> h.
(The momentum p—and not the velocity—is the thing we should
really have referred to when, in sections 4 and 5, we dealt with the
uncertainty relation; p is simply the product of the mass and the ve-
locity, unless the latter is comparable with that of light.)
A large 7 means a low density in ordinary space. What matters,
however, is the density in the manifold of states—or phase space, to
use the technical term. That is why the momentum p comes in. It is
gratifying to remember that those very obvious strings—visible tracks
in the cloud chamber or in the photographic emulsion, and simul-
taneous discharges of alined counters—are all produced by particles
with comparatively very large momentum.
The above relation is familiar from the theory of gases, where it
expresses the condition which must be fulfilled in very good approxi-
mation in order that the old classical particle theory of gases should
apply in very good approximation. This theory has to be modified
according to quantum theory when the temperature is very low and at
the same time the density very high, so that the product p/ is no longer
very large compared with h. This modification is called the theory
of degenerate gases, of which the most famous application is that by
A. Sommerfeld to the electrons inside a metal; we have mentioned
them before as an instance of extreme crowding.
196 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
There is the following connection between our relation and the un-
certainty relation. The latter allows one at any moment to distinguish
a particle from its neighbors by locating it with an error considerably
smaller than the average distance 7. But this entails an uncertainty in
p. On account of it, as the particle moves on, the uncertainty in the
location grows. If one demands that it still remain well below / after
the particle has covered the distance 7, one arrives precisely at the
above relation.
But again I must warn of a misconception which the preceding
sentences might suggest, viz, that crowding only prevents us from
registering the identity of a particle, and that we mistake one particle
for the other. The point is that they are not individuals which could
be confused or mistaken one for another. Such statements are mean-
ingless.
REFERENCES
1. MacH, ERnst.
1905. Erkenntnis und Irrtum. Leipzig.
2. RUSSELL, BERTRAND.
1948. Human knowledge, its scope and limits. London.
3. DIELS, HERMANN.
1903. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Berlin. (The reference is
mainly to the fragment 125 of Democritus.)
THE COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE!
By. Harrison Brown
Institute for Nuclear Studies
The University of Chicago
[With 1 plate]
One of the more difficult fundamental problems which confront
science today is that of determining the chemical composition of the
matter of which our universe is made. Man, bound to the surface
of his planet, can see the billions of stars existing within the galaxy
of which his sun is a member, and the billions of galaxies extending
in all directions as far as his telescopes can penetrate; but he has
only the light that the stars emit with which to work. He knows
that a very large amount of matter is scattered throughout interstellar
space; but he cannot sample it. He can see the other planets within
his solar system; but he can study only the light that they reflect from
the sun. He is even prevented by the thick solid crust under his feet
from sampling the interior of his own planet.
Nevertheless he has learned a great deal about the composition of
his universe from studies of what is available: Light from the stars
and planets, and the matter in the meteorites he finds and in the earth
at his feet. We can find significant regularities in the abundances of
elements on the surface of our earth. In 1917, W. D. Harkins made
the important discovery that elements of even atomic number are in
general more abundant than neighboring elements of odd atomic
number. But there were a number of exceptions to the rule and these
were attributed to the possibility that the surface of the earth is a
poor sample of cosmic matter. It was believed that if, in some manner,
a sample of the earth as a whole could be obtained, the exceptions
would be fewer in number. Soon thereafter many of the elements
were broken down into their component isotopes and it was found
that the rule could be more generally formulated: Nuclear species of
odd mass number are less abundant than neighboring nuclear species
of even mass number.
Other generalizations could be made on the basis of the earth’s
crust alone. It appeared that nuclear species of even atomic number
1 Reprinted by permission from Physics Today, vol. 3, No, 4, April 1950.
197
198 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
whose mass numbers are integer multiples of four are more abundant
than other species. It appeared further that the abundances of ele-
ments fall off rapidly with increasing atomic number.
The “odd-even” and the “integer multiple of 4” abundance regulari-
ties are in themselves sufficient to permit an important conclusion.
Whatever the process might have been that led to the formation of
elements, it seems clear that the elements were formed in relative
amounts which depended, at least in part, upon the nuclear properties
of their constituent isotopes. But if one is to theorize further on
the question of the origin of the elements and the relationships between
abundance and nuclear composition, it is important that we obtain
more quantitative data than is obtainable through a study of the
earth’s crust alone, which could not be expected to be a representative
sample of matter in our cosmos.
THE COMPOSITION OF STARS
There are numerous dark lines or “absorption lines” in the sun’s
spectrum which are found to be located at the same characteristic
frequencies which are observed in the emission spectra of elements
studied in the laboratories of our earth. In this manner many ele-
ments which exist in the earth’s crust have been identified in the sun’s
atmosphere. No elements have been found in the sun’s atmosphere
which do not exist on earth, though helium was discovered in the sun
before it was isolated and identified terrestrially. The spectra of
other stars are similar in nature to the sun’s. Characteristic dark
absorption lines are observed, leading to the conclusion that the stars
are similar to our sun in general structure and composition.
The fact that absorption lines are observed demonstrates that the
continuous radiation emitted from a star’s surface passes through a
layer of relatively cool gas surrounding the star, the reversing layer,
and so the elements in stellar atmospheres can be positively identified.
But the task of converting the intensities of the lines observed in
stellar spectra into relative numbers of atoms of the various species
which exist in stellar atmospheres is most difficult.
Thanks to the herculean efforts of early workers in the field, such as
Henry Norris Russell, C. H. Payne, and C. E. Moore, and recent
developments by astrophysicists such as A. Unséld, B. Strémeren,
D. Menzel, L. Aller, and J. Greenstein, quantitative conversion of
spectral intensities into relative numbers of atoms is now possible.
The theory which permits the conversion of spectral line intensities
into relative numbers of atoms is straightforward, but exceedingly
complex, and need not be discussed here in any detail. It involves
a detailed knowledge of the quantum-mechanical behavior of atomic
species as functions of temperature and density, and in the presence
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Brown PLATE. 1
SECTION OF THE WILLAMETTE, OREG., METEORITE
Largest (14,175 kg.) individual iron meteorite found in the United States. It is
composed almost entirely of metallic iron and nickel, two of the most abundant
of the easily condensable elements (Class I).
JUPITER, THE LARGEST PLANET
It is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, the most abundant ele
ments in the universe. (Courtesy Yerkes Observatory and Hayden Plane-
tarium.)
—-
COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE—BROWN 199
of many constituents. The complexity of the treatment is such that
even in the most favorable cases the relative numbers of atoms of two
elements cannot be determined with a precision which is better than
a factor of two. Nevertheless, although the precision is not so great
as might be desired, the results possess considerable significance.
Unséld recently determined the relative abundance of elements in
the sun’s atmosphere as 560 atoms of hydrogen for each atom of
oxygen, and 0.37 atom of carbon, 0.037 atom of silicon, 0.76 atom of
nitrogen, 0.0035 atom of sodium, and 0.062 atom of magnesium for
each atom of oxygen, and so on down to 0.000021 atom of vanadium
for each atom of oxygen. The significance of these abundances will
be apparent later on.
Whether the composition of a star’s atmosphere is representative
of the composition of the interior can only be answered directly.
Numerous arguments have been presented to favor the conclusion
that they are the same—and that they are different. In general, the
arguments which favor fairly complete mixing of the elements within
the sun appear to be somewhat stronger than the others, particularly
with respect to elements heavier than oxygen. ‘This is so in spite
of the fact that small traces of lithium and boron, which have been
detected in the sun’s atmosphere, could not possibly exist for an ap-
preciable length of time at the temperatures of the sun’s interior.
The sun probably sweeps up small traces of these observed elements.
Secondly, the amounts of lithium and boron observed are so minute,
and the region in which they could be consumed is so relatively small,
that the amounts observed need not be incompatible with a relaxation
time for mixing adequate to result in fair homogeneity. Additional
evidence favoring good mixing will be presented when we compare
and find similarities in the composition of the sun with that of other
material in our solar system.
A method independent of observed spectral intensities exists for
the determination of the abundances of hydrogen and helium relative
to other elements in stars. The method depends first upon the gen-
eral theory of stellar structure, a fundamental result of which is that
for a given mass the radius and luminosity of a star will depend
strongly upon the mean molecular weight of the matter of which the
star is composed. At the temperatures which exist in stellar interiors
atoms are completely ionized, so the mean molecular weight of a given
element will be its ordinary molecular weight divided by the total
number of particles produced by the ionization (electrons plus nu-
cleus). The molecular weights of most completely ionized elements
lie very close to 2 because of the fact that in general the mass num-
bers of nuclear species are nearly double their atomic numbers. Thus,
the mean molecular weight of completely ionized iron will be
922758—51——14
200 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
56/(26+1) or 2.1. The mean molecular weight of completely ionized
oxygen will be 16/(8+1) or 1.8. However, the molecular weights
of completely ionized hydrogen and helium will be only 0.5 and 1.3
respectively. Consequently, while the equilibrium within a star will
not be very sensitive to the relative proportions of the heavier
elements present, it will be very sensitive to the amounts of hydrogen
and helium.
Thus, if we know the mass, the radius, and the luminosity of a
star, we can determine its mean molecular weight and, as a result,
the approximate hydrogen content of the star. In order to determine
the hydrogen and helium contents more precisely, particularly rela-
tive to the next most abundant elements (carbon, nitrogen, and
oxygen), use can be made of our knowledge concerning the mechanism
of energy production in the main-sequence stars. In 1939, Bethe
demonstrated that the mechanism of energy production in the sun,
and probably in all main-sequence stars, is a cycle of nuclear reactions
involving carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen as intermediates, and resulting
in the net conversion of hydrogen into helium. The mathematical
relationships involved in the carbon cycle can be coupled with the
general relationships which describe the equilibria within stellar in-
teriors, and a unique solution for the relative proportions of hydrogen
and helium present in a given star may be obtained.
Recently Greenstein recomputed the abundances of hydrogen and
helium relative to other elements (primarily carbon, nitrogen, and
oxygen). His results indicate that for every atom of heavier elements
present in the sun, there are approximately 100 atoms of helium and
1,000 atoms of hydrogen. Thus it appears that in our region of
space, hydrogen and helium together account for more than 99.8
percent of the matter present! Relative to these elements, the ele-
ments that we encounter in such high abundance on the surface of
the earth exist in stars in amounts that are quite insignificant.
How does this reasoning concerning the hydrogen and helium con-
tent of stars, and their abundances relative to other elements, apply
to individual stars? Do stars differ appreciably one from the other
in composition? We know that stars differ considerably one from
the other in their energy release per unit weight of the star, so they
must be consuming hydrogen and producing helium at rates which
differ widely. As a result one would expect that the hydrogen and
helium contents of stars would vary considerably. Indeed, we find
collapsed stars known as white dwarfs where the hydrogen contents
appear to have been virtually exhausted. Similarly, one would expect
to find variations within main-sequence stars of the abundances of
carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The ratios of these elements will be
COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE—-BROWN 201
fixed by their relative cross sections for proton capture, which will
depend in turn upon the temperature condition within the stars.
Thus one would expect to find major differences in the composi-
tion of stars with respect to all elements which can undergo thermo-
nuclear reactions at the temperatures which exist in stellar interiors.
But there are limitations to the temperatures which exist in stars,
and as a result one would not expect elements heavier than oxygen
to undergo thermonuclear reaction to any appreciable extent. Does
this mean that stars may also differ appreciably from one another
with respect to the abundances of their heavier nonreactive constitu-
ents? Jt is very difficult to compare the abundances of elements in
stars of widely differing spectral characteristics with any great pre-
cision. However, stars of similar spectral type can be compared.
Recently, Greenstein compared the abundances of several elements
in a number of F-type stars which possess widely different luminos-
ities. He found that for the ordinary stars of this type no well-
established abundance difference within a factor of two exists. In
other words, it appears that stars possess nearly identical compositions
with respect to elements heavier than oxygen.
If this result is correct for our own galaxy, is it true of the billions
of galaxies which are visible to us?) Unfortunately the data are too
meager to permit us to draw such a sweeping conclusion. Neverthe-
less, the probability of such an assumption being correct appears to
be considerable.
INTERSTELLAR MATTER
It is well recognized that in certain regions of our own and other
galaxies as much as 50 percent of the mass exists in the form of finely
divided matter distributed throughout interstellar space. Although
this matter is extremely dilute, the tremendous distances between our
sun and other stars result in there being sufficient gas between some
stars and the earth to produce definite absorption lines, the intensities
of which can be measured. If one studies the spectrum of a distant
star which has a large motion either toward or away from the sun, the
absorption lines produced by the reversing layer will be shifted owing
to the Doppler effect. Superimposed upon the spectrum of the star
one will see undisplaced lines corresponding to the absorption lines
of various elements. The locations of these stationary lines are found
to be independent of the velocity of the star relative to the earth, and
can only be attributed to the existence of matter between the star
and the earth.
The first estimates of the relative abundances of elements in inter-
stellar material were made by T. Dunham, Jr. (1939) and by O. Struve
(1941). Recently B. Strémgren has succeeded in establishing with
202 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
fair accuracy the ratios of several elements in the interstellar gas.
He finds the atomic ratio of hydrogen to sodium to be 5 to 25 X 10°.
This value is considerably higher than the corresponding value for
the ratio of the abundances of these elements believed to exist in the
sun (about 0.7 X 10°) and may indicate that the interstellar gas
is deficient in higher atomic weight elements relative to stars. It is
noteworthy, however, that StrO6mgren’s value for the titanium-sodium
ratio is about 8 X 10°, which, within experimental error, agrees with
the best value for the abundance ratio of the same elements in the
solar system (6 X 10°).
In general, it appears probable that, with the exceptions of hydro-
gen, helium, and lighter elements whose abundances are shifted in
stars owing to thermonuclear reactions, the abundances of the ele-
ments in interstellar material lhe very close to their abundances
in stars.
THE EARTH AND METEORITES
It has been mentioned that the study of stellar spectra gives rise
to abundance values which are in the very best cases precise only to
within a factor of 2. In addition, only a few elements can be
determined in stars with anything approaching this degree of ac-
curacy. If we are to extend our knowledge concerning abundances
to a wider range of elements, and with a greater degree of precision,
we must examine condensed material within our solar system: planets
and meteorites.
Realizing that the crust of the earth constitutes 2 poor specimen of
gross material within our solar system, the late V. M. Goldschmidt,
who perhaps more than any one man can be considered to be the father
of modern geochemistry, studied the composition of meteorites. In
doing so, he followed the general concept which had originated many
decades previously : the average composition of these bodies which fall
to the earth from space is probably equivalent to the composition of the
earth asa whole. In view of the fact that meteorites, as distinct from
stellar spectra, can be analyzed quite precisely, it is important to
investigate the validity of Goldschmidt’s hypothesis.
What are the chemical relationships between meteorites and the
earth? How is the earth related chemically to the sun and planets of
the solarsystem? If we can ascertain these relationships, we will then
be in a position to utilize meteorites in an evaluation of elemental
abundances.
A century ago, the scientist Boisse first suggested the possibility
assumed by Goldschmidt. Since that time considerable effort has been
expended by astronomers, geologists, geophysicists, and geochemists in
attempts to develop or to disprove Boisse’s speculation. On the whole,
COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE—BROWN 203
information accumulated during the last 50 years has served to substan-
tiate the thesis that meteorites belong to a single family possessing a
common genesis, quite possibly a planet similar to the earth in physico-
chemical characteristics.
Meteorites range in size from dust particles (which are most difficult
to collect) to many tons. In general, meteorites fail into two distinct
categories—irons and stones. Iron meteorites are fragments of pure
metal, consisting primarily of an alloy of iron containing about 8 per-
cent nickel and 2 percent minor constituents. Stony meteorites consist
primarily of magnesium and iron silicates through which finely divided
particles of metallic iron-nickel are dispersed. The average metal-
phase content of stony meteorites is approximately 11 percent, but the
quantity of metal may vary from nearly zero to well over 50 percent.
A third and less abundant meteoritic phase, known as troilite, and
composed primarily of ferrous sulfide, exists in both stony and iron
meteorites, usually distributed throughout the mass, but frequently
collected into pockets of substantial size.
A comparison of the abundances of elements in meteorites, the
earth’s crust, and the sun demonstrates that both meteorites and the
earth are very deficient in those elements which are most abundant in
the sun (hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen). Meteor-
ites, in turn, possess considerably larger proportions of iron and mag-
nesium and smaller proportions of sodium and potassium than are
observed in the earth’s crust.
Meteorites are much more dense than the surface rocks of the earth.
In view of the fact that the earth as a whole has a mean density nearly
double that of its surface, the assumption that the earth possesses a
composition equivalent to the composition of meteorites would appear
to be plausible. In this event, it would be necessary to assume that
considerable quantities of metallic iron, together with iron and magne-
sium silicates, exist below the earth’s surface.
The hypothesis that the earth possesses a composition equivalent to
that of meteoritic matter was fortified by the discovery of the seismic
discontinuity of first order located at approximately one-half the
earth’s radius. It appeared reasonable to assume that this disconti-
nuity marked the boundary of a core composed of metallic iron-nickel
(similar in composition to iron meteorites). The silicate mantle
surrounding the core would then possess a composition equivalent to
stony meteorites.
A study of the trace constituents in meteorites demonstrates that
elements are distributed between the metallic and silicate phases
according to well-recognized chemical laws. Those elements which
possess low affinities for oxygen (i. e., gold, palladium, platinum) exist
almost entirely in the metallic phase; those elements which possess
204 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
high affinities for oxygen (i. e., sodium, potassium, strontium, barium)
exist almost entirely in the silicate phase. A survey of the earth’s
crust demonstrates that elements of low oxygen affinity, such as the
platinum metals, exist in exceedingly low concentrations when com-
pared with neighboring elements of high oxygen affinity. If we
assume that a metallic phase exists within the earth, the low abun-
dances of these elements in the crust can be explained on the basis that
they exist in considerably higher abundance in the deep-seated regions
of the earth in association with metallic iron.
With these general ideas in mind Goldschmidt, together with several
chemists who had become interested in the problem, determined the
concentrations of many elements in iron and stony meteorites. Gold-
schmidt then utilized the data in 1937 to compile the first fairly
complete table of relative abundances.
One difficulty associated with the compilation of such an abundance
table was that of coupling meteoritic abundances to solar abundances.
Goldschmidt utilized the then existent solar data and adjusted meteor-
itic silicon so that it would be equal to solar silicon. A second difficulty
was that of combining iron meteorites with stone meteorites in proper
proportions. Unfortunately iron and stone meteorites fall through
the atmosphere in different ways, with the result that there is a higher
probability of observing a stone fall than an iron fall. Stony mete-
orites tend to break into fragments while passing through the atmos-
phere, thus producing more spectacular displays than do iron mete-
orites. On the other hand, many meteorites reach the ground without
actually having been seen to fall. As stony meteorites appear to the
untrained eye to be rocks, many of them are never collected. Iron
meteorites, being more unusual, are picked up more frequently.
Goldschmidt, in the absence of adequate information, chose a ratio
of metal to silicate of 1:5; but observations of both the earth and the
sun lead us to believe that perhaps it should be closer to 3: 5.
An approximate figure for the ratio of metal to silicate can be ob-
tained by calculating the weight of the earth’s core relative to the
earthasa whole. The core of the earth is, of course, compressed owing
to the tremendous pressures in the interior; at the center, the pressure
is approximately 3 million atmospheres. We do not know experimen-
tally the compressibility of iron at such high pressures, but in recent
years a number of theoretical studies have been made. Utilizing the
Fermi-Thomas statistical atomic model, calculations of potential fields
and charge densities in metals as a function of lattice spacing can be
made. Such calculations make possible the determination of pressure-
volume relationships at extremely high pressures. It has been found
that the results of such a calculation made on iron are compatible
with estimates of the densities within the earth’s core derived from
COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE—BROWN 205
seismic-wave studies. Knowing the location of the core boundary
and the density of iron as a function of pressure, the mass of the core
can be readily determined. It is found on such a basis that the ratio
of the weight of the core to the weight of the mantle is approximately
0.5. If one assumes that the mantle contains an amount of metal
phase equivalent to that found in stony meteorites, the weight ratio
of metal to silicate for the earth as a whole would be approximately
0.6 or 0.7.
FicurE 1.—Distribution of elements in the earth.
Utilizing the above figures for the ratio of metal to silicate, and
replacing many of Goldschmidt’s abundances with more recently de-
termined values, a revised set of abundances of elements in gross mete-
oritic matter has been computed and has been published in the Review
of Modern Physics, October 1949.
In spite of the errors involved (primarily in the solar data), the
abundances of the elements in gross meteoritic matter correspond quite
well with the abundances of these elements as found in the sun, in-
dicating strongly that insofar as certain elements are concerned, me-
teorites possess essentially the same composition as the sun. All
the elements in question possess relatively high boiling points, or their
oxides possess high boiling points. In other words, it appears reason-
able to assume that, with respect to easily condensable substances,
meteorites and the sun possess nearly identical compositions. Fortu-
nately, although these elements constitute less than one-half of 1
percent of the mass of the sun, they include no less than 71 of the stable
or long-lived elements existing in nature. Thus, it appears that a
study of the relative abundances of elements in meteorites can give us
important abundance information which covers a wide range of ele-
ments, and which has considerable cosmic significance.
206 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
THE PLANETS
Can there be relationships between the other planets similar to the
assumed composition relationship between meteorites and the earth?
The planets can be readily divided into two main groups—small
planets of high density (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and large
planets of low density (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). It
seems clear that the smaller planets are composed almost entirely of
the easily condensable substances which constitute such a small fraction
of stellar material. Although the variations in density among the
smaller planets are considerable, it appears that at least among three
of them (Mars, Venus, and the Earth) a substantial amount of the
density variation is due to increasing compression with increasing
mass. The new determination of the mass of Mercury indicates that
some variation in the metal to silicate ratio may exist, but this is
uncertain.
WraureE 2.—Distribution of elements in Jupiter.
Recent developments in the theory of the origin of the solar system
make it appear probable that the planets were formed by a process of
condensation at low temperature from a medium possessing a compo-
sition close to that of the present sun. The terrestrial planets were
formed from those substances which were least volatile. In the re-
gions of the outer (or Jovian) planets, conditions were such that some
of the lighter and more abundant materials could condense as well,
thus giving rise to much larger planets of considerably lower density.
If we assume the present abundance values for the sun to be the
most probable values for the abundances of the elements in the pre-
planetary medium, we can assess the most likely chemical forms in
which the elements would exist at reasonable temperatures. For each
part by weight of easily condensable material (earth-forming ele-
ments) we would have approximately 4 parts by weight of a mixture
COMPOSITION OF OUR UNIVERSE—BROWN 207
VicurrE 3.—Location of chemical species in planets.
208 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
of methane, ammonia, water, and rare gases, 56 parts by weight of
helium, and 180 parts by weight of hydrogen.
If we assume the above composition, then it appears likely that
Uranus and Neptune, the two planets of size intermediate between the
terrestrial planets on the one hand, and Jupiter and Saturn on the
other, captured substances of intermediate condensability and molec-
ular weight. This capture process enormously increased the masses
of the planets, owing to the rather high abundances of water, methane,
and ammonia.
Saturn and Jupiter condensed sufficiently rapidly and grew to a
size sufficiently large to permit their capturing the very abundant
gases hydrogen and helium. The preponderant abundances of these
elements permitted the two planets to develop into the giants of the
solar system.
A careful study of the Jovian planets utilizing theoretical studies on
the behavior of matter under very high pressures demonstrates that
the above picture of the compositions of the planets in relation to the
composition of the sun is essentially correct. In order of increasing
size we have first the terrestrial planets composed of metal and rock.
We next have Uranus and Neptune with earthlike cores composed of
metal and rock, surrounded by very thick layers of ice, liquid ammo-
nia, and methane, and thin atmospheres of hydrogen and helium.
Following this, we have Saturn and Jupiter composed of Uranuslike
cores surrounded with thick layers of hydrogen and helium. Indeed,
approximately 90 percent of the mass of Jupiter appears to be com-
posed of these gases!
Studies of planetary atmospheres by Kuiper and others substantiate
the general picture. Methane, which is a very volatile substance, is
detected in considerable concentration in the atmospheres of Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Ammonia has been observed in the
atmosphere of Jupiter (the warmest of the four). Presumably the
vapor pressure of ammonia is too low in the other three to permit its
detection. Water has such a low vapor pressure at the temperatures
of the Jovian planets that it cannot exist as an atmospheric constituent.
There is still much to be done if we are to have a clear picture of the
composition of our cosmos. There must be increased precision in the
determination of the composition of stars and interstellar matter.
There must be increased precision in the determination of the composi-
tion of meteorites and the earth’s crust. Theoretical studies must be
continued on the relationship between stars, interstellar matter, plan-
ets, and meteorites. But already, in spite of the meager data, a pattern
is unfolding that suggests strongly that our cosmos is remarkably
uniform in chemical composition. It is to be hoped that by the time
another decade has passed, we will know the composition reasonably
accurately.
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AS AERONAUTICAL
ENGINEERS?
By M. P. Baker
Assistant Technical Adviser to the Wright Estate; Project Engineer, Inland Manu-
facturing Division, General Motors Corp.
[With 9 plates]
Almost by accident, a little over a year ago, I was asked to explain
the working principle of some of the Wright wind-tunnel instruments
and, upon encountering some difficulty, was given complete access to
the library material of the late Orville Wright. Since this material
included such a wealth of technical detail pertaining to the develop-
ment of the first airplane and to the engineering ability of the Wright
brothers, permission was sought, and granted, to reveal it in a paper
for this society. For the most part, these technical details have never
been published heretofore.
Wilbur Wright has said that his active interest in aeronautics dated
back to the account of Lilienthal’s fatal glider accident in 1896. After
studying all the literature that was handily available on the subject
of aeronautics, he aroused an equal interest in his brother Orville, and
the two of them drew some rather positive conclusions from what they
had read:
1. A fixed-wing structure was far more practical than any scheme
of flapping the wings.
2. The customary method of obtaining longitudinal and lateral con-
trol merely by shifting the operator’s weight on the craft was highly
inadequate. They felt that such a system necessitated a degree of
skill and dexterity that was impossible to attain.
3. By proportioning a wing on the basis of known lift and drag
characteristics of a chosen curved surface, and by providing a manual
system for longitudinal and lateral control, one should be able to build
an efficient glider in which considerable flight experience could be
safely accumulated.
The solution to the longitudinal control had been given previously
by the horizontal “rudder” patent issued jointly to Chanute and Mouil-
1 Paper presented at the National Aeronautic Meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers, April
17-20, 1950. Reprinted by permission of the SAE,
209
210 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
lard in 1897. However, it was not until Wilbur idly twisted an
open-ended cardboard container that he conceived the idea of a biplane
wing structure, cross braced as a Pratt truss in the vertical plane of
the two spars, and yet an assembly that could be warped easily for
lateral control. The thought was promptly tested in the form of a
5-foot kite controlled by extra strings to the ground.
1900—THE FIRST YEAR’S WORK
With characteristic enthusiasm, the Wrights designed, built, and
tested their first full-scale glider (pl. 1, fig. 1) in the summer of 1900.
Our design information on this machine is very meager, it being based
solely on the two remaining photographs and flight records. Ap-
parently, the Wrights sought to attain pitching control by ground
adjustment of a fixed front horizontal “rudder,” shifting the operator’s
weight or using ballast or both, and making the “rudder” controllable.
There is no information on the latter method other than mention of it
in their writings.
Lateral control was attained by warping the wing tips, presumably
by an interconnecting wire across-ship, and somehow actuated by the
feet. There were no means whatever provided for directional control.
The wing panels had a 5-foot chord and 1614-foot span, giving a
total area of 165 square feet. The weight of the craft was 52 pounds.
The wing section had a camber ratio of 1/22, with the peak well for-
ward.
The craft was tested in three different ways: (1) As a man-carry-
ing kite in winds over 25 miles per hour; (2) as a simple kite controlled
from the ground in light winds; (3) as a glider off the hilltop. With
the craft used as a simple kite, the Z/D ratio could be computed as
6.2 from the measured pull of the tow line. Asa glider, the L/D meas-
ured 6.3.
Although their actual glider flight time totaled scarcely over 2 min-
utes for some 12 flights, the summer’s experiments did permit them to
draw some very valuable conclusions:
1. Their method of wing warp was quite satisfactory, and proper
pitching control could be obtained by means of a movable horizontal
“rudder.”
2. Their lift was less than anticipated, which they reasoned might
be due to using too flat a camber, air leak in the unfinished cloth
wing covering, or possible error in Lilienthal’s tables of lift char-
acteristics.
3. Their drag measurements were much less than they had estimated.
There seemed no explanation for this unless the Lilienthal tables were
in error.
211
WRIGHT BROTHERS—BAKER
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212 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
FURTHER EXPERIMENTS THROUGH 1901
Encouraged by their first year’s experiments, the Wrights designed
and built a larger glider (pl. 1, fig. 2) late in the spring of 1901, with
the express purpose of improving the performance as a man-carrying
kite so that many hours of control experience could be built up at
minimum risk. To this end, the new craft had a wing spread of 22
feet, a total area of 290 square feet, and a rib section that had a camber
ratio of 1/12, to conform more closely to Lilienthal’s tables. The
new elevator was proportionately larger and was controlled by deflect-
ing its trailing edge. Apparently, the wing warp was controlled in
the same manner as in the earlier glider.
The equivalent monoplane aspect ratio of the new machine was 2.9
as compared with 2.87 for the first year. The structure weight was
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108 pounds; thus, the new wing loading was 0.37 pound per square
foot, against 0.32 pound per square foot for the earlier machine.
From the first trials of the machine, as a glider, it was soon apparent
that the new wing curve induced pitching moments that were beyond
the capacity of the front elevator to balance. They were able to avoid
disastrous stalls and dives only by shifting their body weight. By
removing the upper wing and restraining it in a high wind, they
were able to lay the trouble to center-of-pressure travel and to re-
capture the more stable performance of the first year’s craft by trus-
sing down the ribs to a lesser camber.
WRIGHT BROTHERS—BAKER Biles
They made many successful glides with the machine as altered,
but upon trying it as a kite, as originally intended, they found that
the lift was less than one-third of their predictions. To test whether
this was caused by porosity of the wing covering, two small test sur-
faces were measured in natural wind with negligible difference.
Aside from the valuable flight experience gained with this machine,
the summer’s observation taught them the following:
1. Published lift characteristics for curved surfaces were definitely
in error.
2. Over-all efficiency depended upon Z/D rather than lift alone.
3. The relative position of the upper and lower wings decreased
the theoretical total lift of the individual surfaces, that is, they noticed
biplane effect.
4. The customary method of expressing the air force acting on a
wing in terms of a pressure normal to the chord line had Jed them
into a misconception of the net lift and drag components. Although
they did not express their understanding of this in these words, there
seems little doubt that this was the primary motive in designing the
test instruments that will be described later.
In a paper read September 18, 1901, before the Western Society of
Engineers, primarily a society of civil engineers, Wilbur Wright men-
tioned a series of experiments that they had begun for measuring
the magnitude and direction of the forces acting on various types of
curved surfaces. We know now that these experiments began upon
their return from North Carolina and followed a rather interesting
development pattern.
The first attempt at measuring the characteristics of a surface in
model size is shown in plate 2, figure 1. Here we see a bicycle wheel
mounted horizontally on tubes extending forward from the handle-
bars of an ordinary bicycle (of their own manufacture). At one
point on the wheel was mounted a flat plate. Some 120° removed
from this point was mounted the model surface. The test surface
was adjusted in angle of attack until its lift would just balance the
flat-plate resistance riding normal to the wind when the bicycle was
pedaled forward.
In a letter to Octave Chanute, October 6, 1901, Wilbur told about
using this device and how they were able to check the ratio of the
lift of a surface at any angle of attack versus its flat-plate resistance.
Also, he noted that the Smeaton formula for flat-plate resistance,
P=0.005AV2, as used by the United States Weather Bureau, was
evidently in error, and suggested that a constant of 0.0033 would be
nearer the truth.
In this same letter, Wilbur stated that the bicycle test was very poor
for measuring surfaces at small angles and went on to describe their
214 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
next device, shown in plate 2, figure 2. Note that two surfaces are
attached to a trailing arm in wind-vane fashion and each can be
adjusted until their opposing lifts balance. Later correspondence
brings out the fact that this was their first attempt at using a wind
tunnel and that it was actually made by knocking the ends out of a
box used in those days for shipping laundry starch. An air blast was
supplied from the opposite end by a screw fan turning 4,000 revolu-
tions per minute. No doubt this was driven from their machine-shop
lineshafting, which, incidentally, was driven in turn by a 2-horsepower
gasoline engine of their own design.
With this device they experimented with various aspect ratios and
curvatures. One particular observation that was recorded was the
balancing of a 1- by 3-inch curved surface at 434° against a flat plane
of the same area at 914°, whereas their reference tables indicated
they should have balanced at angles of 434° and 24° respectively.
The correspondence files include a letter to Chanute, wherein Wilbur
pointed out a number of these discrepancies. Chanute very promptly
answered back that they were comparing results taken from moving
wind measurements against measurements that had been made in still
air. It was rather amusing to note Wilbur’s reply that this should
make no difference, although he did temper his brusqueness by explain-
ing how easy it would have been for the particular investigator to
have made mistakes by the method he was using,
Compared with the first device, this method was far more accurate
and served to make many more comparisons in a short time; however,
it still did not provide the means of making direct measurements and
was soon abandoned.
The third and final type of measuring instrument was evidently
built and put into operation sometime between October 16 and No-
vember 14,1901. During that time they built a tunnel like that shown
in plate 3, figure 1. This is as near to an exact replica as it is possible
to build from the available information. The lift instrument (see pl.
3, fig. 2), which was placed at the downwind end, is an exact copy of
the original, which is now on display at the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia.
Perhaps the most unique feature of this instrument is the way in
which the lift of a model surface is made to balance the flat-plate
resistance of four small fingers on the lower bar. The shackle arms
which support the upper crossbeam are snug on the vertical pins and
are adjusted so that they trail straight with the wind stream. Since
the resistance or lower beam must ride at some angle to the side in
order to balance the lift of the test surface, it is obvious that the sine
of the angle observed on the scale is the true lift coefficient. Angle
of attack was recorded by separate protractor. A two-bladed 24-
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker PLATE 1
1. THE 1900 GLIDER
2. THE 1901 GLIDER
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker
PEATE 2
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Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker
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1. REPLICA OF 1902 WIND TUNNEL
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2. LIFT-MEASURING INSTRUMENT
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker PLATE 4
1. INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING DRAG
2. TEST SPECIMENS USED IN WIND TUNNEL
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker PLATE 5
1. RECHECK VANE
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Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker PLATE 6
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Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Baker PLATE
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ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS?
By M. Kina HuBBERT
Associate Director
Exploration and Production Research Division
Shell Oil Co., Inc.
INTRODUCTION
It is difficult for those of us living today, especially in the more
industrialized areas of the world, to appreciate fully the uniqueness
of the events that we are witnessing. During our lifetime, and in the
immediately preceding century whose history is most familiar to us,
we have witnessed continuous change—usually continuous increase.
We have seen a few European immigrants to North America expand
during a few centuries into a population of over 170 millions. We
have seen villages grow into large cities. We have seen an area of
primeval forests and prairies transformed into widespread agricul-
tural developments. We have seen a transition from a handicrait and
agrarian culture to one of complex industrialization. In only a few
generations we have witnessed the transition from human and animal
power to electrical power supernetworks; from the horse and buggy
to the airplane.
At the same time our senses have been dulled by the platitude that
history repeats itself. As a consequence, we have become so inured
to change, especially to growth and to increase, that it is difficult for
us not to regard the rates of change which we are now witnessing as the
normal order of things.
In order to appraise more accurately our present position and the
limitations which may be imposed upon our future, it is well that we
consider in historical perspective certain fundamental relationships
that underlie all our activities. Of these the most general are the
properties of matter and those of energy.
From such a point of view the earth may be regarded as a material
system whose gain or loss of matter over the period of our interest is
negligible. Into and out of this system, however, there is a con-
tinuous flux of energy, in consequence of which the material constit-
uents of the surface of the earth undergo continuous or intermittent
1 Reprinted by permission from Science, vol. 109, February 4, 1949, with additions and revisions by the
author.
255
956 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
circulation. These material constituents comprise the familiar chem-
ical elements, only a few of which, occurring in quantities of but a few
parts per million, are significantly radioactive.
For the present discussion we shall restrict our attention to the non-
radioactive materials and shall summarily state that the events of our
interest are the result of a flux and degradation of a supply of energy,
and the corresponding circulation of matter regarded as consisting of
nontransmutable and indestructible chemical elements.
All but a minute part of the energy involved in this process is that
derived from solar radiation, and a small fraction of the matter at
or near the surface of the earth occurs in the peculiar aggregates known
as living organisms. A part of the solar radiation incident upon the
earth serves to propel a circulation of matter into and out of this
organic assemblage. In this process an amount of energy roughly
proportional to the mass of the matter incorporated in organisms is
held in storage as chemical potential energy.
From geological evidence, organisms have existed upon the earth
for probably as long as a billion years, during the last 500 million of
which a fraction of these organisms has become buried in the accumu-
lations of sediments under conditions which have prevented complete
disintegration and complete loss of their energy content. Conse-
quently, there exist in the sedimentary rocks of the earth today ac-
cumulations of the remains of fossil organisms in the form of coal,
oil shale, and petroleum and natural gas, which are rich in fossil
energy stored up from the sunshine of the past 500 million years.
This process of accumulation is doubtless still occurring, but the rate
is probably not very different from that of the past, so that, for an
order of magnitude, the accumulation during the next million years
will probably not exceed one five-hundredth of the accumulation which
has occurred already.
RISE OF HUMAN SPECIES
With this background let us now consider the development of the
human species. From archeological and geological evidence it ap-
pears that a species recognizable as man must have existed roughly a
million years ago. The population of this species at that stage is un-
known but evidently was not large. It existed in some sort of eco-
logical adjustment with the rest of the organic complex, and competed
with the other members of the complex for a share of solar energy es-
sential to its existence. At that hypothetical stage its sole capacity
for the utilization of energy consisted in the food it was able to eat—
about 2,000 kilogram-calories per capita per day.
Between that stage and the dawn of recorded history, this species
is distinguished from all others in its inventiveness of means for the
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—HUBBERT 257
conquest of a larger and larger fraction of the available energy. The
invention of clothing, the use of weapons, the control of fire, the do-
mestication of animals and plants, and many other similar develop-
ments all had this in common: They increased the fraction of solar
energy available to the use of the human species, and they continuously
upset the ecologic balance in favor of an increase in numbers of the
human species, with corresponding adjustments in all the other popu-
lations of the complex of which the human species was a member.
From that early beginning until the present day this progression
has continued at an accelerated rate. It has involved the development
of wind power and water power, the smelting of metals with wood as
fuel, the extensive employment of beasts of burden. However,
throughout this period until within the last few centuries the rate of
‘these changes has been small enough for population growth to keep
pace. The energy consumed per capita, therefore, has increased but
slightly.
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS
Emancipation from this dependence upon contemporary solar en-
ergy was not possible until some other and hitherto unknown source
of energy should become available. This had its beginning about the
thirteenth century when some of the inhabitants of Britain made the
discovery that certain black rocks found along the shore of the east
coast, and thereafter known as “sea coles,” would burn. From this
discovery there followed in almost inevitable succession the mining of
coal and its use for the smelting of metals, the development of the
steam engine, the locomotive, the steamship, and steam-electric power.
This development was further augmented when, about a century
ago, the second large source of fossil energy—petroleum and natural
gas—was tapped, leading to the internal-combustion engine, the auto-
mobile, the airplane, and Diesel-electric power.
A third source of fossil energy, oil shale, although exploited on a
small scale for almost a century, is only now approaching its phase
of rapid development.
RATES OF PRODUCTION
It is to the rate of increase and the magnitude of the consumption
of the energy from fossil fuels that I now wish to direct your attention.
Consider coal. Although production statistics for the earlier peri-
ods are not available, it is known that from the initial discovery and
use of “sea coles” to the present there has been a continuous increase in
the rate of consumption of this commodity. During the eighteenth
century the need for power for the coal mines led to the development
of the steam engine, and the demand for better means of transporta-
tion led first to the railroad and then to the steam locomotive. We
258 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
know also that before the end of the eighteenth century the employ-
ment of this new source of energy had reached such magnitude as to
produce the major social and economic disturbances in Britain referred
to as the “Industrial Revolution.”
By 1864 (1, 2),? from which date annual world-production statis-
tics are available, the production of coal in the world (fig. 1) had
WORLD PRODUCTION OF COAL
WORLD PRODUCTION OF COAL (millions of metric tons per year)
Time (Years)
FIcuRe 1.
reached about 180 million metric tons a year, and from that date until
1914, when it had reached a rate of 1,300 million tons a year, it con-
tinued to increase geometrically at a rate of 4 percent a year, or at a
rate such that the annual production was doubling every 17 years.
The length of time during which coal has been mined is likely to
be misleading. To appreciate the magnitude of what is happening
and the brevity of time during which most of it has occurred, consider
these facts: By the end of 1947 the cumulative production of coal dur-
ing all past human history amounted to approximately 81 billion
metric tons. Of this, 40 billions, or approximately one-half, have been
mined and consumed since 1920. Sixty-two billions, or more than
three-quarters, have been produced since 1900—during our lifetime.
2 Numbers in parentheses refer to bibliography at the end of the paper
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—HUBBERT 259
The world production of petroleum is shown graphically in figure
2 (3). The first commercial production of petroleum was begun in
1857 in Rumania. Two years later the first oil well in the United
States was completed. From these beginnings, with only an oc-
casional setback, the world production of petroleum has increased
spectacularly, reaching, by the end of 1947, an annual rate of 477
WORLD PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM
500
400
Petroleum
of
of cubic meters per year )
300
Production
200
World
(millions
100
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980
Time (years)
FIGURE 2.
million cubic meters (3 billion United States barrels). From 1860
to 1929 the rate of production doubled, on the average, every 714 years,
or at an average annual rate of increase of slightly more than 9 per-
cent. Since 1929 the rate of increase has declined somewhat and
the doubling period increased to about 15 years.
Again, to appreciate the brevity of time during which most of this
has occurred, the cumulative production by the end of 1947 was 9.17
billion cubic meters (57.7 billion United States barrels). Of this,
one-half has been produced and consumed since 1937, and 97 percent
since 1900.
260 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
The energy content of the coal and petroleum that have been con-
sumed, expressed in kilogram-calories, is shown in figure 8. From
these two sources the energy amounted to 15X10 or 15 thousand
trillion kilogram-calories per year in 1939. Approximately four-
fifths of this amount was contributed by coal, and one-fifth by
petroleum.
WORLD PRODUCTION OF ENERGY FROM COAL AND PETROLEUM
(10° Kg-Cal./ Yr.)
Production
Time (Years)
Fiaeure 3.
Because of the lack of world-production statistics the energy from
natural gas has not been included. In the United States about 400
cubic meters of natural gas are produced for each cubic meter of oil,
with an energy content of about 0.4 of that of oil. Since oil and gas
are genetically related it may be presumed that this approximate
ratio is valid for the rest of the world also. Hence, the energy from
the natural gas that has been produced may be assumed to be at least
40 percent of that of petroleum.
GROWTH OF POPULATION
In the introductory remarks it was intimated that one of the most
disturbing ecological influences of recent millennia had been the
human species’ proclivity for the capture of energy, resulting in a
progressive increase of the human population (4,5). This is borne
out by the growth curve of human population since 1650, shown in
figure 4, based on the studies of Carr-Saunders (6), and the recent
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—-HUBBERT 261
estimate of Davis (7). According to these estimates the world popu-
lation has increased from about 545 millions in 1650 to 2,171 millions
by 1940. The greatest rate of increase during this period has been
that of the last half century during which the world population has
been increasing at such a rate as to double itself once a century, or
at an annual rate of increase of 0.7 percent.
GROWTH OF WORLD POPULATION
Es 15|)-a88 PEs H eile L
POPULATION (Billions)
e
|
—°— ESTIMATED
(Carr -Saunders’ 1650-1900)
(Dovis: 1940)"
— — — HYPOTHETICAL
“1000 1250 1500 i780 2000 2eso 2500
TIME (Years)
FIGURE 4.
That such a rate is not “normal” can be seen by backward extra-
polation. If it had prevailed throughout human history, beginning
with the Biblical Adam and Eve, only 3,300 years would have been
required to reach the present population. If, on the contrary, we
assume that the human race has been in existence for a million
years, and has increased at a uniform exponential or geometrical
rate, starting with a single pair, the present population would be
reached in that time by a rate of increase of 2.1*10~ percent per
year, or a rate of growth that would require 33,000 years for the
population to double. At such a rate it is doubtful whether any
census could detect a change in the population during one man’s
lifetime.
That the present rate of growth cannot long continue is also evident
when it is considered that at this rate only 200 more years would be
required to reach a population of nearly 9 billion—about the maxi-
mum number of people the earth can support. In fact, at such a
rate, only 1,600 years would be required to reach a population density
of one person for each square meter of the land surface of the earth.
262 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
ENERGY PER CAPITA
Prior to 1800 most of the energy available to man was that derivable
from his food, the labor of his animals, and the wood he used for
fuel. On a world-wide basis it is doubtful if the sum of these ex-
ceeded 10,000 kilogram-calories per man per day, and this was a
several-fold increase over the energy from food alone.
After 1800 there was superposed on these sources the energy from
fossil fuels. From a world average of 300 kilogram-calories per
capita per day in 1800 the energy from coal and petroleum increased
to 9,880 by 1900, and to 22,100 by 1940. In the areas of high indus-
trialization this quantity is much larger. In the United States, for
example, the energy from coal and petroleum consumed per day per
capita amounted in 1940 to 114,000 kilogram-calories (2), and from
coal, petroleum, and natural gas 129,000.
PHYSICAL LIMITS TO EXPANSION
From the foregoing data it should be clear that while we are con-
cerned with a progression of ancient origin, the developments within
the last century, and especially within the last few decades, are de-
cidedly exceptional. One cannot refrain from asking, “How long
can we keep itup? Where is it taking us?”
This leads us to consider what physical limitations there may be
upon the quantity of various types whose expansion we have noted.
In the case of the fossil fuels the answer is simple. As remarked
before, these fuels represent an accumulation over 500 million years
of geologic time, and any additional accumulation that may be ex-
pected within the next 10,000 years is negligible. When these fuels
are burned, their material content remains upon the earth in a rela-
tively useless form, but the precious energy, after undergoing a se-
quence of degradations, finally leaves the earth as spent, long-wave-
length, low-temperature radiation. Hence, we deal with an
essentially fixed storehouse of energy, which we are drawing upon at
a phenomenal rate. The amount that remains at any given time
equals the amount initially present less that which has been consumed
already.
The amount consumed up to any given time is proportional to the
area under the curve of annual production plotted against time. This
area may approach but can never quite equal the amount initially
present. Thus we may announce with certainty that the production
curve of any given species of fossil fuel will rise, pass through one or
several maxima, and then decline asymptotically to zero. Hence,
while there is an infinity of different shapes that such a curve may
have, they all have this in common: that the area under each must
be equal to or less than the amount initially present.
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—HUBBERT 263
AMOUNTS OF FOSSIL FUELS
Although the quantities of fuels upon the earth are not known pre-
cisely, their order of magnitude is pretty definitely circumscribed.
The most accurately known is coal. At the Twelfth International
Geological Congress at Ottawa in 1913 a world review of coal was
made and the amount capable of being mined was estimated to be
about 8X10 metric tons. Since that time some adjustments in the
estimates have been made, giving us a present figure of about 6.3 x 10”
metric tons of coal initially present.
Within the past few years this figure has been criticized by mining
engineers (8, 9) on the grounds that while the estimated amount of
coal may in fact be present, the amount recoverable by practical min-
ing operations is but a fraction—possibly as small as one-tenth—of
the foregoing estimate. The degree of validity of this criticism still
remains to be determined.
For petroleum the accuracy of estimation is considerably less than
for coal but still is probably reliable as to the order of magnitude.
The method of estimation in this case is that of sampling. In the
better-known areas the amount of petroleum produced per unit vol-
ume of certain classes of rocks has been determined. The areas and
volumes (within drillable depths) of similar rocks over the earth are
fairly well known. By application of the same factor for the un-
drilled areas as for those now well known, an order of magnitude of
the petroleum that may exist may be obtained.
The most comprehensive of such studies that have so far been made
public appear to be those of Weeks, which are cited by Wallace E.
Pratt (10, 11, 12). According to these studies, in a volume of
10-12.5 X 10° kilometers® (2.5-3.0X10® miles?) of sediments in the
United States there have already been discovered 8.4 X 10° cubic meters
(53X10° barrels) of oil. This represents about 10 percent of the
total volume of such sediments of the land areas throughout the
world. Hence, it is estimated that for the world there should have
been present initially the order of 10 times as much oil as for the
United States. A similar volume of sediments occurs on the conti-
nental shelves which may contain a volume of oil about equal to that
of the land sediments.
Assuming that the land areas of the United States will produce
16 X 10° cubic meters (100 billion barrels), then a reasonable estimate
for the world would be:
LOH ayg ee eM OOS ee ae ies Raed eer ery st eee ae 160 X 10°m.*
Corntinentalee shelves see eet ek a eee 160 <10°m.’
ol AOS peed LA et i aula po RR Ett ae San ee PE Pa le oor 320 X10°m.*
922758—51——_18
264 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
These figures are regarded as being somewhat liberal and the quan-
tity of oil may actually be considerably less.*
- In addition to the above, the Athabaska Tar Sands (10) are esti-
mated to contain about 30 X 10° cubic meters of oil.
The amount of natural gas may be estimated at 400 cubic meters
of gas per 1 of oil, or at an energy content of 40 percent that of oil.
The oil shales of the world are less well known. Those of the United
States, especially the Green River shales, are estimated to contain at
least 55X10° cubic meters of oil. Assuming that the rest of the
world has about three times as much oil shale as the United States,
we would obtain, for an order of magnitude, 160 10° cubic meters
(1,000 billion barrels) of oil from this source.
TOTAL ENERGY OF FOSSIL FUELS
COAL
(38 x10'* Kg-Cal
Yj
ENERGY (10'°Kg-Cal.)
FIGuRE 5.
The results of these estimates are given in table 1 and shown graph-
ically in figure 5. It will be noted in particular that 92 percent of
3 Since the foregoing was first published the author has obtained directly from Dr. L. G.
Weeks his own estimate of the total world supply of petroleum, which is more conservative
than the figures cited above. For the land areas Dr. Weeks estimates an amount of about
600 billion barrels (96 10° m.’), and for the continental shelves about 400 billion barrels
(64 108 m.3), giving a total of 1,000 billion barrels, or 160 10° m.3, which is just half
the figure employed above.
These figures were also given in a written discussion, by Dr. Weeks, of a paper by Prof.
A. I. Levorsen on “Estimates of Undiscovered Petroleum Reserves” read before the United
Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources at Lake
Success, August 22, 1949. (See Weeks, L. G., Highlights on 1947 developments in foreign
petroleum fields, Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., vol. 32, No. 6, p. 1094, June 1948;
Levorsen, A. I., Estimates of undiscovered petroleum reserves, Proc. U. N. Scientific Con-
ference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources, vol. 1, Plenary Meetings, pp.
94-99, and discussions, pp. 103-104, by M. King Hubbert, and pp. 107-110, by L. G.
Weeks, 1950.)
265
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—-HUBBERT
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266 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
the estimated total is represented by coal—a figure that will not be
greatly altered by any reasonable adjustments of the estimates of the
remaining fuels, but may be considerably altered if the minable
amount of coal is less than usually assumed.
The amount of the initial coal already consumed is 1.35 percent;
that of oil and natural gas, inclusive of the Athabaska Tar Sands,
about 5 percent. The fraction of shale oil already produced is neg-
higible. From these data the estimated initial supply of energy stored
in fossil fuels is of the order of 50X10 kilogram-calories, of which
0.7 X 10,8, or 1.5 percent, has already been consumed.
RATE OF CONSUMPTION CURVES FOR FOSSIL FUELS
140 =
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Consumption Rate (10"Kg-Cal./ Yr)
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1500 1750 a 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 3250 “3500 375C
Time (Years)
FIcuRE 6.
FUTURE OF FOSSIL ENERGY CONSUMPTION
With this information we are prepared to consider what the future
of the consumption of fossil energy may be. In figure 6 is shown
the production of fossil energy up to the present, and two possible
projections into the future. One production curve rises to a high
peak and descends steeply; the second rises more slowly to a lower
maximum and descends gently. The area under each curve, however,
is approximately the same, namely 10 unit squares, each of which
represents 5 X 10'8 kilogram-calories.
ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS—-HUBBERT 267
If, as the coal-mining engineers intimate, the amount of coal is
much less than herein assumed, so much smaller will be the area under
the curve and so much sooner the approach to exhaustion. How soon
the decline may set in, it is not possible to say. Nevertheless, the
higher the peak to which the production curve rises, the sooner and
the sharper will be the decline.
WATER POWER
The exploitation of water power, like that of coal, is of fairly
ancient origin, but also, like coal, until the last half century its utiliza-
tion has been small. Unlike fossil fuels, however, water power repre-
sents a fraction of current solar energy, which changes but slowly
with time and is being continuously degraded into waste heat irre-
spective of whether it is utilized or not.
A growth curve of the utilization of water power, therefore, should
rise in a manner similar to those of the fossil fuels, but instead of then
declining to zero it should level off asymptotically to a maximum as
all available water power is brought into utilization. At least this
is physically possible.
In view of the eventual exhaustion of fossil fuels, it is of interest
to know to what extent water power can be depended upon to replace
them. In table 2 are listed the installed water-power capacities of
the various continents for the year 1947 and estimates of their total
potential capacities (13). In addition, the number of kilowatt-hours
of energy that such capacity should produce per year, and, finally,
the energy, expressed in heat units, of the amount of fuel that would
be required to produce an equivalent amount of power, is given.
In these calculations the potential installed capacity is taken to be
equal approximately to the power at mean rate of flow and 100 per-
cent efficiency. The estimated output is based on a load factor of 0.5,
and the fuel eqivalent of the power produced is based upon a thermo-
dynamic efficiency of steam plants of 20 percent—figures which char-
acterize installations in the United States at the present time.
The present and potential water-power situation for the world is
summarized graphically in figure 7. The potential capacity is about
1,500 million kilowatts of which present installations amount only
to 65 millions, or 4.3 percent.
The energy content of the equivalent fuel that would be required
to produce the potential water-power output is about 2810" kilo-
gram-calories per year, or one and a half times the present rate of
consumption of energy from fossil fuels.
Hence, with maximum utilization, it would be possible with water
power to supply to the earth an amount of energy comparable with
that currently obtained from the use of fossil fuels.
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ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
sH
ben)
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286 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
The materials involved have different specific heats and different
heat conductivities (Shannon and Wells, 1947; Muller, 1945; W. O.
Smith, 1942, 1939). Chemical and physical properties vary widely,
yet are of primary importance (W. O. Smith, 1942; Taber, 1930a,
1930b). Water transmits heat about 25 times as fast as air, and ice
4. times as fast as water. Thus, poorly drained silt and muck are much
more easily frozen than dry, coarse-grained gravel. W. O. Smith
(1942) points out the marked effect of soil structures and of architec-
ture of pore space on thermal resistance in natural soils.
The dissipating surface of the earth is even more complex and more
changeable. Water-saturated frozen vegetation and soil (bare of
snow) in winter is an active conductor, whereas lush dry vegetation
and dry porous soil in summer is an excellent insulator. Black-top
pavements are good conductors and heat absorbers in summer and
can destroy permafrost. An elevated and insulated building with
circulating air beneath may unbalance the thermal regime of the
ground toward pergelation. Heat conductivities of some earth mate-
rials under fixed laboratory conditions are known, but the quantitative
effect in nature of variable moisture conditions and of changing vege-
tation is not. Changes in the volume, composition, or temperature of
ground water or surface runoff have effects as yet little known quali-
tatively or quantitatively.
All these factors must be considered to be in a delicate balance be-
tween freezing and thawing. It is to be emphasized that the thermal
regime is not uniform, but changes from hour to hour, day to day,
week to week, year to year, and cycle to cycle. Specifically we must
think in terms of geographic position, topography, lithology, structure,
and texture of soils and bedrock, hydrology, geothermal gradients,
thermal conductivities, vegetation, climate (temperature, precipita-
tion, cloudiness, wind, insolation, evaporation), and cultural features.
What effect cosmic dust clouds, changes in carbon-dioxide con-
tent of the atmosphere, inclination of the earth’s axis, eccentricity of
the earth’s orbit, sunspots, etc., have on permafrost can be surmised
only as they affect insolation and dissipation of the earth’s heat.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION AND SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEMS
In a permafrost area, it is imperative that the engineer have a com-
plete understanding of the extent, thickness, temperature, and char-
acter of the permafrost and its relation to its environment before con-
struction of any buildings, towers, roads, bridges, runways, railroads,
dams, reservoirs, telephone lines, utilidors, drainage ditches and pipes,
facilities for sewage disposal, establishments for ground-water supply,
excavations, foundation piles, or other structures. The practical im-
portance of the temperatures of permafrost cannot be overemphasized.
PERMAFROST—BLACK 287
A knowledge of whether permafrost is actively expanding, or the
cold reserve is increasing, is stabilized, or is being destroyed is essen-
tial in any engineering problem. Past experience has amply demon-
strated that low cost or high cost, success or failure, is commonly based
cn a complete understanding of the problems to be encountered. Once
the conditions are evaluated, proper precautions can be taken with
some assurance of success.
Muller (1945) and Liverovsky and Morosov (1941) give compre-
hensive outlines of general and detailed permafrost surveys as adapted
to various engineering projects. These outlines include instructions
for the planning of the surveys, method of operation, and data to be
collected. Rarely does the geologist or engineer on a job encounter
“cut and dried” situations, and it is obvious that discretion must be
exercised in modifying the outlines to meet the situation at hand.
In reconnaissance or preliminary survey to select the best site for
construction in an unknown area, it is recommended that the approach
be one of unraveling the natural history of the area. Basically the
procedure is to identify each land form or terrain unit and deter-
mine its geologic history in detail. Topography, character and dis-
tribution of materials, permafrost, vegetation, hydrology, and climate
are studied and compared with known areas. Then inferences, deduc-
tions, extrapolations, or interpretations can be made with reliability
commensurate with the type, quality, and quantity of original data.
Thus the solution of the problems depends primarily on a complete
understanding of the thermal regime of the permafrost and active
layer. No factor can be eliminated, but all must be considered in a
quantitative way. It is understandable that disagreement exists on
the mean annual air temperature needed to produce permafrost. Few,
if any, areas actually have identical conditions of climate, geology,
and vegetation; hence, how can they be compared directly on the
basis of climate alone? Without doubt the mean annual temperature
required to produce permafrost depends on many factors and varies at
least several degrees with variations in these factors. For practical
purposes, however, units (terrain units) in the same climate or in
similar climates may be separated on the basis of geology and vegeta-
tion. Thus there is a basis for extrapolating known conditions into
unknown areas.
The advantages of aerial reconnaissance and study of aerial photo-
graphs for preliminary site selection are manifold. Aerial photo-
graphs in the hands of experienced geologists, soils engineers, and
botanists can supply sufficient data to determine the best routes for
roads and railroads, the best airfield sites, and data on water supply,
construction materials, permafrost, traflicability conditions, camou-
flage, and other problems. Such an approach has been used with
288 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
success by the Geological Survey and other organizations and individ-
uals (Black and Barksdale, 1949; Wallace, 1948; Woods et al., 1948;
Pryor, 1947).
Emphasis is placed on the great need for expansion of long-term
applied and basic research projects as outlined by Jaillite (1947) and
referred to by Muller (1945) for a clearer understanding and evalua-
tion of the problems.
Recognition and prediction.—Recognition and prediction of perma-
frost go hand in hand in a permafrost survey. If natural exposures
of permafrost are not available along cut banks of rivers, lakes, or
oceans, it is necessary to dig test pits or drill holes in places to obtain
undisturbed samples for laboratory tests and to determine the char-
acter of the permafrost.
Surface features can be used with considerable degree of accuracy
to predict permafrost conditions if the origin of the surface forms are
clearly understood. Vegetation alone is not the solution, but it can be
used with other factors to provide data on surfic.al materials, surface
water, character and distribution of the permafrost, and particularly
on the depth of the active layer (Denny and Raup, unpublished manu-
script; Stone, 1948; Muller, 1945; Taber, 1943a). Cave-in or thermo-
karst lakes (pl. 8, fig. 1), thaw sinks (Hopkins, 1949; Black and Barks-
dale, 1949; Wallace, 1948; Muller, 1945), and ground-ice mounds
(Sharp, 1942a) are particularly good indicators of fine-grained mate-
rials containing much ground ice. Polygonal ground can be used with
remarkable accuracy also if the type of polygonal ground and its origin
are clearly known. Numerous types of strukturboden, polygonal
ground, and related forms have been described and their origins dis-
cussed (Wittmann, 1950; Richmond, 1949; Cailleux, 1948; Washburn,
1947; Troll, 1944; Sharp, 1942b; Hogbom, 1914). The type of ice-
wedge polygon described by Leffingwell (1919) (pl. 4) can be de-
limited from others on the basis of.surface expression. The author’s
work in northern Alaska (1945 to present) reveals that the polygons go
through a cycle that can be described as youth, maturity, and old age—
from flat surface with cracks to low-centered polygons and, finally, to
high-centered polygons. Size and shape of polygons, widths and
depths of troughs or cracks, presence or absence of ridges adjacent to
the troughs, type of vegetation, and other factors all provide clues to
the size-grade of surficial materials and the amount of ice in the
ground. Frost mounds, frost blisters, icings, gullies, and many other
surficial features can be used with reliability if all factors are con-
sidered and are carefully weighed by the experienced observer.
Geophysical methods of locating permafrost have given some prom-
ise (Sumgin and Petrovsky, 1947; Enenstein, 1947; Swartz and Shep-
ard, 1946; Muller, 1945; Joestings, 1941). (See p. 282.) Various
PERMAFROST—BLACK 289
temperature-measuring and recording devices are employed. Augers
and other mechanical means of getting at the permafrost are used
(Muller, 1945, and others).
Construction—Two types of construction methods are used in
permafrost areas (Muller, 1945). In one, the passive method, the
frozen-ground conditions are undisturbed or provided with additional
insulation, so that the heat from the structure will not cause thawing
of the underlying ground and weaken its stability. In the other
method, the active method, the frozen ground is thawed prior to
construction, and steps are taken to keep it thawed or to remove it and
to use materials not subject to heaving and settling as a result of frost
action. A preliminary examination, of course, is necessary to deter-
mine which procedure is more practicable or feasible.
Permafrost can be used as a construction material (if stress or load
does not exceed plastic or elastic limit), removed before construction,
or controlled outside the actual construction area. Muller (1945) has
shown that it is best to distinguish (@) continuous areas of permafrost
from (0) discontinuous areas and from (¢) sporadic bodies. Russian
engineers recommend that in (a) only the passive method of construc-
tion be used; in (0) or (c) either the passive or active method can be
used, depending on thickness and temperature of the permafrost. De-
tailed information and references on the construction of buildings,
roads, bridges, runways, reservoirs, airfields, and other engineering
projects (pls. 9, 10, 11, and 12) are presented by Huttl (1948) ;
Hardy and D’Appolonia (1946); Corps of Engineers (1946, 1945) ;
Zhukov (1946) ; Muller (1945) ; Richardson (1944) ; and others. Re-
finements of the techniques and data on Alaskan research projects
(Wilson, 1948; Jaillite, 1947; Barnes, 1946) are contained largely in
unpublished reports of various federal agencies.
Eager and Pryor (1945) have shown that road icings (pl. 10, fig. 3)
are more common in areas of permafrost than elsewhere. They,
Tchekotillo (1946), and Taber (1948b) discuss the phenomena of
icings, classify them, and describe various methods used to prevent
or alleviate icing.
One of the major factors to consider in permafrost is its water
content. Methods of predicting by moisture diagrams (epures) the
amount of settling of buildings on thawing permafrost are presented
by Fedosov (1942). Anderson (1942) describes soil moisture condi-
tions and methods of measuring the temperature at which soil mois-
ture freezes.
Emphasis should be placed again on the fact that permafrost is
a temperature phenomenon that occurs naturally in the earth. If man
disturbs the thermal regime knowingly or unknowingly, he must suffer
the consequences. Every effort should be made to control the thermal
290 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
regime, to promote pergelation or depergelation as desired. Generally
the former is difficult near the southern margin of permafrost. If the
existing climate is not cold enough to insure that the permafrost re-
main frozen, serious consideration should be given to artificial freezing
in those places where permafrost must be utilized as a construction
material. Techniques that were used at Grand Coulee Dam (Legget,
1939) or on Hess Creek (Huttl, 1948) can be modified to fit the situa-
tion. It should be borne in mind that the refrigerating equipment
need be run only for a matter of hours during the summer after the
ground has been refrozen and vegetation or other means of natural
insulation have been employed. Bad slides on roads and railroads,
settling under expensive buildings, loosening of the foundations of
dams, bridges, towers, and the like probably can be treated by re-
freezing artificially at less cost than by any other method. In fact
the day is probably not far off when airfields of Pycrete (Perutz,
1948) or similar material will be built in the Arctic where no con-
struction materials are available.
Where seasonal frost (active layer) is involved in construction, the
engineer is referred to the annotated bibliography of the Highway Re-
search Board (1948) and to such reports as that of the Corps of
Engineers (1945, 1946, 1947).
Water supply—Throughout permafrost areas one of the major
problems is a satisfactory source of large amounts of water. Prob-
lems encountered in keeping the water liquid during storage and dis-
tribution or in its purification are beyond the scope of this report.
Small amounts of water can be obtained generally from melted ice
or snow. However, a large, satisfactory, annual water supply in
areas of continuous permafrost is to be found only in deep lakes
or large rivers that do not freeze to the bottom. Even then the
water tends to have considerable mineral hardness and organic con-
tent. It is generally not economical to drill through 1,000 to 2,000
feet of permafrost to tap ground-water reservoirs beneath, although
artesian supplies have been obtained under 700 feet of permafrost
(Dementiev and Tumel, 1946) and under 1,500 feet of permafrost
(Obruchey, 1946).
In areas of discontinuous permafrost, large annual ground-water
supplies are more common either in perched zones on top of permafrost
or in nonfrozen zones within or below the permafrost (Cederstrom,
1948; Péwé, 1948b).
Annual water supply in areas of sporadic permafrost normally is
a problem only to individual householders and presents only a little
more difficulty than finding water in comparable areas in temperate
zones.
Surface water as an alternate to ground water can be retained by
earthen dams in areas of permafrost (Huttl, 1948).
PERMAFROST—BLACK 291
Throughout the Arctic, however, the quality of water is commonly
poorer than in temperate regions. Hardness, principally in the form
of calcium and magnesium carbonate and iron or manganese, is com-
mon. Organic impurities and sulfur are abundant. In many places
ground water and surface water have been polluted by man or or-
ganisms.
Muller (1945) presents a detailed discussion of sources of water and
the engineering problems in permafrost areas of distributing the
water. Joestings (1941) describes a partially successful method of
locating water-bearing formations in permafrost with resistivity
methods.
Sewage disposal.—Sewage disposal for large camps in areas of con-
tinuous permafrost is a most difficult problem. Wastes should be
dumped into the sea, as no safe place exists on the land for their dis-
posal ina raw state. As chemical reaction is retarded by cold temper-
atures, natural decomposition and purification through aeration do
not take place readily. Large streams that have some water in them
the year around are few and should not be contaminated. Promiscu-
ous dumping of sewage will lead within a few years to serious pollu-
tion of the few deep lakes and other areas of annual surface-water
supply. Burning is costly. As yet no really satisfactory solution is
known to the writer. In discontinuous and sporadic permafrost zones,
streams are larger and can handle sewage more easily, yet even there
sewage disposal still remains in places one of the most important
problems.
Agriculture —Permafrost as a cold reserve has a deleterious effect
on the growth of plants. However, as an impervious horizon it tends
to keep precipitation in the upper soil horizons, and in thawing pro-
vides water from melting ground ice. Both deleterious and beneficial
effects are negligible after 1 or 2 years of cultivation, as the perma-
frost table thaws, in that length of time, beyond the reach of roots of
most annual plants (Gasser, 1948).
Farming in permafrost areas that have much ground ice, however,
can lead to a considerable loss in time and money. Sub-Arctic farming
can be done only where a sufficient growing season is available for
plants to mature in the short summers. Such areas are in the discon-
tinuous or sporadic zones of permafrost. If the land is cleared of its
natural insulating cover of vegetation, the permafrost thaws. Over
a period of 2 to 3 years, large cave-in lakes have developed in Siberia
(I. V. Poiré, oral communication), and pits and mounds have formed
in Alaska (pl. 10, fig. 4) (Péwé, 1948a, 1949; Rockie, 1942). The
best solution is to select farm lands in those areas free of permafrost
or free of large ground-ice masses (Tziplenkin, 1944).
Mining —In Alaska, placer miners particularly, and lode miners
to a lesser extent, have utilized permafrost or destroyed it as neces-
292 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
sary since it was first encountered. Particularly in placer mining,
frozen ground has been the factor that has made many operations
uneconomical (Wimmler, 1927).
In the early part of the century, when gold was being mined so
profitably at Dawson, Fairbanks, Nome, and other places in northern
North America, it was common for miners to sink shafts more than
100 feet through frozen muck to the gold-bearing gravels (P. S. Smith,
unpublished manuscript). These shafts were sunk by steam jetting or
by thawing with fires or hot rocks. If the muck around the shafts or
over the gravels thawed, the mines had to be abandoned.
Now, with the advent of dredges, such ground is thawed, generally
with cold water, one or more years in advance of operations. In
the technique used holes are drilled in or through the permafrost at
regular intervals of possibly 10 to 30 feet, depending on the depth
and types of material, and cold water is forced through the perma-
frost into underlying permeable foundations or out to the surface
through other holes. Hot water and steam, formerly used, are un-
economical and inefficient. Where thick deposits of overburden cover
placers, they are removed commonly by hydraulicking. Summer thaw
facilitates the process (Patty, 1945).
Permafrost is commonly welcomed by the miners in lode mining, as
it means dry working conditions. Its effect on mining operations other
than maintaining cold temperatures in the mine is negligible unless it
contains aquifers. Because of cold temperatures, sealing such aquifers
with cement is difficult, and other techniques must be used as the
situation demands.
Some well drilling in permafrost requires modifications of existing
techniques and more careful planning for possible exigencies (Fagin,
1947). Difficulty may be encountered in getting proper foundations
for the rig. In rotary drilling, difficulty may be experienced in keep-
ing drilling muds at the proper temperature, in finding adequate water
supplies, or in finding proper local material for drilling muds. In
shallow holes particularly, the tools will “freeze in” after a few hours
of idleness. In many places refreezing of permafrost around cased
holes produces pressures great enough to collapse most casing.
Cementing of casings is costly and very difficult, as ordinary con-
crete will not set in subfreezing temperatures. Deep wells below the
permafrost may encounter high temperatures (100° to 150° F.), and
the hot drilling muds on returning to the surface thaw the permafrost
around the casing and create a settling hazard in the foundation of
the rig and also a disposal problem. In some foundations refrigerat-
ing equipment must be used to prevent settling.
Permafrost also may act as a trap for oil or even have oil reser-
voirs within it. The cold temperature adversely affects asphalt-base
PERMAFROST—BLACK 293
types particularly and cuts down yields. Production difficulties and
costs go up (Fagin, 1947).
Refrigeration and storage.—Natural cold-storage excavations are
used widely in areas of permafrost. They are most satisfactory in
continuous or discontinuous zones. Permafrost should not be above
30° F.; if it is, extreme care in ventilation and insulation must be
used. Properly constructed and ventilated storerooms will keep meat
and other products frozen for years. Detailed plans and charac-
teristics required for different cold-storage rooms are described by
Chekotillo (1946).
Trafficability—In the Arctic and sub-Arctic most travel overland
is done in winter, as muskegs, swamps, and hummocky tundra make
summer travel exceedingly difficult (Navy Department, 1948-49;
Fagin, 1947). Tracked vehicles or sleds are the only practical types.
Wheeled vehicles are unsatisfactory, as most of the area is without
roads.
Permafrost aids travel when it is within a few inches of the sur-
face. It permits travel of D8 caterpillar tractors and heavier equip-
ment directly on the permafrost. Sleds weighing many tons can
be pulled over the permafrost with ease after the vegetal mat has
been removed by an angle-bulldozer. Polygonal ground, frost blisters,
pingos, and small, deeply incised thaw streams (commonly called
“beaded” streams), rivers, and lakes create natural hazards to travel.
In areas of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost, seasonal thaw is
commonly 6 to 10 feet deep, and overland travel in summer can be
accomplished in many places only with amphibious vehicles such as
the weasel or LVT. Foot travel and horse travel are very slow and
laborious in many places because of swampy land surfaces and neces-
sity for making numerous detours around sloughs, rivers, and lakes.
Military operations—Permafrost alters military operations
through its effects on construction of airbases, roads, railroads, revet-
ments, buildings, and other engineering projects; through its effects
on trafficability, water supply, sewage disposal, excavations, under-
ground storage, camouflage, explosives, planting of mines, and other
more indirect ways (Edwards, 1949; Navy Department, 1948-49).
Military operations commonly require extreme speed in construction,
procuring of water supply, or movement of men and material. Un-
fortunately it is not always humanly possible to exercise such speed
(Fagin, 1947). Large excavations require natural thawing, aided
possibly by sprinkling (Huttl, 1948), to proceed ahead of the earth
movers. Conversely, seasonal thaw may be so deep as to prevent the
movement of heavy equipment over swampy ground until freeze-up.
Or, similarly, it may be necessary in a heavy building to steam-jet
piles into permafrost and allow them to freeze in place before loading
294 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
them. These tasks take time, and proper planning is a prerequisite
for efficient operation.
Camouflage is a problem on the tundra. Little relief or change in
vegetation is available. Tracks of heavy vehicles or paths stand out
in marked contrast for years. It is easy to see in aerial photographs
footpaths and dog-sled trails abandoned 10 years or more ago.
Mortar and shell fire, Jand mines, shaped charges, and other ex-
plosives undoubtedly respond to changes in the character of
permafrost, but no data are available to the author.
FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDED
Throughout the foregoing pages brief reference is made to aspects
of permafrost or effects of permafrost on engineering, geologic, bio-
logic, and other scientific problems for which few factual data are
available. However, in the event that the reader has received the
impression that a great deal is known of permafrost, it is pointed out
that the science of frozen ground is relatively young and immature.
It has lacked a coordinated and comprehensive investigation by geo-
logists, engineers, physicists, botanists, climatologists, and other
scientists. It is barely in the beginning of the descriptive stages, and
only now is it receiving the world-wide attention it deserves.
As our civilization presses northward, the practical needs of con-
struction, water supply, sewage disposal, trafficability, and other en-
gineering problems must be solved speedily and economically. Our
present knowledge is relatively meager, and trial-and-error methods
are being used much too frequently. Practical laboratory experi-
ments (Taber, 1930a, 1930b) and controlled field experimental
stations, such as that at Fairbanks, Alaska (Jaillite, 1947), are needed
in various situations in the permafrost areas. From these stations
methods and techniques of construction can be standardized and ap-
propriate steps taken to meet a particular situation. Such labora-
tories must be supplemented with Arctic research stations such as are
found in the Soviet Union where more than 30 natural-science labora-
tories with permanent facilities and year-around basic studies in all
phases of Arctic science are going on. The Arctic Research Labora-
tory at Point Barrow (Shelesnyak, 1948) is a start in the right direc-
tion. The academic approach must accompany the practical approach
if satisfactory solution of the problem is to be found.
To name all the specific topics for future research would make this
paper unduly long, as no phase of permafrost is well known. How-
ever, the author reiterates that the problems cannot be solved ade-
quately until the phenomena of heat flow in all natural and artificial
materials in the earth are understood and correlated with insolation,
atmospheric conditions, geothermal gradients, and the complex sur-
PERMAFROST—BLACK 295
face of the earth. Then, possibly, criteria can be set up to evaluate
within practical limits the effect of various structures and materials
on the dissipating surface of the earth. The complexities of geology
(lithology, structure, and texture of soils and rock), hydrology, vege-
tation, and climate of the Arctic make the solution a formidable task
but the research an intriguing problem for all earth scientists.
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298 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
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1948. A description of the iceberg aircraft carrier and the bearing of the
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300 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
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pp. 8388-3839.
ZEUNER, F. E.
*1945, The Pleistocene period—its climate, chronology, and faunal successions.
322 pp. Ray Society, London.
*1946. Dating the past. 444 pp. London.
ZHUKOY, V. F.
*1946. The earthworks during the laying of foundations in the permafrost
region. Obruchev Inst. Permafrostology, pp. 3-130. Moscow-Lenin-
grad. (Translated by Stefansson Library.)
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EARTHQUAKES IN NORTH AMERICA?
By B. GuTENBERG
California Institute of Technology
[With 1 plate]
During the past 10 years considerable progress has been made in
determining the seismicity in a given area—the frequency of occur-
rence, and distribution of earthquakes. Earlier investigations were
based almost completely on field observations, but now extensive use
of instrumental records is possible. This assures much more uniform
results for the whole earth. The use of seismograms in investigations
of seismicity was made possible by the development of methods which
permit a rapid calculation of a function of the earthquake energy
from instrumental observations. The first seismogram of a distant
earthquake that was recognized as such was made on April 17, 1889,
when an instrument at Potsdam wrote a record identified as that of
a shock in Japan. (Rebeur-Paschwitz, 1894, p. 436.) During the
following years instruments were designed which gave fairly good
records of distant earthquakes. In 1897, a committee of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science called attention to the
desirability of observing earthquake waves that had traveled great
distances. By 1899, 13 stations provided such observations and the
results were analyzed. In 1904 the number of stations reporting had
increased beyond 100, but less than half of them reported wave
arrival times reliable within about a quarter-minute. From that time
on, however, it has been possible to locate within a few hundred miles
all great earthquakes and most major shocks. In 1907 the Interna-
tional Central Station at Strasbourg issued the first catalog giving
all readings for the larger shocks reported for 1904. Thus, starting
with 1904, research on seismicity could be based on instrumental
observations. The systematic publication of such data was discon-
tinued during the First World War (when the catalog for 1908 was
in press) and later was resumed, starting with the data for 1918.
For the years 1912 to 1917 summaries for selected shocks were pub-
lished by the British Association for the Advancement of Science
under the supervision of H. H. Turner, University Observatory,
Oxford.
1 Reprinted by permission from Science, vol. 111, No. 2883, 1950, with added text and illustrations.
303
304 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Detailed data concerning arrival times of waves at the reporting
seismological observatories are printed in the International Seis-
mological Summaries. In addition, these volumes contain calculated
values of the coordinates and depths of the earthquake foci and the
origin times of the shocks. They were formerly compiled at Oxford,
England, and now at Kew (Turner et al., 1923-50). The summaries
are based on the bulletins that are issued by most seismological sta-
tions. Some of these station bulletins contain, in addition to observed
times of various phases, the calculated amplitudes of the ground
motion. With this information it is possible to determine the size of
the earthquakes. The great importance for research of all such sta-
tion bulletins and international catalogs is obvious.
There are now roughly 300 seismological stations with accurate time
service (at least to the nearest second) practically all over the world,
including South Africa, South America, New Zealand, Samoa, Aus-
tralia, and Madagascar in the Southern Hemisphere, and a much
denser network in the Northern Hemisphere.
Until about 10 years ago the size of an earthquake could be esti-
mated only from the observed size of the area of perceptibility or of
damage or from changes found at the surface of the earth. Arbitrary
scales were applied to such data to find the intensity of a shock. For
example, in the scale used in the United States (Wood and Neu-
mann, 1931), intensity II indicates that the shock was felt only by
a few persons; intensity V, that it was felt by everyone, many were
awakened, some dishes were broken, etc.; intensity VIII indicates
slight damage in specially designed structures, considerable damage
in ordinary buildings, great damage in poorly built structures; and
intensity XII, the maximum, indicates destruction of all structures.
A scale of wholly different nature, based on instrumental data, was
devised by C. F. Richter (1935). He defined magnitude of an earth-
quake at average (shallow) depth in southern California as the
common logarithm of the maximum trace amplitude expressed in
thousandths of a millimeter, with which the standard short period
torsion seismometer (period 0.8 second, magnification 2,800, damp-
ing nearly critical) would register that earthquake at an epicentral
distance of 100 kilometers. Magnitude 1/=2 corresponds in shallow
earthquakes to a shock barely felt; a shock of magnitude 5 causes
minor damage; magnitude 7 is the lower limit of major earthquakes;
81% is the highest magnitude that has been determined from amplitude
data given in individual bulletins of seismological stations since 1904.
This magnitude scale was later extended by Gutenberg and Richter
(1936, 1942) to apply to shallow earthquakes occurring in other locali-
ties and recorded by other types of instruments. Gutenberg (1945a)
devised means for determining magnitudes of shallow earthquakes
EARTHQUAKES IN NORTH AMERICA—GUTENBERG 305
using amplitudes and periods of waves that had traveled through
the interior of the earth. He also extended the scale to include deep-
focus earthquakes (Gutenberg, 1945b). It is now possible to deter-
mine the magnitude of larger earthquakes within a few tenths of the
scale from seismograms at any well-equipped station. The relation-
ship between magnitude J/ of an earthquake and its energy # in ergs
is given roughly by the approximate equation log #=12+1.8d/
(Gutenberg and Richter, 1949). This holds for any focal depth.
The data concerning the magnitude and the instrumentally determined
epicenters and depths of foci of earthquakes provide the basis for
seismicity studies.
Lists of earthquakes and other results of such an investigation of
earthquakes recorded over the period from 1904 to 1947 have been
published by Gutenberg and Richter (1949). Much of the following
information is taken from this book.
The use of magnitudes for the first time provides reliable informa-
tion concerning the relative seismicity of all regions of the earth. It
eliminates the effects of density of population and of communication
facilities on the determination of intensities of reported earthquakes,
as well as effects of uneven distribution of seismological observatories
on seismicity patterns. If the magnitude of the earthquakes is not
considered, distorted appearance of seismicity maps may result from
an accumulation of many small shocks, which are plotted only in
regions well covered by stations with sensitive instruments. Thus,
Europe—which, except for the Mediterranean area, has a low actual
seismicity—has appeared on maps in the past as a region of relatively
high seismic activity. There are now five stations reporting magni-
tudes of earthquakes in their routine bulletins, but many more reg-
ularly furnish amplitude data required for the magnitude determina-
tion. Magnitude can be determined from a seismogram at any sta-
tion where instrumental constants are known and where a clear record
of an earthquake has been written, regardless of the distance or depth
of the shock. Magnitudes determined at different stations rarely
differ by more than 0.8 units from the average for a given earth-
quake.
The outer part of the earth consists of relatively inactive blocks,
separated by active zones falling into four groups: (1) the circum-
Pacific zone, which includes about 80 percent of all shocks with origins
at a depth not exceeding 60 kilometers (about 40 miles), 90 percent
of the so-called intermediate shocks, which have their sources at
depths between 60 and 300 kilometers (about 40 and 190 miles), and
all deeper shocks (maximum observed depth approximately 400
miles). (2) The Mediterranean and trans-Asiatic zone, which in-
cludes nearly all remaining intermediate and large shallow shocks.
306 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
(3) Narrow belts of shallow shocks, which follow the principal ridges
in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Indian Oceans. (4) Moderate activity
associated with rift structures such as those of East Africa and the
Hawaiian Islands.
The most extensive inactive block is the Pacific basin (excluding
the Hawaiian Islands). On the continents, most of the ancient shields
are quite inactive. Between the stable shields and the active belts are
regions of minor to moderate activity having occasional large shocks.
Small shocks (magnitude 5 and less) apparently occur everywhere.
poet
1
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RTHQUAKES -
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HUNOREDS DIGIT OF DEPTH
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MOUNTAIN RANGES pie ahne ay ber fab
OCEAN DEPTH, KM.
4
Fieurr 1.—The structural are from northern Japan to Kamchatka. (After
Gutenberg and Richter, 1949.) (See also fig. 2.)
A structural are of the Pacific region—for example the Tonga
arc, the Marianas arc, or the northern Japan are (figs. 1 and 2)—ex-
hibits the following typical features in order, beginning at the con-
vex side: (A) a foredeep; (B) shallow earthquakes and negative
gravity anomalies along anticlines; (C) positive gravity anomalies
and slightly deeper shocks; (D) the principal mountain are (Ter-
tiary or older), with active volcanoes and shocks about 100 kilometers
deep; (E) an older structural arc with volcanism in a late stage or
EARTHQUAKES IN NORTH AMERICA—GUTENBERG 307
extinct, and shocks about 200 to 300 kilometers deep; (F) a belt of
deep shocks (below 300 kilometers). In some arcs only a few of these
features can be identified; this is true of the similar structural arcs
along the southern Alpid front of the trans-Asiatic zone. In parts of
the Pacific belt (for example, along the coast of the continental United
States (fig. 3) and British Columbia) structural arcs and the accom-
panying features are absent. In many such sectors (as in California)
there is strong evidence of block faulting in place of the folding
characteristic of the arcs.
ISOSTATIG ANOMALY
PROFILE, VERTICAL SCALE 10 TIMES HORIZONTAL SCALE
VOLCAMIC BELT
SHOCKS SHOWN IM PROFILE
SWALLOW X oer se
INTERMEDIATE 9
1S Merdeutet
IFIGuRE 2.—The structural arcin northern Japan. (After Gutenberg and Richter,
1949.) (See also fig. 1.)
The seismicity of North America is mainly associated with the Paci-
fic belt. Relatively high activity occurs in the area of the Aleutian
Islands. The Aleutian arc is a typical Pacific arc; it extends from
the Commander Islands into central Alaska. Seismic and volcanic
activity is relatively high. Jn general, shallow seismic activity fol-
lows the northern concave side of the Aleutian trench. Intermediate
shocks at depths down to about 100 miles occur along the north side of
the island arc. No shocks originating deeper than 20 miles are known
in the area of the North American Continent. The shocks having
depths of approximately 60 miles occur near the line of volcanoes, as
t\, < Ws
|
!
IN SHINN
SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
CLASS... 9 c
Mx x
“VOLCANOES
REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
MAJOR ACTIVE FAULTS ==
TREND OF
° wenlctptsyelep atk eae
MOUNTAIN RANGES “90 ooo
OCEAN DEPTH, xu,
‘*
i
{
|
|
nl
'
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i
i:
“he
Figure 3.—Epicenters of larger earthquakes in British Columbia, the western
United States,
and northwestern Mexico between 1905 and 1947.
Gutenberg and Richter, 1949.)
(After
GUTENBERG 309
EARTHQUAKES IN NORTH AMERICA
usual. Shallow shocks in the interior of Alaska represent an interior
structure.
Another sector of the Pacific belt extends from southeastern Alaska
to Puget Sound and includes the rather active area of the Queen
Charlotte Islands (fig. 8, upper left), where a great earthquake
occurred in August 1949. ‘There are neither well-developed ocean
deeps nor shocks at intermediate or greater depth in this area. The
seismic activity decreases considerably in the vicinity of the State of
Washington. There is a clear gap between this and the next seismic
zone, which begins about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon. Thence,
an uninterrupted belt of earthquake foci extends in a southeasterly
direction (fig. 3). It reaches the coast of northern California, then
follows the coastal area to the region of San Francisco and continues
inland following the well-known San Andreas fault zone. This zone
has been traced at the surface as far south as the Salton Sea, but the
earthquake belt continues along the Gulf of California at least as
far as the southern tip of Lower California. Volcanic activity is low
along this zone; the few volcanoes, such as Mount Lassen, and Tres
Virgenes in Lower California, appear to be in a late state of activity.
The next sector to the southeast is one of noticeably higher activity.
It follows the Pacific coast from Colima in Mexico to Panama. There
are two lines of active volcanoes, one extending west-east across cen-
tral Mexico from Colima to Veracruz, the other beginning in Guate-
mala and extending southeastward through Central America. » yoy pounyoesy [6 9}
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.
322 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
AandB. A weighed approximately 300 grams and B approximately
500 grams. The material is sufficiently magnetic that fragments of
pea size may be lifted by a bar magnet, and it consists mainly of
iron oxides, hydrated in part, with some silicate minerals too highly
impregnated with iron oxides to be identifiable, and a little chalced-
ony. After fine grinding, specimen A yielded a very small amount
(0.06 percent) of metallic iron which was retained on a 90-mesh
screen.
Figure 3.—Diagrammatic sections of a typical meteorite crater. A, fracturing
and tilting of strata by outward explosion; B, ring anticline by percussion.
(After L. J. Spencer.)
GENERAL DISCUSSION
An interesting paper by Nininger (1948) covers the geological sig-
nificance of meteorites. It took scientists many years to accept the
fact that matter from outside the earth and its atmosphere was falling
and had fallen on the earth’s surface. Today there are still some who
will not accept the meteoritic origin of some craters.
It is apparent that studies of craters such as the Meteor crater,
Arizona (Barringer, 1909, 1915, 1925), Boxhole crater, Central Aus-
tralia (Madigan, 1937), Texas crater (Sellards, 1927; Barringer,
1929), Henbury craters (Alderman, 1932), Wabar craters (Philby,
1933), Campo del Cielo craters (Nagera, 1926), Siberian craters
WOLF CREEK CRATER—GUPPY AND MATHESON 323
(Whipple, 1930), and now the Wolf Creek crater in Australia have
produced an overwhelming amount of evidence in favor of this
meteoritic origin. The Wolf Creek crater gives further support to the
theory of Dietz (1946) and others who postulate a meteoritic origin
for craters on the moon’s surface.
From the available literature it appears that seven craters or groups
of craters of meteoritic origin have been described (Spencer, 1933).
Ashanti crater, occupied by Lake Bosumtwi, Ashanti (Maclaren,
1931), and a group of craters in Estonia * (Reinwaldt and Luha, 1928 ;
Kraus, Meyer, and Wegener, 1928) remain doubtful. Nininger (1948)
also mentions that, in addition to the fall of meteors in Siberia in
1908, “now comes word that a similar, though smaller collision has
occurred at a point some 200 miles north of Vladivostock.”
Table 2, which gives the dimensions of craters of proved meteoritic
origin, is of some interest. The variations in the ratios of width to
depth may be explained by either erosion and sedimentation or by an
initial accumulation of shattered rock or both. The figure given for
the depth of the Wolf Creek crater will be increased when the actual
depth to bed rock is investigated.
TABLE 2.—Dimensions of craters of known meteoritic origin
Width h Ratio of
ORES (feet) “Ceet) Peesnne
|
Meteor crater sO: orrAstee Sait) at ls Thy Se 3, 900 | 570 6.8
Wolf Creek, crater, Australia--2: 22-220 fsa 2, 800 170 1695
exon doValy Gave, ANNE ee SCM 52 Hakeal
PREXSSE Cre Lele pA ye oe atthe ney pn ee 530 18 29. 4
lSINOWIAY Gener, AIRE yA UO ee 360 60 6. 0
SID) ee ee enschede 2 Sa SEM 240 25 9. 6
Dei erapre Tn Reg Mg Ga folse pies eR 261 at 30 3 10. 0
Wiabarcraters pArablawel. wi. op toe ee Ste cute Saal 328 40 8. 0
Campo del Cielo crater, Argentina______...._____- 183 16 11. 4
Shlossaiehay mere, (Uk ISh ish Ihe Seo eS kee 164 13 1255
AGE OF THE CRATER
Unfortunately, the youngest sediments in the area occupied by the
crater are pre-Cambrian in age.
During the examination of the crater a few loose pieces of pisolitic
ironstone or laterite were noticed among the fractured blocks forming
the rim of the crater on the eastern side. As one descends the wall
of the crater, the layer of laterite, from which the loose pieces were
derived, may be seen in situ in the wall.
This is evidence that the meteor struck the ground and exploded
after the laterite layer had been formed. Information that has been
It is understood that definite evidence of the meteoric origin of the craters in Hstonia
has since been found.
324 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
accumulating over the past few years favors late Miocene as the age
of the laterite in northern Australia. It is, therefore, fairly certain
that the Wolf Creek crater was formed later than Miocene times.
The erosion of the crater is slight, and signs of erosion on the steep
walls of the crater are not well marked. As far as could be ascer-
tained, aboriginals in the area have no record of the meteor in their
legends but are aware of the crater.
The evidence suggests, therefore, a Pleistocene or Recent age for
the crater.
LITERATURE CITED
ALDERMAN, A. R.
1932. The Henbury (central Australia) meteorite iron. Rec. South Austral-
ian Mus., vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 555-563.
BARRINGER, D. M.
1909. Meteor crater (formerly called Coon Mountain or Coon Butte) in
northern central Arizona. Paper read before Nat. Acad. Sci.. No-
vember 1909. 24 pp. Privately printed, Philadelphia, 1910.
1915. Further notes on meteor crater in northern central Arizona. Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 66, pp. 556—565.
1925. Further notes on meteor crater in northern central Arizona. Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 76, pp. 275-278.
BARRINGER, D. M., JR.
1929. A new meteor crater. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 80,
pp. 307-811.
CHAMBERLIN, R. T.
1945. The moon’s lack of folded ranges. Journ. Geol., vol. 53, pp. 361-373.
Dietz, R. S.
1946. The meteoritic impact origin of the moon’s surface features. Journ.
Geol., vol. 54, pp. 359-375.
Hopcr, SMiTH T.
1939. Australian meteorites. Mem. Australian Mus. No. 7.
KRaAvs, H., MEYer, R., and WEGENER, A.
1928. Untersuchungen iiber den Krater von Sall auf Osel. Gerlands Beitr.
Geophysik, vol. 20, pp. 312-378. Nachtrag, pp. 428-429.
MACLAREN, M.
1931. Lake Bosumtwi. Geogr. Journ., vol. 78, pp. 270-286.
Mapia@an, C. T.
1937. The Boxhole crater and the Huckitta meteorite. Trans. Roy. Soc.
South Australia, vol. 61, pp. 187-190.
NAGERA, J. J.
1926. Los Hoyos del Campo del Cielo y el meteorito. Direccién General de
Minas, Geologia e Hidrologia, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Publ. 19.
NININGER, H. H.
1948. Geological significance of meteorites. Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. 246, pp.
101-108.
PHILBY, H. St. J.
1933. Rub’Al Khali: An account of exploration. Geogr. Journ., vol. 81,
pp. 1-26.
Rayner, J. M.
1938. The Henbury meteorite crater and geophysical prospecting. Austral-
ian Journ. Sci., vol. 1, pp. 93-94.
WOLF CREEK CRATER—GUPPY AND MATHESON 325
REEVES, F., and CHALMERS, R. O.
1948. Wolf Creek crater. Australian Journ. Sci., vol. 11, p. 154.
REINWALDT, I., and Luwa, A.
1928. Bericht tiber geologische Untersuchungen am Kaali Jiirv (Krater von
Sall) aus Osel. Tartu Ulikooli juures oleva Loodusuurijate Seltsi
Aruanded (Univ. Tartu naturf. Gesell. Sitzungsber.), vol. 35, pp.
30-70.
SELLARDS, E. H.
1927. Unusual structural features in the plains region of Texas. Bull. Geol.
Soe. Amer., vol. 38, p. 149.
SPENCER, L. J.
1938. Meteorite craters as topographical features of the earth’s surface.
Geogr. Journ., vol. 81, pp. 227-248.
WHIPPLE, F’. J. W.
1930. The great Siberian meteor and the waves, seismic and aerial, which
it produced. Quart. Journ. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. London, vol. 56,
pp. 287-304.
HLNOS ONIMOO7T ‘YSLVYED ALIMOALAW MASYD ATOM SAO YOIMALNI
| 3ALW1d uosayzeyA] pue Addny—"0¢6| “‘qaodayy uRTuOsYyyIWICG
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Guppy and Matheson PLATE 2
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF WOLF CREEK METEORITE CRATER
R. A. A. F. official photograph.
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND?
By JULIAN HuUXLeY, F. R. 8.
In Iceland, in the summer of 1949, a number of new facts and ex-
periences, interesting and exciting to a naturalist, came my way—
some of them through my own eyes, others through the mouths of
the able Icelandic zoologists who put so much of their time and
knowledge at the disposition of James Fisher and myself.
Thus we saw various species that were new to us, and sometimes
spectacular to look at, like the harlequin duck. That was exciting
enough; but the interest was multiplied when we remembered that
it is an essentially North American bird, one of the rarest stragglers
to Europe, and yet here breeding close to familiar British ducks like
mallard, tufted duck, widgeon, and pintail. We found a meadow
pipit breeding in a wood, like a tree pipit, instead of on the custom-
ary open heath; and what is more, singing a song halfway to a tree
pipit’s.
We saw some local birds recognizably different from their British
congeners, like the Iceland redshank, which is several shades darker
than ours. We saw a painted lady butterfly in the northern half of
the island—a truly astonishing sight, since its nearest permanent
breeding place is the south of France. We got evidence, from our
own counts, of the increase of the gannet; and from our Icelandic
colleagues of the fact that not only it but 9 or 10 other birds have
been rapidly extending their range northward during recent decades.
But the modern naturalist is not content unless he can relate his
facts, however valuable, and his isolated experiences, however ex-
citing, to general principles; and the very vividness and novelty of
the impressions made by an unfamiliar country will set his scientific
imagination to work. Here is the result of my own case—some of the
ways in which Iceland’s natural history illustrates or illuminates
evolutionary biology in general.
Undoubtedly the most exciting of these has to do with the world-
wide change of climate now in progress: but this I shall keep to the
last.
The most obvious point is the paucity of bird species in general, and
of passerines (song birds, etc.) in particular. Thus the number of
regular breeding species in Iceland is only a little over a third of that
1 Reprinted by permission from Discovery, vol. 21, No. 3, March 1950.
922758—b1——_22 327
328 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
in Britain; but the number of breeding passerines is less than one-
eighth of the British. In part this is due to the unfriendly climate
and the barrenness of much of the island. Although Iceland barely
touches the Arctic Circle, real trees cannot grow except in two small
sheltered localities, and both vegetation and insect life have much less
luxuriance and variety than with us in Britain, while the winter, of
course, is such that very few species of bird could possibly live
through it.
In Spitsbergen, farther poleward, we find a marked further drop,
both in the total and the passerine percentage. The best way to
bring this home is by means of a table:
TABLE 1.-—Breeding species of birds in Britain, Iceland, and Spitsbergen
| Passerines
Regular |__ artis
Country Latitude breeding é eee
i r
species EEATC aeent 0
Britains ae 49°57'-58°40’ (mainland) 186 27 41. 4
49°51’-60°51’ (with is-
lands).
iceland ==422 == 63220/—6623 2 eee eee eee 69 9 13. 0
Spitsbergen - - ----- (6226/—8025 0 eee ee oe eee oe 25 1 4.0
There is, however, also the fact that Iceland is an island, and a
fairly remote one, lying over 500 miles from the Hebrides (a little
more from Cape Wrath, the nearest point of the British mainland),
and close on 300 miles from Faeroe. Admittedly the distance north-
westward to the Greenland coast is under 200 miles; but Greenland,
especially in these latitudes, is so forbidding that very few species
can have used it as a stepping-stone to Iceland.
Now remote islands invariably show a fauna and fiora which is
impoverished compared to that of the nearest mainland. This is
usually set down to the difficulties presented to birds by a long sea
passage, especially to small terrestrial species or those with feeble
flight. In addition, an island is likely to have fewer kinds of habi-
tats than a mainland area, and this may cut down the number of
species which can find a permanent niche in its biological economy,
even if they manage to reach it.
It is of course difficult to say just what birds are lacking merely
because they have failed to overcome the sea barrier. Some ap-
parent candidates turn out, on reflection, to be ruled out for other
reasons. Thus the fact that among the thrushes the redwing breeds
in Iceland and the fieldfare does not is not so surprising when we
remember how the fieldfare seems much more definitely wedded to
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND—HUXLEY 329
tall trees to nest in, and (we may presume at least partly for that
reason) does not exist so far north in Scandinavia as the redwing.
Then, with such a favorite as the meadow pipit to parasitize, it is
at first sight puzzling that there are no cuckoos. It seems probable
that the reason is the low density of pipit population. A cuckoo
has to keep about a dozen fosterers’ nests under observation if it is
to succeed in its parasitism, and this would be impossible in Iceland.
The absence of the rock dove seems also surprising—until one
remembers that the species seems to be dependent on weed seeds and
other byproducts of human cultivation.
FicurE 1.—Main zoogeographical regions characterizing the distribution of the
land animals of the world. The Holarctic is normally divided into two sub-
regions, the Palearctic (Old World) and the Nearctic (New World). In
addition, there are separate ocean regions characterizing the distribution of
marine forms, including sea birds; of thes eonly the Atlantic region con-
cerns us.
But I do find it puzzling that the ring ouzel, which likes rocky
slopes and in Norway breeds as far north as the North Cape, has
not established itself; and still more so that the dipper is absent, when
its smaller relative, the wren, has been breeding in Iceland so long
that it has evolved into a distinctive subspecies. Of course the
streams by which the dipper lives would be frozen over in winter;
but some of the dipper population of northern continental Europe
migrates southward in winter, and the same might readily have oc-
curred in Iceland, while the rest might have done what all the Iceland
330 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
wrens do, namely, take to the seashore. And I am pretty sure that
if the house sparrow ever reached Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland,
it would flourish and multiply.
The greatest puzzle, perhaps, is that posed by the Lapland bunting,
which breeds in Greenland and north of the Arctic Circle in Norway,
but not in Iceland, although it seems to traverse the island regularly
on passage!
That for strong fliers the climate is the only obstacle is shown
by the fact that since the beginning of this century the list of breed-
ing species has been increased by nearly 10 percent, undoubtedly
owing to the amelioration of the climate—a fact to which I shall return.
Again, swallows come to Iceland every summer (we saw some in
the Westmann Islands) as do willow warblers, but neither species has
yet been found breeding.
It seems that many species are all the time sending out scouts,
so to speak, into areas where breeding is impossible but on the chance
that one day they can establish themselves permanently. This seems
a wasteful method, but natural selection always involves wastage.
The most striking example is the painted lady butterfly (Vanessa
cardui), which cannot reproduce itself regularly through the winter
north of southern France, but in most years sends out vast numbers
to Britain and other countries. The one we ourselves saw, by Lake
Myvatn, was nearly 1,500 miles outside its permanent range!
Another interesting feature of broad geographical distribution is
this—that Iceland is at the same time the westernmost outpost of a
number of Old World bird species and the easternmost of some (but
fewer) New World ones. Actually Lake Myvatn is the area of maxi-
mum overlap between the bird faunas of what zoologists call the Pale-
arctic and the Nearctic regions, northern Eurasia and North America
respectively.
Thus Iceland is the western limit of breeding range for such Old
World species as whooper swan, greylag goose, snipe, golden plover,
whimbrel, redwing, white wagtail (and indeed the entire wagtail
genus) ; but it is the eastern limit for the otherwise New World species,
great northern diver, Barrow’s goldeneye, and harlequin duck. The
ducks, by the way, well illustrate the complexities of geographical
distribution—Iceland shows us not only several Old World species at
their western limit, like wigeon, teal, common scoter, and tufted
duck, but also a number of circumpolar or Holarctic species such as
mallard, pintail, gadwall, and shoveler.
It is noticeable that all the New World species which breed in
Iceland are hardy enough to inhabit parts of Greenland also. If the
Labrador Current did not cool the east coast of Greenland and northern
Canada so much below the temperature they ought to enjoy by virtue
of their latitude, and the Gulf Stream did not warm Iceland and
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND—HUXLEY 331
Ficure 2.—Types of geographical distribution of Iceland birds. Upper, breeding
and distribution of Holarctic species, the red-breasted merganser. Lower,
breeding distribution of a Palearctic species, the wigeon, which extends from
Bering Straits westward, to overlap with the great northern diver (fig. 3,
upper) in Iceland. (Based on maps compiled by James Fisher.)
332 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Spitsbergen and the northwest coasts of Europe so much above it,
the contribution from the New World would presumably at least equal
that of the Old.
There is, by the way, at least one plant in Iceland which is of New
World origin. ‘The sea-rockets, Cakile, are shore-dwelling crucifers
with lilac flowers. Two Icelandic botanists, Dr. and Mrs. Love, have
recently shown that the sea-rocket of Iceland does not, as had been
generally assumed, belong to the species found in Scandinavia and
with us in Britain, Cakile maritima, but reveals itself, both by its
slightly different form and its doubled chromosome number—s6 in-
stead of 18—as the North American species, C. edentula. This holds
also for the sea-rockets of the Azores: the Léves’ conclusion is that
the Gulf Stream has been responsible for the appearance of the Ameri-
can sea-rocket in these otherwise Old World islands, by transporting
the seeds in its slow, warm drift.
At various times in the geological past, there was a land connection
between the Old and the New Worlds across what is now the Bering
Straits, and probably also, though not so often or so long, across the
North Atlantic, along the line still indicated by the submarine ridges
between Greenland, Iceland, Faeroe, and Shetland. The climate in
the regions connected by these land bridges was then less rigorous, and
there was more uniformity of animals and plants in the Holarctic
region than now. But isolation and time saw to it that the inevitable
differences were accentuated, and meanwhile the New World fauna
received large additions from the Central and South American region,
which were very different from the immigrants that the northern
Old World received from Africa and southwestern Asia. ‘Thus even-
tually two quite distinct faunas and floras, the Palearctic and the
Nearctic, were differentiated—distinct, but with a number of elements
obviously of common origin, and still with a considerable number of
species shared by both and therefore classed as if Holarctic.
The greater isolation of the two regions today may possibly be
due not only to the breaking of the land bridges between North
America and the Old World, but to an actual increase of the distance
across the Atlantic, caused by the slow drifting away of America
from Europe.
This was postulated by Wegener in his theory of Continental
Drift. Iceland is well situated to test the theory. The position of
certain points should be determined with great accuracy, so that
after a lapse of years even a few yards’ shift could be detected. Ger-
man scientists had begun on this project before World War II, and
had set up a number of triangulation points in Iceland. However,
the Icelanders were so suspicious that these might be camouflage for
some military project, that they destroyed them all—another of the
innumerable minor tragedies of modern war!
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND—HUXLEY 333
Ficure 3.—Types of geographical distribution of Iceland birds. Upper, breed-
ing distribution of a Nearctic species which extends to Iceland, the great
northern diver or loon. Lower, breeding distribution of two Atlantic species,
the Arctic little auk and the North Temperate gannet. The two just overlap
in northeast Iceland. (Based on maps compiled by James Fisher. )
334 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
But there are other faunas represented in Iceland. An important
one is the North Atlantic fauna, mainly of course of marine creatures,
but emerging into the air in the form of a number of sea birds which
exist on both east and west coasts of the North Atlantic, and on
suitable islands in between. Gannets, guillemots, razorbills, and
puffins are examples. This North Atlantic bird fauna seems to have
differentiated comparatively recently—perhaps as a result of the
drifting apart of northern America and northern Europe—and con-
sists of immigrant types from other regions—from the Arctic, from
the Pacific round Cape Horn, and from the Indian Ocean.
Finally—believe it or not!—the Antarctic fauna is represented in
Iceland. The bonxie or great skua is merely a subspecies of a domi-
nant species widespread in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions.
Many high-latitude birds migrate to the other hemisphere after
breeding, thus perpetually avoiding winter. Our bonxies must be
descended from some Southern Hemisphere migrants which stayed
to breed in their off-season area—one cannot say “in their winter
quarters.”
Thus we have in this one island representatives of five faunas—
North Hemisphere Old World, North Hemisphere New World,
North Atlantic, cireumpolar South Hemisphere, and circumpolar
North Hemisphere.
This last includes two subdivisions—the true Arctic fauna, with
such Iceland birds as little auk and glaucous gull, and the sub-Arctic
and north-temperate forms shared by New and Old Worlds, such
as wheatear, raven, mallard, and Slavonian grebe.
One of the interesting things that came to our attention was the
frequent distinctiveness of the local Iceland race or subspecies of
various species of birds. For instance the Iceland wren is both larger
and darker than ours in Britain, and the Iceland redpoll is also larger
than our British subspecies, the so-called lesser redpoll, as well as
having a recognizably different call note. The redpoll, by the way,
is an example of an Iceland bird which is small in size but yet is found
in Greenland and North America, as well as in the Old World, so
that it, like the wheatear, is Holarctic. But, unlike the widely spread-
ing ducks, both these small birds break up into numerous well-marked
subspecies.
The wren is curious in this respect. Although it has produced
separate and distinctive subspecies in Iceland, Faeroe, St. Kilda, and
Shetland, it is uniform over the whole of western and central con-
tinental Europe. The separation of Britain from the Continent has
not resulted in the evolution of a British subspecies, though this has
happened with many other birds, of which our pied wagtail, so easily
distinguishable from the continental white wagtail, is an example.
Why this is so, is a real puzzle.
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND—HUXLEY 335
I mentioned that the Leeland redpoll and wren were larger in size
than ours. This is an example of an interesting general rule—that,
in general, warm-blooded animals are found to be slightly larger the
nearer they live to the pole; further, in mammals, the relative size of
ears, tail, and limbs tend to diminish—a phenomenon strikingly illus-
trated by the tiny ears of the Arctic fox as compared with the huge
flaps of the fennec fox from the scorching deserts. These changes
are undoubtedly adaptations, working to reduce heat loss in cold
climates and to promote it in over-hot ones.
Thus some of the special characters of Iceland birds are adaptations
to climate while others, like the color of the Iceland wren, seem to be
more or less accidental results of isolation. But there is a third class
of difference, and perhaps the most interesting—the differences in be-
havior and song. Some of these differences, like the harsher song of
the Iceland wren, are again aspects of the distinctiveness of the local
subspecies. Others seem to be due to the birds being on the margin
of their range, in surroundings quite different from the normal.
Thus, as already mentioned, the Iceland wren out of the breeding
season has to become almost exclusively a shore bird.
Frequently, however, the reason is more subtle—the absence of com-
petition from close relatives which have not reached this part of the
species’ range. ‘Thus, in Britain, snipe are inhabitants of open coun-
try, so that it was surprising to find them quite common in the one of
Iceland’s two woods that we visited. James Fisher hit on what I am
sure is the solution—namely that there are no woodcock in Iceland.
With us, woodcock occupy the habitat provided by boggy woods. But
where they are absent, the snipe avail themselves of this as well as of
their normal open habitat.
But the absence of close relatives may have another effect. When
two closely allied species come into contact in the same area, it is in
general a biological advantage for them to proclaim their distinctive-
ness by some characteristic difference of plumage or voice. This will
help to prevent actual or attempted cross-breeding, trespassing, and
other wastes of time and energy. In Britain, the closely related
meadow and tree pipits are not only restricted to different habitats,
but sing quite distinctive songs. With us, the meadow pipit is ex-
clusively a bird of moors and heaths and other open country, and its
song is a rather feeble descending scale gradually accelerated into a
little trill, given as the bird parachutes down after having flown up
from the ground. The tree pipit, on the other hand, demands scat-
tered trees, and has a much more striking song; this is also given in
the air while floating down, but the flight starts from (and often ends
on) a tree perch.
Here the need for distinctiveness cannot well be met by coloration,
since both species are adapted to concealment by cryptic coloration;
336 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
but the songs, given high in the air, are obvious trade-marks for the
two species.
In the Iceland birchwood where we found snipe, there were also
meadow pipits. We would never have dreamt of finding meadow
pipits in such a place in England, and their presence was clearly due
to the absence of their close relative and competitor, the tree pipit.
What is more, the song of one of them had a distinct tree pipit flavor,
and it was begun from a tree perch.
Finnur Gudmunsson told us that in western Iceland he had once
spent a couple of hours stalking the singer of a song which was wholly
unknown to him: he eventually shot it for identification purposes—
only to discover that it was an ordinary meadow pipit! This, too,
was in a birch area, though the birches here were only scrub. Thus
the relaxation of the need for distinctiveness seems to have permitted
the song to change.
The meadow pipits of open country in Iceland have so far not been
heard to give any intermediate or markedly abnormal song (though
one we heard in the Westmann Islands was exceptional for its bril-
liance). Possibly the woodland and scrubland birds are evolving into
a distinct ecological race.
There remains to mention one amusing incident. In this same wood,
we found a redwing’s nest quite high in a birch tree. Now in Iceland
the redwing, that attractive little thrush, is normally a confirmed
ground nester, though in Norway it frequently builds in trees, and
Dr. Gudmunsson was quite impressed by this unusual event. Then
on Myvatn we saw another tree nest, some 8 feet up in a willow;
and Dr. Gudmunsson grew really excited—until Sigfinnson, the
farmer-naturalist, reminded him that this had been the latest season
in living memory, and that the ground had been deep in snow when
the breeding urge took the redwings. Seeing that they thus so readily
revert to ancestral habit under the stress of necessity, it is rather curi-
ous that they do not normally do so as a matter of convenience where-
ever trees or bushes abound.
Finally, I come to what to me is the most interesting point of all—
the bearing of field natural history in Iceland upon the fascinating
and basic question of a world-wide change in climate.
Professor Ahlmann, the well-known Swedish geographer, in a
recent issue of the Geographical Journal, has summarized all the evi-
dence on this subject. He concludes that in the Northern Hemi-
sphere a widespread amelioration of climate is in progress, most
marked in higher latitudes. It began about a hundred years ago, but
has been especially marked in the last two decades. The most likely
explanation (which would be assured if we get evidence of a similar
amelioration in the Antarctic, as it is hoped to do from the joint
Norwegian-British-Swedish expedition now operating there) is that
NATURAL HISTORY IN ICELAND—HUXLEY 337
it is world-wide, and due to increased heat from the sun, which in its
turn operates by altering the world’s great system of atmospheric
circulation.
The evidence is of every sort—increased temperatures, spectacular
regression of glaciers, changes in the position of main low-pressure and
high-pressure areas, alterations in rainfall and snowfall, desiccation
in lower latitudes (including the drying up of East African lakes),
enormous shrinkage of the polar pack ice, enlarged growth rings of
trees, and finally changes in the distribution of many animals and
plants.
Ficurse 4.—Breeding distribution of the great skua, a circumpolar species from the
Southern Hemisphere, which has given rise to one Northern Hemisphere sub-
species. The shaded parts represent the actual breeding areas of the various
Southern Hemisphere subspecies. (Based on map compiled by James Fisher.)
On this last point Iceland provides a great deal of evidence, since
it lies on the sensitive limit between sub-Arctic and Arctic conditions.
We know from historical records that for over 400 years the early
colonists successfully grew barley, but that soon after 1300 this became
impossible. But now, to quote Ahlmann, “the present shrinkage of
the glaciers is exposing districts which were cultivated by the early
medieval farmers but were subsequently overridden by ice.”
The ensuing cold spell of about 600 years has been called the Little
Ice Age; it seems to have been the coldest period since the retreat of
the ice after the last major glacial period. At any rate, about 1880
the Iceland glaciers reached their maximum extension for some 10,000
years, while the warmest period since the end of the Ice Age seems
to have been the few centuries just before our present era.
As showing how sensitive animals may be as climatic indicators,
Finnur Gudmunsson told me that in the warm spell just before the
Christian Era, the dog-whelk (Purpura) was found all along the
north and east coasts of Iceland, while today it stops dead at the
338 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
northwest and southeast corners. (The slightly hardier whelk,
Buccinum, still occurs all round the island.)
To come down to the present, the last few decades have seen drastic
changes in the fish which are Iceland’s prime economic support.
Herring, haddock, halibut, and especially cod have extended their
range northward in Greenland (the cod at the rate of about 24 miles
a year for close on 30 years) ; and cod and herring are moving north
from Iceland, so that anxiety is beginning to be felt about the future
of the fisheries.
Meanwhile, there have been extraordinary changes in the bird
population of the island. No less than six species—nearly 10 percent
of the previous list of breeders—have only started to breed in Iceland
during the present century. There is the tufted duck, which arrived
in 1908, and has spread so fast that now it is the second commonest
species on Myvatn; three gulls—the blackheaded, herring, and lesser
blackback; the coot and the starling, both only after 1940, the latter
still confined to cliffs near its presumed landfall in the southeast.
Further, the oystercatcher, previously confined to the southwest,
has shown a spectacular spread northward. The blacktailed godwit
and the gannet have also pushed up the northern limit of their range,
the latter having established three new colonies on the north and east
coasts.
Meanwhile, the little auk, the only true high Arctic species in Ice-
land, has entirely deserted one of its two breeding colonies in the
northeast, and the other has dwindled to almost nothing; apparently
Iceland is no longer cold enough for it. Finally, some plants are
moving north—notably the bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) which
has colonized areas previously reserved to dwarf willows; and there
have been similar shifts in some of Iceland’s insects.
All these changes have become much more pronounced within the
last 10 to 15 years.
We in Britain have had numerous examples of bird species spread-
ing northward in the present century, including some birds which
have been doing the same thing in Iceland, like the tufted duck, and
others like the black redstart which are quite recent invaders of
these islands.
- All such observations take on new interest when it is realized that
they can contribute to our understanding of a world-wide and secular
change of immense significance for our human future; and one which
is unique, since, in Ahlmann’s words, “It is the first fluctuation in the
endless series of past and future climatic variations in the history
of the earth which we can measure, investigate, and possibly explain.”
I have certainly returned from my Iceland trip with a new aware-
ness of the mapeetnee Ge POS to ae eres) BE well natural
historyis0b, 4054 df YU Wires
PRAYING MANTIDS OF THE UNITED STATES, NATIVE
AND INTRODUCED?
By AsHiey B. GURNEY
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine
Agricultural Research Administration, United States Department of Agriculture
(With 9 plates]
A person encountering a praying mantid for the first time usually
does so in one of two ways. He may unexpectedly discover a large
striking insect, late in summer or in fall, climbing over garden
shrubbery or perching near a blossom waiting for a meal to appear
in the form of some unlucky insect. Or perhaps he will see a mantid
on the side of a house, or find one near a window that was brightly
lighted the previous evening. ‘The second type of encounter usually
follows the discovery of a light-brownish fibrous object attached to
vegetation, a fence post, or other support, during fall or winter.
Thinking it to be the cocoon of a moth, the budding naturalist may
take it indoors to witness the emergence. A few weeks later he will
be astounded to find that a hundred or more small crawling insects,
each with perfectly developed “praying” front legs, but without wings,
have emerged. If the mantid egg cases are not confined in a jar or
other container, the young mantids may not be noticed until a dis-
concerted housewife finds them crawling up curtains and on the
ceiling.
At any one locality in the United States only a very few kinds or
species of mantids occur, and often there is only one, while some of
the more northern parts have none at all. Altogether, 19 kinds of
mantids are known to occur in the United States, most of them in-
habiting the Southern States. Careful collecting and close study of
museum specimens may eventually show that we have somewhat more
than 19 kinds. In tropical countries new species are continually
being found and given scientific names for the first time. Through-
out the world, there are more than 1,500 species, most of which are
tropical or subtropical in distribution, and so within the United
States we have merely a northern fringe of a great subtropical group.
1 Photographs by Edwin Way Teale are from Grassroot Jungles (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1937) and are here
published by the kind permission of Mr. Teale. Photographs by John G. Pitkin are published with his
permission. The specimen of Mantoida illustrated was lent by the Museum of Zoology, University of
Michigan, through the courtesy of Dr. T. H. Hubbell. This and other preserved specimens Were photo-
graphed at the Smithsonian Institution by Floyd B. Kestner.
339
340 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Mantids often stand motionless for long periods, holding their
front legs in a folded position ready to catch prey, and peering in-
tently at nearby objects. This habit of holding up the folded front
legs has given rise to the term “praying” in the common name, and
the distinctive attitude of these insects when in such a waiting posi-
tion has stimulated the imagination and semireligious beliefs of
country people of many lands for several centuries. “Preying” would
be more realistic, because the only thing mantids would seem to pray
for is a square meal. The name mantis is derived from a Greek
word originally meaning a prophet or seer. Either mantis or mantid
is an acceptable common name, with mantids being preferred to
mantises or mantes in the plural. In some parts of the United States
mantids are called “rear-horses,” “devil-horses,” and “mule-killers,”
and in the Southwest they are often called “campomoche.”
It is most interesting that two Oriental and one European species
of mantids have been unintentionally introduced and are now wide-
spread in the Northeastern States. Asa farm boy in western Massa-
chusetts none of these remarkable insects came to my attention, for
no native mantids live there, and the European mantid was then
known in this country only in western New York State. Later, near
Washington, D. C., I first made the acquaintance of the introduced
Chinese mantis and its “cousin” the narrow-winged mantis, as well
as the most northeastern of our native species, the Carolina mantis.
In 1949 the European mantis was found to have spread to Vermont
and Massachusetts, and during 1950, in the same fields I tramped
as a youth, dozens of specimens were to be seen in a single day. Hun-
dreds of Americans who had never encountered our native mantids
have met with these visitors from abroad, have first been amazed at
their strange appearance, then have been intrigued by their unusual
habits. During fall, most museums and science institutes near areas
where mantids occur receive a continual stream of inquiries about
mantids from people who have been surprised to find one of these
insects or who wish to instruct their children about their habits,
worth, or cage-rearing possibilities.
RELATIVES OF MANTIDS
In the technical classification of insects the many species of mantids
constitute a family called the Mantidae.2 Mantids belong to the broad
group or order of insects called Orthoptera, which includes also cock-
roaches, katydids, grasshoppers, crickets, and walkingsticks. Cock-
roaches show closest relationship to mantids, the head shape and the
structure of parts of the thorax and abdomen indicating definite affini-
ties. The front legs, highly specialized in mantids for seizing prey,
21 Sometimes given as Manteidae.
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 341
are So conspicuous, and the bodies of most species are so long and rela-
tively slender, that superficially there is little resemblance between
mantids and the broad and flattened roaches. It might be supposed
that, like roaches, mantids would have a long and ancient lineage
preserved in fossil beds dating far back in geological time. Such,
however, is not the case. Although ancestors of modern roaches
occur widely as far back as the Carboniferous, when coal was being
formed, fossil mantids have seldom been found, and then only in
the Miocene and Oligocene (according to Chopard, 1949), when the
evolution of the horse was moderately advanced and the age of dino-
saurs had long since passed.
APPEARANCE AND ANATOMY
Compared to most insects, mantids are relatively large, the more
conspicuous northeastern species usually being 2 to 4 inches long when
mature. The mantids living in the South and Southwest seldom ex-
ceed 314 inches in length, and there are several an inch long, or even
less. Mantids are elongate, relatively slender, and usually some shade
of green or brown. One individual may be green and another of the
same species brownish buff, while a third is partly green and partly
brown, this much variation occurring in the color of many species.
The most noticeable features are the front legs. Although the middle
and hind legs are slender and simply used for walking, running, and,
rarely, jumping, the front legs bear sharp spines and fold in a re-
markable hinged manner that enables the mantid to reach forward,
seize a fly or some other insect, and bring it to the mouth. In addi-
tion to seizing prey, the front legs are used to some extent for walking.
Predatory front legs of this general type are not limited to mantids.
Front legs specialized for grasping prey have evolved in the Mantis-
pidae, a curious family of neuropteroid insects whose larvae usually
develop in the egg sacs of spiders, and certain raptorial families of
true bugs, such as the ambush bugs (Phymatidae) , show a comparable
development of the front legs. In each group the specialized fore-
legs differ in certain fundamental details, and it is evident that their
evolution has been along independent though parallel lines.
The head of a mantid is triangular in shape when seen from the
front; the compound eyes are at the upper outer corners, and the
mouth opening is at the lower corner. Each compound eye is com-
posed of several hundred tiny facets, each facet receiving the light
from a fraction of the entire field of vision at one time. In addition
to the compound eyes, which are the most important organs of sight,
there usually are three ocelli. The latter are simple eyes, each of one
facet, which are arranged in a triad on the top of the head. They
supplement the compound eyes, enabling the insects to respond to
changes in light intensity better than when the compound eyes alone
342 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
areused. The antennae, or “feelers,” are long slender sensory organs
which presumably function as organs of smell and hearing. No
conspicuous tympanum, or “ear,” such as occurs on the side of the
first abdominal segment of grasshoppers, or near the front “knees”
of most katydids and crickets, is found on the body of a mantid. Near
the base of each antenna, however, in the second segment, is located
a group of sensory cells comprising Johnston’s organ, and this organ
is sensitive to vibrations and other stimuli related to sound waves.
The head is attached to the section of the body immediately behind
it (pronotum) in a way that enables it to be turned very readily to
face different directions; scarcely any other insects are able to turn
the head as freely. Experimental biologists have found that some
mantids have a remarkable tenacity of life with the head removed.
Such specimens are known to have lived several days, to have mated,
and to have deposited normal egg masses.
FOOD
Mantids feed entirely on other animals, in nature consisting almost
entirely of insects and closely related creatures caught alive. In-
stances of small birds, lizards, or mice being eaten by mantids have
been reported, but they are rare and in some cases the result of in-
correct observations. A mantid that has been surprised or that
comes face to face with an enemy often rears backward, partially
spreads the wings in an attempt to frighten the assailant, and adopts
a sparring attitude with the forelegs held up in front of the face.
More than once a mantid sparring with a sparrow or other small
animal has attracted a crowd of people hurrying along a city street.
Young mantids necessarily capture small insects, such as fruit
flies. In the more advanced nymphal stages and when mature, large
flies, grasshoppers, caterpillars, butterflies, moths, cockroaches, and
other large insects are caught and eaten. The less appetizing portions,
such as the wings and legs of grasshoppers, are usually discarded.
In the course of feeding, quite edible portions of the prey often be-
come detached and fall. Since the mantid is usually on vegetation
or other object some distance from the ground, the fallen portions
are not retrieved; in fact it is not natural for mantids to pick up
fragments of dead food. As an example of the appetite, an adult
female of the Carolina mantis has been known to eat 10 adults of
the German cockroach, plus a roach egg case, in a period of 21% hours,
though this is probably far above average food requirements.
A Chinese mantis that I kept indoors ate stink bugs with no appar-
ent concern for the strong-smelling scent gland, and one of my friends
told me of another specimen in captivity eating wasps and honey bees.
One day it seized a hornet and was apparently stung near the mouth
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 343
when it began to feed on the latter’s abdomen. The mantid, obviously
hurt, held the hornet, still in a firm grasp, at some distance from the
head for a few minutes. Then, with the immediate effects of the
sting worn off, it ate the hornet.
Under favorable circumstances, such as in a field of goldenrod
near an apiary, mantids may feed on honey bees a great deal, and a
study made near Philadelphia (Thierolf, 1928) showed that honey
bees, when available, are one of the favorite insects eaten by the
Chinese mantis. In Hawaii a survey was made (Hadden, 1927) of
the food of the narrow-winged mantis. The resulting list of the
different insects eaten includes 2 species of grasshoppers, 1 katydid,
1 aphid, 2 butterflies, 1 moth, 15 flies, and 6 wasps and bees, in addition
to members of its own species. Hadden found that the mantids were
careful when catching wasps that are equipped with a painful sting
and would drop them when stung, then lick the wound caused by the
sting.
Adults of the Carolina mantis were offered scorpions by a Texan
entomologist (Breland, 1941a). One mantid seized a scorpion so
that the tail was pinioned, and consumed it. However, another
mantid made the mistake of grasping a scorpion in such a way that
the tail was free, and the scorpion immediately swung the tail over
and stung the mantid on the head. The scorpion was released im-
mediately, and the mantid carefully avoided it from that time on.
Blood oozed from the wound for about 3 hours, and 2 days later the
mantid appeared, superficially, to be normal. That the venom had
taken permanent effect was suggested by the great difficulty the mantid
had in eating. Although prey was caught, chewing and swallowing
seemed nearly impossible. About a week after being stung, an
abnormal egg case was deposited, and 10 days following the injury
the mantid died.
As a general rule ants are not attractive as food to most species
of mantids, although some North African desert mantids are reported
to be fond of them.
Mantids usually wait motionless until their prey comes within reach,
or stand and sway from side to side, but sometimes, apparently when
very hungry, they may stalk a nearby insect that represents a poten-
tial meal. Sometimes the prey is touched lightly with the antennae
before the front legs flash forward and make the seizure. It is usually
the insect that moves occasionally that gets captured; motionless in-
sects often pass unnoticed. The extremely stealthy habits of most
mantids are in contrast to the great speed with which some desert
mantids are able to run. These are usually ground-dwelling crea-
tures, and under arid conditions in an environment often composed of
922758—51——_23
344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
a strictly limited number of plants and animals the struggle to survive
is intensified and a premium is placed on actively aggressive habits.
Although mantids are thought to detect their prey mainly by sight,
the Carolina mantis can capture insects in the dark, and most of the
eastern species often mate and lay eggs in the dark. Some insects
are thought to have periods of rest comparable to the sleep of higher
animals. For example, certain wasps go to sleep with their mandibles
tightly clasped on weed stems, the body being held out vertical to the
stem. Some butterflies sleep on flowers and are plainly drowsy when
picked up at night. I have kept numbers of Chinese and narrow-
winged mantids in cages and have made a point of quietly going to
their cages after they have been in the dark for several hours and
inspecting them with a weak flashlight. Always they have been alert,
with a look of searching interest and with occasionally moving an-
tennae.
Except for a few desert species, which dwell mainly on the ground,
mantids spend the bulk of their time climbing over weeds, grass, and
shrubbery, or just waiting. The kinds of insects available as food
will thus vary under different conditions. Mantids occasionally visit
lights at night or frequent sweet materials to which other insects have
been attracted, and there they find good hunting.
My observations on the Chinese and narrow-winged mantids show
that the majority of insects captured are consumed first at the head
or near the head, though occasionally the abdomen is eaten first.
When another mantid is caught, the head is often eaten first, but I
have seen the thorax eaten through near the base of the wings, with
the head, prothorax, and front legs dropping unnoticed while the
successful aggressor continued feeding steadily on the remainder of
the thorax and the abdomen.
Some tropical mantids are specialized so as to resemble flowers,
or so that their colors blend with those of plant foliage. This is
thought to aid them in capturing prey, the hapless victims not sensing
the danger until it is too late. In southeast Asia a species (Hymeno-
pus coronatus (Olivier) ) that varies in color from white to pale pink
in the late nymphal stages has the habit of crouching amid certain
blossoms, the petals of which its legs and other body parts closely
resemble. Two other species, Gongylus gongylodes (Linnaeus) of
southeastern Asia and /dolum diabolicum Saussure of east Africa,
have brilliant blue colors on certain expanded parts of the body. The
mantids display themselves on plants so that these colors are exposed
to the sun, and the widely adopted belief is that bees, flies, and other
flower-loving insects are thus lured to their doom.
Hardly less remarkable is the superficial resemblance of a few
tropical mantids to other insects of the same environment that evi-
dently are distasteful to birds, monkeys, and other predators. The
PRAYING MANTIDS—-GURNEY 345
first-stage nymph of Hymenopus coronatus resembles a bug of the
family Reduviidae, which probably can inflict a severe bite in addition
to tasting bad. In India certain mantids resemble ants, while in
Indo-China a common type of arboreal tiger beetle (Cicindelidae) is
the model for a mantid (7vricondylomimus coomant Chopard). The
subject of protective mimicry is a highly controversial one, and for
the present purpose it is suflicient to invite attention to these striking
resemblances on the part of a few tropical species and to suggest the
stimulating interest that might come from investigations by people
situated where such species occur.
GROWTH AND MOLTING
The eggs of mantids hatch in spring and early in summer, unless
they are induced to hatch sooner by a warm climate or by being brought
indoors. In the northeastern United States mantids usually hatch
late in May and in June, and they customarily mature in 2 to 3 months,
the adults occurring from late in August or in September until frost
kills them or they die of other natural causes. In captivity some
mantids have lived as long as 4 to 5 months after reaching maturity,
but the average is much less.
Newly hatched young, called nymphs, resemble the adults except
that they are small and delicate and have no wings. Like other Or-
thoptera and the more primitive insects in general, mantids have no
grub or caterpillar stage. These stages, technically referred to as
larvae, occur only among higher insects, beginning with Neuroptera
(hellgrammites, ant lions, aphis lions) and including Diptera (mag-
gots of various kinds), Lepidoptera (caterpillars), Coleoptera (beetle
grubs), and Hymenoptera (larvae of bees, wasps, and ants).
The egg cases, technically known as odthecae, of most mantids have
a hatching area on the surface of the case that is opposite the side that
is attached to a support. Chambers or passageways lead from this
hatching area directly to the eggs. The emerging nymphs wriggle,
head foremost, up these passageways to the surface and there hang
head down while they prepare to get the use of their legs. At 7:15
one morning early in June I noticed that about 20 nymphs were be-
ginning to emerge from one of my egg cases of the Chinese mantis.
They were a rich yellow color, with dark eye spots and with the legs
and antennae limp and folded back beside the body. Within half an
hour 100 or more nymphs were out, and the whole wriggling mass was
hanging from the egg case. Some had their legs free and were al-
ready crawling, though still yellow in color. By 9 o’clock all were
free, nearly all had turned to a neutral gray color, and they were ready
to be released on shrubs in my garden. A cluster of membranous
shreds, of indefinite shape, remained hanging from the hatching area
of the egg case.
346 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
When the embryo has developed into a well-formed nymph within
the eggshell, it is ready to push through the head end of the shell and
wriggle toward the open air. Egg masses of Chinese and narrow-
winged mantids that I have collected for hatching have shown that
the great majority of nymphs from any one egg case appear the same
day, usually within an hour. A few early nymphs, perhaps as many
as 10, may appear a day or a few days previously, and a week later
occasional stragglers may still hatch, but hatching is very much a
dramatically sudden event. Some exceptions, mainly among tropical
species, have been reported.
When the newly hatched nymph, with limp legs and antennae,
wriggles into the open air and, from its own weight, hangs downward,
it sheds its transparent skin almost at once. Following this act,
the legs stretch out, the body takes on an erect shape, and the little
nymph is soon ready to walk. This is the true first-stage nymph, and
the molt that has just occurred is the intermediate molt, so named by
Uvarov who carefully described a corresponding and fully compara-
ble event during the hatching of grasshoppers. The cast skins of the
intermediate molt, almost embryonic skins as it were, constitute the
membranous shreds hanging down from the hatching surface after
hatching has occurred. The newly emerged nymph often remains at-
tached to the shed skin for a short time while the body and legs are
hardening, and the nymph may appear to be dangling from silken
threads. Within a few days after hatching the effects of weathering
have removed these cast skins from the old egg case.
Following the intermediate molt, the skin is shed six to nine times
before maturity is reached. The number of molts differs somewhat
in different species and is variable within the same species. At each
molt the size increases, and after the later molts the buds or pads
of developing wings become more noticeable. Most of our mantids
have long, fully developed wings when mature, but some are entirely
wingless, or have very short wings, or the wings of one sex only are
short or entirely lacking. Females are usually larger and more robust
than males.
Although first-stage nymphs are all similarly colored, later stages
may show that either green or brown is dominant. Attempts have
been made to show that these colors are correlated with similar en-
vironmental backgrounds, or with weather conditions, but reliable in-
formation on these matters is still insufficient.
MATING AND THE EATING OF MALES
There is a widespread belief that, following mating, the male
mantid is always eaten by the female. This actually happens in
many instances, but with some of our more common species the males
usually escape. In some species males may notice the females and
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 347
be so strongly attracted, prior to the sexual union, that nearby dis-
turbances are largely disregarded.
One October afternoon I went searching for insects to feed a
captive Chinese mantid female. Grasshoppers were scarce and only a
few small insects were found, in addition to a male of the narrow-
winged mantis and one of the Chinese species, which I placed in the
cage. When I reached home 20 minutes later, the female had seized
the narrow-winged male and was eating his head. He was consumed
in about half an hour, the legs, wings, and end of the abdomen being
discarded. She then cleaned her front legs with her mouth and
began leisurely to move about the cage. I saw her move toward the
male of her own species and began to think he was destined to be
eaten at once, but she turned away from him when she was about
2 inches distant and slightly below him on an adjacent vertical wall
of the cage. He had been eyeing the female intently, and just as she
turned away he leaped with partly open wings upon her. Soon
he had hooked his front feet securely beneath the bases of her closed
wings, and the ends of the two abdomens had effected a union. After
the first flurry of activity both mantids were quiet, though the fe-
male, carrying the male, moved about the cage. They separated
31% hours later, which was after dark, without the male being attacked.
Soon after dawn the next morning, however, the female had seized
her mate around the thorax with the left front leg, and while his
head was held to one side with the right leg she began her meal by
eating through the base of the pronotum.
In the unnatural confinement of a small cage the eating of males
following mating may be more frequent than under normal field
conditions. Mantids often mate several times, though one mating
appears sufficient to insure fertile eggs. Females that are kept iso-
lated will often deposit egg masses that appear perfectly normal,
though there has been no mating, but invariably (with the exception
of a few species that have no males) they do not hatch. A small
percentage of the ezg masses of the Chinese and narrow-winged man-
tids that I have collected and confined for rearing have not hatched.
Whether some of this failure to hatch is due to lack of fertilization
is not known.
Unlike many crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers, “voices” play
no part in the “courtship” of mantids. The several forms of stridula-
tion exhibited by those Orthoptera, ranging from the delicately ex-
quisite tinkling of our small bush crickets (Anavipha and Cyrtowipha)
to the raucous rasping of the true katydids (Pterophylla), which may
be heard for half a mile on a favorable evening late in summer, are
among the best known of all the sounds of insects. Like nearly
all the roaches, mantids haye on their. wings, legs, or other..organs
no stridulatory equipment for expressing their disposition in “song.”
348 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Judd (1950) states that the European mantis is capable of stridu-
lating. He refers to the defensive attitude of caged individuals that
faced intruders with wings outspread and held vertically above the
body, at the same time curling the abdomen upward and swinging it
backward and forward, its sides making a rasping sound by rubbing
on the veins of the hind wings.
EGG-LAYING HABITS
The eggs of mantids are laid in groups of a dozen to 400, or there-
abouts. Each odtheca of the Chinese and narrow-winged mantids
contains an average of 200 to 300 eggs, according to the studies of
Fox (1939b, 1943). The eggs are deposited in layers in the midst of
a thick, frothy liquid, which soon hardens and becomes fibrous. Each
layer of eggs may consist of two or more rows, one above the other,
all leading up to the hatching area and the outside by the same
passageway. The protective covering is usually straw-colored or
some shade of gray or brown. For the most part, each species of
mantis deposits egg masses of a distinctive shape, some being elongate,
some globose, others ridged or bearing a peculiar apical spine. Very
unusual! tropical oéthecae, some not yet associated with any named
species, have been described. There is one type, for instance, that
consists of a chain of eggs laid on a leaf; another is a little cluster
of eggs suspended within the empty hollow of a thin parchmentlike
bladder attached like a nut to vegetation. (See Chopard, 1938.)
A female usually deposits 2 to 5 egg masses, as many as 20 in some
tropical species, during a period of weeks, and the size varies. Egg
masses are usually attached to vegetation, such as grass or weed
stems, twigs of shrubs or trees, less often to stones, fence posts, or
the walls of buildings. In my experience the majority are within
3 feet of the ground, but I have found them in pine trees 8 feet from
the ground.
The Carolina, Chinese, and narrow-winged mantids apparently al-
ways oviposit while standing with the head directed downward.
When the oviposition site has been selected, the mantid stands firmly
in position, and a whitish material much like toothpaste begins to
appear at the end of the abdomen. The three down-curved, paired,
fingerlike valves of the ovipositor manipulate the material rapidly,
apparently beating it up and introducing air bubbles, while the end
of the abdomen steadily moves from side to side and up and down.
Eggs, which originate in the paired ovaries within the abdomen, are
deposited in this soft matrix, though they are not readily seen during
the process. The whitish matrix is the product of accessory glands.
Exactly how the parallel chambers through which the hatching
nymphs emerge are made so regularly is still difficult to understand.
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 349
An equal amount of the matrix is placed each side of the central sec-
tion where the eggs are located. ‘The top of each layer is finished in
such a way that the final product is characteristic of the species, and
the lower end is smoothed off when egg deposition is completed.
Within an hour the matrix is reasonably dry and has a spongy texture.
Though nearly white at first, darkening soon begins, and within a
week or so the gray or brown color typical for the particular species
is the rule.
Egg-laying by our best-known species most often occurs late in the
day and frequently after dark. Females do not look around during
the oviposition process but are guided by instinct and the sensory
organs located at the end of the abdomen. To me the ability of each
species consistently to produce its own characteristic type of odtheca,
although superficially equipped with the same type of ovipositing
organs, 1s one of the most remarkable characteristics of mantids.
Doubtless for thousands of years each species has passed this ability,
mainly expressed in blind but unerring instinct, down to succeeding
generations. Such is the nature of species, each differing from others
in definite, though not always grossly conspicuous, ways.
FLIGHT AND OTHER METHODS OF DISPERSAL
Most fully winged mantids occasionally fly, the flights varying in
extent from a few yards to several hundred yards or more. Females
approaching the time of egg-laying are usually quite heavy-bodied,
since the abdomen is filled with eggs, and in that condition they are
not so inclined to fly as during the first 2 weeks or so after maturity
is reached, nor so apt to fly as the males. Mantids are sometimes at-
tracted to lights at night, with the result that they are found near
windows the following day. Specimens have been found at the top
of the Empire State Building in New York City.
The natural spread of a species of mantid into territory not previ-
ously occupied is by flight, in the case of winged species, and by
crawling. Many years may thus elapse before a species travels more
than a relatively few miles. Occasionally winds may add greatly to
the distance covered by a mantid in flight. Artificial transportation
by human agencies has in modern times become rather important in
the dispersal of mantid species to areas where they did not originally
live. Such introductions are largely by means of the egg masses,
which are often unintentionally carried attached to shrubs, hay, lum-
ber, or other materials. Notable examples of artificial introductions
are the three mantids established in the Hawaiian Islands, two of these
from the region of the Philippines and China, the other from Aus-
tralia or thereabouts. One of them, the narrow-winged mantis, has
also successfully entered the United States and, like the European and
Chinese mantids, has become acclimated here.
350 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Biologists or other interested people have sometimes imported eggs
of exotic species, in order to observe the growth of these unusual
insects in cages, and the species have been intentionally or accidentally
released. Of course, each species is suited to certain weather condi-
tions, and it usually will not survive if released in an area that is
radically different from its native home in temperature, rainfall,
humidity, or other basic climatic factor. In the case of the two
Oriental and one European species introduced into the northeastern
United States, the climate of certain areas has enabled them to mul-
tiply and become thoroughly established. Their spread in the United
States is limited to what is possible by natural methods, aided by the
movement of eggs or individual specimens on the part of people, and
doubtless will not extend into States where winters are too severe,
where desert conditions prevail, or where for other reasons the situa-
tion is not suitable.
Many insects introduced into the United States have not been so
interesting or so harmless as the mantids here discussed. The Jap-
anese beetle, European corn borer, gypsy moth, San Jose scale, and
Oriental fruit moth are only a few of the outstanding pests that have
reached us from abroad and that have cost the Nation almost untold
expense for control work, to say nothing of personal hardship brought
about by accompanying adjustments in agricultural practices or
market conditions.
OVERWINTERING
In temperate regions mantids pass the winter in the egg stage, the
adults all dying in fall and the new generation hatching the follow-
ing spring or early insummer. Egg masses are much more noticeable
during winter, because at other times they are likely to be concealed
by leaves or other green vegetation. In some northeastern or Atlantic
Coastal Plain States as many as 50 egg masses may be found in less
than an hour in particularly favorable localities.
In warm countries with no winter season there may be a resting
period or diapause in the life cycles of mantids. This is frequently
correlated with dry and rainy seasons. Some desert mantids pass the
diapause as nymphs. For instance, /ris deserti Uvarov, of Algeria
and Tunisia, usually spends the diapause, which lasts 4 to 5 months,
in the fifth nymphal stage.
ENEMIES
There is a high mortality among young mantids during the first few
days following hatching, when they are delicate and only small insects
can be captured. Hard, cold rains at this time may inflict a heavy
toll, and birds may eat large numbers.
To determine which birds and mammals feed on mantids or their
egg masses, I consulted the Food Habits Division of the United States
PRAYING MANTIDS—-GURNEY 351
Fish and Wildlife Service, which for many years has assembled data,
largely as a result of analyses of stomach contents. In their labora-
tory at Patuxent, Md., special analysists have learned to recognize
most types of vegetable and animal food from the hard parts that
digest. very slowly or not at all. In the case of mantids, the head
capsule, fragments of the pronotum, and pieces of the front legs do
not readily digest and may be detected in stomach contents or in fecal
pellets. These structures of newly hatched nymphs are poorly
sclerotized or hardened, and egg masses do not leave characteristic
hard parts. Consequently, in order to recognize these remains in
stomachs the contents must have undergone only a small amount of
digestion prior to examination.
Records are available of 34 species of North American birds that
fed on mantids, of which 6 ate egg masses as well as the mantids them-
selves. Birds with numerous records of mantid feeding are the Ameri-
can crow, sparrow hawk, English sparrow, and wild turkey. The red-
winged blackbird, American magpie, woodpeckers, cowbird, and
several sparrows, quails, and prairie chickens are represented in the
list of bird predators of mantids.
Available mammal records show that the following have eaten
mantids: White-footed mouse, wood rat, prairie dog, skunk, raccoon,
opossum, gray fox, red fox, and dog. All the mammals listed except
the wood rat and prairie dog had eaten egg masses too. The most
numerous records of feeding on mantids refer to the skunk and
opossum.
In parts of the West lizards are important enemies of mantids, but
in the Eastern States lizards are not nearly as prevalent, or as numer-
cus in species. While studying range grasshoppers in the great sage-
brush-covered valleys of Nevada and eastern Oregon I found a large
variety of lizards, most of them very fast and agile. The minor
mantid was also seen running about on the ground in both States. It
is quite natural that ground-inhabiting mantids in particular, of
which the minor mantid is the most widely distributed western species,
should often be captured by lizards. Stomachs of certain species of
Utah lizards examined by Dr. G. F. Knowlton have often contained
mantid fragments.
Among insect parasites and predators of mantids, the best known
are small flies and wasps that feed on mantid eggs. These insects
insert their eggs into the mantid egg masses. The larvae, or grubs, of
the developing parasites feed on the mantid eggs and then the result-
ing adult flies or wasps emerge. Mantid odthecae collected after the
season of parasite emergence sometimes show one to many tiny round
holes a little smaller than the diameter of a pencil lead. These are
the holes made by the emerging parasites and predators. Some para-
sites always emerge from the side of the egg mass, others from the
302 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
hatching area, and so on. People who place egg masses in containers
in order to watch the hatching of young mantids are occasionally sur-
prised to find that tiny parasites emerge. In some cases most or all
of the mantid eggs in a single egg mass are destroyed, but in others
only a very few parasites are present and a good many mantids
hatch normally. In some localities very little parasitism occurs, while
in others a majority of odthecae will be found parasitized.
The best-known parasitic wasps (Podagrion) sometimes appear
in large numbers, while others appear as occasional individuals. One
of the interesting parasites (Mantibaria manticida Kieffer) of the
European mantis in France is a tiny wasp that in the adult stage often
attaches itself to adult mantids. They cling to the body of the mantid
near the base of the wings, or to the lower surface of the abdomen.
If the mantid is a female, and the parasite remains until she deposits
eggs, the little wasp leaves the mantid and inserts its eggs into the
mantid egg mass. Since the European mantis has been in the United
States for many years, it is interesting to speculate that some day we
may find that we also have this remarkable parasite which catches a
ride with the mother of its intended victims. Its presence will be
disclosed by examining mantids caught in the field for attached para-
sites, or by rearing parasites from egg masses and having them iden-
tified by specialists who are trained to recognize the different species.
In the spring of 1950 I confined 124 odthecae of the Chinese mantis
and 18 of the narrow-winged mantis in separate jars to see what para-
sites or egg predators would emerge. Four tiny flies (Pseudogaurax
anchora (loew)) about the size of fruit flies (Drosophila) were ob-
tained, two coming from each of two Chinese-mantis odthecae. This
species is well known as a predator of mantid eggs, each larval fly
feeding on one or more mantid eggs, but an interesting thing is that
it preys upon the eggs of certain other insects and those of spiders,
and sometimes is a scavenger in the cocoons of moths.’ Other species
of Pseudogauraw attack both mantid and spider eggs, including those
of the black-widow spider.
My rearing chambers also yielded two tiny wasps and several kinds
of small flies. One of the wasps is a species known only as a parasite of
scale insects, while the other has previously been found to attack other
parasites. The first may have emerged from a tiny scale insect on the
piece of twig to which the mantid eggs were attached. An exit hole of
the second clearly showed in the egg mass, but the growing larva may
have fed on some other egg parasite rather than a mantid egg. That
could be determined only by careful dissections of the egg mass or by
conducting better-controlled observations. The small flies included
3 The distinetions between parasite, predator, and scavenger are partly matters of technical definition,
and the habits of some insects are so broad that they overlap two or more categories.
PRAYING MANTIDS—-GURNEY 353
species of a family (Phoridae) that often are scavengers. During
rains my cultures had become wet, and contamination by these flies
probably occurred at that time. Other little flies (Itonididae) may
have been in microscopic galls on the plant stems; at least they do not
appear to be normal parasites of mantid eggs.
These experiences demonstrate the problems that arise in determin-
ing which insects associated with mantid eggs are true primary para-
sites, and the ease with which snap judgments could lead to quite in-
correct conclusions regarding host-parasite relationships.
Relatively little information is available on insect predators that
attack nymphs and adults of mantids. In some countries large wasps,
perhaps related to those which provision their nests with cockroaches,
evidently prey on mantids, but I have no data on such habits among
American wasps. A very few instances have come to my attention of
large parasitic flesh flies (Sarcophaga and Mantidophaga) emerging
from the bodies of dying mantids. These may have been true para-
sites, developing from eggs or larvae attached to the mantid by the
mother fly, after the manner of certain flies that parasitize grass-
hoppers. One case is reported (Rosewall, 1924) in which 10 fully
grown maggots of Sercophaga crawled from the body of an adult fe-
male of the Carolina mantis. The mantis was dying, but the observer
noticed that when near death the mantid’s head moved, and he dis-
covered that a maggot had crawled through the tubular prothorax
and into the head! Most of the maggots were in the abdomen. They
broke out of the body, crawled into soil that was provided, pupated,
and later emerged as adult flies. Other cases (Gahan, 1915) include
three Mantidophaga maggots emerging from a Carolina mantis that
previously had a hole in the side of the abdomen, suggesting that an
injury may have become maggot-infested.
REARING
Many people inquire about the possibility of hatching mantids
from eggs in order to watch them grow to maturity. Large mantids
found outdoors late in summer may be easily kept, usually for several
weeks, by confining them in a glass jar closed with screening or netting,
or in a box with light entering one or more sides. Several small sticks
leaning against the sides of the jar or box, to serve as supports, are
important. A small potted house plant placed in a cage provides a
very good environment for a mantid. House flies, blue-bottle flies,
grasshoppers, and many other kinds of insects may be introduced alive
into the cage to serve as food. Mealworm larvae or tiny pieces of un-
cooked liver, hamburger, or frankfurter may be fed by hand, if held
to the insect’s mouth until the food is noticed. A captive Chinese man-
tid I kept was fond of Japanese-beetle grubs. When a grub was held
to its mouth, the mantid would begin feeding at once and usually reach
354 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
up a leg and take hold of it. Since they live in the soil, these grubs
would never be eaten naturally. Freshly killed insects will be eaten,
if offered on a stick or in tweezers, but mantids do not ordinarily pick
up immobile bodies of insects from the floor of a cage. Water should be
sprinkled on the cage each day or given the mantid with a medicine
dropper.
It is more difficult to rear mantids directly from eggs, because the
young are delicate and much more limited in their choice of food.
Furthermore, people often have eggs that have been taken indoors
during winter when the average person has no supply of suitable in-
sects available as mantid food, so that, while the little mantids hatch
by the dozens readily enough at living-room temperature, after 2 or
3 days they begin to starve rapidly. The atmosphere of many houses
is too dry in winter for the mantids to do well. If a serious attempt
to rear mantids to maturity from eggs is to be made, a little planning
is necessary. A supply of small insects can be assured by establish-
ing a culture of fruit flies (Drosophila) in jars containing fermenting
bananas or other suitable fruit. Each day a few living flies are trans-
ferred to the mantid cages. Plant lice from greenhouse or other
plants may also be fed to the newly hatched mantids, being transferred
directly on twigs or other host plant materials. A great variety of
leafhoppers and other smal] insects may be swept with an insect net
from grass. Larger insects may be supplied as the nymphs grow. In
a rearing experiment with Stagmomantis limbata (Hahn) it was
found (Roberts, 1937b) that the consumption by one mantid during
its entire life averaged over 700 insects.
Nymphs usually refuse food for the first 12 to 24 hours after hatch-
ing, and for a day immediately before and after molting. Mantids
rear well at a temperature of 75° to 88° F. and with a relative humid-
ity of 50 to 70 percent. Dryness may be partly offset by spraying
water lightly from a small atomizer over the nymphs and their cage
once a day. Too much water will drown them in the first nymphal
stage. Unless they are overcrowded or underfed cannibalism is not
common until the nymphs are half grown. After the fifth molt, only
one or two nymphs should be kept in the same container, and adults
should be separated if cannibalism is to be avoided. Care should be
taken to avoid infestation of cages with ants; the latter are very
dangerous to newly hatched mantids. A tiny mite, Pyemotes ventri-
cosus (Newport), has attacked mantids in some rearing experiments
(Rau and Rau, 1918).
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
The majority of insects normally eaten by mantids are probably
injurious to gardens or other agriculture, so that mantids as a whole
are beneficial insects. It is true, however, that a portion of their
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY S00
prey may consist of insects that parasitize insect pests. Also, prey
sometimes includes bees useful in pollinating fruit, alfalfa, or clover.
Under certain circumstances, therefore, mantids may be harmful, but
the good they usually do probably more than offsets the harm. The
possibility of propagating them for the control of harmful insects is
sometimes very appealing to people who are impressed by their tremen-
dous appetite and conspicuous predatory habits. Because they do
not eat just one kind of insect, but are rather general feeders, they
cannot be directed against a specific pest, such as the Japanese beetle.
Many pests, such as various kinds of borers, live inside of plant tissue,
and so mantids could never attack them under natural conditions.
If mantids became unusually abundant, birds might be inclined to
feed on them more, or the crowding might lead to more cannibalism.
For these reasons, mantids are not likely to be important in practical
biological control projects.
People impressed by the value of praying mantids occasionally
inquire whether there are laws protecting them. I have made an
effort to determine whether any State or local ordinances have been
passed to protect mantids from being molested by people, and thus
far no such laws have come to my attention.
There are several beliefs or superstitions concerning the ability of
mantids to kill livestock. For instance, it is often thought in the
Southwestern States that a horse or cow will die if it eats a mantid
or if it drinks water from a trough into which one has fallen and
drowned. These beliefs are naturally unfounded, and furthermore
a mantid cannot hurt a person except by the inconsequential scratching
of the claws and spines when handled.
SPECIES FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES
1. Chinese mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis Saussure:
The Chinese mantis is widespread in eastern Asia and nearby
islands. It was accidentally introduced into the United States, where
it was first noticed near Philadelphia in 1896. It has spread until
it occurs-from New Haven, Conn., to Virginia along the Atlantic
coast, and at scattered localities elsewhere. In February 1949 about
200 egg masses were distributed in Warren County, IIl., and, accord-
ing to Dr. R. I. Sailer, the 1950 population appeared to be increasing.
I have recently learned (letter from Edwin Way Teale) that a colony
has been started in California and that an Ohio dealer in biological
supplies has been selling egg masses; so it is easy to see the wide oppor-
tunities that the Chinese mantis has for enlarging its distribution.
It is our largest species, usually being 3 to 4 inches in over-all length
when the wings are folded over the back. The egg mass is sometimes
as much as 11 inches long and usually an inch or nearly an inch in
diameter.
396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
9. Narrow-winged mantis, Tenodera angustipennis Saussure:
This is a close relative of the foregoing species, from which it
differs in being smaller and less robust and in having less dark color
on the hind wings. The egg mass is elongate, usually an inch to an
inch and a half long, and seldom over one-half inch in diameter.
This mantid is also Asiatic in origin. It was noticed near Aberdeen,
Md., as early as 1926 but was not noted by a published record until
1933. Prior to that time adults had been supposed by a number of
people who found them to be small individuals of the Chinese mantis,
though the eggs were puzzling and not satisfactorily explained. It
was first reported (Jones, 1933) from the region of New Castle, Del.,
and adjacent Maryland. It is now well established from New York
City to Virginia. Attempts to establish the narrow-winged mantis
at Stamford, Conn., have been unsuccessful (letter from Dr. Stanley
W. Bromley).
In some localities this species is apparently fully as common as
the Chinese mantis, but at Falls Church, Va., I have found more of
the latter, both of egg masses and the mantids themselves. However,
egg masses of the narrow-winged species are seldom found on weeds
such as goldenrod but occur attached lengthwise to the surface of
woody stems or twigs that usually are at least as large in diameter
as the width of an egg mass. In contrast, the chunky odthecae of the
Chinese mantis occur both on small weeds, the stems of which they
often enclose, and on the twigs of shrubs and trees. A weed field
having few shrubs or trees will therefore offer the Chinese mantis
much better opportunities for oviposition.
At Falls Church, Va., eggs of the Chinese mantis hatched from
May 27 to June 26, the majority during the first 10 days of June.
As oothecae of the narrow-winged species yielded their young between
June 17 and 27, the average hatching date is probably 1 to 2 weeks
later than for the larger species.
3. European mantis, Mantis religiosa Linnaeus:
This is a widespread species of northern Africa, southern Europe,
and temperate Asia. It appeared at Rochester, N. Y., in 1899, prob-
ably the result of eggs being introduced on nursery stock. Soon
after the discovery at Rochester, a fine account (Slingerland, 1900)
of the species was prepared. Adults are about 2 to 214 inches long,
and the wings cover the abdomen when folded. Egg masses are
rather more bulky than those of the Carolina mantis, but less so than
those of the Chinese mantis and differently shaped.
For some years the European mantis has been well established in
western New York and southern Ontario, where the climate is less
severe than in northern New England. It was noticed in 1949 at
PRAYING MANTIDS-—-GURNEY 357
several localities in Vermont and Massachusetts, and in 1950 it again
occurred abundantly at several New England localities, and was found
near Albany, N. Y. In 1950 I was surprised to find it at the summit
and on the slopes of Mount Greylock, the highest peak in southern
New England, which is so boreal that the wingless White Mountain
grasshopper (Zubovskya glacialis glacialig (Scudder) ) lives there.
Can it be that 50 years have been required for the mantid to spread
by natural means from the Rochester, N. Y., area; or has climate,
which apparently limited the eastern spread, moderated and permitted
this mantid to move quickly into New England areas formerly closed
to it? An inquiry to the Weather Bureau disclosed that at Pittsfield,
near Mount Greylock, one of the important weather stations of west-
ern Massachusetts, the average temperature during the winter of
1948-49 was higher than any in the station’s history. In the winter of
1949-50 it was also high, well above average. This certainly suggests
that mild climate has been partly responsible for the spread of the
European mantis; also that a very severe winter may yet eliminate it
as a naturalized New England insect.
I further learned that a biology professor near Boston had re-
leased the mantid during recent years, probably accounting for some
current records from eastern Massachusetts, and that truckers had
brought loads of dried hay from New York State into western Massa-
chusetts and perhaps to other sections of New England. In hayfields
at Cummington, Mass., I found the species abundant. The logical
conclusion is that if the imported hay came from New York areas
where the mantid was established, then egg masses could easily have
been brought to Massachusetts. In other words, climatic changes alone
probably were not entirely responsible for the expanded distribution,
but, instead, a combination of climate and artificial introductions.
4, Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina (Johansson), and related
species:
This is the best-known native mantid of the Eastern States. It
occurs from Pennsylvania across the Middle West to Colorado and
south into Mexico. There has been doubt as to whether the insect
occurred in New Jersey, but inasmuch as Teale (1950) has reported
its occurrence around Baldwin, Long Island, perhaps a northeastern
extension has recently been favored by mild winters, and the species
may prove to occur in New Jersey. Males of the Carolina mantis are
much more slender than the females. Wings of the latter usually are
noticeably shorter than the abdomen, and there is little if any flight
except by the males. Over-all body length is usually 114 to 2 inches.
Egg masses usually are scarcely more than an inch long and half
an inch or somewhat more in diameter.
308 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
A second species of Stagmomantis, S. floridensis Davis, occurs in
Florida. Inthe Southwestern States three others occur: S. californica
Rehn and Hebard; S. gracilipes Rehn; S. limbata (Hahn). All are
closely related to the Carolina mantis, differing in size, color, and
technical structural details. Studies of the egg masses deposited in
Texas by species of Stagmomantis (Breland and Dobson, 1947) showed
that apparently a species additional to any now recorded for the United
States occurs there. ‘Three species, limbata, carolina, and californica,
already occur in Texas, the egg masses being well known, while
gractlipes occurs west of the zone where the strange eggs have been
found. Perhaps the adults reared from such eggs will eventually be
found to represent one of the Mexican or Central American species,
since the genus Stagmomantis is richly represented south of the United
States.
5. Minor mantis, Litaneutria minor (Scudder) :
This is the most widespread species of the West, occurring from
North Dakota and central Texas to British Columbia and south into
Mexico. Adults normally do not exceed 114 inches in length, and
the color is light buff to dark brown. Males are usually fully winged,
but wings of the female seldom cover more than one-third of the
abdomen. This mantid is most often found on the ground, but some-
times it occurs on vegetation. Egg masses are small, averaging about
one-fourth inch long, more or less rectangular with rounded corners.
In Texas a partial second generation of the minor mantid occurs
(Roberts, 1937a). Part of the eggs laid by the summer generation
hatch that fall, but the nymphs do not usually reach maturity.
6. Unicorn mantids:
There are two species of these striking mantids in the United States.
Both have a conspicuous split horn extending forward from between
the eyes, and there are usually two dark bars across each green front
wing. Body length (including folded wings) is about 214 to 3 inches.
One of the two, Phyllovates chlorophaea (Blanchard), is widespread
in Central America but occurs within our borders only in southeastern
Texas. The other, Pseudovates arizonae Hebard, is quite rare and
known only in Arizona. It differs from the former species by having
swollen lobes projecting from the middle and hind legs.
7. Grizzled mantis, Gonatista grisea (Fabricius) :
The grizzled mantis is endowed with excellent camouflage, the body
and front wings usually being mottled with green and brown, thus
enabling the insect to escape being seen except when it moves. The
species is proportionally broader than our other mantids of the same
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Gurney PLATE 1
*
1. Two egg masses of Chinese mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, sectioned to
show structure. Left: Lengthwise section cut from front, showing side
view of eggs in center and parallel emergence passageways leading upward
and to the left. Right: Lengthwise section cut from side, showing front
view of eggs surrounded by fibrous protective material. < 144.
2. Egg masses of three common mantids. Left: European mantis, Mantis
religiosa, removed from a board. Center: Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis
carolina, with parasite emergence holes on side. Right: Narrow-winged
mantis, Tenodera angustipennis, showing the characteristic elongate streaks
of darker color. 1%.
(Photographs by Floyd B. Kestner.)
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(Specimen from Florida.) X 15.
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Parts of the front legs are included. (Specimen from New Mexico.) % 15.
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EGG LAYING BY A NARROW-WINGED MANTIS
Three views of a female, showing (upper) the beginning of oviposition, (center)
oviposition nearly completed, and (lower) the finished egg mass with the female
eating a fly before moving elsewhere. Approximately natural size. (Photo-
graphs by John G. Pitkin.)
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PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 359
length. It occurs in the Southeast, where it extends from Florida to
South Carolina. The genus Gonatista is primarily West Indian, and
grisea occurs in Cuba as well as in the United States. Several related
species live in the West Indies.
8. Other mantids:
One of the distinctive southern species is Brunneria borealis Scud-
der. Only females have been found, though there are several related
South American species of which males have been described. Many
groups of insects include certain species that lay fertile eggs in the
complete absence of males (parthenogenesis), and this is a notable
example in the Mantidae. Our species is green, about 214 to 314
inches long, very slender, and with only vestiges of wings. It occurs
from North Carolina to Texas. Its egg mass, about one-half to three-
fourths inch long, is characterized by a distinct point at the lower end.
At hatching time, all nymphs emerge from this point, rather than
from a broad hatching area (Breland and Dobson, 1947).
A species of the genus A/antotda occurs in Florida, and for many
years it has been supposed by entomologists to be Mantoida maya
Saussure and Zehntner. The original habitat of maya, from which
the type specimen was obtained, is Yucatan. Now it is somewhat
uncertain whether the Floridian form may not be a distinct species,
peculiar to the United States, though, of course, closely related to
the one in Yucatan. This is another of the problems involving native
mantids that deserve careful attention. Our Mantoida is a rare
species, evidently most active at night and hunting to a large extent
on the ground, these habits probably explaining in some measure why
few people have seen it.
Five other species of mantids are known from the Southern and
Central States, including the Southwest. All are small and of incon-
spicuous brown coloration, which blends with the grasses and shrubs
among which they live. Two of them, Yersiniops solitarium (Scud-
der) and Y. sophronicum (Rehn and Hebard), are distinguished
from our other mantids by the shape of the compound eyes, which
are produced upward into sharp, conical points. These closely related
species live in the Southwest. They usually occur on the ground and
run rapidly, and in the case of solttartwm, exceptional abilities in
leaping are also characteristic.
A very delicate, extremely slender mantid found fairly commonly
among grasses in Florida, even in winter, is Z’hesprotia graminis
(Scudder). It also occurs in Georgia and along the Gulf coast as
far west as Mississippi. The remaining species are Oligonicella
scudderi (Saussure) and O. mewicanus (Saussure and Zehntner).
9227585124
360 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
They are intermediate in relative slenderness between 7'hesprotia and
the minor mantid. Oligonicella scuddevi is widespread in the South-
east, extends north on the Great Plains to Nebraska, and inhabits all
Texas except the extreme western and southern portions. In the
southern extremity of its range, it is believed to have two generations
a year (Hebard, 1943). Its congener, meaicanus, occupies a wide area
in Mexico and northern Central America but in the United States
occurs primarily in southeastern Arizona (Hebard, 1943).
REFERENCES
Most of the books in the following list are written in a popular or semipopular
style, and a majority of public libraries and bookstores are likely to contain
some of them. Although not listed here, most textbooks of entomology contain
short treatments on mantids. The more technical papers were published mainly
in strictly entomological journals and will be found in few libraries except those
containing a good deal on natural history or the agricultural sciences. They
are included for the benefit of students who have such serials available and
who wish to do supplemental reference reading.
BalL, E. D., TINKHAM, E. R., FLock, RoBerT, and VoruHies, C. T.
1942. The grasshoppers and other Orthoptera of Arizona. Arizona Agr.
Exp. Stat. Techn. Bull. 98, pp. 255-378, illus.
BLATCHLEY, W. S.
1920. Orthoptera of northeastern America, 784 pp., illus. (especially pp.
115-129). Indianapolis.
BRELAND, OSMOND P.
1941a. Notes on the biology of Stagmomantis carolina (Joh.). Bull. Brook-
lyn Ent. Soc., vol. 36, pp. 170-177.
1941b. Podagrion mantis AShmead and other parasites of praying mantid
egg cases. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., vol. 34, pp. 99-118.
BRELAND, OSMOND P., and Dosson, Jack W.
1947. Specificity of mantid odthecae. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., vol. 40, pp.
557-575, illus.
BROMLEY, STANLEY W.
1932. Observations on the Chinese mantid Paratenodera sinensis Sauss.
Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., vol 27, pp. 196-201.
CAUDELL, A. N.
1905. Two interesting mantids from the United States. Journ. New York
Ent. Soe., vol. 13, pp. 82-83, illus.
CHOPARD, LUCIEN.
1988. La biologie des orthoptéres. Encyclopédie Entomologique, vol. 20,
pp. 1-541, illus. Paris.
1949. Traité de zoologie, edited by Pierre Grassé, vol. 9, 1,117 pp., illus.
(Mantids, pp. 8306-407.) Paris.
Davis, W. T.
1918. Introduction of Palaearctic preying mantids into the North Atlantic
States. Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., vol. 18, pp. 73-76.
DIDLAKE, Mary.
1926. Observations on the life-histories of two species of praying mantis.
Ent. News, vol. 37, pp. 169-174, illus.
PRAYING MANTIDS—GURNEY 361
Fox, HENRY.
1935. Tenodera angustipennis Saussure established in southern New Jersey.
Ent. News, vol. 46, pp. 91-93.
1939a. Infestation of odthecae of introduced Asiatic mantids by Podagrion
mantis Ashmead. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., vol. 32, pp. 561-563.
1939b. The egg content and nymphal production and emergence in odthecae
of two introduced species of Asiatic mantids. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer.,
vol. 32, pp. 549-560.
1943. Further studies on oéthecae of introduced Asiatic mantids. Ann. Ent.
Soc. Amer., vol. 36, pp. 25-88.
GAHAN, A. B.
1915. Notes on two parasitic Diptera. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 17,
pp. 24-25.
GiGcLio-Tos, HE.
1927. Mantidae. Das Tierreicn, Lief. 50, pp. 1-707, illus. (Monograph of
Mantidae of the World.)
GURNEY, A. B.
1950. [Distribution of northeastern species of mantids.] Proc. Ent. Soc.
Washington, vol. 52, p. 51.
HADDEN, F. C.
1927. A list of insects eaten by the mantis Paratenodera sinensis (Sauss.).
[Misidentified.] Proc. Hawaiin Ent. Soc., vol. 6, pp. 885-386.
HEBARD, MORGAN.
1937. Where and when to find the Orthoptera of Pennsylvania, with notes
on the species which in distribution reach nearest this State. Ent.
News, vol. 48, pp. 219-225.
1943. The Dermaptera and orthopterous families Blattidae, Mantidae and
Phasmidae of Texas. Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., vol. 68, pp. 239-811,
illus.
How pgp, L. O.
1903. The insect book, 429 pp., illus. (especially pp. 326-328). New York.
JAQUES, H. E.
1947. How to know the insects, pp. 1-205, illus. (especially p. 76). Dubuque,
lowa.
JONES, FRANK M.
1933. Another Oriental mantis well established in the United States (Teno-
dera angustipennis Saussure). Ent. News, vol. 44, pp. 1-8, illus.
Jupp, W. W.
1950. Further records of the occurrence of the European praying mantis
(Mantis religiosa L.) in southern Ontario (Orthoptera). Ent. News,
vol. 61, pp. 205-207.
Lutz, FRANK E.
1941. A lot of insects: Entomology in a suburban garden, 304 pp., illus.
(especially pp. 84-89). New York.
1948. Field book of insects, 510 pp., illus. (especially p. 67). New York.
Morse, ALBERT P.
1920. Manual of the Orthoptera of New England. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat.
Hist., vol. 35, pp. 197-556, illus. (especially pp. 327-331).
Nuttrine, W. L.
1950. The European mantis (Mantis religiosa L.) in New England. Psyche,
vol. 57, p. 28.
PirKin, J. G.
1950. Praying mantis. Nat. Geogr. Mag., vol. 97, pp. 685-692, illus.
362 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Rav, PHIL, and Rav, NELLIE.
1918. The biology of Stagmomantis carolina. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis,
vol. 22, pp. 1-58, illus.
REN, J. A. G.
1933. Chief morphological and color features separating Tenodera angusti-
pennis and T.. sinensis. Ent. News, vol. 44, pp. 4-5.
1947. The removal of the mantid genus Callimantis from the North Ameri-
ean fauna. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 49, pp. 1638-164.
Roperts, RArForD A.
1937a. Biology of the minor mantid, Litaneutria minor Scudder. Ann. Ent.
Soe. Amer., vol. 30, pp. 111-121, illus.
1937b. Biology of the bordered mantid, Stagmomantis limbata Habn. Ann.
Ent. Soe. Amer., vol. 30, pp. 96-108.
RoepkEr, K. D.
1935. An experimental analysis of the sexual behavior of the praying mantis
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1924. An interesting parasite of a praying mantid (Dip., Orth.). Bull.
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MAN’S DISORDER OF NATURE’S DESIGN IN THE
GREAT PLAINS?
By F. W. ALBERTSON
Fort Hays Kansas State College
(With 4 plates}
When man came to the shores of our continent he was confronted
with an empire of great expanse and diversity. Animal life, in-
cluding the American Indian, secured its subsistence mostly from
native plants and animals. Our earliest settlers on the Atlantic coast
immediately began to clear the ground for cultivation, and as popu-
lation moved westward, the practice of cultivating the soil moved
likewise. It took many years, however, to reach the high plains of
western Kansas. Wheat production seemed not to reach its maximum
relative importance as a farm crop in the United States until it was
grown on soils formerly occupied by prairie vegetation. ‘This crop
provided an ever-increasing supply of wheat flour for making bread,
but “man does not live by bread alone’—he needs a beefsteak oc-
casionally. If man today were like Nebuchadnezzar of old, it would
not be necessary for him to obtain by proxy his share of the vast
amount of energy produced in the vegetation of our grasslands
(Sampson, 1923). We have advanced beyond the stage of our ancient
forefathers, however, and consequently we are confronted with the
necessity of growing livestock in order to provide a portion of our
daily diet. But livestock does not live by corn alone. It has long
been recognized that the grasslands of America and elsewhere are
indispensable to economic livestock production.
If grasslands are as indispensable as we have been told, perhaps
it would be of interest to look into the origin of the prairies. Ac-
cording to authorities on the subject, many millions of years ago the
area now occupied by the Great Plains of North America was a vast
body of water (Harvey, 1908). The marine fossils embedded in
strata of limestone, under what is now the Great Plains, attest this
fact. From the close of Carboniferous time to lower Cretaceous
time, the area was mostly land and occupied by certain types of ferns
and conifers (Gleason, 1922). This type of vegetation evidently
prevailed for many millions of years. During middle and late Cre-
taceous time the region was again invaded by a shallow sea, and
1 Reprinted by permission from Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, vol. 52, No. 2, June 1949;
363
364 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
following its withdrawal there occurred the uplift of the Rocky
Mountains on the west. These mountains, according to authorities,
intercepted the moisture-laden winds from the Pacific Ocean and re-
stricted the rainfall on the lands immediately east of them to moisture
derived from the Gulf of Mexico. Gradual decrease in precipitation
resulted ultimately in a grassy type of vegetation in this area. It is
believed that this grassland type of vegetation has occupied parts of
the Great Plains continuously for millions of years, and that vast
armlike projections of grassland have pushed out many times in
several directions and withdrawn again when changes in climate
occurred.
Millions of years after the formation of the mountains on the west,
there occurred a series of events that exerted a significant influence
upon the vegetation of the Great Plains. During the later Tertiary,
gradual cooling of the climate in higher latitudes caused significant
changes in the environment, which resulted in the disappearance of
subtropical species of plants from north and west America. Appar-
ently a distinct separation developed between the northern flora,
predominantly gymnosperms, and the southern flora which was con-
trolled by angiosperms. These two primarily aborescent types (in
addition to the grasslands) have maintained their identity in North
America since preglacial times.
As cooling of the higher latitudes continued, the Tertiary period
came to a close and it was followed by the period of glaciers. It is
not the purpose of this paper to describe in any detail the cause or
the extent of glacial periods, but rather to consider briefly their
effect upon the vegetation in the wake of their advance. As the ice
moved down from the north there was started a migration southward
of all living forms. Belts of vegetative types such as tundra, bog
scrub, coniferous forest, and deciduous forest were usually main-
tained through the east and middle west as they moved southward.
The width of each belt of vegetation, however, varied with topog-
raphy. Farther west the treeless plains region was covered by prairie
vegetation. This vast area of level land probably was bordered on
the north by a broad belt of tundra.
With retreat of the ice, the new bare glacial soil was naturally first
invaded by the mosses and lichens of the tundra. After further
retreat of the ice the climate became more suitable for plant growth,
and as a consequence the belts of vegetation proceeded northward
from the position they occupied at the southernmost advance of the
glaciers. In the east the succession northward was in the order of
tundra, bog scrub, and conifers. The prairie grasses from the plains
region, however, not only invaded the immediate adjoining tundra to
the north but also succeeded in penetrating the glaciated regions of
MAN’S DISORDER OF NATURE’S DESIGN—-ALBERTSON 365
the middle west. These grasses advanced slowly toward the east and
northeast, proceeding as a wedge-shaped extension between the conif-
erous vegetation on the north and the deciduous forests on the south.
The grasses apparently displaced the deciduous forests in the drier
locations as far east as Ohio (Woodard, 1924). One explanation of
this unusual phenomenon of prairie succeeding the forest is that a
xerothermic period began during the Wisconsin glaciation and per-
sisted through the post-Wisconsin glacial retreat. Because of the
dry period, the advance of the deciduous forest from the south was
delayed, but the more humid grasses and their associates moved north-
ward and came in contact with the prairie vegetation that moved in
from the west. Thus the bluestems, the Indian grass, and the panic
grasses came to be associated with buffalo grass, the grama grasses,
and other xeric forms from the west. This association evidently
represents the farthest eastward general advance of the prairie vege-
tation of which we have any record.
At a later period amelioration of the climate occurred which
gradually ended the xerothermic period. As a consequence, the
oaks, hickories, elms, ashes, cottonwoods, maples, etc., of the deciduous
forests followed the retreating grasses in a westward direction. As
the short grasses retreated westward, they took with them their
“cousins” from the south, and upon their return to the high plains
the more xeric grasses came to occupy the drier positions, whereas
the grasses of the more humid south became established on the eastern
border of the grassland formation and along streams and more favored
positions westward.
There is no attempt here made to discuss in any detail the source
of the material that went into the formation of the soils of the
Great Plains except to mention in passing that some of the material
was brought in by glaciers, some by winds, some by water, and some
of the soils were formed in situ from existing rocks. Soil is not just a
mass of inert mineral and organic material. It must have both of
these materials, but in addition, if it is a good soil, it is necessary to
have soil solution, soil atmosphere, and an abundance of soil organ-
isms. The interaction of all these constituents working through cen-
turies of time has resulted in a soil that is one of the most fertile known
to mankind. It was the interaction of climate, plants, and soils that
brought plants and soils to their present native state of development.
The prairie vegetation is particularly well adapted to the production
and protection of a deep fertile soil. The roots of many of our
grasses penetrate the soil to a depth of 5 to 8 feet depending in part
upon species of grass and in part upon the type of soil in which they
grow. Many of the broad-leaved herbaceous plants, such as wild
alfalfa, extend their roots somewhat deeper than do the grasses,
366 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Under these circumstances soil moisture and nutrients are secured
from different levels, reducing the amount of competition among the
various species. There is considerable replacement of roots each
year—the dead roots increasing the supply of organic matter in the
soil. Under good range management even the litter and debris on
the surface gradually becomes incorporated into the soil.
In addition to being a first-rate soil builder, a good cover of grass
also ranks near the top as a soil protector. As the raindrops strike
the prairie vegetation the force is broken, and the shattered raindrops
run down the blades and stems of the vegetation where the accumu-
lated water is held long enough for most of it to enter the soil. During
downpours the clear excess water slowly runs away leaving the soil
held firmly in place by the vegetation.
There is a close relationship between the type of climate, vegetation,
and soil found in any region, and it appears safe to assume that to
understand our climate we must understand our vegetation and the
soils this plant growth produces. There is just one major reason
why the grasses invaded as far east as Ohio in past geologic ages—it
was climate. There is just one major reason why the forest did not
replace the grasses in the high plains—it was climate. Thus we may
study our native vegetation and predict with a considerable degree
of accuracy the type of climate that produced the vegetation and the
type of soil in which the vegetation is growing.
The herbaceous type of vegetation in the Great Plains is best adapted
to the extremes in climate that occur. Cycles of drought, hot desic-
cating winds of high velocity, prairie fires, tornadoes, hail storms, and
severe winters are all common to the plains region, but through all
these, the prairies have prevailed. ‘There are times each season, how-
ever, when prairie vegetation does not receive sufficient moisture for
growth, and, therefore, much of it 1s forced into dormancy. The
process of going into dormancy and out again may occur several times
in one season; this is a common experience for the short grasses of the
high plains (Albertson and Weaver, 1942). During extreme adversity
in the past, our native prairie doubtless suffered greatly, but upon the
the advent of more favorable conditions replacement of the former
cover was rapid (Albertson and Weaver, 1944b). Dust storms have
been known to occur earlier than those that visited us during the
thirties. The wind-formed soils extending from the Mississippi
Valley westward and covering much of northwestern Kansas illustrate
this fact (Lyon and Buckman, 1948). Even during the last half of
the nineteenth century our early settlers reported numerous “dusters”
(Malin, 1946).
When the early explorers came through the plains region they found
many of the plants that abound today in our native prairies; for
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Albertson PLATE 1
BASAL COVER AND PRECIPITATION
%
COVER|'32 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 945 1946 1947 ‘4s PPTN.
Ser Se
=e YY
\- 32
20q
1. AVERAGE AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATION, TOTAL PERCENT BASAL COVER OF BLUE
GRAMA AND EUFFALO GRASS ON A WELL-MANAGED RANGE AT HAYS, KANS.
2. MOUNDS OF DRIFTED SOIL ON AN OVERGRAZED RANGE IN SOUTHWEST KANSAS
IN 1939
Nearly all native vegetation was killed.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Albertson PLATE 2
1. SAME AREA AS SHOWN IN PLATE 1, FIGURE 2
Nothing but annual weeds were growing here when photographed in 1944.
pea ee
2. RANGE NEAR WINONA, KANS., IN SPRING OF 1941
Blue grama and buffalo grass (light areas) comprised 5 percent of cover of native
vegetation. Remaining part of area was bare or occupied by annual weeds.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Albertson
1. A WELL-MANAGED PASTURE AT DIGHTON, KANS., IN 1939
The cover of blue grama and buffalo grass was 20 percent.
2. SAME AREA AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 1, ABOVE
Replacement of cover was nearly complete in 1942.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Albertson PLATE 4
1. A WELL-MANAGED RANGE AT NESS CITY, KANS., IN 1946
Yield of grass was 1,800 pounds per acre.
ee eae
staat a
2. A HEAVILY GRAZED RANGE IN 1946
Located within 1 mile of the pasture shown in figure 1, above. Yield of grass was
900 pounds per acre.
MAN’S DISORDER OF NATURE’S DESIGN—ALBERTSON 367
example, Frémont, in 1842, reports the presence of the following plants
in or near Kansas:
OEP D GONG aN eS SO ath ak line os te Ne La Amorpha canescens.
NYG OO eA NS Ae lA 0 Salix longifolia.
Prairieisageseo aay ea eee I ee ee Artemisia spp.
IG OD Da Gren Ve ae NS ee ee ee . Asclepias tuberosa.
PPC ET 3 Gi] Seek TS tas Ae ee ee Carduus spp.
SS arn 1 0 yy ea re a ss es ee Helianthus spp.
ES ULES OTS ec ae ene ee eee eet ee ees Buchloe dactyloides.
WV hee call fsa feat EE Eee ES ee Le Psoralea floribunda.
SOnsitiviesbrie ree ee Be Chen oy ee Ne ae re Morongia uncinata.
CERWIN atu Wye Rae es Sa A Bee en ey ee ee eee Gaillardia spp.
Wy eninesprimTose sae le eee ee eee Gauwra coccinea.
The plants referred to by Frémont were doubtless important as a part
of our prairie vegetation many centuries past.
The author of this paper remembers fairly distinctly the conditions
that existed nearly 50 years ago. The vast majority of the land was
native prairie. It was neither broken for cultivation nor overgrazed
by livestock. The hilltops were occupied by short grasses and low-
growing broad-leaved herbaceous plants. Many of the hills were
dotted with bunches of little bluestem, and in the favored areas, such
as buffalo wallows, side oats grama and big bluestem were common.
The hillsides were occupied primarily by big and little bluestem, side
oats grama, Indian grass, and panic grass. A1I but the little bluestem
and side oats grama were dominant on the lowlands. At this time,
most of the land was open range and the livestock owned by the
pioneers roamed as they wished along the streams and over the high-
lands. Occasionally small areas had been broken for cultivation. It
is the change from the condition as it existed a half century ago to
the present state that has become our principal difficulty. As the
population increased, more land for cultivation was necessary. In-
crease in the cultivated area reduced the amount of native rangeland
at a time when there occurred an increase in the number of livestock;
hence a gradually increasing number of livestock was forced to graze
on a gradually decreasing area of native rangeland. ‘These effects
have been the cause of at least two problems. The first is proper
management of our cultivated land so that dusting of grasslands is
reduced to a minimum. Research and leadership from our experi-
ment stations and Federal agencies have assisted greatly in bringing
to our attention better methods for utilizing and conserving our culti-
vated soils. The second problem with which we are confronted is the
proper management of our rangeland in order to secure maximum
use with a minimum of deterioration.
We have said that the native vegetation of the high plains is better
adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions than is any other
type of vegetation; that is why it is dominant, This statement does
368 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
not mean, however, that growth is luxuriant regardless of the season.
During cycles of drought, it is only natural to assume that vegetation
would adjust itself to drought conditions. Increment of growth dur-
ing dry seasons would naturally be less. Seed production would be
gradually decreased as would also basal cover. Even root develop-
ment would doubtless be modified greatly. Recovery, however, would
occur over a relatively short period of time. The greatest destruc-
tion of our rangeland has occurred when the impact of overutilization
of rangeland and poor tillage practices of our cultivated soil have been
added to the impact of unfavorable climatic conditions. The early
pioneers were not confronted with overutilization because as grass be-
came scarce in one area the livestock naturally moved to another area
on the free range where utilization had been less intense. Under these
conditions it was only natural to draw the conclusion that grasslands
were not expendable—that they came into existence through a long
period of adversity and nothing that man could do would destroy
them.
Research on rangeland in the Great Plains has been limited mostly
to the present generation; in fact, most of it has been done during the
past 20 years. Several members of the botany staff of Fort Hays
Kansas State College claim western Kansas as their “native habitat.”
They have watched the prairies gradually deteriorate under the in-
fluence of overutilization, or have seen their complete destruction as
they were put under cultivation. It therefore became obvious that
more information was needed in order to know more fully how we
might maintain our prairies under high production at the same time
they were being utilized by livestock and, more recently, how to re-
grass much of our worn-out cultivated land. In the late twenties
and early thirties a program of study was initiated at Fort Hays
Kansas State College and has continued unbroken since that time.
Fortunately, from 1927 to 1932 inclusive, precipitation at Hays and
at other locations in the high plains was considerably above normal.
This condition made it possible to lay out research and to obtain initiat
data at a time when our prairies were at a maximum of development.
Areas were set aside in 1932 in order to determine what and how much
vegetation occupied different topographic locations (Albertson, 1937)
More recently, other studies have been inaugurated throughout west-
ern Kansas, particularly in the southwest (Albertson, 1941, 1942).
Many of these areas have since been plowed up and planted to wheat—
a practice that has been going forward at an alarming rate in western
Kansas and eastern Colorado during the past few years.
Research on the prairies during past years has revealed some strik-
ing facts. The first significant reaction of prairie vegetation to
drought is decreased growth. As drought continues and becomes
MAN’S DISORDER OF NATURE’S DESIGN—-ALBERTSON 369
more intense, that portion of vegetation least adapted to adversity
dies, thus leaving an open cover. Further drought adds to the open-
ness of the cover until finally run-off of rain water is materially in-
creased, causing soil erosion and further depletion of soil moisture.
This cycle of events continues to make the situation more and more
critical, especially if deficient precipitation extends over a long period
of time and over a large area. When the effect of overutilization is
added to that of drought, the result, indeed, is very significant.
A few figures on cover and yield in relation to degree of utilization
and amount of precipitation might be used to illustrate this princi-
ple. In 1932, which was the close of a 6-year period of above-normal
precipitation at Hays, Kans., the basal cover on a well-managed short-
grass pasture averaged nearly 90 percent of the total area (pl. 1, fig. 1).
The decrease in precipitation following 1952 was extremely abrupt but
it took 2 years of drought to produce a significant decrease in the
cover, and by 1937 the blanket of vegetation had been reduced to 25
percent, and in 1940, when the drought closed, the cover was only 20
percent. With the return of sufficient soil moisture the cover was
quickly restored because of the phenomenally rapid growth of buffalo
grass.
On an adjacent heavily grazed range, the lowest cover of 2.6 percent
was reached in 1936. In various locations in southwest Kansas where
dusting and utilization were severe, the last vestige of vegetation was
often removed and even today some of the rangeland has the appear-
ance of weedy cultivated fields (pl. 1, fig. 2, and pl. 2). Other ranges
in southwest Kansas that were more fortunate in regard to degree of
utilization and dusting have long since regained their predrought
cover (pl. 3).
The question often asked is “How much do short-grass pastures
produce each year?” Obviously there is no one answer. Production
of grass usually varies directly with amount of soil moisture and in-
versely with production of weeds. It should be stated, however, that
a cover of weeds is preferable to no cover, for weeds protect the soil
from erosion in addition to furnishing considerable food for livestock.
In 1940 a No. 1 pasture at Hays yielded nearly 1,400 pounds per acre
of grass but only 400 pounds per acre of weeds (Albertson and Weaver,
1944a). A poorly managed pasture produced only 133 pounds of
grass per acre but the weed crop was over 1 ton per acre. Farther
west than Hays there were fewer good pastures, and in 1940 even the
best of these yielded less than 200 pounds of grass but nearly 1,500
pounds of weeds.
In 1941 the best pastures at Hays increased in yield considerably but
the better ones westward often increased tenfold or more. The poor
pastures, however, failed to make significant gains except in the
370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
production of weeds. It seemed evident that when a remnant of vege-
tation remained at the close of drought, restoration of cover was
extremely rapid and the yield for some time after restoration even
exceeded that on the better pastures where the cover suffered less dur-
ing drought. Possibly this result was due in part at least to a more
vigorous new cover on a soil that had rested for a few years.
In 1946 a well-managed pasture at Ness City, Kans., yielded 1,800
pounds per acre but a nearby heavily grazed area produced only half
this amount (pl. 4). Five areas near Collyer, Kans., were studied
during the summer of 1946 (Tomanek, 1948). These ranges differed
mainly in the intensity of utilization during 15 years preceding the
period of study. The ungrazed pasture produced approximately
2,500 pounds per acre as compared to 4,000 pounds on a well-managed
range and only 1,800 pounds on a heavily grazed area. These data
indicate that heavy utilization reduces the yield by 50 percent and
that grazing too lightly also decreases production.
A 5-year study on a short-grass pasture near Hays was initiated in
1942 to simulate different intensities of grazing by clipping at dif-
ferent heights and at different intervals. It was discovered in this
study that approximately 50 percent of the grass could be left on
the area and in 5 years the amount removed from these locations nearly
equaled total production on the areas where all growth was harvested.
Root development under these treatments also was significantly dif-
ferent. Roots under nonuse and moderate use were nearly the same,
but under heavy clipping the roots were not only finer and less in
number per unit area but also their depth of penetration into the soil
was significantly less.
Life histories of important grasses of the Great Plains have been
studied in order to know the best sources of grass seed for reseeding
cultivated land (Riegel, 1941; Webb, 1941; Hopkins, 1941). It seemed
wise to revegetate some 500 acres of cultivated land on the college
farm, and while doing this, basic studies have been made on methods
of seedbed preparation, methods of seeding, rate of growth, and yield
(Riegel, 1940).
In order to manage our rangeland properly, it seemed desirable to
have more information on the time of the season when growth oc-
curred. Jt was surprising to some to find that as much as 70 percent
of the total growth in one season occurred before July.
Numerous studies indicate that cattle, for example, enjoy variety in
their range diet just as human beings prefer variety in theirs. A
closely cropped pasture of nearly pure buffalo grass is entirely too
monotonous in appearance and in palatability to be of greatest value
in beef production. Overutilization has been found to decrease the
number of desirable species in a native range.
MAN’S DISORDER OF NATURE’S DESIGN—ALBERTSON Rw
Dormant prairie forage is low in succulence and usually low in
protein content; hence good rangeland should have at least some
green herbage throughout the growing season. The chemical com-
position of prairie grasses has been found to vary significantly
especially in early spring as compared to late fall.
It is well, perhaps, to bring this paper to a close by pointing out
the fact that what has been done on the prairies at Hays and else-
where may serve only as a foundation for greater and more detailed
work. These investigations on the vegetation of the mixed prairie
and high plains are most refreshing both to the college instructor and
to the college students. An opportunity is provided to take the
student to the prairie or, when this is impossible, the prairie is taken
to the student. through exhibits of one type or another. It is hoped
by this means to bring together the great out-of-doors on the one
hand and the student of nature on the other.
The vegetation of the Great Plains, a vast area of reserve sunshine,
of potential beefsteak, of exquisite beauty, has slowly come to us
through past ages, and from what we know at the present time these
prairies are best preserved through moderate use. The cover of vege-
tation that is used to build and protect the soil approaches a maximum
under moderate use. Also a maximum yield of first-class herbage
is thus provided and, finally, there is preserved the beauty in the ever-
changing panorama of flowers and color of foliage from one aspect
to another as each season progresses.
Nature, indeed, has designed in our prairies a most wonderful soil
builder and soil protector. It is necessary, of course, to cultivate
the most level portion for the production of wheat and other cereals.
When cultivation is practiced, however, it should be done in such a
manner that high productivity of the soil may be maintained. There
are vast stretches of native prairie that have been put under culti-
vation during recent years. Some cultivation has been practiced
on areas of broken topography where erosion is likely to become
serious in a few years.
One of the major problems that is now confronting the farmer
of the high plains is how best to reseed to native grass a portion of
his land under cultivation. If an adequate supply of grass seed and
seed of other plants can be maintained and if techniques of seedbed
preparation and reseeding can be improved, it might be possible
eventually to grow native grass in a long-time rotation.
It should be the policy of all who live and work in the plains region
to learn more of its proper use and, at the same time, how to preserve
its beauty. We must have bread made from its wheat but also we
should enjoy its beauty—for “man does not live by bread alone.”
372 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
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1941. Prairie studies in west central Kansas: 1940. Trans. Kansas Acad.
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1942. Prairie studies in west central Kansas: 1941. Trans. Kansas Acad.
Sci., vol. 45, pp. 47-54.
ALBERTSON, F. W., and WEAVER, J. E.
1942. History of the native vegetation of western Kansas during seven years
of continuous drought. Ecological Monographs, vol. 12, pp. 28-51.
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of short-grass pastures. Ecological Monographs, vol. 14, pp. 1-29.
1944b. Nature and degree of recovery of grassland from the great drought
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1922. Vegetational history of the Middle West. Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geogr.,
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1908. Floral succession in the prairie grass formation of S. E. Dakota. Bot.
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HOPKINS, HAROLD.
1941. Variations in the growth of side-oats grama grass at Hays, Kansas,
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LYON, LYTTLETON T., and BUCKMAN, HARRY O.
1948. The nature and properties of soils. New York.
MALIN, JAMES.
1946. Dust storms, 1850-1900. Kansas Hist. Quart., vol. 14, No. 2.
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1940. A study of the variations in the growth of blue grama grass from
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SAMPSON, ARTHUR.
1923. Range and pasture management. New York.
TOMANEK, GERALD.
1948. Pasture types of western Kansas in relation to the intensity of utiliza-
tion in past years. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., vol. 51, pp. 171-191.
WEBB, JOHN, JR.
1941. The life history of buffalo grass. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., vol. 44,
pp. 58-75.
WoopWARD, JOHN.
1924. Origin of prairies in Illinois. Bot. Gaz., vol. 77, pp. 241-261.
FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA’?
By DanreL MERRIMAN
Director, The Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory
Yale University
[With 2 plates]
Since World War II our attention has been drawn in forcible man-
ner to the problems created by a rapidly increasing population in a
world of food shortages and diminishing natural resources. Such
books as Osborn’s “Our Plundered Planet” and Vogt’s “Road to Sur-
vival” paint dramatic and frightening pictures. The press follows
with alarmist statements about future depletion or speaks with undue
optimism about anything that offers the slightest hope of alleviating
critical conditions. Here the oceans come in for a large share of at-
tention, especially with reference to supplying the ever-increasing
need for protein. This is wholly natural; the oceans cover nearly
three-quarters of the earth’s surface, and recent technological ad-
vances have led to a number of eminently newsworthy “miracles” of
modern fishing, such as electronic aids, “atomic” trawls, electrophysio-
logical fishing, the deep scattering layer, and detection of fishes by
the noise they make.
More fundamental than new techniques in fishing, however, is the
problem of what food is to be taken from the sea—or, to put it another
way, at what point can man most advantageously break into the sea’s
cycle of life?
This cycle can be said to begin with the vast assemblage of minute
floating plants (phptoplanton) and animals (zooplankton) which
populate the upper levels of the sea. The microscopic phytoplankton
comprising more than 99 percent of all marine plants, creates organic
matter from inorganic materials in the present of sunlight, by the
process known as photosynthesis. No animals have this capacity;
they must fee either on plants or on other animals that have first fed
on plants.
It has often been suggested that the sea’s cycle of life might be in-
terrupted right here; and if a way could be found for harvesting
phytoplankton and zooplantkton for human consumption it might be
comparable with the best agricultural practices. But without human
1 Reprinted by permission from The Yale Review, vol. 39, No. 3, spring 1950. Copyright Yale University
Press.
373
374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
interference, these minute forms of life are eaten in fantastic quanti-
ties by other ocean dwellers. The zooplankton, for the most part, live
by eating the phytoplankton. They may then sink to the bottom,
where they provide food for shrimps, crabs, worms, mollusks, and
smaller invertebrate animals (which in turn may be eaten by larger
invertebrates or by bottom-living fishes like flounder and cod), or they
may stay in the surface layers—only to be eaten by such fishes as
herring, menhaden, sardines, or mackerel, or, paradoxically enough,
by the largest of all marine animals, the whalebone or baleen whales.
The phytoplankton and zooplankton, the bottom invertebrates, the
fishes, the whales—all eventually meet their fate. If they escape pre-
dation, they die a natural death and release their inorganic matter
for use once again in the continuous cycle of life in the ocean.
Or these plankton, these bottom invertebrates (shrimps, oysters,
clams), these fishes (herring or flounder), these whales, may be re-
moved from the sea by man for his use.
The question, then, is this: at what stage in the cycle is it best to
take “the harvest of the sea”? G. A. Riley, writing in the October 1949
Scientific American, directed attention to this problem in exemplary
fashion:
the fishes and other large animals in the sea represent the end product
of a long and complicated food chain. Through a series of predations, the tiny
bits of plant life are transformed into successively bigger bundles of living ma-
terial. But all along the way from plants to fishes there is a continual loss of
organic matter. During its growth to adulthood an animal eats many times
its own weight in food. Most of the organic material it consumes is broken
down to supply energy for its activity and life processes in general. It follows
that the total plant matter in the sea outweighs the animals that feed upon it,
and the herbivores in turn outweigh the carnivores. Fish production is believed
to be of the order of only one-tenth of 1 percent of plant production.
To put it another way, we can say that the average annual
phytoplankton crop in well-known fishing areas is roughly 500 to
1,000 times as great as the commercial catch of fishes; in short, if an
acre of sea bottom yields 50 pounds of fish a year, the phytoplankton
production in the overlying waters in that period might be 25-50,000
pounds. At a given time the phytoplankton crop might be only
about four times the weight of the fishes, but the microscopic plants
grow and multiply so fast that the production in the course of a year
is hundreds of times as much as the fish production. And if the
annual phytoplankton crop is of this order of magnitude, the zoo-
plankton crop—the next step in the chain—is perhaps 100 times the
poundage of the commercial fish catch in the course of a year. Clearly
then, by harvesting the fishes, which are at the end of the chain, we
-are working at the most inefficient level.
Unfortunately, however, nothing can be done about it. There
have been devices for the collection of plankton on a limited scale
PLATE 1
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Merriman
ee *
1. Sorting the catch by species on a small southern New England dragger. The
wire baskets hold 1 bushel; the catch is then iced and barreled below decks,
3 bushels to a 200-pound barrel. The day’s catch may be from as little as
1 barrel up to 50 barrels, depending on the season and species.
2. The bag or cod end of a small trawl being hauled over the side of a dragger
after towing for an hour and a half. Note the variety of species. The
strands of rope are to prevent chafing as the cone-shaped net is dragged
over the bottom.
(All photographs were taken on Capt. Ellery Thompson’s dragger Eleanor, out
of Stonington, Conn.) (Pictures courtesy H. Gordon Sweet.)
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FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA—-MERRIMAN BL)
through the utilization of tidal energy, and by special processing this
nutritious material might be made quite acceptable as human food.
But the harvesting of a plankton crop would require the continuous
filtering of stupendous quantities of water and would demand such an
enormous output of energy that any large-scale process of this sort
is completely impractical—at least until atomic energy is turned to
constructive rather than destructive ends, and even then the problems
would be complex. Such harvesting still belongs in the realm of
fantasy; to collect the plankton in water of average depth overlying
only an acre of fishing bottom would require the filtration of perhaps
50 million gallons of water through the finest sort of bolting cloth
many times over in the course of a year. As Riley puts it, “By and
large we must leave the plankton to the fishes.”
But though we must leave the plankton, are the fishes necessarily
the consumers to whom we must leave it? Are there perhaps, other
organisms that might be harvested at a more efficient level in the food
chain? Oysters, clams, mussels, and other molluscan species feed
directly on microscopic plankton; hence there is less loss of organic
material than in the end product of a food chain which has involved
a number of steps. On this account production is relatively efficient.
But as a rule such animals are extremely slow-growing, and since
they live in the shallow part of the ocean and are sedentary, they are
readily accessible to man; therefore natural populations are likely to
be fished out.
For example, Connecticut oyster grounds showed a decline as early
as the eighteenth century, and by 1830 the supply had decreased to
such an extent that oysters from Chesapeake Bay were imported in
large quantities. In the second half of the nineteenth century the
highly specialized business of oyster culture developed in Long Island
Sound. Then the Chesapeake oyster began to show signs of serious
depletion, and by 1900 importation from the South had ceased. As
Gordon Sweet points out in the Geographical Review (October 1941),
oysters were now removed from the low-priced staple food class and
the price rose to such an extent that they became a luxury.
Present-day oyster farming in Long Island Sound is a difficult and
skilled type of agriculture. Land under water is leased by an act
of the Connecticut legislature. The beds must be protected from
starfish, which open and feed on oysters by means still not fully un-
derstood, and from small snails which riddle the shells with holes,
and the oysters must be transplanted to different areas for optimal
growth at different stages of their life history. After preparing
clean beds of shells on which the baby free-swimming oyster larvae
settle and become “spat” during the summer, the oyster farmer trans-
plants his growing crop at least three times in the next 4 years.
9227585125
376 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Sometime between the fifth and ninth year of life the oyster is ready
for human consumption and the edible product is dredged once again
and prepared for shipment. Small wonder, under conditions of such
a highly developed system of cultivation, that the oyster is a luxury
item. Among recent developments in this industry are dredges based
on a vacuum-cleaner principle, which can suck up as much as 3,000
bushels in a morning; this mechanism has enormously speeded the
transplantation of oysters to different grounds, and obviously it pro-
vides for far more efficient control of destructive pests. It is probable
that there are still some molluscan sources which are untapped, and
there is little doubt that the cultivation of oysters, clams, and other
bivalves can be developed on a wider scale. But it is totally unreal-
istic to look to these sources for any substantial alleviation of world-
wide food shortages; the best that might be expected would be limited
developments in certain areas which might serve directly or indirectly
to relieve critical conditions in minimal fashion.
So we are left with the fact that the great bulk of our harvest of
the sea must come from the animals at the end of the food chain—
the fishes, which represent the most inefficient level of harvesting.
That is to say, they are “inefficient” in terms of total organic produc-
tion, although admittedly “efficient” in terms of man’s ability to
catch fish as compared with his ability to catch plankton.
What, then, can man do to increase the landings of fisheries on a
world-wide scale? Are these resources inexhaustible? For example,
is the stock of herringlike fishes, which constitutes a major item in the
world’s fish production, being depleted to the danger point by the
ever more intensive and efficient efforts of man? The world’s annual
landings at present amount to perhaps 20 million tons. Can we
double those landings in a decade by exploiting the present stocks
much more fully? Can we also find new and untapped resources so
that the world’s production might be increased many times over—say,
ten-, fifty- or a hundred-fold?, How much will the expanding science
of oceanography and the rapid strides in technology help us to increase
the production of our fisheries ?
These questions are difficult to answer with any degree of accuracy.
Sober thought and judgment are needed lest the misconception that
the ocean offers a panacea for food problems become widespread.
Reference has been made earlier to the miraculous aids to modern
fishing, some of which can be called electronic. About 20 years ago
the conventional sounding lead and line gave way to the fathometer,
a machine that measured the time required for sound waves sent out
from the ship to reach bottom and return an echo to the ship. Given
the speed of sound in water, it was possible to construct the instrument
so that the depth of water was recorded on a dial, and measurements
could be made continuously under full steam. In the early days of
FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA—-MERRIMAN 377
fathometers on trawlers on the Banks, we would simply turn a switch
and a light would flash at short intervals opposite the appropriate
depth on a dial reading from zero to a hundred fathoms. With such
a mechanism the skipper could drag his net in a gully or depression
where he had reason to think there were heavy concentrations of fishes.
The fathometer underwent rapid improvement, and the utilization
of supersonic frequencies made it a precision instrument so delicate
that it could detect much more than absolute depth. Double “echoes”
began to show up on occasion, one clearly from the bottom and the
other from intervening layers at mid-depths or less. It became clear
that the second reflection, or false bottom, could only arise from con-
centrations of fishes or other organisms. In the herring fishery of
the Pacific coast, schools of varying size occur at mid-depths.
In the old days the fisherman had to depend on a combination of
intuition, knowledge, and experience. When a herring seiner arrived
in an area where there might be fish, it was common practice to let
down a great length of piano wire with a weight attached; a skilled
man could tell whether the concentration was light, medium, or heavy
by the frequency of pings as the schooling fish hit the wire, and on
his say-so was based the decision to set or not to set the net. Nowadays
the echo-sounder performs the same function; it, too, can judge the
size and concentration of the school by the intensity and depth of
the recorded echo, Amazing hauls are made on occasion, as this story
from The Pacific Fisherman for January 1950 shows:
Something close to an all-time record for a single set of herring off the British
Columbia coast was achieved by Nelson Bros. Fisheries’ Seiner Western Ranger,
Nov. 2, with a haul of 1,180 tons of fish. ... (This) was made possible through
the practical application of electronics to fishing. The great school of herring
was detected by Capt. Hans Stoilen on his vessel’s echo-sounder in weather so
foggy that no sign of fish could be seen. Acting on information provided by
his sounder, he set his net blind and made this enormous catch. ... Western
Girl, the flagship of the Nelson Bros. fleet, was close by. ... The two boats
were in constant radio telephone communication with each other while the opera-
tion was being completed.
But the echo-sounder alone has not served to bring about a vast
increase in the catch of Pacific herring. To be sure, it has replaced
a more time-consuming method, it has made fishing more mechanical,
and at times it has made possible the detection of herring that might
otherwise have escaped the fishermen. But it has not, singlehanded,
brought about an increase in the catch of the order of magnitude that
here concerns us. The fisherman’s accumulated knowledge, his gam-
bling instinct, and other personal factors will not quickly be subordi-
nated to mechanical aids of this sort.
Another discovery resulting from the perfection of echo-sounding
devices is the “deep scattering layer,” a new term in oceanography.
378 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
During and following the war, fathograms in deep water in both the
open Pacific and Atlantic have shown the presence of layers, of
dubious constitution, that scattered the outgoing signal to varying
degrees so that a false bottom appeared at levels down to several hun-
dred fathoms. The nature of this scattering layer has been the subject
of inquiry and controversy ever since it was first detected. (See the
discussion by R. S. Dietz in the Journal of Marine Research, November
1948.) At first it was believed that some physical discontinuity in
the water, such as a temperature change, might produce the effect,
but the intensity of the scattered sound was often so great as to rule
out a temperature change or other physical boundary.
As the records became more abundant, and particularly after they
were made continuously over a 24-hour cycle, it became apparent that
the depth of the scattering layer differed during day and night. It
sank during the daytime and came nearer the surface at night. Such
a diurnal cycle immediately suggested that the cause of the scattering
layer might be migrating marine organisms. Biologists have long
known from laboriously collected net hauls that certain zooplanktonic
forms, notably the shrimp and prawnlike types, react negatively to
light (“exhibit negative phototropism”). Accordingly, these organ-
isms migrate toward the surface at night, presumably to feed on
phytoplankton in upper layers, and then descend to deeper and darker
water during the daytime. ‘The extent of these daily vertical migra-
tions is of the order of many hundreds of feet, thus corresponding
well with the observed change in depth of the deep scattering layer.
Some of these zooplankton are almost microscopic in size, although
some, like the euphausid shrimps, are an inch or more in length. At
first it was suggested that the majority of zooplankton were too small
to scatter sound effectively ; hence, the actual scatterers might be large
schools of squid or fishes which follow and feed on the zooplankton,
and which the biologist with his clumsy and inefficient nets had not
been able to catch. If this were so, the use of sonar gear to detect such
schools in the open sea could open vast possibilities for the commer-
cial fisherman.
Unfortunately, the bulk of evidence now favors the view that the
scatterers are mainly zooplankton. Recent experiments have shown
that minute particles do scatter high-frequency sound, and therefore
typical concentrations of even the small-sized zooplankton can account
for the deep scattering layer. Certainly more than one kind of ani-
mal is involved, and in some areas euphausid shrimps appear to be
the dominant element, but as yet there is no clear indication that
squid or fishes are the principal scatterers. At this stage it does not
seem that the deep scattering layer is destined to be a tool of great
direct significance to the commercial fisheries. Recent calculations
have shown that the living populations at depths where the scattering
FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA—-MERRIMAN 379
layer occurs are only about one-tenth as great as those in the surface
layers. Furthermore, ordinary echo-sounders are not sufficiently sen-
sitive to distinguish between plankton and fishes, and the oscilloscope,
which might reveal the constitution of the layer, could hardly be
adapted for use on commercial vessels. All in all, the deeper waters
are not likely to contribute greatly to the world’s fish landings; fisher-
men will always get the bulk of their catch from the upper hundred
fathoms, the layer in which at least 90 percent of the ocean’s living
populations exist.
During the war the underwater noises made by marine animals
became a matter of great importance to those operating listening
devices for the detection of surface vessels, submarines, or other enemy
activity. The instruments were developed to a high degree of per-
fection, but animal noises interfered with accurate interpretation to
such an extent that investigations were carried on in the British Isles,
America, and also Japan to identify particular sounds with the species
that made them. A considerable body of literature on the subject is
now available; indeed, certain investigators, instead of sending out
the customary scientific reprints, produce actual recordings of their
findings; only the other day there came to my desk a record (78
revolutions per minute) of the underwater calls of Delphinapterus
leucas, the white porpoise—a form of crepitation unrivaled in the
annals of phonography.
The underwater soundmakers are of many kinds, such as shrimps,
all sorts of fishes, whales, and porpoises. The character of the sound
is highly variable, and a recent United States Navy publication on
sonic fishes of the Pacific lists the types as follows: Breathing, click,
croak, crunch, drum-tap, growl, grunt-groan, hum, rasp-grate-spit,
squeak, toot-whistle, and whine-pipe. This same publication states
that “subsurface listeners described unidentifiable contacts running
the gamut of sound from mild beeping, clicking, creaking, harsh
croaking, crackling, whistling, grunting, hammering, moaning and
mewing, to the staccato tapping as of a stick rapidly and steadily
drawn along a picket fence, of coal rolling down a metal chute, the
dragging of heavy chains, fat frying in a pan, simulated propeller
noises and the pings of echo ranging.” It has been suggested that the
identification and association of particular sounds with definite species
might be of practical significance to the industry in detecting schools
or concentrations of commercial fishes. There appears to be little
justification for this optimistic view; it is not likely that the sounds
made by fishes will be used by commercial fishermen to any greater
advantage in the future than in the past. There is, however, some
possibility that certain shrimps, which make a characteristic crack-
ling noise, may be of utility in the commercial sponge industry. These
shrimps live in the pores and channels of important sponges, some-
380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
times in great abundance, and there is reason to believe that the shrimp
crackle might be a useful tool in establishing the whereabouts and
extent of sponge colonies.
New methods of catching fishes, new gear, always excite the imagi-
nation and catch the public fancy. Since the war two inventions
have attracted particular attention. One, anew Danish floating trawl,
has been dubbed the “atomic trawl” because of the reports of its effec-
tiveness. Trawl nets are normally dragged along the sea floor to
catch bottom-dwelling species; the problem is to catch those forms
that exist in large numbers near the bottom but above the vertical
limit of the relatively flat cone-shaped net. The Danes are said to
have developed a method of making a trawl work some distance above
the bottom and to have made enormous catches thereby. Two boats
work some 300 feet apart and the gear is manipulated by a system
of floats and balances and by slackening and tightening the towing
ropes and wires. Published descriptions are complex and not encour-
aging to those who might like to experiment. It is probable that the
gear is effective in limited areas and under special conditions; the
Danes have always excelled in net construction and gear handling.
But the “atomic trawl” will not revolutionize the industry, nor will
it be a gear which will bring about a great increase in the world’s
catch of fish.
The other invention, developed in Germany by Dr. Konrad Kreut-
zer since the war, has been given the spectacular name “electrophysi-
ological fishing.” Previous experiments had shown that fishes are
responsive to the polarity of electric fields, and when two electrodes
are placed in the water, with a varying positive voltage on one, the
fishes are forced in that direction. Kreutzer has carried on experi-
ments in Lake Constance and, on a small scale, in salt water; he
reports great success and hopes to obtain a patent on the electrode
arrangement and on the pulse shape and rate, the pulse form being
critical to the success of the whole endeavor. Last summer (1949) he
was seeking funds to equip an experimental boat in order to attempt to
apply his method to the trawling industry. The anode would be in-
corporated in the net and the cathode kept near the boat. He has
not published quantitative results of his experiments to date and is
not willing to reveal all details until he has obtained patents.
However, his accounts are highly enthusiastic and an American
Consulate report from Bremerhaven states, “Kreutzer’s invention, if
successful, will revolutionize commercial fishing.” The principle
would be applicable not only to the trawl fishery, but to other types
of gear, and the inventor believes it would be especially adaptable
to the capture of large forms such as sharks, tuna, and whales. Kreut-
zer himself grants that practical experimentation with electric fishing
at sea will unquestionably pose many technical difficulties. For ex-
FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA—MERRIMAN 381
ample, the fishes will react differently according to their size, and
the problem of varying the voltage effectively may prove an obstacle,
although Kreutzer discusses this feature only in terms of the conser-
vation of small fishes which are destroyed in normal trawling oper-
ations. Also, in his account, the gear, as applied to a special trawl,
sounds unwieldy and highly impractical for operation at sea. More
fishing gear has been designed on land and failed in practice than
any skipper cares to think about. Electrophysiological fishing remains
to be demonstrated as a means of increasing the commercial catch, and
it must still be regarded with more than a little skepticism.
In short, it is not probable that inventions, new techniques, or
modifications of existing gear will immediately bring about such a
huge increase in the world’s annual landings of fishes as to make
notable contribution to the need for protein. The increase in human
population appears to be outstripping the ability of science to pro-
duce by new inventions the requisite food—at least food from the sea.
The expansion of present fisheries and the development of new ones
hold more promise in this regard. For example, the Japanese tuna
fisheries in the prewar period were of vast extent; in all probability
their precise magnitude will never be known. At present the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service has embarked on an extensive study
of the biology of the Pacific tunas and a survey of the potentialities
of this resource. The area involved is so huge and the problems so
complex that results are bound to be slow. However, it is certain that
expansion of our tuna fisheries, not alone in the Pacific but elsewhere,
will follow in time. Here again the degree of optimism in terms of
increasing the world’s supply of protein should be restrained. Tuna
is costly to produce, and therefore it is not the sort of food that can
play a large role in raising the standard of human diet in, let us say,
southeast Asia. Other fisheries—notably those devoted to the her-
ring and cod families, will unquestionably expand and develop in new
areas.
The biological productivity of the ocean is incredibly high in cer-
tain localities, such as the west coasts of Africa and South America;
the pattern of current in both places causes upwelling from the bot-
tom resulting in a rich supply of fertilizing nutrients for use by the
phytoplankton. Thus the quantities of fish off Peru, where the Hum-
boldt Current exerts its influence, are phenomenal; the cormorants
on the three small Chincha Islands (once famous for their guano
deposits) have been estimated to consume each year a weight of
anchovylike fish equivalent to one-quarter of the entire United States
catch of all species. These areas are notably underexploited by man;
surely our fisheries will in time exploit them to a much greater degree.
How can it be otherwise with Diesel and gasoline engines replacing
steam and sail, with a vastly increased cruising radius, radiotele-
382 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
phone communication, quick-freezing, radar, and other technological
advances? But the extent of exploitation will depend on economic,
marketing, and other factors, and it is not likely that these expansions
will raise the world’s fisheries’ production by two or three times within
the next decade.
Curiously enough, the development of an ancient practice, fish farm-
ing, holds greatest promise for supplying protein in areas where it is
most needed and where nutrition is notably below minimal standards.
This sort of fish culture, involving the construction of special ponds
(either fresh-water or salt) in which all the operations of animal
husbandry are practiced, has existed for centuries in China and India,
as Hickling relates in Nature, for May 15, 1948. The ponds are shal-
low, roughly 3 to 5 feet in depth, and range in size from less than
an acre to 15 acres or more. Frequently they are used for agricultural
as well as fish crops—rice, water chestnut, watercress, and arrowhead
for human consumption; water lilies and water hyacinth for pig food.
These plant and animal crops may alternate—paddy from February
to June and fish from July to January—or they may be simultaneous.
The ponds are often operated concurrently with vegetable gardens
and the raising of pigs and ducks; they are fertilized both naturally
and by the application of farmyard manure and compost, resulting
in rich growths of plankton and hence tremendous production at the
lower levels of the food chain. As Hickling points out, these fish
ponds fit in well with a system of peasant small-holding. In some
localities the production of fish runs as high as 4,000 pounds per acre
annually; contrast that figure with the annual production of 50
pounds per acre from the sea bottom referred to earlier.
The significance of fish farming is by no means as widely under-
stood as it should be. Although the farming of milkfish, carp, mullet,
gourami, tilapia, and other species calls for special knowledge, some-
times involving immensely skillful techniques, there 1s no reason why
it should not be practiced more widely and introduced into other areas
where it could be developed on a high scale. Production is cheap and
yields are high; many areas where human nutrition levels are low are
suitable for fish farming (pretein shortage is the bane of many tropi-
cal populations), and with modern means of transportation the intro-
duction of foreign species is now possible as never before.
Fish farming can be expected to boost the world’s production of fish
in considerable amounts and to relieve dietary deficiencies in critical
areas to no small degree. Expansion of this time-honored practice
may yield more than all the atomic nets, electric fishing, electronic
aids, and other technological advances put together. This is not to
imply that fertilization of large tracts of the ocean by human agencies
holds any promise. During the war experiments in Scottish lochs
produced greatly increased growth rates in flatfish. Widespread and
FOOD SHORTAGES AND THE SEA—-MERRIMAN 383
unfortunate publicity resulted in the popular misconception that im-
portant sea-fishing areas could be similarly treated with comparable
results. This is not so; the magnitude of such an undertaking renders
it utterly implausible.
Another source of encouragement is to be found in the much fuller
utilization of marine products in the last two decades. In some
fisheries close to half the fishes caught, many of them killed in the
process, were discarded as inedible or nonmarketable during World
War II. But we are making rapid advances in this field. New
species, heretofore unknown to the housewife, are attractively pack-
aged. Others, until recently unsought, are taken for the vitamin A
in their livers. Still others, not readily marketed, are turned to fish
meal for domestic animals. Thus there has developed in the past
year a “trash” fishery of no small proportions on the North Atlantic
coast; nonmarketable species, previously discarded as useless, have
been landed in quantity for the purpose. That is why the Bingham
Oceanographic Laboratory has paid particular attention to such
species as the small skate in southern New England waters. Not
marketable directly for human consumption because of its small size
and sharp spines (although its larger counterparts are widely eaten,
particularly in Europe), the small skate is now being caught in great
numbers for use in the fish-meal industry. We need to know how
the supply will stand up under intensive fishing, and how its large-
scale removal will affect marketable fishes which compete for the
same food in the same area. There is reason to believe that catching
such skates will benefit other bottom species, such as flounder, which
eat the same small animals.
At least 60 percent of the fisheries’ products throughout the world
are inedible, nonabsorbable, or otherwise unfit for human consumption,
but we are learning how to utilize what heretofore has been almost
pure waste. These scrap products are useful. Herring scales have
recently been worth more to the commercial fisherman than the her-
ring itself—for use in certain “gun-metal” and other paints so com-
mon on automobiles. Other byproducts in filleting are used for
fish meal or for oil. Some whole fishes are ground up for cat and
dog food. No longer do we discard with abandon, and the far more
efficient utilization of these resources augurs well for the future.
In the final analysis, however, we must maintain the most cautious
optimism about the resources of the sea as a means of alleviating
world food shortages. Particular areas and populations can increase
their fish production and relieve local protein deficiencies. Our total
landings can and will go far above the present catch by using new
gear and by exploiting oceanic resources to the full, and we shall learn
how to make the most complete use of what we take. But it is un-
realistic to think that the ocean is likely to supply a large proportion
384 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
of the food required for the world. Let me put it bluntly. Using
figures from the United Nations Scientific Conference on the Con-
servation and Utilization of Resources this past summer (1949), and
taking into account the present rate of increase of the human popu-
lation, if we should double the world’s landings of fisheries’ products
in the present decade—almost beyond the realm of possibility—the
ocean would still contribute less than 3 percent to the supply of protein
required for the world in 1960.
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS?
By Grorce A. Liuano
Associate Curator, Division of Cryptogams
Department of Botany, United States National Museum
{With 8 plates]
INTRODUCTION
This article is a general discussion of most of the economic uses of
lichens. A more detailed account, including the biology of lichens,
was published by the present author (13)? in 1944, of which this
treatment is a revision of the economic uses only. Neither of these
papers is complete but merely an attempt to bring together some of
the information regarding utilization of lichens, and a working bib-
liography for those who have little familiarity with lichenology. None
of this material is available in text form; most general texts mention
lichens in the most perfunctory manner, citing references only from
older texts which give little credit to modern studies.
Though other branches of the botanical sciences have received con-
siderable impetus from the activities of research in recent years, little
of this force has carried over into the science of lichenology, which
is not a popular study. It is reserved to a few specialists throughout
the world whose studies are largely in the realm of lichen taxonomy,
geography, and ecology. To the few who have investigated the chem-
ical and physical as well as physiological structure of lichens, all li-
chenologists owe much for the stimulation they have given to the
science. Among these recent contributions attention should be di-
rected especially to that of Quispel (14).
BIOLOGY OF LICHENS
Lichens can be distinguished by their habit of growth as crustose,
fruticose, or foliose. The first form is the simplest, growing on bark,
wood, rocks, or soil; the other two forms are more intricate, either
erect and branched or flat and leaflike, generally with a dorsal and
ventral surface, although some forms are pendent and cylindrical.
1 Reprinted by permission from Economie Botany, vol. 2, No. 1, January-March 1948, with revisions by
the author. Dr. Llano is now research and editorial specialist, Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center,
Library Division, Headquarters Air University, United States Air Force, Maxwell Air Force Base
Alabama.
2 Numbers in parentheses refer to literature cited, at end of article.
385
386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
These plants are widely distributed from the Arctic to the Tropics,
consisting of thousands of species and innumerable varieties and
forms. They have one feature in common that distinguishes them
from all other plants. Each of them consists of two different and
separate entities living together in such a balanced relationship that
they not only form a successful organism but are able to reproduce
the unit. One component is a fungus, usually an ascomycete but in
a few cases a basidiomycete, whose intertwining, compact hyphae give
form to the thallus. The other component consists of a species of
green or blue-green algae enmeshed between the hyphal strands of
the fungus. In this combination, each component is able to extend
its activities into habitats that would be inimical to it as an independ-
ent organism. Together they form a particular species of lichen
with specific morphologic, taxonomic, ecologic, and sometimes physio-
logic characteristics, the fungal part growing by extension of its
hyphae, the algal cells by division.
This intimate relation of fungus and algae is a physiological union
usually regarded as one of symbiosis, 1. e., of mutual benefit to each
component, the fungal element deriving food from the green alga, and
the alga benefiting by having its moisture and mineral nutrition
maintained through the water absorption and water retention charac-
teristics of the fungus. The presence of fungal haustoria, however,
and the penetration of hyphae into the algae have been cited as evi-
dence that this relationship is merely another case of parasitism.
Furthermore, the algae are commonly found freely growing in nature;
lichenized fungi are not known to survive independently.
As a taxonomic group lichens are open to fair and persistent criti-
cism. The International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature (art. 64)
definitely rejects any taxonomic group derived “from two or more
discordant elements.” ‘This should legally dissolve the biological
union traditionally accepted as the class Lichenes. The dominant
element of the union is the fungus, and through it the union is able to
perpetuate the unit; the sexual reproductive elements are fungal, re-
sulting in the development of typical apothecia or perithecia in which
are developed spores. In the process of thinking about and describ-
ing the unit, the fungal characteristics are usually uppermost. The
inevitable result has been that many mycologists have segregated the
various groups among those fungi that appear to have a close relation-
ship.
However, the thallus is a specialized type of structure, and the
fungus-alga relationship makes possible specialized functional rela-
tionships peculiar only to lichens. They may be conveniently treated
as a homogeneous group, for they have their own literature and spe-
cialists who concentrate their studies on them.
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS——-LLANO 387
The fungal components of lichens reproduce sexually by means of
ascospores, or basidiospores, depending on the type of fungus-sym-
biont present. When these spores germinate, however, growth cannot
continue unless the resulting hyphae come in contact with the algal
associate in the lichen species. A commoner method of propagation,
and perhaps the more successful, is asexual. This may be merely by
broken pieces of the thallus body being blown or carried elsewhere, or
by detachment of a minute mass of hyphae enclosing algal cells from
specialized structures known as soredia; this secondary method of
reproduction is not found in all species of lichens. Lichens have been
synthesized in a few cases by bringing together the two component
parts.
Lichens are often mistaken for mosses, but the term “mosses” is
popularly used to include many unrelated plants. Certain species
of the lichen genus Cladonia are known as reindeer moss notwith-
standing the fact that they lack stem and leaves so characteristic of
true mosses. Irish moss is an alga (Chondrus cripus) of shallow
coastal waters. The Spanish moss of the interior wooded valleys of
California is a lichen, Ramalina reticulata. The same name is more
commonly associated in the southern States with an epiphytic plant
growing on trees, wires, and roofs of houses. It possesses leaves,
stem, true roots, and flowers. This flowering plant (7¢lendsia
usneoides) is a member of the pineapple family. Characters of a very
general nature might be used to differentiate the various groups:
A. Plants reproducing by flowers and seeds____--__________ PHANEROGAMS
(Seed-bearing plants)
AA. Plants lacking flowers and seeds, reproducing by spores____ CRYPTOGAMS
(Non-seed-bearing plants)
By) Plants withystemtand leaves= eee es Le ee TRUE MOSSES
BB. Plants without stem and leaves.
C. Plants normally found immersed in water, commonly bright
green, brown, red, or yellow-green, either attached or free
SU pe thin oe Ne a ee AQUATIC ALGAE
CC. Plants normally not immersed in water, gray or bright
colored but rarely bright green unless moistened, found
on, soils) rocks; wood, orbarke ee ee LICHENES
LICHENS AS FOOD FOR INVERTEBRATES
Certain studies (19) concerning invertebrates known to feed partly
or wholly on lichens include the feeding habits of mites, caterpillars,
earwigs, black termites, snails, and slugs. Invertebrates apparently
feed on all but the most gelatinous lichens which have almost complete
immunity because of their slimy covering. Dry, hard lichens are
rarely attacked, although it has been noted that two species of snail
graze on the endolithic lichens Verrucaria and Protoblastenia, mainly
on the thalli and the apothecia. Excrement from these snails con-
388 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
tained fragments of calcium carbonate and green algal cells, while
the hyphae and dead algal cells were apparently digested. Experi-
ments have shown that snails will feed on potatoes covered with
cetraric, rhizocarpic, and pinastrinic acids, poisonous to other ani-
mals, but will not feed on vulpinic acid, which is recognized as poison-
ous to vertebrates. Buitter-tasting lichens, treated by a soda method
to extract the acids, were acceptable in preference to fresh untreated
but moistened lichens. This is of interest, since there is a widely cur-
rent assumption that lichens are remarkably well protected against
attacks from animals by reason of these acids.
Free-living algae are the preferred foods of invertebrates, in most
cases, but when not obtainable, the gonidia, 1. e., the algal layers in the
lichen thallus, are taken. Some lichens are normally scarred from
snail feeding; Umbilicaria mammulata, common to the eastern United
States, is frequently seen with the dorsal surface marred. Hué (13)
presented the opinion that the abundance of lichens in Arctic regions
results from the comparative absence there of snails and insects.
Not a few “new” species of lichens have been the result of insect and
snail ravages, further modified by plant regeneration.
LICHENS USED AS FODDER
Nongrassy ranges.—This subtitle refers specifically to range lands
which are composed primarily of lichens or which are used at definite
times of the year for grazing because of the lichen vegetation. Such
areas are rarely entirely free of sedges, grasses, herbaceous plants, low
bushes, and sphagnum bogs. When this type of vegetation is at its
best in spring and summer, it has little value as nongrassy range land.
These areas lie north of the tree line and above timber line but may
extend well down into the timber along mountainsides. They are
best developed in sub-Arctic regions but may extend into the temper-
ate zones. They cover those parts of Greenland which are ice-free
and still have sufficient moisture for plant growth, Iceland, northern
Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, the Northwest Territories of Canada,
Labrador, and the archipelago of the Arctic Sea. As a whole, the
thousands of square miles composing this area furnish nongrassy
range feed in the winter for wood buffalo, musk ox, caribou, and other
wild herbivores, and for domesticated reindeer, as well as a grassy
range feed at all other times. It is not to be assumed from this state-
ment that all these wild species of animals are entirely dependent on
lichen forage for winter grazing. Actually, too little is known of
their food preferences to permit a definite statement.
In the Antarctic regions, though lichens are the predominant plants,
they are not so richly developed as in the Arctic. Owing to absence
* Citations not recorded in the bibliography of this article may be found in the author’s 1944 paper (13)
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS—LLANO 389
of herbivores in this area, further discussion of it will be omitted.
The extreme southern part of South America, Tierra del Fuego, and
lower Patagonia might also be included in this classification. San-
tesson of Uppsala, Sweden, has related to the author that when he was
botanizing in the Argentine during the late war, he was approached
by governinent officials requesting advice on the practicability of 1m-
porting reindeer into those regions for the use of the natives. San-
tesson’s opinion, based on his thorough knowledge of lichen species
and of reindeer culture, indicated that the South American lichen
species of the area under consideration, although probably acceptable
to reindeer, were not abundant enough to sustain them. H,,O), is the principal constituent of oak-moss. This
phenol, though not the main odoriferous part of the lichen oil, has a
pleasant, creosol-like smell, and an ester 8-orcinol methyl carboxylate
(C,oH:204) which does not enter into the odor of the oak-moss oil.
In the resinous precipitate Walbaum and Rosenthal found ethyl
everninate generated only during the extraction through esterification
of the everninic acid (C,;H,,.O,;) which was found to occur in a free
state in the lichen; when boiled with baryta water it split into orcinol
and everninic acid with the liberation of carbon dioxide. This acid
is closely related to B-orcinol monomethylether and would be con-
verted into it by the liberation of carbon dioxide. For these reasons
Walbaum and Rosenthal felt that the genesis of the principal con-
stituent of the odoriferous substances of oak-moss had a close con-
nection with the origin of everninic and evernic acids. Stoll and
Schener (13) found in the volatile fraction some compounds which
may also have a function in producing this odor, mainly thujone,
naphthalene, borneol, camphor, civeole, citronellol, guaniol, vanillin,
methylnonylketone, and stearic aldehyde.
The multiplicity of types of essences and extracts may be due in
part to the diversity of substrata on which these lichens grow, as well
as to the varying mixtures of species offered to the manufacturer in
any lot, and the mode of extraction. This is also verified by the theory
of multiple substances in lichens, as proposed by Burkholder and
Evans (3). Hess (13) was able to extract atranorine and everninic
acid from a specimen of Hvernia prunastri growing on oak, but not
from samples collected on beech or birch, while a sample from a
lime tree yielded some usnic acid. The whole problem is further
complicated by the fact that most constituents of oak-moss react upon
the solvent. Treatment of lichen extracts with alcohol is seldom
employed for preparation of essences, since it alters the evernic acid.
Thus the lichenol obtained by Gattefossé, using this method, was
everninate of ethyl. The synthesis of everninic, divarine, and other
acids has been performed in the laboratory but has not been applied
on a commercial scale. In the trade the oil is extracted by means of
low-boiling solvents, after which it is purified and decolorized, the
process yielding 0.2 to 0.3 kilo of the raw extract or 20 to 30 grams
416 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
of the pure essential oil, depending on the technique of extraction in
which 100 grams of the dried lichen yield 8.5 grams of crude everninic
acid.
Uses of essential oils.—The essential oil of oak-moss or “concrete”
is used in its natural condition in soap as an impalpable powder or in
the form of a resinarome. The powder permits production of soap
balls agreeably scented at a reasonable price if the manufacturer can
obtain a perfectly impalpable powder; otherwise they give the im-
pression of containing sand. ‘The soap manufacturer maintains the
quality of his product by procuring his raw material from a reliable
purveyor. To be sufficiently scented, soap balls should have 1 or 114
percent by weight of lichen powder. When used for this purpose
oak-moss “concrete” improves, strengthens, and cheapens lavender-
scented products. It is essential in the higher grades of cosmetics in
combination with other aromatic oils, e. g., jasmine, tuberose, and
orange blossom. Iceland moss, Cetraria islandica, has already been
mentioned in connection with foods and medicine; in the field of cos-
metics it serves as a source of glycerol in the soap industry and in
the manufacture of cold creams because of its lack of odor. Some
lichens, e. g., Sticta fuliginosa Ach. and S. sylvatica Ach., have an
objectionable fishy or methylamine smell.
The parfumeur recognizes abstract qualities in lichens which en-
hance his product. The peculiar reciprocity of the components form-
ing the lichen unit and known to the unromantic biologist as symbi-
onts, are but an example of harmonious blending appreciated by the
parfumeur. Therefore the extract of oak-moss or scented-moss
“agrees” and “harmonizes” in the “happiest manner” with a large
number of other essences. Its fragrance has been likened to musk-
lavender, and as such it may be used as a fixative of the poppy type,
blending well with bergamot, citron, acetate of lynalyl, and linalol,
thus supplying freshness; with neroli, jasmine, rose, and cassia it
improves the flavor of these flowers; it gives flexibility to tarragon,
coriander, portugal, ylang-ylang, and vanillin; contributes stability
and depth to patchouli, vetyver, coumarin, and musk, and “elevation”
to alpha ionene. It also blends well with synthetic oils, e. g., amyl
and isobutyl salicylate and acetophenone. It is considered as an in-
dispensable basis of numerous perfumes known to the trade as Chypre,
Fern, and Heath, and in many bouquets called “Fancy,” as well as for
the Oriental type of perfume. The absence of aromatic oils, glycerol,
or any other desired substance is no disadvantage for the use of lichens
in cosmetics; Cladonia rangiferina and Cl. sylvatica have been recom-
mended by parfumeurs, since they are whitish, easily dried, and abun-
dant “in open healthy places.”
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS—LLANO 417
MISCELLANEA
Gums.—The dyeing and paper industries have need for quantities
of sizing with which to dress and stiffen silks, to print and stain calico,
and tosize paper. During the Napoleonic Wars, because of the French
monopoly of Senegal gum, Lord Dundonald attempted to introduce
the use of lichen mucilage in place of the French product, but there
is no evidence that the English market was interested. At Lyons the
French appear to have successfully used lichen mucilage as a substi-
tute for gum arabic in the fabrication of dyed materials (13). The
problem has been investigated by Minford (13) who reports that Ice-
land moss and some other lichens may be prepared as light-colored,
transparent, and high-grade gelatin, isinglass, and similar gelatinous
products, corresponding to those obtained from vegetable products
for this purpose.
Lichens for decorations.—The use of lichens for home decorations,
funeral wreaths, and grave wreaths is commonly exploited in the
northern countries of Europe, partly as a result of tradition and the ex-
pense of out-of-season flowers. The Cladoniaceae or reindeer lichens
lend themselves best to this purpose and are always used in centerpiece
table decorations in winter and in connection with Christmas orna-
ments. In older types of Swedish houses, where the outer or storm
window can be separated from the permanent window, the space be-
tween at the base is filled with this lichen which may act partly as
insulation. Dry lichens are brittle and are usually gathered and
worked in the fall of the year when the air is moist; they are woven
into wreaths by the poorer farming class who offer them for sale on
market days at low prices. Addition of water, as for cut-flowers,
does not preserve them but tends to make them moldy. Lichens can
maintain themselves on hygroscopic water. The harvesting of
lichens, especially C7. alpestris, can be a source of considerable revenue.
In 1935, 2,900 boxes (orange-crate size) were exported from Norway.
In 1936, 7,700 boxes were shipped, and in 1937, 12,500 boxes which
yielded a revenue of 90,000 Norwegian kroner ($1.00=4.90 Norw. kr.,
August 1947). Later shipments went only to Germany, and the
Goteborgs Handels-Och Sjéfarts-Tidning (newspaper) published a
story on October 12, 1946, entitled “Fyjallresa Med Linné,” which said
that this lichen export was being used by the Germans as a source for
“explosives.” ‘The Germans had an essential need for this plant also
as grave decorations. The gathering of these lichens for decorations
is cause for further dispute between Lapp herders and commercial
harvesters. Cladonia species are occasionally used in table models and
dioramas to represent trees.
In northern or mountainous areas where forest cover exists, it is
possible to estimate the normal depth of the snow cover by noting the
418 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
height of certain brown parmelias growing on trees, particularly
birches, as these lichens are sensitive to prolonged snow cover and
quickly disappear from those parts of the tree covered by accumula-
tive or drifting snow falls. Thus it would be possible to judge not
only general but specific localized snow depths for estimating water-
shed and irrigation potentials, and probable snow falls in mountain
passes, and to assist in railroad engineering problems relative to the
location of snow sheds, and in highway maintenance and the tem-
porary location of snow fences.
Injury by lichens.—Lichen injury to valued stained-glass windows
of old cathedrals and to marble, alabaster, and Florentine mosaics has
been reported by various observers (13). The deleterious effect of
Parmelia tinctorum Despr. upon a Buddhist monument in central
Java is given by Seshadri and Subramanian (18a). Chemical analysis
of this specimen revealed a high percentage of atranorin (20.3) ; the
authors suggest that this water-soluble acid is capable of causing
damage to calcareous substrates. E. Bachmann (13) had earlier
published a series of observations (1904-15) upon the action of lichens
on mica, garnet, quartz, and calcareous rocks indicating that the first
two substances were rapidly decomposed while calcareous rocks were
dissolved through the action of the lichens. The more resistant quartz
was minutely etched. Bachmann concluded that lichens exert a me-
chanical and chemical action on their substrate, and that they must
give out solvent acids in the process. Orchardists and silviculturists
have long been interested in the relationship of lichens to trees, and
many sprays, including Bordeaux mixture, caustic soda, and light-
boiling tar oils, have been recommended for the removal of these “un-
sightly if not injurious plants.” Indirectly they may be the cause of
economic loss by serving as shelter for harmful insects seeking cover
and depositing eggs. Kaufert has noted that the bark of Populus
tremuloides remains permanently smooth through the presence of a
persistent periderm, but that if injured by fungi, lichens, or mechani-
cal injury the bark may be stimulated to develop rough fissures. In
studying the influence of Usnea species upon trees in South Africa,
Phillips (18) concluded that in this case the lichen is definitely detri-
mental in that its fungal component is parasitic upon tissue external
or internal tothe cork cambium. Vigorous crowns as well as defective
ones may be infected. Since the lichen cannot develop luxuriantly
under the conditions obtaining in undisturbed high forests, he recom-
mended that the forest canopy be preserved as a means of inhibiting
the rampant growth of this lichen. Seshadri and Subramanian (18b)
present more definite evidence of lichen damage to trees. In this
instance it was noted that the more tender portions of sandalwood
trees bore heavy growths of lichens which appeared to affect the nor-
mal development of the tree. The principal lichen, Ramalina tay-
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS—LLANO 419
loriana, had penetrated deeply into the viable tissues of its subtrate
causing apparent physical injury. On analysis, this lichen gave
d-usnic and sekikaic acids which had a proved toxic effect on fish
used in experimentation. The suggestion is advanced that the deep
penetration of the lichen base into the viable sandalwood tissue may
have resulted not only in physical injury but in a phytocidal effect.
Wellborn (13) suggested that some leaf spots of the coffee plant may
be caused by a lichen, and the classical research of Ward (21) on
Strigula complanta Mont. illustrates the undeniable harmful effect of
a lichen ephiphyte ona crop plant. Leaf lichens are common on ever-
greens, deciduous trees, and bushes in the sub-Tropics and Tropics, but
unless the leaves of such phanerogams have a commercial application,
as tea leaves, there is no economic loss involved. Foresters in some
parts of Europe recommend scraping lichens from trees, but there is
little experimental proof that lichens ephiphytically attached to the
bark, branches, and twigs of trees are the cause of damage. Howbeit,
the whole problem of whether lichens injure the trees on which they
are fastened cannot be solved, as Elias Fries once remarked, “by mere
denial.”
DYEING INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOME USE (10)
Parmelia saxatilis—The Swedish country people call this the dye-
lichen or stone-moss. It occurs abundantly on rocks and stones as
rugose gray-brown patches, and should be collected after rain while
the air is still moist, for it is firmly attached to the stones and will
crumble if removed in dry air. It is most easily separated from the
stones by an ordinary table knife, and if it is to be preserved it must
be carefully dried before being packed in bags or boxes. Before use
it should be finely crushed. The following colors may be obtained by
varying the dyeing treatment:
1. Light yellow-brown.—Place 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of finely
crumbled dye-lichen in a copper kettle containing a large quantity
of water. Place 250 grams’ of unmordanted (raw) yarn in this
solution, boiling and stirring the yarn for ¥% to 2 hours, depending on
the desired shade of color. The best method of stirring the yarn is to
wind it around sticks so as to avoid cloudy or uneven dyeing. When
the process is completed, the yarn should be washed thoroughly in
several changes of clean water, after which it may be hung up to dry,
making sure that the skein hangs freely.
2. Dark brown.—The lichen is crumbled and placed in layers with
wool or yarn in an iron kettle. The yarn should be wet when put
down, and after addition of cool water in sufficient quantities to cover
the mass, several hours should lapse before boiling. Boiling must be
slow and regular with constant stirring for 2 to 6 hours. If a very
71 ounce= 28.35 grams; 1 pound=0.45 kilogram.
420 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
dark color is desired, the yarn may be boiled again in a fresh quantity
of the dye-lichen. If the desired color is black-brown, some braziline
(brazilwood chips) should be added. If dark brown color tones are
desired, best work with gray yarn. Wash as above.
3. Rusty brown.—Ingredients: 250 grams of yarn, 40 grams of
alum, 15 grams of tartar, 2 kilograms of lichen.
The yarn is mordanted in alum and a solution of tartar 14 to 1 hour.
The lichen is boiled in a large quantity of water for 1 hour, after which
the mordanted yarn is added and then boiled for 2 hours. The best
method is to have the hanks strung on sticks. If the yarn is not
turned over maculation will result. If a red tone is desired, the yarn
should be removed from the kettle and boiled half an hour in a solu-
tion of 30 grams of soaked madder. Wash as above.
4. Dull brown.—Use four times as much crumbled lichen as yarn
by weight and soak in water 1 day before boiling. Then boil for 1
hour. Add a solution of soap to the unmordanted yarn and boil
another 2 hours, then permit it to cool. Remove the yarn and wash
as above.
Cetraria islandica.—This lichen, commonly known as Iceland moss,
grows abundantly in woods and in the mountains. It is loosely at-
tached to the ground, and is best collected in dry weather so as to save
the trouble of artificial drying before storage for winter use. Before
using place it in fresh water for softening, after which it is easy to
chop up. Like the dye-lichen, it gives beautiful brown colors but in
different shades, and has been found to be of value in dyeing suede,
since it produces the faint pastel tints desired by the trade (19a).
1. Brown.—The lichen is cleansed, washed, and finely crumbled
before being placed in a kettle; layers of wool or yarn should be
alternated with lichen. Water is added and all is boiled half an
hour. Iron vitriol should be dissolved in warm water and carefully
added to the mass. This is boiled slowly and stirred constantly until
it is sufficiently dark. Wash as above.
Usnea barbata—This is the beard-lichen and occurs abundantly
in woods, growing on both coniferous and foliaceous trees and wooden
fences, hanging down as a light gray beard. The lichen is branched,
soft, and elastic, and when it is pulled out the outer crust bursts and
a white horsehair-shaped inner tread is left. When collected, this
lichen should be separated from needles and twigs. It gives a fine
red-yellow color.
1. Red-yellow.—Ingredients: 250 grams of yarn, 32 grams of alum,
250 grams of beard-lichen.
The yarn is, as usual, mordanted with alum. Boil the beard-lichen
1 hour and strain off, adding the yarn to the solution and boiling for
ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS—LLANO 421
Y to 1 hour, depending upon the desired shade of color. Lighter
shades are obtained by using weaker solutions.
Alectoria jubata.—The color of the horsehair-lichen is gray-brown
or black. It grows commonly on old coniferous trees, hanging down
from the twigs in long tufts. Its branches, when pulled, do not be-
have as do those of the beard-lichen, but, like that lichen, it gives a
yellow-brown dye, though of a different tone.
1. Yellow.—Follow the instructions as for the beard-lichen. The
darkest shade will be mellow green-yellow. By diluting the solution
lighter tones of a fine cream-yellow may be obtained. Wash as above.
Notice! For obtaining lighter shades of colors the yarn must be
boiled six times in weaker solutions. It is not advisable to use
stronger solutions for shorter times. This rule can be generally
applied in all cases.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is greatly indebted to Dr. G. Einar Du Rietz, Director
of the Plant Science Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, for the many courte-
sies received as a student at that Institute; to Dr. Gunnar Degelius for
advice and the generous loan of his valuable collection of books and
duplicates; to Dr. Rolf Santesson of the Institute for Systematic
Botany for his assistance; to Dr. Magnus Fries for the use of the Th.
M. Fries Lichenological Collection; to Dr. A. H. Magnusson for the
use of his library; and to the librarian of the Carolina Rediviva,
Uppsala University, for many favors. The author expresses his ap-
preciation also to the American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York
City, for the Fellowship which made it possible for him to study at
the Royal University of Uppsala, Sweden, from 1946-47; and to Dr.
C. W. Dodge, Missouri Botanical Garden, for his kindness in checking
the final manuscript of this article.
The author is greatly indebted also to Miss Carlsson of the Uppsala
Hemsl6jd for her kindness in demonstrating the dyeing technique
followed in her classes and in exhibiting materials dyed with lichen
dyes. Her advice and suggestions have been incorporated in this
paper. Dr. Sten Ahlner, Vixtbiologista Institutionen, Uppsala,
translated “Dye Instructions” for the author, who acknowledges his
assistance in this and many other instances.
LITERATURE CITED
1, Bagry,V.C. Nature, vol. 158, pp. 863-865, 1946.
la. Barry, V. C.,and McNatty, P.A. Nature, vol. 156, p. 48, 1945.
2. BURKHOLDrER, P. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. 30, pp. 250-255, 1944.
3. BURKHOLDER, P., and Evans, A. W. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, vol. 72, pp.
157-164, 1945.
422
3a.
3b.
2 oR
18a.
18a.
18b.
19.
19a.
19b.
19¢.
20.
20a.
Die
29
ae,
23.
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Bustinza, F., and Lopez, A. CABALLERO. Contribucién al estudio de los
antibiéticos procedentes de liquenes. Ann. Jard. Bot. Madrid, vol. 7, pp.
511-548, 1948.
CLELAND, J. B., and JoHNsToN, T. H. Trans. Roy. Soe. South Australia,
vol. 68, No. 2, p. 178, 1939.
DANNFELT, H. J. Kungl. Lantbrukssakad. Tidskr., vol. 6, pp. 483-498, 1917.
DE AVELLAR BROTERO, FELIx. Historia natural da orzella. 16pp. 1824.
D’yacHKkov, D., and Kursanov, A. Doklady Akad. Nauk, S. S. S. R., vol.
46, pp. 71-73, 1945.
Fet, A. L. A. Essai sur les cryptogames des écores exotiques officinales.
167 pp. 1824.
FLoRovsKAYA, EH. F. Bot Zeit., vol. 24, pp. 302-313, 1939.
Hgre, O. A. Lav og Mose som Nyttevekster. Suppl., pp. 125-147, 1938.
. LaguNA, ANDRES DE. Pedacio Dioscorides Anazarbeo. Acerca de la Materia
Medicinal y de los venemos mortiferos. 1st ed., Anvers, 1555, 2d ed.,
Salamanca, 1566.
Larson, Bupa. Hemfiirgning med vixtimmen rad och anvisningar. 1946.
Linpsay, W.L. Edinburgh New Philos. Journ., 1854, p. 40.
Linpsay, W. L. Edinburgh New Philos. Journ., 1855, p. 26.
LuLANo,G. A. Bot. Rev., vol. 10, pp. 1-65, 1944.
MULLER, J. Flora 526, 1881.
QuisPEL, A. Rec. Trav. Bot. Néerl., vol. 40, pp. 413-541, 1948-1945.
RalIstTRicK, H. Ann. Rey. Biochem., vol. 9, pp. 571-592, 1940.
RonceRay, Pavut-Lovuis. Thése. Ecole Supérieure de Pharmacie, Univ.
Paris, No. 10. 94 pp. 1904.
Sastry, V. V. K. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Ser. A, vol. 16, pp. 137-140, 1942.
SantTEsSON, C.G. Arkiv Bot., vol. 29a, No. 14, pp. 1-6, 1939.
SesHApRI, T. R., and SuBRAMANIAN, S. S. Journ. Sci. and Ind. Res., Ser. B,
vol. 8, No. 9, pp. 170-171, 1949.
SesHaADRI, T. R., and SuspRAMANIAN, S. S. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., vol. 30,
No. 1, pp. 15-22, 1949.
SmirH, A. L. Lichens. 404 pp. 1921.
SmirH, A. L, Recent lichen literature. Trans. British Myc. Soc., vol. 15,
pp. 193-235, 1931.
Stoxt, A., RENz, J.. and BRAoK, A. Antibiotika aus Flechten. Experentia,
vol. 3, No. 3, p. 111, 1947.
Stott, A., Brack, A., and Renz, J. Die antibakterielle Wirkung der
Usninsiiure auf Mykotakterien und andere Mikroorganismen. Experentia,
vol. 3, No. 3, p. 115, 1947.
SrenserG, 8. On tillverkning of lafbriinvin. 52 pp. 1868.
TUCKERMAN, EDWARD. Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 9, p. 142, 1882.
Warp, H. M. Trans Linn. Soc. London, Bot., vol. 26, pp. 87-119, pls. 18-21,
1884.
WEsSTRING, J. P. Svenska lafvarnas farghistoria . . . 1805.
WoopwakbD, Carnot H. Vernacular names for Roccella. An etymological
note. Torreya, vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 302-807, 1949.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PLATE 1
1. REINDEER Moss, CLADONIA ALPESTRIS AND CL. RANGIFERINA
These species constitute the principal food of reindeer and caribou herds. (Cour-
tesy New York Botanical Garden.)
2. DOG LICHEN, PELTIGERA CANINA
Preparations of this lichen were regarded in the Middle Ages as efficacious in
treating rabies. (Courtesy New York Botanical Garden.)
PEATE e2:
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano
ROCK TRIPE, UMBILICARIA PAPULOSA, WITH PUSTULES ON ITS UPPER SURFACE
ile
AND TWO OTHER SPECIES OF UMBILICARIA ON THE ROCK
e been used by polar
hav
sp.,
food.
y
explorers as emergence
This and other kinds of rock tripe, Gyrophora
2. EVERNIA FURFURACEA, SHOWING UPPER AND LOWER SURFACES OF THE
THALLUS
Mount De
and, Maine.
sl
sert I
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PEATE 3
2 Es. stiieniobe a tea ew
1. REINDEER PAWING AWAY SNOW COVER TO OBAIN LICHEN FODDER, LAPPLAND,
SWEDEN
(Photograph by G. Haglund.)
2. REINDEER SUMMER FEEDING IN LAPPLAND, SWEDEN
(Courtesy Swedish Railways.)
(uepriey [eolUB Og YIOK MON AsoqINo|D) “OUIBIY “PUBIST Jl9soq, JUNOT
MNOYL ASH L ¥ NO INLSVNNYd VINYSAZ “Zz HOYIG NO SNIMOYSD “dS VSNSNM ‘NSHOIT Gyv3ad *|
py 3LV1d ourl]—0G6| ‘woday uetuosyyIUC
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PLATE 5
1. PARMELIA SAXATALIS ON THE LOWER SIDE AND P. CENTRIFUGA ON THE UPPER
SIDE OF A ROCK
(Photograph by Auer, Finland.)
2. PARMELIA PHYSODES, SHOWING ITS DENSE GROWTH ON THE BRANCH OF A
PINE) TiREE
Mount Desert Island, Maine.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PLATE 6
1. CLADONIA ALPESTRIS (IN CLUMPS) AND CL. RANGIFERINA (NOT IN CLUMPS)
ON MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, MAINE
2. LOBARIA PULMONARIA GROWING WITH LIGHTER-COLORED FORMS OF PARME-=
LIACEAE ON A TREE TRUNK
Mount Desert Island, Maine.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PLATE 7
F ILVSTRADO POR EL poc ae
Ene HE N: CT. LAG
VNA. : “i ee
PVLMONA«RIA, ~~
rele ae™
Be
a>
Ft ei) Oe
rae, of ak 4
Del Lichen. Cap. LIV.
FE L Lichen que nace en tas picdras, llamado Difecerts
: de algunos Bryon, ballafe apegado alas pie. des
dras humedas como el mufgo de los arboles, :
Eite pues aplicado en forma de emplattro,relta-
fialas ctufionesde fangre, reptime las infayna-
Clones,y es remedio de los empeynes, Sifc apli-
ca con micl, tiene fuersa de famac Ia i@ericia , y
tefrena los humores que corrgn aziala leoguayy i
la boca, : 3
Cri Xs la UihE AT, Aazer Alfacher B He- Nombres,
Patica.ds, Epatica F Heparques.T .Steiuleberkrant, :
& Lempeyne fe Nama Lichen en Griego; y afsi enetecid
vino a llamarfe Lichen cia planea,porg cura deLegane H
Jos empeynes aplicade enforma de attro.d
porg fe citiende a manera dellosfebre piedras,
Produze las hojas grueflas,graflas, lenas de cu
nio,y como ahojaldradasvnas fobre orras , de
Jas quales falen ciertos talluelos,como pecones i
4 produzen encima de fi vnas cabe¢uclas,a ma- a
nera de eltreilas , principalmente cn cl mes de
Junio, Nace ca por la mayor parte fobre fas
piedras.Otra efpecie de Lichen temefante a cita
pero masancha y mas feca,fe hatla fobre jas en-
cinasy robles;la qual por parecerfea yn pulmo
fe vino a amar Pulmonaria,Algunos confiados Paleo
enfolo ¢l nombre,jadan contra las lagas de los Fi,
pulmones, Tiene cada ynadellas facultaddemm
difcar,y de resfriarmoderadamente coneftipe
ticidad manifielta,de do fe puede conjerurateg |
potice virtud de foldar las heridas fretcassyea*
corar las lage *antignas. ; ae
Dela Paronychia. Cap,LV, aes od tired:
A Paconychiaes yna matilla peqacitasg nace fubre las piedras,femejante al Pe Riis
L ons bavayy de hojas mayoress aplicada en forma de emplattrosfana los paaaringse YI2S des,
“3s auc fe parecen alos hanos de mich, ; weeds =i =
Aronychion en Griego es lo mifmo que panarizo,e! qual norcbes lots noses ——- ;
*4,porg aplicada le fang, Alguyos fimplicillas fe perfnaden 4 3 ies pied See nae ee
ae ae _ as
Illustration of page 407, second edition of Andres de Laguna’s “Pedacio Dios-
corides Anazarbeo,” published by Juan Latio, Anno MDCV, Salamanca,
Spain. Now the property of the Bibliotheca Nacional, Madrid. (Courtesy
Dr. F. Bustinza.)
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Llano PLATE 8
Upper: Helmsl6jd group near Uppsala, Sweden, with paraphernalia for dyeing
with lichens collected in the immediate vicinity. The equipment consists of
iron and copper pots heated over wood fires, chemicals, and accessory dyes,
and a small seale.
Center: Rinsing procedure, utilizing clean stream water. The white yarn is
undyed and has been washed; the dark yarn has been dyed.
Lower: Drying the yarn after dyeing and washing (foreground). Undyed yarn
hung up for convenience in handling (background).
THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO
By Henry B. COoLiLins
Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology
[With 4 plates}
Though numbering less than 40,000, the Eskimos occupy almost
half of the world’s Arctic coast lands. Beginning at the northeastern
tip of Siberia, their scattered settlements extend eastward for more
than 6,000 miles along the Arctic and sub-Arctic coasts of Alaska, Can-
ada, and Greenland. No other primitive people occupy so wide a
territory and at the same time exhibit such remarkable uniformity
of language, culture, and physical type. Where Eskimo and Indian
meet, as on the rivers of Alaska and in the interior of northern Canada,
the culture and physical type of both groups have been affected. But
nowhere have the Indians penetrated to the Arctic coast. Here, where
the Eskimos hold undisputed possession, there is one language and,
with certain exceptions to be noted later, one basic culture and physical
type.
The origin of the Eskimo and his peculiar culture has been debated
for many years. Probably the majority of American anthropologists
in the past have accepted the theory that the Eskimos are an American
people and their culture an American product. Boas, who studied
the Baffin Island and Hudson Bay tribes, considered that the original
Eskimo homeland was the lake region west of Hudson Bay. Here,
said Boas, the Eskimo race and culture were found in purest form,
unmodified by Indian influence; moreover, the traditions of the Eski-
mos to the east, north, and west all pointed to an original center just
west of Hudson Bay. Murdoch, Wissler, Stefansson, Jochelson, Sha-
piro, and others followed this view, which, principally because of the
great influence and authority of Boas, became in America at least the
orthodox and “scientific” theory of the origin of the Eskimos.
Among European scholars who adhered to the American origin
theory were Rink and Steensby. According to Rink, the early Eski-
mos lived in the interior of Alaska. From this center they had fol-
lowed the Alaskan rivers to the coasts, their culture meanwhile under-
going gradual change until it developed finally into the typical mari-
time form we know today.
A more elaborate theory was advanced by Steensby, who postulated
a stratification of Eskimo culture. The oldest stratum was that found
922758—51——28 423
424 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
in the central archipelago of Canada, the high Arctic culture typified
by the snow house, the dog sled, and various ingenious methods of
hunting on the sea ice. This complex was “an outgrowth of an orig-
inal North Indian form of culture, the winter side of which had be-
come specially and strongly developed by adaptation to the winter
ice of the Arctic Ocean” (Steensby, 1916, p. 186). Steensby thought
that Coronation Gulf was the region where this adaptation had taken
place. Belonging to a later stage were such features as kayak hunt-
ing on the open sea, the umiak, whaling, and the bird dart. ‘These
elements, lacking among the Eskimos of the Central regions, were
characteristic especially of sub-Arctic Alaska and Greenland.
The latest and most comprehensive expression of this viewpoint is
that of Birket-Smith (1929, 1930, 1936). His theory, though cor-
responding essentially with Steensby’s, is considerably more elaborate
and detailed. Birket-Smith believes that the Eskimo culture orig-
inated in the Barren Grounds west of Hudson Bay and that the Cari-
bou Eskimos now living there are the direct descendants of the “Proto-
Eskimos.” Isolated in the interior, the Proto-Eskimos, like the mod-
ern Caribou Eskimos, lived by hunting the caribou and by fishing in
lakes and rivers, in winter through holes in the ice. Later some of
them—the “Palae-Eskimos”—moved to the seashore and learned to
hunt seals by what is know as the “maupok” method, harpooning the
seals at their breathing holes in the ice. The conversion of ice fishing
into seal hunting on the sea ice was thus the first and most important
step in the formation of Eskimo culture. Birket-Smith’s theory has
been summarized as follows:
Originally the Proto-Eskimo lived inland from Hudson Bay and farther west.
Whereas some of them, of whom the Caribou Eskimo are the last survivors,
remained on the Barren Grounds, others resorted to the coast between Corona-
tion Gulf and the Boothia peninsula, where they adapted their living to the
sea and were thus enabled to spread along the coast; this is the so-called Palae-
Eskimo stage. At a later period the far richer Neo-Eskimo culture came into
existence in Alaska; it spread as far to the east as Greenland, but at present
it is not known from the central regions except from the so-called Thule culture
which was brought to light by the archeological investigations of the Fifth Thule
Expedition, being otherwise obliterated by a modern Eschato-Eskimo advance
of inland tribes that penetrated to the sea and constituted the recent Central
Eskimo. [Birket-Smith, 1930, p. 608.]
The opposite, or Asiatic, theory of the origin of the Eskimo has
also had numerous supporters. First to express this opinion were
the early explorers, who observed that the Eskimos had a distinctly
Mongoloid appearance. Most of the nineteenth-century anatomists
and anthropologists classified the Eskimos with the Asiatics, and later
anthropologists such as Furst and Hansen, Hrdli¢ka, and Hooton have
concurred in this viewpoint. Ethnologists and archeologists such as
Thalbitzer, Hatt, Bogoras, Kroeber, Mathiassen, Jenness, and Zolo-
————eeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEEOEOOeOeee
THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO—COLLINS 425
tarev believe that Eskimo culture is essentially a product of the Old
World. Students of Eskimo linguistics—Thalbitzer, Sapir, Bogoras,
Jenness—all seek the origin of the language in Alaska or Siberia
rather than in Canada or Greenland; and Sauvageot and Uhlenbeck
have gone further and claimed a relationship between Eskimo and
Ural-Altaic or Indo-European, the two major language stocks of the
Old World. As will be shown later, the more recent archeological
and somatological evidence confirms this point of view and seems to
point conclusively to Eurasia as the place of origin of the Eskimo
culture and race type.
The theory that has aroused more discussion perhaps than any
other is that which derives the Eskimos from the Upper Paleolithic
cave dwellers of western Europe. Boyd Dawkins and Sollas, the
principal champions of this view, pointed to numerous resemblances
between Eskimo and Paleolithic implements and art which they
interpreted as evidence that the Eskimos were the actual descendants
of Paleolithic man who had followed the reindeer northward at the
close of the Glacial period, and at a later time spread eastward to
Bering Strait. Physical evidence in support of the hypothesis was
brought forward in 1889 by Testut, who claimed that a Magdalenian
skull found in a rock shelter near Perigueux in the commune of Chan-
celade, France, could scarcely be distinguished from that of an Eskimo.
The theory of a racial or cultural connection between Eskimo and
Paleolithic man has been opposed by a number of authorities though
in later years it has received the support of Sullivan, Morant, and
von Eickstedt. In general, the reaction of anthropologists has been
one of skepticism or indifference, the prevailing attitude being that
the idea was too spectacular and speculative to be scientifically valid.
The postulated cultural connection seemed doubtful because some of
the traits compared were of uncertain function; others were too
simple and generalized or too widespread in their distribution to
be indicative of a specific or exclusive relationship; and still others,
as we now know, were traits characteristic of modern but not of
ancient Eskimo culture. When Dawkins and Sollas wrote, there were
no archeological finds from Siberia to bridge the enormous gap in
time and space between Paleolithic man of western Europe and the
modern Eskimo, nor was there any knowledge of prehistoric Eskimo
culture. Now that excavations have been made in the American
Arctic and Siberia, the postulated cultural affinities between Eskimo
and Paleolithic appear in a different light. The recent excavations
have produced new and unexpected evidence of relationship between
the oldest Eskimo cultures, the early Siberian Neolithic, and the
European Mesolithic (Collins, 1943). As the Mesolithic was a direct
outgrowth of the Paleolithic, the Dawkins-Sollas theory may not have
been so fanciful as it once seemed.
426 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
The archeological studies that have provided new insight into
Eskimo culture began with those of Jenness (1925, 1928) and
Mathiassen (1927) and have continued during the intervening years,
the latest comprehensive works being those of Holtved (1944) in
northwest Greenland and of De Laguna (1947) and Larsen and Rainey
(1948) in Alaska. Important ethnological studies have also been
made, and the same period has brought new information on the physi-
cal types of various modern and prehistoric Eskimo groups in Alaska
and Canada. Though the recent investigations have provided the first
factual data essential to an understanding of the problem of the
Eskimo, it is not to be supposed that the final answers are at hand.
For many parts of the American Arctic we still lack adequate infor-
mation, and the recent discoveries have sometimes complicated rather
than simplified the picture. In the following pages, after a brief
summary of recent archeological discoveries and their implications,
we shall attempt an over-all interpretation of the available evidence
relating to the origin and affinities of the Eskimo race type and
culture.
PREHISTORIC ESKIMO CULTURES
Thule.—Systematic Eskimo archeology began with the investiga-
tions of the Fifth Thule Expedition around Hudson Bay in 1922
and 1923 (Mathiassen, 1927). Excavating at old Eskimo sites north
and west of Hudson Bay, Mathiassen uncovered evidence of a pre-
historic culture that he called the Thule, which differed in many
respects from that of the Eskimos now living in the region. The
old Thule people lived along the seacoasts, in semisubterranean houses
of whalebones, stones, and turf during the winter and in conical tents
in summer. Unlike the modern Central Eskimos, the Thule people
were whale hunters; they also hunted the walrus, seal, polar bear,
and caribou. In material culture they differed markedly from the
Central tribes, being much closer to the Greenland and Alaskan Eski-
mos. So close, in fact, were the resemblances to northern Alaska that
Mathiassen was able to show that the Thule culture must have origi-
nated in the west, somewhere along the coasts of Alaska or Siberia
north of Bering Strait. Having flourished for some centuries, the
Thule culture disappeared from the Central regions, displaced and
partly absorbed by the ancestors of the present Central tribes who
moved from the interior out to the seacoasts. Meanwhile, the Thule
Eskimos had moved eastward to Smith Sound in northwest Green-
land. Excavations by Mathiassen, Larsen, and Holtved have traced
in considerable detail the stages of development of Greenland
Eskimo culture.
In West Greenland, the Inugsuk, a late stage of Thule culture dating
from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was in direct contact
THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO—COLLINS 427
with the medieval Norse settlements of Southwest Greenland. With
this initial date established for the Inugsuk stage Mathiassen esti-
mates that the Canadian Thule culture, which was ancestral to it,
existed in the Central regions around A. D. 1000. There are also
strong indications of a return movement of Thule culture to northern
Alaska within the past few centuries.
Though it has played an important part in the formation of modern
Eskimo culture from Alaska to Greenland, the Thule tells us nothing
as to the origin of Eskimo culture. Jor this we must turn to the older
stages—the Cape Dorset culture of the Hudson Bay region, the pre-
historic Aleutian-Kodiak-Cook Inlet cultures of South Alaska, and
the Old Bering Sea and Ipiutak cultures around Bering Strait.
Cape Dorset-——The Dorset culture was first described by Jenness
(1925) on the basis of material excavated by Eskimos at Cape Dorset
on the southwest coast of Baffin Island and on Coats Island in Hudson
Bay. Dorset sites have now been found widely distributed in the
eastern Arctic from Newfoundland north to Ellesmere Island and
northwest Greenland (Jenness, 1933; Wintemberg, 1939; Rowley, 1940;
Leechman, 1943; Holtved, 1944; Collins, 1950). Though the Dorset
and Thule occupied the same general region, the two cultures
differed from each other in almost every respect. At the Dorset
sites there is no trace of such typical Eskimo elements as whale-
bone mattocks and sled shoes, harness toggles, bone arrowheads, the
throwing board, and harpoon sockets and finger rests. Completely
ignorant of the bow drill, the Dorset Eskimos cut or gouged out the
holes in their implements. Rubbed-slate artifacts, so common among
other Eskimos, were very scarce as compared with implements of
chipped stone. Distinctive types of harpoon heads, small ivory carv-
ings and a simple geometric art style (pl. 1, a-f) are other features
that characterize the Dorset culture. The Dorset people hunted wal-
rus, seal, polar bar, caribou, hares, and foxes, but not the narwhal,
beluga, or right whale. They had no knowledge of dog traction,
though small hand sleds were used. As yet there is no definite in-
formation regarding their houses.
We know that the Dorset is older than the Thule culture because
Thule implements are never found at pure Dorset sites, whereas
Dorset objects frequently turn up in Thule sites. Moreover, at Ingle-
field Land in northwest Greenland, and at Frobisher Bay on Baffin
Island, Dorset material has been found underlying Thule (Holtved,
1944; Collins, 1950). Inglefield Land is the only place in Greenland
where the Dorset has been recognized as a distinct culture stage.
There are indications, however, that the Dorset culture will prove
to have been more widely distributed in Greenland than has been
suspected. Solberg’s “Stone Age” at Disko Bay (Solberg, 1907)
is composed in large part of typical Dorset-type stone implements,
428 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
which probably indicate a Dorset stage of culture preceding the
Thule on the west coast (Collins, 1937; 1940); and similar Dorset
types from Ammassalik and the Clavering Island region, illustrated
by Solberg (1932), Mathiassen (1983), and Larsen (1934), suggest
that future excavations may also reveal a Dorset stage on the
Greenland east coast.
In contrast to the Thule, the Dorset culture appears to be deep-
rooted in the eastern Arctic. Its origin, however, is uncertain. On
the one hand it shows affinities with Indian culture, particularly the
Beothuk of Newfoundland and prehistoric cultures of the Northeast.
More difficult to explain but undoubtedly significant are the close
resemblances of some of the Dorset art motifs and stone-implement
types to those of the Ipiutak, Old Bering Sea, and prehistoric Aleutian
and Cook Inlet cultures of Alaska (pl. 1). The Dorset can hardly
have been derived from any of the prehistoric Alaskan Eskimo cul-
tures as we now know them, although a remote connection of some kind
is indicated. The most likely explanation, as suggested by Jenness
(1941), is that the Dorset has stemmed from the same parent trunk
as the ancient Alaskan cultures. The many and fundamental dif-
ferences between them, however, would indicate that the Dorset moved
eastward to Hudson Bay before the Ipiutak and Old Bering Sea
cultures had reached their full development.
It is probably significant that recent work in Alaska to be described
below has revealed indications both in the interior and at Cape Den-
bigh on the Bering Sea coast of an ancient, apparently pre-Eskimo
culture or cultures with definite Asiatic affinities, characterized espe-
cially by burins, by small lamellar flakes, probably used as knives or
scrapers, and the polyhedral cores from which they were struck off
(Rainey, 1939; Skarland and Giddings, 1948; Giddings, 1949;
Solecki and Hackman, 1951). Lamellar flakes of the same kind are
found at many Dorset sites, and Solberg’s Disko Bay collection, which
probably is Dorset, also includes a polyhedral core comparable to those
from Alaska (Solberg, 1907, p. 39). There is also a strong probabil-
ity that the stone burins from Giddings’ Cape Denbigh site and two of
the early inland sites in Alaska are related to a characteristic Dorset
implement of somewhat similar form which De Laguna (1947, pp.
193-194) suggests were used as burins.
Birnirk.—The first excavations in the western Arctic were made by
Stefansson in 1912 (1914). Digging in a large mound at an aban-
doned site called Birnirk near Point Barrow, Alaska, Stefansson
noted the presence of clay pottery and unusual types of harpoon heads
and the absence of such characteristic modern features as iron, soap-
stone pots, pipes, net sinkers, and net gages. Wissler (1916), who
described parts of Stefansson’s collection, recognized the site as pre-
historic but did not consider it to be especially old or to represent a
THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO—COLLINS 429
distinct stage of culture. Excavations at Birnirk and other nearby
sites by Van Valin in 1918 and Ford in 1932, interpreted in the hght
of later information, have revealed the Birnirk as a key stage or link
between the prehistoric cultures of Alaska and Hudson Bay (Mason,
1930; Collins, 1934, 1940).
The fact that the Birnirk resembled both the Canadian Thule culture
and the Old Bering Sea, which was known to be older than Thule,
suggested that it was the Alaskan stage ancestral to the latter. The
indirect indications of this relationship were confirmed by excavations
at Kurigitavik, a Thule-Punuk site at Cape Prince of Wales, Bering
Strait, where a Birnirk to Thule sequence in harpoon heads was found
(Collins, 1940).
Old Bering Sea and Punuk.—Evidence from St. Lawrence Island
and Bering Strait indicates that the Birnirk in turn was somewhat
later than Old Bering Sea. The Old Bering Sea Eskimos, like the
Birnirk and Thule, were a maritime people who lived in permanent
villages on the seacoasts and who depended for their livelihood on
seals, walrus, fish, and birds. Whaling was practiced but only to a
limited extent. Like the Dorset people, the Old Bering Sea Eskimos
did not use the dog sled, though they had small hand sleds for hauling
skin boats and loads of meat over the sea ice.
Living in a region abounding in game, and thus having an assured
food supply, the Old Bering Sea Eskimos developed a rich and com-
plex culture (Collins, 1987). One of its most striking characteristics
was an elaborate and sophisticated art style. Ivory harpoon heads,
knife handles, needle cases, and many other objects were not only skill-
fully carved but decorated with pleasing designs formed of graceful
flowing lines, circles, and ellipses. On St. Lawrence Island strati-
graphic excavations revealed three successive stages of Old Bering
Sea art—style 1 (Okvik) (pl. 1, j-0), style 2 (pl. 2), and style 3 (pl.
3). Following these, there appeared a simpler style, the Punuk, which
foreshadowed modern Eskimo art (fig. 1, lower half).
The Punuk culture as a whole was partly an outgrowth of the Old
Bering Sea and partly the result of new influences from Siberia.
Developmental changes in harpoon heads and other implements which
began in the Old Bering Sea period continued throughout the Punuk.
A number of completely new types also made their appearance in the
foreshadowed modern Eskimo art (fig. 1, lower half).
Though the Punuk was in all essential respects a stone-age culture,
its art was the product of metal tools. This is evident from
the appearance of the deeply and evenly incised lines and compass-
made circles, and from the presence of small, slender engraving tools,
several of which had bits of the iron points remaining in place.
Stratigraphic and other evidence shows clearly that this metal long
antedated the Russian period. Its source was probably eastern Asia
430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
north of Korea where, from references in Chinese literature, we know
that iron was in use as early as A. D. 262 (Collins, 1937, pp. 304-805).
We know that the Punuk was approximately contemporaneous with
the Canadian Thule culture and somewhat later than the Birnirk.
As yet there is no means of estimating the age of the Old Bering Sea
PUNUAC
Ficure 1.—Ivory winged objects and related forms of unknown use from St.
Lawrence Island and Arctic coast of Alaska. Upper row shows the Old Bering
Sea winged forms (both sides), the earliest, at extreme left, belonging to the
Okvik stage. In the succeeding Punuk stage the wings became smaller and
inclined sharply upward, resulting in trident and “turreted’ forms on which
only a vestige of the outer wings remained, and finally a bottle-shaped form,
with no wings. All have a basal socket and a small pit at end of central
projection. Approx.1:7. (For description see Collins, 1937, pp. 197-201.)
culture, but a considerable antiquity is indicated by the magnitude
of the deposits on St. Lawrence Island and by the long succession
of cultural changes leading up to the Punuk. In the absence of any
definite evidence, we may guess that the earliest Old Bering Sea re-
mains may date from around the beginning of the Christian Era?
The Old Bering Sea and Punuk cultures are also found at Bering
1This paper was written before the results of radiocarbon dating had been announced.
The provisional dates here mentioned for Old Bering Sea and other prehistoric Eskimo
cultures and the relative chronological positions of these cultures are, with the exception
of Ipiutak, those which I have given in earlier publications. The carbon-14 dates for
several prehistoric Eskimo cultures have now been released though not formally published
(Radiocarbon dates—September 1, 1950, by J. R. Arnold and W. F. Libby, Institute for
Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, 15 pp., offset). The age of Okvik, the earliest
stage of Old Bering Sea culture, is given as 2,258 years+230. Giddings’ middle layer at
Cape Denbigh, comprising types resembling Ipiutak, South Alaska, and Dorset, is 2,016
years+250. Ipiutak itself is much younger than had been supposed, 912 years+170 at
Point Hope and 973+170 at Deering. Laughlin’s “Palae-Mskimo” stage at Umnak Island
in the Aleutians, equivalent to Hrdlitka’s ‘‘Pre-Aleut,’’ is dated at 3,018 years+ 2380.
THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO—COLLINS 431
Strait, and sporadic traces occur in Arctic Alaska. Until recently
adequate information was not available for northeastern Siberia,
though scattered finds of Old Bering Sea and Punuk art and imple-
ments suggested that the two cultures may have occurred there in
greater concentration than in Alaska. Proof of this seems to have
been provided by two recent Russian publications. Matchinski (1941)
has described two archeological collections from the Chukchee Penin-
sula containing a number of Old Bering Sea and Punuk objects, and
Rudenko (1947) describes a large body of similar material from 12
village sites on the east and south coasts of the Peninsula. According
to all indications, it is in northeastern Siberia, somewhere between the
mouths of the Anadyr and Kolyma Rivers that we must look for the
immediate origin of the Old Bering Sea culture.
Tpiutak.—The most remarkable and most puzzling of all prehistoric
Eskimo cultures is the Ipiutak, discovered at Point Hope on the Arctic
coast of Alaska in 1989 by Rainey, Larsen, and Giddings (Larsen
and Rainey, 1948). The Ipiutak culture proper lacked such typical
Eskimo features as pottery, lamps, sleds, and rubbed-slate imple-
ments, and possessed a wealth of curious ivory carvings and numerous
other features unknown to other Eskimos. A single iron-pointed
engraving tool showed that the Ipiutak people had knowledge of
metal. -
sented the more usual opportunities for archeological examination.
In the lower parts of the valleys, were it not for the “soil boils” or
minor soil upheavals through weak points in the permanently frozen
ground or permafrost, no actual soil could be seen because of the tundra
484 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
cover. The excavations attempted amounted to no more than a mere
scratching of the surface through about 6 inches of moist, thawed earth
to the solid permafrost. A résumé of the literature reveals that this
permafrost is more than just an impediment to archeological work
in the Arctic (Muller, 1947). Along the hill slopes, in lieu of normal
soil erosion, the majority of the soil movements are confined to phe-
nomena which include creeping of the soil and solifluction (ibid., p.
72). Solifluction is a molasseslike, slow, downslope movement of
water and saturated masses of surface ground. 'To this may be added
also a mud flow which usually has a higher content of water and moves
more rapidly. Organic deposition of matter is extremely deficient,
especially on the lookout stations, as has been intimated. There are
no known volcanic deposits in this region; hence there is no deposition
of soil by volcanic means.
The mountains are quite rugged, and the only places suitable for
archeological research are near the streams and passes of the val-
leys. Although limestone deposits are known in the mountains, sur-
prisingly enough no solution caverns and only a few small “joint”
caves, affording shelter, were observed in the Brooks Range by Ar-
thur Bowsher, geologist of the United States National Museum. These
mountains were thought to have been impassable during the Pleisto-
cene, since the valleys, at least, are presumed to have been covered with
ice at that time. Therefore, although evidence of later archeological
material may be found in the passes, it is presumed that any finds of
man’s morphological remains or artifacts older than the last glacial
stage will not be made in the mountain province.
Since I had to keep on the schedule of the Survey’s movements, I
could not undertake a side trip to the site where the Folsom point had
been found by the 1947 field party, on Folsom Point Syncline, near the
Utukok River. The closest approach was some 25 miles distant. A
long synclinal ridge led to the site. The Folsom Point ridge, traceable
on recent Geological Survey maps, is nearly 22 miles long and is situ-
ated at an elevation about 2,000 feet above mean sea level. Edward G.
Sable, a member of the party and the actual finder of the Folsom point,
said that he had discovered the artifact high on the ridge top, lying on
the bare soil and rocks unaccompanied by any other artifacts. He
noted no chipping stations or other archeological sites in the immedi-
ate neighborhood. Therefore, it was comforting to know that this was
an isolated find, and presumably little would be gained by revisiting
the site. It has been suggested that the long east-west trending ridges
may even have been avenues of migration (Thompson, 1948, p. 64). It
is possible that they could have attracted the attention of peoples mov-
ing inland from the flatter coastal plain. The tops of the ridges are
considerably easier to walk upon, since they are bare of tundra, and
are rather easy landmarks to follow. Tundra, composed of lichens,
ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 485
mosses, and low shrubs interspersed with pools of standing water, pre-
sents a very uneven, hummocky land surface for walking, reducing the
normal rate of travel speed considerably. On occasions, when travers-
ing a particularly long stretch of tundra, it was found that the actual
walking rate was only a little better than 2 miles per hour. The pace
is exceedingly variable depending upon the particular stretch of ter-
rain covered.
My archeological discoveries on the survey of the two river drain-
ages may be roughly segregated into three temporal horizons. Divided
into phases of occupation, we may distinguish as the earliest the poly-
hedral flint-core and lamellar-flake phase. The second is the pre-
historic Eskimo phase, and the third, the historic Western Eskimo
phase. The earliest of these phases, referred to previously as “Meso-
lithic” and represented by the two sites on the Kukpowruk River,
may be equated with the University of Alaska campus site and in-
directly with the finds made by Nelson in the Gobi Desert.* Dr. Nel-
son examined the cores and flakes from the Kukpowruk River sites
when the writer visited him at the American Museum of Natural
History, and noted that the cores (pl. 3, c) recovered from one site
(No. 65) are larger than the average polyhedral fluted cores.
In order to evaluate properly the polyhedral core-flake culture,
we may weigh the data by using an approach such as the triad of Gra-
hame Clark (1939, p. 183): (1) Typological considerations, (2)
find complex, (3) geographical distributions. The total gives us a
synchronic cultural picture of the archeology in a relative temporal
frame of reference. In view of the fact that the fluted cores and lamel-
lar flakes seem to be diagnostic of a separate cultural horizon, in
Alaska at least, the presentation here is confined to these artifacts.
Therefore for the sake of brevity and to eliminate detailed analysis of
artifacts, the other accompanying lithic material from the various
sites discussed is not enlarged upon. It may be noted that rubbed
and polished stone implements, such as stone axes, are equally absent
from this find complex, as they are from the well-established Paleo-
Indian complexes. The fluted cores undoubtedly were the byproduct
of the manufacture of the lamellar flakes. Uses for the latter may
have been as small knives or possibly as inserts set in at the point
end of aspear. They could also have been inserted in large projectile
shafts.
It is not necessary to dwell on the description of the type speci-
mens, since Nelson (1937, pp. 270-272) has already described them
well. The technique of manufacture was presumably so specialized
that it certainly did not have its origin in a short time span. The
distribution is rather widespread over northern Eurasia and North
4 This is on the basis of the diagnostic lamellar flint flakes and the ‘‘fluted”’ or polyhedral flint cores (pl. 3)
486 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
America (de Laguna, 1947, pp. 171-172). There is even some re-
semblance to the cores and flakes of Mexico and the Hopewellian
mound-building cultures. However, we are not sure of what such
relationship implies. As a matter of interest, it seems that some
students of prehistory suggest that the mound-building cultures of
the eastern United States may have stemmed from Middle America.
If this be true, they may have brought the core-flake technique with
them. At present, to attempt to trace the lamellar flakes and cores
outside of the immediate sphere of demonstrable geographic affinity
would be rather difficult.
Significantly, the cores and flakes found by Johnson (1946) and
Leechman (1946) in the Kluane Lake area near the Alaska Highway
are roughly datable by the geology. These artifacts were found in
deposits that were tentatively dated by one estimate to be about
7,000 to 9,000 years old (Leechman, 1946, pp. 387-888). This was
presumably within the range of the postglacial Climatic Optimum.
On the other hand, Skarland (n. d., p. 175) cites Johnson and Raup,
who tentatively date their oldest Kluane Lake artifacts from about
4,000 to 5,000 years ago, or during a late phase of the postglacial
Climatic Optimum. Presumably, all were speaking about the same
oldest level of stratified archeological material. It is probable that
Johnson’s and Raup’s date may be closer to the actual, at least on
typological grounds. The area around Kluane Lake must have been
grasslands during and after the Climatic Optimum because no trees
occurred there until about A. D. 500 (de Laguna, 1949, p. 75). How
recently the “Mongolian” type cores and lamellar flakes occur in
northern Alaska cannot be stated definitely at present. These finds
represent the work of an apparently inland population of hunters
whose cultural affiliations are still not certain.
A large proportion of the sites recorded represents the next phase
in our chronology which appears to be that of prehistoric inland
Eskimo cultures. With the exception of several aberrant flaked
artifact types, all the flint specimens appear to belong to a related
culture horizon. Most of the sites were hilltop chipping or lookout
stations (pl. 5,a). Fortunately, one of the larger hunting camps, un-
doubtedly a temporary base camp, was found nestled near a sheltering
bluff. The cultural remains from this camp include antlers and bones
of caribou cut with stone implements, antler root picks, large flint
blades and scrapers, typical long, narrow Eskimo projectile points,
coarse gravel-tempered pottery, some rubbed slate, a perforated bear
(canine) tooth, hammerstones, and a jade adz set in an antler socket.
The cultural material, with the possible exception of some of the
stone blades, etc., seemed to have a lot in common with the artifactual
remains of the coastal Eskimos. Caribou has been an extremely im-
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LINKS BETWEEN EURASIA AND AMERICA
a and b, Three views each of semipolyhedral “‘mesolithie” flint cores; c, two views
of a large polyhedral core; d, lamellar flakes. All were found on two sites on
the Kukpowruk River, Alaska.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Solecki PLATE 4
a, Edward G. Sable, of the U. S. Geological Survey, the finder of the Folsom
point shown in insert, holding a mammoth tusk he recovered on the Kokolik
River in Alaska; b, part of an encampment of the remaining inland Eskimos,
the Killik tribe, at the northern end of Anaktuvuk Pass in the Brooks Range
Province. (Lower photograph by George A. Llano.)
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Solecki PLATE 5
Two of several kinds of primitive housing encountered in northern Alaska.
a, A small rock-crevice shelter associated with prehistoric Eskimo artifacts on
a hilltop; b, a recent winter sod hut erected by coastal Eskimos on the Kuk-
powruk River near Point Lay.
Smithsonian Report, 1950.—Solecki PLATE 6
A dome-shaped willow hut at northwestern entrance to Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska.
a, Hut being erected. The poles in foreground were imported from south of
mountain divide. A radio aerial is seen to the right. 6, The same hut finished
and covered with caribou hides. In the background are store-bought tents of
other Killik Eskimos.
(Photographs by George A. Llano.)
ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 487
portant source of food to the inland Eskimos, to judge from the
amount of caribou-bone debris.
Although Point Hope with its rich coastal Eskimo culture, called
by Larson and Rainey (1948) the Ipiutak culture, lay only about 80
miles to the west of the Kukpowruk River, no trace of recognizable
Ipiutak material was discovered in the entire survey.
The third archeological phase represented on the north slope is that
of the historic inland Nunatagmiut Eskimo, or the Western Inland
Eskimo (Solecki, 1950a). This was also a culture dependent largely
upon caribou as the main economy. The Western Inland Eskimo
phase seems to have been carried on directly from the prehistoric
inland Eskimo. A hunting camp found in the foothills province
yielded good samples of aboriginal stone work and some historic-con-
tact data, which ties in the prehistoric with the historic level. The
people made good use of hunting blinds or windbreaks constructed of
stone on the hills. There was also evidence of deadfall traps—
propped-up affairs of stones that fell upon small animals when a
key stick was disturbed. One small village of eight houses was found
on a riverside terrace about 35 miles inland from the coast, containing
much evidence of historic contact material. The houses, represented
by small rectangular enclosures of turf, measuring on the average
about 9 by 14 feet, had a short side entrance to the south and a central
fireplace lined with stone slabs. None of the houses were of the
deep subterranean type. Signs of ax and saw cuts were found on the
timbers and caribou bones. From the bone remains it seems that
every part of the caribou was brought to camp. The antlers were
neatly cut off with metal saws, and more than one caribou skull had
been carefully sawed at the top, giving access to the brain case.
Since it seems that the natives were in the habit of consuming the
whole animal, it is likely that the brains were also utilized. Sled
runners of whalebone were found—items thus far lacking in the pre-
historic culture of the same region.
One historic village of the coastal Eskimo type was discovered near
the mouth of the Kukpowruk River. This village, containing 29
structural features, was of late date, possibly as recent as 50 years ago,
judged from the kind of historic-contact goods present. There were
19 houses ranged along the river bank with sunken entrance tunnels.
The central fireplace was absent. All the bones and antlers of caribou
were metal-saw cut, and the skulls were neatly uncapped. Whale
vertebrae were found on the surface of the site. One item that seemed
to be out of place was an old sewing-machine head. Evidence point-
ing to the fact that these departed people had not forgotten their stone-
working industry was attested by the finding of flint chips on the
922758—51 32
488 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
floor of one of the houses. There was also a small pile of common
flint chips in the sod of the village area.
The coastal Eskimos living today at Point Lay venture inland
to hunt caribou and to mine coal from the seams on the Kukpowruk
River. The coal is put up in sacks for their own use, and trans-
ported by boats down the river. One of their sod huts (pl. 5, 6) was
found near a large riverside coal seam inland.
Unfortunately ethnological and physical anthropological data on
the living Eskimos from the interior of the north slope are very
meager and available to us only in accounts of late nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century explorers. As far as we know, there is only
one band of truly inland north-slope natives left (pl. 4, 6). This
band, called the Killik Eskimo, numbered about 60 persons at last
report. They live around Chandler Lake and Anaktuvuk Pass in the
mountains, with a trading station at Bettles to the south through
Anaktuvuk Pass. Presumably it is to the Killiks that we owe the
indications of comparatively recent camp sites in the neighborhood of
the upper Colville River and its tributaries (Solecki, 1950a). A1-
though these Eskimos still forage, living a nomadic existence, they
are not without communication with the outside world. They take
advantage of light plane carrier service, possess portable radios, and,
according to all reports, are well versed in things mechanical, even
the mysteries of repairing an obstinate outboard motor or an airplane
pontoon float.
The immediate antecedents of the Killiks, probably the same people
who left the historic archeological material along the rivers, were
collectively known as the Nunatagmiut Eskimos. This population,
which Larsen and Rainey call the Nunatarmiuts, numbered “not less
than 3,000” at the turn of the century (Larsen and Rainey, 1948, p. 31).
The Nunatagmiut people, according to the first-hand observations of
Stoney (1899) were slow in moving over the country, since they de-
pended entirely on the land for food. They stopped wherever they
encountered herds of caribou. Even when going down river to the
coast from the mountains in the springtime, only a few boats jour-
neyed together, since enough food could not be provided for all the
people at the same time. In at least one case, the Eskimos at the
upper part of a river waited for the caribou to precede them down-
stream, so that they would have game as they descended the river
(ibid., pp. 818-814). Illustrative of the importance of the caribou
in. the inland Eskimos’ economy is an inventory of the items made
from, and the uses of, the various parts of these animals. The skin
furnished material for huts, tents, boats, clothing, bedding, and rope;
5 Personal communication from Robert Rausch, U. 8S. Public Health Service, November 20, 1950. Mr.
Rausch asserts that these Eskimo call themselves Nunamiut, a contractual name for Nunatagmiut (see
below).
ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 489
the sinew, thread; the antlers, such items as sinkers and tool handles;
the hoofs, small boxes. The hair, mixed with tobacco, was smoked
as a powerful stimulant. The bones, crushed and boiled, yielded oil.
The marrow provided grease and hair oil. From the contents of the
stomach a soup was made, and the flesh was eaten raw, roasted, or
boiled (ibid., pp. 842-843). Skarland (n. d., p. 152) estimates that
an inland Arctic slope family of six persons “need a minimum of 70
caribou a year to supply the necessities.” Supplementing the main
diet were the less numerous and smaller game. These included bears,
mountain sheep, ducks, geese, ptarmigans, and other Arctic birds and
fish. In some parts, moose, marmots, and ground squirrels were avail-
able. Naturally nothing was cultivated for food owing to the harsh
climatic conditions and because the natives were almost constantly
moving. However, they found some products of the soil edible, thus
supplementing a diet of meat. These products were principally roots,
buds, and berries, eaten raw or prepared in different ways. Most of
the roots were strung and boiled before eating, although they were also
sometimes eaten raw. Berries were eaten before a meal and consti-
tuted a course. Stoney (1899, p. 844) said that the natives once lived
on them exclusively for 5 days, but only through necessity. One
dietary habit, which may seem strange to us, was the eating of white
clay. It was taken only when these inland Eskimos were short of food.
Stoney stated that the clay when mixed with oil, berries, and leaves,
was tasteless and easy to swallow.
The houses of these historic people were built warmly and snugly
enough to withstand the rigors of winter, yet they were easy to erect.
They were made of plaited willows in a dome shape, held upright by
a few posts (pl. 6, a, 6,). A layer of snow was packed over a covering
of turf and moss. Another basically similar type of temporary lodg-
ing was covered with skins and then insulated with a packing of snow.
When moving, the framework and skins were taken down from the
inside, leaving a hollow shell of solidified snow. No mention was made
of the snow-block type of house or igloo.
Physically, these inland people differed from the coastal Eskimos
in several distinguishable respects, most notably in their greater height
(Solecki, 1950a, pp. 140-141). There are material traits in their
culture, such as the dome-shaped skin hut, which may indicate bor-
rowing and also probably admixture with the Athapascan Indians on
the other side of the Brooks Range.
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
All three cultures discussed, plus the Folsom-point people, had one
economic trait in common. They were all hunters of herbivores—
grass-eating and foraging mammals. Land-mammal hunting was
490 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
certainly an inland continental trait, requiring the mutual cooperation
of the hunters. Lacking equipment other than their short-range
weapons, they undoubtedly had to rely upon stealth and various means
of trapping, in order to despatch their prey at close range. Whole
families generally accompanied the hunt. This was not merely a trek
into the game country, since these nomads lived off the land and de-
pended for their subsistence upon the presence of the herds. Accord-
ing to Smith and Mertie, the Pleistocene fauna of Arctic Alaska
included the mammoth, bison, horse, and musk ox.
Taking the cultures in order from the oldest thus far known on the
north slope of Alaska, we have:
1. The hunters—Folsom men or Paleo-Indians, represented by the
Folsom-point find in the Utukok River area. This area is situated
on the unglaciated, low-lying north slope which leads eastward into
the Mackenzie Valley, the first through route opened over 25,000 to
30,000 years ago. That these same Folsom people or Paleo-Indians
hunted the now extinct mammals in the High Plains of the American
Continent is borne out by the paleontological evidence.
In order to account for the presence of geologically dated Early
Man in the High Plains of America 10,000 or more years ago, we
must give priority to the north slope-Mackenzie route of migration
over the Yukon drainage route. The Yukon route was opened at an
estimated minimum of perhaps 20,000 to 15,000 years later.
From the premise of animal ecology, we may presume that the north
slope was covered with a plant growth favorable to certain grazing
mammals. Such a plant covering would extend around the low
border of the Arctic Ocean and up the Mackenzie Valley along the
low level region, much like the extension of the grassland today.
Mammals migrating from Asia and finding suitable fodder in quan-
tity to supply their needs, probably widened their range to cor-
respond with the extension of plant life. Following the mammals,
came man. Suitable climatic conditions were undoubtedly the fore-
runner of this chainlike reaction. If Early Man had made any settle-
ments along the shores of the Arctic Ocean during the time when
the glaciers locked up much of the sea water, it is unlikely that we
should ever find these sites. The waters, freed by the glacial reces-
sion, would have covered the ancient shore line. Notwithstanding
this, there is a strong possibility that Early Man could have hunted
sea mammals in the Arctic. Giddings’ recent finds at the exceptional
Cape Denbigh site has revealed probable stone harpoon blades in the
deepest and oldest horizon.
2. The polyhedral-core and lamellar-flake people of Alaska, come
next in order and, judging by their site locales and equipment, were
also hunters of the grass-eating herbivores. The culture of these
ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 491
people seems to have been pre-Eskimo and pre-Athapascan Indian.
The north-slope finds may be as much as 5,000 years old. Since the
cores and flakes were found on strategic hills, it indicated that these
stations were used by hunters who kept a long-range lookout for
herds of game. We are not certain whether bison, musk ox, moose,
or caribou was the most abundant game hunted. It could have been
any one of these. Today the first two of this group are extinct in
Alaska, and the caribou are more numerous than moose on the north
slope. Probably the climate had a disturbing effect on the ecologi-
cal habitat of the bison and moose, at least. They seem to prefer
different herbaceous plants than the tundra grasses upon which the
cold-loving caribou thrive. This would explain why the moose and
bison, by and large, migrated to warmer fields which would be more
suited to the growth of plants upon which they fed. Indeed, we are
told that a botanist, Hugh M. Raup, of Harvard University, finds
that muskeg land or the tundra, prior to the presence of the grass-
lands, extended into the Peace River area of Alberta up to 2 or 3
thousand years ago. The present-day bison and moose in this region
were preceded by herds of caribou (Jenness, 1940, p.3). Raup (1941,
pp. 225-227) has pointed out that attempts to correlate changing
climates and vegetations on the one hand, and the migrations of
aboriginal populations on the other, present some fascinating problems.
With the possible exception of some evidence found at Disco Bay,
Greenland, this core-flake cultural horizon seems to have consisted
primarily of inland-dwelling aborigines. -
3. The prehistoric Eskimo of the third phase considered were also
inland dwellers, at least for a greater part of the year. They seem
to have been almost entirely dependent upon caribou as their main
source of meat. Whether they descended the rivers regularly late in
spring, as did the historic Eskimo described by Stoney (1899), we
do not know. However, in all likelihood they did, as evidenced by
the presence of aboriginal trade goods found at the sites. All the
lithic material recovered seems to have been locally derived.
A United States naval officer and explorer, Lt. George M. Stoney
(1899), has offered us the best graphic eyewitness account of the inland
Arctic people, the Nunatagmiut. Larsen and Rainey (1948, pp. 30-
36) summarize our knowledge of the inland Eskimos from various
sources. One of the most pertinent remarks about the Nunatagmiut
made by the latter authors (ibid., p. 31) is that “above all, it is their
ecology which makes these inland Eskimos a unit and serves to dis-
tinguish them from the coast Eskimo.” Outright starvation and
disease, particularly diseases introduced by the white man, accounted
for the decimation of the Nunatagmiut at the turn of the nineteenth
century.
492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
The reason why the inland Eskimos occupied this environmental
niche in the Arctic seems to be one of choice, reaching far back into
antiquity. The writer concurs with Larsen and Rainey’s (1948, p. 36)
opinion that the cultural difference between the coastal and inland
Eskimos “is apparently deeply rooted.” A summation of the archeo-
logical differences and resemblances between these two economically
divergent cultures awaits analysis. The matter of geographic condi-
tions and their impress upon the cultural scheme of a people does not
seem resolvable in terms other than those involving the interaction
of organism and environment. Pursuant to our theme, Sauer (1944,
p. 529) remarked, “A given environment offers a determinable range
of options to a given cultural group, but this range, for the same area,
may be quite different for another culture.” In other words, as Fred-
rik Barth (1950, p. 338) has said, “It is . . . possible for a group of
people to exploit only a small part of the total available food source,
as clam diggers or deer hunters, who may be as limited and specialized
in their food habits as are most mammalian species.” But the given
environment here, the inland Arctic, is one of the last places in the
world to find anything resembling a wide range of options for habi-
tation. This is one of the areas of marginal cultural survival, whose
occupants were perforce dependent almost wholly upon herbivorous
mammals in their hunting-foraging existence. In fact, the natives
in late prehistoric and historic times at least, were dependent to a
large extent upon a single species of mammals, the caribou.
How the factors of ecological succession, an orderly set of changes
from one kind of habitat to another, affected primitive man in the
Arctic, we do not know at present. These changes, presumably rather
slow, are continually taking place in the environment. Even slight
differences in climate may have broadly reaching effects in the vege-
tation of a habitat. This in turn may influence the animal life. Man
might survive the situation, or depart. Elton (1939, p. 156) makes a
highly suggestive statement : “It seems highly probable, although dif-
ficult in the present state of our knowledge to prove conclusively, that
many animals migrate on a large scale in order to get away from a
particular place rather than to go towards anywhere in particular.”
It is difficult to appraise the societal basis of the bands of inland
Eskimos in the manner described for other cultures by Julian Steward
(1936), because the people are gone, and with them, the needed infor-
mation. Certainly inferences can be made, but these cannot be sub-
stituted for facts. We may still be able to extract some ethnological
data from the present-day Killiks, who are supposedly the descend-
ants of the original Nunatagmiuts. Some information may be ob-
tained relevant to the social problems of these people from the bands
of inland Eskimos still living on the south side of the Brooks Range.
ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 493
CONCLUSIONS
We have briefly explored the relationship of archeology to ecology
on the northern slope of Arctic Alaska. The total of the archeolo-
gical sites recorded amounted to 217, all of which, with the exception
of 17 noted by Thompson (1948), were recorded by the writer (Solecki,
1950a, 1950b). This shows that the Arctic interior region is not a
barren area for archeological research. The foothills area of the
Brooks Range was especially prolific. There were 75 other occupa-
tional features—recent Eskimo hunting sites and other isolated man-
made works, such as windbreaks and stone traps. Evidence seems
to point to the fact that this region was on the migratory route of
Early Man or Paleo-Indian and of mammalian life from Asia into
North America in glacial and postglacial times. Counting from the
earliest horizons, we have at least four cultures chronologically repre-
sented on the north slope: (1) The Folsom or Paleo-Indian cultures,
comparatively the oldest known; (2) the polyhedral flint-core and
lamellar-flake people (‘Mesolithic culture”), represented by finds on
two sites; (8) a prehistoric inland culture, presumably Eskimo, which
blends into the last of our series; (4) the historic inland Nunatagmiut
Eskimos. There is only one small band of inland north-slope Eskimos
left. These are the Killiks, who are faced with possible extinction.
In following the archeology through a time depth in the inland
Arctic, we thread through the ecological environment of the region,
embracing related aspects of biological and earth sciences. Con-
sidered from an archeological angle, any ecological study must be a
dynamic one. In terms of the simplicity of habitat, the Arctic 1s
one of the few places where it is possible to approximate a complete
ecological synthesis. In order that the natives might subsist in this
region, they had to be hunter-foragers, with a dependence upon her-
bivorous prey. The latter were dependent upon the availability of
fodder suitable to them, which, in turn, depended upon climatic
fluctuations.
It is hoped that the programs of future archeological research in
this region will include in their scope an awareness of the various leads
of ecology that we have attempted to utilize. As a problem area,
its prehistory is long and challenging, and the understanding of it
requires not only a knowledge of man and his works, but his relation-
ship to animals, plants, and climate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARgrH, FREDRIK.
1950. Ecological adaptation and cultural change in archaeology. Amer.
Antiquity, vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 338-339.
BENEDIcT, RuTH.
1934. Patterns of culture. New York.
494 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Brooks, C. EH. P.
1949. Climate through the ages. New York.
CLARK, GRAHAME,
1939. Archaeology and society. London.
Couns, Henry B.
1943. Eskimo archeology and its bearing on the problem of man’s antiquity
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1947. The prehistory of northern North America as seen from the Yukon.
Mem. Soc. Amer. Archaeol., vol. 12, No. 3, pt. 2.
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1939. Animal ecology. New York.
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London, Toronto.
FLINT, RICHARD FOSTER.
1948. Glacial geology and the Pleistocene epoch. New York.
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Acad. Sci., vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 85-90.
Griacs, Ropert I’.
1937. Timberlines as indications of climatic trends. Science, vol. 85, pp.
251-255.
Hawtey, AMOS H.
1950. Human ecology. New York.
JENNESS, DIAMOND.
1940. Prehistorie culture waves from Asia to America. Journ. Washington
Acad. Sci., vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 1-15.
JOHNSON, FREDERICK.
1946. An archaeological survey along the Alaska Highway. Amer. Antiquity,
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JOHNSTON, W. A.
1933. Quaternary geology of North America in relation to the migration of
man. The American Aborigines (Diamond Jenness, ed.), pp. 11—45.
Toronto.
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1947. Permafrost or permanently frozen ground and related engineering
problems. Ann Arbor, Mich.
NELSON, N. C.
1937. Notes on cultural relations between Asia and America. Amer. An-
tiquity, vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 267-272.
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1940. Archaeological investigations in central Alaska. Amer. Antiquity,
vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 299-808.
Ravp, HucH M.
1941. Botanical problems in Boreal America. Bot. Rev., vol. 7, Nos. 8 and 4,
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ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA—SOLECKI 495
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No. 3, pp. 174-182.
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pp. 403-434.
SAvER, Cart O.
1944. A geographic sketch of Early Man in America. Geogr. Rey., vol. 34,
No. 4, pp. 529-573.
SIMPSON, GEORGE GAYLORD.
1940. Mammals and land bridges. Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 30,
No. 4, pp. 137-168.
SKARLAND, IVAR.
n. d. The geography of Alaska in Pleistocene and early postglacial time: a
study of the environment from an anthropological viewpoint. Ph. D.
thesis, Harvard Univ.
SKARLAND, Ivar, and GippINGs, J. L., JR.
1948. Flint stations in central Alaska. Amer. Antiquity, vol. 14, No. 2,
pp. 116-120.
SmItH, PHtip S., and MErrIig, J. B., Jr.
1930. Geology and mineral resources of northwestern Alaska. Geol. Surv.
Bull. No. 815.
SoOLECKI, RALpH S.
1950a. New data on the inland Eskimo of northern Alaska. Journ. Wash-
ington Acad. Sci., vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 187-157.
1950b. A preliminary report of an archeological reconnaissance of the Kuk-
powruk and Kokolik Rivers in northwest Alaska. Amer. Antiquity,
vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 66-69.
STEWARD, JULIAN H.
1936. The economie and social basis of primitive bands. Jn Essays in
Anthropology, pp. 331-350. Berkeley, Calif.
STONEY, GEORGE M.
1899. Explorations in Alaska. Proc. U. 8. Naval Inst., vol. 35, No. 3, pt. 1,
pp. 533-584; vol. 85, No. 4, pt. 2, pp. 799-849.
THOMPSON, RAYMOND M.
1948. Notes on the archeology of the Utukok River, northwestern Alaska.
Amer. Antiquity, vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 62-65.
WISSLER, CLARK.
1924. The relation of nature to man as illustrated by the North American
Indian. Ecology, vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 311-318.
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SAMUEL SEYMOUR: PIONEER ARTIST OF THE PLAINS
AND THE ROCKIES
By Joun Francis McDeErmotr
[With 16 plates]
Of all the artists who penetrated our frontiers in the early decades
of the nineteenth century Samuel Seymour has remained the most elu-
sive. Heshould have found an important place in the pictorial record
of the western plains and the Upper Mississippi, for so far as we
know he was the first man with any artistic skill to travel through
those regions sketchbook in hand, and the first views of many famous
spots were no doubt those taken by him. Other men after him, more
energetic in pushing their fortunes or more fortunate in the preserva-
tion of their pictures, achieved considerable repute and left behind
them masses of identifiable work, whereas Seymour has been neglected
and almost forgotten. James Otto Lewis, who painted Indians in
Wisconsin and Minnesota in 1824-26, became well known through his
“Aboriginal Port Folio,” published in 1835-86. George Catlin, who
did not ascend the Missouri until more than a decade after Seymour,
in later years won much publicity by his skillful showmanship;
through his traveling gallery and his books he preserved for the future
a vast number of his subjects. Bodmer’s record of the Missouri and
its Indians, done in 1833, saw extensive publication in the Atlas to
Prince Maximilian’s “Travels in North America,” first printed in
German in 1839-41, but very soon issued also in Paris and London
editions. Alfred J. Miller may not have made any great impression
on his time by his water colors of Sir William Drummond Stewart’s
sporting expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1837, but the sketches
were preserved so that Miller is now represented by the most complete
series of pictures of one expedition known to exist today. The Kern
brothers in the 1840’s and 1850’s saw much of their work lithographed
in official publications of the records of the exploring parties they
accompanied. Even Father Nicholas Point, companion of De Smet and
strictly an amateur, though still largely unpublished, can yet offer us
several hundred sketches of western scenes in the 1840’s. Only Sey-
mour, the first of them all, is sparsely represented in our files today.
The importance of Seymour is that he was the first artist to fill his
portfolio with sketches of scenery on the Missouri, the Platte, the
497
498 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Arkansas, on the Great Plains, and at the foothills of the Rockies, as
well as on the Upper Mississippi, the Red River of the North, Lake
Winnipeg, and Lake Superior. His misfortune lies in his elusive-
ness, in the disappearance of the great part of that large body of work
he accomplished on those two early journeys beyond the frontier.
Little is known of Seymour’s early years. Dunlap, in his “History
of the Arts of Design,” said he was a native of England and a friend
of Thomas Birch, John Wesley Jarvis, and Thomas Sully in Philadel-
phia (Dunlap, 1918, vol. 3, pp. 26, 257). At least three pictures by
Birch were engraved by Seymour: Philadelphia (with the Treaty
Elm) published May 1, 1801; New York (the “View with the White
Horse”) issued January 1, 1803; and Mount Vernon, March 15, 1804
(Stokes and Haskell, 1933, pp. 46, 48). About 1815 there was pub-
lished an engraving by Steel of a Seymour drawing of the Battle of
New Orleans (Stauffer, 1907, vol. 2, p. 500). A primitive oil on can-
vas of “Indians, Salmon Falls [ New Hampshire],” owned by the Whit-
ney Museum of American Art, is supposed to be the work of Seymour
(pl. 1). Only for the years 1819-23, however, is there any appreci-
able information about his work.
Seymour’s opportunity came when Maj. Stephen H. Long was or-
ganizing the Yellowstone Expedition. The desirability of a staff
artist was clearly felt, and he was chosen for the position. The in-
structions given him in Major Long’s orders of March 31, 1819, make
clear how valuable his portfolio must have been by the time the party
reached home. He was to “furnish sketches of landscapes, whenever
we meet with any distinguished for their beauty and grandeur. He
will also paint miniature likenesses, or portraits if required, of dis-
tinguished Indians, and exhibit groups of savages engaged in celebrat-
ing their festivals, or sitting in council, and in general illustrate any
subject, that may be deemed appropriate in his art” (James, 1823,
VolJl\p. 3)
Unhappily, in Edwin James’ official report of Long’s western ex-
pedition, there are few references to, and little detail concerning, the
day-by-day work of the artist. In a note at the close of that publica-
tion James stated that Seymour had done 150 “landscape views” of
which 60 had been finished (ibid., vol. 2, p. 330). Buta check of the
James volumes does not identify many scenes that the artist sketched.
Long himself in his report to Secretary of War Calhoun said that “Mr.
Seymour has taken numerous landscape views, exhibiting the charac-
teristic features of the country, besides many others of detached
scenery” (James in Thwaites, 1905, vol. 17, p. 181). Of all this work,
however, only 16 pictures can be identified today; this lot includes not
1 For permission to reproduce pictures by Seymour I wish to thank the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia, the Whitney Museum of Art, and the Yale University Library.
SAMUEL SEYMOUR——McDERMOTT 499
merely the illustrations of the English and American editions (which
were not all the same) but also a number of unpublished water colors.
The extant Seymour illustrations for the 1819-1830 expedition are
to be found in four lots:
1, Atlas to the American edition of James’ ‘‘Acount of an Expedition” :
War Dance in the Interior of a Konza Lodge.
Oto Council.
Oto Encampment [pl. 5 in this paper].
View of the Rocky Mountains, on the Platte, 50 Miles from their Base.
View of the Insulated Table Lands at the Foot of the Rocky Mountains
[pl. 11].
View of Castle Rock, on a Branch of the Arkansa, at the Base of the Rocky
Mountains.
2. The English edition:
Distant View of the Rocky Mountains (in color), vol. 1, frontispiece.
War Dance in the Interior of a Konza Lodge, vol. 1, p. 126.
Oto Council, vol. 1, p. 140.
View of the Chasm through which the Platte Issues from the Rocky
Mountains (in color), vol. 2, frontispiece.
Pawnee Council, vol. 2, p. 76.
Kiawa Encampment, vol. 3, frontispiece.
Kaskaia, Shienne Chief, Arrappaho, vol. 3, p. 48.
3. The Coe Collection, Yale University Library (original drawings) :
War Dance in the Interior of a Konza Lodge [pl. 2].
Pawnee Council [pl. 4].
View near the Base of the Rocky Mountains [pl. 6].
View Parallel to the Base of the Mountains at the Head of the Platte
[pl. 7].
Cliffs of Red Sandstone near the Rocky Mountains [pl. 8].
Hills of the Trap Formation [pl. 9].
View on the Arkansa near the Rocky Mountains [pl. 10].
Kiowa Encampment [pl. 12].
Kaskaia, Shienne Chief, Arrappaho [pl. 13].
4. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (original drawing) :
Oto Council [pl]. 3].
Two other illustrations used in the James publications were not
Seymour’s original work: “Skin Lodges of the Kaskaias” was by
T. R. Peale; the “Facsimile of a Delineation upon a Buffalo Robe,”
of course, was merely a copy by Seymour of an Indian original
(Seymour’s drawing of the latter is in the Coe Collection).
Seymour joined Long’s party at Pittsburgh some time in the spring
of 1819. As an artist he is first mentioned by William Baldwin,
physician and surgeon as well as botanist to the expedition, in a letter
to his friend William Darlington. Writing from on board the steam-
boat Western E’ngineer, Pittsburgh, May 1, 1819, Dr. Baldwin re-
marked that “Mr. Seymour [had] sketched a number of romantic
views” in that neighborhood (Darlington, 1843, p. 313). The official
report, however, said nothing of these drawings.
500 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
The first glimpse James gives us of Seymour at work occurred at
Cave-in-Rock (80 miles below the Wabash) on May 29, 1819, where
the party had spent the night. “Early the next morning,” the account
reads, “we went to visit the cave, of the entrance to which two views
were sketched by Mr. Seymour” (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 32). On
June 6, when they were below Herculaneum on the Mississippi,
T. R. Peale noted in his journal that they passed under “the most
sublime bluffs of limestone rocks that I ever beheld. Nearly all of the
hills on the left shore were walled with these tremendous precipices
of from 1 to 800 feet perpendicular, resembling walls and towers,
some with bare tops and others capped with grass and shrub-
bery. ... We being obliged to go directly at the foot of these hills,
were not able to take many views of them. Mr. Seymour, however,
succeeded in getting one or two” (Weese, 1947, p. 158). None of these
sketches can be located.
The party now proceeded to St. Louis, where they stayed 12 days.
From St. Charles, Mo., Seymour set out overland with Say, Jessup,
and Peale while the others continued up the Missouri by boat.
During this walk across the State of Missouri, there is no mention of
any sketches by Seymour. Above Fort Osage the artist found in a
Kansa village a subject to be used as his first contribution to the
published account. The journalist of the party made an interesting
report of this episode:
Mr. Say’s party were kindly received at the village they had left on the preced-
ing day. In the evening they had retired to rest in the lodge set apart for their
accommodation, when they were alarmed by a party of savages, rushing in
armed with bows, arrows and lances, shouting and yelling in a most frightful
manner. The gentlemen of the party had immediate recourse to their arms, but
observing that some squaws, who were in the lodge, appeared unmoved, they
began to suspect that no molestation to them was intended. The Indians collected
around the fire in the centre of the lodge, yelling incessantly; at length their
howlings assumed something of a measured tone, and they began to accompany
their voices with a sort of drum and rattles. After singing for some time, one
who appeared to be their leader, struck the post over the fire with his lance,
and they all began to dance, keeping very exact time with the music. Each
warrior had, besides his arms, and rattles made of strings of deer’s hoofs, some
part of the intestines of an animal inflated, and inclosing a few small stones,
which produced a sound like pebbles in a gourd shell. After dancing round the
fire for some time, without appearing to notice the strangers, they departed,
raising the same wolfish howl, with which they had entered; but their music
and their yelling continued to be heard about the village during the night.
[James, 1828, vol. 1, p. 135.]
This “dog dance,” we are told, had been performed for the entertain-
ment of the guests. “Mr. Seymour took an opportunity to sketch the
attitude and dresses of the principal figures (ibid.) (pl. 2). On
publication the plate was incorrectly entitled “War Dance in the
Interior of a Konza Lodge.”
SAMUEL SEYMOUR——McDERMOTT 501
At Engineer Cantonment near Council Bluffs, where Long’s party
encamped for the winter, a council was held on October 4 at which
about 100 Otos, 70 Missouris, and 50 or 60 Iowas were present.
According to the record,
They arranged themselves, agreeably to their tribes, on puncheon benches,
which had been prepared for them, and which described a semicircle, on the
chord of which sat the whites, with Major O’Fallon and his interpreters in the
centre. Sentinels walked to and fro behind the benches; and a handsome stand-
ard waved before the assembly. The council was opened by a few rounds from
the howitzers. A profound silence reigned for a few minutes, when Major
O’Fallon arose, and ina very animated and energetic manner addressed his Indian
auditors. Suitable replies were given by Shonga-tonga, the Crenier and others,
with all the extravagant gesticulation which is one of the prominent features of
Indian oratory. [Ibid., vol. 1, p. 158.]
At some time during this meeting Seymour sketched his “Oto
Council” (pl. 3), which was used to illustrate both editions of the
narrative. Less than a week later the Pawnees came in fora talk. In
the water color now made (“Pawnee Council”) the artist gave a dif-
ferent view (pl. 4) of the council grounds and a detail more in
keeping with the text quoted above than was that of the “Oto
Council” (ibid., vol. 1, p. 159).
There are no further references to Seymour’s delineations until
the next spring or summer. The “Oto Encampment” (pl. 5.), which
was published only in the American edition, may have been done in
March or April during the winter encampment, or in June on the
march up the Platte Valley. In it was represented “an encampment
of Oto Indians, which Mr. Seymour sketched near the Platte river
. . . the group of Indians on the left is intended to represent a party
of Konza Indians approaching to perform the calumet dance in the
Oto village .. . this party when still distant from the Otoes, had
sent forward a messenger, with the offer of a prize to the first Oto
that should meet them. This circumstance was productive of much
bustle and activity among the warriors and young men, who eagerly
mounted their horses, and exerted their utmost speed” (ibid., vol.
1, pp. 188-189).
Presently the explorers—whose new orders had diverted them from
the Yellowstone objective to a round over the Great Plains to the
mountains—on June 30, 1820, “were cheered by a distant view of
the Rocky Mountains” (ibid., vol. 1, p. 489). Although James did not
mention it, the artist must now have done the “Distant View of the
Rocky Mountains” which forms one of the illustrations of the English
edition. Literally, these were not the Rockies, but they were prac-
tically the beginning of the mountains. Probably a day or two
later Seymour sketched the “View of the Rocky Mountains, on the
Platte, 50 Miles from their Base,” published in the American edition.
502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Next Seymour drew his “View of the Chasm through which the Platte
Issues from the Rocky Mountains” (English edition only). Their
camp on July 5 was “immediately in front of the chasm,” the view
being taken from a “commanding eminence” a little to the south of
camp. (The paragraph in which this sketch is mentioned appears
only in the English edition; James in Thwaites, 1905, vol. 15, pp.
285-286.)
Most of this month was spent in crossing the present State of
Colorado from the headwaters of the Platte to the headwaters of
the Arkansas. At least seven views for this portion of the trip
exist. Of 10 Seymour water colors in the Coe Collection of Yale
University Library (all of which must have been among the 60 pic-
tures finished by the artist), 5 were never published. From their sub-
jects they belong to July 1820: “View near the Base of the Rocky
Mountains” (pl. 6), “View Parallel to Base of the Mountains at
the Head of the Platte” (pl. 7), “Cliffs of Red Sandstone near the
Rocky Mountains” (pl. 8—possibly July 6), “Hills of the Trap For-
mation” (pl. 9—probably July 28), and “View on the Arkansa near
the Rocky Mountains” (pl. 10). These pictures are all signed either
“S.S.” or “S. Seymour,” and the captions are in his hand.
Two other pictures for this area were published in the American
edition: a “View of the Insulated Table Lands at the Foot of the
Rocky Mountains” (pl. 11), and a “View of Castle Rock, on a Branch
of the Arkansa, at the Base of the Rocky Mountains” (James, 1823,
vol. 2, p. 16). James mentioned another subject that was not re-
produced. As the party moved south it came to a hill from the
top of which “the High Peak mentioned by Capt. Pike” was dis-
covered. In this neighborhood they came on “several rock forma-
tions beautifully exposed,” and Seymour made sketches of “these
singular rocks” (James in Thwaites, 1905, vol. 15, p. 302).
On July 24 a party consisting of Captain Bell, Say, Seymour, and
others was detached to proceed eastward along the Arkansas. Two
or three days later they came upon a Kiowa encampment, and the
artist did another of his interesting views (pl. 12). The foreground
pictures the tents and flagstaff of the whites, with Indians crossing the
river in the middle distance, and the Indian encampment far beyond
the river on the horizon. It was probably on this occasion that
Seymour also made the sketches of the three Indians represented on
the plate of “Kaskaia, Shienne Chief, Arrappaho” (pl. 13). (James,
1823, vol. 2, p. 175 ff.) Both of these pictures were used in the
English edition.
At the close of the expedition the journals and papers of the various
members were placed in James’ hands for the preparation of a book
for the general public about the exploratory expedition, and for this
Seymour was to furnish illustrations. Work progressed slowly. On
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Smithsonian Report, 1950.—McDermott
WAR [DOG] DANCE IN THE INTERIOR OF A KONZA LODGE
Coe Collection, Yale University Library.
Water color.
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y S Seymour
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WANOTAN AND HIS SON
Engraved by J. Hill. From Keating’s “Narrative.”
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SAMUEL SEYMOUR——McDERMOTT 503
June 10, 1822, Long wrote to Colonel Roberdeau, in charge of the
Topographical Bureau of the Army, that the artist had then com-
pleted about 60 of his drawings and that 20 had been selected for the
English edition. Nineteen days later in another letter to Roberdeau,
Long expressed considerable exasperation with his artist: “Since
writing my last, Seymour has done nothing. I cannot get him to
complete the Drawings for our Book. eesecs eee en eee 157
Honorary duties-. ix
Mann, W. M., Director, National Zoological Park__________-____-- vi, ix, 115
IVE: ghra rad ge a Ce es easy ek ees viii
Man’s disorder of nature’s design in the Great Plains (F. W. Albertson)__ 363
Manshtps Paullss oS octal ea hie te oe 3c eek aa ta ae eh 36
Mantids, Praying, of the United States, native and introduced (Ashley B.
GUENO Ye Se es = 2 ne al spe ny AE aeons Ot ELIS 2 CPT PEN Sera SPR” RCN NRare eens OX eae 339
Marbles i: s< oats o2 so lee hm ame ey ols Saku 2 eS sR ga fae ate vii
IME asta ib Wi Stee ae ane RY EC EE Es hn ey vi
IVA sre nn CST oe ea I ae en el eh 2 ay a en Vili
McBride, Harry A., Administrator, National Gallery of Art___.__.__.__---- Vili
DMG Ciara oR Noo 2 2 i Fae ye te AN ne ee aa a vii, 20
McDermott, John Francis (Samuel Seymour: Pioneer artist of the Plains
GIG HW!) 5 VO CITES) = re as es eg eet al aN cae 497
McGrath, J. Howard, Attorney General, member of the Institution______~ Vv
IFe Mora Dak pte sea mo ch es PE et I ee ce I ee vili, 23
Members ‘of the Institution == 3222 226425202 98. 2 Se oe ee ean ee Vv
Merriman, Daniel (Food shortages and the sea)_-__._..___._-_----------- 373
Metcalf, Georgoct 2/0 40.815) 2908 by SATA TS ea Fel ealtpias ceeet om he 61
Meteorite crater, Wolf Creek, Western Australia (D. J. Guppy and R. S.
IVDsst Ives orn) Bes Se a Re a Te Ye ee 317
INDEX oY
Page
IVE CHESIND CAI Geese teat Neer cee er ee OE Ee eee SUC a 50
MikynWayeoey ond the (lnorntonhage)a Sao he ie een ah 2 eee 165
Winer CArleipe se neo ere ae a See ern a ae eee te 54, 57, 58
Ts GD Keyes GReees rte KS fk ie 8 eet es WE Pun PRU teal guia hey ds eae pn eh kN hate AT vi
BES es DST IGN DS NDS 0 a aS ea ag gd ng hele gaa es as vi
IN oriisas CAPIGV py gere ny Ser oat neo 8k MES ee in enn eee AR Re IxstQh 132
TOMER ID ORU area ae cae aes ou he ia te Dek See oe mee Lee 54, 55
Monganemlizabetneeer sss ol ee Oe Sees Shane he anes nine ee Wie 31, 32
INTOON Ga GOLC Ve se eee er ee a eae PU Rae Oe ee Ee vi
INTIS OVI SMe OSE Bay ee sa arcs te IS I CS ea Ph re Worn Reng 2s Me Seen Vi;20
INTORGO TIE SV ete ede Ml ee ns ote hs ee aise LIF Vii
Ini RoYe| VETO ib JOY I age ae LSet RA le al aE te AP a Sale ee LA viii
IND TRESS LENS Oa a as A ay RR A i a hd Nee Se ia es Bw IE Vii
Museum. (See National Museum.)
MyeruCatherme Walden: fundies 55.0 2h ee Sa a ee tS eh BY
Miversi George Hewittss ss. 5se 505 25 oe ne eet Se SNE NS ate Mer ee 36
N
iINationalaAgEeVilseuml- == se 222 6 eee oe oe ee ey ee ix O50; oe
PNG COSSIG IIS ee ese Mere etre ee a BU eo Se ai eee a tee 130
INT SOR Ve ORT Greta ek es Na SOS Sau me tle et ae ix, 124
BNEN DE OPSEL GLO IN easement reg er cia ne eee ere eee ee 5
CnraAvonAlActivibicsee r= ete ee ee eee eee ener eee 126
dB Tes) UA AN a a ee a Nl ee Ao Ui 122
Iaforimas MONA SEL VACeR Stee sc SW aN RE GS eee Ee ed Semen 129
NENSeumubullding studiess =. tek ei ee oe ee oe ee eae 123
PRC DOLU Samah a ee Dee se Se ela ene ate ae Sener ae), “A22
Speciale ven tain eee ss ae noe se er he oe ay ae eee 124
SHEEN Ts sey gS Se aye I aa a a SSeS eae eae ix
EOE eee ee ete ee ea es mee MN DR LP Rea ae oe Sa ee 127
NERUDA CE panes LEP 7 Beh she Am i ec pee Cg ae ee NEN Chas 129
Nation alaCollectionvote Mine sAt ts = . — ep eee eee ee ee viii, 5, 8, 36
Jas) OF ONY OSC ry CO ON is a te en oe ae eae A VE ie ee me 5
@athenimer yal dems Viky ery fur Cle ese eer eee eee ee eee Biff
DD LES OL ORS SS et a Pa ae ne he On Se Se eee 37
Renn yO VAN Per UD ey une fui Winer aoe te ee os ie 39
MNLOnMAON SCE VCOa ee eee eee ee ee ee er ee eee 39
1 it OY HE Phy aoe a Ft ag nga Rh pl a AN SR YI rio 39
MOAN SHACCE SLCC ee es ee ee Re yee eed Lee Mpc ye es en ca ee 37
LEZS TONS TREVH OM eT CGY bate a eas aE eel it i Re he pt ee ae eee ed 39
oans;to, other, museums and’ organizations 22. 2240 se a eae ae 38
biGa lions setts ta es ash ea so Sie ee a eee eS ae 154
J SAE) OKO elec Ste Sea a a OO i aan gt get a SP nt 36
SHiphseniancart, Commissionia. = 222s. 0. Se eee. ae oe 36
FS] OLS ep SNL Ess aN) 0 Ua VS a a SSS eR a ee ah ie ee! 40
PSHE YR ata ole Up oa lly RE th eal gay ye eee mS | eee bee csi viii
GIS ES OVEN Wey aS Ss cs eo Ne acy a we Eg a ra eg ene yey 37
Waters wal Shilo yaOWinels cesta ats ark 2 liom coe caste cnet nee eee eu A ONES 37
Na tionaliGallenyioteArtesa tance noes kee ie ee ee hc eo Vili, 5, 7, 23
PATCEOSSL OTS etter ae ye te Sete y er ne ieee Nt ay ee ree ek eae a 25
NCCUIsILLONns! COmInit beens ase san asm ee niente meee Se earn ee 24
PAD DEO EIA GO Teepe eae ee ea ene Se A eee ee 5, 24
JNTREES IG E29 OV eee sh A A Rene ain te eee teen et) De a he ete 24
Aviditrofeprivate nun dstofuthen Galler yarns ees eae ee 35
Carelandpnaintenanceron theybulldings 5.225225 5) 22 eelae ee 34
Committee Oexpert examiners. .—) ses so ee See 34
Construction of new galleries and offices__..____------------------- 34
Curatonaltactiviticss =. 22222 6 aee ee Cee ae eee 31
DECORA LIVE PAT baa metes alee eee ye eye er a re pr eet pL aire ae ee ie 25
Gd Nes OMARDTOTANY ese ase es ee on ee eee se 33
BixchangerOlwOrks Oman sea = ce eens ee eee ne Ree ee 25
EB XECUtIVC ROO DIMI LLCe Mee eee a ty Oy ie eine ne yee es eee eae ae 23
Ixhi bisionseaweae mele case US cy AL Se ee ee 29
518 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
National Gallery of Art—Continued Page
Indexsof American’ Design. he site el aN ene my aye ee ee a 34
DVT oY ee NA NS eH Tay re ep eM Oy el en yet faye Ml eye AS I I 33
Loaned, works:of art: returned 220 SNe co Pes AEN eae ECs lp eee Be o 27
Omicials sues Oe ss SE ENE Rae SA SB cane oe ae mg Ee 4 viii
Organization 2. 22a S ONS See Sak Te See Se ee ae See ata ate eee ee 23
Other activities ssa 0S Se aint SEP eave Be Sh 9 ye onl OS 34
Other giftsse Soo 2 SSE 2s ee Se AS re ep On 35
Paintings ss oo Ee es ee ee Ral APN ERs sehen on eR 25
Prints and drawings: 22.220 04 Ss a ee Ne RAS rte ee a eee 25
Publications = 26 = 250% ee Se A ahr Beane ee oa ae 32
Reporbece sta. Ses wens eA een Se 2 to es ek Oe ee glee, MOEN 23
Restoration and repair of works of art222-- eee 31
Travelingiexhibitions= = 3 40 SSS p ss ses ee se Sh ee ae eee 30
Wrusteess on 252 2520 52 Se Ree Reo Tee ee SNe a So ye ti walk a UE Rep eee viii
Wiorksrofrartilembiis = cists fs eee to 2 i coy Wi ASA ia RAUR ene a Peale Gey ea 27
Works ofvartion loan sa OU 2 Net Ae eT ORL en Se haR aie. a eae eee 26
National’ Museum 222 jeu Ue Ee Se ee ee moh Vi, OP Ga
INCEESSTO MS ot oa eye eS cs ye A rk Ps ae ye ee pe fo
IA DPLOPLIAtIO Mies ee ep eyes ea yA Va 00 ar aad SE ee pe 5
Changeshmrorg ari 7 2 to ree ee ee ee pn eee nee 22
Collections? 22% 22 sa eos spb ek Oy bien SNS 2 Se Soee =) ee ee 13
Exploration and field: work we) 2 625 55 pee ee 19
BUCA GIONS se ie a oS Re el arte al han pay yee a eg Pl Wa
Reporte 222 8 Deer Skene ses seas ele UL hk 2 ee ee Sea 13
Sethe 2 see a a ss is tg nh hal ay a ty Sete ee ee vi
IN stromal’ ZOO) gi cai y i sir Kearse op pee ey aN ix, 5, 9, 82, 161
ACCESSIONS Ya Fob eee Bae Bee nN ly oo aa an Shay pt Mh ed ge og eee 83
Birthsiand*hatchings2=S= = 2a5 052 slg ee oe ee 89
GaftG 2S Be SE Se eet By Gy acs es et I acer te is BI ed 83
PP UTCI ASC So Reece ea fie nl SN ele Vaal eee oe ea ee i yay pA See lh ee 89
Animalsyini the collections Ime ks Os 9 5 0 eee ee ee 95
APPIOPTIGWON Ss oo oe ee Oat eet so a Ree thay gay oa, my ea 5, 94, 161
Depositors and donors and their giftss—— == 2 =— ee See ee eae 84
EXE Se See = em SS ee ag Oe ae a ay ee ee es coe ee 2 ene pig Ae 82
IN ANCeS a2 Ses oy ts RS ee ely eel OR EVE a hag See fap hes 94
Miaintenamnceyarad simproiyexiy emits mye a age eee 92
ING SS Sie Sh Se Se Sesleri nok te othe pe es) etc ke EL ANE SV ed 94
Reporb..22 2582 sp eS a ee re wha ee So Soe Sen ee emia ee 82
TRESS ATG Ia eee ee aaa yah 5 es Da ep ep a 90
Status sof the-collection=-4ss-ss=s2- 2.2522 5L oa Cs eee see 94
VISIC OTS a aT TR ae onc papal vad ed ee 92
Natural history in Iceland (Julian Huxley) 22+ 2222 22 22S o6 Seas 2 ae 327
AN((eh ig oot avlAY tees Meee Re Aen Aes RA te A ce en ON ey perma MUN ee epee fut Th 24S vl
BN GT c(o) bo DY: igo (Ae RAD Poplist betta att Oe Le eee tal ent, Ure ee tS TT vii, 21
North eutt; sso iss Cee tease Sree sh ae a LEN A IS gee ae a 68
O
Oberg. Kalervo. .. 52.2208 See et ee ee eee ea ee eee 68
© Donnell, Maj. ‘Gen: Hmmett@e., Jri_ 2228 eee eee eee 124
@echser; Paul He, Chiet.. Kditorial Divisions 22 "= 92242552 oe-—— v, vi, 2, 151, 155
Officials: of: the Institution. 8 Cte Se eee eee Vv
Olivares; Ismael so 220 te Cee et he en ns meee Dna eevee Ene 136
Oliver, L. L., Superintendent of Buildings and Labor of the Institution -__-- Vv
ODT Sregea sag [EPR ERE ma an ee aero em papal Yim rps lek Aloe aah ater So SOAS vil
Osborne, Douglas 202s i 22 ee ae see ee eee ie eee ee eee eee 55, 56, 57
P
Page, Thornton (Beyond the Milky Way) 2222-2 > 4.225 ee See NGS
Palmer, M. Helens. 52 oe ae ne See ee ae viii, 153
Palmer, Ti: Gos acts 28 Se oe in Sa i a a aOR aes See ge vi
Pauling, Linus C. (Chemical achievement and hope for the future) - - - - --- 225
Pearce, Bohl ae Ss eee nt ee Ee eee en vii, 21
Pearson, Mrs. Louise M., Administrative Assistant to the Secretary - ----- v
Peat; Marwick, Mitchal & Co-2 2 22 92 2 ais Pee to
Peck. Stewartoc 0s osc 002 Geen sae ee eee Soe eee
INDEX 519
Page
Rermatrosts(hobertrh Black) Gs 255 45. ee ee UA lta es 273
NR OTTY CoV Ue tre ee ea ta A ee te ee ee ee esrs ae Gea Vii
RETRY Os) es eek ee ee ee ee eh eee Ce RL vii
MFCR V2 pth VV EUGSO Tp Vos Sas CEE he Eo eae ei a lh be wed allay 19, 136
Personnel Officer of the Institution (Mrs. B. T. Carwithen)______________ Vv
IRS LSTSO II prey Wyle seers eek eters rer x CRATE AMR ARE ental Be bE LES ab allt oe vi
IRC ey STON OY JIN LA Ui Sp sere 2A Bap Ree poo ak a aig eee Bt Vili
Phillips yDuncane ene et eee teretete tebe ace ee bel villi, 23, 24
Photographer of the Institution (F. B.. Kestner)__-_.__. 12-02-22... Vv
PICrSON ee OMe Ahh ah Sr eh I IM Sr es Re aL 68
Pipers albany sts 2 eas oh st ois ete ei Sa a ok et 125
Tepe tebe, dS 12) 0 Os kaha ce de ne a Ca A te LO ely are eee 8 RAS 2
Pope, John A., Assistant Director, Freer Gallery of Art--_-__-_-______- viii, 47
VEOH NEL LL, Oxo) (a) dal Ol Die een ec one ater pe eg an 19
(ROULCT Salama nctree ee ea ee it te eC a le ee we AU igh ix
Postmaster General of the United States (Jesse M. Donaldson, member of
VOY Sy eT G ONSAS UREN CO) a) Lie es il eg Rn AS hay A A EE aR Od De Ree a UG Pf | Vv
Praying mantids of the United States, native and introduced (Ashley B.
Gurney) ae ee ee ee eee a oe ee Oe oe 339
President of the United States (Harry 8. Truman, Presiding Officer ex
OMiClO OlgunevinstitbUbION))< <2 ee i ee Le OP eee oe v,3
Presiding Officer ex officio of the Institution (Harry 8. Truman, President
OCH aU Mitede States) Se wee aah le eh a ey el tag a ars ee AD Vv
IEE CO Ns Oe TNA Cate en Pane Set es) Nets er oe oe La ER ese ee eee ix
IBTICO VALET ROUSE Nac OO nn Mt AY TRNOT RTA os WIE Pb GU wi BT Bay) eee 35
IBTIGe INCATSAGIITSU A NV ek Sere eer earch ee OL, BAP EEE CRN bs ORSAY ih. Bebe e ix, 124
Property, Supply, and Purchasing Officer of the Institution (Anthony W.
YAMS Wi a) ee le Sey a a he a TR ee aL hs ieaeht Se SRC amar Vv
Publica tlonsaeeeet see ne oes eee Set ee Se ee ae 11, 149
American cistorical Associations Reports. 92 tus She Se ae 154
Appropriaviousior printing and binding sis s2s Soler sw as ee ae 154
Buresujor; American. PE thnologye sas. 0 Sees fae Se ees eae 70, 153
Bulle Gin Sas See crane Sires ee a ees Re Ree AS Se 153
instijute.oi social: Anthropology o2o2. soca ee Oe es. 153
VO POL US rece eo et er A eels Sh a 1D et ed Oa, 153
Daughters of the American Revolution, Report__-_-_________-___--- 154
MOPESE TU UU A Oo eM eee ea as en Qe EO TR 149
reer Gallery On Arts: 222 22s esos 5 MeN Ree erat WE TEE 42, 154
OCcasionalyPaperse iy yee eee see ae Fath a & oh on ee 154
Orientalistuaieg ss. esas are see NS ee Me et pas Se EN ens 154
iNetionalsCollection of Mine vAriss ve) =) ll ee ee EI 154
IN GLO Mae Gall rey ate fi Air Gis eee Ieee aa eR lea epee pe ay pps RRO | aa OR 32
IN SUGLOM a VETS eM shh ce eee nr 2 eae cy Se RE 21, 151
Ble binges ae see get aun cheated uae S Nae A Re ene Ren gO eee a 153
Contributions from the United States National Herbarium___-~_-_ 153
ISTO CCE CIM OSs Meneses at eee TER CN tes Pant 2 ae ahah Cpr S 151
JESSY OY ODA Rs Ziv a was yg ge aly gl eg i ele et, 151
1 RYE) BON Se Pk, A a el Cn a i en te OO 149
ROTHEC SO Rei eid epee te eee ee prin OS eee eee 11, 150
PaNF AMONG EWE I RACSY OO) OP es i at i Ba as Spy Ba Be ee ey Seana a SE 150
Miscellaneous Collections 2.222256 eae eae ey ee ee 150
SpPecialepubleationss ee] sea Selene ina eae Celah Dee ee ee eee 151
Publications, Division of, Chief (L. E. Commerford)______________--__- Vv
R
Radiation angwOreanisma pO ivislOniOl. =. — eee ix, 119
Ranger eHonrysv ALG hUnGet. 2.8 aes eee eee 2 ee eee ee 39
VERRECO Ld OS (Op Be er a 9 a la 1B ae en eB aT Sated Ld vii
VRSTETSH VG KEP [hd ey J Ns TR SUA 2 Be a nn aad re vii
FOSenUS MD Oar GeO am Ne aha CSU Me eee sie oe cue me eae A v,3
EIXECUCIVOLC OMUMICtCe Me ee a Faye ae Rtas ne ce ae ue een ect Worl
CEVA Sa eS Nag ek Ih ee ee ea Dee Rie Vv
DHE) {0} ss Me PSN YD MC? we Re ll eo rad pea 156
Me ran eines eee en ie eee te deta Crepe list te uN esp Bae Nie een Ad LN Vv
520 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
Page
Rehdert) HaraldtAc. 2 ool Pals arial hs AN as eae sae et ae 2 a eee See vi
Richards o}C iver leg Vis) o a2) wep Aa ates yd ea Ig ee ae ope 31, 32
FGI GO UL NOT Uay BT e/a Sl eI 2a a an Dele ee ee ere 125
Riv ery Basin SULVEY So Soe ae Se eee ant a a eee Se eee Xn Oe,
Appropriation >. 2 2 sate oe EES Ry See BP a bya ee ee 5, 52, 161
Roberts, Frank H. H., Jr., Associate Director, Bureau of American Eth-
nology, Director, River Basin Surveys_-_--------- viii, ix, 8, 48, 49, 52, 54, 60
Rosersa Grace glia sees sane eee vii
Rohwer 0) Ae Soke 2 oe a oe Shae ens Noe a eee aE pte Bee ae ae vi
Rosenwald Collections iie<2 4. .52-2 e202 e ee se ho ee eae woe 30
MERU We area cee ary a a a eat Soe me ly vii
Russelleeoes OWNS Gs ek ee ee Ae aE ee eS ee ee eee vi
)
Salisbuny,Roberti@2 a5 se ta 2 a sate eee Se ee 55, 56
Saltonstall, Leverett, regent of the’ Institution__. 2-2 =-2-5.2-22--5-_5- Vato
Sawyer, Charles, Secretary of Commerce, member of the Institution ____- Vv
Scola exiles TW ee Mis yh a a a Sr a ee ae Vii
Yo] ot ae FRAN | 2) (6.0 DY ea aa en ee EADS Es ene al ee eye ee cree ae vi
Schrodinger, E. (What is an elementary particle?) ---__-.-------------- 183
Schultaeonard) Ps. 340k oe es eet ee ee vi
Schumacher he Gis wee 2 a ee eS Be ee tee eee viii
Schwartz) vBenj amin 2 a ee se re aed ee ne vi
SearlewMirss clarriep vricharcdsom ane ree ee eee vi
Secretary of Agriculture (Charles F. Brannon, member of the Institution) - Vv
Secretary of Commerce (Charles Sawyer, member of the Institution) ____-- Vv
Secretary of Defense (Louis Johnson, member of the Institution) ---_-_-- 4
Secretary of the Institution (Alexander Wetmore) ---------..-.-------- Vv
viii, 3, 12, 23, 36, 124, 125, 136
Secretary of the Interior (Oscar Chapman, member of the Institution) _-- Vv
Secretary of Labor (Maurice Tobin, member of the Institution) ----.-_-- Vv
Secretary of State (Dean C. Acheson, member of the Institution)_--_- v, vili, 23
Secretary of the Treasury (John W. Snyder, member of the Institution) -- V,
vili, 23
1
SecretanyisiepOrgn osc = ee Oe a eee ce arene ey ote ene
AG hire Gee ee ee ae A ea 2 ee clea ss eet 6
Boandyof. te ceritae 2 0 Lae ge a et a eae 3
IStablishmenge sess = ae ye ee aes ee ee ee eet 3
MOHD COS ee er hk rm a a aa eg 5
@eteralsstatemnen ts ee ee ee a a a ae tr 1
WT rate a6 a See a ne Sipe ee eee 12
Pub lea tioms ese a ee Be ee ya a ee es ee eee eats 11
DWTS Tid ee ees a a a ee a er Ce a 6
Year’s activities of the branches of the Institution_-_____.___---_-_- 6
Beegers VSCOlL AMG MV IESS SCOR CIS sae eee eee ee ee 134
SUE 20 il & AORN, a aE oe Spe on Mey Bae pe eas Ree re Ae dea oe vi
SUE ATLSS Sal 2 0 BN Mags aes ae ene oe eel ey ie ee oeee ede ape vi
Seymour, Samuel: Pioneer artist of the Plains and the Rockies (John
Francis, MeDermott) eon 25 cee ee ee ee te er ee oe 497
Siralicop ev Dent eee oe eee ae a ee 61
rolove) of 1x0 bal DYoveN ClO D Boye oe opera ee eee ee Beet Sees ese eS 23
Shep heres sEereMiGles tod Nee sm ere ee 63
Shiner Oe Dace n mss ce ea a ee ee 49, 55, 56
SU uh ay os ene Peano Vets) ay [a ey eigen ieee eee ee eee Be eas al 61
Shoemaker) Os UR eee ee eee ee eee vi
Girma tas! OZ ze) Cre ose ee ae ee ae 70
Sinclair, Charles C., Assistant Superintendent of Buildings and Labor of
hve AL TYS GU GULL MN eee ae er a ea ee Vv
SST UBT ted es Ra en Se A ee tp ee ee viii
(Sa a) OU aN Cyc te Ah i A i ee Aa, AE alts ye lt ees Spe pes Reh en vii
Smiths Carlylecms = oe oe een eee 60
reat hs) sgl Uprgiea 1a Wid eae peer eae rene teae Sie Aye Daye So bee eS vii
Shranidoeroneneyn “unr (Clore enol nee ee ee eee 36
Snyder, John W., Secretary of the Treasury, member of the Institution_- v, vili, 23
Sle (eX el 2a ig R30) 0) 0 ats eee eas age Are AMET Be A ee ee ee 54, 63
Soper: Cle velar G as y— em ee een rgee eree ee e 136
INDEX sydd |
Page
SperchersriUgenees eens wae se sees See OE eee eel eee 36
SS GerTbO a oie Lica Veer eee ne ce te FE A ec a Sd Se ge ee A vii
Stephenson shObentpies =. ven. Seto ese ee eee eee ee a ee ee, 49, 65
STE MEHSOMMOOHIMC-Ami as er Bekoe a eae UM Seen SR och hoe ee ne ai
Stewart, Tua eae een nen CORE Ea Meter emer LN ae NSE i
Stirling, Matthew W., Director, Bureau of American Ethnology--- viii, 8, 48, 72
Stott, Ken, Jr., and MSS ton TE. Le i EERE een Coe eames CLO INEe 135
Stout, \WVALUCREya ya) pein lpn Al il aI Us Colne! Ube Seley AR AS eared ix, 124
Strobell, 1 Ries LO ka Schelde ed aa hg le 6 et a i eT yn HO aa Cae ix
Sullivan, IFT AVIN CLS penetra we See heyy le eee Mala eA Lea Suir ei een ey A Sil
Sun, The luminous surface and atmosphere of the (Bertil Lindblad) - ----_- 173
Superintendent of Buildings and Labor of the Institution (L. L. Oliver) -_- Vv
Swell ene RS ta eb ees as ae cree Snel be ca yp ae Oy Se ore er vii, 20
Swanton, ANOS Ov ay Rare a atl al ely sh a aoe eh aces Ad ali, Bes iecdened ea Oph tee fahes My ek ie viii, 72
SMITE Vamenta ae een eer See ke ee ESE mui Se lee an vii
SWiGZCIWE GCORD CS i seas nee mee arene a ae ee em nee oa IA eee ee vii, 21
of
PADS Tall oy ciety JID), CG at et ee aga pt gp Me ha pe Ae Lat gl an AO ix
BREE O Tem ESC aa kce Nee omc or ee eee es Nee er es ee ye ee et vii
ais ona ryt Ore 2) rc eee BOL Luna ey eee eee 5
“tbaaliore, | ios iia aerate steer ce eae ees EA res cee geri en ee vi
SEHOMmAS OG OSs Seen == eee Sea M es Sedna en eee Soe ee eS vii
Hine tse OO lapel Wis Sos aye ose oh ete ees ony ce gee ey eae ae ee 124
Tobin, Maurice, Secretary of Labor, member of the Institution_______--- Vv
BUN ELTA IS St) eres oe ee agi A ec RS a ee SD OS 6 SO SY in oe a Ape es at 57
PreEASULErAOL LNe INStiGUbIONN (Jee kLOwelTl)) yyy ai eee ee Vv
AD TERE. MAYEN NSA een bel hee aa ETS ss A ag ee ee ae 2; 1155
Pre UIT SA TOV (Gr OT Ce ee a ie a eae Ny ta cress en ee 125
Truman, Harry S., President of the United States, Presiding Officer ex
ONT CLOLOLS CMS MLS TI WGI O Me eee ae a ee vm ee wl ee Vv
TPE) SS RIN EEK YE SISO a pe ace CS oD a eS ye viii
shuschew Mars. (CoMlOghen | CC tA sulin hs re ON leer Ni Lee ee a a 126
U
Universe, The composition of our (Harrison Brown) --_.--------------- 197
Vv
VMandenberemGeneHovtrore oe! Meal gu era eee ey 2s ee 2 123
Wiecuig ir ericyel Witenes Pier ein eT kr ee ie on ee eee vii
Vice President of the United States (Alben W. Barkley, member of the
MSEC ULL OT aap a eee ees celia ht cael ON Me AN ek ye ee a en) Sas v,3
Vinson, Fred M., Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor of the
ANGE GIG Vat 1a meee apt es uy cy I Sua ty Sipe I 2 acs eae | Vv, viii, 3, 5, 28
NHTESH OD Ye ae eter Ss SOU aT eo ce NaN OE te ee 6, 24, 46, 92
NreeraGallenyrotpAnst 9 eae ee wa i Se Ae eee ee Ree a 46
Nationale GralleryAo te Aunts 2 arse ete ee ce ae oe a 24
INE Omell Vooloai@nll lenidkes ok ee ee oe 92
Vorys, Johnie sregent ofthe Institution=. 222) 5-5-5 25-- 22-2 5. Sees v, 3
W
NICSE oP DB [Pat ea a rd RG =P Ve coli Pee Oe en vil
Walker, Ernest P., Assistant Director, National Zoological Park _------- ix
Walker, John, Chief Curator, National Gallery of Art._____..------ viii, 32, 33
Walter, W. Grey (Electroencephalography) -__._.._-.--.---------------- 243
Wichino AT TOMO Ns, rome 2 ns im Cen art, MUR ie Pe ee ee viii, 72
Suse is er Sm CO eper Vitere creas ta ee eth ee DE ERENCE Ste a oe hs eae eee vi
WWisvtcrmic en Wrllllnenrrae Niet seca se se taper n et oe Nyt Nees rl oe aiticlign vii
NAYES BG GBR ew TR er OO eg tee 136
Wy @rcloledoypians, a a ipsa al es CS Re eC ee a eee eee vii
Wedel, IVES Foye d segs =n a ape nae re vi, 10, 22, 58
IVES eC Urea etek Ome amen tem ols ape) eh ns Be AL es 2 ee
522 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950
ee
Wetmore, Alexander, Secretary of the Institution______________________
vi, viii, ix, 3, 12, 19, 23, 36, 124, 125, 136
Wheelers Richard! Pic sa 2am 2 eee Sea ee tee ee eee nt ata eee a
Wihite:Eheodore His Sone ce hate ee a Ne ee Sl rene era 21, 62, ee
Whiteford; Awt@2s22-7 Sek ce see sie Ae eee mee epee ewe pe ee 69
Wibittle (Sirs rank 224) 924 7197 ve Se Ee ee Se ee a Ue eerie ee eee lee 125
Waeboldt,:'Mirand?) Mrs!) Elmer Paes se ere Sens sae en ee ae aes 125
Wilding, Anthony W., Property, Supply, and Purchasing Officer of the
Tras GHG CTO rae ae eg a ee oF Oe oye fey ee u
Wallettt J Tes Oo) SSE CR ee oe ee See eR eee ee ee es eee ee eee
Walley «Gordon 5 soos ae ee Ae a See 2 ee eek yan, 1b<¢ O. ils Gz 68
AWiilli armas; jAth yaya eee atan = ap nets kee et ss a ee en gle Oe rete RO pear e 21
Williams, D. G., Chief, International Exchange Service_______________~_ ix, 81
Wilson, Mrs. MG Gir ie Bt nani sin iy APM a te ae A neh ese eee EE vi
ATVGU eH Xes gota eh 00) Kolb NY Laeests tee at ane (Serge Meal sak ec tas he Dl ae eA Dh ee 49
Withrow, Robert B., Chief, Division of Radiation and Organisms__ ix, 116, 119
Wolf Creek meteorite crater, Western Australia (D. J. Guppy and R. S
ITTV Aste (tn) (ae LO a ee Se A PUN Ua AIC! bs! 317
NACo teva Dy rea Gey leg] SCARS Yee ts ake aa Ue ce i ee ie ix, 123
Wright brothers as aeronautical engineers, The (M. P. Baker)__________ 209
Xe
Young, Mahonriy Miso aces one 2 Ot aoe ee ie SS oe ee eee 36
Z
Zetek, James, Resident Manager, Canal Zone Biological Area_________-_ ix, 144
Zoological Park. (See National Zoological Park.)
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