January 1979 Field Museum of Natural History B Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin January, 1979 Vol. 50, No. 1 Editor/Designer: David M. Walslen Production: Oscar Anderson Calendar: Mary Cassai Staff photographer: Ron Testa CONTENTS 3 Field Briefs 9 10 The Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition By Ted Karamanski Soviet Union Tour for Members Chance Encounter of a Good Kind By Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President and Director: E. Leland Webber Board of Trustees William G. Swartchild, Jr., chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour Goerge R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook O. C. Davis William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Marshal] Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Hugo J. Melvoin William H. Mitchell Charles F. Murphy, Jr. James J. O'Connor James H. Ransom John S. Runnells William L. Searle Edward Byron Smith Robert H. Strotz John W. Sullivan Mrs. Edward F. Swift Edward R. Telling Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber Julian B. Wilkins Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field Clifford C. Gregg Samuel Insull, Jr. William V. Kahler Remick McDowell James L. Palmer John T. Pirie, Jr. Donald Richards John M. Simpson J. Howard Wood 14 Of Land Bridges, Ice-Free Corridors, and Early Man in the Americas By Glen Cole, curator of prehistory 22 Conflicts between Darwin and Paleontology By David M. Raup, curator of geology 30 Index to Volume 49 (1978) Prepared by Kenneth Grabowski, library assistant back January and February at Field Museum cover Calendar of coming events COVER Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes. Photo by ]ohn Kolar. Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, II. 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Museum membership includes Bulletin subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago II. 60605. ISSN: 0015-0703. Second class postage paid at Chicago, It. FIELD BRIEFS Scanning Electron Microscope Adult Education Course The SEM course will again be offered this spring, beginning March 20. The course will meet once a week for five weeks, each session lasting from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Instructors are Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates, and Christine Niezgoda, her- barium assistant. Department of Botany. Course fee is $60.00. Enrollment is limited to 24 persons. Information on dates and registration may be obtained by calling 922-y410, X-382, or by writing: Adult Courses: SEM; Dept. of Education, Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605. The Place for Wonder: Opportunities for Volunteers The Department of Education announces that volunteer opportunities are now avail- able in the Place for Wonder, Field Muse- um's ground floor gallery where natural history specimens may be examined first hand by visitors both young and old. Place for Wonder volunteers will participate in a unique teaching situation that utilizes the hands-on and inquiry method approach to education. Who may serve as a volunteer? Persons with one day a week to share, who enjoy working with children and families, and want responsibility are invited to call Vicki Grigelaitis, the volunteer coordinator, at 922-9410, ext. 360. CORRECTION In the article "Solem and Snails " by Patricia Williams, which appeared in the November, 1978, Bulletin, an incorrect number of pages was given for the monograph Endodontoid Land Snails from Pacific Islands (MoUusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra), Part I, Family Endodontidae, by Alan Solem (Field Museum Press, 1976). The correct number of pages is 508. Loren Woods Retires Loren P. Woods, curator of fishes, has recently retired after more than 40 years of service to Field Museum. Woods first came to the Museum in 1938 as a staff member of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Ray- mond Foundation (now part of the Depart- ment of Education). He was assistant curator of fishes from 1941 to 1947 and was then appointed curator. Over the years he has participated in expeditions to the Indian Ocean, Western Atlantic, Southeastern Pacific, Western Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Surinam, Puer- to Rico, Virgin Islands, Florida Keys, and to many of the states, particularly in the Midwest. As curator emeritus, Woods is continu- ing his research on the beryciform and pomacentrid fishes. Associate curator of fishes Robert K. Johnson has succeeded Woods as head of the Division of Fishes. Borden Expedition Film Saturday, February 3, is the day to see the exciting feature-length film, "The Cruise of the Northern Light," taken during the Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition. (The expedition is the subject of a two-part article concluded in this issue; see p. 4.) The 60-minute film will be shown at 1:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. Ad- mission is $3.00 for nonmembers, $1.50 for members and students with I.D. Mrs. Rochester B. Slaughter, a member of the expedition, shot the film and it was subsequently shown at various places in the Chicago area. In 1976, the film was given to Field Museum by Mrs. George L. Simpson, of Eau Claire, Wis., niece of Mrs. Slaughter, who died in 1949. Introducing the film on February 3 will be Mrs. Foster Adams (the former Mrs. John Borden), who accompanied the expe- dition. The film narrator will be expedition veteran Rev. Theodore Purcell, S.J., of Washington, D.C., who was only 15 at the outset of the expedition. Egypt Tour for Members Three seats are still available on the Field Museum tour to Egypt departing Chicago February 15. The per-person all inclusive price is $2,950. (Includes a $500.00 tax- deductible donation to Field Museum.) Join with us and visit Cairo, Beni Hassan, Ashmunein, Luxor, the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, Aswan, and much more of this fabled land. The luxury of a Nile River cruise is also in the itinerary. Write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605 (922-9410) The Place for Wonder: volunteers needed Ronlbsta \ The Borden- ^ Field Museum 1927 Alaska ♦ Arctic Four of the surviving Sea Scout veterans of the Northern Light's cruise, shown at the helm of another schooner during a 1978 reu- nion. Left to right: Bruce Andrews, Rev. Theodore Purcell, Ken Mc- Clelland, and Otto Carstensen. Rev. Purcell will he at Field Museum on Saturday, Feb. 3. to narrate a feature-length film on the 1927 ex- pedition. The first installment of the account of the Borden-Field Mu- seum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition appeared in the Novem- ber 1978 Bulletin. That segment told of preparations for the adventure, of the group's departure from San Francisco on April 21, 1927, aboard the schooner Northern Light, and subsequent events to July 15. At this point the vessel was in the Arctic Ocean at Cape Serdzekamen, on the northeastern coast of Siberia. Mrs. John Borden (now Mrs. Foster Adams), wife of the expedition's sponsor and a member of the expedition, sub- sequently wrote a book-length account of the venture. The Cruise of the Northern Light (MacMillan, 1928). The follow- ing text (italics), with the author's permission, is excerpted from the book: ]uly 15: All ive could think of when we made out the grotesquely familiar forms was Alice in Wonderland: ' 'The time has come' the walrus said." The tremendous ugly creatures were a shapeless mass until their heads were raised to peer around; then they jabbed one another with their tusks and a few minutes later were again asleep. The light-colored boat with its white figures probably seemed to them a cake of moving ice .... The great Nansen and fohansen and other explorers on their dash to the North Pole, have been attacked by these huge monsters. We cruised up in the launch and took Expedition Part II By TED KARAMANSKI some moving pictures as the enraged bulls neared us, somer- saulting their huge bodies in and out of the water, showing us their stupid whiskered faces as they came up snorting. July 16: An umiak is the most valuable part of an Eskimo's equipment, an efficient craft, fully equal to one of our ship's boats, and in some ways preferable. [It] is about thirty feet long and in smooth water will hold a cargo of more than two tons yet it is so lightly constructed that two men can carry it over the ice, an important feature north of Bering Strait where a boat may be hemmed in by the ice for a long period, and inability to escape means serious suffering. A whaleboat is much heavier and the slightest accident may stove it in, while the skin boat can be jammed into ice and re- main uninjured. Its broken ribs need not be repaired until convenient .... ]uly 17: Our position was 55 miles east of Wrangel and forty-three miles south of Herald Island, 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and 180 miles from the Siberian shore. We were swallowed up within the Arctic whiteness of the North. The great Polar ice-pack, that relentless terror, nearly sur- rounded our little ship on its sweep across the Pole of Inac- cessibility and a million square miles of unexplored territory .... Leaving the Siberian coast, the Northern Light headed eastward again, and after several days reached Pt. Hope, Alaska. ]uly 23: Primitive implements of carved ivory and jade, which the Eskimos are beginning to realize are in- Ted Karamanski is a doctoral candidate in history at Loyola University. teresting to white men, have recently been excavated from underneath the mounds. We made an important collection of these articles which were pressed upon us by the male popula- tion, and they are now part of a much larger collection that we presented to the Field Museum. There were ivory labrets formerly used by the men as chin ornaments, whaling knives, flints, and crude stones for killing birds .... The igloos that the Eskimos live in today stand above ground, mere hovels of moss-covered whalebone. We called on the native mayor {of Tikeraq, a Pt. Hope Eskimo settle- ment! i^rid were nauseated by the stench of seal blubber, and intestines lying in the main entrance. The center chamber was a small square box, used for sleeping and eating, into which light penetrated from (a gut-covered] aperture in the mud roof .... Four squaws sat on the floor, each holding a small child and anxiously watching the supper that hissed on a very modern stove. Sugar, tea, and tobacco, luxuries beyond the reach of the less fortunate Chuckchees, were in evidence .... The oldest woman, . . . became ecstatic over my gay colored coat, although Mrs. Slaughter was wearing a far more attrac- tive blue parka .... July 25: Little John lone of the Eskimo guides] joined us near the pilot-house, where we were standing enjoying the shimmering, golden sunshine, and announced, "Now Capt'n, you can come see your kayak." "My kayak?" my husband looked a trifle puzzled. I followed, and witnessed the formal and touching gift of a kayak, harpoon, poke, and immamidik. They were childishly happy in their ability to please "Cap'n"; their black eyes fairly sparkled with delight. Little John explained: "Wood in boat seven years old — skin new every two years." — And then — "You give Museum." The gut coat and harpoon was given by the older and more silent John. We shook hands all round, — and nearly kissed. August 1: Mr. Hine, [Field Museum's chief bird taxi- dermist], while waiting for us, stopped at the [Nomej hotel and made trips back into the foothills for bird specimens. [The U.S. Department of Agriculture had issued a special per- mit for Hine to obtain migratory and nonmigratory bird species for the Museum.] He collected fox, golden-crowned, and Savannah sparrows, an Alaskan longspur, red poll, and a golden plover, rare in that vicinity. The plover, he explained, migrates through China and India to Australia and Polynesia covering many thousand miles. The Eskimos came on board just before we sailed, seemingly delighted to be with us again. August 2: We stopped at Fairway Rock, a small granite formation five or six hundred feet high, to let Mr. Hine shoot water birds. The soft colors of green, yellow, pink, and lavender were lovely rising out of a dull blue sea and as the fog came and went we had a full view of the turreted, castle- like rock. We could just see thousands of little heads above a soft green carpet, and after the first shot millions of birds flew in all directions. We there acquired murres, paroquet auklets, horned and tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, and a glaucous- winged gull. The feathers of the tufted puffin are like silk. It was interesting to compare the many yellow vermilion, The Borden-Field Museum 1927 expedition is the subject of a feature-length film to be shown in James Simpson Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 1:30 p.m. Mrs. Foster Adams (the former Mrs. John Borden) will introduce the film, and the narrator will be Rev. Theodore Purcell, S.J., who. like Mrs. Adams, served as a mem- ber of the expedition. The 60-minute film was a recent gift to the Museum by Mrs. George L. Simpson, a niece of Mrs. Rochester B. Slaughter, who was the expedition's official photographer. Admission to the film is $3.00 for non- members, $1.50 for members and for students with I.D. orange, and scarlet vermilions in the bird's legs and claws, — the colors still brilliant in the first hour after death. In fact, a notable change can be seen almost instantly in the flesh part of a bird as the warmth of life leaves its body. What surprised us most about the Arctic water birds is the exact similarity of coloring of male and female in auklets, murres, and guillemots .... In Nome my husband later acquired a collection of ivory carvings, valuable to a museum of Natural History, which had been dug up by the natives themselves from an up- per and two lower stratas of earth below the present settle- ment on Little Diomede. There were three distinct periods of civilization represented. We added this collection to the Pt. Hope articles and presented them to the Museum. August 5: The next day was beautiful, thank good- ness, and a glorious day in the Arctic is more wonderful than anything any of us had ever seen anywhere else in the world. We realized why explorers, such as Stefansson and Amund- sen, continually return to the Frozen North and gladly undergo many hardships along with the glorious life. We had heard in Unalaska that "north of St. Lawrence Island the sun would shine. " We found it to be true. Good weather in the Polar Sea meant calm waters, radiant sunsets, and the long white nights burning with sunshine, more exquisite than any hour on the blue Mediterranean or any clear white day in Switzerland. The North has a weird, intoxicating beauty which is indescribable . No one can grasp the full ecstasy of an Arctic summer night without having drunk deep of its spell . . . . A thrilling element of hovering danger followed us always. There were no harbors for hundreds of miles at a stretch and no lighthouses of a civilized coast to guide us ... . There are summers when navigation to Wrangel is im- possible at any time. We of course could not take any chances on being caught in the pack north and west of Alaska, and off the Arctic coast of Siberia, or our helpless vessel would drift to a cold, unmarked grave. On the other hand if a ship is caught in the ice of the European Arctic it usually drifts south into open water and freedom. The danger was so constantly with us that I began to feel that the pack was a giant octopus, thrusting its deadly tentacles in all directions. The mere word "ice" brought shivers and goose-flesh. My readers may think I overestimate this silent, white enemy and wonder why we continued — but they must remember that we were sailing in search of Museum specimens in the graveyard of the seven seas. More ships have gone to "Davy Jones' Locker" in the waters north of Bering Strait, considering the comparatively short span of years sitice the Bering Sea was first discovered, than on any other body of water in all the world. The great polar ice-pack, that fiend of the North, continues to take its relentless toll. August 6: That night Captain Borden and a mate sighted Wrangel Island at 10:30. After a continuous watch of thirty-six hours my husband then went below, but two hours later was suddenly awakened by the engines being signalled off. Hearing much confusion on deck he dressed hurriedly and disappeared; in a few minutes I heard: "Ice ahead!" . . . Ice! Ice! — What a word! — The water was now 29° (one degree over the freezing point of salt water) .... Climbing down from the high bed I pulled on my heaviest trousers, two sweaters, two parkas, and the in- valuable mukluks over many woolen socks, and started up the steps .... Everyone was staring out toward land not far distant .... There lay Wrangel .... Turning my head in the other direction there shone nothing but an endless sweep of ice. Out there — a thousand miles or so — challenged the North Pole. The veil that hid it from view — and continually lured ambitious, strong men to their doom— had been torn away by Peary, Amundsen, Ellsworth, and Byrd. How simple it seemed — to be able to fly from the deck of the Northern Light— still further north— out over that field of both solid and floating ice .... August 11: "May wc hang our flags to the shrouds?" asked Ryan. In a few minutes the Jackson Park and Columbia Yacht Club pennants fluttered, one above the other, from the turnbuckles. These little flags waved into shreds before the boys took them down, preparing to bring back in triumph "flags that had flown at Wrangel Island." Mr. Hine was equally excited. His thrill lay in the pros- pect of bringing the first birds from this Arctic island to the Field Museum .... Suddenly — "We see polar bear!" cried both Eskimos in the same breath. Nothing can adequately describe our feelings. "Polar bears! Polar bears!" rang over the ship .... Here were the wild beasts we had sailed thousands of miles to find. I believe we did not know whether to laugh or cry in our frantic excitement. "Look at them! — They are just standing there, " called Mrs. Slaughter .... Yes — there they were — two huge white bears on that gleaming streak of moving ice. We could even see them with our naked eye. Whether they saw the boat we didn't know, because bears are supposed to have poor eyesight. But their smelling powers are excellent .... Both animals were evidently startled .... We went below for warmth and relaxation. Sometimes I was Caliban secretly fearing the elements, but on this night of many thrills, the dangers and the possible fate of seafarers were soon forgotten. The victrola played incessantly and we sang loudly to our favorite tunes. Strange as it may sound on reading this, while sitting snug and safe at home, we knew we were safer on the Northern Light, although riding out a storm, or piloting through dense fog among reefs and shoals, than we would have been crossing State and Madison Streets, Chicago .... August 12: Wrangel Island is approximately 75 miles long and 25 wide. So far — we had been steaming along only one shore — the east. We knew from the chart that there is a good harbor on the south coast where both the Corwin and the Rodgers anchored in 1881. There also Stefansson's little colony had landed in September, 1921, and made their camp. But they each met a tragic death before August, 1923 . . . .A stark barren island — shadowed by tragedy. We now sought Rodgers Harbor as the logical place for the recent Russian settlement, the probability of which we were strongly doubting as we had carefully watched for any possible trace of human life or activity .... We were steaming nearer and nearer to the tiny group of houses we were watching so intently. Smoke poured out of only one chimney, curling lazily through the crisp, cool air up into the mountains behind .... We managed to stand in toward the village, about a half mile off shore. On deck lay cases of sugar, tobacco, tea, cartridges, canned goods, and other necessities of life. Also we hoped to send out for these wretched people, any radio news for the outside .... Three blasts of our whistle echoed shrilly against the brown mountains. At first we saw no one. Except for the smoke it could have been an abandotxed village. There were three small, well-built wooden houses .... From the center house smoke continued to rise. Huddled near these larger houses were ten or twelve much smaller dwellings .... Further to the right were three other houses, probably wood .... While we watched, hoping for some sign of human activity, a woman came to the door of the house from where we had seen smoke .... She stood there, it seemed to us, several minutes, but no other sign of life was noticeable .... We blew the whistle again, — merely a friendly salute. (If only others could imagine how terribly exciting it was to stand there — not knowing what would happen next. — My heart was in my throat most of the time.) When still no other people were visible a red flag of the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republic" suddenly flung out from the flagpole behind this same house. Someone had at last admitted our arrival .... A few minutes later quite a considerable number assembled on the beach, looking out toward the schooner .... We thought that they would immediately find their umiaks and set out toward the boat, in the way that we were visited by the Chukchees. But no — there was no boat of any description along the beach. — They made not the slightest attempt to speak with us. That was a strange turn in events! These human beings, perhaps thirty or thirty-five Cossacks and Siberian natives in all, were living on a desolate, ice-bound island, not far from the very edge of the Pole of Inaccessibility. The great polar ice-pack hemmed them in on the north and west coasts, leaving them only the exceedingly slim possibility of a navigable passage opening in the drift ice near the island again the following summer — perhaps not again for two or three years. Yet, — they did not make a move to beg for any supplies we would undoubtedly be carrying .... Whether the Cossacks kept the natives from coming out, whether they had no boats, — whether they one and all feared us, — perhaps we may never know. As anxious as we all were to climb on those shores— to be able to collect specimens of flora and fauna on that much- wrangled-over Wrangel Island — Captain Borden did not per- mit anyone to go ashore. We were glad enough to be safe on the yacht, in those uncertain ice-filled waters. How we would have enjoyed giving food or help to those lonely, stranded inhabitants! .... But we reluctantly and even sorrowfully left them to continue in their desperate struggle for food and existence in that ice-bound solitude of the Frozen North .... It was then we first realized that Eskimos are deathly afraid of a polar bear. This savage beast has meant destruc- tion of Eskimo hunters, women, and children .... They would not paddle nearer to the wounded prey that was thrashing angrily in the water, much too close. Instead they wanted to back away — jumping up and down in the boat, frantically excited, trying to scare off the offending, raging animal. We stood by, hardly daring to breathe at the thrilling scene enacted before our eyes. The whaleboat, — a hunter standing in the bow, — gun raised, two frightened natives, and a plunging, furious beast. August 13: Having acomplished everything and even more than we dared hope for on leaving San Francisco, our thoughts turned toward home, and the flags were hoisted. From the main mast soon floated a lovely thin streamer over a hundred feet long with thirteen stars in a row, followed by the red and white stripes. It was our Homeward Bound Pennant, following the time-honored custom of whaling ships on the Arctic after they had boiled down their fill of whale oil .... Before reluctantly turning away from our hunters' paradise everyone came on deck to watch the lavender-tinted hills of the island, and the pink afterglow of a wonderful Arc- tic sunset. Over the bow hung a large round pink moon covering the white vessel in its silvery radiance. By ten o'clock we were under full sail. The sea-scouts beamed with delight and everyone forward and aft rejoiced in a splendid climax to a long successful voyage. We had cruised for four cloudless days along the shores of this thrilling Arctic island. We had been sailing for many weeks along the white upper crust at the "Top of the world." And we were the first white women ever to reach Wrangel Island. Our party was the first to see the Russian village. Anyone with a spark of romance in %h% Mrs. Foster Adams (the former Mrs. John Borden), author of The Cruise of the Northern Light, with her husband at the Prague, Czechoslovakia, airport in 1976. Mrs. Adams notes that she and her husband continue to be "inveterate travelers, " adding that their re- cent trips have been by airliner rather than by schooner. Mrs. Adams will be at Field Museum on Saturday, Feb. 3, to introduce a film on the expedition. his or her city-bred soul could not help but feel the enchant- ment of that pale but glowing night. A magical lure gripped our senses. A fresh breeze blew almost caressingly, the flap- ping of the sails filled one with passionate ecstasy. It was a moment when one could easily appreciate a sailor's love for his ship, far greater than his desire for home. A fair wind, a fine ship and we were homeward bound! August 16: The next morning at eight o'clock Cape Onman came in sight. A fine warm day with a light northwest breeze and smooth sea. I had noticed the crew staring through their glasses most of the day and wondered why, then decided to ask my husband. "We are searching for a lost Hudson Bay steamer that was abandond two years ago and has been reported to have drifted south near Kolyuchin Island two different times, " was my answer. This was certainly blood-curdling! And here is the story: The Lady Kindersleys, insured for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was crushed in the pack and aban- doned August 31 , 1924, about 34 miles northwest of Pt. Barrow. Everything had been all right until her engines broke down. While the men worked on the engines, the ice closed in. They hurriedly wired the Boxer, the Board of Education boat, but she was unable to get any nearer than five miles on account of the solid ice-field. The men left the trading steamer almost im- mediately to escape with their lives, taking nothing with them but the clothes on their backs and managed to get over the five miles of ice where the Boxer picked them up. A vessel with a valuable cargo, and one insured for a heavy amount, now started on its helpless drift, not sinking immediately as was expected. In 1925 natives from Cape Onman and Kolyuchin Island reported seeing a stranded ship, caught in pack-ice, and drifting off Cape ]inretlin. In 1926 the same ghostlike apparition appeared again, this time inside Kolyuchin Island. The steamer had evidently missed the northwest cur- rent, and like the Vigilant was caught in the drift that circles south off the Siberian shore. It probably went north in the winter, and again south the following summer. The drift that the ship followed is of course, only problematical. A Russian in Nome informed [the Coast Guard] that he had visited among Chukchees who had served him butter packed in tin cases marked Lady Kindersleys. Whether the natives and Rus- sians succeeded in stripping the deserted, crumbling vessel, or whether she sank — no one knows. August 24: At 4 P.M. we were lying to, off the south- west side of Bogoslof Island in water too deep to anchor, sixty-five fathoms less than four hundred yards from the beach. We went ashore, the crew following in two separate watches. In the launch we were surrounded by hundreds of sea lions. Two persevering large bulls swam under us, a strange sensation. We had good opportunities for moving pic- tures and snapshots as the beasts came nearer and nearer. Here, in 1916 my husband had much the same experience: he was literally attacked by an angry herd of these huge monsters. The men in the boat were at first frightened but soon realized the ferocity was a bluff. On reaching shore we were amazed at the millions and millions of Pallas murres roosting in ledges of New Bogoslof, or Castle Rock .... We walked round old Bogoslof to see the new eruption which had arisen in the center of the crater. The first thing we did was to take the temperature of the hot sulphur water which surrounded it and found it to be 72Vi °. lAy husband and most of the crew decided to swim in the hot crater; Frances Ames and I hurriedly walked along the spit to get away. They had a beautiful time splashing about the greenish and copper colored water, finding below the sur- face a slimy green ooze in which they sank until their feet reached a hard strata too hot to stand on ... . The crater continually threw off steam, and strong sulphur fumes enveloped the adventurous men. While the men had their small boys' picnic, we crossed a narrow piece of lava-covered land toward the sea, and here sat on one of the many lava deposits to watch the hundreds of sea lions. The animals were over cautious on our approach and stampeded into the breakers before we could approach very close. When the sand colored beasts reached the water they bellowed and snorted at us from their safe distance. The bulls were larger and heavier than bull hair-seals but much smaller than the Pacific Walrus. More extraordinary still, the cows were smaller than hair-seal cows, and our first impres- sion was that of many bulls and half-grown pups. We sudden- ly realized, however, that sea lions also have harems. There were the useless bulls, and small groups of bachelors who seemed to be "talking it all over." On September 10, 1927, the Northern Light sailed through the Golden Gate back into San Francisco harbor. nearly five months since her departure. More than 10,000 miles of water had passed beneath her keel. As a scientific enterprise the expedition had fulfilled all expectations and, to all accounts, it had proven to be a thrilling, highly enjoyable venture for everyone aboard. Ashley Hine returned to his duties at Field Museum, the Bordens, the Goodspeeds and the Slaughters resumed their professional and social activities in Chicago. Frances Ames returned to San Francisco and the Sea Scouts rejoined their families. In very short order the Museum took stock of the specimens acquired by the Borden expedition. On October 12, Museum director D. C. Davies wrote Frances Ames in ap- preciation for her collected plant specimens: "I am informed that the plants recently received by Field Museum from the Borden-Field Museum Alaska-Arctic Ex- pedition were collected by you. It is found that 106 of the plants are good specimens which will be a most welcome addition to the Herbarium. On the whole they are much better than the usual collections received from Alaska, some are very excellent indeed, and they are very accep- table to the Department of Botany. Permit me to con- gratulate you and to thank you for your interest . . . ." On October 14, Berthold Laufer, head of the Depart- ment of Anthropology, filed with Davies the following report on the ethnological specimens acquired by the expedition: "I beg to report that the Eskimo material collected by Mr. John Borden . . . has been duly accessioned and listed, and consists of a total of 533 objects. The collection is most in- teresting and attractive, and has been brought together with intelligence and discrimination. It represents a very valuable addition to the Museum's previous collections relating to Eskimo life, and many objects in it are entirely new to the Museum, above all, copper knives and copper arrowheads from the so-called Blond or Copper Eskimo of northern Canada, of which the Museum heretofore did not have a single example, and a wonderful series of ancient mammoth ivory carvings engraved with designs of a style which reveals an ancient phase of Eskimo art hitherto unknown. The abundance of walrus ivory carvings, many of great beauty and artistic merit, renders the collection particularly valuable to the student of Eskimo art and very attractive to the general public. "I am exceedingly grateful to Mr. Borden for having ex- ercised so much care in labeling his material exactly accor- ding to the localities where it was obtained, and this ac- curate information enabled me to make a temporary ex- hibit of selected material from this collection in Stanley Field Hall within a short time. "As an interesting incident I may mention here that one day while I was going over Mr. Borden's collection Mr. Collins of the United States National Museum of Washing- ton called on me. He had just returned from an expedition to Alaska on behalf of the National Museum, hunting for old Eskimo material. 1 showed him Mr. Borden's collec- tion, and he was amazed at its fine quality and rarity, especially the stone and pottery cooking vessels, and said with reference to several objects that he had been unable to obtain them or that they were not even in the National Museum — all of which no doubt will be gratifying to you and the Board of Trustees as it is to myself." (Continued on p. 29) Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine 20-day tour for Field Museum Members and their families i nv hremlin. Moscow ViE SPLENDORS OF OLD RUSSIA, the excite- ment of the New are in store for Field Museum Members and their families who Join the tour "Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine," leaving Chicago's O'Hare Airport June 1 9 and returning July 8. Highlights of this exclusive tour will include visits to the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, Kiev, Leningrad, Petrovorets, Novgorod, and Petrozavodsk. The group, limited to 35 persons, will be led from Chicago by two Russian-speaking escorts, with additional guides while in the Soviet Union provided by Intourist (the Soviet Travel Bureau). The tour cost — $2,970 (which in- cludes a $500.00 donation to Field Museum) — is based upon double occupan- cy and includes round trip air fare from Chicago to Moscow, with intra-Russian air transportation where required. The trans- atlantic airline is Swissair. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used throughout or, where necessary, the best hotels available. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals; all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach; all ad- missions to special events and sites, where required; all baggage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers; all applicable taxes and tips; all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration information, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IlL 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-25L iH 1. Green peach aphid air dried onto rubber cement and coated with gold for viewing in the 5EM. Magnification 204x. 10 Chance Encounter Of A Good Kind BY ALAN SOLEM Scientists have been defined as "children who never lost their sense of wonder and never stopped asking 'Why?'." There is no question but what the thrill of discovery and satisfaction of finding out "Why?" is a major part of our profes- sional world. Part of the joy of science at Field Museum is continually being surprised by the variety of structure and function in nature. Often, these sur- prises come very unexpectedly. One such occur- rence is shared with you here. As part of the evening adult education course on scanning electron microscopy offered last spring at Field Museum, I prepared objects and specimens brought in by the students for ex- amination and photographing in later sessions of the course. The range of things contributed includ- ed semiconductors, millipore filters, human hairs, snow leopard claws, spiders, flies, and an aphid off a house plant. One of the participants, Mary Ellen Rinkus, had asked how to get rid of aphids from a new house plant and a week later brought in one lone survivor on a leaf of the purple velvet plant, Gynura aurantiaca. When prepared for viewing and first seen. the limp and shrunken aphid did not look par- ticularly impressive (fig. I). Its mouthparts were hidden and the abdomen and legs were far less spectacular than those of a fly or spider. Just as I was about to abandon this aphid for a different sample, I noticed a couple of little bumps on its antenna. A slight reorientation and higher magnification view (fig. 2) confirmed my interest. This picture would have been past the limit of viewing with a dissecting microscope. Another click of the dial and refocusing showed that these bumps were hollow (fig. 3). Here would have been near the limit of a compound microscope. Later, I found out that the presence of these "bumps," or "primary sensoria," had been known for many years. Indeed, whether there are one or two on each antenna is significant to en- tomologists trying to identify families and genera of aphids. Standard monographs on aphids il- lustrate these "primary sensoria" as circles on outline drawings of the antenna (fig. 4). The limitations of optical microscopes had prevented more detailed study. But this evening we had fun in seeing something that was equally unknown and marvelous to teacher and students. Quickly focusing on the lower sensorium (fig. 5) and a nearby seta (projecting sensory hair) showed that the former had a hard covering, center hole with flanged edges, and a large, partly Alan Solem is curator of invertebrates. 2. Portiott of aphid antenna. Maf^nificatiou 338x. collapsed pillowlike structure inside. Viewing at another angle and slightly higher modification (fig. 6) confirmed the type of edges and the col- lapsed internal soft structure. The upper sensorium proved to be much more complex. The entire structure was subdivid- ed into six areas (fig. 7), each with a separate little organ inside. The low partitions between each area are clearly seen at the lower left, and the pro- tective nature of the "canopy" which mixes open- ness with narrowing projections shows more clearly than at lower magnifications. A slight change in viewing angle (fig. 8) was followed by a high magnification look at one of the individual sense organs (fig. 9). The actual function of these organs can only be guessed at. Probably they sam- ple minute traces of chemicals in the air, but since previously they were not even recorded in the 3. Portion of antenna at 876x magnification. 11 ...Terminal filameni Primary sensorio Secondory sen^oria oceilijs Tarsus.. 4. External anatomy of aphid. Drawing from "The Plant Lice, or Aphiidae, of Illinois, " Bulletin of Illinois Natural History Survey, 19 (3). technical literature, our lack of understanding as to their function must be expected. The next morning, our entomologists were visited by me with a sheaf of pictures in my hand. They were as amazed and delighted as the class and I were with these photographs. Quick checks in standard taxonomic works showed the publish- ed level of knowledge revealed in fig. 4. Our minds filled with many questions. First we had to find out which of the many thousands of aphid species we had been looking at. Field Museum has no specialist on aphids and, with the commerce in cultivated plants, aphids are continually being in- troduced to new areas. Mary Ellen Rinkus search- ed her plant in vain, visited the florist where two weeks before she had obtained her purple velvet plant, and triumphantly delivered aphid-loaded leaves to the Museum's shipping room. The aphids were preserved in alcohol. Curator of Insects Henry Dybas was planning to visit a major agri- cultural insect laboratory in California and agreed to hunt for an aphid specialist willing to identify the aphid. In due course, the specimens were ship- ped to Dr. T. Kono in Sacramento, who identified them as the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer). 12 5. Lower primary sen- sorium and seta of aphid antenna at 2,697 x magnification. 6. Lateral view of lower sensorium at 7,250x magnification. 7. Upper primary sensorium in vertical view at 8,316x magnification. Specialists in insect structure and function will have to work out the meaning and variation of these structures. Are most aphid sensoria alike or do they differ radically among groups? What are their functions? Are they unique to aphids or found in related insects? These and new questions derived from seeking the answers can occupy scientists in many places, since initial chance observations such as these only open the door to research. In the same way that in the early 1600s the original Dutch and English microscopists looked into a new world with their new tool, the optical microscope, this generation of biologists is looking at a new submicroscopic world with our new tool, the scanning electron microscope. Thousands of scientists since the 1600s have used and continue to use optical microscopes to in- vestigate the world too small for our eyes to see, and have far from exhausted research possibilities. It will take thousands of scientists working for hundreds of years to exploit the research oppor- tunities revealed by use of the scanning electron microscope. To be able to participate in the begin- ning phases of this exploration is indeed one of the great joys in science at Field Museum, even know- ing that following up most of the queries raised must be left to others, perhaps even generations removed in time. Other chance encounters occur in my own research and some are followed up by me, but this is a series of different stories. □ 8. (Middle) Slightly lateral view of upper primary sensorium at 5,544x magnification. 9. (Below ) Detail of one organelle from upper primary sensorium at 24.092x magnification. Of Land Bridges, Ice-Free Corridors, And Early Man In The Americas BY GLEN COLE Photos by the author Artwork by Louva Calhoun Several questions which have long intrigued scholars interested in the native peoples of the New World are: Where did these people come from?, how did they get to this hemisphere?, and how long have they been here? Present day students of Early Man* in the New World are still concerned with these questions or certain aspects of them, although the emphasis has shifted to the time of arrival of the earliest immigrants. In general, there is no longer any real question as to where the ancestors of the American Indians came from although more specific problems remain. The means by which they arrived, particular routes taken after arrival, and manner of dispersal through the Americas remain unsettled issues. Individual papers devoted to Early Man in the New World have long been standard fare at scholarly meetings. Sessions within such meetings and occasionally an entire meeting might be given over to the subject. These are usually held under the aegis of anthropological or archeological organizations, and although contributions from persons in disciplines outside anthropological ones are usual enough, probably none has heretofore had such a diversity of input as did a recent meeting of the American Quaternary Association (amqua) held in Edmonton, Alberta, in Septem- ber 1978. Ten years ago AMQUA was founded for the purpose (amongst others) of promoting the study of the North American Quaternary, a period of geologic time covering the last 1.6 or 1.8 million years, and facilitating communication be- tween workers in different fields. These com- munications are facilitated by the sponsoring of biennial scientific meetings that are built around a sympKjsium on a topic of broad interest to con- stituent AMQUA groups. These groups include general disciplines ranging from archeology to zoology, narrower disciplines such as climatology, ecology, limnology, physical geography, soil sci- ence and various biological and geological subdis- ciplines. Archeology might seem somewhat out of place in this company, at least from the viewpoint of the academic scheme of things in the United States; here it is usually grouped with the social sciences, as a subdivision of anthropology. As such, it is the only major discipline within AMQUA which falls outside the biological and physical sciences. More importantly, archeology is peculiar in that it is the only one of the disciplines repre- sented which is concerned only with a particular part of Quaternary time. Whether one considers that humans have been in the New World for 15,000 years or twice that long, this constitutes a very small portion — less than 2 percent — of the Quaternary Period. This doubtless has been a factor in deter- mining the symposium topics of the four AMQUA meetings held previously. Three of these focused on particular aspects of the last part of the Quater- nary. The fifth biennial AMQUA meeting in Ed- monton followed this pattern but, in addition, was the first to use an archeological subject as a theme of the symposium. Accordingly, this sym- posium on "The Ice-Free Corridor and Peopling the New World" drew a large contingent of ar- chaeologists. AMQUA symposium topics and meeting places are not unrelated. Edmonton lies in the "ice- free corridor" area and field sessions before and after the regular meeting permitted participants to examine glacial features pertaining to mountain and continental glaciation. The whole subject of peopling the New World is marked by a dearth of sound evidence and, as a usual corollary to such situations, by a wealth of speculation. There is general agreement that the ancestors of the native American popula- tions must have come from Asia and, for want of reasonable alternatives, that they must have '"Early Man," as used here, refers to Early Man in the New World. From the vantage point of the Old World, Early Man in the New World is very late indeed. 'Athabasca Glacier. One of several descending from the Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rocky Mountains southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. This is a remnant of a once extensive glacial system which extended beyond the mountain front to meet Laurentide ice and form the southern end of the late Wisconsin ice barrier. Glen Cole is curator of prehistory. He describes himself as "an Old World prehistorian who is generally con- cerned with a much earlier time period than is covered in this article." Cole is, additionally, a charter member of the American Quaternary Association (AMQUA) and has followed with interest studies relating to Early Man in the New World. In this article he discusses recent developments in North American Early Man studies as presented at the 1978 biennial meeting of AMQUA, at Edmonton, Alberta. 15 2,000 -_ 1 j r--y-' 1,000 - 200 - (D 100 - ^ ^ 50 - < 2 0 U I i J 0 0 I 40 - H z Q- m < t c 30 - 3 8 c ? CO 20- ^ tc CO 0^ 5 +- o CO o ~ CO 10- t 0 f if C 5- O o O 1 - 16 T/ie Quaternary Period, which covers the last 1.6-1.8 million years of geologic time, is divided into two epochs, the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The last major glacial stage, ending 10,000 years ago. is known, in North America, as the Wisconsin. The Wisconsin, punctuated by several cold stadials and warmer inter- vals has been variously subdivided. For purposes of this article, it is simply divided into an earlier and a later portion. The more recent, late Wisconsin, will be that period from 23,000 before present (B.P.) to the beginning of the Holocene. The figures represent thousands of years. entered the New World through Alaska. The ob- vious place to seek the "roots" of the native American, then, is the adjacent part of Asia. But vast areas of northern Asia — Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria along with much of the rest of China — and much of the northwestern part of North America for that matter, are virtually unknown archeologically. Students of Early Man in the New World have had to seek comparative material as far afield as the Ukraine and other eastern Euro- pean areas. Some of the more important sites- in the Lake Baikal region of central Siberia, although a good deal closer to the Bering Straits area, are as far removed from it as are many well known Paleo-Indian sites in the lower 48 states. Nor is much known of the later Pleistocene archeology of the maritime provinces of China and other Asian countries of the north Pacific area. As more students of the American Quater- nary have been learning the languages of the coun- tries concerned, increasing amounts of informa- tion on the little that is known of those vast areas is becoming available. Even so, the New World archeologist has little comparative data to draw on. Not only are the data sparse, but the scholar who takes the trouble to learn Russian (or Chinese) soon finds that many of the Asian prehistorians are not nearly as interested in prob- lems of peopling the New World as he or she might have wished, and their reports are often not very informative or useful in this regard. Probably because of this paucity of direct evidence, students of Early Man in the New World have relied heavily on nonarcheological data in at- tempting to answer these questions. Incursions of people into the New World have been assigned to periods when land connections existed between Asia and North America. And then it has been supposed that man would not have been able to reach the central part of North America until the ice barrier separating the extreme northwestern portion of the continent from the rest of it was breached. Unfortunately, the nonarcheological data have been none too secure either. Not too many years ago there were those — including some geologists — who denied the existence of an Asian- American land connection. More recently there has been, and remains a lack of agreement on whether an ice-free corridor came into existence before the Paleo-Indians were well established in the New World. The single most important contribution to Early Man studies in recent years (and to ar- cheological studies in general) has been the development of radiometric dating techniques. These, especially radiocarbon dating, have been making possible a much more concise chronology than was attainable a generation ago and new dates are appearing regularly. And, other new data are continually being produced. New ar- cheological finds pertaining to Early American Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets and Bering land bridge boundaries at the time of the late Wisconsin maximum. Dashed lines indicate approximate position of the ice-free corridor, perhaps 12,000 years ago. Man are being made and some long standing studies are continuing. In addition to new and ongoing geological mapping projects, there are studies in geomorphology, glacial geology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy. There are paleontological and climatological investigations, studies of plant successions and faunal distribu- tions, to cite a few — studies that are not directed to the question of peopling the New World, of course, but which often provide information rele- vant to that subject. Before discussing some of the contributions presented and more pertinent information disseminated at the AMQUA sessions, it would be well to go over a little background material: Although ice in the form of mountain glaciers and polar ice caps has been on the earth since long before the Pleistocene Epoch, it seems that the period of the classic "Ice Age" marked by extensive continental glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere did not set in until ¥4 million years ago. There is considerable debate concerning ear- lier Pleistocene glaciations and correlations be- tween those of North America, Europe, and Asia; but that need not concern us here — there is quite enough disagreement concerning late Pleistocene glaciation. What is relevant to the question of get- ting Early Man to North America is the last major glacial period. A warm interglacial interval which ended an earlier glacial stage about 125,000 years ago was terminated by a cooling trend 75,000 years ago. The following period of extensive con- tinental and mountain glaciations punctuated by intervals of glacial retreat is known in North America as the Wisconsin Age. By common, if not unanimous agreement, the Wisconsin is consid- ered to have ended at the convenient figure of 10,000 years ago. The present nonglacial interval in which we are now living is known as the Holocene. The ice-free corridor was a narrow strip of land along the eastern flank of the Rocky Moun- tains, which was exposed when coalescing moun- tain (Cordilleran) and continental (Laurentide) glaciers had begun to retreat after the late Wiscon- sin glacial maximum. This is not to say that there were not earlier glacial episodes. It is this last cor- ridor that has loomed large in discussions of peopling the New World which is conventionally referred to as the ice-free corridor and which was the concern of the AMQUA symposium and field sessions. 17 Rated Clovis point (actual size) from Blackwater Draw locality no. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico. This type of point characterizes earlier Paleo-Indian occur- rences Cca. 11,500- 11,000 B.P.). 18 Perhaps the area most crucial to the ques- tion of peopling the New World is the so-called Bering land bridge, a broad plain joining Asia and North America which was dry land from time to time during the Pleistocene but which now lies beneath the sea. Sea level fluctuated considerably during the Pleistocene because of climatic events which favored formation of enormous masses of ice at higher latitudes and elevations of the earth. On occasions when sea level had dropped by 150 feet, enough of the floor of the Bering and Chukchi Seas emerged to form a land connection between Siberia and Alaska. This "vast arctic lowland," the land bridge along with the con- tiguous low-lying areas of Siberia and Alaska plus a little of the Canadian Yukon Territory, is known as Beringia. Much of Beringia was not glaciated even during periods of maximum glacial advance and so provided a refugium for arctic plants and animals. So much water was locked up in ice dur- ing the maximum extent of the late Wisconsin glaciation that sea level was lowered by more than 300 feet, exposing a land bridge over 1,000 miles wide. The question of when man first arrived in the New World is a vexed one. Most students of Early Man have been inclined to see the existence of the Bering land connection as necessary for people to have been able to reach the New World. In this view hunters would have drifted gradually eastward into new terrain as directed by the presence of the large mammals upon which they preyed. The most likely time would have been during the period of 22,000 to 15,000 years ago, although people, if any were living in western Beringia then, could have reached the New World during an earlier period of reduced sea level before 30,000 B.P. (before present). Others argue that man could just as well have moved across the Bering strait on winter pack ice or negotiated small passages between ice floes and islands by boat. Also in favor of the idea that boats were used are a few who are in- clined to favor colonization by seafaring people from Asiatic maritime provinces. By either of these views there would be no reason to restrict the time of man's entry into the New World to a period of low sea level. In any event, the entry of human im- migrants into the Americas would have depended on the degree of technological advancement they had reached. A string of islands such as the Aleu- tian chain would have been useless to people without boats, but it is now known that man, with the aid of boats or other means of crossing ap- preciable stretches of open water, reached Australia as much as 40,000 years ago. There is no reason to think that other people farther north in the Asian Pacific coastal area wouldn't have been similarly advanced technologically, and such peo- ple could have worked their way around the Pacific Rim, eventually reaching parts of the Pacific coast of North America. The presence of the Bering land bridge would be of no use to man if the cultural paraphernalia which would permit living in an arctic or subarctic environment had not yet come into being. Man does seem to have been able to exist in cold environments 200,000 years ago in the European area at least. Closer to Beringia, we know that Peking Man was living in northern China some 300,000 years ago, although under somewhat milder conditions, and there is no reason to suppose that this represents the nor- thernmost extension of human distribution at that time. None of this, of course, can be taken to in- dicate that humans actually did reach the New World at these early dates, but it does mean that certain arguments that have been used to discount claims for Early Man in the Americas can no longer carry the weight they once did. Firmly dated archeological evidence is needed to determine when peopling of the New World occurred, but no really secure evidence is found until the very end of the Pleistocene. This is now available in relative abundance since about 12,000 years ago. Between 11,500 and 11,000 B.P. there is a rash of Early Man occurrences. Most of these in North America are characterized by a distinctive, fluted projectile point known as "Clovis" (after a site near Clovis, New Mexico, one of several in the Llano Estacado, where such points have been found). The complex of artifacts and activities centered around hunting of large Pleistocene mammals, particularly elephants, is known as the Llano, or Clovis, Culture (this is to be discussed in more detail later). There is sparse evidence of other big game hunters in Central and South America at the same time or even somewhat earlier. By 10,000 B.P. evidence of Paleo-Indian occupation is widespread in the Americas, ex- tending from the tip of South America to Alaska. Before 12,000, however, the evidence is much more meager. There is a mere handful of likely Early Man sites in the Americas between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. One of the most promising is the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania, now being excavated, which has good evidence of human occupation as early as 15,000 to 16,000 years ago and perhaps even before. There are a few possible Early Man sites which have been dated to the 20,000 to 30,000 years ago range, notably a couple in Mexico, and a few more on the basis of equivocal evidence, to even greater ages. Probably the most exciting recent evidence in this very Early Man area, vying in interest with the Meadowcroft site, has been coming from the Old Crow Basin of the Canadian Yukon Territory. Although the work along the Old Crow River wasn't discussed per se at the symposium, some of the results of the work were presented at a "poster session" and during an informal talk given during the post-meeting field session. Two groups of Canadian researchers have been working in the area and a number of participants were present at Edmonton and on the field sessions, so there was ample opportunity for discussion. The Old Crow River has entrenched itself in a thick sequence of old lake and alluvial deposits. Large glacial lakes were formed in the basin on two separate occasions when the Por- cupine River, to which the Old Crow is tributary, was blocked by glaciers. During the interval bet- ween the lakes, deposits from coalescing alluvial fans covered much of the basin. Bones of various later Pleistocene mam- mals have been found in abundance at numerous sites along the Porcupine and Old Crow. Along with these bones were found several hundred bone artifacts; that is, bones that have been altered by man, whether from butchering activities, breaking to extract marrow, or as raw material for tool making. These have come mainly from secondary alluvial deposits, which means that earlier sedi- ments have been reworked by riverine activity so that material of different ages has been mixed. An age cannot be assigned, therefore, to the few stone tools that have been found associated with the worked bone on gravel bars in the river, but the bone pieces themselves can be directly dated by means of the radiocarbon in them. Several bone tools have yielded dates in the range of 25,000 to 29,000 radiocarbon years B.P. R. Morlan of the Archeological Survey of Canada, a member of one of the projects, reported that some recently obtained dates on broken or flaked bones, which are apparently artifactual, are con- siderably older, in some cases exceeding the limits of the carbon 14 method. There is a possibility that the bone tools and other artifacts were made in the relatively re- cent past by Indians using the old mineralized bone, or perhaps, old nonmineralized bone preserved in frozen condition in permafrost and released from the river bluffs by stream action. Ex- perimental work on mineralized bone from the Old Crow basin sediments indicates that such bone cannot be worked, as can green bone, to pro- duce the kind of fractures seen in Old Crow arti- facts. The possibilities concerning frozen bone are still being explored. During the last few field seasons, two horizons in the river bluffs have been located from which the bone artifacts seem to be coming, but none have yet been found in undisturbed context. The presence of humans in Beringia 25,000 to 30,000 and perhaps to more than 50,000 years ago doesn't necessarily mean that these people figure in the peopling of the Americas. Eastern Beringia has on occasion been connected with Asia at times when it was more or less isolated from the rest of the North American continent. At these times it can more properly be considered as an extension of northeastern Asia than as a part of North America. Various Asiatic animals are known from eastern Beringia that either never established themselves elsewhere in North America or did so at a time long after their ap- pearance there. This may also have been true of some early human inhabitants of the area. There are a few archeological sites scat- tered throughout Alaska which have yielded material for radiocarbon dates in the range of 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. A long gap separates these dates from the 25,000 years and older dates from Alaska and the Yukon. This gap also pertains to the situation as known so far from the Old Crow Basin. This could simply be a chance result of the incomplete archeological record but, as one AMQUA discussant, T. D. Hamilton of the U.S. Geological Survey, suggested, other factors may also be involved. Hamilton has worked for the last 16 years in another part of the Yukon drainage on the south side of the central Brooks Range in Alaska. Although he has studied and mapped more than 100 late Pleistocene to Holocene ex- posures in this area, no artifacts or other evidence of man's presence before about 6,000 years ago has been found. The absence of such evidence for a relatively well studied area "suggests that the distribution of Early Man in northwestern North America may not have been continuous in either space or time."* J. D. Jennings, in introducing his recently edited book on Ancient Native Americans (W. H. Freeman & Co., 1978), states that "at once the most important and least dramatic event in American history was the passage of the first man from Asia into the New World 30,000 or more years ago." In writing this, Jennings evidently sup- poses that the first people to set foot in the New World would ipso facto have become the ancestors of the Paleo-Indians and eventually the American Indians found at the time of European contact. Actually, there would be nothing par- ticularly odd in the early human inhabitants of eastern Beringia dying out or withdrawing during the deteriorating climate of the late Wisconsin glaciation. Within historic times we know of large areas of the American arctic that have become depopulated and of the extinction of entire local populations. It should also be remembered that technologically more advanced peoples in recent times were unsuccessful in establishing themselves on the opposite corner of the North American continent. Norse settlements founded in the tenth century A.D. failed to survive, evidently due to deteriorating climatic conditions in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Although not without in- terest, the presence of those early colonists was essentially irrelevant to the peopling of the New World. So may it have been with the early Beringians. From time to time during the Quaternary, "All quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Abstracts of the fifth biennial meeting, American Quaternary Association, Edmonton, Alberta, 1978. 19 20 at the maxima of certain glacial episodes, con- tinental ice encroaching on the mountain front was met by tongues of Cordilleran ice to form a continuous ice sheet. Just how often this happened is not known, since deposits of the earlier glacial episodes are much less well preserved or exposed than are those of recent glaciations. But even the configurations of late Wisconsin ice are unclear. Earlier Wisconsin glacial deposits are more exten- sive than those of the late Wisconsin in the cor- ridor area. It is not always easy to distinguish be- tween the earlier and later deposits occurring there. Organic material which would be suitable for radiocarbon dating is usually absent from these deposits. Not all fronts of an ice sheet were syn- chronized. An ice lobe in one area could be advan- cing while another front was at a standstill or even retreating. A warming trend, which could result in ice thinning and accelerated flow at the terminus, could effect separate ice masses, or discrete por- tions of the same one, differently. Effects of the warming could be manifest at the toe of a moun- tain glacier system long before they would be felt at the front of the more massive Laurentide ice sheet. Such seems to have been the case in Alber- ta, where Laurentide ice overran deposits of the retreating Cordilleran ice. (Because of the very dif- ferent rocks contained in the deposits derived from the two glacial systems, it is not difficult to distinguish between them.) However, the Lauren- tide ice did not reach the mountains in this area and did not encounter Cordilleran ice until much farther north. Laurentide ice did reach the Rich- ardson and MacKenzie mountains in the North- west Territories, but there the late Wisconsin glaciation was not extensive. Terminal moraines of the valley glaciers occur well back from the Laurentide ice margin so a rather rugged ice-free zone remained. Thus, even at the height of late Wisconsin glaciation there were appreciable ice- free reentrants at either end of the incipient cor- ridor. It was in the central part of the corridor mainly along the mountains in northeastern Brit- ish Columbia and a little of adjacent Alberta that there seems to have been a formidable late Wis- consin ice barrier. In summarizing geological evidence per- taining to the corridor area, N. W. Rutter, a University of Alberta geologist, concluded "there was only a short period of time when Laurentide- Cordilleran ice could have coalesced in Wisconsin time .... This could have been in Early Wisconsin time, which we know little about, and in Late Wisconsin time . . . for a maximum of about 10,000 years." That is, the corridor has been blocked by ice for only about 10,000 of the past 70,000 years. According to geologist W. H. Mathews of the University of British Columbia, who has been working in the British Columbian part of the cor- ridor, retreat of the ice there seems to have begun about 13,500 years ago. He estimated that it took nearly 2,000 years for the ice to withdraw to a point 150 miles to the northeast. Even after converging ice masses had withdrawn sufficiently to provide an ice-free cor- ridor, one shouldn't think that easy passage southward would have been assured. Melting ice provided a large volume of meltwater to supple- ment runoff from the mountins and local rainfall. Old drainage lines were still blocked by Lauren- tide ice and local drainages choked with glacial debris so that much of the floor of the corridor must have been inundated by the water of lakes- some of them very large — and by bogs and streams. These features in themselves would not necessarily have been serious obstacles to the movement of man and other animals, for they became quite passable when frozen over — a condi- tion which must have prevailed for at least several months of the year. A more crucial factor for human occupa- tion than water barriers would have been the availability of sufficient food plants to support the animals upon which man, in turn, depended for subsistence. (Such environments provide little in the way of vegetable foods suitable for human consumption.) It would seem likely that the ap- propriate regional vegetation would have become established quickly enough in suitable terrain within the corridor, but it is difficult to guess how long it might have been before this was sufficient to support sigificant numbers of game animals. It may be that this situation would not have been realized before a normal drainage connection with the MacKenzie River had been reestablished. At present there seems to be no very good estimate as to just when that might have been. Unfortunately, "The Paleoecology of the Ice-Free Corridor," discussed at the AMQUA meeting by J. C. Ritchie, a University of Toronto biologist, is too poorly known to contribute much to the subject of peopling the New World. There are a few scattered indications that the late Wisconsin glaciation was preceded by a period of environmental conditions similar to modern ones. There is no evidence as yet from the southern half of the corridor area for conditions prevailing from the time of the beginning of ice retreat until about 13,000 B.P., at which time forested conditions already existed in many localities. Ritchie suspects a prior one or two thousand years may be unac- counted for in the known sections. In the northern corridor area there is a little general information on regional changes in vegetation patterns be- tween 14,000 and 13,000 B.P., but nothing, it seems, that might apply to the early stages of the corridor itself. With the abundance of water in the early corridor, one might think that fish would have provided a possible food base. Zoologist C. C. Lindsey, of the University of Manitoba, in discuss- ing "Aquatic Zoogeography and the Ice-Free Cor- '^^ View across the toe of the Athabasca Glacier. Such views with wasting ice, meltwater streams, and lakes would have been common- place to any inhabi- tants of the ice- free corridor in its earlier phases. -^ ridor," cited distribution of Yukon varieties of fish to indicate that streams normally tributary to the MacKenzie River, while still dammed by Lauren- tide ice, backed up to eventually spill over to the Yukon drainage; this temporarily extended its headwaters far to the southeast. Besides indicating that this part of the corridor, at least, was a very watery place, this suggests that fish may have been introduced at a very early stage of its development but again, no precise age can be assigned to the event. It may also be that refugia for fish persisted through the late Wisconsin. Lind- sey cited one such possibility somewhat farther south in the corridor. The results of recent field work have tend- ed to indicate that late Wisconsin ice was less ex- tensive than had once been supposed. A. MacS. Stalker, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, is primarily responsible for working out the geology of the southern corridor area and is one who advocates a relatively weak advance of late Wisconsin ice. He nevertheless strongly doubts that an ice-free corridor had opened early enough to account for human occupation south of the ice sheet as early as 14,000 or 15,000 B.P. However, with the possibility that an essentially ice-free corridor may have come into being much earlier than currently seems to have been the case. Stalker, in his prepared comments for the Edmon- ton symposium, considered the nature of such a corridor. He finds it difficult to imagine that passage of Early Man through a corridor at this early time would have been feasible, for reasons such as have already been given. In addition to lingering spurs of ice, bogs, and barren landscape left by retreating glaciers, frigid glacial lakes, and tur- bulent rivers, "there would have been the chilling winds blowing from the glaciers . . . and extended periods of intense cold as man slowly worked his way 1,000 km south through the narrow part of the corridor, not knowing where he was going or what he had to face. . . ." Although some of the obstacles and dis- agreeable conditions Stalker envisages probably loom larger to the geologist studying the deposits and landforms left by long departed glaciers than they did to a people adapted to an arctic environ- ment, he stresses an important point: if anyone emerged from the southern end of the corridor, it was incidental to occupation of the corridor area. There is no reason at all to think that Early Man arrived either in eastern Beringia or in the central part of North America as the result of purposeful migration. Traversal of the corridor would not necessarily have taken a great deal of time. It is not inconceivable that a group of individuals, within the lifetimes of some of them, might have worked its way the length of the corridor and emerged onto the plains of southern Alberta and into Montana, but they could not have done so until sources of subsistence — food, clothing, and shelter — were available there. The concept of an ice-free corridor involves a good deal more than simply some more or less dry ground to walk on. On the basis of evidence currently available, the corridor does not appear to be a very promising route for immigrants into the cen- tral part of North America before 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. Stalker suggests that "perhaps it is just as well that the finding of indications of the presence of man in North America prior to the maximum of the [late] Wisconsin renders an ice- free corridor unnecessary, and offers the possibili- ty that man may have migrated south in comfort and ease much earlier." ("Of Land Bridges, Ice-Free Corridors, and Early Man in the Americas" will be concluded in the March Bulletin.) 21 y J" J' f /' ^ jc J" .r^ ^ ,j' --■■-jrr.^V" J" J' y^ JT"^ R CONFLICTS BETWEEN DARWIN AND PALEONTOLOGY REPUBLIC of MALDIVES Part of our conventional wisdom about evo- lution is that the fossil record of past life is an important cornerstone of evolutionary theory. In some ways, this is true — but the situa- tion is much more complicated. I will explore here a few of the complex interrelationships between fossils and darwinian theory, but let me first set the stage by commenting about the geologic rec- ord itself. There are about 250,000 different species of fossil plants and animals known. These have been named and described and specimens have been deposited in museums throughout the world. Field Museum has in its collections representatives of perhaps 20 percent of these known species. In combination with other museums, we thus have an enormous amount of statistical information on changes in the biological world that have occurred since the origin of life on Earth. In spite of this large quantity of information, it is but a tiny frac- tion of the diversity that actually lived in the past. There are well over a million species living today and known rates of evolutionary turnover make it possible to predict how many species ought to be in our fossil record. That number is at least 100 times the number we have found. It is clear that fossilization is a very chancy process and that the vast majority of plants and animals of the past have left no record at all. To many people, the most interesting fos- sils are the oldest ones and the youngest ones. The oldest ones (up to 3,500 million years old) give us information about the origin and early evolution of life — at a time when physical and chemical en- vironments were very different from those that prevail today. The youngest rocks, on the other hand, are of interest because they include fossils of early man. These, of course, have been worked on with particular success by the Leakeys in East Africa. But these extremes account for only a small part of the quarter of a million fossil species — and for one interested in the broad range of evolu- tionary change, the extremes do not contribute much. In between is a long geologic interval which contains the basic record of the evolution of all major groups of plants and animals. Time control and quality of preservation are excellent compared with the rather thin record of the oldest or young- est fossils. (I might point out here that the East African material the Leakeys have worked on is relatively poor, there are only a couple hundred specimens, and age-dating is very uncertain.) Darwin's theory of natural selection has always been closely linked to evidence from fos- sils, and probably most people assume that fossils provide a very important part of the general argu- ment that is made in favor of darwinian interpre- tations of the history of life. Unfortunately, this is not strictly true. We must distinguish between the fact of evolution — defined as change in organ- isms over time — and the explanation of this change. Darwin's contribution, through his theory of natural selection, was to suggest how the evolu- tionary change took place. The evidence we find in the geologic record is not nearly as compatible with darwinian natural selection as we would like it to be. Darwin was completely aware of this. He 22 By David M. Raup, curator of geology Copyright 1 meter 1978 W. H. Freeman & Co. was embarrassed by the fossil record because it didn't look the way he predicted it would and, as a result, he devoted a long section of his Origin of Species to an attempt to explain and rationalize the differences. There were several problems, but the principal one was that the geologic record did not then and still does not yield a finely graduated chain of slow and progressive evolution. In other words, there are not enough intermediates. There are very few cases where one can find a gradual transition from one species to another and very few cases where one can look at a part of the fossil record and actually see that organisms were im- proving in the sense of becoming better adapted. To emphasize this let me cite a couple of state- ments Darwin made in his Origin of Species: At one point he observed, "innumerable transitional forms must have existed but why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?"; in another place he said, "why is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain, and this perhaps is the greatest objection which can be urged against my theory." Instead of finding the gradual unfolding of life, what geologists of Darwin's time, and geolo- gists of the present day actually find is a highly uneven or jerky record; that is, species appear in the sequence very suddenly, show little or no change during their existence in the record, then abruptly go out of the record. And it is not always clear, in fact it's rarely clear, that the descendants were actually better adapted than their predeces- sors. In other words, biological improvement is hard to find. Let me give an example: During the interval from about 65 to 200 million years ago there were a lot of flying reptiles known as ptero- saurs (see "Pterosaur," by John Bolt, in the May, 1976, Bulletin). Their fossil record is quite good in spite of the fact that the skeleton of these animals is difficult to preserve. The giant Pteranodon was particularly spectacular. It was much larger than any bird living today and was widely distributed, particularly in the southern and southwestern parts of the United States. Figure 1 shows a reconstruction of Pterano- don as it probably looked. The mountains in the background are not there by accident: it is felt by some people that these reptiles could become air- borne only by climbing up on cliffs and jumping. Figure 2 shows the skeleton. Wings were formed by greatly extending the bones of one finger on each hand and filling in with skin the area enclosed by the dotted line. This is basically the device used also by some modern bats. There is little question that this animal was capable of flight — a conclu- sion based on sophisticated engineering studies involving extensive analysis of weight, lift, drag, and other aerodynamically important factors — along with wind tunnel experiments with scaled models. Figure 3 shows what Pteranodon probably looked like at rest and when flying. The most strik- ing aspect of Pteranodon is its size, demonstrated iQ^ Copyright © 1978 W. H. Freeman & Co, 23 From Science, March 1975 (Vol. 187. No. 4180) cover illustration. Copyright '^ 1975 The American Association tor the Advancement of Science. Courtesy D. A. Lawson. 24 in Figure 4, where it is shown in comparison with other flying objects. On the left is a modern tailless aircraft — the Northrop YB-49 — with a wingspan of about 170 feet. Next to it is the largest known pterosaur, which had a wingspan of about 50 feet. Next is a smaller pterosaur. The drawing on the far right shows one of the largest living birds — a condor with a wingspan of about nine feet. Thus, some pterosaurs were larger than all flying birds and even many small airplanes. They achieved this size and were still able to fly because their design was nearly optimal. So here we have an adaptation which was apparently successful for many millions of years but which is now extinct and has not been repeated. That this animal went extinct implies some sort of failure. At least that is the conven- tional wisdom. Pteranodon, along with most other large reptiles, was replaced by mammals and birds. Mammals and birds were already around, but in small numbers. We assume in darwinian fashion that the big reptiles went extinct because there was something wrong with them; that is, they either couldn't compete with new forms that had evolved, or there was some change in environ- ment that they couldn't adapt to fast enough to survive. As we will see, this interpretation may not be correct. We don't have any real evidence that there was anything wrong with the flying rep- tiles— in fact, they lived on the earth for a much longer time than humans have been around. Dur- ing their tenure on earth the flying reptiles diversi- fied into several quite distinct species but it is very difficult to put these species into any sort of series of improvement. Here is another example: Figure 5 shows a fossil trilobite — a member of an extensive but now extinct group of arthropods. Figure 6 is a closeup of one eye of a trilobite. The eyes were generally large and quite similar to the eyes of modern insects, crabs, and other arthropods. But if we look at the individual elements of the trilo- bite eye, we find that the lens systems were very different from what we now have. Riccardo Levi- Setti (a Field Museum research associate in geol- ogy and professor of physics at the University of Chicago) has recently done some spectacular work on the optics of these lens systems. Figure 7 shows sketches of a common type of trilobite lens. Each lens is a doublet (that is, made up of two lenses). The lower lens is shaded in these sketches and the upper one is blank. The shape of the boundary be- tween the two lenses is unlike any now in use — either by humans or animals. But the shape is nearly identical to designs published independent- ly by Descartes and Huygens in the seventeenth century. The Descartes and Huygens designs had the purpose of avoiding spherical aberration and were what is known as aplanatic lenses. The only sig- nificant difference between them and the trilobite lens is that the Descartes and Huygens lenses were not doublets — that is, they did not have the lower lens. But, as Levi-Setti has shown, for these designs to work underwater where the trilobites lived, the lower lens was necessary. Thus, the tri- lobites 450 million years ago used an optimal design which would require a well trained and imaginative optical engineer to develop today — or one who was familiar with the seventeenth cen- tury optical literature. Most fossils are not as easily understood as this. We have no idea why most structures in extinct organisms look the way they do. And, as I have already noted, different species usually ap- pear and disappear from the record without show- ing the transitions that Darwin postulated. Darwin's general solution to the incompati- bility of fossil evidence and his theory was to say that the fossil record is a very incomplete one — that it is full of gaps, and that we have much to learn. In effect, he was saying that if the record were complete and if we had better knowledge of it, we would see the finely graduated chain that he predicted. And this was his main argument for downgrading the evidence from the fossil record. Well, we are now about 120 years after Darwin and the knowledge of the fossil record has been greatly expanded. We now have a quarter of a million fossil species but the situation hasn't changed much. The record of evolution is still sur- prisingly jerky and, ironically, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition than we had in Darwin's time. By this I mean that some of the classic cases of darwinian change in the fossil rec- ord, such as the evolution of the horse in North America, have had to be discarded or modified as a result of more detailed information — what appeared to be a nice simple progression when relatively few data were available now appears to be much more complex and much less gradualistic. So Darwin's problem has not been alleviated in the last 120 years and we still have a record which does show change but one that can hardly be looked upon as the most reasonable consequence of natural selection. Also the major extinctions upper lens unit optical nterface intralensar bowl sclera Eye of trilobite Crozonaspis struvei (Henry) such as those of the dinosaurs and trilobites are still very puzzling. Now let me step back from the problem and very generally discuss natural selection and -what we know about it. I think it is safe to say that we know for sure that natural selection, as a proc- ess, does work. There is a mountain of experimen- tal and observational evidence, much of it predat- ing genetics, which shows that natural selection as a biological process works. Darwin's strongest evidence for selection actually came from the ex- perience of plant and animal breeders who were employing artificial selection to produce evolution by breeding. And selection, be it natural or arti- ficial, can clearly lead to better adapted types through a series of generations and through gradual transformation of a population. So natural selection as a process is okay. We are also pretty sure that it goes on in nature although good examples are surprisingly rare. The best evidence comes from the many cases where it can be shown that biological structures have been optimized — that is, structures that represent opti- mal engineering solutions to the problems that an 25 26 animal has of feeding or escaping predators or generally functioning in its environment. The superb designs of flying reptiles and of trilobite eyes are examples. The presence of these optimal structures does not, of course, prove that they developed through natural selection but it does provide strong circumstantial argument. Now with regard to the fossil record, we certainly see change. If any of us were to be put down in the Cretaceous landscape we would immediately recognize the differences. Some of the plants and animals would be familiar but most "The average duration of a species on the earth is less than 10 miUion years. And the record of really abundant life goes back at least 600 million years, so there has been complete turnover in the biological world many times." would have changed and some of the types would be totally different from those living today. The average duration of a species on the earth is less than 10 million years. And the record of really abundant life goes back at least 600 million years, so there has been complete turnover in the biologi- cal world many times. This record of change pretty clearly demonstrates that evolution has oc- curred if we define evolution simply as change; but it does not tell us how this change took place, and that's really the question. If we allow that natural selection works, as we almost have to do, the fossil record doesn't tell us whether it was responsible for 90 percent of the change we see, or 9 percent, or .9 percent. The very obvious question at this point is: what alternative mechanisms do we have to ex- plain the changes that we observe? A great many alternatives have been suggested both before and after Darwin. Some of the evolutionary theories that have been proposed belong to the lunatic fringe, but others are serious propositions by com- petent scholars. A currently important alternative to natural selection has to do with the effects of pure chance. It has been suggested that there are traits which are not important enough to the organism to be "seen" by natural selection, and that a purely random system of evolution could work for these traits. Let me give an example which may be important in the fossil record: Many organisms have shells which are coiled in a spiral fashion, such as snails, the pearly nautilus. and a great many other fossil and living organ- isms. Sometimes the spiral is left-handed, some- times it's right-handed. One is just the mirror im- age of the other. In most cases, whole species of snails are either exclusively left-handed or exclu- sively right-handed. In a few cases, both left- handed and right-handed forms occur within the same species. And it is pretty clear that this is a hereditary trait — although the genetic mechan- ism is often complex. In most cases, it's difficult to find an advan- tage the left-handed form would have over the right-handed form, or vice-versa. In such cases, the coiling direction that dominates the species may just be a matter of chance; that is, the one that got there first, or happened by chance to have more offspring gradually came to dominate the population. This is the sort of trait that might be subject to random evolution — a clear difference between animals but one not seen by natural selec- tion because it does not affect the general life and hard times of the organism. I should add that in some snails it has been shown that this situation is a little bit more complicated because copulatory behavior is affected by coiling direction; specifi- cally, the left-handed ones get along better with other left-handed ones than with shells of opposite coiling direction. This gives a selective advantage to homogeneity in a population without giving preference to left or right. So a left-handed strain that got started might be aided by natural selec- tion even though its origin was a matter of chance. In the general case, however, the symmetry differ- ence is probably neutral. It would seem that if evolution of shape and form in animals were a random affair, the result would be one of chaos. This, of course, is one of the major counter-arguments to the idea of random evolution (or random walk evolution as it is sometimes called). It is certainly true that one would be most unlikely to develop a functioning flying insect, reptile, or bird by a chance collection of changes. Some sort of guidance is necessary. And in these cases, of course, natural selection is the only mechanism we know of to produce a workable combination of characteristics. On the other hand, it may be that a great many of the dif- ferences that we observe within major animal groups are differences which do not have much effect on fitness. We are thus talking about the sur- vival of the lucky as well as the survival of the fittest. A large number of evolutionary biologists these days are studying the question that I've just considered — it's called neutral or nondarwinian evolution. Much of this research is concentrated in the Chicago area. Most of the work so far has been done with proteins of relatively minor impor- tance in the biological scheme where the case for selective neutrality can be made much more easily. Paleontologists have to work with obvious traits. and therefore, traits which are more likely to be seen by natural selection, so paleontologists are working at a scale different from that used by biologists. The whole problem of neutral evolu- tion represents a very exciting area and is one of the most hotly debated topics in evolutionary biology today. I would like now to concentrate on just one aspect of the problem. This has to do with the extinction of large groups such as the dinosaurs, the trilobites, and also somewhat smaller groups such as the flying reptiles that I have already discussed. We know that the dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago and we know they went extinct rather suddenly. Now, when we say the dinosaurs went extinct we are saying that a couple of prominent reptilian orders died out at about the same time. It is important to remember that what taxonomists call a class or an order does not exist as such. It's an abstraction denoting a collection of species descended from a common ancestor. It is an abstraction just as a family name in a human community is an abstraction. There- fore, when we say the dinosaurs went extinct what we are actually saying is that the dinosaur species living at a certain time didn't leave any descen- dants which we would call dinosaurs. The conven- tional wisdom is that the dinosaurs must have had traits in common or requirements in common such that they couldn't cope with changes in environ- ment. And paleontologists have gone to great lengths to try to find out what happened. Conventionally, the approach is a com- pletely darwinian one based on the faith or belief that extinction can only be explained by finding some sort of Achilles heel shared by all members of the group. Along with this is the strong implica- tion that the successor group — mammals in the dinosaur case — was somehow better than the dinosaurs, and this implies that if both were living today, the dinosaurs would again lose out to the mammals. This scenario may be true, but it is a very difficult one to prove. We don't have any convincing arguments for why the dinosaurs died out. It has even been suggested that we have a tendency to make what can only be called a moral judgement in cases of extinction. If a group went extinct, it must have been bad. The good prosper, the bad die. What I would like to develop is an idea based on chance or randomness which may lead to the conclusion that the dinosaurs were simply unlucky. One way to approach this is to look at a completely different but analogous situation: one having to do with the evolution of surnames in human families. We know that family names die out. Surnames disappear from our communities. And the same question could be asked of them that is asked of the dinosaurs — does a human sur- name die out because its members are weak, or do "It was clever of the pterodactyls to think of flying, but that's all you can say for them. They were doomed from the start because they had no feathers and no wishbone, or furcula, as flying vertebrates should have. They didn't belong in the picture and public opinion was against them. The Archaeop- teryx was not much of a bird, but at least it had feathers. As for the pterodactyls, the best thing to do is just forget them. Bats are going to flop, too, and everybody knows it except the bats themselves. " — How to Become Extinct, by Will Cuppy (1941) something wrong, or does the family just have bad luck? One reason to turn to the evolution of sur- names for help is that the subject has been worked on extensively for about 150 years and several effective mathematical techniques have been developed for working with the problem. One of the first references to extinction of family names is found, of all places, in Malthus — in his famous Essay on Population. We normally associate Malthus with birth and population growth rather than death and extinction. But he mentioned in passing some data on the extinction of families in the town of Berne, Switzerland. He noted that over the 200-year period from 1583 to 1783, fully three-quarters of the prominent families that were present at the start of the period went extinct before the end of the 200 years. This was a startling figure. The same phenomenon was found later in other situations — including the English peerage and various European royal fam lies. Wherever information was available, showed that the average life expectancy of a fam ly name is surprisingly short. This was intuitively unreasonable. Because all the data came from the upper classes of society, it was assumed that there was something debilitating or weakening about membership in the upper classes — and this gave rise to all sorts of sociological theory and specula- tion. But these speculations could not be checked because information was not available for the lower classes of society. It turned out, after some now classic mathe- matical analysis by Galton and Watson* that what Malthus and others had observed was exactly what should be expected by chance alone, and the social class had nothing to do with it! This was later confirmed by studies of whole communities. What this means is that families are inher- *F. Galton and H. W. Watson. 1875, "On the Probabil- ity of the Extinction of Families, "in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, Vol. IV, pp. 138-44. 27 ently prone to extinction even though the popula- tion as a whole is stable — or even growing. Now this is still counter-intuitive and hard to accept. We all know of families that are enormous and which have long histories. The biography shelves of any library are full of examples. But the fact is that the ultimate extinction of any family name is statistically inevitable. The only uncertainty is when. It is perhaps best understood by noting that a family has about an equal chance of increasing or decreasing in size during a single generation. This is because the chances are about 50-50 of any marriage producing a male heir unless, of course, the couple keeps having children for the express purpose of having a male heir. I must apologize for my emphasis on the male line but since it is the name-bearing line, it is easier to work with. The same results can be gotten with the female lines but it is less convenient to analyze. Anyway, the A good example of such disappearance is that of the earldom of Rochester. Henry Wilmot was declared the First Earl of Rochester in 1652 but died seven years later leaving one son, John, who became the Second Earl. John died 21 years after that and his only son died as a child and the title became extinct. Now all three earls died of specific causes — John died of syphilis for exam- ple. One can say that John was unlucky, but the extinction of the line cannot be said to have hap- pened without cause. But if we look at a whole group of such families, their histories are indistin- guishable from a system controlled only by chance. By assuming a system of chance, we can accurately predict the approximate number of families that will be short-lived — even though we cannot predict in advance which families will be short-lived. Now, suppose we have an imaginary hu- 28 number of males in a family fluctuates up and down as a random walk. If the number happens to drop to zero, the family is, so to speak, out of the game. The surname is extinct and cannot recover. But there is no such limit on the high side. That is, success cannot guarantee immunity to extinction to the degree that extinction guarantees immunity from success. Thus, ultimate extinction is inevit- able and the smaller a family, the greater the chances of its becoming extinct in the next genera- tion. Most families die out quickly because they generally start out small and thus are dangerously close to extinction at the beginning. Most pub- lished family histories are written about those families which do survive to become large. And most family histories are written by family mem- bers and thus are about families that have not yet become extinct. The biography shelves of a library thus contain a most unrepresentative sample of families. And even these families are doomed in the long run by the random walk nature of family evolution. For the reader who is still skeptical, I rec- ommend any of the published catalogs of the English peerage. The English peerage provides a particularly clear-cut situation. When a single individual is declared to be a peer of England, with the title to be inherited through the male line, we have the start of what is, in effect, a new family with a single founder. Some lines last a long time but most disappear in the first one, two, or three generations. man community which has a variety of surnames. Most of the families will be small — either because they just started or because they are on the verge of extinction. Only a few families will be large. This imaginary community would have a tele- phone book much like that of Chicago in the sense that a few names are very abundant but most are not. Now suppose that the population were sud- denly reduced by epidemic disease. And suppose that family affiliation was not a factor in the reduction: that is, assume that Smiths were not more susceptible to disease than Browns. If this were to happen, there would be simultaneous ex- tinction of many families. Most of the disappear- ing families would be the small ones but some large ones would be included. If someone were to look at family records later, it might appear that the reduction in population size was due to extinc- tion of families — rather than the other way around — and one might be tempted to search for common denominators of failure among the families that died out in order to find out why they died out. But this would be entirely wrong because surname extinction was the effect rather than the cause of the population drop. I can illustrate the general principle by a hypothetical example. The left side of Figure 8, above, shows a random array of 15 letters — rang- ing from A to E. Each letter may be thought of as representing a different surname; A is the most common and B the least common. Now, if we remove letters randomly, we may get something like the middle of Figure 8. Ten letters were select- ed for removal by using a table of random num- bers. The letter A survived which is not surprising because it was the most common to begin with. But B also survived — by good luck. D and E went extinct. The right side of Figure 8 shows another try with the same original pattern. This time, A and D went extinct and B, C, and £ survived. B was lucky both times. Let me return now to the fossil record of evolution. The dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous period (about 65 million years ago). Several other important animal groups also died out at about the same time. The groups seem to have little in common. Some lived on land, others in the sea. Some were large animals, some were small. And so on. (There is nothing surprising, by the way, in the fact that all these groups died out near the boundary two periods in the geologic time scale because the boundary itself is defined on the basis of the extinctions.) Many paleontolo- gists have spent years trying to figure out what failing was shared by such different animal groups. Some explanations have been suggested but none of them is really convincing (to me, at least). The only thing we know for sure is that a lot of groups died out at about the same time. The fact of the ex- tinctions is not geologically unusual — only the number of extinctions in a short time. The business about extinction of human surnames may provide a solution. We may postu- late that the end of the Cretaceous period was a time when an unusually large number of species died out. This could have resulted from some sort of epidemic, or a worldwide change in climate, or from a rare astronomical event. If a lot of separate species died out, some families and orders would inevitably also die out, as we have seen through the surname analogy. Some species would survive by luck and some would survive because they were fit. But these differences in fitness need not have anything to do with membership in a group such as reptiles and mammals. Thanks to the mathematical techniques developed by people working with surnames, it is possible to test the geologic case against the prop- osition that species extinctions are not biased by the group to which the species belongs. It turns out that tests of several mass extinctions in the fossil record show that group membership (family name, if you will) is not statistically correlated with the extinctions. The dinosaur extinctions have not been fully tested yet. But experience with other extinction events leads one to look at the dinosaur extinctions as a possible chance phenom- enon. It may be that the mammals were not better than the dinosaurs but just luckier at a time when an unusually large number of species were dying. This leads to the rather disquieting conclusion that if the Cretaceous extinctions were to be reenacted, a different suite of groups might have survived and this suite might not include our ancestors. The ideas I have discussed here are rather new and have not been completely tested. No mat- ter how they come out, however, they are having a ventilating effect on thinking in evolution and the conventional dogma is being challenged. If the ideas turn out to be valid, it will mean that Darwin was correct in what he said but that he was ex- plaining only a part of the total evolutionary pic- ture. The part he missed was the simple element of chance! BORDEN EXPEDITION Continued from p. 8 The Museum's Annual Report for 1927 car- ried this description of the zoological specimens collected: ". . . The zoological results of this expedi- tion include a . . . group of Peninsula Brown Bears {Ursus dalli gyas) which are the largest carnivor- ous animals now living, rivalling in size the Cave Bear of Pleistocene times. Of the four specimens selected for a group, two were shot by Mrs. John Borden, one by Miss Frances Ames, and the fourth, ... by Mrs. R. B. Slaughter. The expedi- tion also obtained . . . Polar Bears and the com- plete skin and skull of a large male Pacific Walrus, Five of the eight Sea Scouts survive today: Andrews, Purcell, Carstenson, Ram and McClel- land. Andrews, who became an engineer, and Carstenson, who became a tool and die maker, are living in Florida. Ram, the only scout to become a professional mariner, is with the merchant marine. Purcell, a Jesuit priest, is a research professor at Georgetown University and a distinguished indus- trial labor relations authority. McClelland, a Chicago resident, is a retired physics teacher. Shortly after the expedition, McClelland made a name for himself by skippering the winning schooner. Blue Moon, in the 1929 Chicago-Macki- nac yacht race. Frances Ames, who collected botanical specimens on the expedition, is now Mrs. Douglas Wolseley, of Santa Barbara, CA. Mrs. Charles B. Goodspeed, widowed and remarried, is now Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman, of New York. Mrs. John Borden (nee Courtney Letts), subsequently wife of the Argentine ambassador to the United States (1931-43), Felipe Espil (deceased), is now Mrs. Foster Adams, of New York. Mrs. Adams will be at Field Museum on Saturday, February 3, to in- troduce the film "The Cruise of the Northern Light," which will be shown in James Simpson Theatre. D 29 Index to Field Museum of N€itural History Bulletin, Volume 49 (1978) prepared by KENNETH GRABOWSKI Articles Adventures in Patagonia, by Larry G. MarshaU: March 4-11 Ancona School Comes to Field Museum, by Carol Burch-Brown and Mary Hynes-Berry: Oct. 16-21 Archaeologist as Witch, The, by Thomas J. Riley: June 6-11 Archaeology in the Electronics Age, by Robert A. Feldman and Alan Louis Kolata: July/Aug. 4-8 Beauty, Wealtfi, and Spirit: Feather Arts from Five Continents, by Phylis Rabineau: Dec. 3 Bolivian Adventure: In Search of the Bones of Giants, by Larry G. Marshall: May 16-23 Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition, The, (Part I) by Ted Karamanski and Dave Walsten: Nov. 6-9, 20-24 Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese Schulpture: A Curious Evolu- tion in Religious Motif by Art Pontynen: June 16-21 China-Watchers of Yesteryear, by Audrey Hiller: Nov. 10-15 Close Encounters of the Zeroth Kind by Edward C. Olsen: Sept. 6-13 Conservation of a Woven Hat Cover, The, by Christine Danziger and Jim Hanson: March 24 Dayflowers. by Robert Faden: April 23-25 Festival of Anthropology on Film, A, by Ira Jacknis and Jane Swanson: July/Aug. 16-21 Gamelan, The, by Sue Carter-De Vale: Jan. 3-12 Life in the Pre-Columbian Town of Galindo, Peru, by Garth Bawden: March 16-23 Male and Female: Anthropology Game, by Michael Story: April 12-13 Mazon Creek Census, by Gordon C. Baird: Sept. 15-18, 20-21 Mazon Creek Studies: The First 120 Years, by Matthew H. Nitecki: Sept. 22-26 Natural History Quiz, by Ken Grabowski: July/Aug. 15, 22 New Guinea Adventure: Sketch of a Working Anthropologist, by Susan B. Parker: May 4-9 Peru 's Golden Treasures, by Robert A. Feldman: Feb. 3 Prehistoric Missionaries in East Central Illinois, by Thomas J. Riley and Gary A. Apfelstedt: April 16-2/ Restoration of the Gamelan, by Louis Pomerantz: Jan. 13-18 Royal Burials of Ancient Peru, by Geoffrey W. Conrad: Feb. 6-11, 21-26 Solem and Snails, by Patricia Williams: Nov. 16-19 Terror Bird The, by Larry G. Marshall: Oct. 6-15 Thumbelina: House Guest in Miniature, by Ivan Barker: April 22 Versatile Gourd, The, by Alfreida RehUng: May 24 Virunga: Or Whatever Happened to Albert National Park?, by Burt A. Ovrut and Susan Ovrut: April 4-9 Authors Apfelstadt, Gary A.: Prehistoric Missionaries in East Central Illinois (with T. J. Riley), April 16-21 Baird, Gordon C: Mazon Creek Census, Sept. 15-18, 20-21 Baker, Ivan: Thumberlina: House Guest in Miniature, April 22 Bawden, Garth: Life in the Pre-Columbian Town of Galindo, Peru, March 16-23 Burch-Brown, Carol: Ancona School Comes to Field Museum (with M. Hynes-Berry), Oct. 16-21 Carter-De Vale, Sue: The Gamelan, Jan. 3-12 Conrad, Geoffrey W .: Royal Burials of Ancient Peru, Feb. 6-11, 21-26 Danziger, Christine: The Conservation of a Woven Hat Cover (with J. Hanson), March 24 Faden, Robert: Dayflowers, April 23-25 Feldman, Robert A.: Archaeology in the Electronics Age (with A. L. Kolata), July/Aug. 4-8 Feldman, Robert A.: Peru's Golden Treasures, Feb. 3 Grabowski, Ken: Natural History Quiz, July/Aug. 15, 22 Hanson, Jim: The Conservation of a Woven Hat Cover (with C. Danziger), March 24 HUIer, Audrey: China-Watchers of Yesterday, Nov. 10-15 Hynes-Berry, Mary: Ancona School Comes to Field Museum (with C. Burch-Brown), Oct. 16-21 Jacknis, Ira: A Festival of Anthropology on Film (with J. Swanson), July/Aug. 16-21 Karamanski, Ted: The Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition (with D. Walsten), Nov. 6-9, 20-24 Kolata, Alan Louis: Archaeology in the Electronics Age (with R. A. Feldman), July/Aug. 4-8 MarshaU, Larry G.: Adventures in Patagonia, March 4-11 Marshall, Larry G.: Bolivian Adventure: In Search of the Bones of Giants, May 16-23 Marshall, Larry G.: The Terror Bird Oct. 6-15 Nitecki, Matthew H.: Mazon Creek Studies: The First 120 Years, Sept. 22-26 Olsen, Edward C: Close Encounters of the Zeroth Kind, Sept. 6-13 Ovrut, Burt A.: Virunga: Or Whatever Happened to Albert National Park? (with S. Ovrut), April 4-9 Ovrut, Susan: Virunga: Or Whatever Happened to Albert National Park? (with B. Ovrut), April 4-9 Parker, Susan B.: New Guinea Adventure: Sketch of a Working Anthropologist. May 4-9 Pomerantz, Louis: Restoration of the Gamelan, Jan. 13-18 Pontynen, Art: Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese Sculpture: A Curious Evolution in Religious Motif June 16-21 Rabineau, Phyllis: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit: Feather Arts from Five Continents, Dec. 3 RehUng, Alfreida: The Versatile Gourd, May 24 RUey, Thomas J.: Prehistoric Missionaries in East Central Illinois (with G. A. ApfelsUdt), April 16-21 RUey, Thomas J.: The Archaeologist as Witch, June 6-11 Story, Michael: Male and Female: Anthropology Game, April 12-13 Swanson, Jane: A Festival of Anthropology on Film (with I. Jacknis), July/Aug. 16-21 Walsten, Dave: The Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition (with T. Karamanski), Nov. 6-9, 20-24 WiUiams, Patricia: Solem and Snails, Nov. 16-19 Kenneth Grabowski is Field Museum Library assistant. 30 Subjects Abbott, J. B.: March 4, 8, U Abiera, C: Jan. 17 Abrams. C: Dec. 3 Acad, of Sci. of USSR: Sept. 11 Adamec, T.: Feb. 19 Admiralty Islands: Feb. 15; May 5; Nov. 9 Adonis (asteroidi: Sept. 8 Advanced Tech. Lab. Advisory Bd.: Sept. 3 Adventures in Patagonia (article): March 4 African wildhfe: May 11: Oct. 23 Agate. S.: Oct. 18 Agricola, G.: May 7 Agric. Res. Serv.: Oct. 5 Akeley, C: April 7 Alaska: Nov. 6 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act: Feb. 15 Alaskan Peninsula: Nov. 20 Albert Nat. Park: April 4, 7 Albert Nile: April 6 Albrecht, C. J.: Feb. 12; June 4 Allen, C: April 17 Allen, J. P.: Oct. 3 alligator: July/Aug. 10 Ameghino, C: March 4, 8 Ameghino, F.: March 5 American Forest Inst.: June 15 "American Indian Dwellings" (program): Nov. 28 American Law Inst. -American Bar Assoc: Feb. 12 American Mus. of Nat. Hist.: Feb. 2, 16 American Philosophical Soc.: Nov. 18 American Soc. of Ethnohistory: May 26 Amers, F.: Nov. 20, 22 Ancient Irrigation Project (PRA): July/ Aug. 4 Ancona School Comes to Field Museum (article): Oct. 16 Andalgala, Argentina: Oct. 6, 8, 10 Andalgalornis: Oct. 6 Anderson, O.: Sept. 3 Andrews, B.: Nov. 7 Andrews, C. W.: Oct. 14 animal hybrids: Feb. 12 anklung: Jan. 7; Sept. 14 Anna's hummingbird: April 22 Anstey, E.: July/Aug. 17 antelope: Oct. 23 anthropology film series: July/Aug. 11, 16 Anthropology internships: May 26 Apfelstadt, G. A.: April 16 Apollo asteroids: Sept. 6, 13 Archaeologist as Witch. The (article): June 6 Archaeology in the Electronics Age {article): July/Aug. 4 "Ark, The Stationary" (program): July/Aug. 23' Sept. 4 Ariki Tafua: April 18, 21 Armstrong, K.: Oct. 26 Art Institute of Chicago: May 9 "Art of Basketmaking, The" (program): Feb. 27 Asia House Gallery: Sept. 19 Asian Art Museum: April 14 asteroid: Sept. 6 Astrapotherium: March 6 Atahualpa: Feb. 3 Attu Island: Nov. 20 Audubon Society: Oct, 5 Ayer, E. E.: Nov. 26 Ayer Lecture Series: Feb. 18 Aymara Indians: Feb. 27 Aztalan (Wis.): April 20 baboon: April 8 Baird, G, C: Sept, 15, 18, 21 Baker, B,: March 12 Bakhtiari: July/Aug, 2, 24 Baranof Isl.: Nov, 9 Bardack, D.: Feb. 19 Barker, I.: April 22 Barnett, R.: Jan. 16 Barringer Crater: Sept. 6 Bartlett, Capt,: Nov, 23 barung: Jan. 9, 1 1 Batara Guru: Jan. 5 Bateson, G.: July/Aug. 18 Baumgarten, D,: Jan. 16 Bawden, G.: March 16 Beagle, H, M, S.: March 5 Beals, C, S.: Sept. 8 Bear VaUey Nat. Wildl. Ref,: Oct, 5 Beatty, V.: March 13 Bedno, E.: Oct. 3 bedug: Jan. 2, 4, 6 Bellinger, F.: Feb. 18 Bennett, H. H.: March 14 Bering Sea: Nov. 22 Berliner, P.: Nov. 28 Bernice P. Bishop Museum: Nov. 17 Bjerre, J.: Feb. 18 Blackjack, A,: Nov. 23 Blackmon, C: Sept. 4; Nov. 26 Blackstone, Mrs. T. B.: June 16 Blair, B.: March 3 Block, M. (Mrs. P. D., Jr.): June 5 Board of Trustees, F, M,: March 3 Bolivian Adventure: In Search of the Bones of Giants (article): May 16 Bolt, J. R.: Feb. 19 bonang: Jan. 3, 8, 11 bonang barung: Jan. 3, 12 bonang panerus: Jan. 4 Book of Chao: June 20 Borden, C: Feb. 18 Borden, C. L, (Mrs, J,): Nov, 6 Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition (article): Nov. 6 Borden, J.: Nov. 6-8, 24 Boreel, N.: Jan. 6 Boscoreale: Nov. 26 Boundary Waters Canoe Area: July/Aug. 9 Braidwood fauna: Sept. 16, 18, 25 Brault, M.: July/Aug, 21 British Museum: Sept. 4; Oct. 14 British Mus. of Nat. Hist.: Feb. 14 Brent Crater: Sept. 9 Brooks, H. K.: Sept, 23 Boule, M.: May 17 Bronson, F.: Jan. 6, 13; April 12; May 9; June 5 Brown, B, (Mrs. R, O,): June 5 Brown, G.: May 25 Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese Sculpture: A Curious Evolution in Religious Motif (article): June 16 buffalo, African; April 5, 7; Oct, 23 "Bugaku" (program): Sept. 28 Burch-Brown, C: Oct. 16 Burd, J,: March 12 Burger, W. C: Jan. lOa-lOb; Feb. 19; April 3; June 3 burial platform, Peru: Feb. 6 Bushman (bust): Feb, 12 Butler, R. F.: Nov. 26 Butler, W.: Oct. 26 Cahokia: April 16 Calhoun, L,: March 12 California Inst, of Tech.: May 11 CampoU, A,: Jan. 16 canoe trip for F. M. members: April 26 Cape Serdzekamen (Siberia): Nov. 24 cariama: Oct. 14 Carnes, A.: Sept. 4 Carpenter, F. M.: Sept. 23 Carr, A.; Oct, 24 Carr, J. C: Sept. 22 Carstensen, O,; Nov. 7 Carter, D. A.: Jan. 2-3 Carter-De Vale, S.: Jan. 2-3; March 12 Case, D.: March 25 Cassai, M. A.: June 3 Castrop, J.: April 26 Catamarca (Argentina): Oct. 6 cattail: March 26 Century, S.: March 12 Center for Advanced Studies, F. M,: May 26 Chaffetz, S. (Mrs. H.): June 5 Chagnon, N.: July/Aug. 19 Chan Chan: Feb, 6; July/Aug. 8 "Chan Chan, The Andean Desert Empire" (lecture): Feb. 16 Chatham Strait: Nov. 9 cheetah: Oct. 23 Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau: May 3 Chicago Visitor Promotion Award: May 3 Chimor: Feb. 4 Chimu: Feb. 4; JulyfAug. 4, 7-8 China House: April 14 China-Watchers of Yesteryear (article): Nov. 10 Chinese folk art: April 14 "Chinese Puppet Plays and Lecture Demonstrations" (program): May 27 Ch'ing Dynasty: Nov. 15 Chiquimil: Oct. 6 Chiquitoy Viejo: Feb. 21 Chou Wang: June 22 Chubb Crater (New Quebec Crater): Sept. 8 Chubb, F. W.: Sept. 8 Chugach Nat. For.: Feb. 15 Chukchee: Nov. 24 Clark, J.: May 26 Clark, S.: Jan. 17; March 13; Dec. 3 Close Encounters of the Zeroth Kind (article): Sept. 6 Collins site: April 17 colobus monkey: Oct. 23 Columbian Expos, of 1893: Jan. 6, 13 ColweU, R. K.: June 3 Commonwealth Edison Co.: May 3; Sept. 18 Conference on Legal Aspects of Museum Operations: Feb. 12 Conrad, G. W.: Feb. 6 Conservation of a Woven Hat Cover, The (article): March 24 Cook, Capt. J.: Dec. 2 Cooke, Jr„ C. M.: Nov. 17 31 Cope, E. D.: Sept. 22 Cornell Univ.: Nov. 5 coyote: Oct. 5 craters, meteorite: Sept. 6 Crequi-Montfort, Count: May 17 Cruise of the Northern Light, The (book): Nov. 6 Curtis, E. S.: July /Aug. 17 Cuzco: Feb. 22 Dalgaranga Crater: Sept. 9 Dalzell, B.: Oct. 7 Dana, J. D.: Sept. 22 Daniel, G.: May 26 Danziger, C: March 24 Darrah, W.: Sept. 23 Darwin, C: March 5; May 21 Davey, E. H.: Oct. 16 Davies, D. C: March 4; May 16; Nov. 6, 20 Dayflowers (article): April 23 DeCosta, Mrs. E. J.: Jan. 6 Deis, B.: May 26 demung: Jan. 9, 11 Dence, M.: Sept. 8 DeVere, A.: March 13 Devil's Doorway (Wis.): March 14 Devil's Lake (Wis.): March 14 Diadaphorus: Oct. 7 dik-dik: Oct. 23 dike (lava bed): March 8 Dillingham, Mr. and Mrs. L. S.: April 15 "Discovering the Moche" (program): Feb. 27 divining: June 6 Dixon Mounds Museum: April 20 dog, wild: Oct. 23 Domenici, P.: May 25 Donnan, C: Feb. 17 Dorsey, G. A.: May 5; June 17 Douglas, J.: April 20 Dowager Empress: Sept. 19; Nov. 10 dowsing: June 6 Dreessen, M.: March 13 Droit, G.: Feb. 14 Dune Country (book): May 16 DurreU, G.: Sept. 4 Dybas, H. S.: Feb. 19 eagle, African fish: April 7 eagle, bald: Oct. 5 Eastern Timber Wolf Recovery Team: July/ Aug. 9 Eastman, C. R.: Sept. 23 Echezu, L.: May 17 Edinburgh Univ.: Sept. 4 Edward E. Ayer Film Lecture Series: Feb. 18 Edward E. Ayer Foundation: Nov. 27 Egypt tours: Sept. 5; Oct. 3 elephant, African: April 5; May 11; Oct. 23 Emeus (moa): Oct. 12 "enchanted city," Wolfe's: March 6 Endangered Species Act of 1973: April 10; Oct. 4 endangered species: April 10, 11; Oct. 4 Endangered Species Scientific Authority: April 10 Endodontoid Land Snails from Pacific Islands (book): Nov. 16 Energy Policy and Conserv. Act of 1975: June 13 Energy Res. and Develop. Admin.: April 11 Engel, J. J.: Feb. 19; April 3 Environ. Educ. Program: May 3 erosion, beach: Oct. 22 erosion, soil: May 11 Eskimo: Nov. 5 Essex fauna: Sept. 16 Etruria: Nov. 26 Etruscan art: Nov. 26 Even, J.: Sept. 22 Expedition, Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic: Nov. 6 Expedition, Joseph N. Field South Pacific: May 4 Expedition to Argentina, Second Marshall Field Paleontological: Oct. 6 Expedition to Patagonia (1922-24), Marshall Field Palaeontological: March 4 Eyre, Mr. and Mrs. D.: April 15 "Fabulous Rio: Portraits of Brazil" (lecture): Feb. 18 Faden, R.: April 23; June 3 Fairfax County Office of Consumer Affairs: June 12 falcon: Nov. 10 Falk, D.: Feb. 19 Fawcett, W.: June 3 "Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit" (exhibit): Dec. 1-3 Fed. Council on the Arts and Humanities: Feb. 2 Fed. Endangered Species Permit Office: April 10 Fed. Energy Admin.: Nov. 5 Fed. Highway Admin.: July/Aug. 10 Feheley, M. F,: Nov. 3 Feldman, R. A.: Feb. 3; July/Aug. 4 Felton, Don C: March 6 Festival of Anthropology on Film, A (article): July/Aug. 16 "Festival of Intl. Music and Dance Series" (program): Oct. 27 Fieldiana: Feb. 19 Field, S.: Nov. 6, 21 Firth, R.: April 18 "fish dog": June 15 Fitzpatrick, J. W.: June 3 Flaherty, R.: July/Aug. 17 Fleming, E.: Oct. 18 Flynn, M. J.: Oct. 3 Fogg Museum: June 16 Forney, G. G.: Feb. 19 Foxfire (book): April 10 Francis Creek: Sept. 16 Freeman, P. W.: Jan. 10b Frest, T. J.: Feb. 19 Friend, M.: Feb. 15 FuUer, Capt. A. W. F.: Dec. 2 Gagaku: Sept. 28 Galapagos Islands: Nov. 27 Galindo: March 16 Gallo, M. M.: Feb. 2 Gambian sleeping sickness: April 7 gambang gangsa: Jan. 4, 7, 10 gambang kayu: Jan. 4, 7 gamelan: Jan. 1-18; March 25 Gamelan, The (article): Jan. 3 gamelan master class: Feb. 26 Garuda: Jan. 8 Gayford, P.: March 12 gazelle: April 5 "Gem Room," Field Museum: June 2 Gemeentemuseum: Jan. 6 geothermal heat: Nov. 4 Gerlach, N. H.: Feb. 12 Oilman, B. I.: Jan. 6, 8 ginseng: April 10 giraffe: Oct. 23 Glassman, S. F.: Feb. 19 glyptodont: May 19, 21 Godard, J.-L.: July/Aug. 20 "God's Eyes" (Ojos de Dies): Sept. 14 gong ageng: Jan. 2, 4, 9 gong chime: Jan. 3, 12 gong, hanging: Jan. 2, 4 Gonzales, L.: March 12 Goodden, R.: Feb. 14 Goodspeed, Mrs. and Mrs. C. B.: Nov. 9 gorilla, mt.: April 6, 9 Goudvis, A.: Oct. 18 Gould, S. J.: June 3 gourds: May 24 Grabowski, K.: Jan. 10c; Feb. 12; July/ Aug. 15 "Grand Canyon by Dory" (lecture): Oct. 26 "Great Sailing Adventures" (lecture): Feb. 18 Greaves, G. F. (Mrs. D. C): June 5 Grebe, H. C: Nov. 6 Greenfield, D. W.: Feb. 19 Greenpeace: May 10 Grierson, J.: July/Aug. 17 Grigelaitis, V.: March 12 groin (pier), Longard: Oct. 22 ground sloth: May 18, 21, 23 guayule: May 12 Gurewitz, S.: March 12 Haas, F.: Nov. 18 habitat rating system: Feb. 15 Haida Indian hat, hat cover: March 24 Hallagan, J.: Oct. 23 Han, K.-H.: Oct. 27 Handhrsch, A.: Sept. 23 Hanson, J.: March 24 Ham, A.: April 10 hartebeest, Swayne's: Oct. 23 Hartz, J. (Mrs. W. H., Jr.): June 5 Hatcher, J. B.: March 6 Heins, E.: Jan. 6, 18 Helen L. Kellogg Trust: June 4 Henze, M.: May 25 Herculaneum: Nov. 26 Herdina, J.: Sept. 26 Hermes (asteroid): Sept. 6, 8 Hickman, J. C: June 3 Higinbotham Hall, H. N.: June 2 HiUer, A.: Nov. 10 HiUers, J.: July/Aug. 16 Hine, T. A.: Nov. 6 hippopotamus: April 4, 7; Oct. 23 Ho, P.: Nov. 27 Hodge, F. W.: July/Aug. 17 Holbrook, J.: Nov. 7 Holleford Crater: Sept. 9 Holmes, B.: July/Aug. 18 Homalodotherium: March 6 Honolulu Academy of Art: April 14 Houk, R.: Oct. 25 "Houses of North Amer." (program): Nov. 26 Howard, C: March 12 Hsuan T'ung: Nov. 10 Huaca del Sol: March 16 Huffman, J. W.: Jan. 17 Huichol Indians: Sept. 14 Hume, I. N.: June 7 hummingbird, Anna's: April 22 hybrid names, animal: Feb. 12 Hynes-Berry, M.: Oct. 16 Icarus (asteroid): Sept. 13 lU. Audubon Soc: Jan. 19; Feb. 27 32 lU. Dunes State Park: May 26 m. fossil bed: Sept. 15-18, 20-26 m. Geol. Soc: Sept. 25 111. Nat. Hist. Surv.: May 25 impala: Oct. 23 Inca: Feb. 11, 16, 21-26 "India" (lecture): Feb. 18 Indiana Dunes: May 26 Inger, R. F.: Jan. 10a; June 3 Insect Educ. Centre: Feb. 14 Institute de Pesca: Oct. 24 Intl. Comm. for the NW Atlantic Fisheries: May 10 Intl. Fest. of Music and Dance: Sept. 28, Oct. 27 Intl. Program in Anthro., F. M.: May 26 Intl. Union for the Conserv. of Nature and Natural Resources: May 11; Oct. 24 "Iran" (lecture): Feb. 18 Iranian locks: June 5 irrigation project, ancient: July /Aug. 4-8 ivory: Oct. 23 Jackman, B.: Feb. 14 Jacknis, I.: March 13; July/Aug. 16 Jackson, W. H.: July/Aug. 16 James, F. A.: June 2 Janssen, R.: Sept. 23 Jay, J.; Oct. 26 jengglong: Jan. 4 Jenkins, D. T.: Feb. 19 Jersey Bluff: April 19 Jersey Wildlife Preserv. Trust: Sept. 4 Jivaro: Dec. 2 John G. Searle Herbarium: March 3 Johnson, Capt. I.: Feb. 18 Johnson, R. G.: Feb. 10; Sept. 16, 26 Johnson, R. K.: Feb. 19; June 3 Jones, K.: May 26 Jones, M.: March 12 Jones, W.: March 4 Joseph N. Field South Pacific Exped. of 1909-1913: May 4-8 Joseph, W. F.: Nov. 8 "Journey into the World of Money" (program): Sept. 28 Judson, M. (Mrs. R. D.): June 5 kacapi: Jan. 7 Karamanski, T.: Nov. 6 Karisimbi volcano: April 7 kasekten: Jan. 5 Kellog, J. L.: June 5 Kellogg Trust, Helen L.: June 4 kempul: Jan. 4, 9 kendang: Jan. 6 Kennedy, J. (Mrs. R. L.): June 5 kenong: Jan. 4, 10 Kent, L.: Jan. 17 Kerkhoven, E. J.: Jan. 7 Kersh, I.: Sept. 14 Kethley, J. B.: June 3 ketuk: Jan. 10 Keynes, Q.: Feb. 18 King Cove: Nov. 21 King Tutankhamun Exhibit: Jan. 10b; May 3; Sept. 5; Oct. 3 Klein, L.: Sept. 3 Klaune Ntnl. Park: Feb. 15 Koeppen, R. C: Jan. 15 Kolar, Janet: Sept. 2 Kolar, John: Sept. 2; Oct. 2; Nov. 2 Kolata, A. L.: July/Aug. 4 Kondo, Y.: Nov. 16 Korbecki, J. A.: Nov. 26 KragUevich, J. L.: Oct. 8 Kraus, D. H.: Feb. 19 Kroc, Mr. and Mrs. R. A.: May 3 Kuang Hsu: Nov. 10 Kudu: Nov. 28 Kukailimoku: Dec. 2 KuUk, L. A.: Sept. 11 Kummel, B.: Sept. 3 Kutkuhn, J. H.: Oct. 25 Land and Water Conserv. Act: Oct. 5 "Land of the Rio Grande" (program): Feb. 27 Langford, G.: Sept. 23, 25 Lansdowne, J. F.: Nov. 3, 28 Lao Chun: June 20 Lao Tzu: June 20 L'Argentiere-la-Bessee: Feb. 14 Late Woodland culture: April 19 Laufer, B.: June 16-18, 22: Nov. 10, 14 lead poisoning, waterfowl: Feb. 15 lechwe, black: Oct. 23 "Leon Mandel 1941 Zoological Exped. to the Galapagos" (program): Nov. 27 Leonard. A.: March 12 leopard: Oct. 23 Lerner, C: May 26 Lesquereux, L.: Sept. 22 Levy, A.: Oct, 18 Lewis, A. B.: May 5-9 Lib. of Cong.: Jan. 6 Lietz, W.: Jan. 6 Life in the Pre-Columbian Town of Galindo, Peru (article): March 16 Link, C: April 2 Linnaeus, C.: April 23 lion: April 8; Oct. 23 Litton, M.: Oct. 26 Livingston, J. A.: Nov. 3 Livingstone, D.: April 6 locks, Iranian: June 5 "Locks from Iran: A Key to Culture" (exhibit): April 27 Lomax, A.: July/Aug. 21 Longard tube: Oct. 22 Lor: July/Aug. 1 "Lords of the Labyrinth" (program): Feb. 27 Los Angeles County Mus. of Art: April 14 Lund, R.: Feb. 19 MacDougall, D.: July/Aug. 16, 20 MacElvane Pit: Sept. 25 Madesen, B.: Oct. 26 Male and Female: Anthropology Game (article): April 12 Malle, L.: July/Aug. 20 Mammoth Hot Springs: Nov. 4 Mandel, L.: Nov. 27 Manicouagan-Mushalagan Crater: Sept. 9, 13 maria basin: Sept. 13 Marshall Field Palaeontological Exped. to Patagonia (1922-24): March 4-11; May 16-23 Marshall, J.: July/Aug. 19 Marshall, L. G.: March 4, 11; May 2, 16; Oct. 6; Nov. 26 Martin, H. T.: March 6 Martin, R. E.: Jan. 10b Martling, M.: March 13 Marx, H.: Feb. 19 Matthew, H. M.: Jan. 10b Mazon Creek Census (article): Sept. 15 Mazon Creek fossils: Sept. 15-18, 20-26 Mazon Creek Studies: The First 120 Years (article): Sept. 22 Mbira music, African: Nov. 28 McClelland, K.: Nov. 7 McCrone, W. C: Jan. 15 McVey, J.: Oct. 24 Mead, M.: July/Aug. 18-19 Mech, D.: July/Aug. 9 "Mediterranean: East to Istanbul" (lecture): Feb. 18 Meek, F. B.: Sept. 22-23 Megatherium: May 19 Mellema, R. L.: Jan. 15 Mellinger, M.: April 10 memorial fund. Field Museum; May 25 Mendez, F.: Oct. 6, 9 Mendez, J.: Oct. 6, 9 Mentes, M.: Oct. 26 Mentes, S.: Oct. 26 mercury poisoning: Nov. 5 metallophone, gamelan: Jan. 5, 8-9, 11 meteorites: Sept. 6-13 "Mexico: Legend of a Lost Crown" (lecture): Feb. 18 Meyers, H.: Feb. 18 Meyers, L.; Feb. 18 Middlefork River: April 20 MiluUc, D. G.: Feb. 19 Minn. Dept. Nat. Res.: July/Aug. 9 Mississippi waterbirds: June 14 Mo. Dept. Conserv.: Feb. 15 moa: Oct. 12 Moche: Feb. 4, 8, 17, 20, 25; March 16-23; July/Aug. 4 "Moche; Ancient Peru's Mastercraftsmen, The" (lecture): Feb. 17 Moche Valley; March 16-23; July/Aug. 4-8 monkey: April 8, Oct. 23 Montagnais-Naskapi Indians: June 11 Moodie, R.: Sept. 23 Moore, O. K.: June 11 Moran, L. H.: Nov. 26 Moran, M. A.: Nov. 17 Moran, R.: March 25 Morin, E.: July/Aug. 20 Morris, C: Feb. 16 Morris, R.: June 12, 14 Moseley, M.: Feb. 9, 16, 22 Moses-in-the-cradle (oyster plant): April 23 Mt. McKinley Nat. Park: Feb. 15 Mt. Meru: Jan. 8 Mt. St. EUas: Feb. 15 Mt. Vesuvius: Nov. 26 Moyer, J.: Feb. 12 Muller, L.: March 13 Mullen, M. F.: Sept. 3 Mundt, G. C. F. W.: Jan. 6 munggang: Jan. 5 Museo Oro del Peru: Feb. 2-3 Museum fiir Volkerkunde: May 5 Mus. of Cult. Hist.: Feb. 17 Nabokov, P.: Nov. 26 Nadler, N. (Mrs. C. F.): June 5 Nagle, C: Feb. 18 Naples Nat. Mus.: Nov. 26 Nastapoka Islands Arc: Sept. 9, 13 Nat. Acad, of Sci.: May 12, 25 Nat. Endowm. for Arts: Jan. 2, 6, 10b, 13 Nat. Fish, Wildlife Lab.: March 26 Nat. Geog. Soc: Nov. 26 Nat. Mar. Fisheries Serv.: June 15: Oct. 24 Nat. Oil Recycling Act: June 13-14 Nat. Park Serv.: Oct. 24 Nat. Park Syst.: Feb. 15 Nat. Sci. Found.: Nov. 18 33 Nat. Wild. Scenic Rivers Syst.: Feb. 15 Nat. Wildl. Fed.: April 10: May 10, 25: June 12. 14: Oct. 23. 25 Nat. Wildlife Health Lab.: Feb. 15 Nat. Wildl. Ref. Syst.: Feb. 15 Native American Program: Jan. 10b Natural History Quiz (article): July/Aug. 15 Nazca: Feb. 9 Nevling, L. I.: Jan. 10a; April 3: June 3 Newberry. J. S.: Sept. 23 New Guinea: May 4-8 New Guinea Adventure: Sketch of a Working Anthropologist (article): May 4 New Quebec Crater (Chubb Crater): Sept. 8-10, 12 Newton, E.: March 13 1976 UA (asteroid): Sept. 6, 8 Nitecki, M. H.: Feb. 19: Sept. 22 Noe, A.: Sept. 23 Northern Light (ship): Nov. 6 Northwest Coast Indian basketry: Jan. 10b Northwestern Univ.: Jan. 10b Nyamuragira Vole: April 7-8 Nyiragongo Vole: April 7 O'Brien, J.: March 12-13 OCLC (library computer): June 3 O'Connor, J. J.: March 3: May 3 octopus: March 26 Ohio College Libr. Cent.: June 3 oil crisis: June 12-14 "Ojos de Dios" (God's Eyes): Sept. 14 Okefenokee: July/Aug. 9 Olsen, E. J.: Sept. 6 "Orchestral Ensembles of China, Thailand, and Indonesia" (program): Oct. 27 oribi: Oct. 23 Oriental Inst.: Oct. 3 Osaka Garyo-Kai: Sept. 28 Osterburger. L.: Sept. 18 "Outback Australia" (lecture): Oct. 26 Ovrut, B. A.: April 4 Ovrut, S.: April 4 Owen, R.: May 21 oyster plant (Moses-in-the-cradle): April 23 Pachakuti: Feb. 22 Pacific Island snails: Nov. 16-19 Padnos, A.: March 13 Padre Isl.: Oct. 24 Painted Desert Nat. Mon.: March 11 Paleontological Soc.: Sept. 20 Panjan. T. A.: Jan. 10b paper cutout, Chinese: April 1-2 "Papua New Guinea: Twilight of Eden" (program): Jan. 19 Paris Mus. of Nat. Hist.: March 6 Parker, S. B.: May 4 Patagonia: March 4-11 Patterson, B.: Feb. 19: Oct. 8, 10, 14 Paul, R. C: Feb. 19: Nov. 16 Pawnee Earth Lodge: Jan. 10b: Oct. 16-21 Peabody Museum: Jan. 6; Feb. 3: March 16 Peacock, E.: Jan. 16-17 peat: July/Aug. 10 Peking: Jan. 9, 11, 18 Pelliot, P.: June 16 Peppers, R.: Sept. 25 peregrine: Oct. 5 Perenyi, T.: June 3 Perrault, P.: July/Aug. 13 Peru's Golden Treasures: Jan. 10b; Feb. Ml, 16-17, 20-26; March 3; April 3 Peru's Golden Treasures (article): Feb. 3 Peru's Golden Treasures Lecture Series: Feb. 16-17 "Peruvian Music Performance" (program): Feb. 27 Peruvian tour: Feb. 9 Peters, G.: April 20 Petrified Forest: March 11 Petrunkevitch, A.: Sept. 23 Pfefferkorr. H.: Sept. 25 Phillips, T.: Sept. 25 pigeon, carrier: May 11 pigeon, homing: Nov. 5 Pit 11 (Mazon Creek): Sept. 15, 17-18, 21-22, 24-25 Pitts. A. H.: June 24 Pizarro, F.: Feb. 3 Plains Indians: Dec. 3 poaching: Oct. 23-24 Podkamenaia Tunguska River; Sept. 10 poisoning, waterfowl lead: Feb. 15 "Poland " (lecture): Oct. 26 Pola de Ayala, F. G.: Feb. 3 "Policy Statement of F. M. on Antiquities; May 9 pollution, air; April 11 Pomerantz, L.: Jan. 6, 13 Pomo Indians: Dec. 3 Pontynen, A.: June 16 "Potato Planters " (program); Feb. 27 pot gong; Jan. 3 Poulson, T. L.: June 3 Power, J.; Nov. 7-8 Pozorski, S.: July/Aug. 7 Pozorski, T.: July/Aug. 7 Pratt, D.: March 26 Pray, L. L.: Oct. 13 Prehistoric Missionaries in East Central Illinois (article); April 16 Pribilof Islands: Nov. 22 Princeton Univ.: March 6 Pritchard, P.: Oct. 24 Programa Riego Antiguo; July/Aug. 4-8 Puerta de Corral Quemado: Oct. 7-8, 10-11 "Puerto Rico " (lecture): Oct. 26 puppet play, Javanese: March 25 Purcell, T.: Nov. 7-8 P'u-Yi, H.: Nov. 10 Quetico Wilderness canoe trip: April 26 Quinn, J. H.; Feb. 12-13, 19: May 23 Rabb, G. B.; Feb. 19 Rabineau. P.; Dec. 1-3 Rada, Col. M. E.; Nov. 27 "Rails of the World " (exhibit): Nov. 3 Ram, S.: Nov. 7-8 Rancho Nuevo; Oct. 24 Ransom, J. H.; March 3 Raup, D. M.; Sept. 3 rebab: Jan. 4-6 Red October (ship): Nov. 23 Reed, C. A.; Feb. 19 Rehling, A.: May 24 Restoration of the Gamelan (article): Jan. 13 Reykjavik (Iceland); Nov. 4 rhinoceros, prehist.: Feb. 13 Rich N. (Mrs. J. E.): June 5 Richardson, E. S.: Feb. 19: Sept. 16, 22, 25 Richter, K.: Feb. 18 Riggs, E. S.: March 4, 6, 11; May 2, 16; Oct. 6, 14: Nov. 26 Riley, T. J.; April 16; June 6 Rio Moche: March 17, 22 Ripley, S. D.; Nov. 3 Roberts, J. W.: Oct. 26 Roman art: Nov. 26 Rouch, J.; July/Aug. 19-21 Royal Burials of Ancient Peru (article); Feb. 6, 21 Royal Imp. Mus.: Sept. 23 Royal Ontario Mus.: Sept. 8 Royal Trop. Inst.: Jan. 15 rubber: May 11-12, 25: July/Aug. 10 Runnells, J. S.; March 3 Rutshuru River: April 6 Ruwenzori Mts.: April 5-6 Rwindi River: April 6 Ryan, J.; Nov. 7-8 Sabaro, M.: June 20 Sabatini and Sons; Nov. 26 Sack, S.: June 13 Sakai. S.; Feb. 14 salmon, Atlantic: June 15 Salmonella: March 26 salt bag, Bakhtiari; July/Aug. 2, 24 salt bag. Lor: July/Aug. 1-2 San Bernardino Mts.: March 11 San Diego Mus. Nat. Hist.; Sept. 26 Santa Cruz Formation; March 6, 9 saron: Jan. 4, 8-9, 11, 14 scapulamancy; June 11 Scelidotherium: May 1-2, 21 Schneider. A.: March 12 Schram. F. G.; Sept. 26 Schueppert, S.: March 13 Schultze, H.-P.; Feb. 19 Schumacher. C; March 13 "Scotland " (lecture): Oct. 26 Scudder. S. H.: Sept. 23 seal, harp: May 10-11 Searle Herbarium. John G.: March 3 Searle, J. G.: March 3 Searle, W.; March 3 Second Marshall Field Paleontological Expedition to Argentina; Oct. 6-15 seismograph: July'Aug. 4-8 Semantics Symposium: June 3 Semliki River; April 7 Senosastroamidjojo: Jan. 8 Sewell, J.: May 9 Shabanou of Iran; April 27 shadow play, Javanese: March 25: Sept. 14 Sharpe, Sir A.; April 7-8 Shell Makers: Introducing Mollusks, The (book): Nov. 19 Sherwin-Williams Co.: Jan. 17 Silverman, D.: Oct. 3 Siren, O.; June 18 Skiff. F. J. v.; May 5 Slaughter, R. B.; Nov. 9, 21 Slaughter, Mrs. R. B.; Nov. 9, 20 slendro: Jan. 5 Smith, E. B.; March 3 Smithsonian Inst.; Feb. 12 snail; Nov. 16-19 Society of Typographic Arts: Sep. 3 Sohn, I. G.: Feb. 19 Soil Conserv. Serv.: May 11 soil erosion; May 1 1 Solem, A.: Nov. 16 Solem and Snails (article): Nov. 16 "Soul of Japan, The" (lecture): Feb. 18 sparrow, house: March 26 "Spell of Ireland, The" (lecture); Oct. 26 Spelliscy, S.; June 15 Spicehandler, J.: Jan. 16 spider fossil: Sept. 17 34 spiderwort: April 23-25 Spondylus (moUusk): Feb. 10 Stahlecker, R.: Oct. 6, 9 "Stamp Sampler: Postage from Natural History" (exhibit): Nov. 27 Stanford, J.: Feb. 15 Stanley, H.: April 5 Stanley, S. M.: Sept. 3 "Stationary Ark, The" (program): July'Aug. 23; Sept. 4 Stein, L.: March 13 Stein, M. A.: June 16 Sternberg, G. F.: March 4, 8-9, 11 Stevenson. A. E.: Nov. 6 Stohler, R.: Nov. 16 Stolze, R. G.: Feb. 19 Stoner, B.: March 4 Story, M.: March 13; April 12 Straus, M. (Mrs. R. E.): June 5 Strong. S. S.: Sept. 22 Strucco, J.: May 1-2, 17, 20 Stuessy, T. F.: Feb. 19 Sulek, J.: Oct. 3 suling: Jan. 7, 12 Sullivan, J. W.: March 3 Suminta Mein, Pak: Jan. 5 Superior Nat. For.; July/Aug. 9 swamp fire: July/Aug. 9 Swanson, J.: May 26; July/Aug. 16 Swartchild, J.: March 2, 12 Swartchild, Jr., W. G.: March 3. 12; May 3 Swearingen, Mrs. R. O.: June 5 Swift, C. (Mrs. E. F.): June 5 Sylvester, W.: Oct. 26 tabasco sauce: Oct. 5 Tahitian bridal veil (plant): April 23 "Tahuantinguyo Music of the Andes" (program): May 27 Taiei Company Ltd.: Nov. 5 Takahashi, Y.: March 24 Talbot, P.: March 12 tarawangsa: Jan. 7 Tarija: May 16-17, 22 Taylor, K.; Feb. 19 teak. Thai: Nov. 5 Telea polyphemus: March 1 Teteoceras fossiger Feb. 13 Tenn. Val. Auth.: July/Aug. 10 Terrell, J.: Feb. 19; May 26 Terror Bird. The (article): Oct. 6 terror bird [Andalgalornis): Oct. 6 Testa, R.: Jan. 3, 10a; June 4; Dec. 1-3 Texas Parks, Wildl. Dept.: Oct. 24 Thevenin, A.: May 17 Thomas, H. (Mrs. R. L.): June 5 Thompson, D. H.: June 14 Thompson, 1.: Feb. 19 Thome, R. C: May 19-20, 22; Oct. 6, 9 threatened species: July/Aug. 3; Oct. 4 "Through Cloud and EcHpse" (Javanese shadow play); March 25 Thumbelina: House Guest in Miniature (article): April 22 Tibet: June 16 Tieken, Mrs. T.; March 3 T'ien Tsun: June 20 Tiffany, L.: June 2 Tiffany window: June 1-2 Tikopia: April 18-19 Tilghman N.: Oct. 5 tires, recycled: July/Aug. 10 "To and Fro: Migration of North American Animals" (program); June 23 Tongass Nat. For.: Feb. 15 "touch bone" (dinosaur femur): March 8, 11 Tournouer, A.: March 6 toxodont; May 21 Traylor, M. A.: Jan. 10a "Treasures Lost" (lecture); Feb. 16 "Treasures of Italy" (lecture): Feb. 18 Triloka: Jan. 8 Truffaut, F.; July/Aug. 20 Tsavo Park: Oct. 23 tsetse fly: April 7 TuUy, F. J.: Sept. 25 "Tully monster": Sept. 18, 21, 25 Tunguska explosion: Sept. 9 TurnbuU, W.: Feb. 13 Turner, R.: Jan. 10b turtle, Atlantic ridley: Oct. 24 turtle. 111. mud: Oct. 4 turtle, ohve ridley: Oct. 25 turtle, Pacific ridley: Oct. 25 Tutankhamun Exhibit: Jan. 10b; May 3; Sept. 5; Oct. 3 Tz'u Hsi: Sept. 19 Unalaska Harbor: Nov. 22 U. of Amsterdam: Jan. 18 U. of Chicago: Jan. 10b; May 3, 9; Sept. 23, 25-26; Oct. 3 U. of Fla.: June 15 U. of Hawaii: April 14; May 9 U. of Kans.: March 6 U. of Minn.: March 26 U. of Ore.: Sept. 4 U. of Va.; Oct. 22 U. of Wis.: June 14 Urban, H.: Jan. 16-17; March 13 U. S. Army Corps of Engin.: Oct. 22 U. S. Dept. of Agric: May 25 U. S. Dept. of Energy: June 13 U. S. Dept. of the Int. Geol. Surv.: Sept. 9 U. S. Fish and Wildl. Serv.: Feb. 15; April 10; May 11: June 15; July/Aug. 9; Oct. 4, 24 U. S. Forest Prod. Lab.: Jan. 15 U. S. Marine Mammal Protection Act: May U U. S. Nat. Geothermal Energy Res. Prog.: Nov. 5 Used Oil Recycling Prog.: June 13 Vanderstappen, H.: May 9 Vanik, C: Feb. 13 VanStone, J. W.: Feb. 19 Versatile Gourd, The (article): May 24 Virunga National Park: April 4-9 Virunga volcanoes: April 6 Virunga: Or Whatever Happened to Albert National Park? (article): April 4 Vitshumbi: April 8 volunteers. Field Museum: March 12 von Beringe, O.; April 9 von Le Coq, A.: June 16 Voris, H. K.: Feb. 19; Sept, 3 Voyageur Wilderness Prog.: April 26 Vredefort Ring: Sept. 9-10 Wagener, A. P.: Jan. 17 Walter E. Heller Foundation: Jan. 2, 6 Walsten, D.; March 11; Nov. 6 wandering Jew (plant): April 23 warbler, Kirtland's: Oct. 5 Ward, J.: July/Aug. 14 Warner, L.: June 16 wart hog: April 8 waterbuck; April 8 Watson, D. M. S.: Sept. 23 Watson, O. M.: July/Aug. 14 Wauer, R.: Oct. 24 Wayang Puppets. Carving. Coloring, and Symbolism (book): Jan. 15 wayang shadow puppet play: Sept. 14 Weaver, B. L.: Oct. 3 weaving, nomadic: June 23 Webber, E. L.: March 3, 12 Weekend Discovery Prog.: Nov. 14 Weiss, B.: July/Aug. 14 Weiss, D.: March 12 Wells, J. (Mrs. R.): June 5 Wenzel, R. C: Jan. 10a Wertime, J.: July/Aug. 2 Wertime, S.: July/Aug. 2 Western Rift Valley: April 5 Westoll, T. S.: Sept. 23 Whipple, F.: Sept. 12 Whitmire, G.: April 26 Whittlesey Foundation; April 17 Wieser, Col.: Oct. 6 Wilcox, K.: April 10 wild dog: Oct. 23 wildebeest: April 8 Wildfowl Trust: Sept. 4 Wildlife Management Inst.: May 11 Willard, D. E.: June 3 WiUiams, P.: Nov. 16; Dec. 3 WiUiams, T. P.: Feb. 19 Willow Slough State Game Preserve: Sept. 1-2 "Winter Magic Around the World" (lecture): Oct. 26 Wisconsin Dept. Nat. Res.: Oct. 5 Witrock, R. B.: Sept. 3 Wodinsky. J.: March 26 Wolf Creek Crater: Sept. 9, 12 Wolf, G.: July/Aug. 19 wolf, gray: July/Aug. 9 Wolfe, J. G.; March 7-9 Wolfgang, K.: Feb. 18 Women's Board Officers, F. M.: June 5 Women's Board Presidents, F. M.: Sept. 3 woodpecker, red-headed: May 25 Woods, L.: Nov. 27 Woody, J.: Oct. 24 World Music Prog.: Sept. 14 World's Columbian Expstn. of 1893: Jan. 6-7, 13 Worthen, A. H.: Sept. 22-23 Wrangell Isl.: Nov. 23 Wrangell-St. Elias: Feb. 15 Wright, B.: July/Aug. 17 "xylophone, " gamelan: Jan. 5, 7, 10 xylophone (true), gamelan: Jan. 4-5, 7-8 Yang Jen: June 22 Yarrington, B. J.: March 3 Yellowstone Nat. Park: Nov. 4-5 Yokoyama, Henry: May 25 "Yoruk: Nomadic Weaving Tradition of the Middle East" (exhibit): June 23; July/Aug. 1-2, 24 Yueh Lung Shadow Theatre: May 27 Yu-ho Ecke, T.: April 14; May 9 Zallinger, J.: Oct. 15 Zallinger, R. F.: Oct. 15 zebra, Grevy's: April 11 zebra, Hartmann's mountain; April 11 zither, gamelan; Jan. 5, 7 Zool. Soc. of London: Sept. 4 35 January & February at Field Museum (January 15 through February 15) New Exhibits Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit from Five Continents. Opens February 15. Conceived and created by Field Museunn's own staff, this exhibit features exotic feather objects from around the world. Assembled almost entirely from in-house collections, "Feather Arts" will travel to three other museums nationwide after its four-month stay at Field Museum. The 260 artifacts, drawn from 1 ,000 years of history, include such rarities as an Hawaiian king's feather mantle which was given to George IV of England in 1821, and the feather shoes of an Australian sorcerer. This fascinating exhibit examines the symbolic and religious meaning of feathers over the centuries and illustrates the importance of featherwork as a universal art form. Hall 26. Through June 15. (Mem- bers' preview February 14, 1 to 7 p.m.) A Stamp Sampler: Postage from Natural History. Opened December 8. This new exhibit unites 63 natural history specimens with samples of philatelic art. Planned on a rotating basis to cover the four disciplines of natural history, the first 8 months of the exhibit will be devoted to zoological specimens and their representations on stamps from all over the world. "A Stamp Sampler" was conceived by Field Museum volun- teer CoJ. M. E. Rada, exhibit guest curator. The exhibition was designed by Peter Ho, a University of Illinois graduate student. Continuing Exhibits Rails of the World. Through Jan. 28. An exhibition of 42 watercolors, painted by J. Fenwick Lansdowne, represents the little-known bird family of Rallidae. The exhibition is part of a national tour organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. A combination of art, science, and artistic realism, the works were painted to illustrate the book Rails of the World, by S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smith- sonian. Hall 21. The Hall of Chinese Jades contains beautiful jade art spanning over 6,000 year* of Chinese history. An exhibit in the center of the hall illus- trates ancient jade carving techniques. Hall 30, second floor. Birds. Exhibits in Halls 20 and 21 examine the varied world of birds, from the antarctic emperor penguin to the common American sparrow. Three scenes are devoted to Chicago-area birds. Recently extinct birds (e.g., the Mauritius dodo, the passenger pigeon) and restorations of fossil birds are also on view. New Programs Under Coyote's Eye: A Play about Ishi. Sunday, Jan. 21 , 2 p.m. Ishi, a Yahi Indian from a now extinct California tribe, emerged into Western society in 1911 and shared the lost art, mythology, philosophy, and songs of his culture with a modern world. The Other Theatre of the Ber- nard Horwich Jewish Community Center interprets Ishi's way of life. Admission: nonmembers $3.00; members, students with ID, $1.50. James Simpson Theatre. "The Cruise of the Northern Light," a one-hour film taken during the Borden-Field Museum 1927 Alaska Arctic Expedition. Saturday, Feb. 3, 1:30 p.m. Narrated by Rev. Theodore V. Purcell, S.J., who at 15, was the youngest expedition member. Unseen by the public for 50 years, this film documents the acquisition of valuable ethnological specimens. plants, birds, and mammals for Field Museum's scientific collections. Admission: $3.00; members, $1.50. James Simpson Theatre. The Galapagos— Las Islas Encantadas. Saturday, Feb. 10. This illus- trated lecture by J. de Navarre Macomb, Jr. looks at the natural wonders of the Galapagos Archipelago that influenced Darwin when he developed his theory of evolution. The physical terrain and wildlife of these fasci- nating islands are examined by experts in geology and Darwinian theory. Admission is free at the West Entrance of the Museum. 2:30 p.m. James Simpson Theatre. Courses for Adults, Winter Series. Beginning January 16, the Museum offers a variety of noncredit, undergraduate-level courses in anthropol- ogy and the natural sciences. These courses, available to persons 18 years of age or older, include "Plants of the Great Lakes Region," "Aspects of Daily Life in Egypt," and "Documentary Films about Man." For more information call 922-9410, ext. 362. Continuing Programs Armchair Expeditions. Adult groups (clubs, p.t.a., societies, etc.) can now attend special slide programs; tour selected exhibits. Arrangements can be made to dine in one of the Museum's private dining rooms. Winter programs include "Life in Ancient Egypt"; "The Weaver's Walk"; and "The American Plains Indian." For more information call (312)922-0733. Winter Journey. "American Indian Dwellings." Through February 28. This self-guided tour for families and children describes different types of American Indian homes found on the main floor of the Museum. Free Journey pamphlets are available at the North Information Booth, and at the South and West doors. Friend or Foe? The Natural History Game. Field Museum's popular "Anthropology Game" has been expanded to include botany, geology, and zoology. The object here is to determine which one of a pair of apparently similar specimens is harmful and which is not. See if you can distinguish a vampire bat, a headhunter's axe, a poisonous mineral, or a deadly mushroom from its benign look-alike. Ground floor; no closing date. On Your Own at Field Museum. Self-guided tour booklets, adult- and family-oriented, are available for 25(1 each at the entrance to the Museum Shop, main floor north. Weekend Discovery Programs. Guided tours, demonstrations, and par- ticipatory activities. Every Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteer Opportunities. Limited opportunities are available in botany, geology, and zoology. Weekend volunteers with an interest in natural history are needed to develop and present weekend programs. For more information call 922-9410, ext. 360. January and February Hours. The Museum opens daily at 9 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. On weekends the Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Fridays the Museum remains open until 9 p.m. throughout the year. The Museum Library is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Obtain a pass at the reception desk, main floor. Museum telephone: (312) 922-9410 FIELD MUSECafcdF NATCIRAL HISTORY BULLETIN ■V.\' #^ #' ii^ X V Jl' .JC \ Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin February, 1979 Vol. 50, No. 2 Editor/ Designer: David M. Walslen Production: Oscar Anderson Calendar: Mary Cassai Staff photographer: Ron Testa Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President and Director: E. Leland Webber Board of Trustees Jr., William G. Swartchiid chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour Goerge R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook O. C. Davis William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Marshall Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Hugo J. Melvoin William H. Mitchell Charles F. Murphy, Jr. James J. O'Connor James H. Ransom John S. Runnells William L. Searle Edward Byron Smith Robert H. Strotz John W. Sullivan Mrs. Edward F. Swift Edward R. Telling Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber Julian B. Wilkins Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field Clifford C. Gregg Samuel InsuU, Jr. William V. Kahier Remick McDowell James L. Palmer John T. Pirie, Jr. Donald Richards John M. Simpson J. Howard Wood CONTENTS 3 Field Briefs 4 Metals and Man in the Prehistoric Midwest By Thomas ]. Riley 6 Edward E. Ayer Film Lecture Series March and April schedule 7 Feather Arts Featherwork exhibit opens February 15 By Phyllis Rabineau, custodian of the anthropology collections 13 A Glimpse of the Porcupine Mountains Text and photos by John and Janet Kolar 20 The Solar Eclipse of February 26 By Edward Olsen, curator of mineralogy 22 Our Environment 23 Soviet Union Tour for Members 27 February and March at Field Museum Calendar of coming events COVER Feather headdress made by the Jivaro tribe of Peru. A mosaic of feathers is mounted on barkcloth and orna- mented with equally colorful buprestid and scarab beetles. This unusual piece, one of 260 to be on view in Hall 26 beginning February 15, was collected in 1891 for the World's Columbian Exposition. Length 64 cm, width 31 cm. Cat. no. 6052. Photo by Ron Testa. Cover story on p. 7. field hAuseum of Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July /August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. Chicago, 11. 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Museum membership includes Bulletin sufjscription Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 11. 60605. ISSN: 0015-0703. ' 'c^^s--&^yt'S^}^' Marshall, Turnbull, and Testa On South American Fossil Dig Chubut Province, southern Argentina, is the site of a recent fossil dig by Field Museum paleontologists Larry G. Marshall, visiting assistant curator of geology, and William D. Turnbull, curator of fossil mam- mals. The object of their search is mammals of the Cretaceous period (135,000,000- 65,000,000 years ago). Ron Testa, head of the Division of Photography, accompanied the paleontologists to document their work on film. Marshall's work was supported by a National Geographic Society grant. The Museum's first acquaintance with the Chubut Province fossil beds was more than half a century ago, when Elmer S. Riggs, former curator of paleontology, made significant finds there. Botanists Join Staff Two recent additions to the Department of Botany staff are Michael O. Dillon, visiting assistant curator, and Timothy C. Plowman, assistant curator. Dillon, a native of Kansas City, MO., received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Northern Iowa and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas (Austin). A special interest of Dillon's is the Compositae (daisy family); his field work has included activity in Peru and Mexico. Plowman, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., received his B.A. from Cornell University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard Uni- versity. He then served as a lecturer at Har- vard and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Botanical Museum. Plowman has done special work on medici- nal plants of the Upper Amazon Basin. Vandenbosch Named Women's Board Secretary The new secretary of the Field Museum Women's Board is Susan E. Vandenbosch. She succeeds Alexandra Mente, who had held the position since March, 1976. Previously Miss Vandenbosch was with Marshall Field & Company, where she coordinated special merchandising events. "Earthquake Charlie," Field Museum's newest resident, is eased onto the Museum's freight elevator by Museum employees. The Alaskan polar bear had just arrived from Franklin Park, a Chicago suburb, where he had been the "guest" of sporting goods retailer James Bell, Sr. A gift of Bell's to the Museum, Earthquake Chairlie has chosen as his permanent den The Place for Wonder, the ground-floor gallery where specimens may be touched, handl- ed, or otherwise closely examined. The bear is 8'5" long and d'S'/z" high (including plat- form): 38 inches is the girth of one front leg. The date of Charlie's installation in The Place for Wonder will be announced in a future issue of the Bulletin. benefit fashion shows, and other promo- tional activities. A native of Alma, Michigan, she holds a B.A. from Michigan State University. Anthropology Internship Program Stop, look, and recognize the roadsign of the 1979 poster for the Anthropology In- ternship Program offered by the Center for Advanced Studies at Field Museum. The program is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The postmark deadlines for applica- tions are April 3 for summer internships and July 3 for fall-winter internships, 1979. Applications may be obtained by writing: Anthropology, Center for Advanced Stud- ies, Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lakeshore Drive, Chi- cago, 111. 60605. Scanning Electron Microscope Adult Education Course The SEM course will again be offered this spring, beginning March 20. The course will meet once a week for five weeks, each session lasting from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Instructors are Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates, and Christine Niezgoda, her- barium assistant. Department of Botany. Course fee is $60.00. Ertrollment is limited to 24 persons. Information on dates and registration may be obtained by calling 922-9410, X-382, or by writing: Adult Courses: SEM; Dept. of Education, Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111. 60605. METALS & MAN in the PREHISTORIC MIDWEST By THOMAS J. RILEY Metals are one of the cornerstones of western technology, and they possess many proper- ties which other materials such as stone, wood, and bone do not have. Yet, for more than two million years of man's existence on earth, metals and their uses were unknown. Technologies depended on the inherent limitations imposed by stone, wood, bone, clay, and plant materials for tools to provide subsistence and basic creature comforts. It might be argued that human ingenuity peaked in the complex primary tools that were made from combinations of these materials. The lethal efficiency of prehistoric eskimo harpoons, for instance, is a function of the complex use of bone for point and toggle, sinew for hafting and line, and wood for both the foreshaft and the mainshaft. For modern man, the uses to which Solutrean flint projectile tips were put is over- shadowed by their delicate beauty suggesting an aesthetic in stone materials some 18,000 years ago. But, no matter how complex or beautiful, the tools made from these materials show a rela- tionship between man and material where man had to fit his ideas of utility within narrow limits imposed by the stone or bone that he was working with. The sculptor who works with marble must bow to the properties of stone as well as to limita- tions of talent and vision. Metals, on the other hand, have a vast ar- ray of properties that broaden the range of man's technological and aesthetic capacity. Copper, the first metal used by man. in both the Old and New World can be beaten into pins and beads, heated and annealed to make it soft and ductile, melted for casting, smelted from ores, and combined with other metals in alloys with different characteristics. The Bronze Age was one of the turning points of Old World technology. It began some- time before 7300 B.C. with the discovery of some of the more limited uses to which copper could be put. This was the first of a long and arduous series of discoveries that led to casting and alloying. The development of metal technology in the Old World saw the invention of new and more durable tools, more efficient weaponry, and a whole array of household conveniences that had been impossible with a technology based on stone, bone, plant fiber, and sinew. The study of the development of metal technology in the Old World has provided a number of important insights into the processes of cultural change that have led to our own industrial technology. The crucial question that has never been satisfactorily answered, however, is how the properties of copper first came to be recognized by ancient peoples. The occurrence and use of pure native copper in the ancient world is limited, and the artifacts that we have left for us to study are few and far between. Oddly enough, while deposits of pure cop- per are rare in the Old World, the metal is abun- dant here in North America. Few people realize that as the Bronze Age was unfolding in Asia, the Near East, and Europe, Native Americans were discovering on their own the properties of metals such as copper, silver, and even iron. For several thousand years eastern North American Indians tottered on the brink of the "metal ages." This American Indian experience with metals is giving archaeologists some new and valuable insights in- to the transition from stone-based to metal-based technologies. The first use of metals in North America occurred in a context quite different from that of the Old World. The discovery of copper and its uses in the Near East was by people already engag- ed in village agriculture. In North America, on the other hand, copper was first used by hunters and gatherers in the upper Midwest around 4200 B.C. Agriculture would not become an important Thomas J. Riley is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois. part of these Indian cultures until the introduction of maize into the area some 4,000 years later. The North American copper-working tradition was heavily dependent on large, rich deposits of extremely pure native copper around the southern shores of Lake Superior and on Isle Royale (in Lake Superior) near its southwest margin. A second important source of copper for Native Americans in the midwest was in the tills of the great glacial advances of the Pleistocene. Large copper nuggets were pushed forward by the ad- vancing ice sheets from the area of the present-day Great Lakes to places as far south as central Illinois and Indiana. Even today Illinois farmers sometimes find in their fields large rounded fragments of pure copper that were deposited there more than 18,000 years ago. Between 4000 and 2000 B.C. Indians of Wisconsin were making a startling variety of tools from copper. By 2000 B.C. axes, spearheads, knives, awls, and even fishhooks were being pro- duced by ancient craftsmen in such numbers that well over 20,000 of them have been recovered by collectors and archaeologists. At this time, too, copper and the implements made from it were being traded south and east from Lake Superior, apparently over well established trade routes following major river courses. pits into copper-bearing deposits. Although most have been destroyed by modern mining, the re- mains of some of these pits can still be seen at Isle Royale and on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Estimates of the copper removed from the Great Lakes area from the beginnings of the prehistoric copper industry at 4000 B.C. to Euro- pean contact are hard to come by, but at least one source has placed the possible yield at between 200,000 and 1,500,000 tons of metal! More recent- ly Claire Patterson, a California Institute of Technology geologist, has estimated that about 5,000 tons of copper was mined during the thousands of years of Indian copper exploitation in the Midwest. Even Patterson's low estimates represent a massive labor input over time with some ten million pounds of copper finding its way south to the Gulf of Mexico and east to Penn- sylvania and New York in trade and gift exchanges. For quite a long time archaeologists assum- ed that most of the copper tools made by prehistoric Indians were simply cold hammered from native copper nuggets, and that the technology that they represented was basically uninteresting. Unfortunately, few archaeologists have any training in metallurgy and cold hammer- ing was thought to be the simplest technology that Copper bird effigy. Eye is of pearl. From Hopewell Site, Ross County, Ohio. Cat. no. 56356. Gift of W. K. Moorehead. The trade in copper decreased during the thousand years before Christ and then increased again at about 150 B.C. with the development of what archaeologists have called the Hopewell In- teraction Sphere. Copper appears to have been considered an important metal by people who par- ticipated in this massive trade network that en- compassed the eastern United States from upper New York state to Florida. It is found in associa- tion with burials in conical mounds and was ap- parently used both for decoration and for the pro- duction of ceremonial objects. The exchange of copper from the Lake Superior region was so heavy that Native Americans had turned from collecting surface cop- per outcrops and nuggets to sinking deep mining could produce the array of tools that they re- covered from prehistoric Indian sites in the Mid- west. They did not realize that cold hammering is often accompanied by annealing — heating the copper to a temperature below its melting point to soften it so that the metal can be more easily reduced. At first glance, copper seems to be an easy metal to shape by cold hammering. Indeed, a number of simple tools such as awls can be pro- duced by simply hammering a lump of copper into an elongated form with a point at one end. But with extensive cold hammering alone, copper becomes brittle as it is reduced. After awhile the hammer-wielder finds his hammer bouncing off the deformed nugget with no appreciable results in (Continued on p. 24) Edward E. Ayer Film Lectures March and April Saturdai;s. 2:30 p.m. James Simpson Theatre The ground-level west door entrance provides free admission to James Simpson Theatre. However, access to other museum areas requires the regular fee or membership identifica- tion. These illustrated lectures are approximately 90 minutes long, and are recommended for adults. Doors open at 1:45 p.m. March 3 ' Venezuela: Land of Natural Wonders by George Lange Beginning in tiie modern capital city of Caracas and ending at Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, this film includes exotic wildlife, rugged scenery, and scenes of Venezuela's diverse peoples. March 10 Russia by Dick Reddy A tour of Russia, taking you- to some of her great cities and historical landmarks: Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev; the Kremlin, the Winter Palace, and the Hermitage. The Bolshoi Ballet and Black Sea re- sorts are also on the itinerary. March 17 Sweden — A Midsummer's Dream by Ric Dougherty See Sweden from the south at Malmo to the north at Kiruna. You will visit the famous glassmaking region around Orrefors and accompany the Lapps on a reindeer roundup. Folk arts and customs are also the subjects of Dougherty's camera. March 24 German}; — Once upon a Time by Kathy Dusek Germany is rich in myth and legend. Think of all the folktales that originated there: Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, The Pied Piper, and many more. Travel to the land and the people that still exist in story-book Germany. March 31 Egvpt-Gift of the Nile by Doug Jones One of the world's most ancient cultures is also in the forefront of modern events. From King Tut to Sadat, this film traces Egypt's remarkable history. April 7 China after Mao by Jens Bjerre This is a rare opportunity to travel through modern China. Every scene abounds in unexpected sur- prises. You will see how the world's most populous nation is striving to become one of the most ad- vanced. April 14 The Marsh —A Quiet Myster}; by Tom Sterling In an effort to increase public awareness of the value of wetlands, Tom Sterling has explored, studied, and filmed the marsh and its life. Filmed most ex- tensively in the Michigan marshlands, this work also incorporates the marshlands of Utah, Oregon, and Ontario. April 21 O Canada! by Ken Richter "O Canada!" is a filmed exploration of two facets of Canada's identity: that 200 years ago Canada decided not to cut its ties to the Old World; since then it has made an effort to preserve the cultural heritages of many peoples who now live there. April 28 Discover Japan by Ted Bumiller Japan, with its civilization so profoundly different from our own, both surprises and excites the trav- eler. Among the places you will visit are: Mount Fuji, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. BY PHYLLIS RABINEAU Photography by Ron Testa On February 15, Field Museum will open the doors of a new exhibition, Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit from Five Continents.* For four months, 260 beautiful objects from many cultures, all made from feathers, will be on public view in Hall 26; the exhibit will then travel to hosting museums throughout the United States for an additional 18 months. This is the first major travelling exhibit to be drawn almost entirely from Field Museum's own permanent collections. Most of the objects have never before been on display, but were selected from the extensive research col- lections housed in the Museum's storage area. All colors of the rainbow, all sizes, shapes, textures, and moods will be found in the feather works drawn from cultures of all parts of the globe. In addition to explaining the techniques in- volved in creating the objects, the exhibit will ex- plore several themes, each a universal aspect of feather arts: plumage as body ornamentation, feathers used for wealth and status, and the sym- bolism of feathers in religious beliefs. (See the December 1978 Bulletin for additional informa- tion on the exhibition content.) As curator for this exhibit, it is an exciting time for me. A project I have worked on for over three years is about to be completed — something which has been a private research endeavor is at last to become quite public. Already, I have marvelled at the growing number of Museum * Members' preview Wednesday, February 14 specialists working on various aspects of this pro- ject: preparators putting together Plexiglas display mounts, the conservator cleaning and reconstruc- ting long-unseen artifacts, the editor refining catalog copy, the ornithologists identifying specific feathers in each artifact, the photographer patiently adjusting the lighting for catalog photographs, the designer arranging a model of the exhibit hall. All of these people are using their special talents to create a marvelous experience for the Museum visitor. I have truly enjoyed the col- laborative effort which is making my idea a reality. By working closely with this team, I have learned a great deal — from our discussions have resulted fresh ideas about the artifacts as well as new insights into the process of collaboration. In the long run, while I will be happy to see Feather Arts in its final form, my greatest reward will be the invaluable experience of having participated in this undertaking. For most people working at the Museum — and undoubtedly for most of our visitors — feather arts are a revelation. They've never seen most of the objects, or at least never paid attention to them. Everyone knows what a Plains Indian eagle feather war bonnet looks like, but how many peo- ple know what kind of feather headdresses are worn in Brazil, the Philippines, or New Guinea? Even in the professional anthropological literature, feather arts are virtually ignored. Phyllis Rabineau is custodian of the anthropology collections. Overleaf. P. 8: Topknot plumes of the crowned pigeon decorate a man's ornamental comb from Papua New Guinea (detail). Total length 41 cm. Cat. no. 276369. P. 9: Two different styles of men's headdresses from Brazil. Above, a simple string of brown, yellow, and red, made by the Kayapo; length 112 cm. Below, an in- tricately crafted and brilliantly col- ored feather "visor" made by the Urubu; diameter 32 cm. Cat. nos. 288190 (above), 168283 (below). ^am -' ' '* ''^^^^^I^^^^^^^^H 1 bl ^ lyj^^^^^^M ^B .J' J li^^i rk. '^^^^^H ..iil ^^ 1 IHp 'Jl^ ^^^H > s i Jt\ ^*^e^ j/ \. '^o p-»^^^ ^^1^^ ^/ * n/ 1 \ 1/ A pair of head ornaments from the Philippines shows cut and trimmed feathers. These buoyant plumes responded to every movement, of the wearer's head. Height 49 cm (each). Cat. no. 109407/1,2. though they are made almost everywhere. Volumes are written about ceramics, woodcarv- ing, textiles, and metallurgy, but these more delicate artifacts made from plumage are seldom mentioned. I began thinking about feather headdresses in my graduate studies at Brown University, whose small anthropology museum has a remarkably well-documented collection from the Cashinahua, a native people of eastern Peru. There were almost 100 feather headdresses, and I studied the individual variations among them. I soon became fascinated with the symbolic mean- ing of these objects and began to research not only featherwork but the religious ceremonies in which it was employed. To my surprise, I found that an- thropologists had given very little attention to this material, even though feather headdresses are the most striking form of visual art to be found in all of tropical South America. When I came to Field Museum as custodian of anthropology collections in 1974, I had a fabulously rich resource at hand: one of the world's great anthropology collections. My job was to care for the storage collections, and to help visiting researchers use them — to be a "librarian" of artifacts rather than books. From the start, I spent a great deal of time in storage rooms, learn- ing what riches could be found at Field Museum, so that I could help others locate collections they might need. In this "library" I found myself constantly drawn to the artifacts made from feathers, objects recently added to my experience. Delicate feather inlay jewelry from China, eerie black feather costuming from Melanesia, buoyant dance ornaments from the Philippines — it was an incred- ible discovery! Once again, I set out to read what I 10 A rare headdress from the Tor- 1 res Straits (Papua New Guinea) was worn during special dances whose strenuous movements demonstrated the virility and stamina of the male performers to an ad- miring female audience. Length 50 cm, width 36 cm. Cat. no. 276369. ^^v*" /^ / y iV 4fc*^ri^ '?^v a- ^ r-i'i ::j..,, ~S." ."«., ii'.l .z'. />/ ■*■ :t • r ;. Gifts of feather capes were tradi- tionally used to seal political agreements among Hawaiian chiefs. This use was later extended to Euro- pean dignitaries, and this cape was presented to England's George IV by the Hawaiian King Kamehameha in 1821. Diameter 80 cm. Cat. no. 272588. could about these objects and their cultural con- text and, as before, I was surprised to find that there was precious little to go on. A few scholars had examined the techniques, the psychology, and the use of feather ornaments in scattered areas of the world, but it was largely unexplored terrain. One had to dig ever deeper for a few nuggets of fact or theory, and so it was only natural to try to relate information about feather arts from the Pacific, for instance, to additional data from South America. The similarities and the dif- ferences were always of interest to me. The idea of putting all these beautiful ob- jects together in an exhibit, comparing their uses and meanings, came about from the simple im- pulse of wanting to be able to walk into a room full of the things I had been looking at in widely- scattered corners of our storage areas. I began to talk about the idea at the Museum, and then I had a stroke of the most wonderful luck. A new collec- tion of Brazilian featherwork was given to the Museum by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Van Zelst of Glenview, Illinois; they also offered a grant to cover part of the expenses for an exhibition as well as for a catalog on feather arts! And so the real work began: the final detec- tive work with scholarly sources, looking for data on cultural contexts of the artifacts; the intensified search in storage collections. Finally, last spring, I began to work closely with the exhibit designer. Clifford Abrams. We made the final selection of artifacts to be displayed, defined the theme areas, and decided which artifacts would best typify those themes. I set to work writing labels and catalog text while he designed the installation. Gradually we picked up more and more co- workers to take care of the hundreds of details in- volved in a project of this kind. There are still many problems to be solved, especially the thorny question of how to pack and ship these delicate and fragile objects. While cer- tainly not as valuable as the golden treasures that have recently been displayed around the United States, these objects are important as beautiful art works, fragile survivors of craft traditions no longer practiced, and often embodying spiritual beliefs which we must respect. However, most of the work has been completed, and for me this par- ticular project is almost ended. The designers and preparators will move on to the next exhibit— and I will return to the storerooms. For me, in a sense the work has only begun on feather arts. In the course of assembling this project, I have un- covered several provoking questions, some mysteries about the craft and context of feather- works. There is a lot more research waiting to be done, more feathers to be seen, and — it is hoped — some fieldwork to be done in a living craft tradition. I'm looking forward to the next step. D 12 A Glimpse Of The Porcupine Mountains Text and photos by John and Janet Kolar About 1,500,000,000 years ago a convulsion of volcanic activity devastated the southern edge of the Canadian Shield — a vast plain of Precambrian rock covering the northeastern fifth of our continent. Immense volumes of lava spread across the surface until the crust sagged beneath its weight, creating the trough of what is now western Lake Superior. Simultaneously, the edges of this basin lifted above the surrounding surface, forming, on the north. Isle Royale, and south of the lake, a ridge running from the Keweenaw Peninsula to near the present Wisconsin-Michigan border. Then, sections of the southern edge of this ridge broke off and lumped back toward their original elevation, forming lines of alternate cliff and valley, parallel to the lake shore. Today, these ridges, polished by glaciers and eroded by rivers draining northwestward into Lake Superior, are known as the Porcupine Mountains, the name originally given them by the Indians. Before the coming of white settlers, most of Michigan's Upper Peninsula was covered by a mixed conifer-northern hardwood forest. Then, around the mid-1800s, the hardwood component of this forest began disappearing into charcoal kilns. The charcoal, in turn, was used to fuel smelters that produced pig iron, which went to manufacturing centers of southern Lakes The photographic art of ]ohn and Janet Kolar fre- quently appears in the Bulletin. John Kolar is a Field Museum volunteer. Michigan and Erie. Because of the distance to lumber markets, the pines (softwoods) were not cut in great quantities until near the end of the cen- tury, when the Soo Canal was opened. The pro- ducts of the saw mills could then be shipped economically down the Great Lakes. As a result, accessible stands of pine were readily depleted. But within the mountain region, the irregular ter- rain and the turbulent rivers succeeded in preserv- ing many virgin stands of pine and hemlock, together with their original associations of ferns and lichens. Today, even areas that were logged are now tending toward stable native climax forest, passing through a natural succession of plant communities. Only in continuously disturb- ed areas along roads and in campgrounds do the introduced Eurasian weeds occur in abundance. Some 85 miles of trails are arrayed in a net- work across the Porcupine Mountains. A few cross the scrub oak cliffs above Lake Superior and eroded escarpments overlooking the interior river valleys; others descend to these valleys, following streams and rivers that acknowledge each geological stratum with a waterfall or rapids. Some trails come to abrupt ends at peaks or at overlooks; others meander along lake shores and swamps that are reminders of the last glacier. Several routes follow old logging and mining roads which were not prohibited until 1945. At that time, the state of Michigan designated 91 square miles a state wilderness area in a modest gesture of deference to a land that was ancient when our species was new. D The Kolars camera lens found these mushrooms (family Agaricaceae ) nestl- ing in a shaded wood. Overleaf. Falls and rapids on Lower Presque Isle River. 13 wm' . -"tc .4»li^^iR^W!2SS^^ML ^ V *feo^-« *-^>% ''^ ■■ ,HB«*- ,;ir^ 'Vr^ /^^^ >'*=:-■ V, ■^^!^g::>v-.>^. ^ •■•*^ mm: *«; \T tlrr'' ■.'■ryr\ msf%tar r-yr'^^' my ^m ri^ W: ■•ier%^ ^^^^i^: B^fe^ ,^^: ^:^ — *-nir — as«- "^dii^i^:^^ .y.. X V 9$^^- ^■* . • -C-- Lake of the Clouds, east end. At upper right may be seen marshes of Inlet Creek. Hills at left are overgrown with virgin stands of white pine and hemlock. Falls on the Union River Mushroom, family Agaricaceae 17 Patches of lichen grow on exposed rock face of Cana- dian Shield. Quiet section of the Carp River, west of Lake of the Clouds Edge of Presque Isle River is lush with American arbor vitae and brilliant sugar maple. Clearly visible is graze line, or browse line, of resident deer. 18 The Solar Eclipse Of February 26 BY EDWARD OLSEN In Mark Twain's novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the hero at one point, fin- ding himself in a tight spot, invokes the heavens to blot out the sun. When this happens, the populace, including the knights and ladies of the court, cry out in amazement and declare him a magician of the greatest kind — much to the con- sternation of his arch-rival. Merlin, the magician. In a similar situation one of the heroes of H. Ridger Haggard's nineteenth-century thriller. King Solomon's Mines, pulls off the same stunt and saves the expedition from the hostile designs of a large tribe of Africans. What these tricksters did, of course, was to wave their arms in the air and chant a "magic word" or two at the very moment a total solar eclipse was to begin. You have to agree it's pure magic for someone not only to remember, down to the minute, when a solar eclipse is going to take place, but to remember even the path of totality across the face of the earth. Anyone with that kind of memory deserves all good things that come to him. Eclipses are indeed awe-inspiring sights. On February 26, we in North America will have a chance to see what will be the last total eclipse to be visible from this continent in this century. Un- fortunately, the Chicago area will not be in a posi- tion to see a total eclipse; a partial one will be visi- ble, however. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between an observer on earth and the sun. The moon travels around the earth, and the pair — the moon and earth — travel around the sun. The moon, however, doesn't move around the earth in the same place as the earth goes around the sun. If it did, then every month, or twelve times a year, an eclipse would take place at lower latitudes on earth. Because of the tilt of the plane of movement of the moon around the earth, only an average of 2.37 total eclipses occur each year (that is, 237 eclipses in 100 years). Even when a total eclipse is taking place, it cannot be seen everywhere on earth. It's obvious that those parts of the earth on the side opposite the sun — the night side — cannot see it at all. For those places on the day side, it depends on whether you are in direct line with the moon and sun. Predicting where and when total eclipses will take place was one of the first real successes of the modern mathematical sciences, although there is some hint that primitive builders of stone rings — like the famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England — may have had some notion of how to predict this phenomenon several thousand years ago. For the eclipse on February 26, the path of totality will run from the northwestern United States (including parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota) across Canada, passing close to Winnipeg, then north- eastward across Hudson Bay, Labrador, and en- 20 i::,:.,.r..f!|H'l"'lf"" Viewing the solar eclipse of Oct. 19, 1865, in New York ding in Greenland. In Chicago we are situated at an angle so that we'll see the moon blot out only about half the sun's face. When viewing an eclipse, total or partial, there is a real danger of eye damage. Viewing the sun directly by eye can cause searing of the retina, which could lead to impairment of vision and, in extreme cases, blindness. Using ordinary sunglasses is not protection enough! The safest way to view the eclipse is this: Take a big cardboard box, large enough to get your head and shoulders inside of it. With a large nail, punch a small hole through one side. Then stand inside the box, facing away from the direc- tion of the sun, and move the box around so the image of the sun is projected through the hole onto the back wall of the inside of the box. When the moon's shape passes over part of the sun's face you'll see the image projected on the back wall of the box. Since you're only looking at a projected image of the sun you can't hurt your eyes. What you are doing is actually standing inside a simple lens-less camera — a so-called pinhole camera. Because the sun is the central luminary body of our solar system it is of great scientific in- terest to us. Also, since it is a star, it is the only star we can study at close hand. Is it getting more active? Is it getting less active? How does its radia- tion affect radio communications here on earth, and the atmosphere of the earth? These are ques- tions that can be studied during solar eclipses. Although it is possible to make scientific measurements of the sun on any clear day, certain kinds of measurements and observations can only be made during a total eclipse. This is why many astronomers set up temporary field stations along the path of totality prior to the eclipse. Most of their observations are made photographically. By pure coincidence, the sizes and distances of the moon and sun viewed from the earth are such that they each subtend about a half degree of arc. This means that under the conditions of a total eclipse, the moon can almost exactly cover the sun. Were the moon much larger, or much closer to earth, then the sun would appear somewhat smaller than the moon and disappear completely behind it. As it is, under the best con- ditions, the thin outer fringe of the sun's atmosphere is just visible with the bright center blotted out. This permits photographic measurements to be made on the solar atmosphere without being ruined by the glaring light from the face of the sun.* 'Because the paths of the earth around the sun. and the moon around the earth, are not perfect circles, the earth-moon and earth-sun distances change sUghtly at different times of the year. This means that for some total eclipses the outer fringe and a thin edge of the sun's disc show around the outside of the moon. This is called an annular total eclipse. When the bright center of the sun is blotted out we can see long, streaming flares of hot gases shoot out thousands of miles into space from the sun's surface. From study of these flares we can determine some of the features of the magnetic and electrical fields that are generated around the sun. By means of the spectrograph we can also determine what chemical elements occur in various levels in the sun's atmosphere. One of the most dramatic uses of solar observations during a total eclipse first took place in 1919. Einstein's theory of relativity had already predicted that a ray of light can be bent from a straight path when it passes close to a very massive body. By measuring the apparent position of a star whose light rays pass close to the sun on their way to earth, it was indeed found that the star's light was slightly bent by the right amount. Since 1919 this bending of light rays has been measured many times during solar eclipses and verified with greater accuracy each time. Some measurements, however, made many times during total solar eclipses, have created a scientific puzzle that has still not been completely solved: The sun's surface has a temperature of about 6,000°C (about 11,000°F). Surrounding the surface is a region of gas called the chromosphere, which is hotter than the surface — around 25,000°C (about 45,000°F). Above this is the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona. Its temperature is a scorching 1 million degrees C (1.8 million degrees F). How is it that the temperature way above the sun's surface is about 140 times hotter than the surface? This question, and others, will be studied during the coming eclipse. What a disappointment it will be if February 26 is a cloudy day! Q Edward Olsen is curator of mineralogy. 1462 diagram of how an eclipse occurs 21 OUR ENVIRONMENT Crustacean's Last Toehold: Rusty Drainpipe A 90-foot piece of iron drain pipe leading to an abandoned bath house in New Mexico is the only home for 2,500 remaining Socorro isopods. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed that this relative of the common sowbug be listed as an endangered species because of the link it may provide in the ecological and evolutionary web. This half-inch freshwater crustacean, which eats the algae lining the drain pipe, is one of only two freshwater species in a family that is otherwise entirely ocean- dwelling. Biologists think it may provide the key to understanding how this and other land- locked relic animals evolved from ancient marine isopods that lived in the oceans once covering much of the western U.S. The Socorro isopod adapted to the warm, fresh water of a spring, where it lived for millions of years until the spring was capped in 1949. After that, the only place left to this small creature was the sec- tion of drain pipe. This, the isopod's last toe hold, now is threatened by periodic drought and flushing of the pipes. Dogs for Combating Coyotes Komondors, which are shaggy, heavy dogs first bred in Hungary to keep wolves from preying on sheep, are the subjects of a $33,000 US Department of Agriculture ex- periment to see if they can do the same for western sheep ranchers who claim coyotes are killing their sheep. Weighing as much as 120 pounds and costing up to $500, the dogs may be the sought-after alternative to shooting, trapping, and poisoning the clever coyotes. Komondors have already been found to frighten caged coyotes simply by walking past them. The tests, to examine ease of handling the dogs and their effec- tiveness in repelling coyotes, will be con- ducted'at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the U.S. Sheep Experiment Sta- tion in Dubois, ID. Tipsy Birds Around Perryville, R.I., the small, red ber- ries of the Russian olive bush, overripe and slightly fermented, have been intoxicating flocks of birds that snack on them. Local farmers and motorists watch in amazement as birds haphazardly swoop down and over the highway, many missing their mark and slamming into trucks and cars. Such dive- bombing antics have strewn dead birds along the roadside, yet police are loath to charge the birds with f.w.i. — "flying while intoxicated." Feds Act to Reduce Bird-Aircraft Collisions The Federal Aviation Administration and the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have stepped up measures to prevent collisions between planes and birds and to further advance airline passen- ger safety. Bird strikes, numbering about 1,200 annually, cost an estimated $20 million each year in damage to military and civilian aircraft. A 4-pound bird striking a plane moving at 500 miles per hour impacts with a force of 80,000 pounds and has been known to shatter a windscreen and badly dent the opposite cabin bulkhead. More often, however, birds are sucked into the jet engines, which can be instantly knocked out. Bird strikes, or collisions, have also been blamed for the loss of 140 human lives in this country since such record-keeping was started in the 1940s. The most serious accident occurred in 1960 in Boston, where 62 persons died after their airliner flew into a flock of starlings. Most bird strikes occur during take-off and landings, but the birds are also a threat in the air during the spring and fall migra- tion season when millions of ducks, geese, swans, and other birds migrate in dense for- mations at altitudes as high as 20,000 feet. Bird populations at airports also swell significantly at these times. Situated in many cases near water, mud flats, or marshy areas and quite often close to solid waste disposal sites, airports also attract birds because of architectural features that invite roosting, and decorative pools that birds use for bathing and drink- ing. Other attractions include standing water on runways or adjacent areas, tall grasses, fruit trees, and other vegetation, and the related insect and rodent food supply. Simple techniques include draining pools, filling the low spots on runways, removing certain trees and shrubbery, and cutting grasses to certain heights. Other techniques include relocation of existing garbage dumps that may be in air traffic corridors, and operating regular motor patrols of the runways to disperse birds. Dispersal methods such as distress calls and explosive noise devices are also used to reduce the risk of bird strikes. All of these deterrents are aimed at denying food, water, and roosting areas to the birds in an effort to make them seek other, safer habitats. Mastodons as Fox Bait A Siberian native has probably found the ultimate in well-aged trapping bait. The trapper had exceptionally good luck catch- ing foxes on his trapline using meat he had found frozen out on the tundra. Paleontol- ogists then discovered that the bait was from the leg of a 13,000-year-old mastodon. The paleontologists also found traces of an ancient settlement near the mastodon site. They estimated the age of the campsite to be about 13,000 years. Ultrasonic Pest Repellent Bob Brown, a California guitar player crip- pled by polio, has invented a device capable of making sound so shrill that it drives rodents wild, kills cockroaches, and sends fleas flying. The frequency of the sound is over a million cycles a second; the human ear can hear up to about 20,000 cycles. In a recent 12-month period. Brown sold 18,000 of his so-called "rat-repellent boxes." The government of Venezuela ordered 300 to kill cockroaches in food stores; 1,000 were bought by Spain to elimi- nate rodents from granaries. la Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine 20-day tour for Field Museum Members and their families ThE SPLENDORS OF OLD RUSSIA, the excite- ment of the New are in store for Field Museum Members and their families who join the tour "Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine," leaving Chicago's O'Hare Airport June 1 9 and returning July 8. Highlights of this exclusive tour will include visits to the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, Kiev, Leningrad, Petrovorets, Novgorod, and Petrozavodsk. The group, limited to 35 persons, will be led from Chicago by two Russian-speaking escorts, with additional guides while in the Soviet Union provided by Intourist (the Soviet Travel Bureau). The tour cost — $2,970 (which in- cludes a $500.00 donation to Field Museum) — is based upon double occupan- cy and includes round trip air fare from Chicago to Moscow, with intra-Russian air transportation where required. The trans- atlantic airline is Swissair. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used throughout or, where necessary, the best hotels available. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals; all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach; all ad- missions to special events and sites, where required; all baggage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers; all applicable taxes and tips; all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration information, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. Red Square, showing Lenin's Tomb, Moscow 23 Copper ornaments and pendants from Hopewell Site, Ross County, Ohio. On view in Hall 4. The headdress is of two parts: a thick, solid headplate and wooden antlers covered with thin sheet copper. (Cat. no. 56080). The ear orna- ments (56201-2) and pendants (56114, 56128) are of copper. (The necklace is of freshwater pearls.) Gifts of W. K. Moorehead. 24 Continued from p. 5 forming his tool. The metal, made brittle by cold hammering, often cracks and fractures. It took trained metallurgists interested in ancient technologies to begin to unravel the mysteries of native copper technologies in native North America. They did this by applying the techniques of metallography to the study of Indian copper working. Their research has shown that either hot working or successive anneals were im- portant to the manufacture of native copper arti- facts in the prehistoric Midwest. Unfortunately, a number of archaeologists have not understood the importance of their work, and at least two recent- ly published textbooks in American prehistory still cling to the notion that Native American cop- per from the Midwest was produced by simple cold hammering. Metallography, simply put, is the study of the internal structure of metals by various techni- ques including the use of powerful optical and electron microscopes. Metallographers most com- monly study the structures of metals to discover the physical properties that determine the utility of metals for commercial and industrial purposes. A few metallographers, however, have turned their attention to the study of ancient metal arti- facts to determine techniques of manufacture as well as the possible uses to which these tools were put. Native copper, like all metals, is crystalline in structure. When it is subjected to different treatments in manufacturing, the structure of the metal realigns itself in certain predictable ways. Extensive cold working, for instance, will deform the regular crystal alignments that metallo- graphers call grains by compressing them or breaking them up. Reducing copper by cold ham- mering produces lines of flow perpendicular to the force of the hammer blows. Metallographers can see these patterns of deformation through an op- tical reflecting- microscope when the metal is polished and etched with different corrosive solutions. Annealing is accomplished by heating cop- per to a temperature above 200° to 225 °C but well below its melting point of 1,083 °C. This allows the metal to recrystallize, often with the formation of distinctive paired linear structures called "twins" within the grains. Melting and alloying produce other, more complex structures within the metal. These microscopic structures permit the metallographer to reconstruct the techniques of manufacture of metal artifacts. In some instances they can deter- mine the temperature at which the artifacts were worked and whether or not they were heated and worked in an oxidizing or reducing atmosphere. In the spring of 1978, with the aid of Pro- fessor Heather Lechtman of the M.I.T. Center for the Study of Materials in Archaeology and Ethnology, I prepared a number of metallographic samples from copper artifacts found at several Hopewell Indian sites in Illinois. The samples were carefully cut from the artifacts with a jeweller's saw, mounted in a resinous medium, then ground and carefully polished so that surface abrasions were smaller than the wavelength of light. After this they were treated with solutions that would differentially etch the grain boundaries of the cop- per and accentuate the different planes of crystal alignments. One of the samples from a Hopewell burial mound group near Utica, Illinois, is shown below: a small piece of native copper that has been par- tially rolled by cold hammering after an apparent anneal in a reducing atmosphere, probably under the ashes of a wood fire. When the sample was subjected to analysis under the microscope, the different techniques of manufacture become clear. At a magnification of X50, the rolled end shows signs of the deformation of the metal perpen- dicular to the lines of force expected of cold ham- mering. On the thick end of the sample the grains are only partially deformed, and a number of par- tially bent "twins" suggest that the artifact was an- nealed before the final hammering process was begun. This part of the metal had not been reduc- ed as much as the rolled end, and it is likely that the hammering had occurred after the metal had been allowed to cool. It also appears that the metal was hammered on the end that was rolled before the turning process began. The tools of the metallographer, in this particular instance, permit the archaeologist to reconstruct the craft techniques of a Hopewellian craftsman who lived some 2,000 years ago in cen- tral Illinois. An interesting feature of prehistoric mid- western copper working for the archaeologist is that it seems to occur in association with an in- novation in stone tool technologies in the Midwest. Flints and cherts were one of the major materials from which prehistoric primary tools were made in North America. In Prehistoric North America some 10,000 to 3,000 years ago, Indian stone tool craftsmen began to treat flint with fire, "annealing" it before flaking stone tools from it. It is quite possible that the extensive copper working that is found in the Midwest from Archaic through late prehistoric times was simply an extension of the heat treatment of flint. Copper then, would have been considered just another stone which, when heated, showed properties different from those of flint in that it became soft and malleable rather than brittle and subject to fracture. It is possible that in the central part of what is now eastern United States the development of an exten- sive copper-working tradition depended on the in- novation of annealing flint and other stone materials, and that a copper industry of any magnitude and duration would have been im- possible without this innovation. We know that one of the early stages of copper manufacturing in the Old World, too, depended on annealing the metal to make it workable. Is it possible that the copper industry there began with the extension of heat treatment techniques from flint and chert to the new material, native copper? At present little work has been done on the occurrence of heat treatment of flint in the Old World, but I would expect that this particular innovation in stone-working precedes the extensive use of copper for tools and artifacts wherever native copper appears in western and eastern Asia. But copper was not the only metal used by prehistoric Americans. Small amounts of silver have been found in Hopewell sites in many of the Great Lakes states as well as in sites in Ontario. The silver has been beaten into thin sheets and used to cover reed whistles shaped like classical panpipes. Silver was also beaten onto a copper base to form large round earplugs shaped very much like large spools. Beads and head ornaments of silver have been found at a number of sites in western Wisconsin and Illinois. Meteoric iron, too, has been found at sites both in Ohio and Illinois. A set of meteoric iron beads was recovered from a Hopewell mound near Havana, Illinois, by researchers from the Illinois State Museum in 1945. When subjected to metallographic analysis, it was discovered that the small beads had been cold hammered around a Stylized serpent made of copper, restored. From Hopewell Site, Ross County, Ohio. Cat. nos. 56701 (left), 56206. Gift of W. K. Moorehead. 2S small cylindrical object to create center holes of the beads, then subjected to a light annealing pro- cedure. The manner of production parallels the manufacturer of copper objects. Prehistoric American craftsmen in the Midwest obviously recognized the importance of a number of native metals. Why didn't they develop that tradition into a regime of smelting, casting, and alloying that would have led to the beginnings of a bronze age in eastern North America? We shall probably never know the answer completely. It is probable that the abundance of native copjjer around the Lake Superior region made it un- necessary to develop procedures for smelting metal from copper oxide deposits, and thus the first major advance towards true metallurgy was not necessary in this part of the New World. In the Near East, on the other hand, the scarcity of native metals made it necessary to melt deposits of copper oxide ores to maintain the nas- cent copper industry. From that start the develop- ment of more difficult techniques for smelting cop- per from sulfide ores followed rather quickly. It is likely, then, that the eastern North American metal industry in prehistoric times suf- fered from an abundance rather than from a scar- city of relatively pure metals. Nevertheless, the achievements of prehistoric American craftsmen in extending the techniques of stone technology to copper, silver, and other native metals cannot be overlooked. It is an area where the metallurgists of our day using the sophisticated techniques of their trade can answer questions that the archaeologist left to his own devices cannot even begin to fathom. Above: Pan pipe of bone, with copper sheathing, original (left) and restora- tion. Cat. no. 56708. Gift of W. K. Moorehead. Early engraving (1565) of Florida Indian chieftains adorned with cop- per pendants. 26 February & March at Field Museum (February) 15 through March 15) New Exhibits Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit from Five Con- tinents. Opens Feb. 15. Conceived and created by Field Museum's own staff, this exhibit features exotic feather ob- jects from around the world. Assembled almost entirely from in-house collections, "Feather Arts" will travel to other museums nationwide after its four-month stay at Field Museum. The 260 artifacts, drawn from 1,000 years of history, include such rarities as an Hawaiian king's feather mantle given to George IV of England in 1821, and the feather shoes of an Australian sorcerer. This fascinating ex- hibit examines the symbolic and religious meaning of feathers over the centuries and illustrates the importance of featherwork as a universal art form. Hall 26. Through June 15. (Members' preview February 14, 1 to 7 p.m.) A Stamp Sampler: Postage from Natural History. Opened Dec. 8. This exhibit unites 63 natural history specimens with samples of philatelic art. Planned on a rotating basis to cover the four disciplines of natural history, the first 6 months of the exhibit are devoted to zoological specimens and their representations on stamps from all over the world. "A Stamp Sampler" was conceived by Field Museum volunteer Col. M. E. Rada, exhibit guest curator. The exhibition was de- signed by Peter Ho. Continuing Exhibits Primitive Art. Art objects from Africa, the Americas, and Oceania are presented for comparison of the primitive societies. The relationship of primitive art to modern art are also considered. Hall 2. Gems. This anthropological/geological exhibit contains Field Museums fine collection of primitive jewelry from India, Algeria, South America, Italy, Egypt, and the Philip- pines. Second floor, south. The Place for Wonder. This gallery provides a place to handle, sort, and compare artifacts and specimens. Weekdays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; weekends, 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.. to 3 p.m. Ground floor, near central elevator. Field Museum Gamelan. Field Museums 19th-century Javanese gamelan, an ensemble of 24 fine bronze and wood musical instruments, has been completely restored for ex- hibition. Hall K, ground floor. The Edward E. Ayer Film Lectures are scheduled every Saturday afternoon in March and April at 2:30 p.m. James Simpson Theatre. Reserved seating is available for members and their families. Doors open at 1:45 p.m. For complete March-April schedule, see page 6. March 3: ""Vene- zuela—Land of Natural Wonders," by George Lange; March 10: "Russia, '" by Dick Reddy. Continuing Programs Armchair Expeditions. Adult groups (clubs, P.T.A., societies, etc.) can now attend special slide programs; tour selected exhibits. Arrangements can be made to dine in one of the Museum's private dining rooms. Winter programs in- clude "Life in Ancient Egypt"; "The Weaver's Walk "; and "The American Plains Indian." For more information call (312)922-0733. Winter Journey. "American Indian Dwellings."' Through February 28. This self-guided tour for families and children desribes different types of American Indian homes found on the main floor of the Museum. Free Journey pamphlets are available at the North Information Booth, and at the South and West doors. Friend or Foe? The Natural History (Botany, Geology, An- thropology, and Zoology) Game. Field Museum's popular Anthropology Game has been expanded to include the Museum's three other scientific divisions. The object is to determine which of a pair of similar-looking specimens is harmful and which is not. For instance, which South American tree frog is the source of poison for Indian darts? Or which shell animal contains a poison four times more deadly than cyanide? Ground floor. On Your Own at Field Museum. Self-guided tour booklets, adult- and family-oriented, are available for 25"^ each at the entrance to the Museum Shop, main floor north. Weekend Discovery Programs. Guided tours, demonstra- tions, and participatory activities. Every Saturday and Sun- day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteer Opportunities. Limited opportunities are available in botany, geology, and zoology. Weekend volunteers with an interest in natural history are needed to develop and present weekend programs. For more informa- tion call 922-9410, ext. 360. New Programs "Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit." An illustrated lecture by Phyllis Rabineau, curator-in-charge of the new "Feather Arts" exhibit. Feb. 28, 8 p.m. James Simpson Theatre. A lecture on diverse featherworking techniques; the use of feathers as ornamentation; and the cultural, religious, and symbolic significance of feather arts over the past 1,000 years. Members, $1.50; nonmembers, $3.00. February and March Hours. During February the Museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. March Mon.-Thurs. hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. February and March Saturday and Sunday hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Fridays the Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. throughout the year. The Museum Library is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Feb. 19 (Presidents' Day). Obtain pass at the recep- tion desk, main floor. Museum telephone: (312) 922-9410. 27 ',:>>.^a-»J3Ss:".«ag'.^av:^.. :^i--» FIELD MGSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin March, 1979 Vol. 50, No. 3 Editor/ Designer: David M. Wakten Production: Oscar Anderson Calendar: Mary Cassai Staff photographer: Ron Tesla Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President and Director: E. Leland Webber Board of Trustees WiUiam G. SwartchUd, Jr., chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour Goerge R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook O. C. Davis William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Marshall Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Hugo J. Melvoin Waiiam H. Mitchell Charles F. Murphy, Jr. James J. O'Connor James H. Ransom John S. Runnells William L. Searle Edward Byron Smith Robert H. Strotz John W. Sullivan Mrs. Edward F. Swift Edward R. Telling Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber Julian B. Wilkins Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field Qifford C. Gregg Samuel Insull, Jr. Waiiam V. Kahler Remick McDowell James L. Palmer John T. Pirie, Jr. Donald Richards John M. Simpson J. Howard Wood CONTENTS 3 Field Briefs 6 War and Peace — Pigeon Style By Patricia Williams, managing editor, scientific publications 10 Adult Group Programs By Linton Pitluga, group resource coordinator. Department of Education 12 China: A Photographic Portfolio Photos by Stanton R. Cook, Field Museum trustee 20 Of Land Bridges, Ice-Free Corridors, and Early Man in the Americas, Part II By Glen Cole, curator of prehistory 28 Field Museum Tours 32 Our Environment 35 March and April at Field Museum Calendar of coming events COVER Camera portrait of a man of Inner Mongolia, by Stanton R. Cook (below), chairman and publisher of the Chicago Tribune and a member of the Field Museum Board of Trustees. Cook visited China in September, 1977, with a group of Associated Press directors. Photo essay on page 12. Photos courtesy Chicago Tribune. Stanton R. Cook Field Museum of Natural History BuUetirt is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum oi Natural History. Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. U. 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; S3 a year (or schools. Museum membership includes Bulletin subscription- Opinions expressed by autt^ors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museuiirof Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. Chicago U. 60605 ISSN: (»154)703. NSF Grant for Summer Anthropology Course High school students must complete appli- cation forms by April 6 for this year's col- lege-level, tuition-free anthropology course (June 25 through August 3, 1979) at Field Museum of Natural History. A $25 field trip fee is required for bus charters. The program is open to 27 high-ability high school students (priority given to juniors) who have the academic ability and interest in an intensive six weeks of anthropology. Students are selected on the basis of academic achievement, teachers' recom- mendation, and personal interviews. Appli- cation forms are available from high school officials or may be obtained from Miss Har- riet Smith, director of the N.S.F. Summer Anthropology Program, Department of Education, Field Museum of Natural His- tory (922-9410, X-361). Now in its fourteenth year, this pro- gram has been the only National Science Foundation-funded program in the U.S. that introduces all fields of anthropology for the career choice of high school students. Monday-through-Friday sessions (9:15-3:00) involve students in concepts of man's relationship to his environment and his fellow man, with varied activities that include individual research projects, work- shops, the study of museum specimens, and lectures by visiting professors and museum staff anthropologists. Representative of program and faculty are Today's Careers in Anthropology, by Phillip H. Lewis, chair- man. Department of Anthropology, Field Museum; Fossil Man. by Ronald Singer, physical anthropologist. University of Chi- cago; Midwestern Archaeology, by Stuart Struever, archeologist. Northwestern Uni- versity; Environmental Life of American Indians, by Merwyn Garbarino, ethnolo- gist. University of Illinois at Circle Campus; Africa — Tradition and Change, by Peter Knauss, political scientist. University of Illi- nois at Circle Campus; China, Longest Continuum, by Kenneth Starr, director, Milwaukee Public Museum; With the Gyp- sies in Pakhistan, by Joseph Berland, cul- tural anthropologist. Northwestern Univer- sity; Chicago's Ethnic History, by William Adelman, labor relations program. Uni- versity of Illinois at Circle Campus; and Behind-the-Scenes Demonstration of An- thropology Exhibits in Production at Field Museum, by James A. VanStone, curator. Department of Anthropology, Field Museum. A week of archeological field work at a local site provides application of the previ- ous weeks of study. The excavation is under the direction of David Keene, S.J., histori- cal archeologist. University of Wisconsin- Madison, with the cooperation of Edward Lace, naturalist-historian. Cook County Forest Preserves. Past participants have dis- covered abundant prehistoric and historic artifacts at this purported site of an 1828-32 fur-trading post. Christopher Legge 1905-1979 Christopher Legge, custodian of Field Mu- seum's anthropology collection from 1962 to 1974, died on January 24, 1979. He will be long remembered for his dedication to the Museum and for his scrupulous devo- tion to the collection. Christopher Legge Chris Legge was an extraordinary man. His coming to Field Museum after a career in the British Foreign Service was in itself remarkable — as well as a stroke of very good luck for the Museum. But the event was hardly fortuitous. Chris's grand- father, James Legge (1815-97), was an orien- talist, famed for his translations of Chinese classics, and Chris seemingly inherited his grandfather's own love and fascination for the Orient. Born in Chelsea, England, in 1905, he graduated in 1928 from King's College, Cambridge, where he was an honors stu- dent and an outstanding athlete. Following graduation, Chris took a post with the Nigerian government, remaining in Africa for six years. He then — characteristically — did the unexpected, by going to Denmark for a year to study physical education. For the next two years he was a grammar school instructor in Australia. In 1938 he joined the British Foreign Service and was assigned to the Fiji Islands as district com- missioner. He remained there until 1961, then retired. When Chris applied for a position at Field Museum, he noted on his application form a special interest in "Oceanic archae- ology and ethnology, " never dreaming that in a few short months his responsibility would be one of the finest collections of such material in the world. So, at age 57, he embarked on an exciting new career — per- haps the one for which he was best suited. The union of Chris Legge with the Field Museum was a perfect match. The collec- tion of half a million artifacts required the attention of someone who was entirely devoted; and that devotion was embodied in Chris Legge. Colleagues in the Depart- ment of Anthropology would remark, half seriously, that Chris knew every single piece in the vast collection. But if he was respected for his dedication and knowledge- ability, he was equally loved for his man- ner. His pleasant charm, his gentle ways, and his desire to accommodate endeared him to everyone. After his retirement in 1974, Chris con- tinued to frequent his beloved Museum as he pursued the various projects that ap- pealed to his far-ranging intellect. Just before his death he completed a short biography of Richard Parkinson, an early explorer of the southwest Pacific. To have known and worked with Chris Legge was a rare privilege. Field Museum was immeasurably enriched by his pres- ence.— Ed. Anthropology Department Receives National Science Foundation Award The National Science Foundation in Wash- ington D.C. has awarded the Department of Anthropology a grant of $38,579 for the first of two years in support of systematic collections in anthropology (Phillip H. Lewis, principal investigator). This grant is for preventive and technical conservation of the Museum's outstanding textile hold- ings, numbering over 12,CXX) specimens from around the world, which have been described by one leading authority recently as "an incredibly rich resource." Impetus behind Lewis's successful pro- posal to the NSF came from three directions. First, the Department of Anthropology has declared development of its conservation division to be its first priority, now that the vast new four-floor Central Anthropology Storage Area (CASA) has been built within the Museum as a result of our recently com- pleted Capital Campaign. Second, new plans for textile care and storage were initiated by Joan B. Andrews of the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) in 1977. She was then one of the first "In- terns in Anthropology" at Field Museum sponsored by a grant to the department and the Museum's Center for Advanced Studies from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. Andrews drew up many of the guidelines and proposals which later formed the basis for the successful pro- posal to the NSF. Third, and perhaps most important, during 1978 Jeannette Leeper, now registrar for the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, dem- onstrated conclusively that the economical procedures outlined by Andrews could be implemented effectively at the Museum to improve care and storage of the beautiful collections of tapa or "bark cloth" from the tropical regions of the world. At the same time. Museum Volunteers Sylvia Schuppert, LeMoyne Mueller, Karen McNeil and Judith John Terrell, associate curator of Oceanic archaeology and ethnology, presents ]eannette Leeper with honorary tapa specimen. Spicehandler carried out similar improve- ments for storage of African and North American textiles and comparable materials. In the photograph at left, Jeannette Leeper is seen in front of the new tapa stor- age facility she installed at the Museum with the aid of Museum Volunteer Lorraine Peterson. She is shown being presented last year with an honorary tapa specimen (from the Museum's Shop) by John Terrell, associ- ate curator of Oceanic archaeology and ethnology, prior to her departure for Cali- fornia. Through this grant from the NSF, the work of Joan Andrews and Jeannette Leeper is being extended to all of the Museum's tex- tile collections by conservation assistants Anna Campoli and Jan Di Girolamo, under the supervision of Christine Danziger, con- servator, and Phyllis Rabineau, custodian of collections. Volunteers Sylvia Schuppert and LeMoyne Mueller have also expanded their own work on preserving our large and impressive textile collections, which are of both great aesthetic and scientific value. Adult Education Course: Operation and Use of the Scanning Electron Microscope The scanning electron microscope has revo- lutionized the study and photography of small objects by research scientists. With 500 times the depth of field obtained by op- tical lenses and the ability to magnify be- tween 20 and 100,000 times life size, it is an important and versatile instrument. Prepa- ration of specimens for study, basic machine operation, and adjustments for viewing difficult specimens are featured in the first two sessions of this course. In the last three sessions, material brought in by some of the participants is viewed and pho- tographed. All pictures become the proper- ty of the participants. The course is taught by Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates; and by Christine Niezgoda, assistant. Department of Botany. It meets once each week for five weeks, beginning March 20 or 21. Sessions last from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The class is divided into four sections of six participants each. Course fee: $60.00. For additional informa- tion call Lynne Houck, 922-9410, X-362. Gamelan Master Classes Two courses on Indonesia's remarkable or- chestral ensemble, the gamelan, are offered in March. An introductory course includes basic techniques of performance, musical structure, and the cultural background of gamelan music in social and ceremonial uses. An intermediate course features Java- nese singing and simple gender accompani- ment on the gamelan. Prerequisite for the intermediate course is an introductory gam- elan course at Field Museum or at a univer- sity school of music. When the courses are completed, participants will give a public concert held at Field Museum. The instruc- tor for both courses is Sue Carter-De Vale, gamelan program director. Field Museum. The introductory course meets Tues- day evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. for 10 weeks beginning March 13. The intermedi- ate course meets Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. for 8 weeks beginning March 28. Participants should be physically able to remain seated on the floor for sev- eral hours— the position for playing many of the instruments. For information and registration, please call the Department of Education, 922-9410 X-362. The scanning electron microscope, which can magnify 20 to 100.000 times life size, has opened new worlds for the scientific investigator. A gamelan master class practice session War and Peace — Pigeon Style The author's son feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square BY PATRICIA WILLIAMS Robins signal spring. Eagles symbolize power and authority; peacocks, pride. But the pigeon? Pigeons definitely have trouble with their image — especially among city dwellers, who are most like- ly to associate the bird with whitish droppings staining buildings, park benches, and, more per- sonally, clothing. However, this is a rather one- sided view. In matters of love and faith, war and peace, the pigeon has long played a symbolic — and sometimes active — role. Wendell Mitchell Levi, in his weighty book The Pigeon, wrote, "In the religions of early man, it held a place excelled by no other speechless creature. In martial strife, it has served its masters from earliest days. As a message-bearer in general, it had no equal. Poets, philosophers, and his- torians have extolled this bird." Poets, philosophers, historians, and, in fact, most nonscientific writers have tended to use the terms "pigeon" and "dove" interchangeably and that's o.k. Pigeons and doves are both members of the family Columbidae and, as stated in the Dictionary of Birds, "no sharp distinction can be drawn between Pigeons and Doves, and in general literature the two words are used almost indifferently while no one species can be pointed out to which the word Dove, taken alone seems to be proper." The pigeon commonly seen strutting down train platforms and roosting high on city buildings is the Rock Dove, a bird that also travels under the names Street Pigeon and Blue Rock. It might be said that a pigeon by any other name coos as sweetly — or makes just as big a mess, depending upon your point of view. However, just calling the bird a "dove" seems to improve matters. Can you imagine referring to the "pigeon of peace"? Hardly. Under both names, pigeon and dove, the bird's history has been linked with man's for thousands of years. As Levi pointed out, "Wherever civilization has flourished, there the pigeon has thrived." Archeological investigations have turned up carvings, inscriptions, and representations involving pigeons that date back thousands of years to the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. It has been said that at the coronation of King Arthur of England four kings walked before him, each carrying a sword of gold, and four more kings walked before the queen, each of these car- rying a white pigeon. At coronations in France large numbers of white pigeons were released to commemorate the happy occasion. In more modern history, Samuel Pepys added a pathetic note when he included the pigeons in his description of the Great Fire of Lon- don, saying, "Among other things the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their homes, but hovered about the windows and bar- buies till they burned their wings and fell down." Wars stud the pages of history books and, although they are seldom mentioned, pigeons have been effective military allies since ancient times. Carrying messages to and fro, homing pigeons were used by Julius Caesar in his conquest of Gaiil and by many generals over the years, but really flew into their own on an international basis following the Franco-Prussian War. During the siege of Paris (November 1870 to January 1871) pigeons flew to Paris from other cities bearing thousands of messages. Although you might assume that advances in communications techniques would have out- moded the homing pigeon by the time of World War I, this was not so. Telephone or telegraph wires could be tapped or cut; rockets or flares become impractical, but the pigeon flew on. Major General Fowler (an amazingly appropriate name), chief of the British Army's Department of Signals and Communication, was reported as say- ing: "When troops are lost, or surrounded in the mazes on the front, or are advancing and get beyond known localities, then we depend ab- solutely on the pigeon for our communications. Regular methods in such cases are worthless and it Patricia Williams is managing editor of scientific publications. is at just such times that we need most messengers that we can rely on. In the pigeons we have them. I am glad to say they have never failed us." It has been estimated that from 20,000 to 500,000 feathered fighters served all forces in World War I. Again, in World War II, pigeons were ac- tive participants and in the United States the Pigeon Corps numbered 3,000 enlisted men, 150 officers, and 54,000 pigeons. G. I. Joe, the best- known American pigeon hero of this war, was sta- tioned in Italy when he flew 20 miles in 20 minutes to stop allied planes from bombing a village just taken by British infantry troops. The planes' motors were warmed and they were ready to take off when G. I. Joe flew in with news of the take- over. The speedy pigeon was decorated by both the Americans and the British. Most recently, pigeons were field-tested in Viet Nam to serve in an ambush-detection system. Each trained pigeon was equipped with a small transmitter that emitted a steady signal as the bird flew ahead of a convoy and watched for concealed humans. If the bird saw anyone lying, kneeling, or hiding off the road, it was trained to land. When it landed, the transmitter's signal stopped and the convoy was warned of potential danger. In contrast to its role in wars and despite the fierce and bloody battles which occur between males, doves are popular symbols for valentines, wedding cakes, and poems of love. Of course, not only do doves bill and coo as lovers do, but they are — even in this time of rising divorce rates — believed to mate for life. Doves are connected with both Venus and Aphrodite, mythical goddesses of love, and literature is filled with allusions linking the bird and love. Shakespeare often refers to pigeons and doves in his plays and, for example, has Rosalind say to Orlando in As You Like It, "I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen." Elizabeth Barrett Browning was very fond of doves and was known to present friends with pairs of the loverlike birds. Tennyson often includ- ed pigeons in his poems, but certainly the most sentimentally romantic pigeon-poem must be Verses Written in a Garden by Lady Mary Wortley Montague: See how that pair of billing doves With open murmurs own their loves And, heedless of censorious eyes. Pursue their unpolluted joys: No fears of future want molest The downy quiet of their nest. Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love, is represented with a dove for his steed and, cupid- like, is armed with an arrow of flowers and a bow whose string is formed of bees. Not only Hin- duism, but many of the world's religions have employed pigeons and doves in rites and as sym- bols. Ingersoll, in his book Birds in Legend Fable and Folklore, points out that the dove, "by which is meant the prehistorically domesticated blue rock-pigeon, almost deserves a chapter to itself" and he proceeds to almost give it one, tracing the bird's history "back to the misty dawn of civiliza- tion and religion in Mesopotamia, the Garden-of- Eden land, where arose the dual 'nature-worship' of the combining elements heaven and earth, male and female." G. /. Joe^ the best- known pigeon hero of World War II, was decorated by both the Americans and the British Mohammedans hold the pigeon in reverence and Levi states that "as recently as 1925 a near riot was caused in Bombay when two Euro- pean boys ignorantly killed some street pigeons. The stock exchange and general market were clos- ed and a widespread strike threatened." References to pigeons abound in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. While many of those in the Old Testament concern the pigeon as a sacrificial offering, the bird plays a more ac- tive role in the story of Noah and the deluge. Noah sent forth a dove to see if the flood waters had subsided. On the first attempt, "the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 8:9). After a time, Noah sent the dove out again "and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth" (Genesis 8:11). This must certainly be the best-known ex- ample of the pigeon's trustworthiness and homing instincts. In the New Testament, scripture states that on the occasion of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist, "he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him" (Matthew 3:16). It is this reference that has inspired so much Christian art over the centuries. The Holy Spirit is depicted as a dove in stained glass windows, paintings, tapestries, and sculpture. Similarly, the spirit of man, or the soul, is also represented by the dove in various art forms. There are many stories concerning the multitudes of pigeons in St. Mark's Square in Venice and one of them asserts that the birds fly three times daily around the city in honor of the Trinity. Another story which offers an explana- tion for the great numbers of pigeons in the square holds that at one time it was the Palm Sunday custom of the clergy of St. Mark's to release pigeons fettered with little screws of paper to pre- vent their flying high. The people scrambled for the disabled birds and caught many of them. A few, stronger than the rest, managed to escape and fly to the safety of rooftops around the square. These sturdy high-fliers were, according to one writer, "regarded as sacred forever with their descendants" and the state provided them with food. Why do people enjoy feeding the pigeons? In 1887 the ardent English pigeon-fancier Rev. ]. Lucas tried to explain, "I have seen men of the careworn face and restless eye pause in the court- yard of Guildhall and watch them. Their anxious features relax into a smile; they become interested and amused at the docility and dignity of the birds, whose composure in the midst of a throng of pedestrians is exquisite." Alright. The pigeon is obviously a bird to be reckoned with: a war hero, religious symbol, and romantic model. Further, pigeon breeding and racing has given pleasure to hobbyists for cen- Pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice, 1887 Although Chicago now has no central pigeon hangout to rank with St. Mark's or Trafalgar Square in London, the city's fairly new Civic Center seems to be a likely candidate. Already popular with the birds, the vast open square has ample room for soaring and wheeling between buildings, a large monument for staining, and a sizeable crumb-tossing population. Until her death in December, 1978, "the Pigeon Lady," a small, white-haired woman shod in tennis sneakers, was a familiar sight in downtown Chicago as she fed bread crumbs to the birds. turies; the bird has served as a medium for scien- tific research in the study of genetics, disease, and nutrition; and squabs (young pigeons from one to about 30 days old) are enthusiastically enjoyed as food. All very commendable, but, still, there are those who just don't have a good word to say for the bird. Why not? Well, there are several reasons — and good ones, too. In September 1963, the Chicago Daily News complained "It seems to us that the pigeon feeders are about the only people allowed to keep their pets at large." In reaction to a New York City health department study which showed that the average New Yorker inhaled 3 micrograms of droppings daily — courtesy of that city's five mil- lion pigeons — the Daily News editorialized, "It may be a good idea to keep flocks of pigeons around on the off-chance that the next Depression will get really desperate, but in the meantime they are a frightful, filthy nuisance. . . ." If during a "desperate Depression" you eat a wild street pigeon, you may get more than you bargained for. Although a pigeon may seem to fly overhead in solitary splendor, it is not really alone. Austin Rand, former chief curator of zoology at Field Museum, wrote, "The bird is like an island with its own flora and fauna, carrying at least some of the 70 or so plants and animals that have been recorded as living on or in the domestic pigeon. These include two species of ticks, eight of mites, a fly, a bug, six lice, nine roundworms, eighteen tapeworms, three flukes, eight proto- zoans, two fungi, nine bacteria, four viruses, and doubtlessly many others." He went on to state that "A thousand tapeworms have been found in the intestines of a single pigeon, 30 pigeon flies among the feathers of a single bird, and 20 lice on a single feather." Mourning dove Not surprisingly then, feral pigeons have been indicted as transmitters of disease and have been a source of continuing interest to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Pigeons are known to be carriers of encephalitis, for example, and the disease is transmitted from birds to man by mosquitoes. Some other pigeon- related diseases are pigeon ornithosis, Newcastle disease, aspergillosis, thrush, salmonellosis, cryp- tococcosis, and histoplasmosis. Pigeon droppings garner the most com- plaints and cause the greatest number of pro- blems. Dr. H. C. Scott of the U.S. Communicable Disease Center ran up a short list of problems caused by pigeon droppings: "Pigeon droppings deface and accelerate deterioration of buildings, statues, and automobiles, and may be deposited on unwary pedestrians. Large amounts of pigeon excrement may kill lawns and shrubbery. In addi- tion, pigeon droppings, regurgitated pellets, feathers and nesting material are common con- taminants of grain destined for use as human food." The Armed Forces Pest Control Board has cited the great number of man hours needed per year to clean up and repaint government installa- tions as a result of pigeon fouling. Further, at air- ports bird droppings on helicopter rotor blades can cause the blades to be unbalanced. This, in turn, causes a severe vibration when the engine is readied for take off. Pigeon nests, too, get their share of negative reaction as they clog drain pipes, in- terfere with awnings, and make fire escapes hazar- dous. Mites and insects residing in pigeon nests on window sills and building ledges may easily enter and infest the host building. An industry devoted to the repelling and barring of pigeons does a lively business as a result of the bird's untidy practices. Workers for these firms, however, often report that they are harass- ed as they go about their jobs by irate pigeon admirers. Dr. Rand's tally of pigeon residents, listed above, inspired Carl S. Miner to compose the following poem with which many of us may sym- pathize: Till now when I saw pigeons fly Away up yonder in the sky I much enjoyed their graceful motion. Then I had not the slightest notion That they were hosts to noxious things That crawl or creep or fly on wings. Now when I see them overhead I'm filled with fear, also with dread. Of what might happen. So in fright I pull my hat down very tight. Knowledge is power, but sometimes it Limits enjoyment quite a bit. Here you have both sides of the pigeon issue: dirty bird versus noble creature. The choice is up to you. Just remember this word of warning: You may choose to admire the pigeon, but never look up to it. LJ The late, lamented passenger pigeon, cousin of the Rock Dove Adult Group Programs BY LINTON PITLUGA Thursday, April 20, 1978. The time: 9:45 a.m. The first group of the day is just arriv- ing at Field Museum; they leave the bus and enter the West Door. The group of 33 has been traveling since nearly 7 a.m. and they look slightly dazed from the droning of the bus. They welcome the end of the ride and the chance to shake off traveler stiffness. A museum volunteer greets the group and confers briefly with the leader. The rest of the group, unoccupied for the moment, forms into clusters to engage in revitalized conversation. The cavernous classic Greek lobby echoes with their voices. They are then invited to leave their wraps in the nearby coat closets. Some use the restrooms. The others are encouraged to enter the A. Montgomery Ward Theater for the slide lecture, which will begin as soon as all are seated. They are greeted by lecturer Bob Feldman, a Field Museum research ar- cheologist. At 10:05 a.m. the slide lecture begins. It will last nearly an hour. At about 11 a.m. the volunteer for this group returns to escort them to Hall 26 where they will see what they came for: Gold. Artifacts fashioned from gold are here in quantities that would astound even the conquistadors, comprising the temporary exhibit, Peru's Golden Treasures. Like the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibit, which visited Field Museum in 1977, Peru's Golden Treasures seems to possess a magic that renders all other exhibits pedestrian. This is only one of the 15 adult groups, totaling 654 people, to visit Field Museum on this Thursday. Some will visit the Peru gold exhibit only briefly, while others will have arranged for a slide lecture, an audio tour, and even a catered meal in one of the Museum's private dining rooms. Three shifts of staff and volunteers will be on hand to greet and escort, and to ease each party through its schedule. Some staff and volunteers will still be at the Museum at 10 p.m. when the last groups are leaving. Why did the groups come? Probably for a variety of reasons. Some, like the group from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, came for academic reasons; as did the group from the Lakeview Museum in Peoria. Others, from women's clubs, churches, travel agencies, social clubs, and corporations, came for the cultural enrich- ment of the experience, and also because such visits provide an interesting and unusual social experience. In recent years, there has been a grow- ing realization at Field Museum that a special need exists for programs and ser- vices designed specifically for adult groups. Certainly, a number of special temporary Linton Pitluga is group resource coordina- tor, Department of Education. The Pawnee earth lodge is an exciting highlight of the American Plains Indian program for adults. Volunteers present a program about Pawnee culture. The sculpted figures shown here stand upon the roof of the lodge. kk :\tl#ti;i,-j.V '*^-<- •IS . "-.^ -^ M, ^m- m Special temporary exhibits such as Peru's Golden Treasures have proven particularly popular with adult groups. exhibits, such as the Treasures of Tutankhamun, have attracted sizeable numbers of such groups, but what would happen if an ongoing selection of programs featured Field Museum's permanent ex- hibits? Now, with funding from the Na- tional Endowment for the Arts, Field Museum is finding the answer to this ques- tion. Since July 1977 a selection of adult group programs have been under develop- ment. These programs, described below, last for about an hour and a half and in- clude a slide presentation and a guided tour of exhibits. Life in Ancient Egypt This program, which draws upon the Museum's superb Egyptian collection presents the unique culture of ancient Egypt as reconstructed and interpreted from arti- facts found in the Nile Valley. The artifacts are viewed in the rich setting of the newly renovated Hall ]. The American Plains Indian Before the arrival of Europeans, the Great Plains were only sparsely populated by the Indians. After the introduction of the horse from Europe, the plains became a source of plenty, and Indians migrated there from regions where game and other life staples had become more difficult to come by. Then the white settlers arrived and much of the game — notably the buffalo — was no longer abundant, and a radical change of Indian lifestyles came about. Groups explore these cultures of the American plains Indian during the time that they flourished. Highlights of this program are a tour of the Pawnee Earth Lodge (a full-scale replica of a Pawnee dwelling) and the outstanding exhibits of art, clothing, personal and religious articles, and weaponry of the plains Indians. The Weaver's Walk Well before the dawn of history, in- habitants of this planet had mastered the art of interlacing strands of fibers together to create cloth. Since then, a rich variety of weaving techniques and textiles has been created. The Weaver's Walk explores this development and includes Field Museum's fine collections of exquisite textiles produc- ed for costume and decoration by cultures around the world. Special Temporary Exhibits Each year Field Museum hosts a number of special temporary exhibits, which adult groups are invited to tour. Group reserva- tions are now being accepted for Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth and Spirit from Five Continents (see December 1978 and February 1979 Field Museum Bulletins). This exhibit, which opened February 15, will be on view until June 15. A special slide lecture by Phyllis Rabineau, costodian of collections. Department of Anthropology, may be arranged in conjunction with an Armchair Expedition. Other temporary ex- hibits to be featured in 1979 include Art of the Huichol, May 5 to September 3, and Treasures of Cypress, June 14 to September 16. Dining at Field Museum Many Museum visitors, accustomed to the culinary pleasures of Chicago's fine restaurants, have also been pleasantly sur- prised by the high quality of Field Museum's cuisine, served in private dining rooms. With a range of attractive prices, a special selection of menus is available for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. The menus include such delights as boned breast of chicken Kiev, roast prime rib of beef au jus, and delicate broiled fresh whitefish. For light meals, the crab bisque with date-nut finger sandwiches and French pastries are among the many items. An afternoon tea and a wine and cheese buffet may also be arranged as part of an Armchair Expedi- tion. 11 A PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO BY STANTON R. COOK In 1977 Field Museum Trustee Stanton R. Cook, chairman and publisirer of tiie Chicago Tribune, toured Ciiina witli a group of other Associated Press directors. During their 16-day visit they traveled to Peking, in the north; Shang- hai, and Hangchou, on the central coast; Ch'ang-sha and Kweilin, in south-central China; and Canton, in the south. They also spent time in Inner Mongolia, a region which Western visitors have rarely been privileged to see. Armed with two Nikon cameras. Cook took hundreds of photos of contemporary Chinese life — laborers, school children, artisans, dancers, street vendors, even horsemen in Inner Mongolia. The result is a remarkably vivid portrait, a sampling of which we see on these pages. Photos courtesy Chicago Tribune. 12 Countryside outside Kwei-lin, praised in many poems, is famous for its superb landscape. Town was founded in 214 B.C., is now becoming industrialized. 13 Upper left: Like the man on this month's cover, this youth is a resident of a commune in Inner Mongolia, some 250 miles west of Peking. Upper right; Work was begun on the Great Wall during the reign of Huang Ti, more than 2,000 years ago. Left: Sign painters on Orange Island, not far from the city of Ch'ang-sha, in south-central China. Facing page, top: Part of the Temple of Heaven, in Peking, first built in 1420. The message reads: "Crab hold of revolu- tion. Increase production. Work hard. Get ready for the war. Improve effectiveness in all aspects of endeavor. ' Right: An artisan does cloisonne in the Peking Arts & Crafts Factory, in which 1,300 men and women produce goods for export. The average salary: $22.50 per month. Far right: Dancers who stopped to perform at the Li An Tuge commune, in Inner Mongolia. ^mi^f^m mi^i'mii^^«^ --Wr'^fte;' -^i Cil^VO-. s ^t^lali^lQite^^^,^ Silll¥ifiHfi^?^'t£If^»1£«§»ffi^?^ffittIt^«(1*!l» o -m Above: Looking across Kunming Lake to the slope of Wan Shou Shan, site of the summer palace of the Chin dynasty, six miles from Peking. Left: Monument to the People's Heroes in Peking. Facing page, top: Ceiling in Summer Palace, just outside Peking. Right: One-third of a primary school student's time is spent learning characters. About 1,500 characters are needed to be literate, but only about 5,000 of some 50,000 are in regular use. 16 frP^kr. ^w> iir-^ :^*i=*j..' •.:-«.>W- pE 17 18 Y^. Left, above: Entrance to cave at Kweilin Left, below: Peking school children sing in Tien An Men Square, day before one-year anniversary of Chairman Mao's death. Above: The face of young China reflects optimism and, here, perplexity. Right: Bridge to Kunming Lake, near Peking. In winter, the lake's ice is cut into chunks and stored for summer use. 19 20 Of Land Bridges^ Ice-Free Corridors^ And Early Man In The Americas Part II BY GLEN COLE Artwork by Louva Calhoun The previous installment of this article (January, 1979, Bulletin) considered the Bering Land Bridge and the late Wisconsin ice-free corridor across Canada — the land bridge as the obvious route by which Asians moved into North America and the corridor as a route for people moving between Beringia and the mid-continent. It was seen that a feasible passageway through this corridor prob- ably did not exist until after 13,000 B.P. (before present). Nevertheless, there is good evidence that humans were living south of the ice sheet by 15,000 B.P.; much more tenuous is evidence sug- gesting that Early Man may have been in mid-con- tinental North Anierica considerably before that. A big game hunting economy with a spe- cialized stone and bone technology appeared in North America south of the late Wisconsin ice boundary around 12,000 B.P.. Attention will be directed here to this well documented Paleo-Indian occupation, which was the main focus of the AMQUA (Atnerican Quaternary Association) ses- sions devoted to the peopling of the New World. * Curiously, much of the debate on Paleo- Indian origins hinges upon a single distinctive kind of artifact, the Clovis projectile point, which read- ily identifies this early cultural horizon. However, this artifact creates problems when it comes to searching for antecedents. The Clovis point has not been found in the Old World. It seems to have been an American innovation after the time when free interchange across the Bering Land Bridge oc- curred. Much weight tends to be given this artifact type by many of the investigators who have exam- ined Asian materials for sources of the Clovis culture. It is generally supposed that the kinds of stone tools — if not actual fluted points — made by the ancestors of the Paleo-lndians should include forms which anticipate such points. As nothing 'To avoid confusion, the term "Paleo-Indian" will be used here to apply only to these big game hunters whose tool kit was characterized by fluted projectile points. reminiscent of fluting has been found, many stu- dents of Early Man in the New World suppose that stone working traditions that include "bifaces" (foliate or lanceolate artifacts shaped by removal of flakes from both surfaces or faces) would be appropriate as possible sources. Despite the fact that the Clovis point comes in a variety of sizes and shapes, it is easy to recog- nize and is an excellent horizon marker. This is largely because of the distinctive fluting. Fluting is a technique of trimming the central portion of a point at its basal end, probably to facilitate the attachment of a shaft. This is done by removing one or more shallow flakes from the butt end in the direction of the point. The fluting, which may be on one or both faces, usually does not extend more than half the total length and it may be much less than that. The fluting technique was eventual- ly so perfected that a single fluting flake might remove the entire central portion of a point for much or all of its length. These later artifacts, which also tend to be smaller and more delicately trimmed, are known as Folsom points, after a site near Folsom, New Mexico. Clovis points have been found over most of North America beyond the limits of the late Wis- consin ice, including all of the contiguous 48 United States. For some 50 years it has been known that these fluted points are of considerable antiquity, since they have been found with the bones of extinct Pleistocene mammals. It was the evidence of fluted points found with the bones of an extinct bison species at the Folsom site in the late 1920s which led to the abandonment of the widely held opinion that man had been in the New World for only a few thousand years. With the advent of radiocarbon dating, the actual extent of that antiquity has been measured and, surprising- ly, it has developed that Clovis points, when found in datable contexts, cluster within a rela- tively narrow time span; nearly all of the securely dated finds occur between 11,500 and 11,000 B.P. The Folsom variety of fluted point is dated to a rather longer period, from about 11,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Clovis culture is best known from sites in the central and southern Great Plains, especially in the Llano Estacado, because there Paleo-Indian artifacts were first found in stratified contexts. Such was the case at Blackwater Draw, near Clovis, New Mexico. Here there had been a large Glen Cole is curator of prehistory. He describes himself as "an Old World prehistorian who is generally con- cerned with a much earlier time period than is covered in this article." Cole is, additionally, a charter member of the American Quaternary Association (AMQUA) and has followed with interest studies relating to Early Man in the New World. In this article he discusses recent developments in North American Early Man studies as presented at the 1978 biennial meeting of AMQUA at Edmonton, Alberta. spring-fed pond which served as a water hole for end-Pleistocene and early Holocene animals. For this reason it was attractive to the Paieo- and later Indians, who hunted and camped there on occa- sion for several thousand years. Clovis points and other artifacts were found in sands overlying grav- els which were the aquifer for the pond. It was during the quarrying of these gravels that evidence of Paleo-Indian occupation was discovered. Folsom material occurred in more recent, higher- lying deposits. Unfluted projectile points, other- wise similar in size and shape to those of the Clovis and Folsom cultures, were found at still higher levels. No archeological material has as yet been found stratified beneath a level of Clovis ar- tifacts'Clovis points are sometimes found in asso- ciation with other artifacts. For example, Clovis hunters, at least on some occasions, would camp close enough to a slain elephant or other animal so that butchering tools and other implements used about the camp might be associated with points included with the skeletal remains. Clovis points have also been found — and in considerable abundance — in more easterly por- tions of the United States; less frequently they have been found in the western states and in northern Mexico. Unfortunately, nearly all of the eastern finds have been from the surface or have been turned up from superficial deposits by plow- ing and other surface disturbances, so they are devoid of context and cannot reliably be dated. Radiocarbon dates from sites in several eastern locations are consistent with those from the more westerly sites. Vance Haynes, a University of Arizona geologist and geochronologist, while recognizing possible regional variations in the Clovis tool kit, and noting considerable variation in size and shape in the projectile points, suggested that "the basic Clovis tool kit was essentially the same wherever it is found. . . . This implies a high degree of mobility and lack of dependence on a restricted environment. "**In this view, the Clovis hunters wandered over extensive areas in search of large game animals, especially elephants. 'At the Meadowcroft site, artifacts older than 12.000 years B.P. occur irj a stratified sequence, but no Clovis material seems to be present nor, apparently, have any other kinds of artifacts been reported in the 11,500 to 10,000 years B.P. time period. Also, last year, artifacts found below an occurrence containing fluted points of the Folsom variety were reported from a site in north- western Missouri. These artifacts are not of a kind that could be regarded as part of the Clovis tool kit. The excavators estimate that the material must be older than 15,000 years B.P. ""All quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Abstracts of the fifth biennial meeting, Ameri- can Quaternary Association, Edmonton, Alberta, 1978. But some investigators doubt that an immi- grant population could have spread so rapidly; they attach more weight to the apparent regional variations. Dennis Stanford, a Smithsonian Insti- tution archeologist, sees "Clovis as a technology diffused within a population already inhabiting the New World." He suggests that the technologi- cal concepts necessary for the fashioning of Clovis points — whether introduced from Asia or derived independently — "spread to populations already exploiting a variety of environments." Similarly, Robson Bonnichsen, a University of Maine arche- ologist, sees in Clovis points "structural patterned variation of shape and technological attributes [which] appear to occur on a regional basis." He thinks this would not be so "if these points repre- sent a single migration."* Haynes has observed that "the spread and development of the Clovis culture throughout North America and northern Mexico took place during a period of the greatest environmental 'These days migrations are not in favor with most an- thropologists, including those who practice archeology. This is not to say that anthropologists deny the occur- rence of migrations in human history and prehistory but it is certain that such have often been misused as easy "explanations" for observed cultural distributions. It is a good deal simpler to dismiss discontinuous distributions of cidtural traits and complexes as a result of migrations than to try to understand them in terms of complex in- teractions between social, economic, and environmental factors which are unquestionably much more important in the overall picture of human cultural development. A Folsom and 2 Clovis points (actual size). The smaller, more delicately trimmed and com- pletely fluted specimen is the Folsom point. The Clovis point at the left is from the Blackwater Draw locality in New Mexico; that in the center is from Union County, Illinois. The Folsom point is from the collection of Col. M. E. Rada. 21 ARCTIC OCEAN 1,000 KM o BERING STRAIT BERING SEA ^^^^ f °^. SIBERIA ^^h 'er ^enr *^'/9. ^. KAZAKH S.S.R.^- i \. T^\ MONGOLIA Distribution of important late Pleistocene Siberian sites. The clustering of sites near population centers in major river valleys is a better indica- tion of the activities of prehistorians than distribu- tion of prehistoric popula- tions. Nevertheless, prehistoric human activi- ties probably were concen- trated in the river valleys and sites certainly have been better preserved there: so future discoveries can be expected to extend the range of sites into unexplored ranges of river valleys to a greater extent than elsewhere in Siberia. The shaded areas indicate positions of the more important late Pleistocene ice sheets. 22 change since the end of the Sangamon interglacial" (the interglacial which preceded the Wisconsin). He notes that "... major vegetation changes oc- curred locally and regionally, there were marked changes in erosional-depositional processes and hydrology, and many forms of Pleistocene ani- mals became extinct." As a geologist, Haynes is interested in the causes, effects, and interrelation- ships of these factors. Bonnichsen, as an anthro- pologist, emphasized in addition that this was doubtless "also a period of cultural stress marked by new innovations — man's primary way of readapting." As an alternative to the hypothesis that the Clevis culture was brought by migrants from Beringia, he proposes that the introduction of a single hunting tool, the atlatl* and its atten- dant stone-working technology (pressure flaking and, perhaps, heat treatment of stone to improve its flaking properties) could have diffused rapidly to pre-existing populations. Such rapid diffusion of these generalized innovations could account for the sudden appearance of Clovis and other fluted points throughout the Americas. Also, as the real- ization of the more sophisticated hunting tool would have been left to craftsmen practicing regional technologies and influenced by local styles, one can account for the regional variations which Bonnichsen sees in Clovis projectile points. Once the matter of fluted points and their antecedents is put aside, many students of Early Man in the New World have no difficulties in find- *The atlatl is an implement devised to add propulsive force to a thrown spear or dart. It is a rod or board shaped for gripping at one end, with a device designed to engage the butt end of the dart shaft at the other. The use of the atlatl implies the use of a special kind of dart, perhaps compound with one or more shaft components armed with a bone or stone point. The use of this imple- ment doubtless facilitated the hunting of the thick- skinned mammoth. The atlatl was eventually replaced by the bow and arrow in most of North America but its use lingered in certain cases, as with the Aleuts and Eski- mos, until historic times. ing similarities between Clovis cultural material and its context and that of certain Eurasian sites. Haynes cites a number of traits, including kinds of artifacts, stone- and bone-working technologies, and certain site features, and notes the similarity to those of sites from Siberia's Lake Baikal area and further west along the Yenisei River. He sug- gests that "to invoke independent development of all these traits in the New World from a popula- tion base for which there is only tenuous evidence does not seem as reasonable as does an origin from the Siberian Paleolithic during a time when the Arctic-Steppe biome existed on the Beringia plat- form." Further, Haynes thinks there may have been "a close temporal link between the Clovis culture and its Old World antecedents." However, he is hard pressed to find suitable antecedents in Beringia; he suggests, nonetheless, that the Clovis culture developed from one of two contemporary traditions there before 11,000 B.P. Whether or not the immediate antecedent of the Clovis culture was imported in toto or whether it is the result of the introduction of a new hunting tool with its attendant technology to an indigenous population, there seems to be general agreement that there was some movement of peo- ple around 12,000 B.P. As one AMQUA discussant, Donald Clark of the Archeological Survey of Canada, pointed out, previously unoccupied ter- rain was becoming available with climatic amelio- ration and retreat of ice. That is, if contact was established between populations in eastern Ber- ingia and the mid-continent, people would have had to move into the intervening area; but, it should be noted, people living south of the late Wisconsin ice could have moved north as well as vice versa. So far, none of the very few dated fluted points from Alaska have proved to be as old as some of the Clovis points from south of the ice limits. Many investigators thus argue that the technology associated with the Clovis point was developed in the south, then moved northward as climatic and geographic conditions permitted. Those who are inclined to see the Clovis culture as introduced by an infusion of people from Beringia feel that it is merely a matter of time before older fluted points will turn up in Alaska and the Yukon, since that area is scarcely known archeologically. In any event, the prevailing opinion seems to be that people living in eastern Beringia in the waning phases of the late Wisconsin glaciation worked their way southward, very likely through an ice-free corridor; with them came the incipient Clovis culture, whether or not the distinctive fluted point had yet been developed. Most students of Early Man in North America investigating possible Old World roots of the Clovis culture direct their attention to material from north Eurasian sites. (The main interest in the western Pacific Rim is as a source of possible earlier American populations.) One of these inves- tigators, William Powers, a University of Alaska archeologist, cited cultural material from sites along the Aldan River in central Siberia. This in- cludes bifacial points and knives dating to the 18,000-20,000 B.P. time range. A technology for the production of long thin flakes, or blades — another characteristic of the Clovis tool kit — is also present; and it may be that certain aspects of the Siberian ivory and bone technology, e.g. . atlatl dart foreshafts, also appear in the Clovis culture. Otherwise, the similarity to the Clovis tool kit is not striking. Unfortunately, the tool kits from Alaska that most closely resemble this Aldan River material lack the bifacial points. In the Alas- kan case, simple stone projectile points seem to have been replaced by composite tips comprised of laterally grooved bone points armed with inset microblades. Many investigators favor the idea that there occurred multiple migrations of people into North America via Beringia, while others believe that there was a single incursion towards the very end of the Pleistocene. Powers favors the first position as does James Hester, a University of Colorado archeologist. Hester holds that separate migrations account for different cultural entities which he detects in the North American archeo- logical scene. He sees these migrations as occur- ring "over a long period of time beginning as early Detail of diorama in Hall 4 demonstrating use of atlatl. 2,000 -_ , 1 -'•r-y-- 1,000 - 200 - (U 100 - ^ ? 50 - LU C J I ii 0 5 40 - b Q- ^ < c 30 - o 1 ,J 20 - CO ■*-' o CO o ~ CO 1 f 1 f i^ 10- 0) c 5- (D O O O X 1 24 T/ie Quaternary Period, which covers the last 1.6-1.8 million years of geologic time, is divided into two epochs, the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The last major glacial stage, ending 10,000 years ago, is known, in North America, as the Wisconsin. The Wisconsin, punctuated by several cold stadials and warmer inter- vals has been variously subdivided. For purposes of this article, it is simply divided into an earlier and a later portion. The more recent, late Wisconsin, will be that period from 23,000 before present (B.P.) to the beginning of the Holocene. The figures represent thousands of years. as 25,000 to 35,000 years B.P. and extending to a date as recent as 8,500 B.P." The Clovis culture would have developed from one of these migra- tions. The "single migration" position is held by many others. The prime advocate of this position who participated in the AMQUA symposium was Christy Turner, an Arizona State University physi- cal anthropologist. Turner, who has studied dental characteristics of a wide range of people around the Pacific Basin, argued that "low dental and other biological variability of Paleo-, skeletal, and living Indians suggests the initial founding migra- tion was singular, small, and late in the Pleisto- cene." He finds Paleo-Indian dental characteristics to be very much like those of living Indians, which suggests direct descent. The opinion of a majority of physical anthropologists who have studied the question is probably reflected in Turner's conclu- sion that "most of the ice-free New World appears to have been occupied by one people [via Beringia] . . . before the close of the Pleistocene." Turner also detects evidence for another past population network with its New World dis- tribution limited to the coastal areas of the north- western and arctic portions of North America. This past population network extended "from north China through the Amur basin, along the Sea of Okhotsk and southern Beringia to at least the Gulf of Alaska. When rising seas forced the removal of these Beringians, their descendants, namely Aleuts, Eskimos, and possibly Northwest Coast Indians, were the Holocene 'migrants' to Alaska." This group would be that represented by Hester's last "migration." It should be noted that Turner is not arguing that the ancestral Aleuts and Eskimos migrated to the New World in Holocene times. Rather, they were stranded there, so to speak, early in the Holocene. Although it is possi- ble that Hester's Holocene migration actually oc- curred, it seems more likely that these people were living in Beringia at the same time as the ancestral Paieo-Indians, much as Athabaskan Indians and Eskimos have co-existed in the American arctic and subarctic. General, as well as some very specific, simi- larities in archeological material in northern Asia and Alaska have led many investigators to recog- nize a paleoarctic tradition which encompasses several variants. Don E. Dumond, a University of Oregon archeologist, has observed that it "seems clear that the Alaskan representatives of the Paleo- arctic tradition hark back to the time when Alaska was a peninsula of Asia, thrusting against the con- tinental ice of the New World."* Within such a model, Beringia would have been populated in the late Wisconsin by people adapted to the exploita- tion of different resource bases. One such base would clearly have been the large mammals living on the arctic steppe of Beringia; a second would "Chapter! in Ancient Native Americans. /. D. fennings, editor, 1978. BERING SEA Anangula ■*=3. 4=a»< Map of North America indicating localities mentioned in the text. The shaded area indicates the Llano Estacado. # have been the sea mammals and other marine life of the southern coastal biome. With the submerg- ence of the central Beringian area, crucial evidence has been lost or has become inaccessible and it has not been possible to define the tool kits of the groups who exploited these resources. Despite the rudimentary state of terminal Pleistocene prehis- tory in Alaska, or perhaps because of it, the possi- bility of other variations has been suggested. Beringia was available for human habitation for a very long time so that regional variations had ample time to develop within these adaptations. It was the arctic steppe hunters, or some of them who did not use microblades, that Haynes viewed as likely antecedents of the Clovis population and culture. The Aleuts and Eskimos, in this view, would have descended from people adapted to life in the coastal zone, especially to the hunting of marine animals. Although some ancestral Paleo-Indian sites in eastern Beringia may have survived, any ances- tral Aleut-Eskimo sites that existed before about 8,500 B.P. along former coastlines were submerged by the rising sea level at the end of the Pleistocene and early Holocene. In exceptional cases, high points occurred in the old land bridge and remain today as islands. Anangula, a small island just a mile or so from Umnak Island at the eastern end of the Aleutian chain, is such a case. Rather than retreat across considerable distances of gently shelving coastal plain before the rising water, people living there were able to move to higher ground locally. A low-lying portion of Anangula was occupied from ca. 8,700 to 7,200 years ago. Rising sea level finally caused this site to be aban- doned. Continuing occupation of the island is found in another more recent site on higher ground. Although it may be that the 8,700-year- old occurrence represents the earliest Paleo-Aleut occupation, it is quite possible that older, lower- lying sites have been destroyed by the wave activ- ity that has left a wave-cut terrace on the island — an earlier phase of the activity which is today destroying the older of the existing Anangula sites. 25 o o Schematic represen- tation of 6 of the 8 Clovis points found associated with a single mammoth skeleton at Naco, Arizona. All of these points are fluted on both faces. This association is par- ticularly informative in that it provides an excellent example of the considerable variation in size and shape in the projec- tile points used by a single band of Paleo- Indian hunters or, at least, of the varia- tion that can be expected within a restricted geographi- cal area. If the points from other nearby Clovis sites are included, an even greater range of variation is evident. Although certain varieties may be more common in some areas than in others, forms similar to those from Naco and nearby sites have been found from widely scat- tered portions of ice- free North America. 26 As is, perhaps, inevitable in a situation where so little factual evidence is available, a wide diversity of opinion has been expressed concerning the peopling of the New World. The following, though based largely on data presented at the AMQUA sessions, should not be taken as an attempt to present a consensus of AMQUA participants, nor of the anthropological contingent. In some cases I am unsure where a consensus, if any, might lie. These comments, rather, should be regarded as incorporating views which seem reasonable to an outsider — to an Old World prehistorian who lacks firsthand knowledge of the evidence. In conclusion then, let us return to the sev- eral traditional questions posed at the beginning of the first installment: Where did the ancestors of the native Americans come from? How did they get to the New World? How long have they been here? There is no question that the ancestors of the native Americans came from Asia, but this is not really saying very much. Apart from the ancestral Aleuts and Eskimos (who only figured in populating the extreme north and northwestern part of North America), it should be recognized that the peopling of Beringia is a question separate from that of peopling the New World. It is possible that people bearing different cultures, perhaps of varied genetic background, at one time or another, lived in Beringia. This would have depended on development of cultural paraphernalia adequate to cope with a severe subarctic and arctic environ- ment. After all, Beringia was a large area available for a very long time —long enough to allow for the area to be occupied, abandoned, and reoccu- pied. Cultural differentiation could also have oc- curred within a once homogeneous population, and there was room enough for distinct popula- tions to co-exist in their own areas of economic specialization. Just when people actually did live there is another matter. The majority of datable Siberian sites have fallen into the 20,000-to-10,000-years- ago range. Radiocarbon dates from two sites along the Aldan River in central Siberia have recently been obtained for archeological material in the 35,000-30,000 years B.P. range. Undated material suspected of being older is also known, but this is from sites farther south and west in Siberia. R. Klein, an Old World prehistorian famil- iar with the Eurasian evidence, has suggested that it was not until 35,000 or 40,000 years ago that Early Man had achieved the cultural capabilities necessary for living in the more continental por- tions of Europe where the most rigorous climatic conditions existed. He argues that it would not have been until some time later that these people would have been able to cope with the even more severe climatic conditions of northern Asia and to have reached its extreme northeast corner. If true, that would impose a limit on when the earliest immigrants from or via this area could have entered Beringia. Klein suggests 30,000 years ago as a basement date. At the Siberian end of Berin- gia, however, nothing that early has been found. The oldest dates reported from the sparse informa- tion available from northeastern Siberia are on the order of 13,000 years ago. As one AMQUA partici- pant observed, the best inferences that can be drawn on the nature of late Pleistocene occupation of northeastern Siberia are from evidence obtained from sites in Alaska and the Yukon. The climate of Beringia during the later part of the Pleistocene was in general probably less severe than that of much of central and northern Asia. Conceivably, such conditions could have permitted the survival of coastal populations ex- panding their terrain northward and into Beringia. However, until the very end of the Pleistocene, there is no evidence for human occupation along the Pacific Rim north of the Amur River. It could be that only those who occupied Beringia's eastern end and were on hand to take advantage of new land (including, perhaps, an ice- free corridor made available by retreating ice), provided the founding population for the Paleo- Indians. Whether or not anyone had managed to get into the New World south of the Wisconsin ice limits earlier is uncertain. But it does seem clear that if any did reach the mid-continent, they left no clear-cut archeological evidence; seemingly they contributed little if anything to the genetic constitution of the American Indian. There is a consensus that Early Man came to the New World via Beringia; but there is no agreement as to the route or routes by which the early Americans gained access to the rest of North America. The AMQUA symposium was oriented towards the ice-free corridor, so there was no con- sideration given to possible alternate routes. The Pacific coast is one sometimes proposed; among less plausible routes suggested is the north Atlantic by means of boat from ice floe to ice floe. The ice- free corridor very likely served as a route by which people passed, one way or another, sometime around 12,000 B.P.; but we have no firm archeo- logical evidence from the corridor itself for that period of time. The question of greatest interest to most of those concerned with the peopling of the New World is when it occurred. Despite improved dating techniques, continued field work, and bet- ter knowledge of the Old World literature, we still don't have a very good idea of when the very first people reached eastern Beringia. Nor do we know when the first people reached the mid-continent or, if it was a different event, when the first viable population was established south of the Wisconsin ice limits. The evidence is good that Early Man was in Beringia at least 30,000 years ago, but not that it was continuously occupied from that time. However, apart from a few situations which for one reason or another are not entirely certain, claims for human presence elsewhere in the West- ern Hemisphere earlier than 15,000 years ago are dubious at best. Evidence has been accumulating to indicate that Early Man had become established somewhat earlier than the 12,000 years ago or so that until recently had seemed the best estimate. In at least one situation, there is good evidence for regional occupation through the period 12,000 to 15,000 years ago and there are a few other dates from scattered sites in the Americas that fall into that time range. If future geological work deter- mines that the ice-free corridor opened earlier than is now thought or that it closed considerably later, a simple solution to some rather sticky problems will be at hand. It may be wondered why some Quaternary scholars are so interested in determining just when humans established themselves in North America. For anthropological archeologists, the time that a viable human population was established could make a big difference in the way they regard the archeological data. In the case of the Clovis hunt- ers we have seen that two quite different points of view are dependent upon the dating of this event. If the New World south of late Wisconsin ice limits was largely or entirely uninhabited when the bear- ers of the incipient Clovis culture arrived, the ar- cheologist is then faced with this question: How did a small founding population spread so rapidly throughout the Western Hemisphere, adapting in the same short time to very different environments and developing considerable cultural diversity? On the other hand, if the Americas were populated before the Clovis culture appeared, the investi- gator is faced with another problem involving a different set of cultural processes: How did the late Pleistocene big game hunting complex come to appear more or less simultaneously in North, Cen- tral, and South America from a pre-existing popu- lation base that had previously followed quite a different mode of existence? One of several aspects of the AMQUA symposium not dealt with in this two-installment article con- cerned the post-Pleistocene dispersion of people throughout North America. For the reader inter- ested in pursuing the subject further. Ancient Native Americans, edited by Jesse D. Jennings (W. H. Freeman, 1978) can be recommended. This book also covers Pleistocene peopling of the New World and provided some of the background in- formation in these articles. The Bering Land Bridge, edited by David M. Hopkins (Stanford University Press, 1967), was another much used source of information and can be recommended. Much of the literature concerning the late Pleistocene prehistory of Asia is to be found in scholarly journals such as Arctic Anthropology, which are not apt to be generally available. How- ever, a useful book. Northeast Asia in Prehistory by C. S. Chard (University of Wisconsin Press, 1974) may be easier to locate. 27 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS Exclusive Tour Packages for Members and Their Families Fabulous Machu Picchu, one of the sites to be visited on Field Museum's Peru tour PERU In 1978 Field Museum was host to a dazzling exhibit of golden treasures from ancient Peru. Now Field Museum members and their families can visit some of the archeo- logical sites where those treasures were discovered. A 20-day tour (Oct. 27-Nov. 15) will visit the famed ruins of Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Purgatario, and others. Also on the itinerary are the Plains of Nazca (viewed from low-flying aircraft), the offshore Guano Islands, and the famous Pisac Indian Fair. The group, limited to 20 persons, will be led by Dr. Michael Moseley, associate curator of middle and South American arche- ology and ethnology, and by Robert Feldman, assistant in archeology. Both Moseley and Feldman have done exten- sive archeological work in Peru; a tour escort will also accompany the group. The tour cost— $2,998 (which includes a $500 donation to Field Museum)— is based upon double occu- pancy and includes round trip air fare between Chicago and Peru, as well as local flights in Peru. Delta Airlines will be used between Miami and Chicago, connecting with Aeroperu. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used through- out. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals; all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach; all admis- sions to special events and sites, where required; all bag- gage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers; all applicable taxes and tips; all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. 28 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS COOK ISLANDS The Unique Opportunity to see a hidden comer of the fabled South Seas awaits a select group of Field Museum Members. Accompanied by three staff scientists, from July 14 to 31, a visit to the Cook Islands will involve comfor- table living in a still-unspoiled paradise. It will be the dry season, with clear lagoon waters, sunshine guaranteed, and comfortable temperatures. For millions of years the tiny islands of the Pacific have undergone a cycle from birth as a volcano to death as an atoll sinking slowly beneath the ocean's surface. For a brief span of geologic time they stand as verdant moun- tains rising thousands of feet into cloud cover. Perhaps one, perhaps 10 million years later, they sink slowly into the water, with reefs formed from the bodies of billions of tiny animals and plants providing nooks and crannies for a profusion of marine organisms to dwell. Occasionally such a reef will become re-elevated, providing a honey- comb warren of caves and crevices with rich pockets of soil in which man can raise subsistence crops. The Cook Islands, located between Tahiti and Fiji, and only recently serviced by jet aircraft, offer one of the last relatively undeveloped island areas. Rarotonga, the largest and youngest island with towering peaks and nar- row valleys, is surrounded by a narrow, fringing reef and with small off-shore coral islands. A new, 150-room hotel provides a base with modern comforts. Aitutaki, only an hour away by small aircraft, is a classic atoll lagoon, rich in marine life and superb for snorkeling and scuba diving. There, a comfortable country-style motel provides ac- commodations right next to the lagoon reef, and the friendly, simple services of the Polynesian community. Mangaia, also a short flight away, is a raised reef island with small population and no tourist facilities. On a day's trip, transportation on a flat-bed truck or school micro- bus will supplement hiking into the raised limestone reef and journey to the lagoon areas themselves. Accompanying this trip will be Dr. Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates. Dr. Robert K. Johnson, associ- ate curator of fishes, and Dr. Elizabeth L. Girardi, re- search associate, Division of Invertebrates. Dr. Solem has traveled through many islands and published exten- sively on Pacific Island organisms, concentrating both on the native animals of the forests and reefs, plus the changes wrought by the accidental and purposeful intro- ductions caused by human commerce. Through his eyes you will see the patterns of change through time, both before and since man's colonization of these islands. Dr. Johnson, a certified SCUBA diver and expert on coral reef fishes, has led and participated in many diving expeditions in the Caribbean and Pacific. He will be in charge of SCUBA exploration on the outer reefs and deep lagoon areas, comparing and contrasting the fish and in- vertebrate communities as they vary from wave expo- sure, depth, and substrate types. Dr. Elizabeth L. Girardi, on several trips to Aus- tralia and the Pacific Islands, has collected and studied shallow water marine invertebrates, particularly species of the fish capturing and eating cone shells. In addition, she has published on several native land organisms from the Pacific Islands. There thus will be presented an overall view of Pacific Islands, their geologic and faunistic history, their contemporary diversity on land and in water, a view of the changes produced by man's habitation, all from the comforts of an international-class hotel, plus two nights on an atoll in simple comfort and a day on a little-visited island without tourist accommodations. The last three days of the tour will be spent in Hawaii. The Cook Island tour group, limited to 25 persons, will travel via Air New Zealand. The tour cost — $2,650 (which includes a $400 donation to Field Museum) — is based upon double occupancy and includes round trip air fare from Chicago to the Cook Islands. The package includes all inter-island transportation, all meals (except lunches in Hawaii) and all inflight meals, all admissions to special events, where required; all baggage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers, all applicable taxes, and tips. Advance deposit required: $400 per person. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration information, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. 29 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS THE SOVIET UNION A travelogue on the Sovi- et Union will be shown on Wed., March 28, at 7:00 p.m. in Dining Room E. Experts on the Soviet Union will be present to answer questions. Re- freshments will be served. St. Basil's Church. Moscow The Splendors of Old Russia, the excitement of the New are in store for Field Museum Members and their families who join the tour "Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine," leaving Chicago's O'Hare Airport June 19 and returning July 8. Highlights of the exclusive tour will include visits to the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, Kiev, Leningrad, Petro- vorets, Novgorod, and Petrozavodsk. The group, limited to 35 persons, will be led from Chicago by a Russian- speaking lecturer and a Russian-speaking escort, with additional guides while in the Soviet Union provided by In- tourist (the Soviet Travel Bureau) . The tour cost— $2,970 (which includes a $500.00 donation to Field Museum) — is based upon double occu- pancy and includes round trip air fare from Chicago to Moscow, with intra-Russian air transportation where re- quired. The transatlantic airline is Swissair. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used through- out or, where necessary, the best hotels available. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals; all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach; all admissions to special events and sites, where required; all baggage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers; all appli- cable taxes and tips; all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration information for all tours, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. 30 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS ILLINOIS ARCHEOLOGY FIELD TRIP For many of us, the word "arche- ology" conjures up visions of great architecture in distant places: Egypt's Pyramids and Sphinx, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, and Mexico's Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihua- can. These sites, with their relics, are limitlessly fascinating. But right here in Illinois we also have exciting archeological sites, including the largest aboriginal structure north of Mexico— Monk's Mound at Ca- hokia. One of the most broadly based archeological research centers in the country is the Foundation for Illinois Archeo- logy, at Kampsville; and one of the largest covered excavations with the longest continuing research programs is at Dickson Mounds, near Lewistown. If you are interested in learning more about Illinois pre- history, as well as how scientific archeological research is con- ducted, you can join the Field Museum field trip of June 1-5, which will visit Dickson Mounds, Kampsville, and Cahokia Mounds. Limited to 30 partici- pants, the trip includes site visits, lecture and slide presentations, workshops and discussions led by staff archeologists working at the respective sites. The field trip director is Robert Pickering, a doctoral candidate at Northwest- ern University. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration informa- tion on the field trip, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. Helton Mound, in the Lower Illinois Riuer Valleii, is ti/pical of the type oj site to he visited during the June archeology field trip. '?- -> f-'- '.:-v-i'*^isr^-,^> --Hit ■i)^J».i>Jj^> 31 OUR ENVIRONMENT Wood as Fuel Doing a slow burn over high heating costs? Decided to save fuel dollars by turning to wood? The next logical question is, what to burn it in? Fireplaces, while decorative and romantic, have a meager efficiency of heat energy output of about 10 percent. In other words, the other 90 percent of the heat goes up the chimney. Controlled draft, metal stoves, on the other hand, boast an efficien- cy of 50-60 percent, but they vary greatly in heat-output capacity, steadiness and dura- tion of output, tendency to form creosote deposits, safety, durability, and ease of loading. Some antique stoves, such as the famous Franklin, are leaky and inefficient. But others, like the Art Sparkle, built in 1894 by the Portland Stove Foundry, con- tain intricate baffle systems which allow smoke to rise until it hits the top of the stove, then draws it down around the sides of the firebox, through a stove pipe in the back of the stove, and finally, out the flue. The stovepipe stays cool while the smoke circulates numerous times through the stove, which retains most of the fire's heat and disperses it into the room. The masonry stove, or "Russian fireplace, " is a closeable fireplace with a convoluted flue. Unlike a conventional fireplace, the masonry fireplace absorbs the heat into its mass. A variation, the Kachelofen wood (or coalburning) heater, features a central core of cast iron sur- rounded by a ceramic tile wall. The single most important factor in a stove is the control of draft which regulates the crucial element, oxygen. In general, air- tight units have higher combustion efficien- cy, and double (or smoke) chambers pro- vide more surface area for heat transfer and more volume for better combusion. With these general principles in mind, wood stove buying still requires a great amount of homework and comparison shopping. Re- cent information indicates that more than 500 companies are manufacturing wood stoves in the United States, offering more than 2,000 models. To confound the situa- tion, presently no standard safety re- quirements or installation regulations have been issued. One good source of information on woodburning is The Woodburner's En- cyclopedia, by Jay Shelton, a professor at Williams College and a pioneer in modern research on wood stoves. Shelton indicates that wood at $63 a cord is competitive with fuel oil at 50c a gallon (based on a wood stove efficiency of 50 percent and a furnace efficiency of 65 percent). 32 Wood is usually divided into two categories, hardwood or softwood, depen- ding on its density. Softwoods like pine are less dense, thus have a lower overall energy content and contain more volatiles, so they burn with more flame. Hardwoods, mostly deciduous trees like oak and hickory, burn longer and hotter. It is important to use dry wood, because "green" wood leaves a heavier creosote residue, a fire hazard. "Green" wood is heavier than dry wood because of the water content. How to tell? Two wet logs knocked together will resound with a dull thud rather than the sharper, ringing sound of dry logs. Also, freshly cut wood shows clear growth rings while dry wood will have darker-colored ends and cracks radiating from the center. Look for a 12-14 inch base on a tree to yield about half a cord. Fall, and preferably winter, are good times to cut wood, allow- ing plenty of time for the wood to dry before the next season, and reducing the chance of sprouting. Most important, wood holds only a fraction of water in the winter that it does in summer. If everyone turns to wood, will air pollution worsen? In large cities with dense housing, it is conceivable. But in suburban and rural area it has been found that wood- burning poses fewer air pollution problems than coal and many types of fuel oil. The Species Available BTU's in one cord (in 1,000's) Heat Value Rating Apple 23,877 1 Beech, Amer 21,800 1 Hickory 24,600 1 Ironwood 24,100 1 Oak, white 22,700 1 Ash, white 20,000 2 Birch, white 18,900 2 Birch, yellow 21,300 2 Maple, sugar 21,300 1 Oak, red 21,300 1 Elm, Amer 17,200 2 Maple, red 18,600 2 Tamarack 18,650 2 Aspen 12,500 3 Pine, white 12,022 3 1 = best 2 = average 3 = poor sulfur content in wood is low and although carbon dioxide is produced by woodburn- ing, it is released in the same amount by naturally decaying wood. Some volatile substances are released in the woodburning process, but what they are or what health problems they might cause are simply not known. A decision to burn wood should be based on more than economics. It will likely involve some change in lifestyle although many profess that it is a satisfy- ing, fulfilling change. It will likely involve manual labor — some splitting, stacking and hauling, and a strong constitution — to grab the longjohns on a cold morning and go downstairs to start or stoke a fire. For those who are less than purists, a conventional home heating system alongside a new, "old" wood stove has proved a more than happy compromise. —Carol Waite, National Wildlife Federation New Hope for Snake bite Victims? Two Mississippi scientists may have found a new substance for treating snakebite vic- tims that is much more effective than the treatments now in use. Van Philpot of Houston, Mississippi, and Rune Stjerholm, a biochemist at Tulane Medical Center, have isolated the substance in the blood of pit vipers that prevents them from dying when bitten by their own kind. The isolation is believed to be the first ever. Snakebite victims are currently treated with an antitoxin obtained from immunized horses. One problem with the current treat- ment is that roughly a third of the popula- tion receiving the antitoxin has allergenic reactions, which sometimes prove fatal. The antitoxin also isn't effective for water moccasin bites. The new substance that has been isolated in the blood of the viper family would be effective for treating ail viper bites, which include rattlesnakes, asps, bushmasters, copperheads, and water moccasins. Jogging Can Be Hazardous A young man who was jogging near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park spot- ted a grizzly bear following him. When he stopped jogging, the bear came up to him, stood up, and slapped him once on each shoulder. The bear then ran off, leaving the jogger unhurt but surprised. Eleven days later another attack oc- curred on a man jogging in Kansas City, Missouri. According to an AP report, the 185-pound jogger was knocked to his knees by the attack, which left him with three scratches and four puncture wounds. The jogger described his assailant as a bird with a white underbelly and tail and a wing- spread of 5 or 6 feet. Tecopa Pupfish Presumed Extinct The Tecopa pupfish, a IVi-inch fish native to the Amargosa River near Death Valley in California, is being removed from the en- dangered species list — but not because it is no longer endangered. For the first time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing removal of an animal because it is presumed extinct. Since 1970, FWS has been unable to find any trace of the fish which lived in the highly saline, warm water of the river. It apparently met its match with stream chan- nelization, pollution, and introduction of nonnative, competing species, said FWS. "The most depressing thing about this loss of life form is that it was totally avoidable. The human projects which so disrupted its habitat, if carefully planned, could have en- sured its survival," said Interior Assistant Secretary Robert L. Herbst. Although not included on the endan- gered species list, another of the 12 subspe- cies of pupfish, the Shoshone pupfish of the same area, is also mentioned in the rule- making as being extinct for the same reasons. Poaching Ring Broken Up The gamey flavor of freshly killed wild animals was so irresistible to many Detroit residents that they created an outlet for one of the nation's largest organized commer- cial poaching rings, which illegally killed more than 100,000 ducks, geese, deer, squir- rels, rabbits, fox, fish, and other animals in the last few years. The ring was broken up recently by federal and state wildlife law enforcement officers. An intensive 15-month undercover in- vestigation climaxed on January 20 when 25 special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 125 Michigan conservation offi- cers simultaneously arrested 53 people in the Detroit area for illegally killing, selling, buying, and marketing dozens of species of fish and game. "The entire operation is one of the most extraordinary cooperative wildlife law enforcement efforts ever engaged in be- tween a state and the federal government," observed a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official. "Thanks to the teamwork and cooperation between the two enforcement organizations, the largest and most highly organized market hunting ring uncovered in recent years has been destroyed." The illegal commercialization involved nearly 300 deer, 1,700 squirrels, 4,400 ducks, over 11,000 rabbits, and thousands of pounds of walleye fish. The poachers also killed and sold badgers, raccoons, red fox, pheasants, partridge, and geese. The existence of a poaching ring was first suspected in late 1975 when the Michi- gan Department of Natural Resources learned from tipsters that an organized group was supplying several Detroit retail markets with wild game. Federal law en- forcement officers were called in a year later to investigate possible violations of two federal wildlife laws. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it a federal offense to kill, possess, or transport protected migra- tory birds, while the Black Bass Act outlaws interstate transfer of illegally caught fish. In the fall of 1977 and throughout the remainder of the investigation, four federal and two Michigan DNR undercover agents penetrated the organization. The agents posed as route men and customer suppliers and dealt frequently with ring members who routinely carried weapons. In their undercover capacity to obtain evidence, agents bought the carcasses of illegally killed game and fish more than 75 times. As route men, the agents would pick up the slaughtered game from poachers in southern Michigan and deliver it to another member of the ring for further processing. Customer suppliers would then deliver the meat to various retail meat markets in De- troit. The prices paid by the customers for the wild game were often much higher than for the same domestically produced species which could be bought legally. "We suspect market hunting rings exist in and around several other major U.S. cities," said an FWS official. "However, we hope that our success in dismantling this large operation and the publicity surround- ing it will reveal to the thousands of Ameri- can consumers just what they are doing to the nation's wildlife." Some of the methods used to obtain game and fish illegally included deer shining (locating the animal with a powerful light and then shooting it); luring flocks of ducks to baited feeding areas for slaughter; and cutting down trees with chain saws to drive raccoons from their dens for easier capture. U.S. Attorney James K. Robinson of the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit said that those arrested under federal war- rants may be charged with violations of the Black Bass Act and/or the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which carries both misdemeanor and felony penalties. Robinson said that the matter would be presented before a federal grcmd jury in the near future. Chemical Company President Convicted of Polluting Waterway In a landmark environmental decision, a federal jury convicted the president of a Kentucky chemical firm of illegally dump- ing toxic chemicals into Louisville, Ken- tucky's, sewage system nearly two years ago. The conviction marks the first time that an individual has been convicted of criminal charges for polluting a waterway. It is also the first time that evidence ob- tained through a sophisticated chemical technique known as "oil spill profiling," or "fingerprinting," has been admitted into a federal court. The chemical test was done by a U.S. EPA lab and showed that samples taken from the Louisville sewer plant's entry chamber matched samples taken from a tank owned by the offending company. The chemical dumping caused the shut- down of the wastewater treatment plant for Louisville and other parts of the surround- ing county. During the three months the plant was closed, about 90 million gallons of raw sewage a day were dumped into the Ohio River. Two of the sewer's lines were still closed as of Dec. 27, causing from 7 million to 15 million gallons of sewage to be channeled into the river daily. Research on PCBs in River Systems PCBs and Midwest weather have much in common. Both are cussed and discussed at great length, but there is not much that can be done with either. PCBs (short for a family of chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls) are highly stable, nearly indestructible com- pounds formerly used in electrical trans- formers, hydraulic fluids, plastics, paints, and a host of other products. High tempera- ture incineration (2700 °F.) is the only ap- proved method for their disposal. Although they have been manufac- tured since the 1920s, an accidental discov- ery in 1966 found the contaminant to be widespread in the environment. The dis- covery caused a clamor among ecologists and health authorities in speculation about their effects in the food chain, especially in aquatic organisms where toxic levels of PCBs can be found. Chronic exposure to PCBs can cause serious health effects to animals and man. In 1968, over 1,(XX) Japanese developed physical abnormalities when exposed acci- dentally to large doses of PCBs in rice oil. Their symptoms included severe acne, eye discharges, darkening of the skin, birth defects, and miscarriages. Very little is known, however, about the long-term ef- fect of PCBs on human health. PCBs characteristically accumulate in the body fat of animals — and man — and because of the stability of the chemicals organisms rid themselves of the contami- nant at extremely slow rates. The production for domestic use of PCBs was finally halted by the passage of the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1977. But the catch is, roughly one-half (250 mil- lion lbs.) of all PCBs ever manufactured are still in existence and much of it will be entering the environment for a long time. Their entry into the environment through the "back door" via leakage from landfills, runoff, accidental spills, and other means has been a concern to the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Agency researchers are attempting to better understand just what happens to PCBs entering the environment, particular- ly through our river systems. Previous research has concentrated on freshwater bodies such as the Great Lakes, which act as a catch basin for the by-prod- ucts of human society. The present FWS concern is what happens to PCBs and simi- lar contaminants entering the environment through river systems. In addition, they are trying to see what happens to living organ- isms that come into contact with the con- taminant. The strategy of the FWS is to concentrate its efforts on the Mississippi River and apply the knowledge to other similar rivers throughout the United States. PCB levels in the Mississippi below Minneapolis and St. Paul are rather high, but at nowhere near the level at other loca- tions. Lake Pepin, 80 miles down river from the Twin Cities, receives a rather stiff dose of contaminants, which tend to settle out in the lake. High water levels during the spring thaw carry much of the sediment and con- taminant load to Lake Onalaska, 70 miles further down river at LaCrosse, Wise, where research efforts are concentrated. "There should be no cause for alarm or panic along the Mississippi concerning PCB levels," says an FWS spokesman. "They are there, but not in excessive quantities." Various fish in the Great Lakes system contain PCB levels in excess of the "5 parts per million" health authorities have estab- lished as safe to eat. Certain fishes, namely carp, exceed this 5 ppm base in Lake Pepin. The commercial sale of this fish was banned in the lake, curtailing a local business. FWS researchers are studying the bot- tom sediments, which range from clay and silt to sandy material. They hope to corre- late bottom types and PCB levels with the living organisms found in this type of habi- tat. The research pays particular attention to fingernail clams and the mayfly, which act as indicator species because they are common, widespread, and act as carriers for contaminants found in bottom sedi- ments. Fingernail clams and mayflies are fed upon heavily by other wildlife species. Fish are fond of mayflies and waterfowl, particularly scaup, dine on the tiny finger- nail clam. Cage Birds Continue Popular The cage-bird trade booms. Exports global- ly are around 7.5 million birds a year (1972 figures). Japan alone imports over one mil- lion. Of birds now in cages in U.S. homes, 80 percent started life in the wild in foreign lands. They are the "fortunate" ones; the survival rate between catcher and customer is around 20 percent. Rare species are especially prized. Wild populations are declining alarmingly — at least nine have plunged into the endangered category. Some countries have introduced import controls but most have not. Future Carburetors May Be Nonadjustable The EPA has announced changes in emission test procedures that could lead to nonad- justable carburetors in the early 1980s. The changes are being made because many car owners are adjusting their carburetors to improve performance, with a resulting in- crease in pollution. Under existing rules, prototype vehicles must meet emission rules when carburetor and spark timing settings are as specified by the manufacturer. Under the new rules, which take effect with 1981 models, cars must pass such tests at whatever settings are physically possible. As a result, auto companies will either have to produce nonadjustable carburetors and distributors or greatly reduce the ad- justment range of these devices. Auto industry reaction has been favor- able, with estimates that the rule change will cost less than $10 per car. However, there have also been warnings that during the first 600 to 1,200 miles of engine opera- tion, the cars may not run as smoothly as they might be expected to. 34 March & April at Field Museum (March 15 through April 15) New Exhibits Feather Arts: Beauty, Wealth, and Spirit from Five Conti- nents. Opened February 15. Conceived and created by Field Museum's own staff, this exhibit features exotic feather objects from around the world. Assembled almost entirely from in- house collections, "Feather Arts" will travel to other museums nationwide after its stay at Field Museum. The 260 artifacts, drawn from 1,000 years of history, include such rarities as an Hawaiian king's feather cape given to England's George IV in 1821, and the feather shoes of an Australian sorcerer. This fascinating exhibit examines the symbolic and religious mean- ing of feathers over the centuries and illustrates the impor- tance of featherwork as a universal art form. Hall 26. Through June 15. A Stamp Sampler: Postage from Natural History. Opened December 8. This exhibit unites 63 natural history specimens with samples of philatelic art. Projected to eventually cover the four disciplines of natural history, the exhibit for the first 8 months is devoted to the animal kingdom as illustrated on stamps from all over the world. 'A Stamp Sampler " was con- ceived by Field Museum volunteer Col. M. E. Rada, exhibit guest curator. The exhibition was designed by Peter Ho, a University of Illinois graduate student. Continuing Exhibits Birds. Exhibits in Halls 20 and 21 examine the varied worlds of birds, from the antarctic emperor penguin to the American sparrow. Three scenes are devoted to Chicago-area birds. Recently extinct birds and restorations of fossil birds are also on view. Man in His Environment. Gain a worldwide perspective of en- vironmental problems through the multi-media presentation of this thought-provoking exhibit. The center of the hall con- tains a recreated portion of a Georgia salt marsh encased in glass. The reconstruction allows visitors to study basic ecological principles visually, within a total marsh environ- ment. Detailed reading rails surround the exhibit. Main floor. The Hall of Chinese Jades contains beautiful jade art span- ning over 6,000 years of Chinese history. An exhibit in the center of the hall illustrates ancient jade carving techniques. Hall 30, second floor. New Programs Music from Around the World: Programs for Adults and Children. In March and April, the Museum hosts a series of ex- otic musical programs from the Far East. ■Qamelan Mini-Concerts. " Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The Gamelan Master Class, under the direction of Dr. Sue Carole De Vale, offers free concerts on the Museum's 24-piece Javanese gamelan in Hall K. Ground floor. "Music of the Orient" with Ira Kersh. Saturdays, March 24 and March 31. This two-part program introduces children to the Oriental cultures through musical instruments and perfor- mances. Part 1: "Music of Asia." Enables children to use in- struments from Tibet, China, India, Indonesia, and Asia. Part II: "Indonesian Wayang Shadow Puppets." Introduces children to the music and folklore of Java and Bali. Participants learn to use puppets and accompany the action on bamboo rattles; advance reservations required. Parents, also invited, should purchase tickets if planning to attend with their children. Members admission: $1.50; nonmembers: $3.00. Tickets: 922-9410, X-364. (Continued on back cover) 3S March and April at Field Museum (Continued from inside cover) "The Japanese Koto: A Program of Traditional and Contem- porary Music." Sunday, March 25, 2 p.m. With Ricardo D. Trimillos, professor of music at the University of Hawaii. This concert, presented in traditional Japanese dress, offers 17th- and 18th-century classical compositions for the koto (a zitherlike instrument), followed by avante garde American and Japanese compositions. Admission: members, $5.00; nonmembers, $6.00. Pre-concert members' brunch available at 12 noon for $6.00. A post-concert reception, open to the public, will also be held. Admission: members, $4.50; nonmembers, $5.00. James Simpson Theatre. For tickets phone 922-9410, X-364. "On Music in India" with Mazir Ali Jairazbhoy, professor of music at the University of California at Los Angeles. Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m. This multimedia lecture/demonstration ex- plains the fundamental concepts of Indian music, the role of music in the life of an Indian musician, and Indian musical styles. The sitar, a long-necked lute, will be played. Admission for members is $5.00; nonmembers, $6.00. A members' pre- concert brunch is available at 12 noon. Admission is $6.00. A post-concert reception, open to the public, will also be held. Admission: members, $4.50; nonmembers, $5.00. James Simpson Theatre. Tickets: 922-9410, X-364. Spring Journey. "The Meaning of Feathers. " Through May 31. Self-guided tour leads families and children through exhibits to discover what birds and their feathers mean to various cultures. Free Journey pamphlets are available at the North information Booth, and at the South and West doors. The Edward E. Ayer Film Lectures resume during March and April. These free, adult-oriented travel films begin each Satur- day afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Simpson Theatre. Reserved seating is available for Members and their families. Admission free at the West entrance. Doors open at 1:45 p.m. March 17: "Sweden — A Midsummer's Might Dream. " March 24: "Ger- many— Once Upon a Time. " March 31: "Egypt — Gift of the Mile. " April 7: "China After Mao." April 14: "The Marsh— A Quiet Mystery."' Continuing Programs Armchair Expeditions. Geared for adults, these in-house "ex- peditions" include special slide lectures and tours of selected exhibits. Dining arrangements available. During March, the Museum features slide lectures on "Feather Arts" by Phyllis Rabineau, curator-in-charge of the exhibit. The following dates are available by reservation only: March 21 at 7:30 p.m., March 24 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and March 28 at 7:30 p.m! Phone 922-0733 for more information. Friend or Foe? The Natural History Game. Field Museum's popular ""Anthropology Game" has been expanded to include botany, geology, and zoology. The object here is to determine which one of a pair of apparently similar specimens is harmful and which is not. See if you can distinguish a vampire bat, a headhunter"s axe, a poisonous mineral, or a deadly mushroom from its benign look-alike. Ground floor, no closing date. On Your Own at Field Museum. Self-guided tour booklets, adult- and family-oriented, are available for 25C each at the en- trance to the Museum Shop, main floor north. Weekend Discovery Programs. Guided tours, demonstrations, and participatory activities. Every Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteer Opportunities. Limited opportunities are available in botany, geology, and zoology. Weekend volunteers with an interest in natural history are needed to develop and present weekend programs. For more information call 922-9410. X-360. March and April Hours. The Museum is open every day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Fridays. On Fridays the Museum is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. throughout the year. The Museum Library is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Good Friday, April 13. Obtain a pass at the reception desk, main floor. Museum telephone: (312) 922-9410. >s^1!m»A. - .^^Y r?^^: ^ FIELD i?5 OF riW%8AL HlS-fetW BCILI^p-^il^ %>*«!*- ^•u^ -i» *: ^: :.■! *-. ^ >s' ::r j(r , -i> was»r. ■-^: -^t^ . ' :y^ ±^ *^f>^i" _^:' .:>-f ■-=:#! i^&^:3 ■Sii^^^iS^ / :--|aa% ■.:^W^^ r^j ■^* ■■■'^a*. VX'*^ vl^S fc .'.r •>•> r>^- Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin April, 1979 Vol. 50, No. 4 Editor/ Designer: David M. Walslen Production: Oscar Anderson Calendar: Mary Cassai Staff photographer: Ron Testa Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President and Director: E. Leiand Webber Board of Trustees William G. Swartchild. Jr., chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour Goerge R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook O. C. Davis William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Marshall Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Hugo J. Melvoin William H. Mitchell Charles F. Murphy, Jr. James J. O'Connor James H. Ransom John S. Runnells William L. Searle Edward Byron Smith Robert H. Strotz John W. Sullivan Mrs. Edward F. Swift Edward R. Telling Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leiand Webber Julian B. Wilkins Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field Clifford C. Gregg Samuel Insull, Jr. William V. Kahler Remick McDowell James L. Palmer John T. Pine, Jr. Donald Richards John M. Simpson J. Howard Wood CONTENTS 3 Field Briefs 4 Kimberley Snail Hunt — Round V By Alan Solem, curator of inver- tebrates 8 Soviet Union Tour for Members 9 Red Square and Beyond By Rev. Maurice ]. Meyers, S.J. 10 Butterflies By Vladimir Nabokov 15 Members' Tours to Galena, Starved Rock, and Baraboo 16 What Is a Curator? By John Terrell, associate curator of Oceanic archaeology and ethnology 18 Meteor-wrongs By Edward Olsen, curator of mineralogy 22 Field Museum Honors Its Volun- teers 24 Ross's Rosy Gull By Janette Neal 27 Quetico Wilderness Canoe Trip 28 Illinois Archaeology Field Trip 29 Observations on the Mutability of Time By Alan Edward Rubin 32 Members' Tour to Peru 33 Members' Tour to the Cook Islands 35 April and May at Field Museum Calendar of coming events COVER Spring ferns at Waterfall Glen, DuPage County. Photo by John Kolar. field Museum of Natural History BuUetirt is published monthly, except combined July /August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History. Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. Chicago. 11. 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; S3 a year for schools. Museum membership includes Bulletin subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History. Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. Chicago U. 6C605. ISSN: COlS-0703, Field Trips for Adults and Families With the long winter finally over, it's time at last to enjoy outdoor activities that don't involve snow. The Ray A. Kroc Environ- mental Education Program, resuming in May and June, features one-day trips to local areas of special biological and ecological interest. Groups are accom- panied by Field Museum staff or guest scientists with expertise in botany, zoology, or geology. The current schedule includes trips to the Starved Rock area, Volo Bog, Gensburg-Markham Prairie, the Indiana Dunes, and areas especially abundant with spring wildf lowers. Both adult trips and family trips are available, but early registration (by mail) is strongly recommended. Field Museum members are automatically mailed the field trip brochure with trip dates and registration form. Nonmembers may receive the brochure by calling 922-9410 ext 362, or by writing to: Department of Education — Field Trips, Field Muesum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, II. 60605. Environmental field trips are geared for family groups as well as for adults Borden Expedition Members Reunited. On Feb. 3 several members of the Borden-Field Museum Alaska Arctic Expedition of 1927 were reunited at Field Museum for a reception in their honor. Left to right: Bruce Andrews, of Ellenton, Fla.; Mrs. Foster Adams, of New York City; Rev. T. V. Purcell, of Washington D.C.; Dr. Courtney Cazden, of Stanford, Calif.; Kenneth McClelland, of Chicago; and Foster Adams, of New York. Andrews, Purcell, and McClelland were Sea Scout crew members of the expedition. Mrs. Adams, then Mrs. John Borden, was the wife of the expedition leader and a member of the expedition party. Dr. Cazden is the daughter of Mrs. Adams. Following the reception in their honor, a film of the expedition was shown in James Simpson Theatre, introduced by Mrs. Adams and narrated by Rev. Purcell. The film will be shown at the Museum again in the near future, date to be announced. Field Museum Selected as NEH Learning Museum A three-year Learning Museum grant has been awarded Field Museum by the Nation- al Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. The purpose of the $300,495 grant is to provide public, adult education courses in the humanities. Field Museum's collec- tions will provide the resource base and largely determine course content. Courses will involve multimedia instruction, per- forming arts presentations, cultural festi- vals, and lectures by distinguished special- ists. "China, its History, Culture, and Art" is the Learning Museum theme for 1979, with course activities beginning in May. Details will be announced. The Learning Museum program direc- tor is Susan Stob; program coordinator is Anthony Pfeiffer. For further information contact Learning Museum Program, De- partment of Education, Field Museum, 922- 9410, X 395. Kimberley Snail Hunt Round V BY ALAN SOLEM Readers of the Field Museum Bulletin have often seen there articles about the thrills, traumas, adventures, and even misadventures during the course of a curator's field work. The accompany- ing photographs frequently show spectacular scenery; scruffy looking scientists in camp or hill- side; and animals, plants, or cultural relicts being collected, prepared, measured, or photographed. Our first flush of nostalgic writing about field life can be read with fascination even years later. Often these articles are penned hurriedly while we are in the initial culture shock of re-entry to city and museum life after the simplicity and uninter- ruptedly focused efforts in the field. Fun to do, sometimes dramatic, and a standard duty for the returned scientist, such Bulletin fare will continue. It is far more difficult, totally undramatic, much more fragmented, and quite unusual for us to try to write about the aftermath — the long period of specimen processing, data-taking and manipulation, idea-organizing, describing, writ- ing, synthesizing, illustrating, publishing, and the lecturing to scientific groups that normally follow from major field programs. We are subject to the everyday interruptions and multiple duties of working for a complex organization, plus the varied and complicated demands of living in a large city. Inevitably, the progress of such work must be fragmented and sporadic. The project may have to be put aside for weeks, or even months, while pressing deadlines and accumulated problems are met. Rarely is it possible to produce the research quickly or even to have a coherent follow-up story for presentation two years after a major collecting effort. My last field station in Australia was in the Olgas, barren red rocks near Ayers Rock in Cen- tral Australia, on May 27, 1977. After the incred- ible heat and humidity of the Kimberley (see March, October, November, 1977 Bulletin), the last camp-out, a few days and a thousand miles south, was memorable, since windshield, tent, and gear were frost-covered by dawn. A night spent in Mt. Gambier with friends, then drive through a storm that deposited a full half-inch of snow on the highway near Melbourne. The next morning, Melbourne papers heralded that record low temperatures for May (33° fahrenheit) had resulted in a total lack of reported crime in that city of 2 million people. Frantic packing of speci- mens and gear preceded flying back to the United States. Then began the long wait for the specimens to come. It took three months for the crates to go from Perth and Melbourne to New York; two months from New York to Chicago; and one month from a Chicago freight terminal to the Museum— a sad commentary on modern trans- portation efficiency. This delay did permit my partly catching up on letters and reports. At long last the by-now slightly battered green shipping cases, still with their coating of red Australian dust, lay on my office floor. Immediately, 150 pint, half-pint, half-liter, and liter jars filled with specimens had to have their alcohol changed, since body fluids from the thousands of preserved snails had drastically diluted the original 95% alcohol level. Snails had been collected at some 300 dif- ferent stations. Often the same station had been visited on several different dates, over a period of months. Could I remember exactly what had been collected where? Of course not. Since most were unknown species and genera, this is not surpris- ing. Most of my time in the next two months was spent in sorting and organizing these specimens for study. Why my time? Why not an assistant? For several reasons. First, I didn't have an assistant available for such work. Second, this was an in- valuable chance for me to take an overall look at what I had collected. Two-thirds of the species had never been found before, and many that lived in Alan Solent is curator of invertebrates. His "Kimberley Snail Hunt — Round I" and "Kimberley Snail Hunt — Rounds II through IV" appeared in the March and Oc- tober, 1977, Bulletins, respectively. What Happened When Continuation^ of work First monograph published. First monograph page proof ■^1979 Worl< on third monograph^ "First monograph prepared' Second monograph prepared "Await arrival at Field Museum -of collections 1978 Collections processed . and sorted ^ Study in Perth ^^1977 ^r Major field work Dissect a nd ^/' ^r Equi illustrate pment shipped J /l976 "Details of Grant funding received^^ major field work planned Grant proposal prepared. Australian field program^/'1975 developed Field reconnaissance .^1974 Funding for field reconnaisance — sought- Project idea^l973 different ways at the same station looked super- ficially very much alike to the untutored eye. At the same time that I was doing "routine sorting and processing," I was trying to evaluate subjec- tively the patterns of variation and make tentative guesses as to what order of study might make the most sense. Besides, actually handling specimens can be and remains a pleasant break from the ac- cumulated mass of letters from twelve-month absence, plus, asked-for reports and memos. Most important, detailed study and writing could not commence until sorting of the field collections had been completed. From October 1977 through January 1978, preliminary sorting, labeling, and cataloguing of the specimens continued. From my 1976-77 Aus- tralian field work, 1,843 lots and 42,000 specimens were processed. This was added to the 798 lots and 22,000 specimens collected in 1974. About two-thirds of these were camaenid land snails, the group I was mainly interested in. Now the work of detailed study and publishing could begin. The cold and snow of winter, 1978, was a marked physical contrast to the summer heat and blue skies in Perth the previous year. For illus- trator Elizabeth Liebman, work was much the same. I dissected, she illustrated the anatomy of species belonging to several genera that are com- mon in or restricted to the Kimberley region. We had made a major start on this material January through April, 1977, in Perth, based upon speci- mens I had collected from September through December, 1976. Many more specimens had been gathered by Laurie Price, Carl Christiansen, and myself in January through May, 1977. None of them had been studied yet. These specimens all had to be measured, checked for reproductive stage, and analyzed for similarity or structural dif- ferences from populations sampled in neighboring ranges. The whole package of information about each species then had to be organized for compari- sons with related taxa. All of the above tasks were my responsibil- ity. Snatching research work from interruptions proved, at times, to be extremely difficult. I have between 135 and 150 species of Western Australian camaenids, only 40 of wfiicfi had been named pre- viously, and their interrelations are unknown. Which species should I study arid write up first? Should I try to publish one massive monograph? A series of shorter reports? Where should I start? Dissections made in 1975 and 1976 on the materials collected in 1974 had "sampled" the anatomy of the Pilbara, Central Australia, and southwestern Western Australian taxa. My late 1976 collections from the Kimberley had been similarly "sampled" by dissections in Perth. Com- paring the many drawings and dissections showed that the Southern, Pilbara, and Central Australian species had many features in common, but that the center of diversity was in the Kimberley. The snails there showed many variations. This made it necessary to start the major revisionary work with the Kimberley fauna. Did those species from the other areas have relatives in the Kimberley, or were they very different? Only study of the Kim- berley camaenids could determine this, so thor- ough study of the many Kimberley camaenids became the first order of business. But this area had almost a hundred species. Where should I start with this mass of material? Preliminary dis- sections had confirmed that several species were related to those from the Pilbara (these could wait until last), others seemed to have no relatives else- where (second priority), while a comparative few looked very much like species described from Eastern Australia (first priority). Materials borrowed from museums in Syd- ney, Melbourne, and Perth provided comparative anatomical material, and specimens collected for Field Museum in the 1960s and 1970s by Field Associate Laurie Price of New Zealand proved in- valuable. Since no anatomical work on Australian members of this family had been published in this century, every dissection was important. We found four groups of Western Australian species that had close relatives in Eastern States. But to define these groups properly, 20 other Eastern Australian genera had to be dissected and 10 illus- trated immediately; 4 closely related species had to be dissected and illustrated; and finally the 14 Western Australian species in these four groups reviewed. A few other probably related species could not be dissected, but were reviewed as to shell variations. So a first project of reviewing these "Trans-Australian" taxa evolved into a logi- cal package, with a total of 29 species, 7 new to science, belonging to 10 genera, one new to sci- ence. Thus the dimensions of the first publication came into focus. What information should be published about each species? Some things are basic. Illus- trations to enable identification of the shells, words summarizing how the species differs in shell and anatomy from closely related species, data on the anatomical structures that vary within the genus or among closely related genera, a list of localities from which it has been collected, a sum- mary of the range in size, shape, color, and sculp- ture variation condensed into a formal description — all these are basic data in a systematic revision of a little known or previously unknown group of snails. But I was asking additional questions in my research. What are the overall geographic patterns of variations, i.e.. are members of the same spe- cies bigger (smaller) in the West Kimberley than the East Kimberley; are species commoner (rarer) than other taxa in the same (different) areas? What is the reproductive cycle in the camaenids from different parts of Australia? Are they reproduc- tively active at the same time, different times, over a short season, throughout the year, different times in different areas? Do they have special feed- ing habits when several species live together? How do species recognize members of the same species when ready to mate? Do parts of the anatomy vary seasonally in size and shape? Where do the snails shelter and what strategy do they use to sur- vive periods of drought? Besides, research papers are designed as much to focus on problems and pose currently unanswerable questions, as to provide answers. By providing data on local shell variation (or lack of it), seasonal variations in anatomical structures, species recognition mechanisms, where available, and the attention of Australian workers could be called to areas where data was inadequate. So these decisions led to the basic content of the report. Since it was to be published in the Records of the Western Australian Museum, Perth, Australia, the format of the report had to follow their style. With dimensions, content, and format decided, "all" that remained was to pro- duce the report. Up to this point, most of the work had been done by scientist and illustrator. Specimen-pro- cessing had involved label typing by Sharon Baco- yanis, then cataloguing by Andy Cawthon and CETA (Combined Employment Training Act) workers, but the dissecting, measuring, sorting, and grouping into species had been done by Alan Solem. Elizabeth Liebman had prepared 70 sepa- rate anatomical drawings, varying in complexity from simple outlines to highly detailed full page illustrations, and 42 outline drawings showing shell structure. Photographs of shells made in Perth, and scanning electron microscope pictures of shell sculpture details were organized into 11 plates, while the shell and anatomy drawings, in consultation between Solem and Liebman, were sorted into groups and laid out as 35 text figures. Associate Dorothy Karall, as she has so skillfully for many years, mounted and labeled the plates and text figures for reproduction. The latter then were photographed, both to retain a working copy here in Chicago, and as security when the origi- nals, representing at least six months of work by Elizabeth Liebman, were sent to Perth for publi- cation. Meanwhile, I sat at microscope and type- writer for days and many nights composing page after page of manuscript. When the write-up of each genus was finished in rough form, I then lightly (if composed on a good day or evening) to very heavily (if composed on a bad day or during a period of constant phone or visitor interrup- tions) edited the rough manuscript in preparation for typing. Therein lay a problem. My highly effi- cient secretary for the past three years moved to California with her husband, .and it was nearly two months before Valerie Connor-Jackson was hired to take her place. Valerie was uniquely qual- ified after working through a 4,000-page manu- script on monkeys*, and her experience as a department secretary in botany enabled her to immediately take over office routine and produce the final manuscript. So on March 9, 1978, the first of several reports, 211 typed pages, 35 text figures, 11 plates, and 10 tables, was mailed to Perth for publication. Proof is expected this sum- mer, and publication is scheduled for September, 1979. The team of Solem, Liebman, Karall, and Connor-Jackson then swung into high gear, and progress on Part II, dealing with another 28 spe- cies from the Kimberley, all belonging to one genus, was rapid. Assists from volunteer Kleinie Fieberg; CETA employees Loretta Brown, Joseph Strotter, and Jarmaine Leftridge; new Custodian of Collections, Margaret Baker, in preparing lists of the material studied and analysis of measure- ments, were essential. This time, three plates of photographs, 79 drawings of shells and 102 anatomical illustra- tions, plus a map organized into 38 text figures. 'Philip Hershkovitz's Living New World Monkeys (Platyrrhini), with an introduction to Primates. Vol. 1. (1,117 printed pages, figures, plates, tables, maps.) and 23 tables accompanied 281 typed pages of manuscript to Perth on September 15, 1978. This was the second "package," and months before it was finished, certain facts were obvious. I was suf- fering from an embarrassment of riches. The field work had been successful well beyond expecta- tions, and the material obtained was far more diverse in number of species and extensive in terms of number of specimens than had been anticipated. It would not be possible to complete study or illus- tration of all the species within the period for which I had grant funding. Available funds would carry Illustrator Elizabeth Liebman through Octo- ber, 1978, but that was the end. It was obvious that, when I had finished the basic systematic review, interesting answers would come to many of my general questions, and a whole host of new research questions, would be raised. But until the systematic revisions were completed, publication on these would be inadvis- able to impossible. Additional funding had to be sought, first to complete the systematic reviews, then to extract the general interest conclusions, and hopefully to build upon this foundation of work by extending the survey of camaenid snails to other regions. So illustrator and scientist worked frantically to complete dissection, meas- urements and illustrations of materials for Part III, review of a remarkable fauna from the Ningbing Ranges, by October 30. In a flurry of activity, this was successful, and the problem of the next stage of study could be faced. But that is another part of the continuing story, and for the future. Here you have a glance at a complex publishing project in mid-stream, a pay-off from the planning, sweat in the field, and infinitely longer hours of museum work that fol- lowed. So, the next time you read of an expedition, think of what must follow. . . . FIELD MUSEUM TOURS THE SOVIET Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow The Splendors of Old Russia, the excitement of the New are in store for Field Museum Members and their families who join the tour "Treasures of Russia and the Ukraine," leaving Chicago's O'Hare Airport June 19 and returning July 8. Highlights of the exclusive tour will include visits to the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, Kiev, Leningrad, Petro- vorets, Novgorod, and Petrozavodsk. The group, limited to 35 persons, will be led from Chicago by a Russian- speaking lecturer and a Russian-speaking escort, with additional guides while in the Soviet Union provided by In- tourist (the Soviet Travel Bureau) . The tour cost— $2,970 (which includes a $500.00 donation to Field Museum)— is based upon double occu- pancy and includes round trip air fare from Chicago to Moscow, with intra-Russian air transportation where re- quired. The transatlantic airline is Swissair. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used through- out or, where necessary, the best hotels available. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals: all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach; all admissions to special events and sites, where required; all baggage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers; all appli- cable taxes and tips; all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. For full itinerary, additional details, and registration information for all tours, please write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. FIELD MUSEUM TOURS Red Square and Beyond Stand in the middle of Red Square in Moscow and slowly turn in a full circle. To the south you see before you the bizarre cathedral that Ivan the Terrible had erected in thanksgiving for his victory over the Tartars of Kazan, dedicated to the protection of the Virgin and St. Basil the Blessed. You are back in the mid-16th century when Russia was just emerging as one of the great powers of Europe. As you turn to the right you are soon looking at the Kremlin Wall, pierced by the Spassky Gate that predates Ivan's cathedral by 100 years, though the walls, originally of oak, were first thrown up as a rampart 300 years before that. Through the opening of the Spassky Gate and peeking over the walls you see the towers of the great churches, the Ivan Belltower, as well as the palaces old and new in which so much of Russia from the Tsars to the Soviets flowed. Continue your pivot and before you is the cubist granite tomb of Lenin and you are back in our violent cen- tury, recalling the worldwide tumult and upheaval caused by that man on whose embalmed figure you can gaze by joining the crowd and silently entering that mausoleum. Further on at the far end of the square you see an odd building in red brick that clashes with the other decor of the square, the Historical Museum, built a century ago on the Russo-Victorian design of an Englishman. Turn your back to the Kremlin and you are looking at GUM, the State Department Store, the largest in the Soviet Union. It is not a flashy modernistic building, but an old-fashioned series of shops arranged along an open arcade that runs the whole great length of the building and several floors high. Thus, when one gets tired of sightseeing, the recreation of shopping is right at hand, or repose, symbolized by the Stalinesque hotel that rises beyond GUM, the newest addition to tourist comforts in the capital. With a final spin you have St. Basil's in the background once more. You may now notice that before the entrance to the cathedral there is a heroic statuary group dedicated to the popular heroes, Minin and Pozharsky, of the struggle against the Poles following the Troubled Times after Ivan the Terrible's death and Boris Godunov's usurpation, when Moscow and western Russia were overrun by foreign legions. If one could lengthen his range of vision on each gyration in the square, he would see the far reaches of Moscow with its remnants of the old in churches and monasteries and its new Soviet institutions, the university, the great stadia, the Exhibition of Culture and Pro- gress, out of the Moscow River that wanders in and out of the city and curves around most of it. Then in a longer stretch of vision we could look back into the past of Russia in its ancient cities surrounding Moscow— Vladimir, Suzdal, Tver, that were rivals of budding Moscow when the Tartar invasions overran the country in the thirteenth century and dealt a crippling blow to old Kiev. Kiev with Novgorod in a further projec- tion was the center of civilization that received the Viking invaders from the North and formed the River Road for trade with Constan- tinople. Both cities were cradles of Old Rus', the original state founded by the invading Norsemen. Kiev is now a great modern city with its ancient treasures overshadowed by modern construction and the rush of commerce, whereas Novgorod has not grown back to modern greatness but shines forth in its great Kremlin with the sister church of Kiev's Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom that date back to the twelfth century. A visit to these cities is a look back into the very origins of Rus'. In the Kremlin of Novgorod stands proudly with the blessing of the Soviet government the beautiful bronze memorial, erected during the last century in commemoration of the thousandth anniversary of the christianization of Rus', even as St. Vladimir in bronze holds up a colossal cross high above the Dnieper River at Kiev where the baptism of the peoples took place. Four hundred miles from Moscow and centuries removed in spirit is the city that Peter built to be a window on the West. For two centuries it was St. Petersburg, then when wartime enmities made the German-sounding name unwelcome, it became briefly Petrograd, only to end up as Leningrad. Peter had made it his capital, and all the tsars and their families lie entombed in the chapel of the Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul from Peter to Alexander 111. Though it is no longer the capital, it is certainly a most interesting and unique city to visit. Peter's spirit and Catherine's energy still reflect from its gracious palaces and churches. The world-famous museum, the Hermitage, is here, as is Russia's greatest church, St. Isaac's, with Kazan Cathedral a ways up Nevsky Prospect a close second. No palace is more intriguing, especially in its gardens, then Petrodvorets, once Peterhof, the Russian Versailles. The miracle of Leningrad is that it was mostly rubble just thirty odd years ago after the merciless pounding the Germans gave it during a siege of almost a thousand days. So the Soviet Union is not just an industrial colossus, not a testing ground for communist change, not a military monster strain- ing to break loose and spew death on all the world. It is the inheritor of a great civilization that grew up on the steppes and in the forests of Eastern Europe and produced some of the greatest regal, eccleastical, political monuments in the world together with some of the greatest music and literature — a country well worth visiting and studying to catch some of its mystique and come to an understanding of its physical and spiritual power. Here is a giant that sprawls a quarter of the way around the globe, holding aloft the star of the North that casts long shadows on East and West. — Rev. Maurice ]. Meyers, S. ]., guest lecturer, Soviet Union Tour Cathedral of St. Basil, Moscow BUTTERFLIES BY VLADIMIR NABOKOV 10 I On a summer morning, in the legendary Russia of my boyhood, my first glance upoti awakening was for the chink between the shutters. If it disclosed a watery pallor, one had better not open the shutters at all, and so be spared the sight of a sullen day sit- ting for its picture in a puddle. How resentfully one would deduce, from a line of dull light, the leaden sky, the sodden sand, the gruel-like mess of broken brown blossoms under the lilacs — and that flat, fallow leaf (the first casualty of the season) pasted upon a wet garden bench! But if the chink was a long glint of dewy brilliancy, then I made haste to have the window yield its treasure. With one blow, the room would be cleft into light and shade. The foliage of birches moving in the sun had the translucent green tone of grapes, and in contrast to this there was the dark velvet of fir trees against a blue of extraordi- nary intensity, the like of which I rediscovered only many years later, in the montane zone of Colorado. From the age of six, everything I felt in con- nection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion. If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender. The original event had been banal enough. On some honeysuckle near the veranda, I had happened to see a Swallowtail — a splendid, pale-yellow crea- ture with black blotches and blue crenulations, and a cinnabar eyespot above each chrome-rimmed black tail. As it probed the inclined flower from which it hung, it kept restlessly jerking its great wings, and my desire for it was overwhelming. An agile footman caught it in my cap, after which it was transferred, cap and all, to a wardrobe, where the reek of napthalene was fondly expected to kill it overnight. On the following morning, however, when my governess unlocked the wardrobe to take something out, the butterfly, with a mighty rustle, flew into her face, then made for the open window, and presently was but a golden fleck dip- ping and dodging and soaring eastward, over timber and tundra, to Vologda, Viatka and Perm, and beyond the gaunt Ural range to Yakutsk and Verkhne Kolymsk, and from Verkhne Kolymsk, where it lost a tail, to the fair Island of St. Law- rence, and across Alaska to Dawson, and south- ward along the Rocky Mountains — to be finally overtaken and captured, after a forty-year race, on a bright-yellow dandelion in a bright-green glade above Boulder. Soon after the wardrobe affair I found a spectacular moth, and my mother dispatched it with ether. In later years, I used many killing agents, but the least contact with the initial stuff would always cause the door of the past to fly open; once, as a grown man, I was under ether during an operation, and with the vividness of a decalcomania picture I saw my own self in a sailor suit mounting a freshly emerged Emperor moth under the guidance of my smiling mother. It was all there, brilliantly reproduced in my dream, while my own vitals were being exposed: the soak- ing, ice-cold absorbent cotton presed to the lemur- ian head of the moth; the subsiding spasms of its body; the satisfying crackle produced by the pin penetrating the hard crust of its thorax; the careful insertion of the point of the pin in the cork- bottomed groove of the spreading board; the symmetrical adjustment of the strong-veined, "windowed" wings under neatly affixed strips of semi-transparent paper. II I must have been eight or nine when, in a store- room of our country house, among a medley of dusty objects, I discovered some wonderful books acquired in the days when my mother's mother First published in The New Yorker Magazine, June 1948. had been interested in natural science and had had a famous university professor of zoology (Shimke- vich) give private lessons to her daughter. Some of these books were mere curios, such as the four huge brown folios of Albertus Seba's work (Locu- pletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio . . .), printed in Amsterdam around 1750. On their coarse-grained pages I found wood- cuts of serpents and butterflies and embryos. The foetus of an Ethiopian female child hanging by the neck in a glass jar, used to give me a nasty shock every time I came across it; nor did I much care for the stuffed hydra on plate CII, with its seven lion- toothed turtleheads on seven serpentine necks and its strange, bloated body which bore button-like tubercles along the sides and ended in a knotted tail. Other books I found in that attic, among herbariums full of edelweiss flowers and crimson maple leaves, came closer to my subject. I took in my arms and carried downstairs glorious loads of fantastically attractive volumes: Maria Sibylla Merian's (1647-1717) lovely plates of Surinam insects, and Esper's noble Die Schmetterlinge (Erlangen, 1777), and Boisduval's Icones His- toriques de Lepidopteres Nouveaiix on Pen Con- nus (Paris, begun in 1832). Still more exciting were the products of the latter half of the century- Newman's Natural History of British ButterfUes and Moths, Hofmann's Die Gross-SchmetterUnge Europas, the Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich's Memoires on Asiatic lepidoptera (with incompar- ably beautiful figures painted by Kavrigin, Ryba- kov, Lang), Scudder's stupendous work on the ButterfUes of New England. By my early teens, I was voraciously read- ing entomological periodicals, especially English and Russian ones. Great upheavals were taking place in the development of systematics. Since the middle of the century. Continental lepidopterol- ogy had been, on the whole, a simple and stable affair, smoothly run by the Germans. Its high priest. Dr. Staudinger, was also the head of the largest firm of insect dealers. Even now, half a century after his death, German lepidopterists have not quite managed to shake off the hypnotic spell occasioned by his authority. He was still alive when his school began to lose ground as a scientific force in the world. While he and his followers stuck to specific and generic names sanc- tioned by long usage and were content to classify butterflies by characters visible to the naked eye, English-speaking authors were introducing nomen- clatorial changes as a result of a strict application of the law of priority and taxonomic changes based on the microscopic study of organs. The Germans did their best to ignore the new trends and continued to cherish the philately-like side of entomology. Their solicitude for the "average col- lector who should not be made to dissect" is com- parable to the way nervous publishers pamper the "average reader" who should not be made to think. There was another more general change, which coincided with my ardent adolescent inter- est in butterflies and moths. The Victorian and Staudingerian kind of species, hermetic and homo- geneous, with sundry (alpine, polar, insular, etc.) "varieties" affixed to it from the outside, as it were, like incidental appendages, was replaced by a new, multiform and fluid kind of species, made up of geographical races or subspecies. The evolu- tional aspects of the case were thus brought out more clearly, by means of more flexible means of classification, and further links between butterflies and the central problems of nature were provided by biological investigations. The mysteries of mimicry had a special at- traction for me. Its phenomena showed an artistic perfection usually associated with man-wrought things. Such was the imitation of oozing poison by bubble-like macules on a wing (complete with pseudo-refraction) or by glossy yellow knobs on a chrysalis ("Don't eat me — I have already been squashed, sampled and rejected'). When a certain moth resembled a certain wasp in shape and col- our, it also walked and moved its antennae in a waspish, un-mothlike manner. When a butterfly had to look like a leaf, not only were all the details of a leaf beautifully rendered but markings mim- icking grub-bored holes were generously thrown in. "Natural selection," in the Darwinian sense, could not explain the miraculous coincidence of imitative aspect and imitative behaviour nor could one appeal to the theory of "the struggle for life" when a protective device Was carried to a point of mimetic subtlety, exuberance, and luxury far in excess of a predator's power of appreciation. I discovered in nature the non-utilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception. Ill Few things indeed have I known in the way of emotion or appetite, ambition or achievement, that could surpass in richness and strength the excitement of entomological exploration. From the very first it had a great many inter-twinkling facets. One of them was the acute desire to be alone, since any companion, no matter how quiet, interfered with the concentrated enjoyment of my 11 12 mania. Its gratification admitted of no compro- mise or exception. Already, when I was ten, tutors and governesses knew that the morning was mine and cautiously kept away. In this connection I remember the visit of a schoolmate, a boy of whom I was very fond and with whom I had excellent fun. He arrived one summer night from a town some fifty miles away. His father had recently perished in an accident, the family was ruined and the stouthearted lad, not being able to afford the price of a railway ticket, had bicycled all those miles to spend a few days with me. On the morning following his arrival, I did everything I could to get out of the house for my morning hike without his knowing where I had gone. Breakfastless, with hysterical haste, I gath- ered my net, pillboxes, sailor cap, and escaped through the window. Once in the forest, I was safe; but still I walked on, my calves quaking, my eyes full of scalding tears, the whole of me twitch- ing with shame and self-disgust, as I visualised my poor friend, with his long pale face and black tie, moping in the hot garden — patting the panting dogs for want of something better to do, and try- ing hard to justify my absence to himself. Let me look at my demon objectively. With the exception of my parents, no one really under- stood my obsession, and it was many years before I met a fellow-sufferer. One of the first things I learned was not to depend on others for the growth of my collection. Aunts, however, kept making me ridiculous presents — such as Denton mounts of resplendent but really quite ordinary insects. Our country doctor, with whom I had left the pupae of a rare moth when I went on a journey abroad, wrote me that everything had hatched finely; but in reality a mouse had got at the precious pupae, and upon my return the deceitful old man produced some common Tortoise-shell butterflies, which, I presume, he had hurriedly caught in his garden and popped into the breeding cage as plausible substitutes (so he thought). Better than he was an enthusiastic kitchen boy who would sometimes borrow my equipment and come back two hours later in triumph with a bagful of seething invertebrate life and several additional items. Loosening the mouth of the net which he had tied up with a string, he would pour out his cornucopian spoil — a mass of grasshoppers, some sand, the two parts of a mushroom he had thriftily plucked on the way home, more grasshoppers, more sand, and one battered Cabbage butterfly. I also found out very soon that an entomol- ogist indulging in his quiet quest was apt to pro- voke strange reactions in other creatures. How often, when a picnic had been arranged, and I would be self-consciously trying to get my humble implements unnoticed into the tar-smelling chara- banc (a tar preparation was used to keep flies away from the horses) or the tea-smelling Opel convertible (benzine forty years ago smelled that way), some cousin or aunt of mine would remark: "Must you really take that net with you? Can't you enjoy yourself like a normal boy? Don't you think you are spoiling everybody's pleasure?" Near a sign NACH BODENLAUBE, at Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, just as I was about to join for a long walk my father and majestic old Muromtsev (who, four years before, in 1906, had been President of the first Russian Parliament), the latter turned his marble head toward me, a vulnerable boy of eleven, and said with his famous solemnity: "Come with us by all means, but do not chase but- terflies, child. It mars the rhythm of the walk." On a path above the Black Sea, in the Crimea, among shrubs in waxy bloom, in March, 1918, a bow- legged Bolshevik sentry attempted to arrest me for signalling (with my net, he said) to a British war- ship. In the summer of 1929, every time I walked through a village in the Eastern Pyrenees, which I was exploring lepidopterologically, and happened to look back, I would see in my wake the villagers frozen in the various attitudes my passage had caught them in, as if I were Sodom and they Lot's wife. A decade later, in the Maritime Alps, I once noticed the grass undulate in a serpentine way behind me because a fat rural policeman was wrig- gling after me on his belly to find out if I were not trapping song birds. America has shown even more of this morbid interest in my doings than other countries have — perhaps because I was in my forties when I came here to live, and the older the man, the queerer he looks with a butterfly net in his hand. Stern farmers have drawn my atten- tion to NO FISHING signs; from cars passing me on the highway have come wild howls of derision; sleepy dogs, though unmindful of the worst bum, have perked up and come at me, snarling; tiny tots have pointed me out to their puzzled mammas; broadminded vacationists have asked me whether I was catching bugs for bait; and one morning on a wasteland, lit by tall yuccas in bloom, near Santa Fe, a big, black mare followed me for more than a mile. IV When, having shaken off all pursuers, I took the rough, red road that ran from our house toward field and forest, the animation and lustre of the day seemed like a tremor of sympathy around me. Black Erebia butterflies ("Ringlets" as the old English Aurelians used to call them), with a special gentle awkwardness peculiar to their kind, danced among the firs. From a flower head two male Cop- pers rose to a tremendous height, fighting all the way up — and then, after a while came the down- ward flash of one of them returning to his thistle. These were familiar insects, but at any moment something better might cause me to stop with a quick intake of breath. I remember one day when I warily brought my net closer and closer to a little Thecla that had daintily settled on a sprig. I could clearly see the white W on its chocolate-brown underside. Its wings were closed and the inferior ones were rubbing against each other in a curious circular motion — possibly producing some small, blithe crepitation pitched too high for a human ear to catch. I had long wanted that particular species, and, when near enough, I struck. You have heard champion tennis players moan after muffing an easy shot. You have seen stunned golfers smile horrible, helpless smiles. But that day nobody saw me shake out a piece of twig from an otherwise empty net and stare at a hole in the tarlatan. their nervous wings half open butterfly fashion, the lower ones exhibiting their incredible crimson silk from beneath the lichen-grey primaries. "Catocala adultera!" I would triumphantly shriek in the direction of the lighted windows of the house as I stumbled home to show my captures to my father. VI However, if the morning hunt had been a failure, one could still look forward to mothing. Colors would die a long death on June evenings. The lilac shrubs in full bloom before which I stood, net in hand, displayed clusters of a fluffy grey in the dusk — the ghost of purple. A moist young moon hung above the mist of a neighbouring meadow. In many a garden have I stood thus in later years — in Athens, Antibes, Atlanta — but never have I waited with such a keen desire as before those darkening lilacs. And suddenly it would come, the low buzz passing from flower to flower, the vibra- tional halo around the streamlined body of an olive and pink Small Elephant Hawk-Moth poised in the air above the corolla into which it had dipped its long tongue. Its handsome black larva (resembling a diminutive cobra when it puffed out its ocellated front segments) could be found on dank willow-herb two months later. Thus every hour and season had its delights. And, finally, on cold, or even frosty, autumn nights, one could sugar for moths by painting tree trunks with a mixture of molasses, beer, and rum. Through the gusty blackness, one's lantern would illumine the stickily glistening furrows of the bark and two or three large moths upon it imbibing the sweets. The "English" park that separated our house from the hayfield was an extensive and elaborate affair with labyrinthine paths, Turgenevian benches, and imported oaks among the endemic firs and birches. The struggle that had gone on since my grandfather's time to keep the park from reverting to the wild state always fell short of complete suc- cess. No gardener could cope with the hillocks of frizzly black earth that the pink hands of moles kept heaping on the tidy sand of the main walk. Weeds and fungi, and ridgelike tree roots crossed and re-crossed the sun-flecked trails. Bears had been eliminated in the eighties (two such stuffed giants stood on their hind legs in our entrance hall), but an occasional moose still visited the grounds. On a picturesque boulder, a little moun- tain ash and a still smaller aspen had climbed, holding hands. like two clumsy, shy children. Other, more elusive trespassers — lost picnickers or merry villagers — would drive our hoary game- keeper Ivan crazy by scrawling ribald words on the benches and gates. The disintegrating process continues still, in a different sense, for when, now- adays, I attempt to follow in memory the winding paths from one given point to another, I notice with alarm that there are many gaps, due to obliv- ion or ignorance, akin to the terra-incognita 13 14 blanks map-makers of old used to call "sleeping beauties. " Beyond the park, there were fields, with a continuous shimmer of butterfly wings over a shimmer of flowers — daisies, bluebells, scabious, and others — which now rapidly pass by me in a kind of coloured haze like those lovely, lush meadows, never to be explored, that one sees from the diner on a transcontinental journey. At the end of this grassy wonderland, the forest rose like a wall. There I roamed, scanning the tree trunks (the enchanted, the silent part of a tree) for certain tiny moths, called Pugs in England — delicate little creatures that cling in the daytime to speckled sur- faces, with which their flat wings and turned-up abdomens blend. There, at the bottom of that sea of sunshot greenery, I slowly spun around the great boles. Nothing in the world would have seemed sweeter to me than to be able to add, by a stroke of luck, some remarkable new species to the long list of Pugs already named by others. And my pied imagination, ostensibly, and almost gro- tesquely, grovelling to my desire (but all the time, in ghostly conspiracies behind the scenes, coolly planning the most distant events of my destiny), kept providing me with hallucinatory samples of small print: ". . . the only specimen so far known . . ." ". . . the only specimen of Eupithecia petro- politanata was taken by a Russian schoolboy ..." "... by a young Russian collector ...""... by myself in the Government of St. Petersburg, Czar- skoe Selo District, in 1912 . . . 1913 . . . 1914 " Then came a June day when I felt the urge to push on still farther and explore the vast marsh- land beyond the Oredezh. After skirting the river for three or four miles, I found a rickety foot- bridge. While crossing over, I could see the huts of a hamlet on my left, apple trees, rows of tawny pine logs lying on a green bank, and the bright patches made on the turf by the scattered clothes of peasant girls, who, stark naked in shallow water, romped and yelled, heeding me as little as if I were the discarnate carrier of my present remi- niscences. On the other side of the river, a dense crowd of small, bright-blue male butterflies that had been tippling on the rich, trampled mud and cow dung through which I had to trudge rose all together into the spangled air and settled again as soon as I had passed. After making my way through some pine groves and alder scrub I came to the bog. No sooner had my ear caught the hum of diptera around me, the cry of a snipe overhead, the gulp- ing sound of the morass under my foot, than I knew I would find here quite special arctic butter- flies, whose pictures, or, still better, non-illus- trated descriptions I had worshipped for several seasons. And the next moment I was among them. Over the bilberry shrubs, with fruit of a dim, dreamy blue, over the brown eye of stagnant water, over moss, over mire, over the intoxicating racemes of the lone and mysterious marsh-rocket. a dark little Fritillary, bearing the name of a Norse goddess, passed in a low, skimming flight. I pur- sued rose-margined Sulphurs, grey-marbled Satyrs. Unmindful of the mosquitoes that coated my forearms and neck, I stooped with a grunt of delight to snuff out the life of some silver-studded lepidopteron throbbing in the folds of my net. Through the smells of the bog, I caught the subtle perfume of butterfly wings on my fingers, a per- fume which varies with the species — vanilla, or lemon, or musk, or a musty, sweetish odour diffi- cult to define. Still unsated, I pressed forward. At last I saw I had come to the end of the marsh. The rising ground beyond was a paradise of lupines, columbines, and pentstemons. Mariposa lilies bloomed under Ponderosa pines. In the distance, fleeting cloud shadows dappled the dull green of slopes above timber line, and the grey and white of Longs Peak. I confess I do not believe in time. I like to fold my magic carpet, after use, in such a way as to superimpose one part of the pattern upon another. Let visitors trip. And the highest enjoy- ment of timelessness — in a landscape selected at random — is when I stand among rare butterflies and their food plants. This is ecstasy, and behind the ecstasy is something else, which is hard to ex- plain. It is like a momentary vacuum into which rushes all that I love. A sense of oneness with sun and stone. A thrill of gratitude to whom it may concern — to the contrapuntal genius of human fate or to tender ghosts humouring a lucky mortal. D -'M . ^-^ FIELD MUSEUM TOURS Weekend Field Trips for Members to Starved Rock, Illinois Galena, Illinois Baraboo, Wisconsin Historic Galena By popular demand, Field Museum's weekend trips to Starved Rock, Galena, and Baraboo are being offered again this year, with two weekends to choose from for the Galena and Baraboo trips. Starved Rock. Dr. Gordon Baird, assistant curator of fossil invertebrates, will lead the group on the weekend of June 16-17 to Starved Rock State Park; Buffalo Rock State and Matthiessen State Park will also be toured. Eighty miles south- west of Chicago, Starved Rock is so named for a 125-foot-high sandstone outcrop, where a group of Illini Indians more than 200 years ago took refuge from another attacking tribe. The park is notable for its 19 canyons and their remarkable vistas. Tour members will stay at Starved Rock Lodge. Tour cost: $82.00. Baraboo. Dr. Edward Olsen, curator of mineralogy, will lead tour members through the Baraboo range and along the shores and hinterland of beautiful Devil's Lake. Two tours are sched- uled: May 19 and 20, and June 9 and 10. The Baraboo Range is of special interest as a monadnock —what is left of an ancient mountain range and which now stands out above the younger rocks and sediments. The range consists of quartzite — more than one billion years old — which, although compressed in places into vertical folds, retains the original sedimentary structures. The mountains were further modified by glaciers, forming the lake and the picturesque glens, and changing the course of rivers. Hiking clothes are strongly recommended for the sched- uled hikes. The trip is not suitable for children, but younger people interested in natural history are welcome. The cost of the Baraboo trips is $70.00 per person. Galena. Dr. Bertram G. Woodland, curator of petrology, will conduct two study tours through the geological area (once a lead-producing region) of this history-laden river town, which is built on rocky limestone bluffs. In addition to viewing geological features, tour members will have the opportunity to explore historic Galena's charming downtown area, with its unique variety of pre-Civil War architecture. An overnight tour is offered for the weekend of May 5-6; per person: $98.00. A two-night, three-day tour is offered for October 12, 13, 14 at a rate of $150.00. Accommodations are at the Chestnut Mountain Lodge. Rates quoted for all above tours are per person, double occupancy (single accommodations on request). Included are all expenses of transportation on charter buses and accommo- dations in first class resort hotels. The rate also includes all meals and gratuities, except personal extras such as alcoholic beverages and special food service. An advance deposit of $15.00 is required upon registration for each trip. For additional information and reservations, call or write Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Field Museum, Roose- velt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, 111. 60605. Phone: 922- 9410, X-251. 15 What Is a Curator? 16 BV JOHN TERRELL As A Museum Curator I am always uneasy when people ask me innocently enough: "What do you do?" It is my experience that if you say you are a curator, their eyes will glaze over with incompre- hension. You are likely to get in reply something as noncommittal as "Oh, how nice." Or possibly: "Oh . . . How fascinating." Few people seem to feel comfortable admitting they are not sure what a curator does. I became a museum curator more than seven years ago when I was hired at Field Museum of Natural History as an assistant curator in the Department of Anthropology. I had had absolute- ly no formal training in "muscology." Throughout graduate school I had always assumed that I would end up as a professor, not a curator. When I arrived at Field Museum in Septem- ber 1971 I had in my mind the vague idea that curators look after museum specimens, do re- search that interests them, and help with public exhibitions. I suspect I would not have thought very differently even if I had taken museology courses, for it is my impression that such courses do not add up to very much. Today I think none of us can afford to be as naive as I was back then. What museum curators do is changing. We need to be aware of what those changes are. We also need to take a hand in bringing them about. Traditionally a curator has been someone who is steward of a collection of things housed in a museum. This conception of the role of curator in a museum is, as far as it goes, perfectly correct. If I have any quarrel with it, my argument would be that today this traditional role is far too limited. Like it or not, museum curators in the 1980s and beyond will have to be more than stewards of things. If museums are to take their place in the mainstream of life once again, all of us who call ourselves curators are going to find that we must increasingly also be managers of people. By this I am not saying that the goals of museums as modern institutions should be altered. There appears to be considerable agreement throughout the museum world that the goals of any museum are at least these three: to foster scholarly research, to preserve artistic, historical, and scientific collections, and to be a force in pop- ular education. Surely these are proper goals for museums, today and in the future. What is chang- ing— and what I think needs changing — are the means to those important ends. And what a cur- ator does is — or should be — part of those means. According to convention, at least at our larger museums where the luxury of curator-spe- cialists has been possible, the stereotype of a curator would be roughly as follows. A museum curator (inevitably portrayed as a man) is some- one who is terribly dedicated to some esoteric part of human knowledge, such as the artistic achieve- ments of Greece in the 4th century B.C., the peculi- arities of frog genitalia, or the potential of thermo- luminescence in artifact dating. Also according to their frequent portrayal, a curator is someone who works quiet, long hours all by himself behind the closed doors of his office or laboratory. There he works for years surround- ed by piles and piles of trays and boxes of miner- als, or stuffed owls, or pinned spiders, or human bones and ancient stones. Finally one day this aging curator produces what we have all been waiting for all these years: a great monograph recording all that he has learned and all that he has discovered. Like all stereotypes, this image of the dedi- cated curator-as-scholar is at best only a half- truth. Curators, especially at smaller museums, have always been more active in all the daily chores that need to be done around a museum. But what is changing today is that curators are being asked more and more to take on tasks that may have nothing to do with their scholarly interests and training. Their new responsibilities are taking them away from the things they love. Grumblings are growing louder in the curatorial ranks. What is happening to museum curators? How reasonable are their complaints? The ques- tion is not only "What does a curator do?" but also "What should a curator do?" Let us consider some of the tasks of the modern curator. Research: It is doubtful that a curator's office was ever an unassailable sanctuary for scholarly pur- suits free from the cares and demands of running museums. Yet no museum official would seriously contest the view that scholars and scientists are not going to be very useful people to have around museums if they cannot do what their training has equipped them to do. The question then is: How should curators balance their research tasks against other demands on their time and energies? Since even curators are human beings, the ines- capable conclusion is that curators cannot do too many things at once and still get anything done that is worth doing. And this is the reason why I say curators are going to find more and more that they must be managers of people as well as stew- ards of things. The solution, after all, to not being able to do something yourself is to help someone else do it. Preservation: The technical, scientific skills recog- nized today as essential to be able to conserve and, if necessary, to restore ancient artifacts, works of art, and the like are only rarely part of a curator's training as a research scholar. Nonetheless, be- cause they are stewards of museum collections. John Terrell is associate curator of Oceanic archae- ology and ethnology. curators must keep a watchful eye over how col- lections are stored, handled, studied, loaned, and exhibited. In short, they are responsible for the survival of the collections under their care, and at very least they must know when to call upon the services of the professional museum conservator. Teaching: According to the Oxford English Dic- tionary the first definition of a curator is "One appointed as a guardian of a minor, lunatic, etc." This definition would shock many, if not most, curators, because traditionally museums have been successful in attracting scholars to be curators precisely because they could avoid there the ter- rors and frustrations of teaching the young. In- deed, one well-known curator years ago is said to have defined teaching as "throwing dubious pearls before genuine swine"! This attitude against teach- ing appears to be changing today. And it needs changing, although no one even now would pro- pose that museums should stop being museums and become colleges or universities instead. On the contrary, we are beginning to see that muse- ums can offer a kind of teaching experience that is, unfortunately, all too rare in colleges and univer- sities. Stated simply, the kind of teaching that can be done very effectively at museums is what used to be called apprenticeship education, i.e., learn- ing by practical experience. I might add that if museums are to maintain both their academic ex- cellence and the quality of museum exhibits and public programs, curators must help the institu- tions in which they work to compete aggressively in the academic market place for the best talent be- ing produced by our nation's educational system. To do so, museums must assume part of the bur- den of educating potential museum professionals. Lecturing: It is traditional for museum curators to give public lectures on their specialized fields of scholarship. Today curators should also be ready to lecture on the goals and programs of the muse- ums they serve. Exhibitions: Curators customarily help plan and execute public exhibitions designed both to edu- cate and to entertain the museum visitor. As schol- ars and scientists, however, I think curators (and I include curators of education and the departments they direct) need to be concerned more than they often seem to be about making museology itself a true discipline. It may come as a surprise to many, but for the most part all of us in museums know next to nothing in a scientific way about how to make our exhibits entertaining, educational and genuinely effective. Too much of what we do in designing an exhibit is done by the seat of our pants. In truth, there is no way at present, for in- stance, to know beforehand how well an exhibit will work. This confused, frustrating state of af- fairs is a luxury museums can no longer afford. With their academic training, curators ought to be able to help improve that body of knowledge and technical skills called museology. Decision making and management responsibility: The extent to which the curatorial staff at any given museum is pressed into such vital areas as fund-raising, personnel recruitment and manage- ment, and the like appears to vary greatly from one institution to another. It has not been unusual in smaller museums to find curators saddled with far too many administrative tasks, for which they may be little suited both in training and in psycho- logical makeup. Unquestionably it is the duty of a museum's appointed management to make the best use of the training, talents, and inclinations of all personnel — including the curatorial staff — under its supervision. Yet it will not do to say that curators are not themselves part of the manage- ment team at most museums. It seems increasingly obvious that more and more people are reporting to them for advice, supervision, and daily guid- ance. At Field Museum, for example, curators customarily serve as legally recognized project directors for major museum exhibitions supported by state and federal grants. It has been said that a good manager is not someone who tells other peo- ple what to do, but rather someone who facilitates the work of those for whom he is responsible. Like a good museum director, therefore, I think we can also expect that a good museum curator will come to be judged more and more in the years ahead on how effectively he or she can serve as a good facili- tator of the work that museums, as responsive institutions, should be doing in promoting re- search, education, and the preservation of artistic, scientific, and cultural collections that constitute the heritage of mankind. Planning for the future: Curators as privileged scholars working on their own research goals without interference from the institutions that are their tolerant patrons are a thing of the past. But if curators are to be shouldered with museum re- sponsibilities and problems, then they must also have a real voice in setting the near and more dis- tant goals of their institutions. It may be naive of curators to view the time and effort taken away from their research work as a regrettable sacrifice. But it is only human to want to do what excites you most. And hopefully every curator likes his academic calling. Therefore, the sacrifice must be worth it. It is my feeling that people are willing to make such a "sacrifice" if they find that their con- tribution pays off in observable ways. For this reason I suspect curators must be asked to do more than participate in committee work and come up with helpful advice. They will need to feel that they are directly affecting management decisions about the goals and programs of the museums in which they work. After only somewhat more than seven years as a museum curator I can hardly claim that my answer to the question "What is a curator?" is in any way the sole or best one that could be of- fered. But 1 do think that most of my colleagues at museums would agree that what a curator does is changing. That is the reason why it so difficult to know what to say when someone asks: "What do you do?' D 17 METEOR- WRONGS BY EDWARD OLSEN Photos by Carol Small Kaplan It Is Estimated that somewhere around 70 million meteorites fall into the earth's upper atmosphere each day. Only about 500 of them each year sur- vive burning up and make it through to the ground. Over two-thirds of these end up in the oceans, because that much of the earth is covered with water. Most of the remainder fall in unin- habited places — deserts, bogs, grassy prairies, mountains, etc., where the chance of one being recovered is very slim indeed. Nevertheless, the sight of a "falling star" grabs the imaginations of people. Most of the meteorites that are recovered result from the interest and curiosity of ordinary people. A rock that looks out of the ordinary, or out of place, will raise a question in a person's mind. Often such curious rocks are collected and saved — sometimes for a couple of generations— before being reported. Unfortunately, all the things collected are not necessarily meteorites. In fact, the vast majority are not. Over the past eighteen years as a museum curator of a large meteorite collection I have been impressed by the number and variety of "meteor- wrongs" that have been brought in for identifica- tion. They are tributes to the ability of people to notice the unusual and try to find out what they've found: • About 15 years ago I received a phone call from a gentleman in Los Angeles. He said he had recently taken a vacation trip to a remote lake in Oregon, and described in detail getting to the lake — a main highway to a county road, turning onto a jeep trail, and finally walking cross-country to this beautiful trout lake, nestled in the mountains. There, while fishing, he had seen a large, strange, hackly rock. It was so weird, in this remote place, that he just knew it had to have fallen there — a meteorite. So, he broke off a hunk and later, in a nearby town, arranged to have some men go to the lake and fetch the main mass to town. It weighed several hundred pounds and had to be hoisted onto a truck. When it got to town he had it crated and sent it on its way to the Field Museum in his old home town of Chicago. As a boy he had enjoyed the Museum and the idea of giving it a large meteorite tickled his fancy. On the phone he said he was flying to Chicago on business and would bring the sample piece he'd broken off with him. The crate would arrive by railway freight shortly afterward. It really sounded good! The remote locality, especially in a low population state like Oregon, had everything going for it. Well, he arrived a day later. When he un- veiled the sample my heart fell. It was a fragment of coal-furnace ash — more commonly known as a "clinker." He was chagrined to say the least. A careful examination left no doubt. It was a clinker of the kind that used to be dumped from coal-fired home furnaces, or from steam locomotives. How did it get to such a remote valley in the Oregon mountains? Perhaps a prospector had long ago had a coal furnace for smelting ore. There were, however, according to the man, no signs of aban- doned habitation. Besides, the clinker was so big it had to have come from a sizeable furnace. Well, we never figured it out. For me it was the first of a long list of such mysteries. • One day a farmer from southeastern Mis- souri dropped into the Museum with a paper sack containing — he believed — a meteorite. He spilled the contents onto a table. Out tumbled large fragments of green bottle glass! They were all in ir- regular shapes and looked like hunks that had been scaled off the sides of the large steel ladles used to pour molten glass in a glass factory. (When Edward Olsen is curator of mineralogy/. 18 A "right" and a "wrong": At the right is a pyrite nodule (3.5" long). Nodules of this kind form inside some sedimentary rocks. At the left is an iron meteorite (7" long). Both specimens have the same type of surface sculpting and the same color. A very close look- alike, the pyrite nodule is often brought to the Museum as a possible meteorite. the walls of the large ladles become too encrusted with glass they are hammered out and dumped.) The only trouble was that the farmer had plowed them up in his field! How did they get there? We never figured out that one either. His farm was nowhere near a glassworks. • A few years later, a farmer from southern Illinois came in with some "meteorites" he'd plowed up in his field. They were fragments and shards of bottle glass again — only this time it was deep blue glass! No explanation could be found. No glassworks were known in the area. It is, and has been, agricultural land since the first settlers came there, and the Indians before them did not make glass. • One day in the mid-1960s, a man from Chicago's North Side phoned. He had been on a hike with his sons in the woods near the Wisconsin border and had come across a strange rock. It was shiny and metallic inside and had a thin black i^^niM Manganese is mixed with iron, in a steel mill, to make certain special alloys. This meant that a large mass of a refined man-made metal from some mill had somehow gotten hauled out to -the woods along the Wisconsin-Illinois border north of Chicago. How did that happen? Since that time, over the past ten years, I have had chunks of the same stuff, from the same general area, brought in at least four more times! • Not too long after the first manganese inci- dent I got a call from a man who said he'd found some bright, shiny, metallic object while digging in his yard. He wasn't able to get in to the Museum but mailed the object in. The first thing I noticed about the piece was how "undense " it was — very light stuff, indeed. Well, it took some time, but tests finally showed it to be a piece of very pure metallic silicon. Well, silicon doesn't occur natur- ally either; it also has to be refined by man, chiefly from its oxide form, called quartz. It is a difficult These three "meteor-wrongs" are all man-made. That in the rear (8" long) is a light, frothy siUceous slag from a steel mill. A chunk of furnace clinker (3.5" across) from a coal-fired furnace is at the left. At the right is a piece of dark blue bottle glass (4" across) — slag residue from a bottlemaking operation. Each of these specimens was brought in as a suspected meteorite. coating on the outside. It weighed many hundreds of pounds, by his estimation. He found a small chunk that had broken off the main piece and said it was very dense, like a piece of iron — certainly more dense than an ordinary rock. It sounded en- couraging. A few days later he came into the Museum with his sample. It was much as he described it. It has a density like metallic iron, but was utterly nonmagnetic. This one took the better part of a day for testing. It turned out to be a fairly pure piece of metallic manganese. Manganese oxide is black, and that accounted for the coating on the outside. Manganese metal does not occur natural- ly; it has to be refined in a mill from its oxide ores. refining process. Silicon metal is used to make transistors and devices for electronic calculators. I never figured out how it got into the yard of a suburban house. Since then I've had at least half a dozen more pieces of the same stuff sent in or brought in, each from an unlikely place. • A man who had been on a fishing trip in the Great Okeefenokee Swamp region of southern Georgia called one day. He told of putting his tent up on an island one evening. As he hammered in a tent peg it struck something metallic just a few inches below the surface of the soil. He dug it out. It was rusty on the surface, but very dense, like iron, and very magnetic. This sounded like a win- ner at last. 19 He finally managed to bring the object in to the Museum. It looked just like a weathered iron meteorite. It was flattish and almost two inches thick. I cut off a piece and went to work on it. It took most of a day. It had iron in it all right, and some nickel. But there was too little nickel to be a meteorite. It also contained a lot of chromium as well as small amounts of vanadium. Meteorite metal has neither of these. It was a chunk of man- made steel. What was this piece of metal doing in a swamp, hundreds of miles from anything? It was too chunky and irregular to have been a part that might have fallen from an airplane. It was so rusty it had obviously lain there for a long time— so it couldn't be part of a satellite. It was another one we gave up on. • On the near northwest side of Chicago the owner of a three-storey apartment building re- ported finding a meteorite on his roof. He de- ested? Yes, indeed! She said she would go back to the ranch and bring it into town, where she had a house and yard. She called back a couple of days later to tell me she had it in town in her garage. She and her son had had to set up a block-and-tackle to lift it to the bed of their pickup truck. When it was low- ered into the truck it bounced a bit and put a deep dent into the truck's steel bed. I told her that the best thing to do was to cut off, with a hacksaw, a small piece — say, something about the size of a 25(t piece. That is usually big enough to make all the necessary tests. About a week later she called again to tell me that she and her son were taking turns working the hacksaw. They had worn out at least a dozen blades and were nowhere near through. Finally, after another week had passed I received a pack- age in the mail from the lady. I opened it eagerly, because I was convinced it had to be a winner. The A type of quartzite, a terrestrial metamorphic rock known as a "graywacke. " it occurs in outcrops in northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Specimens found in the Chicago area were carried there thousands of years ago by glaciers, and are frequently thought to be meteorites. This specimen is 6" long. 20 scribed a white-to-pale gray rock that weighed at least 50 pounds. It didn't sound at all like a meteorite. I told him that even if it had been one, there would be no way for it to land on his roof — and stop there! A fifty pound meteorite would go right through to the basement. He said it had to be a meteorite because he was thoroughly familiar with the flat roof of his apartment house and it was not there the last time he went up to the roof, some months before. I went to his house one evening after work and looked at it. It was a large fragment of lime- stone, complete with some fossils in it. I left him with the problem of how a fifty pound chunk of limestone was hoisted onto the roof without him, knowing about it — and why it was done at all! • In the summer of 1977 I received a phone call from a lady in Wichita, Kansas. She said she had grown up on a ranch over 30 miles from Wichita, and ever since she was a child remem- bered a large iron meteorite her father had talked about that was out on the ranch. Were we inter- piece of metal they had cut off was much larger than necessary. It was four inches across. They did a monumental amount of sawing by hand to get such a large piece. The metal was bright and shiny, just like a freshly cut iron meteorite. But clinging to one side of it was a black-colored slag that had thin finger- ings into the metal. The metal was from a smelter — man-made! The main piece weighed many hun- dreds of pounds. It was smelted iron that had been dumped 30 miles from a city that is not a steel mill town. She found that hard to believe — and so did I. I could go on and on about hunks of metal or strange rocks that are found in crazy places. I've long ago' stopped being amazed over such stuff. My biggest problem is trying to figure out what the objects are. People who bring in meteor- wrongs are always disappointed they are not meteorites, and are naturally curious about the true nature of the objects they've collected. Of course, many, many of these things brought in are ordinary terrestrial rocks that people think might be meteorites. Farmers are usually familiar with the bedrock of their area, so when they see some- thing that is definitely not the local bedrock they suspect it might be a meteorite. All of the Midwest was glaciated thousands of years ago. The ancient glaciers carried boulders from regions in the north and dropped them in this central region. So, it's not unlikely for a piece of dark, gray or black basalt to end up in an area where the local bedrock is white limestone or tan sandstone. Such a mass of basalt stands out. Also, there's a process called frost-heave. A farm field that is clear of glacial boulders can have such boulders many feet down wrongs. A while back we were visited by a curator from the British Museum, which has the largest meteorite collection in the world. He told us about a supposed meteorite that fell on the evening of September 25, 1580: It seems that Sir Francis Drake was engaged to a charming young lady. Before they were to be married, however, Drake was going on a sea jour- ney. He left, and two years passed by as he went around the world. The girl despaired of his return, and her father, who wanted her married, arranged with another family for their son to marry her. The eve of the wedding arrived. Farmers in the A stone "right" and a metal "wrong": The specimen at the left is an average stone meteorite (5" long). The other object is a close look-alike: a piece of refined manganese metal (5" long). The latter is man-made. The black coating on the outside of the manganese is manganese rust, which is pitch black in color. In appearance it closely matches the black fusion crust coating on the outside of the meteorite. at the base of the soil. A series of hard winters can freeze the soil to a considerable depth. When the freezing takes place, the ice expands', and a buried glacial boulder can be pushed upwards slightly. After many years the boulder appears on the sur- face. A farmer, knowing it was clear land before, naturally concludes it had to have come from above — a meteorite. Such natural terrestrial rocks are relatively easy to identify. The man-made metals, alloys, slags, clinkers, glasses, and such, are not so easy. The Field Museum isn't, of course, the only museum to face the problem of identifying meteor- area reported the fall of an iron meteorite. The girl said it was a sign from heaven that Sir Francis was returning, and called off the wedding. Well, sure enough, the next day Drake sailed into Plymouth harbor. All ended happily — the girl got her man, and the meteorite ended up being kept in Drake's large manor house. Centuries passed and the meteorite was always kept as a memento of the event. It got to be known as "Drake's meteorite." The curator from the British Museum recently visited the fine old English estate to examine this ancient treasure. Alas, another meteor-wrong — it was a cannonball! These specimens are the products of metal refineries. That on the left (2" long) is a piece of metallic silicon. That on the right (4" long) is of chromium-iron alloy. Both were brought to the Museum as suspected meteorites. 21 Volunteers Honored An impressive, record total of 49,621 hours were contributed by 280 Field Museum volunteers in 1978. Volunteer work was performed in a variety of Museum departments and divisions: anthropology, photography, botany, education, exhibition, geology, zoology, the library, membership, public relations, and publications, among others. Expertise was provided in cataloguing new acquisi- tions, textile conservation, collating, specimen identification, reorganizing old collections, typing, editing and writing, in- structional facilitating, filing, and even in routine mainte- nance tasks. In honor of their outstanding contributions, a buffet dinner was held for the volunteers in Stanley Field Hall on February 27. Museum President and Director E. Leiand Web- ber presented gifts of appreciation to the volunteers; he gave special tribute to Sol Gurewitz, a Field Museum volunteer for eighteen years. The evening was concluded with a presenta- tion of songs by Field Museum staff. 22 -. -' »^;y«a-: Solomon Gurewitz Solomon Gurewitz: The Volunteer as Unpaid Museum Professional Most of Field Museum's staff rarely appreciate how unusually lucky we are in our volunteers, even though we seem to have more of them, and to get more and better work from them, than any comparable institution in the area. Visiting staff from other museums tend to be astonished when told that many volunteers here put in as much as several hundred man- or woman-hours in an average year. We, however, are not surprised. We take such remarkable performances almost for granted, and all because of one man: Mr. Solomon Gurewitz, the volunteer who set the pattern 18 years ago. He still works three days a week every week. Though unpaid, he is as pro- fessional as any member of the paid staff. All of us have come to expect that other volunteers will have at least part of the talent and dedication of a Gurewitz. He came to the Museum in 1961, freshly retired and enthusiastically interested in Asian culture. As there was no regular volunteer program in those days, he had to talk his way in. He succeeded easily, being then as now a good talker. Within a month he had shown he was capable of doing many of the tasks of a trained museum anthropologist. Within a year he was an indispensable member of the Anthropology Department's staff. He was given responsibility for rearranging and re- storing the Museum's large Oriental collections. He became expert enough on these materials to give many lectures and to guide high-powered professional visitors to materials they wished to study. He was often asked to advise on materials for exhibition, on the selection and packing of loans, and on cataloguing. He helped with almost everything and took charge when necessary, having become a true jack-of-all- museum-trades. About 15 years ago, he started to branch out in a new Carol Small Kaplan direction. Much of the Museum's collection had never been photographically recorded even though, as he pointed out, contemporary museological standards required this for reasons of both security and research. He convinced the authorities that the Museum's regular photography depart- ment could hardly keep up with new accessions, much less work its way through the enormous backlog of unrecorded material acquired in earlier years. He received authority to set up a special photography section within the Anthropology Department. Since then he has been the departmental photographer. He and several associates, all volunteers, take several thousand highly professional pictures annually. In the midst of this never-ending task, Sol still finds time to help orient new volunteers, to advise on numerous problems, to act as unofficial Departmental historian, and to be active in the Museum's professional and social life. It is an amazing achievement and, although we may appear to take it for granted, we are naturally both impressed and grateful. To show this gratitude, Sol was several years ago made an Associate of the Museum, and this year the annual Volunteer Party is being dedicated to him. But we have an ulterior motive besides gratitude. We want to publicize him as an example. His influence has already produced a few unpaid staff members almost as good as Sol. We hope that his exam- ple will help bring in more Gurewitzes in future years. — Bennet Branson, associate curator of Asian archaeology and ethnology Special Recognition Over 500 Hours Patricia Talbot (828 hours): Geology; compiling Mazon Creek fauna guide James Swartchild (742 hours): Anthropology; photography of new acquisitions and objects for special research and exhibition projects Sol Century (714 hours): Anthropology; cataloging new acquisi- tions; working on plans for more efficient storage of collections David Weiss (702 hours): Anthropology; working as general assis- tant to the curator; helping develop new security routines Miya Esperanza Diablo (671 hours): Education; educational facilitator and statistical analyst Jeanette Leeper (611 hours): Anthropology; textile conservation Claxton Howard (607 hours): Library; sorting, typing, and reading room assignments James Burd (606 hours): Anthropology; general assistant to the curator; in charge of planning departmental reorganization; cataloger John O'Brien (598 hours): Education; assisting in preparation of Harris Extension materials and resources Sol Gurewitz (579 hours): Anthropology; photography of new and unphotographed specimens; advising on Chinese collections Peter Gayford (578 hours): Anthropology; editorial and research work connected with forthcoming catalog of Chinese rubbings Alice Schneider (574 hours): Anthropology; editorial and research work on Chinese rubbings catalog Burke Smith, Jr. (501 hours): Zoology (Division of InscLtsi; curatorial assistance with orthoptera collection Over 400 Hours Louva Calhoun: Anthropology; illustrating stone tools for publica- tion Anne Leonard: Anthropology; tapacloth project researching Margaret Martling: Botany; cataloging library reprints Carolyn Moore: Anthropology; research and cataloging on Japanese collections LeMoyne Mueller: Anthropology; conservation of North American Indian beadwork collection Sylvia Schueppert: Anthropology; conservation of North American Indian beadwork collection Eleanor Skydell: Education; researching and developing the Weaver's Walk for Adult Group Programs Over 300 Hours Virginia Beatty: Botany; organizing and cataloging collection of New Zealand hepatics and general assistant to curator Rose Buchanan: Education; educational and public facilitator Mark Clausen: Public Relations; editing and writing Eugenia Cooke: Zoology, Division of Mammals: cataloging specimens; filing in departmental library Connie Crane: Anthropology & Exhibition; researching Northwest Coast mythology and working on related projects Julie Hurvis: Education; educational and public facilitator, and resource coordinator for Place for Wonder Ira Jacknis: Education; co-developer for "Festival of Anthropology on Film" Carol Landow: Education; educational and public facilitator Withrow Meeker: Anthropology; cleaning and conservation of Chinese shadow puppets; work on Philippines collections Debra Moskovits: Zoology, Division of Birds; researching and com- piling a gazetteer for bird collecting localities in Brazil Gary Ossewaarde: Education; exhibit facilitator Elizabeth Rada: Botany; cataloging botanical periodicals and typing research monographs Robert Rosbert: Anthropology; cataloging Kish and Pompeii collections James Skorcz: Library; compiling reference statistics, interfiling directory additions, and reading room projects Llois Stein: Anthropology; cataloging and researching Oceanic collections Lorain Stephens: Zoology, Division of Birds; researching and com- piling a gazetteer for bird collecting localities in Peru Beatrice Swartchild: Anthropology; research on Philippine textile collections — to be published as a catalog. Education; statistical analyst Volunteer list continued on p. 34 23 ROSS'S ROSY GULL Twice in the past four years this beautiful arctic species has been a mysterious visitor to the lower 48 states — once to Chicago, once to Massachusetts. ^'---^ BY JANETTE MEAL 24 Not many birds make the front page of the New York Times, but the Ross's gull did. The appearance of one in Newburyport, Massachu- setts, in 1975 was called the birding event of the century, and caused a sensation among bird lovers. The bird was seen and identified on March 2 of that year. On the morning of March 3, a group of 50 or so people, including the distinguished naturalist Roger Tory Peterson, who had left his Connecticut home at 3:45 a.m., waited and watched in the cold. At 10:00 they saw the Ross's gull feeding with a flock of Bonaparte's gulls. It was the 668th bird on Peterson's U.S. life list. As the word spread and the excitement grew, flocks of birders from the U.S. and beyond crowded into Newburyport. They lined the sea wall overlooking the Merrimack River estuary and the state beach on the Salisbury side of the river to see the gull. They frequently saw it feeding with Bonaparte's gulls three times daily. It didn't leave Newburyport until early May. Then, less than four years later, another Ross's gull briefly made the bird-watching headlines. This one happened along the wintry shoreline of Lake Michigan, not far from the Chicago Loop. The bird was first spotted mingling with Bonaparte's gulls on November 29, 1978. The following day it was seen by several expert birders in the vicinity of Lincoln Park, a few miles north. The news spread quickly, and by December 2, a Saturday, dozens of eager birders braved the bit- ter onshore winds in search of the bird. It was seen fleetingly only once more, and never again. Hun- dreds of birdwatchers around the country waited in vain for one more sign that the bird was going to be as cooperative as the famous Newburyport gull, but this second sight record for the the "lower 48" vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The Ross's gull is usually found in the high arctic. Before the 1975 sighting, never before had one been seen so far south. This was the first sighting of the bird in the U.S. outside of Alaska. We can only speculate on how the bird, in 1975 and 1978, came to be so far from its usual habitat. It may have become separated from its own kind, joined a flock of Bonaparte's gulls in their breeding grounds in northern Canada and flown south with them. It may have been blown south by bad weather. Or it may have suffered from a case of mistaken identity and believed itself to be a Bonaparte's gull. The Ross's gull has a circumpolar distribu- tion in the arctic. It is seldom seen south of the Arctic Circle, although there are occasional sightings of the bird in northern Europe and Canada. Our knowledge of the gull is limited by the remoteness and inaccessibility of its habitat; however, we do know the basic facts of its life history. The gulls breed in Siberia, arriving there in late May or early June. They nest and raise their young quickly. By August they have left their nesting grounds and begun an eastward migra- tion. They pour through the Bering Straits in September and October. They continue north- eastward until they meet the pack ice and spend the winter at sea among the ice fields. In spring they follow the ice north as it melts, returning to their breeding grounds. The Ross's gull is small for this particular bird group — 12 to 14 inches (30. 5-35. 5cm.) long. In breeding plumage the head, neck, underparts, and tail are a delicate rosy pink. The back and wings are soft pearl gray. The trailing edges of the wings are white with gray outer tips. A narrow black band encircles the neck. The eyes are red, the feet vermilion. The beak is black and somewhat smaller and weaker than the beak of other gulls. The wingspan is about 10 inches (25.4cm.). The distinctive wedge-shaped tail is 5 inches (12.7cm.) at the center, 4 inches (10cm.) at the outer edges. The bird weighs 8 to 10 ounces (200-250gms.). In winter the pink color fades to white, and the necklace disappears. A patch of gray appears on the back of the crown. In Juvenal plumage, the crown, neck, and mantle are brownish-black. The forehead and cheeks are white with dark patches behind the eyes. A dark band runs along the upper sides of the wings and back forming a W. The tail is white with a wide black terminal band. The feet are plum. The rest of the plumage is white with gray wing linings and considerable brown in the wing tips and coverts. Newly hatched chicks are about 5 inches (13cm.) long. Their down is dusty yellow with flecks of gray and black. The flecks tend to be darker on the head and lighter on the flanks. The breast is unspotted and whitish. The eyes are dark brown. The legs, feet, and bill are flesh-colored or gray, with a brown tip on the bill. The distinguishing characteristics of the Ross's gull are its pink color, its wedge-shaped tail, and the collar around its neck. The bird has a higher, more melodious, and more varied voice than other gulls. Its flight is more buoyant and ternlike. In summer the gull's diet consists of gnats, beetles, small moUusks, aquatic insects and lar- vae, worms, and crustaceans. In winter the diet consists of small fish and crustaceans. The history of the Ross's gull is as in- teresting as the bird is beautiful. The first scientific discovery of the bird was made by Sir James Clark Ross, a nineteenth-century British arctic and antarctic explorer. Ross was born in 1800 and joined the Royal Navy at the age of twelve. Be- tween 1819 and 1827 he sailed on four arctic ex- peditions with Sir William Edward Parry. In 1831 he was a member of Booth's expedition, and with his uncle. Sir John Clark, helped determine the position of the north magnetic pole. Ross led an expedition to the antarctic in 1839 with two ships, the Erebus and the Terror. He led an attempt to rescue Sir John Franklin in 1848/49 with the ship Endeavor. He was recognized as an expert on the arctic and antarctic until his death in 1862. On June 27, 1923, Ross shot a gull at Igloolik on the east side of the Melville Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Parry's journal records the event: Mr. Ross had procurred a specimen of a gull having a black ring around its neck, and which, in its present plumage, we could not find described. This bird was alone when it was killed, but flying at no great distance from a flock of tern, which latter it somewhat resembles in size as well as in its red legs; but is on closer inspection easily distinguished by its beak and tail, was well as by a beautiful tint of most delicate rose-colour on its breast. * This was probably the first written descrip- tion of the Ross's gull. Several days later another member of the expedition shot another gull. The two skins were prepared and carried back to Great Britain. One was given to the University of Edin- burgh Museum, the other to a Joseph Sabine. The bird was described from the Edinburgh skin by Dr. John Richardson and named the cuneate-tailed gull (Larus rossii) in 1824. At the same time William MacGillivray, assistant keeper of the museum, gave the bird the temporary name of Ross's rosy gull (Larus roseus). Both men in- tended for Richardson's names to be used, but somehow it was MacGillivray's names that stuck. Today the scientific name for the bird is Rhodostethia rosea, from the Greek words rhoden, meaning "rose," and stethos, meaning "breast"; and the Latin word rosea, meaning "rose-colored." MacGillivray proposed this name after he learned that the name Rossia was used as the generic name of a mollusk. Virtually nothing more was learned about the Ross's gull for the next 50 years. In the 35 years after its discovery only two individuals were seen, one of them by Ross at Spitzbergen in 1827. In 1844 Audubon wrote that the only two Ross's gulls known to exist in museum collections were the two from the second Parry expedition. Audubon did not see or paint a Ross's gull. He confessed that, "not having met with this beautiful little gull, I am obliged to refer to Dr. Richardson's description of it in the Fauna Boreali- Americana."** By 1881 only 23 specimens could be found in the world's museums, and no eggs or nests had been collected. To illustrate the rarity and value of Ross's gull specimens, consider the story of R. L. Newcomb. In October 1879 Newcomb shot eight Ross's gulls from the ship Jeannette, which was imprisoned in the ice and drifting away from Wrangall Island towards the northernmost of the New Siberian Islands. Large numbers of the gulls were seen flying over the ice. In June 1881 the Jeannette foundered near Henrietta Island. Many men perished during the journey in the ship's boats across ice and water through the New Siberian Islands, across the Laptev Sea, to the Siberian mainland at the Lena River delta. Throughout the long ordeal Newcomb kept three skins under his shirt. Not only did he save the skins, they helped to save him by providing in- sulation against the cold. In the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries our knowledge of the Ross's gull in- creased greatly. Sightings were recorded and specimens collected. The basic facts of the bird's life history were determined. In August 1894 Fridtjof Nansen shot eight *Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a Northeast Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Per- formed in the Years 1821-22-23 in His Majesty's Ships Fury and Hecla Under the Orders of Captain William Edward Parry {London: John Murray, 1824), p. 449. **Audubon, John James, Birds of America {Philadelphia: Audubon, 1944), VII, 130. 25 2* Ross's gulls from the ship Fram. which had been frozen in the ice pack for 10 months. Nansen left the Fram and saw more gulls about 30 miles north- east of Hvidtenland, the northeast group of the Franz Josef Archipelago. From July 11 to August 8 Nansen and his companion, Johansen, saw single birds and sometimes small flocks. The crew of the Fram who remained on the ship also saw Ross's gulls about the same time. Nansen saw the gulls again in August 1899 near Franz Josef Land. This made it clear that the birds inhabited the pack ice north of Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen, and suggested that they bred farther west in Siberia, or that they migrated westward. In 1897 S. A. Andree died attempting to cross the North Pole in a balloon. His body and diary were found in 1930 on White Island, which lies off the coast of North-East Land and between it and Franz Josef Land. The diary reported that after the balloon crashed Andree and his com- panions struggled 200 miles south. They saw 15 to 17 Ross's gulls 120 to 190 miles north of White Island in late July and August. John Murdoch observed Ross's gulls at Point Barrow, Alaska, in the fall of 1881. For a month, beginning September 28, he saw the gulls traveling northeast. The next year he saw them from September 20 to October 9. In 1897 he saw only two Ross's gulls, on September 9 and 23. Murdoch reported seeing large loose flocks of the birds. He took more specimens, mostly immature birds, than were contained in all the world's museums at that time. The gulls appeared at Point Barrow on gray overcast days with easterly winds. They flew in from the southwest, sometimes stopping to feed on the beach, then continued on to the northeast. They appeared and disappeared quickly. The birds were seen in the fall more or less regularly, but their numbers varied. Some years many were seen, some years few, or none at all. The fact that the birds were not seen at Point Barrow in spring or summer led Murdoch to guess correctly that their breeding grounds were west of Wrangall Island, and that they reached the breeding grounds by following the melting ice north, not by a return migration through Point Barrow. Dr. Charles Brower was in charge of the trading post at Barrow in the 1920s. On September 26, 1928, thousands of Ross's gulls passed through Barrow. Brower wrote that he could have killed several hundred if he'd had the time. The skins were once so rare that they brought up to $200. By 1929 they were no longer so valuable. Although they were still eagerly sought by museums and collectors, they com- manded a price of only $10 or so. Ross's gulls were shot for food by Eskimos and were eaten fried or roasted. They tasted like golden plover! Sergius Buturlin conducted the major study of the species on its breeding grounds in 1905. He described the limits of the breeding area in north- eastern Siberia — from the Kolyma River delta near the Arctic coast, south to Aby Mlaya and Svedne Kolymsk, east to the Chaun and Indigirka Rivers, and west to Swjatai Nos. The southern part of the area is forested, but most of it is a mix- ture of swamp, moor, wet ground, lakes and rivers. The birds nest in dense alder thickets, not on the open tundra. Buturlin reported that the first gulls arrived on May 30. The next day he saw several dozen. They appeared tired, sitting quietly on the ice and not flying far away if they were approached. Buturlin found the gulls on a small shallow lake formed by snow melt, accompanied by terns and Sabine's gulls. They spent their time swimming, catching insects, and resting. The gulls were con- stantly seen in pairs, the males identifiable by their more intense coloration. The males courted the females by pecking at their heads and necks with open beaks, as if they were trying to kiss the females. The males stepped around the females, trilling, with their heads and breasts lowered, their tails and wings raised. After June 3 the gulls dispersed and established territories. The males, and sometimes the females, defended the territories. The nests were constructed of dry grass, sedge stalks, dwarf willow and dwarf birch leaves and twigs, and often lined with lichens. They were built on small mossy areas free of wet grass or on small islands above the water. Some nests were built in hollows in patches of dry dead grass. The nests were shallow cups about 4 inches (10cm.) in diameter and Vi inch (.6cm.) thick, standing 4 to 10 inches (10-25. 4cm.) above the surface. The nests were generally damp. The gulls nested in small colonies of four to thirty birds, almost always in the company of arctic terns. Other birds that shared the breeding grounds were glaucous-winged fulls, hoary red- polls, snow buntings, white-tailed eagles, willow ptarmigan, pectoral sandpipers, curlew sand- pipers, dunlin, red and northern phalaropes, snipe, golden plovers, ruff, oldsquaw, white- fronted geese, bean geese, and whistling swans. Buturlin found the first incubated eggs on June 13. By June 23 he had collected 36 eggs and 38 skins. On June 26 he found an egg close to hatch- ing. There were usually three eggs per nest, but some nests held two or four eggs. The eggs measured 1.7 inches (43.3mm.) long and 1.2 inches (31.6mm.) wide. They were dark olive green spotted with chocolate brown. They were roundish, the small ends not pronounced, and more spotted towards the longer ends. The spots were not sharply defined and varied in color, some being lighter and some darker. The incubation period lasted more than 3 weeks. Second clutches were sometimes laid if the first clutches were lost. During the day the females left the nests to feed. At night the males defended the colonies. The gulls constantly fought with the terns, making the colonies noisy places. The gulls' Continued on page 34 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS Quetico Wilderness Canoe Trip for Members July 19-29 Quetico Provincial Park, in western Ontario, is a mosaic of pure glacial lakes, pre-Cambrian rocks, and virgin boreal forest. Together with Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which it adjoins, this park is one of our continents's last remain- ing wilderness areas. Field Museum is sponsoring for the fifth consecutive year, a canoe trip to Quetico for its high school-age members. The Voyageur Wilderness Program, of Atikokan, Ontario, is cosponsor. The ten-day trip is not primarily for fishing, nor is it a crash course in ecology; rather, it is intended as a wilderness experience and, as such, can mean different things to different participants. To truly experience wilderness is to forsake many of the comforts and crutches of civilized life. It means hard work —paddling long hours and carrying canoes and gear over por- tage trails that range from a few yards to more than a mile long. But it also means entire days during which one's group will encounter no others; it means lakes clean enough to drink from; it means periods of intense silence and opportunities to see wild animals and to experience the northern lights. Martin Oudejans The group of 30 will be divided into single-sex units of five or six persons, each with a counselor or guide. All equip- ment, food, and guide services, as well as bus transportation between Field Museum and Quetico are included in the trip cost: $225.00. Applicants must be between 14 and 19 years old. Previous camping or wilderness experience is not neces- sary. The prime qualifications are proven swimming ability, good health, maturity and reliability. All applicants will be inter- viewed by Field Museum counselors; the deadline for applica- tions is May 25. Those chosen for the trip will be so notified by June 2. Slide presentations by Voyageur Wilderness Program representatives will be given on Field Museum's Members' Nights, May 2, 3, and 4. Program times and location will be an- nounced in Members' Night literature or may be obtained by phoning 922-9410, X-251. For an application or additional information, phone or write Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL. 60605. 27 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS ILLINOIS ARCHEOLOGY FIELD TRIP For many of us, the word "arche- ology" conjures up visions of great architecture in distant places: Egypt's Pyramids and Sphinx, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, and Mexico's Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihua- can. These sites, with their relics, are limitlessly fascinating. But right here in Illinois we also have exciting archeological sites, including the largest aboriginal structure north of Mexico — Monk's Mound at Ca- hokia. One of the most broadly based archeological research centers in the country is the Foundation for Illinois Archeo- logy, at Kampsville; and one of the largest covered excavations with the longest continuing research programs is at Dickson Mounds, near Lewistown. If you are interested in learning more about Illinois pre- history, as well as how scientific archeological research is con- ducted, you can join the Field Museum field trip of June 1-5, which will visit Dickson Mounds, Kampsville, and Cahokia Mounds. Limited to 30 partici- pants, the trip includes site visits, lecture and slide presentations, workshops and discussions led by staff archeologists working at the respective sites. The field trip director is Robert Pickering, a doctoral candidate at Northwest- ern University. The per person cost of this field trip is $240.00. For full details and registration informa- tion, write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. Helton Mound, in the Lower Illinois Riuer Valleii, is ti;pical of the sites to be visited during the June archeology; field trip. 28 Observations On the Mutability Of Time BY ALAN EDWARD RGBIN About 600 years ago Geoffrey Chaucer wrote: The tyme, that may not sojourne, But goth, and never may retourne, As water that doun renneth ay, But never drope retourne may, and therein expressed the obvious irreversibihty of time. More recently, in "Chronomoros," Edward FitzGerald told of time's unvarying flow: Whether we wake or we sleep, Whether we carol or weep, The Sun with his Planets in chime, Marketh the going of Time. These phrases typify the concept of time as in- exorably ticking away, marking the passage of innumerable events and relegating them to an in- different oblivion. The sands of time flow on. Contrary to the notions of Chaucer and FitzGerald, however, time cannot be considered as flowing at a constant rate along a one-way street. The measurement of the finite velocity of light (first performed by the Danish astronomer, Olaus Roemer, in 1676) lay the groundwork for the des- truction of this concept. Light is the carrier of information, be it the spectral type of the nearest stars, the radial velocity of a remote galaxy, or the fact that there may be an ideal green wall clock on the other side of my office indicating a time of 9:07:04 to me. At a speed of approximately 300,000 km /sec, the light reflected off the clock will span the five meters to my eye in less than 0.000000017 second. For all practical purposes, then, when I observe the clock to say 9:07:04, it actually is 9:07:04. Suppose I sent my cousin (of whom I'm not very fond) 300,000 kilometers away, lent him a telescope, and asked him to observe my wall clock. Clearly, it would take light precisely one second to travel from the clock to my cousin. When he reads 9:07:04, fully one second will have elapsed since the clock indicated that time to me. At that point. Alan Edward Rubin is a graduate student at the Univer- sity of Illinois at Chicago Circle. He has been a lecturer at the Adler Planetarium and has taught a course on "Geology of the Solar System" at Field Museum. I will read 9:07:05. Another observer, 600,000 kilometers from my clock would judge it to be just 9:07:03. It can now be seen that there must be a quantum of light carrying that information of 9:07:04 along with it, and if one were to ride on the light beam, it would stay 9:07:04 forever. At the speed of light, time stands still — in contradistinction to what I observe while sitting and watching my clock successively ticking off 9:07:04, 9:07:05, 9:07:06. . . .If I were astride the light beam, however, I would be moving at 300,000 km/sec relative to the clock, while in reality I'm not moving with respect to the clock at all. If I were to suddenly increase my velocity relative to the clock, I would notice a correspon- ding slow-down in the passage of the clock's time. The faster I went, the longer it would take the clock to get from 9:07:04 to 9:07:05. I would be able to measure how sluggish my wall clock had become by glancing at the Timex on my wrist. My Timex would tick away the seconds at the same rate my wall clock did before I started moving. But since my wristwatch would not be moving relative to me, it would be keeping what is referred to as "proper time." We can define proper time as the time kept by a clock that is stationary with respect to the observer. Let us imagine that my cousin has come back to earth for the moment to find me. I owe him money. As he enters my office, he notices me jumping out the window at 259,000 km/sec. Quickly, he pulls out his telescope and focuses on my wristwatch. He notes that two seconds of the wall clock pass for every one second indicated by my Timex, and concludes that my wristwatch is in bad adjustment. But the sluggishness he observes on my Timex is exactly equivalent to the slug- gishness I observe on the wall clock back in my office. It can now be seen that an observer will note that every relatively moving clock is slow; the faster the relative velocity, the slower the moving clock seems to run. This effect is known as "time dilation" and has been experimentally verified in the decay of high-speed muons. Muons are unstable massive sub-atomic particles that break down very rapid- 29 30 ly. In fact, half of the muons that are stationary with respect to an observer will have decayed in about one millionth of a second. However, if an observer locates some muons which are moving relative to him, he will note that the muons live longer. The faster the muons are moving, the longer they will seem to live. So far, I have only discussed the apparent sluggishness of time in systems which are in relative motion. Many of the examples presented above are derived from Einstein's special theory of relativity. Time also appears to slow down, however, when it is being measured in a system that is being accelerated or in one that is experi- encing a gravitational field. Before we discuss this, it is germane to illustrate Einstein's "principle of equivalence," which states that the effects of gravitation are completely indistinguishable from the effects of uniform acceleration. Suppose I were to go to the moon (where the effects of air resistance are zero) and take along with me a cough drop and a silver dollar. Placing the cough drop in one hand and the silver dollar in the other, I will experience the weights of each of these objects as pressures on my hands and will judge that the weights differ. If I were to move my hands quickly downwards, the pressures exerted by these objects on my hands would decrease. An increase in the downward motion of my hands would correspond to a decrease in the pressure exerted by these objects. If I were to con- tinue this motion ever more rapidly, there would come a time when the objects would fly off my palms and lag behind in the downward motion. This will occur when the downward motion of my hands exceeds the free fall velocity of the objects. Now, the cough drop and silver dollar will fall at the same rate, remaining at an equal height, although they are no longer in contact with my hands. Let me now capture a scientifically minded small green demon and imprison him in an opaque box along with the cough drop and the silver dollar. The box rests comfortably in my hand. When my hand is at rest, the demon will note that the cough drop and silver dollar have different weights by placing them on a tiny green scale he always carries in his pouch. If I were to bring my hands downwards, the demon would note a sudden decrease in the weights of the objects. He would not be able to tell that the box was moving since he could not see through the walls. Again, if the free fall velocity of the objects were exceeded by the downward movement of my hand, the cough drop, silver dollar, scale, and demon would all start flying upwards. It would be as if these formerly heavy objects had suddenly aquired a negative weight, or that gravitation, which had up to that moment always acted downwards, suddenly began acting upwards. The demon could conclude that either the box was being accelerated in the direction of the unaltered gravitational field or that the masses below the box, which previously had pulled everything down, had disappeared, and new masses had appeared above the box, pulling everything toward the ceiling. There is no known experiment that the demon could perform inside the box to distinguish between these two possibilities. Let us now examine how time is altered by the presence of either a uniform acceleration or a gravitational field. Imagine a freely floating glass room which is far out in space and subject to no gravitational influences. My cousin and I are in- side, having tea. Outside the room is a circular disk which is rotating at a constant velocity. After synchronizing our watches, we decide to perform a little experiment. My cousin leaps onto the cir- cular disk and fastens himself there securely. After a while, we decide to compare watches and I notice that my cousin's watch is running a bit slow. We repeat this experiment several times more, varying only the distance from the center of the rotating disk to the point where my cousin straps himself down. I observe that the farther my cousin is from the center of the disk, the faster he is being accelerated and the slower his watch appears to run. Since Einstein's principle of equivalence equates an accelerating system with one that possesses a gravitational field, it can be concluded that clocks will also run slow when sub- jected to gravitational attraction. In an intense gravitational field, time will be much slowed down with respect to a distant observer. In the vicinity of a black hole, the distortion of time is maximized. A black hole gets its name from the fact that no light can escape from it and it can therefore never be directly observed. Around every black hole there is a spherical boundary called the event horizon, which lies at a radius (numerically equal to 2.95 kilometers times the mass of the black hole in solar mass units) from the singularity inside. Any shoe, cat, rocketship, cigar, gastropod, or light beam that penetrates the event horizon will be swal- lowed up by the black hole and never emerge. The closer these objects come toward the event horizon, the slower the time will appear on their clocks as judged by a distant observer. Conse- quently, such an observer would never actually see any of these objects penetrate the event horizon. They would appear frozen at the surface of this boundary with their clocks remaining stop- ped for all infinity. Let us assume that I have just discovered a nonrotating black hole of ten solar masses and decided to send my cousin to investigate it. His mission is to approach and penetrate the event horizon, while keeping his clock on display at the stern of his spacecraft. I remain a good safe distance away. When my cousin is only 33 km from the hole, three seconds on my Timex will pass for every one second recorded by his clock. Events at this distance from the black hole transpire at one-third their normal rate. As my cousin's spacecraft came closer to the event horizon, his clock would run ever more slowly. It would take an infinite time for the clock to tick at the event horizon and the spacecraft would appear to be suspended there forever. My cousin, however, would not see himself as being frozen against the boundary of the event horizon. He would pass through it in what he would judge to be a reasonable amount of time and notice no strange pathological effects what- soever. A glance at his clock would indicate to him that his was functioning quite normally and if he were to look back outward toward my Timex, he would find it corresponds rather well with the clock in his ship. (The only discrepancy he would notice would be due to the relative motion of his clock with respect to mine, as discussed above.) The observation of his ship being frozen against the event horizon is therefore only a consequence of my point of view from the outside. Although I would be able to see my cousin poised in space forever, he himself would be heading toward the center of the black hole. As he approached the center, the tidal forces would grow ever stronger. Assuming the hole was ten solar masses, he would reach the center in 67 millionths of a second according to his clock after he penetrated the event horizon. The tidal forces, however, would have torn him apart long before this. At the center of the hole there would be a singularity, a mathematical point containing all the mass of the hole, including, now, my cousin's. It is an object of zero volume, and consequently of infinite density. I could then assume that my cousin would not participate in any of my future experiments. I have stated above that "time cannot be considered as flowing at a constant rate along a one-way street." I have shown that time slows down with increased velocity according to the postulates of special relativity and that gravita- tional fields also will cause clocks to slow in accord with general relativity. So much for time's constant rate. But what about the second part of my statement? Can time still be thought of as flowing along a one-way street? Perhaps time can be slowed down and stopped, but can it ever actually flow backwards? Is the irreversibility of time absolute? According to electromagnetic quantum field theory, an anti-particle moving forward in time is equivalent to a particle moving backward in time. In the nuclear physical process of pair production, a photon is annihilated and an elec- tron and a positron (an anti-electron) are created. The positron can be represented by an electron going backwards in time. This postulate was first presented by R. P. Feynman in 1949, but it must be kept in mind that this time-reversal anti- particle equivalence has not been empirically verified. Perhaps it is empirically unverifiable. Nevertheless, mathematically, at least, time can be considered as occasionally flowing backwards when dealing with particle — anti-particle pairs. There is yet another mathematical solution dealing with the reversibility of time that stems, in this instance, from some of the theoretical specula- tion about black holes. If you recall, the black hole that I sent my cousin into was nonrotating. But just how reasonable is it to suppose that any star (including black holes) would possess no rota- tional velocity? Our sun rotates (with a period at its equator of 25.4 days); the pulsar— neutron star in the Crab Nebula rotates (about 30 times each second); in fact, all stars rotate. In general, the more massive the star, the greater is its rotational velocity. In order for a star to have collapsed upon itself to form a black hole, it must have been at least three times as massive as the sun. As the star's radius decreased, the potential black hole would have had to rotate more rapidly in order for angular momentum to have been conserved. From this we can conclude that a non- rotating black hole is most likely a fictitious entity. It was necessary to consider the nonrotating hole, however, because up until 1963 there were no known mathematical treatments that could account for rotation of black holes. In that year, R. P. Kerr published such a treatment. Instead of the black hole having one event horizon, there are actually two. Also, a trip through the first event horizon does not necessari- ly doom the traveller into being sucked up by the singularity. It is possible for him (if he chooses his course carefully) to pass through the event horizons and emerge in another universe. Once there (wherever that might be) our adventurer could conceivably find another rotating black hole and return to our own universe at any point in time that he may choose. The Kerr solution allows him to possibly return to earth a million years in the future or ten billion years before he left. The main flaw in this solution is that it is necessary when performing the calculations to en- tirely disregard the star that created the black hole in the first place — a most fundamental oversight. This "wormhole" to the future or the past must therefore be regarded as a purely mathematical construction, and one that, given our present state of knowledge, cannot be taken too seriously. What, then, is time? It cannot be defined as flowing at a constant rate, as has been shown by special and general relativity. Moreover, there are certain mathematical solutions which seem to question time's apparent irreversibility. But in the daily personal worlds of most of us, time seems to exhibit no behavioral abberations, for this is in fact the world for which the concept of time was created, as a classically useful and fundamentally human expedient. D 31 FIELD MUSEUM TOURS Exclusive Tour Packages for Members and Their Families Fabulous Machu Picchu, one of the sites to be uisited on Field Museum's Peru tour. PERU 32 In 1978 Field Museum was host to a dazzling exhibit of golden treasures from ancient Peru. Now Field Museum members and their families can visit some of the archeo- logical sites where those treasures were discovered. A 20-day tour (Oct. 27-Nov. 15) will visit the famed ruins of Machu Picchu. Chan Chan. Pachacamac. Purgatario. and others. Also on the itinerary are the Plains of Nazca (viewed from low-flying aircraft), the offshore Guano Islands, and the famous Pisac Indian Fair. The group, limited to 20 persons, will be led by Dr. Michael Moseley. associate curator of middle and South American arche- ology and ethnology, and by Robert Feldman, assistant in archeology. Both Moseley and Feldman have done exten- sive archeological work in Peru: a tour escort will also accompany the group. The tour cost— $2,998 (which includes a $500 donation to Field Museum) — is based upon double occu- pancy and includes round trip air fare between Chicago and Peru, as well as local flights in Peru. Delta Airlines will be used between Miami and Chicago, connecting with Aeroperu. Deluxe hotel accommodations will be used through- out. The package includes all meals, including inflight meals; all sightseeing via deluxe motor coach: all admis- sions to special events and sites, where required: all bag- gage handling throughout, plus all necessary transfers: all applicable taxes and tips: all applicable visa fees. Advance deposit required: $250.00 per person. FIELD MUSEUM TOURS COOIC ISLANDS The Unique Opportunity to see a hidden comer of the fabled South Seas awaits a select group of Field Museum Members. Accompanied by three staff scientists, from July 14 to 31, a visit to the Cook Islands will involve comfortable living in a still-un- spoiled paradise. It will be the dry season, with clear lagoon waters, sunshine guaranteed, and comfortable temperatures. Located between Tahiti and Fiji, the Cook Islands offer one of the last relatively unspoiled island areas. Rarotanga, with towering peaks and narrow valleys, is surrounded by a reef and coral islets. A new 150-room hotel provides a base with modern comforts. Aitutaki, an hour away by small plane, is a classic atoll lagoon, rich in marine life and superb for snorkeling or SCUBA div- ing. There, a comfortable, country-style hotel will provide two nights' accommodation right next to a lagoon reef, with the sim- ple, friendly services of the Polynesian community. Mangaia, also a short flight away, will be visited for a day, with an inland hike and a journey to the lagoon areas. The last three days of the tour will be spent in Hawaii. The tour's scientific lecturer/escorts will be Dr. Alan Solem, curator of invertebrates. Dr. Robert K. Johnson, associate curator of fishes, and Dr. Elizabeth L. Girardi. research associate in invertebrates. Dr. Solem has participated in many expeditions to this part of the globe and has written extensively on its fauna. Dr. Johnson, a certified SCUBA diver and expert on coral reef fishes, has participated in many diving expeditions to both the South Pacific and the Caribbean. Dr. Girardi has also made many collecting trips to the South Pacific, concentrating on marine invertebrates. The tour, limited to 25 persons, will travel via Air New Zealand. The tour cost— $2,650 (includes a $400 donation to Field Museum)— is based upon double occupancy and includes round trip air fare to and from Chicago. Also included is all inter- island transportation, all meals (except lunches in Hawaii) and all inflight meals, all admissions to special events, where required; all baggage handling, plus all transfers, all applicable taxes and tips. Advance deposit required: $400 per person. For full itinerary and other information, write or call Michael J. Flynn, Field Museum Tours, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605. Phone: (312) 922-9410, X-251. Tour members will staii at the Rarotangan. the Cook Islands' new luxury/ hotel. n VOLUNTEERS continued from p. 23 1978 Volunteers Bruce \hib()rii Ainv Xlluisi Carrie Anderson Cleo Anderson Si^ne Anderson Dolores Arbanas Judv Armstronj^ Beverlv Baker Mar<;aret Baker Dennis Bara Owen Barnett Sanda Bauer DcMiie Baum«arlen John Bayalis Vir»;inia Beatty Marvin Benjamin Frances Benlley Phoebe Bentley William Benlley Leslie Beverly Kulh Blazina Marv Ann Bloom Sharon Boeniniel Marjorie B<)hn Julie Borden Idessie Bowens Hermann Bowersox Kristine Bradof (^arol Bris<'oe Rose Buchanan Teddy Buddinfjton James Burd Katherine Burdick Michael Burns Louva Calhoun Jean Carton Cathe Casperson Gilda Castro Sol ("enturv Karen Chesna-McNeil June Chomsky Robert Clark Mark Clausen John Collins June Connors Eugenia Cooke Collenane Cosey Richard Cox Mary Ann Cramer Connie Crane Velta Cukurs Alice Culbert Eleanor DeKoven Mary Derby Carol Deutsch Anne DeVere Miva Esperanza Diablo Marianne Diekman Jennifer Dillon Delores Dobberstein Stanlev Dolasinski Carolyn Donovan Marjjaret Dreessen Janet Duchossois Stanley Dvorak Bettie Dwinell Milada Dyl>as Sharon Ebl>ert Alice Eckley Anne Ekman Lee Erdnian Audrey Faden Martha Farwell Suzanne Faurot Lee Fefferman Linda Finney Marc Fleischer Gerry Fofiarty Gerda Frank Arden Frederick Nancv Frederick Werner Frey Royla Furniss Peter Gavford Patricia Geor^ouses Nancv Gerson Elizabeth Louise Girardi Shirlev Goldman Loma Gonzales Helen Gornstein Evelyn Gottlieb Carol Graczyk Ralph Greene Paul Gritis Patrick Gullev Kathy Gunnell Sol Gurewilz Michael Hall Marjorie Hammerstrom Judith Hansen John Harding Marjiaret Hardinj; Patricia Hastings Shirley Hattis Maureen Hawkridge H.J. Hedlund Katherine Hill Audrey Hiller Vicki Hlavacek Patricia Hogan Ralph Hogan April Hohol Claxton Howard Ruth Howard Elmer Hulman David Humbard Julie Hurvis Adrienne Hurwitz Diane Hutchinson Lucinda Hirichison Ellen Hyndman James Jack Ira Jacknis Penny Jacobs Mabel Johnson Ernest Paul Jones Malcttlni Jones Julia Jordan i^titia Kaminski Dorothy Karall Dorothy Kathan Gayle Kedrick Ruth Keller-Petilti Shirley Kennedy Marjorie King Elaine Kinzelberg Ann Koopnian Carol Kopeck Eva Kopel (^arol Landow Betty Langedyk Viola Laski Katharine Lee Jeanette Leeper June Lefor Steve LeMay Anne Leonard Margaret Litten Elizabeth Lizzio Susan Lynch Edna MacQuilkin David Magdziarz Anna Main Judy Main Richard Main Catherine Majeske Kay-Karol Mapp Gabby Margo Gretchen Martin Margaret Martling Geri Matsushita Joyce Maluszewich Melba Mayo % illiam McCarthy Mark McCollam Ann McCorkle Patsy McCoy Jodie McNeel Elizal>eth Meeker Withrow Meeker Beverlv Mever Joanne Mitchell (Carolyn Moore \^ iley Moore Patricia Morin ^cndv Morton Debra Moskovits LeMoync Mueller Anne Murphy Roger Mvers (^harlita INachtrab Mary Naunton JoAnn Nelson John Ben Nelson Mary Nelson Louise Neuert Natalie Newberger Ernest Newton Herta Newton Barbara Nielsen Suzanne Niven Bernice Nordenberg Janis (VBove John O'Brien Joan Opila Gary Ossewaarde Anita Padnos Raymond Parker Susan Parker Sally Parsons Delores Patton Frank Paulo (Vleste Perry Mar\ Ann Peruchini Lorraine Peterson Diane Pieklo Kathleen Porter Elizabeth Rada Lori Recchia Erin Reeves Sheila Reynolds Elly Ripp Addie Roach William Roder Barbara Rooh Rr>bert Rosberg Brcnda Rosch Sarah Rosenbloom Marie Rosenthal Anne Ross Dennis Roth Helen Ruch Marc ftamet Linda San