FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN January 1987 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Published by Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President: Willard L. Boyd Editor/ Designer: David M. Walsten Production Liaison: Pamela Steams Staff Photographer: Ron Testa Board of Trustees Richard M. Jones, Chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour George R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Mrs. Philip D. Block III Willard L. Boyd Robert D. Cadieux Henry T. Chandler Worlcy H.Clark Frank W. Considine Stanton R. Cook William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Thomas J. Eyerman Marshall Field Ronald J. Gidwitz Clarence E. Johnson John James Kinsella Hugo J. Melvoin Leo F. Mull in Earl L. Neal James J. O'Connor Robert A. Fritzker James H. Ransom John S. Runnells Patrick G. Ryan William L. Searle Mrs. Malcolm N. Smith Robert H. Strotz Mrs. Theodore 0. Tieken E. Leland Webber Blaine J. Yarrington CONTENTS January, 1987 Volume 58, Number 1 January Events at Field Museum Scenes of the Women's Board's Treasures Ball Road to Paris by William S. Street and Janice K. Street Gods, Spirits, and People: The Human Image in Traditional Art 10 by Robert A. Feldman, Exhibit Developer and Research Associate in Anthropology Field Museum Tours 26 COVER Headdress figure from Western Cameroon or Eastern Nigeria, late 19th century It may currently be seen in the exhibit "Gods, Spirits, and Peo- ple, " which went on view at Field Museum November 22. This skin- covered wooden figure was worn on top of the head as part of a cloth face mask. The skin is antelope, but it is said that in the past human skin was used. Although the figure represents a uioman with an elaborate haircio, it was worn by men of the Ekpo Society, who exercised social control and supervised the viUage's sanitary corxditions. The figure symbohzes a female ancestor and the vital forces of the commuruty. Made b^i the Ekoi tribe of the Cross River area. Schroeder collector, cat. 175615. height 28". Photo by Ron Testa and Diane Alexander White. J 09446. Life Trustees Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Mrs. Edwin J. DeCosta Clifford C.Gregg William V. Kahler William H. Mitchell Edward Byron Smith John W. Sullivan J. Howard Wood Field Museum of Naatral History Bullean (USPS 898-940) is published monthly, except cotnbined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natuiai Hisloty, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1987 Field Museum of Natural History SuhscriptioriS: $6.00 annually. $3.00 for scho^ils. 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. Museum phone: (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should include address label and be sent to Membership Department. Postmaster:Pleasesendfotm3579toFieldMuseumofNaturalHistory, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shote Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. ISSN; 0015-0703. Second class postage paid at (Dhicago, Illinois. Stents The perfect couch, these boys will tell you, is a dinosaur kg bone in Stanley Field Hall. 79329 Winter Fun 1987 Drive away Doldrums! Treat your children (or grandchildren) to weekend workshops at Field Museum. Workshops begin January 17 through Febru- ary 15. Children ages 4-13 can participate in classes that range in topics from alligators, birds and artic whales, to the fascinating cultures of the Pawnee and Hopi Indians. Highlights of workshops being offered this year are: "Sharks Teeth, Crab Claws, and Sea Shells"; "Nests, Roosts, Hollows, and Holes," for 4- and 5- year-olds; "Earthq-q-u-u-ake!" for 6-7 and 8-9-year- olds; and "Fossils" for 10-13-year-olds. Anthropologists, paleontologists, artists, and writers bring their creative energies and expertise to this winter's workshops. Advance registration re- quired. See the Winter Fun brochure for a complete schedule and registration form or call 322-8854, Monday-Friday, 9:00am-4:00pm for further information. January Weekend Programs Each Saturday and Sunday you are invited to explore demonstrations, and films related to ongoing exhibits at the are only a few of the numerous activities each weekend, complete schedule and program locations. The programs Council. January 10 1 1:30am Geology of the Chicago Area (tour). Dis- cover what's beneath the surface of the Chicago the world of natural history at Field Museum. Free tours. Museum are designed for families and adults. Listed below Check the Weekend Programs sheet upon arrival for the are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts 1 1 2 :00pm Malvina Hoffman-Portraits in Bronze (slide lecture). Explore the life and works of famed sculptor Malvina Hoffman, concentrating on the "Portraits of Mankind" Collection area. 11:30am Ar\cient Egypt (tour). Explore the tradi- tions of ancient Egypt from everyday life to myths and mummies. 18 25 1:00pm Welcome to the Field (tour). Enjoy a sampling of our most significant exhibits as you explore the scope of Field Museum Il:30am Geology of the Chicago Area (tour). Dis- cover what's beneath the surface of the Chicago area. s. THE Treasures Ball A JLX One-Night Exhibit in Grainger Gallery of some of Field Museum's most treasured specimens was also the occa- sion for a gala black tie dinner dance in Stanley Field Hall. Sponsored by the Museum's Women's Board, the memorable event took place on Friday, November 7. Mrs. Robert C. Ferris was chairman of the gala; vice-chairmen were Mrs. Donald C. Greaves and Mrs. John L. Hines. Music was provided by the Bob Hardwicke Orchestra and the affair was underwritten by Sara Lee Corporation. Shown here are some of the evening's guests as they viewed the exhibit. Photos by Diane Alexander White. ^■■j^^^^HH^^^H 1 ^^■R! I^H^^^^H ^^^Hjj^Hj ^^^lE^s^ ^Vp^^^^^^H ^Hm T -■ 'af ifh i^^^ ^j3k '^^,3 M [^ ^^^^^^Hj l^^^^^^k ''' J^^l Hfc^^ I Ax Ah ^^^^K[f ^S^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^ ^ ^m Road to Paris Chapter 22 of Iranian Adventure The First Street Expedition by William S. Street ^Wjanice K. Street with Richard Sawyer Many couples approaching sixty and planning retirement might buy a camper arui think about a little serious fishing. Bill and Jan Street bought two Travelalls, hired Doug Lay, a young mammalogist, and took off to scour the mountains, deserts, and river valleys of Iran for wildlife specimens to enrich Field Museum's collections. They started by hunting red sheep two miles high in the Elburz Mountains and went on from there. During the next six months, they travelled nearly 15,000 miles and collected nearly 3,500 mammals, from bears to bats. They also collected hundreds of birds, reptiles, amphibians, arvifish, complete with thousands of fleas, ticks, ar\d mites — all equally valuable for study. Thanks to their efforts. Field Museum now houses one of the world's finest collections of Iranian faurui. But as history moved on, the Streets found that they had also captured a last view of an ancient culture on the brink of change. Their notes and photographs illumiruite the vast polit- ical eruption that followed. This, ar\d the lengthening roll of research papers based on their collections, gives lasting value to the Iranian adventures of three Americans who learned the scientific expedition business by doing it. Chapter 4, "Doab, " of Iranian Adventure appeared in the October 1985 Bulletin. "Road to Paris," on the following pages, concerns the firw.1 leg of the Street's seven- month adventure. After pitching our tents, we slept soundly that night. The weather turned cold, and we were reluctant to abandon the warmth of our sleeping bags the follow- ing morning. But we struck the tents, had a quick light breakfast, and were on our way. We wanted to get as 6 Copyrigixt © J 985 by Field Museum of Natural History close to Maku and the Turkish border as possible that day. We reached Maku about six that evening and paused to pay our respects to Col. Pouremaglessi and his wife who had been extraordinarily kind to us on our first visit. Our memory of the ebullient Colonel had dimmed somewhat, and we had forgotten how complicated the most mundane arrangements could become under his enthusiastic direction. When we stopped at the Pouremaglessis to say good-bye, they were preparing to join the Governor at a friend's house for a small gathering. The Colonel promptly informed us that he would call his friends to tell them to expect additional guests. "Many thanks for asking us to join you," I told Pouremaglessi, "but it is really quite out of the question. " "But it is to be a party!" Pouremaglessi protested. "Just wait a few minutes until the Governor arrives, then we can all go together. No one will mind how you are dressed. They will understand. " Just then the Governor came bounding in, display- ing his usual high spirits. He was delighted to see us. Between the Governor and Pouremaglessi we were, if not outnumbered, at least out-talked. We would not go to the party, but they would telephone ahead to the hotel at Bazergan, where we planned to spend the night, make our room reservations for us, then join us at the hotel for a late supper. Bazergan was at the border, only sixteen kilometers from Maku. Even arrangements at the supper got very involved. We were fighting for the check before the meal had been served. I insisted that they were to be our guests; they insisted just as strongly that we were their guests. And all the while, the compliments were flying thick and fast between Pouremaglessi and me. The Colonel was deter- mined not to be bested in vying for the role of host. When I had been so insistent about their being our guests at a late supper, I did not know that the only hotel in Bazergan able to accommodate such an affair served only sandwiches, snacks, Pepsi-Cola, Canada Orange, and tea! As we parted we told the Governor and the Colonel that we would go on to the hotel, freshen up, and expect them to join us later. The Colonel sent a lieutenant with us to show us the way. Once there, Jan dug a not-too-wrinkled dress out of her luggage. Doug, Nicola, and I wore what we had on our backs. Dinner was to have been at eight o' clock, but the Colonel, the Governor, and their party didn't arrive un- til nearly ten. Knowing the shortcomings of the hotel, they had brought dinner with them. And what a feast it was! Soldiers appeared bearing platters, baskets, and hampers of food that they laid before us on a table in a private room reserved by the Colonel. The party had expanded, too. Instead of just the Colonel, his wife and the Governor, about six other men joined us — including customs officials whom we would see again the next day as we crossed the border into Turkey. We sat down to tea and oranges, which were fol- lowed by rice and lamb kabobs, an omelette, a moun- tainous salad, and plates of vegetables and bread. It was all delicious, and we topped it all off with more oranges, tea, and Pepsi-Cola. Mrs. Pouremaglessi was quite ani- mated that night and wanted to know if we had film for our Polaroid camera. She wanted to add more pictures to her memory book. Her disappointment was almost pal- pable when we told her that we'd been unable to buy Polaroid film in Tehran. Her depression was short-lived, however, as the festive spirit of the evening reasserted itself. Just when I'd given up hope of ever seeing a bed again, the Colonel asked if we were tired. We admitted that we had had two long days of driving and faced the prospect of a tough drive the following day. "We should like to stay all night and talk with you and be with you because we love you so dearly," he told us. "But perhaps we should let you go to bed." Mrs. Pouremaglessi came over to Jan, embraced her, and they kissed one another on both cheeks. Thus we parted with kind and generous people who will always be associated Earlier, in northwestern Iran, expedition mamnui/ogist Doug Lay bagged specimens of the tomb bat, a species new to Iran. 'Jan: Janice K. Street; Doug: Douglas M. Lay, the expedition's mamma- logist, then a doctoral car\didate in zoology, now on the Faculty of the University of North Carolirux; Nicola: Nicola Haroutounian, the expedi- tion's driver-interpreter. in our memories with some of the high points of our trip to Iran. At the last minute, there was a flurry of Turkish bank notes in an exchange involving the Colonel, the Governor, the customs man, and one of the young lieutenants. 1 found myself holding Turkish money that had been given me in exchange for travelers' cheques. I am certain that the ease with which we crossed from Iran into Turkey the next day was somehow related to the The gloss lizard that got away. An Iranian university student, the owner of this unusual specimen, was unwilling to relinquish it to the Americans. miles of unbroken snow made a picture unmatched for primitive beauty. Douglas, reared in the American South, had never seen so much snow, and every time we stopped to take pictures, he and Nicola had a snowball fight. In Turkey we were conscious of an all-pervasive military presence. Everywhere we looked we saw sol- diers, military vehicles, or army encampments. Our first major city in Turkey, Erzurum, seemed to be just one big small transaction of the night before. The Colonel, bless him, even instructed one of his lieutenants to remain in Bazergan to escort us over the border. When we passed through customs the following morning, our luggage wasn't even inspected. The only item questioned was a small rug that Douglas had bought, and this had to be properly tagged. They exam- ined our passports and processed us through Iranian cus- toms as quickly as possible. On the Turkish side of the boundary, life progressed at a more leisurely pace. It was 10:00 a.m. before the Turkish customs man was up and about. An English youth, who had been away from home a year and was eager to return, had been banging on the door of the customs house for an hour or more, and not a soul paid any attention to him. The more he pounded, the more relaxed the customs officials became. When the customs men finally came to life and let us through, we gave the young Englishman a ride for a hundred or so miles, be- fore dropping him off at his request. It was a beautiful day for driving. We hadn't gone more than thirty miles from the border when it began to snow. Mt. Ararat and the smaller surrounding moun- tains were so striking that we took a number of photo- graphs. The country was rolling and bare of trees, but the military installation. Soldiers were directing traffic and just before driving into town, we had seen other troop units undergoing special training, wearing snowshoes and white uniforms. They were holding what appeared to be winter maneuvers. We wondered how much of that costly military hardware had been purchased with U.S. aid. That first night in Turkey we stayed in a so-so hotel and sought out a restaurant that served real Turkish meals, not food designed to please the palates of tourists. Finding an open restaurant was a bit of a task in itself, because we arrived during the Muhammadan month of Ramadan, in which the faithful fast each day from dawn until sunset. It was during this sacred period that we ran into a strange and frightening situation. Driving through a small village a day or so later, we had to stop the car because the roadway was blocked by men and boys. In the middle of the road stood a man on a chair, leading a chant which was answered by the all- male crowd. They were members of a sect known as flagellants, people who scourge themselves as a public penance. These men and boys were in a frenzy of religious fervor, beating themselves about their backs and shoulders with chains attached to short wooden handles. Others were beating on their chests with closed fists. Some with the chains had blood running freely down their bodies. Our white-skinned faces and our foreign vehicle must have seemed to them an intrusion by infidels. It was a mean-looking crowd, and they viewed us with no kindness whatever. "Nicola," I said, "just keep driving. Don't drive too slowly, and don't drive too fast. And don't look to the right or the left. Just keep driving. But don't stop for anything. " suffered such great water shortages in so vnar\y areas. And we also began to see orchards — some new and some obviously very old. A strange thing happened on the road between Erzurum and Trabzon, on the coast of the Black Sea. During the planning stage of our expedition in Chicago, Dr. Reed had mentioned wolves and the Kurdish mastiff — immense dogs that guarded flocks of sheep. Dr. Reed had asked that we try to secure a skull of one of the mas- tiffs as well as specimens of the wolf. We had collected the wolf and seen the great mastiffs — in fact, we had Bill and }an Street in night hunting position atop the TravehU. Safely past that encounter, we continued to be aware of the pervasive military presence in Turkey. We saw soldiers practicing driving trucks over hilly, rocky, muddy terrain and wondered what sort of duty they were preparing for. At times our road took us to elevations of 9,000 feet and there was lots of snow. The hills and mountains were treeless, and the expanse of seemingly endless white cover was almost unbelievable. It seemed to go on forever and ever. From Jan's notes: Wildflowers were in evidence at quite a hi^ elevadon. There were primroses growing all over — yellow, ivory, and purple. There were Christmas roses, and by the time we got throwg/i Turkey I had seen more Christmas roses than ever before in my life. Whole banks were covered with a tiny wild azalea and some violets. Closer to the Black Sea were rhododervirons, and some hillsides were solid masses of them. We saw only one in bloom that was like our wild lavender rhododendron, but it must be a ^xmous sight to drive through this area about six weeks later than this — it would be ablaze with color. There were great bushes of white and sky-blue heather, some four or more feet in height. Iris were blooming, and we saw hazelnut trees. There was an abundance of water here, and it made us think how nice it would be to serxd some of the surplus back to Iran, which come close to tangling with these fierce dogs a time or two. Frightened as we were at our several encounters with them, they were not the kind of animal that could be shot in the wild. To do so would destroy an important partner of the shepherds, and such an act would have been unthinkable unless a human life were in immediate danger. Moreover, in Iran or Turkey, it would have been literally worth your life to have killed one of those ani- mals belonging to the Kurds. We were driving along the road between villages when we came on two of these great mastiffs lying dead on the highway. We quickly stopped the car and backed up to examine these immense beasts more carefully. Although they had been struck by some vehicle, their skulls were intact and would make valuable specimens. We paused long enough to sever the two heads — and then wonder how on earth we were going to transport them. With four of us in the vehicle, the top racks were loaded with all the extra luggage we could carry and were tightly covered with tarpaulins to boot. The only thing we could do with those bloody heads was to tie them on top of the load, and pray that we didn't run into a cara- van of Kurdish tribesmen. Continued on p. 19 Gods, Spirits and People The Human Image in Traditional Art by Robert A. Feldman Exhibit Developer and Research Associate in Anthropology he Exhibit "Gods, Spirits, and People," which went on view on November 22, presents a small sampling of human images from Field Museum's collections of the traditional art of non-Western cultures. Images of peo- ple can be decorative or entertaining, but in traditional cultures these images more often carry important social meaning. They can teach children in the ways of their culture, heal or make one sick, honor the dead, control or police the actions of the living, and worship the gods. A key aspect of any form of art is its communicative content. Art carries a meaning beyond (or even at odds with) its use in everyday activities. In many respects, art takes the place of a written language in nonliterate societies; thus, traditional art can serve to make mani- fest ideals or beliefs and "fix" them for transmission. The human form is one of the most common im- ages in art world-wide — if not the most common. Why is this so? Foremost must be that the artist is a human be- ing, and shows his or her own kind. Beyond simply mirroring the body, however, the human form in art mirrors the society (the "body" politic). As a reflection of society, art expresses the concerns, desires, and fears of the people who made it. A depiction of a human being can be invested with special symbolic content, but at times it remains merely decorative. Even decorative images, though, can convey information about the person represented, such as his age and status, or if he is a member of one's own group or is a foreigner. This information is coded in regular ways, both in the physical features depicted and with special symbols. The distinctions that we make between appearance and content, between a decorative figure and one filled with symbolism or power, are recent in human history. Early art was magic. An image can be so powerful that one of God's commandments to Moses was "Thou shall not make graven images." In the Paleolithic carvings and cave paintings, wild game predominates, but we also see the hunter as well as the hunted. The pregnant horses on the cave wall and the sexually exaggerated 10 "Venus" figures probably were made to increase the fertility of the world around the artist. The human image often ties the living to their ancestors. Representations of the dead serve as memorials; homes, guardians, protectors, or placaters for the spirit of the deceased; channels through which the living can communicate with the spirit world and the dead; and actual physical embodiments of the ances- tors. The images establish ties with the ancestors, and through these ties, the group's claim to authority, rights, or territory is created and validated and the proper order of the world is maintained. The gods and spirits which a group sees in the world around itself are often given human qualities and rep- resented in human form. The degree of anthropomor- phization differs from group to group and deity to deity, but the projection of human aspirations and foibles onto the supernatural is common. As with the human group, the cultural and personal identity of each god is coded in symbols used in its image. "Gods, Spirits, and People" does not include pieces that were primarily decorative, but focuses on human images that were used to symbolize or maintain a group's social cohesion. Some of the ways images do this are through ties to ancestors or deities in human form, through assertions of rank or authority, and through initiation/inculturation into the society. The artifacts in this exhibit are clustered in seven main groupings: funeral and memorial figures, ancestor figures, spirit and deity representations, authority and rank figures, figures that emphasize the social group through characteristics of costume or body decoration, masks of humans, and figures that illustrate different ways of looking at the human image. Within the layout of the exhibit, the last subgroup is separated from the rest. It covers the additional theme of "Looking at People," which asks the viewers to con- sider the artifacts from a visual perspective and invites them to look at the rest of the exhibit in ways they other- wise might not have. Five topics illustrate this theme: realism versus stylization, variations and similarities, body decoration, costumes and hats, and foreigners. FM ANCESTRAL SKULL This human skull served as a memo- rial to the deceased. It has a carved wooden face and is covered with a black gum {tita nut). The inlay of mother-of-pearl shells is set in de- signs which simulate face painting or scarification. Solomon Islands. Early 20th Century. Fuller Collection. Cat. 276594 Height: 7" Photo by Diane Alexander White 109978 EMACIATED FIGURE (detail) Oral tradition states that this figure represents a starving man of an ear- ly Easter Island population that had fled into the interior of the island when the present people arrived. Easter Island. 19th Century. Fuller Collection. Cat. 273234 Height: 17" Photo by Ron Testa 109930 HEADDRESS MASK Masks and figures were used in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) in cere- monies that marked a man's pro- gression from one graded social level to the next. The pieces con- formed to the designs established for each level, but varied in quality, as they were made by each man's sponsors, not by an "artist." The boars' tusks in it, which symbolize wealth and prestige, are from pigs that were sacrificed as part of the ceremony. S. W. Bay, Malekula, Vanuatu. Early 20th Century. A. B. Lewis, collector, Joseph N. Field Expedition. Cat. 133080 Height: 14" 12 Photo by Diane Alexander White 109986 KACHINA DOLL jm This doll represents the Kawaika kachina spirit. Kachina dolls were made for children and helped them learn about the different sacred 11 • 11 kachina spirits. During the annual cycle of dances, masked dancers impersonated the kachinas. Hopi Indians, Shungopavy Pueblo, AZ. 1951. Gift of Byron Harvey III. Cat. 82863 ^J^IP Height: 12^2" l^v Photo by Diane Alexander White 109975 .\V \N r ■6'AI LEDGER BOOK DRAWING Native American artists made draw- ings on paper from ledgers or note- bool^ MAtnuMMamUIMw 'wSiiAmmmmSmmmtk -wIF'r* A m^' .V m.y FIGURE far right Jarved wooden u// were found nly in a limited area of central lew Ireland. They were set up in special houses during the ceremonies held in honor of deceased heads of totemic clans. After the ceremonies, the figures were carefully wrapped and kept in the men's house, to be used at some la- ter date in a similar memorial ceremony. The uli represents a male ancestor. The small figures • represent his offspring. The ' 'easts of the figures probably ' symbolize the female ances- tors and importance of women in the tracing of descent through matrilineal clans. New Ireland Province, "'^'' Papua New Guinea. Early 20th Century. I A. B. Lewis, collector, Joseph N. Field Expedition. Cat, 138791 '• Height: 4'6" by Diane Alexander White 'L 109989 ^..'..'0 '^^ jKf^x'Esxtf^'' ■^s„''y-"ai^ag=a!»i8t WOODEN FIGUR OF TWO EUROPEANS These figures represent a judge and a sea captain as seen by the Haida carver. While the figures are both very similar in dress, Judge Pember- ton has a top hat and sea captain George Smith has a cap. Haida Indians, Queen Charlotte Island, B.C., Canada, ca. 1890. J. Deans, collector. Cat. 17990 Height of Judge ; 1 1 " 1 09609 Continued from p. 9 It was getting late when we reached the seacoast town of Trabzon, but we stopped only long enough to pick up some eggs and oranges. The weather had turned much warmer, and we were glad to be able to camp out again. We detoured to the shores of the Black Sea, re- moved our gory supercargo, and took the heads down to the water to skin them and remove the brains. Only when we had them thoroughly cleaned and repacked did we begin a search for a campsite. We found a place with a running stream nearby and set up our tents. We woke to a perfectly beautiful day. Not too far to get some pictures of the countryside. We saw ahead a group of Turkish women digging in the soil on both sides of the road. We stopped the car, and Jan raised her camera to compose her picture and focus on the group of women to the right of the car. Just then we were spotted — and all hell broke loose! The women began shrieking at us, and this attracted the attention of the women on the other side of the road. In a body, they all began advancing threateningly toward the car holding their sturdy spades high, apparently bent on some kind of mayhem. Simultaneously, some boys who had been Morning, after sleeping in the open. from our campsite was a small village tucked into the side of the mountain; on the other side, the Black Sea was visible under the span of a little bridge. We were in a fertile, cultivated area, and the riches of water after arid Iran was refreshing. Even the architecture was different. Where Iran had walls around everything — even the most humble dwellings — in Turkey each house was a separate unit set quite apart from the others. The roofs of most houses were flat — some of tile, some of heavy shingles. A series of small square houses walking up the hillside gave the appearance of being in Europe rather than the Mideast. The following morning we followed the highway along the shores of the Black Sea toward Samsun. The road was narrow, winding, and under repair. We weren't making good time at all, but the scenery was spectacular, so we really didn't object to the slow drive along the seashore. For lunch, we picnicked by the sea. No sooner had we set out our things than eight little boys and three men clustered around us, asking what we were doing and where we were going. It was just like Iran. Later, Jan was riding in front with Nicola and trying working with the women started throwing rocks and clods of dirt at our vehicle. It was no time for a parley, so 1 told Nicola, "Shut the window and let's get out of here!" No windows were broken and none of the women got close enough to us — or the car — to do any real dam- age. Only after we were out of range of their screams and missiles did we calm down a bit. . 1_ Available Now at the Field Museum Store IRANIAN ADVENTURE The First Street Expedition by William S. and Janice K. Street with Richard Sawyer $14.95 10% discount for Field Museum members softcover 320 pages, with color plates and black-and-white illustrations PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 19 ««.ii. "Nicola," I asked, "what were they screaming at us; « t^msi. ^PHiMgwKxj.*^' ^ Jan Street with labeled bat specimens on dryir^ board. BiUStreet in camp; Explorers' Cbih flag flutters from tent pole. "They were caUing us 'infidels,' " he replied somberly. "Just because Jan wanted to take a picture of them?" When I thought of the millions of dollars in Point Four aid that the United States had poured into Turkey for agricultural development, I begun to get downright mad. "When I think of all our country has done for the Turks," 1 told Nicola, "I've got a good mind to go back there and tell those people a thing or two." Nicola became deadly serious. "Don't do it, Mr. Street. They will kill you if you do." Unbelieving, I looked at Nicola and saw that he meant every word he had said. And I realized that he was right — they probably would have tried to kill us. 1 simply had not taken account of the great differences in culture and values between us and the people by the road. To us a snapshot was a small thing; to them it was an unforgiv- able violation of privacy — perhaps even a breach of their religion's prohibition of graven images. If we had been able to meet on a personal basis, the situation might have been different. But the crowd reacted emotionally to our strangeness and foreignness and there was no opportunity to reach out across the barrier of our differ- ent beliefs. We didn't reach Samsun until nine o'clock that night; there we stopped at Otel Vidinle and engaged two rooms. We had our supper at the hotel, complete with two aperitifs and two beers. When we checked out the following morning, our bill for lodgings and for meals for four people was $11.17! There are many places today where you could spend that for just one round of drinks. When we stopped for fuel and asked about the road to Ankara, the attendant said, "Part of the road it is asphalt; part of the road is good." We again headed in- land on a southwesterly tack and made good time through rolling hills. The land showed signs of a great deal of cultivation, and we saw many fine flocks of sheep and goats. Farming methods were primitive, and we noted that oxen and water buffalo were drawing the plows, harrows, and farm wagons. Ankara (Angora) was a large and bustling city, and we had some difficulty in finding a place to stay. We finally landed at the Balin Oteli and were glad to have found shelter, because the weather had again turned overcast and drizzly. When we awakened in the morn- ing, it was pouring rain, but we decided to see some of the ancient city anyway. We had been told that break- fast was served at 7:00 a. m. , but there was no sign of it or of anyone who might have served it. We had a glass of Tang, which we always carried with us, then went down- stairs and rooted around in the refrigerators until we found something that suited our fancy! Jan and 1 both had bananas, and I also had a bowl of rice pudding. Very satisfying; not your usual breakfast fare, but, all in all, more than adequate for a self-service meal. After a too brief stay in Ankara, we continued our journey. Driving in a slight overcast, we made our way to Istanbul and settled into the Otel Park. The hotel was a About eleven o'clock the next morning, we set out for Alexandroupolis, Greece, by a new road touted as being shorter and faster than the old. We thought little of it when a few flakes began to fall, but as we drove on, the snow became heavier and heavier. We began to encounter drifts across the road. Suddenly, we came on a stalled car blocking much of the road. The hapless driver was attempting to install his chains and having an awful time of it. Nicola tried to Selected specimens from the first two months in the field, on view at the Streets' hotel in Tehran. rather good one, and we felt the management must have taken one look at us and put us as far out of sight as possible. They relegated us to the catacombs. The hotel was built into the side of a hill, and our rooms were down three flights of stairs in one of the less desirable sections. After the hotel accommodations we had seen in the last seven months, being slighted at the Otel Park bothered us not one whit. Although we were to have little time in Istanbul, there were a number of things we simply could not leave without seeing. In the afternoon we took a sightseeing bus for a tour of the city, visiting the Blue Mosque, the old palace (now a museum) , St. Sophia Mosque, and the bazaar. Amid the incredible crush of people and the rumble of commerce, we could still catch glimpses of the ancient city that had gone by at least three names. From more than five centuries before the birth of Christ until approximately A.D. 330 it was known as Byzantium; from 330 to 1453 it wasContantinople; and since 1453 it has been Istanbul. We walked through miles of jewelry shops, rug shops, and the stores of brass merchants in the sprawling bazaar. It has been estimated that the bazaar alone holds some four thousand shops. inch around cautiously on the right side of the other vehicle, but we hadn't gone five feet before we too were in a snowbank. Fortunately, a snowplow came along and pulled us out. When the driver tried to pull out the first car that was in trouble, the tire of the big machine simply spun. Finally, we attached our rig to the first car, and the snowplow put a line on us, and all of us managed to get onto a cleared part of the highway. Three snowplows were working in the area, and the only safe course was to fall in behind one of the slow- moving giants and keep our wheels turning. Every once in a while one of the snowplows got stuck, and the other had to rescue it. With all the slipping and sliding and creeping along in low gears, it took us five hours to get through that area. We started to stay in one of the small towns on the Turkish side of the border, but the hotels there looked grimmer than any we had seen in all our journeys. On inquiry, however, we learned that the roads were clear to the Greek border, so we decided to attempt it, late as it was. We picked up a hitchhiker who was going to Kesan, dropped him off there, and paused long enough to have supper. The weather had become sharper, colder, and 21 we again hesitated about pressing on. In the restaurant we asked if the border was open. A young man heard our question; he told us that he worked at the border and assured us that the customs station was open all night long. He even volunteered to take us there and help us through. We felt that Lady Luck was again smiling on us. When we reached the last town on the Turkish side of the line, our young man took us to the local gendar- merie where we were again told that the border was open all night. The young man who had accompanied us, however, left us at this point. It seemed that he didn't work at the border at all — he just told us that so we would give him a ride. Armed with the best information obtainable, we Col. Gaksorke, Iranian manager offish and wildlife (second from right) , joins Doug Lay, ]an and Bill Street (from left) during specimen viewing at Tehran hotel. pajamas and slippers. But the Greeks, too, were pleasant to us and told us that regardless of the hour, we were sure to find a hotel room in Alexandroupolis. They were right. At one o'clock in the morning we took rooms at the old-but-clean Metropole Hotel in Alexandroupolis and tumbled into bed for a wonderful night's sleep. We had left Asia and were once again back in Europe. Our journey was truly nearing its end. The following day we would arrive inThessaloniki, then take the boat from Greece to Italy, and then make our way on to Paris. Beyond Paris, we looked forward to the cooling fogs and soft rain of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. We were ready to go home. And we would return 22 decided to proceed to the border. It was only a few miles further on, but the wind was blowing a gale, and we hoped to clear the boundary quickly and get into Alex- androupolis and a hotel. When we arrived at the border crossing we discovered, to our dismay, that all the border guards had gone to bed. The gates would not officially open again until morning. But our luck had not run out. The border guards roused themselves and were very accommodating; they invited us into the guard house while they dressed and, after courteously looking over our passports, they opened the gates and allowed us to cross the bridge into Greece. In the middle of the bridge were two sentry boxes — one manned by a Turk, the other by a Greek. Past those, on the Greek side, we pulled three more sleepy guards out of bed. They didn't stand on formality, not even bothering to put their robes on over their pajamas. It was the only time in many years of world travel that I remem- ber conducting official business with a man dressed in to Seattle comfortable in the knowledge that we had done something worthwhile. Our expedition to Iran had brought immediate as well as long-lasting rewards to Jan and me. We were at a time in our life when many of our contemporaries were beginning to redefine their goals, beginning to be less adventuresome rather than more so. If there is a lesson here, it is that one can resist the encroachments of age, can expand personal horizons, and can not only seek adventure but bring it off decisively. In Iran, with good help, we had learned to live on the land and on the terms the land laid down. The land was uncompromising, and surviving and working on its terms required resiliency and flexibility of a couple of candidates for the rocking chair. Nevertheless, we did a job of work and quite boldly, I thought, took the oppor- tunity to explore and work in a land now so transformed politically that what we did may never again be possible. We got in just under the wire. As we look back on our experience we found no way to compare it with our earlier African safaris or many hunting trips. Those had been personal quests, and the decision to take or not to take a trophy was ours alone to make. Now we were charged with finding each specimen as a museum trophy. Not one was kept by us. Our reward has been the relationship with our associates and overseas friends as well as the continuing flow of new knowledge brought forth by the publications arising from the studies. We treasure our experience. We liked it very much. FM Afterword A The Streets and Their Expeditions by Alan Solem Curator and Head, Division of Invertebrates As a very new assistant curator at Field Museum of Natural History in the 1950s, 1 first heard of Bill and Jan Street when they contemplated an expedition to Iran and wanted to know whether somebody from Field Museum who could skin and prepare mammals might be available to participate. Although very eager to travel, I was a land snail specialist and completely lacked the necessary qualifications. When their field program expanded in the mid- 1960s, more and more of Field Museum staff were con- sulted by them before their trips. I thus made a special plea that they try to collect land snails in Afghanistan during their 1965 expedition. They found thirty-seven species, four new to science, including Subzebrinus streeti Solem (1979, Fieldiana: Zoology, New Series, 1:33-36), and another ten new to Afghanistan, thus making a sig- nificant addition to our knowledge of the Afghan snail fauna. By the early 1970s, we were well acquainted. When they indicated a desire to sponsor another expedition, and I was energetically trying to develop a multi- disciplinary field program in Western Australia, it was easy to combine planning efforts with the added cooperation of the Western Australian Museum, Perth. Sparked by the initial offer of mammal survey support by the Streets, the largest inland scientific expedition in Australian history converged on the Mitchell Plateau in the northwest during October 1976. Bill and Jan Street, I, and assistants shared the red dust, fought the packs of flies, changed one another's flat tires, made similar and different wrong turns off tracks, contrasted and learned from the divergent Australian and American camping styles, and felt the same sense of fulfillment and joy during even the hottest of Kimberley days. On reading their Iran account, I became impatient with the piles of papers, ringing telephone, and sched- uled meetings in Chicago. I was — no, am — ready to depart for another place from which we have too little material for effective study. Be it North America, Afri- ca, Asia, or Pacific Islands, no place in the world has had its living secrets adequately revealed. Who are these special people? William Sherman Street was bom September 30, 1904, in Oakland, California. After receiving his col- lege education at the University of California, Berkeley, he began a merchandising career at Hale Brothers' Store in Oakland. He eventually became president of Frederick &. Nelson department stores, Seattle; served as executive vice president of its parent store Marshall Field & Company of Chicago; was general, manager of the Chicago stores for three years; and served as director of the parent company. During these career years. Bill also took on numerous civic, community, and national responsibilities. He is also a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago. He served eight years as a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during the Eisenhower administration — six of these years as chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy and one as chairman of the Canadian- American Committee. From 1957 until its opening in 1962, Bill Street was deeply involved in the organization of the very successful Seattle World's Fair — the Century 21 Exposition. In 1961-1962 he was chairman of the operating organization. Century 21 Exposition, Inc. After taking early retirement from Frederick &. Nelson and mounting the first Iran expedition, Bill Street assumed the presidency of United Pacific Corporation, an investment banking firm now known as Univar Corporation; he was later chairman of the board until his next retirement in 1974. He also held direc- torships in several corporate and civic organizations. Jan Kergan was born in Oakland in 1902. She 23 graduated from the University of California in 1924 and married Bill Street the next year. Her busy life has woven together a great many interests. She has worked extensively with the Red Cross and in the fields of com- munity and children's health. She has been active in Children's Orthopedic Hospital, the Arboretum Foundation, and the National Society of Colonial Dames; she has been president of the Seattle Children's Home and a fellow of the Explorers' Club. After her ex- perience as co-leader of Field Museum expeditions, she lectured extensively before schools and clubs in Oregon and Washington. She is an involved and resourceful person. Bill and Jan have seen their three children go on to successful careers. Georgann Street Evans is a painter and sculptor who has been on the faculty of the Univers- ity of California; William K. Street is president of Ostrom Company of Lacey, Washington; and John S. Street is former president of Germaine Monteil, New York City. Today, nearly twenty-four years after the realiza- tion of the 1962-1963 Iran Expedition, Bill and Jan Street continue to enjoy their home near Oso, Wash- ington, keep up with the many friends made on their journeys, watch with quiet pride the stream of published results from their expeditions, follow the careers of the many students who worked with them, and observe the progress of their twelve grandchildren and seven great- grandsons. Afterword C Fruits of Their Labors by Robert M. Timm Curator-in-Charge of Mammals Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas (recently Head of Field Museum's Division of Mammals) William and Janice Street organized and led five differ- ent foreign expeditions for Field Museum: two to Iran (1962-1963 and 1968), one to Afghanistan (1965), one to Peru (1975-76), and one to western Australia (1976- 77). This book reviews just the first of these — each was a unique adventure of its own. The logistics of organizing an international scientific expedition are truly phe- nomenal. It takes special people with the right combina- tion of patience, drive, political savvy, sensitivity, and intestinal fortitude to pull it off. For those special few who have led a successful expedition, there is probably no greater thrill. It remains a highlight of their lives. The inner satisfaction of successfully tackling formidable odds, accomplishing goals, and producing a valuable collection to be studied by generations of scientists is an indescribable feeling. Often the people who work together on such an expedition develop lifelong friendships far stronger than bonds developed under more normal circumstances. Over two decades have passed since the Streets' first Iranian Expedition. It is appropriate to ask what was gained, what was learned, what was the long-term legacy of their effort. What happened to the specimens, the 24 people ? What were the products ? The most tangible products of an expedition are the specimens brought back for study. The Street expedition to Iran collected nearly thirty-five hundred specimens of mammals; several hundred specimens of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes; and thousands of specimens of parasitic arthropods — the fleas, lice, ticks, and mites. To put this world in perspective. Field Museum's collections now house one of the finest collections of these groups in existence anywhere. Preparation of specimens in the field requires a tre- mendous amount of work; however, it is just the begin- ning. Upon completion of the field work, all specimens must be carefully labeled, fumigated to prevent damage by insect pests, and packed for shipment home. Scien- tific specimens must be packed well enough to withstand the worst possible treatment at the hands of the shippers, and often that seems to be just what they receive! Once everything has arrived safely at the Museum, the pleasurable but extremely laborious process of sorting, labeling, and final preparation begins. Specimens that have been improperly labeled or prepared are worthless; thus these final steps are as critical as those that origi- nally obtained the material. For the mammal specimens, skeletons of the smaller species such as shrews and bats are cleaned with the aid of dermestid beetles. Larger skeletons such as the wild sheep are cleaned in huge steam kettles. The result of both processes is beautiful white clean bone that will be resistant to decomposition when stored properly and will present scientists with material that is easy to study with accuracy. For the Iran- ian collections ten years were required for all specimens to be completely processed and finally incorporated into the research collections. They are now curated and actively being studied by a wide array of investigators. The Street expeditions were especially valuable in that bright, young, enthusiastic, budding scientists were full participants. They were carefully chosen, then given full support both in direction by Museum staff and free- dom to devote their energies totally to the project for several months. The Street expeditions were distin- guished by the financial support provided to the young investigators afterward to prepare and study the collec- tions in Chicago. This contributed significantly to the overall success of the enterprises. Training of future sci- entists, both in the United States and in the host coun- tries, is one of the major roles of expeditions. Doug Lay, the young mammalogist, went on to complete his Ph.D. studies, relying heavily on materials collected in Iran. He is now an active professional mam- malogist, well respected as the world's foremost author- ity on the Mideastem gerbillinae rodents that he first met in Iran. In addition, another Ph.D. dissertation study was based entirely on the Iranian collections. Anthony F. DeBlase's dissertation, a 424-page monograph entitled "The bats of Iran: Systematics, distribution, and ecol- ogy," was published in Field Museum's scientific series, Fieldiana: Zoology. It is considered the most authoritative work of its kind for all of Asia. Fortuitously, Charles Reed, the Yale archaeologist, moved to Chicago and has utilized the Iran collections extensively in his studies to unravel the unknowns in how, when, and where man first domesticated animals such as goats, sheep, pigs, and dogs. With the aid of this material, techniques have been developed to distinguish bone fragments from archaeological sites that represent man's earliest domesticated animals. Additionally, age, sex, weight, and season of death can often be obtained now from mere fragments of bone, thus providing insight into the lives of ancient peoples and how they utilized and modified their world — insights into how civilization developed. Carolyn RenzuUi, a doctoral candidate at the Uni- versity of Chicago, currently is studying the wild sheep collected by the Streets. Her dissertation will be a study of the functional craniology of these sheep, and a test of a biomechanical model that she has developed for skull function in homed bovids. Her studies are possible only because of the depth and strength of Field Museum's col- lections. The current and future value of the specimens is greatly enhanced because of the care taken in the field to obtain the maximum data for each and to preserve each specimen properly. We are frequently asked, "Do scientists really study all these things?" The answer is a resounding "Yes." In addition to staff scientists at Field Museum, visit- ing mammalogists, anatomists, archaeologists, paleon- tologists, anthropologists, veterinarians, forensic scien- tists, and an array of government agencies interested in conservation, customs, and enforcement of wildlife laws utilize Field Museum's collection of over 127,000 mam- mals. During a recent twelve-month period, scientists from twenty-eight states and eleven foreign countries spent some eight hundred visitor-days examining our mammal collections. In addition, we send out nearly a hundred loans of specimens each year to other institu- tions throughout the world. The loan and visitor use of Field Museum's scientific collections is one of the most extensive in the scientific world. And all of this goes on behind-the-scenes, outside of public view on the Museum's fourth and fifth floors. The value of such an expedition is only partially realized when the specimens are safely tucked away in the Museum's collections. Their true value to science can only be measured over time, after the scientists study them. In recent years, an annual average of more than fifty technical papers and scholarly books have involved research in the mammal collections. Tragically, Iran has been torn by war in recent years. The few reports we have concerning the current state of science and scientific collections in the country are disheartening. Apparently all scientific study collec- tions, once a rich reflection of the region's history, are now destroyed and scattered. Additionally, many of the areas studied by the Street expedition have been ravaged by recent fighting. We must assume that the fighting and political turmoil in Iran has taken as significant a toll on wildlife and habitats necessary for wildlife as it has on human lives. Thus, the collections made by the Streets are truly irreplaceable. Habitat destruction and the associated loss of wild- life is not a problem unique to Iran but is a global prob- lem. It has been estimated that 60 percent of all species on the earth today will be extinct before scientist have a chance to study them. Time is running out. Will there be future people as farsighted as William and Janice Street assisting tomorrow's scientists? 25 HELD MUSEUM TOURS^ Sailing to the Land of the Maya Aboard the Tall Ship "Sea Cloud" February 14-24 Itinerary Dayl Miami/Georgetown, Grand Cayman Depart Miami on a regularly scheduled flight to George- town, the principal town of Grand Cayman, largest of the three Cayman Islands. Columbus named the island Las Tortugas ("The Turtles") in 1503, for the giant sea turtles that inhabit the region. The flat, sandy island is peopled by descendants of Cromwell's soldiers, buccaneers, and ship- wrecked sailors. Upon arrival, transfer to the Sea Cloud and sail late afternoon. Day 2 At Sea Sailing due southwest in the Western Caribbean. Day 3 Swan Island Morning arrival at tiny Swan Island, a yachtsman's para- dise. The coral limestone island is only 1 Vi miles long and 60 feet high. Formerly the site of a plantation, today only about 20 people inhabit the island. Day 4 Roatan, Bay Islands Morning at sea with afternoon arrival at Roatan, the larg- est of the Bay Islands in the Gulf of Honduras. Roatan was first settled by buccaneers who found the reef-locked har- bors and lagoons perfect hideouts for raiding treasure ships. Swim or snorkel in the blue-green reefs and explore the beautiful island on your own, enjoying the densely wooded hills, mountainous terrain, and quiet unspoiled atmosphere. Day 5 Cochino Grande Morning arrival at Cayos Cochinos, of Hog Cays. This delightful archipelago between Roatan and the Honduran mainland is an exotic tropical paradise reminiscent of the South Pacific. Time at leisure for swimming off the mag- nificent tranquil beaches and for snorkeling. Enjoy the afternoon at sea. Day 6 Puerto Barrios/Tikal/Puerto Barrios Early morning arrival in the Guatemalan port of Puerto Barrios for an optional full-day excursion by air to Tikal, 26 For reservations, call or write Dorothy Roder (322-8862), Tours Manager, Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. , Chicago, 1160605 one of the oldest and most beautiful of all Mayan sites. Lo- cated deep in the Peten Jungle, Tikal was occupied from at least 600 B.C. through the ninth century A.D. It is thought to have been the most important Mayan center of the Classic period. A tour of the site includes the Great Plaza and several of the flat-topped pyramids towering above the rain forest. The structures support beautifully decorated temples where the priest-astronomers charted the motion of the stars. built to represent the Mayan calendar; the Temple of the Warriors, scene of sacrificial rites; the ceremonial ball court; and the astronomical observatory. Lunch is in- cluded. In the evening attend a farewell cocktail reception. Day 10 Chichen Itza/Cancun or Merida/Miami Transfer to the airport for the regularly scheduled return flight to Miami via Cancun or Merida. Day? Half Moon Cay, Lighthouse Reef, Barrier Reef of Belize Morning arrival in Belize's barrier reef, the world's second largest, stretching for more than 120 miles. Undiscovered by the cruise liners and mass tourism, the area is a paradise for sailors, snorkelers, and nature lovers. The reef com- munity constitutes the earth's oldest and most complex ecosystem, dating back two billion years. The inner man- grove cays are covered with impenetrable growth, and on the outer sandy cays tall palm trees fringe sandy beaches. Spend the day at Lighthouse Reef exploring the Blue Hole, a remarkable phenomenon that is part of an underwater national park. More than 15 miles long, the hole is surrounded by coral that rises to the surface of the lagoon. Also visit several atolls of Lighthouse Reef, including Half Moon Cay, which has a large colony of red-footed boobies. Day 8 At Sea Enjoy a magnificent full day at sea on board the Sea Cloud. Day 9 Playa Del Carmen/Tulum/Coba/Chichen Itza Disembark in the morning at Playa Del Carmen, a small port on the Yucatan. Continue to Tulum, the City of Dawn. This isolated city overlooking the Caribbean is the only known Mayan shore-side settlement. Of the 50-plus structures within the walls, the Watchtower, Temple of the Frescoes, and Temple of the Descending God are the most fascinating. After lunch depart for the majestic site of Coba, meaning "wind ruffled water." Situated amid five lakes, Coba was one of the largest Late Classic centers and resem- bles the site of Tikal in Guatemala in its numerous baffling causeways. Visit the pyramids of El Castillo and Nohoch Mai. Continue to Chichen Itza with accommodations at the Hotel Mayaland. Morning and afternoon tours explore Chichen Itza, the magnificent metropolis and principal religious center of ancient Yucatan. Evidence of Toltec influence is obvious throughout the complex in motifs of feathered serpents, warriors, eagles, and jaguars. Visit the Great Pyramid, Guest Lecturer: John W. Fitzpatrick is curator of Birds and chairman of the Depart- ment of Zoology at the Field Museum. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Prince- ton in 1978. Fluent in Spanish, Dr. Fitzpatrick has extensive experience in Central and South America and in the Caribbean. He has lectured on numerous Field Museum tours, including a previous tour of the Lesser Antilles aboard the Sea Cloud. He is the author of more than 50 articles on birds and recently co-authored a prize-winning book on Florida scrub jays, published by Princeton University Press. Stateroom Category Description One Person Each of 2 Persons Type C — Outside stateroom with one lower bed and an upper berth, shower. Staterooms 15, 17, 18, 20 $3,595 Type B — Outside stateroom with two lower beds, shower. Staterooms 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 Single Type B — Outside stateroom with lower bed, shower. Stateroom 29, 32 $3,995 $5,495 Type A — Outside stateroom with two lower beds, shower. Staterooms 19, 22, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 $4,395 Superior — Original outside stateroom with double bed, shower. Staterooms 5 (bathtub), 6, 10, 14 Single Superior — Original outside stateroom with lower bed, shower. Stateroom 1 1 $5,095 $6,595 Deluxe — Original outside stateroom with double bed or two lower beds, private bathtub, shower. Staterooms 3, 4, 7 Single Deluxe — Original outside stateroom with lower bed, shower. Stateroom 8 $5,495 $6,995 Suite — Original owners' suite. Outside with double bed, private bathtub, shower. Suites 1 , 2 $6,895 27 Field Museum of Natural History Membership Department Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2499 ->;- MISS MARITA MAXEY 7A11 NORTH GREENVIEW CHICAGO IL 60626 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN February 1987 "Families: A Celebration of Love, Diversity and Commitment'* Photographic Exhibit Now on View in Gallery 9 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Published by Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President: Willard L. Boyd Editor/Designer: David M. Walsten Production Liaison: Pamela Steams Staff Photographer: Ron Testa CONTENTS February 1987 Volume 58, Number 2 February Events at Field Museum Bushman: A Sprucing Up With a Memoir, "Bushman and the Presbyterian Missionaries," by Marion Faulkner Miller BOAKO OF TkuSTElS Richard M. Jones, Chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour George R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Mrs. Philip D. Block III Willard L. Boyd Robert D. Cadieux Henry T. Chandler Worley H. Clark Frank W. Considine Stanton R. Cook WilUam R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas R. Donnelley II Thomas J. Eyerman Marshall Field Ronald J. Gidwitz Clarence E. Johnson John James Kinsella Hugo J. Melvoin Leo F. MuUin James J. O'Connor Robert A. Pritzker James H. Ransom John S. Runnells Patrick G. Ryan WiUiam L. Searle Mrs. Malcolm N. Smith Robert H. Strotz Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leiand Webber Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Mrs. Edwin J. DeCosta Mrs. David W. Grainger Chfford C. Gregg WUliamV. Kahler William H. Mitchell Edward Byron Smith John W. Sullivan J. Howard Wood Owls of Chicago by Jerry Sullivan Absorbed in Sponges 22 by Mary R. Carmen and Susan Brotwi Roop Field Museum Tours 26 COVER "Families: A Celebration of Love, Diversity, and Com- mitment" is a new photographic exhibit on view in Gallery 9 through April 15. Featuring 13 family groupings, the ex- hibit affirms and celebrates the diversity of family life in America today. Each photo grouping is illuminated by comments from a child member of the family, with atten- tion to differences and similarities between families. A child from a racially mixed family, a child who just lost a parent, an adopted child with a single parent — all have much to share about the concept of a family. "Families" explores issues of support, responsibility, affection, and love, as well as some of the struggles shared by all family groupings. The exhibit space for "Families" includes an activity center where parents and children can sit and talk about the exhibit. Children (and adults) can add their comments and family "portraits" to the exhibit, using the writing materials provided. "Families" is an example of Field Museum's com- mitment to create more interaction between visitor and ex- hibit subject matter. It is one of the many exciting new ex- hibits and programs comprising Field Museum's "new look" in 1987. "Families" was conceived and designed by the Boston Children's Museum. Photo by Aylette Jenness, Courtesy Boston Children's Museum. Fidd Museum of Natural Hislor, Builebn (USPS 898-9«) is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Uke Shore Drive, Chicago. IL 60605-2496 Copyright © 1987 Field Museum of Natural History. Subscriptions: $6.00 annually. $3.00 for schooU. Museum membership includes Bulletin subscription. Opmions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Museum phone: (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should include address label and be sent to Membership Department. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. ISSN: 00I5-O703. Events ApUca^ ^i^knita^ Ceie^^uitum Weekends in February 7he Extraordinary Richness and vitality of African culture is explored in a series of week- end performances and demonstrations at Field Museum. Discover the often "secret" craft of creat- ing vivid batik or tie-dye patterns on fabric. Watch as Chicago artist Derrick Webster creates fantastic and colorful caricatures of people from "found" scraps of wood. Listen to Harvey Duckworth relate the history of "Bow Tie" and "Trip around the World" — two of the traditional quilt patterns he uses. Storytelling figures prominently in African culture. Trace the history of "story cloths" tradi- tionally made by the men of Dahomey. Against a backdrop of American rhythm instruments, listen to tales from Africa and the Caribbean, or add your signature to one of Marva Jolly's ceramic story pots. All family activities are free with Museum admission. Saturday and Sunday, February 7 and 8 Noon to 2:00pm: African Batik and Tie- dye, withjahmila Kago Norkware. Folk Art, with Derrick Webster. Mandingo Griot Society, with Foday Musa Suso. Traditional African instru- ments combine with elec- tric bass and percussion to produce this unique form of "fusion" music. Foday Musa Suso, a praise singer and oral historian, is a Griot from Gambia who traces his ancestry back 4,000 years. 2:00pm: Saturday and Sunday, February 14 and 15 Noon to 2:00pm: 2:00pm: Dahomy Applique, with Lucille Graham. Rhythms and Songs of Childhood, with Ella Jenkins. The legendary Ella Jenkins encourages you to snap fingers, clap hands, stomp feet, hum, and whistle in this spontaneous and impromptu sing-along concert. Saturday and Sunday, February 21 and 22 Noon to 2:00pm: 2:00pm: Stories and Songs of Afri- can People, with Shanta Nurullah. Storytelling Pots, with Marva Jolly. Quilt and See, with Harvey Duckworth. Sounds In the Forest and the New Yam Festival, with Darlene Blackburn Dance Troupe. Sounds In the Forest uses story, song, and dance in telling this special chil- dren's tale of Lion, Mon- key, Rabbit and Bird. The New Yam Festival presents an exciting celebration just before a new harvest. CONTINUED -» Svents ■X ^eSnuan^ ^ee^eW ^^lo^i^n^cuH^ ^ACH Saturday and Sunday you are invited to explore the world of natural history at Field Museum. Free tours, demonstrations, and films related to ongoing exhibits at the Museum are designed for families and adults. Listed below are only a few of the numerous activities each weekend. Check the Weekend Programs sheet upon arrival for the complete schedule and program locations. The programs are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. February 1 1:00pm Welcome to the Field (tour). Enjoy a sam- pling of our most significant exhibits as you explore the scope of Field Museum. 7 11:30am Ancient Egypt (tour). Explore the traditions of ancient Egypt from everyday life to myths and mummies. 22 1:00pm Welcome to the Field (tour). Enjoy a sam- pling of our most significant exhibits as you explore the scope of Field Museum. Weekends in February 1:00pm and 3:00pm Encounter Music from around the world as you travel through the great halls of Field Museum. Experience the sounds and textures of India, China, and Egypt through live musical demonstrations and informal discussions. For further information, S (312) 322-8854. Chinese four-stringed guitar. Four strings represent the four seasons. Cat. 127541. \ Events 'i^eHtie, CommcMcccUwe 7CiMe% TV^cUe^ tt John Ford, Research Zoologist, West Coast Whale Research Foundation, Vancouver, B.C. Saturday, February 21, 2:00pm Sleek, powerful, and fearless, they rule the seas. With swift thrusts of their tails, they leap from the water or chase down their prey. Once creatures of mystery seen as blood thirsty man-eaters, killer whales have been found to be highly social, intelli- gent, even gentle animals. The Orinus orca (commonly call the killer whale) has shed its aura of mystery and menace. Extensive research has revealed not a single docu- mented case of orca attacking or killing human beings. During the mid-1960s popular press did much to endear the orca to the general public and fade their dreaded image. Zoologist John Ford and his research col- leagues have studied the behavior, population dy- namics, and communication sounds of the whales found off the coast of British Columbia. These 14 years of extensive research have contributed greatly to increased knowledge of orcas. They have found that these whales form "families," or pods, that are remarkably stable units. It appears that the only way a pod member arrives or leaves is by birth or death. Pod communities are divided into residents — orcas who do not actually migrate — and transients who travel a much broader range and behave quite differently. One of the most striking differences between individual whale pods is the variation in their com- munication sounds. Dr. Ford has studied com- munication sounds among orcas for the last eight years. Through the use of hydrophone recordings, he is able to demonstrate that each whale pod has its own distinctive dialect. Dr. Ford discusses his most recent research, documents his extensive observa- tion with slides and tape, and shares with us some of his incredible experiences with the orca whales. Tickets: $6.00 ($4.00 members). This program is funded in part by the Ray A. Kroc Environmental Fund. ^ Registration Be sure to complete all requested information on the ticket application. If your request is received less than one week before a program, tickets will be held in your name at the West Entrance box office. Please n Member D Nonmember American Express/Visa/MasterCard Card Number Expiration Date Signature Return complete ticket application with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Field Museum of Natural History Public Programs: Department of Education Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2497 Have you enclosed your self-addressed stamped envelope? make checks payable to Field Museum. Tickets will be mailed upon receipt of check. Refunds will be made only if the program is sold out. Address City State Zip Telephone: Daytime "Centle, Communicative Killer Whales" Members: $4.00 ea., nonmembers: $6.00 ea. Evening Member Tickets #Requested Nonmember Tickets #Requested Total Tickets Requested Amount Bushman A Sprucing Up I .n life, Bushman was once voted as "the most out- standing and most valuable single animal of its kind in any zoo in the world." Indeed, the tall, powerful gorilla (6'2" tall, 565 lbs. in his prime) had a charisma all his own. Among the memorable events in the lives of many Chicago-area children was first seeing this awesome creature in Lincoln Park Zoo, where he lived from 1930 until New Year's Day, 195 1 , when death came to him at age 23. The Field Museum then acquired the body of the world-renowned ape, and for 35 years he has continued as one of the Museum's star attractions. But 35 years of posing in a glass case can take its toll — skin dries out, hair and eyes lose their lustre. So re- cently, taxidermist Paul Brunsvold gave Bushman a sprucing up. Brunsvold's treatment consisted of applying a lanolin solution to soften and condition the skin, re- painting certain skin areas, reglazing the eyes, and brushing and combing his fur. And to better show off his handsome new look, Bushman has ambled down to the ground floor, not far from the Children's Store, ready to greet more genera- tions of admiring visitors. The following anecdote concerning Bushman's infancy in Africa and hou) he u/as adopted by missionaries was luritten 6 by Marion Faulkr\er MiUer, whose late sister, Annie Mary Cosmetics for the male are heartily endorsed by Bushman, who patiently submits to the meticulous handiwork of taxidermist Paul Brunsvold. Photo by Ron Testa mtn Mien, told her the story some years ago. Mrs. Allen was one of those who found and took care of the infant gorilla when fourxd in 1928. Mrs. Miller is now a resident of the Presbyte- rian Home in Evanston, Illinois. Bushman and the Presbyterian Missionaries by Marion Faulkner Miller A baby gorilla toddled into the Presbyterian Missionary compound in Cameroon, West Africa one afternoon early in 1928. This little fellow proved to be the way to a beautiful stained glass church window for the mis- sionaries, James and Annie Mary Allen, stationed there from the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. The missionaries and native Africans took turns cuddling and comforting this small gorilla while several of the Africans set out into the jungle in search of its mother. When darkness approached, they returned, having found no trace of the adult gorilla. It was obvious that the little fellow was hungry. Since he could not yet eat solid food, what could he be fed? The missionary. Dr. Johnson, prepared a baby formula as he would for a human baby, and the gorilla devoured it with gusto. Thereafter, Annie Mary Allen, the wife of James Allen, continued to prepare the same formula for the infant gorilla. Continued on p. 25 A Field Museum Feature On Local Natural History by JERRY SULLIVAN We 'hen I was a volunteer at Lincoln Park Zoo, I used to take owls to fifth grade classrooms around the city. We were docents working in two-person teams, and we ar- rived at each school with two cages and a bag. The cages held a bird and a mammal. There was a snake in the bag, usually a boa constrictor. Boas were ideal for our purposes. They are big and powerful looking. They are beautifully patterned. They are creepy as the devil, flicking their forked tongues at the kids. And they are docile enough to let the children lightly stroke their smooth dry skin. We used to do a 45-minute presentation, 15 min- utes per animal, and experience quickly taught us to save the snake for last. Nobody could follow his act. Nobody, that is, except an owl. Bring out any other bird — and we used parrots, sparrow hawks, crows, and even a toucan — and we'd lose a third of the class. Bring out an owl and you can reduce the most blase fifth grader to open- mouthed wonder. We used three different owls at various times, a red phase screech owl, a great homed owl, and a barn owl, but the reaction was the same no matter what owl we showed them. Our fifth graders were not the first humans to react that way to members of the order Strigiformes. Owls have been making strong impressions on people for as long as people have been recording their impressions. The ancient Egyptians identified one of the human souls — they believed we have three — with the bam owl. This particular soul stayed near the tomb after death, and we can guess that bam owls did the same thing. The birds got their common name from their habit of nesting in buildings. Apparently they got the habit almost as soon as there were any buildings to nest in. In the Old Testament, owls were part of a standard- ized curse the prophets would pronounce on rich and powerful cities that had departed from the paths of righteousness. Said Isaiah, speakingof thecity of Edom, "And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and Chicago writer Jerry Sullivan writes frequently on birds for the Bul- letin. He does a column, "Field and Street, " for the Chicago Reader and has done features on birds for Audubon magazine and other national publications. He was also editor of Chicago Area Birds, published in 1985 by Chicago Review Press. brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be an habitation of dragons and a court for owls." Owls became wise birds in Greece. Athena, god- dess of wisdom, was usually pictured with a small, earless owl — perhaps a European little owl — sitting on her shoulder. Athens, her city, stamped a picture of an owl onto its coins. Of course, owls have a dark side, a slightly creepy edge that simultaneously attracts and repells us, just as the boa constrictor does. They are birds of the darkness, haunters of graveyards, screamers in the night. Their calls are an augury of death. An owl is the familiar of one of Macbeth's witches, and it is the "obscure bird" that cries out when Macbeth kills the king. I think their faces have a lot to do with the intensity of our reactions to owls. Hawks and eagles, the hunters of daylight, have birds' faces. Their foreheads slope sharply back from the tops of their beaks. Their eyes are set on the sides of their heads, and their throats recede directly from their lower mandibles. But put a pair of glasses or a hat on an owl, and you have a human being with a big round face, a forehead at the top, a chin at the bottom, two big eyes that look directly at you, and, set below them, a hooked beak that could stand for a nose. That distinctive, almost human, face has been shaped by natural selection, and many of the secrets of owls' success as nocturnal hunters are hidden in it. Start with the facial disk, a thin line of specialized feathers that outlines the cheeks of that humanoid face. Facial disk feathers grow very close together. They are roughly paddle-shaped, narrow at the base and wide at the top. The central quill of each feather is thickened and the webbing is quite dense. This dense wall of feathers serves as a barrier to sound waves. Sounds hitting the disk bounce off and are fiinneled inward toward the bird's ear. What we have here, in other words, is a parabolic reflector just exactly like the ones we use to pick up faint and distant sounds. The only difference is that our reflectors concentrate the sound toward a microphone rather than an ear. And then there are the ears themselves. We can't see them. They are completely hidden under the owl's soft body plumage (the so-called ears of long-eared owls are actually feather tufts). The external openings of the ears are quite large, and, most remarkably, they are, in various ways, asymmetrical. Bam owls have flaps of skin along the edges of their ear openings, and the flaps are at slightly different positions on each side of the skull. Long-eared and short-eared owls go even further. The external openings of their ears are of different shapes and they are differently positioned on the sides of the skull. The internal structures are also quite different. All this variation provides the owl with an excel- lent means of determining where a sound is coming from. Any animal with two ears can do a certain amount of direction finding. We can detect tiny differences in the time of arrival of sound waves at our ears. If they get to the left ear first, the sound is to the left; if they get to the right ear first, it is to the right. But as anyone who has ever tried to find a singing bird in a tree can tell you, this system is considerably less than foolproof. An owl's system is much more sophisticated. The variations in ear structure cause different frequencies to be heard at different levels of intensity in one ear than in the other. Experiments involving the planting of mi- crophones in the ears of dead barn owls suggest that these differences vanish when the bird is looking directly at the source of the sound. The effectiveness of this method of locating prey was demonstrated several years ago at Cornell Univer- sity when barn owls proved they could hunt very well by ear. The birds were confined one at a time in a room as close to absolute darkness as the researchers could man- age. As a test for darkness, they exposed high speed film in the room for one hour. It did not fog (fogging would have indicated the presence of light) . Chicago-Area Wildlife Series This article is part of a continuing series on the wildlife of Chicago and the surrounding region. Previous articles have included "Chicago's Parakeets," "Lake Renwick: Unlikely Haven for the Endangered," "The Wooded Island: Chicago's Premier Birding Area," "Spring Wildflowers of the Chicago Area," and "Late Summer and Fall Flowers of the Chicago Region." Articles scheduled to appear in the coming months cover the subjects of local water snakes, spring bird migration, raising moths and butterflies, and a feature on one of our local native prairies. Arrangements for additional copies or reprints, past or future (including bulk quantities for classroom use), may be made by writing or calling (922-9410) the Bulletin editor at the Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, II 60605. Copyright © 1984 Tom McHugtvPhoto Researchers Inc The northern saw-uihet owl, Aegolius acadicus, is the only tiny, tuftless owl apt to be seen in the Chicago area. It nests most often in a hole in a tree or stump and sometimes in an abandoned woodpecker's nest. Its usual call is a long series of short whistles. With the bird in place on a perch at one end of the room, the researchers scattered dead leaves on the floor at the other end and released a mouse into the room. The rustling of the mouse immediately attracted the owl's attention, and when the bird left its perch to strike at the mouse, it was successful 17 out of 21 times. And then there are those eyes. They are quite large. A snowy owl, which weighs three or four pounds, has eyes as big as a grown man's, and those eyes are put together in ways that make them especially efficient when there is very little light. Like humans, owls have two types of visual receptor cells in their eyes. Rods, which are sensitive to changes in the intensity of light, and cones, which are sensitive to different frequencies of The Eastern screech-owl, Otus asio, red and gray phase. Frequents wooded areas, where mice and small birds such as the house sparrow are favored food items. Its call is a soft, trilling note and sometimes a harsh cat'Uke screech. The two color phases seem to have no relation to age or sex, both red and gray birds sometimes being found in the same nest. 10 light, which is to say, colors. Diurnal creatures like us get our ability to see colors and our visual acuity from cones. Owls, which have enormous numbers of rods densely packed together, de- rive their ability to see in low light from these. They do, however, have enough cones to be able to see well in daylight. The forward look of those eyes matters too. Owls have binocular vision over about 70 percent of their visual field, so they can make very accurate judgements about how far they are from anything they see. They supplement their binocular vision by bobbing their heads up and down or from side to side to get a good angle on what they are looking at. Those eyes cause some problems too. They are so large that there doesn't seem to be any room for muscles to move them, so they are fixed in their sockets. An owl has a visual field of about 1 10 degrees, and to see to the right or left, it must turn its head. Our demonstration of silent flight was one of the highlights of our owl show for the fifth graders. The bam owl was the best for this. Our great homed owl had been donated to the zoo after some idiot with a shotgun nearly destroyed one wing, so it could not fly at all, silently or otherwise. The bam owl sat on my hand. I would wear a heavy falconer's glove, and the bird was secured by jesses, or straps. 1 would raise my arm high over my head, ask all the kids to be silent, and then drop my hand almost to the floor. The bird, to keep its balance would flap its wings, and the fifth graders would hear only the merest whisper. Two characteristics of owl feathers are involved in dampening the sound of flapping wings. The barbules, the slender filaments attached to the central quills of the flight feathers, are tipped with hairlike projections that give the feathers a cushiony pile like velvet that effec- tively dampens the sound of feathers striking each other. One or more of the primary flight feathers at the tip of the wing have edges like the teeth of a comb, a feature that deadens the sound of air passing over the feather. We used to ask the fifth graders what help silent The world's smallest owl is the elf owl of the Amer- ican Southwest. It is six inches long, about the size of a house sparrow, and weighs less than two ounces. Decid- ing on the biggest owl is a bit more difficult. The great gray owl, two and a half feet long with a wingspan of five feet, is the longest and widest North American owl, but under all those feathers, the great gray is really a bit on the spindly side. The stockier snowy owl outweighs it by a pound. The diets of these birds are just as varied as their The bam owl, Tyto alba, is nocturnal and feeds largely on rodents. Its call is a soft, rising, wheeze- flight would be to an animal that hunts in the dark and they would usually figure out that a stealthy approach would capture more prey, to which we might add that silent flight would also be a big help to an animal that hunts by ear. You can't hear a mouse if you are making too much racket yourself. Put together the keen eyes, the sharp ears, the hooked beak, all the attributes of that face, add soft si- lent plumage and talons as the major weapons for captur- ing and killing prey and you have a sort of generic owl. Real owls are, of course, quite specific, about 134 spe- cies, and they have developed a number of variations on this basic theme of owlness. dimensions. The elf owl goes after grasshoppers and other insects, which it captures owl-fashion with its feet, sometimes while on the wing. Some tropical owls have specialized in catching fish. The undersides of their toes have developed corrugations, a tread for gripping slip- pery fish. Most owls concentrate mainly on small mam- mals, from mice and shrews up to rabbits, squirrels, and even skunks. Owls have occupied all the world's land areas ex- cept Antarctica and some isolated oceanic islands. They live in swampy river bottoms in the tropical forest and on Arctic tundra. We have 19 species in North America and 12 of them have been recorded in the Chicago area. 11 12 With some luck, and persistence, you might see seven or eight in the course of a year, but several of those belong to common and widespread genera, so looking at them will give you a good introduction to the whole order. The bam owl is likely to be the hardest of those local possibilities to find. The genus Tyto is cosmopoli- tan. Antarctica and New Zealand are the only signifi- cant land masses without bam owls. However, the birds stay out of the higher latitudes both here and in Eurasia, and in the Midwest the northern edge of their range is central Wisconsin, so we can guess that they were never common here. They were present as resident birds as recently as 30 years ago, but the last nest was discovered 15 years ago, and even sightings of vagrant birds have declined. Barn owls belong to a family of owls called the Tytonidae which includes them, the closely related grass owls, and the Asian bay owls. The only tytonid in North America, the bam owl differs from all the rest of our owls (the Strigidae family) chiefly in some points of skeletal anatomy such as the shape of the sternum and the thick- ness of the bones in the eye sockets. There are two visi- ble differences between the bam owls and the rest of our owls. The bam owl's thicker eye sockets produce corre- spondingly smaller eyes, and the facial disk of the bam owl is heart-shaped rather than round. Bam owls hunt over open ground. Their wings are long and broad and they can glide quite slowly without stalling. They stay low, rarely rising as high as 15 feet, searching the ground below as they go. This low, slow method of hunting works quite well. One bird in Eng- land was seen to capture nine small rodents in 55 min- utes of hunting. That's just a bit over six minutes a mouse, an amazing rate, especially when you consider that the bird ate only one and brought the other eight back to its nest. So there were eight flights from hunting ground to nest and back included in that 55-minute span. When a bam owl sees a mouse scurrying through the grass it dives toward it. Just before striking, the bird swings its feet forward and pulls its head back so that the talons hit the mouse and the head stays away from trou- ble. As a further protection, the nictitating membrane closes down over the eyes. The membrane is a sort of second eyelid. In most birds, it is thin and transparent, but in owls it is thick and opaque, so at the instant it strikes its prey, the owl is blind. The only wild bam owl 1 have ever seen around Above: Burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia, seen only on rare occasions in the Chicago area. Below: Long-eared owl, Asio otus, recognizable by its large ear tufts, an inch long or more. t ^^■>'^- Barred owl, Strix varia, nearly as large as the great homed owl, but distinguishable by its lack of ear tufts and its dark eyes, a characteristic it shares locally only with the bam owl. Chicago was a very cooperative bird that showed up in Lincoln Park Zoo, of all places, in December of 1982. It hung around for a couple of weeks, roosting in the rafters of the shed that shelters the Viking ship, and birders came from all over to see it. It is depressingly easy to assign causes to the decline of the barn owl. We don't have as many bams as we used to, and those we do have are probably too spruce and tidy to have a hole in the wall big enough for a bam owl to get through. We also don't have as many pastures and hay fields as we used to for the birds to hunt over. The Illinois Department of Conservation has begun putting out nest boxes for barn owls, but with so few birds left, it is hard to see where the breeding stock is going to come from. The easiest owl to see around Chicago is Bubo virgi- nianus, the undisputed king of the woods, the great homed owl. This voracious hunter nests in every county in the Chicago area. It is possible that it breeds in every county in the U.S. outside of Hawaii. It regularly nests within the city limits of Chicago. A large female great homed owl — as in hawks and eagles, female owls are generally larger and heavier than males — might measure two feet from top of feather tufts to tip of tail and its wingspan could reach five feet. Pound for pound, it is the fiercest predator in North America. Only the wolves, bears, and pumas regularly 13 14 3u) sjaqojeosay o)OMd/ll!tMB; FIELD MUSEUM O March 1987 ■ K ^l^K m KE' mm IMi!c'_ m 1 f V H W-i ^r i m II \ itj !*#■ Stories AND MYtHS FROM AROUND THE WORLD performed by The Young People's Company of the Piven Theatre Workshop Saturday, March 14 see page 3 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Published by Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President: Willard L. Boyd Editor/Designer: David M. Walsten Production Liaison: Pamela Stearns Staff Photographer: Ron Testa CONTENTS March 1987 Volume 58, Number 3 March Events at Field Museum The Athapaskan Hunting Canoe 6 by James W. VanStone, Curator ofNorth American Archaeology and Ethnology Board of TIiustees Richard M. Jones, Chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour George R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Mrs. Philip D. Block III Willard L. Boyd Robert D. Cadieux Henry T. Chandler Worley H. Clark Frank W. Considine Stanton R. Cook WilUatn R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley 11 ThomasJ. Eyerman Marshall Field Ronald J. Gidwitz Clarence E. Johnson John James Kinsella HugoJ. Melvoin Leo F MuUin James J. O'Connor Robert A. Pritzker James H. Ransom John S. Runnells Patrick G. Ryan William L. Searle Mrs. Malcolm N. Smith Robert H. Strotz Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber BlaineJ. Yarrington Life Trustees Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Mrs. EdwinJ. DeCosta Mrs. David W. Grainger CHfford C. Gregg William V. Kahler William H. Mitchell Edward Byron Smith John W. Sullivan J. Howard Wood Water Snakes by John C. Murphy 11 Featherwing Beetles and the Remarkable Discoveries of Henry Dybas 1 7 from Dinosaurs in the Attic, fry Doughs]. Preston Featherwing Beetles by Henry S. Dybas 19 Henry Dybas: A Eulogy 22 by Rupert L. Wenzel, Curator Emeritus of Insects COVER Water SNAKES, that's right, water snakes are the subject of this March view of the big pond in Indiana Dunes State Park, an hour's drive southeast of Chicago. For with the first suggestions of spring, these creatures, nestled in protected nooks along the pond's edge, may already have urges to stir, as may the turtles, frogs, fish, and other aquatic and semiaquatic creatures that call the bog their home. Nine water snake species, some common, some rare, occur in the Chicago area. For more on these elusive (and harmless) reptiles, see John Murphy's article, pages 1 1-16. Photo by D. Walsten. Field Museum of Natural History Buiican {USPS 898-940) is published monthly, except combined July/ August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1987 Field Museum of Natural History. Subscriptions: $6.00 annually. $3. 00 for schools. Museum membership includes BuUelin subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Museum phone: (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should include address label and be sent to Membership Department. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. ISSN : 0015-0703. Second class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Events Stonier cutdTKcft^^to^Anou^ The Young People's Company of the Piven Theatre Workshop Saturday, March 14, 2:00pm, James Simpson Theatre Watch the Young People's Company weave a spell of Magic with "Stories and Myths from Around the World." This delightful col- lection takes you to the four corners of the earth. The afternoon begins with a tale about a mythi- cal Indian maiden who is rewarded in the after- life for her goodness and truthfulness. In the Far East, we join a couple embarked on a perilous journey to cure the bluebird who has suddenly stopped singing. At journey's end they find that all birds have been turned to stone. In "The Beg- gar and the Gazelle" a man from the Middle East learns about the importance of being a faithful friend. A weaver, and a mysterious spider web conclude this charming quartet of Tales. The Young People's Company of the Piven Theatre Workshop has been performing for twelve years. Directed by Joyce Piven, this en- chanting group is composed of 15 young people between the ages of 15 and 18 years. This performance is recommended for adults and children age 6 and older. Tickets: $7.00 (S5.00 members). To order tick- ets, see coupon on next page. /- , . ^ ^ ° Continued — Events ~X Each Saturday and Sunday you are invited to explore the world of natural history at Field Museum. Free tours, demonstrations, and films related to ongoing exhibits at the museum are designed for families and adults. Listed below are just two of the numerous activities each weekend. Check the Weekend Programs sheet upon arrival for the complete schedule and program locations. The programs are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. I I Saturday, March 7, 1:30pm Tibet Today (slide lecture). See Lhasa and other towns now open to tourists and Bhutan — "Land of the Thunder Dragon." □ Sunday, March 15, 2:00pm Traditional China (tour). Examine the history and hfestyles repre- sented by Chinese jades and other masterworks. I I Sunday, March 29 2:00pm Treasures from the Totem Forest (tour). A walk through Museum exhibits introduces the Indians of southeast Alaska and British Columbia, whose carved totem poles and masks proclaim their pride of rank and their mystical ties to animals and spirits. Saturdays and Sundays in March 1:00pm and 3:00pm Music Communicates many different things to many different people. It is something that can be shared by aU of us, whether or not we have common hfestyles, beliefs, even lan- guages. Experience with us the music of differ- ent cultures. □ March 7, 8: Lincoln Beauchamp at 1 :00pm Shanta Nurullah at 3:00pm Phil Cohran at 1 :00pm and 3:00pm Raices del Andes at 1:00pm and 3:00pm Don Moye at 1 :00pm and 3:00pm The World Music Program is supported by Kenneth and Harle Montgomery in honor of E. Leland Webber, president emeritus of Field Museum. n March 14, 15: n March 21, 22: n March 28, 29: ^ Registration for "Stories and Myths from Around the World" make checks payable to Field Museum. Tickets will Be sure to complete all requested information on the ticket application. If your request is received less than one week before a program, tickets will be held in your name at the West Entrance box office. Please D Member D Nonmember American Express/Visa/MasterCard Card Number Signature Return complete ticket application with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Field Museum of Natural History Public Programs: Department of Education Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2497 Expiration Date be mailed upon receipt of check. Refunds will be made only if the program is sold out. Address City State Zip Telephone; Daytime Evening "Stories and Myths'*: Tickets — Members S5. 00, Nonmember S7. 00 Member Tickets #Requested Nonmember Tickets #Requested Total Tickets Requested Amount Have you enclosed your self-addressed stamped envelope? Svents Thursdays in March, 1:30pm These programs are free March 5 The Wonders of Ancient Egypt Frank Yurco, Doctoral Candidate in Egyptology, University of Chicago The shadows of Egypt's mysterious and glorious past still fascinate the visitor to her cities and historical monuments. Travel back through time to this land of ancient pyramids, tombs, and ancient ruins. March 12 Canadian Holiday: A Trip Around Gaspe Peninsula Carolyn Dring, Naturalist Canada's northeastern provinces are home to some of the most scenic parks in North America. From Bay of Fundy to Cape Breton Island follow the seascapes that are awash with migratory birds. March 19 China's Great Cities Hau Kum Kneip, Instructor, Continuing Education Division, City College of Chicago Mainland China is opening more and more to the world. Its cities reveal both China's future and its ancient culture. Enjoy this journey through the eyes of an experienced traveler. March 26 The Culture of Japan Kazuko Ernst, Master, Ohara School oflkebana Despite European and Western influ- ence, Japanese culture remains rooted in its history and traditions. Experi- ence and enjoy the subtle beauty of Japan's enduring culture through a look at her arts, ceremonies, and foods. THE ATHAPASKAN HUNTING CANOE fry James W. VanStone Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology A Lmong the bark-covered watercraft employed by North American Indians, the so-called kayak-form canoe is perhaps the least familiar. It was primarily a hunting craft used by Athapaskan Indians on the rivers of interior Alaska and northwestern Canada and was light enough (about 40 lbs. ) to be easily portaged. These vessels ranged in length from 12 to 18 feet and in beam from 24 to 27 inches. They were extremely shallow, the depth seldom exceeding 12 inches. In addition to hunt- ing, this type of craft was also used for transporting a family and its possessions from one place to another. Such cargo canoes were longer (22 to 24 feet) but the basic construction was the same. The kayak-form canoe had largely disappeared be- fore the advent of modem ethnographic fieldwork and they are known primarily from early photographs and examples in museum collections. At one time the col- lections of Field Museum contained three full-sized Athapaskan canoes that had been obtained in Alaska along the Yukon River for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Regrettably, these have long since dis- appeared, but the collections still contain three model canoes collected in the same area at about the same time, and these models make it possible to understand the major aspects of canoe construction. Also helpful are historical photographs showing kayak-form canoes in use and descriptions obtained by ethnographers from elderly Indian informants in the 1920s and 1930s. The manufacture of Athapaskan kayak-form hunt- ing canoes was one of the most complicated procedures in Athapaskan technology. The builders prepared most of the several parts before they attempted to assemble the canoe as a whole. Constuction of a hunting canoe usually began with preparing birch bark for the cover. Birch trees with bark suitable for canoes had straight limb-free trunks. Ideally the sheets of bark were equal in length to the canoe and only three were required. The thickest sheet, turned up along each side, went on the bottom, which was flat and diamond-shaped, though exceedingly elongated. Two more long pieces were then applied, one on each side and overlapping the tumed-up edges of the bottom piece. A floor rack, forming the bottom of the canoe, consisted of two outer longitudinal pieces, three or four inner longitudinal pieces, and three or more crosspieces. All of these were made from straight-grained green spruce. The bow and stem posts were then fashioned from a large root near the base of the spruce tree trunk. Each canoe had a pair of gunwales cut from straight-grained green spruce, the rough work being done with a stone adze and the trimming with a beaver tooth chisel. The gunwales, extending from the top of the bow post to the top of the stem post, were held apart by four to six thwarts. A photo taken at Anvik, an Atha- paskan village on the lower-middle Yukon River, in the early years of this century, shows a canoe at this stage in its construction. The completed floor rack is shown at one side (fig. 1). JamesW. VanStone, Field Museum's curator of North American archaeol- ogy and ethnology Fig.1 National Anthropological Archives. Smithsonian Institution A pair of longitudinal side pieces equal in length to the canoe were inserted on each side and held in place by 1 1 to 13 ribs cut from flexible green spruce. The cen- ter ribs were larger, with a broad U shape, while those both fore and aft were smaller, becoming almost V shaped. The bow of the canoe, to a length of about two feet, was decked with a single piece of bark lashed to the gunwales or held in place on each side with narrow strips of wood pegged to the gunwales. All the lashing was with spruce root and the canoe was completed by ap- plying a coat of spruce gum on all the seams and holes of the bark cover. Ethnographers who interviewed Indian informants on the Yukon River in the early 1930s were told that one man, with reasonable minimum cooperation from his family, could put the various parts of a canoe together in about five days. To make the frame and prepare the bark, of course, took much longer. Other factors con- trolling the construction time were the craftman's skill and the weather. The three model kayak-form canoes in the Museum's collection appear to be accurate as far as con- struction is concerned, but they may not correctly re- flect the extremely shallow draft of these vessels as de- picted in historic photos. Also, each is covered with only one piece of bark, instead of the three customarily used for full-sized canoes. The largest of these models is 47 '/z inches long with a beam of 7 inches. There are six thwarts and 15 ribs. In the center, lashed together with spruce root, are floor boards on which the paddler would kneel or sit. The bark decking, held in place on the sides with strips of wood pegged to the gunwales, is ornamented with what appear to be simulated animal tracks in dark brown pig- ment (figs. 2A,B). The second model canoe is 32 inches long with a beam of 6 inches. There are six thwarts and eight ribs. Faintly visible on the bark decking is a hunting scene consisting of a hunter holding a bow and arrow, and four unidentified animals each with an arrow through its body (figs. 2C,D). The third model is 22 '/2 inches long with a 4 '/2-inch beam. There are nine ribs and originally four thwarts (one is missing). The thwarts and spruce-root lashing on the gunwales are ornamented with black pigment. On the bark decking is a series of dots and a fishlike creature in black pigment. The floor rack is clearly visible in this model (figs. 2E,F). Kayak-form canoes have been described by elderly Yukon River Indians as extremely unstable and capable Fig. 2 Photo negatives (from top) 110268. 110268, 109178. 109177. 109178. 109177. Photos 2A. 2B by Diane Alexander White, photos 2C, 2D. 2E. 2F by Ron Testa. Fig. 4 of holding one or two persons. The canoeman stepped into his vessel by first grasping both gunwales with the hands while placing one foot in the center of the floor boards. He then either knelt in the bottom of the boat or sat with his legs folded akimbo, controlling the tipping of his fragile craft largely through his knees. Paddling was done by taking a few strokes on one side alternately with strokes on the other and without touching the gunwale. A typical paddle had a crutch handle and measured seven feet overall, the pointed blade was ap- proximately two feet long and five inches wide. A pro- nounced keel ran along one side of the blade. The keel side was held to the rear when paddling. Hunting canoes similar to those described above were used by practically all Athapaskan-speaking peo- ples. The Yukon River canoes are said to have been lighter and more graceful than those used in the Mac- kenzie River drainage. A well-made Yukon River canoe could last as many as seven seasons, a poorly made canoe only one. Presumably the test came with the cold water of fall, which cracked bark of poorer quality. In addition to its use for hunting, the kayak-form canoe served for fishing and for visiting fish traps and nets. Three photos reproduced here show hunting canoes in use in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and were taken near the village of Anvik. In the first photo, two men are dip net-fishing for silver salmon. They are drifting downriver with the current while holding long-handled nets in the water. When an ascending salmon was caught, it was lifted out, killed, and placed in the boat; then the operation was repeated. Good balance was required to stand in these extremely narrow, tippy vessels handling a heavy netted fish (fig. 3). Fig. 5 National Anthropological Archives. Smithsonian Inslitutkxi In the second photo a man is checking a fish trap (fig*. 4)- The shallow draft of his kayak-form canoe may be clearly seen, a characteristic also indicated in the third photo, in which a hunting canoe is shown next to a decked wooden river boat of approximately the same length (fig. 5). Kayak-form canoes were in use on the Yukon River and its tributaries as late as the 1920s, but by that time these vessels were covered with canvas rather than birch bark. They were replaced by narrow wooden river boats which, after about 1918, were propelled with gasoline- powered outboard motors. These useful machines great- ly affected the mobility of the Indians throughout the entire season when the Yukon and its tributaries were ice-free. It would be difficult to imagine a more suc- cessful and practical innovation than the outboard motor. With it all summer and fall subsistence activities were facilitated and the arduous efforts associated with river transportation were eliminated. FH Note Additional information on Athapaskan hunting canoes can be found in Ingalik Material Culture, by Cornelius Osgood (Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 22, 1940) and The Upper Tanana Iruiians, by Robert A. McKen- nan (Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 55, 1959). 10 Field Museum' s Tenth Annual Spring Systematics Symposium "Evolutionary Ideas of Progress" Saturday, May 9 Speakers Francisco J. Ayala RoyJ. Britten Robert Dunnell Stephen J. Gould David L. Hull William Provine David M. Raup Robert J. Richards Robert C. Richardson John Maynard Smith Adam Urbanek E. O. Wiley William Wimsatt ^^at'lpHC 7Hi^^ See Anwittd C^ioctaO' by John C. Murphy photos by author ' except where noted ; ■, ; A go(A nuiny Qhicago-area resHjeMs, I suspect, have spent their entire lives here without having sighted a real live srxake; and that probably suits them just fine. Those who appreciate snakes and have no fear of them are, unfortunately, among the minority. All but one of the seventeen species of snakes that now occur in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, Kankakee, and McHenry counties are harmless to man. The single exception is the eastern massasauga, a rattlesnake, which in any case is highly local in distribution. Snakes are not only beneficial, ar\d a key to a balanced ecosystem, they also tend to go about their own busir^ss, preferring to keep a very low profile (no pun) in the environmental scene. In the following essay, John Murphy tells us just about everything we ought to know about local water snakes, which make up nine of the seventeen srmke species occurring here. * Mr. Murphy teaches biology at Plainfield High School, Plainfield, Illinois and has served as herpetology consultant for agencies such as the Illinois Department of Transportation and for the government of Trinidad and Tobago. -Ed. Northern water snake, Nerodia sipedon sipedon A Field Museum Feature On Local Naturtal History 'The other eight snake species in the Chicago region are the eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platyrhinos), the western smooth green snake (Opheodrys vemaiis hlanchardi), the east- em yellowbelly racer {Coluber constrictor constrictor) , the black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta), the western fox snake (Ekphe vulpina vulpirui), the buUsnake (Pituophis rrielanoleucus sayi), the eastern milk snake (Lampropeltis trianqulum trian- qulum), and eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus cateruitus). 11 W W ^/ost snake species that you are apt to come upon in the Greater Chicago area belong to a group known as natricines (formally the subfamily Natricinae), better known as water snakes. Though some of these nine spe- cies are seldom seen, even by herpetologists who search for them, the group as a whole is abundant and, in the warmer months, are easily observable by anyone who knows where to seek them out. 'i^e.yodia: The Northern Water Snake The Northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon), when full grown, is 23 to 42 inches (61-107cm) long, the record being 53 inches. Females are generally larger than males, but the male's tail is proportionally longer. The color and pattern are variable, but usually the upper sur- face is'brown-black, with more than 30 bands and spots that are lighter in color. The lower side of the body is often yellow, with paired dark half-moon blotches on each ventral scale. The scales are heavily keeled, and adult males usually have knobs on the dorsal scales in the anal region. As adults mature, the light-colored bands often darken, and a snake with dry skin may appear to lack a pattern completely; however, the pattern fre- quently appears when the snake is placed in water. Wherever water and shoreline vegetation are avail- able, this snake can usually be found. Winter hiberna- tion may occur under stream embankments, in rock piles, or animal burrows. Depending on the weather, the snake may be active until late October but it may ven- ture out of the hibernaculum, or winter quarters, on warm November-December days. January and February are spent in torpor, which is broken with the warming temperatures of March. Warm spring temperatures raise the snake's body temperature enough so it can become active for hunting and mating. Fish make up most of the northern water snake's diet. A study of a Kentucky population of this species showed that 42.8 percent of the diet was minnows, 28.5 percent sunfishes, 14.3 percent frogs, and 14.3 percent salamanders, by volume. A study of a Kansas population revealed a similar diet, with 77 percent consisting of fish. Feeding strategies of this water snake are varied. Tongue flicking gathers molecules from the air and from whatever the snake chooses to investigate. The tongue transfers these molecules to a sensory organ in the roof of the mouth (Jacobson's organ, sometimes called the vomeronasal organ), and a message goes from there to the brain. This system is undoubtedly very important in natricines, but a study of captive northern water snakes suggests that they use at least four feeding techniques involving visual cues and that the tongue, in addition to its chemosensory function, is used in another way as well. The first feeding technique is to simply lunge open- mouthed at the fish, but this often fails. A second strat- egy is to lie motionless at the bottom of the pond or stream until a fish swims within two centimeters (less than an inch) of the snake's mouth; the fish is then easily captured. Occasionally the snake uses a "fishing" tech- nique, which succeeds more often than not — the snake goes after a fish, thrashing its head from side to side until it strikes the prey. The fourth, most sophisticated tech- nique has been termed "fly-casting. " Flattening its body, the snake floats on the surface, flicking its tongue so that the tip barely breaks the water's surface, enticing the unwary fish close enough to grab. Lingual luring, as this technique is known, seems to be used exclusively by natricines. The young of the northern water snake are bom in August and early September; most litters number be- tween 16 and 32. The snakes mature in about 21 to 24 months, but most females do not reproduce until their third year. 12 Chicago- Area Wildlife Series This article is part of a continuing series on the wildlife of Chicago and the surrounding region. Previous articles have included "Chicago's Parakeets," "Lake Renwick: Unlikely Haven for the Endangered," "The Wooded Island: Chicago's Premier Birding Area," "Spring Wildflowers of the Chicago Area," and "Late Summer and Fall Flowers of the Chicago Region. " Articles scheduled to appear in the coming months cover the subjects of spring bird migra- tion, raising moths and butterflies, and a feature on one of our local native prairies. Arrangements for additional copies or reprints, past or future (including bulk quantities for classroom use), may be made by writing or calling (922-9410) the Bulletin editor at the Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, II 60605. Occasionally, persons in the Chicago area report that they have sighted or perhaps killed a water mocca- sin (also known as the cottonmouth). The snake in question, however, often turns out to be the northern water snake, a mistake attributable to the latter's aquatic tendencies, dark coloration, stout body, and bad temper when disturbed. Except in zoos, the venomous water moccasin doesn't occur anywhere near Chicago. Regina: The Crayfish Snakes Four species of crayfish snakes make up the genus Regina, of which two are found in the Chicago region. As a group, these are relatively slender, brown in color, and striped. The common name indicates their food pref- erence. They are more aquatic that Nerodia, rarely wandering more than a few yards from the water's edge. Graham's crayfish snake (Regina grahamii) in- habits prairie marshes and ponds from central Texas and southwestern Nebraska to Louisiana and the Chicago area. The most northeastern population of this snake probably occurs in Lake County, Illinois. The queen snake (Regina septemvittata) has a distribution and habi- tat that somewhat compliments those of Graham's cray- fish snake. Queen snakes inhabit forest streams from southern Quebec to the Florida panhandle and from Illi- nois eastward to eastern Pennsylvania and central Geor- gia. An amateur may have trouble telling these two snakes apart, but the queen has a yellow side stripe on the first two scale rows, while Graham's has its stripe on the first three rows. There are also some differences in the belly pattern. Graham's tends to grow larger — 18 to Graham's crayfish snake, Regina grahamii. Note deformed head. 28 inches (44-71cm), while queen snakes are 15 to 24 inches (38-61 cm) in length. Both snakes show a decided preference for crayfish that have recently molted. Crayfish with a hard exo- skeleton would be difficult for most snakes to subdue and swallow, but just-molted crayfish are soft and vul- nerable. On hot summer days, during the early morning hours, it is not uncommon to see queen snakes investi- gating the shorelines of creeks and quarries, probing the undersides of rocks for the distinctive odor of molted crayfish. Laboratory studies of inexperienced, newborn queen snakes and Graham's crayfish snakes have shown that even from birth they are able to discriminate be- tween the odor of molted and nonmolted crayfish. But it seems improbable that these newborn could find enough small, newly molted crayfish to avoid starvation. More than likely, they supplement this diet with dragonfly and damselfly nymphs. Queen snake, Regina septemvittata 13 14 Western ribbon snake, Thamnophis proximus proximus Graham's differs from the queen in its daily activity pattern. Queen snakes are decidedly diurnal, spending the night under rocks or in bushes or trees along the shoreline, while Graham's crayfish snakes are nocturnal in the summer, shifting to daytime activity in the fall and spring. This may be an artifact of the habitat differ- ence. Prairies are open habitats where a snake may be easily seen by diurnal predators, while the shrub-lined shores of streams provide good cover, even during the day. Because both snakes are relatively small and crypti- cally colored, they have been able to survive in and around cities. I have seen fishermen standing next to bushes containing queen snakes, oblivious to the ser- pent's presence. At a quarry popular with fishermen in the DesPlaines River Valley, 1 estimated that there was one queen snake for every 30 feet of shoreline. Graham's crayfish snake, however, may not be faring as well in the Chicago area. Many of the local prairie wetlands have been drained for agriculture or suburban development, seriously depleting this snake's habitat. Thamnophis: Garter Snakes and Ribbon Snakes Garter snakes and ribbon snakes are probably the best known snakes in America. They comprise the genus Thamnophis, numbering about 25 species distributed from southeastern Alaska and Nova Scotia to Costa Rica. It is the largest and most successful genus of New World natricines, some species attaining dense pop- ulation in and around cities. Three species of this group inhabit Chicagoland. The western ribbon snake, Thamnophis proximus proximus, is rare in the Chicago area. There are speci- mens from Cook County and reliable reports from Will County, but its status in northeastern Illinois is a mys- tery. It is a slender, medium-sized snake, 19 to 48 inches (48-123cm) long, that is black with three light stripes. The green-white side stripes are on the third and fourth scale rows; the dorsal stripe is orange. Ribbon snakes feed heavily on frogs and tadpoles and are frequently found at the margins of ponds and streams. In Texas a ribbon snake was seen attempting to Eastern plains garter snake, Thamnophis radix radix flush cricket frogs from cover by thrusting its head into clumps of grass. The young are probably bom in late July or in Au- gust; the litter size ranges from 4 to 27, the average being about 12. Eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis The eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirta- lis, and the eastern plains garter snake, Thamnophis radix radix, are extermely common in northeastern lUi- nois, including densely populated areas. In some locali- ties the two species live together, although the eastern garter snake prefers forest while the eastern plains garter snake prefers prairie. Both feed on a variety of animals, with their diets undoubtedly overlapping; but sirtalis pre- fers aquatic prey such as frogs and leeches while radix depends more on terrestrial prey, especially earthworms. One study suggests that radix is also a major predator of nestling field sparrows. Sirtalis has the side stripe on the second and third scale rows, while in radix the side stripe is on the third and fourth rows. Another difference is behavior when disturbed: sirtalis strikes repeatedly as it tries to escape; radix usually does not strike, but thrashes back and forth while releasing a foul-smelling anal musk. Upon emergence from hibernation in March or April, male garter snakes await the female outside the den. Females exit the den emitting a male-attracting pheromone from a network of capillaries in the back. The pheromone is probably vitellogenin, a substance which is converted into egg yolk. Males detect the pher- omone with the tongue and transport it to the Jacobson's organ. The pheromone is species specific; thus, there is little chance of interbreeding between species living together. The male, or males, trail the female and courtship follows. Courting consists of the male rubbing his chin up and down the female's back and aligning his urogenital opening with hers. During copulation the male supplies the female with sperm and a material made in the renal sex segment of his kidney. This material coagulates into a plug that mechanically prevents other males from mating with the female; it also contains a pheromone that makes the female unattractive to other males. In May or early June the female produces the eggs. In June the eggs are fertilized with the sperm that the female has stored since spring. At about this same time, the male is producing sperm he will need for the following spring. In the Chicago area most young are Northern redbeUy snake, Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata bom in early August. This pattern of reproduction is very unusual in vertebrates, but may be widespread in natricines. Litter size in garter snakes is much larger than in most other snakes. Sirtalis litters range from 7 to 103 in- dividuals, and averages vary with age, older females pro- ducing larger litters; in radix, litters range from 5 to 92, with the average near 30. Storeria: The Brown Snake and The RedbeUy Snake Two species of Storeria occur in the Chicago area. They are the smallest of New World natricines, rarely exceed- ing 20 inches (52cm). They have 15 to 17 rows of keeled, dorsal scales and are usually dull brown or red. The mid- land brown snake, Storeria dekayi wrightorum, and the northern redbeUy snake, Storeria occipitomaculata occipi- tomaculata, are easily distinguished from one another. The brown snake has an indistinct light mid-dorsal stripe bordered by two rows of spots that have fused into crossbands, while the redbeUy has three spots on the nape of the neck, two dark stripes bordering the light mid-dorsal stripe, and a bright red belly. The midland brown snake, also called Dekay's snake, occurs widely in the Chicago area — in forest, grassland, marsh, and human-modified environments. Piles of roofing shingles, boards, and other man-made materials seem to create favorable habitats and man may have actually increased the brown snake's population Midland brown snake, Storeria dekayi wrightorum 15 density by discarding these materials in vacant city lots and suburban areas. Captive snakes readily accept earthworms and slugs, but turn down insects, frogs, and fish. Mating in this species has been reported to occur before and after hibernation. In the Chicago area most young are bom from late July to early August. Litter sizes range from 3 to 27, but most often are 11 to 18. The newborn are dark in color, with distinctive light-colored collars. The northern redbelly snake is not found around Chicago as often as the brown snake, but it is locally abundant. The redbelly is often considered a forest spe- opening. The pungent material is smeared over the snake's body and onto the predator by the snake's twisting. Clotwphis: Kirtland's Snake Kirtland's snake, Clonophis kirtlandi, is an enigma among North American snakes. Rarely encountered, it is represented by few specimens in museums, despite the fact that its distribution includes large midwestem cities. Kirtland's snake rarely exceeds 24 inches (62cm) in length. It has 17 to 19 rows of heavily keeled scales. On the back are four rows of alternating blotches that num- 16 cies, but it also occurs in more open habitats such as pastures and weedy fields. Hibernation aggregations have been found in ant hills. In Manitoba, 101 redbelly snakes were found in a single ant hill, together with 8 eastern plains garter snakes and 148 smooth green snakes. Like the brown snake, the northern redbelly pre- fers slugs and earthworms. Young redbelly snakes are bom in August and Sep- tember. Litter sizes range from 2 to 21, with the average probably about 10. Brown snakes and redbelly snakes fall prey to a suit of predators because of their small size. The black widow spider has been reported to feed on brown snakes, and large wolf spiders are certainly capable of overpowering one of these snakes. Lizards, snakes, birds, and mammals also prey upon Storeria, but they have evolved some de- fense behaviors. When disturbed, Storeria flare their la- bial scales (bordering the mouth) to intimidate the pre- dator. If disturbance continues, the snake may writhe, roll over, and gape the mouth while protruding the tongue; the body then becomes rigid. When seized by a predator (or human hand) natricine snakes customarily release musk from two glands on either side of the anal ber 47 to 60, the belly is pink to brick red. The habitat is wet meadows, sometimes wet wooded areas. It is often found in newly developed areas, but specimens may be found years apart at one location, all of this suggesting that Kirtland's snake spends its life underground. The snake has been observed mating in early May. The young have been bom from late July to September in litters ranging from 4 to 22, with an average of about 10. Kirtland's snake was first described by Robert Kenni- cott in 1856 from specimens he collected near his home in West Northfield (now Glenview), Illinois. ¥n Suggested Readings R. Conant: A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of East- em and Central North America, 429 pp., 1975, Houghton Mifflin. C. Pope: Amphibians arvi Reptiles of the Chicago Area, 275 pp., 1944, Chicago Museum of Natural History (Field Museum). P. Smith: The Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois, 298 pp. , 1961, State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Natural History Survey Division. Featherwing Beetles And the Remarkable Discoveries Of Henry Dybas ft lenry Dybas (1915-81) belonged to that select group of curators whose entire professional life was given to Field Museum. He is perhaps best known for his studies on peri- odical cicadas (a.k.a. "17-year locusts"). His most impor- tant work, however, may well have been on the featherwing beetles, the Ptiliidae family; Dybas was, in fact, the world's leading authority on this extraordinary group. The following essay by Douglas J. Preston, which deals largely with Dybas and his work on the featherwings, is ex- erpted from the recently published Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History, * in which it is entitled "The History. " — Ed. As I write this, I am in New York City, sitting in a deck chair on the roof of a building physically larger than the Empire State Building. It is sunset. Central Park stretch- es before me, a cold expanse of leafless trees, winding paths, and dark ponds; just the tips of the bare branches catch the autumn light. Beyond the park is a row of buildings along Fifth Avenue, their windows flashing gold, reflecting the setting sun. To my left I can see West 81st Street, with its row of elegant old apartment build- ings, and behind me stretches a patchwork of Upper West Side rooftops. Beyond the rooftops, straight down 79th Street, lies the Hudson River, heaving slowly along like the gray back of some ancient, sluggish reptile. I am on the roof of the largest private museum in the world — the American Museum of Natural History. Below me lies a fantastic complex of intersecting roof- lines, greenhouses, Cothic arches, and towers festooned with granite eagles and copper globes. Far below are hid- den courtyards, tiny parking lots, dumpsters, and low roofs. 1 can see people working behind hundreds of win- dows grayed with Manhattan soot: hunched over desks, typing on computer terminals, or fussing with animals in aquaria. Beneath me, somewhere in this vast maze of build- ings— the largest repository of scientific collections in the world — is a beetle. This beetle is no bigger than a grain of sand; to the naked eye it is merely a brown dot, the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Sand- wiched between glass on a slide, it can be identified only with the aid of a microscope. I have chosen this fellow — perversely, you might think — as the starting point for our exploration of this gigantic and unclassifiable storehouse of nature. I have chosen it because it is the meanest, tiniest, and ugliest specimen I could find in the Museum. Indeed, the beetle seems to lack any redeeming quality whatsoever; aside from being small and insignificant, it is also boring. This creature is a common insect known to science as Bambara intricata. It belongs to the family of "feath- erwing" beetles, so called because they possess long feathery hairs on their wings. These hairs enable them to drift on the wind, much like dandelion seeds. This par- ticular specimen is locked up with moth flakes in a clean white cabinet along with tens of thousands of other in- sects. Like all the Museum's specimens, it is carefully preserved to last for an eternity — or at least for as long as modem technology can afford. This species spends its three-week life span buried in the decaying litter of the forest floor, feeding mostly on fungus spores. It is a peaceful insect, neither an annoying pest nor a crop destroyer. Although it is ex- tremely common (literally billions can be found in most continents of the world), its existence is unknown to all humanity save for a dozen or so entomologists; and of these, only two or three have any real interest in the bug. As I sit on the roof of this Museum and consider that here, beneath me, are some of the most beautiful, rare, and extravagant creations of nature and man, 1 wonder what could possibly be important enough about this little beetle to warrant its inclusion in the Museum's collections. To answer this question, we must look back thirty or so years to the discovery of Bambara intricata. This particular bug hails from the Bimini islands, a low, wind- swept string of cays in the Bahamas, not far from Florida. In 1947 the Museum established a research station on North Bimini (now closed) named the Lemer Marine Laboratory. Before then, the area had seen little scien- This essay is from Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History, by Douglas ]. Preston, copyri^t © 1986 by Douglas ]. Preston, St. Martins Press, Inc., New York. 17 18 The fealherwing beetle Eurygyne intricata, dorsal view left; partial ventral view right, showing relative size of the single egg (dotted line) . The beetle is about 0. 6mm in kngth — less than 1/40 inch. This arui seven other species comprised the new genus Eurygyne, first described by Dybas in 1966. tific exploration, and only two insects had been reported from the island: the mosquito (whose presence was im- mediately and unpleasantly apparent to the visitor) and a pretty species of butterfly. Thus, one of the first priori- ties was to do an insect "inventory" of the islands to col- lect and record the species that lived there. In 1951 a group of Museum entomologists went to Bimini and spent four months luring and trapping as many insects as they could, using nets, funnels, ultraviolet lights, and white sheets. When they were finished they had col- lected 109,718 insects and 27,839 arachnids, including thousands of featherwing beetles. (To capture feath- erwings, they used an ingenious contraption called a Berlese funnel, which drives tiny insects out of decaying leaves, bark, and soil. ) They caught so many tiny feath- erwings that the beetles "formed a black cloud" when the collecting vials of alcohol were shaken. Among these thousands of specimens, the Museum scientists found that six species of featherwing beetle were present on the island. Eventually the vials of alco- hol were transferred to the main entomology storage area in New York City, where for fifteen years they rested in a dark cabinet. In the mid-sixties, someone finally took an interest in the insects. A curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Henry Dybas, borrowed a number of the vials containing the featherwings for a research project on a strange phenomenon known as parthe- nogenesis— the reproduction of an animal without fer- tilization by the male. Dybas had evidence that many species of the featherwing beetle exist in all-female populations, reproducing without the aid of males. He wanted to examine a large number of specimens col- lected at the same time to see if indeed they were all female. In doing so, he developed several startling theories. Through his examination of featherwing beetles, Dybas was able to illuminate the complex workings of a small comer of the natural world. He wondered, for ex- ample, why the beetles were so small. He wanted to know why many species or populations seemed to have done away with males. Finally, he had observed that the featherwing beetles from Bimini had no feather wings, even though the same species on the mainland possessed them. After some thought, Dybas came up with an interesting interlocking theory that explained these three questions. First, he had reason to believe that the beetles had evolved from a larger into a smaller size, primarily be- cause they needed to be light enough to float on the wind, and thus to occupy a niche in which smallness was an advantage. In becoming small, however, the feath- erwings could carry fewer and fewer eggs, since the eggs could not be "miniaturized" the way the insect could. Thus, the Bimini beetles lost the ability to carry thousands of eggs and produce many offspring at a single time, as most other insects do. Indeed, they became so small that the female was only able to carry one egg at a time. That single egg became much more biologi- cally precious when it was the only one available — and thus the female had to ensure that it was fertilized and hatched. Unfortunately, this structure made finding a male to fertilize the egg quickly rather important. Indeed, finding a male became such a matter of incon- venience for the female of a species with such limited mobility that the population eventually did away with males entirely. Instead, the egg matures without being fertilized, by the process called parthenogensis. And when the males were bypassed in the reproductive pro- cess, they eventually died out. To corroborate his theory, Dybas looked to see if other extremely small insects had developed parthe- nogensis. Just as he suspected, he found other species that had done away with males. Next, he addressed the riddle of why 80 percent of the Bimini beetles lacked the feathery wings that were present on the same mainland species. The obvious answer came to him in a sudden flash. On a low, wind- swept island such as Bimini, beetles dispersed by air cur- rents stood a great chance of being blown out to sea and certain death. (On the mainland, of course, dispersal would be a favorable adaption, allowing the beetles to spread to new habitats. ) Dybas's research, however, did more than just prove his hypothesis. While researching his theories, Dybas examined one vial of American Museum speci- mens in detail, all supposedly of the same species. He noticed that a particular internal organ in some of them differed markedly from the same organ in others from the same vial. He realized that one of the groups was a new species, entirely unknown to science. The science of zoology has established that certain things must be done when a new species is discovered. In the first step, the discoverer must select one organism as the "type" specimen. The type specimen then becomes the physical and legal representative of all of its kind. It will be the actual specimen the scientist uses to describe what the new species looks like, and it is the individual that all others will be compared or contrasted with, and measured against, for the rest of time. Today, most spe- cies of animal are represented somewhere by a type speci- men, many of which date back several centuries or more. Thus, from the hundreds of specimens of the new insect, Dybas selected the most normal, the most average individual he could find, and designated it the type. In doing so, he made an utterly insignificant beetle — an almost invisible brown period — a scientifically priceless specimen. Underneath me somewhere is that tiny brown beetle, locked up in its cabinet, resting in perpetuity as the official representive of all of its kind. The Museum is the guardian of thousands of such seemingly insignificant specimens, but as each bone in the mighty Tyrannosaunis is just a piece in the puzzle of the whole, each tiny bug is an indispensable link in the chain of knowledge that exists in the collections of the American Museum. Like the beetle, virtually every Museum specimen is invested with significance and a history. (Indeed, specimens without a history are often thrown out. ) I opened this book with B. intricata because it is an example, in microcosm, of what the Museum is. Most of the Museum's more exciting specimens don't have the kind of calm, rational history that B. intricata possesses. Roy Chapman Andrews fought gun battles with Mongolian bandits to protect his dinosaur spe- cimens; Carl Akeley lost his life in the Belgian Congo collecting for the Museum's African Hall; Fitzhugh Green lost his mind while searching for a continent that didn't exist. These stories seem superficially very diffe- rent from the story of B. intricata — but they all are links in the vastly complex history of the American Museum. 'Homo sapiens was lacking a type specimen until one waggish zoologist proclaimed his body as the type for the human species and issued directions that his body be preserved after death for the edi- fication of future scientists. Featherwing Beetles by Henry S. Dybas This essay ori^ruxlly appeared in the April 1966 Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 4. Later that year Dybas published the formal paper "Evidence for Parthenogensis in the Featherwing Bee- tles, with a Taxonomic Review of a New Genus and Eight New Species (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)" in Fieldiana: Zoology (vol.51, no. 2)— Ed. One of my special research interests is in the smallest known beetles, the featherwing beetles (scientific name: Ptiliidae). The common name derives from the curious structure of the wings .... These beetles are minute; the smallest are only one seventy-fifth of an inch long. This is less than the size of some single-celled Protozoa, yet they have compound eyes, antennae of many segments, complex mouthparts, wings, and all other essential parts of their larger relatives. Almost none are longer than one twenty-fifth of an inch. They are truly remarkable examples of biological miniaturization. Because featherwing beetles are so small, most biologists never see them in the field, even though they 19 Wing of the featherwing beetle Eurygyne lutea (total length of wing 0. 9mm) . The "conventional" airfoil structure of the uiing in larger insects has been replaced in the Ptiliidae with a featherlike structure, better utilizing the lift effect of even slight breezes. 20 may be very abundant. The family is world-wide in dis- tribution and occurs in moist places like the leaf litter of the forest floor, tree-holes, under bark, logs, or decaying seaweed on beaches. Each situation will have its own particular kinds of featherwing beetles. Sometimes several hundred can be found in a square foot of forest floor. It seems that they feed chiefly on spores and hyphal threads of molds and other fungi in decaying organic materials. They form a component of a complex, but little understood, web of life that is the biology of our soils. One of the attractions of investigating such little- known creatures is that so much remains to be dis- covered about them. Some of our commonest species have not been described or named yet, and almost noth- ing is known of their life-cycles, behavior, or modes of life. Nearly everything one learns about them is com- pletely new. Recently, I have been reviewing a genus of feath- erwing beetles that is very abundant in Florida and the adjacent Gulf States, in decay ing^ leaves and other mate- rials on the ground, but that has completely escaped rec- ord in the United states. I now know of seven species in Florida, and another from the nearby Bahama Islands, which need to be described and named for the first time. In large part, these new species are the result of intensive and specialized collecting by Dr. Walter Suter, a young biology professor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis- consin and by Mr. J. Harrison Steeves, Jr. , a prominent architect in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Steeves' hobby of collecting and studying beetles must appear remark- ably esoteric to his business associates. The main collecting technique involves the use of the insect funnel. The principle of the funnel is very simple. Moist forest floor or other debris likely to con- tain insects is placed in a shallow layer on a screen in a large funnel. Heat, usually from an electric lightbulb, is applied from above. As the debris gradually dries or heats up, the tiny insects move down deeper through the de- bris where, in nature, it would ordinarily be more moist and cool. In the funnel, though, they pass through the screen and fall down the steep slopes and collect in a vial attached to the spout. An astonishing number and vari- ety of tiny insects and mites can be extracted in this way from small amounts of debris. There may be several thousand in a square foot of forest floor a few inches thick. This simple technique, originally devised by an Italian entomologist named Berlese, made it possible for the first time to sample systematically the microhabitats of an area for tiny insects and related arthropods and to obtain adequate series for study. Tiny beetles like the featherwings must be prepared as microscope slide mounts for study. This is somewhat more delicate and tedious than mounting insects of ordinary size. But it provides a wealth of information, not only about the structure and relationships of these little animals, but indirectly about their biology. For in- stance, it soon became evident, in my examination of this genus, that there was never more than one egg in the abdomen of the female, for the simple reason that the egg was relatively huge — fully half the length of the bee- tle! The explanation for this phenomenon was pointed out for some other kinds of arthropods not too many years ago by the noted biologist Bernard Rensch, who stated that each egg needs to be provided with enough yolk for the embryo to develop and hatch into a self- sufficient larva. Hence there is a size-limit beyond which the egg cannot be reduced in most insects and related forms. Evolution of small size open up many new food sources and living spaces. In the process, however, the number of eggs that can be accommodated and matured in the abdomen must become fewer and fewer until, finally, the irreducible minimum of one egg is reached and a limit to further reduction in size is imposed. Pre- sumably, featherwing beetles are now at the size limits dictated by their mode of development and way of life. No one knows how long a female featherwing beetle can live and reproduce, nor how long it takes a single egg to mature or a larva to develop. Yet it would seem that the total egg output per female must be very low in com- parison with that of many other insects. So the abun- dance of featherwing beetles in some situations becomes something of a problem to explain. There must be some compensatory mechanisms such as increased speed of development, continuous (rather than seasonal) repro- duction, and other factors, but at present we know too little about their biology to know what these com- pensatory mechanisms might be. Another consequence of small size is its effect on wings and flight. The normal insect wing acts aerody- namically like that of a bird or airplane wing — a flow of air over the surfaces provides lift. In the size range of the featherwing beetles, though, the viscous drag forces of the air are evidently much greater than any possible lift forces, and the wings can no longer function in the same way. Flight in such microscopic forms has never been directly observed; it would be technically difficult. The long marginal hairs of the featherwing account for most of its expanse. If, as has been suggested, these hairs bend more easily on the upstroke than on the down, the lift forces may exceed the dragforces and the insect may be able to "row" its way through the air. Other very small insects evidently have encountered the same problems, because a similar "featherwing" has been evolved in- dependently in several unrelated groups of insects, most notably in tiny wasps that are parasitic in the eggs of other insects. Flight of featherwinged insects would seem possible only in still air over short distances. The featherwing is probably an adaptation for floating in the air like a dandelion seed and for dispersing over distances by means of air currents. Such passive dispersal implies wastage, because many featherwing beetles must be wafted to unfavorable places and lost. This adds to the problem of how featherwing beetles manage to get along with such an apparently low egg production. Another curious feature that emerged in the course of studying these tiny Florida featherwings was the com- plete absence of males in at least five of the new species. This can not be attributed to accidents of sampling be- cause in one species there were over 9,000 specimens collected in more than 30 countries, over a span of eight months of the year, and all were females. I was forced to conclude that these species were able to reproduce with- out males — a phenomenon that is well-known, though spotty, in the animal kingdom and which is termed parthenogensis. Why is there such an unusually high incidence of parthenogensis in these tiny animals? In the long run, parthenogensis is considered an evolutionary dead end because it precludes exchange and recombination of hereditary materials between different individuals through mating and this inhibits adaptation to changing circumstances. In the short run, though, there may be several advantages. One that is particularly relevant is that all the eggs produce reproductive females; none are wasted on males. In effect parthenogensis doubles the reproductive potential of a population in one jump — an enormous advantage to insects that mature one egg at a time. So I arrive at a final thesis. Obscure as they are, there may be a real relevance is studying such tiny in- sects. They are important in their own right because of their activities and because of their complex relations with other forms of life in our fields and forests. And because they are faced with extreme problems as a result of their small size, their study can provide insights into problems of general biological interest. 21 Henry Dybas A Eulogy by Rupert L. Wenzel Curator Emeritus of Insects This eulogy was delivered by Dr. Wenzel at Bond Memorial Chapel, the University of Chicago, on October 9, 1981, at memorial services for Dybas. The two men had been col- leagues in the Museum's Division of Insects for over four decades. With some emendations, it is reproduced here largely for the additional perspective it provides in viewing Henry Dybas in Panama, 1959, collecting featherwing beetles from mushrooms. 8895? 22 Dybas' s valuable contributions to parthenogensis research. It is also a warm, sensitive portrait of Henry Dybas, the man. — Ed. When word of Henry's death came to us in Maine, it was not entirely unexpected. While there was a sudden sense of emptiness and sadness, there was also the realization that just as the lives of his family, and those close to him, would in some ways be irrevocably changed by his going, our lives had been affected, in many ways irrevocably, too, by having known him. On our way home, I constantly reflected on the events which had brought us together nearly half a cen- tury ago and which inextricably interwove our lives — through college, courtship, marriage and families, milit- ary service, our professional careers, and retirement — a long personal and professional relationship, which like many marriages, had its rocky periods, but which ma- tured and endured. Henry was born in Chicago July 10, 1915. He attended Chicago public schools and graduated from Lindblom High School in 1933. He received his B.S. degree from the old Central YMCA College, Chicago in 1940, and an honorary Doctor of Science from Tri-State University, Angola, Indiana in 1980. His interest in natural history developed early. In high school he was especially influenced by two teachers, Messrs. Johnston and Croft. During this time a close friend, Bill Neitzel, an engaging and brilliant young man, introduced Henry to the Division of En- tomology at Field Museum, which from then on played a major influence in shaping his life and career. He was much influenced by Curator William Gerhard, Assis- tant Curator Emil Liljblad, A. B. Wolcott of Harris Ex- tension, and Karl P. Schmidt, chief curator of Zoology. Henry and I met as a consequence of a political act. In 1933, some of the faculty of Crane Junior College, including Lillian Hirstein, a labor spokesperson and one-time legislator, had the "nerve" to organize a Chica- go teachers protest parade because they had not been paid (except in scrip) for a couple of years. To show his displeasure and to eliminate and/or disperse the faculty, Mayor Cermak closed Crane, citing "economic" rea- sons. (A year later, after getting rid of the dissidents, he opened three new city junior colleges. ) In the fall of 1933, the Federal Civil Works Educa- tional Service opened a temporary college at the Uni- versity of Chicago downtown "campus." This was cre- ated in order to take care of students who had been "left in the cold" by the closing of Crane, and to employ un- employed college professors. As a displaced Crane stu- dent, I enrolled. While talking to another student in the hallway be- tween classes one day, I was trying to describe the appearance of something and compared its shape to that of the antenna of a cecropia moth. A young man next to us turned around and said "What do you know about cecropia moths?" In this way. Hank and I were brought together. Shortly thereafter, Henry introduced me to the Division of Entomology, as it was then called, at Field Museum. In June, 1934, the CWES college was closed. Henry enrolled in one of the new junior colleges (Wil- son), and 1 began a year at the Museum as a volunteer in the Division of Insects. At Wilson Junior College, Henry's interest in insects was furthered by Dr. Frank Schuett. Following his graduation from Wilson Junior Col- lege, Henry got a job in the Museum Division of En- tomology on the Works Project Administration Program and was married. With his wife's encouragement, he continued his education at the Central YMCA College as a student, teaching assistant, and later as a close per- sonal friend and colleague of Dr. Charles Seevers. Following graduation, he worked temporarily at the Museum as an assistant in the Division of Entomology, and then, briefly, as a payroll clerk at Crane & Com- pany, before again returning to the Museum as a tempo- rary employee. Following military service in World War II, he was appointed to the regular staff, and continued his education part time at the University of Chicago. Unfortunately, circumstances did not permit him to complete his doctorate, but the training and guid- ance under Prof. Alfred Emerson and Dr. Thomas Park were invaluable. In 1980, Henry received an honorary D.Sc. from Tri-State University, Angola, Indiana, in recognition of his research contributions. A symposium dealing chiefly with periodical cicadas was arranged in his honor. Fieldwork One of Henry's greatest loves was fieldwork. He did field collecting in Panama, Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Micronesia. 1 remember how jealous I was, when he and Charles Seevers arranged to go on their first foreign field collecting trip to Colombia, while 1 had to stay behind to continue my studies. Henry was an outstanding field man, one of the best insect collectors in the world. During World War II he was fortunate to be assigned to a malaria survey unit that was sent to the Mariannas to cope with an outbreak of dengue fever. By the time they arrived, the epidemic had subsided and there was little for the unit to do. Henry spent a great deal of time collecting. The collections he made in the Mariannas and Palaus during this time, and again following the war under the auspices of the Pacific Science Board, provided the impetus for the survey and the resulting volumes of the publication Insects of Mic- ronesia. An estimate of Henry's expertise as a collector may be gained from the fact that even though a number of other entomologists collected in Micronesia as par- ticipants in the survey, Henry's collections alone con- tained about 40 percent of all the species now known from these islands, and between 20 and 24 percent are known only from his collections. His greatest success as a field collector was due to his almost innate appreciation of ecology, especially as regards niche specialization and diversity. He was a born ecologist. His background of insect ecology stood him in espe- cially good stead when, with Dr. Monte Lloyd, the late Dwight David, and others, he undertook the now classic studies on the population ecology and evolution of peri- odical cicadas — perhaps his greatest scientific con- tributions. They are models of field observation and analysis. Henry transmitted his love of nature and biology to his daughters. One of them, Dr. Linda Dybas, received a doctorate from the University of Ulm, Germany, and is an assistant professor of biology at Knox College, while his daughter Marcia earned a degree in environmental biology at the University of Santa Cruz. Henry was a member of and supported a number of ecological and conservation related groups. He was an early critic of some of the major pesticide programs and was an influence in eliminating the use of DDT for mos- quito control in his own Mosquito Abatement District and in Illinois. Research Henry's research interests developed through his field- work. As noted before, his work on periodical cicadas from 1956 on, resulted in publications that were models in population biology and ecology. He was, however, primarily interested in the sys- 23 Rupert L. Wen^ei (left) and Henry Dybas in their kbinthe Field Museum, 1947. tematics, biology, and evolution of ptiliid beetles. Henry believed that systematics required the integration of all sources of information — ecological, physiological, and anatomical — and his research on these beetles reflected this. He became especially interested in problems con- cerned with evolution of small size. A recent and most stimulating paper dealt with parthenogensis in these beetles. One of his great satisfactions was his work with his daughter Linda, with whom he recently co-authored a fascinating paper on the sperm structure of a group of ptiliid beetles and its relation to their taxonomy. Teaching Henry enjoyed teaching and working with students. He held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, He participated 24 in teaching courses for the University of Chicago, taught in the evening division at Northwestern, was a visiting summer professor, teaching ecology, at Knox College and also at Southern Illinois University, and gave numerous invited seminars at various institutions. Professional Studies Henry was a member of a number of professional so- cfeties. He was a founding member of the Society for the Study of Evolution and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served as chairman of Section A of the Entomological Society of America, our largest national professional entomo- logical organization, and served on its governing board for two years. Museum While the Museum played a profound role in shaping his life, Henry also played an important role in helping shape the Museum. He was an invaluable partner in planning and molding the revitalization and growth of the Division of Insects. I couldn't tell you how many countless hours we spent over the years discussing goals and means of achieving them. Since its inception, he served on the Schmidt Fund Committee, which made monetary awards to students and professionals who wish to study at the Museum. He helped plan and prepare various of the insect exhibits presently on display, as well as a number of tem- porary exhibits, including what was probably one of the most successfijl in the history of the Museum, the 1973 multi-media exhibit on the periodical cicadas. He was also instrumental, with Rainer Zangerl, in initiating the Man In His Environment exhibit. One of his greatest dis- appointments was our inability to move ahead on the execution of a Hall of Insects, which we had planned in considerable detail. Henry played an active role in departmental and museum-wide affairs. He was an effective and con- structive critic. He prepared the first successful grant proposal to the National Science Foundation for support of a Field Museum collection. This has been renewed twice since. Henry as a Person Henry was a modest and quiet man. He abhorred blow- ing his own horn. He was friendly, open, very social. He was also strong-minded and at times could be dis- concertingly frank. He enjoyed conversation with fi-iends and colleagues, whether it be intellectual ex- change or tidbits of information about colleagues at the Museum. He was intellectually alert, always interested in new findings and developments, even to the end. He both stimulated and was stimulated by his colleagues and met with them regularly at lunchtime sessions. He was concerned about people and always willing to lend an ear to their problems, especially of the young. He served as a sounding board for ideas, and he was a valuable resource for advice and criticism — scientific, professional, and personal. He carried on an extensive correspondence and maintained lasting friendships with many colleagues, here and abroad. Wide Interests Music was a crucial need in Henry's life. He loved music with a passion, a love he probably inherited from his 'Deceased 1985 father, who still composes songs. * He shared this love with his wife, Milada, who as a precocious young musi- cian, was a gifted concert pianist and later, teacher. Mil- lie tells how, while courting, Henry would lie on a couch for hours listening to her practice. Henry studied the French horn under Philip Farkas, former principal horn player with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of his high school and college symphony orches- tras. He and Mil belonged to a "record club" of music devotees, who, for many years, met socially to listen to good music. They formed lasting friendships through this group. He had a lively interest in politics. I well remember the sessions we had meeting at homes with friends on Saturday nights, drinking a few beers, sitting around telling jokes, discussing everything from music to poli- tics, dissecting the problems of the world and solving them. Henry helped organize the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District. He was a member of its board of trustees for 22 years, serving as secretary, vice president, and president. He did much to help formulate its goals and policies. Henry played football in college. He also served as a Boy Scout counselor in South Cook County. Health Henry had been seriously ill for some time. A number of years ago, he had major surgery for bone cancer, an experience that was terribly traumatic for him physically and emotionally. Later, he experienced chronic pain which so incapacitated him that at one point we thought he might never return to the Museum. But he made it. He would be up on his feet for limited periods, then lie on his "pad," to read, take care of his correspondence, and write his manuscripts. A couple of years ago he became ill from Walden- strom's anemia, possibly as a result of X-ray treatments given earlier at the time of his bone cancer. He met this crisis with great courage. One of the, to me, astonishing things, for a man who had a dread of illness and found it difficult to discuss illness or death, was the remarkable way in which he was reconciled to his condition and made peace with himself. During his final illness, we had great hopes that he would experience a remission that would permit him to complete a number unfinished projects. This was not to be. Through all of this his life was made endurable through the love and support of his family, especially of his wife Milada. Ftl 25 FIELD MUSEUM TOUR§^ Explore the primeval splendor of the Canadian North^vest. Field Museum Tours invites you on an expedition to the stunning Northwest, including Seattle, Prince Rupert, Queen Charlotte Islands, Fitzhugh Sound, Alert Bay, Princess Louisa Inlet and Victoria aboard the Society Explorer. PROJECT CANADIAN FJORDS & INSIDE PASSAGE Departing: August 16, 9 Days August 16, Seattle. Arrive and transfer to our deluxe hotel. After a reception at the University of Washing- ton's Burke Museum, enjoy dinner and Seattle's nightlife. August 17, Prince Rupert. Depart Seattle on morning flight to Prince Rupert. After a ferry crossing to Prince Rupert, board the Society Explorer for an evening depar- ture. Enjoy the captain's welcome dinner as we set sail at sunset for the Queen Charlotte Islands. August 18-19, Queen Charlotte Islands. Journeying south, we arrive at the unspoiled home of the Haida In- dian Nation where braves erected countless totem poles, each carved to tell its special story Today these moss- encrusted monuments testify to the centuries-old Haida way of life. We explore these islands with their brood- ing forests harboring ancient villages. Bald eagles, sea- birds. Stellar sea lions and whales provide opportunities for rewarding walks and beach hikes. Society Explorer 26 For reservations, call or write Dorothy Roder (322-8862), Tours Manager, Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, II 60605 August 20, Fitzhugh Sound. This morning we sail into the upper Fraser Reach and Grenville Channel for a day of exploration among the magnificent wave-sculpted canyons and craggy inlets of the Canadian fjords. At Kwakshua Inlet, an area rich in abalone and other Northwest sea Hfe, hikers will enjoy exploring the coastal woods of 100-foot stands of red cedar, Sitka spruce, western hemlock and Douglas fir. Our ship sails south into a region of towering cliffs, and rushing waterfalls. August 21, Alert Bay. Following an afternoon cruising the Inside Passage, our ship puts in at Alert Bay, ances- tral island home of the Nimpkish, largest tribe of the powerful Kwakiutl Indian Nation. According to anthropologist Franz Boas, the word Kwakiutl means Smokes of the World, which alludes to their ability to attract huge throngs of people to their firelit potlatches and ceremonials. We'll visit the U'mista Cultural Center/ Alert Bay Museum. Here we see fine examples of the distinctive ceremonial masks, utensils and bent- wood boxes — important elements of the rich Kwakiutl lifestyle — and have the opportunity to purchase native handicrafts, jewelry and artwork. After lunch, we'll move into the Queen Charlotte Strait, the summer gathering place for close to 300 killer whales, uncontested top predators of Canada's northern waters. Roaming the protected waters of the Inside Pas- sage in clearly defined pods, males, females and young cooperate in hunting their prey. Killer whales have no natural enemies other than man. August 22, Princess Louisa Inlet. Passengers experi- ence a realm of snowmelt cascades and 6,000-foot mountains ringing this spectacular horseshoe-shaped fjord. Overhead, bald eagles soar, slicing through the coastal mists with their six-foot wing-spans. At the tumultuous Chatterbox Falls, we'll go ashore to walk alpine meadows full of lupine, dwarf dogwood and chocolate lily. Others may follow the trail which ends at the long abandoned Trapper's Cabin, built in the shadow of scenic Mt. Albert. August 23, Victoria. Midday arrival in Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria's distinct English flavor is reflected in the copper-domed Parliament buildings heralding our entry into the harbor. This afternoon we tour the Provincial Museum with its comprehensive collection of coastal Indian art and artifacts and its life-sized replica of a 19th-century frontier town. Stroll the cobbled streets, perhaps stopping to sip tea at the ivy-covered Empress Hotel. The captain hosts a farewell dinner tonight as we sail for Seattle. August 24, Seattle. Morning arrival and connection with homeward flights. This tour will be enhanced by a team of expert lecturers in the region's natural history, native cultures, and wild- life, including Dr. Scott M. Lanyon, Field Museum's assis- tant curator and head of the Division of Birds. CRUISE COST PER PERSON Explorer $1,790 Explorer Deluxe $1,950 Yacht $2,320 Boat Deluxe $2,690 Suite $3,190 Owner's Suite $3,590 Yacht Deluxe $2,490 Airfare (not incl. in rates) $190 Rates are per person, double occupancy, and include group transfers, cruise accommoda- tions, all meals including a welcome cocktail and dinner party and farewell dinner, lectures by accompanying or visiting speakers, and all off-ship excursions. Amenities include travel bag, backpack, documentation wallet, comprehensive guide book and daily log. Single cabins are available at 1.5 times the above rates, except single suites which are 1.9 times the above rates. Airfare is approximate and subject to change. Deposit $500,000 per person People's Republic of China 18 Days September 16 - October 3, 1987 Customized Tour exclusively for Field Museum Organized and accompanied by Katharine Lee 1 he itinerary for this exceptionally well conceived tour covers the highlights of this fascinating country. We de- part Chicago via Japan Air Lines. Our first stop will be Tokyo, where we will enjoy a city tour. Chinese cities to be visited include Shanghai, Wuxi, Beijing, Luoyang, Xi'an, and Guilin, plus a boat ride on the Li River. We'll exit through Hong Kong, a city full of Oriental trea- sures and cultural heritage. This is a "not to be missed" opportunity. 27 Field Museum of Natural History Membership Department Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicaso, IL 60605-2499 MISS MARITA MAXEY 7411 NORTH GREENVIEU CHICAGO IL 60626 -^»1^' t^ELD MUSn^lW^ OFlNlATtl^jL HISTORY BUlf ^Tll| . ^'3>^i>^^^ *• April1987 i '( ■■i* - / ^\1(*^ -^ 4± r-rr*-^ a New Guinea Open% April 29 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Published by Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President: Willard L. Boyd Editor/Designer: David M. Walsten Production Liaison: Pamela Steams Staff Photographer: Ron Testa Board of Trustees Richard M. Jones, Chairman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour George R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Mrs. PhiUp D. Block III WUlard L. Boyd Robert D. Cadieux Henry T. Chandler Worlcy H.Clark Frank W. Considine Stanton R. Cook William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Thomas J. Eyerman Marshall Field Ronald J. Gidwitz Clarence E. Johnson John James Kinsella Hugo J. Melvoin Leo F. MuUin James J. O'Connor Robert A. Pritzker James H. Ransom John S. Runnells Patrick G. Ryan WilHam L. Searle Mrs. Malcolm N. Smith Robert H. Strotz Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Mrs. EdwinJ. DeCosta Mrs. David W. Grainger Clifford C. Gregg William V. Kahler William H. Mitchell Edward Byron Smith John W. Sullivan J. Howard Wood CONTENTS April 1987 Volume 58, Number 4 April Events at Field Museum The Ancient Villages of Southern Peru by Charles Stanish Bird Migration at the Foot of Lake Michigan 1 1 by Kenneth]. Brock Texas Mushrooms Come to Field Museum 20 by Gregory M. Mueller, Assistant Curator of Mycology Field Museum Tours 26 COVER The Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), a bulbous, introduced plant of the amaryllis family, is among the first flowers, culti- vated or otherwise, to let us know that spring is almost upon us. These were photographed in Chicago in mid-February, but some continue to be seen in April. Field Museum of Natural Hiswry Buileon (USPS 898-940) is published monthly, except coitlbined July/ August issue, by Field Museum of Natural Histoty, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1987 Field Museum of Natural History. Subscriptions; $6.00 annually. $3.00 for schools. Museum membei^hip includes BuJietin subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Museum phone: (312)922-9410. Notification of address change should include address label and be sent to Membership Department. Postmaster; Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. ISSN; 0015-0703. Events ■^ Thomas Waller TftcfAtic^a^iefiSMAt^ Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, 2:00pm Stanley Field Hall Mystic Paper Beasts with performance artists and masters of disguise Melisande and Daniel Potter, create astonishing masks and costumes that redesign the human body and bring the inanimate to Ufe. Ingenious use of paper and fabric, with inventive sounds and mime, miraculously transform the two into a violin and sheet of music, a cow, a bear, or one enormous face. The Beasts present humor ranging from everyday life to Greek mythology, while transformed in completely unexpected ways. Enjoy with us their comic adaptation oi Rappacdni's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This program is free with Museum admission and tickets are not required. Continued — J Stents ~x A/!i/uC Tt/ed^end ^tofn€UH4^ Each Saturday and Sunday you are invited to explore the world of natural history at Field Museum. Free tours, demonstrations, and films related to ongoing exhibits at the Museum are designed for families and adults. Listed below are only a few of the numerous activities each weekend. Check the Weekend Programs sheet upon arrival for the complete schedule and program locations. The programs are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. April 11 impm " Spring Wildflowers"{s[ide\QCX.ur€). 25 Slide lecture featuring the wildflowers found in Chicago's woods, meadows, and prairies. 26 18 2:00pm "Spring Wildflowers" (slide lecture) . Slide lecture featuring the wildflowers found in Chicago's woods, meadows, and prairies. 11:30am "Ancient Egypt" {tour) . Explore the traditions of ancient Egypt from every- day life to myths and mummies. 2:00pm "Malvina Hoffman: Portraits in Bronze" (slide lecture). Examine the life and works of Malvina Hoffman, con- centrating on the "Portraits of Mankind" collection commissioned by Field Museum. AdcdtCounM^ Learn techniques of Chinese ceramic glazing, delve into life in ancient Egypt, or begin to master the graceful movements of Tai Chi Chuan. Adult programs continue in April and May with exciting new six-week, three-week, and one-day classes. Course fees range from $30 to $80. Consult the April/May Adult Course program brochure for details to register. SfieciaJt CoufiAe "Birds in Music and Musical Aspects of Bird Song" Thursday, 7:00-9:00 pm; April 9; $7 for mem- bers, $10 for nonmembers. The aesthetic qualities of bird songs have in- spired composers of both classical and con- temporary music. Dr. James Gibson, assistant professor of music and amateur ornithologist, explores the fascinating relationship between the lyrical notes of bird songs and the music that re- flects them. 'pecUuned Coufue "Crisis on the Lakefront" Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm; April 28-June 2; $50 for members, $60 for nonmembers. Rising lake levels have brought a flurry of public debate over how to protect the lakefront from further erosion. This six-part lecture series brings together environmentalists, geologists, and other specialists to discuss causes of this nat- ural phenomenon and ways Chicago and other lakefront communities can work together to cope with the crisis. s. Svents S^^^o'^i^ S' A^^^iscCune Se^ue4^ The first four Thursdays in April mark the con- tinuation of the free Edward E. Ayer Lecture Series. The narrated shde programs begin at 1:30 pm and meet in Lecture Hall 1. Included are pre- sentations on India, the Western National Parks of the United States, wildflowers, and Mexico. April 2 "Spring Wildflowers" Peter Dring, Naturalist, Cook County Forest Preserve. Welcome the coming of Spring with a visual walk through Illinois' wood- lands, prairies, and wetlands admir- ing and identifying a wide variety of spring wildflowers. Learn more about their natural habitats, folk history, their medicinal uses, and when they bloom in the area. April 9 "Western National Parks" Paul Sipiera, Associate Professor, De- partment of Physical Sciences, Harper College. Enjoy the majestic landscapes of America's Western National Parks while discovering their fascinating geological history. Why did the Grand Canyon form? How did Yosemite achieve its breathtaking beauty? Answer these questions and more while you tour our Western geologic wonders. April 16 "Traveling in India" Vincent Michael, Director of Chicago Programs, Landmark Preservation Council of Illinois. The art and architecture found in modern India reveals its enduring rich cultural and religious heritage. Visit ancient Buddhist shrines, Hin- du temples of the North, and the famous Taj Mahal at Agra, in this tour of India's religious temples and art. April 23 "A Modern Look at Ancient Mexico " Don McVicker, Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Central College A visitor to modern Mexico can still experience the glory of cultures past. In southern Mexico, evidence of the high Mayan civilization remains apparent. See the monuments built by these remarkable people and the sun-baked countryside that was their home. Music communicates in many ways. It is some- thing that can be shared by all of us, whether or not we have common lifestyles, beliefs, or even languages. April's World Music Programs fea- ture the brilliant percussion of Famoudou Don Moye, Ravanna I3ey, and Ansari Abdul Sabur. All programs are at 1 :00pm and 3:00pm on Sat- urdays and Sundays. For a complete schedule call Public Program (312) 322-8854. The World Music Program is supported by Kenneth and Harle Montgomery in honor of E. Leland Webber, president emeritus of Field Museum. \ The Ancient Villages OF Southern Peru by Charles Stanish k according to historical legends recorded by Spanish chroniclers in the 16th century, the armies of the Inca Empire entered the vast Titicaca Basin in the latter half of the 15th century. For more than 2,500 years prior to the Inca conquest, the cultures which developed along the shores of Lake Titicaca and its surrounding country- side had dominated the entire South Central Andes, an area as large as modem California and encompassing parts of the four modem nations of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The incorporation of the Titicaca Basin by the Inca Empire marked a tuming point in Andean history: for the first time in almost three millennia of human occupation, a foreign polity conquered this rich and populous region. During their expansion into the South Central Andes, the Incas confronted two major polities which together controlled the western half of the entire Titica- ca Basin. These two groups, known as the Lupaqa and CoUa, were bitter enemies. According to the Spanish chroniclers, the Inca took advantage of this rivalry and allied themselves with the Lupaqa, essentially squeezing their common enemy on the northern and southern flanks. Together, these two allies crushed the CoUa and surrounding populations. The Inca Empire then took control of the Titicaca Basin, employing a form of "in- direct rule," incorporating the Lupaqa into the imperial bureaucracy, and permanently reducing the CoUa and neighboring polities to the status of subject ethnic groups in the huge imperial system. Prior to the emergence of the Lupaqa and Colla in the 12th or the 13th century A.D. , the Titicaca Basin was home to a number of distinctive and dynamic polities throughout its history. One of the most important and impressive of these was Tiwanaku, located in the valley of the same name in modem Bolivia. 6 A century or two after the birth of Christ, the set- tlement at Tiwanaku began a process of regional power consolidation that culminated in the development of the first and only autochthonous empire (i.e., ruled by natives of the region) in the South Central Andes. By approximately A.D. 400, the entire Titicaca Basin and surrounding areas were under the geo-political control of the Tiwanaku state. The Classic and Expansive Periods of Tiwanaku (A.D. 375-1100) were times of intense growth of the economic base and political power of the state characterized by the initiation of massive agricul- tural projects near the lake, the founding of major poli- tical centers away from the capital itself, and the expan- sion of economic and political networks throughout the South Central Andes. (See "Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization," by Alan L. Kolata, Field Museum Builetin, September 1982.) This vast, 1,000-year-old empire had virtually col- lapsed by A.D. 1100, and perhaps earlier. The cause (or causes) of the collapse of the Tiwanaku Empire remains one of the great mysteries in South Central Andean archaeology. What is clear, however, is that the fall of Tiwanaku ushered in a period of cultural fragmentation and the emergence (or reemergence) of dozens of local polities and ethnic groups throughout the areas of former control. Throughout the entire South Central Andean region, the primary archaeological indicator — ceramics — displayed a marked homogeneity during the Tiwana- ku Expansive Period; but the post-Tiwanaku periods are characterized by vigorous local traditions that are evi- dent in design motifs, shape, color, and overall assem- blage characteristics. Similar differences may be de- tected in settlement patterns and domestic architecture. Charles Stanish is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Uni- versity of Illinois at Chicago and in September will be assum- ing the position of assistant curator of Middle and South American Archaeology and Ethnology at Field Museum. Presumably, this material heterogeneity corresponded to differences in other nonmaterial aspects of post- Tiwanaku cultural life. The post-Tiwanaku periods in the South Central Andes represent almost 500 years of intensive cultural growth and elaboration after the collapse of a major pre- industrial empire. The diversity of political systems, economic networks, art style, artifacts, and other cul- tural features in this region are as vast and complex as any in the prehispanic New World. A major method- ological and conceptual problem for prehistorians, therefore, is how to approach this complexity in the archaeological record. In the past two decades, Andean scholars have developed a conceptual framework, known as zonal complementarity, which provides us with a means to understand these vast and complex changes that have occurred through time. Zonal Complementarity in the South Central Andes Throughout the history of modem archaeological schol- arship of the Titicaca Basin and South Central Andes, one major theme consistently stands out: the lake settle- ments did not exist in isolation but depended in large part upon access to the ecologically diverse areas of the lower valleys in surrounding regions. That is, the politi- cal and economic fortunes of the Titicaca Basin pop- ulations through time depended in large part upon their ability to construct and maintain interregional networks throughout the surrounding ecological zones. The process whereby Andean societies politically control populations (or access to their goods) , located in different ecological zones in an effort to ensure a diver- sified economic base, is known as "vertical control," or "zonal complementarity," in the anthropological litera- ture. The basic premise of verticality begins with the stark nature of Andean environments in which pro- ductive regions are largely a function of altitude. Com- munities seek to "complement" their economic base by gaining access to different altitudinal zones. Over time, the hypothetical result of such a process is a patchwork of colonies and/or alliance networks throughout the sur- rounding region, connecting diverse ecological areas into a single, productive, and "complementary" whole. This model of Andean political economy was first suggested by a geographer named Carl Troll in 1931 and developed by the Andean scholar John Murra in a series of articles and books beginning in the 1950s. Subsequent research by later scholars has expanded our empirical knowledge and refined our conceptual tools. Zonal com- BOLIVIA > X o m z > 0 lOOi The South Central Andes plementarity has since become one of the most powerful theoretical means of understanding the history and pro- cess of indigenous Andean political economies. Since its original formulation, zonal comple- mentarity has been expanded to include a wider variety of regional interrelationships. We now speak of "direct" versus "indirect" control, which occur in a number of cultural and temporal contexts. Direct control is an ex- ample of the classic colonization process which involved the actual geo-political control of territory outside of the Titicaca Basin. Indirect control, on the other hand, re- fers to a series of mechanisms involving intenonal con- tacts between politically and/or ethnically independent groups. Examples of indirect mechanisms include elite marital alliance, established trading partners, military alliances, and so forth. The structure of zonal complementarity mecha- nisms in various contemporary and ethnohistoric pop- i^l! 1 J Vieu; of the Torata Valley, south oftheOtora. Lupaqa colonies were located here, according to the iisitu oj Chuxi Dic~. Photo by C. Stanish. ulations of the South Central Andes has been consid- erably researched. The dynamic or historical aspect of zonal complementarity, however, remains considerably less well understood. In an effort to define the changes in regional political economic configurations as under- stood under the concept of zonal complementarity, a series of archaeological research projects were developed and were (or are) being conducted in the Moquegua Val- ley of southern Peru. Moquegua is an ideal area to test verticality models because it is prominently mentioned in the Garci Diez de San Miguel Visita* of 1567 as an area in which Titicaca Basin polities held agricultural lands. This splendid document was the final report of a crown official to the * A "Visita" was an inspection of a royal province by any crown official. The reforms instituted by Viceroy Toledo are consid- ered an historical watershed in Andean society and were accompanied by profound changes in the cultural life of the native populations. Spanish Court on the status of the Lupaqa kingdom in the pre-Toledo Colonial Period. In his report, Garci Diez indicated (at least 23 times in fact) that the Lupaqa had sent mitinxae, or colonists, to grow maize and wheat in the lower elevations of the Moquegua Valley, crops that cannot be grown in the high, cold plateau country of the Titicaca Basin. This pattern of Lupaqa colonization of the maize- producing zones outside of the Titicaca Basin during the Spanish Colonial Period has been used as a model for the prehispanic periods in the Moquegua Drainage and other coastal valleys. This region, therefore, serves as an ideal area for testing the nature of zonal comple- mentarity mechanisms through time. The Moquegua Drainage is one of the south- ernmost valleys of Peru. Located at 17° latitude, the drainage is bounded by the deeply incised Tambo Valley on the north and the smaller Rio Locumba to the south. Rivers and tributaries of Moquegua stretch from the town of Ilo on the coast to the 5,000-meter peak of Nevada Arundane, a distance of less than 125 km. Several tributaries of the principal river are found in the upper sierra. One of these valleys, known as Otora, was selected for intensive archaeological investigations in order to test the model of zonal complementarity in the Moquegua Drainage. A Test of Zonal Complementarity in the Otora Valley The Otora Valley was chosen on the basis of preliminary investigations for an intensive archaeological investiga- tion of the nature of prehispanic zonal complementarity. The valley contained numerous archaeological sites, in- cluding several that were dated to the immediate pre- Inca periods by other investigators. The existence of pre- Inca sites therefore raised the possibility of testing zonal complementarity through time; that is, a test of the dynamic or historical component of the model in an area ethnohistorically identified as an important zone of Titi- caca Basin colonization in the Spanish Colonial periods. Results of the Otora Investigations An intensive surface survey located 17 sites in the valley ranging from small sherd scatters to a large pre-lnca site of more than 100 structures (below) . Five prehispanic periods were defined on the basis of ceramic and architectural criteria. In each of these periods the settle- ments in Otora maintained complementary political and economic relationships with the Titicaca Basin and coast. But in each of these periods the nature of the ver- ticality mechanisms differed in fundamental ways. It is this 400 + -year history of changing regional political economic configurations that serves to expand our understanding of the dynamics of prehispanic zonal complementarity in the South Central Andes. The earliest period of human occupation of the val- ley has only one site. Designated P5 and dated to the Tumilaca Period, it represents a localized and very late Tiwanaku polity in areas of former imperial control. The site is composed of several small rooms located on a small hill or knoll. P5 is completely open and presents no in- dications of defensive posturing, nor did excavations re- veal any offensive weaponry. P5 is best interpreted as a pioneering settlement during the latest phases of the local Tiwanaku occupa- tion of the Moquegua Drainage and which was founded in an area of high agricultural potential. From a broad, regional perspective, the site is an example of an expan- sion process into the upper sierra from the earlier and well established settlements in the lower and mid-valley. Embedded within a more complex political system, P5 served to incorporate the Otora Valley into the regional economic system of the local Moquegua Tiwanaku settlements. The Esuujuina Period site ofPorobaya (PI) 9 The subsequent Otora Period falls between the well-defined Tumilaca and Estuquina Periods (see be- low) and is represented by at least five, possibly six, sites in the Otora Valley. Three of these sites (P4, P7, and P8) were permanent residential settlements which were in- tensively investigated. Several other sites (P9, P12, and P16) have been provisionally dated to this period and are special-activity, nonresidential sites such as quarries and corrals. The site of Cuesta Alta de Otora (P7), is on the flanks of a low hill at the southwest end of the valley where Cerro Cuajone descends into neighboring Parala- immediate post-Tiwanaku periods and is either contem- porary with or slightly later than P7. The site of Cuajone, or P8, has approximately 16 domestic units located high on the hill of the same name. Like the other Otora Period sites in the valley, Cuajone is unfortified and there was no other indepen- dent indication of regional or local competition. Its hill- top location can be explained as the attempt to be near the extensive terraced fields immediately below the site. On the basis of several decorated ceramics, architecture, and tomb styles, Cuajone was also dated to the immedi- ate post-Tiwanaku periods of the Moquegua Drainage. Regional Political Economies As Reflected in the Otora Valley Period Sites Political Economy Colonial PIO, P11,P14 Spanish colonial ecomienda, Toledo Reducciones, Lupaqa colonies in Torata Valley. Inca P11,P13,P15 Imperial administration with marked Lupaqa influence. Major Inca-Lupaqa site in Torata Valley Estuquiha- Inca P1,P3,P6 Independent polities engaged in intensive inter- zonal exhange. Marked Colla influence from Titicaca Basin. First evidence of Inca influence in valley. Estuquiiia PI, P2,P3 Independent polities engaged in intensive inter- zonal exchange. Probably Colla influence from Titicaca Basin. Otora P4, P7, P8, P9, P12, P15 Multi-ethnic colonization by Titicaca Basin and coastal polities. Chiribaya and Colla influence. Tumilaca P5 Colony of local Tiwanaku settlers from middle and lower Moquequa Valley 10 que. Cuesta Alta developed directly out of the Tiwanaku hamlet of P5 as it was abandoned, a conclusion based upon ceramic criteria, agricultural canal use, funerary patterns, and domestic architecture. The site is also un- defended and was constructed on a very open hill flank; as with the Tumilaca Period hamlet, there is no evidence of inter- or intra-regional competition. Porobaya Chica, or P4, is a small, undefended resi- dential and cemetery site situated on a small hill several hundred meters up- valley from P7. Excavations at P4 re- vealed a number of Chiribaya-style ceramic fragments in both domestic and non-domestic contexts. Chiribaya is a post-Tiwanaku polity which developed out of its impe- rial predecessor. Major Chiribaya settlements are found throughout the Moquegua Drainage, particularly near the coast at Ilo. Porobaya Chica, therefore, dates to the The domestic architecture of P8 is quite distinctive from that of P5, P7, or P4. On these latter three sites, there is a fairly consistent pattern of rectangular, joined structures built on artificial terraces. On P8, however, the household architectural pattern consists of joined pairs of one large and one small room, which are further grouped into larger complexes spatially segregated from each other. There also seems to be a common patio area outside of the room complexes. It is curious that in the area of all Otora Period sites, there is ample room to build houses on either flat or steep land. The decision to terrace the residential area with individual household units or with clustering structures is one not dictated by topographic considerations, but by cultural choice. Continued on p. 23 Migrating Canada geese at dawn Copyright © Gregory G Dimijian/Photo Researchers Inc. Sfinati^ Send 7Hi^natco«t ,_.. h^ KENNETH J. BROCK A Field Museum Feature On Local Natural History "It's for you!" my wife called from the kitchen. My re- sponse was immediate and excited. May is a time when the woods abound with birds and the sightings of rarities reach a crescendo; a time when early morning phone calls invariably bring news of some extraordinary dis- covery. It was, therefore, with great anticipation that I grabbed the phone. "Ken, this is Pete. Get over to the harbor, a big wave has hit the lakefront." This message, couched in birder jargon, translated into "the lake Michigan shoreline at Michigan City Harbor is awash with migrating birds. " The voice belonged to my good friend Peter Grube and his measured excitement re- vealed that something quite unusual was occurring. Within minutes I joined Pete at Washington Park, a small lakeside park adjacent to Michigan City Harbor. Trees within the park were alive with flycatchers, war- Kenneth J. Brock is on the faculty of the Department of Geosciences, Irviiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana. He is author of Birds of the Indiana Dunes (178 pp.), published 1986 by Indiana Univer- sity Press, and has led birding tours for Field Museum's Department of Education. 11 biers, vireos, and orioles. Flocksof sparrows covered the lawns and every shrub sheltered a thrush or wren. Our attention was focused on the birds within the park; con- sequently, almost an hour passed before we noticed that hundreds of birds were still in the air, migrating west- ward along the shoreline just above the treetops. To better observe the airborne migrants we moved north of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company plant. This proved to be an especially good vantage point as the migrants, forced to veer northward around the power plant, converged into a narrow stream almost directly above our heads. Although most of the birds flew several yards above the ground, a few were at eye level. Periodically, a bird landed in the nearby cotton- wood saplings, allowing us a leisurely look; but most were seen only fleetingly as they passed overhead. Only the distinctively marked birds could be identified in 12 Birdwatching: How to Prepare Yourself The best places to observe spring bird migrants are as varied as the migrants themselves. For a thorough list- ing of good birding sites, how to find them and what birds to expect, an excellent source is Chicago Area Birds by Steve Mlodinow (published 1984 by Chicago Review Press) . This work provides detailed maps and descriptive material on the best birding sites in the Chicago area. Migration observers will also need binoculars to assist in viewing the birds. A number of excellent in- struments are available on today's market; unfortu- nately, a complexity of technical nomenclature often overwhelms beginning shoppers. There is no "best" binoculars for birding; instead, several closely related factors, each of which is maximized only at the ex- pense of others, are involved. There are two main types of binoculars: roof prism and porro prism. The former type has straight barrels, the latter has off-set barrels in which the objective (front) lenses are further apart than the eye- pieces. Advantages of the roof prism design are gener- ally higher quality optics and lighter weight; dis- advantages include greater cost (for top quality) and limitations on the closest focus distance. Porro prism binoculars are usually less expensive and able to focus to within 12 feet. Their construction does incorporate extra glass (the porro prisms) and accordingly they are typically heavier than roof prism binoculars. Optical power is important to consider in choos- ing a binocular. Binocular "size" is described by two numbers that are usually stamped on the instrument, for example, 7 X 35. The "7" represents the magnify- ing power, in this case reducing the observer-to-bird distance by 1/7. Clearly, the larger the magnification the closer the bird will appear. Unfortunately, as with cameras, magnification also narrows the field of view and amplifies the unsteadiness of your hand; generally, magnifications greater than 10 cannot be used without a steady rest. The second number, "35," gives the diameter (in millimeters) of the objective lens. The larger the objective lens the more light collected and the brighter the image. On the down side, big objec- tives increase two undesirable factors, weight and cost. Together, these two numbers determine the light gathering capability (exit pupil) of the binoculars. Exit pupil is obtained by dividing the first number into the second, that is 35/7 = 5. Binoculars with exit pupil below 5 are generally unsuited for birding, espe- cially for deep woods, early morning, late evening, or cloudy days. Modem technology has provided a partial solution to the light-gathering problem through the development of optical coatings. Coated optics allow more light to pass through the lenses, thereby increas- ing the light gathering by about 22%. One possible way around this number game is to use zoom binoculars (variable magnification). Unfor- tunately, reports on zoom instruments are not favor- able. They tend to be bulky and highly subject to de- fects. How then do you choose your binoculars? The best approach is to try several different models and magnifications. If possible, join an organized field trip; the participating birders are usually willing to let you test their glasses. Most birders usually start with 7 X 35 porro prisms, but many ultimately graduate to 10 power glasses. A recent survey in Great Britain, where birders are notoriously meticulous, reveals that the most popular instrument by far was the Zeiss 10 x 40 BOAT (roof prism). The B refers to binoculars with fold-down rubber eye-cups for viewing with eye- glasses; GAT means the binoculars are coated with rub- ber for shock protection. flight. Small groups of fiery orioles streamed past, occa- sionally pausing to call from the saplings. Garish scarlet tanagers and flashing rose-breasted grosbeaks were de- tected in the current. Raucous scolds announced the presence of boisterous blue jays within the seemingly endless flow. Also recognized were scores of darting swallows, compact flocks of cedar waxwings, numerous blackbirds, several eastern kingbirds, and a sprinkling of bobolinks. The vast majority of the migrants, however, remained unidentified as they disappeared quickly from view. No attempt was made to count the birds, but they passed at a rate of easily several hundred per hour. I recall thinking how perfectly Lewis Carroll's memorable words fit the solution: And thick and fast they came at last, Artd more, and more, and more Careful counts in recent years have yielded incredi- ble results: 1,370 cedar waxwings in slightly more than an hour, 1,055 American goldfinches in four hours, 122 northern orioles during a single morning, and 104 indigo buntings in less than three hours. Even higher tallies have been made on the lakefront in nearby Berrien County, Michigan. May flights of 20,000 blue jays, 5,000 cedar waxwings, 600 northern orioles, 150 eastern kingbirds, and 100 rose-breasted grosbeaks have been re- ported at the latter site. The thrill of watching a massive lakefront flight is enhanced when one realizes that most of the passing birds began their marathon weeks earlier in some remote tropical jungle. Slight changes in the sunlight there trig- Baltimore oriok Copyright © Ron Austing/Photo Researchers Inc Copyright ^ 1982 Bill Dyer/Photo Researchers Inc gered cryptic stirrings, announcing the time to head north. Answering the call of subtle changes in blood chemistry, the birds took flight. Their journey might have carried them on an island-hopping course across the Caribbean or perhaps they skirted the Gulf, along Mexico's east coast. Some may even have taken the very risky flight directly from the Yucatan over the Gulf wa- ters to the Texas coast. Regardless of the route, each has its perils. Why a one-third-ounce warbler would leave a cozy rain forest and face the rigors of a 5,000-mile round-trip journey fraught with hazards, poses an intriguing ques- tion. Untold numbers doubtlessly perish along the fly- ways and many of the survivors arrive greatly emaciated. However, the northern latitude advantages of long sum- mer days, abundant food supplies, and low nest-site competition, apparently render the risks worthwhile. Despite the many dangers, the migrants sing enthusiasti- cally, perhaps with visions of balmy summer days in Canada, as they transit our area. A second question lakefront watchers might pon- 13 der is how the birds navigate the migratory track. Accounts of banded birds returning to the same nesting site year after year after year abound; some birds apparently also select the same winter territories. Color- banded golden plovers, for example, wintered on exactly the same Honolulu lawns for several years in a row. How The cause of this odd behavior remains obscure, though some authorities suggest that it may be related to wind direction. The spring migration of birds at the foot of Lake Michigan often begins with the appearance of ducks when the ice breaks in late February. The arrival of meti- Scarkt tanager Copyright © Leonard Lee Rue/Ptiolo Researchers Inc. 14 do the migrants find their way between wintering and breeding grounds with such unerring precision? Studies suggest that birds have several modes of navigation, in- cluding celestial (using both the sun and stars), mag- netic, and visual (following conspicuous geographic fea- tures, called "leading lines"). This navigational system redundancy apparently greatly increases the chances of a successful flight. Reversed migration is an intriguing local phenom- enon in which birds fly in the wrong direction. Several southwestward flights have been observed in the spring- time along the lakefront at Michigan City Harbor. Odd- ly, in each case the birds flew almost directly into a strong headwind. In addition to the disadvantage of struggling against a headwind, the southerly component of this course carried the birds southward, seemingly the direction opposite to that desired by spring migrants. culously plumed ring-necked ducks on the freshly opened ponds is a certain harbinger of spring. The ducks are closely followed by loons and grebes on the deep wa- ters of Lake Michigan. By late March, phoebes, van- guards of the passerine ("perching bird") migration, seek insects in sheltered woods, and in early April the first hermit thrushes peer covertly from dense thickets. March and April are also the months in which migrating hawks cleave the zephyrs above the Indiana Dunes. Throughout April the migration rapidly gains momentum. Enormous flocks of red-breasted mergansers appear on Lake Michigan and we see the arrival of the warblers. The zenith of the passerine flight occurs in May, as untold millions of small birds pass through, espe- cially on clear nights with southerly breezes. By mid- June the migration is virtually complete, though a few stragglers may linger until almost July. By this time the first fall shorebird migrants are already southbound. Thus, spring migration, which is really the composite of many smaller migrations, spans at least four months. Across much of the Midwest, observers rarely have the opportunity to observe actively migrating birds; more often, resting or feeding birds are noted only as they briefly pause in their journey. The shores of Lake Michigan provide a notable exception to this rule; day- time migrations occur regularly along the lakefront. In addition to the teeming flights at Michigan City Harbor, numerous diurnal migrants can be observed from the sand dunes in Indiana. From the dune brow, birders are often treated to an almost continuous procession of migrants. March flights can yield calling killdeer, hundreds of robins and clouds of blackbirds. Eighty-three migrating eastern bluebirds, detected by their mellow calls, were once counted on a single morning. April brings hordes of swallows, flickers, and meadowlarks. Hundreds, even thousands, of these species have been observed from the dune crests in a single day. Some species normally re- garded as sedentary are occasionally also noted migrat- ing along the dunes. Black-capped chickadee flights, with counts numbering in the hundreds, and blue jay counts of four figures, have been recorded by dune-top observers. These longshore flights underscore Lake Michi- gan's powerful influence upon the migrating birds. The water-land boundary in concert with idiosyncrasies of the passerine migration effectively concentrates these small birds along the lake's edge. At least two con- centrating mechanisms seem to operate along Lake Michigan's shores. The first mechanism accounts for the longshore flights. Migrating birds are known to follow geographic leading lines, including rivers, mountain ranges, and seacoasts. In our area the shores of Lake Michigan form prominent leading lines, creating air- ways along which myriads of birds navigate. Although Lake Michigan's leading lines are probably far more important in fall than spring, they almost certainly account for the diurnal flights observed in spring. A second concentrating mechanism might be termed the lake-edge effect. Most migrants apparently prefer to fly above land; however, in the darkness of night many are swept out over the lake. There are numerous instances of passerines landing on ships or boats far out on Lake Michigan. Small birds stranded over the lake at sunrise make the nearest shore, where they often descend immediately upon gaining landfall. This produces an unusually high density of small birds in lakeside parks and woods. The best time to observe uiarblers is in early morning. The magnificent Blackhwmian warbler is most often sighted in early May. The lake-edge effect is further enhanced if the parks or woodlands are isolated by factories or urban de- velopment. Under these circumstances the birds crowd into the scant cover available within these oases. Thus, heavy flights can transform unlikely sites such as scrubby lakefront woodlots or lakeside parks into cauldrons of birding activity. Chicago birders have long recognized the extraordinary quality of these locations; indeed, highly productive sites have been christened with special names — for example the "Magic Hedge" at Chicago's Montrose Beach — reflecting their birding potential. Weather plays a strategic role in migration, espe- cially on the regional scale. Radar studies indicate that the relatively weak flying passerines are primarily noc- turnal migrants. Flights of these birds are most intense The arrival of ring-necked ducks on the freshly opened portds is a certain harbinger of spring. Copyright © 1 977 G C, Kelley/Photo Researchers Inc. Pileated woodpecker Copyright tg 1981 Gregory Scott/Photo Researchers Inc 16 on clear nights when trailing winds are available. Fair skies and southerly winds generally prevail ahead of cold fronts, while north winds and inclement weather follow frontal passage. Accordingly, heavy spring flights usually precede a cold front and migration often stalls after the front passes. The northward movement of passerines from the Gulf of Mexico can then be visualized as a leap- frogging action, orchestrated with passing frontal sys- tems. This irregular progression often sweeps the birds into broad accumulations called waves. Once formed, a wave presses northward under favorable conditions and is grounded during adverse weather. So it behooves the birder to carefully monitor spring weather conditions; the reward of being inundated by a heavy migratory wave is well worth the time required to scan daily meteorological reports. Although the lake-weather alliance provides a migratory spectacle along the lakefront, it also holds a dark side. There are many accounts of massive bird kills on the lake. Among the most noteworthy occurred April 16, 1960, when a powerful thunderstorm de- veloped over Lake Michigan during the night. In the next few days more than 3,900 dead birds washed up on eleven miles of Indiana's beaches (remaining shoreline was not surveyed) . The most common species found was the junco, but several rare species, including a saw-whet owl, 14 yellow rails, 32 Henslow's sparrows, and 10 LeConte's sparrows were also among the casualties. Clearly, storms take a devastating toll. With the exception of Lake Michigan's beaches, which regularly attract ruddy tumstones, sanderlings, semipalmated sandpipers, and dunlin, there is precious little reliable shorebird habitat in our area. Large num- bers of shorebirds do traverse southern Lake Michigan, however, and these birds are notoriously opportunistic. If spring rains create suitable habitat, shorebirds can appear almost anywhere. In 1978, for example, heavy rains flooded an athletic field in Gary. Taking full advan- tage of these new mudflats were hundreds of pectoral sandpipers and yellowlegs, scores of dowitchers, a few Wilson's phalaropes, and a single Hudsonian godwit. Birders from as far away as Indianapolis and Fort Wayne came to see the godwit; detailed directions to the bird included the final instruction, ". . . then look under the yellow goalpost." The wood warblers, called "butterflies o£ the bird world," by RogerTory Peterson, are the essence of spring migration. These delightful woodland birds are in crisp breeding plumage as they arrive fresh from the Central and South American jungles. Warblers feed almost ex- clusively on insects; consequently, their arrival coin- cides with the leafing and blossoming of local plants, the "real springtime" in the minds of many. Warblers also appear about the time most residents of the frost belt are thirsting for their first post-winter walk in the sunshine. So it is not surprising that warblers are the most popular of all spring migrants. For many birders the sighting of a splendid Blackburnian, on a frosty morning in early May, renders the entire migration a roaring success. The fascination with warblers is also reflected by the com- mon practice of gauging birding quality by the number of warbler species observed in an outing. In mid-May a count of 15 is about average, 20 constitutes a fine day, and a "25 warbler day" approaches the ultimate. The earliest spring warbler, the yellow-rumped (formerly myrtle warbler), can be expected during the second week of April and is a welcome sight after a long hard winter. The most intense warbler flights occur in mid-May and a few species, the furtive mourning and Connecticut warblers for example, do not pass through until the last week in May. Like most passerines, warblers are nocturnal mi- grants; birders afield at sunrise may well observe the "fall out" as these tiny birds descend into the trees. During the day they typically forage in loose flocks that invari- ably contain several different species. These flocks, which can usually be located by songs and chips, com- prise the key to spring warbler watching. Birders search for a flock, then follow the flock until each bird has been examined. For many northwestern Indiana birders the March- April hawk flights are the highlight of spring migration. The excitement of a dozen buteos soaring overhead or a sharpie streaking past so close that its yellow eyes are visible without the aid of binoculars, draws them back to the hawk-watch sites year after year. The occurrence of spring hawk flights represents another artifact of Lake Michigan's presence. Migrating hawks normally waft cross-country on clear spring days with southerly winds. The raptors do, however, have a strong aversion to flying over broad expanses of water; consequently, upon reaching Lake Michigan they abruptly alter course to avoid the lake. As a result, the hawks accumulate along the lake, forming a narrow flight corridor that roughly parallels the shoreline. This effect seems most pro- nounced on the southeastern comer of the lake; spring hawk flights are rare in Chicago and Gary. The passing hawks can be easily observed from the sand dunes along Indiana's eastern lakeshore. Any van- tage point allowing a wide view of the surrounding area will suffice, but the two most popular Indiana sites are Mount Baldy and Johnson Beach; both are within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The latter consists of a stabilized dune immediately west of Indiana Dunes State Park. On some days when winds seem favorable, hawks fail to appear; observers do get skunked. These disappointments are more than compensated for when a "good" flight occurs. Good daily counts consist of 200 to 300 birds; the largest recorded single day count was slightly less than a thousand hawks. The most common species are red-tailed, sharp-shinned, and broad-winged hawks, but all of the regular species, including northern goshawk, golden eagle, and peregrine falcon, have been observed. An additional bonus of dune-top hawkwatch- ing is that the birds sometimes pass remarkably close, allowing excellent views. Adult goshawks, red eyes blaz- ing, have passed within 75 feet of observers on the dune coast. The heaviest Indiana flights generally occur on clear days when moderately strong winds blow from the south. These are of course fine days to be outdoors; hawk observers often take lawn chairs, a thermos of coffee, and sunglasses and enjoy the day atop a dune. In addi- tion to the hawks, the aforementioned longshore migra- tions can be simultaneously enjoyed. Almost everything can appear; I still recall my delight when a pileated woodpecker flew past on a clear April morning. Even larger spring hawk flights have been observed in Berrien County, Michigan, where local experts Roy Smith and Walter Booth have recorded single day counts exceeding 4,000 birds. These heavy flights consist main- ly of broad-winged hawks, but daily counts of 300 to 500 sharp-shinned hawks and 100 northern harriers have also been tallied. In contrast to Indiana, where southerly breezes bring the hawks, the best Michigan flights take place on days with east winds, which apparently sweep the soaring birds up against the eastern shoreline. An exciting element in watching the spring migra- tion is the possibility of spotting a rarity; indeed, it is the dream of most serious birders to discover a truly rare bird. Rarities are species that do not normally occur in our area, though they may be common in other parts of the country. Southern Lake Michigan seems to have a mag- netic attraction for these wanderers, as a surprising num- ber of rare birds have appeared over the years. Exotic species that have been identified along or near the shores of southern Lake Michigan during spring migration Passing raptors, such as this red-tailed hawk, may be observed from the sar\d dunes along Indiana's eastern lakeshore. Copyright © CO Harris/Photo Researchers Inc include: magnificent firigatebird, white-faced ibis, gar- gany, common eider, purple gallinule, common black- headed gull, arctic tern. Say's phoebe, scissor-tailed flycatcher, sage thrasher, Virginia's warbler, western tanager, painted bunting, Brewer's sparrow, and lark bunting. Rarities appear at the most unexpected moments and locations. I recall one May morning when I was struggling to identify a western sandpiper through the telescope. My efforts were continually thwarted by another sandpiper that kept walking directly across my line of sight obscuring the view. Finally, out of frustra- tion, I took a look at the intruder, which turned out to be a curlew sandpiper; the first ever recorded in Indiana. On another occasion, observers in Chicago's Olive Park noted an unusually drab, nondescript sparrow working the grassy strip at the north end of Navy Pier. Identifica- tion of this bird proved to be quite perplexing; finally, with help of Sebastian Patti and Jim Landing it was mist- netted and examined in hand. Measurements and photographs, taken before the bird was released, proved that it was the first Cassin's sparrow ever reported in the Mississippi Valley. My favorite rarity story, however, involves another of those early morning phone calls in May. This time the caller spoke breathlessly in a voice that contained an element of uncertainty, "Ken, I'm phoning from the parking lot at Michigan City Harbor. I'm almost certain that 1 have a singing Kirtland's warbler by the yacht basin." If true, this was a phenomenal report; Kirtland's warbler is a bird that is truly rare, not just an out-of-range common bird. Only about 400 individuals of this en- dangered species remain. The caller was Tim Coslet, a birder with keen ability but only limited experience. Tim's answers to several specific questions convinced me that his identification was indeed accurate. A quick drive to the harbor revealed a male Kirt- land's warbler hopping on the beach and flitting about the small shrubs along the thin strip of sand that sepa- rates the yacht basin from Lake Michigan. Periodically the bird gave forth its ringing song. The warbler was remarkably tame; photographers could easily approach so close that they were unable to bring cameras into focus. On one occasion, during a brief rainstorm, the bird hopped to within ten inches of the boot of an admir- er. The warbler remained on the beach for two days, during which scores of observers enjoyed its presence; it became known as the "friendliest bird on the beach. " Jim Bull, a staff naturalist for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore who has a penchant for the Kirt- land's warbler, took the bird under his wing, so to speak, monitoring it throughout the daylight hours of its stay. Jim was concerned that the trusting bird might be snapped up by a dog or stepped on by a passerby as it hopped on the sidewalk. The story apparently has a hap- py ending. After seeing that the warbler was properly tucked in on the second evening, Jim was unable to locate the bird at sunrise on the following morning. Pre- sumably, it continued northward to join others of its kind on the Michigan breeding grounds. FH Scissor-tailed flycatcher 18 Copyright C Charlie Ott/Photo Researchers IrK Kirtland's warbler 19 Texas Mushrooms Come to Field Museum by Gregory M. Mueller, Assistant Curator, Mycology photos by the author o, ne would not normally think of Texas as a para- dise for mushroom hunters or as a place where fungi can be found in abundance. When most people think of Texas, they conjure up thoughts of barren deserts with cactus, not dense forests with mushrooms. In southeast Texas, however, there is an area of moist forests called the Big Thicket, complete with wildflowers, mosses, and mushrooms. This area extends from the Trinity River east to Beaumont and up to Livingston and Jasper in the north. Within this area are ten major plant associations including bogs, swamps, hardwood stream bottoms, magnolia/loblolly pine forests, and arid sandy lands. Each of these habitats has its own particular mushroom flora and thus is truly a mushroom-hunter's paradise. Unfortunately, we do not know much about the mushrooms and other fungi that inhabit this area or even what fungi grow there. Most mycological fieldwork in this country has been performed in the cool, relatively snake-free, northern states. The fungal collections at Field Museum, and most other herbaria, are well sup- plied with fungi from the Northeast, Great Lakes states, and Pacific Northwest, but few herbaria have a signifi- cant collection of fungi from the Gulf Coast states, in- cluding east Texas. With the receipt of the first shipment of east Texas mushrooms from Mr. David Lewis, the first step to rec- tifying this problem here at Field Museum has now started. Dave Lewis is a chemist by profession and an avid mycologist by avocation. He has been collecting fungi for 12 years. During this time Dave has accumu- lated one of the finest and largest collections of fungi from east Texas. This collection of approximately 4,000 specimens is especially strong in specimens of the genus Amanita and of members of the Boletaceae. 20 Amanita mus- caria, thefy aganc, beautiful hutmmedMe, (Kcurs over a wide area, in- cluding the Mid- west. T/k bright red cap is dotted with white patches. Dave received a MS degree in biology from Lamar University, for which he undertook a floristic survey of the mushrooms of the Big Thicket. He has done further graduate work at Texas A&M on boletes (pore mush- rooms) of east Texas. He is a founding and very active member of the Texas Mycological Society and a strong proponent of mycologists increasing their study of Gulf Coast fungi. Dave decided to place his valuable col- lection in a major museum because he wanted to ensure that it would be available for study by scientists from around the world and that it would be well maintained. Field Museum was chosen as the repository because it is acknowledged as an international center for mycology and it has a long-term commitment to build upon its already fine mycological holdings. Lewis. The first batch consisted of 225 collections of the genus Amanita. Amanita is one of the most easily recog- nized genera of mushrooms. It contains probably the most photographed mushroom, the fly agaric, Amanita muscaria. Almost everyone has seen a picture of this spe- cies with its bright red cap covered with pure white patches, obvious ring on the stem, and cup at its base. This genus also contains some of the most deadly mushrooms; the majority of mushroom-caused deaths in the U.S. are attributable to species in this genus. One would assume, therefore, that the identity and taxon- omy of such a showy and important genus would be com- pletely worked out by now. This, however, is not the case. In a paper that Dave Lewis co-authored on the Amanita of the Big Thicket (The Southwest Naturalist, David Lewis (rt. ) with author, at Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas. A collection such as the one being donated to Field Museum by Dave Lewis is of great scientific value. Well documented herbarium specimens that were collected over a number of years are necessary for scientists to de- termine what occurs in a particular area, what changes in species distribution has occurred over a period of time, and to make conjectures regarding the ecology and inter- specific relationships of the organisms. Such collections are also essential to scientists who are revising the taxon- omy of specific groups of fiingi. The work done so far on Gulf Coast fungi indicate that there are numerous spe- cies not yet known to science or not yet reported from the U.S.A. To give an example of our state of knowledge re- garding Gulf Coast fiingi, let us look at the first shipment of specimens that Field Museum has received from Dave vol. 26, 1981), 23 species were reported, 13 of these being reported from Texas for the first time. In this paper, Dave also reports that there are several groups in the genus that need flirther study and that very likely there are many more species than the 23 he reported. The North American expert on the genus. Dr. David Jenkins at University of Alabama, Birmingham, be- lieves that the southeastern U.S. may have the greatest diversity of Amanita species of any similar size region in the world and that there are probably many "new species" in the Gulf Coast area. Further collecting and an exhaustive study of major collections such as Dave Lewis's will be necessary before we know how many cur- rently unknown species are in the area. Only time and work will tell how many treasures are included within Field Museum's new acquisition. FM 21 Music and Dance in Papua Neiv Guinea April 29 through July 12 22 ijixty-five brilliant color photographs by photog- rapher Jordan Wright, showing traditions and changing lifestyles in Papua New Guinea, will be on display from April 29 through July 12. The special exhibit, "Music and Dance in Papua New Guinea," combines photography, everyday ob- jects, and tape-recorded traditional music to present one aspect of a little-known people. The exhibit has been organized by the Smithso- nian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in cooperation with the University Museum of Archaeology/Anthropology of the University of Penn- sylvania. The show is derived from the more than 4,000 photographs taken by Jordan Wright during the spring and summer of 1982. The highland people of Papua New Guinea were once divided into hostile tribes that spent much of their time in warfare and ritual preparation for warfare. Dances, elaborate costumes, and colorful body painting were part of this ritual. Today, however, these lavish displays are part of friendly competitions, and serve to preserve cultural behavior. The photographs in "Music and Dance in Papua New Guinea" convey the warmth and beauty of life to- day in the Highland Sepik villages of New Guinea. Highlights include exclusive photographs of the Sepik "welcome dance" and a series of photographs telling the story of a marriage. Jordan Wright's pictures also show the festive events at the annual Mt. Hagen/Goroka Fair — an ex- travaganza of parading, dancing and singing. The elaborate music and dance competitions shown give evidence of a traditional life that has only recently been touched by contact with the 20th century. PERUVIAN VILLAGES, con't from p. 10 These two architectural patterns represent ideal or normative types of household construction which pre- dominate on each site in the Otora Valley. As with any human settlement, there is variation around this ideal. The first type, as found at P5, P7, and P4 and character- ized by domestic terraces, is common on local Tiwanaku and post-Tiwanaku sites throughout the Moquegua Drainage. The second type, as seen at P8 and later sites (see below) , has been reported from archaeological set- tlements in the circum-Titicaca Basin. These architectural data, the existence of above- ground tomb types, and the construction of an indepen- dent canal system, strongly suggest that Cuajone was a colony which originated from somewhere in the north- em side of the Titicaca Basin. Likewise, the discovery of decorated and plainware Chiribaya Pottery at P4, canal placement, and similarities to domestic architecture at known Chiribaya sites suggests that it too was a colony, in this case one which originated from the lower Mo- quegua Drainage. Presuming the validity of this recon- struction, the existence of these two colonies alongside P7 — a local settlement which developed out of the ear- lier Tumilaca Period hamlet — makes the Otora Period in the valley a classic instance of multi-ethnic land use in a prime agricultural area — a circumstance hypothesized by J. Murra in his formulation of verticality models. The Otora Period would therefore seem to represent a con- firmation of the hypothesis for the immediate post- Tiwanaku periods in the South Central Andes. Chirihaya polychrome vessel. Courtesy Instituto Naaonal de Cultura (Peru) — Tacna. The following Estuquina and Estuquina-Inca peri- ods are named after the type site located in the mid- Moquegua Valley. These periods are represented by four major sites in the Otora and surrounding valleys. The Excavation of house on Porobaya site in Otora Valley Photo by C. Stanish. 23 largest settlement is Porobaya (PI), a fortified, hilltop site with more than 100 structures. Porobaya was the political center of prehispanic Otora and typifies a num- ber of other sites throughout the Moquegua and south- em Tambo drainages. The site of Sajena (P3) is almost identical to PI, except that it is smaller and located higher up in the valley. Two other sites in the Otora Valley, Colana (P2) and Paralaque (P6), seem to be slightly earlier and later respectively. One of the principal means of dating the Estuquina sites was through analysis of the exotic and decorated ceramics discovered in domestic structure excavations, tombs, surface, and other contexts. Locally man- ufactured polychrome ceramic pieces are characterized by black and fugitive white linear designs over a bur- nished, red-slipped surface. This type has been named "Tricolor Porobaya" after the more general ceramic style known as "Tricolor del Sur." The principal exotic ce- ramic type is Sillustani, a northern Titicaca Basin tradi- tion beginning in the immediate pre-lnca periods and continuing on into the Late Horizon. The second larg- est class of decorated, exotic ceramics are Inca polychromes. Another style found in Moquegua Chu- A chulpa — stone tower or tomb typical of those found in Otora Valley, ca. A.D. 1200-MOO. Photo by C. Stanish. *:^>*« -"'iC 24 quito ceramics. This style is associated with the Lupaqa kingdom in the Titicaca Basin when it was incorporated into the Inca Empire. Chuquito polychromes are found in abundance in the large site of Torata Alta south of Otora as well as on the Otora sites of P6, Pll, and P13. These are interpreted as being truly Late Horizon in date; that is, contemporary with Inca geo-political con- trol of the Moquegua Drainage. The Estuquina-Inca period is distinguished by the presence of Inca pottery on sites otherwise characterized by pre-lnca traits, such as fortified, hilltop locations, pre-lnca pottery, pre-lnca tombs, and so forth. One site, known as Colana (P2), has all of these pre-lnca charac- teristics without having any Late Horizon pottery. It therefore has only the Estuquina component. The rest of the Estuquifia sites all have later Estuquina-Inca phases. The accumulated evidence from the Otora excava- tions indicates that the Estuquina period settlements are autochthonous, independent polities which developed out of a multi-ethnic cultural context characteristic of the earlier Otora Period. These sites had a vigorous eco- nomic relationship with both the coast and the altiplano as indicated by fish vertebrae and the bones of certain mammals in the kitchen remains. Unlike their ancestors in the Otora Period, however, they were not colonists but independent groups engaged in some form of econo- mic exchange with these other regions. The intrusion of the Inca Empire into the Otora Valley was accompanied by profound changes in the loc- al culture. Two sites discovered in the valley are inter- preted as strictly Late Horizon (caA.D. 1475-1532), local settlements. Both sites have not only Inca Imperial ce- ramics but also Chuquito polychromes, the style associ- ated with the Lupaqa polity. The architecture on the relatively undisturbed site of Polverin (P13) is similar to the local Estuquifia settlements suggesting that these are indigenous populations who built their sites under Inca supervision. Sites with Chuquito polychromes are found only on the valley bottoms. This conforms to pre-lnca/ Inca settlement pattern shifts discovered in other areas of the Andes in which sites were moved to lower, open, and indefensible locations. Zonal Complementarity as Reflected in the Otora Data If anything, the data from Otora teaches us that the ancient farmers and herders of the Moquegua region were smarter than the archaeologists trying to study them. They did not conform to the neat scientific mod- els originally proposed to explain strategies to survive in the arid sierras of southern Peru. Rather, the Otora data indicate that the nature of the local and regional politi- cal economies developed by the ancient populations fluctuated throughout the half-millennium of human prehispanic occupation in the valley, demonstrating a sophisticated flexibility in local and regional political and economic organization (chart p. 10). During this time, both direct and indirect vertical control mechanisms operated to economically integrate the altiplano, sierra, and coast, allowing access to their ecologically specific agricultural and natural products. At no period in the entire cultural history of Otora is there any evidence of the valley being economically isolated from neighboring ecological zones. The local economy was, as it is today, dependent heavily upon access to the other regions. The first phase, Tumilaca, is an example of col- onization from the lower Moquegua Valley to control the rich and then unexploited maize zones at a key area with access to grazing lands. The only Otora Valley site, P5, is a colonial extension of the more complex settlement system in the post-Tiwanaku period of the Moquegua Valley. The Otora Period is a classic example of multi- ethnic colonization of a key maize producing zone in the upper sierra. In the political vacuum created by the col- lapse of the local Tumilaca Period settlement system in Moquegua and the Tiwanaku Empire in the region as a whole, both coastal and Titicaca Basin polities sent col- onists in an attempt to maintain or gain access to this critical area between two major ecological zones. The Estuquina and Estuquifia-Inca periods rep- resent the emergence of an autochthonous polity out of the multi-ethnic context of the earlier period. In spite of their political independence, the Otora settlements maintained economic contact or control of the coastal and highland regions. The major external influence in this period is from the northern side of the Lake Titicaca Basin, the area of the CoUa polity. The CoUa were one of the two major groups the Inca encountered in their ex- pansion into the Titicaca Basin. After the incorporation of the region by the Inca Empire, the CoUa influence was replaced by their bitter rival — the Lupaqa Kingdom. This is evidenced in the Moquegua region by the replacement of Sillustani pot- tery, associated with the CoUa, by Chuquito style sherds, geographically linked with the Lupaqa. The alliance between the Inca and Lupaqa that the chroni- cles speak of had profound implications for the Mo- quegua Drainage. The administrative system set up by the Inca was clearly influenced by their allies, the Lupa- qa, and is reflected in the overwhelming occurrence of Chuquito ceramics on the Late Horizon site of Torata Alta in the Torata Valley, directly south of Otora. (See San Miguel fioK'c/irome vessel. Courtesy Institute Nacional de Cultura (Peru) — Tacna. "Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southern Peru," by Charles Stanish and Irene Pritzker, in the Bulletin, June 1983.) As with all scientific research, the Otora investiga- tions raise a dozen questions for each one they answer. The influence of the Lake Titicaca Basin was sustained and intense throughout the entire cultural sequence in Otora. Our future research plans therefore will focus on the Lake region. Specifically, we will initiate field re- search on the Lupaqa area in the southwestern portion of the Titicaca Basin. There, large sites, far more massive than those found in Otora, were established around A.D. 1200. The Lupaqa eventually developed into the king- dom described in the 16th-century accounts. We will therefore begin intensive research on key Lupaqa sites in an effort to understand the nature of this large polity whose influence reached as far as the small valley in the upper Moquegua Drainage. FH Acknowledgements The Otora research was supported by the Henry and Grace Doherty Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the University of Chicago, Robert and Irene Pritzker, Victor Barua R. , Lucy Barua, the Field Museum, the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Peru), the Museo Peruano de Ciencias de la Salud, and the Tinker Foundation. 25 HELD MUSEUM TDURS^ Explore the primeval splendor of the Canadian Northw^est. Field Museum Tours invites you on an expedition to the stunning Northwest, including Seattle, Prince Rupert, Queen Charlotte Islands, Fitzhugh Sound, Alert Bay, Princess Louisa Inlet and Victoria aboard the Society Explorer. PROJECT CANADIAN FJORDS & INSIDE PASSAGE Departing: August 16, 9 Days August 16, Seattle. Arrive and transfer to our deluxe hotel. After a reception at the University of Washing- ton's Burke Museum, enjoy dinner and Seattle's nightlife. August 17, Prince Rupert. Depart Seattle on morning flight to Prince Rupert. After a ferry crossing to Prince Rupert, board the Society Explorer for an evening depar- ture. Enjoy the captain's welcome dinner as we set sail at sunset for the Queen Charlotte Islands. August 18-19, Queen Charlotte Islands. Journeying south, we arrive at the unspoiled home of the Haida In- dian Nation where braves erected countless totem poles, each carved to tell its special story. Today these moss- encrusted monuments testify to the centuries-old Haida way of life. We explore these islands with their brood- ing forests harboring ancient villages. Bald eagles, sea- birds. Stellar sea lions and whales provide opportunities for rewarding walks and beach hikes. Society Explorer 26 For reservations, call or write Dorothy Roder (322-8862), Tours Manager, Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, II 60605 August 20, Fitzhugh Sound. This morning we sail into the upper Fraser Reach and Grenville Channel for a day of exploration among the magnificent wave-sculpted canyons and craggy inlets of the Canadian fjords. At Kwakshua Inlet, an area rich in abalone and other Northwest sea hfe, hikers will enjoy exploring the coastal woods of 100-foot stands of red cedar, Sitka spruce, western hemlock and Douglas fir. Our ship sails south into a region of towering cliffs, and rushing waterfalls. August 21, Alert Bay. Following an afternoon cruising the Inside Passage, our ship puts in at Alert Bay, ances- tral island home of the Nimpkish, largest tribe of the powerful Kwakiutl Indian Nation. According to anthropologist Franz Boas, the word Kwakiutl means Smokes of the World, which alludes to their ability to attract huge throngs of people to their firelit potlatches and ceremonials. We'll visit the U'mista Cultural Center/ Alert Bay Museum. Here we see fine examples of the distinctive ceremonial masks, utensils and bent- wood boxes — important elements of the rich Kwakiutl Hfestyle — and have the opportunity to purchase native handicrafts, jewelry and artwork. After lunch, we'll move into the Queen Charlotte Strait, the summer gathering place for close to 300 killer whales, uncontested top predators of Canada's northern waters. Roaming the protected waters of the Inside Pas- sage in clearly defined pods, males, females and young cooperate in hunting their prey. Killer whales have no natural enemies other than man. CRUISE COST PER PERSON August 22, Princess Louisa Inlet. Passengers experi- ence a realm of snowmelt cascades and 6,000-foot mountains ringing this spectacular horseshoe-shaped fjord. Overhead, bald eagles soar, slicing through the coastal mists with their six-foot wing-spans. At the tumultuous Chatterbox Falls, we'll go ashore to walk alpine meadows full of lupine, dwarf dogwood and chocolate lily. Others may follow the trail which ends at the long abandoned Trapper's Cabin, built in the shadow of scenic Mt. Albert. August 23, Victoria. Midday arrival in Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria's distinct English flavor is reflected in the copper-domed Parliament buildings heralding our entry into the harbor. This afternoon we tour the Provincial Museum with its comprehensive collection of coastal Indian art and artifacts and its life-sized replica of a 19th-century frontier town. Stroll the cobbled streets, perhaps stopping to sip tea at the ivy-covered Empress Hotel. The captain hosts a farewell dinner tonight as we sail for Seattle. August 24, Seattle. Morning arrival and connection with homeward flights. This tour will be enhanced by a team of expert lecturers in the region's natural history, native cultures, and wild- life, including Dr. Scott M. Lanyon, Field Museum's assis- tant curator and head of the Division of Birds. Explorer $1,790 Explorer Deluxe $1,950 Yacht $2,320 Boat Deluxe $2,690 Suite $3,190 Owner's Suite $3,590 Yacht Deluxe $2,490 Airfare (not incl. in rates) $190 Rates are per person, double occupancy, and include group transfers, cruise accommoda- tions, all meals including a welcome cocktail and dinner party and farewell dinner, lectures by accompanying or visiting speakers, and all off-ship excursions. Amenities include travel bag, backpack, documentation wallet, comprehensive guide book and daily log. Single cabins are available at 1.5 times the above rates, except single suites which are 1.9 times the above rates. Airfare is approximate and subject to change. Deposit $500.00 per person People's Republic of China September 12 - October 2 Customized Tour exclusively for Field Museum Organized and accompanied by Katharine Lee The itinerary for this exceptionally well conceived tour covers the highlights of this fascinating country. We de- part Chicago via Japan Air Lines. Our first stop will be Tokyo, where we will enjoy a city tour. Chinese cities to be visited include Shanghai, Wuxi, Beijing, Luoyang, Xi'an, and GuiHn, plus a boat ride on the Li River. We'll exit through Hong Kong, a city full of Oriental trea- sures and cultural heritage. This is a "not to be missed" opportunity. 27 Field Museum of Natural History Membership Department Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive ChicasoJL 60605-2499 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Published since 1930 by Field Museum of Natural History Founded 1893 President: Willard L. Boyd Editor/Designer: David M. Walsten Production Liaison: Pamela Steams St«^ Photographer: Ron Testa CONTENTS May 1987 Volume 58, Number 5 May Events at Field Museum William H. Mitchell, 1895-1987 In Memoriam by E. Leland Webber Field Museum President Emeritus Board of Trustees Richard M. Jones, Chwrman Mrs. T. Stanton Armour George R. Baker Robert O. Bass Gordon Bent Mrs. Philip D. Block III Willard L. Boyd Robert D. Cadieux Henry T. Chandler Worley H. Clark Frank W. Considine Stanton R. Cook William R. Dickinson, Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Thomas]. Eyerman Marshall Field Ronald J. Gidwitz Clarence E. Johnson John James Kinsella Hugo J. Melvoin Leo F. Mullin JamesJ. O'Connor Robert A. Pritzker James H. Ransom John S. Runnells Patrick G. Ryan William L. Searle Mrs. Malcolm N. Smith Robert H. Strotz Mrs. Theodore D. Tieken E. Leland Webber BlaineJ. Yarrington Life Trustees Harry O. Bercher Bowen Blair Mrs. Edwin J. DeCosta Mrs. David W. Grainger Clifford C. Gregg William V. Kahler Edward Byron Smith John W. Sullivan J. Howard Wood Capital Campaign Approaches The $40,000,000 Mark The North Branch Prairies by Jerry Sullivan 12 Field Museum Tours to China, Kenya/Tanzania 25 COVER Stanley Field Hall, minutes before the Museum opens for the day, basks in its own warmth and atmosphere of banners blazing— the Capital Campaign banners at the north, the Donors' banner at the south — creating an excit- ing, yet restful, and always promising, ambience that will greet visitors throughout the day. For more on the Capital Campaign see page 7. Photo by D. Walsten. Field Museum of Natural History BuUean (USPS 898-940) is published monthly, except combined July/ August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1987 Field Museum of Natural History. Subscriptior\s; $6.00 annually $3,00 for schools. Museum memberehip includes BuiUtm subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Museum phone; (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should include address labc! and be sent to Membership Depattment. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496. ISSN: 0015-0703. Secorwi class postage paid ar Chicago, Illinois. Events T jC^leSnacioKf Weekends in May Come hear the sounds of Mexico — from the Uvely rhythms of mariachi music to the centuries-old sounds of an ancient Aztec dance ceremony. Experience the colorful ballet folkloric, a Mexican form of folk dance. Artists demonstrate sculpture, wood cut, and weaving. Watch a clever but funny puppet show and find out how the puppeteer brings his puppets to life. All events are free with Museum admission. Saturday and Sunday May 2 and 3 12:00noon-2:00pm Sra. Maria Louisa Almonte Brilliant handmade paper flowers enhance the lights, colors, sounds, smells, and fireworks of a fiesta. Sra. Almonte demonstrates this tradi- tional folk art of Mexico. North Shore Weavers' Guild The brightest and boldest woven designs of ancient Mexico are reproduced today by the North Shore Weavers' Guild on a traditional Mexican loom. ReneArceo The expressive prints of Rene Arceo begin as pictures carved in wood. Experiment with woodcarving tools while the artist demonstrates the process of woodcut printing. 2:00pm IHexCceiK 'poi(U(yUc ^cutce ComfKXtuf A special program of music and dance features the colorful ballet folkloric of Mexico. Per- formance pieces by this 50-member company include the mask dances "Los Moros" and "Los Viejitos," as well as "Chinelos" and "Parachicos." Continued —>■ Stents ~\. 'Ce^ednaccoH/ Weekends in May Saturday and Sunday May 9 and 10 12 :00noon-2 :00pm Michael Montenegro Practice your skill as a puppeteer as Michael Montenegro of Zapato Puppet Theatre works his particular type of magic, creating mario- nette, hand, rod, and shadow puppets. ^c^ €utd 'pci^nic of TfUxcco- North Shore Weavers' Guild 2:00pm "The Rickity Wheel Makes the Most Noise" Portrayed by marionettes, enormous masks, and more, the characters in this puppet per- formance range from the amusing Saldania, a Chilean storyteller, and his dog, Hueso, to La Llorona, the mythical crying woman of Hispanic folklore. Saturday and Sunday May 16 and 17 12:00noon-2:00pm C(axf, Stone, und TiJood Roman Villarreal Sculptor Roman Villarreal brings life to clay, wood, and stone. As Roman works on a new clay sculpture, examine the tools he uses to transform raw materials into sculptures that beautify our city. ^6^ and ^a^'tcc of THexcco- North Shore Weavers' Guild 2:00pm t2Metfajtc