A CHARACTERIZATION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMEN COLLECTION OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY, CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS

By

Mark W. McNamara February 2005

A Non-Thesis Research Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

Biology Program Department of Physical and Life Sciences Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

______Dr. Graham C. Hickman, Chair

______Dr. David A. McKee, Member

______Dr. John W. Tunnell, Jr., Member

______Dr. Grady Price Blount, Chairperson Department of Physical and Life Sciences

______Dr. Diana Marinez, Dean College of Science and Technology

Format: The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Collection Forum

i

Abstract.—An analysis of the Natural History Specimen Collection of the Corpus Christi

Museum of Science and History involved collection-level descriptions produced for each of the nine collection sub-disciplines and for the collection as a whole. Collection descriptions will be used to disseminate information about the collection to researchers, educators, and other users so that this resource of over 134,489 zoological, botanical, and geological specimens for education, scientific research, and identification can be better utilized. Over 30 percent of the specimens are from South Texas in accordance with the

Museum’s mission “to collect and preserve natural and cultural history objects representing South Texas and its place in the world and to present educational programming related to its collections”. There are four paratype specimens, hundreds of voucher specimens, and thousands of objects of unique historical significance to the citizens of South Texas. Specimens document wildlife, plants, and geology of this region through the work of over 2,500 scientists and collectors. This valuable scientific and educational resource is well organized, properly housed, cataloged, and computer databased in accordance with national standards set forth by the American Association of

Museums. The collection is a valuable asset to those with an interest in the natural history of Southern Texas.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... iii

LIST OF TABLES ...... iv

LIST OF FIGURES ...... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vii

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

METHODS AND MATERIALS ...... 6

STUDY AREA ...... 7

Brief History of the Corpus Christi Museum ...... 8

COLLECTION RESULTS ...... 10

All Disciplines ...... 11

Botany ...... 24

Entomology ...... 29

Geology ...... 32

Herpetology ...... 35

Malacology ...... 39

Mammalogy ...... 48

Marine Biology ...... 51

Ornithology ...... 59

Paleontology ...... 64

DISCUSSION ...... 70

LITERATURE CITED ...... 74

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 Number specimens in the natural history collection with locality data by geographic unit ...... 15 2 Number of specimens by geographic origin ...... 16 3 Selected contributors of specimens to the natural history collection ...... 21 4 Donors contributing major percentages in high collection years . . . . 23 5 Number of botany specimens by geographic origin ...... 25 6 Number of specimen lots by class in the entomology collection . . . . 29 7 Number of entomology specimens by geographic origin ...... 31 8 Number of geology specimens by geographic origin ...... 34 9 Reptiles and amphibians of the herpetology collection by family . . . 35 10 Number of herpetology specimens by geographic origin ...... 37 11 Number of malacology specimens by geographic origin ...... 41 12 Mammalogy specimens by material type ...... 48 13 Mammalogy specimens by geographic origin ...... 49 14 Invertebrate specimens by taxonomic group ...... 54 15 Echinodermata by class ...... 55 16 Number of arthropod specimens by class ...... 56 17 Number of marine biology specimens by geographic origin ...... 57 18 Number of ornithology specimens by geographic origin ...... 60 19 Number of paleontology specimens by geographic origin ...... 66

iv LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page 1 Natural history collection storage at Corpus Christi Museum ...... 11 2 Percentage of zoological, botanical, and geological specimens in the natural history collection ...... 12 3 Percentage of cataloged specimen lots in each collection sub-discipline ...... 13 4 Total number of cataloged specimen lots in each collection sub-discipline ...... 14 5 Counties included in the definition of South Texas ...... 17 6 Frequency of occurrence of objects by year of collection ...... 19 7 Frequency of objects accessioned by year ...... 22 8 Frequency of occurrence of botany specimens by year of collection ...... 26 9 Percentage of insects by order ...... 30 10 Frequency of occurrence of entomology specimens by year of collection ...... 31 11 Frequency of occurrence of herpetology specimens by year of collection ...... 38 12 Percentage of marine, terrestrial, and freshwater mollusks in the malacology collection ...... 40 13 Frequency of occurrence of malacology specimens by year of collection ...... 42 14 Roy W. Quillin, Robert Deshan Camp, and Albert Joseph Bernard Kirn ...... 44 15 Frequency of occurrence of mammalogy specimens by year of collection ...... 50 16 Percentage of crabs, shrimps, barnacles, lobster, crayfish, and isopods in the marine biology collection ...... 56 17 Frequency of occurrence of marine biology specimens by year of collection ...... 58

v 18 Frequency of occurrence of ornithology specimens by year of collection ...... 61

LIST OF FIGURES (continued)

19 Percentage of major taxonomic groups in the paleontology collection ...... 65 20 Frequency of occurrence of paleontology specimens by year of collection ...... 66 21 Excavation of the Corpus Christi Museum Mosasaur ...... 68

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all my professors at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, especially the Graduate Committee, Dr. Graham Hickman, Dr. John (Wes) Tunnell, and

Dr. David McKee for their support of this project. These three men have always given me great inspiration and have been outstanding role models.

I would like to thank Rick Stryker, Director of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History for his enthusiastic support of this project, the Staff and Volunteers of the

Corpus Christi Museum for their assistance and support, and former Curator, Jane

Deisler-Seno for her forward thinking commitment to establishing a functional computer database which made this work possible.

I would like to express my appreciation to the citizens of Corpus Christi and City

Leaders for their continued support of the Corpus Christi Museum and their commitment to preserving this tangible legacy of the people of Corpus Christi. I thank the Friends of the Corpus Christi Museum for their support of exhibits and programming.

Most importantly, I would like to thank my wonderful family for supporting my dream and sacrificing with me in order to achieve it. I dedicate this work to my late father,

David McNamara who passed away during my graduate studies and thank him for instilling his love of nature in me. To my son Nathan McNamara born during my graduate studies, thank you for the inspiration to rededicate myself and finish my degree

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INTRODUCTION

Natural history museum collections are valuable three-dimensional libraries of biological and geological information that represent the earth and its flora and fauna through both space and time.

Natural history museum collections are valuable (Allmon 1994) because they are:

• Documents of past and present levels of biodiversity

• Sources of information on biogeography

• Repositories for voucher and type specimens

• Sources of inspiration as objects are discovered and rediscovered by scientists

• Resources for hands-on education

• Tools used to identify other specimens

• The primary resource for the science of systematics

• A tangible record of the geological and biological history of the earth

While the natural history collection of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and

History is small by national museum standards, it is important to science and education on a local and regional level. Each year all Corpus Christi Independent School District first graders and students from surrounding schools are inspired to learn about science and history in a museum setting for the first time. Many of these children grow up to attend our local colleges and universities and enter local professions. Inspiring young

1 people to achieve, is perhaps the most important function of museums and one of the most difficult to quantify.

Small regional museum collections can be as important as large museum collections because they often have more representative specimens from the immediate area that are of particular value to local scientists and are locally accessible. With the advent of modern computer technology, small museums can play an even more significant role by reaching wider audiences and interconnecting with other museum collections via the

World Wide Web. University and small institutional museums are under increasing financial pressure to justify the existence of their collections and many are being closed or consolidated with other institutions because they lack funding and community support.

Three factors working against natural history collections are increasing growth, the effects of inflation on the cost of maintaining collections, and the movement of biological sciences away from the utilization of collections (Bryant 1983). Often valuable specimens or the accompanying data are lost forever because of insufficient funding for staff and equipment to care for the collection. Proper care of museum specimens is time consuming and costly, requiring maintenance, pest management, data management, and environmental management. Specimens in smaller institutions and university collections are often lost or destroyed and often these potentially valuable specimens go un-used because few researchers outside of the institution are aware of them. Specimens in alcohol are often destroyed because they are not monitored and dry out. Dry specimens can be destroyed by insects, eaten away by acidic storage conditions, destroyed by

2 exposure to light, or ruined by water leaks and floods (Appelbaum 1991). Standards of collection care are higher than ever before, which also results in increased cost.

In most cases it is no longer legal or ethical to collect rare or endangered species which increases the value of objects already residing in collections. As society has become more environmentally sensitive; museums, universities, and private collectors have shifted away from collecting animals and plants, placing more pressure on conservation of already aging and fragile museum specimens currently in institutional collections. Ironically, this view of collecting has weakened public support for collections because collecting is often thought of as politically incorrect. Although fewer specimens are being collected, museum collections themselves and the accompanying data they possess are being used in innovative ways made possible by modern technology such as molecular genetics and geospatial modeling to learn more about past and present environments. Computerization of museum databases presents opportunities not previously available because data can now be analyzed from multiple institutions, both large and small using technology to reduce travel costs. As technology improves, museum specimens will continue to be rediscovered as new analytical tools become available.

For natural history collections to be of value they must be used. Without proper collection management and supervision, a collection cannot be made accessible for use.

Computers serve many functions in collection management and are considered essential because the information held in computer databases is easier to search, sort, safeguard,

3 modify, and output (Gill, 1995). Efficient utilization of technology is essential for the survival of museum collections in small institutions. Using the internet, museums can describe their collections in terms of size, scope, relevance, accessibility, and other factors to a wide audience of researchers. Many museums have searchable collection databases on the Internet. Such innovations allow museums to function with fewer employees while simultaneously improving service to the public and expanding the use of collection data for research. Attempts have been made to link and standardize museum databases so that information can be made available worldwide (Sabin 1997).

There is a trend in museums toward partnership and cross-domain working between museums, archives, and libraries including access to funding and resources. A number of organizations further this important goal of linking museum collection databases such as

Museum Computer Network, Computer Interchange of Museum Information Project,

Museum Documentation Association and the International Documentation Committee.

Other organizations are working toward the goal of linking worldwide museum collections for the purpose of research by forming data standards and a consistent framework (Buck and Gilmore 1998). Collection descriptions have the potential to provide an important role in supporting cross-domain resource discovery (Dunn 2000).

Collection level descriptions are important because they offer a summary of a museum’s collections and serve as a vehicle for discovery of individual collection items (Dunn

2000).

4 The Corpus Christi Museum has always held its collection care to a high standard and has been accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1973. The museum has professional staff, properly databased collections, a team of collections volunteers, controlled environmental conditions, fire protection, and theft prevention. The Corpus

Christi Museum is the best equipped facility to preserve important local natural history specimens for future generations of scientists in the City of Corpus Christi and surrounding area. Natural history collections must be used for their value to be realized.

It is essential to describe the collection to local scientists and educators so that they can be used and for public support to continue. The natural history collection at the Corpus

Christi Museum must be utilized or this valuable resource may be lost forever.

This project seeks to assist in the continued preservation and improvement of the natural history collection at the Corpus Christi Museum by developing detailed collection-level descriptions for the collection as a whole and for each of the nine collection sub-disciplines: botany, entomology, geology, herpetology, malacology, mammalogy, marine biology, ornithology, and paleontology.

Collection-level descriptions are valuable because they compliment detailed item databases, improve access to collections by serving as a table of contents from which to browse, and can be used to disseminate information via the World Wide Web (Dunn

2000). Describing the collection in detail and making this description available to everyone validates the continued existence of the Corpus Christi Museum natural history collection and improves its accessibility to scientists, museum staff, and the citizens of

5 Corpus Christi to which these specimens ultimately belong and for which they are held in public trust.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

This investigation was performed using the existing natural history collection database of the Corpus Christi Museum in Microsoft Access 2000 file format, converted to

Microsoft Access XP by the author in 2003 from Paradox 10. Further modifications and improvements to the database were needed in order to produce the descriptions required prior to statistical analysis. Normalization was completed during summer 2004 as a

Directed Independent Study prior to analysis of the data.

Once data fields were normalized, the data was analyzed via Microsoft Excel version

XP. Because Microsoft Access and Excel are designed to operate efficiently together, and the data was moved back and forth between Access and Excel many times, Excel was chosen as the most appropriate program to use for this analysis although more sophisticated statistical software exists. Appropriate charts, tables, and graphics were generated to describe the results for each category.

Museum records, archives, and library were researched whenever possible so that pertinent additional information could be included in this collection description.

6 This manuscript is a report of the research describing the collection and each of its nine sub-disciplines. Because the collection is constantly growing, all data and statistics for this research are valid as of 01 September 2004 at which time the database was frozen for the purpose of analysis.

STUDY AREA

The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History natural history collection is located in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, at 1900 North Chaparral Street. The natural history collection is part of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. The

Museum is a department of the City of Corpus Christi and its operation and staff are supported by the City of Corpus Christi. Funding for exhibits and educational programming is made possible by grants and private donations to the Friends of the

Corpus Christi Museum, a non-profit charitable organization that supports the museum’s educational mission.

The natural history collection is one of many collections held by the museum which also include:

• History • Terrestrial archeology • Marine archeology repository for the State of Texas (1554 and La Belle Shipwrecks) • Columbus ship replicas • Xeriscape Learning and Design Center • Doc McGregor Photo Collection, Museum Library, and archives • Live reptile collection

7 Generally an object is placed in the natural history collection if it is un-altered or influenced by man. For example, a scrimshaw carving on a sperm whale tooth is considered to be a history object whereas an unaltered sperm whale tooth without carving is considered a natural history specimen. This research covers only the natural history collection, but it should be noted that there are thousands of “natural” objects cataloged as history and archeology specimens.

The Museum covers 7,990 square meters (86,000 square feet) with 3,657 square meters (39, 364 square feet) of exhibit space. Facilities within the natural history collection include a wet lab, dry lab/classroom, collection storage, live reptile care lab, offices, and approximately 1/3 of available exhibit space. Shared facilities such as meeting rooms, exhibit laboratory, shop, library, and archives are also available.

The museum has two full time natural history staff members consisting of a curator and collection manager and is supported by the full museum staff of over 20 people. The collection is staffed by 20 to 30 volunteers with a diverse knowledge of natural history.

Brief History of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History

The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History was first conceived as a junior museum by a group of local teachers in 1951. The purpose of the museum was to educate local school children beyond the classroom. Corpus Christi leaders and supporters headed by local businessman, Ted Scibienski, with help from John R. Forbes,

8 Director of the Natural Science for Youth Foundation made the museum a reality on 21

January 1956 (Fort 2003).

Originally the museum was housed in a small building at 1202 North Water Street and was operated by a newly formed women’s organization called the “Women’s Guild”. On

01 August 1957, Aalbert Heine was hired as the museum’s first director, a position he held for 27 years. Following his retirement in 1984, Aalbert Heine was replaced by the present Museum Director, Richard Stryker. Under the leadership of these two directors the museum and its collections have steadily grown since 1956 into the present Museum of Science and History, housing hundreds of thousands of objects, photographs, and archives, and educating and inspiring thousands of visitors each year. Today the museum’s mission is “to collect and preserve natural and cultural history objects with emphasis on South Texas and its place in the world and to present educational programming related to its collections” (Corpus Christi Museum 2000). Originally, the museum’s focus was on natural history, with many specimens being collected locally.

Over time, the focus of the museum has steadily broadened and now encompasses natural history, cultural history, marine archeology, and terrestrial archeology.

Collections have grown simultaneously with technology. Starting around 1985 computerization of the collection database began. This database began as a simple spreadsheet on a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III (Deisler personal communication).

Around 1990, the database was moved to an IBM compatible computer format running dBase IV database management software. Since then, it has evolved through several software programs and computer upgrades (Corpus Christi Museum 1993). Most

9 recently in 2003, the database was converted to Microsoft Access. This computer catalog supersedes the old card catalog and ledger system previously used to database the collection.

COLLECTION RESULTS

Because this collection description covers a large amount of data in numerous categories, it is divided into ten sections to aid the reader in finding those areas that are of most interest. The results sections are presented beginning with all disciplines followed by each sub-discipline in alphabetical order from botany to paleontology. To further aid the reader, each sub-discipline results section, is organized into the following sub- sections:

• Statistical Summary

• Geographic Origin

• Temporal Data

• Provenance

• Collection Highlights

Some sections may be longer, shorter, omitted, or combined based on the amount of data available in each sub-discipline.

The scope of this project does not include a complete update of the collection to modern trends in taxonomy and some taxonomic units may not follow

10 recent trends. Updating taxonomy is never complete in any museum and is an ongoing project at the Corpus Christi Museum. The process has begun in the ornithology collection using the current AOU Checklist of North American Birds. Taxonomy of other collections will be updated as they are inventoried.

All Disciplines

The natural history collection of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History

(hereafter referred to as “the collection”) presently consists of 44,500 cataloged specimen lots, for a total of well over 134,489 total pieces. A specimen lot is a representative sample of specimens from one location and specific point in time. Each lot in a museum is given a unique identifying catalog number and may contain one or more pieces. This collection description describes only those specimens that are cataloged. Many un- cataloged specimens such as educational specimens exist, but are not considered here.

One thousand forty-nine natural history specimens are on exhibit representing 2.36% of the total. The remainder of the collection and the accompanying database are available for research and education use in collection storage at the museum (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. Natural history collection Storage at Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

Collection data is stored in a computer database in Microsoft® Access 2003 format, and paper ledgers organized by catalog date. The original card file system is also available as an archive, although it has not been active since approximately 1998. The collection and database are available for use by appointment to qualified researchers at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, Tuesday through Saturday from 8am to 5pm excluding major holidays. A searchable version of the database will be made available via the museum’s web site in the future (pending funding).

Statistical Summary

The collection was found to be 78% animal material. Geological and botanical specimens complete the collection (Figure 2). For this chart, paleontological material is

12 considered in the plant or animal category it represents and not as part of geology. The zoological category is composed of 75% invertebrate and 25% vertebrate specimens.

Geological 12% Botanical 10% Zoological 78%

Figure 2. Percentage of zoological, botanical, and geological specimens in the natural history collection of the Corpus Christi Museum.

The collection is historically subdivided into nine collection sub-disciplines or sub- collections. The largest individual collection discipline is malacology comprising 39% of the total collection, followed by entomology, ornithology, geology, botany, paleontology, marine biology, herpetology, and mammalogy. Percentages of the total collection represented by each subcategory are shown in Figure 3.

13 Geology Botany 12% 9% Paleontology 6% Marine Biology Ornithology 5% 13% Mammalogy 1% Herpetology Entomology 1% 14%

Malacology 39%

Figure 3. Percentage of cataloged specimen lots in each collection discipline.

The total number of specimen lots in each collection discipline are presented in Figure

4. Some collections, such as mammalogy and herpetology, are relatively small. Valuable specimens do exist in these smaller collections. For example, there are seven Texas

Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum specimens in the herpetology collection. These specimens provide a tangible historical record of this now threatened high profile species in Nueces, San Patricio, and Kleberg counties. Each collection sub-discipline has uniquely valuable specimens, many of which have yet to be identified.

14 18,000 16,747 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000

8,000 6,408 5,785 5,382 6,000 4,196 2,763 4,000 2,043 2,000 665 511 0 Botany Marine Biology Geology Malacology Ornithology Entomology Mammalogy Herpetology Paleontology Figure 4. Total number of cataloged specimen lots in each collection discipline.

Geographic Origin

Museum specimens have value for education, display, or for research. Location data is essential for biogeographical studies and other research. In the past, some specimens with educational or display value were accessioned into the Corpus Christi Museum collection even though they may have had limited location data.

There is little research value for specimens that lack important data such as collection location and date. Analysis was performed to determine how many specimens have accompanying location data, making them useful for research.

15 The collection database contains the following fields for storing location information:

• Country • State/Province • County • City • Specific Area/Detailed Locality

In the natural history collection, 32,298 specimens or 73% of the collection have data to the country level. 29,016 specimens or 65% have data to the state level. Over 64% of the specimens have data to the county, city, or detailed locality level making them suitable for scientific research. Approximately 45% of the natural history specimens have specific location data such as map coordinates, street address, or object upon which they were collected making them ideal for research (Table 1).

Table 1. Number specimens in the natural history collection with locality data by geographic unit.

Geographic Unit Number of Percentage of Specimens Specimens Country 32,298 72.8%

State/Province 29,016 65.2%

County 24,185 54.4%

City 25,402 57.1%

Detailed Locality 19,797 44.5%

County, City, or Detailed Locality 28,441 63.9%

Year, Month or Date Collected 25,095 56.4%

Both Locality and Date information to a least 21,612 48.6% year and county level

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Collection dates, along with locality information, document previous existence of a species in a particular place and time and can be used to study changes in biodiversity or species range. Temporal data such as year, month, or date of collection are recorded for

56% of the specimens in the collection. About 50% of specimens have both temporal and geographical data to at least the year and county level.

The museum’s mission states that it “collects and preserves natural and cultural history objects with an emphasis on South Texas and its place in the world”. Analysis of the location data was performed to determine the origin of the specimens contained in the collection. The analysis shows that the collection is worldwide in scope and centers around the United States, Texas and the region of South Texas in which the museum is located. Fifty four percent of the collection originates from within the United States and

38% was collected within the State of Texas. The adjacent country of Mexico ranks second in number of specimens represented with 6% of the collection or 2,596 specimens. There are 148 countries and territories represented in the collection.

While specimens do originate from all over the world, a large percentage were collected locally. The county most represented by specimens is Nueces with 7,067 specimens or 16% of the total collection. Nueces and the four surrounding counties are represented by 11,062 specimens or 25% of the total. Table 2 is a summary of the number of species collected by geographic region.

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Table 2. Number of specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Total Collection 44,500 100% United States 23,913 53.7% Texas 16,686 37.5% South Texas 13,483 30.3% Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 11,062 24.9% Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 7,067 15.9% Mexico 2,596 6.0%

Over 30% of the collection is from “South Texas” which is defined in Figure 5. All further reference to the term South Texas in this collection description shall be in accordance with this definition.

Figure 5. Counties included in the definition of South Texas.

18 Temporal Data

A collection description should contain temporal data such as the age range of specimens housed in the collection. A good collection description should be able to help a researcher determine if the collection contains specimens collected during the time period being researched. The purpose of a collection description is to simplify research.

Analysis of collection dates was performed to determine useful trends in collection dates.

The histogram in Figure 6 shows the frequency of objects collected per year. The majority of collecting began around the museum’s inception, peaked during the late sixties and early seventies and has drastically tapered off in recent years.

The mean age of all specimens in the natural history collection is 37 years with a standard deviation of 16 years. Collection dates range from the 1870’s to today. Some of the earliest collected specimens include a group of 22 taxidermy mounts prepared in the

1870’s and donated by the Smithsonian Institution in 1969.

Ninety-five percent of the specimens were collected after 1950. There are 2,267 specimens collected prior to 1950. Over half of these early specimens originate from several turn of the century Texas naturalists; Albert Joseph Bernard Kirn, Roy W.

Quillin, Robert Deshan Camp, and Joseph Daniel Mitchell.

19 2200 2000 1800 1600 1400 Number 1200 of 1000 Specimens 800 600 400 200 0 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004

Year Collected Figure 6. Frequency of occurrence of objects by year of collection.

An immediate increase in collecting around 1958 coincides with the hiring of the museum’s first director as he immediately began to populate the museum’s collections.

Growth rose again between 1961 and 1964. Sixty-four percent of the growth during this period was in malacology. Half of this large increase is the result of Carl T. Young’s extraordinary collecting effort. The rest is distributed among a variety of local shell collectors. Twenty-three percent of the peak in collecting between 1961 and 1964 is in botany representing the work of Fred. B. Jones, 7% is in entomology (half were by

Curator, Carroll L. Williams), and 3% was in marine biology.

Collecting decreased between 1964 and 1970 corresponding to the United State’s escalating involvement in the Vietnam War.

From 1970 to 1974 there was another large increase in collecting. The largest increase during this time occurred in malacology accounting for 41% of the specimens collected.

Entomology represents 28.5% of the specimens collected during this period of growth.

20 Over half of these insect specimens were collected by museum staff or volunteers in an effort to grow the entomology collection. Museum Curator Carroll Lloyd Williams was primarily responsible for this large increase in entomology. During this period he collected an amazing 1,439 insects or 23% of the entire entomology collection.

Ornithology grew as 601 study skins were salvaged and prepared by staff and volunteers.

Ornithology growth accounts for 12% of the specimens collected between 1970 and 1974 as salvaged birds were prepared as study skins.

Provenance

Provenance refers to the history of ownership of museum specimens. Provenance can tell much about the collection and can aid researchers who are studying or verifying a previous scientist or author’s work. For this reason, it is useful to describe major collectors and donors.

A survey of major collectors and contributors was done and a summary is presented in

Table 3. The collection represents the work of many South Texas scientists from the late

19th century to the present. The work of scientists such as J.D. Mitchell, R. W. Quillin,

A. B. J. Kirn, R.D. Camp, Jean Andrews, and Fred B. Jones is represented in the collection by hundreds or even thousands of specimens. The contributions of many contemporary local scientists and naturalists are also represented in the collection and it is likely that many more will choose the Corpus Christi Museum to preserve their personal scientific collections and unique specimens so that they can be properly cared for and made available to science. Large collection donations, greater than 25 specimens,

21 account for approximately 50% of the entire natural history collection while the remaining half come from small and individual item donations.

Some material was brought to the museum by its first director, Aalbert Heine who previously worked for the Smithsonian institution. Some of the oldest specimens, a number of bird mounts dating back to the 1870’s, were donated by the Smithsonian.

Another early source of collection material is the Forbes collection. Forbes Natural

Science for Youth Foundation donated material in support of the museum on November

19, 1969 including the Kirn Egg Collection, J.D. Mitchell Freshwater Mollusk

Collection, and other material for early museum displays.

Table 3. Selected contributors of specimens to the natural history collection. Contributor Number of Specimens Fred B. Jones 3,290 Forbes (Yocum) 3,127 Adelaide B. Johnstone 1,295 Jean Andrews 1,043 Rare Earth Inc. (Patsy Singer Collection) 936 C.W. Griffen 672 Ruth O'Brien 632 Aalbert Heine 623 Jane Deisler 613 Henry M. Brennecke 538 D.E. Garey 536 Ann Bartlett 514 Howard Lee (Clarice Phears Collection) 265 William D. Pitt 255 Pat Kiser (Walter D. Smith Collection) 248 Alan Chaney 245 William Murray 233 Emilie Payne 232 Phillip Rosenstein 226

22 Table 3. (continued) Selected contributors of specimens to the natural history collection.

McGuire, Doris 208 Jack Prentiss 164 R.E. Larson 155 Harry S. Pease 144 Lozar and McMahon 132 Mrs. John G. Kenedy 44 Smithsonian Institution 41 Ben T. Vaughn 34

A museum object is accessioned when the museum takes legal possession of the object. The number of accessions per year may relate to the health and efficiency of a museum’s ability to collect, preserve, and catalog objects. Figure 7 shows the number of accessions by year throughout the history of the museum.

4500 1969

4000

3500

3000 1991 1970 Number 2500 of 1986 Specimens 2000 1978

1981 1500 1975 1973 1976 1971 1977 1983 1000 1966 1985 1972 1987 1965 1974 1959 1964 1968 1994 1996 500 1980 1982 1984 1988 1990 1997 1960 1967 1989 1992 0 1957 1959 1960 1962 1963 1965 1967 1968 1970 1972 1973 1975 1976 1978 1980 1981 1983 1984 1986 1988 1989 1991 1992 1994 1996 1997 1999 2001 2002 2004 Year of Accession Figure 7. Frequency of objects accessioned by year.

Table 4 describes peak accessions shown in Figure 7. There have been few large accessions in recent years.

23

Table 4. Donors contributing major percentages in high collection years.

Year Total Major Donation Sources and Number of Specimens Specimens Cataloged 1959 331 Aalbert Heine, L.L. Small, Geology Collection- 109 1960 239 Numerous small donations 1964 457 Yokosuka, Japan Sister City Exchange -269, C.L. Williams Insects -88 1965 502 C.L. Williams- 139 1966 767 Field Museum- 93, R.E. Larsen- 155, C.L. Williams- 232 1967 229 Numerous small donations 1968 417 Phil Rosenstein Shells-170 1969 4,196 Forbes NSYF via Hal Yocum- 2,632, Jean Andrews- 126 1970 2,607 Manette Wilson Shells- 1,052 1971 844 C.L. Williams- 228 1972 602 C.L. Williams- 137 1973 1,098 Roy W. Quillin Nests via Welder Wildlife Foundation- 629 A. B. Johnstone- 145 1974 586 Numerous small donations 1975 1,094 A. B. Johnstone- 160, Emily Payne- 122, Yvonne Canine- 98, Lorna M. Goebel- 92, Hassler, Forbes Kirn Ghost Ranch- 82 1976 1,070 D.E. Garey- 307, A. B. Johnstone- 159, L.M. Goebel- 92, A. Heine- 132 1977 803 R.D. Camp Collection via A. P. Chaney - 221, A. B. Johnstone- 216 1978 1,788 Carl T. Young Shell Collection- 1,440 1980 367 William Pitt- 130 1981 1,404 Jean Andrews- 860, A. B. Johnstone- 155 1982 338 Numerous, Grady Blount- 23 1983 902 Jon Whiteman- 695 1984 313 A. B. Johnstone via Jane Montgomery- 164 1985 416 William Murray- 225 1986 1,986 Patsy Singer Collection via Rare Earth Inc.- 940, Ron Bartlett- 506, Clarice Phears via Howard Lee- 265 1987 497 H. M. Brennecke- 168, Yokosuka, Japan Sister City Exchange- 33 1988 358 Numerous small donations 1989 256 Numerous small donations 1990 281 Numerous small donations 1991 2,857 Earline Webb Shell Collection- 2,587 1994 424 Walter D. Smith Collection via Pat Kiser- 221 Margaret Lozar- 122 1996 459 Emma Jones-194, H. M. Brennecke Wood Collection- 108 1997 269 Yvonne Canine-195

24

Botany

One of the most outstanding research collections at the Corpus Christi Museum is the

Fred B. Jones Herbarium. This is a very useful research collection and a comprehensive representation of South Texas botanical plants. The collection is well housed and in excellent physical condition. Each specimen is labeled and stored in taxonomic order by family and genus. A searchable computer database and long reach dissecting microscope are available to aid researchers using the collection for research, education, or for reference.

Statistical Summary

The botany collection consists of 4,196 computer cataloged specimen lots and a total of 4,927 total pieces. The botany sub-discipline comprises 10% of the total natural history collection with 179 families and 1,896 species represented. There are 4,047 herbarium sheet lots, 114 wood samples, 19 prepared slides, and 16 bulk samples such as seeds, fruits, or cones. Most botany specimens are angiosperms with only 31 gymnosperms represented.

Geographic Origin

Over 99% of the specimens contained in this collection were scientifically collected and possess date and detailed locality data, making them useful for research. This is a truly local collection with 98% of specimen lots being from the United States and 88% from Texas. Eighty-four percent of specimens are from South Texas. Three thousand are

25 from Nueces and the four surrounding counties of Aransas, San Patricio, Jim Wells, and

Kleberg. One thousand thirty–two are from Nueces County. Figure 5 is a summary of specimens collected by geographic location.

Table 5. Number of botany specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of Species with locality data 4,153 99.0 United States 4,127 99.4 Texas 3,672 88.4 South Texas 3,499 84.3 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 3,000 72.2 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 1,032 24.8 Mexico 7 .2

Temporal Data

The average age of botany specimens is 38 years with a standard deviation of 9 years.

This corresponds to the higher collection years of Fred Jones, the primary source of the specimens in this collection (Figure 8). The collection dates of Jones’ specimens range from 1928 to 1987. Forty-one percent of the collection, 1,723 specimens, were collected by Jones from 1958 to 1962. Another peak collecting period for Jones was from 1965 to

1968 accounting for another 878 specimens or 21% of the collection. In 1974 another

337 specimens or 8% of the total herbarium was collected.

26 600 500 Number 400 of 300 Specimens 200 100 0 1923 1929 1935 1941 1947 1953 1959 1965 1971 1976 1982 1988 1994 Year Collected

Figure 8. Frequency of occurrence of botany specimens by year of collection.

Provenance

The majority of the botany specimens are the personal collection of local botanist

Frederick Butler Jones (1909-1995) part of the voucher material upon which the book

Flora of the Texas Coastal Bend (1975) was based.

Voucher materials for Jones’ book are also deposited at the Botanical Research

Institute of Texas (moved from Southern Methodist University Herbarium), Welder

Wildlife Foundation, and Padre Island National Seashore (Whistler Personal

Communication). Original drawings and artwork used in the book are housed in the

Corpus Christi Museum Archives. Mr. Jones’ personal Herbarium, originally housed at his residence, now resides at the Corpus Christi Museum.

Fred Jones was an outstanding local botanist who did the first large scale botanical survey concentrating on the Texas Coastal Bend. Clarence Cottam, the First Director of

27 the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation, of Sinton, Texas, supported Jones’ work and employed him as a research associate for many years (Jones 1973). Jones’ work culminated in his book published in 1975. Flora of the Texas Coastal Bend has been the standard botany reference since 1975.

Fred Jones was a farmer, horticulturist, author, and above all a meticulous scientist who kept exemplary records. Every plant sample he collected has detailed location information which often includes a description of the soil and other pertinent data on the label. Unfortunately, Jones’ field notebooks are believed to have been destroyed

(O’Brien 2005). The herbarium includes, according to Jones, “nearly all of the native and naturalized plants of the Coastal Bend area of Texas” including the Rain Lily,

Cooperia jonesii, that he discovered in South Texas which bears his name (Jones 1961).

Jones was named Honorary Curator of Botany by the Corpus Christi Museum and the

Herbarium was named in his honor in 1992. The Fred B. Jones Nature Sanctuary near

Portland, Texas once part of the family farm and a popular collecting spot of Jones’ was donated to the Corpus Christi Outdoor Club in 1992, and is home to hundreds of species collected by Jones many of which are now preserved in the Corpus Christi Museum.

Honorary Curator of Botany, Ruth O’Brien, a long time friend and neighbor of Fred

Jones, continues his work for the museum by caring for and adding to the collection.

Mrs. O’Brien has volunteered and supported the Corpus Christi Museum since its inception and has collected and contributed over 450 specimens to the herbarium. A new

28 book co-authored by Ruth O’Brien and based on Fred Jones’ book Flora of the Texas

Coastal Bend, will be available in June 2005 (Lehman 2005). This book entitled, Plants of the Texas Coastal Bend, is by Roy L. Lehman, Ruth O'Brien, and Tammy White with drawings by Eveline May Jackson and Kim Keplar. It is being published by Texas A&M

University Press.

Collection Highlights

This is a truly valuable research collection with virtually all specimens having complete collection data. The botany collection consists primarily of herbarium sheets.

It also includes bulk specimens including wood samples such as a rare 2,800 year-old cross section of bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva; a 1.5 meter wide cross section of

California Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, estimated at 878 years old; and a slab of

Northern White Cedar, Thuja occidentalis, from the Niagara Escarpment Ontario, Canada that lived for 275 years. These are exhibited in the Dendrochronology Exhibit curated by Dr. Henry M. Brennecke.

Specimens in the collection that are listed as threatened or endangered by the Texas

Parks and Wildlife Department include Johnston's Frankenia, Frankenia johnstonii, and

South Texas Ambrosia, Ambrosia cheiranthifolia.

While not identified as paratypes, the specimens of Rain Lily, Cooperia jonesii, in the collection discovered by Jones have historical significance as do all of his specimens.

29 Entomology

This large representative collection of South Texas insects also includes arachnids, centipedes, and terrestrial isopods. This collection is in good condition and is well organized and documented. This is the most recent collection to have been inventoried.

These specimens were collected primarily by museum staff and volunteers who wished to create a resource for research and identification of local species of terrestrial arthropods.

Statistical Summary

The entomology collection is the second largest sub-discipline in the natural history collection consisting of 6,408 specimen lots and 8,121 total pieces. Table 6 shows the number of specimen lots for each arthropod class represented.

Table 6. Number of specimen lots by class in the entomology collection. Class Number of Specimens Insecta 6,055 Arachnida 334 Diplopoda 10 Chilopoda 6 Malacostraca 3

Ninety-five percent of the entomology collection is insects. Of the insects there are 17 orders, 206 families, and 1,059 species represented. Of the 334 arachnids there are 33 families and 83 species. Three hundred and eleven of 334 specimens are from South

Texas, making this a truly local collection of arachnids.

30 There are 6,200 dry pinned specimen lots stored in 305 x 406 mm Riker display mounts and 208 wet specimen lots. Of the wet specimens, 184 are arachnids and 24 are insects.

Over 50% of the insects are in the order Lepidoptera and 30% are in the order

Coleoptera. This probably reflects the popularity of these two orders among collectors.

Figure 9 shows the percentage of insects by order in the entomology collection.

COLEOPT ERA 30% HYMENOPTERA 6% HEMIPTERA 5% DIPTERA 4% ORTHOPTERA 2% HOMOPTERA 1% DICTYOPTERA LEPIDOPTERA 1% 50% OTHER 1%

Figure 9. Percentage of insects by order.

Geographic Origin

This is a useful local research collection with 85% of the specimens having date and locality data. Of the 5,456 specimens with locality data 85.5% originate from the United

States, 72% are from Texas, 57% are from South Texas, and 37% are from Nueces

County. There are 41 countries represented in the collection including 236 specimens from Mexico. See Table 7 for a listing of geographic locations by region.

31 Table 7. Number of entomology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Percentage of Specimens Total Number of Species with locality data 5,456 85.1 United States 4,664 85.5 Texas 3,911 71.7 South Texas 3,107 56.9 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San Patricio, & Kleberg 2,503 45.9 Counties Nueces County 1,995 36.6 Mexico 236 4.3

Temporal Data/Provenance

Figure 10 shows entomology specimens collected by year. Two hundred and ninety- eight specimens are from the Forbes Natural Science for Youth Foundation and date from

1900 to 1945.

800

600 Number of 400 Specimens 200

0 1876 1885 1894 1903 1912 1922 1931 1940 1949 1958 1967 1976 1985 1994 Year of Collection Figure 10. Frequency of occurrence of entomology specimens by year of collection.

Forty-seven percent of these are from Kerrville, Texas. The average age of entomology specimens is 37 years with a standard deviation of 17 years. The bulk of collecting

32 corresponds to the inception of the museum in 1956 and has slowed dramatically in recent years. Over 40% of the entomology collection was collected by museum volunteers and staff.

Geology

The geology collection of the Corpus Christi Museum holds 8,484 rock and mineral specimens. Thousands of raw stones and polished stones, faceted gems, pure elements, tektites, and other rock specimens comprise this outstanding collection. Ten percent of these specimens are on exhibit in the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation Hall of Earth

Sciences and the remainder is in natural history collection storage available for research and education.

Museum founders, realizing the paucity of geological specimens in the area and the importance of geology to the local economy in terms of petroleum, began assembling representative samples from around the world as an educational resource from the museum’s inception. Only 6% of the specimen lots have a collection date indicating that most were purchased or casually collected. The geology collection has tremendous educational value, is useful for identifying mineral specimens, is very popular among museum visitors, but is of limited scientific research value because it lacks detailed collection data.

33

Statistical Summary

In the geology collection there are 5,382 cataloged lots and 8,484 total pieces. Of the

5,382 specimen lots 4,619 are classified as mineralogy specimens, and the remaining 763 are designated under the geological sub-discipline of petrology consisting of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and sand and soil samples. The geology collection is the fourth largest collection sub-discipline comprising 12% of the entire natural history collection.

The mineralogy collection is arranged systematically by the “old” Dana system according to Dana’s System of Mineralogy, Seventh Edition Volumes 1-3 by Palache,

Berman, and Frondel (1963). There are 15 Dana classes represented in the collection. It should be noted that 2,763 fossil specimens are considered separately in the paleontology category but are technically geological specimens as well.

Geographic Origin

The geology collection is worldwide in scope representing 64 countries with 40% of the specimens originating from outside of the United States. Just over 59% of the specimens have locality data of some kind although often only the country of origin.

Only 28% of the specimens have data at the county level or lower. This coupled with the fact that only 6% of the specimens have a date of collection indicates that this collection has little research value and is mostly a synoptic collection intended for education and display. The number of geology specimens by geographic unit is summarized in Table

8.

34

Table 8. Number of geology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of Species with locality data 3,187 59.2 United States 1,917 60.2 Texas 502 15.8 South Texas 186 5.8 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 51 1.6 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 39 1.2 Mexico 787 24.7 Australia 60 1.9 Brazil 72 2.3 Canada 71 2.3 India 31 .1 Other Countries 249 7.8

Temporal Data

Because only 6% of the specimens in this collection have a collection date, analysis of the collection by year was not performed.

Collection Highlights

Collection highlights include a one meter tall amethyst geode, jade carvings of H.S.

Harvill, and the original architectural model of the Flint Hills Resources, East Plant formerly Southwest Refinery, located on Nueces Bay Boulevard in Corpus Christi,

Texas, one of the oldest crude oil refineries in the Corpus Christi area.

35 Herpetology

The herpetology collection is the smallest sub-discipline of the natural history collection consisting of 511 specimens and a total of 616 pieces. This collection is augmented by the Mitchell Campbell Wommack Reptiles of South Texas Exhibit which displays live South Texas reptiles. Nearly half of the herpetology collection consists of reptiles and amphibians collected in South Texas.

Statistical Summary

Of 511 specimen lots, there are 429 wet specimens, 39 osteology specimens, and 43 taxidermy mounts and skins. Thirty-eight families and 160 species are represented from

13 countries. There are 433 reptiles and 78 amphibians in the collection. See Table 9 for complete summary by order and family.

Table 9. Reptiles and amphibians of the herpetology collection by family. Order Family Number Amphibia Anura Bufonidae 23 Anura Hylidae 19 Anura Ranidae 16 Anura Leptodactylidae 3 Anura Microhylidae 3 Anura Pelobatidae 2 Anura Dendrobatidae 1 Anura Rhinophrynidae 1 Caudata Sirenidae 5 Caudata Ambystomatidae 4 Caudata Salamandridae 1

36 Table 9 (continued) Reptiles and amphibians of the herpetology collection by family.

Reptilia Crocodilia Alligatoridae 10 Crocodilia Crocodylidae 3 Squamata: Sauria Iguanidae 95 Squamata: Sauria Teiidae 22 Squamata: Sauria Gekkonidae 12 Squamata: Sauria Scincidae 9 Squamata: Sauria Anguidae 6 Squamata: Sauria Chamaeleontidae 3 Squamata: Sauria Helodermidae 3 Squamata: Sauria Agamidae 1 Squamata: Sauria Varanidae 1 Squamata: Serpentes Colubridae 100 Squamata: Serpentes Viperidae 30 Squamata: Serpentes Elapidae 13 Squamata: Serpentes Leptotyphlopidae 9 Squamata: Serpentes Boidae 2 Testudines Emydidae 23 Testudines Cheloniidae 18 Testudines Testudinidae 15 Testudines Kinosternidae 12 Testudines Trionychidae 7 Testudines Chelydridae 5 Testudines Gopheridae 1

Geographic Origin

Nearly 56% of the herpetology specimens have data to at least the county level and a date of collection making them useful for research. Of those specimens with some locality data, 60% are from the United States and 49% are from South Texas. Table 10 is a complete breakdown of herpetology specimens by geographic unit.

37 Table 10. Number of herpetology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of species with locality data 347 67.9 United States 301 58.9 Texas 285 55.8 South Texas 251 49.1 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 223 43.6 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 192 37.6 Mexico 13 2.5

Temporal Data/Provenance

The herpetology collection comes from a variety of sources and collectors. The largest single donation was by Dr. Edward J. Greding of Del Mar College in 1976. It is a collection of frogs and toads from Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador collected in 1965. This donation includes unique specimens such as the Red and Blue

Poison Frog, Dendrobates pumilio and Mexican Burrowing Toad, Rhinophrynus dorsalis, which is a threatened species here in Texas. The average age of herpetology specimens is

34 years with a standard deviation of 9 years. Figure 11 is a histogram indicating number of specimens collected per year. A large peak in 1965 corresponds to the Greding collection and to a number of local reptiles collected by Mike Smith. The majority of the herpetology specimens were slowly collected throughout the life of the museum. There have been few specimens collected since 1991.

38 120 100 80 Number 60 of 40 Specimens 20 0 1930 1935 1939 1944 1948 1953 1957 1962 1966 1971 1976 1980 1985 1989 Year Collected

Figure 11. Frequency of occurrence of herpetology specimens by year of collection.

Collection Highlights

Noteworthy specimens include ten different reptile species and two amphibian species that are listed as threatened or endangered in Texas by the Texas Parks and Wildlife

Department. See Appendix A for a complete listing of threatened and endangered species of Texas represented in the natural history collection.

These include, seven Texas Horned Lizards, Phrynosoma cornutum collected in

Nueces, San Patricio, and Kleberg counties. These are a record of the previous existence of this Texas State reptile in these counties.

The Mitchell Campbell Wommack, Reptiles of South Texas live reptile exhibit is an important auxiliary component of the herpetology collection. The Corpus Christi

Museum has always used live animals in its displays and programming, and in 1993 the museum narrowed its focus to include only reptiles and amphibians of South Texas.

This exhibit displays live snakes, lizards, turtles, and alligators. There are over 25 live reptiles in the exhibit such as the threatened Texas Tortoise, Gopherus berlandieri, the

39 American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, or the Mexican Milk Snake, Lampropeltis triangulum annulata. The live reptile collection introduces visitors to South Texas reptiles and encourages conservation of these animals through exhibits and reptile focus programs provided on request for a nominal fee.

The feed and care laboratory adjacent to the exhibit gives young people interested in animal care the opportunity to gain valuable volunteer experience feeding and caring for live reptiles in a zoological display setting.

Malacology

By far the largest discipline in the natural history collection is malacology consisting of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial mollusks. The malacology sub-discipline represents over 39% of the natural history collection. This is the only collection containing type specimens, and it contains numerous voucher specimens as well. This is a large comprehensive collection of mollusks from around the world with over half of the specimens from Texas. There are many specimens of historical importance especially those collected by early twentieth century South Texas naturalists Robert Deshan Camp and Joseph Daniel Mitchell. Hundreds of contemporary scientists have contributed to the collection as well. About 1.5% of the malacology specimens are featured in the World of

Shells Exhibit, which displays shells organized by major biogeographical provinces of the world, by local habitats, and in a useful South Texas shell identification display.

40

Statistical Summary

The malacology collection consists of mostly extant dry shell specimens. Fossil mollusk specimens are considered separately under the paleontology sub-discipline and number over 1,172 specimens (See Paleontology Results). There are 16,543 dry specimen lots and 204 wet specimen lots.

In malacology there are 16,747 lots for a total of 67,696 pieces in 5 classes, 263 families, representing 3,833 species from 105 countries and territories. There are 1,244 terrestrial mollusk lots, 1,162 freshwater lots, and 14,341 marine mollusk lots (Figure

12).

Terrestrial 1,244, 7%

Marine 14,341, 86% Freshwater 1,162, 7%

Figure 12. Percentage of marine, terrestrial, and freshwater mollusks in the malacology collection.

41 Geographic Origin

The malacology collection represents all of the major biogeographical molluskan provinces of the world, but is centered on the western Gulf of Mexico. Over 57% of specimens have locality data to the county level or lower, making them suitable for research. Table 11 is a breakdown of the number of specimens by geographic location including countries and territories with greater than 100 specimens. The majority of specimens are from the United States and 41% are from Texas and Mexico combined.

Table 11. Number of malacology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of Species with locality data 13,279 83.0 United States 7,406 55.8 Texas 3,961 29.8 South Texas 3,141 23.7 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 2,600 19.6 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 1,730 13.0 Mexico 1,483 11.2 Japan 759 5.7 Philippines 640 4.8 Australia 504 3.8 Puerto Rico (US) 268 2.0 Netherlands 184 1.4 Saudi Arabia 178 1.3 Bahamas 144 1.1 Marshall Islands 131 1.0 Panama 106 0.8

Temporal Data

The average age of malacology specimens is 44 years with a standard deviation of 11 years. Figure 13 is a histogram of specimens collected by year. Specimens date from

1856 to the present. Collecting corresponds with the existence of the museum and peaks

42 during the late sixties and early seventies. Collecting tapers off dramatically beginning in

1990’s.

1600 1400 1200 Number 1000 of 800 Specimens 600 400 200 0 1884 1891 1898 1905 1913 1920 1927 1935 1942 1949 1956 1964 1971 1978 1986 1993 2000 Year Collected

Figure 13. Frequency of occurrence of malacology specimens by year of collection.

Collection Highlights

This collection contains 4 paratypes and over 145 voucher specimens. Paratypes in the collection include Physella wrighti a small freshwater Tadpole Snail identified by Te and Clark (1985) from Laird Hot Spring in Northern British Columbia, Canada.

According to Te and Clark (1985) this unique snail may have survived the Wisconsin- stage glaciation in the hot spring.

Other paratypes include Scaphella junonia butleri and Scaphella junonia johnstonae both pattern variations of Junonia originally described by William Clench (1953), Curator of Mollusks at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. These subspecies are no longer recognized by most authors but are perpetuated by collectors and shell dealers. These specimens were collected by C. L. Branch of the Texas Fish and

Game Commission (Now Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). The holotype of the S.

43 J. butleri subspecies was sent to the MCZ by local marine scientist Dr. Henry Hildebrand

(Clench 1953). These questionable subspecies serve as an interesting example of the

“lumpers vs. splitters” debate and are of unique historical value.

There are 146 voucher specimens in the malacology collection used by Jean Andrews for her books, Shells and Shores of Texas (1971) and Texas Shells, a Field Guide (1981).

The original drawings, artwork, and photographs for her books are part of the Corpus

Christi Museum Archives. A new updated and expanded book based on the “Andrews

Model” is being prepared by J.W. Tunnell, N. Barrera, R. Davenport, D. Hicks and J.

Andrews. This new book on Texas Seashells to be published by Texas A&M University

Press, is being prepared at the Center For Coastal Studies at Texas A&M University

Corpus Christi and will include approximately 750 photographed species and 1,400 listed species (Tunnell personal communication).

There are numerous rare and unique shell specimens in the collection from the

Beyrich's Slit Shell, Pleurotomaria beyrichii, of Japan to the Mitchell’s Wentletrap,

Amaea mitchelli, a local rarity, highly prized among shell collectors.

Provenance

Robert Deshan Camp (1867-1929) was a collector and naturalist based in Brownsville

(Figure 14). Camp collected all types of specimens from the area and was a leading local naturalist and conservationist of his day.

44

Figure 14. Roy W. Quillin, Robert Deshan Camp, and Albert Joseph Bernard Kirn.

At first Camp made a business of collecting Rio Grande Valley specimens forming a biological supply house. He became an authority on South Texas flora and fauna and hosted scientists who came to the Rio Grande Valley.

At least two animal species were named for him, the Rio Grande Chirping Frog,

Syrrhophus cystignathoides campi and the polygyrid land snail, Praticolella campi according to Raymond Neck (1987). The status of Praticolella as a species has been questioned (Hubricht 1983). The terrestrial breeding, Rio Grande Chirping Frog, is found in southern Texas and along the Gulf of Mexico coast as far north as the

Houston/Galveston area.

The Corpus Christi Museum houses a mollusk collection of R.D. Camp donated by

Dr. Allen Chaney, of Texas A&I Kingsville in 1977. The collection consists of

45 freshwater clams of the family Unionidae and land snails of South Texas, Arizona, and

New Mexico collected from 1913 to 1928. Many of these specimens serve as a significant historical record of freshwater and land snails from South Texas during the early part of the twentieth century. One specimen documents an early introduction of

Rumina decollata a nonindiginous terrestrial snail to the Brownsville area as early as

1915. See “Notes on the R.D. Camp Mollusk Collection in the Corpus Christi Museum” by Raymond D. Neck for a complete description of the R. D. Camp Collection (Neck

1987).

The Coastal Bend Shell Club was formed June 16, 1958 and has been an integral part of the Corpus Christi Museum since its early days. The club sparked interest in local natural history, primarily mollusks, but in other marine organisms as well. This association between the museum and shell club has resulted in thousands of valuable specimens being donated by members and former members. Without the enthusiastic collecting of shell club members and support over the years this incredible resource on local shells would not exist.

Joseph Daniel Mitchell (1848-1922) was a rancher, school district trustee, state representative, naturalist, pioneer entomologist, and conchologist. Mitchell was born on

October 22, 1848, at Mitchell's Point in Calhoun County, Texas. Although Mitchell made contributions to many fields, he is most remembered as a naturalist. He worked tirelessly to document the native insects and reptiles of Texas. He also searched for solutions to problems posed by insect pests. In this role, he combined his knowledge of ranching and insects in a program to eradicate the cattle tick, a carrier of Texas fever. He

46 was instrumental in implementing the state's program for eradication of the boll weevil.

He contributed to malaria research and was a leading expert on Texas reptiles. During his explorations he discovered two previously unknown shells, which have been named in his honor, the Mitchell's Wentletrap, Amaea mitchelli and Mitchell's Macoma, Macoma mitchelli. There are 15 A. mitchelli and 16 M. mitchelli in the malacology collection, none collected by Mitchell himself. At least 183 specimens collected by J.D. Mitchell, mostly freshwater mussels in the family Unionidae, are housed at the Corpus Christi

Museum. Many specimen labels and markings are in Mitchell’s original handwriting.

Dr. Jean Andrews is an artist, naturalist, and author of numerous books such as Shells and Shores of Texas (1975). Andrews worked with the Corpus Christi museum and was named Honorary Curator of Malacology. The voucher specimens used for the photographs in her books on Texas shells are housed at the Corpus Christi Museum.

Authors such as Andrews usually place voucher specimens in museums so that specimens are available to the public for study. There are 1,044 specimens collected or donated by

Jean Andrews including 145 voucher specimens for her books. The original drawings and photographs for the books are also housed in the museum archives.

Adelaide Bolles Johnstone (1908-1984) collected and curated over 1,300 specimens for the museum from the late sixties through the 1980’s, mostly mollusks. She served as

Museum Specialist from 1971 to 1984 and was named Honorary Curator of Malacology.

She actively collected and corresponded with malacologists throughout the country. She did research on mollusks and published at least one work entitled, “A Review of the

47 Tamaulipan Gastropods as Found in Welder Wildlife Refuge”, for the International

Symposium on the Tamaulipan Biotic Province in 1982.

Carl Young Collection- Carl Young, a local school teacher and malacologist, collected with Dr. Alan Chaney in 1960’s. Young was an active member of the Coastal Bend Shell

Club and served as president. Young contributed a large representative collection of Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Mexican Pacific Coast shells that are expertly documented and curated. There are 1,163 shells in the Carl Young Mollusk Collection.

Earline Y. Webb Collection (1908-1995)- In 1991 the museum acquired the collection of Earline Webb. Mrs. Webb was a school teacher at Flour Bluff High School and an avid shell collector. She donated her worldwide collection of over 5,000 shells that she began collecting while taking a math course on a National Science Foundation scholarship in Puerto Rico in 1957. Her collection is currently being cataloged.

Jane Deisler-Seno- Former Curator of Natural History, Jane Deisler-Seno donated her mollusk collection to the museum after her retirement in 2002. This significant collection of over 1,000 lots of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial mollusks is presently being cataloged and represents her work in the field of malacology prior to and during her distinguished career with the Corpus Christi Museum. Jane Deisler-Seno specialized in land snails and is largely responsible for this outstanding portion of the collection.

48 Mammalogy

This collection is surprisingly small and diverse ranging from the full skin and taxidermy head of an African Lion, Panthera leo, to a study skin of the common Deer

Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. It represents about 1.5% of the entire natural history collection. This collection is a relatively poor representation of local mammals because of its small size and wide geographic scope. While this collection is small there are a few notable specimens.

Statistical Summary

In the mammalogy sub-discipline there are 665 specimen lots and 772 total pieces from 42 families representing 147 species from 8 countries. Over 60% of the collection is osteological material, consisting of prepared skulls, skeletons, teeth, horns, and antlers.

There are 136 prepared skins, 106 are round study skins and the remainder are flat skins.

There are over 70 taxidermy mounts most of which are trophy head mounts of local and exotic species. There are 25 full mounts and 45 partial mounts.

There are 45 embryos including 42 human embryos in various stages of development, two domestic cat embryos, and one opossum. The stomach contents of 6 rodent species and one Ringtail, Bassariscus astutus preserved in ethanol accompany the study skins of these animals. Parasites accompany many of study skins and are preserved and stored along with the specimen. Figure 12 shows mammal specimens by material type.

49

Table 12. Mammalogy specimens by material type. Specimen Type Number of Percentage Specimens of Total Osteology- Skulls, bones, teeth, horns, antlers 407 61.2 Skins- Study skins, flat skins 136 20.5 Taxidermy- Full mounts, head mounts, shoulder mounts 70 10.5 Embryos- Wet specimens 45 6.8 Stomach Contents- Wet specimens 7 1.1

Geographic Origin of Species

Over 62% of the collection has locality data to at least the country level and 42% of the specimens have locality data to the county level or lower making them useful for research. Those specimens not from the United States are primarily taxidermy trophy mounts from the African Continent. Twenty of these are displayed in the museum’s lecture hall. Many of these trophy mounts have no data and are useful solely for exhibit.

Forty percent of this collection is from South Texas and 12.6% of the specimens were collected in Nueces County. See Table 13 for a complete summary.

Table 13. Mammalogy specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of Species with locality data 414 62.3 United States 401 96.9 Texas 233 56.3 South Texas 165 39.9 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 107 25.8 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 52 12.6 Mexico 0 0

50

Temporal Data

Specimens in the mammalogy collection date from 1928. The average age of mammalogy specimens is 36 years with a standard deviation of 13 years. The earlier accessions depicted in Figure 15 from prior to the museum’s inception are part of the

Forbes Natural Science for Youth Foundation donation in 1969. These include 114 osteology lots, 6 taxidermy mounts, and one flat skin. There are 66 species from 14 of the United States in the Forbes Accession.

The largest peak corresponds to a collection of African trophy heads collected in

1968, and donated by Richard Dorn which includes an African Lion skin and 19 species in the order Artiodactyla. Only one specimen has been cataloged in the mammalogy collection since 1993.

30 25

Number 20 of 15 Specimens 10 5 0 1929 1935 1940 1946 1951 1956 1962 1967 1973 1978 1984 1989 1994 2000 Year of Collection Figure 15. Frequency of occurrence of mammalogy specimens by year of collection.

51

Collection Highlights

• Ringtail Cat, Bassaricus astutus, (CCM-1981-M-0001) collected by William R.

Smith in Bee County on 29-Mar-1980. Round skin, skull, stomach contents.

• Long-tailed Weasel, Mustela frenata, (CCM-1981-M-0002) collected by William

R. Smith in Cameron County on 18-Oct-1979. Round skin, skull.

• Jaguar, Panthera onca, 2 skulls (CCM-1969-K-0054 & CCM1969-K-0055) and

one flat skin with taxidermy head (CCM-1995-M-0005).

• Mountain Lion, Felis concolor, (CCM- 1995-M-0023) full taxidermy mount.

Seven species listed as threatened or endangered by Texas Parks and Wildlife

Department are represented in the collection. See Appendix A for a complete list.

Marine Biology

This is a mixed collection consisting of marine invertebrates, fish, and plants associated with the marine environment. The multidisciplinary nature of this collection originates from the early days of the museum when collecting was done by museum volunteers and staff along local beaches for the purpose of educating people about shoreline ecology.

52 Occasionally field trips were sponsored by the Museum or Coastal Bend Shell Club to the local barrier islands where participants collected specimens for the collection. Much of the marine biology collection is a result of these collecting efforts.

Statistical Summary

The high diversity and multidisciplinary nature of this collection makes summarizing it particularly difficult. To analyze the collection it must first be broken down into its components of fish, marine invertebrates, and plants. Ultimately, as a result of this research, the collection will be separated into ichthyology and invertebrate zoology categories and the plants will be moved to the botany collection. In the marine biology sub-discipline there are 2,043 cataloged specimen lots and 3,687 total pieces. There are

39 classes, 220 families, and 542 species represented, from 26 countries.

Ichthyology- Of the fishes there are 479 cataloged specimens for a total of 667 pieces.

There are 72 families and 171 species virtually all from the United States. Over 93 percent are in the Class Osteichthyes with just 31 lots of Chondricthyes. Of those specimens that are completely identified, 93% are marine fishes. There are only 30 freshwater specimens in the collection and only four of these have collection data. The natural history collection essentially lacks useful specimens of freshwater fish.

Osteichthyes- Of the 393 saltwater bony fishes there are 62 families and 151 species.

Of these, 277 have date and locality data making them useful for research. Virtually all of these are from the Gulf of Mexico, or bays and estuaries surrounding Corpus Christi.

53 Of the saltwater bony fishes there are 257 wet specimens, 73 taxidermy mounts, 53 osteological specimens, and 10 dry specimens. These fish were collected between 1946 and 1997. The 73 sport fish mounts include many of those on exhibit that were collected and donated by founding museum contributors Rachel and Ben Vaughn. The Rachel and

Ben Vaughn Hall of Marine Science is named in their honor. Another 15 fish mounts were contributed by Richard and Beth Dorn. Wet specimens were contributed by numerous museum staff members, volunteers, and local science educators throughout the museum’s 49 year history.

Chondricthyes- The collection contains 31 lots of cartilaginous fishes. There are 7 families, and 8 species representing the Class Chondricthyes. These consist of: 5 taxidermy mounts, 7 dry sawfish snouts (Pristis pectinata), six lots of skate egg cases, and a few lots of shark teeth and stingray barbs.

Whole cartilaginous fish specimens include: four Atlantic Stingrays Dasyatis sabina, one Cownose Ray Rhinoptera bonasus, one Hammerhead Shark Sphyrna zygaena, and one unidentified carcharhinid shark.

Marine Invertebrates- The largest component of the marine biology collection are marine invertebrates. There are 1,429 specimen lots and 2,602 total pieces in 12 phyla

(Table 14). The largest four phyla will be described in detail below.

54 Table 14. Invertebrate specimens by taxonomic group. Taxonomic Group Number of Specimens Sarcodina (Foraminifera) 372 Cnidaria 339 Echinodermata 319 Arthropoda 263 Porifera 73 Annelida 13 Aschelminthes 9 Invertebrate Chordates 9 Brachiopoda 7 Bryozoa 7 Platyhelminthes 2 Rhyncocoela 1

Foraminifera- The largest group of invertebrates in the marine biology collection is the Foraminifera comprised primarily of specimens collected and donated by Dr. Henry

Berryhill, of the United States Geological Survey. Most of these 296 specimens were collected along the continental shelf of Texas, offshore from Port Aransas as part of the

South Texas Outer Continental Shelf Studies Program in the 1970’s. This is an excellent research and reference collection with 290 specimen lots identified to genus and 68 identified to the species level. Most have detailed collection location and over half of these have exact map coordinates.

Cnidaria- There are 339 cnidarian lots in the marine biology collection. By class there are 297 anthozoans, 39 hydrozoans, and 3 scyphozoans. There are 35 families and

49 species. Eighteen are wet specimens and 321 are dry coral skeletons. About 63 specimens have collection data. Thirty-four are from the Texas coast.

Echinodermata- In the marine biology collection there are 319 echinoderm lots and

611 total pieces. Four classes are represented in the collection, Echinoidea, Asteroidea,

55 Ophiuroidea, and Crinoidea. See Table 15 for a breakdown of the echinoderm classes.

There are 34 families and 62 species from 16 countries. Half of the specimens have associated collection data including locality information. Of those with locality data, 122 are from the United States, 16 are from Mexico, and 40 are from 13 other countries.

There are 58 specimens from South Texas.

Table 15. Echinodermata by class. Class Number of Specimens Percentage Echinoidea (Urchins) 215 67.4 Asteroidea (Sea Stars) 95 29.8 Ophiuroidea (Brittle Stars) 8 2.5 Crinoidea (Sea Lilies) 1 0.3

Arthropods- Arthropods are divided among the entomology collection and the marine biology collection. Generally all insects, arachnids, and other terrestrial arthropods are in the entomology collection. Aquatic and marine arthropods are part of the marine biology collection considered here. There are 263 arthropod lots and 576 total pieces in the marine biology collection. Table 16 is a list of arthropods by class.

56 Table 16. Number of arthropod specimens by class. Class Number of Percentage Specimens Malacostraca (Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimps, Crayfish, Krill, 198 75.3 Sow Bugs, Beach Hoppers) Cirripedia (Barnacles) 51 19.4 Merostomata (Horseshoe Crab) 9 3.4 Branchiopoda (Fairy Shrimp, Brine Shrimp) 4 1.5 Ostracoda (Seed Shrimp) 1 0.4

There are 31 families and 67 identified species including: 115 crabs, 41 shrimps, 39 barnacles, 14 lobsters, 10 crayfish, and 4 isopods (Figure 16).

Crayfish Isopods 4% Lobsters 2% 6%

Barnacles 17% Crabs 53%

Shrimps 18%

Figure 16. Percentage of crabs, shrimps, barnacles, lobster, crayfish, and isopods in the marine biology collection.

Over half of the arthropods were collected in South Texas with the remaining being from as far away as Japan, Australia, and Guam. This is a good representation of common local species, useful for research and identification.

57 Plants and Algae- Also in the collection are 19 samples of algae and 87 samples of plant material. The algae consist of classroom study specimens encased in plastic, and a few calcareous algae specimens. The plants are primarily samples of seabeans commonly collected on local beaches. The majority of the seabeans come from retired

Chief Naturalist of the Padre Island National Seashore and Volunteer Museum Collection

Specialist, Robert G. Whistler.

Geographic Origin

Over 61% of the marine biology specimens have some form of locality data and 46% have data to the county level or lower making them useful for research. This collection is centered around Corpus Christi with 53% of the specimens being collected in South

Texas and 49% collected in Nueces and the surrounding four counties. Table 17 is a complete listing of marine biology specimens by geographic unit.

Table 17. Number of marine biology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of Species with locality data 1,249 61.1 United States 1,087 87.0 Texas 890 71.3 South Texas 666 53.3 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 592 49.4 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 430 34.4 Mexico 26 2.1

58 Temporal Data

Marine biology specimens range in age from a large specimen of Brain Coral,

Diploria labyrinthiformis, that is claimed to have been washed ashore onto North Water

Street, in Corpus Christi, Texas during the 1919 Hurricane, to specimens collected as recently as 1997. The average marine biology specimen is 32 years old with a standard deviation of nine years. Little collecting has been done since 1997. Figure 17 is a histogram showing specimens collected by year.

140 120 100 Number 80 of 60 Specimens 40 20 0 1919 1924 1929 1934 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1963 1967 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1996 Year of Collection

Figure 17. Frequency of occurrence of marine biology specimens by year of collection.

The majority of collecting corresponds to the museum’s 49 year existence, and is a result of collecting efforts by museum staff and volunteers which peaked in the late

1960’s and early 1970’s.

Collection Highlights

Noteworthy specimens include the exoskeletons of a male and female Giant Japanese

Spider Crab from Japan, Macrocheira kaempferi, complete with the barnacles that were attached when it was dredged up by a trawler 80 miles south of Tokyo in 1963. These

59 crabs are unique in having the longest arm span in proportion to their body weight of any arthropod. They were given the Corpus Christi Museum by the Yokosuka City Museum, in Yokosuka, Japan as part of a sister city exchange program in 1969 and have been on display since this time.

Ornithology

The ornithology collection is the third largest natural history sub-discipline and by far the largest of the museum’s vertebrate collections. It is a geographically focused collection with 81% of specimens originating from South Texas. The collection is varied, consisting of taxidermy mounts, study skins, eggs, nests, and skeletal material.

Many specimens in the collection have historical significance to South Texans, especially those specimens collected by early South Texas naturalists A.B.J. Kirn and R.W. Quillin.

Statistical Summary

The ornithology sub-discipline consists of 5,785 lots and 11,703 total pieces. There are 83 families and 541 species represented. There are 1,549 study skins, 70 taxidermy mounts, 3,347 eggs, 704 nests, 89 lots of skeletal material, and 26 stomach contents.

Associated parasites are catalogued along with many bird skin lots.

60 Geographic Origin

The ornithology collection is mainly a South Texas collection. There are 2,131 specimens in the collection with locality data to the county or lower level making them useful for research. This percentage 36.8, percent is low in part because of the large egg collection of A.B.J. Kirn, whose records were destroyed by fire. See section on Albert

Joseph Bernard Kirn (page 62) for more details. Of the 2,131 specimens with locality data virtually all specimens (99.3%) are from the United States, 90% are from Texas, and

81% are from South Texas. There are only a handful of birds from outside the United

States and Mexico. See Table 18 for a complete summary of ornithology specimens by geographic unit.

Table 18. Number of ornithology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Number of specimens locality data 2,131 36.8 United States 2,116 99.3 Texas 1,926 90.4 South Texas 1,729 81.1 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 1,355 63.6 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 1,069 50.2 Mexico 7 32.8

Temporal Data

Some of the oldest specimens in the museum are bird mounts from the Smithsonian dating back to 1870’s. The average age of ornithology specimens is 48 with a standard deviation of 27 years. A histogram of specimens per collection year is presented in

Figure 18.

61 350

300

250

Number 200 of Specimens 150 100

50

0 1891 1898 1904 1911 1917 1924 1930 1937 1943 1950 1956 1963 1969 1976 1982 1989 1995 Year o f Co llect io n

Figure 18. Frequency of occurrence of ornithology specimens by year of collection.

The histogram shows two large peaks in collection. The first centered around the 1920’s and 1930’s corresponds to the work of depression era naturalists Albert J. B. Kirn, Roy

W. Quillin, and a to a lesser extent H.P. Attwater (nine specimens). Together these three men account for over 64% of the ornithology collection.

The second peak centered around the 1970’s corresponds to the peak in collecting by the museum that occurred in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Major collectors during this period include Doris McGuire, Emily Payne, Gene Blackwell and numerous other volunteer and staff members. Virtually zero specimens have been prepared and cataloged since 1997, although many have been salvaged. There are over 500 bird specimens in frozen storage dating back as far as 1976 that have yet to be prepared. In 1998 nearly

250 birds were incinerated after they spoiled when a freezer malfunctioned.

62 Provenance

Albert Joseph Bernard Kirn (1885-1950) was an oologist who collected eggs in

Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (Figure 14). He began his collecting as a boy in Kansas, continued into Oklahoma and eventually he settled in Somerset, Atascosa County, Texas, where he made regular collecting trips to the coast with contemporary naturalist Roy W.

Quillin of San Antonio (Messerly 1998). In addition to eggs, he collected mollusks, insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. He was author or co-author on at least

19 papers in natural history and was special lecturer in natural history at St. Mary’s

University in San Antonio. Following his death on 1 October 1950, his specimen collection along with field notes were presented to St. Mary’s University where it is reported that many of the field notes were accidentally burned. In the early 1960’s the collection was given to the Forbes Natural Science for Youth Foundation which distributed the specimens among its affiliate museums, one of which was the Corpus

Christi Museum who received them on 19 June 1969. The Kirn Egg Collection consists of 3,074 egg clutches for a total of 8,630 eggs. There are 64 families and 406 species represented. All of the eggs are marked with the original set numbers in Kirn’s handwriting but unfortunately only 82 of the egg clutches have location data because the accompanying ledger was apparently lost in the St. Mary’s fire. It is known that Kirn collected primarily in Oklahoma and Texas and much about the collection can be reconstructed using his publications and other surviving notes (Messerly 1998).

Roy W. Quillin (Figure 14) was an ornithologist and avid egg collector in South Texas.

He was married to Ellen Schulz Quillin, the first Director of the Witte Memorial Museum

63 in San Antonio, Texas, and together they explored the natural history of Central and

South Texas. Quillin collected over 10,000 eggs, representing approximately 400 species which are presently in the collection of the Welder Wildlife Foundation in Sinton, Texas

(Drawe 2004). In addition to eggs, Quillin often collected the entire nests which he carefully preserved. These nests were originally donated by Ellen Schulz Quillin to the

Welder Wildlife Foundation. In 1973 the nest collection of Roy W. Quillin was donated to the Corpus Christi Museum where it is housed today. These 704 intact nests dating from 1902 to 1936 are a valuable record of the nest material preferences of 74 bird species from South Central Texas. These nests are a valuable botanical and historical record of the work of Roy W. Quillin.

Collection Highlights

Many threatened and endangered species are represented in the collection including taxidermy mounts of threatened or endangered birds such as Whooping Crane (CCM-

1992-A-0013), Bald Eagle (CCM-1971-N-0007), Brown Pelican (CCM-1976-0003) and others. See Appendix A for a complete list of threatened or endangered species of Texas that are represented by at least one specimen in the natural history collection.

A Rose-Throated Becard, Platypsaris aglaiae, salvaged by Bill and Patty Beasley in

Rockport, Texas on 10 January 1990 provides rare tangible evidence of this species so far north along the Texas coast. This species in the family Cotingidae, is usually only found as far north as the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, with one accidental sighting previously reported in Galveston, Texas (Terres 1991).

64

There are thousands of specimens representing the work of South Texas naturalists A.B.J.

Kirn and R.W. Quillin that are of great historical significance.

Paleontology

Natural history museums are often associated with large articulated fossil skeletons of dinosaurs or other large extinct vertebrates. The Corpus Christi area was inundated by ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and its present geological formations are geologically young meaning there are no dinosaur fossils found in the area. South Texas does yield an abundance of fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch and the most common large vertebrate fossils in the collection are the remains of extinct mammoths and mastodons. Texas as a whole has rich diversity of fossil material resulting from changes in the shoreline of an expanded Gulf of Mexico through time. The paleontology collection of the Corpus Christi Museum is wide ranging including everything from diatoms to dinosaurs. This is a diverse synoptic collection representing common fossils from all over the United States and the State of Texas.

Statistical Summary

In the paleontology sub-discipline there are 2,763 specimens and 8,512 total pieces.

These specimens represent 682 genera and 504 species from 21 countries.

65 The collection is broken down into groups as shown in Figure 19. The largest category is mollusks which comprise 43% of the paleontology collection. These fossil mollusks are an excellent companion to the museum’s large extant mollusk collection.

Other, 317 Echinodermata, 74

Cnidaria, 75

Arthropoda, 94 Mollusca, 1172

Plant, 315

Chordata, 333

Brachiopoda, 383 Figure 19. Percentage of major taxonomic groups in the paleontology collection.

Geographic Origin of Species

Twenty-nine percent of the collection has locality data to the county or lower level making it useful for research. Sixty-seven percent of those specimens with detailed locality data were collected in Texas. Of the 1,334 specimens with some form of locality data, 90% are from the United States and 47% are from Texas. Only 12% of the paleontology specimens are from South Texas. The collection is geographically diverse representing 37 different United States and is not very representative of South Texas, contrary to the museum’s South Texas focus. See Figure 20 for a complete summary of specimens by geographic unit.

66 Table 19. Number of paleontology specimens by geographic origin. Geographical Region Number of Specimens Percentage of Total Specimens with locality data 1,334 48.2 United States 1,205 90.3 Texas 620 46.5 South Texas 162 12.1 Nueces, Aransas, Jim Wells, San- 83 6.2 Patricio, & Kleberg Counties Nueces County 45 3.4 Mexico 36 2.7

Temporal Data

Paleontology specimens were collected from 1923 to 2004. The average age of specimens is 30 years with a standard deviation of 9 years indicating that most collecting work was done around 1975 and corresponds with the museum’s peak collecting period in the sixties and seventies. Figure 20 is a histogram that shows the number of specimens collected by year. Most specimens were collected during the museum’s 49 year existence.

Only twelve specimens have been collected since 1993.

100 90 80 70 Number 60 of 50 Specimens 40 30 20 10 0 1933 1936 1940 1944 1947 1951 1954 1958 1962 1965 1969 1973 1976 1980 1983 1987 1991 1994 1998 2002 Year of Collection

Figure 20. Frequency of occurrence of paleontology specimens by year of collection.

67 Collection Highlights

Taylor Mammoth, Elephas sp. - The coastal plains surrounding Corpus Christi are relatively young in geological terms and frequently yield fossils from the Pleistocene

Beaumont Formation. Mammoth teeth, Mastodon teeth, and tusks are frequently brought to the museum owing to their large size, durable nature, and ease of identification. The

Taylor Mammoth (CCM-1979-F-0001) is unique among Mammoth discoveries in South

Texas because it is about 50% complete (Suhm 1980). The Taylor Mammoth was discovered in August, 1976 in a 6 foot (1.8 m) high embankment in a tributary of

Jarachinal Creek on the Taylor Ranch two miles (3 km) Southeast of Ricardo in Kleberg

County, Texas. It was excavated in 1979 by Raymond Suhm of Texas A&I University with partial support from the Corpus Christi Museum. Each of the fragile Pleistocene bones were excavated, documented, carefully jacketed in plaster and placed in the Corpus

Christi Museum collection where they remained for many years until rediscovered by former curator Jane Deisler and volunteer Gwen Hall. Hall who had once worked as a

Paleontology Technician at the Field Museum in Chicago before beginning a military career was equipped with a laboratory where she began stabilizing the mammoth remains as a museum volunteer. In a specially designed laboratory display, Hall now continues the meticulous work of cleaning and stabilizing these fragile bones which will eventually go on display.

Mosasaur Skeleton- The Mosasaur skeleton (CCM-1975-F-0396) has long been a symbol of the Corpus Christi Museum along with a mural painted by Dick Turner depicting how the Mosasaur may have looked in the waters above Corpus Christi 75 million years ago. The Mosasaur, a large cretaceous marine reptile of the Genus

68 Mosasaurus was excavated, cleaned, and articulated by Robert H. Slaughter and students of Southern Methodist University Shuler Museum of Paleontology in the early 1970’s

(Figure 21). Missing elements were cast from fiberglass to complete the display.

Figure 21. Excavation of the Corpus Christi Museum Mosasaur.

Irish Elk Antlers- The Irish Elk Megaloceros sp. is the largest deer species ever. It stood up to seven feet (2.1 meters), at the shoulder with antlers spanning up to 12 feet

(3.65 meters). Well-preserved fossils of the giant deer are especially common in lake

69 sediments and peat bogs in Ireland which gives rise to the common name although

Megalocerus ranged throughout Europe, northern Asia, and northern Africa (Moen

1999). These enormous racks of antlers, adorn the walls of castles and hunting lodges throughout Ireland. The specimen (CCM-1987-F-0001) at the Corpus Christi Museum is reportedly from castle ruins near Hastings, England and measures 2.8 meters across. No longer able support their enormous weight, these fragile antlers though still intact are in need of conservation, and are not presently on display.

Dinosaur- The public attraction to Dinosaurs led the museum’s first Director, Aalbert

Heine to acquire some dinosaur specimens for the Corpus Christi Museum. A fiberglass

Tyrannosaurus rex skull has adorned the paleontology hall of the museum for years.

While it is a scientific reproduction, it is essentially no more than an exhibit prop.

The museum does hold a few authentic dinosaur fossils, most notably the fossilized limb bones (CCM-1957-F-0242, 19 pieces) and vertebrae (CCM-1957-F-0241, 27 pieces) of an herbivorous sauropod dinosaur unearthed in Wyoming and purchased by the Museum in 1957. Little is known about these large vertebrate fossils, most of which are not currently on display.

70

DISCUSSION

The Corpus Christi Museum natural history collection is useful for research, education, identification, and display. There are four paratypes and numerous voucher specimens. There are rare specimens, historically significant specimens, and as with all museum collections there are some specimens of little value. The work of over 2,500 scientists and collectors is represented by the collection. The natural history collection of the Corpus Christi Museum is valuable, scientifically useful, and historically significant.

The collection should continue to be preserved and enhanced. Most importantly, the collection should be made more accessible via projects such as this, so that its full value can be realized.

The collection descriptions presented in the results sections of this document will further enhance the utility of this collection by serving as a table of contents to aid collection users in determining what the collection contains. These collection descriptions will be added to the database and updated periodically to serve as an important collection resource. A multimedia PowerPoint presentation accompanies this research and will be used to orient visitors to the collection. Providing this collection description to everyone will improve the collection’s accessibility to scientists, museum staff, and the citizens of Corpus Christi to which these specimens ultimately belong and for which they are held in public trust.

71 The Corpus Christi Museum is the best equipped facility to preserve important local natural history specimens for future generations of scientists in the Corpus Christi and surrounding area. The Corpus Christi Museum has held its collections care to the high national standard required by its membership in the American Association of Museums since 1973. The museum has professional staff, properly data based collections, a team of collections volunteers, controlled environmental conditions, fire protection, and theft prevention. The Corpus Christi Museum provides an exceptional service to the community, meriting continued support.

Recommendations

Because collection resources are limited, the following recommendations are suggested so that the capacity of volunteers and staff to assimilate material and care for collections is not exceeded.

1) It is recommended that the museum continue to add to its natural history collection under strict guidelines utilizing its limited resources by keeping a narrow collection scope. It is suggested that the present mission, “to collect and preserve natural history objects with an emphasis on South Texas and its place in the world” be continued. The majority of scientifically collected specimens with collection data are from South Texas.

Specimens from outside of the United States should not be accepted with the exception of

Mexico because of its biogeographical proximity.

72 2) Specimens should no longer be accepted unless they have collection data with: detailed location, collection date, and collector’s full name. Only identified specimens or those that have a reasonable chance of being identified should be accepted. Exceptions to these guidelines should be specimens that are needed for a specific educational or exhibit purpose.

3) The collection has a good representation of South Texas mollusks, plants, insects, and birds, but is relatively lacking in representative mammals, reptiles, marine invertebrates freshwater fish, and local paleological specimens. It is recommended that limited collections resources be focused on these categories, while continuing to improve the other disciplines only when exceptional quality, well preserved, and properly documented material becomes available.

4) This collection description shows that little collecting has been done in recent years.

If collecting is truly a mission of the museum then it is recommended that this mission be supported by additional staff and volunteers. Advertising the museum’s desire for donations of quality, well documented specimens might also help to eliminate deficiencies in the collection.

5) The marine biology sub-discipline consists of fish, marine invertebrates, and plants. It is suggested for better organization and communication that this collection be divided into the categories of ichthyology and invertebrate zoology and that the plant specimens be transferred to the botany collection.

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6) The natural history collection is well housed and cared for, and is properly accessible, however some improvements are needed. Approximately 20% of the collection is housed in state of the art steel museum storage cabinets. The remainder of the collection is housed in cabinets of wood/laminate construction. It is recommended that these cabinets be replaced with industry standard steel cabinets to prevent damage to specimens caused by acidic conditions associated with wood storage cabinets.

7) The database is an outstanding tool for researching the collection. The collection descriptions produced here improve the accessibility of the collection by serving as an introduction from which to browse individual items. It is recommended that an abbreviated version of these collection descriptions be posted on the museum website and that a searchable database be made available via the Internet. This would improve access to the collection, provide a greater level of service to the community, and increase awareness of this valuable resource.

74 LITERATURE CITED

Allmon, W. D. 1994. The value of natural history collections. Curator, The Museum Journal 3:82-89.

Appelbaum, B. 1991. Guide to Environmental Protection of Collections. Sound View Press Madison, Connecticut. 270 pp.

Bryant, J. M. 1983. Biological collections: legacy or liability? Curator, The Museum Journal 26:203-218.

Buck, R.A. and J. A. Gilmore. 1998. The New Museum Registration Methods. American Association of Museums, Washington, DC. 427 pp.

Clench, W. J. 1953. The genera Scaphella and Aurinopsis in the Western Atlantic. Johnsonia 2:376-380.

Corpus Christi Museum. 1993. Computer Technology Internal Memo. Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, Corpus Christi, Texas. 7 pp.

Corpus Christi Museum. 2000. Collections Management Policy. Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, Corpus Christi, Texas. 27 pp.

Deisler-Seno, J. E. 2004. Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History Former Curator, Personal Communication.

Drawe, L.D., 2004. Director Welder Wildlife Foundation, Personal Communication.

Dunn, H. 2000. Collection level description - the museum perspective. D-Lib Magazine, 6, September 2000 www.dlib.org/dlib/september00/dunn/09dunn.html Visited 15 August 2004.

75 Fort, J. 2003. Auxiliary Volunteer Handbook, History of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Corpus Christi Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas. 32 pp.

Gill, T. 1995. What is multimedia? Cambridge: Museums Documentation Association, MDA Fact Sheet 42, 1-7.

Jones, F. B. 1961. Frederick Butler Jones, M.A. an autobiography. Plant Life, The Amaryllis Year Book 17(1): 7-10.

Jones, F.B. 1975. Flora of the Texas Coastal Bend, Welder Wildlife Foundation, Sinton, Texas. 262 pp.

Lehman, R.L. 2005. Associate Professor of Biology/Director, Laguna Madre Field Station, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, Personal Communication.

Messerly, E. H. 1998. Albert J. B. Kirn and his work in Oklahoma. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 31: 9-20.

Moen, R.A., J. Pastor, and Y. Cohen. 1999. Antler growth and extinction of Irish elk. Evolutionary Ecology Research 1:235-249.

Neck, R.W. 1987. Notes on the R.D. Camp Mollusk Collection in the Corpus Christi Museum. Malacology Data Net (Ecosearch Series) 1: 145-160.

O’Brien, R. O. 2005. Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History Honorary Curator of Botany, Personal Communication.

Palache, C., H. Berman, and C. Frondel 1963. The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892 7th Edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Volumes 1-3.

Sabin, R. 1997. Museums and their websites: an examination and assessment of how museums are coping with the challenge of the world wide web. Journal Of Conservation & Museum Studies. 2, May 1997. 11-18.

76 Suhm, R.W. 1980. Geology of clay dunes, Baffin Bay and the South Texas sand sheet. Proceedings of the Texas Academy of Science 83rd Annual Meeting. 7 pp.

Te, G.A. and A. H. Clark 1985. Physella (Physella) wrightii (Gastropoda: Physidae), A new species of tadpole snail from Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia. 99(3): 295-299.

Terres J. K. 1991. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Random House, Avenel, New Jersey. 1,109 pp.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 2005. State of Texas Threatened and Endangered Species Listings, www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/endang Visited 12 February 2005.

Tunnell, J.W. 2005. Director-Center for Coastal Studies/Associate Director-Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, Personal Communication.

Whistler, R. G. 2004. Padre Island National Seashore, Former Chief Naturalist, Personal Communication.

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Appendix A. Threatened and endangered species of Texas represented by at least one specimen at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History (TPWD 2005).

Mammals

Pygmy Sperm Whale Grizzly Bear Kogia breviceps Ursus arctos

Sperm Whale Ocelot Physeter macrocephalus Leopardus pardalis

Gray Wolf Jaguar Canis lupus Panthera onca

Black Bear Unidentified baleen whales Ursus americanus

Birds

Eastern Brown Pelican Peregrine Falcon Pelecanus occidentalis Falco peregrinus

White-faced Ibis Piping Plover Plegadis chihi Charadrius melodus

Wood Stork Sooty Tern Mycteria americana Sterna fuscata

Whooping Crane Rose-throated Becard Grus americana Pachyramphus aglaiae

Bald Eagle Bachman's Sparrow Haliaeetus leucocephalus Aimophila aestivalis

Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Golden-cheeked Warbler Tympanuchus cupido attwateri Dendroica chrysoparia

White-tailed Hawk Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Buteo albicaudatus Picoides borealis

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Reptiles

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Chihuahuan Mud Turtle Caretta caretta Kinosternon hirtipes

Green Sea Turtle Chelonia mydas Reticulate Collared Lizard Crotaphytus reticulatus Atlantic Hawksbill Sea Turtle Eretmochelys imbricata Texas Horned Lizard Phrynosoma cornutum Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Lepidochelys kempii Indigo Snake Alligator Snapping Turtle Drymarchon corais Macrochelys temminckii

Texas Tortoise Gopherus berlandieri

Amphibians

Mexican Treefrog Mexican Burrowing Toad Smilisca baudinii Rhinophrynus dorsalis

Plants

Johnston's Frankenia South Texas Ambrosia Frankenia johnstonii Ambrosia cheiranthifolia

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