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AMERICAN MUSEUM 
JOURNAL 


VOLUME XI, 1911 


NEW YORK 


PUBLISHED: BY THE 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 


OLA 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry FarrRFIELD OSBORN 


First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopceE J. Prerpont Moraan, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ArcHER M. HuNnTINGTON 


Tue Mayor or tHe City or New York 
Tur CoMPTROLLER OF THE City or New York 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE A. D. JuILLrarRD 

GEORGE 8S. BowpboIn Gustav E. Kissen * 
JoserpH H. CHoatrr Seta Low 

Tuomas DeWirr CuyLEerR OagpEN MILLs 

James DouaGuas J. Prerrpont Morcan 
Mapi1son GRANT Percy R. PYNE 

Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHn B. TREVOR 
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES Fevtrx M. WarBuURG 
Water B. JAMES GrorGE W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Director Assistant Secretary 
Freperic A. Lucas GEORGE H. SHERWOOD 


Assistant Treasurer 
Tuer Unitrep States Trust Company or New YORK 
* Deceased 


Tue Museum 1s Open FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tue AMERICAN Museum or Natura History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. 'The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Ariniral/;- MEGmDers: ae eo eee snes $ 10 INGO Soe else aie otal eve tate $ 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... 25 Patrousac eee RY rs 1000 
Bifewviembersine a.tsc ee cucrinic : 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


THe Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a.m. to 5 P. M. 

THe Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 

GUIDES FOR Stupy oF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied: Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 

WORKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 

Tue Mirra RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room {is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


Scientific Staff 


DIRECTOR 
FrepeRIc A, Lucas, Sc.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Epmunpb Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
MINERALOGY 


L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GeorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Gratracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
WiLu1AM BrEuTENMiULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
Joun A. GrossBeck, Assistant 


Prof. Witt1AmM Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
CHARLES W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 


ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 


Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louis Hussakor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cyntruta Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 


Prof. J. A. AtLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
FranK M. CuapMan, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. De W. Mitter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 


VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 


Prof. Henry FarrFieELp Ossporn, A.B., Sc.D., LL.D., D.Sec., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Marraew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WaLTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Wituram K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 


ANTHROPOLOGY 


Cuark Wissier, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Purny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowis, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HERBERT J. SpINDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CHARLES W. Mrmap, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHARLES-EpwaRD Amory Wrnstow, S.B., M.S., Curator 
Joun Henry O’Ner, 8.B., Assistant 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntaria Dickerson, B.S., Curator 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratpao W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. AtBerT S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
Grorce H, SHerwoop, A,B., A.M., Curator 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Absorbed in study of the meteorites, 221 
African boy carrying leopard, 89 

African Hall, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 

African warriors, 12-13 

“Age of Mammals,” 67 

Arabopo River, 290 

Awaiting their turn to enter for a lecture, 242 


Bagobo ‘‘burden basket,’ 171; hemp fibre, 
169; man’s carrying bag, 167; scarf, 
166; textile for woman's skirt, 169; 


women, 165, 168; youth, 164 

Bakuba pilecloth, 17 

Beehive in Insect Hall, 250 

Bella Coola family making ‘‘bread,”’ 137 

Bickmore, Prof. Albert S., 189, 230 

Birches, Jesup estate, 42 

Bird houses made by schoolboys, 258 

Black walnut, Jesup Collection, 38 

Bullfrog Group, cover (Oct.), 186, 202, 204 

‘*Caliph,”’ 173, 176, 177, 178, cover (May) 

Canoe Builders, cover (April), 109 

Catalpa Flowers, Forestry Hall, 253 

Central Andes, Western Colombia, 294 

Chilkat blanket weaving at a salmon river 
camp, 134 

Children have favorite exhibits, 233 

Chinese bronzes, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 

Coloring from the live frog, 207 

Congo battle-axe, Kasai District, 16; 
carved wooden vase, 18; pygmies in 
the death dance, 19 

Contact (double) beds, 146 

Coppermine River, Museum’s Arctic Ex- 
pedition, 271 

Copper Queen Mine, Cavern in, 305 

Crocodile, Skeleton of an extinct marine, 68 

Crow Indians, Adoption lodge, 180 

Dinosaur mummy, 6 

Dinosaurs, Duck-billed, 8, 10 

Dominica, Fording a stream, 270 

Driftwood (polluted) Picking up, 147 

“Dry Camp,’’ Gray Bull River, 87 

Elephant, Head studies, 92; herd, 5 

Eohippus, 84, 85, 88 

Eryops from the Lower Permian of Texas, 
197 

European frog showing external vocal sacs, 
209 

Flatboat, Red Deer River, 273 

Flea, Human 96; Rat, 95, 96 

Flowering dogwood, Jesup Collection, 37 

Forests on Andean Coast Range, 296, 298 

“Fossil Aquarium,’ 160 

Fossil fish field work, 303 

Fossil in position, 277 

Fossil ripples in sandstone, 280 

Four-toed horse, Eohippus, 84, 85, 88 


Fur Seal Group, 50, 51 

Fur seals, Pribilof Islands, cover (Feb.) 

Giraffe, Five-horned, 91 

Ground Sloth Group, 114, 116, 119 

Guiana Indians, 289, 291, 292 

Haida Canoe, Steaming and decoration, 109 

Hippo, Measuring and skinning, 90 

House posts, 82 

Tcterus fuertesi Chapman, 20 

Impalla, 91 

Indian tipi, Studying home life within, 222 

Infectious diseases, Photographs to teach 
prevention, 238, 239 

Intermittent sand filters, 144, 145 

Ireng River, Looking over the dense canopy 
of the forest toward valley of, 286 

Kaieteur, the Great Falls of the Guianas, 
266 

Lacrosse, Menomini game of, 138, 139, 141 

Malarial mosquito exhibit, 241 

Mangbetu natives, Congo Expedition report, 
190, 191 

Maori carved canoe prow, 53, 55; warrior, 54 

Map showing exploration and field parties, 
1911, 269 

Marine Group, Model for, 251 

Mesohippus, 85, 88 

Monitor (Water), Habitat Group, 206; 
modeling manikin for, 207 

Moose Group, Studying the, 226 

Mount Wilson, View from, 40 

Mounting the skin of a lizard of Tropical 
America, 212 

Mural panels in North Pacific Hall, cover 
(April), 109, 128, 134, 137 

Museum building, Design for east facade, 
154 

Museum of Celebes, 149 

Newt’s method of shedding skin, 208 

North American geography at close of Coal 
Era, 198 

Okapi, 46, 47, 72 

Oriole, Fuertes’, 20 

Orohippus, 85, 88 

Pine seeds for planting, cover (May) 

Pines, Jesup estate, 34, 41 

Potaro River below Kaieteur Falls, 283, 284 

Prospecting in Wind River Basin, Wyoming, 
87 


Rat, ‘‘Norway,"’ (Mus decumanus), 97, 98 

Red Deer River, 272, 275, 276, 279, 280, 281, 
282 

Rhinocerus, Hook-lipped, cover (Jan.); 


Square-mouthed, 2, 4 
Roraima, Mount, 290, 291 
Salamander, Japanese giant, 203 
San Ildefonso pottery, 192, 193, 194, 195 


vi INDEX 


Savannahs, Brazilian, 286, 287 

Saveritik, Camp on Guiana border, 292 

School children visiting special exhibits at 
the Museum, 218, 222, 225, 226, 233, 
237, 241, 242, 243, 248, 249, 250, 252, 
2D0, 201, ZOL, 202 

‘*Sea elephants,’’ 108, 110, 111 

Septic Tank, 146 

Sketching for North Pacific Hall panels, 131 

Skin-laden mules, Africa, 93 

Spoonbill or paddlefish, 120, 121, 123, 125 

Spoonbill caviar, Preparing, 124, 125 

Stikine River, 132 

Stone seat from Ecuador, 83 

Successful kill by Guiana Carib Indians 

289 

Sugar maple in the Forestry Hall, Studying 
the, 237 


Sun Dance among Plains Cree, 299 

Tamanawas board, Bay Center, Washington, 
Whe 

Totem poles, cover (March), 76, 78, 79, SO, 
81 

Trachodon mummy, Portion of skin, 9 

Travelling case of birds, 245 

Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162 

Tree sloth, Modern, 117 

Trickling filters, Columbus, O., 142, 143 

Tsimshian family making eulachon *‘butter,”’ 
128 

Turtle (soft-shelled), Wax cast, 210 

Turtles (spotted), Wax cast, 210 

Water moccasin, Wax cast, 211 

Wax casts, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 

Whale skeleton cases from Japan, 23 

Zebra Group, 172, 173, 174 


INDEX 


Capitals Indicate the Name of a Contributor 


Accessions: 
Anthropology, 30, 83, 102, 150, 184, 216 
Geology, 310 
Invertebrate Palaeontology, 151 
Invertebrate Zoblogy, 264, 309 
Mammalogy and Ornithology, 31, 71, 72, 
102, 183 
Mineralogy, 30, 216 
Public Education, 71, 189 
Vertebrate Paleontology, 69, 264 
Paintings of Peary meteorites, 102, 264 
Administrative Offices, 214 
African Large Game, 173-178 
“‘Age of Mammals,”’ 30, 65-67 
AuueNn, J. A. Habitat Groups of Mammals 
and Birds, 248-249 
The Okapi, 73-75 
American Museum and Education, 242 
Amphibians of the Great Coal Swamps, 
197-200 
Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 59-65 
AnprEws, R. C. Around the 
the Museum, 21—24 
Modern Museum of Celebes, 149-150 
Anthropological Field Work for the Year. 
299-300 
Anthropology, Arrangement of Exhibits, 254 
Appointments, 151, 215 
Appropriation for Museum Extension, 213 
Around the World for the Museum, 21—24 


World for 


Bagobo Fine Art Collection, 164-171 

Benepict, L. W. Bagobo Fine Art Collec- 
tion, 164-171 

Bickmore, Professor Albert S., Educator, 229 


Bicetow, Maurice A. Educational Value 
of the American Museum, 234-235 

Bird Collections on Deposit, 182 

British Guiana and Brazil to Mount Ror- 
aima, 283-293 

Brown, Barnum, Fossil Hunting by Boat 
in Canada, 273—282 

Bumpus, Hermon Cary, 30 

Burrage, Guy H., 182 

Byrne, Mary B. C. 
seum, 262—264 


Tuesday at the Mu- 


CHAPMAN, FranK M. New Oriole from 
Mexico, 20 
Zooblogical Expedition to Western Colom- 
bia, 295-298 
Zoobdlogical Exploration in South America, 
52 
Child Welfare Exhibit, 30 
Children’s Room of the Museum, 260-261 
CriarK, ANNA M. The Museum a Labora- 
tory for Classes, 2839-240 
Crark, James L. Preservation of Mammal 
Skins in the Field, 89-94 
Congo Expedition, Reports from, 44-48, 191 
Contents, Table of, 1, 33, cover (Mar.), 105, 
POS LOD eee Oo 
Cooéperation in Education, 219 
Copper Queen Mine, Newly 
Cavern in, 304-307 
Crampton, Henry E., British Guiana and 
Brazil to Mount Roraima, 283—293 
Educational Aims of the Department of 
Invertebrate Zodlogy, 250-252 
Crow Indians of Montana, 179-181 


Discovered 


INDEX vil 


Dean, Basurorp, Collecting Fossil Fishes 
in Ohio, 302-3038 
Exhibition of Reptiles and Amphibians, 
201 
The New ‘‘Fossil Aquarium,” 161 
Dickerson, M. C. Foreword on the New 
Mural Paintings, 129-130 
Rare Elephant Seals, 109-112 
Some Methods and Results in Herpetol- 
ogy, 203-212 
Dinosaur, Fort Lee, 28—29 
Dinosaur Mummy, 7-11 


Educational Spirit in Museums, Evolution 
of, 227-228 

Educational Value of the American Museum, 
234-235 

Expeditions: Alberta, 213, 214, 273-282; 
Alaska, 300; Arctic, 31, 72, 100, 215, 
308; Arizona, 304; British East Africa, 
99; British Guiana, 215, 283-293; 
Canada, 300; Colombia, 100, 151, 295- 
298; Congo, 44, 99, 183, 191; Florida, 
309; Guadaloupe, 109; Japanese Whal- 
ing Stations, 100, 216, 309; Lower 
California, 100; Nebraska, 214; New 
Jersey 300; Northern Plains Indians, 

126, 300; Ohio, 215, 302-303; Pine 
Ridge Reservation, 214; Southwest, In- 
dians of, 300; Venezuela, 100, 215; West 
Indies. 100, 215; Wyoming, 85, 214, 311 

Exploration Work, Review of the Museum’s, 
267 

Exploring and Field Parties of 1911, 269 

Extension of Museum, Plans for, 155-158 

Fassett, E. C. B. A Treasure of Ancient 
Bronzes, 59-65 

New Mural Paintings, 130-137 

Fast Vanishing Records, 270-271 

Finley, (John H.) A Word of Congratula- 
tion from, 220 

Flea Carriers of Plague, 95-98 

Forestry and the Museum, 39-43 

“*FPossil Aquarium,” 161 

Fossil Egg from Madagascar, 70 

Fossil Fishes in Ohio, Collecting, 302-303 

Fossil Hunting by Boat in Canada, 273-282 

Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach, 246 

Four-Toed Horse, A New Specimen of, 85-88 


Gift from Ecuador, 83 

Gift of Peculiar Value, 189 

Gifts to the Museum, 30, 69, 71, 83, 101, 102, 
189 

GRANGER, WALTER, A New Specimen of the 
Four-Toed Horse, 85-88 

GreGcory, W. K. ‘‘Age of Mammals, 
67 

Ground Sloth Group, 113-119 

Guide Leaflets, 183, 184, 215 


> 65- 


Habit and Structure in the Insect World, 
27-28 

Habitat Groups of Mammals and Birds, 248 

Herpetology, Some Methods and Results in, 
203-212 

Hovey, E. O. Newly Discovered Cavern in 
the Copper Queen Mine, 304—307 

Professor Albert S. Bickmore: Educator, 

229-233 

Huene, Dr. Friedrich von, 214 

Hunter, Grorce W. Museum and High 
School United for Health and Economie 
Welfare, 236 

Hussakor, L. 
Mississippi, 


Spoonbill of the 


121-125 


Fishery 


Indians of the Northern Plains, Research 
and Exploration among, 126—127 
Invertebrate Zoédlogy, Educational Aims of 

the Department, 250-252 


Jesup Collection of Woods, 37, 38, 43, 184 
Jesup (‘Morris Ketchum) and the American 
Museum, 35-36 


Kunz, GrorGe F. New Zealand Jade, 57-58 


Lana, Hersert, Reports from the Congo 
Expedition, 44-48, 191 
Lecture Announcements, 32, 72, 
p. 3, cover, (Oct.) 311 
LerpziceR, Henry M., The Museum and 

the Public Lecture, 220 
Library, The Museum, 252-253 
Lower California Expedition, 100 
Lowie, R. H. Crow Indians of Montana, 
179-181 
Industry and Art of the Negro Race, 12-19 
New South Sea Exhibit, 53-56 
Lucas, F. A. Evolution of the Educational 
Spirit in Museums, 227—228 
Fast Vanishing Records, 270-271 
Human Interest in Museum Exhibits, 187 
Lutz, F. E. Flea Carriers of Plague, 95—98 
Relation between Habit and Structure in 
the Inseet World, 27-28 


103, 152, 


Mammal Skins, Preservation, 89-94 
Man, Exhibit Showing Antiquity, 310 
Marruew, W. D. Amphibians of the Great 
Coal Swamps, 197-200 
Fort Lee Dinosaur, 28-29 
Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach, 
246 
Ground Sloth Group, 113-119 
Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162-163 
Maxwetr, W. H. Codédperation in Educa- 
tion, 219 
Meap,C. W. A Gift from Ecuador, 83 
Medicine Pipe, 24—26 
Members, 29, 71, 101, 182, 213, 215, 264, 307 


vill INDEX 


Members’ Room, 102, 264 
Menomini Game of Lacrosse, 139-141 
Metropolitan Sewerage Commission Exhibit, 
151 
Minerals, Hall of, 216 
Mollusks, Hall of, 151 
Mural Paintings, 129-137 
Murray, Sir John, 182 
Museum, A Laboratory for Classes, 239-240 
and High School United for Health and 
Economic Welfare, 236 
and the Public Lecture, 220 
Exhibits, Human Interest in, 187-188 
How One Crowded High School uses the, 
240-241 
Increasingly Helpful for Ten Years, 236 
News Notes, 29, 71, 101, 150, 182, 213, 
264, 307 
of Celebes, A Modern, 149-150 
of the Future, 223-225 
Tuesday at the, 262-264 
Museum’s Work, Cordial Recognition of the, 
236-241 
Museums Association’s Meeting, 214 


National Academy of Sciences, 264 
Negro Race, Industry and Art, 12-19 
New Zealand Jade, 57-58 


Oceanographic Work on the Albatross, 159 
‘““Oceanography,’’ lecture by Sir John 
Murray, 182 
Okapi, 73-75 
Oriole from Mexico, A New, 20 
Ossorn, H. F. A Dinosaur Mummy, 7-11 
Museum of the Future, 223-225 
Plans for Extension of Museum, 155-158 
Osborn, H. F., 30, 65, 71, 213 


Panama Canal Project, 310 

Preapopy, James L. How one Crowded 
High School Uses the Museum, 240 

Pot hole from Russell, N. Y., 310 

Pottery of San Ildefonso, 192-196 

Primary and Grammar Schools, Symposium 
of Expressions from, 255—260 

Public Health, Appointive Committee, 101 

Question of, 142-148 
Public Schools, Coéperation with, 242 
Publications, 106-108, 183, 184, 215 


Reptiles and Amphibians, Exhibition of, 201 

‘“‘Revealing and Concealing Coloration in 
Birds and Mammals,”’ 200 

Rhinocerus, Square-mouthed or White, 3-5 

Robb, J., Hampden, 99 

Roester, Acnes, The Children’s Room of 
the Museum, 260 

RooseEVvELT, THEODORE, The Square- 
mouthed or White Rhinocerus, 3-5 


Roosevelt, Theodore, 200 


Sacre, L. B. The Museum Increasingly 
Helpful for Ten Years, 236-239 

Schaffer, Dr. Franz, 214 

Scientific Staff, Changes in, 71, 99, 101, 102, 
150, 183, 213, 214 

Seal Group, 49-51 

Seals, Rare Elephant, 109-112 

Senckenberg Museum, Historic Fossil from, 
69 

SHerRwoop, G. H. Codédperation 
Public Schools, 242—245 

Gift of Peculiar Value, 189 

SKINNER, ALANSON, The Menomini Game of 
Lacrosse, 139-141 

Smith, Harlan I., 215, 301-302 

SmiruH, Haran I., Totem Poles of the North 
Pacific Coast, 77-82 

Societies, Meetings of, 31, 103, 151 

South America, Bird Fund, Contributions 
to, 101 

Zoological Exploration in, 52 

South Sea Exhibit, 53-56, 71 

SpinpEN, H. J. The Making of Pottery at 
San Ildefonso, 192-196 

Spoonbill Fishery of the Mississippi, 121-125 

Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition, 31, 
72, 100, 215, 308 


with the 


Totem Poles, North Pacific Coast, 77—S2 
Toumey, J. W. Forestry and the Museum, 
39-43 
Tower, R. W. The Museum Library, 252 
TowNseENpD, C. H. Oceanographic Work on 
the Albatross, 159 
The Finished Fur Seal Group, 49-51 
Tree Climbing Ruminant, 162-163 
Trustees, Annual Meeting, 99-100 
Elections to, 99 


Vertebrate Paleontology Expeditions, 214 
311 


Walker, Dr. J. R., 216 

Wild Boar Habitat Group, 183 

Winstow, C-E. A., A Question of Public 
Health, 142-148 

Winslow, C-E. A., 183, 216 


Wisster, Criark, Anthropological Field 
Work for the Year, 299-300 
Arrangement of Exhibits in Anthro- 


pology, 254-255 
Medicine Pipe, 24-26 
Research in Anthropology, 126-127 


Zodlogical Expedition to Western Colombia, 
295-298 


THE 
AMERICAN JIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


Volume XI] January, 1911 Number 1 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THE AMERICAN Museum oF NATURAL HIstTory 
New York City 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 


Henry Farrrirtp Osborn 


First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
J. Prerpont MorGan CLEVELAND H. DopGsE 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER J. Hamppen Ross 


THe Mayor or THE Ciry or New York 
Tue COMPTROLLER OF THE City oF New York 
Tue PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JuImLiiarp 

GEORGE 8S. BowpboINn Gustav E. Kisseu 
Josera H. Cyoatr Seta Low 

THomas DeWitTr CuyLeR OGDEN MILLS 

James DouaGuas J. Prsrpont Moraan, Jr. 
Anson W. Harp Percy R. PynE 

ArRcHER M. HUNTINGTON WiLuiAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. Joun B. Trevor 

ARTHUR CuRTISS JAMES Frevirx M. WarBuUuRG 


GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Director Assistant-Secretary and Assistant-Treasurer 
Hermon Carty Bumpus Grorce H. SHeRwoop 


Tue Museum 1s Open Free To THE Pusptic oN Every Day IN THE YEAR. 

Tue AmpricAN Museum or Naturaut History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
‘the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


AmmnuUal IMI@MBDeEnss wines ec cles ms $ 10 OL OW Sey wise Wie OUR cee ies $ 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 IPathOns aes) crea ataiarn ero t arg 1000 
AGife BVLEIMB CIS) Gea ce ci rene 168 ares ees 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Ture Musrum LIBRARY contains over 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of publi- 
cations issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library is 
open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. m. to 5 P. M 

Ture Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 

GUIDES FoR Stupy OF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 


WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 

Tar Miria RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1911 


Cover, Photograph by James L. Clark 
The’ Black or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros 
Frontispiece, Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 
The White or Square-mouthed Rhinoceros 


The Square-mouthed Rhinoceros. ..........THEODORE ROOSEVELT 3 


An account of the white rhino from personal observations in the Lado 


A Dimosaur Mummy.................HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN ri 


Trachodon annectens purchased through the Jesup Fund. With reproduction 
by Charles R. Knight 


Industry and Art of the Negro Race.............RosBert H. Lowrie 12 


Plan of the African Hall. New theories of the negro’s relation to civilization 


A. New Oriole from Mexico. ................. FRANK M. CHapmMan 20 


With colored plate 


Around the World for the Museum.............Roy C. ANDREWS 21 


ithe, Wedicme: Pipe sie. o. ok £2 08 so) poe oho eos es CLARKS Wissimnrr 24 


The Museum gains phonograph records of Indian prayers and songs 


Relation between Habit and Structure in the Insect World 
FranK E. Lutz 27 


Marts Lec inOsatins fis. aca sp ete ee foals bee Ds Mie 
IVIGISETIMEINGWWSRINOLES face orca tea eee ieee Ceo oy ee, ei) 
REPUTE ATINOUNGCCHICINES: feo Pe eee eh Crk Oe ee kee 


Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, Editor 
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


A subscription to the JourNau is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 
the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to The American Museum Journal, 30 Boylston St., Cam- 
bridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Parlkk West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass. 
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt 


THE SQUARE-MOUTHED RHINOCEROS 


The white or square-mouthed rhinoceros is now found only in a game preserve in South 
Africa and on a narrow stretch of territory along the west bank of the Upper Nile 


The American Museum Journal 


Vou. XI JANUARY, 1911 No. 1 


THE SQUARE MOUTHED RHINOCEROS 
By THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


Colonel Roosevelt has presented to the American Museum two specimens of the rare 
White Rhino, and gives to the JOURNAL from his personal experiences and 
observations in Africa the following account of this great horned beast of the 
Lado. On the arrival of the skins at the Museum, work will begin at 
once on the task of preparing and mounting them for exhibition. 


N our trip in Africa for the Smithsonian, in addition to the series 
of specimens of big game for the Smithsonian itself, we also pre- 
pared a few skins of the largest and rarest animals for other col- 

lections: a head of the white rhinoceros for Mr. Hornaday’s noteworthy 
collection, a bull elephant for the University of California, two cow ele- 
phants and a bull and cow of the white rhino for the American Museum of 
Natural History. I was especially anxious to get this pair of white rhinos, 
because the American Museum is in my own city, because my father was 
one of its founders and because my admiration is great for the work of the 
men who have raised this institution to its present high position. The 
skins of the two cow elephants were prepared by Carl Akeley, with whom 
I had gone after them; the other specimens were preserved by Edmund 
Heller and R. J. Cunninghame as a labor of love. 

The white rhinoceros is, next to the elephant, the largest of existing mam- 
mals. There are three groups of existing rhinoceros: the two-horned species 
of Africa, the one-horned species of the Indian region and the little Sumatran 
rhinoceros — the three separate stems of ancestry going back at least to early 
Pliocene and probably to Miocene times. At one time rhinos of many dif- 
ferent kinds and covering the widest variety of form and habit abounded in 
America, and in Europe species lasted to the days of paleolithic man. 

There are two wholly distinct kinds in Africa, differing from one another 
as much as the moose does from the wapiti. They are commonly called 
the black and the white; but as in fact they are both of a dark slate hue, it 
is better to call the former the hook-lipped and the latter the square-mouthed. 
They intergrade in size, but the square-mouthed averages bigger and 
longer-horned. The hook-lipped or common black kind is still plentiful in 


* The illustrations are used through the courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons. 


3 


4A - . » | a eT A ~ 
eh WOR by eS A Aaa Bes 
From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt 


many places from Abyssinia to the Zambezi; it is a browser and feeds 
chiefly on twigs and leaves. The white or square-mouthed kind is now 
found only in a game preserve in South Africa and on a narrow stretch of 
territory along the west bank of the Upper Nile. It is purely a grazer. 

In its range the square-mouthed rhino offers an extraordinary example 
of discontinuous distribution. It was originally known from South Africa, 
south of the Zambezi, and was believed to exist nowhere north of that river. 
Then, when it had been practically exterminated in South Africa, it was 
rediscovered far to the north beyond the equator. In the immense extent 
of intervening territory it has never been found. 

We spent over a month in the Lado, the present habitat of this huge 
sluggish ungulate. We collected a good series of specimens, nine in all — 
bulls and cows and one calf. Of course, we killed none save those abso- 
lutely needed for scientific purposes. All told we saw thirty or forty 
individuals and Kermit got some fine photographs, the first ever taken of 
living members of the species. Their eyesight was so dull and their brains 
so lethargic that time and again we got within a score or so of feet and 
watched individuals as long as we cared to. 

They drank at night, either at the Nile or at some pool, and then moved 
back, grazing as they went, into the barren desolation of the dry country. 
About nine o’clock or thereabouts they lay down, usually under the scanty 
shade of some half-leafless thorn tree. In mid afternoon they rose and 
grazed industriously until sundown. But as with all game, they sometimes 
varied their times of resting, eating and drinking. Ordinarily we found the 
bulls singly and the cow along with her calf; but occasionally three or four 
would go together. Cow herons frequently accompanied them, as they do 
elephants and buffaloes, perching unconcernedly on their heads and bodies. 

They were not difficult to get as our trackers followed their trail with 
little difficulty; and they seemed less excitable and bad-tempered than their 
hook-lipped cousins, although on occasion they charge with determination, 
so that a certain amount of care must be exercised in dealing with them. 
4 


velt 


y Kermit Roose 


b 


copyriaht, 


ntograph, 


a phe 


m 


HIGH TIMBER 


IN AN OPEN FOREST OF 


ELEPHANT 


OF 


A HERD 


yards distant 


twenty-five 
Colonel Roosevelt has presented two elephants to the 


and 


r 


ground 


five or six feet from the 


limb of a tree 


point of the 


Vantage 


Photograph taken from the 


The 
addition to his valuable 


Museum ln 


mammals. 


the largest of existing 


are 
gift of a bull and cow of the white rhino 


square-mouthed rhinoceros 


elephant and the 


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snues siq) jo sunesourp Joy aIqey oNRBNbe Jo Aucoy) oy) SUBYISUES Poules oFpo[MOouy Mou oy, “UOJVTOYS 9yo JoAO APYSO UMTUp ‘}Udsead 
ULYS oO} SuULARYy ult punoy ATSnotAeid suayIO TPB Woa sdayip sBsuRy JO Bdloquioig FL SsopeyO AQ SOG] UL pasaAOoOSIp (SUajveUUD UVOPOYIVAT) AURSOULP STULL 


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~ 


A DINOSAUR MUMMY 
By Henry Fairfield Osborn 


WO years ago, through the Jesup Fund, the Museum came into 
possession of a most unique specimen, discovered in August, 1908, 
by the veteran fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg of Kansas. It is 

a large herbivorous dinosaur belonging to the closing period of the Age of 
Reptiles, and is known to paleontologists as 7'’rachodon, or more popularly 
as the “duck-billed dinosaur.” 

The skeleton, or hard parts of these very remarkable animals has been 
known for over forty years, and a few specimens had preserved with them 
small areas of the impressions of the epidermal covering, but it was not 
until the discovery of the Sternberg specimen that a knowledge of the 
outer covering of these dinosaurs was gained. It appears probable that 
in a aumber of cases these priceless skin impressions were mostly destroyed 
in removing the fossil specimens from their surroundings because the ex- 
plorers were not expecting to find anything of the kind. Altogether seven 
specimens have been discovered in which these delicate skin impressions 
were partly preserved, but the “trachodon mummy” far surpasses all the 
others, as it yields a nearly complete picture of the outer covering. 

The reason the Sternberg specimen (Trachodon annectens) may be known 
as a diaosaur “mummy’’ is that in all the parts of the animal which are 
preserved (i. e. all except the hind limbs and the tail) the epidermis is 
shrunkes around the limbs, tightly drawn along the bony surfaces and 
contracted like a great curtain below the chest area. This condition ot 
the epidermis suggests the following theory of the deposition and _preser- 
vation of this wonderful specimen, namely: that after dying a natural 
death the animal was not attacked or preyed upon by its enemies and the 
body lay exposed to the sun entirely undisturbed for a long time, perhaps 
upon a broad sand flat of a stream in the low-water stage; the muscles 
and viscera thus became completely dehydrated, or desiccated by the action 
of the sun, the epidermis shrank around the limbs, was tightly drawn down 
along all the bony surfaces, and became hardened and leathery; on the 
abdominal surfaces the epidermis was certainly drawn within the body 
cavity, while it was thrown into creases and folds along the sides of the 
body, owing to the shrinkage of the tissues within. At the termination of 
a possible low-water season, during which these processes of desiccation 
took place, the “mummy” may have been caught in a sudden flood, carried 


DUCK-—BILLED DINOSAURS 


Fossil reptiles with spreading webbed feet, compressed tail and duck-like bill, all of which indicate 
a more or less aquatic existence. Compare with restoration, p. 10 

The jaws are provided with a marvelous grinding apparatus composed of a complex of more than 
two thousand separate teeth 


A DINOSAUR MUMMY ) 


Pl 
WS om 
4 Sa 

~~ af 
are 


PORTION OF SKIN FROM TRACHODON MUMMY 


This reptile had neither scales nor bony covering, but a thin epidermis made up of 
tubercles of two sizes, the larger size predominating on surfaces exposed to the sun 


down the stream, and rapidly buried in a bed of fine river sand intermingled 
with sufficient elements of clay to take a perfect cast or mold of all the 
epidermal markings before any of the epidermal tissues had time to soften 
under the solvent action of the water. In this way the markings were indi- 
cated with absolute distinctness, and as the specimen will soon be mounted 
in a glass case, the visitor will be able by the use of a hand glass to study 
even the finer details of the pattern, although of course there is no trace 
either of the epidermis itself, which has entirely disappeared, or of the 
pigmentation, or coloring, if such existed. 

The discovery of this specimen discloses the fact that although attain- 
ing a height of fifteen to sixteen feet and a length of thirty feet, the 


trachodons were not covered with scales or a bony protecting arma- 


LHOINYH “HY SSTYHVHO AS NOILVHOLSSYH AYVNIWIISYd V “YNVSONIO GC317118-HONG OL 


A DINOSAUR MUMMY 1] 


ture, but with dermal tubercles of relatively small size, which varied in 
shape and arrangement in different species, and that not improbably asso- 
ciated with this varied epidermal pattern there was a varied color pattern. 
The theory of a color pattern is based chiefly upon the fact that the larger 
tubercles concentrate and become more numerous on all those portions of 
the body exposed to the sun, that is, on the outer surfaces of the fore and 
hind limbs, and appear to increase also along the sides of the body and to 
be more concentrated on the back. On the less exposed areas, the under 
side of the body and the inner sides of the limbs, the smaller tubercles are 
more numerous, the larger tubercles being reduced to small, irregularly 
arranged patches. From analogy with existing lizards and snakes we may 
suppose, therefore, that the trachodons presented a darker appearance when 
seen from the back and a lighter appearance when seen from the front. 

The thin character of the epidermis as revealed by this specimen favors 
also the theory that these animals spent a large part of their time in the 
water, which theory is strengthened by the fact that the diminutive fore limb 
terminates not in claws or hoofs, but in a broad extension of the skin, 
reaching beyond the fingers and forming a kind of paddle. This marginal 
web, which connects all the fingers with each other, together with the fact 
that the lower side of the fore limb is as delicate in its epidermal structure 
as the upper, certainly tends to support the theory of the swimming rather 
than the walking or terrestrial function of this fore paddle, as indicated in 
the accompanying preliminary restoration that was made by Charles R. 
Knight working under the writer’s direction. One is drawn in the con- 
ventional bipedal, or standing posture, while the other is in a quadrupedal 
pose, or walking position, sustaining or balancing the fore part of the body 
on a muddy surface with its fore feet. In the distant water a large number 
of the animals are disporting themselves. 

The designation of these animals as the “duck-billed’’ dinosaurs in 
reference to the broadening of the beak, has long been considered in con- 
nection with the theory of aquatic habitat. The conversion of the fore 
limb into a sort of paddle, as evidenced by the Sternberg specimen, 
strengthens this theory. 

This truly wonderful specimen, therefore, nearly doubles our previous 
insight into the habits and life of a very remarkable group of reptiles. 


Hai 


r 


Ree Oe inn AS - 
Saas phe adie 


WARRIORS WITH SHIELDS, SINGING AS THEY MARCH 


INDUSTRY AND ART OF THE NEGRO RACE 


THE EXHIBITION IN THE MUSEUM’S AFRICAN HALL ENFORCES NEW IDEAS 
AS TO THE CAPACITIES OF THE NEGRO RACE AND REVEALS THE 
GROUND ON WHICH ARE BASED SOME NEW THEORIES 
REGARDING THE NEGRO’S RELATION TO CIVILIZATION 
By Robert H. Lowite 
Decorative illustrations from African Hall frescoes by Albert Operti 

HILE a few years ago all the Museum’s ethnological material from 

Africa could have been conveniently placed in a few cases, the 

acquisition of two unusually large collections from the Congo 

seemed to warrant the installation of a hall especially devoted to African 


12 


ethnology. The great 
\ preponderance of ma- 
terial from the Congo 
as compared with 
other regions of Africa 
made necessary the 
allotment of an ap- 
parently dispropor- 
tionate amount of 
space, a large rectan- 
gulararea in the center 
being set aside for this 
purpose. There is a 
certain measure of 
justification, however, 
for the prominence 
thus given to a single 
region. The Congo 
embraces within its 
boundaries tribes rep- 
resenting with special 
clearness the develop- 
ment of negro culture 
as uninfluenced by 
external causes; it in- 


cludes not only divi- 


sions of the Pygmy 
race representing per- 
haps the lowest of cultural stages to be found in Africa, but also a num- 
ber of Bantu-speaking negroes whose artistic work may be fairly taken as 
representative of the capacities of the African natives. 

The plan of arrangement was designed to be, as nearly as possible, 
geographical. The as yet uninstalled collections from parts north, east, 
south and west of the Congo are to be placed ultimately in corresponding 
positions with reference to the large central rectangle; within this central 
area devoted to the Congo a similar geographical plan was actually 
followed as rigidly as the nature of the material and other practical condi- 
tions permitted. Thus, the visitor entering the African Hall is confronted 
by a row of cases exhibiting material from the southern Congo, while a 
series of mats from the same district is stretched in frames above. Passing 
to the east, he finds along the eastern border of the central area the material 


from the eastern Congo, while the space, as yet unoccupied, between this 
13 


Portion of transparency in 
African Hall. The shaved head 
and abundant neck and ear orna- 
ments are typical of East Africa 


ip ah ah aps 


row of cases and the windows is to be dedi- 
cated to East Africa. Here, as throughout 
the perimeter of the Congo area, spears, 
shields, battle axes and other specimens are 
grouped on pillars or fastened in frames above 
the cased material from the same territory. 

A rather novel device was hit upon to illus- 
trate phases of native life such as can 
scarcely ever be represented adequately by 
actual specimens. Thus, the pastoral life of 
the Masai is not clearly shown by an exhi- 
bition of milk jugs, and the crossing of a river 
on a native bridge cannot be very vividly 
presented to a visitor by a cased section of 
the bridge. Similarly, the necessarily piece- 
meal installation of garments and objects of 
personal adornment from some district hardly 
permits the construction of a picture of the 
fully-dressed warrior. Accordingly, there was 
obtained a large series of standard photo- 
graphs illustrating various aspects of African 
culture; from these, colored enlargements on 
glass were prepared, and placed in the lower 
window frames as transparencies. These 
transparencies, which embrace in scope the 
entire African continent, supplementing the 
material on exhibition, are likely to convey 
to the general public a clearer and more 
impressive picture of aboriginal African cul- 
ture than could otherwise be hoped for. 

So far as the exhibition of the material 
itself is concerned, especial care was taken 
to emphasize certain broad features which 


: 
4 
4 
al 
4 


> 


STSLELELELE LALA LELELELARLELELELeL eee cic c ee Leelee eee ele elec ci ei cicicicicl 


(LALZLALALALALAL 


PRIS ALALALALALALALALALALALALALsa lel ele Leelee LeeLee LeLeLaLeLeALeLeLeLals! 


the average layman is not likely to associate with the African aborigines, 


but which are nevertheless in the highest degree characteristic of them as 


apapapahar 4h eh ap apared 


aa 


SMALL SECTION OF AFRICAN HALL 


Editorial Note: Frescoes along the gallery above, a frieze spanning the distance from 
pillar to pillar and colored transparencies in the windows produce a strong decorative 
effect in addition to correlating vividly the technical exhibits in the cases with African life 
and customs. These plans for the hall are accredited to Director Hermon C. Bumpus who also 
is the originator of the idea carried out in this and in other halls as to the apportionment of 
space. That is, the space along the east and west sides of the African Hall from north to 
south is destined to indicate the relative geographical distribution of the various tribes 
around the great heart of Africa, the Congo. So that in walking the length of the hall along 
the right, and back along the left, one may pass in review African industry, art and tribal 
customs as if actually traveling north from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean, 
east of the Congo, and south again, west of the Congo — in other words, from the Bushmen 
to the tribes of the Nile and from the Sahara tribes to the Hottentots. Such a plan gives a 
forceful and natural arrangement for the disposition of any collection of heterogeneous mate- 
rials from a region. The installation of the collections in the cases is the work of Robert H. 
Lowic, Assistant Curator in the Department of Anthropology. 


BATTLE AXE FROM KASAI 
DISTRICT CONGO 


These axes are remarkable 
for their openwork patterns 
and for the human heads cut 
upon them 


compared with the races of other continents. First and 
foremost among these is the fact of a native African metal- 
lurgy. While the highly developed tribes of Polynesia had 
not advanced beyond the stone age at the time of their dis- 
covery by white men and even the inhabitants of ancient 
Mexico and Peru had not learned to smelt iron from the ore, 
practically all the tribes of Africa have in historical times 
practised the iron technique, some having attained a high 
degree of perfection in this industry. This fact is so striking 
that scientific travelers of the highest rank, such as Dr. 
Schweinfurth and Professor von Luschan, have advanced the theory that 
the African negroes were the originators of the technique and transmitted it 
through the intermediation of other peoples to the ancestors of our civilized 


16 


women embroider upon it 
hahahah ahah ar ae, 


‘es a plush-like fabric 


ap aparara 


then the 


abhapararared 


oO 
z 
> 
< 
Ww 
= 
ar 
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5 
wl 
a 
u 
° 
w 
=| 
a 
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< 
a 
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re) 
w 
a | 
a 
< 
oO 
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ne 
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a 


The men weave the cloth from the fibres of the raphia palm, 


geometrical patterns and give a final shaving which produc 


r 


(ALR LAL Lee 


nations of to-day. 


PAP ADAP AP AP ah ahah ahah ahah db abababababab apap ap apabapabababapabapabapapapab apap adap arapapapabap 
nigh a aie a eee —— _— ; 


Guu —r yr 
a 


hh a Aah ih eh ih i ie A eo Sl te Sl tn Dy te ee te LLL LLL LLL 


ah apap ar ar arh ar ar. 


Should this theory prove tenable, it is obvious that a 


complete revision of popular beliefs as to the negro’s relation to modern 


CARVED WOODEN VASE, KASAI DISTRICT 


In this excepticnally beautiful piece the 
more usual angular design in imitation of the 
interlacing strands cf hasketwork has heen 
transformed into a fyattern of gracefully 
curved lines 


PeTeiecisi 


hd 
~~ 


abana 


civilization would be a necessary 
consequence. However this may 
be, it was clearly essential to em- 
phasize metal-work in the African 


Hall. 


smiths, which had been in the pos- 


A group of negro black- 
session of the Museum for a 
number of years, was given a con- 
spicuous. place in the northern 
section of the Hall, and in the dec- 
orative panels overhanging the 
cases, as well as on the pillars mark- 
ing the perimeter of the Congo 
area, African spears and battle-axes, 
throwing-knives and scimitars were 
made to predominate. 

Another phase of activity which 
is not usually associated with the 
African race has underlying it a 
strong development of the zesthetic 
sense, and the new exhibits are likely 
to carry conviction on this point. 
The number of different types of 
musical instruments utilized by 


the negroes contrasts favorably 
with their relative scarcity as ex- 
hibited in other halls. Far more 
imposing, however, is the array of 


decorative woodwork and pilecloth 


Tene a ae ae abana 


ee 2 


Photograph by Rev. G. W. Stahlbrand 
CONGO PYGMIES IN THE DEATH DANCE 


from the Kasai District of the Congo, the patterns of which occasionally 
rise to classic beauty of composition. Even the ironwork, aside from its 
excellence from a utilitarian point of view, is at times equally impressive by 
the almost incredible virtuosity of its ornamentation. The exhibits are thus 
likely to temper current misunderstandings as to the capacities of the 
negro race and to carry home to a wider public some of the most funda- 


mental and now firmly established conceptions of ethnological science. 


v 

a 

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ied 7 a ae i ee  *~< 
¥. 


MUELAULALALAL LAL ALALALALALALAL SL eo eLeLeLeLeLes! 


A NEW ORIOLE FROM MEXICO 
By Frank M. Chapman 


MONG the most interesting results attending the Museum’s expedi- 
tion to Mexico to secure material for a habitat group of tropical 
birds, was the discovery of a new species of oriole. The bird is 

most nearly related to our orchard oriole, which prior to this time has 
been distinguished by the fact that it had no close relatives, its rich chest- 
nut colors being strikingly unlike the orange dress of most members of the 
genus Icterus. 

The new bird was discovered by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist 
of the expedition, and in view of this fact, as well as in recognition of his 
invaluable services to ornithology, it has been named, in the January issue 
of the vlwh, the official organ of the American Ornithologists’ Union, [cterus 
fuertesi. The colored plate of the new bird, drawn by Mr. Fuertes, is here 
reproduced through the courtesy of the Union. 

The discovery of this very distinct new species in a region the bird life 
of which was supposed to be well-known, illustrates how extremely restricted 
is the range of many tropical birds, and at the same time emphasizes out 
comparative ignorance of the bird life of tropical America. 

Four specimens of Fuertes’s oriole were secured. They were all taken 
on the banks of the Tamesi River, some thirty-five miles in an air-line and 
seventy-five by water from Tampico on the Gulf coast of Mexico. The 
members of the Museum expedition were here the guests of Mr. Thomas 
H. Silsbee, on the sugar plantation of Paso del Haba, and the new birds were 
found only in the serubby second-growth which has appeared on the banks 
of the river from which the forest had been cleared in establishing the 
plantation. Whether they also inhabited the somewhat scanty growth 
away from the vicinity of the river, we did not ascertain since the surpris- 
ing abundance of birds in the river-forest claimed all our attention. 

At this time (April 3-9, 1910) the great vellow-headed parrots (lmazona 
oratriv) so popular as cage-birds, together with somewhat smaller red- 
headed parrots (Amazona viridigenalis) and two species of paroquets were 
beginning to nest, and several pairs had selected hollow limbs in the trees 
about our camp. There were also trogons (Trogon ambiguus), motmots 
(Momotus lessonii), chachalaccas (Ortalis vetula mecalli) and many other 
birds characteristic of the tropics, most of which were at the northern 
limit of their range. The region, therefore, has an especial interest as the 
nearest point to New York City at which a well-developed tropical fauna 
can be found. 


20 


ICTERUS FUERTESI CHAPMAN 
ADULT MALE AND FEMALE 
(Two-thirds natural size) 


AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE MUSEUM* 
By Roy C. Andrews 


HROUGH the coéperation of the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington 
with the Director of the American Museum, I received a temporary 
appointment on the United States ship Albatross to do collecting, 

principally of mammals and birds, on an expedition to Borneo and the 
islands of the Dutch East Indies. By agreement, the types of new species 
and series of duplicates were to go to the National Museum, the remainder 
of the material collected being reserved for the American Museum. This 
was in the summer of 1909 and the Albatross at the time was cruising in 
Philippine waters. 

Leaving New York in August, 1909, I sailed from Seattle to Hong Kong 
by way of Yokohama and after waiting four days in Hong Kong for a 
typhoon to subside, left just in time to meet a second storm about halfway 
across the China Sea. At Manila I learned that the Albatross was on its 
way from Zamboanga and that almost ten days must elapse before she 
would be ready to leave for the southern trip; consequently the time seemed 
opportune to make a short expedition to the island of Mindoro for the 
purpose of ascertaining the whereabouts of a great number of whales which 
had been reported as coming ashore near Calapan. Consequently I went 
to Mindoro and made arrangements for transportation the next day in a 
native canoe to the spot where the whales were supposed to be. That 
evening, however, telegrams were received from Manila stating that a 
typhoon was on the way. All of the white people in the little village and 
many of the natives hurried to the old Spanish fort and prepared to spend 
the night there. It was well that this was done, for the typhoon struck 
the north end of the islands with tremendous violence and for two days 
we were practically kept prisoners in the old fortress. It was a most inter- 
esting experience and the disagreeable features were very shortly forgotten 
after the typhoon had ceased. All attempts to reach the whales, however, 
were useless because of the heavy sea that was running and the tremendous 
surf pounding the shore all along the north coast. 

Returning to Manila I found the Albatross already there and Captain 
McCormack kindly consented to take the ship to Calapan. The trip 
resulted in disappointment, however, because the bones of the whales had 

*This article, an itinerary and general statement of the collecting trip made for the 


Museum in 1909 and 1910 by a representative of the Department of Mammalogy, will be 
followed in iater issues of the JourNaL by detailed reports of work and places visited. 


21 


oe THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


become so softened by being buried with the flesh in the damp sand that only 
two skulls and a few other parts of skeletons were available. 

The Albatross finally left Manila in late October and after a three days’ 
trip reached Sibattick Island, British North Borneo. Here I had my first 
experience collecting in a tropical forest. Great white camphor-wood trees, 
some stretching up nearly two hundred feet, and the “Kayu Rajah,” or 
king-tree, equally as high, were hung with vines and creepers forming a 
tangled network. Palms were interspersed here and there throughout the 
forest and banana trees were growing in every little clearing. Bird notes 
could be heard, subdued because of the great height of the trees and some- 
times drowned in the shrilling of myriads of locusts and beetles. 

The Albatross then visited the North Celebes. In Limbe Strait I 
collected a number of monkeys, a pig and one of the rare ursine phalangers 
together with a good series of birds among which were four large hornbills. 
Another stop, Ternate, was interesting as the place where many of the 
paradise birds from New Guinea are marketed and sent to Paris and London 
for millinery purposes. 

We got to Makassar for Christmas and were most hospitably received 
by the Governor and the European residents of the town. It was here that 
I met His Excellency, Baron Quarles de Quarles, Governor of the Celebes, 
who has a splendid museum of his own illustrating the anthropology and 
ethnology of the East Indian native tribes. He became interested in our 
work and very generously presented to the American Museum a collection 
of ethnological material, otherwise impossible to obtain. 

The Albatross returned to the Philippine Islands in January and ex- 
changing the Filipino members of the crew for white sailors, put out again 
in heavy weather for Formosa and the Loo-Choo Islands, and then made 
straight for Nagasaki, Japan. Here we were received with great cordiality 
by the Governor and the American Consul and obtained information result- 
ing in a trip to Shimonoseki where permission was secured from officials 
of the Oriental Whaling Company to visit their stations for the purpose of 
studying and collecting Cetacean material. 

Returning to Nagasaki, I definitely arranged to leave the Albatross and 
eventually forwarded much of my material to Shimonoseki. First I went 
to the whaling station at Shimidzu on the island of Shikoku. So few whales 
were taken at this station, however, that I transferred to Oshima, where 
were taken a splendid blue or sulphur-bottom whale 79 feet in length, the 
jaws alone of which were nineteen feet long, a sei or sardine whale 46 feet 
long and a killer of 26 feet length. After being carefully crated these were 
put on board a schooner and sent to Shimonoseki, whence they were trans- 
ferred to the Hamburg-American liner Aragonia for New York. With 


AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE MUSEUM 2 


them was also shipped a killer skeleton which had been taken in Korea and 
presented by the whaling company with the other material. 

The Museum was desirous of securing a large sperm whale and with this 
end in view I went to the station at Aikawahama, three hundred miles north 
of Yokohama. Here I remained for more than three months going out 
on the whaling ships and studying the different specimens as they were 
brought in. Four species of large whales were taken and there were excep- 
tional opportunities to obtain valuable scientific data, but although some 
twelve sperm whales had been killed, none were over 47 feet in length. | 


had almost despaired when finally Captain Fred Olsen of the whaleship 


Two of the 27 cases of whale skeletons from Japan. The larger crate has 2 space 


measurement of 26 tons and contains a sperm whale which yielded 20 barrels of spermaceti 


Rekkusu Maru brought in a specimen 60 feet long and fortunately none 
of the bones had been broken by the four harpoons used in the capture. 

During the time spent at this station, a finback whale 70 feet in length 
and also ten porpoises of four different species were secured, one of which 
is apparently new to science. After considerable difficulty the enormous 
crates containing the skulls and bones of the whales were transported to a 
village some twelve miles away, loaded onto a Nippon Yusen Kaisha liner 
and sent to Yokohama, thence being shipped direct to New York by the 
steamship Welsh Prince. 


The courtesy shown to me as a representative of the American Museum 


24 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


of Natural History was very great both by the president and officials of 
the Oriental Whaling Company and by the various station masters and cap- 
tains of the ships. Not only did the company present all of the skeletons 
to the Museum, but also gave every facility for prosecuting scientific work. 

This whaling company is the largest in the world, notwithstanding that 
the industry in Japan dates back only about fifteen years. Superior 
methods are used and by making both whale flesh and blubber serve as 
food, the product of the industry is disposed of in the most profitable way. 

After seeing the skeletons safely on board the Welsh Prince I left Japan, 
going directly to Egypt, touring afterward through Italy, Austria, Germany, 
Belgium, France and England to inspect the zodlogical gardens and museums 


and do comparative work on the study collections in the various institutions. 


THE MEDICINE PIPE 


ITS RITUAL OF PRAYERS AND SONGS GIVEN TO THE MUSEUM IN VALUABLE 
PHONOGRAPH RECORDS 


By Clark Wissler 


N the exhibit for the Plains Indians stands a magnificent medicine 
pipe. This is one of the most important medicine bundles of the 
Blackfoot Indians; when belonging to them the pipe and its acces- 

sories were never unwrapped except with the appropriate ceremony and 
never spoken of lightly. That it should be exposed to your gaze from day 
to day, as it now is, would shock even the most hardened iconoclast of that 
tribe. There once came to visit the Museum a mixed-blood Piegan, long 
schooled and practiced in the ways of the white man; but when looking 
at the exhibit for the Plains Indians he shrank away from the sight of that 
great pipe and asked that we allow him to walk on the other side of the 
hall. To give reasons why these people so feel toward this object would be 
a long story and belongs rather to the scientific interest and purpose of the 
Museum, while our present fancy takes us in another more human direction. 

That this pipe can be exhibited here is another testimonial to the devo- 
tion of The-Bear-One. We had hoped to record fully the ritual and other 
information pertaining to the medicine pipe as a contribution to the Mu- 
seum’s investigation of Plains culture and, knowing that our friend was 
formerly a medicine-pipe keeper, selected him to give that information. 
He, like others of his kind, freely gave us such information as we asked for, 
told us how the first pipe was handed down by the Thunder, how the bundle 


THE MEDICINE PIPE 23 


must always be opened at the first sound of thunder in the spring, how it 
may be opened by a vow or to cure the sick, and how it must be cared for. 
Yet we wanted more; the ritual for that pipe contains prayers and songs 
in a fixed order which we wished to record with a phonograph. 

Before our friend was confronted with this ordeal we made him ac- 
quainted with the phonograph. The instrument was not new to him for 
every trader at his agency owned one; on trade days they ground out 
the latest and best in solo, chorus and orchestra, all no doubt a great din 
to his Indian ears. That the machine talked like a white man he knew well 
enough, it was but in keeping with other performances of that remarkable 
race. One day when he called we explained that we wished to record his 
voice, to have it always to keep in memory of him and hoped he would 
consent to sing a song into the horn. He complied rather indifferently, 
selecting a common song of his people. At the end he leaned back in his 
chair with the unmistakable air of one who listens. We adjusted the 
reproducer to the cylinder just taken and turned on the motor. He listened 
rather curiously to the scraping and buzzing that always preceded the 
bursting tone of the record but when the first phrases of his own song 
struck his ear there was a flash of light from his eyes that we can never 
forget. That the machine could speak the language of the Indian was, 
he said, almost beyond belief. He asked many questions, but was partic- 
ularly anxious to know how we came by such a machine. The fact that its 
originator was yet alive impressed him. 

He sang other songs for us and always asked to hear his records when he 
called. He even went so far as to repeat certain prayers we heard him 
offer up at the sun dance, but cautioned us that such were not to be trifled 
with and asked that they be not repeated to his or other Indian ears. At 
last as time went on, we found ourselves working out with him the ritual 
for a medicine pipe and when we came to the songs, we suggested the phono- 
graph. He considered the matter for some minutes, then in a low but 
distinct voice made a long prayer to the spirits of all the departed medicine 
pipe keepers, the import of which was that he was about to do something 
questionable, but that our purpose was noble and honorable and not a 
mockery, and that he begged their indulgence to do this thing. He then 
announced himself ready to proceed. Now there are about a hundred 
songs in this ritual, too many for one sitting; so we stopped before half 
of them were recorded. He seemed quite enthusiastic and promised to 
return on the morrow to his task. 

We were happy for we could see in our possession the long line of wax 


records bearing the ritual of this great pipe — but on the morrow he came 


not. On the following day he appeared, announcing that he would sing 


26 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


no more in the phonograph for he had received a warning. Even as he was 
singing that day a messenger was galloping in to call him home where his 
wife had been seized with a hemorrhage, something she had never before 
experienced. Was it not sufficient that this affliction should come on his 
home the moment he began this serious business and to him of all others, 
the greatest “blood-stopper”’ of the tribe? Hence, not again. We talked 
long and earnestly of bleeding and its causes. We learned from him that 
it was a bad case of nose-bleeding that gave him his fright. We produced 
a bit of surgical cotton and explained its virtues when properly manipu- 
lated and offered our assistance at the next attack. He tucked some of the 
cotton in his belt and went his way. 

We worked with other Indians on less difficult subjects and waited. 
At last The-Bear-One surprised us by announcing that he would proceed 
with the phonograph. He gave no explanations and we asked for none. 
Fortunately, nothing occurred to interrupt him and the ritual was com- 
pleted. 

It was some time after this that we made our first formal request of 
The-Bear-One. We asked his aid to secure a medicine pipe bundle. He 
made no comment beyond stating that since we now had the ritual and the 
songs the request was reasonable. 

We did not see him for a long time after this, but heard it talked about 
that The-Bear-One now had a pipe bundle in his tipi and had had a dream 
in which he was asked to give it to a certain white man, also seen in the 
dream. To these Indians, dreams are sacred and not to be disregarded; 
hence, though to their minds a terrible fate threatened the pipe, there 
seemed no remedy. The hope was that the certain white man would shrink 
from the responsibility. One day our friend sent for us. When seated in 
his tipi he recounted our request, his dream, and pointed to the bundle. 
The transfer was arranged and finaily executed without hindrance. The 
event was something of a scandal in the tribe, but nothing was said before 
us and the prestige and medicine power of our friend was too great to 
permit calling him to task. Yet of talk there was no lack. Strange to 
say no Indian seemed to question the reality of the alleged dream; but 
while The-Bear-One never broke faith with us to our knowledge and ever 
seemed sincere, we never felt quite certain about that dream. 

So when you look upon this pipe do not forget the hopes and fears of 
many that once clustered around it; that even its story is not yet told; 
that though The-Bear-One has become as the dust of the plains, the works 
of his hand and even his voice are here. 


RELATION BETWEEN HABIT AND STRUCTURE IN THE 
INSECT WORLD 


By Frank E. Lutz 


K do not know whether an insect has a given structure as an adap- 
tation to its habits of life or whether the habits have been devel- 
oped to conform to changed structures. Following the work of 

Darwin, most biologists believed that the greater number of structures 
arose gradually either through the natural selection of variations favorable 
to a given habit or by the effect of use, and the term “adaptation”’ has 
come to imply as much. Specifically, this would mean that a grasshopper 
has long powerful hind legs either because of the fact that its ancestors 
with the longest, strongest hind legs were the best jumpers and so were 
most successful, or through continued use by its ancestors of their hind 
legs for jumping. 

In this connection two things must be said. First, not a single instance 
of the inheritance of the effect of use or disuse upon anatomical characters 
has ever been experimentally proved, while there are numerous cases of 
experimental negative evidence. Second, in recent years many cases have 
been recorded of large heritable variations arising suddenly. Among these 
is that of abnormally large hind legs in no less common an animal than the 
domestic cat. Now when these “rabbit cats’? run they do so by a series 
of leaps. The large hind legs are not adapted (in the technical sense) to 
jumping but the habit of jumping is adapted to the large hind legs. A 
cockroach’s flat body enables it to live in cracks and crevices. If its body 
were of such shape that it could not, it would live elsewhere as its relatives 
do. Natural selection doubtless accounts for the failure of many variations 
to be perpetuated, but doubtless many variations are perpetuated either 
because the eliminating action of natural selection is dodged by a change 
of habits, that is by habit becoming adapted to structure; or because they 
are of neutral value fitting in with the habits of their possessors in the 
struggle for existence — that is, natural selection does not effect them at all. 

There is another class of characters. They are very striking but no 
use can ever be imagined for them. To this class belong most of the pat- 
terns of coloration, many of the horns and spines, and the unusual develop- 
ment of some parts of the body. These are explained as having come about 
either through orthogenesis or the effect of the environment or in other ways 
which are too complex to be mentioned here. If this be true, is it not 
probable that some, at least, of the characters which are used by insects 


27 


28 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


are merely used either because the insect is forced to, as in the case of the 
long hind legs for jumping, or because it finds it convenient, as living in 
crevices when the shape of the body enables it to do so? 

Therefore, let us be on the safe side and use the non-committal phrase, 
“the relation between habit and structure,” rather than the committal 
one, “adaptation of structure to habit.” Examples of such relation are 
legion. The large wings and slender bodies of dragon flies make them su- 
preme in the air but clumsy on the ground. The ground beetles have legs 
of such length and suppleness that they are enabled to run swiftly. The 
“electric light bug’’ whose home is the water has paddle-shaped legs and a 
keel-shaped body. The water striders skate over the surface of ponds and 
streams by virtue of slender, hair-covered feet which do not break the sur- 
face film. The mole cricket burrows in the ground by using the spade- 
shaped front legs. The mantis catches its prey with its toothed front legs. 
The scalpel-like ovipositor of the katydid_ slits leaves and the bar-like 
one of the ericket makes holes in the ground for the reception of eggs. 

The subject is most fascinating and therefore one in which we are 
apt to lose our judicial balance. At any rate, however the relations come 
about, they are not only numerous and striking but, as is shown by the 


dominance of insect life, effective. 


FORT LEE DINOSAUR 


By W. D. Matthew 


Fort Lee almost within the city of New York is of exceptional 
interest to New Yorkers. It was found on the red shales which 


HE discovery of a fossil reptile skeleton, probably a dinosaur, at 


underlie the Palisades and outcrop at the river’s edge opposite 160th Street 
almost directly in front of the site of old Fort Lee and just south of the 
boundary of the Palisades Park, being discovered there by three post- 
graduate students of Columbia University, Messrs. J. E. Hyde, D. D. 
Condit and A. C. Boyle, through whose courtesy and the good offices of 
Professor Kemp, the Museum has been enabled to acquire this specimen. 
The red shales and sandstones in which this fossil was found belong to 
the Triassic period, the early part of the Age of Reptiles. The formation 
extends over a considerable part of New Jersey and is found also in the 
lower part of the Connecticut Valley and at other points along the Atlantic 
Coast, but fossils are everywhere rare and vertebrate fossils especially so. 
Great numbers of footprints indeed have been found in two or three locali- 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 29 


ties, at Turners Falls on the Connecticut, near Boonton and elsewhere in 
New Jersey. But of the animals which made these footprints only two or 
three partial skeletons of small species have ever come to light. 

This animal probably lived among the hills and valleys where now New 
York City stands. He was one of the lords of creation in his time — some 
ten million years ago, for the dinosaurs were the dominant land animals 
then and long after until the higher quadrupeds appeared. He was not 
indeed the “oldest inhabitant,’ for many a race of animals had lived and 
died before his time, and no doubt they lived on what is now Manhattan 
Island as well as elsewhere, but he is the oldest whose mortal remains have 
actually been preserved to our day. Could he have arisen from his mauso- 
leum in the rocks at Fort Lee, he might have supplied us with a rather 
startling volume of “ Recollections of Early New York.” For in his time 
there were no Palisades, and from the eastern bank of what is now the 
Hudson River one might look across a broad estuary to the west and south- 
west, while the East River and Long Island, as far as we know, were not 


yet in existence. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member- 
ship in the Museum: 

Patron, Mr. Henry C. FRIcK; 

Life Members, Messrs. Larz ANDERSON, GreorGE F. Baker, JR., 
LYNFORD BrppLe, W. Lyman Bropie, J. INSLEY BLatr, ANDREW CARNEGIE, 
Ricuarp M. CouGate, Marcetius Harritry Dopnce, JoHN SHERMAN 
Hoyt, Ricuarp S. Huncerrorp, WriLtttAM ApAMs Kissam, Epwarp DEP. 
LIVINGSTONE, GEORGE GRANT Mason, JoHn G. McCuntoucnH, Moses 
CHARLES MiceEt, GeorcE B. Post, Jr.. Henry H. RoGERs, SCHUYLER 
ScHIEFFELIN, H. M. Titrorp, and Henry Watters, Mr. and Mrs. Pau 
M. Warrurc, Dr. GeorGE T. HowLanpd and Murs. ANNE W. PENFIELD, 
Fenix M. Warsure and WILLIAM SEWARD WEBB; 

Sustaining Members, Messrs. James Marwick and Freperic S$. WELLS 
and Mrs. BENJAMIN BREWSTER; 

Annual Members, Messrs. J. J. ALBRIGHT, A. CHESTER BEATTY, 
Winuram Apams Brown, CHARLES DU PoNnT COUDERT, CHARLES CURIE, 
Jr., Bryan DauGuerty, MELVILLE EGLESTON, WILLIAM FARNSWORTH, 
Joun W. Garrett, Ropert GARRETT, RusseELL Hopkins, ARTHUR INGRA- 
HAM, NORMAN JAMES, Emory S. Lyon, WILLIAM G. Matruer, Paut. Morton, 
Henry F. pu Pont, CorNELIUS VAN Vorst Powers, WILLIAM SPROULF, 


30 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


THomas H. Srryker, JOHN DAVENPORT WHEELER, A. LUDLOW WHITE 
and ELmMore A. WILLeTs, Drs. WaLtrer Brooks Brouner, A. MONAE 
Lesser, Morris Mances, Matcorm McLean, Stewart Patron and 
THomas M. Weep, Rev. WitttiAmM GREENOUGH THAYER, HONORABLE 
Henry 8. Quinsy and Mes. Jonn R. Drexer, Jonn Henry HAMMOND 
and REGINALD DE Koven. 


Tue “ AGr or MamMats”’ by President Henry Fairfield Osborn has come 
from the press of the Macmillan Company and will receive notice in a 
later issue of the JOURNAL. 


THERE has just been presented to the American Museum of Natural 
History and placed on exhibition in the Morgan-Tiffany Gem Room a 
specimen of the new gem Morganite (rose beryl). It is a long oval stone 
of rich rose color and weighs 57% carats. This gem was named by Dr. 
George Frederick Kunz, the Honorary Curator of Gems of the American 
Museum, at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences on December 
3, 1910. 


Director Hermon Carey Bumpus has recently been decorated by 
His Majesty, King Charles of Roumania, with the Grand Cross of the 
Commander of the Order of the Crown. This highest rank of the Order 
is bestowed upon Director Bumpus in recognition of his well-known ser- 


vices to science. 


Dr. A. D. Gaspay of New York City has presented to the Museum a 
valuable collection of ground and polished shells from California and Japan. 
These specimens with their convolutions and superb nacre make objects 
of great beauty. They will be installed in certain sections of the Hall of 
Mollusca, illustrating the economic and ornamental uses of shells. 


DurinG the past month the Museum has received, as a gift from Mr. 
D. C. Staples, a small but very interesting collection of archeological and 
ethnological material which comes from the Provinces of Esmeraldas and 
Manabi in the extreme northern part of Colombia, South America. 


Tue Cottp Wetrare Exartsir will be held during January in the 
Seventy-first Regiment Armory, New York City. At this exhibit the 
Museum will illustrate the work it is doing in coéperation with the public 
schools. It will show the loan collections sent to the schools, photographs 
and descriptions of the Children’s Room at the Museum and of the Room 
for the Blind, drawings and models made by children in these rooms and 


MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES 3] 


photographs of permanent exhibits especially interesting to children. As 
a part of the exhibit an automatic stereopticon will display pictures used in 


the pupils’ lecture courses. 


TWENTY-THREE Cases of zoélogical material representing several hundred 
skins of birds and mammals have arrived in New York as the first ship- 
ment of specimens from the Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition. 


MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 


Public meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated 
Societies are held at the Museum according to the following schedule: 
On Monday evenings, The New York Academy of Sciences: 
First Mondays, Section of Geology and Mineralogy. 
Second Mondays, Section of Biology. 
Third Mondays, Section of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry. 
Fourth Mondays, Section of Anthropology and Psychology. 
On Tuesday evenings, as announced: 
The Linnzean Society of New York, The New York Entomological 


Society and the Torrey Botanical Club. 


On Wednesday evenings, as announced: 
The New York Mineralogical Club. 

On Friday evenings, as announced: 

The New York Microscopical Society. 

The programmes of the meetings of the respective organizations are 
published in the weekly Bulletin of the New York Academy of Sciences and 
sent to the members of the several societies. Members of the Museum on 
making request of the Director will be provided with the Bulletin as issued. 


a2 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 


Given in coéperation with the City Department of Education. 
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7: 30. 


’ 


The first five of a course of eight lectures on ‘‘ New Movements in Old Asia.’ 


January 3— Dr. ArrHurR JupsoN Brown, ‘‘New World Conditions in the Far 
East — the Forces at Work.” 

January 10 — Dr. ArtHurR Jupson Brown, ‘Imperial Japan.’ Illustrated. 

January 17 — Mr. Epwin Emerson, “ The Russo-Japanese War.’’ Illustrated. 

January 24 — Dr. Arruur Jupson Brown, “Independent Korea.’ Illustrated. 

January 31— Dr. ArtHur Jupson Brown, ‘The Struggles between Russia and 
Japan for the Leadership in the Far East.” 


Saturday evenings at 8: 15 o’clock. Doors open at 7: 30. 
January 7 — Dr. Hermann M. Biaas, ‘‘The Health of New York.”’ 
January 14— Dr. Wituram Hatiocnu Park, ‘‘Communicable Diseases — Their 
Prevention.” 
January 21— Dr. H. D. Pease, “The Relation of Flies to the Transmission of 
Disease.” 
January 28 — Dr. Ernst J. Leperue, ‘The City Milk Supply and Its Control.” 


LEGAL HOLIDAY COURSE 


Fully illustrated. Open free to the public. Tickets not required. 
Lectures begin at 3:15 o'clock. Doors open at 2: 45. 
January 2— Mr. Roy W. Miner, ‘Corals and Coral Islands.” 
February 22 — Pror. C-E. A. Winstow, ‘Insect Carriers of Disease.”’ 


Scientific Staff 


DIRECTOR 
Hermon Carey Bumpvus, Ph.D., Se.D., LL.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
MINERALOGY 


L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GeorGe F, Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Hmnry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 

L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 

WILLIAM BrUTENMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
Prof. Wr~tt1am Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 

ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 

Prof. Aaron L. Treapwe tu, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 
Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
Frank M. CHapmMan, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Axnprews, A.B., Assistant in Mammalogy 
W. De W. Mituer, Assistant in Ornithology 


VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Prof. Henry FarrrreLtp Osporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Honorary Curator 
W. D. Marruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Acting Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals 
BarnuM Brown, A.B., Assistant Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Witiiam K. Grecory, A. B., A. M., Ph.D., Assistant 


Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuous, A. B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 


ANTHROPOLOGY 


CuaRK WIssLER, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Puiny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Haran I. Smuiru, Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowir, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HrerBert J. SpINDEN, A.B., A.M.. Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
» CHARLES W. Mean, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHARLES Epwarp Amory WINsLow, 8.B., M.S., Curator 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., in charge 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. RatpH W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


ANTHONY Woopwarp, Ph.D., in charge of Maps and Charts 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. Aubert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
Grorce H. SHERwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 


OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


FOR’ THE, -PEOPEE 
FOR EDVCATION 
FOR:S CEN GE 


_— er —_>{ — 


THE 
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM 
JOURNAL 


FUR SEALS (ADULT MALES), PRIBILOF ISLANDS 


Volume XI February, 1911 Number 2 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THe AMERICAN Museum or NaturaL History 
New York City 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 


Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN 


First Vice-President 
J. Prerpont MorGan 
Treasurer 
CHARLES LANIER 


Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGE 
Secretary 
J. HamMppen Ross 


Tue Mayor or THE Ciry or New York 
Tue COMPTROLLER OF THE City OF New YorK 
Tue PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE 
GEORGE S. Bowboin 
JosepH H. CHoatr 
Tuomas DeWitr CuyLer 
JAMES DouGLAS 
Anson W. Harp 
ArcHER M. HuntTInGTon 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. 
ArtTHUR CurTIss JAMES 
GEORGE W. 


A. D. Jutmutarp 

Gustav E. Kissen 

Setu Low 

OGDEN MILLS 

J. Przrpont MorGan, Jr. 
Percy R. Pyne 

WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
JoHun B. Trevor 

Fevix M. WarBURG 


WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Director 
Hermon Carey Bumpus 


Assistant-Secretary and Assistant-Treasurer 


Grorce H. SHERWOOD 


Tue Museum 1s Open FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tue AmERICAN Museum or Naturaut History was established in 1869 to promote the 
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pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Ann ial NICnIDEES ee otic ciate: =) $ 10 MGLOWS: eccentrics, sae ese c $ 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 Patrons: os soe pecs Gc cic eetieas 1000 
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Tus Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
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unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1911 


Cover, Photograph of Fur Seals, Pribilof Islands 


Frontispiece, Photograph of Pines on the estate of the late 


Morris Kk. Jesup 


Quotations Concerning Morris Ketchum Jesup and the American 


Miusemmiaf 3: 2-26. 28S = RIAA eth I Sire eeN LR sates Se Fe 35 
Rorestry: amar the Vinseuny 2.4..c 050 or Poco odes nek J. W. Toumry 39 
The museum a power for education in important questions of the period 
Report from the Congo Expedition................. HERBERT Lana 44 
Hunting the okapi from a chain of isolated camps in wet jungle 
The Finished Fur Seal Group............... CuHariEes H. Townsend 49 
With a brief review of the fur sealing question 
Zodlogical Exploration in South America........ Frank M. CoapMan 52 
Pie New SOUL: Oa LUXMIOUes © wii i.8o%, ne < Sion’ oie Ropert H. Lowie 53 


Notes on the South Sea Hall and the statue of the Maori Warrior 


[he P/E Eh eta bad 0 (=a GEORGE F. Kunz 57 
The world’s largest known block of jade in the South Sea Hall of the American 
Museum 

A Treasure ot Ancient Bronzes. 2.2. gs aks 0 ee Ee GC. B.. Basserr. (59 


A collection of such importance that it is difficult to make another its equal in 
China to-day 


“The Age of Mammals”— A Review.......... WiiuiaM Kk. Gregory 65 
Historic Fossil from the Senckenberg Museum....................- 68 
Hoss leo front Madarasear 06. 2 henna eA tains ee api nets 70 
DA Ser ee EWS NOLES. uti ics shc's cdlhue fe Sed alee Hera ast c. vase ede Rote en as 71 
Mer UT eeAMNOUNeCIMents:,.. 162 .iinckeergs 2 o:took alan Sone os ee ee acer 72 


Mary Cyntata Dickerson, Editor 
Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


A subscription to the JourNnau is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 
the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to the AMericaAN Museum Journat, 30 Boylston St., 
Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass, 
Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


From Trees and Forestry [In press; 


MASSACHUSETTS 


LENOX, 


JESUP, 


PINES ON THE ESTATE OF THE LATE MORRIS K, 


The American Museum Journal 


Vou. XI FEBRUARY, 1911 No. 2 


QUOTATIONS CONCERNING MORRIS KETCHUM JESUP AND 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM! 


HEN Mr. Orr called upon Mr. Jesup to request his consent to his 
nomination as President of the Chamber of Commerce, he 
found him engrossed in the study of some building plans which 

covered his table. “Mr. Jesup,” said Mr. Orr, “I have got a piece of 
interesting news to give you.” “All right,” said Mr. Jesup, “just wait a 
moment until I show you this plan.” “ But, my dear Jesup,” remonstrated 
Mr. Orr, “this business of mine is important. I have come to tell you 
that I wish to nominate you for President of the Chamber of Commerce.” 
“Indeed,” said Mr. Jesup, “I am glad to hear it, but, look here, I want to 
show you what a splendid plan this is.’ And he turned back again to 
the papers on the table. It was only after he had relieved his mind of this 
paramount interest that he had leisure to appreciate the new honor and 
responsibility to which his colleagues of the Chamber invited him. 

The plan which Mr. Orr found Mr. Jesup studying was that of the new 
wing of the American Museum of Natural History. The place which the 
Museum held in Mr. Jesup’s regard, the long and devoted service which he 
rendered it, and the eminence which it attained under his leadership are 
well known. For more than a quarter of a century it was his controlling 
interest, and it remains to-day his most enduring monument. 


“The two grandly distinctive features of Mr. Jesup’s administration,” 
writes President Osborn, “were, first, the desire to popularize science 
through the arrangement and exhibition of collections in such a simple and 
attractive manner as to render them intelligible to all visitors; and secondly, 
his recognition that at the foundation of popular science is pure science, 
and his determination, which increased with advancing years, that the 
Museum should be as famous for its scientific research and explorations 
as for its popular exhibitions of educational work.” 

1Morris Ketcuum Jesup: A Cuaracrer Sketcu. By William Adams Brown. 


Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910. 
35 


30 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


On December 29, 1906, a large and representative audience gathered in 
the lecture room of the Museum to witness the presentation to the Trustees 
of the series of busts of eminent American naturalists which now adorns 
the spacious anteroom through which visitors approach the Museum. 
The idea was Mr. Jesup’s, and he provided the funds. The gift fitly sym- 
bolizes his conception of the part played by science in the complex circle 


of interests, of whose joint efforts the Museum is the expression. 


“T suppose,” says Mr. Choate, his fellow founder and trustee, speaking 
some years later at the Chamber of Commerce, “that I may speak with 
authority of Mr. Jesup’s services to the world in the Museum of Natural 
History. I should hardly venture in the presence of Mr. Morgan to claim 
for him a monopoly of the generosity that endowed that institution from 
the beginning; nor would I forget the abundant aid of many other generous 
benefactors; but I will say that he was the chief factor, the most powerful 
and effective agent in bringing it to the great eminence that it enjoys 
to-day.” 

This great service was fitly signalized by his fellow trustees on February 
12, 1906, when in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his 
presidency, they presented to him a loving cup beautifully designed in 
gold, with inscriptions and symbols in allusion to those branches of science 
in which he had taken a special interest. On one face of the cup reference 
was made to the forestry of North America; on another his interest in 
vertebrate paleontology was indicated, and his gift of the Cope collection 
of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles was mentioned; on the third face was a 
design symbolizing the work of the Jesup North Pacific expeditions, the 
last and greatest of the enterprises toward which his efforts were directed. 


“Tt is not because of the long period of his service,” writes Professor 
Bumpus, “nor because of his unfailing devotion, nor yet because of his 
innumerable gifts, that Mr. Jesup’s administration of the affairs of the 
American Museum of Natural History will mark a distinct epoch in the 
history of the institution... . 

“Tt is because he served long and also well; it is because he was devoted 
and at the same time exercised good judgment; it is because he not only 
gave but gave wisely, that he finally enjoyed the fruit of his labor, that his 
devotion to the Museum ripened into absorbing affection, and that his 
example of giving infected those associated with him.” 


From Trees and Forestry {In press) 


FLOWERING DOGWOOD, JESUP COLLECTION OF WOODS 


The models of leaves, flowers and fruits are so perfectly executed that it is often difficult to dis- 
cover even by careful scrutiny how much is the original and how much is reproduced 


From Trees and Forestry (In press] 
BLACK WALNUT, JESUP COLLECTION OF WOODS 
Full-grown black walnut trees practically no longer exist in America’s forests Thus the Jesup 
Collection is already beginning to prove its value as an historical record 


FORESTRY AND THE MUSEUM 


THE MUSEUM A POWER FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC REGARDING 
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF THE PERIOD 


By J. W. Toumey 


(AcTING DIRECTOR OF THE YALE FOREST SCHOOL AND MORRIS K. JESUP PROFESSOR OF 
SILVICULTURE, MEMBER OF THE APPOINTIVE COMMITTEE OF WOODS AND FORESTRY OF THE 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY] 


T no period of our national life has the public been so keenly alive 
to the importance of our forests and what they mean to the future 
welfare of the nation. We have in comparatively recent years 

segregated more than 190,000,000 acres from our national domain and with- 
drawn it from settlement that it might remain forever the forest property 
of the nation. We are asking in the Weeks Bill! now before Congress 
that large areas in the Appalachian and White Mountains be purchased 
outright by the national government to form a part of the forest property 
of the nation. Many of the states, as is the case with New York and 
Pennsylvania, have already purchased large tracts of forest property and 
set them aside as forest preserves. The present outlook appears to indicate 
that many such reserves will be established in the states east of the Great 
Plains in the near future. As a nation we are demanding the conservation 
of our forest property and asking private owners of forest property to manage 
it in accordance with the ideas of scientific forestry. Although the public 
is fully in accord with the idea of national and state forests and fully realizes 
the need for a better utilization of our forest property, it is yet woefully 
ignorant regarding the forest as a living thing and has but little information 


1 The Weeks Bill is scheduled to come up for Senate vote on February 15, 1911. It is 
as follows: 

“To enable any state to codperate with any other state or states, or with the United 
States for the protection of the watersheds of navigable streams, and to appoint a 
commission for the acquisition of lands for the purpose of conserving the navyiga- 
bility of navigable rivers.”’ 

This bill, the product of the combined study of some of the ablest men in Congress, is a 
general conservation bill for the creation of national forests. The immediate interest, how- 
ever, lies in the Appalachian and White Mountain region controlling the watersheds of the 
most important rivers of the East and the South and containing a great part of the timber 
supply. 

The question of reserves for the East has been under discussion for ten years. The 
Weeks Bill itself has previously passed the Senate three times and the House once. In the 
sixty-first Congress it again passed the House, June 24, 1910; it was filibustered in the Senate. 
however, so that Congress adjourned without a passage of the bill. 

From Trees and Forestry [In press]. Department of Woods and Forestry 
of the American Museum. 39 


MOL UNA SIOATI PU SIYSZNOAp ole 9.19Y JOUILUMS UT OTT 
‘SPOOP SULSVUUBP UL POISVA ST JOJVA SITY ‘SodO[s oY} WOIJ IND OAV SySo1OJ OY J] *S]OAT JOMOT OF JOVVA JO ATddns 


1@ Ul JOWUUNS OI} 


patelePeiateniep! {] MOS nO JUaS BG OF ‘osuods vB UL SB SISO1O] SUuTpUunO.INS tq PIsy pue poqsosqR are sul INOUL JO SMOT your oy suds uy 


NOSTIM LNNOW WOXS MBIA 
[ssoud uy fh.AQSa40y PUD S79at7T WIOAST Of 


A WHITE PINE ON THE ESTATE OF THE LATE MORRIS K., JESUP 


This tree was a particular favorite and was saved in spite of the adyice of landscape 
gardeners 


DR se 


~ oe ei 
pe Nre: 


ya 


a Pe 
; 
Fre es 
aw SE 


Ve... 


{In press] 


and Forestry 


Trees 


From 


ESTATE OF THE LATE 


BIRCHES AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF DARK TREE TRUNKS, 


DECORATIVE 


E. 


MASSACHUSETTS 


LENOX, 


JESUP, 


MORRIS K, 


FORESTRY AND THE MUSEUM 45 


regarding the many ways the forest affects our present prosperity and how 
vital its conservation is to the future life of the nation. 

The usefulness of a Museum depends upon how fully it serves the 
public as an educational institution, whether the instruction concerns the 
preservation of forests, of the country’s mammals and birds, questions 
along lines of public health and public education or yet other directions 
of work. To a very large degree its power to instruct is measured by its 
effectiveness In commanding attention regarding the things worth while 
in everyday life. For this reason at one period of its history a museum may 
have to direct public attention to events and things quite different from at 
other times, depending upon the particular needs of the period. The old 
idea of a museum as a storehouse for miscellaneous objects from all corners 
of the earth is of the past. A new idea prevails, that a museum is to a large 
degree a place in which objects are exhibited in such a manner as to convey 
to the public the greatest amount of useful information of present interest. 

The Forestry Hall of the American Museum at present and in its future 
development along lines following out Mr. Jesup’s original interests and 
pioneer work in forest preservation! has a great work to do in education. 
The present interest in forest conservation and the need for public educa- 
tion regarding the life of the forest and the important uses that the forest 
serves in our national economy, clearly point out the direction that the 
future development of the American Museum must take in reference to 
this important subject. 


1 On December 6, 1883, Mr. Jesup presented in the Chamber of Commerce the following: 


“To THE HoNoRABLE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF New York, IN SENATE AND As- 

SEMBLY CONVENED: 

May it please your Honorable Body: 

The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York is alarmed at the dangers which 
threaten the water supply of the rivers in the northern part of the State through the destruc- 
tion of the forests which protect their sources. 

The Chamber believes that the preservation of these forests is necessary to maintain 
an abundant and constant flow of water in the Hudson, the Mohawk and other important 
streams; and that their destruction will seriously injure the interna! commerce of the State. 
As long as this forest region remains in the possession of private individuals, its protection 
from fire and lumbering operations will be impossible. Believing, then, that this matter is 
one of very great importance, and that the necessity exisis for immediate legislative action, 
we humbly pray your Honorable Body to adopt such measures as will enable the State to 
acquire the whole territory popularly known as the Adirondack Wilderness, and hold it 
forever as a forest preserve.” 

[That the proposed legislation was eventually secured and that New York has its state 
forests to-day was largely due to the unceasing efforts of Mr. Jesup.| Here, as so often, his 
work was that of a pioneer. To-day forest preservation has become an accepted national 
policy; but twenty-five years ago this was not the case, and the action taken by the Chamber 
of Commerce on Mr. Jesup’s initiative was an important factor in educating the sentiment 
which has made the wider movement possible. 

From Morris Ketchum Jesup, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910. 


REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION ' 
By Herbert Lang 


[The Museum's Congo Expedition sends word of the health of its members and the 
success of its work in zoédlogical survey, with the story of hunting the rare okapi from a chain 
of isolated camps in the hot, wet jungle. The next issue of the JourNav will contain a colored 
plate of the okapi with an account of present knowledge regarding the species.— Editor] 


K left Avakubi December 7, 1909, with fifty-five porters and 
after increasing our collections at N’Gayu and Bafwaboka, 
arrived at Medje January 13. As we heard about good hunt- 

ing grounds, possibly with okapi, south of Gamangui, we made the neces- 
sary preparations and set out at once. After more than six months’ work 
in a lonely uninhabited tract some eighty miles square, we returned to Medje 
July 17. Since then we have made several transports and stored safely 
all our collections, besides accumulating the necessary equipment with 
which to set out next Saturday, October 15, for the Uele. 

We profit by this occasion to thank all those who have extended to us 
the privilege of carrying on such interesting work in regions that well deserve 
to be called the “ Heart of Africa,’ and who by their great generosity have 
provided us with an equipment that makes it comparatively easy to main- 
tain good health even under a most trying and disagreeable climate. Though 
camped for nearly six months in or about the dense forest, we both enjoyed 
excellent health. 

All our native helpers have always been in good condition. All our 
equipment including firearms and tents is in perfect order. Our supplies 
are sufficient to carry on the work without interruption. The active per- 


sonnel has remained practically the same — eighteen native assistants. 
One Loango had to be sent back to Leopoldville on account of the ill-health 
of his wife, and has since been replaced by an intelligent Mangbetu, whose 
services are very desirable in this region of the Mangbetu people. 

The plans for porterage have worked very satisfactorily, and although 
the natives are true cannibals and are seldom seen without poisoned arrows 
or other weapons, we have succeeded well in enlisting their services. This 
may best be illustrated by the fact that the Congo Expedition since leaving 
Stanleyville has employed and paid more than 3,400 natives and has never 
experienced the slightest accident in handling them. 

The record of the expedition shows a total of 4,952 specimens collected, 
exclusive of at least 15,000 invertebrates, and 1,120 pages of data and 
descriptive notes which are supplemented by 800 photographs. It is 


mir 
1 Selections from the Annual Report of the Congo Expedition by Herbert Lang. Manuscript 
sent from Medje, Haut Ituri, October 8, 1910; received at New York January 13, 1911. 


44 


REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION 45 


probable that these are the largest and most important collections ever 
gathered by a single expedition in the midst of the dense forest of the 
Congo, and they represent a completeness of series that will be surprising. 
How true this is may be ascertained from the work with regard to the okapi, 
but all departments have equally profited. 

All the skins have been safely stored away in the expedition’s large 
galvanized iron tank originally brought in sections to Avakubi, where 
it has been put up in one of the government magazines. The remainder of 
our collections is stored in a government magazine in Medje, which we our- 
selves have lately made fireproof by constructing a ceiling of beams and 
sticks, covered with reeds and a layer of soil. 

The record for large mammals is as follows: 402 specimens covering 
50 species = a nearly complete series of the larger mammals of the dense 
Congo forest, 206 pages of descriptions, 76 skeletons, a large collection of 
foetal specimens, 18 plaster casts and many photographs. 

For nearly six months we camped as close as possible to the haunts 
of the okapi and though we profited by the skill of the most experienced 
native trappers, who were engaged in catching okapi for food purposes, 
during the first two months we secured no reasonable success. The super- 
stition of the natives, and the hot moist climate, counteracted our best 
organized efforts. After interminable palavers, however, the native trappers 
consented to allow our native assistants, who were trained to skin large 
mammals independently, to camp with them in the forest. 

Therefore we established three camps at a distance of fifteen to twenty- 
five miles from our main camp, thus adopting the native system of hunting 
in small parties, for in these perfectly uninhabited forests it is an impossi- 
bility to provide suitable food for any large company of men. Whenever 
the native trappers succeeded in killing an okapi, some of them would march 
day and night toward our main camp. In the meantime our native assist- 
ants who camped with them would take off the skin and cure it as much 
as possible until I could reach the place. Within two months from the time 
of organization of this plan, we had added to the two skeletons of male and 
female already obtained, three perfect skins of females and that of a young 
okapi. 

Two months later we at last succeeded in obtaining a good sized male. 
This okapi like all the others had been caught by a noose around the foot, 
but in an almost impenetrable swamp. Unfortunately in its struggles 
to free itself, it rubbed a portion of the skin, which however can easily 
be repaired. 

The following month we secured the accessories for the group on the 
very same spot where one of the males had expired, which chanced to be 


46 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Through courtesy of the British Museum 
HEAD OF MOUNTED OKAPI, BRITISH MUSEUM 
Young male okapi presented by the late Mr. Boyd Alexander, 1907. Welle River near 


northern border of the Congo Free State. From Monograph of the Okapi by Sir E. Ray 
Lankester, 1910 

one of the most typical portions of the haunt of the okapi. The acces- 
sories represent twenty-five loads of material. Of the larger trees the bark 
only has been taken, and everything has been so numbered that there will 
be no trouble in readjusting the different sections or pieces of bark. Many 
leaf moulds have been made. Mr. Chapin has prepared very exact and 
beautiful color sketches of the different leaves. Besides, typical twigs and 
leaves of all trees, bushes and low plants are preserved in formalin. 

The casts of the heads of male and female okapi are deserving especial 
mention. The exterior of the head shows no giraffe-like characters which, 
judging from the skull, were supposed to exist. Indeed, the lips are not 
prehensile in any way and on account of the somewhat square mouth and 
rather small eyes there is much more resemblance to the head of a large 
deer. The prehensile tongue, the palate and sections of the four divisions 
of the stomach have been preserved in formalin. There is also the complete 
skeleton of a large-sized embryo showing a very interesting stage. The 
descriptions are rather complete with regard to habits, food, calving season 
and haunts. Detailed measurements have been secured. Over forty-five 
excellent photographs will guarantee correct representation of the group 
work. Detailed photographs of every form of vegetation have also been 
secured. 


REPORT FROM THE CONGO EXPEDITION 17 


With regard to elephants, I sincerely hope that we shall succeed in pre- 
paring the skins of one or two large specimens. Permission to collect four 
specimens has been granted by Son Excellence, le Vice-Gouverneur Général 
de la Colonie, F. Fuchs, at Boma. 

The Lado Enclave, with its white rhinoceroses, is now out of our reach, 
as on account of the demise of His Majesty, King Leopold, these regions 
have been returned to England. Ona the other hand according to some 
reports lately received, it is not impossible that we may find these interest- 
ing creatures in the eastern portions of the Uele. 


Of small mammals there are 1,054 specimens collected. During several 


Through courtesy of the British Museum 


PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVING OKAPI ONE MONTH OLD 


Photograph taken by Monsieur Ribotti on the Welle River. The photograph was shown 
at the meeting of the British Association at Leicester on August 5, 1907, and reproduced in 
Illustrated London News, September 7, 1907 


48 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


months the expedition had from 300 to 500 traps set and daily revised. 
The Mangbetu have displayed remarkable skill in capturing the smaller 
mammals with their own native traps. 

A collection of 1,885 birds covering 290 species is accompanied by full 
and exact data. Very many of the species are represented not only by 
both sexes, but also by a series of young in different plumages. <A large 
number of nests and sets of eggs have been secured. The most interesting 
of the nests is that of the largest hornbill (Ceratogymnas). It was the desire 
of Mr. Chapman to have a group showing the peculiar habit these birds have 
of enclosing the female by a plaster of mud. We were fortunate to secure 
remarkably fine accessories, also the male and female birds and the young. 
The nest was located at a distance of about 70 feet from the ground in a 
tree over 130 feet high. The tree was felled and a sufficiently long portion 
cut out and sawed into sections for transportation. Twenty color sketches 
of birds have been prepared, among which are the hornbills for the group. 

For the Department of Anthropology an interesting collection of 700 
specimens has been gathered from the Mangbetu, the most highly cultured 
natives of these regions. Full data giving necessary explanations with 
regard to use, habit, custom or belief have been entered in the catalogue. 
Besides, a great number of photographs show the many phases of dailv 
life, such as village scenes, dances, social gatherings and ceremonials. Ex- 
cellent portraits and plaster casts have been gained. Several of the remark- 
ably elaborate hairdresses of both men and women have also been obtained 
in perfectly intact condition. 

The Mangbetu excel in their iron work; indeed their well-forged and 
finely-worked knives are masterpieces of negro blacksmithing. Their 
pottery in its best samples reminds one of ancient Greek work. In produc- 
ing well-balanced forms of artistic finish they show a very high develop- 
ment. Their carved and ornamented stools, benches, figures and shields, 
and their hat-pins of ivory may well be classed among works of art. 

A Pygmy child’s skeleton is obtained, and shows a very interesting 
lengthening of the skull, produced by the common habit among the 
Mangbetu (adopted by the Pygmies who are attached to their villages) of 
using bandages about the new-born child’s head. Photographs showing 
this practice have been taken. 

I take pleasure in repeating from the report of November 29, 1909, the 
statement that the codperation of the Belgian Government is most cordial, 
and that all the officers have assisted us according to their position or our 


needs. 


THE FINISHED FUR SEAL GROUP 


WITH REMARKS ON THE HABITS OF THE FUR SEAL AND THE PRESENT CONDI- 
TION OF THE SEALING INDUSTRY 


By Charles H. Townsend 


HE fur seal group, mounted by Mr. Blaschke and recently put on 
exhibition in the Hall of Mammals, is the gift of the late Mr. D. O. 
Mills. The Museum has long been in need of just such a series 

of fur seals, which includes the adult male, females and young. 

The fur seal holds a unique place in the annals of international contro- 
versy. No other wild animal has ever been the subject of a dispute so ear- 
nestly contested and so long continued. For more than twenty years the 
American and Asiatic seal herds have been under almost constant discussion, 
and the reading public on two continents at least has become familiar with 
the subject under such headings as the “ Bering Sea Controversy,” the “ Fur 
Seal Question,” or the “Pelagic Sealing Matter.” 

The fur seal industry has been investigated and reported upon at differ- 
ent times by international commissions and two courts of arbitration have 
solemnly considered it in every possible phase. The report of the Paris 
Tribunal alone consists of eighteen thick octavo volumes, while the docu- 
ments of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, State 
Treasury and Commerce departments, devoted exclusively to the fur seal 
subject, are too numerous to mention. For several years during the height 
of the controversy the warships of Great Britain and the United States 
patrolled the waters of Bering Sea watching every move of the sealing 
fleets, and a number of revenue cutters has remained on guard even to the 
present time. Although the sealing regulations framed by the Paris Tribu- 
nal in 1892 remain in force, the fate of the fur seal as the basis of a valuable 
industry is still unsettled. Its continued existence as a species becomes 
more doubtful every year and renewed efforts are being made to save it. 

The cause of the trouble is simply the value of the fur seal’s pelt. Here 
is the story in a nutshell. Before the great ocean sealing fleets came into 
existence, the catch of seal skins was made on the islands in Bering Sea 
where the animals breed. Only selected males were taken and these were 
killed under careful government supervision. As the fur seal is highly 
polygamous there is always a natural surplus of males available for commer- 
cial purposes. With the development of ocean or “pelagic” sealing, the 

49 


Opts JOY IO OF UO OTe Tora *syRos Sunodr oy) 


suoulteds oy ‘SITEIN °O 


‘a “AA 


Ov] 


oy jo 


“AIOYOOL [ROS B JO UOTAOd [peuUs BV MOYS OF ‘OFC TN. 


1JLa AD OOM 


spurs] JOUGud oy) 3% SO6I 


ur wins 


dNOYD AWVW3SS YNA GASHSINIA SO NOILYHOd 


(MOLA UL JOU OG UO OP TU 

IS [RUTTUV ‘ONYOSVE, YOMOopoay AG POPUNOUTL OOM 
ISNIN OY) AOJ A[SSaIdxXo pogqodo][OO “syTeVos OL 

OS 


THE FINISHED FUR SEAL GROUP 51 


killing of female seals began, and this naturally resulted in the rapid reduc- 
tion of the breeding stock. Twenty-five years ago, with perhaps 4,000,000 
seals in sight, it was possible to kill annually 100,000 male seals on the Pri- 
bilof Islands without injury to the herd. To-day with a herd of less than 
175,000 seals remaining, the island catch of males is seldom more than 
10,000. 

The annual ocean sealing catch consisting chiefly of females has, in the 
meantime, dwindled from an average of SO,000 a vear te a paltry 10,000; 
while the sealing fleet, which once numbered 120 vessels, now consists of 
fewer than thirty vessels 

The condition of the Asiatic seal herd is much worse, for both the land 
and sea catch have decreased to less than one-third of that derived from the 
American herd. The restoration of both herds to their former abundance 
and commercial importance can be brought about only by the complete sup- 
pression of ocean sealing. 

As a result of the long continued investigations of the sealing industry, 
the natural history of the fur seal has been worked out perhaps more thor- 
oughly and critically than that 
of any other mammal. Science 
has profited if the sealing indus- 
try has not, and many important 
discoveries have been made re- 
specting the anatomy, food, age, 
breeding habits and migrations 
of this important animal. 


Among the problems solved, 


we may consider briefly some of 


A baby fur seal of the new group 


those connected with the won- 

derful migrations of the fur seal. Late in the fall the seals leave their 
island homes in Bering Sea and enter the Pacific Ocean. The American 
herd migrates southeastward to southern California, a distance of over three 
thousand miles, whence it moves northward along the coast during the 
winter, to enter Bering Sea the next summer. The Asiatic herd migrates 
southwestward to the coast of Japan, returning the following season by the 
same route. There is no commingling of the two herds either in Bering Sea 
or in the Pacific. Both herds remain afloat the entire winter, and neither 
herd is known to touch dry land anywhere except upon return to its native 
islands in Bering Sea. No other mammal follows with strict regularity 


so extensive a migration route. 


ZOOLOGICAL EXPLORATION IN SOUTH AMERICA 
By Frank M. Chapman 


Ht report comes of the safe arrival of Mr. W. B. Richardson, who 
sailed from New York October 17 to collect birds and mammals 
for the Museum in the Cauca Valley of southern Colombia. He 

writes with enthusiasm of the opportunities offered in this part of South 
America which has been little explored. Mr. Richardson began work on 
the western slope of the coast range of the Andes. This has the reputation 
of being one of the most unhealthful portions of South America and for this 
reason, In connection with the fact that the region is uninhabited and is 
covered with heavy forest growth, it has heretofore been unworked by col- 
lectors. Advices from Buenaventura, the port of this part of Colombia, 
state that Mr. Richardson’s first shipment was made on December 31 
In this connection it may be added that while waiting the departure of 
the steamer from Panama for Buenaventura, Mr. Richardson made a col- 
lection of one hundred and thirty birds and mammals and his second ship- 
ment, therefore, was started before he had been absent from the Museum 
for three months. The American Museum is to be congratulated on having 
an active collector in this exceptionally promising part of South America 
and it is greatly to be hoped that work can be prosecuted so thoroughly 
that the institution will receive material to form a basis for a study of the 
distribution of life in this part of South America. 

The American Museum is not the only American institution represented 
in South America which, as a matter of fact, is at present claiming greater 
attention from American zodlogists than at any previous time. Among 
the American expeditions now in South America are the following: 

First, that of the U. S. National Museum which has recently initiated a biological survey 
of the Panama Canal zone. 

Second, an expedition under the charge of Mr. Wilfred H. Osgood, of the Field Museum, 


which sailed from New York on December 31, 1910, for Maracaibo in northwestern Vene- 
zuela, 

Third, an expedition of the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburg, under the charge of Mr. 
M. A. Carriker, who is now at work in northern Venezuela. 

Fourth, an expedition from the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia under the charge 
of Mr. Stewardson Brown, who sailed from New York on December 26, 1910, for Trinidad. 

Fifth, an expedition under the charge of Mr. S. N. Rhoads, who is affiliated with the 
Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, which plans to sail from New York on December 21, 1911, 
for Ecuador. 


It is obvious, therefore, that so far as American zoélogists are con- 
cerned, the twentieth century is South America’s, and it is very greatly 
to be hoped that the American Museum may take a leading part inthe 
zoological exploration of this still little-known continent. 


52 


MAORI CARVED CANOE PROW 


THE NEW SOUTH SEA EXHIBIT 


By Robert H. Lowie 
NOTES ON THE SOUTH SEA HALL 


ITH the exception of a small Australian exhibit, the South Sea Hall 
opened to the public on January 25 is devoted entirely to the 
Museum’s collection from Polynesia and Melanesia. Compared 
with the primitive folk of other regions of the globe, these South Sea Island- 
ers are a seafaring race. In striking contrast to the African negroes, who 
generally manifest a strange repugnance to traveling by water, their voy- 
ages are reckoned not by hundreds but by thousands of miles. The most 
common craft employed in the area is a dugout canoe with an outrigger 
attachment. The Museum exhibit comprises a number of models of the 
simple canoes found in Samoa, Fiji and the Society Islands, while a larger 
model of a New Zealand boat illustrates the elaborate carving sometimes 
lavished on their structure. The tremendous distances actually traveled 
by the South Sea Islanders from their probable home in southeastern Asia 
to Hawaii and Easter Island have stimulated some scholars to account for 
certain similarities between South Sea Island culture and South American 
culture by the hypothesis that the Polynesians at one time touched the 
shores of the New World and succeeded in leaving their impress on the 
industrial life of its inhabitants. This theory, although defended by dis- 
tinguished ethnologists, has been generally rejected, not because the South 
Sea Islanders are considered incapable of traversing the space of twenty- 
five hundred miles intervening between Easter Island and South America, 
but simply because the alleged cultural resemblances are far too few to 
be convincing and are readily explained by the assumption of independent 
development. 
53 


THE STATUE OF THE MAORI WARRIOR ON THE “LARGEST BLOCK OF JADE IN ANY MUSEUM 


IN THE WORLD 


The statue was made by Sigurd Neandross from direct studies of a living member of the 
Maori tribe. The block of jade which weighs three tons and came from South Island, New 
Zealand, was presented to the Museum by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, having been secured for 
him by George F. Kunz 


THE NEW SOUTH SEA EXHIBIT a) 


To the general public the exhibit in the new hall will be of interest, as 
showing the degree of culture which could be attained by people who at the 
time of their discovery were wholly ignorant of any form of metal work. 
Stone or shell adzes took the place of iron tools, and even the huge beams 
and rafters of some of the native habitations were held in position not by 
nails but by a cordage known as © sinnet ’’ made from cocoanut fibre. Yet 
with the crude appliances at their disposal the Maori were able to con- 
struct large and richly decorated buildings, of which a fair idea is given 
by the model in the tower off the main hall, and they had skill to carve 
the beautiful canoe prows which excited the admiration of early travelers. 
The Cook Islanders produced the ceremonial adzes and paddles exhibited 
in two upright cases of the Polynesian section of the Hall; and the Mela- 
nesians of New Ireland executed their sacred carvings which while not beau- 


tiful according to our standards display a high degree of technical skill. 


THE STATUE OF THE MaAort WARRIOR 


URING the past winter a troup of Maori, the native people of 
New Zealand, performed some of their old-time dances in the 
Hippodrome and it was possible to have them pay several visits 
to the Museum, on which occasions they were photographed in various 
positions. It seemed highly desirable to secure life-size representations 
of members of the company in characteristic attitudes and after some pre- 
liminary discussion the chief Kiwi and one of the younger men, Hautuote- 
rangi, consented to be cast. The pose suggested to the latter was that of 
an ancient warrior in an attitude of defiance, with tongue protruding and 
one leg above the ground. Thus originated the figure of the Maori warrior 
at the entrance to the tower of the new South Sea Hall. 
Hautuoterangi felt highly honored to be the representative of his 
race, so that his descendants might see the statue when they visited the 
great city at any future time. His family pride was evinced in a desire 


that his family register for many generations back be engraved upon the jade. 


56 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


The following from Robley’s Moko: or Maori Tattooing suggests the 
requirements of the war dance pose: “The war dance. ...involved con- 
stant thrusting out of the tongue and so much distortion of the features 
that the blue lines of the Moko formed a quivering network. The time 
or cadence of the dance was marked by striking the palm of the left hand 
against the thigh.” 

As the work progressed, members of the Maori troupe called at the Mu- 
seum and expressed satisfaction with the statue as a faithful record of 
native life. Their advice was especially serviceable on the subject of 
tattooing, for the Government has for some time prohibited the tattooing 
of Maori men so that for this phase of the work Mr. Neandross would other- 
wise have been obliged to rely wholly upon second-hand information, which 
he was thus enabled to check by the oral communications of native authori- 
ties. Thus the figure of Hautuoterangi, together with the Robley Collec- 
tion of tattooed heads exhibited in the tower itself, conveys a very fair idea 
of probably the most distinctive form of personal decoration of the South 


Sea Islanders. 


[The figure of the ‘‘ Maori Warrior” is especially interesting to those who have 
followed the history of its making. The finished statue is the embodiment of a plan held 
by the Director of the Museum to whom the largest block of jade in the world suggested the 
need of some heroic theme to set forth the relation of this stone to the Maori people, who 
considered jade one of the most desirable articles of their wealth. 

A year or more before the block of jade was brought into the hall where it now has 
position, Mr. Neandross had made sketches for a Maori figure to be placed upon the stone. 
Impetus was given to the work by the arrival of the Hippodrome Maori troupe in Novem- 
ber of 1909, the friendly interest of these people in the Museum’s project being gained 
through Professor H. E. Crampton. 

It chanced that when Professor Crampton took the steamer at San Francisco for his 
latest journey to the South Seas, in the summer of 1909, he met a representative of the Hippo- 
drome management who was on his way to New Zealand to bring back a band of Maoris. 
Some weeks after Professor Crampton’s arrival at Tahiti, this man, with Mr. Whyte, the 
representative of the New Zealand Government, and thirty Maoris, came there from Auck- 
land, in order to take the steamer to San Francisco; thus Professor Crampton met the entire 
crowd at that time. Later he went to New Zealand himself, and while visiting the volcano 
and geyser districts in the interior, spent some time at the very village from which these 
people had come, where he met their families and saw many of their native dances and 
heard their songs. On returning to New York, therefore, he was interested not only to see 
these people and tell them some of the later news from their own country and hear the same 
songs that he had heard ten thousand miles away in New Zealand, but also to bring the 
whole matter to the attention of the Department of Anthropology, which arranged for the 
visits of the Maoris, so fortunate in results for the Museum. 

The statue represents some of the best work in the Museum done by Sigurd Neandross. 
It has the stamp of accuracy, being cast directly from a Maori native and the coloring 
studied from the same individual. The pose was a very difficult one to get in a cast, for 
in such tense action the muscles of a model tire and relax. Success was gained by 
making the mold in parts, and of course the open mouth and tongue and the tattooing had 
to be modeled.— Editor] 


NEW ZEALAND JADE 
By George F. Kunz 


HE largest specimen of jade known in any museum in the world 
is that in the American Museum. It was found in 1902 and weighs 
three tons, measures seven feet long and four feet wide and, in 

fact, is the largest mass of jade, of which we have record, that has ever been 
brought to civilized lands from anywhere. One of the greatest previously 
known is that in the British Museum and the second largest known piece ! 
was found by the author in 1899 at Jordansmiihl, Silesia. This piece 
second in size is now on deposit at the American Museum. 

In New Zealand, jade is looked upon as a lucky stone and the common 
saying is that no one should leave New Zealand without taking away as a 
luck piece a bit of “‘green-stone.’’ The earliest voyagers found that the 
Maoris of New Zealand wore ornaments made of stone of two varieties, the 
more important and valuable of which was a variety of jade known as 
nephrite. Among the ornaments were charms carved into the shape of 
flat, grotesque, seated figures, known as hei-tikis. The head of the figure 
was always tilted over to one side and much exaggerated, with the eyes 
exceedingly large and generally rendered very bright by an inlay of broad 
circles of a red, shellac-like wax, often holding in place broad, hollow circles 
of green abalone shell, the jade centres which protruded through the shell 
figuring the pupils of the eyes. From this New Zealand jade were also 
made certain Maori axe-shaped implements, drilled at the upper end, borne 
by the chiefs as badges of office. The one aloft in the right hand of the 
“Maori warrior’? has a sharp cutting edge and measures fifteen inches in 
length. While these objects were ceremonial axes, they were probably 
employed on occasion as death-dealing weapons. 

New Zealand jade has been found in largest quantities on the west 
coast of South Island at Milford Sound, in boulders associated with, and 
presumably found in, a rock-matrix of chlorite schist. The boulders appear 
in the mountain streams and usually range in weight from a few ounces to 
fifty or sixty pounds. This jade is generally green; on the outer surface of 
boulders it has often altered to a brown or yellow-brown sub-translucent 
material. The interior, however, is more or less translucent and occasion- 
ally of the richest green color as if covered with oil. In composition it is 
a silicate of lime and magnesia. It is a trifle less hard than quartz, but 
from its matted, felt-like structure is of extreme toughness, thus requiring 


1 Described in the Catalogue of Heber R. Bishop Collection, 2 vols., 430 pp. 


“J 


or 


aS THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


much more manipulation to shape or polish than does quartz or agate. It 
has been extensively used in the arts in jewelry during the past six or 
eight years. 

Much New Zealand jade has been worked into Chinese art objects, but 
the greater part of the material used in China, whether green or white, 
came from the Kuen-lun Mountains, Turkestan, south of Khotan. No 
white jade has ever been discovered in New Zealand, and no jade has ever 
been discovered in China proper, although all the worked articles from that 
empire are referred to as “Chinese jade.” For the Chinese, jade symbol- 
ized all that was high and pure. Kwan Chung, in the seventh century 
before Christ, wrote that its smoothness symbolized benevolence; its bril- 
liant lustre, knowledge; its toughness, justice; its rarity, purity of soul. 
That the smallest crack on its surface was immediately visible typified 
candor and the fact that although passing from hand to hand it was never 
soiled made it a symbol of a life governed by high moral principles. 

Superstitious ideas largely contribute to the popularity of jade in China. 
Some thirty years ago a Russian officer saw on one of the roads in Turkestan 
a block of jade that had evidently been abandoned in the course of trans- 
portation. He was told that while it was on its way from the quarry of 
Raskem-Darya to Peking an order came to leave it on the road, for the 
heir apparent to the Chinese throne had just been attacked by a serious 
disease after having slept on a couch made of Raskem jade. 

The nephritic variety of jade is often called the true jade and must not 
be confounded with jadeite, a distinct mineral which is a trifle harder, 
has a higher specific gravity, and is besides a silicate of alumina and soda. 
This latter material was that found in ancient Mexico worked up by the 
natives into various ornaments, of which the American Museum contains 
a fine series. 

The exact place of occurrence of the Mexican jewel jadeite has never 
been discovered. In our own time jadeite is found only near the village 
of Tamaw, five days journey from Mogung in Upper Burma, near the 
Chinese boundary. It is of a white to green color or else white with green 
splashes of color often of rich and magnificent tints, and as much as $15,000 
has been paid for a thumb-ring of the choicest of this material. Neither 
nephrite nor jadeite has been found within the limits of the United States 
except in Alaska where true jade-nephrite has been discovered in Jade 
Mountain by Lieutenant Stoners, U.S. N. In this territory many fine 
jade implements have also been found and excellent representations of 
these are in the Museum collection. 


A TREASURE OF ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZES 
By E. C. B. Fassett 


N 1901, Mr. Jacob H. Schiff donated funds to the American Museum 
for making investigations and collections in China, the adminis- 
tration of these funds being entrusted to a committee organized under 

the auspices of the Museum with the late Morris K. Jesup as chairman. 

The work was placed in the hands of Dr. Berthold Laufer, who had just 
completed work as a member of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition to 
Eastern Siberia. Dr. Laufer spent the three years from 1901 to 1904 in 
China and the collection thus obtained is now in the Museum’s Chinese 
Hall in the west wing of the building, 
while a letter recently received from 
Dr. Lauter, calls attention to its greatly 
increased value. He says in fact that 
after a diligent search in China he has 
been unable to make another collection 
of equal importance. His studies of this 
collection of bronzes appeared in 1909 in 
a report of the East Asiatic Committee 
of the Jacob H. Schiff Chinese Expedi- 
tion.! This was published in Leyden 
because of the facilities there afforded 
in the way of Chinese type. 

Among the specimens in the Chinese 
Hall there are two absolutely unique 
collections, the ancient Chinese bronzes 
and certain mortuary pottery of the Han 
period. Because of their relation to 


each other and to modern art, they have 


much the same interpretative value to 


East Asiatic study that the pre-Homeric THE OLDEST AMONG THE MUSEUM'S 
< CHINESE BRONZES 


or Minoan collections have to Greek Bronze libation cup used in ancestor 
art. worship Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 
pase 4 2 i as B. C.). This bronze vessel must have 
The history of China has charm be- taken its rise long before historical 
cause of its antiquity, its unparalleled con- times, since allusions to it in Confucius 


5 5 : ite are referred to the times of legendary 
tinuity and the survival of its culture. emperors 


1 CHINESE Pottery oF THE HAN Dynasty. By Berthold Laufer. Published by E. J. 
Brill, Leyden, 1909. Report of the East Asiatic Committee of the Jacob H. Schiff Chinese 
Expedition. 

59 


ANTIQUE BRONZE MIRROR DECORATED IN CONCENTRIC RINGS (DIAMETER 8 IN.) 

The first or inner ring holds the mystic trigram, the “‘pa-qua,’’ accredited to the first of 
the legendary emperors (2852-2738 B. C.). This series of lines is of symbolic meaning em- 
bodying the oldest system of Chinese mystic philosophy. The second ring shows the ‘ ‘twelve 
ancient animals’’; the outer, a very decorative inscription of twenty Chinese characters 


BRONZE FU, CHOU DYNASTY 


A sacrificial vessel for holding offerings of boiled grain in state worship 


ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZES 61 


Following the mythological period (2852 B. C. to 2205 B. C.) came the 
period of the “Three Ancient Dynasties,” the Hia (2205 to 1766 se 8) 
the Shang (1766 to 1122 B. C.) and the Chou (1122 to 255 B. C.), during 


which the purely native culture and institutions of China took form with- 


A BRONZE SACRIFICIAL WINE JAR OF QUADRANGULAR FORM. (HEIGHT 10 IN.) 


This wine jar is one-half tin in an alloy of copper according to the formula from the Chou 
dynasty (1122-255 B. C.) and bears a remarkable inscription proving it to have been made 
in the ‘‘Shang fang,’’ the court atelier of the Han in the year A. D. 12. 

“The shapes of sacrificial vessels. ...have in the course of imitation become the models 
in the later Jade and Ceramic industries. They have thus exercised no little influence on 
European pottery, the forms of which are, in their origin, not confined to the models handed 
down by Greece and Rome.” Hirth 


62 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


out foreign influence. Ancestor 
worship, always the leading feature 
of all religious belief among the 
Chinese, developed its highly elabo- 
rated ceremonials during these dy- 
nasties. The ritual of the sacri- 
ficial service increased in minute- 
ness of detail and affected public 
and private life before the Chou or 
last of the Ancient Dynasties, when 
it reached its highest development; 
while the bronze bells and sacri- 
ficial vessels of manifold forms, 
each devoted to especial purposes 


and decorated with a great variety 


BRONZE “HILL-CENSER” (7 IN. HIGH) of symbolic ornament, bear witness 
First type of Chinese censer made. Han 


to the culture and creative ten- 
dynasty 


dency of the Shang or middle period. 

Following the Three Ancient Dynasties came the time of the Emperor 
Shi-huang-ti (255 to 206 B.C.) who built the great Chinese wall. Under 
the cruel law of this emperor antiquities had to be concealed lest they be 
destroyed. But after this the Han period (206 B. C. to 25 A. D.) proved 
a very productive time marked by external influences combined with much 
native originality. And still much later than the Han period, during the 
late Sung period (960 to 1126 A. D.) there was a great art renaissance, when 
bronzes hidden in ancient times were discovered and studied from a critical 
point of view. 

It should be recalled that the art of bronze casting had reached perfec- 
tion at the earliest period of the Ancient Dynasties. The Emperor Yii 
(2205 to 2198 B. C.) is said to have cast the “ Nine Tripods” from bronze 
contributed from the nine provinces, upon which maps and records of the 
nine divisions of his empire were engraved. These tripods passed from 
dynasty to dynasty as emblems of the imperial power for over two thousand 
vears. 

The period of the manufacture of the bronzes in the Museum extends 
from the eighteenth century before Christ to the seventeenth century after. 
The collection therefore allows the unusual privilege of comparing original 
examples of the early Shang and Chou periods and of the somewhat less 
early Han period with those of the later Sung and Ming periods. This 
comparison proves the forms similar in the ancient and later work, but 
shows changes in detail, ornament and utility. Among the oldest pieces 


ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZES 63 


are types of the bronze vessels used in the rites of ancestor worship, the form 
and detail of which were prescribed by the ritual of the ancient national 
religion. The demands of this religious cult created an epoch of artistic 
vases and other well-proportioned forms defined according to the nature 
of the offerings whether of wine, water, meat, grain or fruit. 

Vessels for carrying wine were of vase forms. The quadrangular smooth 
wine jar in the illustration bears this interesting inscription, “ Made in the 
Shang fang (court atelier of the Han) in the year A. D. 12.”) This type 
occurs as early as the Chou dynasty. The tou, a sacrificial vessel for 
offerings of meat, was shaped like a goblet, a vessel of common. utility 
which seems to have existed in the Hia dynasty (2205 to 1766 B.C.). Our 
example is a bronze tou of the late Ming time, illustrating the bowl with the 
stem, the base of which 
is bell-shaped; the cover 
of this bronze has been 
lost. It is a good imi- 
tation of the ancient 
Chou type (1122 to 255 
By Ga) ene uy a 
rectangular vessel 
evolved from a_ bas- 
ket, was used for hold- 
ing grain or fruits in 
state worship. 

The large bronze 
temple bell dates from 
the Chou period. It has 
peg-like ornaments, the 
utility or symbolism of 
which is not entirely un- 
derstood. Similar peg- 
like forms appear on the 
backs of the bronze 
mirrors... There are 
many examples of me- 


tallic mirrors in the col- 
lection, none of which BRONZE TOU 
are earlier than the Han , : , 
z A vessel of the ancient Chou type for offering cooked meat 

dynasty,though literary to the spirits of ancestors (The cover is lost) 
references indicate the 

1CHINESE Merat Mirrors, with Notes on Some Ancient Specimens of the Musée 
Guimet. By Friedrich Hirth. 


64 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


existence and use of mirrors from an earlier period. The one pictured is 
decorated with relief ornaments in concentric rings. The outer ring bears 


ideographs; the second ring presents the favorite and much discussed motive 


BRONZE TEMPLE BELL, CHOU DYNASTY (1122-255 B. C.) (HEIGHT 1t3 FT.) 


Meaning of knob ornament not thoroughly understood; similar ornaments occur on 


Chinese metal mirrors 
“The oldest extant witnesses of the antiquity of Chinese culture are the sacrificial 


vessels and bells of the Shang and Chou Dynasties” 


THE AGE OF MAMMALS OO 


“the twelve animals’; the inner ring holds the mystic trigram or “ pa-qua”’ 
attributed to Fu-hi, the first of the three ancient sovereigns, and the center 
is marked by a tortoise-shaped perforated knob through which the cord 
handle passes. 

Perhaps the hill-censers are the most unique example of the Han period. 
The Chinese name for these translates “ brazier or stove of the vast moun- 
tain’? from the fact that the cover has the shape of a hill emerging from 
waves. Openings in the cover permitted the escape of the incense. This 
mountain design is symbolic of the thought of the period and probably 


‘ 


refers to the “isles of the blest,” the abode of the immortals. This hill- 
censer of the Han period was the first type of censer made, the ancients not 
burning incense and so having no incense stoves. The favorite form of 
censers now found in Buddhistic, Taoistic and Confucian temples is from a 
bronze caldron originally devoted only to meat offerings. Censers made in 
the Ming period are numerous and of great beauty and the forms of all 
Chinese ritual vessels appear not only in bronze, but also in pottery, jade, 
glass and porcelain. To-day the early history of Chinese porcelains is 
still unwritten but the student will find in the Museum’s Chinese Hall 
many early period examples of bronze and pottery which inspired the forms 
of the finest porcelains. 

Dr. Laufer says: “The fact of a type of vessel sanctified for millenniums 
within the strict boundaries of rigid religious observances suddenly changing 
its object under outside currents of influence, but still retaining the shape, 
is of paramount ethnological value since it proves a higher degree of tenacity 
of forms and greater changeability of the ideas embodied in them: the 
forms survive while the ideas vanish or alter.” 


“THE AGE OF MAMMALS” 
By William K. Gregory 


HOSE whose interests are wholly limited to every-day affairs will 
doubtless not find time for more than a hasty glance at the very 
numerous maps, diagrams and pictures in Professor Osborn’s 


' But those who possess 


recently published book, “The Age of Mammals.” 
in some measure the “scientific imagination’’ will find here a new world 
and a new point of view, from which Man may be seen in his proper 
historical setting. 

‘Tue Ace or Mammats in Europe, Asia and North America. By Henry Fairfield 
Osborn. Svo., pp. XVIT + 635, figs. 220. The Macmillan Company, 1910. 


66 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Such readers will naturally be impressed with the enormous lapse of 
time required for the historical progression outlined in this book, especially 
when they consider the various estimates, ranging from three to six millions 
of years, which have been assigned by different investigators as the time 
equivalent of the Tertiary period. Nevertheless this period covers only 
the later chapters in mammalian history. For the class of which man is now 
the dominant member was already represented by certain little-known 
forms in the Triassic, at a time when the dinosaurs had not yet attained 
their preéminence and long before the Rocky Mountains were uplifted. 

The diagram here reproduced summarizes the historical succession of the 
Tertiary and Quaternary formations in western North America, giving the 
maximum thickness of each and distinguishing the deposits of the Great 
Plains from those of the Rocky Mountains. The “zones” are time peri- 
ods, named from mammalian genera that are especially characteristic of 
the corresponding formations, while on the extreme right are the names 


‘ 


of some of the other mammals that serve as time markers in the “ chronom- 
eter of evolution.” 

This diagram epitomizes a part of the results of Professor Osborn’s 
studies on the “correlation of Tertiary mammal horizons in Europe, Asia 
and North America,” a problem which has been slowly worked out with 
the aid of many colleagues in this country and abroad. From these 
data he draws some very far-reaching conclusions on the origin and 
spreading of faunas from continent to continent, and on the appearance 
and removal of geographical barriers to faunal interchange. Such con- 
clusions invest the dry facts of geographic and geologic distribution 
with a larger and more fruitful meaning. 

Regarding the evolution of mammals, the introduction deals very 
clearly with the rise of paleontology and with the laws of evolution of the 
teeth, feet and skull. The “irreversibility of evolution” and the causes of the 
extinction of mammalian species are among the many topics of general 
biological interest. 

Very gratifying is the fact that this Museum has been able to furnish 
a large part of the material for a work of such far-reaching importance to 
the student of mammalian evolution. Many of the mounted skeletons 
in the Hall of Fossil Mammals appear here, accompanied by excellent 
restorations from the gifted brush of Charles R. Knight. The numerous 
and thorough Museum expeditions in the West and elsewhere, which have 
been carried on systematically during the past twenty years, furnish scores 
of field pictures, maps and geological sections. The manifold systematic, 
faunal and stratigraphic studies by Professor Osborn, Dr. Matthew and 
others, have thus been joined synthetically with the results of paleeontolo- 
gists and geologists the world over. 


(NEB) 


ZONES MAMMALS 


Cervus 


Dvibos Bison 


(TEXAS) a Castoro/des 
z ; : ‘ ) 

of ES 2 Megalonyx WEG ih 
a Lquus Platygonus 


JUAN | BASIN 


4 . 

me Pantolambda — ‘yprotegonia 

2 Chriacus 

a = Polymastodon — FPeriptychus 
Ps Dissacus 


= 
Zz 
ul 
oO 
lu 
[a af 
x 
ee) 
ud 
— 
Be 
o <i! it Ae 
g of | i Elephas ? 
Lj |} v3 aan 
Z fw 1S] t 
wi Ja ii : : 
© = (OREGON) al Glyptothertum Pliauchenia 
oO <isaie seas Felis 
5 S DS ea Neotragocerus 
a |s = | Peraceras ean 
= Alcs : pigaulus 
w of Teleoceras 
a x Procamelus Aelurodon 
a ass Neohipparion 
a oh ee ae uae LD 
Zw z Merycodus 
W)s 1 ; Trilophodon 
Ona =H Ticholeptus Aphelops 
oe et Merychippus 
= TT Se a are a SS SS SS SS SS SS SS FF SS FS FF 
By | real | ates a _|abees Merychyus 
An ie a> ale “ Merycochoerus Oxydactylus 
Seas “fs Fe een Peneeus 
it bal Schnee & Rae : : Z arahippus 
ee = is Diceratherium PP 
: ——— eee Pe mete Eporeodon 
wi elise Ba Sec Promerycochoerus Steneofiber 
a 3 = =i : Entelodon 
SO i aT Leptauchenta Pe atacerse 
eal Neal eee ee ae ey a A ee ee ee 
We} 4 Poébrotherium 
Oo = 4 Oreodon Mitamynodon 
o > zh Hydenodon 
Oo bee Hgracodon 
5 o g] Leptomeryx 
z ler Titanotherium  0ty/opus 
a) Co) eee Mesohippus 
(UTAH Trigonias 
y= 2 Epthippus 
= n—lacodorn PEELS 
i (wY0,) Der Dolichorhinus 
ca -——- ? J Amynodon 
= = Hobasileus ae ae 
= Uintatherium  /2a/aeosyops 
> Q Notharctus 
S Orohippus Fatriofelis 
at |= PP Metacheiromys 
O eS Se SS ee 
Oo |«|e Eotitanops Systemodon 
ul > S = Beene Pachydena 
5) z Lambdothertaum Phenacodus 
= |= z Coryphodon fohippus 


Diagram from Professor Osborn’s Age of Mammals showing the supposed time sequence 
and equivalence of the principal fossil mammal bearing deposits of the West. The Zones” 
are time divisions named from characteristic mammals found in the succcessive formations 


1M poos ponuguos jo joord sev ]IssoJ ONOISTY SI} Ques sBy WNoSNyA 
Sioaquoyouesg of IY) SULA VIS Ayjetoedsy st 4] “SUIp[Ing oy} JO WOTBOIpep oy} IB QUesSead 
oq 0} JaNJyURI OF 9UOS Surrey s9yVR_ oy ‘sndume LOJA uodn pue dnsof Juepisatd oR, 9) 
uodn s1ouoy JO Suldeyuoo oy} AQ opRUl SVM JJLS oY} JO UONUSOOII IVY} Potoquiowod oq TIM I] ‘sojdood uPRUutdor) 
pure uRoLoUry of) OsyR yNq sUNoesnyY JanjyURI pue YOR MON Iq} AyuO OU Joy ISO) AjOSOpO o.1OU SUIPUTG UL [RyUOUINAYS 
-ul oAOId 4ystur at yeyy edoy of2 UL opeur SBA dnsop ‘yy studopy o3e] oy JO IIS sty, “sojsetd Jo Jou purx osuoq JO posodwod 
SI Wey) ‘odoang, UT SnoOpoydiq yeutstio ATUO oq ‘snoopordiq oy) JO UOJOPYS TISSOJ IBeIs oY OF UGATS SVM DINJONAQS [BUI oY} JO JAMNOD 9} UL 
iouoy jo sortd oy) ‘Avp-07 SB ‘OUT TOM 9B “LOGT “9qoIQ Ul oyqnd oy) 09 SurpymMq Mou sy pouedo AdoOISTF, TRANQVVN JO WNosnyY satoqueyoues oh 


WOASAW DHSSNSNONSS SHL AG GSLN3SSYd ATIGOOOHD ANIYVW LONILXA NV SO NOL313mS 89 


HISTORIC FOSSIL FROM SENCKENBERG MUSEUM 


HE valuable fossil described in the accompanying letter has been 
accepted for the American Museum by President Osborn with 
expressions of appreciation of the gift not only as such but also as 

an “index of the peculiarly cordial relations which prevail between the 
Senckenberg Museum and the American Museum and of the spirit of 
broad scientific interest which antmates both.”’ 


SENCKENBERG NaTURAL History SOCIETY 
FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN. December |6, 1910. 
HONORED COLLEAGUE: 


The Senckenberg Natural History Society has wished for a long time 
to dedicate a gift to the American Museum in token of especial high 
regard. Since our Museum has recently received the best specimen yet 
found of Mystriosaurus bollensis Cuvier we are able to release our older 
specimen, likewise very fine, a photograph of which I enclose. In their 
meeting of December 7 the administration of our society concluded there- 
fore to present this specimen to the American Museum of Natural History. 

In the meantime our trustee, Dr. Lotichius, has informed us that your 
Museum would be disposed to arrange an exchange of our Mystriosaurus 
for a skeleton of the American short-legged rhinoceros. Although I do 
not deny that the Senckenberg Museum would welcome with great pleasure 
the possession of a good skeleton of Teleoceras, we beg that in consideration 
of the decision previously reached by us, you will feel free to receive the 
Mystriosaurus as a gift and we hope for its friendly acceptance. 

I add the following data in regard to the specimen. The Mystrio- 
saurus was obtained at Holzmaden in Wiirttemberg in the Posidonia zone 
of the Liassic. It was described by H. G. Bronn (Abhandlungen uber die 
gabialartigen Reptilien der Liasformationen, Stuttgart 1841) who stated it 
to be the largest and most complete of the German skeletons. Andreas 
Wagner (Abhandlungen Kgl. Bayer. Akademie Wissenschafter Bd. II 
p. 545 ff, 1850) considered the species identical with Mystriosaurus miinsteri 
Wagner. Bourmeister (der fossile Gavial von Boll, Halle 1854) established 
for this species the older name VW. bollensis Cuvier. The specimen which 
vou receive is, therefore, the type specimen of the invalid species MW. senclen- 
bergianus Br. 

With the expression of our highest consideration and with friendly 
greetings, I am, 

Yours very sincerely, 
Ernst RoeEDIGER, 
Director of the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History. 


69 


ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A FOSSIL EGG FROM 
MADAGASCAR 


N egg that is two feet, eight inches long and two feet, two inches 
around and that has a capacity of about two gallons is a new posses- 
sion of the Museum, one hundred dollars having been the purchase 

price. Che specimen is a fossil from Madagascar and has been in the 
British Museum on loan since 1892. It is unusually perfect, the shell 
unbroken although finely pitted in places showing effects upon it before it 
passed into this unchangeable state. 

Fossil eggs of this description first came to the notice of scientists in 
1850 when discovered in the bed of a torrent in Madagascar. The natives 
were familiar with them, using them sometimes as vessels for domestic 
purposes; and these natives had also a tradition of a bird large enough to 
carry off an ox. At the time of the discovery there was much discussion 
by scientific men as to whether what came out of these eggs in ancient 
times was bird or reptile and after a few bones discovered somewhat later 
decided in favor of bird which was named A*pyornis, there was much 
difference of opinion as to its kind and relationships. Some placed it with 
dodos, others with auks, and still others with vultures or large birds of 
prey. Some fifteen years later, in 1867, various less incomplete fossil 
remains came to light, which decided definitely that the bird was not only 
of massive proportions, but also that it was short-winged, thus proving tts 
alliance to the Dinornis of New Zealand and to the Apteryx. Its height 
was supposed to have been six or seven feet although previous calculations 
had placed it at twelve feet. 

There is no fossil specimen of the bird itself in the American Museum, 
but exhibited in the Geological Hall are some of its more or less distant 
relatives, the Apteryx, the Moas — fossil New Zealand birds which were 
nearly wingless — and the gigantic Dinornis, standing nine feet high. The 
egg will be placed on exhibition soon and when seen in comparison with the 
eggs of birds of ordinary size or even with that of the ostrich will make 
clear that knowledge of these eggs in prehistoric times may well have given 
rise in oriental fable to the stories of a giant “roc able to carry off an ele- 


phant in its— talons.” 


Mr. W. DeW. Mitver, Assistant in the Department of Mammalogy 
and Ornithology, has been honored by an appointment as inspector of 
imported live birds at the Port of New York under the direction of the 
Chief of the United States Biological Survey. 


70 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member- 
ship in the Museum: 

Life Members, Messrs. ALLIsoN V. ArMouR, ARTHUR D. Garpay, 
Witiiam Perkins WapsworrH and Gen. THomMas Huspsparp; 

Sustaining Member, Mr. Epwarp J. bE Copper; 

Annual Members, Messrs. Puitie G. Barrett, JuLtus HENRY CoHEN, 
WILLIAM N. CoHEN, Harry A. CusHING, JULIUS GoLDMAN, Epcar HurpeE- 
KOPER, FREDERIC E. Humpureys, C. D. HuyLer, MIcHAEL JENKINS, 
S. KELLER, JoHN DrypDEN Kuser, WILLIAM MircHeLL, WILLIAM S. Myers, 
CHARLES J. OBERMAYER, JOHN OFFERMAN, EDMUND PENFOLD, F. Port, 
JAMES H. SCHMELZEL, R. A. SCHNABEL, HARPER SILLIMAN, CHARLES L. 
TIFFANY, JoHN J. D. TRENoR, Drs. CHARLES Browne, L. PreRcE CLARK, 
JAMES Morury Hirzrot, Witutiam J. MERSEREAU, TrEoFILo Paropt, 
A. Emit Scumitt, Rev. Dr. WaLtrer THompson, MMes. WiLtiaM LANMAN 
Butt, B. OcpEN CuHIsoLM, RuFus CoLe, CLARENCE M. Hyper, SAMUEL 
Keyser, WittiamM N. KreMER, JOSEPH SHARDLOW, and Miss Epirn M. 
KOHLSAAT. 


PRESIDENT HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN was made Curator Emeritus of 
the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the meeting of the Execu- 
tive Committee on January 18, 1911. 


THe New York ZoOLoGicaL Soctery has presented to the Museum a 
series of six hundred animal photographs taken from time to time through 
a long period of years at the Zoélogical Park. 


One of the attractive features of the opening of the new South Sea 
Islands Hall on January 25, 1911, was a collection of thirty-one paintings 
made among the South Sea Islands by the late John La Farge and loaned 
by Miss Grace Edith Barnes. 


Mr. CHarves L. BerRNHEIMER has recently presented to the Museum 
a splendid collection of whaling implements including harpoons and a 
bomb gun; also, by the efforts of Mr. Frank Wood of New Bedford, Mass., 
a complete outfit for a whaling boat has been secured through exchange. 
These are important additions to the Museum’s collections, for even at 
this date it is exceedingly difficult to get many of the articles which went 
to make up the equipment used by the deep sea whalers of New Bedford 


and a few years from now will be quite impossible. 


Ar the meeting of the Executive Committee on January 18, 1911, 
Miss Mary C. Dickerson was appointed Curator of the Department of 
Woods and Forestry and Assistant Curator in Herpetology. 


71 


~I 
bo 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


THe Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology has recently received 
from the Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition a valuable collection of 
mammals and birds made during 1909 and 1910 by Dr. R. M. Anderson 
along the Arctic coast and islands from the Mackenzie delta westward to 
Point Barrow. The birds include water-fowl and land-birds characteristic 
of the high North, such as jaeger and other gulls, the spectacled eider and 
other ducks and geese, various species of shore birds, large series of two 
species of ptarmigan, Lapland longspurs, redpolls, snow buntings, wheatears, 
yellow wagtails, horned larks, ete. The mammals include ground squirrels, 
lemmings, voles, Arctic fox, weasels and shrews. The Colville River was 
ascended to the Endicott Mountains, in which district were obtained a 
good series of the white sheep and sixteen specimens of the Barren Ground 
caribou. The route of the expedition was for the most part through un- 
explored ground, and the birds and mammals obtained are thus of the 
highest interest. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 


MEMBERS’ COURSE 


The spring course of lectures to Members will be given in March. 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 


Given in vodperation with the City Department of Education. 
Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30. 
The last four of a course of lectures by Dr. ARTHUR JUDSON Brown. 
February 7— ‘Dependent Korea.”’ 
February 14 — “Changing China.” 
February 21 — ‘‘America in the Philippines.” 
February 28 — “Siam.” 
Saturday evenings at 8:15 o clock. Doors open at 7:30. 
The last four of a course of eight lectures on Publie Health. 
February 4— Dr. Lrvinaston Farranp, ‘Tuberculosis: The General Problem; 
the Organized Campaign against the Disease.”’ 
February 11— Dr. JAMES ALEXANDER Mruuer, “Tuberculosis as a Social Problem. 
Method of Treatment.” 
February 18 — Pror. C-E. A. Wrnstow, ‘‘ Water Pollution and Water Purification.’ 
February 25 — Mr. Lawrence VeIuuErR, ‘Housing and Health.” 


? 


LEGAL HOLIDAY COURSE 


Fully illustrated. Open free to the public. Tickets not required. 
Lectures begin at 3:15 o'clock. Doors open at 2:45. 


February 22 — Pror. C-E. A. Winstow, “Insect Carriers of Disease.” 


Scientific Staff 


DIRECTOR 
Hermon Carey Bumpus, Ph.D., Se.D., LL.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 


MINERALOGY 
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GeorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Hrnry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
WILLIAM BrureNnMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 


Prof. Witu1AM Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. Treapwett, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 
Prof. J. A. Auten, Ph.D., Curator 
FraNK M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant in Mammalogy 
W. De W. Miter, Assistant in Ornithology 


VERTEBRATE PALHAONTOLOGY 
Prof. Henry FarrRFieLp Ossorn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Sc., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Marruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D.; Acting Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Assistant Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Wituiam K. Grecory, A. B., A. M., Ph.D., Assistant 
Louis Hussaxkor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes 
JoHN T. Nicuots, A. B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cynraia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator in Herpetology 


ANTHROPOLOGY 
CLARK WIssLeR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Pury E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Haran I. Smiru, Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowir, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 

HERBERT J. SPINDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CHARLES W. Mean, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Raupo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHartes Epwarp Amory WINSLOow, 8.B., M.S., Curator 


WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntura Dickerson, B.S., Curator 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratepo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


ANTHONY Woopwarp, Ph.D., in charge of Maps and Charts 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. Apert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
Grorce H. SHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


FORST HE “RE@PLE 
FOR EDVCATION 
BORK S ChE NG E 


THE 
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM 
JOURNAL 


MARCH, 1911 


CONE ENATs 


The Okapi ; : : ; ‘ - J. A. Allen 
Totem Poles of the North Pacific Coast Har/an/. Smith 
A Gift from Ecuador : ¢ - Charles W. Mead 
The Four-toed Horse ; : - Walter Granger 


Preservation of Mammal Skins in the Field 
James L. Clark 


Flea Carriers of the Plague . , Frank E. Lutz 
Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees 


Expedition to Lower California 


VOLUME XI NUMBER 3 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THe AMERICAN Museum or NaturRAL History 
New York Ciry 


ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry Fatrrretp OsBorNn 
First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGe - J. Prerpont Moraan, Jr. 


Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HuNntTINGTON 


THe Mayor or THE City or New York 
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE Crty or New York 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE A. D. JurLuIARp 

GEORGE S. BowpDoINn Gustav E. Kisseni 
JoserpH H. CHOATE Sera Low 

THomas DreWirr CuyLer OapEN MILs 

James Dovuaetas J. Prerpont Moraan, Jr. 
Mapison GRANT Percy R. Pyne 

Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHn B. TREVOR 
ARTHUR CurTISsS JAMES Fretrx M. WarpurG 
Watrer B. JAMES Grorce W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Acting Director Assistant Secretary 


CHARLES H. TowNsEND GrorGceE H. SHERWOOD 
Assistant Treasurer 
Tue Unirep States Trust Company or New York 


Tse Museum 1s Open FREE TO THE PuBLIc ON Every Day IN THE YBRAR. 


THe AMERICAN Museum or Naturau History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
codperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 


the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Annual Members. ................ $ 10 HOMO WS! iii As te he sak sees 3 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 (PAUPOUS a tet t cls eterno ts epee 1000 
Wye AVV CRUD ONS ye cares we tars eral yale malo k 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Tue Museum Lisrary contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. Mm. to 5 P. M. 


Tue Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 


GuIpEs For Stupy or Exursits are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 

WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 


Tue Mitta RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


From Annales du Musee du Congo 


OKAPIA JOHNSTONI SCLATER. ADULT MALE. MOUNTED UNDER THE DIRECTION 
OF M. DE PAUW AT THe UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS 


The American Museum Journal 


Vou. XI MARCH, 1911 No. 


eu) 


THE OKAPI 


BY J. A. ALLEN 


~ 


The American authority on mammals, Professor J. A. Allen, gives in 
the following an account of the okapi, of its discovery in 1901 when it was 
thought to be a relative of the horse, of the proof later in the same year that it 
is related to the giraffe and to certain extinct forms from the Miocene of south- 
ern Europe and of India. Although the okapi has been known for a space of 
ten years and is covered by a literature of more than half a hundred titles from 
the study of okapi skins and skeletons, the living animal, at least till recently, 
has never been seen in tts native haunts by a white man and the realistic okapi 
group to be constructed in the American Museum as a result of the six months’ 
work of the Museum’s Congo Expedition in the Great Forest of Africa will 
prove a notable event in the scientific world. 


N November 20, 1900, a letter was read at a meeting of the Zoélogi- 
cal Society of London from Sir Harry Johnston, announcing that 
he had obtained evidence “of the existence of a very remarkable 

new horse,” which appeared to inhabit the Great Congo Forest. At the 
Belgian post of Mbéni he found that this animal was called “okapi”’ by the 
Bambuba natives of the region, and he was fortunate enough to obtain 
pieces of the skin that had been made into waist-belts and bandoliers. 
These pieces exhibited the stripes of the legs and hind quarters, and indi- 
cated an animal different from any known zebra or wild ass. These 
fragments were forwarded by Sir Harry to the Secretary of the Zodlogical 
Society and exhibited at a meeting of the Society held December 18, 1900. 
Thus was obtained the first definite knowledge of a horse-like animal 
marked with black and white stripes referred to by early Dutch and 
Portuguese writers as existing in the great forests of Central Africa. 

At a meeting of the London Society held February 5, 1901, these frag- 
ments were shown and described by Dr. P. L. Sclater as representing a new 
species of zebra, which he named after its discoverer, Sir Harry Johnston, 
Equus johnstoni, the reference of the species to Equus being tentative. At 
a meeting of the Zodlogical Society held three months later (May 7, 1901), 


73 


74 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Dr. Sclater exhibited a water-color drawing of the animal made by Sir 
Harry Johnston from a fresh skin secured through the Belgian authorities 
of Fort Mbéni. From this drawing it became evident that the new animal 
was not a zebra, nor even a member of the family Lquide, but a species 
allied to the giraffe. The drawing was published as Plate I of Volume II 
of the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society for 1901. This skin and also 
two skulls, obtained by native soldiers of the Congo Free State near Fort 
Mbéni, were forwarded by Sir Harry to the British Museum, where they 
arrived June 17, 1901, and served as the basis of a paper presented by 
Professor E. Ray Lankester the following day at a meeting of the Zodélogical 
Society. From these specimens he was able to give the principal characters 
of this strange animal and discuss its relationships. He found it to repre- 
sent a new genus, allied to the giraffe and also to certain extinct forms from 
the Miocene of southern Europe and India. He gave to the new genus the 
name Olapia. 

This skin was mounted by Rowland Ward for the British Museum, where 
it was placed on exhibition in August, 1901 — the first example of the “ mys- 
terious okapi” installed for public exhibition. Colored drawings of the 
mounted specimen were immediately given wide publicity in various popu- 
lar as well as scientific publications. The discovery of an animal so strange 
and striking naturally excited great interest, and the okapi was soon famous 
throughout the world. 

Since 1901 numerous specimens of this animal have been taken in the 
Congo region, nearly all of them through the agency of the Belgian Govern- 
ment. They include not only skins and skulls of adults of both sexes and 
of various ages, but also a number of complete skeletons, representing alto- 
gether some thirty or more individuals. While much of this material has 
been retained for the museums of Belgium, many specimens have been 
presented, by direction of the late King Leopold II, to other European 
museums. Permission has also been generously granted to several private 
expeditions of other nationalities to enter the Congo Free State in pursuit 
of the okapi, but apparently they have met with little success, except in 
the case of the Alexander Gossling expedition, which secured skins, skulls 
and skeletons for the British Museum, and, as noted below, of the Lang- 
Chapin Congo Expedition of the American Museum. 

The material thus acquired by European museums, notably that in the 
Museum at Tervueren, has furnished the basis for several important mono- 
graphs of the species, and for a large number of minor papers, resulting in an 
okapi literature numbering more than half a hundred titles, so that the 
external and osteological characters and the affinities of few species are 
now better known than are those of the okapi. j 


DISCOVERY AND RELATIONSHIPS OF THE OKAPI 79 


In the character of limbs and length of neck the okapi differs little from 
the ordinary type of ruminant, as for example a deer or an antelope. Al- 
though it differs widely in external appearance from the giraffe which has 
elongated limbs and enormously lengthened cervical vertebree, the structure 
of the skull and teeth show it to be a member of the giraffe family. It has 
also two small frontal horns, somewhat similar to those of the giraffe but 
less developed, differing in this respect from ordinary ruminants. The lips 
are not prehensile and its small eyes give the head somewhat the appearance 
of that of a deer. The colored plate of the okapi sufficiently indicates its 
general appearance in respect to form and peculiar coloration. 

The okapi is said to live in pairs in the depths of the forest and to feed 
on the leaves of the undergrowth. Up to a recent date it was said that no 
white man had ever seen the living okapi in its native haunts, or was likely 
to, as it is extremely wary and shy, and nocturnal in its habits. The speci- 
mens taken have all been captured by the natives, who are said to be able 
sometimes to steal up to the animals and kill them with spears, but usually 
they take them in traps. Sir Harry Johnston, in an account of his trip to 
the Congo Forest for okapi, thus speaks of its haunts: “ Provided with 
guides, we entered the awesome depths of the Congo Forest. For several 
days we searched for the okapi, but in vain. We were shown its supposed 
tracks by the natives.... The atmosphere of the forest was almost un- 
breatheable with its Turkish-bath heat, its reeking moisture, and its powerful 
smell of decaying, rotting vegetation. We seemed, in fact, to be trans- 
ported back to Miocene times, to an age and a climate scarcely suitable 
for the modern type of real humanity. Severe attacks of fever prostrated 
not only the Europeans but all the black men of the party, and we were 
obliged to give up the search and return to the grass-lands with such frag- 
ments of the skin as I had been able to purchase from the natives.”’ 

It was on the borders of such a region that the members of the American 
Museum Congo Expedition, under the leadership of Herbert Lang and 
James Chapin, camped for nearly six months and were successful in obtain- 
ing specimens of the okapi and the necessary accessories for a large realistic 
group of these animals for this Museum. While the Congo Expedition is 
to be congratulated on the results of its laborious efforts, these were 
rendered possible only through the generous and hearty coéperation of 
the officials of the Congo Free State under most favorable instructions from 
the Belgian Government. All the specimens were trapped by the natives by 
means of nooses set in the “terrible swamps” of the Great Congo Forest. 


(do) UO SONS URN POArRo OY) []OS JOU PTNOM suvIpUT OT) WinosnyY UeoWoUury 
“RySVLY Udouynas ul {QUNOD OLUTYSS, OY OF PUNOg jowNg Ulod SPuopNo YOM “OWN Oo 
od t 


JO otlos 


LSVOO Old!IOVd HLYON SHL NO ADOVITIA ANV J4O IWNLVAA SNONDIdSNOOD V SHV S3A10d WALOL QZ 


TOTEM POLES OF THE 


HUGE CEDAR CARVINGS OFTEN SO 


HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR MEANINGS. 
ANCESTRAL LEGEND OR IS THE 


NORTH PACIFIC COAST 


OLD THAT THE INDIANS THEMSELVES 
EACH TOTEM POLE TELLS SOME 


“BADGE” OF A FAMILY OR CLAN 


By Harlan I. Smith 


Photographs by the Author 


N some villages of the North Pacific Coast of America a totem pole stands 


in front of each house and the houses stand in a row facing the sea. 


From a distance the poles look like stubs of a dead forest fringing the 


edge of the sea and not till one ap- 
the 
houses appear nestled in the vegeta- 
When seen 


proaches nearer do squatty 
tion just back of them. 
near at hand the poles are grotesque, 
some of them still exhibiting, even 
after the many years of exposure to 
wind and weather, faint traces of the 
color with which they were originally 
painted. 

Totem poles are a conspicuous 
feature of any village on the North 
Pacific Coast of America, so conspic- 
uous indeed that the Indian tribes 


living here have sometimes been 
‘alled “Totem Pole Indians.” The 


poles mark the area of the North 
Pacific Coast culture, which extends 
from the vicinity of Puget Sound 
along the coast to the Eskimo coun- 


The influ- 


ence of this culture, to be sure, extends 


try in southern Alaska. 


southward along the coast but at 
Puget Sound it begins to lose its 
strongest characteristics. Indica- 
tions of its influence are found also 
in the interior especially along the 
water-ways. Some of the best totem 
poles are not seen by the tourist 
who makes the delightful scenic trip 


to Alaska by way of the calm inland 


TAMANAWAS BOARD, BAY CENTER, 
WASHINGTON 


This crude carving, now in the possession of 
the Museum, shows totem pole influence south 
of the North Pacific Coast culture area 


77 


7S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


passage, but are to be found in remote villages far up some of the mighty 
rivers of the North Pacific Coast. 

Totem poles are carved from cedar. On this rainy foggy coast which is 
never very hot in summer nor bitter cold in winter, the forests are noted for 
their gigantic cedars. The Indians here are preéminently a woodworking 
people; they have become clever in the arts of splitting, bending, splicing, 
carving and inlaying. The house is made from split cedar planks on a 
framework of adzed cedar logs. The canoe is dug out of a huge cedar trunk. 
Much of the clothing is made by weaving shredded cedar bark. Spear 
handles are whittled out of cedar wood while the masks used in the cere- 
monies are also often carved from cedar. 

The carvings on the poles most often represent animals, among those 
commonly shown being the beaver, bear, raven, frog, finback whale and 
squid. Mythical monsters are also represented, while the human face and 


figure are common. Sometimes the carved figure of a man forms the top 


a & 


ee Lem - 


THE TOTEM POLES STAND IN A ROW FACING THE SEA 


Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands 


TOTEM POLES 


of a totem pole to represent the speaker or orator 
employed by an Indian host giving a banquet or by a 
financier making an investment somewhat as we have 
a lawyer represent us at court. Some of these are 
hollow figures in which a slave or servant may be 
secreted to make speeches through the open mouth. 
Frequently such a figure is carved standing upon the 
head of another carved figure representing a slave, 
tending to show that the owner of the house was rich 
in slaves. 

The art of the average totem pole is on the whole 
symbolic and conventional though rather realistic in 
appearance. This is true not only in the case of the 
totem poles but also in nearly all of the art of the 
Northwest Coast peoples. On the other hand, the same 
motifs, animal and human, may be employed for purely 
decorative purposes and some of the baskets and occa- 
sionally blankets show geometric designs, many of 
which, however, probably symbolize ideas also, while 
decorative carvings without symbolic meaning may be 
inserted here and there on a totem pole to fill up blank 
spaces between the symbolic carvings. One method of 
conventionalizing a carving frequently consists in ex- 
aggerating some salient feature of the animal repre- 
sented; for instance the carvings of a beaver and a wolf 
look very much alike except that the beaver is indi- 
cated by prominent incisors and a flat tail. Again, the 
artist has sometimes distorted to fit the field what would 
otherwise have been a nearly realistic figure or a slightly 
conventionalized one. It must not be forgotten that 
among Indians as among other peoples great artists are 
rare, and that men of wealth who desire to have a fine 
totem pole must pay enormous prices in such things as 
blankets, canoes or slaves in order to have the most 
perfect work. 

Carved house and grave posts are akin to totem 
poles. On entering the houses we find that some of 
the posts supporting the rafters are carved so much like 
totem poles that where a house has gone to decay and 
only the posts remain, they may quite naturally be 
mistaken for small totem poles. Sometimes the house 
posts are plain, and carved posts which do not bear any 


Bik 
iy 


Tlingit modern to- 
tem pole at Wrangel, 
Alaska, contrasting 
sharply in idea with a 
mission church near. 
The lowest carving is 
a beaver as shown by 
the teeth and tail 


SO 


Before’ the 
Chief’s house, 
Wrangel 


Looking out 
to sea at Old 
Wrangel 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


part of the weight of the frame are placed 
against them. Again if one pushes through 
the nettles and salmon-berry bushes to the 
graveyard, he will find there many carved posts 
which may be mistaken for little totem poles. 

There is another object which when removed 
from its proper position resembles the totem 
pole: this is the carved “grease trough.’ It 
is supported like the ridgepole of a house in 
such a position that it hangs above the fire, a 
magnificent chandelier, and the grease with 
which it is filled runs out of the giant carved 
mouth and falling upon the fire causes it to 
blaze up and illuminate the surroundings — 
probably at the festivities of some great ban- 
quet to the honor of the host and his family. 

The style of the totem pole and of other 
carved posts varies more or less from tribe to 
tribe. Grave posts and house posts among 
the Salish tribes of Puget Sound are rather 
flat bas-reliefs and there are few, if any, tall 
totem poles. Among the Haida the totem 
poles are tall, massive, carved in the round 
and of excellent workmanship. Totem poles 
are rare among the Nootka and though this 
tribe makes many small figures of wood, these 
are not of excellent workmanship. At Victoria 
I found a Nootka Indian carving a_ large 
totem pole and learned that he was copying 
to order from a photograph a Haida pole for 
a curio dealer. The curio dealer informed 
me that he intended to put this on the roof 
until it was weathered enough to resemble an 
old pole. Sepulchres are made in some totem 
poles, notably among the Haida and Tlingit. 
There are several poles of this type at Wrangel. 
Such totem poles have at the back some dis- 
tance from the ground a niche in which the 
body is placed. 

The complete significance of a totem pole 


TOTEM POLES 


is not always clear to-day even to the Indians 
themselves because the original meaning of 
the carvings and paintings has in many cases 
been forgotten. Also, although some of the 
most competent American anthropologists 
have seen and described these poles of the 
North Pacific Coast, the interpretations they 
have given of them have only too often been 
avowedly incomplete. Probably on some of 
the poles the carved figures illustrate a legend- 
ary dream or exploit of the ancestor of a 
family or clan. This legend is, then, the 
property of the family and together with the 
family dance and song is often believed to 
have been obtained by the ancestor from the 
totem animal. Thus the totem animal has 
come to be regarded as the “badge”’ of the 
family or clan, somewhat as the eagle is the 
symbol of the United States. Although 
the totem animal does frequently figure as 
the guardian of the family or clan, these 
animals must be sharply differentiated from 
the guardian spirits of the eastern Indians, 
in so far as the totem animals have come 
into relation to the family through the an- 
cestors of the groups and not through any 
living individuals belonging to the group. 
Property sentiment has become strongly as- 
sociated with the poles and the ideas the 
poles stand for so that no two families can be 
found claiming identical totem poles. Often 
the meaning of any given pole has become 
very complex because marriages and impor- 
tant family events, such as great potlatches 
or the killing of slaves in order to show the 
great wealth of their owner may have been 
inserted on the pole in carvings additional to 
those representing the traditional legend. 

It has been found difficult to get totem 
poles for the Museum. In the first place they 


S] 


Wrangel 


art at 
Wrangel 


Overgrown 
with grasses 
and vines, Old 


Primitive 


Old 


S2 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


are seldom if ever owned by an individual but rather 
by a family or group and it is as difficult to close a deal 
with them all as to get a quit claim deed from all the 
heirs of an estate. The second reason for the difficulty 
in getting possession of totem poles is that the Indians 
who still retain their regard for old customs and institu- 
tions will not think of parting with one of these symbols 
of aristocracy, which is also interwoven with their religious 


ideas. If, on the other hand, 


Soi 


the Museum representative 
goes to the Indians who 
have been under the influence 
of missionaries and Govern- 
ment teachers, he finds that 
they have no totem poles, 
for almost as fast as the 
Indian loses his regard for 
the totem poles he is willing 
House post from 
Comox, sritish 
Columbia, now in 
the American Mu- 
seum. Speaker 
represented as 
standing on the 
head of a slave; 


to chop them up and burn 
them. He is often urged to 
do so by the missionaries who 
desire to remove every re- 
minder of the old life, believ- 
ing that the Indian will then 
quickly adjust himself to the 
new ways taught by the 
white men. 

Notwithstanding the dif- 
ficulty in getting possession 
of totem poles, the American 
Museum is relatively rich in 
these primitive carvings, the 
Haida and Kwakiutl being 
best represented, the Tlingit 
and Tsimpshian least satisfac- 
torily. Altogether there are 
some fifty specimens in the 
Museum’s collection which for 


the most part is on exhibition 


in the North Pacific Hall. Carved house post, Bella Bella 


A GIFT FROM ECUADOR 
By Charles W. Mead 


HE collection presented cecently to the Museum by Mr. D. C, 
Stapleton contains two stone seats found near the Port of Manta, 
Province of Manabi, Ecuador. Such stone seats have been dis- 

covered in great numbers on the summits of Cerro de Hojas, Cerro Jabon- 
cillo, Cerra Jupa and Cerro Agua Nuevo and form the most remarkable 
feature of the archeology of Manabi, nothing resembling them being known 
from any other part 
of the Americas. 
The specimens in 
the various museums 
of Europe and Amer- 
ica have come for the 
most part from Cerro 
de Hojas, found in 
prehistoric heuse 
sites. All of these 
seats appear to have 
been carved from 
andersite or from 
argillaceous — shaly 
sandstone — the two 
presented by Mr. 
Stapleton are of the 
latter —and all may 
be described as U- 


shaped, although 

there is considerable variety in their width and in the curve of the sides. 
Usually the crouching figure supporting the seat represents a man or a puma, 
but bird, lizard, bat and monkey-like forms also occur and some specimens 
have been found in which the supports and bases are without figures. 

In addition to the stone seats from Manabi, Mr. Stapleton’s gift to the 
Museum includes some thirty specimens from the Province of Esmeraldas, 
about one-half of which were excavated from prehistoric burial mounds, 
the balance coming from the Cayapa Indians who inhabit the province 
to-day. 

Of the archeological part of the collection, second to the stone seats in 
interest are the pottery stamps as showing the status of the ornamental 
art of this unknown people. In all probability these stamps were used 
to ornament cotton and bark cloth. 

83 


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oyeys Avis JO WNjRAYS B UL poppoquaT sem IF “SuIMOA AY ‘UISVG WIOP] Sig ‘AAT [TING ABD oY} JO YINOS spur] peq oy} UT Puno] SVM UOJQOTOYS STULL 


SSYOH OQ301-HYNOS SBHL SO NOLSAISMS SHL ONILVAVOXS tS 


a 
~ aay 


EOHIPPUS OROHIPPUS MESOHIPPUS 


A NEW SPECIMEN OF THE FOUR TOED HORSE 


EARLIEST KNOWN ANCESTOR OF THE MODERN HORSE, THE SMALL FOUR- 
TOED EoHIPPUS, DISCOVERED IN THE BAD LANDS OF WYOMING 


By Walter Granger 


HE continent of North America has produced the most complete 
and best preserved fossil remains of the horse; and it chances that 
of all institutions, the American Museum possesses the finest col- 

lection of fossil horses. Aside from fragmentary material, there are eight 
mounted skeletons in the Hall of Fossils, covering a remarkable series of 
connecting links from the little four-toed Hohippus of the early Eocene to 
the large, modernized, one-toed Equus of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period, 
at which time the horse became extinct in North America. 

The skeleton of Eohippus at present mounted in the Museum is of the 
most advanced species of that genus and is from the Wind River formation 
of Wyoming. It was of especial interest therefore, when the expedition 
of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology sent to Wyoming the past 
summer, discovered a nearly complete skeleton of one of the most primi- 
tive species of Eohippus, previously known to science merely by fragments 
of jaws containing the teeth. This was found in the extreme northwestern 
corner of Wyoming, in the Wasatch formation of the Big Horn Basin. 

After the close of the great Age of Reptiles, at a time roughly estimated 
at 3,000,000 years ago when the region was at sea level, there occurred 
an uplifting of mountain ranges and a general elevation of the country. 
The Big Horn Basin was one of several formed by this raising of mountain 
chains, and into the basin ran the sediment washed from the rocks of the 
higher surrounding regions. Here in a moist, warm climate and probably 
with an abundance of vegetation, many primitive mammals including the 
little Eohippus lived and died, and their bones became buried in the slowly 
accumulating clays and sands, and eventually petrified. Approximately 
these conditions existed until there had been deposited in this Basin a great 
mass of sediment 2,000 feet thick; the Basin was nearly filled and a drain- 


85 


S6 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


age outlet to the north into the Missouri River was formed. Then condi- 
tions changed, the process of deposition ceased, and that of erosion began 
and has continued to the present time. To-day the Big Horn Basin is 
4,000 feet above sea level in its lowest parts, it is arid, in fact almost barren 
except along the few water courses which lead down from the mountains, 
and the erosion has removed the greater part of the original 2,000 feet of 
sandstone and clay. A few high, flat-topped buttes, left by the erosion, 
indicate the level of the Basin at the time when the erosion began, but for 
the most part the formation has been worn down nearly to its base, and the 
country presents great areas of low, rounded knolls and sharp, steep ridges 
comprised chiefly of gray and red hard, brittle clays with occasional layers 
of sandstone, and often absolutely bare of any vegetation. Such areas are 
known to the geologist as “bad lands,” and it is here that the fossil collec- 
tor makes his search for the petrified remains of these ancient animals. 
As the hills are slowly worn away by the heavy spring rains or an occasional 
cloud-burst in summer, the bones which have been entombed for so long can 
be detected by the trained eye of the prospector. Often it is merely a 
worthless fragment of bone, sometimes a fragment of jaw or a skull, and 
in rare cases a nearly complete skeleton such as the present one. In such 
instances it is probable that the body of the animal became buried soon 
after its death, before the bones could be scattered by carrion eaters or by 
the action of water or other agents. 

The present skeleton was found by Mr. William Stein, who has been 
employed as cook and teamster of the Wyoming expeditions for several 
seasons and who spends his spare time in searching the bad lands, with 
the rest of the party. The finding of fossils is largely a matter of keen 
eyesight, of a certain amount of training in knowing what to look for, and 
of ability to spend long days walking or slowly riding through the broiling 
heat of the bad lands. It was the bleached fragments of the bones of the 
hind legs which attracted the attention of the collector as they lay on the 
sloping surface of a knoll. These surface fragments were carefully gathered 
up, and a little careful prospecting showed the hip and backbone of the ani- 
mal extending into the solid clay of which the knoll is composed. By remoy- 
ing the overlying rock the whole upper part of the skeleton was exposed as 
it lay on its side in a horizontal position. Instead of removing the bones 
one by one from the rock, the whole skeleton was taken out, with such of 
the encasing rock as was necessary, the entire mass being bound up, as is 
usual in collecting such specimens, in heavy bandages of burlap and paste. 

In the laboratory the bandages will be removed, and the slow, rather 
tedious task of removing the small and extremely fragile bones from the 
rock will begin. It took three days to excavate the specimen in the field, 


One of the Expedition’s ‘‘Dry Camps” in the heart of the fossil fields south of the Gray Bull 
River. Dr. Sinclair and Mr. Olsen, two members of the expedition, worked for more than a month 
from these dry camps, which were supplied periodically with water and provisions from the main camp 
on the river. 


Prospecting in Wind River Basin, Wyoming. Much of the preliminary prospecting and the 
geological reconnaissance work is done on horseback but the actual search for small fossils must 
be done afoot. 87 


SS THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Eohippus, the four-toed horse. Restoration by Charles R. Knight. The animals were 
searcely larger than the red fox 


but it will probably require three weeks to free the bones from the matrix, 
before the mounting of the skeleton for exhibition can be commenced. 

As the work of clearing the rock progresses, one point of anatomy will 
be keenly watched, and that is, whether this earliest known horse possesses 
the remnant of a fifth toe on the front foot and of the fourth toe on the hind 
foot. If it does, this places it a decided step nearer to the still earlier but yet 
undiscovered ancestor of the horse, which undoubtedly possessed five toes 
on both fore and hind feet. 


PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS IN THE FIELD 


By James L. Clark 


{Mr. James L. Clark was at one time animal sculptor in the American Museum and 
has recently spent fourteen months on a hunting trip in Africa. His account of the practical 
field work necessary for the preservation of the skins of large animals will be followed by an 
account of the task of the animal sculptor in the Museum who builds on the work done in 
the field in Africa to make these animals ‘‘live’’ for the people of another continent in the 
American institution's exhibition halls.— Editor] 

ROM the point of view of the ma- 
jority of visitors to the Museum, 
who see mounted and often won- 

derfully lifelike animals exhibited there, 
it is unlikely that the initial labor, and 
in a large number of cases the perils 
encountered in securing the material for 
the finished work, are at all considered. 
They probably go no deeper into the 
matter than that the rhino, for instance, 
was killed in Africa, transported overseas 
and set up for public instruction. But 
the actual work and how it is accom- 
plished by the collector in the field, the 
endurance of hardships, the skill and 
perseverance necessary in the pursuit of 
specimens, is little known. 


In making a collection the work in 


the field must often be carried on under 

Tn Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 
Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons 

the case of a large animal, for example, Native bes teare iden tie itecoard 


this work must be done just where the shot by Kermit Roosevelt’ 


kill is made, whether in a swamp, on a 


the most unfavorable conditions. 


rocky ledge or a sun-scorched plain. Under the most trying circumstances 
the collector’s one anxiety and aim must be as always for perfect results, 
and he must gather all data, field notes and measurements, sketches and 
photographs that will add to a fuller knowledge of the animal and thus 
assist in its restoration later by the taxidermist. 

Perhaps the Museum has planned a group of animals and has decided 
what particular species shall be displayed. The collector is then sent into 


1 This photograph and the one on page 93 together with the photographs of white rhinos 
and elephants in the January JourNaAL are from Colonel Roosevelt's African Game Trails 
and are used through the courtesy of the author and publishers of that book. 


89 


90) THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Rt 
hy J 


Photograph by James L. Clark 


The taxidermist’s work of measuring and skinning the hippo must usually be done in 
the water. Kisii boys are waiting to get the meat, which they consider the best of all 
African game because it has a large amount of delicious fat 


the field to gather the necessary material. He it is who picks from the herd 
the specimens which will best show the physical differences at varying ages, 
or in the case of horned animals, it may be a series of males which will illus- 
trate the growth of the horns from the young spikehorn to the matured and 
typical horn or antler. 

After the selected specimen has fallen to the rifle, photographic records 
must be made, for they prove most valuable to the taxidermist, not only in 
showing the animal in full but also in furnishing important details of both 
front and side views. If possible a plaster cast of the face or entire head is 
made. Careful description is essential as to the color of the eyes, eyelids 
and nostrils or any fleshy portion which may undergo a change when the 
skin is dried, and exact measurements of the body and limbs are recorded. 

Great difficulty is frequently encountered when collecting hippos, for 


PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS 9] 


they are often shot while they 
are in deep water, where they 
may sink to the bottom or float 
down stream. Because of this 
many fine specimens have been 
lost. The surest way is to sur- 
prise and shoot them on shore, 
if possible. This must be done 
at night however, as during the 
day they readily scent approach- 
ing danger and rarely leave the 
water. The best method there- 
fore in shooting the hippo is to 
plan the work at a point where 
the carcass if it drifts down 
stream, will lodge in the shallows 
or on a sand bar. Then the 
“boys” (natives) gather about 
and roll it as near the shore as 
possible. But even then it is 
likely that all the measuring 
and cutting up must be done in 
the water. 

After careful taking of notes 
and measurements, the carcass 
isskinned. The African natives, 
and especially those of the Wa- 
kamba tribe, are very skillful 
with the knife and are of great 
assistance in this work. One 
boy, in particular, could take a 
specimen as large as a zebra, 
skin it perfectly, with the legs 
“round” (that is, not cut), salt, 
dry and fold it for carrying. 

Not a serap of flesh goes to 
waste as the natives are decid- 
edly carnivorous. If several 
animals have been killed all the 
meat is carried to camp, and 
after the choicest parts have 


Photograph by James L. Clark 

Giraffe (female) of the five-horned variety. 
Photographs and color studies are made for 
use in the later mounting of the skin. 


Photograph by James L. Clark 
Impalla, considered by many the most beau- 
tiful buck in British East Africa 


92 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Photographs by James L. Clark 


Head studies of a female elephant on the Guasha 
Ngisu Plateau. This elephant, accompanied by 
its young, charged Mr. Akeley and Mr. Clark and 
had to be killed when it reached some thirty-five 
yards distance 


been laid aside for the collec- 
tor and his party, the rest is 
given to the boys, who, after 
eating all they possibly can, 
dry what is left and later, 
when on the march, trade 
portions of it for milk, honey 
and potatoes. 

For the preservation of 
skins nothing can surpass 
common table salt. This is 
not only a preservative but 
it also draws out so much 
water that the salt is dis- 
solved and the skin dries 
rapidly. By leaving the 
skin rolled up for some hours 
after treatment, the salt is 
absorbed into the tissues and 
remains there after the 
drying out. Decomposition 
must be carefully guarded 
against until after a skin is 
once dried, when the danger 
is very slight. Even with a 
salted skin which cannot be 
opened flat, there is the 
possibility of its “sweating” 
in the folds during drying. 
These places therefore must 
be closely watched and the 
skin turned about to allow 
the air to reach them. If 
facilities are at hand, the best 


results are obtained by placing the skin in brine after it has been left rolled 


up in salt for several hours; the skin will be kept not only soft but as well 


protected from the ravages of destroying insects as though placed in cold 


storage. 


Forced drying, near a fire or in the strong sun, is a method treacherous 


in its results, but may be successful if great care is taken that the skin is 


not allowed to become too hot. The method of drying without the aid of 


PRESERVATION OF MAMMAL SKINS 93 


salt or other preservative is sometimes necessary. With this method of 
drying, the skin must be pegged or stretched out perfectly flat, although 
such pegs or ropes often cause ugly holes or distort the skin so that there 
is difficulty in restoring it to its natural shape. In the case of a valuable 
specimen when no other means are available, this method is better than 
none. 

Salt is a great aid in softening the skin when finally to be prepared 
for mounting. That which has remained in the tissues readily absorbs 
the water in which the skin is put to soften and the time thus consumed 
in the process is very short. With a sun-dried skin, on the other hand, it 
will sometimes be days before the heavier parts are thoroughly soaked, and 
meanwhile the thinner portions must also remain wet and run the danger of 
the decomposition which will cause the hair or epidermis to “slip.” It 
would naturally be supposed that dried skins could be softened in salted 
water, which would at the same time act as a preservative. This, however, 
is not the case. A skin will soften only in fresh water. 


‘ 
SS 


- 
« RASS 


% 


- 


Photograph by Kermit Roosevelt Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons 


Group of skin-laden mules passing by the Bondoni waterhole on the way to the railroad 


94 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


To preserve heavy skins successfully, like those of the rhino, hippo and 
elephant, which may be one and one-half inches thick at certain points, it 
is imperative that they be salted immediately upon removal, and after that 
they should at once be cut or shaved down on the flesh side to about half an 
inch in thickness. Then fine salt, generously applied, will penetrate through 
the tissues to the epidermis or base of the outer skin, preserving it and hold- 
ing the hair tightly in place. As this outer skin is a natural waterproof 
covering to the animal, it does not absorb readily and all treatment 
must be applied to the flesh side. Powdered alum may be used locally, 
but only when absolutely necessary, as it hardens the tissues to such an ex- 
tent that no “life” or elasticity returns when the skin is finally prepared for 
mounting. 

Climate plays an important part in the successful preparation of skins 
and for this reason the dry, tropical atmospheric conditions of Africa are 
ideal. The power of the sun is tempered by a morning and evening breeze, 
not only grateful to human beings, but also very useful in rapid drying. For 
example, a zebra skin if hung up in the early morning will be dry by nightfall. 
During the rainy season — from about the middle of March to the middle of 
June and again in the month of November — drying is more difficult, 
owing, of course, to the amount of moisture in the air. But nearly every 
day during this season there is a brief period of warm sunshine so that a 
salted skin may even then be properly dried. 

The preservation of the skeleton, particularly the bones of the legs, 
shoulderblades and pelvis, in addition to the skull, is of the greatest impor- 
tance as they are necessary later in the proper mounting of a specimen, 
since the taxidermist must set them up in their proper position and model 
with clay the correct anatomy of the muscles about them. 

The method of transporting the accumulated specimens in the field in 
Africa is of necessity a primitive and often a difficult one. The entire out- 
fit is made up into sixty-pound loads and carried on the heads of the natives, 
unless some load prove too heavy for one in which case it is carried, litter- 
wise, on a pole between two bearers. When the amount of material to 
be transported becomes very large a base camp is established, and the 
specimens stored there in the care of two or more porters, until such time 
as the trophies can be sent to a railroad station and shipped as direct as may 


be to the Museum. 


FLEA CARRIERS OF THE PLAGUE 


THE PLAGUE GERM IN MAN IS IDENTICAL WITH THAT IN THE RAT AND 
FLEAS MAY CARRY THE GERM TO MAN 


By Frank E. Lutz 


CIENCE was late in discovering and the world in accepting the knowl- 
edge that insects may be common carriers of disease. In fact it is 
not so very many years since science isolated the minute germs 

themselves for identification in such cases as typhoid, malaria, yellow fever 
and plague. ‘To-day flies and mosquitoes stand convicted the world over 
as carriers of disease germs and the warfare against them is wellon. In 
this case there are three factors concerned in the battle and man conquers 
the germ by exterminating the insect. 

Fleas as disease carriers have been conspicuously before the world of 
late; they also stand convicted, but the question concerns the interrelation- 
ship of four: man, the flea as carrier, the rat or other animal on which the 
flea is parasitic and the disease germ. Again warfare is against the insect 
but to be successful it must be directed with full force against the rat, its 
host. Would that in all instances the whole trio —rat, flea and germ — 


Head of rat 
flea. Many 
plague germs 
may be carried 
on the mouth 
parts of a flea 


and 5000 or 
more in the 
stomach where 
they will live 
for 15 to 20 
days 


Photomicrograph 


1 Flea illustrations from Doane’s Insects and Disease by courtesy of Henry Holt and 
Company. Other cuts by courtesy of McClure’s and Country Life in America 
95 


96 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


>, aes could be put out of 


»| existence as easily as 
they are said to have 
been on incoming ocean 
liners in San Francisco 
harbor. These vessels 
are nearly gas-tight and 
two tons of sulphur 
were used to fill up and 
fumigate each one for 
five hours, after which 
it is reported that fif- 
teen to twenty buckets 


of dead rats were re- 

moved. 

= 

Human flea, Pulex irritans, found inall parts of the inhabited The heavy ce Nee 
globe. Occasionally occurs on cat and dog, rats and mice RZOn plague now raging in 
parts of the Chinese 
and Russian empires, where little has been done to strike at the acknowl- 
edged purveyor of the disease, stand strongly contrasted with the very 
small loss of life from the recent outbreak in San Francisco. That the 


The rat flea, Lemopsylla cheopis, is the ‘‘plague flea’’ but the human flea and the _cat 
and dog flea live on the rat also and thus may carry plague germs as well 


FLEA CARRIERS OF THE PLAGUE 97 


plague reappeared in all parts of that city in 1907 after having been 
stamped out in Chinatown in 1900 was probably due to the scattering of 
the city’s rats during the earthquake and fire. Energy was directed at 
once however toward the extermination of the rats, fully one million were 
killed, and as a result the plague was checked. 

It is known now that an outbreak of plague is always preceded by a 
similar scourge among rats, because bubonic plague is primarily a rat disease. 
Yet so blind has the world been to the interrelations of animals and man 
in cases of infectious disease that notwithstanding the terrible inroads made 
by the “black death” in various parts of the world during historic times, 
no report is made prior to 1800 of the coincident inroad upon rats. It was 
in 1894 that Yersin of the Pasteur Institute isolated the bubonic plague 
bacillus (Bacillus pestis) and proved the germ to be the same in rats and 
man. But this was only a few years ago. Knowledge came late. Bubonic 
plague had well-nigh encircled the globe before this, breaking out first in 
seaboard places probably having travelled from country to country among 
ship rats. The effect of this discovery which turned the attack upon the 
rat is shown well in Bombay where the death rate of 20,788 in 1903 was 
reduced to 5,197 in 1909. 

As yet the rats of the northeastern United States are not plague in- 
fected, but this is not necessarily a permanent condition. There may be at 
any time in New York or other eastern seaport an outbreak of plague such 
as occurred in Suffolk, England, last September. For plague is not limited 
to the tropics or semi-tropics although it has flourished there because of 
less sanitary conditions. Fleas are common in the eastern states. In- 
quiries concerning them reach the Mu- 
seum at all seasons of the year, but 


Washing his face and scratching his ear 
in rat contentment. The brown or ‘‘Nor- 


’ 


way’ rat, Mus decumanus, which has to- 

day colonized well nigh the whole earth driving to the wall the black rat, Mus rattus, the 
species of romance and history. He is more ‘‘sinned against than sinning’’ in the plague 
matter for bubonic plague is a rat disease, in any given outbreak the rat mortality being to 
human mortality as ten to one 


9S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


especially in the fall after houses which have been closed during the summer 
are reopened. Larval fleas have uninterrupted opportunity during the 
summer to develop into adults which sometimes make a house literally 
uninhabitable. Fleas are considered degenerate members of the Diptera, 
the order to which flies and mosquitoes belong, and they are wingless, 
winglessness often accompanying the parasitic state, perhaps through 
disuse of these organs. ‘That the flea lacks wings may make the spread of 
plague less rapid; the lack of flight powers, however, is counteracted by the 
fact that fleas are carried long distances by their hosts. 

In the East, practically the only flea that gains access to the house is the 
rat and dog flea (Ctenocephalus canis), the human flea (Pulex irritans) 
being rare. Measures for ridding a house of fleas must plan to attack not 
only the adults but also the eggs and larvee. These are likely to be in the 
dust of the animal’s bed and in cracks and crevices about the house and 
furniture. The remedy lies in making it impossible for the eggs to develop 
and the larvee to live in these places, in providing for the cat and dog sleep- 
ing places that can be kept clean with all dust removed and burned. A 
liberal use of pyrethrum powder should be made in all places where it is 
possible that flea eggs may have fallen. Kerosene or benzine are valuable 
if milder means do not suffice while in extreme cases fumigation with hydro- 
cyanic acid may be necessary. 

The rat flea (Lemopsylla cheopis) is known as the “plague flea,” but 
both the human flea and the cat and dog flea also live on the rat so that any 
one of these may act as a carrier of the plague germ if they chance to travel 
from a plague-infected rat. 

It has developed through a few deaths in California directly traceable 
to handling ground squirrels that here too danger lies, that the plague 
bacilli have reached these rodents probably from rats which use the squirrels’ 
holes in fields. The discovery may mean the necessity of extermination 
of the squirrels in infected regions. 


ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


HE Forty-second Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the American 
Museum of Natural History was held on Monday, February 13, 
1911, at the residence of the late William E. Dodge, where the 
Trustees were the guests of Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge. The following were 
elected officers for the ensuing year: President, Henry Fairfield Osborn; 
First Vice-President, Cleveland H. Dodge; Second Vice-President, J. 
Pierpont Morgan, Jr.; Treasurer, Charles Lanier: Secretary, Archer M. 
Huntington. 

Dr. Walter E. James and Mr. Madison Grant of the Zoédlogical Society 
were elected as new members of the Board to fill vacancies in the Classes of 
1915 and 1912 respectively. 

Resolutions were adopted with reference to Mr. J. Hampden Robb, 
Secretary, who died January 21 after a brief illness. J‘or more than twenty- 
five years Mr. Robb has been an active member of the Board of Trustees 
of the American Museum. 

Dr. Charles H. Townsend was appointed to continue in the administra- 
tive office of Acting Director, with the understanding that he will return 
later to the direction of the New York Aquarium, and Mr. George H. 
Sherwood was reappointed Assistant Secretary. The United States Trust 
Company was made Assistant Treasurer. 

The scientific staff for the year 1911 was approved, involving the follow- 
ing promotions and appointments — 

Department of Vertebrate Paleontology: Dr. W. D. Matthew, from 
Acting Curator to Curator; Mr. Barnum Brown from Assistant Curator 
to Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles; Mr. Walter Granger from Assistant 
Curator to Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals; 

Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology: Mr. Roy C. Andrews 
from Assistant in Mammalogy to Assistant Curator cf Mammalogy; Mr. 
W. DeW. Miller from Assistant in Ornithology to Assistant Curator of 
Ornithology; 

Department of Public Health: Mr. John Henry O'Neill, Assistant; 

Department of Ichthyology and Herpetology: Professor Bashford Dean 
of Columbia University, Curator. 

The expenditures for the past year were reported as follows: 

Byvthe City 250" x SR re cst Se ee ee . $185,757.00 
By the Trustees, General and Special Funds . . . 207,435.85 
Grand Total Be eRe Rie ee ts: 

For the coming year the two African expediticns at present in the field 

will be continued, the one under Mr. Carl Akeley in British East Africa 


99 


100 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


and the other under Messrs. Lang and Chapin in the Congo; also the 
Stefansson-Anderson Expedition along the Arctic borders of British America 
will be maintained. New expeditions are projected in the West Indies, in 
Colombia and Venezuela. Another whaling expedition will be sent to the 
coast of Japan in November. Altogether $62,906.63 has already been 
subscribed or pledged toward the exploration work of the Museum during 
the coming year in various parts of the world. 


EXPEDITION TO LOWER CALIFORNIA 


HROUGH a fortunate codperation between the American Museum 
of Natural History and the United States Bureau of Fisheries, 
the large government steamer Albatross sailed from San Diego, 

February 25, on a two months’ collecting expedition to Lower California. 
Dr. Charles H. Townsend, Acting Director of the Museum, is in command 
of the expedition. He is well acquainted with the region, having previously 
made several zoélogical and fishery trips in this part of the Pacific; also he 
knows well the work of the steamer Albatross since he was the naturalist 
of the vessel on several voyages, and even participated in this vessel’s deep- 
sea investigations under the late Professor Agassiz. 

Dr. Townsend is accompanied by seven investigators and collectors, 
certain of them representing the United States National Museum at Wash- 
ington, the New York Zodélogical Society and the New York Botanical 
Gardens all of which bear a share of the burden of the expense of the trip 
and participate in the collecting. 

Dr. Townsend will begin the work with a line of deep-sea dredgings to 
Guadalupe Island some two hundred and fifty miles from San Diego. 
The dredging will extend even to depths of two and one-half miles. Mr. 
G. C. Bell of the preparation department of the American Museum is a 
member of the staff of the expedition and will make molds of the various 
deep-sea fishes and invertebrates as soon as they are collected. Deep-sea 
species have previously been known by the public only in the form of 
unattractive alcoholic material and if successful plaster and glue molds 
can be obtained and lifelike casts made, the triumph will be great for the 
preparator’s skill and a work will be done that has never before been at- 
tempted. 

From Guadalupe Island the Albatross will work eastward to begin a 
fishery survey of the Peninsula of Lower California. The fishery resources 
of the region will be studied with a view to the establishment of closer fish- 
ery relations with Mexico, and if possible, to opening the way for fishery 
trade and the utilization of the important fish and oyster resources in our 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 101 


southwestern states. It may even be possible that the pearl shell from an 
important pearl shell industry of this region can be transplanted to Florida. 

There will be work on shore also. The Peninsula is seven hundred and 
fifty miles long and will be studied along both coasts. During the progress 
of the vessel along these coasts collecting parties will be landed each day 
to procure the mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes of the region, which are 
of especial interest to naturalists because so large a number of them are 
peculiar to the locality. Altogether, it is expected that the work of the 
expediticn will bring large results along fishery, oceanographic and_bio- 
logical lines. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


SINCE our last issue the following persons have been elected to member- 
ship in the Museum: 

Benefactors, Mr. J. Prerpont MorGan and Mrs. Morris k. Jesup; 

Patrons, Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE and Mrs. Epwarp H. Harriman; 

Life Members, Messrs. WrLutaM GouLp Brokaw, IF. AMBROosE CLARK, 
MIcHAEL JENKINS, JoHN Rocers, Paitie A. Rotiins, WALTER WINANS, 
Mrs. Marian von R. Puoetres, Miss FRANCES von R. PHELPS and MAsTER 
PHELPS VON R. PHELPs; 

Sustaining Member, Miss Susan D. GRirFitH; 

Annual Members, Messrs. E. B. Croweti, GHERARDI Davis, J. WIL- 
LIAM GREENWOOD, TowNSEND JONES, T. W. Lamont, Nicott LupLow, 
FranK J. MUHLFELD, JosepH H. SparroRD, Epwarp W. Sparrow, EDWARDS 
SPENCER, CHARLES H. Werner, Drs. CHARLES REMSEN and ARTHUR L. 
Houianp, Mes. Tueo. B. BLEECKER, CHARLES S. FATRCHILD, RUSSELL 
WELLMAN Moore and PAyNE WHITNEY. 


Dr. J. A. ALLEN was appointed Acting Director pro tem at a Special 
Meeting of the Executive Committee, February 20, 1911, for the period 
of Dr. Townsend’s absence on the Albatross expedition to Lower California. 


In its meeting of January 18, 1911, the Executive Committee of the 
Board of Trustees approved the following Appointive Committee on Public 
Health named by President Osborn: Dr. Simon Flexner, Mr. John M. 


Glenn, Mr. J. Waldo Smith. 


Tue following persons have contributed to the South American Bird 
Fund and have been made Life Members of the Museum in recognition 
of their gifts: Messrs. George B. Case, Evans M. Evans, W. F. Patter- 
son, George P. Shiras and F. C. Walcott. 


102 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Avr the Special Meeting of the Executive Committee on February 20, 
1911, Mr. John A. Grossbeck was appointed Assistant in Invertebrate 


Zoology. 


Mr. ALBertT Operti, official artist of the Peary Expeditions of 1896 
and 1897, has presented to the Museum twenty-four sketches in oil, showing 
the excavation of the great meteorite “ Ahnighito”’ and its transfer to the 


ship ready for the journey to New York. 


Tue Museum is indebted to Mr. Walter Winans for the gift of a series 
of wild boar including adults and young of both sexes, collected with a view 
to their use in the construction of a habitat group. He has also sent us two 
fine specimens of the European red deer. All of these specimens were taken 
in the Sachsenwald, Friedrichsruhe, Germany. These specimens are the 
first good examples of the species that the Museum has received. 


A Cius Room FoR MEMBERS was opened on February 28. This room 
situated on the third floor near the elevators is one of the most attractive 
in the building and has been furnished to serve as far as may be the comfort 
of the Museum’s patrons. A formal presentation of the portrait of the 
Honorable Joseph H. Choate, painted by the Princess Lwoff-Parlaghy and 
presented to the Museum by the artist, was made the occasion of the open- 
ing and of an informal reception. The other portraits owned by the Mu- 
seum hang in this room also at present, awaiting the time when the extension 
of the Museum building will allow a Portrait Hall especially designed and 
lighted where can be told the history of the Museum as shown in its founders 


and benefactors. 


Miss Mary Loris Kissevu has just returned from a four months’ trip 
to the Pima Indians of southern Arizona and brings with her a basketry 
collection in which are several artistic “carrying baskets”? woven with dyed 
thread made of maguey fiber and six “medicine baskets’? of Papago make. 
The latter are rare in collections because of the great difficulty that exists 


in obtaining them. 


Mrs. R. O. Steppins has recently presented to the Museum the col- 
lection made by the late Dr. R. O. Stebbins of the Arctic Club of America. 
The gift is largely ethnological, comprising Eskimo, Javanese, Chinese 
and Plains Indians material, but includes also a collection of minerals as 
well as specimens of mammals and invertebrates. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 103 


THe membership of the Museum for the year 1910 shows a net increase 


of ninety-three over that of the preceding year. 


. 5 y , Cie i F . .1° 
Pus.ic meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated 
Societies will be held at the Museum according to the usual schedule. 
Programmes of meetings are published in the weekly Bulletin of the Academy. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 
MEMBERS’ COURSE 


The following lectures illustrated by stereopticon will be given during March to Members 
of the Museum and persons holding complimentary tickets given them by Members. 

Thursday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:45. 

March 2— Mr. D. E. Grist, “Tibet and the Himalayas.” 

Mr. Griib!] will present the history of Buddhism in Tibet and the hierarchy of the Dalai 
Lama. He will describe the life and ceremonies of the people and explain the significance of 
the recent political changes in the Dalai Lama’s realm. Mr. Griibl obtained during his travels 
some splendid pictures of the Himalayas and the borderlands of Tibet. 

March 9— Mr. FrepErIcK C. Hicks, ‘“‘Glimpses of the Far East.” 

During a trip of about 30,000 miles, Mr. Hicks procured much interesting and instructive 
data on conditions in the Orient, as well as many photographs of the points visited. In his 
lecture he will speak of Korea, of China and its Great Wall and of the vast country traversed 
by the Siberian Railway. 

March 16 — Mr. CiaupE N. Bennett, “The Panama Canal — The EBighth Wonder 
of the World.” 

Mr. Bennett is the founder and manager of the Congressional Information Bureau at 
Washington. He has recently spent a month in the Canal Zone and made a thorough study 
of the Canal and the surrounding country. His lantern slides and moving pictures cover the 
work which has been accomplished to the present time. 

March 23 — Mr. DovucGuas WILson JOHNSON, ‘“ Physical History of the Grand Canon 
District.” 
Given in codperation with the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Sociely 

Mr. Johnson's lecture deals with the principal events in the physical history of that 
portion of the Colorado plateau province lying in northern Arizona and southern Utah. 
Especial attention is given to the effects of the physical history upon the scenery of the dis- 
trict. Most of Mr. Johnson's lantern slides are of points not commonly visited by tourists. 
March 30 — Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘‘From Japan to the Dutch East Indies.” 


In November Mr. Andrews returned from a fifteen month’s absence during which, on 
board the United States ship Albatross, he visited Japan, Formosa and many of the islands 
of the Dutch East Indies. He will illustrate his lecture with a very complete series of lantern 
slides 


PUPILS’ COURSE 
These lectures are open to the pupils of the public schools when accompanied by their 
teachers and to children of Members of the Museum on presentation of Membership tickets. 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 o'clock. 
March 20 and April 17 — Mr. Roy W. Miner, ‘Early Days in New York.” 
March 22 and April 19 — Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘A Visit to the Orient.”’ 
March 24 and April 21 — Dr. Louris Hussaxor, “Scenes from Pole to Pole.” 


104 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


March 27 and April 24— Mr. Joun T. Nicuous,. “Natural Resources of the 
United States.” 

March 29 and April 26 — Mr. WaAvTer GRANGER, “Famous Rivers of the World.” 

March 31 and April 28 — Mr. Haruan I. Smita, “Life among Our Indians.” 

April 3 and May 1— Mr. Roy C. Anprews, ‘“‘Travels and Life among the 
Japanese.” 

Apri! 5 and May 3— Dr. Lours Hussakor, ‘South American Scenes.” 

April 21 and May 5—Mnrs. Aanes L. Roester, ‘‘Around the World with 
Children.” 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 


Given in codperation with the City Department of Education 

Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:15. 

The first four of a course of eight lectures on music by Mr. DanteL GREGORY 
Mason. Illustrated at the piano. 
March 7 — “Edvard Grieg.” 
March 14 — “Antonin Dvorak.” 
March 21 — ‘“‘Camille Saint-Saéns.” 
March 28 — “César Franck.” 

Saturday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:15. 


The first four of a course of six lectures by Mr. Aubert Hate. Illustrated. 


March 4— ‘The East Coast of South America: Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine 
Republic, from the Amazon River to the Rio de la Plata.” 

March 11 — ‘‘The West Coast of South America: Chili, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. 
The Andes and the Incas.” 

March 18 — ‘‘The Caribbean Sea: Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. The Moun- 
tain Tropics and the Isthmian Canal.” 

March 25 — ‘‘The Island Republics of the Gulf: Cuba, Haiti and Santo Domingo. 
The early Discoveries of Columbus.” 


JESUP LECTURES 
Given under the auspices of Columbia University in codperation with the Museum 


The last five of a course of eight lectures on “Scientific Features of Modern Medi- 
cine” by Freprric 8. Ler, Px.p., Professor of Physiology in Columbia University. 
These lectures are open to the public. 


Wednesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. 


March 1— ‘Bacteria and Their Relation to Disease.’ 

March 8 —‘‘The Treatment and the Prevention of Infectious Diseases.” 

March 15 — ‘“‘The Problem of Cancer and Other Problems.” 

March 22 — ‘“‘Features of Modern Surgery.” 

March 29 — “The Role of Experiment in Medicine. The Public and the Medical 
Profession.” 


Scientific Staff 


ACTING DIRECTOR 
Cuarves H. Townsenp, Sc.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 


MINERALOGY 
L.-P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator _ 
GeorGce F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
WILLIAM BrUTENMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
Joun A. GrossBeck, Assistant 


Prof. Wizt1am Morton WHEELER, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of -Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
CuHartes W. Lenc, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 
ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 
Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louis Hussaxkor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cyntura Dickrrson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 
Prof. J. A. Atten, Ph.D., Curator 
Frank M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. De W. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 
VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 
Prof. Henry Farrrietp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Marraew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Wiii1am K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant 


ANTHROPOLOGY 
Cuark WisstErR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Purny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Haruan I. Smiru, Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowis, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HERBERT J. SprnpEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CuarLtes W. MEap, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 
PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Raupu W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHarLtes-Epwarp Amory Wtnstow, 8.B., M.S., Curator 
JoHN Henry O'NEILL, 8.B., Assistant 


WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntrura Dickerson, B.S., Curator 
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Rate W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. AtBpert 8S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
GeEorRGE H. SuHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


FOR: THE PEOPLE 
FOR: EDYCATION 
FOR S Cl Bee 


—— 


THE 
AMERICAN [SIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


FROM MURAL PANEL IN THE NORTH PACIFIC HALL 


Volume XI] April, 1911 Number 4 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THe AMERICAN Museum or Natura. History 


New York City 
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry Farrrietp OsBorN 
First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGe J. Prerpont MorGan, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON 
THe Mayor or THE City oF NEW YorK 
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE City OF NEW YORK 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD 
GEORGE 3S. BowpboIn Gustav E. Kisseu 
JosepH H. CHOATE Sera Low 

THomas DeWrtrr CuyLer OGpEN MILLS 

JAMES DouGLas J. Prerpont MorGan 
MapIson GRANT Percy R. PYNE 

Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHN B. TREVOR 
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES Fevix M. WaRrBURG 
Water B. JAMES GerorGE W. WIcCKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Acting Director Assistant Secretary 
CuHarues H. TowNsEND GErEorRGE H. SHERWOOD 


Assistant Treasurer 
Tue Unitep States Trust Company oF New YORK 


Tse Museum 1s OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tue AmeRIcAN Muspeum or Natura History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
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pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Ware GACY Grea ofeiesh, Ss oo geben eae en $ 10 MEMO WS arte perches eee eee 3 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 Ratrons=... Aas ne eee Sea 1000 
PATCMVEGMP EPS sor py alone heroes Po eee 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Tue Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a.m. to 5 P. M. 


THE Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 


Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 


GUIDES FOR Stupy oF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
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Tue Mirza RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
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The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR APRIL, 1911 


Frontispiece, “Canoe Builders’, by Will S. Taylor 
I ; ; 


From mural panel in the North Pacifie Hall. Reproduced in color 


Rare Elephant Seals for the Museum... .... 


Dr. Charles H. Townsend in command of the Albatross Expedition in the 


Pacific sends representatives of an almost extinct species 
Illustrated from photographs which are the first ever published of the ele- 
phant seal of the Pacific 


Bhe Ground sloth. Group. 2.0 7k.2e oc oe eae ee, = Ne EL Wy 
The Spoonbill Fishery of the Mississippi......... Louris HussaKkor 


Research and Exploration among the Indians of the Northern Plains 


CLARK WISSLER 


New Viral eeatntineS et, occas os Se ahi pa edeaae  ee b. NGSmETT 


Mural decorations in the North Pacific Hall by Will S. Taylor 
The Menomini Game of Lacrosse..............ALANSON SKINNER 


A Question of Public Health..................C-E. A. WinsLtow 


The Museum to show an exhibit of models illustrating scientific methods of 


sewage disposal 
A Modern Museum of Celebes.................Roy C. ANDREWS 
Miuseum> News: (Notesiees 20/0. 5 Ss cheS oe Soe. Aen eee eee 


Mecture Announcements. <4 ids. 4:5: Ais © oc sche RO ee oa ence 


Mary Cyntura Dickerson, Editor 


Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


109 


126 


129 


146 
150 


152 


A subscription to the JourNAL is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 


the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to the AmMertcan Museum JourNat, 30 Boylston St. 


Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass. 


Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS, 1910 
The American Museum of Natural History 


The scientific publications of the American Museum are issued in three series: 

The Bulletin in which are published short articles embodying the results of the 
research work of the various departments of the Museum. These articles are 
less voluminous and of more general interest than those which appear in the Memoirs. 
The Bulletin was founded in 1881, and the number of volumes which have been issued 
is twenty-eight; 

The Memoirs composed of special articles covering research requiring more 
exhaustive treatment. They have been published at irregular intervals since 1893. 
Ten complete volumes and parts of four others have been issued; 

The Anthropological Papers, similar in character to the Bulletin, but devoted 
exclusively to the results of field work and other research conducted by the anthro- 
pological staff of the Museum. ‘The publication of these papers was commenced in 
1907, six volumes having been issued up to the present time. 

The scientific publications for the year 1910 are as follows: 


BULLETINS AND MEMOIRS 
J. A. ALLEN, Editor 


Bulletin XXVIL The Orders of Mammals. By William Kk. Gregory. pp. 1-525, 
32 text figures. 
Bulletin XXVIII (Twenty-nine plates and 100 text figures) 
Art. I— The Black Bear of Labrador. By J. A. Allen. pp. 1-6. 
Il — Mammals from the Athabaska-Mackenzie Region of Canada. 
By J. A. Allen. pp. 7-11. 
III — Mammals from Palawan Island, Philippine Islands. By J. A. 
Allen. pp. 13-17. 
IV — Description of a Skull and some Vertebrie of the Fossil Cetacean 
Diochotichus vanbenedeni from Santa Cruz, Patagonia. By 
Frederick W. True. pp. 19-82, pls. i-v. 
V — On the Skull of Apternodus and the Skeleton of a New Artio- 
dactyl. By W. D. Matthew. pp. 33-42, pl. vi, 5 text figs. 
VI — On the Osteology and Relationships of Paramys, and the Affini- 
ties of the Ischyromyide. By W. D. Matthew. pp. 43- 
72, 19 text figs. 
VII — On some Orthoptera from Porto Rico, Culebra and Vieques 
Islands. By James A. G. Rehn. pp. 73-77, 1 text fig. 


VIII — Some Parasitic Hymenoptera from Vera Cruz, Mexico. By 
Charles T. Brues. pp. 79-85, 1 text fig. 
IX — Additional Mammals from Nicaragua. By J. A. Allen. pp. 


87-115. 
106 


LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 107 


XN — The North American Species of Neuroterus and their Galls. 
By William Beutenmiiller. pp. 117-136, pls. viii—xiii. 

XI — The North American Species of Aylax and their Galls. By 
William Beutenmiiller. pp. 137-144, pl. xiv. 

X11 Mammals from the Caura District of Venezuela, with Deserip- 
tion of a New Species of Chrotopterus. By J. A. Allen. pp. 
145-149. 

XIII — On the Genus Presbytis Esch., and ‘Le Tarsier’ Buffon, with 
Descriptions of Two New Species of Tarsius. By D. G. 
Klhiot. pp. 151-154. 

XIV — A Note on Siphostoma pelagicum (Osbeck). By John Tread- 
well Nichols. pp. 155-157, 1 text fig. 

XV — A Note on the Identity of Caranx forsteri Cuvier and Valen- 
ciennes. By John Treadwell Nichols. p. 159. 

XVI —On Two New Blennys from Florida. By John Treadwell 
Nichols. p. 161. 

XVII — New or Little Known Reptiles and Amphibians from the 
Permian (?) of Texas. By E. C. Case, pp. 163-181, 10 tex 
figs. 

XVIII — The Skeleton of Pacilospondylus francisi, 2 New Genus and 
Species of Pelycosauria. By E. C. Case. pp. 183-188, 3 
text figs. 

XIX — Description of a Skeleton of Dimetrodon incisivus Cope. By 
K.C. Case. pp. 189-196, pls. xv-xix, 5 text figs. 

XX — A Comparison of the Permian Reptiles of North America with 
those of South Africa. By R. Broom. pp. 197-234, 20 
text figs. 

XXI— Tertiary Faunal Horizons in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming, 
with Descriptions of New Eocene Mammals. By Walter 
Granger. pp. 235-252, pls. xx—xxiil, 6 text figs. 

XXII — The North American Species of Aulacidea and Their Galls. By 
William Beutenmiiller. pp. 253-258, pls. xxiv-xxvi. 

XXIII — Three New Genera of Myrmicine Ants from Tropical America. 
By William Morton Wheeler. pp. 259-265, 3 text figs. 

XXIV — The Cretaceous Ojo Alamo Beds of New Mexico with Descrip- 
tion of the New Dinosaur Genus Kritosaurus. By Barnum 
Brown. pp. 267-274, pls. xxvii-xxix, 7 text figs. 

XXV — Fossil Insects and a Crustacean from Florissant, Colorado. 
By T. D. A. Cockerell. pp. 275-288, 4 text figs. 

XXVI— The Phylogeny of the Felidae. By W. D. Matthew. pp. 
289-316, 15 text figs. 

XXVII — Collation of Brisson’s Genera of Birds with those of Linnzeus. 
By J. A. Allen. pp. 317-335 

XXVIII — Observations on the Habits and Distribution of Certain 
Fishes taken on the Coast of North Carolina. By Russell 
J. Coles, pp. 337-348. 


Memoir XII (Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VIII) 
Part I—Chukchee Mythology. By Waldemar Bogoras. pp. 1-197. 


108 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Memoir XIII (Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. 1X) 
Part I The Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus. By Waldemar Jochel- 
son. pp. 1-133, pls. i-vii, 1 map 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS 
CxLarRK WissLeR, Editor 


Vol. IV. Part Il — Notes Concerning New Collections. (Edited by Robert H. 
Lowie.) pp. 271-337, pls. iv—viii, 42 text figs. 
Vol. V. Part I— The Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. By Clark 
Wissler. pp. 1-176, pls. i-viii, 103 text figs. 
Part II — Contribution to the Anthropology of Central and Smith Sound 
Eskimo. By Ales Hrdli¢ka. pp. 177-280, pls. xi—xxiii. 
Vol. VI. Part I— The Archeology of the Yakima Valley. By Harlan I. Smith. 
pp. 1-171, pls. i-xvi, 129 text figs. 
Part Il — The Prehistoric Ethnology of a Kentucky Site. By Harlan I. 
Smith. pp. 173-241, pls. xvii-lxiv, 1 text fig. 


Other publications issued by the Museum are the American Museum Journal 
and the Guide Leaflets. All the above publications with the exception of the Memoirs, 
vols. VIII to XIV inclusive may be purchased from the Librarian of the Museum. 
Vols. VIII to XIV of the Memoirs are published by E. J. Brill, Leiden, Holland, and 
may be obtained through G. E. Stechert, Bookseller, 129 West 20th Street, New 
York City. 


After Peron et Leseur. Paris, 1897 


‘*SEA ELEPHANTS" 


Comparison of this cut with the reproductions of photographs on pages 110 and 111 
suggests something of the advance in accuracy zooiogical illustrative work has made in the 
past one hundred years 


The American Museum Journal 


VoL. XI APRIL, 1911 No. 4. 


RARE ELEPHANT SEALS FOR THE MUSEUM 


REMINDERS OF AN EXTINCY! MULTITUDE, A LOST INDUSTRY AND A LOST WEALTH 
WHICH ARGUE FOR ADOPTION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSERVATION 


N February 25 the Government steamer Albatross carrying an ex- 
pedition commanded by Dr. Charles H. Townsend sailed from 
San Diego for work in deep sea dredging and for a scientific 
investigation of Guadalupe Island, which lies some two hundred and fifty 
miles off the coast south of San Diego. On March 6 the vessel was again 
in port at San Diego to send to the East news of the expedition’s success, 
and certain valuable freight, as told in the fellowing extract from Dr. 
Townsend’s letter: 

Our success at Guadalupe Island was quite beyond expectation. In addition 
to work on the birds and plants and various land collections of the island, we cap- 
tured alive six sea elephants for the New York Aquarium and the Zodlogical Park 
and succeeded in getting four skins and two skeletons of adult sea elephants for the 
American Museum. 

The three old males were monsters sixteen feet long, with proboscis as long as 
the head. We have one skull two feet long. We wound up the young seals in nets 
so tightly that we could handle them like bales. The skins of the old bulls were 
very heavy; each one flensed and salted was packed in a full-sized barrel which it 
completely fills and that without the skull. 

When all was packed and ready, then the work really began, for we had to get 
our loads through a heavy surf to the ship. A single specimen made a load and the 
ship lay more than a mile away. We had four ‘‘upsets’’ but lost nothing. The 
series of photographs which we obtained are the only ones of the species in existence, 
and there are none published of the Antarctic species that show large males. 

The ship is taking on coal and we are off to-morrow [to Cedros Island]. We came 
back only on account of the six young sea elephants. The six cases of live seals go 
by express; the seven barrels of skins and skeletons we are sending by freight. 


The elephant seal is a “true” seal (Phocid@), although in breeding 
habits and in the fact that the males greatly exceed the females in size, it 
resembles the sea lion and the fur seal as well as the walrus. There are two 
species, a southern (Macrorhinus leoninus) not found north of 35° south 
latitude and a northern (MW. angustirostris) not found south of 24° north 
latitude. The two forms differ little in habits or in external features, the 
classification being based on skull structure. The long isolation of the 
northern and southern forms would make them valuable for the study of 


109 


Ol 
Sfosoqoid GB YOR] S[VOS ONIRUILUT PUB SoyVUOy, —"][EM YR pojoodoa puke popuRdxoe oq URO pu puo oY) Ve SBuruodo [LMsOU oY) sey ,,yuNAy,, 10 


Stosoqoid JOYS OL *(STBOS poavo SuOWe sv) AoT][VUS YON oTRUoy “Joos ZZ oyeul JO Yasuo, wiNuEXvUT tsnayem oy} SuNdooxe jou ‘spodruurg [ye Jo Isosav7q 


(SS1VW 117NGvV) GNVIS!I 3adNIVaYND NO .SLNVHd31a3 VAS, YO S1V3S LNVHd374 
puasumnoy “EY “9 hq ydvuabojoyd 


Tg ee 


4 


Photograph by C. H. Townsend. 


With proboscis erected, and mouth opened, revealing formidable teeth, the sea 
elephant sends forth guttural roars which carry for a considerable distance 


Photograph by C. H. Townsend 


The male sea elephants fight desperately — ‘* beach-masters"’ the sealers in the Antarctic 
called them — and their necks and breasts bear evidence of many encounters 111 


112 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


geographical distribution and its effects on species formation, if sufficient 
material could be brought together for the work; but sea elephants were 
nearly exterminated before exhaustive museum collections were made, so 
that specimens are now rare. The American Museum prior to 1911 had 
in its relatively large collection representative of the seals no single example 
of this species, but at Just this time when word of the new material comes 
from the Pacific, the institution has gained possession of two skulls from 
Kerguelen Island in the Antarctic.' 

No better instance than the elephant seal can be given of the extermina- 
tion of a species through the wastefulness and commercial greed of man, 
making clear the necessity of conservation as a principle directing human 
action. The elephant seal, unlike the fur seal, has a deep layer of blubber, 
sometimes six or seven inches thick, and the oil is superior even to whale 
oil. Elephant seals existed in vast numbers one hundred or more years 
ago and might still have been yielding a profitable industry. One has only 
to read the vivid descriptions by Captain Scammon, 1874, and by H. N. 
Moseley, Member of the Scientific Staff of the Challenger, 1879, to realize 
that here existed great wealth. Captain Scammon says of Heard’s Island, 
“There were remains of thousands of skeletons. Bones lay in curved lines 
like long tide lines on either side ef the plain above the beaches marking 
the rookeries of old time and tracks of the slaughter of the sealers.” 

The case is only several stages advanced beyond that of the fur seal. 
With the latter there is still the chance to handle the herds in a restricted 
industry and thus husband them until they can yield a larger industry 
without fear of loss of the species. Such must be in future the order for all 
industries dependent on wild animal life. For man has upon him at last 
the responsibility of knowledge, not only of the limitations cf that life but 
also of the relative rapidity with which a species succumbs. By conserva- 
tion, the era of strict economy in this line, as in others, will be delayed for 
coming generations, if not averted. Some species now approaching extinc- 
tion can be restored through legislative protection and artificial breeding, 
some not yet endangered can be transplanted from continent to continent 
and domesticated; but no conservation is likely ever to make up for losses 
which have come through the actual exterminaticn of whole races of animals 
of economic value. The elephant seal is only one of the many examples 
of extinct or nearly extinct fur-bearing or oil-producing animals or those of 
high food value, but it stands recorded in the world’s history a scathing 
comment on the status of man’s knowledge and of the development of his 
ethical sense in the nineteenth century. 

Wt, (C5 DE 


1 Through the efforts of Mr. Frank K. Wood of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 


THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP 


By W. D. Matthew 


EARLY two centuries ago a Spanish colonist in the Viceroyalty of 

Buenos Aires, now the Argentine Republic, discovered the skeleton 

of a huge animal muy corpulente y raro in the River Lujan, a 

few miles from the city. The skeleton was sent to Madrid, where it was 
finally mounted and is still preserved in the Royal Museum. 

This was the first fossil skeleton ever mounted. It was recognized by 
the finder as unlike that of any animal of his acquaintance. But it was the 
great Cuvier who recognized its relationship to the tree sloths and other 
animals of the Edentate order, and named it the Megatherium. Subse- 
quently, in 1833, Charles Darwin on his voyage in the Beagle, visited the 
Argentine coasts and brought away various remains of this and other 
extinct animals, and between 1845 and 1860 several more or less complete 
skeletons of the Megatherium and other huge “ ground sloths,” as they came 
to be called, were sent to England and were studied and described by the 
great anatomist Richard Owen. 

Since that time numerous fine skeletons of these animals have been 
disinterred from the vast loess or loam deposit which underlies the Pampas 
of the Argentine and is known as the Pampean formation. They are pre- 
served in various European and American museums, and a splendid series 
of them is the pride of the two great museums of Argentina, the Museo 
Nagional and Museo de La Plata. 

A fine collection of these and other extinct mammals of South America, 
made by Senors Ameghino, Larroque and Brachet, was exhibited at the 
Paris Exposition of 1878 and passed into the possession of the late Pro- 
fessor Cope. It was purchased for the American Museum in 1900 by a 


113 


THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP 


This group was completed in February, 1911, and installed in the new Quaternary Hall of the 
American Museum 


114 


THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP 115 


number of the Trustees of this Museum, and its principal specimens are or 
will be exhibited in the South American section of the new Quaternary Hall. 

The center-piece of this exhibit is the new Ground Sloth Group, just 
completed. It consists of four original skeletons representing two genera 
of these animals, Lestodon and Mylodon. The largest skeleton, Lestodon 
armatus, ranks next to the Megatherium in size, but differs in various particu- 
lars, especially in the shape of the head, characters of the teeth and number 
of claws on the feet. The three smaller skeletons belong to two species of 
Mylodon, M. robustus and M. (Pseudolestodon) myloides. 

The skeletons are grouped around a tree trunk, in poses indicating the 
supposed habits and adaptation of the living animals. The Lestodon, 
standing on his hind legs, is endeavoring to reach up and drag down branches 
of the tree. One of the Mylodons is busily digging and tearing at the roots 
to loosen and break them and so help his big friend to uproot and pull the 
tree down. A third animal is coming around the base of the tree to assist 
in the digging operations, while a fourth stands at a short distance, ready 
to add his weight to drag down the branches when they are brought within 
reach. 

These poses illustrate the theory of the habits of the ground sloth de- 
duced by Owen from the study of the skeletons —a model of scientific 
reasoning whose accuracy has never been impugned. Among the earlier 
students of this animal, the cautious Cuvier had contented himself with 
observing that the great clawed feet indicated that it was more or less given 
to digging in the ground. Some of his learned contemporaries were bolder 


‘ 


in their speculations. Pander and D’Alton regarded:it as an ‘enormous 
earth-mole which obtained its nourishment beneath the earth’s surface 
through continuous exertion of its colossal strength; and when, perhaps by 
sinking of the ground to the sea-level, it was driven to live on the surface 
of the earth, its vast powers, lacking exercise, degenerated, and its size 
dwindled, until finally it became the weak and puny tree sloth of to-day.””! 

Lund at a somewhat later period, held a view scarcely less fanciful. 
He believed that the Megatheriwm was arboreal, like the modern sloth, 
and observes: “In truth, what ideas must we form of a scale of creation 
where instead of our squirrels, creatures of the size and bulk of the Rhino- 
ceros and Hippopotamus climbed up trees. It is very certain that the 
forests in which these huge monsters gambolled could not be such as now 
clothe the Brazilian mountains, but it will be remembered... that the 
trees we now see in this region are but the dwarfish descendants of loftier 
and nobler forests....and we may be permitted to suppose that the 


1 Translated and condensed from Pander and D’Alton’s Das Riesen Faul-Thier, 1821, 
p. 16. 


Podisop SB podayyeR oq pynoo sosod oy. IVY. OS oqeasn{pe AyIsvo oae sjaed JoOyIO pur squay ou 


dNOYD HLOIS GNNOYS SHL HOS TSAGOW NOILONYLSNOOSO AIVWS OTT 


THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP Is 


By courtesy of the New York Zodélogical Society 


THE MODERN TREE SLOTH 


This is the nearest living relative of the ground sloths 


vegetation of that primeval age was on a no less gigantic scale than the 
animal creation.” ! 

Owen very properly ridiculed these fanciful theories. In point of fact, 
the mere size of the animal would render either of these modes of life im- 
possible so long as the laws of physics and mechanics hold true. The mode 
of life which is practicable to a mole or a squirrel is an utter physical 


: Translated in Owen 1842, “Description of the Skeleton of an Extinct Gigantic Sloth.”’ 


11S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


impossibility to an animal the size of the Megathertum. It could not have 
been other than terrestrial or aquatic, and of the latter mode of life there is 
no indication in its structure. 

In his brilliant and masterly argument the great English anatomist 
showed how the teeth were adapted to the bruising and crushing of leaves 
and twigs, how the structure of the jaws and skull and arrangement of the 
nerve channels indicated loose, flexible lips and long prehensile tongue 
adapted to browsing; how the long loose-jointed forelimbs would enable 
it to lay hold of branches or small trees and drag them down within reach; 
how the powerful claws would enable it to dig around the roots of larger 
trees and loosen them, and the massive hind quarters and tail would give 
the necessary weight and fulcrum to pull down these trees when loosened 
in order to feed upon the upper foliage thus brought within its reach. In 
incidental support of this theory, he pointed to the frequent occurrence of 
fractures in the massive, heavy bones of limbs and skull. One of the 
skeletons in this group has a naturally healed fracture of the bones of the 
hind leg very likely due to a tree falling upon it in the course of its lumbering 
operations — lumbering, perhaps, in more senses than one. 

Such is the theory of the habits of life of the ground sloths, which this 
group is designed to illustrate. As to their appearance, we know from 
recent discoveries that the Mylodons were covered with a thick coat of 
furry hair, somewhat like the brown bears of Alaska. <A large piece of the 
hide found in a cavern at Last Hope Inlet, Patagonia, is preserved in the 
British Museum. It is of a golden brown color, and the thick skin, 
in which are buried numerous small nodules of bone, made an effective 
defense against cold, the assaults of nearly all beasts of prey, and most of 
the bumps and bruises incidental to its mode of life. The one carnivorous 
enemy the Mylodon might have cause to fear would be the great sabre- 
tooth tiger, Smilodon, whose huge compressed canine tusks and powerful 
organization were adapted to prey upon the great thick-skinned, ground 
sloths and other large herbivora. 

The Ground Sloth Group is the most realistic that has yet been at- 
tempted in the mounting of fossil skeletons, and the method of mounting, 
eliminating the upright steel rods ordinarily used, adds much to its effective- 
ness. This method, devised in 1904 by Albert Thomson of this depart- 
ment, is here applied for the first time by Head Preparator Hermann to the 
mounting of large skeletons. The group was designed by Erwin Christman 
and a small working model made. The parts of the skeleton in the model 
are easily adjustable, and the poses were criticised and discussed in com- 
parison with the unmounted skeletons by Professor Osborn and the scientific 
staff until an adjustment was reached which seemed to represent the most 


THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP Lig 


characteristic poses and the habits of these animals. The original skeletons 
were then mounted by Charles Lang under direction of Mr. Hermann, their 
missing bones and processes having first been restored by Charles and Otto 


Falkenbach. 


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SKETCH RESTORATION OF THE GROUND SLOTH GROUP BY ERWIN CHRISTMAN, I9I1I 


Photo by Dwight Franklin 


One may seize a five-foot paddlefish by the ‘‘nose”’ or the tail and haul it into the boat 


A MISSISSIPPI SPOONBILL FISHERY 12] 


Photo by Dwight Franklin 
THE DAY'S CATCH 


THE SPOONBILL FISHERY OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI 
By Louis Hussakof 


AST spring the Museum sent an expedition to the State of Mississippi 
to collect material for an exhibition group of the paddlefish or 
spoonbill-cat. This is one of the most singular fishes found in 

American waters. The name paddlefish is given it in allusion to the 
extraordinary, long, paddle-shaped jaw or “nose.” It is a large fish, often 
reaching a length of six feet and a weight of one hundred and sixty 
pounds. It is found only in the water-ways of the Mississippi valley, 
ranging as far north as the Great Lakes. 

From the name spoonbill-cat by which it is often known, one might 
think it a catfish; but it is not a catfish. It is a ganoid, or a member of 
that ancient group of fishes which includes the sturgeon and a few other 


122 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


forms. In earlier geologic times ganoids were the dominant race of fish, 
at one period of their evolution even outnumbering all the other kinds of 
fish put together. But they have since then fallen upon evil times, and 
are now reduced to only a few genera, which play but an insignificant 
role in the fish-life of to-day. 

The paddlefish reaches its largest size and is found in greatest abundance 
in the smaller lakes connected with the lower Mississippi; and it was at 
one of these lakes — Moon Lake, in Coahoma County, Mississippi — that 
material was sought. Here Mr. I. E. McGehee carries on an extensive 
spoonbill fishery, and through his courtesy, admirable collecting facilities, 
including the use of his fishing paraphernalia, were obtained. The Museum 
party consisted of Mr. Dwight Franklin of the Department of Preparation 
of the Museum, and the writer; the expenses of the work were defrayed 
by the Dodge Fund. 

Until about a decade ago the spoonbill was of little economic value; it 
was interesting merely as a zodlogical curiosity. About that time however, 
the fact was discovered that when smoked it makes a tolerable substitute 
for smoked sturgeon and that its roe makes excellent caviar. Since then 
spoonbill fisheries have sprung up at various points on the Mississippi and 
Ohio rivers. 

The fish is usually taken in a seine. A practical method of operating 
a large seine has been introduced by Mr. McGehee at Moon Lake and is 
worth noting. The seine is wound on a huge spool-shaped reel which is 
mounted in a flat-bottomed boat. It is laid by unrolling this reel; and it 
is wound up by having the crew walk up the spokes of the wheels as on a 
ladder, so that the reel is made to revolve. As the seine is gradually 
wound up and the fish are confined to narrower and narrower space, they 
dart wildly about seeking means of escape. One may then study the 
paddlefish at close range. It is an exceedingly clumsy creature, hardly 
making an effort to escape capture. Its sense of sight is poorly developed, 
as indeed one might infer from its small beady black eyes. If its “nose”’ 
is caught in the seine it makes only feeble efforts to free itself, and usually 
fails in doing so. The contrast between the clumsiness of the spoonbill 
and the alertness of an active fish, is strikingly brought out if any garpike 
are in the haul; forthe gar makes tremendous efforts to escape and unless 
rendered unconscious by a blow with a mallet, will flash through the seine 
as if it were gauze. Leaning over the side of the boat, near the cork-line 
of the seine, one may seize a five-foot paddlefish by the “nose” or the 
tail and haul it into the boat; the only resistance is that of weight. The 
fish has absolutely no sport value. The number of spoonbill taken in a 
single haul varies; sometimes only a few are brought up, and sometimes 


Seining for spoonbill on Moon Lake, Mississippi 


Photo by L. Hussakof 


The crew walk up the spokes of the wheels as on a ladder thus causing the reel to revolve and wind 
up the seine 


Photo by Ty. Hussakof 


Of course other fish are caught, such as bass, carp, crappie and drum; but they are of secondary 
importance and the game fish taken are thrown back 


124 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


as many as a hundred. Of course other fish are caught, such as bass, carp, 
crappie, and drum; but they are of secondary importance and the game 
fish thus taken are thrown back as they are safeguarded for the angler by 
state law. 

The paddlefish are cut up in the manner shown in the photograph. 
Their heads and fins are usually discarded, but sometimes they are boiled 


for their oil. The roe is then removed to be prepared into caviar. It 


Photo by L. Hussakof 


Removing the roe for the preparation of caviar. The roe weighs from two to fifteen or 
twenty pounds in a single fish. The heads and fins are usually discarded but sometimes they 
are boiled for their oil. The body of the fish is smoked and becomes ‘‘sturgeon”™ 


A MISSISSIPPI SPOONBILL FISHERY 


. 


: bp ey esi woe 


Photo by Dwight Franklin 

Preparing spoonbill caviar. Theroe is put on a 
coarse wire sieve and rubbed by hand across the 
wires until the eggs are separated from their mem- 
branes and drop into the pan beneath 


are separated from their membranes and 
drop into the pan beneath the sieve. The 
raw caviar is mixed with “German” salt 
and is ready for shipment. It must under- 
go still further preparation however, before 
it is in the form familiar to us. In its 
raw state it brings about half-a-dollar 
a pound. It is said that spoonbill caviar 
is the best known, having received 
the highest award at one of the World 
Expositions. 


pounds, in a single fish. 


125 


'/ weighs from two to fifteen or twenty 
It is put on 


a coarse wire sieve and rubbed by 


hand across the wires until the eggs 


Photo by L. Hussakof 


The spoonbill 
spathula) 


or 


paddlefish 


(Polyodon 


RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION AMONG THE INDIANS OF 
THE NORTHERN PLAINS 


By Clark Wissler 


URING the summer of 1910 the research staff of the Department 
of Anthropology made further progress on the systematic sur- 
vey of the Northern Plains Tribes, returning collections from 

the Crow, Dakota and Village Indians. In central North America there is 
a large area drained by the Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan rivers, 
grass-covered land for the most part, the home of a number of Indian 
tribes of peculiar interest to anthropologists. Here in buffalo days lived 
eleven different tribes,— the Sarci, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, 
Crow, Dakota, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Hidatsa, Arikara and Mandan. 
Kach occupied a more or less definite territory, and spoke a distinct lan- 
guage, generally recognized as belonging to one of four widely distributed 
linguistic families, Algonkin, Siouan, Athapascan and Caddoan. At 
present representatives of these aboriginal tribes survive on reservations 
in various parts of the area. The cultures of this group of northern Plains 
Indians, as presented in museum collections, show striking fundamental simi- 
larities in contrast to diverse linguistic origin and offer therefore an inviting 
field for museum collecting and investigation. 

In 1906 the Department of Anthropology selected this area for con- 
tinuous systematic exploration, to seek data for formulating the manner 
in which special ceremonies like the sun dance and the medicine pipe, es 
well as distinctive traits of material culture and art, were distributed 
throughout the region, one of the more important groups of problems 
now confronting serious students of American anthropology. Fortunately 
for this plan, the tribes concerned were neither closely confined nor forced 
to abandon their aboriginal economic life until after 1865, the change being 
gradual and continuous to the present day so that the domestic life and 
other aspects of culture, while much modified, are still cherished in the 
memories of old Indians from whom data and specimens may yet be ob- 
tained. Naturally with each succeeding year comes the obliteration of 
more and more of these precious memories, rendering the labors of our 
field workers less and less productive. The realization of this has led to 
the vigorous prosecution of the work by our field staff to the extent of avail- 
able funds. 

Field exploration has been conducted among practically the full list of 
tribes contemplated in the plan, the Sarci, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Nez 
Perce, Northern Shoshone, Crow, Teton-Dakota, Hidatsa, Arikara, Mandan, 
Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa. In most cases however, the work is still 


126 


RESEARCH IN: ANTHROPOLOGY 127 


far from complete and some important divisions of several tribes have not 
vet been visited. In every case more than a beginning has been made while 
in several instances the data accumulated are quite sufficient for the de- 
tailed study of the area necessary to the development of anthropology in 
America. 

Regarding publications of results of this exploration, the following 
series has been issued: Some Protective Designs of the Dakota, Gros Ventre 
Myths, Ethnology of the Gros Ventre, Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians, 
Mythology of the Northern Shoshone, Mythology of the Assiniboine, and 
Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. In addition to these seven papers 
the following will appear in due time: Social and Ceremonial Culture of 
the Blackfoot, Ethnology of the Crow, Ethnology of the Teton-Dakota, the 
Hidatsa and the Sarci. Other papers will appear as soon as the field work 
is sufficiently advanced. No other institution has given much attention 
to this area and while the older historical literature contains much valuable 
data of a desultory character, the only other specific publications not found 
in our series are a few minor studies on the Crow, Blackfoot, Hidatsa and 
Dakota, none of which are sufficiently comprehensive for a serious compara- 
tive study of the area as a whole. The field work has been conducted by 
the staff of the Department of Anthropology, Messrs. Clark Wissler, P. E. 
Goddard, Robert H. Lowie, Herbert J. Spinden and Alanson Skinner, 
also by Dr. J. R. Walker and Rey. Gilbert L. Wilson, not connected directly 
with the Museum. 

Supplementary to this plan, Mr. Harlan I. Smith conceived and devel- 
oped a plan for the archeological survey of the Upper Missouri basin. The 
part of this area falling within the state limits of Wyoming and Montana 
is practically unknown to archeology. Mr. Smith’s explorations have so 
far been confined to eastern Wyoming, the results of which will be presented 
in a future publication. This work enjoying not only priority, but being 
conducted in a systematic manner will be an important contribution to our 
knowledge of the area and, it is hoped, will afford some basis for a conclu- 
sion as to the early inhabitants of the region, a matter of no small impor- 
tance in the general comparative results of the ethnological survey now 
nearing completion. 

Museum anthropology is confined to the aspects of culture represented 
by collections. Our collectors have met with favorable conditions so that 
their returns, supplemented by gifts from private collectors and patrons, 
give a fair start toward an efficient study series for the area as a whole. 
The Department has developed plans for an entire exhibition hall in which 
the general aspects of culture so far discovered in the area may be presented, 
showing with some detail the peculiarities in distribution for the distinctive 
traits. 


Mural panel by Will S. Taylor 


A TSIMSHIAN FAMILY MAKING EULACHON “ BUTTER” 


The glow of the ember fire is on the girl’s face as she waits for stones to heat. In the box 
at the right, fish are being boiled by means of the heated stones; the oil thus removed from the 
fish forms ‘‘butter.”’ The residue is being strained by the woman at the left. The artist has 


used the medium of steam here and in the ‘‘Canoe Builders”’ to distribute the color effect of the fire 
128 


FOREWORD ON THE NEW MURAL PAINTINGS IN THE 
AMERICAN MUSEUM 


HE first large commission for mural decoration in this country was 
given for Trinity Church, Boston. That was in 1870 and the 
artist was John La Farge, working in co6peration with H. H. 
Richardson, architect. Since that time and particularly in the past ten 
vears there has been great advance in mural painting in America. Great 
public buildings are no longer built for utility only, but are given beauty 
and a character fitting their purpose by the codperation of the artist with 
the architect. In a Museum, as a public building which entertains and 
educates the million or more people who visit it annually, there is oppor- 
tunity for a high standard in the architecture and decoration of its halls, 
harmonizing design and color with the spirit as well as with the details of 
each accompanying exhibit. In this, mural decoration is fitted to play a 
large part, for the mural painting can often perform forcefully and with an 
effect of beauty what can be accomplished in no cther way: it can vital- 
ize an exhibit by setting forth the life and the country that the exhibit 
represents. 

In the summer and fall of 1909 the American Museum sent an expedition 
to the North Pacific Coast, with Mr. Harlan I. Smith, ethnologist in charge, 
and Mr. Will S. Taylor, artist. On this expedition Mr. Taylor made studies 
for a series of mural panels to represent the North Pacific Indians as they 
were one hundred years ago when uninfluenced by white men. Sketches 
of landscapes were obtained, color notes on the different tribes and many 
photographs. Most of the old industries had disappeared however — as 
had also the old costumes — so that with all effort these mural paintings 
have had to be largely restorations. This has entailed tedious study of 
museum material and the literature of the subject on the part of the artist 
since his return. His study has been rewarded however; the ethnological 
staff of the Museum and Lieutenant Emmons, who has generously helped 
in the work of scientific supervision, pronounce these paintings rarely accu- 
rate presentations. Landscapes although idealized give the color and 
feeling of particular spots which a visitor to this northern country can 
locate, while each canvas shows good type portraits of the tribe represented. 

The four panels from north to south in the Hall are in series, with color 
graded from the cool country of the northern part of the coast to the warmer 
country toward the south, and with design regulated in rhythmic sequence 
as in a mural frieze. The composition in each panel is simple and the 
action is readily understood. There is an evident center of interest and 


129 


130 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


the lines of the various figures, of mountain gorges, of masses of steam, of 
clouds, of tree branches either lead toward this center or serve to tie in the 
composition. Dignity appropriate to the subjects has been gained by a 
conspicuous introduction of vertical lmes—a thin column of smoke, trees, 
totem poles, erect figures. Steam has been cleverly used in two of the 
pictures as a medium for the distribution of the color effect of fire. 

Mr. Taylor considers himself fortunate in the position of the paintings 
in this Hall among old weathered totem poles, canoes and other symbols 
of Indian art. It has allowed him to portray the simple out-of-door life 
of the people with true local color and in a broadly decorative way unham- 
pered by the usual modern architecture and ornament. The panels certainly 
meet the requirements of true decorations as well as serve their scientific 
purpose. They blend with their surroundings, an integral part of the color 
scheme of the Hall; they are flat in effect, clinging to the wall like tapestries 
though with relief high enough to give an effect of reality to the scenes end 
of increased space to the Hall. 

The imagination sees also in these paintings something beyond the 
industry represented, something more than satisfying design and _ color. 
One finds himself picking out the various items that signify a development 
of love of beauty in this primitive race; speculating on the fact that the 
grandeur of this country has its concomitant in the earnestness of its people; 
and seeing in the pose and expression of certain of the figures evidence that 
mind and spirit, here as in all primitive races, have developed with the 
training of eye and hand. It is thus that Mr. Taylor’s work done with 
high seriousness of aim meets the final demand of mural decoration. 

Ns.CaDy, 


THE NEW MURAL PAINTINGS AND THE INDUSTRIES THEY 
PORTRAY 


By E. C. B. Fassett 


HE first four of a series of mural decorations by Mr. Will S. Taylor 

are completed and in their places in the Hall of the North Pacific 

Coast Indians. They invest this Hall with atmosphere and local 

color. They hang like tapestries between the weathered totem poles and 
dealing with themes of industry, combine truthful illustration with land- 
scapes that would seem to be purely ideal. Here are mountains forested 
with hemlock and cedar. Yonder are glimpses of blue glaciers and veils 
of mist that suggest the cool atmosphere of the northern summer. In Mr. 
Taylor’s sea-girt, mountain-sheltered scenes we behold the homes of the 


NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 13] 


weavers, carvers, basket makers and canoe builders whose works are gathered 
together in this Hall of the North Pacific Coast peoples. 

The arrangement of the Hall is planned in such a manner that the mate- 
rials are divided into seven arbitrary groups representative of the various 
tribes from the Columbia River to Mount McKinley. The Tlingit materials 
from the coast of Alaska occupy a space near the northern end, one section 
illustrating the material industries, another the social affairs and cere- 
monials. The collection from the Haida people who occupy the country 
immediately south of the Thingit, including the Queen Charlotte’s Islands, 
follow and are arranged similarly. In like manner succeed the exhibits 
of the Tsimshian, Bella Coola, Kwakiutl, Nootka and the southern coast 
Salish peoples; while the new mural decorations are so placed that those 
opposite each exhibit represent the general characteristics of the country 


from which the Museum collections came. 
THE FIRST PAINTING 
The Blanket Weavers 
The first of Mr. Taylor’s series of mural paintings is placed on the west 
wall of the space occupied by the Tlingit collections. He has chosen for 


the subject of this decoration the rapidly disappearing art of the Chilkat 


blanket maker. The origin of this type of wool weaving is attributed to 


As many as possible of the sketches were made in sunlight in order better to roduce 
out-of-door effects when painting the decorations later 


132 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


On the Stikine River at the Great Glacier. The artist visited all the country along the 
coast making color studies and collecting facts 


the Tsimshian; but the art passed from them through the Tongas, the 
Stikine and the more southern Tlingit to the Chilkat tribe, a division of 
the Tlingit family which lives about the head of Lynn Canal in southeastern 
Alaska. This migration of art is attributable to the intermigratery habits 
of the people. Canoe life in the netwerk of island channel-ways permits 
free intercourse between the tribes and an exchange of commodities which, 
together with the practice of intertribal marriages, accounts for the dis- 
semination and perpetuation of similar arts among neighboring peoples. 

The Chilkat blanket is undoubtedly the best possible expression for this 
group, not only that it is the emblem of the clan but also, as is always true 
of art objects, that it sums within its textile limits suggestions of the 
mythical lore and history of its people. Not least interesting is the fact 
that this textile is a copy from a painted design. 

In the canvas against an impressive background of mountains, whose 
snows and glaciers are tinted with blues and purples and greens, a Chilkat 
blanket hangs in process of making, and around it is grouped the family 
engaged in the work. The man stands passively at the left. Carved 
emblems on the uprights of the looms, also the painted pattern board at the 
right of the composition, are his share in the work. The old woman seated 
at the right with lower lip distended by a mouth ornament indicative of her 
wealth and rank, is engaged in spinning a strand of the wool from the moun- 
tain goat. 

For the weaving of a Chilkat blanket all the long coarse outer hair of the 
goat is discarded, since only the soft fine under wool is used. The wool is 


NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 133 


spun by hand, and then dyed in the yarn. ‘To prevent the hanging warp 
from tangling, it is divided and tied in bags of skin as indicated in the paint- 
ing. ‘The weaving is a marvel of patient execution with the unaided hand, 
in technique similar to one type of the basketry work of this tribe. The 
small coler fields are woven separately and very ingeniously united by 
interweaving. Several of these small interwoven fields form = divisions 
which are united with fine sinews, as thread is used by the European tapestry 
weavers. Technically the Chilkat blanket is a tapestry. 


THE SECOND PAINTING 
The Canoe Builders 


The mural decoration on the west wall, next to that of the Tlingit, 
portrays the Haida Indians as woodworkers. They are engaged in canoe 
building just in front of a wooden structure which extends from the right 
of the composition. This structure is an example of the community house 
of these people. The timber is hand-hewn and _ skillfully jomed. The 
boards of the walls are bevelled to slide in a groove and close up to one 
another with great nicety. Those important structural features, the corner 
posts and totem poles, the placing of which is the initial step of the building 
and the oecasicn of important ceremonies, are broadly indicated as befits 
their position in the composition. 

The North Pacific Coast Indians are a fishing people. Their homes are 
largely among islands and Mr. Taylor could have chosen no better object 
illustrative of their lives than the canoe. It is their chief means of trans- 
portation and in it much of their lives is spent. The red cedars of 
Queen Charlotte’s Islands produce logs from which are made huge canoes, 
sometimes from forty-five to sixty feet in length. The Haida are master 
craftsmen since there is no other type of dugout canoe so light, graceful 
and seaworthy as this one they construct. 

In Haida canoe building, the outside contour is first hewn and carved. 
Wooden pins are driven through the outer surface to indicate the varying 
thickness of the walls of the canoe, and the interior is dug out to the depths 
thus fixed. The spread of the beam is attained by steaming the wood. 
The canoe is partly filled with water into which red hot stones are dropped 
producing steam which softens the wood. The sides are forced out by 
wedges which are afterward replaced by permanent seats. Beds of hot 
embers are kept near the canoes to dry the outer surface. 

Not only is the Haida process of canoe building well suggested in this 
second painting, but also we get in this decoration the atmosphere of the 


Mural panel by Wiil S. Taylor 
WEAVING A CHILKAT BLANKET AT A CAMP ON A SALMON RIVER 


The blanket is being made for the man of the family who stands at the left. The young girl 
has stopped in the process of separating the strands of the cedar bark to be used for warp. The 


woman at the right has looked up from her work of spinning the wool 
134 


NEW MURAL PAINTINGS 135 


region, a sense of the mists and the dampness. The attention centers on 
the boat builder, who is about to drop from long wooden tongs a red hot 
stone inte the water within the canoe from which rises swirling steam, 
while the glow from the ember fire illumines his well-developed figure and 
reveals an intensely interested face. The cloud of steam gives life and 
movement and plays a strong part in the pictorial composition and color 
scheme, while the diffusing mist veils subordinate detail and holds all in 
harmonious relation. 


THE THIRD PAINTING 
The Butter Makers 


In this delightful composition, which Mr. Taylor calls “The Butter 
Makers,” we find the eulachon industry illustrated with much detail. This 
group of busy Tsimshian is placed in a semi-realistic landscape of great 
beauty. We discern the flanks of mountains veiled by cloud masses, and 
the green slopes that reach down to the shore of the Nasse River. The 
stream is splendid at this point near its mouth where the candlefish come 
in from the sea. The eulachon or candlefish are caught during March and 
April in great numbers with dip nets and rakes or with seines. 

This party in the picture has made a temporary camp here in the “ lean- 
to” at the left, to harvest the run. Two methods of preservation are 
indicated. At the right a man is hanging eulachon to dry. The other and 
more important process is the extraction of the oil, which is a greatly valued 
delicacy used like butter by these people. This oil and the dried eulachon 
are exchanged up and down the coast by those Indians so fortunate as to 
control the catch. 

To extract the oil, the fish are permitted to decompose slightly, after 
which they are placed in boxes of water and kept at the boiling point by the 
use of red hot stones. The oil is then skimmed off as it rises to the surface, 
and so precious is it that even the residue is worked over. 

The column of light smoke at the left of the painting and the glow of the 
ember fire indicate the heating of the stones. The woman with the tongs 
is about to take one of these stones to keep the water boiling in the boxes, 
and the old woman at the box with the straining mesh is working over the 
residue. 

These quite literal facts are expressed simply while the balance of the 
composition in line and color mass is well maintained. The artist has 
invested the whole decoration with poetic charm and the treatment of the 
clouds, smoke and steam is masterly. 


136 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


THE FOURTH PAINTING 
The Bread Makers of the Bella Coola 


This scene is in the beautiful Bella Coola valley, about eighty miles up 
the fiord at the delta of the river. The narrow valley lies between moun- 
tains covered in places with perpetual snow and glaciers. 

The purple of the mountains with the delicate greens of cottonwoods 
ranged along the river’s edge, are portrayed in the upper planes of the 
painting. In the lower plane, beside the winding glacial stream, are swamp 
lands where skunk cabbage is abundant and hemlocks grow. At the left 
of the composition the man supported high on the tree trunk is scraping 
away the inner bark or cambium and dropping the moist strips to the cedar 
mat held below by the woman and the boys. 

The edible value of the cambium is well understood by Indians; that 
of the pine, spruce and fir is eaten in the spring time, while that of the 
yellow pine, hemlock and red alder is preserved for winter use. A hole in 
the ground is lined with hot stones, which are covered with the leaves of 
the skunk cabbage to keep the bark from burning. Within this the muci- 
laginous strips are packed and covered with the skunk cabbage leaves, 
then over all are placed layers of bark and cedar mats. In four days the 
cambium steamed to a pulp is ground with a pestle on a flat stone, then 
formed into brick-like cakes and dried in the sun. 

This fourth painting has especial distinction because of the sense of 
space conveyed and of the highly picturesque character of the landscape. 
The simplicity of the grouping of the figures and the admirable arrangement 
of the masses of light and dark coloring complete a composition which can- 
not fail to have lasting charm. 


Both the Museum and the artist are to be congratulated. Not every 
painter would have striven with such sincerity to tell the simple stories of 
the handicrafts of these various tribes. The color scheme holds together 
in these four canvases as well as it would in a suite of old tapestries. There 
is self-restraint and subordination of detail; and there is good measure of 
the literal and the educational. Art has prevailed over all. Mountain 
mists and steam-clouds are gracious mediums for invoking the ideal; and 
yet these are good portraits of the lands where live the Tlingit and the 
Haida, the Tsimshian, and the Bella Coola. 


From mural panel by Will S. Taylor 


A BELLA COOLA FAMILY MAKING “ BREAD 


The man is gathering hemlock bark, which is later steamed in holesin the ground lined with 
hot stones; thus is made a kind of native bread 
In each canvas the figures are good type portraits of the tribe represented 


SUPERNATURAL THUNDERBIRD CHARMS OF THE GAME ON THE MAT AT THE LEFT 


THE PRIZES CONSISTING OF BLANKETS AND STRIPS OF CALICO 


138 SORTING THE STICKS AND SO CHOOSING SIDES‘* 


THE MENOMINI GAME OF LACROSSE 


By Alanson Skinner 
Photographs by the Author 


HE Menomini Indians, about fifteen hundred in number, are intelli- 
gent and progressive farmers dwelling for the most part in sub- 
stantial log cabins and frame houses on their reservation in northern 

Wisconsin, yet about one half of them adhere to their ancient ceremonials 
and to the legends of their race. One of my early experiences after reach- 
ing the reservation in the summer of 1910! was attendance upon a cere- 
monial to the Thunderers, given to appease the wrath of these Indian 
gods of the storm, so that there might end the drought from which the 
country was suffering; and another consisted in witnessing a ceremonial 
game of lacrosse, which is interwoven with the legend of the Thunderers 
and revolves about the idea of the birth of these spirits in man. 


THE GAME STARTS 


At the lacrosse game the Menomini nation was well represented. The 
smooth field stretched before us. The prizes, blankets and strips of calico, 
were hung at one side. Warriors rapidly gathered as the chief moved 
toward the place where the prizes were displayed. They gathered in a 


1The gratitude of the Museum goes to the Wisconsin friends who contributed to the 
success of this expedition of 1910. Those to whom greatest indebtedness is due are Special 
Agent of the United States Government, Mr. Angus Nicholson, and all his staff, as well as 
the late agent, Mr. Wilson. As for the Indians, those to whom thanks should be given are 
very many. Perhaps the ones who have been most liberal and helpful are Mr. John V. 
Satterlee, Chiefs Perrote, Wiuskacit and Niopet, Messrs. James Blackcloud and. Antoine 
Shibicow, and Jane Shibicow and Mrs. Petwaskun. i 
139 


140 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


dense mass about him while he entered upon a speech advising how to play 
the game to the satisfaction of the Thunderers. As soon as this ended 
attendants passed among the warriors and collected the game sticks and 
bringing them to one spot mixed them well together, afterward quickly 
spreading them out in two opposing rows on the grass. The players fol- 
lowed watching, each making an effort to locate his own stick in one row 
or the other. When he had done so he knew on which side he was to play 
and also, for by that time each warrior was standing before his own stick, 
just who were to play with him, who against. The warriors of one side 
marked the left cheek with a heavy stroke of vermilion for recognition in 
the game. Each took up his stick and all seemed ready and waiting for 
some signal. Suddenly a ball was tossed into the center of the crowd and 
with many whoops and a great rush the game was on. 

The following is the story connected with lacrosse as gained through 
the interpreter from one of the oldest Indians of the tribe. Knowledge of 
the legend makes clear many things about the game, such as the honored 
position near the prizes accorded to the supernatural war club and lacrosse 


stick belonging to the Indian giving the game. 


You ask who are the Thunderbirds. I will tell you. You have seen the black 
clouds roll up in the spring. You have seen the rain fall heavily and you have seen 
the great flashes of light that shoot from the heavens, and you have heard the rum- 
bling noise that follows. What the Wabskuat (Paleface) says of these things I do 
not know, but the Indian understands well that they are made by the Thunderbirds 
hunting. 

“ar, far away in the West where the sun sets, there floats a great mountain in 
the sky. Above the earth the rocks lie tier on tier. These cliffs are too lofty to be 
reached by any earthly bird. Even the great war eagle cannot soar so high. But on 
the summit of this mountain dwell the Thunderbirds. They have control over the 
rain and the hail. They are messengers of the Great Sun himself, and their influence 
induced the Sun and the Morning Star to give the great war-bundle to our race. 
They delight in fighting and great deeds. They are the mighty enemies of the 
horned snakes, the Misikinubik. Were it not for the Thunderers these monsters 
would overwhelm the earth and devour mankind. When the weather is fair, then 
watch when you travel abroad, for the snakes come out to bask in the sun, but when 
the weather is cloudy you need fear nothing, for the Thunderers come searching from 
behind the clouds for their enemies, the Misikinubik. 

Now this is true and our people know it well, that these Thunderers have a 
great love for us. Often they come down to earth and are born as men. He who 
bears a Thunderer’s spirit has power to understand nature and to foretell the weather 
and he is strong in war. But a man who has such a spirit is not like other Indians. 
As a child his parents never punish him for fear his spirit will be shamed and leave 
his body. Instead they honor him and make for him a war club and lacrosse stick, 
the one to protect him in time of war, the other a symbol that he is a child of the 
Thunderers. For lacrosse is a warlike game and therefore the Thunderbirds delight 
in it. Anyone who has a Thunderer’s spirit in him must have the game played at 
least once a year. He must offer great prizes to the winner of his game and he must 


THE CHIEF INSTRUCTS THE PLAYERS 


send out gifts of tobacco to all the people as an invitation to come and play. He 
himself takes no part but sits and watches and the Thunderers are satisfied. 

Before I left the reservation I saw three additional ceremonial lacrosse 
games, besides other interesting ceremonies such as that of the Society of 
Dancing Men. Ceremonies of all kinds among the Menominiare becoming 
more and more curtailed every year and adherence to legendary lore more 
rare, and it is probably a question of only a few years more when all will 
have passed into tradition. 

The Menomini Indians have always been exceedingly friendly toward 
the white man and they were well pleased when they learned that a system- 
atic effort was to be made by the American Museum to record their old 
life and collect their ancient articles. In the words of Chief Niopet, who 
presented the Museum with several handsome examples of beadwork, the 
following is their idea: ‘‘ We wish to put these things into the ‘ great house’ 
where they will be kept with care, where our children’s children may go 
to see them when our race has followed the white man’s road until it has 
forgotten their use.”’ 


A SCRIMMAGE NEAR THE GOAL, THE FIRST SIDE SCORING FOUR GOALS WINS 


A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 


EXHIBIT OF MODELS ILLUSTRATING POLLUTION OF NEW YORK HARBOR 


WATERS AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS FOR THE DISPOSAL OF CITY SEWAGE 
By C-E. A. Winslow 


ITY life presents pressing and peculiar biological problems. When 

a great number of human beings are concentrated within a small 

area, the fundamental needs of individual life must be met by the 

latest perfected methods. Especially should this hold true in the preven- 

tion of epidemics, which always threaten crowded communities; and in 

guarding against disease the first essential is the proper removal of the waste 

products which accompany all living processes. One of the greatest prob- 

lems which confronts a modern municipality is here encountered, for from 

every large city there pours out a river of waste material which pollutes 

streams, harbors and foreshores, spoiling what should be the pleasure-spots 
of the city, damaging property and even endangering health and life. 

New York is more fortunate than most cities in the large bodies of water 
which wash its shores, but to-day the disposal of its waste material has 
become a serious problem and one which demands prompt solution. The 
Metropolitan Sewerage Commission which has recently published the results 
of its important investigations will shortly make an exhibit of its work at 
the American Museum, and the Museum’s Department of Public Health 
has prepared a series of models illustrating on the one hand local conditions 


142 


PANORAMIC VIEW OF TRICKLING FILTERS, COLUMBUS, OHIO 


The most efficient device yet discovered for the purification of a city’s sewage — stones 
on which bacterial growth may gather and a regulated supply of sewage in fine spray and 
of air 


with regard to harbor waters and on the other hand the various devices 
which may be used for the disposal of city sewage by sanitary methods. 

When sewage is discharged in small volume into a relatively large body 
of water the aim of all sewage purification is attained. The bacteria nor- 
mally present in the water attack the organic matter and oxidize it, and at 
the same time the typical sewage bacteria, finding themselves in an un- 
favorable environment, gradually die and disappear. In New York, 
however, the present method of disposal by the haphazard discharge of 
sewers into the waters of the rivers and harbor at the piers or bulkhead 
lines, is manifestly unsatisfactory. The sewage oscillates back and forth 
instead of passing promptly out to sea, and the local nuisances at certain 
points are extreme. 

Besides the fact that this brings about conditions offensive to the senses, 
real danger to health is involved. The germs of typhoid and other infec- 
tious diseases are always present in a city’s waste, menacing the lives of 
those to whom their contact is inevitable. For instance all along the 
waterfront, driftwood and other floating objects are picked out by the poor 
and carried to their homes. In Jamaica Bay and neighboring waters shell- 
fish are grown in close proximity to both public and private sewers and while 
some processes of cookery destroy the typhoid germs, others do not. The 
greatest risk is run by bathing in the polluted waters and in New York 
several of the free floating baths maintained by the city are placed sufficiently 


143 


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A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 145 


near sewer outlets to furnish excellent opportunity for infection of various 
sorts. 

The first problem in the disposal of city sewage is the elimination of the 
coarser floating particles by some form of screening. In some cases this 
alone is sufficient, but generally sedimentation must also be employed. In 
sedimentation excellent results have come from the use of a deep tank hay- 
ing a conical or pyramidal bottom. Into the lower part of this tank the 
sewage enters, spreads out in the conical section as it rises, progressively 
diminishes in velocity, and when the effluent flows off at the top, leaves the 
suspended solids behind. 

The sludge which accumulates in the sedimentation tank must itself 
be disposed of in some way and the modified sedimentation basin known as 
the “septic tank”’ is designed to minimize this nuisance by holding the sludge 
under such conditions that it may be liquified by anaérobic bacteria. One 
tank of this type, the Imhoff tank used extensively in northern Germany, 
has met with marked success. 

. After the removal of suspended solids, the liquid sewage remains to be 
purified. The most primitive method of disposal consists in its distribution 
over the surface of suitable land, what is called “broad irrigation.”” Under 
proper conditions the living earth renders organic matter harmless and 
changes it into food material for the higher plants. Paris and Berlin to-day 
utilize this method of disposal. But broad irrigation requires large areas 
of land of suitable soil and would be a costly method for a city situated as 


Intermittent Sand Filter Bed. Photograph of a model in the American Museum 


146 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Septic Tank or modified sedimentation basin. Model in the American Museum 


is New York, where the waste would have to be carried a ereat distance 
before final disposition of it could be made. 

At Lawrence, Massachusetts, through the experiments of the Massa- 
chusetts Board of Health, a more scientific and intensive modification of 
the irrigation process was devised known as intermittent filtration. It 
consists in the application of sewage in regulated quantities to the surface 
of properly prepared beds of sand in which nitrifying bacteria colonize and 
oxidize the organic matters in the sewage into harmless mineral form. The 
construction of this filter is simple in regions like those in the northeastern 
part of the United States where there is suitable soil from glacial drift. 

Even the intermittent filter requires a large area of land however, and 


Double contact beds for purification of sewage on the plan of “ broad irrigation ’’ but 
without the necessity of large areas of land. Model in the American Museum 


A QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 147 


still more rapid processes have been devised to meet the needs of com- 
munities which have no ample sand areas at their doors. It was shown by 
a series of English investigators that the nitrifying bacteria could be grown 
on coarser materials like broken stone as well as on sand and that by filling 
a bed with such materials and letting sewage stand in it for a short time in 
contact with the stone, a considerable purification would take place. Such 
a purifying device is known as a “contact bed.” 

The most efficient device of all is the “trickling” or “percolating” bed 


which represents still another method of combining the three required 


Picking up polluted driftwood on the Battery steps. Model in the American Museum 


elements, sewage, bacteria and air. In 1894, at Newport, Rhode, Island, 
the late Colonel George E. Waring experimented with the purifying of 
sewage at high rates by blowing air into a bed of coarse stone from below, 
while sewage ran down through it from above. Theoretically good, prac- 
tically the method fell short of perfection; but success has finally been 
reached along another similar line by applying sewage, not in bulk, but in 
a fine spray distributed as evenly as possible over the surface of the bed. 
By this method the liquid trickles in thin films over the surface of the filling 


14S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


material while the spaces between are continually filled with air. The 
trickling bed, which may be defined simply as a heap of stones or other 
material of such size, depth and texture as to support a bacterial growth 
sufficient for the work in hand, is considered one of the most promising and 
effective of any known device for sewage purification and particularly well 
adapted for use in large cities, for it exhibits the simplicity which dis- 
tinguishes the best scientific application —a pile of stones on which bac- 
terial growth may gather and a regulated supply of air and sewage being 
the only desiderata. In this way the dangerous organic waste material 
produced in the city of human habitations is carried out to the city of 
microbes on their hills of rocks and it is their duty to turn it into a 
harmless mineral form. 

The removal of disease bacteria is not necessarily accomplished by these 
newer processes of sewage disposal which are primarily designed to remove 
putrescible organic matter. This end, which is an important one in a sea- 
board city because of its adjacent shellfish industries, can be met by special 
chemical treatment. The application of ordinary bleaching powder or 
chloride of lime in small amounts of fifteen to thirty parts of powder to a 
million parts of sewage will effect a satisfactory reduction of bacteria at a 
very reasonable cost. 

There are yet many unsolved problems in the purification and disposal 
of a city’s sewage, yet the work of the last ten years in the United States 
and England foreshadows ultimate success. To-day the engineer is limited 
in the perfection of his work only by the amount of money the community 
is prepared to expend; and the City of New York can go as far along this 
line as its citizens choose to afford. It should unquestionably go farther 
than it has gone to-day. 


7 | i) i sere 
sc — “adil Kua 
= “SARITA 


A MODERN MUSEUM OF CELEBES 
By Roy C. Andrews 


HEN a naturalist’s wanderings in the South Seas carry him to a 
native city of comparatively small white population, and he 
finds there a museum embodying modern ideas of exhibition, 

he experiences considerable surprise. It was my good fortune on Christmas 
Day of 1909 to find such a museum and also to visit it with its founder 
and curator, His Excellency Baron Quarles de Quarles, Governor of Celebes. 
The Albatross had but recently dropped anchor in the Bay of Makassar. 
While driving in Makassar, the principal city of South Celebes, we came 
upon a large; oblong building set on piles and having an entrance-way 
projecting from the front. As usual the little shaggy brown horse drawing 
the rickety “carametta”’ in which we were riding was rushing along at a 
furious pace and we had almost passed the house before we caught sight 
of an English sign reading “ Museum.” The building was closed, but its 
keeper was finally located and although he spoke only Dutch and Malay, 
we managed to exchange ideas and made a brief inspection of the place. 
Later Captain McCormack and myself visited the Museum, conducted 
by Baron de Quarles, who presented to the American Museum a small 
collection representing some of the most characteristic features of the native 


149 


150 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


life of Celebes. The building was formerly the residence of the deposed 
Raja of Boni, a potentate who for some time ruled one of the large provinces 
of the Island, and itself furnishes a most interesting example of the royal 
dwellings of these native princes. 

The collections contained in the museum are strictly local, but represent 
in a form quite complete the basket work and other industries, the dress 
and customs, in fact all the principal features of the life of the natives in 
and about Celebes. All the material has been collected and arranged under 
the supervision of the Governor. Plaster casts have been prepared to 
illustrate the natives and the dress of the different tribes. There are also 
miniature models of fish-traps, houses, and boats, as well as models to show 
pottery making and basketry. Around the walls are hung spears, knives, 
shields, and other articles of warfare, and their uses are explained by admir- 
able labels in Malay, Dutch and English. One room contains many ob- 
jects which made part of the furnishings of the household in the time of the 
Raja of Boni. 

The entire museum gives such evidence of attention to details and 
of thought and care in selection and exhibition of specimens that it reflects 
the greatest credit on Baron de Quarles. He has extended the scope of the 
Makassar Museum’s work by making up and presenting to expositions in 
various countries of Europe collections representing the chief features of 
the ethnology of the natives of the Celebes. It is to be hoped that there 
will be a continuance of the growth of this institution which, although the 
years of its existence have been few, is already doing important educational 
work, and that the example so admirably set by Baron de Quarles will be 
followed by the officials of other native cities. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


Ow1nG to ill health, Dr. J. A. Allen, Curator of Mammalogy, has given 
up his duties as Acting Director and the President has appointed Dr. E. O. 
Hovey, Curator of the Department of Geology and Invertebrate Paleontol- 
ogy to serve as Acting Director pro tem during the absence of Dr. Townsend. 


Tue Department of Anthropology has recently received the gift of a 
Sioux tepee made entirely of buffalo skins. This tepee is of peculiar interest 
from the fact that for at least the past thirty years buffalo skins have not 
been used in Indian house construction. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 15] 


Mr. FRANK M. CHAPMAN sailed from New York March 14 for Colombia, 
South America, where he is to join Mr. William B. Richardson, who has 
been in that locality collecting birds and mammals for the Museum for 
several months. Mr. Chapman-expects to get into a region where no col- 
lecting of birds has been done; there he will make a systematic survey, 
probably obtaining some undescribed species and many new to the Museum 
collections. He will also get material for several new bird groups. He has 
taken an assistant and expects to remain until July, when Mr. Richardson 
and the assistant will continue the work. 


Dr. GeorGeE H. Girry of the United States Geological Survey, who has 
recently presented to the Museum a series of fossil invertebrates, has been 
made a Life Member of the Museum in recognition of his generosity. 


Art the meeting of the Executive Committee on March 22, Mr. Frederick 
H. Smyth was appointed to the position of bursar of the American Museum 
of Natural History, the appointment to take effect April 1, 1911. 


THe METROPOLITAN SEWERAGE COMMISSION In codperation with the 
Department of Public Health of the American Museum will hold an exhi- 
bition at the Museum during the last two weeks of April. The exhibition 
will illustrate conditions of sewerage and sewage disposal in the metro- 
politan district of New York and will include models, charts, diagrams and 
apparatus used by the Commission in its Investigations. 


Toe Hai or Mouwuscs which has been removed from the fifth floor 
to make room for the new administrative offices is still in preparation and 
will not be open to the public for some time. The shell collections of the 
Museum, which are among the earliest of its acquisitions, are being re- 
arranged in accordance with the modern spirit of museum exhibition. 


Pustic meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated 
Societies will be held at the Museum according to the usual schedule. 
Programmes of meetings are published in the weekly Bulletin of the Academy. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 
PUPILS’ COURSE 


These lectures are open to the pupils of the public schools when accompanied by their 
teachers and to children of Members of the Museum on presentation of Membership tickets. 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 o'clock. 
March 20 and April 17 — Mr. Roy W. Mrner, ‘Early Days in New York.” 
March 22 and April 19 — Mr Roy C. AnpreEws, ‘‘A Visit to the Orient.” 
March 24 and April 21 — Dr. Louis Hussaxor, “‘Scenes from Pole to Pole.” 
March 27 and April 24— Mr. Joun T. Nicuous, “Natural Resources of the 
United States.” 
March 29 and April 26 — Mr. Watrer GRANGER, ‘‘ Famous Rivers of the World.” 
March 31 and April 28 — Mr. Haran I. Smitru, “Life among Our Indians.” 
April 3 and May 1— Mr. Roy C. Anprews, “Travels and Life among the 
Japanese.” 
April 5 and May 3— Dr. Louis Hussakor, ‘‘South American Scenes.” 
April 21 and May 5— Mrs. AcGnes L. Roester, “Around the World with 
Children.” 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 
Given in codperation with the City Department of Education 


Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


The last four of a series of lectures on ‘‘Great Modern Composers”? by DANTEL 
GREGORY Mason. Illustrated at the piano. 


April 4— “Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky.” 
April 11 — ‘Johannes Brahms.” 

April 18 — ‘Richard Strauss.” 

April 25 — ‘‘ Present-day Tendencies.” 


Saturday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


April 1— Mr. Avsert Hate, ‘Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, 
Salvador and Guatemala.” Illustrated. 

April S— Mr. Avsert Hate, ‘Mexico: Our Nearest Neighbor.’ Illustrated. 

April 15 — Mr. Cuartes R. Tooruaker, ‘Panama and the Canal.” Illustrated. 

April 22 — Subject and lecturer to be announced. 

April 29 — Pror. WiuiiaM Lipsey, “Hawaii.” Illustrated. 


152 


Scientific Staff 


ACTING DIRECTOR 
CuarLes H. Townsenp, Sc.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHZ ONTOLOGY 
EpmMuNpD Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
MINERALOGY 
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GrorGE F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Henry E. Crampron, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
Witu1am BruTenmiiLtier, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
JoHN A. GrossBEckK, Assistant 


Prof. Witt1amM Morton Wueeter, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
CuHartes W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 


ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 
Prof. Basurorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fossil Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 


Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
FraNK M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. DeW. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 
VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Prof. Henry Farrrretp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Se., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Matruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
WiuiiamM K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant 


ANTHROPOLOGY 
Cuark Wisster, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Puiny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Haran I. Smiru, Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowin, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HERBERT J. SpInDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CuarLtes W. Mean, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 
PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. Cuarves-Epwarp Amory Winstow, S8.B., M.S., Curator 
Joun Henry O’Net1, S.B., Assistant 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., Curator 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratpw W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. ALBert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
GeEorGE H. Suerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


FOR DHE) PEOPEE 
FOR EDVCATION 
FOR-S;GITERN, GCE 


a 


THE 
AMERICAN JSIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


GATHERING PINE SEEDS FOR PLANTING 


Volume XI May, 1911 Number 5 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THe AMERICAN Museum oF NaturRAL History 
New York CIty 


ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN 


First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGE J. Prerpont MorGan, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON 


Tue Mayor or THE City or New York 
THE CoMPTROLLER OF THE CiTy OF NEW YorRK 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD 

GEORGE 8. Bowboin Gustav E. Kisseu 
JosepH H. CHOATE Seta Low 

Tuomas DeWitr CuyLeR OGcpEN MILLs 

JAMES DouGLAS J. PrerPpont MorGan 
MapIson GRANT Percy R. PYNE 

ANSON W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHn B. TREVOR 
ArtTHUR CuRTISS JAMES Fevix M. WaRBURG 
Water B. JAMES GeorGce W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Acting Director Assistant Secretary 
CHARLES H. TOWNSEND GeEorGE H. SHERWOOD 
Assistant Treasurer 
Tue Unrrep States Trust Company oF NEw YorRK 


Tue Museum 18 OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tue AMERICAN Museum or NaTuRAL History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Ammnnal Members. coc acc ee oe $ 10 MGHOWSS ccc ot casos eee $ 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 PPACLOUS! sa, cctevoy'e.0 Steere ots, lel clone 1000 
[So Gielen ye OS eae ee 8 oI 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Tus Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 4. M. to 5 P. M. 


Tue Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 


GuwwEs For Stupy or EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 


WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 

Tur Miria RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR MAY, 1911 


Frontispiece, Design for East Facade of the Museum 


Trowbridge and Livingston, Architects 


Plans for Extension of the Museum....HeNryY FatrReteELD OsBorn 


Preliminary studies for an expansion that will equip the Museum for edu- 
cational work in the great New York of the future 


Oceanographic Work ontthe-Albatrossy.. (2.2. sc os wes ade Fe 


Quotations from the letters of Acting Director Charles H. Townsend in 
command of the Museum Expedition in the Pacific 


7 Coa A . ” 

Phew News cH OSs VA QUARIUT: ..7 Secs. eat ee BASHFORD DEAN 
Reconstruction of representative fishes of the typical ‘‘ Age of Fishes,’’ show- 
ing what can be done to make these ancient forms appear as living. Back- 
ground painted by Charles R. Knight 


Aa trees Chmbimne Rumimant,.< 5.24... )o nee W. D. MatraHEew 
Bagobo Fine Art Collection............ LaurA Watson BENEDICT 
dD 


Some Work on African Large Game by an Animal Sculptor.......... 
A new era for the natural history museum was inaugurated when the careful 
delineation of the sculptor superseded the old taxidermy methods of mounting 
mammals 


The. Grow Indiansvot Montana .: 4... .<0) 6). eas Rospertr H. Lowie 


METIS C1LMIEINEWTSOIN O LES cade oe trocar ee 


Mary Cyntrara Dickerson, Editor 


Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


] 5 5 


159 


161 


179 


182 


A subscription to the JourNAL is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 


the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to the American Museum JourNat, 30 Boylston St., 


Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass. 


Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


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The American Museum Journal 


Vou. XI MAY, 1911 No. 5 


PLANS FOR EXTENSION OF THE MUSEUM 


PRELIMINARY STUDIES TOWARD AN EXPANSION OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
SUCH THAT FORCE AND A WIDE SCOPE WILL BE GIVEN TO THE INSTITU- 
TION’ S EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE GREAT NEW YORK OF THE FUTURE 


By Henry Fairfield Osborn 


ITH this number is presented a preliminary study by Messrs. 
Trowbridge and Livingston, architects, for the new East 
Facade of the Museum, facing Central Park. The design has 
not been adopted either by the Committee on Buildings and Plans or by the 
Trustees, but its preparation at this stage is welcomed because of the oppor- 
tunity which it affords for a prolonged and careful consideration of the artistic 
requirements of a monumental building, and of the scientific and educational 
requirements of ideally related exhibits within this building. The design 
for the East Facade contemplates the future incorporation of the Museum 
within the general design of Central Park by the construction of a broad 
entrance roadway from the West Drive. Ultimately, no doubt, the lower 
reservoir in Central Park will be removed and an avenue of approach will 
connect the east and west sides of the Park and thus unite the Museum of 
Science with its sister Museum of Art at Eighty-second Street. This is in 
the far future, but nevertheless it deserves the early consideration of all 
those who are interested in the artistic growth of what is probably destined 
to be the greatest city of the world. 

In the design of this Eastern Facade, the architects have endeavored to 
retain the general Romanesque architecture of the Southern Facade, while 
modifying it in the direction of greater simplicity. It is obvious that a 
building of the vast proportions contemplated in the original plans. of 
Calvert Vaux in 1871 and authorized by the Legislature in connection with 
the setting aside of Manhattan Square, must have an entrance of monu- 
mental size, and that this entrance must have a broad and dignified avenue 
of approach. 

The Museum will thus have three entrances. On Sundays and holidays 
when people come in large numbers from the direction of the Park, the 
Eastern Entrance will be most convenient together with the present 


155 


156 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 

historic South Entrance, with its included Memoria! Hal! constituting 
a monument to the administration of President Jesup. During the entire 
summer season these two entrances, the Southern attracting by its shaded 
approach, will be most accessible; while for purposes of attendance at public 
lectures and for large classes from public schools, the contemplated Western 
Entrance will prove the most practical and readily accessible to the arteries 
of transportation of the city of the future. 

Since assuming office in 1908 the President’s interest has largely centered 
in a series of studies for the future development of the interior of the Mu- 
seum! to provide at once for expansion and to look toward an ideal future 
in an arrangement made both from the standpoint of a natural sequence 
and of an artistic impression upon the minds of visitors. A great natural 
history museum should impress the visitor with the grandeur and beauty, 
and with the orderliness and system of the processes of nature. Especially 
is natural sequence important, not only sequence of the exhibitions in each 
hall but also of the successive hal!s themselves. This is an educational 
principle of the utmost value. It is as important in natural history as it 
isinart. Visitors to the Berlin Museum will recat! the simplicity and direct 
educational value of the arrangement of the picture galleries according to 
the sequence of Schools of Art in various countries. Exactly the same ide: 
applies to a museum of natural history, yet with the exception of the 
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy of Cambridge, arranged by the late 
Alexander Agassiz, no large scientific museum, to our knowledge, has yet 
embodied the idea of the natural relations of subjects or of the consequent 
natural groupings. 

In a geographic sequence for instance, the visitor would pass from 
country to country, as in course of travel. In studying the prehistoric 
life of North America, he would naturally pass from east to west; he would 
study the former inhabitants of Manhattan Island and the neighboring 
tribes along the eastern coast; then pass to the Central West, to the region 
of the Great Plains, to the Indians of the Southwest, and finally, to the 
past and present history of Mexico and Central America. | Such geographic 
arrangement can be made to prevail naturally to a large extent on the west- 
ern or anthropological side of the Museum and also in certain halls on the 

1 There are now in preparation two publications in which the proposed interior arrange- 
ment of the Museum will be set forth. The first of these is the second or Curators’ edition 
of the work entitled ‘ History, Plan and Scope of the American Museum of Natural History,”’ 
the Trustees’ edition of which was published in 1910. The second publication is an illus- 
trated folder showing the gradual steps which have been made in the development of the 
buildings of the Museum, beginning with the completion of the original South Transept in 
1877 and ending with the presentation of the proposed future arrangement of the halls in 


th2 completed central portion and southern half of the Museum, the plans for which are now 
in the hands of the architects. The northern half of the Museum is left entirely for future 


consideration. 


PLANS FOR EXTENSION OF MUSEUM 157 


zodlogical side. In the latter, a geographic arrangement is known as faunis- 
tic. The visitor may first enter the life of Africa and Australia, follow into 
the life of Southern Asia, which we know historically to be only a detached 
portion of prehistoric African life; he may then pass to the life of Northern 
Asia which will bring him to the Polar Region, from which he will enter 
naturally the life of North America and pass southward into Central and 
South America. 

There is, however, another kind of sequence to which other series otf 
halls of the Museum may be devoted — namely, the sequence of evolution. 
Thus on the anthropological side the visitor may compare the more primi- 
tive races of man, including the origin of man, with the more civilized races; 
he may follow the slow steps of progress from our very remote ancestors of 
two hundred thousand years ago through the so-called Eolithie stages until 
he reaches Man of the Bronze and of the Iron Ages. Similarly he may 
trace the first steps of nature and the subsequent stages from the lower 
into the higher forms of plant and animal life. 

The most impressive example of evolutionary sequence will be the series 
of connecting halls, to which it is hoped the Fourth Floor on the east side 
of the Museum may be devoted. Here the visitor will pass from the dawn 
of life reaching back millions of years, and in successive halls traverse the 
Ages of Molluses, of Fishes, of Amphibians, of Reptiles, finally reaching the 
first Age of Mammals, and then the Age of Man. In this final hall he may 
witness the earliest struggle between the primitive types of palzeolithic 
hunters and the noble forms of mammalian life which were to be found both 
in Europe and North America in the early period of man. 

There is still a third kind of sequence, that of systematic classification, 
which must be provided for in another series of halls. This is the prevailing 
system of all our great natural history museums of the present day, with the 
exception of the Agassiz Museum at Cambridge, in which the animals for 
the most part are arranged geographically. In the sequence of classifica- 
tion, the visitor will find all the animals of a certain kind, from whatever 
part of the world they may have been collected, assembled for comparative 
study. Thus for example, he will be able to compare with one another all 
the members of the Horse Family whether collected in Africa, in Western 
Europe or in Asia. 

It has proved possible to provide amply in the development of the 
southern half of the great American Museum building of the future for all 


three of these various kinds of sequence — geographic, evolutionary and 
systematic. The plan, in its general features, will be submitted for the 
approval of the members of the Scientific Staff of the Museum. It has 


already been welcomed by experts from other institutions in this country 


15S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


and abroad as marking a very important advance in the educational arrange- 
ment of natural history museums. It is believed that this arrangement will 
meet both the exacting demands of the specialist and also impress upon the 
minds of the uninitiated visitors, young and old, the greatest lesson, per- 
haps, that Nature has to teach us — namely, the reign of law and order. 

There are, however, other objects to be attained in the new plans for 
the enlargement of the Museum. Chief among these are ample provisions 
for branches of natura! sciences which heretofore have not been included 
within the field of any museum of natural history, but have been pre- 
sented more or less successfully in isolated forms in kindred museums. 
These are principally the subjects of Astronomy, of Geography and of 
Oceanography. Berlin has its popular Astronomic Museum known as 
“Urania.” It also has its Oceanographic Museum, established under the 
patronage of Emperor William as a result of the extraordinary interest 
aroused in oceanographic research by the voyage of Nansen and of sugges- 
tions made by Sir John Murray in Berlin at the subsequent Geographic 
Congress. Later a finely equipped oceanographic museum was established 
at Monte Carlo by the Prince of Monaco in connection with his own marine 
explorations. More recently the Prince has established an Institute of 
Oceanography in Paris. To our knowledge however, there is no museum 
at present devoted to Geography or to Physiography. Yet these subjects 
are quite as intimately related to the distribution of anima!s and plants and 
to the general laws which govern living beings as is Oceanography. 

The interest of the public in Astronomy has already been witnessed in the 
American Museum in the models of the planetary system at present installed 
on the First Floor and of the rotating earth on the Second Floor. There is 
no doubt that a treatment of both Geography and Oceanography would 
subserve the public educational needs of the City. It is far better for the 
American Museum to bring these subjects within its walls in New York 
City and thus assemble all the phenomena of nature under one roof, rather 
than to wait until smaller institutions for these branches spring up as they 
are doing in Berlin, in Paris and in other cities. 

Thus in addition to designs for the future building itself, careful study is 
being put on the idea! arrangement of subjects and collections within this 
building. This study takes into account the broad relations of the living 
and inanimate worlds as conceived in the minds of Humbo!dt, Darwin and 
other great naturalists. These relations underlie the physica! welfare of man. 
They cannot be omitted from the plan. In fact the American Museum in 
the establishment of its Department of Public Health has already entered 
this new field of service and of public instruction, which will bring still 
closer within its influence the well-being of the people of New York. 


OCEANOGRAPHIC WORK ON THE ALBATROSS 


HE Museum Expedition under Acting Director Townsend in the 
United States Fish Commission Steamship Albatross continues 
the land collecting in Lower California and the oceanographic 

work in the waters adjacent according to prearranged schedule. The 
following quotations from Dr. Townsend’s letters give suggestions of the 


expedition’s work. 


Maapaupna Bay, L. C., March 18, 1911 

We left San Diego March 7 for work farther south. The program is being car- 
ried out very much as originally planned, that is we spend our days ashore and our 
nights at sea, jogging along slowly and economically with steam on one boiler only. 
Four or five days at each anchorage would be better than merely one or two, but even 
as it is we shall have a fair representation of the sea and land fauna of Lower Cali- 
fornia. Occasionally we take half a day for a run out beyond the five hundred 
fathom line to dredge. Mr. Bell has already some fine molds of deep sea fishes and 
invertebrates; however, we shall do three times as much dredging on our return trip, 
not having to land shore parties. 

The collection of shore fishes and invertebrates is naturally the largest. A few 
sweeps of the large seines give us barrels of fishes to select from, while invertebrates 
are easy to get at low tide. 

We visited San Benito and Cedros islands, obtaining fair representations of 
the land forms peculiar to them. We shall do some deep-water dredging on the way 
to Cape St. Lucas, our next stop. 

The climate could not be better. The awnings are spread, and I am sorry to see 
the days slipping by so rapidly. 


LA Paz, L. ©., March 26, 1911 
To-morrow evening we begin to move up the Gulf, taking in both islands and 
mainland. We now have about five hundred birds, with other Jand forms in smaller 
numbers. Going up the Gulf coast we shall make trials for mountain sheep and 
antelope. We have coyotes, rabbits, wood rats and mice in large numbers. 
Dr. Rose will have the bulk of the collections. His boxes, crates and barrels of 
villainous cacti are filling the ship. 


GuayMas, Mexico, April 15, 1911 
After leaving La Paz, the Albatross made a trip up the Gulf as far as Angel 
de la Guarda Island. From there we crossed the Gulf to Tiburon Island, then 
to San Estéban Island, coming from there to Guaymas to-day. We leave to-night 
for La Paz to get coal for the homeward voyage, calling at Santa Catalina, Espiritu 
Santo and Cerralvo islands. We have 600 birds, 200 mammals, perhaps 400 lizards 
and snakes. We are shipping to the New York Zoélogical Park by express to-day 
two crates of live snakes and large-sized lizards. 
Our collections are largely from unexplored islands and undoubtedly contain 
new species. We shall pick up some good things on the islands between here and 
La Paz; then dredge in deep water all the way to San Francisco. 


159 


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THE NEW ‘ FOSSIL AQUARIUM ”’ 
By Bashford Dean 


OSSIL fishes have a special meaning to those who seek light upon the 
history of the backboned animals. They occur in practically all 
layers of rock which yield fossils, having lived during a longer 

range in time than amphibians, reptiles and mammals; and it is well known 
that in the succession of the fishes from age to age, one can trace the changes 
which have taken place in their kinds and can show how some kinds became 
transformed into others, and thus how evolution proceeded. 

However interesting this may be in theory, everyone will admit that 
it is a difheult matter to make clear to the Museum’s visitor the lesson of 
fossil fishes, or even to display them in an attractive way. As a rule they 
appear in slabs of rock only as faint impressions of what they were in life, 
and he who enters the fossil fish gallery, if he has no knowledge of fishes, 1s 
not apt to examine these slabs of rock attentively and try to learn their 
meaning. He is more interested when he sees models of living fishes placed 
side by side with their fossil relatives, and he is still more interested if he 
sees a restoration, better in a cast than in a picture, of the fossils them- 
selves. Such a restoration may in many cases be legitimately provided 
since the fossil fishes in their numerous specimens give the facts clearly 
upon which models can be prepared. 

A “fossil aquarium” has now been put on exhibition in the fish gallery. 
With it is a label explaining the Devonian age, naming the fishes illus- 
trated and telling how the more ancient groups are giving place to the 
more modern ones. Thus it is shown that the race of bony fishes, which 
represents about ninety-nine per cent of all living fishes, had not yet 
appeared; that on the other hand, the tribe of sturgeons and garpike, now 
almost extinct, made up about a quarter of all Devonian forms; that 
sharks, which are but a small fractional percentage of all living fishes, made 
up about one-third of all kinds then known; while finally, that the placo- 
derms, a group long extinct and even of uncertain kinships, constituted 
forty per cent of the ancient fish fauna. 

In preparing this “fossil aquarium,” questions as to the nature of the 
water, the character of the bottom and its vegetation were investigated by 
Dr. Hussakof; the models of the fishes were prepared after restorations of 
specialists, but revised in numerous points in accordance with actual speci- 
mens. The colors could not, of course, be given infallibly; the best that 
could be done was to follow the nearest living relatives of the ancient 
forms. The design of the group and the color work were carried out by 
Mr. Charles R. Knight, and his results are realistic and attractive. 


161 


A TREE CLIMBING RUMINANT 


By W. D. Matthew 


T seems somewhat paradoxical to imagine a ruminant climbing trees. 
There are stories of goats doing so, but these stories seem to be more 
or less apocryphal as far as any real climbing goes. Even the narrow 

sharp-pointed hoofs of a goat do not give the necessary grasp, and his 
limbs and feet are too stiff and limited in their motion. The only living 
members of the Ungulata or hoofed mammals which really climb trees are 
the coneys or hyracoids, especially the little tree-coney or Di ndrohyrax of 
South Africa. This little animal, about the size of a rabbit and somewhat 
like one in appearance, is in many respects the kind of animal from which we 
conceive that all the Ungulates are descended, and like the earliest fossil 
Ungulates it has four separate digits on each forefoot and a rudiment of 
the inner digit. This kind ef foot, and the more flexible limb with which it 
is associated, enables him to climb readily, to cling to branches and to live 
in the trees as well as on the ground. A similar adaptation is seen in most 
of the clawed animals or Unguiculates; while we find the limb and foot still 
further adapted to arboreal life in all of the Primates except man. 


162 


A TREE CLIMBING RUMINANT 165 


All living hoofed animals however, except the //yrax, have the feet 
modified for walking and running upon the ground, in such a way as to gain 
in speed and endurance at the expense of a loss in flexibility of the foot, and 
none of them are able to climb trees. This is especially true of the 
Rumuinants, in which the foot is very much specialized for running pur- 
poses, the metapodial bones of the two middle digits united inte a single 


bone, the “cannon bone,” and the two outer digits reduced to little rudi- 
ments known as “dew-claws,” so that the animal walks and runs entirely 
upon the tips of the hoofs of the central digits. Compare this type of foot 
with the soft flexible sharp-clawed foot of a cat, and it is easy enough to 
see why a cat can climb a tree and a ruminant cannot. 

The most primitive extinct ruminants had four separate digits of nearly 
equal size, and this condition is retained in all the Oreodonts, a family of 
pig-like Ruminants very common in North America during the Tertiary. 
But these Oreodonts were probably quite as exclusively terrestrial in their 
habits as the modern pigs and peccaries, in which the digits are also separate, 
although the side toes are much reduced in size. 

The Agriochwrus however, while a member of the Oreodont family, 
and like them provided with ruminating teeth, had the limbs and feet 
modified in such a way as to enable it to climb trees as readily as a Jaguar 
or other large cat. The hoofs are so narrowed as to be actually converted 
into a sort of claw; the articulations of the digits, wrist- and limb-bones are 
modified so as to give throughout limbs and feet the same flexible joints 
which we find in the cats and in all tree-climbing animals. The animal also 
differs from the other Oreodonts in that the front teeth are adapted for 
browsing upon leaves and twigs instead of cropping grass or other herbage. 

These modifications from the usual Oreodont type appear to be adap- 
tations for climbing trees to feed upon their foliage. This theory 1s 
embodied in the mounted skeleton of Agriochwrus. The animal is repre- 
sented as walking out along a sloping branch of a tree, the branch being 
modeled in imitation of the fossil tree trunks often found in the Tertiary 
formations of the West. Like any large cat in a tree, he seems a little 
uncertain and shaky in his movements, and is inclined to cling tight with 
bent limbs, lacking the assured and confident step of a truly arboreal 
animal such as a monkey or lemur. 

The Agriocherus lived during the Oligocene epoch in Western North 
America, and then became extinct. Why, we do not know, but we may 
suppose that it was only partly arboreal, and that the handicap of its 
clumsiness upon the ground was more than enough to offset the advantage 
of being able to climb trees, when pursued by the improved races of Car- 
nivora that were being evolved about this time. 


BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION 


By Laura Watson Benedict 


HE tendency of a savage tribe to express its love for beauty in the 


form of decorative art is shown in some detail in a collection from 


the Bagobo tribe of southern Mindanao, recently installed in the 


Philippine Hall. 


Whether we examine basketry or wood-carving, textiles 


or embroidery or beadwork, we find a minute attention to form, a correct 


sense for color contrasts, a fine discrimination in decorative finish. 


A Bagobo 
mountains of 


from the 
Min- 


youth 
southern 
danao in typical beaded dress. 


The Bagobo has a 
love for decoration 


passionate 


164 


The Bagobo tribe, numbering a few thou- 
sand, forms one of the groups of pagan Malays 
living clustered in villages over the mountains 
and foothills that range back from the west 
coast of the gulf of Davao. They are a people 
of singular beauty, with clear golden-brown 
skin, earnest wide-open eyes, and mobile faces 
changing from deep seriousness in repose to 
sparkling vivacity in conversation. 

In dress both women and men have un- 
usually good taste and as fashions never vary 
from generation to generation, there comes no 
mandatory decree to change a good style. A 
more picturesque sight is rare to find than a 
party of Bagobo coming down a mountain trail 
in single file, walking with swift free step, the 
men in short trousers and open jackets, long 
black hair streaming over their shoulders, and 
richly beaded carrying-bags on their backs; 
the women in scant-bodied, scarlet-sleeved 
camisas and straight skirts woven in lustrous 
pictured patterns, and wearing their hair in 
Bright- 


colored kerchiefs adorn the heads of women 


glossy coils secured by beaded combs. 


and men; sparkling in their ears are ivory 
and inlaid plugs; around their necks hang 
pendants of finely carved seeds and braided 


beadwork and strung petals. Tassels of sweet- 


scented roots and toothbrushes — of boars’ 
bristles dangle from jacket and neckband, 


while bordering bag, basket and scabbard, and 
tinkling from hollow leglet or armlet are hun- 


BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION 165 


dreds upon hundreds of tinkling bells that announce the approach of the 
Bagobo. 

If the Bagobo people could come to New York and see their belongings 
arranged in a great hall in sight of all visitors, their joy would be un- 
bounded. When I made this collection in the Bagobo country, the people 
came flocking daily to my little nipa hut, less perhaps to visit me than to 
see their own things and identify each other’s property and get current 
prices on jackets and trousers. Nowhere else in their villages could they 
find such a lot of Bagobo objects together, or test so many guitars and 
Hutes, or examine such a bristling array of spears. That an American 
should want Bagobo specimens called forth no surprise; rather it seemed 
to them highly natural that every scrap of 
Bagobo workmanship from a richly deco- 
rated war shield down to some mean and 
filthy garment should be sought after and 
prized, for all the Bagobo admire every 
Bagobo product with a_ self-complacency 
that is both amusing and appealing. 
“ Bagobo things, Senora!’ came the pass- 
word always uttered with an exultant note 
as a preliminary toward higgling the market 
with me. 

On reaching the Islands, I heard on all 
sides from white foreigners that it was 
almost hopeless to try to secure Bagobo 
objects, that the time was past for making a 
collection. It is true that a Bagobo parts 
with any one of his possessions reluctantly, 
and prizes each at double its material value 
because of intimate personal associations. 
But up to that time no account had been 
taken of certain emotional interests that 
had never before been appealed to, and that 
found expression as soon as a big collection 
began to grow. There was an undefined 


pleasure in knowing that over yonder in the 


Senora’s house their things were perpet- 
ually in contact with other Bagobo things. 


Now when Atun made the rounds of my Her leglets are made of tubes of 


little museum and asked the usual ques- ass which contain metal balls that 
roll freely and produce a _ tinkling 


tions: Z Whose is this? How much did Vou sound as she walks 


166 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


pay for it?” he had a left-out-feeling if he found nothing that represented 
himself. But if he could hold up just one article and say, “ Kanak” (mine) 
or “ My wife made it,” he would give a radiant smile and sit down content. 

Again, there was an appeal to the conservative tendencies of the people. 
More than one thoughtful Bagobo expressed a lively satisfaction at the 
prospect of a great Bagobo collection being carefully kept in an American 
museum forever. When the news spread there awakened a new feeling 
toward my work. One old woman secretly brought me a rare embroidered 
scarf, an heirloom that she 
handled tenderly, for her 
mother had worn it to hold 
the baby on her hip, and she 
said that it had carried many, 
babies, that few old women 
remembered how to do that 
sort of needlework, and that 
she would never let it go, ex- 
cept that it might always be 
with the rest of the Bagobo 
things in America. 

That piece of embroidery 
was done under conditions 
hard to comprehend.  Dur- 
ing the day Bagobo women 
have little time for fancy 
stitching, with all the cook- 
ing and the long climb to the 
river for water and the work 
ae of the loom — for the weaving 
KS : S Long must be done by daylight, as 
A no native lamp can illumine 


<7 


the floor space covered by the 
hand loom. But when dark- 
ness falls sewing and em- 
broidery can be done. <A 
girl or young man fixes a 


leaf-wrapped resin torch in 

; ; the cleft end of a forked 
A searf worn over the right shoulder and under the 

left arm as a hammock in which a child is carried on branch that stands on the 

the mother's hip. This particular specimen is of fine floor and serves as the native 

old embroidery, now almost a lost art among the “ 

Bagobo candelabrum. The toreh is 


BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION 167 


The Bagobo man’s carrying bag is worn on the back to carry flint and tinder case, 
betel nuts, food and tobacco. It is heavily beaded and each of the many small bells is 
hand made from a wax mold 


lighted; promptly the room ts filled with pungent smoke that sets a foreign 
eye to weeping, but the native woman, better adapted, sits stitching, com- 
pletely absorbed, close to the torch that flares fitfully in the mountain wind 
coming in gusts through openings in the palm wall. Presently the flame 
flickers low until someone pulls down the edges of the green leaf envelope 
to expose a fresh surface of burning resin to the air. A girl ambitious to 
finish a new camisa will crouch in that dim light, cutting out tiny appliqué 
points and sewing them on, from six o’clock until after midnight, while the 
rest of the family and the guests are asleep on the floor in the same room. 

Yet, with all the sordid discomforts, there is an atmosphere of restful 
content in a Bagobo house. The members of a family group do their work 
with an air of leisurely satisfaction; they take time to gaze with keen 
interest on one another’s activities, as the men mold wax for the brass 
castings, make incised patterns in hard wood, or dexterously twist vege- 
table fibres into leglets, while the women are skeining hemp, whirling clay 
pots into form, or pounding rice with an accompaniment of dance and 


song. And of course everybody is chewing betel nut. The whole picture 


16S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


of industries and arts seems to grow out of the natural background, as much 
as the waving bamboos or the rustling hemp fields. 

The culture of the Bagobo is largely based on bamboo, abaca and betel 
nut. Houses, rice boxes, water flasks, musical instruments are made of 
bamboo; the abaca fibre clothes the Bagobo; and betel nut is indispensa- 
ble as stimulus, diversion, luxury, as well as the sine gua non for every 
form of social function and ritual ceremony. Decorative art also developed 
along the lines suggested by the natural products of the environment. The 
Bagobo, gifted by nature with a sensitive and artistic teinperament, met the 
appeal of the environment with a swift response. But not only the physical 


One is playing on the Bagobo woman's guitar while the other steps forth to dance. The 
photograph is reproduced to show particularly the figured stiff hemp skirts and the manner 
a -< 
of wearing them 


Ril } hi byt 
' ; 
ay 4 


Hemp fibre as stripped from the stalk of the hemp plant; hemp fibre laced and tied in sections 
ready to dye; and dyed fibre with binding threads removed revealing the undyed portions. Each 
Bagobo woman learns from her mother and grandmother the different ways of tying which produce 
the different patterns in the weaving 


A choice textile intended for the middle strip of a woman's skirt. The patterns were tied in the 
hemp fibre before dyeing and before weaving; the figures are in black and white with a border in 
miniature figures of red and white 169 


170 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


factors of soil and altitude, sunshine and moisture, not only the hereditary 
tendencies of the Bagobo had a share in producing their rich and varied 
arts: another contributing element was the simple standard of living that 
satisfied them and thus left them free to follow their esthetic interests. 
When one can step out, cut down a bamboo tree, split it lengthwise, and tie 
together the sections with rattan to make the house floor, and then sew 
palm leaves in lengths for the wall; when the furniture of that house con- 
sists of a loom, a family altar, a hen’s nest, and three stones for a stove — 
then, other things being equal, there may come about an economic situation 
in which the whole tribe becomes a leisure class, to the extent that although 
everybody has to work yet every woman and every man has time to give 
play to artistic impulses. There, grouped in their mountain villages, fairly 
isolated from the conquests of Islam, merely grazed by Spanish civilization, 
the Bagobo people evolved their culture: they worked and played and 
worshipped and created beauty in rhythmic response to their environment — 
on, through the long centuries, until the shock of the American occupation 
changed their life, when the demands of labor set up strange standards of 
conduct, when the breaking up of mountain homes made havoc of arts and 
customs which had so slowly and so harmoniously developed. 


Yet even now some excellent handiwork is done. The arts of the women 


—hbasketry, weaving, dyeing — hold their ground the longest. Particularly 
in weaving, where the Bagobo woman has attained a high skill in technique, 
there she continues to produce the classic patterns that she learned from 
her mother and from her grandmother. From time out of mind men 
stripped hemp, and women wove it into skirts and jackets and trousers. 
The Bagobo songs and ancient tales contain many references to the work 
of the weaver and to the beautiful textiles. In southern Mindanao the 
hemp industry grew up naturally enough: nowhere in the world is there a 
climate better fitted to the needs of hemp, for there is continued warmth 
without excessive heat, and gentle daily showers furnish a natural irrigation 
throughout the entire year. That decorative art should have found its 
fullest expression in the products of the loom does not seem remarkable to 
anyone who looks at the freshly stripped fibre from the stalk of the hemp — 
creamy-white, glistening, strong, pliable; the mere handling makes the 
manual process a pleasure, and stimulates the woman artist to experiment 
with this or that new motive. 

The more complex figures are made by tying the warp before the weav- 
ing. The hemp fibre is stretched on along frame of bamboo, and then to 
make her pattern the woman artist picks out a cluster of strands at varying 
intervals: four strands here, seven there, two groups of strands near together, 
two others widely separated, and each cluster she binds and knots with short 


BAGOBO FINE ART COLLECTION 17] 


lengths of hemp. She binds and ties these clusters so tightly and firmly 
that when the whole warp is afterward dyed no color can penetrate to the 
parts thus tied; these sections of the warp remain the natural creamy tint 
of the hemp. By this method a much wider freedom in design is secured 
than if the patterns were all made in the weaving itself. 

The loom is the center of interest in every household, and its patterns 
tend to dominate the designs used in much of the wood carving and basketry. 
In the patterns on burden baskets the designs used in hemp textiles regularly 
appear: the surface of the basket is uniformly divided into three parallel 


fields running around the basket, like the three circular strips composing a 


“ Burden basket’ to be carried on the back. In such a basket Bagobo women bring in 
the corn and potatoes from the field. The patternis made by plaiting the rattan of natural 
color with that blackened with the burnt end of a resin toreh 


woman’s skirt, and the standard designs of the skirt are reproduced with 
more or less accuracy in the corresponding sections of the basket, as far as 
the technique of the material permits. This tendency to seize upon textile 
motives for effects in rattan by no means implies that the art of weaving is 
necessarily older than the art of basketry. Among the Bagobo it is possible 
that both processes had their beginnings at nearly the same time. But 
early or late in the history of Bagobo art, the activity interests that cluster 
round the loom gave a strong stimulus to such an interpretation of basketry 
figures, as the familiar patterns of the weaver suggested. 


Africa in 1906. 


QIRUGY® 
— sf 


ANIMAL SCULPTOR 


FREDERICK BLASCHKE, 


Herbert Lang on an expedition to British East 


dd by Mr 
of the male 


» 


THE WORK OF MR, 


this group were 


ts from life and the skins for 
rvous activity of the zebra is well shown in the alert pose 


THE ZEBRA GROUP IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM, 


Mee 
The great ne 


Caliph came _ to 
America from the 
Nile when four years 
old. He was bought 
when about twenty 
years old (1888) by 
the Central Park me- 
nagerie for $6,000 


Caliph died in 1908. 
He weighed between 
four and five’ tons, 
being the largest hip- 
po ever recorded. 
The stretch of his 
open mouth was four 
feet nine inches 


SOME WORK ON AFRICAN LARGE GAME BY AN ANIMAL 


SCULPTOR 


WO pieces of museum work completed some months ago have not 


Park. 


heretofore received notice in the JOURNAL. 
and a mount of Caliph, the hippo known for many years at Central 
This work, a part of a series planned to cover the large game of 


ry. 
rhey are a zebra group 


The sculptor made sketch models in clay from the Grant 
Zoological Park preparatory to the work of mounting the Museum's Zebra Group 


New York 


173 


AT WORK ON THE FINAL MODEL 


As the work on the model progresses, following the exact measurements made 


The coat of the Grant zebra is peculiarly rich in color and lustre. 


in the field, the 


skin is fitted over the clay at intervals to insure exact fidelity to the proportions of the original living zebra 


WORK ON AFRICAN LARGE GAME 175 


Africa, has been done by Mr. Frederick Blaschke, who had training as a 
sculptor at Budapest under Professor Strobl, at Berlin in the Academy of 
Science, at Paris under Rodin and at Munich in the Academy of Drawing. 
The modeling and mounting of the hippo involved technical difficulties in 
the giant size of the animal and in the character of the skin adapted to 
water life, and the result is remarkable as an example of the application of 
modeling to the taxidermy work of a museum. The Zebra Group, repre- 
senting a femily of the Grant zebra, is a quiet but vigorous composition 
and shows Mr. Blaschke’s skill in handling technique and his ability to 
interpret animal life. 

The work of a sculptor in a museum of natural history must stand for 
scientific truth, for accurate presentation — not of a few details, but of 
every detail. In this it differs from the work of an animal sculptor in art, 
where detail may be wholly subordinated to action or character. In anima! 
sculpture for science however, it would be unfortunate if the art ideal of 
showing the essential spirit of an animal were lacking, most fortunate if 
the sculptor combined with his power of accuracy an appreciation and 
sympathy which would give him ability to see life from the given animal’s 
standpoint and to set forth convincing!y in spite of the intrusion of details 
the impression in his mind. 

To use one of the examples at hand, a zebra must stand before the 
Museum’s visiting public as a representative of a given genus and species, 
and it may be mounted to show haunt and typical habits; but there will 
be no confusion as to its scientific status if in addition to technical accuracy 
the work be done to give an understanding of this animal’s characteristic 
timidity and nervous activity, and thus the finer conception of the zebra 
living be set forth and the strong human interest of a work of art realized. 
This conception is rather well achieved in the present zebra group notwith- 
standing that the group represents a composition of animals in repose. The 
group stands against the walls of the African Hall with no habitat con- 
structed about it, yet there is so much alertness in the lines of the tense 
muscles of the male zebra that the suggestion is vividly apparent, to one 
who knows anything of wild African life, that this zebra is looking out 
over reaches of African country, alive to the possibility of an enemy’s 
approach. 

A new era for the natural history museum came when the taxidermy 
method gave way to the careful delineation of the sculptor. — It is likely that 
this change marks only the beginning of a new era however, the work having 
very large possibilities in an age when animal sculpture is at the highest 


level yet gained in its history. Hence it is, that unusual interest will 


attach to work done in this line during the immediate future, especially 


The clay model of Caliph. Making the model is the test of the sculptor’s power of accurate work. 
It is based on studies of living hippos, previous measurements of the animal to be mounted, exact 
proportions gained from the skeleton, and on a knowledge of anatomy which will allow a modeling of 
the surface to suggest the living muscles underneath 


Working on a plaster ‘‘ piece mold’ of the clay model. Mr. J. C. Bell is a member of the staff of the 
Museum's Department of Preparation and is at present on the Oceanographic Expedition under Dr. 
Charles H. Townsend in the Pacific, making a series of plaster and glue molds of deep sea fishes and 
invertebrates 


1 portion of the piece mold with clay model removed. This has on its interior, of course, a perfect 
impression of the hippo model, and will give a positive or cast of this impression to soft plaster placed 
against thi, interior. The mold of the hippo was thirteen feet long 


The plaster cast, or manikin, partly uncovered as the piece mold is being removed. The cast is hollow, 


requisite strength being gained by the introduction of burlap into the plaster before it sets 


17S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


with the Museum’s plans in hand for okapi, white rhinoceros, elephant and 
still other mammal groups. No ability can prove too great to bring to the 


work, no training too thorough, no understanding of animal life too 


CALIPH, THEIR OLD FRIEND, AT THE MUSEUM 


The great hippo skin, weighing 1200 pounds, was shaved down to 68 pounds, and placed over 
the plaster manikin, the two fitting together in every wrinkle and fold 


profound. In fact, the highest standard for the work is made imperative 
by the need of an adequate and permanent record of the world’s large game, 


much of which is destined to become extinct. 


THE CROW INDIANS OF MONTANA 


By Robert H. Lowi 


HE Crow Reservation has been for years the Mecca of innumerable 

white visitors who make pilgrimages to the historic site of the Custer 

Battle Field, a short distance from Crow Agency, or who paint or 

photograph the Indians. Nevertheless, this splendid people, whose lofty 

bearing and gorgeous dress were the admiration of the early explorers of the 

Plains, have preserved to a considerable extent the spirit of the old times 
and prove an endless source of delight to the visiting ethnologist. 

Foremost among the religious observances of the Crow is the Tobacco 
Dance. This is not a single dance, but a cycle of beautiful and impressive 
performances beginning in the early spring when the seeds of the tobacco 
are sown and terminating with the gathering in of the crop. The plant 
thus cultivated is raised exclusively for its religious value, and is so highly 
prized that the Crow are willing to purchase a small bag of seeds at the price 
of a horse. Only duly adopted members of the several Tobacco societies 
are permitted to plant seeds in the Tobacco garden, where each society 
occupies a clearly defined plot and each couple initiated may drop seeds in 
two rows. 

I was fortunate enough to witness an adoption ceremony held by one 
of the Tobacco societies. The members of the society together with the 
randidate to be adopted met in a tipi for the preparatory painting and 
singing. Here there were many songs and at each song the women rose, 
unwrapped their sacred bundles and danced. When, with much ceremony, 
the preparations were completed, all marched teward the adoption lodge, 
four stops being made on the way, in accordance with the sacred number of 
this people. On entering the large canvas-covered lodge, the drummers sat 
down at one side of an altar-like structure symbolizing the Tobacco garden. 
Continually during the formal and impressive ceremony, small groups of 
women, or more rarely of men, with their eagle-feather fans, sacred birds’ 
head decorations, and weasel or otter skins, rose and gently swayed their 
bodies and moved their arms rhythmically back and forth. Toward noon 
the friends of the candidate heaped up blankets and other property in his 
behalf, as a payment to his adoptive “parent,” as the person initiating him 
is called. By way of actual initiation of the candidate he was taken between 
two men standing at the foot of the altar and danced four dances with them, 
at the sume time learning the songs. It was late in the afterncon when the 
closing song was chanted, after which all members seized little green sprigs 
and raised them aloft to symbolize and to promote the growth of the sacred 
Tobacco. 

While the Tobacco ceremonies showed the serious side of the native 


179 


390071 NOlLdOQV 3HL7SHSLN3S NOISS3S90OUd SHI OST 


in i 


CUOWIOIOD VROIT YIM ooOR[d SI UL SoOOURp TRNPIAIpUl YoRo pue UopPBOq oO 
OULU M SUBRIPUT OSOT) JO FOQUINU PoIORS a} OF SUTPLOOIT opeur o7e sdo js Anos] “OUVRpPIPUR) B JO UOLBMTUE 9) JOJ OBpPOT uondopy ot 09 fem O41 UO 


SNVIGNI MOYO SHL JO ALZBIDOS ODDVHEOL 


CROW INDIANS OF MONTANA IS] 


character, the annual performances of the clowns refuted the popular fallacy 
that the Indians are devoid of humor. A group of men departed from camp 
and dressed up in the worst possible clothing, blackening their bodies with 
mud and donning crude masks made of canvas. Also they kidnapped the 
ugliest horse they could find and enhanced its unattractiveness by trappings 
of repulsive-looking gunnysack. Then they returned to camp, and amused 
the spectators, stopping the play abruptly as soon as they were identified. 

In following out one of the principal objects of my expedition, that is 
to collect information on the old military societies of the Crow, I discovered 
the former existence of a boys’ military organization called buptsake, formed 
in imitation of the societies of adults. As an emblem of their dignity these 
prospective warriors carried tall staffs to which were attached wooden 
objects resembling bannerstones and covered with symbolical paintings. 
It was found later that the kindred Hidatsa Indians possess a corresponding 
society with a similar emblem, which was secured for purposes of comparison. 

One of the curious social customs practised by the Crow, as well as by 
many other Indian tribes, is the “mother-in-law taboo.”’ That is to say, 
a man is under no circumstances permitted to hold conversation with his 
wife’s mother. Another strange regulation is that relating to the playing 
of practical jokes. A man is not permitted to jest with anyone he pleases, 
but is limited to the individuals whose fathers belonged to the same clan as 
his own father. Within this group, however, practically any liberty is 
allowable. If a man discovers that a “jckable relative” has committed 
some foolish or disgraceful act, he can publicly twit him with it, and the 
person derided must not get angry, but bide his time for some favorable 
opportunity to retaliate. 

The older Crow are justly proud of the fact that they have invariably 
sided with the Government in the history of Indian warfare, and are eager 
to have their deeds remembered. For example, Gray Bull, one of the most 
noted warriors of the tribe, wished me to place on record the fact that he 
had saved the soldiers under “General Custer’s brother” (possibly General 
Crook) from an attack by the Sioux. Many of the representatives of 
the younger generation have a very good knowledge of English and show a 
surprising interest in the affairs of the outside world. Thus one of my Crow 
friends subscribes for the Literary Digest, another was not afraid to struggle 
with the terminology of a law book in order to get at the meaning of some 
Indian regulation, and a third showed a vital interest in the elements of 
civics. These signs of intelligence and mental activity encourage us in the 
belief that the Crow, who have always taken the part of the United States 
against hostile tribes, will continue the good work of the past and will be 
able to contribute their share to the development of their great adoptive 
country. 


182 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


Tue following have been elected recently to membership in the Museum: 

Life Members, Messrs. GreorGce B. Case, Dante, W. Cory, THEODORE 
DeWitt, NewBoLp Morris, WiLL1AM FI. Parrerson, GEORGE P. SHTRAS, 
Paunt Crcit Sporrorb, FREpDERIC C. Watcotr, Drs. Evan M. Evans and 
GerEorRGE H. Grirry and Mrs. Henry FAIRFIELD OsBorn; 

Annual Members, Messrs. Epwarp P. BeckwitrH, HERBERT BUCKEs, 
R. P. Dow, K. S. Faux, BERnarp H. Fiurscuem, H. A. FuurscHem, 
JOHN C. Harery, Jonn W. Lovreztanp, Morris Mayer, Henry S. 
Reynoups, Wititiam J. Ross, Horatio S. Srmon, WitttamMm E. Wo trr, 
Dr. Witit1AM Hanna Toomson, Mes. E. G. JANEway and Rosa VETTEL, 
and Misses GERTRUDE Dopp, Laura B. Garrett, ELizABetu S. Hoyt and 
ELLEN KING. 


Ar the meeting of the Executive Committee on April 19, the following 
were elected to membership in the Museum in recognition of recent gifts 

Fellow, Mr. D. C. Stapleton; 

Life Members, Mr. F. D. Aller and Miss Frances E. Sprague. 


COMMANDER Guy H. BurraaGe, U.S. N., who has codperated with Acting 
Director Townsend in carrying out the plans of the Museum’s expedition 
in Lower California, has been made a Life Member in recognition of his 
services. 


Str JoHN Murray, under the auspices of the New York Academy of 
Sciences and the American Museum, gave an address in the auditorium of 
the Museum April 24 on the subject ‘‘Depths of the Sea.” Sir John Murray 
is world authority on all that pertains to Oceanography, having taken part 
in the Challenger and other deep sea expeditions. To his inspiration is 
due the founding of the Oceanographic Museum of Berlin which in turn 
led to the establishment of the Oceanographic Museum at Monte Carlo and 
the Oceanographic Institute at Paris. It is hoped that a similar line of 
work may be carried on in the United States and to this end it has been 
decided to set aside in the planned extension of the Museum building two 
halls for the subject of Oceanography and closely allied science. 


Two collections of birds have been placed on deposit in the American 
Museum. One of these, the property of Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., of New 
York City, numbers about 30,000 specimens, ranking as one of the largest 
private collections in this country. It is especially valuable in showing 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES ISS 


plumages and molts of North American species. The second collection 
belonging to Dr. Leonard C. Sanford of New Haven, Connecticut, contains 
about 400 specimens, largely non-passerine birds, and includes rare species 
especially among the albatrosses and petrels, some of which are not repre- 


sented in the American Museum collections. 


Ar the meeting of the Executive Committee on April 19, Dr. Louis 


Hussakof was promoted to the position of Associate Curator of Fishes. 


Mr. Hersert Lana, leader of the Museum’s Congo Expedition, sends a 
report from Niangara under date of January 14 with an account of successful 
work, especially among the Mangbetu. The collections have been greatly 
increased, gaining twenty-two additional species of mammals, twenty of 
reptiles and batrachians and sixty of birds since the previous report from 
Medje. The expedition planned to leave Niangara on January 1S with a 
caravan of one hundred men, proceeding to Dongu, Foradje and Aba where 
it was hoped to arrive in early February. The report included a series 
of photographs which unfortunately arrived too late to find place in the 
JOURNAL. 


THE Musrvum has issued a Guide Leaflet by Dr. C-E. A. Winslow, 
Curator of Public Health, on the subject ‘‘Protection of River and 
Harbor Waters from Municipal Wastes.’ This leaflet will be on sale during 
the exhibition of the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, postponed from 
April to the latter part of May, and explains the many models the Depart- 
ment will display at that time. 


A habitat group fifteen feet long has been planned to receive the unus- 
ually fine specimens of wild boar presented to the Museum by Mr. Walter 
Winans. The group has been designed by Mr. Frederick Blaschke of the 
Department of Preparation, who has had experience boar hunting in Ger- 
many. 


Tue Museum has recently purchased a skin and skeleton of the buffalo 
of Mindoro Island, Anoa mindorensis Steere, called by the natives “* tama- 
rau.” There are few specimens of this buffalo in American and European 
museums, for although abundant in Mindoro, the animal is rarely taken 
because confined to dense jungle and fierce under attack. A “ tamarau” 
skull was secured for the Museum by Mr. Roy C. Andrews while in the 
Philippines. The new specimens come through the efforts of Mr. A. L. 
Day of Manila. 


IS4 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Tue Guide Leaflet Series of the Museum has been increased by a pam- 
phlet of one-hundred pages issued by the Department of Woods and Forestry 
and based on the Jesup Collection of Woods. While primarily dealing 
with tree structure and growth and containing a planting guide for thirty- 
four of the most valuable trees of North America, this leaflet has been made 
to cover briefly a wide field in the practical aspects of forests and forest 
industries in order not to lack in suggestiveness along the various lines of 


interest of the Museum’s visitors. 


THREE very important anthropological collections have been purchased. 
One from the Jesup Fund, is a series of rare objects from the Tsimshian 
Indians of the North Pacific Coast collected by Lieutenant G. T. Emmons. 
This fills practically the only gap in our series from that important culture 
area. 

The second collection, made by Dr. Carl Lumholtz, in the little-known 
borderland along the Mexican boundary of Arizona, was purchased from the 
Primitive Peoples of the Southwest Fund. Among the unusual pieces in 
this collection are the costumes of a foo! dancer, consisting of a mask, a 
crude and useless bow and other absurd trappings. This is of especial inter- 
est since this ceremonial character seems to connect the Papago culture 
with that of the Plains. Among other things may be mentioned a series of 
wooden plows introduced into Mexico from Europe by the early Spanish 
explorers. The Papago are the southern representatives of the Pima stock 
and were found still practising the art of basketry for which the Pima 
proper were at one time famous. The collection contains excellent samples 
of this almost extinct textile art. 

The third acquisition, gained through the Jesup Fund, is the General 
U.S. Hollister collection of Navajo blankets. In this series there are sixty- 
six pieces, some made before 1850. In materials and dyes there is a full 
representation: eleven blankets of bayeta, one of natural wool, eight of 
native dyes, seven of Germantown yarn, twelve of other commercial yarn, 
and eighteen in aniline dyes. The four varieties of weave practised by the 
Navajo are fully represented. There are also a few exceptional blankets, 
one of which represents in its design the Corn God copied from the sand 
paintings of altars of the Navajo. This collection, jointly with the series 
recently presented by Mrs. Sage and those belonging to the Lenders and 
Tefft collections recently presented by Mr. Morgan, give us a series of 
Navajo textiles fully representative both as to technique and design. 


Scientific Staff 


ACTING DIRECTOR 
CuHarues H. Townsenp, Se.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALMONTOLOGY 
EpmMuND Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 


MINERALOGY 
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GrorGe F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Hmnry E. Crampton, A:B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
WitiraM BruTeNMiLuer, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
Joun A. Grosspeck, Assistant 
Prof. Wiitt1am Morton Wuereer, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEViITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
CuHarLes W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 
ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 
Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fishes 


Joun T. Nicuous, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cyntuia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 
Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
FrANK M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. De W. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 
VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Prof. Henry Farrrretp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Sc., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Martruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Wiuuram K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant 


ANTHROPOLOGY 


Cuark Wisster, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Puiny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Haran I. Smiru, Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowi, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HERBERT J. SprnpeEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CuHarutes W. Mean, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Ratpo W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHarLes-Epwarp Amory Wrnstow, 8.B., M.S., Curator 


Joun Henry O’Netxt, 8.B., Assistant 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntuta Dickerson, B.S., Curator 
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratpa W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. AtBerT 8. Bickmorg, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
Georce H. SuHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE 
AMERICAN [SIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


=e. 


A SMALL SECTION OF THE BULLFROG GROUP 


Volume XI] October, 1911 Number 6 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
Tue AMERICAN Museum or NaTuRAL HIstory 
New York CIty 


ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry FArrrFrELD OsBORN 


First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGE J. PrERPONT MorGawn, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ArRcHER M. HuntTINGTON 


Tor Mayor or THE City or NEw YORK 
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE City OF NEW YORK 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD 
GEORGE 8S. Bowborn Gustav E. Kisseu 
JoserpH H. CHOATE SetH Low 

Tuomas DreWitT CUuYLER OgpEN MILLs 

JAMES DouGLAS J. Prerpont MorGan 
Mapison GRANT Percy R. PYNE 

Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHN B. TREVOR 
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES FreLrx M. WarBura 
WaLtTerR B. JAMES Grorce W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Acting Director Assistant Secretary 
CHARLES H. TOWNSEND GrEorRGE H. SHERWOOD 


Assistant Treasurer 
Tue Unitep States Trust Company oF New YorK 


Tue Museum 18 OPEN FREE TO THE PUBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tur AmprRicAN Museum or Naturat HIstTory was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
codperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


ANA WMIGMPELSs | 2 cacthe she cle sierelexe $ 10 HMeOllOWS si Pa anhes eee cher $ 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 PatronsSe ce yachts Caen ee 1000 
ALSTOM Bers Pera ate arlene proce Pe se 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Tue Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a.m. to 5 P.M. 


Tue Museum PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 


GuipEs FoR Stupy OF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 


WoORKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 

Tre Mira RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR OCTOBER, 1911 


Frontispiece, The Bullfrog Group 


A Note Regarding Human Interest in Museum Exhibits 
FrEDERIC A. Lucas 


A’ Gift of Peculiar- Value................. GEORGE H. SHERWOOD 


The personal library and a collection of more than 20,000 lantern slides 
presented by Professor Albert S. Bickmore 


News or thes@onco Hxpeduion:. «<5 92.05.05 0405 a. cre oe Cena 
The Making of Pottery at San IIdefonso...HerBertr J. SpINDEN 


The Amphibians of the Great Coal Swamps..... . W. D. MatrHew 


Animal life many million years ago in which lay the possibilities of develop- 
ment into the intelligent life of to-day 


“Revealing and Concealing Coloration in Birds and Mammals,” a 
books ys Rheodore Roosevelt: .2...52 Ys ios, 8t sae ee eee 


Exhibition of Reptiles and Amphibians.......... BASHFORD DEAN 


Some Methods and Results in Herpetology 
Mary Cyntota DICKERSON 


ENISEUI. INEWS) CINOTES: i so ee aL ee 


Mary Cyntura Dickerson, Editor 


Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


LS7 


IS9 


200 


201 


A subscription to the Journat is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 


the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to the AMertcan Museum Journat, 30 Boylston St., 


Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-office at Boston, Mass. 


Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


THE BULLFROG GROUP 


186 


Southern New 


catesbiana) 


(Rana 


A new group installed in the east tower of the second floor, showing some of the activities of the common bullfrog 


England, July. 


accessories made by various 


frogs cast in wax and colored by Dwight Franklin; 


Transparent background painted by Hobart Nichols and Albert Operti; 


assistants in the Department of Preparation and Installation; 


Curator of Herpetology 


Assistant 


Dickerson, 


work planned and supervised by M. C. 


group assembled by Ernest Smith; 


2038 


page 


“*Some Methods and Results in Herpetology,” 


The American Museum Journal 


Vou. XI OCTOBER, 1911 No. 6 


A NOTE REGARDING HUMAN INTEREST IN MUSEUM 
EXHIBITS 


By Frederic A. Lucas 


T was a favorite saying of Dr. Goode of the National Museum that in 
preparing any museum exhibit it was of the utmost importance to 
keep in mind its human interest — to show, if possible, its direct 

relation to mankind in general and to the individual observer in particular. 
Dr. Goode was quite right. We may like to see strange and curious objects, 
but we like them all the better if there is something about them with which 
we are slightly familiar; in truth, to find something in a museum exhibit 
with which we are personally and pleasantly familiar is like recognizing 
the face of a friendly acquaintance in a strange city. 

The purpose of arousing personal human interest is the keynote of the 
exhibits of the modern museum. The museum of fifty years ago, or even 
less, was devoted to the exhibition of objects. The task of the modern 
museum is to display ideas and to teach important facts, and one of the 
best means to this end is to show something more or less familiar in order 
to arouse interest and stimulate a desire to know more about the subject. 

In the old type of museum a bird was shown as a specimen of a particular 
species, with no idea of anything beyond. Of course the purpose of mere 
the 
relation of the bird to others is given, its whole life is shown, the manner in 


record still exists, but whenever possible something more is done 


which it is or has been influenced by its surroundings, and the part it plays 
in the general economy of nature and directly toward man. 

The value of this human interest as an attractive force is shown in the 
universal attention given to those exhibits in which Man or his works form 
a part, or in which he is concerned. Examples of this are the series in the 
United States National Museum where the skeleton of Man is compared 
with the skeletons of the great apes; or the collection in the Brooklyn 
Institute Museum, which treats of Man as a member of the order Primates 
and which calls attention to some of the points in which he resembles or 
differs from other members of the order. This exhibit is extremely popular 
and on days when the attendance is good is surrounded by visitors whose 
interest shows that Pope knew whereof he spoke when he wrote that the 
“proper study of mankind is man.”’ 

187 


188 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


It is a curious fact that models of scenes illustrating the occupations of 
savage or little-known races of men apparently arouse greater interest 
when in miniature, attracting more attention than full-size reproductions. 
This is true partly because in the small group the whole scene can be grasped 
at once as in a picture, but especially because of human interest lent the 
exhibit by the fact that we know some one wrought the entire work — figures, 
landscape and all. It is this latter that explains in part the interest 
taken in the Habitat Groups of Birds, which is due not merely to the skillful 
reproduction of nature but to the fact that it is a reproduction, that waving 
branches and jagged rocks have been deftly imitated by the hand of man. 
The admiration of the observer is not entirely for the group; a part goes 
to the brain that devised it and to the hand that wrought it. 

A museum may display pigeons or fowl as examples of variation under 
domestication, but the average visitor sees them merely as birds with which 
he has an actual acquaintance and in which he is personally interested. 
He probably has not the least idea of the origin of our domesticated birds, 
he has never given the matter a thought, but the chances are that out of 
many observers a few will have their interest aroused, note the fact that 
in one case the rock pigeon and in the other the jungle fowl is the original 
stock from which our multifarious birds have been derived, and come to 
realize that what man has done rapidly on a small scale, Nature has been 
doing slowly on a grand scale ever since life originated on this planet of ours. 
Incidentally he may be led to reflect on the work of Darwin and others in 
formulating and expounding the theory of evolution. Here are apparent 
the direct human interest and the manner in which the casual visitor is led 
by something with which he is acquainted to something which he has never 
considered. 

In other cases the road is not so evident, but there is generally some 
point of contact between visitor and object. The problem for the museum 
is to find this point of contact. A foraminifer is a very abstract thing to 
most people, but a piece of nummulitic limestone, of which the pyramids 
are built, or a bit of chalk supplies the human interest and puts the visitor 
in touch, very lightly though it be, with the simpler forms of life, suggesting 
the part they play in everyday life and the direct concern he may have in 
these apparently insignificant creatures. 

It may be granted that the necessary human touch is not to be found 
in each and every object in a science museum — as perhaps is likely to be 
the case in a museum of history or art — or in every part of an exhibit, 
although it may be present in the exhibit as a whole. The point that the 
museum bears in mind is, that whenever possible, some link between the 
facts of the exhibit and the interests and experiences of the observers must 
be brought forward and emphasized. 


A GIFT OF PECULIAR VALUE 


PRESENTED BY PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE, WHO HAS DEVOTED THIRTY- 
SIX YEARS TO EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 


By George IH. Sherwood 


NE of the most valuable and important acquisitions that the 
Museum has recently received is the personal library and superb 
collection of lantern slides of Professor Albert S. Bickmore, the 

organizer and first Curator of the Department of Public Education. These 
are presented joiutly by Professor Bickmore and his wife, Charlotte B. 
Bickmore. The collection comprises more than twenty thousand lantern 
slides of which more than twelve thousand are colored. They were acquired 
by Professor Bickmore during his connection with the State Department of 
Education and represent the results of his extensive travels. In view of the 
loss, in the disastrous capitol fire at Albany last winter, not only of the 
original negatives but also of the supply of lantern slides owned by the 
State, this collection of slides, which has now no duplicate, is become greatly 
increased in value. 

For many years Professor Bickmore gave at the American Museum 
lectures to the school teachers of the city and his office was always a rendez- 
vous for teachers, where they were at liberty to consult his library and 
study the slides at their leisure. More recently his slides have been exten- 
sively used in lectures to school children, which have annually been given at 
the Museum for the purpose of supplementing the class room work in geog- 
raphy and history, and now that the whole series of slides has been made 
available, these lectures will be unusually instructive and broad in scope. 


189 


P[OTYS Poso]oo-IYS] OY YILM Jo}UOD OYA UT SULY OY} OpuOoyYO ‘opWIeRq wWeyYs B JOIV OGT 
) 


NEWS OF THE CONGO EXPEDITION 


From the report of Herbert Lang, Leader 


HE Congo Expedition has been unusually successful in its work 
among the Mangbetu and has emphasized considerably thereby 
its record in anthropology. 

The Mangbetu possess intelligence unwonted among Africans and the 
Mangbetu monarchy, first described in 1870, is very ancient, probably 
founded several hundred years ago by Hamitic wanderers from the Nile. 
Industry has flourished in this monarchy, the Mangbetu excelling in pottery, 
carving and boat building, while according to some authorities their houses 
are superior to all others in Central Africa. 

Okondo, the present king, has extended very great favor to the Museum’s 
expedition and has arranged many palavers, dances, sham battles and other 
performances for its study. He has granted that photographs be taken of 
the King’s village of one hundred huts, each with its paintings and carvings, 
of his own “big hut,” and also of his three queens, in whose royal dress 
figure rare okapi belts, many ornaments of brass, and elaborate headdresses 
decorated with monkey bones. 

The collection in anthropology now consists of some 1400 articles and 


“oe 


in the words of Mr. Lang, “....is unique not only on account of its num- 
bers but especially by reason of the selection that has been made throughout 
practically the entire territory inhabited by the Mangbetu and _ tribes 
intimately mingled with them.” 

The expedition has visited Doagu, Faradje and Aba, traveling with 
a caravan of one hundred and eighty men, which fact in itself explains 
the large size of the collections. In the report 2400 mammals are listed, 
1300 reptiles and 2850 birds. Among the mammals is a fine bull white rhi- 


noceros, two elephants, a bull black rhinoceros and two buffaloes. 
191 


THE MAKING OF POTTERY AT SAN ILDEFONSO 
By Herbert J. Spinden 


HE Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona have been subjected 
almost constantly to strong European influence since the memorable 
expedition of Coronado in 1540, yet they probably retain a larger 

proportion of purely native habits of life than any other group of Indians 
in the United States. To be sure their numbers have dwindled pitifully. 
Only a few of the prosperous villages that the Spanish explorers found in 
the valley of the Rio Grande and elsewhere in the Southwest have survived 
till our time. But their great communal dwellings, their dress, and their 
household arts are still distinctive. Among the western members the 
ancient religion and social organization still hold sway as may be seen 
by the famous Snake Dance of the Moki, and in the valley of the Rio Grande 
many old time religious and social customs exist under a thin veneer of 
Christianity. Needless to 
say, however, the commer- 
cializing American contact 
is rapidly destroying the 
remains of the native 
culture. 

The pueblo of San 
Ildefonso is beautifully 
situated on the east bank 
of the Rio Grande about 
twenty miles northwest of 
Santa Fe. To the east 
rise the lofty peaks that 
mark the southern termi- 
nation of the Sangre de 
Cristo Range, while on the 


opposite side are seen the 
’ ‘ timbered heights of the 
Ceremonial bowl, used to hold sacred meal. On the in- : 
side, under the terraced rim, are two water snakes above Jemez Mountains. The 
domed clouds from which descends a stream of water foothills on either hand 
upon terraced mountains. At either side are great f : 
horned snakes upon a starry field. The bottom of the present arid stretches of 
bowl represents a circular valley surrounded by moun- reddish soil tufted with 
tains from which issue streams. In the valley is a lake, 

abounding with ducks. Similar figures are shown on the dwarfed cedar and other 
outside of the bowl. Other ceremonial bowls frequently desert shrubs. The river, 
show the sacred chiffonetti dancers and miraculous 
animals such as the bear and mountain lion bordered by cottonwood 


192 


Black and white storage jar made by Indians of San Ildefonso, New Mexico. The 
decoration differs on all four sides, and consists of rainbows, rainstorms and vegetation, 


. = 


>< aaa. 


Black and white storage jar. At the right, jagged lightning; at the left, a terraced 
cloud (placed on edge with the top projecting inward) swollen with rain as indicated by the 
crossed lines 

193 


Even small geometric motives have a realistic in- 


rafters, 
little 


terpretation as well as a descriptive term: 1 


or sloping lines; 2 or diamonds; 3 


slings 


little hills'or sharp points 


clouds or scallops j 


Symbolic of the rainbow. Upper diamonds are scat- 
below, the cloud rack with rainbow 
more or less broken and fringed with light; under the 
rainbow the open sky, a mass of white cumulus clouds 
appearing above the horizon which runs out at either 


end into mysterious distance. 


tering rain clouds; 


Lower horizontal line 
the level ground, under it roots benefited by the down- 


pour; from center of ground-line springs a flower 


sequel of the rain 


\, OGG 
GOOOSE 


a lake. In 


diamonded area 
white represents black land Border of the 
lake at either side in the form of the ever-recurring 
terrace or with its mysterious 
clouds. mountains and human aspiration. At the top 
the cat-tail rush with long roots growing downward into 
the deep water 


Swampy margin of 


water, 


zigzag 


194 


suggestion of 


trees, spreads out in a maze 
of channels. Between it and 
the 


divided irregularly by hedges 


town are the cornfields 
of wild plums and sunflowers 
that follow the courses of the 
To the 


north is seen the Black Mesa, 


irrigation ditches. 


an isolated flat-topped hill 
perhaps six hundred feet in 
that the 
The 


vertical escarpments of black 


height stands in 


middle of the valley. 


lava resemble the bastions of 
On the summit of 
of San 


a fort. 
this hill the natives 
Ildefonso maintained them- 
selves against the besieging 
Spanish soldiers during the 
rebellion of 1680. 

Several kinds of pottery 
are still manufactured at San 
Ildefonso. In particular the 
pueblo is famous for water 
jars and large storage vessels 
with conventionalized  de- 
signs in red and black upon 


Red 


base pottery with designs in 


a cream-colored base. 
black, polished black pottery 
and rough cooking ware are 
also made. 

The processes of pottery 
manufacture are about the 
same in all the Rio Grande 
pueblos but the materials, 
such as clays and_ paints, 
vary from village to village, 
as do also the styles of deco- 
The 


of each pueblo are, as a rule, 


ration. typical wares 


easily recognized. The ves- 
sels are built up by hand 
from hollowed out lumps of 


San Ildefonso water jars. The design on the jar at the left shows a spring set in a 
valley between hills. In the centre is the water dotted with floating duckweed. On all 
sides are flowering water plants 

The second vessel gives to the Pueblo a picture of summer time. 
that float high in the sky are about the neck of the jar; beneath are rain clouds heavy with 
water, and lower still are blossoming wako plants and humming birds are hovering about 


White fleecy clouds 


At the left a fine San Ildefonso bowl decorated with red and black designs representing 
highly conventionalized flowers 
The water jar at the right is decorated with floral patterns executed in more realistic 


manner 
195 


196 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


clay to which rings of fresh clay are added as the height is increased. The 
shaping is done by the fingers, which must be dipped frequently in water 
during the process. The walls of the pots are made thin and even by 
gourd scrapers. After the pots are dry their outer surfaces are polished 
with smooth stones, then a sizing of fine clay is added and the process of 
polishing repeated. After this the designs are painted on with a brush 
made from a yucca leaf. The kiln is constructed in the open air. A fire 
is laid and over it the pots are piled in inverted positions, the rims resting 
on stones or on lumps of clay. More fuel, consisting of slabs of dry 
manure, is then arranged around the jars, great care being taken to see 
that none of the fuel actually touches the sides of the vessels. The draft 
must be kept open or the ware will be blackened. All painted pottery and 
all polished red pottery is burned in an open draft fire. In the case of the 
polished black pottery however, after the open fire has been started, it is 
smothered by several shovelfuls of fine dust-like manure that drives in the 
smoke and blackens the red wash or sizing. It is hard to realize that the 
sole difference between the brilliant red ware and the gleaming black is 
merely a trick in burning. 

At San Ildefonso the finest pottery has designs in black on a whitish 
background. The black paint is made by boiling down the leaves and 
stems of the wako weed or Rocky Mountain bee balm. This makes a dark 
brown syrup which becomes a very smooth jet black after burning. Red 
ochre is commonly used for red paint, while orange paint appears very 
rarely on San Ildefonso pottery. 

Most of the designs on Pueblo pottery seem quite unintelligible to us, 
yet to the makers they signify definite and important things. The Pueblo 
Indians of San Ildefonso, and of the Southwest in general, have a keen 
appreciation of nature which shows in every feature of their decorative art. 
Living an agricultural life in a semi-arid environment, rain is to them the 
great necessity of existence. Clouds, falling rain, flashing lightning, 
brimming rivers and flooded fields — these are the aspects of nature that 
please them most. The formal figures in which they embody their con- 
ceptions of propitious nature are intended to appeal to the imagination 
and to please the eye. These figures are manipulated as motives of pure 
design without losing a bit of their realistic intention. There is also a 
religious significance in many of the figures painted on the pottery. Primi- 
tive people very often represent by means of drawings or dramas what they 
consider to be desirable things so that they will be more certain to occur. 
Even the small geometric motives used in narrow bands have a realistic 
interpretation, although there is usually a descriptive term as well, while 
the more elaborate designs often disclose strikingly realistic conceptions 
notwithstanding the formal presentation. 


THE AMPHIBIANS OF THE GREAT COAL SWAMPS 
By W. D. Matthew 


The kind of animals that inhabited the ancient forest-swamps where the great coal for- 
mations of the world were laid down is shown by the skeleton of the primitive amphibian 
Eryops, now on exhibition in the Hall of Fossil Reptiles. 

HE Coal Era has more practical importance to civilized man than 
any other period of the past. Coal is the most important mineral 
product of the world; to a very considerable extent it may be said 

to be the material basis of our present-day civilization. If for no other 
reason than this, the Carboniferous Period, when most of the world’s coal 
b eds were being formed, ought to be of especial interest to everyone. But 


SERS 6 og AT RR ST Se 


zm: Ae ay ‘ f = > : - 


a St 
hy 


Eryops from the Lower Permian of Texas. An ancient amphibian which lived about 
the close of the Coal Era, many million years ago. It is twice as old as the Brontosaurus 
five times as old as the Eohippus, a hundred times as old as the mammoth or mastodon or 
the earliest known remains of man 
to all who are likewise interested in the past history of the earth, in the 
extinct races of animals and plants which have formerly inhabited it, in 
the evolution of those which now exist, the Coal Era has a_ broader 
interest. For the antique world of this remote period, many millions of 
years ago, was widely different in its appearance, in the outlines of its con- 
tinents, in the character of its plants and animals, from the present day. 
There were no broad-leaved trees nor flowering plants, no birds nor mam- 
mals nor any of the higher kinds of insects. The swamp vegetation was 
chiefly ferns and fern-like plants and giant relatives of the modern 
equisetums and club mosses, while coniferous trees grew in the uplands. 
The insects were all of the lower orders, dragon flies, cockroaches, milli- 
pedes, and others; no bees, no ants, no butterflies nor beetles. 

The land vertebrates were, at this ancient period, in the early stages of 
their adaptation to terrestrial life. Like the modern efts and salamanders 

197 


= 


Nese! 


=| —————_—_ + _ —__—_—]} 


je. ~_— ce NCL 
a ; =. = 
FFA } 


) 
SZ 


A EES 
7, iy Ee SNS 
hh hs, 


The outlines of land and water are slightly modified from the map by Professor Schuchert. The 
border shows characteristic vegetation of that epoch, partly conventionalized; to the left, Sigillaria, 
Neuropteris, to right Calamites, Sphenopteris. Below is a sketch restoration of Eryops, and above, one 
of the giant ‘‘dragon flies,”’ Meganeura 

“The dragon fly that darted over the head of the slow-crawling Eryops might seem, except in size,.. . 
a far more promising candidate for the position of ancestor to the intelligent life which was to appear in 
the dim future”’ 


198 


NORTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY AT CLOSE OF COAL ERA 


AMPHIBIANS OF THE COAL SWAMPS 199 


they were amphibious animals, half reptile, half fish, in appearance and 
habits. 

Living amphibia are the survivors more or less altered of the kind of 
animal which in the Coal Era was the highest form of animal life. The 
study of the structure and development of the higher vertebrates — of 
reptiles, birds and mammals — has shown that they must be derived from 
animals of this type, and the successive stages in their evolution are illus- 
trated by the fossil vertebrates of the successive periods of geological history. 
In the Carboniferous the amphibians were the dominant type, and the 
reptiles were just beginning to evolve from them, becoming adapted to a 
more strictly terrestrial life. These earliest reptiles are very close to the 
primitive amphibians, and the wide gap that now separates these two 
classes of vertebrates was then so slight that it is difficult to draw any sepa- 
rating line between them. 

Most of the primitive amphibians are so small and their skeletons so 
crushed and imperfect that they cannot very easily be studied except by 
specialists. A few of them however, the giants of their day, are of fairly 
large size, and well preserved skeletons have been found in the “red beds”’ 
which immediately overlie the coal formation of Texas and are of somewhat 
later age (Lower Permian) than the true coal measures. LEryops is the 
largest and best known of these Permian amphibians in America. — Its 
bones have been found in the upper coal measures of Pennsylvania but the 
best skeletons are from the Texas red beds. 

Here then is the type of animal that lorded it over the denizens of the 
gloomy forests and dark morasses of the Coal Period: a sort of gigantic 
tadpole or mud puppy, with wide flat head, no neck, a thick heavy body, 
short legs and paddle-like feet and a heavy flattened tail. While able to 
crawl clumsily and slowly upon the land, he must have been far more 
at home in the water, living in the dead pools and backwaters and slow- 
moving streams that traversed the far extended coast-marshes of the great 
interior sea to the west of the Appalachian highlands. 

That this beast, slow, heavy and clumsy, small brained and low organ- 
ized, should be one of the highest types of living beings in his time, may 
help to realize how remote and far away was the era of the Coal Forests. 
That he is a collateral ancestor of all the higher animals — of reptiles, birds, 
mammals and of man himself —all evolved through the millions of years 
which have since elapsed from animals of the same type and grade of 
organization, may serve at least to raise our respect for the possibilities of 
development which lay in the primitive amphibia. The giant dragon fly 
that darted over the head of the slow-crawling Eryops might seem, except 
in size, a far superior type of being, a far more promising candidate for the 


200 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


position of ancestor to the intelligent life which was to appear in the dim 
future. But the insect had fulfilled the mechanical possibilities of which 
his structural organization was capable. The future progress of the insect 
type was to lie not in the direction of a more perfect mechanism, but in the 
perfection of the metamorphosis during the growth of the individual and 
in the establishment of elaborate social organizations and instincts. 

The amphibian was but beginning the adaptation of the vertebrate 
structure to a terrestrial habitat and in his organization lay concealed a 
potential evolution to a far higher plane of existence than the insect organ- 
ization has been able to reach. It is not so easy to say just wherein this 
superiority lay, but probably the possession of an internal instead of an 
external skeleton was an essential feature of it. The late Professor Shaler! 
has pointed out the advantages of an internal as against an external skeleton 
in stimulating more intelligent and less blindly instinctive activities in the 
evolution of animal life. The internal skeleton has also certain marked 
mechanical advantages in permitting the attainment of a much larger size 
in the animals possessing it, as may easily be seen by comparing the maxi- 
mum size attained in one or the other type of organization under the same 
conditions of life. 


“REVEALING AND CONCEALING COLORATION IN BIRDS 
AND MAMMALS” BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


HIS book, published by the Museum in August is well worth reading 
by all interested in the subject of animal coloration. The more 
than one hundred pages present a critical review of Thayer’s 

Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom published in 1910. 

Mr. Roosevelt considers the principle of countershading a discovery 
of real merit as a colorist law but with limited application to birds and 
mamunals as far as concealment is concerned. From his extended experi- 
ence in the field, he holds that this concealment is due maialy to “cover 
and habits.’ With pithy arguments and forceful examples, with now and 
then an admission that the knowledge is incomplete and a frank, “I do not 
know,” he covers Thayer’s points, separating misinterpretations from com- 
mon-sense facts and deductions. The last sentence of his conclusion 
summarizes his view: 

“ As regards the great majority of the species [of birds and mammals], the 
coloration, whether concealing or not, is of slight importance from the stand- 
point of jeoparding or preserving the bird’s or mammal’s life, compared to 
its cunning, wariness, ferocity, speed, ability to take advantage of cover and 
other traits and habits, and compared to the character of its surroundings.” 


1TuHEe INpIVIDUAL: a Stupy oF Lire aNp Deatu. N.S. Shaler. New York: Apple- 
tons, 1900. 


EXHIBITION OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 


By Bashford Dean 


HE Museum collection includes at the present time about two 
thousand amphibians and five thousand reptiles —not a strong 
representation as material in great museums goes, but more than 

a good beginning in the development of a department. Of these specimens 
hardly more than one per cent are on general view: the bulk of the collection 
in this as in other fields in the Museum will ever from the limits of space be 
kept in reserve for purpose of study. None the less there are, all will admit, 
great possibilities for the development of the popular side of the work of the 
department: reptiles and amphibians are apt to interest the general visitor, 
and they are of yeoman’s service to the classes of nature study which 
regularly visit the galleries. Snakes, turtles, salamanders, frogs, crocodiles, 
lizards, all have their especial niche in non-technical natural history. And 
it is clear that they should be exhibited in such a way as to attract the 
visitor’s attention to the nature of the various groups — to illustrate the 
principal kinds, native and foreign, to. demonstrate at least the elements of 
their structures, development, habits, distribution, descent. As a means of 
teaching attractively the life habits of these creatures, a series of special 
case-exhibits will be prepared, each illustrating one of the larger groups. 
These will be brought together after the fashion of the panoramic “ habitat” 
bird group, in a separate gallery, for the present in the southeast tower room 
on the second story. The Bullfrog Group is the first of this series to be 
exhibited. It has been prepared under the supervision of Miss Dickerson, 
and is described in the following paper. Her account however does not 
tell the reader the discouraging technical difficulties surmounted in the long 
work of preparation in a little developed field. The present work is an 
earnest of what can be done to make the remaining groups at once attractive 
and instructive. 


A PORTION OF THE BULLFROG GROUP 


Two frogs are engrossed in a chickadee on the birch branch above. The smaller frog seems likely 
to fall a prey to a black snake ready to strike from the white azalea near 

The water of the group is a tightly-stretched transparent sheet of celluloid. The ingredients 
were mixed at the Museum according to a formula which gives a less brittle product than the com- 
mercial celluloid and the sheet was made by flowing this liquid on glass in layers one over the other 


202 


SOME METHODS AND RESULTS IN HERPETOLOGY 
By Mary Cynthia Dickerson 


HE Bullfrog Group, which has been put on exhibition at the Museum 
in the east tower of the second floor, represents a July scene typical 
of Southern New England. Knowledge of the bullfrog consists 

usually in an acquaintance with his sedate appearance on the bank of a 
pool or with the sonorous sound of his “jug-o-rum”’ during summer nights. 
We do not realize that a pond which may chance to be the home of this 
giant of the frogs of North America is a small world of continual drama 
with the bullfrog well in the plot. 

The group in connection with its descriptive labels attempts to show 
the general biology of the frog, its swimming, croaking, breathing under 
water and in air, the manner in which it “les low” before a near enemy 
when it cannot escape by leaping, its food habits in connection with small 
mammals, birds, snakes, fish and turtles, insects and snails. It also shows 
the metamorphosis from the tadpole. 

The Bullfrog Group is novel in that it has a transparent background, 
curved in panoramic fashion and made of fine and durable linen. This is 
painted in transparent colors, 
the high lights on the front, 
the shadows on the back, in 
an effort to obtain a realistic 
woodland scene with shifting 
light in it and through it as 
in nature. The light at the 
back of the canvas has been 
kept at the minimum and 
balanced on the canvas in 
front by a weak indirect light, 
while a relatively strong di- 
rect light has been focused on 
the foreground as if from the 
western sky (direction of the 


observer). It has been hoped 


to obtain by this lighting some ta fi 
slight illusion and perspective “yar oe ee 
notwithstanding the small- 
ness of the space (84 ft. by 6 Modeling the Japanese giant salamander (Megalo- 
= batrachus japonicus) from a living specimen loaned by 
ft.). Tohelp the perspective the New York Zodlogical Park. Wholly aquatic 
amphibians are not likely to maintain the shape for 
casting when removed from the water, and must be 


there has been resort to varl- — given over to the animal sculptor for modeling 


in a minor degree in addition, 


203 


A DETAIL OF THE FROG GROUP 


Sediment, water weed, pond scum, every item under water was a separate problem. The plants 
above are in their ecological order from the duckweed and lilies on the surface through the pickerel 
weeds to the higher alders and willows 

The bullfrog may prove a menace in ponds where any species of food fish is expected to thrive. 
He usually captures a fish by a single plunge in shallow water using his hands frantically to turn the 
fish into the right position to swallow 


204 


ous small devices: for in- 
stance, the foreground slopes 
upward to meet the back- 
ground, a total of five inches; 
tall shrubs at the front are 
made to lead into ones less 
tall farther back, large-leaved 
plants such as alder and birch 
are in the immediate fore- 
ground, willow and_ other 
small-leaved plants at the 
rear, leaves of water lilies 
and pickerel weed are graded 
back from larger to smaller; 
while conspicuous colors, the 
red of Turk’s cap lilies and 
the white of azaleas, are 
placed well forward and the 
purple pickerel weed carries 
the eye back where the effect 
of distance and shadow , is 
desired. \ 
The story of the group 
tells itself at sight: one frog 
is molting its skin, “ swallow- 
ing it off” in typical frog fash- 
ion; a second is dashing from 
the water to catch a white- 
footed mouse descending from 
a deserted song  sparrow’s 
nest; another is croaking, 
with vocal sacs and throat 
expanded; a fourth is demon- 
strating how large a mouth- 
ful of young water snakes a 
bullfrog can master. — Still 
another is making it plain 
that a frog’s tongue is fas- 
tened in front and thrown 
out of the mouth to catch 
insects. One frog has within 
his rolled tongue a bumble- 
bee from the white azalea 


flowers. A smaller bullfrog is 


A mouthful of 
young water- 


Comfortably 
floating in the 


July pond 


Catching insects 
about the azalea 


flowers 


Shedding the 
skin, * swallowing 
it off” in frog 
fashion 


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A study from life. Series of wax casts to show the American newt’s method of shedding 


the skin: from the head backward until it binds the fore legs which are drawn out one at a 


time, on backward until the hind legs must be worked free 


engrossed in a chickadee just alighted on a birch branch above his head, 
and inattentive to danger, is about to fall a prey to a black snake. A 
frog far over at the left is “lying low” with head lowered and hands 
lifted, having unexpectedly found himself in too close proximity to the 
black snake to make it advisable to leap for safety. Under water one frog 
in resting position — quite different from the resting position on land — has 
throat contracted and nostrils closed and like a fish is breathing oxygen 
from the water, his skin doing the work in place of gills. A swimming 
frog is sending up a stream of bubbles from the nostrils, showing that the 
lungs are emptied of air as the skin comes into play for breathing. 

At first glance the group presents a small cove reaching into a larger 
expanse of water, with only four or 
five frogs in view. The abundance 
of vegetation and the great array of 
animal life (there are some half-hun- 
dred specimens in the group) have 
been subordinated to the effect of 
the whole. All of the animals are 
directly before the eye yet are so 
chosen and placed as to be incon- 
spicuous except upon a more careful 
search, thus imitating the condition 
in nature. 

In addition to the Bullfrog Group 
there have been put on view recently 
a Monitor Group and various smaller 
exhibits. The exhibition of amphibia 


and reptiles is beset with unusual 


difficulty and the various species 


Portion of a wax cast before color is ap- have been represented in muse- 


plied. The gills are of glass. Congo 


eel (Amphiuma means) North Carolina: cast 
from a model from life by Frederick Blaschke 
208 


ums heretofore by alcoholic material 


more often than in any other way. 


After much — experimental 
work it has been found 
possible to make wax repro- , 
ductions with fidelity to the 
living animal in form and 
color and also with lifelike 


pose and expression. The 


work has been done by cer- 


Then the newt reaches back to pull the skin off tain artists who have added 
the tail and swallow it according to the custom of his to the 


technique of clay, 
ancestors % 


plaster, wax and color, the 
power of accurate seeing. The two especially connected with the com- 
pleted work are Dwight Franklin and Thomas Bleakney, although results 
could not have been obtained without the many complex piece molds made 
by James Bell and without the expert modeling of Frederick Blaschke. 
Several methods are in 
use. If the animal has a 
thick and horny skin as_ has 
the water monitor or a large 
iguana, the skin itself is 
mounted over a manikin 
modeled from life. following 
the methods of the animal 
sculptor’s work on mammals, 
or is filled with a soft prepara- 
tion which hardens later, after 


it has beea modeled into cor- 


rect form through the skin. 
The modeling is from life; all 
work on both form and color European frog (Rana esculenta) showing external 
is done from the living ani- vocal sacs. When the frog is croaking, these sacs are 
ml, the New York Zodlogi- ‘ints sv clases itu eee Gai 
eal Park and the New York is used also for the vocal saes of the spring peepers and 
Aquarium having courteously American toads of the exhibit 

loaned many duplicate living specimens for study. 

If the skin is thin and soft, which is true in most small lizards, many 
snakes and turtles and all amphibia, the animal is reproduced in wax, 
the wax used being pure bleached beeswax (which has a high melting point 
so that summer temperatures are not an enemy to the exhibits) with 
a small proportion of Canada balsam to make it less brittle and more 
easily worked. The dead animal may be posed from the living and a waste 
plaster mold or a piece mold made, from which a cast is taken in wax. This 
is the method by which the frogs of the Bullfrog Group were made. There are 

209 


SWIMMING SOFT-SHELLED TURTLE (Trionyx spinifer) 


Most perfect reproductions with all the beauty and softness of color and texture of the 
living animal can be made in wax to replace the old display of alcoholic material. Posed 
and cast by Dwight Franklin; colored by Thomas Bleakney. Specimen presented by the 
New York Aquarium 


a few wholly aquatic forms like the hellbender (Cryptobranchus) and the 
Congo eel (Amphiuma), which do not maintain the shape for posing when 
removed from water. These the sculptor must model from the living ani- 
mal, which model then serves for mold and cast. In the work on snakes 


A STUDY FROM LIFE 


Wax casts of fighting spotted turtles (Chelopus guttatus) made for insertion in a group 
planned to show local amphibia and reptiles of the month of April 
Piece molds by James Bell; casts by Dwight Franklin; color work by Thomas Bleakney 


210 


the skin is often removed, 
filled with clay, and modeled 
into correct form, when it is 
posed ready for plaster mold 
and wax cast. In the case 
of turtles many must be cast 
entire, the carapace being too 
soft to make a permanent 
mount. In other cases the 
“Shell” is used and wax casts 
of the soft-skinned head and 
legs are fastened in position, 
while still others more thick- 
skinned are mounted as are 
the thick-skinned_ lizards. 
The advantage of making 
the casts in wax lies not only 


in a great susceptibility of 
this medium to take and 


f VAS , retain fine detail, not only in 
Portion of wax cast of water moccasin (Ancis- : 


trodon piscivorus). Moceasin closely related to the a transparency which adds 
copperhead and one of the most poisonous snakes on c Orn |= J 
reatly to the lifelike effec 
of the South. The cast is designed for a small = sare rap e elfect 
Cypress Swamp Group not yet completed. The In many amphibia, but also 


moccasin unlike a rattlesnake opens the mouth 


: : in a surface of such character 
when threatening to strike 


that it takes oil color with 

an effect of life texture. 
Soft skin texture cannot be gained with a hard plaster surface. When 
a form is too large to cast in wax, like the giant salamander of Japan, 
and must be cast in plaster, the plaster surface is afterward sprayed with 
a coating of wax. 

An exhibit of any group of animals to interest other than technical 
students must be shown from the life standpoint and in relation to man, 
especially a group repellant because of mystery and myth man has inherited 
from a time of less knowledge. Amphibia and reptiles should hold a con- 
siderable place in the exhibition of a museum for many reasons. They 
are of great antiquity. The amphibian race bridged the gap in descent 
between water life and land life, and reptiles, developed from these early 
amphibians, gave rise through some primitive group to mammals. Thus 
both are in the direct line of vertebrate evolution. 

In the light of this dominant position of the past and the ancestral 
relation to man, the amphibia and reptiles of to-day take on peculiar 
interest. Descended from forms of considerable or great size, modern 
amphibia and reptiles present a race of pygmies, reminiscent of the giants 

211 


Mounting the skin of a lizard of Tropical 
America (Iguana tuberculata). The skin, 
filled with a soft preparation, is tooled into 
shape from a living model and the prepara- 
tion within hardens in the permanent form. 
Mr. Blaschke brings the same skill to reptile 
taxidermy that he displays in his work on 
mammals 


of millions of years ago in a few forms 
only, such as the nearly extinct ele- 
phant tortoise of a few tropical islands, 
the leatherback turtle of tropical seas, 
the gavial of India, the largest modern 
reptile, and the giant salamander of 
Japanese streams. Also neither race 
gives promise of advance for the future. 
Modern amphibia number only one- 
eighth of the race of fishes and one- 
tenth of birds and have taken no step 
toward freeing themselves from de- 
pendence on fresh water, in fact on 
moisture in a constant supply, and 
modern reptiles seem not much better 
placed for the future being fitted for 
life in equatorial regions only and 
absolutely dependent on heat for 
activity. The very high specializa- 
tion however, which removes from 
them the chance of advance, gives 
them unusual value for exhibition 
in an educational institution like the 
American Museum. For perhaps in 
no other vertebrate groups is there 
more opportunity for the study of 
remarkable relations to environment 
including many instances of economic 
worth and direct relation to agricul- 
ture through the destruction of insect 
and rodent enemies; as also oppor- 
tunity for the study of examples of 
structure, embryology and _ relation- 
ship, illuminating as proofs of the 
important roles played in the develop- 
ment of intelligent life on the earth. 

It would seem fortunate for mu- 
seum exhibition that some successful 
methods have been found, and still 
others are likely to reward research, 
for reproducing these forms ade- 
quately and permanently. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


SINCE the last issue of the JouRNAL the following persons have been 
elected to membership in the Museum: 

Patrons, PRoFEssOoR and Mrs. ALBERT S. BIcKMORE and Mr. CHARLES 
H. Senrr;* 

Life Members, Messrs. CHARLES L. BERNHEIMER, GEORGE BLEISTEIN, 
CHESTER L. Cotton, W. Bayarp CuTTiInG, CHARLES J. EDER and JOHN V. 
Irwin; 

Sustaining Members, Dr. SAMUEL MurrLanp and Mrs. ELIsaBeTH 
C. T. MILLER; 

Annual Members, Messrs. Grorce L. Apams, Henry SHERMAN 
ADAMS, JAIME DE ANGULO, JAMES H. S. Bates, GEORGE PowELL BENJA- 
MIN, WriuiAM H. Buiiss, SAMUEL J. BLOOMINGDALE, Louts Boury, JULIEN 
T. Davies, Jr., Moses H. Grossman, JoHN Knapp Ho.uins, FRANK 
Hucues, J. HEMSLEY JOHNSON, BENJAMIN G. Paskus, M. BERNARD 
Puitipp, N. TERHUNE, J. C. THaw, C. J. UtMANN, R. WEIL, and Caspar 
WHITNEY, Mmes. SAMUEL Q. Brown, Wiiitam Kerra MiIrTenporr, 
and ANNA SHEPARD PIERCE. 


On July 17 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment appropriated 
$200,000 for the construction of the foundations of the southeast wing and 
court building and $75,000 for furnishing and equipping unfinished portions 
of the building. 


PRESIDENT HENRY FAIRFIELD OsBorN and Mr. MaAptson GRANT spent 
the early part of September with Mr. Brown in Alberta. The following is 
an extract from President Osborn’s latest letter: 


.... Brown and Mr. Grant met me at Red Deer on Monday last, August 
28, and we started almost immediately down the river in asmall craft loaded to 
the gunwales. The current, three to five miles an hour, gave us, with Brown 
sculling and steering at the rear, a three and one-third average speed and we 
passed all the rapids safely, camping four nights on the shore, prospecting and 


visiting all important sites and quarries. ... Brown has discovered the only 
method of working these rich and virgin formations and it looks as though there 
would be one or perhaps two seasons more....The region about here is very 


rich. Kaison has taken up another Trachodon and parts of two others await 
removal. Yesterday we secured a fragmentary Albertosaurus skull. All are well 
and in fine spirits. We start for the remaining 125 miles to-morrow morning... . 


Dr. Frepertc A. Lucas was appointed Director of the Museum by 
the Board of Trustees on May 8 and assumed his new office on June 15. 


* Deceased. 213 


214 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


AMONG the scientific visitors at the Museum this summer were Dr. 
Friedrich von Huene of Tiibingen, and Dr. Franz Schiffer of Vienna. 
Dr. von Huene remained nearly two months studying the collections of 
extinct reptiles. Both gentlemen later visited the field parties in Nebraska 
and Wyoming and various noted fossil localities in the West, and expressed 
the greatest enthusiasm over the paleeontological treasures brought to- 
gether in this and other American museums, and the wonderful extent and 
richness of the western fossil fields. 


Dr. Wititisam K. Grecory was appointed Assistant Curator in the 
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at a meeting of the Executive 
Committee in June. Dr. Gregory’s The Orders of Mammals, published by 
the Museum in 1910, is a standard book of reference invaluable to teachers 
and students in the universities of this and other countries. It was on 
receipt of this volume that Dr. R. Broom, the leading authority on mammal- 
like fossil reptiles of South Africa, recalling recent work of New York men 
of science, wrote: “I am afraid New York is taking the place once held by 
London in the days of Owen, Huxley and Parker and I think it fully deserves 
to lead.” 


THE DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATE PAL®ONTOLOGY had three expeditions 
in the field this summer. The Alberta expedition, in charge of Associate 
Curator Brown, continued the search for Cretaceous dinosaurs in the rich 
fossil fields of the Red Deer River. The Wyoming expedition, in charge 
of Associate Curator Granger, will probably complete this year the explora- 
tion of the Big Horn Valley for remains of the earliest ancestors of the horse, 
and other animals of the Lower Eocene. The third expedition, in charge 
of Mr. Albert Thomson, has resumed work in the great fossil quarry of 
Lower Miocene age at Agate, Nebraska. 


ProFEssor BasHrorpD DEAN early in July officially represented the 
American Museum at the Museums Association’s meeting at Brighton, 
England, and in September at the Centennial Celebration of the University 
of Christiania. 


DurtinG the summer Dr. CLark WIsSSLER spent some time among the 
Dakota Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation, giving especial attention 
to military and other societies. Other members of the staff of the Depart- 
ment of Anthropology visited various Indian tribes of the United States 
and Canada continuing their systematic field study of other summers. 
This work will receive full report later. 


THE administrative offices of the Museum have been removed from the 
east wing and will now be found on the fifth floor near the elevators. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 215 


Mr. Cuarues L. BERNHEIMER has been made a Life Member in recogni- 
tion of his contribution for cetacean work in Japan. 


Mr. Cuarves J. Ever of Palmira has been elected a Life Member 
because of the courtesies he extended to the Museum’s expedition to the 
United States of Colombia. 


Mr. V. STEFANSSON reports from the Dease River, Arctic America, 
wonderful success in ethnological work. He has discovered a “new” 
Eskimo tribe, one that has never seen a white man; he also finds a Scandi- 
navian-like people in Victoria Land. Through the courtesy of the English 
travelers, Messrs. Melvill and Hornby, who have a boat on Great Bear 
Lake, the collections will be carried out to Fort Norman and the Mackenzie 
River. Mr. Stefansson’s letters will be quoted in a later JOURNAL. 


THe Museum has in press a Guide Leaflet on the methods of making 
the wax flowers, leaves and fruits on display in the Forestry Hall and used 
as accessories in habitat groups. 


A SERIES of eight lectures on evolution by Professor Henry E. Crampton, 
formerly delivered as the Hewitt lectures of Columbia University, has been 
brought out in book form by the Columbia University Press. 


Proressor Henry E. Crampron returned September 19 from a biologi- 
cal expedition to South America and the West Indies. He succeeded in 
reaching Mount Roraima, at the junction of the Venezuela, Brazilian and 
Guiana borders. Mr. Roy W. Miner and Dr. Frank E. Lutz were also 
members of the expedition, the former returning from Dominica in July 
and the latter from Kaieteur Falls in British Guiana, in August. 


Dr. Louis Hussakor spent several weeks collecting fossil fishes in the 
Devonian formations of Kentucky and Ohio. Some valuable material 
was obtained including a number of specimens of the giant Arthrodira, 
Titanichthys. The expedition was made possible through the Cleveland 


H. Dodge Fund. 


Tue following appointments have been made: Mr. J. B. Foulke, Super- 
intendent of Building; Mr. Harry F. Beers, Assistant Superintendent of 
Building; Mr. George N. Pindar, Registrar. 


Mr. Harwan I. Suiru, Associate Curator in the Department of Anthro- 
pology, has resigned his position to accept a curatorship in the new museum 
at Ottawa. 


216 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Mr. Roy C. ANpREWws will leave during the last week of November 
on an expedition to the Orient. He will visit the whaling stations of south- 
ern Korea, then outfit at Seoul and travel into the mountains of north 
Korea, a region unknown zoGlogically. 


Tue installation in the new Hall of Minerals is almost completed, 
and more than three thousand specimens are brought to view. Among 
recent additions are the remarkable tarbuttite (basic zine phosphate) 
associated with vanadinite from Rhodesia, Africa, a beautiful white beryl, 
enclosing tourmaline, from Pala, California, and important specimens of 
benitoite and neptunite from the same locality. 


Tue Museum recently acquired through purchase from Mr. Juan E. 
Reyna of Ithaca, New York, some interesting fragments of ancient Mexican 
codices. The fragments were taken from the walls of a church at Tlaquil- 
tenango, Morelos, and are about one hundred in number. They represent 
parts of several manuscripts on maguey paper and probably date from 
soon after the arrival of the Spaniards. The church in question was com- 
pleted in the year 1540. The manuscripts had apparently been collected 
by the priests and pasted face down on the walls of the cloisters instead 
of being destroyed outright as was the usual custom. The collection is of 
peculiar value because the point of origin is so clearly indicated. Tlaquil- 
tenango is situated in the ancient territory of the Tlahuican nation, a 
branch of the great Nahuan stock. 


Dr. J. R. Warker, United States Indian Physician, of Pine Ridge 
Reservation, South Dakota, has been a voluntary contributor to the De- 
partment of Anthropology for several years. He is especially interested 
in the mythology and ceremonies of the Dakota Indians, among whom he 
has lived for thirteen years. During the past year he gathered some four 
hundred pages of manuscript written by Indians who have learned to write 
their own language in the Rigg’s alphabet. These manuscripts contain 
unusual material upon the most complex and sacred of Indian conceptions. 


Durra the summer Professor C-E. A. Winslow devoted considerable 
time to the study of an epidemic of a peculiar acute tonsillitis which affected 
some 1500 persons and caused 50 deaths in the vicinity of Boston and which 
proved to be due to an infected milk supply. This outbreak of tonsillitis 
is the first of the kind in this country and the most serious ever recorded 
anywhere. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 


MEMBERS’ COURSE 


The first course of lectures for the season 1911-1912 to Members of the Museum 
and persons holding complimentary tickets given them by Members will open in 
November. 


PUPILS’ COURSE 


The lectures to publie school children will be resumed in October. 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 


Given in codperation with the City Department of Education 


Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o'clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


The first five of a course of eleven lectures on ‘‘Great Classical and Romantic 
Composers” by Mr. Dante, Gregory Mason. Illustrated at the piano. 


October 3 — ‘Johann Sebastian Bach.” 

October 10 — “Joseph Haydn.”’ 

October 17 — “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.” 

October 24 — “Ludwig von Beethoven: His First Period.” 
October 31 — ‘‘ Beethoven: His Second Period.” 


Saturday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


The first four of a course of eleven lectures, “‘From the Rhone Glacier to the 
Pillars of Hercules; Courtly Provence and Romantic Spain,” by PRorEssor CHARLES 
U. Crarxk of Yale University. Illustrated by stereopticon views. 

October 7 — “The Valais and Savoy.” 

October 14 — ‘‘The Dauphiny.”’ 

October 21 — ‘‘ Lyons, Queen of the Rhone Valley.” 
October 28 — “In Troubadour Land.” 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


FOR: THE ‘PEOPLE 
FOR EDVCATION 
FOR ?S GAGE NGI 


PUBLIC EDUCATION NUMBER 


THE 
AMERICAN [TIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


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Biel as 


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Ts yay aT R SD. on 
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Volume XI November, 1911 Number 7 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
THe AMERICAN Musreum or NaturAL History 
New York City 


ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry FarrFietp OsBoRN 


First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGE J. PrerponT MorGan, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ArcHER M. HuntTINGTON 


THe Mayor oF THE City or NEw YorK 
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CiTy OF NEW YorRK 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD 

GEORGE 8S. BowbDoIn Gustav E. KIsseEt * 
JosepH H. CHOATE SetrH Low 

Tuomas DeWitr CuYLEeR OaGpEN MILLs 

JAMES DouGLas J. Prerpont MorGan 
MapIson GRANT Percy R. Pyne 

Anson W. Harp Witi1aM RocKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. JoHN B. Trevor 
ArTHUR CuRTISS JAMES FeLtrx M. WarBuRG 
Water B. James GrorcE W. WIcKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Director Assistant Secretary 
Freperic A. Lucas GeEorGE H. SHERWOOD 


Assistant Treasurer 


Tue Unitep States Trust Company oF NEw YorRK 
* Deceased 


THe Museum 1s OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLIC ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


THe American Museum or Natura HIsTory was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are de- 
pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


Annual Members: 3 ccios acre gusts: $ 10 HOMOWS!. 5 nc savant aeisaie seen 3 500 
Sustaining Members (Annual)... ... 25 (Paurons:,. 12.4. tn eee 1000 
Life Members: cies. < cote oie Fe nae 100 Benefactors (Gift or bequest) 50,000 


Tse Museum Liprary contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library 
is open to the public for reference daily — Sundays and holidays excepted — from 9 a. Mm. to 5 P. M. 

Tue Museum PuBLicaTIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletins, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning 
their sale may be obtained at the Museum Library. 

GuIDEs For Stupy or Exursits are provided on request by the Department of Public 
Education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the Department for an 
appointment, specifying the collection to be studied. Lectures to classes may also be arranged 
for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. 

WoRKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership 
tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special 
study. Applications should be made at the information desk. 

Tue Mitta RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 
12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla Room is of 
unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla, Mexico. 


The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1911 


CoG6peration in. Education............... Winturam H. Maxwet.n 


The Museum and the Public Lecture...... Henry M. LeErezicer 
A Word of Congratulation from President John H. Finley.......... 
The Museum of the Future............ HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN 


Evolution of the Educational Spirit in Museums 
FRrEDERIC A. Lucas 


Professor Albert S. Bickmore: Educator. ...EpmMuNb Orts Hovey 


“ducational Value of the American Museum. . Maurice A. BIGELow 


Cordial Recognition of the Museum’s Work...................... 


1. Museum and High School United for Health and Economic Welfare 

GEORGE W. HuNTER 
The Museum Increasingly Helpful for Ten Years..Litytian BELLE SAGE 
The Museum a Laboratory for Classes............ANNA M. CuLarkK 
How One Crowded High School uses the Museum..James L. Peasopy 


Pw 


‘The American Viuseumand Education... .~ 3. ...420s2 eens eee 


1. Co6peration with the Public Schools..........GrorGe H. SHERWOOD 
2. Fossil Vertebrates — What They Teach..............W. D. MatrHew 
3. The Habitat Groups of Mammals and Birds..............J. A. ALLEN 
4. Educational Aims of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology 


Henry E. Crampton 
Ab) ere MY be) bho egg) Bid a) ot: via eee RE en ee eee SS oe adam od Nonyiaons 
6. Arrangement of Exhibits in Anthropology.............CLarkK WISSLER 


i | 


Symposium of Expressions from Primary and Grammar Schools... . 
The Children’s Room of the Museum.............AGNES ROESLER 
‘resday atuthe: Museum. 242! ase snes Mary B. C. Byrne 
MiseumNews 2 Notes. 5224s a ee eee 


Mary Cynrara Dickerson, Editor 


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Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-Office at Boston, Mass. 


Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


THEY BEHOLD A ‘‘CiITY’’ OF STRANGE BIRDS 
spots in childhood are connected with a vague 


Some of the brightest 
realization of the beauty and mystery of the world 
The Museum wishes to welcome and honor the children who come within 


its walls. It publishes in this number of the Journaw the pictures of a 


few of the children who have been among itsrecent visitors 


The American Museum Journal 
WOne cael NOVEMBER, 1911 No. 7 


COOPERATION IN EDUCATION 
By William H. Maxwell 


Superintendent of Public Schools, New York City 

HE present contract for co6peration has existed between the public 

schools and the American Museum of Natural History for more 

than thirty years. Meantime the development of the schools 

has paralleled the growth of the Museum and both have kept pace with 

the phenomenal upbuilding of the city. For the Museum’s part in this 

I extend my congratulations, because while the public school system has 

but developed in accordance with the progressiveness of the times, the 

Museum has broken away from all records of museum organization and 

maintaining its stand as an institution of science has distinctly identified 

itself with education also. By so doing it has made possible for the children 

of the City of New York many good things from which they would otherwise 
have been shut off. 

The teachers of several thousands of classes in the schools are working 
under a difficulty of conditions not equalled in any other quarter of the globe. 
One-third of the hundred thousand new pupils of each year cannot speak 
English and moreover come from centers of the City where people live one 
thousand to the acre and have the attendant ills of such a congestion of 
population. The problem is to galvanize these classes into a spontaneity 
of interest that will carry them into a new language, into the knowledge of 
the grade and at the same time into a more wholesome, more sanitary life. 
For these teachers the Museum’s lectures and collections serve royally in 
the threefold purpose. 

I hail with satisfaction the trend of the Museum’s work in its new depart- 
ment of public health, and in its woods and forestry and habitat groups 
which form a continually stronger lure to out-of-door life. Even if nature 
study may not yet have been developed to give children practical knowledge 
for life activities, it most positively does give a large working interest in the 
direction of such knowledge. 

It will be increasingly the pleasure of the teachers to use the power the 
Museum puts into their hands. In the near future these boys and girls 
will be in control of the destiny of our City and the Museum’s present 
coéperation in their education will bear fruit a few years hence in citizens 
more fitted to deal wisely with large questions on which depend health and 
moral well-being. For the study of nature is the foundation of that knowl- 
edge which leads to increased productivity in industry and of those ideals 
of life that make for improved conditions of living. 

219 


THE MUSEUM AND THE PUBLIC LECTURE 
By Henry M. Leipziger 


Supervisor of the Public Lecture System of the Board of Education, New York City 


N the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the Museum about 
thirty-five years ago, Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion used these words: “How incomparably greater would the 

importance of this Museum be were there connected with it a professor who 
would give courses of free lectures on the objects which it contains, who 
would expound the laws of the phenomena of nature, who would discourse 
on the changes the world has undergone during geological periods.” 

The Public Lecture System of the Board of Education coéperating 
with the American Museum of Natural History carries out the suggestion 
made by the distinguished scientist and continues a work inaugurated by 
Professor Bickmore soon after the erection of the first section of the Museum 
building. Many lecturers carry the treasures of the institution to every 
corner of this great city and the desire to visit the Museum is every- 
where awakened. More than that those who come are prepared by these 
lectures to appreciate the importance and the meaning of its priceless col- 
lections. 

The Museum and the public lecture add to the joy of life as well as to 
the knowledge of life. They teach that knowledge is not alone a means of 
livelihood but a means of life. Both are doing their share to increase the 
number of those who take delight in nature and its wonders; who find 
genuine recreation in it; who find a solace when sorrow comes; who become 
strengthened to resist temptation. 

Many of the greatest men of science have come from the humblest 
surroundings. The immortal Faraday, while attending a course of lectures 
by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution, caught the inspiration 
which determined his future career. So may other men arise to benefit 
the world, who shall have been directed to their career through the combined 
influences of the museum and the public lecture. 


A WORD OF CONGRATULATION FROM PRESIDENT JOHN H. 
FINLEY OF THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


HE development of the Museum of Natural History as a vital force 
in the community is most gratifying. It is persuading the past 
to help the present and compelling both through its guidance of 

public opinion to make living under urban conditions better in the future. 
I am particularly grateful for what the Museum is doing toward bringing 
within the reach of the schools and higher equivalent institutions the advan- 
tages of the institution as far as possible. The Museum is no longer accu- 
rately defined as a “repository’’; it is a great living teacher. 


220 


ABSORBED IN STUDY OF THE METEORITES 


‘‘Many of the greatest men of science have come from the humblest 
So may other men arise to benefit the world, who shall have been directed 
through the combined influences of the museum and the public lecture” 


surroundings. ... 
.to their career 


221 


With the pelicans. The Museum is a wonder world of true stories for the younger children 
who are brought to the Museum by the boys and girls of school years 


Studying the home'life within an Indian tipi. As one walks about the Museum, he can but 
remark the large numbers of children eagerly recording what they see or copying facts from labels. 
The sight is a spur to the Museum to give its exhibits a still more civic trend, a still more human 
touch and to make its labels tell more fully and simply just what the child wishes to know and 
should know 


999 


THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE 
By Henry Fairfield Osborn 


OR the American Museum this is Teachers’ Year, and our energies 
are for the time turned chiefly in the direction of making the insti- 
tution a more vital part of the great free civic educational system 

in which New York is destined to lead the world. To set this forth we have 
prepared an educational map, which shows what our City offers as a whole 
in its combined schools and libraries, in science, literature and art; no 
other city in the world offers so much or offers it so generously. I wish we 
could afford to put this map into the hands of every teacher and every 
pupil, for study of what might be called the “ geography of things worth 
seeing and worth doing.”” To show more clearly what may be seen in this 
Museum we are also issuing to-day a new Guide Book to all the exhibits. 

In Pittsburgh recently I was delighted to meet a party of San Francisco 
public school boys who had worked their way east through all the great cities, 
and to learn that while in New York they had spent the greater part of their 
time in the Natural History Museum, in the Zodlogical Park and at the 
Aquarium. This little incident in itself proves that we have already ad- 
vanced far along educational lines; but we are still not satisfied, and Director 
Lueas and the Scientific Staff are concentrating their time and attention 
for three or four months on the practical and very difficult problem of eluci- 
dation of all the exhibition halls. You have little idea in walking through 
these halls what labor they have involved, what sacrifices men have made 
and are making for them to-day in all parts of the world, how much the 
workers in this Museum are attached to what may be called the spirit of 
the institution — namely, the desire to extend the call and vision of Nature. 

We realize that teachers cannot all be specialists, that we must make 
many of our special collections more readily understood by you, if you in 
turn are to bring your pupils here and explain objects and principles to 
them. In so far as we draw on public funds, public education is our chief 
and final purpose; toward this all our plans tend; for this the City erects 
the great building and gives the larger part of the maintenance; for this 
the Trustees and other friends give their time and means; for this members 
of the Scientific Staff are exploring in all parts of the world, collecting and 
arranging objects of natural history constantly inventing new methods to 
attract and to impress visitors, young and old. 

Very few people, even among those who have the means to travel, really 
see Nature in the sense of understanding it, and to the millions within the 
cities Nature is practically unknown. So we are interpreters; Wwe are 
trying to tell in a very simple way the laws which the greatest minds have 
wrestled with from the earliest times, and we are also trying to add to these 


223 


224 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


laws, for it is part of the genius of the institution to create new knowledge 
as well as to spread it. This gradual elucidation of the deep and difficult 
is to my mind one of the most marvelous features in the growth of science. 
Some great law is first in the will of the Creator, then, like the light of a 
star so distant that it takes ages to reach the earth, it reaches the mind 
of some great naturalist, and finally it comes down, down, down to the 
vision of the very youngest. And the best way to learn one of these laws 
is to see it in operation; this is far better than to read about it, for what 
is seen becomes part of oneself. 

In the development of our halls there is a constant effort to shut out the 
human artificial element, to bring the visitor directly under the spell of 
Nature, as under a great and infinitely gifted teacher, by making every case, 
every exhibit, tell some clear and simple story which appeals at once to the 
imagination, to the reasoning instinct and to the heart. 

There are three especial ends we are endeavoring to advance this year: 
first, to bring within your grasp the scope of the Museum as a whole; second, 
the particular meaning and lesson of each of its parts; third, how this mean- 
ing may best be impressed on the young mind. I believe strongly that the 
average child is a better nature observer than the average adult, and if you 
let children alone they will see a great deal. Thus there are one or two 
suggestions which I would make from more than thirty years of experience 
as a teacher: first, look at the object and get all you can out of it yourself, 
then read about it; second, try to make the child work out the reason of 
things before you work it out for him. In brief, nearly all the works and 
processes of man are complex, and one great lesson we have to learn from 
Nature is its simplicity. Here are to be seen simple lessons in animal and 
plant architecture, in beauty, in government, in codperation, in endurance. 
Among the insects, the ants, bees and wasps lead wonderful lives, not alone 
in their industry; we may consider all their ways and be wise. The moral 
lessons, much needed for our day and generation, to be learned in the Habitat 
Groups of Birds are endless — the maternal and paternal love, the happy 
family life of the young, the joy of living, the beauty of their homes. Many 
of the so-called savages shown in this Museum can teach us far more than 
the so-called civilized peoples — their industry, their patience, their sense of 
beauty which adds the esthetic touch to all their implements, often their 
integrity, their courage, their fidelity. 

Nature study in the school and in the open already has hosts of friends; 
it is no longer on trial, it is an established system. Nature study in the 
museum is a newer part of the same educational movement. The great 
museum can, however, do what neither school, college, nor even the uni- 
versit y can; it can bring a vision of the whole world of nature, a vision which 


THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE 220 


cannot be given in books, in classrooms or in laboratories. This is a branch 
of public education which is especially urgent in a great city, crowded with 
the works of man, and where except for the nightly vision of the heavens 
obscured by smoke and dust, and the altered wild life of our parks, the works 
of Nature are totally destroyed. 

Our future ideal for the Museum is to provide at no cost a little journey 
on this planet and among the heavens beyond it. Our ideal of museum 
order is to pass, by a natural and easily seen sequence, from country to 
country as you would in travel, or from age to age in the past history of 
the earth, or from lower to higher stages of life in the history of animals 
and plants. This is what we are working toward although it is by no means 
attained. We propose to add astronomy, and geography of the land and 
of the sea to the older and traditional subjects of the museum. Already the 
child can see here what Aristotle dreamt of but never saw, and what Darwin 
and Huxley put into prophecy but did not live to see. 

We want the teachers of New York to feel that this Museum is part 
of their educational plant, we want their codperation, their suggestions, 
and their frequent presence. 


GROUP 


MOOSE 


THE 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS STUDYING 


FROM THE 


A CLASS 


226 


more accurately and more sympathetically 


broadly, 


children more 


fail to make 


animal life cannot 


portrayal of 


study of a truthful and attractive 


The 


educated 


EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL SPIRIT IN MUSEUMS 
By Frederic A. Lucas 


The motto of the American Museum is ‘For the People, For Education, For Science’ 
and the institution has ever striven to live up to that motto. Hampered somewhat at first 
by the bonds of heredity and tradition it was the first museum in this country to plan exhibits 
for the public alone; it has been a leader in the cause of education and has ever tried to set 
an example for sister institutions to follow 


USEUMS were not educational at the outset. Not only this, the 
benefit of the public was something that did not enter into the 
thought of their founders. For museums had their origin in the 

collections of paintings, statuary, and other objects of art, brought together 
by men of wealth to gratify their love of the beautiful, or in collections of 
natural objects and “curios” gathered mainly too by men of wealth, to 
gratify their desire to know something of the life of distant lands. Then 
came collections brought together by scientific societies with a real desire 
to foster knowledge, although mainly of benefit to a few individuals, and 
then the museum, opened to the public on the payment of a fee and quite 
as much for the amusement of visitors as for their instruction. 

Yet we must not forget that Peale the artist, a contemporary of Wash- 
ington, conducted one of these semi-popular, semi-scientific museums and 
that in many ways his ideas of the educational possibilities of museums 
were quite in accord with those held to-day. At a time when public schools 
were just springing into existence and free libraries did not exist at all, 
the establishment of free museums could not be expected, the more that 
according to the views of some the public museum is the latest and high- 
est, though by no means last, institution for public education. First we 
have public schools, then libraries and now the museum. The opening of 
the Louvre to the populace seems to have been the first really free public 
museum and this was rather an expression of the fierce demand for “ Liberty, 
Equality and Fraternity” than done with a deliberate intent to benefit 
the people. 

Love of beauty precedes the love of knowledge, so the opening of the 
Louvre preceded the opening of the British Museum. To us the view 
then taken of the conduct of a free museum is somewhat amusing. When 
we do not have at least five hundred visitors a day at the American Museum 
we begin to worry lest the public is losing interest or our collections ceasing 
to be attractive; and yet at the outset the number of visitors that might 
enter the British Museum in one day was limited to thirty. We not infre- 
quently have an attendance of one thousand to twelve hundred at one 
of our lectures. Under the old regime it would have taken that audience 
an entire year to pass through the British Museum. 

Little by little this state of affairs has changed. The public was first 
permitted, then invited, then heartily welcomed to enter the museum. 


227 


228 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Also as the attitude of museums has changed, so has the character of their 
collections, or to be exact, the character of the part the public sees and in 
which it is interested — the exhibits. 

The museums of fifty years ago or even much less were rather dreary 
affairs compared with those of the present day. The visitor was greeted 
by row upon row of animals, most literally stuffed, arrayed in ranks and 
accompanied by labels whose principal mission was to convey to the public 
what to them is a most unimportant matter, the scientific names. 

The aim of the modern museum is to illustrate ideas, not merely to 
display objects, to take the facts or information gathered by long years of 
patient study and so present them that they may be understood by everyone. 
More than that it aims to present these facts in such manner as to interest 
the visitor, having come to understand that if you cannot interest him you 
cannot instruct him. For the average museum visitor does not come in 
search of knowledge but to be interested, and “rational amusement’’ was 
long ago counted as one of the purposes of a public museum. So instead of 
a host of beasts, birds, and fishes marshalled in serried cohorts we have our 
groups showing not only what the creatures are, but where they live and 
what they do. In our ethnological halls you see not only the objects used 
by strange and far-off peoples, but the people themselves engaged in the 
occupations of everyday life. 

We have our Children’s Room though this is merely in its beginning, 
our lectures, our guides to the collections, all with the purpose of making 
the collections of real use to visitors. 

These things have not come to pass all at once; they have come about 
as a part of the evolution of museums, for there is an evolution of ideas 
and institutions, as well as of living things. I can recall every step in the 
progress of the American Museum; I have seen it change from a mere 
storehouse of objects to a great educational institution. 

Dr. Goode of the National Museum used to say that the aims of a 
record, research, and publication: record by the 


museum were three 
preservation of objects, research by their study, and publication by giving 
to the world the information thus gained. Had Dr. Goode been spared 
but a few years longer, he would have added to the above mentioned pur- 
poses of a museum the further aim, education of the public. And let me 
say here that no one in this country did more than he to further the educa- 
tional influence of museums and that his loss was a great calamity. 

An educational museum may be defined as a museum in which the 
objects shown, the manner in which they are arranged, and their accom- 
panying labels illustrate some fact in nature or in the history of mankind 
in such manner that it may readily be grasped by all, and this is what 
the American Museum is endeavoring to be for the public. 


PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE: EDUCATOR 


ONE OF THE ORIGINATORS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
ALSO THE ORGANIZER AND FIRST CURATOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 


By Edmund Otis Hovey 


ORTY-NINE years ago (1862) there came to New York from the 
inspiring atmosphere of the laboratory of Louis Agassiz at Harvard 
University a young man with an idea — to establish in the metropo- 

lis of the country a museum of natural history worthy the name and the 
fame of the whole United States, one that should grow with the growth of 
the nation. That young man was Albert S. Bickmore, born of sea-faring 
family on the coast of Maine, brought up amid the inducements to nature 
study furnished by the ocean, the beach and the virgin forest, and educated 
at Dartmouth College. Directly after graduation with the class of 1860, 
he became a student under and later an assistant of the great naturalist 
Louis Agassiz. The conversations between Agassiz and the noted scien- 
tists of this country and Europe that took place in the famous laboratory 
were listened to with keen interest by young Bickmore, and were a means 
of broadening the youthful student’s point of view. These and other 
experiences led to the conception of founding and building up a great 
museum in New York. The idea was broached to Professor Asa Gray, 
but he discouraged it through the feeling that New York was too commercial 
in character to appreciate and support such an institution. On the other 
hand, Dr. Jules Marcou, a famous geologist who was then residing in Cam- 
bridge, favored the plan most heartily and showed his practical interest 
in the museum as finally developed by bequeathing to it his extensive and 
valuable library of geological works and maps. ‘The real impetus however 
came from a fortunate hour spent with Sir H. W. D. Acland, then the fore- 
most naturalist and museum man of England, who heartily endorsed the 
young student’s scheme. 

Nine months’ service in the Union army in 1862-1863 interrupted these 
plans, although part of the soldier naturalist’s time was utilized in collecting 
mollusks for his famous teacher, but neither New York nor the country 
was ready for the launching of the museum project, and after the mustering 
out of his regiment Bickmore returned to his studies and work at the Agassiz 
Museum. An opportunity to go to the Far East on an exploration cruise 
was eagerly embraced, and three years, 1865 to 1868, were spent most 
profitably in China, Japan, Siberia and the Dutch East Indies. 

Meanwhile sentiment in New York was ripening for undertaking the 
enterprise. Mr. W. A. Haines, who had the largest private collection of 


229 


Through his work as first Curator of the Department of 


‘ium was built to accommodate the large numbers in attendance 


-six years. 


IN THE AUDITORIUM OF THE MUSEUM 
Au 


present 


0 the 


BICKMORE 


PROFESSOR ALBERT S. 


-rofessor Bickmore’s services for a period of more than thirty 


a 

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PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE 251 


shells in the country, Mr. D. Jackson Steward, whose collection was smaller 
but very choice, and Mr. Robert L. Stuart, who had many rare books, a 
good collection of shells and an excellent series of mineralogical specimens, 
with other public-spirited men, had striven in 1865 to raise funds for the 
proper support of the Lyceum of Natural History of the City of New York 
(now known as the New York Academy of Sciences) and the erection of a 
building for the housing of its large and valuable collections. The effort 
had been unsuccessful, in spite of the fact that for nearly fifty years the 
Lyceum had maintained in this city a natural history museum of much 
merit and considerable reputation. The following year, 1866, the building 
of the University Medical College in Fourteenth Street, in which the 
Lyceum collections were stored, was burned and its contents destroyed. 
The field therefore was clear for the establishment of a new museum which 
should have no connection with any existing society and should be devoted 
wholly to the promotion of natural history by means of research and the 
display of specimens. What was imperative was the advent of a man of 
science possessing the inspiration and energy required for bringing together 
the men interested in the subject and organizing the whole project. 

The opportunity fell to Albert S. Bickmore, who while on his journey 
in the East had corresponded actively with Mr. William KE. Dodge, 2d., 
with constant reference to the ultimate establishment of a natural history 
museum, Mr. Dodge and Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. being particularly 
interested in such a project. When Mr. Bickmore returned the war was 
over; the North had entered on a period of great prosperity; men of affairs 
had become used to the thought of large enterprises involving the expendi- 
ture of great sums of money, and the young naturalist himself was better 
equipped than before for developing and pushing plans for a really great 
museum. He had the boundless enthusiasm of youth and the buoyancy 
of a wonderfully sanguine disposition. He was full of his subject and by 
reason of his very enthusiasm New York’s men of means were forced to 
listen to the poor young man from Maine. In season and out of season 
the museum project was brought forward, until in the autumn of 1S68 were 
held the first informal conferences at the residences of Mr. W. A. Haines, 
Mr. Benjamin H. Field and Mr. Robert Colgate, that led to the sending 
of a letter! to the Commissioners of Central Park offering to procure a 
certain rare and valuable collection as the nucleus of a museum of natural 
history if the Commissioners would provide for its reception and develop- 
ment. This offer was accepted over the signature of Andrew H. Green, 

‘This letter was signed by Messrs. James Brown, A. T. Stewart, B. H. Field, Adrian 
Iselin, R. L. Stuart, M. O. Roberts, Theodore Roosevelt, George Bliss, M. K. Jesup, W. T. 


Blodgett, J. D. Wolfe, Robert Colgate, I. N. Phelps, L. P. Morton, W. A. Haines, J. P. 
Morgan, A. G. P. Dodge, D. J. Steward and Howard Potter. 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


to 
to 


then Comptroller of the Park, and cn the 19th of January, 1869, a meeting 
was held at the home of Mr. Benjamin H. Field. This meeting, when the 
first Board of Trustees was chosen, is considered the actual foundation of 
the American Museum of Natural History. 

The draft of the present charter was drawn up by Hon. Joseph H. 
Choate and accepted without change at the next meeting. When the 
question arose as to the manner of raising the money for the running ex- 
penses of the institution, it was Professor Bickmore who suggested the plan 
which has worked so well that it has since been adopted for other institutions, 
whereby the municipality provides the ground and the buildings and pays 
a certain sum per year toward “maintenance,” which includes salaries and 
wages, heat, light, power and repairs, while the collections are owned in the 
name of the trustees of the institution and are increased by the expenditure 
of special and general funds provided for through their efforts. Professor 
Bickmore also was the one who made the happy suggestion that the word 
“American” be included in the name of the institution, thus indicating 
its national scope, and it was he to whom was intrusted the delicate and 
important mission of presenting to the State legislature the bill incorporat- 
ing the museum. Through the influence of the Hon. Samuel J. Tilden 
and Senator William M. Tweed the bill was passed exactly on the broad 
lines devised by the founders. In later years Professor Bickmore was an 
important agent of the Trustees in getting Manhattan Square reserved 
exclusively for the purposes of the Museum, in changing the course of the 
transverse road through Central Park so that it ended at West Eighty- 
first Street instead of at West Seventy-ninth Street, as originally projected, 
in procuring the establishment of a carriage entrance to Central Park at 
West Seventy-seventh Street, and in obtaining through the legislature 
appropriations from the city for one section after another of the Museum 
building till seven integral portions of the great structure were completed. 

As first superintendent of the Museum — 1869 to 1884 — Professor Bick- 
more was constantly in touch with the Trustees in perfecting their plans. 
Thus his impress was made upon the dimensions and general plan of the 
complete building, the proportions, lighting and original casing of the first 
section (now known as the North Wing) and he was concerned with the 
acquisition and first installation of many of the early collections. On May 11, 
1885 he was elected to the Board of Trustees. 

The general public came to be most familiar with Professor Bickmore’s 
connection with the Museum through the Department of Public Instruc- 
tion, organized in 1880 at his suggestion for the purpose primarily of famil- 
iarizing the teachers of the public schools with the collections on exhibition 
by means of lectures ‘Ilustrated with specimens and lantern slides. From 


PROFESSOR ALBERT 8S. BICKMORE 230 


the humble beginning in 1S81 the lecture courses rapidly grew in importance 
until in ISS4 State aid was given to this feature of the Museum work, 
greatly extending its scope and value. In 1889 a small lecture hall was 
provided where the present foyer is, and finally appropriations were ob- 
tained for the construction of the lower portion of the great central tower 
designed to be the dominant feature of the completed building. | The new 
section was devoted exclusively to an auditorium seating fourteen hundred 
persons and was opened with appropriate exercises, October 30, 1900. In 
the four lecture seasons succeeding this date, Professor Bickmore addressed 
many thousands of people here, but in the spring of 1904 ill health forced 
him to retire from the platform and from active participation in the 
affairs of the institution to which his energies had been unsparingly devoted 


for more than thirty-six years. 


THE CHILDREN HAVE FAVORITE EXHIBITS 


THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 
NATURAL HISTORY 


By Maurice A. Bigelow 


Professor of Biology, Teachers College, Columbia University 


HE most discouraging fact concerning our boasted modern science is 
that its great teachings full of meaning for daily life are so slowly 
filtering down from the investigators to even many well-educated 

people, not to mention the great masses with limited or no formal education. 
We need a rapid expansion of facilities for the promulgation of scientific 
knowledge among the people. This means a movement along two lines: 
first, there should be greater attention paid to science teaching in schools 
and colleges; and second, there is need of a science extension system reaching 
out to those who have already passed beyond the direct control of regular 
educational institutions. In both of these lines science museums have an 
opportunity for playing an important part. They may be valuable supple- 
mentary aids to the science studies in educational institutions, and they 
may be the people’s university of science for the diffusion of scientific 
knowledge among those not directly reached by teachers. 

Now it must be evident to even a superficial observer that in order to 
be of such educational value, a science museum must be far different from 
the old-time collection of natural objects arranged systematically. There 
must be a limited amount of systematic arrangement, for some idea of 
system is an essential part of scientific education, but the great view of 
modern science which the general public needs is only in very small part 
taxonomic. It must, on the contrary, be chiefly a view of science in relation 
to modern life in its combined intellectual, practical and esthetic outlook. 
Therefore a science museum with educational aims must be planned to 
present the great principles (such as evolution) which make an intellectual 
appeal; it must teach the applications of science te practical life (that is, 
germ diseases, economic animals and plants); and it must increase the 
esthetic appreciation of nature and nature’s processes. 

Such are the chief opinions as to the educational functions of a science 
museum as seen by an outsider who is interested in nature study and general 
science with reference to popular educational movements. Such views lead 
to recognizing that museums have two distinct functions, one the scientific 
work looking toward an increase in the sum total of knowledge, and the 
other concerned with selecting and diffusing among citizens young and old 
the main facts and ideas wherein science definitely touches human life. 
This means that we need either separate museums of two types, or two 
organizations within one museum. Obviously the latter is the ideal and 


234 


EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 235 


economical plan, for numerous specimens may at the same time serve both 
scientific and educational ends, and the specialists attracted by opportunity 
for scientific work may also be excellent directors of the educational activi- 
ties in their own lines. 

If I were requested to name a museum which illustrates in its working 
the above ideas regarding educational functions and organization, | should 
at once think of the American Museum of Natural History as of far greater 
value in public education than any other of the great natural history mu- 
seums of America and Europe. In no other museum have I been able to 
find so much evidence that the administrative authorities are deeply inter- 
ested in public educational problems. This is shown in many ways, in four 
very prominently: First and most strikingly in the immense number of 
specimens mounted and arranged so as to emphasize the points of greatest 
interest to the general public. Splendid examples of this are the bird 
groups, certain groups in the vertebrate palzeontological halls, and the 
Darwin Hall. Another evidence is shown by the method of labeling. 
The value of an exhibit depends largely upon explanatory labels. A museum 
with simply the names on specimens does not deserve to be classed as of 
noteworthy educational value. The third important evidence is found 
in the very liberal space allotted to specimens and groups of specimens 
which are likely to be of popular interest. To reduce the interest of the 
non-scientific visitor there is nothing so successful as crowding specimens 
into cases and cases into limited floor space. The few dozen bird groups 
set prominently in open spaces at the American Museum mean more to the 
general public than would a very great number of such groups crowded 
together in order to exhibit a complete ornithological collection. And 
lastly, the fourth evidence that the American Museum is interested in 
public education lies in its direct attention to the teachers and students 
of nature study and biology of the New York City public schools. This 
would have been considered by an old-time curator as an unpardonable 
digression from the proper work of a museum. 

This development of the American Museum during the past ten years 
into an efficient educational institution is a matter to which New Yorkers 
are just awaking. And it would seem that the educational greatness of the 
Museum has only begun. With coming new buildings and above all with 
improved transit arrangements which will make the building more readily 
accessible from all parts of the greater city, the American Museum is sure 
to develop into full completeness its possibilities as a great educational 
institution in addition to its function as a scientific one. 


CORDIAL RECOGNITION OF THE MUSEUM’S WORK 


I Museum anp HicH ScHOOL UNITED FOR HEALTH AND ECONOMIC 


WELFARE 
By George W. Hunter 


Teacher of Biology in the De Witt Clinton High School 


S a high school teacher of biology I cannot speak with sufficient praise 
of the work of co6dperation already in force between the American 
Museum and New York City high schools. Our courses in biology 

have decidedly a civic trend, biology being applied in its relation to human 
welfare and especially to the welfare of the citizen of New York. The 
collections then which bear on the health and economic welfare of the nation 
are the collections which we as high school teachers most use. 

The value of the Museum to us is threefold: first, in our study of collec- 
tions at the Museum; second, in attendance on lectures which fit into our 
course, and third, in the use of loan collections. 

Under the first heading the De Witt Clinton High School plans several 
trips during the year; one for the general survey of the Animal Kingdom — 
for this purpose the synoptic collection in the Darwin Hall is used; then a 
trip to the insect collections for the economic relation of insects, the mosquito 
models in the Darwin Hall being used for this also. A third very important 
trip has heen worked out for the bird groups which are used to teach the 
meaning of adaptation. 

To a less extent we use the collections of mammals of New York State, 
the fishes and the Jesup Collection of Woods. One of the greatest aids 
will come when the new department of hygiene prepares its exhibits. Last 
year, for example, we visited the Sewerage Commission Exhibit and listened 
to an admirable lecture on sewage disposal. That kind of coéperation counts 


much for the making of citizens. 


Il. Tue Museum INCREASINGLY HELPFUL FOR TEN YEARS 
By Lillian Belle Sage 
Teacher of Biology in the Washington Irving High School 


INCE my connection with the New York City schools in February 
1902, we have in various ways used the Museum with relation to 
the biology work. For two years we arranged a regular course of 

lectures at the Museum, the Museum authorities giving us the use of the 
lantern, someone to run it, and the use of some room. So popular did the 
lectures become that a third year we joined the other high schools of the 


236 


Studying the sugar maple in the Forestry Hall. Much of the education of the Museum 
leads directly to interests in country life 


City and had a series of lectures given by officers of the Museum, and the 
auditorium was crowded. We found however that to listen to a lecture 
and visit the Museum itself in one day was not satisfactory, so for the past 
two years we have had each class visit the Museum three times during the 
year. A teacher always accompanies the class and each pupil before starting 
out is supplied with a set of questions which are to be answered from observa- 
tions made there. I find this method most successful for we go directly to 
work with questions, specimens, note-book and pencil and no time is lost. 


Our first-term students visit the Jesup Collection of Woods; those of 


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the second term make two trips, one 
for insects and a second for birds 
and comparative work on vertebrate 
skeletons. The girls write an ac- 
count of their visit and their papers 


are discussed in class the day follow- 


ing. It must be said that the 
collection showing life _ histories, 


economic value and relationship of 
insects could not be improved for 
the purpose of supplementing our 
teaching, and that the new frog 
group is one of the best exhibits in 
the whole Museum as adapted for 
high school 


correlation with our 


biology. 


The Museum has loaned to our 


school cases of insects, birds and 
invertebrates, which we have found 
of great value. A set of pictures, 


prepared under the direction of Dr. 


Winslow, was loaned to us last year 


and we used it with more than six 
hundred girls. The pictures showed 


plainly the common carriers of 
disease and how infectious diseases 
‘an be prevented. 

In my last visit I brought a 
blind girl and enough cannot be said 


of the assistance she received. 


mammals and birds about which she had read and heard. 


“Our own hands are almost as likely to 
carry disease germs as are those of anyone 
else, for in the day they touch a hundred 
things which someone else may have in- 


This is why the thorough washing 
before eating is so neces- 


fected. 
of the hands 


sary.’ [From circulating school chart] 


She gained her first accurate idea of the 


The Washington 


Irving biology girls soon get the “ Museum habit,” for once their attention 


is directed there, they go often and interest others, especially members of 


their own family. 


Ill. THe Museum a LABORATORY FOR CLASSES 


By Anna M. Clark 


Head of Department of Nature Study and Science, The New York Training School 
for Teachers 


HE studies made by our students at the Museum are a very important 


part of our nature study course. 


Four class trips at least each 


year are made for the purpose of studying the invertebrate groups 


in Darwin Hall and the birds, insects and minerals. 


239 


240 THE AMERICAN -MUSEUM JOURNAL 


The Museum gives a far broader view than it is possible for students to 
get from their own outdoor experiences or from such collections as the 
school provides. A carefully planned museum lesson, calling for the 
solution of definite problems, affords the benefits usually following any 
laboratory work. 

We have used the Habitat Groups of Birds to show types of bird life in 
various parts of the world and how birds are adapted to different environ- 
ments; the insect collections chiefly in connection with the study of econo- 
mic forms. We have used the collection of precious stones to show forms 
of unusual beauty in which many common minerals occur, and the collection 
of New York City rocks and minerals to aid in the identification of such 
minerals as we ourselves find about the city as well as to supplement our 
observation work on them. 


IV. How OnE Crowpep HicH ScHOOL USES THE MusEum! 


By James L. Peabody 


Teacher of Biology in the Morris High School 


VER since the Morris High School was organized in 1897 its biology 
teachers have found the American Museum a most valuable source 
of instruction and enjoyment. In the early days before the numbers 

of students in our classes became so great, most of the teachers of biology 
went to the Museum with each division of students to study trees, or birds, 
or insects, or skeletons. Not only did this study supplement the work of 
classroom instruction, but it also furnished the best of opportunities for the 
teacher to know personally the boys and girls in his classes. 

With the increased complexity in school organization those class trips 
have become more and more impracticable, and we have therefore set apart 
two days in each half-year for biological excursions to the American Museum. 
On Friday of the week devoted to school examinations, the four to five 
hundred boys and girls in Biology II (Animal and Human Biology) go to 
the Museum on a special train provided by the Interborough, accompanied 
by the ten teachers of biology. They assemble in the large lecture hall, 
where they listen to an illustrated lecture on the characteristics and eco- 
nomic importance of birds with methods of bird protection. A definite 
study is then made of the bird groups and of the various types of animals 
in Darwin Hall, the students being guided by an outline which they fill in 


1 Mr. Peabody furnished with this statement of the work of biology classes in the Morris 
High School, copies of the outlines used and questions to be answered in the Museum lessons 
on woods, birds and invertebrates. These seem of such practical value and general interest 
that it is regretted lack of space prevents their publication in the JourNnaLt.— The Editor 


THE MUSEUM AND THE HIGH SCHOOL 241] 


and file with the teachers on leaving the Museum. At school the next two 
or more days are devoted toa discussion of the lecture and the observations 
made of the animal groups. In a similar manner, on Monday of Regents’ 
week, the five to six hundred pupils in Biology I (Plant Biology) meet in the 
lecture hall and listen to a lecture on“ Forests and Forest Preservation.” 
The remainder of the morning is devoted to a study of the Jesup Collection 
of North American Trees, when the students fill in the blanks of an outline. 
Certainly the public schools of New York City will do all they can to 
develop appreciation of the enjoyment and knowledge furnished so prodi- 


gally by the world’s greatest museum for popular instruction. 


Pupils from the High School of Commerce before the malarial mosquito exhibit 

In a museum the visitor may seek out that subject in which he is most interested and 
thus lay a foundation for a life work or recreation 

Classes from the High School of Commerce visit the Museum not only for the subject 
matter of the exhibit but also for a study of methods, the work of glass blower, clay and 
wax modeler and of other craftsmen in the preparation laboratories 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM AND EDUCATION 


A SERIES OF SIX ARTICLES BY MEMBERS OF THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF OF THE 
MUSEUM ON CERTAIN PHASES OF THE INSTITUTION'S EQUIPMENT FOR 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 


I. COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 


A system of Museum Extension in loan collections and lectures and provision within 


the building for expert guidance and instruction of classes 
By George H. Sherwood 


HILE education is the fundamental principle underlying all 

modern museum exhibition and the collections of the American 

Museum from its foundation have been a source of infor- 

mation to teachers, certain definite steps have been taken within the last 

ten years to bring about a closer relation between the Museum and the pub- 

lic schools. To carry out this purpose, especial facilities are offered 

teachers and pupils in order that they may have the freest use possible 
of the educational material which the Museum possesses. 

The introduction of nature study into the courses of study of the public 
schools, combined with the growing general interest in out-of-door life, has 
given the Museum an opportunity through its circulating collections to 
become of much practical use to the teachers. 

Using as a guide the syllabus of nature study issued by the Board of 
Education, the Museum prepared some years ago several hundred collections 


242 Awaiting their turn to enter for a lecture 


; wore ‘ 


Ee ee 


of natural history specimens for circu- 
lation in the pubue schools of New 
York. The purpose of these collections 
was to place in the hands of the teach- 
ers the material that was needed to 
present properly the subject of nature 
study. 

Each collection is accompanied by a 
leaflet giving facts on the structure, 
habits and characteristics of the par- 
ticular species in the collection. These 
notes are necessarily brief and are in- 
tended chiefly as suggestions to teachers. 
A bibliography of the subjects treated is 
appended to each set of notes. 

From small beginnings this work 
has grown until to-day nearly four hun- 
dred schools, some of which are twenty- 
five miles from the Museum, are receiv- 
ing the collections regularly. At the 
present time the circulating collections 
that are available for loan to schools 
and the grades to which each is adapted 
are as follows: 


Native Birds. Adapted for Grades 1A-4B 


Schools to visit a special exhibit 
at the Museum 


Owl Set — Containing owl, chickadee, nuthatch, song sparrow, kinglet 


Blue Jay Set — Containing blue jay, woodpecker, crossbill, junco, English sparrow 
Robin Set — Containing robin, red-winged blackbird, oriole, meadow-lark, chipping 
sparrow 
Bluebird Set — Containing bluebird, phoebe, barn swallow, house wren, chimney 
swift 
Tanager Set — Containing scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, goldfinch, humming- 
bird, pigeon 
Insects. Adapted for Grades 2A—5A 
Containing cynthia and cecropia moths, monarch butterfly, ete., and typical repre- 
sentatives of the different groups of insects 
Special Insects. Adapted for Grades 2A—5A 
Containing life history of cecropia moth, development of monarch butterfly, life 
and work of honey-bee and household insects 
Mollusks. Adapted for Grades 4A-5A 
Containing shells of about twenty-five mollusks, including specimens of the oyster 
clam and chambered nautilus 
243 


244 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Crabs. Adapted for Grade 6A 
Containing relatives of the common blue crabs 
Starfishes and Worms, Adapted for Grades 4A and 5A 
Containing typical species of the two groups 
Sponges and Corals. Adapted for Grades 4A and 5A 
Containing about fifteen species of corals and their relatives 
Minerals and Rocks. Adapted for Grades 3B and 4A 
Containing twenty specimens of minerals and building stones. 
Native Woods. Adapted for Grades 2A and 5B 
Containing elm, hickory, oak, maple, white birch, ailantus, sweet-gum, sour-gum, 
chestnut, sycamore. Specimens show cross, longitudinal and oblique 
sections of the wood, characteristic bark, annual rings, etc. 


The method by which the teacher obtains the collections has been made 
as simple as possible. The Museum furnishes blanks upon which principals 
make application for the collections and at the same time indicate the 
sequence desired. Delivery is then made by the Museum messengers who 
call again at the end of the loan period, i. e. every three or four weeks, 
and make the second delivery. The wisdom of making these collections 
loans instead of gifts has been repeatedly demonstrated. This method 
keeps the Museum in frequent touch with the teachers and enables us to 
understand their needs better. 

It is of course at the Museum that we are prepared to extend more 
varied aid to the teachers. To facilitate the work of reaching the Museum, 
the Museum in coéperation with its sister institutions of the city, has 
issued a large map of New York City showing the locations of free educa- 
tional institutions and the main transportation routes by which they are 
reached. A copy of this map has been presented by the contributing 
institutions to every public school in the city and its examination will 
simplify the task of visiting the Museum. 

By making an appointment a few days prior to the visit to the Museum 
an instructor will be provided who will guide the teacher and her pupils 
through the halls, calling attention to the lessons taught by the exhibits. 
Such visits may also be arranged in series to supplement classroom work 
and may be preceded or followed with lectures by the instructor on the 
subject under study. Through the aid of the instructor classes are enabled 
to make the best use of the time spent at the Museum. 

In some instances teachers prefer to give their pupils special talks or 
lectures. For this purpose the Museum has several small classrooms 
equipped with chairs, tables, blackboards and stereopticon which will be 
reserved on request. In one of these rooms a teacher would be as much 
undisturbed as in her regular schoolroom. 

The Museum possesses more than thirty-five thousand lantern slides, 
of which about twelve thousand are colored. The field parties which the 
Museum is sending to remote parts of the earth bring back photographic 


COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 245 


material, which enables us to make continual additions to this series of 
slides. The views illustrate plant life, animal life, industries, customs of 
people, and physical geography. While these slides cannot be loaned for 
use outside the building, teachers may select slides to illustrate a desired 
lecture which may be delivered in one of the Museum’s classrooms. 

It is from this source of supply that we draw the material to illustrate 
the informal lectures which are given to school children. These courses 
were first suggested by the New York City Teachers’ Association in 1904. 
Since that time they have been given regularly in the spring and fall. The 
subjects are chosen with especial reference to the courses of study given in 
the syllabuses for history, geography or nature study, and are designed to 
supplement the classroom work of the teachers. Announcements of our 
courses of lectures are mailed 
to principals, and teachers 
file reservations for seats in 
the Auditorium on blanks fur- 
nished by the Museum. 

The broad scope of the 
educational work of the Mu- 
seum is Indicated in the action 
of the Trustees in recently 
authorizing the equipment of 
a room especially reserved 
for the use of the blind. As 
yet only a small beginning 
has been made, but speci- 
mens of animals and Indian 
implements have already 
been set aside and labeled 
in raised type. The devel- 
opment of this feature of the 
Museum’s activity has been 
amply provided for through 
the bequest of Phebe Anna 


Thorne and the generosity of 


her executors, who have en- 


dowed the work as a memo- 


Two compartments of a traveling case showing 
junco and blue jay on their way to the children of 
It is safe to say that no some primary school. The Museum has prepared 
several hundred traveling cases of birds 


rial to Jonathan Thorne. 


visitors to the Museum ob- 
tain a greater enjoyment from the collections than do the various groups 
of blind people, who may often be seen in the exhibition halls. 


II. FOSSIL VERTEBRATES —WHAT THEY TEACH 
By W. D. Matthew 


“The plan of the department [of Vertebrate Palzontology] as outlined by Professor 
Osborn in the Annual Report for 1892, was to...present a historical development of the 
Evolution of the Mammals in North America. It was expanded subsequently to cover the 
evolution of the vertebrata in general, but its chief aim. .. has been to present the Evolution of 
the Land Vertebrates, primarily of North America, but incidentally of other parts of the world.”’ 
Extract from the History, Plan and Scope of the American Museum of Natural History 

HE history of vertebrate life in North America: this is the funda- 
mental concept in the exhibits of fossil vertebrates which occupy 
three great halls on the fourth floor, east wing, of the Museum. 

Paleontology, it has been said, is but history writ large. It is the 
history not merely of man, but of all life, projected backward into a dim 
past whose distance dwarfs to insignificance the few centuries of recorded 
human events. In the history of mankind the modern view no longer 
regards it as a mere chronicle of successive events and disconnected episodes, 
but seeks to trace the orderly and continuous development of primitive 
races and conditions into the complex and elaborate civilizations of the 
present day. The rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms, the progress 
and decline of races, their migrations and interaction on each other, the 
qualities of mind and body and conditions of circumstance and environment 
which bring about the sequence of historical events, all play their part both 
as cause and effect, and each event is considered in relation to the causes 
which preceded and the effects which followed it. 

So too in this larger history which traces the orderly development of life 
through the vast periods of geologic time. The continuity of life, and its 
evolution under the impulse and control of natural law from primitive 
beginnings to its present variety and complexity — the doctrine of evolu- 
tion in its broader sense — is the keynote of modern paleontology. 

In a historical museum we expect to find the documents, or some of 
them, on which history is based. Some of the more important are on 
exhibition, arranged and labeled so as to show what they mean. Most of 
the records and documents are preserved in storage, catalogued and arranged 
and made accessible to students. So with the documents of paleontology, 
the fossil skeletons, teeth and bones which record the former existence of 
animals now extinct, and the earlier history of the races which now people 
the earth. The more important specimens are placed on exhibition and 
are provided with labels and diagrams. The great mass of the material 
is in storage, accessible to scientific students. 

The three large halls devoted to fossil vertebrates represent in a broad 
way successive geologic eras as marked out by their dominant forms of life. 
In the central hall are placed the mammoth and mastodon, the great 
ground sloths and other extinct giants of the Age of Man, with whom our 
prehistoric ancestors disputed the dominion of the earth. 


246 


FOSSIL VERTEBRATES—WHAT THEY TEACH 247 


To the east is the Tertiary Mammal Hall showing the evolution of the 
different races of modern quadrupeds during the Age of Mammals, before 
man had emerged from the obscurity of his pre-human existence. Here 
in successive alcoves are paleontological “documents” which illustrate 
the past history of the different kinds of modern mammals, as interpreted 
and explained by labels and diagrams. 

By far the most complete of these exhibits is the alcove showing the 
Ancestry of the Horse. In other alcoves are illustrations of the geologic 
history of the camel and other ruminants, of rhinoceroses, tapirs and 
carnivora, and at the farther end are shown such episodes in the Tertiary 
history of North America as the rise and fall of the Uintatheres and Titano- 
theres, dynasties of extinct giant races which have left no living descendants. 
But in a broad way the Tertiary Mammal Hall shows the evolution of the 
higher quadrupeds, the building up of the animal world of to-day. 

In the Dinosaur Hall we pass into an older world. As in a museum of 
antiquities we may pass from the halls devoted to the records of the up- 
building of our modern civilization into those displaying the relics of an 
older civilization upon whose ruins it is built, so here we pass from the 
Age of Mammals into the Age of Reptiles, the era of the dinosaurs — gigantic 
extinct reptiles which were the dominant land animals of that far distant 
time. They are but remotely related to the living lizards, crocodiles, snakes 
and turtles, poor and unassuming cousins who have survived the downfall 
of the giant reptilian lords of the Mesozoic world, and continue even to-day 
to play their modest part in the economy of nature. The unfamiliar and 
bizarre proportions and often gigantic size of these Dinosaurs make them 
the most interesting and impressive of all extinct animals. As yet, their 
history is imperfectly known, and neither the materials nor the space 
allotted for their display permit us to show the successive stages in the 
evolution of the different dinosaurian races. In the far corner of the 
Dinosaur Hall are the records, still less complete, of a more ancient period, 
the Age of Amphibians, which preceded the Age of Reptiles; and in the 
small southeast Tower Hall are the relics of the Age of Fishes which in turn 
precedes the Age of Amphibians. 

With the building of the projected extensions of this wing of the Museum 
the space allotted to these older periods of earth history will be 
expanded, so that the visitor will see displayed in successive halls the 
records of the Age of Fishes, the Age of Amphibians and Coal plants, the 
sarlier and later periods of Dinosaur supremacy, and then, passing through 
the Evolution of the Mammals, will finally reach the Age of Man in the 
central hall. The materials for filling these successive halls are rapidly 
accumulating through the efforts of successive expeditions financed by the 
President and Trustees of the Museum. 


III. THE HABITAT GROUPS OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS 
By J. A. Allen 


HE group exhibits illustrating the life habits and natural environ- 

ment of mammals and birds in the American Museum of Natural 

History now exceed one hundred and fifty in number, and nearly 

half of them, in respect to scope, size and accuracy of detail, are admittedly 
more elaborate than any similar exhibits in other museums. The con- 
struction of the smaller groups began some twenty-five years ago, and later 
much larger groups were undertaken. In more recent years similar exhibits 
have been installed in other American museums, making a more or less 
general departure from the century-old methods of museum exhibition 


that prevailed generally almost to the end of the nineteenth century. 


The educational advantages of these groups consist in their realism. 
The Bison Group, with its area of fifteen by thirty feet, represents a 
characteristic bit of the Plains, the former typical home of the American 
bison (miscalled “ buffalo’’), and includes not only the original sod covered 
with real “ buffalo grass,”’ but also a real buffalo trail, a weathered bison skull, 
and bunches of cacti, besides an old bull and cow, a young calf and young 
bulls of different ages, the ensemble illustrating most impressively and 
accurately the actual appearance of this animal and its home surroundings. 
Large explanatory labels give briefly its history, while on accompanying 
maps is shown the vast area of its original range and the gradual restriction 
of this range to the few points where it still exists, in limited preserves 
under governmental protection. 


248 


The Moose Group, on a similar scale 
and with equal detail and realism, illus- 
trates the life history of the largest game 
animal of America, with its entirely dif- 
ferent habits and haunts. The elk, the 
Barren Ground caribou of the Alaskan 
Peninsula, the musk ox of Arctic Amer- 
ica, the white sheep of the northern 
Rockies, the Atlantic walrus and the 
Alaska fur seal, are each placed before 
the visitor in a way to illustrate im- 
pressively their habits and the condi- 
tions under which they live. All of the 
mammals characteristic of New York 
State, except the field mice, shrews and 
bats, are similarly illustrated, so that 
the children of New York City have 
thus the opportunity to see and become 
in a way familiar with the principal 
mammals of New York, many of which 
they would never see in life, and ot 
none of which would they ever be able 
to obtain more than fleeting glimpses in 
a state of nature. 

The bird groups, with their pano- 
ramic backgrounds and elaborate treat- 
ment, now occupying the entire gallery 
of the north wing of the Museum, possess 
an educational value not easily over- 


estimated, illustrating as they do the 


principal types of North American bird 

The Museum provides instructors to 
guide teachers and classes, explaining 
at request exhibits that correlate with Visitor mot only the habits and haunts 
classroom work 


life in a way to bring vividly before the 


of the species represented, but also the 
types of country they inhabit. They are 
thus highly educational from the standpoint of geography and climate, as 
well as eminently pleasing zesthetically.. The accompanying descriptive labels 
supply the necessary information to render the groups easily understood. 
The interest and value of this visual instruction to the children of the 
schools is best appreciated by witnessing the avidity with which they scan 
these elaborately presented glimpses of bird and mammal life, these bits 
of nature transferred to the museum where they may be studied in detail 


and at leisure. 
249 


IV. EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 


By Ili nry E. Crampton 


HE student of living nature invariably becomes acquainted at 
first with the larger animals, those possessing a backbone, such 
as the beasts of the field and forest, the birds of the air, and aquatic 

forms like fishes and amphibia.~ Not until later is his attention challenged 
by the myriads of smaller animals devoid of backbones, and hence called 
invertebrates; only a few kinds of insects, crustacea and edible mollusks 
come to notice without being sought in their natural homes. Yet many 
of them are related to man in such ways that his health and welfare depend 
upon a knowledge of their habits and life histories and moreover, from the 
educational standpoint, the value of their study is extraordinarily high 
because their forms are more varied than those of vertebrates. 

It is the task of the Department of Invertebrate Zodlogy to display 
characteristic examples chosen from the wide array known to science, and 
also to demonstrate the countless ways in which the lives of these low forms 
are intertwined with other animal life and directly touch human interests. 
In addition, an in- 
sight into nature’s 
all-inclusive — pro- 
cess of evolution is 
so. valuable that 
this too must be 
presented in edu- 
cational exhibits of 
the relationships of 
animals to one 
another and_ to 
their surroundings 
as well. 

In the Darwin 
Hall,specimens and 
models illustrating 
significant forms 
among the princi- 
pal groups of the 
Animal Kingdom 


are arranged in the 


order of their rela- 
tionship from the 


A hive of live bees in the Insect Hall 


EDUCATIONAL AIMS IN INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 251 


lowest to the highest. Many of these forms are so minute in life that a 
glass or wax model must be made with a magnification of more than a 
thousand diameters in order to show the delicately beautiful structures. 
To make these systematically arranged specimens upon the shelves more 
instructive, correlated groups are planned—some have been constructed 
and others are in progress of construction — to show how the animals 
really live, how worms burrow in the sand and mud along the ocean’s 
shores, how crabs and starfish meet their conditions of life (Cold Spring 
Harbor Group) and how swarms and clusters of lower animals crowd 
upon the piles of a wharf. While in the center of the hall are groups that 


illustrate greater principles of science and wider biological relations — for 


Model for a new group to show the plants and animals that live at different depths in the 
sea gardens about old wharves. Such a group teaches many facts and principles of biology 


instance, a field 
mouse with its 
enemies on the 
one hand and its 
prey on the other 
—is an example 
of the struggle 
for existence. 
The Hall of 


Mollusca aims to do in detail for one division of 


animals what the Darwin Hall outlines for all. 
Here an extensive array of shells is placed, to- 
gether with exhibits showing how important some 
species are to man, such as the pearl oyster with 
its pearl-fishing industry, and the common oyster 
and the clam with their culture and industries. 
The Hall of Insect Biology and Local Insects has a double function. 
In it are deposited larger collections of insects found within fifty miles of 
New York so that a student can bring his own collections for comparison 
and identification. Here, as in the Darwin Hall, larger principles are 
demonstrated, such as variation of the members of a single species, the 
differences between insects of forests and of plains, the results of experi- 
mental investigation of heredity, and the like. During the past summer 
there have been in the hall special exhibits of the seventeen-year cicada and 


of live bees at werk in a hive. 


V. THE MUSEUM LIBRARY 
By Ralph W. Tower 


HE Library of the American Museum has been in existence since the 
founding of the institution but not until very recent times has it 
kept pace with other departments. During the last decade how- 

ever, enthusiasm has increased, some scientific societies have deposited their 
books in the Museum’s custody and altogether a serious attempt has been 
made to make this library one of the most comprehensive and complete 
of its kind in America. 

Library progress in general has been very rapid in America in recent 
years and one of the most important developments in this progress has been 
the rise and growth of the “special library,’’ particularly the one whose 
purpose it is to serve the public in a free and unrestricted manner. 

A special library relating to natural history appeals not only to the 
specialist whose needs demand accurate and detailed descriptions but also 


to a very large proportion of the public where the desire is for more general 
252 


“ 


THE MUSEUM LIBRARY Qe 


information; for very frequently has the business man, the professional 
man, the man of leisure, the artist, the inquiring youth found the keenest 
enjoyment and relaxation in gaining expert knowledge on some subject 
in natural history. And where would he rather find a well-equipped library 
in this domain than in a large public museum supplied both with the 
specimens and with the literature pertaining to these specimens. 

In the Museum’s library of 60,000 volumes are some 15,000 volumes 
devoted to zodlogy, containing the works of Audubon, Gould and Chapman 
in ornithology, an excellent collection of 3500 volumes relating to insects, 
and a 2000 volume collection in conchology embracing the classics of 
Kiister, Reeve and Binney. There is also a well-selected library of 2500 
volumes in anthropology containing many of the rare and older works relat- 
ing to the North American Indians; an excellent collection of 3000 volumes 
in geology, enriched by the library of the late Professor Marcou; a collec- 
tion of 5000 volumes in paleontology to a large extent composed of the 
Osborn Library of Vertebrate Paleontology, and besides, an unusual 
collection of more than 20,000 volumes of natural science periodicals. 

It is doubtful if the educational value of a free special library of this 
kind can be overestimated. In few other fields is it possible to bring to- 
gether the material subject and the literature as under the roof and adminis- 
tration of a great natural history museum. 


Describing catalpa flowers (wax reproduction) in the Forestry Hall 
A natural history museum presents the combination of laboratories filled with material 
for study and a library covering the literature of this material 


VI. THE ARRANGEMENT OF EXHIBITS IN THE HALLS 
OF ANTHROPOLOGY 


By Clark Wissler 


T is fitting that a natural history museum should show something as to 
the natural history of man and in accordance the anthropological halls 
of the Museum exhibit samples of handiwork illustrating, as we say, 

the cultures of the less civilized races. We fear however that few who 
visit our halls really understand the principle upon which the specimens are 
arranged. If you ask one what any of our biological halls represents the 
answer is as instantaneous as a reflex — evolution. If you ask a biologist 
what an anthropological hall should indicate you receive the same answer — 
the evolution of man and his culture. Yet, if you ask the anthropologist 
he is somewhat at a loss for a definite term or phrase to express the idea, for 
while the whole biological world is almost unanimous that evolution is for 
it the one working hypothesis, the anthropologists of Europe and America 
are by no means agreed except in that the origin and historical development 
of culture is the fundamental problem. Animal life is the biologist’s prob- 
lem until that life takes the shape of man whence the classification becomes 
the anthropologist’s problem. Since with the exception of a few very 
ancient skeletons however, all men seem to constitute a single biological 
species and cannot readily be arranged in a series of descent according to 
ancestry, the chief interest of anthropologists has been in habits and customs, 
or culture. While most museum anthropologists will agree that exhibits 
should be so ordered as to show the origin and historical development of 
culture, they are confronted with no generally accepted theory of develop- 
ment according to which museum material could be arranged. Hence they 
all fall back upon a geographical scheme of classification. 

As our halls now stand we have on the ground floor five of the great 
culture areas of the American Indians — the Eskimo, the North Pacific Coast, 
the Eastern Woodland, the Great Plains and the Southwest. On other 
floors are halls for Asia, Africa, the South Seas and South America. The 
ancient races are represented in the Mexican and general archeological 
halls. Such an arrangement has this virtue, it presents man in approxi- 
mately the time and place relation he really occupied at the date of observa- 
tion. 

Many of our visitors, especially teachers of children, are interested in 
the developmental sequences, such as methods of fire-making, house con- 
struction, and stone and metal work. On all such points illustrative material 
will readily be found in the various collections. If one is interested in 
houses, many types will be found in the exhibits for the different geographical 
areas. If one wishes to formulate a theory as to how the various types 


254 


ARRANGEMENT IN HALLS OF ANTHROPOLOGY 259 


develop, he is at liberty to do so and will not find his flight impeded for lack 
of insight into the true relation of things, for should a museum officer 
decide this point for himself and select out all the house models for exhibi- 
tion in a single hall, arranging them according to his notion, the visitor 
could not see each type in its proper cultural setting. The point however 
is this: searcely any two anthropologists are agreed upon any one of such 
sequences and until they are, or until the facts available make a definite 
conclusion inevitable, it is impossible to have other than a geographical 
arrangement in our exhibition halls. There are, of course, some very 
fundamental problems now occupying the minds of anthropologists, but 
their working hypothesis is a geographical classification of cultures rather 
than an evolutionary hypothesis. 

The general cultural value of such comparative studies as methods of 
fire-making and house types is obvious. In the case of fire-making, we have 
real historical data on the evolution of matches, and know that they were 
preceded by flint and steel and wood friction. We are not quite sure that 
wood friction was first, but think it safe to assume as much. Beyond this 
we cannot go, but we feel that the child who sees the various methods 
demonstrated in school and sees real specimens in museum collections, is 
likely to grasp some fundamental principles of practical life as well as the 
significance of certain physical and chemical conceptions. The same is 


true of house types, canoe types, hatchet types, food types, and every other 


phase of culture. 


A SYMPOSIUM OF EXPRESSIONS FROM PRIMARY AND 
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS 


HE following quotations representing a few of the many letters 
received from principals and teachers of the Public Schools can 
but make the Museum humble before the vastness of its oppor- 

tunity, the far reaching of even the smallest effort put forth, and again 
proud that the American Museum was the institution to which came the 
rare fortune of developing the working system of codperation with the 
schools. 

The Museum holds an unusual opportunity as providing free and 
pleasurable instruction in the heart of New York. Moreover, it is an insti- 


tution untrammeled by courses and requirements, or rather it has all courses 
elective so that the child may seek out that subject in which he is most 
interested to lay unconsciously the foundations of a life work or recreation. 
For feeling and intellect act together in the child and the more spontaneous 
the interest the more deep-rooted and lasting the impression. Thus it 
is gratifying to see in the letters from the schools frequent reference to the 
liking that children have for the collections and the trips to the Museum. 

It is good also to find many allusions to the fact that children carry home 
the news of their experiences and bring their parents “to see the Museum”’ 
too. This unites the younger and the older generations by a tie of common 
knowledge and interest. 

Two features of the institution’s educational work are peculiar to a 
museum and due to its organization: first, that it furnishes pleasurable 
instruction which is non-compulsory as to time and subject, being moreover 
important as knowledge toward better living; and second, that it furnishes 
such education to young and old together, thus forming one small bond for 
united family life under city conditions where there is great need of such 
influence. 


Tue Musrum HAS JUSTIFIED ALL IT Cost BY WHAT IT DOES FOR CHILDREN OF 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 


Public School No. 50, Manhattan 


I have not seen equalled in any European country the hospitality with which the Museum 
has opened its doors to the children, providing guides to escort them through the building. 
The children have been intelligent and eager listeners to the lectures, and have always re- 
turned to school the following day enthusiastic over their experience, which provided an 
outing for many whose lives are not often gladdened, while affording instruction as well as 
rare pleasure. 

It has been the good fortune of Public School No. 50 to have lecturers like Mr. Sherwood 
and Mrs. Roesler come to the children in their own school and show them, from specimens 
sent by the Museum, the characteristics of many birds whose notes they reproduced to the 
great pleasure of the children. It is a ‘‘red-letter day’’ in Public School No. 50 when a 
new case of specimens arrives and is exhibited to the children. 

We feel that the Museum would have justified all that it has cost if it were only for 
what it does for the children of the elementary schools. 


A SINGLE CHERRY FLOWER 
Public School No. 36, Brooklyn, Grade 3B 


The flowers and twigs distributed by the American Museum of Natural History last 
spring were of great interest to the children. A bud on one of the cherry twigs opened in 
my classroom, and the children, who had never seen a cherry blossom, were delighted to see 
and smell the little white flower. 


Tue Birp Co.Luections A REAL ENJOYMENT 
Public School No. 113, Manhattan 


I do not know how we ever had any bird study down in this section of the city before 
the Museum began to lend us the collections of birds. Now we have not only the study of 
the birds but the children draw them in color, thus doubling the enjoyment. I keep the 
birds near my office door and no child passes without giving a good long look in their direction. 


256 


VISITING THE 


MUSEUM ON A 


HOLIDAY 


Editorial note. Lack of 
space in the JourNAL has post- 
poned the publication of many 
interesting letters sent by school 
children. Who could speak of 
the Museum's help with a 
meaning less obscure than in 
the following: 

‘Last month I was down to 
see the Natural Museum His- 
tory for the tenth time | was 
very glad I went, because when 
my teacher ask to describe a 
insect, bird or anything I could 
stand up and answer all her 
questions correctly. When the 
class was tested I received a 
hundred per cent paper. 

I can assure you if anybody 
who is interested or wants to 
learn nature to go down to the 
Natural Museum History” 


On Columbus Day boys came on their skates long distances to see the picture of Columbus. 


Some of these photographed came from 
146th Street, Public School No. 186 


169th 


Street, East 


Side, 


Public School No. 2, and from 


257 


Photo by Ge orge Gade 


Bird houses made by boys of Public School No.5, The Bronx, on the basis of collections 
sent by the Museum 


Musrtum Heures Boys To MAKE Birp HovwusEs 
Public School No. 5, The Bronx 


The collections of birds that the Museum sends out to the public schools have proved 
very helpful in the matter of furnishing concrete evidence of the size of birds the boys of 
Public School 5, The Bronx, decided to build houses for. 

The school has always made much of Audubon’s birthday, which comes about the same 
time of the year as does Arbor Day, and the pupils have taken a lively interest in the fate of 
the birds that used to be so numerous about the Bronx. Therefore when it was suggested 
that the boys make bird houses to put up in the yards to coax back some of the wanderers, 
the notion was taken up enthusiastically. The teacher of constructive work in the upper 
grades sent for the collections of birds as they came to the school and allowed the boys to 
judge of the size and appropriateness of the houses for the various birds. They read in 
suggested books about the kinds of birds that lived in artificial abodes and searched every- 
where for facts concerning the nature of their habitat. It was in accordance with these ideas 
that they built the houses, save that in some the more ambitious put glass windows in the 
hope that they might be able to observe the birds actually at work building or brooding. 

For the most part the houses were made in hours out of school and with tools of the 
pupil’s own. The school, not being provided with a shop, was ill-equipped for the furtherance 
of any very elaborate work, but the untiring zeal of the instructor made the boys eager to 
work. The results proved to be extremely creditable and boys that had heretofore shown 
not much evidence of constructive ability, when once they were launched on this lively 
problem with a definite, concrete goal, developed remarkable skill and ingenuity. Also 
it must be said that there came from the work as well a moral development of which there 
was good reason to be proud. 


Tue Jesup CoLLecTION A StrmuLus FOR Woop CoLLEcTIONS MADE BY Boys 


Public School No. 150, Brooklyn 


The children are told of things in nature but rarely have the opportunity of seeing 
them except through the collections. The class of 5A boys were interested in examining the 
different woods at the Museum. One boy made a collection of hard woods, which the other 
boys take great pleasure in studying. 


Tue Mountep Birp MEANS MUCH IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE City CHILD 


Public School No. 76, Manhattan, Grade 2B 


These little people of the second grade, brought up under the abnormal conditions of 
the city, love the birds of the collection. They smooth and pet them, and even kiss them 
when I am not watching. 


THE MusEuUM GIVES CHILDREN A GREATER LOVE FOR LIVING ANIMALS 


Public School No. 76, Manhattan 


As our pupils live within walking distance of the Museum, they go there frequently. 


The great attraction for the boys are the wonderful Indian collections. For class use the bird 
258 


THE MUSEUM AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 259 


collections are prime favorites. All our teachers tell me of the pleasure it gives their children 
to be permitted to touch these specimens carefully and tenderly. 

The members of one class of 4B boys were very enthusiastic over the skeleton of Jumbo. 
This enthusiasm, as usual, found expression in greater love for the living animal, for we 
learned while a class was planting seed that one little boy had gone to the park during his 
luncheon hour and planted some seed near the elephants’ house. 


CHILDREN REMEMBER WHAT THEY LEARN AT THE Museum 


Public School No. 25, Manhattan 


The knowledge obtained both from the collections sent us and the lectures given at the 
Museum means much more to the children than that obtained from books. The informa- 
tion is so definite and interesting that it creates a strong and lasting impression upon the 
minds of the children, and they are thus able to retain it very effectually. 


A Lerrer To Make THE MusrtumM DESIRE TO DO STILL MORE FOR THE SCHOOLS 


Public School No. 84, Brooklyn 


Many of our pupils are children who never see the country and who are totally un- 
acquainted with any birds or insects found outside of the crowded city streets. The speci- 
mens enable these children to form correct conceptions of otherwise fabulous creatures. 

In their own way the children show quite as much appreciation as their teachers. The 
first question they invariably ask is, ‘‘Is it real?’’ When assured upon this point they are 
always deeply interested, and very anxious to *‘feel how soft the bird’s coat is!"’ Each new 
interest endures as a helpful foundation for further work. Allusions to any subject studied 
with the help of Museum specimens bring an immediate and intelligent response. 


Tuirty-stx Musrtum Lectures ATTENDED 


Public School No. 184, Manhattan 


Our higher classes have attended thirty-six lectures which helped to fix the grade work, 
were an entertainment and brought out a pleasant attitude toward their work. Among the 
favorite lectures were ‘‘From Pole to Pole,’ ‘‘Early Days in New York,” ‘‘Natural Re- 
sources of the United States,”’ and ‘“‘Life among the Indians.’’ These afforded material for 
geography, history, nature study and language work. 


Worp FROM A DISTANT SCHOOL 


Public School No. 59, Brooklyn 


My school is located at so great a distance from the Museum that it is not possible to 
send classes there because of the carfare involved. Thus my teachers and I welcome the 
collections sent to the school, and the children are always delighted to see the boxes and to 
study their contents. 


THe CHILDREN OF “LITTLE ITALY OF THE WEST SIDE”’ 


Industrial School No. 6 


When the Museum of Natural History was brought down to Industrial School No. 5, in 
the shape of suitable collections in sequence for study, it was a good thing for the children 
of ‘‘Little Italy of the West Side,’’ who live so far down town, near Sullivan, MacDougal 
and West Houston Streets, that they have little opportunity to go to the Museum. 

The children like the birds especially and it is remarkable the aptitude with which they 
learn to know them. The humming bird is a great delight and the solemn owls are studied 
with round-eyed wonder. Three classes were taken to the Museum last term. Their ex- 
periences are always related at home to the other members of the family, and in this 
way the benefit is far reaching. 


260 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


SPRING AND Fatt FLOWERS 


Public School No. 36, Manhattan 


The spring and fall flowers distributed at the Museum are a great help to us, for we find 
it difficult to obtain the specimens required by the course in nature study. I am sure that 
this voices the sentiment of all the teachers. 


PLEASURABLE STUDY 


Public School No. 27, Manhattan 


The children, even of the higher grades, like the bird collections best of all. A robin 
collection was sent to a fifth year class. The teacher glanced at the label and said, ‘‘Oh, 
those are birds; they are for the lower grade. Take them downstairs.’’ A boy immediately 
raised his hand and said, ‘‘Can’t we study them before they go down?” 

In one of the collections is a parrot. It was the children’s favorite. One boy in particu- 
lar took a special interest in Polly. This boy one day offered to stay after three and put 
chalk and board rubbers away. Later it was found that his motive in staying was not to 
help his teacher. He wanted the chance to stroke the bird and talk to it. When the time 
came for Polly to return to the Museum this boy found he could no longer stay in after three. 

Trips to the Museum are always looked forward to with pleasure and the children gain 
knowledge unconsciously. The classes are large, so that a teacher often has to ask some to 
wait until another time. But it is likely that when those chosen to go reach the Museum, 
the ‘‘not invited’’ members of the class are there before them and all must be taken under 
the teacher’s guidance. 


Tue ScHoot CHILDREN OF NEw YORK HELP THE MUSEUM TO A GREATER USEFULNESS 


Public School No. 10, Manhattan 


Many of the children know not even of the existence of such a place until they have 
accompanied their teacher to view some exhibit. Their delight then sends them home to 
tell parents and friends of their wonderful ‘‘find,’’ and again and again they visit the en- 
chanted ground with varying groups of acquaintances. So in their childish way, by making 
the Museum known to the greater mass of the citizens of New York, they help it to a 
greater and ever widening realization of its usefulness. 


THE CHILDREN’S ROOM OF THE MUSEUM 
By Agnes Roesler 


HE Children’s Room was started in response to the needs and de- 
mands of young visitors to the Museum. The original equipment 
was slight. A few specimens of birds and small mammals, some 

books, plants, an aquarium and a case containing live snakes consti- 
tuted the entire material. The children flocked into the room, looked 
at the picture books, drew portraits of the birds and mammals and asked 
questions to their hearts’ content. 

At different seasons of the year temporary exhibits were placed on view. 
A jar containing mosquito culture was the subject of many talks; frogs 
and their eggs were collected by some of the boys and formed the subject 
of an interesting lecture given by a boy of thirteen years. A lecture on Indians 
is frequently given and illustrated by some of the youngsters dressed in 


“real Indian” costumes. The actors bring water- 
color paints to decorate their faces, and they play 
their parts with bashful earnestness. Sometimes little 


figures of animals or miniature Eskimo villages are 


modeled in composite clay, the sculptors first making 
a visit to the Eskimo Hall to examine the construc- 
tion of igloos. To some of the older children are 


handed lists of questions to which answers must be 


deduced from observation of the Museum exhibits. ‘ < 
It is now estimated that there are between four ¢ 
and five thousand youthful visitors in the Children’s ms ang 


Room during the year. A small group of children ae . 


comes every Wednesday afternoon, with sufficient regularity to enable us 
to carry on study further than desultory questions and answers. Among 
other activities we read Swiss 
Family Robinson last winter, and 
investigated every animal men- 
tioned in that remarkable book. A 
chance remark disclosed the fact 
that one of these children was 
“afraid”? of spiders, so we set to 
work to learn all that we could 
about spiders and to transmute fear 
into interest. The same course was 
followed with regard to snakes, and 
the children handled garter snakes 
and other harmless species without 
dread. 

The Children’s Room is now 
being fitted out more in accordance 
with the original plans and is taking 
shape as a small museum where 
opportunity is given for carrying on 
some activity in addition to ob- 
servation. Permanent exhibits of 
shells and minerals and one of won- 


derful fishes are displayed there. 


= 
B 
= 
B 
— 
2 
—_ 
gE 


- —<! 


Two cases contain a collection of 


dolls from all over the world, dolls 


f- 


e 


that were made and played with by 
Eskimo, Indian and Philippine chil- 
dren, and even some that have come 


to us from a distant past hidden in 


the graves of ancient Peru. 
261 


Teacher and class at the Museum. ‘‘ The fruit of the Museum's influence often appears 
months afterward in some reading lesson or conversation’’ 


TUESDAY AT THE MUSEUM 
By Mary B. C. Byrne 


Primary Teacher, Public School No. 9, The Bronx 


HEN I came away from the American Museum of Natural 

History, Tuesday, I carried with me a sense of that institution’s 

efficient service to the children of our greater city; and with 

an army of other teachers, I am grateful for the inspiring message which 

the Museum daily speaks to New York City’s children through us their 

primary teachers. The work is of very tangible assistance to teacher, pupil 
and home. 

Looking over the suggestive topics in the Course of Study for the Ele- 
mentary Schools of the City of New York, the teacher of fifth year nature 
comes upon such large-looming headings as “ Adaptation to Environment” 
and “Elementary Classification” and she asks herself, “How can I teach 
‘adaptation to environment’ when there is nothing at hand, save a stray 
fly or English sparrow?” “ How shall I teach ‘elementary classification’ 
when there is no illustrative material, save such forms of life as are found 
on the city’s asphalt pavements or within the brick walls of the nearby 
apartment houses or factories?” 

In answer to this problem comes the temptation to fall back on the 
time-honored textbook methods, but conscious of the delusion of isolated 
fact-learning, she answers her first question by asking a second: “ What 
gain shall come to Dominick Guantomasi, or to Moses Rozansky, or to 
Patrick Sweeney, even though they do master such terms with definitions 
as ‘amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans,’ and all the rest?” It is in this 
definite and puzzling situation that the Museum comes forward with help. 


262 


TUESDAY AT THE MUSEUM 263 


Although pictures, lantern-slides, and concretely worded descriptions 
serve their purpose, nevertheless in all true nature teaching, the child 
should be brought into actual contact with the objects studied. This is 
simply because the power gained through this actual observation enables 
the pupil afterward to represent to himself these objects and others pre- 
sented by oral description and home-reading. And so I would say that 
the Museum’s classroom collections give content to the stories, fables, songs 
and other literature that the schools put into the hands of the City’s children. 

The Museum fills however a vastly wider field of usefulness in exhibit- 
ing within the Museum walls life forms in their natural environments. 
For every nature teacher knows emphasis should be placed at all times 
on plants and animals as living things and the true primary nature 
teacher is always conscious of her larger aim, to put herself and her pupils 
in loving touch with Nature. No easy task this, when the path of both 
teacher and child runs over the barren floor of the city-desert. Neverthe- 
less, hidden by piled up apartment houses, office buildings and factories lie 
the City park and the City museum, each an educational oasis. 

No one can doubt the inspiration and breadth of concept that comes 
when the teacher and class make an occasional visit to the Museum. 
Whether it be protective resemblance as shown by a weasel in winter or the 
clever adaptation of the mud nests of the flamingo, just one glance at these 
static reproductions of the actual objects in their natural environments 
makes more impression on the child mind than would volumes of verbal 
description. 

These trips furnish also many indirect ethical and social opportunities. 
As teacher and class walk the Museum halls together, both are storming 
the guide with a fusillade of questions, and in the light of their common 
interest, the children see that their teacher is not a pedant but a student 
like themselves —a big comrade. Then, too, the city is gaining in good 
citizenship as the sixty heavily shod feet go clattering over the immaculate 
floors, because sixty busy little heads are thinking of how important they 
will be at supper-table, when, after father’s home-coming, they will tell of 
wonderful things. Many of these descriptions will result in the child 
returning to the Museum with his foreign-born parents, and in this way, 
both parents and child will see for themselves one of the wise ways in which 
New York City spends her taxes. 

A note of constructive criticism was heard from a school-man recently 
to the effect that if American children are Jacking in courtesy as is said, 
the first step in getting rid of the undesirable trait is to give them some- 
thing to reverence. The American Museum of Natural History is doing 
this. It is an institution that children reverence. 


264 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


As we went through the Museum’s halls Tuesday, the wolfish eyes of my 
dear little Rozansky grew snappingly bright, then the lines about the tight 
ittle lips softened, his whole face lit up with the humble reverence which 
one sees in the faces of old priests, the rough fingers clutched my arm, 
and he half exclaimed, half whispered, “If we only were to know every- 


thing in here, Miss Byrne!”’ 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


Ar the meeting of the Executive Committee, October 18, the following 
persons were elected Life Members in consideration of gifts or services 
rendered to the Museum: 

Mr. Cart Hacenseck of Stellingen-bei-Hamburg, in recognition of 
his gift to the Department of Vertebrate Palseontology of valuable models 
of extinct animals of South America; 

Mr. Avsert Opertt, for his gift of twenty-two oil paintings of the 
Peary meteorites; 

Mr. CLarence B. Riker, for generous support of the Museum’s orni- 
thological work in South America; 

Dr. J. H. Srepsins, in consideration of his gift of a collection of Lepi- 
doptera; 

Dr. CarLos DE LA Torre, for assistance with paleontological work of 
the Museum in Cuba. 


Tue Museum has received through the New York Entomological 
Society a collection of insects from the heirs of the late Rev. J. L. Zabriskie. 
This collection contains more than twenty-nine thousand specimens accu- 
rately identified and carefully arranged and is a valuable addition to the 


entomological series. 


A RECEPTION to the National Academy of Sciences will be given by the 
President and Trustees of the Museum on Wednesday, November 22. 


Tue Trustees have furnished a room which is reserved for the free use 
of Members of the Museum and their guests. This room is now open, 
located on the third floor near the elevators. For the convenience of Mem- 
bers the Trustees have equipped it with comfortable lounging chairs, and 
reading and correspondence cables. The Museum Journal, the Guide 
Leaflets and other current Museum publications are on file, and the Mu- 
seum’s collection of the portraits of its founders and benefactors will also be 
found here. Members, especially when accompanied by their children, 
are invited to go first to the Members’ Room, where a matron will be found 
on duty, and where wraps and packages may be left while visiting the 
exhibition halls. A branch telephone connects with all parts of the building; 
by calling the Information Bureau the Members may summon the instructor, 
who will conduct them through the Museum. 


Scientific Staff 


DIRECTOR 
Freperic A, Lucas, Se.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALMHIONTOLOGY 
Epmunp Oris Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 


MINERALOGY 


L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
GeorGe F. Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lurz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Graracap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
WituiaM BrUTENMULLER, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
JoHn A. GrRossBEck, Assistant 


Prof. Witu1amM Morton WHEELER, Ph.U., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
Cuar_Les W. LENG, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 


ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 


Prof. Basurorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louris Hussakor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuouts, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cynrara Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 


Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
Frank M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. De W. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 


VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 


Prof. Henry Farrrietp Ossorn, A.B., Sc.D., LL.D., D.Sc., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Martruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Wituram K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 


ANTHROPOLOGY 


Cuark WissuterR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Puryy E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowrie, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
Hersert J. SprnpEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CuarLes W. Mrap, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Rapa W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHarLes-Epwarp Amory Wrnstow, S8.B., M.S., Curator 
Joun Henry O'NEILL, 8.B., Assistant 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntaia Dickerson, B.S., Curator 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratpa W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. ALBert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
GeorGe H. SaHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


EXPLORATION NUMBER 


THE 
AMERICAN JIUSEUM 


JOURNAL 


EXPLORING PARTY IN VIEW OF MOUNT RORAIMA. 


Volume XI December, 1911 Number 8 


Published monthly from October to May inclusive by 
Tue AMERICAN Museum oF Natura. History 
New York CIty 


ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY 


American Museum of Natural History 
Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


President 
Henry FAtrRriELD OsBORN 
First Vice-President Second Vice-President 
CLEVELAND H. DopGcE J. Prerpont Moraan, JR. 
Treasurer Secretary 
CHARLES LANIER ARcHER M. HuNTINGTON 


THe Mayor oF THE City or New YorkK 
THE COMPTROLLER OF THE City oF NEw YORK 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS 


ALBERT S. BICKMORE A. D. JUILLIARD 

GEoRGE S. BowpboINn Gustav E. Kisset * 
JoserpH H. CHOATE SetuH Low 

Tuomas DreWitTr CuyLer OaGpEN MILLs 

James DouGuas J. Przrpont MorcGan 
MapiIson GRANT Percy R. Pyne 

Anson W. Harp WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER 
ADRIAN ISELIN, JR. Joun B. TREVOR 
ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES Feurx M. WarBuRG 
WALTER B. JAMES GrorGE W. WICKERSHAM 


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 


Director Assistant Secretary 
Freperic A. Lucas GrEorGE H. SHERWOOD 
Assistant Treasurer 


THE UNITED States Trust Company oF NEw YORK 
* Deceased 


Tue Museum 18 OPEN FREE TO THE PuBLic ON Every Day IN THE YEAR. 


Tue AmpricaN Museum or NaTurau History was established in 1869 to promote the 
Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial 
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pendent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to 
the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The 
membership fees are, 


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Tue Museum LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of 
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Tue Museum PouBLICATIONS are issued in six series: The American Museum Journal, Annual 
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GuIDEs For Stupy or EXHIBITS are provided on request by the Department of Public 
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The American Museum Journal 


CONTENTS FOR DECEMBER, 1911 


Frontispiece, Kaieteur, the Great Falls of the Guianas 

Review of the Museum’s Exploration Work. .... 

Location of Exploring and Field Parties of 1911. 

Fast Vanishing Records..... Rp ad A OR ie Freperic A. Lucas 


Fossil Hunting by Boat in Canada........... .. Barnum Brown 


With photographs of the picturesque Red Deer Canton of Alberta and de- 
scription of a new method of fossil exploration 


British Guiana and Brazil to Mount Roraima. .HENrRy EF. CRAMPTON 


Biological Survey from the coast to Mount Roraima, the eastern of the two 
South American centers of dispersal from which North America was re- 
populated after the Ice Age 
Zoblogical Expedition to Western Colombia...F RANK M. CHAPMAN 
Zodlogical survey and studies for a new Habitat Bird Group 
Anthropological Field Work for the Year......... CLARK WISSLER 
With photographs of the Sun Dance among the Plains Indians 
Harlan I. Smith: Explorer in Archeology... .... Aik ipa ean de eater 
Collecting Fossil Fishes in Ohio........ ......BASHFORD DEAN 


Newly Discovered Cave in the Copper Queen Mine 
Epmunp Otts Hovey 


Museum News Notes...... FR TOR Aree yn ah I 


Mary Cynrura Dickerson, Editor 


Subscription, One Dollar per year. Fifteen cents per copy 


283 


295 


299 


301 
302 


304 
307 


A subscription to the JourNat is included in the membership fees of all classes of Members of 
p 


the Museum 


Subscriptions should be addressed to the American Museum Journat, 30 Bolyston St., 


Cambridge, Mass., or 77th St. and Central Park West, New York City 


Entered as second-class matter January 12, 1907, at the Post-Office at Boston, Mass. 


Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 


KAIETEUR, THE GREAT FALLS OF THE GUIANAS 


No photograph or verbal description can set forth the magnificence of Kaieteur Falls and the 
wonderful beauty of their setting. Nearly four hundred feet wide and seven hundred and forty feet 
high — more than four times as high as Niagara —the white waters roll down from the hard rock 
on the brim to rush in a cataract through the great gorge 


—‘“ Through British Guiana and Brazil to Mount Roraima,'’ page 283 


The American Museum Journal 


VoL. XI DECEMBER, 1911 No. 8 


A REVIEW OF THE MUSEUM’S EXPLORATION WORK 


XPLORATION has been a steadily growing factor in the develop- 
ment of the American Museum since 1887. It was in this year that 

Daniel Giraud Elliot accompanied by the taxidermist Jenness 
Richardson was sent into Montana to secure wild specimens of bison. ‘The 
splendid Buffalo Group in the American Mammal Hall is the result of this 
expedition. In ISS88 the newly appointed Assistant Curator of Birds, 
Frank M. Chapman, went to Florida on the first of his almost annual 
journeys. With the advent of Henry Fairfield Osborn, Curator of Verte- 
brate Paleeontology in 1891 and of Frederic W. Putnam, Curator of Anthro- 
pology in 1894, explorations began in every department and have become 
an important branch of the Museum’s work, until in the year 1911 there 
are no fewer than fifty localities being worked by parties in the field. In 
years from 1891 to 1911, the number of distinct exploring 


« 


the twenty 
parties led by from one to four or five men, with a geographic range of 
work extending over North and South America, the South Pacific Islands, 
the West Indies and the East Indies, Eastern Asia and Northern and 
Central Africa, have been numerically distributed as follows: 


Extinct and living races of men 163 
Extinct mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fishes 65 
Existing mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes 48 
Geology of North America 10 


In the early years of its history the Museum depended solely upon 
purchases from dealers and collectors; in recent years, except in the matter 
of minerals, its collections have been enriched far more by exploration than 
by purchase. Richer even than the collections is the scientific spirit which 
exploration has brought into the life of the Museum, the energy, devotion 
and self-sacrifice, the many contributions to the sum of human knowledge in 
geography, geology, ethnology, palzeontology, and all branches of zodlogy. 
These place the Museum among the foremost scientific institutions in the 
country. 

The exploration spirit has fostered the modern development of showing 
the environment with the specimen, of exhibiting a living picture of a 
mammal or a bird, just as it was William T. Hornaday’s travels in the 
jungles of Borneo which led him to install in the National Museum of 
Washington in 1883 the first habitat group, showing orang-utans in their 
native forest. Now not only the naturalist but also the taxidermist, the 
photographer and the artist make up the well-equipped zodlogical expedi- 
tion, and each contributes his quota to the mise en scéne of a finished group. 

267 


EXPLORING AND FIELD PARTIES OF 1911 


The following fifty-one localities represent points at which exploration or field study and 
collecting have been in progress during the past year. Of this number forty-four stand for 
the work of definite exploring or collecting parties sent out by the Museum and acting under 
the direction of members of the Scientific Staff, while the remaining seven places represent 
the work of collectors. who are agents of the Museum in that they are authorized to gather 
together collections for purchase by the institution. All exploration work of the Museum 
must be carried on with Museum funds and is not in any way supported by the City. 


VERTEBRATE PALMONTOLOGY 

Red Deer River, Alberta. Cretaceous and Lower Eocene Deposits. Barnum Brown. 

Wyoming Eocene deposits. Walter Granger. 

Miocene deposits near head of Niobrara River. Albert Thomson. 

. Pleistocene fossils at various points in Texas. Barnum Brown. 

5,6and7. Eocene fossils in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Barnum Brown. 

8 and 9. Districts in Florida examined for fossil mammals by Barnum Brown. 

10,11, 14, and 15. Pleistocene fossils at points in Mexico. Barnum Brown. 

12 and 13. Cuba near Caribarien in the north and Cienfuegos in the south. Barnum 
Brown. 


TR ON 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 


1. Arctic Expedition in the field since 1908. ZoGdlogical Survey. R. M. Anderson. 

2. Lower California Albatross Expedition for fishery, oceanographic and biological 
investigations. Charles H. Townsend. 

3 and 4. Western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. M. A. Carriker, Jr, agent. 

5. Panama. W. B. Richardson, Collector. 

6. Cauca region, western Colombia. Biological survey. Frank M. Chapman. 

7. Turkestan. Local collector, agent of the Museum. 

8. Japan and Korea. Study and Collection of whales. Roy C. Andrews. 

9. Weihsien, Shantung, northern China. Paul D. Bergen, agent of the Museum. 

10. British East Africa. Special study for habitat group of elephants. Carl E. Akeley. 

11... Congo Region. In the field since 1909. Zo@dlogical survey with reference first to 
mammals and birds and second to ethnological study, to invertebrates, fishes 
and reptiles. Herbert Lang and James Chapin. 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 


1. Nahant, Mass. Tide-pool fauna. R. W. Miner. 
2. Black Mountains, N. C. Insects. Hoffman Expedition, William Beutenmiiller. 
3. Florida. Exploration and collecting. F. E. Lutz and C. W. Leng. 


4. Jamaica. Insects: problems of distribution. J. A. Grossbeck. 

5. Dominica. Problems of evolution. H.E. Crampton, R. W. Miner and F. E. Lutz. 

6. Biological survey, British Guiana. H. E. Crampton and F. E. Lutz; Brazil to Mt. 
Roraima, H. E. Crampton. 


ANTHROPOLOGY 
1. Arctic Expedition. Eskimos, especially of unexplored Coppermine Region. V. 
Stefansson. 
2. Sitka and Alaskan Coast. Tlingit Indians. W.S. Taylor and Lieut. G. T. Emmons. 
3. Saskatchewan, Chipewyan Reservation. Phonetic and ethnological. P. E. Goddard. 
4. Alberta, Sarsi Reservation. Linguistic and ethnological study. P. E. Goddard. 
5. North Dakota, Ft. Berthold Reservation. Material culture. G. L. Wilson, agent. 
6. Montana, Crow Reservation. Societies and ritualistic ceremonies. R. H. Lowie. 
7. South Dakota, Pine Ridge Reservation. Clark Wissler and J. R. Walker, agent. 
8. Wisconsin, Menomini Reservation. Societies, medicine bundles. Alanson Skinner. 
9. Paterson, N.J. Rock shelters of prehistoric man. Max Schrabisch, Museum agent. 


10. Oklahoma, Kiowa Apache Reservation. Linguistic study. P. E. Goddard. 

11. Santa Fé,N.M. Material culture and art, Rio Grande Pueblo Indians. H.J.Spinden. 
12. Tueson, Ariz. Textile arts of Papago and Pima Indians. M. L. Kissell. 

13. Mexico City. Reconnaissance in archeology. H. J. Spinden. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PAL#ONTOLOGY 


1. Russell, N. Y. Field work for glacial pot hole. 

2. Lancaster, Penn. Field collection of Cambrian trilobites. 

3 and 4. Arizona. Field study of meteor crater and petrified forests. E.O. Hovey. 
5. Bisbee, Ariz. Queen Copper mine for mine model and cave. E. O. Hovey. 


ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 
1. Districts in Ohio. Collections of Devonian fossil fishes. L. Hussakof. 


Location of Exploring and Field Parties of 19II 


@ Vertebrate Paleontology @ Anthropology 
A Mammalogy and Ornithology A Geology and Invertebrate Paleontology 
® Invertebrate Zoology B Ichthyology and Herpetology 


If from these localities lines were drawn to New York, they would present graphically 
the influx of new material and ideas for the Museum's research and exhibition... In many 
cases the marks indicate but a small! fraction of the area actually explored 


Three members of the Department of Invertebrate Zoblogy fording a stream in Dominica 


FAST VANISHING RECORDS 
By Frederic A. Lucas 
HE many expeditions sent out under the auspices of the Museum 
represent a most important branch of its work; they not only seek 
the records of the past, but also endeavor to secure for posterity 
the records of the present, which are in even greater danger of being lost. 

Not only is man changing the entire face of nature, mowing down its 
forests and sweeping out of existence their inhabitants, but he is also 
blotting out with the sponge of civilization the everyday customs of the most 
secluded and isolated races of mankind. It is not so long ago that Sir John 
Franklin and his crew disappeared amid the Arctic ice and all traces of his 
ill-fated expedition were sought in vain for years; it is only yesterday that 
Livingstone was “lost” in Central Africa and Stanley dispatched to seek 
him. To-day an enterprising firm puts up a special brand of baking powder 
for the western Eskimo; Stefansson deems it worthy of note that after three 
years’ search he has found natives who have never seen a white man; and 
excursion trains are run to the falls of the Zambesi. 

The public looks upon the mastodon as a rare animal, but more than a 
dozen skeletons are preserved in our museums and others are continually 
coming to light, while there is not in all the United States the skeleton of an 
adult wild African elephant. And Mr. Carl E. Akeley tells us that in a 
very few years not a single really old elephant will be left in the length and 
breadth of Africa, so keen is the hunt forivory. Mr. A. Radelyffe Dugmore 
shows a photograph of a herd of hippos and tells us that since the picture 
was taken the herd has been exterminated. 

270 


FAST VANISHING RECORDS 271 


A short time ago we read with pained interest articles on animals that 
have recently become extinct — soon it will be simpler to write of the ani- 
mals that are left. Of course much of the extermination is, from man’s 
standpoint, unavoidable. Man and wild beasts cannot live together in 
harmony, be he never so willing. We are all familiar with Kipling’s graphic 
picture of “Letting in the Jungle,” and in Africa, Mr. Akeley says that 
this is no fancy sketch, for a few elephants in a single night will undo the 
patient labor of years, trampling down crops and uprooting trees over many 
acres of cultivated land. 

There are in existence boats in which hardy Norsemen may have cruised 
along the coast of New England before Columbus was born; we have queer 
craft that floated on the Nile in the time of Pharaoh, and canoes in which 
the early Britons paddled down the Thames when the hyena howled on the 
bank and the cave bear crashed through the underbrush. We possess 
not a fragment of the strange Beothuk canoes seen by Cabot and Cartier 
and scarcely more than a splinter even of one of the canoes that hovered 
about the “Half Moon” on her voyage up the Hudson little more than 
three hundred years ago. We know far more about the beliefs, the cus- 
toms, the dress of the early Egyptians than we do of those of the Indians 
of Manhattan and Massachusetts. 

The savage takes little interest in posterity, his immediate concern is with 
the present — to solve as easily as possible the problems of daily life. The 
ever present tin can costs no labor save that of picking it up, so it supersedes 
the basket; birch trees have become scarce and the picturesque birch bark 
canoe gives way to one covered with cotton cloth. So it is the world over: 

“The old order changeth 

: Yielding place to new”’— 
and if within a very few years we do not secure the vanishing wild animals 
and not merely the fast disappearing utensils but also a record of the habits 
and beliefs of wild — or once wild — races, they will be lost to us and to 
the world forever. 


A part of the Museum's Arctic Expedition pursuing its way over the snow and ice of 
the Coppermine River 


cI 


GLG 
jouueyo 


ay) Suryoyo AjiRou ow 09 eWly WoT UMOpP Osunid YOrYA ‘ARO JO s[[VM YSTY oY} OFUTS}Bo 41 ‘UY WOY PTOY 0} syood JO UOJofoyS OU OAR SyURq Ss} 
‘syIsodep oued0q WOAJ Po}da][OO OOM SME [VUTLUBUT PUB S[|NYS a1OYM JOATY Joaq, poy oy) uo quriod y 


d1OYM PUB SBAIMD OSofVU SMOT[OJ JOATI OL 


Y33530 GQ3YH MO138 SSTIW ALNSAML 3GI1S 


Si@ SHL 


Flatboat constructed for drifting down Red Deer River. <A twenty-two-foot sweep at 
each end, like a long oar, served in guiding the boat out of the way of rocks in the course. 
This was eventually converted into a houseboat because of excessive rains and dearth of 
camping places along the shores 


FOSSIL HUNTING BY BOAT IN CANADA 
By Barnum Brown 


Photographs by the Author 


66 OW do you know where to look for fossils?”’ is a common question. 
In general it may be answered that the surface of North America 
has been pretty well explored by government surveys and scien- 

tific expeditions and the geologic age of the larger areas determined. Most 

important in determining the geologic sequence of the earth’s strata are the 
fossil remains of animal and plant life. A grouping of distinct species of 
fossils correlated with stratigraphic characters in the rocks determines 

these subdivisions. When a collection of fossils is desired to represent a 

certain period, exploring parties are sent to these known areas. Sometimes 

however, chance information leads up to most important discoveries, such 
as resulted from the work of the past two seasons in Alberta, Canada. 

A visitor to the Museum, Mr. J. L. Wagner, while examining our mineral 
collections saw the large bones in the Reptile Hall and remarked to the 
Curator of Mineralogy that he had seen many similar bones near his ranch 
in the Red Deer Cafion of Alberta. After talking some time an invitation 
was extended to the writer to visit his home and prospect the canon. 
Accordingly in the fall of 1909 a preliminary trip was made to the locality. 

From Didsbury, a little town north of Calgary, the writer drove eastward 
ninety miles to the Red Deer River through a portion of the newly opened 
grain belt of Alberta, destined in the near future to produce a large part 


273 


274 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


of the world’s bread. Near the railroad the land is mostly under cultivation 
and comfortable homes and bountiful grain fields testify to the rich nature 
of the soil. A few miles eastward the brushland gives way to a level expanse 
of grass-covered prairie dotted here and there by large and small lakes 
probably of glacial origin. Mile after mile the road follows section lines 
and one is rarely out of sight of the house of some ‘“homesteader.” It is 
through this level farm land that the Red Deer River wends its way flowing 
through a canon far below the surface. Near Wagner’s ranch the cation 
was prospected and so many bones found that it appeared most desirable 
to do extended searching along the river. 

Usually fossils are found in “bad lands,’’ where extensive areas are 
denuded of grass and the surface eroded into hills and ravines. A camp is 
located near some spring or stream and collectors ride or walk over miles 
of these exposures in each direction till the region is thoroughly explored. 
Quite different are conditions on the Red Deer River. Cutting through 
the prairie land the river has formed a cation two to five hundred feet deep 
and rarely more than a mile wide at the top. In places the walls are 
nearly perpendicular and the river winds in its narrow valley, touching 
one side then crossing to the other so that it is impossible to follow up or 
down its course any great distance even on horseback. 

It was evident that the most feasible way to work these banks was from a 
boat; consequently in the summer of 1910 our party proceeded to the town 
of Red Deer, where the Calgary-Edmonton railroad crosses the river. 
There a flatboat, twelve by thirty feet in dimension, was constructed on 
lines similar to a western ferry boat, having a carrying capacity of eight 
tons with a twenty-two foot oar at each end to direct its course. The rapid 
current averaging about four miles per hour precluded any thought of going 
up stream in a large boat, so it was constructed on lines sufficiently generous 
to form a living boat as well as to carry the season’s collection of fossils. 

Supplied with a season’s provisions, lumber for boxes, and_ plaster 
for encasing bones, we began our fossil cruise down a canon which once 
echoed songs of the Bo’s brilé, for this was at one time the fur territory 
of the great Hudson Bay Company. 

No more interesting or instructive journey has ever been taken by 
the writer. High up on the plateau, buildings and haystacks proclaim a 
well-settled country, but habitations are rarely seen from the river and 
for miles we floated through picturesque solitude unbroken save by the roar 
of the rapids. 

Especially characteristic of this cafion are the slides where the current 
setting against the bank has undermined it until a mountain of earth slips 
into the river, in some cases almost choking its course. A continual sorting 


We traveled for two hundred and fifty miles through such cafions. Judging from the wildness of the view, we were thousands of miles away from 
any habitation of man, yet now and then could gain a glimpse of haystacks on the level plateaus above. The expedition’s camp and boat are seen 
on the bank in the foreground 


View cn top of the plateaus along the Red Deer River. This Mecca of the farmer shows bountiful grain fields_where once flourished nothing but 


brush. This given oat field produced eighty bushels to the acre 275 


uojJOTOyYs ouros 


SuMeAOOSIp jo odoy oy) UL SJOTMAL JO JoUURYD Gove ooRAZ OF saqgng Axo oy dn Suiqurryo ‘Ay[njJorvo poyoiwes om suoLser Yong 


YSAIY SHL ONOTV SSLLNS AVI9 


a 


ee 


Ak 
»\ 


‘ wy 


“SS 


me 5 a & 


A FOSSIL IN POSITION (JUST ABOVE THE PICK) 


At this spot three hundred feet above the river, an Ankylosaurus skeleton was found. The skull lies at the head of the pick, the tail and 
other parts of the skeleton had washed out and down and were partly covered twenty feet below. To obtain the skeleton the side of the hill was 
blasted off through an area thirty feet long and twenty-five feet high 277 


278 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


thus goes on, the finer material being carried away while the boulders 
are left as barriers forming slow moving reaches of calm water and stretches 
of rapids difficult to navigate during low water. In one of these slides we 
found several small mammal jaws and teeth not known before from Canada, 
associated with fossil clam shells of Eocene age. 

The long midsummer days in latitude 52° gave many working hours, 
but with frequent stops to prospect the banks we rarely floated more than 
twenty miles per day. An occasional flock of ducks and geese were dis- 
turbed as our boat approached and bank beaver houses were frequently 
passed, but few of the animals were seen during the daytime. Tying the 
boat to a tree at night we would go ashore to camp among the trees where 
after dinner pipes were smoked in the glow of a great camp fire. Only a 
fossil hunter or a desert traveler can fully appreciate the luxury of abun- 
dant wood and running water. In the stillness of the night the underworld 
was alive and many little feet rustled the leaves where daylight disclosed no 
sound. Then the beaver and muskrat swam up to investigate this new 
intruder, while from the tree-tops came the constant query, “Who! Who!” 

For seventy miles the country is thickly wooded with pine and poplar, 
the stately spruce trees silhouetted against the sky adding a charm to the 
ever changing scene. Nature has also been kind to the treeless regions 
beyond, for underneath the fertile prairie, veins of good lignite coal of vary- 
ing thickness are successively cut by the river. In many places these are 
worked in the river banks during winter. One vein of excellent quality 
is eighteen feet thick, although usually they are much thinner. The govern- 
ment right has been taken to mine most of this coal outcropping along the 
river. 

Along the upper portion of the stream are banks of Eocene age, 
from which shells and mammal jaws were secured, but near the town of 
Content where the river bends southward, a new series of rocks appeared 
and in these our search was rewarded by finding dinosaur bones similar to 
those seen at Wagner’s ranch. Specimens were found in increasing num- 
bers as we continued our journey, and progress down the river was neces- 
sarily much slower. Frequently the boat would be tied up a week or more 
at one camp while we searched the banks, examining the cliffs layer by layer 
that no fossil might escape observation. With the little dingey the opposite 
side of the river was reached so that both sides were covered at the same 
time from one camp. As soon as a mile or more had been prospected or a 
new specimen secured, the boat was dropped down to a new convenient 
anchorage. Box after box was added to the collection till scarcely a cubit’s 
space remained unoccupied on board our fossil ark. 

Where prairie bad lands are eroded in innumerable buttes and ravines 


ONE OF THE MOST PICTURESQUE SECTIONS ALONG RED DEER RIVER 


Black-tailed deer were frequently seen i 
one mile in length and four hundred and seve 


ich regions. This is the site of the crossing of the Alberta Central Railroad bridge, which is to be 
ty feet above the water. 279 


A view across the canon from the left bank of the river. Taken from an elevation of five hun- 
dred feet 


pe. Tae 


Fossil ripples in sandstone. In the Cretaceous period of the past these were ripples in sand 
along the shores of some prehistoric lagoon, where grew figs and other warm temperate vegetation 
contrasting with the present vegetation and the ice and snow of Alberta 
280 
28 


At this point some distance up from the river, an eight-hundred-pound specimen was excavated 
A sled was constructed on which to drag it down to the river 


At the river the specimen was floated in a little dingey down to the big boat 281 


it is always doubtful if one has seen all exposures, so there was peculiar 
satisfaction in making a thorough search of these river banks knowing that 
few if any fossils had escaped observation. On account of the heavy rain- 
fall and frequent sliding of banks new fossils are exposed every season so 
that in a few years these same banks can again be explored profitably. 
This river will become as classic hunting ground for reptile remains as the 
Bad Lands of South Dakota are for mammals. 

Although the summer days are long in this latitude the season is short 
and thousands of geese flying southward foretell the early winter. Where 
the temperature is not infrequently forty to sixty degrees below zero in 
winter, it is difficult to think of a time when a warm climate could have 
prevailed, yet such condition is indicated by the fossil plants. 

When the weather became too cold to work with plaster, the fossils were 
shipped from a branch railroad forty-five miles distant, the camp material 
was stored for the winter and with block and tackle the big boat was hauled 
up on shore above the reach of high water. 

In the summer of 1911 the boat was recalked and again launched when 
we continued our search from the point at which work closed the previous 
year. During the summer we were visited by the Museum’s President, 
Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn, and one of the Trustees, Mr. Madison Grant. 
A canoeing trip, one of great interest and pleasure, was taken with our 
visitors covering two hundred and fifty miles down the river from the town 
of Red Deer, during which valuable material was added to the collection 
and important geological data secured. 

As a result of the Canadian work the Museum is enriched by a magnifi- 
cent collection of Cretaceous fossils some of which are new to science. 


282 


The gorge of the Potaro River below Kaieteur Falls 


BRITISH GUIANA AND BRAZIL TO MOUNT RORAIMA 


By Henry E. Crampton 


Photographs by the Author 


URING the past summer I had the good fortune to make a journey 
from Georgetown on the coast of British Guiana to the great 
mountain of Roraima — the famous tableland that stands at the 

junction of Brazil, Venezuela and British Guiana. In its course the way 
led along the rivers of the lower country to Kaieteur, the magnificent water- 
fall of the Potaro River, then continued through the higher forests of 
Guiana across the border and out on the savannahs of northern Brazil. 

The main object was to run a biological traverse from the coast to the 
high levels centering about Mount Roraima. To the biologist, the fauna 
and flora of this portion of South America are particularly interesting in 
connection with the larger problems of geographical distribution and 
evolution, for reasons which may be briefly stated es follows. During the 
glacial period, great ice sheets came well down into the United States and 
destroyed many or most of the species living there. Later the climatic 
conditions changed to those of the present temperate situation; as such 
changes gradually came about, North America was repopulated by organ- 
isms which set out from South America, and mainly from two centers of 
dispersal. The first of these was the northern Andean region, from which 
most of the emigrants reached the United States by way of the Isthmus of 


283 


PSG 
SJOARIAD S,UOIJTpIdxe oY} INOYSsnoayy saoL1vd JUsloyyo ATprpueyds 
poaoid sioyjo oy} {ZIT “Aq ASISSR 02 pouTeod SXOG QsoT]TVUIS OM} OT, “BUWUITRIOY, QUNOTY pawMoy AoUINOL soy any ayy aoy duued aMojoreyy SupArory 


YNALAIVH YVAN YSAIN OHVLOd SHL NO 


BRITISH GUIANA AND BRAZIL TO MOUNT RORAIMA 285 


Panama, Central America and Mexico. The other center was the high 
interior region of which Roraima is the present focus, from which migration 
was mainly by way of the West Indies and Florida. 

With these fundamental facts at hand, the Department of Invertebrate 
Zobdlogy of the American Museum reached a point in the development of 
its scientific work where it seemed desirable to undertake an extensive 
series of explorations in the Antilles and northern South America, in cor- 
relation with field studies in characteristic localities of North America, in 
order to trace as clearly as possible the lines of migration and distribution in 
past geological times, and to gain fuller knowledge of the evolutionary 
history of lower organic forms. In pursuance of these purposes, an attack 
upon the Roraima center of dispersal was determined upon for an initial 
survey. 

After a short period of field work in Dominica and other islands, Dr. 
Lutz and I continued on to Demerara, and on July first we sighted the low 
coast of the continent where the many chimneys from the sugar mills rose like 
so many lighthouses. With the aid of new-found friends in the colony, fine! 
preparations were hastened for the start into the interior, which was made 
by steamer up the Demerara River. The scenery along the river prevented 
the time from passing tediously, soon our equipment was transferred to the 
awaiting train, and we went on to the Essequebo River. Owing to the heavy 
rains of the preceding weeks this river was well up under the hostelry where 
we stopped, so that the house servants angled from the very windows with 
almost ludicrous success. The howling of the monkeys, new to our ears, 
roused us early on the following morning, and for a day we re- 
mained here, occupying the time profitably in collecting on the sandy 
lowlands and rises back from the river, where the drogher ants ply their 
ceaseless course from the leafy boughs to underground chambers. On 
July 10, we proceeded to Tumatumari and here, as well as farther on up 
the rivers, we found ourselves the first occupants of the rest-houses built 
for the use of travelers to Kaieteur. The journey to Potaro Landing, and 
the walk across country to Kangaruma were accomplished without incident. 
At the latter place, three Patamona Ackawoi Indians were secured and, the 
journey resumed, we arrived at Tukeit on the evening of July 15, one week 
from Georgetown. It was almost a physical relief to reach the foothills 
of the higher ground after the continuous lowlands. Doubly enjoyable 
was the first glimpse of Kaieteur, which we saw from a point far down the 
gorge, above waters so still that not only were the mountains reflected in all 
their beauty of form and color, but even Kaieteur itself was mirrored there. 

The next task was to accomplish the transport of our goods to the 
Kaieteur Plateau from Tukeit, the head of river navigation. Two of our 


Indian file across the savannahs 


Looking over the dense canopy of the forest toward the cloud-filled valley of the Ireng River 


and to the Brazilian border beyond 
286 


BRITISH GUIANA AND BRAZIL TO MOUNT RORAIMA 287 


own Indians were sent for bearers to the settlement on the Chenapowu 
about “ Holmia,”’ the home of the late Dr. Bovallius, thirty miles beyond 
the rim of the great falls. On July 19, Sprostons’ men carried up enough 
equipment to establish a camp and field-base on the Potaro River, about 
a mile above the falls, where | took up my work. 

No photograph or verbal description can set forth the magnificence of 
Kaieteur Falls and the wonderful beauty of their setting. Nearly four hun- 
dred feet wide and seven hun- 
dred and forty feet high, the 
white waters roll down from the 
hard rock on the brim to rush 
in a cataract through the great 
gorge, nearly a thousand feet be- 
low the level of the plateau. It 
was a delight to explore the 
forests and savannahs of this 
plateau, and to gain with every 
day new views of the beauty of 
this natural marvel. 

Our Indian messengers re- 
turned on the twenty-first with 
a party of eleven Chenapowu 
natives and better still, with a 
“ballyhoo” (or punt) which 
was very old but none the less 
serviceable. Shy and reticent at 
first, the Indians soon responded 
to advances and by the twenty- 
eighth, when all the goods were 
brought up, cordial relations 
had been established. Dr. Lutz, 


who had remained below. to 
study the Tukeit region in de- 


Toiling up a sharp ascent on the rolling 
Brazilian savannahs 


tail, came up with the last car- 
riers to occupy the camp and to 
make a close comparative study of the savannahs and forests of the Kaieteur 
Plateau, while I pushed on to Brazil in the hope of reaching Roraima. It 
is true the attempt seemed foolhardy in view of the short time available 
and the arduous nature of the journey beyond, but it was thought that at 
least the Brazilian savannahs could be gained and studied, while chance 
might favor the successful accomplishment of the whole journey. Accord- 


288 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


ingly on July 28, farewells were said, the “ballyhoo,” the “corials’’ 
(canoes), and the woodskins were loaded and off we went up the river; 
late in the afternoon of July 30, we arrived at Chenapowu. The river 
traveling was over for the time, and now imagination ran ahead along the 
distant way through the forests and across the savannahs to Roraima, a 
distance of one hundred and ten miles that had to be traversed entirely on 
foot. One day’s halt was necessary for the organization of the provision 
loads and for the engagement of additional bearers; and then on August 
first, the line of twenty-six natives filed off into the forest. 

We reached Saveritik on the Ireng River, which forms the Brazilian 
boundary, at about noon of August 5, with the first third of the long walk 
successfully accomplished. Taking account of the remaining provisions 
and of the available time, it was obvious that a crisis had been reached. 
Slow traveling and vexatious delays had so reduced supplies that they were 
insufficient for the journey to Roraima and back to Saveritik. Two courses 
were open: we could go on within the margin of safety, penetrate for some 
distance into Brazil, and study the life of the savannahs at their northern 
limit, or we could still make the effort to reach Roraima in the hope and 
expectation of obtaining food somewhere beyond. The lure of the famous 
mountain made the decision, and accordingly the number of bearers was 
reduced to seventeen, while four men were sent back to Kaieteur for ad- 
ditional supplies to be at hand on our return to that point. On August 6 
we safely passed the river, and it was not without some emotion that I 
stepped out into the forests of Brazil, a country that will always hold the 
interest of scientists on account of the work of such men as Bates, Wallace, 
Agassiz, and Darwin. 

After a steep climb through the forests up to a barometric level of 3600 
feet, we emerged on to the great savannahs. Before us rolled great grassy 
plains marked here and there by the deeper greens of the forest trees along 
the watercourses. Occasionally an outcrop of reddened soil or gray 
clay added its contrasting color. From this time on, we lived amid such 
scenes, camping for the noonday meal in a patch of forest by a wayside 
stream, or sometimes on the open savannah, unprotected from the fierce 
direct rays of the sun at its zenith. Gathering specimens by the way we 
would at length come to a favorable site for the night camp where the 
bundles of equipment would be set down, the natives would receive their 
rations, and the smoke from the camp fires would rid us of the sandflies 
which were always present in immense numbers. 

After several days of such traveling we came out upon the great head- 
land overlooking the beautiful valley of the Kwating River whose wide 
plain spread 1500 feet below, and at last we could see flat-topped and cloud- 


IOUS OJOM SUOTVVA UOYM AOUINOL UINjod oY) SULIMp [Izeag JO SYRUUBARS oy UY 
! ! ! I i ) 


686 


NOILIGSadX3 SHL JO SNVIGONI SIYVO VNVIND SHL Ad T1IX NMASSAOONS V 


The valley of the Arabopo River, an affluent of the Orinoco near its source in the high savan- 
nahs near Roraima 


The southern end of Mount Roraima 8600 feet high, viewed from a headland 4500 feet high four 
miles distant 
290 


The southwest face of Roraima, three miles across. The cliffs are two thousand feet high 


A volunteer assistant during the noon-day halt at an Indian settlement 291 


Bartering for food and Indian handiwork during a visit to Chief Jeremiah and his 
Arecuna tribe on the lower slopes of Roraima 


veiled Roraima, still several days journey away. At a place called Parmak, 
formerly the site of a flourishing village of Indians, a guide was found who 
knew a shorter way to the goal, which led to the southward of the great 
terraced mountain of Weitipu instead of to the north as in the case of the 
route known to the geographers of Georgetown. So with renewed courage 
we disregarded the low condition of supplies and again pushed on toward 


Roraima. 


Camp at Saveritik on the Guiana border where Ackawoi Indians continually crowded 
about to barter 
292 


BRITISH GUIANA AND BRAZIL TO MOUNT RORAIMA 293 


Finally on August 18, we reached the lower slopes of the great moun- 
tain, and camped for the night ina small patch of woods about a mile short 
of an Arecuna Indian village called Kamaiva-wong. From this place the 
savannahs roll upward to a forest belt, from five thousand to six thousand 
feet in barometric level, and then the great cliffs rise two thousand feet 
to the jagged edge of the flattened mountain top. A narrow and shallow 
gorge intervenes between Roraima and Kukenaam, the latter scarcely less 
impressive than its more famous sister. Down the cliffs fall the narrow 
streams of water that reach the Atlantic Ocean by way of the rivers of 
Guiana, the Amazon, and the Orinoco — so close are the sources of these 
widely diverging streams. 

The next morning, with four or five of my Ackawois, I walked the 
intervening mile or so to Kamaiva-wong, and was received by Chief Jere- 
miah and his tribe, with whom I bartered for bows and arrows, baskets 
and blow-guns, and the cassava bread which was so much more necessary 
and desired. In the afternoon, studies were made on the upper slopes 
toward the cliffs, the evening meal was eaten, and we turned in, not without 
misgivings regarding the return journey which was to begin on the morrow. 
The ascent could not be attempted for lack of time, while furthermore the 
top is already well known from the studies of Sir Everard im Thurn and of 
Quelch and McConnell. 

The journey was interesting though arduous. Naturally, fuller results 
might have been secured had the time been longer, but on the whole the 
expedition was successful. The Indians were splendidly efficient carriers, 
while to Charles Raggoo, my capable Hindu, a large share of credit belongs, 
as his long experience in the bush provided a fund of knowledge upon 
which I drew largely in conducting the affairs of the expedition. 

It is difficult to present the biological results of the expedition in a brief 
form for the material must be studied in great detail, yet some significant 
facts appear with clearness. The survey passed from the forests of the 
coast to those of Roraima itself, and everywhere, no matter what the alti- 
tude might be, certain species recurred again and again; other species 
seemed to be characteristic of savannahs of all levels. Still other organisms 
were restricted to levels of a given altitude; and finally each river system 
had its peculiar types. Combining this analysis with similar studies else- 
where, in time we will gain the sought-for knowledge of distribution and 
evolution. 


KATIVA VONVWO BHL WONG LSV3 DNINOOT ‘VISWO109 NYSLSaM ‘SSGQNV WWYHLN39 SHL POS 


THE ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO WESTERN COLOMBIA 
By Frank M. Chapman 


OW that the birds and mammals of North America are adequately 
represented in our museums, American zodlogists are turning their 
attention to South America. At the present time the fauna of 

South America is represented in European museums much more fully than 
it is in American museums. It is high time therefore that we should enter 
this field, and the beginning of the present year saw no less than six American 
expeditions engaged in zoélogical work in northern South America. Among 
these, two represented the American Museum — namely, one conducted 
by Mr. M. A. Carriker, Jr., who is collecting mammals for the Museum in 
Venezuela and the Santa Marta region in Colombia; and a second, under 
the direction of the writer, in the Cauca region of Colombia. This portion 
of Colombia is said to be one of the most mountainous regions in the world. 
Its great physiographic diversity and the widely varying climatic conditions 
to be found there make it doubtless one of the most interesting parts of 
South America for biological work. 

While many thousands of birds and mammals have been collected in 
tropical America heretofore, a large proportion of them have been secured 
either by natives or by professional collectors, who were more interested 
in the acquisition and sale of specimens than in the record of observations 
which would make these specimens of value in the study of a distribution 
of life. In selecting this part of South America therefore as a field for inves- 
tigation, the Museum had in mind not only the enrichment of its collections, 
but also the gathering of data on which to base a study of the distribution 
of life in this exceedingly interesting and comparatively little-known part 
of the world. 

It will be observed that immediately north of the boundary of Ecuador, 
the Andes are divided into three well-marked ranges, Coast, Central and 
Eastern. The Coast Range, so far as our explorations have informed us, 
does not exceed an elevation of 10,500 feet. The average elevation of the 
Central Range is about 12,000 feet, with several peaks having an elevation 
of at least 18,000 feet. Snowline we have found to be reached at an elevation 
of 15,000 feet. The Eastern Range reaches approximately the elevation 
of the Coast Range and is without snow peaks. Between the Coast and 
the Central Ranges lies the Cauca Valley, some two hundred miles in length 
and thirty in width, and having an average elevation of 3500 feet; in this 
respect being unlike any other valley of similar extent in South America. 
So far as its climate goes, it is rather an elevated plateau than a valley. 
Between the Central and the Eastern Ranges lies the valley of the 


295 


Standpoint in the heavy forest on the summit of the Coast Range of the Andes chosen 
for reproduction in a Museum habitat group. The moss-covered tree trunks indicate the 
extreme humidity of the locality 


Magdalena, which at the headwaters of navigation, some thousand miles 
from the sea, has an altitude of only a few hundred feet. 

In addition to the climatic zones lying between sea level and snowline, 
the faunal conditions of this region are further diversified by rainfall. The 
western slope of the Coast Range differs widely from the conditions prevail- 
ing on most of the Pacific coast of South America, in being exceedingly 
humid. , The annual rainfall at the port of Buenaventura is said to exceed 
four hundred inches.” The western slope of the Coast Range therefore, 
from sea level to. the summit of the range is densely forested. The eastern 
slope of this range however, lacking the heavy precipitation which occurs 
on the western slope, is comparatively arid and consequently treeless. 
The Cauca Valley itself receives, for the tropics, only a limited amount of 
rain, sufficient however for agricultural purposes; while the foothills of the 


296 


ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO WESTERN COLOMBIA 297 


western slope of the Central Range apparently do not receive a sufficient 
amount of rainfall to produce heavy forest growth. When one ascends the 
Central Range however, heavy forests are found at an elevation of about 
6000 feet, and from this point to 12,500 feet forest growth prevails. Above 
12,500 feet occur the paramos, those treeless marshes which may be com- 
pared to the tundras of the North. 

Adding to these widely varying conditions the broad savannahs of the 
Cauea Valley, it is clear that we have here a region suited to the wants of a 
great variety of life and one offering an exceedingly promising field for the 
study of the influences which govern the distribution of life. 

In November, 1910, Mr. W. B. Richardson was dispatched to the Cauca 
Valley, with headquarters at Cali and instructions to work the west slope 
of the Coast Range. In March, 1911, the writer accompanied by Mr. 
Louis Agassiz Fuertes as artist, and Mr. Leo E. Miller as preparateur, 
joined Mr. Richardson at Cali. Mr. Richardson having completed his 
work on the western slope of the Coast Range, we began our operations on 
the summit of the range near the San Antonio Pass, at an elevation of 6600 
feet. Here large collections were made, as well as field studies for a habitat 
group, Which has for its immediate foreground the forest on the summit 
of the Coast Range, whence one looks down the arid east slope of this range 
to the fertile Cauca Valley with the Central Range rising in the distance. 

From this point the expedition journeyed to the hacienda La Manuelita 
in the Cauca Valley, three miles north of Palmira, where for a time we were 
the guests of Mr. Charles J. Eder. Later we ascended the Central Range 
to the eastward reaching an elevation of 6200 feet, where Mr. Eder placed 
at our disposal a bungalow which he has had erected there. At this point 
primeval forests were only three hundred feet above us, and we found our- 
selves very favorably situated for the purposes of collecting and observing. 
Expeditions were made farther into the mountains from this point as a 
base, and much interesting and novel information secured. 

From Miraflores, as this locality is named, we traveled northward into 
the Cauca Valley in an effort to find a place at which first-growth forests 
still exist. In this attempt however, we were only partially successful 
since the region has been so long settled that the original forest has dis- 
appeared. Returning to Cali, our base, on May 15, Mr. Richardson with 
Mr. Miller and a native assistant, were sent to Popaydn at the southern 
end of the valley with instructions to penetrate the Coast Range to the 
westward, while Mr. Fuertes and the writer went up the valley to Cartago 
at its northern end, and thence across the Central Andes over the Quindio 
Pass to the Magdalena River at Girardot; here we embarked for Barranquilla 
near the mouth of the river, and later sailed from Santa Marta for New 


298 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


York. This reconnaissance was made to enable us more effectively and 
more intelligently to direct further work in this region. 

On August 15th, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Miller returned to Cali after a 
most successful trip in the Coast Range. In the meantime Mr. Arthur A. 
Allen had been sent to Cali to replace Mr. Richardson, whose contract had 
expired. Mr. Miller and Mr. Allen started for Cartago August 23 en route 
to the Central Range to work certain localities which had been discovered 
on our homeward journey. Letters received from them dated September 29, 
tell of the success which has attended their efforts. Collections have been 
made at 10,500 feet, and also on the paramo of Santa Isabel at elevations 
ranging from 12,500 to 15,000 feet, or to the lower limit of snow. Having 
completed their section of the Central Range to the Magdalena Valley, they 
will return to Cartago from which point they will make a section in the 
Coast Range toward Novita. 

The results thus far accomplished are exceedingly interesting and valu- 
able. Already the Museum has received some three thousand birds and 
five hundred mammals, an unusually large proportion of which are new to 
its collections, while others are obviously new to science. 


Standpoint of the new bird group. Tree fern at the right 


A Sun Dance among the Plains Cree Indians 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL FIELD WORK FOR THE YEAR 
By Clark Wissler 


HE field investigations of the anthropological staff have in the main 
been directed toward the solution of one general problem, the 
historical relations of cultures up and down the central portions 

of the United States and Canada. <A few years ago this investigation began 
with simultaneous visits to the Cree Indians around Hudson Bay, the Crow 


A Blackfoot woman praying to the setting sun. At one stage of the annual Sun Dance 
old women come forward with women and children for whom they call upon the Sun to 
exercise fatherly care during the year. The Sun Dance was first observed by Dr. E. P. 
Goddard on a Museum expedition in 1911, and in so far as it has never been reported 
for this tribe may be said to be a discovery. 299 


300 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


and other tribes of the Plains, and the nomadic and more sedentary tribes 
of the Southwest. 

Within this geographical belt there are survivors of many prehistoric 
groups, speaking some twenty languages and representing several somatic 
types. This year all our field staff has concentrated on two main points, 
the systems of social groupings (or societies) and ritualistic forms. The 
first derives its importance from its choice by some sociological students 
as an example of a certain inner determined evolution, or a scheme which 
the assumed unfolding of social life was ordained to follow. Now, our 
studies have made clear that no such unfolding has taken place in this 
region, but that we have a rather highly developed system of coérdinated 
societies in a few central tribes with various remnants among the marginal 
groups, seemingly best explained by assuming that some one or two of the 
central group constructed or invented these schemes of organization and 
that others copied from them to a greater or less degree. Thus it is probable 
that the results of this phase of our year’s work will be of some general 
theoretical importance aside from the accumulation of new knowledge 
concerning the tribes in question. 

The study of ritualistic forms has also a theoretical interest because 
we find a strong tendency for each group of Indians to conserve one more or 
less individual type of ritualistic ceremony. This is only now apparent 
since we have fairly complete data on all the many rituals still known among 
a few tribes. It remains to work out a comparative view of these types. 
Waiving this theoretical problem, we have resulting collections of systemati- 
cally recorded data which will in a few years be unavailable except in our 
field notes. Perhaps few realize that in North America the Indian is no 
longer leading a life different from that of his white neighbors and informa- 
tion as to his former life is to be had only from a few old people who will 
pass into the beyond within a few years. 

During the year the Chipewyan, Cree and Sarsi of Canada were visited; 
also the Menomini, Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, Santee, Dakota, and Teton- 
Dakota of the northern Plains; and the Kiowa Apache and Jicarilla Apache 
of the Southwest; all in connection with the above coérdinated investiga- 
tion. In addition, some other special investigations were undertaken. Mr. 
Max Schrabisch is exploring the out-of-the-way corners of New Jersey for 
rock shelters used by prehistoric man. This work has proved them to be 
rather numerous and to have in them traces of different culture levels, a 
feature so far rare in North America. Mr. W. S. Taylor visited the Tlingit 
of Alaska for studies in form and color to be used in his series of mural 
sketches illustrating certain phases of North Pacific culture — pictorial 
habitat groups they may be called. In the field Mr. Taylor was assisted 
by Lieutenant G. T. Emmons. 


HARLAN I. SMITH: EXPLORER IN ARCHAZOLOGY 


R. Harlan I. Smith, recently severed his connection with the Mu- 
seum as Associate Curator in Anthropology, to accept the appoint- 
ment as official archeologist to the Canadian Government and 

Curator of the division of archeology in the Victoria Provincial Museum. 
He has been connected with the American Museum since his appointment 
as Assistant in Archeology in 1895. 

During his long and efficient services in this Museum, Mr. Smith was 
identified especially with the Jesup North Pacific Expedition for whose 
archeological work he was mainly responsible. His first important work 
was in British Columbia in the valley of the Thompson River. Here he 
made extensive excavations at Spences Bridge, Kamloops and Lytton, 
discovering numerous remains of previous habitations, some of which were 
without doubt of considerable antiquity. Almost all his finds at these 
places antedated the advent of the whites and gave an excellent insight into 
the culture of the people of that early period. 

Later, he extended his investigations to the shores of Puget Sound and 
made a special exploration of the shell-heaps in the Fraser Delta. This 
work was followed by an extensive exploration of the Columbia River 
valley especially in the Yakima district. His investigations as a whole, 
seem to indicate a prehistoric movement of the interior plateau people of 
British Columbia out to the Pacific coast. The results of this series of 
investigations have appeared in the Memoirs of the Jesup North Pacific 
Expedition as follows: “Cairns of British Columbia and Washington”; 
“ Shell-Heaps of the Lower Fraser, British Columbia’’; “Archeology of the 
Gulf of Georgia and Puget Sound’’; “ Archeology of the Thompson River 
Region”; and the “Archeology of Lytton, British Columbia”; and also in 
the Anthropological Papers: “The Archeology of the Yakima Valley.” 

While preparing for the press the above publications he became greatly 
interested in what he has designated as “an unknown field in American 
archeology.” To use his own words: “Nothing is understood of the life 
of the prehistoric people, the direction from which they came, or when they 
arrived, in a portion of the United States and Canada larger than all the 
rest of those countries. This area stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
Arctic Ocean and occupies most of the country between the Mississippi 
Valley and the Coast Range. It includes the Mackenzie basin, the Barren 
Lands and the Great Plains. In the United States, eastern Washington, . 
Oregon, and California, all of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Nevada, 
northern Utah and Colorado, all of Texas but the eastern edge, most of 
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska and the western part of the Dakotas 
belong to this region which we may popularly term ‘darkest archzeological 


301 


302 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


America.’ ”” He was profoundly impressed with the almost absolute lack 
of archeological knowledge concerning this territory, in contrast with the 
very great contemporary general interest of ethnologists and the acknowl- 
edged importance of archieological data to supplement the results of their 
investigations. He was further stimulated to take up work in this region 
because of the somewhat primitive character of the few archeological re- 
mains so far reported. 

In 1907 he began explorations in this field, starting in at the southern 
boundary of Wyoming. The northern and eastern parts of the state were 
visited the following year where he made important discoveries of pre- 
historic quarry sites as well as other important traces of prehistoric races. 
A preliminary report of these investigations was published in the Bulletin 
of the American Geographical Society, July, 1910. 

For the Museum to do without Mr. Smith’s services is a distinct loss but 
since he was the first to develop the archzeology of western Canada and 
perhaps the first to do serious systematic work in that field, he was the 
logical man to take up the problem when the Canadian Government felt 
ready to give the subject especial inquiry. 


COLLECTING FOSSIL FISHES IN OHIO 
By Bashford Dean 
URING the summer of 1911 the Department of Fishes and Reptiles 


arranged for its Associate Curator, Dr. Louis Hussakof, to 
visit the localities in Ohio which had yielded rich finds in fossil 


fishes — an expedition made possible through the Cleveland H. Dodge 
Fund. It was from these localities that many forms of Devonian fishes had 
been obtained, which were described in early papers of Professor J. S. New- 
berry, and which have ever formed a lengthy and important chapter in 
the ancient history of fishes. 

The forms from Ohio included mainly huge creatures whose head and 
shoulders were closely covered with plates of bone and whose dentition 
showed that they were easily the dominant animals of their early age. 
Unfortunately in spite of numerous earlier collections, few details could 
be discovered to show clearly what kind of animals these “placoderms” 
really were, or to make clear their lines of evolution, and it was hoped thata 
renewed exploration of the classic localities would yield material which in 
later years had become weathered out of the banks of shale and that from 
these specimens one could obtain additional light on the problem of these 
fishes. Dr. Hussakof accordingly made a tour of the state, visiting Cleve- 
land, Lorain, Delaware and Sandusky, with a short excursion into Kentucky, 


where a somewhat similar 
formation occurs. He ob- 
tained information in regard 
to local collectors, and was 
able himself to gather a large 
number of specimens. 

The collecting in the Ohio 
fields is by no means an easy 
task. One of the best-known 
localities has been overgrown 
by the city of Cleveland. 
The fossils occur in the core 
of slaty coneretions which ap- 
pear sparingly scattered in 
the soft black Devonian 
shales of that locality. These 
crumble almost like sand and 
are weathered away during 
the changes of spring and fall, 
exposing here and there great 
flat concretions usually of ecir- 
cular outline. Where the 
shales are deeply cut down 
by the waterways concretions 
may be found jutting out of 
the banks, but in such posi- 
tions they cannot readily be 
obtained until by contin- 
uel weathering they have 
dropped into the bed of the 
stream. On the other hand, 
where the shales lie over large 
surfaces the concretions can 
readily be examined. Only 
rarely however do they con- 
tain well-preserved fossils. 
About fifty concretions con- 
taining fossils were brought 
to the laboratory of the de- 
partment and will be worked 
out during the present winter. 
It is hoped that they will 


Ohio is a classic field for the discovery of Devonian 
fossil fishes. One of the best-known localities has 
been overgrown by the city of Cleveland. The fossil 
fishes of Ohio were mainly huge creatures whose 
head and shoulders were covered with plates of bone 


The fossils occur in the core of slaty concretions, 
usually flat and circular, formed by the weathering 
away of the soft shales 


furnish important data for the understanding of these enigmatic fishes. 


303 


NEWLY DISCOVERED CAVERN IN THE COPPER QUEEN MINE 
By Edmund Otis Hovey 


HE great Copper Queen mine at Bisbee, Arizona, is most famous 
for the millions of tons ef high-grade copper ore which have been 
taken from it, but it is likewise well known for the beautiful, though 

small caves that have been encountered in it from time to time in the course 
of the regular mining operations. ‘These caves have for the most part 
been found in the limestone of Queen Hill, the eminence that forms the 
southwest wall of Tombstone Canon at Bisbee. One of the caverns 
broken into during the active life of the old Queen Incline, almost in the 
heart of the city, twenty or twenty-five years ago furnished the wonderful 
green and white curved and ordinary stalactites and the stalagmites that 
adorn the Gem and Mineral Halls of the Museum. 

There is therefore small cause for wonder that I was much interested 
in the report of the finding of this new cave. The word reached my ears 
immediately on my arrival at Bisbee, where I had gone with three men to 
collect the data needed in the construction of the great Copper Queen model 
which is being made for the Museum through the generosity of a friend 
of the institution. The cave had been discovered some months before, 
but immediate steps having been taken to control access to it, its rooms 
and their formations were still in their pristine perfection and beauty. 

Having donned regulation mine costumes early one morning, we started 
for the underground cavern. After descending the Czar shaft two hundred 
feet to the “second level”? we walked southwestward toward a point almost 


directly beneath the summit of Queen Hill. A quarter of a mile or more 


it seemed at least a mile —from the big shaft we came to the foot of a 
“raise,’’ up which we were drawn four hundred feet by an electric hoist. 
The journey from the shaft along the level through solid limestone had 
been cool and comfortable, but as we went up the raise both the moisture 
and temperature of the air increased, because we had entered the “leached 
ground”? where the oxidation of the original ores produced heat, just as 
does burning coal. A few yards from the raise we reached the top of a 
“manhole” cut through the heating ore. Now it was necessary to climb 
forty feet down vertical ladders to the heavy plank door that guarded 
the cave. 

Squeezing through a small hole beyond the doorway, we found ourselves 
at the bottom of the cave in a small room whose ceiling scarcely permitted 
one to stand erect. The bright light of our acetylene mine lamps showed 
that the room was lined with alabaster, tinted a delicate green with carbon- 
ate of copper. Walls and ceiling were comparatively smooth but incrusted 


304 


The large room (thirty feet high and forty feet across) of the cave was one of the most 
beautiful sights imaginable in the brilliant illumination of our acetylene mine lamps. Its 
chief feature was the great greenish white stalagmite (fourteen feet high) rising at its upper 
end, so impressive in size and setting, so beautiful in outline, ornamentation and surroundings 
that it seemed little short of vandalism to destroy or mer it, or any part of the cave which it 
adorned, although in the interests of science 


with minute crystalline surfaces that glittered in the rays from our lamps, 
while the floor was uneven with knobby clusters of calcite, and held here and 
there a shallow pool of limpid water. The upper exit from this first chamber 
was almost closed with great blocks of rock that fell from the ceiling so 
long ago as to have received their own coating of dripstone. Worming our 


305 


306 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


way upward among these for a few yards, we emerged into a clear chamber 
fully thirty feet high and forty feet across. The floor rose at a steep angle 
and its coating became part of the base of a great stalagmite. 

This large room was one of the most beautiful sights imaginable in the 
brilliant illumination of burning magnesium ribbon. Its floor was a thick 
mass of dripstone, its walls were partly smooth white calcite and partly, 
toward the top, the deep velvety brown, red and black of the iron- and 
manganese-stained residue of the decomposed country limestone, while the 
ceiling was mainly of the limestone but banded with sheets and small 
stalactites of calcite. These occurred along the old cracks in the mountain 
mass, which formed the channels for percolating waters, an important factor 
in the formation and incrustation of the cave. The lower part of the walls 
was thickly covered with botryoidal clusters of white calcite, some areas 
of which were tinted a delicate salmon color with carbonate of manganese. 

The chief feature of the room was the great greenish white stalagmite 
rising at its upper end and reaching almost to the ceiling. So impressive 
in size and setting, so beautiful in outline, ornamentation and surround- 
ings was this wonderful object that it seemed to us little short of vandal- 
ism to destroy or mar it, or any part of the cave which it adorned, although 
in the interests of science or the necessities of mine operation. ‘This stalag- 
mite is about fourteen feet high above the shelf of limestone on which it 
stands and its diameter at the same point may be taken as being four- 
teen or fifteen feet. Three feet above the shelf the column is ten feet 
through. Stalagmite is of extremely slow growth and even under the more 
favorable conditions prevailing at Luray Cave, Virginia, where measure- 
ments have been made, such a mass would have required more than 67,000 
years to form; hence it is safe to assume that this cavity in the Queen 
Hill has had its present size and shape for a much longer period than that, 
since the rainfall is less and the consequent solution slower in Arizona 
than in Virginia, though evaporation and consequent deposition are con- 
versely more rapid in Arizona. The stalactite growth above this stalagmite 
was insignificant. 

Climbing up the congealed waterfall forming a smooth apron in front 
of and below the stalagmite, we passed to the left of the column over a floor 
carpeted with coarse botryoidal clusters of calcite and clambered through 
an opening in the black rock into a room that might be considered the fourth 
story of the cave. Immediately at our right was a compound stalactite 
which our miner associates promptly called the “elephant’s ear,” while a 
few feet beyond was a remarkable stalagmite three feet in diameter and 
rather more than three feet high, which with its smaller stalactite and its 
accompanying crystal-covered floor and wall formed a charming grotto. 


A CAVERN IN THE COPPER QUEEN MINE 307 


This stalagmite was noteworthy on account of the radiating clusters of 
pointed calcite thickly set all over it but diminishing in size from the bot- 
tom of the column upward. It has been commonly held that such crystals 
could be formed only under water, but conditions here indicate that there 
has been no submergence or filling of the cave since it was formed and 
we must conclude that in a region of extremely rapid evaporation crystals 
will grow from a solution flowing over a surface. 

The upper wall of this room was formed by a great block of fallen rock 
which has received the drippings of a lime-bearing watercourse. Stalag- 
mite was formed on its top, while ribs of calcite, some of which were complete 
lines of crystal tufts, projected close together from its sides. Narrow, drip- 
stone-lined passages on either side of this block led to a series of three 
small rooms one above another, the last of which was so low that an adult 
could hardly squeeze his way into it. These upper rooms were character- 
ized by abundant stalactites and practically no stalagmites, contrasting 
with the conditions in the lower rooms where the stalagmites predominate 
at the expense of the stalactites. One of the most beautiful small features 
of the cave was the occurrence on the walls of one of the upper rooms of 
long acicular crystals of delicate green calcite grouped paintbrush fashion 
on small botryoidal masses of the same material. The cave extended up 
slopes averaging thirty degrees, through a vertical distance of about eighty 
feet and nowhere exceeded forty feet in width and thirty feet in height. 

Inasmuch as the cave was doomed to ruin through mining, the company 
generously furnished the men and the means for removing at infinite pains 
the grotto and such other formations as we desired, and for transporting 
them to New York. This material is now at the Museum and there will 
soon be in place and on exhibition a reproduction of this most beautiful 
underground chamber. 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 


Tue following have been elected recently to membership in the Museum: 

Fellow, Mr. Joun A. GROSSBECK; 

Life Members, Dr. ARNOLD KNapp, Messrs. ANTHONY N. Brapy, 
FrepEericK F. Brewster, Haroutp J. Cook, Francis R. Hitcucock, 
Henry LANG, JosepH J. NUNAN, JOHN J. PIERREPONT, CHARLES DE RHAM, 
Epwarp W. SHetpon, Henry ATTreERBURY SMITH, MMEs. GEORGE C. 
CLAUSEN, CHARLES W. Harkness, JAMES J. HicGinson, DANIEL S. 
LAMONT, JAMES RoosEVELT, Jacosp H. Scuirr, CHARLES STEWART SMITH, 
H. P. Wurrney, Misses HELEN Hurp, Rosamonp Pincuot, and MASTERS 
VaRICK FRISSELL and Girrorp PincHort, 2d; 


308 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


Sustaining Members, Mr. NEtson W. GreENHuUT and Mrs. GrorGce W. 
PERKINS; 

Annual Members, Rr. Revs. WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE and WILLIAM 
LAWRENCE, Rev. W. T. Crocker, Cots. Osmun LATROBE and ROBERT 
B. Woopwarpb, Drs. JoHN AsPELL and Ernest V. Hupsarp, Messrs. 
PauL BAERWALD, M. W. Bensgamin, HENRY J. BERNHEIM, B. G. BRAINE, 
EpmunpD M. BRENNAN, FRED T. Busk, JAMES G: CANNON, BENNO COHEN, 
Max CoHen, HERMANN ConHEIM, W. R. Cross, LoRENzO DANIELS, J. R. 
DeLamar, O. L. DomMmericu, Morris Dworetzky, JAMES M. EDEr, 
NEWMAN Ers, Henry Espero, S. A. FatmMAN, WALTON FERGUSON, LoUIS 
L. Frruski, Puiny Fisk, Isaac D. FLETCHER, THomas PowELL Fow Ler, 
Mortimer J. Fox, ALEXANDER VON GoNTARD, Percy T. GrirrirH, M. 
GRUNDNER, Moritz HitpER, CHARLES W. HorrMan, CLARENCE J. Howus- 
MAN, Epwin S. Kassinec, Ortro KauFMANN, FRED T. KELLERS, JAMES 
GorE Kino, Hersert R. Limpurc, THomas J. McBripe, Roserr H. 
McCurpy, E. A. McGuire, Epwin G. MERRILL, Jutian H. Meyer, E. D. 
Morcan, Exam Warp OLney, PaHituirs PHoENnrIx, J. Harsen Purpy, 
WiuitamM B. Rogers, S$. S. Ros—EnstamM, THOMAS Smipt, PIERRE J. SMITH, 
Howarp TownsEnD, FRANK A. VANDERLIP, J. TROWBRIDGE VREDENBURGH, 
A. WIEDENBACH, WriLuIAM G. WiLicox, Mmes. CHarues B. ALEXANDER, 
GEORGE BLAGDEN, JosHuA S. Brusu, C. H. Coster, CHarues D. Dickey, 
H. Winturop Gray, Henry W. Harpon, J. B. Francis HERRESHOFF, 
CHRISTIAN A. HERTER, JOHN S. KENNEDY, E. H. LANDON, AGNES LATHERS, 
Amory LELAND, Payson MERRILL, FREDERICK PEARSON, STEPHEN PELL, 
Henry Puriprs, N. T. Putstrer, CHARLES Cary RuMSEyY, JAMES SPEYER, 
BENJAMIN STRONG, Henry W. Tart, Misses Appison MircHeLut and 
ELvINnE RICHARD. 


Captain W. H. Corrincuam, Mr. Haroutp J. Cook and Mr. Josrepu J. 
Nunan have recently been elected Life Members in recognition of services 
rendered to the Museum’s field parties in Alberta, Nebraska and British 
Guiana respectively. 


Mr. SreFANSSON of the Museum’s Arctic Expedition reports a very 
interesting discovery of an archeological nature at his last winter camp 
near Pt. Stivens, Parry Peninsula. According to his report a great deal of 
pottery is found upon old village sites, some at a depth of several feet. This 
pottery is of similar type to that found among and lately manufactured by 
some of the Alaskan Eskimos. Pottery has so far not been reported from 
any of the Central and Eastern Eskimos. It was formerly assumed that 
the presence of pottery among the Alaskan Eskimos was to be explained as 
indicating forms copied from Siberian or neighboring American tribes. The 


MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 309 


recent discoveries of Mr. Stefansson have made it certain that this cannot 
be the true explanation and that the art of pottery among the Eskimos 
must have been of ancient origin and at one time very widely distributed. 
Furthermore Mr. Stefansson reports that other objects he finds are similar 
in type to those described by Professor Boas, discovered by Captain George 
Comer in ancient village sites in Southampton Island, Hudson Bay. These 
were also similar to objects recently discovered in Greenland, leading to the 
conclusion that older types of Eskimo culture must have been much more 
uniform throughout the entire stretch of Arctic America than at present. 
Mr. Stefdnsson’s find of similar objects on the west side of Hudson Bay 
makes it more probable that there was formerly but a single type of Eskimo 
culture from Alaska to Greenland. 


Tue Museum has received from Mr. J. A. Grossbeck a gift of some 
twelve thousand specimens of Geometridae. In recognition of this interest 
in the Museum Mr. Grossbeck was elected a Fellow by the Executive 
Committee at a recent meeting. 


In 1910 Mr. Roy C. Andrews spent seven months in Japan, studying 
and collecting specimens at the whaling stations. Not only did he secure a 
large amount of valuable data as to the anatomy and life histories of various 
species of cetaceans, but also sent to the Museum the skeletons of six whales 
and ten porpoises. There still remain however two species of large whales, 
the California gray and the humpback, of which specimens could not be 
secured. 

The California gray whale (Rachianectes glaucus), in Japan called the 
“devil fish” or “Koku kujira”, is to the systematist one of the most 
interesting of all cetaceans, combining as it does, characters common to 
both the families of baleen whales. Moreover, it has never been carefully 
studied and there is little reliable data extant relating to its habits and 
external anatomy. No museum in America possesses a complete skeleton 
of this species, and the only places where the animals are being taken in 
numbers is at the stations of the Toyo Hogei Kabushiki Kaisha in southern 
Korea. To study and collect specimens of this whale is the object of an 
expedition which left the Museum for Korea on November 28. After 
spending some two months at the whaling stations, Mr. Andrews will go 
into the northern mountains. The region is said to be one of dense forests 
seldom cut by trails, and exceedingly difficult to penetrate. Both mammals 
and birds will be collected. 


On November twenty-first, Dr. F. E. Lutz and Mr. C. W. Leng returned 
from a three weeks’ expedition into southern Florida to collect material 


dl0 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


for the Department of Invertebrate Zoédlogy. This region is particularly 
interesting on account of its close similarity to northern South America 
and because it is essentially different in ecological respects from northern 
Florida. 


Last summer the attention of Dr. E. O. Hovey was called to the exist- 
ence in the town of Russell, St. Lawrence Co., New York, of a perfect 
glacial pot hole two feet in diameter and four feet in depth. Pot holes are 
pot-shaped cavities carved in the rock of a stream bed by the swirling of 
water carrying stones, a “glacial” pot hole being one formed beneath a 
glacier. They are common enough in nature, but it is rather seldom that 
good ones can be collected and brought to a museum. 

The present specimen was in a ledge beside a road where the rock con- 
taining it could be quarried. The rock is crystalline limestone of Archean 
age, containing much flint. Arrangements for cutting out the block were 
made with the Gouverneur Marble Company and the company sent a 
channeler and a gadder from Gouverneur to the pot hole, a distance of 
about twenty miles, together with a crew of their best men to do the work. 
It was found necessary to cut out a block six feet square and six feet high. 
After three weeks of hard work this was accomplished and now the block, 
crated and ready for transportation and weighing about ten tons, stands 
beside the road, waiting for winter to come and render the use of a sled 
practicable for transferring the specimen to the railway station, five miles 
away. 


THe Panama Canal project is illustrated at the north end of the Hall of 
Geology by means of a relief map of the Isthmus, a collection of specimens 
of earth and rock from the most interesting places along the canal, and a 
series of photographs to show the process of excavation and construction. 


Mr. Ernest Vouk of Trenton, N. J., has just rearranged the Museum’s 
exhibit of evidences of the antiquity of man in New Jersey. For twenty- 
five years Mr. Volk under the direction of Professor F. W. Putnam has 
carefully searched the glacial gravels and the upper strata for signs of man, 
and deposited the earlier collections in this Museum. The exhibit shows 
human bones from the glacial gravels that probably represent the oldest 
known human being in America and also skeletons and stone implements 
from undisturbed portions of the layer of yellow soil above the gravels. 
While it is not claimed that the remains are as old as any so far found in 
Europe, it cannot be denied that they are as old as the strata in which they 
occur. The exhibit is installed in the South American Archeological Hall, 
second floor west. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 311 


DurinG the past summer Mr. Walter Granger continued the systematic 
exploration of the Eocene mammal beds commenced in 1903 with the explo- 
ration of the Bridger Basin, and continued in the Washakie, Wind River 
and Big Horn Basins. He secured this year another valuable collection of 
Lower Eocene fossils including many rare specimens. ‘Through its expedi- 
tions the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology is acquiring the materials 
for a complete history of the Eocene mammals of North America. In 
some respects it is a more complete record than had been anticipated, for 
the more careful and thorough stratigraphic work has shown that the for- 
mations of the different basins, instead of being successive in point of time, 
with gaps between them unrepresented by any fossil-bearing formation, 
are in point of fact overlapping to an unexpected degree, so that by com- 
bining the records of the different basins we obtain a nearly complete record 
of Eocene life history in that region. On the other hand the accurate 
records now kept of the exact level of each specimen have proved that the 
evolution series is less continuous and gradual than had been anticipated. 
New stages in most races appear suddenly and displace the old ones, either 
immediately or little by little, instead of gradually evolving out of them. 
This fact may be explained in one of two ways. Either the new stage has 
been gradually evolved in some other region and reached here by migra- 


‘ 


tion; or it evolved not gradually but by sudden changes or “sports ’? — 
the method of evolution advocated in recent years by De Vries and others. 
The careful study of Mr. Granger’s collections will supply very important 


evidence on this problem. 


LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS 
MEMBERS’ COURSE 


The first course of lectures for the season 1911-1912 to Members of the Museum 
and to persons holding complimentary tickets presented to them by Members will 
be given in November and December. These lectures deal chiefly with the 
Museum’s explorations of 1910-1911 and will be fully illustrated by stereopticon. 
Two only of these lectures remain to be given. 


Thursday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at7:45. 


December 7— Mr. Frank M. Cuapman, “A Natural History Reconnaissance in 
Colombia.” 


Mr. Chapman entered Colombia at Buenaventura on the Pacific Coast, crossed the 
western range of the Andes into the Cauca Valley, then went down the Cauca River to the 
northern end of the valley and crossed the Central Andes to the Magdalena River, which 
he followed to the Caribbean. This journey of 1500 miles, through a country of great beauty, 
was made to secure material for a Habitat Group of Birds in the Tropical American Series 
and as a reconnaissance in the Museum's proposed biological survey of the Cauca Region 
of Colombia. 


12 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 


December 14 — Dr. Cuartes H. Townsenp, “The Voyage of the Fisheries Steam- 
ship Albatross to the Gulf of California.” 

A popular account of an expedition in which the American Museum of Natural History, 
the New York Zo6dlogical Society, the New York Botanical Gardens and the National 
Museum at Washington codperated with the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. The scientific 
results of the voyage in oceanography, in the fisheries, and the general biology and botany 
of the coastal regions of Lower California will be presented. Deep-sea dredging was carried 
on successfully to a depth of two miles. Large collections of mammals, birds, reptiles and 
plants were secured. 


PUPILS’ COURSE 


These lectures are open to the pupils of the public schools when accompanied 
by their teachers, and to children of Members of the Museum on presentation of 
Membership tickets. 


Dec. 6 — Mr. A. E. Butter, ‘The Rocky Mountain Region.” 
Dec. 8—Mnr. J. A. GrosssBeck, “Insects Useful and Harmful to Man.” 


PEOPLE’S COURSE 
Given in coéperation with the City Department of Education 


Tuesday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


The last two of a course of lectures on “Great Classical and Romantic Com- 
posers” by Mr. Dante Grecory Mason. Illustrated at the piano. 


December 5 — ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.”’ 
December 12 — ‘Frederic Chopin.” 


Saturday evenings at 8:15 o’clock. Doors open at 7:30. 


The last three of a course of lectures, “‘From the Rhone Glacier to the Pillars 
of Hercules; Courtly Provence and Romantic Spain,” by Proressor Cuarves U. 
Criark of Yale University. Illustrated by stereopticon views. 


December 2— “ Madrid.” 
December 9 — ‘Cordova and Grenada.” 
December 16 — ‘‘ With Roman and Moor in Andalusia.” 


LEGAL HOLIDAY COURSE 


Fully illustrated. Open free to the public. Tickets not required. 
Lectures begin at 3:15 o’clock. Doors open at 2:45. 


December 25 — Dr. Louis Hussaxor, “Behind the Scenes in a Natural History 
Museum.” 

January 1— Mr. Arsert E. Butver, ‘Travels in the Rocky Mountain Region.” 

February 22 — Proressor Henry E. Crampton, “In the Wilds of British Guiana 
and Brazil.” 


Scientific Staff 


DIRECTOR 
Freperic A, Lucas, Sc.D. 


GEOLOGY AND INVERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 
Epmunp Otis Hovey, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 


MINERALOGY 


L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator 
Grorce F, Kunz, A.M., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Gems 


INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
Prof. Henry E. Crampton, A.B., Ph.D., Curator 
Roy W. Miner, A.B., Assistant Curator 
Frank E. Lutz, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
L. P. Gratacap, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Curator of Mollusca 
Witu1aM BrevuTenMiier, Associate Curator of Lepidoptera 
Joun A. GrRossBECcK, Assistant 


Prof. Writu1amM Morton Wuee.er, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Social Insects 
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH, Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Arachnida 
Prof. Aaron L. TREADWELL, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Honorary Curator of Annulata 
CuarRLes W. Lena, B.S., Honorary Curator of Coleoptera 


ICHTHYOLOGY AND HERPETOLOGY 


Prof. BasHrorp Dean, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator of Fishes and Reptiles 
Louis Hussaxor, B.S., Ph.D., Associate Curator of Fishes 
Joun T. Nicuots, A.B., Assistant Curator of Recent Fishes 
Mary Cynruia Dickerson, B.S., Assistant Curator of Herpetology 


MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 


Prof. J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator 
Frank M. Cuapman, Curator of Ornithology 
Roy C. Anprews, A.B., Assistant Curator of Mammalogy 
W. DeW. Miter, Assistant Curator of Ornithology 


VERTEBRATE PALHONTOLOGY 


Prof. Henry Farrrretp Ossporn, A.B., Se.D., LL.D., D.Sc., Curator Emeritus 
W. D. Matruew, Ph.B., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
WALTER GRANGER, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals 
Barnum Brown, A.B., Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Witiram K. Grecory, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 


ANTHROPOLOGY 


CuarkK WissterR, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 
Purny E. Gopparp, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Associate Curator 
Rosert H. Lowrise, A.B., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
HERBERT J. SpPINDEN, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Assistant Curator 
CuHarLes W. Meap, Assistant 
ALANSON SKINNER, Assistant 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Prof. Rapa W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC HEALTH 
Prof. CHartes-Epwarp Amory WINsLow, S.B., M.S., Curator 
JoHn Henry O’NeEtL1, S.B., Assistant 
WOODS AND FORESTRY 
Mary Cyntaia Dickerson, B.S., Curator 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS 
Prof. Ratpa W. Tower, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Curator 


PUBLIC EDUCATION 


Prof. Aubert S. Bickmore, B.S., Ph.D., LL.D., Curator Emeritus 
Grorce H. SHerwoop, A.B., A.M., Curator 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 


OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


POR ie PEOPLE 
FOR EDVCATION 
PORES Cl) ERUGE 


- 


American Museum J 


it. 1911 


Date Loaned Borrower] 


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PUT IRAPRY AES 


AMNH LIBRARY 


ee iii 


Sa Ran a 100048390 


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