Vol.26.No.l-January-1955

Chicago Natural His tory Mus eum

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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

January, 1955

Chicago Natural History Museum

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893

Roosevelt Road and Lake Sborc Drive, Chicago 5

Telephone: WAbash 2-9410

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lester Armour Henry P. Ishah

Sewell L. Avery Hughston M. McBain

Wm. McCoRuicK Blair Wiluam H. Mitchell

Walther Buchen John T. Pirie, Jr.

Walter J. Cumuings Clarence B. Randall

Joseph N. Field George A. Richardson

Marshall Field John G. Searle

Marshall Field, Jr. Solohon A. Smith

Stan-ley Field Louis Ware

Samuel Insull, Jr. John P. Wilson

OFFICERS

Stanley Field Pretident

Marshall Field Fint Viet-Pretideni

Samuel Insull, Jr Seemui Viee-Pmidtnl

Joseph N. Field Third Viet-Prexident

Solomon A. Smith Treasurer

Clifford C. Gregg Director and Secretary

John R. Millar Astitiaftt Secretary

THE BULLETIN

EDITOR Clifford C. Gregg Director of the Muteum

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Paul S. Martin Chief Curator of Anihropolofy

Theodor Just C*te/ Curator of Botany

Sharat K. Roy Chief Curator of Geology

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of ZaAogy

MAN.\GING EDITOR H. B. Habte Publie Relatiom Coumel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Helen A. MacMinn Barbara Polikoff

Members arc requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address.

'FILE-CABINET ZOO' AIDS RESEARCH

Laura Brodie, Assistant in Zoology, has discovered that there is no such thing as an animal picture that is useless. Someday, someone working on some problem will need just the picture that she was going to dis- card. Realizing this, it is clear that to accomplish her mammoth task of collecting and classifying animal pictures Miss Brodie has had to resign herself to the certainty of always being behind in her work.

Before Miss Brodie undertook the task of building up the photographic files, the different divisions of the Department of Zoology obtained pictures for reference as they were needed by the taxidermists or scientists. In addition, each individual often kept collections of his own. Now all pictures are kept in one place, classified according to one system, and are collected with an eye to future as well as present needs. The files have steadily grown to include zoological pictures from magazines and newspapers, from other museums, and from zoological societies and conservation departments. They are now a veritable "file-cabinet zoo" with pictures of hundreds of animals in varied poses carefully placed in their own classified pigeonholes.

Among those who make extensive use of the pictures in the files are the anatomists.

D. D wight Davis, Curator of Vertebrate Anatomy, used them recently in his study of the shoulder architecture of the bear. Curator Davis wanted to determine how a bear uses its legs when it climbs a tree. Because he did not have ready access to the habitat of free-roving bears (bears in zoos rarely get near anjrthing faintly re- sembling a tree) he had to dep)end, in part at least, on what he could find out from pictures. There were several illustrations in the photographic files that helped him in completing his work on the Fieldiana pub- lication. The Shoulder Architecture of Bears and Other Carnitores.

The photographic files have yielded valuable information to our own Museum artists and taxidermists as well as to sculpH tors and commercial artists who have come to the Museum on a photograph hunt. Many magazine illustrators are city-bred and, although they have a general idea of what a lion looks like when it runs, they find they need facts, not vague memories, when the taskmaster of paf)er and pen confronts them. Many of them have set up temporary camp in Miss Brodie's office and have made rough sketches on the basis of the pictures they have been able to find there.

During the course of a day requests for all kinds of pictures may come into Miss Brodie's office by mail or telephone. From the standard request of an encyclopedia or textbook for a certain animal picture there is the completely unorthodox request of an advertising-company artist who would like a picture of a dog with a sheepish expression or a horse slyly winking. Often there will be a letter asking for a picture of the rabbit — and Miss Brodie may have to write an answering letter explaining that in her files alone there are pictures of eight different kinds of rabbits. Which one does the person want?

Miss Brodie has also started work on a supplementary index of pictures that appear in publications available only in libraries and that, consequently, cannot be placed in her file. This is probably the only index of its kind in existence. The photography file itself is probably unique and, like many things in the Museum, its growth has been given impetus by the needs of people who are always in search of facts.

STAFF SOTES

Three new Field Associates have been appointed to the staff of the Department of Zoology. They are: Dr. Robert L. Flem- ing, who led the Museum's Himalaya Ex- pedition in Nepal; Dr. Frederick J. Medem, of Bogota, Colombia, and Dr. Georg Haas, of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel .... Dr. Margery C. Carlson, Associate Professor of Botany at

-THIS MONTH'S COVER-

January- being a month of snow and fur coats, we show on our cover a most suitable mam- mal, the snow leopard. Its fur is two to four inches long, as it lives at altitudes of from 7,000 to 13,000 feet in the high Himalayas. Anyone with a fur coat like that would certainly purr, but the snow leopard, in common with the lion, tiger, leopard, and jag- uar, does not purr. This cat is a rare mammal, and its hide is sel- dom offered for sale. The habitat group in William V. Kelley Hall (Hall 17) of the Museum was pre- pared by C. J. Albrecht, former staff taxidermist, and the late Charles A. Corwin, former staff artist.

Northwestern University, has l)een ap- pointed Associate in the Museum's Depart- ment of Botany. She has conducted several joint expeditions to Central America for the Museum and the university . . . Dr. Karl P. Schmidt, Chief Curator of Zoology, recently discussed "Zoogeographic Realms and Regions" before the zoology seminar at the University of Michigan and also conferred with herpetological colleagues on the faculty .... Dr. Theodor Just, Chief Curator of Botany, participated in a symposium on "The Role of Systematics in Modern Biology" held at Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis .... Two young women of the Museum staff — Mrs. .\lexander (Barbara) Polikoff, Associate Public Rela- tions Counsel, and Mrs. William D. (Pris- cilla) Turnbull, Assistant in Fossil Verte- brates— have resigned because of the de- mands of motherhood . . . Dr. Donald Collier, Curator of South American Ar- chaeology and Ethnology, and George I. Ouimby, Curator of North American Archaeology and Ethnology, attended the annual meeting of the American Anthro- pological Association at Detroit in De- cember. Mr. Quimby participated in a round table discussion on prehistoric culture change in the Great Lakes region.

The world is a poor affair if it does not contain matter for investigation for the whole world in every age. Nature does not reveal all her secrets at once. We imagine we are initiated in her mysteries: we are as yet but hanging around her outer courts.

— Seneca.

The mode of life of the Indians who formerly inhabited the Chicago area is illustrated in exhibits in Mary D. Sturges Hall (Hall 5).

January, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Pages

AMERICAN LOVE OF BALL GAME DATES BACK TO EVDL^NS

By JOHN RINALDO

ASSISTANT CURATOR OF ARCHAEOLOGY

RECENTLY INSTALLED in the Mu- seum's Hall of Ancient and Modern Indians of the Southwestern United States (Hall 7) is an exhibit that illustrates several important phases in the life and customs of some prehistoric desert farmers of this region

CEREMONIAL DANCERS As depicted on pottery design

as it existed in the period from about a.d. 700 to 1200. The mode of life shown in graphic form in this exhibit was one of the most highly developed in this area and included such involved techniques as canal irrigation of crops, the fabrication of mosaic plaques, the elaborate carving of stone bowls and paint palettes, and carving and etching (with acid) of shell ornaments and copper working.

What seems most remarkable about this development is that such a complex mode of living was evolved in the face of a harsh desert environment. The climate in south- ern Arizona, where these people lived, is very hot and dry and the sandy surface of

the ground is sparsely covered with salt bush and occasional thickets of mesquite bush — plants that grow where scarcely any other vegetation can survive. Nevertheless these Indians, called Hohokam, managed to grow corn as their staple crop by means of a complex irrigation system extending for miles along the Gila River. Like their modern descendants, the Pima-Papago In- dians, they also obtained food by gathering such wild products as mesquite beans and giant cactus fruit and, to a lesser extent, by hunting.

The Hohokam built large villages, con- sisting of clusters of single-room houses built in shallow excavations. These houses were rectangular or oblong in form. The walls and roofs were supported and framed with timbers and covered with smaller timbers and earth. There was a covered passageway near the middle of one side and a basin-shaped firepit inside near the en- trance.

Hohokam pottery was made of clay mixed with finely ground granite and mica. The vessels were made in a number of shapes

POTTERY USED IN CREMATION RITES The Hohokam Indians cremated their dead

and decorated on the exterior with a great variety of geometric and life-form designs painted in red on a buff background.

However, these people went further than the development of a high culture in the

face of an unfavorable environment — they were also devotees of sport. They were among many peoples in this part of the continent and farther south into Mexico and Central and South America who played an unusual and spectacular ball game. This was played with a rubber ball and bears resemblances to tennis, soccer and basket- ball. The resemblance to court tennis is particularly amazing when the European origin of this game and the American origin of the Indian game are considered. For example, it was played on a court similar to a tennis court divided into halves by markers

t

SPINDLE WHORLS

Used in early weaving

and bounded by walls against which the ball was played.

Here our real evidence concerning the Hohokam game stops, although we may infer from these and other details that the {Continued on page If, column 1)

JANUARY 15 IS DEADLINE FOR NATURE PHOTOS

The Museum and the Nature Camera Club of Chicago, co-sponsors of the Tenth Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photography to be held at the Museum from February 1 to 28, join in reminding all those entering prints or color slides that the final deadline is January 15. Entries received after that date cannot be considered by the judges.

No line is drawn between amateur and professional photographers in the compe- tition. There are two separate divisions of entries — prints and color slides, with entries of four pictures permitted in each division by each contestant. In both of these divisions, entries, to be eligible, must fall into one of three classifications: (1) Animal

Life, (2) Plant Life, and (3) General (this section includes scenery, geological forma- tions, clouds, and other natural phenomena that do not fit into the two specific sections of biological subjects). Except for special prizes such as have been awarded by the Photographic Society of America in previous years, each classification has a full and equal group of awards of medals and ribbons.

The judges are: M. Kenneth Starr, Curator of Asiatic Archaeology and Eth- nology at the Museum; Homer E. Holdren, of the Museum's Division of Photography; and three local camera experts: May Watts, Fred Richter, and Erik Sorensen. Accepted prints will be exhibited in Stanley Field Hall. Color slides will be projected on two Sunday afternoons, February 13 and 20, in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum.

Official entry forms containing detailed

information on the contest will be sent to applicants by the Museum on request. Photographs should be sent directly to the Museum.

"Highlights Tours" Offered Daily

Free guide-lecture tours are offered daily except Sundays under the title "Highlights of the Exhibits." These tours are designed to give a general idea of the entire Museum and its scope of activities. They begin at 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday and at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Special tours on subjects within the range of the Museum exhibits are available Mon- days through Fridays by advance request.

Although there are no tours on Sundays, the Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

January, 1955

INDIAN SPORTS-

{Continued from page S) remainder of the game was probably much like that of their southern contemporaries, the Aztecs and Mayas, whose game is pictured on the walls of their ball courts, in the early native codices (manuscripts), and wTitten up in the chronicles of the Spanish explorers. The likeness to soccer is that in most versions of the game the ball could be struck only with the knees, but- tocks, thighs or head but never with the hands. In fact in the Indian game, if the

HOHOKAM B.\LL-COURT The scene o( spectacular athletic games

ball was touched with the hands or with other than the specified parts of the body, it was counted as a fault and the opposing side gained a point. The similarity to basketball is found in one of the Maya versions where an object of the game was to drive the ball through a ring placed high in the wall of the court. Another object was to keep the ball in action while it was on either side of a di\iding line and to try to drive it into the field of the opposing party, where, if the ball went dead, a point was scored.

OFTEN 'played rough'

Among some groups a harder and heavier ball was used than among others, and in these games play frequently involved injury, in which case participation with the heavier ball was often considered a demonstration of manhood. The wagering of high stakes on the outcome was also frequently an element of the game, clothing, featberwork, emblems, and even slaves being wagered.

There is a great deal of evidence in the native codices, the early chronicles, and the decoration and orientation of the ball courts to indicate that the game had a ceremonial significance and symbolism. It has been suggested that the court itself symbolizes the sky and the ball the moon, the morning or evening star, or some other heavenly body. In other associations, it has been suggested that it was symbolic of warfare and quite possibly a substitute for war, in %vhich case the players are the warriors for opposing communities.

The exhibit was planned by Miss Elaine Bluhm, Assistant in Archaeology, and Roger T. Grange, Assistant in Anthropology, and designed by Gustaf Dalstrom, Artist in the Department of Anthropology.

Audubon Screen-Tour Oflered at Museum January 9

The Illinois Audubon Society will present its second screen-tour of the current season in the James Simpson Theatre of the Mu- seum on Sunday afternoon, January 9, at 2:30 o'clock. The lecturer, Alfred G. Etter, a native Missourian and biologist, will show his film "A Missouri Story." The movie records the year-'round story of life on an old Missouri farm tilled just as it was 75 years ago and shows its plant and animal life, both wild and domestic. Admission is free to the general public. Members of the Illinois Audubon Society and Members of the Museum are entitled to two reserved seats on presentation of their membership cards before 2:25 p.m.

ANGOLA COLLECTIONS COMING TO MUSEUM

The Vemay-Transvaal Museum Expedi- tion to Angola (Portuguese West Africa) has successfully concluded its work, reports its leader. Dr. C. Koch, well-known ento- mologist and Professional Officer of the Transvaal Museum. Through the courtesy of the expedition's sponsor, Arthur S. Vemay of New York, Chicago Natural History Museum v^ill share in the collec- tions, which number some 50,000 insects and several hundred reptiles, birds, and small mammals obtained in the course of more than 13,000 miles of exploration.

Several of the regions explored that had been considered terra incognita now are penetrated by an entomological survey for the first time. Dr. Koch states. Hazards of deserts, mountains, high sand dunes, and tall waterfalls had to be overcome. One of the most important zoogeographical results of the expedition was establishment of evidence that the Namib Desert is probably the most ancient desert on the African continent. In addition to zoological re- search, much data was obtained on botany, archaeology, and South African history.

Besides Dr. Koch, the personnel of the expedition included J. Balfour-Browne, entomologist of the British Museum, and the following members of the Transvaal Museum staff: J. T. Robinson, anthro- pologist; his assistant, K. C. Brain; and L. Vari. The expedition was assisted also by B. W. Zensinger of the South African Bureau of Standards, Dr. E. Scherz of Windhoek, and Dr. Zschokke, Chief Veteri- nary Officer of Grootfontein.

VENEZUELAN SCIENTISTS

The Museum was host in December to Brother Gines and Dr. Luis M. Carbonell of Venezuela. Brother Gines is director of the Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales of the College of La Salle in C?raeas, Venezuela, This society publishes a scientific journal that appears three times during the year and, in addition, a series, known as "Nove- dades," that records species new to science. Under his leadership, expeditions are made to little-known or previously unexplored parts of Venezuela with students or alumni of the college who have received training in fields of natural science. Vpluable contribu- tions to the natural history, anthropology, and archaeology of Venezuela have resulted from such expeditions.

The purpose of Brother Ginfe' visit was to arrange for exchange of si>ecimens and publications between the Museum and the Society of Natural Sciences of La Salle and to get acquainted with members of the staff. During his visit Brother Gines showed a motion picture of the society's recent ex- pedition to the Perija Mountains bordering Colombia and Venezuela in the land of the inhospitable Motilones Indians.

Dr. Carbonell, an alumnus of the College of La Salle, participated both as physician and collector of moUusca in the famous expedition sponsored by the Venezuelan government in 1951 to the headwaters of the Orinoco River in Venezuela. He was one of the party that finally reached the ultimate source of th?t river. During his visit at the Museum he showed colored slides taken on that trip.

A spiral calendar covering three billion years helps visitors to Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall (Hall 37— Fossil Plants and Fossil Invertebrates) to establish the relative chronology of the various prehistoric crea- tures illustrated in the exhibits.

Penny Stories for Children Raised to 2 Cents

Because of unavoidable increases in pro- duction costs, the Museum reluctantly has increased the price of its leaflet "Museum • Stories" from 1 cent to 2 cents each for individual stories and from $1.75 to $2.75 for a complete set of the 183 available stories on subjects in anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology. Postage charges are extra. Even with the increase, the prices approximate only costs of production. "Museum Stories" are prepared by the guide-lecture staff of the Raymond Founda- tion after consultation with the scientific staff and are illustrated by Museum artists. The stories tie in with the subjects of the free movie-programs for children presented by the Raymond Foundation in the James Simpson Theatre during spring and autumn and are distributed free to children attending the programs.

The passenger pigeon, which flourished in America untU comparatively recent years but is now extinct, is shown in a group exhibited in Stanley Field Hall.

January, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

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INDIA'S MUSIC IS TIED TO BASIC CONCEPTS OF LIFE

The history of music in India goes back to the legendary period, and many of the instruments used at present are similar to those of ancient times. At least fifty different kinds of instruments are known, most of them occurring in slightly varied forms, and each having its local name in dif- erent parts of the country. Examples of the more important ones fill a large exhibition case (Case No. 1) in Hall L.

In India, music and its reason for being are interwoven with basic concepts of life and with religion and ceremony; there is music with connotations of sex, and music related to the seasons of the year and to prayers for rain to assure good crops. Thus, a

'VINA' PLAYER OF INDIA This mandolin'Iike instrument, played either with plectrums or Bngernails, is one of the classical sources o£ Indian melody. Photograph Irom Day's "Music and Musical Instruments of South India."

musician from our world may be startled to learn that there are six "male tunes" in Indian music, and his confusion may increase when he hears of "female tunes" and "child tunes" and the "Muts" or laws which govern their classification.

Many tunes are supposed to be rendered only at a certain season and even a certain hour of the day, and any variation from such specified times is considered a violation of their beauty. There is a "Lord of the Rain" melody to be played in July and August when it is desired to precipitate a downpour. There is a special tune dedicated to the sunrise.

Stringed instruments, and instruments of percussion, are the most numerous and varied, although simple wind instruments have been known from ancient times. Reed instruments apparently came as a fairly recent development. While some of these instruments appear in much the same form throughout the country, most of them show many local varieties with limited distribution.

Most of India's musical instruments are used chiefly for playing solos, or for accom-

panying the voices of singers. There are a few modern court orchestras, but orchestral music is a recent development, and has led to the construction of new instruments or modifications of the older types.

DRUMS ABE FAVORED

Like the peoples of other parts of the Orient, as well as those of Africa and the islands of the South Pacific, natives of India seem to have a strong penchant for the music of drums in preference to the more melodic types of instruments. In the music of Europe and America the drums in almost all cases play merely a background role, while interest centers chiefly on the airs carried by the strings and the wind instru- ments. In Oriental, African, and South Sea Island music the other instruments are fre- quently subsidiary to the drums, This emphasis on the drums, together with the fact that different scales of musical intona- tion are used, is a causative factor in pro- viding such a contrast between our music and that of Orientals. To our unaccustomed ears their most eminent virtuosi, playing their favorite melodies, usually sound like amateurs playing series of incoherent dis- cords. It seems quite probable that, except to those of their people who have adopted western culture to some extent, our finest symphonies played by the greatest orchestras under the batons of Reiner or Stokowski would likewise probably sound discordant and irritating to the ear.

One of the instruments shown in the Museum is the mridanga, the most common and probably the most ancient of Indian drums. This is a concert drum cut out of wood, larger in the center than at the ends.

which are of unequal size so that each can be tuned to a different pitch. Hands, finger tips and wrists are worked in a peculiar manner in playing this instrument, and its mastery is regarded as a great art requiring many years of practice. Another drum, the dhol, is played either by hand or sticks. It is used principally at weddings and other festive occasions. A third common drum, also favored for nuptial music, is the tabla, composed of two separate drums, one usually of metal and one of wood, which correspond in purpose to the two dififerently-tuned ends of the mridanga. Certain small varieties of drums are used widely by beggars to attract sympathetic passers-by.

SOME WINDLESS HORNS

A most striking curiosity is the nysasa- ranga, composed of a pair of trumpet-like brass horns, which are not played by the mouth, but are held one on each side of the throat against the larynx. Thus the vibra- tions of the player's vocal cords are trans- mitted into the instrument, inside of which is fastened a delicate membrane obtained from a spider's egg-case. This membrane in turn vibrates, and transmits the vibration to the column of air in the wide end of the horn, producing an oboe-like coloring of the singing voice. This instrument is also played in orchestras with the player emitting no sound whatever from his mouth.

The commonest stringed instrument of India is the tamburi which appears in numer- ous variations. It has four metal strings played with the fingers, and a sounding bowl carved from wood or made of a gourd. Played with a bow is the sarangi, Indian (Continued on page 8, column 1 )

This particular aj

A TYPICAL ORCHESTRA OF INDIA

gregation of musicians was organized by Maharajah Sir S. M. Tagore

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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

January, 1955

HOW CAVE BIRDS FIND THEIR WAY BY ECHOES

By AUSTIN L. RAND

CURATOR OP BIRDS

WHEN IN THE MOUNTAINS of southeast New Guinea with Archbold Expeditions I found a cave in which swifts were nesting. Far back in the cave they had glued their cup-shaped nests against the walls, laid their eggs there, and were raising their young. Though I turned out my light and waited to adapt my eyes to the darkness there was no trace of a lighten- ing of the gloom. In what seemed to be complete darkness the swifts were coming and going. At that time I had no inkling of how they found their way.

A clew came with the discovery of the manner in which bats find their way in

in birds. In Venezuela there is a peculiar bird known as the oil bird, which resembles a nighthawk or nightjar. It spends the day in caves and nests there, far in, beyond where the light of day penetrates.

Dr. Griffin visited some of the caves and exposed photographic film in their recesses where the birds were flying. The film shows no perceptible darkening after nine minutes of exposure. As the birds flew about in the darkness they were noisy. In particular, when flying about in the caves they gave loud sharp clicks that were re- peated rapidly and almost continuously. Dr. Griffin, using the recording equipment he employed in studying bat echo-location, found that these clicks had a frequency of

darkness. "Blind as a bat" is an old saying, but actually bats have quite normal eyes. Though their eyes are smaller propor- tionately than those of many other mam- mals, such as mice, they are not nearly as small as the degenerate eyes of moles and shrews, and they appear to be useful. How- ever, bats fly in the complete darkness of caves and fly by night.

Experimentally it has been shown that bats avoid obstacles even when they are blinded. This fact was recognized at least one hundred fifty years ago, and a special sense was postulated to explain it. However, recent experiments at Harvard University have demonstrated that bats, deprived of sight, are able in flight to locate objects by echo-location. Bats utter high frequency, supersonic, cries with their vocal apparatus and hear the echoes with their ears. Thus they are able to perceive the location of the objects and fly accordingly.

Dr. Donald Griffin, who worked on this bat-orientation problem at Harvard, was able to apply the results to a similar problem

about 6,000 to 10,000 cycles. This is well within the range of human ears, which have a range of about 20 to 20,000 cycles. There were no ultra-high frequency sounds.

Tentatively it was concluded that the oil birds were using these sounds in echo- locating objects to guide their flight in the Stygian darkness. It remained to test this experimentally. Several birds were caj)- tured and taken to a house where a room was fitted up for experiments. With light the birds flew about easily avoiding the walls. In darkness they performed equally well, the observers following their move- ments by the sounds the birds made — the noise of their wings and the clicking sounds.

Then the following experiment was made. The birds had their ears plugged with cotton sealed in with duco cement and were then released in the dark room. A pronounced difference was seen. The birds now flew into the walls. They could no longer avoid collision. These birds were then flown in the lighted room. They easily avoided the walls. The cotton plugs were then removed

and the birds again flown in the darkened room. They flew as well as they had pre- viously in the light and in their earlier untreated condition in the dark.

There seems no doubt that these birds use acoustic orientation — echo-location — to guide them in their flights in the darkness of the caves and in the experimentally darkened room. This is similar to the acoustic orientation of bats but differs in that the sounds used are within the range of human hearing.

Probably the swifts I saw in New Guinea used the same principle in finding their way to their nests in the dark recesses of caves. Perhaps the swifts use their voices for this, or perhaps they use the fluttering noise of their wings.

It is interesting that only recently has this principle been adopted for use in sound- ing ocean-depth, in charting harbors, and in locating floating derelicts and other hazards to navigation. Some bats and some birds have been using it for a long time, but only after we discovered it independently did we find that they had used it before us.

BOTANIST TO EXPLORE 'LOST WORLD' AGAIN

When Dr. Julian A. Steyermark, Curator of the Phanerogamic Herbarium, sailed for Venezuela late in December he was con- tinuing an expedition that, in reality, began in April, 1953. At that time he started out to explore the summit of ChimantS-tepuf, the largest table mountain in the remote reaches of Venezuela's "lost world." So arduous and treacherous was the task of breaking trail to the summit of this moun- tain that by the time the summit was gained few days were left in which to explore the area. But even quick exploration revealed unusual plants (some of which are new genera), four species of snails new to science, a rare frog (only two of which had been found previously), and bats (on which a paper has already been published by Colin C. Sanborn, Curator of Mammals). Curator Steyermark determined to return in 1954 to continue his explorations.

The present expedition is a joint enterprise of New York Botanical Garden and Chicago Natural History Museum. Dr. John Wur- dack of the Botanical Garden, a veteran of several trips to the "lost world," is co-leader of the expedition with Dr. Steyermark. Transportation to Venezuela is being pro- vided by Gulf Oil Company.

Wurdack and Steyermark plan to use the trail Steyermark cut last year. Conse- quently their ascent of the mountain will be accomplished much more quickly than was possible in 1953. Full time, from the day they reach the summit until April, will be spent in culling the hitherto unknown botanical and zoological riches of Chimantd- tepul.

January, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 7

Books

(All books reviewed in the Bulletin are available in The Book Shop of the Miiseum. Mail orders accompanied by remittance in- cluding postage are promptly filled.)

STRAY FEATHERS FROM A BIRD MAN'S DESK. By Austin L. Rand. 224 pages. Illustrated. Doubleday and Com- pany, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1955. $3.75.

A bewildering number and variety of bird books have deluged the public in recent years. Even the professional ornithologist has some difficulty in keeping track of the book titles alone, and one might be pardoned if he assumes that birds as a subject have been treated more than fully — that little of interest or novelty concerning them remains to be said.

The fallacy of such a cynical viewpoint is now ably demonstrated by Dr. Austin L. Rand, the Museum's Curator of Birds. In this volume the author explores the world of birds and their curious and interesting habits with sympathetic understanding based on years of observation and study. Under his skillful guidance the reader meets old bird-friends in unsuspected roles and from time to time is introduced to oddities of bird life that seem incredible. By using a style that is commendably informal and by interspersing his text with amusing anec- dotes. Curator Rand succeeds in making even the commonplace entertaining, while his accounts of the unusual are exciting adventures in bird study that will appeal to the general reader and advanced bird- student alike. Members of the Museum and others who have enjoyed bird articles by Rand in the Museum Bulletin will find them republished here for a larger audience, but most of the chapters are new, especially written for this book.

COVERS WIDE RANGE

Stray Feathers, as the title implies, is essentially a collection of essays that reflects the range of our present knowledge of bird behavior and kindred subjects. Each of the sixty topics discussed in the volume is an independent unit that can be selected at random and enjoyed without reference to the others. The result is a distinctive col- lection of essays that serves as a skillfully conducted survey of much that is interesting in ornithology.

The author ranges the world for his sub- jects and focuses attention on the strange or little-known characteristics of each. While the curiosities of bird life are fre- quently emphasized, the book is in no sense an addition to the lamentable "gee whiz" school of natural-history literature that seeks merely to astound the reader. Stray

Feathers not only presents the phenomenon but also seeks to interpret it and provoke the reader to further inquiry. In no instance is the treatment of a topic exhaustive, nor is it intended to be. For those who wish to pursue a subject further or check the author's sources, there is a useful appendix listing principal references by chapter headings.

human-like CHARACTERISTICS

Layman readers may be astounded and often amused by the striking similarity of various habits in certain birds and in man. Birds that use cows as hunting dogs, birds that feed their prospective mates, birds that baby-sit or have co-op nursery-nests, birds that use tools, and other curiosities of the bird world have their human counterparts and may cause one to reflect upon the basis of our proclaimed superiority. The percep- tive reader will note, however, that the author avoids capitalizing on his material by drawing unfounded anthropomorphic in- ferences. To Rand, the objective scientist, birds remain birds, vastly interesting in their own right. That his birds are often more entertaining than many of our human associates is no contrivance of the author.

The book is amusingly illustrated with sixty piquant line-drawings by Ruth John- son, talented member of the Museum staff. Each of the cartoons is designed to suggest the central theme of its associated text and in this they are remarkably successful. The text and its illustrations are a happy com- bination. One can safely predict that a book so refreshingly different as Stray Feathers will pave the way for one entitled, More Stray Feathers by the same author and artist.

Emmet R. Blake Associate Curator of Birds

INDIAN CORN IN OLD AMERICA.

By Paul Weatherwax. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1954. ix— 253 pages, 75 figures, 3 color plates. $7.50.

Indian corn or maize first became known to Europeans as a result of Columbus's initial voyage to America. When he failed to find a shorter route to the spices and silks of the East, the Spaniards turned their eyes to the gold of the New World. At the time they did not suspect that the discovery of maize was of far greater value than the golden treasures of the Aztecs, Chibchas, and Incas.

Archaeologists have long been interested in the history and origin of maize because of its important role in the development of Indian civilizations in Middle and South America. Botanists, also, are very interested in maize, and the ancient remains of Indian corn found by archaeologists furnish them invaluable evidence on its history and clues to the nature of its wild ancestors. Thus

'THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED' IS HERE

Recently a curious and interesting little book entitled The English Physician En- larged was given to the Botany Library by Holly R. Bennett, of Chicago. It was written by Nicholas Culpepper, who described himself on the title page as "Gent. Student in Physick and Astrology." This copy, which was printed in London in 1714, is one of the many issues of a book that w?s first published in 1652. It aroused much indignant opposition among the orthodox medical practitioners of the time, who objected to what they considered Cul- pepper's unscientific methods. Believing that each disease was caused by a planet, its cure, according to him, was to be found in a plant controlled by an opposing planet, or occasionally "by sympathy," that is, by a plant controlled by the same planet that caused the disease. He described "such things only as grow in England, they being most fit for English bodies," gave astro- logical conditions under which the herbs should be gathered, the parts to be used in each case, and lists of the various ailments that could be cured by them. It was a very popular work among unscientific people for over a century after its first appearance — indeed, a version of it was published as recently as 1932.

Edith M. Vincent

the problem of corn has become one for collaboration between anthropology and botany.

Paul Weatherwax is a botanist who has traveled among the corn-growing Indians of North, Central, and South America in pur- suit of information on the varieties, methods of cultivation, and uses of Indian corn. In this book he sums up what he and other botanists have learned about maize during many years of study. He attempts to "re- construct a picture of the corn plant and the system of household arts based on it as they existed in ancient America, with some consideration of the part that corn played in the everyday life, thinking, and the artistic expression of the peoples of the hemisphere before Columbus came."

Although the chapters on the morphology, growth, and genetics of maize are necessarily technical and cannot be fully understood without some elementary knowledge of botany, the style is stimulating and readable, and the interest of the text is enhanced by the author's well-selected photographs of excellent quality.

Donald Collier Curator of South American Archaeology and Ethnology

Birds found in the Chicago region are exhibited in three habitat groups in Hall 20.

Page 8

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

January, 1955

MUSIC OF INDIA-

(Continued from page 5)

equivalent of our violin. In addition to three or four main strings of gut or metal played with the bow, it has from fifteen to twenty-four additional metal strings which vibrate sympathetically and augment the sound although they are not bowed. It is a favorite instrument for dances, weddings — and beggars, especially religious mendicants.

MANDOLIN-LIKE INSTRUMENTS

A classical musical instrument of India is the vina, which might be regarded as a member of the mandolin family. The strings are played with plectrums or the fingernails, and resonance is provided by a pair of large gourds. More like our mando- lins is the siiar, one of the commonest of the stringed instruments. It is played like the vina, but has a single resonating bowl made of half a large gourd. Among other instru- ments shown in the exhibit are: a two- stringed instrument made of a coconut shell; the sankhu, a conch shell played with a metal mouthpiece; the vansi or flute; vari- ous kinds of gongs; the taus, a stringed instrument with a bowl carved to represent a peacock and in consequence often called the "peacock fiddle," and the nagasara or Indian oboe, which is made both in wood and silver or other metals.

It should be pointed out that most of the names used above for instruments are the local ones by which they are known in the particular districts whence the Museum's specimens came. The same instruments, or their equivalents, are often called by totally different names in other regions of India, due to the great multiplicity of languages spoken within the country's vast realm.

ZOOLOGIST RETURNS FROM TRINIDAD

When paralytic rabies broke out in 1925 among the cattle in Trinidad, it was Dr. J. L. Pa wan, government bacteriologist, who traced its spread to the vampire bat. Be- cause of his interest in this investigation, he invited Colin Campbell Sanborn, the Museum's Curator of Mammals, to Trinidad to study the bats in order to prepare a key to all bats of the island. Under his National Science Foundation grant. Curator Sanborn spent about three weeks there in November.

All government officials were so co- operative in helping with permits, guides, and transportation that Curator Ssnborn was able to visit eight localities in eleven days, seeing bats in various types of roosts, and to collect about 200 specimens repre- senting 20 different species. In this field work he was especially aided by Arthur M. Greenhall, Curator of the Royal Victoria Institute Museum, and Errol Ache, Senior Bat-Inspector. The government has long

maintained teams to control the vampire bats, and the inspectors know every cave, building, or hollow tree that harbors a bat roost. Both Greenhall and Ache will be co-authors of the key, with Sanborn.

It is estimated that nearly 50 different species of bats live in Trinidad. The fauna is mainly like that of the mainland, Vene- zuela, from which it is separated by about seven miles at the nearest point. A few species are confined to the island, however.

TWO-FACED CHARACTERS

OF BENEVOLENT AIM

Although being two-faced is not some- thing we are accustomed to boasting about, among the gods of ancient Rome standards were quite different. Janus, the deity after whom the month January is named, was conceived by the Romans as having two faces. Thus he was admirably fitted for looking into the past and future at the same

AFRICAN EQUIVALENT OF JANUS

time. New Year's Day was the principal festival of Janus, and on this occasion people were extremely careful of what they did and said because they felt that their actions and words would influence occur- rences of the coming year. Being able to look two ways without turning one's head was regarded as useful in many other cul- tiires as well. In the present century the natives of the Cameroons in Africa made skin masks (pictured above) that medicine men wore during ceremonies for casting out evil spirits. Such masks, which at one time were made of human skin, are now made of antelope hide.

Some of the world's most remarkable examples of craftsmanship in gold come from sites of prehistoric culture in Colombia. Examples may be seen at the Museum in Stanley Field Hall and in H. N. Higin- botham Hall of Gems and Jewels (Hall 31).

NEW MEMBERS

(November 16 to December 15)

Associate Members

George R. Beach, Jr., W. A. Bowersox, Miss June Atchison Laflin, Mrs. Louis E. Laflin, Jr., Miss Mary Josephine Lafiin, Arthur J. Lowell, David B. McDougal, Walter B. Ratner, Willis H. Scott

Sustaining Member

Mrs. Nell Y. Searle

Annual Members

Victor C. Armstrong, Edward P. Berens, Thomas Boal, Malcolm S. Bradway, Richard C. Brandt, George E. Brosseit, Mrs. Arthur R. Cahill, John M. Coates, Paul F. Collins, W. F. Crawford, Miss Florence W. Cuth- bert, A. T. Draffkorn, Victor Elting, Jr., C. H. Evans, Clinton E. Frank, Thomas Fullerton, Benjamin E. Goodman, Gregory Gumbrell, Arthur Hahn, Parker Franklin Hallberg, T. J. Haven, Jr., Lawrence J. Hay, John Hehnke, Arthur W. Heuser, Alan Hindmarch, Fred J. Hobscheid, Dr. Paul Hochberg, William J. Howe, John H. Hutchinson, Dr. George N. Jessen, Charles H. G. Kimball, Miss Louise A. King, Lyn- wood B. King, Jr., Daniel D. Kipnis, Thomas Kirchheimer, Z. P. Klikun, Dr. Philip R. Latta, George N. Leighton, Mrs. K. K. Lilien, Dr. Louis R. Limarzi, Victor M. Luftig, Mrs. D. Claude Luse, Mrs. Robert H. Lynn, H. E. MacDonald, J. A. Mason, John F. Milliken, Peter Mooth, Donald O'Toole, Harry H. Patrick, Peter G. Peterson, Mrs. Gordon L. Pirie, Kenneth

C. Prince, Miss Bessie Radovich, Mrs. Howard F. Roderick, Mrs. Milly M. Rosen- wald, John S. Runnells, F. H. Sasser, Nicholas L. Simmons, E. L. Stauffacher, Clifford L. Stivers, Lawrence C. Stix, Jr., Edgar O. Stoffels, Edmond B. Stofft, Mrs. E. J. Stone, Frank W. Sullivan, Dr. Irving

D. Thrasher, H. R. Velvel, Lafeton Whit- ney, Lydon Wild, Bradford Wiles

GIFTS TO THE MUSEUM

Following is a list of the principal gifts received during the past month:

Department ol Botany:

From: Dr. J. F. T. Berliner, Chicago— 10 hand-samples of wood (Larrea tridentata). El Paso, Tex.; Eleanor McGilliard, Chat- tanooga— 2 Silphium; Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris — 11 Venezuelan plants; Dr. E. Naylor, Fayette, la. — Ster- culia platanifolia, Tex.; T. J. Newbill, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. — 2 Anthurium, Colombia and Panama; E. J. Palmer, Webb City, Mo. —325 plants

Department of Geology:

From: Max Robert, Paris — phosphate ore containing shark's tooth, Algeria

Department of Zoology:

From: Chicago Zoological Society, Brook- field, 111. — 1 turtle, 2 snake skeletons, Mada- gascar and Africa; Roger Conant, Phila- delphia— 2 garter snakes (neotypes). South Carolina; Dr. David Cook, Detroit— 29 water mites (11 holotypes, 18 paratypes)

PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS

Page 2

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

February, 1955

Chicago Natural History Museum

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893

Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 5

Telephone: WAbash 2-9410

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lester Armour Henry P. Ishah

Sbwell L. Avery Hughston M. McBain

Wm. McCormick Blair Wiluam H. Mitchell

Walther Buchen John T. Pirie, Jr.

Walter J. Cumhings Clarence B. Randall

Joseph N. Field George A. Richardson

Marshall Field John G. Searle

Marshall Field, Jr. Solomon A. Smith

Stanley Field Louis Ware

Samuel Insull, Jr. John P. Wilson

OFFICERS

Stanley Field President

Marshall Field Pint Vice-President

Hughston M. McBain Second Vice-President

Joseph N. Field Third Vice-President

Solomon A. Smith Treasurer

CUFFORD C. Gregg Director and Secretary

John R. Millar Assistant Secretary

THE BULLETIN

EDITOR CUFFORD C. Gregg Director of the Museum

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Paul S. Martin Chief Curator of Anthropology

Theodor Just Chief Curator of Botany

Sharat K. Roy Chief Curator of Geology

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

MANAGING EDITOR H. B. Harte Public Relations Counsel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Helen A. MacMinn Jane Rockwell

Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address.

EXPEDITIONS OF 1955

Compared with some years, the Museum's 1955 program of expeditions is modest in scope, limitations being imposed by the funds available.

The largest and most ambitious project, as it has been for some years past, will be the Archaeological Expedition to the South- west, which will go into its 21st season of operations during the summer (there have been nine previous seasons in Colorado and eleven in New Mexico). Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator of Anthropology, who has directed these expeditions, will again be leader, and Dr. John B. Rinaldo, Assistant Curator of Archaeology, will be his principal associate. Gradually these expeditions have been reconstructing some 4,000 years of the culture and history of extinct tribes. The archaeologists may complete their work in New Mexico this season and transfer their activity to sites in Arizona.

Dr. Julian A. Steyermark, Curator of the Phanerogamic Herbarium, is already in Venezuela on a botanical expedition to the "lost world" area. This work is being con- ducted as a joint enterprise of the Museum and New York Botanical Garden. Dr. John Wurdack of the latter is co-leader with Curator Steyermark.

Emil Sella, Curator of Exhibits in Botany, will collect material for the American-woods exhibits, and other botanical specimens, on

an expedition during the summer to the coast of Washington, Oregon, and northern California.

Dr. Sharat K. Roy, Chief Curator of Geology, will conduct an expedition to several Central American countries, where he will continue his research on volcanoes.

Dr. Kari P. Schmidt, Chief Curator of Zoology, will collect reptiles and amphibians in New Mexico and Arizona. He will be accompanied by D. Dwight Davis, Curator of Anatomy, and Hymen Marx, Assistant in the Division of Reptiles.

Henry S. Dybas, Associate Curator of Insects, is scheduled for an entomological expedition in Georgia and northern Florida. Loren P. Woods, Curator of Fishes, is now in southwestern Mexico collecting marine fishes in tidepools of the Acapulco area. He will also collect in the Salina Cruz region.

Dr. Robert L. Fleming, a Museum Field Associate, will return to Nepal and resume the collecting, principally of birds, in which he has been engaged for several years. Others who will continue collecting begun in previous years are Field Associate D. S. Rabor in the Philippines and Celestino Kalinowski who is making general zoological collections in Peru on the Pacific slopes of the Andes. Gerd H. Heinrich, who spent all of last year on a Museum expedition to Angola (Portuguese West Africa) financed by the Conover Game Bird Fund, will complete his work and return early in 1955.

Although not going on actual expeditions, a number of other members of the scientific staff will engage in various study projects: Rupert L. Wenzel, Curator of Insects, at the Canadian National Museum in Ottawa ; Colin C. Sanborn, Curator of Mammals, at museums in New York and Washington, D.C.; Curator of Fishes Woods at various western museums; and Miss Pearl Sonoda, Assistant in the Division of Fishes, at a marine biological station on the east coast.

Hughston McBain Elected 2nd Vice President

Hughston M. McBain, Chairman of the Board of Marshall Field and Company, was elected Second Vice-President of Chicago Natural History Museum at the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees held on January 17. Mr. McBain, who has been a Museum Trustee since 1946, succeeds Samuel Insull, Jr. Mr. Insull remains a Trustee, in which capacity he has served since 1929; but because of his need for more time to devote to personal business, he asked to be relieved of the vice-presidency. He had been a vice-president since 1946.

At the same meeting Stanley Field was re-elected President for his 47th consecutive year in that office. All other officers were re-elected. They are: Marshall Field, First Vice-President; Joseph N. Field, Third Vice-President; Solomon A. Smith, Treas- urer; Colonel Clifford C. Gregg, Director

'THIS MONTH'S COVER-

An example of a nature photo- graph that combines realism with an effect that could be a conscious design is "Bull Parade," which appears on our cover. It is the work of Kan Hing-fook, of Hong Kong, who submitted it as an en- try in the Tenth Chicago Inter- national Exhibition of Nature Photography to be held in Stan- ley Field Hall from February 1 to 28 under the joint auspices of the Nature Camera Club of Chicago and the Museum. A full account of this event appears on page 5.

and Secretary; and John R. Millar, Assistant Secretary.

FOUR ADDED TO CONTRIBUTOR ROLL

The names of four friends of the Museum were added to the roll of Contributors by the Trustees (Contributors are those whose gifts of funds or materials total be- tween $1,000 and $100,000 in value, and their names are inscribed on a plaque in perpetuity). Three of the new Contributors are Mrs. Hermon Dunlap Smith, of Lake Forest, Illinois, who has long made valuable contributions to the Division of Birds; Evett D. Hester, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, donor of notable Philippine ceramic collec- tions; Dr. Robert L. Fleming, an American educator stationed in India, who has given the Museum important Asiatic zoological collections. Mrs. Smith and Dr. Fleming also serve in volunteer capacities on the Museum staff as Associate and Field Asso- ciate respectively; Mr. Hester, holder of the Thomas J. Dee Fellowship, is working on research in the Department of Anthro- pology. The fourth addition to the Con- tributor list is the late Arthur L. McElhose, of Arlington Heights, Illinois, elected post- humously in recognition of his gift of a valuable collection of insects.

'Canada North' Film February 27

The third "screen-tour" in the current series offered by the Illinois Audubon Society will be presented Sunday afternoon, February 27, at 2:30 o'clock in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum. "Canada North," a film of the life of ptarmigans, golden plover, elk, reindeer, and the great white whale, will be shown. The accom- panying lecture will be given by Bert Harwell, who is well known to Audubon audiences. The general public is invited, and admission is free. Members of the Illinois Audubon Society and Members of the Museum are entitled to two reserved seats on presentation of their membership cards before 2:25 p.m.

February, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page S

WEB OF FANTASY AND FOLKLORE SURROUNDS MUSHROOMS

By jane ROCKWELL

MUSHROOMS were shrouded in mys- tery and superstition long before Pliny recorded Nero's fatal mushroom poisoning of an entire assemblage of banquet guests as well as the prefect of the guards and a small host of tribunes and centurions. Others who have fallen victim to poisonous mushrooms include Pope Clement VII, Emperor Jovian, Emperor Charles VI, Em-

Drawing by Margaret G. Bradbuiy

RING AROUND THE MUSHROOM

An interpretation of folk legends that describe the antics of elves and sprites as

they dance around the mysterious fairy^ring mushroom.

peror Claudius, the widow of Czar Alexis, and Euripides' wife, two sons, and daughter, not to mention thousands of persons not recorded by name on the pages of history since mushroom gatherers set out to dis- tinguish between toxic and non-toxic deli- cacies for their tables.

Among common fallacies that have grown up in the long history of mushrooms is that poisonous mushrooms or toadstools, as they are thought to be, are responsible for warts, lightning, and witchcraft. The seemingly magic growth of mushrooms has caused them to be associated with fairies, elves, witches, and other things supernatural. Puffballs were thought to be sown by elves, the trembling fungi were described as fairies, and witches' butter and the cup fungi were called elfins' saddles or cups and fairies' baths.

Contrary to the popular belief that all mushrooms are non-poisonous and all toad- stools poisonous, there are species that are harmless and others that are deadly poison- ous among both toadstools and mushrooms. Actually most are edible, but toxic and non- toxic plants may belong to the same group. Consumption of poisonous mushrooms may bring about acute indigestion or death. Some individuals can eat fleshy fungi without ill effect while others, eating the same plant, may suffer violent reactions. The average person who does not go in

search of mushrooms is quite safe because the mushrooms he buys are cultivated on mushroom farms.

VARIED COLORS

Formerly mushrooms were classed in one genus, Agaricus, but after so many different species were found to exist — more than 2,000 — they were divided according to whether their spores were white, pink, yellowish, brown or black. Different spe- cies have scarlet, vio- let, yellow, green, orange, white, brown, or gray caps. Their texture may be leath- ery, tough, brittle, fleshy, or watery. Some are tasteless; others are bitter, pep- pery, mealy, or have a nutty flavor. Some have repellent odors while others have a pleasant smell, like ripe apricots or anise. One genus, Lactarius, has a milky juice that may be white, orange, or even blue in some species. One species may, when touched, sting tender skin. Many persons do not regard mushrooms as plants, but they are even more disinclined to consider them animals although fungi do have the animal-like characteristic of re- quiring ready-made or organic food since they are unable to obtain sustenance from earth, air, and water as ordinary green plants do. Consequently they are forced to live like scavengers on other plants or animals, dead and alive. Members of the flowerless division of plants, they are nearly at the bottom of the ladder of plant evolu- tion. Classed as higher fungi, their close edible relations are the puffballs and morels while their more distant relatives are rusts, smuts, blights, mildews, and molds.

Most common of mushrooms, both culti- vated and growing wild, is Agaricus cam- pestris — the mushroom to the layman. Found mostly in pastures and grassy places, not in woods, its caps are usually white and its gills pink, later changing to brown. Most deadly are Amanita muscaria or fly agaric and Amanita phalloides or death angel. Poisonous mushrooms often make up in numbers what they lack in volume of separate species. Unwholesome mushrooms produce bad effects quickly while the poison- ous fungi take eight to fifteen hours to do their lethal job.

Methods for testing poisonous mush- rooms, still practiced in many places, have been passed down through the ages. Mush-

rooms are said to be poisonous if a silver spoon, coin or like object dipped into a dish of cooked mushrooms turns black, if they peel easily, are brightly colored, have an undesirable odor or bitter taste. All these so-called tests have been proved meaning- less.

FAIRY LEGENDS

Fantasy and superstition always have sur- rounded fairy rings formed by Marasmitts oreades and other species. Because these rings grow rapidly in circumference and are often accompanied by rings of fresh grass that highlight them and make them easily discernible, sometimes from a great distance, folk legends have evolved concerning fairies, elves, and goblins who danced moonlight rigadoons around the mysterious fungus- haunted circles. Some rings attain a reputed diameter of 200 feet or more and an esti- mated age of more than 250 years. How- ever, most rings rarely attain a diameter of more than 20 feet.

A widespread belief among peasants in Europe was that mushroom circles brought luck to the household in whose fields they were found. It was therefore most necessary not to offend the fairies responsible for this {Continued on page 7, column 2)

New Public Relations Aide on Museum Staff

Miss Jane Rockwell has been appointed Assistant in Public Relations on the Mu- seum staff. Miss Rockwell is a graduate (B.A.) of the Univer- sity of Nebraska, where she majored in journalism and Eng- lish; she also engaged in post-graduate stud- ies at New York Uni- versity, where her father. Dr. John G. Rockwell, is a profes- sor of psychology. Be- fore coming to the Museum she worked for several years as a reporter and feature writer for the Lincoln (Nebraska) Star and was news editor and columnist for the Torrington (Wyoming) Telegram. She was a member of the publicity staff of the J. C. Penney Company, New York, and assistant editor of that company's house organs. At the Museum she will work in all phases of newspaper, magazine, radio, and television publicity, and in editing the Bulletin, in association with H. B. Harte, Public Rela- tions Counsel since 1927. She succeeds Mrs. Alexander (Barbara) Polikoff, whose resig- nation was announced in the January Bulletin.

Jane Rockwell

'age i

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

February, 1955

BOOKISH BIRD-CENSUS: A FIRESIDE GAME

"C

By AUSTIN L. RAND

CURATOR OF BIRDS

AN WE GET any index as to just how bird-conscious people are?" I thought as my wife and I sat talking in front jf our magazine-laden coffee table one 3vening just after Christmas. Thus was born the idea of a bookish Christmas bird-census. To many a bird lover, the Christmas bird- census is one of the important events of Christmas time. The origin of the custom goes back to 1900 and Frank M. Chapman, who did as much as any one person to make people bird-conscious. He proposed that

the traditional sport of a Christmas shoot be replaced by a new game of making a list of all the birds one could see on a single day near Christmas — a Christmas bird-census. The idea caught on. Now thousands of people, from Alaska to Florida, take part in making these lists that are published in nature magazines, especially Audubon Maga- zine, and often in local newspapers.

RIGID RULES SET UP

The census has become more than a game, too, for with rigid and complicated rules it has collected a bulk of information over the years on which scientific papers have been based. But casually or seriously done, this modern census is easier on the birds than was the old-time Christmas shoot, and it has helped make people more bird- conscious.

We ran our bookish census by going through the issues of the current periodicals on our coffee table and borrowing a couple from our neighbors, who incidentally had their living room papered in green enlivened by male cardinals in brilliant red full plumage. We made our own rules. No nature or bird magazines to be used; only illustrations of birds, identifiable to family at least, to be used; and a score of one to be given to one kind of bird used in one connection — for example, three crows on a branch would count as one, and two different pictures of doves in the same article would count as one; only domestic magazines to be used.

In two hours we ran through 15 periodicals as follows:

1 weekly paper 0 birds

2 daily papers 2 "

2 slick magazines 2 "

2 topical slicks 10 "

1 news magazine 1 "

2 popular science

and travel ... 8 "

1 state advertising 2 "

1 literary 2 "

4 comic books 0 "

16 periodicals '. . . . 27 birds

of 23 kinds

The systematic list is as follows:

Kind

Number of Birds

Ostrich Penguin Albatross	2 2
Fulmar
Cape pigeon Frigate bird Pelican
Flamingo Goose
Condor
Eagle Ruffed grouse Mearns quail Valley quail California quail Macaw
White-winged dove Road-runner
Owl
Toucan
Cardinal
Jackdaw
Crow
23 kinds	27 birds

Not-acceptable records. An article on modern design in silk-screen printing showed some 35 items that were "birds," whose characters might have been borrowed from hens, lyre birds, owls, eagles, and night- hawks, several being incorporated into the same individual. Geese, turkeys, and do- mestic fowl advertised as food were not included.

Unfigured species. At first we thought to skim the text for mention of birds but soon found that it was impractical. Our eyes wouldn't stand it. But we did hit on a few; for example, a couple of travel articles contained comments on birds that would have greatly swelled the list.

However, a daily paper, otherwise bird- less, contained three news items that should be mentioned: a carrier pigeon, absent for nine years, had turned up; singing caged canaries had been installed in Tokyo police headquarters to calm irate motorists ar- rested for traffic violation; and seagulls had been using United Nations headquarters as a perch from which to open clams by drop- ping them to the street below.

Foreign items. By excluding these a par- ticularly rich niche was omitted, notably the 38 species of birds mentioned in the Bible portrayed in a two-page spread of the Christmas number of the Illustrated London News.

I was surprised that the list was so small. I can remember so many news stories, articles, and illustrations that I've seen. But evidently they don't appear every day and my memory has telescoped them, for the above list is based on a true random sample, selected without planning, though undoubtedly we missed some birds. Of course, the time of year is bad for birds, with life at its lowest ebb. It is perhaps typified by two "birdish" cartoons that I couldn't include for obvious reasons: one was a hunter in a duck blind with a duck call, but not a duck in sight; another, a political cartoon, showed, among other things, a bird cage with open door and a label "dove of peace," but not a bird anywhere.

Noteworthy also is that few birds were recorded more than once, only the ostrich, penguin, eagle, and macaw, and these but twice.

SOME 'STOCK CHARACTERS'

Only one of our familiar songbirds, the cardinal, is on our list, and that is in an advertisement for a bird book. In the list there are very few bird names that would not be familiar to the general reader of a half century ago, and some are age-old standbys, stock characters in literature: ostrich (Bible), owl (Athena), penguin (Penguin Island of Anatole France), alba- tross (Ancient Mariner), pelican (heraldry), flamingo (Alice in Wonderland), dove (of peace), eagle (heraldry), and goose (guarding Rome), for instance.

Comparing native birds with exotics we find that 15 are natives of the United States and 8 are exotic. The latter birds represent tropical America, Europe, Africa, and Antarctica.

Eleven of the 27 birds were used in adver- tisements in such ways as a toucan inviting you to "come to Caracas"; an owl asking, "Do you know?"; photos of game-bird models; and crow, macaw, eagle, penguin, and a cardinal decorating ads with little relevancy. A macaw, labeled "a sarong- snatching parrot," was part of a night-club entertainer's advertisement.

NON-COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATIONS

Of the 16 birds not in advertisements, one was in a reproduction of a Breughel painting, six were in reproductions of old illustrations prepared for Swiss Family Robinson, eight were illustrations of travel articles, and one sketch, illustrating the alleged enormous appetite of an ostrich, decorated an article on California culture.

With but a single census you can't make comparisons. Perhaps, over the years, further censuses by more people and with wider coverage will enable us to chart trends and show whether or not people are be- coming more bird-conscious and if so, how much.

February, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 5

INTERNATIONAL NATURE PHOTO EXHIBIT, FEBRUARY 1-28

JUDGING has been completed, and hundreds ot persons in all parts of the world are waiting to learn the winners of the Tenth Chicago International Exhibition

TIMBER LINE Entered in Plant'Life Division of Nature Photog- raphy Exhibit by M. G. Smith, of Fresno, Calif.*

of Nature Photography, which will be held from February 1 to 28 at the Museum.

Jointly sponsored by the Museum and the Nature Camera Club of Chicago, the show is the largest nature-photography con- test and one of the largest photography

* Because this "Bulletin" went to press before the judges announced their decisions, publication of photographs in this issue does not indicate acceptance of the pictures for the exhibit.

MUSEUM FEATURED IN COLLIER'S

One of the most striking and extensive tributes ever paid by a national magazine to the value of a museum is an article about Chicago Natural History Museum that ap- pears in the February 4 issue of Collier's magazine. Included are six full pages of unusually brilliant color-pictures of the Museum's North American Indian exhibits. The commentary, by Martha Weinman of Collier's staff, emphasizes the fact that this Museum has been a leader in the trend away from stodgy old-fashioned storage- type exhibition cases, overladen with mo- notonous rows of objects, to the modern technique of highly selective exhibits em- bellished by modern concepts of the use of color, lighting, and other artistic devices to tell an integrated story with a few specimens. The use of elaborate three-dimensional lifelilte dioramas to produce in the visitor an awareness of the main elements of a culture is also stressed.

exhibits held anywhere. Approximately 200 prints and 800 color transparencies have been selected for exhibition from over 3,800 entries. Amateur and professional photographers from the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Orient, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand sub- mitted a maximum of four prints and four color slides in three classifications: animal life, plant life, and general (which includes scenery, geographical formations, clouds, and other natural phenomena that do not belong in the two specific biological sections) .

Medals and ribbons will be awarded in all classifications of photographs and color slides. Honorable-mention awards by the Nature Camera Club will be given photo- graphs in all classifications. Two special color-transparency awards will be presented by the Nature Division of the Photographic Society of America for the best photographic work using complementary colors and ad- jacent colors. Names of the winners will be placed on a bronze plaque contributed by Mrs. Myrtle R. Walgreen, Camera Club member.

The first nature-photography contest in Chicago was held in 1943 when an exhibition of prints was presented by the Museum. In 1946 the Nature Camera Club suggested that its membership and the Museum jointly sponsor a contest that would include both prints and color slides, and the exhi- bition has been held every year since. The Camera Club, which holds its program meet- ings at the Museum on the second Tuesday evening of each month, is made up of both amateur and professional photographers.

Judges for the annual contest were May Watts, Fred Richter, and Erik Sorensen, Chicago photographers; M. Kenneth Starr, Curator of Asiatic Archaeology and Eth-

HONEYBEES AND QUEEN CELL

Entered in Animal-Life Division by M. P. Ochotta, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.*

nology at the Museum; and Homer E. Holdren, of the Museum's Division of Photography. Prints will be on exhibition in Stanley Field Hall, and color slides will be projected on the screen of the Museum's James Simpson Theatre at 3 P.M. on two Sundays, February 13 and 20. A list of prize winners and honorable mentions will appear in the March Bulletin.

Copies of this issue of Collier's are available at the Book Shop of the Museum. The article is the second in a series on leading museums of the United States.

STAFF ^OTES

Bryan Patterson, Curator of Fossil Mammals, has returned to his desk at the Museum from his assignment in Argentina where, since September, under a Guggen- heim Foundation fellowship, he has been engaged in a paleontological research project

Dr. Karl P. Schmidt, Chief Curator

of Zoology, has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the newly formed Indian Academy of Zoology, with headquarters at Agra. Recently he lectured on Peru at the Uni- versity of Missouri and spoke before a number of seminars .... Mrs. Mary Sue Hopkins Coates, Secretary of the Depart- ment of Geology, has resigned to take a position as assistant to a consulting geolo- gist in Chicago.

ATTENDANCE LAST YEAR TOPPED MILLION MARK

The number of visitors received at the Museum during 1954 totaled 1,142,200. The attendance has remained over a million annually since the mid-1920's. Of the 1954 visitors, 1,005,777 or close to 88 per cent were admitted free (adults coming on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays when admission is free, children on all days, and special classes of visitors such as teachers, members of the armed forces. Members of the Museum, etc.) Only 136,423 paid the 25-cent admission fee charged on other days.

While an attendance of more than a million persons a year is a gratifying re- flection of the effectiveness of the Museum, it does not tell the whole story. The institution's influence actually reaches hun- dreds of thousands of others every year through the traveling exhibits, lecturers, films, and slides it sends to the schools, through publications of the Museum press, and through newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.

Pages

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

February, 1955

AN 'ANIMAL' SOMETIMES MAY BE A PLANT OR VICE VERSA

By EUGENE S. RICHARDSON. Jr.

CURATOR OF FOSSIL INVERTEBRATES

ii

YOU CANNOT sometimes always tell ..." goes a bit of jargon heard in circles that avoid over-academic English. It often applies very appropriately to the

problem a biologist faces in determining whether an organism should be classified as an animal or a plant.

In Frederick J. V. Skiff Hall (Hall 37) the exhibits of fossil invertebrates and plants are arranged in two parallel sequences on the north and south sides of the hall, respectively. The fossils on the south side are arranged in a time sequence, according to the periods of geologic history in which they flourished. On the north side of the hall similar fossils are displayed in a bio- logical sequence, starting with the simplest forms and running through the various major groups to the most complex creatures. Following the fossil invertebrates come the fossil plants, seemingly a completely dif- ferent sort of life.

Yet, if we turn to the case showing the simplest of the invertebrates and study them a bit, we find that the distinction between plants and animals is somewhat obscure. Now, it's easy enough to be certain that a cactus is a plant and a por- cupine an animal, even though you may regard this as a minor matter when you run into either one in the dark. The cactus, like a proper plant, stays in one place and makes its food supply from sun, air, and soil minerals, while the porcupine, in true animal fashion, wanders about and eats solid food.

The simplest invertebrates (Protozoa) and the simplest plants (Protophyta) are very much alike in that their tiny bodies, microscopic in size, are not made of a num- ber of cells, as are the bodies of the larger plants and animals. They may be con- sidered as single cells or as undivided bodies.

Many of them have both the plant charac- teristic of manufacturing their own food and the animal ability to move about and capture solid food, so that there has been a running argument for about three hundred years as to just which kingdom they should be put in. It was suggested as early as 1860 that they should be considered a separate kingdom, and the name Protista is now used in some circles to apply to the group. Thus it seems that there are four kingdoms instead of the traditional three: Animal, Mineral, and Vegetable.

FIRST CALLED ANIMALCULES

The first man to see a living protistan was Anton van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope. Peering through his new gadget in 1676, he watched a com- pany of "animal- cules," as he called them, disporting themselves in a drop of pond water. Even though the microscope had never made them visible, the protis- tans would have been important to man, as they in- clude germs of many diseases and the factors of rot- ting and decay. Other protistans produce visible effects by sheer force of numbers, as indivi- duals of Haematococcus pluvialis suddenly multiplying in rainwater pools, coloring them red and impelling witnesses to report "rains of blood"; or Noctiluca scintillans, floating in the ocean in countless millions, the combined phosphorescence of many small individuals making the water glow where it is disturbed.

On the exhibit screen in Hall 37 are two examples of the group Flagellata, or whip- bearers, the Silicoflagellata and the Peri-

KEY TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Arc they plants, animals, or members of a fourth kingdom distinct from the traditional animal, vegetable, and mineral realms? In the drawings on this page, Dr. Richardson shows some of the kinds of fossil creatures that present this problem. They are called, in general, protistans, and the specific ones shown are: (a) Radiolarian, with shell of silica; (b) Tintinnid, with shell made of mineral grains fastened to organic membrane of the animal that is also shown; (c) Peridiniid, with cellulose shell; (d and e) Foraminifera, with limy shells.

diniids (or Dinoflagellata), which illustrate well the confusion that may reign in at- tempting to assign these simple living things to either the plant or the animal kingdom. They are free-moving, and can capture their own food, which of course means that they are perfectly good animals, but on the other hand the Silicoflagellates have tests (shells) made of silica, and the Peridiniids have tests of cellulose, both of which are sub- stances commonly found in plants. Further- more, some of their very close relatives are green and contain chlorophyll, the amazing green pigment of plants, and can therefore manufacture their own food from sunlight and gas, as our friend the cactus does; therefore, they must be plants. The solution generally adopted is that the zoologists claim that they are animals and the botahists claim that they are plants, and both groups of scientists study them and admire them and covet them. This is much more satis- factory than leaving them in a crack between

the two fields with no attention being paid to them at all.

Protistans, then, form a perfectly good biological unit that may be easily defined according to the characters shared by all its members — that their bodies are not composed of individual, dif- ferentiated cells, but are "acellular." With the Pro- /p

tista removed, the other two ( \ %i

kingdoms are now much easier to define than they used to be when they inter- graded.

Since this convenient and entirely logical acknowledg- ment of the fourth kingdom was first proposed about a century ago, it is perhaps rather surprising that it has been ignored by most prac- p ticing biologists in the mean- time. In January of this year, however, it was formally brought out again, dusted off, and given very respectable backing with the publication of the first volume of the chapter "Protista" of the new Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology,

February, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 7

sponsored by the Paleontological Society, the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, and the Geological So- ciety of America in this country and the Palaeontographical Society of Great Britain. It remains to be seen of course, whether the new kingdom will now be widely ac- cepted, but it is at last off to a good start. By whatever name they are called, the protistans are a fascinating study. Small though they are, they are far from simple, and those forms that have tests and can be preserved as fossils are objects of delicate beauty under the microscope. The economic importance of the Foraminifera, the most illustrious of the protistans, has been men- tioned in the Bulletin ("Fingerprint Clues in the Quest for Oil," August, 1954). Samples of Silicoflagellates, Peridiniids, Foraminifera, Tintinnids, and Radiolarians are shown in the exhibit in Skiff Hall, where they are represented by plastic models, as much as 1,000 times life-size, created by Artist Joseph B. Krstolich, of the Depart- ment of Zoology.

COLLECTION OF MOTHS GIVEN TO MUSEUM

By RUPERT L. WENZEL

CURATOR OF INSECTS

During the past year the Museum re- ceived a collection of North American butterfles and moths as a gift from the estate of the late Arthur L. McElhose. The collection, which was accessioned recently, contains approximately 12,000 specimens. It is a particularly desirable acquisition because it contains more than 700 species of Microlepidoptera, of which only a few were represented in the Museum's col- lections.

The Microlepidoptera is a large and im- portant group that consists of a number of families of moths, with about 5,000 species in North America. It includes many familiar and economically important species, such as the codling moth, the European corn borer, the oriental fruit moth, the clothes moths, and many leaf rollers and miners. One species, the pink bollworm moth, is regarded by some entomologists as a national menace because it may be responsible for the loss of as much as half the cotton crop in certain areas in the southwestern United States, which produce much of this highly im- portant crop.

Most of the species of Microlepidoptera, however, are of little or no economic im- portance. Many are of interest because of their unusual habits. Of these, the public probably is best acquainted with Laspeyresia sallitans, the Mexican jumping-bean moth, whose larva lives principally within the seed pod of a Mexican spurge, Sebastiana pringlei. The larva causes the seed pod to jump by throwing itself from one side to the other within the pod.

McElhose owned and operated a bath and massage studio in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was well known locally as an amateur lepidopterist and served as secre- tary of the Chicago Entomological Society from 1940 to 1943. His collection included the collection made by his brother, the late Henry McElhose of Ilion, New York, an- other enthusiastic and well-known amateur, who was a charter member of the Entomo- logical Society of America. These two men exemplify the kind of amateurs who, even though they publish little, make a valuable contribution to their field of interest through the careful amassing of well-documented collections, that, after passing to a museum, serve as a source of study material for future investigators.

MUSHROOM FANTASY-

(Continued from page 3)

phenomenon. Young maidens made a prac- tice of beautifying their skin by bathing in the "fairy dew," and took great care not to step within the rings lest the angered fairies- send blemishes to plague them.

Shakespeare, in Midsummer Night's Dream, comments on the country people's belief that elves and fairies dance within the rings at night, seating themselves on the ring's dewy cupolas. Titania, while quarreling with Oberon, tells of the rage of the winds because the fairies no longer dance and of the "contagious fogs" that they "in revenge have sucked up from the sea." One result of the spiteful flood, she says, is that the "nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud." Morris means the dance of the nine men or gnomes who, after their Puck-like expeditions of malice, were said to dance with joy in the moonlight meadow within the mushroom rings. A vestige of that belief can be seen today in the convic- tion of many gardeners that growth of the mushroom is influenced by the changes of the moon.

A visit to the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29) of the Museum will reveal a wealth of infor- mation about these controversial and ex- citing fleshy fungi.

As in early days in Europe, an itinerant barber sometimes acts as a surgeon among African natives. He relieves pain by bleed- ing with a hollow horn. The wide end is cupped over a cut on the site of pain, and the operator sucks air from the horn and plugs the hole at the tip with a pellet of wax, applied by the tip of his tongue. Such horns are shown as part of a barber's equipment in Hall D.

Lectures Begin March S . . .

PROGRAMS ON SATURDAYS FOR ADULTS, CHILDREN

The two annual spring series of Museum programs — Saturday afternoons for adults and Saturday mornings for children — will begin on March 5 in the James Simpson Theatre and continue throughout March and April. The lectures on travel and science for adults are at 2:30 p.m. The free motion-pictures for children are at 10:30 a.m.

The story of "Brazil" in color-film on March 5 will open the Saturday-afternoon lectures, which are provided by the Edward E. Ayer Lecture Foundation Fund. The lecturer will be Eric Pavel, a native Bra- zilian, who is film director for the Pan American Press and Film of Sao Paulo. He will show his films of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and the Amazon jungle, one of the world's least-known wildernesses. Included will be underwater shots of tropical fishes and marine plants, a fish-spearing expedition, glimpses of the teeming animal-life of the country's vast interior, visits to primitive Indian tribes, and scenes at Iguassu, the world's largest waterfalls. Pavel's films also document Brazil's great industries — coffee, sugar, and mining.

No tickets are necessary for admission to this and the eight subsequent illustrated lectures on Saturday afternoons in March and April. A section of the James Simpson Theatre where the programs are presented is reserved for Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats. Requests for these seats should be made in advance by telephone (WAbash 2-9410) or in writing. Seats will be held in the Member's name until 2:25 o'clock on the lecture day. Because of limited accom- modations it is necessary to restrict ad- mission to the Saturday-afternoon lectures to adults.

"Drums for a Holiday," a dramatic and colorful film of the forest people of Africa's west coast, will be the opening attraction on March 5 of the Saturday-morning enter- tainments for children, which are presented by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation. The film shows the life of the Ashanti tribes on the Gold Coast and the growing, harvesting, and shipping of coconuts.

Complete schedules of the programs for both adults and children will appear in the March issue of the Bulletin.

A "family tree" of mammals, including man, illustrating the manifold inter-rela- tionships, is on exhibition in George M. Pullman Hall (Hall 13).

The faculties and students of all educa- tional institutions are offered full use of the facilities of the Museum. Many schools at all levels — grade schools, high schools, colleges, and universities — have regular or- ganized programs in which the Museum is recognized as a prime source of information.

Page 8

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

February, 1955

Books

(All books reviewed in the BULLETIN are available in The Book Shop of the Museum. Mail orders accompanied by remittance in- cluding postage are promptly filled.)

BIRDS THE WORLD OVER. By Austin L. Rand and Emmet R. Blake. Chicago Natural History Museum Press. 96 pages, 51 illustrations. Price $1.50.

Birds the World Over is a once-over of the birds exhibited in the Museum's Hall of Habitat Groups of Birds (Hall 20). It is designed as a guide to the hall, but it was written also in the hope that the visitor might leave the Museum with a memento that would enable him to study and enjoy some of the most remarkable landscapes of the world with their bird inhabitants long after his visit to them in the Museum.

As the authors have emphasized, our exhibition of birds in habitat groups provides a schematic introduction to the geography of birds and to their ecology as well. All of the principal regions of the animal geog- rapher are represented, and when the re- maining spaces in the hall are filled, the representation of bird habitats will be a most satisfactory achievement in the mu- seum techniques of visual education.

One might wish that some of the stories that lie behind so many of the groups had been incorporated into the text. The authors write of the Montezuma oropendula: "All of the nests were suspended in a small area at the very top of a towering tree that measured almost seven feet in diameter at the base and was well over 100 feet high." There is no clue as to how the nests were obtained. It happens that I can relate how those nests were collected. Blake and I got up before 3 o'clock in the morning to take advantage of the coolness of the dawn. We reached the tree just at 3 with our lanterns and took turns chopping with the four- pound double-bitted ax brought from Wis- consin for the purpose. One of us chopped until he was out of breath, and then rested while the other chopped. By the good fortune that the wood was soft, the tree crashed to the ground at 9 o'clock. We had been sad in thinking of the destruction of a whole nesting colony of the big raucous birds as a sacrifice, if not to science, to visual education. Our relief was intense to find so few of the nests occupied with eggs or young that we obtained just enough specimens, in all, for the group as it had been planned and for the study collections.

The study of birds is so popular and has called forth such an ample literature that this field has become one of the best of all avenues through which the amateur can enter the field of natural history. It is

perhaps not sufficiently realized that the Museum's three-dimensional exhibits and "real" mounted birds form a unique supple- ment to the literature. The Museum's collections of birdskins for study provide one of the cornerstones for the continuing additions to the literature about birds; the Museum's exhibition halls form the antidote against too great dependence on books. Here the visitor can supplement, even on the most inclement day, that other antidote to bookishness — study of wild-life in the field.

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

Technical Publications

The following technical publications were issued recently by Chicago Natural History Museum:

Fieldiana: Geology, Vol. 10, No. 19. Fauna of the Vale and Choza, 9; Captorhino- Tnorpha. By Everett Claire Olson. July 29, 1954. 8 pages. 15c.

Fieldiana: Zoology, Vol. 35, No. 3. Check List of North American Water-Mites. By Rodger D. Mitchell. August 31, 1954. 44 pages. 75c.

NEW MEMBERS

(December 16 to January 14)

Associate Members

Robert T. Drake, Louis G. Glick, Dr. Felix Jansey, Maurice B. Mitchell, Peter J. Spiegel, W. J. Williams

Sustaining Members

Patrick H. Hume, Mrs. Edward P. Lay, John Alden Morgan

Annual Members

Carlyle E. Anderson, A. W. Bemsohn, Carl A. Bick, Dr. Eugene Bodmer, Mrs. Robert T. Borcherdt, Joseph Broska, Charles F. Cutter, Rev. Walter L. Fas- nacht, Robert S. Faurot, Norman W. Forgue, Edward E. Gardner III, Herbert Geist, John P. Gormley, Miss Janet Haag, Frederick J. Haake, Mrs. George Hanson, Joseph L. Hassmer, David A. Hill, Fred K. Hoehler, Arthur L. Hossack, Pat Hoy, Norman H. Johnstone, Daniel Karlin, Miss Ola M. Kemp, Henry Kenny, Samuel C. Kincheloe, Robert H. King, Elmer W. Kneip, John S. Knight, C. A. Knuepfer, Edgar E. Koretz, Carl A. Kroch, William O. Kurtz, Jr., Leslie S. Larson, David L. Leeds, Miss Edna V. Liljedahl, Howard Linn, Jerrold Loebl, Harold Love, V. Reges Lynch, Roger McCormick, J. Dunlap McDevitt, Dr. Emerson K. McVey, Horace J. Mellum, J. Alfred Moran, K. P. Morgan, Robert C. Munnecke, William F. Naylor, Jr., Albert E. Neely, Gordon K. Palais, William J. Payes, Jr., Sherwood K. Piatt, J. H. Price, Mrs. John A. Renn, George L. Rutherford, James S. Saleson, Dr. Louis Scheman, Dr. Edward L. Schrey, Bernard Snyder, John Stewart, James H. Stiggleman, George Van Gerpen, William F. Walthouse, Winfield C. Warman, Vernon M. Welsh

"Highlights Tours" Oficred Daily

Free guide-lecture tours are offered daily except Sundays under the title "Highlights of the Exhibits." These tours are designed to give a general idea of the entire Museum and its scope of activities. They begin at 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday and at 2:30 P.M. on Saturday.

Special tours on subjects within the range of the Museum exhibits are available Mon- days through Fridays by advance request.

Although there are no tours on Sundays, the Museum is open from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.

GIFTS TO THE MUSEUM

Following is a list of the principal gifts received during the past month:

Department of Botany:

From: Holly R. Bennett, Chicago— 818 phanerogams; Dr. Chester S. Nielsen, Talla- hassee, Fla. — 132 algae; Dr. Camillo Sbar- baro, Spotorno (Savona), Italy — 100 cryp- togams, Italy; Dr. John W. Thieret, Chicago — 202 wood specimens, 12 herbarium speci- mens, Illinois, Indiana, and Cuba

Department of Zoology:

From: Chicago Zoological Society, Brook- field, 111. — birdskin, 2 bird skeletons; Robert J. Drake, El Cajon, Calif. — 3 lots of Mexican land-shells, California and Mexico; Arthur M. Greenhall, Trinidad, B.W.I.— 24 bats; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. — collection of shells, western Pacific Ocean; Sidney Dealey Morris, Highland Park, 111. — birdskin; Museum and Art Gallery, Durban, Natal, South Africa — 8 birdskins; Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden — collection of land-shells, Chile and Peru; Dr. George K. Reid, Jr., College Station, Tex. — 7 fishes; Dr. Jeanne S. Schwengel, Scarsdale, N. Y. — collection of snail shells; Dr. Charles H. Seevers, Home- wood, III. — 22 Staphylinid beetles. United States and neotropics; Dr. Harald Sioli, Belem, Brazil — collection of inland shells. Lower Amazon basin; Dr. Henry Field, Coconut Grove, Fla. — collection of marine shells, Dubai, Persian Gulf; Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Hoger, Westmont, 111. — 14 shore birds, Lake Calumet; Harry Hoogstraal, Cairo, Egypt, 110 fleas, 9 mite paratypes, 70 birds, Egypt, Turkey, and Yemen; Lederle Laboratories, New York — fruit bat, Honduras; Northwestern University Dental School, Chicago — 15 dog skulls, 12 cat skulls, 2 sets of elephant teeth, 17 reptile skulls, 3 amphibian skulls; Dr. Charles D. Radford, Manchester, England — 16 slides of parasitic mites; Prof. Hans Stiibel, Erlangen, Ger- many— Uraniid moth, Madagascar; Lt. Col. Robert Traub, Washington, D.C. — 3 slides of chigger mites, 30 fleas on slides. North Borneo, United States, Mexico, and Peru

Motion Picture Division:

From: American Airlines, Inc., New York • — film "Flight over the Arctic"

The North American woods of most im- portance economically are exhibited in Charles F. Millspaugh Hall (Hall 26).

PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS

_ fiULLEtlN

■^ ^^ Vol.-26.No.3-March-1955

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Page 2

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

March. 1955

Chicago Natural History Museum

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893

Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 5

Telephone: WAbash 2-9410

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lester Aruour Henry P. Isham

Sewell L. Avery Hughston M. McBain

Wm. McCoruick Blair William H. Mitchell

Walther Buchen John T. Pirie, Jr.

Walter J. Cuumings Clarence B. Randall

Joseph N. Field George A. Richardson

Marshall Field John G. Searle

Marshall Field, Jr. Solomon A. Smith

Stanley Field Louis Ware

Samuel Insull, Jr. John P. Wilson

OFFICERS

Stanley Field President

Marshall Field First Vice-President

Hughston M. McBain Second Vice-President

Joseph N. Field Third Vice-President

Solomon A. Smith Treasurer

Clifford C. Gregg Director and Secretary

John R. Millar Assistant Secretary

THE BULLETIN

EDITOR Clifford C. Gregg Director of the Museum

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Paul S. Martin Chief Curator of Anthropology

Theodor Just Chief Curator of Botany

Sharat K. Roy Chief Curator of Geology

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

MANAGING EDITOR H. B. Harte Public Relations Counsel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Helen A. MacMinn Jane Rockwell

Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address.

PHRAGMOSIS: ANIMALS WITH BUILT-IN DOORS

By KARL P. SCHMIDT chief curator of zoology

IT IS A FEATURE of scientific literature that every branch of science tends to develop sets of special terms, and these may form a considerable barrier to the student who is trying to begin studies in some field and finds that he must rapidly acquire a whole new vocabulary. Coining new words or giving special meanings to old ones was so popular during the rise of the biological subscience, ecology, that it became a real drag on its development, as a glance at the 300-odd pages of Carpenter's Ecological Glossary of 1938 will demonstrate. Coining terms for ecological phenomena and prin- ciples has continued, including both the useful and the unnecessary tyj>es.

Carpenter's Glossary is focused primarily on the terminology of the earlier phases of ecology, mainly botanical. The necessary inclusion of the interaction of plants and animals leads to a further essential expansion of ecological terms. I have chosen one of the less known, phragmosis, for illustration of a relatively unknown word that has proved its usefulness and that covers a phenomenon of somewhat extraordinary nature, namely the adaptation by evolution of either the head or rear of an animal body as a device for closing the opening of a

burrow in which it lives, or for merely closing the burrow behind the animal.

SIGNAL TO THE GUARD

Such closure of the opening of a burrow by an animal head is especially noteworthy in insects. In many species of ants the head of the soldier caste has been developed to close the openings of ant-burrows in wood. One of the most familiar examples is that of a common species of ant in Texas that lives in oak galls. In this species, the head of the soldier is sharply truncate and flat on its forward surface, and the openings into the gall are made so that the soldier's flat, round shields fit them exactly. The worker that desires exit must tap the soldier from behind with her antennae, whereupon he stands aside and lets her pass through. The entering worker palps the shield, and the living door opens and lets her in. Similar effective

C.\RR1LS Hi UL KROW DOOR

Pichiciego. smallest of all armadillos, has a vertical

shield at the rear of its body that closes the path

behind as it digs its way into the ground.

hole-closing devices are to be found in the heads of many species of ants, of wood- boring beetles and of termite soldiers. In spiders there are a number of forms with truncate abdomens, so that the vertical earth- burrow is effectively closed when the spider comes to rest, head-downward, in it.

Vertebrates, with their larger size-range, have given rise to a surprisingly large num- ber of examples of hole closure by the body or parts of the body. Frogs that live in rock crevices or in knotholes in trees tend to close the hole by bending the neck so that the top of the head is at right angles to the axis of the body. When the head attains the level of a perfected hole-closing struc- ture, as in various genera of frogs from Yucatan and West Mexico to Brazil, the skin of the head is found to have become bony, with sharp ridges and points. A small toad in Cuba lives in vertical burrows in the soil and closes the opening with its bony head. A group of burrowing snakes in southern India is referred to as shield-tailed, and it is suspected that the very large bony shield in which the tail ends, serves to close the burrow as the snake moves along. The end of the tail of one of the shield-tailed snakes even is the same diameter as its body and is sharply truncate.

Even more surprising, until related to the general phenomenon of phragmosis, are the

■THIS MONTH'S COVBR-

Sites of archaeological interest will be covered in Dr. Alfred M. Bailey's films and lecture, "Ari- zona Through the Seasons," to be presented March 19 as the third program in the Museum's Spring Course of illustrated lectures on science and travel. Our cover shows a view of the Museum's own miniature diorama of one of the most important sites — the Mummy-Cave Village, a cliff- dwelling in Canyon del Muerto. The cave was occupied sporadi- cally by Indians from about a.d. 350 to 1300, because it offered good shelter and was easily defended against enemies. Household ob- jects and human burials or "mummies" have been well pre- served in the cave because of its dryness. Drought and a military defeat drove the last inhabitants southwards from the cave, and they are believed to have joined their cousins, the Hopis.

structures of the small armadillo, the pichi- ciego of western Argentina.

The little pichiciego, the smallest of all armadillos, is less than six inches long from nose to tail-shield. It is a burrower, more extremely so even than the rest of the arma- dillo group, and has correspondingly reduced eyes, enlarged front claws, and, surprisingly in an armadillo, a thick coat of silky hair beneath its bony shield. Even more as- tonishing is the fact that it has a separate vertical shield at the rear end of its body, from which its ridiculous little tail projects, and that this rear shield is enlarged to the diameter of its body. The burrow of the pichiciego is closed at the rear at all times.

Phragmoiic seems a formidable term to apply to a little creature so charming, but its scientific name Chlamydophorus truncatus is even longer. This means the "truncated mantle-bearer," the mantle referring to the* body shield; Iruncaliis, referring to the sharply vertical rear end, is thoroughly descriptive.

A mounted pichiciego (its common name means little blind armadillo) has long stood on my work table as a prized personal desk ornament. A French naturalist in Paris had offered it to the Museum, which had better specimens and so did not purchase it. As my colleague needed money more than armadillos, I purchased it from him myself in what was certainly a mutually advantageous bargain. My pichiciego serves to remind me of those extremes of adjust- ment that often illuminate the less-evident stages of the great process of orderly evolu- tion in relation to habits and environment.

March, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page S

ESKIMOS ACHIEVE A LIVELY ART IN FACE OF HANDICAPS

By jane ROCKWELL

IN THE TUNDRA and along the rugged coast of the Canadian Arctic where materials and cultural advantages as we know them are sparse, a lively contemporary art exists among the Eskimos. Their crea- tions have been judged unique and meaning- ful wherever they have been exhibited.

A special exhibit of 60 pieces of sculpture by the Eskimos of northern Canada will be shown at the Museum March 4 to 28 in co-operation with the Depart- ment of Northern Affairs and National Resources of Canada. Accompanying the sculpture will be black-and-white photographs both of pieces of art not included in the exhibit and scenes of the country where the art was cre- ated.

Unfamiliar with such modern sculptor's tools as mallet and chisel, calipers and dividers, the Eskimo must rely on tools used in everyday life to fashion his works of art. Today steel tools fitted in handles of bone, antler, or ivory have replaced the flint-like stones and slate used in the past, and modern tools are used whenever possible.

The limited materials available caused the Canadian Eskimos to turn to stones and ivory for their art media, and the semi- nomadic character of their people necessi- tated fashioning only small pieces of sculp- ture since tribes could not be burdened with large, heavy pieces during their frequent moves from place to place. The transitory nature of their culture also developed in its people a keen sense of observation in which essential detail and mastery of form and motion are stressed.

RESEMBLES MODERN ART

Eskimo art, identifiable as primitive, bears a striking resemblance to modern art forms in its simplicity of design and emphasis on only the essential characteristics of the sub- ject. While simplicity of design in modern art usually is a product of an intellectual choice, simplicity in this primitive art is conditioned by the limitations of Eskimo culture. The carver is intimately ac- quainted with the subjects he portrays — the hunter stalking the polar bear, the owl guarding its nest, the mother holding her child — the everyday incidents which make up his basic cultural pattern. His conception of the universe causes him to attribute to things, living or dead, the emotions and even the speech of human beings. In his art, as in his conversations with companions, the Eskimo brings to light his human-like interpretation of animals and objects.

Small carvings found in ancient Eskimo villages are known to have had magical sig- nificance to their inhabitants — which is in

keeping with the primitive concept that making a likeness of anything helps to materialize it. Primitive man, since early times, has painted, drawn, or modeled images of the animals on which he and his tribesmen depend for food. Carvings — replicas of such possessions of deceased persons as sleds, kayaks, or harpoons — have been placed on Eskimo graves because the originals were too valuable to be lavished on the dead. Whether this custom is a

RIFLEMAN '*Modcrnistic" conception in stone by an Eskimo sculptor

remnant of a now-forgotten Asiatic culture or merely pure love of craftsmanship, the art of the Eskimo is unpretentious and without any trace of self-consciousness. Even after a century of exposure to Euro- pean culture, Eskimo art remains original, creative, and virile.

Eskimo art is not limited to sculpture alone. Few women are interested in carving as an art form, but they are responsible for highly original designs on clothing, baskets and the artistic skin pictures which are stitched on bags and other articles. Like

the men, women rely completely on memory of form and visualize their design in its entirety before making their sealskin cutouts and superimposing them on a white back- ground. Quality and design in clothing are yardsticks for establishing respect among the Eskimos themselves, so the women do not take their craft lightly.

Eskimo custom forbids any show of pride on the part of the artist and dictates that the individual should malign his own work as useless and unworthy to be attempted again. Consequently, it is impossible to find any two pieces of Eskimo art alike in form, movement, or concept. Another curious convention pro- vides that when a swimming ani- mal is depicted, only the part visible above the water is shown. Carvings are cut off by means of a horizontal plane representing the surface of the water.

Carvings, decoration of skins, drawings on antlers and horns — all are art forms most familiar to the outside world. Singing, dancing, the poetry of the Es- kimo legend or song, although they are equally a part of the culture, are less known since they can be translated only with great difficulty in an alien land with an alien tongue. As for the objectives of the Eskimo artist, there is no written record accompany- ing his work and the artist seldom gives ut- terance to abstract thought. We do know that his art is a personal thing, not created for commercial ends. Forced to spend much of his time in his home because of the severe climate, the Eskimo must provide his own amusement. An individualist who has never allowed himself time for warfare, the indu.s- trious Eskimo in his idle hours has ample time to contemplate and perfect his art.

The Museum has a permanent exhibit, entitled Ethnology of Eskimos of Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Greenland, in Joseph Nash Field Hall (Hall 10).

LITTLE MISS OF THE NORTH An Eskimo artist's creation in stone

11,500 Girl Scouts Aided

In slightly more than two years, more than 11,500 Girl Scouts of Chicago and vicinity have participated in special pro- grams arranged by the Museum to assist them in the accomplishment of their various objectives, with special emphasis on helping them to qualify for proficiency in nature study. The period ran from October, 1952 through November, 1954. In all, more than sixty programs were conducted. Further programs of the kind, operated as before through the co-operation of the staff of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation, began in February. The ses- sions, which will continue in March and April, are held on Saturday mornings.

Page It

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

March, 1955

BIRD NAMES FOR HOTELS

By AUSTIN L. RAND

CURATOR OF BIRDS

IN A CURIOUS ARTICLE, entitled "The Ornithology of Inn Signs," Dr. W. B. Alexander* discusses the names of birds ap- plied to hotels and inns in England. He has a list of over 1,000 establishments with such names, but there are far less than 1,000 different birds involved. The swan, for instance, has lent its name to nearly 400 establishments. When there are more than one of these hostelries in a town they are sometimes differentiated, as in Bedford where there is a Swan-by-the-River, and a Swan-hy-the-Station, and in York there is a Swan, a White Swan, an Old While Swan, a Black Swan, and a Cygnet. The total list numbers about 65 different birds, starting with the most frequent Swan, Cock, and Eagle, and running through such names as Magpie, Partridge, Pelican, Parrot, Lark, and Rook, to Yutick (Winechai), the least used.

When Dr. Alexander's pamphlet came to my desk I naturally thought, "How about in America?" I've traveled considerably in this country, but bird names are few in my memory. There's a Pelican Cottage in Florida, and a Kingfisher Cottage, too, among motels; in Greencastle, Indiana, there's a Fluttering Duck; near Chicago I know of a Blue Bird Inn, a Cardinal Motel, and somewhere there's a Flamingo Motor Court. Near Madison there's a place called the Peacock. Blackhawk is used commonly in the Illinois-Wisconsin area but comes from the bird only second-hand, by way of the Indian chieftain after whom the Black- hawk Wars were named.

A Turkey Inn and a place labeled Chicken Dinner I hesitated to include. They have an air of impermanency and when next I pass I wouldn't be surprised to see them flaunting such slogans as Flounder Inn, Irish Stew, Cold Plate Inn, or Giant Cheeseburger

TWO IN CHICAGO

I thought that perhaps my memory was faulty so I turned to the Chicago classified telephone directory. In the whole of Chi- cago there were only two hotels with names of birds. These were a Sheldrake (I did not count the Drake, always having associated this hotel, at the entrance to the Gold Coast, with Sir Francis rather than with a male duck, until on inquiry I found it is actually named after a Chicago family), and a Flamingo-on-lhe-Lake (evidently there should be another Flamingo, by the station or back of the yards, but it didn't appear.

I thought: perhaps only rural England has such rustic names as those of birds for their hotels — urban areas might be different; how would London compare with Chicago? Then I had a piece of luck. Miss Ruth Johnson, who draws the cartoons for this

series and who has just become Mrs. William Andris, was making a trip to Europe to celebrate the event. She said she'd be in London and would investigate.

While in London she looked up the hotel, inn, and tavern names in the telephone directory. She brought back a list of about 190 such institutions in London named after birds. As one would guess, the swan headed

* Dr. .-Mexander is associated with the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Oxford, England.

the list. It had given, its name to 79 hos- telries, including the Swan, Ye Swan, White Swan, Old Swan, Old White Swan, Ye Olde White Swan, Swan with Two Necks, Black Swan, etc. The prevalence of the name swan. Dr. Alexander suggests, may be correlated with a number of things: for waterside inns it may refer to the presence of the birds themselves; there is a labored implication, said to have been stated on a Dutch sign- board, that swan is a popular name for an alehouse because the bird is so fond of liquid; it may be heraldic in origin, the whiteness of the swan having been a symbol of purity and of knighthood and once a badge of nobles and royalty; or perhaps it was favored because the outline of a swan, painted on an inn sign, was so easily recog- nized, a matter of more importance in an earlier day when few could read.

Eagle used in one form or another for 33 inns probably also correlates with heraldry (except for two Eagle and Child, evidently tied in with the old belief that eagles carry away children), and cock (29 times, with Hen appearing only once, and then as Hen and Chickens) were the next most common. Then through such names as penguin (which is an addition to Alexander's list), nightin- gale, raven, magpie, pigeon, parrot and owl to total 18 birds that have thus lent their names. There were birds in three's a num- ber of times: Three Magpies, Three Cranes, Three Pigeons which could be related to heraldry, but there were also two Two Eagles, and one Four Swans.

The Pelican perhaps is based on the medi-

aeval association of the bird with Christian piety, and as a badge the bird was then shown with its nest and young. This, it is said, is the origin of the Hen and Chickens, rather than the domestic fowl that supplied the common Cock. One wonders about the Peahen; perhaps it's a ladies' hotel, though various "Peacock Alleys" I've known were recognized as places in which ladies dis- played their finery. The Bird in Hand probably refers to falconry and not the proverb, judging by other pictured inn signs; the Dog and Partridge (another addition to Alexander's list) evidently is a resort of sportsmen, and the Fox and Geese perhaps refers to a game of that name played there.

Chicago has two inns named after birds. London has 190. Evidently a difference exists. There is geographical variation in the use of bird names for hotels and inns. But this is also true in England, where Alexander found bird names common only in the Anglo-Saxon areas, not in the Celtic areas.

Not only bird names are scarce, in my experience, in America, but there are also few hotels named after mammals: there are few, if any, bears, bulls, cats, cows, horses, etc. such as are common in England.

But in my cursory investigation I find plant names, especially tree names, very common: birches, maples, elms, oaks, pines, and spruces, in various numbers.

Spring Visiting Hours Begin

Visiting hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. will go into effect at the Mu.seum from March 1 through April 30, an extension of one hour beyond the 4 o'clock closing time observed during the winter months.

Technical Publications

The following technical publications were issued recently by Chicago Natural History Museum:

Fieldiana: Botany, Vol. 29, No. 1. Revision of the Genus Cheirodendron Nutt. Ex Seem, for the Hawaiian Islands. By Earl Ed- ward Sherff. November 11, 1954. 45 pages. 75c.

Fieldiana: Anthropology, Vol. 44, No. 1. Proto-Lima, a Middle Period Culture of Peru. By A. L. Kroeber. Appendix: Cloths. By Dwight T. Wallace. De- cember 15, 1954. 157 pages, 94 illustra- tions. $4.

Fieldiana: Zoology, Vol. 34, No. 28. Some Mites of Yemen, Collected by the Medical Mission of the United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3. By Charles D. Radford. December 23, 1954. 19 pages, 13 illustrations. 45c.

Fieldiana: Zoology, Vol. 34, No. 29. A New Larval Mite from Eritrea (Acarina: Trom- biculidale). By Charles D. Radford. December 23, 1954. 4 pages, 4 illustra- tions. 10c.

March, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 5

Books

{All books reviewed in the Bulletin are available in The Book Shop of the Museum. Mail orders accompanied by remittance in- cluding postage are promptly filled.)

MARLIN PERKINS' ZOOPARADE. By

Marlin Perkins. Rand McNally and Company. 96 pages, illustrated. $2.95.

It is not often that the advance publicity for a book begins many years before it is written, but that is certainly the case with Marlin Perkins' Zooparade. His success with a television program under that name has given Mr. Perkins a nation-wide repu- tation, and it is fortunate that his host of listeners can now extend their acquaintance with him. He may not realize how much of himself is projected over the television net- work or how much his personality, infused by his sympathetic love of animals, is re- flected in the pages of his book.

The colored illustrations of Zooparade, by the well-known American animal-artist Paul Branson, are pleasing and appropriate. The marginal drawings in black and white are a feature of the book, performing the double function of decoration and illustration of the text. The young Chicago artist, Seymour Fleishman, is to be congratulated for his life-like drawings. Maps show the distribution of notable types of animals.

As an animal book for children, Zooparade can stand on its own merits, whether one has seen the famous television program or not. It is not only a pleasing book for children to read, but it is one that parents can read to children with pleasure.

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

STAFF NOTES

Colonel Clifford C. Gregg, Director, was principal speaker at the annual meeting of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, held January 28. His topic was "The Place of the Museum in Its Com- munity." . . . Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, Curator Emeritus of Botany, has left for Cuba to continue research on palms in which he has been engaged for years .... Dr. Theodor Just, Chief Curator of Botany, has been appointed a member of the Committee on Systematic Biology of the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. . . . Loren P. Woods, Curator of Fishes, who left on an expedition to Mexico toward the close of 1954, has proceeded from his first ba.se at Salina Cruz on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to a second center at Acapulco. He reports successful col- lecting in tide-pools in that Pacific coast area. The collections made at Salina Cruz

have already been received at the Museum .... Dr. Donald Collier, Curator of South American Archaeology and Ethnology, re- cently conducted a seminar on "Research in Archaeology" at the University of Chi- cago . . . Dr. John B. Rinaldo, Assistant Curator of Archaeology, was consultant on archaeology for the "Career Day" recently held for students at Lyons Township High School .... Miss Phyllis M. Brady has been appointed Secretary of the Department of Geology. She attended Culver-Stockton College, Northwestern University, and the latter's Gregg College for Secretaries. She was formerly employed in a Chicago adver- tising firm.

NEW MEMBERS

(January 17 to February 14)

Contributors

Dr. Robert L. Fleming, Evett D. Hester, Arthur L. McElhose*, Ellen Thome Smith

Associate Members

Guy T. Avery, John R. Doolittle, Harold Meidell, George B. Whitfield

Annual Members

Mrs. Cecil Barnes, V. R. Belden, Dr. George W. Birch, Robert Blumenfeld, Milton M. Blumenthal, Robert E. Bodman, Sidney L. Boyar, William N. Brock, Robert Livingston Childs, Mrs. Ross Coles, Lynn C . Farber, Joseph F. Fasano, William E. Fisher, W. J. Foell, John Jay Fox, Jr., John J. Gearen, W. P. Gilbert, Frank B. Gilmer, David Bruce Glade, Norman Glickman, Robert V. Gottschall, John L. Hall, Robert I. Harwood, Dr. V. O. Hasek, Frederick Charles Hecht, Mrs. Marion Hilker, Dr. A. A. Hilkevitch, Dr. Benjamin H. Hilke- vitch, Charles W. Hill, Dormand S. Hill, Clarence W. Hines, Joseph Humm, John S. Hutchins, George R. Jones, Otto Kerner, Robert A. Kroeschell, Mrs. Roy Kroeschell,

F. H. Kullman, Jr., George H. Kurtz, Seymour J. Kurtz, Montgomery Le Goff, Al Lerner, William Bross Lloyd, Jr., Dr. J. S. Love, Jr., Dr. Samuel S. Lyon, Dr. S. Allen Mackler, Fred J. Mangier, Charles V. Martin, V. F. Mashek, Jr., Joseph A. Matter, Fred W. MeCloska, Mrs. Walker

G. McLaury, George Merker, David C. Mervis, Carl A. Metz, Lloyd D. Miller, Frank W. Moran, C. Robert O'Boyle, George W. Overton, Jr., Stewart T. Peck, Thomas C. Quackenboss, Dr. John M. Reichert, J. Stuart Rotchford, Joseph A. Roseman, Jr., Dean Rotenberry, Dr. Ricardo E. Saldivar, Bruce M. Smith, F. L. Spreyer, John Paul Stevens, Frederick B. Stocker, Jr., Eugene T. Sullivan, John B. Van Duzer, John T. Vernon, Frederick A. Warde, George W. Weatherby, Louis J. Weiss

*Dei

An interesting series of paintings con- trasting modern whaling methods with those of the days of Moby Dick may be seen in Hall N-1.

Movies and Puppet Show . . .

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS BEGIN MARCH 5

Eight movie programs and a stage pre- sentation of a puppet show are offered free of charge for children in the annual spring series of entertainments to be presented at the Museum on Saturday mornings during March and April by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation. As additional features on two programs, the explorers who made the films — Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, Director of the Denver Museum of Natural History, and Robert Davis — will be present to tell the stories of the people, animals, and plants shown. Like- wise, Basil Milovsoroff will come from the Folktale Puppet Studio at Norwich, Ver- mont, to stage personally the showing of the puppets which he creates.

All of the programs will be given in the James Simpson Theatre of the Museum at 10:30 A.M. Children are welcome either alone, accompanied by parents or other adults, or in groups from schools, clubs and other centers. Following are the dates and subjects of the programs:

March 5 — Drums for a Holiday

Color picture of the life of forest people on Africa's west coast

March 12 — China — Land op the Dragon Typical life ways before the changes of

recent years Also a cartoon

March 19 — Arizona Through the Seasons Animals and plants of an arid region Story by Alfred M. Bailey

March 26— Iceland — Capri of the North How a hardy people lives; featuring an

exciting whale hunt Story by Robert Davis

April 2 — Some Favorite Animals

Creatures of both the wilds and the farm Also a cartoon

April 9 — El Navajo

Nomadic Indians of the Southwest Also a cartoon

April 16 — The Carnival of Insects

The Fisherman and His Wife Two puppet plays, presented by Basil Milovsoroff

April 23 — People Along the Mississippi River The fabled stream of Tom Sawyer's and

Huckleberry Finn's adventures Also a cartoon

April 30 — Beaver Valley

One of Walt Disney's "True-Life Adven- ture" films Also a cartoon

Page 6

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

March, 1955

WINNERS OF NATURE PHOTO CONTEST HONORS

Photography enthusiasts, whether they're in the professional or "shutter-bug" cate- gory, have been multiplying at a great rate during the past few years. With this as- tounding growth has come more and more

li

/

DIMPLES

By Yu-chiu Cheung, of Hong Kong. Awarded

silver medal first prize in Animal-Lifc Section of

Nature Photography Exhibition.

specialization as camera fans have concen- trated on one phase or another of photog- raphy. One of the largest and most popular fields of specialization is nature photog- raphy, and few branches produce pictures of as much interest to the average viewer. Each year during the past decade, the steady growth of this form of camera wizardry has been emphasized by the Chi- cago International Nature Photography Ex- hibition held under the joint auspices of the Museum and the Nature Camera Club of Chicago. Each of the ten shows held has surpassed its predecessors, not only in num- ber of persons competing and number of photographs entered, but also in quality of

the entries which come from all parts of the world.

This year's exhibit, the tenth, drew a total of 3,739 entries from which 788 color transparencies and 241 black-and-white prints were selected for exhibition. Dis- played last month in Stanley Field Hall of the Museum, the exhibit was the largest of its kind held anywhere.

Six persons won silver medals for their photographs which placed first in the animal, plant and general sections of the show's two divisions — color slides and black-and-white prints. Eighty-eight honorable mentions were awarded, 16 of them to residents of Chicago and vicinity. Following are lists of persons receiving medals and honorable mention awards in the two divisions:

MEDAL WINNERS Prints:

Animal-Life Section; Yu-chu Cheung, Hong Kong, China — Dimples

Plant-Life Section: G. H. Wagner, Omaha — Pua heilani

General Section: Gertrude Pool, Palo Alto, Calif. — Death Valley Dunes

Color Slides:

Animal-Life Section: Rev. J. R. Swain, Middle- town, Conn. — Wood Thrush at Nest with Young.

DEATH VALLEY DUNES

By Gertrude Pool, of Palo Alto, California.

Awarded silver medal first prize in General Section

of Nature Photography Exhibition.

PUA LEILANI

By G. H. Wagner, of Omaha, Nebraska, Awarded

silver medal first prize in Plant 'Life Section of

Nature Photography Exhibition.

Plant-Life Section: Katherine M. McGregor, Toronto, Canada — Twisted-stalk Pattern.

General Section: Elizabeth S. French, Los Angeles — Sand Magic

HONORABLE MENTIONS Prints and Color Slides, All Sections

Chicago Area

Herbert J. Bassman, J. H. Boulet, Jr., Louise K. Broman, Mrs. M. Johnson Fuller, James Lee Kirkland, Grace H. Lanctot, Arthur W. Papke, Clara Schmitt, Myrtle R. Walgreen, Ruth Wood, Dr. Robert L. Fleming, Blanche Kolarik, Ruasel Kriete, Margaret Lewis, George M. Wood, Ted Farrington, and J. Musser Miller

Outside Chicago Area

Barbara Haasch, Boise, Ida.; Grant M. Haist, Rochester, N.Y.; Lawrence G. Heinrich, Charlottesville, Va.; Wilfrede Jossy, Bend, Ore.; Mrs. Harold Kuhlman, Oklahoma City; Jacques Legare, Quebec, Canada; T. Middleton, Glossop, England; R. Menard, Paris,

"Highlights Tours" Offered Daily

Free guide-lecture tours are offered daily except Sundays under the title "Highlights of the Exhibits." These tours are designed to give a general idea of the entire Museum and its scope of activities. They begin at 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday and at 2 :30 p.m. on Saturday.

GIFTS TO THE MUSEUM

Following is a list of the principal gifts received during the past month:

Department of Anthropology:

From: E. D. Hester, Jeffersonville, Ind. — 134 pieces of ceramic recoveries, Philip- pine Islands; Mrs. Lily Zingarelli — a tweezer made of fiber. New Guinea

Department of Botany:

From: United States Department of Agri- culture, Beltsville, Md. — 5 samples of soybeans

Department of Geology:

From: Dr. Stajan Pavlovic, Belgrade, Yugoslavia — Chalcophanite mineral, Serbia; Clara A. Powell, Grand Rapids, Mich. — a group of Permian Age fossils, Oklahoma; Dominic Ramponi, Buhl, Minn. — 6-pound lake Superior agate

Department of Zoology:

From: Chicago Zoological Society, Brook- field, 111. — a siamang, Sumatra; Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfleld, 111. — a croco- dile; Dr. Ralph E. Crabill, St. Louis— a paratype of a centipede Geophilus ampyx Crabill, South Carolina; Dr. Bryan P. Glass, Stillwater, Okla. — 3 bats; Harry Hoogstraal, Cairo, Egypt — 13 bird skins and 55 mam- mals; Dr. James N. Layne, Carbondale, 111. — 2 batflies and 2 beetles, Illinois and New York; Estate of Arthur L. McElhose, Ar- lington Heights, 111. — collection of North American Lepidoptera; Museum of Com- parative Zoology, Canbridge, Mass. — 13 turtles, Iraq, Iran, Syria

France; M. M. Deaderick, Carpenteria, Calif.; H. J. Ensenberger, Bloomington, 111.; Bosworth Lemere, Carpenteria, Calif.; Jack Roche, Caldwell, N. J.; Jay Sanders, San Diego, Calif.; Anders Sten, Vika, Sweden; Lilla Deuel, Santa Barbara, Calif.; R. E. Egbert, Olympia, Wash.; George E. French, Los .\ngeles: Veronica Scheetz, Beverly Hills, Calif.; I. C. Barker, San Francisco; Afford W. Cooper, Worland, Wyo.

Ellen Cubitt, Toronto, Canada: W. L. Dennis, Decatur, 111.; Roger W. Flagg, Pleasantville, N. Y.; Larry Fong, Pleasantville, N. Y.; F. C. Gebhardt, Erie, Pa.; H. W. Greenhood, Los Angeles; H. Haigh, Stamford, Canada; William H. Harlow, Syracuse, N. v.; Harry G. Hoke, Stillwater, Okla.; Walter Jarvis, New York; R. O. Malcomson, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.; Katherine M. McGregor, Toronto, Canada; Dr. R. B. Pomeroy, Scarsdale, N. Y.; William D. Popejoy, Normal, 111.; Robert W. L. Potts, San Francisco; C. W. Pugh, Toronto, Canada; Mrs. Irma Louise Rudd, Redondo Beach, Calif.; J. .\. Russell, Sacra- mento, Calif.; Roy S. Town, Napa, Calif.; Leslie Tucker, Willowdale, Canada; Rudolph Zirngibl, Rochester, N. Y.; Gertrude Pool, Palo Alto, Calif."

H. Lewis Batts, Jr., Kalamazoo, Mich.; E. R. Degginger, Syracuse, N. Y.; F. G. Farrell, Cristobal, Canal Zone; R. M. Greer, Joy, 111.; Wilfred Kimber, Monson, Mass.; L. J. Loomis, Endicott, N. Y.; Louis Quitt, Buffalo, N. Y.; Samuel Stern, New York; Morton Strauss, University Heights, Ohio; H. A. Thornhill, Merced, Calif.; John E. Walsh, Beverly, Mass.; Mrs. John E. Walsh, Beverly, Mass.; Tosi Giovanni, Modena, Italy; Carl Mans^eld, Blooming- dale, Ohio

SPECIAL MEDALS FOR COLOR SLIDES

Awarded by the Photographic Society of America

Mrs. Blanche Kolarik, Chicago — Fog Over Koke; E. R. Degginger, Syracuse, N. Y. — The Wood Nymph

March, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 7

SATURDAY TRAVEL FILMS AND LECTURES BEGIN THIS MONTH

EVERY SATURDAY AFTERNOON during March and April, Museum Members, their guests, and the general public will visit faraway lands of beauty, enchantment, and romance. Through the medium of color motion pictures, audiences in the Museum's James Simpson Theatre will accompany explorers and scientists who travel to all parts of the world on their picture-taking expeditions.

The Saturday visual jaunts will be held at 2:30 p.m. from March 5 through April 30. Nine lecturers will show films on Brazil, Florida, Arizona, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, the Pacific Coast, the Holy Lands, Mexico, and Australia. The annual spring course is presented under the provisions of the Edward E. Ayer Lecture Foundation Fund. Admission is restricted to adults because accommodations are limited, but special free motion picture pro- grams for children will be held every Satur- day morning during the same two months under the auspices of the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foundation.

Always a popular Museum event, the travel lectures offer knowledge and educa- tion in an exciting and entertaining form. Following is the schedule for this season's program:

March 5 — Brazil

Eric Pavel

Brazil's oldest city, Bahia, with its palaces built on the first land discovered by the Portugese, and Rio de Janeiro, a city of modern buildings, beaches, and open-air markets, offer sharp contrasts to the Amazon jungle with its primitive Indian inhabitants who share their home with snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and birds. Cities and jungles both are shown in Brazil-born Eric Pavel's color film. A trip to busy Sao Paulo reveals the fastest-growing city in the world. Im- pre.ssive also is another southern Brazilian city, Santos, the port of entry and exit for Brazil's richest area. After a look at coffee, sugar, and cotton plantations, the film pro- vides views of the mining industry and of Iguassu, the largest and most spectacular waterfall in the world. Mr. Pavel is director of the Pan American Press and Film of Brazil.

March 12 — Florida — Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth

Arthur C. Twomey

Familiar to Museum travel film audiences. Dr. Twomey, who is director of the Carnegie Institute's Division of Education, and Cu- rator of Ornithology at Carnegie Museum, will present a panoramic view of Florida showing its diversified economic features and tourist attractions. Viewers will follow the route of Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth in the land of Bimini as they penetrate the mysterious region of the

Everglades with stopovers in the Keys, Florida Bay and other points of interest. Sound recordings made on the spot are added to heighten the film's realism. Florida as a modern fountain of youth — its marine studios, Sanibel Island, a shell collector's paradise, and many other landmarks will appear on Dr. Twomey's film.

RESERVED SEATS FOR MEMBERS

No tickets are necessary for ad- mission to these lectures. A sec- tion of the Theatre is allocated to Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats. Requests for these seats should be made in advance by telephone (W Abash 2-9410) or in writing, and seats will be held in the Member's name until 2:25 o'clock on the lecture day.

March 19 — Arizona Through the Seasons

Alfred M. Bailey

Arizona's year-'round spectacular scenic attractions and its special lure for the natu- ralist, are graphically shown by Dr. Bailey, former staff member of this Museum, who is now director of the Denver Museum of Natural History. The land of the Navajos, picturesque Monument Valley, El Capitan, the mesa-dwelling Hopis, the Petrified Forest, the great meteorite crater. Canyon Diablo, and the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon are only a few of the scenic spots included in the film. Arizona landscapes ablaze with wildflowers, the prehistoric ruins of Monte- zuma Castle and Tuzigoot, and many birds and animals native to this picturesque region, also are pictured.

March 26 — Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Robert Davis

Mr. Davis' travelogue begins with the ageless walls of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and continues to Charlotte Amalie in the Virgin Islands, illustrating throughout the blending of the Old World and the New. Harvesting of sugar cane and pineapples, breathtaking views of the mountain country, and "The Anvil," a 5,000-foot mountain covered with tropical rain forest, are shown. Of historical interest is the celebration of San Juan Bautista Day, held in honor of the patron saint of Puerto Rico, and the site of the oldest church under the United States flag. Porta Coeli, dating from 1511. A trip through the busy, narrow streets of Charlotte Amalie reflects its Danish influence.

April 2 — Hong Kong, Bamboo Curtain Colony

Phil Walker

Former radio and television producer Phil Walker, who concentrates primarily on people in his films, depicts Hong Kong in terms of its teeming Chinese population. He shows interesting aspects of life in Vic- toria City, Kowloon, the Red China border town of Lowu, and the new territories. Viewers will make a luncheon visit aboard the floating restaurants of Aberdeen, see Red Chinese guards and a Communist ship unloading, the "water people" — sampan and junk dwellers of Aberdeen, and Hong Kong . harbor. The film provides a peek through the Bamboo Curtain from this British crown colony.

April 9 — Jewels of the Pacific Coast

Julian Gromer

Los Angeles, then north to Carmel-by- the-Sea, next, Monterrey, the Redwoods, San Francisco, a 30-mile trip up the Rogue River, views of Spirit Lake, Mount Rainier and the Seattle waterway — these are some of the highlights of the first reel of the film presented by world traveler Julian Gromer of Elgin, Illinois. Second reel in the pro- gram is the story of "Cheechako" (tender- foot), recent winner of the Photographic Society's grand award for the best com- mercial film of the year. The cheechako, making a movie in the wilds of Alaska, learns the hard way and makes mistakes as his guide takes him through the snow-capped mountains, glaciers, salmon and trout streams, pine forests and mountain lakes, brown bear country, and impressive icebergs of Alaska. After consuming too much fresh salmon the cheechako dreams he is pursued by totem poles which have come to life.

April 16 The Holy Lands Today

Kenneth Richter

Kenneth Richter's years in Jordan, Syria and the Arab country while making a film for the State Department enabled him to photograph such ordinarily inaccessible places as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem — the most sacred place in the Islam faith after Mecca and Medina — while a religious service was in progress. Other highlights of the film include the tomb of John the Baptist, Crak des Chevaliers, the huge hill- top castle built by the Crusaders; and Baalbek, Byblos, Sidon, Damascus, and Palmyra where modern irrigation and oil pipelines are in strange contrast to a back- ground of Biblical antiquity. Also shown are the fabulous bazaars of Aleppo, with closeups of interior scenes never before shown, the Arab legion, the Holy places of Jordan, a Bedouin sequence, and the Palestine refugee story — all filmed in a re- {Continued on page 8, column 3)

Page 8

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

March, 1955

ST. PATRICK'S CABBAGE VIES WITH SHAMROCK

By THEODOR JUST

CHIEF CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OP BOTANY

NOW THAT SHAMROCK has lost its place in the official Flora of the British Isles (1952),* St. Patrick's Cabbage may belatedly come into its own. Native in twelve mountainous counties along the northwestern and southeastern coasts of Ireland, this little perennial plant grows abundantly among rocks in sun or shade on noncalcareous soils (calcifuge) and ascends to over 3,400 feet. It has a rosette of nearly round, spatulate, or oval leaves with toothed margins and petioles that are longer than their blades, leafless stems, and white flowers whose petals have from one to three yellow spots at the base and many crimson spots above. Far from being a real cabbage, it bears the scientific name Saxifraga spathu- laris and belongs to the saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae), many members of which are long time favorites in rock gardens. Its common name apparently refers to the fact that an early collector found it on Croagh Patrick (2,510 feet high) in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.

Its nearest relatives are Saxifraga umbrosa of the Pyrenees, introduced in Great Britain in 1792, and London Pride (Saxifraga spathularis x umbrosa), a hybrid of unknown origin but not known in the wild state, which is commonly cultivated in gardens and often escapes from there and becomes temporarily naturalized.

St. Patrick's Cabbage is indeed a plant of considerable interest. Being one of twelve species of plants definitely known to occur in Ireland but not in Great Britain, it belongs to a south European stock con- centrated in northern Portugal and Spain. Unless these species were able to survive the glacial period somewhere in Ireland, these and other so-called Atlantic elements of southwestern Europe were probably the first and therefore the oldest immigrants after the glaciers receded. Thus these plants are surely older inhabitants and members of the Irish flora than the remainder, in- cluding the shamrock.

flora of Great Britain and Ireland, published in 1952 and recently received at the Mu- seum, the name shamrock is no longer applied to any plant — in fact, the word

* ... as told in the following, reprinted from April, 1953 BULLETIN:

A Shock For Erin A tradition was shattered last month [March, 1953) on St. Patrick's Day when Dr. Theodor Just, the Museum's Chief Cu- rator of Botany, called attention to the fact that there is no longer any such plant as a shamrock — at least, none recognized under that name by botanists. Various three- leaved plants that have been called sham- rocks and used by millions of people each year for "the wearin' o' the green" are now officially designated only by other names. Dr. Just found that in the latest official

ST. PATRICK'S CABBAGE A possible rival to the traditional shamrock, its scienti6c name is Saxifraga spathularis. Pistil on left; petal on right. Drawing from "Illustrations of the British Flora," by W.H. Fitch and W. G. Smith.

shamrock simply does not appear anywhere in the book. All the plant species of Great Britain and Ireland known to botanists are listed in the book which is the first new official flora of the British Isles to be pub- lished in more than twenty-five years. Earlier floras had used the word shamrock as an alternative name for several plants.

Audubon Screen-Tour to Show Land of the Mormons

"Mormonland" is the title of the fourth "screen-tour" offered by the Illinois Audu- bon Society in its current series. It will be presented at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 3, in the James Simpson Theatre of the Mu- seum. The color films will be accompanied by a lecture given by Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, Director of the Denver Museum of Natural History. His films and narrative cover the state of Utah from Great Salt Lake to the Bear River marshes, and from desert to juniper country. The general public is invited, and admission is free. Members of the Illinois Audubon Society and Mem- bers of the Museum are entitled to two re- served seats, obtainable by presentation of their membership cards before 2:25 p.m.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

LECTURE SERIES

(Continued from page 7) gion where three great world religions have their holy places.

April 23 — Mexico

Willis Butler, Jr.

Mr. Butler and his wife traveled 4,000 miles to complete this color film which illustrates Mexico's variety of scenic won- ders— both old and new. Included in the film are a trip through the floating gardens of Xochimilco, the story of the secret pottery art of the Tonala Indians, a visit to Gua- dalajara— Mexico's second city, and to Acapulco, beauty spot of the west coast, tile artistry in Puebla, Aztec dances in full costume, Mexican families at Spa Panafjel, newly-discovered art among ancient pyra- mids, the "new look" in Mexico City's architecture, a flower market, Mexico's Fourth of July, and scenes of the Mexican capital at night. Mr. Butler is a North- western University faculty member.

April 30— Highliglits of Australia

Allen Keast

Two films, "Walkabout" and "Tjurunga," documenting the lives, habits, and traditions of a tribe of Australian aborigines, will be shown by Mr. Keast, Curator of Birds and Reptiles at the Australian Museum, during the first part of his program on Australia. A third film, "Coral Wonderland," shows coral growths and other sea life viewed with an underwater camera. Termed the "world's most primitive men," the aborigines in Mr. Keast's films are seen hunting, cooking a kangaroo, participating in ceremonials, and engaging in many other activities in their colorful desert environment. In "Coral Wonderland," brilliant fishes, marine worms, clams, the colorful nudibranch, sea ane- mones, and many others are photographed in their deep-sea home.

Expedition to Survey Volcanoes of Central America

In continuation of his research and col- lecting of specimens from important vol- canoes, Dr. Sharat K. Roy, Chief Curator of Geology, is scheduled to begin in March an expedition that will start in El Salvador, and branch out into Nicaragua. If time permits, he will extend his activities into Guatemala and other parts of the Central American isthmus. Dr. Roy has been en- gaged in volcanological studies for several years past. He was the first person to climb the Izalco, most active of Central American volcanoes, and he has climbed all other major Salvadorean volcanoes. His undertakings in this field are expected to culminate in a more detailed report on the subject than has heretofore been made. A definitive monograph, to be published by the Museum, is planned.

PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS

Vol.26.No.4-ApriM955

Chicago Natural ' History Museum

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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

April, 1955

Chicago Natural History Museum

FODNDED BY MARSHALL FlELD, 1893

Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 5 Telephone: WAbash 2-9410

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ~

Lester Armour Henry P. Ishah

Sewell L. Avery Hughston M. McBain

Wm. Mccormick Blair William H. Mitchell

Wai.ther Buchen John T. Pirie, Jr.

Walter J. Cummings Clarence B. Randall

Joseph N. Field George A. Richardson

Marshall Field John G. Searle

Marshall Field, Jr. Solomon A. Smith

Stanley Field Louis Ware

Samuel Insull, Jr. John P. Wilson

OFFICERS

Stanley Field President

Marshall Field First Vice-President

Hughston M. McBain Second Vice-President

Joseph N. Field Third Vice-President

Solomon A. Smith Treasurer

Clifford C. Gregg Director and Secretary

John R. Millar Assistant Secretary

THE BULLETIN

EDITOR Clifford C. Gregg Director of the Museum

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Paul S. Martin Chief Curator of Anthropology

Theodor Just Chief Curator of Botany

Sharat K. Roy C*ie/ Curator of Geology

Earl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

MANAGING EDITOR H. B. Harte Public Relations Counsel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Helen A. MacMinn Jane Rockwell

Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address.

THE LARGEST BIRD

By AUSTIN L. RAND curator of birds

WHAT is the largest of birds? One must approach such a question as this with caution, straightforward as the question seems. First, do you mean weight or wing spread? These are the two usual

Size by wing spread . . .

criteria and they will give quite different results. In weight the ostrich-like flightless running birds head the list. But in wing spread the ostrich, with degenerate wings, ranks relatively low.

The second element to watch for is the reliabiUty of the records. Somehow, certain records that seem impossibly large have be- come current and must be discarded. This is well illustrated by Dr. R. C. Murphy's comments in 1936 on wing spread of the albatross. Current authorities gave up to

17 feet as the wing spread of the wandering albatross (which is about the same size as the other "great" albatross, the royal). After sifting the evidence and giving his own measurements, he concludes that about 11 J^ feet represents the maximum expanse of any known bird.

In the following, a presentation of the average or normal is attempted for com- parative purposes rather than an absolute "record."

VARIATION

The weight of a bird would obviously vary with age, sex, and the amount of fat the bird carried. In addition, the species may attain different sizes in different parts of its range. This is illustrated by the weights of the Canada geese, adapted from F. H. Kort- right's book. Individual and sexual varia- tion is shown by the large eastern subspecies, the common Canada goose: male, 8 pounds 2 ounces to 13 pounds 8 ounces (average, 9 pounds 3 ounces) ; female, 7 pounds 6 ounces to 13 pounds (average, 7 pounds 14 ounces). Variation correlated with geography (i.e. subspecies) is shown for males, average weight only, as follows:

Common Canada

goose 9 pounds 3 ounces

Western Canada

goose 10 pounds 4 ounces

Lesser Canada goose 5 pounds 2 ounces

Richardson's Canada

goose 4 pounds 14 ounces

Cackling Canada goose 3 pounds 6 ounces

FLIGHTLESS BIRDS — WEIGHT

The ostrich is the largest living bird. When it stands up to look around, its head may be 8 feet from the ground and it may weigh 300 pounds. Ostriches' strength is such that as a stunt people ride on their backs. The ostrich's nearest rival is the emu of Australia that may weigh 100 pounds, and the cassowary of the New Guinea-

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-THIS MONTH'S COVER-

Recently volcanoes have rivaled politics, the cold war, and atomic developments for front-page at- tention. The latest eruption, near Mauna Loa in Hawaii, brought a demand for information on vol- canoes, in response to which Dr. Sharat K. Roy, Chief Curator of Geology, prepared the article on page 3. Our cover picture shows the devastating effects of volcanic eruptions of explosive type. The havoc shown was wrought by the eruption of the Mexican volcano, Paricutin, most recent of all vol- canoes of steam-blast type. Much of the lava-flows that engulfed the village in foreground of the photo- graph came from one of the vents in the flank of the volcanic cone.

or by mass and weight

Australia area is close behind, weighing up to 90 pounds. By comparison the ostrich- like rhea of South America is a pygmy, weighing only about 45 pounds.

That there were giants in earlier days may or may not be true of humans, but it's cer- tainly true of birds. The moas of New Zealand and the Aepyomis of Madagascar are extinct, known only from bones, but from a study of these we find they were cer- tainly much larger than the ostrich. We can never have actual weights, of course, but Dr. Dean Amadon, comparing their remains with the bones of ostriches, comes to the con- clusion that moas may have reached a weight of 500 pounds and Aepyomis a weight of 1,000 pounds, the largest known bird of all time.

These flightless birds, of which the ostrich is the best-known type, are all long-legged running birds with degenerate wings that have no function in locomotion. Their wings are so small that they probably are of little use even as balancers. But another type of flightless bird also reaches a large size — the emperor penguin, which may attain a weight of 75 pounds. In the penguins the wings, though reduced, are modified into flippers and still function in locomotion — in swimming — rather than the short, compar- atively small feet.

Though the largest birds are flightless, not all flightless birds are large. The kiwi of New Zealand and the smaller species of pen- guins could probably be matched for weight amongst domestic fowls. There are some flightless rails, such as the one from Tristan da Cunha, that are little larger than sparrows.

FLYING BIRDS — WING SPAN

The largest flying birds are probably the wandering and the royal albatross, with a wing spread of about 11 Jo feet and a weight (Continued on page 5, column S)

April, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page S

VOLCANOES AID IN PROBING SECRETS OF INNER EARTH

By SHARAT K. ROY

CHIEF CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY

Dr. Roy left in March to make collections of volcanic specimens and continue his studies of volcanoes in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. The expedition is a continuance of research of the past several years.

RECENT LAVA ERUPTIONS asso- ciated with the volcano Mauna Loa in Hawaii have once again brought the subject of volcanism sharply into focus. There does not seem to be any lessening of interest in Nature's pyrotechnics.

From the standpoint of volume, Mauna Loa is the world's largest volcano. At 13,686 feet, it Is nearly as high as Mauna Kea (13,835 feet), which is the world's highest mountain if measured from the ocean floor. Of Mauna Kea's total height, 81,750 feet (almost half a mile higher than Mount Everest), fully 17,915 feet is under the sea.

The islands of the Hawaiian group, the largest of which is Hawaii, are but the sum- mits of an enormous submarine volcanic ridge. The material composing the ridge consists almost entirely of basaltic lava that has risen intermittently along a fissure on the ocean floor from an average depth of 18,000 feet. Although Mauna Loa is often referred to as the "monarch of modern volcanoes," it is not of the explo.sive type, nor are its sister volcanoes, Mauna Kea, Kilauea, and other lesser ones.

"quiet eruptions"

The eruptive activities of the Hawaiian volcanoes are confined almost entirely to quiet lava-flows from the cracks in the flanks of the cones or from those at the base of the cones and in the surrounding areas. For this reason the terms "Hawaiian eruption" and "quiet eruption" are used synonymously in geologic literature. The characteristic feature of the Hawaiian eruption is that, preceding an eruption, the lava accumulates in the crater, but before it can rise to the summit and well out, its weight ruptures the walls of the crater. With pressure thus relieved, fountains of incandescent lava leap into the air and fall to form a river of fire, which, when very hot, is known to have moved faster than a man can run, ten to twelve miles an hour. The principal char- acteristic of Hawaiian lava, which is basaltic, is its fluidity. It is not to be construed that the eruptive behavior of a given type of volcano is always the same. On the con- trary, volcanoes are notoriously fickle; the same volcano may and does change from one type to another. In historic times, two disastrous explosive eruptions have taken place in the Hawaiian Islands, and that there will be many more in time to come is almost a certainty.

In direct contrast to the Hawaiian vol- canoes are the volcanoes of the Mexican

Cordillera, Central America, and the East Indies. In these areas the earth breathes fire and the volcanoes erupt murder. With but a few exceptions these are all viciously explosive volcanoes. Hundreds of cata- strophic explosions with successions of earth- quakes have killed thousands of people, wiped out great cities, dammed and deflected streams, cut oK water supplies, and blocked highways to which survivors fled to escape to safer grounds. Man's memory refuses to recall or relive the death and destruction that accompany violent explosions. In the

CONTINUOUS ERUPTION SINCE 1770 Volcan Izalco in El Salvador, the most active o£ all Central American volcanoes. It has been erupting

almost continuously for more than 184 years.

Messina Straits in 1908 more than 200,000 lives were snuflfed out by a single explosion.

PACIFIC OCEAN VOLCANO BELT

Fortunately for humanity, the periods of volcanic quiescence far exceed those of vio- lence. If this were not the case, milHons of people now inhabiting areas along the "belts of fire" would be forced to abandon their lands made fertile by the decomposition of volcanic ash and migrate inland to start life anew amidst uncertainties and in communi- ties less to their liking. This mass disloca- tion would be particularly severe in the vast belt around the Pacific Ocean — a belt that begins in Tierra del Fuego and extends through the Andes, Central America, Mexico, and Alaska to the coast of A.sia and south- ward through Japan, the Philippines, East Indies, and New Zealand.

What governs the type and/or character of an eruption? It has been stated that the eruptive element par excellence is gas — that the gas is the active agent and that magma or lava is its vehicle. Indeed, eruptions are

actuated by lava charged with gas and steam in a fissure underground. Since the gases differ in their proportions and the lavas in their constituents, we have either quiet lava- flows or steam-blast explosions. As a rule, quiet eruptions are associated with the extru- sion of basic lavas, which, being more fluid than acidic lavas, permit the imprisoned gases to escape more freely into the air. The acid lavas, on the other hand, are stiff and viscous. They congeal rapidly in the vents, impede the passage of steam and other gases that accumulate in large quantities, and build up a condition for an explosion of immense violence.

HEAT SOURCES

The ultimate cause of volcanic eruptions is heat. Where does the heat come from? If it is a part of the original heat of a once very hot earth it should be evenly distributed. Volcanoes, however, indicate that only cer- tain areas become heated intermittently at certain times in geological history. As a matter of inquiry into whether the radio- activity of uranium and thorium is a source of heat in volcanic actions, volcanic ejecta — lavas, ashes, and the gases evolved from fumaroles — have been analyzed, but the amounts found in each case are too small to be significant. Other probable sources of heat, such as gravitational compression, faulting, and folding may be considered, but these too can hardly be expected to produce, individually or collectively, the magnitude of heat required. Perhaps it is well to assume that the development of high temperature in localized areas during volcanism results from the interactions of several heat sources rather than any one in particular.

Volcanoes offer some of the few means we have for probing into the enigmas of the Earth's turbulent interior. Mere under- standing of the morphology and products of volcanoes is not enough. The time is now ripe for concentrated field studies at active volcanoes of their past history, structural setting, and relationship to neighboring volcanoes.

Volcanism has long ceased to be an ab- struse science. Though much remains to be known, certain diagnostic criteria as signs of impending volcanic activity are fairly well established, and prediction as to the time and areas to be affected can be made in many cases. The certainties of physical law are behind all this and play a major role. The formula once determined can be applied to various types of volcanoes. We owe much to the volcanologists stationed in volcano observatories for the increasing body of infor- mation that gradually makes clearer the physics and chemistry of eruptions and earthquakes. Already the damage to life and property by timely predictions has been appreciably reduced.

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Page 4

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

April, 1955

FISH COLLECTING ALONG COASTS OF MEXICO

By LOREN p. woods cubatoh of fishes

THE MEXICO Zoological Field Trip of 1954-55 left Chicago on last November 26 and returned on March 7. The principal objective was to collect marine fishes along the Pacific Coast of the Isthmus of Tehu- antepec in southeastern Mexico and in the vicinity of Acapulco.

ing and handling of gear very difficult. The effect of the winds is to blow the sea flat or at least to change huge swells to short chops, so that from shore to five or ten miles out the small boats ride on an even keel. The shrimping grounds are far to the east, shel- tered from the strongest winds by high moun- tains but still in the area where the rollers have been flattened.

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BEACH SEINE-FISHING IN MEXICO At La Vcntosa, a fishing village near Salina Cruz, all the men and boys work at hauling seines. Nets 20 feet deep and 100 to 300 yards long are loaded into dugout canoes and set to surround schools of fish in the bay.

The first base of operations was Salina Cruz, a busy but small seaport and Pacific terminus of the trans-isthmus railroad. Salina Cruz, though only of minor impor- tance as a commercial fishing and shrimping port, was chosen because it is the most southern port from which shrimp boats oper- ate and because the shrimping is carried on near a hypothetical zoogeographic boundary line as well as along the Mexico-Guatemala political boundary line.

The Gulf of Tehuantepec is a broad curv- ing bight with east-west shore lying only 125 miles south of the southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. During the winter months strong north winds spill out of the Gulf of Mexico, funnel across the low mountains of the isthmus, and blow with considerable force out into the Pacific. Winds of nearly gale strength are generally avoided by trawler fishermen who put out to sea in vessels of 50 to 65 feet in length, but in this region the winds are actually more help than hindrance. The large Pacific swells rolling into the shal- low Gulf of Tehuantepec toss the trawlers a great deal, and this movement makes trawl-

A few days after arriving in Salina Cruz, arrangements were made for me to make a twelve-day cruise aboard a shrimp boat as a guest of the shrimp company to collect the fish specimens I desired for study. Since shrimp nets capture a large variety and quantity of fishes, there was no difficulty in making the collection, and within a day or two one 25-gallon tank was already full. The second tank was gradually filled during the remaining ten days as additional species were caught. Shrimping in the Gulf of Tehuantepec is carried on day and night, the net being dragged for three hours, hauled, emptied, and immediately set for three more hours. This continues with monotonous regularity round the clock, day after day. Preserving specimens, sleeping, and eating are done while the net is out.

At this time of year the shrimp were living in comparatively shallow water of 12 to 20 fathoms and from one to five miles offshore. Every haul resulted in 500 to 2,000 pounds of fishes and miscellaneous invertebrates to be sorted from shrimp and fish specimens. Several kinds of sea catfishes and numerous

species of drums made up the bulk of the catch, but there was also a great variety of grunts, flatfishes, sharks and rays, herrings, anchovies, and other miscellany. Altogether nearly a hundred different kinds of fishes were netted.

OTHER SALINA CRUZ FISHING

The shrimp-boat cruise ended December 24, and so Christmas morning was spent sorting and wrapping the specimens and packing them into the smallest possible space to make room for more. A beach seine-fishery at Salina Cruz produced addi- tional species of fishes, and still other species were taken by fishing with a light at night and by treating tidepools with derri.s-root powder to drive the fishes from their holes and stun them so they could be caught. Fishing by the latter method was not very productive in number of individuals or spe- cies, presumably because the waves carried fine sand, resulting in clean-scoured rocks and very poor living conditions for reef fishes.

Along the Chiapas coast of Mexico, east and south of Salina Cruz, is a network of shallow mangrove-bordered lagoons. Some of these lagoons are fresh water, others are very salty during the dry season, while still others are merely brackish. They contain a good variety of fresh-water and marine fishes living together. There is usually a fishing village on the shore of each lagoon, and the villagers regard the lagoon as their private family fish-pond. One of the most interest- ing fishes living in the lagoons is the alligator gar, known locally as the peje armada. Gars had been reported from this area, but no specimens had ever been collected for study. No entire specimens were available because the fishermen remove the head and slit the fish as soon as it is speared. Later the fish are filleted, salted, and dried for the market. A three-day trip was made by land down the coast to the lagoon of Cabeza del Toro (the name derived from the shape of the lagoon) near Puerto Arista. Here the fishermen were induced to bring in three small gars without first removing the heads. The alli- gator gar is known to live in the Usumacinta River on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Isth- mus of Tehuantepec and in Lake Nicaragua, as well as in the Mississippi River valley, gulf coast of the United States, and Cuba. Study of these specimens from the Pacific coastal lagoons may provide a clue concern- ing the route by which they reached their present isolated habitat.

COLLECTING NEAR ACAPULCO

After five weeks of gathering fishes in the vicinity of Salina Cruz, the collection was taken to Mexico City and sent to Chicago. This provided much needed space for addi- tional specimens when the base of operations was shifted to Acapulco. Acapulco, a resort city, is sheltered by mountains from the effects of the strong winds that blow the warm surface-water away from the Gulf of

April, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 5

Tehuantepec, is easily accessible, and pro- vides excellent facilities for shore collecting. In addition there are large bays, sheltered coves, and rocky islets with abundant tide- pools and shallow submerged reefs inhabited by a number of small fishes of many varieties. These species, such as butterfly fishes, tangs, wrasses, and demoiselles that are usually associated with living coral and rocky reefs, were very scarce or absent from the sandy shores where we had been collecting earlier. Each particular locality around Acapulco Bay, where rotenone was used to stun the fish, yielded 40 to 50 species, and after three weeks of fishing a collection of between 100 and 150 species was gathered. Some beach and lagoon fishing is carried on by the local fishermen, and in addition another group of fishermen fish at night around the entrance of the bay with handlines, spear and dipnet, using a lantern to attract the fishes. Their catch added a number of species that were not caught by the methods I had been using. During the past two years the Museum has received collections of fishes from Guay- mas (Mexico), from the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, from both coasts of Panama, and from the Gulf of Mexico and West Indian islands. It is especially helpful to have specimens of a par- ticular species from various parts of its range for study and also useful to have compre- hensive collections from various provinces in a particular zoogeographic region in order to delineate the boundaries and thus to under- stand some of the limiting factors and eco- logical preferences of certain species. There are a number of resemblances between the fish fauna of the eastern tropical Pacific and the West Indian fish fauna (including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea shores)

SPOTTfcU PORCUPINE-FISH Increasing its size by swallowing air was disastrous for the fairy-tale frog. The porcupine-fish, better fitted for this behavior, uses inflation as a natural protective device. Swallowing air or water not only changes the shape of the fish but assists in erecting its long hard spines. Other fishes seek less prickly, more appropriately shaped prey for food.

that need further study and explanation. It is hoped that careful study of the collections obtained by this expedition can be combined with data obtained from the collections men- tioned above to add to our knowledge of the geographic distribution and variation prob- lems of the American tropical marine fishes.

"Highlights Tours" Offered Daily

Free guide-lecture tours are offered daily except Sundays under the title "Highlights of the Exhibits." These tours are designed to give a general idea of the entire Museum and its scope of activities. They begin at 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday and at 2 :30 p.m. on Saturday.

Special tours on subjects within the range of the Museum exhibits are available Mon- days through Fridays by advance request.

Although there are no tours on Sundays, the Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

STAFF NOTES

Dr. Theodor Just, Chief Curator of Botany, told about some of the widespread fallacies concerning mushrooms in a recent guest-appearance on the television program "Women and the World" over station WBKB, illustrating his talk with Museum material. On March 17 he lectured on "Adventures with Plants" in the noontime series presented at the Chicago Public Library for audiences of Loop workers. . . . Henry S. Dybas, Associate Curator of Insects, represented both the Museum and the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District at a meeting of the Illinois Mosquito Control Association held at the University of Illinois in Urbana. . . . Miss Harriet Smith, lecturer on the staff of Raymond Founda- tion, spoke on the mission of the Mu.seum over radio station WNMP in Evanston, Illinois . . . Colonel Clifford C. Gregg, Director, recently told "The Inside Story of the Museum" for the Kiwanis Club of Gary, Indiana.

YOUTHFUL SCIENTISTS TO STAGE SHOW

Some of the Darwins, Newtons, and Ein- steins of the future will have their day at Chicago Natural History Museum on April 16 at a science fair sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Science Foundation. Grade-school pupils (from the 6th grade up) and high- school students will display their achieve- ments in the fields of biology (including con- servation), geology, anthropology, mathe- matics, physics, and chemistry. The fair at the Museum is for those pupils enrolled in schools of the West Area, bounded by North Avenue, the Sanitary and Ship Canal, and 47th Street. (South Area exhibits go to the Museum of Science and Industry on April 2; the North Area display was held at the Chicago Academy of Sciences on March 26.)

The exhibits, all the creations of young people completed without aid other than advice from teachers, parents, or other adults, will be displayed on the second-floor gallery of the Museum at the head of the grand stair- case. The students themselves will be pres-

THE LARGEST BIRD

(Continued from page 2)

of 15 to 20 pounds. The next-largest flying birds are the Andean condor that must apn proach 10 feet in wing spread and the Cali- fornia condor that has a wing spread of about 9 feet and a weight of 20 pounds, according to C. Koford's studies.

Unlike the running ostrich-like birds, the largest fossil flying bird was only a little larger than present-day birds. The largest is Teratornis, a Pleistocene vulture of North America, which has been estimated to weigh 50 pounds, a truly enormous weight for a flying bird. We can't get its wing spread directly because we have no feathers of this fossil, but its bones, according to Dr. H. I. Fishers, show it to have a wing spread, in skeleton, oi 7}4 feet, and the wing itself a length of about 39 inches compared with 31 1-2 inches for the California condor and 34 inches compared with the Andean condor. If its quills were as long as those of the Andean condor, which it probably exceeded, a couple of feet would be added on each side of the 7 J-^-foot skeletal spread to give a wing spread of about 12 to 13 feet, slightly larger than that of the albatross.

Surprisingly, while the largest running birds were way in advance of any competi- tion, this is not true of the largest flying birds. The trumpeter swan has a wing spread of 8 feet and a weight of 28 pounds; the white pelican a spread of 0 feet and weight of about 10}^ pounds; and the whooping crane a spread of 7 feet and a weight of about lOVi pounds.

Not to isolate these figures, following are the wing spreads and weights of some of our more familiar birds:

Wing spread Weight

Bald eagle 79 inches 9.5 pounds

Great blue heron . . 70 inches 7 pounds

Turkey buzzard. . . 70 inches 4.5 pounds

Red-tailed hawk . . 48 inches 3.25 pounds

Crow 3G inches 1.3 pounds

Sparrow hawk . . . .21 inches 4 ounces

Robin 15 inches 2.5 ounces

Song sparrow 9 inches .88 ounces

ent to explain and demonstrate their prod- ucts. Theodore W. Wallschlaeger, principal of the Palmer Elementary School, will be in charge. Awards will be made in each grade, and winners may take part in later science exhibitions from all areas. An idea of the type of exhibits that may be expected is shown by last year's list, which included: a model of the human ear, six-inch telescope, Navaho Indian artifacts, model of an atomic pile, a miniature Stone-Age diorama, photo- electric circuit, mechanical model of the earth, a garden-collected exhibit of insects, butterflies of Chicagoland, "do-it-yourself" electronic devices, and classification of plants.

Page 6

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

April, 1955

STUDENTS FIND SCIENCE IS NO SNAP JOB

By robin D. ROTHMAN

An apprentice's view of the routine toil be- hind scientific endeavor is presented here by an Antioch College student employed temporarily at the Museum. Under a "co-op" system, stu- dents alterrmte periods of study on the Antioch campus with periods afield on jobs. Miss Roth- man was assigned to the so-called "Mecca Project" (Bulletin, November, 195It) involv- ing fossiliferous black shale of Pennsylvania age quarried near Mecca, Indiana, by a Museum expedition. For several months staff paleontologists and their assistants have been splitting the shale and charting the position and orientation of all fossils to determine environ- mental relations.

A MUSEUM VISITOR in the exhibition halls may not be aware of how much more there is to the process of accumulating and presenting knowledge than is apparent in the public displays. When I was informed at Antioch College of my assignment to the Museum for a "geology opening that in- volved splitting shale," I anticipated a quiet atmosphere, the presence of geological speci- mens of all ages, and pleasant working asso- ciates. All of these expectations were realized, but the job was pervaded with a special kind of excitement not foreseen.

Upon my arrival from the college in Yel- low Springs, Ohio, I was directed to the third floor of the Museum — a maze of hallways broken by doors that lead to offices and lab- oratories. Behind the walls of these rooms are concealed thousands of specimens of all descriptions seldom seen by any of the Museum's millions of visitors. I was escorted through these confusing corridors to a large room where I received my first and, at the time, dismaying view of "Mecca." The floor was almost entirely covered by enor- mous sheets of shale marked "Layer B." On tables, walls, and even the ceiling were charts, photographs, and odd mysterious symbols. The decor was completed by a few chairs, fluorescent lamps, and two instru- ments that were frequently to prove their essentiality — one a microscope, the other a broom.

TASK APPEARS FORMIDABLE

The initial shock of this cluttered and un- prepossessing atmosphere was dispelled by the warm welcome of the group at work. I was presented with somebody's lab coat and directed to my place across a table from a fellow Antioch student, Shirley Hale. I was then shown specimens of common fossils and the symbols used to indicate them and intro- duced to the methodology of recording. Finally, I was handed an ordinary but extra- sharpened table knife and left to my still un- certain devices. It was rather disconcerting to learn that the entire fioorful of shale must be split, block by block, into small pieces and

each fossil identified and represented by its symbol upon a chart that is a scale reproduc- tion of a large numbered slab.

After a few days in combat with a stubborn block of shale I began to acquire a limited vocabulary of the commoner fossils. For in- stance, leggy knobs turn out to be Petrodi, a form of skin-covering from a shark; a spiked, curved, and corrugated triangle is a Listra- canthus or fish spine; other fish remnants are called Paleoniscoid. With a couple of weeks of practice in shale splitting, I mastered the technique of jabbing knives into the shale instead of myself and, with many questions and re-explanations, I learned to recognize a nearly complete range of fossils for a partic- ular level. The reasons for the procedures employed and the gist of the conversation around me gradually became intelligible.

Then my attention was attracted to the characteristics of the scientists in charge of

Paleontological research in *'Mecca Laboratory":

Curators split shale with sharpened kitchen knives;

student aides from Antioch College wield brooms

for the advancement of science.

the project — Dr. Rainer Zangerl, Curator of Fossil Reptiles, and Dr. Eugene S. Richard- son, Jr., Curator of Fossil Invertebrates. Both of these men work harder than anyone on the project, and they supervise the rest of us as well. It seemed to me that long months of concentrated shale-splitting would cool their ardor. I soon realized that their inter- est and enthusiasm are sustained not only because such labor and compiling of data will result in an ecological picture of the age and area in which the shale originated but also because they are constantly on the look- out for unusual specimens different from any hitherto found.

scientists' REACTIONS

One soon discovers that different fossils provoke various degrees of response. A Petrodus, Listracanthus, or coprolite, unless of abnormal proportions, is simply recorded but not hailed aloud. A phyllocarid or a fair-to-well-preserved fish or shark merits a raised eyebrow. Cephalopods, brachiopods, and the like may provoke an exclamation and are sure to be handed around for examina- tion. Discovery of any specimen of really

striking appearance, such as nearly complete fishes or sharks, precipitates an immediate scraping of chairs, a concerted rush upon the fortunate finder, a debate on whether to un- cover the fossil farther or to X-ray the block, and a subsequent march en masse to the X-ray machine and the darkroom.

Although unmoved by the most exasperat- ing circumstances, the curators, one discov- ers, are quite apprehensive that pieces may not interlock properly when a chart of one entire layer of shale is constructed by cutting out photographs of the individual charts and fitting them together. They are likewise apprehensive lest they lose half of a complete specimen under a section of quarry wall that may not have been properly removed. Finally, the curators are deeply concerned about maintaining consistent progress on the project.

To my surprise, I soon acquired the cur- ators' zeal for the laborious and important task. I likewise managed to assume the typical attitude of forcing myself not to be upset when an occasional particle of fossil made recording difficult through failure to fit the large block so that its position could be determined.

This project, because it is a unique under- taking, evokes a greater degree of enthusiasm than one would usually find displayed over work on a pile of shale. The fever of ac- complishment, thrill of discovery, and grati- fication of progress are contagious, quickly pas.sing from our professional mentors to newcomers like my classmates and myself.

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS CONTINUE IN APRIL

Five more free programs — one a puppet show — remain to be given on Saturday morn- ings during April. These entertainments for children are presented by the James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Founda- tion at 10:30 A.M. in the James Simpson Theatre. No tickets are required. Chil- dren are welcome alone, accompanied by adults, or in groups from schools, clubs, and other centers. Following are the dates and subjects:

April 2 — Some Favorite Animals Also a cartoon

April 9 — El Navajo Also a cartoon

April 16 — The Carnival of Insects

The Fisherman and His Wife Two puppet plays, presented by Basil Milovsoroff

April 23 — People Along the Mississippi River Also a cartoon

April 30 — Beaver Valley Also a cartoon

April, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

Page 7

Books

(All books reviewed in the Bulletin are available in The Book Shop of the Museum. Mail orders accompanied by remittance in- cluding postage are promptly filled.)

AMERICAN SEASHELLS. By R. Tucker Abbott. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, Toronto, and London, 1954. xiv4-541 pages, 24 color plates, 16 black-and-white plates, 100 figures. $12.50.

If there is any need to demonstrate that the popular interest in shells has increased in the past decade, the comparatively high number of popular and semiscientific books on this subject that has been published recently would be sufficient proof. Most of the books on how to collect and to classify shells are helpful. Some of them, particu- larly the pocket books, are valuable in the field. Other types are more useful at home. None of them, however, is perfect, even to the extent that perfection in this field is possible.

American Seashells is almost an ideal combination of very good illustrations and solid facts presented in a text of everyday but by no means colloquial language. Of about 6,000 different kinds of shells found on our American coasts, some 1,500 are mentioned, comprising all the genera and most of the species that the average collector is likely to find on the beaches or in shallow water. The descriptions are concise, and geographical distribution, commercial im- portance, and other facts of interest are given in each case. There are hardly words adequate to praise the beauty of the illus- trations, both those in color and in black- and-white. In these the Abbott book far excels similar publications of the past few years. American Seashells, however, might have been even more useful to the student if some kind of key had been provided to help the beginner find the class, order, and, perhaps, family to which a certain shell belongs.

INTRODUCING SEASHELLS, A Color- ful Guide for the Beginning Collector.

By R. Tucker Abbott. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, Toronto, and London [1955]. 63 pages, 9 plates (5 in color), many text-figures. $2.50.

The author's book on American Seashells (see above) merited high praise, and so it is not surprising that another publication by the same writer should likewise be recom- mended here. This booklet, in contrast to the larger work, does not provide the student with full knowledge of seashells but seeks to attract interested laymen to their study. Hence the text concentrates on general facts and on how to collect, prepare, classify, and

exhibit seashells. This information, made easily understandable by the simple language and by the wonderful plates and figures in the text, is presented as if to whet the appe- tite of the novice for personal experience in a promising new field of activity. We grant that this is really a good appetizer, though, unfortunately, in our opinion, a rather ex- pensive one.

A FIELD GUIDE TO SHELLS OF THE PACIFIC COAST AND HAWAII. By

Percy A. Morris. Houghton Mifflin Com- pany, Boston, xx+220 pages, 40 illus- trations (8 in color). Price $3.75.

This is the companion volume of the book on Atlantic shells reviewed in the Bulletin of November, 1951. It deals with shells of the West Coast of the United States and of the Hawaiian Islands. The book closely resembles its Atlantic counterpart in format and is attractively printed. There are many good illustrations. However, I prefer those in black-and-white to the color plates, which look quite unnatural because of their over- abundance of yellow.

A casual study indicates that the book should serve well its purpose of introducing the interested layman to the beauty and the overwhelming diversity of the shells he can pick up on beaches or dig up from beneath shallow water. The descriptions of various kinds of shells are neither too scientific nor too popular in style, and the scientific names used are, the author affirms, those currently in use according to the rules of nomenclature. Whether he is correct in this or not is, in my opinion, a matter of no consequence in a book of this kind, and even the scientist, who must and will occasionally consult it, should not be shocked by finding a name used that in his view is not correct. At least, the names given always permit the identification of a species beyond any misunderstanding, and that is what counts.

(All three reviews are by Dr. Fritz Haas, Curator of Lower Invertebrates.)

Technical Publications

The following technical publications were issued recently by Chicago Natural History Museum :

Fieldiana: Zoology, Vol. 34, No. 30. The Annellated Coral Snake, Micrurus annel- latus Peters. By Karl P. Schmidt. December 23, 1954. 7 pages, 2 illustra- tions. 10c.

Fieldiana: Geology, Vol. 10, No. 20. Note on an Eocene Crab, Harpactocarinus mississippiensis Rathbun. By Eugene S. Richardson, Jr. December 27, 1954. 5 pages, 4 illustrations, 25c.

MUSEUM AUDITOR RETIRES; SUCCESSOR APPOINTED

Adelbert L. Stebbins, Auditor of the Museum, who retired on pension effective March 31, became a member of the Museum staff in 1931. After serving for several years in clerical capacities, he was a.ssigned in 1937 to the Auditor's office as Bookkeeper. In 1948 he was promoted to the position of Assistant Auditor, and in 1953 he became Auditor. Mr. Stebbins was born in Camasar- aga. New York, but in his early years his fam- ily moved to the Middle West, and he graduated from high school in Elburn, Illi- nois. He joined the

United States Army in 1912, remained to serve through World War I, was commis- sioned a captain, and was transferred in 1919 to the Reserve. In civilian life, before com- ing to the Museum, he was employed by several firms in the Chicago area. Mr. Steb- bins now plans to live in Clearwater, Florida, where he recently purchased a home. He has two sons in California, both of whom served with the U. S. Marines during World War II.

Robert A. Krueger, who recently was ap- pointed Assistant Auditor, will succeed Mr. Stebbins as head of the auditing office. An alumnus of Northwestern University, Mr. Krueger was employed by several industrial firms before coming to the Museum.

A. L. Stebbins

Methods and devices to attract birds to live in your garden are the subject of an exhibit in Boardman Conover Hall (Hall 21).

Illinois Audubon Society Offers Two Screen-Tours in April

Screen-tours will be presented on two Sunday afternoons in April in James Simpson Theatre of the Museum by the Illinois Audu- bon Society. These lectures, accompanied by color films, begin at 2:30 p.m.

"Mormonland," fourth Audubon presen- tation in the current series, will be given on April 3. The lecturer will be Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, Director of the Denver Museum of Natural History. His films cover a wide range of contrasting regions from salt lake and desert to mountains and deep-cleft can- yons. The animals and plants of these areas are shown in their habitats.

On April 24 the season's concluding screen- tour will be "The Grass Forest," by Robert C. Hermes, well-known artist and nature photographer. In his unique films, he will give his audience a "worm's-eye view" of the world of tiny insects that dwell at our feet.

Admission is free, and the general public is invited. Two reserved seats apiece for each lecture are available to Members of the Museum and of the Illinois Audubon Society who present their membership cards before 2:25 p.m.

Page 8

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

April, 1955

FIVE SATURDAY LECTURES TO BE GIVEN IN APRIL

The Museum's Spring Course for adults of free lectures on science and travel will con- tinue on Saturday afternoons throughout April. The lectures, which are provided by the Edward E. Ayer Lecture Foundation Fund, are given in the James Simpson Theatre at 2:30 P.M. The list of dates, titles, and lecturers follows:

April 2 — Hong Kong, Bamboo Curtain Colony

Phil Walker

April 9 — Jewels of the Pacific Coast

Julian Gromer

April 16 — The Holy Lands Today

Kenneth Richter

April 23 — Mexico

Willis Butler, Jr.

April 30 — Highlights of Australia

Allen Keast

No tickets are necessary for admission to these lectures. A section of the Theatre is allocated to Members of the Museum, each of whom is entitled to two reserved seats. Requests for these should be made in advance by telephone (W Abash 2-9410) or in writing, and seats will be held in the Member's name until 2:25 o'clock on the lecture day.

Admission is restricted to adults because accommodations are limited, but special free motion-pictures for children are given on the mornings of the same Saturdays under the auspices of the Raymond Foundation.

PHONOGRAPH RECORDS

(Phonograph records renewed in the Bul- letin are available in The Book Shop of the Museum. Mail orders accompanied by re- mittance including postage are promptly filled.)

WESTERN BIRD SONGS. A 78-r.p.m. 10-inch record. Cornell University Rec- ords, Cornell University Press, May 1, 1954. $2.50.

AMERICAN BIRD SONGS. VoL 2, A

33J<^-r.p.m. 12-inch record. Cornell Uni- versity Press, May 1, 1954. $7.75.

These records arrived at a very opportune time for me. The second grade in the school in the community where I live was studying birds with the aid of Audubon Society leaflets, industriously coloring outlines of robins with crayons. After hearing the records I lent them to the teacher to try on her pupils. She is enthusiastic about them as auxiliary teaching material and I shall send them back to the school for further sessions with another teacher.

The novelty of hearing bird songs from a phonograph caused some preliminary giggles, but soon the pupils were entranced. Some recognized a few of the songs as familiar. An immediate increase of interest in birds in our neighborhood was evident. But it took an unexpected form. The first broods of young robins were just leaving their nests. The younger children started to round them up, intending to act the part of foster parents, and it took firm remon- strances of my wife to have them' returned to the bushes where they're better off under the care of their parents.

The first record is a collection of the voices of ten familiar western birds recorded by Dr. W. R. Fish. The second, the pub- lishers say, makes available on a long- playing record the voices recorded on the 76-r.p.m. records in the earlier album of the same name. The voices of common birds of gardens, roadsides, marshes, and lakes are grouped according to habitats. Each is announced by name with a short comment by Dr. A. A. Allen.

Austin L. Rand Curator of Birds

PLEASE NOTIFY MUSEUM IF YOU'RE MOVING

Members of the Museum who change residence are urged to notify the Museum so that the Bulletin and other communications may reach them promptly.

Members going away for extended periods may have Museum matter sent to their temporary addresses.

GIFTS TO THE MUSEUM

Following is a list of the principal gifts received during the past month:

Department of Anthropology:

From: Phillip H. Lewis, Chicago — 14 eth- nological specimens, Lossu and Libba vil- lages. New Ireland.

Department of Botany;

From: Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., De- catur, 111. — 6 samples of soybean-oil-meal products; Dr. Ellsworth P. Killip, Washing- ton, D. C. — 172 phanerogams. Isle of Pines, Cuba, and Florida Keys; U. S. Department of Agriculture — seed of Glycine ussuriensis, Stoneville, Mississippi.

Department of Zoology:

From: Lt. Col. Kenneth F. Burns, Fort Sam Houston, Tex. — 6 bats; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor — miscellaneous bones, Guatemala; Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology, Toronto — garter snake (neotype); Shedd Aquarium, Chicago — seaturtle; Gor- don R. Thurow, Bloomington, Ind. — 10 salamanders, Illinois.

EXPEDITION TO MEXICO

AND SOUTHWEST

A Museum expedition to collect reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals in south- western United States and northern Mexico will get under way on April 12. Members of the party will be Dr. Karl P. Schmidt, Chief Curator of Zoology, D. Dwight Davis, Curator of Vertebrate Anatomy, and Hymen Marx, Assistant in the Division of Amphib- ians and Reptiles. Arizona and New Mexico will be the first areas where work will be undertaken. The expedition, which is to be in the field about six weeks, will experiment with special techniques both in collecting specimens and in photography.

NEW MEMBERS

(February 15 to March 15)

Associate Members

Richard M. Barancik, Mrs. Corina Melder Collier, Joseph B. Hawkes, Joseph Regen- stein, Jr., Benjamin Saks.

Annual Members

C. Prentiss Andrews, Arthur Bell, Vernon J. Bert, Miss Grace Bittrich, Dr. Irving Blumenthal, Robert H. Brannan, Benjamin Bromberg, Dr. Rudolph Camino, Carl Cer- venka, Dan J. Considine, Richard N. Conte, Lester B. Converse, Edward E. Cowan, Martin A. Culhane, J. A. Cullen, Charles C. Dawes, E. E. EUies, Mrs. Benjamin F. Ellis, Ralph E. Ellis, Dr. Harry H. Farber, Francis S. Fellers, Mrs. Earl Finger, Miss A. Flem- ming, Dr. Ray H. Freeark, Grange J. Glover, Joseph Harrow, Edwin B. Hassler, W. B. Henri, Kenneth V.'Hill, George D. Hingson, John S. Holmes, Mrs. Ruth B. Howard, Dr. Milton M. Kadin, Irving M. Karlin, William P. Klein, Henry C. Kot, Dr. George M. Kramer, Harry G. Kramer, Jr., Stanley J. Liszka, Dr. Albert A. Loverde, Gerry Moburg, G. Walker Morgan, Edward F. Murphy, Michael P. Murphy, Mrs. Harry J. O'Rourke, Thomas A. Patterson, Dr. David A. Peckler, Norman J. Phelps, Joseph John Potter, A. C. Randell, Mrs. Esther E. Rohn, Dr. F. W. Rohr, Carl G. Schreyer, George E. Simon, F. Gordon Smith, Mrs. Vaughan C. Spalding, Jr., Mrs. Arthur I. Stephens, Dr. Irving Swoiskin, Henry M. Thullen, Theo- dore Tieken, Dr. Gerhardt von Bonin, Charles Wadsworth, C. Ives Waldo, Jr., Leonard C. Weill, Mrs. John E. Wells, H. M. Wies, Dr. Emanuel C. Wilhelm, Amos G. Willis, Kenward T. Wood, Max Woolpy.

Visit Museum Book Shop If You Like to Browse

An ever-larger variety of books on natural history, children's books, and such mer- chandise as Navaho silver jewelry, ivory carvings by Alaska Indians, unique sou- venirs, and toys may be found in the Book Shop of the Museum. You are invited to browse to your heart's content amid pleasant surroundings.

PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS

Vol.26. No.5-May -1955

Chicago Natural History Mus e unz

lite.J^"'

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

May, 1955

Chicago Natural History Museum

Founded by Marshall Field, 1893

Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 5

Telephone: WAbash 2-9410

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lester Armour Henry P. Isham

Sewell L. Avery Hughston M. McBain

Wm. Mccormick Blair William H. Mitchell

Walther Buchen John T. Pirie, Jr.

Walter J. Cummings Clarence B. Randall

Joseph N. Field George A. Richardson

Marshall Field John G. Searle

Marshall Field, Jr. Solomon A. Smith

Stanley Field Louis Ware

Samuel Insull, Jr. John P. Wilson

OFFICERS

Stanley Field President

Marshall Field First Vice-President

Hughston M. McBain Second Vice-President

Joseph N. Field Third Vice-President

Solomon A. Smith Treasurer

Clifford C. Gregg Director and Secretary

John R. Millar Assistant Secretary

THE BULLETIN

EDITOR Clifford C. Gregg Director of the Museum

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Paul S. Martin Chief Curator of Anthropology

Theodor Just Chief Curator of Botany

Sharat K. Roy Chief Curator of Geology

Karl P. Schmidt Chief Curator of Zoology

MANAGING EDITOR H. B. Harte Public Relations Counsel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Helen A. MacMinn Jane Rockwell

Members are requested to inform the Museum promptly of changes of address.

COAPTATION IN SNAILS,

TURTLES AND ARMADILLOS

By KARL P. SCHMIDT chief curator, department of zoology

U"r)HRAGMOSIS" is the ecological ^^ term for crawling into a hole and pulling the hole in after one's self (as the American colloquialism has it), as related in an earlier article (Bulletin, March, 1955). The phragmotic devices evolved in animal bodies, like the bony heads of certain toads and tree-frogs, by which animals close the holes into which they retreat are quite evi- dently related to a still more widespread phenomenon. In this, the separate parts of an animal's body (often the front and rear end) have evolved to fit each other, as when an animal rolls into a ball or when an animal already protected by a shell develops the capacity for closing the openings left when head and limbs, or even the whole body, are pulled in for concealment.

This kind of adaptation of separate parts of the body by evolution is referred to as coaptation. In a sense such evolution is only a special case, though a conspicuous one, of the interadaptation of structures and func- tions in the bodies of all animals, which must evolve as wholes, with the function of the lungs adjusted to that of the heart and that of the nervous system to every movement of the body. Nevertheless, the very exact ad- justment of one part of the external covering

of the body to fit against another part, sometimes at the opposite end of the animal, may be so striking and often so remarkable in the details of its mechanical perfection that the term coaptation is useful and is, in fact, in current use to describe this kind of adap- tation. It may be extended to apply even

TRAPDOOR OF SNAIL, CLOSED

Operculum attached to animal's foot-muscle by

which it may be retracted, as shown above, or opened.

On Pacific island beaches these were frequently mis-

taken for "cat's-cycs** by servicemen.

SNAIL'S TRAPDOOR REMOVED Illustrating construction of protective shield and showing why it might be mistaken for a gemstone.

to those plants that have movable parts, like the clovers and other legumes whose leaves fold up for the night.

MECHANICAL PRECISION

The extremes of mechanical perfection of such adjustments may be especially notable in insects and crustaceans, in which there is a watch-like precision of fit of the movable parts that connect with the hard external covering. In such creatures a great number of elements of the body-covering may be modified to fit together when the over-all adaptation is for rolling into a compact ball. Rolling into a compact ball is a defensive reaction in some kinds of sow-bugs (the familiar little land crustaceans found in damp places), in certain tropical millipedes, and in various quite distinct groups of beetles. There should perhaps be a term for "rolling

-THIS MONTH'S COVER-

"River found on a mountaintop In a 'lost world' " would appro- priately describe the scene depict- ed on our cover. The photograph was taken by Dr. Julian A. Steyer- mark of the Department of Bot- any at the spot where his expedi- tion in Venezuela successfully broke through jungle tangle and rock barriers onto the summit of Chimanta-tepui and stepped into this weird landscape. The pic- ture shows the Tirica River as it flows across the unusually expan- sive and plateau-like mountain- top at an altitude of about 6,300 feet. The expedition pitched its camp beside this river and for a month worked in the surrounding area collecting plants and zoo- logical specimens. The banks of the river are lined with many peculiar rock formations. Cur- ator Steyermark's account of the expedition, from which he has just returned, appears on page 3.

up into a ball," for this is a habit somewhat different from the familiar retreat into a shell of the mussels and snails, and different also from the withdrawal of the heads and limbs of turtles into their bony case.

Coaptation is often illustrated in various stages of the evolution toward perfection in animals that retreat into a shell. One of the most familiar devices for closing the opening in a protective shell is the operculum of many different kinds of marine and fresh- water snails. This may be a shield of horn- like material, or it may be composed of the same material as the shell. After World War II, museums were showered with in- quiries from servicemen about the "cat's- eyes" they had picked up on the beaches of the Pacific islands. These objects were the shelly opercula of various kinds of marine snails. An element of confusion was intro- duced into these inquiries by the more proper application of the term cat's-eye to a semi- precious mineral that is often cut as a gem- stone. The snail opercula, with their coiled structure and bright colors, are ornamental; but the inquirers had to be told that they were not semiprecious. The now familiar use of the term cat's-eye for the bright-col- ored snail opercula does not seem to have found its way into the dictionaries.

turtle's DEVICES

Less familiar instances of closing up a shell by the co-ordinate evolution of different parts of the body are to be found in turtles. In almost every family of this reptilian order some genus has carried the concealment of {Continued on page 8, column 2)

May, 1955

CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

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RARE PLANTS AND ANIMALS DISCOVERED IN 'LOST WORLD'

By JULIAN A. STEYERMARK

CURATOR OF THE PHANEROGAMIC HERBARIUM

THAT MYSTERIOUS and awe-inspiring area of Venezuela known as the "lost world" can always be counted upon to pro- vide adventures and misadventures as well as an abundance of plants and animals for the museum collector, including many species hitherto unknown to science. On the 1954-

BACKBONE OF AN EXPEDITION Some of the twenty Itidian porters required to transport the packs containing about 5,000 pounds of provisions and equipment through jungles, over streams, and up mountains for the botanical expedition to the Venezuelan '*Iost world.'*

55 joint expedition of Chicago Natural Hist- ory Museum and New York Botanical Garden, this land of rugged mountains, rushing streams with many rapids, and strange terrain did not fail to provide its customary thrills and rigors, but it rewarded the two participating institutions with no- table collections exceeding even our expec- tations when plans were being made.

Co-leader of the expedition was Dr. John J. Wurdack. We sailed from Philadelphia on December 23, 1954, on a Gulf Oil Com- pany tanker, S. S. Cow, and arrived at Puerto de La Cruz on December 30. Thanks to the co-operation of officials of the Mene Grande and Sinclair Oil companies, admit- tance of our equipment into the country was greatly facilitated. The paraphernalia was trucked the next day across the llanos to Ciudad Bolivar on the Orinoco River, nearly 300 miles (by air) southeast of Cara- cas. There food supplies for the next three months were obtained.

What does an expedition live on? Our provisions included such staples as 100 pounds of black beans, 150 pounds of rice, 200 pounds of lentils, large quantities of casabe (chief breadstuff of the Indians who were to accompany us), and large quantities of salt, coffee, native brown-sugar, onions, cereals, powdered milk, canned meats, and sardines.

We were ready the next day to fly to the airport of Uriman on the CaronI River with our load — nearly 5,000 pounds split up into 70 packs, which included besides the tons of food, a variety of trade goods, gear for camping, for cooking, and for collecting, old newspapers for pressing botanical speci- mens, an outboard motor for canoes, and drums of gasoline for it as well as for fueling the stoves used to dry plant-specimens. Then with a thud came news that because of local observance of the coming New Year's weekend, the cargo plane that was to trans- port our impedi- menta could not leave Ciudad Bolivar until January 7; so we were faced with a week's delay. Concern over this developed into other worries about de- tails of the expedition, particularly about whether I could ob- tain the invaluable services of Sabas Car- dona, chief guide, and the other Indians who accompanied me on my expediton in 1953 to the same destina- tion, the mountain of Chimanta-tepui.

From Uriman I set out with a native worker on an arduous three-day trek to Uruyen, about 50 miles north, to sign up Sabas and his crew. After crossing numer- ous streams and mountains, we reach- ed this village, the home of Sabas, on the night of a fiesta. I joined in the dances, and out of respect for the Indians' customs, tasted kachiri, a lav- ender-colored drink, made largely from the fermented root of the same casabe plant (the tapioca-yielding man- ihot) that the Indians use for bread flour. The next day Sabas rounded up friends and relatives from surrounding villages to make up the party of twenty Indians

that I needed, and the day after that we began the long trek back to Uriman.

On January 14 our expedition started up

the Caroni River. This involved portaging all the equipment around the 200-foot-high waterfall of Techine-merti, then proceeding past the Indian village of Kon-quen and up the Tirica River to the original campsite of our 1953 trip at the base of the mountain. Three dugout canoes were used to bring the cargo upstream to base camp, and several trips had to be made to relay the three- months' supply of food and other equipment from Uriman to base camp at an elevation of 1,700 feet. This required more than a week. Then, while the old trail was re-cut to allow the cargo to pass through more easily, Sabas, four other Indians, Wurdack, and I went ahead to see how practical it might be to reach the summit via the un- completed trail started by Sabas at the end of my previous trip.

Our flight on January 7 from Ciudad Bolivar had carried us over the summit of Chimanta-tepuf, and we had seen broad level stretches traversed by meandering streams. We knew, therefore, that if Sabas' uncompleted new trail headed in the right direction, paralleling the course of the Tirica River, we should reach this summit and be able to establish a campsite along the river. As good fortune proved, Sabas' trail took us through the tangled scrub forest to a point where the Indians could climb trees and take direction sights. On January 27 we were within sight of our goal. A few more hours of trail-cutting on January 28 brought us above another waterfall. Here we crossed the river where it had channeled and gouged out peculiar rock formations bordered by white sandy beaches.

WATERFALL NAMED FOR MUSEUM BOTANIST This is Steyermark-meru or Julian A. Steycrmark Falls, thus named by Indians of the "lost world" in honor of the explorer on an expedition in 1953. Photo- graphed for first time by 1954-55 expedition to the same area.

At last we reached the summit and in a short time established a campsite on a level open stretch of white sand surrounded by

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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN

May, 1955

myriad kinds of peculiar plants. Here Wur- dack and I stayed, assisted by Sabas, while the other four Indians returned to help carry the remainder of the 70 pieces of cargo that were gradually being brought up. Finally, three weeks after having left Uri- man, all the cargo arrived. The elevation at this point was 6,300 feet. Temperature went down to a low of 47 degrees at night and reached a high of 75 degrees in the shade during the day (47 degrees is the very lowest temperature ever recorded from the summits of any of the mountains of the "lost world"). We found ourselves sur- rounded by weird rock-formations and bluffs on all sides towering to still higher portions of the summit that reached an altitude of 7,500 feet. We kept eight of the Indians as regular workers until the end of the trip, sending back the twelve others who had assisted in bringing the cargo up the moun- tain.

From then on our collecting began in earnest. Trails were made in many direc- tions to reach various parts of the extensive mountain-mass that is about