BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY Volume 41, Number 1 January 1970 EDEN REVISITED

BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 41, Number 1 January 1970 EDEN REVISITED

A Tour

of Britain

and its Gardens

A few places still remain on Field Museum's tour, "Eden Revisited: A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," according to Tours Chief Phil Clark, former editor of Horticulture magazine, who will lead the tour. Historic places, such as the Cawdor Castle of Macbeth fame, above, in northern Scotland will be among (All photos by Phil Clark) those featured. Price of the May 30-July 4 tour, including a $600 tax deductible donation to Field Museum, is $2,445. Reservations may be made by sending a $600 deposit check to: Natural History Tours, Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, III. 60605.

Mr. David Hunt, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Cornwall, will lead the tour on a boat trip in the Scilly Islands area, to see puffins and other birds. The group will also visit Tresco Isle and its semi-tropical Abbey Gardens. During the 5-week tour, a variety of British specialists will address the group or spend from one to four

days with it, including Mr. Roy Hay, garden editor of the London Times and author of the recently published "The Color Dictionary of Flowers and Plants;" H. F. W. Cory, a bird watcher of the Wiltshire Trust for Nature Frances author of An ancient Rhododendron of historic Conservation; Perry, gardening books; Will Ingwersen, garden writer and nurseryman; Mrs. Poppy Davenport importance is proudly pointed out by of the Scottish Garden G. C. Colmer, naturalist of the Mr. A. C. Gibson, owner of Glenarn, near Scheme, National Trust for Scotland, and others. The tour will also feature Loch Lomond, Scotland. The great archaeological sites. botanist-horticulturist. Sir Thomas (^j^^^^^ Qgrden below). Hooker, presented this Rhododendron to Glenarn 130 years ago; it was then a new creation of Hooker, who had crossed the Himalayan Rhododendron arboreum with R. catabiense from all the way across the world, in the U.S. south, to produce it.

Page 2 JA.XUARr ^_.oajj»' SL-LIN Super Star ef the Thirties

Jbfy Patricia Ai.H'llliaitis

JANUARY Pages — — — Lassie a dog,— Mr. Ed. a horse, Flipper a dolphin, and tains. As described by the Roosevelts in Trailing the Giant Gentle Ben a bear, have all become national celebrities Panda, ". . . Unexpectedly close I heard a clicking chirp. within the past few years. Their pictures stare out from One of the Lolo hunters darted forward. He had not gone cereal boxes, t-shirts, comic books and games. These ani- forty yards before he turned back to eagerly motion to us mals all became famous via television, movies and big to hurry. As I gained his side he pointed to a giant spruce budget advertising, but in the thirties a sad-faced, roly- thirty yards away. The bole was hollowed, and from it poly panda became equally popular without network or emerged the head and forequarters of a bei-shung (giant financial hook-ups. panda). He looked sleepily from side to side as he sauntered On December 18, 1936 the giant panda, Su-Lin, arrived forth and walked slowly away into the bamboos. As soon in San Francisco to a tumultuous welcome rivalling any as Ted came up we fired simultaneously at the outline of the given a human celebrity. In fact, "The final consensus of disappearing panda. Both shots took effect. He was a the press was that not since Bernard Shaw had a foreign splendid old male, the first that the Lolos had any record celebrity received such a reception as Su-Lin." Again, on of as being killed in this Yehli region." Su-Lin's arrival in Chicago the press turned out in full force The skin of this adult male panda was sent back to the as the clamored to see beast. to public the cuddly On New Museum along with another specimen obtained from local York and the crunch of crowds and headlines. bigger hunters. The success of this expedition inspired other Amer- Su-Lin was a coast-to-coast sensation. undoubtedly ican museums to pack off panda expeditions to China and Su-Lin had never made a couldn't do Why? movie, villagers who had seldom seen white men must have been tricks and showed no of Granted any signs learning any. amazed at the increased traffic of great white hunters the was cute and but the littered panda lovable, world was through the mountains. with cute animals and the press didn't accord them a recep- Floyd Tangier Smith led the Marshall Field Zoological tion on a with Bernard Shaw's. The par headline-grabbing Expedition to Southeast Asia from 1930 to 1932 and sent news was that Su-Lin was the first ever seen giant panda the Museum two more panda specimens obtained from alive the Western world. by Chinese hunters. For decades following its official Western discovery in So far, all of the pandas arriving in this country were 1869 by Pere David, the giant panda was one of the rarest dead. Then, in 1934 William Harvest Harkness, Jr. left animals known to man. Again and again hunters unsuc- New York and his bride of two weeks determined to bring cessfully prowled the mountains of Szechuan in search of one back alive for the Bronx Zoo. Following a chain of the elusive giant panda. Explorers yearned for just a disasters and delays Harkness found himself alone in China, glimpse of the living animal in the wild and for a time feared his expedition in complete collapse. In February 1936 he that it had become extinct. The difficulties of locating a died of a mysterious illness in Shanghai. panda only seemed to enhance its desirability and big game Harkness' bride, Ruth, a dress designer with no prac- hunters considered it a supreme challenge. tical experience in or animals, was In 1928 Colonel Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt, sons hunting collecting apparently an independent and adventurous woman. In of Teddy Roosevelt, decided to take an expedition to Indo- April she left for China planning to take up her husband's expe- China and West China with the main goal of killing a giant dition and fulfill his dream of a live to the panda. Sponsored by Field Museum, the brothers vowed bringing panda United States. that they wouldn't return home until they had shot a panda Four months Ruth Harkness was stalled in and made a pact in which it was agreed that if a panda was later, Shang- hai to an the sighted both brothers would fire simultaneously. In this trying get expedition going. Then she met and of way, they would share the distinction of being the first white Young brothers. Jack Quentin, a pair American- born Chinese man to kill a panda. hunters. Together Ruth Harkness and the brothers the and with- The party worked its way across the mountains between Young gathered necessary equipment out for red to be set China and Tibet without detecting a whiff or a track of a "waiting government tape unwound," off for the interior. panda. Undismayed, they moved on into Lololand—an area where explorer Lt. J. W. Brooke was murdered in Following a 1500-mile boat trip up the Yangtze, the 1910. The Lolos were apparently susceptible to the Roose- group endured a 300-mile overland trek best described as velt charm and instead of murdering them, helped the a travel agent's nightmare. Opium addicted porters and Roosevelts. an unwanted bodyguard of 16 soldiers prefaced a stretch in Finally, on April 13 the Roosevelts found giant panda which the former dress designer rode in a wheelbarrow. tracks in the snow near Yehli, in the Hsifan Moun- Fatigue and frustration mounted, but occasional clues kept

Page 4 JANUARY Left, Mei Lan at Brookfield Zoo in the early 1950s; right, "Happy" at the Leipzig Zoo. In his book Davis notes that young pandas are active and playful. Like many wild animals they may become surly and dangerous with age. One keeper at Brookfield lost an arm to Mei Lan. Davis quotes W. D. Sheldon, who hunted the panda : "My experience convinced me that the panda is an extremely stupid beast . . . Driven out by four dogs and warned by several high-powered bullets whistling about them, neither animal broke into a run. The gait was a determined and leisurely walk." This month's Cover is a profile of a giant panda, taken from Davis' book. reviving their sagging hopes and the party pressed on. Ac- Mrs. Harkness set about getting Su-Lin to the United States. cording to Desmond Morris in Men and Pandas, there is Because of customs, Su-Lin's feeding needs and the press, some question as to whether Mrs. Harkness actually cap- this was no simple matter. One punster summed it up in a tured the prized giant panda or merely bought it from headline reading, "Panda-monium in Shanghai Customs Floyd Tangier Smith, an experienced hunter who led the House." But on December 2 Mrs. Harkness and Su-Lin, Marshall Field Expedition in 1930-32. now tagged "One dog, $20.00," set sail for America and As Mrs. Harkness tells it, however, she and Quentin fame. Young were pushing through a wet, dripping bamboo Even before the welcoming furor faded away, Mrs. thicket when they heard a baby's whimper coming from Harkness was busy negotiating for a permanent home for an old dead tree. Mrs. Harkness wrote, "I must have been Su-Lin. Chicago zoo director Edward Bean wanted Su-Lin momentarily paralyzed for I didn't move until Quentin but was unable to arrive at a satisfactory financial arrange- came toward me and held out his arms. There in the palms ment with Mrs. Harkness. Zoo officials in New York were of his two hands was a squirming baby Bei-skung." reluctant to acquire an animal that they suspected was in The long sought panda was hardly a giant. Not more poor health. Although she should have been accustomed than ten days old, it weighed less than three pounds. Ruth to snags and delays by this time, Mrs. Harkness became Harkness and the Youngs were as jubilant over their three- depressed and wrote, "Was I a little insane, or had I just pound panda as if it had been 300 pounds. Mrs. Harkness imagined that bringing a live Panda to America was worth named it after Jack Young's wife, Su-Lin, which, roughly anything to the great rich coimtry of ours? When I had translated, means "a little bit of something very cute." sunk to the lowest point of discouragement, the only thing

JANUARY Paged A drawing from Davis' book, "The Giant Panda," showing posture and body proportions of the panda and other arctoid carnivores. Top, left. Wolverine (Gulo luscus) a generalized member of the mustelid family; right, cacomistl (Bassa- riscus astutus), o generalized procyonid. Middle, left. Raccoon, (Procyon lotor) and the lesser panda (Ailurus fulgens), both procyonids. Bottom, left, the black bear (Ursus americanus) and the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), both ursids. The drawings are not to scale.

I could think of that I wanted to do was to pack everything appearances. Not only was the young panda a guest of up, take Su-Lin and go back to the border of Tibet. And honor at the New York E.xplorer's Club annual dinner, but perhaps if I'd had sufficient money. I would have done a growing number of important people were becoming fans. just that." The panda-killing Roosevelt brothers were easily charmed According to a Quaker Oats ad which pictured an em- by Su-Lin and when Theodore was asked if he would like bracing Mrs. Harkness and Su-Lin, this "great American to see Su-Lin mounted and added to his group in Field explorer" had discovered not just the "only Giant Panda Museum, he replied, "I'd as soon think of mounting my in captivity," but a "nerve bracing breakfast" as well. own son as I would this baby." With her nerves apparently well braced, Mrs. Harkness On February 8, 1937, almost two months after arriving continued to work for a satisfactory financial arrangement in America, Mrs. Harkness got Su-Lin settled at Brookfield and a good home for Su-Lin. Zoo as a temporary guest. Then, two months later, the Meanwhile, Su-Lin, like all stars, was making personal zoo contributed a satisfactorv amount to Mrs. Harkness' ^ , \ J \ v/vi 1^:^ 4-, ^J V

Page 6 JAWART next expedition and Su-Lin became a permanent resident. As Su-Lin grew fat and happy at the zoo, Mrs. Hark- ness was hot on the trail of a mate for the famous panda. Assuming that Su-Lin was a female, Mrs. Harkness searched the mountains of Szechuan for three months for a male

panda. She finally returned with Diana, apparently a m buddy, not a sweetheart. Unfortunately, Su-Lin and Di- ana's friendship was short-lived. In April 1938, six weeks M after Diana's arrival, Su-Lin died when a piece of wood became lodged in the animal's throat. On dissection it was discovered that Su-Lin was a male From Travel Book to Christmas Card and zoo officials despairingly believed that they had had a breeding pair in Su-Lin and Diana. However, when Diana A rare travel book much sought after by collectors is died in 1942 they found that she, too, had been a he. John L. Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central Amer- Dead but not forgotten, Su-Lin was more than just ica, Chiapas, and Yucatan. There were a number of another furry face. D. Dwight Davis, of the Field Museum "editions" of this work,—probably only printings rather editions. in staff", had often observed the panda at the zoo and on its than The copy the library of the Field Mu- death began a study of the panda that was to last the rest seum is said to be the twelfth edition and is dated 1855, of Davis' life. while my personal copy of the work is the "new edition" Using the embalmed and injected body of Su-Lin, Davis of 1842,—but in the preface mentioned as the tenth edi- began his meticulously detailed and researched study of the tion and issued three months from the time of publica- internal and external anatomy of the giant panda. The tion of the work. The differences between these two original problem that motivated Davis' research was the "editions" are minor. determination of the giant panda's proper taxonomic posi- Mr. Stephens was a traveler and author, and I am sure tion. Some workers insisted—and indeed still do—that the that his Incidents of Travel must have been immensely panda was a member of the racoon family, while others popular, for he travelled in and wrote about a part of placed it in the bear family. As Davis stated, "the proper America that was not well-known in his day. The book taxonomic position of Ailuropoda (the giant panda)—was was in great enough demand more than 100 years after soon settled; Ailuropoda is a bear and therefore belongs in its original publication so that a reprint edition of it was the family Ursidae." prepared. Davis made this statement in the Introduction to his Stephens took the artist Frederick Catherwood with enormous monograph "The Giant Panda" {Fieldiana: Zo- him on his travels to Central America, Chiapas, and ology Memoirs, Volume 3, Dec. 7, 1964), but went on for Yucatan. Catherwood sketched with great skill the ruins 327 pages, making this one of the largest of the Fieldiana and artifacts of the Mayan civilizations long since dis- series, to a brilliant study in comparative anatomy. Davis appeared, a few cities, and other things of interest. Steel made the work a test "based on the anatomy of the giant engravings of Catherwood's sketches are to this day some panda, of whether the comparative method can yield in- of the finest and most artistic representations of Mayan formation that goes beyond the cvistomary goals of com- "antiquities" to be found in any work. Certainly these parative anatomy." engravings are responsible for much of the popularity of In achieving this goal, Davis gave careful consideration Stephens' Incidents of Travel and are what makes of it and discussion to each structure and organ of the giant a collector's item. panda. He worked with five artists and used 159 accurate Looking for a suitable subject for a Christmas card, and, in many cases surprisingly beautiful, figures to illus- we decided to have a sketch made after one of Cather- trate his subject. Almost all of Davis' illustrations and state- wood's engravings. To simulate antiquity the sketch was ments regarding the panda's soft anatomy were based on engraved on copper with a mezzotint screen. It is of the Su-Lin. highland Guatemalan city of Quezaltenango as it ap- As Davis worked on his study, Su-Lin's hide went to peared about 130 years ago. Today Quezaltenango is one the Museum taxidermists. And now, thanks to the taxi- of the fascinating old cities of Central America. The city, dermists' skill, you can stroll down the Museum's Hall 1 5 its surrounding mountains and its Indian peoples are and come face to face with one of the most famous charac- well worth a day or two of your time when next you go ters of the thirties. on to Guatemala. {Continued page 8) —ft V Louis O. Williams Chief Curator, Botany

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JANUARY Page 7 Januaiy hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., FIELD MUSEUM CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mondays through Fridays; 9 a.m. to OF NATURAL HISTORY 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. January 25 Audubon Wildlife Film "Mule Deer Country," narrated by Chicago, Illinois 60605 liiui Moss, traces the life of the mule deer fascinating history against wildly Founded by .Marshall Field, 1893 beautiful scenery ranging from Canada to Mexico. 2:30 p.m. in James Simp- son Theatre. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lester Armour January 31 25th Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photog- Harry 0. Bercher raphy brings hundreds of award-winning wildlife photographs to the South Boiven Blair of the Museum. the Nature Camera Club of Lounge Sponsored by Chicago William McCormick Blair and the Field Museum, the free display includes projection of winning William R. Dickinson, Jr. color on two 2:30 1 and transparencies separate Sundays, p.m., February Thomas E. Donnelley II February 8 in James Simpson Theatre. The exhibition continues to Feb- Marshall Field ruary 22. Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Through February 28 Winter Journey "It's A Rocky World" is designed Remick McDowell to teach youngsters the intrinsic and practical value of earth rocks. Any J. Roscoe Miller child who reads and writes may participate in this continuing self-guided William H. Mitchell program conducted by Raymond Foundation. Free journey sheets and in- John T. Pirie, Jr. formation on the Journey program are available at Museum entrances. John Shedd Reed 1 Eskimo Masks: The World of the a tem- Through March Tareumiut, John S. Runnells porary exhibit of carved wooden masks produced by the aboriginal people John G. Searle of Point Hope, Alaska, gives insight to an aspect of their culture that is John M. Simpson disappearing. The relationship between these hunting people, the animals Gerald A. Sivage Edward Smith they pursued, and their concept of supernatural powers is explained Byron William G. through artifacts from the Museum's collection and from the Sheldon Swartchild, Jr. E. Leland Webber Jackson Museum in Sitka, Alaska. Julian B. Wilkins Continuing in January Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit—A Sense J. Howard Wood OF Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of Discovery The three-part HONORARY TRUSTEES presentation showing the scope of the Museum's activities since its founding N. Field continues indefinitely in Hall 3. This dramatic exhibit includes many of Joseph C. Gregg the Museum's best specimens. Clifford Samuel Insull, Jr. Chicago Shell Club, January 11, 2:30 p.m. William V. Kahler Nature Camera Club of Chicago, January 13, 7:45 p.m. Hughston M. McBain Friends of Our Native Landscape, January 24, 2 p.m. James L. Palmer Louis Ware meetings: Chicago Shell Club, February 8, 2 p.m. Nature Camera Club of Chicago, February 10, 7:45 p.m. OFFICERS

Illinois Orchid Society , 2 February 15, p.m. Remick McDowell, President Friends of Our Native 2 Landscape, February 22, p.m. Harry 0. Bercher, Vice-President Bowen Blair, Vice-President John M. Simpson, Vice-President Edward Byron Smith, SU"LIN Super Star of the Thirties (Continued/rom page 7) Treasurer and Assistant Secretary E. Leland Seated in a glass case, Su-Lin looks like an oversized and appealing toy. Per- Webber, Secretary haps it's the shape of his eye-markings or merely the tilt of his head, but Su-Lin director of the museum is a melancholy-looking creature and it's easy to understand why the world was E. Leland Webber him 33 captivated by years ago. chief curators As they say in the fan magazines, Su-Lin's star burned brightly but all too Donald Collier, briefly. Only 16 months old at death, the giant panda had made international Department of Anthropology headlines, inspired toys, books, advertisements and and, most im- expeditions, Louis 0. Williams, become the basis of an scientific portantly, outstanding study. Department of Botany Rainer ^angerl. Department of Geology Austin L. Rand, Department of ^oology c-XX BULLETIN Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor

Page 8 JANUARY ...»--•. '^VAV* * '^.» • »<».Vj .

OF NATURAL HISTORY 5111 1 FTINIIN FIELDl-ICLW MUSEUMl¥l«^l- BULLET v„luwe41.Numbn2 Febm„r^ 1970

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'^/fimochoris Field Museum's natural history tour program ited: A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," is slightly over two years old. Since its incep- May 30 -July 4 and a visit to Guatemala, - tion in late 1967 with a tour highlighting the October 23 November 8, repeating the very gardens, the people and the Mayan archaeology popular 1967 visit of Guatemala, subsequent tours have included The tour described below covers "The Inca's Mexico, Brazil and Grand Canyon. At this Empire and Darwin's Galapagos." Mr. E. moment, there are 30 enthusiastic travelers on Leland Webber, Director of Field Museum, in the "Himalayan Kingdoms and Northeastern commenting, stressed the aptness of the area for India"' tour. Field Museum, both because of the Museum's Field Museum's tours are designed to bring long commitment to the area and because of its its members into closer contact with the Mu- inherent natural history importance. seum. The specialists from the Museum's staff Field Museum, he pointed out, is doing the and other persons accompanying the groups are definitive work on Peruvian plants, a work in experts in their field. An unforgettable expe- progress for nearly 50 years, and is also doing a rience is offered the traveler with this concen- survey of Peruvian plant resources. The Mu- trated emphasis on the natural sciences. seum's archaeologists and zoologists also have a Other tours this year include "Eden Revis- long history of study and work in the area.

Ihe Inca's Empire and Darwin's Galapagos

By Phil Clark, Chief, Field Museum's Natural History Tours

Photos by Phil Clark The riches of the Inca's empire which left even Spain's swashbuckling conquistadores dazzled, haven't dimmed. Though today's tourists won't find Cuzco's fabled gardens of gold—those were melted and carted off to Spain—they discover treasures as impressive. There are mysterious ruins of masterfully-fitted stones among snow-topped mountains, cobalt lakes, designs etched in walls of adobe temples in the desert by the sea, handsome, poncho-wear- ing Indians speaking musical Quechua or Aymara, fantastic flowering plants with a new flora every couple thousand feet of elevation, and the artistic glory of Spanish colonial churches, paintings, and sculpture. It excited the conquistadores' greed— it will stimulate your sense of wonder. But besides the Andean scenery of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, Field Museum's tours, one group on Decem- ber 31 to January 29 and the other, February 4 to March 5, 1971, see the gold of the Chibcha in Bogota and spend eight days cruising the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin was so amazed by the plants, birds, and reptiles that he framed a whole new concept of natural evolution. The 30-day tours, limited to 30 persons each, including all expenses except tips and including a $600 tax deductible donation to Field Museum, cost $2,807. An archaeologist and a botanist are along to interpret the marvels of man and flora and a zoologist accompanies the group to the Galapagos. Private homes and gardens open to the tours in leading cities and museum officials greet Impressive Machu Picchu—the mysteriunn lost city of them. For those with limited time, the Inca's Empire por- the Incas, stands on the sides and slopes of two moun- tion of the tour is offered The tour, tains. It was believed to have served as a refuge for separately. 22-day Inca nobility after Spanish conquest and was probably without the Galapagos, ends on January 21 and Febru- originally intended as a fortress. ary 25, and costs $350 less, or $2,457.

Page 2 FEBRUART 1970 Sixth In the desert, south of Lima, is the adobe Chan Chan ruins, near Trujillo in northern Peru, on the Pacific, Day: still show original carvings of pcndtn'n." cfched in adobe. pyramid-temple of Pachacamac, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. After lunch, you see probably the largest collection of Inca and pre-lnca gold in the world, thousands » of pieces, many of exquisite workmanship, at the Museo f F t » »_ m • de Oro. Dinner is in another converted Spanish mansion, the newly opened Tambo de Oro.

Seventh Day: Today you fly to the city of Trujillo, north of Lima. At Chan Chan and the Palace of the Gran Chimu, you see etchings of pelicans, fishes, squirrels, moons, and .J W>J geometric designs ornamenting great halls and long pas- sageways centuries ago; many are nearly as sharp today as they were when inscribed. The Huaca El Dragon features for First Day: You fly from O'Hare Airport, arriving in Bo- great storage bins corn and cotton and adobe gota in the evening. Your hotel is the luxury Tequendama carvings of dragons and warriors. Lunch is at the Pacfic Las Morillas. (unless otherwise indicated, meals are in your hotels). beach. You watch reed boats, caballitos del Mar, at Puerto Huanchaco, then fly back to Lima in late afternoon. Second Day: Thousands of delicately wrought gold pieces made by the Chibcha and other Colombian Indians Eighth Day: This morning you fly to 1 1 thousand-foot are displayed in modern settings at Bogota's Museo de high Cuzco, once capital city of the great Inca empire. Oro—these are some of the indigenous treasure that missed You settle in the pleasant Hotel Cuzco and rest for a couple the Spanish king's royal smelters. You also view what of hours or so to adjust to the altitude. After lunch, you the Spanish created in exchange: the magnificent mahog- tour the great Spanish colonial churches, taking interested any carvings and the expressive paintings of the San notice of the unique Cuzco painting style. Francisco and Tercer Orden churches. During the afternoon you visit the handsomely Spanish modern garden Ninth Day: During the morning you walk through some and home of Dr. Adolfo Tamara, an outstanding Bogota of the areas of Cuzco where Incan-fitted stones are still physician, and the colonial gardens and house in which evident in building foundations and where the great cen- Simon Bolivar, the liberator of most of South America, ters existed in the old city. After lunch you ride to ruins lived. This evening you fly to Lima where you stay at the in the mountains which circle the city: the great rocks of palatial Hotel Bolivar. the fortress which guarded Cuzco, Sacsahuaman, and to Tambumchay, Puca Pucara, and K'enco. After dinner, Third Day: More of the treasures the Spaniards missed, you attend Peruvian folk dances performed by a youthful, these of the Incas and their predecessors, the Chavin, local group, the Centro Qosqo de Folklorico. Mochica, Paracas, Nazca, Tiahuanaco, and Chimu cultures are displayed in the National Museum of Archaeol- Tenth Day: You travel to the Indian market village of ogy and the private collection of Rafael Larco Herrera, Chinceros, where, even more than in Cuzco, Quechua is here in Lima. During the afternoon, you tour the city. the prevailing language. You pass Lake Huaypo and reach your hotel, the Urubamba at Urubamba, for lunch. Fourtti Day: Out in the desert north of the city are the Later you visit the mountainside ruins of Ollantaytambo adobe ruins of the vast city of Cajamarquilla which reached temple and fort. its prime in the seventh century, 400 years before the In- cas, and of Puruchuco which was an Incan government Eleventh Day: You leave Urubamba Hotel, traveling center and has been restored. Lunch is at the of home back to Cuzco via the Indian town of Caica, where the Sra. Josefina Heudebert de the after- Rodriguez. During church features a striking folk art cross, and along the noon, view the home and in semi-colonial you garden Urubamba River, remarkable for the cacti and bromeliads style of the Chilean in the San Isidro Ambassador, section, in its cliffsides and to the Indian market town of Pisac, and the orchid native private collection, including species, where alpaca and llama wool products are excellent bar- of Sr. and Sra. Victor in Miraflores. Vizquerra, gains as is the indigenous pottery. You dine at the Hotel Cuzco. FiM Day: You view the unusual gardens and interesting plant collections of Mr. W. L. C. Tweedle at Hacienda Twelfth Day: An early morning train takes you through Matazango in Lima's Los Leones suburb and the effec- several climatic and floristic zones over the mountain rim tively designed home and garden of Sra. Lucila de Li, in above Cuzco and down 65 miles to the Urubamba River, El Derby. In the afternoon you visit the National Mu- then, by bus, up five miles to the 7,800-foot elevation, seum of Art. Dinner is at the Trece Monedas. "lost city"of Machu Picchu, where a great and mysterious

FEBRUART 1970 Page 3 Inca center is spread over two mountain tops. The amaz- llvia, in the small but beautiful Botanical Garden, you visit ingly perfect fitting and facing of gigantic rocks leaves San Francisco Church and the colorful vegetable market, you in awe and puzzled over how these great stones were then are driven to the mysterious ruins of Tiahuanaco, transported by people who knew no wheel. You spend with its inscrutable great stone figures, carefully fitted the night at Machu Picchu Hotel. rock ramps, and carved stone gateways. After a picnic lunch at the ruins site, you return to La Paz. Thirteenth Day: Early risers will stroll among the ruins, to get photos unobstructed by people and to bird watch. Eighteenth Day: You fly to Quito, Ecuador. After During the morning, a bus will take birders and plant en- settling in luxurious Hotel Intercontinental Quito, you visit thusiasts the five miles down to the Urubamba River where the Casa de Cultura, which gives a summary of the whole flora is semi-tropical: a special treat—the long, scarlet ear- history of ancient and colonial Ecuador. drops of the shrub, Fuchsia boliviana. During late after- Nineteenth Day: You visit the charming blend of colo- noon, you take the return train to Cuzco. nial and modern garden and home of Sra. Clara de Andino Fourteenth Day: Another fascinating train trip—from and the Colonial Museum with its distinctive Quito-style Cuzco through valleys and mountains, past lakes and religious sculpture and painting. In the afternoon, you towns where Indians wear colorful regional dress and the tour the great Spanish Colonial churches and the central women the universal derby hats which originated here. plaza. Then into highland slopes where thousands of llamas and Twentieth Day: You are driven from 9,000 -foot high alpacas herd and finally to the town of Juliaca, where you Quito down through three distinctive floras to Santo Do- are driven to the ruins of Sillustani. At last, over a moun- mingo de los Colorados, in tropics at 1,000 feet. You tain rim and you view the vivid turquoise blue of Lake ride and walk through the jungles to the homes of the Titicaca—world's highest major lake, at 12,697 feet. You Colorado Indians, who coat their hair with a red dye made stay at Tambo Titikaka Hotel. from Bixa orellana, the annatto seed, and who paint their Fifteenth Day: Birders will be out early to observe faces and bodies. We are greeted by three families, each water and lakeside birds. There will be an opportunity in a separate clearing—the Colorados live separately in a for fishing and an outing to the Catcha-Catcha ruins. self-governing colony of the about 600 remaining mem- Mainly, it will be a day of relaxation with all activities bers of this unique people, different linguistically and optional. culturally from Ecuador's other indigenous peoples. The women are bare breasted and paint their hands black. On Sixteenth Day: Fusion of the art of Aymara Indians the trip back to Quito, you make a few roadside stops to and of the Spaniards produced some unusually handsome see flowering plants including varied orchids, fuchsias, cathedral churches in the Aymara towns of Juli and Po- passionflowers, angel's trumpet trees, and a tropical rela- mata, which you visit on your way to the Bolivian city tive of the heather, Tibaudia acuminata, with showy red, of Copacabana, where the famous church of Our Lady of yellow, and green blooms. Copacabana is located. You board the hydrofoil ship to cross the lake, stopping at Moon Island and Isla del Sol Twenty-first Day:l\\\s morning you visit another home with its Incan ruins and to see the fishermen in their ori- and garden of a prominent Quiteno. In the afternoon, you ental-looking reed boats. You drive from the other side view the newly opened, modernly displayed Archaeologi- of Titicaca to La Paz, capital of Bolivia, at 13,000 feet, cal Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador. Dinner is arriving in time for dinner at the skyroom of the comfort- at La Choza, for typically Ecuadorian food. able Hotel Crillon. Twenty-second Day:You drive through the mountains After Seventeenth Day: viewing the magenta and yel- to the highland Indian market center of Saquisili, where low bells of the Cantua buxifolia, national flower of Bo- Quechua is the principal language. Basketry and textiles are outstanding.

Twenty-third to Thirtieth Days: You fly to Baltra Is- land in the storied Galapagos, where you board a new, 1,000-ton, 60-passenger yacht, the Lina A, a floating luxury hotel. It is air conditioned and carpeted throughout. Our cabins are on the upper deck.

These islands, which so excited Charles Darwin, strad- dle the equator but are not hot. The isolation, which has made the islands difficult to reach in the past, created a strange natural laboratory which vividly demonstrates Darwin's theory of evolution. Farmers dress irarmly in the highlands of Peru, near Cuzco. (Continued on page 10)

Pagf 4 FEBRVARr 1970 ft'-ssysi RETURNS , ON . . EARLY THE LUNAR SAMPLfS,

From these three analyses it was already clear before the .Apollo XI landing at Tranquility that the lunar surface was Bringing the moon to Field Museum made head- not everywhere the same. In fact, two of these analyses lines in 1898 and, now, again in 1970 as actual showed anomalous features no one would ever have predicted. The third was just what many had pre- lunar samples were placed on display. In this analysis dicted already (for, however, the whole hmar surface). The article Dr. Edioard Olsen, the Museum's Curator Tranquility site was less than 100 miles from one of the and a member a team of Mineralogy of studying Surveyor sites (also in the Sea of Tranquility) that had the lunar samples here in Chicago, discusses some shown a very peculiar composition. It was impossible to device to of the preliminary findings of the lunar research say, however, whether the analyzing happened come to rest on a and non-typical patch, or if the groups. If you wish to pursue this matter in peculiar reported data was a true representation of the average rock see a late issue Science greater detail, January of material there. the and little known journal. Also, surprising The Apollo XI samples have settled this question and in story of the history of the Museum's moon model so doing have raised a bigger question. Analyses show the noiv on display in Hall 35 is told on page 9. lunar samples have the same unusual composition as this nearby Surveyor analysis. These rocks have extraordinarily high contents of the chemical element titanium and are very low in the element sodium, in contrast to the type of rock called basalt, which most of the investigators would by Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy have predicted would be found, if they were forced to make such a prediction ahead of time. The titanium content of The Field Museum was fortunate in being able to have one a normal basalt is generally a few tenths of a percent, while of the world's first two exhibits of Apollo XI lunar samples. the Tranquility rocks have between 6 and 12 percent! In The exhibit, which ran from Oct. 9 through Nov. 9 and other words, it is 50 to 100 times higher in titanium than basalt. sodium of basalt is again from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4, was made possible through The content normal usually the courtesy of a group of six faculty members of the Uni- about 2 percent. The Tranquility samples have only a few tenths of a of or about ten times too versity of Chicago : Joseph V. Smith, Edward Anders, Rob- percent sodium, ert Clayton, George Reed, Anthony Turkevich, and Stephen low for basalt. Hafner. Drs. Smith and Anders are both Research Asso- Field Museum President Remick McDowell and ciates at the Museum. The National Aeronautics and (left) Space City of Chicago Commissioner Jane Byrne (right) confirm .Administration made the exhibits and (NASA) possible the samples brought to the Field Museum by Prof. Joseph V. financial assistance was the Field provided by Foundation Smith (center). of Illinois. Having had several months now to work with these samples, the time has arrived to sum up some of the initial findings. The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- tration (NASA) scheduled an open public session during the first week in January to discuss the preliminary results. Each of the 141 principal investigators was there along with members of their respective research teams. The meeting, held in a downtown Houston hotel, was referred to by some of the investigators as a sort of lunar "show-and-tell." It was thought that some of these preliminary findings would he of interest to the members of the Museum.' j Over the past several years three unmanned vehicles of the Surveyor series have been instrumented with an extremely clever little device about the size of a cigarette package. This instrument, which has the very pretentious name of an alpha-scattering chemical analyzer, was conceived designed, and built by Drs. Anthony Turkevich (University of Chicago) and James Patterson (Argonne National Labora- tory). The device, when lowered to the lunar surface, ac- cum\ilates data on the chemical elements making up the surface on which it rests. The area it analyzes is only aboiU a square inch. These data are stored in a small computer attached by cable to the analyzer and then transmitted by radio back to earth on command.

' If you wish to pursue this matter in greater detail, see a late January issue of &/>nc« journal. Pages 49 to 56. '1^^ €l^%tiX

The unusual composition, of course, reflects the presence of unexpected minerals. The inost prominent of these is the mineral called which is an oxide of iron and ilmenite, FIELD MUSEUM SECURES ( titanium. The other main mineral constituents are plagio- clase-feldspar, several types of pyroxenes, and very minor amounts of olivine.' All of these minerals are known from This Wonderful Model, Which Cost a Chicago il different rock types here on earth, however, the rock type containing all of them in the observed proportions is rare His Fortune, During Ten Years Was Held here on earth. These are not the but what are samples expected basalt, for Storage Charges. It Will Enable Chicagoan they? Three inain rock types are present. One is a coarse- grained rock with numerous ilmenite-crystal-filled cavities Id See Earth's Satellite More Distinctly than Th called an ilmenite-pyroxene-gabbro. The second most prominent rock is a very compact, fine-grained rock called a Could See Her Through microbreccia (pronounced "my'-krow-bretch'-ee-ah"). This rock is made of and chunks of up principally fragments the Largest Telescope. several rock types that are held together in an extremely fine-grained matrix of pulverized rock material. In this rock are blebs and threads of silicate glass (i.e., silicate rock that was melted and cooled so rapidly that no mineral crystals had a chance to form). The final major rock type is the so-called lunar "soil," which consists of loose, powdery to gravelly, pieces of the former two rock types. The soil contains abundant loose silicate glass blebs that are generally spherical, but inay be misshapen also. These blebs, or beads as they have been called, range in color from clear and colorless to greens, yellows, browns, and black. Dark brown is the most common color. Many of these beads are hollow and some show small holes inade by gases once contained inside them that blew open the holes and escaped when the glassy blebs were still soft and molten. In addition to the brown glass, the soil and rocks commonly have brown to black glass spattered over them in irregular patches. ' For the reader who may be a mineral collector or rockhound, a more complete list of minerals found in these lunar samples accompanies this article.

Little Tammy Lord is captivated by the moon rock as are her mother Mrs. Nancy Lord (left) and Mr. and Mrs. Newell Chiesl.

K ^^^^^Kflk ~~' "HttMiu i^filbttttje PART SK.

ItIL 3, : 808—SIXTY PAfiES. \NTIC MOON LONG LOST IN CHICAGO.

Field Museum visitors Bob Sailor of Elkhart, Indiana and Gail Courtrighl of Highland Park, Illinois, took time to really take a good look at the Apollo 11 specimens.

drites and irons, which may actually be rare in space. The low abundance. Those which are difficult to vaporize are carbonaceous ones, which may be the most common in present in larger amounts. This is taken to indicate that space, are burned and destroyed as they pass through the rocks have had a high temperature history that allowed earth's atmosphere, except in rare instances. Thus, we may easily vaporized elements to do so and then to escape to have had a very slanted statistical view of the types of mete- space, the rocks retaining the less volatile ones. orites in our solar system, and hence, of the chemical history Some chemists have studied the various kinds of each of the system. chemical element present, that is, what are called isotopes. The rock called microbreccia is still a bit of an enigma. From the isotopes of oxygen it is also concluded that the Microbreccias of greatly different compositions are known rocks have had a high temperature history, around 2,000° on earth but they do not help us much to understand these. to 2,200° F. at one time. Bits and pieces of various unusual rock types are contained Probably the most startling result is that obtained by in these lunar samples. Whether these bits of rock repre- those investigators measuring the age of the rocks using so- sent layers below, or rocks exposed on the surface in sur- called radioactive clocks. The date obtained for these rounding areas is not known. The make-up of this rock, Tranquility rocks is 4 billion, 500 million years old. This however, indicates it is the result of meteorite impact explo- is almost exactly the age which all the stony meteorites give. sions, which produced these unmelted fragments as well as The earth, calibrated against meteorites by a very ingenious the glasses. The fragments clumped together along with means, is considered to be about 4 billion, 700 million years glass and pulverized rock as a matrix and formed the micro- old, or about 200 million years older. breccia we find today. Now the earth has had a very complex history, whereby The ilmenite-pyroxene-gabbro, however, has all the ear- it separated out into major layered zones called the core, marks of a more normal igneous rock. Except for the un- the mantle, and the crust (on which we live). Rocks of the usually high ilmenite content and extreme mineral zoning crust took time to form, hence, we would expect ages of in the pyroxene, it looks like some terrestrial gabbros. crustal rocks to be younger than the earth as a whole. In- Studying the minerals and rocks, comparing and con- deed, the oldest known crustal rock is only 3 billion, 300 trasting them to terrestrial rocks, is only one approach to million years old. Thus, the crust took about 1 billion, these samples. Some investigators are looking at various 400 million years to form. If we assume the moon, as a chemical trace elements. So far their work indicates that whole, to be as old as the earth then the rocks of its surface those trace elements which vaporize easily are in extremely in the Tranquility area separated for only 200 million years.

FEBRUARY 1970 Page 7 and nothing has happened since! This area of the kinar surface has been geologically dead for 4 billion, 500 million years! Compared to the earth, it has had a relatively short geologically active history. The age indicates that the moon is definitely a part of our solar system, formed at about the time the system coa- lesced around the primitive sun. Some have speculated in the past that it may have been an object captured by the earth and from a diflferent part of space. The age also rules out the notion that the moon was torn from the earth, leaving behind a vast depression which became the Pacific Ocean. The age is expected to vary in other parts of the moon. Every time a rock is reheated and recrystallized its radioactive clocks are reset to zero again. Over the past decade astronomical observatories in both the U.S.S.R. and Eng- land have seen red glares on the surface that persist for a few hours and then fade. These have been interpreted as lava flows from volcanic activity. If so, then samples of these recent lavas, if ever collected, would give an age of only a few years. Presumably, rocks of all intermediate ages from the present back to 4.5 billion years could be found in restricted areas also. What is significant about the age of the Tranquility samples is that the so-called "seas"' are as old as the solar system. It has long been speculated that the seas are the oldest geological features of the lunar Michael Park (left) and Angela Grandison surface. This is now borne out by the age determination. are fascinated by the Apollo 11 samples dis- This is only a summary of some of the kinds of results in December. obtained so far on the lunar samples. Many of the investi- played gations are employing methods that would be impossible to describe in the space we have here. Indeed, every instrument of current science is being turned to work on lunar specimens. The results described here present a fairly con- List of minerals found to date in sistent of a old that ceased most of its picture very object Apollo XI samples: activity early in its life and has been subsequently modified meteorite It must be out by high energy impacts. pointed Plagloclase-feldspar that all the data in are not so and some Augite coming consistent, (bytownite) results are entirely contrary to the picture presented here. Chrome spinel Pseudobrookite Such apparently contrary bits will ultimately fall into place, Christobalite or cause the whole to be in a no one Pyroxmangite picture changed way Ferroaugite would ever have imagined. That, of course, is the fun of Schreibersite llmenite any excursion into the sciences. Quartz Iron-nickel alloy Tridymite "* These huge areas were first seen by telescope by Galileo in the Olivine Troilite 1600's. He thought they were seas with water in them. We now know they are vast dry plains, however, the name sea, or mare in Latin, has stuck and is still used.

Dr. Edward Olsen (left), Cu- rator of Mineralogy, carefully transfers a piece of moon rock as August Teschendorf (right). Chief of Security, watches. Dr. Olsen and Mr. Teschendorf

worked closely to insure security of the material shown at the Field Museum.

Page 6 FEBRUART 1970 THE MYSTERIOUS ^ < MISSING MOON OF OEFMANV

by Patricia M. Williams in America for 20 years, but was cities, too, b>U found no success Field Museum Press exhibited so seldom that it had anywhere. been lost sight of. Only recently The model and the rest of Ri\erton's The recent exhibits of the lunar has the public and the students of collection of scientific objects were samples do not mark the first time the astronomy had access to it. finally resigned to storage in a Chicago moon and the Miiseiun have made Mr. Lewis Reese of Chicago warehouse where Riverton's luck the news On 1898 together. April 3, went from bad to worse. had got hold of it, nobody knows The ware- the Chicago Sunday Tribune ran a bannei- how—and lately donated it to house caught on fire and most of headline annovmcing, "Field Museum the Field Columbian Museum of the collection was destroyed— Secures Gigantic Moon Long Lost Washington, where it has now uninsured. The moon model was in Chicago." In somewhat smaller been installed. The model is in saved, however, and passed into the type the rave continued, "This the shape of a hemisphere, 1 9 feet hands of Lewis Reese in payment of a Wonderful Model, Which Cost a in diameter and reproduces on its loan he had advanced to defray Chicago Man his Fortune, During surface more than 20,000 differ- storage charges. Ten Years Was Held for Storage ent typographical features of the Reese, a manufacturer of astronom- Charges. It Will Enable Chicagoans visible part of the moon. Schmidt ical telescope lenses, was initially to Sec Earth's Satellite More Distinctly himself published a description of pleased with his acquisition but after than They Could See Her Through his masterly work, guaranteeing keeping it in storage himself at the Largest Telescope." the correctness of the represen- 1435 State Street for ten years, decided the the Museum Although Tribune, tation. it was a liability and offered it to and Chicagoans were pleased with the the Field as a It cannot but hurt the patriotic Museum gift. Museum's acquisition of "this wonder- feelings of a German to know that After assuring themselves of the ful model," the pleasure was not this still incomparable work is to scientific accuracy and fine quality of imiversal. In the Hanover- Germany be found in an American Muse- the model. Director Skiff and Chief erischer Courier reported on 1 4, January um, instead of in a German Ob- Curator of Geology Farrington 1899: servatory or University." accepted Reese's offer and the dis- mantled model was transported to the "Time and again the complaint The matter, of course, was not as Museum. is made that the best efforts of mysterious as the German press The model, made of 116 sections of German art take the way over the inferred. Mr. G. C. Riverton, who plaster on a framework of wood Ocean only because better paid was said to possess a considerable and metal, had been constructed under for in America. Recently a scien- fortune, saw the moon model in Bonn, the direction of Dr. J. F. Julius tific treasure has gone the same Germany and bought it for a Schmidt and was modeled by Thomas way, without anybody having "fabulous" price to add to a collection Dickert, curator of the museum at been aware of it. Every astron- of scientific objects he was gathering the University of Bonn. Hailed by omer is familiar with the relief of for exhibition purposes. After scientific experts across Europe as the Moon prepared by Joh. Fried. paying heavy duty charges to get the a marvel of accuracy and detail, the Julius Schmidt, assisted by Dick- moon model into the United States, moon model soon found an appreciative ert, but most people thought that Riverton spent thousands on advertise- audience at the Museum. it was in Bonn, where Schmidt ments and preparations for exhibition When the Museum first placed the for 7 years was the assistant of in New York. Unfortunately, "the model on exhibit it offered a fascinating Argelander. As late as 1896 a cold, bare surface of the inoon did not look at the then little known planet. statement to that effect is found attract the general public" and the Today, on display in Hall 35, the in an astronomical work. The project was a financial disaster. model may be used to select a possible fact is, however, that it has been Riverton tried his scheme in other future vacation site.

FEBRUARY 1970 Page 9 I N CA TO U R (continued from page i)

The islands are all close enough to each other that the same or similar wildlife arrived at each. Yet they are Places Remain on BRITAIN TOUR far enough apart that once landed, the new inhabitants There are still places open on Field Mu- found it difficult to move from one island to the next. As seum's natural history tour, "Eden Revisited : a result, the and plant life conditions specific geological A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," May 30 of each island helped determine the evolutionary charac- July 4, which stresses stately homes and gar- teristics of the wildlife of that island. dens of England, Wales and Scotland, but You are accompanied during the eight-day cruise by also highlights bird walks, wild flower stops a zoologist from the Universidad Catolica in Quito with and archaeological sites. experience on the Galapogos. You are also greeted and The tour, priced at $2,445, including $600 hear lectures by representatives of the Darwin Station. tax-deductible donation to Field Museum, all but will be led The cruise ship takes you to all the major islands and covering expenses tips, by Phil Museum Tours Chief. He is now- points of interest— Baltra, the Plaza Islands, Hood Island, Clark, tours of India and and is for- Charles island. Point Cormorant, Post Office Bay, Black leading Nepal, mer Editor of Horticulture British Beach, Indefatigable Island, Academy Bay (where the magazine. will join the tour at various Darwin Station is located), James Island, Sullivan Bay, garden specialists It is limited to 25 Reserva- Bartolome island Narborough Island, Point Espinoza, places. persons. tions be made or Albemarle Island, Tagus Cove, Tower Island, Darwin Bay, may by phoning writing. Natural Tours. and back to Baltra. Field Museum History

You fly from Baltra to Guayaquil and Guayaquil to Miami and Chicago.

CUP AND iVIAIL THIS COUPON TODAY

I would like reservations for Field Museum's Natural History Tour of Bogota, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and the Galapagos, 'The Inca's Empire and Darwin's Galapagos" as follows: - 30-day tour— December 31 January 29, 1 971 D - February 4 March 5, 1971 Q 22-day tour—Without Galapagos - 1 December 31 January 21 , 971 Q - February 4 February 25, 1 971 D

I understand the $2,807 price of the 30-day tour and cruise and the $2,457 price of the 22-day tour (without the Galapagos) cover all expenses (except tips) and include a $600 tax-deductible donation to Field Museum.

I enclose my check for a $600 deposit for each reservation.

Name

Address

City State Zip

Z! Please check if single rooms are desired, at an extra charge.

Please send information about this tour to: Name San Francisco Church in La Paz, Bolivia, Address bears handsomely-carved doorway lintels and columns. City State Zip

Page 10 FEBRUARY 1970 The Edward E. Ayer Spring Film-Lecture Series

Field Museum's 132nd series of free illustrated lectures offers exciting filmed adventure in color ranging from the inspirational monum£nts of Washington, D. C, to the majestic heights of the Kulu Himalaya mountain range. The program begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 in James Simpson Theatre and continues on successive Saturdays through April 25. Seals will be reserved for Members until 2:25 p.m. Attendance is limited to adults and children of Members.

March 7 WINGS TO WASHINGTON April 4 HOUSEBOAT TO FLORIDA By James Metcalf By Howard Pollard Famous historic monuments and the This cruise along the Atlantic coast busy everyday life of our nation's capi- in a houseboat reviews much of Amer- tal contrast with scenes of exotic water ica's early history and shows the va- lilies grown from 3,000-year-old seeds. riety of wildlife seen along the Inland Waterway. March 14 MINNESOTA SAND COUNTRY April 11 ALASKAN SUMMER By Walter J. Breckenridge By Mildred Capron

Sand-dwelling birds, mammals and The spirit of the Yukon and the wild reptiles highlight this ecological review and magnificent beauty of Alaska are of a sand dune region that typifies sim- vividly portrayed in this imaginative ilar areas found in the Northcentral From "Fiji, Western Samoa color movie. States. and Tonga" film, April 18 April 18 FIJI, WESTERN SAMOA March 21 COASTAL CALIFORNIA AND TONGA By Albert J. Wool By Nicol Smith A sea otter cracking abalone on his From enchanting mountain pools to anvil is of one the many outdoor won- a famed 300-year-old turtle, life in ders of Northern California captured in these remote islands of the Pacific is this informative color film. depicted with keen observation by this noted lecturer. March 28 CANADA'S MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS April 25 MUKAR BEH By Edgar T. Jones By Dennis Gray This exciting film spanning the sea- Life in India today, customs of local sons features a rare sequence of the hillsmen and travel in North India are Rugous hummingbird, as well as the part of this exciting story of the ascent From "Houseboat to Florida" rich of Beh. animal and plant life of the region. film, April i. of the formidable peak Mukar

Children's Workshops Planned for March

Application forms are now available from Field Each series is being offered to children of Mu- Museum's Department of Education for two four- seum Members for a fee of $10.00. The cost for part Saturday workshops for children. Each be- children of non-Members is $15.00. Payment gins on March 7 and continues on consecutive is due upon confirmation of enrollment by the Saturdays through the month, March 14. 21, Museum. and 28. Because classes will be limited to 25 young- Mask-making and fun with patterns in na- sters. Members are urged to write for application ture are part of "Art in Nature," a four-session forms early. Completed application forms must course for youngsters in the third, fourth, and fifth be in the Field Museum no later than February 20. grades. The workshop will be conducted by Mrs. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. Elizabeth Goldring, Raymond Foundation lecturer. Each series is open only to those grades specified. "Earth and led Space," by Ernest Roscoe, For application forms, write to: lecturer in is the other four-session geology, Department of Education course being offered. This program, for sixth, Field Museum of Natural History seventh, and eighth graders, includes an explanation of rocks, minerals, space geology, geology Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive of the Chicago region, and fossils. Chicago, Illinois 60605

FEBRUARY 1970 Page 11 and productive scientists. An ac- career as Curator of Lower Inverte- count of his career and the celebra- brates at Field Museum, where he tion for his 60th year as a publishing was faced with the task of building scientist appeared in the Bulletin^ both library and collections. That two years ago. Since then two he succeeded so well and still re- major publications of his have been mained productive in research is a issued—a 663-page monograph in tribute to his persistence and capac- the German serial "Das Tierreich" ity for work. For eight years after covering the species of fresh-water normal retirement age he continued unionid clams and a 60-page review at Field Museum as full-time Cura- of the fresh-water clam genera in tor. Even after becoming Curator the 'Treatise on Invertebrate Pale- Emeritus in January 1959, another ontology." six productive years were spent in From 1911 to mid-1936, Fritz daily work on the collections and Haas was a research zoologist at the writing manuscripts. Natur-Museum Frank- A and man of learn- Dr. Fritz Haas, Senckenberg, gentle quiet furt, Germany where he could work ing with a warm sense of humor, Dies Former Curator with exceptionally comprehensive Fritz will be greatly missed. A gen- With the death on December 26, library and collection facilities. Be- eration of scientists and librarians 1 969 of Fritz Haas, Curator Emeritus cause of his Jewish faith, he and his depended on his knowledge of the of Lower Invertebrates, Field Mu- family had to leave Germany. On humanities and several languages 1 1 seum lost one of its most famous August , 938 he began a second for aid with obscure quotations or the translation of difficult passages. Few geographic localities could puzzle him, no matter how frag- hours: 9 a.m. to 4 Mon- February p.m., mentary, and one of his last contri- to 5 day through Friday; p.m. Saturday butions to Field Museum was in and Sunday. On February 12, LincoMs CALENDAR OF EVENTS aiding our entomologists to inter- Birthday, the Museum will be open to pret cryptically abbreviated locali- 5 p.m. ties scrawled in germanic script on Through February 22 Twenty-Fifth Chicago International Exhibition of tiny insect labels. Photography, sponsored by the Nature Camera Club of Chicago and Field Men are rightly judged by their Museum, features award-winning photographic prints in the Museum's South legacy to mankind. Fritz Haas left Lounge. Prize-winning transparencies will be shown at 2 :30 p.m., February 1 an impressive addition to human and 8 in James Simpson Theatre. The exhibition and slide presentations are knowledge in the form of over 300 free to the public. scientific articles, a newly developed of and col- Through February 28 Winter Journey "It's a Rocky World." Free self- research facility library lections at Field a son who guided tour teaches boys and girls the intrinsic and practical value of rocks. Museum, is a Professor of Political Science at It acquaints youngsters with the main types of earth rocks, their classification, the of Berke- and the processes by which they were formed. Any child who can read and University California, a with extensive musi- write may participate. Award certificates are given to successful participants ley, daughter cal several each spring. training, grandchildren, and many lives that were enriched Through March 1 Eskimo Masks: The World of the Tareumiut, a temporary through knowing him. exhibit of expressive carved wooden masks produced by the aboriginal people of Point Hope, Alaska. Shown free in Hall 9 Gallery, the exhibit presents Alan Solem, Field Museum's collection of masks acquired during the turn of the century Curator of Lower Invertebrates and related ethnographic material. It also includes masks on loan from the 'Vol. 38, number 11, November, 1967. Sheldon Jackson Museum of Sitka, Alaska. Continuing Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of A Sense of This exhibit shows the History, Discovery. trend-setting FIELD MUSEUM of the Museum's activities since its and features unusual and scope founding OF NATURAL HISTORY means of visual communication. Hall 3. exciting ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 6060S A.C. 312. 922-9410 Chicago Shell Club, February 8, 2 p.m. FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 Nature Camera Club of Chicago, February 10, 7:45 p.m. MEETINGS: E. Leland Webber, Director Illinois Orchid Society, February 15, 2 p.m. Friends of Our Native Landscape, February 22, 2 p.m.

Page 12 FEBRUARY 1970 • •• '^.•AV* • 'v • • »v»*'*'' ...^

OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM March 1970 Volume 41, Number 3

^^** Seated around a conference fable in Museum Presidenf McDowell's office. President Nixon, eight cabinet members, Illinois Senator Charles Percy and four governors begin discussion of the nation's air and water pollution problems.

^^/^^^/^da>/ ^c^iu/ /e ^le/^/ ^^/^m^Seei^m^ by Patricia M. Williams

RICHARD M. NIXON came to Field Of the new act, Nixon said, "The act I have PRESIDENTMuseum of Natural History on February 6, 1 970 signed gives us an adequate organization and a to attend the Great Lakes Regional Environmental good statement of direction. We are determined Quality Conference — a cabinet-level meeting on that the decade of the seventies will be shown as pollution. This marked the first time such a meeting the time when this country regained a productive was held outside of Washington, D. C. and in- harmony between man and nature." cluded, in addition to the President and the Cabinet act not of America's Committee on the Environment, Gov. Whitcomb of This only made protection natural resources a national it established Indiana, Gov. Miiliken of Michigan, Gov. Knov/les policy, a three-man Council on Environmental as of Wisconsin, and Gov. Ogilvie of Illinois. This un- Quality well. This like the Council of Economic Ad- precedented action is only a part of President council, will have a "close relation" to the Nixon's full-scale assault on environmental deg- visors, advisory will all federal activities that radation in America. President and review affect the quality of life in the United States. In his State of the Union message. President Russell E. Train was named as Chairman of the new Nixon said, "The great question of the '70's is: council and his fellow members are Gordon J. F. Shall we surrender to our or shall we surroundings MacDonald and Robert Cahn. make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our Separate from this three man council, the Cabinet air, to our land and to our water?" On New Year's Committee on Environmental Quality is chaired by Day, in his efFort to make "peace with nature," the President Nixon himself. Emphasizing the signifi- President signed the National Environmental Policy cance of his role as chairman of this committee Act as his "first official act in this new decade." Nixon stated, "the 1970's absolutely must be the

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 years when America pays its debt to the past by conference. Gov. Ogilvie then followed with his reclaiming the purity of its air, its water, and our own conference in the Museum's Lecture Hall. living environment. It is literally now or never." It was, all told, an eventful and important day The meeting at Field Museum combined both the in the history of the Museum; a day that focused Cabinet Committee and the new council. The four the nation's attention on the Museum and its con- governors presented the environmental control pro- cern for the problems of man's total environment. grams that they have instituted in their states and As Remick McDowell, President of Field Museum, all four governors united in a request to the fed- said, "What better place to hold such an important eral government to reconvene the Lake Michigan qieeting than at an institution concerned with the Enforcement Conference to review existing anti- study of man's environment. Field Museum's depart-, pollution compliance deadlines and require major ments of anthropology, botany, geology and zoo- polluters to show evidence that they will meet the logy have a long tradition of concern and involve- deadlines. Following the meeting President Nixon ment in environmental changes. The Museum's area said, "I believe that it can be said that these four of interest embraces all life on earth, past and states have programs that are in the forefront present, human and non-human. This is reflected not among the states of this nation in the environment." only in the Museum's exhibits but also in the work The pollution of Lake Michigan is a problem conducted in the community by our scientists." common to all four participating governors and it The President's visit and the events surrounding received particular attention. To avoid the death it are reported and pictured in the pages that fol- of Lake Michigan, President Nixon called for "total low. It is hoped that the interest this visit* generated mobilization." "Only through total mobilization can in the environmental problem will not only be sus- we deal with the problem of water pollution, air tained, but will grow and swell as increasing num- pollution, and the other problems that affect our bers of private individuals become actively con- environment." He went on to promise that "we cerned. To this end. Field Museum will not only are going to close the action gap. We are going continue its on-going program of research and to authorize funds but we are education, but will also launch also going to appropriate funds. a series of exhibits dealing with The Field Museum's participation We are not to make the environmental crisis. going prom- in the Great Lakes Regional En- ises for action In and not keep vironmental Quality Conference is his press conference Gov. those promises." According to a truly significant event in the Ogilvie said, "We have met the Museum's of concern the President, $2 Va million for Ft. long history enemy and it is us." If peace is for the problems and needs of Sheridan and $1272 million for to be made with nature, the man's total environment. Our on- the Great Lakes Naval must be informed and re- Training going program of research, edu- enemy Station "will stop pollution of cation and exhibition takes on even formed; involved and concerned. these facilities and it will accom- greater importance at this critical As the nation is intensifying its time. plish it before the end of 1 972." efforts toward a healthier en- E. Leiand Webber After the President made a vironment, let this mark Director, day brief statement to the press, the Fi»ld Museum of Natural Hiifory your increased involvement with four governors held a joint press the problem as well. THE WELCOMING OF THE PRESIDENT by Patricia M. Delsing

Remick McDowell greets some early arrivals.

Museum presider)i Remick McDowell, center, is old THERE an saying that coming events welcomes Presider\t Nixon cast their shadows before them. This is espe- and Illinois governor Richard 6. Ogilvie, leff. cially true of an appearance by the President ^ of the United States. On Friday, February 6, President Nixon was to arrive at Field Museum at mid-morning. But hours earlier, before the winter sun fought its way through Chicago's damp haze, the Museum doors were revolving non-stop. Outside, on the steps, groups of men shivered in their heavy coats. Some wore badges identifying them as members of the Official Welcoming Committee; they wanted to see and be seen. Others bore discreet lapel pins marking them as secret service agents or Chicago policemen; they scrutinized people coming up the steps and coolly surveyed the general area. Museum personnel with top security clearances also would receive distinctive lapel pins so they could move freely through areas that would be off-limits to the public.

Inside, a platoon of security forces reviewed their instructions one last time before moving to their posts; individual communications units welded them into a solid force of protection. Uniformly pleasant men, polite Trailed by officials, aides and security men. President Nixon moves through welcoming crowds.

and well-dressed, their singular responsibility showed in their alert manner and ever- searching eyes.

Shortly after 9 a.m., ticketed visitors began crowding through the doors and selecting vantage points along the railings which sectioned the main hall. The Museum had been closed to the general public for the day, but school groups that previously had arranged for lectures were invited to come for the sessions plus a bonus—a view of the President.

With the arrival of each new group, the sound of excited chatter expanded in Stanley Field Hall. Some youngsters held signs asking for an end to pollution. One contingent carefully-carried an elaborate banner welcoming the President.

White House aides listened to their com-

munications units to follow the itinerary as the President and his party moved through early morning appearances north of Chicago. A Presidential staff member reviewed procedures one last time with Museum President This banner Remick McDowell who was to welcome Mr. group's imaginative drew an enthusiastic "thank yqu" Nixon at the door and escort him to the meet- from President Nixon. ing room. >

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 Behind the scenes activity increased. Even top-cleared persons were politely ushered from rooms to be occupied by the President so the areas could undergo a final search. At the announced arrival time of 10:20 a.m., hundreds of men, women and children stared toward the south door of Stanley Field Hall. Voices rose as new groups appeared in the doorway and fell when the newcomers proved to be other spectators.

Finally, nearly a half-hour late, secret service men received the report they had been waiting for. Minutes later, a crowd of people surged through the door in what appeared to be a single advancing organism. Photog- and TV cameramen led the raphers pack, Happiness is security men ringed it, and in the middle was shaking hands with the President! a tanned, smiling man who waved energeti- cally at the cheering and yelling and waving crowd. his office went with him; everyone in the hall Escorted by Remick McDowell, President felt it. Nixon moved into the hall to greet some A few moments there and he disappeared children lucky enough to be near the door. into the President's Office where his famous Newsmen, reporters and on-lookers struggled companions already had entered unnoticed.

for a picture, a statement, or just a glimpse Highly-motivated, intelligent and successful while secret service men closed in to wall him men, they had become suddenly anonymous. off. As he moved, the incredible power of When the President is there, all others are

After the conference. President Nixon pauses in Stanley Field Hall for a chat with some young citizens.

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 added attractions, even governors and Cabi- net members and experts in their own fields. Before the meeting began, photographers were permitted to push into the room to record the scene. While they moved around urgently adjusting shutters and lenses, the conferees talked quietly—a group of con- fident, businesslike men sitting at a simple table. But the power was there, too, and its presence hung stalactite-fashion in the room. For more than two hours the meeting went on while the Museum went about its inter- rupted routine. Classes for school children got under way. Visitors strolled through the exhibit halls.

Reporters in the Jomes Simpson Theatre picked up rolls and coffee from a table in the lobby and releases from a table on the stage where a White House press office smoothly went into action.

Business spurted in the Museum Bookshop as members of the press caravan sought out souvenirs. Old-hand White House reporters filed their stories and looked blase while everyone else looked impressed by the prominent "White House Press" credential badges. Reporters haslily wrife artd Photographers shifted their cameras from file Iheir stories from the hand to hand and compared equipment with communjcafions complex in James Simpsor\ Theatre. their colleagues. ^

TV cameramen record the press briefing.

Field Museum of Natural History, AAorch, 1970 Af the post-meeiing press conference, Mr. Nixon outlines his proposals fo curb waier polluiion.

The Museum switchboard operator took members and the experts on environment messages from famous names and had them who had followed him all day. delivered to other famous names and won- Then they were out of sight, dashing down dered what page-one news stories were the steps to the lecture room for a brief press evolving. conference. But he would be back; sand- And suddenly, the tempo increased again. wiches from the buffet were shuttled on plates Groups of children who had waited patiently into the Museum's public relations offices to throughout the meeting were rewarded with fuel a short private meeting. While he on invitation to move toward the center of huddled in the office with his guests, other Stanley Field Hall where the President was to conference participants remained downstairs walk. And then he was striding through the to take their turns before the television hall, smiling and shaking eager, outstretched cameras so their constituents back home or hands while aides distributed pre-signed auto- their Washington staffs could see them on the graphs. He stopped, propped a foot up on evening news. the side of o fountain, and launched into a When the President emerged from his pri- man-to-man conversation with some small vate meeting, the crowd in Stanley Hall had A a of teen- boys. welcoming song by group dispersed. Familiar faces, finished with their a smile and a wave. And age girls brought statements and their sandwiches, wandered behind him trailed the secret serv- ubiquitous ahead of him toward the door, stopping oc- ice agents and the and the Cabinet governors casionally to greet Museum personnel. He

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 stopped to shake hands, too, and to recall a visit to the Field Museum with his wife while on leave from his World War II assignment. And he was suddenly not the President with the careful crowd smile, but a soft-spoken, rather intense man remembering a simpler time when he and his wife could enjoy a quiet day in a museum. But the time to chat was short and the secret service men were restive so he moved on, smiling a wistful buf friendly good-bye over his shoulder.

One more stop near the door for a Museum employe to return papers forgotten in the conference room. And he was gone. An aide briefly reappeared with a handwritten thank you note for the papers, and he was gone, too.

Late afternoon Friday. The Museum staff reluctantly began dismantling the crowd barriers, rearranging their offices and restoring the building to its normal appearance. But it would never be the same. Because the President of the United States had been there.

And they would never be the same. Because they had been there with him. For Illinois television viewers, a Chicago newsman interviews Governor Ogilvie.

AS HE WAS LEAVING, the President paused under the elephants and gave us one of the most memorable quotes of the day. In answer to the comment, "I hope you enjoyed your stay here," President Nixon replied, ^N did, very much. You know, I was here years ago. I was stafioned at the naval base at Ottumwa, Iowa and my wife and I took the Burlington Zephyr to Chicago and stayed at the Palmer House. It was a very nice room too. We came to the Museum and wandered all through

here . . . That was 30 years ago

you know . . . But we used to be great museum goers . . . we went to the Smithsonian and to the museum in Los Angeles." Somewhat wistfully he ended, "// was a little easier to do things like that then."

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 THE DAY

V/hile preparations for the President's visit speed along in other parts of the Museum, lecturer Ernest Roscoe conducts a classroom discussion about geology. Museum maintenance men work around Thursday visitors.

Line up in twos, children, and stay Royal Progress, the staff and resources of together when we walk upstairs." A teacher the Museum were being marshalled to efRcientiy swept her wide-eyed fifth contribute to the success of the occasion. graders through the main hall of the Field If they had read of the event, Thursday's Museum and up to a classroom where a Museum-goers might have sensed the Museum lecturer prepared to introduce them current of excitement running through the to the marvels of the earth's composition. Museum which would reach flood stage Adults strolled the leisurely through as the day wore on. They might have Museum's treasure-filled halls and behind realized that the huge table with its matching the in laboratories and scenes, libraries, chairs being moved into the "President's research moved on. continuing projects quietly Office" at the south end of the building It was Thursday, February 5, and it was to be used by THE President as the appeared to be a routine day at the Field focal point of a meeting on Great Lakes Museum. But it wasn't. It was the day Regional Environment — the first before a visit by the President of the United Cabinet-level meeting outside Washington, States. And quietly and smoothly, with the the first meeting of the new Presidential precision given to planning a Medieval Council on Environmental Quality, and the

10 Field MuseOm of Natural History, March, 1970 ^

A giant conference fable, borrowed irom a Chicago insurance company for fhe meeting, is assembled in the President's office. first such meeting held in a museum. that day. More electrical outlets and a On-iookers could have observed Building two-level platform for TV cameras in the Superintendent James Shouba checking ofF lecture hail adjoining the James Simpson completed jobs from a lengthy list which Theatre. Newly-installed carpeting on the grew longer minute by minute. Maintenance stage of the hall. Hastily-hung draperies crews carefully sponged nearly-invisible behind the stage to backdrop the smudges from the ivory walls, washed and post-meeting news conference at which the rewashed the floors, and even checked the President, four governors and a galaxy of water level in the newly-cleaned fountains Cabinet members would tell the public so they would splash majestically on cue. how they planned to curb the pollution of the Auxiliary pots of greenery appeared in the Great Lakes. Ten public telephones had main hall to supplement standard decorations. been mounted on plywood boards in the and double that number of At each end of Stanley Field Hall, Simpson Theatre, distance connected to electricians wired yard-long boards with long phones news outlets the dozens of plugs for cameras and lights which throughout country. would record the next day's activities. At several points in the building, There were other unusual sights to be seen shiny new wires activated ordinary-looking ^

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1 970 Tl Electricians wire supplementary power sources for TV lights and cameras.

Presidental visit photos by:

John Bayalis Homer V. Holdren Frederick Huysmans James J. Jindra Harry S. Young

Matching chairs are rolled in next.

telephones which bore a picture of a as the American flag, flanked an easeled, familiar structure and the words Interior-Department-prepared map of the "White House" where the number appears Great Lakes region. Miniature state flags stood at seats the state's on truly ordinary phones. The instruments assigned governors were connected to the traveling White House at the table. One place, simply marked switchboard housed temporarily at the "President," was heralded by the President's Chicago hotel. stars and stripes. As the room's name indicated, portraits of In their five Museum curators offices, former Field Museum presidents looked statements the prepared regarding down from the office walls; some of the activities of the Museum environment-related likenesses had been retrieved from the for distribution press Friday. continuing 75th anniversary exhibit at the By late Thursday afternoon, the opposite end of the building and returned to their to observe the President's Office was ready. Cold sunlight rightful places meeting. streamed through sparkling windows which The Museum's own antique furniture and would be shielded on Friday by the heavy art objects from around the world contrasted blue draperies. The flags of Illinois, pleasantly with the businesslike efficiency Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well of the borrowed conference grouping.

12 Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 tote Thursday afternoon, Remick McDowell, Museum president, looks oyer the conference room after a briefing by White House aides.

The silent White House telephone is ready for use by the Museum's famous visitor.

Beautifully assembled under the regal As most Museum staff members departed chandelier, the table received a last for the day, mentally reviewing their glossing; around the table, chairs were up-coming assignments, they left behind polished and positioned. Freshly-sharpened Museum guards, secret service men and pencils and yello>v legal pads favored Chicago policemen. Musuem Chief of Security by the meeting's leader were distributed, August Teschendorf had met with officers in the outer office, coat racks were moved in; of other security forces to coordinate half the room was screened off for a operations for the event. During the week, private ante-room; f1o>Arers were arranged. literally every inch of the multi-acre building had been around Finally, posts and barriers to contour searched, inside, outside, crowds were moved in and set up on the and above, time and time again, guided first floor. One hall was screened off and by Len Carrion, Chief Engineer. Thursday prepared for a select buffet luncheon to be night, security men would patrol the halls linked their served on Friday. Information booths were echoing again, by communications moved to the north end of Stanley Field Hall, equipment, inspecting every of access or concealment. topped with plywood and quickly painted; possible point on Friday they would serve as platforms Thursday, February 5, was a day like any to raise photographers above the crowds. other at Field Museum. Almost.

Field Museum of Nofurol History, March, 1970 13 * FIELD MUSEUM CURATORS SPEAK OUT

To Field Museum's 32-member scientific staff, preservation of natural resources is not a new area of interest. Historically, Field Museum has been closely concerned with man and his environment for more than 75 — Dr. DONALD COLLIER years long before conservation and pollution became house- Chief Curator of Anthropology: hold words. The long-range commitment put into motion by Presi- "Man has been interacting with his environment dent Nixon's visit must be met if man is to live in for over two million years but only during the past harmony with nature. Field Museum's involvement will 150 years has he been seriously out of balance increase as time goes on with its continuing programs of education and exhibition. with nature. The long view of natural history and research, The statements ore made members of the immense perspective of paleoanthropology are following by Field Museum's curatorial staff in connection with the essential in the present world crisis—the pollution February 6 conference. and degradation of the earth's environment. Students of natural history welcome the present surge of public concern with our environment but hope that action will extend beyond ameliorating the most spectacular pollution of air and water. The hidden effects of pollution are more deadly and more long-lasting, including genetic damage to all living things. Three-quarters of the world's surface is ocean, but most of us are little aware of this element in earth's environment or the major Dr. LOUIS O. WILLIAMS seriousness of marine pollution. At present a million tons of oil are being dumped into the ocean Chief Curator of Botany: annually. The effects of this, insecticides, and other "The botanists of Field Museum have been serious pollution—everything dumped into streams, interested in the of Central lakes and rivers ends up in the ocean—may be especially vegetation America and the Andean countries of South irreversible or reversible only in terms of a thousand America. This interest extends back more than 75 year period. years. The of the of man to Natural history museums have the resources to problems relationships the plant cover in these have been and ore present to the public the long view, the basic view, regions of active concern to the botanists here. What the holistic view of man and nature, and now happens and is happening to the vegetation of is the time to do it. We hope the Field Museum will this offects the food chain that be in the forefront of this effort." region seriously reaches to man. Degradation of the vegetation and consequently of the environment is proceeding at an explosive rate in Central and Andean South America—regions where Museum botanists have considerable competence."

14 Field Museum of Naturol History, March, 1970 Dr. AUSTIN L. RAND Chief Curator of Zoology:

"If you stand on Field Museum's front steps and look at the city, you may wonder what is was like before concrete, steel and civilization came to the foot of Lake Michigan. If you do wonder, step back into the Museum exhibit halls and see.

This is one of the contributions that Field Museum is making to present day Chicago and the nation: showing the actual animals that live or did live Dr. RUPERT L WENZEL in our country, some of which are gone beyond Curator of Insects: recall. Here also are the animals which we can continue to have and enjoy. But, only if we change "This important conference underscores the our emphasis from trying to conquer nature to urgency of coping with problems of pollution and trying to live with nature, will we then have a alteration of the environment. It is appropriate that fuller life." it was held in Field Museum. First, because it is located on the edge of Lake Michigan, and the pollution of this great lake is one of the chief concerns of the meeting. But also because of the role of natural history museums. Fiefd Museum's research and educational goals are largely concerned with discovering and making known the things which comprise our environment and the historic processes by which they came about, as Dr. RAINER lANGERL well as the ways in which man has adapted to, used and altered the environment. These are Chief Curator of Geology: things which man must understand if he is to learn to live with nature, without further or even "Today, pollution of air, water and land has damaging both his environment and himself. reached global proportions and has already destroying Because of their and concerh seriously afFected the ecological check and balance special knowledge with environmental of the Museum's system that governs life on our planet. The rapidly problems, many scientific staff have been as deteriorating -quality of the environment has directly involved, in abatement received a great deal of attention in the popular individuals, conservation, pesticide and other aspects of environmental control and press and there is, indeed, good reason for public concern. improvement. Some have done this individually, or local action or their national Intelligent action on the part of the public, through groups while others have however, requires understanding of the complex professional organizations, determine and action as elected or problems. With this in mind. Field Museum is helped policy officials of planning a series of exhibits designed to provide appointed municipalities, abatement and State conservation bodies." the scientific background and the historic districts, perspective to the headlines, committee reports and remedial programs that publicize the present environmental crisis."

Members of fitid Musaum't jcienfific staff. Shown from Itft to right are Dr. Ausfin I. Rand, Dr. Donald Collier, Dr. Louis O. Williams, Dr. Kupert I. Wenzel and Dr. Rainer Zangerl.

15 HEARD UNDER THE ELEPHANTS by Patricia M. Williams

After stringent security screen- Regional Environmental Quality ing, a few Museum staff mem- Conference. Following are some bers were permitted to meet and of the questions, answers and talk with President Nixon and observations recorded from these members of the Great Lakes conversations.

WHAT CAN A CONCERNED INDIVIDUAL DO JOHN VOLPE TO HELP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POLLUTION? Secretary of Transportation "The public must be awakened. Most people ore not aware at this time of the scope of this problem. We hope that RICHARD B. OGILVIE the people will join in voluntary efforts Governor of Illinois and voluntary action committees to and "I think the public has to put their support programs legislations to money where their mouth is. It's going to designed fight pollution. I would that the on be an expensive proposition." hope young people campuses all over the country would work affirmatively and devote their energy to supporting programs and once these are to CHARLES H. PERCY programs passed, work see that they ore carried out. U.S. Senator As Governor of Massachusetts, I "If he is married, have only learned that legislation is much easier to two children." pass if public support is behind it and that will be true of programs concerning our environment too."

GEORGE ROMNEY RUSSELL E. TRAIN Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Under Secretary of the Interior and Chairman of the Council "An individual can do a great many on Environmental Quality things — stop littering, first. Stop throwing papers and refuse from cars, "An individual can do much more than stop littering up the streets. Clean up just stop littering and cleaning up his own neighborhood and encourage his his property. Parents con see that the friends and neighbors to do the same. curriculum in schools includes the Also, on individual can support the environment. They can work through adult legislation that is needed to preserve education programs and such groups the environment. An individual can OS the League of Women Voters to also encourage automobile legislation educate the public to the problem. OS the automobile is one of the An individual can also chief sources of pollution." help to control the birth rote."

WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK A NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM CAN PLAY IN THE EFFORT FOR A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT?

SECRETARY VOLPE GOVERNOR OGILVIE

"No question about natural history "This Museum has already performed museums providing leadership in an important role in providing a place educating the public." to hold this meeting. The museum can help in educating the public through exhibits and programs."

16 Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 each tour conducted the both volunteer by Donald C. Edinger by staff, and professional. These skills include of Education Chairman, Deparfmenf observing, classifying, describing, space/time, inferring and predicting. In the development of these skills and attitudes as intellectual The objects and specimens on exhibit here tools, a basis is provided for further study. in the Museum represent a rich statement Each of us feels a great responsibility and a about our environment. The students viewing sense of dedication toward teaching a respect for these objects find that the world itself is our things, the importance of cause and environment rather than a small segment of living effect relationships, and most of all, what each Illinois. of the offerings of the Nearly 80% individual can do to contribute toward creating Department of Education are directly related to the best possible circumstances for the study of the environment. all living things. From and statements key questions How other cultures compromised with a student can make a series of observations their environment and what the apparent which will help him begin to describe our world. consequences were, can be observed by the This description not only includes a students. The strong inference that time is stop motion for one point in time but an important variable is supported several different in time — often in increasingly points observations both within and without the same area. by geographic the Museum. In helping students some of the identify We hope to stimulate interest and variables affecting the world and its broaden the base of general knowledge. inhabitants, they can begin to predict the With the cooperation of teachers we feel that consequences of change. a unique experience is provided for The skills of studying the environment school groups that cannot be duplicated through natural history are taught in in any other way.

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 17 Ellen Thorne Smith (Mrs. Hermon Dunlap Smith) has been elected a Trustee of the Field Museum of Natural Histoiy. A By-law amendment providing for the election of the president of the Women's Board as a Museum Trustee with voting privileges was recently adopted by Field Museum's Board of Trustees. Mrs. Smith, the incumbent Women's Board President, was elected at the same meeting. Mrs. Smith has been associated with the Field Museum for more than 30 years as a volunteer in the Division of Birds, Department of Zoology. In 1937, she was named an Associate in the Division of Birds. During World War II, when many of the Museum's scientists were serving in the armed forces, Mrs. Smith kept the division open. In 1966, at the suggestion of the President of the Board of Trustees and the Director of the Field Museum, Mrs. Smith the Women's Board. ELLEN THORNE SMITH organized She has served as its President since that date. ELECTED TRUSTEE Mrs. Smith is the author of Chicagoland Birds— Where and When To Find Them, a handy pocket guide for birdwatchers. She serves as a Trustee of the Chicago Zoological Society and the Hull House Association. For 19 years Mrs. Smith was the editor of the Brookfield Zoo magazine.

The well-known British gardening expert, Mr. Roy Hay, garden editor of the London Times and BBC, and author of numei'ous horticultural books, will speak on British gardening to members of Field Museum at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 22nd, in the Museum's lecture hall.

This is an opportunity to hear a talk by a man who has been called "the World's No. 1 Gardener." Included will be a showing of a color motion picture of outstanding British gardens. Mr. Hay will answer questions afterwards.

To those people taking Field Museum's tour, "Eden Revisited: A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," it will be an opportunity to meet Mr. Hay first-hand. Tour members will spend an afternoon as guests at his 16th Century house and \asit his interesting experimental gardens next June.

- The 36-day tour. May 30 July 4, 1970, will ROY HAY visit wild flower bird outstanding gardens, spots, GUEST LECTURER sanctuaries, and archaeological sites in England, Wales and Scotland. Including a tax-deductible $600 donation to Field Museum, the cost is $2,445, covering all expenses except tips. At this date a few places remain open. Information may be obtained by writing Field Museum.

18 Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 Spring Journey INDOOR PROGRAMS BRING OUTDOOR PLEASURES

Trees of Illinois is the title of Raymond Foundation's Spring Journey. Available for boys and girls from March 1 until May 31, the Journey features a variety of Illinois trees, including both introduced and native species. Illinois extends nearly 400 miles from north to south and lies almost at the center of the North American continent.

This location makes it a transitional region where trees pre- dominant elsewhere in the United States may be found.

For example, the white pine, a tree characteristic of northern forests, is found in Illinois, as is the bald cypress which is found in southern forests. Such a combination is not surprising when one considers that the southern tip of Illinois is farther south than Richmond, Virginia. Also found in Illinois are the black locust and osage orange, trees which are common to other parts of the United States. The Gingko and horse chestnut, trees introduced into the United States from foreign countries, thrive in Illinois. They are sometimes planted along city streets because of their beauty and hardy qualities. Native Illinois trees featured in the Journey are bass- wood, white oak, American elm, sycamore, bur oak, and shagbark hickory. Some characteristics that children, and adults, can use to identify trees include the following: the shape of the tree; the shape and color of the leaves; the arrangement of leaves and branches on the tree; the color and type of bark; the type and color of flowers, twigs, buds, seeds, and fruits; and — — the presence or absence of thorns. Once a year this year on April 1 4 awards are given to those who have Trees of Illinois is the 61st Journey. Journeys are avail- successfully completed specific numbers of Museum Traveler four different able without charge to any child who can read and write. trips: Award, journeys; Museum Adventurer Award, eight; and Museum Explorer Field Museum's Journey program helps youngsters see Award, twelve. and discover things of interest in the Museum. The pro- was in 1955 to teach child who can read gram begun any After 1 6 Journeys, the child becomes a Museum Beagler and write, how to use and enjoy the Museum. By using and is eligible to take the final step in earning membership sheets that direct the instruction-questionnaire young people in the Museum Discoverers' Club. He receives a free copy to exhibits illustrating a particular idea or theme, the chil- of Charles Darwin's book. The Voyage of the Beagle, and after dren acquaint themselves with the Museum in small doses, reading it, traces Darwin's voyage through the Museum and the Museum is not of as an awesome and thought halls to see some of the things Darwin saw on his famous unfriendly place. voyage. It takes four and one-half years to qualify for membership in the Discoverers' Club.

Until he is 18 years old, the "Discoverer" is accorded Museum privileges similar to that of people holding annual memberships in Field Museum. He may also attend special meetings, such as the recent behind-the-scenes tour of the John G. Shedd Aquarium, conducted by Richard Vahan, Curator of Education at theAquarium.

The Journey program is open to boys and girls of all ages. Information concerning this free activity may be obtained at Museum entrances. —George Fricke Raymond Foundation Lecturer

Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 19 CALENDAR FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OF March hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. EVENTS Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60605 March 1 4 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Minnesota Sand Country" by Walter Founded b/ Marshall Fi»ld, 1893 J. Breckenridge. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. March 16 NSF Anthropology Summer Science Training Program. Ck)m- pleted applications from high-ability high school students interested in this BOARD OF TRUSTEES six-week course must be at the Museum today. The tuition-free program is Lesfer Armour offered from June 29 to August 7. Harry O. Bercher Bowery Blair March 21 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Cbastal California" by Al Wool. William McCormick Blair V/illiam R. Dickinson, Jr. 2 :30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. Thomas E. Donnelley II March 22 Roy Hay Speaks on British Gardens. The Garden Editor of The Marshall Field Nicholas GalUzine London Times and well-known will his talk with a color authority accompany Paul W. Goodrich motion picture, 3 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. Remick McDowell J. Roscoe Miller March 28 Tibetan Carpets. A special temporary exhibit of 21 antique rugs William H. Mitchell and 25 modern rugs illustrating how refugee Tibetans have been able to re- John T. Pirie, Jr. John Shedd Reed settle and develop a "new" handicraft based on an old cultural tradition. John Runnells This free display from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service John G. Searle continues in Hall 9 Gallery through April 26. John M. Simpson Gerald A. Sivage March 28 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Canada's Mountain Wilderness" by Edward Byron Smith Mrs. Hermon E/igar T. Jones. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. Dunlap Smith William G. Swarichild, Jr. March 29 NSF Anthropology Summer Science Training Program. Personal E. Leiand Webber Julian B. Wilkins interviews in the Museum for final selection of highest rating applicants begin J. Howard Wood today and continue through April 12. Announcement of final selection will be made on April 15. HONORARY TRUSTEES

N. Field Through March Spring Journey. "Trees of Illinois" helps boys and girls iden- Joseph Clifford C. Gregg tify various types of trees common to this State. Any child who can read and Samuel Insull, Jr. write may participate in this free self-guiding year-round program. Journey William V. Kahler sheets are available at the Museum entrances. Hughston M. McBain James L. Palmer April 4 Museum Traveler Day opens Field Museum's free Spring film program Louis Ware for children. The movie will be preceded by the annual Journey Program DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM awards ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. in James Simpson Theatre. E. Leiand Webber April 4 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Houseboat to Florida" by Howard Pollard. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. CHIEF CURATORS Donald April 1 1 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Alaskan Summer" by Mildred Collier, Department of Anthropology 2 :30 in Theatre. Capron. p.m. James Simpson Louis O. Williams, Department of Botany April 1 1 Free Spring Film Program for Children salutes the Cub Scout at Rainer Zangerl, 10 a.m. in Theatre. James Simpson Department of Geology Austin L. Rand, Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit—A Sense of Continuing Wonder, Department of Zoology A Sense of History, A Sense of Discovery—continues indefinitely in Hall 3. The scofje of the Museum's many activities since its founding in 1893 is excit- ingly portrayed in this trend-setting exhibit.

MEETINGS: DO WE HAVE roun CORRECT UAIUMG ADDRESS f If not, us Chicago Mountaineering Club, March 12, 8 p.m. please notify prompt//. This will help keep our Bull- Illinois Orchid Society, March 15, 2 p.m. »tina coming to you without interrup- Friends of Our Native. Landscape, March 29, 2 p.m. tion. Thank you.

20 Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 41, Number 4 April 1970

'Hi Ik: THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON

• February 20, 1970

Dear Mr. McDowell:

recent trip One of the highlights of my to visit theto^^cagoField was the pleasant opportunity Museum of Natural History.

and the members of your I lust want to thank you assistance in P-P"-^ staff for your expert j^'^^to Your cooperation helped the CEQ Conference. and meaningful occasion. make this a successful and best wishes. With my appreciation Sincerely,

Mr. Remick McDowell President Board of Trustees History Field Museum of Natural South 14th & Lake Shore Drive 60605 Chicago, Illinois

Page 2, APRIL, 1970 MEMBERS' NIGHT MAY 8, 1970

Spring Open House from 6 to 10 p.m. Featuring Treasures of the Museum

"Treasures" can mean many things to different people. An object can be unique because it is old, rare or has an unusual story connected with it, or any number of other reasons.

Highlighted will be Field Museum's most recent acquisition —a first-edition copy of John James Audubon's "The Birds of America," on display for the first time. The full story about this magnificent four-volume edition will appear in the May Bulletin.

Members' Night is a once-a-year opportunity to get to know the Musevim and participate in its many activities. Like a giant iceberg, only a small fraction of its vast collections is visible to the public. This evening is set aside to acquaint members with Field Museum's everyday program of activities, research, education, exploration and publication. Don't miss these events: PHOTO BV HOMER HOLDREN A Treasure Hunt in the Museum—For youngsters and the drawn anyone else who wants to join in the fun. Above, "Snowy Owl," by Audubon in the open country of the Entertainment in Stanley Field Hall. United States in the early 1800s. Program in James Simpson Theatre. (Photographed from the folio)

— Behind-the-Scenes Many members look forward to an Department of Geology evening's browsing in the research areas. All depart- A major exhibit: "Our Dynamic Earth." See a geyser ments have planned special offerings and staff members that erupts every 5 minutes; a volcano that erupts will be available to explain and answer questions every 15 minutes; air masses over Chicago; the genesis on exhibitions. include: Departmental offerings of rocks and minerals.

Pit Eleven fossils of Department Anthropology More interesting igneous rocks Tea in the East Asian and a of Study showing jade Washakie Basin stratigraphy Treasures from different eras and areas Fossil fishes Some interesting paleolithic tools of A project underway in the Conservation Laboratory Department Zoology Exhibition of extinct and rare birds Added Extras: tours in exhibit Special anthropology Rare mammals of the scientific study collections areas and a look at the new Neanderthal family obtained by early Museum expeditions in the studio. sculpture Demonstration : How to make an insect collection

Display: Large and showy tropical insects of Department Botany Scanning electron microscope photos, a new technique Books as treasures for studying tiny insects The Herbarium as a treasure house of knowledge Anatomical specimens of the Giant Panda Treasures in Halls of Economic Botany and Plant A selection of marine shells from the newly-acquired Families A. L. Goodwin collection Books of special interest to the gardener Display: Spectacular specimens and unique types of Outstanding materials from the Economic Botany fishes collection Exhibit: Rare and interesting reptiles and amphibians

APf^/L, 1970, Page 3 Bit by bit the environment clianges, variety lessens, and species disappear. Right, extinct Carolina Parakeet.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of being the curator of a biological collection today is the glum knowledge that each year more of your special world vanishes forever. Its passing causes not a ripple. Sure, some things are saved. Heroic publicity meas- ures and dedicated fund raising saved for the "Prairie State," Illinois, one scrap of virgin prairie, Goose Lake in Grundy County. One stand of white oaks, Beall Woods, stands near the Wabash River rather than lying as charred barrels in Scotland aging whisky. I like Scotch whisky, but I also like forests. Our world needs both. The Passenger Pigeon is gone and books are written about it. The Whooping Crane barely survives. Life magazine (January 9th, p. 84) includes under "trivial trends that point the way" the fact that Whooping Cranes increased from 33 in 1960 to 55 in 1970. Yet, when I say that man has wiped out 10,000 species of insects and snails in the last 200 years, at most there are

EXTINCTION STRIKES 10,000 SPECIES, MAN REMAINS UNCONCERNED

by Alan So/em, Curator of Lower Invertebrates

raised eyebrows. "So what," is the usual comment. We are learning a lesson known to primitive tribes for Even those most devoted to the preservation of natural many centuries. Man shares this world with other organ- areas and the saving of rare and endangered species are isms. We need them and they need us. The oxygen we unaware of this fact. Under my Christmas tree this winter breathe is a waste product of plants. The carbon dioxide was a copy of the beautifully-produced "Wildlife in Dan- plants use is a waste product from animal bodies. Energy ger" by James Fischer, et al. This surveys the current from the sim is used by algae and land plants to make status of endangered species as determined by the Inter- organic chemicals. Animals get their organic chemicals national Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural either by eating plants or by eating animals that have Resources. It has 149 pages on mammals, 152 on birds, eaten plants. Decay organisms, mainly bacteria and 14 on reptiles, 3 on amphibians and 13 on fishes. There fungi, reduce the dead bodies of animals and plants to sim- is no mention of lower organisms. ple chemicals. These are then used again in the cycle of It is unrealistic to expect otherwise. Western man long Hfe. All life on earth is linked into a vast interdependent has operated with the view that the world is here for ecosystem. human exploitation. This is epitomized by Pope's "The If we break this chain of inert to living to inert, life on Proper Study of Mankind Is Man." We are more than earth would cease. Warnings by ecologists of dangers from We are almost thermal habitat destruction uncaring. totally— anthropocentric. pesticides, pollution and ap- Webster's Unabridged pear in mass circulation magazines. By 1972 the words Anthropocentric: man as the center or ultimate end. "ecology" and "ecosystem" may be as familiar as "astro- More like man, more interest; less like man, less interest. naut" and "spaceship." We must have plants, and ani- This shows in our language, our actions, and even the mals, and birds, and even snails and insects. Yet explod- staffing of Field Museum (see boxed table). Yet cracks ing human populations continue to encroach on the envi- appear in our egocentric armour. "The Naked Ape" and ronment. .\ fancy way of saying wipe it out. "The Territorial Imperative" became best sellers by call- It occurs in big ways. .And in small ways. The next ing attention to the animal aspects of human behavior. 30 years will see all forests in Central .America cut down Pollution is past the point of being ignored. It is a basic and gone forever. Incredible and pessimistic? Not to a fact that no organism can live on its own excrement. Look biologist who has been there. Urban areas grow. Sub- at our rivers. Breathe our city air. We have been trying urbs build up to uninterrupted vistas of manicured grass, very hard. The tidal waves of debris from our sewers, concrete and asphalt, at most sprinkled with trash. Many smokestacks, automobile exhausts, garbage cans and fac- biologists of my generation were weaned on vacant lots, tory waste outlets threaten disasters. Lip service to a clean redolent with dusty weeds on hot .August days, singing with environment replaces flag and motherhood in political myriad insects and birds. Between digging forts and play- speeches. ing hide and seek in the long grass, our eyes were caught

Page 4. APRIL, 1970 b\' the red and black of a milkweed beetle, the grace of a been stripped to nearly 5,000 feet. How many species fluttering butterfly, or even the shimmering back of a rest- gone? We don't know. But plants, and snails, and insects ing slug beneath an abandoned cardboard box. Curiosity, combined? Ten thousand is a modest estimate. interest, avocation, profession followed in tidal sequence. Why did they go? It was not only by deliberate hunt- Xow these lots have houses, or at best are neatly asphalted ing. It was not all the fault of Western man. When the play lots, routinely sprayed against mosquitos. Maoris reached New Zealand about 950 a.d., there was a Bit by bit the environment changes, variety lessens, and bird fauna of perhaps 150 species. The large and edible species disappear. It may be robins from a city, buffalo moas were hunted and killed, but this covers only about from the Great Plains, or snails and insects from "some 20 species. Another 30 species disappeared by 1900 be- enchanted islands" rising dot-like from the vast Pacific. cause of habitat disturbance. For here alone our 10,000 species vanished, mostly within Habitat disturbance brings vision of bulldozers and the span of living centenarians. Item: In the 1870's an factories. On islands it is inuch simpler. Cattle trample .\merican missionary, Andrew Garrett, collected 13 spe- through native forest. An ornamental garden fern goes cies of endodontid land snails on Rarotonga in the Cook wild and chokes out thousands of acres a year in Hawaii. Islands; in 1965 there were only 2 remaining. Item: Liv- A potted garden plant from overseas had a few unnoticed ing endodontid land snails were foimd on Mangareva, ants. Within a decade Pheidole megacephala, a voracious Gambler Islands in the 1840's; in 1934 only the dead re- species of ant, occupied lowland Oahu, destroying insects mains of 25 species were foimd. Item; Of perhaps 125 and snails alike. For several years I've been studying en- species of Hawaiian endodontid land snails still living be- dodontid land snails. On Pacific Islands there is a neat fore 1850, probably less than a dozen exist today. Item: and simple equation: In 1948 a Hawaiian entomologist, Elwood Zimmerman, Introduced ants = no groimd dwelling endodontids. could state concerning the native insects "that to say a Even more so for many insects. third or more of the species are now extinct would be no So I'm writing about the species that were, or occa- exaggeration." Since there are perhaps 6,000 species of sionally (still) the species that barely are. On Upolu, Hawaiian insects known from collections in this century, Western Samoa, a beautiful little land snail called Thauma- this means a mere 3,000 species were gone by 1948. More todon hystricelloides was common in the woods behind the have vanished since. Add another 2,000 for the Marque- port of Apia in 1865. In 1965 it was restricted to high mountain the areas from sas, denuded of forest to 3,000 feet by the mid-1 920's,— plus jjeaks, only which introduced ants the loss of 2,000 species from the Society Islands Tahiti, still were absent. The question is not will it become ex- Moorea, Bora Bora. There are still the .Austral Islands, tinct, but when. Islands were treasure troves of evolution, Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, their vanished species imreck- but the carelessness of man's introductions threatens to oned. The leeward dry regions of the Hawaiian Islands turn them into wastelands. Eighty-five of 94 birds species contained 60% of the native tree species. These have thought to have become extinct since 1900 lived on islands. (continued on next page)

The next SO years will see all forests in Central America rut down and gone forever. PHOTO BY DR. LOUIS WILLIAMS

APR/L, 1970, Page 5 But extinction strikes closer to home. A new subdivi- sion in California results in bulldozing the only known habitat of a land snail into oblivion. Colorful Florida tree snails are extinct over thousands of acres in the Miami- Homestead area as the tangles of trees and vines were replaced by houses. Resorts and retirement houses fill the Florida Keys and more snails are nearly lost. They are gone from their original home, but survivors have been transplanted into the Everglades National Park by a few dedicated naturalists. So some were saved. Even land snails have a few partisans. And I plead guilty to a somewhat malacocentric outlook. But many, many sjjecies are on the verge of extinction. There are only a handful of malacologists. Should the few of us collect and preserve samples from populations of the vanishing species? If we do this, there will be a bottled remnant in museum jars for our successors to study. But if we scramble to snatch these samples of vanishing forms, there is not enough time for study of what we get, nor for attempts to save and preserve. If we study some, then many will be lost without a trace. If we try to save a few, then neither collection nor study is possible. No choice is easy. The island snails that I now study are vanishing rapidly. Saving them is not possible. In- troductions of domestic animals, plants, and insects ha%"e set in motion habitat changes that doom the snails to extinction. Unlimited money, help and cooperation would not be sufficient to reverse the trends. So I collect and I study. When I can, I help efforts to save natural areas and preserve endangered species. This still is litde compared with the need. "Can man survive?" is the question now raised. Environmental catastrophies are predicted and occur. Crash programs on ecology will be called for and organized. The call of "relevance" in teaching and social work is being extended to science and research. The need for practical results to aid man's survival reduces the funds for basic research in the middle of inflation. Our awareness of dep)endence on other life forms ironically is breeding a new round of anthropocentrism. Will there be room on earth for insects and snails? Will there be room for stu- Yet, when I say that man has wiped out 10,000 species of insects dents of them? and STiails in the last 200 years, at most there are raised eyebrows.

... the anthropocentric staffing of Field M Market place before Santo Tomds Church in Chi- chicastenango, in the Guatemalan highlands, is the scene of processions and ancient Maya rituals on All Saints Day photo by rooolfo reyes juarez

Natural History Tours Guatemala,

Britain, Andes -Galapagos

Field Museum's popular Guatemala Tour, which in the fall of 1 967 opened the Museum's program of natural - history tours, will be repeated October 24 November 8. Vivacious Announcement was Phil Natural Tours by Clark, History Pokoman girl, Chief, who will lead this as well as the British and the from Antigua Andes-Galapagos tours. wears colorful dress her The Guatemala Tour will offer vivid color and dra- of community matic contrasts— lowland PHOTO BY pine-clad mountains and trop- RODOLFO REYES JUAREZ ical jungles, Indian markets beside volcano-ringed Lake Atitlan, Antigua's time-softened Spanish Colonial ruins and Tikal's white Mayan temples rising over green rain- forests, aristocratic gardens on vast coffee fincas. It will climax with the incense drumming, chanting, dancing, Conway Castle, Wales and fireworks of All Saints Day at Chichicastenango. Tour members will visit private homes and gardens and will be given expert guidance throughout by an archaeologist and a botanist, as well as Guatemalan guides. Tour price is about $1,280, including $400 tax-deductible donation to Field Museum, and covers all costs except minor tips. Mail the $400 deposit to Field Mu- seum Tours, Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, III. 60605, and your reservation will be assured. The tour is limited to 30 persons. Important news also is that the price of the British - Tour, May 30 July 4, has been reduced, due to changed group air fares, by $240, lowering the total price to $2,205 for the five weeks. The tour is limited to 25 persons. Another tour development is that it is now possible to take the Galapagos section of the Andes-Galapagos Tour separately, for $1,190, including a $250 donation. The 1 1 -day trip features the eight-day Galapagos cruise on the ship Lina A and two nights and one day of sight- - seeing in Quito. Dates are January 20 29 for the first group and February 24- March 5 for the second. The total tours "The Inca's Empire and Darwin's Galapagos," are scheduled December 31 -January 29, 1971, and February 4- March 5, for $2,807, including $600 donation. The 22-day segment alone is $2,457, including $600 donation. Reservations for the British or Andes-Galapagos tours may be made by mailing deposits equaling the donations, to Field Museum Tours, at the above address. Galdpagos tortoise PHOTO BY GRANT HAIST. ROCHESTER. N.Y.

APR/L, 1970, Page 7 TPW m^--

A highly colorful exhibit of Tibetan carpets opened at the Field Museum March 28. Forty- six rugs, 21 of them antique and 25 of them modern, are included in the collection which will remain on display through April 26. Organized by the Swiss Office of Technical Co-operation, the showing is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Serv- ice and His Excellency Felix Schnyder, Ambas- sador of Switzerland.

Contemporary carpet with floral design

Tibetan weaver at work at a rug-making center

PHOTO BY JOHN MOVER

LnriiiqpJin

Page 8, APRIL, 1970 )ld f(or a new wav ofo" Je^Ln^ ly life known to them much earlier. Nomads who traversed the vast regions of Northern Central Asia carried them as objects of daily use. Numerous cultural ideas and motifs found their way along the prehistoric trading routes, and, as can be expected, many of these reached the Tibetans in the remote past. The saddle carpet was the most widely used in Tibet and still is in the Himalayan mountains of Bhutan. On long caravan expeditions they were a necessity and occasionally were spread on the ground to sit upon. After the introduction of pile carpet- making, the beautiful old symbols and designs were adapted to the new technique. With the passing of time, the intrinsic significance of these symbols had undergone changes and Carpet of contemporary origin utilizes antique dragon motif they were endowed with new meanings. Motifs that had been woven, carved, embossed, cast in metal or appliqued were in Switzerland has pioneered in helping repeated the designs of the pile the many thousands of refugees who carpets. Thus, many ancient symbols fled from Tibet in 1959 and 1960 to have survived to the present, among them the neighboring Nepal and India to become snow lion, which appears on the national of the resettled and learn self-sustaining today flag Tibet, the trades. In 1963, with Swiss aid, three dragon and phoenix. centers for handweaving were Variations of the eight Buddhist established in Nepal: in Chialsa, Pok- symbols of good fortune are important hara and Katmandu. Tibetans with no decorative motifs. Rows of spirals, previous skills were trained in all fretwork and flower patterns help aspects of rug-making, from dyeing of reinforce the kinship of these carpet wool to design and weaving. The designs to those common in Asia. centers were given the status of inde- The often-used geometric meander is pendent producing companies with among the oldest designs in exist- a Tibetan management in 1966, to help ence, having appeared on neolithic motivate a sense of responsibility pottery made by tribes that migrated and enthusiasm among the workers. from Central Asia to Ancient China. It is the Nepalese rug industry that pro- The distinctive designs, together with contribution to the vides the major the high quality of the wool and the exhibit. brilliant colors, have popularized Commenting on the Swiss effort. the new carpets and production is Ambassador Schnyder said, "It is an steadily increasing. The ultimate goal example of how you can teach people of the enterprise, the full economic in developing countries to help independence of the Tibetan com- themselves. This is the Swiss ideal of munity in Nepal, will become a democracy. It is also important that in reality only when their products find a this case the new handicraft is de- ready acceptance in the world market. veloped on the basis of an old A visit beforehand to Field cultural tradition." Museum's permanent exhibit "Tibet, The art of making pile carpets was High Land of Monk and Nomad," will taken up by Tibetans in relatively orient the visitor and help him to recent times, at the earliest in the eight- put the carpet display into proper eenth century, though carpets were perspective.

lLqixilirip3ij|pjCnr3>-npJi^r''^i^f»J^

APRIL. 1970 Page, 9 25th CHICAGO INTERNATIOMAL EXHIBITION OF

For the 25th year, Field Museum recently presented the Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photography. Under the joint sponsorship of the Nature Camera Club of Chicago and the Museum, this yearly exhibition is one of the world's oldest and largest showings of nature prints and slides. The competition is sanctioned by the Photographic Society of America.

This year entries were submitted by more than 800 photographers in 40 states, Washington, D. C, Canada, and 14 other foreign countries. Awards were given to the best print and slide in three categories: animal life, plant life, and general. Special awards included Photographic Society of America medals for the print and slide judged best in show and best in authenticated wildlife; Myrtle R. Walgreen silver bowl for the best color print; and Alice Cook Memorial medal for the slide best illustrating natural scenery.

PAHERNS Honorable Mention EVERGLADE ELEGANCE/ > Merle Watson, Sarasota, Florida NCCC Medal Best Animal Print Earl Kubis, Downers Grove, Illinois

VENUS FLY TRAP/NCCC Medal Best Plant Print Joe Timmer, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Page 10, APRIL, 1970 "to make the Naturalist a better photographer: UTURE PHOTOGRAPHY I to make the photographer a better Naturalist"

ON PLANET EARTH/PSA Medal Authenticated Wildlife A. D. Edgar, River Forest, Illinois

On this month's cover— ' 'Blick Vor Dam Sprung" —honorable mention award photograph by Leo Vrana of Vienna, Austria captures a deci- sive moment in the life of a rodent

HALF DOME—YOSEMITE/NCCC Medal Best General Print J. Curtis Mitchell, Chicago, Illinois

(continued on next page)

APRIL, 1970. Page 11 GULF FRITILLARY ^4 Honorable Mention C. W. Bischofshausen, Fort Worth, Texas

REFLECTIONS/PSA Medal > Best Print in Show Henry A. Shull, Darien, Connecticut

LYCOPERDON MOLLE/Walgreen Award Best Color Print R. M. Kleinschmidt, Rochester, New York

Page 12. APRIL, 1970 Crude it it is effective and after Strange as it may seem, to study Peruvian vege- though sounds, when, put- the tube down to take for a of tation a scientist normally visits the Field Museum ting oxygen photos couple to Because over the of returns, one has to first bejore traveling Peru. Why? minutes, feeling light-headedness has take time out for a few breaths of a period of more than 40 years, Field Museum again oxygen. developed its collection of Peruvian flora into the As we cross the highest ranges and continue eastward world's best and most complete source of informa- the land below changes rapidly from the high, barren tion/or anyone interested in the botany of Peru. mountainsides to mountain valleys with bright green irri- fields. lower mountain show more Today, the Museum continues its interest in gated Beyond, ridges R. as of woodland in moist swales and Peruvian flora through the work of Dr. Donald green patches appear A little further and the trees cover most of the Simpson, Assistant Curator oj Peruvian Botany, canyons. the transition from to forest is almost and his field assistant Sr. Jose Schunke. With hillside; grassland support jrom a National Science Foundation grant. abrupt. Service Dr. Simpson is helping the Peruvian Forest Now we are over the great "selva"' itself, that almost gather injormation on forest resources in the western- unbroken tropical rain-forest that starts here on the rolling Eastern most region of the .Amazonian jungle of eastern foothills of the Andes and flows away to the Atlantic Peru. What follows is a description of his trip coast of Brazil nearly two thousand miles away. "Selva" is inland and the start of his expedition. the Spanish word for any forest or jimgle, but in Peru there is another term, "La montana" that one conunonly hears in conversations about the "selva." "Montana" is Spanish for mountain and has that meaning in most of Latin .Amer- ica, but in Peru it means the forest region of the flat, eastern flight across the Andes lowland part of the country. The forest-covered foothills soon give way to a vast flat plain, where dense jungle extends as far as one can see. The forest covering seems to be broken only by occasional rivers and streams. Soon one can see that we by Donald R. Simpson meandering are approaching a very broad river and near its margins a Assistant Curator in Botany number of oxbow lakes. This is the Ucayali, one of the main Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon. Leaving Lima the two-motor DC-3 heads out to sea, in the The has been since the opposite direction from our destination, a town located be- plane descending slowly passing crest of the and as we the river we are yond the Andes Mountains in the Amazon Basin. Just out mountains, approach a few hundred feet above the tree The air in the from land, over the Pacific Ocean, the plane begins a slow only tops. cabin has become warm and humid; we are aware now that spiral climb, a necessary prelude to crossing the mountains. for Lima will not do here. Our desti- The westernmost ridges of the Andes rise so abruptly from clothing appropriate nation is a fast frontier town and river the narrow Pacific Coast desert that there is not enough Pucalpa, growing on the banks of the River. room over the land to gain altitude for crossing the moun- port Ucayali tains. Finally we reach the desired elevation and leave the As the plane approaches the runway it passes low over ocean behind. one of the oxbow lakes, then a strip of cut-over forest, and the cleared of the airfield. We a As the plane heads inland, one can see that the brown, finally ground get fleeting look at trees seen from a beautiful bare mountainsides become tinged with green as we pro- palm directly overhead, that one remembers after. Now the on ceed eastward. Now a scrub vegetation appears, where at pattern long plane, the rolls to a halt near the one-room lower elevation there was only sand, dust, and rock, and a ground, newly-built, terminal and the doors are the air be- little higher there are small terraced fields surrounding tile- opened. Immediately comes still warmer and the must be near one hun- roofed villages. There is enough rain at this altitude to humidity dred This is our introduction to "La montana." make possible some agriculture. Higher still it is too cold percent. for crops, the fields are replaced by vast stretches of barren grasslands and rock fells, with here and there a sheep corral and adjacent shepherd's hut, both built of crude stone. Above this cold, barren highland rise the great jagged snow-covered peaks. This part of the Andes, called the Cordillera Blanca or White Mountains, includes Peru's highest peak (22,205 ft.). They present a dramatically exciting panorama whether seen from the air or from the adjacent Huallas Valley (pronounced Wi-yas). This highland is often partly hidden from view by big, fleecy, white clouds that are pushed up from the humid Amazon Basin. As the plane makes its way through these clouds, every few seconds there is an opening on one side or another through which is revealed breathtaking scenes of enormous jagged peaks with sides covered by snowfields and glaciers. Something else is breathtaking, literally so. You first notice it when you reach about fifteen thousand feet altitude. The cabin is pressurized, partially, but a light- headed sensation tells you something is amiss. The stew- ardess comes by explaining that we are to take one of the thin rubber tubes connected to wall nozzles beneath the Above the cold, barren highland window and breathe the oxygen being supplied through it. rises the snovt-covered Cordillera Blanca.

APRIL, 1970. Page 13 OF GEMS AND THINGS "Over the past five years," Dr. Olsen continued, "it has become increasingly clear that carbonaceous chon- by Ediine Chun drites are the result of non-biological chemical reactions, and imply nothing possible other life in Since the founding of the Field Museum, specimens ac- regarding space, other than to learn that such compounds are readily quired as gifts have contributed greatly to the Museum s formed on other planetary bodies and may, in right con- resources. This is still true, as evidenced by three recent ditions, a basis for life to collections. provide begin." While the occurrence of carbonaceous condrites on Currently exhibited in the North Lounge of the Mu- earth is rare, the recently completed investigations of the seum until May 4 is a rare carbonaceous stone meteorite, Apollo XI lunar samples indicate that the so-called lunar a gift of Mr. Reinhold Groh of Barrington, Illinois. A large "soil" may contain up to two percent of this meteoritic natural spinel, a gift from Mr. Chester Dudley Tripp of material. Dr. Olsen said. Meteorites falling onto the Chicago, and a 33.27-carat tanzanite of the blue variety lunar surface, he said, were the source of the material. discovered only in 1967, donated by Tiffany and Com- pany of New York, will soon be displayed in Higinbotham On Feb. 8, 1 969, at 1 :09 a.m. (CST), a brilliant meteo- Hall of Gems on the second floor of the Museum. rite shower occurred over the State of Chihuahua, in In commenting on the meteorite. Dr. Edward Olsen, northern Mexico. Spread over an area approximately 1 the is Curator of Mineralogy, explained that carbonaceous stone 00 square miles, shower one of the largest carbo- meteorites are a rare type of meteorite which scientists naceous chondrites ever known to fall. Most of the call "carbonaceous chondrites." fragments are about the size of oranges and range down to the size of a walnut. Some of them, however, were They form a distinct group in that they contain sig- and it is one of these 32 in nificant amounts of the element carbon in the form of larger, larger pieces, pounds weight, which Field Museum acquired through the gen- numerous organic compounds. Such compounds are erosity of Mr. Groh. absent or extremely rare in all other meteorite types. Until very recently, he said, it was thought that the presence "Mr. Groh s gift is an excellent exhibit-sized speci- of these compounds indicated biological activity on the men," Dr. Olsen said. It has been named "Pueblito de original planet from which these meteorites came. Allende"for the small town near where it fell.

giant natural spinel

Page 14 APRIL. 1970 The spinel. Dr. Olsen continued, is a tumble-polished rare stone meteorite natural stone of transparent reddish-brown color. It has been drilled through so that it might be worn as a pendant.

The precise faceting of gemstones, from a historical viewpoint, is a relatively recent art. Dr. Olsen said. Many of the famous ancient stones were faceted by crude hand- held methods and were not particularly symmetrical, nor very highly polished. "In some instances a stone was tumble-polished to brighten its natural colors, but leaving its original shape " pretty much unchanged, he said. Such is the gemstone donated by Mr. Tripp. "This spinel is a giant among natural spinels, weighing 194.1 1 carats," Dr. Olsen said. Most natural spinels are a few tens of carats in weight.

"This particular stone," he continued, "is thought to have been part of an Indian maharajah's collection and appears to date back to the Mogul empires of the mid- 17th century."

The stone is inscribed with Arabic characters, which were translated for the Museum through the courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The stone bears the name "Nur Jahan"and the date"1054."

"By our calendar, this is 1644 A.D.," Dr. Olsen re- marked. Field Museum a gift of a large tanzanite. Arrangements Speaking of the Tiffany gift. Dr. Olsen explained that were completed early this year, and the beautiful antique almost all gemstones come from ancient times, and new cushion-shaped stone will soon be installed in the Hall entries to the time-honored list of gems are unheard of. of Gems as a gem specimen for color and cut. Tanzanite, however, is a gem mineral discovered in July With this gift from Tiffany and Company, a relation- 1967 in Tanzania, near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Named and ship dating back to 1893 is resumed. The nucleus of brought to the attention of the world by Tiffany and Field Museum's world-famous gem, precious stones, and Company, the deep blue gem has since gained great jewelry collection in Higinbotham Hall was originally ex- popularity. hibited in the Tiffany Pavilion at the World's Columbian Its deep blue color closely resembles a Burma sap- Exposition. Tiffany's award-winning collection was pur- phire, said Dr. Olsen, in describing the gem. chased by Mr. H. N. Higinbotham for presentation to the He that tanzanite is a well-known explained actually Museum and is known as the Tiffany Collection. mineral called "zoisite." Zoisite is normally a dull Early Museum records show that mainly through the creamy-white, unattractire mineral that occurs in a vari- interest of George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany's renown min- ety of metamorphic rocks. In this particular instance, it eralogist-gem expert. Field Museum was able to obtain occurs as large transparent crystals and is grayish in color. items from the company for its young collections. Today If these crystals are carefully and gently heated, they may these early acquisitions are among the prize specimens turn permanently to the startling blue color, and are gem of the Department of Geology, as well as the Department then called "tanzanite." of Anthropology. Gold and silver ornaments of the Pre- Columbian Period from Ecuador, Mexico, and Florida, acquired from Tiffany and Company 76 years ago, are among the Museum's anthropological collections displayed in Halls 4, 8 and 9. Museum Director E. Leland Webber termed the three

gifts welcome acquisitions. "In view of increased operat- ® ing costs, which have almost eliminated funds available 33-carat tanzanite (actual size) for acquisitions," Mr. Webber said, "gifts of specimens are more important to Field Museum than ever before. Up to now Field Museum was able to obtain only a A great museum is built on great collections. We hope relatively small tanzanite. However, Mr. Henry B. Piatt, that those interested in the Museum will continue to help Vice President of Tiffany and Company, recently offered us fill gaps when opportunities arise."

APR/L, 1970, Page 15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS BOTANY CURATOR

April hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. HONORED BY

The Museum Library is open to 4:30 p.m. daily. ORCHID SOCIETY

April 11 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Alaskan Summer' bv Mildred Capron. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre.

April 11 Children's Free Film Series. Today's program honors the Cub Scout. 10:30 a.m. in James Simpson Theatre. This free activity is open to youngsters of all ages.

April 15 NSF Anthropology Summer Science Program. High school students selected for Field Museum's six-week course are notified today.

April 18 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Fiji, Samoa, Tonga" by Nicol Smith. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre.

April 1 8 Children's Free Film Series. Today's program salutes the Girl Scout. 10:30 a.m. in James Simpson Theatre. All boys and girls are welcome to participate.

April 25 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Mukar Beh" by Dennis Gray. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre.

April 26 Audubon Wildlife Film. "Village Beneath the Sea," by Harry Pederson, examines life in a small isolated coral formation. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. Dr. Louis O. Williams

April 26 Tibetan Carpets. This colorful temporary exhibit in Hall 9 Gallery ends the Smithsonian Institution Exhibition today. Organized by Traveling Honorary Membership in the Amer- the collection of and modern is under the Service, antique rugs sponsorship ican Orchid Society has been conferred of His Felix Ambassador of Switzerland. Excellency Schnyder, upon Dr. Louis O. Williams, Chief Cu- rator of Botany. Through April Spring Journey for Children. "Trees of Illinois" continues Curator of the Orchid . Formerly through the month to May 31 The free self-directed tour helps boys and girls Herbarium of Oakes Ames at Harvard identify various types of trees found in the State. Any child who can read and from 1932 to 1942, Dr. Williams also write may participate in the program. Free Journey sheets are available at the Museum entrances. served as Editor of the American Orchid Society Bulletin from June, 1940 until May 4 Rare Carbonaceous Stone Meteorite. Today is the last day to see December, 1942. the latest addition to the Museum's famous meteorite collection. Visit the He is the author of several important case located in the North of the Museum. special display Lounge books on orchids including The Orchi- daceae oj Mexico, An Enumeration oj the May 8 Members' Night, 6 to 10 p.m. Annual spring open house features treas- Orchidaceae oj Central America, British ures of the Museum, behind-the-scenes activities and special programs. Honduras and Panama, and, with Mr. Paul Flora Panama -Orchidaceae. Dr. Continuing 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of Allen, of Williams has nuinerous History, A Sense of Discovery continues to captivate all who visit this trend- published papers on orchids during a period of thirty- setting display in Hall 3. The free exhibit will be 1 year old next month. five years, with a publication describing several new orchids to be issued shortly. MEETINGS

Windy Cit\ Grotto, National Speleological Society, April 8, 7:30 p.m. FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Chicago Mountaineering Club, April 9, 8 p.m. , ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 AC. 312, 922-9410 Nature Camera Club of Chicago, April 14, 7:45 p.m. FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 Chicagol.\nd Glider Council, 14, 8 April p.m. E. Leland Webber, Director

Illinois Orchid Society, April 26, 2 p.m.

Page 16, APRIL, 1970 > »'^ • mr'/. .

milkweeds are milkweeds

by Louis 0. Williams, Chief Curator of Botany

Milkweeds and weather have at least one thing in common. Everyone talks about the weather but

does little about it. Everyone knows milkweeds, but most people, and botanists, leave them strictly alone.

The milkweeds, known to everyone who gets out into the edges of the cornfields, or waste-places, are occasionally abundant weeds often with attractive flowers. If you stop to pick a few of them you will find that they are filled with a sticky white latex, which inspired their name. Interest often lags at this point and the plant is cast aside. To most people milkweeds are of little concern, unless they happen to invade or fields as often do. if A model of the flower of a milkweed, partially gardens they However, dissected open to show the structure, and com- you investigate the milkweed family, botanically the The at the lower plexity, of flower. figure Asclepiadaceae, a name which is derived from Ascle- left shows how a pollenium (pollen mass) is the of the common milkweeds, will attached in the flower—the leg of a bee at the pias, genus you right shows pollinia that have become attached find a family of nearly worldwide distribution and as the insect visited a flower of a milkweed. sometimes of bewildering floral diversity. Numerically, The pollinia will be transported to another most milkweeds are found in the world's plant, thus insuring cross-pollenation. tropics and most of them share a common trait—the stems and the leaves, when broken, exude "milk."

The milkweeds that you may be familiar with around Chicago are erect plants, perhaps two to four feet tall. Erectness is an unusual characteristic in

the family. I suppose that well more than 95 per cent of milkweeds are herbaceous or woody vines, sometimes rampant ones at that.

The world's milkweeds, and a very successful

family of plants it is, have flowers that are sometimes unbelievably complicated morphologically. To the chagrin of many botanists, the flowers of some kinds may be as small as 1-25th of an Inch long. These tiny flowers are as complex as flowers of other kinds that are an inch or often more long. Perhaps only among the orchids, a much larger family, is the flower structure more complicated, and in

The beautifully marked flower of this Stapelia from southern Africa may be more than six inches across. The stems, which also serve as leaves, remind one of cacti.

Page 2. MAY. 1970 both families it is so distinctive that it is all but impossible to confuse a member of one of these families with one from any other family of flowering plants.

The milkweeds are insect pollinated, perhaps without exception. The evolution of the complicated flower structures by which cross-pollination is assured, is almost beyond belief. At the same time one wonders how such complicated structures could have been developed and if this complexity really serves to make the family "successful." Is it not possible that such highly-evolved structures, ones that are presumed to assure the "success" of the family, become in fact so involved that they are self-defeating?

It seems to me that this is a distinct possibility, as it may be among the more highly-evolved orchids.

In sharp contrast to the floral complexity of the milkweeds, their vegetative structure is disgustingly uniform. With few exceptions the stems and leaves of this rather large family offer little help in segregating

it into genera—that is, one has difficulty placing a plant with its close allies based upon the aspect of its vegetative structures.

The study of the tropical kinds of milkweeds has been considered to be difficult by most botanists and often they have avoided them, when in fact, these plants seem to me to be one of the most fascinating families among the flowering plants. Certainly, they will repay in pleasure and knowledge the attention devoted to them.

The "common" milkweed in the vicinity of Chicago is Asclepias syriaca. Look into the edge of almost

any field this summer and fall and you will find it, first in flower and later the ripened pods spewing seeds, with their silky appendages, into the wind. This is the milkweed that is shown in Field Museum's Hall of Plant Families (Hall 29, case 842).

Quite different from America s asclepiads are the attractive members of the family to be found in the south of Africa. Here are some of the most attractive plants of the family, with great star-shaped flowers, but the plant itself reminding one of the cacti. Many of these African plants with showy flowers are pollinated by flies that normally are attracted to carrion, and close approach to the flowers will indicate the reason.

Field Museum's model {in Hall 29, case 8i2), of Asclepias syriaca, the common milkweed to be found in the vicinity of Chicago in summer and fall.

May, 1970, Page 3 by William Fawceti, Librarian All About Audubon Photos by Homer Holdren

The Museum has become the fortunate recipient, through an anonymous donor, of one of the finest copies of the elephant folio edition of John James Audubon's magnificent The Birds of America. This rare and beautiful work, one of the landmarks of American ornithology, was originally issued in London between 1827 and 1838 and consists of 87 parts of 5 hand -colored, copperplate engravings. The 435 aquatints, measuring 39.5 inches by 29.5 inches, were bound into 4 volumes and originally cost $1,000, no small sum in those days.

The Museum's copy is of particular value because it is one of two existing copies enriched with an additional 13 plates and was originally the property of Miss Eu- phemia Gifford, cousin and close friend of Audubon's wife Lucy. Audubon himself, according to a letter ad- dressed to Miss Gifford, took "satisfaction in attending to the colouring and finishing of each separate Plate or

Engraving . . ."and designed the "ottoman" with four drawers that has preserved the set so well.

At the Museum the folio will be displayed in a specially constructed glass case containing an environmental control mechanism which will maintain filtered air in the case at an appropriate temperature and humidity level. Large enough to permit one volume to be shown open, the case will also be equipped with a modern electronic burglary device.

The Birds of America was the fruit of many years of hard work, frustration and "rambling" in Audubon's Great Blue Heron "beloved America." Born on April 26, 1785 at Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti), Audubon spent his boyhood in France, where he early evinced an interest received. In Edinburgh William Homes Lizars, the well- in drawing birds. At the age of 18 he was sent to the known engraver and printer, exclaimed, "My God, I never United States to escape conscription into Napoleon's saw anything like this before," and agreed to engrave army and "to make money." He was by his own de- and publish the work. At the end of November, 1826 scription "ill-fitted" for the latter and has written: "For Audubon received proofs of the first five plates. 'The a period of nearly twenty years my life was a succession work," he wrote in his Journal, "from what I have seen of vicissitudes. I tried various branches of commerce of Mr. Lizars' execution, will be equal to anything in the but all proved unprofitable, doubtless because my whole world at present, and of the rest the world must judge mind was ever filled with my passion for rambling." It for itself." The illustrations were printed life size; and was during these rambles that his interest in drawing and Audubon acknowledged that "it renders the work rather studying our fauna, particularly birds, grew to such an bulky, but my heart was always bent on it, and I cannot extent that, by 1820, he decided to devote his entire refrain from attempting it." With this first "number" he efforts to illustrating North American birds. In order to was ready to seek subscriptions and issued his prospectus accomplish this task he supported himself by painting on March 1 7, 1 827. From this time until 1 839 he trav- portraits and giving drawing lessons and was also sup- elled between Europe and America financing and over- ported by his wife's teaching. seeing the publication of The Birds of America and its By 1826 he had enough material to consider publi- text, titled Ornithological Biography (5 vols., 1831- cation and took his drawings to Europe in search of 1839), and index, A Synopsis of the Birds of North patrons and a publisher. There his work was very well America (1839).

Page 4. MAY. 1970 Whistling Swan

Magnificent 'Birds' goes on display

One of the finest copies in existence ofJofin Audubon's The Birds of America, presented to Field l\Auseum by an anonymous donor, will be placed on public display in the Museum's North Lounge, second floor, on May 9. One page will then be turned each day until all the 448 plates have been shown. Members of the Museum will enjoy a preview of the "elephant folio" on Members' Night, May 8.

Lizars engraved the first ten plates but was stopped by difficulties with his colorers. After a considerable study of our natural history and produced other impor- delay Audubon transferred the publication of his woric tant works, including The Viviparous Quadrupeds of to Robert Havell and his son "because the difficulty of North America. finding colorers made it come too slowly, and also be- Audubon's life was a particularly fascinating and im- cause I have it done better and cheaper in London." portant one and interested readers will find the following with skilled assistants, the son the Together produced two books by Alice Ford of great value: John James and the father, under Audubon's direction, plates super- Audubon (University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, Okla., vised the At one time 50 people were engaged coloring. 1964) and Audubon. By Himself (Natural History Press in these tasks. — Doubleday; Garden City, N. Y., 1969). The original After publication of the final volume Audubon re- water-color paintings have been recently reproduced in turned to the United States and settled in New York. 2 volumes (American Heritage Publishing Company; Until his death on January 27, 1851 he continued his New York, 1966).

Members' Night, May 8 - Be sure to mark your calendar!

Photo by Fred Huysmans Long before Members' Night arrives, plans are underway in all of the departments for special exhibits and activities. Take this miniature landscape for example, complete with an active volcano that spews forth every 1 5 minutes. The youngsters were lucky enough to be around when staff members in the geology department were testing the exhibit. This is just one of the special attractions that await members, 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. on May 8.

Here are some of the highlights behind the scenes:

A look at the new Neanderthal family; botanical books as treasures; anatomical exhibit—Giant Panda

Also a varied film program throughout the evening:

Audubon (His life and travels); The Loon's Necklace; Gorgosaurus; Apollo 11; lantern slides; natural history tours sponsored by Field Museum

And these extras:

A treasure hunt; entertainment in Stanley Field Hall

THAR SHE BLOWS! Alice and Matthew Orr watch model volcano as it erupts on schedule. And this one reveals a mysterious female in the case. Other children like Ann Hayward, Billy Pirman, and Gina Tolva, are just as anxious to know, but Joel broadens the issue.

Every third grade pupil in Room jj4x yoauxoA ic nty letter is a bit The first vague, but KoA t-vCo naonKyA out noA Aom*. and AXLid tn«^ urgent nonetheless. An« doeAn't l_Knaw2_j Ka4-e -cninA. oa pI«oA-e Ao trui-an inat do. t«tt att on AOrtt«. you i|^ "oui frcind nionK«^A na^-e -cn-inA. JuiiLe/ii J aatioi!^ J nonic ^4xu

AoiAtt JSiA^t-eoAJcy

Wiix ^041 1-ett m-e? This faith in the r/ianx superior knowl- And Gilbert gives us the inside edge and wisdom of Mr. Curator story on how this search for truth is solidly backed by classmates started. Craig Cooper, Lauri Edwards, Barry Kline, Sherry Miller, Kevin Uui

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Page 6, MAY, 1970 the decorative chin

by Philip Hershkovitz Research Curator, Mammals

Yes, Jackie. Your monkeys, indeed all monkeys, and chimpanzees and gorillas, too, have chins. Here is what Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, has to say about Jackie Pedig, age 8, CHIN. "1 : the lower portion of the face lying below with Susie and Sammy, the lower lip and including the prominence of the squirrel monkeys lower jaw and the overlying soft tissues. 2 : the surface lying beneath the lower jaw or between the branches of the jaw—used chiefly of lower vertebrates in which a mental prominence is lacking from the jaw bone."

By either definition, monkeys have chins—as do all animals with lower jaws. The human chin, however, differs from that of monkeys and all other animals in one respect, at least. It has a bump in front that makes it jut out. This is the mental prominence, or mouth became shorter and more rounded in outline, the mental protuberance, mentioned in the dictionary's number of teeth fewer with less space between, definition. Unfortunately, some writers on human and the chin steeper and broader. anatomy and evolution, and the producers of the movie Among the families of New World monkeys, the seen by the children, fail to distinguish between the marmosets are the most primitive, and the angle of their chin which is present in all animals with lower jaws, and chin averages from 28° in the pygmy marmoset to the mental protuberance which is a special part of 49° in Tamarins. In the more advanced marmoset-like the human chin. The word "mental" used here is a Callimico, the averages 55°, and in squirrel technical term from the Latin mentum meaning chin angle monkeys and ring-tailed monkeys, the angle of the chin (or beard). The English word mental referring to the averages higher with the extreme nearly 75°. mind or intelligence, derives from the entirely different In Old World monkeys like guenons, macaques, and Latin word mens. In this case, it seems, a little mental langurs, the angle of the chin is sometimes nearly as protrusion causes a great deal of mental confusion. high, but in most apes it is higher. In one chimpanzee Just how humans came by that mental protuberance, measured, the angle is 77°, in another it is 80°. or jutting jaw, is a long, and perhaps still untold story. In none of these is a distinct mental protuberance The ancestor of man, and of all Primates, was a tiny, present, but a rudiment may appear occasionally in any long-snouted creature no larger than a small mouse. species of monkey or ape. It had separate right and left lower jaw bones which The ape-men, or australopithecines, of Africa and met in a loose joint in front called the symphysis. The Java, lived about 2,000,000 to 750,000 years ago. front of the joint, or chin, was nearly in line with These earliest of human-like creatures walked erect, and the base of the jaw. That is to say, the angle of the chin used sticks, stones and bones for tools. Their chins was hardly 10°. Among earliest Primates such as were well formed, verged on the vertical, but lacked a lemurs and tarsiers, the two branches of the lower jaw protuberance. The first man. Homo erectus, appeared or mandible remained separate but fitted together over one-half million years ago in Europe, Asia, and into a chin which formed a low but distinct angle with Africa. His chin, as seen in the mandible of Heidelberg the base line of the mandible. As the different families man, was strong and angular, but fell even shorter of of monkeys, apes and man began to evolve, the jaw the vertical than did the chin of some ape-men. became shorter and its right and left branches fused into In none of these forerunners of man was the jaw a single bone forming a steep chin. All this change receding or "chinless" as generally shown in artistic was correlated with reduction in length of the ancestral reconstructions of the face. muzzle, the movement of the eyes from the sides of the head to the front, and the use of the hands for The first race of man belonging to our species. bringing food to the mouth. With the changing diet, Homo sapiens, arose between 300,000 and 250,000 from mainly insectivorous to mainly herbivorous, the years ago, and spread rapidly throughout Asia, Africa

MAY, 1970, Page 7 1 ALL PRIMATES CHIN

JACKIE i SQUItteiMONKlr

COIOIUS MONKCr

CAIUMICO

TAMAIIN MAIMOSET OLD WORLD MONKEYS

COMMONMACMOSf r

frGMY MAIiMOSEr /"V ->

NEW WORLD MONKEYS.

rOTTO

P«-ce c^ Cb» W c-cc«t^»

LEMUROIDS MCESTIAL PIIIATE

Pages. MAY, 1970 HAVE CHINS MENTAL PROTUBERANCE OF CHIN

ADULT

MANOIBIEOF MANDIBLE OF PRIMIJIVe PRIMATE MODERN MAN V-shaped U-shaped (22 teeth) (16 teeth)

Researched by Philip Hershkovitz for Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

MAY, 7970, Page 9 decorative chin (continued) had our kind of chin. It has also been advanced that fetalization, or the retention of fetal characters in the and The of the of Europe. angle chin these Neanderthal adult, accounts for the mental protuberance. If any- was than that of but types steeper Heidelberg man, thing, the contrary should be true. The chin of the still less than vertical. In more evolved highly human fetus, newborn, and toddler, is more monkey or the Neanderthals chin attained, and even surpassed, ape-like than human. 90°, and a mental protuberance began to appear as a well-marked feature. However, not until the end of the A good deal has been said about the evolution of the of chin as of the of the Pleistocene, and the early part of our own era, human type part adaptation human to the and between 25,000 and 35,000 years ago, did the jutting body upright position bipedal locomotion. There is no between jaw with an angle exceeding 90° arise as a distinguishing absolutely relationship human character. The back of the human chin, or the two events. Man-like posture and gait had been before the of the mental posterior symphysis, is also peculiar with the broad, perfected long appearance the and of bony shelf of most non-human Primates replaced by an protuberance. Furthermore, poise movement everted bony area supporting spines for the attachment the head are controlled by its articulation with the of tongue muscles. spine, and by the action of neck muscles which have nothing to do with the jaws. The possible function of the mental protuberance has a of been a favorite subject for speculation. It has been Finally, distinguished professor anthropology suggested that the protuberance braces the two and author of a textbook, using less prudence than third borrowed a branches of the lower jaw against the constricting force would Tinley Heights graders, from the that if the mandible of the external pterygoid muscles. Early races of man, dubious source, statement human however, with more powerful muscles, managed to keep had not changed, it would have constricted the their jaws braced without the aid of a protuberance. windpipe, larynx, and soft parts of the neck including vital arteries to and from the brain! Furthermore, bony struts, braces, and reinforcements, the veins and leading some known as simian shelves, others as mandibular This dire and fantastic hypothesis ignores the basic fact or to the tori, are extremely variable in structure, and none that growing bone accommodates yields are first. is is consistently present in any one Primate species. soft tissues which laid down The reverse never true.

The mental protuberance is a superficial character The chin .... differs human from which arose very late in the evolution of man. It is that of monkeys .... It has a devoid of any physical function. It evolved in a way bump in front that makes it jump out. and in a place without apparent structural relationship to the mouth or to any other part of the body.

The protuberance is, nevertheless, a consistent, distinctive, and very conspicuous human trait. The A noted anatomist argued that the rate of growth and female chin with its is bare, smooth, often eruption of the teeth caused the alveolar or tooth protuberance the face, and owns a natural charm and socket portion of the jaw to be shorter than the basal dimpled, shapes appeal which is rarely if ever altered or heightened by part, hence the protuberance near the base. There is no cosmetics. The chin of the human evidence, however, that dental growth and succession jutting aggressive male must have always been kept bare, by plucking, if in modern man differs consistently from that of earlier necessary, until long after puberty and mating when species of man or even of ape-men, all without the beard, if would to come in full as a the protuberance. any, begin sign of senior masculinity. The mental protuberance may be It has been proposed that the shape of the chin is compared with such highly attractive facial features fashioned by the muscles of speech. Such muscles, as long head hair, the expansively bare forehead, the however, would affect the inner, not the outer, surface raised cheek bones, the variable shape and color of the of the symphysis. In any case, earliest man inherited all eyes and lips, and the decorative eyebrows. the properties and potentials of speech from his None of these can claim any biomechanical function. mammalian ancestor, or from an even earlier vertebrate Like them, the mental protuberance appears as a badge ancestor, as any parrot or myna bird can testify. of recognition, and as a lure and stimulant to mating. The significant factors controlling the evolution of In males, particularly, the pointed chin also accentuates rational speech, however, lie in the nervous tissue, and gestures of defiance, and in females, lends eloquence to not in the organs of vocalization. Homo erectus, expressions of haughtiness or petulance. Natural judged by what is known of his culture, was certainly selection favored rapid spread of the mental protuber- a talker. Even the ape-man, Australopithecus, must ance until it became universally established as an have been capable of speech. Neither of these hominids ornament of the chin unique to modern man.

Page 10, MAY. 1970 An adult female 17-year cicada. Note the egg slits in the twig made by the ovipositor (which can be seen near the end of the body). The tube-like proboscis through which the cicada sucks sap can be seen on the underside the of head. When there are many egg-slits, the twig may dry up and die. (Photo by Miss Claire Cotterill)

up together and change positions before they sing again. Drs. Moore and Alexander, of the University of Mich- igan, have likened this behavior, in one of their technical reports, to a 'gigantic game of musical chairs.' It is an inde- scribable experience to find oneself in the middle of one of these 'games." The life history of these imusual in- population explosion sects has been extensively investigated. The female lays its eggs in slits cut in 17-year locust style twigs with its blade-like ovipositor. The eggs hatch in six to seven weeks and the by Henry Dybas, Associate Curator of Insects tiny white nymphs launch themselves Seventeen-year periodical cicadas Seventeen-year cicadas are large in- (like paratroopers) into the air and (or '17-year locusts') always attract a sects with a wing spread of about three float to the ground. Each nymph is lot of popular interest and press cover- inches and they are conspicuously col- only about a twelfth of an inch long at age when they appear. So it is worth ored with black body, orange-yellow this time. It works its way into the soil noting that the largest and geographi- wings, and bright red eyes. The bi- and attaches to the rootlet of a tree, cally most extensive brood of 17-year zarre red eyes seem to be the feature whose sap it sucks with its beak. For cicadas (Brood X, as it is called by en- that most impresses people that have the next 17 years the nymph grows tomologists)— is scheduled to appear this not seen these insects before. slowly in its solitary underground cell. year within a few weeks in fact. As The best place to watch periodical Early in the 17th year, it constructs a shown on the accompanying map, there cicadas is in a clearing or along a wood- vertical escape tunnel up to near the are three main areas in Brood X. One land edge where the foliage comes down surface of the ground, sometimes cap- is in the southern Appalachians, an- to eye-level, and where there is expo- ping it with a turret (much like a cray- other is centered in eastern Pennsylva- sure to the afternoon sun. There are a fish turret). There it waits until some nia and \'irginia, and the third occupies number of kinds of activities like sing- warm night in May or early June when, nearly all of Indiana and the western ing, mating, feeding, egg-laying and so with thousands of other nymphs, it part of Ohio. Museum members or on, that can be easily observed. Most crawls out of the ground about dusk. friends planning a vacation or an auto- of these can be readily photographed Each brown nymph climbs up a near- mobile trip through any of these areas because the cicadas are not particularly by tree-trunk or other plant stem, leav- in late May or Jime, should take the shy and because they can be incredibly ing a smooth, round exit hole in the opportunity along the way to see this numerous (there may be a hundred ground about J^ inch in diameter. It spectacular natural phenomenon. thousand per acre, for instance) . Males fixes itself firmly, the skin splits down

Seventeen-year cicadas are not hard exhibit a characteristic 'sing-fly' be- the middle, and the soft white adult to find in a cicada year. They occur in havior. They sit horizontally on a twig with red eyes emerges. The wing pads woodlands and orchards, and the males and sing one or several song phrases, are pumped out by blood pressure and form large singing choruses that can be while the abdomen bobs up and down the wings become fully expanded. The heard for some distance on warm after- in time. Then they flutter oflT and body colors and hardens and, the fol- noons. During the last appearance in change perches between songs. Dur- lowing morning, the adult flies up to the one station Chicago area, gas pro- ing the peak of the day, the 'sing-fly' the tree-tops. A few days later song is prietor, across the highway from a ci- activity can be extraordinarily intense. heard and mating and egg-laying be- cada chorus, told me that quite a few In one species the thousands of males gin. Adults live only a few weeks, even drivers coming from the open country synchronize their songs, forming one if birds and other enemies don't get to the east, stopped at his station to in- great crescendo of sound. After the them, and by late Jime or early July the noise that vestigate seemed to sud- sound dies down, the tree-tops seem to they are gone for another 17 years. denly develop in their cars. explode as thousands of males flutter The exit holes and empty nyinph skins,

MAY. 1970, Page 11 along with browning twigs from egg- and again all three species occur to- ovipositor or egg-layer underneath. slit damage, remain behind as evidence gether and are synchronized on the The oldest known species is Magici- of the emergence. same emergence pattern. cada septendecim, named by the great Essentially, the entire imderground Now that we know that there are Swedish naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus population emerges the 1 7th year with- three distinct species, some puzzling in 1758.— It is larger than the other spe- in a few weeks time. Normally, only a facts about their ecology and behavior cies about 1 ]/2 inches long to tip of few stragglers come out the wrong year. can be clarified. The three species are closed wings, and can be positively

A notable exception occurred last year quite similar in appearance, but one identified by the reddish stripe between in the Chicago area when many thou- prefers bottomland woods, another oc- the eye and base of wing. Its belly be- sands of cicadas, scheduled to emerge curs on a wide variety of trees in up- neath has yellow cross-banding. in 1973, made a mistake and emerged land forests, and the third species selects The other two species lack this stripe four years early. Hundreds of Chicago upland hickories. The songs of the and are smaller, usually about 1^ area residents supplied the Museum males are very distinct. Once one is inches long to tip of closed wings. One, with critical evidence on this unique attuned to these differences in song it is Magicicada cassini, has the belly dark event as reported in the August, 1969, possible to go into a woods and identify underneath or with only traces of pale Bulletin (reprints of this article are the kinds present just by hearing them. banding. It is found mostly in lower still available on request). But other- It is usually not practical to describe places along streams. The other, Magi- wise the 17-year schedule for all re- songs in words but the pattern of the cicada septendecula, isyellow banded under- corded broods has been absolutely rigid. three songs is so distinct that, hopefully, neath. It is usually associated with Brood X, for instance, was first recorded the diagram on this page will serve to hickory trees and is almost always in 1715. Two and a half centuries identify them in the field. Most of the much less numerous than the other two later, on its last appearance in 1953, it individuals can also be separated on species. was still precisely on its 17-year sched- the basis of size and color. Inciden- With our new knowledge and hind- ule of emergence. tally, females difTer from males in hav- sight about these three species, it is Our present thinking is that the syn- ing a pointed body behind, with an easy to wonder how our predecessors chronized appearance above ground of enormous numbers of cicadas after 17 to the birds and years serves satiate septendecim other enemies. They can eat only a -flight- pha-a-a-f part of the cicada population before male note- a hollow sound the rest have reproduced and died a one singing (pharaoh soft, ) natural death. If the same number of

a soft trilt in cicadas were spread ovit over a number chorus (many songs running together- ) begins morning of years, the reasoning goes, the predators could account for a higher propor- cassini 1—fiightH h- flightH hfiight-l tion, leaving few for reproduction. Periodicity in cicadas can therefore be m\] \m regarded as a special strategy that so to to foil has been evolved, speak, loud and shrill no chorus 'till heat of day predators. Periodical cicadas have been studied septendecula a deal in the last —there -flight- great century tsp Tsp tsp tsp are hundreds of technical papers written about them. It therefore comes as something of a surprise to discover that very regular sings most of day (especially in hickories) some of the most striking things about them escaped detection for mostof that J L time. For example, only in the last ten 10 20 in seconds years has it been firmly established that Time there are three distinct species of 17- The three kinds of 1 7-year cicadas have been confused until a few years ago, but they can year cicadas and not just one. These be easily recognized in the field by their song. It is the males that sing, and usually only on three species not only have the same warm, sunny days. The females are attracted to the trees where the males are chorusing. The life but oc- 17-year cycle, they mostly song diagrams are also reflected in movements of the abdomen. If one observes a singing male all cur together and, in a given locality, septendecim in profile, for instance, the abdomen is held high in the beginning of the 'pharaoh' three invariably emerge above ground call and dips down when the song ends on a lower pitch. Similarly in septendecula, the abdomen dips with each 'tsp,' 'tsp' note. (The diagram is based on the acoustical studies of the same 17th year. In the South, pe- Drs. Moore and Alexander of the University of Michigan.) riodical cicadas have a 1 3-year life cycle

Page 12, MAY. 1970 could have failed to see what is so obvi-

ous to us now. The original cicada described by Linnaeus {septendecim) was known for a hundred years before the second species, cassini, was formally recognized and named. An ornithologist by the name of John Cassin, who was associated with the Philadelphia Acad- emy of Sciences, encountered this second species in Delaware County, Penn- sylvania in 1834 (during an emergence of our same Brood X, eight cicada adult cicada dark of 'musical chairs' in its An emerging after from a and it as game synchro- generations ago) recognized nymph skin, which represents the stage in nized choruses. Cassini had only a distinct from septendecim. As a student which the ciada lives underground for 17 short period of recognition though be- years. The wings will be expanded and the of birds he was probably able to appre- fore into limbo. Two fa- body will darken and harden by morning when ciate as well as being put song differences, slight the cicada will fly to the tree-tops. The empty mous entomologists of the day, Benja- color differences between closely re- nymph skins remain and are a conspicuous min Walsh and Charles Valentine feature of a cicada emergence. lated species better than his entomolog- soon became aware that cassini (Photo by D. D. Davis) ical colleagues of the time. Seventeen Riley, (like the long-known septendecim) also years later, when Brood X next ap- had a 1 7-year life cycle and moreover served to it. How could peared, he evidently was able to con- distinguish the exact same 17th with such a abundant, and vince one of the Philadelphia entomol- emerged year large, widespread septendecim in each and every locality species which calls attention to itself by ogists, who then formally described and where it occurred. This was too much a distinctive remain named this species cassini (in honor of song imrecognized of a coincidence for Walsh and a of intensive work John Cassin, the discoverer). This, by Riley, throughout century so they dismissed the notion that there on periodical cicadas? It makes one the way, is the species which plays the could be two such unusual species and pause and think. cassini became buried and unrecog- How does one resolve the 'coinci- nized for another three-quarters of a dence' problem that troubled Walsh century. Since then, several entomol- and Riley a century ago? The answer, ogists have independently studied cas- it appears to us, is that there is an ad- sini (including Dr. Monte Lloyd of the vantage for the three 17-year species to University of Chicago and myself), and pool their resources and to satiate the it is now clear that it is a perfectly dis- birds and other predators with their tinct species in song, color, size, struc- combined numbers and protoplasm ture, ecology, and mating behavior. when they emerge the same 17th year, The third and longest overlooked 1 7- rather than to 'go it alone' on separate year cicada is septendecula, described years. This, of course, is not a con- and named only as recently as 1962 scious decision but a result of natural

by Drs. Moore and Alexander (it ap- selection favoring individuals whose pears that every hundred years we dis- emergence coincided as against those cover a new 17-year cicada in our which didn't. midst). In the years since 1962, it has So if you travel and do some 'cicada- been found in many different broods watching' in the coming weeks, be and areas from Kansas to Virginia, and aware of the possible complexities of in the 13-year populations as well. In the periodical cicada story as well as of spite of its resemblance to cassini, its the drama of a great natural spectacle. yellow-banded (instead of dark) belly Possibly the cicadas may still have fur- and its very different song should have ther surprises in store.

Note: The distribution map is based on old records made before The approximate areas where 1 7-year ci- the status of the three species of 17-year cicadas was clarified. cadas ('locusts') of Brood X are expected to Therefore need distribution this time for each appear above ground in May and June his we new information, year. The discontinuous distribution into sep- of the three species. Hence we will very much appreciate cicada arate regions is not typical of other broods. records (exact locality, date, collector, abundance) accompanied The areas in between are occupied by 1 7-year by specimens that can be identified as to species. cicadas thai emerge in other years.

MAY. 1970, Page 13 Preserving Alaska's environment ANTHROPOLOGY CURATOR TO SERVE ON WATCH DOG COMMITTEE

Dr. James W. VanStone, curator of North American Dr. VanStone, along with six other northern special- archaeology and ethnology, has been appointed a mem- ists on the committee, will review the work of the archae- ber of a joint committee of the Arctic Institute of North ologists hired by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and America and the Bureau of Land Management, Depart- meet three or four times a year with the pipeline and ment of the Interior, to advise on environmental protec- Bureau of Land Management personnel. tion in conjunction with the projected Trans-Alaska pipeline.

The pipeline, which will serve to pipe oil from Prudhoe Bay on the north coast of Alaska to Valdez, an ice-free port on Prince William Sound, has been of concern to citizens and conservation groups who fear ecological disturbance along the construction route. A permit for the pipeline is expected to be issued soon to the Trans- Alaska Pipeline System, subject to approval by the Bureau of Land Management. The contractors will be required to hire, among other scientists, archaeologists to survey and preserve archaeo- An authority on the peoples of the North American logical sites according to an agreement to be signed with arctic and subarctic. Dr. VanStone taught anthropology the Bureau of Land Management. The committee on for eight years at the University of Alaska and seven which Dr. VanStone serves will act as a watch dog group years at the University of Toronto before joining the to see that the agreement is carried out. Field Museum staff four years ago.

Charles F. Murphy, Jr. ELECTED TRUSTEE Charles F. Murphy, Jr., the well-known Chicago ar- chitect, has been elected a Trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History. Museum President Remick McDowell made the announcement following a recent meeting of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Murphy is president of C. F. Murphy Associates, Architects- Engineers. Among his many civic and cultural activities, he serves as president of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. He is also a director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chi- cago, a director of the Tourism Council of Greater j^A. k Chicago and member of the Mayor's Committee on Chi- cago Building Code Amendments.

MEXICAN AWARD

Dr. Donald Collier, Field Museum's chief curator of anthropology, receives award from Miss Enriqueta Sanchez of the Mexican Government Tourism Depart- ment office in Chicago, as E. Leiand Webber, director of Field Museum, looks on. The citation was in recognition of Dr. Collier's contribution to the success of the Museum's recent Fiesta Mexicana.

Page 14, MAY. 1970 to stir the imagination and awal

by Donald C- Edinger, Chairman, Department of Education

Field Museum has offered a formal educational pro- nearly 240,000 children, a figure that was not duplicated gram for children since 1 922 when a division of education until early in the 1950's. was created. During the mid 50's the volume of school groups In 1925 Mrs. James Nelson (Anna Louise) Raymond attending the Museum made it necessary to discontinue generously provided an endowment to develop an en- the extension lectures, as the Raymond Foundation staff larged and more active program. A Museum publication was needed for programs within the Museum. in 1938 reported: The James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foun- "As a result of her benefaction, the eyes of the dation for Public School and Children's Lectures is now children are being opened to more of the beauties part of a newly-formed Department of Education. In of the world about them. The great truths revealed in 1969 this division, comprised of five full-time lecturers the natural sciences are brought to and impressed and augmented by a dedicated group of volunteers, ser- upon the minds of the children. An influence has ved approximately 400,000 children. Between 1 971 and been created which can arouse in them a realization 1972 we should reach the half million mark. of the broader relationships between man and man, The programs are based upon the rich collections on reaching over the bounds of nationality and race; exhibit at the Museum and the educational ingenuity of of the relationships between man and beast—the our staff. In addition to leading scheduled school tours part that animals play in human life; and of the re- and study groups, the staff is constantly developing and lationships of the plant and mineral kingdoms to implementing special educational programs. each other and to the lives of both men and animals. Through these programs, children are able to use the By this influence it is hoped to stir the imagination facilities of the Museum to supplement the information of the children, awaken their intellectual curiosity, they receive in school and to enrich their knowledge of and spur them on to the development of their latent man's environmental and cultural heritage. This year, capacities. The ultimate aim is to lead them into for example, a course was offered in African music, using paths which will, when they grow up, make them authentic musical instruments. Preparations are being happier as individuals and more valuable as citizens made for a summer course in geology and for programs and members of society." relating art to natural history. A course in museology is This viewpoint seems admirably applicable to 1970. being tested, through which students can explore the role During the years of 1 925-38, field trips during school of the Museum and its relevance to society, as well as time were added, and innovative educational aids such develop ideas for exhibits. as Stereoptican slides, 1 6 mm. motion pictures and sound Ongoing programs are offered in anthropology, biol- films were introduced. ogy and earth science. In the summer, 30 selected high By 1938 the Raymond Foundation staff had increased school students participate in a program in anthropol- to five full time members. Lecture tours of the Museum ogy, which includes an archaeological dig. The journey and extension lectures in the field were offered to youth program involves the exploration of specific areas of groups, schools and universities. These programs, com- natural history through self-guided tours and has long bined with the Saturday entertainment series, reached been a favorite with children.

YOU MEAN IT'S FOR REAL? First grade students from Irving School, Hammond, Indiana are amazed as Elizabeth Goldring, Ray- mond Foundation lecturer, shows them the thighbone of a gigantic plant-eating dinosaur on exhibit in Stanley Field Hall. The children are participating in a lecture tour "Animals of the World," one of several tours given to school groups by the Raymond Foundation staff. (Photo by Ed Jarecki)

MAY, J 970, Page 15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

May hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

The Museum Library is open to 4:30 p.m. daily.

May 4 Rare Carbonaceous Stone Meteorite. This is the last day to see the latest addition to the Museum's famous meteorite collection. On display in the North Lounge.

May 4 Mexican Jewelry. Featured are silver earrings from the hill villages north of Toluca, Mexico, from a collection donated to the Museum by Mr. F. O. Thompson of Des Moines, Iowa in 1937. Shown in a special display case located on the South Balcony.

May 8 Members' Night, 6 to 10 p.m. Annual spring open house spotlights field museum's treasures of the Museum, entertainment, special programs and behind-the- scenes activities. natural history May 9 John James Audubon's Folio, "The Birds of America," goes on dis- tours the is play on North Balcony. This rare, first-edition copy the gift of an gardens anonymous donor and is one of the most important acquisitions in the history wild flowers birds of Field Museum. archaeology congenial travel companions May 9 Latin Day at Field Museum. Special meeting for high school Latin Interpretations by experts students is the Illinois Classical Conference. sponsored by James Simpson the unhurried approach Theatre. travel with all dimensions EDEN REVISITED: A TOUR Illinois by the Sea: A Coal Age an exhibit of May 23 Environment, special OF BRITAIN & ITS GARDENS geological interest opens today in Hall 9. Field Museum scientists collab- May30-July4 orated to present this illuminating study of life in this area 300 million years $2,205 includes $600 donation Rhododendron & iris time; rose, On to October 25. ago. display lily & perennial time 27 historic houses and gardens. May 23 Chicago Are.a Science Fair. A one-day event sponsored by the Chi- 6 plant & bird sanctuaries. 6 archaeological sites. cago .-^rea Science Teachers Association includes displays of research original GUATEMALA projects by students attending private, public and parochial schools in the LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST Chicago area. Awards will be given for the best projects in the areas of study Oct. 24-Nov. 8 includes $400 donation represented, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology and general $1,280 Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan science. Stanley Field Hall. Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints Lake Atitlan. Through May Spring Journey for Children, "Trees of Illinois," continues Day. THE INCA'S EMPIRE to May 31 . This free self-directed tour helps youngsters identify various types & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS of local trees. Any child who can read and write is eligible to participate. Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. & Feb. 4-March 5. $2,807 includes $600 donation. 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of A Sense of Continuing: Wonder, (22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos cruise & in History, A Sense of Discovery, remains on display in Hall 3 by popular Quito, $1,190-separately) Gardens Bogota, Lima, La Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu demand. Innovative display techniques are used to explore the past, present Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, Lake Tiahua- and future of Field Museum. Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Titicaca, naco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

LEADER ON ALL TOURS, PHIL CL\RK, former MEETINGS Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author, "A Guide Mexican Field Museum Natural His- Chicago Shell 2 to Flora"; Club, May 3, p.m. tory Tours Chief; accompanied by Archaeolo- gists specialized in the areas. Nature Camera Club of Chic.\go, May 12, 7:45 p.m. All donations to Field Museum are tax deductible. Chicagoland Glider Council, May 12, 8 p.m. Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted from other points. Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society, May 13, 7:30 p.m. Write: Field Museum Illinois 2 Orchid Society, May 17, p.m. Natural History Tours Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. Friends of Our Native Landscape, 24, 2 May p.m. Chicago, III. 60605

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60605. E. LELAND WEBBER, DIRECTOR

Page 16. MAY. 1970 BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 41, Number 6 June 1970

Jmt-- -^^^P^^^^^S. ^i MILWAUKEE MUSEUM New Museums for ^Ih GETS NEW DIRECTOR

Dr. Kenneth Starr, curator of .Asi- by Austin L. Rano atic archaeology and ethnology in Field Chief Curator, Zoology Museum's department of anthropology for the past 17 years, has been Recently, I chanced to read a news bits to squid, mummies to Eskimo appointed Director of the Milwaukee story concerning the future role of mu- masks, dutchman's pipes to coconut Public Museum. He will take up his seums, and a magazine article discuss- palms. With such specimens we illus- new post in the summer. ing the "new look" of one specific mu- trate the contents of the continents and seum. Together, they illustrate some seas. We show the diversity of life and of the problems that must be faced if its processes; how things are different museums are to be relevant as well as or similar due to origins, habitat or liv- beautiful. As Field Museum is at the ing conditions; and how these things "where are we going?" stage, a critique coexist. Among ourselves, we may of these articles is timely. speak of evolution, systematics, ecology, biogeography and culture. But The news story reported a conference to introduce these concepts to the pub- at which some very strong anti-estab- lic we must use the words and ap- lishment views were expressed. Some proaches of the market place, the streets were disturbing to me, for example, the and the newspapers. opinion that "... museums have to be changed or destroyed. . . ." But there . . . we must use the words was sound sense, too, particularly in the and approaches of the market concept of". . . a mviseum of the people place, the streets and the . . . (which would) reach the inner newspapers. city." To implement this, it was felt Dr. Kenneth Starr museums should provide "... space in Are we using our specimens, words central or fa- buildings neighborhood to tell and pictures people what they Dr. Starr is the fourth curator from cilities ...... branch muse- expertise want to know in can under- ways they the Museum's department of anthro- ums in inner . . . no city (with) strings stand? Should we tell them what only pology to be appointed a museum di- attached." want to know? don't real- they Many rector. The other three are : Alexander ize what can be known. we can The magazine article dealt with the Surely, Spoehr, former curator of oceanic eth- their horizons features of a newly modernized muse- expand beyond city sky- nology, who served as Director of the lines, and their interests be- um : new colors, textures and lighting; biological Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu roaches and specimens rearranged to provide ex- yond humans, rats, plastic from 1953 to 1961; Roland W. Force, Christmas trees. citement and flowing lines; humorous, former curator of oceanic archaeology cute or poetic labels; mechanical de- But we must start with our audience and ethnology, who was named Direc- vices to enliven the exhibits. Hard- and their closest environment. Do we tor of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum Nuts and bolts. These in 1961 as ware. things know how they want to begin? Should upon Spoehr's appointment of but the real Chancellor of the East-W'est are necessary, course, we ask them to help us decide what Center. in the 1. story of the place was words should be presented on an elemental University of Hawaii; and George

". . . the museum is a bridge between level as an introduction to the riches Quimby, Jr., former curator of North and American and science conceptual philosophy." beyond? Should we use some of our archaeology ethnology, Had I not just read the news story, I museum halls for basic statements about who became Director of the Thomas would have said "Ho-hum" or "So the nature of man and his environ- Burke Memorial Washington State But what I did was: it is in what?" say ment? Should we offer help and sup- Museum 1968. just this sort of "arty" attitude that is without for roots port strings grass E. Leland Webber, Field Museum attacked. being branch museums by the people, for the director, praised Dr. .Starr for his great people? The ideal answers to these Of course, "museum" means differ- and far-reaching contributions in the questions may be in conflict with our ent things to different people. My re- field of anthropology. "He has been financial reality. But somehow we must marks here refer to the public exhibi- responsible for large and significant reconcile the two. tion areas. In them, our aim is —to additions to the Museum's Asian col- present the kinds of things there are Is there not a tide to be taken at its lections and for the totally new galleries from precious stones to dinosaurs, rab- flood? Is not time running out? {continued on page 14)

Page 2, JUNE, 1970 Frank Madsen, exhibit designer, Madsen makes final adjustments to shark specimen. exhibit model prepares (Photos by Edmund Jarecki)

The Story of life in this area 300 million years ago is graphically displayed in a new exhibit, Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age Environment, which will be shown through October 25 in Halt 9. Illinois the sea: Studies by Museum scientists of the IVlazon Creek, by Illinois, and IVIecca, Indiana, vicinities yielded a wealth of fossil material. a coal age Based on 16 years of ongoing research by the Mu- seum's department of geology, the exhibit demonstrates environment how, during the Pennsylvanian period, these sites bor- dered the inland sea that occupied most of Illinois. In the Mecca area, the sea inundated the coal forest and during the dry seasons of the following years, the water level was lowered periodically. Animal life became concentrated and trapped in shallow pools. The crowding in some of these pools was extremely severe. The be- Dr. Eugene Richardson, curator of fossil invertebrates, havior of the sharks is dramatically documented by the writes copy for exhibit specimens. fossil remains.

The evidence discovered in the shale are intact pieces of skeletons, and whole skeletons with clearly marked injuries. This led scientists to believe that the creatures ate each other, and that some animals were disgorged in various stages of digestion. In some cases, the sharks could not swallow the prey whole, and they bit off pieces of their victims and let the rest sink to the bottom. Black

mud accumulated rapidly, preserving the remains from complete bacterial destruction. The mud firmed up rapidly and, with time, became shale. It is through this shale that the secrets of Mecca were discovered.

Mazon Creek represents the second project presented in the exhibit. About 300 species of animal fossils were discovered, all encased in hard ironstone concretions.

The latter preserved many soft-bodied animals in Pit 1 1 of the Mazon Creek area. Scientists were able to study such animals as bristle worms, Tully monsters, jelly fish, sea cucumbers and the only known fossil lamprey from these concretions.

JUNE, 1970, Page 3

^harles R. Knight [.Williams

behind it. Moreover, he has the fac- reconstructing their bodies in clay and tory to paint a watercolor of Elotherium, uhy of making the animals and early placing the models in a setting as nearly a pig-like animal that lived 30,000,000 men which he paints and writes about correct as science and his imagination years ago. That was the first of many live and become almost companions of could contrive." He didn't then rush such commissions and today Knight's our day." through the work of painting the mural. murals, paintings, bronzes, drawings First he made a detailed quarter-sized and lithographs are seen in major mu- How did he go about it? Although color sketch and finally, when he felt seums across the country. the skeletons give you an idea of size that it was right, the mural was pro- and general structure, they give no clue It wasn't just technical accuracy that nounced completed. He was known, as to the color of the beast. Did it have earned Knight's work such widespread however, to go back to a completed fur, feathers, scales or none of these? acclaim. Edwin H. Colbert, famous painting to make a correction based on Was it fat or thin? Lumpy or smooth? geologist, said, "Knight's restorations some new fact that he had discovered. Sfxjtted, strif)ed or solid color? Knight's of extinct animals are great not only answers to these questions are given in Knight began drawing animals when because of his own inherent abilities as his murak. These murals are not based he was six years old by copying pic- an artist, but also because of his readi-

on fantasy or mere imaginative whim- tures from the dictionary. By nine he ness to work with scientists . . . his was sies, but are the result of years of stud\' was drawing animals from life at the a constant quest for truth in art and in and research. In an interview his wife Bronx Zoo. In 1894 when he was 20 science." Colbert continued, "He had once stated that Knight "did these ani- years old. Knight was commissioned by so much imagination he could project mals after studying their skeletons; then the American Museum of Natural His- {continued on next page)

JUNE. 1970. Page 5 (continuedfrom preceding page)

himself back in time and feel that he was on a cliff or in a swamp with one of those monsters."

This sense of empathy was also recalled by Mrs. Richard Steel, Knight's daughter, in a discussion of her father's painting "Snow." The painting depicts three Neanderthal people cower- ing in a blizzard. According to Mrs. Steel, Knight "would look at his painting, shake his head sadly and, with tears in his eyes, he would say 'Poor litde devils. They had such a hard " time.'

He was right. The era depicted so often by Knight must have been filled with hardship, violence and sudden death; and still Knight's murals here at Field Museum are not gruesome or chilling. As Lothar Wittebxirg, Chief for the U. S. this of He has life line of Exhibition, says, "The murals are Treasury, example wrought and together. fine work was used on the $10 The force of his comes from soft, sensitive and yet they also project Knight's drawing bill and a 30c It is also used as the he of animal a certain vitality." stamp. knowledge possesses a trademark by an insurance company life." This "certain vitality" and skill was and is the official symbol of a town in life. not limited to depicting prehistoric Like other art museums before it, the Wyoming. In addition to illustrating literally hun- Peoria Art Museum recently held an dreds of textbooks, scientific books for In 1938 George Grey Barnard, Amer- exhibition of 98 of Knight's works. laymen, monographs and articles in ican sculptor and collector, wrote to the Why not, next time you are strolling magazines and newspapers, Knight editor of Natural History Magazine, "I through Hall 38, consider the murals himself wrote articles and four books— wonder if you and your readers realize displayed there as an exclusive showing Animal Drawing, Life Through the Ages, the unique gift our cauntry possesses in of some of the finest work of its kind in Before the Dawn of History and Prehistoric the genius of Charles Knight. No one the country and appreciate them as the Man, the Great Adventurer. living can draw animal life as he does. "unique gift" that they are?

Just as he worked in many media. Knight also covered many subjects. His pencil drawings of animals are quite remarkable and bear graphic witness to his knowledge of animal bone structure and musculature. He was most fascinated by the cat family and once wrote, "Put the lion at one side and all the others, including the tiger, in an opposite category." In the section on the Feline Group in his book Animal Drawing, Knight wrote, "Closer study of the splendid creatures of the plains and forest can only fill us with enthusiasm and zest for a still greater knowledge concerning all living things with their application to art in its mul- tiple phases."

Despite his enthusiasm for the lion, his painting of the American buffalo was one of his greatest successes. Painted

Page 6, JUNE, 1970 Journey Program stimulates students' interest provides world perspective

6/ George Fricke gram enables him to earn intermediate souvenir of their visit to the Museum. Lecturer, Raymond Foundation awards until, after four years of work Classes often take a Journey as a group and 16 Journeys, the youngster be- and discuss their results in school, and Field Museum is an awe-inspiring comes a Museum Beagler. Each Beag- Scout groups have incorporated the place. With three floors of exhibits ler receives a copy of Charles Darwin's program into their own award system. covering subjects from Stone Age man Voyage of the Beagle and a special Jour- Many parents have made the Jour- to the moon, it simply cannot be ex- ney highlighting some of the things ney Program a family project and plored in one day. Yet, there is so Darwin saw on his famous journey. bring their children to each succeeding iiuich that can be learned if one only When this Journey is completed, the Journey. knows where to begin. The Raymond young man or woman becomes a mem- Foundation, a part of the Museum's ber of the Museum Discoverers' Club. The Journey Program b growing and Education Department, developed the spreading. More children take Jour- Club members have privileges that Museum Journey Program to give chil- neys every year, and many adults have are similar to that of an annual Mu- dren a starting place for their visit to thanked us for the knowledge they seum membership, until they reach the the Museum and to provide a guide gained while taking a Journey with the age of 18. Since the Club began in which would help them learn from the youngsters. Inquiries about the pro- the fall of 1 98 and have exhibits. 1959, boys girls gram have come from museums as far become Museum Discoverers. They away as Sydney, Australia, and many Journeys are self-guided tours which are a select Each group. year, approx- museums have begun a similar self- take and to exhibits illustrat- boys girls 1,200 children turn in a Jour- imately guided tour of their own. At a time ing a particular phase of natural his- for about 220 receive an ney credit; when of our environment is contain information about knowledge tory. They award. However, only a handful be- so important, the Journey Program has this subject and questions for the visitor come Discoverers. Members of the proved itself of value in helping Mu- to answer. Four Journeys are offered Discoverers' Club have taken full ad- seum visitors to gain a real perspective each year. The first Journey, "Drums," of the and vantage Journey Program of the world around them. was taken 80 in the by youngsters have evidenced an early and sustained of 1955. spring Subsequent Journeys interest in natural history. attracted more and more children, and the Raymond Foundation staff noticed Several past members of the club were the to that some of the same boys and girls inspired by program study of the natural sciences. were taking each succeeding Journey. some aspect They felt that these youngsters deserved Ronald Bonneau, who hopes to do in be- recognition for their accomplishments graduate work marine biology, and, in the spring of 1956, 13 boys and lieves that the Journeys helped him an for the natural girls were invited to attend an award gain appreciation ceremony. The success of the program outdoors and encouraged his interest is evidenced by the fact that this spring, in wildlife preservation. For Herbert 227 children were invited to receive Nipson, a Princeton University biology congratulations and recognition for major, the program stimulated an in- their work in the Museum. terest in living things. David Janus feels he gained an interest in the nat- Children who earned an award con- ural sciences leading to his choice of tinued to take the Journeys and to botany as a major field of study. He broaden their of natural knowledge has been a Shinner Scholar in the Mu- history. So, over the years, various seum's Botany Department. award categories were initiated. After completing four Journeys, a yoimgster Of course, not all children who take receives the Museum Traveler Award. the Journeys turn them in for credit. summer journey Continued participation in the pro- Thousands take the sheets home as a

JUNE, 1970. Page 7

58^

»*"';*-^' Geochemistry - a study of airborne lead pollution

by Edward Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy

Among the several major branches the year in which a given layer was added to these poleward moving air of the geological sciences the one deposited by counting backward, masses and portions of them are called geochemistry is perhaps the layer by layer, from the present year. carried all the way to the arctic re- most rapidly growing. The word it- The ice for each layer can next be gions where some fall out with snows self means chemistry of the earth, sliced out, melted, and analyses made and rains and become incorporated the for and since earth consists entirely the chemicals contained in it. into the seas, and icecaps. Thus the of chemical combinations of el- Dr. Patterson has examined a num- yearly icecap accumulations can act ements into liquids, gases, solid min- ber of such samples and his findings as a sort of natural sample collec- erals, and biological forms there is with respect to their year-by-year tion system which can show relative very little it doesn't cover. It over- content of the element lead are re- changes over periods of historic time. such divers as min- markable. In the we laps disciplines graph (Fig. 1) Mankind has been extracting and see the lead content in northwestern eralogy, petrology, petroleum geol- using lead since about 2500 B.C. It and economic ore and Greenland ice ogy, geology; plotted against year was about the mid 18th century is from 800 to currently pushing into subject B.C. the present. when industrialization began to matter traditionally considered the This was witii The first that arises is: grow. growth steady reserve of question paleontology. From where do these small amoimts western-world population increases, and demand for more kinds of Traditionally geochemists have of lead originate? Besides lead, anal- grew made of metals, of which considered such problems as where yses were made for other elements products lead is a one. It is utilized various chemical elements are sit- —sodium, magnesium, silicon, etc. significant in ceramic machine uated in the internal make-up of the Some of these are due to sea salts glazes, paints, bearings, insecticides, fungicides, al- earth. In more recent years they have blown inland from the nearby North of kinds, ammunition, become more and more concerned Atlantic; some are due to clay dusts loys many solders, fixtures, and in- with the chemistry of the earth's ex- blown in from adjacent unglaciated plumbing in and terior as well: the dissolved and sus- land and islands. Lead, however, is directly photography coinage As demand grew more lead pended chemicals in the oceans, not a significant constituent in any systems. has been mined and smelted from lakes, and ground waters; chemistry of these sources. It has been known its ores. Because lead is easily vapor- of the atmosphere; chemistry of soils; for a long time that there are large ized in any process that lieats it, chemistry of the ice caps. rotating systems of air that rise in such as smelting, a certain amoinii regions, and because of Because of current interest in the equatorial the high solar heat levels there, polar regions more and more data move towards the poles at high alti- have been gathered concerning them. tudes. Then by cooling off they fall Probably one of the most interesting slowly to low altitudes and break and disturbing of recent arctic geo- into systems of surface weather pat- chemical studies has been the work terns and move slowly southward of the geochemist. Dr. Claire Patter- again. On their way northward any son of the California Institute of warm rising air can add itself to this Technology. giant air movement and be carried jioleward also. In Chicago ... in 1968 auto fuels urban areas are areas of generated about 2 % tons of lead Large mile! warm air due to the heat out- per square rising 1800 1850 1900 1950 put from the many sources of energy AGE OF SAMPLE In into the Green- that men utilize in making borings heating, making Figure L Lead (in parts per billion) in nor- northwestern land ice it is possible to see each electricity, transportation, and snow from Century Camp, of Greenland, from 800 B. C. to the present. For year's accumulation of new snow by mal human activity. Thus, some the sake of compactness there is a break in the that occurs. the and dust banding Thus, by many gases particles the graph from about 750 B.C. to 1725 a.d. boring out a column one can tell that arise from populous areas are The lead content over that gap is almost zero.

Page 10, JUNE, 1970 ' goes up the smelter chimneys, is ical combination of the elements come out the exhaust system where added to the air, falls in adjacent lead, carbon, and hydrogen. It was they cool in the air, combine with aiea^ with, however, a little of it found that addition of less than 1% oxygen and moisture, and form sev- being carried aloft and ending up in by volume of this compound to gas- eral bromine and chlorine acids, and northern snows. The graph in Fig- oline the octane rating could be a dust of lead oxide so fine that of uie 1 reveals this steady increase in raised by as much as fifteen octane some it can be carried along in utilization of lead; around 1750 it points. Tetraethyl-lead was less cost- the air, even as far as the arctic of snows. shows an upward change in slope. ly to produce than other means The in addition, shows a dra- the same octane increase. graph, obtaining The pronounced effect of this use matic featuie. In the late 1940's It was natural then that it be added of lead on the Greenland snows ap- there is a sudden upward spurt in to gasoliires in the late 1940's. pears remarkable. The average gas- lead in these ice samples. In less oline automotive vehicle (cars and than 20 it increased years by 300%! , . . 1920 to 1970 over 5 mil- from trucks) runs about 13 miles on a gal- lion tons of lead have been uti- It was late 1940's lon of gas and releases 3 in the that auto- lized in auto in the only grams engines of lead in the The motive manufacturers began build- northern hemisphere. Averag- process. great lies in the fact that over 103 ing cars with higher and higher ing this over the hemisphere it impact to 120 lead billion of such fuel are con- horsepower. Gasoline engine horse- comes pounds of per gallons square mile! sumed in the northern |-K)wer can be increased in two ways: hemisphere This over one way is to increase what is called every year. generates Gasolines are in usually marketed tons of lead. In the the ratio; the other way 310,000 Figure 2 compression two forms: so-called which "regular," shows the total of is to increase the size of the engine. graph tetraethyl- is around 90 octane, and what is The manufacturers have done both. lead used since 1920. At first its use called or "premium" (or "high-test" was small; however, the late To obtain the best efficiency from by which is around 100 octane. "ethyl") 1940's its annual increase is more such engines it is to necessary oper- Both forms contain ate them on fuels that have tetraethyl-lead. and more marked. In total from high there are limitations on Although 1920 to 1970 over 5 million tons of octane ratings. We will not go into the amount of tetraethyl-lead that the meaning of this term here but lead have been utilized in auto en- can be added to aircraft fuels, there in the northern only point out that the octane rating gines hemisphere. are no limitations for automotive this over the of a gasoline is a rough measure of Averaging hemisphere fuels. In auto con- general, gasolines it comes to 120 of lead how much efficiency one can obtain pounds per tain about 3 cubic centimeters of mile! from a high engine. square compression In terms Such rated tetraethyl-lead per gallon. engines require gasolines Such an is of course of the actual lead content this average quite near 100 octane. Natural gasoline high for some low population, rural amounts to slightly over 3 grams fractions from petroleum crude oils areas that are not crossed one-tenth of lead by many are about 55 octane. To (about oz.) per bring up roads. On the other hand, it is far gallon. the to the desired level it is rating too low for city areas. In Chicago, to some chemical When gasoline burns in the en- necessary perform for example, in 1968 auto fuels gen- on the natural gine the tetraethyl-lead decomposes (iianges gasoline. erated about 2% tons of lead per The involves a and the lead is released. In order to major change proc- square mile! it so that it will not ess called cracking. By repetitions of remove form thick called The arises where all this this process, plus performing distil- deposits, compounds question unrecoverable lead besides the lations, it is possible to produce 100, ethylene dibromide and ethylene di- goes, small amount that finds or even higher, octane fuels. In 1920 chloride, are put in the gasoline relatively its into the a chemist, Thomas Midgely, made a also. The lead combines with these way upper atmosphere chloride. and then to the arctic. In an area synthetic metal-organic compound to form lead bromide and tailed teiraethyl-lead. It is a chem- 1 hese, and other lead compounds, {continued on next page)

JUNE. 1970. Page 11 (continued from preceding page) such as Chicago, where the output is very high, a great deal of it settles covers the out in the city dust that streets and gets into homes. The black, oily dust of a typical Chicago wiiidowsill has small amounts of lead in it. Most of it, however, is flushed away by prevailing winds into the Lake Michigan water supply and beyond. Rain water carries down a portion of it into the rivers and then to the sea. Ultimately most of this lead ends up in the oceans. Some of this lead, however, is absorbed by all creatures that breathe air, including people

It is well-known that lead is a poison. Public health officials point out that lead poisoning falls into two categories: toxic poisoning and chronic poisoning. Toxic poisoning is the result of extreme exposure to inhaled or ingested lead compounds. It usually results in death. .\ great deal of medical information is available on toxic lead poisoning. Not so much is definitely known, however, about chronic poisoning, which is due to continued exposure to small amoimts of lead. It is known to affect the central nervous system, blcKxl vessels, and intestinal tract, as well as other organs. At present there are no clear data on the effect of long term exposure to small amoimts of lead. It is known, however, that lead comjxjunds which are swallowed, either directly from the air or with food and water, are only ])oorly absorbed by the body. Less than 10% of ingested lead is actually absorbed into the blood stream. In terms of ingested lead man is exposed to it in water supplies, canned

Each year over 250,000 tons of lead are added to the seas to be absorbed by fish and lower forms of life. . . . .\ddition of known toxic elements to the sea can have effects that last forever. loods, paints, some dishware, cigarette smoke, most fresh fruits, etc. Unfortunately the lungs are much less discriminating. 25-50% of in- Hecause of such agricultural uses on health officials, as well as university of the picture. It is but one element tobacco crops, smokers expose tliem- researchers, are becoming alarmed that man is concentrating, utilizing, selves to more inhaled lead than by the addition of lead to the air, and allowing to accumidate ulti- non-smokers. which goes eventually to the oceans. mately in the oceans. Elements such Each year over 250,000 tons of lead as mercury, bismuth, and tin are I'iie elFects of such exposines are are added to the seas to be absorbed elements that are less ob- not teriain by any means. Public significant fish and lower forms of life. De- vious in their use and less under- health and industrial health tloctors by pemlence on the sea for food will stood in their cycles through the vary in their view of it. In reality increase over the next In world. there are no good scientific data century. biological addition, from certain giving a measure of the effect on microscopic sea plants comes the bulk of the are in is hinnans. It is known that for many ... we living what world's of Addition called a Americans the blootl level concen- supply oxygen. closed system. Nothing of known toxic elements to the sea goes "away"—it only goes some- tration of lead is about 0.25 parts else. is a can have effects that last fore\er. where Lead only part million. The threshold for clas- jjer of the picture. It is but one ele- sical leatl is considered to poisoning With Dr. Patterson's work the ment that man is concentrat- be 0.8 million, and some ing, utilizing, and allowing to parts per field of seems to have geochemistry accumulate in the medical authorities place it at 0.5 ultimately entered a new area— the area of pub- oceans. million. These numbers parts per lic health. The dramatic effect which are too close for clearly together man's use of lead has had on the If a clear-cut case could be made comfort! geochemical record, as seen in Fig- that lead had no effect on human The question arises whether this ure 1, is a clear illustration of the and other life its use in fuels would addition of lead to the air is neces- fact so often overlooked: we are liv- never be an issue. With the long- sary? Clearly it is not. Reduction of ing in what is called a closed system. term effects unknown it seems to be auto horsepower would allow lower Nothing goes "away"— it only goes folly to continue its use only to octane ratings and tetraethyl-lead somewhere else. Lead is only a part learn the effects the hard w'av. could be eliminated. On the other hand, additional refining and chemical changes can make high octane gasoline without tetraethyl-lead. At GREENLAND GLACIER ICE least one major petroleum company in the eastern United States sells both regular and high-test unleaded gasolines of high octane ratings for high compression engines, and at competitive prices. Thus, it is not a matter that would greatly increase the cost to the consumer.

Reduction of auto horsepower would allow lower octane ratings and tetraethyl-lead could be eliminated.

Early this year one major auio manufacturer announced that in the

1971-72 period it would begin production of a lower horsepower engine that does not require leaded fuels. Unfortunately this step is being taken for the wrong reason. Anti-smog devices (required on vehicles by many states) become cjuickly clogged with lead oxide deposits and require frequent cleaning to operate properly. It is for this reason the change is being made. In any event, numerous public

JUNE, 1970, Page 13 CARM CONFERENCE

42 anthropologists and computer sci- Gren Foundation for Anthropological of research, Wenncr-Gren Foundation entists and experts from eight North Research, New York. CARM is an for Anthropological Research; Dr. Wil- American and European countries re- official committee of the -American liam N. Fenton, State University of cently met at Field Mviseum to discuss Anthropological Association. New York at Albany and chairman of the need for and the best way of achiev- the conference; Dr. Donald Collier The committee decided to have a ing an inventory of ethnological collec- (standing), Field Museum; Dr. Fred pilot computer project in a large mu- tions of all museums of North America. Eggan, University of Chicago and re- and Field Museum was recom- seum, search associate in the of The which was called Department conference, by mended as the site for such a program. of Field Dr. the Committee on Anthropological Re- .Anthropology Museum; Edward C. National search in Museums (CARM), was or- Shown at the conference in Field Weiss, Science Foundation and Litvak ganized by Dr. Donald Collier, chief Museum are, from left to right, Dr. Jamie King, curator of anthropology at Field Mu- Murray Abxjrn, National Science Foun- National Museum of Anthropology seum, and sponsored by the Wenner- dation; Mrs. Lita Osmundsen, director and Universitv of Mexico.

MILWAUKEE MUSEUM

Women's Board Elects President {continued from page 2)

on China and Tibet," Webber said. Mrs. Edward Byron Smith was Prior to joining the Field Museum elected president of the Women's Board staff, Dr. Starr served as a of Field Museum at the Board's annual graduate assistant in the anthropology depart- meeting recendy. She succeeds Mrs. ment at Peabody Museum of Natural Hermon Dunlap Smith, president of History, Yale University. He has been the Board since its founding in 1966. a lecturer in Asiatic Archaeology and As the new president of the Board, Ethnology at the University of Chicago Mrs. Smith automatically becomes a since 1959. Museum Trustee, with full voting priv- The author of numerous publica- ileges. tions on Asian prehistory, contempo- A charter member of the Women's rary Chinese culture and Chinese rub- Board, she has been extremely active bings. Dr. Starr is currently completing in its programs, serving as vice presi- a full-length book titled Black Tigers: dent during the past year. A Grammar oj Chinese Rubbings. Mrs. Edward Byron Smith Among her many other interests, .\s, Director of the Milwaukee Public Mrs. Smith also is vice president of the pital. She is also past president of the Museum, Dr. Starr succeeds Stephan Alliance Francaise of Chicago and Lyric Opera Woman's Board and the Borhegyi who was killed in an auto board member of the Passavant Hos- Chicago Historical Society Guild. accident in September, 1969.

Page 14, JUNE. 1970 to study explosive evolution

DR. LIEM RECEIVES GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP

Dr. Karel F. Liem, associate curator he said, "only the external characters of vertebrate anatomy at Field Muse- of these fishes have been studied, and um and associate professor of anatomy the reasons (or evolutionary mecha- at the University of Illinois College of nisms) for the explosive evolution of Medicine, Chicago, has been named the species endemic to Lakes Nyassa a recipient of a Guggenheim Memorial and Tanganyika is unknown." Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Liem will study the comparative Dr. Liem will use the fellowship to anatomy of the fishes, particularly the study the evolution of cichlid fishes in feeding mechanisms. "The ancestral Africa's Lake Nyassa and Lake Tanga- form among these cichlid fishes," he nyika. Leaving for Europe in Avigust, said, "was an omnivorous fish or gen- Dr. Liem will spend approximately six eral feeder, while the descendants pos- months at the British Museiun of Nat- sess particular specializations in their ural London and an History, equal Dr. Karel Liem feeding mechanisms." Byway of illus- amount of time at the Musee Royal de tration, he pointed out that some spe- L'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren near cies now swallow their fish whole, some Educated in Indonesia, The Nether- Brussels. These two nniseums possess scrape algae from rocks, some crush lands and the United States, Dr. Liem the largest collections in the world of snails, some eat only scales of other fish holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the Uni- cichlid fishes. and others eat only fish eggs. versity of Illinois, Urbana. He has "Cichlid fishes have undergone ex- collaborated on or been the author of plosive evoliUion in less than one mil- Guggenheim Fellowships are tradi- 20 publications on vertebrate anatomy lion years in both Lake Nyassa and tionally granted to young scholars, sci- and is currently a meinber of the Com- Lake Tanganyika,'' Dr. Liem said, entists and artists based on demon- mittee on Latimeria (to study coela- "with one ancestral form giving rise to strated achievement and strong prom- canth) of the National Academy of a great variety of descendants. Today," ise for the future. Science, Washington, D. C.

Flower and plant prints by Henry Evans on display, for sale

"I think that people are looking for but he will sometimes use as many as quiet art," Henry Evans, noted San four colors on a single block. Evans Francisco artist said in reference to his uses Japanese hand-made papers and a own prints of graceful flowers and century-plus-old hand press which is a plants. A collection of 24 of Evans' museum piece in itself. prints is now on display in Hall 28 of about 100 are made the Museum. They will be on exhibit Only prints from each block, after which it is de- through August. stroyed. For the first time, copies of each of Also available at the Book is these prints are on sale at the Book Shop the book Gardens" Shop. Signed prints are in limited "Flowerpot by Robert which is quantities of approximately 100 each, Clyde Bulla, elegantly illustrated Evans. and sell for $20 apiece. by

What is most striking about each of If you believe, as Henr)- Evans does, the linoleum-block prints is their deli- that "Life is traumatic and tense cacy, their sensitive design, their amaz- enough without adding violence to the ing clarity of color. The exquisite col- walls," you will find each of Evans' ors are a product of his own studio. prints aesthetically and serenely pleas- Many of his prints are monochromes, ing.

JUNE, 1970. Page 15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Hours: J'""' ' to 23—9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

June 24 to September 7:

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday—9 a.m. to 6 p.m. — Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Museum Library is open to 4:30 p.m. daily.

June 1 Sl'mmer Journey for Children begins. The free self-guided tour, "West African Art and Music," enables youngsters to become acquainted with art forms of four West African peoples. All children who can read and write are eligible to participate. Journey sheets can be obtained at Museum entrances.

Through July 6: Mexican Jewelry. Silver earrings from the hill villages north of Toluca, Mexico, are featured in a special exhibit in the South Lounge. They are from a collection donated to the Museum by Mr. F. O. Thompson of Des Moines, Iowa in 1937.

July 7 -A C.\ST OF .\usTRALOPiTHECus BoisEi, a skull found in Olduvai Gorge, field museum's in on in the South Tanzania, by Mary Leakey 1959, goes display Lounge. natural July 9 Summer Series OF Children's Movies. "Islandsof the Pacific" at 10 a.m. history and 1 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. Admission is free. tours gardens Through October 25: Illinois by the Se.\: A Coal Age Environment, an ex- wild flowers hibit of special geological interest in Hall 9. Field Museum scientists collab- birds archaeology orated to present this illuminating study of life in this area 300 million years ago. congenial travel companions interpretations by experts Continuing: John J.-\mes Audubon's elephant folio, "The Birds of America," on the unhurried approach in the North This first-edition is the of an display Lounge. rare, copy gift travel with all dimensions anonymous donor and is one of the most important acquistions in the history GUATEMALA of Field Museum. LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST Oct. 24-Nov. 8 Continuing: 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of $1,280 includes $400 donation Gardens at Guatemala Volcan History, A Sense of Discovery, in Hall 3. Field Museum's past, present and City, Antigua, Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, future are explored through the use of innovative display techniques. Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints Day. take Atitlan. THE INCA'S EMPIRE MEETINGS & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, Audubon Society, June 3, 7 p.m. & Feb. 4-March 5. $2,807 includes $600 donation. Nature C.\mer.\ Club, June 9, 7:45 p.m. (22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos cruise & Gardens in Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society, June 10, 7:30 p.m. Quito, $1,190-separately) Bogota, tima, ta Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu Chicago Mount.aineering Club, June 11, 8 p.m. Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Tiahua- naco. Colonial art & in Chicago Shell Club, June 14, 2 p.m. Spanish architecture Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Windy City Grotto, National 7:30 Speleological Society, July 8, p.m. LEADER ON ALL TOURS, PHIL CL\RK, former Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author, "A Guide to Mexican Flora"; Field Museum Natural His- tory Tours Chief; accompanied by Archaeolo- FIELD MUSEUM gists specialized in the areas. All donations to Field Museum are OF NATURAL HISTORY tax deductible. ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted from other CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 points. FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 Write: Field Museum Natural History Tours E. Leland Director Webber, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, III. 60605

Page 16. JUNE. 1970 .o»^ FIELD MUSEUM d e OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 41, No. 7 July 1970 \ ^ » »

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Tffinois niay L'3 BULLETIN the sea: \q octotser 21 by VOL. 41, No. 7 a coal age. hall 9 enworiment July 1970

HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE'RE GOING / by Lee Putnam a brief history of the beginnings of natural history museums in this country

THE CHANGING GREAT LAKES / by Loren P. Woods first of a two-part article on the fishes of the Great Lakes

TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW / by Patricia M. Williams 11 humorous, perplexing and interesting questions the Museum receives

FIELD BRIEFS 15

CALENDAR Inside Back Cover

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber The BULLETIN Editor Joyce ZIbro Assistant Editor Victoria Haider

Staff Writers IVIadge Jacobs Janet Piatt Graphics Russ Becicer Photography John Bayaiis Fred Huysman

Cover Illustration Zbigniew T. Jastrzebski

The BULLETIN is published monthiy by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Laice Shore Drive, Chicago, liiinois 60605. Distributed free to members of the Museum, The BULLETIN may be subscribed to through Museum membership. School subscriptions will be given special consideration. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Printed by Field Museum Press.

BULLETIN /July 1970 How we got to where we're going

{the beginnings of american natural history museums)

LEE PUTNAM

o o c z a o ^^H The American museum is an unsatisfactory. The Philadelphia a slightly better opportunity to get institution based on the sociability gentlemen were "under the into the British Museum since it was of the American settlers. The colonists impression that all visiters [sic] "open" daily but each prospective formed clubs to fight fires, satisfy to such houses must in visitor had to submit his credentials gregariousness and, according to courtesy become customers." and apply for permission to enter. Benjamin Franklin, to gain "rest from and because they feared that Only after a long delay might he be their wives." Taverns and coffee the infant society might accepted the thirty visitors houses were early established as degenerate into a club of among admitted each day. The Hermitage places to rendezvous for discussions, bon-vivants . . . more private was possibly the most exclusive of all most often literary or political. During accommodation was sought." since visitors were to the 18th an interest in science required present century, Such a self-sacrificing group of in attire suitable for the stimulated and themselves was spread rapidly. scholars was bound to succeed. In court of Catherine the Great. In Numerous amateur societies learning just a few years their research and with these restrictions on in a fashion comparison sprang up resembling publishing endeavors gained a wide accessibility, how different the spontaneous generation. reputation, and the Philadelphia Charleston Library Society policy Academy of Natural Sciences Katz & Katz, quoting from a seems! consistently attracted the best of the contemporary account, indicates the young scholar-naturalists. Charles Willson Peale, the popular casual beginnings typical of such — portrait painter, manifested the same societies in this case, the Philadelphia The early scientists had little, sort of democratic desire as the Academy of Natural Sciences: except their own intellects, with which founders of the Charleston Library There were some to work. There were no libraries, few young persons, Society. Peale was dismayed that to books and no specimen collections. however, disposed study most people had little chance to view Reflecting the democratic tenor of the laws of the creation . . . of art so, in 1 781 , he opened a wing the of who were to fall into young nation, several groups prone his home to the public. He displayed discussions natural scholars set about overcoming these upon his paintings of national heroes as shortages by combining their separate phenomena. ... In the evening well as the work of other American met without resources. they appointment artists and also put in his Exhibition at such of common places The Charleston Library Society, Hall various objects he had collected. resort as the afforded for city for instance, was formed by a group Peale in those of their social . . . dabbled "bone-finding" position interested in studying the natural of them Mr. John and his major find, which he mounted [One was] history of the South Carolina region. the "American . . . His and was Speakman. [apothecary] They accumulated and shared a displayed, a . . . became a center of mammoth"—actually mastodon. shop number of geological, botanical, the and scientific This was the first time that the skeleton literary zoological and even ethnological of the of a prehistoric animal was exhibited gossip day. specimens. While this communal anywhere and it generated a great Mr. Speakman suggested to some of Cabinet of Curiosities was typical of deal of attention. Gradually, the his acquaintances that they have their the times, the Charleston Library nature exhibits overshadowed the discussions at stated times and Society contributed a radical idea to artistic displays. several organizational meetings were the American museum movement. held in his home. In 1773, the objects the Society had Peale strove to educate as well as collected were put on view for the en- exhibit and in this aim illustrated a The developing academy was on joyment and edification of all people growing concern of the American its way but still had to deal with a who wished to come see them. museum movement. The Exhibition problem of etiquette: Hall was organized to demonstrate There were some . . . "The were European gentlemen the rational plan of nature inherent in precedents to this action. reluctant to be continuously England's the Linnaean scheme. His tickets indebted to the of Ashmolean Museum had opened in hospitality proclaimed: "The Birds and Beasts 1683 and is usually given the title of Mr. Speakman": so two or three will teach thee! Admit the Bearer to "first public museum." Others sessions were held at Mercer's Peale's Museum, Containing the followed — the British Museum in Cake Shop, known as the "first wonderful works of NATURE and the 1759 and the in 1764, for public establishment at which Hermitage curious works of ART." ice-cream was sold in instance. The Ashmolean was intended as an aid to research and As Peale's collections his Philadelphia." But this proved grew, only those who could validate their home did not, so in 1794 he moved Lee Putnam is Research Librarian in abilities and prove their need of the them to larger quarters and happily the Field Museum Library. collections were admitted. There was continued accumulating. By 1802 it

BULLETIN /July 1970 was necessary to move again, this specimens, including those from the The major attraction of the New time to Independence Hall. While in Lewis and Clark Expedition. American Museum was "true-to- the State House, the collection was life-displays" supplemented by Even after the death of Charles the "nearest thing to a National lectures and (more or less) scientific Willson Peale in 1827, the museum Museum then in existence," and was demonstrations. Among other things, flourished ... for a while. Ironically, augmented by some very important visitors could see the first giraffe in its very vitality was also its undoing. this country, electrical experiments, A building was constructed to house mummies and ventriloquists. The the museum. It was financed by a crowds flocked in to the tune of loan from the United States Bank. Yankee Doodle and twenty-five cents. When that institution failed, Peale s Eventually, Scudder's New American collections were divided and sold Museum was sold to P. T. Barnum to pay the claims of the Bank. OVER 200.000 CtiRiOSmES' and became the basis of Barnum's During the first part of the 1 9th American Museum. ^^ century, several collections, begun in The queen of such side-show the scientific spirit and through " museums, though, may have been the OF THE I ATE didactic motivations, underwent a TMEEKTIRt CO'IeCTION Western Museum of Cincinnati. Its I -^ change in emphasis or suffered a fate a O K I) O N C U M M G, main attraction was the "Regions," a similar to Peale's Philadelphia mechanical Hell complete with sound m^pMMlamu* K' inotccroa Oi' iflio, ElnohanU, Museum. A good example of the t'S « Tig rB. I^, (nd ot"!er Afn in Ar;ni»N effects and automatons. An OVfeR 3.000 change in emphasis comes from the NUMBERING SPECIMENS, advertisement for the Western ill museum of the Society of Tammany. 15 Yeai> lliiiitiiig AfVica Museum is straightforward in In 1790, the character of the Society identifying the main purpose of the (Miller's Nat lonal Bronze Portrait Gallery was still determined by its social aims. museum as pleasure and also indicates Having acquired a group of Indian l*/5 l><»rtrHiit of the sort of items displayed by Joseph relics and anxious to extend cultural Dorfeuille, Prop., to further this NORTH AMERICAN INOIAN CHIEFS. benefits to members of the Society pursuit: and Yorkers at a A W^l $0UI«_AI|IIERICÎ1 «_M^ New large, display was set in Hall. This was Wend hither, ye members ofpo/ished society— ioUTH AMERICAN SLOTH Vrry Bare. up City j[ Ye who bright phantoms of pleasure pursue - AN AKUh AN Vn.lliiK HIK AlUl just the beginning of a collection I.WT To see of strange objects the endless variety, which soon contained "all manner of «OLB 4 BttVta FKKASAKTK. Monsieur Dorfeuille will expose to your view. AUSTRALIAN 0P083UM & YOUNa curiosities as well as a substantial Lo, here is a cabinet ofgreat curiosities menagerie." Procured from the Redmen who once were our foes; 'WOOUROmf'S WO'UTWIAN GLASS HLOWAKB Unfortunately, by 1795, politics Unperished tokens of dire animosities. BXUIUIT A OI.AH8 BTKAM Darts, arrows and WU.L MNOnIa had taken precedence over culture tomahawks, war-cudgels, bows. ~Mlti!i INXi SVI5(, NI'VI SIOTIA fclA.MU*, within the Society. The two leaders in And bone-hooks for fishes and old earthen dishes, »«f Hifill (' f<«< hlî the museum venture — John Pintard To please him who wishes 'er such things to pore. - > ..»..H»k OUAfT, Ji;,- l<|- ~ ..-.;,>.,. .»i,i»-«,* Superb wampum-sashes, and mica-slate &«n. •tar WILLIAM WALLAOK. l' I'-"*. m-I and Gardiner Baker — found their glasses, U iw.. A^~k« ft *» •• !.••.« '*' ]|K f«t.4B Which doubtless the lasses much valued of "'•••#»-•-*" 1» »--»•• views and yore. ff)•rO.•l*1>*•*'l>!•• CO** BALt A*0, ••• •V'.v'.o.fii^ ».«. (p^t,. M it_ irreconcilable, Pintard, H, <> t IVI lu iti It I-" (i ( f it f'n~it lu~. whose interests had been more It may not be great poetry, but the scholarly, withdrew leaving Baker appeal must have been irresistible. & BEAUTIFUL CIRCASSJAN ftlRL. in sole possession of the collection riieOnuid Tlio By the beginning of the 19th A(junria. Ha|>|)y Fantily. which continued on display as Baker s a shift in was LlTI!«U IllON'MTi:» fSÂKKS American Museum. century, purposes becoming apparent. Several LIVING AFBICAN CROWNED CEANES. 1 In 801 , Edward Savage, an artist museums, originally opened to the Wax of Noted Figures Peisouages. and admirer of Peale's Museum, public because of the social bought the contents of Baker's consciousness of the individuals or OSOUMiCAi^ OtXrCMOIOOlCAl.. ud MUMiBMAtXC UOL. i2?H?"iL "M^CMMW or W AimiAl. IIIHTOKT. W4S American Museum from Baker's societies which assembled them, ~wt/LTOAuy PAifrtttom. umTo^lCA^.rltll.l^M,aul —^ VVmnUiUAm AHT <.Ai.i.t;KV. widow. Savage, following Peale's were being operated as profit- making ''"-'" ^!rrL"rs!i3! •-.-.rî'v.^rsv-"^ example, set up a Columbian Gallery ventures. In them, instruction was of Paintings and hired John Scudder less important than entertainment. AîlFU A«i. rtoTOL CALLEhV' JifV':' •• »*«««#»»»' "ill's. KVur.T. to deal with the natural materials. Such "side-show" museums, ' ' ' ' .BflSM IL't L?^?^""—1 """ •*»»»«««« ^..i rmm-nimi Scudder seems to have had his share increasingly sensational and of shrewdness and soon bought out commercial as they might have been, his partner and opened the New still had an important lesson to offer American Museum. their more respectable counterparts.

BULLETIN /July 1970 AMLBTteWUlk

As the i nstitutions of higher learning AND PERPETUAL FAIR. developed, the disciplines of science gbahu extra week; PKt>M MONDAY, 0(.T. 33, to SA'I'imDAV. I>CT. M. and natural theology became more U Ofdw M ccMnmodalo iKr |tr«at trawd* wtiKli Ue«4 han oriented to the academic structure Two Performances DaUy< AT :i OCIO' K A I a PAiJT 7, I' M and less a gentleman's avocation. The curatorial staffs of the museum were more often drawn from among ropoUr »on( Mr H. o. ( the academics than from the EXPERIMENTS IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM, among Bf l»r. C. P.JOHNSO.N. amateurs; concerns of the museums AdailT«d SOBC Mr NlMm»

Oomio Imltatlona- . . M- DB VALBNTIMI became increasingly esoteric. For the casual visitor confronting rows upon rows of crowded cases, the 6EH.T0MtHDilffi Th« moat KURPBlitlNU and DBI.K^H I'M 1. CL'HIUSITV institutions were earning their tiHISatHH All MUdrlitM*4 »«><•<>•< iMfWl ••»)« Mm reputations as musty, dusty, confusing ina woNDKit ur ths worliu w,ikiiiib<(L»* and forbidding places. The public The Smallest Person that ever Walked iloiu! He M 11 )t*<* OIJ, 25 loHirt Hiuh. and obviously preferred the "side-show" IXTeishs Only 15 Pounds- museums. These made money, and lots of it, while the free museums received relatively few visitors.

Charles Darwin published On the Dr. C. 1*. JTohnson of in 1859. As natural Origin Species r»w* *>1 (..•< science turned to the process OENERAI. TOM THUMB, 'fA-'^ ANUIIlAIl KAwNETlofli \ The "*>;??.?•.' .^rj*"'." approach of evolutionary studies the celebrated Americao Dwarf, exhibiting erery day and efening, at lknMK-t«4.ul Rii'U'J.ur. EXrKMIMKnn. Uie Egyptian Elall, Piccadilly. scientists left the museums and went to the laboratories. Having already Natural Dr. Bickmore of History. museums emulated it, although some lost much public interest, museums must have been an extremely of the older society museums now began to lose the support of the sagacious and persuasive man. He continued with limited income and specialists as well. The museums convinced several powerful people to pedantic orientation. A stimulus had found it more and more difficult to support his scheme: J. P. Morgan, been delivered and a trend support themselves. The future newspaperman Charles Dana, established. Museums such as the existence of many was in doubt. Theodore Roosevelt and the City Field Museum of Natural History, The solution which developed Council of New York, among others. founded as the Columbian Museum combined idealism and practicality. The city of New York extended funds of Chicago in 1893, heralded a new The museums the basis of changed for the building and its upkeep while emphasis in museum objectives. their Instead of organization. private the scientific work was supported by American natural societies, history museums ownership by gratuitously private income. as the allowing public access to their began private concerns, serving The museum became the interface on a cabinets, museums were incorporated public secondary basis, largely where the researchers and the interests. The first as non-profit public corporations public ignoring public encountered each other. It had attract governed by a board of trustees. attempts expressly to the a wider audience but had led to the "side-show" A three part base of income—from gained potential public had to arouse and their membership, taxes and endowments develop museums which slavishly followed —was established after the Civil war. interest. From the beginning, it public tastes. As the 19th century in effective exhibit drew to a museums turned Museums which had been in danger pioneered technique close, to illustrate the new in from both alternatives to a of becoming moribund were developments the natural sciences. For constructive, modern of revitalized as they took up the example, program the cases of service. challenge of justifying themselves as specimens arranged public to a "ladder of creation" so public service institutions. according prevalent in the other museums of the FOR FURTHER READING The American Museum of Natural day, were replaced by habitat groups a of History provides good example Hellman, Geoffrey. Smithsonian: Octopus on the Mall. reflecting the evolutionists' emphasis the new patterns of organization and New York: Lippincott, 1967. on the interaction of an organism their implications for museum with its environment. Katz, Herbert, and Katz, Marjorie. Museums U.S.A.: Dr. directives. Albert Smith a History and Guide. Garden City, New York: Bickmore, an ardent advocate of The American Museum of Natural Doubleday, 1965.

in 1 In Darwinism, was the prime mover in History was founded 869. the Schwartz, Alvin. Museum: the Story ofAmerica's the founding of the American Museum years following, most of the new Treasure Houses. New York: Outton, 1967.

BULLETIN / July 1970 The Changing Great Lakes LOREN P. WOODS

BULLETIN / July 1970 This is the first of a two-part article Eastward lies the lake as a on the fishes of the Great Lakes. Part 44 great II, luhich will appear in the August contrast with the as issue of the Bulletin, will deal with city night further changes in the lakes, includ- with . . . This half of our ing pollution, and some of the neces- day sary approaches towards reversing the horizon is as primaeval as the conditions that are leading to their deterioration. day white men first entered the

. . . Man has done his bit PART I region to the lake, but it is trifling. Shores this quote was written in River WHEN1939, Lake Michigan was much have changed and Chicago closer to its original condition than reversed. The lake how- it is today. Geologically speaking, remains, Bretz was essentially correct, but eco- ever, the one unalterable logically many changes had already primi- taken place, beginning a hundred tive feature of Chicagoland. J^ years earlier and continuing at an (Harlan Bretz, 1939, Geology of the Chicago Region.) accelerated pace to the present. The most rapid and greatest changes in after 1812 that people began moving Sturgeon were regarded as a pest by water quality, flora and fauna have in greater numbers into the basin fishermen. There was no market for occurred during the past 25 years. and establishing towns on the shores, them. Then, in 1870, a market for The Great Lakes basin occupies mainly at river mouths, that the smoked sturgeon developed, and stur- only 300,000 square miles, of which changes we will discuss began to take geon became the object of a very in- about a third, or 95,000 square miles, to place. The large amount of high tensive fishery, taking 10,000 20,000 is water. More than 30 million peo- million quality fish in the streams and along fish per year. In 1885, eight ple live in the basin, and at least 20 the lake shores provided sustenance pounds were taken. After this, they million of these people use the water for settlements until were declined Within 15 of the Great Lakes. There are more many they rapidly. years established. But the activties of the were so rare in the lake it was than 300 towns and cities on the they settlers started the deterioration of no to fish for them. shores. Of the total amount of water longer profitable environment which eventually led to used from Lake Michigan, 46% goes The total amount of fish produced the decline, depletion and even ex- to industry, 46% to irrigation and in the United States waters of the tinction of some of the most desirable 8% to domestic households. For Great Lakes fluctuates between 75 to kinds of fishes. Even so, despite very example, one steel plant at the south 100 million pounds per year. This intensive fishing, the fisheries have end of Lake Michigan uses one bil- amount has remained relatively con- held up for 150 years. But there have lion gallons of water daily, as much stant over the past 80 years. The re- been many changes. as the entire city of Chicago. cent changes that have occurred— the The first species to go was the invasion of the sea and ale- the oldest on lamprey Certainly, industry Atlantic salmon, which disappeared wife—have greatly affected the quan- the Great Lakes is The In- fishing. from Lake Ontario 1880. Salmon by tity of the more valuable species. dians had developed many types of require clear, cool streams in which Until after conditions in fishing equipment and in some places, 1835, to spawn. The early settlers altered as at Mackinac and Sault Ste. Marie, Lake Michigan were primitive, and the streams by cutting timber along there still a abundance of fishing was the principal means of was great the banks and by building dams and subsistence of the Indians. In their fish. In 1850, the population of Chi- mills for power, leading to warming descriptions, the French explorers cago was 30,000; by 1870, 300,000. and silting. Repeated attempts to re- amazement at the abun- The next the first survey of the expressed establish Atlantic salmon in Lake year, dance of fish and the ease with which lake conditions and the fisheries was Ontario have failed. Prior to the Indians took all the fish they undertaken. 1850, fishing In Lake Michigan, the first species could use and trade. was largely by gill nets and large to be depleted almost to extinction later The French—and the English was the lake sturgeon. This occurred Loren P. Woods is Curator of Fishes in —fur traders and settlers did little to the of 1840 to during period 1870 the Department of ^oology at Field Mu- affect the and it was not until of out." lakes, through a process "cleaning seum. All photos are by the author.

BULLETIN /July 1970 All of tht Great Lakes have experienced rapid changes in the past 25 years. The Great Lakes Then, in the fall of 1942, dead smelt basin occupies 300,000 square miles, oj which one- third, or 95,000 square miles, is water. There are were noticed in Lake Huron off at least 20 million who the people depend on Great Saginaw Bay and Mackinac. The die-off spread through Lake Michi- gan, and by the spring spawning season of 1943 few survivors were left.

They began to recover their numbers by 1945, and by 1951 there was again a very heavy run. The smelt po|Julation in the 1960's declined somewhat from its former abun-

dance in the early fifties. The reasons for the decline, however, are not clearly known.

The sea lamprey had always lived in Lake Ontario, presumably since glacial times. In 1825, the Welland Canal, by-passing Niagara Falls, was built. In 1921 the first sea seines along the shore, principally bow trout were kept in exposition lamprey was taken in Erie. it for whitefish and lake trout. In the pools and lagoons as exhibits. After- Lake So took the sea more than 90 1850's, pound nets came into use, wards, these were released or escaped lamprey years to this barrier. No and between 1858 and 1872, fish pro- into Lake Michigan. As with the pass through easy there are seven a duction was estimated to have de- carp, the addition of these had little passage— locks, 327- foot and miles of creased by 50%. The decline was effect on the lake or its fishes. Large lift, 25 length. still in When the water is let out of the blamed on 1) capture of immature goldfish can be seen the weed locks, it flows as a torrent; and a fish by pound nets, 2) lost gill nets beds of the various yacht harbors. to firm which continued to fish, the lamprey has have a attach- 3) prac- Rainbow trout have been reintro- tice of fishermen of fish in ment by means of its sucking mouth cleaning duced times and are well estab- many to the hull of a vessel or the wall of the fishing areas and 4) pollution lished in clean northern streams of the locks to from washed from sawdust, slabs, sidings, etc. float- keep being and and in Michigan Wisconsin, backwards. ing widely over the lake, later to parts of Lake itself. sink and cover the many Michigan spawning grounds. Once in Lake the The descendants of the Exposition Erie, lampreys did not do well because of a lack of Until just before World War II, stock established themselves in the suitable streams in the cinders were dumped by lake steam- lake, and for many years a few could spawning Lake Erie Because of their ers. Presently, dredgings from the be caught ofl:shore around the water drainage. life it was not until harbors are dumped in the lake. intake cribs; but we have heard no long cycle, 1937 There has also been dumping of reports of rainbow trout in the jjast garbage and cinders by the barge 40 years. load by many of the large cities. The The smelt in the Great Lakes, ex- only rule restricting this latter prac- cept in Lake Ontario, are all be- tice was that it had to be a dumped lieved to be descended from a suc- number of miles ofl^shore. cessful planting of eggs in 1912 in But, to return to the 19th Century. Crystal Lake, Benzie County, Michi- Car]j were introduced into Illinois in gan. It was not until 1918 that the the I870's and soon spread into Lake first smelt were noticed in Crystal .Michigan. Their effect was not great, Lake, and the first large spawning as they lived mostly in shallows and run occurred in 1922. By 1923, they in river mouths. Carp actually be- had escaped into Lake Michigan. came the object of a. rather valuable Although the smelt became the fishery, particularly in Green Bay, dominant commercial species where two to five million poimds through the spring of 19!2 (Lake were taken each year. 14 million Michigan catch, poinids) , Dining the World's Columbian Ex- the other kinds of fishes did not position in 1893, goldfish and rain- seem to suffer, but instead flourished.

BULLETIN /July 1970 that sea lampreys were established in and the enlarged fins of adults. In could maintain themselves as long Lake Huron. Here they found sev- the early spring, they emerge from as man was the only predator, hut eral excellent streams in which to the mud, drift downstream and enter the additional predation of the sea waters of the too their spawn. Lampreys, instinctively, are the deep lake, where lamprey was much, and pretty particular. They like the same they become parasites and feed on ninnbers were soon reduced to the kinds of streams as Atlantic salmon; the blood of the larger fishes. point of extinction. clear, cool and with good gravel Sea lampreys were first noted in Something had to be done to save beds, not too far upstream from the Lake Michigan in MH3 and in Lake the fisheries. Several means were ob- lake. Sea lamprey spawning runs Superior in 1954. In each lake, it vious to the United States Fish and begin as soon as the temperature of took eight or more years for the lam- Wildlife Service personnel studying the streams is between 40 and 50 prey population to build up to a size the problem. The first was to con- This occurs in late degrees. usually struct that serious depredations were noted mechanized weirs (a dam with March or April. The migration is on the larger commercial fishes, espe- a screen across a stream which al- at the mo\- usually night, lampreys lows water to all cially lake trout. Many fishes bearing pass while catching until a suitable ing upstream spawn- near the fa- open wounds or scars were taken fish) entrances of the ing area of shallow ripples with and these were imsuitable for mar- vored lamprey spawning streams. clean sand and gravel is reached. keting. Within a year or two the These were devised to block adult After spawning, the adult lam- catch began to decline. In Lake lampreys from ascending the streams preys die and are washed down- Michigan, it fell from a 75-year and to catch larval lampreys from pre- stream, where they rapidly decay and average of four to six million pounds vious spawnings as they descended. Problems floods disintegrate. The eggs hatch in 10 to to less thaa a few hundred thousand with ice, and tend- to the weirs soon 12 days, and the larval lampreys pounds—and then to nothing. Not ing showed such leave the nest 10 to 12 days later. even young trout were foiuid. The weirs would never be effective. Next, to electrical weirs were installed. Here These larvae are carried off the rip- lampreys turned other large spe- electrodes were lowered into the wa- ples, where, when the current slack- cies, especially whitefish and burbot. ens, they burrow into the soft mud They preferred lake trout, however, ter, and the electrical field either killed or and debris that usually collect in and preyed on them extensively un- stopped the adults on their such areas of quieter water. Here til the lake trout was virtually wiped upstream spring migrations. But other fishes were blocked also. they live for the next five years, feed- out by 1951. A similar decline oc- Power ing on microscopic organisms and curred earlier in Lake Huron. In failures and kills of rainbow trout white tiebris sucked from the water passing Lake Superior, the catch was 4.5 and suckers migrating at the indicated the mouths of their burrows. During million pounds in 1951, but six years same time electric weirs were not the final answer. the fifth year, they develop eyes, a later, this had decreased to one mil- sucking mouth bearing horny teeth lion Clearly, the lake trout poimds. Meanwhile, a screening program to find some chemical that would The sea lamprey (top) is a predator oj many commercial fish. Its victim in the lower photo is a chub. Its sucking mouth bears horny teeth which rasp a hole through its victim's skin. Lamprey saliva contains an kill lamprey larvae and not other so the wound while the sucks the blood and anti-coagulant, stays open lamprey flesh. organisms was inider way. Nearly 5,000 different chemicals were tested before a very expensive complex compound was discovered that was effective. This coidd be used in

diluted quantities, the effectiveness de])endent upon the length of time the poison surrounded the larvae. Electrical weirs were maintained

for monitoring pur|3oses. Teams of trained fishery biologists and woods- men, concentrating on the most heavily infested streams, treated each stream with carefully determined amounts of larvicide. Thus, several generations of sea lamprey were eliminated by a single treatment. In the quantities used, most other fishes were not affected, but "more than 95% of the lamprey larvae were

BULLETIN / July 1970 9 driven out of the mud and killed. within a few miles of Lake Michi- The answer is not simple, but it is Other harmless, non-parasitic lam- gan, they did not enter until 1949. certainly connected with the fact that preys were killed also, as were mud Perhaps they were kept in check by alewives are marine fish. Along the puppies (Necturus) and the burrow- lake trout and burbot that were Atlantic coast from New England to a favorite food abundant in Lake until ing mayfly nymphs— Michigan the Carolinas, they run upstream to of rainbow trout. What other about this time. changes spawn, then return to the sea. The have been effected in the remain in fresh water for a may Four years after being first noticed young streams, and what the long lasting in Lake Michigan, they had spread couple of months, then they too effects were remains luidertermined. to all parts of the lake. The first move into salt water. In the Great The most recent and probably the evidence of their spawning was no- Lakes, alewives are stunted in growth most devastating invader to the up- ticed in Green Bay during the sum- and it would seem that although per lakes has been the alewife—not mer of 1953. The first large speci- they can live here, they are not well only to the inhabitants of the lakes, men near Chicago was brought to adapted and so are under constant but to those along shore as well. Field Museum in March 1954. In stress. The cold temperature of the Alewives have been abundant in October 1956 the Museum received lakes, the changing temperatures,

Lake Ontario for at least 80 years. young that had hatched the previ- their migration from cold offshore Just how they got into Lake Ontario ous summer. The following spring, waters into warm, shallow waters, all —whether they were left there at the large numbers appeared floating dead have been suggested as the cause of close of the last glacial depression of in Burnham Park lagoon and in the death. Another observation has been this area; whether they strayed in harbor north of Shedd Aquarium. that when their numbers build up to the St. Lawrence River a die-offs occur. Since the through The climax of alewife die-off came peak, great do not live or of the fish seem to (where they now) ; mortality 1967, in 1967 when the city of Chicago re- whether they were brought in acci- be in better condition, living longer, moved 4,500 cubic yards of dead fish man, has not been deter- and some die, no dentally by from the Chicago shores. This though conspicuous mined. In the however, or massive die-offs have occurred. early I870's, amounted to about six million shad were introduced into Lake On- pounds. Alewives died in all parts The best explanation for their tario, and there is the likelihood of the lake, and it has been estimated death appears to be physiological. In that alewives were included in the that more than 180 million pounds many three-year old fishes examined, shipment. the died in this one year. The same year thyroid gland, which functions For the past 80 years at least, ale- 41 million pounds were harvested by as a regulatory mechanism of metab- wives have been a conspicuous nui- the commercial fishermen. Nearly all olism, excretion, growth and sexual sance. Nearly every summer large of these were three-year old fish. development, appears to have been numbers die and, drifting inshore, When you consider it takes 10 ale- exhausted. Perhaps this results partly clutter the beaches—sometimes in wives to make a pound, the numbers from a lack of iodine in the lake such quantities they form wind rows. assume astronomical proportions, waters and hence in their diet. The it has to of environ- On occasion, been necessary and these are only the three-year stresses their adopted haul them too for away. olds. The yearlings and two-year ment seem to be much them. olds are to be counted. It would Since alewives are migratory, run- yet The managing of a body of water that alewives are ning upstream to spawn, they even- appear crowding as large as Lake Michigan, along all other fishes out of the lake. The tually, after nearly 70 years, made it with the many complicating factors lake emerald shiner, and past Niagara, through the Welland herring, discussed here, proves to be difficidt. even are much reduced in Canal, into the upper lakes. They perch More information is needed on all numbers. 90 to of the were first recorded in Lake Erie in Perhaps 95% aspects of the biology and inter- fishes in Lake now are ale- September 1931. Eighteen months Michigan relationships of the plants and ani- wives. later, one was captured in northern mals and their environment. We can Lake Huron. Although they were now The question is: Why do they die? only hope there is enough time.

10 BULLETIN / July 1970 Tell me

t-|-Tow can I make a volcano?" PATRICIA M. WILLIAMS have Xl "Send me everything you Despite this, the phones keep ring- the Mu- everything on cavemen." Every year ing and the letters keep coming— seum's well-earned reputation as a with each season, similar questions great storehouse of knowledge staffed arise. For example, the Division of of by an impressive array experts Insects can predict that every year in in a flood of such summer there will be an influx brings requests. early you come from Many of these requests of questions about the attention-get- the will students hoping Museum ting Cecropia moths. Most often, "Tell supply an instant term paper— people call in to ask, "What is the all about insects. I need this in- me pretty, big moth in my backyard?" some know! formation before May 15"; The next most common question misimder- come from people who about the Cecropia is, "What can we stand the Museum's function—"Dear feed it to keep it alive?" The dismal fossil company, how much are your answer is: "Nothing. These moths fossils?" There are always those, of do not feed in the adult phase. The course, with an immediate problem— caterpillar does all the feeding. "I have a bird in my attic. How do I There is nothing you can feed it to get it out?" "My son was just bitten prolong its life." a black What shall I do?" by big bug. While the Division of Insects does have the needed to But many questions also reveal a not personnel all Curator very real desire for knowledge. After answer inquiries received, Curator touring the Museum, visitors are Rupert Wenzel and Associate often stimulated to learn more about Henry Dybas try to answer as many as Some common a subject covered only briefly in an possible. inquiries receive answers include such exhibit. Perhaps they have discov- that do as: "Are there ered a plant or insect in their own questions any poison- in the area?" backyard that they find unusual, ous spiders Chicago or even What- mystifying frightening. "Yes. The brown recluse spider is ever the reason, are people thinking poisonous and is established in the about natural and turn to the history Chicago area, and is commonly found Museum for help. in buildings." In fact. Field Museum's Because Field Museum doesn't Division of Insects identified the first authentic in this area. maintain a public information serv- specimen A a ice for scientific questions, they are physician treating four-year-old Oak Lawn for a bite referred directly to the appropriate girl spider called Dr. Wenzel for information. ilejjartment—Anthropology, Botany, Dr. Wenzel instructed the doctor to Geology or Zoology. In most cases, collect from the neigh- the department secretary passes it on spiders girl's borhood. The did so and to a curator specializing in the que- physician the to the Museum. ried field of interest. The curators sent specimens Mr. identified them often answer the questions person- Dybas tentatively as brown recluse After fur- ally and since even "easy" questions spiders. take some research, answers are fre- Patricia M. Williams is Managing Editor in Photo H. Ensenberger (]uently long coming. of Scientific Publications at Field Museum. by J.

11 BULLETIN / July 1970 ther study this identification was sup- cicada year for this area." men and sometimes with disastrous ported and soon after, a second speci- results. Last at Christmas time. Like all divisions of the Zoology year men from Chicago was received. Dr. Williams received a call from a Department, the Bird Division re- office, where a Christmas "My son is interested in insects ceives many inquiries, including: loop lively party was in progress. It seems that and I would like to encourage this "Birds keep flying at our picture one of the executives had been dared interest. Can you recommend any window. What can we do to prevent to eat the office Bol- living insects for him to keep and this?" poinsettia plant. observe?" stered with the season's cheer, he "The birds are drawn what is by took the dare and quickly devoured "The mantis is inter- either a mirror or an praying quite image apparent the plant. The question was, "Will to watch. it will not into home. In either esting Although opening your a poinsettia hurt him?" respond to you as an individual, it case, you must destroy this illusion. "Yes. Poinsettias are has unusual postures artd gestures Of course, you could simply draw the poisonous." Dr. Williams recommended taking and really almost looks intelligent. drapes, but this is seldom a satisfac- the exec to an emergency room, This insect has a short life span, tory permanent solution. Dangling where the could be re- living a couple of months at most. tin foil ribbons hung in front of the poinsettia moved from his window is usually effective in dealing system. ^*An ant colony may also interest with this problem." One of the foremost your son. Remember, because of state country's a will in- "I bird orchid experts, Dr. Williams reports regulations, queen not be . have often seen 'apartment that often want to know, cluded in the colony. You must go houses' advertised for purple mar- people "What kinds of orchids in out and find your own." tins. Why do purple martins need a grow different kind of bird house than Illinois?" "How many different kinds of inother birds?" "There are several kinds of orchids sects are there in the Chicago area?" in our state in various areas "Purple martins prefer communal growing "15,000 to 20,000-and, of course, woods or marshes. You can living—several of them nest together." —bogs, these insects are in all stages and, find lady slippers, rein orchids, grass therefore, look different at different pinks, arathusa, fringed orchids, times." "We built what we think is a very coral-roots, plaintain, ladies' tresses nice birdhouse, but apparently the do the monarch butterflies and calypso." "When birds don't think so. None have and where are migrate they coming come to live in it. Is there anything Ranking with man-eating plants from?" we can do to attract birds to this and poisonous spiders in public in- house?" terest are, as be "They migrate in early fall and might expected, on their mummies, cavemen, Indians and the pass through Chicago way "No. You'll simply have to be pa- south from Canada, Wisconsin and Tibetan snowman. For instance, every tient and keep hoping. However, if new account of tracks left by the Michigan." some do take up residence, they will Tibetan snowman brings a predic- "How many insects are in the Mu- probably return year after year." table tide of inquiries to the Depart- seum's collection?" In the Botany Department, Chief ment of Anthropology, most of them "There are about two million in- Curator Louis O. Williams is often asking, "Is the Tibetan snowman sects in the Museum collections. Obvi- asked: "Is there such a thing as a really a man?" a minute fraction of these man-eating plant?" ously, only Dr. Kenneth Starr, curator of Asi- is on exhibit." Dr. Williams replies, "To the best atic archaeology and ethnology, re- of there isn't. Stories "The Tibetan snowman is a "Will the 17-year locust emerge in my knowledge, plies, of such are 500 old and in the the Chicago area this year?" plants years long enduring superstition have been propagated by the comics Himalayan and Chinese region. In "This will be a locust— big 17-year and movies. There are, of course, all likelihood, it is not a man, but or cicada—year in many parts of Indi- deadly plants. For example, in the one of several animals—most prob- ana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York Philippines, natives often refuse to ably a bear or antelope." and other regions of the eastern climb trees in areas where a partic- United States. there was a Recently, the Department received Although ular nettle is found. Men have plant the "I need a to- emergence in the Chicago following request, premature fallen into these nettles, been stung, area in 1973 is the normal tem pole and wonder if I might bor- 1969, swollen up and died." row one of yours?" Rather predict- Photo by 111. State Nat. Hist. Survey Although there may not be man- ably, the writer was told, "We do not eating plants, there are plant-eating have any totem poles that we would

12 BULLETIN /July 1970 be willing to loan and you may have the removal of small flakes by the Pressure is difficulty in getting any museum to pressure method. flaking a loan poles. If you try to buy one, you very fine work indeed and requires will find that they are much more ex- considerable degree of skill on the pensive than you perhaps realize. part of the craftsman." Probably the best bet would be to Ancient Egypt holds an under- have one made. There are a number standable fascination for many peo- of Indian carvers in the Pacific North- ple and questions such as the follow- west who might be willing to do the ing are often received, "Why is there job. You could probably get the a hole in the ears of several Egypt- names of such individuals con- by ian funeral masks and statues?" tacting the Centennial Museum in Vancouver, B. C. However, even this "Egyptian children wore earrings may be more expensive than you are until they came of age—between 8 counting on." and 10 years old. Earrings were for pierced ears at that time and there- An apparently ardent do-it-your- fore, most Egyptians had holes in selfer asked, "How do you make their ears. The Egyptian artists tried chopped stone arrowheads, scrapers to depict the deceased as he had been and points like the Indians used?" in life with, generally, a little more Dr. James VanSione, curator of dignity in appearance and a formal- North American archaeology and ized stance." ethnology, answered, "There are two "Do hieroglyphs form an alphabet basic methods for making these stone Dr. Glen H. Cole, assistant curator similar to our 'a, b, cV?" tools. The first of these methods is of prehistory, wrote back, "Soft body called 'percussion flaking' and essen- "The Egyptians developed an al- parts and hair do not generally pre- tially this is simply the striking of phabet of 24 letters (sound signs) . serve, and the cave-dwelling people one stone against another in such a However, they did not recognize its of Prehistoric Europe weren't given manner as to knock off flakes, which value and continued to use thousands to depicting themselves realistically are then used as tools. The other of ideograms mixed with letters. in their cave paintings, so one doesn't method is called 'pressure flaking' About 1500 B.C. the Egyptian alpha- know how long they were inclined to and, as the name implies, small flakes bet was used as a basis for a Semitic wear their hair. Flint knives, which

are removed from a stone by means alphabetic script— the mother of all these people made and used, were of exerting pressure at some point on modern alphabets." very sharp and quite capable of cut- the surface, with a bone or hair. One supposes that they usually A high school freshman, who may ting antler tool. both methods wore their hair at whatever length Frequently, have been having hair problems of are used in the a and fashion making of partic- his own, wrote to the Museum to ask, personal preference ular tool. first have dictated." The flakes are re- "How long was caveman's hair? I might moved from a core of rock means by don't see how they could move be- .Again, Dr. Cole was requested to of percussion flaking. Then the im- cause at the age of ten their hair "Tell me about the height and ap- plement is retouched or finished by would be at their ankles." pearance of man as far back as his-

BULLETIN /July 1970 13 knows." Dr. Cole is tory As explained, living people (e.g., the Mguti pyg- what you have found important. It ihe answer depends upon what is mies of the Congo Basin) kill ele- takes thousands, even millions of meant by "man." "The Australopith- phants employing hunting tech- years for these rocks to form— this is ecines, which were living a couple of niques involving a single hunter the only way the earth can leave a million years ago, are sometimes re- armed only with a spear." record of the plants and animals that garded as being men. Two forms of lived here long before our time. The Naturally, the Museum's Depart- these creatures are known—one was .Museum has vast collections of all ment of Geology also receives numer- about 4 feet tall and probably the fossil flora and fauna (plants and ous letters regarding extinct animals, weighed less than 100 lbs. The other animals) which are studied by the particularly dinosaurs. The follow- reached as much as 5 feet and weighed research scientists and university stu- ing is typical: "My friend's aunt has ]jerhaps 140 or 150 lbs. The smaller dents to learn more about the planet found a dinosaur toe. I would like of these live creatures (if not both) made we on. You now have your start to know if it really is a dinosaur toe, stone tools—a criterion often taken as for a fossil collection and everywhere and if it is what kind. It is 4 inches diagnostic in defining "humanness." you go you can be on the lookout for across and 5 inches long. It's covered By the time that the creatures uni- other fossils. Sometime visit the Mu- with a hardened mud and in this as at ex- versally regarded man (i.e., Homo seum and look the geological mud are fossils of ferns. As it nears crectus with such well-known repre- hibits here." the toe part, it curls up slightly. sentatives as Java and Peking man) Where it was broken off the inside Often, entire families are inter- appeared (about 500,000 years ago) is a white." grayed ested in collecting fossils and may they had reached a size comparable ask, "We would like to a Sun- lo that of modern man." Slie was told, "We will be glad to spend day afternoon hunting for fossils. identify your friend's fossil material .Also, a California resident wrote to Can recommend a as to whether it is from a dinosaur or you good spot ask, "Was it possible for a single which is not too far from the Chi- not. We cannot tell, however, by just man, utilizing only his primitive area?" one toe what kind of a dinosaur. cago weapons, to kill one of the larger Send it along to the Museum, care dinosaurs such as the "You might try Dresden Lake. A Tyranno- of the of and saurus?" Department Geology, picnic ground on Lorenzo Road be sure to it If wrap carefidly. you about three miles west of Interstate While movie-makers and cartoon- wish it returned, we would appre- 55 (US 66) just south of the Kanka- ists do not seem to be aware of this ciate it if will enclose the neces- you kee River. There is a daily admission fact, "All dinosaurs, including Ty- sary postage." lee of 75c. Also, Fossil Rock Camp- had become extinct rannosaurus, about two miles north of Another girl finding "a ground, before man on the reported long appeared off Illinois is rock with a white mark on it. When Braidwood, just 129, earth. man never had an Although ;inother I cracked it open there was a fossil possibility." opportunity to exercise his talents for of a snail. Now I have the cast and slaughter on any dinosaurs, he quite .\11 of the departments frequently the mold. Do you think it is any- effectively killed other very large direct people desiring information thing worth saving?" animals—including extinct elephants on a grand scale—"I want to know all somewhat larger than the living To encourage young people's in- about the Ice Age"— to their local forms. One can't be sure if a single terest in natural history, the curator libraries and bookshops, often rec- hunter e\er killed any of these ani- answered, "Yes, indeed here in the ommending appropriate reading mals, but it is reported that certain Department of Geology we do think material.

14 BULLETIN / July 1970 field briefs

known as the 'trademark" of the In Memoriam: Museum. Delia Howe Later, Delia Akeley was to write Akeley "J. T., Jr." (N. Y., Macmillan, 1928), the biography of an African monkey that was her almost constant compan- ion for nine years. The book is illus- A very remarkable lady, Mrs. Delia trated with photographs taken by the on 21 -Akeley Howe, passed away May , Akeleys on their safaris. Another book, 1970, at Daytona Beach, Florida. "Jungle Portraits" (N. Y., Macmillan, a series of sketches on African The first wife of Carl Akeley, taxi- 1930), human and is based on dermist, sculptor and hunter who joined life, animal, her several African the Museum staff in 1 896, her life was experiences during with the Museum's expeditions. closely interwoven — early history. A proficient hunter in Madge Jacobs her own right, she accompanied her husband on several African expeditions. Delia Akeley will be best remembered neiv trustee in Field Museum annals for her partici- Blaine President of pation in the British East African expe- J. Yarrington, dition that brought back the now fa- the American Oil Company, has been elected a of the Board of mous "fighting elephants." member Trustees of the Field Museum. Many arduous weeks were spent in Mr. Yarrington the jungle, trekking the elephants and has been associated learning their habits. At times, the with Standard Oil party was so close to a herd that the since 1932. He was slightest move by any one of them, or a elected a director of shift in the wind, would have alerted Standard Oil Com- the elephants, causing them to bolt in of any direction. pany (Indiana), which American Oil The one-tusk elephant was shot by is a subsidiary, in Carl Akeley in the Aberdare Moun- 1970. tains in July, 1906. The following Presently he is a director of the Chi- month, his adversary, the large bull cago Association of Commerce and In- with two tusks, was shot by Delia Ake- dustry and member of the boards of ley on Mount Kenya. the Chicago Alliance of Businessmen National 4-H Service Com- The elephants went on display for and the the first time in 1909 in the Museum's mittee. Mr. Yarrington is on the Busi- of the Urban first home in Jackson Park, where they ness Council Chicago remained until 1920, when the move to League and an honorary life member the Since 1921 of the Association of present building began. , Transportation Delia Akeley photographed in Chicago in have a .\merica. He is also an active member they occupied prominent place hunter's gear during the early 1900's prior Petroleum Institute. in Stanley Field Hall and have become to leaving on an expedition. of the American

BULLETIN /July 1970 15 field briefs

geology gift

The Museum's already extensive geological collection will be expanded by a donation from Gerard Ramon Case ofJersey City, New Jersey. The acquisition consists of a quantity of fossilized sharks and shark relatives, the rat- fishes, embedded in black shale. The fossils, dating from the Pennsylvanian Period, were collected in Iowa and Nebraska.

Dr. Rainer Zangerl, chief curator of geology, and Mr. Case will co- author a paper based on part of this geological collection. After publication of the paper, the entire fossil collection will be donated to the Museum. HAPPINESS IS. . . a summer lunch on the grass in front of Field Museum. School groups, such grants as these, were frequent visitors The National Science Foundation to the Museum throughout the has to the Center for granted $41,500 school year. Graduate Studies in Systematic Zool- ogy and Paleontology, sponsored by Field Museum in cooperation with the University of Chicago, Northwestern Photo by and of Illinois at University University Edmund Jarecki. the Medical Center.

one will be under concerned with the collection of The Center makes available the re- approximately year, marily the direction of Dr. Helen M. McCam- Cenozoic fossil mammals from a search facilities of the Museum, the early research division of mid to late Eocene formation in the scientific stafT of the Museum and the mon, associate, lower invertebrates. Washakie Basin. Dr. Turnbull will faculties of cooperating institutions in also work on correlation the studies of systematic zoology, pale- stratigraphic of the area. The expedition began on ontology, and functional and evolu- June 15 and will extend through the tionary morphology. expeditions last week in August.

Dr. William Turnbull, associate cu- In cooperation with the United rator of fossil mammals, is leading an States National Park Service, Dr. John The Museum has received a grant expedition to the Washakie Basin and Clark, associate curator of sedimen- for $19,000 from the National Science Sand Wash Basins in southwest Wyo- tary petrology, is leading an expedition Foundation for support of research en- ming and northwest Colorado. A part which started June 29 and continues titled "Nutrient Utilization in Articu- of a research program which has been through August 31 in the Badlands of late Brachiopods." The grant, to run active since 1956, the expedition is pri- South Dakota.

16 BULLETIN /July 1970 calendar

HOURS: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Museum Library Is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

BEGINNING JULY 7: A Cast of Australopithecus boisei, a skull found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, by Mary Leakey in 1959. Through August 31. South Lounge.

THROUGH AUGUST 31: field museum's Summer Journey for Ctiildren, "West African Art and Music." The free Museum ex- natural program is designed to acquaint youngsters with specific history hibits. Here the art forms of four West African peoples are examined. on tours A question and answer sheet starts any child who can read and write gardens a self-guided tour. Available at Museum entrances. wild flowers birds CONTINUING: archaeology John James Audubon's elephant folio, 'The Birds of America," a recent travel congenial companions this first-edition gift from an donor. A different page of rare, Interpretations by experts anonymous the unhurried approach copy is shown each day. North Lounge. travel with all dimensions 75th Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of H istory, A Sense GUATEMALA Anniversary LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST of Discovery, offers a new perspective in museum viewing through un- Oct. 24-Nov. 8 usual photographic and display techniques. Quotations and relevant includes donation $1,280 $400 observations add another dimension. Hall 3. Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, on All Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango Saints FILM SERIES FREE GUIDED TOUR Day. Lake Atitlan. FREE SUMMER THE INCA'S EMPIRE FOR CHILDREN AND FILM PROGRAM & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS James Simpson Theatre Information desk for tour Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, &Feb.4-March5. 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Lecture Hall for film $2,807 includes $600 donation. July 9: "Islands of the Pacific" July 6 through September 4 (22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190-separately) Gardens in July 16 "African Animals" 2 p.m.: Museum "highlights" tour Bogota, Lima, La Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, in the Arctic' July 23 "Life 3 p.m.: 'Through These Doors." Behind Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Tiahua- naco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in July 30 "Desert Life" the scenes at Field Museum on film. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

LEADER ON ALL TOURS, PHIL CLARK, former Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author, "A Guide to Mexican Flora"; Field Museum Natural His- tory Tours Chief; accompanied by Archaeolo- gists specialized in the areas. All donations to Field Museum are tax deductible. Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted AN EXHIBIT OF SPECIAL INTEREST: from other points. ILLINOIS BY THE SEA: A COAL AGE ENVIRONMENT, through Oc- Write: Field Museum tober 25. Astudy of life in this area 300 million years ago. One segment Natural History Tours affected the fish Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. graphically illustrates how the stress of overcrowding Chicago, III. 60605 population. Hall 9. ,o' & 6 B

^ » » A

^Bi '^S^ "^Si FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 41. No. 8 August 1970

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

BULLETIN Vol. 41, No. 8 August 1970

HAPPINESS IS A RIPE LOVE APPLE / by W. Peyton Fawcett 2 a short history of one of our most popular summer vegetables, the love apple

THE CHANGING GREAT LAKES / by Loren P. Woods 6 Part II about the deteriorating conditions in our Great Lakes

DIEFFENBAGHIA—A POISONOUS HOUSE PLANT / 12 by Dr. Johnnie L. Gentry, Jr. a brief discussion of the poisonous qualities of "dumb cane," a popular decorative plant

THE MUSEUM'S FIRST MILLION 13 Edward E. Ayer's own account of how he persuaded Marshall Field to donate the first million dollars to the Museum

DAYBREAK SONG 16

GUATEMALA TOUR 18

FIELD BRIEFS 19

CALENDAR Inside Back Cover

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber

Editor Joyce Zibro; Associate Editor Victoria Haider; Staff Writers Madge Jacobs, Janet Piatt; Production Russ Becker; Photog- raptiy Jotin Bayalis, Fred Huysmans; Illustrations Zbigniew T. Jastrzebski

The BULLETIN is publistied monttily by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Distributed free to members of the Museum, The BULLETIN may be subscribed to through Museum membership. School subscriptions will be given special consideration. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Printed by Field Museum Press.

BULLETIN/ August 1970 HAPPINESS IS A RIPE LOVE APPLE

W. PEYTON FAWCETT

How little we realize our indebtedness to the great Indian civilizations our forefathers so ruthlessly destroyed! It has been estimated that they developed half or more of the foods we eat today. Try to imagine living, as our pre- conquest ancestors did, without corn (maize), potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, most types of beans (except the European broad beans and soybeans), capsi- cum peppers (including cayenne, chili, paprika, pimiento, and the sweet red and green "bell" peppers), many types of edible squash (including pumpkin), cassava (manioc or tapioca), peanuts, cashews, pineapples, avocados, papayas, cacao (source of cocoa and chocolate), and vanilla. Not a very appetizing prospect is it?

Imagine further that, as in the desert island game of book-lovers, tomorrow you would be deprived of all these foods save one. Which would you choose to retain? The choice would obviously be a hard one and arrived at after much soul-searching—probably more than would go into the selection of desert island literature. For myself it would have to be the tomato.

A ripe tomato, eaten raw, is one of the joys of the summer season; it is also excellent, with a simple dressing, as a salad. Consumed in this way, tomatoes are not only tasty but very nutritious, containing, among other food values, significant amounts of vitamins A and C. They can be cooked in numerous ways and are widely used in soups, stews, and sauces. The happy marriage of the tomato and pasta, first brought about by the Italian people, is one of the glories of Italian cookery. The tomato lends itself easily to canning and freezing and is the most widely used canned vegetable. Three quarters of the crop is processed into juice, canned tomatoes, soups, catsup, and tomato pastes.

Although called a vegetable the tomato is technically a fruit. Arthur Hoare, in his article "The Tomato as a National Fruit" (Journal of the Royal Horticultural

Society, V. 67 (1942), p. 333), describes it as follows: "In botanical language the Tomato belongs to the group of fleshy or succulent fruits, and morphologically its structure is that of a true berry. The Tomato is, in fact, an excellent example of a berry. The fruit, formed by the simple fusion of two carpels, de- velops, as it ripens, a thick and juicy pericarp. This pericarp is composed of an inner thick mass of tissue of a pale red colour, while on the outside there is a thinner, tougher and deeper coloured layer of tissue, the skin. The ovary cavities are filled with a viscous fluid in which the seeds are imbedded." Despite this, no less a body than the Supreme Court of the United States decided in 1893 that the tomato would be considered a vegetable for purposes of trade because of its common use in the main part of a meal. This fruit now ranks third among our vegetable crops.

Despite its great popularity and long cultivation, the tomato has only within the last century become recognized as a valuable food plant and is consequently one of the newest to be used on a large scale. The history of its rise to prominence is a curious and interesting one.

There is no written record of the date or circumstances of the introduction of the tomato into Europe and considerable speculation as to the precise locality from which it came. It must have been introduced shortly after the Spanish

W. Peyton Fawcett is Head Librarian of Field Museum's Library.

BULLETIN/ August 1970 and thie red known conquest, for the yellow variety is mentioned as early as 1544 was first cultivated in on the by 1554. It is assumed that the tomato Europe to and other coastal plains of Spain and Portugal and quickly spread Italy countries. The earliest writers did not mention, if they knew, its place of origin L. C. Luckwill in his and this led to two hypotheses. The first, summed up by article "The Evolution of the Cultivated Tomato" {Journal of the Royal Horticul- and Pomi tural Society, V. 68 (1943), p. 20), is that "the names Mala peruviana del Peru by which the plant was known during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seem to indicate that it was from Peru that the plant was introduced into Europe." The second, summed up by J. A. Jenkins in his article "The v. 2 is that: Origin of the Cultivated Tomato" {Economic Botany, (1948), p. 379), "The ancestral form of the cultivated tomato was originally confined to the Peru- Ecuador area. After spreading north possibly as a weed in pre-Columbian times

it from there the it was not extensively domesticated until reached Mexico, and cultivated forms were disseminated."

The yellow form of the tomato was first described by Matthiolus (Pietro Andrea Mattioli) in his commentary on Dioscorides (1544). J. A. Jenkins, in the article mentioned above, has translated the reference as follows: "Another spe- to in our flattened like the cies [of Mandrake] has been brought Italy time, melerose of and at first and when of a [sort apple] segmented, green — ripe golden color, which is eaten in the same manner [as the eggplant fried in oil with salt and pepper, like mushrooms]." In a later Latin edition (1554) Matthiolus mentioned the red form and gave the tomato's common name as "Pomi d'oro," with its Latin equivalent "Mala aurea," for the first time. The name "Pomi d'oro" to has persisted in Italy as the common name, and it has always amused me see rich, red plum tomatoes described as "golden apples." These golden apples became associated with the golden apples of the Hesperides and from this source the tomato received another of its many names, Poma amoris (apples

of love).

To make matters more confusing Luigi Anguillara, in 1561, mistakenly identified the tomato as a plant described in the classical writings of Galen under the name Lycopersicon (Wolf peach). From this is derived the modern scientific name of the tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum. Our word tomato is derived, according to Jenkins, from the Nahua word tomati through the Spanish tomate.

From these early references and others we get the impression that the tomato was considered more of a curiosity than a food plant. Tomatoes were eaten, according to John Gerarde's The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1636

edition), "In Spaine and those hot Regions . . . prepared and boiled with pepper, salt, and oyle: but they yeeld very little nourishment to the body, and the same naught and corrupt. Likewise they doe eate the Apples with oile, vinegre and pepper mixed together for sauce to their meat, even as we in these cold countries doe Mustard." But in most areas they were looked upon with a jaundiced

eye. The tomato was, after all, a member of the nightshade family {Solanaceae) and had been originally described as a species of mandrake. This alone could

account for the belief that it was poisonous and possessed aphrodisiac qualities. The name "love apple" helped to reinforce belief in the latter. In addition, the name Lycopersicon conjured up visions of Galen's plant, the juice of which had a bad odor, was thought to be poisonous, and at the same time possessed powerful medicinal properties. The shape of the early tomato was also a prob-

lem; it was "uneeven and bunched out in manie places," with deep and irregular

furrows. To some it looked like a morbid growth and this is responsible, it is thought, for the belief that tomatoes cause cancer.

These false beliefs were very difficult to overcome and up to 1750 the situa-

tion was pretty much what it had been. By 1760 some tomatoes were being grown in England for soups; but there is no record of their culture in the United

BULLETIN/ August 1970 rom.iamorh. % The Place. Apples of lO'ic. Apples of Loue grow in Spaine, Italic, and fuch hot Countries, irom whence my (elfe hauc receiucd feeds forray garden, where they doc io. creafe and profper.

<|f Thttime, It is fowne in the beginning of Aprillina bed ofhothorfe-dung.aftcf the maner ofmuske Me* Ions and fuch like cold fruits. ^ 7he Names, The Apple of Loue is called in hztlotPsmum Aureum^Pema Amorityind LjcoPerficnm- of fome, CUuciumrin EnglinijApplesot Loue,and Golden /\ pplesrin VTct\chyPommes J'4W0«ri.Howbeit there be other golden Apples whereof the Poets doe fa- bfe,growingin the Gardens of the daughters of which a was to ^^*r«f, Dragon appointed kecpe, who, as they fable, was killed by Hercules. ^ TheTemperMture, The Golden Apple, with the whole herbc it felfe is cold, yet not fully fo cold as Mandrake,af. ter the opinion oiDodon/iM .^ut in my iudgement it is very cold, yea perhaps in the higheft degree of coldpefle:myreafon is,becaufe I haue in the hottefl time ofSummer cutaway the fuperfluous branches from the mother root, and cad them in the allies of Garden away carelefly my , the which (notwithftanding the extreme heatc ofthe Sun, the hardnefTe of the trodden allies, and at that time when no rain at all did fal}haue growne as frcfh where I caft them,as before I did cut them off; which argueth the great coldnefle contained therein. True it i$,that it doth argue alfo a great moifturewhercwitl^ theplant ispo0efled,buc as I haue faid,not without great cold,which I leaue to euery mans ceofure. %The Vertues. In and boiled Spaine and thofe hot Regions they vfe ro eate the Apples prepared with peppcf,

: and the and cor- falt,and oyle but they yeeld very little nourifhroent to the body, fame naught rupt. fauce to £ Likewife they doe eate the Apples with oiIe,vinegrc and pepper mixed together for their meat,euen as we in thefe cold countries doe Muftard.

Early description of the tomato irom tlie revised edition ol John Gerarde's The Herball or General Historie of Planies (London, 1636).

BULLETIN/ August 1970 States until Thomas Jefferson grew them in 1781. It is said that French refugees in New York brought the custom of eating them from the West Indies in the the Louisiana 1 790's and that they were used for food in N'3W Orleans soon after Purchase. Within a generation, as J. C. Furnas notes in his The Americans (New York, 1969), a certain Dr. Grant found them accepted from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and endorsed by one doctor as a remedy for dyspepsia, diarrhea, and liver-trouble, for keeping the pores open, and for warding off cholera. Patent medicine companies were soon offering tomato extracts, tomato pills, etc. By the end of the 1800's tomato catsup had become the standard table fixture it still is and Americans were eating tomatoes in increasing quantities, both raw and cooked. But the fears died out slowly. I remember my Grandmother telling me that in her youth in Maryland (c1885) tomatoes were considered poisonous and only fit for hogs. At about the same time another relative recalled seeing a man publicly eat a tomato in front of an anxious crowd at the local Post Office.

In England too the process of overcoming the old beliefs was a long one. Dickens obviously had the amorous associations of the love apple in mind in Pickwick Papers when he has Serjeant Buzfuz exclaim: "Chops! Gracious heavens! and Tomato Sauce! Gentlemen, is the happiness of a sensitive and confiding female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as these?"

It appears that American influence played some part in winning the English over to the tomato. The eleventh edition of Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1851) contains five recipes for "Tomata" dishes, besides those for sauces and catsup. One of these is called "Tomatas en salade" and described by the author as "now dressed like cucumbers, with salt, pepper, oil and vinegar." How strange that Gerarde's Spanish recipe should be set before the English as "the Amsrican fashion!"

In his article "Lore of the Tomato" (The Gardeners' Clironicle, 3rd series, v. 126 (1949), p. 54), Charles A. Hall gives us a first hand account of the revolution

in taste that has been accomplished in his lifetime: "When I was a small boy, say seventy years ago, It was commonly said that a taste for Tomatoes had to be acquired—no one liked them at the first eating. Actually, they never appeared on the table in my home and there was only one garden in our village

where they were grown, as a novelty. I saw them in all their glory of red and yellow fruitage and felt that fruits so attractive in appearance must be good to

eat. I was tempted to help myself to one and, alas! I fell. Great was my disgust

when I came to taste it, for it was utterly nauseous to me and I quickly spat

my mouthful out . . .

"Talking with folk of my own generation I find that most of them in their

youth looked upon taste for the fruit as one to be acquired . . . Nowadays one does not hear of an acquired taste for Tomatoes or of people disliking them on first acquaintance ... A fruit that was once a curiosity in this country, at first cultivated in the greenhouses of the wealthy, has now become ubiquitous and a common item of diet."

It has taken us a long time to appreciate the merits of the tomato and the great debt the whole world owes to the unknown Indian farmers who first dis-

covered and developed it. In the end I am glad we do not have to choose one of the host of good foods that they have bequeathed to us as a rich legacy. BULLETIN/ August 1970 The Changing Great Lakes

PART II

LOREN P. WOODS The chain of events In Lake Michigan which began with the invasion of the sea lamprey during the 1950's and the explosion of the alewife population during the 1960's has led to a lack of balance among the various species which inhabit This is the second part of a two-part the lake. Both commercial and recreational declined. in at- article on the fishes of the Great Lal^es. fishing Biologists, to reconstruct valuable fish have resorted to Part I. which appeared in the July issue tempting production, unprecedented ot the Bulletin, dealt with changes in the large-scale Introductions of three species of Pacific salmon, coho or silver salmon, lakes, the of the including disappearance Chinook or king salmon and kokanee, a land-locked form of sockeye salmon. Atlantic salmon, the introduction of gold- These introductions began in 1965 and have continued, with increasing num- fish, rainbow trout and smelt, and the in- bers of salmon released each into both inland lakes and into Lake vasion of the sea lamprey and the alewife. being year Michigan and Lake Superior streams.

So far, this program of salmon introductions, undertaken by the Michigan Department of Conservation, has achieved some of its primary objectives—the improvement of sports fishing, the promotion of the tourist industry and the restoration of predator-prey relationships. Although there appear to be no published reports that alewives are, in fact, the major salmon food, there have been verbal reports of salmon eating alewives. Hopefully, time will prove these reports to be true.

Chinook salmon were introduced into the Great Lakes in the late 19th cen-

tury and again just after World War I. These established breeding populations for a few years and then disappeared. In 1967, over 800,000 young chinook were planted in three Michigan streams. When the temperature of the streams rises, the young migrate downstream and enter the lake. As the chinooks increase in size, they feed on lake herring, alewives and other small fish. Most chinooks mature in four years. Like the cohos, chinooks grow rapidly; in 1969 about 43,000 were taken by sports fishermen, weighing an average of fifteen pounds each. The Michigan Department of Conservation took 83,000 more chinooks and cohos at their wiers totaling 950,000 pounds. In 1970, one weighing 24 pounds was taken along the Chicago lakefront. Really large salmon are expected this fall as the first mature fish approach the streams.

If chinooks are principally dependent on alewives for forage, evidently the 1967 alewife die-off, followed by an apparent reduction in alewife abundance, did not influence either survival or growth of chinooks. Most of the alewife ilie-

Loren P. Woods is Curator of Fishes in the Department ot Zoology at Field Museum.

BULLETIN/ August 1970 chinooks off consists of three-year and older fish and some yearlings. Perhaps are eating pelagic two-year-olds.

into In 1966, nearly one million 4 to 6 inch coho fingerlings were introduced two Lake Michigan streams and one Lake Superior stream. By September, some of these had grown to 17 to 23 inches and weights of two and one-half to seven pounds. In 1967, more than two million coho were introduced into five streams, and in 1968, 3 million fingerlings were introduced. The recreational fishing that developed as a result of these plantings has been widely publicized and fishing has spread around the lake. The largest fish are caught in the late summer to and early fall, when the adults return to their parent streams spawn.

' Unlike the other Pacific salmon, cohos have a three-year rather than a four- in the year life cycle. After fall spawning, the eggs hatch mid-winter, fry remaining in the nest for a few weeks. Once the fry have left the nest, they feed in the streams for one year before entering the lake. They grow rapidly in the lake; some males are ready to spawn after only one summer in the lake. The majority do not return to spawn until after their second summer, when they are three years of age. Once they reach maturity, they have only a few weeks to enter their parent stream and spawn before they die. They die even though they do not enter a stream or spawn.

The few streams in which cohos are planted do not have sufficient spawning grounds for the returning fish, so large numbers are diverted at the stream mouth, where they are led into impoundments. Some are taken to hatcheries, sold. where they are used to produce more fry. The rest are given away or has sent for to the other states bordering Lake Michigan Michigan fry stocking Chicago Tribune photo to increase the number of home stream runs and broaden the areas of summer- fall angling.

During the first year of coho salmon fishing, 1967, anglers caught about 35,000 fish. In 1968, about 100,000 were taken. There was a further increase in 1969 when anglers harvested 132,000 cohos, weighing 1.25 million pounds, an average of 9.5 pounds per fish.

THE ECOLOGICAL BALANCE, how is the introduction of these various exotic salmon likely to affect the native fishes, whose adaptations to oligotrophic (deep, cold, clear lake water with low nutrient supply) conditions and whose ecological balance has been established over thousand of years?

From mere collecting of vital statistics on the stocks of commercial species, the various state and federal fishery departments have moved into management. But the management of a body of water the size of Lake Michigan is management of a system, the complexity of which is beyond anything ever attempted.— If the principal abundant species is reduced to one forage fish —the alewife whose numbers fluctuate widely because of periodic die-offs, and a couple of predator species—coho and Chinook—this results in a highly unstable situation. Consider too, that this new management system is being superimposed upon the whitefish, chub and lake trout population and their foods. Lake trout are being introduced on a scale equal to that of salmon introduction in the hopes of restoring the predator-prey relationships between lake trout and chubs, both of which live in deep water.

Another matter that directly concerns everyone is whether this management can be carried out under the relatively free enterprise system we have now. Will even greater restrictions be placed upon commercial fishermen and the managing be done only for recreational fishing and associated enterprises? The

use of large mesh gill nets was abolished in 1968 in parts of Lakes Michigan and Superior to prevent commercial fishermen from taking salmon, and presum-

BULLETIN/ August 1970 restrictions ably, to allow a building of breeding stocks of lake trout. Further are being considered. Will it be necessary to phase out comnnercial fishing?

The answers to such econonnic questions lie in the biological results of the

present fish introductions. If these salmon can only be maintained by continued artificial means, requiring large brood stock, it may be necessary to find other solutions, such as controlling alewives by fishing beyond their reproductive capacity and reducing their numbers.

RISING DDT LEVELS. The most serious problem associated with the coho program has been with the residual pesticide, DDT. At one of the Michigan hatcheries, a large number of eggs and fry died and studies indicated DDT to be the cause. Eggs of Lake Michigan coho had DDT residues 2 to 5 times higher than eggs from Lake Superior coho. Losses from Lake Michigan

fry ranged from 15 percent to more than 50 percent, while mortality of Lake

Superior fry was negligible. Formerly, the state of Michigan sold excess coho to a commercial packing company for processing. Shipments of these frozen coho were found to contain significant DDT levels, but at the time, no stan- dards had been set regarding a "safe" level for human consumption. In April, 1969, the Food and Drug Administration set a limit of 5 parts per million for DDT and its derivatives.

A three-year study (from 1965 to 1968) reported that levels of DDT and its breakdown derivatives, DDD and DDE, ranged from 3.5 to 5.5 parts per million in the eggs and from 5.0 to 8.5 parts per million in the flesh. This same study analyzed nine other species of fish from each of the Great Lakes, including two species which were common to all five lakes. The report, given by fish and wildlife physiologists Carr and Reinhart in 1968, concluded that, "Fish from Lake Michigan contained the highest concentration of DDT—two to four times

as much as similar species from the other lakes . . . During the three years of Chicago Tribune photo this study (1965-1968), DDT levels in the Great Lakes fishes showed no detect- able trend."

DDT has since been banned in Ontario, Wisconsin and Michigan. Although strong bills to curb its use in Illinois have received much attention and support, action is still pending. However, this very concern has led to voluntary curbing of the use of DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons in the lake watershed.

It is very difficult to determine the amount of DDT and its derivatives in the

environmental system. DDT has a great affinity for fat. It is taken up by organ-

isms so quickly that it is useless to monitor the water. Some residues are found in bottom silt of lake tributary streams, but most of the DDT that gets into the water seems to pass through the food web and much is eventually concentrated in the predators—not only fishes, but also fish-eating and scavenger birds.

In areas where known amounts of DDT or other chlorinated hydrocarbons

have been used and subsequent attempts have been made to trace it through the ecosystem, most was found to have disappeared, presumably taken up by organisms.

Apart from pesticides, there is another chlorinated hydrocarbon, the poly- chlorinated-biphenyls (RGB), which eventually can be expected to build up to

levels exceeding those of DDT. RGB is virtually indestructible. It is concentrated in fish and birds in the Great Lakes and other regions in physiologically significant amounts. RGB is used in many industrial products— in the manufacture of plastics, paints, resins, hydraulic fluids and other products—which are

eventually released into the environment. As yet, no studies have been made on tolerance levels of RGB or on its effects on animals of the food web, diatoms and planktonic algae.

BULLETIN/ August 1970 Photo by John Hendry

THE CLADOPHORA MENACE, a recently developed nui- sance, as a result of nutrient buildup in Lake Michigan, is an excess of the blanket weed, Cladophora. This dark green, filamentous, branching algae grows attached to rocks, pilings, seawalls and boats. When attached, it is a sheltering place for several kinds of small crustaceans and also a feeding and sheltering place for small fishes. The nitrogenous wastes from domestic sewage and phosphates, especially from detergents and field runoff, are both essential nutrients for the growth of this algae. Field experiments have shown that if either nutrient is absent, Cladophora growth is minimal. Usually, phosphates and nitrates are not abundant in an oligotrophic lake such as Lake Michigan.

In spring, the rocks and pilings are bare of growth; Cladophora needs a water temperature of at least 50°. Other requirements are good light, clear, active water and sufficient nutrient materials.

In former years, Cladophora grew to only a few inches length during the summer and most of it remained attached to rocks. However, given sufficient nutrients, the filaments grow much longer and when pounded by waves during storms, are broken off. The mats of algae continue to grow, even though un- attached, and drift along shore. If carried into turbid waters, some die and decompose, liberating their nutrients for recycling.

The problems with Cladophora that have arisen in many parts of Lake Michigan become acute when the floating mats plug water intake systems or are washed ashore onto beaches and begin to decompose. The shiny and amorphous mats look and smell like sewage. The beaches may be covered with windrows of algae and the edges and shallows of beaches offshore may

BULLETIN/ August 1970 be anywhere from ankle to knee deep in algae. Since nnost Cladophora growth

is in the areas of enrichment (I.e., excess nutrients mentioned above) in the vicinities of cities and because most of the algae that is broken loose is tossed

onto nearby beaches, it Is primarily the cities that are forced to deal with the problem. Removal is difficult because of the very nature of the algae. Chemicals and practical methods of destroying the mats offshore have not been developed. Having a crew of men rake the algae from the edge of the beach, then bulldoze

it into piles or load it onto trucks, is not only highly inefficient, but very costly.

The only solution to the problem appears to be reduction of nutrient materials that the Cladophora depends on, and this is also costly. Sewage treatment can be and is quite effective in the removal of nitrogenous materials, but utilizing this method for the removal of phosphates is very expensive. One method of removal is to send the effluent onto land covered by plant growth, but few urban regions have such areas available for this type of disposal. Recycling of nutrients as well as other pollutants as such would seem to be at the heart of nearly all of our waste disposal problems. Cou rtesy of Federal Water Pollution Control Administration INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION. Overall, Lake Michigan is still in good condition. Its great mass of deep, cold water has maintained its oligotrophic condition and abundant life. However, industrial pollution continues to affect certain areas of the lake. The southern part of Green Bay is so badly polluted

that the city of Green Bay draws its water across the peninsula from open Lake Michigan rather than from Green Bay. Other locally polluted areas are mostly in tributary rivers and in the vicinity of the larger cities.

The Calumet industrial area just south of Chicago, among the heaviest industrial complexes in the world, has significant pollution. Here are located ten major steel mills, five great petroleum refineries, five other large industries (mostly chemical) and a large number of smaller concerns. The kinds and

number of aquatic plants and animals living here reflect the water quality in that area. According to government surveys by Federal Water Quality Admin- istration, pollution become more severe between 1965 and 1967. The amounts of iron, sulphates, cyanide and phenols were all significantly higher. The water quality at a southern Chicago and a Gary water intake were below standard. Generally, conditions on Chicago beaches and Indiana beaches were satisfac-

10 BULLETIN/ August 1970 form of contami- tory, except when winds locked in contamination. The worst nation so far has been periodic oil spills or bilge oil. This has extended along shore, causing beaches to be closed and bird kills. Not only a local problem,

oil spills occur in many industrial harbor areas throughout the Great Lakes.

The same water of the Great Lakes is used over and over again. In 1954 there were 2000 industries using nearly 3000 billion gallons of Great Lakes water. 96 percent of this was returned to the source after using. The greatest industrial water use in the Great Lakes is for electrical power. Steam generators

take water through their turbines and return it to the source relatively unchanged. The next greatest use appears to be in the primary metal industries, which utilize nearly half of all water withdrawn. All other industries utilize the other half.

POLLUTION AND PUBLIC CONCERN, untii quite re-

cently, water pollution has been primarily a concern of the public health

departments. If there were no known pathogens and if the water smelled and

tasted all right, its quality was considered good.

During the past three years, other forms of pollution have been mentioned in the scientific literature, and more and more often in the news. There were reports of mercury poisoning from Japan in 1953, 1960 and 1965 (more than 100 people were killed or disabled in one community). In Sweden, bird populations decreased and subsequently fresh water fish were found to contain large amounts of mercury. Various mercury compounds are used in pulp and paper Sun-Times photo by Bob Kotalik production, as fungicides—especially in treatment of seeds, in herbicides (crab grass control) and in antifouling paints for ships as well as in the manufacture of other products. In April, 1970, because of their mercury level, fishes from Lake Erie were withdrawn from the Canadian market and embargoed; a month later, all commercial fishing in Lake Erie was ordered halted by the state of Ohio. About the same time, sport fishing in Lake St. Clair and in the St. Clair River were banned by Michigan. Within the past few weeks, mercury has been found in Lake Michigan waters. There are reports from many other regions that fishes and drinking water have been found to contain dangerously high levels. Mercury, like DDT, moves through the food web of aquatic animals and regardless of the chemical form in which it is introduced, it is eventually converted to its most toxic form, methyl-mercury. There have been Senate Com- merce Committee meetings and international meetings between the United States and Canada on the problem. Where sources of pollution have been located, the mercury levels have been reduced or eliminated.

Airports and dikes sealing off the southwest corner of Lake Michigan may become the most important problems in the future. But there are numerous immediate problems and insufficient information to lead us to a quick solution. At least we now recognize that to maintain water quality, there must be a thriving aquatic life.

The problems won't wait while the laborious data collecting and analysis are completed. Despite the upswing of investigation by government and private agencies and institutions, despite the large numbers of people working on lake problems, both biological and physical, much more has to be learned if we are to stop the deterioration of water quality. Changes in the lake waters and biota cannot be stopped, but the process of increasing nutrients can be slowed, temperature levels can be held to normal and input of toxic materials can be stopped.

Pollution problems are increasing. Great expenditures of effort and money are going to be required to prevent further deterioration and preserve the lake, our most valuable resource, so it can be used in the future as it has been in the past. Q

BULLETIN/ August 1970 11 DIEFFENBACHIA-

A POISONOUS HOUSE PLANT

DR. JOHNNIE L GENTRY, JR.

Dumb cane is probably the most common source of poisoning from fiouse

plants. It is a member of the aroid family. A native of tropical forests, it has become a common household plant and is used ornamentally in public places.

The irritant property of dumb cane has been known for centuries. The natives of the upper Amazon used one species in combination v\/ith curare as an arrow/ poison. The cut stalk was rubbed into the mouths of slaves in Jamaica as a form of punishment. Roots of the plant were sliced and boiled in wine for use as a bath in the treatment of gout.

The plant produces an intense burning sensation when eaten raw and is accompanied by severe swelling of the mouth and tongue. This leads to difficulty in swallowing or to complete inability to swallow. The swelling usually begins to lessen in about four days, but the pain abates more slowly and remains severe for about eight days. The juice will produce dermatitis in susceptible individuals when brought in contact with the skin. Dieffenbachia gets its com-

mon name (dumb cane) from the effect it has on the mouth and tongue. Speech becomes thick and unintelligible and sometimes the tongue is completely im- mobilized. Some people have even suffocated as a result of their tongue's

having swelled so much that it blocked their air passages.

It was originally believed that the toxicity of dumb cane was due to the needle-like calcium oxalate crystals in the juice of the plant. Others have sug-

gested that it might be caused by the presence of alkaloids, saponins or a toxic protein. Just recently, F. W. Fochtman and co-workers demonstrated that the toxicity of the juice is actually caused by a "protein-like" substance rather than the oxalate crystals. Certainly, at least a part of the pain is caused by irritation of the sharp pointed crystals penetrating the tissues of the mouth and tongue.

Some people find it difficult to believe that a plant as common and familiar as dumb cane could possibly cause such pain and discomfort. The first bite is enough to prove the point in question.

Many other cultivated aroids will cause a similar reaction. These include

such commonly known plants as: alocasia, caladium, calla lily, elephant's-ear, malanga, and some philodendrons.

Wax and plastic models of some members of the aroid family can be observed in the Museum's Hall 29, case 812.

Dr. Johnnie L Gentry, Jr. is Assistant Curator of Botany at Field Museum. 12 BULLETIN/ August 1970 Previous to the Chicago Exposition in 1893, I had collected very extensively material on the North American Indians, putting myself in touch with all parts of THE MUSEUM'S North America through Indian traders wherever I could hear of them; and I finally

I in con- got in contact with most of them. had bought Indian paraphernalia in FIRST MILLION siderable quantities, and in the World's Fair my private collection exhibited the Department of Anthropology constituted quite an important section of that in- exhibit. During the Fair I often went to see the different collections and, deed, studied everything very carefully; and as a result I early saw that there would be a tremendous amount of material from different countries, as well as from all parts of America, that could be secured at a minimum price at the end in had of the exposition. I had collected a good deal the Americas and already collected a little here and there in Europe during the several years that I had to start natural been going abroad, and I felt that the time had come a history museum in Chicago at the end of the World's Fair and that the opportunity should not be allowed to pass.

At the various Chicago clubs I came into familiar association with the leading men of the city at the table and at card games, so I began on all occasions to urge the importance of our getting material for a museum at the close of the

World's Fair. There were several others who thought as I did—among the principal ones being George M. Pullman, Norman Ream, and James Ellsworth. These men endorsed and backed up my remarks. Of course Marshall Field was the richest man we had among us in those days, so during our fishing trips and on social occasions when I would meet Mr. Field I began to talk to him (and others did, too) about giving a million dollars to start with. He always responded,

The article is Edward E. "I don't know anything about a museum and I don't care to know anything following own account of tiow Marshall about a museum. I'm not going to give you a million dollars." Ayer's Field donated the first million dollars to start Field Museum. was the It went on this way, but we were all good enough friends to permit of our Ayer first of the from talking about it whenever the opportunity arose, so it was broached to Marshall president Museum, 1894-98. The account is from Field a good many times before the end of Fair, but he persistently answered excerpted The Life of Edward E. Frank as at first. Finally, when it was only a month now until the end of the Fair, a Ayer, by Lockwood and in 1929. meeting was called and a committee of about twenty was appointed to see what published could be done about a museum. I was not present at the first meeting, but I was at the second. By this time the widespread business panic of '93 had developed, and those present at the first meeting saw plainly that we were going to have a difficult time to raise the money for the museum. They know that Edward E. Ayer shown in a portrait surrounded American Indian artilacts and Marshall Field had been for a of a by repeatedly unsuccessfully approached gift books. million dollars—the amount considered necessary to make a start—so at this Courtesy of the Newberry Library first meeting they had concluded the only thing they could do would be to raise two or three hundred thousand dollars, buy what they could with that small amount of money, get donations of as much of the material exhibited as possible, and store everything until with the coming of better times they could secure the museum.

I was asked my opinion and replied that I thought the plan would be impossible for the reason that ninety per cent of the natural history material, such as feather-work and leather-work would deteriorate and in time be destroyed.

They then asked what I would suggest in place of the plan they had presented. My advice was that, in view of the impossibility of starting our museum, we raise as much money as possible, purchase what we wanted, and from this make four working collections—one for the University of Chicago, one for North-

western, one for Beloit College, and one for the University of Illinois. I was

asked what I would do in that case with my Indian collection. I said I would

give that to the University of Chicago, or dispose of it in any other way that the

members of the committee thought best. I went away from the meeting and that

very night got a letter from James Ellsworth asking me if I would not see

BULLETIN/ August 1970 13 Marshall Field once more. I wrote back that I would do so, but that I did not

t)elieve it would do an atom of good.

The next rTK}ming I was in Mr. Field's office when he arrived at about half

past nine. I said:

"Marshall Field, I want to see you tonight after dinner."

"You can't do it," tie replied, "I have a dinner party and shall be late."

"Well, the next night."

"No, I have another engagement then."

"Well. I have to see you right away; it is important."

"You want to talk to me atxiut that darned museum," was his reply to this.

"Yes," I admitted.

"How much time do you want?"

I replied, "If I cant talk you out of a million dollars in fifteen minutes. I'm no good, nor you either."

"He got up, closed the door, came tjack. and said. Fire ahead."

I commenced in this way, 'Marshall Field, how many men or women twenty- five years of age or younger know that A. T. Stewart ever lived?"

"Not one," he replied.

I continued, "Marshall Field, he was a greater merchant than you. or Claflm. or Wanamaker, k>ecause he originated and worked out the scheme that made you all rich; and he is forgotten in twenty-five years. Now. Marshall Field, you

can sell dry goods until Hell freezes over; you can sell it on the ice until that melts; and in twenty-five years you will be just the figure A. T. Stewart is— absolutely forgotten. You have an opportunity here that has tjeen vouchsafed to very few people on earth. From the point of view of natural history you have the privilege of t)eing the educational host of the untold millions of people who will follow us in the Mississippi Valley. There is practically no museum of any kind within five hundred miles; and these children who are growing up in this region by hundreds of thousands haven't the remotest opportunity of learning about the ordinary things they see and talk atxjut and hear atxjut every day of

their lives, and it does seem a crime not to provide them with the information

" they need.

I talked fast and steady. Finally, he took out his watch and said. "You have t)een here forty-five minutes—you get out of here."

. I replied. "Marshall Reld. you have tjeen tjetter to me than you ever have

t)een t)efore; you have always said No, and you haven't this time—yet. Now I - _ want you to do me a personal favor I want you to go through this Worid's Fair

with me and let me show jxiu the amount of material tfiat is there—I mean

* - exactly what there is that can tje used in a natural history museum; for ttie

collections can be gotten very cheap, much of ttie material for nothing. I want you to go through the Worid's Fair with me before you say No."

"Well, Ed," he replied, "I should like to go through with you. George Pull- man told me that you had shown him through and that he had t)een astounded himself at the quantity of material that was there. My brother Joe is here and

I should like to have you go with us. We will do it tomorrow moming at ten

14 BUU-ETIN/ August 1970 o'clock."

We went through the whole exhibition. When we came out a little before

I to office tomorrow one o'clock, I said, "Can Norman Ream and come your morning at half-past nine and see you about this matter?"

"Yes," he answered.

We were there promptly, and he gave the million dollars with which to start the Museum. George Pullman gave a hundred thousand, Mr. Harlow Higin- botham gave a hundred thousand, my friend Mrs. George Sturges gave fifty to worth a hundred thousand, and I put in my collection which was estimated be thousand. In addition to all this the great concerns that had provided money for the founding of the World's Fair contributed their shares of exposition stock a and, as we realized about fifty cents on the dollar on this, we had about million and a half dollars to begin with, besides a large amount of stuff that was given to us from the various exhibits. D D D

During all the remainder of his life Mr. Field's interest in the Museum increased. He left a bequest of eight million dollars at the time of his death, and he had in mind a final magnificent gift when he suddenly passed away. He, personally, enjoyed the Museum very much and from time to time made large contributions toward the current expenses of the Institution; so, naturally, his relatives and friends became interested. A nephew, Mr. Stanley Field [President of the Museum from 1908-1962] is, and has long been, president of the institu- Field's Field tion; and Marshall grandson [Marshall III] annually gives very large amounts for its support.

The Field Columbian Museum, as it was then called, was formally opened June 2, 1894. Mr. Ayer presided, having been elected as its first president. It was a notable occasion. The orator of the day, Mr. Edward G. Mason, closed his inspiring address with these words:

Edward E. Ayer The first museum, from which the name has been handed down through the centuries, established by the old Egyptian king in the once proud city of Alexandria, was set apart for the use of one privileged class alone. But this museum knows no distinction of class or condition of men. It holds for all its wealth of opportunities for instruction and for research, and its treasures are to be had tor the asking. No man can measure the amount of pure and elevated pleasure, of real and lasting benefit, which will be derived from it by the mul- titudes who will throng its halls from this time henceforth. Nor can we lightly estimate the continuing tribute of thankfulness which they will gladly pay to its benefactors and especially to those whom we honor as its founders. To them it is not easy to render a fitting meed of praise. But they already have a reward in that consciousness of a grand deed grandly done, of which nothing can deprive them. This great creation is due to a munificence far more than princely. A prince can only give his people's money. These donors have given of their very own freely, lavishly, for the good of their city and of their race. As we enter into their labors there enter with us the rejoicing shades of the philan- thropists of all time to welcome this latest exemplification of the spirit of those who love their fellow men, and in their shining list will forever appear the names of the founders of the Field Columbian Museum.

At the close of this eloquent peroration. President Ayer, who was to live to see the whole vision and prophecy come true, with raised gavel said, "I now declare the Field Columbian Museum open." BULLETIN/ August 1970 15 »«.••<

'^m Daybreak Song

All night the gods were with us, Now night is gone;

Silence the rattle, Sing the daybreak song. For in the dawn Bluebird calls,

With voice melodious. Bluebird calls. And out from his blankets of tumbled gray The Sun comes, combing his hair for the day.

Navajo Ceremonial Song

BULLETIN/ August 1970 17 Sixteenth Century churcli of Nuestra Senora de la Merced in Antigua, Guatemala.

GUATEMALA TOUR — OCTOBER 24 TO NOVEMBER 8

Field Museum's Natural History Tour of Guatemala promises not only exciting places to visit, but expert guidance as well. The principal ruins the Tour will visit are Kaminaljuyu, believed by many archaeologists to be the site of the culture which later moved to Tikal; Iximche, a highland center of the Maya Quiche; and the rain forests ruins of Tikal, one of the most important and largest centers of the classical Mayas.

The Tour will also visit private homes and gardens in Guatemala City, colonial Antigua, on the slopes of the Volcano Fuego, in Pacific lowland jungles and at highland Quezaltenango. Mountain pine forests, sub-tropical Lake Atitlan, the Pacific lowland tropics and the rain forests of Peten will be visited.

Climaxing the Tour will be the traditional festivities on All Saints Day at Chichicastenango, when the rituals and colorful processions blend Christianity with Mayan paganism. Serving as the Tour's expert on the ruins and on the Indian communities will be Dr. Edwin M. Shook, one of the world's leading archaeological specialists on the area. Dr. Shook headed the Tikal project of the University from 1955 to 1964; he is executive director of the John Lloyd Stephens Foundation, which specializes In Maya research. For the past year, Dr. Shook has been engaged in excavations at Monte Alto, Guatemala.

Dr. Jorge Ibarra, the Director of Guatemala's National Museum of Natural History and the Ed- itor of the magazine "Natura y Pro-Natura," will join the tour at Lake Tikal. An internationally famous ornithologist. Dr. Ibarra was largely responsible for the recent establishment of Lake Atitlan as a refuge for the flightless grebe, an endangered species which exists no place else. He will also accompany the tour to Tikal, site of rain forest fauna. Phil Clark, Natural History Tours Chief, will lead the tour, and serve as the specialist on horticulture and botany.

18 BULLETIN/ August 1970 FIELD BRIEFS

NEW POSITION FOR DR. INGER

Dr. Robert F. Inger has been appointed Chairman, Scientific Programs at in as Field Museum of Natural History. Dr. Inger joined the Museum staff 1946 Assistant, Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, and has served as Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles since 1954.

As Chairman, Scientific Programs, a position recently created by the Museum, coordinator Dr. Inger v^^ill act as principal scientific advisor to the Director, and of interdepartmental scientific affairs.

Dr. Inger lectures in biology at the University of Chicago and is Adjunct Pro- fessor of Anatomy at the University of Illinois (Medical Center). He serves as Chairman of the Study Committee of the Ecological Society of America.

The recipient of numerous research grants. Dr. Inger has recently returned from Malaysia, where he investigated the ecology of amphibians and reptiles in conjunction with a National Science Foundation grant.

SUMMER SCHOLARS Dr. Robert F. Inger (right) sorts and catalogs specimens of frogs and lizards while on a recent to Borneo. Field Museum has granted four scholarships to students interested in Mu- expedition Working with Dr. Inger are two Dyak youths. seum work for summer 1970. The students are spending the summer in the Museum's scientific departments studying various aspects of research and collection care.

Shinner Scholarships were awarded to Donald Shuster from Michigan State University, who works in the Department of Geology with Dr. Eugene S. Richard- son, curator of fossil invertebrates, and Walter Koenig from Stanford University, who is spending the summer with Loren Woods, curator of fishes.

Veronica Sebeok from the University of Chicago, who has been granted a Le Bus Scholarship, is working under Dr. Donald Collier, chief curator of anthropology. Working with Philip Hershkovitz, research curator of mammals, is Madeline D. Kanner from the University of Wisconsin, who was awarded a Rowley Fellowship. EXPEDITIONS

During the month of September, Dr. John Clark, associate curator of sedi- mentary petrology, and Orville L. Gilpin, chief preparator of fossils, will continue their ongoing research into ancient climates and geography in Wyoming, Col- orado and Nebraska.

Dr. Bertram Woodland, curator of igneous and metamorphic petrology, will lead an expedition to the northeastern states and Quebec from July 20 through August 8. He will visit a number of sites in the area to examine and collect structures in metamorphic rocks with particular attention to special features of mineral development and occurrence. NEW CAMERA CLUB PRESIDENT

Dr. William C. Burger, assistant curator of vascular plants, has been elected president of the Nature Camera Club of Chicago. The club, one of the few of its kind in the country, is open to any amateur photographer with an interest in nature. Members meet at the Museum the second Tuesday of each month except in July and August. The club is well

known for the annual Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photography which it co-sponsors with Field Museum and which draws thousands of photographic entries from all over the world.

BULLETIN/ August 1970 19 FIELD BRIEFS

STANLEY FIELD HALL RECEIVES AWARD

Stanley Field Hall was recently presented an award at the 16th Annual Distinguished Buildings and Honor Awards Program, sponsored by the Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Chicago Association of Com- merce and Industry.

The award cited the remodeling of the hall, which was completed In 1968. The juries, composed of well-known Chicago architects, designers, professors and deans of schools of architecture, praised the "restrained mood of the hall, In keeping with the formality of a museum."

In the remodeling, two fountains, totem poles, key lighting, and marble benches were added. New platforms were constructed for the elephants and the dinosaur, and their positions shifted. VOLUNTEERS HONORED

Thirty-seven volunteers who contributed a total of 6,116 hours to Field Mu- seum during 1969 were honored recently at a reception at the Museum.

The volunteers served an average of 165 hours per person during the year. The highest individual figure was 864 hours. The total number of hours represents an Increase of more than 50% over 1968.

In honor of their dedication, each volunteer received a reproduction of a Lion-Dog from the Ch'Ing Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911) that Is In the Museum's permanent collection. The decorative gilt-bronze piece is a symbol of courage and protection in Asian Buddhism and folklore.

Twenty of the men and women assisted In the Museum's departments of anthropology, botany, geology and zoology, the library and the exhibition department. Their work ranged from filing and typing to cataloging of specimens and restoration work.

Seventeen volunteers, specially trained as greeters and guides, served the Museum's Department of Education, supplementing the work of staff lecturers. In 1969, the department gave 1,993 organized tours, involving 77,327 youngsters. Of this figure, 398 groups, or 11,354 students, were handled by volunteers.

Eric Gritzmacher, Ezra Zubrow and John STUDENT EXPEDITION IN ARIZONA Johnson (I to r) are among the 12 students participating in the archaeological program Twelve undergraduate students from colleges and universities throughout the at Vernon, Arizona. country are participating in Field Museum's seventh annual, tuition-exempt summer archaeological program at the Museum's field station In Vernon, Arizona.

Under the direction of Dr. Paul Martin, chief curator emeritus of the Mu- seum's anthropology department, and supported by a National Science Founda- tion grant, the program is designed to allow each participant to conceive and test hypotheses dealing with cultural processes or changes In past soclo- cultural systems. Students will collect data relevant to their individual project from excavations or reconnaissance, analyse and test, learn how to do research and how to set forth the results in lucid exposition.

"Our ultimate goal (as archaeologists)," Dr. Martin told the students, "Is to formulate laws of cultural dynamics in order to explain cultural changes over long time spans . . . The results will be relevant to contemporary problems because they will allow us to understand the cultural principles that govern or cause these problems, and therefore will enable us to construct meaningful solutions."

20 BULLETIN/ August 1970 CALENDAR

HOURS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

THROUGH AUGUST 31: A Cast of Australopithecus boisei, a hominid cranium about 1.75 million years old. Discovered in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania by Mary Leakey in 1959, it was found associated with crude stone tools. South Lounge. field museum's Summer Journey for Children, "West African Art and Music." A free, self- natural guided tour designed to familiarize youngsters who can read and write with history art forms of four West African peoples. Journey sheets available at Museum tours entrances. gardens THROUGH SEPTEMBER 4: wild flowers Free Guided Tour and Film Program — Monday through Friday birds 2 Museum tour — Leaves North information desk. archaeology p.m.: "highlights" congenial travel companions 3 p.m.: "Through These Doors" •— Behind the scenes at Field Museum on interpretations by experts film — Lecture Hall. the unhurried approach travel with all dimensions CONTINUING: John James Audubon's elephant folio, The Birds of America," on display GUATEMALA in the North A different of this first-edition of an LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST Lounge. page rare, copy, gift Oct. 24-Nov. 8 anonymous donor, is shown daily. $1,280 includes $400 donation 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan of examines man and his world, the history of Field Museum and Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, Discovery, on All Saints Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango current research projects through exciting display techniques. Hall 3. Day. Lake Atitlan. THE INCA'S EMPIRE & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, &Feb.4-March5. $2,807 includes $600 donation. (22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190-separately) Gardens in Bogota, Lima, La Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Tiahua- naco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

LEADER ON ALL TOURS, PHIL CLARK, former Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author, "A Guide to Mexican Flora"; Field Museum Natural His- tory Tours Chief; accompanied by Archaeolo- gists specialized in the areas. SPECIAL TEMPORARY EXHIBIT: All donations to Field Museum are Illinois the Sea: A Coal continues October tax deductible. By Age Environment, through Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 25. Two sites once located on the shores of an inland sea that occupied from other points. Central Illinois 300 million years ago are graphically explored. One section Write: Field Museum presents marine and non-marine fossil concretions of an unusual nature. Natural History Tours Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. Another vividly shows how the fish population reacted when over-crowding Chicago, III. 60605 occurred. Hall 9.

v.v ^T7 1

Bulletin

Volume 41, Number 9 September 1970

The Vanishing Peregrine? by Melvin A. Traylor a detailed discussion of the reasons behind the decline of the Peregrine falcon

Hornbill Carving by Christopher C. Legge a brief exploration of the use of hornbill ivory in intricate carvings

Byssus by Virginia M. Straub 10 the curious history of byssus, a fine but resilient fiber

Aurantia argiope by Henry S. Dybas 14 a profile of the orange garden spider

The Lost Star 15

New Books 16

Crossword 17

Children's Worlcshops 18

Field Briefs 19

Calendar 20

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber

Editor Joyce Zibro; Associate Editor Victoria Haider; Staff Writers Madge Jacobs, Janet Piatt; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans.

Falcon illustrations by Zbigniew T. Jastrzebski.

The BULLETIN is published monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Distributed free to members of the Museum, The BULLETIN may be subscribed to through Museum membership. School subscriptions will be given special consideration. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Printed by Field Museum Press.

Bulletin September 1970 file vanishing

WKf

^yvgKS-- ;'ya^ ----I- rs...

by Melvin A. Traylor been associated with man since the ear- most successful and best publicized In- liest records of falconry, which date dividual was a female that raised 21 back to 2000 B.C. in the Orient. Fal- young in 16 years on the Sun Life Assur- Yet, when I that man has wiped out say conry, the art of hunting with the diurnal ance Building in Montreal. 10,000 of insects and snails in species birds of prey, was and still is a sport of are the 200 at most there are The female Peregrines much larger past years, the aristocracy of the Middle East, and raised Alan Solem, Bulletin than the males. Female dominance is eyebrows." was introduced on a large scale in Eu- factor in successful Field 1970. an important pair- Museum, April rope with the return of the Crusaders. ing, for the size difference enables the When Dr. Solem penned the above By the 12th century it flourished in all pair to take advantage of a greater countries of and in all ranks of words, he was forcefully illustrating the Europe range of prey. Peregrines go through a of man, that charac- society. anthropocentrism complicated courtship ritual. Food may teristic that causes him to the place The Peregrine feeds on other birds, and be offered or dropped to the female on most value on those forms of life that are hunts by circling above its quarry, and the ledge, or transferred to her in the "highest," i.e. nearest to man, in the then dropping down on it in a fierce air. The pair may indulge in billing at animal kingdom. While man may be- dive or swoop. If It misses, it uses its the nest; they may nibble toes, and mu- moan and write books about the passing momentum to again climb above its tually preen feathers. They also may of the Passenger Pigeon or the Carolina prey, so that it may stoop again and chase each other and stage mock Parakeet, the disappearance of bugs again until it seizes the victim. Pairs of attacks. and excites no interest. But de- slugs Peregrines often hunt together; one man's has The female Peregrine usually lays three spite all, anthropocentrism waits while the other chases the prey to five and Incubation takes about some features; when an ani- eggs, redeeming Into a vulnerable position. This spec- 30 In the the male mal with which man can is en- days. early stages, identify tacular mode of hunting made the Pere- all the food. The of time all available resources are supplies length dangered, grine the favorite of falconers, and its for marshalled to save it. required development depends par- use was restricted to royalty and the tially on how often and how much the inter- The Falcon is one higher nobility. Although popular Peregrine certainly young Peregrines are fed. The young of our most birds, est in Peregrines declined as firearms magnificent graceful, remain with their parents in the general to an esoteric swift and bold, the perfect hunter. It has relegated falconry sport, it has been revived In many cities by the falcon's willingness to accept modern skyscrapers as substitutes for the nat-

ural cliffs on which it normally nests. Some pairs have successfully raised MelxAn A. Traylor is Associate Curator of their in this Birds in the Department of Zoology at young situation, feeding Field Museum. them on the abundant city pigeons; the

Bulletin September 1970 vicinity of their nest for two weeks to a month. In some species, hunting groups of juveniles are organized; eventually these are broken up by either fall migration or the invasion of aggressive territory-seeking adults.

When it became evident in the late fifties that the number of Peregrines was suffering a catastrophic decline, a con- certed effort was made in many nations to find the causes and to remedy them. Through the cooperation of students around the world, the main reasons for the decline are now known. The remedy will require the cooperation of the political world as well as the scientific; hopefully we will someday be able to show how the Peregrine was saved rather raised 21 in 16 old to viable than how it became extinct. This female Peregrine young ing birds were too lay eggs. the Sun Life Assurance Building years atop In the United States, Herbert and Skelton in Montreal. lived on the abundant city Prior to World War II, the Peregrine was They pigeons. reported at the 1953 meeting of the a highly successful species, occurring American Ornithologists' Union that the as a breeding bird throughout the world, Peregrines of the Hudson River series from the subarctic regions to Australia thus more vulnerable to attack. The had failed to raise even a single young and southern South America. Even in population of Peregrines in the eastern that year. the heavily populated areas of Europe United States before the war was prob- and America it held its own, despite the By 1958, continuing reports of declining ably 350-400 breeding pairs. attention of egg collectors and falconers numbers caused the Finnish League for who often took young birds from the The serious decline of the Peregrine the Protection of Nature to begin a full nest. One reason for its success was its began in the late forties in the eastern scale investigation. A questionnaire to habit of nesting almost Invariably on ver- United States and Germany, and by the the nation's ornithologists and an exten- tical cliff faces in remote areas, where it mid-fifties was general throughout the sive field investigation revealed that only was comparatively free of molestation. United States and northern Europe. 35 of 151 known eyries were occupied Some of the best known nesting sites In However, the impact of this change was that year. The date of the beginning of

the United States were the Palisades slight at first. Most observers were reg- this drop in numbers could not be de- along the Hudson River. The Peregrine ularly watching only a small number of termined, but it must have been in the

fed almost entirely on other birds, usu- eyries, or nesting sites, and when these early fifties. This same year, 1958, saw ally shorebirds and waterfowl. In more began to be abandoned, or the pairs the first recognition of the problem in urban areas, however, its favorite prey failed to raise young, each observer Great Britain when Derek Ratcliffe of was pigeons, particularly the homing thought he was dealing with a purely the Nature Conservancy reported ex- pigeon which was trained to fly in a local problem. One of the first to pub- straight and undeviating path, and was lish on the problem of declining produc-

tivity was C. Demandt, an ornithologist in North Rhine-Westphalia. He noticed that beginning in 1946, pairs were raising fewer and fewer young, and in 1950 he suggested that this might be caused by superannuation, that is, the remain-

Bulletin September 1970 tensive egg eating among breeding What were first believed to be local re- birds, a sign of decreasing productivity. ductions in isolated areas could now Ironically, the subsequent investigation be seen as a population crash on two made in 1961-62 by the British Trust for continents. Ornithology was in response to com- The next obvious problem was to de- plaints by pigeon fanciers that Pere- termine the cause or causes of this grines were increasing their depreda- crash. There were a few areas where tions on homing pigeons. This was special factors were operable that could quickly disproved when it was shown be easily seen. Along the Hudson River, that the species was virtually extinct as the construction of the Palisades Park- a breeding bird in England and Wales. way destroyed one eyrie and caused the The first cooperative study in the United abandonment of several others, since States took place in 1964. In 1939-40, the birds are intolerant of human activ-

Joseph Hickey, now of the Department ity around their nests. In some areas of of Ecology, University of Wisconsin, had West Germany where the Peregrine fed made a survey of all known active mostly on homing pigeons, pigeon fan- eyries east of the Mississippi, then num- ciers persecuted it relentlessly, even to A 17th Century Dutch painter, Aelhert Cuyp, bering about 200. In 1964 he organized portrayed this Peregrine falcon and its young the extent of blasting the cliff faces to master. (Metropolitan Museum of Art) a re-run of his earlier study, and during destroy the eyries. But these factors, al- that summer 133 eyries were visited, America was enthusiastic, and 63 mem- though important locally, cannot explain distributed geographically from Ken- bers and observers from eight nations the synchronicity of the population crash tucky to Maine. In all this area, not a attended. Support for the Conference extending over two continents, and even single occupied site was found; the and the studies that were there reported less the fact that other raptors (birds of species was extirpated east of the on came from a wide variety of sources; prey), particularly the Osprey of the east- Mississippi. the Federal Government, state conserva- ern seaboard, suffered similar declines tion departments, private foundations, simultaneously. The governing cause Jolted by this catastrophic decline and and the pockets of many individuals who by similar situations among other birds paid their own way. of prey that had been reported at a recent Working Conference on Birds of The picture that emerged was consistent Prey and Owls that had been organized on both sides of the Atlantic; in almost by the International Council for Bird all countries the populations of Pere- Preservation, Hickey called for an in- grines were down to only a few percent ternational conference on Peregrine of their pre-war numbers. Only in the populations, that was held at the Univer- wilderness areas of Canada and Alaska sity of Wisconsin in September 1965. were they holding their own. A few The response in Europe and North figures may illustrate this:

Nesting Nesting % Decline Pairs Year Pairs Year Western Wisconsin must be one that is common to devel- Lake Michigan by Hickey, Keith and delousing and anti-malaria campaigns, oped countries, since only the wilder- Coon (1966). but in 1946 its widespread use in agri- ness populations remain unaffected. culture began. It was in the following PPM of DDT and derivatives years that the first declines in breeding The most obvious culprits, and ones (parts per million) success were noted. In low doses, DDT that w^ere fresh in people's minds follow- Bottom sediments 0.014 effects breeding success. The reduced ing the recent publication of Rachel Invertebrates in sediment 0.4-0.5 number of young per pair, always pre- Carson's Silent Spring, were the chlo- Fish feeding on invertebrates 3.4-5.6 ceded the reduction in total numbers. rinated hydrocarbon pesticides, DDT, Gulls feeding on fish muscle 99.0 Nesting failures took the form of broken Dieldrin, and their relatives and deriva- Gulls feeding on fish fat 2441.0 eggs that were eaten by the parent, eggs tives. This group of chemicals has one that failed to hatch, or mated pairs that characteristic that makes them extremely The concentration in the fat of the bird failed to lay at all. Whatever the cause, effective as a pesticide; they are not is almost 200,000 times that of the bot- it affected the reproductive potential only highly toxic but they are persistent, tom sediments. Similar food chains exist before it was lethal to the adults. that is, they remain in a toxic form for on land, and the Peregrine, which breeds years Instead of quickly breaking down Geographically, the areas of drastic re- and feeds in a variety of habitats, par- into their harmless constituents. This duction of Peregrines and of intensive ticipates in both. The fact that many of persistence affords a longer protection agriculture and the use of pesticides our streams and lakes are contaminated. against agricultural pests, but it poses a coincide. In Great Britain, the only area threat to other forms of life because of where the Peregrine has maintained its the cumulative effect of the poisons. numbers is the northern and western When the chlorinated hydrocarbons are highland of Scotland, and this is the consumed by an animal, they are re- one area where there is no agriculture tained in the body rather than excreted, or agricultural chemicals, the land being and the continued consumption of small used for sheep pasturing. The boglands doses may lead to the accumulation of of northern Finland, where there has a lethal concentration in the organism. been a drastic drop in the population, seems an exception because there is no Against this type of poison, predatory agriculture that far north. However, band- animals are particularly vulnerable being returns have shown that Finnish cause they stand at the end of food birds winter in the heavily agricultural chains in which there may be one or areas of France, where they have ample more stages of concentration. A striking opportunity to absorb the chemicals illustration of this comes from a study of prior to their return in the spring to breed. Collection of specimens has shown that do that. In North as well as our agricultural areas, could they just America levels have re- explain how the bird-eating Peregrine population mained in some remote areas and the fish-eating Osprey could be high only decimated by a single cause.

The timing in the use of DDT and its derivatives also coincides with what is known of the population decline of the

Peregrine. During World War II, DDT was used mainly by the Army in its

Bulletin September 1970 of the Rockies, and in northern Canada Peregrine is beside the point; they are Where does this leave the Peregrine? It and Alasl

Bulletin September 1970 Tuj), cietuil of a Cliinese liornbill canjing; center left, a mmidiiriu belt buckle: center right, entire canring of detail slunvn above; lower left, a Chinese snufj bottle with can'ings on sides; lower riglit, a sf>iral ear ornament from Borneo,

Bulletin September 1970 by Christopher C. Legge

It has been said by a noted orientalist, Dr. Schuyler Cannmann, that, "Among all the strange and unusual substances that have been worked by the artists and craftsmen

of Eastern Asia and the Indies, perhaps the oddest and least known is hornbill ivory. This is a dense carvable substance which is found in the solid casque that grows above the beak of the Helmeted Hornbill."

Of the of — many—varieties Hornbi" birds there are over sixty, all from the Eastern Hemisphere the Helmeted Hornbill {Rhinoplax vigil), whose habitat is southern Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo, is the only one with a hard casque, called a "helmet," which is capable of being carved. Except for a white stomach and white bands on its

tail, the Helmeted Hornbill is a dark reddish black. The bird makes a most unusual

noise when flying, a noise that has been compared to the sound of an approaching train. Except in the front portion, this yellow casque is covered with a red sheath. It is this red color that makes the ivory so prized for carving. Experts believe that usually the casques were exported raw and in China, then put through a heating and

pressing process. Unfortunately no detailed description survives. This process preserved and heightened the deep golden and surface red patina of the ivory.

Although there is no definite record of it being brought into China before the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), hornbill ivory came to rival jade in the estimation of the nobil-

ity. There is a story that Yehonale, the Emperor's favorite concubine (she later became Tz'u Hsi, the Empress Dowager) once slipped out of the imperial harem and

flatly refused to re-enter until a special expedition had returned with an ornament for her made of the coveted material.

Field Museum possesses several examples of Chinese carving in this medium; the

most striking is a sixteenth century Ming piece. It is a skull with the front of the casque carved in high undercut relief, depicting the visit of an emperor to the fairy

of the Moon. It would seem that this meeting was a terrestrial one, as shade is provided by bamboo, pine and cassia trees.

In the Museum collection there are three two-piece mandarin belt buckles carved out of hornbill ivory. Two are of the Ch'ien-Lung period (1736-95), one of which has the eight symbols of Luck carved on the front; the other depicts lions and dragons. The third is of the late Ch'ing period (about 1900) and also displays lions and dragons intricately carved. In all three, the front surfaces are part of the sheath and are consequently red. On two Chinese snuff bottles, the two narrow sides have the sheath covering and are the only parts which are carved. Here again, lions and dragons are depicted.

From Borneo, the Museum has two ear ornaments worn by men of the small Kelabit tribe, which inhabits the head waters of the Baram and Limbang River in the state of Sarawak. One is a spiral ornament with a bird's head carved at each end. The other has a curious carved design which may represent the white fangs of the Clouded Leopard. This design is popular in the ear ornaments worn by young men. Christopher C. Legge is Custodian of Today, hornbill ivory has lost its value in world trade, however, its usage, though Anthropology still exists in Borneo. In some areas where demand for the was Collections at the limited, ivory great, Museum. hunters almost brought the Helmeted Hornbill to extinction.

Bulletin September 1970 In the midst of the mollusks in a Museum display case are these incongruous objects: a muff, a child's cap and one glove, all In a glorious golden bronze of high

sheen, finely woven of byssus lana pinna (fish wool), as Sicilian fishermen called it.

This silky fiber, byssus, has a curious and ancient history. Secreted by gland cells In the foot of clams belonging to a species of the family Pinnidae, the fiber is fine but extremely strong. The hair-like threads anchor the shell to the rocks. So firmly are they anchored that a man must use considerable force to break the fibery threads. The clams live 15 to 20 or even 30 feet below the surface of the sea.

Many other clams secrete such fibers. The tenacity of mollusk byssus is well-known in folktales. One tells about the famous bridge at Bideford, on the coast of Devon in England, that was held together by a network of byssus spun by mussels. The town council believed the masses of mussels protected the foundations from being undermined by the tide. John Watkins in his 1792 History of Bideford tells of the many difficulties with keeping the bridge in repair owing to the rapidity of the tide,

and hints of the importance of the byssus. The "muscles" [sic] he says, which "adhere to the bottom part of the bridge are not suffered to be gathered."

As a fiber byssus was probably first used in southern India where the business of diving for this wool of another species of Pinna was popular near the city of Colchi, according to the book Periplus of ttie Eryttirean Sea, a document at least as late as the time of Tertullian (150-222 A.D.), who also wrote about the byssus.

From India, the use of byssus spread to Greece and other countries. The first docu-

mentation of its use in Italy at the ancient city Tarentum (Tarento) is in Tertullian. Speaking of the materials for weaving, he says:

Nor was it enough to comb and to sow the materials for a tunic. It was necessary also to fish for one's dress. For fleeces are obtained from the sea, where shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair.

Procopius, who wrote during the Persian Wars (about 550 A.D.) tells us that the five hereditary satraps (governors) of Armenia who received their insignia from the

by Virginia M. Straub

10 Bulletin September 1970 M. Straub is Secretary to the Roman Emperor were given chlamys (or cloaks) made of the fibers of the Pinna. Virginia Museum's Women's Board. In classical antiquity, the name "byssus" was applied to linen, cotton and silk and was known to be used for garments for kings, priests and other persons of high rank or honour.

Derived from an old Egyptian word meaning "string" and "linen," Herodotus applied the word "byssus" to mummy bandages made of a kind of flax, and hence

it was translated in the English Bible of 1611 as "fine linen." "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." (Luke XVI, 19).

Robert James Forbes in Studies in Ancient Technology (Vol IV, 1964) writes that

"The best type of byssus was woven in the temple-shops as it was the ritual cloth for the gods and mummies."

There is no doubt that byssus was for the quality trade. In 1398, John de Trevisa wrote, "Thereby many manere fiexe, but the fayrest of all growth in Egypte: for thereof is Bissus made ryght favre and whyte as snowe."

But what did this fine linen have to do with lana pinna as we know it? Today, the word "byssus" is used universally to refer to the holdfasts of bivalve mollusks, but

it is interesting to reflect upon the way the meaning of the term came about. Because Teodoro Gaza, a 15th Century Greek scholar who translated Aristotle, made an error in 1470 while translating Aristotle's l-listoria Animalium, the word "byssus" was applied to the holdfast fibers of the Pinnidae, Mytilidae, Pteriidae and other mollusks. According to some scholars, Gaza confused the Greek word for depth, as used by Aristotle in describing the ecology of Pinna, with the term for the vegetable fibers. Gaza probably genuinely believed that Aristotle intended the word to be applied to the mollusk holdfast. In 1555 Rondelet in his writings perpetuated this mistake and thus the term was established.

One might appreciate that Aristotle did intend the word to be applied to the holdfast

since it was similar in texture to the "fine linen" when woven, but not to the mummy bandages. Upon microscopic examination mummy bandages have proved to be made of flax.

Zoologically, byssus is defined as the tuft of fine silky filament by which mollusks of the genus Pinna and various mussels attach themselves to the surface of rocks.

The fragile, fin-shell of Pinna nobilis found in the Mediterranean is long and taper-

ing, sometimes attaining a length of two feet, narrow at one end and gradually widening to considerable breadth at the other. The byssus originates from the base of the foot, which is the narrow end.

This fabulous foot can exude glue at its owner's pleasure; it then adheres the filaments to the proper place. The filaments can be reproduced after they have been cut away or damaged. P.L. Simmonds, in Tlie Commercial Products of the Sea (1883), compared the mechanism in Pinna to that of a wire-drawer's mill:

The Pinna possess a machine as incontestably mechanical as a wire-drawer's mill . . . .The animal first attaches the extremity of the thread, by means of its adhesive quality, to

some crag or pebble . . . when this is effected, the Pinna, receding . . . draws out the thread through the perforation of the extensile member by a process which Paley, In describing the similar operations of the terrestrial silkworm, justly compares to the drawing of wire. One difference alone exists: the wire is the metal unaltered, except In figure; whereas, in the forming of the thread, the nature of the substance is somewhat changed, as well as the form; for, as it exists within the water, It is merely a soft and clammy glue, the thread acquiring, most probably. Its firmness and tenacity from the action of the air upon its surface at the moment of exposure.

Bulletin September 1970 11 Byssus

There were several methods of obtaining Pinna, none of them easy. Diving was one of these and was described in a 1795 work by Guiseppe Saverio Poll:

. . . Pinna is especially abundant on the shores of Sicily . . . grown spontaneously in large groups, and in calm water, when the shadows fall from the summit of the island, is clearly seen by persons in boats growing nearly upright and fixed in the sandy bottom at

the depth of about 30 feet. There are divers, whose business it is to bring it up. But, since

it cannot be loosened even by repeated blows, (for the sand firmly resists the attempts of the diver, being supported by its own weight and by the superincumbent water), in these circumstances he sits down at the bottom of the sea, brushes away with his fingers the earth which encompasses the shell, and then endeavors to pull It up by seizing it with both hands. If he is thus likely to be detained at the bottom for a longer time than he can hold his breath, he ascends to the surface, supports himself upon corks, which are in readiness for him, and, when he has sufficiently recovered himself by breathing, he again dives to the bottom to complete his task. Another method of gathering Pinna was an instrument called the pernonico, composed of "two semi-circular bars of iron fastened at the ends, at one of which is a wooden pole, at the other a ring and cord." Fishermen would guide their boats near

12 Bulletin September 1970 where Pinna occurred, let down the pernonico, and then would loosen Pinna by embracing It with the iron bars and twisting it around.

The "cramp" was still another way of making Pinna leave home. It was described in The Commercial Products of tfie Sea as a kind of iron fork, "with perpendicular prongs 8' in length each of them about 6" apart, the length of the handle being In proportion to the depth of the water . . ."

After all this, it took one pound of raw wool (from 40 to 50 shells) to make but three ounces after processing. Baron Riedesel described the process at Tarentum in 1772:

The preparation is both laborious and Ingenious, only the tips of the wool can be used and

the other half is thrown away; they wash it a number of times in cold water, and dry it in

the air till it is cleared of all impurities; then they comb it on a fine wire card, and last of

all spin it on small spindles and knit it. Many mix it with silk by which the work gets more

firmness but loses that softness and warmth which it hath naturally.

This delicate, but extremely resilient fiber, best compared to fine hair or spun glass, was greatly sought after for robes called "tarentines." It is said that the scarf of the turban of Archytas was made of byssus. In 1754, a pair of stockings of byssus was presented to Pope Benedict XV, and according to legend, due to their extreme fineness, they fit in a small snuff box. A pair of gloves could be held in a walnut shell.

Its brilliant colour, ranging from a beautiful golden yellow to a rich olive brown, prompted one writer to the supposition that ". . . byssus of the Pinna is said to be the Golden Fleece for which Jason sought." Whether this romantic fancy can be taken seriously is something else again, but St. Basil (370 A.D.) did admire its "golden fleece . . . which no artificial dye could imitate." Others have likened the web's beautiful yellow brown to the "burnished gold hue which adorns the backs of some splendid flies and beetles."

Despite its delicacy, the fabric woven is strong and durable, but is so attractive to moths that few ancient garments have survived.

An early English Museum-goer, John Evelyn, in 1645, found byssus worthy of note in

his listing of fascinating rarities at the Museum of Ferdinando Imperato:

We were invited to the collection of exotic rarities in the Museum of Ferdinando Imperati,

a Neopolitan nobleman, and one of the most observable palaces in the city, the repository of incomparable rarities. Amongst the natural herbals most remarkable was the Byssus

marina and Pinna marina. . .

Unfortunately, the use of byssus has dwindled to but a few articles made by Italian country women for the tourist trade—mainly as curiosities— in present day Sicily and Calabria.

Bulletin September 1970 13 by Henry S. Dybas

This large orange garden spicier often attracts attention in August and September because of its bright colors and attractive spider web. The web is found in gardens

and open fields and is sometimes two feet in diameter. At first it is very symmetrical but soon loses its regularity because the spider must continually make repairs on its web.

The female spider sits in the center of the web on a sheet of white sill<, waiting for an insect, usually a grasshopper, to blunder into the web. When a grasshopper happens to become entangled in the web, the spider rushes out and quicl

spider kicks the grasshopper over several times to completely cover it and then

bites through the silk and kills it. Males are only about a fourth as large as the females. They spin their own webs but when they become mature they wander in search of the females and are then found in association with their webs. The eggs are enclosed in a pear-shaped silk sac that is fastened to vegetation. The eggs pass the winter in this sac and hatch the following year. In spite of its large size and formidable appearance the orange garden spider is harmless to humans.

Henry S. Dybas is Associate Curator of Insects in the Department of Zoology at Field Museum.

14 Bulletin September 1970 A Star And when

fell out he reached

of the clouded sky the earth he found

one night he was

to the earth below, a buffalo.

The Lost Star Blackfoot Legend Memberships

free admission to the Museum

ten percent discount at the Book Shop

subscription to the Bulletin

invitation to New books in the Museum's Library are Members' Night reviewed by W. Peyton Fawcett, Head Librarian. special lectures, films, field

trips and work shops Geology of Michigan. By John A. Dorr, Jr., and Donald F. Eschman. Illustrated by to natural Derwin Bell. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, c1970. $15.00. opportunity support history exploration, research This abundantly Illustrated volume offers a fascinating overview of the geology of Michigan, describing the principal geologic features, explaining their origin, and and education portraying the geologic evolution of the state from earliest times to the present. Clip and mail to Memberships: It was written with the student and layman in mind and provides information on the Field Museum of Natural History origin and Identification of rock and fossil specimens, Michigan collecting localities, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60605 and collection methods. Includes bibliography.

The Plant Hunters. By Tyler Whittle (Michael Sidney Tyler-Whittle). Philadelphia, Gift memberships to Field Museum are: Chilton Book Co., 1970. $8.95. n $10 for annual membership A comprehensive and very readable history of botanical exploration beginning n $100 for associate membership with the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut's journey to the land of Punt in 1482 B.C. $500 for life membership Author tells why, how, and where some interesting, valuable plants (including $1000 or more for contributor flowers) have been collected and gives some account of their collectors. In addition membership he includes valuable appendices dealing with plant distribution and names and instructions for plant collecting.

The Prairie Potawatomi: Tradition and Ritual in the Twentieth Century. By Ruth Landes. Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1970. $12.50.

Dr. Landes' latest volume is a study of the little-known culture of the Prairie Band of Potawatomi, descendants of a once numerous eastern woodlands tribe. She writes

of the great vitality of this supposedly dying culture and the ability of its members to pracice the old beliefs and customs while adapting to a twentieth century mode

of life. Her book is based on field work among the 860 members of this group in 1935-36 and 1957 and discusses, among other things, the group's Religion Dance, its preoccupation with sorcery and personal medicine, and its practice of the peyote cult.

The World of the Giant Panda. By Richard Perry. With illustrations by Wolfgang Weber. New York, Taplinger Publishing Company, 1969. $7.50.

is the fourth volume of studies of the he has This Perry's larger mammals; previously E written of the tiger, the polar bear, and the walrus. In the present volume, as with E the others, he is primarily concerned with the life and habits of the animals

in wild. drawn his information from all available records of the the He has giant c panda and has added some information of his own, based on observations of panda s

behavior in captivity. An interesting chapter on the attempted mating of London's a Chi-Chi with Moscow's An-An in 1966 enlivens the book. a. 1 2 October 10 Life in an Old Dead Tree Application 10:30 a.m. Marie Svoboda, Leader for Fat! 1:30 p.m. Worksliops For ages 5-7 This program for family groups shows the different kinds of animals that might make their homes in an old dead tree and the ways in which they take advantage of the protection it offers. Parents are also invited.

Saturdays in the October 17 How to Build a IMonster Museum, 10:30 10:30 a.m. Ernest Roscoe, Leader a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Please list the pro- For ages 9-13 This program explores the question, "How gram you wish to do you put together the skeleton of a attend in order of prehistoric animal?" Participants will learn your preference. the basic pattern of the vertebrate skeleton Sorry, only one and investigate the reasons for modifi- program can be cations of this basic plan. scheduled for each child. October 24 African Art and Music Date Hour Program 10:30 a.m. Edith Fleming, Leader

For ages 10-13 Children will have the opportunity to explore 1st choice African art and music. They will study African masks and each child will then make a design for a mask. After listening 2nd choice to a tape recording of African drum music made in Ghana, each youngster will try out a real African musical instrument and will 3rd choice play African rhythms in a "combo."

of Plains 4th choice October 31 Indians Woodlands and 10:30 a.m. Harriet Smith, Leader

Name For ages 8-11 Indian tribes developed ways of life adapted to their special environments and in doing showed skill in natural Address so, great utilizing materials to suit their needs. In this workshop, youngsters will handle various naturally-occurring raw materials and learn Membership in name of how the Indians used them in making tools, weapons and household equipment. Movies Cut along Raymond Foundation of Indian life both in the woodlands and dotted line Field Museum of Natural History on the western plains will be shown. and mail to: Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60605 November 7 Space Geology 10:30 a.m. Ernest Roscoe, Leader

For ages 9-13 An introduction to the rapidly expanding Children and grandchildren of Museum science of astrogeology. Beginning with a members will have an opportunity to meet review of the relationship of the earth to staff members and work with specimens the solar system and our galaxy, this from the Museum's scientific collections at program concentrates on our recently the seventh annual series of fall workshops acquired knowledge of the topography, for children. Designed to stimulate interest structure, and rocks of the moon. in the study of natural history, the workshops will provide small group instruction November 14 in a variety of topics for various age groups. Boneyard Menagerie 10:30 a.m. Ernest Roscoe, Leader The last about one hour for programs 1:30 p.m. younger children, and about one and one- half hours for older ones. For ages 6-8 This program looks into the world of the (parents are also prehistoric relatives of many familiar Make your reservation now! Each applicant invited) animals of today, as well as some which is limited to one program: reservations will have no close living relatives. be accepted in the order they are received. If there is more than one child in your family who wishes to attend a workshop, November 21 Prehistoric People of Illinois please fill out an application for each child. 10:30 a.m. Harriet Smith, Leader

For 12-16 An opportunity to handle both actual pre- October 3 Caveman to Civilization ages historic Indian tools and the raw materials 10:30 a.m. Edith Fleming, Leader from which they were made is a feature of this workshop. In addition to learning For ages 10-13 A movie on the life of the cavemen and about ways these people adjusted to life in how they hunted prehistoric animals opens their environment, the session includes this workshop. Boys and girls will also practice in identifying and sorting materials examine actual tools used by cavemen according to how they would be found at thousands of years ago, learn how they an actual "dig" and a discussion of what were made and compare them with can, and cannot, be learned from the modern tools. archaeological record.

18 Bulletin September 1970 New Trustees

Three Chicago-area businessmen have been elected to the Board of Trustees of Field Museum. They are Harry M. Oliver, Jr., William Searle and John Sullivan. Oliver is vice president of Marsh & McLennan. He is president of the Volunteer Agencies of Chicago, a trustee of the Old Peoples Home of the City of Chicago, a board member of the Adult Education Council of Greater Chicago, the George M. Pullman Educational Foundation and the Chicago Convention Bureau.

Field Trips Harry M. Oliver, Jr. William L. Searle

Three all-day field trips to local areas of geologic interest are offered this fall by the department of education. The excursions, conducted by Dr. Matthew/ H. Nitecki, associate curator of fossil invertebrates, are limited to adult Museum members. A preliminary meeting will be held on Saturday, September 19 at 10:30 a.m. to discuss the trips in detail.

The first trip will be to Palos Park on Saturday, September 26 to observe the results of glaciation. On Saturday, October 3, the group will go to Wilmington district to examine the ancient swamp that produced deposits of commercial coal. The final outing will be to Starved Rock on Saturday, October 17 to study various aspects of the area's geologic history. The cost of the three field trips is $25.00 per person. Interested members can contact Mrs. Dorothy Geel in the Museum's department of education.

Low Sulphur Coal

oh 71 W. Sullivan The Museum recently announced a plan to burn only low-sulphur coal beginning J this fall. Although City of Chicago regulations permit the use of coal with a two Searle is senior vice president, general percent sulphur content, the approximately 4,000 tons of coal necessary to meet the manager of the Domestic Pharmaceu- heating needs of the Museum will contain only 1.24 percent sulphur. Although this tical and Animal Health Divisions, for decision will result in a 64 percent annual increase in heating costs, the Museum G. D. Searle Company. His father, John considers the responsibility to maintain the quality of the environment an important G. Searle, is also a trustee of Field aspect of its function in society. Museum. Searle is also a director of the Children's Memorial Hospital, Lake Fall Lecture Series Forest Hospital and Lake Forest Country Day School. The Museum will present the Fall Saturday Film-Lecture Series from October 3 to President and director of Skil November 28. The free program is presented at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Corpora- Sullivan is a member of the Theatre. Films include: "Mexico South into Guatemala" by Philip Walker on October tion, Crime the 3; "Scotland Afore Ye" by Jonathan Hagar on October 10; "Russia" by Dick Reddy Chicago Commission; on October 17; "Green Guianas" by Arthur Erickson on October 24; "Across Governor's Advisory Council, State of Wilderness Canada" by Dr. John D. Bulger on October 31; "High Himalaya" by Russ Illinois, the Men's Financial Advisory Potter on November 7; "Waterbirds of the African and Asian Tropics" by Dr. M. P. Committee of the Junior League of Kahl on November 14; "Highlights of New England by John Roberts on November Chicago and the Young Presidents' 21; and "Yugoslavia" by William Sylvester on November 28. Those attending the Organization, and a director of Catholic film-lecture will be admitted to the theatre only, without charge, at the west entrance. Charities.

Bulletin September 1970 19 field museum's HOURS natural history To Labor Day (September 7) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday tours 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. gardens Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday wild flowers 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. CALENDAR birds

Beginning September 8: archaeology 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Friday congenial travel companions Friday tiours through September: interpretations by experts 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. the unhurried approach The Museum Library is open travel with all dimensions 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Beginning Septennber 1:

Fall Journey for Children, "Eye" Spy, a free, self-guided tour of exhibit areas to test their pow/ers of observation. The seasonal journeys are part of a year-round program for boys and girls w/ho can read and write. Journey sheets available at Museum entrances. Through November 30.

Aurantia argiope, a friendly, garden-variety spider, that makes its appearance in late summer and fall, on exhibit in the South Lounge. Because of its conspicuous orange color and large size, many inquiries are received about this harmless insect at this time of year. Through October 26.

Through September 4: — Free Guided Tour and Film Program Monday through Friday GUATEMALA 2 p.m.: Museum "highlights" tour—Leaves North information desk LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST Oct. 24-Nov. 8 3 p.m.: "Through These Doors"—Behind the scenes at Field Museum on film- $1,280 includes $400 donation Lecture Hall Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins ofTikal, Iximclte, Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints Day. Lake Atitlan. October 3: THE INCA'S EMPIRE & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS Fall Film-Lecture Series "Mexico South into Guatemala" by Philip Walker. Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, & Feb. 4-March 5. The colorful film journey includes Maya ruins, jungle adventure, village scenes, $2,807 includes $600 donation. markets and modern city life. 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. (22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190-separately) Gardens in Bogota, Lima, La Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, Continuing: Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Tiahua- naco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age Environment, a geological exhibit, surveys Mazon LEADER ON ALL TOURS, PHIL CLARK, former Creek, Illinois and Mecca, Indiana, once located on the shores of an inland sea Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author, "A Guide Illinois. that occupied Central Events that occurred at these sites 300 million years to Mexican Flora"; Field Museum Natural His- Tours chief; accompanied by Archaeolo- ago are graphically explored. Through October 25. Hall 9. tory gists specialized in the areas.

All donations to Field Museum are 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of tax deductible. Discovery, looks at man and his world, the history of Field Museum and some of its Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted from other points. current research projects in a new way. Hall 3. Write: Field Museum Natural History Tours John James Audubon's elephant folio, "The Birds of America," on in the display Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. North A different of this first-edition is Lounge. page rare, copy shown daily. Chicago, III. 60605

20 Bulletin September 1970

BULLETIN

Volume 41, Number 10 October 1970

2 The Population Crisis: Where We Stand by Dr. Paul R. Ehrllch the reasons behind our overpopulation crisis, its consequences, and possible solutions

10 On Population excerpts from Thomas Malthus' famous theory on the problems of overpopulation

13 Fall Color by Dr. William C. Burger a short essay on nature's greatest color display

14 Book Reviews

1 5 Crossword

16 Field Briefs

Calendar Cover photo by Peter Bradshaw

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber

Editor Joyce Zibro: Associate Editor Victoria Haider: Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalls, Fred Huysmans

The BULLETIN is published monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Distributed free to members of the Museum, The BULLETIN may be subscribed to through Museum memttership. School subscriptions will be given special consideration. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Printed by Field Museum Press.

Bulletin October 1970 ^A^jV-A.'SV' Among the really major issues coming When people settled down in one place down the death rate, and the globe up now, beyond the ones that biologists and grew their food, they not only had began to fill up. have been discussing for the last twenty more food in general, but they also had The second result of the or twenty-five years, two are going to the ability to store food; they did not important

it Revolution was that for the be most important. First of all, is the have to carry with them. They could Agricultural

If a in the line it with first time we to attack ghetto part of the environment? so, dig pit ground, seriously began in and then have the of the what is the population-environment something, put grain it, life-support systems planet movement going to do about it? And something to eat when there was a earth. The practice of agriculture what should we do about it? What role, bad harvest. breaks down the complex and and if any, should blacks take in the complicated ecological community

a result of this it movement? Or is the entire As agricultural replaces with a simple one. For movement some sort of a smokescreen revolution, the proportionate number instance, the first farmers in the of in the each who here before to permit this country to remain racist people population dying Chicago area, were to In other and continue to oppress a portion of year began drop. words, the entire state was farmed, cleared the death rate to decline. of its citizens? began away a forest, which consisted Fundamentally, the entire story of many different kinds of plants and has been raised Another question by human population growth is a story animals, and replaced it with a stand Liberation Union. the Chicago Women's of declining death rates. of a single kind of grass, corn, wheat,

I am 100% in favor of the goals of or some other crop. People have taken the group. This is another group of a complicated ecological system and which has been Americans badly replaced it with a simple one. oppressed over a long time and is Unfortunately for mankind, the stability finally waking up and realizing it. I will and durability of ecological systems address myself somewhat more to depends very heavily upon their both of these issues later. complexity. So man's agricultural revolution began to destabilize the

I would like to some First, give you ecological systems of the planet. Those

because I think general background, ecological systems supply us with that it is as a to my duty biologist every bit of food that we eat, and with views of these of the present problems all of the oxygen we breathe; they and world, where they came from, maintain the quality of the atmosphere are us. What where they leading and they dispose of our wastes. In biologists and anthropologists think of other words, we depend on them a of the world as the overall environmental problem As model demographic absolutely for our lives. was begun about 10,000 years ago by situation, think of the world as a glass some small groups of people who lived globe, and think of a faucet being Of course, one of the major sources in the western part of Asia. In those turned on into that globe as being the of pollution, perhaps the most important days, people, like Eskimos and equivalent of the birth rate, the input source worldwide, and in my Aborigines today, practiced intensive into the population. Think of a drain at estimation, the deadliest source from of — hunting and gathering as their way the—base of the globe water pouring the point of view of destroying the life. They did not grow food. They out as being equivalent to the output, capability of this planet to maintain wandered over the landscape and the death rate of the human population. human life (barring things like picked fruit, berries, roots, and hunted Think of the water in the globe as the thermonuclear war), is agriculture. And for small and large game. About 10,000 size of the human population. At the the more people there are, the more years ago, some groups of people time of the Agricultural Revolution, the agriculture we must practice. Therefore, settled down in one place and began faucet was turned on full blast; there in that sense, population growth leads to grow their own food. This was the was a very high birth rate. The drain inevitably to pollution. beginning of the so-called Agricultural was wide open; there was a very high Now, returning to the demographic the Revolution, and it was the most death rate. There was a very little side of the equation, rather than important turning point in the history water in the globe, very few people in ecological side, here is a rough history of man on earth in a four million year the population—only about five million. of what happened after the decline of history. Why was it so very important? When the Agricultural Revolution took the birth -death rate started about Well, it did two very significant things. place, we began to plug the drain, cut 10,000 years ago, about 8,000 B.C. It

Bulletin October 1970 population size in 35 years. Now these inhabitants of the earth by taking much numbers are very difficult to come to more than their share of these grips with. What does 3.6 billion resources.

anything mean to anybody? Very little,

you just cannot picture it. We are already wildly overpopulated, by any standard that you wish to adopt. . . . one of the major What can I tell you about 3.6 billion But that is not the worst of it, because sources of pollution on the face of the earth? we have that 2% rate. A ... is agriculture. people growth 2% According to any calculations we have growth rate operating on 3.6 billion been able to make, that is somewhere people a year means that we are between three to seven times more adding 70 million people annually to people than this planet can permanently the globe. That means every three support. You say, how can that be? years there is another equivalent of the ia. How can we possibly have seven times United States to feed, house, and care more people than the planet can for on the surface of the earth. To view took almost 10,000 years to increase permanently support? The answer is it by another statistic, in all the wars the population from five million to 500 very simple. We are supporting those that the United States has fought, from million, or half a billion. That figure people today, doing a miserable job for the Revolution through Laos and was reached about 1650. Additional about half of them, by doing something Cambodia, we have had roughly agricultural improvements about that that very few businessmen would do 600,000 men killed in battle. The world time further lowered the death rate, in the course of their own businesses: population is growing so fast that that and population growth spurted ahead burning our capital. We are destroying number of deaths is made up every more rapidly. The rate of population and dispersing resources that exist in three and one-half days. growth is simply a function of the a rather small and finite supply. For difference between input and output, instance, we are consuming the fossil the difference between the birth rate fuels which accumulated in the earth's and death rate. As the death rate crust over hundreds of millions of declines, the growth rate increases. It years. We will essentially destroy every took 200 years to double the population bit of fossil fuel on the surface of the from one-half billion in 1650 to a earth in a period of 200 or 300 years. billion in 1850. By that time the It is a process which David Brower Industrial Revolution was well under calls, quite accurately, "grand larceny

" way and the Biomedical Revolution against the future. We are stealing had started. The latter is the revolution resources from our children. I might in which man attempted to attack the death rate directly by dealing with communicable disease. The death rate went down still further, the growth rate increased and the population doubled from one billion to two billion between What about the food problem? Almost 1850 and 1930, in just 80 years. We half the people in the world are hungry have not yet completed the doubling in one sense or another. Either they to four billion. There are now right are undernourished, that is, they do not about 3.6 billion people. If we should get enough calories, or they are be very fortunate and if current trends malnourished, usually meaning they do continue, we should reach four billion not get enough high quality protein. around 1975. This gives us 45 years Somewhere between ten and twenty for that final doubling, although at the million people starve to death annually moment the rate of growth is about 2% now, and the trend is all downhill. at compound interest each year. It this current rate of growth, rather than the point out that the United States and Those gruesome statistics are going to rate over the last several decades, were many other overdeveloped countries change for the worse, essentially on a to continue, we would double our are also stealing from their fellow continuous basis from now on. Of

Bulletin October 1970 nations of the world and among the that pollution is something that kills people within countries, everybody him stone cold dead. If you raise your or would have just about enough calories. children in Los Angeles, California, Calories are not a problem; we can Chicago, Illinois, statistically you are always supply more. But everybody killing them off early. If you raise your ... the disruption would be protein malnourished, which <-' of the life-support systems is a great problem, because protein is all of us upon which depend expensive, both economically and . . . will be beyond repafr. ecologically. The second part of the world food problem is that the food does not come close to being divided

. . , up equally, just as nothing else in the Chicago if you raise your kids world comes close to being divided up 'there, they are likely The nations of equally. overdeveloped to die young the world steal food in large quantities the of course, as we try desperately to grow from underdeveloped peoples more and more food to feed this the world, and they use a lot of it to burgeoning population, the problems of feed their cats and dogs. environmental deterioration, the disruption of the life-support systems "y^^/i V - upon which all of us depend—black, « kids there, are to die white, green, yellow, male, female— they likely young nations of cardiovascular disease, will be beyond repair. Then we will be The ovefdeveloped emphysema, of the world steal food or some exotic cancer, because the air in very bad shape. in large quantities that they breathe contains something from the underdeveloped that mixture of and The food situation is desperate. It is beyond oxygen • peoples of the world, to more Do not nitrogen that we evolved to breathe. It going get desperate. ,*and they use a lot of it * be fooled by stories about food to fded their cats contains a mixture of exotic poisons, surpluses, which you may have lead in ,and dogs. thanks to your local power company, the newspapers. These will show you the automobiles that you drive, and so where the economic head of the world •>* on. There is no question whatsoever is. This Is not surplus in the sense that this means you will die young,

and there is abundant data to show it. that there is more food than people I can eat; this is more food than people the whole If are a human can buy. If you read the literature of Unfortunately, though, you being anywhere cannot be considered in on the earth, in the United agricultural economics, you will find problem only particularly or and such statements as the way to prevent the context of food and people. States, Israel, India, particularly if are black or are also people from starving in the world is Overlying the whole situation is the you brown, you to "create more demand" for food. problem of environmental deterioration. going to die young because you carry in a load of those What they mean by demand is money. If you talk to the average layman about your body very chlorinated Curiously enough, people who are environmental deterioration, he is likely long-lived pesticides, of DDT. The starving to death usually do not have to think of the problem in terms hydrocarbons, particularly DDT load in the United States very big bankrolls. pollution. This is a serious mistake, but average a common one. He is also likely to talk is about 12 parts per million. We do So we have a desperate world food in terms of smog which burns his eyes not know yet how many years that will situation. I wish that the entire situation and funny things that are floating knock off your life expectancy. But if could be discussed rationally just in around in the water that he would like you were born since 1948, you have terms of too many people and too either to swim in or drink. had that kind of load in you since you little food. But it is much more complex were conceived. We now know that than that; there is too little food in two Environmental deterioration is often DDT crosses fetal membranes, so a senses. First of all, there is too little viewed largely as an aesthetic problem, fetus in the womb is picking up DDT food in an absolute sense. If the food which indeed it is. If the layman is from its mother. It is quite likely from were divided up evenly among ail the relatively well read, he will also know the other data that are beginning to

Bulletin October 1970 appear that you have already lost 10 photosynthetics process (the process explosion away from the end of or 20 years off your life expectancy; by which green plants, using civilization. A volcanic explosion we will not find out for a while. But, energy from the sun, put together equivalent to the explosion of Tambora

after all, that would be a small price food molecules and in the process give in 1815 could wipe out agricultural to pay for keeping the profits of the off oxygen) tomorrow, there would be production for a full year over much of petrochemical industry high, which is enough oxygen around to sustain the world. the only real benefit from the us for about 1000 years, before we There are other threats to our production of DDT and similar would die of suffocation. But we some chemicals. would also have turned off the food existence which are fundamentally environmental. is the of production. We would die of starvation One problem We will all die because worldwide missed in young about 999 years before we would plague; we just of what we have been doing to the suffocate! 1967. We could have lost three-fourths environment. From the point of view of the people in the world. The potential of our species, a short life expectancy Pollution is a very grim problem, and is still there. And, of course, since the is not all that important, because for the grimmest— part is that which is least world's resources are finite and the most of the approximately four recognized the subtle assault on the number of people is growing, the per million years of our existence, mankind ecological systems of the planet. capita slice of the resources is got along with a life expectancy of Here is one more example of this kind continually shrinking. That, according roughly 25 or 30 years. That was fine, of subtle effect. There is now a to our political scientists, is a major because, of course, people may have permanent veil of air pollution over the push towards international conflict. We entire of this died young, but not before they had planet. The sources are in grave danger of starting a reproduced. The species could go on. pollution vary. The most important thermonuclear war. If you consider the single source is haze from agricultural ecological aftermath of a thermonuclear Unfortunately, there is still something dust, most of it from underdeveloped war, there is only one conclusion— to worry about. Even if we all live countries, but a large amount of it that there will be no civilization to only be 30, we will still have gross from overdeveloped countries as well. afterwards, at least, not in the northern problems. The most serious effect Again we are back to the people- hemisphere. of pollution is not a shortened polluting problem. Why do we have so

life expectancy. The really important much agriculture? Because we have In regard to the two problems that I

aspect of environmental deterioration, so many people. Here is a direct link discussed before, I would like to deal

and pollution in particular, is that it between the number of people and with them in the context of what we assaults the ecological systems the amount of pollution. This can do, rather than what the problems upon which we depend absolutely for atmospheric haze comes largely are, except to mention urbanization. our food. Fundamentally, we are (over 50%) from agriculture, but, of This is a very important part of what destabilizing these systems with the course, there are major components builds ghettos. In discussing solutions

poisons that we add to the planet. from industry and automobiles as well. to the world's problems, it is necessary

Although you might live to be 35 with It is so bad now that the turbidity, to consider what is going to happen to a heavy load of DDT in your tissues, the dustiness, of the atmosphere over ghettos and what new ghettos might

maybe even to 45; if you are 20 now, the central Pacific, far from any you will not live to see 21 if we should sources of pollution, has increased by turn off the photosynthetic process on 30% over the last decade. The net the planet. Remember, those ecological effect of this at the moment is to cool systems give us all of our food, and the earth. When the earth is cooled, photosynthesis is the basic process the weather changes. When the that produces it. If we turn it off, that weather changes, agriculture suffers. is the end of the ball game. We are about to see some dramatic We do not have to worry about weather changes in the United States oxygen right away. It is true that the in the next decade, weather changes ecological systems supply us with our which some meteorologists believe may oxygen too, but they have already be bad enough to throw us into a built a up very large supply in the food crisis right here in the U.S.A. atmosphere. If we were to turn off the We could be a single volcanic

Bulletin October 1970 develop. The urbanization problem is Now, what might be done about our everybody's hands. There simply is no so severe over the world today—cities problems? Before discussing anything choice but to have population control, are growing so rapidly—that some in detail, let me first give you a broad de-development and semi-development, and to an rational really preposterous statistics can be outline of what must be done on a develop ecologically generated. The one I remember best global scale. First of all, we must have way of dealing with industry, on. is that, if today's trends continue by population control. This must start with agriculture, and so 2050 everyone will live in a city of a groups where population growth is million or more, and there will be cities most serious, namely among affluent There is no question whatsoever that of more than a billion people. white Americans, Russians, Europeans, there will not be 7 billion people on Needless to say, those trends will not and Japanese. These are the people the planet by the year 2000. The only continue. question that remains is why there will not be 7 billion people in the year from outside Here is a single example 2000. There are fundamentally two the United States of how we can make choices here: one can be that we have mistakes in to solve very silly trying managed to bring the birth rate down our if we do not consider problems, rather rapidly, to slow down the input an is urbanization. Right now, attempt to the population. The other will be being made to export our incompetent that we have elected the "animal" from this agricultural technology solution to the problem; that is, let the to of the country some underdeveloped death rate rise again. Whenever an This effort is called the countries. animal population overreaches its

If have Green Revolution. some people environment, overstresses its resources, their we will to mechanize way, attempt it simply dies off, or dies back to a the of the Indian agriculture very low level. Only the human subcontinent. If Indian population has available to it one other

it would agriculture were mechanized, alternative—to limit the input into the finish off Indian cities. The who are and the looting polluting population and reduce its size that way. fundamental reason that we have such world. Second, there must be some

in in the a severe urban problem this country, sort of change world economic If we are going to solve the world's of course, is that American agriculture system. I usually describe it as a problems, we must unquestionably is mechanized. People were forced off problem of de-developing the consider racism and war among them. the land, and when people are forced overdeveloped countries and semi- This means eliminating things like off the land, they move into cities. developing the underdeveloped ghettos, Viet Nam, and so forth. There India already has ghastly urban countries. It boils down to a is absolutely no way to live on a little problems, much worse than ours, redistribution of the resources of the spaceship with limited resources, with difficult as that is to picture. But today, world and a change in the world trade some people in steerage or third class, only 20% of Indians live in cities. By system, so that all countries of the with the people in the first class contrast something like 70% of world have reasonable access to the cabins stealing food from the people Americans live in cities. If the vast riches of the world and are not in the third class cabins, waving large mass of Indian peasants is forced off exploited by one country or another. bombs at them, and expect them to sit the land, Indian cities will simply still for it. There is no way to get the You that sounds like a dissolve, they will be destroyed. may say, United States turned around and terrible communist it plot. Actually, cleaning up its mess, as long as a If we want to India's is not, because the overdeveloped improve large portion of its citizens are forced and we want to countries include both communist and agriculture, certainly to live in hideous slums and to do do that, we must them a capitalist nations, and the pattern of help design without the rights which we have in system which results not in is common to both only high exploitation theory guaranteed them in our and is or productivity, ecologically systems. Unfortunately, perhaps constitution, but which we have sensible, but one which is also labor there is no we can fortunately, way systematically denied them. intensive. It must still be possible for survive on our little spaceship earth

Indians to make their living on the land without everybody having a fair chance, There is no way to solve the world's without being forced into the cities because the capability of blowing up problems unless we take advantage of where there is nothing for them to do. the entire ship really rests in the intelligence present in the human

Bulletin October 1970 population. One of the major reasons planning and population control. When and waste, to a "spaceman society," why one ought to be wildly in favor of you plan your family you do something which emphasizes the high quality of women's liberation is that as a society which has long been socially everything and the recycling of we have very busily neglected what is acceptable. The idea is not to have fundamentally one-half of our talent. more children than you want; surely For instance, there Is a tremendous nobody thinks that we ought to bring

shortage of physicians in this country. unwanted children into the world. It is One reason that the U.S. has about a fine idea to have the number of

the lousiest medical care of children you can support. I think any Fjundamentally, all we is in favor of overdeveloped nation is that we do not everybody family planning. really need to do have enough physicians. The medical What we are trying to introduce into Is to take the pressure off schools cry about there not being the world is a new ethic that goes women ^^\ to have children. ' enough physicians, and at the same beyond family planning. This says yes, \v, - time they have very strict quotas on you should plan your family; but when - -. rr - how many women they will admit. In you plan your family you must think the Soviet Union, 70% of the about the size of your society's physicians are women, and their public population as a whole, what society can to health system is excellent. This is just manage support, and what kind of a one example of how we fail to use the world we are going to have. talent in our country. When you plan your family, you have everything, is considerably more

to think, not only about your ego and difficult. But I think it can be achieved, the number of children you would like if we are willing to take political action. to have, but what kind of a world If we are going to succeed in this

those children will grow up in, what country, it is my opinion that the kind of a life they will have, and what people must take back the political kind of chance they will have to plan system from the pressure groups. We . . . when you plan their own families. In other words, we can no longer afford a government your family you must think are to move from which is not interested in about the size of your trying away the idea doing that is the to think for the We can no society's population^ quantity prime thing anything people. as a whol'' about in childbearing and to encourage longer afford a government which is not the idea that quality is what should be willing to face up to the problems of emphasized, the quality of our children the country. We can no longer afford a and of the world in which those government which is working very hard in children are going to live. I think that Southeast Asia to delegate the

in this country it is quite possible to killing to another group, while bring about population control—for maintaining our resource position over Similarly, we do not use the talents society as a whole to think about and there, come hell or high water. We present in our black population, in our to regulate the size of its population must have a government made up of Chicane population, and our Indian for its own benefit and for the benefit people who want to solve the world's population. Indeed, we do not use the of everybody in the society—with no problems and the problems of the talent that exists in our poor white form of coercion whatsoever. United States. The only way we can population, which numerically, though Fundamentally, all we really need to do achieve that is for people to get out not is to percentage-wise, is even larger take the pressure off women to and work very hard politically. than the poor black population. As a have children. Right now we pressure nation we are faced with immense people into marriage and we pressure I am not surprised to see that there are difficulties, and Instead of taking couples into having children. Probably, relatively few blacks in this audience. advantage of the talents that could be in our society, removing that pressure I feel that people ought to work in the used to help us out of these difficulties, would be enough. areas of their own greatest concern. we are busy running a racist country, A lot of people have been disappointed electing people who will continue with The problem of de-developing the that environmental congresses have not racist policies. United States, in moving from our been attended by more blacks and that present "cowboy economy," which more blacks have not been interested. There is a difference between family emphasizes production, consumption Well, I do not think blacks should be

8 Bulletin October 1970 interested in this kind of congress. fairly in our society. They have their own environmental We have a very difficult task ahead of problems which are extremely serious. us. I wish I were enormously hopeful This also applies to Chicanes, that we will get the job done; I am not. American Indians, Oriental Americans, I think the only hope we have is to get and indeed to many women. They have out and work very, very hard and then their own part of the environmental perhaps we will. But fundamentally if problem to take care of. I think that all is up to you, and I wish you luck. blacks should be engaged as fully as possible in getting changes that will remove ghettos, give blacks a good chance at a decent education, a decent social position, and economic security. From my own personal point of view, there is no point In whites saying anything to blacks about controlling the size of their families. The first reason is that the whites are the ones who are doing the looting and polluting of the globe, not the blacks. The blacks are much more often the victims of pollution, both the kind of pollution we find in the ghettos, and the kind of pollution we find in our food. They, for instance, have higher DDT loads than whites do. I see no reason why any black should listen to advice from any white until he f;as in our society precisely the same educational, social, economic and political opportunities.

If there are any racists in the audience who are worried about having too many black children in the world, I have an answer for you. It is quite true that poor blacks have a somewhat higher birth rate than poor whites. It is also true that affluent blacks have a somewhat lower birth rate than affluent whites, although of course because of Copyright 1970, by Paul R. Ehrlich our society the proportion of affluent Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich is Professor of blacks is much smaller. But if we give Biology at Stanford University. He is the author the blacks their full rights in this of Population Bomb and Population, Resources, Environment: Issues in Human Ecology, which country, their birth rate will unques- is reviewed on page 14. tionably become indistinguishable from the white birth rate. We can go about The article which appears above was an address Dr. Ehrlich delivered before the First National designing a country for But everyone. Congress on Population and Environment on you cannot expect people to participate June 11. 1970 in Chicago. The address appears in print here for the first time. Excerpts from with in a world of which you saving this address and others delivered to the they do not have a fair slice. They are Congress will appear in a paperback book to be published by McGraw Hill in the late fall. just not interested and they are not to be interested. The same going goes Photos on page 2 from Historical Pictures Service for other people who are not treated and United Press International.

Bulletin October 1970 "^mim a fertile land is the "The men of old did not till the field, Malthus' theories covered wide range occupied, yearly and it has increase of food must for the fruits of plants and trees of overpopulation problems; depend upon amelioration of the land in were sufficient for food. Nor did the since been shown that not everything the already This is a women weave, for the sitins of birds Malthus said was true. But Malthus' possession. stream, which, all instead of and animals were enough for influence on scientists of his time, from the nature of soils, is Malthus must be gradually clothing. Without working there was including Darwin, profound. increasing is often credited with diminishing. But population, could it be enough to live, there were few influencing Darwin's of natural selection. with food, would go on with people and plenty of supplies, and theory supplied unexhausted and the increase therefore the people did not quarrel. vigour; The from Malthus' of one would furnish the Hence neither large rewards nor following excerpts period power work are taken from the 1803 of a increase the and heavy punishments were used, and original greater next, An on the of this, without any limit. the people were naturally in good Essay Principle A View of its Past and order. But nowadays people do not Population, or, Present Effects on Human ... If America continue increasing, consider a family of five children as Happiness, which is a greatly expanded version of which she certainly will do, though not large, and, each child having again his 1798 on with the same rapidity as formerly, the five children, before the death of the essay overpopulation. Indians will be driven further and further grandfather there may be twenty-five back into the till the whole . . . But that law of our nature country, grandchildren. The result is that as, by life race is ultimately exterminated. there are many people and few which nnakes food necessary to the of can never supplies, and that one has to work man, population actually

. . . The effects of these two hard for a meagre return. So the increase beyond the lowest necessary different rates of and nourishment of it; [population people fall to quarrelling, and though capable supporting when rewards may be doubled and a strong check on population, from the production] increase, brought of must be together, will be very striking. Let us punishments heaped up, one does difficulty acquiring food, call the of this island eleven not escape from disorder." constantly in operation. This difficulty population must fall somewhere; and must millions; and suppose the present Han Fei-Tzu (Chou Dynasty, to the of necessarily be severely felt in some or produce equal easy support died 233 B.C.) such a number. In first other of the various forms of misery, or the twenty-five the would be the fear of misery, by a large portion years population "The strongest witness is the vast of mankind. twenty-two millions, and the food being of the earth to which we population also doubled, the means of subsistence are a burden and she scarcely can ... we will take the slowest of these would be equal to this increase. In the for our as our provide needs; next the rates of [population] increase; a rate, twenty-five years, population demands grow greater, our in which all concurring testimonies would be forty-four millions, and the complaints against nature's agree, and which has been repeatedly means of subsistence only equal to the are heard all. The inadequacy by of In ascertained to be from procreation only. support thirty-three millions. the of scourges pestilence, famine, wars, next the would be It may safely be pronounced therefore, period population and earthquakes have come to be that population when unchecked goes eighty-eight millions, and the means of regarded as a blessing to on itself every twenty-five subsistence just equal to the support overcrowded since doubling nations, they of half that number. at the years, or increases in a geometrical And serve to prune away the luxuriant ratio. conclusion of the first century, the growth of the human race." population would be a hundred and Tertullian (ca. 160-230) in De Anima The rate according to which the seventy-six millions, and the means of productions of the earth may be subsistence only equal to the support It may be surprising to persons in the supposed to increase, it will not be so of fifty-five millions; leaving a population 20th century that their concern about easy to determine. Of this, however, of a hundred and twenty-one millions overpopulation is not a new one. we may be perfectly certain, that the totally unprovided for. Scholars, many centuries belore Christ, ratio of their increase must be totally and in all parts of the world, discoursed of a different nature from the ratio of Taking the whole earth instead of this

on the problem of overpopulation. But the increase of population. A thousand island, . . . supposing the present not until the late 18th and the early 19th millions are just as easily doubled population equal to a thousand millions, centuries were scholars systematically every twenty-five years by the power of the human species would increase as analyzing the overpopulation problem, population as a thousand. But the food the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and graphically portraying its to support the increase from the greater 256, and subsistence as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, consequences. One of the most number will by no means be obtained 6, 7, 8, 9. In two centuries the articulate of population theorists was with the same facility. Man is population would be to the means of Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), necessarily confined in room. When subsistence as 256 to 9; in three an English economist and sociologist. acre has been added to acre till all the centuries as 4096 to 13, and in two

Bulletin October 1970 It thousand years the difference would . . . The preventive check is peculiar to pestilence, plague, and famine ... be almost incalculable. man, and arises from that distinctive ... In a whose resources will superiority in his reasoning faculties, country not admit of an increase In this supposition no limits whatever which enables him to calculate distant permanently of are placed to the produce of the earth. consequences. Plants and animals population more rapid than the existing rate, no in the It may increase forever and be greater have apparently no doubts about the improvement condition of the which would than any assignable quantity; yet still future support of their offspring. The people tend to diminish the power of population being in every checks to their indefinite increase, mortality could possibly take without period so much superior, the increase therefore, are all positive. But man place being accompanied

a smaller of . . . of the human species can only be kept cannot look around him, and see the by proportion births down to the level of the means of distress which frequently presses upon subsistence by the constant operation those who have large families; he of the strong law of necessity acting as cannot contemplate his present

a check upon the greater power . . . possessions or earnings, which he now nearly consumes himself, and calculate the amount of each share, when with very little addition they must be divided, perhaps, among seven or eight, without A feeling a doubt; whether if he follow the bent of his inclinations, he may be able to support the offspring which he will probably bring into the world . . .

Will he not lower his rank in life, and be obliged to give up in great measure his former society? Does any mode of employment present itself by which he '^^M^A may reasonably hope to maintain a family? Will he not at any rate subject himself to greater difficulties, and more severe labour than in his single state? . . . The power of the earth to produce Will he not be unable to transmit to his subsistence is certainly not unlimited, children the same advantages of but it Is strictly speaking indefinite, that education and improvement that he is, its limits are not defined, and the had himself possessed? Does he even time will probably never arrive when feel secure that, should he have a large we shall be able to say, that no farther family, his utmost exertions can save labour or ingenuity of man could make them from rags, and squalid poverty, further additions to it. But the power of and their consequent degradation in obtaining an additional quantity of food the community? And may he not be from the earth by proper management, reduced to the of and in a certain time, has the most grating necessity forfeiting his independence, and of remote relation imaginable to the being obliged to the hand of power of keeping pace with an sparing charity for support? . . . unrestricted increase of population . . .

... If it . be really true, that without a . . The positive checks to population diminished proportion of births we are extremely various, and include cannot attain any permanent every cause, whether arising from vice improvement in the health and or misery, which in any degree happiness of the mass of the people, contributes to shorten the natural and secure that description of duration of human life. Under this head population, which, by containing a therefore may be enumerated, all larger share of adults is best calculated unwholesome occupations, severe to create fresh resources, and labour and exposure to the seasons, consequently to encourage a continued extreme poverty, bad nursing of of increase efficient population, it is children, great towns, excesses of all surely of the highest importance that kinds, the whole train of common this should be known . . . diseases and epidemics, wars,

12 Bulletin October 1970 fall color by Dr. William C. Burger these areas have broad-leaved One of the most spectacular sights in the leaf. These are usually hidden Both forests with different kinds of that nature has to offer is the spectacle by the bright green of chlorophyll in many trees a of colors. of tall color. This is found only in summer. As chlorophyll breaks down giving great variety Another reason is the for the those broad-leaved trees and shrubs in early fall, these carotenoid pigments tendency clear cool in late that lose their leaves as the cold become visible and produce the yellow weather to be and In the weather is season approaches. These plants and orange colors of fall. September. Europe and not as cold at this "sense" approaching cold weather not often cloudy There are other factors to time—and the colors are much by temperature but by the shortening contributing usually the and of fall color less intense. We are to be so of day-length in late summer. presence intensity lucky in a is very close to one of the best areas for Preparations must be made in advance given plant. Heredity Some deep the of fall color. —the leaves cannot just fall off. important. species produce seeing display brilliant reds such as the sour gum An abscission must first be at first in the north layer {Hyssa) and sugar maple, others bright Fall color begins formed at the base of the leaf-stalk. then "travels" south. In yellow as in the tulip tree and This abscission will allow the leaf and layer (Liriodendron). Light itself can play a northernmost Wisconsin adjacent to break off and it will seal off the first week of October is easily role. Leaves in bright light often exhibit Michigan the small veins that carried water and more intense colors than those in the usually the peak of color-intensity. nutrients in and out of the leaf. These shade. And, in addition, some people Coming southward, the second week veins must be sealed off to is best for central prevent claim that cool weather is important. of October usually water-loss and invasion by fungus or However, frost can cause the leaves to and southern Wisconsin, and the last insects. As the abscission is two of October for Illinois and layer turn brown more quickly. Damaged weeks formed the leaf continues to Indiana. The color show can produce branches or trees often turn color early. vary sugars which now, unable to leave the greatly from year to year—depending leaf, build up in concentration. This There are only a few areas in the on conditions. Let's hope that this will of in build-up sugars is, part, world where fall color gives a truly be a good year—and if it is, don't responsible for the production of spectacular display. These areas are miss it! anthocyanin pigments, which produce the northeastern United States and Dr William C. Burger is Assistant Curator, the dark reds and colors. northeastern purplish adjacent Canada and Vascular Plants in the Department of Botany at There are yellow pigments also present Asia. The reasons for this are several. Field Museum.

This diagrammatical representation shows the relationship ol the earth to the sun at each ot the tour seasons. The seasons are caused by the 23° 27' degree tilt ot its axis (relative to the plane of the earth's orbit), and the revolution ol the earth around the sun. The North Pole points toward the sun at the summer solstice (around June 22), but away Irom the sun at winter solstice (around December 22). The angle at which the sun's rays strike the earth is critical in determining the earth's seasonal changes in temperature. At the spring and autumn equinoxes the length of the day (represented by the dashed line) is equal to the length of the night (solid line). Plants, sensing approaching cold weather by the shortening ol the day-length in late summer, start making preparations for the fall.

Bulletin October 1970 13 Population, Resources, Environment: solved. But their solution will require species from most of the better known issues in Human Ecology rapid and dramatic changes in our animal groups, insects, fishes, those to birds and by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich attitudes, "especially relating amphibians, reptiles, San Francisco, W. H. Freeman and reproductive behavior, economic mammals. The preponderance of these the environment, are taken from the which Company, 1970 ($8.95) growth, technology, reports birds, and conflict resolution." Some of the have always been the best known and This book was designed by the authors authors' recommendations seem, as most studied class, but most readers to provide a "reasonably comprehensive they point out, unrealistic; I very much will be surprised to find out how many and reliable sourcebook for the study doubt, for example, that a program to species of other groups also perform of questions relating to population, "de-develop the United States" has extensive migrations. He concludes resources and environment" and was much chance of success. However, with chapters on orientation, hazards, written for the layman as well as something must be done if our and the problems of observing and teachers and students. The Ehrlichs civilization and species are to survive studying migration. believe that our earth is already grossly and this book can do much to focus This is a difficult book to overpopulated and that the upper limit our attentions on these problems. It quote from, of food production by conventional should have the widest possible or rather a difficult book to stop means has very nearly been reached. distribution. quoting from. Dr. Orr not only includes Ten to twenty million people are the classic examples of bird migration, by W. Peyton Fawcett, head librarian, to death and further such as the Arctic that nests in starving every year Field Museum Tern, attempts to increase food production the North American arctic, migrates will only tend to accelerate the down the east side of the Atlantic to deterioration of the environment and winter in south seas and then Animals in IMigration polar result in a reduction of the earth's returns up the west side of the Atlantic, by Robert T. Orr capacity to produce food. They argue a round trip of 25,000 miles, but tells Macmillan Co., New York, 1970 ($12.50) that this situation and the rate of as well of the green sea turtles, who population growth may result in every two or three years make the Animals in Migration attempts to cover worldwide war and/or disease unless 1500 mile trip from the coast of South all aspects of migration, causes, efforts are made now for population America to Ascension Island to lay movements and for all control. mechanics, their eggs. How these turtles orient forms of animal life. Dr. Orr is to be themselves has yet to be demonstrated, As a reader, with small congratulated on how well he achieved general and it is one of the virtues of this book competence in many of the areas his objective in a scant 300 pages. that speculation concerning the whys While no is discussed, I cannot review the facts one subject covered in any and hows of receives as he migration used by the authors in illustrating their depth, does provide an introduction much as the of to a wide of emphasis description theses. I can say, however, that the range knowledge. various book is well-written and documented migration patterns. Dr. and that the facts are presented clearly, Orr begins his book with a general Animals in Migration provides a good thoughtfully, and calmly. The Ehrlichs' discussion of animal population introduction to the of aim is to convince us of the nature and movements, not all of which can be general problem For those to delve scope of the present crisis, not to called migrations, and then goes on to migration. wishing frighten us, and they have succeeded discuss the reasons for migration more deeply into special problems, admirably. within the economy of the organism, there is an 18 page Bibliography at the influence of environment, and the the end, up to date through 1968. in the of Implicit writing the book is the physiological features. He follows this by Melvin A, Traylor, assistant curator ot belief that these can be problems with the migration patterns of selected birds, Field Museum

14 Bulletin October 1970 ' ! Across

1. British Social Anthropologist, dec. (init.) 3. To clip suddenly 7. A lengthy native parley 9. Type of funereal cloth 10. Object of worship 11. Type of monkey 13. "A" and "B" are types of this ancient writing. 16. A small snake 18. A bushy clump 19. Belief system 24. Ampere (abbrev.) 25. District of Colombia (abbrev.) 26. Native of Dahomey 28. Leaping amphibian 30. Hawaiian Island 33. Hospital feeding (abbrev.) 34. A doctrine or theory 35. Sixth tone of diatonic scale 36. Small singing bird 37. Organization for alcoholics 38. Suitable 39. An Indian of Peruvian highlands 40. Note well, (abbrev.) 41. Suffix forming ordinal numbers 42. To convert into leather 43. Denoting relation to life (comb, form) 44. But 46. New (comb, form) 47. An image or representation 50. Picnic accessories 52. Small boats 54. Ego and libido are close relatives 55. Looks over quickly 56. Like (prep) 58. Husband-wife anthropological team 63. Seaweed 65. To guide or escort 66. Girl's name 69. Sign of the Zodiac 70. An indehiscent legume (Bot.) 73. Trench around fortification 74. Introducer of infinitive (prep) 75. Social group of families, clans, and generations 76. Swellings (AnaL & Zool.) 77. Midday 79. Quaker word for "you" 80. Pieces of broken earthenware Down

1. Scientific dating method 2. Light-colored 3. Plan or outline 4. Born (Fr.) 5. Government taxing agency (abbrev.) 6. A little bit (Fr.) 7. Archaeological hoax 8. Fermented liquor This collection, from which original (which has been translated into French descriptions of at least 37 kinds of and Italian). birds have been based, was brought Dr. Rand has recently completed the together by Dr. V. G. L. van Someren manuscript for a lavishly color- during a period of more than 40 years. illustrated book on the birds of North Dr. Rand remembers the excitement in America to be published by Doubleday the Museum the day the collection in 1971. arrived from Nairobi. "Nine huge cases arrived in bond at the Museum," said Dr. Rand. "There was not enough room Air Pollution Workshop in the bird range to open them so we A one-day workshop to discuss the put them in the fourth floor paint shop. problems of air pollution and There, under the watchful eyes of two alternative methods of financing a United States customs officers, the Cook County flood control program will paint shop hummed with activity as be held in James Simpson Theatre everyone vied for a crowbar, nail- Thursday, October 15. puller, hammer, screwdriver or tin Austin L. Rand Retires Dr. shears to get a look at the Guinea Sponsored by the League of Women "I've been fortunate in being able to fowls, hawks, hornbills, mousebirds, Voters of Cook County, the seminar is and other free to the earn a living at something I'm very honey-guides many species open public. Non-members which side side, row row, of the interested in," says Dr. Austin L. Rand, lay by upon Museum will be admitted to the Field Museum's chief curator of layer upon layer, in perfect condition." theatre only at the West entrance Dr. Rand, who will retire on without charge. zoology. Running parallel with his interest in October 31, has been interested in researching and exhibiting birds has animals and, particularly in birds, as been Dr. Rand's passion for writing Winter Tour as he can remember. long about birds on all levels, for all Dr. Carlos R. a and scientist and Margain, prominent Standing six feet six inches tall and persons—young old, He has authored over 350 Mexican archaeologist with Mexico's weighing 250 pounds. Dr. Rand has layman. books and articles on mammals Museo Nacional de Antropologia, will been described as looking more like a birds, be the and even some on travel. A few of the specialist accompanying the retired lineman for the Green Bay first section (December 31 -January 29) Packers than a soon-to-retire museum books for which he is well-known are: of Field Museum's winter tour, "The curator. The Handbook of New Guinea Birds Inca's and Danwin's (co-authored with E. Thomas Gilliard), Empire A native of Nova Dr. Rand Dr. Scotia, Ornitiiology: an introduction, Stray Galapagos." Margain's writings received his bachelors degree from Featliers From a Bird Man's Desk, and research in both Andean and Acadia in Canada and then Mexican and University A Midwestern Almanac, Pageant of tine archaeology anthropology to on an are He is the took two years out go Seasons (co-authored with his wife, widely recognized. author of del international expedition to Madagascar Rheua M. Rand), New Guinea "Las Colecciones Museo doctorate at Cornell del Oro" and "La de before getting his Expedition (co-authored with Richard Arqueologia Esmeraldas". University. Archbold) and The Birds in Summer

staff E. Dr. Rand joined Field Museum as Dr. Austin L. Rand Dr. Donald Thompson, Associate Curator of Birds in 1947. He has Professor of Anthropology at the served as Chief Curator of Zoology University of Wisconsin, will serve as a since 1955. Prior to 1947, he was on specialist on the archaeology of the the staffs of the American Museum of Incan area on the second section of Natural History in New York and the the tour, which departs February 4 and National Museum of Canada at Ottawa. returns March 5. Dr. Thompson is presently doing field work in Peru. Expeditions to study and collect birds and mammals have taken Dr. Rand to Francisco Leon Rodriguez of the such diverse places as New Guinea, Zoology Department of Universidad Northwest Canada, Central America Catolica del Ecuador will be the and the Philippine Islands. specialist on birds, plants and wild life with both tour sections. Leon has Dr. Rand is for tens of responsible been associated with the Charles thousands of bird which specimens Darwin Research Station on the have been added to the Museum's Galapagos. For the past five years he collection. One of the most important has been doing research with the collections which he for the acquired Universidad. Museum was the van Someren Collection which numbers some 17,000 Phil Clark, chief of Museum tours, will specimens, mostly from eastern Africa. lead both sections.

16 Bulletin October 1970 HOURS 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Friday Friday hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday CALENDAR

Through October 25 October 17 Field Museum's "Russia" Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age Natural a exhibit. Events by Dick Reddy History Environment, geological Tours that occurred 300 million years ago at two Aspects of city and country life, sightseeing local sites are graphically explored. Hall 9. in Moscow and Leningrad, and glimpses of Gardens the Russian people on vacation. Wild Flowers Through October 26 Birds October 24 Aurantia argiope, a large, garden-variety Archaeology in South spider, on exhibit the Lounge. "Green Guianas" Congenial Travel Because of its conspicuous color, many by Arthur Erickson Companions inquiries are received about this harmless A look at three small countries in South insect at this time of Interpretations by Experts year. America between the Amazon and Orinoco The Unhurried rivers, Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana. Approach Continuing Travel With All

75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of October 31 Dimensions Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of "Across Wilderness Canada" GUATEMALA Discovery. Exciting display techniques LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST by Dr. John D. Bulger examine man and his world, the history of Oct. 24-Nov. 8 Field Museum and some of its current Attention is focused on nature and the $1,280 includes $400 donation from Newfoundland westward to research projects. Hall 3. outdoors, Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Volcan Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of John James Audubon's folio, The elephant Tikal, Iximche, Kaminaljuyu. Chichicas- Birds of America, on display in the North lenango on All Saints Day. Lake Atitlan. November 7 Lounge. A different plate of this rare, THE INCA'S EIMPIRE first-edition copy, published by the author "High Himalaya" & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS in 1827-38, is shown daily. by Russ Potter Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, & Feb. 4-March 5. A visit to West Pakistan, Gilgit, Hunza and Fall Journey for Children, "Eye" Spy, a $2,807 includes $600 donation. Nagar, located in a spectacular mountainous free, self-guided tour designed to test their for an film (22 days of Andes, S2.457; 11 days of of observation. The offers setting, off-the-beaten-path powers program cruise & Quito, $1,190— adventure. Galapagos boys and girls who can read and write an separately) Gardens in Bogota, Lima, La Quito. Ruins of Machu incentive to learn. Journey sheets are Paz, Picchu, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Caiamarquilla, available at Museum entrances. Ollantaytambo. Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Tiahuanaco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in Bolivia October 11 Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. Free film the Illinois Audubon presented by LEADER ON ALL TQURS, PHIL CLARK, Society, 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. former Editor of Horticulture magazine; former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author. "A Guide to Mexican Fall Film-Lecture Series Flora"; Field Museum Natural History Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. Tours Chief; accompanied by James Simpson Theatre Archaeologists specialized in the areas.

All donations to Field Museum are October 10 tax deductible. from "Scotland Afore Ye" Rates are Chicago; may be adjusted from other points. by Jonathan Hagar Write: Field Museum A many-dimensioned view of this rugged Natural History Tours and beautiful land includes the Lowlands Roosevelt Rd. at Lal(e Shore Dr. and Highlands, the Hebrides and a search Chicago, III. 60605 for the Loch Ness Monster.

Volume 41, Number 11 November 1970 Field Museum of Natural History

BULLETIN

Volume 41, Number 11 November 1970

2 Nushagak: A Russian Trading Post in Southwestern Alaska by James W. VanStone the history of a small Alaskan town

6 A Child Goes Forth a preview of Field Museum's new exhibit which explores the importance of toys

8 Turtle Lore: Fact and Fiction by Karen Ramey the turtle in mythology and folklore

1 1 Museums in a Changing World by Lothar P. Witteborg how can our museums become relevant?

15 New Books

16 Field Briefs

Calendar

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E, Leiand Webber

Editor Joyce Zibro; Associate Editor Victoria Haider; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Ptiolography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans.

Bulletin November 1970 A Russian Trading Post in Southwestern Alaska

,:x^ SEWARD n-^ PENINSULA

NORTON SOUND

kolayevsky. -'Redoubt /

OF ALASKA view of the entire bay and no one biscuits, glass beads, cast iron kettles, by James W. VanStone approaching the mouth of the river could needles, combs, pipes, mirrors, axes, do so unobserved by personnel at the canvas tent cloth, flannel blankets, According to an historical anecdote, post (see map). Using the new cloth dresses, buttons and small bells. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, during redoubt, later to be called Nushagak Indeed, the earliest recorded population his journey abroad in 1697-98, was by Anglo-Americans, as a base figures for Aleksandrovskiy in 1849 chagrined to learn that while other of operations. Company employees indicate that 168 persons lived at the European monarchs were only too clearly explored the Nushagak and Kuskokwim post. Thus the village was probably the aware of the boundaries of their realms, rivers and opened the interior regions largest on Nushagak Bay, even during he did not know the extent of his of southwestern Alaska to the fur trade. the period after 1846 when, for reasons immense homeland. Determined to of economy and administrative ascertain the eastern limits of the lands Today the grassy slopes of Nushagak convenience, a decision was made to under his rule, Peter commissioned. In are virtually deserted. An air photograph reduce Aleksandrovskiy from a redoubt 1 725, the first of two momentous (page 2) taken in 1963 shows only an to an odinochka or trail house expeditions to the unknown wastes of abandoned Russian Orthodox church, subordinate to Nikolayevsky Redoubt the North Pacific Ocean. Both were a few dilapidated houses, and twenty on Cook Inlet. under the command of the Danish to thirty rectangular depressions in navigator Vitus Bering, one of the many the earth indicating former Eskimo In 1867 Alaska was sold to the United foreign mariners drawn into the newly dwellings. This is all that remains of States, and in June 1868, Captain created Russian Navy. After years of what was once a busy trading and J. W. White, in command of the United arduous and travels, dangerous Bering missionary center with a population of States Revenue Steamer Wayanda visited succeeded not only in traversing the 150-175 Russians, Eskimos, and people "Nushagak," as it is usually known in eastern reaches of the Russian Empire, of mixed ancestry. sources of the American period. White but he also, in 1741-42, crossed the sea mentions the decaying buildings and which bears his name. off to start today The redoubt got a promising notes that the assets of the in 1818 under the direction of Fedor Russian-American Company had been Following Bering's explorations and an Kolmakov, energetic and personable transferred to Hutchinson, Kohl and discoveries, Russian fur traders began trader who established trade quickly Company of San Francisco. This firm, to exploit those areas of Alaska where Eskimos relations with the neighboring which ran the Nushagak station for at fabulous riches in furs—seals, sea and to the — generally helped spread least a year and possibly two, was soon otters, foxes had been reported. influence in the Company's region. reorganized to form the Alaska these Rivalry among early entrepreneurs Kolmakov successfully guided the affairs Commercial Company which dominated was intense, but in 1799 the of the until his death in 1840. He post trade in southwestern Alaska throughout Russian-American Company secured a was buried in the on Nushagak cemetery the rest of the nineteenth century and monopoly of the Alaskan trade and the hill top of a small above the settlement, well into the twentieth. of the new Russian capital possession and a twenty foot cylindrical wooden was established at Sitka. shaft with a globe on top was erected Sometime between 1872 and 1874, to his memory. during three seasons of work in Alaska, Early in the nineteenth as century, the historian and naturalist Henry W. fur-bearing animals began to decline in During Kolmakov's sojourn a small Elliott visited Nushagak. He has left a the Aleutians and other traditionally chapel, mill, new barracks and a colorful description of the settlement. exploited areas, the Company turned to kashgee or Eskimo ceremonial house, The village itself is located on the abrupt southwestern Alaska where it hoped probably built to entertain visitors slopes of a steep, grassy hillside which rises to reap new profits through trade with trading at the post, were added to the from the river's edge. The trading-stores the Eskimos for beaver A number which consisted pelts. original buildings and the residences of the priest, the church, of fortified trading posts, or "redoubts," simply of a small fort and barracks log-huts of the natives and their baraboras a succession of three earthen were established north of the Alaska house. About 1857 a priest's house was are planted on terraces, one rising immediately behind the Peninsula, the first of which was named built, and in 1860 the Company, at the other. All communication from flat to flat is Aleksandrovskiy Redoubt In honor of request of church authorities, ordered by slippery staircases, which are fraught Tsar I. Alexander Located on a high bluff the construction of a new church to with danger to a thoughtless pedestrian, at the mouth of the Nushagak River replace the small chapel built earlier. especially when fogs moisten the steps and darkness obscures his vision. opposite the present-day town of This structure, the last of importance Dillingham, it afforded a commanding to be constructed at Aleksandrovskiy The red-roofed, yellow painted walls of the Redoubt during the Russian period, was old Russian buildings, the smarter, sprucer dwellings of our traders, with lazy, curling conceived on a comparatively grand wreaths of bluish smoke, are brought into scale with such materials as nails, roof very picturesque relief by the verdant slopes tiles, doors and windows to be sent of Nooshagak's hillside, caught up and Air photo of Nushagak (opposite page) from Sitka. reflected deeply by the swiftly moving current talfen in 1963. (U. S. Dept. ot Interior, of the river below. The natives have Bureau ol Land Management) Business at the redoubt generally was festooned their long drying-frames with the crimson-tinted flesh of salmon; bleached Dr. James W. VanStone is good. Eskimos from interior and coastal drift-logs are scattered in profusion upon a Curator, North American Archaeology and settlements brought pelts to exchange bare Ethnology in Field Museum's Department sandy high-water bench that stretches for such items as hard of Anthropology. tobacco, tea, like a buff-tinted ribbon just beneath them,

Bulletin November 1970 f~~T^J.' r 'r •f^.^f

im: Nushagak around 1900. (National Archives photo)

iij- -• •' - -I

— I"!

A view from the bluft looking northeast. (National Archives photo)

Some Eskimo houses at Nushagak, around the turn ol the century. (National Archives photo) I and above, the dark, turbid whirl of flood an effective agent of change into the northeast. Eskimo houses and caches and eddy so characteristic of a booming, orbit of which even the most retiring are shown along with three frame rising river. Eskimo at Nushagak, visitor or resident, houses, a church, and an uncompleted must have been drawn. When the frame structure. The largest house with Elliott drew a sketch of the also village canneries closed down at the end of a four-sided roof situated on the edge in the of w^hich (page 5), proportions each summer after the brief, exciting of the bluff just above the store may are such that it is difficult to relate the salmon runs, the villagers were left with have been the priest's residence. The location of the structures shown to the a store of new ideas about the outside church building is almost certainly the site as it at the tinne. appears present world and probably a few material one built in 1860 and shown in Elliott's In this six can be drawing buildings items not obtainable at the store, but drawing of the settlement. This building and there would easily distinguished available through trade with a friendly must have been torn down shortly after to be two or three more. Those appear fisherman from San Francisco or these photographs were taken, as a to the beach are almost closest homesick cannery worker from Hong new church, located to the southwest associated with the Alaska certainly Kong. The attraction of the canneries is of the old one and visible in the air Commercial while those on Company, doubtless reflected in the population photograph, was constructed in 1904. the bluff would to be appear figures which by 1900 had soared to 324. It was in use until about 1963. church-related buildings. Most of the the summers of 1900 and 1901 semi-subterranean earth-covered During A third Albatross photograph (bottom, the United States Fish Commission Eskimo residences were southwest of p. 4) shows typical Eskimo houses at Steamer Albatross visited and the church in the area where the Nushagak Nushagak. These semi-subterranean a member of the crew took a number were in use drawing shows three elevated storage earth and log structures of One of these caches. The monument erected to the photographs. pictures in the area until the 1920's. Certain taken in front of the memory of Fedor Kolmakov, long since (top, page 4), modifications in traditional construction, village, shows four structures on the frame doors and fallen, can be seen in the upper right notably glass windows, beach the bluff. The hand corner of Elliott's drawing. up against large stove pipes, can be seen in this picture. frame building in the center is the its at about Alaska Commercial while one Nushagak had reached peak At the end of the nineteenth century Company, very these were taken. of the houses, the one the time photographs the flourishing settlement was influenced log probably In 1918-19 a serious influenza to the left of the store, was epidemic the salmon fishing industry, one of immediately by of Alaska took a severe the trader's residence. The other two swept much and the most significant commercial toll So structures have been at the settlement. many people innovations in Alaska's history. Although log may older died that bodies were placed in a the Alaska Commercial Company had storehouses. According to of and these structures residents of the fenced-in number houses exported barrels of salted salmon as Dillingham, caved in. The two salmon canneries area in front of these at one as it was the invention of the buildings early 1880, the 1930's as time enclosed maintained were abandoned during canning process that provided the gardens by Alaska declining salmon runs forced the means which the Alaska salmon runs John W. Clark, agent for the by its at from industry to consolidate operations. could be harvested. In 1883 Commercial Company Nushagak profitably Of the middle 1880's until his death in much greater significance, however, the first on Bristol Bay was cannery were the attractions of which It is that the Dillingham constructed about two miles north of 1897. probable original from Russian stood in the same drew population away Nushagak Nushagak and in 1899 the Pacific Steam buildings and emerged as a cosmopolitan and Alaska location as those just described, and it Whaling Company commercial center for the area in the is that one or of the Fisherman's erected possible more log Packing Company 1920'sand 1930's. structures shown in this photograph canneries directly in front of the was built the Russian settlement. The companies imported actually during After 1930 the village is no longer listed Chinese workers to can the fish and the period. in census reports. In 1964 there were fishermen represented many nationalities Several wooden buildings on the edge two families with houses at Nushagak and ethnic groups. With its exotic of the bluff show up better in another and even they did not spend the personnel and new and strange material Albatross photograph (center, p. 4) entire year there. In 1969 only one culture, the fishing industry acted as taken from that area and looking to the family remained.

Bulletin November 1970 a child goes forth

The time between infancy and toys—are explored as indicators of adulthood is a time of becoming, of the cultures which produced them. reaching out, of expanding awareness. first of the It is perhaps the most important and The part exhibit, arranged to fragile time of all. in cultural groups, is designed build an awareness of how toys can There was a child went forth every day, give information about a people,

their of life and their values. For And the first object he look'd upon way that object he became example, the way a toy is fashioned And that object became part of him often indicates the technological for the or a certain day part advancement of a society, while the of the day material it is made of can reflect the Or for or many years stretching environment. Toys which take the form cycles of years. of familiar animals can represent a "There Was A Child Went Forth" vital concern with the natural Walt Whitman environment; action toys or games or Playthings, usually miniature copies may reveal cooperative competitive

This pull-toy from Java depicts a carabao with a human figure.

of familiar things, animals, people, attitudes of a society. For instance, play a very important role in a child's American Indian cultures contain a world. These playthings are made by predominance of physical, active adults and represent adult ideas, games and toys—various ball and dart tastes and values. Whether consciously games are most popular. On the other or unconsciously, the objects a parent hand, in the Japanese culture, one gives a child are indicative of the can see a deep concern for social way the adult perceives of the world, structure. Japanese dolls reflect this and are instrumental in developing concern; they are used for teaching the child's social awareness. etiquette, protocol and other social amenities.

In Field Museum's exhibit, "A Child Goes Forth," opening November 18, Before leaving this section of the these instruments of enculturation— exhibit, the visitor will have the

Bulletin November 1970 Tops are an important example of toys that are seemingly universal. These tops are trom the Philippines, Easter Island and Malaya.

opportunity to contemplate the values, of seemingly universal toys. Balls, technology and social concerns of dolls, tops, animal toys, ball and cup America as reflected in a large games are among the playthings that collection of contemporary American have transcended time and crossed toys. cultural borders. A comparative study of the designs and materials of these But what is a Are exactly toy?— stones, toys reveals some interesting sticks, small boxes, keys things differences among cultures. children play with—toys? The exhibit "A Child Goes Forth" explores the fascinating fact that Ultimately, children often abstract objects from demonstrates the very important their environment and infuse them nature and function of playthings in the and asks the with new meaning; a common object past, silently question whether some of our may become a precious plaything. contemporary American toys properly prepare our Equally fascinating is the development children for a meaningful adulthood.

These contemporary American toys reflect a wide range of children's interests, and >iafe_ - -f perhaps mirror our society concerns.

Bulletin November 1970

Two hundred million years before the against the outside. No easy job, but the by the way, reaches a length of nine first sit-in or love-in, before the advent inventive turtle nevertheless succeeded. feet and a weight of 1500 pounds. of Yoga or other such philosophies, the But now another vital problem had to great granddaddy of passive resistance be encountered, since immobile ribs Land turtles do not compare with this and meditation was born, or rather, make for very poor breathing. The marine giant in size, let alone in speed, hatched. This exemplary old fellow was method of inflating and deflating the but they are sometimes enormous in well-established on planet Earth when lungs with the diaphragm as practiced their own right. The famous Galapagos the first dinosaur pipped his eggshell by other vertebrates just wouldn't work. tortoise {Testudo) and its counterpart on and began to see how big he could So the turtle established a new method islands of the Indian Ocean (also grow. While the living creatures of the of breathing which utilizes two separate Testudo) can reach a length of four feet earth battled for space and food, peace groups of muscles in the abdominal and a weight of 500 to 800 pounds. In was the very keynote of turtle evolution. area and the viscera. North America, the largest turtle is the Whereas the turtle's relatives, both alligator snapper {Macroclemys One must of that none extant and extinct, the lizard, snake, realize, course, temmincki), which weighs as much as of these alligator, and crocodile, as well as the fancy adaptations happened two hundred pounds. The alligator after of turtle dinosaur, bring horror to the eyes of overnight. Epoch epoch snapper's size is not quite so startling evolution numbers of many, the gentle turtle usually evokes produced large as his craggy carapace and peculiar bizarre A fine is only friendly feelings. His secret to turtle-types. example tongue. His tongue sports a curious Archelon, which lived the success lies in his cumbersome, if not during appendage shaped like a worm. The Carboniferous Period, and was comical, shell, a truly spectacular perhaps alligator snapper is capable of the turtle ever to exist. He was adaptation. largest wriggling his little "worm" convincingly 1 1 feet and 12 feet across at the long enough to lure hungry fish right where The first ancestors of the turtle are flippers. Another ancient turtle, he wants them! generally presumed to be the Meiolania, was equipped with a horned cotylosaurs, a group of early reptiles skull two feet wide. The approximately Among other curiosities, questions about with bony plates set in their skin. Over 250 species of turtles living today are a turtle's age are frequent. Although a period of perhaps forty million years, survivors of a much more numerous stories about the age of a turtle are these bony plates, or dermal bone, group in the past. often greatly exaggerated, turtles are enlarged. At the same time, the ribs nevertheless the longest-lived The should not be widened and fused with the backbone survivors, however, vertebrates in existence. They are the considered Extremes and the dermal plates. Thus a carapace, commonplace. only group to exceed man in this and oddities are the rule rather than the or upper shell, was produced. The capacity. The very fact that they often in turtle lore. For lower shell or plastron was exception instance, live longer than man makes longevity the familiar tale of the tortoise and the simultaneously created through the records difficult to maintain. The longest hare is built around the "common enlargement and fusion of the primitive turtle life for which there is an authentic that the turtle is a reptilian abdominal ribs, and parts of knowledge" record is that of "Marion's Tortoise," a slow-poke. But sea turtles are the shoulder girdle. capable Testudo gigantea of the Indian Ocean. of the of attaining greatest speeds any In 1766, this particular turtle was taken As the modern The leatherback bony-box building project reptiles. turtle, by the French explorer, Marion de can swim as fast as the continued, more and more problems Dermochelys, Fresne, from its native island to the best were exposed. For one, the legs human runner can pound out the island of Mauritius where there are no couldn't be left to hundred dash. This massive dangle outside yard reptile, native tortoises. The British captured unprotected. Somehow the pelvic and Mauritius in 1810 and Marion's Tortoise shoulder had to girdles be drawn inside was handed over to British troops by the the modified ribs so that when surrendering French forces. It then lived retracted, the could legs be secure in in the artillery barracks at Port Louis the shell rather than merely squashed until 1918 when it fell through a gun emplacement to its death. The authentic record of this turtle is a full 152 years. The Add to that approximately thirty years, Chinese clay tile (shown on p. 1) represents the Four Quarters of the since it was an adult when captured, Universe. The black tortoise entwined by and it could not have been younger the serpent, known as the "Sombre than 180 years. Warrior" occupies the lower place on this map ot the heavens, and is the symbol ot winter. Among the more commonplace creatures, the little box One theory why the tortoise and serpent turtle, Terrapene, are otten associated is that this also has its age records. There is good pair ol reptiles, appearing in a deadly evidence that a box turtle has a life embrace, represent the tactics ot warlare. of to Neither ot the opponents is able to In Hindu mythology, the tortoise is expectancy forty fifty years. Quite attack the other; the serpent is unable to extremely important. In one myth, the reliable records also indicate that some crush the shell ot the tortoise, while the universe is conceived of on four resting box turtles have spanned as as tortoise, because ol its short neck, cannot elephants, which in turn stood on the back many reach the 123 serpent. ot a tortoise with a serpent enveloping it. years.

Bulletin November 1970 Turtles have sparked the imaginations of maps for drain ditches, irrigation the earliest coinage of European of men the world over regardless of and navigation channels. These Greece, stamped, of course, with the time or culture. Turtles have been found instructions were used by the first of symbol of the turtle. These "turtles" in cave paintings dating from pre-history. five mythological emperors as he served as the currency of the entire Perhaps turtles appealed to the early directed the development of the land. Peloponnesus until the defeat of Aegina artists and craftsmen because of their by Athens. Interestingly enough, the because of Kwei and his very odd appearance or because of the Perhaps earliest coins from Aegina show the sea descendants the Chinese believe designs on many carapaces, evoking turtle, whereas the later coins are that the turtle carries on its kaleidoscope-like fascination. The turtle carapace stamped with the image of the land of the and the future. has played an important role in the knowledge past tortoise, but no explanation for the this think that folklore of groups as widely divergent as Through knowledge, they change is known. the Hindus, Burmese Buddhists, the turtle may be able to influence the Chinese. Greeks, and American Indians. future, or at least give advice. Kwei was There is no question that the turtle has attributed not only with knowledge, but played a substantial role in the history The Onondaga Indians of America, for also with good luck, for he controlled of man. In his docile, mild-mannered example, believed the Chief of Heaven the first of the five most precious things way, he has found his way into the created the world when he became in the life of human beings, the gift of minds and imaginations of story-tellers jealous of his wife. He uprooted the longevity. Even today, stone carvings of and artists in societies the world over. Tree of Life in Heaven and thrust his turtles, erected by decree of Chinese New uses for turtles are with wife down through the hole in the sky. emperors, stand in front of government developing the Howard of As the Sky Woman fell, the waterfowl offices, by waterways, channels and space age. Campbell the of Florida writes of the soared up to catch her. The Loon dikes to protect them. University of the turtle in instructed the water animals to bring amazing adaptability soil from the sea so Sky Woman could Other Far Eastern civilizations also stress situations. Turtles are capable of utilize the turtle in legend and ceremony. varying the distribution of blood in the The Hindus as well as the American body thereby increasing its efficiency Indians use the turtle to symbolize the in times of oxygen shortage. They are universe. Its dome-shaped back able to maintain metabolic activities represents the vault of the sky; its belly for considerable periods of time without represents the earth which moves upon taking in fresh oxygen. Some can the waters. The Buddhists elevate the utilize the oxygen in water through turtle's status by maintaining tanks of processes known as pharyngeal and live turtles in their temples. It is anal breathing, which serve to lengthen considered meritorious to feed them or the time spent under water. Turtles to add to their numbers by purchasing have been known to endure conditions The Iroquois Indians make rattles out them alive from the streets where they from anaerobic to one hundred percent ot turtles. The head and neck of snapping are sold as food. O2, high to low pressures (as low as the turtle is stretched over a stick inserted 1/10 earth's air at sea to form the handle. They are used in the pressure level), In ancient Great Feather Dance and the Dance ot Greece, the turtle was the ultraviolet radiation, and low the False Faces. of the island badge city-state Aegina, temperatures. Campbell writes in and was sacred to whose Aphrodite, International Turtle & Tortoise (Vol. 1, stood near the harbor of temple Aegina. No. 2), "Such adaptability in stress land. The Muskrat the soil on the put before Athenians took to the Long sea, situations, and their proven ability to back of a turtle so that it made snapping the commercial of enterprises Aegina recuperate from extended surgical a little island above the water. Sky reached as far as Asia Minor and operations, makes them was then taken to the prime subjects Woman gently northern Greece. The issued Aeginetans in studies of stress. Perhaps a turtle ground by the birds. She became the will be one of the first earthlings to make Great Earth Mother in Indian legends. the trip to Mars and report back via telemetered information of its In Chinese legend, the tortoise played some idea of the a different, though equally important role physiological state, conditions it finds there." in creation. The tortoise, Kwei, Lord of the Northern Quadrangle, was the Thus the turtle has plodded from the longest-lived, wisest and most Age of Dinosaurs to the Space Age. He experienced creature. Therefore, he has stubbornly resisted violence and became the advisor to the creator of capitalized on unobtrusiveness. If any the world and accompanied the creator animal can endure the throes of man's in his great work. It is said that the first conquest of the earth, the turtle should. characters were traced from segments Let's wish him luck. of Kwei's carapace, thus giving rise to the art of writing. The carapace of Karen is Kwei's descendant was also invaluable Ramey Assistant, Division of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Department in that it carried instructions in the form of Zoology at Field Museum.

10 Bulletin November 1970 released a totally new social force—a How does the museum fit into all of Museums in a stream of change so accelerated that it this? What has the museum's position influences our sense of time, —been with regard to its role in society Changing World revolutionizes the tempo of daily life, fifty years ago, thirty years ago, and affects the very way we 'feel' the twenty years ago? Does the museum world around us." still serve the same function today? by Lothar P. Witteborg The answer in most instances is yes, All this has happened because man but should it be? And that answer is no. Alvin Toffler, in his recent book Future can no longer absorb all that is Shock states that Western society and relentlessly new, and traditional The museum has traditionally occupied especially the United States is suffering institutions seem unable to encompass a rather honored position in our from a malady defined as "the dizzying and interpret headlong technological society as it perpetuated the image of disorientation brought on by the change and its social consequences. the "Temple of the Muses." This is premature arrival of the future." What Also, accelerating change has made well pointed out by a recently brings on this future shock is a rate of obsolete the methods by which we published report (August 1969) by the social change that has become so fast arrive at social goals. In trying to react American Association of Museums as to be impossible for most human to the current crises, our technocrats which recognized the need to establish beings to assimilate. The malaise, mass are reaching for the tried and true a new definition of a museum neurosis, irrationality and free-floating methods of the past with obviously acceptable to the majority of U. S. violence already apparent in little success. institutions. This definition is as contemporary life are merely a foretaste follows: "... a museum is defined of what lie unless we come may ahead Our educational is also under system as an organized and permanent to treat this disease. understand and attack. "It to gets pretty depressing non-profit institution, essentially Toffler argues that "future shock arises watch what is going on in the world educational or aesthetic in purpose, from the of a new superimposition and realize that education is not your with professional staff, which owns or It is culture culture on an old one. to do about equipping you anything it," utilizes tangible objects, cares for shock in one's own society. But its writes a University of California senior. them, and exhibits them to the public is far worse. I^ost travelers have impact This student is not a and has radical, on some regular schedule." The the comforting that the knowledge never taken part in any demonstration. committee believed this definition of a culture they left behind will be there to She will graduate with honors, and museum to be "accurate and suitable return to. The victim of future shock profound disillusionment. From listening for general use throughout the does not." to her, and to a good many like-minded United States." students at California, Midwest and Today, Toffler contends, we are all East Coast campuses, one begins to While the new definition of what a renters, all nomads. "We have not understand what they mean when they museum is is basically correct, there is merely extended the scope and scale say that a liberal arts education isn't one grave omission, and that is the of change, we have radically altered its relevant. They mean it is incoherent. It museum's social responsibility with pace," he says. "We have in our time consists of bits and pieces which don't regard to contemporary relevancy! Dr. stick together, and have no common A. E. Parr, former director of the purpose or total vision of the world. American Museum of Natural History, Lothar P. Witteborg is Ctiairman of ttie Most liberal arts colleges and stated it beautifully in an article Department of Exhibition at Fietd Museum. universities have no apparent overall

defined philosophy or goals. So it is no small wonder that our youth has become so disenchanted with their world and have established a

somewhat nihilistic attitude toward life.

Bulletin November 1970 11 published in a museology journal from educational and cultural opportunities Talking about surviving, many people India, Studies in Museology. Parr's which museums are potentially have probably seen, or at least read statement is as follows: "The natural equipped to provide? After all, we can about, the much publicized centennial history museums of today are at a tell the story of culture change, exhibit "Can Man Survive?" at the crisis stage. Many have declined in environmental pollution, population American Museum of Natural History. community standing and in their status explosion, human aggression, etc. so This very expensive exhibit, containing among cultural institutions. Their that it is meaningful, and we can do it approximately four thousand square expositions, in the traditional vein, offer better than any other media, because feet of audio-visual equipment (sound, little relief from the pressures of world we have the actual things, and we slide and film projector), as well as problems, and less help towards their understand the complex processes that photo blow ups and some dramatic

" solution. What Dr. Parr stated four are involved. However, the answer is three-dimensional items took on the years ago is even more important not in the fleeting trip of organized problem of the deteriorating today, since not too much has been school groups, in one exhibit hall and environment. The American Museum is done in our museums to counteract the out again at rapid march tempo. The to be applauded for taking on a most crisis that surrounds almost every answer is not in the endless rows of important contemporary problem and aspect of our daily lives. To add to taxonomic and systematic exhibits, making a public statement. However, this dilemma of inactivity and badly illuminated and with the barest one must look at the exhibit's traditional thinking is the surprising of labels. The answer is not in the statement in historic perspective. The demand put on the museums by exposition of the three-dimensional exhibit was planned in 1968 and increased attendance and requests for textbook with endless label copy, so opened to the public in May of 1969. service which have strained most specialized that even a trained viewer It was at a time when the "prophets of museums' financial resources to the has to pause and scratch his head. doom" were just making their first breaking point. And most certainly— it is not the public appearances and all statements so-called education oriented exhibit regarding the problem of population Where does this leave the casual where facts and information are and the environment were totally visitors and the student at a time that force-fed in a continued maze of a negative. The exhibit echoed this calls for a increase in the sharp controlled environmental walk-through approach with the added element that exhibit layout. We must stress it was totally anti-human. It talked contemporary involvement and down to the visitor and scolded him; Immediacy in our exhibition halls and this plus the negativism left the viewer educational programs as well as in all with absolutely no hope in the future, of our related activities. We must do nor did it offer any possible solutions.

this in order to survive. This I find is not fulfilling our responsibility as public institutions and is totally unacceptable.

We must re-evaluate our museum "A Sense of Discovery" is explored in the Museum's 75th Anniversary exhibit. objectives, otherwise our glorious institutions will themselves become victims of extinction like so many of our specimens now languishing in exhibit cases and storage vaults.

Bulletin November 1970 We must stop and do some careful be illustrated, thus making the other Coupled with all of these new thinking and move in new directions exhibition areas more meaningful. We innovations in exhibition approach and and hope that we are not too late. must provide space within our interpretation we must somehow still We must make the adjustment permanent halls or in specially provide the visitor in our exhibition that is called for, namely, to create designated exhibit areas where we can halls a source of wonder and delight public awareness of contemporary illustrate new and timely scientific for mind and heart. problems in an enlightened manner. It interpretation, and if possible, how this The new with new we fail, it would be fatal. Our museums interpretation may directly or indirectly philosophy would then end up as mere libraries affect modern man. We can show in objectives, including proper must evolve if natural of things with lonely caretakers to dust our temporary exhibits and to some interpretation, the many shelves. extent in our permanent halls the history museum exhibits are to fulfill processes of culture change and their obligations in a changing world. There are a of Above this of number things natural explain these processes in detail. We all, new philosophy history museums can do to be more can use our ethnographic collections contemporary relevance should arouse as moral and financial It contemporary well as relevant. The to make comparisons of past culture support. must museum's exhibits should reflect the idea that as present the change to illustrate what is happening we, institutions natural world, not from the viewpoint of to modern man. We can humanize our of higher learning, must bring to the scientific an any particular discipline, but exhibits by having representatives of public we serve appreciation and rather as It be seen in its of the of might totality. various ethnic groups demonstrate understanding significance The current in specialization of knowledge their arts and crafts in our halls, as thinking the natural sciences characteristic of modern science was the case in Field Museum's by seeing them applied to the a of our presents fragmented picture and may American Indian Festival, September interpretation endangered be responsible for a narrow, 1968 and in our Fiesta Mexicana, environment as well as to our current departmentalized view of man and his September 1969. culture change, with which the public world. Therefore, a museum exhibition should be deeply concerned. Natural program should be based largely on an In addition, the special programs that history museum exhibits have been so interdisciplinary synthesis of scientific accompanied the Festival exhibits— knowledge. We will of course need such as film and lecture series as well introductory exhibition areas where as dance progams—made our basic scientific laws and concepts can otherwise static exhibits come alive. We should include other media, such This photo-display in the 75th Anniversary as slides and film in loop projectors exhibit expresses "A Sense of Wonder" our permanent halls to illustrate at the uniqueness and diversity of man. aspects of animal behavior or to illustrate natural processes that are This unique display case, constructed difficult to explain in a static manner. trom a concrete pipe is from Field Museum's exhibit. "Illinois by the Sea." The exhibit tells the story ot the eftects ot overcrowding on living things.

Bulletin November 1970 13 preoccupied with the wonders of Their histories have been similar with needs of society as major events idealized nature that they have tended the latter reaching a more advanced occur. As difficult a task as this may to neglect the importance of nature as stage in development. Prior to 1900 seem, our new philosophy must the priceless environment of man and both the libraries and museums were somehow reflect this aspect of the foundation of his existence. We centralized. Both rendered a free flexibility and also communicate our must, therefore, look at the entirety and cultural service and depended on desire to be modern institutions at all base our thinking on the ideal that community interest and financial times. At the same time, we should museums should influence man's support. As the cities grew, continue to stress the traditional rational attitude toward nature in the accessibility became increasingly qualities museums had in the past,

next five to thirty years. This should difficult and other activities competed namely, that the visitor is free to see be our foremost mission. for public attention. Combating these as much or as little as he wishes, and negative conditions the public libraries that he can experience different parts Besides housing exhibits, museums decentralized, establishing branches in of the real world. have also established themselves as more remote areas of the city. Not To from Alvin Toffler: "We community centers, a meeting place only did book circulation increase, but quote again have ourselves to create and for clubs, musicals, films, flower also the expenditure per capita of taught combine the most of shows, etc.; this is probably truer of the population rose. If museums powerful We have not taken smaller institutions than many of our decentralize, by setting up satellite technologies. pains to learn about their larger museums. However, it is in this branches, as did the libraries, they consequences. these threaten area that museums could do more to would more effectively fulfill their role Today consequences as to us." accomplish relevant ends. By tying in educational institutions. The main destory special lectures, films, discussion problem in achieving these ends is Natural museums have a social the overall lack of funds. history forums with special exhibits, of a timely to be relevant and the responsibility nature, museum would be fulfilling We know that the of a contemporary and help save man from a greater role in the community. establishing himself! new philosophy and new objectives for all natural museums is Another area to be developed is the history if we are to survive and satellite museum or museums. This is mandatory a fulfill our social as function that institutions in the larger responsibilities institutions. must also be urban areas should explore. As cities public We able to and shift with increase in population, the ratio move the social between population and attendance, exhibit space and expenditure at museums in single centers tends to decrease. This places a serious limit As visitors leave Field Museum's "Illinois on the social of influence the museum. by the Sea" exhibit, they are confronted A parallel may be drawn between the v/ith a group ot suspended tubes warning of the possible effects of overcrowding public museum and the public library. on living things.

14 Bjlietin November 1970 have retained much of their social including mythology, natural history, and cultural identity despite many mathematics, medicine, and history. changes and difficulties. Dozier's work Some of the expressions are well obvious—Lot's is unique in that it is concerned with known and fairly — wife, a group of related peoples rather Wilson's fourteen points others are than a single one. The Pueblo Indian more recondite— Poisson's ratio, cultures have been of particular Zorn's lemma. But all are interesting interest to anthropologists for many and the book is a mine of little-known

years. This study of their adaptation facts. I particularly enjoyed "Maxwell's through time to changing conditions is demon": "A tiny imaginary creature a welcome addition to the literature. used in 1866 by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell ... to illustrate

A Guide to the Native Mammals how it is theoretically possible to of Australia thwart the second law of by W. D. L. Ride, thermodynamics." with drawings by Ella Fry of the 11 Lunar Melbourne (etc.), Oxford University Proceedings Apollo East African Science The Barabaig; Press, 1970 Conference, Houston, Texas, Cattle-Herders January 5-8, 1970 This is a most interesting and by George J. Klima edited by A. A. Levinson. well-written, well-illustrated introduction New York (etc.), New York, (etc.), Pergamon Press, 1970. to the fascinating mammals of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970 (Supplement to vol. 34 of Geochimica Australia. It differs from the usual et Cosmochimica Acta), 3 vols. book of this sort in that the author is The KwakiutI; Indians of British as much concerned with the problems Definitely not for the layman but a Columbia of conserving the mammals as he is landmark publication in lunar science. Ronald P. Rohner and by with describing them. He prefaces the The Museum's Curator of Mineralogy, C. Rohner Evelyn descriptive part with a discussion of Dr. Edward J. Olsen, is among the the principles, historical and contributors. Indians of North America The Pueblo environmental, that have resulted in P. Dozier by Edward the distribution of the different kinds by W. Peyton Fawcett, tiead librarian, of Australian mammals and of the Field Museum The Zinacantecos of Mexico; changes that are altering these A Modern Maya Way of Life distributions. Dr. Ride, director of the by Evon Z. Vogt Western Australian Museum and a noted mammalogist, has written this These are four of the newest volumes book for the general reader and in the series Case Studies in Cultural provides in an appendix some Anthropology. This series, now "Suggestions for further reading." But numbering over forty-five volumes, is it will also be of value to students intended primarily for students in and for these the author has provided beginning and intermediate courses an appendix "For the student and in the social sciences but is also of professional user." great interest to the general reader. Each volume is to Whose What? Aaron's Beard to designed give Answers to last month's crossword "insights into the richness and Zorn's Lemma complexity of life as it is lived in by Dorothy Rose Blumberg different and in different ways New York (etc.). Holt, Rinehart and Each author has lived in the places." Winston, 1969 ($3.95) society he writes about, is a This little book fills a on the professionally trained observer and gap reference shelf and will be a boon to interpreter of human behavior, and is a teacher. The volumes are issued those who seek the exact meaning and derivation of such as softbound and are moderately priced. expressions Gresham's law, Hobson's choice. King The present volumes more than meet Solomon's ring, and Mother Carey's the specifications of the series and chickens. The author/compiler has set are highly recommended. Klima's certain criteria for the items she has work on the Barabaig is a valuable included: the "who" must be a real study in cultural ecology. The Rohners' or legendary person; the "what" is book on the KwakiutI and Vogt's on something named, either literally or the Zinacantecos depict cultures that figuratively. Many areas are covered,

Bulletin November 1970 15 new species and amassed more than the Museum, is Coordinator of the Chicago 100,000 specimens before his death in 1946. sessions.

After arrangements had been made to purchase the collection from Bernhauer's A Christmas Afternoon daughter. Dr. Wenzel traveled to Austria in "A Christmas Afternoon at Field 1951 to oversee the packing and shipping Museum," from 4 to 7 December will be of what is recognized as one of the most p.m. p.m., 21, a time for and important zoological collections ever brought bell-ringing, caroling dancing to the United States. to the lively tunes of Leo Henning and the Lou Breese orchestra. The scene for the In addition to his work at the Museum, festive occasion is Stanley Field Hall, where Dr. Wenzel is a Lecturer in at the biology a sparkling, 20-foot Christmas tree will of and a Research University Chicago provide the appropriate holiday atmosphere Associate in at Northwestern biology for the entertainment program. Refreshments He is Editorial Advisor in University. will be served. entomology for Encyclopaedia Britannica and represents the Entomological Society of Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for America as a council member of the children, and are available through the Women's Board of Field Dr. Wenzel New Zoology Department American Association for the Advancement Museum, sponsors Chairman of Science. of the event. A native of Owen, Wisconsin, Dr. Wenzel "My interest in natural science goes back to makes his home in Oak Park where, as an Demonstration Lecture high school days when a fine zoology elected village trustee from 1961 to 1969. teacher our class to make a encouraged Eric M. of at he helped bring about many of the Rogers, professor physics good insect collection," says Dr. Rupert L. community programs which have been Princeton University, will give a Wenzel. Field Museum's newly appointed realized in Oak Park in the last decade. demonstration-lecture on "Measuring Air Chairman of the Department of Zoology. Molecules" or "Why should people believe Dr. Dr. Wenzel succeeds Austin L. Rand what scientists tell them about molecules No stranger to the Museum, having worked who retired as Chief Curator of Zoology at at as a volunteer in the Division of Insects in and atoms?" 3 p.m.. December 27, on October 23. Field Museum. 1934-35. Dr. Wenzel joined the staff as Assistant Curator of Insects in 1940. He has The free program consists of a series of served as Curator of Insects since 1950. Photo by Edmund Jarecki demonstration experiments and a discussion The author of many technical papers dealing of how the experiments provide information about molecules. The demonstrations will with systematics of beetles and bat show measurements of air and air parasites, as well as encyclopedia articles pressure and popular articles on insects. Dr. Wenzel density. Liquid nitrogen will be used to was decorated by the President of Panama show the existence of molecular forces, and then in 1967 for producing, with co-editor Dr. to estimate the spacing of molecules in Vernon J. Tipton, Ectoparasites of Panama, ordinary air. An experiment with visible gas a 816-page book on the classification and will lead to an estimate of collision distance biology of blood-sucking external parasites and size of air molecules. of mammals of Panama. The book, The program is offered as a popular lecture produced under a U.S. Army grant and of demonstration experiments, appealing to published by Field Museum, has been an audience with serious scientific interest. distributed to parasitologists and public health agencies throughout Latin America A limited number of seats have been set and elsewhere. aside for Field Museum members. Applications for tickets should be made One of three recognized scientists in the before December 1 to the Department of world possessing expertise on the Education, Field Museum. classification and biogeography of Histerid beetles. Dr. Wenzel is presently revising a to be in 1971 which manuscript published Exploring Indian Country will a detailed of the provide analysis Dr. Rupert L. Wenzel zoogeography of these beetles in Eurasia Field Museum's Winter Journey "Exploring and North America. Together with their Indian Country," December 1 through purely scientific interest, Histerid beetles, AAAS Short Courses February 28, enables youngsters to see which are distributed throughout the world, American Indians of three environments as A series of short courses for college are valuable for biological control purposes. the explorers saw them. By following a teachers of the natural sciences will be self-guiding tour through exhibit areas, they Reflecting on the past 30 years at Field conducted by the American Association for learn how the Indians obtained their food, Museum. Dr. Wenzel recalls the acquisition the Advancement of Science in November made their clothing and homes, traveled, of the Bernhauer collection in 1951 as the 1970 and February 1971. Supported by the and what animals they depended upon for most effort he has in. Dr. National Science Foundation, sessions are exciting engaged their existence. Max Bernhauer, a Viennese public official scheduled at Field Museum, the University who began studying and collecting of Maryland, Clark College in Atlanta and The free program is offered to all boys and Stap^iylinidae (Rove) beetles before the turn the University of Texas. Donald C. Edinger, girls who can read and write. Journey of the century, had described over 4,900 chairman of the Department of Education at sheets are available at Museum entrances.

16 Bulletin November 1970 HOURS

9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday—Thursday

9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday

9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday

The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CALENDAR Monday through Friday

Opens November 18 Fall Film-Lecture Series Field Museum's A Child Goes an exhibit of Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. Forth, Natural toys and games from around ttie world, James Simpson Theatre History exploring the role played by these Tours objects in the cultural development of November 7 Gardens children. Hall 9. Wild flowers "High Himalaya" Birds by Russ Potter Continuing Archaeology A visit to West Pakistan, Gilgit, Hunza Congenial travel companions "Eye" Spy, Fall Journey for Children, and Nagar, located in a spectacular Interpretations by experts designed to help boys and girls who can mountainous setting, offers an exciting film The unhurried approach read and write to develop and practice adventure. Travel with all dimensions their powers of observation. Free Journey THE INCA'S EMPIRE available at Museum entrances. sheets are & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS November 30. Through November 14 Two sections: Dec. 31 -Jan. 29, 1971, "Waterbirds of the African and & Feb. 4-March 5. $2,807 includes $600 donation. Asian Corn Blight, a display showing the effects Tropics" of Andes, $2,457; 11 of of a virulent new strain of Southern Corn by Dr. M. P. Kahl (22 days days Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190— Leaf Blight disease. This disease is A film-study of the behavior and separately) Gardens in Bogota, Lima, La Quito. Ruins of Machu Picchu. responsible for a predicted 18% decrease breeding habits of rare and exotic birds, Paz, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Cajamarquilla, in this Through January 18. in their natural environment. year's crop. photographed Ollantaytambo, Cuzco, Lake Tilicaca, South Lounge. Tiahuanaco. Spanisti Colonial art & architecture in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia November 21 and Ecuador. 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of TOUR ARCHAEOLOGISTS: Dec. 31 -Jan. of New "Highlights England" Dr. Donald E. associate Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of 29. Thompson, by John Roberts professor of anttiropology. University offers a new to Discovery, experience of Wisconsin and leading interpreter of museum-goers. Innovative photographic Historic sites, famous seaports, the Peruvian and Incan archaeology. Feb. beautiful and towns 4-March 5, Dr. Carlos R. Margain, and display techniques explore the many countryside quaint prominent Mexican archaeologist and facets of Field l^^useum. Hall 3. as seen during various seasons. officer of Mexico's Museo Nacional de Aniropologia, specialist in Mexican and Andean archaeology. November 28 John James Audubon's elephant folio, GALAPAGOS NATURALIST, with both The Birds ot on in the lours and in America, display "Yugoslavia" Galapagos Ecuador, Francisco Leon Rodriguez, formerly of North The rare, first-edition set Lounge. by William Sylvester the Darwin Research Station and now is installed so that a different plate is with Universidad Catolica The includes zoologist journey Zagreb, Belgrade, m Quito. featured each day. Dubrovnik, the magnificent Adriatic Coast LEADER ON ALL TOURS. PHIL CLARK, and Sarajevo, contrasting the old with former Editor of Horticulture November 8 magazine; the new. former Garden Editor of The News, Mexico; author. "A Guide to Mexican Shell Club presents Dr. Alan Chicago Flora": Field Museum Natural History Solem, curator of lower invertebrates at Tours Chief, Field Museum, in a slide-lecture on "The Giant African Snail Invasion of Florida." All donations to Field Museum are lax deductible. 2 p.m.. Lecture Hall. Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted from other points. November 15 Write: Field Museum Natural History Tours Wildlife film, "Outback Australia," offered Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. by the Illinois Audubon Society. Chicago, III. 60605 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre.

December 1970 /olume 41. Number 12 Field Museum of Natural History

^fs^-

BULLETIN

Volume 41, Number 12 December 1970

2 Letters

3 Snow Dr. Edward J. Olsen the magic of snowflakes is explored

4 Southern Leaf Corn Blight Dr. William C. Burger the effects of a virulent new strain of Southern Leaf Corn Blight

6 Pious Pelican W. Peyton Fawcett the ungainly pelican, examined symbolically

8 Another View of the Elephant Alan Solem a biologist's view of the function of a natural history museum

1 1 The Origin of Skeletons in Animals Dr. Robert H. Denison how and why skeletons developed in animals

14 Poisonous Holiday Plants Dr. Johnnie L. Gentry, Jr. a warning that mistletoe and poinsettias can be very dangerous

1 5 Book Reviews

16 Field Briefs

Calendar

Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber

Editor Joyce Zibro; Associate Editor Victoria Haider; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans.

Ttie BULLETIN is published monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Distributed free to members of the Museum, The BULLETIN may be subscribed to through Museum membership. School subscriptions will be given special consideration. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Printed by Field Museum Press.

Bulletin December 1970 me like a political speech full of To the editor: to to the demagoguery designed appeal As a former member of the Field passions in a highly excited audience with Museum, I have long been familiar not like a dispassionate, scientific, or the Bulletin, and while in Chicago I reasonable analysis of the critical read it with considerable interest. problems mankind faces in its utilization I enjoyed keeping track of Museum of the earth's resources or in the events and sharing the knowledge which appropriate relationship of population ETTERS equips so many members of the size and of the earth resource stability Museum staff to write in an engaging system, or environmental quality. vein about their particular field of

Articles such as the superb discussion interest. When 1 left Chicago I let my

that I would of the peregrine falcon, si; articles membership lapse, sorry such as Dr. Ehrllch's mishmash, no! no longer be able to take advantage of Museum activities. Dr. Chauncy Harris

Professor of Geography From time to time, however, I manage of University Chicago to borrow of the Bulletin, and To the editor: copies

1 have been so impressed with the To the editor: to attention \he A friend l^as called my quality of feature articles of late that 1 interesting article on "The Vanishing Dr. Paul R. Ehrllch's doomsday would like to renew my subscription. number. Peregrine" in your September address of June 11, 1970 (printed in Pieces like those by Loren Woods to read near I am, however, surprised the Museum's October Bulletin) in ("The Changing Great Lakes," July & column on 6 the top of the third page which he explicated his views August issues) and Paul Ehrlich ("The "In low DDT the assertion that doses, respecting the imminent disaster man Population Crisis: Where We Stand," effects breeding success." has created for himself by October issue) represent a noble overpopulation and a related disruption attempt on the part of the Museum to If this statement is true, then exposure of earth's ecology, would be more increase the amount of public concern of birds to "low doses" of DDT ought IF: the of "natural" to persuasive and helpful over course history; to be strongly encouraged, in order indeed, this sort of concern is essential effect breeding success. This conclusion there were more facts and less — — if in the future institutions like the would seem to contradict the remainder rhetoric, Field Museum are to have anything of the article. the rhetoric were less biased and worth preserving! I congratulate you and editor inflammatory, Can it be that the author and/or your staff on the selection of these the logic were not so contradictory, have failed to note the fundamental articles and look forward to receiving the remedial "affect," adjurations respecting distinction between "effect" and the Bulletin once again. I realize that action were more honest, and resulting in a statement which means "opinions expressed by authors are the author's understanding of the exactly the opposite of what was their own and do not necessarily reflect nature were readers a nature of human intended? If so, you owe your the policy of the Field Museum," but 1 but start more sound, prompt correction before they do feel it is to your credit to listen extolling the virtues of DDT in effecting were these aberrations corrected the to (and spread) the voice of wisdom. breeding success! As a matter of fact, tone and content of his theses would 1 am a check for $20, and better than enclosing "reduce" would be much be quite different from the sensational hope that the membership fee will allov^ if that is the the non-commital "affect" curiosity his address launched. for part of that amount to be considered direction in which DDT affects the Other must have some a contribution. situation. "experts" different assessments of the problem Paula S. Barker Edward G. Voss that so stirs Dr. Ehrlich or at least, one Editor, African Studies Newsletter Curator and Professor. would hope, more rational and University of Michigan Editor's note: In the article "Turtle convincing suggestions for dealing Lore: Fact and Fiction," which appeared corrected. Editor's note: We stand with it; and now that we've been in November's Bulletin, line 19, column Thank you. terrorized and chastised by Dr. 2 on page 9 should read "Cretaceous Ehrllch's strictures, can't we have a Period, and was perhaps." To the editor: sampling of other views?

in the I the articles Terrill Usually enjoy Dean Please address all letters to the editor to Bulletin as authoritative, well-written, Chicago of some Bulletin yet nontechnical descriptions To the editor: Field Museum of Natural History interesting phenomenon or problem in Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive on the nature. I was therefore disappointed Hearty congratulations on improved Chicago, Illinois 60605 R. as it reading the article by Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Bulletin! It gets better each issue "The Population Crisis: Where We goes from strength to strength. The editors reserve the right to edit to have a sense that it letters for length. Stand," growing Hughston M. McBain was unworthy of the Bulletin. It read to Honorary Trustee, Field Museum

Bulletin December 1970 moDxw

Dr. Edward J. Olsen

is to 250 As the season of many holidays comes speck of dust, onto which the first the heat equivalent about upon us stores and shops begin to molecules attach themselves. The calories (as food calories are figured) decorate their windows and showcases. nucleus grows by attaching passing for each pound of snow crystals formed. A popular decorative motif, the molecules in the symmetrical You feel this as a gentle warming of snowflake, serves equally well for all arrangement that fits the geometry of the air. Later in the season, during colder such heat is also off the winter holidays. As I walk through the molecules and the forces that hold days, given

it is not sufficient to make the Loop and see the large, multicolored them together. but any paper "flakes" on store windows or on sensible effect on the bitter cold If we could watch the process through of winter. gift wrapping paper and greeting cards, temperatures deep a microscope we would see six spokes I often wonder about the persons who grow outward, thin arms branch across design such decorations. Like many them, the spokes gradually thickening, people, they must look at Nature but sometimes forming smaller hexagonal never really see her, otherwise I would terminations, and so on and so on, no not see so many five, seven, eight, and two making exactly the same pattern. occasionally nine or ten-sided "flakes." If the process were to continue to Many of them, of course, get it right completion, all the angles between the and show flakes with six sides—just as spokes would fill in and we would have Nature makes them almost all of the a simple prism, bounded by six sides time. Occasionally, however, in the and two flat ends. When ice forms at haste of putting together a quick sleet sea this indeed happens, but fortunately storm, Nature will produce a variant snow never has time to complete the that is quite small and only three-sided. process before it lands on the ground. Snowflakes, the joy of children, are an Thus, snowflakes are the skeletons of artistic delight to their elders, when ice crystals. they care to really see them; hexagonal Early winter snows usually occur when white filigrees, in a myriad of patterns the temperatures are not yet too far and variants of these patterns. Although below 32°F. At such the to most temperatures the notion seems strange As Earth-dwellers we are blessed with amount of moisture the air can hold is snow is a of the mineral people, part water in its three forms, as a much than at cold gaseous book that larger very kingdom. Any mineralogy in the as a in seas and temperatures, such as below 10°F. vapor air, liquid to be will list ice attempts complete lakes, and as a solid in snow and ice. Thus, near 32°F snow crystals have a and note that it with crystallizes All and abundant water and three forms add beauty variety When ice relatively supply hexagonal symmetry. to our lives. Now that we have some grow fat and large, and frequently stick it must start small and then crystallizes idea of the conditions on other planets in fluffy clusters. Later in the The first to form is called a together grow. part in our solar system we realize that such winter when extreme cold sets in, the nucleus, which is a minute clustering is unique. On far out planets air can hold only small amounts of variety together of molecules. Frequently this like Saturn and Neptune, liquid and moisture and the snow flakes are small, of nucleation is a process promoted by gaseous water would be laboratory poorly shaped, and frequently jagged, curiosities. ice would making for sharp edges and Only represent water that happened to be there. considerable discomfort when walking any On the other hand, on a planet such into the wind. Early spring snows again as Venus, any water would be present are fluffier due to the warming trends only as a gas in minute amounts in the at that time of year. atmosphere. Ice would never form in You have probably noticed that when the raging heat on its surface. On the of the first snow comes, when it is still not barren surface Mercury, any form too cold, the air seems to warm up of water is virtually impossible. slightly during the snowfall period. This When the snow comes this year, fairly is not just your imagination. When soon now, it creates a quiet sense of many large skeletal crystals of snow peace, which is wholly appropriate to form in a relatively short period of time the spirit of the holidays before us. each one gives off a quantity of heat

as it transforms from water-moisture (a into ice All gas) crystalline (a solid). Dr. Edward J. Olser} is Curator ol Mineralogy substances do this. In the case of snow in Field Museum's Department ot Geology.

Bulletin December 1970 Southern Corn Leaf Blight

Dr. William C. Burger

In August of this last summer the Southern Corn Leaf Blight reached the heart of the corn belt. This disease survives the winter in the south and travels by spores northward with warmer weather. The blight has been known for over 50 years but this year

it was different; it had developed a new strain. This new strain probably developed from a mutation within the population of the older disease which is still around. These are plant diseases; they do not infect humans, This series of taken over a though some people are allergic to the photos, period ol 14 days, shows the damage on a leaf spores. sheath attacl

Bulletin December 1970 This new strain of tine Southern Corn carry the susceptibility to this new corn slower than in modern agriculture. Leaf Blight packs a bigger wallop than disease. The sperm cell and pollen If there is moral to be drawn from the older disease and affects many grain (male sex cells) contribute almost any — this story of the Corn Blight disease it parts of the plant. While the kernels no cytoplasm in fertilization they is this: we must preserve diversity in are usually not themselves diseased, contribute a nucleus with its our cultivated plants. When a new Blight in stem and leaves will cause the chromosomes. Thus cytoplasm is disease strikes, the plant-breeder must kernels to be much smaller than usual. largely inherited from the mother be able to find resistant plants so that But more important is the fact that most through the egg cell, or female sex cell. he can breed this resistance into our hybrid corn is particularly susceptible Because of this unusual form of varieties. to this new disease. Some types of agricultural Agricultural breeders estimate that science has the know-how to corn are resistant to the new disease, inheritance, plant it will take six to produce accomplish miracles through plant- but not hybrid corn with male-sterile generations low cost seed for hybrid corn that is breeding—but if the diversity is lost the cytoplasm of the Texas type. To make resistant to this new disease. know-how will be useless. sense out of "male-sterile cytoplasm" Agricultural have left institutions are getting together to let's start with "male-sterile." Hybrid Agricultural experts already for Puerto Rico and Hawaii to use maintain large collections of different corn is especially productive because it those warm areas in an attempt varieties of cultivated plants. These is the product of two genetically tropical to produce five generations in this next living collections are a kind of banking different parent plants. It adds up the year. Then hopefully, seed system for genetic diversity. These best qualities of both parents, so to companies will be able to produce low cost seed banks are our best investment in the speak. To produce hybrids, the mother for the season of 1972. never-ending fight against the diseases plant (which produces the seed) must growing of our cultivated plants. not pollinate itself. The pollen must But this new resistant seed will not be come from a genetically different plant. the end of the story. The disease may In the past people had to cut off the change again in the future and plant Dr. William C. Burger is Assistarit Curator of tassels (which have the male flowers Vascular Plants in the Department of Botany breeders will again have to find and at Field Museum. that produce pollen), of the seed plant. breed new types of resistant corn. The This prevented the seed plant from same story is true for the wheat rust pollinating itself. When male-sterility diseases. These diseases are always was discovered, it did away with much changing and the plant breeder must of this hand labor and reduced the cost find resistant plants and then breed this of hybrid corn. A plant with resistance into the cultivated high yield male-sterility does not produce plants that produce our food. functional pollen and hence—cannot pollinate (or fertilize) itself the same Nature is not stable and never was, effect as off the cutting tassels. except in a very general sense. The processes that we observe in plant Cytoplasm, the part of the cell contents diseases have gone on for millennia. outside the nucleus, usually plays little The process of selecting plants resistant or no role in heredity. But in this case to diseases has taken place in nature— the cytoplasm of the Texas type does but the selection process may be much

Tiie dramatic difference between normal and diseased ears of corn can be seen in this photo. The ears on the right were attacl

Bulletin December 1970 pious pelican

W. Peyton Fawcett These are illustrations of the pelican from The Book of Beasts (translated by T. H White). Note that the young bird on the Pie Pellicane, Jesu Domine, right is being revived by a gush from the Me immundum munda tuo sanguine. mouth and not, as described in the text, (Pious Pelican! O Jesu Lord! from the breast. Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy blood!)

To his good friends thus wide I'll arms, These words from the sixth stanza of ope my And, like the kind life-rendering pelican, the famous "Rhythm" of St. Thomas Repast them with my blood. Aquinas (Adoro Te) have intrigued me This legend is a very ancient one and for a number of years. I recall reading has down to recent times. To them for the first time during the persisted account for it and others Christmas holiday and every year, as ornithologists have the season approaches, they return to propounded very ingenious theories. One that my mind. Each time I'm struck anew/ argues during the the red nail or of by the seeming incongruity of the feeding process tip the lower mandible of the pelican being used as a symbol of pelican, the breast lead Jesus Christ and wonder what it could pressing against might the observer to the bird was be in the appearance, habits, or history suppose its breast. Another asserts that of the bird that led to the relationship. piercing in order to eject the contents of the This year I have had occasion to pouch, the bird presses its bill strongly satisfy my curiosity and have, in the and with a kind of action process, turned up some fascinating spasmodic information. against its breast, and the pinkish hue of its feathers, the red tipped biU, and The pelican is popularly known today often enough of the blood of its as an ungainly bird with an enormous captured victims, combine to produce pouched bill and thought of as more of the effect that gave birth to the legend. a caricature than a living bird. This A Mr. A. D. Bartlett suggested in 1869 attitude is summed up in Dixon Lanier that the legend really applied to the Merritt's justly famous limerick: flamingo which he said does eject "a curious secretion from the A wonderful bird is the pelican. bloody His bill will hold more than his belican. mouth." He can hold in his beak food for a week. Enough Whatever the merits of these But I'm damned if I see how the helican. arguments they can safely be But our forefathers had an altogether overlooked, for the bird of the legend different view. They believed that the may be neither the pelican nor the pelican "turneth her beak against her flamingo. The name pelican seems in breast and therewith pierces it till the ancient times to have been applied to blood gusheth out, wherewith she several birds noteworthy for their bills nourisheth her young." Shakespeare and derives from a Greek word had this curious legend in mind when signifying "to hew with an axe." The he has Laertes say (Hamlet, IV, 5): pelican of Aristophanes, for instance.

Bulletin December 1970 was the woodpecker, so-called to the creation rather than the creator. pelicans, for the reason that "these because of its pecking. The spoonbill That was why he ascended into the height birds should signify to him that he of the cross, and, his side having been and the true pelican were also ought to be ready, as the pelican is, to- pierced, there came from it blood and water his blood for his ones." "pelicans," the former because of the for our salvation and eternal life. shed young remarkable shape of the bill and the That, unfortunately, was what the These then are the sources of our latter because of its size. It is certain Archbishop later had to do. the of ideas and that other birds also bore the name. symbol; complex emotions behind St. Thomas' Carl G. Jung has taught us that a Oddly enough, the true pelican was invocation of the "Pelican of is more than a substitute called "Onocrotalus" by most ancient Mercy." symbol for, The pelican is a symbol of Christ's or a representation of, the real thing; it writers, including Pliny. love for men. With the substitution of carries a wider meaning and cannot the true for whichever bird the be formulated. Most of us William Houghton, in his Gleanings pelican precisely earlier writers had in it continues can no the full From the Natural History of the mind, longer grasp meaning to exist to the in the and of the Ancients (London: 1879) suggests that present day or feel power beauty ecclesiastical art. as a It is rooted in the legend refers to a vulture or eagle, pelican symbol. another an of a time and ci^es the story of Horapollo that the age, age faith, carried into This symbolism was over when men felt that the worid was vulture, if it cannot get food for its heraldry, and the pelican, as a type of a Mind and offspring, opens its thigh and allows governed by controlling Christ, was and still is popular with of rational them to partake of its blood. He thinks capable explanation. churchmen. In early heraldry the meant and fitted that the story was adapted and Everything something pelican is often drawn more like an into a concealed a magnified from this Egyptian fable by pattern. Everything eagle and is almost invariably depicted hidden that could be the early Church fathers in their meaning "in her piety," that is, piercing her understood faith. could still annotations of the scriptures. He by People breast and surrounded by the young in to "Ask now the beasts, and quotes St. Augustine's statement that expect shall teach thee; and the fowls of the male pelicans "are said to kill they the and shall tell thee" (Job, their young offspring by blows of their air, they St. Thomas' worid is not beaks, and then to bewail their deaths XII, 7). But ours besides, we could never for the space of three days. At length, and, that blasted limerick! however, it is said that the mother bird forget inflicts a severe wound on herself, pouring the flowing blood over the W. Peyton Fawcett is Head Librarian at Field Museum. dead young ones, which instantly brings them to life." Ivlany other writers relate the same story with minor variations. Another version states that "Pelecani, when they find their young killed by a serpent, mourn, and beat themselves upon their sides, and with the blood discharged, they thus bring back to life the bodies of the dead."

T, H. White, in his wonderful translation of a Latin Bestiary of the twelfth The pelican symbol was used by Richard Foxe as ot Bath and Wells in century. The Book of Beasts (London, Bishop his arms. 1955), gives us still another version, very similar to that of St. Augustine. the nest whose mouths are opened to This author states that the pelican is receive the blood. The author of the "excessively devoted" to its children article on "Heraldic Birds" in Sir A. but that when they grow up, the young Landsborough Thomson's A New in their faces. flap their wings p.irents' Dictionary of Birds (New York, 1964) The kill them. parents, striking back, gives us a well-known example of the After three the mother her days pierces pelican in heraldry: the "Arms of breast, opens her side, and pours her Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester blood over the dead bodies, bringing (died 1528), Azure a Pelican wings them back to life. This author points the elevated and addorsed (back to back) moral thusly: Or vulning (wounding) herself proper." In the same way, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the originator and maker of all created More than one cardinal adopted the things, begets us and calls us into being out pelican in his armorial bearings, and of nothing. We, on the contrary, strike him in the face. As the prophet Isaiah says: "I we find Henry VIM changing the three have borne and exalted them and children, cranes, which were a part of truly they have scorned me." We have Cranmer's arms, into three struck him in the face by devoting ourselves Archbishop

Bulletin December 1970 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ELEPHANT

Alan Solem

We live in a world of instant be as many views of this as by the among competing needs. Lothar communication and constant social protagonists in John Godfrey Saxe's Witteborg speaks from one view. I speak turmoil, where ideas or suggestions "The Blind Men and the Elephant." from another segment of Field expressed in London or New York today Since the fighting elephants in Stanley Museum and focus on a different part may echo in Tokyo or Sydney Field Hall for half a century have been of this "allegorical elephant." tomorrow, and where no institution, our symbol to the public, this parable What are the of Field idea or ideal is safe from challenge. has contemporary relevance. Six blind unique aspects Museum as an institution? We live in a very complex world of men came near an elephant. Each man Collections, trained staff. Our collections of choices, trivia and great needs, where blundered into a different part—side, library, a desire for air-conditioned summer trunk, tusk, knee, ear and tail. Each natural history and ethnographic objects scientists and students from all comfort can be satisfied only by an man thought his one part picture of the bring of the world to in increase in air pollution from the elephant was truth and the other views parts study Chicago and are utilized on a loan basis generation of more electricity, and were error. Saxe did not record the by scholars in continent where poverty plus hunger must elephant's reaction to twelve clutching every except Antarctica. Our is fine. compete for attention with the threat of hands and sixty fumbling fingers, but library equally Our staff of scientists and technicians nuclear holocaust and the battle of the resulting squabble of the blind men makes use of these collections the hemlines. is mildly famous. and library resources on a daily basis. The simple slogans and easy choices Few people are competent in more Their work cannot be done at an of yesterday are replaced by rejection than a limited sphere. We live in an institution without these facilities. Only of old values, calls for contemporary age of experts and specialists, requiring natural history museums provide them. relevance and a search for new the cooperation of many to reach an Universities do not, businesses cannot, solutions. Because major problems agreed goal. Field Museum is no only museums can. remain unsolved, a natural cry is heard exception. We have about as diverse an Sometimes our research involves for change in existing institutions to assemblage of esoteric specialities as immediately relevant problems— meet the great problems of today. exists. The sum total of their activity medically important of "Museums in a Changing World" by is Field Museum in society. But what is ectoparasites Venezuela or a forest resource Lothar Witteborg, printed in the our agreed goal? Along with all survey of Amazonian Peru. we work November Bulletin, summarizes some of institutions, we are reviewing our role Usually on basic whose the current ideas about museums in in society, our immediate functions, and problems practical be decades or regard to their direct public services. the allocation of scarce resources applications may away undreamt of at the time of The It proposes "contemporary involvement study. call for work on critical of the and immediacy" in the problems of problems moment must not blind us from the today. The goals of service to society need to do work that solve are exemplary, but how best can a may help the that arise in the decades natural history museum serve? In his problems to come. autobiography, Harlow Shapley, the famous astronomer of Harvard University, wrote concerning his early career, "I realized that I could do things other people could not or would not do, and therefore I was useful."

What can a natural history museum do that other institutions cannot or will not? Where can we be useful? There will

Bulletin December 1970 scientists are But this is not an attempt to justify the nature also can be spread on that lively work such as our doing research and collection activities of anachronism, radio. These media can today. These collection resources are Field Museum. Our acknowledged reach to the smallest town and isolated uniquely capable of showing stages in of the varied function is not just to discover, collect hollow, or into the heart of urban the development living and correlate know/ledge, but also to ghettos. Their offerings are reproducible world and man's cultures. Evolution, disseminate knowledge. This can be or transmittable over distances. Our change through time, is the process in Evolution through technical literature, through objects mostly are not transmittable that resulted this diversity. is a that can and make popular writing, but more directly or reproducible at a reasonable cost. theme unify through the parts of the Museum used 'any are unique and priceless. The sense of the overwhelming diversity that It is not by the public—the exhibition halls, the Audubon folio and the huge topaz must our public halls present. yet school programs, the public lectures, stay here. Our audience must come being used extensively. the traveling school exhibits, and even to them. To many people, evolution is old hat. university level teaching. Our audience. A simple phrase that Not modern enough. Not contemporary What can we offer our audience that covers an infinite variety. We have no enough. Pollution, population problems, their other institutions and media cannot? single audience, but a multiplicity of poverty, and politics engage that should Objects. Natural history specimens and audiences. Its spectrum goes from the minds. They think museums human artifacts. The treasures of the pre-school child to the university address themselves to the solutions of a in collections and library (the Audubon professor, from the dedicated amateur these problems as knight shining the a "elephant" folio naturally comes to specialist to the casual tourist, from armour leading way. As biologist, mind) can be shared with our audience. the retarded handicapped to the college 1 look at the first three "P's" as the class. inevitable results of basic difficulties, Photographs can be reproduced in symptoms of these difficulties, but not

books, magazines, and newspapers. What have we been offering them? the root causes. I also agree completely Movies and television can show the Basically a sampling of nature's variety wtih the views of Garrett Hardin in motion of living creatures and the and the diversity of man's ingenuity in "The Tragedy of the Commons" wonders of foreign lands far better than making artifacts. We have halls of "three {Science, 162:1243-48, 1968) and Beryl we can, while the sounds of man and dimensional color portraits" (habitat Crowe in "The Tragedy of the Commons groups), halls showing life in past eras, Revisited" {Science, 166:1103-07, halls showing cultural objects and 1969) that pollution and population artifacts, and a few halls that tend problems are not subject to technical

towards the textbookish. Rarely de we solutions. By technical solutions, I mean have more than a fraction of our scientific discoveries, technological collection riches shown. No one else improvements, or organizational has the variety of nature and man's efficiencies, not requiring profound work, no one else can show it. This is social, ethical and political changes. and should remain a prime function.

Yet is it enough? Certainly not. When the halls of Field Museum were being filled, the Scopes trial had not been held and evolution was a controversial theory. The overwhelming proof of evolution came from use of specimens such as we specialize in and through

Bulletin December 1970 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ELEPHANT

Growing recognition of the root cause with our cultural objects and natural school child—simple ideas of to our problems may prove to be the history specimens how climate, soil, difference, variety, basic ecology, and one significant result from the expensive water, and topography limit the object use that will extend their space program of the last decade. activities and abundance of all species, horizons. For the high school student— The idea of "spaceship earth," that our including man. In other words, concepts of relationships, patterns of planet and its inhabitants form a museums can interpret the ecology of variety, the overall functioning of our functioning unit w/ith limited resources, earth. We are not doing this at present. earth. For the adult and collegian— that the actions of a crop duster in Cultural context and influences, of life and its low/a can affect the fisheries in Louisiana Diversity man, origin mechanics and pathways of evolution, the mechanism of bayous, and that we truly are "one through evolution, the complexities of our earth. For the and of the limits to world" represents a revolutionary view explanation casual tourist—exposure to the diversity earth" three of man and his future. Few people are "spaceship represent ways of nature and primitive societies, the Field can ready to accept the consequences of whereby Museum be useful ecology of earth. to in this insight. John Fisher, in an article, society disseminating knowledge. Our resources for so are limited These can be our and are within 'How I Got Radicalized: the Making doing aims, and the in are our of an Agitator for Zero" (Harper's needs these areas great. capabilities. These are things we How can coordinate our efforts with can do better than -Magazine, April 1970, pp. 18-29), we others and be the similar institutions in useful to recently outlined some of them—the Chicago and society. But we cannot be the Midwest—Shedd all and serve all functions impossibility of non-stop growth of any Aquarium, things kind, that technology creates at least Adler Planetarium, Chicago Academy in society. Sociology, economics, of Museum of Science and and culture two new problems for each one it Sciences, technology contemporary are not our solves, and that destroying our best Industry, Hinsdale Health Museum, bag. Before moving in new Milwaukee Illinois directions of current let farm lands for factories and housing is Museum, State concern, us etc.? and certain that suicidal insanity. All the glorious visions Museum, These problems are part pause make we do and noble dreams of mankind will be of our re-evaluation in search of not move beyond the bounds of our for naught unless we adjust to the agreed goals. special capabilities to the neglect of our limits of our planet. unique potential. In my view of the While in it is retrospect perhaps simple "allegorical elephant," fulfillment of And herein lies yet another unique to distinguish fashion and fad from these basic useful functions have and at the time it is not so capability and possibility for Field style taste, priority. l^/luseum to serve society. We can show easy. Remember fins on cars and in environmental exhibits how the miniskirts on Michigan Avenue Dr. Alan Solem is Curator ot Lower world functions. How it is based on mannequins? The McLuhanesque '60's Invertebrates in trie Zoology Department ot Field Museum. energy from the sun, converted by and the show techniques from Montreal plants and either used immediately Expo with their slides, sounds, (food for animals or decay organisms), impressions and fantasia of sensory or stored for future use (coal, oil and assaults may be a new style or a dying gas, the "fossil fuels"). We can show fashion. With the best of will and greatly increased funds, redoing the exhibits of Field Museum will take years of effort once goals are established. To mistake fashion for style will cause infinite problems. To confuse techniques of presentation with the concepts to be disseminated would be tragic.

Remember our diverse audiences. Our exhibits must allow for many levels of interest. For the pre-school child and the functional illiterate—a shape, a color, a pattern, an object. For the grade

Bulletin December 1970 MAN APPEARS The Origin of Skeletons in Animals

Dr. Robert H. Denison

Geologists estimate the earth to be ecologically, and that rocks at that time

about 4V2 billion years old, but it is were not being deposited in the right only in rocks deposited during the last places to preserve fossils. This cannot eighth of its existence that there is be the whole explanation because a more than a meager record of the wide variety of pre-Cambrian sediments history of life. From the beginning of the is known. Another view is that the Cambrian period, about 570 million exposures of favorable pre-Cambrian years ago, such fossils as sponges, sediments have not been searched brachiopods, molluscs and trilobites thoroughly enough. This may be partly occur in considerable number and true, but there have been extensive and variety. In rocks deposited before the careful searches, and some recent Cambrian, fossils are extremely rare, ones have yielded even microscopic, one-celled and many of those reported are only algae, and bacteria. Finally, there are doubtfully of organic origin. The largest many who believe that assemblage of possibly pre-Cambrian pre-Cambrian animals lacked hard animals occurs in Australia in rocks parts, and so were not preservable as considered by some to be basal fossils except under very unusual Cambrian in age, and consists of circumstances. impressions of soft-bodied forms such There is much support for the last as jellyfish, sea pens, and segmented hypothesis. What few worms. Plant fossils are known in much pre-Cambrian fossils we know are of older rocks, and include what are soft-bodied creatures, with the doubtful thought to be algae and bacteria, as well exception of some as stromatolites, which are laminated sponge spicules, and stromatolites, which are to be calcareous structures precipitated by considered as algae. precipitates induced by algae rather than actual skeletons.

If this It has long been a puzzle tg geologists theory is true, why were hard and paleontologists why fossils are parts absent in the pre-Cambrian, and absent or rare in pre-Cambrian rocks. why did many different kinds of animals The complex structure of Cambrian begin to evolve mineralized skeletons and shells trilobites, brachiopods, molluscs, early in the Cambrian period? echinoderms, and others indicates that The answer is probably complex, and involves not the they had a long previous evolutionary only evolution of the history, but there is no direct record of it. Many theories have been proposed

to explain their absence. It has been claimed that the metamorphism to which most pre-Cambrian rocks have been subjected has destroyed all traces of any contained fossils. This is certainly true in many cases, but other pre-Cambrian rocks have been altered only slightly. Some have suggested that the major evolution of animal phyla took place in a long interval between the Cambrian and the known

pre-Cambrian. This could be true in those places where there is a very extensive gap representing a period of tens of millions of years when mountains were being elevated and peneplained; but elsewhere there is no major gap before the Cambrian. Another theory states that pre-Cambrian life was restricted geographically or

Bulletin December 1970 1T necessary physiological mechanisms, but also the attainment of suitable environmental conditions on earth. Since the early evolution of life probably took place in the sea, some have speculated that pre-Cambrian seas were unsuitable in some way. But the geological evidence indicates that there was no major change in the composition of sea waters near this crucial time nor since, so this theory can be ruled out. Recent students of the earth have concluded that free oxygen was absent from the atmosphere during its early history. This means not only that oxygen was unavailable for respiration by early life, but also that the atmosphere, lands, and upper levels of the waters were subjected to intense ultra-violet radiation. It is thought that free oxygen gradually accumulated in the atmosphere as the result of photosynthetic activity of simple aquatic plants. After millions and millions of years sufficient accumulated, perhaps 1 % of the present amount, so that oxygen respiration was profitable, and a layer of ozone formed a partial shield against ultra-violet radiation. This was a crucial time in the history of animal life, for oxygen respiration made possible the evolution of multi-celled animals, and many new habitats became suitable for life. Some would place this event at the end of pre-Cambrian time, and picture a Pre-Cambrian animals were soft-bodied forms like ttiis worm and period of explosive evolution leading jellyfish (top illustration). The bottom illustration shows early Cambrian animals with shells, including brachiopods, rapidly to the Cambrian fauna. early segmented triiobites, and molluscs with long tapering shells. Others would place it a half a perhaps Illustration by Zbigniew T. Jastrzebski billion years earlier, allowing more carbohydrates, mostly collagens and until the middle or upper part of the time for the gradual evolution of the chitins, and the ground substance is a Cambrian period, and others, notably many phyla which appear first in the viscous colloid consisting of proteins vertebrates, are first known in rocks of Cambrian. In any case, it had certainly and carbohydrates also. The actual Middle Ordovician age. Tfius, the known happened before the early Cambrian process of mineralization is not well first appearance of most phyla and faunas appeared. understood, even though it is being many important classes of animals intensively studied in recent animals, ranges over 100 or more millions of An animal relies on its external but it is thought by many that the years. If this is a short period compared environment, presumably the sea in organic matrix in some way induces the to the history of the earth, it is a Cambrian times, to provide the formation of the crystals of the significant segment of the history of necessary chemicals for its skeleton or mineralizing skeleton. In any case the animals, and the origin of mineralized shell. These it must store, concentrate, physiological mechanism is complex, skeletons cannot be described as and transport to the correct place in and it is possibly the evolution of this, sudden. the for skeletal formation. body The as well as the attainment of favorable, actual mineralization is not a simple external environmental conditions, that Though the general mechanism of process. all multi-celled skeletal formation have been Probably delayed the evolution of mineralized may animals have certain cells that first skeletons until the Cambrian. similar in all multi-cellular animals, produce an organic matrix in which the there were many differences in details. mineral will be deposited. This matrix When hard skeletons did evolve, they The structures produced differed as consists of an oriented, usually fibrous, did not appear abruptly in all groups at widely as the internal skeleton of a material in a ground substance. The the beginning of the Cambrian. A mammal and the external shell of a fibers are complexes of proteins and number of major groups are not known mollusc. The minerals of which the

12 Bulletin December 1970 skeleton was constructed were varied. replaced. This storage is absolutely Vertebrates built their skeletons largely necessary to a land animal whose of calcium phosphate, in the form of internal environment must be maintained the mineral hydroxyapatite, with minor independently of changes in the amounts of other substances such external environment, but it is of less as calcium carbonate. A number of importance in marine animals, for many invertebrates, such as the brachiopod of their chemical needs are supplied Lingula, and some arthropods and by the sea water. However, the sea worms, also developed phosphatic contains very small quantities of skeletons. The majority of invertebrates phosphates, so they must be stored by used calcium carbonate in their all active animals, by vertebrates in skeletons, and a few tried silica, though bone as well as in body fluids. There this was never very popular. What are some who think that this was the determines the skeletal material is not primary function of the vertebrate definitely known. It may depend on the mineralized skeleton, but there is that this a nature of the organic matrix, and it is evidence was minor function surely related to the concentration of in their early history, only later minerals in the body fluids. becoming of major importance. Field Museum's Natural History Whatever functions it is We have considered when and how they served, Tours probable that skeletons evolved rapidly animals acquired mineralized skeletons, Gardens as a result of their selective adaptive and now we must consider why. What Wild flowers value. As a result, we have an early functions did they serve, and what Birds fossil record of new groups in the advantages did they provide? Perhaps Archaeology Cambrian and Ordovician the most obvious function of a skeleton becoming Congenial travel companions visible as they evolved mineralized is to provide mechanical support for Interpretations by experts skeletons and successfully competed the other tissues, but this is not The unhurried approach for the many available ecological niches. Travel with all dimensions essential especially for an aquatic THE INCA'S EMPIRE animal, and many get along without one Dr. Robert H. Denison is Curator of Fossil & DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS or without a rigid one. However, rigid Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. Fishes, in Field Museum's Department ot 29, 1971, attachments for muscles more & Feb. 4-March 5. permit Geology, $2,807 includes $600 donation. efficient and rapid locomotion, and they permit the evolution of a strong biting (22 days of Andes. $2,457; 1 1 days of Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190— for a mechanism, necessary predator. separately) Gardens in Bogota. Lima. Many groups of animals early acquired La Paz. Quito. Ruins of Macfiu PIcctiu. Cfian Chan. Pactiacamac. Cajamarquilla. an external skeleton in the form of a Ollantaytambo. Cuzco. Lake Tilicaca, shell or carapace. Such a skeleton Tiahuanaco. Spanish Colonial art & architecture in Colombia, Peru. Bolivia would serve as a protective armor and Ecuador. against predators, and perhaps against TOUR ARCHAEOLOGISTS: Dec. 31-Jan. the rigors of a harsh environment, such 29, Dr. Donald E. Thompson, associate professor of anthropology. University as the waves on a sea shore, it has of Wisconsin and leading interpreter of Peruvian and recently been suggested that external Incan archaeology. Feb. 4-March 5. Dr. Carlos R. Margain, skeletons may have served to shield prominent Mexican archaeologist and officer of Mexico's Museo Nacional de their owners against ultraviolet Antropologia. specialist in Mexican and radiation; however, this may not have Andean archaeology. been necessary by the Cambrian period, GALAPAGOS NATURALIST, with both and we know that many Cambrian Galapagos tours and in Ecuador. Francisco Leon Rodriguez, formerly of animals got along well without such a the Darwin Research Station and now skeleton. skeletons were zoologist with Universidad Catolica Many early in Quito. heavy and increased the specific gravity LEADER ON ALL TOURS. PHIL CLARK, of their possessors. This be an might former Editor of Horticulture magazine; advantage to a bottom dweller, but former Garden Editor of The News. Mexico; author. "A Guide to Mexican would be to an active disadvantageous Flora"; Field Museum Natural History swimmer, and for this reason some Tours Chief animals reduced or lost their external All donations to skeletons. Field Museum are One important function of a tax deductible. mineralized skeleton is physiologic. Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted from other In vertebrates, bone serves to store points. Write: Field Museum the calcium and phosphate that is Natural History Tours needed in metabolic activity, these ions Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. being withdrawn as needed and later Chicago, III. 60605

Bulletin December 1970 13 Dr. Johnnie L. Gentry, Jr. branches of various deciduous trees for the attractive evergreen leaves and Poinsettia and a sprig of mistletoe waxy-white berries. The seeds are above the doorway are Christmas disseminated almost entirely as a traditions all these we enjoy. Although result of being eaten by birds. It is plants are widely used for decorative unknown from our immediate area, purposes, many people are unaware but can be found in southern Illinois of their poisonous properties. and southern Indiana.

are the most and Poinsettias popular Early in history people gave special characteristic of the Christmas plant regard to the mistletoe, for it is season. It is a symbol of the holiday, mentioned in the earliest legends. and the red bracts (modified leaves) Mistletoe was used for several and green leaves carry out the familiar purposes, such as a scourge for complementary colors of the season. witches and a talisman to secure good red of the The showy portion plant, harvest. The custom of kissing under popularly referred to as the petals of the mistletoe came from the Norse consists of modified leaves. the flower, legend of Balder, the sun god, whom, These bracts surround a cluster of legend has it, was shot with an arrow small and inconspicuous yellow and red of mistletoe. The association of

flowers. In addition to the red varieties, mistletoe with Christmas is a white and varieties are also pink sentimental one brought by our available. European ancestors to America and associated here with a similar The first poinsettias were probably American plant. introduced into the United States from Mexico in 1825 Joel R. Poinsett, by Deaths have occurred from eating Minister to that the first United States mistletoe berries. Fatalities have also After his own country. supplying been reported from drinking a tea he distributed to his gardens, plants brewed from the berries in an attempt to horticultural friends and to some secure an abortion. botanical gardens in the East. The botanical name {Poinsettia) given to Dr. Johnnie L. Gentry, Jr. is Assistant the was but the plant changed, Curator of Botany at Field Museum. common name continues to honor the

man who brought it into cultivation. In Mexico the plant is called flor de buena Christmas Eve Poisonous Plants la noche (the Holiday flower or flower of the Blessed Night).

Poinsettias may cause dermatitis if the milky sap comes in contact with the skin and may produce severe gastric problems if eaten. It has been responsible for deaths among children.

Mistletoe has been very appropriately named the thief tree (Phoradendron) from the Greek phor, thief, and dendron, tree, because of the parasitic habit. The mature plants are rather bushy in appearance and one to three feet across. Mistletoe is not cultivated,

but is collected from the trunks and

14 Bulletin December 1970 followed by a host of similar volumes. greater variety of styles. The Sierra Club has just published a book on the This success cannot be considered Everglades, photographed by Patricia to our apart from the extraordinary sales, in Caulfield (1970, $27.50). Closer area is a Lake recent years, of other big picture Superior, Living (Harper books. Apparently, affluent Americans and Row, 1970, $22.50 until December had too many barren coffee tables 21, $25 after) with an exciting variety of Charles Steinhacker. (these books are too tall for most library photographs by a will us : shelves). Or perhaps these big books Perhaps publisher present with the recent work of Jeannette Klute. make ideal gifts; they cost enough to This uses a impress people and reflect the giver's photographer large excellent taste at the same time. camera for close-ups, usually with very little of field. The resultant I believe that these large books dealing depth with nature stand apart from the pictures, largely out of focus, often others. They are not another edition of achieve a dream-like quality, a style different from that of famous paintings or another collection of utterly Eliot Porter.

art The books I am Nature in Print: The Big Books objects. discussing Another of natural represent original work by photographers group history books Books on natural have had a excellent history concerned with capturing nature on featuring photography and of the long and fascinating history. One fine printing concern themselves with high points in that history occurred more specific subject matter. The World 19th in the late 18th and century. Appalachian Wilderness by Eliot Porter of Bats (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, that time a number of During large (E. P. Dutton & Co., 1970, $25. before 1970, $23.95) has many extraordinary books lavishly illustrated w/ith colored 1/1/71) is the latest book by America's photographs by Nina Leen in color and were plates were printed. These plates most gifted photographer of natural in black and white that capture these and produced by skillful engravers, scenery in color. Eliot Porter can see elusive creatures in many of their life after printing were patiently colored by beauty where others pass, not pausing. activities. There is even a sequence of the hand. The names of some His camera captures broad vistas, a showing a fishing bat catching a fish. painters whose work the engraver grove of trees, or a small area of the The text by Alvin Novick is a detailed copied have since become famous. forest floor, all with a clarity that only discussion of the biology of bats. In Field Museum's recent acquisition, photography can achieve. The pictures contrast, completely static subjects have Audubon's The Birds of America, are arranged in sequence with the been exquisitely photographed by represents one of the crowning seasons, beginning in Spring and ending H. Landshoff in The Shell, Five Hundred of this These books achievements genre. in Winter. Porter's photographs often Million Years of Inspired Design, by were usually issued by subscription lack strong compositional design, Hugh and Marguerite Stix and R. Tucker that only the wealthy could afford. This gaining their impact from an array of Abbott (Abrams, 1968, $25). Here too, tradition, a half-way house between detail — like a Persian rug or a painting the photographs are in black and white art and science, did not survive the by Jackson Pollock. The book is well as well as color and both media are nineteenth century. bound and the layout is excellent, used to excellent effect. but text and captions are poorly I believe that we are experiencing I differentiated. The text, by Edward have mentioned only a few of the another in the history of episode Abbey, is a dismal inventory of photographers whose work is presented illustrated nature books at the present billboards and other sins. This is the in these superbly printed books. If you time. tomes never be Today's may eighth book (by my count) illustrated haven't done so already, sit down ranked with the works of Audubon, but with of by Eliot Porter and, I think, one of his one these books. They can be are and they visually sumptuous many best. a welcome respite in a busy schedule the work of skilled artists. represent and enhance your appreciation of These are 20th century books and these While the photographs are superbly nature as well. 20th century artists are photographers. reproduced, a few exhibit rather Just as Audubon required skilled unnatural greens—something seen in The following books are available In engravers to transfer his art to the other books by Porter and probably due Field Museum's Bookshop: In Wildness are is printed page, today's photographers to the film he uses. Porter uses a large the Preservation of the World and served by the recent advances in camera on a tripod, excellent for Appalachian Wilderness, Eliot Porter; photo-engraving and color printing. The scenery, but rarely capturing an animal Superior: Portrait of a Living Lake, first successful book of this type was or close-up. Photographers have a Charles Steinhacker; The Shell, Five Eliot Porter's In Wildness is the Hundred Million Years of style, and the carefully composed, Inspired Preservation of the World. This was the and Stix exquisitely detailed view is the style of Design, Hugh Marguerite and first all-color book published by the Eliot Porter. R. Tucker Abbott. Sierra Club in 1962 ($25). Its success Dr. William C. who is on the can be measured by the fact that it now As the big-picture-book bandwagon by Burger, slafi ol the Botany Department at Field has been issued in rolls on we can to see the work paperback hope IVIuseum and a member at the Nature (Ballantine, 1967, $3.95) and has been of more nature photographers and a Camera Club ot Chicago.

Bulletin December 1970 15 Kenneth N. Dayton, corporate executive; Edward Olsen, curator of mineralogy, Charles Eames, designer and film and Dr. Matthew H. Nitecki, associate producer; Virginia Gerity, opera guild curator of fossil invertebrates, in Field president; James Earl Jones, actor; Museum's Department of Geology. Charles K. McWhorter, attorney; Beverly For further tuition and Sills, coloratura soprano and Robert information, cost, E. Wise, producer-director. registration forms please write or phone Mrs. Maria Matyas, University of In announcing the appointments, Chicago, Downtown Center, 65 East President Nixon issued the following South Water Street, Chicago, Illinois, statement: "The arts are an Fl playing 60601 , 6-8300. increasingly significant part in American

life, not just in the few great centers Dr. Robert H. Denison to Retire but throughout the Nation. When I asked Congress last year to extend the Dr. Robert H. Denison, curator of fossil life and substantially increase the fishes in the Department of Geology, funding of the National Foundation on retires at the end of the year. During Holiday Science Lecture Series the Arts and the Humanities, I noted his 22 years at Field Museum, he has that: 'The arts have attained a the More than 800 top high school science been responsible for enlarging in our life as a nation and students have been invited to attend prominence Museum's collection of fossil fishes to in our consciousness as individuals in the the Holiday Science Lecture Series on one of the best country, gathering that renders their health and vital of December 29 and 30. Dr. Thomas Eisner, growth almost the entire collection primitive to our national professor of biology at Cornell well-being.' vertebrates himself. University, is guest lecturer at the four "The National Council on the Arts will Dr. Denison's research has been sessions. His subject is "To Be An have a key role in determining how centered on the Ordovician, Silurian, Insect." Federal funds are to be used in order and especially the Devonian period. The lectures include "To Speak With to bring more artistic enrichment into the He has provided new information and Friends," "To Survive Attack," "To lives of more people in more places. contributed enormously to the available Depend On Plants" and "To See the In a broader sense, the Council will knowledge of this important area in itself to life Invisible," and will be followed by a be addressing continually the time—the very base of vertebrate of how the Federal Government question and answer period. question on earth. He has also authored can best assist the arts and encourage numerous scientific articles in Fieldiana This is the ninth consecutive year for the vital sources of private support." and other publications. His "A Review the series, sponsored by Field Museum of the Habitat of the Earliest Vertebrates" Association for the and the American (Fieldiana: Geology, Vol. 11, No. 8, of The lectures Advancement Science. 1956) carefully reviews all data and will be held at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., concludes that "vertebrates originated James Simpson Theatre. in the sea and did not begin to enter fresh waters until some time in the Silurian." He has been joined in to Arts Council Director Appointed this opinion by most American

Museum Director E. Leiand Webber has paleontologists. been appointed to the National Council Based on extensive investigations. Dr. on the Arts President Richard M. by Denison has offered the earliest E. Leiand Webber Nixon. Created by act of Congress in evidence of lungs in vertebrates. His 1964, the National Council is composed many field trips included Norway, of the Chairman of the National Earth Science Course Sweden and Great Britain as a for the Endowment Arts, Nancy Hanks, Fellow. of Guggenheim and 26 citizens who are widely Field Museum's Department Education in with the recognized for their broad knowledge cooperation A Fellow of the Geological Society of of Extension is of the arts or their profound interest in University Chicago America, Dr. Denison is also a member a ten-week non-technical the arts. The Council advises the offering of the American Society of Zoologists course the Chairman on policy, programs and evening concerning and the American Association for the and of earth procedures, and reviews all applications problems questions Advancement of Science. He is a past sciences. The course will for financial assistance made to the emphasize president of the Society of Vertebrate studies in and National Endowment, an agency of the geology paleontology, Paleontology. Federal Government. dealing primarily with the structures, histories and the theories of the Dr. Denison's future plans include Other persons recently appointed to the development of the earth and the life continuing his current research on the Council include Maurice Abravanel, upon it. The course will begin on early and middle Paleozoic fishes, conductor and musical director; January 13 and will be conducted by Dr. writing, and work in paleo histology.

16 Bulletin December 1970 what scientists tell them about molecules Meetings and atoms?" by Dr. Eric M. Rogers, January 6, 7 p.m. professor of physics at Princeton University. Illinois Audubon Society 3 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. January 10, 2 p.m. Chicago Shell Club December 28-31 January 12, 7:45 p.m. Free Film and Guided Tour Program, Nature Camera Club of Chicago "Through These Doors," a color film, is January 12, 8 p.m. CALENDAR presented at 1:15 p.m. in the 2nd floor North Chicagoland Glider Council Meeting Room. A "highlights" tour leaves January 13, 7 p.m. at 2 p.m. from the North Information desk. Chicago Ornithological Society January 13, 7:30 p.m. 3 January Windy City Grotto— Free Wildlife Film, "Scandinavian Saga," National Speleological Society offered by the Illinois Audubon Society. January 14, 8 p.m. 2:30 p.m. James Simpson Theatre. Chicago Mountaineering Club

Hours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday C£^4i^^^^^^^ 9 a m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Closed Christmas Day The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday

Begins December 1 "Exploring Indian Country," Winter Journey for Children. The self-guided tour helps youngsters to see American Indians of three environments as the early explorers saw them. All boys and girls who can read and write are welcome to participate in the free program. Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. Through February 28.

Continuing A Child Goes Forth, an exhibit of toys and games from around the world, examines the role of these objects in the cultural development of children. Hall 9. Com Blight, an exhibit of current interest, shows the effects of a virulent new strain of Southern Corn Leaf Blight disease. Authorities predict an 18% decrease in the nation's 1970 corn crop because of this disease. Through January 18. South Lounge. 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of Discovery, offers a unique viewing experience. Innovative photographic and display techniques explore Field Museum's many facets. Hall 3.

John James Audubon's elephant folio. The Birds ot America, on display in the North Lounge. A different plate from the rare, first-edition set is featured each day.

December 1 -January 3 Self-Guided "Winter Tour, Greens," music for dancing entertainment refreshments designed to acquaint visitors with plants 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., December 21 that are popular during the Christmas

season. Free tour sheets are available at Please send me adult tickets $10 . child (under 14) tickets $5 Museum entrances. Name Add ress December 27 Free demonstration-lecture, "Measuring Air For information or reservations please call the Women's Board, 922-9419. Molecules," or "Why should people believe