News Pul}li--f Xatural IJIshiry, Chicago Vol. 3 JANUARY, 1932 No. 1 NORTH AMERICAN DINOSAURS OF 100,000,000 YEARS AGO RESTORED IN PAINTING By Elmer S. Riggs Associate Curator of Paleontology A restoration of extinct reptiles in the form of a twenty-five foot painting by Charles R. Knight was recently placed on exhibition in Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38) of Field Museum. This painting represents a scene on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains during the Age of Reptiles, 100,000,000 years ago. It is one of the series of twenty-eight murals presented to the Museum by Ernest R. Graham. A number of animals feeding on the plants in the distance at the left are known as the crested dinosaurs. Those in the foreground at the right are more common species of duck-billed dinosaurs. All three animals had four legs. The hind pair was much the stronger and upon them the animals walked. The short-legged animal in the foreground is an armored dinosaur. Its back was covered with a series of bony plates which served to protect it from attack. From each side of the body and the tail projected a row head, and the slender hind legs of these animals are similar to those of the ostrich. The fore legs were smaller and the feet armed with claws used in seizing their prey. They fed upon smaller animals. These dinosaurs ranged in size from that of a large crocodile to that of an elephant. They flourished in North America at a period when the Great Plains area had recently been raised above the sea, when the Rocky Moun- tains were new, and the whole continent enjoyed a semi-tropical climate. Plenteous * 'V f5 ^ Mural Painting Showing Five Kinds of Dinosaurs This twenty -five toot canvas by Charles R. Knight, one of the series of twenty-eight presented by Ernest R. Graham, shows, at extreme left, the crested dinosaur; next, the hooded dinosaurs; an armored dinosaur (the short-legged animal in foreground): bird-like dinosaurs (seen in middle distance); and the duck-billed dinosaurs (right foreground). In this scene are various kinds of dinosaurs common to the time. The animal in the water at the left (see accompanying illustra- tion) is called the hooded dinosaur. Its head is decorated with a comb-like hood which is part of the bony structure. Its mouth has a broad bill like that of a duck. of horns. The stout, clublike tail may have been used as a weapon of defense. The head was not protected by armor but the bones of the skull were thick and strong. The legs and feet were somewhat like those of a turtle. In the middle distance are seen a pair of bird-like dinosaurs. The long neck, the small rains watered the mountain slopes and water plants as well as shrubs and larger deciduous trees grew in abundance. All of this is known from the fossil remains of plants and animals which have been preserved in the rocks along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to Alberta. NEW EGYPTIAN EXHIBIT An important collection of ancient Egyp- tian tombstones and memorial and votive stelae, representing various epochs in Egyp- tian history from about 2200 B.C. down to the Christian era, has been placed on exhibi- tion in Hall J at Field Museum. These stones have been the subject of intensive study by Dr. T. George Allen, Assistant Curator of Egyptian Archaeology, who has deciphered their inscriptions and obtained many new data. Naskapi Ethnology Illustrated An ethnological collection representing the almost extinct nomadic Naskapi Indians of Labrador has been placed on exhibition in James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Hall (Hall 4). The specimens were obtained chiefly as a result of the Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expedition of Field Museum, sponsored by Frederick H. Rawson, and led by Captain Donald B. MacMillan. Pagoda Models Reinstalled The collection of miniature models of ancient Chinese pagodas, made by orphans in the Jesuit Institution of Siccawei, has been reinstalled under improved conditions in the South Gallery (second floor") of the Museum. New labels containing the stories of many of the pagodas as revealed in the researches of Dr. Berthold Laufer, Curator of Anthropology, accompany the exhibits. Japanese Ores Displayed Collections of gold, silver, and copper ores of Japan are on exhibition in the mineral collections of the Department of Geology. The material was presented to the Museum by the Association of Mine Owners of Japan. TWIN PLUMS IN QUANTITY Mrs. Ralph Clarkson, who has presented numerous interesting plant specimens to Field Museum, recently forwarded from Oregon, Illinois, a pound of curious "double" wild plums, picked from two bushes growing in that locality. In place of the ordinary small red plum, two connected fruits with a single pit had developed from each flower. Occasional twin or double fruits upon plum and other trees are not especially rare, but it is quite unusual to find so large a number upon a single tree or bush. In this instance double fruits seemed to predominate, or at least they formed a large percentage of the crop of the two bushes. If such a sport were propagated by budding or grafting, it is evident that the crop of a tree could be doubled, although it is question- able whether the abnormally formed fruits would be looked upon with favor. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS January, t9SS Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Rooaerelt Rood and Lake Michigan, CaUcato THE BOARD John Borden WujjAM i. Chalmers Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. William V. Kqxey Cyrus H. McCormick Silas OF TRUSTEES William H. MrrcaELL Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Martin A. Ryerson Fbbd W. Sargent Stephen C. Simms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Spsague H. Strawn OFFICERS STANifY Field Praident Martin A. Ryerson Pint Vict-Praidtnt Albert A. Spragub Seamd Viee-Prendeni Jambs Simpson Third Viet-Pretidtnt Stephen C. Simms Director and Seeretary Solomon A. Smith . . . Treaturer and AnutaiU Sterttam FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Lauter Curator of Anthropoloiry B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator of Botany O. C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Hartb Manating Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 A.M. to 4 :30 PJI. February, March, April, October 9 AM. to 5:00 P.M. May, June, July, August, September 9 am. to 6:00 P.H. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Stmdays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Simday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and S[>ecial lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. MUSEUM ATTENDANCE IN 1931 REACHES RECORD HEIGHT At the time of going to press with this issue of Field Museum News attendance at Field Museum of Natural History during 1931 had reached within a few thousands of one and one-half million, with the probability that that figure would be passed within the remaining days of the year. Up to and in- cluding December 20 the total number of visitors was 1,487,427, establishing a record far surpassing any preceding year, and mark- ing a notable increase over the previous record made in 1930 when 1,332,799 visitors were received. It is with intense gratification that this constant and rapid increase in Museum attendance is observed, because it reflects the growth of public interest not only in the institution itself but in the sciences which the Museum's exhibits serve to illus- trate. It indicates that the Museum is successfully fulfilling its mission as an educational factor in the life of Chicago. In addition to those actually visiting the Museum, hundreds of thousands of school children have been reached by the Museum's extra-mural activities conducted through the N. W. Harris I*ubUc School Extension and the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures, while a numerically incalculable public has been made conscious of the insti- tution through its publications, reports in the newspapers, motion picture newsreels, and radio lectures. The complete attendance total for 1931, and a detailed analysis of the number of people reached by some of the Museum's special activities, will appear in the Febniary News. X-RAY STUDIES OF MUMMIES PUBLISHED BY MUSEUM A book, unusual both in text and illustra- tions, presenting the results of studies, made by means of the X-ray, of mummified re- mains in Field Museum, was published by Field Museum Press last month. Roent- genologic Studies of Egyptian and Peruvian Mummies is the title, and the author is Dr. Roy L. Moodie, professor of paleodontology in the college of dentistry at the University of Southern California, and paleopathologist to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum of London. Dr. Moodie was formerly pro- fessor of anatomy at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine. The book is in quarto size (9' x 12') and it contains sixty-six pages of text and seventy-six photogravure plates made chiefly from roentgenograms prepared in the Division of Roentgenology of Field Museum by Miss Anna Reginalda Bolan, formerly assistant professor of roentgenology and photography at the University of Illinois. These illustrations are regarded as remark- able for their clarity, and they reveal many hitherto unknown facts about the conditions of life and the diseases which prevailed in ancient Egypt and Peru. The majority of the X-ray pictures are of men, women and children, but there are also a number show- ing mummified animals. Most of the speci- mens are from the collections at Field Museum. Professor Moodie's book is published in an extremely limited edition, and it con- stitutes Volume III of the Anthropology Memoirs Series of the Museum. The char- acter of the illustrations and the fine paper used involved a heavy publication expense. Copies may be obtained from the Museiun at $5 each, including postage. An Expedition to Indo-China Field Museum is sharing in a zoological expedition to French Indo-China, led by Jean Delacour, well-known French zoologist. The participation of this institution is financed by Marshall Field. The expedition is now in operation, and will continue col- lecting until May of this year. Little known regions in the province of Laos from Vien- tiane to Muong-Ting will be covered, and several thousand specimens of birds and mammals are expected to result. The Paris Museimi of Natural History and the British Museum (Natural History) will receive part of the collections. Trustee Wrigley Resigns Due to the press of business, William Wrigley, Jr., has resigned from the Board of "Trustees of Field Museum. Mr. Wrigley continues his connection with the Museum, however, as a Corporate Member and a Life Member. NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY COLLECTIONS REINSTALLED By Paul S. Martin Assistant Curator of North American Archaeolog>' The North American archaeological ex- hibits of Field Museum have been augmented by much new material, and have been com- pletely reinstalled in Mary D. Sturges Hall (Hall 3). The collection features especially local material representing the prehistoric Indians of Illinois. Dominating this section of the hall is the reproduction of a mound builder's grave described and pictured in Field Museum News of September, 1931. This group is now supplemented by cases containing various types of archaeological specimens representing tribes of this state. There is also material on exhibition from the famous Hopewell burial mounds of Ohio. The culture areas treated in this collection include Mississippi-Ohio, South Atlantic, North Atlantic, Iroquoian, Great Lakes, Columbia-Fraser, North Pacific Coast and California. The Southwest is omitted be- cause a special hall representing its impor- tant group of cultures is in preparation. Fascinating are the examples of the skill and ingenuity of the North American Indian ' shown in this exhibition. The Hopewell mound specimens include grotesque figures cut from mica; ornaments and tools made from copper; ceremonial paraphernalia of obsidian, imported from what is now Yellow- stone National Park; and bear-teeth inlaid with pearls. Those interested in metal working will find in the collection many arrow and spear heads, and various tools, skillfully fashioned from hammered copper by early Wisconsin Indians. Among the Illinois artifacts are hoes and spades made of stone, which were used by the tribes of this region for agricul- tural purposes. From the burial mounds of Arkansas and Missouri are cunningly manu- factured ornaments of shell and excellent examples of the potter's art. Some of this pottery is fashioned into animal forms, such as frogs and fish, while other pieces are sculptured human faces resembling death- masks. One jar, known as the "skeleton jar," is decorated with pieces of a human skeleton. There are many examples of so-called "problematical objects," made of polished slate, serpentine, and marble. These objects have been the subject of endless speculation, for no one knows exactly how or for what purposes they were made. Unusually large tobacco pipes of stone, made a thousand years ago by Indians of Georgia and Ken- tucky, are exhibited. These are elaborately carved. Whalebone tools of the Indians of Califomia are another feature of the exhibition. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested: FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Muxeum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, State of lUinoia, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue .A.ct of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are giiaranteed against fluctuation in amount. January, 19S2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages OLD POTTERY FROM BRAZIL By J. Alden Mason Curator, American Section, Museum of the Uniyersity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia {Formerly Assisiani Curator of Mexican and SoiUh American Archaeology, Field Museum') The collections of the Department of Anthropology of Field Museum were recently augmented by fifty-four specimens of ancient Brazilian pottery received in an exchange with the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. These were excavated in 1915 on Marajo Island, Brazil, by the late Dr. William Curtis r Mortuary Vessel Example of primitive art from Marajo Island in the lower Amazon region, probably dating back to about A.D. 1200. Farabee, former Curator of the American Section of the Philadelphia institution. Marajo Island is the largest of the many islands which block the mouth of the Amazon River. It covers an area about half the size of the state of Pennsylvania. It is nowhere more than twenty feet above water level. During half of each year the greater part is converted into an immense morass, through the rank grass of which canoes and even sailboats are hauled by wading oxen. Along the principal lakes and streams are found large mounds sometimes covering areas of two or three acres and built up to a height of fifteen or twenty feet. These were doubtless erected by the pre-Columbian population for the purpose of elevating their homes above flood-level, and it was in these mounds that Dr. Farabee excavated and secured the pottery vessels contained in this collection, as well as many others in the University Museum in Philadelphia. All of the mounds are oval or elliptical in shape with broad flat tops. The pottery generally is of large size, but is mostly in fragmentary condition. The large pottery vessels were evidently used for mortuary purposes. In certain places, or possibly at a certain period, the dead were cremated and the ashes interred in urns. At other times and places immense urns were employed in which the dead were placed in a sitting position. The bones and ashes of the deceased had entirely disap- peared in the damp climate, as well as whatever other objects were deposited with the dead, the sole contents found within any of the urns being tangos — convex triangular objects of pottery, which were worn by the women. It must be realized that these people were not even in the stone-age stage of culture, since no stone exists within hundreds of miles of the mouth of the Amazon, and the only non-perishable materials which they possessed were made of pottery and shell. Practically all the pottery is highly orna- mented in several techniques — painted, incised, and relief. The largest burial urns are generally decorated both with relief and with painting in polychrome designs. One of the large specimens in the present collection measures twenty-six inches across the top and is thirty inches in height. The relief decoration on the neck portrays very con- ventionalized human faces, while the lower part is profusely decorated with painted curvilinear and apparently non-naturalistic designs, mainly in brown with touches of red. Another type of painting is mainly in red, frequently with fine lines in angular, geometric designs. Probably the most ornate type is that in which the entire surface of red pottery is covered with elaborate designs in low carving. It is impossible to determine the age of these vessels. No trace of objects of Euro- pean manufacture was found with them, and they can therefore definitely be ascribed to a period before the conquest. How much older they are is problematical, but most probably they can be ascribed to the period of about A.D. 1200. Of the people who made and used them we know practically nothing; they and their descendants have completely disappeared from this region. In the collection are also a few even more rare and unusual pottery vessels from other islands near the mouth of the Amazon; these are in animal or human form. With some of these were found objects of European manu- facture of the colonial period, and therefore they probably may be assigned to the six- teenth century. WALNUT WOOD EXHIBIT By Llewelyn Williams Assistant in Wood Technology The latest additions to the Museum's exhibits of foreign woods include a series of panels of Circassian, French and English walnut. Although derived from trees of the same species, Juglans regia, these three varieties have distinctive differences in color, grain and figure. Circassian walnut is a native of the Caspian Sea region, but its distribution extends eastward through the Himalayas to China, and also across Persia. The present day supplies, however, originate in several southern provinces of Russia. In early days its delicious fruits were considered a food of luxury. It soon gained popularity among the Greeks and Romans, and was planted so widely that its range became extended to almost all European countries. Combining beauty of color and figure, strength, durability, ease of working and a beautiful finish, few other woods have en- joyed such favor as walnut. Formerly it was available only to those of wealth and posi- tion. Its popularity followed more or less the advance of the Renaissance in various countries. Giant Puffball Received A giant puffball, member of the mushroom family, weighing more than six pounds, and more than a foot in diameter, has been presented to Field Museum by students of the Froebel High School in Gary, Indiana. These fungi seldom grow this large, and this one is the largest brought to Field Museum in fifteen years, according to Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, Acting Curator of Botany. NEW EXHIBIT OF MONKEYS A new collection of monkeys from various parts of Africa, Asia and the East Indies, including a number of specimens obtained by recent expeditions, has been placed on exhibition in the systematic series of mam- mals in Hall 15 of the Museum. Of unusual interest is an excellent speci- men of the rare golden (or snub-nosed) monkey which was obtained by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt while leading the William V. Kelley-Roose- velts Expedition to Eastern Asia for Field Museum. This animal is an inhabitant of the great snowclad mountain ranges in the province of Szechwan, China, and is found only in forests in the higher altitudes, according to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology. A Himalayan langur, obtained by the Suydam Cutting Expedition to Sikkim, India, is another outstanding specimen. This animal is found only in the upper Himalayas, and is the largest of the langurs, which is the general name for a group of numerous long-tailed, arboreal, and herbiv- orous monkeys characteristic of south- eastern Asia. There are also exhibited a specimen of Kolb's guenon brought from Kenya by Captain Harold A. White of New York, one of the leaders of the Harold White-John Coats African Expedition, and an Abyssinian guereza obtained by the Field Museum-Chicago Daily News Abyssinian Expedition. The Crane Pacific Expedition, sponsored and led by Cornelius Crane aboard his yacht Illyria is represented in the collec- tion by a maroon langur secured in Borneo. Other monkeys in the collection include specimens of Indian langur, proboscis mon- key of Borneo, nilgiri langur of India, banded Golden Monkey Rare monkey obtained by the Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition, now on exhibition with other new speci- mens in Hall 15. langur of Malacca, Erxleben's monkey from Cameroon, Hocheur guenon of West Africa, white-collared mangabey, and the Angolan guereza. The specimens were prepared for exhibition by Staff Taxidermist Arthur G. Rueckert. The peculiar egg-laying mammals of Aus- tralia are the subject of an exhibit in the Department of Zoology. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS January, 19S2 ATMOSPHERIC GASES SEPARATED IN UNIQUE EXHIBIT By Ouvbr C. Farbington Curator, Department of Geology In the systematic mineral exhibit in Hall 34 there now may be seen in addition to the solid and liquid native elements, such as sulphur, mercury, copper, graphite, dia- mond, gold, and silver, an exhibit of the gases which occur as elements in the atmos- phere. These eight gases are in separate glass tubes, and are made visible by passing an electric current through them, thus pro- ducing the characteristic spectrum of each. They are shown in the order of their quantity in the atmosphere, beginning with nitrogen, the most abundant. Oxygen, argon, hydro- gen, neon, helium, krypton and xenon follow in this order. Previous to 1894 the composition of the earth's atmosphere was thought to be four- fifths nitrogen and one-fifth oxygen, with a small percentage of carbonic acid gas and traces of water vapor, hydrogen and ammo- nia. In 1894, however, two famous English chemists. Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay, experimenting to make new deter- minations of the density of oxygen and nitrogen, discovered that atmospheric nitro- gen was slightly denser than that prepared by chemical means. They concluded that the difference must be caused by a gas in the atmosphere, not previously isolated. Searching to discover what this might be, they succeeded in separating a hitherto unknown gas. They found it to be exceed- ingly inert and gave it the name argon. Seeking other sources of this gas, they recalled that an American chemist, Dr. W. F. Hillebrand of the United States Geological Survey, had reported a few years before that the mineral pitchblende or uraninite con- tained a noticeable quantity of nitrogen. Investigating this so-called nitrogen, they found it to correspond with a gas discovered in the sun in 1868 by spectroscopic examina- tion and given the name helium. This gas the English chemists found also to be a component of the atmosphere. Continuing the study. Sir William, with M. W. Travers, separated from the air three additional new gases. These are called neon, kryp- ton, and xenon. Of these gases, argon constitutes about 1 per cent by volume of the atmosphere. Xenon is the rarest and the heaviest, form- ing only one part in seventeen million of the atmosphere. Krypton constitutes about one part in two million, helium one part in two hundred and fifty thousand and neon about one part in eighty thousand. All these gases resemble argon in inertness and form a separate group. They have different atomic weights but similar chemical properties. Several of these gases have proved to be of much commercial importance. Argon, on account of its inertness, is now used to fill electric light bulbs, replacing nitrogen, which was formerly used. Neon, owing to the brilliancy of its spectrum, is widely used for illuminated signs. It was the first ele- ment to give definite proof of the existence of isotopes, knowledge of which changed the scientific conception of the chemical elements. Studies of helium have also produced results of much scientific and commercial importance. Besides occurring in the atmos- phere, it was found that helium exists in a number of rocks and minerals, forms part of the gases evolved from mineral springs, and occurs in natural gas, in volcanic gases. and in sea and river waters. Due to its lightness and non-inflammability, it has proved ideal for filling airships and balloons. As it is little soluble in body fluids, it is mixed with oxygen to supply atmosphere to workers in caissons and diving bells. As it becomes liquid at -258° C. it has also proved invaluable in producing extreme cold. In 1903 it was demonstrated by Sir William Ramsay that helium was the end product of the disintegration of radium. This was the first known evidence of the transmutation of elements, and the knowl- edge that such a change could take place has had a profound influence on chemical and physical science. Few scientific investi- gations have been more fruitful or epoch- making in their results than those which began with a study of the density of atmospheric nitrogen. BIRD GROUPS IMPROVED The hall of bird habitat groups (Hall 20) has been completely rearranged and reopened to the public. The exhibits have been relabeled and transposed to improve the ^^B. -^ .^^^^^^^^K^H mppc' California Condor Group One of the series of eighteen habitat groups of birds on exhibition in Hall 20, which has been rearranged and improved. lighting and display. There are eighteen groups of birds in this hall, all shown with scenic reproductions of their natural environ- ments. Among the birds thus shown are the northern loon, golden eagle, California condor, whooping crane, wild turkey, white pelican, ruffed grouse, flamingo, jabiru stork, homed screamer, scarlet ibis, Alaska water birds, albatross, and mid-Pacific birds from the island of Laysan. How pineapples grow is illustrated in one of the botanical exhibits. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from November 16 to December 15: Associate Members Charles F. Baumnicker, Mrs. Theodor Breyer, Newton Burgstreser, Leo J. Carlin, Giuseppe Castrucdo, Albert G. Duncan, Mrs. Charles K. Foster, John A. Heller, Bernard J. Kunka, Oscar F. Mayer, Dr. David B. Peck, Arthur J. Peterson. Annual Members William A. Brown, Nelson Earl Buck, William Buiry, Jr., Robert Greene Dwen, Dr. J. Vernon Edlin, Armin Elmendorf, Mrs. C. Groot, Ralph J. Hines, Mrs. William K. Kcnly, Mrs. Edward A. Kennedy, Mrs. George G. Kohn, Dr. Davies Lazear, Mrs. Bertha S. Ludlam, Dr. Theodore Stanley Proxmire, John William Scallan, Dr. C. O. Schneider, I,. F. Summers, Sidney R. Sweet, Mason Warner. JANUARY GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Following is the schedule of conducted tours of the exhibits during January: Week beginning January 4 — Monday: 11 A.M., American Archaeology, 3 p.m., Birds at Home; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Industries of Illinois, 3 p.m.. Animal Life in Cold Lands; Wednesday: 11 a.m., Prehistoric Plants and Animals, 3 pm.. Oriental Theatricals; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 P.M., General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., Woodland Indians, 3 F.M., The Cat Family. Week beginning January 11 — Monday : 1 1 A.M., Chinese Exhibits, 3 p.m.. Desert Animals; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Primitive Costumes, 3 P.M., Hall of Plant Life; Wednesday: 11 a.m., Mines and Minerals, 3 P.H., Eg>*pt; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 p.m.. General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., South American Animals, 3 PJ4., Crystals and Gems. Week beginning January 18 — Monday: 11 A.M., Coal, Oil and Peat, 3 P.M., Africa and Madagascar; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Gourds and Their Uses, 3 P.M., Reptiles and Fishes; Wednesday: 11 a.m.. Deer and Antelope, 3 P.M., Peoples of the South Seas; Thursday: H A.M. and 3 p.m.. General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., Horses and Their Relatives. 3 P.M., Musical Instruments. Week beginning January 25 — Monday: 11 a.m.. Food Plants, 3 p.m.. Interesting Geological Exhibits; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Moon and Meteorites, 3 P.M., Chinese Art; Wednesday: 11 a.m.. Habitat Groups, 3 P.M., Maya, Toltec, Aztec and ^potec Exhibits: Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 p.m.. General Tours; Friday: 11 a.m.. Systematic Animals, 3 p.m., Man Through the Ages. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers* services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Dr. James W. Walker — knife with sheath, Mandingo, West Africa; from Professor Ovid R. Sellers — 4ower mandible of member of Equidae from a reservoir of the Hellenistic period (fifth to third century B.C.), Palestine: from H. W. von Rozynski — 135 herbarium specimens, Mexico; from George L. Fisher — 112 her- barium specimens, Texas and New Mexico; from James Zetek— 400 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from Don Jorge Garcia Salas — 41 herbarium specimens, Guatemala; from Companhia Ford Indus- trial do Brasil — 200 herbarium specimens, Brazil; from Italian Chamber of Commerce— -8 straw hats for the economic botany collection; from Professor Fortunato L. Herrera — 225 herbarium specimens, Peru; from William J. Chalmers — section of varicolored tourmaline, Madagascar; from Martin L. Ehrmann — large carved fluorite vase, England; from American Museum of Natural History — 5 photographs of vertebrate fossils; from Miss Nan B. Mason, Bryan Patterson, Frank H. Letl, and Paul C. Let! — 14 fossil insects and fossil plants. Illinois; from Bernard Bene.=*h — 103 beetles, Illinois, Arizona, California, Brazil, and Germany; from Bryan Patterson — 154 beetles, bugs, moths, etc., Nebraska; from C. von Hoflfman — ^ant thrush, Formosa; from Dr. Mary J. Guthrie — 3 bats, Missouri; from John G. Shedd Aquarium^ — 4 specimens of electric eel. South America; from Dr. Karl Jordan — 50 skins with 49 skulls of small mammals. Europe, England and Africa; from H. G. Moore — body and skeleton of fl^htless rail, Tristan da Cunha Island. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise |100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above dasses are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifi cations being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Fiexd Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. PRINTED BV riCLD MUSEUM PRESS Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 FEBRUARY, 1932 No. 2 NEW GROUP SHOWS A MOUNTAIN LION AND HER KITTENS IN THEIR ROCKY DEN A habitat group of mountain lions has been added to the series of American mam- mal groups in Hall 16 of the Museum. In the group is shown an adult female at rest, with her two kittens playing about her fore paws. No male appears because of the fact that the males do not associate with their mates while the young are dependent on the mother. It is believed they return to the family after the kittens are sufficiently grown to care at least partly for themselves. The animals are shown in a scene repre- senting their rocky den, typical of many such dwelling-places of animals on moun- tain-sides in the cen- tral Rockies. The bleakness of the locale is relieved by ever- green trees and brush. The mountain lion has probably the wid- est range of any single species of American mammal, according to Dr. Wilfred H.Osgood, Curator of Zoology. It occurs all the way from British Columbia to Patagonia in the tip of South America. It is known by many other names, such as puma, catamount, cougar and painter. Formerly it was found in most parts of the United States, being common in the early days even in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Today, however, it is prac- tically extinct east of the Rocky Mountains. West of the mountains it still flourishes, and is a serious pest to live-stock raisers. It preys upon cattle, sheep, colts, and other domestic animals, and also upon deer and other small game animals. It is almost wholly nocturnal in habits, and little ob- servation of its life has been possible. Most animals which are found over such wide ranges, including cold, temperate, and tropical climes, show considerable variation in physiological structure, coating, habits, and other characteristics. In the case of the mountain lion such small variations as exist are so slight as to be practically indis- cernible except to the keenest observer, and become apparent only after close study. As the Museum's group shows, the young are radically different in appearance from the adults, their coats being darkly spotted in contrast to the plain tawny color of the full-grown animals. New Habitat Group of Mountain Lions Installed in Hall 16 Many wild and terrifying tales have been told of vicious attacks made upon human beings by the mountain lion, but few of them can be substantiated. The fact is that the animal is cowardly and slinks away at the sight of a man. Only under the most unusual circumstances, such as extreme prov- ocation of a cornered animal, or the im- periling of the kittens in the presence of their mother, will a mountain lion attack a man. One of the rare authenticated instances of such an attack was experienced by Curator Osgood, while in Venezuela some years ago on an expedition for the Museum. Returning from an afternoon of hunting, he suddenly encountered a mountain lion in his path, which, sighting him, began an unprovoked charge toward him. Raising a rifle loaded only with buckshot. Dr. Osgood shot at the animal, wounding it in the head, and stunning it so that it fell to the ground. But while Dr. Osgood was reloading his rifle to kill the lion, it regained conscious- ness, and rising to its feet darted out of sight. Dr. Osgood is convinced that the only reason for the attack was that the animal was in a corner when he came upon it. The group is the twenty-first in the series of American mammals mounted in natural attitudes amid reproductions of scenes typical of their environments. Only one more group re- mains to be done for the completion of Hall 16. Because it is found on both continents, the mountain lion pro- vides a connecting link between the North and South American groups, and its location in the hall was selected with this in mind. A male specimen may be seen in Hall 15. The mountain lions in the group were mounted by L. L. Pray, of the Museum's taxidermy staff, and the background was prepared by Staff Artist Charles A. Corwin. The Museum is indebted to J. D. Figgins, Director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History at Denver, for supplying photo- graphs and accessories necessary in the preparation of the group. Brazilian Plants Received The Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil has established at Boa Vista, Brazil, on the Tapajoz River (a tributary of the Amazon), a large plantation for growing Par& rubber. Roy Carr of this company has forwarded to Field Museum a collection of 135 plants, mostly trees, that grow wild on the planta- tion. These have been determined by Asso- ciate Curator Paul C. Standley and found to include material of several important timber trees not represented previously in the Museum Herbarium. One, a member of the brazilnut family, proved to be a new species, which has been named for Mr. Carr, Eschweilera Carrii. The collection contained beautifully pre- pared specimens of several varieties of the Hevea rubber trees that produce nearly all the rubber of commerce. Mr. Standley has prepared for publication a list of the trees and shrubs represented in the collection. Fossils from Rancho la Brea A collection of fossil bones of prehistoric animals obtained from the famous Rancho la Brea asphaltum pits in the city of Los Angeles, has been placed on exhibition in Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). These animals lived during the Pleistocene period, one to one and one-half million years ago. Complete skeletons of the saber-tooth tiger, and a prehistoric type of wolf are included. Other animals, represented by partial skeletal remains, are a prehistoric kind of horse, a ground sloth, a primitive coyote, and bison, condor and eagle. Fossils were first discovered in these tar pits in 1908, and since then scientists have unearthed some ninety species of prehistoric creatures there, according to Elmer S. Riggs, Associate Curator of Paleontology. Another addition to the exhibits in this hall consists of two skulls of rhinoceroses which lived in the Bad Lands of Nebraska in the Oligocene period, about thirty-five to thirty-nine million years ago. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS February, 1932 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avery John Borden William J. Chalmers Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. •William V. Kelley Cyrus H. McCormick *Deceased John P. Wilson OFFICERS William H. Mitchell Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Martin A. Ryerson Fred W. Sarcbnt Stephen C. Simms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Spbague Silas H. Strawn Stanley Field President Martin A. Ryerson Firet Vice-President Albert A. Spragub Second Vice-President James Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. Simms Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith. ..Treasurer and Assistant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufbr Curator of Anthropology B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator of Botany O. C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year durins the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 A.M. to 4 :30 P.M. February, March, April, October 9 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. May, June, July, August, September 9 A.M. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension, Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel tor the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. 2,240,000 REACHED IN 1931 BY MUSEUM ACTIVITIES Final statistics on the activities of Field Museum in 1931 indicate that more than 2,240,000 persons benefited directly from the work of the institution during the year. This figure includes the number of visitors to the Museum — 1,515,540, a total which exceeds by far any previous year's record in the history of the institution — and also more than 727,000 children reached by extra- mural activities of the Museum. The year was the fifth in which the attend- ance exceeded one million. The increase over the 1930 total of 1,332,799 visitors is 182,741 or approximately 13.5 per cent, and compares with a gain of 164,369 made in 1930 over 1929. While the total attendance increased so notably, all the gain was in free admissions, the paid admissions decreasing from 160,924 in 1930 to 126,209 in 1931, a development which undoubtedly may be largely attributed to the economic conditions which have pre- vailed during the past year. The attend- ance on free days plus the free admissions on pay days granted to Members, children, teachers, students, etc., amounted to 1,389,331, or considerably more than the total of free and paid admissions together in 1930. It is estimated that more than one- third of the total number of visitors were children. The additional 727,000 children coming under the influence of the Museum's educa- tional work are accounted for as follows: The James Nelson and Anna Louise Ray- mond Foundation, in addition to providing programs at the Museum itself for thousands of children, reached 227,351 school pupils through lecturers sent out to address them in their classrooms and assembly halls. (The total number reached by all Raymond Foundation activities, including both those inside and outside the Museum was 303,693.) In addition, approximately 500,000 children were reached over and over again during the year by means of traveling exhibition cases displayed in all the public and many other schools (with changes of subjects every two weeks) through the Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Less directly the Museum reached prob- ably millions of other persons by such vari- ous means as the circulation of its publica- tions, reports in the newspapers, radio broadcasting, motion picture newsreels, etc. The highest attendance for any single day during 1931 was on May 21, when 51,917 visitors were received in the building. 'This was exceeded on only two previous days in the Museum's history — June 20, 1926, with 54,024 visitors, and May 24, 1929, with 59,843 visitors. It is interesting to note that the total attendance for the first ten years of occu- pancy of the present building (May 2, 1921, to May 1, 1931) was 8,597,409, as compared with a total of 5,839,579 for the more than twenty-five years during which the Museum was located in its first building in Jackson Park. TWO NEW TRUSTEES CHOSEN; ALL OFFICERS RE-ELECTED At the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Field Museum, held January 18, John P. Wilson and Sewell L. Avery were elected as Trustees to fill the vacancies left on the board by the death of R. T. Crane, Jr., and the resignation of William Wrigley, Jr. For the twenty-fourth time Stanley Field was re-elected President of the Museum. Mr. Field has held this office since January, 1909. All the other officers who served dur- ing 1931 were re-elected for 1932. PRIMITIVE AMPHIBIA By B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator, Department of Botany In connection with the preparation of the recently completed Carboniferous swamp forest group (see Field Museum News, October, 1931), restorations were made of two of the four-footed animals that appeared for the first time in the Carboniferous age. A well-known impression in Devonian shale has been interpreted as a footprint and may indicate the existence of terrestrial vertebrates in the preceding period, but the earliest positive remains are of Lower Car- boniferous age. The remains are not abun- dant, but they have been found in various places in Europe as well as in North America. A coal mine in Ohio has yielded more than fifty different species. "The greater part of these consists of frag- ments, a lesser part of more or less incom- plete skeletons. Usually these are so greatly flattened that they appear only as impres- sions or silhouettes on the surface of the rough slabs of cannel coal in which they are found. Many of these fossils are of small salamander-like animals; others are considerably larger and include elongated and eel-like forms. Few of the remains indicate animals exceeding a yard in length, but one of the long-tailed species may have reached a length of nine feet. Fortunately some of these fossils are suffi- ciently complete to give a good idea of the skeletal structure, and a reconstruction of the skeleton of one of them was recently made in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, under the direction of Dr. William K. Gregory. It is based mainly on the remains of Diplovertebron, a species discovered in Scotland, and studied and described originally by the eminent British paleontologist, S. M. Watson. In some particulars this reconstruction is a composite, since, in so far as Diplovertebron remains are incomplete, comparison of other forms has served to supply information lacking. Never- theless, Dr. Gregory's model is undoubtedly the most satisfactory and important recon- struction in existence, and perhaps the only three-dimensional one, of a skeleton of a primitive Carboniferous tetrapod. The Mu- seum was fortunate in acquiring a duplicate of it at the very time when the question was being considered of representing some example of the early tetrapods to indicate their presence in the Carboniferous forest. On the basis of Dr. Gregory's model of the skeleton it has been possible to restore with considerable confidence the external body form of Diplovertebron. The other amphibian included in the group is a small long-tailed species of Huxley's genus Ceraterpeton. The Museum is indebted to Professor A. S. Romer, vertebrate pale- ontologist of the University of Chicago, for the necessary data and for a drawing of the skeleton of this species as restored by him. Separate models of both forms have been placed also with the fossils of the Carbonif- erous period in Graham Hall, to show the probable appearance of some of the earliest terrestrial vertebrates. The group to which these extinct amphibia belong is of impor- tance not only as including the predecessors and ancestors of the very different present- day amphibia, but especially as forming the connecting link between the fishes of the preceding period and the reptiles of the next. To the distinction of being the first back- boned animals to move on four legs and thus of being the pioneers of vertebrate life on land they add that of being the progeni- tors of the early reptiles and through them of the higher vertebrates. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested : FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceedmg 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. February, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages EGYPTIAN HALL COMPLETED Installation of exhibits in the hall of Egyptian archaeology (Hall J) has been com- pleted. Much new material has been added to the exhibits, and all the exhibits have been improved, making this collection one of the finest of its kind in the country. The installation has been carried out in new types of cases never employed for this pur- pose before, and equipped with the most modern system of museum display lighting. The work of revising the exhibits, and bringing the information on the labels accom- panying them up to date in accordance with the results of most recent research, has been in progress for several years under the super- vision of Dr. Berthold Laufer, Curator of Anthropology, and Dr. T. George Allen, Assistant Curator of Egyptian Archaeology. During the course of this work Dr. Allen has deciphered hundreds of inscriptions on ancient tablets of various kinds. A large collection of human mummies and their coffins is on exhibition. These include mummies of men, women and children, and they range in date from about 2300 B.C. to A.D. 200. Near-by are shown also X-ray pictures of many of the mummies, made in the Museum's Division of Roentgenology. A prehistoric body buried long before mum- mification was practised is also shown. There is a large collection, too, of mummified animals and birds. Two complete tomb chapels of the Old Kingdom period re-erected for the most part with the stones of the originals as they formerly stood in Egypt, make one of the largest of the exhibits. Three sarcophagi of red granite, black granite, and marble are also shown. A large wooden boat, almost 4,000 years old, which was found beside the pyramid of King Sesostris II at Dahshur occupies a prominent position in the hall. Other exhibits include collections of gar- ments and ornamental tapestries, tomb sculptures and paintings, statuettes in stone, bronze and wood, vases and pottery, faience and glass, jewelry, vanity articles, charms, beads, tools, weapons, furniture, and many other kinds of objects. POISON FISHES By Alfred C. Weed Assistant Curator of Fishes Many fishes, especially those of tropical seas, are believed to be poisonous when used as food. Some are considered danger- ous at all times, others only at certain seasons. Certain parts of some are believed to be poisonous, while others are rejected in their entirety. Some are considered so bad at certain ports that laws have been passed forbidding their sale; yet often the same kinds are prized in the markets of other towns. Many fishes also are known, and others believed, to be venomous: that is, able to produce a poison and inject it into a wound. The case is proved in fish as unlike each other as some catfish, a group of toadfish, and several groups of fishes related to the scorpion fish. Others, including stingrays, most catfishes, toadfishes, scorpion fishes, etc., are suspected of having some kind of poison connected with their sharp spines, but this has not been proved. The truly venomous toadfishes have a series of spines on the back, perforated like the fangs of a rattlesnake and provided with large poison glands at the base. They lie hidden in the sand near shore, where they are likely to be stepped on by bare-footed waders. The venomous relatives of the scorpion fishes have very sharp and stiff spines on the back. Their poison glands smear the venom over the spine so that it may be carried into a wound. They usually lie in clefts of coral or other rock and depend on their coloration to hide them. Natives of tropical seashores are much afraid of the wounds caused by these spines. Closely related to the scorpion fish is a group called "poison fishes" or "lionfishes." They are found on the shores of tropical Pacific islands and the East Indies. Their colors are very brilliant, and their large fins make a great display. Lying quietly in Poison Fish Reproduction of spiny creature of tropical seas, now on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall CHall 18). a crevice of a coral reef they are almost invisible, so well do their colors blend with the things around them. Their pectoral fins are large and end in long streamers that may reach beyond the end of the tail. The row of spines along the back can be raised to stand like a fence much higher than the height of the body. These spines are strong, sharp, and stiff, but so slender that they appear fragile. Their tips will penetrate flesh at the slightest touch. Just below the tip of each spine is a poison gland. The poison is smeared on the spine as it enters the flesh. Specimens of lionfishes were secured by the Philip M. Chancellor-Field Museum Expedition to Aitutaki Island, the northern- most island in the Cook Archipelago. Great care was taken in preserving them so that they arrived at the Museum with their colors nearly as brilliant as they would have been in life. The forward part of the head and some triangles at the bases of the fins were brilliantly yellow. The rest of the body was black, very intense forward and tinged with yellowish toward the tail. Every band of black, no matter how small, was com- pletely edged by a brilliant purple stripe. One black band, with its purple edging, passed directly through the eye. The rays of dorsal, pectoral and ventral fins were purple. A celluloid reproduction of this poison fish has been prepared by Taxidermist Arthur G. Rueckert, and is now on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). Historic Silver Specimens Two bricks of silver, historically as well as intrinsically valuable, were recently pre- sented to the Museum by William J. Chalmers. One of these was made in 1878 by the first water-jacket furnace at Lead- ville, Colorado. The other was made from ore brought from some of the first silver mines operated in Montana. EXHIBIT OF CHINESE PAINTINGS An exhibit of Chinese paintings, mostly on silk, and tapestries woven on silk, ranging in date from the twelfth to the eighteenth century, has been opened on the second floor of the Museum. At present the exhibi- tion contains twenty-six paintings selected from several hundred in the Museum's collec- tion. Most of these were brought from China by Dr. Berthold Laufer, Curator of Anthro- pology, as a result of his work as leader of two expeditions, the Blackstone and the Marshall Field Expeditions to China. Others are gifts to the Museum, the donors being Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Everett of Chicago, and the American FViends of China, Chicago. Many customs of the Chinese, and much folklore of their country, are depicted in the paintings. One is a vivid picture of a cock- fight in which a cheating gambler is attempt- ing to "fix" the fight. Another shows a school of carp swimming in a pool. A portrait depicts a Taoist sage, typical of the Chinese gentleman and scholar. A tapestry made by order of the Emperor K'ien-lung in 1788 depicts two hungry chickens, with a poem by the emperor and his seals woven in the silk in facsimile of his handwriting. A plea for famine sufferers during an ancient "depression" is made by one silk painting depicting vagrants, mendicants, and street performers. 'This was made by an artist of the Sung period and sent to the emperor on behalf of the unfortunate. An- other painting tells a story, in three scenes, in which a condemned oflncial's life is saved from the wrath of an emperor. Others show "the dance of the happy hermit," sleeping kittens, dragons symbolical of sovereignty, and various landscapes, portraits, and bird, animal and flower subjects. IMPROVED SKELETAL EXHIBIT A decided innovation has been made in the method of installing skeletal material of animals exhibited in the hall of osteology (Hall 19). The first case exemplifying this new method is now on exhibition. This is a case illustrating the skeletal structure of typical carnivorous mammals, ranging from tiny American weasels to the great tigers of India. The skeletons are mounted in the case by an improved method whereby heavy wooden bases are eliminated, adding much to the attractiveness and effectiveness of the exhibit. A new style light-colored back- ground screen, and buff labels, are used in the case. The skeletons shown in this case include those of American otter, sea otter, grizzly bear, black bear, raccoon, weasel, tiger, hyena, dog, bob-cat, domestic cat, rasse, and wolverene. By comparison with other cases in the hall, this exhibit is intended to illustrate how the carnivores differ from herbivorous, insectivorous, and other groups of animals. Of the eight families of true Carnivora, seven are represented in the case. The Pinnipedia, including seals and walruses, are exhibited in another case. Art Research Classes Some fifty students of the Art Institute of Chicago regularly attend each week special art research classes conducted at Field Museum of Natural History. They spe- cialize in pictures and designs based upon nature subjects, using Museum exhibits of animals, plants and anthropological subjects as models. A miniature model of an ancient Maya pyramid is on exhibition in the Department of Anthropology. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS February, 1932 PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN —RAYMOND FOUNDATION Two special programs of motion pictures for children, commemorating Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, will be given by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Ray- mond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures on February 12 and 22 respectively, while later in the month the Foundation will open its annual spring series of ten Saturday morning entertainments. All these programs are given in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. Admis- sion is free, and children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited to attend. Each program is given twice, at 10 a.m. and at 11. At the Lincoln's Birthday program on Friday, February 12, the films to be shown represent episodes in the life of Abraham Lincoln, under the following titles: "My Mother," "My First Jury," and "Native State." The films of George Washington's life to be shown on his birthday, Monday, Febru- ary 22, are: "Washington and Christopher Gist," "Yorktown," and "President Washington." The regular spring series will begin on Saturday, February 27, with the motion picture, "A Vanishing People." Announcement of the other nine programs in this series will appear in subsequent issues of Field Museum News. A THIRD PERSIAN PALACE DISCOVERED AT KISH A third Sassanian palace has been dis- covered on the site of the ancient city of Kish by excavators of the Field Museum- Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia. The discovery has been reported by L. C. Watelin, field director of the expedition, which is now in its tenth season of operations. Two others of these palaces of a dynasty of Persian kings were uncovered last year. Mr. Watelin reports that the third palace is quite different in plan from the others. An interesting discovery in it is a large square reservoir in which water was stored and carried away by pipes which have also been found. A series of glazed and unglazed pottery of the Sassanian period has been recovered, and a good collection of this material will be sent to Field Museum. There have also been found a number of human skulls and skeletons, accompanied by necklaces of amber, paste and glass beads, and by rings and bracelets of bronze. Mr. Watelin also reports resumption of work upon the Sumerian ruins, the oldest at Kish. ARNATTO BRANCH EXHIBITED From material obtained in Para by the Marshall Field Botanical Expedition to the Amazon there has recently been placed on exhibition in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29) a reproduction of a flowering and fruiting branch of anatto or arnatto. This is a hand- some tropical shrub or small tree native to tropical America, but now often found in cultivation elsewhere. Arnatto is best known as the source of the orange coloring matter commonly em- ployed for coloring dairy products, especially butter and butter substitutes. Long before it was thus used, it was well known to the American Indians, who painted their bodies and dyed their textiles with it. The color is obtained from the small quantity of pulp surrounding the seeds. With its red-veined foliage, pink flowers, and bright red prickly pods the arnatto makes an interesting addition to the number of useful plants already represented in the Hall of Plant Life. The plant was known to the famous botanist Linnaeus, by whom it was given its scientific name, Bixa Orellana. Bixa is a latinized corruption of a Brazilian word for shrub, and Orellana is the name of the first white man to travel the length of the Amazon River from its Peruvian trib- Arnatto Branch New exhibit in Hall of Plant Lite (Hall 29). Prepared in the Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories. utaries to its mouth in quest of the leg- endary city of Manoa. The brilliant color- ing matter of arnatto may have reminded Linnaeus of the golden hallucinations of the early Spanish adventurers, among whom Francisco de Orellana was an outstanding type. — B.E.D. TRUSTEE KELLEY IS DEAD The sad news of the death of William V. Kelley, member of the Museum's Board of Trustees, was learned at the very hour of going to press with this issue of Field Museum News. Mr. Kelley died on Janu- ary 21. He had been elected to the Board in October, 1929. He was also a Benefactor of the Museum. One of the most notable of Mr. Kelley's services to the institution was his financing of the William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Expe- dition to Eastern Asia which was one of the largest and most successful of all the Mu- seum's expeditions. A more adequate bio- graphical sketch of Mr. Kelley will appear in the March News. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from December 16 to January 15: Life Members' Mrs. C. T. Boynton Associate Members Charles Bohasseck, H. K. DeLemon, Mrs. Charles W. Gray, Mrs. Julius W. Loewenthal, Mrs. Francis Ncilson, Mrs. Henry J. Reynolds, Henry B. Ryan, Mrs. Thomas G. Sexton. Annual Members Niels Boberg, Ralph W. Davis, Hugo E. Fox, Oliver W. Johnson, Oscar G. Mayer, Hoogner Nelson, Pro- fessor James Payne, Mrs. Walter F. Piper, Hon. Franklin J. Stransky, Quincy Wright. FEBRUARY GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Following is the schedule of conducted tours of the exhibits during February: Week beginning Febrtiary 1 — Monday: 11 A.M., North American Mammals, 3 P.M., Mummies; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Systematic Birds, 3 p.m., Primitive Musical Instruments; Wednesday: 11 A.M., Birds of Prey, 3 P.M., Feathers and Their Uses; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 P.M., General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., Mound Builders, 3 P.M., Fur-bearers. Week beginning February 8 — Monday: 11 A.M., Indian Ceremonies, 3 p.m., Minerals; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Marine Life, 3 p.m., Roman Archaeology; Wednesday: 11 a.m., Jewelry, 3 P.M., Native Philippine Life; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 P.M., General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., Prehistoric Exhibits, 3 P.M., Egypt. Week beginning February 15 — Monday: 11 A.M., Indians of the Desert, 3 P.M., American Trees; Tuesday: 11 A.M., Interesting Plants, 3 P.M., Jades; Wednesday: 11 A.M., Skeletons, 3 P.M., Chinese Exhibits; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 P.M., General Tours; Friday: 11 a.m., Fishes, Past and Present, 3 P.M., Fibers and Their Uses. Week beginning February 22 — Monday: 11 a.m., Eskimo Life, 3 p.m., Snakes and Other Reptiles; Tuesday: 11 a.m., African Game Animals, 3 p.m.. Crystals and Gems; Wednesday: 11 a.m.. Beads and Their Uses, 3 p.m.. South American Archaeology; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 P.M., General Tours; Friday: 11 A.M., Bird Habitat Groups, 3 P.M., Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. Monday, February 29 — 11 A.M., Asiatic Animals, 3 P.M., Work of Wind and Water. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Dr. Arthur U. Pope — decorated bronze plaque (fragment), Persia; from Sugar Pine Lumber Company, Ltd. — 4 trunk slabs and a wheel section of sugar pine, California; from Russell Fortune, Inc. — U panels of Oriental, koa and other woods, Australia and Hawaii; from Sandberg Manufacturing Company — 4 exhibition specimens of Turkish boxwood, Europe; from Dr. C. A. Purpus — 333 herbarium specimens, Mexico; from H. W. von Rozynski — 122 herbarium specimens, Mexico; from New York Zoological Society — photograph of Asiatic wild horse; from Herbert C. Walther— 9 chemical elements; from William J. Sinclair — photograph of restoration of Eohippus; from F. J. W. Schmidt — a fiying squirrel and a prairie mole, Wisconsin: from John G. Shedd Aquarium — skull of Florida manatee; from Frank C. Wonder — 14 white-footed mice, 2 short- tailed shrews, and an opossum skull. North Carolina. 1,200 Harris Extension Cases The N. W. Harris Public School Exten- sion of Field Museum is now circulating more than 1,200 traveling exhibits through- out the Chicago school system. Field Museum has fine collections repre- senting the archaeology of Colombia. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Correspondmg, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. PRINTED BY FIELD I USEUM PRESS useiiM iNews Published Monthly by Field Miisemu of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 MARCH, 1932 No. 3 LOG OF AN EXPEDITION ON THE ORINOCO By Lbon Mandel II (Editor's note: Mr. Mandel has just returned from a zoological expedition to Venezuela ■ which he organized and financed in the interest of Field Museum. The expedition teas conducted from Mr. MandeVs yacht, "Buccaneer." Emmet R. Blake, a zoologist of the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh, was especially engaged to do the zoological collecting. Mr. Mandel has kirtdly furnished the following accourU of the expedition.) The yacht Buccaneer, 107 feet over all, 95 tons net, cleared Miami for Havana December 29 with a party consisting of Fred L. Mandel, Jr.; E. R. Blake, repre- senting Field Museum; Jack Barnett, Uni- versal News Reel cameraman; a crew of ten. Captain Hiorth, master ; and the writer. The yacht reached Havana December 30 and remained there for several days, the party being joined by Dr. Robert Dwyer of Chicago. The Buccaneer left Havana January 2 for Fort de France, Martinique, but en- countered a severe northeaster off Cape Maysi on the eastern tip of Cuba. After a very rough crossing of the Windward Pas- sage, during which the ship was heaved to for a period of several hours because of a very high sea, lee was found between the northern coast of Haiti and Isle de Tortue on January 5. The vessel was anchored just off the island, and the party proceeded ashore and spent two days collecting speci- mens and two nights listening to the native voodoo drums. A third and fourth day during which the weather remained inclement were spent at Port de Paix, Haiti, where further collect- ing was done. On the fifth day the yacht proceeded on its course, and reached San Juan, Porto Rico, on January 10. There the party was augmented further by Henry Wyzanski. The ship was refueled, and cleared on January 11 for Martinique. Martinique was reached on the twelfth, and the yacht proceeded the following morning to Port of Spain, Trinidad, which was reached January 14. Through the courtesy of Captain Alfred O. Demorest, the American Consul, and the Venezuelan Consul General, Dr Dedoy, final arrangements were concluded for per- mission to enter Venezuela through the northwestern delta of the Orinoco. Mention is due here of the cordial and effective cooperation and assistance given to the expedition by President J. V. Gomez of Venezuela, and by Dr. Requana, of Caracas. The members of the party and the Museum as an institution deeply appreciate these courtesies. Two native Venezuelan guides were en- gaged at Port of Spain and maps of the COLONEL ROOSEVELT INSPECTS WORK ON GROUP Photograph courtesy Chicago Daily Tribune While In Chlcaflto on his way to the Philippine Islands to assume the post of Governor- General, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt visited Field Museum to see groups of animals resulting from the William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition to Eastern Asia which he led jointly with his brother, Kermit Roosevelt. In the above photograph Colonel Roosevelt is seen In the case in which are being Installed the specimens of water buffalo which he shot in southern French Indo-China. Colonel Roosevelt hunted these beasts under trying and difficult circumstances. Of the part of the expedition's work which he had undertaken to do personally, only the securing of specimens for the water buffalo group remained. Without defying his response to the call of his then new duties as Governor of Porto Rico, to which office he had just been appointed, he determined in the few days remaining before sailing to get the buffalo. coast of Venezuela were furnished through the courtesy of Captain C. C. Slayton of the United States Hydrographic Ship Hannibal which fortunately happened to be stationed at Port of Spain. The trip across the Gulf of Paria was made on January 16 and anchorage was found just inside the mouth of the Pedernales River near the town of Pedernales. The party went ashore in the evening and again in the morning before leaving, and was successful in securing bird specimens here (Continued on page 3) NAVAHO BLANKETS MAKE INTERESTING EXHIBIT By Paul S. Mabtin Assistant Curator of North American Archaeology Weaving is one of the most important industries of the Navaho Indians, and from an artistic standpoint their woven products equal their silver work. It is by no means certain whether the Navaho learned to weave from their near neighbors, the Pueblo Indians, or whether it was a native art practised from very early times. In either case, their weaving today surpasses any other done by primi- tive tribes of North America. Interest- ingly enough, also, the Navaho have been less europeanized in their arts, language, or cus- toms than any other North American tribe, a fact which may account for the attrac- tive quality of their products. Before this country was discovered by Europeans, cotton was the only raw material which was spun and woven into cloth. But after sheep were intro- duced by the Span- iards, wool became commonly used even by the Indians, although at present it is gradually being replaced by German- town yarn because it is easier to obtain and requires no cleaning or dyeing. Aniline or com- mercial dyes have gradually replaced the native vegetable and mineral dyes which were formerly com- mon, with the result that the colors em- ployed today are harsh and unbeautiful, lack- ing the soft tones seen in older blankets. In Hall 6 of the Museum six complete cases, recently in- stalled, contain some of the best examples of Navaho weaving. The blankets exhibited are for the most part fifty to eighty years old. Almost every type of weaving and design, as well as most of the commoner vegetable and mineral colors are represented in this exhibit. One blanket woven about sixty years ago in soft greens, browns, and reds has for its main central design a model of a European house. Another modern one woven entirely from Germantown aniline-dyed wool is re- markable because the designs are primitive (Continued on page Jf) Page g FIELD MUSEUM NEWS March, 19SX Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Rooserelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avesy Fredekick H. Rawson John Borden George A. Richakison WnxiAu J. Chalhsbs Martin A. Ryerson Marshall FmLD Fred W. Sargent Stanlei' Field Stephen C. Sums Ernest R. Graham Jambs Simpson Albert W. Harris Solomon A. Smith Samuel Insull, Jr. Albert A. Sprague Cyrus H. McCormick Silas H. Strawn William H. Mitchell John P. Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field Pretident Martln a. Ryerson Ftr»< Vict-Pretidtnt Albert A. Sprague Second Viee-Pmideni Jambs Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. Simms Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith . . . Treaxurer and Asaittant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Muteum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Beethold Laufer Curator of AntSropolon B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator of Botany O. C. Farbington Curator of Geology WiLFKED H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Habtb Managint Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hoars indicated below: November, December, January 9 aji. to 4 :30 p Jl. February, March, April, October 9 aj<. to 5.-00 pjj. May, June, July, August, September 9 aji. to 6 KX) p Jl. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sunda>'s; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and njecial entertainments and lecture tours for children at uie Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. MORALE During times like the present something more than mere food, clothing and shelter must be provided for the unfortunate \'ictims of depression — the impoverished and the unemployed. After the necessities of life have been supplied, there still remains the very important matter of maintaining morale. Military authorities recognize this as an essential for their men back from the front, waiting their next call into action. The morale of the armies of industry also must be maintained, that they may be mentally as well as physically fit to take their places again when business conditions improve and they are called back to the industrial front. Thus, besides being humane, it is sound economic policy to pro\'ide wholesome entertainment and mental stimulation for those who are suffering most severely from hard times. Reld Museum, and other institutions of similar character, are taking full part in this phase of soh-ing present-day problems. The Museum offers to those who are invol- imtarily idle, or overwhelmed with troubles. a chance to escape, for a time at least, from their burden of cares. And, as almost every- one has learned from experience, such temporary relaxations go far toward soften- ing the blows of misfortune, and developing new courage. Insurmountable difficulties have a way of seeming not quite so staggering once there has been a break of even a few hours in the strain of worrying about them. Observations made at the Museum in- dicate that this opportunity for recreation is being utilized by many, and that it is appreciated. The Museum is performing a new service, not only for those who are totally without means, but also for many others who have been forced to economize by reducing their expenditures for amuse- ments in order to assure themselves the necessities. The large attendance increases at the Museum in the past two years have been especially marked by the growth in the number of visitors coming on the three free admission days each week. Another indication of the Museiun's service in this respect is the fact that most of the free lec- tures which have been offered in recent spring and autumn courses have attracted audiences straining the capacity of the James Simpson Theatre. Experience at the entertainments provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures points the same way. Each of the programs of free motion pictures given by the Foundation (except the summer series) is regularly given twice, and in a number of instances it has been necessary to present a third showing to accommodate the crowds of children attending. While these entertainments are ostensibly for school children, there have been noticed in the crowds filling the theatre numbers of children older than those of the elementary grades. It is assumed that some of these may be from high schools, but it seems very likely also that many of them are children of working age who have been responsible for their own or part of their families' support, and who are now unemployed. The Museum is thus helping to preserve both adults and children from the ill effects of their own melancholia, and from the influence of agitators who now have all too fertile a field for sowing their propaganda. ThLs is a form of social service fully consistent with the educational and scientific missions of the institution. MUSEUM TRUSTEES PAY HOMAGE TO WILLIAM V. KELLEY The Board of Trustees of Field Museum, at its meeting on February 15, adopted the following resolution in honor of the late William V. Kelley, their fellow Trustee, whose death was reported in the February issue of Field Museum News: "It is with deep sorrow and the sense of a great loss that the Board of Trustees of Field Museum of Natural History does here- by record the death, on January 21, 1932, of its esteemed member, William V. Kelley, who was a true friend of science and of the Museum. "The death of Mr. Kelley, whose rare personal charm endeared him to all, repre- sents a keenly felt personal loss to the Trustees. To the institution it means the passing of one whose deep interest in its mission led him to give freely to it of his time and his thought, as well as in the form of many generous benefactions. "Mr. Kelley will be remembered not only at Field Museum, but throughout the scien- tific world, for the increase in zoological knowledge which he made possible by financing so generously the William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition to Eastern Asia for Field Museum in 1928-29. This expedition, one of the greatest and most successful undertakings of its kind, obtained many specimens of rare animals in little- known regions, and its results, exemplified by highly valued additions to the Museum's exhibits and study collections, and by publications containing noteworthy con- tributions to the world's store of knowledge, make a perpetual moniunent to the memory of Mr. Kelley. It was in recognition of this that the Trustees dedicated one of the Museum halls — William V. Kelley Hall. "Mr. Kelley's life was a splendid example of the rise of a man of ability and high principles from humble begin- nings to a position of leadership. By the sheer force of his talents and his fidelity to his work William V. KeUey he carved for himself an influential career in various industries and in banking. "Field Museum was one of the principal beneficiaries of the intelligent public-spirited interest he manifested in civic affairs. Im- pressed with the work the Museum was accomplishing as an educative influence in the community, Mr. Kelley became a Life Member. As his interest grew his many gifts to the institution assumed large pro- portions, and the Trustees honored him by adding his name to the list of Benefactors. In further tribute to his valuable ser\'ices, the Trustees elected him an Honorary Member, and in October, 1929, chose him as a fellow Trustee. In this capacity he continued to serve with the greatest zeal until the last days of his life. Still further evidence of his deep and genuine interest in and affection for the Museum was revealed when his will, in which he bequeathed $50,000 to the institution, was probated. "Therefore, be it resolved that this expres- sion of our admiration and esteem for Mr. Kelley, and our grief at his passing and the loss of his counsel and companionship, be permanently preserved on the records of the Board. "And, be it further resolved that our deep sympathy be conveyed to the members of his family in their bereavement, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to his widow." BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested: FORM OF BEQUEST / do A«re&y give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an aimuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. March, 19S2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages TULIP TREE BRANCH EXHIBITED There has been installed in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29) a handsome reproduc- tion of a flowering branch of the tulip tree, Liriodendron lulipifera. The material from which the model was made was collected in the Indiana Dunes. The tulip tree, which has been designated as the state tree of Indiana, is one of the most imposing of the trees of eastern North America, sometimes attaining a height of Tulip Tree Branch On exhibition in Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29). Pre- pared in Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories. 200 feet and a diameter of ten feet. The large, green and orange-yellow flowers are exceptionally beautiful. They somewhat resemble tulips, hence the usual name of the tree, which is known also as white- wood and yellow or white poplar. Its soft, pale wood is of great value and importance, being used for house siding, woodenware, furniture, and many other purposes. In Cretaceous and later times, as indi- cated by many fossil leaves, the ancestors of the tulip tree were numerous and widely distributed. At present only one other member of the group remains, and it grows in China. — P.C.S. LOG OF ORINOCO EXPEDITION (Continued from page 1 ) and at each of the overnight stops made while proceeding through the various tribu- taries leading to the Orinoco. The second day, the party covered approximately eighty-five miles through the first of the uncharted waters. Here it was necessary to have one of the native guides remain in the bow with a hand lead and line to take soundings constantly throughout the rest of the trip. Despite this precaution, the ship was on sand bars approximately an hour every day. These sand bars are shifting constantly due to the very swift current existent in all the affluents of the Orinoco at this point, and the few charts available are most unreliable because of this. On the evening of the second day, the party again went ashore in small boats and collected inland as well as along the river banks, approximately at the junction of the Vagre with the Pedernales. On the third day, January 19, the yacht reached Tucupita, capital of the territory of the Delta Amacuro. The Governor of the Province, General Jesus M. Osorio, had been notified by the Venezuelan Minister of the Interior of the expected arrival of the party, and he furnished the first reliable information as to the best hunting and collecting neighbor- hoods in the district. He also furnished another native guide. Several rivers come together just at the town of Tucupita. Here the Macarito and the Pedernales merge, and just below this point they are joined by additional affluents of the Orinoco which are known by various names by different natives, and appear variously on the maps of the territory. The yacht proceeded on its way until the Yaya Bar was reached at the junction of the Macareo River with the Orinoco. Here, the party left the yacht, proceeding by small boats to the village of Piacoa, located approximately twenty miles up a small and again variously named branch of the Orinoco. At Piacoa, with three natives from the village, the party went inland and made a camp approximately fifteen miles from the river at the base of some small foothills not shown on the large government map of Venezuela. The party remained here for nine days, during which time further bird specimens were secured, as well as jaguar, peccary, aguti, sloth, otter, and monkey. Crocodiles and alligators were procured just outside the village of Piacoa while on the way in to camp, and again on the return to the Buccaneer. The country teemed with animal life of many kinds. According to the natives, this is one of the two best hunt- ing grounds in Venezuela. On leaving Piacoa, the party rejoined the Buccaneer and proceeded past Barrancas to Cuidad Bolivar which was reached at noon the next day, January 30. The party remained here for several days collecting further specimens. Then Fred L. Mandel, Jr., Mr. Wyzanski, and the writer left by airplane for Maracay, while Dr. Dwyer departed by river steamer for Port of Spain, leaving Messrs. Blake and Barnett on board the Buccaneer to return to Trinidad. This trip was accomplished as planned and Mr. Blake then left the Buccaneer to go on a Creole Oil Company launch inland as far as Maturin whence he planned to speiid approximately two months collecting in the Mount Turimquiri district. Museum Honors Scholar in China Dr. Davidson Black, Professor of Anat- omy at Peking Union Medical College (Rockefeller Foundation), Peiping, China, was elected a Corresponding Member of Field Museum by the Board of Trustees at its meeting held February 15. This honor was conferred on Dr. Black in recog- nition of his eminent services to the Museum, and his noteworthy contributions to anthro- pological knowledge about the Chinese. Dr. Black's research work has been mainly devoted to comparative neurology and physical anthropology. He has trav- eled extensively in China and Burma and made anthropological studies of note. Dur- ing the recent visit to China of Miss Malvina Hoffman, the sculptor commis- sioned by Field Museum to make the bronze studies of various races for Chauncey Keep Memorial Hall, Dr. Black cooper- ated with her wholeheartedly, placing excellent facilities for the work at her disposal, and assisting her in obtaining living models of the most desired types. SOME JADE-INLAID TEETH OF ANCIENT MAYAS By J. Eric Thompson Assistant Curator of Central and South American Archaeology The Third Marshall Field Archaeological Expedition to British Honduras, which excavated Maya ruins in 1931, found, near San Jose in the south of the Orange Walk district, some remarkable examples of aboriginal dentistry. The most interesting is a set of teeth from the upper jaw of an ancient Maya, showing the four incisors and two canines inlaid with jade disks, and with their edges filed to form a decorative pattern. The teeth of the lower jaw were undecorated. The owner was in his early thirties at death, and lived about 1,000 years ago. The jade disks are set in cavities drilled in the front of the teeth with hollow bone or bamboo drills and sand, or possibly with points of jade or some equally hard stone. The process must have been extremely pain- ful, and we have no means of knowing if any anaesthetic was employed, but it is possible that one was, for it is known that the Aztecs thus assuaged the sufferings of victims sacrificed by fire. On the other hand, it may be that the drilling was an ordeal cheerfully undergone by young warriors to demonstrate their bravery. Only persons of wealth and rank wore such ornaments, for jade was an article of rarity and high value among the Mayas. The Second Marshall Field Archaeological Expedition to British Honduras discovered two teeth decorated with disks of iron pyrites, which probably adorned persons of less wealth. The disks were held in place by a fine cement, faint traces of which were found in one tooth. Inlaid teeth have been found in various parts of the Maya area. Materials employed, in addition to jade and iron pyrites, are turquois, obsidian, and hematite. A second upper jaw was found by the expedition at the same ruins of San Jos6. The teeth in this one have no inlay, but the incisors and canines have been filed to Jade-lnlald Teeth Teeth of an ancient Maya, inlaid with jade disks for ornamentation. points, giving a serrated appearance. Ex- amples of several different types of filed teeth have been brought to Field Museum by the Marshall Field Archaeological Expedi- tions to British Honduras. It is certain that the inlays and the filing of teeth do not represent surgical dentistry, although false teeth have been found in Maya skulls in two instances. In one case the finder, M. H. Saville, reports that one of the incisors was made of a dark stone. A thick incrustation of tartar showed that it had been inserted in the jaw during the lifetime of its owner. It is planned to place a number of examples of decorated teeth on exhibition at Field Museum in the near future. Page k FIELD MUSEUM NEWS March, 19S2 SPRING LECTURE COURSE OPENS MARCH 5 Field Museum's fifty-seventh free lecture course will open on Saturday, March 5. Nine lectures on science and travel, given by naturalists and scientists of note, will be presented on successive Saturday afternoons, at 3 P.M., in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. Both motion pictures and stereopticon slides will be used as illustrative material. Following is the complete schedule of dates, subjects and speakers: March 5— Hawaii— the Creator's Work- shop George Dewey Douglas, Los Angeles, Calif omia March 12— Hitting the Trail in Masailand Colooel Charles Wellington Furiong, Boston, Massachusetts March 19— Massa-Magaga (Head Takers of Formosa) Captain Carl von Hoffman, New York City March 26 — The Coronation of His Imperial Majesty, the King of Kings, Emperor of Abyssinia Andre La Varre, New York City April 2— The Human Side of the Byrd Expedition Chief Yeoman Charies E. Lofgren, United States Navy (Retired), Personnel Officer of the Byrd Expedition to the Antarctic April 9 — Jimgle Life in Motion Pictures Commander George M. Dyott, New York City April 16— The World's Most Beautiful Flowers and Trees Fred Payne Clatworthy, Estes Park, Colorado April 23 — Caves and Canyons of the Carls- bad Country Carl B. Livingston, Carlsbad, New Mexico April 30 — Wild Life Adventures Howard H. Cleaves, Staten Island, New York No tickets are necessary for admission to these lectures. A section of the Theatre is reserved for Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats on request. Requests for these seats may be made by telephone or in writing to the Museum, in advance of the lecture, and seats will then be held in the Member's name until 3 o'clock on the day of the lecture. Members may also obtain seats in the reserv'ed section by presentation of their membership cards to the "Theatre attendant before 3 o'clock on the lecture day, even though no advance reservation has been made. All reserved seats not claimed by 3 o'clock will be opened to the general public. RAYMOND FOUNDATION PRESENTS PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Nine more of the annual spring series of free motion picture programs for children, pro\'ided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for PubUc School and Children's Lectures, remain to be given on Saturday mornings during March and April. The first program, scenes from the play "The Vanishing American," was given on February 27. Following is the schedule of dates, and the titles of the films to be shown on each: March 5 — Haunts of the Golden Eagle March 12 — Glimpses of Mexico Battle of the Ants Builders of an Empire March 19 — Rhinos and Bustards Storj' of Vincennes March 26 — Switzerland in Winter Switzerland in Summer Around the World with the Milkman The Cougar Hunt April 2 — A Chicago Boy Goes to Green- land with Captain MacMillan April 9— A Trip to the Tropics Sanctuary Canoe Trails to Mooseland April 16 — Your Chicago Java, the Garden of the East Marauders of the Sea April 23 — Bird Neighbors The White Owl The Cuckoo's Secret Friend Buffalo April 30 — Builders of Dams Beauties of Desert Places Our Spring Flowers Lovely Butterflies Each program is given twice, at 10 a.m. and at 11. Children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited to attend, and no tickets are required for admission. NAVAHO BLANKETS {Continued from jiage 1) and uninfluenced by the modem materials from which it is woven. One often hears some of the finest and oldest Navaho blankets alluded to as "bayetas." This simply means that such a blanket is one in which appears bayeta red. Bayeta is a thin woolen stuff or baize of bright scarlet hue which was imported to this country originally from Spain through Mexico. The Indians raveled this cloth and used only the weft. Many of the blankets now on display were presented by the following donors: Mrs. Joseph Adams, the late Edward E. Ayer, Burridge D. Butler, Miss Evelyn English, W. T. Hartz, Martin A. Ryerson, Homer E. Sargent, and A. A. Sprague II. Tropical Liana Exhibited An exhibit of a tropical liana known as Mucuna rosirata, with large pea-like flowers of brilliant orange-red color, has been added to the Hall of Plant Life at Field Museum. The original specimen was collected on the Tapajoz River by the Marshall Field Botanical Expedition to the Amazon. Dandelions Bloom in Winter Indicating the effects of the mild winter prevailing in the Chicago region. Field Museum has received from Miss Mary Bremer a dandelion with three open flower heads, found at Crown Point, Indiana, on Ash Wednesday, February 10. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from January 16 to February 15: Associate Members W. E. Babb, Dudley K. French, David F. D. Jenkins, R. T. Miller, Mrs. Bertha I. Peterson, F. W. Puckey, Elmer Rich, Leonard M. Rieser, George E. Routh, Jr., Donald M. Ryerson, Mre. Oren E. Taft. Annual Members Hubert Beddoes, Mis. Uoyd E. Butler, S. B. Cramer, Hartley deGerald, Dr. Earl J. Drinkall, Mrs. Alfred C. Haven, Dr. Scott Turner Petrie, William M. Reay, Fred H. Scheel, Sidney J. Steele, Miss Charlotte M. Stevens, Mrs. George C. Tumbull, Mrs. Howell N. T>'son, Mre. Trigg Waller, Mrs. Gordon Whitney. MARCH GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Following is the schedule of conducted tours of the exhibits during March: Week beginning February 29 — Monday: 11 AM., Asiatic .Animals, 3 pjc.. Work of Wind and Water; Tuesday: 11 AJl., WoodlJond Indians, 3 P.U., Skeletons, Past and Present; Wednesday: 11 am., Roman Home Life, 3 Pji., Life in the Seas; Thursday: 11 A.li. and 3 FM., General Tours; Friday: 11 am.. Peat and Coal, 3 PM., Chinese Exhibits. Week beginning March 7 — Monday: 11 AJf., Asiatic Animals, 3 P.M., Egypt; Tuesday: 11 A.M., The Story of the Horae, 3 FM., Blankets and Baskets; Wednesday: 11 A.M., Animals of Plains and Deserts, 3 p.ll.. North American .\rchaeology; Thursday: 11 A.M. and 3 FM., General Tours; Friday: 11 A.1I., Apes and Their Rela- tives, 3 FM., Pewter, Jade and Gems. Week beginning March 14 — Monday: 11 AJf., Economic Minerals, 3 P.M., Homes in Many Lands; Tuesday: 11 a.h., Cats and Dogs, 3 P.M., Hall of Plant Life; Wednesday: 11 AJI., Wood Products, 3 PJf., Lamps; Thursday: 11 AJI. and 3 PJI., General Tours; Friday: 11 aji.. Animals of the Past, 3 FM., Musical Instruments. Week beginning March 21 — Monday: 11 A.1I., Indians of the Northwest Coast, 3 P.M., .\nimal Families; Tuesday: 11 a.m.. Life in the Far North, 3 P.M., Looms and Textiles; Wednesday: 11 A.M., Bark and lu Uses, 3 P.U.. Masks; Thursday: 11 AJi. and 3 P.M., Genera] Tours: Friday: 11 AJI., Physical Geography, 3 FM., Spring Birds. Week begiiming March 28 — Monday: 11 ajl. Ancient Burials, 3 PJf., Lizards and Other Reptiles; Tuesday: 11 a.m.. South .\merican Art, 3 PJI., South American .\nimals; Wednesday: 11 a.m.. Story of Man, 3 P.M., Mexican .\rchaeology; Thursday: 11 AJI. and 3 pji.. General Tours. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Fibxd Museum News. Guide-lecturers' ser^nces for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From J. H. Smith Veneers, Inc. — 9 panels of Euro- pean woods; from C. H. Pearson and Son Hardwood Company, Inc. — 4 planks of foreign woods; from E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company — 6 specimens of "Duco" display material; from .American Dyewood Company — a log of fustic and one of logwood. Central .America; from H. C. Benke — 210 herbarium specimens, Illinois; from James Zetek — 106 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from R. H. Wetmore — ^208 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from Professor Rub^n Torres — 371 herbarium specimens, Costa Rica; from Henry Field, Sharat K. Roy and Bryan Patterson — 269 specimens of invertebrate fossils, nimois; from Henry C. Walther — 3 specimens of phoe- phortrs, sodium, and {wtassinm: from Carl Pickhardt — a glaciated copper boulder, Wisconsin; from Stafford C. Edwards — 4 sand concretions, California; from Cornelius Crane — 14 water color paintings of birds, made on the Crane Pacilic Expedition; from James Simpson — 2 black-cocks, 2 red grouse and 2 gray partridges (all mounted), Scotland; from Waller Lee Mosbacher Corporation—^ tanned frog skins. South America; from Mre. Elizabeth H. Sturgis — 32 mounted hummingbirds and case. South .America. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEim Field Museum has several classes of Members Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. NoD-Resident (life) and Associate Membefs pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above rimwfs are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members cootribate $25 annually. After six years they become Asaooate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Correspondmg, additions under these clarifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum NEn^ is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Membere of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentatioQ of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about membershipa will be sent on request. PMINTCO aV FtCLD MUSEUM PRESS FieldMilsw^News Vol.3 Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago APRIL, 1932 No. 4 GIANT SABLE ANTELOPE — VERNAY EXPEDITION A specimen of the giant sable, stateliest of all antelopes, has been placed on exhibi- tion in Carl E. Akeley Memorial Hall (Hall 22). The specimen was presented to the Museum by Arthur S. Vernay, leader of the Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition of Field Museum in 1930. It is one of the finest examples of this animal ever secured by any hunters, being in prime coat, and having horns 61.5 inches in length, or close to the record size of 64 inches. The animal was shot by Allan Chapman, a resident of Angola, Africa, who was especially engaged by Mr. Vernay to hunt it. The giant sable is now ex- tremely rare, and probably is approaching extermination, according to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology. It lives in relatively open country grown to low scrub and scattered grass. These ante- lopes move in small herds of both sexes, the herds being dominated by a single old bull. Giant sables are pugnacious and their horns make them danger- ous antagonists. Even when not wounded they sometimes lie down or kneel and defend themselves by sweeping their horns from side to side. There are three varieties of sable antelope: the medium- sized common sable of central and southeastern Africa; the smaller Roosevelt sable of the east African coast; and the giant sable of Angola (Portu- guese West Africa). The giant sable is found only in an ex- tremely limited area. It is regarded by many as the finest species of the whole antelope tribe. The giant sable has an almost jet black coat upon which are distributed certain areas of white. Until comparatively recently it was unknown, hav- ing been discovered only about seventeen years ago. Dr. Osgood states. It is under protection, and the Museum is deeply indebted to the Portuguese government officials in Angola for granting Mr. Vernay permission to seek a specimen. The animal was mounted at the Museum by Staff Taxidermist C. J. Albrecht. continuing to form at a rapid rate. The method of formation of these ores is some- what complex but in a general way it may be said that the alumina is dissolved from surrounding rocks and deposited as a thick crust composed of alternating beds of alu- minum, iron and manganese ores by the ground waters. In the dry season these waters are drawn to the surface by capillary attraction through the pores of the soil and leave the ore there. The owner of the land at Joachim Alvarez Monarch of His Kind Giant sable antelope from Angola, Arthur S. Vernay. Africa, exhibited in Akeley Hall. Presented by Ore Formation Is Illustrated A piece of aluminum ore in the collections undergoing rearrangement in Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall (Hall 37) has a unique interest in that it is known to have formed in less than a hundred years. The specimen was collected by the Marshall Field Brazilian Expedition at Joachim Alvarez near Nova Lima in Minas Geraes, Brazil. This is a region with large deposits of aluminum ore which are had a wall built of roughly squared stone nearly a hundred years ago. The ground waters which are drawn to the surface during the dry season have crawled up the wall and left a layer of aluminum ore more than three inches thick over the squared stone surface. Reproductions of notable Irish antiquities, including both secular and ecclesiastic art, are shown in Edward E. Ayer Hall. Raymond Foundation School Lectures Lecturers of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures speak before several hundred Chicago school children in their classrooms almost every day. 1,500- YEAR-OLD SWIMMING POOL DISCOVERED AT KISH The discovery of a large swimming pool with a practically modern circulatory water system in a 1,500-year-old royal palace among the ruins of the ancient city of Kish is described in a report received from Professor Stephen Langdon, director of the Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia. Following are excerpts from Professor Langdon's report: "One of the two royal palaces of the Sassanian kings dating from the early Persian period (about A.D. 400) has proved to be the palace of Bahram Gor, who is mentioned by Omar Khayyam. The outstanding feature of the building is the great swimming pool in the courtyard. This is a wonderful structure completely lined with brick. It is about 45 feet long and 36 feet wide, and it had a most elaborate system of water supply. Water was forced in at one end by the ingenious use of a difference in ground levels, and at the other end was the outflow drain. By careful adjustment the water level was kept at the required height with a gentle flow of water constantly passing through the pool. The great drains are made of tiles and joined with cement — again in the modern manner — and the whole arrangement denotes a high degree of engineering skill. "In the palace itself we have found a magnificent collection of enameled ware — cups and vases — finished in a fascinating blue glaze. Some of them are made in the form of animals, and they are excellent examples of the craft of the potters of the period. There are also a lot of terra cotta heads of men and women — probably inhabitants of the city — and they will give us some idea of what these people looked like. Among the jewelry found are rings of rock crystal and carnelian, all set with silver, earrings of solid gold, and neck- laces of precious stones. The expedition has now determined that the Sassanians had a great city at Kish, and the ruins which extend over half a mile to the east are all buildings of theirs. "Interesting and important as these dis- coveries are, they are comparatively small jobs in relation to the main work of the ex- pedition, which is the excavation of the great temple site of the earlier inhabitants of Kish, the Sumerians and others. Two to three hundred men have been working there each season for ten years, and the work involves great engineering difficulties. The whole of the west side of Nebuchad- nezzar's temple has now been exposed, and one side of the Sumerian temple beneath." Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS April, 1932 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Rooserelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD Sewell L. Avery John Borden WlLLIAU J. CHAUIERS Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Grahau Albert W. Harris Sauuel Insull, Jr. Cyrus H. McCormick William H. Mitchell OF TRUSTEES Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Martin A. Ryehson Fred W. Sargent Stephen C. Sihus JAUBS Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Sprague Silas H. Strawn John P. Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field Prendent Martin A. Ryerson Firtt Vice-President Albert A. Sprague Second Viee-Pretident James Simpson Third Vice-Pretideni Stephen C. Simms Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith . . . Tretutirer and Aatiatant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. D AHLGREN Actirtg Curator of Botany O. C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 a.m, to 4:30 p.m. February, March, April, October 9 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. May, Jime, July, August, September 9 A.u. to 6:00 P.M. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. Ther« is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Busses of the Chicago Motor Coach Company (Jackson Boulevard Line, No. 26) provide service direct to the Museum. Free transfers are available to and from other lines of the company. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. DIRECTOR'S REPORT PUBLISHED The Annual Report of the Director of Field Museum to the Board of Trustees for 1931, a book of 287 pages with twenty- two photogravure plates, has been printed by Field Museum Press. Copies will be sent to all Members of the Museum at an early date. In the book Director Stephen C. Simms reviews in detail all of the year's activities. The most impressive fact which a perusal of the Report brings out is that despite the world-wide economic depression, which naturally has had a serious effect upon the Museum's finances as upon those of similar institutions, the Museum's services to the public have been maintained with practically no curtailment. Installation and reinstalla- tion of exhibits has continued undiminished ; all forms of educational work for both children and adults, such as the public lectures, guide-lecture tours, etc., have been carried on as usual; there has been an increase rather than a decrease in the activities of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures; likewise the circulation of traveling exhibits in the schools by the N. W. Harris Public School Extension has increased. The Museum Library, and the study collections of material in the various departments, have been of greater use to the public than in previous years. In its work for the advancement of science the Museum has continued research into many subjects, and the number of scientific publications issued during 1931 exceeded that of any previous year. The work of expeditions was necessarily reduced for financial reasons, but even so there were sixteen expeditions in operation, although most of these were on a smaller scale than those of previous years. HOW FIELD MUSEUM AIDS STUDENTS OF ART By John Gilbert Wilkins Instructor in Art Research, assigned by the Art Institute of Chicago to classes at Field Museum For the past ten years, under a cooperative arrangement between the Art Institute of Chicago and Field Museum, classes from the institute's school of art have been carry- ing on research in design, drawing, painting, illustration and sculpture at Field Museum. The Museum exhibits provide a variety of subjects of value in nature study and study of aboriginal arts such as is nowhere else available in the middle west. On its side, the Art Institute has furnished instruction by assigning the writer, a member of its faculty, to conduct these classes; while Field Museum has provided a large Huntsman and Cheetahs (A poster painted by Tillie Lehnhojf) Example of work done by students of art research classes conducted at Field Museum under cooperative arrangement with the Art Institute of Chicago. With natural history specimens to furnish a basis, the students evolve imaginative creations in various art forms — painting, drawing, design, illustration, sctilpture. and attractive class room with excellent light for working, and all needed equipment, and has extended sympathetic cooperation to the students and instructor. In addition to the regular courses planned to fit the needs of students preparing for careers in various branches of applied arts, the Art Institute provides a special course for the training of art teachers. So valuable is the work which students do at Field Museum considered by the faculty of the institute that the curriculum was recently revised so as to require all students in teachers' training classes to spend at least one year in research at Field Museum. On art class days dozens of students will frequently be found painting or sketching from exhibits in the Museum. Especially valuable for their work are the beautiful habitat groups of animals and birds. These make it possible for the art students to make what amounts to life studies of the animals, but are much more satisfactory than actual life studies would be because of the restlessness of living animals. Exhibits in the Departments of Botany and Geology likewise provide much valuable nature study material for the art students, while the Department of Anthropology provides on one hand groups of life-size figures of peoples of many races for various art works in which human beings may be subjects, and on the other hand an endless variety of examples of arts and handicrafts from all over the world. These provide excellent material for adaptation in design work. Not only the thousands of anthropological objects themselves, but the decorative motifs of native genius which are found upon many of them offer inspiration to the art students. Aboriginal, as well as highly developed peoples such as the Orientals, have created unusual and exotic designs to beautify the products of their handicrafts, and these may be used profitably with or without alteration by the artists of the western world. The writer has compiled some 5,000 designs from the work of these classes in a book, Research-Design in Nature, which has become a standard text book in many art schools and other educational institu- tions, and which is used as a ready reference book by many architects, interior decorators, designers and other artists. In addition, the Museum itself has published a Design Series of books, now including five numbers, in which the decora- tive arts of India, Java, China, and New Guinea are presented with copious illustra- tions of great value to artists and students. These books are available at moderate prices. The Art Institute classes are not the only ones taking advantage of the Museum facilities. Every week, from the public schools of Chicago, large classes of children of all ages and grades are brought to the Museum to sketch in charcoal, pencil, crayon, paints and other mediums. The famous Natural Bridge of Virginia is represented by an accurate miniature model in the Department of Geology. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested: FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of tne tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. April, 19S2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTION RECEIVED FROM CHINA In spite of the warlike conditions existing in China, and the ravages of the Yangtze river floods, the Marshall Field Zoological Expedition to China has forwarded a collec- tion of approximately 1,200 specimens from Shanghai to Field Museum. The collection arrived safely at the Museum in March. The expedition consists of Floyd T. Smith, formerly of New York, the leader and only white man in the party, and a corps of Chinese whom he has trained to collect and prepare zoological specimens. Only with the utmost difficulty has it been possible for the expedition to carry out its mission successfully. Menaced by bandits who in one instance robbed and burned their camp, and subjected to long delays after arrival in Shanghai due to the war and extraordinary official requirements in regard to inspection and release of their collections, the members of the expedition were able after many obstacles to have the material placed aboard an America-bound ship which sailed on January 22. Later, word was received from Mr. Smith that seventeen more packing eases of specimens were on the way, and these are expected soon. Mr. Smith and his men have again plunged into the interior for further zoological collect- ing. They are now believed to be in south central China, about 2,000 miles inland from Shanghai, and are not expected to return to the coast until summer. The shipment received at the Museum includes about 600 small mammals, 300 birds, 200 fishes, and 100 reptilian creatures of various kinds, mainly from the northern part of the province of Szechwan. Among these are a number of extremely rare species, according to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology. There are four specimens of a shrew-like mole of which only one other specimen, in the Paris Museum of Natural History, has ever been collected. For Field Museum's Department of Botany the expedi- tion sent two large tea bushes. Collections of large mammals are temporarily stored with an American resident in Shanghai, awaiting drying of the skins before they can be shipped. GOLIATH OF THE BEETLES By William J. Gerhard Associate Curator of Insects Of the 100,000 and more different species of beetles known from various parts of the world, the largest is the attractive Goliath beetle, which is found in equatorial Africa. An excellent series of twenty specimens of this huge beetle has recently been received at the Museum as a gift from Mrs. H. A. Hoisington, of the Presbyterian Church Board of Foreign Missions, Olama, Cameroon (French Mandate), West Africa. The Goliath beetle is of interest not only on account of its large size, but also because of the velvet-like, reddish brown down of its anterior wing covers, its blackish brown thorax with white longitudinal stripes, and its oddly shaped head, all of which make it a very pretty insect. It is a worthy member of the family Cetoniidae, to which belong a number of smaller African beetles that rival opals in the brilliancy and trans- lucency of their colors. In North America the members of this family of beetles are limited in size and number of species, as well as in color, the largest rarely exceeding an inch in length. Little is known about the early stages of the Goliath beetle and its duration of life. It is believed that, like most members of the family, the larva or grub lives in the ground and subsists on decomposed vegetable matter. The adult beetle is diurnal in its habits and feeds upon the exuding sap of bushes, vines and trees. In southern Cameroon it appears to prefer the sap of the large-leafed veronia bush growing at the edge of the jungle. During the morning these beetles gather in varying numbers on their food plant, but as the day advances they become more active, and they fly away quickly when disturbed. Notwithstanding their Giant African Beetle Illustration is two-thirds actual size of the Goliath beetle. Despite their bulk, the specimens weigh only about one-half ounce. In life, with the moisture in their bodies, they probably weigh double that. large size, they are adept though noisy flyers. The sound produced by their wings when flying has been compared to the humming of the propeller of an airship. As the food habits of either the larva or the adult insect are not of a destructive or harmful nature, the Goliath beetle is not of any economic importance. K. P. Schmidt Awarded Fellowship In recognition of many valuable contribu- tions to herpetology resulting from his researches for Field Museum, Karl Patterson Schmidt, Assistant Curator of Reptiles, has been appointed to a fellowship of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the first award from this foundation to a natural history museum staff member. The fellow- ship carries with it a substantial grant of money with which Mr. Schmidt will travel for six months in Europe, pursuing his studies at principal museums in association with leading foreign herpetologists. The Museum has granted him a leave of absence for this purpose, and he will sail in July. Mr. Schmidt is the discoverer of many new species of reptiles, and the author of a large number of scientific publications. In 1928-29 he was scientific leader of the Cornelius Crane Pacific Expedition of Field Museum. CHEMICAL TESTS ON FOSSILS REVEAL ORGANIC MATTER By Henry W. Nichols Associate Curator of Geology Most people regard fossils as remains of animals or plants which have been converted entirely into stone. The fact is that fossils may and often do retain some of the organic matter of the living animal or plant. This may be detected by chemical means. For instance, the great dinosaur skeleton from Fruita, Colorado, which occupies the center of Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38) appears to be composed wholly of chalcedony. Nevertheless, a chemical test conducted during recent researches of the Department of Geology revealed the presence of nitrog- enous organic matter which has remained with the skeleton during the ninety-five million years since the animal died. Two fossil eggs of nearly as great antiq- uity, which may be seen in another part of the hall, also appear to be wholly con- verted into chalcedony, but tests showed them to contain readily detected quantities of organic nitrogen. These eggs resemble duck eggs, but a long study has failed to disclose exactly what kind of bird laid them. A fossil worm which lived about forty million years ago, recently collected for the Museum, has had so much of its original organic matter preserved that the fossil is composed of more than 95 per cent coal. This is interesting because coal is generally derived from vegetable instead of animal matter. Standley on International Committee Associate Curator Paul C. Standley has been appointed a member of the General Committee of Botanical Nomenclature, established by the Fifth International Botanical Congress held at Cambridge, England, in 1930. He is one of three members representing the republic of Mexico, and was designated as a representa- tive of that country because of his publica- tions upon its flora. The purpose of the committee is adjustment of matters relating to Latin names of plants. Rare Poisonous Element Exhibited Due to the interest aroused by a number of cases of thallium poisoning recently reported. Field Museum has placed a specimen of thallium on exhibition in its collection of rare elements in Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall (Hall 37). Thallium is a rare element, so poisonous that it is extensively employed, especially in the west, to exter- minate vermin, according to Henry W. Nichols, Associate Curator of Geology. Central American Plants Arrive Field Museum has received a large and important collection of plants gathered in Peten, Guatemala, and in British Honduras by Professor H. H. Bartlett of the University of Michigan. The collection was made in connection with cooperative exploration of the Maya ruins of the region undertaken by the university and the Carnegie Institu- tion. The plants are being determined by Associate Curator Paul C. Standley, and because Peten is almost unknown botani- cally, it is expected that many new species will be found among them. Economically the region is of chief interest because it is the producing center of chicle, which is one of the principal ingredients in the manu- facture of chewing gum. Pagei FIELD MUSEUM NEWS April, 19S2 FIVE MORE TRAVEL LECTURES TO BE GIVEN IN APRIL Five lectiires on travel and science remain to be given on Saturday afternoons diiring April, in the Museum's fifty-seventh free lecture course which opened last month. Both motion pictures and stereopticon slides are used to illustrate these lectures, and the speakers are naturalists and scientists of note. Lectxires begin at 3 p.m. and are given in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. Following are the dates, subjects and speakers: April 2— The Human Side of the Byrd Expedition Chief Yeoman Charles E. LofgreD, United States Navy (Retired), Personnel Officer of the Byrd Expedition to the Antarctic April 9 — Jungle Life in Motion Pictures Conunander George M. Dyott, New York City April 16— The World's Most Beautiful Flowers and Trees Fred Payne Clatworthy, Estes Park, Colorado April 23 — Caves and Canyons of the Carls- bad Country Carl B. Livingston, Carlsbad, New Mexico April 30 — Wild Life Adventures Howard H. Cleaves, Staten Island, New York No tickets are necessary for admission to these lectures. A section of the Theatre is reserved for Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats on request. Requests for these seats may be made by telephone or in writing to the Museum, in advance of the lecture, and seats will then be held in the Member's name until 3 o'clock on the day of the lecture. Members may also obtain seats in the reserved section by presentation of their membership cards to the Theatre attendant before 3 o'clock on the lecture day, even though no advance reservation has been made. All reserved seats not claimed by 3 o'clock will be opened to the general public RAYMOND FOUNDATION PRESENTS PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Five more of the annual spring series of free motion picture programs for children, provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures, remain to be given on Saturday mornings during April. Following is the schedule of dates, and the titles of the films to be shown on each: April 2 — A Chicago Boy Goes to Green- land with Captain MacMillan April 9 — A Trip to the Tropics Sanctuary Canoe Trails to Mooseland April 16 — Your Chicago Java, the Garden of the East Marauders of the Sea April 23 — Bird Neighbors The White Owl The Cuckoo's Secret Friend Buffalo April 30 — Builders of Dams Beauties of Desert Places Our Spring Flowers Lovely Butterflies On the April 2 program, in addition to the motion pictures, there will be a lectiu* by Joseph N. Field, son of Stanley Field, President of the Museum. Joseph Field was a member of the two Rawson-MacMillan Expeditions to the Subarctic, and he will relate his experiences in the far north. Each program is given twice, at 10 A.M. and at 11. Children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited to attend, and no tickets are required for admission. SPECIAL NOTICE All Members of Field Museum who have changed their residences or are planning to do so are earnestly urged to notify the Museum at once of their new addresses, so that copies of FIELD MUSEUM NEWS and all other communications from the Museum may reach them promptly. Members going away for a period during the summer, who desire Museum matter to be sent to their temporary addresses, may have this service by notifying the Museum of the summer addresses and the dates between which they are to be used. Important Willow Collection The Herbarium of Field Museum contains one of the most important and valuable collections of willows (Salix) that exist in America. Its basis is the private herbarium of M. S. Bebb, one of the foremost students of this difficult group of trees and shrubs. Listing Barro Colorado Plants Associate Curator Paul C. Standley, at the request of the Arnold Arboretum, is preparing for publication by that institution a complete list of the plants known to grow on Barro Colorado Island in Gatun Lake, beside the Panama Canal. During the past few months the Museum has received large collections from that much-visited island, through James Zetek, the custodian of the laboratory maintained there. These have contained more than 200 species of plants not reported previously from the island, bringing its total to more than 1,000 species, a remarkable mmiber, even in the tropics, for an area of only six square miles. Important American wild flowers are repre- sented in the Museum's Hall of Plant Life. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Penrod, Jurden and Clark Company — 8 pieces of Sapeli veneer, Africa; from Dr. R. H. Wetmore — 21 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from Ichabod T. Williams and Sons — 19 panels of foreign woods, Africa, Formosa, Philippines, and South America: from Craftsman Wood Service Company, Inc. — 4 panels of foreign woods, Brazil and Africa: from S. G. Moyer — trunk section of flowering dogwood, Ohio; from James Zetek — 100 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from William C. Meyer — 81 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from Jorge Garcia Salas — 23 herbarium specimens, Guatemala; from Yale University — 148 herbarium specimens, Colombia and British Honduras: from Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil — 85 herbarium specimens, Brazil: from Herbert C. Walther— a specimen of fused metallic manganese and a specimen of ferro-cerium; from Central Commercial Company — a large specimen and 41 small specimens gilsonite, Cuba; from Chile Copper Company — 2 large fossil cephalopods, Chile; from Frank von Drasek — 2 quartz crystals and 2 speci- mens turquois, Arkansas and New Mexico: from J. Saer d'Heguert — 42 insects, Venezuela: from R. Martin Perkins — a Mexican chicken snake; from General Biological Supply House — a bat, a wateranake, and an axoloti. Iowa, Kansas, and Mexico: from Karl Plath — an orange-cheeked waxbill and a Bohemian waxwing; from James H. Wood — a live copperhead snake, Michigan: from Mrs. Edwin C. Loomia — 7 Sioux Indian ethnological objects. North Dakota: from Byron Knoblock — a flint projectile point of "Folsom" type, Illinois; from Edward Barrett — student's exami- nation "crib" on silk, China. APRIL GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lectixrers, are made every afternoon at 3 P.M., except Satiwdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for April: Friday, April 1 — Egypt. Week beginning April 4: Monday — Prehistoric Life; Tuesday — Reptiles: Wednesday — Native Trees; Thursday — General Tour; Friday— Chinese Art; Week beginning April 11: Monday — American Archaeology: Tuesday — Mines and Ores; Wednesday — Birds and Their Homes; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Fibers and Their Uses. Week beginning April 18: Monday — Primitive Musical Instruments; Tuesday — African Habitat Groups; Wednesday — Interesting Plant Families; Thursday — General Tour; Friday— Crystals and Gems. Week beginning April 25: Monday — Moon and Meteorites: Tuesday — Philippine Hall; Wednesday — Peoples of the South Seas; Thursday— General Tour; Friday — .\merican Animals- Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field MusEtJM News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Reinstalling Melanesian Collections Reinstallation of the exhibits in Joseph N. Field Hall (Hall A) is now under way, about one-quarter of the work having been completed. This hall contains the Museurn's remarkable collections from Melanesia, which are the most comprehensive in the country. The exhibition cases are to be provided with the new light-colored back- ground screens and buff labels adopted for the Museum generally. . NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from February 16 to March 15: Associate Members Mr«. Harry .\nderson, Greeley Baker, E. Chandler Beach, Alvah V. Gruhn, Charles F. Harding, Jr., "William Holmes, A. H. Noyes, Gilbert Scribner, Mrs. Thomas I. Stacey, Harold I. Sutton, Mrs. Alden B. Swift. Annual Members Miss Esther T. Anderson, Edwin C. Austin, Mrs. Louden L. Bomberger, Mrs. .\nna G. Clayton, Professor Philip Fox, Mrs. J. J. Griffin, William H. Harrison, Dr. Edwin F. Hirsch, R. C. Hyatt, David E. Kennedy, David E. King, Nathan H. Lashinsky, James D. Mamane, Mrs. John H. Mcllvaine, Mrs. W^ R. Nelson, Anthony M. Patrick, Jr., Mrs. Richard E. Pritchard, James Donald Richards, Kenneth C. Sears, Mrs. James B. Shell, Miss Irene M. Swain. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise »1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non- Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members [>ay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field MusBtJM News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. PnlNTCD my FIELD MUSCUM eMKSS News Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 MAY, 1932 No. 5 EXHIBIT OF WATER BUFFALO OBTAINED BY KELLEY-ROOSEVELTS EXPEDITION The second large habitat group of animals composed of specimens obtained by the Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition to Eastern Asia has been installed in William V. Kelley Hall (Hall 17). The principal figures in the new group are two large specimens, male and female, of the Asiatic water buffalo. Near-by are seen three small hog deer, male, female and young, and specimens of white "cow heron," which habitually follow the water buffalo. All the specimens were collected by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, now Governor General of the Philippines, who, with his brother. The specimens were obtained by Colonel Roosevelt under extremely adverse condi- tions. The hunt was conducted during a period of terrific heat, in the rainy season, and many hardships and the hazard of tropical fevers had to be faced. The wild water buffalo of Asia, sometimes called Indian buffalo, is rapidly becoming very rare, according to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology. Like the African buffalo, it is a very dangerous animal and often charges hunters, some- times with fatal results to the men. It is belligerent, vindictive and tenacious by northern Ceylon. Domestic varieties derived from it are widely used as draft and milch cattle in its native lands. Large herds are no longer seen and there has been local inter-breeding between wild and domestic stock. One of the best-known domestic varieties is the carabao of the Philippines. On account of its semi-aquatic habits it is very useful for work in the rice fields. The domesticated animal is used also in Egypt. Typically the water buffalo is of large size, equaling the African species, but differing in that it has slender, flattened horns. These sometimes exceed five feet in length. Water Buffalo, Hog Deer and White Heron New habitat group installed in William V. Kelley Hall. The speciniens were obtained by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. Kermit Roosevelt, led the expedition. The first group completed as a result of the expedition was that of the rare giant panda. A scene reproduced in the background, representing the natural environment of the animals in southern Indo-China, has been prepared by the Museum's staff artist, Charles A. Corwin. The taxidermy is by Julius Friesser and Arthur G. Rueckert. nature, and even when wounded will fre- quently charge madly. Although tigers frequently attack buffalo, at times the attacker is killed in the encounter. The water buffalo is found most often wading on river bottoms and flood plains, wallowing in mud, says Dr. Osgood. It formerly ranged the low country along the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, and also They do not meet at the base as do those of the African buffalo. The hog deer, also shown in the group, abound in the lowlands, and mingle uncon- cernedly with the buffalo. The white herons are regular companions of the buffalo, following them in order to feed on the insects and other small forms of life disturbed as the buffalo tramp through the tall grass. MEXICAN HOUSEHOLD GODS By J. Eric Thompson Assistant Curator of Central and South American Archaeology Large numbers of small pottery heads or full-length figures are found at archaeological sites in the valley of Mexico and the sur- rounding country. Many of these are beau- tifully executed, revealing a high standard of craftsmanship. Heads are common but complete specimens are rare, and Field Museum is fortunate in possessing an excep- tionally good collection of them, which is on exhibition in Hall 8. Without question these clay figures represent idols, for in many cases the distinctive attributes of various gods are clearly marked. Prob- ably they served as household gods — the Mexican equivalent of the Roman penates. The changes in technique which occur make it possible to arrange the figures in chronological order. The earliest are crude, hand-made specimens dating back more than 2,000 years. Later in date are the beautiful Toltec figures of the Teotihuacan period. These were made in pottery molds, and in their elaborate head-dresses and free treatment of featherwork reach a high level. Later again are the heads of the Aztec period. These were also made in molds, and date back between 500 and 700 years. They reveal poorer modeling, but are of more general interest since the attributes of recog- nizable gods are more clearly delineated. The heads were sometimes placed on top of lumps of maize or amaranth dough, which had been modeled in human shape. These were then sacrificed to agricultural deities to assure bountiful harvests. Among the figures in the Museum's collection are a mother and child who probably represent the earth goddess, Coatlicue, with her son Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec war god. A long-nosed individual is the wind god, and a seated woman is goddess of dancing and flowers. One of the series has been modeled in the shape of a temple-crowned pyramid, while another shows the wind god perched on top of his pyramid, looking down from the summit of the great stairway. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS May, 19S2 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avery Frederick H. Rawson John Borden George A. Richardson William J. Chalmers Martin A. Ryerson Marshall Field Fred W. Sargent Stanley Field Stephen C. Simhs Ernest R. Graham James Simi-son Albert \V. Harris Solomon A. Smith Samuel Insull, Jr. Albert A. Sprague Cyrus H. McCormick Silas H. Strawn William H. Mitchell John P. Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field President Martin A. Ryerson First Vice-President Albert A. Sprague Second Vice-President James Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. SIMMS Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith. . .Treasurer and Assistant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Sihhs, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator of Botany Oliver C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 a.m. to 4:30 P.M. February, March, April, October 9 a.m. to 5:00 P.M. May, June, July, August, September 9 a.m. to 6:00 P.M. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Busses of the Chicago Motor Coach Company (Jackson Boulevard Line, No. 26) provide service direct to the Museum. Free transfers are available to and from other lines of the company. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. CARIBOU SPECIMENS ARRIVE Five excellent specimens of caribou obtained for Field Museum in the Rainy Pass region of Alaska by hunters sent out by Alaska Guides, Inc., have been received and the work of mounting the skins will soon begin. The animals will be used in the preparation of a habitat group which will make the final exhibit in the series of North American mammals in Hall 16. The Museum is indebted to Bruce Thome of Chicago, vice-president of Alaska Guides, Inc., for his wholehearted cooperation which made possible the acquisition of these animals. Mr. Thome was one of the leaders of the Thome-Graves-Field Museum Arctic Expedition in 1929, which obtained the specimens for the walrus group in Hall N, and much other material. Thanks are due also to the United States Biological Survey for its cooperation in issuing the necessary permits to hunt the caribou, which are a protected species of animal. THE PASSENGER PIGEON By Rudyerd Boulton Assistant Curator of Birds Years ago vast flocks of passenger pigeons visited the Chicago region on their annual migrations. Their numbers were so great as to darken the sky for hours at a time when the flocks passed to and from their nesting and feeding grounds. Now these birds are extinct, the last wild one having been seen in 1907. The species, however, existed in captivity until 1914 when the last specimen died in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. The passenger pigeon is reported to have nested formerly in northern Illinois. The main breeding colonies were, however. Passenger Pigeons Part of group of extinct birds on exhibition in Stanley Field Hall. Taxidermy by Ashley Hine. farther north, in Wisconsin and Michigan. One in northern Michigan was twenty miles long and several miles wide. Millions of birds congregated there to rear their young, and this concentration during the nesting season was one cause of their destruction. The early settlers depended to a certain extent on these pigeons for food, while thousands were killed by hunters or were used to fatten hogs. After 1882 the flocks had been so reduced that it was no longer profitable to organize hunts or to net the birds systematically on a large scale. From this period on the numbers of pigeons steadily declined. In our times such whole- sale extermination of a species is fortunately no longer possible. In Stanley Field Hall is shown a group of passenger pigeons, representing part of a nesting colony. Eight birds in adult and Juvenal stages of plumage are shown crowded together on an oak branch, as was their habit. In the nesting colonies the weight of birds and nests sometimes caused large branches to break and fall to the ground with consequent destruction of the eggs and young birds. A unique feature of this habitat group is the nest, which is one of the few original examples existing in museum collections. The egg is, of course, also an original and authentic specimen. Usually only one egg was laid, but occasionally there were two. ADDITIONS MADE TO EXHIBITS OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS A number of especially interesting forms of reptiles and amphibians have been added to the collections in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). Among snakes are the poisonous copperhead and moccasin, and such harmless species as the large water-snake of the south- eastern states, the water pilot, the remark- ably-colored ringed king-snake, and the blind burrowing snake of the southwest, Lepto- ty-pklops. A plaque showing the vestigial hind limbs of the African rock python, placed in the same case with several types of limbless lizards, makes clear the origin of the serpent group from the lizards. Among lizards exhibited is the minute disk-fingered gecko, one of the smallest lizards of the world, which frequently reaches Chicago accidentally in shipments of bananas. It is estimated that the Komodo monitor lizard, largest species in the world, of which a specimen obtained by the Philip M. Chancellor-Field Museum Expedition to the South Pacific is shown in an adjoining case, is 200,000 times larger than the tiny gecko. The spiny-tailed iguanas of Central America are particularly well represented by a male and female from Honduras. Other new exhibits represent the European glass snake and the large ocellated lizard of Spain. The new amphibian exhibits include those of the blind cave salamander of Austria; the spotted and the tiger salamanders of the Chicago area; Jordan's salamander with brilliant red cheek patches, which is found in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee; and the brilliant fire salamander of Europe. These exhibits are reproductions of original specimens, made in cellulose-acetate by Staff Taxidermist Leon L. Walters, who originated a process now extensively used in Field Museum for exhibits of this nature. By this process it is possible to make more life- like exhibits of certain animals than can be done by mounting the original skins. — K.P.S. Herbarium Specimens Cited in Research During the first quarter of 1932 there were published several papers citing speci- mens from the Herbarium of Field Museum. Dr. Johann Mattfeld of Berlin described as new, in Fedde's Repertorium, a handsome plant of the saxifrage family called Astilbe heteropelala, collected in Szechwan, China, in 1929 by Herbert Stevens, who accom- panied the Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition to Eastern Asia for Field Museum. In the same journal Rev. F. E. Wimmer of Vienna described Burmeistera estrellana, a showy- flowered plant of the lobelia family, the type specimen of which was collected in Costa Rica and presented to the Museum by Professor H. E. Stork of Carleton College. In the Repertorium Dr. O. C. Schmidt of the Berlin Museum has published Aristolochia Williamsii, collected in Peru by Llewelyn Williams, Assistant in Wood Technology at Field Museum, during a recent Marshall Field expedition. In the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences E. C. Leonard of the United States National Museum has published accounts of two new species of Sanchezia, likewise collected in Peru by Mr. Williams. — P.C.S. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested : FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. May, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages FISH AT JEMDET NASR AND KISH By Henry Field Assistant Curator of Physical Anthropology Copper fishhooks have been found at Jem- det Nasr, which lies eighteen miles northeast of Kish, by the Field Museum-Oxford Uni- versity Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia. These fishhooks are large, have well-defined barbs, and undoubtedly were used to catch large fish in the river Euphrates, which flowed past this city more than fifty-five centuries ago. The rivers Euphrates and Tigris have continually shifted their beds and have cut new channels from time to time. The present fish in these rivers run up to fifty or sixty pounds in weight, and a large hook of similar dimensions to the ancient ones at Jemdet Nasr is now used by the modern Arab fisherman. At both Kish and Jemdet Nasr numerous stone weights have also been found which are presumed to have been net sinkers or weights with which to keep the fishnets below the surface of the water. The present primitive methods employed by the Arabs refiect the arts and crafts of their racial ancestors, who developed at Kish the first great civilized site in the world. In one of the small rooms of a building, dated by inscriptions at about 3500 B.C., a stratum containing fossilized fish was dis- covered. This suggested the possibility that the river Euphrates overflowed its banks at this time and carried numbers of small fish into this room. The water quickly receded and left the fish in a fine silt, to be finally buried beneath thirty-two feet of earth formed by the concentrated ruins of two superimposed cities. Specimens from this stratum were shipped to Field Museum and have been studied in detail . Although the fish remains are numer- ous, they represent only three or four genera, conspicuous among which are bones of fishes belonging to the family Cyprinidae, a family with many genera, of which the carp, goldfish and minnows may be mentioned as examples. A MAJOR OPERATION By Bbrthold Laufer Curator, Department of Anthropology In this time of reductions, when the weight of ladies, income, wages, and almost every- thing except taxes is reduced, the following story may merit rescue from oblivion. Although the incident is posted on a label explaining an exhibit at the north end of the East Gallery (George T. and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall), many visitors to the Museum may have missed their chance to read a curious story. The exhibition case in question contains a single large monu- ment— a huge turtle sculptured from stone as the support of a tablet inscribed in Chinese. This turtle has been in existence for exactly 1,190 years. In 1908 when traveling in China and Tibet on behalf of Field Museum, I spent several months at Si-an-fu, the center of the ancient Chinese civilization. One day this turtle was carried into my courtyard by four men of herculean physique. It is carved from a solid block of stone, and it then weighed about 1,200 pounds. Immedi- ately the thought of the cost of its trans- portation to Chicago loomed in my mind and was a source of great concern to me. Five hundred large boxes filled with numerous antiques had already accumulated as the result of my treasure hunts, and were awaiting transportation on mule carts to Honan-fu, the nearest railroad center (present seat of the Chinese government). It was a journey of from eight to ten days (depending on weather and road conditions) to reach that point. The normal freight rate at that time was $8 per cart, but unscrupulous speculators took advantage of my situation and drove the price up to $18, intimidating the muleteers, who were kept away from me. It took two weeks of nego- tiations to break this conspiracy, and little assistance was received from the local government, which was powerless against these racketeers. The turtle therefore had to be reduced in weight to save expenses, not only in transportation on the mule carts, but also in railroad freight from Honan to Hankow, in steamer freight on the Yangtse from Hankow to Shanghai, and finally on the ocean steamer from Shanghai to Seattle. I hired two stonecutters who for three weeks operated on the turtle, pounding on its belly, boring into its interior and hollowing its entrails out, removing masses of super- fluous stone to the extent of 460 pounds. This reducing process resulted in a saving of several hundred dollars in the cost of transporting it to Chicago. Although now reduced to 740 pounds, the good turtle has not changed its appearance or equanimity. It still is as complete, robust, and steadfast as before. According E3 ^»i>'J-" ^M Stone Turtle Nearly 500 pounds were removed from its interior to facilitate transportation from China to Field Museum, where it is now exhibited. to Chinese belief, the turtle is an emblem of longevity, strength, and endurance, and is reputed to reach an age up to three thousand years. FLOAT COPPER By Oliver C. Fahrington Curator, Department of Geology A mass of copper weighing seventeen pounds was recently presented to the Mu- seum by Carl Pickhardt of Chicago who found it in a field near Columbus, Wisconsin. This specimen, an example of what is known as "float" copper, does not occur in mines but is found in soil or gravel, and is widely distributed through the middle-western states. Float copper, aside from its intrinsic value, provides excellent material for study in connection with the subject of glaciers and glacial movements. It is of interest also as a source of metal which was used by the Indians in various manufactures. The principal source of float copper is a relatively small area in northern Michigan known as the Keeweenaw Peninsula, where eruptive rocks or conglomerates contain large quantities of pure copper in the metallic form. Though it has been mined by white men there for nearly a century, much still remains. In this area originated the copper nuggets or boulders found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, lower Michigan, Ohio and as far east as Penn- sylvania. The agent of distribution was the continental glacier or series of glaciers which swept over the northern United States in geologically recent times. The resistless movement of these glaciers carried along many rocks of the regions traversed, includ- ing masses of copper from Keeweenaw Point. These masses were deposited when the ice melted. As the glaciers moved southward they spread out east and west, which accounts for the distribution of the copper. One of the largest masses of float copper ever recorded was found at Smithfield, Illinois," in 1927. This mass was nearly five feet by three feet by six inches in dimensions, and weighed more than 1,600 pounds. The glacier had carried it about 500 miles. Masses have been reported also about 100 miles farther south, at Effingham, Illinois. Nearer the source of the copper, larger masses have been found. One in the bed of the Ontonagon River in Wisconsin is said to have weighed about 6,000 pounds. The Museum possesses a number of typical boulders, the largest of which weighs 372 pounds. This is from Markesan, Wisconsin. Another mass in the collection, weighing 101 pounds, was found in Kala- mazoo, Michigan; a smaller one was obtained from Allegan County, Michigan. The boulders occurring in southern Michigan must have been moved across the bed of Lake Michigan before reaching their place of deposit. Nearly all of them show the effect of the rolling and pressure to which they were subjected during their transporta- tion by the ice. They are usually smoothed and rounded and often show grooves or striations made by their passage over other rocks. Owing to their long burial the boulders are generally covered with a green coating of carbonate of copper. This is the same as the patina often seen on fabricated copper objects that have been buried. Such an unusual green color often leads to their discovery. In places where corrosion is extreme, many boulders may have been decomposed. As a rule, however, the surface markings are so well preserved that even small glacial scratches are retained. The copper boulders usually differ in form from glaciated stone boulders. Since copper is both ductile and malleable its masses are deformed by the immense pressure of the ice much as they would be if they were passed between rollers. Consequently, their shapes are thinner and wider than those of the stone boulders. The widespread occurrence of the copper boulders affords a means of tracing the directions of glacial movement and furnishes additional proof of the former existence of glaciers in this region. In the original deposit, the copper is accompanied by some silver, and some small masses of silver which have been glacially transported from the parent ledge have been found near Chicago. To the early Indian inhabitants of this region, this easily available source of pure, malleable metal provided material for mak- ing implements, ornaments and many other objects. Venezuelan Expedition Completed Emmet R. Blake, who has been making zoological collections in Venezuela for Field Museum, was on his way back to this country at the time of going to press. He was the last member of the Leon Mandel-Field Museum Expedition remaining in the field. A large and satisfactory collection of the fauna of the territory covered has been obtained, according to a cabled message from Mr. Blake. In number of falls represented. Field Museum has the world's largest collection of meteorites. Page U FIELD MUSEUM NEWS May, 19S2 RUINS MAY BE CAPITAL OF SARGON'S EMPIRE The discovery in Irak of a mound in which are buried the ruins of a city which may prove to be part of the lost capital of the ancient empire of Agade, is reported by the Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia. Word received from Professor Stephen Langdon, director of the expedition, indicates that excavations have been begun on the mound, and pottery and other objects have already been un- earthed from which clews are being obtained. Agade or Akkad has been called the "dream city of Mesopotamia," and was the home of the great King Sargon. Once believed to have been only a mythical person, Sargon has been proved actually to have existed. Some have identified him with Nimrod, and others with Cain. He is said to have been found when a baby, like Moses, afloat in an ark of bulrushes. The ruins now believed to be Agade are a few miles from Kish, ancient city upon which the expedition has been successfully excavating for the past ten years, bringing to light architectural remains and large collections of objects representing what is probably the world's earliest civilization. "The mound now being worked upon marks the site of a Sumerian town which flourished in the time of the empire of Agade, some 4,600 years ago, and it apparently abounds in inscribed tablets of Sargon, founder of the empire," states Professor Langdon. "The whole of western Asia was ruled from this capital, during one of the most illustrious periods of history in the ancient world." Oriental Society Visits Museum The American Oriental Society, one of the oldest learned societies in the country (founded in 1842), held its annual meeting in Chicago, March 29-31. On the morning of March 30, eighty-five members of the society made a two-hour tour of the Museum's Oriental collections. A special exhibit of antiquities from Kish and the Sassanian palaces discovered there last year had been arranged in honor of the society in the study room on the third floor. Rowland Rathbun, Assistant Professor of the History of Architecture at Armour Institute, who had prepared plans of the palaces after a thorough study, gave an interesting talk on the subject to the visiting members. Luncheon was served in the Museum cafeteria. PI QUIA BRANCH DISPLAYED A reproduction of a fruiting branch of the piquid tree (Caryocar brasiliense) has been installed in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29). It was prepared in the Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories of the Museum from material collected in 1929 in the vicinity of Para, Brazil, by Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, Acting Curator of Botany, while leading the Marshall Field Botanical Expedi- tion to the Amazon. Models of cross sec- tions of the fruit are now being made in the plant reproduction laboratories, and will be added to the exhibit. The piquid, a tall stately tree which frequently reaches a height of 100 feet, is native to the forests of the lower Brazilian Amazon and is distributed south towards Sao Paulo. Its fruit, spherical to oblong in shape and ranging from four to six inches in width, is firm and of a light-grayish color. It yields the nuts known as souari or sawarri nuts, and more familiarly as butternuts (not to be confused with the North American butternuts). The nuts are bean-shaped edible seeds, covered with tubercles and imbedded in a yellow pulp. From one to four of these are contained in each fruit. The oily kernel of the seeds has a pleasant taste, whence the name butternut. In northeastern Brazil the oil pressed out of the kernels is esteemed for culinary Souari Nut Branch New exhibit in Hall of Plant Life. Prepared in Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories. purposes. The piquid tree is of economic importance also because it produces one of the most important woods of the Amazon region. Due to its strength and durability the wood is valued for frames, floor timbers of boats and cross-ties. — L.W. Specimens representing all the principal groups of mammals of the world, arranged systematically according to their relation- ships, make one of the most interesting and educational of the various series of zoological exhibits. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From E. W. Wretlind — a prehistoric flint spear- head and a prehistoric perforated stone ax, Sweden; from Miss Barbara Neff — 28 pieces Plains Indian beadwork. 38 pieces jewelry from Algeria, 1 piece Zulu beadwork: from School of Forestry, Yale Uni- versity— 290 herbarium specimens, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and British Honduras; from Dr. R. H. Wood- worth — 449 herbarium specimens, Barro Colorado Island; from The Mengel Company — 3 panels of Honduras mahogany, Nicaraguan mahogany, and Brazilian satinwood; from Charles H. Barnaby — a trunk section and 4 pieces of rough lumber of dog- wood, Indiana; from William A. Schipp — 139 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from Ichabod T. Williams and Sons — 7 panels of foreign woods, India and Central America: from Craftsman Wood Service Company, Inc. — 2 panels of American holly: from Dr. Fortunate L. Herrera — 73 herbarium specimens, Peru; from Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman — 95 herbarium specimens, Argentina; from William J. Chalmers — a specimen of crystallized mime- tite, southwest Africa, and a specimen of sphalerite crystal, Colorado; from Herbert C. Walther — 17 speci- mens garnet and 4 specimens rare minerals and ores; from W. D. Nevel — a specimen crystallized pyrite, Colorado: from Henry Glocke — a pyrite concretion, Indiana: from General Biological Supply House — 20 small fishes, Philippine Islands, and a deepwater sculpin, Wisconsin: from C. Suydam Cutting — 339 insects, Burma and Tibet; from Dr. Stuart T. Danforth — 133 specimens toads, frogs, and lizards. West Indies; from F. J. W. Schmidt — 20 specimens frogs, lizards, and snakes, Wisconsin; from Clarence Heckman — a lizard, Nigeria; from J. B. Bisbee — an old piece of tapa cloth, Hawaii: from Dr. C. B. Williams — 42 flint implements, Egypt, and 16 obsid- ian implements, Kenya Colony. MAY GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of stafif lectiu-ers, are made every afternoon at 3 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for May: Week beginning May 2: Monday — Marine Life; Tuesday — Horses, Past and Present; Wednesday — North American Indians; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — South American Exhibits. Week beginning May 9: Monday — Prehistoric Hall; Tuesday — Egyptian Art; Wednesday — Dwellers in the Far North; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Borneo, Java and Sumatra. Week beginning May 16: Monday— Looms and Textiles; Tuesday — Asiatic Animal Life; Wednesday — Plants of Economic Value; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Pewter, Jade and Gems. Week beginning May 23: Monday — Birds of Unusual Interest; Tuesday — Chinese Exhibits; Wednesday — Animal Life of the Chicago Region; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Man Through the Ages. Monday, May 30 — Memorial Day, no tour; Tuesday, May 31 — Ancient Burials. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers* services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Work on Hall of Prehistoric Man Frederick Blaschke of Cold Spring-on- Hudson, New York, the sculptor engaged to prepare the eight life-size groups showing early races of man and outstanding phases of their cultural development for the Hall of Prehistoric Man, is now working at the Museum on the preliminary installation work. A number of the figures to be used have been completed and brought here by Mr. Blaschke. However, much remains to be done, and the hall will not be completed and opened for another year or more. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from March 16 to April 15: Associate Members Mrs. Cyrus Bentley, Wolcott Blqir, Miss Anna B. Evans, Mrs. Ellen D. Gillette, Mrs. Charles Netcher, Mrs. William M. Spencer. Annual Members Mrs. Walter L. Cherry, Horace B. Chrissinger, Fred A. Cuscadin, Clarence W. Farrier, Rowland V. Hagen, H. H. Harbecke, Edward R. Hills, Dr. E, W. Hollingsworth, Otto N. Koeing, Charles A. Liddle, Miss Florence Mandel, Mrs. H. A. McConnell, Mrs. WilUam S. MUls, Fred H. Moss, Mrs. WilUam A. Nitze, Meyer M. Pollack, Cassius Poust, William Reach, Albert F. Reichmann, Miss Helen F. Smith, Mrs. Elmer E. Stephenson, Mrs. Helen R. Walton, B. L. Wilson, Robert P. Wootton. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Memoera pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all dasses, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and bouse guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Fiexd Museum News is included with all memberahips. The courtesies of every museum of note in the Unite-i States and Canada are extended to all Members ;f.h- , ^f ' -^. -; «wk.45|j^*S' ^ ^^^^EZ :^^-^c^ ^^m ^aii On Guard Female of American alligator, alert to protect her nest of eggs, as shown in new exhibit in Albert W. Harris Hall. Page 4 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS June, li TABLET FOUND AT KISH HOLDS PART OF EPIC A tablet, about 4,000 years old, inscribed with some fifty of the missing lines of the famous epic of Gilgamesh, oldest adventure narrative in the world and one of the most important literary products of ancient Babylon, has been discovered by the Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedi- tion to Mesopotamia, according to a report from Professor Stephen Langdon, director of the expedition. Gilgamesh was the favorite Babylonian hero. His story tells of battles with fearful monsters, crossing the waters of death, finding and losing again the weeds which make the old grow young, and many other marvels. "Most of our knowledge of this epic is gained from a set of tablets once in the possession of a king of Assyria who lived about 650 B.C.," states Professor Langdon. "Some of these are very fragmentary, so that only about one-half of the epic is known. The tablet now found by the Museum excavators on the site of the ancient city of Kish is apparently from a very much earlier edition and will help to clear up unknown and obscure points in this ancient literary work." The expedition has completed its sea- son's work at Kish. Its earlier accomplish- ments have been reported in the February, April and May issues of Field Museum News. EXHIBIT OF COPPER OBJECTS FROM HOPEWELL MOUNDS By Paul S. Martin Assistant Curator of North American Archaeology One of the most interesting and most mysterious of prehistoric American cultures is that of the mound builders of Ohio and the Mississippi Valley. Their artifacts prove that they had reached a high state of development, but it has been possible to trace only a few facts concerning them. In Mary D. Sturges Hall of North American Archaeology (Hall 3) are exhibits (Cases 9 and 11) of their products in bone, shell, stone, mica, and copper, which show excellent workmanship, and occur in most surprising shapes and intricate designs. These particular objects come from the famous Hopewell mounds in Ohio. While there are some differences between them and the artifacts obtained from mounds in Illinois and elsewhere, there is nevertheless a general relationship between the work of all mound builders. These remarkable objects arouse much curiosity and speculation as to who were the artisans who fashioned them, how long ago these people lived, and what became of them. All that can be definitely said in this respect is that the people who built the mounds of Ohio, as well as those in other middle western states, were Indians whose descendants were roaming this country when Europeans first arrived. Exactly what tribe or group of Indians was respon- sible for the Hopewell culture it has not been possible to ascertain. Some anthropologists think that they must have belonged to the Siouan linguistic family. It is also impossible to state how long ago the Hopewell culture flourished. All that can be surely said is that it had died out at the time of the discovery of North America. Whether it had existed 500 or 1,000 years before that has not been determined. Of all the artifacts of these people, the copper ornaments are probably the most interesting, and they attract special atten- tion because of the wonder they arouse as to how a primitive people with nothing but crude tools could produce such elaborate designs. For years many authorities held that it would be impossible for the Indians to manipulate the metal so skillfully, and argued that such ornaments must have been made in Europe and traded to the American Mound Builders* Art Representation of a strange bird, made of copper. From Hopewell mounds in Ohio. Many such artifacts are exhibited in Mary D. Sturges Hall. aborigines. Recent studies, however, have shown that the Indians not only used native American copper, but were also capable of manufacturing the most elaborate objects of it with the crude tools and methods available to them. Several anthropologists have made exact copies of the mound builders' articles, using native copper and nothing but bone and stone tools. Moreover, exhaustive chemical analyses have been made to determine whether the metal used by the Indians was of American origin, or copper produced in Europe and brought in by traders. The results demon- strated conclusively that the ornaments found in mounds of undoubted antiquity (that is, those built before the advent of the white man) were made exclusively from native American copper. Fossil Bison Bones Shown An exhibit comprising a collection of skulls and other bones of prehistoric bison, and similar specimens of modem bison for con- trast, has been added to Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). One of the prehistoric bison skulls was excavated from the famous asphaltum pits near Los Angeles, and another from the Pleistocene gravels of Point Barrow, Alaska. These animals lived approximately 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 years ago, according to Elmer S. Riggs, Associate Curator of Paleontology. Included in the exhibit is a painting restoring the fossil animal as research indicates it must have appeared when living. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From American Friends of China — an archaic jade scraper, China; from Mr. and Mrs. Edward Deburgenie — an ax of Chellean type, Portugal: from George Harris — 2 prehistoric flint scrapers and 4 prehistoric flint knives, Texas; from Cadwallader-Giteon Com- pany, Inc.^1 panels of Philippine woods; from James Zetek — 115 herbarium specimens. Barro Colorado Island; from Craftsman Wood Service Company, Inc. — a panel of West Indian boxwood; from Dr. Fortunate L. Herrera — 128 herbarium specimens, Peru; from J. H. Smith Veneers, Inc. — 3 panels of foreign woods, Italy, England, and Africa; from J. M. Caballero — 6 panels of Mexican woods; from W. E. Bletsch — 29 polished hand samples of foreign woods, Chile, Cuba, Hawaii, and British Honduras; from H. C. Benke — 778 herbarium specimens, United States; from United Fruit Company — 7 panels of foreign woods, Honduras; from Lieutenant-Commander J. H. Keester — 3 speci- mens lava and ash, volcano of Katraai, Alaska; from Dr. Mabel A. King and Miss Bertha F. Gordon — 11 specimens fossil leaves, Illinois; from H. B. Conover — 3 pectoral sandpipers; from the University of Chicago — 12 birds, 279 lizards, 37 fishes, and 91 specimens snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, etc.; from James J. Mooney — 2 salamanders and a least weasel, Illinois; from Alfred C. Weed — 34 snakes, Illinois; from P. C. Boomer — one polished azurite, Arizona. JUNE GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lecturers, are made every afternoon at 3 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for June: Wednesday, June 1 — .\nimal Families; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Homes in Many Lands. Week beginning June 6: Monday — Reptiles, Past and Present; Tuesday — Primitive Musical Instruments; Wednesday — Hall of Plant lafe; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Gems and Jewelry. Week beginning June 13: Monday — Art of the Chinese; Tuesday — Plants and Animals of Long Ago; Wednesday — Woodland Indians; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Blankets and Baskets. Week beginning June 20: Monday — The Story of Man; Tuesday — Mines and Ores; Wednesday — Mummies; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Coal, Oil and Peat. Week beginning June 27: Monday — Palms and Cereals; Tuesday — Birds of Gay Plumage; Wednesday — Ancient Mexican Art; Thursday — General Tour. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Scenes in Egypt Pictured A miniature "tour," in colored pictures, of the principal ancient ruins to be seen in Egypt is a new feature of the exhibits in the hall of Egyptian archaeology (Hall J). This fits in with and supplements the collec- tions of antiquities in the hall. The pictures, of a size large enough to give a clear impression of the scenes, are painted in colors on glass, and set in a series in one of the walls. They are elec- trically illuminated from behind, bringing out to the best advantage the natural colors, and the many details. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Meld Museum during the period from April 16 to May 16: Associate Members Mrs. A. G. Becker, Webster H. Burke, Dr. Loyal Davis, John A. Manley, Mrs. S. Arthur Walther. Non-Resident Associate Members Edmund W. Stevens Annual Members Mrs. Henry G. Barkhausen, John F. Caine, Mrs. James A. Cathcart, Mrs. Adelbert E. Coleman, Hugo Dalmar, John Doctoroff, Dr. Edna M. Forsyth, John Wyatt Gregg, Howard B. Hare, Edmund G. Johnson, Howard B. Jones, Mrs. George I. Keefe, Father S. Radniecki, Mrs. Joseph K. Salomon, Dr. Henry J. G. Schmidt, Miss Eloise R. Tremain, Mrs. Leon Weil, Joseph R. WUlens, H. E. Wills. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. pniNTCo av riKLO • LtSCUM PRCSS Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural Histoi~y, Chicago Vol. 3 JULY, 1932 No. 7 MODERN FASHIONS HAD ORIGIN IN ANCIENT TIMES By Berthold Laufeh Curator, Department of Anthropology The former kaiser is not the inventor of the mustache with turned-up tips; the Medicis did not invent tiie collar named for them; the Paris fashion dictators did not originate the decollete and the high- waist ed gown. There is little if any origi- nality in modern fashions. Most of these were anticipated by peoples of the Far East many centuries ago. Spend a half-hour or so studying the exhibit of ancient Chinese clay figures just reinstalled at Field Museum, and you will be convinced. First, with regard to the kaiser — the upright mustache was anciently worn in central Asia by equestrian tribes of Iranian and Turkish extraction. It was a privilege of the military aristocracy, the out- come of a superiority complex — an ornament regarded as accen- tuating manliness and martial prowess, and intended to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy. The Chinese were deeply impressed by these warriors, and modeled statues of them in clay, some of which are now in the Museum. They buried these statues with their dead as guardians of the grave. Armed to the teeth and enveloped in heavy suits of sheet armor, these valiant knights were supposed to be ready to fight for their dead master. Many of them are bedecked with the mustache a la kaiser, which was foreign to the Chinese, who cultivated a mus- tache only after reaching the age of forty, and wore it with long, drooping whiskers at the end. The Museum has three unique clay statuettes noteworthy for their skillful modeling and delicate painted designs. They represent a princess of the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906), seated, with her two ladies-in-waiting standing on either side. These may be regarded as actual portraits. They show silk dresses exquisitely painted in dainty colors, with designs on the borders indicating embroidery. The princess wears a high chignon in the form of a snail, held by a golden hoop. Her wrists are adorned with golden bracelets. Her decollete, com- bined with short sleeves cut off above the elbows, is a noteworthy feature accentuating the modernistic note. She wears a rose- colored silk jacket with collar, the borders of which are embroidered. The skirt with red border along the lower edge fits over the jacket (high waist-line), and is held by a girdle with a very artistic knot in front. Pointed shoes complete her ensemble. The figure is 40 J^ inches high. The two ladies-in-waiting are alike, each in a firm and graceful pose. Both of these statuettes are 48 inches high. The coiffures of these ladies are arranged in serpent wind- ings. They wear very high shoulder capes or what we call Medici collars, evidently fashionable in China many centuries before the Medicis. Each is provided with two jackets, an inner one with tight sleeves and an outer one with long, drooping sleeves. Their girdles, artistically tied, consist of red and green silken cords. The tops of their shoes are cut out into lotus designs. Women's feet were poetically compared by the Chinese to lotus flowers. It was said that lotuses sprout forth from the steps of beautiful women, and this thought may have inspired the fashion of shoes with lotus designs. Until the end of the Manchu dynasty it was customary in Peking to Ladles of Fashion in Ancient China Portrait statuettes of a princess and hei ladies-in-waiting, on exhibition in George T. and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall, showing how high waistline, Medici collar, and modern decollete were anticipated in China hundreds of years before they appeared in Europe. embroider a lotus on shoes worn by the dead at burial. The lotus, being an emblem of purity, was intended to convince the {Continued on page 2) Three Noted Scientists Visit Museum Three distinguished scientists were visitors at Field Museum last month. Dr. Alexander Wetmore, Assistant Secretary of the Smith- sonian Institution, in charge of the National Museum, was here on June 3. Dr. Thomas Barbour, Director of the Museum of Com- parative Zoology at Harvard University, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Research in Tropical America, came on June 7. Sir Henry Well- come, founder of the Wellcome Foundation, famous research laboratories in London, visited the Museum on June 9. MUSEUM MAKING COLLECTION OF RARE ELEMENTS By Henry W. Nichols Associate Curator of Geology The Department of Geology is assembling, with the cooperation of Herbert C. Walther, of Chicago, a collection of the rare elements. A number of these are already exhibited in Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall (Hall 37), but owing to the extreme scarcity of many of them it may take years to complete the collection. The crust of the earth is composed of ninety-two known elements. Eight of these account for more than 98.5 per cent of the crust. Only iron and aluminum among the heavy metals are included in these eight. Of the other eighty-four elements, only five are present in quantities greater than one-tenth of one per cent. The remaining seventy-nine elements together comprise less than one-half of one per cent of the mass of the earth's crust. Most of the useful metals such as copper, zinc, and silver, are included in this half per cent, and most of them in quantities of less than one one- hundredth of one per cent. If these metals remained uniformly distrib- uted they would be so diflScult to procure that mankind would be deprived of their use. It is only because geological agencies cause these useful elements to segregate in ore bodies that their use becomes possible. The quantity of gold present in the crust of the earth has been estimated as one-half of one millionth of one per cent, yet gold is not included among the really rare elements being assembled in this collection. These exist in even smaller quantities. Deposits con- taining them are few and the con- tent of a rare element in a deposit is often low. The rare elements not so long ago were mere curiosities and of scientific interest only. But some of them have such remarkable prop- erties that in spite of their rarity and necessarily high price they have come into regular use. Radium and helium are examples. Some, as for example tantalum, are used whenever a supply can be obtained, in spite of their price, because of qualities which, while present in lesser degree in other elements, are so exceptionally developed. The present and probable future utiliza- tion of these elements is the reason for beginning this collection. Besides the rare elements proper, a number of what may be called semi-rare elements are included. Also whenever the elemental form, either from lack of use or from use restricted to certain industries, is likely to be unfamiliar to most people, the common elements are displayed. The collection of fossil and amber-like resins at Field Museum ranks among the finest of its kind in the world. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS July, 193g Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michl^n, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avery John Bobden William J. Chalmers Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. Cyrus H. McCormick William H. Mitchell Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Martin A. Ryebson Fred W. Sargent Stephen C. Simms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Sprague Silas H. Strawn John P. Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field President Martin A. Ryerson First Viee-PreeiderU Albert A. Sprague Second Vice-President James Simpson Third Viee-Prtsident Stephen C. Simms Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith , . . Treasurer and Assistant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Bbkthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator of Botany OuvBR C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. February, March, April, October 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. May, June, July, August, September 9 a.m. to 6:00 P.M. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays: non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and .'Vnna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Busses of the Chicago Motor Coach Company (Jackson Boulevard Line, No. 26) provide service direct to the Museum. Free transfers are available to and from other lines of the company. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. PRAISE FROM EDUCATORS Too often are the benefits made possible by philanthropists taken for granted by a public which, if appreciative, at least seldom expresses its appreciation. A philanthropic enterprise which does elicit voluntary com- mendation from a large number of indi- viduals, therefore, may be regarded as unusually successful in performing the service for which it was established. For this reason it is very gratifying to note the response which has been made to the activities of two separately endowed units of Field Museum — the Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension, founded by the late Norman W. Harris and further endowed by surviving members of his family; and the James NeUon and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures, founded by Mrs. James Nelson Raymond in memory of her late husband. Shortly before the closing of Chicago's schools last month for the summer holidays, Field Museum received more than 100 letters from principals and teachers of Chicago schools expressing appreciation for the services rendered to education by the Harris Extension and the Raymond Foundation. The writers emphasized that the traveling exhibition cases of the Harris Extension, and the lectures and entertainments pro- vided by the Raymond Foundation, perform functions of the greatest importance in the general educational activities, and that they are a boon to teachers and pupils alike. Many of the writers remarked their grati- fication over the fact that it had been possible for the Museum to maintain these services in spite of the difficulties imposed by present economic conditions, and in- dicated their strong desire for continuance of the work when the schools reopen next autumn. Frequently the letters had praise for the efficiency and courtesy of the Museum representatives sent to their schools in con- nection with these activities. A number cited specific advantages which their schools had derived from the service. Some men- tioned the fact that the children thernselves had often expressed their appreciation of the exhibits and lectures. At the Museum every effort is constantly made to improve and expand the value of these services, and the inspiration derived from these letters will strengthen continu- ance of these efforts. HERRING ARE QUEER FISH By Alfred C. Weed Assistant Curator of Fishes Although quite an ordinary fish in appear- ance, the herring has attracted fisher-folk from as far back as we have any record, and probably as far back as men have gone to sea. It was always an event of importance when fish of any kind could be caught easily and in large numbers. When such fish could be caught year after year almost as regularly as the return of the seasons it became the occasion for the founding of a great industry. Such an industry has often been founded on a herring fishery and grown until whole communities depended on it for their exist- ence. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, would come a year when the catch was small. Next year, no herring at all. No one could tell where they had gone. No one in the region would see them again for years. The whole fishery would have to be aban- doned, or else the fishermen would have to travel far out to distant seas to get the fish for their people to salt, smoke, dry or pickle. Such has been the history of herring in Labrador. When first commercially dis- covered, its waters teemed with cod and herring. The herring were even more valu- able than the cod. Their quality was con- sidered the best in the world. They were large and fat, and could be caught easily. Fishermen from all parts of Europe fiocked to those waters. Danish, Breton and Basque fishermen crossed the Atlantic to dispute the waters with Yankee skippers from the New England coast, while the governments of France and England argued and fought over the ownership of those stony and forbidding shores. Suddenly the herring stopped visit- ing these waters. For a whole generation they were not seen there. Then no one wanted the land. It was kicked back and forth like a football between Canada and Newfoundland. The cod were not valuable enough to bother with, and the wealth of salmon and trout was not considered. Finally the herring came back and the cod fishery became important. Canada and Newfound- land both wanted Labrador. That dispute was settled about five years ago, but mean- while the herring have come and gone twice. The herring is a fish difficult to prepare for museum exhibition. Like so many of the fishes of the open ocean, it is delicate and fragile. Its scales fall off at a touch. It shines with a wonderful, silvery and pearly sheen that is entirely impossible to retain and almost impossible to reproduce. The celluloid reproduction in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18) however, shows well the appearance of the scales, with color and brilliance almost equal to the living fish. Museum Methods Described How Field Museum hardens and preserves fossil bones with their original color and texture by means of a new method of impregnating them with the material known as bakelite is described in an article by Henry W. Nichols, Associate Curator of Geology, and P. C. Orr, also of the geological staff, which appeared in the May issue of The Museums Journal (London). The method was first used on fossils by Dr. E. C. Case of the University of Michigan, but certain modifications and innovations have been introduced at Field Museum which make it more suitable for the special requirements here. Origin of Modern Fashions (Cort^nzicd /rom page 1) Judge of Purgatory that the wearer was a person of good moral standing. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that although the custom of artificially bound feet, also known as lotus feet, sprang up during the T'ang period, all women represented in the clay figures have naturally proportioned feet. The woman credited with the invention of the Medici collar is Catherine de' Medici (1519-89), daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino. In 1533 she married the Duke of Orleans, who subsequently became Henry II, king of France (1547-59). Catherine is said to have brought from Italy to France the fashion of wearing the high- collar still named for her. In. those days, and earlier, Italy carried on a lively trade with the Orient, and Marco Polo had reported the wonders of China. It is most likely that the impetus to the Medici collar was received in Italy from the Orient long before the Medicis, and that Catherine by wearing it merely made it fashionable and lent it her illustrious name. The reinstallation of the exhibits men- tioned in this article has been made in new cases with concealed lighting and improved labels, greatly enhancing their attractive- ness. "The exhibits are in George T. and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall (Hall 24). BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested : FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago^ State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. July, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages MONEY FROM MELANESIA By Albert B. Lewis Assistant Curator of Melanesian Ethnology In Joseph N. Field Hall (Hall A) are many examples of money used by natives of Melanesia. These people engage in much trading, and so need a medium of exchange, and standard of value, neither bulky nor perishable. For this purpose various things were formerly used, such as mats, strings of teeth, bands of feathers, and especially shells. The shells were usually strung, except the larger ones, which were made into shell arm- rings. The large rings were very valuable, and used only for important transactions. For ordinary money small, perforated flat disks were strung like beads. Value depended upon the length of the string, and the different kinds of disks used, some being much more rare and valuable than others, as in the case of the different metals used for our coins. Sometimes seeds were mixed with the shell disks, thus making a cheaper "alloy"; or the string might be knotted to keep the disks farther apart, and so reduce the value of a particular length. Each district or region had its own money. In each region the size of the disks was fairly uniform. They usually were thin, and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. In New Caledonia they were more like beads, with a diameter of one-sixteenth of an inch or less; but in eastern New Guinea they might be five-sixteenths of an inch or more in diameter. In making these disks two methods were employed. Some were made from small spiral shells broken or ground off, till only a thin disk or ring remained, the hole being formed by the shell's original cavity. Others were pieces of shell roughly broken into shape with a stone hammer, ground to a thin flat plate, and bored with a stone drill. After stringing the pieces tightly together, the whole roll of disks was ground to a uniform size, smoothed and rounded. These were then re-strung to the proper length. In the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain another type of shell money was used, and is still occasionally found. This was made by stringing shells on a strip of rattan. The strip could be lengthened indefinitely by overlapping the ends of two pieces an inch or two and drawing a few shells tightly over the joint to hold the pieces together. Thus strips several hundred feet in length were made, and coiled into rolls which looked like an automobile tire. Wlien used the money was measured, the unit being the distance between the ends of the fingers of a man's outstretched arms. Smaller units used were the length from the end of the fingers of one arm to the middle of the chest, to the elbow, and so on. As the shells were tightly wedged on the rattan any length could be measured and broken off. For ordinary use short lengths were made, the large rolls being broken only on special occasions. There was often a special treasure hut in the village where these rolls were kept. This might be regarded as the local bank, and the owner in charge of the deposits was usually the most powerful and influential man in the village. Rarely was the trust placed in him betrayed. This money served the purpose of a true currency. Prices of many commodities were fixed; others varied according to supply. Money was frequently loaned, the charge being 10 per cent, the time not being con- sidered. If a man refused to repay, however, he became a marked man. While there was no law but custom, there were ways by which such pressure was brought to bear that an offender was usually glad to settle. SKELETONS OF MONKEYS, APES AND MAN EXHIBITED By D. Dwight Davis Assistant in Osteology A museum which exhibited only mounted skins would present an incomplete picture of the relationships existing between animals. It would also be misleading, for fishes, snakes, birds, and mammals would appear to have little in common with each other. To round out and give depth to the picture it is necessary to exhibit also skeletons. A properly organized exhibit of skeletons should demonstrate two things: the funda- mental structural plan which prevails throughout the vertebrates; and the wonder- ful flexibility and infinite variation in this plan. As a nucleus for a hall of comparative poid apes is placed beside a human skeleton, so that the marked similarities in structure are readily seen, and some of the evidence upon which is based the theory of evolution is presented. The other side of the screen shows representative monkeys and lemurs. One of the most interesting exhibits in this group is a skeleton of the "aye-aye," a peculiar lemur from Madagascar in which the front teeth have become greatly spe- cialized for gnawing, and in which the second finger on the hand has developed into a remarkably long and slender appendage for extracting insect larvae from the bark of trees. The structure of the teeth in this animal is so rodent-like that it was originally classified among the rats and mice. Evolution Theory at a Glance Part of exhibit of skeletons in Hall 19 which illustrates structural similarity of man and the higher apes. From left to right the skeletons shown are man, gorilla, chimpanzee, orang, and gibbon. anatomy, the entire exhibit of vertebrate skeletons in Hall 19 is being reinstalled. A number of important changes have been made in the method of display. The black- lined cases have been replaced by buff- colored screens, and brief explanatory labels have been introduced. Two cases have been completed to date. One is the case of skeletons of the carnivorous animals which was described in the February issue of Field Museum News. The second case is especially interesting as it contains the skeletons of man and his nearest relatives, the apes and monkeys. On one side of this case a series of skeletons of the great anthro- Important in the exhibit are a skeleton of the gibbon, which is the most primitive of the apes, and a skeleton of the curious tarsier, a lemur-like animal. The tarsier has aroused a great deal of interest among scientists during the last fifty years because of its primitive structure, and because of the important part its extinct ancestors are believed to have played in the evolution of man. The specimens of both the gibbon and tarsier were obtained in Borneo by the Cornelius Crane Pacific Expedition in 1929. The exhibit was prepared by Edmond N. Gueret, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Skeletons, assisted by the writer. New Peruvian Plants In the German botanical journal, Reperto- rium Specierum Novarum, Dr. R. Knuth of the Berlin Botanic Garden has published five new species of Dioscorea from Peru, four of which were collected by the Marshall Field Expeditions of Field Museum. These plants are related to cultivated yams, whose roots are a staple food in the tropics. Fellowship Winner to Sail Karl P. Schmidt, Assistant Curator of Reptiles at Field Museum, who was recently appointed to a fellowship of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in recognition of his herpetological researches, will sail for Europe in July to pursue the studies for which the fellowship was granted. Skulls of Rare Fossil Animal Skulls of Macrauchenia, a rare species of tall camel-like prehistoric animal of South America, have been placed on exhibition in Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). Although this animal strongly resembles a camel superficially, it is not directly related to the modern camel, according to Elmer S. Riggs, Associate Curator of Paleontology. It is likewise not related to any modern animal of the entire world, nor to any . prehistoric animal known from North or South America, Mr. Riggs says. It thus occupies a unique place in the series of early animals, and in the study of evolution. The specimens were collected in Argentina by the Marshall Field Paleontological Expedition which was led by Mr. Riggs. \^6pT'fi'r-^ L.', Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees, Each Member, in alt classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the L^nite-i States and Canada are extended to all Members oC Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. PMINTCD BY WtULO MUSEUM PRESS News Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 SEPTEMBER, 1932 No. 9 ASBESTOS By Henby W. Nichols Associate Curator of Geology Asbestos cloth is another one of the many products usually considered strictly modern which a little research reveals as having an ancient history. It has been known for hundreds of years that the longer and stronger fibers of the mineral asbestos could be spun into thread and woven into cloth. The ancient Romans used it, believing it to be of vegetable origin, just as they believed silk was a wool which grew on trees. In the Middle Ages asbestos cloth napkins were used, eliminating laundering, as they were thrown into the fire for cleaning. AlDout A.D. 1250, Marco Polo found in Tartary asbestos cloth purported to have been made from the skin of the salamander, thus associating the fabled ability of that animal to live in the midst of flames with the fire-resisting qualities of the asbestos cloth. It is an almost universal rule that minerals are brittle. They may be hard or tough, but few of them can be bent without break- ing. When a mineral departs from this condition, and is both fireproof and flexible as well, it can serve important purposes in industry. Thus it is that asbestos with its flexible fiber, and mica with its flexible sheets, have become the two most widely used minerals for certain purposes. Asbestos and mica and products made from them are represented in the collections of nonmetallic minerals in Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall {Hall 37). Asbestos is the fibrous form of either of two minerals, serpentine and amphibole. Serpentine asbestos is the most used, and Canada supplies most of this country's requiremente. Serpentine is usually a mas- sive rock very unlike asbestos, but occa- sionally it fills veins with fine, silky flexible fibers. The other asbestos is the fibrous form of amphibole, a common mineral occurring as crystals in rock. Some am- phibole shows no fibrous character; some breaks with a splintery fracture; and some can be separated into long brittle splinters. Occasionally amphibole is found which separates into long flexible fibers and this is the amphibole asbestos. There are several varieties of it. Modern uses of asbestos are numerous and many of them are illustrated in the Museum's exhibit. Besides being employed for insulation and for resisting heat it is utilized in numerous things which require an ability to resist the destructive action of superheated steam, hot oil and corrosive chemicals. It is used for automobile brake linings and clutch facings, in plasters and cements to prevent cracking, in paints and, a strictly modern development, in combina- tion with cement under hydraulic pressure as fireproof lumber and shingles. A peculiar use, as shown by a specimen from "Tibet, is as medicine. The Museum's collection includes a variety of woven fabric and felted papers, sheets, blocks and tubes. Asbestos has a reputation for heat resist- ance and insulation value which it does not deserve. Many other minerals shown else- where in this and an adjoining hall excel it in these respects and are employed where asbestos would fail. Its value for insulation and refractory uses consists in a flexibility which other minerals do not have and a fireproof nature which organic insulation lacks. Two materials which may be called arti- ficial asbestos are included in the collection. These are mineral wool, which is fiberized blast furnace slag, and rock wool, which is a fiberized impure limestone. These possess in a degree some of the qualities of asbestos and can be substituted for it for certain purposes, especially for insulation in build- ings, boilers and refrigerators. COLLARED LIZARDS In the eyes of a herpetologist, at least, the collared lizards pictured above must be con- sidered as ranking amonjl the most beautiful of all animals, according to Karl P. Schmidt, Assistant Curator of Reptiles. Even a person not thus biased in favor of reptilian forms, or in fact one of the many to whom snakes, lizards and all such creatures are naturally repulsive, would have to admit that the rich yellow, green and black coloring in the pattern of the skin of these American lizards is attrac- tive. The photograph shows an exhibit recently installed In Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). This species of lizard is found from Missouri to New Mexico. Its most common local name is "mountain boomer." The museum exhibit, consisting of repro- ductions in celluloid-like material, represents a male and female, and is the creation of Taxidermist Leon L. Walters. More Skeletons Reinstalled Reinstallation of several more exhibits of animal skeletons in the hall of osteology (Hall 19), by the new method adopted recently, has been completed. Skeletons now reinstalled include, in addition to the carnivores, and the monkeys, apes and man mentioned in previous issues of Field MusEtTM News, the following: hooded seal, northern sea lion, walrus, hippopotamus, camel, beisa antelope, koodoo, elk, tapir, zebra, and rhinoceros. The appearance of these exhibits has been improved by the elimination of heavy wooden bases, and the use of light-colored screens, floor coverings, and labels. Two ancient Roman bathtubs, of bronze, from Boscoreale, Italy, are on exhibition in the Museum. NEW MAYA EXHIBIT By J. Eric Thompson Assistant Curator of Central and South American Archaeology A synoptic collection illustrating Maya art and industry has been placed on exhibi- tion in Stanley Field Hall. This collection comprises pieces from many parts of the Maya area. Much of the material was collected by the First, Second, and Third Marshall Field Archaeological Expeditions to British Honduras conducted during the past several years, and the rest of the material comes from various sources, notably by gifts from Allison V. Armour, Patron, Contributor, and former Trustee of the Museum. Dominating the collection is a very forceful stone sculpture representing the Maya Sun God. He is recognizable by his squinting square eyes, a four-petaled leaf on his forehead, and his peculiar filed teeth. The head had been attached to the fasade of a temple by a deep tenon. In contrast to this forceful masterpiece in stone is a delicately carved piece of shell, showing a seated Maya priest or ruler wearing an elaborate headdress. This piece is of peculiar interest, for although it is definitely Maya in style, it was found at Tula in northern central Mexico. It must have been carried there in trade, or as the prized possession of an early Maya traveler. Among the gifts from Mr. Armour in the collection is a necklace of rock crystal beads, the only one of this material ever found in Maya territory. There are also neck- laces of turquoise, and other materials. Other objects displayed include copper bells, jade beads, and a bowl containing copal incense. These were recovered from the bottom of the sacred well at Chichen Itza, into which they had been thrown, with gold plates, idols, and even young girls as offerings to appease the rain gods. Various types of filed human teeth and a set of teeth with jade inlays are also shown, as well as a small series of carved and painted pottery vessels. Modern and Extinct Plants A new exhibit of reproductions of the plants known as horsetails or equisetes, with restorations of calamites and spheno- phylls which have been extinct for many millions of years, has been added to the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29). Models of the modern horsetails or scouring rushes are shown as they appear in life, and in conjunction with them is a model of their spore-bearing cone, and restorations of related but long extinct calamites with specimens in fossil form for comparison. The great number of fossils found indicates that these plants were abundant in prehistoric times and occurred in many genera and species. The modem species are relatively few in number, but are found widely dispersed in many parts of the world. The sphenophylls, jointed- stem flowerless plants related to the horse- tails, became completely extinct some 200,000,000 years ago. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS SepUmber, 19S2 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avbry Frederick H. Rawson John Borden George A. Richardson William J. Chalmers 'Martin A. Rybrson Marshall Field Fred W. Sargent Stanley Field Stephen C. Simhs Ernest R. Graham Jambs Simpson Albert W. Harris Solomon A. Smith Samuel Insull, Jr. Albert A. Sprague Cyrus H. McCormick Silas H. Strawn William H. Mitchell John P. Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field Pretident ♦Martin A. Ryerson First Vice-PretiderU Albert A. Sprague Second Vice-Pretident Jambs Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. Simhs Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith. . . Treasurer and Assistant Secretary * Deceased FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Sihms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. Dahlgrbn Acting Curator of Botany Oliver C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Mxiseum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below : November, December, January 9 a.m. to 4:30 P.M. February, March, April, October 9 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. May, June, July, August, September 9 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Busses of the Chicago Motor Coach Company (Jackson Boulevard Line, No. 26) provide service direct to the Museum. Free transfers are available to and from other lines of the company. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. DEATH OF MARTIN A. RYERSON GREAT LOSS TO MUSEUM Martin A. Ryerson, one of the original Incorporators of Field Museum, and actively associated with the operation of the institu- tion as a Trustee and as First Vice-President from the Musexun's earliest days, died on August 11 at his summer home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was 75 years old. Mr. Ryerson was one of the Museum's staunchest friends and most active workers. He participated in the preliminary steps which led to the establishment of the institution, and was one of the members of the original Board of Trustees, being elected in 1893 and remaining on the Board until his death. In 1894 he was elected First Vice-President, and remained in that office also until his death. He served as a member of the Executive Committee from 1894 to 1914, and as a member of the Finance Committee from 1901 to 1932. His many generous gifts to the Museimi, both in money and in additions to the collections, S laced his name high on the institution's st of Contributors, while the deep interest he displayed in every detail of the Museum's operations, and the eminent services he rendered to it, resulted in his election in 1922 as an Honorary Member. He was also a Corporate Member from the beginning of the Museum's existence, and became a Life Member about 1896. As an Officer and Trustee of the Museum Mr. Ryerson found time, despite his heavy burden of widespread business interests, to devote much thought and effort to the building up of a natural history insti- tution of which Chicago could be proud. His sage advice and many suggestions were of great value in the deliberations of the Board of Trustees. His affection for and interest in the Mu- seum are evidenced in countless instances affection. Since the return of the expedi- tions, he had evinced the greatest interest in the work of preparing the groups at the Museum, and had hoped and expected to be present at the time of the opening of the water hole group when completed. Chica^ Daily News Photo Martin A. Ryerson by the work he performed for it, and the many valuable gifts he made to it. Mr. Ryerson as a young man attended Harvard University where he was graduated with a degree in law, and in later years three honorary degrees were conferred upon him— Master of Arts by Yale, Doctor of Laws by the University of Chicago and Doctor of Laws by Kenyon College. He became a trustee of the University of Chicago at the time of its founding in 1890, and for thirty years served as president of its board of trustees. He was active also in the affairs of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he became a trustee in 1890, served as president in 1925-26, and was honorary president from 1926 until his death. He was associated also in the work of many other civic institu- tions, among them the Rockefeller Founda- tion of Washington, the Chicago Old People's Home, the Sprague Memorial Institute, and the Chicago Orphan Asylum. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, city of his birth, he founded an excellent library. Notably successful in business, Mr. Ryerson was a leader in the managernent of various important industrial organizations and leading banking institutions. MAJOR JOHN COATS DEAD Word of the death in August of Major John Coats, co-leader of two important Field Museum expeditions, and Patron, Contributor and Corporate Member of the Museum, has just been received in a letter from George G. Carey, Jr., of Baltimore. Major Coats died at his home in Ayrshire, Scotland. With Captain Harold A. White of New York, Major Coats jointly financed and actively participated in the Harold White- John Coats Abyssinian Expedition of Field Museum in 1928-29, and the Harold White- John Coats Central African Expedition in 1930-31. The first of these obtained material for a large group of various animals at a water hole, now in preparation at the Museum, and adso specimens for a habitat group of lions and aardvarks. The second expedition collected various mammals, in- cluding a number of excellent specimens of the rare bongo. Major Coats's skill in the field commanded the respect and admiration of his comrades, while his personality inspired their deep BUSY SUMMER IS REPORTED BY RAYMOND FOUNDATION During the summer just ending, much educational work both for Chicago children, and for visiting groups of children from outside the city, has been carried on by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. In addition to the summer series of free entertainments during July and August, the Foundation staff lecturers have conducted many parties of children on tours of the museum exhibits. Among the out- of-town groups have been boys who had earned summer trips by securing subscrip- tions for magazines, groups sponsored by various civic organizations, and railroad and motor bus excursion parties. There were also groups of children who had been taking courses in various subjects over the summer radio school conducted by the Chicago Daily News, who were brought to the Museum to study material correlative with the broadcast lessons. AMERICAN FRIENDS OF CHINA MAKE GIFTS TO MUSEUM Two important objects were acquired this month from a fund presented to the Museum last year by the American Friends of China, Chicago. One is a unique figurine, six inches high, of celadon porcelain of the Sung period (a.d. 960-1279), representing the God of the North, who is conceived as a powerful warrior clad in a suit of armor. Seated erect on a rock, he sets his right foot on a tortoise held in the grasp of a snake wriggling around the tortoise's body. Both animals, in a previous incarnation, were mighty demons who were subdued by the GcS of the North and now accompany him as faithful attendants. This figurine felici- tously supplements two other images of the same god in the Museum's collections, one of wood lacquered and gilded, and another of soft porcelain glazed in two shades of blue, both of the Ming period. The other gift due to the Friends of China is a beautiful cover of cut velvet, fifty inches square, made for the palace under the reign of the emperor K'ien-lung (1736-95). The designs, an elaborate symphony of peonies and foliage woven in orange red, purple, violet blue, yellowish green and gold, stand out vigorously under the nap. — B.L. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested: FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago^ State of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net income imder Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax imder the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. September, 19S2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages BOTANICAL WORK IN EUROPE FOR FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has received from the Botanical Garden and Museum of Berlin several boxes containing material forwarded by Assistant Curator J. Francis Macbride, who has been engaged for three years in obtaining, with the aid of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, photographs of historical plant specimens preserved in the large herbaria of Europe. The present shipment includes 4,000 nega- tives of plants of the Berlin Herbarium, the total number of such negatives now exceed- ing 20,000. These represent as many species of plants, chiefly South American, and com- prise one of the most practically useful collections for the study of the South American flora that ever has been brought together. When prints from all these photographs have been inserted in the Field Museum Herbarium, it will afford facilities for studying the plants of South America such as are possessed by scarcely any other American institution. Duplicates of these prints are made available also to other botanical institutions at a nominal price. In addition, there were returned by Mr. Macbride more than 2,000 sheets of Peruvian plants, mainly those collected by the several Marshall Field Expeditions. These have been studied and named at Berlin, and compared with authentic specimens, thus affording standards for future study of Peruvian plants. Mr. Macbride is now engaged in further study and photographing at the Botanical Museum of Munich, which owns the largest series of Brazilian plants collected and studied by Martius, pioneer explorer and author of the monumental and still unrivaled Flora of Brazil. THE PERMIT FISH, LARGEST OF THE POMPANOS By Alfred C. Weed Assistant Curator of Fishes Pompanos are foimd in all tropical seas and are noted in this country because of the especial excellence of the pompano of Florida and the Gulf Coast, one of the most delicious of all fishes. Others of the group are not quite so well liked, perhaps because they are not usually so well prepared for the table. All or most of them have a very- delicate flavor, of which the best part is lost when they are carried far to market. Most of them are of small to medium size, a weight of four poimds being above the average. The largest of the American pompanos has been given the curious name of "permit." It is very much like the common pompano in general appearance but grows to a great size, specimens of twenty pounds or more being not uncommon. One of four speci- mens given to Field Museum by Colonel Lewis S. Thompson, of Red Bank, New Jersey, was thirty-three inches long from the tip of the snout to the end of the middle rays of the tail-fin (more than a yard long to the tip of the tail) and weighed twenty- five and one-fourth pounds. It is now on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). Larger ones are occasionally taken, but a fish of this size, with its broad side of glitter- ing silver with golden reflections, is a prize worthy of any angler's efforts. The general color of the permit fish, as described by Taxidermist L. L. Pray who mounted it, is a pleasing gray tone through which glows a variety of tinted pearly luster. Over the dusky back there are flashes of briUiant metallic or pearl greens and blues. The face and midside are broadly suffused with lilac-pearl. The lower side has a broad band of salmon-colored gold extending in an arc from in front of the anal fln forward under the pectoral fin and across the gill cover and jaw. The belly and throat are gleaming white, while the fins are grayish, tipped with shaded black. At the forward end of the base of the anal fin is a mottled spot of cadmium yellow and black — the only touch of vivid tropical color upon this otherwise richly but quietly dressed fish. The permit has not been sufficiently advertised to be widely sought by anglers. Those who do go after it and are able to find it have good sport. They report that it is very active and puts up a strong fight. Colonel Thompson asserts that it is exceed- ingly shy and will leave a locality entirely at a slight disturbance. Permits are occasionally caught by com- mercial fishermen and may sometimes be seen in the Chicago markets. They are not generally considered fine food and are Permit Fisli Largest of tiie pompanos, this fish provides great sport for anglers. The above specimen is on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall (HaU 18). mainly used for display purposes. A large one in a show window is sure to attract attention. There is a great difference of opinion in regard to the value of this fish as food. The general belief seems to be that it is tough and tasteless. However, some who have eaten it call it very good. Others object to the lack of a fishy taste and say that, both in flavor and texture, it is like a piece of tender, fried pork. MORE CHINESE REINSTALLATIONS Four newly installed exhibition cases of Chinese archaeological material have been added to George T. and Fi-ances Gaylord Smith Hall (East Gallery), bringing the reinstallation of that hall about halfway to completion. The most recent additions are a case of celadon porcelain of various periods, one of colored porcelain and pottery of the Ming period, one of bronzes of the Ming periwl, and one of bronze vases of the Sung and Ming periods. The new cases have concealed lighting which adds to the effec- tiveness of the display, a»d they are thoroughly equipped with interpretative labels embodying the most recent knowledge about the subjects covered. The case of celadon porcelain consists chiefly of objects from the Sung period (A.D. 960-1279) but contains also examples of the Ming period (a.d. 136&-1643) and the K'ien-lung period (a.d. 1736-95). This ware was manufactured in the district of Limg-ts'uan (Dragon's Well) in the pro- vince of Chekiang. Celadon is a porcelain of white or grayish white body coated with a thick vitreous translucent glaze varying from grayish and bluish green to sea-green and plant-green. The color originated from the desire to rival that of jade. The decora- tions, usually floral patterns, are brought out in the body of the porcelain, either in relief or intaglio, and covered by the glaze. In the Museum collection, censers, dishes, jars, bowls, vases, etc., are dominated by a tall and unique funeral urn designed to hold cereals for the deceased. The colored porcelain and pottery of the Ming period, occupying a near-by case, represent a period when the potters broke with traditions and developed new processes of applying a wealth of colors to the glaze. An original spirit is shown in the work of this period. Amazing results were attained by the Ming potters in modeling porcelain figures representing the principal Buddhist and Taoist deities, of which many are shown in the Museum exhibit. In the other two new cases the work of the Ming period bronze founders as well as the Sung period is represented by extremely interesting collections. Modern ideas are exemplified in the Ming collection by two large and heavy braziers from the imperial palace, used for heating in winter, and, by filling them with ice, for cooling rooms in summer. A bed-warmer shown is of great scientific interest because it embodies the mechanical contrivance known as Cardan's suspension, commonly styled gimbals, the principal modem use of which is to keep a mariner's compass level regardless of the rolling and pitching of a ship. The collec- tion contains a variety of other bronze objects, both decorative and utilitarian. Most of the material in these four cases was collected by Curator Berthold Laufer as leader of the Blackstone Expedition to China in 1908-10. HISTORIC PLANT COLLECTIONS Recently Field Museum returned 800 sheets of tropical American plants that had been received for determination from the University Botanical Museum of Copen- hagen, through its director. Dr. Carl Christensen, one of the foremost fern specialists of the world. The sending con- sisted chiefly of South American plants of the Rubiaceae or coffee family, which were studied and named by Associate Curator Paul C. Standley, largely by comparison with authentic specimens in the Museum Herbarium. There were many specimens collected a hundred years ago by Lund and Warming, pioneer Danish botanists who worked in Brazil. Of unusual interest, too, were numerous collections made along the Amazon about 1850-60 by Richard Spruce. "The loan received from Copenhagen included also a large number of legumes obtained in Mexico seventy-five years ago by Liebmann, perhaps the most industrious collector who ever has worked in that country. Many of the plants he discovered never have been found by later botanists. "The Copenhagen museum has generously presented to Field Museum a substantial number of duplicates. New York Scientists Visit Museum Professor Henry Fairfield Osbom, Presi- dent of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and Walter Granger, Curator of Fossil Mammals at that institu- tion, were visitors at Field Museum on August 16. They were passing through Chicago on their way to join Barnum Brown, Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the American Museum, in paleontological excavations in Montana, after which they were to engage in further operations in Nebraska and Colorado. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS September, 19SZ VEGETABLE FIBERS ADDED TO ECONOMIC EXHIBITS By Llewelyn Wiluams Aasistant in Wood Technology Among recent additions to the exhibits pertaining to economic botany in Hall 28 is a display of important vegetable fibers utilized in industrial processes by various nations. Cotton is represented in the exhibit by a lifelike reproduction of a cotton plant, and samples of cotton fiber in the raw state, as well as bleached, neutralized, and scutched cotton. Instructive photographs accompany the exhibit. There are shown also specimens illustrating various steps in the production of cottonseed meal and cottonseed oil. Ramie, or china grass, is another important fiber included in the exhibit. This is a native of India, and is probably indigenous to China and Japan. It is one of the oldest fibers used in Oriental nations, its use antedating written records of both China and India. It is strong, durable, little affected by moisture, and its filaments can be separated almost to the fineness of silk. In China and Japan the fiber is extracted by hand labor and woven into one of the finest and most beautiful of fabrics, as well as coarse manufactures. Flax, also represented in the exhibit, has been cultivated from time immemorial, and there is no record of its growth in an original wild state. Its prehistoric home was prob- ably in Asia, but it is now cultivated in nearly all temperate countries. The exhibit includes also Indian hemp. The hemp fiber industry has existed in the United States since the founding of the Plymouth and Virginia colonies. Since 1860, however, the production of hemp has seriously decreased, because cotton has taken its place for textile purposes. Agave fibers, shown in the exhibit, are obtained from the fleshy-leaved plants belonging to the family of the spider lilies, growing in Mexico, and Central and South America. The best fibers are sisal hemp and henequen. Other species of agave yield fibers known in the vernacular as pita, istle, ixtle, lechuguilla, etc. Raffia fiber is derived from the leaves of several species of African and Madagascar palms. The thin strips of fibrous material pulled from the sides of the young leaves are used by the natives as a textile material for clothing, plaited goods, hats, mats, and baskets for domestic purposes. There are also included in the display a mmiber of raffia cloths with woven zigzag designs, and a sample attractively colored with native dyes, made by the Tanala tribe of Mada- gascar. These were obtained by the Marshall Field Anthropological Expedition to Mada- gascar in 1926-27. Other fibers shown in the exhibit include New Zealand flax, banana and plantain fibers, sedges, and several obtained from various members of the grass family. ANCIENT SHARK HAD JAWS FIVE FEET WIDE By Elmeh S. Riggs Associate Curator of Paleontology The model of a great pair of jaws shown in the accompanying photograph represents those of a species of extinct shark, Char- eharodon, which inhabited the waters off the Carolina coast in Miocene time. Fossil teeth of this great fish, flat and triangular in shape, are found in the phosphate beds of Carolina and Florida and in "shell-rock" as far west as Texas. Their skeletons, being of cartilage, were not preserved as fossils, but their teeth were bony and covered with a strong coat of enamel which resisted decay. Thus it has been possible to include specimens of the teeth in the exhibit. The teeth of this shark are from three to five inches in breadth. Compared with the size of teeth of modern sharks, it is estimated that the jaws must have been no less than five feet in breadth and the shark nearly forty feet in length. Fossil sharks' teeth were known and prized by the North American Indians before the Model of Giant Shark's Jaws About fifteen million years ago sharks were about forty feet long and had jaws five feet wide. The contrast with the jaws of a modem shark is shown in the above photograph of an exhibit in Ernest R. Graham Hall (HaU 38). advent of white men to America. Numbers of them have been found in Indian burial places from the Gulf states as far northward as the Indian mounds of Ohio. This is evidence that the teeth became objects of barter and as such were carried and dis- tributed from tribe to tribe. They are of further interest to modern science in showing that these great sharks were abundant in the warm waters of the South Atlantic and of the Gulf of Mexico. Somali Wild Ass Group A group of Somali wild ass is on exhibition in Cari E. Akeley Memorial Hall (Hall 22). These animals, now quite rare and in danger of becoming extinct shortly, are of esi>ecial interest in connection with the ancestry of domestic asses or donkeys. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From American Friends of China — a celadon figure. Sting period, and a cover of cut velvet, K'ien- lung period, China; from School of Forestry, Yale University — 135 herbarium specimens, Amazon Valley and Colombia: from American Bemberg Corporation — 14 specimens of rayon and yarn, including chemical ingredients and finished products; from William A. Schipp — 94 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from Edward Hines Lumber Company — 4 trunk slabs of Ponderosa pine, Oregon; from Dr. Fortrmato L. Herrera — 121 herbarium specimens, Peru; from Laboratorio de Botanica, Ministerio de Agricultura — 164 herbarium specimens, Argentina; from Dr. C. T, Elvey — 2 specimens of the Odessa, Texas, meteorite; from A. Dunbar Brander — a specimen each of red shank, snipe, and shelduck, Scotland; from Alfred M. Bailey — a gannet skin, Quebec, Canada; from Frank H. Eyman — 2 yoimg pickerel, Wisconsin; from C. B. Coursen — 5 specimens of nestling birds, Illinois; from Captain L. R. Wolfe — 24 spedmena of nestling birds, Illinois; from Q. Stewart — a timber rattlesnake. West Virginia; from S. Z. Schenck — an adult king rail skin, Illinois. SEPTEMBER GUIDE-LECTURETOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lecturers, are made every afternoon at 3 P.M., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for September: Thursday, September 1 — General Tour; Friday — Egyptian Exhibits. Week beginning September 5: Monday — Labor Day holiday, no tour; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednesday — Woodland Indians; Thursday — General Tour; Fri- day— Crystals and Gems. Week beginning September 12: Monday — Prehis- toric Exhibits; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednesday — Plant Life; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Ores and Mines. Week beginning September 19: Monday — Peoples of the Far North; Tuesday— ^neral Tour; Wednesday — Animal Life of the Seas; Thursday— General Tour; Friday — Mexican Exhibita. Week beginning September 26: Monday — Interesting Geological Exhibits; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednes- day— Story of Peat and Coal; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Habitat Groups. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Innovation in Bird Labels A new method of labeling individual speci- mens in the systematic collection of birds, designed to give concisely more information about each species than on the labels formerly used, has been introduced in Hall 21. Thus far one case, that containing the new exhibit of parrots and paroquets from all parts of the tropics, has been equipped with these labels. Each label contains a map indicating the geographic distribution of the bird to which it refers, and a paragraph giving briefly the most salient facts known about the bird. It is hoped in due course of time to extend this type of label to all the exhibits in the hall. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from July 13 to August 15: Associate Members J. Gardner Bennett, Miss Frances Bird, Mrs. James Minotto. Annual Members Mrs. Reid M. Bennett, A. C. Bruhnke, William W. KimbaU, Paul W. Klugh, Mrs. William C. Kobin, Mrs. Henry J. McFarland, Mrs. R. Townsend McKeever, Hon. Harry Olson, Mrs. W. G. Potts, Charles RiddeU, Robert B. Shanner, Mrs. Edward G. VaU. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. AU the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field MusElTM News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. eillNTEO BY FIELD MUSCUM PRESS News Published Monthly by Field Miiseum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 OCTOBER, 1932 No. 10 NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN AND ESKIMO EXHIBITS AUGMENTED AND IMPROVED By Ralph Linton Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin {Formerly AieiMant Curator in Department o} Anthropology, Field MuMum) The only exhibit in the United States of archaeological material of the old Bering Sea and Punuk groups of Eskimos, who preceded the modem Eskimos in the Bering Sea region, has been placed on view in Hall 10 at Field Museum. This exhibit results from collections made by the John Borden- Field Museum Alaska-Arctic Expedition, and material received by exchange from the United States National Museum at Washington, D.C. The earliest sites known of the Punuk culture date back about 1,500 years. The culture persisted with gradual changes almost until the time of the first European contact with Eskimos. This exhibit is the newest feature in Hall 10, devoted to the ethnology of the In- dians of the North- west Coast and of the Eskimos, which has recently been com- pletely reinstalled. The exhibits have been rearranged, installed on light-colored screens, and equipped with revised labels embodying the latest information. Much new material has been added. There is displayed a notable collection of Eskimo art, including many fine examples of carved bone, ivory and wood. A new feature is found among the Eskimo costumes, which are now shown on life-size models with portrait heads repre- senting accurately physical types of various localities. The hall contains an exhibit of North- west Coast art, and ethnological collections representing the Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Bella Coola, Nootka, Puget Sound, Tlingit, and Haida tribes. The Kwakiutl collections are particularly noteworthy, including masks and other paraphernalia of the secret societies taking part in the spectacular Winter Ceremonial, the principal religious ceremony. Especially striking is a life-size group representing the Hamatsa or Cannibal Dance of the Kwakiutl, shown in the accompanying illustration. The men of the Hamatsa society are under the protection of the Great Cannibal Spirit, in the belief of these people. When the time for initia- In this life-size group in the search for human flesh Cannibal Dance of the Kwakiutl Hall 10 the Hamatsa is seen maicing his appearance for the dance which symbolizes to devour. tion of a new member approaches, the candidate disappears into the forest, to be with the Great Spirit and learn the songs and mystic rites of the order. At the time of the Winter Ceremonial he returns dancing, and goes to a room set apart at the house where the ritual takes place. The front of this room is painted with the face of the Cannibal Spirit or his servant, the Raven. Musicians beat on drums; suddenly, the initiate appears in the mouth of the painting decked in hemlock branches. He is supposed to be in search of a victim to devour. There are two dances, both represented at the Mu- seum by life-size figures in adjoining cases. In the first the Hamatsa is supposed to be looking for human flesh to eat. He moves about frenziedly in a squatting position, arms outstretched, head lifted to seek a corpse, body trembling violently. His eyes are wide open, his lips pushed forward, and he utters wild cries. In long leaps he makes the circuit of the room threatening to attack the spectators. In the second dance he appears wearing the mask of a raven. Snapping the huge bill of the bird, he im- personates the slave of the Cannibal Spirit. The Tlingit and Haida are the best carvers on the North- west Coast, and the collection of their art possesses high merit. Of unique interest among the Nootka collections is a "court- ing stick" consisting of a bundle of red cedar bark and white feathers attached to a staff, which was set up in front of a girl's home by her lover to convey a sort of "be my Valentine'' message. There is also a "courting mask," representing a human face with a coil of rope around it, which was worn by a young man in search of a wife. There is shown, too, a clever spinning fish-lure the Nootka invented, which was submerged deep in the water with a long pole and then released. The lure would rise to the surface with a spinning motion, and the fish would follow it. As they came into sight the Indian fishermen speared them. Notable Addition to Herbarium Field Museum recently received from Dr. F. C. Hoehne of the Biological Institute of Sao Paulo, Brazil, an extraordinary sending of Brazilian plants, which Associate Curator Paul C. Standley states is the most important and valuable sing e plant collection he has ever had the privilege of studying. It con- sists of 1,100 sheets of well prepared and labeled specimens, about two-thirds of which are for deposit in the Museum Herbarium. A miscellaneous plant collection as large as this wou'd be important and valuable. but the value of this one is increased many times by the fact that the plants all belong to three fami'ies with whose study Mr. Standley is particularly engaged, the great majority of them to the Rubiaceae or coffee family. The study and careful naming of the material, which required several weeks, revealed several species hitherto unknown to science, and others not represented previ- ously in Field Museum's collections. This remarkable sending of Rubiaceae gives Field Museum a representation of the Brazilian plants of this vast family such as certainly is not equaled at the present time in any other herbarium of the United States. Tibetan "Thunderbolts" Shown Tibetan "thunderbolts" with which to invoke the wrath of heaven are on exhibition in Hall 32. These are emblems of the god Indra, made of bronze in a form symbolizing lightning strokes. With a bell in their left hand and one of these thunderbolts in their right, the Tibetan lamas call for the destruc- tion of demons and opponents of Buddhism. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS October, 19S2 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sbwbll L. Aveky John Borden William J. Chalubrs Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. Cyrus H. McCormick John P, William H. Mitchell Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Fred W. Sargent Stephen C. Sihms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Spragub Silas H. Strawn Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field President Ftrs( Vice-Presidency temporarily unfilled Albert A. Sprague Second Vice-President Jambs Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. Snois Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith.. .Treasurer and Assistant Secretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Museum Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. D ahlgren Acting Curator of Botany Oliver C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year during the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. February, March, April, October 9 A.M. to 6:00 p.m. May, June, July, August, September 9 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Library of the Museum, containing some 92,000 volumes on natural history subjects, is open for refer- ence daily except Sunday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the Museum's Department of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. Lectures for school classrooms and assemblies, and special entertainments and lecture tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of courses of free illustrated lectures on science and travel for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. There is a cafeteria in the Museum where luncheon is served for visitors. Other rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Busses of the Chicago Motor Coach Company (Jackson Boulevard Line, No. 26) provide service direct to the Museum. Free transfers are available to and from other lines of the company. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. GENTIANS By Paul C. Standley Associate Curator of the Herbarium Those who enjoy great masses of brilliant color in the landscape find no season equal in beauty to the autumn. Early frosts set the woods ablaze with crimson and gold of foliage that is soon to disappear. No other season provides such gorgeous displays of flower color, furnished chiefly by the yellow of goldenrod, and the blue, pink, purple, and white of innumerable asters. Most beloved of autumn flowers, however, are the gentians, perhaps because their glorious colors are displayed more modestly. Gentians probably will not be with us indefinitely, for they are unable to with- stand cultivation of land, and they are so mistreated by thoughtless vandals that even those growing in protected places are threatened with extermination. In September and October gentians are at their best. Late in August Dr. H. C. Worthington of Oak Park brought to Field Museum two luxuriant stalks of the white gentian, one of the rarest of the local species. It is a tall plant, often two feet high or more. Its flowers, of the closed or "bottle" type, are pure white with shadings of bright green, and always surprise persons who have assiuned that all gentians are blue. At least six other gentians grow in the Chicago region. Most celebrated and most richly colored of them all is the fringed gentian, which still grows in considerable abundance in secluded places near Lake Michigan. The wide-open flowers have fringed lobes; when picked the flowers close, not to open again, so that most of their beauty is lost. A field of them, sometimes a solid sheet of royal blue, is almost breath- taking in the intensity of its beauty. The chaste and somewhat frosty blue and purple of the closed or bottle gentians are quite in keeping with the chilly autumn mornings and evenings when they bloom. There are three species of them, two that grow in woodlands and in moist places among the dunes, the other on the prairies. They form small clumps a foot high or more, each stiff wiry stem bearing several of the handsome blossoms, that seem to be just on the point of opening. In October fine colonies of them may be seen in the Indiana State Park at Tremont; the prairie gentian thrives in the Morton Arboretum at Lisle. The two other gentians of the Chicago region, one a fringed gentian differing little from the common one, the other the five- leaved gentian with inconspicuous small flowers, are of infrequent occurrence. In spite of the continued encroachment of cultivation and building operations, it is surprising to see how many gentians may still be found in areas close to Chicago. It will be fortunate if in such places as the Forest Preserves and the Indiana State Park they may be protected to permit future dwellers about Lake Michigan to see some of the finest of the flowers that fonnerly grew so profusely in the woods and prairies. SPECIAL NOTICE All Members of Field Museum who have changed their residences or are planning to do so are earnestly urged to notify the Museum at once of their new addresses, so that copies of FIELDMUSEUMNEWSandallother communications from the Museum may reach them promptly. OSTRICHES AND THEIR ALLIES ADDED TO HALL OF BIRDS By Rudyerd Boulton Assistant Curator of Birds "To hide one's head in the sand like an ostrich," is a saying in almost universal use, yet it has no basis of fact. An ostrich does hide, but it has a far more clever and efficient method. The long neck provides an effective periscope and by standing behind a bush or small tree, the bird can look over the top without exposing its body. An exhibit of ostriches and their allies has just been added to the bird collections in Hall 21 at Field Museum. Those included are Mantell's kiwi from the South Sea islands which is becoming extremely rare; the elegant, rufous, and gray-headed tina- mous, all from South America; the North African and South African ostriches; the southern rhea from South America; the Moluccan cassowary from the South Sea islands; and the emu from Australia. These represent the six families of birds which form the most primitive of the two groups into which all living birds are divided. They are confined to the southern hemisphere, and are remnants of a large fauna which flourished in prehistoric times as evidenced by many fossils. With the exception of the South American tinamous, all of these birds have lost the power of flight. Their wings are much reduced in size, and the breastbone which supports them is ill-designed to stand strain. The ostrich, which is confined to Africa and Arabia, is frequently found in associa- tion with herds of big game. An ostrich is given a wide berth even by large animals, for the bird's temper is conditioned by its sense of dignity, and a kick from its powerful foot may do considerable damage. An ostrich's nest is merely a hollow scraped in the ground. Fifteen to twenty eggs about six inches in diameter are laid. Occasionally unattached females attempt to lay in an occupied nest, but, generally speaking, ostriches are monogamous. "The female, which is gray and brown, incubates by day, while the black male incubates by night. The call of the ostrich, given only by the male, resembles a lion's roar. Rheas are sometimes called South Ameri- can ostriches, but they are very distinct and belong to a separate family. Their habits are much the same, however. They have three toes, like emus and cassowaries, whereas ostriches have only two. Emus are found only in Australia. They resemble ostriches more than any of the others. Cassowaries are practically restricted to New Guinea. Each wing has a curious feather without any fluffy barbs, about the size and shape of a pen holder. They are strictly forest birds. The strangest of this group is the kiwi, or apteryx. Its wings are more reduced in size than those of the others. It has no tail and its feathers superficially resemble fur. The nostrils are situated at the very tip of its bill. Kiwis occur only in New Zealand. They formerly had a more exten- sive range, for fossils are found in Australia. The tinamous of South America are in many ways the least degenerate of these six famiUes. Some of them are forest birds while others live in savannas. Their eggs are very curious, being glossy as though highly polished. They vary from pale green to dark brown. There is a strange reversal of the sexes, for the female is larger than the male, and, after the eggs are laid, leaves the business of incubation and care of the young to her mate. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial^ to a person or cause, named by the giver. For those desiring to make bequests, the following form is suggested: FORM OF BEQUEST / do hereby give and bequeath to Field Museum of Natural History of the City of Chicago, Slate of Illinois, Cash contributions made within the taxable year to Field Museum not exceeding 15 per cent of the tax- payer's net income are allowable as deductions in com- puting net Income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. October, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Pages WORLD'S LARGEST MOON MODEL MAY BE SEEN AT THE MUSEUM The recent total eclipse of the sun by the moon, and the general interest aroused by the phenomenon, make timely the reminder that Field Museum has on exhibition in Clarence Buckingham Hall (Hall 35) the largest and most elaborate model of the moon ever made. This model represents in a vivid and accurate manner the character and appearance of the moon's surface, illustrating especially well such features of lunar topography as its gray plains or "seas" (the darker portions as seen with the naked eye), its mountains and high- Model of the Moon This, the largest and most elaborate model ever made of the earth's satellite, is to be seen in Clarence Buckingham Hall (Hall 35). lands (the bright portions as seen with the naked eye), and its volcanic craters. The model, which was presented to the Museum by the late Lewis Reese of Chicago, was made a number of years ago by Thomas Dickert, Curator of the Natural History Museum of Bonn, Germany, and Dr. J. F. Julius Schmidt, Director of the Observatory of Athens, Greece. It is 19.2 feet in diameter. Except for occasional comets and meteors, the moon is the celestial body nearest the earth, and for this reason perhaps the most universally interesting as well as the one about which most is known. Some of the most interesting facts about it have been compiled by Dr. Oliver C. Farrington, Curator of Geology, as follows: "The moon has no atmosphere. Hence, it can have no diffused light, and nothing can be seen on it except where the sun's rays shine directly. If a man could manage to travel to the moon he would instantly become invisible every time he stepped into the shadow of a lunar crag. Also because of the lack of an atmosphere no sound, however loud, can be heard on the moon. Changes of temperature on the moon are rapid and violent. Where the sun's rays strike, a temperature about that of boiling water is believed to be reached, while in unilluminated portions it is thought to go as low as 100° below zero. "The force of gravity upon the surface of the moon is only one-sixth that on the earth. Therefore, a man weighing 150 pounds on the earth would weigh only 25 pounds on the moon, and the same muscular energy by which he could jump six feet on earth would carry him thirty-six feet on the moon. On the earth a body falls sixteen feet in one second; on the moon only 2.6 feet in the same time. "The mean distance of the moon from the earth is 237,640 miles, but as it moves in an elliptical orbit it has at one point a remoteness of 253,263 miles, and, opposite to this, one of 221,436 miles. The diameter of the moon is about one-fourth that of the earth, or 2,160 miles, and its volume is one forty-ninth that of the earth. The mass of the moon (volume multiplied by density) is one eighty-first and the density three-fifths that of the earth. The period of the moon's revolution about the earth is 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes and llj^ seconds. As its period of rotation on its axis is the same, only one side of the moon is seen from the earth. Since, however, the moon's axis is inclined about 83° to the plane of its orbit, we sometimes see a little distance beyond each of its poles, and, since the rate of motion of the moon in its orbit varies slightly, we sometimes see a little beyond the eastern and western edges of the hemisphere. The total result of these librations is to make four-sevenths of the moon's surface visible to us. Of the remain- ing three-sevenths nothing is known. "Owing to its slow rotation on its axis, the moon's day has a length of 29J/2 of our days. Each portion of its surface is there- fore exposed to or shielded from the light of the sun for a fortnight continuously." GIANT FOSSIL MOLLUSK The fossil remains of a giant moUusk which in life, some 500,000,000 years ago, was about ten feet long, are on exhibition in Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). Near-by is a restoration, in one of the large mural paintings by Charles R. Knight, showing how this creature of a long extinct species must have appeared when living. The animal is known to paleontologists as Orthoceras, and is a member of the cephalopod family. The Museum's specimen was found near Troy Grove in LaSalle County, Illinois. The shell is long and straight, in contrast to those of most familiar modern moUusks. It is slightly conical or tapering, being composed of a series of chambers or segments, each slightly larger in diameter than its predecessor in the animal's growth. These were connected by an internal siphon or siphuncle. The animal lived in the last and largest chamber, vacating each chamber in turn as a new one was formed, according to Dr. Oliver C. Farrington, Curator of Geology. A habitat group of American crocodiles is a noteworthy exhibit in the Department of Zoology. MORAY, LARGE TROPICAL EEL, IS PLACED ON EXHIBITION By Alfred C. Weed Assistant Curator of Fishes Eels are found in almost all waters of the world, from the equator almost into the Arctic and Antarctic zones, and from small streams and wave-washed beaches to the deepest parts of the oceans. The best- known ones are very long and slender; others are much thicker in body. Some swim freely at various depths, but most of them hide themselves more or less com- pletely under stones, in crevices of the coral reefs, or in burrows in sand and mud. Morays are stout-bodied eels which take shelter among the rocks or coral reefs not far from shore in all warm seas. All morays have large mouths, and are armed with strong teeth. One group has rounded teeth with which they crush various kinds of shellfish for food. The other group has long teeth with sharp edges with which they can hold and tear living prey. The green moray of Florida and the West Indies is one of the largest of the latter group. An excellent specimen of green moray was recently presented to Field Museum by Captain F. G. Saeger of Miami, Florida, at the suggestion of Colonel Lewis S. Thompson of Red Bank, New Jersey, who has himself given the Museum a number of valued fish specimens. Captain Saeger caught this moray off the Florida coast, and it has now been mounted by Staff 'Taxi- dermist L. L. Pray, and placed on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). The specimen is four feet seven inches long, and weighed about fifteen pounds when caught. "The maximum length attained by morays ranges from about seven to nine feet. The green moray lives in and around the coral reefs, and eats anything small enough to swallow or soft enough to tear apart. Morays in general prefer for habitation coral reefs or other places where they can find hiding places. Even when kept in an aquarium they do not seem content unless they can conceal at least part of their bodies. If an eel six feet long can thread itself through a six-inch length of tile or stove- pipe it seems to feel safe. Among the coral reefs it seems satisfied if one loop of its body is hidden behind a knob of coral. Often a moray will hide itself in deeper crevices and make vigorous attacks upon anything that comes into its retreat. West Indian fishermen who thrust their hands into holes in the coral in search of crawfish are often bitten severely by morays. Hawai- ian fishermen who fish in a similar fashion after diving to depths of ten to twenty feet are sometimes held prisoner by morays until they drown. There is no agreement as to the food value of the moray. In many places they are eaten and considered to be delicious. On the other hand in many localities they are regarded as poisonous, especially the green moray. This, however, is due to the prejudice which causes many other foods green in color to be looked upon with suspicion. West Indian Moray This large eel is now on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall (Hall 18). Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS October, 1932 AUTUMN LECTURE COURSE BEGINS OCTOBER 1 On Saturday, October 1, Field Museum will present the first free lecture in its fifty-eighth course. In all there will be nine lectures on travel and science, to be given on successive Saturday afternoons in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. All lectures will begin at 3 p.m. They will be illustrated with motion pictures and stereopticon slides. Following is the complete schedule of dates, subjects and speakers: October 1 — Hunting Big Game with Bow and Arrow (Demomtrated with bow and arrow) Art Young, Detroit, Michigan October 8 — Jungle Experiences in British Guiana, South America Professor Harold D. Fish, Tropical Research Board, Washington, D.C. October 15 — Insects, Birds and Move- ments of Plants Norman McClintock, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 22 — The Kingdom of the Moors Captain Carl von Hoffman, New York City October 29 — By Air to Inca Land Robert Shippee, Leader of the Shippee-Johnson Expedition to the Peruvian Andes, Red Bank, New Jersey November 5 — Adventures in Alaska William L. Finley, Director of Wild Life Conser- vation, State of Oregon, Jennings Lodge, Oregon November 12 — The Australian Aborigines Dr. A. R. Raddiffe-Brown, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago November 19— The Dutch East — Wonder- lands of the Golden East H. C. Ostrander, Yonkers, New York November 26 — The Voyage of a Submarine Columbus Brayton Eddy, Providence, Rhode Island No tickets are necessary for admission to these lectures. A section of the Theatre is reserved for Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats on request. Requests for these seats may be made by telephone or in writing to the Museum, in advance of the lecture, and seats will then be held in the Member's name until 3 o'clock on the day of the lecture. Members may also obtain seats in the reserved section by presentation of their membership cards to the Theatre attendant before 3 o'clock on the lecture day, even though no advance reservation has been made. All reserved seats not claimed by 3 o'clock will be opened to the general public. RAYMOND FOUNDATION PRESENTS PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN The James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures will present the first of its autumn series of ten free motion picture programs for children on Saturday morning, October 1 . From that date until December 3 there will be programs each Saturday. "These will be given in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum, and each will be presented twice, at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Following is the schedule of dates, and the titles of the films to be shown on each: October 1 — In Lovely Japan; Japanese Rice Fields; Silken Cities of Japan; An English River; Dangers of Sea Diving October 8 — Columbus Discovers Land; Boro-Bodor and the Bromo October 15 — Glimpses of Chinese Life; Chinese Children; Dogs as Actors October 22 — From Red Ore to Steamship; Nature's Children October 29— On Wild Life Trails; Daniel Boone Goes West; Have a Peanut! November 5 — The Settlement of James- town; Mining of Soft Coal November 12 — The Romance of the Reaper November 19 — From Limestone to Side- walk; The Birth of a Chick; Three Scouts on the Moonbeam Trail November 26 — Giants of the Grass Family; Down Cape Cod; The Pilgrims December 3 — Around the Year in the Big Woods; Thrills and Spills; Mysteries of Snow; Skiing in Cloudland; A Boy's Christmas Gifts Children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited. NEW EXHIBIT SHOWS HOW BRAZIL NUTS GROW No vegetable product of Brazil is more definitely associated in the public mind with that largest of the South American republics than Brazil nuts. The trees from Branch of Brazil Nut Tree A new exhibit in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29) showing the large fruits, each of which contains from ten to sixteen nuts. Prepared in Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories. which they are obtained are the tallest in the Amazon valley. Most of the Brazil nuts that reach the world's markets come from localities readily accessible by the waters of the Amazon and its larger tributaries. The annual harvest gives occupation to a large part of the population of the river banks. In the season, which comes early in the year, entire families set off in their canoes to the Brazil nut grounds, where they sling their ham- mocks and establish themselves, often for several months. The harvesting is simple. The great bullet-shaped fruits, weighing up to three or four pounds each, have already fallen from the trees — otherwise collecting would be very unsafe. They have only to be gathered into piles and split with a great saber-like knife. Each thick-walled woody fruit yields ten to sixteen nuts, which are closely packed inside. A fruiting branch of a Brazil nut tree and fruits of various related species were collected in Par4 by the Marshall Field Botanical Expedition to the Amazon. They have been installed in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29). The Stanley Field Plant Repro- duction Laboratories of the Museum pre- pared them for exhibition. — B.E.D. OCTOBER GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lecturers, are made every afternoon at 3 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for October: Week beginning October 3: Monday — Chinese Art; Tuesday — Looms and Textiles; Wednesday — Trees of .the Chicago Area; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Bird Families. Week beginning October 10: Monday — The Story of Man; Tuesday — Hopi Indian Exhibits; Wednesday — Cereals; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Jade and Its Uses. Week beginning October 17: Monday — Egypt; Tuesday — African Habitat Groups; Wednesday — Eskimo Exhibits; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Stones of Economic and Decorative Value. Week beginning October 24: Monday — American Archaeology; Tuesday — Animal Life of South America; Wednesday — Fibers and Their Uses; Thursday — ■ General Tour; Friday — Horses and Their Relatives. Monday, October 31 — Primitive Musical Instru- ments. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Harper Kelley — 2 flint hand-axes of Upper Acheulean and Levallois V periods, France; from School of Forestry, Yale University — 34 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from the Viscose Company — material for rayon manufacture exhibit; from Colgate- Palmolive-Peet Company — 3 samples of oils; from Scientific Oil Compounding Company — 42 samples of vegetable oils; from H. W. von Rozynski — 386 her- barium specimens, Mexico; from Professor B. C. Tharp — 208 herbarium specimens, western Texas; from Companhia Ford Industrial do Braail — 31 her- barium specimens with 11 specimens of accompanying woods, Brazil; from Rev. Brother Ellas — 62 herbarium specimens, Colombia; from Dr. Earl E. Sherff — 2,234 negatives of type and other specimens of Compositae; from Blair W. Stewart — 4 specimens of colusite, one of tenantite, and one of enargite, Montana; from Leonard Pryde — a glacial copper boulder, Illinois; from Miss Emily A. Clark — one snake and 2 snake heads, Africa; from Flight-Lieutenant A. R. M. Rickards — 4 bird skins, British Somaliland; from Horace Hoisington — 26 insects, Cameroon; from Russell T. Neville — 2 cave salamanders, Missouri. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from August 16 to September 13: Life Members Mrs. Ogden Armour Annual Members H. S. Brown, Adolph H. Easter, Frank S. Kelly, J. A. Maclean, Frank H. McCulloch, Mrs. H. L. Wallach, Miss A. Albertine Wetter, Chester S. WBliams. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500. Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100. Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. PniNTKD ■¥ FIELD MUSEUM PRESS News Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 NOVEMBER, 1932 No. 11 FOSSIL SLOTH AND GLVPTODON IN UNIQUE NEW GROUP By Elmer S. Riggs Associate Curator of Paleontology A group of fossil edentates just installed in Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38) includes one which has the distinction of being the first skeleton of its kind discovered. This animal, Pronothrotherium, has hitherto been known from fragments of skull and jaws only. The specimen now exhibited includes almost an entire skeleton. It was collected, along with the second specimen of this group, by the Marshall Field Paleontological Ex- pedition to Argentina and Bolivia (1926-27). The skeleton on the left in the accompany- ing illustration is that of a ground sloth. It is a slender-bodied species about as large as a grizzly bear. The name, Pronothro- therium, signifies fore- runner-of-sluggish- animals. It had a small head, long and prehensile forelegs and short, stout hind legs. The skeleton is mounted in upright position with forefoot resting against a tree, and head reaching for- ward. The position suggests the probable feeding habit of the animal. The forelegs, armed with claw- bearing feet, were quite capable of pull- ing down the branches of small trees while the animal fed upon the leaves or fruit. At the right in the illustration is the skeleton of Sclerocalyptus, or hard-coated animal. It belongs to the glyptodont family, a line of extinct mammals related to the modern armadillos, but larger. The upper part of the body of this animal was covered with a shell which served to protect it from attack, and which gave a general appearance somewhat like that of a great tortoise. The head was short and rounded, and pro- tected by a bony helmet. The tail was heavy and likewise encased in a bony sheath. The forefoot had four hoofs, the hind foot five. The animal probably fed upon tubers and upon the roots of herbs and pampas grasses. Both of these animals lived in South America in Pliocene time, about seven miUion years ago. Their descendants sur- vived until a much later period and then died out entirely. Some nearly related ground sloths reached North America and their remains have been preserved in the tar beds of Los Angeles. Species of glypto- donts are likewise found as fossils in beds of wind-blown sands as far north as Texas and Oklahoma. The specimens in the group were prepared and mounted by Phil C. Orr, Sven A. Dorf and James H. Quinn of the paleonto- logical staff. A NEW HYBRID OAK Natural hybrids between species of plants, or at least forms generally recognized by botanists as such, are not common in the United States. Among those whose hybrid origin is almost unanimously admitted are certain abnormal oak trees that are clearly intermediate in character between well- marked and closely related oak species. The oak hybrids occur usually as isolated individuals, only a single tree being known for some. A few have been propagated artificially, and one of them is planted as a shade tree in Washington, D.C. O. M. Schantz of Berwyn, Illinois, has presented to Field Museum specimens of a The skeleton of the sloth may now be seen in Ernest Fossil Sloth and Glyptodon on the left is the only complete one of this gentls discovered to date. This group R. Graham Hall. new oak hybrid he discovered at Willow Springs. It represents a cross between the bur oak and the white oak. The foliage, although abnormal, resembles that of the former, and the acorns are intermediate between those of the two species. This interesting tree has been named in honor of its discoverer by Dr. William Trelease, of the University of Illinois. ■ — P.C.S. MARSHALL FIELD EXPEDITION RETURNING FROM CHINA The Marshall Field Zoological Expedition to China has completed its two years of collecting in the interior of China, and its leader, Floyd T. Smith of New York, was last reported in Shanghai preparing to send the final shipment of some 5,000 specimens to Field Museum, and return home himself. During the past six months work was carried on in the western provinces of Szechwan, Kweichow, Honan, and Yunnan. While many difficulties arose due to the political turmoil in China, the expedition obtained a remarkable collection of the fauna of the country. Much was contributed to its success by the cooperation extended by the Chinese Acad- emy of Sciences at Nanking. Among the collec- tions are several fine specimens of the rare takin, curious goat- antelope of the moun- tains along the Tibetan border. The specimens will be mounted at the Mu- seum in a habitat group. The collections in- clude other large mammals, thousands of small mammals and birds, and hundreds of fishes and reptiles. Coloring Matter Yields Vita mines In February this year Field Museum News contained an account of anatto, or arnatto, illustrated by a photograph of a flowering and fruiting branch of this tropical American shrub or small tree, recently added to the exhibits in Hall 29. In the temperate zone anatto is best known as a source of butter color and is used to improve the appearance of butter substitutes. According to a news item emanating from the School of Tropical Medicine of Porto Rico, anatto has been found to be rich in vitamine D and hence a potential substitute for cod liver oil. It has also been found to contain a generous supply of vitamine A. Its use for flavoring and coloring food, such as rice and soups, may thus turn out to be of great nutritional importance to the poorer element of a population nourished largely on a rice and bean diet, such as that in Porto Rico and other tropical countries. Attempts are being made to make available the extracted vitamine. — B.E.D. Previous shipments of several thousand specimens contained many rare animals and some species new to science. Mr. Smith's party included qualified Chinese zoologists, and other Chinese whom he trained for scientific collecting. Thou- sands of miles were traversed with pack animals, afoot, and by river in crude hand- propelled boats. The expedition was fre- quently menaced by outlaws, and once its camp was robbed and burned by bandits. It made probably the most systematic zoological survey ever attempted in China. Indian Archaeological Types For the guidance of students, and col- lectors of North American Indian relics, there is in Mary D. Sturges Hall (Hall 3) an exhibit indicating the distribution of various types of Indian archaeological objects. An example of each principal type of artifact is shown, each accom- panied by a map showing in red the locality in which its counterparts are found. Col- lectors, by comparing their own specimens, may identify the tribes and regions which they represent. Tapa Cloth from Fiji A painted tapa cloth from Fiji, twenty by fifteen feet, decorated with geometric designs, is on exhibition in Hall F. It was presented by Cornelius Crane of Chicago. Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS November, 1932 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD Sewell L. Avkry John Borden William J. Chalmers Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. Cyrus H. McCormick John P, OF TRUSTEES William H. Mitchell Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Fred W. Sargent Stephen C. Simms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Sprague Silas H. Strawn Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field President Firtt Vice-Presidency temporarily unfilled Albert A. Sprague Seeedition to Eastern Asia for Field Museum, and the Delacour Expedition to French Indo-China. One of the most important of the new species is a muntjak or tropical deer which Dr. Osgood has named Muntiacus rooseveltorum in honor of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt, leaders of the expedition which obtained it. Another of the more important new animals is a handsome black and white monkey with a long bushy tail which Dr. Osgood has named Delacour's langur in honor of Jean Delacour, noted French zool- ogist who conducted the other expedition. Colorado Fossils Collected Specimens of rare fossil mammals, turtles and crocodiles were obtained for Field Museum recently as the result of a field trip into western Colorado conducted by Bryan Patterson, Assistant in Paleontology in the Museum's Department of Geology. Mr. Patterson was accompanied on the trip by E. J. Newbill of LaGrange, Illinois. November, 19S2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Page S CIVETS AND MONGOOSES ADDED TO MAMMAL EXHIBITS The most interesting and important members of the civet and mongoose family are shown in a new exhibit in Hall 15. Most famous of the twenty-one animals included is the Indian mongoose, immor- talized by Kipling as "Riki-tiki-tavi," and noted for its activities as a killer of poison- ous snakes. The Museum specimen is represented attacking a mountain viper. Shown also is an Abyssinian relative which likewise feeds on venomous snakes. Another animal shown is the "toddy-cat," known more formally as the palm civet, which remains concealed in treetops during the daytime, and comes out to feed at night, according to Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology. It gets its name from its habit of drinking the contents of buckets which natives fasten to the palm trees to collect for a beverage sap from holes they bore in the trunks. Less bibulous palm civets from French Indo-China and the East Indies are also shown. Snake Killer Indian mongoose shown attacking mountain viper. One of the new series of civets and mongooses placed on exhibition in Hall 15. Likewise in the exhibit is the "bear cat" whose name provided the public with a once popular slang expression. This animal, known also as the binturong, is one of the largest species of civet, and is distinguished by a long prehensile tail with which it can climb almost as agilely as a prehensile- tailed monkey. Several animals shown are rare, notably the cat-like fossa, largest carnivorous mam- mal of Madagascar. Of interest is the slender-tailed meerkat of Bechuanaland, South Africa, as much a sunlight faddist as any human habitue of our beaches, which spends hours sitting on its haunches or lying on its back to expose its under side to sun rays. Specimens are shown, too, of the large and small Chinese civets, both of which produce from a special gland the civet secretion used as a base in many perfumes. Respected by the coconut growers of French Indo-China is the white- eared palm civet because it is said to be useful in checking the depredations of squirrels upon the coconuts. Other animals in the exhibit are the small-toothed mongoose and the brown mongoose of Madagascar, the banded civet of the East Indies, the spotted tiger civet of French Indo-China, and the following African species: bushy-tailed meerkat, rusty- spotted genet, banded mongoose, lesser African mongoose, African slender mongoose, two-spotted civet, and water mongoose. These animals, all related, live on a wide range of diets as shown by the exhibited specimens, many of which are seen with their favorite foods. Some eat vegetables and fruits, some eat fish, some eat small rodents, some eat snakes, and some eat crocodile eggs. Many specimens shown result from the collecting of recent Field Museum expedi- tions, including the Crane Pacific Expedi- tion, Delacour Indo-Chinese Expedition, William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Asiatic Expe- dition, C. Suydam Cutting Expedition to Sikkim, Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition, Marshall Field Chinese Expedition, Conover- Everard African Expedition, and Chicago Daily News-F\e\A Museum Abyssinian Expedition. Taxidermy is by Arthur G. Rueckert, of the Museum's zoological staff. A PLANT NEW TO CHICAGO AREA PUNCTURES AUTOMOBILE TIRES By Paul C. Standley Associate Curator of the Herbarium Automobile owners of the Chicago region may have to contend with a new problem in addition to those already confronting them. The new menace is a small creeping plant of innocent appearance, which hides beneath its leaves hard burs that in some regions already have become a source of continued annoyance and expense to drivers. FUeld Museum has received from Miss Nellie V. Haynie of Oak Park specimens of this plant which she discovered recently at Clark, Indiana. Native of the Mediter- ranean region, this noxious plant was intro- duced some years ago into the western United States, where it has made itself thoroughly at home, especially along the edges of roads. In the desert areas of the Southwest it spreads with great rapidity, doubtless by the aid of automobiles and passing animals, to which its burs adhere. These burs, although small, have several projecting spines almost as long and hard as tacks. One of the spines always projects upward when a bur lies on the ground, and it is stiff enough to penetrate tire casings, where it remains and finally punctures the inner tube. The state of California, in which the plant, appropriately called the "puncture vine," is especially abundant, is spending $150,000 a year in a tardy attempt to exterminate the pest. The puncture vine thrives best in dry regions, and on that account there is less reason to fear it will become thoroughly established about Chicago, although the dunes of Lake Michigan probably afford a favorable place for its growth. Russian Scientist Is Museum Guest Dr. N. I. Vavilov, Director of the Institute of Plant Industry in Leningrad, recently spent a day at Field Museum in conference with members of the staff of the Depart- ment of Botany. He brought news of great scientific activity in the U.S.S.R., and told of Soviet expeditions to South America seeking plants for introduction into Russia. He also told of a new rubber plant discovered within U.S.S.R. territory. This plant, he says, grows in a temperate climate, yields a large percentage of usable rubber, and may attain commercial importance. HOW PEANUTS GROW SHOWN IN NEW EXHIBIT By B. E. Dahlgren Acting Curator, Department of Botany The peanut is of interest for its habit of maturing its seeds under ground, a pecu- liarity also of a few other legumes. Its small yellow pea-like flowers are produced like most others in the leaf axils, but after pollination, when the petals are shed, the individual flower stalks elongate, turn down- ward, and continue to grow, sometimes enormously, until the tip of each becomes buried. Then the minute ovary in the tip begins to grow, and in time forms the fruit or seed pod which we know as the peanut or ground nut. The peanut, now cultivated in most warm or mild temperate regions, is originally a South American plant existing in its wild state in Brazil. Introduced into Peru, it developed a distinct variety, which was carried to Mexico by the Spaniards, and to Asia by early European navigators of the Pacific. The peanut of the east coast of South America was carried to Africa by slave traders who found it convenient provender for their human cargoes. The peanuts commonly cultivated in the United States were originally obtained from Mexico and are thus mainly of the Peruvian variety. The "man!" of the peanut vender's song appears to be a word of negro derivation from the Gold Coast and Angola, where "mane" means foreign. It is now in use in Cuba and in Central America. The term "goober" is likewise of African origin. The Mexicans called it "cacahuatle," earth cacao, and this name, under which it was intro- duced in Europe, persists, little altered, in French and Spanish. A reproduction of a peanut plant prepared in the Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories of the Museum has been placed on exhibition in Hall 25. Peanut Plant Exhibit in Hall 25 showing how a popular food product grows. Prepared by Stanley Field Plant Reproduction Laboratories. DEATH OF OUTRAM BANGS Museum workers, especially ornitholo- gists, have suffered a severe loss in the death of Outram Bangs, which occurred September 22. Mr. Bangs was for many years Curator of Birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had built up what was admittedly the most comprehensive and well-rounded collec- tion of birds in America. His knowledge of foreign birds was prodigious and his contri- butions to the subject were many. Owing to his special interest in the birds of Asia, the collections recently made by the William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Expedition to Eastern Asia for Field Museum were submitted to him for study, and reports prepared by him have been published by Field Museum. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS November, 19S2 FOUR LECTURES SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER During November the remaining four lectures in the fifty-eighth free course pre- sented by Field Museum will be given on Saturday afternoons in the James Simpson Theatre. The lectures begin at 3 p.m. Motion pictures and stereopticon slides are used to illustrate them. Following is the schedule of dates, subjects and speakers: November 5 — Adventures in Alaska William L. Finley, Director of Wild Lite Conser- vation, State of Oregon, Jennings Lodge, Oregon November 12 — The Australian Aborigines Dr. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago November 19 — The Dutch East — Wonder- lands of the Golden East H. C. Ostrander, Yonkers, New York November 26 — The Voyage of a Submarine Columbus Brayton Eddy, Providence, Rhode Island No tickets are necessary for admission to these lectures. A section of the Theatre is reserved for Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats on request. Requests for these seats may be made by telephone or in writing to the Museum, in advance of the lecture, and seats will then be held in the Member's name until 3 o'clock on the day of the lecture. Members may also obtain seats in the reserved section by presentation of their membership cards to the Theatre attendant before 3 o'clock on the lecture day, even though no advance reservation has been made. All reserved seats not claimed by 3 o'clock will be opened to the general public. CHILDREN'S MOTION PICTURES —RAYMOND FOUNDATION There are five more free motion picture programs for children to be presented at the Museum in the autumn series of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. These will be given on Saturday mornings from November 5 to December 3 inclusive, in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. Each will be presented twice, at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Following is the schedule of dates and the titles of the films to be shown on each: November 5 — The Settlement of James- town; Mining of Soft Coal November 12 — The Romance of the Reaper November 19 — From Limestone to Side- walk; The Birth of a Chick; Three Scouts on the Moonbeam Trail November 26 — Giants of the Grass Family; Down Cape Cod; The Pilgrims December 3 — Around the Year in the Big Woods; Thrills and Spills; Mysteries of Snow; Skiing in Cloudland; A Boy's Christmas Gifts Children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited. THE MAYA CALENDAR Reproductions of monuments of the ancient Mayas are on exhibition in Hall 8. The originals of these still stand in Guate- mala, Yucatan and Honduras. From such monuments archaeologists have learned much of the history and achieve- ments of these people who established a civilization in America some 2,000 years ago. The Mayas, with the Aztecs whom they antedated, were the only American Indian people to develop a system of writing. Their hieroglyphs have been partially deciphered by archaeologists. An important achievement of the Mayas was the establishment of an elaborate calendar. It has been possible to correlate this with our calendar and trace historical dates from the inscriptions on monuments, tablets, and other objects. The Maya calendar was scientifically constructed, based on astronomical observations. Maya Monument Reproduction, exhibited in Hall 8, of an ancient stela, the original of which is still standing at Quirigua, Guatemala. "The Mayas counted only elapsed time," says J. Eric Thompson, Assistant Curator of Central and South American Archaeology. "As we talk of 2:50 p.m., because 3 o'clock has not yet struck, so the Maya would speak of the first day of the year not as January 1, but as January 0. Similarly our January 2 would be to him January 1. This may seem singular to us, but it is consistent. Our system is inconsistent, for we count days, months and years in current time, and minutes and hours in elapsed time. Our year 1932 would, to the Mayas, be 1931 until midnight on December 31, and only then would they call it 1932 because only then would the year be complete. "The Mayas marked the passing of the years by means of four systems. In one of these the length of a year was 365 days, corresponding to our year. It was divided into 18 months of 20 days, to which a period of five days, considered extremely unlucky, was added. No avoidable tasks or activities were undertaken on these days." NOVEMBER GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lecturers, are made every afternoon at 3 P.M., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for November: Week beginning October 31: Monday — Primitive Musical Instruments; Tuesday — North American In- dians; Wednesday — Masks and Costumes; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Crystals and Gems. Week beginning November 7: Monday — Prehistoric Life: Tuesday — Chicago Winter Birds; Wednesday — • Egypt and Its Art; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Trees and Wood Products. Week beginning November 14: Monday — Reptiles, Past and Present; Tuesday — Fishes; Wednesday — ■ Man Through the Ages; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Ivories and Their Uses. Week beginning November 21: Monday — Animal Families; Tuesday — Skeletons, Past and Present; Wednesday — Chinese Exhibits; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Peoples of the South Seas. Week beginning November 28: Monday — Marine Animals; Tuesday — Pewter and Jade; Wednesday — African Animals. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Edward E. Levy — a Chinese ice-chest; from P. B. Watrous — slate bannerstone; from George L. Fisher — 141 herbarium specimens, Texas; from Madera Sugar Pine Company — a sugar pine branch with cones, California; from Companhia Ford Industrial do Braail — 48 herbarium specimens with accompanying wood specimens, Brazil; from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company — 18 specimens of materials used in manufacturing "Duco and "Fabrikoid"; from Stuart L. Thompson — 49 herbarium specimens, New Mexico and Colorado; from Dr. Fortunate L. Herrera — 54 herbarium specimens, Peru; from C. Osten — 113 herbarium specimens, Uruguay; from Frank Spaak — 20 specimens of mica and 7 of miscellaneous minerals, Canada; from Ottawa Silica Company — 2 specimens glass sands, Illinois; from Arthur Roat — 14 specimens mesolit*, Montana; from Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Below, Miss Nan B. Mason, and Bryan Patterson — 91 speci- mens fossil plants, Illinois; from Miss Helen Conover — a partly melanistic fox squirrel, Illinois; from Philip Hershkovitz — 9 bats, 4 armadillos, 3 lizards, an eel, and a centipede, Texas; from Henry Field — 5 snakes, 34 lizards, 4 bats, a mouse, and 5 insects, Arabia; from Wallis Huidekoper — a buffalo, Montana; from Marty Faulk — a diamond-back rattlesnake, Texas; from Clement Hull — a hairy-tailed mole, Ohio; from Dr. A. M. Lewy — a blackburnian warbler, Illinois: from J. L. Jensen — a starling, Denmark; from Mrs. James B. Keogh — 18 ducks and a woodpecker (mounted); from Dr. A. A. Leibold— a large northern pike with unusual markings, Minnesota; from Mrs. A. H. Roper — group of staurolite in mica schist. Wisconsin; from Fred Yoder — 7 specimens of limonite concretions, Indiana. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from September 14 to October 15: Associate Members Mrs. Edward S. Clark, Miss Mary Pomcroy Green, Mrs. Maud G. Holmes, Mrs. A. H. Loeb, Mrs. Samuel E. Moist, James F. Oates. Annual Members Mrs. T. Kenneth Boyd, Mrs. O. H. Brandenburg, W. Buchen, John William Eich, Edward H. Fabrice, Ward Heller, Mrs. Francis Hemington, Mrs. John Jaburg, Miss Josephine J. Jewett, Gordon P. Kelley, Bruce Parsons, N. H. Pritchard, Arthur E. Rozene, Balford Q. Shields, Mrs. Walter F. Straub, Frank M. Whiston, Mrs. Henry Young. A special exhibit of ethnological objects illustrating the life of the Mohammedan population of China is shown at the north end of Hall 34. Major Fleischmann Visits Museum Among distinguished visitors received at Field Museum last month was Major Max C. Fleischmann of Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia, a Trustee, Vice-President and Acting Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Major Fleischmann is well known as a hunter and explorer. PRINTED BV riCLD MUSCUM PRC5S News Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Vol. 3 DECEMBER, 1932 No. 12 AFRICAN WATER-HOLE, MUSEUM'S LARGEST ANIMAL EXHIBIT, IS COMPLETED By Wilfred H. Osgood Curator, Department of Zoology One of the finest habitat groups in Field Museum was recently completed and opened to the public in Carl E. Akeley Memorial Hall (Hall 22). This group, called the "African Water-Hole," is by far the largest animal group in the Museum and, so far as known, the largest in the world. It occupies an area 45 feet wide, 22 feet deep and 22 feet high, that is, a space com- parable in dimensions to the stage of a good-sized theater. Its large proportions forbid the use of a single view-glass, so it White-John Coats Abyssinian Expedition of 1929, which was devoted to the one object of securing the material and studies necessary for it. Besides Captain White and Major Coats, the expedition was accompanied by Taxidermist C. J. Albrecht of the Museum's stafi and George G. Carey, Jr., of Baltimore. In preparing the group, therefore, Mr. Albrecht has had all the numerous advan- tages of first-hand contact with his subject in nature. While still in the field and with the collaboration of his associates, he out- lined a preliminary design in which such matters as the number and size of the animals the animals. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the undertaking was such that he has been almost continuously occupied with it for more than two years with the help of two assistant taxidermists, the coopera- tion of Staff Artist Charles A. Corwin, who painted the background, and the facilities offered by the Museum's general organization. The water-hole is a drinking place which is the natural result of climatic conditions producing scarcity of water or intermittence of supply. Although not uncommon else- where, it has an especial prominence in Africa where animals of large size and great /!' *B ■! ^^^^Hi- fl ^H ^^^^^^^^|K ^Sit^^^M KtZ 1' i^'H^ '''' w"*^lHP^- ^^^^^I^^^^^^M m^. ^^V... Scene in Abyssinia Re-created in Field Museum Twenty-three mammals, obtained by the Harold White-John Coata Abyssinian Expedition, are included in this group reproducing an African water-hole. The exhibit stretches across the south end of Carl E. Akeley Memorial Hall, and is 45 feet wide, 22 feet deep, and 22 feet high. takes the form of a triptych built into the end of the hall in such a way as to conform with the architecture of the building. As one walks toward it, he has the impression of approaching a great central window and two flanking ones looking directly into the great sunny outdoors of tropical Africa. This group is the result of careful plans made and carried out by the Harold A. to be used and their general arrangement were settled while there was yet opportunity to make up any deficiencies. Each specimen was thus selected to suit its particular purpose. On returning to the Museum with the material and with plans already in mind, Mr. Albrecht was able to proceied at once with the actual modeling and mounting of interest are numerous. Subject to local conditions, there are various types of water- holes. Some are open reservoirs of great capacity while others may be mere mud banks, supplying water only by slow seepage. At some the animals gather daily throughout the year and at others only during certain seasons. While the water lasts it is taken {Continued on page U) A CHRISTMAS GIFT SUGGESTION: A MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Once again Field Museum offers its Members the opportunity to solve some of their Christmas gift problems by the simple and convenient plan of presenting Museum memberships to their friends. Enclosed with this issue of Field Museum News will be found a folder describing the Christmas gift membership plan; also, a handjr appUcation form, and a postage- prepaid, addressed envelope for mailing the application to the Museum. Making presents of Museum member- ships reduces the task of selecting gifts to the easiest possible proportions. It also makes possible the elimination of time and effort devoted to shopping for gifts, and to preparing and sending packages. To give a membership all you have to do is write the name and address of the friend to whom the membership is being presented, your own name and address, and a check for the membership fee. All other details will be taken care of for you by the Museum, which will send an attractive Christmas card notifying any friends whom you may thus favor that, through your generosity, they have been elected to mem- bership in this institution. It will also inform them as to what their privileges are as Members. Should you wish to make a number of Christmas presents of this type, additional application forms may be obtained by telephoning or writing the Museum. To assure delivery of notification cards to the recipients of your gifts by Christmas Day, it is advisable to send in applications before December 17. A wide choice is offered in the cost of memberships, begin- ning with the $10 Annual Membership. This is a gift of value and distinction. In presenting it you pay a compliment to the recipient, for it indicates your estimate of him as a person of intellectual qualities, to {Continued on page U) Page 2 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS December, 1932 Field Museum of Natural History Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan, Chicago THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sewell L. Avbry John Bobden WnxiAu J. Chalmers Marshall Field Stanley Field Ernest R. Graham Albert W. Harris Samuel Insull, Jr. Cyrus H. McCormick John P, William H. Mitchell Frederick H. Rawson George A. Richardson Fred W. Sargent Stephen C. Simms James Simpson Solomon A. Smith Albert A. Spragub Silas H. Strawn Wilson OFFICERS Stanley Field Pretident Fint Viee-Pretidency temj)orarily unfilled Albert A. Sprague Second Vice-President James Simpson Third Vice-President Stephen C. Simms Director and Secretary Solomon A. Smith. . . TVcomuvr and Assistant Seeretary FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Stephen C. Simms, Director of the Muaeitm Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology B. E. Dahlgren. Acting Curator of Botany Oliver C. Farrington Curator of Geology Wilfred H. Osgood Curator of Zoology H. B. Harte Managing Editor Field Museum is open every day of the year dxiring the hours indicated below: November, December, January 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. February, March, April, October 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. May, June, July, August, September 9 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free to Members on all days. Other adults are admitted free on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; non-members pay 25 cents on other days. Children are admitted free on all days. Students and faculty members of educational institutions are admit- ted free any day upon presentation of credentials. The Museum's natural history Library is open for reference daily except Saturday afternoon and Simday. Traveling exhibits are circulated in the schools of Chicago by the N. W. Harris Public School Extension Department of the Museum. Lectures for schools, and special entertainments and tours for children at the Museum, are provided by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures. Announcements of free illustrated lectures for the public, and special lectures for Members of the Museum, will appear in Field Museum News. A cafeteria in the Museum serves visitors. Rooms are provided for those bringing their lunches. Chicago Motor Coach Company No. 26 buses go direct to the Museum. Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address. MEMBERSHIP IN FIELD MUSEUM Field Museum has several classes of Members. Benefactors give or devise $100,000 or more. Contribu- tors give or devise $1,000 to $100,000. Life Members give $500; Non-Resident (Life) and Associate Members pay $100; Non-Resident Associate Members pay $50. All the above classes are exempt from dues. Sustaining Members contribute $25 annually. After six years they become Associate Members. Annual Members con- tribute $10 annually. Other memberships are Corpo- rate, Honorary, Patron, and Corresponding, additions under these classifications being made by special action of the Board of Trustees. Each Member, in all classes, is entitled to free admission to the Museum for himself, his family and house guests, and to two reserved seats for Museum lectures provided for Members. Subscription to Field Museum News is included with all memberships. The courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to all Members of Field Museum. A Member may give his personal card to non-residents of Chicago, upon presentation of which they will be admitted to the Museum without charge. Further information about memberships will be sent on request. BEQUESTS AND ENDOWMENTS Bequests to Field Museum of Natural History may be made in securities, money, books or collections. They may, if desired, take the form of a memorial to a person or cause, named by the giver. Cash contributions made within the taxable year not exceeding 15 per cent of the taxpayer's net income are allowable as deductions in computing net income under Article 251 of Regulation 69 relating to the income tax under the Revenue Act of 1926. Endowments may be made to the Museum with the provision that an annuity be paid to the patron for life. These annuities are tax-free and are guaranteed against fluctuation in amount. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESENTS HERBARIUM Recently Field Museum acquired one of the largest and most valuable additions ever made to its Herbarium. Twenty-five years ago the University of Chicago placed its herbarium, of more than 51,000 sheets, on deposit in the Museum. By recent action of the trustees of the university, this collec- tion now becomes the permanent property of Field Museum. The university herbarium is important scientifically, and of the highest value to students. It was assembled chiefly by the late John M. Coulter, for many years head of the imiversity's botanical department. It contains hundreds of type or standard specimens of new plants that he described, particularly in the Umbelliferae or parsley family. It also contains collections made by the early botanists who explored the western and southwestern states, besides thousands of rare plants from widely scattered parts of the eastern hemi- sphere. With this accession, the Museum's organ- ized study collection of plants now consists of more than 656,000 specimens from every part of the earth. For study of the flora of South America it is now one of the best equipped institutions in the world. TRUSTEES' RESOLUTION HONORS MARTIN A. RYERSON The Board of Trustees of Field Museum, at its meeting held November 21, adopted the following resolution in memory of the late Martin A. Ryerson, their fellow Trustee and First Vice-President of the Museum: "The Trustees of Field Museum of Natural History sorrowfully record the death of Martin A. Ryerson, a veteran fellow member of the Board, whose great and valuable services to the institution began at the time of its founding and continued throughout the years since. Mr. Ryerson died on August 11, 1932, at the age of seven ty-flve. He was one of the Incorporators of Field Museum, a Trustee since it was organized in 1893, and First Vice-President since 1894. He rendered important services also as a member of the Executive Committee from 1894 to 1914, and as a member of the Finance Committee from 1901 to 1932. In addition, he was a Corporate Member, and became a Life Member about 1896. "Mr. Ryerson was one of the Museum's staunchest friends and most ardent workers. The interest and enthusiasm he displayed at the time of the establishment of the institution never waned during all the sub- sequent years. He found time, despite his widespread business interests, to devote much thought and effort to the building up of a natural history institution which should fulfill the needs of Chicago, and of which the city could be proud. He was a man of remarkable intellect and insight, in whom extraordinary powers and abilities were matched to an exceptional degree by his gentleness, kindliness, and personal charm. He had a natural inborn sympathy with the aims of a great public institution of this kind, and a keen understanding of the best ways of accomplishing them. His sage advice was of tremendous value in the deliberations of the Trustees. His gifts, both in money and in additions to the collections, placed his name high on the Museum's list of Contributors, while the many eminent services he rendered were given recognition by his election in 1922 as an Honorary Member. "Mr. Ryerson's generosity toward the Museum was again revealed in his will which specifled that upon the termination of certain life trusts. Field Museum is to share in his estate. "Mr. Ryerson bore an enviable reputation both at home and abroad as a connoisseur of art, and his collections rank among the flnest, testifying to his thorough knowledge and excellent judgment — a judgment highly respected by artists, art critics, and other collectors aUke. "Mr. Ryerson was highly esteemed in business, and was a leader in various important industrial and banking enter- prises. He was a graduate in law of Harvard University, and had been signally honored by other universities. His public spirit was evidenced not only by his association with Field Museum, but also by his activity in connection with many other civic, educa- tional, and charitable institutions of Chicago and other cities. "Therefore, be it resolved that this expres- sion of our respect and admiration for Mr. Ryerson, and our heartfelt grief at the loss of his companionship and counsel, be spread upon the records of the Board: "And be it further resolved that our deep sympathy be conveyed to his widow in her bereavement, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to her." Dr. Earl E. Sherff a Contributor In recognition of his gifts to Field Museum, totaUng more than $3,000 in value, Dr. Earl E. Sherff has been elected to the class of Museum membership designated as Contributors. Horned Gopher Fossil Received An extremely rare fossil, the skull of a horned gopher which lived in Nebraska in the later Miocene age, about seven million years ago, has been given to the Museum by Thompson Stout and Ed Hartman of Lewellen, Nebraska. This is the first speci- men of this animal, which bears the name of Ceratogaulus, to reach the Museum, and only four or five specimens have ever been recovered, according to Elmer S. Riggs, Associate Curator of Paleontology. The specimen is being prepared for exhibition at an early date. This fossil rodent was much stouter than the modern gophers, and had on its head two hard sharp-pointed conical horns which it probably used to maintain a grip on the ground while burrowing. The animal was about the size of a groundhog. It had two pairs of large grinding teeth. Oils and Rayon A case showing the most important vege- table oils used for industrial purposes, such as the making of soap, paint and varnish, has been added to the economic botany exhibits in Hall 28. A large part of the oils which constitute this exhibit was donated for the purpose by Dr. Otto Eisenschiml of the Scientific Oil Compounding Company of Chicago. Another new exhibit of interest in this hall is a half case recently added to the cellulose products which shows various kinds of so-called artificial silk or rayon. The exhibit shows the principle involved and the various steps taken in the production of rayon from cotton linters and from wood pulp. In the same case are shown the steps in the preparation of Duco lacquer or varnish from cotton. December, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM NEWS Page S THE RHINOCEROS OF CHINA By Berthold Laufer Curator^ Department of Anthropology In 1792 the Earl of Macartney was received as the first ambassador of the British king to the court of China. Before the audience took place, the ceremonial to be observed was discussed by British and Chinese officials, the latter insisting that the earl perform the kotow before the emperor. The British envoy declined to suffer this humiliation. The Chinese officials were embarrassed but after deliberation solved the problem. They explained to the emperor that "the foreign barbarians" were not built like Chinamen — that they had no joints in their legs, and if bowed down to the ground were unable to rise. The emperor was thus persuaded to waive the kotow, as he did not desire a casualty or an unseemly spectacle. The officials' stratagem is traceable to an old Indian fable concerning the rhinoceros, related by a sea captain who came to China in the ninth century. He reported that the rhinoceros has straight legs with no articula- tion, and sleeps by leaning against trees. Hunters of rhinoceroses in India, he declared, erect frail wooden shanties to trap the beasts. The rhinoceros, he said, would lean against the decayed timbers of the trap, which would collapse, causing the animal to fall. Unable to rise, it became an easy prey to its captors. No animal has been surrounded with more wondrous lore, fabulous notions and bizarre speculations than the rhinoceros. In ancient times climatic conditions in northern China were different from now. The hills were crowned by dense forests haunted by huge pachyderms, including rhinoceroses. During the first millennium B.C., the rhinoceros was still abundant in cen- tral and southern China. It is mentioned in ancient songs and accounts of hunting expeditions. Its horn was carved into ornamental drinking cups and used in mak- ing bows, and its hide was the favorite material for arrow-proof armor. As agri- culture gradually advanced, deforesting the hills and plains, the large mammals were exterminated or took refuge elsewhere. The common notion that the rhinoceros is ferocious, using its horn as a weapon of offence (the sharp low tusks are its real weapon) is erroneous. On the contrary, the animal appears to be of a gentle and harmless disposition, easily tamed and kept in confinement, or transported over long distances. Numerous Chinese records ex- tending over many centuries indicate that live rhinoceroses were brought from Indo- China to the Chinese capital as gifts to emperors. They were housed in animal parks attached to the palaces, and cared for by officials especially appointed for the purpose. Some of the greatest poets of China have sung the praises of interned rhinoceroses. Rhinoceros horn was regarded by all oriental nations as a marvel of nature. It was believed to neutralize poison, because the animal devours all sorts of vegetable poisons with its food. Another ancient fable ascribed to the rhinoceros an arrow- proof hide that formed an impervious armor over its body. As a matter of fact, its skin is quite soft and sensitive, and arrows, spears, knives and bullets can easily pene- trate it. Only when properly prepared and dried does the skin assume that iron-like hardness which has made it valuable for cuirasses and shields. In China rhinoceros skin and feet are boiled into a jelly that is a highly esteemed medicine. In Siam the skin is sliced and boiled together with spices into a gelatinous mass that is regarded as a delicacy and a good tonic for feeble persons. There are many interesting representa- tions of the rhinoceros preserved in bronze, clay, and wood-engravings. The Museum possesses a gilt bronze fig:urine of a recumbent two-horned rhinoceros with well modeled head and body. The skin folds especially are well brought out. This figurine is on exhibition in Stanley Field Hall (Case 7) and was presented to the Museum by the American Friends of China, Chicago, and Mr. Herbert J. Devine. EXTINCT "FOUR-LEGGED FISH" A sensational discovery of large numbers of fossils of a so-called "four-legged fish that walked ashore" was recently reported in the newspapers, on the return to Copen- hagen of Dr. Lauge Koch, Arctic explorer, from an expedition in Greenland. These creatures were identified as belonging to the order Stegocephali, the earliest four- footed vertebrates. Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, Acting Curator of Botany at Field Museum, calls attention Early Amphibian Restoration of one of the first of the four-legged vertebrates, on exhibition in Ernest R. Graham Hall. to the fact that restorations of an extinct amphibian of this order are on exhibition in the Museum. One of these may be seen in the reconstruction of a Coal Age forest which occupies the south end of Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). The second restora- tion is shown separately in its place among the chronologically arranged collections in that hall of prehistoric creatures of all ages. IVORY OBJECTS FROM CHINA Until comparatively recent times phy- sicians attending women of the upper class in China never saw their patients except for a hand extended from behind a concealing curtain or screen for the taking of the pulse. For the rest of their diagnosis the doctors had to depend upon a proxy in the form of a small carved figure of a woman upon which the patient indicated the location of her complaint. One of these figures, carved from ivory, is on exhibition in a collection of various Chinese ivory objects installed in George T. and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall (Hall 24). The exhibit comprises objects of many and various kinds from different parts of China, and covers a wide range of time beginning with the archaic period (1122-247 B.C.). Included in the exhibit are several pairs of ivory chopsticks; some exquisite fans of the Manchu court, plaited from ivory threads and overlaid with colored ivory carvings; cages for keeping singing and fighting crickets; and a miscellany of fans, tablets, writing-brush holders, figures of goddesses, saints, monks and other revered persons, various kinds of ornamental objects, a desk screen, scent box, foot-measures, girdle pendants, combs, back scratchers, opium smokers' equipment, and other material. NEW METEORITE SPECIMENS FROM TEXAS CRATER By Oliver C. Farrington Curator, Department of Geology Two specimens of a meteorite recently received through the kindness of Dr. C. T. Elvey of the Yerkes Observatory are of interest as the first acquired by Field Museum from a "meteor crater" other than the well-known one at Canyon Diablo, Arizona. These specimens came from the "crater" at Odessa, Texas. First noted as a "blowout," later observations showed that the area is roughly circular in outline, with a diameter of about 500 feet, a depth of about eighteen feet, and a rim raised two or three feet above the surrounding plain. As at Meteor Crater, Arizona, the inner slopes are steep and dip away from the center. About the "crater," small iron meteorites and pieces of "iron shale," a name given to meteoric masses altered by exposure to limonite, are found. Both of these varieties are represented in the specimens received from Dr. Elvey. No exploration has yet been carried on at the Texas locality to determine whether a large meteoric mass such as might have made the crater lies buried there. Mean- while other "meteor craters" have been discovered elsewhere. Besides the series found on the Stony Tunguska River in central Siberia which have as yet yielded no meteoric material, a group of thirteen craters has been discovered near Henbury in central AustraUa, and a large one at Wabar in southern Arabia. About Henbury many pieces of meteoric iron, "iron shale," and "silica glass" have been found. Con- cerning the Arabian locality, the Arabs have a legend that it was once a city which was destroyed by fire from heaven as a punishment for its wickedness. PARADISE NUTS Paradise nuts are the seeds of several species of large forest trees of South America, especially of the Amazon region, where they are known as sapucaia nuts. They are related to Brazil nuts, and like them are produced within large woody fruits. The Brazil nut fruits, however, drop from the trees intact and must be split with a machete or ax, while the sapucaia fruits remain on the tree and open by a lid which permits the seeds to drop and scatter. These are therefore difficult to obtain in quantity, especially because they are a favorite food of large native rodents. A fruiting branch of a sapucaia tree was obtained in Pard by the Marshall Field Botanical Expedition to the Amazon in 1929. This branch, its perishable parts restored, and a section of the fruit, have been added to the exhibits in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29). The exhibit was prepared by the Stanley Field Plant Repro- duction Laboratories. Gift from Viennese Scientist An exceptionally valuable collection of type specimens of plants of the family Nyctaginaceae (the "four o'clocks") has been presented to Field Museum by Dr. Anton Heimerl, of Vienna, foremost student of this family. The specimens will be of much use to Associate Curator Paul C. Standley in his work upon this group of plants, and in conformity with the wishes of Dr. Heimerl they will be preserved permanently in the Museum Herbarium where they will be accessible to students. Page i FIELD MUSEUM NEWS December, 1932 FIELD MUSEUM MEMBERSHIPS AS CHRISTMAS GIFTS (Continued from page 1 ) whom a membership in a cultural institution would appeal. Moreover, it is a gift that will not be forgotten — instead, it will remind the recipient of you many times a year, for he will receive monthly his copy of Field Museum News, be able to obtain reserved seats for the Museum lectures, and participate in other privileges of Members. Among these may be mentioned free admission to the Museum for the Member, his family, and house guests at all times; the right to have out-of-town friends admitted free of charge on presenta- tion of the Member's personal card, and the opportunity to obtain certain Museum publications on request. Also, when a Member travels, the courtesies of every museum of note in the United States and Canada are extended to him. CHILDREN'S MOTION PICTURES —RAYMOND FOUNDATION The last of the current series of free motion picture programs for children pre- sented by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation for Public School and Children's Lectures will be given on Saturday morning, December 3, in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. Five films will be shown, as follows: "Around the Year in the Big Woods," "Thrills and Spills," "Mjrsteries of Snow," "Skiing in Cloudland," and "A Boy's Christmas Gifts." There will be two showings of the films, one beginning at 10 A.M., and one at 11 a.m. Children from all parts of Chicago and suburbs are invited to attend. WATER-HOLE GROUP {Continued from page I) in regular quantities, but if it becomes exhausted some of the animals make long treks to more favored spots, others doubtless die of thirst, and still others survive in apparent comfort without drinking. Among these last are the oryx and the eland, two of the species in this group, both large, heavy animals that are known to exist for weeks or even months in absolutely waterless regions. Doubtless this is accomplished by physiological processes which conserve the water within their bodies while sufficient additions are made to it through the rela- tively small quantities of moisture contained in their vegetable food. The water-hole offers unusual oppor- tunities for the close observation and study of animals otherwise difficult to approach. Hence it has been much resorted to by sportsmen, travelers, and especially by photographers, who conceal themselves near- by and record the actions of the animals with comparative ease. Twenty-three animals of six different species are shown in the Museum's group. Many others frequent water-holes, but this is a typical assemblage. Five giraffes occupy a commanding position and giraffes, it may be remembered, are among the largest of living land mammals, being exceeded in weight only by elephants, rhinos, and hippos. Even the black rhinoceros, which occupies the water supply while the giraffes look wistfully at her, seems dwarfed by them. The species is the reticulated giraffe, which has very rich color and striking markings. Other mammals shown are the eland, oryx. Grant's gazelle, and Grant's quagga or zebra. The setting includes reproductions of a large wild fig tree and several tall nests of termites or "white ants." A tick-bird is perched on the rhino's back and some guinea fowl at one side add interest and realism. The scene is in southern Abyssinia in the region of Lake Rudolf. MONKEYS AND PLANT COLLECTING In reference to an article that appeared in the August number of Field Museum News, under the heading "Monkeys Aid Scientist in Collecting Plants," the following statement has been received from Dr. C. R. Carpenter of the Laboratories of Compara- tive Psychobiology of Yale University: "For the past year I have been carefully studying the life history and all activities of the howling monkeys of Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone. One part of this study was to ascertain the kinds of foods eaten by this species of primate throughout the period of the field work. The animals are strictly arboreal and it was impossible to obtain specimens directly from the trees in which they fed. The howler is very wasteful of food during feeding acti- vities, however, and drops much partially eaten fruit and many leaves or terminal twigs to the ground, probably accidentally. The collection of leaves and fruits of tropical trees sent to Field Museum was gathered from this waste material imder the trees in which the animals had been or were feeding, and care was taken to identify the specimen obtained with the leaves or fruit being eaten by the animals. The howlers were in the wild, untamed and influenced as little as possible by the observer. The howUng monkeys did not cooperate, in a true sense, in making the plant collection and it is doubtful if they could be trained to do so; although this may be possible with some other species of primates." Children Studying Art at Museuni In addition to the regular art research classes of advanced students which have been conducted at Field Museum for a number of years in cooperation with the Art Institute, classes of younger children from the Saturday School of the Institute are now being brought to the Museum for special work. About 130 children are involved in the various classes now coming to the Museum on Saturdays. They range from children about nine years old up to high school students. Those in the classes of younger children are brought to the Museum by their instructors periodically, while the older students alternate on a regular schedule between work at the Institute and work at the Museum. A number of the students are winners of Art Institute scholarships awarded for good work in the public schools. At the Museum the efforts of the classes are concentrated chiefly on drawing of animals, and studies in design work as exemplified in ethnological collections. Library Receives Gifts The Fisheries Society of Japan has pre- sented to the Library of Field Museum a copy of Volume 2 of "Illustrations of Japanese Aquatic Plants and Animals." The society had given the Museum Volume 1 about a year ago. The books are remarkable for the quality of their illustrations. Mrs. James Keogh, of Chicago, has pre- sented to the Library an interesting coUec- tion of sportsmen's books. DECEMBER GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS Conducted tours of exhibits, under the guidance of staff lecturers, are made everj' afternoon at 3 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays, and certain holidays. Following is the schedule of subjects and dates for December: Thursday, December 1 — General Tour; Fridaj — Animals at Home. Week beginning December 5: Monday — Africa and Madagascar; Tuesday — Mummies and Burial Customs; Wednesday — Life in the Far North; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Skeletons. Week beginning December 12: Monday — Mines and Ores; Tuesday — Jewelry; Wednesday — Story of Coal and Peat; Thursday—General Tour; Fri<^y — Looms and Textiles. Week beginning December 19: Monday — Miniature Home Groups; Tuesday — Reptiles and Fishes; Wednesday — Feathers and Their Uses; Thursday^ General Tour; Friday — Mexican .Archaeology. Week beginning December 26: Monday — Christmas holiday, no tour; Tuesday — Plant and Animal Lite of Long Ago; Wednesday— Chinese Halls; Thursday — ■ General Tour; Friday — Indians. Persons wishing to participate should apply at North Entrance. Tours are free and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new schedule will appear each month in Field Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services for special tours by parties of ten or more are available free of charge by arrangement with the Director a week in advance. Gifts to the Museum Following is a list of some of the principal gifts received during the last month: From Mrs. Alexander A. McCormick — 2 pale green scarabs, one of King Amenophis III (18th d\-nasty, 1400 B.C.J, Egypt; from Arthur U. Pope — 6 prehistoric bronze implements, Persia; from Abb^ Henri Breuil — 45 archaeological implements, China and France; from Harper Kelley — 5 notched flints of the Solutrian period, France; from Dr. .\nton Heimerl — 100 frag- ments of type specimens of Nyctaginaceae; from Miss Caroline C. Haynes — 26 herbarium specimens of hepatics, United States; from William A. Schipp — 126 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil — 40 herbarium specimens and 30 accompanjing wood specimens, Brazil; from James H. Wells — a fruiting branch of pecan, Florida; from Federacion Nacional de Cafeteroe — 20 photographs of coffee industry, Colombia; from Kanekichi Endo — a board of kiri wood, Japan; from Mrs. Ynes Mexia — 179 herbarium specimens, Brazil; from William Walker — 2 prairie rattlesnakes, Michigan; from Karl Plath — a yellow-headed parrot; from John G. Shedd Aquarium — a specimen of wrasse (fish); from Refior Hardware Company — a starling (in the flesh), Illinois; from Henry Field — 6 European moles, England; from Pierce Brodkorb — 2 rabbits, a weasel, a chipmunk, and a white-crowned sparrow, Idaho; from Edward A. Zimmerman — 19 specimens of corals and shells, and a pearl, French Oceania; from Sharat K. Roy, Henry Field, and Brj-an Patterson — 79 specimens of fossil worms, Illinois; from Thompson Stout and Ed Hartman — 6 fossil specimens, Nebraska; from Robert Bresky — a specimen of rhyolite, showing flow structure, Illinois; from Mr. and Mrs. J. R, Below, Miss Nan Mason, and Bryan Patterson — 25 specimens of invertebrate fossils, Illinois; from .\rthur Lees and John Mann — a specimen of an enlarged crinoid, Indiana. NEW MEMBERS The following persons were elected to membership in Field Museum during the period from October 16 to November 15: Contributor Dr. Eari E. Sherff Associate Members Miss Minnie A. Albert, A. Watson Armour III, Glen B. Kersey. Annual Members Mrs. E. W. Ankrum, William F. Bohner, Mrs. R. M. Davis, Roland P. Dodds, Gordon F. Fowler, Mrs. M. B. Gleason, John Glover, James M. Hopkins, Jr., Mrs. Norman Ibsen. Mrs. Maurice H. Mandelbaum, Joseph Michaels, Miss Minnie Nelson, G. F. Oliver, Fred A. Pettersen, Dr. William Raim, W. P. Sidley, George R. Stewart. Monotremes, the peculiar egg-laying mam- mals of Australia, and the marsupials or pouched mammals, are an interesting feature of the systematic collections in Hall 15. PRINTCD aV 'iCLO MuacuM pncss