THE Congo expedition under the leadership of Messrs. Lang and Chapin is again at a place where it can receive and send out letters, and the uneasiness felt by its friends and supporters in New York is relieved. The expedition reports from Faradje under date of July 27 that its field work is successfully completed and later under date of August 21 that the packing of equipment and collections is well under way for the start with caravan for Avakubi and thence out of Africa by the western coast. DIRECTOR FREDERIC A. LUCAS was appointed by the Executive Committee as a delegate of the American Museum to the meeting of the Museums Association of Great Britain which was held in Dublin, July 8 to 12. Dr. Lucas also represented the Museum at the laying of the corner stone of the new National Museum in Cardiff, Wales. He left New York on June 15 and spent more than two months studying the museums of London, Liverpool, Edinburgh and other cities of the British Isles. DR. EDMUND OTIS HOVEY, curator of geology and invertebrate palæontology, served the Museum as acting director during the absence of Director Lucas. DR. GEORGE GRANT MACCURDY of Yale University was appointed the representative of the American Museum of Natural History at the eighth session of the Congrès Préhistorique de France at Angoulême, August 18 to 24. He was also appointed as the Museum's delegate at the fourteenth session of the Congrès International d'Anthropologie et d'Archéologie Préhistoriques, held at Geneva the first week in September. THE library has received as a gift from Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan an interesting manuscript by Richard Bliss, Jr. entitled Descriptions of New Species of Mauritian Fishes: this dates from 1875 and serves in part as letter-press for the volumes of unpublished drawings which the Museum acquired in 1905. PROFESSOR HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN presented a dedicatory address, "The State Museum and State Progress," at the opening of the New York State Education building, October 15. MR. ANSON W. HARD has again presented several very rare and valuable works in natural history to the library. Among them are the following: Monograph of the Coraciida or Family of Rollers by H. E. Dresser (1893); Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge by J. Hübner (3 volumes and 5 supplements, with manuscript index by Staudinger, 1806–1837); Études d'Entomologie by Charles Oberthür (21 parts, 1876–1902), also Études de Lépidopterologie Comparée by Charles Oberthür (1904-1911); Entomologie ou Histoire Naturelle des Insectes by M. Olivier (8 volumes, 1789-1808); a set of Palaeontographia Italia (16 volumes); The Birds of Tunisia by J. I. S. Whitaker (2 volumes). DR. R. M. ANDERSON of the Stefánsson-Anderson Arctic expedition is at present on board a whaler bound for San Francisco. He will reach New York in November bringing to the Museum important zoölogical collections. DIRECTOR FREDERIC A. LUCAS as delegate represented the Museum at the dedication of the New York State Education building, October 17. MEMBERS of the Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry were the guests of the Museum on September 7. THE gift of back numbers of the JOURNAL to the files of the library will be appreciated by the Museum. DURING the Summer Dr. Clark Wissler has been carrying on archæological work among the Blackfoot and Dakota Indians of the Missouri River. THROUGH the generosity of Mr. Charles L. Bernheimer, a life member of the Museum, Mr. Andrews was able to purchase in Japan a mounted skin, a skeleton and two skulls of the oriental finless porpoise Neomeris phocanoides (Cuvier). This cetacean is represented in but few collections of the world although not infrequently seen in Japanese waters. THE preliminary report by Frank M. Chapman on the bird collections received from the Colombian expedition has just been published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. It describes thirtynine species new to science, and is accompanied by a map giving much new information on the region. DR. CHESTER A. REEDS, for four years instructor in geology at Bryn Mawr College, has been appointed assistant curator in the department of geology and invertebrate palæontology. He began his active duties on the first of August. MISS MARY C. DICKERSON, assistant curator of herpetology, spent August in the field in southern Arizona where she secured a representative collection of the reptiles of the region and data on the relation of the reptile fauna to desert conditions for use in future group work. THE localities in Victoria Land and the Coppermine region occupied by the Eskimo tribes discovered by the Stefánsson-Anderson expedition have been indicated on the globe in the North Pacific hall. Also in the exhibition case at the right of the globe are displayed the clothing, weapons and other objects representative of the culture of these tribes [See back of cover]. These objects would tell in themselves, if there were no other evidence, that they come from a primitive, isolated people. They are unusually strong, having been made for use, not soon to be traded for knives or firearms, nor to be used mainly by the children of the tribe, as is the case when civilization is in process. MESSRS. SPINDEN, LOWIE AND SKINNER of the department of anthropology have returned to the Museum from field research on the American Indian in North Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin respectively. MR. C. W. LENG of the department of invertebrate zoology spent several weeks of the summer in Labrador and Newfoundland collecting insects for the Museum. THE third annual exhibition of the Aquarium Society was held in the west assembly hall of the Museum October 6 to 13. MR. ROBERT C. MURPHY is in charge of an expedition to the South Georgia Islands, under the joint auspices of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the American Museum of Natural History. MR. WILLIAM B. RICHARDSON returned to Colombia in July, to explore the exceedingly unhealthful Patia region, which appears not to have been visited before by a naturalist. THE MUSEUM is represented in the Chocó region of western Colombia by Mrs. Elizabeth Kerr, an American, who has recently sent a small collection of birds and mammals containing two new species of marmoset and several new birds. UNDER the leadership of Dr. W. S. Rainsford, a third African expedition has been organized for the collection of the black rhinoceros and other large mammals. THE Museum's public health models and diagrams illustrating the problems of water supply and waste disposal and structure of the bacteria of disease were shown at the exhibition of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography during September and were awarded the highest honor in each of the sections in which they were exhibited. The department of public health is at present engaged in the preparation of an exhibit dealing with insect-borne disease, one of the principal features of which will be a large and elaborate model of the common house-fly. American Museum of Natural History Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK JOSEPH H. CHOATE THOMAS DEWITT CUYLER JAMES DOUGLAS MADISON GRANT ANSON W. HARD ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES J. PIERPONT MORGAN FELIX M. WARBURG THE MUSEUM IS OPEN FREE TO THE PUBLIC ON EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY was established in 1869 to promote the Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial cooperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are dependent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. membership fees are, The $ 500 1000 Associate Benefactors. 10.000 THE MUSEUM LIBRARY contains more than 60,000 volumes with a good working collection of publications issued by scientific institutions and societies in this country and abroad. The library is open to the public for reference daily Sundays and holidays excepted - from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M. THE MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS are issued in six series: American Museum Journal, Annual Report, Anthropological Papers, Bulletin, Guide Leaflets and Memoirs. Information concerning their sale may be obtained at the Museum library. GUIDES FOR STUDY OF EXHIBITS are provided on request by the department of public education. Teachers wishing to bring classes should write or telephone the department for an appointment, specifying the collection to be studied Lectures to classes may also be arranged for. In all cases the best results are obtained with small groups of children. WORKROOMS AND STORAGE COLLECTIONS may be visited by persons presenting membership tickets. The storage collections are open to all persons desiring to examine specimens for special study. Applications should be made at the information desk. THE MITLA RESTAURANT in the east basement is reached by the elevator and is open from 12 to 5 on all days except Sundays. Afternoon Tea is served from 2 to 5. The Mitla room is o. unusual interest as an exhibition hall being an exact reproduction of temple ruins at Mitla. Mexico. |