Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts Volume 13, Number 2 Spring, 1984 Mus : y br rewsiletter MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY Stephen Jay Gould Meets Pope John Paul II Stephen Jay Gould and Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, January, 1984. Twenty scientists from eight nations traveled to Rome in Janu- ary to provide Pope John Paul II and the Pontifical Academy of Sci- ence with data on “nuclear winter” for his statements against nuclear war. Professor Stephen Jay Gould, Curator of Invertebrate Paleon- tology at the MCZ, was the only biologist in the group. Other Amer- icans included Vickie Weiss- kopf, Carl Sagan, Gene Shoe- maker, and Charles Tournes. The nuclear winter scenario proposes that the dust and soot remaining in the atmosphere from even a limited nuclear engagement would leave the earth dark and cold, severely affecting post-war agriculture. The “‘nuclear winter’ argument can bring genuine hope in the struggle to avert a holocaust for at least three reasons, according to Gould: 1) it is a really new, unex- pected consequence of nuclear det- onation which challenges even the most apathetic; 2) it destroys the illusion held by much of the world’s population that those not near the primary nuclear target site could survive and lead a relatively normal post-war life; 3) as a result of its global implications, Southern Hemisphere and Third World countries are encouraged to join the anti-nuclear cause. Gould reports that Pope John Paul Il warmly shook hands and greeted the visitors in their own languages. Although he _ had expected to speak in French, the Pope switched to English at the last minute to deliver his remarks. He emphasized the importance of combining factual information with moral issues. ‘It was such a pleasure to see a world leader with such obvious intelligence.” Gould’s specific contribution to the group’s nuclear winter pro- jections was his paleontological perspective on continuity and extinction. Readers are referred to the April, 1984 issue of Natural His- tory for his column entitled ““ Con- tinuity” where he ponders the potential irony of the human race extinguishing itself in a way not dissimilar from a current theory which explains how the human race evolved the intelligence to reach this globally suicidal stage. This theory postulates that a giant asteroid struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous and filled the atmosphere with sufficient debris to eliminate the giant reptiles who had ruled the earth for the previous 100 million years. The way was cleared for mammals, then small creatures of rat-like proportions, to inherit sovereignty of the earth. While it is interesting to speculate on the identity of the next rulers after ‘nuclear winter’, Gould dis- misses the Chain of Being theory which assumes that intelligence, and everything else that makes up God's world, will always be replen- ished. On the contrary, intelligence could well be a glorious accident of evolution never to be repeated. If the cockroaches take over, theirs will not necessarily be a world graced by intellect. Hibernation Studies Update a \ e % bY Charles P. Lyman visits some animals which hibernate in the MCZ’s exhibit area Charles P. Lyman, Professor of Biology emeritus, is not letting retirement interfere with his life- long research into the mysteries of hibernation. One aspect of his current work at the Concord Field Station came about by accident. In 1967, he tried to get some additional Syrian ham- sters from an Israeli university but politics intervened. He had to set- tle for some Turkish hamsters acquired through an Ankara con- tact of Miss Barbara Lawrence, then Curator of Mammals at the MCZ. Lyman thought these ham- sters were almost identical to the Syrian variety since they were almost indistinguishable in appearance. However, they would not interbreed and differed in a remarkable way. ‘The Syrian ham- sters were bad hibernators, waking up very easily, while the Turkish ones were fabulous hibernators with a very long arousal sequence when poked or pinched,” recalls Lyman. “In the early stages of hibernation, it proved impossible to wake up the Turkish hamsters at all.” In order to find out why, Lyman is attempting to isolate the wake- Frances J. Irish Wins Best Paper Award For the second consecutive year, an MCZ student was honored by the American Society of Zoolo- gists. Last year, Mark Patterson (see MCZ Newsletter, Vol. 12, No. 2, Spring, 1983) was recognized and this year, Frances J. Irish received the D. Dwight Davis Award for the best student paper in Vertebrate Morphology for her project on the biomechanics of seed-eating in the pacu, a large Neotropical fish related to the pir- anhas. According to Irish: “Simultaneous high-speed cinema- tography and monitoring of muscle activity suggest that pacus are able to crack open extremely hard seeds (on the order of Brazil nuts) by using a muscle firing pattern which exploits the mechanical properties of the seeds themselves . . . This is impor- tant ecologically, since it allows them to be major predators on the seeds of Neotropical trees; it is important evolutionarily, since observations in the current literature suggest that a number of other animals may utilize a similar mechanism for dealing with hard prey (e.g., crabs and turtles feeding on clams.)’’ A third-year graduate student working with Karel F. Liem, Bige- low Professor of Ichthyology, Irish worked for six years in the Division of Reptiles and Amphibians of the Museum of Natural. History in Washington. Her recent interests have expanded from reptiles to fish “because there are so many of them, and they are so extraordinar- ily diverse in form and habit.’”” But up substance that the Turkish vari- ety may be missing by infusing var- ious adrenalin-like substances, through a catheter, into the hiber- nating hamster. Lyman hypothe- sizes that it also could be an exag- geration of the normal pattern, that an evolutionary extreme has been reached in this variety. As with many other aspects of hibernation, the survival value of the ability to wake up has not been ascertained. It is difficult to quan- tify how often a ground squirrel wakes up before being dug up and eaten by a grizzly or black bear in Alaska. Lyman’s life-long work on hiber- nation culminated in the publica- tion of his book, in collaboration with John S. Willis, Andre Malan, and Lawrence C. H. Wang, entitled Hibernation and Torpor in Mammals and Birds (Academic Press, 1982). It has received highly complimentary reviews in many _ publications including Science and American Scientist. 1 a ae Almond-eating pacu from Brazil her original interest in snakes has continued, particularly in compar- ing their jaw mechanics and tooth form to those of fishes. Irish teaches in the Gross Anat- omy course at Harvard Medical School. She hopes to use the meth- ods and insights gained from study of the human musculoskeletal sys- tem to further illuminate the evo- lution of feeding mechanisms in vertebrates in general. Photo by Joe Wrinn Ernst Mayr Awarded the Balzan Prize Thomas D. Cabot, long-term friend and former member of the MCZ’s governing Ve ¢ board, Director James J]. McCarthy, and Ernst Mayr (I. to r.) at the Balzan Prize celebration on May 1, MCZ Romer Hall of Vertebrate Paleontology. Ernst Mayr, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology emeritus and former MCZ Director, was recog- nized for his preeminent role in the shaping of modern evolutionary theory by the Balzan Foundation this year. The Balzan prize is to the natural sciences what the Nobel prize is to the physical sciences. Indeed, one Joins Public Programs Staff The new Assistant Director of Public Programs, Cherrie A. Corey, came to the MCZ in Decem- ber with a profusion of qualifica- tions and experience in the many areas that comprise a museum’s public activities. Her responsibilities include a concerted public relations effort to increase the MCZ’s visibility—the recent wave of articles about the new Romer Hall of Vertebrate of the stated objectives of the prize is to honor fields of scholarship not eligible under the restrictive con- ditions of the Nobel Prize. First awarded in 1961, it was discontin- ued for 14 years and reinstated in 1978. As Stephen Jay Gould put it in his article ““Balzan Prize to Ernst Mayr” (Science, January 20, 1984): “This year, and for the first prize Photo by John L. Nevins designated in zoology, the Balzan Foundation has rightly selected our greatest living evolutionary biolo- gist, Ernst Mayr.” Gould says of Mayr: He stands firmly among the handful of great biologists who, from the mid-1930’s until the Darwinian cen- tennial celebrations of 1959, estab- lished from preceding chaos a paradigm of evolutionary thought known as the “modern synthetic” theory. . . Mayr’s distinctive intel- lectual contribution to the synthesis lies squarely with his work on theo- ries of speciation—the production of diversity. Champagne flowed at the recep- tion to mark the occasion on March 1 in the MCZ’s newly-opened Romer Hall of Vertebrate Paleon- tology. Director James J. McCarthy thanked Mayr for his generosity in contributing the prize money to provide stipends for visiting schol- ars of systematics to pursue their research with museum specimens, Gould eloquently celebrated Mayr’s remarkable career—which seems to have accelerated since his retire- ment in 1975, and nearly a hundred friends and colleagues joined in the toast of congratulations. Paleontology was the result of her first major publicity campaign for the MCZ. She was also responsible for compiling the April MCZ sup- plement to the Harvard Gazette, increased programming for local audiences, and new membership and program publications. Together with shop manager Chantal Kammrath, Corey is also undertaking an evaluation of the Agassiz Museum Shop’s potential and formulating a long-time plan for the shop. In addition, she supervises the admissions desk operation, a challenging task dur- ing the current renovation. Corey was Program Director at the New England Wildflower Soci- ety’s Garden-in-the-Woods for five years prior to coming to the MCZ. She has also worked as exhibits planner at the Museum of Science and recently completed three years of service on the Board of the Mas- sachusetts Environmental Educa- tion Society. Funding for this position is made possible by a grant from the Insti- tute of Museum Services. Friends Trips for 1985 At their meeting to plan the 1985 travel program in April, the Friends of the MCZ Trip Commit- tee decided to offer nature tours to Morocco/Spain (March), Borneo/ Sulawesi (August), and. Southern Africa, including Zambia, Zim- babwe, and Botswana (date to be decided following scouting tour). Detailed information about all these trips will be mailed to Friends during the summer. The MCZ Newsletter is published two or three times a year by the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Unt- versity, Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; James ]. McCarthy, Director. Editor: Gabrielle Dundon Photographer: A. H. Coleman Alfred S. Romer Hall of Verte rt Ruth and Alfred Romer uncovering Dimetrodon, one of their best finds, Briar Creek, Texas, April 1956. Ruth Romer captivated guests with personal reminiscences of her late husband's career at the opening of the Romer Hall on February 28. ‘uoeel brate Paleontology Opens Photo by John L. Nevins (7 Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., Professor of Biology and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, (r.) explains the significance of the new hall to Director James J]. McCarthy and 150 assembled well-wishers. Philip J. Darlington, Jr. 1904-1983 > Philtp J. Darlington, Jr., 1971 Philip J. Darlington, Jr., Alex- ander Agassiz Professor of Zoology emeritus and noted authority on insects and their distribution, died on December 16, 1983. He first came to Harvard as an undergraduate, earning his bach- elor’s degree in 1926, master’s in 1927, and doctorate in 1931. He joined the MCZ staff in 1932, was appointed Fall Curator of Coleop- tera (beetles) from 1940 to 1962, and Head Curator of Insects from 1952 to 1962. He retired in 1971. Darlington’s long career in- cluded many major contributions to science, including several new species which were named after him: the lizards Lygosoma darling- toni and Amphibolurus darlingtoni, a frog Eleuthrerodactylus darlingtoni, and a bat, Eptesicus darlingtont. His far-ranging field work included several dramatic mo- ments. His ascent in the 1930’s of Mount La Hotte, reputed to be the least known and most hazardous mountain peak in Haiti, and his encounter with a crocodile in New Guinea which left his right arm in a cast for several months, enabling him to develop his left-handed field collecting technique, are rich chapters in the field lore of entomology. At “A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Philip J. Darlington, Jr.” on February 10, his friend and colleague of 60 years, Frank M. Carpenter, Fisher Professor of Nat- ural History emeritus, answered the question he posed, ‘Why was it so much fun to be with Philip?” by remembering his ‘direct and straight approach to any situation or question.’” To illustrate, he recalled Darlington’s resolution to a continuing debate, carried out on the back steps of the MCZ, on the geographical distribution of ani- mals between himself and then- MCZ Director Thomas Barbour in the late 1930’s. Barbour was an advocate of land- bridges while Darlington thought that insects and other terrestrial invertebrates might have been transported by winds for consid- erable distances before being dropped to the ground. To demon- strate his theory to the doubting Barbour, Darlington dropped sev- eral frogs from the fifth floor of the MCZ to the grass below, where Bar- bour and a crowd of spectators were assembled. According to Carpenter: “as each frog landed... . , Dr. Bar- bour shouted to Philip, ‘That one’s dead!’ When they had all been dropped Philip called down to Dr. Barbour asking how they were, to which he replied, ‘They’re all dead.’ But almost immediately the stunned frogs began to recover and in a few minutes they began to hop about in all directions. I don’t think that Dr. Barbour was convinced, but the dis- cussions on the rear steps were on other subjects after that.’” Elizabeth Darlington, his wife and constant field companion, recalled how their joint collecting career began with their honey- moon and continued throughout their life together. In recent years they concentrated on local explor- ing which has “‘led us to a fine local blueberry bog and local wild cran- berries. Don’t ask where!’”’