mr. Watrer GRANGER, ‘‘ Famous Rivers of the World.”
March 31 and April 28 — Mr. Haran I. Smitru, “Life among Our Indians.”
April 3 and May 1— Mr. Roy C. Anprews, “Travels and Life among the
Japanese.”
April 5 and May 3— Dr. Louis Hussakor, ‘‘South American Scenes.”
April 21 and May 5— Mrs. AcGnes L. Roester, “Around the World with
Children.”
PEOPLE’S COURSE
Given in codperation with the City Department of Education
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30.
The last four of a series of lectures on ‘‘Great Modern Composers”? by DANTEL
GREGORY Mason. Illustrated at the piano.
April 4— “Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky.”
April 11 — ‘Johannes Brahms.”
April 18 — ‘Richard Strauss.”
April 25 — ‘‘ Present-day Tendencies.”
Saturday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30.
April 1— Mr. Avsert Hate, ‘Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras,
Salvador and Guatemala.” Illustrated.
April S— Mr. Avsert Hate, ‘Mexico: Our Nearest Neighbor.’ Illustrated.
April 15 — Mr. Cuartes R. Tooruaker, ‘Panama and the Canal.” Illustrated.
April 22 — Subject and lecturer to be announced.
April 29 — Pror. WiuiiaM Lipsey, “Hawaii.” Illustrated.
152
Scientific Staff
ACTING DIRECTOR
CuarLes H. Townsenp, Sc.D.
GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHZ ONTOLOGY
EpmMuNpD Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
MINERALOGY
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator
GrorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Prof. Henry E. Crampron, A.B., Ph.D., Curator
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca
Witu1am BruTenmiiLtier, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera
JoHN A. GrossBEckK, Assistant
Prof. Witt1amM Morton Wueeter, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata
CuHartes W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera
ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY
Prof. Basurorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles
Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY
Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator
FraNK M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy
W. DeW. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology
VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY
Prof. Henry Farrrretp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Curator Emeritus
W. D. Matruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles
WiuiiamM K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant
ANTHROPOLOGY
Cuark Wisster, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
Puiny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator
Haran I. Smiru, Associate Curator
Rosert H. Lowin, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
HERBERT J. SpInDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator
CuarLtes W. Mean, Assistant
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant
PHYSIOLOGY
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC HEALTH
Prof. Cuarves-Epwarp Amory Winstow, S8.B., M.S., Curator
Joun Henry O’Net1, S.B., Assistant
WOODS AND FORESTRY
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., Curator
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Ratpw W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Prof. ALBert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus
GeEorGE H. Suerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
FOR DHE) PEOPEE
FOR EDVCATION
FOR-S;GITERN, GCE
a
THE
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM
JOURNAL
GATHERING PINE SEEDS FOR PLANTING
Volume XI May, 1911 Number 5
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THe AMERICAN Museum oF NaturRAL History
New York CIty
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
CLEVELAND H. DopGE J. Prerpont MorGan, JR.
Treasurer Secretary
CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON
Tue Mayor or THE City or New York
THE CoMPTROLLER OF THE CiTy OF NEW YorRK
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD
GEORGE 8. Bowboin Gustav E. Kisseu
JosepH H. CHOATE Seta Low
Tuomas DeWitr CuyLeR OGcpEN MILLs
JAMES DouGLAS J. PrerPpont MorGan
MapIson GRANT Percy R. PYNE
ANSON W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHn B. TREVOR
ArtTHUR CuRTISS JAMES Fevix M. WaRBURG
Water B. JAMES GeorGce W. WICKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Acting Director Assistant Secretary
CHARLES H. TOWNSEND GeEorGE H. SHERWOOD
Assistant Treasurer
Tue Unrrep States Trust Company oF NEw YorRK
Tue Museum 18 OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR.
Tue AMERICAN Museum or NaTuRAL History was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
Ammnnal Members. coc acc ee oe $ 10 MGHOWSS ccc ot casos eee $ 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 PPACLOUS! sa, cctevoy'e.0 Steere ots, lel clone 1000
[So Gielen ye OS eae ee 8 oI 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
Tus Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 4. M. to 5 P. M.
Tue Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GuwwEs For Stupy or EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tur Miria RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
The American Museum Journal
CONTENTS FOR MAY, 1911
Frontispiece, Design for East Facade of the Museum
Trowbridge and Livingston, Architects
Plans for Extension of the Museum....HeNryY FatrReteELD OsBorn
Preliminary studies for an expansion that will equip the Museum for edu-
cational work in the great New York of the future
Oceanographic Work ontthe-Albatrossy.. (2.2. sc os wes ade Fe
Quotations from the letters of Acting Director Charles H. Townsend in
command of the Museum Expedition in the Pacific
7 Coa A . ”
Phew News cH OSs VA QUARIUT: ..7 Secs. eat ee BASHFORD DEAN
Reconstruction of representative fishes of the typical ‘‘ Age of Fishes,’’ show-
ing what can be done to make these ancient forms appear as living. Back-
ground painted by Charles R. Knight
Aa trees Chmbimne Rumimant,.< 5.24... )o nee W. D. MatraHEew
Bagobo Fine Art Collection............ LaurA Watson BENEDICT
dD
Some Work on African Large Game by an Animal Sculptor..........
A new era for the natural history museum was inaugurated when the careful
delineation of the sculptor superseded the old taxidermy methods of mounting
mammals
The. Grow Indiansvot Montana .: 4... .<0) 6). eas Rospertr H. Lowie
METIS C1LMIEINEWTSOIN O LES cade oe trocar ee
Mary Cyntrara Dickerson, Editor
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy
] 5 5
159
161
179
182
A subscription to the JourNAL is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of
the Museum
Subscriptions should be addressed to the American Museum JourNat, 30 Boylston St.,
Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City
Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass.
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
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The American Museum Journal
Vou. XI MAY, 1911 No. 5
PLANS FOR EXTENSION OF THE MUSEUM
PRELIMINARY STUDIES TOWARD AN EXPANSION OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
SUCH THAT FORCE AND A WIDE SCOPE WILL BE GIVEN TO THE INSTITU-
TION’ S EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE GREAT NEW YORK OF THE FUTURE
By Henry Fairfield Osborn
ITH this number is presented a preliminary study by Messrs.
Trowbridge and Livingston, architects, for the new East
Facade of the Museum, facing Central Park. The design has
not been adopted either by the Committee on Buildings and Plans or by the
Trustees, but its preparation at this stage is welcomed because of the oppor-
tunity which it affords for a prolonged and careful consideration of the artistic
requirements of a monumental building, and of the scientific and educational
requirements of ideally related exhibits within this building. The design
for the East Facade contemplates the future incorporation of the Museum
within the general design of Central Park by the construction of a broad
entrance roadway from the West Drive. Ultimately, no doubt, the lower
reservoir in Central Park will be removed and an avenue of approach will
connect the east and west sides of the Park and thus unite the Museum of
Science with its sister Museum of Art at Eighty-second Street. This is in
the far future, but nevertheless it deserves the early consideration of all
those who are interested in the artistic growth of what is probably destined
to be the greatest city of the world.
In the design of this Eastern Facade, the architects have endeavored to
retain the general Romanesque architecture of the Southern Facade, while
modifying it in the direction of greater simplicity. It is obvious that a
building of the vast proportions contemplated in the original plans. of
Calvert Vaux in 1871 and authorized by the Legislature in connection with
the setting aside of Manhattan Square, must have an entrance of monu-
mental size, and that this entrance must have a broad and dignified avenue
of approach.
The Museum will thus have three entrances. On Sundays and holidays
when people come in large numbers from the direction of the Park, the
Eastern Entrance will be most convenient together with the present
155
156 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
historic South Entrance, with its included Memoria! Hal! constituting
a monument to the administration of President Jesup. During the entire
summer season these two entrances, the Southern attracting by its shaded
approach, will be most accessible; while for purposes of attendance at public
lectures and for large classes from public schools, the contemplated Western
Entrance will prove the most practical and readily accessible to the arteries
of transportation of the city of the future.
Since assuming office in 1908 the President’s interest has largely centered
in a series of studies for the future development of the interior of the Mu-
seum! to provide at once for expansion and to look toward an ideal future
in an arrangement made both from the standpoint of a natural sequence
and of an artistic impression upon the minds of visitors. A great natural
history museum should impress the visitor with the grandeur and beauty,
and with the orderliness and system of the processes of nature. Especially
is natural sequence important, not only sequence of the exhibitions in each
hall but also of the successive hal!s themselves. This is an educational
principle of the utmost value. It is as important in natural history as it
isinart. Visitors to the Berlin Museum will recat! the simplicity and direct
educational value of the arrangement of the picture galleries according to
the sequence of Schools of Art in various countries. Exactly the same ide:
applies to a museum of natural history, yet with the exception of the
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy of Cambridge, arranged by the late
Alexander Agassiz, no large scientific museum, to our knowledge, has yet
embodied the idea of the natural relations of subjects or of the consequent
natural groupings.
In a geographic sequence for instance, the visitor would pass from
country to country, as in course of travel. In studying the prehistoric
life of North America, he would naturally pass from east to west; he would
study the former inhabitants of Manhattan Island and the neighboring
tribes along the eastern coast; then pass to the Central West, to the region
of the Great Plains, to the Indians of the Southwest, and finally, to the
past and present history of Mexico and Central America. | Such geographic
arrangement can be made to prevail naturally to a large extent on the west-
ern or anthropological side of the Museum and also in certain halls on the
1 There are now in preparation two publications in which the proposed interior arrange-
ment of the Museum will be set forth. The first of these is the second or Curators’ edition
of the work entitled ‘ History, Plan and Scope of the American Museum of Natural History,”’
the Trustees’ edition of which was published in 1910. The second publication is an illus-
trated folder showing the gradual steps which have been made in the development of the
buildings of the Museum, beginning with the completion of the original South Transept in
1877 and ending with the presentation of the proposed future arrangement of the halls in
th2 completed central portion and southern half of the Museum, the plans for which are now
in the hands of the architects. The northern half of the Museum is left entirely for future
consideration.
PLANS FOR EXTENSION OF MUSEUM 157
zodlogical side. In the latter, a geographic arrangement is known as faunis-
tic. The visitor may first enter the life of Africa and Australia, follow into
the life of Southern Asia, which we know historically to be only a detached
portion of prehistoric African life; he may then pass to the life of Northern
Asia which will bring him to the Polar Region, from which he will enter
naturally the life of North America and pass southward into Central and
South America.
There is, however, another kind of sequence to which other series otf
halls of the Museum may be devoted — namely, the sequence of evolution.
Thus on the anthropological side the visitor may compare the more primi-
tive races of man, including the origin of man, with the more civilized races;
he may follow the slow steps of progress from our very remote ancestors of
two hundred thousand years ago through the so-called Eolithie stages until
he reaches Man of the Bronze and of the Iron Ages. Similarly he may
trace the first steps of nature and the subsequent stages from the lower
into the higher forms of plant and animal life.
The most impressive example of evolutionary sequence will be the series
of connecting halls, to which it is hoped the Fourth Floor on the east side
of the Museum may be devoted. Here the visitor will pass from the dawn
of life reaching back millions of years, and in successive halls traverse the
Ages of Molluses, of Fishes, of Amphibians, of Reptiles, finally reaching the
first Age of Mammals, and then the Age of Man. In this final hall he may
witness the earliest struggle between the primitive types of palzeolithic
hunters and the noble forms of mammalian life which were to be found both
in Europe and North America in the early period of man.
There is still a third kind of sequence, that of systematic classification,
which must be provided for in another series of halls. This is the prevailing
system of all our great natural history museums of the present day, with the
exception of the Agassiz Museum at Cambridge, in which the animals for
the most part are arranged geographically. In the sequence of classifica-
tion, the visitor will find all the animals of a certain kind, from whatever
part of the world they may have been collected, assembled for comparative
study. Thus for example, he will be able to compare with one another all
the members of the Horse Family whether collected in Africa, in Western
Europe or in Asia.
It has proved possible to provide amply in the development of the
southern half of the great American Museum building of the future for all
three of these various kinds of sequence — geographic, evolutionary and
systematic. The plan, in its general features, will be submitted for the
approval of the members of the Scientific Staff of the Museum. It has
already been welcomed by experts from other institutions in this country
15S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
and abroad as marking a very important advance in the educational arrange-
ment of natural history museums. It is believed that this arrangement will
meet both the exacting demands of the specialist and also impress upon the
minds of the uninitiated visitors, young and old, the greatest lesson, per-
haps, that Nature has to teach us — namely, the reign of law and order.
There are, however, other objects to be attained in the new plans for
the enlargement of the Museum. Chief among these are ample provisions
for branches of natura! sciences which heretofore have not been included
within the field of any museum of natural history, but have been pre-
sented more or less successfully in isolated forms in kindred museums.
These are principally the subjects of Astronomy, of Geography and of
Oceanography. Berlin has its popular Astronomic Museum known as
“Urania.” It also has its Oceanographic Museum, established under the
patronage of Emperor William as a result of the extraordinary interest
aroused in oceanographic research by the voyage of Nansen and of sugges-
tions made by Sir John Murray in Berlin at the subsequent Geographic
Congress. Later a finely equipped oceanographic museum was established
at Monte Carlo by the Prince of Monaco in connection with his own marine
explorations. More recently the Prince has established an Institute of
Oceanography in Paris. To our knowledge however, there is no museum
at present devoted to Geography or to Physiography. Yet these subjects
are quite as intimately related to the distribution of anima!s and plants and
to the general laws which govern living beings as is Oceanography.
The interest of the public in Astronomy has already been witnessed in the
American Museum in the models of the planetary system at present installed
on the First Floor and of the rotating earth on the Second Floor. There is
no doubt that a treatment of both Geography and Oceanography would
subserve the public educational needs of the City. It is far better for the
American Museum to bring these subjects within its walls in New York
City and thus assemble all the phenomena of nature under one roof, rather
than to wait until smaller institutions for these branches spring up as they
are doing in Berlin, in Paris and in other cities.
Thus in addition to designs for the future building itself, careful study is
being put on the idea! arrangement of subjects and collections within this
building. This study takes into account the broad relations of the living
and inanimate worlds as conceived in the minds of Humbo!dt, Darwin and
other great naturalists. These relations underlie the physica! welfare of man.
They cannot be omitted from the plan. In fact the American Museum in
the establishment of its Department of Public Health has already entered
this new field of service and of public instruction, which will bring still
closer within its influence the well-being of the people of New York.
OCEANOGRAPHIC WORK ON THE ALBATROSS
HE Museum Expedition under Acting Director Townsend in the
United States Fish Commission Steamship Albatross continues
the land collecting in Lower California and the oceanographic
work in the waters adjacent according to prearranged schedule. The
following quotations from Dr. Townsend’s letters give suggestions of the
expedition’s work.
Maapaupna Bay, L. C., March 18, 1911
We left San Diego March 7 for work farther south. The program is being car-
ried out very much as originally planned, that is we spend our days ashore and our
nights at sea, jogging along slowly and economically with steam on one boiler only.
Four or five days at each anchorage would be better than merely one or two, but even
as it is we shall have a fair representation of the sea and land fauna of Lower Cali-
fornia. Occasionally we take half a day for a run out beyond the five hundred
fathom line to dredge. Mr. Bell has already some fine molds of deep sea fishes and
invertebrates; however, we shall do three times as much dredging on our return trip,
not having to land shore parties.
The collection of shore fishes and invertebrates is naturally the largest. A few
sweeps of the large seines give us barrels of fishes to select from, while invertebrates
are easy to get at low tide.
We visited San Benito and Cedros islands, obtaining fair representations of
the land forms peculiar to them. We shall do some deep-water dredging on the way
to Cape St. Lucas, our next stop.
The climate could not be better. The awnings are spread, and I am sorry to see
the days slipping by so rapidly.
LA Paz, L. ©., March 26, 1911
To-morrow evening we begin to move up the Gulf, taking in both islands and
mainland. We now have about five hundred birds, with other Jand forms in smaller
numbers. Going up the Gulf coast we shall make trials for mountain sheep and
antelope. We have coyotes, rabbits, wood rats and mice in large numbers.
Dr. Rose will have the bulk of the collections. His boxes, crates and barrels of
villainous cacti are filling the ship.
GuayMas, Mexico, April 15, 1911
After leaving La Paz, the Albatross made a trip up the Gulf as far as Angel
de la Guarda Island. From there we crossed the Gulf to Tiburon Island, then
to San Estéban Island, coming from there to Guaymas to-day. We leave to-night
for La Paz to get coal for the homeward voyage, calling at Santa Catalina, Espiritu
Santo and Cerralvo islands. We have 600 birds, 200 mammals, perhaps 400 lizards
and snakes. We are shipping to the New York Zoélogical Park by express to-day
two crates of live snakes and large-sized lizards.
Our collections are largely from unexplored islands and undoubtedly contain
new species. We shall pick up some good things on the islands between here and
La Paz; then dredge in deep water all the way to San Francisco.
159
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THE NEW ‘ FOSSIL AQUARIUM ”’
By Bashford Dean
OSSIL fishes have a special meaning to those who seek light upon the
history of the backboned animals. They occur in practically all
layers of rock which yield fossils, having lived during a longer
range in time than amphibians, reptiles and mammals; and it is well known
that in the succession of the fishes from age to age, one can trace the changes
which have taken place in their kinds and can show how some kinds became
transformed into others, and thus how evolution proceeded.
However interesting this may be in theory, everyone will admit that
it is a difheult matter to make clear to the Museum’s visitor the lesson of
fossil fishes, or even to display them in an attractive way. As a rule they
appear in slabs of rock only as faint impressions of what they were in life,
and he who enters the fossil fish gallery, if he has no knowledge of fishes, 1s
not apt to examine these slabs of rock attentively and try to learn their
meaning. He is more interested when he sees models of living fishes placed
side by side with their fossil relatives, and he is still more interested if he
sees a restoration, better in a cast than in a picture, of the fossils them-
selves. Such a restoration may in many cases be legitimately provided
since the fossil fishes in their numerous specimens give the facts clearly
upon which models can be prepared.
A “fossil aquarium” has now been put on exhibition in the fish gallery.
With it is a label explaining the Devonian age, naming the fishes illus-
trated and telling how the more ancient groups are giving place to the
more modern ones. Thus it is shown that the race of bony fishes, which
represents about ninety-nine per cent of all living fishes, had not yet
appeared; that on the other hand, the tribe of sturgeons and garpike, now
almost extinct, made up about a quarter of all Devonian forms; that
sharks, which are but a small fractional percentage of all living fishes, made
up about one-third of all kinds then known; while finally, that the placo-
derms, a group long extinct and even of uncertain kinships, constituted
forty per cent of the ancient fish fauna.
In preparing this “fossil aquarium,” questions as to the nature of the
water, the character of the bottom and its vegetation were investigated by
Dr. Hussakof; the models of the fishes were prepared after restorations of
specialists, but revised in numerous points in accordance with actual speci-
mens. The colors could not, of course, be given infallibly; the best that
could be done was to follow the nearest living relatives of the ancient
forms. The design of the group and the color work were carried out by
Mr. Charles R. Knight, and his results are realistic and attractive.
161
A TREE CLIMBING RUMINANT
By W. D. Matthew
T seems somewhat paradoxical to imagine a ruminant climbing trees.
There are stories of goats doing so, but these stories seem to be more
or less apocryphal as far as any real climbing goes. Even the narrow
sharp-pointed hoofs of a goat do not give the necessary grasp, and his
limbs and feet are too stiff and limited in their motion. The only living
members of the Ungulata or hoofed mammals which really climb trees are
the coneys or hyracoids, especially the little tree-coney or Di ndrohyrax of
South Africa. This little animal, about the size of a rabbit and somewhat
like one in appearance, is in many respects the kind of animal from which we
conceive that all the Ungulates are descended, and like the earliest fossil
Ungulates it has four separate digits on each forefoot and a rudiment of
the inner digit. This kind ef foot, and the more flexible limb with which it
is associated, enables him to climb readily, to cling to branches and to live
in the trees as well as on the ground. A similar adaptation is seen in most
of the clawed animals or Unguiculates; while we find the limb and foot still
further adapted to arboreal life in all of the Primates except man.
162
A TREE CLIMBING RUMINANT 165
All living hoofed animals however, except the //yrax, have the feet
modified for walking and running upon the ground, in such a way as to gain
in speed and endurance at the expense of a loss in flexibility of the foot, and
none of them are able to climb trees. This is especially true of the
Rumuinants, in which the foot is very much specialized for running pur-
poses, the metapodial bones of the two middle digits united inte a single
bone, the “cannon bone,” and the two outer digits reduced to little rudi-
ments known as “dew-claws,” so that the animal walks and runs entirely
upon the tips of the hoofs of the central digits. Compare this type of foot
with the soft flexible sharp-clawed foot of a cat, and it is easy enough to
see why a cat can climb a tree and a ruminant cannot.
The most primitive extinct ruminants had four separate digits of nearly
equal size, and this condition is retained in all the Oreodonts, a family of
pig-like Ruminants very common in North America during the Tertiary.
But these Oreodonts were probably quite as exclusively terrestrial in their
habits as the modern pigs and peccaries, in which the digits are also separate,
although the side toes are much reduced in size.
The Agriochwrus however, while a member of the Oreodont family,
and like them provided with ruminating teeth, had the limbs and feet
modified in such a way as to enable it to climb trees as readily as a Jaguar
or other large cat. The hoofs are so narrowed as to be actually converted
into a sort of claw; the articulations of the digits, wrist- and limb-bones are
modified so as to give throughout limbs and feet the same flexible joints
which we find in the cats and in all tree-climbing animals. The animal also
differs from the other Oreodonts in that the front teeth are adapted for
browsing upon leaves and twigs instead of cropping grass or other herbage.
These modifications from the usual Oreodont type appear to be adap-
tations for climbing trees to feed upon their foliage. This theory 1s
embodied in the mounted skeleton of Agriochwrus. The animal is repre-
sented as walking out along a sloping branch of a tree, the branch being
modeled in imitation of the fossil tree trunks often found in the Tertiary
formations of the West. Like any large cat in a tree, he seems a little
uncertain and shaky in his movements, and is inclined to cling tight with
bent limbs, lacking the assured and confident step of a truly arboreal
animal such as a monkey or lemur.
The Agriocherus lived during the Oligocene epoch in Western North
America, and then became extinct. Why, we do not know, but we may
suppose that it was only partly arboreal, and that the handicap of its
clumsiness upon the ground was more than enough to offset the advantage
of being able to climb trees, when pursued by the improved races of Car-
nivora that were being evolved about this time.
BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION
By Laura Watson Benedict
HE tendency of a savage tribe to express its love for beauty in the
form of decorative art is shown in some detail in a collection from
the Bagobo tribe of southern Mindanao, recently installed in the
Philippine Hall.
Whether we examine basketry or wood-carving, textiles
or embroidery or beadwork, we find a minute attention to form, a correct
sense for color contrasts, a fine discrimination in decorative finish.
A Bagobo
mountains of
from the
Min-
youth
southern
danao in typical beaded dress.
The Bagobo has a
love for decoration
passionate
164
The Bagobo tribe, numbering a few thou-
sand, forms one of the groups of pagan Malays
living clustered in villages over the mountains
and foothills that range back from the west
coast of the gulf of Davao. They are a people
of singular beauty, with clear golden-brown
skin, earnest wide-open eyes, and mobile faces
changing from deep seriousness in repose to
sparkling vivacity in conversation.
In dress both women and men have un-
usually good taste and as fashions never vary
from generation to generation, there comes no
mandatory decree to change a good style. A
more picturesque sight is rare to find than a
party of Bagobo coming down a mountain trail
in single file, walking with swift free step, the
men in short trousers and open jackets, long
black hair streaming over their shoulders, and
richly beaded carrying-bags on their backs;
the women in scant-bodied, scarlet-sleeved
camisas and straight skirts woven in lustrous
pictured patterns, and wearing their hair in
Bright-
colored kerchiefs adorn the heads of women
glossy coils secured by beaded combs.
and men; sparkling in their ears are ivory
and inlaid plugs; around their necks hang
pendants of finely carved seeds and braided
beadwork and strung petals. Tassels of sweet-
scented roots and toothbrushes — of boars’
bristles dangle from jacket and neckband,
while bordering bag, basket and scabbard, and
tinkling from hollow leglet or armlet are hun-
BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION 165
dreds upon hundreds of tinkling bells that announce the approach of the
Bagobo.
If the Bagobo people could come to New York and see their belongings
arranged in a great hall in sight of all visitors, their joy would be un-
bounded. When I made this collection in the Bagobo country, the people
came flocking daily to my little nipa hut, less perhaps to visit me than to
see their own things and identify each other’s property and get current
prices on jackets and trousers. Nowhere else in their villages could they
find such a lot of Bagobo objects together, or test so many guitars and
Hutes, or examine such a bristling array of spears. That an American
should want Bagobo specimens called forth no surprise; rather it seemed
to them highly natural that every scrap of
Bagobo workmanship from a richly deco-
rated war shield down to some mean and
filthy garment should be sought after and
prized, for all the Bagobo admire every
Bagobo product with a_ self-complacency
that is both amusing and appealing.
“ Bagobo things, Senora!’ came the pass-
word always uttered with an exultant note
as a preliminary toward higgling the market
with me.
On reaching the Islands, I heard on all
sides from white foreigners that it was
almost hopeless to try to secure Bagobo
objects, that the time was past for making a
collection. It is true that a Bagobo parts
with any one of his possessions reluctantly,
and prizes each at double its material value
because of intimate personal associations.
But up to that time no account had been
taken of certain emotional interests that
had never before been appealed to, and that
found expression as soon as a big collection
began to grow. There was an undefined
pleasure in knowing that over yonder in the
Senora’s house their things were perpet-
ually in contact with other Bagobo things.
Now when Atun made the rounds of my Her leglets are made of tubes of
little museum and asked the usual ques- ass which contain metal balls that
roll freely and produce a _ tinkling
tions: Z Whose is this? How much did Vou sound as she walks
166 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
pay for it?” he had a left-out-feeling if he found nothing that represented
himself. But if he could hold up just one article and say, “ Kanak” (mine)
or “ My wife made it,” he would give a radiant smile and sit down content.
Again, there was an appeal to the conservative tendencies of the people.
More than one thoughtful Bagobo expressed a lively satisfaction at the
prospect of a great Bagobo collection being carefully kept in an American
museum forever. When the news spread there awakened a new feeling
toward my work. One old woman secretly brought me a rare embroidered
scarf, an heirloom that she
handled tenderly, for her
mother had worn it to hold
the baby on her hip, and she
said that it had carried many,
babies, that few old women
remembered how to do that
sort of needlework, and that
she would never let it go, ex-
cept that it might always be
with the rest of the Bagobo
things in America.
That piece of embroidery
was done under conditions
hard to comprehend. Dur-
ing the day Bagobo women
have little time for fancy
stitching, with all the cook-
ing and the long climb to the
river for water and the work
ae of the loom — for the weaving
KS : S Long must be done by daylight, as
A no native lamp can illumine
<7
the floor space covered by the
hand loom. But when dark-
ness falls sewing and em-
broidery can be done. < aaa.
Black and white storage jar. At the right, jagged lightning; at the left, a terraced
cloud (placed on edge with the top projecting inward) swollen with rain as indicated by the
crossed lines
193
Even small geometric motives have a realistic in-
rafters,
little
terpretation as well as a descriptive term: 1
or sloping lines; 2 or diamonds; 3
slings
little hills'or sharp points
clouds or scallops j
Symbolic of the rainbow. Upper diamonds are scat-
below, the cloud rack with rainbow
more or less broken and fringed with light; under the
rainbow the open sky, a mass of white cumulus clouds
appearing above the horizon which runs out at either
end into mysterious distance.
tering rain clouds;
Lower horizontal line
the level ground, under it roots benefited by the down-
pour; from center of ground-line springs a flower
sequel of the rain
\, OGG
GOOOSE
a lake. In
diamonded area
white represents black land Border of the
lake at either side in the form of the ever-recurring
terrace or with its mysterious
clouds. mountains and human aspiration. At the top
the cat-tail rush with long roots growing downward into
the deep water
Swampy margin of
water,
zigzag
194
suggestion of
trees, spreads out in a maze
of channels. Between it and
the
divided irregularly by hedges
town are the cornfields
of wild plums and sunflowers
that follow the courses of the
To the
north is seen the Black Mesa,
irrigation ditches.
an isolated flat-topped hill
perhaps six hundred feet in
that the
The
vertical escarpments of black
height stands in
middle of the valley.
lava resemble the bastions of
On the summit of
of San
a fort.
this hill the natives
Ildefonso maintained them-
selves against the besieging
Spanish soldiers during the
rebellion of 1680.
Several kinds of pottery
are still manufactured at San
Ildefonso. In particular the
pueblo is famous for water
jars and large storage vessels
with conventionalized de-
signs in red and black upon
Red
base pottery with designs in
a cream-colored base.
black, polished black pottery
and rough cooking ware are
also made.
The processes of pottery
manufacture are about the
same in all the Rio Grande
pueblos but the materials,
such as clays and_ paints,
vary from village to village,
as do also the styles of deco-
The
of each pueblo are, as a rule,
ration. typical wares
easily recognized. The ves-
sels are built up by hand
from hollowed out lumps of
San Ildefonso water jars. The design on the jar at the left shows a spring set in a
valley between hills. In the centre is the water dotted with floating duckweed. On all
sides are flowering water plants
The second vessel gives to the Pueblo a picture of summer time.
that float high in the sky are about the neck of the jar; beneath are rain clouds heavy with
water, and lower still are blossoming wako plants and humming birds are hovering about
White fleecy clouds
At the left a fine San Ildefonso bowl decorated with red and black designs representing
highly conventionalized flowers
The water jar at the right is decorated with floral patterns executed in more realistic
manner
195
196 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
clay to which rings of fresh clay are added as the height is increased. The
shaping is done by the fingers, which must be dipped frequently in water
during the process. The walls of the pots are made thin and even by
gourd scrapers. After the pots are dry their outer surfaces are polished
with smooth stones, then a sizing of fine clay is added and the process of
polishing repeated. After this the designs are painted on with a brush
made from a yucca leaf. The kiln is constructed in the open air. A fire
is laid and over it the pots are piled in inverted positions, the rims resting
on stones or on lumps of clay. More fuel, consisting of slabs of dry
manure, is then arranged around the jars, great care being taken to see
that none of the fuel actually touches the sides of the vessels. The draft
must be kept open or the ware will be blackened. All painted pottery and
all polished red pottery is burned in an open draft fire. In the case of the
polished black pottery however, after the open fire has been started, it is
smothered by several shovelfuls of fine dust-like manure that drives in the
smoke and blackens the red wash or sizing. It is hard to realize that the
sole difference between the brilliant red ware and the gleaming black is
merely a trick in burning.
At San Ildefonso the finest pottery has designs in black on a whitish
background. The black paint is made by boiling down the leaves and
stems of the wako weed or Rocky Mountain bee balm. This makes a dark
brown syrup which becomes a very smooth jet black after burning. Red
ochre is commonly used for red paint, while orange paint appears very
rarely on San Ildefonso pottery.
Most of the designs on Pueblo pottery seem quite unintelligible to us,
yet to the makers they signify definite and important things. The Pueblo
Indians of San Ildefonso, and of the Southwest in general, have a keen
appreciation of nature which shows in every feature of their decorative art.
Living an agricultural life in a semi-arid environment, rain is to them the
great necessity of existence. Clouds, falling rain, flashing lightning,
brimming rivers and flooded fields — these are the aspects of nature that
please them most. The formal figures in which they embody their con-
ceptions of propitious nature are intended to appeal to the imagination
and to please the eye. These figures are manipulated as motives of pure
design without losing a bit of their realistic intention. There is also a
religious significance in many of the figures painted on the pottery. Primi-
tive people very often represent by means of drawings or dramas what they
consider to be desirable things so that they will be more certain to occur.
Even the small geometric motives used in narrow bands have a realistic
interpretation, although there is usually a descriptive term as well, while
the more elaborate designs often disclose strikingly realistic conceptions
notwithstanding the formal presentation.
THE AMPHIBIANS OF THE GREAT COAL SWAMPS
By W. D. Matthew
The kind of animals that inhabited the ancient forest-swamps where the great coal for-
mations of the world were laid down is shown by the skeleton of the primitive amphibian
Eryops, now on exhibition in the Hall of Fossil Reptiles.
HE Coal Era has more practical importance to civilized man than
any other period of the past. Coal is the most important mineral
product of the world; to a very considerable extent it may be said
to be the material basis of our present-day civilization. If for no other
reason than this, the Carboniferous Period, when most of the world’s coal
b eds were being formed, ought to be of especial interest to everyone. But
SERS 6 og AT RR ST Se
zm: Ae ay ‘ f = > : -
a St
hy
Eryops from the Lower Permian of Texas. An ancient amphibian which lived about
the close of the Coal Era, many million years ago. It is twice as old as the Brontosaurus
five times as old as the Eohippus, a hundred times as old as the mammoth or mastodon or
the earliest known remains of man
to all who are likewise interested in the past history of the earth, in the
extinct races of animals and plants which have formerly inhabited it, in
the evolution of those which now exist, the Coal Era has a_ broader
interest. For the antique world of this remote period, many millions of
years ago, was widely different in its appearance, in the outlines of its con-
tinents, in the character of its plants and animals, from the present day.
There were no broad-leaved trees nor flowering plants, no birds nor mam-
mals nor any of the higher kinds of insects. The swamp vegetation was
chiefly ferns and fern-like plants and giant relatives of the modern
equisetums and club mosses, while coniferous trees grew in the uplands.
The insects were all of the lower orders, dragon flies, cockroaches, milli-
pedes, and others; no bees, no ants, no butterflies nor beetles.
The land vertebrates were, at this ancient period, in the early stages of
their adaptation to terrestrial life. Like the modern efts and salamanders
197
=
Nese!
=| —————_—_ + _ —__—_—]}
je. ~_— ce NCL
a ; =. =
FFA }
)
SZ
A EES
7, iy Ee SNS
hh hs,
The outlines of land and water are slightly modified from the map by Professor Schuchert. The
border shows characteristic vegetation of that epoch, partly conventionalized; to the left, Sigillaria,
Neuropteris, to right Calamites, Sphenopteris. Below is a sketch restoration of Eryops, and above, one
of the giant ‘‘dragon flies,”’ Meganeura
“The dragon fly that darted over the head of the slow-crawling Eryops might seem, except in size,.. .
a far more promising candidate for the position of ancestor to the intelligent life which was to appear in
the dim future”’
198
NORTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY AT CLOSE OF COAL ERA
AMPHIBIANS OF THE COAL SWAMPS 199
they were amphibious animals, half reptile, half fish, in appearance and
habits.
Living amphibia are the survivors more or less altered of the kind of
animal which in the Coal Era was the highest form of animal life. The
study of the structure and development of the higher vertebrates — of
reptiles, birds and mammals — has shown that they must be derived from
animals of this type, and the successive stages in their evolution are illus-
trated by the fossil vertebrates of the successive periods of geological history.
In the Carboniferous the amphibians were the dominant type, and the
reptiles were just beginning to evolve from them, becoming adapted to a
more strictly terrestrial life. These earliest reptiles are very close to the
primitive amphibians, and the wide gap that now separates these two
classes of vertebrates was then so slight that it is difficult to draw any sepa-
rating line between them.
Most of the primitive amphibians are so small and their skeletons so
crushed and imperfect that they cannot very easily be studied except by
specialists. A few of them however, the giants of their day, are of fairly
large size, and well preserved skeletons have been found in the “red beds”’
which immediately overlie the coal formation of Texas and are of somewhat
later age (Lower Permian) than the true coal measures. LEryops is the
largest and best known of these Permian amphibians in America. — Its
bones have been found in the upper coal measures of Pennsylvania but the
best skeletons are from the Texas red beds.
Here then is the type of animal that lorded it over the denizens of the
gloomy forests and dark morasses of the Coal Period: a sort of gigantic
tadpole or mud puppy, with wide flat head, no neck, a thick heavy body,
short legs and paddle-like feet and a heavy flattened tail. While able to
crawl clumsily and slowly upon the land, he must have been far more
at home in the water, living in the dead pools and backwaters and slow-
moving streams that traversed the far extended coast-marshes of the great
interior sea to the west of the Appalachian highlands.
That this beast, slow, heavy and clumsy, small brained and low organ-
ized, should be one of the highest types of living beings in his time, may
help to realize how remote and far away was the era of the Coal Forests.
That he is a collateral ancestor of all the higher animals — of reptiles, birds,
mammals and of man himself —all evolved through the millions of years
which have since elapsed from animals of the same type and grade of
organization, may serve at least to raise our respect for the possibilities of
development which lay in the primitive amphibia. The giant dragon fly
that darted over the head of the slow-crawling Eryops might seem, except
in size, a far superior type of being, a far more promising candidate for the
200 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
position of ancestor to the intelligent life which was to appear in the dim
future. But the insect had fulfilled the mechanical possibilities of which
his structural organization was capable. The future progress of the insect
type was to lie not in the direction of a more perfect mechanism, but in the
perfection of the metamorphosis during the growth of the individual and
in the establishment of elaborate social organizations and instincts.
The amphibian was but beginning the adaptation of the vertebrate
structure to a terrestrial habitat and in his organization lay concealed a
potential evolution to a far higher plane of existence than the insect organ-
ization has been able to reach. It is not so easy to say just wherein this
superiority lay, but probably the possession of an internal instead of an
external skeleton was an essential feature of it. The late Professor Shaler!
has pointed out the advantages of an internal as against an external skeleton
in stimulating more intelligent and less blindly instinctive activities in the
evolution of animal life. The internal skeleton has also certain marked
mechanical advantages in permitting the attainment of a much larger size
in the animals possessing it, as may easily be seen by comparing the maxi-
mum size attained in one or the other type of organization under the same
conditions of life.
“REVEALING AND CONCEALING COLORATION IN BIRDS
AND MAMMALS” BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT
HIS book, published by the Museum in August is well worth reading
by all interested in the subject of animal coloration. The more
than one hundred pages present a critical review of Thayer’s
Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom published in 1910.
Mr. Roosevelt considers the principle of countershading a discovery
of real merit as a colorist law but with limited application to birds and
mamunals as far as concealment is concerned. From his extended experi-
ence in the field, he holds that this concealment is due maialy to “cover
and habits.’ With pithy arguments and forceful examples, with now and
then an admission that the knowledge is incomplete and a frank, “I do not
know,” he covers Thayer’s points, separating misinterpretations from com-
mon-sense facts and deductions. The last sentence of his conclusion
summarizes his view:
“ As regards the great majority of the species [of birds and mammals], the
coloration, whether concealing or not, is of slight importance from the stand-
point of jeoparding or preserving the bird’s or mammal’s life, compared to
its cunning, wariness, ferocity, speed, ability to take advantage of cover and
other traits and habits, and compared to the character of its surroundings.”
1TuHEe INpIVIDUAL: a Stupy oF Lire aNp Deatu. N.S. Shaler. New York: Apple-
tons, 1900.
EXHIBITION OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
By Bashford Dean
HE Museum collection includes at the present time about two
thousand amphibians and five thousand reptiles —not a strong
representation as material in great museums goes, but more than
a good beginning in the development of a department. Of these specimens
hardly more than one per cent are on general view: the bulk of the collection
in this as in other fields in the Museum will ever from the limits of space be
kept in reserve for purpose of study. None the less there are, all will admit,
great possibilities for the development of the popular side of the work of the
department: reptiles and amphibians are apt to interest the general visitor,
and they are of yeoman’s service to the classes of nature study which
regularly visit the galleries. Snakes, turtles, salamanders, frogs, crocodiles,
lizards, all have their especial niche in non-technical natural history. And
it is clear that they should be exhibited in such a way as to attract the
visitor’s attention to the nature of the various groups — to illustrate the
principal kinds, native and foreign, to. demonstrate at least the elements of
their structures, development, habits, distribution, descent. As a means of
teaching attractively the life habits of these creatures, a series of special
case-exhibits will be prepared, each illustrating one of the larger groups.
These will be brought together after the fashion of the panoramic “ habitat”
bird group, in a separate gallery, for the present in the southeast tower room
on the second story. The Bullfrog Group is the first of this series to be
exhibited. It has been prepared under the supervision of Miss Dickerson,
and is described in the following paper. Her account however does not
tell the reader the discouraging technical difficulties surmounted in the long
work of preparation in a little developed field. The present work is an
earnest of what can be done to make the remaining groups at once attractive
and instructive.
A PORTION OF THE BULLFROG GROUP
Two frogs are engrossed in a chickadee on the birch branch above. The smaller frog seems likely
to fall a prey to a black snake ready to strike from the white azalea near
The water of the group is a tightly-stretched transparent sheet of celluloid. The ingredients
were mixed at the Museum according to a formula which gives a less brittle product than the com-
mercial celluloid and the sheet was made by flowing this liquid on glass in layers one over the other
202
SOME METHODS AND RESULTS IN HERPETOLOGY
By Mary Cynthia Dickerson
HE Bullfrog Group, which has been put on exhibition at the Museum
in the east tower of the second floor, represents a July scene typical
of Southern New England. Knowledge of the bullfrog consists
usually in an acquaintance with his sedate appearance on the bank of a
pool or with the sonorous sound of his “jug-o-rum”’ during summer nights.
We do not realize that a pond which may chance to be the home of this
giant of the frogs of North America is a small world of continual drama
with the bullfrog well in the plot.
The group in connection with its descriptive labels attempts to show
the general biology of the frog, its swimming, croaking, breathing under
water and in air, the manner in which it “les low” before a near enemy
when it cannot escape by leaping, its food habits in connection with small
mammals, birds, snakes, fish and turtles, insects and snails. It also shows
the metamorphosis from the tadpole.
The Bullfrog Group is novel in that it has a transparent background,
curved in panoramic fashion and made of fine and durable linen. This is
painted in transparent colors,
the high lights on the front,
the shadows on the back, in
an effort to obtain a realistic
woodland scene with shifting
light in it and through it as
in nature. The light at the
back of the canvas has been
kept at the minimum and
balanced on the canvas in
front by a weak indirect light,
while a relatively strong di-
rect light has been focused on
the foreground as if from the
western sky (direction of the
observer). It has been hoped
to obtain by this lighting some ta fi
slight illusion and perspective “yar oe ee
notwithstanding the small-
ness of the space (84 ft. by 6 Modeling the Japanese giant salamander (Megalo-
= batrachus japonicus) from a living specimen loaned by
ft.). Tohelp the perspective the New York Zodlogical Park. Wholly aquatic
amphibians are not likely to maintain the shape for
casting when removed from the water, and must be
there has been resort to varl- — given over to the animal sculptor for modeling
in a minor degree in addition,
203
A DETAIL OF THE FROG GROUP
Sediment, water weed, pond scum, every item under water was a separate problem. The plants
above are in their ecological order from the duckweed and lilies on the surface through the pickerel
weeds to the higher alders and willows
The bullfrog may prove a menace in ponds where any species of food fish is expected to thrive.
He usually captures a fish by a single plunge in shallow water using his hands frantically to turn the
fish into the right position to swallow
204
ous small devices: for in-
stance, the foreground slopes
upward to meet the back-
ground, a total of five inches;
tall shrubs at the front are
made to lead into ones less
tall farther back, large-leaved
plants such as alder and birch
are in the immediate fore-
ground, willow and_ other
small-leaved plants at the
rear, leaves of water lilies
and pickerel weed are graded
back from larger to smaller;
while conspicuous colors, the
red of Turk’s cap lilies and
the white of azaleas, are
placed well forward and the
purple pickerel weed carries
the eye back where the effect
of distance and shadow , is
desired. \
The story of the group
tells itself at sight: one frog
is molting its skin, “ swallow-
ing it off” in typical frog fash-
ion; a second is dashing from
the water to catch a white-
footed mouse descending from
a deserted song sparrow’s
nest; another is croaking,
with vocal sacs and throat
expanded; a fourth is demon-
strating how large a mouth-
ful of young water snakes a
bullfrog can master. — Still
another is making it plain
that a frog’s tongue is fas-
tened in front and thrown
out of the mouth to catch
insects. One frog has within
his rolled tongue a bumble-
bee from the white azalea
flowers. A smaller bullfrog is
A mouthful of
young water-
Comfortably
floating in the
July pond
Catching insects
about the azalea
flowers
Shedding the
skin, * swallowing
it off” in frog
fashion
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pury
A study from life. Series of wax casts to show the American newt’s method of shedding
the skin: from the head backward until it binds the fore legs which are drawn out one at a
time, on backward until the hind legs must be worked free
engrossed in a chickadee just alighted on a birch branch above his head,
and inattentive to danger, is about to fall a prey to a black snake. A
frog far over at the left is “lying low” with head lowered and hands
lifted, having unexpectedly found himself in too close proximity to the
black snake to make it advisable to leap for safety. Under water one frog
in resting position — quite different from the resting position on land — has
throat contracted and nostrils closed and like a fish is breathing oxygen
from the water, his skin doing the work in place of gills. A swimming
frog is sending up a stream of bubbles from the nostrils, showing that the
lungs are emptied of air as the skin comes into play for breathing.
At first glance the group presents a small cove reaching into a larger
expanse of water, with only four or
five frogs in view. The abundance
of vegetation and the great array of
animal life (there are some half-hun-
dred specimens in the group) have
been subordinated to the effect of
the whole. All of the animals are
directly before the eye yet are so
chosen and placed as to be incon-
spicuous except upon a more careful
search, thus imitating the condition
in nature.
In addition to the Bullfrog Group
there have been put on view recently
a Monitor Group and various smaller
exhibits. The exhibition of amphibia
and reptiles is beset with unusual
difficulty and the various species
Portion of a wax cast before color is ap- have been represented in muse-
plied. The gills are of glass. Congo
eel (Amphiuma means) North Carolina: cast
from a model from life by Frederick Blaschke
208
ums heretofore by alcoholic material
more often than in any other way.
After much — experimental
work it has been found
possible to make wax repro- ,
ductions with fidelity to the
living animal in form and
color and also with lifelike
pose and expression. The
work has been done by cer-
Then the newt reaches back to pull the skin off tain artists who have added
the tail and swallow it according to the custom of his to the
technique of clay,
ancestors %
plaster, wax and color, the
power of accurate seeing. The two especially connected with the com-
pleted work are Dwight Franklin and Thomas Bleakney, although results
could not have been obtained without the many complex piece molds made
by James Bell and without the expert modeling of Frederick Blaschke.
Several methods are in
use. If the animal has a
thick and horny skin as_ has
the water monitor or a large
iguana, the skin itself is
mounted over a manikin
modeled from life. following
the methods of the animal
sculptor’s work on mammals,
or is filled with a soft prepara-
tion which hardens later, after
it has beea modeled into cor-
rect form through the skin.
The modeling is from life; all
work on both form and color European frog (Rana esculenta) showing external
is done from the living ani- vocal sacs. When the frog is croaking, these sacs are
ml, the New York Zodlogi- ‘ints sv clases itu eee Gai
eal Park and the New York is used also for the vocal saes of the spring peepers and
Aquarium having courteously American toads of the exhibit
loaned many duplicate living specimens for study.
If the skin is thin and soft, which is true in most small lizards, many
snakes and turtles and all amphibia, the animal is reproduced in wax,
the wax used being pure bleached beeswax (which has a high melting point
so that summer temperatures are not an enemy to the exhibits) with
a small proportion of Canada balsam to make it less brittle and more
easily worked. The dead animal may be posed from the living and a waste
plaster mold or a piece mold made, from which a cast is taken in wax. This
is the method by which the frogs of the Bullfrog Group were made. There are
209
SWIMMING SOFT-SHELLED TURTLE (Trionyx spinifer)
Most perfect reproductions with all the beauty and softness of color and texture of the
living animal can be made in wax to replace the old display of alcoholic material. Posed
and cast by Dwight Franklin; colored by Thomas Bleakney. Specimen presented by the
New York Aquarium
a few wholly aquatic forms like the hellbender (Cryptobranchus) and the
Congo eel (Amphiuma), which do not maintain the shape for posing when
removed from water. These the sculptor must model from the living ani-
mal, which model then serves for mold and cast. In the work on snakes
A STUDY FROM LIFE
Wax casts of fighting spotted turtles (Chelopus guttatus) made for insertion in a group
planned to show local amphibia and reptiles of the month of April
Piece molds by James Bell; casts by Dwight Franklin; color work by Thomas Bleakney
210
the skin is often removed,
filled with clay, and modeled
into correct form, when it is
posed ready for plaster mold
and wax cast. In the case
of turtles many must be cast
entire, the carapace being too
soft to make a permanent
mount. In other cases the
“Shell” is used and wax casts
of the soft-skinned head and
legs are fastened in position,
while still others more thick-
skinned are mounted as are
the thick-skinned_ lizards.
The advantage of making
the casts in wax lies not only
in a great susceptibility of
this medium to take and
f VAS , retain fine detail, not only in
Portion of wax cast of water moccasin (Ancis- :
trodon piscivorus). Moceasin closely related to the a transparency which adds
copperhead and one of the most poisonous snakes on c Orn |= J
reatly to the lifelike effec
of the South. The cast is designed for a small = sare rap e elfect
Cypress Swamp Group not yet completed. The In many amphibia, but also
moccasin unlike a rattlesnake opens the mouth
: : in a surface of such character
when threatening to strike
that it takes oil color with
an effect of life texture.
Soft skin texture cannot be gained with a hard plaster surface. When
a form is too large to cast in wax, like the giant salamander of Japan,
and must be cast in plaster, the plaster surface is afterward sprayed with
a coating of wax.
An exhibit of any group of animals to interest other than technical
students must be shown from the life standpoint and in relation to man,
especially a group repellant because of mystery and myth man has inherited
from a time of less knowledge. Amphibia and reptiles should hold a con-
siderable place in the exhibition of a museum for many reasons. They
are of great antiquity. The amphibian race bridged the gap in descent
between water life and land life, and reptiles, developed from these early
amphibians, gave rise through some primitive group to mammals. Thus
both are in the direct line of vertebrate evolution.
In the light of this dominant position of the past and the ancestral
relation to man, the amphibia and reptiles of to-day take on peculiar
interest. Descended from forms of considerable or great size, modern
amphibia and reptiles present a race of pygmies, reminiscent of the giants
211
Mounting the skin of a lizard of Tropical
America (Iguana tuberculata). The skin,
filled with a soft preparation, is tooled into
shape from a living model and the prepara-
tion within hardens in the permanent form.
Mr. Blaschke brings the same skill to reptile
taxidermy that he displays in his work on
mammals
of millions of years ago in a few forms
only, such as the nearly extinct ele-
phant tortoise of a few tropical islands,
the leatherback turtle of tropical seas,
the gavial of India, the largest modern
reptile, and the giant salamander of
Japanese streams. Also neither race
gives promise of advance for the future.
Modern amphibia number only one-
eighth of the race of fishes and one-
tenth of birds and have taken no step
toward freeing themselves from de-
pendence on fresh water, in fact on
moisture in a constant supply, and
modern reptiles seem not much better
placed for the future being fitted for
life in equatorial regions only and
absolutely dependent on heat for
activity. The very high specializa-
tion however, which removes from
them the chance of advance, gives
them unusual value for exhibition
in an educational institution like the
American Museum. For perhaps in
no other vertebrate groups is there
more opportunity for the study of
remarkable relations to environment
including many instances of economic
worth and direct relation to agricul-
ture through the destruction of insect
and rodent enemies; as also oppor-
tunity for the study of examples of
structure, embryology and _ relation-
ship, illuminating as proofs of the
important roles played in the develop-
ment of intelligent life on the earth.
It would seem fortunate for mu-
seum exhibition that some successful
methods have been found, and still
others are likely to reward research,
for reproducing these forms ade-
quately and permanently.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES
SINCE the last issue of the JouRNAL the following persons have been
elected to membership in the Museum:
Patrons, PRoFEssOoR and Mrs. ALBERT S. BIcKMORE and Mr. CHARLES
H. Senrr;*
Life Members, Messrs. CHARLES L. BERNHEIMER, GEORGE BLEISTEIN,
CHESTER L. Cotton, W. Bayarp CuTTiInG, CHARLES J. EDER and JOHN V.
Irwin;
Sustaining Members, Dr. SAMUEL MurrLanp and Mrs. ELIsaBeTH
C. T. MILLER;
Annual Members, Messrs. Grorce L. Apams, Henry SHERMAN
ADAMS, JAIME DE ANGULO, JAMES H. S. Bates, GEORGE PowELL BENJA-
MIN, WriuiAM H. Buiiss, SAMUEL J. BLOOMINGDALE, Louts Boury, JULIEN
T. Davies, Jr., Moses H. Grossman, JoHN Knapp Ho.uins, FRANK
Hucues, J. HEMSLEY JOHNSON, BENJAMIN G. Paskus, M. BERNARD
Puitipp, N. TERHUNE, J. C. THaw, C. J. UtMANN, R. WEIL, and Caspar
WHITNEY, Mmes. SAMUEL Q. Brown, Wiiitam Kerra MiIrTenporr,
and ANNA SHEPARD PIERCE.
On July 17 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment appropriated
$200,000 for the construction of the foundations of the southeast wing and
court building and $75,000 for furnishing and equipping unfinished portions
of the building.
PRESIDENT HENRY FAIRFIELD OsBorN and Mr. MaAptson GRANT spent
the early part of September with Mr. Brown in Alberta. The following is
an extract from President Osborn’s latest letter:
.... Brown and Mr. Grant met me at Red Deer on Monday last, August
28, and we started almost immediately down the river in asmall craft loaded to
the gunwales. The current, three to five miles an hour, gave us, with Brown
sculling and steering at the rear, a three and one-third average speed and we
passed all the rapids safely, camping four nights on the shore, prospecting and
visiting all important sites and quarries. ... Brown has discovered the only
method of working these rich and virgin formations and it looks as though there
would be one or perhaps two seasons more....The region about here is very
rich. Kaison has taken up another Trachodon and parts of two others await
removal. Yesterday we secured a fragmentary Albertosaurus skull. All are well
and in fine spirits. We start for the remaining 125 miles to-morrow morning... .
Dr. Frepertc A. Lucas was appointed Director of the Museum by
the Board of Trustees on May 8 and assumed his new office on June 15.
* Deceased. 213
214 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
AMONG the scientific visitors at the Museum this summer were Dr.
Friedrich von Huene of Tiibingen, and Dr. Franz Schiffer of Vienna.
Dr. von Huene remained nearly two months studying the collections of
extinct reptiles. Both gentlemen later visited the field parties in Nebraska
and Wyoming and various noted fossil localities in the West, and expressed
the greatest enthusiasm over the paleeontological treasures brought to-
gether in this and other American museums, and the wonderful extent and
richness of the western fossil fields.
Dr. Wititisam K. Grecory was appointed Assistant Curator in the
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at a meeting of the Executive
Committee in June. Dr. Gregory’s The Orders of Mammals, published by
the Museum in 1910, is a standard book of reference invaluable to teachers
and students in the universities of this and other countries. It was on
receipt of this volume that Dr. R. Broom, the leading authority on mammal-
like fossil reptiles of South Africa, recalling recent work of New York men
of science, wrote: “I am afraid New York is taking the place once held by
London in the days of Owen, Huxley and Parker and I think it fully deserves
to lead.”
THE DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATE PAL®ONTOLOGY had three expeditions
in the field this summer. The Alberta expedition, in charge of Associate
Curator Brown, continued the search for Cretaceous dinosaurs in the rich
fossil fields of the Red Deer River. The Wyoming expedition, in charge
of Associate Curator Granger, will probably complete this year the explora-
tion of the Big Horn Valley for remains of the earliest ancestors of the horse,
and other animals of the Lower Eocene. The third expedition, in charge
of Mr. Albert Thomson, has resumed work in the great fossil quarry of
Lower Miocene age at Agate, Nebraska.
ProFEssor BasHrorpD DEAN early in July officially represented the
American Museum at the Museums Association’s meeting at Brighton,
England, and in September at the Centennial Celebration of the University
of Christiania.
DurtinG the summer Dr. CLark WIsSSLER spent some time among the
Dakota Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation, giving especial attention
to military and other societies. Other members of the staff of the Depart-
ment of Anthropology visited various Indian tribes of the United States
and Canada continuing their systematic field study of other summers.
This work will receive full report later.
THE administrative offices of the Museum have been removed from the
east wing and will now be found on the fifth floor near the elevators.
MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 215
Mr. Cuarues L. BERNHEIMER has been made a Life Member in recogni-
tion of his contribution for cetacean work in Japan.
Mr. Cuarves J. Ever of Palmira has been elected a Life Member
because of the courtesies he extended to the Museum’s expedition to the
United States of Colombia.
Mr. V. STEFANSSON reports from the Dease River, Arctic America,
wonderful success in ethnological work. He has discovered a “new”
Eskimo tribe, one that has never seen a white man; he also finds a Scandi-
navian-like people in Victoria Land. Through the courtesy of the English
travelers, Messrs. Melvill and Hornby, who have a boat on Great Bear
Lake, the collections will be carried out to Fort Norman and the Mackenzie
River. Mr. Stefansson’s letters will be quoted in a later JOURNAL.
THe Museum has in press a Guide Leaflet on the methods of making
the wax flowers, leaves and fruits on display in the Forestry Hall and used
as accessories in habitat groups.
A SERIES of eight lectures on evolution by Professor Henry E. Crampton,
formerly delivered as the Hewitt lectures of Columbia University, has been
brought out in book form by the Columbia University Press.
Proressor Henry E. Crampron returned September 19 from a biologi-
cal expedition to South America and the West Indies. He succeeded in
reaching Mount Roraima, at the junction of the Venezuela, Brazilian and
Guiana borders. Mr. Roy W. Miner and Dr. Frank E. Lutz were also
members of the expedition, the former returning from Dominica in July
and the latter from Kaieteur Falls in British Guiana, in August.
Dr. Louis Hussakor spent several weeks collecting fossil fishes in the
Devonian formations of Kentucky and Ohio. Some valuable material
was obtained including a number of specimens of the giant Arthrodira,
Titanichthys. The expedition was made possible through the Cleveland
H. Dodge Fund.
Tue following appointments have been made: Mr. J. B. Foulke, Super-
intendent of Building; Mr. Harry F. Beers, Assistant Superintendent of
Building; Mr. George N. Pindar, Registrar.
Mr. Harwan I. Suiru, Associate Curator in the Department of Anthro-
pology, has resigned his position to accept a curatorship in the new museum
at Ottawa.
216 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Mr. Roy C. ANpREWws will leave during the last week of November
on an expedition to the Orient. He will visit the whaling stations of south-
ern Korea, then outfit at Seoul and travel into the mountains of north
Korea, a region unknown zoGlogically.
Tue installation in the new Hall of Minerals is almost completed,
and more than three thousand specimens are brought to view. Among
recent additions are the remarkable tarbuttite (basic zine phosphate)
associated with vanadinite from Rhodesia, Africa, a beautiful white beryl,
enclosing tourmaline, from Pala, California, and important specimens of
benitoite and neptunite from the same locality.
Tue Museum recently acquired through purchase from Mr. Juan E.
Reyna of Ithaca, New York, some interesting fragments of ancient Mexican
codices. The fragments were taken from the walls of a church at Tlaquil-
tenango, Morelos, and are about one hundred in number. They represent
parts of several manuscripts on maguey paper and probably date from
soon after the arrival of the Spaniards. The church in question was com-
pleted in the year 1540. The manuscripts had apparently been collected
by the priests and pasted face down on the walls of the cloisters instead
of being destroyed outright as was the usual custom. The collection is of
peculiar value because the point of origin is so clearly indicated. Tlaquil-
tenango is situated in the ancient territory of the Tlahuican nation, a
branch of the great Nahuan stock.
Dr. J. R. Warker, United States Indian Physician, of Pine Ridge
Reservation, South Dakota, has been a voluntary contributor to the De-
partment of Anthropology for several years. He is especially interested
in the mythology and ceremonies of the Dakota Indians, among whom he
has lived for thirteen years. During the past year he gathered some four
hundred pages of manuscript written by Indians who have learned to write
their own language in the Rigg’s alphabet. These manuscripts contain
unusual material upon the most complex and sacred of Indian conceptions.
Durra the summer Professor C-E. A. Winslow devoted considerable
time to the study of an epidemic of a peculiar acute tonsillitis which affected
some 1500 persons and caused 50 deaths in the vicinity of Boston and which
proved to be due to an infected milk supply. This outbreak of tonsillitis
is the first of the kind in this country and the most serious ever recorded
anywhere.
LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
MEMBERS’ COURSE
The first course of lectures for the season 1911-1912 to Members of the Museum
and persons holding complimentary tickets given them by Members will open in
November.
PUPILS’ COURSE
The lectures to publie school children will be resumed in October.
PEOPLE’S COURSE
Given in codperation with the City Department of Education
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30.
The first five of a course of eleven lectures on ‘‘Great Classical and Romantic
Composers” by Mr. Dante, Gregory Mason. Illustrated at the piano.
October 3 — ‘Johann Sebastian Bach.”
October 10 — “Joseph Haydn.”’
October 17 — “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”
October 24 — “Ludwig von Beethoven: His First Period.”
October 31 — ‘‘ Beethoven: His Second Period.”
Saturday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30.
The first four of a course of eleven lectures, “‘From the Rhone Glacier to the
Pillars of Hercules; Courtly Provence and Romantic Spain,” by PRorEssor CHARLES
U. Crarxk of Yale University. Illustrated by stereopticon views.
October 7 — “The Valais and Savoy.”
October 14 — ‘‘The Dauphiny.”’
October 21 — ‘‘ Lyons, Queen of the Rhone Valley.”
October 28 — “In Troubadour Land.”
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
FOR: THE ‘PEOPLE
FOR EDVCATION
FOR ?S GAGE NGI
PUBLIC EDUCATION NUMBER
THE
AMERICAN [TIUSEUM
JOURNAL
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Volume XI November, 1911 Number 7
Published monthly from October to May inclusive by
THe AMERICAN Musreum or NaturAL History
New York City
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY
American Museum of Natural History
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
Henry FarrFietp OsBoRN
First Vice-President Second Vice-President
CLEVELAND H. DopGE J. PrerponT MorGan, JR.
Treasurer Secretary
CHARLES LANIER ArcHER M. HuntTINGTON
THe Mayor oF THE City or NEw YorK
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CiTy OF NEW YorRK
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD
GEORGE 8S. BowbDoIn Gustav E. KIsseEt *
JosepH H. CHOATE SetrH Low
Tuomas DeWitr CuYLEeR OaGpEN MILLs
JAMES DouGLas J. Prerpont MorGan
MapIson GRANT Percy R. Pyne
Anson W. Harp Witi1aM RocKEFELLER
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHN B. Trevor
ArTHUR CuRTISS JAMES FeLtrx M. WarBuRG
Water B. James GrorcE W. WIcKERSHAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Director Assistant Secretary
Freperic A. Lucas GeEorGE H. SHERWOOD
Assistant Treasurer
Tue Unitep States Trust Company oF NEw YorRK
* Deceased
THe Museum 1s OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR.
THe American Museum or Natura HIsTory was established in 1869 to promote the
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de-
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The
membership fees are,
Annual Members: 3 ccios acre gusts: $ 10 HOMOWS!. 5 nc savant aeisaie seen 3 500
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 (Paurons:,. 12.4. tn eee 1000
Life Members: cies. < cote oie Fe nae 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000
Tse Museum Liprary contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. Mm. to 5 P. M.
Tue Museum PuBLicaTIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library.
GuIDEs For Stupy or Exursits are provided on request by the Department of Public
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children.
WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special
study. Applications should be made at the information desk.
Tue Mitta RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico.
The American Museum Journal
CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1911
CoG6peration in. Education............... Winturam H. Maxwet.n
The Museum and the Public Lecture...... Henry M. LeErezicer
A Word of Congratulation from President John H. Finley..........
The Museum of the Future............ HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN
Evolution of the Educational Spirit in Museums
FRrEDERIC A. Lucas
Professor Albert S. Bickmore: Educator. ...EpmMuNb Orts Hovey
“ducational Value of the American Museum. . Maurice A. BIGELow
Cordial Recognition of the Museum’s Work......................
1. Museum and High School United for Health and Economic Welfare
GEORGE W. HuNTER
The Museum Increasingly Helpful for Ten Years..Litytian BELLE SAGE
The Museum a Laboratory for Classes............ANNA M. CuLarkK
How One Crowded High School uses the Museum..James L. Peasopy
Pw
‘The American Viuseumand Education... .~ 3. ...420s2 eens eee
1. Co6peration with the Public Schools..........GrorGe H. SHERWOOD
2. Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach..............W. D. MatrHew
3. The Habitat Groups of Mammals and Birds..............J. A. ALLEN
4. Educational Aims of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Henry E. Crampton
Ab) ere MY be) bho egg) Bid a) ot: via eee RE en ee eee SS oe adam od Nonyiaons
6. Arrangement of Exhibits in Anthropology.............CLarkK WISSLER
i |
Symposium of Expressions from Primary and Grammar Schools... .
The Children’s Room of the Museum.............AGNES ROESLER
‘resday atuthe: Museum. 242! ase snes Mary B. C. Byrne
MiseumNews 2 Notes. 5224s a ee eee
Mary Cynrara Dickerson, Editor
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy
219
220
220
242
Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-Office at Boston, Mass.
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
THEY BEHOLD A ‘‘CiITY’’ OF STRANGE BIRDS
spots in childhood are connected with a vague
Some of the brightest
realization of the beauty and mystery of the world
The Museum wishes to welcome and honor the children who come within
its walls. It publishes in this number of the Journaw the pictures of a
few of the children who have been among itsrecent visitors
The American Museum Journal
WOne cael NOVEMBER, 1911 No. 7
COOPERATION IN EDUCATION
By William H. Maxwell
Superintendent of Public Schools, New York City
HE present contract for co6peration has existed between the public
schools and the American Museum of Natural History for more
than thirty years. Meantime the development of the schools
has paralleled the growth of the Museum and both have kept pace with
the phenomenal upbuilding of the city. For the Museum’s part in this
I extend my congratulations, because while the public school system has
but developed in accordance with the progressiveness of the times, the
Museum has broken away from all records of museum organization and
maintaining its stand as an institution of science has distinctly identified
itself with education also. By so doing it has made possible for the children
of the City of New York many good things from which they would otherwise
have been shut off.
The teachers of several thousands of classes in the schools are working
under a difficulty of conditions not equalled in any other quarter of the globe.
One-third of the hundred thousand new pupils of each year cannot speak
English and moreover come from centers of the City where people live one
thousand to the acre and have the attendant ills of such a congestion of
population. The problem is to galvanize these classes into a spontaneity
of interest that will carry them into a new language, into the knowledge of
the grade and at the same time into a more wholesome, more sanitary life.
For these teachers the Museum’s lectures and collections serve royally in
the threefold purpose.
I hail with satisfaction the trend of the Museum’s work in its new depart-
ment of public health, and in its woods and forestry and habitat groups
which form a continually stronger lure to out-of-door life. Even if nature
study may not yet have been developed to give children practical knowledge
for life activities, it most positively does give a large working interest in the
direction of such knowledge.
It will be increasingly the pleasure of the teachers to use the power the
Museum puts into their hands. In the near future these boys and girls
will be in control of the destiny of our City and the Museum’s present
coéperation in their education will bear fruit a few years hence in citizens
more fitted to deal wisely with large questions on which depend health and
moral well-being. For the study of nature is the foundation of that knowl-
edge which leads to increased productivity in industry and of those ideals
of life that make for improved conditions of living.
219
THE MUSEUM AND THE PUBLIC LECTURE
By Henry M. Leipziger
Supervisor of the Public Lecture System of the Board of Education, New York City
N the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the Museum about
thirty-five years ago, Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion used these words: “How incomparably greater would the
importance of this Museum be were there connected with it a professor who
would give courses of free lectures on the objects which it contains, who
would expound the laws of the phenomena of nature, who would discourse
on the changes the world has undergone during geological periods.”
The Public Lecture System of the Board of Education coéperating
with the American Museum of Natural History carries out the suggestion
made by the distinguished scientist and continues a work inaugurated by
Professor Bickmore soon after the erection of the first section of the Museum
building. Many lecturers carry the treasures of the institution to every
corner of this great city and the desire to visit the Museum is every-
where awakened. More than that those who come are prepared by these
lectures to appreciate the importance and the meaning of its priceless col-
lections.
The Museum and the public lecture add to the joy of life as well as to
the knowledge of life. They teach that knowledge is not alone a means of
livelihood but a means of life. Both are doing their share to increase the
number of those who take delight in nature and its wonders; who find
genuine recreation in it; who find a solace when sorrow comes; who become
strengthened to resist temptation.
Many of the greatest men of science have come from the humblest
surroundings. The immortal Faraday, while attending a course of lectures
by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution, caught the inspiration
which determined his future career. So may other men arise to benefit
the world, who shall have been directed to their career through the combined
influences of the museum and the public lecture.
A WORD OF CONGRATULATION FROM PRESIDENT JOHN H.
FINLEY OF THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
HE development of the Museum of Natural History as a vital force
in the community is most gratifying. It is persuading the past
to help the present and compelling both through its guidance of
public opinion to make living under urban conditions better in the future.
I am particularly grateful for what the Museum is doing toward bringing
within the reach of the schools and higher equivalent institutions the advan-
tages of the institution as far as possible. The Museum is no longer accu-
rately defined as a “repository’’; it is a great living teacher.
220
ABSORBED IN STUDY OF THE METEORITES
‘‘Many of the greatest men of science have come from the humblest
So may other men arise to benefit the world, who shall have been directed
through the combined influences of the museum and the public lecture”
surroundings. ...
.to their career
221
With the pelicans. The Museum is a wonder world of true stories for the younger children
who are brought to the Museum by the boys and girls of school years
Studying the home'life within an Indian tipi. As one walks about the Museum, he can but
remark the large numbers of children eagerly recording what they see or copying facts from labels.
The sight is a spur to the Museum to give its exhibits a still more civic trend, a still more human
touch and to make its labels tell more fully and simply just what the child wishes to know and
should know
999
THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE
By Henry Fairfield Osborn
OR the American Museum this is Teachers’ Year, and our energies
are for the time turned chiefly in the direction of making the insti-
tution a more vital part of the great free civic educational system
in which New York is destined to lead the world. To set this forth we have
prepared an educational map, which shows what our City offers as a whole
in its combined schools and libraries, in science, literature and art; no
other city in the world offers so much or offers it so generously. I wish we
could afford to put this map into the hands of every teacher and every
pupil, for study of what might be called the “ geography of things worth
seeing and worth doing.”” To show more clearly what may be seen in this
Museum we are also issuing to-day a new Guide Book to all the exhibits.
In Pittsburgh recently I was delighted to meet a party of San Francisco
public school boys who had worked their way east through all the great cities,
and to learn that while in New York they had spent the greater part of their
time in the Natural History Museum, in the Zodlogical Park and at the
Aquarium. This little incident in itself proves that we have already ad-
vanced far along educational lines; but we are still not satisfied, and Director
Lueas and the Scientific Staff are concentrating their time and attention
for three or four months on the practical and very difficult problem of eluci-
dation of all the exhibition halls. You have little idea in walking through
these halls what labor they have involved, what sacrifices men have made
and are making for them to-day in all parts of the world, how much the
workers in this Museum are attached to what may be called the spirit of
the institution — namely, the desire to extend the call and vision of Nature.
We realize that teachers cannot all be specialists, that we must make
many of our special collections more readily understood by you, if you in
turn are to bring your pupils here and explain objects and principles to
them. In so far as we draw on public funds, public education is our chief
and final purpose; toward this all our plans tend; for this the City erects
the great building and gives the larger part of the maintenance; for this
the Trustees and other friends give their time and means; for this members
of the Scientific Staff are exploring in all parts of the world, collecting and
arranging objects of natural history constantly inventing new methods to
attract and to impress visitors, young and old.
Very few people, even among those who have the means to travel, really
see Nature in the sense of understanding it, and to the millions within the
cities Nature is practically unknown. So we are interpreters; Wwe are
trying to tell in a very simple way the laws which the greatest minds have
wrestled with from the earliest times, and we are also trying to add to these
223
224 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
laws, for it is part of the genius of the institution to create new knowledge
as well as to spread it. This gradual elucidation of the deep and difficult
is to my mind one of the most marvelous features in the growth of science.
Some great law is first in the will of the Creator, then, like the light of a
star so distant that it takes ages to reach the earth, it reaches the mind
of some great naturalist, and finally it comes down, down, down to the
vision of the very youngest. And the best way to learn one of these laws
is to see it in operation; this is far better than to read about it, for what
is seen becomes part of oneself.
In the development of our halls there is a constant effort to shut out the
human artificial element, to bring the visitor directly under the spell of
Nature, as under a great and infinitely gifted teacher, by making every case,
every exhibit, tell some clear and simple story which appeals at once to the
imagination, to the reasoning instinct and to the heart.
There are three especial ends we are endeavoring to advance this year:
first, to bring within your grasp the scope of the Museum as a whole; second,
the particular meaning and lesson of each of its parts; third, how this mean-
ing may best be impressed on the young mind. I believe strongly that the
average child is a better nature observer than the average adult, and if you
let children alone they will see a great deal. Thus there are one or two
suggestions which I would make from more than thirty years of experience
as a teacher: first, look at the object and get all you can out of it yourself,
then read about it; second, try to make the child work out the reason of
things before you work it out for him. In brief, nearly all the works and
processes of man are complex, and one great lesson we have to learn from
Nature is its simplicity. Here are to be seen simple lessons in animal and
plant architecture, in beauty, in government, in codperation, in endurance.
Among the insects, the ants, bees and wasps lead wonderful lives, not alone
in their industry; we may consider all their ways and be wise. The moral
lessons, much needed for our day and generation, to be learned in the Habitat
Groups of Birds are endless — the maternal and paternal love, the happy
family life of the young, the joy of living, the beauty of their homes. Many
of the so-called savages shown in this Museum can teach us far more than
the so-called civilized peoples — their industry, their patience, their sense of
beauty which adds the esthetic touch to all their implements, often their
integrity, their courage, their fidelity.
Nature study in the school and in the open already has hosts of friends;
it is no longer on trial, it is an established system. Nature study in the
museum is a newer part of the same educational movement. The great
museum can, however, do what neither school, college, nor even the uni-
versit y can; it can bring a vision of the whole world of nature, a vision which
THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE 220
cannot be given in books, in classrooms or in laboratories. This is a branch
of public education which is especially urgent in a great city, crowded with
the works of man, and where except for the nightly vision of the heavens
obscured by smoke and dust, and the altered wild life of our parks, the works
of Nature are totally destroyed.
Our future ideal for the Museum is to provide at no cost a little journey
on this planet and among the heavens beyond it. Our ideal of museum
order is to pass, by a natural and easily seen sequence, from country to
country as you would in travel, or from age to age in the past history of
the earth, or from lower to higher stages of life in the history of animals
and plants. This is what we are working toward although it is by no means
attained. We propose to add astronomy, and geography of the land and
of the sea to the older and traditional subjects of the museum. Already the
child can see here what Aristotle dreamt of but never saw, and what Darwin
and Huxley put into prophecy but did not live to see.
We want the teachers of New York to feel that this Museum is part
of their educational plant, we want their codperation, their suggestions,
and their frequent presence.
GROUP
MOOSE
THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS STUDYING
FROM THE
A CLASS
226
more accurately and more sympathetically
broadly,
children more
fail to make
animal life cannot
portrayal of
study of a truthful and attractive
The
educated
EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL SPIRIT IN MUSEUMS
By Frederic A. Lucas
The motto of the American Museum is ‘For the People, For Education, For Science’
and the institution has ever striven to live up to that motto. Hampered somewhat at first
by the bonds of heredity and tradition it was the first museum in this country to plan exhibits
for the public alone; it has been a leader in the cause of education and has ever tried to set
an example for sister institutions to follow
USEUMS were not educational at the outset. Not only this, the
benefit of the public was something that did not enter into the
thought of their founders. For museums had their origin in the
collections of paintings, statuary, and other objects of art, brought together
by men of wealth to gratify their love of the beautiful, or in collections of
natural objects and “curios” gathered mainly too by men of wealth, to
gratify their desire to know something of the life of distant lands. Then
came collections brought together by scientific societies with a real desire
to foster knowledge, although mainly of benefit to a few individuals, and
then the museum, opened to the public on the payment of a fee and quite
as much for the amusement of visitors as for their instruction.
Yet we must not forget that Peale the artist, a contemporary of Wash-
ington, conducted one of these semi-popular, semi-scientific museums and
that in many ways his ideas of the educational possibilities of museums
were quite in accord with those held to-day. At a time when public schools
were just springing into existence and free libraries did not exist at all,
the establishment of free museums could not be expected, the more that
according to the views of some the public museum is the latest and high-
est, though by no means last, institution for public education. First we
have public schools, then libraries and now the museum. The opening of
the Louvre to the populace seems to have been the first really free public
museum and this was rather an expression of the fierce demand for “ Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity” than done with a deliberate intent to benefit
the people.
Love of beauty precedes the love of knowledge, so the opening of the
Louvre preceded the opening of the British Museum. To us the view
then taken of the conduct of a free museum is somewhat amusing. When
we do not have at least five hundred visitors a day at the American Museum
we begin to worry lest the public is losing interest or our collections ceasing
to be attractive; and yet at the outset the number of visitors that might
enter the British Museum in one day was limited to thirty. We not infre-
quently have an attendance of one thousand to twelve hundred at one
of our lectures. Under the old regime it would have taken that audience
an entire year to pass through the British Museum.
Little by little this state of affairs has changed. The public was first
permitted, then invited, then heartily welcomed to enter the museum.
227
228 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Also as the attitude of museums has changed, so has the character of their
collections, or to be exact, the character of the part the public sees and in
which it is interested — the exhibits.
The museums of fifty years ago or even much less were rather dreary
affairs compared with those of the present day. The visitor was greeted
by row upon row of animals, most literally stuffed, arrayed in ranks and
accompanied by labels whose principal mission was to convey to the public
what to them is a most unimportant matter, the scientific names.
The aim of the modern museum is to illustrate ideas, not merely to
display objects, to take the facts or information gathered by long years of
patient study and so present them that they may be understood by everyone.
More than that it aims to present these facts in such manner as to interest
the visitor, having come to understand that if you cannot interest him you
cannot instruct him. For the average museum visitor does not come in
search of knowledge but to be interested, and “rational amusement’’ was
long ago counted as one of the purposes of a public museum. So instead of
a host of beasts, birds, and fishes marshalled in serried cohorts we have our
groups showing not only what the creatures are, but where they live and
what they do. In our ethnological halls you see not only the objects used
by strange and far-off peoples, but the people themselves engaged in the
occupations of everyday life.
We have our Children’s Room though this is merely in its beginning,
our lectures, our guides to the collections, all with the purpose of making
the collections of real use to visitors.
These things have not come to pass all at once; they have come about
as a part of the evolution of museums, for there is an evolution of ideas
and institutions, as well as of living things. I can recall every step in the
progress of the American Museum; I have seen it change from a mere
storehouse of objects to a great educational institution.
Dr. Goode of the National Museum used to say that the aims of a
record, research, and publication: record by the
museum were three
preservation of objects, research by their study, and publication by giving
to the world the information thus gained. Had Dr. Goode been spared
but a few years longer, he would have added to the above mentioned pur-
poses of a museum the further aim, education of the public. And let me
say here that no one in this country did more than he to further the educa-
tional influence of museums and that his loss was a great calamity.
An educational museum may be defined as a museum in which the
objects shown, the manner in which they are arranged, and their accom-
panying labels illustrate some fact in nature or in the history of mankind
in such manner that it may readily be grasped by all, and this is what
the American Museum is endeavoring to be for the public.
PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE: EDUCATOR
ONE OF THE ORIGINATORS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
ALSO THE ORGANIZER AND FIRST CURATOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
PUBLIC EDUCATION
By Edmund Otis Hovey
ORTY-NINE years ago (1862) there came to New York from the
inspiring atmosphere of the laboratory of Louis Agassiz at Harvard
University a young man with an idea — to establish in the metropo-
lis of the country a museum of natural history worthy the name and the
fame of the whole United States, one that should grow with the growth of
the nation. That young man was Albert S. Bickmore, born of sea-faring
family on the coast of Maine, brought up amid the inducements to nature
study furnished by the ocean, the beach and the virgin forest, and educated
at Dartmouth College. Directly after graduation with the class of 1860,
he became a student under and later an assistant of the great naturalist
Louis Agassiz. The conversations between Agassiz and the noted scien-
tists of this country and Europe that took place in the famous laboratory
were listened to with keen interest by young Bickmore, and were a means
of broadening the youthful student’s point of view. These and other
experiences led to the conception of founding and building up a great
museum in New York. The idea was broached to Professor Asa Gray,
but he discouraged it through the feeling that New York was too commercial
in character to appreciate and support such an institution. On the other
hand, Dr. Jules Marcou, a famous geologist who was then residing in Cam-
bridge, favored the plan most heartily and showed his practical interest
in the museum as finally developed by bequeathing to it his extensive and
valuable library of geological works and maps. ‘The real impetus however
came from a fortunate hour spent with Sir H. W. D. Acland, then the fore-
most naturalist and museum man of England, who heartily endorsed the
young student’s scheme.
Nine months’ service in the Union army in 1862-1863 interrupted these
plans, although part of the soldier naturalist’s time was utilized in collecting
mollusks for his famous teacher, but neither New York nor the country
was ready for the launching of the museum project, and after the mustering
out of his regiment Bickmore returned to his studies and work at the Agassiz
Museum. An opportunity to go to the Far East on an exploration cruise
was eagerly embraced, and three years, 1865 to 1868, were spent most
profitably in China, Japan, Siberia and the Dutch East Indies.
Meanwhile sentiment in New York was ripening for undertaking the
enterprise. Mr. W. A. Haines, who had the largest private collection of
229
Through his work as first Curator of the Department of
‘ium was built to accommodate the large numbers in attendance
-six years.
IN THE AUDITORIUM OF THE MUSEUM
Au
present
0 the
BICKMORE
PROFESSOR ALBERT S.
-rofessor Bickmore’s services for a period of more than thirty
a
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PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE 251
shells in the country, Mr. D. Jackson Steward, whose collection was smaller
but very choice, and Mr. Robert L. Stuart, who had many rare books, a
good collection of shells and an excellent series of mineralogical specimens,
with other public-spirited men, had striven in 1865 to raise funds for the
proper support of the Lyceum of Natural History of the City of New York
(now known as the New York Academy of Sciences) and the erection of a
building for the housing of its large and valuable collections. The effort
had been unsuccessful, in spite of the fact that for nearly fifty years the
Lyceum had maintained in this city a natural history museum of much
merit and considerable reputation. The following year, 1866, the building
of the University Medical College in Fourteenth Street, in which the
Lyceum collections were stored, was burned and its contents destroyed.
The field therefore was clear for the establishment of a new museum which
should have no connection with any existing society and should be devoted
wholly to the promotion of natural history by means of research and the
display of specimens. What was imperative was the advent of a man of
science possessing the inspiration and energy required for bringing together
the men interested in the subject and organizing the whole project.
The opportunity fell to Albert S. Bickmore, who while on his journey
in the East had corresponded actively with Mr. William KE. Dodge, 2d.,
with constant reference to the ultimate establishment of a natural history
museum, Mr. Dodge and Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. being particularly
interested in such a project. When Mr. Bickmore returned the war was
over; the North had entered on a period of great prosperity; men of affairs
had become used to the thought of large enterprises involving the expendi-
ture of great sums of money, and the young naturalist himself was better
equipped than before for developing and pushing plans for a really great
museum. He had the boundless enthusiasm of youth and the buoyancy
of a wonderfully sanguine disposition. He was full of his subject and by
reason of his very enthusiasm New York’s men of means were forced to
listen to the poor young man from Maine. In season and out of season
the museum project was brought forward, until in the autumn of 1S68 were
held the first informal conferences at the residences of Mr. W. A. Haines,
Mr. Benjamin H. Field and Mr. Robert Colgate, that led to the sending
of a letter! to the Commissioners of Central Park offering to procure a
certain rare and valuable collection as the nucleus of a museum of natural
history if the Commissioners would provide for its reception and develop-
ment. This offer was accepted over the signature of Andrew H. Green,
‘This letter was signed by Messrs. James Brown, A. T. Stewart, B. H. Field, Adrian
Iselin, R. L. Stuart, M. O. Roberts, Theodore Roosevelt, George Bliss, M. K. Jesup, W. T.
Blodgett, J. D. Wolfe, Robert Colgate, I. N. Phelps, L. P. Morton, W. A. Haines, J. P.
Morgan, A. G. P. Dodge, D. J. Steward and Howard Potter.
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
to
to
then Comptroller of the Park, and cn the 19th of January, 1869, a meeting
was held at the home of Mr. Benjamin H. Field. This meeting, when the
first Board of Trustees was chosen, is considered the actual foundation of
the American Museum of Natural History.
The draft of the present charter was drawn up by Hon. Joseph H.
Choate and accepted without change at the next meeting. When the
question arose as to the manner of raising the money for the running ex-
penses of the institution, it was Professor Bickmore who suggested the plan
which has worked so well that it has since been adopted for other institutions,
whereby the municipality provides the ground and the buildings and pays
a certain sum per year toward “maintenance,” which includes salaries and
wages, heat, light, power and repairs, while the collections are owned in the
name of the trustees of the institution and are increased by the expenditure
of special and general funds provided for through their efforts. Professor
Bickmore also was the one who made the happy suggestion that the word
“American” be included in the name of the institution, thus indicating
its national scope, and it was he to whom was intrusted the delicate and
important mission of presenting to the State legislature the bill incorporat-
ing the museum. Through the influence of the Hon. Samuel J. Tilden
and Senator William M. Tweed the bill was passed exactly on the broad
lines devised by the founders. In later years Professor Bickmore was an
important agent of the Trustees in getting Manhattan Square reserved
exclusively for the purposes of the Museum, in changing the course of the
transverse road through Central Park so that it ended at West Eighty-
first Street instead of at West Seventy-ninth Street, as originally projected,
in procuring the establishment of a carriage entrance to Central Park at
West Seventy-seventh Street, and in obtaining through the legislature
appropriations from the city for one section after another of the Museum
building till seven integral portions of the great structure were completed.
As first superintendent of the Museum — 1869 to 1884 — Professor Bick-
more was constantly in touch with the Trustees in perfecting their plans.
Thus his impress was made upon the dimensions and general plan of the
complete building, the proportions, lighting and original casing of the first
section (now known as the North Wing) and he was concerned with the
acquisition and first installation of many of the early collections. On May 11,
1885 he was elected to the Board of Trustees.
The general public came to be most familiar with Professor Bickmore’s
connection with the Museum through the Department of Public Instruc-
tion, organized in 1880 at his suggestion for the purpose primarily of famil-
iarizing the teachers of the public schools with the collections on exhibition
by means of lectures ‘Ilustrated with specimens and lantern slides. From
PROFESSOR ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE 230
the humble beginning in 1S81 the lecture courses rapidly grew in importance
until in ISS4 State aid was given to this feature of the Museum work,
greatly extending its scope and value. In 1889 a small lecture hall was
provided where the present foyer is, and finally appropriations were ob-
tained for the construction of the lower portion of the great central tower
designed to be the dominant feature of the completed building. | The new
section was devoted exclusively to an auditorium seating fourteen hundred
persons and was opened with appropriate exercises, October 30, 1900. In
the four lecture seasons succeeding this date, Professor Bickmore addressed
many thousands of people here, but in the spring of 1904 ill health forced
him to retire from the platform and from active participation in the
affairs of the institution to which his energies had been unsparingly devoted
for more than thirty-six years.
THE CHILDREN HAVE FAVORITE EXHIBITS
THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF
NATURAL HISTORY
By Maurice A. Bigelow
Professor of Biology, Teachers College, Columbia University
HE most discouraging fact concerning our boasted modern science is
that its great teachings full of meaning for daily life are so slowly
filtering down from the investigators to even many well-educated
people, not to mention the great masses with limited or no formal education.
We need a rapid expansion of facilities for the promulgation of scientific
knowledge among the people. This means a movement along two lines:
first, there should be greater attention paid to science teaching in schools
and colleges; and second, there is need of a science extension system reaching
out to those who have already passed beyond the direct control of regular
educational institutions. In both of these lines science museums have an
opportunity for playing an important part. They may be valuable supple-
mentary aids to the science studies in educational institutions, and they
may be the people’s university of science for the diffusion of scientific
knowledge among those not directly reached by teachers.
Now it must be evident to even a superficial observer that in order to
be of such educational value, a science museum must be far different from
the old-time collection of natural objects arranged systematically. There
must be a limited amount of systematic arrangement, for some idea of
system is an essential part of scientific education, but the great view of
modern science which the general public needs is only in very small part
taxonomic. It must, on the contrary, be chiefly a view of science in relation
to modern life in its combined intellectual, practical and esthetic outlook.
Therefore a science museum with educational aims must be planned to
present the great principles (such as evolution) which make an intellectual
appeal; it must teach the applications of science te practical life (that is,
germ diseases, economic animals and plants); and it must increase the
esthetic appreciation of nature and nature’s processes.
Such are the chief opinions as to the educational functions of a science
museum as seen by an outsider who is interested in nature study and general
science with reference to popular educational movements. Such views lead
to recognizing that museums have two distinct functions, one the scientific
work looking toward an increase in the sum total of knowledge, and the
other concerned with selecting and diffusing among citizens young and old
the main facts and ideas wherein science definitely touches human life.
This means that we need either separate museums of two types, or two
organizations within one museum. Obviously the latter is the ideal and
234
EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 235
economical plan, for numerous specimens may at the same time serve both
scientific and educational ends, and the specialists attracted by opportunity
for scientific work may also be excellent directors of the educational activi-
ties in their own lines.
If I were requested to name a museum which illustrates in its working
the above ideas regarding educational functions and organization, | should
at once think of the American Museum of Natural History as of far greater
value in public education than any other of the great natural history mu-
seums of America and Europe. In no other museum have I been able to
find so much evidence that the administrative authorities are deeply inter-
ested in public educational problems. This is shown in many ways, in four
very prominently: First and most strikingly in the immense number of
specimens mounted and arranged so as to emphasize the points of greatest
interest to the general public. Splendid examples of this are the bird
groups, certain groups in the vertebrate palzeontological halls, and the
Darwin Hall. Another evidence is shown by the method of labeling.
The value of an exhibit depends largely upon explanatory labels. A museum
with simply the names on specimens does not deserve to be classed as of
noteworthy educational value. The third important evidence is found
in the very liberal space allotted to specimens and groups of specimens
which are likely to be of popular interest. To reduce the interest of the
non-scientific visitor there is nothing so successful as crowding specimens
into cases and cases into limited floor space. The few dozen bird groups
set prominently in open spaces at the American Museum mean more to the
general public than would a very great number of such groups crowded
together in order to exhibit a complete ornithological collection. And
lastly, the fourth evidence that the American Museum is interested in
public education lies in its direct attention to the teachers and students
of nature study and biology of the New York City public schools. This
would have been considered by an old-time curator as an unpardonable
digression from the proper work of a museum.
This development of the American Museum during the past ten years
into an efficient educational institution is a matter to which New Yorkers
are just awaking. And it would seem that the educational greatness of the
Museum has only begun. With coming new buildings and above all with
improved transit arrangements which will make the building more readily
accessible from all parts of the greater city, the American Museum is sure
to develop into full completeness its possibilities as a great educational
institution in addition to its function as a scientific one.
CORDIAL RECOGNITION OF THE MUSEUM’S WORK
I Museum anp HicH ScHOOL UNITED FOR HEALTH AND ECONOMIC
WELFARE
By George W. Hunter
Teacher of Biology in the De Witt Clinton High School
S a high school teacher of biology I cannot speak with sufficient praise
of the work of co6dperation already in force between the American
Museum and New York City high schools. Our courses in biology
have decidedly a civic trend, biology being applied in its relation to human
welfare and especially to the welfare of the citizen of New York. The
collections then which bear on the health and economic welfare of the nation
are the collections which we as high school teachers most use.
The value of the Museum to us is threefold: first, in our study of collec-
tions at the Museum; second, in attendance on lectures which fit into our
course, and third, in the use of loan collections.
Under the first heading the De Witt Clinton High School plans several
trips during the year; one for the general survey of the Animal Kingdom —
for this purpose the synoptic collection in the Darwin Hall is used; then a
trip to the insect collections for the economic relation of insects, the mosquito
models in the Darwin Hall being used for this also. A third very important
trip has heen worked out for the bird groups which are used to teach the
meaning of adaptation.
To a less extent we use the collections of mammals of New York State,
the fishes and the Jesup Collection of Woods. One of the greatest aids
will come when the new department of hygiene prepares its exhibits. Last
year, for example, we visited the Sewerage Commission Exhibit and listened
to an admirable lecture on sewage disposal. That kind of coéperation counts
much for the making of citizens.
Il. Tue Museum INCREASINGLY HELPFUL FOR TEN YEARS
By Lillian Belle Sage
Teacher of Biology in the Washington Irving High School
INCE my connection with the New York City schools in February
1902, we have in various ways used the Museum with relation to
the biology work. For two years we arranged a regular course of
lectures at the Museum, the Museum authorities giving us the use of the
lantern, someone to run it, and the use of some room. So popular did the
lectures become that a third year we joined the other high schools of the
236
Studying the sugar maple in the Forestry Hall. Much of the education of the Museum
leads directly to interests in country life
City and had a series of lectures given by officers of the Museum, and the
auditorium was crowded. We found however that to listen to a lecture
and visit the Museum itself in one day was not satisfactory, so for the past
two years we have had each class visit the Museum three times during the
year. A teacher always accompanies the class and each pupil before starting
out is supplied with a set of questions which are to be answered from observa-
tions made there. I find this method most successful for we go directly to
work with questions, specimens, note-book and pencil and no time is lost.
Our first-term students visit the Jesup Collection of Woods; those of
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the second term make two trips, one
for insects and a second for birds
and comparative work on vertebrate
skeletons. The girls write an ac-
count of their visit and their papers
are discussed in class the day follow-
ing. It must be said that the
collection showing life _ histories,
economic value and relationship of
insects could not be improved for
the purpose of supplementing our
teaching, and that the new frog
group is one of the best exhibits in
the whole Museum as adapted for
high school
correlation with our
biology.
The Museum has loaned to our
school cases of insects, birds and
invertebrates, which we have found
of great value. A set of pictures,
prepared under the direction of Dr.
Winslow, was loaned to us last year
and we used it with more than six
hundred girls. The pictures showed
plainly the common carriers of
disease and how infectious diseases
‘an be prevented.
In my last visit I brought a
blind girl and enough cannot be said
of the assistance she received.
mammals and birds about which she had read and heard.
“Our own hands are almost as likely to
carry disease germs as are those of anyone
else, for in the day they touch a hundred
things which someone else may have in-
This is why the thorough washing
before eating is so neces-
fected.
of the hands
sary.’ [From circulating school chart]
She gained her first accurate idea of the
The Washington
Irving biology girls soon get the “ Museum habit,” for once their attention
is directed there, they go often and interest others, especially members of
their own family.
Ill. THe Museum a LABORATORY FOR CLASSES
By Anna M. Clark
Head of Department of Nature Study and Science, The New York Training School
for Teachers
HE studies made by our students at the Museum are a very important
part of our nature study course.
Four class trips at least each
year are made for the purpose of studying the invertebrate groups
in Darwin Hall and the birds, insects and minerals.
239
240 THE AMERICAN -MUSEUM JOURNAL
The Museum gives a far broader view than it is possible for students to
get from their own outdoor experiences or from such collections as the
school provides. A carefully planned museum lesson, calling for the
solution of definite problems, affords the benefits usually following any
laboratory work.
We have used the Habitat Groups of Birds to show types of bird life in
various parts of the world and how birds are adapted to different environ-
ments; the insect collections chiefly in connection with the study of econo-
mic forms. We have used the collection of precious stones to show forms
of unusual beauty in which many common minerals occur, and the collection
of New York City rocks and minerals to aid in the identification of such
minerals as we ourselves find about the city as well as to supplement our
observation work on them.
IV. How OnE Crowpep HicH ScHOOL USES THE MusEum!
By James L. Peabody
Teacher of Biology in the Morris High School
VER since the Morris High School was organized in 1897 its biology
teachers have found the American Museum a most valuable source
of instruction and enjoyment. In the early days before the numbers
of students in our classes became so great, most of the teachers of biology
went to the Museum with each division of students to study trees, or birds,
or insects, or skeletons. Not only did this study supplement the work of
classroom instruction, but it also furnished the best of opportunities for the
teacher to know personally the boys and girls in his classes.
With the increased complexity in school organization those class trips
have become more and more impracticable, and we have therefore set apart
two days in each half-year for biological excursions to the American Museum.
On Friday of the week devoted to school examinations, the four to five
hundred boys and girls in Biology II (Animal and Human Biology) go to
the Museum on a special train provided by the Interborough, accompanied
by the ten teachers of biology. They assemble in the large lecture hall,
where they listen to an illustrated lecture on the characteristics and eco-
nomic importance of birds with methods of bird protection. A definite
study is then made of the bird groups and of the various types of animals
in Darwin Hall, the students being guided by an outline which they fill in
1 Mr. Peabody furnished with this statement of the work of biology classes in the Morris
High School, copies of the outlines used and questions to be answered in the Museum lessons
on woods, birds and invertebrates. These seem of such practical value and general interest
that it is regretted lack of space prevents their publication in the JourNnaLt.— The Editor
THE MUSEUM AND THE HIGH SCHOOL 241]
and file with the teachers on leaving the Museum. At school the next two
or more days are devoted toa discussion of the lecture and the observations
made of the animal groups. In a similar manner, on Monday of Regents’
week, the five to six hundred pupils in Biology I (Plant Biology) meet in the
lecture hall and listen to a lecture on“ Forests and Forest Preservation.”
The remainder of the morning is devoted to a study of the Jesup Collection
of North American Trees, when the students fill in the blanks of an outline.
Certainly the public schools of New York City will do all they can to
develop appreciation of the enjoyment and knowledge furnished so prodi-
gally by the world’s greatest museum for popular instruction.
Pupils from the High School of Commerce before the malarial mosquito exhibit
In a museum the visitor may seek out that subject in which he is most interested and
thus lay a foundation for a life work or recreation
Classes from the High School of Commerce visit the Museum not only for the subject
matter of the exhibit but also for a study of methods, the work of glass blower, clay and
wax modeler and of other craftsmen in the preparation laboratories
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM AND EDUCATION
A SERIES OF SIX ARTICLES BY MEMBERS OF THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF OF THE
MUSEUM ON CERTAIN PHASES OF THE INSTITUTION'S EQUIPMENT FOR
EDUCATIONAL WORK
I. COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
A system of Museum Extension in loan collections and lectures and provision within
the building for expert guidance and instruction of classes
By George H. Sherwood
HILE education is the fundamental principle underlying all
modern museum exhibition and the collections of the American
Museum from its foundation have been a source of infor-
mation to teachers, certain definite steps have been taken within the last
ten years to bring about a closer relation between the Museum and the pub-
lic schools. To carry out this purpose, especial facilities are offered
teachers and pupils in order that they may have the freest use possible
of the educational material which the Museum possesses.
The introduction of nature study into the courses of study of the public
schools, combined with the growing general interest in out-of-door life, has
given the Museum an opportunity through its circulating collections to
become of much practical use to the teachers.
Using as a guide the syllabus of nature study issued by the Board of
Education, the Museum prepared some years ago several hundred collections
242 Awaiting their turn to enter for a lecture
; wore ‘
Ee ee
of natural history specimens for circu-
lation in the pubue schools of New
York. The purpose of these collections
was to place in the hands of the teach-
ers the material that was needed to
present properly the subject of nature
study.
Each collection is accompanied by a
leaflet giving facts on the structure,
habits and characteristics of the par-
ticular species in the collection. These
notes are necessarily brief and are in-
tended chiefly as suggestions to teachers.
A bibliography of the subjects treated is
appended to each set of notes.
From small beginnings this work
has grown until to-day nearly four hun-
dred schools, some of which are twenty-
five miles from the Museum, are receiv-
ing the collections regularly. At the
present time the circulating collections
that are available for loan to schools
and the grades to which each is adapted
are as follows:
Native Birds. Adapted for Grades 1A-4B
Schools to visit a special exhibit
at the Museum
Owl Set — Containing owl, chickadee, nuthatch, song sparrow, kinglet
Blue Jay Set — Containing blue jay, woodpecker, crossbill, junco, English sparrow
Robin Set — Containing robin, red-winged blackbird, oriole, meadow-lark, chipping
sparrow
Bluebird Set — Containing bluebird, phoebe, barn swallow, house wren, chimney
swift
Tanager Set — Containing scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, goldfinch, humming-
bird, pigeon
Insects. Adapted for Grades 2A—5A
Containing cynthia and cecropia moths, monarch butterfly, ete., and typical repre-
sentatives of the different groups of insects
Special Insects. Adapted for Grades 2A—5A
Containing life history of cecropia moth, development of monarch butterfly, life
and work of honey-bee and household insects
Mollusks. Adapted for Grades 4A-5A
Containing shells of about twenty-five mollusks, including specimens of the oyster
clam and chambered nautilus
243
244 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
Crabs. Adapted for Grade 6A
Containing relatives of the common blue crabs
Starfishes and Worms, Adapted for Grades 4A and 5A
Containing typical species of the two groups
Sponges and Corals. Adapted for Grades 4A and 5A
Containing about fifteen species of corals and their relatives
Minerals and Rocks. Adapted for Grades 3B and 4A
Containing twenty specimens of minerals and building stones.
Native Woods. Adapted for Grades 2A and 5B
Containing elm, hickory, oak, maple, white birch, ailantus, sweet-gum, sour-gum,
chestnut, sycamore. Specimens show cross, longitudinal and oblique
sections of the wood, characteristic bark, annual rings, etc.
The method by which the teacher obtains the collections has been made
as simple as possible. The Museum furnishes blanks upon which principals
make application for the collections and at the same time indicate the
sequence desired. Delivery is then made by the Museum messengers who
call again at the end of the loan period, i. e. every three or four weeks,
and make the second delivery. The wisdom of making these collections
loans instead of gifts has been repeatedly demonstrated. This method
keeps the Museum in frequent touch with the teachers and enables us to
understand their needs better.
It is of course at the Museum that we are prepared to extend more
varied aid to the teachers. To facilitate the work of reaching the Museum,
the Museum in coéperation with its sister institutions of the city, has
issued a large map of New York City showing the locations of free educa-
tional institutions and the main transportation routes by which they are
reached. A copy of this map has been presented by the contributing
institutions to every public school in the city and its examination will
simplify the task of visiting the Museum.
By making an appointment a few days prior to the visit to the Museum
an instructor will be provided who will guide the teacher and her pupils
through the halls, calling attention to the lessons taught by the exhibits.
Such visits may also be arranged in series to supplement classroom work
and may be preceded or followed with lectures by the instructor on the
subject under study. Through the aid of the instructor classes are enabled
to make the best use of the time spent at the Museum.
In some instances teachers prefer to give their pupils special talks or
lectures. For this purpose the Museum has several small classrooms
equipped with chairs, tables, blackboards and stereopticon which will be
reserved on request. In one of these rooms a teacher would be as much
undisturbed as in her regular schoolroom.
The Museum possesses more than thirty-five thousand lantern slides,
of which about twelve thousand are colored. The field parties which the
Museum is sending to remote parts of the earth bring back photographic
COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 245
material, which enables us to make continual additions to this series of
slides. The views illustrate plant life, animal life, industries, customs of
people, and physical geography. While these slides cannot be loaned for
use outside the building, teachers may select slides to illustrate a desired
lecture which may be delivered in one of the Museum’s classrooms.
It is from this source of supply that we draw the material to illustrate
the informal lectures which are given to school children. These courses
were first suggested by the New York City Teachers’ Association in 1904.
Since that time they have been given regularly in the spring and fall. The
subjects are chosen with especial reference to the courses of study given in
the syllabuses for history, geography or nature study, and are designed to
supplement the classroom work of the teachers. Announcements of our
courses of lectures are mailed
to principals, and teachers
file reservations for seats in
the Auditorium on blanks fur-
nished by the Museum.
The broad scope of the
educational work of the Mu-
seum is Indicated in the action
of the Trustees in recently
authorizing the equipment of
a room especially reserved
for the use of the blind. As
yet only a small beginning
has been made, but speci-
mens of animals and Indian
implements have already
been set aside and labeled
in raised type. The devel-
opment of this feature of the
Museum’s activity has been
amply provided for through
the bequest of Phebe Anna
Thorne and the generosity of
her executors, who have en-
dowed the work as a memo-
Two compartments of a traveling case showing
junco and blue jay on their way to the children of
It is safe to say that no some primary school. The Museum has prepared
several hundred traveling cases of birds
rial to Jonathan Thorne.
visitors to the Museum ob-
tain a greater enjoyment from the collections than do the various groups
of blind people, who may often be seen in the exhibition halls.
II. FOSSIL VERTEBRATES —WHAT THEY TEACH
By W. D. Matthew
“The plan of the department [of Vertebrate Palzontology] as outlined by Professor
Osborn in the Annual Report for 1892, was to...present a historical development of the
Evolution of the Mammals in North America. It was expanded subsequently to cover the
evolution of the vertebrata in general, but its chief aim. .. has been to present the Evolution of
the Land Vertebrates, primarily of North America, but incidentally of other parts of the world.”’
Extract from the History, Plan and Scope of the American Museum of Natural History
HE history of vertebrate life in North America: this is the funda-
mental concept in the exhibits of fossil vertebrates which occupy
three great halls on the fourth floor, east wing, of the Museum.
Paleontology, it has been said, is but history writ large. It is the
history not merely of man, but of all life, projected backward into a dim
past whose distance dwarfs to insignificance the few centuries of recorded
human events. In the history of mankind the modern view no longer
regards it as a mere chronicle of successive events and disconnected episodes,
but seeks to trace the orderly and continuous development of primitive
races and conditions into the complex and elaborate civilizations of the
present day. The rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms, the progress
and decline of races, their migrations and interaction on each other, the
qualities of mind and body and conditions of circumstance and environment
which bring about the sequence of historical events, all play their part both
as cause and effect, and each event is considered in relation to the causes
which preceded and the effects which followed it.
So too in this larger history which traces the orderly development of life
through the vast periods of geologic time. The continuity of life, and its
evolution under the impulse and control of natural law from primitive
beginnings to its present variety and complexity — the doctrine of evolu-
tion in its broader sense — is the keynote of modern paleontology.
In a historical museum we expect to find the documents, or some of
them, on which history is based. Some of the more important are on
exhibition, arranged and labeled so as to show what they mean. Most of
the records and documents are preserved in storage, catalogued and arranged
and made accessible to students. So with the documents of paleontology,
the fossil skeletons, teeth and bones which record the former existence of
animals now extinct, and the earlier history of the races which now people
the earth. The more important specimens are placed on exhibition and
are provided with labels and diagrams. The great mass of the material
is in storage, accessible to scientific students.
The three large halls devoted to fossil vertebrates represent in a broad
way successive geologic eras as marked out by their dominant forms of life.
In the central hall are placed the mammoth and mastodon, the great
ground sloths and other extinct giants of the Age of Man, with whom our
prehistoric ancestors disputed the dominion of the earth.
246
FOSSIL VERTEBRATES—WHAT THEY TEACH 247
To the east is the Tertiary Mammal Hall showing the evolution of the
different races of modern quadrupeds during the Age of Mammals, before
man had emerged from the obscurity of his pre-human existence. Here
in successive alcoves are paleontological “documents” which illustrate
the past history of the different kinds of modern mammals, as interpreted
and explained by labels and diagrams.
By far the most complete of these exhibits is the alcove showing the
Ancestry of the Horse. In other alcoves are illustrations of the geologic
history of the camel and other ruminants, of rhinoceroses, tapirs and
carnivora, and at the farther end are shown such episodes in the Tertiary
history of North America as the rise and fall of the Uintatheres and Titano-
theres, dynasties of extinct giant races which have left no living descendants.
But in a broad way the Tertiary Mammal Hall shows the evolution of the
higher quadrupeds, the building up of the animal world of to-day.
In the Dinosaur Hall we pass into an older world. As in a museum of
antiquities we may pass from the halls devoted to the records of the up-
building of our modern civilization into those displaying the relics of an
older civilization upon whose ruins it is built, so here we pass from the
Age of Mammals into the Age of Reptiles, the era of the dinosaurs — gigantic
extinct reptiles which were the dominant land animals of that far distant
time. They are but remotely related to the living lizards, crocodiles, snakes
and turtles, poor and unassuming cousins who have survived the downfall
of the giant reptilian lords of the Mesozoic world, and continue even to-day
to play their modest part in the economy of nature. The unfamiliar and
bizarre proportions and often gigantic size of these Dinosaurs make them
the most interesting and impressive of all extinct animals. As yet, their
history is imperfectly known, and neither the materials nor the space
allotted for their display permit us to show the successive stages in the
evolution of the different dinosaurian races. In the far corner of the
Dinosaur Hall are the records, still less complete, of a more ancient period,
the Age of Amphibians, which preceded the Age of Reptiles; and in the
small southeast Tower Hall are the relics of the Age of Fishes which in turn
precedes the Age of Amphibians.
With the building of the projected extensions of this wing of the Museum
the space allotted to these older periods of earth history will be
expanded, so that the visitor will see displayed in successive halls the
records of the Age of Fishes, the Age of Amphibians and Coal plants, the
sarlier and later periods of Dinosaur supremacy, and then, passing through
the Evolution of the Mammals, will finally reach the Age of Man in the
central hall. The materials for filling these successive halls are rapidly
accumulating through the efforts of successive expeditions financed by the
President and Trustees of the Museum.
III. THE HABITAT GROUPS OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS
By J. A. Allen
HE group exhibits illustrating the life habits and natural environ-
ment of mammals and birds in the American Museum of Natural
History now exceed one hundred and fifty in number, and nearly
half of them, in respect to scope, size and accuracy of detail, are admittedly
more elaborate than any similar exhibits in other museums. The con-
struction of the smaller groups began some twenty-five years ago, and later
much larger groups were undertaken. In more recent years similar exhibits
have been installed in other American museums, making a more or less
general departure from the century-old methods of museum exhibition
that prevailed generally almost to the end of the nineteenth century.
The educational advantages of these groups consist in their realism.
The Bison Group, with its area of fifteen by thirty feet, represents a
characteristic bit of the Plains, the former typical home of the American
bison (miscalled “ buffalo’’), and includes not only the original sod covered
with real “ buffalo grass,”’ but also a real buffalo trail, a weathered bison skull,
and bunches of cacti, besides an old bull and cow, a young calf and young
bulls of different ages, the ensemble illustrating most impressively and
accurately the actual appearance of this animal and its home surroundings.
Large explanatory labels give briefly its history, while on accompanying
maps is shown the vast area of its original range and the gradual restriction
of this range to the few points where it still exists, in limited preserves
under governmental protection.
248
The Moose Group, on a similar scale
and with equal detail and realism, illus-
trates the life history of the largest game
animal of America, with its entirely dif-
ferent habits and haunts. The elk, the
Barren Ground caribou of the Alaskan
Peninsula, the musk ox of Arctic Amer-
ica, the white sheep of the northern
Rockies, the Atlantic walrus and the
Alaska fur seal, are each placed before
the visitor in a way to illustrate im-
pressively their habits and the condi-
tions under which they live. All of the
mammals characteristic of New York
State, except the field mice, shrews and
bats, are similarly illustrated, so that
the children of New York City have
thus the opportunity to see and become
in a way familiar with the principal
mammals of New York, many of which
they would never see in life, and ot
none of which would they ever be able
to obtain more than fleeting glimpses in
a state of nature.
The bird groups, with their pano-
ramic backgrounds and elaborate treat-
ment, now occupying the entire gallery
of the north wing of the Museum, possess
an educational value not easily over-
estimated, illustrating as they do the
principal types of North American bird
The Museum provides instructors to
guide teachers and classes, explaining
at request exhibits that correlate with Visitor mot only the habits and haunts
classroom work
life in a way to bring vividly before the
of the species represented, but also the
types of country they inhabit. They are
thus highly educational from the standpoint of geography and climate, as
well as eminently pleasing zesthetically.. The accompanying descriptive labels
supply the necessary information to render the groups easily understood.
The interest and value of this visual instruction to the children of the
schools is best appreciated by witnessing the avidity with which they scan
these elaborately presented glimpses of bird and mammal life, these bits
of nature transferred to the museum where they may be studied in detail
and at leisure.
249
IV. EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
By Ili nry E. Crampton
HE student of living nature invariably becomes acquainted at
first with the larger animals, those possessing a backbone, such
as the beasts of the field and forest, the birds of the air, and aquatic
forms like fishes and amphibia.~ Not until later is his attention challenged
by the myriads of smaller animals devoid of backbones, and hence called
invertebrates; only a few kinds of insects, crustacea and edible mollusks
come to notice without being sought in their natural homes. Yet many
of them are related to man in such ways that his health and welfare depend
upon a knowledge of their habits and life histories and moreover, from the
educational standpoint, the value of their study is extraordinarily high
because their forms are more varied than those of vertebrates.
It is the task of the Department of Invertebrate Zodlogy to display
characteristic examples chosen from the wide array known to science, and
also to demonstrate the countless ways in which the lives of these low forms
are intertwined with other animal life and directly touch human interests.
In addition, an in-
sight into nature’s
all-inclusive — pro-
cess of evolution is
so. valuable that
this too must be
presented in edu-
cational exhibits of
the relationships of
animals to one
another and_ to
their surroundings
as well.
In the Darwin
Hall,specimens and
models illustrating
significant forms
among the princi-
pal groups of the
Animal Kingdom
are arranged in the
order of their rela-
tionship from the
A hive of live bees in the Insect Hall
EDUCATIONAL AIMS IN INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 251
lowest to the highest. Many of these forms are so minute in life that a
glass or wax model must be made with a magnification of more than a
thousand diameters in order to show the delicately beautiful structures.
To make these systematically arranged specimens upon the shelves more
instructive, correlated groups are planned—some have been constructed
and others are in progress of construction — to show how the animals
really live, how worms burrow in the sand and mud along the ocean’s
shores, how crabs and starfish meet their conditions of life (Cold Spring
Harbor Group) and how swarms and clusters of lower animals crowd
upon the piles of a wharf. While in the center of the hall are groups that
illustrate greater principles of science and wider biological relations — for
Model for a new group to show the plants and animals that live at different depths in the
sea gardens about old wharves. Such a group teaches many facts and principles of biology
instance, a field
mouse with its
enemies on the
one hand and its
prey on the other
—is an example
of the struggle
for existence.
The Hall of
Mollusca aims to do in detail for one division of
animals what the Darwin Hall outlines for all.
Here an extensive array of shells is placed, to-
gether with exhibits showing how important some
species are to man, such as the pearl oyster with
its pearl-fishing industry, and the common oyster
and the clam with their culture and industries.
The Hall of Insect Biology and Local Insects has a double function.
In it are deposited larger collections of insects found within fifty miles of
New York so that a student can bring his own collections for comparison
and identification. Here, as in the Darwin Hall, larger principles are
demonstrated, such as variation of the members of a single species, the
differences between insects of forests and of plains, the results of experi-
mental investigation of heredity, and the like. During the past summer
there have been in the hall special exhibits of the seventeen-year cicada and
of live bees at werk in a hive.
V. THE MUSEUM LIBRARY
By Ralph W. Tower
HE Library of the American Museum has been in existence since the
founding of the institution but not until very recent times has it
kept pace with other departments. During the last decade how-
ever, enthusiasm has increased, some scientific societies have deposited their
books in the Museum’s custody and altogether a serious attempt has been
made to make this library one of the most comprehensive and complete
of its kind in America.
Library progress in general has been very rapid in America in recent
years and one of the most important developments in this progress has been
the rise and growth of the “special library,’’ particularly the one whose
purpose it is to serve the public in a free and unrestricted manner.
A special library relating to natural history appeals not only to the
specialist whose needs demand accurate and detailed descriptions but also
to a very large proportion of the public where the desire is for more general
252
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THE MUSEUM LIBRARY Qe
information; for very frequently has the business man, the professional
man, the man of leisure, the artist, the inquiring youth found the keenest
enjoyment and relaxation in gaining expert knowledge on some subject
in natural history. And where would he rather find a well-equipped library
in this domain than in a large public museum supplied both with the
specimens and with the literature pertaining to these specimens.
In the Museum’s library of 60,000 volumes are some 15,000 volumes
devoted to zodlogy, containing the works of Audubon, Gould and Chapman
in ornithology, an excellent collection of 3500 volumes relating to insects,
and a 2000 volume collection in conchology embracing the classics of
Kiister, Reeve and Binney. There is also a well-selected library of 2500
volumes in anthropology containing many of the rare and older works relat-
ing to the North American Indians; an excellent collection of 3000 volumes
in geology, enriched by the library of the late Professor Marcou; a collec-
tion of 5000 volumes in paleontology to a large extent composed of the
Osborn Library of Vertebrate Paleontology, and besides, an unusual
collection of more than 20,000 volumes of natural science periodicals.
It is doubtful if the educational value of a free special library of this
kind can be overestimated. In few other fields is it possible to bring to-
gether the material subject and the literature as under the roof and adminis-
tration of a great natural history museum.
Describing catalpa flowers (wax reproduction) in the Forestry Hall
A natural history museum presents the combination of laboratories filled with material
for study and a library covering the literature of this material
VI. THE ARRANGEMENT OF EXHIBITS IN THE HALLS
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
By Clark Wissler
T is fitting that a natural history museum should show something as to
the natural history of man and in accordance the anthropological halls
of the Museum exhibit samples of handiwork illustrating, as we say,
the cultures of the less civilized races. We fear however that few who
visit our halls really understand the principle upon which the specimens are
arranged. If you ask one what any of our biological halls represents the
answer is as instantaneous as a reflex — evolution. If you ask a biologist
what an anthropological hall should indicate you receive the same answer —
the evolution of man and his culture. Yet, if you ask the anthropologist
he is somewhat at a loss for a definite term or phrase to express the idea, for
while the whole biological world is almost unanimous that evolution is for
it the one working hypothesis, the anthropologists of Europe and America
are by no means agreed except in that the origin and historical development
of culture is the fundamental problem. Animal life is the biologist’s prob-
lem until that life takes the shape of man whence the classification becomes
the anthropologist’s problem. Since with the exception of a few very
ancient skeletons however, all men seem to constitute a single biological
species and cannot readily be arranged in a series of descent according to
ancestry, the chief interest of anthropologists has been in habits and customs,
or culture. While most museum anthropologists will agree that exhibits
should be so ordered as to show the origin and historical development of
culture, they are confronted with no generally accepted theory of develop-
ment according to which museum material could be arranged. Hence they
all fall back upon a geographical scheme of classification.
As our halls now stand we have on the ground floor five of the great
culture areas of the American Indians — the Eskimo, the North Pacific Coast,
the Eastern Woodland, the Great Plains and the Southwest. On other
floors are halls for Asia, Africa, the South Seas and South America. The
ancient races are represented in the Mexican and general archeological
halls. Such an arrangement has this virtue, it presents man in approxi-
mately the time and place relation he really occupied at the date of observa-
tion.
Many of our visitors, especially teachers of children, are interested in
the developmental sequences, such as methods of fire-making, house con-
struction, and stone and metal work. On all such points illustrative material
will readily be found in the various collections. If one is interested in
houses, many types will be found in the exhibits for the different geographical
areas. If one wishes to formulate a theory as to how the various types
254
ARRANGEMENT IN HALLS OF ANTHROPOLOGY 259
develop, he is at liberty to do so and will not find his flight impeded for lack
of insight into the true relation of things, for should a museum officer
decide this point for himself and select out all the house models for exhibi-
tion in a single hall, arranging them according to his notion, the visitor
could not see each type in its proper cultural setting. The point however
is this: searcely any two anthropologists are agreed upon any one of such
sequences and until they are, or until the facts available make a definite
conclusion inevitable, it is impossible to have other than a geographical
arrangement in our exhibition halls. There are, of course, some very
fundamental problems now occupying the minds of anthropologists, but
their working hypothesis is a geographical classification of cultures rather
than an evolutionary hypothesis.
The general cultural value of such comparative studies as methods of
fire-making and house types is obvious. In the case of fire-making, we have
real historical data on the evolution of matches, and know that they were
preceded by flint and steel and wood friction. We are not quite sure that
wood friction was first, but think it safe to assume as much. Beyond this
we cannot go, but we feel that the child who sees the various methods
demonstrated in school and sees real specimens in museum collections, is
likely to grasp some fundamental principles of practical life as well as the
significance of certain physical and chemical conceptions. The same is
true of house types, canoe types, hatchet types, food types, and every other
phase of culture.
A SYMPOSIUM OF EXPRESSIONS FROM PRIMARY AND
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS
HE following quotations representing a few of the many letters
received from principals and teachers of the Public Schools can
but make the Museum humble before the vastness of its oppor-
tunity, the far reaching of even the smallest effort put forth, and again
proud that the American Museum was the institution to which came the
rare fortune of developing the working system of codperation with the
schools.
The Museum holds an unusual opportunity as providing free and
pleasurable instruction in the heart of New York. Moreover, it is an insti-
tution untrammeled by courses and requirements, or rather it has all courses
elective so that the child may seek out that subject in which he is most
interested to lay unconsciously the foundations of a life work or recreation.
For feeling and intellect act together in the child and the more spontaneous
the interest the more deep-rooted and lasting the impression. Thus it
is gratifying to see in the letters from the schools frequent reference to the
liking that children have for the collections and the trips to the Museum.
It is good also to find many allusions to the fact that children carry home
the news of their experiences and bring their parents “to see the Museum”’
too. This unites the younger and the older generations by a tie of common
knowledge and interest.
Two features of the institution’s educational work are peculiar to a
museum and due to its organization: first, that it furnishes pleasurable
instruction which is non-compulsory as to time and subject, being moreover
important as knowledge toward better living; and second, that it furnishes
such education to young and old together, thus forming one small bond for
united family life under city conditions where there is great need of such
influence.
Tue Musrum HAS JUSTIFIED ALL IT Cost BY WHAT IT DOES FOR CHILDREN OF
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Public School No. 50, Manhattan
I have not seen equalled in any European country the hospitality with which the Museum
has opened its doors to the children, providing guides to escort them through the building.
The children have been intelligent and eager listeners to the lectures, and have always re-
turned to school the following day enthusiastic over their experience, which provided an
outing for many whose lives are not often gladdened, while affording instruction as well as
rare pleasure.
It has been the good fortune of Public School No. 50 to have lecturers like Mr. Sherwood
and Mrs. Roesler come to the children in their own school and show them, from specimens
sent by the Museum, the characteristics of many birds whose notes they reproduced to the
great pleasure of the children. It is a ‘‘red-letter day’’ in Public School No. 50 when a
new case of specimens arrives and is exhibited to the children.
We feel that the Museum would have justified all that it has cost if it were only for
what it does for the children of the elementary schools.
A SINGLE CHERRY FLOWER
Public School No. 36, Brooklyn, Grade 3B
The flowers and twigs distributed by the American Museum of Natural History last
spring were of great interest to the children. A bud on one of the cherry twigs opened in
my classroom, and the children, who had never seen a cherry blossom, were delighted to see
and smell the little white flower.
Tue Birp Co.Luections A REAL ENJOYMENT
Public School No. 113, Manhattan
I do not know how we ever had any bird study down in this section of the city before
the Museum began to lend us the collections of birds. Now we have not only the study of
the birds but the children draw them in color, thus doubling the enjoyment. I keep the
birds near my office door and no child passes without giving a good long look in their direction.
256
VISITING THE
MUSEUM ON A
HOLIDAY
Editorial note. Lack of
space in the JourNAL has post-
poned the publication of many
interesting letters sent by school
children. Who could speak of
the Museum's help with a
meaning less obscure than in
the following:
‘Last month I was down to
see the Natural Museum His-
tory for the tenth time | was
very glad I went, because when
my teacher ask to describe a
insect, bird or anything I could
stand up and answer all her
questions correctly. When the
class was tested I received a
hundred per cent paper.
I can assure you if anybody
who is interested or wants to
learn nature to go down to the
Natural Museum History”
On Columbus Day boys came on their skates long distances to see the picture of Columbus.
Some of these photographed came from
146th Street, Public School No. 186
169th
Street, East
Side,
Public School No. 2, and from
257
Photo by Ge orge Gade
Bird houses made by boys of Public School No.5, The Bronx, on the basis of collections
sent by the Museum
Musrtum Heures Boys To MAKE Birp HovwusEs
Public School No. 5, The Bronx
The collections of birds that the Museum sends out to the public schools have proved
very helpful in the matter of furnishing concrete evidence of the size of birds the boys of
Public School 5, The Bronx, decided to build houses for.
The school has always made much of Audubon’s birthday, which comes about the same
time of the year as does Arbor Day, and the pupils have taken a lively interest in the fate of
the birds that used to be so numerous about the Bronx. Therefore when it was suggested
that the boys make bird houses to put up in the yards to coax back some of the wanderers,
the notion was taken up enthusiastically. The teacher of constructive work in the upper
grades sent for the collections of birds as they came to the school and allowed the boys to
judge of the size and appropriateness of the houses for the various birds. They read in
suggested books about the kinds of birds that lived in artificial abodes and searched every-
where for facts concerning the nature of their habitat. It was in accordance with these ideas
that they built the houses, save that in some the more ambitious put glass windows in the
hope that they might be able to observe the birds actually at work building or brooding.
For the most part the houses were made in hours out of school and with tools of the
pupil’s own. The school, not being provided with a shop, was ill-equipped for the furtherance
of any very elaborate work, but the untiring zeal of the instructor made the boys eager to
work. The results proved to be extremely creditable and boys that had heretofore shown
not much evidence of constructive ability, when once they were launched on this lively
problem with a definite, concrete goal, developed remarkable skill and ingenuity. Also
it must be said that there came from the work as well a moral development of which there
was good reason to be proud.
Tue Jesup CoLLecTION A StrmuLus FOR Woop CoLLEcTIONS MADE BY Boys
Public School No. 150, Brooklyn
The children are told of things in nature but rarely have the opportunity of seeing
them except through the collections. The class of 5A boys were interested in examining the
different woods at the Museum. One boy made a collection of hard woods, which the other
boys take great pleasure in studying.
Tue Mountep Birp MEANS MUCH IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE City CHILD
Public School No. 76, Manhattan, Grade 2B
These little people of the second grade, brought up under the abnormal conditions of
the city, love the birds of the collection. They smooth and pet them, and even kiss them
when I am not watching.
THE MusEuUM GIVES CHILDREN A GREATER LOVE FOR LIVING ANIMALS
Public School No. 76, Manhattan
As our pupils live within walking distance of the Museum, they go there frequently.
The great attraction for the boys are the wonderful Indian collections. For class use the bird
258
THE MUSEUM AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 259
collections are prime favorites. All our teachers tell me of the pleasure it gives their children
to be permitted to touch these specimens carefully and tenderly.
The members of one class of 4B boys were very enthusiastic over the skeleton of Jumbo.
This enthusiasm, as usual, found expression in greater love for the living animal, for we
learned while a class was planting seed that one little boy had gone to the park during his
luncheon hour and planted some seed near the elephants’ house.
CHILDREN REMEMBER WHAT THEY LEARN AT THE Museum
Public School No. 25, Manhattan
The knowledge obtained both from the collections sent us and the lectures given at the
Museum means much more to the children than that obtained from books. The informa-
tion is so definite and interesting that it creates a strong and lasting impression upon the
minds of the children, and they are thus able to retain it very effectually.
A Lerrer To Make THE MusrtumM DESIRE TO DO STILL MORE FOR THE SCHOOLS
Public School No. 84, Brooklyn
Many of our pupils are children who never see the country and who are totally un-
acquainted with any birds or insects found outside of the crowded city streets. The speci-
mens enable these children to form correct conceptions of otherwise fabulous creatures.
In their own way the children show quite as much appreciation as their teachers. The
first question they invariably ask is, ‘‘Is it real?’’ When assured upon this point they are
always deeply interested, and very anxious to *‘feel how soft the bird’s coat is!"’ Each new
interest endures as a helpful foundation for further work. Allusions to any subject studied
with the help of Museum specimens bring an immediate and intelligent response.
Tuirty-stx Musrtum Lectures ATTENDED
Public School No. 184, Manhattan
Our higher classes have attended thirty-six lectures which helped to fix the grade work,
were an entertainment and brought out a pleasant attitude toward their work. Among the
favorite lectures were ‘‘From Pole to Pole,’ ‘‘Early Days in New York,” ‘‘Natural Re-
sources of the United States,”’ and ‘“‘Life among the Indians.’’ These afforded material for
geography, history, nature study and language work.
Worp FROM A DISTANT SCHOOL
Public School No. 59, Brooklyn
My school is located at so great a distance from the Museum that it is not possible to
send classes there because of the carfare involved. Thus my teachers and I welcome the
collections sent to the school, and the children are always delighted to see the boxes and to
study their contents.
THe CHILDREN OF “LITTLE ITALY OF THE WEST SIDE”’
Industrial School No. 6
When the Museum of Natural History was brought down to Industrial School No. 5, in
the shape of suitable collections in sequence for study, it was a good thing for the children
of ‘‘Little Italy of the West Side,’’ who live so far down town, near Sullivan, MacDougal
and West Houston Streets, that they have little opportunity to go to the Museum.
The children like the birds especially and it is remarkable the aptitude with which they
learn to know them. The humming bird is a great delight and the solemn owls are studied
with round-eyed wonder. Three classes were taken to the Museum last term. Their ex-
periences are always related at home to the other members of the family, and in this
way the benefit is far reaching.
260 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL
SPRING AND Fatt FLOWERS
Public School No. 36, Manhattan
The spring and fall flowers distributed at the Museum are a great help to us, for we find
it difficult to obtain the specimens required by the course in nature study. I am sure that
this voices the sentiment of all the teachers.
PLEASURABLE STUDY
Public School No. 27, Manhattan
The children, even of the higher grades, like the bird collections best of all. A robin
collection was sent to a fifth year class. The teacher glanced at the label and said, ‘‘Oh,
those are birds; they are for the lower grade. Take them downstairs.’’ A boy immediately
raised his hand and said, ‘‘Can’t we study them before they go down?”
In one of the collections is a parrot. It was the children’s favorite. One boy in particu-
lar took a special interest in Polly. This boy one day offered to stay after three and put
chalk and board rubbers away. Later it was found that his motive in staying was not to
help his teacher. He wanted the chance to stroke the bird and talk to it. When the time
came for Polly to return to the Museum this boy found he could no longer stay in after three.
Trips to the Museum are always looked forward to with pleasure and the children gain
knowledge unconsciously. The classes are large, so that a teacher often has to ask some to
wait until another time. But it is likely that when those chosen to go reach the Museum,
the ‘‘not invited’’ members of the class are there before them and all must be taken under
the teacher’s guidance.
Tue ScHoot CHILDREN OF NEw YORK HELP THE MUSEUM TO A GREATER USEFULNESS
Public School No. 10, Manhattan
Many of the children know not even of the existence of such a place until they have
accompanied their teacher to view some exhibit. Their delight then sends them home to
tell parents and friends of their wonderful ‘‘find,’’ and again and again they visit the en-
chanted ground with varying groups of acquaintances. So in their childish way, by making
the Museum known to the greater mass of the citizens of New York, they help it to a
greater and ever widening realization of its usefulness.
THE CHILDREN’S ROOM OF THE MUSEUM
By Agnes Roesler
HE Children’s Room was started in response to the needs and de-
mands of young visitors to the Museum. The original equipment
was slight. A few specimens of birds and small mammals, some
books, plants, an aquarium and a case containing live snakes consti-
tuted the entire material. The children flocked into the room, looked
at the picture books, drew portraits of the birds and mammals and asked
questions to their hearts’ content.
At different seasons of the year temporary exhibits were placed on view.
A jar containing mosquito culture was the subject of many talks; frogs
and their eggs were collected by some of the boys and formed the subject
of an interesting lecture given by a boy of thirteen years. A lecture on Indians
is frequently given and illustrated by some of the youngsters dressed in
“real Indian” costumes. The actors bring water-
color paints to decorate their faces, and they play
their parts with bashful earnestness. Sometimes little
figures of animals or miniature Eskimo villages are
modeled in composite clay, the sculptors first making
a visit to the Eskimo Hall to examine the construc-
tion of igloos. To some of the older children are
handed lists of questions to which answers must be
deduced from observation of the Museum exhibits. ‘ <
It is now estimated that there are between four ¢
and five thousand youthful visitors in the Children’s ms ang
Room during the year. A small group of children ae .
comes every Wednesday afternoon, with sufficient regularity to enable us
to carry on study further than desultory questions and answers. Among
other activities we read Swiss
Family Robinson last winter, and
investigated every animal men-
tioned in that remarkable book. A
chance remark disclosed the fact
that one of these children was
“afraid”? of spiders, so we set to
work to learn all that we could
about spiders and to transmute fear
into interest. The same course was
followed with regard to snakes, and
the children handled garter snakes
and other harmless species without
dread.
The Children’s Room is now
being fitted out more in accordance
with the original plans and is taking
shape as a small museum where
opportunity is given for carrying on
some activity in addition to ob-
servation. Permanent exhibits of
shells and minerals and one of won-
derful fishes are displayed there.
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