BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 41, Number 1 January 1970 




EDEN 
REVISITED 

A Tour 

of Britain 

and its Gardens 




(All photos by Phil Clark) 




An ancient Rhododendron of historic 
importance is proudly pointed out by 
Mr. A. C. Gibson, owner of Glenarn, near 
Loch Lomond, Scotland. The great 
botanist-horticulturist. Sir Thomas 
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. 



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 
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 Conservation; Frances Perry, author of gardening books; 
Will Ingwersen, garden writer and nurseryman; Mrs. Poppy Davenport 
of the Scottish Garden Scheme, G. C. Colmer, naturalist of the 
National Trust for Scotland, and others. The tour will also feature 
archaeological sites. (^j^^^^^ Qgrden below). 



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 
Gentle Ben — a bear, have all become national celebrities 
within the past few years. Their pictures stare out from 
cereal boxes, t-shirts, comic books and games. These ani- 
mals all became famous via television, movies and big 
budget advertising, but in the thirties a sad-faced, roly- 
poly panda became equally popular without network or 
financial hook-ups. 

On December 18, 1936 the giant panda, Su-Lin, arrived 
in San Francisco to a tumultuous welcome rivalling any 
given a human celebrity. In fact, "The final consensus of 
the press was that not since Bernard Shaw had a foreign 
celebrity received such a reception as Su-Lin." Again, on 
Su-Lin's arrival in Chicago the press turned out in full force 
as the public clamored to see the cuddly beast. On to New 
York and the crunch of bigger crowds and headlines. 
Su-Lin was undoubtedly a coast-to-coast sensation. 

Why? Su-Lin had never made a movie, couldn't do 
any tricks and showed no signs of learning any. Granted 
the panda was cute and lovable, but the world was littered 
with cute animals and the press didn't accord them a recep- 
tion on a par with Bernard Shaw's. The headline-grabbing 
news was that Su-Lin was the first giant panda ever seen 
alive by the Western world. 

For decades following its official Western discovery in 
1869 by Pere David, the giant panda was one of the rarest 
animals known to man. Again and again hunters unsuc- 
cessfully prowled the mountains of Szechuan in search of 
the elusive giant panda. Explorers yearned for just a 
glimpse of the living animal in the wild and for a time feared 
that it had become extinct. The difficulties of locating a 
panda only seemed to enhance its desirability and big game 
hunters considered it a supreme challenge. 

In 1928 Colonel Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt, sons 
of Teddy Roosevelt, decided to take an expedition to Indo- 
China and West China with the main goal of killing a giant 
panda. Sponsored by Field Museum, the brothers vowed 
that they wouldn't return home until they had shot a panda 
and made a pact in which it was agreed that if a panda was 
sighted both brothers would fire simultaneously. In this 
way, they would share the distinction of being the first white 
man to kill a panda. 

The party worked its way across the mountains between 
China and Tibet without detecting a whiff or a track of a 
panda. Undismayed, they moved on into Lololand — an 
area where explorer Lt. J. W. Brooke was murdered in 
1910. The Lolos were apparently susceptible to the Roose- 
velt charm and instead of murdering them, helped the 
Roosevelts. 

Finally, on April 13 the Roosevelts found giant panda 
tracks in the snow near Yehli, in the Hsifan Moun- 



tains. As described by the Roosevelts in Trailing the Giant 
Panda, ". . . Unexpectedly close I heard a clicking chirp. 
One of the Lolo hunters darted forward. He had not gone 
forty yards before he turned back to eagerly motion to us 
to hurry. As I gained his side he pointed to a giant spruce 
thirty yards away. The bole was hollowed, and from it 
emerged the head and forequarters of a bei-shung (giant 
panda). He looked sleepily from side to side as he sauntered 
forth and walked slowly away into the bamboos. As soon 
as Ted came up we fired simultaneously at the outline of the 
disappearing panda. Both shots took effect. He was a 
splendid old male, the first that the Lolos had any record 
of as being killed in this Yehli region." 

The skin of this adult male panda was sent back to the 
Museum along with another specimen obtained from local 
hunters. The success of this expedition inspired other Amer- 
ican museums to pack off panda expeditions to China and 
villagers who had seldom seen white men must have been 
amazed at the increased traffic of great white hunters 
through the mountains. 

Floyd Tangier Smith led the Marshall Field Zoological 
Expedition to Southeast Asia from 1930 to 1932 and sent 
the Museum two more panda specimens obtained from 
Chinese hunters. 

So far, all of the pandas arriving in this country were 
dead. Then, in 1934 William Harvest Harkness, Jr. left 
New York and his bride of two weeks determined to bring 
one back alive for the Bronx Zoo. Following a chain of 
disasters and delays Harkness found himself alone in China, 
his expedition in complete collapse. In February 1936 he 
died of a mysterious illness in Shanghai. 

Harkness' bride, Ruth, a dress designer with no prac- 
tical experience in hunting or collecting animals, was appar- 
ently an independent and adventurous woman. In April 
she left for China planning to take up her husband's expe- 
dition and fulfill his dream of bringing a live panda to the 
United States. 

Four months later, Ruth Harkness was stalled in Shang- 
hai trying to get an expedition going. Then she met the 
Young brothers. Jack and Quentin, a pair of American- 
born Chinese hunters. Together Ruth Harkness and the 
Young brothers gathered the necessary equipment and with- 
out "waiting for government red tape to be unwound," set 
off for the interior. 

Following a 1500-mile boat trip up the Yangtze, the 
group endured a 300-mile overland trek best described as 
a travel agent's nightmare. Opium addicted porters and 
an unwanted bodyguard of 16 soldiers prefaced a stretch in 
which the former dress designer rode in a wheelbarrow. 
Fatigue and frustration mounted, but occasional clues kept 





Page 4 JANUARY 




Left, Mei Lan at Brook field 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 con- 
vinced 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- 
cording to Desmond Morris in Men and Pandas, there is 
some question as to whether Mrs. Harkness actually cap- 
tured the prized giant panda or merely bought it from 
Floyd Tangier Smith, an experienced hunter who led the 
Marshall Field Expedition in 1930-32. 

As Mrs. Harkness tells it, however, she and Quentin 
Young were pushing through a wet, dripping bamboo 
thicket when they heard a baby's whimper coming from 
an old dead tree. Mrs. Harkness wrote, "I must have been 
momentarily paralyzed for I didn't move until Quentin 
came toward me and held out his arms. There in the palms 
of his two hands was a squirming baby Bei-skung." 

The long sought panda was hardly a giant. Not more 
than ten days old, it weighed less than three pounds. Ruth 
Harkness and the Youngs were as jubilant over their three- 
pound panda as if it had been 300 pounds. Mrs. Harkness 
named it after Jack Young's wife, Su-Lin, which, roughly 
translated, means "a little bit of something very cute." 



Mrs. Harkness set about getting Su-Lin to the United States. 
Because of customs, Su-Lin's feeding needs and the press, 
this was no simple matter. One punster summed it up in a 
headline reading, "Panda-monium in Shanghai Customs 
House." But on December 2 Mrs. Harkness and Su-Lin, 
now tagged "One dog, $20.00," set sail for America and 
fame. 

Even before the welcoming furor faded away, Mrs. 
Harkness was busy negotiating for a permanent home for 
Su-Lin. Chicago zoo director Edward Bean wanted Su-Lin 
but was unable to arrive at a satisfactory financial arrange- 
ment with Mrs. Harkness. Zoo officials in New York were 
reluctant to acquire an animal that they suspected was in 
poor health. Although she should have been accustomed 
to snags and delays by this time, Mrs. Harkness became 
depressed and wrote, "Was I a little insane, or had I just 
imagined that bringing a live Panda to America was worth 
anything to the great rich coimtry of ours? When I had 
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 
up, take Su-Lin and go back to the border of Tibet. And 
perhaps if I'd had sufficient money. I would have done 
just that." 

According to a Quaker Oats ad which pictured an em- 
bracing Mrs. Harkness and Su-Lin, this "great American 
explorer" had discovered not just the "only Giant Panda 
in captivity," but a "nerve bracing breakfast" as well. 
With her nerves apparently well braced, Mrs. Harkness 
continued to work for a satisfactory financial arrangement 
and a good home for Su-Lin. 

Meanwhile, Su-Lin, like all stars, was making personal 



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appearances. Not only was the young panda a guest of 
honor at the New York E.xplorer's Club annual dinner, but 
a growing number of important people were becoming fans. 
The panda-killing Roosevelt brothers were easily charmed 
by Su-Lin and when Theodore was asked if he would like 
to see Su-Lin mounted and added to his group in Field 
Museum, he replied, "I'd as soon think of mounting my 
own son as I would this baby." 

On February 8, 1937, almost two months after arriving 
in America, Mrs. Harkness got Su-Lin settled at Brookfield 
Zoo as a temporary guest. Then, two months later, the 
zoo contributed a satisfactorv amount to Mrs. Harkness' 





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Page 6 JAW ART 



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 
buddy, not a sweetheart. Unfortunately, Su-Lin and Di- 
ana's friendship was short-lived. In April 1938, six weeks 
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 
and zoo officials despairingly believed that they had had a 
breeding pair in Su-Lin and Diana. However, when Diana 
died in 1942 they found that she, too, had been a he. 

Dead but not forgotten, Su-Lin was more than just 
another furry face. D. Dwight Davis, of the Field Museum 
staff", had often observed the panda at the zoo and on its 
death began a study of the panda that was to last the rest 
of Davis' life. 

Using the embalmed and injected body of Su-Lin, Davis 
began his meticulously detailed and researched study of the 
internal and external anatomy of the giant panda. The 
original problem that motivated Davis' research was the 
determination of the giant panda's proper taxonomic posi- 
tion. Some workers insisted — and indeed still do — that the 
panda was a member of the racoon family, while others 
placed it in the bear family. As Davis stated, "the proper 
taxonomic position of Ailuropoda (the giant panda) — was 
soon settled; Ailuropoda is a bear and therefore belongs in 
the family Ursidae." 

Davis made this statement in the Introduction to his 
enormous monograph "The Giant Panda" {Fieldiana: Zo- 
ology Memoirs, Volume 3, Dec. 7, 1964), but went on for 
327 pages, making this one of the largest of the Fieldiana 
series, to a brilliant study in comparative anatomy. Davis 
made the work a test "based on the anatomy of the giant 
panda, of whether the comparative method can yield in- 
formation that goes beyond the cvistomary goals of com- 
parative anatomy." 

In achieving this goal, Davis gave careful consideration 
and discussion to each structure and organ of the giant 
panda. He worked with five artists and used 159 accurate 
and, in many cases surprisingly beautiful, figures to illus- 
trate his subject. Almost all of Davis' illustrations and state- 
ments regarding the panda's soft anatomy were based on 
Su-Lin. 

As Davis worked on his study, Su-Lin's hide went to 
the Museum taxidermists. And now, thanks to the taxi- 
dermists' skill, you can stroll down the Museum's Hall 1 5 
and come face to face with one of the most famous charac- 
ters of the thirties. {Continued on page 8) 




M 






m 





From Travel Book to Christmas Card 

A rare travel book much sought after by collectors is 
John L. Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central Amer- 
ica, Chiapas, and Yucatan. There were a number of 
"editions" of this work,— probably only printings rather 
than editions. The copy in the library of the Field Mu- 
seum is said to be the twelfth edition and is dated 1855, 
while my personal copy of the work is the "new edition" 
of 1842,— but in the preface mentioned as the tenth edi- 
tion and issued three months from the time of publica- 
tion of the work. The differences between these two 
"editions" are minor. 

Mr. Stephens was a traveler and author, and I am sure 
that his Incidents of Travel must have been immensely 
popular, for he travelled in and wrote about a part of 
America that was not well-known in his day. The book 
was in great enough demand more than 100 years after 
its original publication so that a reprint edition of it was 
prepared. 

Stephens took the artist Frederick Catherwood with 
him on his travels to Central America, Chiapas, and 
Yucatan. Catherwood sketched with great skill the ruins 
and artifacts of the Mayan civilizations long since dis- 
appeared, a few cities, and other things of interest. Steel 
engravings of Catherwood's sketches are to this day some 
of the finest and most artistic representations of Mayan 
"antiquities" to be found in any work. Certainly these 
engravings are responsible for much of the popularity of 
Stephens' Incidents of Travel and are what makes of it 
a collector's item. 

Looking for a suitable subject for a Christmas card, 
we decided to have a sketch made after one of Cather- 
wood's engravings. To simulate antiquity the sketch was 
engraved on copper with a mezzotint screen. It is of the 
highland Guatemalan city of Quezaltenango as it ap- 
peared about 130 years ago. Today Quezaltenango is one 
of the fascinating old cities of Central America. The city, 
its surrounding mountains and its Indian peoples are 
well worth a day or two of your time when next you go 
to Guatemala. —ft V Louis O. Williams Chief Curator, Botany 



.J- 




1^.-.-^ 



JANUARY Page 7 



Januaiy hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mondays through Fridays; 9 a.m. to 

5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. 

January 25 Audubon Wildlife Film "Mule Deer Country," narrated by 
liiui Moss, traces the fascinating life history of the mule deer against wildly 
beautiful scenery ranging from Canada to Mexico. 2:30 p.m. in James Simp- 
son Theatre. 

January 31 25th Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photog- 
raphy brings hundreds of award-winning wildlife photographs to the South 
Lounge of the Museum. Sponsored by the Nature Camera Club of Chicago 
and the Field Museum, the free display includes projection of winning 
color transparencies on two separate Sundays, 2:30 p.m., February 1 and 
February 8 in James Simpson Theatre. The exhibition continues to Feb- 
ruary 22. 

Through February 28 Winter Journey "It's A Rocky World" is designed 
to teach youngsters the intrinsic and practical value of earth rocks. Any 
child who reads and writes may participate in this continuing self-guided 
program conducted by Raymond Foundation. Free journey sheets and in- 
formation on the Journey program are available at Museum entrances. 

Through March 1 Eskimo Masks: The World of the Tareumiut, a tem- 
porary exhibit of carved wooden masks produced by the aboriginal people 
of Point Hope, Alaska, gives insight to an aspect of their culture that is 
disappearing. The relationship between these hunting people, the animals 
they pursued, and their concept of supernatural powers is explained 
through artifacts from the Museum's collection and from the Sheldon 
Jackson Museum in Sitka, Alaska. 

Continuing in January Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit— A Sense 
OF Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of Discovery The three-part 
presentation showing the scope of the Museum's activities since its founding 
continues indefinitely in Hall 3. This dramatic exhibit includes many of 
the Museum's best specimens. 

Chicago Shell Club, January 11, 2:30 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, January 13, 7:45 p.m. 

Friends of Our Native Landscape, January 24, 2 p.m. 

Chicago Shell Club, February 8, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, February 10, 7:45 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society , February 15, 2 p.m. 

Friends of Our Native Landscape, February 22, 2 p.m. 



SU"LIN Super Star of the Thirties (Continued /rom page 7) 
Seated in a glass case, Su-Lin looks like an oversized and appealing toy. Per- 
haps it's the shape of his eye-markings or merely the tilt of his head, but Su-Lin 
is a melancholy-looking creature and it's easy to understand why the world was 
captivated by him 33 years ago. 

As they say in the fan magazines, Su-Lin's star burned brightly but all too 
briefly. Only 16 months old at death, the giant panda had made international 
headlines, inspired toys, books, advertisements and expeditions, and, most im- 
portantly, become the basis of an outstanding scientific study. 



meetings: 



c-XX 




FIELD MUSEUM 
OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, Illinois 60605 

Founded by .Marshall Field, 1893 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Lester Armour 
Harry 0. Bercher 
Boiven Blair 

William McCormick Blair 
William R. Dickinson, Jr. 
Thomas E. Donnelley II 
Marshall Field 
Nicholas Galitzine 
Paul W. Goodrich 
Remick McDowell 
J. Roscoe Miller 
William H. Mitchell 
John T. Pirie, Jr. 
John Shedd Reed 
John S. Runnells 
John G. Searle 
John M. Simpson 
Gerald A. Sivage 
Edward Byron Smith 
William G. Swartchild, Jr. 
E. Leland Webber 
Julian B. Wilkins 
J. Howard Wood 

HONORARY TRUSTEES 

Joseph N. Field 
Clifford C. Gregg 
Samuel Insull, Jr. 
William V. Kahler 
Hughston M. McBain 
James L. Palmer 
Louis Ware 

OFFICERS 

Remick McDowell, President 
Harry 0. Bercher, Vice-President 
Bowen Blair, Vice-President 
John M. Simpson, Vice-President 
Edward Byron Smith, 

Treasurer and Assistant Secretary 
E. Leland Webber, Secretary 

director of the museum 
E. Leland Webber 
chief curators 

Donald Collier, 

Department of Anthropology 
Louis 0. Williams, 

Department of Botany 
Rainer ^angerl. 

Department of Geology 
Austin L. Rand, 

Department of ^oology 

BULLETIN 



Edward G. Nash, Managing Editor 



Page 8 JANUARY 



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5111 1 FTIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

BULLET IIN l-ICLW l¥l«^l- v„luwe41.Numbn2 Febm„r^ 1970 



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Field Museum's natural history tour program 
is slightly over two years old. Since its incep- 
tion in late 1967 with a tour highlighting the 
gardens, the people and the Mayan archaeology 
of Guatemala, subsequent tours have included 
Mexico, Brazil and Grand Canyon. At this 
moment, there are 30 enthusiastic travelers on 
the "Himalayan Kingdoms and Northeastern 
India"' tour. 

Field Museum's tours are designed to bring 
its members into closer contact with the Mu- 
seum. The specialists from the Museum's staff 
and other persons accompanying the groups are 
experts in their field. An unforgettable expe- 
rience is offered the traveler with this concen- 
trated emphasis on the natural sciences. 

Other tours this year include "Eden Revis- 



ited: A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," 
May 30 -July 4 and a visit to Guatemala, 
October 23 - November 8, repeating the very 
popular 1967 visit 

The tour described below covers "The Inca's 
Empire and Darwin's Galapagos." Mr. E. 
Leland Webber, Director of Field Museum, in 
commenting, stressed the aptness of the area for 
Field Museum, both because of the Museum's 
long commitment to the area and because of its 
inherent natural history importance. 

Field Museum, he pointed out, is doing the 
definitive work on Peruvian plants, a work in 
progress for nearly 50 years, and is also doing a 
survey of Peruvian plant resources. The Mu- 
seum's archaeologists and zoologists also have a 
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 




Impressive Machu Picchu — the mysteriunn lost city of 
the Incas, stands on the sides and slopes of two moun- 
tains. It was believed to have served as a refuge for 
Inca nobility after Spanish conquest and was probably 
originally intended as a fortress. 



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, fan- 
tastic 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, includ- 
ing all expenses except tips and including a $600 tax de- 
ductible 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 
them. For those with limited time, the Inca's Empire por- 
tion of the tour is offered separately. The 22-day tour, 
without the Galapagos, ends on January 21 and Febru- 
ary 25, and costs $350 less, or $2,457. 



Page 2 FEBRUART 1970 



Chan Chan ruins, near Trujillo in northern Peru, on the Pacific, 
still show original carvings of pcndtn'n." cfched in adobe. 



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First Day: You fly from O'Hare Airport, arriving in Bo- 
gota in the evening. Your hotel is the luxury Tequendama 
(unless otherwise indicated, meals are in your hotels). 

Second Day: Thousands of delicately wrought gold 
pieces made by the Chibcha and other Colombian Indians 
are displayed in modern settings at Bogota's Museo de 
Oro — these are some of the indigenous treasure that missed 
the Spanish king's royal smelters. You also view what 
the Spanish created in exchange: the magnificent mahog- 
any carvings and the expressive paintings of the San 
Francisco and Tercer Orden churches. During the after- 
noon you visit the handsomely Spanish modern garden 
and home of Dr. Adolfo Tamara, an outstanding Bogota 
physician, and the colonial gardens and house in which 
Simon Bolivar, the liberator of most of South America, 
lived. This evening you fly to Lima where you stay at the 
palatial Hotel Bolivar. 

Third Day: More of the treasures the Spaniards missed, 
these of the Incas and their predecessors, the Chavin, 
Mochica, Paracas, Nazca, Tiahuanaco, and Chimu cul- 
tures are displayed in the National Museum of Archaeol- 
ogy and the private collection of Rafael Larco Herrera, 
here in Lima. During the afternoon, you tour the city. 

Fourtti Day: Out in the desert north of the city are the 
adobe ruins of the vast city of Cajamarquilla which reached 
its prime in the seventh century, 400 years before the In- 
cas, and of Puruchuco which was an Incan government 
center and has been restored. Lunch is at the home of 
Sra. Josefina Heudebert de Rodriguez. During the after- 
noon, you view the home and garden in semi-colonial 
style of the Chilean Ambassador, in the San Isidro section, 
and the private orchid collection, including native species, 
of Sr. and Sra. Victor Vizquerra, in Miraflores. 

FiM Day: You view the unusual gardens and interest- 
ing plant collections of Mr. W. L. C. Tweedle at Hacienda 
Matazango in Lima's Los Leones suburb and the effec- 
tively designed home and garden of Sra. Lucila de Li, in 
El Derby. In the afternoon you visit the National Mu- 
seum of Art. Dinner is at the Trece Monedas. 



Sixth Day: In the desert, south of Lima, is the adobe 
pyramid-temple of Pachacamac, on a bluff overlooking 
the Pacific. After lunch, you see probably the largest col- 
lection of Inca and pre-lnca gold in the world, thousands 
of pieces, many of exquisite workmanship, at the Museo 
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 
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 fea- 
tures great storage bins for corn and cotton and adobe 
carvings of dragons and warriors. Lunch is at the Pacfic 
beach. Las Morillas. You watch reed boats, caballitos del 
Mar, at Puerto Huanchaco, then fly back to Lima in late 
afternoon. 

Eighth Day: This morning you fly to 1 1 thousand-foot 
high Cuzco, once capital city of the great Inca empire. 
You settle in the pleasant Hotel Cuzco and rest for a couple 
of hours or so to adjust to the altitude. After lunch, you 
tour the great Spanish colonial churches, taking interested 
notice of the unique Cuzco painting style. 

Ninth Day: During the morning you walk through some 
of the areas of Cuzco where Incan-fitted stones are still 
evident in building foundations and where the great cen- 
ters existed in the old city. After lunch you ride to ruins 
in the mountains which circle the city: the great rocks of 
the fortress which guarded Cuzco, Sacsahuaman, and to 
Tambumchay, Puca Pucara, and K'enco. After dinner, 
you attend Peruvian folk dances performed by a youthful, 
local group, the Centro Qosqo de Folklorico. 

Tenth Day: You travel to the Indian market village of 
Chinceros, where, even more than in Cuzco, Quechua is 
the prevailing language. You pass Lake Huaypo and 
reach your hotel, the Urubamba at Urubamba, for lunch. 
Later you visit the mountainside ruins of Ollantaytambo 
temple and fort. 

Eleventh Day: You leave Urubamba Hotel, traveling 
back to Cuzco via the Indian town of Caica, where the 
church features a striking folk art cross, and along the 
Urubamba River, remarkable for the cacti and bromeliads 
in its cliffsides and to the Indian market town of Pisac, 
where alpaca and llama wool products are excellent bar- 
gains as is the indigenous pottery. You dine at the Hotel 
Cuzco. 

Twelfth Day: An early morning train takes you through 
several climatic and floristic zones over the mountain rim 
above Cuzco and down 65 miles to the Urubamba River, 
then, by bus, up five miles to the 7,800-foot elevation, 
"lost city"of Machu Picchu, where a great and mysterious 



FEBRUART 1970 Page 3 



Inca center is spread over two mountain tops. The amaz- 
ingly perfect fitting and facing of gigantic rocks leaves 
you in awe and puzzled over how these great stones were 
transported by people who knew no wheel. You spend 
the night at Machu Picchu Hotel. 

Thirteenth Day: Early risers will stroll among the ruins, 
to get photos unobstructed by people and to bird watch. 
During the morning, a bus will take birders and plant en- 
thusiasts the five miles down to the Urubamba River where 
flora is semi-tropical: a special treat — the long, scarlet ear- 
drops of the shrub, Fuchsia boliviana. During late after- 
noon, you take the return train to Cuzco. 

Fourteenth Day: Another fascinating train trip — from 
Cuzco through valleys and mountains, past lakes and 
towns where Indians wear colorful regional dress and the 
women the universal derby hats which originated here. 
Then into highland slopes where thousands of llamas and 
alpacas herd and finally to the town of Juliaca, where you 
are driven to the ruins of Sillustani. At last, over a moun- 
tain rim and you view the vivid turquoise blue of Lake 
Titicaca — world's highest major lake, at 12,697 feet. You 
stay at Tambo Titikaka Hotel. 

Fifteenth Day: Birders will be out early to observe 
water and lakeside birds. There will be an opportunity 
for fishing and an outing to the Catcha-Catcha ruins. 
Mainly, it will be a day of relaxation with all activities 
optional. 

Sixteenth Day: Fusion of the art of Aymara Indians 
and of the Spaniards produced some unusually handsome 
cathedral churches in the Aymara towns of Juli and Po- 
mata, which you visit on your way to the Bolivian city 
of Copacabana, where the famous church of Our Lady of 
Copacabana is located. You board the hydrofoil ship to 
cross the lake, stopping at Moon Island and Isla del Sol 
with its Incan ruins and to see the fishermen in their ori- 
ental-looking reed boats. You drive from the other side 
of Titicaca to La Paz, capital of Bolivia, at 13,000 feet, 
arriving in time for dinner at the skyroom of the comfort- 
able Hotel Crillon. 

Seventeenth Day: After viewing the magenta and yel- 
low bells of the Cantua buxifolia, national flower of Bo- 




Farmers dress irarmly in the highlands of Peru, near Cuzco. 
Pagf 4 FEBRVARr 1970 



llvia, in the small but beautiful Botanical Garden, you visit 
San Francisco Church and the colorful vegetable market, 
then are driven to the mysterious ruins of Tiahuanaco, 
with its inscrutable great stone figures, carefully fitted 
rock ramps, and carved stone gateways. After a picnic 
lunch at the ruins site, you return to La Paz. 

Eighteenth Day: You fly to Quito, Ecuador. After 
settling in luxurious Hotel Intercontinental Quito, you visit 
the Casa de Cultura, which gives a summary of the whole 
history of ancient and colonial Ecuador. 

Nineteenth Day: You visit the charming blend of colo- 
nial and modern garden and home of Sra. Clara de Andino 
and the Colonial Museum with its distinctive Quito-style 
religious sculpture and painting. In the afternoon, you 
tour the great Spanish Colonial churches and the central 
plaza. 

Twentieth Day: You are driven from 9,000 -foot high 
Quito down through three distinctive floras to Santo Do- 
mingo de los Colorados, in tropics at 1,000 feet. You 
ride and walk through the jungles to the homes of the 
Colorado Indians, who coat their hair with a red dye made 
from Bixa orellana, the annatto seed, and who paint their 
faces and bodies. We are greeted by three families, each 
in a separate clearing — the Colorados live separately in a 
self-governing colony of the about 600 remaining mem- 
bers of this unique people, different linguistically and 
culturally from Ecuador's other indigenous peoples. The 
women are bare breasted and paint their hands black. On 
the trip back to Quito, you make a few roadside stops to 
see flowering plants including varied orchids, fuchsias, 
passionflowers, angel's trumpet trees, and a tropical rela- 
tive of the heather, Tibaudia acuminata, with showy red, 
yellow, and green blooms. 

Twenty-first Day :l\\\s morning you visit another home 
and garden of a prominent Quiteno. In the afternoon, you 
view the newly opened, modernly displayed Archaeologi- 
cal Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador. Dinner is 
at La Choza, for typically Ecuadorian food. 

Twenty-second Day:You drive through the mountains 
to the highland Indian market center of Saquisili, where 
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 through- 
out. 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. 

(Continued on page 10) 



ft'-ssysi 



, . . EARLY RETURNS ON THE LUNAR SAMPLfS, 




Bringing the moon to Field Museum made head- 
lines in 1898 and, now, again in 1970 as actual 
lunar samples were placed on display. In this 
article Dr. Edioard Olsen, the Museum's Curator 
of Mineralogy and a member of a team studying 
the lunar samples here in Chicago, discusses some 
of the preliminary findings of the lunar research 
groups. If you wish to pursue this matter in 
greater detail, see a late January issue of Science 
journal. Also, the surprising and little known 
story of the history of the Museum's moon model 
noiv on display in Hall 35 is told on page 9. 



by Dr. Edward J. Olsen, Curator of Mineralogy 

The Field Museum was fortunate in being able to have one 
of the world's first two exhibits of Apollo XI lunar samples. 
The exhibit, which ran from Oct. 9 through Nov. 9 and 
again from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4, was made possible through 
the courtesy of a group of six faculty members of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago : Joseph V. Smith, Edward Anders, Rob- 
ert Clayton, George Reed, Anthony Turkevich, and Stephen 
Hafner. Drs. Smith and Anders are both Research Asso- 
ciates at the Museum. The National Aeronautics and Space 
.Administration (NASA) made the exhibits possible and 
financial assistance was provided by the Field Foundation 
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.' 

Over the past several years three unmanned vehicles of 
the Surveyor series have been instrumented with an ex- 
tremely 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 de- 
signed, 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. 



From these three analyses it was already clear before the 
.Apollo XI landing at Tranquility that the lunar surface was 
not everywhere the same. In fact, two of these analyses 
showed anomalous features no one would ever have pre- 
dicted. The third analysis was just what many had pre- 
dicted already (for, however, the whole hmar surface). The 
Tranquility site was less than 100 miles from one of the 
Surveyor sites (also in the Sea of Tranquility) that had 
shown a very peculiar composition. It was impossible to 
say, however, whether the analyzing device happened to 
come to rest on a peculiar and non-typical patch, or if the 
reported data was a true representation of the average rock 
material there. 

The Apollo XI samples have settled this question and in 
so doing have raised a bigger question. Analyses show the 
lunar samples have the same unusual composition as this 
nearby Surveyor analysis. These rocks have extraordi- 
narily 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 
have predicted would be found, if they were forced to make 
such a prediction ahead of time. The titanium content of 
a normal basalt is generally a few tenths of a percent, while 
the Tranquility rocks have between 6 and 12 percent! In 
other words, it is 50 to 100 times higher in titanium than 
basalt. The sodium content of normal basalt is usually 
about 2 percent. The Tranquility samples have only a 
few tenths of a percent of sodium, or about ten times too 
low for basalt. 

Field Museum President Remick McDowell (left) and 
City of Chicago Commissioner Jane Byrne (right) confirm 
the samples brought to the Field Museum by Prof. Joseph V. 
Smith (center). 



j 




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1 


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mmm 



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 ilmenite, which is an oxide of iron and 
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 
different rock types here on earth, however, the rock type 
containing all of them in the observed proportions is rare 
here on earth. 

These samples are not the expected basalt, but what are 
they? Three inain rock types are present. One is a coarse- 
grained rock with numerous ilmenite-crystal-filled cavities 
called an ilmenite-pyroxene-gabbro. The second most promi- 
nent rock is a very compact, fine-grained rock called a 
microbreccia (pronounced "my'-krow-bretch'-ee-ah"). This 
rock is made up principally of fragments and chunks of 
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 crys- 
tals 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 gen- 
erally 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 con- 
tained inside them that blew open the holes and escaped 
when the glassy blebs were still soft and molten. In addi- 
tion 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 accom- 
panies this article. 



FIELD MUSEUM SECURES ( 

This Wonderful Model, Which Cost a Chicago il 

His Fortune, During Ten Years Was Held 

for Storage Charges. It Will Enable Chicagoan 

Id See Earth's Satellite More Distinctly than Th 
Could See Her Through 
the Largest Telescope. 




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



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n 


^■■M|^<^^P|»^ 


wl^l 


^^^^r w .d^^^^ft ' * ^^^taft 




W ^^U^ ' .^^t^f^^SBff^'-'^ 


HK' ' ' '^l^^^^H 


i ^K^9L^B\ '- T i' i 


l^&'.'.'''^H 






|f*^''-i»— — '^^ .^ 1 


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Both the glass beads and the spattered glass appear to 
be the result of meteorite impacts. High velocity meteo- 
rites impact the lunar surface with such energy they liter- 
ally explode and vaporize, melting bits of the rock which 
they hit. The melted silicate bits that are thrown upward 
round themselves into spherical droplets and harden as they 
fall down to the surface. Melted material thrown sideways 
hits adjacent rock projections and forms the splatters that 
are observed. On earth the vast majority of meteorites 
that actually hit the surface (i.e., those that are not burned 
up completely in our atmosphere) have been greatly slowed 
down by friction with the thick earth atmosphere. These 
merely "plop" onto the surface and do not explode. With 
no atmosphere on the moon all meteorites hit with the high 
velocity they have in space, approximately 17 kilometers 
per second (or about 37,000 miles per hour). 

Interestingly, it has been possible for some investigators 
to determine the average type of meteorite material that 
has caused these lunar explosions. The result would not 
have been predicted. The average meteorite hitting the 
moon appears to be close in composition to carbonaceous 
stone meteorites, a tyjje which is extremely rare here on 
earth. This leads to the speculation that they may be a 
very common type in space. Because of their crumbly, 
weakly-bonded nature we know they cannot survive the 
transit through our atmosphere very well. Hence, our at- 
mosphere may be acting like a kind of filter that lets through 
only the harder, durable meteorites, like common chon- 



"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 
carbonaceous ones, which may be the most common in 
space, are burned and destroyed as they pass through 
earth's atmosphere, except in rare instances. Thus, we may 
have had a very slanted statistical view of the types of mete- 
orites in our solar system, and hence, of the chemical history 
of the system. 

The rock called microbreccia is still a bit of an enigma. 
Microbreccias of greatly different compositions are known 
on earth but they do not help us much to understand these. 
Bits and pieces of various unusual rock types are contained 
in these lunar samples. Whether these bits of rock repre- 
sent layers below, or rocks exposed on the surface in sur- 
rounding areas is not known. The make-up of this rock, 
however, indicates it is the result of meteorite impact explo- 
sions, which produced these unmelted fragments as well as 
the glasses. The fragments clumped together along with 
glass and pulverized rock as a matrix and formed the micro- 
breccia we find today. 

The ilmenite-pyroxene-gabbro, however, has all the ear- 
marks of a more normal igneous rock. Except for the un- 
usually high ilmenite content and extreme mineral zoning 
in the pyroxene, it looks like some terrestrial gabbros. 

Studying the minerals and rocks, comparing and con- 
trasting them to terrestrial rocks, is only one approach to 
these samples. Some investigators are looking at various 
chemical trace elements. So far their work indicates that 
those trace elements which vaporize easily are in extremely 



low abundance. Those which are difficult to vaporize are 
present in larger amounts. This is taken to indicate that 
the rocks have had a high temperature history that allowed 
easily vaporized elements to do so and then to escape to 
space, the rocks retaining the less volatile ones. 

Some chemists have studied the various kinds of each 
chemical element present, that is, what are called isotopes. 
From the isotopes of oxygen it is also concluded that the 
rocks have had a high temperature history, around 2,000° 
to 2,200° F. at one time. 

Probably the most startling result is that obtained by 
those investigators measuring the age of the rocks using so- 
called radioactive clocks. The date obtained for these 
Tranquility rocks is 4 billion, 500 million years old. This 
is almost exactly the age which all the stony meteorites give. 
The earth, calibrated against meteorites by a very ingenious 
means, is considered to be about 4 billion, 700 million years 
old, or about 200 million years older. 

Now the earth has had a very complex history, whereby 
it separated out into major layered zones called the core, 
the mantle, and the crust (on which we live). Rocks of the 
crust took time to form, hence, we would expect ages of 
crustal rocks to be younger than the earth as a whole. In- 
deed, the oldest known crustal rock is only 3 billion, 300 
million years old. Thus, the crust took about 1 billion, 
400 million years to form. If we assume the moon, as a 
whole, to be as old as the earth then the rocks of its surface 
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, leav- 
ing 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 radio- 
active 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 
surface. This is now borne out by the age determination. 

This is only a summary of some of the kinds of results 
obtained so far on the lunar samples. Many of the investi- 
gations are employing methods that would be impossible to 
describe in the space we have here. Indeed, every instru- 
ment of current science is being turned to work on lunar 
specimens. The results described here present a fairly con- 
sistent picture of a very old object that ceased most of its 
activity early in its life and has been subsequently modified 
by high energy meteorite impacts. It must be pointed out 
that all the data coming in are not so consistent, and some 
results are entirely contrary to the picture presented here. 
Such apparently contrary bits will ultimately fall into place, 
or cause the whole picture to be changed in a way no one 
would ever have imagined. That, of course, is the fun of 
any excursion into the sciences.  



"* These huge areas were first seen by telescope by Galileo in the 
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. 




Michael Park (left) and Angela Grandison 
are fascinated by the Apollo 11 samples dis- 
played in December. 



List of minerals found to date in 
Apollo XI samples: 



Augite 

Chrome spinel 

Christobalite 

Ferroaugite 

llmenite 

Iron-nickel alloy 

Olivine 



Plagloclase-feldspar 

(bytownite) 
Pseudobrookite 
Pyroxmangite 
Schreibersite 
Quartz 
Tridymite 
Troilite 




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 
Field Museum Press 

The recent exhibits of the lunar 
samples do not mark the first time the 
moon and the Miiseiun have made 
the news together. On April 3, 1898 
the Chicago Sunday Tribune ran a bannei- 
headline annovmcing, "Field Museum 
Secures Gigantic Moon Long Lost 
in Chicago." In somewhat smaller 
type the rave continued, "This 
Wonderful Model, Which Cost a 
Chicago Man his Fortune, During 
Ten Years Was Held for Storage 
Charges. It Will Enable Chicagoans 
to Sec Earth's Satellite More Distinctly 
than They Could See Her Through 
the Largest Telescope." 

Although the Tribune, the Museum 
and Chicagoans were pleased with the 
Museum's acquisition of "this wonder- 
ful model," the pleasure was not 
imiversal. In Germany the Hanover- 
erischer Courier reported on January 1 4, 
1899: 

"Time and again the complaint 
is made that the best efforts of 
German art take the way over the 
Ocean only because better paid 
for in America. Recently a scien- 
tific treasure has gone the same 
way, without anybody having 
been aware of it. Every astron- 
omer is familiar with the relief of 
the Moon prepared by Joh. Fried. 
Julius Schmidt, assisted by Dick- 
ert, but most people thought that 
it was in Bonn, where Schmidt 
for 7 years was the assistant of 
Argelander. As late as 1896 a 
statement to that effect is found 
in an astronomical work. The 
fact is, however, that it has been 



in America for 20 years, but was 
exhibited so seldom that it had 
been lost sight of. Only recently 
has the public and the students of 
astronomy had access to it. 

Mr. Lewis Reese of Chicago 
had got hold of it, nobody knows 
how — and lately donated it to 
the Field Columbian Museum of 
Washington, where it has now 
been installed. The model is in 
the shape of a hemisphere, 1 9 feet 
in diameter and reproduces on its 
surface more than 20,000 differ- 
ent typographical features of the 
visible part of the moon. Schmidt 
himself published a description of 
his masterly work, guaranteeing 
the correctness of the represen- 
tation. 

It cannot but hurt the patriotic 
feelings of a German to know that 
this still incomparable work is to 
be found in an American Muse- 
um, instead of in a German Ob- 
servatory or University." 

The matter, of course, was not as 
mysterious as the German press 
inferred. Mr. G. C. Riverton, who 
was said to possess a considerable 
fortune, saw the moon model in Bonn, 
Germany and bought it for a 
"fabulous" price to add to a collection 
of scientific objects he was gathering 
for exhibition purposes. After 
paying heavy duty charges to get the 
moon model into the United States, 
Riverton spent thousands on advertise- 
ments and preparations for exhibition 
in New York. Unfortunately, "the 
cold, bare surface of the inoon did not 
attract the general public" and the 
project was a financial disaster. 
Riverton tried his scheme in other 



cities, too, b>U found no success 
anywhere. 

The model and the rest of Ri\erton's 
collection of scientific objects were 
finally resigned to storage in a Chicago 
warehouse where Riverton's luck 
went from bad to worse. The ware- 
house caught on fire and most of 
the collection was destroyed — 
uninsured. The moon model was 
saved, however, and passed into the 
hands of Lewis Reese in payment of a 
loan he had advanced to defray 
storage charges. 

Reese, a manufacturer of astronom- 
ical telescope lenses, was initially 
pleased with his acquisition but after 
keeping it in storage himself at 
1435 State Street for ten years, decided 
it was a liability and offered it to 
the Field Museum as a gift. 

After assuring themselves of the 
scientific accuracy and fine quality of 
the model. Director Skiff and Chief 
Curator of Geology Farrington 
accepted Reese's offer and the dis- 
mantled model was transported to the 
Museum. 

The model, made of 116 sections of 
plaster on a framework of wood 
and metal, had been constructed under 
the direction of Dr. J. F. Julius 
Schmidt and was modeled by Thomas 
Dickert, curator of the museum at 
the University of Bonn. Hailed by 
scientific experts across Europe as 
a marvel of accuracy and detail, the 
moon model soon found an appreciative 
audience at the Museum. 

When the Museum first placed the 
model on exhibit it offered a fascinating 
look at the then little known planet. 
Today, on display in Hall 35, the 
model may be used to select a possible 
future vacation site.  



FEBRUARY 1970 Page 9 



I N C A 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 
far enough apart that once landed, the new inhabitants 
found it difficult to move from one island to the next. As 
a result, the specific geological and plant life conditions 
of each island helped determine the evolutionary charac- 
teristics of the wildlife of that island. 

You are accompanied during the eight-day cruise by 
a zoologist from the Universidad Catolica in Quito with 
experience on the Galapogos. You are also greeted and 
hear lectures by representatives of the Darwin Station. 

The cruise ship takes you to all the major islands and 
points of interest — Baltra, the Plaza Islands, Hood Island, 
Charles island. Point Cormorant, Post Office Bay, Black 
Beach, Indefatigable Island, Academy Bay (where the 
Darwin Station is located), James Island, Sullivan Bay, 
Bartolome island Narborough Island, Point Espinoza, 
Albemarle Island, Tagus Cove, Tower Island, Darwin Bay, 
and back to Baltra. 

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



Places Remain on BRITAIN TOUR 

There are still places open on Field Mu- 
seum's natural history tour, "Eden Revisited : 
A Tour of Britain and Its Gardens," May 30 
July 4, which stresses stately homes and gar- 
dens of England, Wales and Scotland, but 
also highlights bird walks, wild flower stops 
and archaeological sites. 

The tour, priced at $2,445, including $600 
tax-deductible donation to Field Museum, 
covering all expenses but tips, will be led by 
Phil Clark, Museum Tours Chief. He is now- 
leading tours of India and Nepal, and is for- 
mer Editor of Horticulture magazine. British 
garden specialists will join the tour at various 
places. It is limited to 25 persons. Reserva- 
tions may be made by phoning or writing. 
Field Museum Natural History Tours. 



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 

December 31 - January 21 , 1 971 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 

Address 

City 

Page 10 FEBRUARY 1970 




San Francisco Church in La Paz, Bolivia, 
bears handsomely-carved doorway lintels and 
columns. 



State 



Zip 



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 
By James Metcalf 

Famous historic monuments and the 
busy everyday life of our nation's capi- 
tal contrast with scenes of exotic water 
lilies grown from 3,000-year-old seeds. 

March 14 MINNESOTA 

SAND COUNTRY 
By Walter J. Breckenridge 

Sand-dwelling birds, mammals and 
reptiles highlight this ecological review 
of a sand dune region that typifies sim- 
ilar areas found in the Northcentral 
States. 

March 21 COASTAL CALIFORNIA 
By Albert J. Wool 

A sea otter cracking abalone on his 
anvil is one of the many outdoor won- 
ders of Northern California captured in 
this informative color film. 

March 28 CANADA'S MOUNTAIN 

WILDERNESS 
By Edgar T. Jones 

This exciting film spanning the sea- 
sons features a rare sequence of the 
Rugous hummingbird, as well as the 
rich animal and plant life of the region. 




From "Fiji, Western Samoa 
and Tonga" film, April 18 




From "Houseboat to Florida" 
film, April i. 



April 4 HOUSEBOAT TO FLORIDA 
By Howard Pollard 

This cruise along the Atlantic coast 
in a houseboat reviews much of Amer- 
ica's early history and shows the va- 
riety of wildlife seen along the Inland 
Waterway. 

April 11 ALASKAN SUMMER 
By Mildred Capron 

The spirit of the Yukon and the wild 
and magnificent beauty of Alaska are 
vividly portrayed in this imaginative 
color movie. 

April 18 FIJI, WESTERN SAMOA 

AND TONGA 
By Nicol Smith 

From enchanting mountain pools to 
a famed 300-year-old turtle, life in 
these remote islands of the Pacific is 
depicted with keen observation by this 
noted lecturer. 

April 25 MUKAR BEH 
By Dennis Gray 

Life in India today, customs of local 
hillsmen and travel in North India are 
part of this exciting story of the ascent 
of the formidable peak of Mukar Beh. 



Children's Workshops Planned for March 



Application forms are now available from Field 
Museum's Department of Education for two four- 
part Saturday workshops for children. Each be- 
gins on March 7 and continues on consecutive 
Saturdays through the month, March 14. 21, 
and 28. 

Mask-making and fun with patterns in na- 
ture are part of "Art in Nature," a four-session 
course for youngsters in the third, fourth, and fifth 
grades. The workshop will be conducted by Mrs. 
Elizabeth Gold ring, Raymond Foundation lecturer. 

"Earth and Space," led by Ernest Roscoe, 
lecturer in geology, is the other four-session 
course being offered. This program, for sixth, 
seventh, and eighth graders, includes an expla- 
nation of rocks, minerals, space geology, geology 
of the Chicago region, and fossils. 



Each series is being offered to children of Mu- 
seum Members for a fee of $10.00. The cost for 
children of non-Members is $15.00. Payment 
is due upon confirmation of enrollment by the 
Museum. 

Because classes will be limited to 25 young- 
sters. Members are urged to write for application 
forms early. Completed application forms must 
be in the Field Museum no later than February 20. 
Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. 
Each series is open only to those grades specified. 

For application forms, write to: 
Department of Education 
Field Museum of Natural History 
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive 
Chicago, Illinois 60605 



FEBRUARY 1970 Page 11 




Dr. Fritz Haas, 
Former Curator Dies 

With the death on December 26, 
1 969 of Fritz Haas, Curator Emeritus 
of Lower Invertebrates, Field Mu- 
seum lost one of its most famous 



and productive scientists. An ac- 
count of his career and the celebra- 
tion for his 60th year as a publishing 
scientist appeared in the Bulletin^ 
two years ago. Since then two 
major publications of his have been 
issued — a 663-page monograph in 
the German serial "Das Tierreich" 
covering the species of fresh-water 
unionid clams and a 60-page review 
of the fresh-water clam genera in 
the 'Treatise on Invertebrate Pale- 
ontology." 

From 1911 to mid-1936, Fritz 
Haas was a research zoologist at the 
Natur-Museum Senckenberg, Frank- 
furt, Germany where he could work 
with exceptionally comprehensive 
library and collection facilities. Be- 
cause of his Jewish faith, he and his 
family had to leave Germany. On 
August 1 , 1 938 he began a second 



February hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mon- 
day through Friday; to 5 p.m. Saturday 
CALENDAR OF EVENTS and Sunday. On February 12, LincoMs 

Birthday, the Museum will be open to 
5 p.m. 

Through February 22 Twenty-Fifth Chicago International Exhibition of 
Photography, sponsored by the Nature Camera Club of Chicago and Field 
Museum, features award-winning photographic prints in the Museum's South 
Lounge. Prize-winning transparencies will be shown at 2 :30 p.m., February 1 
and 8 in James Simpson Theatre. The exhibition and slide presentations are 
free to the public. 

Through February 28 Winter Journey "It's a Rocky World." Free self- 
guided tour teaches boys and girls the intrinsic and practical value of rocks. 
It acquaints youngsters with the main types of earth rocks, their classification, 
and the processes by which they were formed. Any child who can read and 
write may participate. Award certificates are given to successful participants 
each spring. 

Through March 1 Eskimo Masks: The World of the Tareumiut, a temporary 
exhibit of expressive carved wooden masks produced by the aboriginal people 
of Point Hope, Alaska. Shown free in Hall 9 Gallery, the exhibit presents 
Field Museum's collection of masks acquired during the turn of the century 
and related ethnographic material. It also includes masks on loan from the 
Sheldon Jackson Museum of Sitka, Alaska. 

Continuing Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, 
A Sense of History, A Sense of Discovery. This trend-setting exhibit shows the 
scope of the Museum's activities since its founding and features unusual and 
exciting means of visual communication. Hall 3. 

Chicago Shell Club, February 8, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, February 10, 7:45 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society, February 15, 2 p.m. 

Friends of Our Native Landscape, February 22, 2 p.m. 



MEETINGS: 



career as Curator of Lower Inverte- 
brates at Field Museum, where he 
was faced with the task of building 
both library and collections. That 
he succeeded so well and still re- 
mained productive in research is a 
tribute to his persistence and capac- 
ity for work. For eight years after 
normal retirement age he continued 
at Field Museum as full-time Cura- 
tor. Even after becoming Curator 
Emeritus in January 1959, another 
six productive years were spent in 
daily work on the collections and 
writing manuscripts. 

A gentle and quiet man of learn- 
ing with a warm sense of humor, 
Fritz will be greatly missed. A gen- 
eration of scientists and librarians 
depended on his knowledge of the 
humanities and several languages 
for aid with obscure quotations or 
the translation of difficult passages. 
Few geographic localities could 
puzzle him, no matter how frag- 
mentary, and one of his last contri- 
butions to Field Museum was in 
aiding our entomologists to inter- 
pret cryptically abbreviated locali- 
ties scrawled in germanic script on 
tiny insect labels. 

Men are rightly judged by their 
legacy to mankind. Fritz Haas left 
an impressive addition to human 
knowledge in the form of over 300 
scientific articles, a newly developed 
research facility of library and col- 
lections at Field Museum, a son who 
is a Professor of Political Science at 
the University of California, Berke- 
ley, a daughter with extensive musi- 
cal training, several grandchildren, 
and many lives that were enriched 
through knowing him. 

Alan Solem, 

Curator of Lower Invertebrates 

'Vol. 38, number 11, November, 1967. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 6060S A.C. 312. 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 



Page 12 FEBRUARY 1970 



'^♦.•AV* • 'v • • »v»*'*'' ...^ • •• 



BULLETIN FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Volume 41, Number 3 March 1970 




^^** 




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^ 



PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON came to Field 
Museum of Natural History on February 6, 1 970 
to attend the Great Lakes Regional Environmental 
Quality Conference — a cabinet-level meeting on 
pollution. This marked the first time such a meeting 
was held outside of Washington, D. C. and in- 
cluded, in addition to the President and the Cabinet 
Committee on the Environment, Gov. Whitcomb of 
Indiana, Gov. Miiliken of Michigan, Gov. Knov/les 
of Wisconsin, and Gov. Ogilvie of Illinois. This un- 
precedented action is only a part of President 
Nixon's full-scale assault on environmental deg- 
radation in America. 

In his State of the Union message. President 
Nixon said, "The great question of the '70's is: 
Shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we 
make our peace with nature and begin to make 
reparations for the damage we have done to our 
air, to our land and to our water?" On New Year's 
Day, in his efFort to make "peace with nature," the 
President signed the National Environmental Policy 
Act as his "first official act in this new decade." 



by Patricia M. Williams 

Of the new act, Nixon said, "The act I have 
signed gives us an adequate organization and a 
good statement of direction. We are determined 
that the decade of the seventies will be shown as 
the time when this country regained a productive 
harmony between man and nature." 

This act not only made protection of America's 
natural resources a national policy, it established 
a three-man Council on Environmental Quality as 
well. This council, like the Council of Economic Ad- 
visors, will have a "close advisory relation" to the 
President and will review all federal activities that 
affect the quality of life in the United States. 
Russell E. Train was named as Chairman of the new 
council and his fellow members are Gordon J. F. 
MacDonald and Robert Cahn. 

Separate from this three man council, the Cabinet 
Committee on Environmental Quality is chaired by 
President Nixon himself. Emphasizing the signifi- 
cance of his role as chairman of this committee 
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 
reclaiming the purity of its air, its water, and our 
living environment. It is literally now or never." 

The meeting at Field Museum combined both the 
Cabinet Committee and the new council. The four 
governors presented the environmental control pro- 
grams that they have instituted in their states and 
all four governors united in a request to the fed- 
eral government to reconvene the Lake Michigan 
Enforcement Conference to review existing anti- 
pollution compliance deadlines and require major 
polluters to show evidence that they will meet the 
deadlines. Following the meeting President Nixon 
said, "I believe that it can be said that these four 
states have programs that are in the forefront 
among the states of this nation in the environment." 

The pollution of Lake Michigan is a problem 
common to all four participating governors and it 
received particular attention. To avoid the death 
of Lake Michigan, President Nixon called for "total 
mobilization." "Only through total mobilization can 
we deal with the problem of water pollution, air 
pollution, and the other problems that affect our 
environment." He went on to promise that "we 
are going to close the action gap. We are going 
to authorize funds but we are 
also going to appropriate funds. 
We are not going to make prom- 
ises for action and not keep 
those promises." According to 
the President, $2 Va million for Ft. 
Sheridan and $1272 million for 
the Great Lakes Naval Training 
Station "will stop pollution of 
these facilities and it will accom- 
plish it before the end of 1 972." 

After the President made a 
brief statement to the press, the 
four governors held a joint press 



The Field Museum's participation 
in the Great Lakes Regional En- 
vironmental Quality Conference is 
a truly significant event in the 
Museum's long history of concern 
for the problems and needs of 
man's total environment. Our on- 
going program of research, edu- 
cation and exhibition takes on even 
greater importance at this critical 
time. 

E. Leiand Webber 

Director, 

Fi»ld Museum of Natural Hiifory 



conference. Gov. Ogilvie then followed with his 
own conference in the Museum's Lecture Hall. 

It was, all told, an eventful and important day 
in the history of the Museum; a day that focused 
the nation's attention on the Museum and its con- 
cern for the problems of man's total environment. 
As Remick McDowell, President of Field Museum, 
said, "What better place to hold such an important 
qieeting than at an institution concerned with the 
study of man's environment. Field Museum's depart-, 
ments of anthropology, botany, geology and zoo- 
logy have a long tradition of concern and involve- 
ment in environmental changes. The Museum's area 
of interest embraces all life on earth, past and 
present, human and non-human. This is reflected not 
only in the Museum's exhibits but also in the work 
conducted in the community by our scientists." 

The President's visit and the events surrounding 
it are reported and pictured in the pages that fol- 
low. It is hoped that the interest this visit* generated 
in the environmental problem will not only be sus- 
tained, but will grow and swell as increasing num- 
bers of private individuals become actively con- 
cerned. To this end. Field Museum will not only 
continue its on-going program of research and 

education, but will also launch 

a series of exhibits dealing with 
the environmental crisis. 

In his press conference Gov. 
Ogilvie said, "We have met the 
enemy and it is us." If peace is 
to be made with nature, the 
enemy must be informed and re- 
formed; involved and concerned. 
As the nation is intensifying its 
efforts toward a healthier en- 
vironment, let this day mark 
your increased involvement with 
the problem as well.  




THE WELCOMING OF THE PRESIDENT 

by Patricia M. Delsing 




Remick McDowell 
greets some early 
arrivals. 



THERE is an old saying that coming events 
cast their shadows before them. This is espe- 
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 distinc- 
tive lapel pins so they could move freely 
through areas that would be off-limits to the 
public. 

Inside, a platoon of security forces re- 
viewed their instructions one last time before 
moving to their posts; individual communica- 
tions units welded them into a solid force of 
protection. Uniformly pleasant men, polite 



Museum presider)i 
Remick McDowell, center, 
welcomes Presider\t Nixon 
and Illinois governor 
Richard 6. Ogilvie, leff. ^ 




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 ar- 
ranged 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 care- 
fully-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 pro- 
cedures one last time with Museum President 
Remick McDowell who was to welcome Mr. 
Nixon at the door and escort him to the meet- 
ing room. > 




This group's imaginative banner 
drew an enthusiastic "thank yqu" 
from President Nixon. 



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 serv- 
ice 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- 
raphers and TV cameramen led the pack, 
security men ringed it, and in the middle was 
a tanned, smiling man who waved energeti- 
cally at the cheering and yelling and waving 
crowd. 

Escorted by Remick McDowell, President 
Nixon moved into the hall to greet some 
children lucky enough to be near the door. 
Newsmen, reporters and on-lookers struggled 
for a picture, a statement, or just a glimpse 
while secret service men closed in to wall him 
off. As he moved, the incredible power of 




his office went with him; everyone in the hall 
felt it. 

A few moments there and he disappeared 
into the President's Office where his famous 
companions already had entered unnoticed. 
Highly-motivated, intelligent and successful 
men, they had become suddenly anonymous. 
When the President is there, all others are 



Happiness is 

shaking hands with 

the President! 



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 promi- 
nent "White House Press" credential badges. 
Photographers shifted their cameras from 
hand to hand and compared equipment with 
their colleagues. ^ 




Reporters haslily wrife artd 
file Iheir stories from the 
communjcafions complex 

in James Simpsor\ Theatre. 




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 
messages from famous names and had them 
delivered to other famous names and won- 
dered what page-one news stories were 
evolving. 

And suddenly, the tempo increased again. 
Groups of children who had waited patiently 
throughout the meeting were rewarded with 
on invitation to move toward the center of 
Stanley Field Hall where the President was to 
walk. And then he was striding through the 
hall, smiling and shaking eager, outstretched 
hands while aides distributed pre-signed auto- 
graphs. He stopped, propped a foot up on 
the side of o fountain, and launched into a 
man-to-man conversation with some small 
boys. A welcoming song by a group of teen- 
age girls brought a smile and a wave. And 
behind him trailed the ubiquitous secret serv- 
ice agents and the governors and the Cabinet 



members and the experts on environment 
who had followed him all day. 

Then they were out of sight, dashing down 
the steps to the lecture room for a brief press 
conference. But he would be back; sand- 
wiches from the buffet were shuttled on plates 
into the Museum's public relations offices to 
fuel a short private meeting. While he 
huddled in the office with his guests, other 
conference participants remained downstairs 
to take their turns before the television 
cameras so their constituents back home or 
their Washington staffs could see them on the 
evening news. 

When the President emerged from his pri- 
vate meeting, the crowd in Stanley Hall had 
dispersed. Familiar faces, finished with their 
statements and their sandwiches, wandered 
ahead of him toward the door, stopping oc- 
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 con- 
ference 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 bar- 
riers, 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 




Line up in twos, children, and stay 
together when we walk upstairs." A teacher 
efRcientiy swept her wide-eyed fifth 
graders through the main hall of the Field 
Museum and up to a classroom where a 
Museum lecturer prepared to introduce them 
to the marvels of the earth's composition. 

Adults strolled leisurely through the 
Museum's treasure-filled halls and behind 
the scenes, in laboratories and libraries, 
continuing research projects quietly moved on. 

It was Thursday, February 5, and it 
appeared to be a routine day at the Field 
Museum. But it wasn't. It was the day 
before a visit by the President of the United 
States. And quietly and smoothly, with the 
precision given to planning a Medieval 




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. 



Royal Progress, the staff and resources of 
the Museum were being marshalled to 
contribute to the success of the occasion. 

If they had read of the event, Thursday's 
Museum-goers might have sensed the 
current of excitement running through the 
Museum which would reach flood stage 
as the day wore on. They might have 
realized that the huge table with its matching 
chairs being moved into the "President's 
Office" at the south end of the building 
was to be used by THE President as the 
focal point of a meeting on Great Lakes 
Regional Environment — the first 
Cabinet-level meeting outside Washington, 
the first meeting of the new Presidential 
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. 

On-iookers could have observed Building 
Superintendent James Shouba checking ofF 
completed jobs from a lengthy list which 
grew longer minute by minute. Maintenance 
crews carefully sponged nearly-invisible 
smudges from the ivory walls, washed and 
rewashed the floors, and even checked the 
water level in the newly-cleaned fountains 
so they would splash majestically on cue. 
Auxiliary pots of greenery appeared in the 
main hall to supplement standard decorations. 

At each end of Stanley Field Hall, 
electricians wired yard-long boards with 
dozens of plugs for cameras and lights which 
would record the next day's activities. 

There were other unusual sights to be seen 




^ 



that day. More electrical outlets and a 
two-level platform for TV cameras in the 
lecture hail adjoining the James Simpson 
Theatre. Newly-installed carpeting on the 
stage of the hall. Hastily-hung draperies 
behind the stage to backdrop the 
post-meeting news conference at which the 
President, four governors and a galaxy of 
Cabinet members would tell the public 
how they planned to curb the pollution of the 
Great Lakes. Ten public telephones had 
been mounted on plywood boards in the 
Simpson Theatre, and double that number of 
long distance phones connected to news 
outlets throughout the country. 

At several points in the building, 
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 
familiar structure and the words 
"White House" where the number appears 
on truly ordinary phones. The instruments 
were connected to the traveling White House 
switchboard housed temporarily at the 
President's Chicago hotel. 

In their offices, five Museum curators 
prepared statements regarding the 
environment-related activities of the Museum 
for press distribution Friday. 

By late Thursday afternoon, the 
President's Office was ready. Cold sunlight 
streamed through sparkling windows which 
would be shielded on Friday by the heavy 
blue draperies. The flags of Illinois, 
Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well 



as the American flag, flanked an easeled, 
Interior-Department-prepared map of the 
Great Lakes region. Miniature state flags 
stood at seats assigned the state's governors 
at the table. One place, simply marked 
"President," was heralded by the 
stars and stripes. 

As the room's name indicated, portraits of 
former Field Museum presidents looked 
down from the office walls; some of the 
likenesses had been retrieved from the 
continuing 75th anniversary exhibit at the 
opposite end of the building and returned to 
their rightful places to observe the meeting. 

The Museum's own antique furniture and 
art objects from around the world contrasted 
pleasantly with the businesslike efficiency 
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 
chandelier, the table received a last 
glossing; around the table, chairs were 
polished and positioned. Freshly-sharpened 
pencils and yello>v legal pads favored 
by the meeting's leader were distributed, 
in the outer office, coat racks were moved in; 
half the room was screened off for a 
private ante-room; f1o>Arers were arranged. 

Finally, posts and barriers to contour 
crowds were moved in and set up on the 
first floor. One hall was screened off and 
prepared for a select buffet luncheon to be 
served on Friday. Information booths were 
moved to the north end of Stanley Field Hall, 
topped with plywood and quickly painted; 
on Friday they would serve as platforms 
to raise photographers above the crowds. 



As most Museum staff members departed 
for the day, mentally reviewing their 
up-coming assignments, they left behind 
Museum guards, secret service men and 
Chicago policemen. Musuem Chief of Security 
August Teschendorf had met with officers 
of other security forces to coordinate 
operations for the event. During the week, 
literally every inch of the multi-acre building 
had been searched, inside, outside, around 
and above, time and time again, guided 
by Len Carrion, Chief Engineer. Thursday 
night, security men would patrol the 
echoing halls again, linked by their 
communications equipment, inspecting every 
possible point of access or concealment. 

Thursday, February 5, was a day like any 
other at Field Museum. Almost.  



Field Museum of Nofurol History, March, 1970 



13 



Dr. DONALD COLLIER 

Chief Curator of Anthropology: 

"Man has been interacting with his environment 
for over two million years but only during the past 
150 years has he been seriously out of balance 
with nature. The long view of natural history and 
the immense perspective of paleoanthropology are 
essential in the present world crisis — the pollution 
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 major element in earth's environment or the 
seriousness of marine pollution. At present a million 
tons of oil are being dumped into the ocean 
annually. The effects of this, insecticides, and other 
serious pollution — everything dumped into streams, 
lakes and rivers ends up in the ocean — may be 
irreversible or reversible only in terms of a thousand 
year period. 

Natural history museums have the resources to 
present to the public the long view, the basic view, 
the holistic view of man and nature, and now 
is the time to do it. We hope the Field Museum will 
be in the forefront of this effort." 



* FIELD MUSEUM 

CURATORS 

SPEAK OUT 

To Field Museum's 32-member scientific staff, preser- 
vation 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 years — 
long before conservation and pollution became house- 
hold words. 

The long-range commitment put into motion by Presi- 
dent Nixon's visit must be met if man is to live in 
harmony with nature. Field Museum's involvement will 
increase as time goes on with its continuing programs 
of research, education and exhibition. 

The following statements ore made by members of 
Field Museum's curatorial staff in connection with the 
February 6 conference. 



Dr. LOUIS O. WILLIAMS 
Chief Curator of Botany: 

"The botanists of Field Museum have been 
especially interested in the vegetation of Central 
America and the Andean countries of South 
America. This interest extends back more than 75 
years. The problems of the relationships of man to 
the plant cover in these regions have been and ore 
of active concern to the botanists here. What 
happens and is happening to the vegetation of 
this region seriously offects the food chain that 
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 
in our country, some of which are gone beyond 
recall. Here also are the animals which we can 
continue to have and enjoy. But, only if we change 
our emphasis from trying to conquer nature to 
trying to live with nature, will we then have a 
fuller life." 



Dr. RAINER lANGERL 
Chief Curator of Geology: 

"Today, pollution of air, water and land has 
reached global proportions and has already 
seriously afFected the ecological check and balance 
system that governs life on our planet. The rapidly 
deteriorating -quality of the environment has 
received a great deal of attention in the popular 
press and there is, indeed, good reason for public 
concern. 

Intelligent action on the part of the public, 
however, requires understanding of the complex 
problems. With this in mind. Field Museum is 
planning a series of exhibits designed to provide 
the scientific background and the historic 
perspective to the headlines, committee reports 
and remedial programs that publicize the present 
environmental crisis." 



Dr. RUPERT L WENZEL 
Curator of Insects: 

"This important conference underscores the 
urgency of coping with problems of pollution and 
alteration of the environment. It is appropriate that 
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 
well as the ways in which man has adapted to, 
used and altered the environment. These are things 
which man must understand if he is to learn to live 
with nature, without further damaging or even 
destroying both his environment and himself. 

Because of their special knowledge and concerh 
with environmental problems, many of the Museum's 
scientific staff have been directly involved, as 
individuals, in conservation, pesticide abatement 
and other aspects of environmental control and 
improvement. Some have done this individually, or 
through local action groups or their national 
professional organizations, while others have 
helped determine policy and action as elected or 
appointed officials of municipalities, abatement 
districts, and State conservation bodies." 



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 

After stringent security screen- 
ing, a few Museum staff mem- 
bers were permitted to meet and 
talk with President Nixon and 
members of the Great Lakes 



THE ELEPHANTS 

by Patricia M. Williams 

Regional Environmental Quality 
Conference. Following are some 
of the questions, answers and 
observations recorded from these 
conversations. 




WHAT CAN A CONCERNED INDIVIDUAL DO 
TO HELP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POLLUTION? 



RICHARD B. OGILVIE 
Governor of Illinois 

"I think the public has to put their 
money where their mouth is. It's going to 
be an expensive proposition." 



CHARLES H. PERCY 
U.S. Senator 

"If he is married, have only 
two children." 



JOHN VOLPE 

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 
the people will join in voluntary efforts 
and voluntary action committees to 
support programs and legislations 
designed to fight pollution. 

I would hope that the young people on 
campuses all over the country would 
work affirmatively and devote their 
energy to supporting programs and 
once these programs are passed, work to 
see that they ore carried out. 

As Governor of Massachusetts, I 
learned that legislation is much easier to 
pass if public support is behind it and 
that will be true of programs 
concerning our environment too." 



GEORGE ROMNEY 

Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development 

"An individual can do a great many 
things — stop littering, first. Stop 
throwing papers and refuse from cars, 
stop littering up the streets. Clean up 
his own neighborhood and encourage his 
friends and neighbors to do the same. 
Also, on individual can support the 
legislation that is needed to preserve 
the environment. An individual can 
also encourage automobile legislation 
OS the automobile is one of the 
chief sources of pollution." 



RUSSELL E. TRAIN 
Under Secretary of the Interior 
and Chairman of the Council 
on Environmental Quality 

"An individual can do much more than 
just stop littering and cleaning up 
his property. Parents con see that the 
curriculum in schools includes the 
environment. They can work through adult 
education programs and such groups 
OS the League of Women Voters to 
educate the public to the problem. 
An individual can also 
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 

"No question about natural history 
museums providing leadership in 
educating the public." 



GOVERNOR OGILVIE 

"This Museum has already performed 
an important role in providing a place 
to hold this meeting. The museum can 
help in educating the public 
through exhibits and programs." 



16 



Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 




by Donald C. Edinger 

Chairman, Deparfmenf of Education 



The objects and specimens on exhibit here 
in the Museum represent a rich statement 
about our environment. The students viewing 
these objects find that the world itself is our 
environment rather than a small segment of 
Illinois. Nearly 80% of the offerings of the 
Department of Education are directly related to 
the study of the environment. 

From key questions and statements 
a student can make a series of observations 
which will help him begin to describe our world. 
This description not only includes a 
stop motion for one point in time but 
several different points in time — often in 
the same geographic area. 

In helping students identify some of the 
variables affecting the world and its 
inhabitants, they can begin to predict the 
consequences of change. 

The skills of studying the environment 
through natural history are taught in 



each tour conducted by the staff, both volunteer 
and professional. These skills include 
observing, classifying, describing, space/time, 
inferring and predicting. In the development of 
these skills and attitudes as intellectual 
tools, a basis is provided for further study. 
Each of us feels a great responsibility and a 
sense of dedication toward teaching a respect for 
living things, the importance of cause and 
effect relationships, and most of all, what each 
individual can do to contribute toward creating 
the best possible circumstances for 
all living things. 

How other cultures compromised with 
their environment and what the apparent 
consequences were, can be observed by the 
students. The strong inference that time is 
an increasingly important variable is supported 
by observations both within and without 
the Museum. 

We hope to stimulate interest and 
broaden the base of general knowledge. 
With the cooperation of teachers we feel that 
a unique experience is provided for 
school groups that cannot be duplicated 
in any other way.  



Field Museum of Natural History, March, 1970 



17 




ELLEN THORNE SMITH 
ELECTED TRUSTEE 



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 organized the Women's Board. 
She has served as its President since that date. 

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 
visit outstanding gardens, wild flower spots, bird 
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. 




ROY HAY 
GUEST LECTURER 



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. 

Trees of Illinois is the 61st Journey. Journeys are avail- 
able without charge to any child who can read and write. 

Field Museum's Journey program helps youngsters see 
and discover things of interest in the Museum. The pro- 
gram was begun in 1955 to teach any child who can read 
and write, how to use and enjoy the Museum. By using 
instruction-questionnaire sheets that direct the young people 
to exhibits illustrating a particular idea or theme, the chil- 
dren acquaint themselves with the Museum in small doses, 
and the Museum is not thought of as an awesome and 
unfriendly place. 





Once a year — this year on April 1 4 — awards are given 
to those who have successfully completed specific numbers 
of trips: Museum Traveler Award, four different journeys; 
Museum Adventurer Award, eight; and Museum Explorer 
Award, twelve. 

After 1 6 Journeys, the child becomes a Museum Beagler 
and is eligible to take the final step in earning membership 
in the Museum Discoverers' Club. He receives a free copy 
of Charles Darwin's book. The Voyage of the Beagle, and after 
reading it, traces Darwin's voyage through the Museum 
halls to see some of the things Darwin saw on his famous 
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 spe- 
cial 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 

OF 

EVENTS 



March hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. 



March 1 4 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Minnesota Sand Country" by Walter 
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 
six-week course must be at the Museum today. The tuition-free program is 
offered from June 29 to August 7. 



March 21 Spring Illustrated Lecture. 
2 :30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 



"Cbastal California" by Al Wool. 



March 22 Roy Hay Speaks on British Gardens. The Garden Editor of The 
London Times and well-known authority will accompany his talk with a color 
motion picture, 3 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

March 28 Tibetan Carpets. A special temporary exhibit of 21 antique rugs 
and 25 modern rugs illustrating how refugee Tibetans have been able to re- 
settle and develop a "new" handicraft based on an old cultural tradition. 
This free display from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service 
continues in Hall 9 Gallery through April 26. 

March 28 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Canada's Mountain Wilderness" by 
E/igar T. Jones. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

March 29 NSF Anthropology Summer Science Training Program. Personal 
interviews in the Museum for final selection of highest rating applicants begin 
today and continue through April 12. Announcement of final selection will 
be made on April 15. 

Through March Spring Journey. "Trees of Illinois" helps boys and girls iden- 
tify various types of trees common to this State. Any child who can read and 
write may participate in this free self-guiding year-round program. Journey 
sheets are available at the Museum entrances. 

April 4 Museum Traveler Day opens Field Museum's free Spring film program 
for children. The movie will be preceded by the annual Journey Program 
awards ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

April 4 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Houseboat to Florida" by Howard 
Pollard. 2:30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

April 1 1 Spring Illustrated Lecture. "Alaskan Summer" by Mildred 
Capron. 2 :30 p.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

April 1 1 Free Spring Film Program for Children salutes the Cub Scout at 
10 a.m. in James Simpson Theatre. 

Continuing Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit— A Sense of Wonder, 
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: 

Chicago Mountaineering Club, March 12, 8 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society, March 15, 2 p.m. 

Friends of Our Native. Landscape, March 29, 2 p.m. 



FIELD MUSEUM OF 
NATURAL HISTORY 

Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, Illinois 60605 

Founded b/ Marshall Fi»ld, 1893 



BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Lesfer Armour 
Harry O. Bercher 
Bowery Blair 

William McCormick Blair 
V/illiam R. Dickinson, Jr. 
Thomas E. Donnelley II 
Marshall Field 
Nicholas GalUzine 
Paul W. Goodrich 
Remick McDowell 
J. Roscoe Miller 
William H. Mitchell 
John T. Pirie, Jr. 
John Shedd Reed 
John Runnells 
John G. Searle 
John M. Simpson 
Gerald A. Sivage 
Edward Byron Smith 
Mrs. Hermon Dunlap Smith 
William G. Swarichild, Jr. 
E. Leiand Webber 
Julian B. Wilkins 
J. Howard Wood 

HONORARY TRUSTEES 

Joseph N. Field 
Clifford C. Gregg 
Samuel Insull, Jr. 
William V. Kahler 
Hughston M. McBain 
James L. Palmer 
Louis Ware 

DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM 
E. Leiand Webber 

CHIEF CURATORS 

Donald Collier, 

Department of Anthropology 
Louis O. Williams, 

Department of Botany 
Rainer Zangerl, 

Department of Geology 
Austin L. Rand, 

Department of Zoology 



DO WE HAVE roun CORRECT UAIUMG 
ADDRESS f If not, please notify us 
prompt//. This will help keep our Bull- 
»tina coming to you without interrup- 
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: 

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

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

With my appreciation and best wishes. 



Sincerely, 




Mr. Remick McDowell 

President 

Board of Trustees 

Field Museum of Natural History 

14th & Lake Shore Drive South 

Chicago, Illinois 60605 



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 every- 
day program of activities, research, education, exploration 
and publication. Don't miss these events: 
A Treasure Hunt in the Museum — For youngsters and 

anyone else who wants to join in the fun. 
Entertainment in Stanley Field Hall. 
Program in James Simpson Theatre. 




PHOTO BV HOMER HOLDREN 



Above, the "Snowy Owl," drawn by 
Audubon in the open country of the 
United States in the early 1800s. 
(Photographed from the folio) 



Behind-the-Scenes — Many members look forward to an 
evening's browsing in the research areas. All depart- 
ments have planned special offerings and staff members 
will be available to explain and answer questions 
on exhibitions. Departmental offerings include: 

Department of Anthropology 

Tea in the East Asian Study and a showing of jade 

Treasures from different eras and areas 

Some interesting paleolithic tools 

A project underway in the Conservation Laboratory 

Added Extras: Special anthropology tours in exhibit 
areas and a look at the new Neanderthal family 
in the sculpture studio. 

Department of Botany 

Books as treasures 

The Herbarium as a treasure house of knowledge 

Treasures in Halls of Economic Botany and Plant 

Families 
Books of special interest to the gardener 
Outstanding materials from the Economic Botany 

collection 



Department of Geology 

A major exhibit: "Our Dynamic Earth." See a geyser 
that erupts every 5 minutes; a volcano that erupts 
every 15 minutes; air masses over Chicago; the genesis 
of rocks and minerals. 
Pit Eleven fossils 
More interesting igneous rocks 
Washakie Basin stratigraphy 
Fossil fishes 

Department of Zoology 

Exhibition of extinct and rare birds 

Rare mammals of the scientific study collections 

obtained by early Museum expeditions 
Demonstration : How to make an insect collection 
Display: Large and showy tropical insects 
Scanning electron microscope photos, a new technique 

for studying tiny insects 
Anatomical specimens of the Giant Panda 
A selection of marine shells from the newly-acquired 

A. L. Goodwin collection 
Display: Spectacular specimens and unique types of 

fishes 
Exhibit: Rare and interesting reptiles and amphibians 



APf^/L, 1970, Page 3 



Bit by bit the environment clianges, variety lessens, and species dis- 
appear. Right, extinct Carolina Parakeet. 



Perhaps the saddest aspect of being the curator of a bio- 
logical collection today is the glum knowledge that each 
year more of your special world vanishes forever. Its pass- 
ing 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. 
Even those most devoted to the preservation of natural 
areas and the saving of rare and endangered species are 
unaware of this fact. Under my Christmas tree this winter 
was a copy of the beautifully-produced "Wildlife in Dan- 
ger" by James Fischer, et al. This surveys the current 
status of endangered species as determined by the Inter- 
national Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural 
Resources. It has 149 pages on mammals, 152 on birds, 
14 on reptiles, 3 on amphibians and 13 on fishes. There 
is no mention of lower organisms. 

It is unrealistic to expect otherwise. Western man long 
has operated with the view that the world is here for 
human exploitation. This is epitomized by Pope's "The 
Proper Study of Mankind Is Man." We are more than 
uncaring. We are almost totally anthropocentric. 
Webster's Unabridged — 

Anthropocentric: man as the center or ultimate end. 
More like man, more interest; less like man, less interest. 
This shows in our language, our actions, and even the 
staffing of Field Museum (see boxed table). Yet cracks 
appear in our egocentric armour. "The Naked Ape" and 
"The Territorial Imperative" became best sellers by call- 
ing attention to the animal aspects of human behavior. 
Pollution is past the point of being ignored. It is a basic 
fact that no organism can live on its own excrement. Look 
at our rivers. Breathe our city air. We have been trying 
very hard. The tidal waves of debris from our sewers, 
smokestacks, automobile exhausts, garbage cans and fac- 
tory waste outlets threaten disasters. Lip service to a clean 
environment replaces flag and motherhood in political 
speeches. 



We are learning a lesson known to primitive tribes for 
many centuries. Man shares this world with other organ- 
isms. We need them and they need us. The oxygen we 
breathe is a waste product of plants. The carbon dioxide 
plants use is a waste product from animal bodies. Energy 
from the sim is used by algae and land plants to make 
organic chemicals. Animals get their organic chemicals 
either by eating plants or by eating animals that have 
eaten plants. Decay organisms, mainly bacteria and 
fungi, reduce the dead bodies of animals and plants to sim- 
ple chemicals. These are then used again in the cycle of 
Hfe. All life on earth is linked into a vast interdependent 
ecosystem. 

If we break this chain of inert to living to inert, life on 
earth would cease. Warnings by ecologists of dangers from 
pesticides, thermal pollution and habitat destruction ap- 
pear in mass circulation magazines. By 1972 the words 
"ecology" and "ecosystem" may be as familiar as "astro- 
naut" and "spaceship." We must have plants, and ani- 
mals, and birds, and even snails and insects. Yet explod- 
ing human populations continue to encroach on the envi- 
ronment. .\ fancy way of saying wipe it out. 

It occurs in big ways. .And in small ways. The next 
30 years will see all forests in Central .America cut down 
and gone forever. Incredible and pessimistic? Not to a 
biologist who has been there. Urban areas grow. Sub- 
urbs build up to uninterrupted vistas of manicured grass, 
concrete and asphalt, at most sprinkled with trash. Many 
biologists of my generation were weaned on vacant lots, 
redolent with dusty weeds on hot .August days, singing with 
myriad insects and birds. Between digging forts and play- 
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 
fluttering butterfly, or even the shimmering back of a rest- 
ing slug beneath an abandoned cardboard box. Curiosity, 
interest, avocation, profession followed in tidal sequence. 
Xow these lots have houses, or at best are neatly asphalted 
play lots, routinely sprayed against mosquitos. 

Bit by bit the environment changes, variety lessens, and 
species disappear. It may be robins from a city, buffalo 
from the Great Plains, or snails and insects from "some 
enchanted islands" rising dot-like from the vast Pacific. 
For here alone our 10,000 species vanished, mostly within 
the span of living centenarians. Item: In the 1870's an 
.\merican missionary, Andrew Garrett, collected 13 spe- 
cies of endodontid land snails on Rarotonga in the Cook 
Islands; in 1965 there were only 2 remaining. Item: Liv- 
ing endodontid land snails were foimd on Mangareva, 
Gambler Islands in the 1840's; in 1934 only the dead re- 
mains of 25 species were foimd. Item; Of perhaps 125 
species of Hawaiian endodontid land snails still living be- 
fore 1850, probably less than a dozen exist today. Item: 
In 1948 a Hawaiian entomologist, Elwood Zimmerman, 
could state concerning the native insects "that to say a 
third or more of the species are now extinct would be no 
exaggeration." Since there are perhaps 6,000 species of 
Hawaiian insects known from collections in this century, 
this means a mere 3,000 species were gone by 1948. More 
have vanished since. Add another 2,000 for the Marque- 
sas, denuded of forest to 3,000 feet by the mid-1 920's, plus 
the loss of 2,000 species from the Society Islands — Tahiti, 
Moorea, Bora Bora. There are still the .Austral Islands, 
Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, their vanished species imreck- 
oned. The leeward dry regions of the Hawaiian Islands 
contained 60% of the native tree species. These have 



been stripped to nearly 5,000 feet. How many species 
gone? We don't know. But plants, and snails, and insects 
combined? Ten thousand is a modest estimate. 

Why did they go? It was not only by deliberate hunt- 
ing. It was not all the fault of Western man. When the 
Maoris reached New Zealand about 950 a.d., there was a 
bird fauna of perhaps 150 species. The large and edible 
moas were hunted and killed, but this covers only about 
20 species. Another 30 species disappeared by 1900 be- 
cause of habitat disturbance. 

Habitat disturbance brings vision of bulldozers and 
factories. On islands it is inuch simpler. Cattle trample 
through native forest. An ornamental garden fern goes 
wild and chokes out thousands of acres a year in Hawaii. 
A potted garden plant from overseas had a few unnoticed 
ants. Within a decade Pheidole megacephala, a voracious 
species of ant, occupied lowland Oahu, destroying insects 
and snails alike. For several years I've been studying en- 
dodontid land snails. On Pacific Islands there is a neat 
and simple equation: 

Introduced ants = no groimd dwelling endodontids. 
Even more so for many insects. 

So I'm writing about the species that were, or occa- 
sionally (still) the species that barely are. On Upolu, 
Western Samoa, a beautiful little land snail called Thauma- 
todon hystricelloides was common in the woods behind the 
port of Apia in 1865. In 1965 it was restricted to high 
mountain jjeaks, the only areas from which introduced ants 
still were absent. The question is not will it become ex- 
tinct, but when. Islands were treasure troves of evolution, 
but the carelessness of man's introductions threatens to 
turn them into wastelands. Eighty-five of 94 birds species 
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 re- 
placed 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 col- 
lect and preserve samples from populations of the vanish- 
ing 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 at- 
tempts 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 ex- 
tinction. 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 com- 
pared 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 organ- 
ized. 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- 
dents of them?  





Yet, when I say that man has wiped out 10,000 species of insects 
and STiails in the last 200 years, at most there are raised eyebrows. 



... the anthropocentric staffing of Field M 


useum . . . 






No. of 


No. of 




No. of 


curators 


species 




species 


working 


each 




in each 


on these 


curator 


Group of sp>ecies 


group 


species 


"manages" 


Man 


1 


7 


0.14 


Mammals 


4,190 


2 


2,085 


Birds 


8,590 


3 


2,863 


Reptiles 








Amphibians 


8,500 


2 


4,250 


Fishes 


40,000 


1 


40,000 


Lower Invertebrates 


175,000 


1 


175,000 


Land .Arthropods 


910.000 


2 


455.000 



If Field Museum decided to have as intensive study of land 
arthropods as we do of mammals, we would need 436 
curators for land arthropods. .Actually, only about 50'"f 



of the insect, mite and spider species are known, while 
nearly all mammals have been described. A more realis- 
tic need would be for 872 curators for land arthropods. 



Page 6. APRIL, 1970 




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. 
Announcement was by Phil Clark, Natural History Tours 
Chief, who will lead this as well as the British and the 
Andes-Galapagos tours. 

The Guatemala Tour will offer vivid color and dra- 
matic contrasts — pine-clad mountains and lowland trop- 
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 drumming, chanting, dancing, incense 
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 archae- 
ologist and a botanist, as well as Guatemalan guides. 

Tour price is about $1,280, including $400 tax-de- 
ductible 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 dona- 
tion. 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. 



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 



Vivacious 

Pokoman girl, 

from Antigua 

wears colorful dress 

of her community 

PHOTO BY 
RODOLFO REYES JUAREZ 



Conway Castle, Wales 





Galdpagos tortoise 



PHOTO BY GRANT HAIST. ROCHESTER. N.Y. 



APR/L, 1970, Page 7 








Contemporary carpet 
with floral design 



Tibetan weaver at work 
at a rug-making center 



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 mod- 
ern, are included in the collection which will re- 
main 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. 




PHOTO BY JOHN MOVER 




Page 8, APRIL, 1970 



Ln riiiqpJin 



)ld Je^Ln^ f( 



or a new wav o" 



ly of life 




Carpet of contemporary origin utilizes antique dragon motif 



Switzerland has pioneered in helping 
the many thousands of refugees who 
fled from Tibet in 1959 and 1960 to 
neighboring Nepal and India to become 
resettled and learn self-sustaining 
trades. In 1963, with Swiss aid, three 
centers for handweaving were 
established in Nepal: in Chialsa, Pok- 
hara and Katmandu. Tibetans with no 
previous skills were trained in all 
aspects of rug-making, from dyeing of 
wool to design and weaving. The 
centers were given the status of inde- 
pendent producing companies with 
a Tibetan management in 1966, to help 
motivate a sense of responsibility 
and enthusiasm among the workers. 
It is the Nepalese rug industry that pro- 
vides the major contribution to the 
exhibit. 

Commenting on the Swiss effort. 
Ambassador Schnyder said, "It is an 
example of how you can teach people 
in developing countries to help 
themselves. This is the Swiss ideal of 
democracy. It is also important that in 
this case the new handicraft is de- 
veloped on the basis of an old 
cultural tradition." 

The art of making pile carpets was 
taken up by Tibetans in relatively 
recent times, at the earliest in the eight- 
eenth century, though carpets were 



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 pre- historic 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 
they were endowed with new meanings. 
Motifs that had been woven, carved, 
embossed, cast in metal or appliqued 
were repeated in the designs of the pile 
carpets. Thus, many ancient symbols 
have survived to the present, among 
them the snow lion, which appears 
today on the national flag of Tibet, the 
dragon and the phoenix. 

Variations of the eight Buddhist 
symbols of good fortune are important 
decorative motifs. Rows of spirals, 
fretwork and flower patterns help 
reinforce the kinship of these carpet 
designs to those common in Asia. 
The often-used geometric meander is 
among the oldest designs in exist- 
ence, having appeared on neolithic 
pottery made by tribes that migrated 
from Central Asia to Ancient China. 

The distinctive designs, together with 
the high quality of the wool and the 
brilliant colors, have popularized 
the new carpets and production is 
steadily increasing. The ultimate goal 
of the enterprise, the full economic 
independence of the Tibetan com- 
munity in Nepal, will become a 
reality only when their products find a 
ready acceptance in the world market. 

A visit beforehand to Field 
Museum's permanent exhibit "Tibet, 
High Land of Monk and Nomad," will 
orient the visitor and help him to 
put the carpet display into proper 
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 

Merle Watson, Sarasota, Florida 



EVERGLADE ELEGANCE/ > 

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 



UTURE PHOTOGRAPHY I 



"to make the Naturalist a better photographer: 
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 



Strange as it may seem, to study Peruvian vege- 
tation a scientist normally visits the Field Museum 
first bejore traveling to Peru. Why? Because over 
a period of more than 40 years, Field Museum has 
developed its collection of Peruvian flora into the 
world's best and most complete source of informa- 
tion/or anyone interested in the botany of Peru. 

Today, the Museum continues its interest in 
Peruvian flora through the work of Dr. Donald R. 
Simpson, Assistant Curator oj Peruvian Botany, 
and his field assistant Sr. Jose Schunke. With 
support jrom a National Science Foundation grant. 
Dr. Simpson is helping the Peruvian Forest Service 
gather injormation on forest resources in the western- 
most region of the .Amazonian jungle of Eastern 
Peru. What follows is a description of his trip 
inland and the start of his expedition. 



flight across the Andes 



by Donald R. Simpson 

Assistant Curator in Botany 

Leaving Lima the two-motor DC-3 heads out to sea, in the 
opposite direction from our destination, a town located be- 
yond the Andes Mountains in the Amazon Basin. Just out 
from land, over the Pacific Ocean, the plane begins a slow 
spiral climb, a necessary prelude to crossing the mountains. 
The westernmost ridges of the Andes rise so abruptly from 
the narrow Pacific Coast desert that there is not enough 
room over the land to gain altitude for crossing the moun- 
tains. Finally we reach the desired elevation and leave the 
ocean behind. 

As the plane heads inland, one can see that the brown, 
bare mountainsides become tinged with green as we pro- 
ceed eastward. Now a scrub vegetation appears, where at 
lower elevation there was only sand, dust, and rock, and a 
little higher there are small terraced fields surrounding tile- 
roofed villages. There is enough rain at this altitude to 
make possible some agriculture. Higher still it is too cold 
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 ex- 
citing panorama whether seen from the air or from the 
adjacent Huallas Valley (pronounced Wi-yas). This high- 
land 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 alti- 
tude. 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 
window and breathe the oxygen being supplied through it. 



Crude though it sounds, it is effective and when, after put- 
ting the oxygen tube down to take photos for a couple of 
minutes, the feeling of light-headedness returns, one has to 
take time out again for a few breaths of oxygen. 

As we cross the highest ranges and continue eastward 
the land below changes rapidly from the high, barren 
mountainsides to mountain valleys with bright green irri- 
gated fields. Beyond, lower mountain ridges show more 
green as patches of woodland appear in moist swales and 
canyons. A little further and the trees cover most of the 
hillside; the transition from grassland to forest is almost 
abrupt. 

Now we are over the great "selva"' itself, that almost 
unbroken tropical rain-forest that starts here on the rolling 
eastern foothills of the Andes and flows away to the Atlantic 
coast of Brazil nearly two thousand miles away. "Selva" is 
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 
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 
meandering rivers and streams. Soon one can see that we 
are approaching a very broad river and near its margins a 
number of oxbow lakes. This is the Ucayali, one of the 
main Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon. 

The plane has been descending slowly since passing the 
crest of the mountains, and as we approach the river we are 
only a few hundred feet above the tree tops. The air in the 
cabin has become warm and humid; we are aware now that 
clothing appropriate for Lima will not do here. Our desti- 
nation is Pucalpa, a fast growing frontier town and river 
port on the banks of the Ucayali River. 

As the plane approaches the runway it passes low over 
one of the oxbow lakes, then a strip of cut-over forest, and 
finally the cleared ground of the airfield. We get a fleeting 
look at palm trees seen from directly overhead, a beautiful 
pattern that one remembers long after. Now the plane, on 
the ground, rolls to a halt near the newly-built, one-room 
terminal and the doors are opened. Immediately the air be- 
comes still warmer and the humidity must be near one hun- 
dred percent. This is our introduction to "La montana."  




Above the cold, barren highland 
rises the snovt-covered Cordillera Blanca. 



APRIL, 1970. Page 13 



OF GEMS AND THINGS 

by Ediine Chun 

Since the founding of the Field Museum, specimens ac- 
quired as gifts have contributed greatly to the Museum s 
resources. This is still true, as evidenced by three recent 
collections. 

Currently exhibited in the North Lounge of the Mu- 
seum until May 4 is a rare carbonaceous stone meteorite, 
a gift of Mr. Reinhold Groh of Barrington, Illinois. A large 
natural spinel, a gift from Mr. Chester Dudley Tripp of 
Chicago, and a 33.27-carat tanzanite of the blue variety 
discovered only in 1967, donated by Tiffany and Com- 
pany of New York, will soon be displayed in Higinbotham 
Hall of Gems on the second floor of the Museum. 

In commenting on the meteorite. Dr. Edward Olsen, 
Curator of Mineralogy, explained that carbonaceous stone 
meteorites are a rare type of meteorite which scientists 
call "carbonaceous chondrites." 

They form a distinct group in that they contain sig- 
nificant amounts of the element carbon in the form of 
numerous organic compounds. Such compounds are 
absent or extremely rare in all other meteorite types. Until 
very recently, he said, it was thought that the presence 
of these compounds indicated biological activity on the 
original planet from which these meteorites came. 



"Over the past five years," Dr. Olsen continued, "it 
has become increasingly clear that carbonaceous chon- 
drites are the result of non-biological chemical reactions, 
and imply nothing regarding possible other life in space, 
other than to learn that such compounds are readily 
formed on other planetary bodies and may, in right con- 
ditions, provide a basis for life to begin." 

While the occurrence of carbonaceous condrites on 
earth is rare, the recently completed investigations of the 
Apollo XI lunar samples indicate that the so-called lunar 
"soil" may contain up to two percent of this meteoritic 
material. Dr. Olsen said. Meteorites falling onto the 
lunar surface, he said, were the source of the material. 

On Feb. 8, 1 969, at 1 :09 a.m. (CST), a brilliant meteo- 
rite shower occurred over the State of Chihuahua, in 
northern Mexico. Spread over an area approximately 
1 00 square miles, the shower is one of the largest carbo- 
naceous chondrites ever known to fall. Most of the 
fragments are about the size of oranges and range down 
to the size of a walnut. Some of them, however, were 
larger, and it is one of these larger pieces, 32 pounds in 
weight, which Field Museum acquired through the gen- 
erosity of Mr. Groh. 

"Mr. Groh s gift is an excellent exhibit-sized speci- 
men," Dr. Olsen said. It has been named "Pueblito de 
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 
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, weigh- 
ing 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. 

Speaking of the Tiffany gift. Dr. Olsen explained that 
almost all gemstones come from ancient times, and new 
entries to the time-honored list of gems are unheard of. 
Tanzanite, however, is a gem mineral discovered in July 
1967 in Tanzania, near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Named and 
brought to the attention of the world by Tiffany and 
Company, the deep blue gem has since gained great 
popularity. 

Its deep blue color closely resembles a Burma sap- 
phire, said Dr. Olsen, in describing the gem. 

He explained that tanzanite is actually a well-known 
mineral called "zoisite." Zoisite is normally a dull 
creamy-white, unattractire mineral that occurs in a vari- 
ety of metamorphic rocks. In this particular instance, it 
occurs as large transparent crystals and is grayish in color. 
If these crystals are carefully and gently heated, they may 
turn permanently to the startling blue gem color, and are 
then called "tanzanite." 



rare stone meteorite 



® 




33-carat tanzanite (actual size) 

Up to now Field Museum was able to obtain only a 
relatively small tanzanite. However, Mr. Henry B. Piatt, 
Vice President of Tiffany and Company, recently offered 



Field Museum a gift of a large tanzanite. Arrangements 
were completed early this year, and the beautiful antique 
cushion-shaped stone will soon be installed in the Hall 
of Gems as a gem specimen for color and cut. 

With this gift from Tiffany and Company, a relation- 
ship dating back to 1893 is resumed. The nucleus of 
Field Museum's world-famous gem, precious stones, and 
jewelry collection in Higinbotham Hall was originally ex- 
hibited in the Tiffany Pavilion at the World's Columbian 
Exposition. Tiffany's award-winning collection was pur- 
chased by Mr. H. N. Higinbotham for presentation to the 
Museum and is known as the Tiffany Collection. 

Early Museum records show that mainly through the 
interest of George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany's renown min- 
eralogist-gem expert. Field Museum was able to obtain 
items from the company for its young collections. Today 
these early acquisitions are among the prize specimens 
of the Department of Geology, as well as the Department 
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 dis- 
played 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 
for acquisitions," Mr. Webber said, "gifts of specimens 
are more important to Field Museum than ever before. 
A great museum is built on great collections. We hope 
that those interested in the Museum will continue to help 
us fill gaps when opportunities arise."  



APR/L, 1970, Page 15 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

April hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. 
The Museum Library is open to 4:30 p.m. daily. 

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



bv Mildred 



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 stu- 
dents 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. 

April 26 Tibetan Carpets. This colorful temporary exhibit in Hall 9 Gallery 
ends today. Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition 
Service, the collection of antique and modern rugs is under the sponsorship 
of His Excellency Felix Schnyder, Ambassador of Switzerland. 

Through April Spring Journey for Children. "Trees of Illinois" continues 
through the month to May 31 . The free self-directed tour helps boys and girls 
identify various types of trees found in the State. Any child who can read and 
write may participate in the program. Free Journey sheets are available at 
the Museum entrances. 

May 4 Rare Carbonaceous Stone Meteorite. Today is the last day to see 
the latest addition to the Museum's famous meteorite collection. Visit the 
special display case located in the North Lounge of the Museum. 

May 8 Members' Night, 6 to 10 p.m. Annual spring open house features treas- 
ures of the Museum, behind-the-scenes activities and special programs. 

Continuing 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of 
History, A Sense of Discovery continues to captivate all who visit this trend- 
setting display in Hall 3. The free exhibit will be 1 year old next month. 

MEETINGS 

Windy Cit\ Grotto, National Speleological Society, April 8, 7:30 p.m. 
Chicago Mountaineering Club, April 9, 8 p.m. , 

Nature Camera Club of Chicago, April 14, 7:45 p.m. 
Chicagol.\nd Glider Council, April 14, 8 p.m. 
Illinois Orchid Society, April 26, 2 p.m. 

Page 16, APRIL, 1970 



BOTANY CURATOR 
HONORED BY 
ORCHID SOCIETY 





Dr. Louis O. Williams 

Honorary Membership in the Amer- 
ican Orchid Society has been conferred 
upon Dr. Louis O. Williams, Chief Cu- 
rator of Botany. 

Formerly Curator of the Orchid 
Herbarium of Oakes Ames at Harvard 
from 1932 to 1942, Dr. Williams also 
served as Editor of the American Orchid 
Society Bulletin from June, 1940 until 
December, 1942. 

He is the author of several important 
books on orchids including The Orchi- 
daceae oj Mexico, An Enumeration oj the 
Orchidaceae oj Central America, British 
Honduras and Panama, and, with Mr. Paul 
Allen, Flora of Panama -Orchidaceae. Dr. 
Williams has published nuinerous pa- 
pers on orchids during a period of thirty- 
five years, with a publication describing 
several new orchids to be issued shortly. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 AC. 312, 922-9410 
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 



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MUSEUM ACQUIRES RARE AUDUBON FOLIO 



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A model of the flower of a milkweed, partially 
dissected open to show the structure, and com- 
plexity, of the flower. The figure at the lower 
left shows how a pollenium (pollen mass) is 
attached in the flower — the leg of a bee at the 
right shows pollinia that have become attached 
as the insect visited a flower of a milkweed. 
The pollinia will be transported to another 
plant, thus insuring cross-pollenation. 




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 gardens or fields as they often do. However, if 
you investigate the milkweed family, botanically 
Asclepiadaceae, a name which is derived from Ascle- 
pias, the genus of the common milkweeds, you will 
find a family of nearly worldwide distribution and 
sometimes of bewildering floral diversity. Numerically, 
most milkweeds are found in the world's 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, some- 
times 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 



All About Audubon 



by William Fawceti, Librarian 
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 beauti- 
ful 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 spe- 
cially constructed glass case containing an environmen- 
tal 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 
"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 
in drawing birds. At the age of 18 he was sent to the 
United States to escape conscription into Napoleon's 
army and "to make money." He was by his own de- 
scription "ill-fitted" for the latter and has written: "For 
a period of nearly twenty years my life was a succession 
of vicissitudes. I tried various branches of commerce 
but all proved unprofitable, doubtless because my whole 
mind was ever filled with my passion for rambling." It 
was during these rambles that his interest in drawing and 
studying our fauna, particularly birds, grew to such an 
extent that, by 1820, he decided to devote his entire 
efforts to illustrating North American birds. In order to 
accomplish this task he supported himself by painting 
portraits and giving drawing lessons and was also sup- 
ported by his wife's teaching. 

By 1826 he had enough material to consider publi- 
cation and took his drawings to Europe in search of 
patrons and a publisher. There his work was very well 




Great Blue Heron 



received. In Edinburgh William Homes Lizars, the well- 
known engraver and printer, exclaimed, "My God, I never 
saw anything like this before," and agreed to engrave 
and publish the work. At the end of November, 1826 
Audubon received proofs of the first five plates. 'The 
work," he wrote in his Journal, "from what I have seen 
of Mr. Lizars' execution, will be equal to anything in the 
world at present, and of the rest the world must judge 
for itself." The illustrations were printed life size; and 
Audubon acknowledged that "it renders the work rather 
bulky, but my heart was always bent on it, and I cannot 
refrain from attempting it." With this first "number" he 
was ready to seek subscriptions and issued his prospectus 
on March 1 7, 1 827. From this time until 1 839 he trav- 
elled between Europe and America financing and over- 
seeing the publication of The Birds of America and its 
text, titled Ornithological Biography (5 vols., 1831- 
1839), and index, A Synopsis of the Birds of North 
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 
delay Audubon transferred the publication of his woric 
to Robert Havell and his son "because the difficulty of 
finding colorers made it come too slowly, and also be- 
cause I have it done better and cheaper in London." 
Together with skilled assistants, the son produced the 
plates and the father, under Audubon's direction, super- 
vised the coloring. At one time 50 people were engaged 
in these tasks. 

After publication of the final volume Audubon re- 
turned to the United States and settled in New York. 
Until his death on January 27, 1851 he continued his 



study of our natural history and produced other impor- 
tant works, including The Viviparous Quadrupeds of 
North America. 

Audubon's life was a particularly fascinating and im- 
portant one and interested readers will find the following 
two books by Alice Ford of great value: John James 
Audubon (University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, Okla., 
1964) and Audubon. By Himself (Natural History Press 
— Doubleday; Garden City, N. Y., 1969). The original 
water-color paintings have been recently reproduced in 
2 volumes (American Heritage Publishing Company; 
New York, 1966). 



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



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. 



Photo by Fred Huysmans 







Every third grade pupil in Room 
3-E, Tinley Heights School, Tin- 
ley Heights, Illinois, has that 
problem, and ail want an answer. 
Each one wrote his question on 
a sheet of lined school paper, 
and class teacher, Mrs. D. Walter, 
sealed all the sheets in one big 
manilla envelope, and mailed 
them to me. 



The first letter is a bit vague, but 
urgent nonetheless. 

Wiix ^041 1-ett m-e? 
r/ianx 



The next letter throws more light 
on the turmoil in Tinley Heights. 

Wani to KnoW. W^ iLCLvi. 

a. tno^«.* oi vi.a&- 4uuLl.'eA. 

iln-e. vjKam^n tminxaX., 

Cite v2« Vri-e. o/w-y an.«A, 

{tiai KoA- -eniriA? 

BixuA pi-etnd 
vteA^n JR. 



And this one reveals a mysterious 
female in the case. 

<iiiin<i,, (J oi'u- in <iut 
A-c/i nani«- Ia. ja^iit-e. 
L./tyA^c 

Kristi goes Crystal one better and 
makes all clear. 

tt* aoaC a niQ^i^ a.tuuj.1 
onim-atA. 3i Aa^A 
m.<mK«yA don i no.^^ 
cninA. JSut d vlani ta 
knoW <^ Kn^A^ da, C/i i|^ 
Ao/n«. IcindA a|, monic^^A 
do. (l ^i>ic -in nty ioo*n 
noA Aom*. and AXLid tn«^ 
Ka4-e -cninA. oa pI«oA-e 
t«tt i|^ att on AOrtt«. 
nionK«^A na^-e -cn-inA. 
J nonic ^4xu 
AoiAtt JSiA^t-eoAJcy 

And Gilbert gives us the inside 
story on how this search for truth 
started. 

Uui <itaAA da«.An'l 
JcnaW ij, a manK«y noA 
a. cJt\An* J n« (r\Q.^4L A4W.d 
on-unotA don't no^2«. 
<^ninA. Jtjiit OU1 te.€Lcri-eA 
oAfC^d jo-cici in <J-aAA 
inoi noA a monic-ey if 
it noA. a -cKin. oK-c Aoid 
y«A it do«A. UJitt you 
A'2/M'te to uA and t-eLc 
uA if a. monK-ey naA 
a <:nin. 

J lom 
gi££ent3)y 



Other children like Ann Hayward, 
Billy Pirman, and Gina Tolva, are 
just as anxious to know, but Joel 
broadens the issue. 

jj4x yoauxoA <in.fi tn<irJK.^eM 
and VJxifnpan^A Ka^«. 
<rninA? 



And my good friend Robert goes 
right to the fountainhead. 

JJ«o.a Jill. Clutoto^ 
D \Qxxni to KnoW if tn« 
monK-ey naA a <inin» 
tVii^c*. yo44 icnoW ate 
aoottt a.nini€u.£L, J n«.i/i 
iA a *cid nain« Ja^rlci^ 
KoA t-vCo naonKyA out 
An« doeAn't l_Knaw2_j 
Ao trui-an inat you do. 
"oui frcind 
JuiiLe/ii J aatioi!^ 



This faith in the superior knowl- 
edge and wisdom of Mr. Curator 
is solidly backed by classmates 
Craig Cooper, Lauri Edwards, 
Barry Kline, Sherry Miller, Kevin 
Schultz, Barbara Schutzius, and 
just plain Tom. Last, but cer- 
tainly foremost, our charming 
and disarming little friend Jackie 
herself, writes: 

jj^uin /111. LAiiatoi 
J no'C^ tWo monlc«4j^ 
ai noni«, J-'o tn«*^ na^e 
<rninA Mn* ClunutoT. j 
Aa\C a fno^i«, J "*y ^^*^ 
tnot mQ4\k.«A^s d<it\ t 
na^^ cninA. 

"o4ii ( aiend 
ja-cici-c J e.di4^ 



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 
CHIN. "1 : the lower portion of the face lying below 
the lower lip and including the prominence of the 
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 
mental protuberance, mentioned in the dictionary's 
definition. Unfortunately, some writers on human 
anatomy and evolution, and the producers of the movie 
seen by the children, fail to distinguish between the 
chin which is present in all animals with lower jaws, and 
the mental protuberance which is a special part of 
the human chin. The word "mental" used here is a 
technical term from the Latin mentum meaning chin 
(or beard). The English word mental referring to the 
mind or intelligence, derives from the entirely different 
Latin word mens. In this case, it seems, a little mental 
protrusion causes a great deal of mental confusion. 

Just how humans came by that mental protuberance, 
or jutting jaw, is a long, and perhaps still untold story. 
The ancestor of man, and of all Primates, was a tiny, 
long-snouted creature no larger than a small mouse. 
It had separate right and left lower jaw bones which 
met in a loose joint in front called the symphysis. The 
front of the joint, or chin, was nearly in line with 
the base of the jaw. That is to say, the angle of the chin 
was hardly 10°. Among earliest Primates such as 
lemurs and tarsiers, the two branches of the lower jaw 
or mandible remained separate but fitted together 
into a chin which formed a low but distinct angle with 
the base line of the mandible. As the different families 
of monkeys, apes and man began to evolve, the jaw 
became shorter and its right and left branches fused into 
a single bone forming a steep chin. All this change 
was correlated with reduction in length of the ancestral 
muzzle, the movement of the eyes from the sides of 
the head to the front, and the use of the hands for 
bringing food to the mouth. With the changing diet, 
from mainly insectivorous to mainly herbivorous, the 



Jackie Pedig, age 8, 

with Susie and Sammy, 

squirrel monkeys 




mouth became shorter and more rounded in outline, the 
number of teeth fewer with less space between, 
and the chin steeper and broader. 

Among the families of New World monkeys, the 
marmosets are the most primitive, and the angle of their 
chin averages from 28° in the pygmy marmoset to 
49° in Tamarins. In the more advanced marmoset-like 
Callimico, the angle averages 55°, and in squirrel 
monkeys and ring-tailed monkeys, the angle of the chin 
averages higher with the extreme nearly 75°. 
In Old World monkeys like guenons, macaques, and 
langurs, the angle of the chin is sometimes nearly as 
high, but in most apes it is higher. In one chimpanzee 
measured, the angle is 77°, in another it is 80°. 
In none of these is a distinct mental protuberance 
present, but a rudiment may appear occasionally in any 
species of monkey or ape. 

The ape-men, or australopithecines, of Africa and 
Java, lived about 2,000,000 to 750,000 years ago. 
These earliest of human-like creatures walked erect, and 
used sticks, stones and bones for tools. Their chins 
were well formed, verged on the vertical, but lacked a 
protuberance. The first man. Homo erectus, appeared 
over one-half million years ago in Europe, Asia, and 
Africa. His chin, as seen in the mandible of Heidelberg 
man, was strong and angular, but fell even shorter of 
the vertical than did the chin of some ape-men. 
In none of these forerunners of man was the jaw 
receding or "chinless" as generally shown in artistic 
reconstructions of the face. 

The first race of man belonging to our species. 
Homo sapiens, arose between 300,000 and 250,000 
years ago, and spread rapidly throughout Asia, Africa 



MAY, 1970, Page 7 



CHIN 





JACKIE i 

SQUItteiMONKlr 




COIOIUS MONKCr 



1 

ALL PRIMATES 






CAIUMICO 









TAMAIIN MAIMOSET 




OLD WORLD 
MONKEYS 



COMMONM ACMOSf 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 

PRIMIJIVe PRIMATE 

V-shaped 

(22 teeth) 



MANDIBLE OF 

MODERN MAN 

U-shaped 

(16 teeth) 



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



MAY, 7970, Page 9 



decorative chin (continued) 

and Europe. The angle of the chin of these Neanderthal 
types was steeper than that of Heidelberg man, but 
still less than vertical. In more highly evolved 
Neanderthals the chin attained, and even surpassed, 
90°, and a mental protuberance began to appear as a 
well-marked feature. However, not until the end of the 
Pleistocene, and the early part of our own era, 
between 25,000 and 35,000 years ago, did the jutting 
jaw with an angle exceeding 90° arise as a distinguishing 
human character. The back of the human chin, or 
posterior symphysis, is also peculiar with the broad, 
bony shelf of most non-human Primates replaced by an 
everted bony area supporting spines for the attachment 
of tongue muscles. 

The possible function of the mental protuberance has 
been a favorite subject for speculation. It has been 
suggested that the protuberance braces the two 
branches of the lower jaw against the constricting force 
of the external pterygoid muscles. Early races of man, 
however, with more powerful muscles, managed to keep 
their jaws braced without the aid of a protuberance. 
Furthermore, bony struts, braces, and reinforcements, 
some known as simian shelves, others as mandibular 
tori, are extremely variable in structure, and none 
is consistently present in any one Primate species. 



The human chin .... differs from 
that of monkeys .... It has a 
bump in front that makes it jump out. 



A noted anatomist argued that the rate of growth and 
eruption of the teeth caused the alveolar or tooth 
socket portion of the jaw to be shorter than the basal 
part, hence the protuberance near the base. There is no 
evidence, however, that dental growth and succession 
in modern man differs consistently from that of earlier 
species of man or even of ape-men, all without 
the protuberance. 

It has been proposed that the shape of the chin is 
fashioned by the muscles of speech. Such muscles, 
however, would affect the inner, not the outer, surface 
of the symphysis. In any case, earliest man inherited all 
the properties and potentials of speech from his 
mammalian ancestor, or from an even earlier vertebrate 
ancestor, as any parrot or myna bird can testify. 
The significant factors controlling the evolution of 
rational speech, however, lie in the nervous tissue, and 
not in the organs of vocalization. Homo erectus, 
judged by what is known of his culture, was certainly 
a talker. Even the ape-man, Australopithecus, must 
have been capable of speech. Neither of these hominids 



had our kind of chin. It has also been advanced that 
fetalization, or the retention of fetal characters in the 
adult, accounts for the mental protuberance. If any- 
thing, the contrary should be true. The chin of the 
human fetus, newborn, and toddler, is more monkey or 
ape-like than human. 

A good deal has been said about the evolution of the 
human type of chin as part of the adaptation of the 
human body to the upright position and bipedal 
locomotion. There is absolutely no relationship between 
the two events. Man-like posture and gait had been 
perfected long before the appearance of the mental 
protuberance. Furthermore, the poise and movement of 
the head are controlled by its articulation with the 
spine, and by the action of neck muscles which 
have nothing to do with the jaws. 

Finally, a distinguished professor of anthropology 
and author of a textbook, using less prudence than 
would Tinley Heights third graders, borrowed from a 
dubious source, the statement that if the human mandible 
had not changed, it would have constricted the 
windpipe, larynx, and soft parts of the neck including 
the vital veins and arteries leading to and from the brain! 
This dire and fantastic hypothesis ignores the basic fact 
that growing bone accommodates or yields to the 
soft tissues which are laid down first. The reverse is 
never true. 

The mental protuberance is a superficial character 
which arose very late in the evolution of man. It is 
devoid of any physical function. It evolved in a way 
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 
female chin with its protuberance is bare, smooth, often 
dimpled, shapes the face, and owns a natural charm and 
appeal which is rarely if ever altered or heightened by 
cosmetics. The jutting aggressive chin of the human 
male must have always been kept bare, by plucking, if 
necessary, until long after puberty and mating when 
the beard, if any, would begin to come in full as a sign 
of senior masculinity. The mental protuberance may be 
compared with such highly attractive facial features 
as long head hair, the expansively bare forehead, the 
raised cheek bones, the variable shape and color of the 
eyes and lips, and the decorative eyebrows. 
None of these can claim any biomechanical function. 
Like them, the mental protuberance appears as a badge 
of recognition, and as a lure and stimulant to mating. 
In males, particularly, the pointed chin also accentuates 
gestures of defiance, and in females, lends eloquence to 
expressions of haughtiness or petulance. Natural 
selection favored rapid spread of the mental protuber- 
ance until it became universally established as an 
ornament of the chin unique to modern man.  



Page 10, MAY. 1970 




population explosion 
17-year locust style 

by Henry Dybas, Associate Curator of Insects 



Seventeen-year periodical cicadas 
(or '17-year locusts') always attract a 
lot of popular interest and press cover- 
age when they appear. So it is worth 
noting that the largest and geographi- 
cally most extensive brood of 17-year 
cicadas (Brood X, as it is called by en- 
tomologists) is scheduled to appear this 
year — within a few weeks in fact. As 
shown on the accompanying map, there 
are three main areas in Brood X. One 
is in the southern Appalachians, an- 
other is centered in eastern Pennsylva- 
nia and \'irginia, and the third occupies 
nearly all of Indiana and the western 
part of Ohio. Museum members or 
friends planning a vacation or an auto- 
mobile trip through any of these areas 
in late May or Jime, should take the 
opportunity along the way to see this 
spectacular natural phenomenon. 

Seventeen-year cicadas are not hard 
to find in a cicada year. They occur in 
woodlands and orchards, and the males 
form large singing choruses that can be 
heard for some distance on warm after- 
noons. During the last appearance in 
the Chicago area, one gas station pro- 
prietor, across the highway from a ci- 
cada chorus, told me that quite a few 
drivers coming from the open country 
to the east, stopped at his station to in- 
vestigate the noise that seemed to sud- 
denly develop in their cars. 



Seventeen-year cicadas are large in- 
sects with a wing spread of about three 
inches and they are conspicuously col- 
ored with black body, orange-yellow 
wings, and bright red eyes. The bi- 
zarre red eyes seem to be the feature 
that most impresses people that have 
not seen these insects before. 

The best place to watch periodical 
cicadas is in a clearing or along a wood- 
land edge where the foliage comes down 
to eye-level, and where there is expo- 
sure to the afternoon sun. There are a 
number of kinds of activities like sing- 
ing, mating, feeding, egg-laying and so 
on, that can be easily observed. Most 
of these can be readily photographed 
because the cicadas are not particularly 
shy and because they can be incredibly 
numerous (there may be a hundred 
thousand per acre, for instance) . Males 
exhibit a characteristic 'sing-fly' be- 
havior. They sit horizontally on a twig 
and sing one or several song phrases, 
while the abdomen bobs up and down 
in time. Then they flutter oflT and 
change perches between songs. Dur- 
ing the peak of the day, the 'sing-fly' 
activity can be extraordinarily intense. 
In one species the thousands of males 
synchronize their songs, forming one 
great crescendo of sound. After the 
sound dies down, the tree-tops seem to 
explode as thousands of males flutter 



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 ci- 
cada sucks sap can be seen on the underside 
of the head. When there are many egg-slits, 
the twig may dry up and die. 

(Photo by Miss Claire Cotterill) 



up together and change positions be- 
fore 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- 
sects has been extensively investigated. 
The female lays its eggs in slits cut in 
twigs with its blade-like ovipositor. The 
eggs hatch in six to seven weeks and the 
tiny white nymphs launch themselves 
(like paratroopers) into the air and 
float to the ground. Each nymph is 
only about a twelfth of an inch long at 
this time. It works its way into the soil 
and attaches to the rootlet of a tree, 
whose sap it sucks with its beak. For 
the next 17 years the nymph grows 
slowly in its solitary underground cell. 
Early in the 17th year, it constructs a 
vertical escape tunnel up to near the 
surface of the ground, sometimes cap- 
ping it with a turret (much like a cray- 
fish turret). There it waits until some 
warm night in May or early June when, 
with thousands of other nymphs, it 
crawls out of the ground about dusk. 
Each brown nymph climbs up a near- 
by tree-trunk or other plant stem, leav- 
ing a smooth, round exit hole in the 
ground about J^ inch in diameter. It 
fixes itself firmly, the skin splits down 
the middle, and the soft white adult 
with red eyes emerges. The wing pads 
are pumped out by blood pressure and 
the wings become fully expanded. The 
body colors and hardens and, the fol- 
lowing morning, the adult flies up to 
the tree-tops. A few days later song is 
heard and mating and egg-laying be- 
gin. Adults live only a few weeks, even 
if birds and other enemies don't get 
them, and by late Jime or early July 
they are gone for another 17 years. 
The exit holes and empty nyinph skins, 



MAY. 1970, Page 11 



along with browning twigs from egg- 
slit damage, remain behind as evidence 
of the emergence. 

Essentially, the entire imderground 
population emerges the 1 7th year with- 
in a few weeks time. Normally, only a 
few stragglers come out the wrong year. 
A notable exception occurred last year 
in the Chicago area when many thou- 
sands of cicadas, scheduled to emerge 
in 1973, made a mistake and emerged 
four years early. Hundreds of Chicago 
area residents supplied the Museum 
with critical evidence on this unique 
event as reported in the August, 1969, 
Bulletin (reprints of this article are 
still available on request). But other- 
wise the 17-year schedule for all re- 
corded broods has been absolutely rigid. 
Brood X, for instance, was first recorded 
in 1715. Two and a half centuries 
later, on its last appearance in 1953, it 
was still precisely on its 17-year sched- 
ule of emergence. 

Our present thinking is that the syn- 
chronized appearance above ground of 
enormous numbers of cicadas after 17 
years serves to satiate the birds and 
other enemies. They can eat only a 
part of the cicada population before 
the rest have reproduced and died a 
natural death. If the same number of 
cicadas were spread ovit over a number 
of years, the reasoning goes, the preda- 
tors could account for a higher propor- 
tion, leaving few for reproduction. 
Periodicity in cicadas can therefore be 
regarded as a special strategy that 
has been evolved, so to speak, to foil 
predators. 

Periodical cicadas have been studied 
a great deal in the last century — there 
are hundreds of technical papers writ- 
ten about them. It therefore comes as 
something of a surprise to discover that 
some of the most striking things about 
them escaped detection for mostof that 
time. For example, only in the last ten 
years has it been firmly established that 
there are three distinct species of 17- 
year cicadas and not just one. These 
three species not only have the same 
17-year life cycle, but they mostly oc- 
cur together and, in a given locality, all 
three invariably emerge above ground 
the same 17th year. In the South, pe- 
riodical cicadas have a 1 3-year life cycle 

Page 12, MAY. 1970 



and again all three species occur to- 
gether and are synchronized on the 
same emergence pattern. 

Now that we know that there are 
three distinct species, some puzzling 
facts about their ecology and behavior 
can be clarified. The three species are 
quite similar in appearance, but one 
prefers bottomland woods, another oc- 
curs on a wide variety of trees in up- 
land forests, and the third species selects 
upland hickories. The songs of the 
males are very distinct. Once one is 
attuned to these differences in song it is 
possible to go into a woods and identify 
the kinds present just by hearing them. 

It is usually not practical to describe 
songs in words but the pattern of the 
three songs is so distinct that, hopefully, 
the diagram on this page will serve to 
identify them in the field. Most of the 
individuals can also be separated on 
the basis of size and color. Inciden- 
tally, females difTer from males in hav- 
ing a pointed body behind, with an 



ovipositor or egg-layer underneath. 

The oldest known species is Magici- 
cada septendecim, named by the great 
Swedish naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus 
in 1758. It is larger than the other spe- 
cies — about 1 ]/2 inches long to tip of 
closed wings, and can be positively 
identified by the reddish stripe between 
the eye and base of wing. Its belly be- 
neath has yellow cross-banding. 

The other two species lack this stripe 
and are smaller, usually about 1^ 
inches long to tip of closed wings. One, 
Magicicada cassini, has the belly dark 
underneath or with only traces of pale 
banding. It is found mostly in lower 
places along streams. The other, Magi- 
cicada septendecula, isyellow banded under- 
neath. It is usually associated with 
hickory trees and is almost always 
much less numerous than the other two 
species. 

With our new knowledge and hind- 
sight about these three species, it is 
easy to wonder how our predecessors 



septendecim 



pha-a-a-f 



-flight- 



one male singing (pharaoh note- a soft, hollow sound ) 
chorus (many songs running together- a soft trilt ) 



begins in morning 



cassini 




1— fiightH 



h- flightH 



hfiight-l 



m\] 



\m 



loud and shrill 



no chorus 'till heat of day 



septendecula 



-flight- 



tsp Tsp tsp tsp 



very regular 



sings most of day (especially in hickories) 



J L 



10 
Time in seconds 



20 



The three kinds of 1 7-year cicadas have been confused until a few years ago, but they can 
be easily recognized in the field by their song. It is the males that sing, and usually only on 
warm, sunny days. The females are attracted to the trees where the males are chorusing. The 
song diagrams are also reflected in movements of the abdomen. If one observes a singing male 
septendecim in profile, for instance, the abdomen is held high in the beginning of the 'pharaoh' 
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 
Drs. Moore and Alexander of the University of Michigan.) 



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 rec- 
ognized and named. An ornithologist 
by the name of John Cassin, who was 
associated with the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy of Sciences, encountered this sec- 
ond species in Delaware County, Penn- 
sylvania in 1834 (during an emergence 
of our same Brood X, eight cicada 
generations ago) and recognized it as 
distinct from septendecim. As a student 
of birds he was probably able to appre- 
ciate song differences, as well as slight 
color differences between closely re- 
lated species better than his entomolog- 
ical colleagues of the time. Seventeen 
years later, when Brood X next ap- 
peared, he evidently was able to con- 
vince one of the Philadelphia entomol- 
ogists, who then formally described and 
named this species cassini (in honor of 
John Cassin, the discoverer). This, by 
the way, is the species which plays the 





game of 'musical chairs' in its synchro- 
nized choruses. Cassini had only a 
short period of recognition though be- 
fore being put into limbo. Two fa- 
mous entomologists of the day, Benja- 
min Walsh and Charles Valentine 
Riley, soon became aware that cassini 
(like the long-known septendecim) also 
had a 1 7-year life cycle and moreover 
emerged the exact same 17th year with 
septendecim in each and every locality 
where it occurred. This was too much 
of a coincidence for Walsh and Riley, 
so they dismissed the notion that there 
could be two such unusual species and 
cassini became buried and unrecog- 
nized for another three-quarters of a 
century. Since then, several entomol- 
ogists have independently studied cas- 
sini (including Dr. Monte Lloyd of the 
University of Chicago and myself), and 
it is now clear that it is a perfectly dis- 
tinct species in song, color, size, struc- 
ture, ecology, and mating behavior. 

The third and longest overlooked 1 7- 
year cicada is septendecula, described 
and named only as recently as 1962 
by Drs. Moore and Alexander (it ap- 
pears that every hundred years we dis- 
cover a new 17-year cicada in our 
midst). In the years since 1962, it has 
been found in many different broods 
and areas from Kansas to Virginia, and 
in the 13-year populations as well. In 
spite of its resemblance to cassini, its 
yellow-banded (instead of dark) belly 
and its very different song should have 



An adult cicada emerging after dark from a 
nymph skin, which represents the stage in 
which the ciada lives underground for 17 
years. The wings will be expanded and the 
body will darken and harden by morning when 
the cicada will fly to the tree-tops. The empty 
nymph skins remain and are a conspicuous 
feature of a cicada emergence. 

(Photo by D. D. Davis) 



served to distinguish it. How could 
such a large, abundant, and widespread 
species which calls attention to itself by 
a distinctive song remain imrecognized 
throughout a century of intensive work 
on periodical cicadas? It makes one 
pause and think. 

How does one resolve the 'coinci- 
dence' problem that troubled Walsh 
and Riley a century ago? The answer, 
it appears to us, is that there is an ad- 
vantage for the three 17-year species to 
pool their resources and to satiate the 
birds and other predators with their 
combined numbers and protoplasm 
when they emerge the same 17th year, 
rather than to 'go it alone' on separate 
years. This, of course, is not a con- 
scious decision but a result of natural 
selection favoring individuals whose 
emergence coincided as against those 
which didn't. 

So if you travel and do some 'cicada- 
watching' in the coming weeks, be 
aware of the possible complexities of 
the periodical cicada story as well as of 
the drama of a great natural spectacle. 
Possibly the cicadas may still have fur- 
ther surprises in store. 



The approximate areas where 1 7-year ci- 
cadas ('locusts') of Brood X are expected to 
appear above ground in May and June his 
year. The discontinuous distribution into sep- 
arate regions is not typical of other broods. 
The areas in between are occupied by 1 7-year 
cicadas thai emerge in other years. 



Note: The distribution map is based on old records made before 
the status of the three species of 17-year cicadas was clarified. 
Therefore we need new distribution information, this time for each 
of the three species. Hence we will very much appreciate cicada 
records (exact locality, date, collector, abundance) accompanied 
by specimens that can be identified as to species. 



MAY. 1970, Page 13 



Preserving Alaska's environment 

ANTHROPOLOGY CURATOR TO SERVE ON WATCH DOG COMMITTEE 



Dr. James W. VanStone, curator of North American 
archaeology and ethnology, has been appointed a mem- 
ber of a joint committee of the Arctic Institute of North 
America and the Bureau of Land Management, Depart- 
ment of the Interior, to advise on environmental protec- 
tion in conjunction with the projected Trans-Alaska pipe- 
line. 

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 dis- 
turbance 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- 
logical sites according to an agreement to be signed with 
the Bureau of Land Management. The committee on 
which Dr. VanStone serves will act as a watch dog group 
to see that the agreement is carried out. 



Dr. VanStone, along with six other northern special- 
ists on the committee, will review the work of the archae- 
ologists hired by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and 
meet three or four times a year with the pipeline and 
Bureau of Land Management personnel. 




An authority on the peoples of the North American 
arctic and subarctic. Dr. VanStone taught anthropology 
for eight years at the University of Alaska and seven 
years at the University of Toronto before joining the 
Field Museum staff four years ago. 



Charles F. Murphy, Jr. ELECTED TRUSTEE 




j^A. 



k 



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 cul- 
tural 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 
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 con- 
tribution to the success of the Museum's recent Fiesta 
Mexicana. 



Page 14, MAY. 1970 



to stir the imagination and awal<en intellectual curiosity 



EDUCATION AT FIELD MUSEUM, 1922-1970 



by Donald C- Edinger, Chairman, Department of Education 



Field Museum has offered a formal educational pro- 
gram for children since 1 922 when a division of education 
was created. 

In 1925 Mrs. James Nelson (Anna Louise) Raymond 
generously provided an endowment to develop an en- 
larged and more active program. A Museum publication 
in 1938 reported: 

"As a result of her benefaction, the eyes of the 
children are being opened to more of the beauties 
of the world about them. The great truths revealed in 
the natural sciences are brought to and impressed 
upon the minds of the children. An influence has 
been created which can arouse in them a realization 
of the broader relationships between man and man, 
reaching over the bounds of nationality and race; 
of the relationships between man and beast — the 
part that animals play in human life; and of the re- 
lationships of the plant and mineral kingdoms to 
each other and to the lives of both men and animals. 
By this influence it is hoped to stir the imagination 
of the children, awaken their intellectual curiosity, 
and spur them on to the development of their latent 
capacities. The ultimate aim is to lead them into 
paths which will, when they grow up, make them 
happier as individuals and more valuable as citizens 
and members of society." 
This viewpoint seems admirably applicable to 1970. 

During the years of 1 925-38, field trips during school 
time were added, and innovative educational aids such 
as Stereoptican slides, 1 6 mm. motion pictures and sound 
films were introduced. 

By 1938 the Raymond Foundation staff had increased 
to five full time members. Lecture tours of the Museum 
and extension lectures in the field were offered to youth 
groups, schools and universities. These programs, com- 
bined with the Saturday entertainment series, reached 



nearly 240,000 children, a figure that was not duplicated 
until early in the 1950's. 

During the mid 50's the volume of school groups 
attending the Museum made it necessary to discontinue 
the extension lectures, as the Raymond Foundation staff 
was needed for programs within the Museum. 

The James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Foun- 
dation for Public School and Children's Lectures is now 
part of a newly-formed Department of Education. In 
1969 this division, comprised of five full-time lecturers 
and augmented by a dedicated group of volunteers, ser- 
ved approximately 400,000 children. Between 1 971 and 
1972 we should reach the half million mark. 

The programs are based upon the rich collections on 
exhibit at the Museum and the educational ingenuity of 
our staff. In addition to leading scheduled school tours 
and study groups, the staff is constantly developing and 
implementing special educational programs. 

Through these programs, children are able to use the 
facilities of the Museum to supplement the information 
they receive in school and to enrich their knowledge of 
man's environmental and cultural heritage. This year, 
for example, a course was offered in African music, using 
authentic musical instruments. Preparations are being 
made for a summer course in geology and for programs 
relating art to natural history. A course in museology is 
being tested, through which students can explore the role 
of the Museum and its relevance to society, as well as 
develop ideas for exhibits. 

Ongoing programs are offered in anthropology, biol- 
ogy and earth science. In the summer, 30 selected high 
school students participate in a program in anthropol- 
ogy, which includes an archaeological dig. The journey 
program involves the exploration of specific areas of 
natural history through self-guided tours and has long 
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 sev- 
eral 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 
treasures of the Museum, entertainment, special programs and behind-the- 
scenes activities. 

May 9 John James Audubon's Folio, "The Birds of America," goes on dis- 
play on the North Balcony. This rare, first-edition copy is the gift of an 
anonymous donor and is one of the most important acquisitions in the history 
of Field Museum. 

May 9 Latin Day at Field Museum. Special meeting for high school Latin 
students is sponsored by the Illinois Classical Conference. James Simpson 
Theatre. 

May 23 Illinois by the Sea: A Coal Age Environment, an exhibit of special 
geological interest opens today in Hall 9. Field Museum scientists collab- 
orated to present this illuminating study of life in this area 300 million years 
ago. On display to October 25. 

May 23 Chicago Are.a Science Fair. A one-day event sponsored by the Chi- 
cago .-^rea Science Teachers Association includes displays of original research 
projects by students attending private, public and parochial schools in the 
Chicago area. Awards will be given for the best projects in the areas of study 
represented, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology and general 
science. Stanley Field Hall. 

Through May Spring Journey for Children, "Trees of Illinois," continues 
to May 31 . This free self-directed tour helps youngsters identify various types 
of local trees. Any child who can read and write is eligible to participate. 
Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. 

Continuing: 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of 
History, A Sense of Discovery, remains on display in Hall 3 by popular 
demand. Innovative display techniques are used to explore the past, present 
and future of Field Museum. 

MEETINGS 

Chicago Shell Club, May 3, 2 p.m. 

Nature Camera Club of Chic.\go, May 12, 7:45 p.m. 

Chicagoland Glider Council, May 12, 8 p.m. 

Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society, May 13, 7:30 p.m. 

Illinois Orchid Society, May 17, 2 p.m. 

Friends of Our Native Landscape, May 24, 2 p.m. 




field museum's 
natural history 
tours 

gardens 

wild flowers 

birds 

archaeology 

congenial travel companions 

Interpretations by experts 

the unhurried approach 

travel with all dimensions 

EDEN REVISITED: A TOUR 
OF BRITAIN & ITS GARDENS 

May30-July4 

$2,205 includes $600 donation 

Rhododendron & iris time; rose, 
lily & perennial time 
27 historic houses and gardens. 
6 plant & bird sanctuaries. 
6 archaeological sites. 

GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan 

Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, 

Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints 

Day. Lake Atitlan. 

THE INCA'S EMPIRE 

& DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS 

Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, 

& Feb. 4-March 5. 

$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 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- 
gists specialized in the areas. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
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-- 



^^^^^S. 
■-^^^P 



^i 




New Museums for ^Ih 



by Austin L. Rano 
Chief Curator, Zoology 



Recently, I chanced to read a news 
story concerning the future role of mu- 
seums, and a magazine article discuss- 
ing the "new look" of one specific mu- 
seum. Together, they illustrate some 
of the problems that must be faced if 
museums are to be relevant as well as 
beautiful. As Field Museum is at the 
"where are we going?" stage, a critique 
of these articles is timely. 

The news story reported a conference 
at which some very strong anti-estab- 
lishment views were expressed. Some 
were disturbing to me, for example, the 
opinion that "... museums have to be 
changed or destroyed. . . ." But there 
was sound sense, too, particularly in the 
concept of". . . a mviseum of the people 
. . . (which would) reach the inner 
city." To implement this, it was felt 
museums should provide "... space in 
central buildings or neighborhood fa- 
cilities . . . expertise . . . branch muse- 
ums in inner city . . . (with) no strings 
attached." 

The magazine article dealt with the 
features of a newly modernized muse- 
um : new colors, textures and lighting; 
specimens rearranged to provide ex- 
citement and flowing lines; humorous, 
cute or poetic labels; mechanical de- 
vices to enliven the exhibits. Hard- 
ware. Nuts and bolts. These things 
are necessary, of course, but the real 
story of the place was in the words 
". . . the museum is a bridge between 
science and conceptual philosophy." 
Had I not just read the news story, I 
would have said "Ho-hum" or "So 
what?" But what I did say was: it is 
just this sort of "arty" attitude that is 
being attacked. 

Of course, "museum" means differ- 
ent things to different people. My re- 
marks here refer to the public exhibi- 
tion areas. In them, our aim is to 
present the kinds of things there are — 
from precious stones to dinosaurs, rab- 



bits to squid, mummies to Eskimo 
masks, dutchman's pipes to coconut 
palms. With such specimens we illus- 
trate the contents of the continents and 
seas. We show the diversity of life and 
its processes; how things are different 
or similar due to origins, habitat or liv- 
ing conditions; and how these things 
coexist. Among ourselves, we may 
speak of evolution, systematics, ecol- 
ogy, biogeography and culture. But 
to introduce these concepts to the pub- 
lic we must use the words and ap- 
proaches of the market place, the streets 
and the newspapers. 

. . . we must use the words 
and approaches of the market 
place, the streets and the 
newspapers. 

Are we using our specimens, words 
and pictures to tell people what they 
want to know in ways they can under- 
stand? Should we tell them only what 
they want to know? Many don't real- 
ize what can be known. Surely, we can 
expand their horizons beyond city sky- 
lines, and their biological interests be- 
yond humans, rats, roaches and plastic 
Christmas trees. 

But we must start with our audience 
and their closest environment. Do we 
know how they want to begin? Should 
we ask them to help us decide what 
should be presented on an elemental 
level as an introduction to the riches 
beyond? Should we use some of our 
museum halls for basic statements about 
the nature of man and his environ- 
ment? Should we offer help and sup- 
port without strings for grass roots 
branch museums by the people, for the 
people? The ideal answers to these 
questions may be in conflict with our 
financial reality. But somehow we must 
reconcile the two. 

Is there not a tide to be taken at its 
flood? Is not time running out? 



MILWAUKEE MUSEUM 
GETS NEW DIRECTOR 

Dr. Kenneth Starr, curator of .Asi- 
atic archaeology and ethnology in Field 
Museum's department of anthropol- 
ogy for the past 17 years, has been 
appointed Director of the Milwaukee 
Public Museum. He will take up his 
new post in the summer. 




Dr. Kenneth Starr 

Dr. Starr is the fourth curator from 
the Museum's department of anthro- 
pology to be appointed a museum di- 
rector. The other three are : Alexander 
Spoehr, former curator of oceanic eth- 
nology, who served as Director of the 
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu 
from 1953 to 1961; Roland W. Force, 
former curator of oceanic archaeology 
and ethnology, who was named Direc- 
tor of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum 
in 1961 upon Spoehr's appointment as 
Chancellor of the East-W'est Center. 
University of Hawaii; and George 1. 
Quimby, Jr., former curator of North 
American archaeology and ethnology, 
who became Director of the Thomas 
Burke Memorial Washington State 
Museum in 1968. 

E. Leland Webber, Field Museum 
director, praised Dr. .Starr for his great 
and far-reaching contributions in the 
field of anthropology. "He has been 
responsible for large and significant 
additions to the Museum's Asian col- 
lections and for the totally new galleries 
{continued on page 14) 



Page 2, JUNE, 1970 




Frank Madsen, exhibit designer, 
prepares exhibit model 



Madsen makes final adjustments to shark specimen. 
(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. 

Studies by Museum scientists of the IVlazon Creek, 
Illinois, and IVIecca, Indiana, vicinities yielded a wealth 
of fossil material. 

Based on 16 years of ongoing research by the Mu- 
seum's department of geology, the exhibit demonstrates 
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 con- 
centrated and trapped in shallow pools. The crowding 
in some of these pools was extremely severe. The be- 
havior of the sharks is dramatically documented by the 
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. 



Illinois by the sea: 

a coal age 

environment 



Dr. Eugene Richardson, curator of fossil invertebrates, 
writes copy for exhibit specimens. 




JUNE, 1970, Page 3 








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Snarling saber tooth tigers, charging 
mastodons, and bloody carcasses encir- 
cle a line of enoniious skeletons. Al- 
though that may sound like something 
from a Saturday morning kiddie show, 
it is, in fact, a description of the Muse- 
um's Hall 38. This hall has long been 
a favorite with Museum visitors who 
delight in the awesome size of the real 
skeletons of real prehistoric animals on 
display. After all, most of us get our 
ideas of the size, shape and habits of 
dinosaurs and mastodons from B movies. 

Remember the movie monster that 
supposedly slept at the bottom of the 
sea for millions of years only to be awak- 
ened by an atomic blast? The sleep- 
glutted beast devoured several naval 
fleets, airplanes and small towns before 




The Unique Gift of 



by Patricia' 



it was laid to rest. No wonder, then, 
that people enjoy seeing at least the re- 
mains of the real thing. VVe are pre- 
conditioned to be thrilled at the sight 
of these towering skeletons, and an ac- 
tive imagination can conjure up instant 
fantasies of action-packed prehistoric 
life. 

If your imagination is a bit on the 
sluggish side, the 28 murals ringing the 
325-foot-long hall will do the job for 
you. These murals, painted over a 
period of five years by Charles R. 
Knight, flesh out the skeletons and de- 
pict the long-gone creatures in their 
natural habitat. 

Knight, who died in 1953 at the age 
of 79, was not a paleontologist, but was 
one of the world's foremost painters of 



prehistoric life and numbered many of 
the great scientists of post-Darwinian 
time among his friends and associates. 
He knew Cope and worked with Os- 
born, Andrews, Ackley, Field, Beebe 
and many others. Henry Fairfield Os- 
born, paleontologist and past director 
of the American Museum of Natural 
History wrote, "Charles R. Knight is 
the greatest genius in the line of prehis- 
toric restoration of human and animal 
life that the science of paleontology has 
ever known. His work . . . will endure 
for all time."' 

Roy Chapman Andrews, another for- 
mer director of the American Museum, 
also had high praise for Knight and 
wrote, "Mr. Knight is a scientist as well 
as an artist. ^Vhat he does has truth 



Page 4. JUNE. 1970 




^harles R. Knight 



[.Williams 

behind it. Moreover, he has the fac- 
uhy of making the animals and early 
men which he paints and writes about 
live and become almost companions of 
our day." 

How did he go about it? Although 
the skeletons give you an idea of size 
and general structure, they give no clue 
as to the color of the beast. Did it have 
fur, feathers, scales or none of these? 
Was it fat or thin? Lumpy or smooth? 
Sfxjtted, strif)ed or solid color? Knight's 
answers to these questions are given in 
his murak. These murals are not based 
on fantasy or mere imaginative whim- 
sies, but are the result of years of stud\' 
and research. In an interview his wife 
once stated that Knight "did these ani- 
mals after studying their skeletons; then 



reconstructing their bodies in clay and 
placing the models in a setting as nearly 
correct as science and his imagination 
could contrive." He didn't then rush 
through the work of painting the mural. 
First he made a detailed quarter-sized 
color sketch and finally, when he felt 
that it was right, the mural was pro- 
nounced completed. He was known, 
however, to go back to a completed 
painting to make a correction based on 
some new fact that he had discovered. 

Knight began drawing animals when 
he was six years old by copying pic- 
tures from the dictionary. By nine he 
was drawing animals from life at the 
Bronx Zoo. In 1894 when he was 20 
years old. Knight was commissioned by 
the American Museum of Natural His- 



tory to paint a watercolor of Elotherium, 
a pig-like animal that lived 30,000,000 
years ago. That was the first of many 
such commissions and today Knight's 
murals, paintings, bronzes, drawings 
and lithographs are seen in major mu- 
seums across the country. 

It wasn't just technical accuracy that 
earned Knight's work such widespread 
acclaim. Edwin H. Colbert, famous 
geologist, said, "Knight's restorations 
of extinct animals are great not only 
because of his own inherent abilities as 
an artist, but also because of his readi- 
ness to work with scientists . . . his was 
a constant quest for truth in art and in 
science." Colbert continued, "He had 
so much imagination he could project 
{continued on next page) 



JUNE. 1970. Page 5 



(continued from 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 re- 
called by Mrs. Richard Steel, Knight's 
daughter, in a discussion of her father's 
painting "Snow." The painting de- 
picts three Neanderthal people cower- 
ing in a blizzard. According to Mrs. 
Steel, Knight "would look at his paint- 
ing, 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 
of Exhibition, says, "The murals are 
soft, sensitive and yet they also project 
a certain vitality." 

This "certain vitality" and skill was 
not limited to depicting prehistoric life. 
In addition to illustrating literally hun- 
dreds of textbooks, scientific books for 
laymen, monographs and articles in 
magazines and newspapers, Knight 
himself wrote articles and four books — 
Animal Drawing, Life Through the Ages, 
Before the Dawn of History and Prehistoric 
Man, the Great Adventurer. 

Just as he worked in many media. 
Knight also covered many subjects. 
His pencil drawings of animals are 
quite remarkable and bear graphic wit- 
ness 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 sec- 
tion 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 




for the U. S. Treasury, this example of 
Knight's fine work was used on the $10 
bill and a 30c stamp. It is also used as 
a trademark by an insurance company 
and is the official symbol of a town in 
Wyoming. 

In 1938 George Grey Barnard, Amer- 
ican sculptor and collector, wrote to the 
editor of Natural History Magazine, "I 
wonder if you and your readers realize 
the unique gift our cauntry possesses in 
the genius of Charles Knight. No one 
living can draw animal life as he does. 



He has wrought life and line together. 
The force of his drawing comes from 
the knowledge he possesses of animal 
life." 

Like other art museums before it, the 
Peoria Art Museum recently held an 
exhibition of 98 of Knight's works. 
Why not, next time you are strolling 
through Hall 38, consider the murals 
displayed there as an exclusive showing 
of some of the finest work of its kind in 
the country and appreciate them as the 
"unique gift" that they are?  




Page 6, JUNE, 1970 



Journey Program stimulates students' 
interest provides world perspective 



6/ George Fricke 

Lecturer, Raymond Foundation 

Field Museum is an awe-inspiring 
place. With three floors of exhibits 
covering subjects from Stone Age man 
to the moon, it simply cannot be ex- 
plored in one day. Yet, there is so 
iiuich that can be learned if one only 
knows where to begin. The Raymond 
Foundation, a part of the Museum's 
Education Department, developed the 
Museum Journey Program to give chil- 
dren a starting place for their visit to 
the Museum and to provide a guide 
which would help them learn from the 
exhibits. 

Journeys are self-guided tours which 
take boys and girls to exhibits illustrat- 
ing a particular phase of natural his- 
tory. They contain information about 
this subject and questions for the visitor 
to answer. Four Journeys are offered 
each year. The first Journey, "Drums," 
was taken by 80 youngsters in the 
spring of 1955. Subsequent Journeys 
attracted more and more children, and 
the Raymond Foundation staff noticed 
that some of the same boys and girls 
were taking each succeeding Journey. 
They felt that these youngsters deserved 
recognition for their accomplishments 
and, in the spring of 1956, 13 boys and 
girls were invited to attend an award 
ceremony. The success of the program 
is evidenced by the fact that this spring, 
227 children were invited to receive 
congratulations and recognition for 
their work in the Museum. 

Children who earned an award con- 
tinued to take the Journeys and to 
broaden their knowledge of natural 
history. So, over the years, various 
award categories were initiated. After 
completing four Journeys, a yoimgster 
receives the Museum Traveler Award. 
Continued participation in the pro- 



gram enables him to earn intermediate 
awards until, after four years of work 
and 16 Journeys, the youngster be- 
comes a Museum Beagler. Each Beag- 
ler receives a copy of Charles Darwin's 
Voyage of the Beagle and a special Jour- 
ney highlighting some of the things 
Darwin saw on his famous journey. 
When this Journey is completed, the 
young man or woman becomes a mem- 
ber of the Museum Discoverers' Club. 

Club members have privileges that 
are similar to that of an annual Mu- 
seum membership, until they reach the 
age of 18. Since the Club began in 
the fall of 1959, 1 98 boys and girls have 
become Museum Discoverers. They 
are a select group. Each year, approx- 
imately 1,200 children turn in a Jour- 
ney for credit; about 220 receive an 
award. However, only a handful be- 
come Discoverers. Members of the 
Discoverers' Club have taken full ad- 
vantage of the Journey Program and 
have evidenced an early and sustained 
interest in natural history. 

Several past members of the club 
were inspired by the program to study 
some aspect of the natural sciences. 
Ronald Bonneau, who hopes to do 
graduate work in marine biology, be- 
lieves that the Journeys helped him 
gain an appreciation for the natural 
outdoors and encouraged his interest 
in wildlife preservation. For Herbert 
Nipson, a Princeton University biology 
major, the program stimulated an in- 
terest in living things. David Janus 
feels he gained an interest in the nat- 
ural sciences leading to his choice of 
botany as a major field of study. He 
has been a Shinner Scholar in the Mu- 
seum's Botany Department. 

Of course, not all children who take 
the Journeys turn them in for credit. 
Thousands take the sheets home as a 



souvenir of their visit to the Museum. 
Classes often take a Journey as a group 
and discuss their results in school, and 
Scout groups have incorporated the 
program into their own award system. 

Many parents have made the Jour- 
ney Program a family project and 
bring their children to each succeeding 
Journey. 

The Journey Program b growing and 
spreading. More children take Jour- 
neys every year, and many adults have 
thanked us for the knowledge they 
gained while taking a Journey with the 
youngsters. Inquiries about the pro- 
gram have come from museums as far 
away as Sydney, Australia, and many 
museums have begun a similar self- 
guided tour of their own. At a time 
when knowledge of our environment is 
so important, the Journey Program has 
proved itself of value in helping Mu- 
seum visitors to gain a real perspective 
of the world around them. 




summer journey 



JUNE, 1970. Page 7 



58^ 








»*"';*-^' 



Geochemistry - 

a study of airborne lead pollution 



by Edward Olsen, 

Curator of Mineralogy 



Among the several major branches 
of the geological sciences the one 
called geochemistry is perhaps the 
most rapidly growing. The word it- 
self means chemistry of the earth, 
and since the earth consists entirely 
of chemical combinations of el- 
ements into liquids, gases, solid min- 
erals, and biological forms there is 
very little it doesn't cover. It over- 
laps such divers disciplines as min- 
eralogy, petrology, petroleum geol- 
ogy, and economic ore geology; and 
is currently pushing into subject 
matter traditionally considered the 
reserve of paleontology. 

Traditionally geochemists have 
considered such problems as where 
various chemical elements are sit- 
uated in the internal make-up of the 
earth. In more recent years they have 
become more and more concerned 
with the chemistry of the earth's ex- 
terior as well: the dissolved and sus- 
pended chemicals in the oceans, 
lakes, and ground waters; chemistry 
of the atmosphere; chemistry of soils; 
chemistry of the ice caps. 

Because of current interest in the 
polar regions more and more data 
have been gathered concerning them. 
Probably one of the most interesting 
and disturbing of recent arctic geo- 
chemical studies has been the work 
of the geochemist. Dr. Claire Patter- 
son of the California Institute of 
Technology. 

In Chicago ... in 1968 auto fuels 
generated about 2 % tons of lead 
per square mile! 

In making borings into the Green- 
land ice it is possible to see each 
year's accumulation of new snow by 
the banding that occurs. Thus, by 
boring out a column one can tell 



the year in which a given layer was 
deposited by counting backward, 
layer by layer, from the present year. 
The ice for each layer can next be 
sliced out, melted, and analyses made 
for the chemicals contained in it. 
Dr. Patterson has examined a num- 
ber of such samples and his findings 
with respect to their year-by-year 
content of the element lead are re- 
markable. In the graph (Fig. 1) we 
see the lead content in northwestern 
Greenland ice plotted against year 
from 800 B.C. to the present. 

The first question that arises is: 
From where do these small amoimts 
of lead originate? Besides lead, anal- 
yses were made for other elements 
—sodium, magnesium, silicon, etc. 
Some of these are due to sea salts 
blown inland from the nearby North 
Atlantic; some are due to clay dusts 
blown in from adjacent unglaciated 
land and islands. Lead, however, is 
not a significant constituent in any 
of these sources. It has been known 
for a long time that there are large 
rotating systems of air that rise in 
equatorial regions, and because of 
the high solar heat levels there, 
move towards the poles at high alti- 
tudes. Then by cooling off they fall 
slowly to low altitudes and break 
into systems of surface weather pat- 
terns and move slowly southward 
again. On their way northward any 
warm rising air can add itself to this 
giant air movement and be carried 
jioleward also. 

Large urban areas are areas of 
rising warm air due to the heat out- 
put from the many sources of energy 
that men utilize in heating, making 
electricity, transportation, and nor- 
mal human activity. Thus, some of 
the many gases and dust particles 
that arise from populous areas are 



added to these poleward moving air 
masses and portions of them are 
carried all the way to the arctic re- 
gions where some fall out with snows 
and rains and become incorporated 
into the seas, and icecaps. Thus the 
yearly icecap accumulations can act 
as a sort of natural sample collec- 
tion system which can show relative 
changes over periods of historic time. 
Mankind has been extracting and 
using lead since about 2500 B.C. It 
was about the mid 18th century 
when industrialization began to 
grow. This growth was steady witii 
western-world population increases, 
and demand grew for more kinds of 
products made of metals, of which 
lead is a significant one. It is utilized 
in ceramic glazes, paints, machine 
bearings, insecticides, fungicides, al- 
loys of many kinds, ammunition, 
solders, plumbing fixtures, and in- 
directly in photography and coinage 
systems. As demand grew more lead 
has been mined and smelted from 
its ores. Because lead is easily vapor- 
ized in any process that lieats it, 
such as smelting, a certain amoinii 




1800 1850 1900 1950 
AGE OF SAMPLE 

Figure L Lead (in parts per billion) in 
snow from Century Camp, northwestern 
Greenland, from 800 B. C. to the present. For 
the sake of compactness there is a break in 
the graph from about 750 B.C. to 1725 a.d. 
The lead content over that gap is almost zero. 



Page 10, JUNE, 1970 



goes up the smelter chimneys, is 
added to the air, falls in adjacent 
aiea^ with, however, a little of it 
being carried aloft and ending up in 
northern snows. The graph in Fig- 
uie 1 reveals this steady increase in 
utilization of lead; around 1750 it 
shows an upward change in slope. 
The graph, in addition, shows a dra- 
matic featuie. In the late 1940's 
there is a sudden upward spurt in 
lead in these ice samples. In less 
than 20 years it increased by 300%! 

It was in the late 1940's that auto- 
motive manufacturers began build- 
ing cars with higher and higher 
■horsepower. Gasoline engine horse- 
|-K)wer can be increased in two ways: 
one way is to increase what is called 
the compression ratio; the other way 
is to increase the size of the engine. 
The manufacturers have done both. 
To obtain the best efficiency from 
such engines it is necessary to oper- 
ate them on fuels that have high 
octane ratings. We will not go into 
the meaning of this term here but 
only point out that the octane rating 
of a gasoline is a rough measure of 
how much efficiency one can obtain 
from a high compression engine. 
Such engines require gasolines rated 
near 100 octane. Natural gasoline 
fractions from petroleum crude oils 
are about 55 octane. To bring up 
the rating to the desired level it is 
necessary to perform some chemical 
(iianges on the natural gasoline. 

The major change involves a proc- 
ess called cracking. By repetitions of 
this process, plus performing distil- 
lations, it is possible to produce 100, 
or even higher, octane fuels. In 1920 
a chemist, Thomas Midgely, made a 
synthetic metal-organic compound 
tailed teiraethyl-lead. It is a chem- 



ical combination of the elements 
lead, carbon, and hydrogen. It was 
found that addition of less than 1% 
by volume of this compound to gas- 
oline the octane rating could be 
raised by as much as fifteen octane 
points. Tetraethyl-lead was less cost- 
ly to produce than other means of 
obtaining the same octane increase. 
It was natural then that it be added 
to gasoliires in the late 1940's. 

, . . from 1920 to 1970 over 5 mil- 
lion tons of lead have been uti- 
lized in auto engines in the 
northern hemisphere. Averag- 
ing this over the hemisphere it 
comes to 120 pounds of lead per 
square mile! 

Gasolines are usually marketed in 
two forms: so-called "regular," which 
is around 90 octane, and what is 
called "premium" (or "high-test" or 
"ethyl") which is around 100 octane. 
Both forms contain tetraethyl-lead. 
Although there are limitations on 
the amount of tetraethyl-lead that 
can be added to aircraft fuels, there 
are no limitations for automotive 
fuels. In general, auto gasolines con- 
tain about 3 cubic centimeters of 
tetraethyl-lead per gallon. In terms 
of the actual lead content this 
amounts to slightly over 3 grams 
(about one-tenth oz.) of lead per 
gallon. 

When gasoline burns in the en- 
gine the tetraethyl-lead decomposes 
and the lead is released. In order to 
remove it so that it will not form 
thick deposits, compounds called 
ethylene dibromide and ethylene di- 
chloride, are put in the gasoline 
also. The lead combines with these 
to form lead bromide and chloride. 
1 hese, and other lead compounds, 



' come out the exhaust system where 
they cool in the air, combine with 
oxygen and moisture, and form sev- 
eral bromine and chlorine acids, and 
a dust of lead oxide so fine that 
some of it can be carried along in 
the air, even as far as the arctic 
snows. 

The pronounced effect of this use 
of lead on the Greenland snows ap- 
pears remarkable. The average gas- 
oline automotive vehicle (cars and 
trucks) runs about 13 miles on a gal- 
lon of gas and releases only 3 grams 
of lead in the process. The great 
impact lies in the fact that over 103 
billion gallons of such fuel are con- 
sumed in the northern hemisphere 
every year. This generates over 
310,000 tons of lead. In Figure 2 the 
graph shows the total of tetraethyl- 
lead used since 1920. At first its use 
was small; however, by the late 
1940's its annual increase is more 
and more marked. In total from 
1920 to 1970 over 5 million tons of 
lead have been utilized in auto en- 
gines in the northern hemisphere. 
Averaging this over the hemisphere 
it comes to 120 pounds of lead per 
square mile! 

Such an average is of course quite 
high for some low population, rural 
areas that are not crossed by many 
roads. On the other hand, it is far 
too low for city areas. In Chicago, 
for example, in 1968 auto fuels gen- 
erated about 2% tons of lead per 
square mile! 

The question arises where all this 
unrecoverable lead goes, besides the 
relatively small amount that finds 
its way into the upper atmosphere 
and then to the arctic. In an area 

{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 
out in the city dust that covers the 
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 be- 
yond. 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 avail- 
able 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, how- 
ever, 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 ex- 
posed 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, cigar- 
ette smoke, most fresh fruits, etc. 
Unfortunately the lungs are much 
less discriminating. 25-50% of in- 







/ 


350.000 


— 


/ 

/ 
/ 


300,000 


- 


/ 


250.000 


- 


/ 


200.000 


- 


/ 


150,000 


- 


/ 


100,000 


- 


y 


50.000 
n 


1 1 


1 1 



1920 
YEARS 



1930 



1940 



1950 



I960 



1970 



Figure 2. Metric Ions of lead (alkyl lead) burned last year in the northern hemisphere, 
from 1920 to 1970. The dashed part of the line indicates projection from last data year, 
1966 to 1970. 



haled lead compounds are absorbed 
into the blood stream. Inhaled lead 
seems to be the largest source for it 
in the himian body. 

When tetraethyl-lead was origi- 
nally introduced into auto fuels 
there were considerably fewer cars, 
so the problem of adding lead to the 
air was not considered serious. In 
addition, it zuas believed that the 
body had the ability to eliminate 
lead (below toxic levels) as fast as 
it ivas absorbed. As time has gone 
on, however, the number of cars has 
increased. We have also learned that 
lead builds up in the body. The 
natural body content of lead, of a 
primitive man thousands of years 
ago, was about 2 milligrams. Today 
the average in the United States is 
about 100 milligrams, with some city 
dwellers running as high as 200 mil- 
ligrams. About 91% of this is de- 
posited in the bones. The bone 
(onicm :.>[ lead increases with age. 
This, in itself, means that there is 
no body balance for lead, that is, it 
cannot be totally eliminated as it is 
absorbed, otherwise beyond some 
certain age everyone older than that 
would have a similar amount in 



their bones. Instead it keeps accu- 
mulating with age— the older you 
are the more you have. If you live 
in an urban area, as most Americans 
do these days, you are exposed to 
higher amounts and accumulate it 
faster. 

Because the great majority of 
.\mericans live in cities where the 
exposure to lead in the air is great, 
a number of recent studies have 
been made to determine the expo- 
sure levels. On the average there is 
about 1 millionth of a gram of 
lead per cubic yard of city air as 
opposed to a natural level of about 
50 biUionths per cubic yard. That is, 
the city air averages about twenty 
times higher! In a recent study on 
15th St. in New York City, the lead 
content of the air was almost 10 
inillionths of a gram per cubic yard 
at street level during rush hours. 
This is about 200 times higher than 
natural levels. Rural dwellers are 
exposed to only a fraction of such 
amounts except, however, in highly 
agricultural areas during the grow- 
ing season when crops are sprayed 
with certain lead compounds that 
act as fungicides and insecticides. 



Page 12. JUNE, 1970 



Hecause of such agricultural uses on 
tobacco crops, smokers expose tliem- 
selves to more inhaled lead than 
non-smokers. 

I'iie elFects of such exposines are 
not teriain by any means. Public 
health and industrial health tloctors 
vary in their view of it. In reality 
there are no good scientific data 
giving a measure of the effect on 
hinnans. It is known that for many 
Americans the blootl level concen- 
tration of lead is about 0.25 parts 
jjer million. The threshold for clas- 
sical leatl poisoning is considered to 
be 0.8 parts per million, and some 
medical authorities place it at 0.5 
parts per million. These numbers 
are clearly too close together for 
comfort! 

The question arises whether this 
addition of lead to the air is neces- 
sary? Clearly it is not. Reduction of 
auto horsepower would allow lower 
octane ratings and tetraethyl-lead 
could be eliminated. On the other 
hand, additional refining and chem- 
ical changes can make high octane 
gasoline without tetraethyl-lead. At 
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 pro- 
duction of a lower horsepower en- 
gine that does not require leaded 
fuels. Unfortunately this step is be- 
ing taken for the wrong reason. 
Anti-smog devices (required on ve- 
hicles by many states) become 
cjuickly clogged with lead oxide de- 
posits and require frequent cleaning 
to operate properly. It is for this 
reason the change is being made. 

In any event, numerous public 



health officials, as well as university 
researchers, are becoming alarmed 
by the addition of lead to the air, 
which goes eventually to the oceans. 
Each year over 250,000 tons of lead 
are added to the seas to be absorbed 
by fish and lower forms of life. De- 
pemlence on the sea for food will 
increase over the next century. In 
addition, from certain microscopic 
sea plants comes the bulk of the 
world's supply of oxygen. Addition 
of known toxic elements to the sea 
can have effects that last fore\er. 

With Dr. Patterson's work the 
field of geochemistry seems to have 
entered a new area— the area of pub- 
lic health. The dramatic effect which 
man's use of lead has had on the 
geochemical record, as seen in Fig- 
ure 1, is a clear illustration of the 
fact so often overlooked: we are liv- 
ing in what is called a closed system. 
Nothing goes "away"— it only goes 
somewhere else. Lead is only a part 



of the picture. It is but one element 
that man is concentrating, utilizing, 
and allowing to accumidate ulti- 
mately in the oceans. Elements such 
as mercury, bismuth, and tin are 
significant elements that are less ob- 
vious in their use and less under- 
stood in their cycles through the 
biological world. 

... we are living in what is 
called a closed system. Nothing 
goes "away" — it only goes some- 
where else. Lead is only a part 
of the picture. It is but one ele- 
ment that man is concentrat- 
ing, utilizing, and allowing to 
accumulate ultimately in the 
oceans. 

If a clear-cut case could be made 
that lead had no effect on human 
and other life its use in fuels would 
never be an issue. With the long- 
term effects unknown it seems to be 
folly to continue its use only to 
learn the effects the hard w'av.  



GREENLAND GLACIER ICE 




JUNE, 1970, Page 13 



CARM 
CONFERENCE 



42 anthropologists and computer sci- 
entists and experts from eight North 
American and European countries re- 
cently met at Field Mviseum to discuss 
the need for and the best way of achiev- 
ing an inventory of ethnological collec- 
tions of all museums of North America. 

The conference, which was called by 
the Committee on Anthropological Re- 
search in Museums (CARM), was or- 
ganized by Dr. Donald Collier, chief 
curator of anthropology at Field Mu- 
seum, and sponsored by the Wenner- 




Gren Foundation for Anthropological 
Research, New York. CARM is an 
official committee of the -American 
Anthropological Association. 

The committee decided to have a 
pilot computer project in a large mu- 
seum, and Field Museum was recom- 
mended as the site for such a program. 

Shown at the conference in Field 
Museum are, from left to right, Dr. 
Murray Abxjrn, National Science Foun- 
dation; Mrs. Lita Osmundsen, director 



of research, Wenncr-Gren Foundation 
for Anthropological Research; Dr. Wil- 
liam N. Fenton, State University of 
New York at Albany and chairman of 
the conference; Dr. Donald Collier 
(standing), Field Museum; Dr. Fred 
Eggan, University of Chicago and re- 
search associate in the Department of 
.Anthropology of Field Museum; Dr. 
Edward C. Weiss, National Science 
Foundation and Jamie Litvak King, 
National Museum of Anthropology 
and Universitv of Mexico. 



Women's Board Elects President 



Mrs. Edward Byron Smith was 
elected president of the Women's Board 
of Field Museum at the Board's annual 
meeting recendy. She succeeds Mrs. 
Hermon Dunlap Smith, president of 
the Board since its founding in 1966. 

As the new president of the Board, 
Mrs. Smith automatically becomes a 
Museum Trustee, with full voting priv- 
ileges. 

A charter member of the Women's 
Board, she has been extremely active 
in its programs, serving as vice presi- 
dent during the past year. 

Among her many other interests, 
Mrs. Smith also is vice president of the 
Alliance Francaise of Chicago and 
board member of the Passavant Hos- 




Mrs. Edward Byron Smith 

pital. She is also past president of the 
Lyric Opera Woman's Board and the 
Chicago Historical Society Guild. 



MILWAUKEE MUSEUM 

{continued from page 2) 

on China and Tibet," Webber said. 

Prior to joining the Field Museum 
staff, Dr. Starr served as a graduate 
assistant in the anthropology depart- 
ment at Peabody Museum of Natural 
History, Yale University. He has been 
a lecturer in Asiatic Archaeology and 
Ethnology at the University of Chicago 
since 1959. 

The author of numerous publica- 
tions on Asian prehistory, contempo- 
rary Chinese culture and Chinese rub- 
bings. Dr. Starr is currently completing 
a full-length book titled Black Tigers: 
A Grammar oj Chinese Rubbings. 

.\s, Director of the Milwaukee Public 
Museum, Dr. Starr succeeds Stephan 
Borhegyi who was killed in an auto 
accident in September, 1969. 



Page 14, JUNE. 1970 



to study explosive evolution 

DR. LIEM RECEIVES GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP 



Dr. Karel F. Liem, associate curator 
of vertebrate anatomy at Field Muse- 
um and associate professor of anatomy 
at the University of Illinois College of 
Medicine, Chicago, has been named 
a recipient of a Guggenheim Memorial 
Foundation Fellowship. 

Dr. Liem will use the fellowship to 
study the evolution of cichlid fishes in 
Africa's Lake Nyassa and Lake Tanga- 
nyika. Leaving for Europe in Avigust, 
Dr. Liem will spend approximately six 
months at the British Museiun of Nat- 
ural History, London and an equal 
amount of time at the Musee Royal de 
L'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren near 
Brussels. These two nniseums possess 
the largest collections in the world of 
cichlid fishes. 

"Cichlid fishes have undergone ex- 
plosive evoliUion in less than one mil- 
lion years in both Lake Nyassa and 
Lake Tanganyika,'' Dr. Liem said, 
"with one ancestral form giving rise to 
a great variety of descendants. Today," 



he said, "only the external characters 
of these fishes have been studied, and 
the reasons (or evolutionary mecha- 
nisms) for the explosive evolution of 
the species endemic to Lakes Nyassa 
and Tanganyika is unknown." 

Dr. Liem will study the comparative 
anatomy of the fishes, particularly the 
feeding mechanisms. "The ancestral 
form among these cichlid fishes," he 
said, "was an omnivorous fish or gen- 
eral feeder, while the descendants pos- 
sess particular specializations in their 
feeding mechanisms." Byway of illus- 
tration, he pointed out that some spe- 
cies now swallow their fish whole, some 
scrape algae from rocks, some crush 
snails, some eat only scales of other fish 
and others eat only fish eggs. 

Guggenheim Fellowships are tradi- 
tionally granted to young scholars, sci- 
entists and artists based on demon- 
strated achievement and strong prom- 
ise for the future. 




Dr. Karel Liem 

Educated in Indonesia, The Nether- 
lands and the United States, Dr. Liem 
holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the Uni- 
versity of Illinois, Urbana. He has 
collaborated on or been the author of 
20 publications on vertebrate anatomy 
and is currently a meinber of the Com- 
mittee on Latimeria (to study coela- 
canth) of the National Academy of 
Science, Washington, D. C. 



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



"I think that people are looking for 
quiet art," Henry Evans, noted San 
Francisco artist said in reference to his 
own prints of graceful flowers and 
plants. A collection of 24 of Evans' 
prints is now on display in Hall 28 of 
the Museum. They will be on exhibit 
through August. 

For the first time, copies of each of 
these prints are on sale at the Book 
Shop. Signed prints are in limited 
quantities of approximately 100 each, 
and sell for $20 apiece. 

What is most striking about each of 
the linoleum-block prints is their deli- 
cacy, their sensitive design, their amaz- 
ing clarity of color. The exquisite col- 
ors are a product of his own studio. 
Many of his prints are monochromes, 




but he will sometimes use as many as 
four colors on a single block. Evans 
uses Japanese hand-made papers and a 
century-plus-old hand press which is a 
museum piece in itself. 

Only about 100 prints are made 
from each block, after which it is de- 
stroyed. 

Also available at the Book Shop is 
the book "Flowerpot Gardens" by 
Clyde Robert Bulla, which is elegantly 
illustrated by Evans. 

If you believe, as Henr)- Evans does, 
that "Life is traumatic and tense 
enough without adding violence to the 
walls," you will find each of Evans' 
prints aesthetically and serenely pleas- 
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, 
Tanzania, by Mary Leakey in 1959, goes on display in the South Lounge. 

July 9 Summer Series OF Children's Movies. "Islandsof the Pacific" at 10 a.m. 
and 1 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. Admission is free. 

Through October 25: Illinois by the Se.\: A Coal Age Environment, an ex- 
hibit of special geological interest in Hall 9. Field Museum scientists collab- 
orated to present this illuminating study of life in this area 300 million years ago. 

Continuing: John J.-\mes Audubon's elephant folio, "The Birds of America," on 
display in the North Lounge. This rare, first-edition copy is the gift of an 
anonymous donor and is one of the most important acquistions in the history 
of Field Museum. 

Continuing: 75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of 
History, A Sense of Discovery, in Hall 3. Field Museum's past, present and 
future are explored through the use of innovative display techniques. 

MEETINGS 

Audubon Society, June 3, 7 p.m. 

Nature C.\mer.\ Club, June 9, 7:45 p.m. 

Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society, June 10, 7:30 p.m. 

Chicago Mount.aineering Club, June 11, 8 p.m. 

Chicago Shell Club, June 14, 2 p.m. 

Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society, July 8, 7:30 p.m. 



FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL HISTORY 

ROOSEVELT ROAD AT LAKE SHORE DRIVE 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60605 A.C. 312. 922-9410 




FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD. 1893 

E. Leland Webber, Director 




field museum's 
natural history 
tours 

gardens 

wild flowers 

birds 

archaeology 

congenial travel companions 

interpretations by experts 

the unhurried approach 

travel with all dimensions 

GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan 

Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, 

Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints 

Day. take Atitlan. 

THE INCA'S EMPIRE 

& DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS 

Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, 

& Feb. 4-March 5. 

$2,807 includes $600 donation. 

(22 days of Andes, $2,457; 11 days of Galapagos 
cruise & Quito, $1,190-separately) Gardens in 
Bogota, tima, ta 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 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- 
gists specialized in the areas. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, III. 60605 



Page 16. JUNE. 1970 





.o»^ 



FIELD 
MUSEUM 
OF NATURAL 
HISTORY 



d 



e 




BULLETIN 

VOL. 41, No. 7 July 1970 



\ 



» 





» 



^ 









FIELD MUSEUM 

OF NATURAL 

HISTORY 



Tffinois niay L'3 

by the sea: \q octotser 21 
a coal age. hall 9 
enworiment 




BULLETIN 

VOL. 41, No. 7 
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 

first of a two-part article on the 
fishes of the Great Lakes 



/ by Loren P. Woods 



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



FIELD BRIEFS 



CALENDAR 



15 



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 
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a 

o 




^^H 


mmI 



The American museum is an 
institution based on the sociability 
of the American settlers. The colonists 
formed clubs to fight fires, satisfy 
gregariousness and, according to 
Benjamin Franklin, to gain "rest from 
their wives." Taverns and coffee 
houses were early established as 
places to rendezvous for discussions, 
most often literary or political. During 
the 18th century, an interest in science 
was stimulated and spread rapidly. 
Numerous amateur learning societies 
sprang up in a fashion resembling 
spontaneous generation. 

Katz & Katz, quoting from a 
contemporary account, indicates the 
casual beginnings typical of such 
societies — in this case, the Philadelphia 
Academy of Natural Sciences: 

There were some young persons, 
however, disposed to study 
the laws of the creation . . . 
who were prone to fall into 
discussions upon natural 
phenomena. ... In the evening 
they met without appointment 
at such places of common 
resort as the city afforded for 
those of their social position . . . 
[One of them was] Mr. John 
Speakman. . . . His [apothecary] 
shop . . . became a center of 
the literary and scientific 
gossip of the day. 

Mr. Speakman suggested to some of 
his acquaintances that they have their 
discussions at stated times and 
several organizational meetings were 
held in his home. 

The developing academy was on 
its way but still had to deal with a 
problem of etiquette: 

. . . "The gentlemen were 
reluctant to be continuously 
indebted to the hospitality of 
Mr. Speakman": so two or three 
sessions were held at Mercer's 
Cake Shop, known as the "first 
public establishment at which 
ice-cream was sold in 
Philadelphia." But this proved 

Lee Putnam is Research Librarian in 
the Field Museum Library. 



unsatisfactory. The Philadelphia 
gentlemen were "under the 
impression that all visiters [sic] 
to such houses must in 
courtesy become customers." 
and because they feared that 
the infant society might 
degenerate into a club of 
bon-vivants . . . more private 
accommodation was sought." 

Such a self-sacrificing group of 
scholars was bound to succeed. In 
just a few years their research and 
publishing endeavors gained a wide 
reputation, and the Philadelphia 
Academy of Natural Sciences 
consistently attracted the best of the 
young scholar-naturalists. 

The early scientists had little, 
except their own intellects, with which 
to work. There were no libraries, few 
books and no specimen collections. 
Reflecting the democratic tenor of 
the young nation, several groups of 
scholars set about overcoming these 
shortages by combining their separate 
resources. 

The Charleston Library Society, 
for instance, was formed by a group 
interested in studying the natural 
history of the South Carolina region. 
They accumulated and shared a 
number of geological, botanical, 
zoological and even ethnological 
specimens. While this communal 
Cabinet of Curiosities was typical of 
the times, the Charleston Library 
Society contributed a radical idea to 
the American museum movement. 
In 1773, the objects the Society had 
collected were put on view for the en- 
joyment and edification of all people 
who wished to come see them. 

There were some European 
precedents to this action. England's 
Ashmolean Museum had opened in 
1683 and is usually given the title of 
"first public museum." Others 
followed — the British Museum in 
1759 and the Hermitage in 1764, for 
instance. The Ashmolean was 
intended as an aid to research and 
only those who could validate their 
abilities and prove their need of the 
collections were admitted. There was 



a slightly better opportunity to get 
into the British Museum since it was 
"open" daily but each prospective 
visitor had to submit his credentials 
and apply for permission to enter. 

Only after a long delay might he be 
accepted among the thirty visitors 
admitted each day. The Hermitage 
was possibly the most exclusive of all 
since visitors were required to present 
themselves in attire suitable for the 
court of Catherine the Great. In 
comparison with these restrictions on 
accessibility, how different the 
Charleston Library Society policy 
seems! 

Charles Willson Peale, the popular 
portrait painter, manifested the same 
sort of democratic desire as the 
founders of the Charleston Library 
Society. Peale was dismayed that 
most people had little chance to view 
art so, in 1 781 , he opened a wing of 
his home to the public. He displayed 
his paintings of national heroes as 
well as the work of other American 
artists and also put in his Exhibition 
Hall various objects he had collected. 

Peale dabbled in "bone-finding" 
and his major find, which he mounted 
and displayed, was the "American 
mammoth"— actually a mastodon. 
This was the first time that the skeleton 
of a prehistoric animal was exhibited 
anywhere and it generated a great 
deal of attention. Gradually, the 
nature exhibits overshadowed the 
artistic displays. 

Peale strove to educate as well as 
exhibit and in this aim illustrated a 
growing concern of the American 
museum movement. The Exhibition 
Hall was organized to demonstrate 
the rational plan of nature inherent in 
the Linnaean scheme. His tickets 
proclaimed: "The Birds and Beasts 
will teach thee! Admit the Bearer to 
Peale's Museum, Containing the 
wonderful works of NATURE and the 
curious works of ART." 

As Peale's collections grew, his 
home did not, so in 1794 he moved 
them to larger quarters and happily 
continued accumulating. By 1802 it 



BULLETIN /July 1970 



was necessary to move again, this 
time to Independence Hall. While in 
the State House, the collection was 
the "nearest thing to a National 
Museum then in existence," and was 
augmented by some very important 




OVER 200.000 CtiRiOSmES' 

" TMEEKTIRt CO'IeCTION OF THE I ATE 
a O K I) O N C U M M I -^ G, 

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t'S « Tig rB. I^<iu«r*>, (nd ot"!er Afn in Ar;ni»N 

NUMBERING OVfeR 3.000 SPECIMENS, 

15 Yeai> lliiiitiiig ill AfVica 

(Miller's Nat lonal Bronze Portrait Gallery 

l*/5 l><»rtrHiit of 

NORTH AMERICAN INOIAN CHIEFS. 

A W^l $0UI«_AI|IIERIC^I1 «_M^ 

j[ ioUTH AMERICAN SLOTH Vrry Bare. 
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riieOnuid A(junria. Tlio Ha|>|)y Fantily. 
LlTI!«U IllON'MTi:» fS^AKKS 

LIVING AFBICAN CROWNED CEANES. 

Wax Figures of Noted Peisouages. 

OSOUMiCAi^ OtXrCMOIOOlCAl.. ud MUMiBMAtXC UOL. 
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specimens, including those from the 
Lewis and Clark Expedition. 

Even after the death of Charles 
Willson Peale in 1827, the museum 
flourished ... for a while. Ironically, 
its very vitality was also its undoing. 
A building was constructed to house 
the museum. It was financed by a 
loan from the United States Bank. 
When that institution failed, Peale s 
collections were divided and sold 
to pay the claims of the Bank. 

During the first part of the 1 9th 
century, several collections, begun in 
the scientific spirit and through 
didactic motivations, underwent a 
change in emphasis or suffered a fate 
similar to Peale's Philadelphia 
Museum. A good example of the 
change in emphasis comes from the 
museum of the Society of Tammany. 
In 1790, the character of the Society 
was still determined by its social aims. 
Having acquired a group of Indian 
relics and anxious to extend cultural 
benefits to members of the Society 
and New Yorkers at large, a display 
was set up in City Hall. This was 
just the beginning of a collection 
which soon contained "all manner of 
curiosities as well as a substantial 
menagerie." 

Unfortunately, by 1795, politics 
had taken precedence over culture 
within the Society. The two leaders in 
the museum venture — John Pintard 
and Gardiner Baker — found their 
views irreconcilable, and Pintard, 
whose interests had been more 
scholarly, withdrew leaving Baker 
in sole possession of the collection 
which continued on display as Baker s 
American Museum. 

In 1 801 , Edward Savage, an artist 
and admirer of Peale's Museum, 
bought the contents of Baker's 
American Museum from Baker's 
widow. Savage, following Peale's 
example, set up a Columbian Gallery 
of Paintings and hired John Scudder 
to deal with the natural materials. 
Scudder seems to have had his share 
of shrewdness and soon bought out 
his partner and opened the New 
American Museum. 



The major attraction of the New 
American Museum was "true-to- 
life-displays" supplemented by 
lectures and (more or less) scientific 
demonstrations. Among other things, 
visitors could see the first giraffe in 
this country, electrical experiments, 
mummies and ventriloquists. The 
crowds flocked in to the tune of 
Yankee Doodle and twenty-five cents. 
Eventually, Scudder's New American 
Museum was sold to P. T. Barnum 
and became the basis of Barnum's 
American Museum. ^^ 

The queen of such side-show 
museums, though, may have been the 
Western Museum of Cincinnati. Its 
main attraction was the "Regions," a 
mechanical Hell complete with sound 
effects and automatons. An 
advertisement for the Western 
Museum is straightforward in 
identifying the main purpose of the 
museum as pleasure and also indicates 
the sort of items displayed by Joseph 
Dorfeuille, Prop., to further this 
pursuit: 

Wend hither, ye members of po/ished society— 
Ye who bright phantoms of pleasure pursue - 

To see of strange objects the endless variety, 
Monsieur Dorfeuille will expose to your view. 

Lo, here is a cabinet of great curiosities 

Procured from the Redmen who once were our foes; 
Unperished tokens of dire animosities. 

Darts, tomahawks, war-cudgels, arrows and bows. 

And bone-hooks for fishes and old earthen dishes, 
To please him who wishes 'er such things to pore. 

Superb wampum-sashes, and mica-slate glasses, 
Which doubtless the lasses much valued of yore. 

It may not be great poetry, but the 
appeal must have been irresistible. 

By the beginning of the 19th 
century, a shift in purposes was 
becoming apparent. Several 
museums, originally opened to the 
public because of the social 
consciousness of the individuals or 
societies which assembled them, 
were being operated as profit- making 
ventures. In them, instruction was 
less important than entertainment. 
Such "side-show" museums, 
increasingly sensational and 
commercial as they might have been, 
still had an important lesson to offer 
their more respectable counterparts. 



BULLETIN /July 1970 



As the i nstitutions of higher learning 
developed, the disciplines of science 
and natural theology became more 
oriented to the academic structure 
and less a gentleman's avocation. 
The curatorial staffs of the museum 
were more often drawn from among 
the academics than from among the 
amateurs; concerns of the museums 
became increasingly esoteric. For the 
casual visitor confronting rows upon 
rows of crowded cases, the 
institutions were earning their 
reputations as musty, dusty, confusing 
and forbidding places. The public 
obviously preferred the "side-show" 
museums. These made money, and 
lots of it, while the free museums 
received relatively few visitors. 

Charles Darwin published On the 
Origin of Species in 1859. As natural 
science turned to the process 
approach of evolutionary studies the 
scientists left the museums and went 
to the laboratories. Having already 
lost much public interest, museums 
now began to lose the support of the 
specialists as well. The museums 
found it more and more difficult to 
support themselves. The future 
existence of many was in doubt. 

The solution which developed 
combined idealism and practicality. 
The museums changed the basis of 
their organization. Instead of private 
ownership by societies, gratuitously 
allowing public access to their 
cabinets, museums were incorporated 
as non-profit public corporations 
governed by a board of trustees. 
A three part base of income — from 
membership, taxes and endowments 
— was established after the Civil war. 
Museums which had been in danger 
of becoming moribund were 
revitalized as they took up the 
challenge of justifying themselves as 
public service institutions. 

The American Museum of Natural 
History provides a good example of 
the new patterns of organization and 
their implications for museum 
directives. Dr. Albert Smith 
Bickmore, an ardent advocate of 
Darwinism, was the prime mover in 
the founding of the American Museum 




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OENERAI. TOM THUMB, ■'fA-'^ ANUIIlAIl KAwNE Tlofli \ 

The celebrated Americao Dwarf, exhibiting erery day and efening, at "*>;??.?•.' .^rj*"'." 
Uie Egyptian Elall, Piccadilly. 



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of Natural History. Dr. Bickmore 
must have been an extremely 
sagacious and persuasive man. He 
convinced several powerful people to 
support his scheme: J. P. Morgan, 
newspaperman Charles Dana, 
Theodore Roosevelt and the City 
Council of New York, among others. 
The city of New York extended funds 
for the building and its upkeep while 
the scientific work was supported by 
private income. 

The museum became the interface 
where the researchers and the public 
encountered each other. It had 
gained a wider potential audience but 
had to arouse and develop their 
interest. From the beginning, it 
pioneered in effective exhibit technique 
to illustrate the new developments in 
the natural sciences. For example, 
the cases of specimens arranged 
according to a "ladder of creation" so 
prevalent in the other museums of the 
day, were replaced by habitat groups 
reflecting the evolutionists' emphasis 
on the interaction of an organism 
with its environment. 

The American Museum of Natural 
History was founded in 1 869. In the 
years following, most of the new 



museums emulated it, although some 
of the older society museums 
continued with limited income and 
pedantic orientation. A stimulus had 
been delivered and a trend 
established. Museums such as the 
Field Museum of Natural History, 
founded as the Columbian Museum 
of Chicago in 1893, heralded a new 
emphasis in museum objectives. 

American natural history museums 
began as private concerns, serving the 
public on a secondary basis, largely 
ignoring public interests. The first 
attempts expressly to attract the 
public had led to the "side-show" 
museums which slavishly followed 
public tastes. As the 19th century 
drew to a close, museums turned 
from both alternatives to a 
constructive, modern program of 
public service.  

FOR FURTHER READING 

Hellman, Geoffrey. Smithsonian: Octopus on the Mall. 
New York: Lippincott, 1967. 

Katz, Herbert, and Katz, Marjorie. Museums U.S.A.: 
a History and Guide. Garden City, New York: 
Doubleday, 1965. 

Schwartz, Alvin. Museum: the Story of America's 
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 
on the fishes of the Great Lakes. Part 
II, luhich will appear in the August 
issue of the Bulletin, will deal with 
further changes in the lakes, includ- 
ing pollution, and some of the neces- 
sary approaches towards reversing the 
conditions that are leading to their 
deterioration. 

PART I 

WHEN this quote was written in 
1939, Lake Michigan was much 
closer to its original condition than 
it is today. Geologically speaking, 
Bretz was essentially correct, but eco- 
logically many changes had already 
taken place, beginning a hundred 
years earlier and continuing at an 
accelerated pace to the present. The 
most rapid and greatest changes in 
water quality, flora and fauna have 
occurred during the past 25 years. 

The Great Lakes basin occupies 
only 300,000 square miles, of which 
about a third, or 95,000 square miles, 
is water. More than 30 million peo- 
ple live in the basin, and at least 20 
million of these people use the water 
of the Great Lakes. There are more 
than 300 towns and cities on the 
shores. Of the total amount of water 
used from Lake Michigan, 46% goes 
to industry, 46% to irrigation and 
8% to domestic households. For 
example, one steel plant at the south 
end of Lake Michigan uses one bil- 
lion gallons of water daily, as much 
as the entire city of Chicago. 

Certainly, the oldest industry on 
the Great Lakes is fishing. The In- 
dians had developed many types of 
fishing equipment and in some places, 
as at Mackinac and Sault Ste. Marie, 
fishing was the principal means of 
subsistence of the Indians. In their 
descriptions, the French explorers 
expressed amazement at the abun- 
dance of fish and the ease with which 
the Indians took all the fish they 
could use and trade. 

The French— and later the English 
—fur traders and settlers did little to 
affect the lakes, and it was not until 



44 Eastward lies the lake as great a 
contrast with the city as night 
with day . . . This half of our 
horizon is as primaeval as the 
day white men first entered the 
region . . . Man has done his bit 
to the lake, but it is trifling. Shores 
have changed and Chicago River 
reversed. The lake remains, how- 
ever, the one unalterable primi- 
tive feature of Chicagoland. J^ 

(Harlan Bretz, 1939, Geology of the Chicago Region.) 



after 1812 that people began moving 
in greater numbers into the basin 
and establishing towns on the shores, 
mainly at river mouths, that the 
changes we will discuss began to take 
place. The large amount of high 
quality fish in the streams and along 
the lake shores provided sustenance 
for many settlements until they were 
established. But the activties of the 
settlers started the deterioration of 
environment which eventually led to 
the decline, depletion and even ex- 
tinction of some of the most desirable 
kinds of fishes. Even so, despite very 
intensive fishing, the fisheries have 
held up for 150 years. But there have 
been many changes. 

The first species to go was the 
Atlantic salmon, which disappeared 
from Lake Ontario by 1880. Salmon 
require clear, cool streams in which 
to spawn. The early settlers altered 
the streams by cutting timber along 
the banks and by building dams and 
mills for power, leading to warming 
and silting. Repeated attempts to re- 
establish Atlantic salmon in Lake 
Ontario have failed. 

In Lake Michigan, the first species 
to be depleted almost to extinction 
was the lake sturgeon. This occurred 
during the period of 1840 to 1870 
through a process of "cleaning out." 



Sturgeon were regarded as a pest by 
fishermen. There was no market for 
them. Then, in 1870, a market for 
smoked sturgeon developed, and stur- 
geon became the object of a very in- 
tensive fishery, taking 10,000 to 20,000 
fish per year. In 1885, eight million 
pounds were taken. After this, they 
declined rapidly. Within 15 years 
they were so rare in the lake it was 
no longer profitable to fish for them. 

The total amount of fish produced 
in the United States waters of the 
Great Lakes fluctuates between 75 to 
100 million pounds per year. This 
amount has remained relatively con- 
stant over the past 80 years. The re- 
cent changes that have occurred— the 
invasion of the sea lamprey and ale- 
wife— have greatly affected the quan- 
tity of the more valuable species. 

Until after 1835, conditions in 
Lake Michigan were primitive, and 
there was still a great abundance of 
fish. In 1850, the population of Chi- 
cago was 30,000; by 1870, 300,000. 
The next year, the first survey of the 
lake conditions and the fisheries was 
undertaken. Prior to 1850, fishing 
was largely by gill nets and large 

Loren P. Woods is Curator of Fishes in 
the Department of ^oology at Field Mu- 
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 
basin occupies 300,000 square miles, oj which one- 
third, or 95,000 square miles, is water. There are 
at least 20 million people who depend on the Great 




seines along the shore, principally 
for whitefish and lake trout. In the 
1850's, pound nets came into use, 
and between 1858 and 1872, fish pro- 
duction was estimated to have de- 
creased by 50%. The decline was 
blamed on 1) capture of immature 
fish by pound nets, 2) lost gill nets 
which continued to fish, 3) the prac- 
tice of fishermen of cleaning fish in 
the fishing areas and 4) pollution 
from sawdust, slabs, sidings, etc. float- 
ing widely over the lake, later to 
sink and cover the spawning grounds. 

Until just before World War II, 
cinders were dumped by lake steam- 
ers. Presently, dredgings from the 
harbors are dumped in the lake. 
There has also been dumping of 
garbage and cinders by the barge 
load by many of the large cities. The 
only rule restricting this latter prac- 
tice was that it had to be dumped a 
number of miles ofl^shore. 

But, to return to the 19th Century. 
Car]j were introduced into Illinois in 
the I870's and soon spread into Lake 
.Michigan. Their effect was not great, 
as they lived mostly in shallows and 
in river mouths. Carp actually be- 
came the object of a. rather valuable 
fishery, particularly in Green Bay, 
where two to five million poimds 
were taken each year. 

Dining the World's Columbian Ex- 
position in 1893, goldfish and rain- 



bow trout were kept in exposition 
pools and lagoons as exhibits. After- 
wards, these were released or escaped 
into Lake Michigan. As with the 
carp, the addition of these had little 
effect on the lake or its fishes. Large 
goldfish can still be seen in the weed 
beds of the various yacht harbors. 

Rainbow trout have been reintro- 
duced many times and are well estab- 
lished in clean northern streams of 
Michigan and Wisconsin, and in 
many parts of Lake Michigan itself. 
The descendants of the Exposition 
stock established themselves in the 
lake, and for many years a few could 
be caught ofl:shore around the water 
intake cribs; but we have heard no 
reports of rainbow trout in the jjast 
40 years. 

The smelt in the Great Lakes, ex- 
cept in Lake Ontario, are all be- 
lieved to be descended from a suc- 
cessful planting of eggs in 1912 in 
Crystal Lake, Benzie County, Michi- 
gan. It was not until 1918 that the 
first smelt were noticed in Crystal 
Lake, and the first large spawning 
run occurred in 1922. By 1923, they 
had escaped into Lake Michigan. 

Although the smelt became the 
dominant commercial species 
through the spring of 19!2 (Lake 
Michigan catch, 14 million poinids) , 
the other kinds of fishes did not 
seem to suffer, but instead flourished. 



Then, in the fall of 1942, dead smelt 
were noticed in Lake Huron off 
Saginaw Bay and Mackinac. The 
die-off spread through Lake Michi- 
gan, and by the spring spawning sea- 
son of 1943 few survivors were left. 

They began to recover their num- 
bers 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 rea- 
sons 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 lamprey 
was taken in Lake Erie. So it took 
the sea lamprey more than 90 years 
to pass through this barrier. No easy 
passage— there are seven locks, a 327- 
foot lift, and 25 miles of length. 
When the water is let out of the 
locks, it flows as a torrent; and a 
lamprey has to have a firm attach- 
ment by means of its sucking mouth 
to the hull of a vessel or the wall of 
the locks to keep from being washed 
backwards. 

Once in Lake Erie, the lampreys 
did not do well because of a lack of 
suitable spawning streams in the 
Lake Erie drainage. Because of their 
long life cycle, it was not until 1937 




BULLETIN /July 1970 



that sea lampreys were established in 
Lake Huron. Here they found sev- 
eral excellent streams in which to 
spawn. Lampreys, instinctively, are 
pretty particular. They like the same 
kinds of streams as Atlantic salmon; 
clear, cool and with good gravel 
beds, not too far upstream from the 
lake. Sea lamprey spawning runs 
begin as soon as the temperature of 
the streams is between 40 and 50 
degrees. This usually occurs in late 
March or April. The migration is 
usually at night, the lampreys mo\- 
ing upstream until a suitable spawn- 
ing area of shallow ripples with 
clean sand and gravel is reached. 

After spawning, the adult lam- 
preys die and are washed down- 
stream, where they rapidly decay and 
disintegrate. The eggs hatch in 10 to 
12 days, and the larval lampreys 
leave the nest 10 to 12 days later. 
These larvae are carried off the rip- 
ples, where, when the current slack- 
ens, they burrow into the soft mud 
and debris that usually collect in 
such areas of quieter water. Here 
they live for the next five years, feed- 
ing on microscopic organisms and 
tiebris sucked from the water passing 
the mouths of their burrows. During 
the fifth year, they develop eyes, a 
sucking mouth bearing horny teeth 



and the enlarged fins of adults. In 
the early spring, they emerge from 
the mud, drift downstream and enter 
the deep waters of the lake, where 
they become parasites and feed on 
the blood of the larger fishes. 

Sea lampreys were first noted in 
Lake Michigan in MH3 and in Lake 
Superior in 1954. In each lake, it 
took eight or more years for the lam- 
prey population to build up to a size 
that serious depredations were noted 
on the larger commercial fishes, espe- 
cially lake trout. Many fishes bearing 
open wounds or scars were taken 
and these were imsuitable for mar- 
keting. Within a year or two the 
catch began to decline. In Lake 
Michigan, it fell from a 75-year 
average of four to six million pounds 
to less thaa a few hundred thousand 
pounds— and then to nothing. Not 
even young trout were foiuid. The 
lampreys turned to other large spe- 
cies, especially whitefish and burbot. 
They preferred lake trout, however, 
and preyed on them extensively un- 
til the lake trout was virtually wiped 
out by 1951. A similar decline oc- 
curred earlier in Lake Huron. In 
Lake Superior, the catch was 4.5 
million pounds in 1951, but six years 
later, this had decreased to one mil- 
lion poimds. Clearly, the lake trout 



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 
anti-coagulant, so the wound stays open while the lamprey sucks the blood and flesh. 




could maintain themselves as long 
as man was the only predator, hut 
the additional predation of the sea 
lamprey was too much, and their 
ninnbers were soon reduced to the 
point of extinction. 

Something had to be done to save 
the fisheries. Several means were ob- 
vious to the United States Fish and 
Wildlife Service personnel studying 
the problem. The first was to con- 
struct mechanized weirs (a dam with 
a screen across a stream which al- 
lows water to pass while catching all 
fish) near the entrances of the fa- 
vored lamprey spawning streams. 
These were devised to block adult 
lampreys from ascending the streams 
and to catch larval lampreys from pre- 
vious spawnings as they descended. 
Problems with ice, floods and tend- 
ing to the weirs soon showed such 
weirs would never be effective. Next, 
electrical weirs were installed. Here 
electrodes were lowered into the wa- 
ter, and the electrical field either 
killed or stopped the adults on their 
upstream spring migrations. But 
other fishes were blocked also. Power 
failures and kills of rainbow trout 
and white suckers migrating at the 
same time indicated electric weirs 
were not the final answer. 

Meanwhile, a screening program 
to find some chemical that would 
kill lamprey larvae and not other 
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. 
Other harmless, non-parasitic lam- 
preys were killed also, as were mud 
puppies (Necturus) and the burrow- 
ing mayfly nymphs— a favorite food 
of rainbow trout. What other changes 
may have been effected in the 
streams, and what the long lasting 
effects were remains luidertermined. 

The most recent and probably the 
most devastating invader to the up- 
per lakes has been the alewife— not 
only to the inhabitants of the lakes, 
but to those along shore as well. 
Alewives have been abundant in 



within a few miles of Lake Michi- 
gan, they did not enter until 1949. 
Perhaps they were kept in check by 
lake trout and burbot that were 
abundant in Lake Michigan until 
about this time. 

Four years after being first noticed 
in Lake Michigan, they had spread 
to all parts of the lake. The first 
evidence of their spawning was no- 
ticed in Green Bay during the sum- 
mer of 1953. The first large speci- 
men near Chicago was brought to 
Field Museum in March 1954. In 
October 1956 the Museum received 



The answer is not simple, but it is 
certainly connected with the fact that 
alewives are marine fish. Along the 
Atlantic coast from New England to 
the Carolinas, they run upstream to 
spawn, then return to the sea. The 
young remain in fresh water for a 
couple of months, then they too 
move into salt water. In the Great 
Lakes, alewives are stunted in growth 
and it would seem that although 
they can live here, they are not well 
adapted and so are under constant 
stress. The cold temperature of the 
lakes, the changing temperatures, 




Lake Ontario for at least 80 years. 
Just how they got into Lake Ontario 
—whether they were left there at the 
close of the last glacial depression of 
this area; whether they strayed in 
through the St. Lawrence River 
(where they do not live now) ; or 
whether they were brought in acci- 
dentally by man, has not been deter- 
mined. In the early I870's, however, 
shad were introduced into Lake On- 
tario, and there is the likelihood 
that alewives were included in the 
shipment. 

For the past 80 years at least, ale- 
wives have been a conspicuous nui- 
sance. Nearly every summer large 
numbers die and, drifting inshore, 
clutter the beaches— sometimes in 
such quantities they form wind rows. 
On occasion, it has been necessary to 
haul them away. 

Since alewives are migratory, run- 
ning upstream to spawn, they even- 
tually, after nearly 70 years, made it 
past Niagara, through the Welland 
Canal, into the upper lakes. They 
were first recorded in Lake Erie in 
September 1931. Eighteen months 
later, one was captured in northern 
Lake Huron. Although they were now 



young that had hatched the previ- 
ous summer. The following spring, 
large numbers appeared floating dead 
in Burnham Park lagoon and in the 
harbor north of Shedd Aquarium. 

The climax of alewife die-off came 
in 1967 when the city of Chicago re- 
moved 4,500 cubic yards of dead fish 
from the Chicago shores. This 
amounted to about six million 
pounds. Alewives died in all parts 
of the lake, and it has been estimated 
that more than 180 million pounds 
died in this one year. The same year 
41 million pounds were harvested by 
the commercial fishermen. Nearly all 
of these were three-year old fish. 
When you consider it takes 10 ale- 
wives to make a pound, the numbers 
assume astronomical proportions, 
and these are only the three-year 
olds. The yearlings and two-year 
olds are yet to be counted. It would 
appear that alewives are crowding 
all other fishes out of the lake. The 
lake herring, emerald shiner, and 
even perch are much reduced in 
numbers. Perhaps 90 to 95% of the 
fishes in Lake Michigan now are ale- 
wives. 

The question is: Why do they die? 



their migration from cold offshore 
waters into warm, shallow waters, all 
have been suggested as the cause of 
death. Another observation has been 
that when their numbers build up to 
a peak, die-offs occur. Since the great 
mortality of 1967, the fish seem to 
be in better condition, living longer, 
and though some die, no conspicuous 
or massive die-offs have occurred. 

The best explanation for their 
death appears to be physiological. In 
many three-year old fishes examined, 
the thyroid gland, which functions 
as a regulatory mechanism of metab- 
olism, excretion, growth and sexual 
development, appears to have been 
exhausted. Perhaps this results partly 
from a lack of iodine in the lake 
waters and hence in their diet. The 
stresses of their adopted environ- 
ment seem to be too much for them. 

The managing of a body of water 
as large as Lake Michigan, along 
with the many complicating factors 
discussed here, proves to be difficidt. 
More information is needed on all 
aspects of the biology and inter- 
relationships of the plants and ani- 
mals and their environment. We can 
only hope there is enough time.  



10 



BULLETIN / July 1970 



Tell 



me 



t-|-Tow can I make a volcano?" 
Xl "Send me everything you have 
on cavemen." Every year the Mu- 
seum's well-earned reputation as a 
great storehouse of knowledge staffed 
by an impressive array of experts 
brings in a flood of such requests. 
Many of these requests come from 
students hoping the Museum will 
supply an instant term paper— "Tell 
me all about insects. I need this in- 
formation before May 15"; some 
come from people who misimder- 
stand the Museum's function— "Dear 
fossil company, how much are your 
fossils?" There are always those, of 
course, with an immediate problem— 
"I have a bird in my attic. How do I 
get it out?" "My son was just bitten 
by a big black bug. What shall I do?" 

But many questions also reveal a 
very real desire for knowledge. After 
touring the Museum, visitors are 
often stimulated to learn more about 
a subject covered only briefly in an 
exhibit. Perhaps they have discov- 
ered a plant or insect in their own 
backyard that they find unusual, 
mystifying or even frightening. What- 
ever the reason, people are thinking 
about natural history and turn to the 
Museum for help. 

Because Field Museum doesn't 
maintain a public information serv- 
ice for scientific questions, they are 
referred directly to the appropriate 
ilejjartment— Anthropology, Botany, 
Geology or Zoology. In most cases, 
the department secretary passes it on 
to a curator specializing in the que- 
ried field of interest. The curators 
often answer the questions person- 
ally and since even "easy" questions 
take some research, answers are fre- 
(]uently long in coming. 



PATRICIA M. WILLIAMS 

Despite this, the phones keep ring- 
ing and the letters keep coming— 
with each season, similar questions 
arise. For example, the Division of 
Insects can predict that every year in 
early summer there will be an influx 
of questions about the attention-get- 
ting Cecropia moths. Most often, 
people call in to ask, "What is the 
pretty, big moth in my backyard?" 
The next most common question 
about the Cecropia is, "What can we 
feed it to keep it alive?" The dismal 
answer is: "Nothing. These moths 
do not feed in the adult phase. The 
caterpillar does all the feeding. 
There is nothing you can feed it to 
prolong its life." 

While the Division of Insects does 
not have the personnel needed to 
answer all inquiries received, Curator 
Rupert Wenzel and Associate Curator 
Henry Dybas try to answer as many 
as possible. Some common inquiries 
that do receive answers include such 
questions as: "Are there any poison- 
ous spiders in the Chicago area?" 

"Yes. The brown recluse spider is 
poisonous and is established in the 
Chicago area, and is commonly found 
in buildings." In fact. Field Museum's 
Division of Insects identified the 
first authentic specimen in this area. 
A physician treating a four-year-old 
Oak Lawn girl for a spider bite 
called Dr. Wenzel for information. 
Dr. Wenzel instructed the doctor to 
collect spiders from the girl's neigh- 
borhood. The physician did so and 
sent the specimens to the Museum. 
Mr. Dybas tentatively identified them 
as brown recluse spiders. After fur- 

Patricia M. Williams is Managing Editor 
of Scientific Publications at Field Museum. 



everything 



you 



know! 




Photo by H. J. Ensenberger 



BULLETIN / July 1970 



11 



ther study this identification was sup- 
ported and soon after, a second speci- 
men from Chicago was received. 

"My son is interested in insects 
and I would like to encourage this 
interest. Can you recommend any 
living insects for him to keep and 
observe?" 

"The praying mantis is quite inter- 
esting to watch. Although it will not 
respond to you as an individual, it 
has unusual postures artd gestures 
and really almost looks intelligent. 
This insect has a short life span, 
living a couple of months at most. 

^*An ant colony may also interest 
your son. Remember, because of state 
regulations, a queen will not be in- 
cluded in the colony. You must go 
out and find your own." 

"How many different kinds of in- 
sects are there in the Chicago area?" 

"15,000 to 20,000-and, of course, 
these insects are in all stages and, 
therefore, look different at different 
times." 

"When do the monarch butterflies 
migrate and where are they coming 
from?" 

"They migrate in early fall and 
pass through Chicago on their way 
south from Canada, Wisconsin and 
Michigan." 

"How many insects are in the Mu- 
seum's collection?" 

"There are about two million in- 
sects in the Museum collections. Obvi- 
ously, only a minute fraction of these 
is on exhibit." 

"Will the 17-year locust emerge in 
the Chicago area this year?" 

"This will be a big 17-year locust— 
or cicada— year in many parts of Indi- 
ana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York 
and other regions of the eastern 
United States. Although there was a 
premature emergence in the Chicago 
area in 1969, 1973 is the normal 

Photo by 111. State Nat. Hist. Survey 



cicada year for this area." 

Like all divisions of the Zoology 
Department, the Bird Division re- 
ceives many inquiries, including: 
"Birds keep flying at our picture 
window. What can we do to prevent 
this?" 

"The birds are drawn by what is 
either a mirror image or an apparent 
opening into your home. In either 
case, you must destroy this illusion. 
Of course, you could simply draw the 
drapes, but this is seldom a satisfac- 
tory permanent solution. Dangling 
tin foil ribbons hung in front of the 
window is usually effective in dealing 
with this problem." 

. "I have often seen bird 'apartment 
houses' advertised for purple mar- 
tins. Why do purple martins need a 
different kind of bird house than 
other birds?" 

"Purple martins prefer communal 
living— several of them nest together." 

"We built what we think is a very 
nice birdhouse, but apparently the 
birds don't think so. None have 
come to live in it. Is there anything 
we can do to attract birds to this 
house?" 

"No. You'll simply have to be pa- 
tient and keep hoping. However, if 
some do take up residence, they will 
probably return year after year." 

In the Botany Department, Chief 
Curator Louis O. Williams is often 
asked: "Is there such a thing as a 
man-eating plant?" 

Dr. Williams replies, "To the best 
of my knowledge, there isn't. Stories 
of such plants are 500 years old and 
have been propagated by the comics 
and movies. There are, of course, 
deadly plants. For example, in the 
Philippines, natives often refuse to 
climb trees in areas where a partic- 
ular nettle plant is found. Men have 
fallen into these nettles, been stung, 
swollen up and died." 

Although there may not be man- 
eating plants, there are plant-eating 



men and sometimes with disastrous 
results. Last year at Christmas time. 
Dr. Williams received a call from a 
loop office, where a lively Christmas 
party was in progress. It seems that 
one of the executives had been dared 
to eat the office poinsettia plant. Bol- 
stered with the season's cheer, he 
took the dare and quickly devoured 
the plant. The question was, "Will 
a poinsettia hurt him?" 

"Yes. Poinsettias are poisonous." 
Dr. Williams recommended taking 
the exec to an emergency room, 
where the poinsettia could be re- 
moved from his system. 

One of the country's foremost 
orchid experts, Dr. Williams reports 
that people often want to know, 
"What kinds of orchids grow in 
Illinois?" 

"There are several kinds of orchids 
growing in our state in various areas 
—bogs, woods or marshes. You can 
find lady slippers, rein orchids, grass 
pinks, arathusa, fringed orchids, 
coral-roots, plaintain, ladies' tresses 
and calypso." 



Ranking with man-eating plants 
and poisonous spiders in public in- 
terest are, as might be expected, 
mummies, cavemen, Indians and the 
Tibetan snowman. For instance, every 
new account of tracks left by the 
Tibetan snowman brings a predic- 
table tide of inquiries to the Depart- 
ment of Anthropology, most of them 
asking, "Is the Tibetan snowman 
really a man?" 

Dr. Kenneth Starr, curator of Asi- 
atic archaeology and ethnology, re- 
plies, "The Tibetan snowman is a 
long enduring superstition in the 
Himalayan and Chinese region. In 
all likelihood, it is not a man, but 
one of several animals— most prob- 
ably a bear or antelope." 

Recently, the Department received 
the following request, "I need a to- 
tem pole and wonder if I might bor- 
row one of yours?" Rather predict- 
ably, the writer was told, "We do not 
have any totem poles that we would 



12 



BULLETIN /July 1970 



be willing to loan and you may have 
difficulty in getting any museum to 
loan poles. If you try to buy one, you 
will find that they are much more ex- 
pensive than you perhaps realize. 
Probably the best bet would be to 
have one made. There are a number 
of Indian carvers in the Pacific North- 
west who might be willing to do the 
job. You could probably get the 
names of such individuals by con- 
tacting the Centennial Museum in 
Vancouver, B. C. However, even this 
may be more expensive than you are 
counting on." 

An apparently ardent do-it-your- 
selfer asked, "How do you make 
chopped stone arrowheads, scrapers 
and points like the Indians used?" 

Dr. James VanSione, curator of 
North American archaeology and 
ethnology, answered, "There are two 
basic methods for making these stone 
tools. The first of these methods is 
called 'percussion flaking' and essen- 
tially this is simply the striking of 
one stone against another in such a 
manner as to knock off flakes, which 
are then used as tools. The other 
method is called 'pressure flaking' 
and, as the name implies, small flakes 



the removal of small flakes by the 
pressure method. Pressure flaking is 
very fine work indeed and requires a 
considerable degree of skill on the 
part of the craftsman." 

Ancient Egypt holds an under- 
standable fascination for many peo- 
ple and questions such as the follow- 
ing are often received, "Why is there 
a hole in the ears of several Egypt- 
ian funeral masks and statues?" 

"Egyptian children wore earrings 
until they came of age— between 8 
and 10 years old. Earrings were for 
pierced ears at that time and there- 
fore, most Egyptians had holes in 
their ears. The Egyptian artists tried 
to depict the deceased as he had been 
in life with, generally, a little more 
dignity in appearance and a formal- 
ized stance." 

"Do hieroglyphs form an alphabet 
similar to our 'a, b, cV?" 

"The Egyptians developed an al- 
phabet of 24 letters (sound signs) . 
However, they did not recognize its 
value and continued to use thousands 
of ideograms mixed with letters. 
About 1500 B.C. the Egyptian alpha- 
bet was used as a basis for a Semitic 




Dr. Glen H. Cole, assistant curator 
of prehistory, wrote back, "Soft body 
parts and hair do not generally pre- 
serve, and the cave-dwelling people 
of Prehistoric Europe weren't given 
to depicting themselves realistically 
in their cave paintings, so one doesn't 
know how long they were inclined to 
wear their hair. Flint knives, which 




are removed from a stone by means 
of exerting pressure at some point on 
the surface, usually with a bone or 
antler tool. Frequently, both methods 
are used in the making of a partic- 
ular tool. The flakes are first re- 
moved from a core of rock by means 
of percussion flaking. Then the im- 
plement is retouched or finished by 



alphabetic script— the mother of all 
modern alphabets." 

A high school freshman, who may 
have been having hair problems of 
his own, wrote to the Museum to ask, 
"How long was caveman's hair? I 
don't see how they could move be- 
cause at the age of ten their hair 
would be at their ankles." 



these people made and used, were 
very sharp and quite capable of cut- 
ting hair. One supposes that they 
wore their hair at whatever length 
personal preference and fashion 
might have dictated." 

.Again, Dr. Cole was requested to 
"Tell me about the height and ap- 
pearance of man as far back as his- 



BULLETIN /July 1970 



13 



tory knows." As Dr. Cole explained, 
ihe answer depends upon what is 
meant by "man." "The Australopith- 
ecines, which were living a couple of 
million years ago, are sometimes re- 
garded as being men. Two forms of 
these creatures are known— one was 
about 4 feet tall and probably 
weighed less than 100 lbs. The other 
reached as much as 5 feet and weighed 
]jerhaps 140 or 150 lbs. The smaller 
of these creatures (if not both) made 
stone tools— a criterion often taken as 
diagnostic in defining "humanness." 
By the time that the creatures uni- 
versally regarded as man (i.e., Homo 
crectus with such well-known repre- 
sentatives as Java and Peking man) 
appeared (about 500,000 years ago) 
they had reached a size comparable 
lo that of modern man." 

.Also, a California resident wrote to 
ask, "Was it possible for a single 
man, utilizing only his primitive 
weapons, to kill one of the larger 
dinosaurs such as the Tyranno- 
saurus?" 

While movie-makers and cartoon- 
ists do not seem to be aware of this 
fact, "All dinosaurs, including Ty- 
rannosaurus, had become extinct 
long before man appeared on the 
earth. Although man never had an 
opportunity to exercise his talents for 
slaughter on any dinosaurs, he quite 
effectively killed other very large 
animals— including extinct elephants 
somewhat larger than the living 
forms. One can't be sure if a single 
hunter e\er killed any of these ani- 
mals, but it is reported that certain 



living people (e.g., the Mguti pyg- 
mies of the Congo Basin) kill ele- 
phants employing hunting tech- 
niques involving a single hunter 
armed only with a spear." 

Naturally, the Museum's Depart- 
ment of Geology also receives numer- 
ous letters regarding extinct animals, 
particularly dinosaurs. The follow- 
ing is typical: "My friend's aunt has 
found a dinosaur toe. I would like 
to know if it really is a dinosaur toe, 
and if it is what kind. It is 4 inches 
across and 5 inches long. It's covered 
with a hardened mud and in this 
mud are fossils of ferns. As it nears 
the toe part, it curls up slightly. 
Where it was broken off the inside 
is a grayed white." 

Slie was told, "We will be glad to 
identify your friend's fossil material 
as to whether it is from a dinosaur or 
not. We cannot tell, however, by just 
one toe what kind of a dinosaur. 
Send it along to the Museum, care 
of the Department of Geology, and 
be sure to wrap it carefidly. If you 
wish it returned, we would appre- 
ciate it if you will enclose the neces- 
sary postage." 

Another girl reported finding "a 
rock with a white mark on it. When 
I cracked it open there was a fossil 
of a snail. Now I have the cast and 
the mold. Do you think it is any- 
thing worth saving?" 

To encourage young people's in- 
terest in natural history, the curator 
answered, "Yes, indeed here in the 
Department of Geology we do think 



what you have found is important. It 
takes thousands, even millions of 
years for these rocks to form— this is 
the only way the earth can leave a 
record of the plants and animals that 
lived here long before our time. The 
.Museum has vast collections of all 
the fossil flora and fauna (plants and 
animals) which are studied by the 
research scientists and university stu- 
dents to learn more about the planet 
we live on. You now have your start 
for a fossil collection and everywhere 
you go you can be on the lookout for 
other fossils. Sometime visit the Mu- 
seum and look at the geological ex- 
hibits here." 

Often, entire families are inter- 
ested in collecting fossils and may 
ask, "We would like to spend a Sun- 
day afternoon hunting for fossils. 
Can you recommend a good spot 
which is not too far from the Chi- 
cago area?" 

"You might try Dresden Lake. A 
picnic ground on Lorenzo Road 
about three miles west of Interstate 
55 (US 66) just south of the Kanka- 
kee River. There is a daily admission 
lee of 75c. Also, Fossil Rock Camp- 
ground, about two miles north of 
Braidwood, just off Illinois 129, is 
;inother possibility." 

.\11 of the departments frequently 
direct people desiring information 
on a grand scale— "I want to know all 
about the Ice Age"— to their local 
libraries and bookshops, often rec- 
ommending appropriate reading 
material.  




14 



BULLETIN / July 1970 



field briefs 



In Memoriam: 



Delia Akeley Howe 



known as the 
Museum. 



'trademark" of the 



A very remarkable lady, Mrs. Delia 
-Akeley Howe, passed away on May 21 , 
1970, at Daytona Beach, Florida. 

The first wife of Carl Akeley, taxi- 
dermist, sculptor and hunter who joined 
the Museum staff in 1 896, her life was 
closely interwoven with the Museum's 
early history. A proficient hunter in 
her own right, she accompanied her 
husband on several African expeditions. 
Delia Akeley will be best remembered 
in Field Museum annals for her partici- 
pation in the British East African expe- 
dition that brought back the now fa- 
mous "fighting elephants." 

Many arduous weeks were spent in 
the jungle, trekking the elephants and 
learning their habits. At times, the 
party was so close to a herd that the 
slightest move by any one of them, or a 
shift in the wind, would have alerted 
the elephants, causing them to bolt in 
any direction. 

The one-tusk elephant was shot by 
Carl Akeley in the Aberdare Moun- 
tains in July, 1906. The following 
month, his adversary, the large bull 
with two tusks, was shot by Delia Ake- 
ley on Mount Kenya. 

The elephants went on display for 
the first time in 1909 in the Museum's 
first home in Jackson Park, where they 
remained until 1920, when the move to 
the present building began. Since 1921 , 
they have occupied a prominent place 
in Stanley Field Hall and have become 




Delia Akeley photographed in Chicago in 
hunter's gear during the early 1900's prior 
to leaving on an expedition. 



Later, Delia Akeley was to write 
"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- 
trated with photographs taken by the 
Akeleys on their safaris. Another book, 
"Jungle Portraits" (N. Y., Macmillan, 
1930), a series of sketches on African 
life, human and animal, is based on 
her experiences during several African 
expeditions. 

— Madge Jacobs 

neiv trustee 

Blaine J. Yarrington, President of 
the American Oil Company, has been 
elected a member of the Board of 
Trustees of the Field Museum. 

Mr. Yarrington 
has been associated 
with Standard Oil 
since 1932. He was 
elected a director of 
Standard Oil Com- 
pany (Indiana), of 
which American Oil 
is a subsidiary, in 
1970. 

Presently he is a director of the Chi- 
cago Association of Commerce and In- 
dustry and member of the boards of 
the Chicago Alliance of Businessmen 
and the National 4-H Service Com- 
mittee. Mr. Yarrington is on the Busi- 
ness Council of the Chicago Urban 
League and an honorary life member 
of the Transportation Association of 
.\merica. He is also an active member 
of the American Petroleum Institute. 




BULLETIN /July 1970 



15 



field briefs 



geology gift 

The Museum's already extensive ge- 
ological collection will be expanded by 
a donation from Gerard Ramon Case 
of Jersey City, New Jersey. The acqui- 
sition 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 publica- 
tion of the paper, the entire fossil col- 
lection will be donated to the Museum. 



grants 



The National Science Foundation 
has granted $41,500 to the Center for 
Graduate Studies in Systematic Zool- 
ogy and Paleontology, sponsored by 
Field Museum in cooperation with the 
University of Chicago, Northwestern 
University and University of Illinois at 
the Medical Center. 

The Center makes available the re- 
search facilities of the Museum, the 
scientific stafT of the Museum and the 
faculties of cooperating institutions in 
the studies of systematic zoology, pale- 
ontology, and functional and evolu- 
tionary morphology. 



The Museum has received a grant 
for $19,000 from the National Science 
Foundation for support of research en- 
titled "Nutrient Utilization in Articu- 
late Brachiopods." The grant, to run 




HAPPINESS IS. . . 
a summer lunch 
on the grass in front 
of Field Museum. 
School groups, such 
as these, were 
frequent visitors 
to the Museum 
throughout the 
school year. 



Photo by 
Edmund Jarecki. 



approximately one year, will be under 
the direction of Dr. Helen M. McCam- 
mon, research associate, division of 
lower invertebrates. 



expeditions 

Dr. William Turnbull, associate cu- 
rator of fossil mammals, is leading an 
expedition to the Washakie Basin and 
Sand Wash Basins in southwest Wyo- 
ming and northwest Colorado. A part 
of a research program which has been 
active since 1956, the expedition is pri- 



marily concerned with the collection of 
early Cenozoic fossil mammals from a 
mid to late Eocene formation in the 
Washakie Basin. Dr. Turnbull will 
also work on stratigraphic correlation 
of the area. The expedition began on 
June 15 and will extend through the 
last week in August. 

In cooperation with the United 
States National Park Service, Dr. John 
Clark, associate curator of sedimen- 
tary petrology, is leading an expedition 
which started June 29 and continues 
through August 31 in the Badlands of 
South Dakota. 



16 



BULLETIN /July 1970 




field museum's 
natural history 
tours 

gardens 

wild flowers 

birds 

archaeology 

congenial travel companions 

Interpretations by experts 

the unhurried approach 

travel with all dimensions 

GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan 
Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, 
Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints 
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. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, III. 60605 



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: 

Summer Journey for Ctiildren, "West African Art and Music." The free 
program is designed to acquaint youngsters with specific Museum ex- 
hibits. Here the art forms of four West African peoples are examined. 
A question and answer sheet starts any child who can read and write on 
a self-guided tour. Available at Museum entrances. 

CONTINUING: 

John James Audubon's elephant folio, 'The Birds of America," a recent 
gift from an anonymous donor. A different page of this rare, first-edition 
copy is shown each day. North Lounge. 

75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of H istory, A Sense 
of Discovery, offers a new perspective in museum viewing through un- 
usual photographic and display techniques. Quotations and relevant 
observations add another dimension. Hall 3. 



FREE SUMMER FILM SERIES 
FOR CHILDREN 

James Simpson Theatre 
10 a.m. and 1 p.m. 

July 9: "Islands of the Pacific" 



July 16 
July 23 
July 30 



"African Animals" 
"Life in the Arctic' 
"Desert Life" 



FREE GUIDED TOUR 
AND FILM PROGRAM 

Information desk for tour 
Lecture Hall for film 

July 6 through September 4 

2 p.m.: Museum "highlights" tour 

3 p.m.: 'Through These Doors." Behind 

the scenes at Field Museum on film. 




AN EXHIBIT OF SPECIAL INTEREST: 

ILLINOIS BY THE SEA: A COAL AGE ENVIRONMENT, through Oc- 
tober 25. Astudy of life in this area 300 million years ago. One segment 
graphically illustrates how the stress of overcrowding affected the fish 
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 morpholog- 
ically 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 



conquest, for the yellow variety is mentioned as early as 1544 and thie red known 
by 1554. It is assumed that the tomato was first cultivated in Europe on the 
coastal plains of Spain and Portugal and quickly spread to Italy and other 
countries. The earliest writers did not mention, if they knew, its place of origin 
and this led to two hypotheses. The first, summed up by L. C. Luckwill in his 
article "The Evolution of the Cultivated Tomato" {Journal of the Royal Horticul- 
tural Society, V. 68 (1943), p. 20), is that "the names Mala peruviana and Pomi 
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 
Origin of the Cultivated Tomato" {Economic Botany, v. 2 (1948), p. 379), is that: 
"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 was not extensively domesticated until it reached Mexico, and from there the 
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- 
cies [of Mandrake] has been brought to Italy in our time, flattened like the 
melerose [sort of apple] and segmented, green at first and when ripe of a 
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" 
has persisted in Italy as the common name, and it has always amused me to 
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 iden- 
tified 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 coun- 
tries 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. 
Apples of lO'ic. 



% The Place. 



£ 



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. 
^ 7 he Names, 
The Apple of Loue is called in hztlotPsmum 
Aureum^Pema Amor it yind 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 
^^*r«f, which a Dragon was appointed to 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 oi Dodon/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 of Summer cutaway the fuperfluous 
branches from the mother root, and cad them 
away carelefly in the allies of my Garden , the 
which (notwithftanding the extreme heatc of the 
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 contai- 
ned 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 Spaine and thofe hot Regions they vfe ro eate the Apples prepared and boiled with peppcf, 
falt,and oyle : but they yeeld very little nourifhroent to the body, and the fame naught and cor- 
rupt. 

Likewife they doe eate the Apples with oiIe,vinegrc and pepper mixed together for fauce to 
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 
1 790's and that they were used for food in N'3W Orleans soon after the Louisiana 
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 ap- 
peared 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 



This is the second part of a two-part 
article on the fishes of the Great Lal^es. 
Part I. which appeared in the July issue 
ot the Bulletin, dealt with changes in the 
lakes, including the disappearance of the 
Atlantic salmon, the introduction of gold- 
fish, rainbow trout and smelt, and the in- 
vasion of the sea lamprey and the alewife. 



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 
the lake. Both commercial and recreational fishing declined. Biologists, in at- 
tempting to reconstruct valuable fish production, have resorted to unprecedented 
large-scale Introductions of three species of Pacific salmon, coho or silver salmon, 
Chinook or king salmon and kokanee, a land-locked form of sockeye salmon. 
These introductions began in 1965 and have continued, with increasing num- 
bers of salmon being released each year into both inland lakes and into Lake 
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 pub- 
lished reports that alewives are, in fact, the major salmon food, there have been 
verbal reports of salmon eating alewives. Hopefully, time will prove these re- 
ports 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 in- 
crease 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 weigh- 
ing 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 



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

In 1966, nearly one million 4 to 6 inch coho fingerlings were introduced into 
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 
and early fall, when the adults return to their parent streams to spawn. 

' Unlike the other Pacific salmon, cohos have a three-year rather than a four- 
year life cycle. After fall spawning, the eggs hatch in mid-winter, the fry remain- 
ing 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 spawn- 
ing 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, 
where they are used to produce more fry. The rest are given away or sold. 
Michigan has sent fry for stocking to the other states bordering Lake Michigan 
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 manage- 
ment 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 situa- 
tion. 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- 



Chicago Tribune photo 




BULLETIN/ August 1970 



Chicago Tribune photo 




ably, to allow a building of breeding stocks of lake trout. Further restrictions 
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 con- 
tinued artificial means, requiring large brood stock, it may be necessary to find 
other solutions, such as controlling alewives by fishing beyond their reproduc- 
tive 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 
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 concen- 
trated in fish and birds in the Great Lakes and other regions in physiologically 
significant amounts. RGB is used in many industrial products— in the manufac- 
ture 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 



Cou 
Pollution 



rtesy of Federal Water 
Control Administration 





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. 

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION. Overall, Lake Michigan is still in 
good condition. Its great mass of deep, cold water has maintained its oligotro- 
phic 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 in- 
dustrial 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 



tory, except when winds locked in contamination. The worst form of contami- 
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 in- 
dustrial 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 
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 con- 
verted 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 



Sun-Times photo by Bob Kotalik 




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 ob- 
served 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 
North America through Indian traders wherever I could hear of them; and I finally 
got in contact with most of them. I had bought Indian paraphernalia in con- 
siderable quantities, and in the World's Fair my private collection exhibited in 
the Department of Anthropology constituted quite an important section of that 
exhibit. During the Fair I often went to see the different collections and, in- 
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 
of the exposition. I had collected a good deal in the Americas and had already 
collected a little here and there in Europe during the several years that I had 
been going abroad, and I felt that the time had come to start a natural 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 prin- 
cipal 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, 

"I don't know anything about a museum and I don't care to know anything 
about a museum. I'm not going to give you a million dollars." 

It went on this way, but we were all good enough friends to permit of our 
talking about it whenever the opportunity arose, so it was broached to Marshall 
Field a good many times before the end of Fair, but he persistently answered 
as at first. Finally, when it was only a month now until the end of the Fair, a 
meeting was called and a committee of about twenty was appointed to see what 
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 
Marshall Field had repeatedly been unsuccessfully approached for a gift of a 
million dollars — the amount considered necessary to make a start — so at this 
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 pos- 
sible, 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 im- 
possible 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 



THE MUSEUM'S 
FIRST MILLION 



The following article is Edward E. 
Ayer's own account of tiow Marshall 
Field donated the first million dollars 
to start Field Museum. Ayer was the 
first president of the Museum, from 
1894-98. The account is excerpted from 
The Life of Edward E. Ayer, by Frank 
Lockwood and published in 1929. 



Edward E. Ayer shown in a portrait sur- 
rounded by American Indian artilacts and 
books. 

Courtesy of the Newberry Library 




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 
one o'clock, I said, "Can Norman Ream and I come to your office tomorrow 
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 
thousand, and I put in my collection which was estimated to be worth a hundred 
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 
and, as we realized about fifty cents on the dollar on this, we had about a 
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 in- 
creased. 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- 
tion; and Marshall Field's grandson [Marshall Field 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: 

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." □ 




Edward E. Ayer 




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 larg- 
est 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 fa- 
mous 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 




Dr. Robert F. Inger (right) sorts and 
catalogs specimens of frogs and lizards 
while on a recent expedition to Borneo. 
Working with Dr. Inger are two Dyak youths. 



NEW POSITION FOR DR. INGER 

Dr. Robert F. Inger has been appointed Chairman, Scientific Programs at 
Field Museum of Natural History. Dr. Inger joined the Museum staff in 1946 as 
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, 
Dr. Inger v^^ill act as principal scientific advisor to the Director, and coordinator 
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 

Field Museum has granted four scholarships to students interested in Mu- 
seum work for summer 1970. The students are spending the summer in the 
Museum's scientific departments studying various aspects of research and col- 
lection 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 an- 
thropology. 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 repre- 
sents 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 de- 
partment. 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. 

STUDENT EXPEDITION IN ARIZONA 

Twelve undergraduate students from colleges and universities throughout the 
country are participating in Field Museum's seventh annual, tuition-exempt sum- 
mer 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 be- 
cause they will allow us to understand the cultural principles that govern or 
cause these problems, and therefore will enable us to construct meaningful 
solutions." 



Eric Gritzmacher, Ezra Zubrow and John 
Johnson (I to r) are among the 12 students 
participating in the archaeological program 
at Vernon, Arizona. 




20 



BULLETIN/ August 1970 




field museum's 
natural history 
tours 

gardens 

wild flowers 

birds 

archaeology 

congenial travel companions 

interpretations by experts 

the unhurried approach 

travel with all dimensions 



GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan 
Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of Tikal, Iximche, 
Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints 
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. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, III. 60605 



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. 
Summer Journey for Children, "West African Art and Music." A free, self- 
guided tour designed to familiarize youngsters who can read and write with 
art forms of four West African peoples. Journey sheets available at Museum 
entrances. 

THROUGH SEPTEMBER 4: 

Free Guided Tour and Film Program — Monday through Friday 

2 p.m.: Museum "highlights" tour — Leaves North information desk. 

3 p.m.: "Through These Doors" • — Behind the scenes at Field Museum on 

film — Lecture Hall. 

CONTINUING: 

John James Audubon's elephant folio, The Birds of America," on display 
in the North Lounge. A different page of this rare, first-edition copy, gift of an 
anonymous donor, is shown daily. 

75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense 
of Discovery, examines man and his world, the history of Field Museum and 
current research projects through exciting display techniques. Hall 3. 





SPECIAL TEMPORARY EXHIBIT: 

Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age Environment, continues through October 

25. Two sites once located on the shores of an inland sea that occupied 
Central Illinois 300 million years ago are graphically explored. One section 
presents marine and non-marine fossil concretions of an unusual nature. 
Another vividly shows how the fish population reacted when over-crowding 
occurred. Hall 9. 










^T7 1 



v.v 



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 

the curious history of byssus, a fine but 

resilient fiber 

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

The Lost Star 

New Books 

Crossword 

Children's Worlcshops 

Field Briefs 

Calendar 



10 

14 

15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
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...<Miu, -.-i^. j^^ 



.^r^. 



petegnne 



9 




by Melvin A. Traylor 

Yet, when I say that man has wiped out 
10,000 species of insects and snails in 
the past 200 years, at most there are 
raised eyebrows." Alan Solem, Bulletin 
Field Museum, April 1970. 

When Dr. Solem penned the above 
words, he was forcefully illustrating the 
anthropocentrism of man, that charac- 
teristic that causes him to place the 
most value on those forms of life that are 
"highest," i.e. nearest to man, in the 
animal kingdom. While man may be- 
moan and write books about the passing 
of the Passenger Pigeon or the Carolina 
Parakeet, the disappearance of bugs 
and slugs excites no interest. But de- 
spite all, man's anthropocentrism has 
some redeeming features; when an ani- 
mal with which man can identify is en- 
dangered, all available resources are 
marshalled to save it. 

The Peregrine Falcon is certainly one 
of our most magnificent birds, graceful, 
swift and bold, the perfect hunter. It has 



MelxAn A. Traylor is Associate Curator of 
Birds in the Department of Zoology at 
Field Museum. 



been associated with man since the ear- 
liest records of falconry, which date 
back to 2000 B.C. in the Orient. Fal- 
conry, the art of hunting with the diurnal 
birds of prey, was and still is a sport of 
the aristocracy of the Middle East, and 
was introduced on a large scale in Eu- 
rope with the return of the Crusaders. 
By the 12th century it flourished in all 
countries of Europe and in all ranks of 
society. 

The Peregrine feeds on other birds, and 
hunts by circling above its quarry, and 
then dropping down on it in a fierce 
dive or swoop. If It misses, it uses its 
momentum to again climb above its 
prey, so that it may stoop again and 
again until it seizes the victim. Pairs of 
Peregrines often hunt together; one 
waits while the other chases the prey 
Into a vulnerable position. This spec- 
tacular mode of hunting made the Pere- 
grine the favorite of falconers, and its 
use was restricted to royalty and the 
higher nobility. Although popular inter- 
est in Peregrines declined as firearms 
relegated falconry to an esoteric 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 
their young in this situation, feeding 
them on the abundant city pigeons; the 



most successful and best publicized In- 
dividual was a female that raised 21 
young in 16 years on the Sun Life Assur- 
ance Building in Montreal. 

The female Peregrines are much larger 
than the males. Female dominance is 
an important factor in successful pair- 
ing, for the size difference enables the 
pair to take advantage of a greater 
range of prey. Peregrines go through a 
complicated courtship ritual. Food may 
be offered or dropped to the female on 
the ledge, or transferred to her in the 
air. The pair may indulge in billing at 
the nest; they may nibble toes, and mu- 
tually preen feathers. They also may 
chase each other and stage mock 
attacks. 

The female Peregrine usually lays three 
to five eggs, and Incubation takes about 
30 days. In the early stages, the male 
supplies all the food. The length of time 
required for development depends par- 
tially on how often and how much the 
young Peregrines are fed. The young 
remain with their parents in the general 



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 migra- 
tion or the invasion of aggressive terri- 
tory-seeking adults. 

When it became evident in the late fifties 
that the number of Peregrines was suf- 
fering 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 polit- 
ical world as well as the scientific; hope- 
fully we will someday be able to show 
how the Peregrine was saved rather 
than how it became extinct. 

Prior to World War II, the Peregrine was 
a highly successful species, occurring 
as a breeding bird throughout the world, 
from the subarctic regions to Australia 
and southern South America. Even in 
the heavily populated areas of Europe 
and America it held its own, despite the 
attention of egg collectors and falconers 
who often took young birds from the 
nest. One reason for its success was its 
habit of nesting almost Invariably on ver- 
tical cliff faces in remote areas, where it 
was comparatively free of molestation. 
Some of the best known nesting sites In 
the United States were the Palisades 
along the Hudson River. The Peregrine 
fed almost entirely on other birds, usu- 
ally shorebirds and waterfowl. In more 
urban areas, however, its favorite prey 
was pigeons, particularly the homing 
pigeon which was trained to fly in a 
straight and undeviating path, and was 




This female Peregrine raised 21 young in 16 
years atop the Sun Life Assurance Building 
in Montreal. They lived on the abundant city 
pigeons. 



thus more vulnerable to attack. The 
population of Peregrines in the eastern 
United States before the war was prob- 
ably 350-400 breeding pairs. 

The serious decline of the Peregrine 
began in the late forties in the eastern 
United States and Germany, and by the 
mid-fifties was general throughout the 
United States and northern Europe. 
However, the impact of this change was 
slight at first. Most observers were reg- 
ularly watching only a small number of 
eyries, or nesting sites, and when these 
began to be abandoned, or the pairs 
failed to raise young, each observer 
thought he was dealing with a purely 
local problem. One of the first to pub- 
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 rais- 
ing fewer and fewer young, and in 1950 
he suggested that this might be caused 
by superannuation, that is, the remain- 



ing birds were too old to lay viable eggs. 
In the United States, Herbert and Skelton 
reported at the 1953 meeting of the 
American Ornithologists' Union that the 
Peregrines of the Hudson River series 
had failed to raise even a single young 
that year. 

By 1958, continuing reports of declining 
numbers caused the Finnish League for 
the Protection of Nature to begin a full 
scale investigation. A questionnaire to 
the nation's ornithologists and an exten- 
sive field investigation revealed that only 
35 of 151 known eyries were occupied 
that year. The date of the beginning of 
this drop in numbers could not be de- 
termined, but it must have been in the 
early fifties. This same year, 1958, saw 
the first recognition of the problem in 
Great Britain when Derek Ratcliffe of 
the Nature Conservancy reported ex- 



Bulletin September 1970 




tensive egg eating among breeding 
birds, a sign of decreasing productivity. 
Ironically, the subsequent investigation 
made in 1961-62 by the British Trust for 
Ornithology was in response to com- 
plaints by pigeon fanciers that Pere- 
grines were increasing their depreda- 
tions on homing pigeons. This was 
quickly disproved when it was shown 
that the species was virtually extinct as 
a breeding bird in England and Wales. 

The first cooperative study in the United 
States took place in 1964. In 1939-40, 
Joseph Hickey, now of the Department 
of Ecology, University of Wisconsin, had 
made a survey of all known active 
eyries east of the Mississippi, then num- 
bering about 200. In 1964 he organized 
a re-run of his earlier study, and during 
that summer 133 eyries were visited, 
distributed geographically from Ken- 
tucky to Maine. In all this area, not a 
single occupied site was found; the 
species was extirpated east of the 
Mississippi. 

Jolted by this catastrophic decline and 
by similar situations among other birds 
of prey that had been reported at a 
recent Working Conference on Birds of 
Prey and Owls that had been organized 
by the International Council for Bird 
Preservation, Hickey called for an in- 
ternational conference on Peregrine 
populations, that was held at the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin in September 1965. 
The response in Europe and North 




A 17th Century Dutch painter, Aelhert Cuyp, 
portrayed this Peregrine falcon and its young 
master. (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 

America was enthusiastic, and 63 mem- 
bers and observers from eight nations 
attended. Support for the Conference 
and the studies that were there reported 
on came from a wide variety of sources; 
the Federal Government, state conserva- 
tion departments, private foundations, 
and the pockets of many individuals who 
paid their own way. 

The picture that emerged was consistent 
on both sides of the Atlantic; in almost 
all countries the populations of Pere- 
grines were down to only a few percent 
of their pre-war numbers. Only in the 
wilderness areas of Canada and Alaska 
were they holding their own. A few 
figures may illustrate this: 



What were first believed to be local re- 
ductions in isolated areas could now 
be seen as a population crash on two 
continents. 

The next obvious problem was to de- 
termine the cause or causes of this 
crash. There were a few areas where 
special factors were operable that could 
be easily seen. Along the Hudson River, 
the construction of the Palisades Park- 
way destroyed one eyrie and caused the 
abandonment of several others, since 
the birds are intolerant of human activ- 
ity around their nests. In some areas of 
West Germany where the Peregrine fed 
mostly on homing pigeons, pigeon fan- 
ciers persecuted it relentlessly, even to 
the extent of blasting the cliff faces to 
destroy the eyries. But these factors, al- 
though important locally, cannot explain 
the synchronicity of the population crash 
extending over two continents, and even 
less the fact that other raptors (birds of 
prey), particularly the Osprey of the east- 
ern seaboard, suffered similar declines 
simultaneously. The governing cause 



Nesting 
Pairs 



Year 



Nesting 
Pairs 



Year 



% Decline 



Western Wisconsin 


11 


1955 





1964 


100 


Massachusetts 


12 


1947 





1957 


100 


Pennsylvania 


17 


1946 





1960 


100 


Finland 


35* 


1958 


6 


1964 


83 


West Germany 


320-380 


1950 


70-90 


1965 


n 


Sweden 


39 


1954 


8 


1963 


79 



'in itsell a low figure that had excited concern. 



Bulletin September 1970 



must be one that is common to devel- 
oped countries, since only the wilder- 
ness populations remain unaffected. 

The most obvious culprits, and ones 
that w^ere fresh in people's minds follow- 
ing the recent publication of Rachel 
Carson's Silent Spring, were the chlo- 
rinated hydrocarbon pesticides, DDT, 
Dieldrin, and their relatives and deriva- 
tives. This group of chemicals has one 
characteristic that makes them extremely 
effective as a pesticide; they are not 
only highly toxic but they are persistent, 
that is, they remain in a toxic form for 
years Instead of quickly breaking down 
into their harmless constituents. This 
persistence affords a longer protection 
against agricultural pests, but it poses a 
threat to other forms of life because of 
the cumulative effect of the poisons. 
When the chlorinated hydrocarbons are 
consumed by an animal, they are re- 
tained in the body rather than excreted, 
and the continued consumption of small 
doses may lead to the accumulation of 
a lethal concentration in the organism. 

Against this type of poison, predatory 
animals are particularly vulnerable be- 
cause they stand at the end of food 
chains in which there may be one or 
more stages of concentration. A striking 
illustration of this comes from a study of 



Lake Michigan by Hickey, Keith and 
Coon (1966). 

PPM of DDT and derivatives 
(parts per million) 

Bottom sediments 0.014 

Invertebrates in sediment 0.4-0.5 

Fish feeding on invertebrates 3.4-5.6 

Gulls feeding on fish muscle 99.0 

Gulls feeding on fish fat 2441.0 

The concentration in the fat of the bird 
is almost 200,000 times that of the bot- 
tom sediments. Similar food chains exist 
on land, and the Peregrine, which breeds 
and feeds in a variety of habitats, par- 
ticipates in both. The fact that many of 
our streams and lakes are contaminated. 




as well as our agricultural areas, could 
explain how the bird-eating Peregrine 
and the fish-eating Osprey could be 
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 



delousing and anti-malaria campaigns, 
but in 1946 its widespread use in agri- 
culture began. It was in the following 
years that the first declines in breeding 
success were noted. In low doses, DDT 
effects breeding success. The reduced 
number of young per pair, always pre- 
ceded the reduction in total numbers. 
Nesting failures took the form of broken 
eggs that were eaten by the parent, eggs 
that failed to hatch, or mated pairs that 
failed to lay at all. Whatever the cause, 
it affected the reproductive potential 
before it was lethal to the adults. 

Geographically, the areas of drastic re- 
duction of Peregrines and of intensive 
agriculture and the use of pesticides 
coincide. In Great Britain, the only area 
where the Peregrine has maintained its 
numbers is the northern and western 
highland of Scotland, and this is the 
one area where there is no agriculture 
or agricultural chemicals, the land being 
used for sheep pasturing. The boglands 
of northern Finland, where there has 
been a drastic drop in the population, 
seems an exception because there is no 
agriculture that far north. However, band- 
ing returns have shown that Finnish 
birds winter in the heavily agricultural 
areas of France, where they have ample 
opportunity to absorb the chemicals 
prior to their return in the spring to 
breed. Collection of specimens has 
shown that they do just that. In North 
America population levels have re- 
mained high only in some remote areas 



Bulletin September 1970 




of the Rockies, and in northern Canada 
and Alasl<a. 

The above circumstantial evidence 
pointed strongly toward the chlorinated 
hydrocarbons as the cause for the loss 
of the Peregrine, and several studies 
were made to find direct evidence from 
actual concentrations in the birds and 
eggs. The most thorough study was that 
of Ratcliffe for the British Trust for Ornith- 
ology. By analyzing adult specimens and 
eggs from throughout the British Isles, 
he was able to demonstrate that con- 
tamination by hydrocarbons was gen- 
eral, and even sub-lethal doses had an 
effect upon reproduction. Although Rat- 
cliffe was unable to demonstrate the 
mechanism of the latter, Hickey and 
Anderson have since shown that con- 
tamination results in thinner eggshells, 
which break under the weight of the 
parent, and eventually the inability to 
form eggs at all. Ratcliffe even found a 
dead adult with residues as high as 
those that had proved lethal in labora- 
tory experiments; evidently even adult 
birds could be killed outright. 

But now the enthusiasm and effort that 
had been generated to save a bird of 
immense esthetic and romantic appeal 
ran head on into the economic interests 
and concerns of both farmers and chem- 
ical manufacturers. There are many men 
of good will and intelligence who claim 
that actual step-by-step proof of the 
lethal effect of the chlorinated hydro- 
carbons is lacking, and that the influence 
of other factors has not been sufficiently 
considered. This is the same type of 
argument that is used to discount the 
importance of smoking in causing lung 
cancer. Actually, whether the chemicals 
are the sole cause of the decline of the 



Peregrine is beside the point; they are 
so deeply implicated that unless their 
use is halted the eventual extinction of 
this bird and numerous other animals is 
certain. But here we run into the neces- 
sity of the farmer for some sort of 
artificial control of insect pests. There 
is no use invoking the lost balance of 
nature. Any field of grain is in itself a 
wholly unbalanced environment, vulner- 
able to the explosive increases of vari- 
ous pests, and without any natural pro- 
tections. Pesticides are here to stay. The 
problem that must be solved is how to 
make them so specific in their actions 
that they will not attack the rest of wild- 
life and man himself. This demands 
political courage in controlling the use of 
dangerous pesticides by forcing changes 
by those who have made major invest- 
ments in the present chemicals. We 
cannot expect the manufacturers to fly 
in the face of human nature and police 
themselves. 

What has been done by our govern- 
ments? At the federal level, virtually 
nothing directly, but through judicial 
decisions in the U.S. Court of Appeals 
the Secretary of Agriculture has been 
ordered to suspend DDT's registration 
within 30 days, and the Secretary of 
HEW was ordered to establish zero tol- 
erance levels for DDT in human foods. 
The burden of proof has now been 
shifted to the respective Secretaries to 
show why this is not necessary. In 
Michigan, the use of DDT has been 
banned, and in Wisconsin it has been 
declared a water pollutant, which 
amounts to the same thing. In Massa- 
chusetts and several other states its use 
has been banned for special purposes 
such as the control of Dutch Elm Disease. 



Where does this leave the Peregrine? It 
is too early to tell, but for the more 
resilient and local Osprey we can close 
on a more optimistic note. From the New 
York Times of 5 July 1970 comes the 
following story. On Gardiner's Island in 
Long Island Sound, there were 350 pairs 
of Ospreys in 1945; by 1966, when the 
use of DDT was halted on Long Island, 
there were only 55 pairs and only three 
young raised. This year there were 38 
pairs that successfully raised 34 young, 
a tenfold increase over 1966. Let us 
hope the good work spreads. 

For Further Reading 

Hickey, Joseph J, editor. Peregrine Fal- 
con Populations. Madison: University 
of Wisconsin Press, 1969. 

Grossman, Mary Louise and John Ham- 
let. Birds of Prey of the World. New 
York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1964. 



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 many varieties of 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 




Christopher C. Legge 
is Custodian of 
Anthropology 
Collections at the 
Museum. 



pressing process. Unfortunately no detailed description survives. This process pre- 
served 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 be- 
came 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. 

Today, hornbill ivory has lost its value in world trade, however, its usage, though 
limited, still exists in Borneo. In some areas where demand for the ivory was great, 
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 extra- 
ordinary 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 



Roman Emperor were given chlamys (or cloaks) made of the fibers of the Pinna. 
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 per- 
petuated 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 fila- 
ments 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 draw- 
ing 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. 



Virginia M. Straub is Secretary to the 
Museum's Women's Board. 



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, com- 
posed 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<ly covers 
it with a wide swath of silk produced from spinnerets near the end of its body. The 
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 



fell out 

of the clouded sky 
one night 

to the earth below, 



And when 

he reached 

the earth he found 
he was 

a buffalo. 




The Lost Star 



Blackfoot Legend 




New books in the Museum's Library are 
reviewed by W. Peyton Fawcett, Head 
Librarian. 



Geology of Michigan. By John A. Dorr, Jr., and Donald F. Eschman. Illustrated by 
Derwin Bell. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, c1970. $15.00. 

This abundantly Illustrated volume offers a fascinating overview of the geology 
of Michigan, describing the principal geologic features, explaining their origin, and 
portraying the geologic evolution of the state from earliest times to the present. 
It was written with the student and layman in mind and provides information on the 
origin and Identification of rock and fossil specimens, Michigan collecting localities, 
and collection methods. Includes bibliography. 

The Plant Hunters. By Tyler Whittle (Michael Sidney Tyler-Whittle). Philadelphia, 
Chilton Book Co., 1970. $8.95. 

A comprehensive and very readable history of botanical exploration beginning 
with the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut's journey to the land of Punt in 1482 B.C. 
Author tells why, how, and where some interesting, valuable plants (including 
flowers) have been collected and gives some account of their collectors. In addition 
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. 

This is the fourth volume of Perry's studies of the larger mammals; previously he has 
written of the tiger, the polar bear, and the walrus. In the present volume, as with 
the others, he is primarily concerned with the life and habits of the animals 
in the wild. He has drawn his information from all available records of the giant 
panda and has added some information of his own, based on observations of panda 
behavior in captivity. An interesting chapter on the attempted mating of London's 
Chi-Chi with Moscow's An-An in 1966 enlivens the book. 



Memberships 



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membership 






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3: 


■■23 24 ■■25 
■29 




■■31 


34 35 


3^^|M37 




■■38 


40 








41 


_H" 




Hi 


46 47 


^H44 

1 


1 1 


. ^^   

 49 50 51 


^^53 ^H^ 


55 


^■■bb HH^^ 


58 59 
■■62* 


^H60 




- ■"' . 


■■64 




^■■65  


67 












Crossword by Dr. Eugene S. Richardson, Jr. 



Across 

1 . Curators' favorite way to acquire 

specimens 

12. Charged particle 

13. Girl's name 

14. French word for "friend" 

15. Tool used in collecting fishes 

1 7. Relation in time of Cambrian to 

Devonian 

18 Good friend 

20. Expression of hesitation 

21. Continent near N.A. 

22. Male of species Homo sapiens 

23. Phonetic sound of the 11th letter 

25. Relation of Maine to Ohio 

26. Branching 

29. How angels feel about treading in 

certain places 

31 . Cutter of grass and puller of weeds 

34. Member of the aristocracy 

37. Spur spike 

38. Death notice 

40. Magnificently cornute sheep 

41. Man's name 

42. Release 

43. Drag 

44. Wrong purpose 

46. Status of an exchanged specimen 

49 Compulsive sailor 

52. University extension (abbrev.) 

53 Early (prefix) 

54. Couple 

56. Negative 

57. Five hundred and one 

58. Go to pot (anaerobically) 
60. Where hope springs eternal 



61. 


Announcements 


44. 


Tropical African Tree 


62. 


One route to the Museum 


45. 


Relation of gold to silver 


64. 


Var. of syn- 


47. 


New (prefix) 


65. 


Misthink 


48. 


You and 1 


67, 


One domain of the Geology department 


50. 


Account of (abbrev.) 






51. 


Out of the ordinary 


Down 


54. 


Exam 






55. 


Norwegian metropolis 


1. 


Coal, iron or sand (etc.) 


59. 


Sound of disapproval 


2. 


What you do on a chair 


61. 


Rainbow 


3. 


Early (prefix) 


63. 


Titanium 


4. 


Restless or disturbed 


66. 


Royal Observatory (abbrev.) 


5. 


Cropland 






6. 


Rivers, lakes, canals 






7. 


A pigment occurring in blue grapes 
which forms a reddish crystalline 
chloride (var.) 






8. 


Make somber 






9. 


Trade Mark (abbrev.) 






10. 


Coarse-toothed saw 






11. 


They know fossils 






16. 


Unit of past time 






19. 


Socially organized insect 






21. 


Thus 






24. 


Organization for alcoholics 






2/. 


Young mermaid 






28. 


Otic warmer 






29. 


Raptorial birds 






30. 


Spring back 






32. 


Celebrated fountains 






33. 


Come together 






35. 


Paddle 






36. 


Doctor of Science (abbrev.) 






38. 


Contrary (abbrev.) 






39. 


Land of Lincoln (abbrev.) 







Bulletin September 1970 



17 



Application 
for Fat! 
Worksliops 



Saturdays in the 
Museum, 10:30 
a.m. and 1:30 p.m. 
Please list the pro- 
gram you wish to 
attend in order of 
your preference. 
Sorry, only one 
program can be 
scheduled for 
each child. 




October 10 
10:30 a.m. 
1:30 p.m. 

For ages 5-7 



October 17 
10:30 a.m. 

For ages 9-13 



Program 



Date 



Hour 



October 24 
10:30 a.m. 



Life in an Old Dead Tree 
Marie Svoboda, Leader 

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. 

How to Build a IMonster 
Ernest Roscoe, Leader 

This program explores the question, "How 
do you put together the skeleton of a 
prehistoric animal?" Participants will learn 
the basic pattern of the vertebrate skeleton 
and investigate the reasons for modifi- 
cations of this basic plan. 

African Art and Music 
Edith Fleming, Leader 



1st choice 



2nd choice 



3rd choice 



For ages 10-13 Children will have the opportunity to explore 

African art and music. They will study 
African masks and each child will then 
make a design for a mask. After listening 
to a tape recording of African drum music 
made in Ghana, each youngster will try out 
a real African musical instrument and will 
play African rhythms in a "combo." 



4th choice 



October 31 
10:30 a.m. 



Indians of Woodlands and Plains 
Harriet Smith, Leader 



Name 



Address 



Membership in name of 

Cut along 
dotted line 
and mail to: 



Raymond Foundation 
Field Museum of Natural History 
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive 
Chicago, Illinois 60605 



For ages 8-11 



November 7 
10:30 a.m. 



Indian tribes developed ways of life adapted 
to their special environments and in doing 
so, showed great skill in utilizing natural 
materials to suit their needs. In this work- 
shop, youngsters will handle various 
naturally-occurring raw materials and learn 
how the Indians used them in making tools, 
weapons and household equipment. Movies 
of Indian life both in the woodlands and 
on the western plains will be shown. 



Space Geology 
Ernest Roscoe, Leader 



Children and grandchildren of Museum 
members will have an opportunity to meet 
staff members and work with specimens 
from the Museum's scientific collections at 
the seventh annual series of fall workshops 
for children. Designed to stimulate interest 
in the study of natural history, the work- 
shops will provide small group instruction 
in a variety of topics for various age groups. 

The programs last about one hour for 
younger children, and about one and one- 
half hours for older ones. 

Make your reservation now! Each applicant 
is limited to one program: reservations will 
be accepted in the order they are received. 
If there is more than one child in your 
family who wishes to attend a workshop, 
please fill out an application for each child. 



For ages 9-13 



November 14 
10:30 a.m. 
1:30 p.m. 

For ages 6-8 
(parents are also 
invited) 



November 21 
10:30 a.m. 



An introduction to the rapidly expanding 
science of astrogeology. Beginning with a 
review of the relationship of the earth to 
the solar system and our galaxy, this 
program concentrates on our recently 
acquired knowledge of the topography, 
structure, and rocks of the moon. 



Boneyard Menagerie 
Ernest Roscoe, Leader 

This program looks into the world of the 
prehistoric relatives of many familiar 
animals of today, as well as some which 
have no close living relatives. 



Prehistoric People of Illinois 
Harriet Smith, Leader 



October 3 Caveman to Civilization 

10:30 a.m. Edith Fleming, Leader 

For ages 10-13 A movie on the life of the cavemen and 

how they hunted prehistoric animals opens 
this workshop. Boys and girls will also 
examine actual tools used by cavemen 
thousands of years ago, learn how they 
were made and compare them with 
modern tools. 



For ages 12-16 An opportunity to handle both actual pre- 

historic Indian tools and the raw materials 
from which they were made is a feature of 
this workshop. In addition to learning 
about ways these people adjusted to life in 
their environment, the session includes 
practice in identifying and sorting materials 
according to how they would be found at 
an actual "dig" and a discussion of what 
can, and cannot, be learned from the 
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 

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 

The Museum recently announced a plan to burn only low-sulphur coal beginning 
this fall. Although City of Chicago regulations permit the use of coal with a two 
percent sulphur content, the approximately 4,000 tons of coal necessary to meet the 
heating needs of the Museum will contain only 1.24 percent sulphur. Although this 
decision will result in a 64 percent annual increase in heating costs, the Museum 
considers the responsibility to maintain the quality of the environment an important 
aspect of its function in society. 



Fall Lecture Series 

The Museum will present the Fall Saturday Film-Lecture Series from October 3 to 
November 28. The free program is presented at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson 
Theatre. Films include: "Mexico South into Guatemala" by Philip Walker on October 
3; "Scotland Afore Ye" by Jonathan Hagar on October 10; "Russia" by Dick Reddy 
on October 17; "Green Guianas" by Arthur Erickson on October 24; "Across 
Wilderness Canada" by Dr. John D. Bulger on October 31; "High Himalaya" by Russ 
Potter on November 7; "Waterbirds of the African and Asian Tropics" by Dr. M. P. 
Kahl on November 14; "Highlights of New England by John Roberts on November 
21; and "Yugoslavia" by William Sylvester on November 28. Those attending the 
film-lecture will be admitted to the theatre only, without charge, at the west entrance. 



Harry M. Oliver, Jr. William L. Searle 





J oh 71 W. Sullivan 

Searle is senior vice president, general 
manager of the Domestic Pharmaceu- 
tical and Animal Health Divisions, for 
G. D. Searle Company. His father, John 
G. Searle, is also a trustee of Field 
Museum. Searle is also a director of the 
Children's Memorial Hospital, Lake 
Forest Hospital and Lake Forest Country 
Day School. 

President and director of Skil Corpora- 
tion, Sullivan is a member of the 
Chicago Crime Commission; the 
Governor's Advisory Council, State of 
Illinois, the Men's Financial Advisory 
Committee of the Junior League of 
Chicago and the Young Presidents' 
Organization, and a director of Catholic 
Charities. 



Bulletin September 1970 



19 



CALENDAR 



HOURS 

To Labor Day (September 7) 

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 

9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday 

9 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Beginning September 8: 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Friday 

Friday tiours through September: 

9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

The Museum Library is open 

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 

2 p.m.: Museum "highlights" tour — Leaves North information desk 

3 p.m.: "Through These Doors" — Behind the scenes at Field Museum on film- 

Lecture Hall 



October 3: 

Fall Film-Lecture Series "Mexico South into Guatemala" by Philip Walker. 
The colorful film journey includes Maya ruins, jungle adventure, village scenes, 
markets and modern city life. 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

Continuing: 

Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age Environment, a geological exhibit, surveys Mazon 
Creek, Illinois and Mecca, Indiana, once located on the shores of an inland sea 
that occupied Central Illinois. Events that occurred at these sites 300 million years 
ago are graphically explored. Through October 25. Hall 9. 

75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of 
Discovery, looks at man and his world, the history of Field Museum and some of its 
current research projects in a new way. Hall 3. 

John James Audubon's elephant folio, "The Birds of America," on display in the 
North Lounge. A different page of this rare, first-edition copy is shown daily. 



field museum's 
natural history 
tours 

gardens 

wild flowers 

birds 

archaeology 

congenial travel companions 

interpretations by experts 

the unhurried approach 

travel with all dimensions 




GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, Volcan 

Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins ofTikal, Iximclte, 

Kaminaljuyu. Chichicastenango on All Saints 

Day. Lake Atitlan. 

THE INCA'S EMPIRE 

& DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS 

Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, 

& Feb. 4-March 5. 

$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. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. 
Chicago, III. 60605 



20 



Bulletin September 1970 



Cover photo by Peter Bradshaw 



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 



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 
up now, beyond the ones that biologists 
have been discussing for the last twenty 
or twenty-five years, two are going to 
be most important. First of all, is the 
ghetto part of the environment? If so, 
what is the population-environment 
movement going to do about it? And 
what should we do about it? What role, 
if any, should blacks take in the 
movement? Or is the entire 
movement some sort of a smokescreen 
to permit this country to remain racist 
and continue to oppress a portion of 
its citizens? 

Another question has been raised by 
the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. 
I am 100% in favor of the goals of 
the group. This is another group of 
Americans which has been badly 
oppressed over a long time and is 
finally waking up and realizing it. I will 
address myself somewhat more to 
both of these issues later. 

First, I would like to give you some 
general background, because I think 
that it is my duty as a biologist to 
present views of these problems of the 
world, where they came from, and 
where they are leading us. What 
biologists and anthropologists think of 
as the overall environmental problem 
was begun about 10,000 years ago by 
some small groups of people who lived 
in the western part of Asia. In those 
days, people, like Eskimos and 
Aborigines today, practiced intensive 
hunting and gathering as their way of 
life. They did not grow food. They 
wandered over the landscape and 
picked fruit, berries, roots, and hunted 
for small and large game. About 10,000 
years ago, some groups of people 
settled down in one place and began 
to grow their own food. This was the 
beginning of the so-called Agricultural 
Revolution, and it was the most 
important turning point in the history 
of man on earth in a four million year 
history. Why was it so very important? 
Well, it did two very significant things. 



When people settled down in one place 
and grew their food, they not only had 
more food in general, but they also had 
the ability to store food; they did not 
have to carry it with them. They could 
dig a pit in the ground, line it with 
something, put grain in it, and then have 
something to eat when there was a 
bad harvest. 

As a result of this agricultural 
revolution, the proportionate number 
of people in the population dying each 
year began to drop. In other words, 
the death rate began to decline. 
Fundamentally, the entire story of 
human population growth is a story 
of declining death rates. 




As a model of the world demographic 
situation, think of the world as a glass 
globe, and think of a faucet being 
turned on into that globe as being the 
equivalent of the birth rate, the input 
into the population. Think of a drain at 
the base of the globe — water pouring 
out — as being equivalent to the output, 
the death rate of the human population. 
Think of the water in the globe as the 
size of the human population. At the 
time of the Agricultural Revolution, the 
faucet was turned on full blast; there 
was a very high birth rate. The drain 
was wide open; there was a very high 
death rate. There was a very little 
water in the globe, very few people in 
the population — only about five million. 
When the Agricultural Revolution took 
place, we began to plug the drain, cut 



down the death rate, and the globe 
began to fill up. 

The second important result of the 
Agricultural Revolution was that for the 
first time we seriously began to attack 
the life-support systems of the planet 
earth. The practice of agriculture 
breaks down the complex and 
complicated ecological community and 
replaces it with a simple one. For 
instance, the first farmers in the 
Chicago area, who were here before 
the entire state was farmed, cleared 
away a forest, which consisted of 
many different kinds of plants and 
animals, and replaced it with a stand 
of a single kind of grass, corn, wheat, 
or some other crop. People have taken 
a complicated ecological system and 
replaced it with a simple one. 
Unfortunately for mankind, the stability 
and durability of ecological systems 
depends very heavily upon their 
complexity. So man's agricultural 
revolution began to destabilize the 
ecological systems of the planet. Those 
ecological systems supply us with 
every bit of food that we eat, and with 
all of the oxygen we breathe; they 
maintain the quality of the atmosphere 
and they dispose of our wastes. In 
other words, we depend on them 
absolutely for our lives. 

Of course, one of the major sources 
of pollution, perhaps the most important 
source worldwide, and in my 
estimation, the deadliest source from 
the point of view of destroying the 
capability of this planet to maintain 
human life (barring things like 
thermonuclear war), is agriculture. And 
the more people there are, the more 
agriculture we must practice. Therefore, 
in that sense, population growth leads 
inevitably to pollution. 
Now, returning to the demographic 
side of the equation, rather than the 
ecological side, here is a rough history 
of what happened after the decline of 
the birth -death rate started about 
10,000 years ago, about 8,000 B.C. It 



Bulletin October 1970 




. . . one of the major 
sources of pollution 
... is agriculture. 



ia. 




took almost 10,000 years to increase 
the population from five million to 500 
million, or half a billion. That figure 
was reached about 1650. Additional 
agricultural improvements about that 
time further lowered the death rate, 
and population growth spurted ahead 
more rapidly. The rate of population 
growth is simply a function of the 
difference between input and output, 
the difference between the birth rate 
and death rate. As the death rate 
declines, the growth rate increases. It 
took 200 years to double the population 
from one-half billion in 1650 to a 
billion in 1850. By that time the 
Industrial Revolution was well under 
way and the Biomedical Revolution 
had started. The latter is the revolution 
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 
1850 and 1930, in just 80 years. We 
have not yet completed the doubling 
to four billion. There are right now 
about 3.6 billion people. If we should 
be very fortunate and if current trends 
continue, we should reach four billion 
around 1975. This gives us 45 years 
for that final doubling, although at the 
moment the rate of growth is about 2% 
at compound interest each year. It this 
current rate of growth, rather than the 
rate over the last several decades, were 
to continue, we would double our 



population size in 35 years. Now these 
numbers are very difficult to come to 
grips with. What does 3.6 billion 
anything mean to anybody? Very little, 
you just cannot picture it. 

What can I tell you about 3.6 billion 
people on the face of the earth? 
According to any calculations we have 
been able to make, that is somewhere 
between three to seven times more 
people than this planet can permanently 
support. You say, how can that be? 
How can we possibly have seven times 
more people than the planet can 
permanently support? The answer is 
very simple. We are supporting those 
people today, doing a miserable job for 
about half of them, by doing something 
that very few businessmen would do 
in the course of their own businesses: 
burning our capital. We are destroying 
and dispersing resources that exist in 
a rather small and finite supply. For 
instance, we are consuming the fossil 
fuels which accumulated in the earth's 
crust over hundreds of millions of 
years. We will essentially destroy every 
bit of fossil fuel on the surface of the 
earth in a period of 200 or 300 years. 
It is a process which David Brower 
calls, quite accurately, "grand larceny 
against the future. " We are stealing 
resources from our children. I might 




inhabitants of the earth by taking much 
more than their share of these 
resources. 

We are already wildly overpopulated, 
by any standard that you wish to adopt. 
But that is not the worst of it, because 
we have that 2% growth rate. A 2% 
growth rate operating on 3.6 billion 
people a year means that we are 
adding 70 million people annually to 
the globe. That means every three 
years there is another equivalent of the 
United States to feed, house, and care 
for on the surface of the earth. To view 
it by another statistic, in all the wars 
that the United States has fought, from 
the Revolution through Laos and 
Cambodia, we have had roughly 
600,000 men killed in battle. The world 
population is growing so fast that that 
number of deaths is made up every 
three and one-half days. 




point out that the United States and 
many other overdeveloped countries 
are also stealing from their fellow 



What about the food problem? Almost 
half the people in the world are hungry 
in one sense or another. Either they 
are undernourished, that is, they do not 
get enough calories, or they are 
malnourished, usually meaning they do 
not get enough high quality protein. 
Somewhere between ten and twenty 
million people starve to death annually 
now, and the trend is all downhill. 

Those gruesome statistics are going to 
change for the worse, essentially on a 
continuous basis from now on. Of 



Bulletin October 1970 



... the disruption 
<-' of the life-support systems 
upon which all of us depend 
. . . will be beyond repafr. 



course, as we try desperately to grow 
more and more food to feed this 
burgeoning population, the problems of 
environmental deterioration, the 
disruption of the life-support systems 
upon which all of us depend — black, 
white, green, yellow, male, female — 
will be beyond repair. Then we will be 
in very bad shape. 

The food situation is desperate. It is 
going to get more desperate. Do not 
be fooled by stories about food 
surpluses, which you may have lead in 
the newspapers. These will show you 
where the economic head of the world 
is. This Is not surplus in the sense 
that there is more food than people 
can eat; this is more food than people 
can buy. If you read the literature of 
agricultural economics, you will find 
such statements as the way to prevent 
people from starving in the world is 
to "create more demand" for food. 
What they mean by demand is money. 
Curiously enough, people who are 
starving to death usually do not have 
very big bankrolls. 

So we have a desperate world food 
situation. I wish that the entire situation 
could be discussed rationally just in 
terms of too many people and too 
little food. But it is much more complex 
than that; there is too little food in two 
senses. First of all, there is too little 
food in an absolute sense. If the food 
were divided up evenly among ail the 



nations of the world and among the 
people within countries, everybody 
would have just about enough calories. 
Calories are not a problem; we can 
always supply more. But everybody 
would be protein malnourished, which 
is a great problem, because protein is 
expensive, both economically and 
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 
world comes close to being divided up 
equally. The overdeveloped nations of 
the world steal food in large quantities 
from the underdeveloped peoples of 
the world, and they use a lot of it to 
feed their cats and dogs. 



"y^^/i 



V - 






« 



The ovefdeveloped nations 
of the world steal food 
in large quantities 
from the underdeveloped 

• peoples of the world, 
,*and they use a lot of it 

* to fded their cats 
,and dogs. 



•>* 




I 



Unfortunately, though, the whole 
problem cannot be considered only in 
the context of food and people. 
Overlying the whole situation is the 
problem of environmental deterioration. 
If you talk to the average layman about 
environmental deterioration, he is likely 
to think of the problem in terms of 
pollution. This is a serious mistake, but 
a common one. He is also likely to talk 
in terms of smog which burns his eyes 
and funny things that are floating 
around in the water that he would like 
either to swim in or drink. 

Environmental deterioration is often 
viewed largely as an aesthetic problem, 
which indeed it is. If the layman is 
relatively well read, he will also know 



that pollution is something that kills 
him stone cold dead. If you raise your 
children in Los Angeles, California, or 
Chicago, Illinois, statistically you are 
killing them off early. If you raise your 




Chicago . . , 
if you raise your kids 
'there, they are likely 
to die young 




kids there, they are likely to die young 
of emphysema, cardiovascular disease, 
or some exotic cancer, because the air 
that they breathe contains something 
beyond that mixture of oxygen and 
nitrogen that we evolved to breathe. It 
contains a mixture of exotic poisons, 
thanks to your local power company, 
the automobiles that you drive, and so 
on. There is no question whatsoever 
that this means you will die young, 
and there is abundant data to show it. 

If you are a human being anywhere 
on the earth, particularly in the United 
States, Israel, or India, and particularly 
if you are black or brown, you are also 
going to die young because you carry 
in your body a load of those very 
long-lived pesticides, chlorinated 
hydrocarbons, particularly DDT. The 
average DDT load in the United States 
is about 12 parts per million. We do 
not know yet how many years that will 
knock off your life expectancy. But if 
you were born since 1948, you have 
had that kind of load in you since you 
were conceived. We now know that 
DDT crosses fetal membranes, so a 
fetus in the womb is picking up DDT 
from its mother. It is quite likely from 
the other data that are beginning to 



Bulletin October 1970 



appear that you have already lost 10 
or 20 years off your life expectancy; 
we will not find out for a while. But, 
after all, that would be a small price 
to pay for keeping the profits of the 
petrochemical industry high, which is 
the only real benefit from the 
production of DDT and similar 
chemicals. 

We will all die young because 
of what we have been doing to the 
environment. From the point of view 
of our species, a short life expectancy 
is not all that important, because for 
most of the approximately four 
million years of our existence, mankind 
got along with a life expectancy of 
roughly 25 or 30 years. That was fine, 
because, of course, people may have 
died young, but not before they had 
reproduced. The species could go on. 

Unfortunately, there is still something 
to worry about. Even if we all live 
only to be 30, we will still have gross 
problems. The most serious effect 
of pollution is not a shortened 
life expectancy. The really important 
aspect of environmental deterioration, 
and pollution in particular, is that it 
assaults the ecological systems 
upon which we depend absolutely for 
our food. Fundamentally, we are 
destabilizing these systems with the 
poisons that we add to the planet. 
Although you might live to be 35 with 
a heavy load of DDT in your tissues, 
maybe even to 45; if you are 20 now, 
you will not live to see 21 if we should 
turn off the photosynthetic process on 
the planet. Remember, those ecological 
systems give us all of our food, and 
photosynthesis is the basic process 
that produces it. If we turn it off, that 
is the end of the ball game. 

We do not have to worry about 
oxygen right away. It is true that the 
ecological systems supply us with our 
oxygen too, but they have already 
built up a very large supply in the 
atmosphere. If we were to turn off the 



photosynthetics process (the process 
by which green plants, using 
energy from the sun, put together 
food molecules and in the process give 
off oxygen) tomorrow, there would be 
enough oxygen around to sustain 
us for about 1000 years, before we 
would die of suffocation. But we 
would also have turned off the food 
production. We would die of starvation 
about 999 years before we would 
suffocate! 

Pollution is a very grim problem, and 
the grimmest part is that which is least 
recognized — the subtle assault on the 
ecological systems of the planet. 
Here is one more example of this kind 
of subtle effect. There is now a 
permanent veil of air pollution over the 
entire planet. The sources of this 
pollution vary. The most important 
single source is haze from agricultural 
dust, most of it from underdeveloped 
countries, but a large amount of it 
from overdeveloped countries as well. 
Again we are back to the people- 
polluting problem. Why do we have so 
much agriculture? Because we have 
so many people. Here is a direct link 
between the number of people and 
the amount of pollution. This 
atmospheric haze comes largely 
(over 50%) from agriculture, but, of 
course, there are major components 
from industry and automobiles as well. 
It is so bad now that the turbidity, 
the dustiness, of the atmosphere over 
the central Pacific, far from any 
sources of pollution, has increased by 
30% over the last decade. The net 
effect of this at the moment is to cool 
the earth. When the earth is cooled, 
the weather changes. When the 
weather changes, agriculture suffers. 

We are about to see some dramatic 
weather changes in the United States 
in the next decade, weather changes 
which some meteorologists believe may 
be bad enough to throw us into a 
food crisis right here in the U.S.A. 
We could be a single volcanic 



explosion away from the end of 
civilization. A volcanic explosion 
equivalent to the explosion of Tambora 
in 1815 could wipe out agricultural 
production for a full year over much of 
the world. 

There are some other threats to our 
existence which are fundamentally 
environmental. One is the problem of 
worldwide plague; we just missed in 
1967. We could have lost three-fourths 
of the people in the world. The potential 
is still there. And, of course, since the 
world's resources are finite and the 
number of people is growing, the per 
capita slice of the resources is 
continually shrinking. That, according 
to our political scientists, is a major 
push towards international conflict. We 
are in grave danger of starting a 
thermonuclear war. If you consider the 
ecological aftermath of a thermonuclear 
war, there is only one conclusion — 
that there will be no civilization 
afterwards, at least, not in the northern 
hemisphere. 

In regard to the two problems that I 
discussed before, I would like to deal 
with them in the context of what we 
can do, rather than what the problems 
are, except to mention urbanization. 
This is a very important part of what 
builds ghettos. In discussing solutions 
to the world's problems, it is necessary 
to consider what is going to happen to 
ghettos and what new ghettos might 




Bulletin October 1970 



develop. The urbanization problem is 
so severe over the world today — cities 
are growing so rapidly — that some 
really preposterous statistics can be 
generated. The one I remember best 
is that, if today's trends continue by 
2050 everyone will live in a city of a 
million or more, and there will be cities 
of more than a billion people. 
Needless to say, those trends will not 
continue. 

Here is a single example from outside 
the United States of how we can make 
very silly mistakes in trying to solve 
our problems, if we do not consider 
urbanization. Right now, an attempt is 
being made to export our incompetent 
agricultural technology from this 
country to some of the underdeveloped 
countries. This effort is called the 
Green Revolution. If some people have 
their way, we will attempt to mechanize 
the agriculture of the Indian 
subcontinent. If Indian 
agriculture were mechanized, it would 
finish off Indian cities. The 
fundamental reason that we have such 
a severe urban problem in this country, 
of course, is that American agriculture 
is mechanized. People were forced off 
the land, and when people are forced 
off the land, they move into cities. 
India already has ghastly urban 
problems, much worse than ours, 
difficult as that is to picture. But today, 
only 20% of Indians live in cities. By 
contrast something like 70% of 
Americans live in cities. If the vast 
mass of Indian peasants is forced off 
the land, Indian cities will simply 
dissolve, they will be destroyed. 

If we want to improve India's 
agriculture, and we certainly want to 
do that, we must help them design a 
system which results not only in high 
productivity, and is ecologically 
sensible, but one which is also labor 
intensive. It must still be possible for 
Indians to make their living on the land 
without being forced into the cities 
where there is nothing for them to do. 



Now, what might be done about our 
problems? Before discussing anything 
in detail, let me first give you a broad 
outline of what must be done on a 
global scale. First of all, we must have 
population control. This must start with 
groups where population growth is 
most serious, namely among affluent 
white Americans, Russians, Europeans, 
and Japanese. These are the people 




who are looting and polluting the 
world. Second, there must be some 
sort of change in the world economic 
system. I usually describe it as a 
problem of de-developing the 
overdeveloped countries and semi- 
developing the underdeveloped 
countries. It boils down to a 
redistribution of the resources of the 
world and a change in the world trade 
system, so that all countries of the 
world have reasonable access to the 
riches of the world and are not 
exploited by one country or another. 

You may say, that sounds like a 
terrible communist plot. Actually, it 
is not, because the overdeveloped 
countries include both communist and 
capitalist nations, and the pattern of 
exploitation is common to both 
systems. Unfortunately, or perhaps 
fortunately, there is no way we can 
survive on our little spaceship earth 
without everybody having a fair chance, 
because the capability of blowing up 
the entire ship really rests in 



everybody's hands. There simply is no 
choice but to have population control, 
de-development and semi-development, 
and to develop an ecologically rational 
way of dealing with industry, 
agriculture, and so on. 

There is no question whatsoever that 
there will not be 7 billion people on 
the planet by the year 2000. The only 
question that remains is why there will 
not be 7 billion people in the year 
2000. There are fundamentally two 
choices here: one can be that we have 
managed to bring the birth rate down 
rather rapidly, to slow down the input 
to the population. The other will be 
that we have elected the "animal" 
solution to the problem; that is, let the 
death rate rise again. Whenever an 
animal population overreaches its 
environment, overstresses its resources, 
it simply dies off, or dies back to a 
very low level. Only the human 
population has available to it one other 
alternative — to limit the input into the 
population and reduce its size that way. 

If we are going to solve the world's 
problems, we must unquestionably 
consider racism and war among them. 
This means eliminating things like 
ghettos, Viet Nam, and so forth. There 
is absolutely no way to live on a little 
spaceship with limited resources, with 
some people in steerage or third class, 
with the people in the first class 
cabins stealing food from the people 
in the third class cabins, waving large 
bombs at them, and expect them to sit 
still for it. There is no way to get the 
United States turned around and 
cleaning up its mess, as long as a 
large portion of its citizens are forced 
to live in hideous slums and to do 
without the rights which we have in 
theory guaranteed them in our 
constitution, but which we have 
systematically denied them. 

There is no way to solve the world's 
problems unless we take advantage of 
the intelligence present in the human 



Bulletin October 1970 



population. One of the major reasons 
why one ought to be wildly in favor of 
women's liberation is that as a society 
we have very busily neglected what is 
fundamentally one-half of our talent. 
For instance, there Is a tremendous 
shortage of physicians in this country. 
One reason that the U.S. has about 
the lousiest medical care of any 
overdeveloped nation is that we do not 
have enough physicians. The medical 
schools cry about there not being 
enough physicians, and at the same 
time they have very strict quotas on 
how many women they will admit. In 
the Soviet Union, 70% of the 
physicians are women, and their public 
health system is excellent. This is just 
one example of how we fail to use the 
talent in our country. 



. . . when you plan 
your family you must think 
about the size of your 
society's population 
as a whol'' ^ 






Similarly, we do not use the talents 
present in our black population, in our 
Chicane population, and our Indian 
population. Indeed, we do not use the 
talent that exists in our poor white 
population, which numerically, though 
not percentage-wise, is even larger 
than the poor black population. As a 
nation we are faced with immense 
difficulties, and Instead of taking 
advantage of the talents that could be 
used to help us out of these difficulties, 
we are busy running a racist country, 
electing people who will continue with 
racist policies. 

There is a difference between family 

8 Bulletin October 1970 



planning and population control. When 
you plan your family you do something 
which has long been socially 
acceptable. The idea is not to have 
more children than you want; surely 
nobody thinks that we ought to bring 
unwanted children into the world. It is 
a fine idea to have the number of 
children you can support. I think 
everybody is in favor of family planning. 
What we are trying to introduce into 
the world is a new ethic that goes 
beyond family planning. This says yes, 
you should plan your family; but when 
you plan your family you must think 
about the size of your society's 
population as a whole, what society 
can manage to support, and what kind 
of a world we are going to have. 
When you plan your family, you have 
to think, not only about your ego and 
the number of children you would like 
to have, but what kind of a world 
those children will grow up in, what 
kind of a life they will have, and what 
kind of chance they will have to plan 
their own families. In other words, we 
are trying to move away from the idea 
that quantity is the prime thing to think 
about in childbearing and to encourage 
the idea that quality is what should be 
emphasized, the quality of our children 
and of the world in which those 
children are going to live. I think that 
in this country it is quite possible to 
bring about population control — for 
society as a whole to think about and 
to regulate the size of its population 
for its own benefit and for the benefit 
of everybody in the society — with no 
form of coercion whatsoever. 
Fundamentally, all we really need to do 
is to take the pressure off women to 
have children. Right now we pressure 
people into marriage and we pressure 
couples into having children. Probably, 
in our society, removing that pressure 
would be enough. 

The problem of de-developing the 
United States, in moving from our 
present "cowboy economy," which 
emphasizes production, consumption 



and waste, to a "spaceman society," 
which emphasizes the high quality of 
everything and the recycling of 



Fjundamentally, all we 
really need to do 
Is to take the pressure 
off women ^^\ 

to have children. \v, ' 

- -. - rr - 



everything, is considerably more 
difficult. But I think it can be achieved, 
if we are willing to take political action. 
If we are going to succeed in this 
country, it is my opinion that the 
people must take back the political 
system from the pressure groups. We 
can no longer afford a government 
which is not interested in doing 
anything for the people. We can no 
longer afford a government which is not 
willing to face up to the problems of 
the country. We can no longer afford a 
government which is working very hard 
in Southeast Asia to delegate the 
killing to another group, while 
maintaining our resource position over 
there, come hell or high water. We 
must have a government made up of 
people who want to solve the world's 
problems and the problems of the 
United States. The only way we can 
achieve that is for people to get out 
and work very hard politically. 

I am not surprised to see that there are 
relatively few blacks in this audience. 
I feel that people ought to work in the 
areas of their own greatest concern. 
A lot of people have been disappointed 
that environmental congresses have not 
been attended by more blacks and that 
more blacks have not been interested. 
Well, I do not think blacks should be 



interested in this kind of congress. 
They have their own environmental 
problems which are extremely serious. 
This also applies to Chicanes, 
American Indians, Oriental Americans, 
and indeed to many women. They have 
their own part of the environmental 
problem to take care of. I think that all 
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. 



fairly in our society. 

We have a very difficult task ahead of 
us. I wish I were enormously hopeful 
that we will get the job done; I am not. 
I think the only hope we have is to get 
out and work very, very hard and then 
perhaps we will. But fundamentally if 
is up to you, and I wish you luck. 




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 
our society the proportion of affluent 
blacks is much smaller. But if we give 
the blacks their full rights in this 
country, their birth rate will unques- 
tionably become indistinguishable from 
the white birth rate. We can go about 
designing a country for everyone. But 
you cannot expect people to participate 
with you in saving a world of which 
they do not have a fair slice. They are 
just not interested and they are not 
going to be interested. The same goes 
for other people who are not treated 



Copyright 1970, by Paul R. Ehrlich 

Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich is Professor of 
Biology at Stanford University. He is the author 
of Population Bomb and Population, Resources, 
Environment: Issues in Human Ecology, which 
is reviewed on page 14. 

The article which appears above was an address 
Dr. Ehrlich delivered before the First National 
Congress on Population and Environment on 
June 11. 1970 in Chicago. The address appears 
in print here for the first time. Excerpts from 
this address and others delivered to the 
Congress will appear in a paperback book to be 
published by McGraw Hill in the late fall. 

Photos on page 2 from Historical Pictures Service 
and United Press International. 



Bulletin October 1970 






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"The men of old did not till the field, 
for the fruits of plants and trees 
were sufficient for food. Nor did the 
women weave, for the sitins of birds 
and animals were enough for 
clothing. Without working there was 
enough to live, there were few 
people and plenty of supplies, and 
therefore the people did not quarrel. 
Hence neither large rewards nor 
heavy punishments were used, and 
the people were naturally in good 
order. But nowadays people do not 
consider a family of five children as 
large, and, each child having again 
five children, before the death of the 
grandfather there may be twenty-five 
grandchildren. The result is that 
there are many people and few 
supplies, and that one has to work 
hard for a meagre return. So the 
people fall to quarrelling, and though 
rewards may be doubled and 
punishments heaped up, one does 
not escape from disorder." 

Han Fei-Tzu (Chou Dynasty, 
died 233 B.C.) 

"The strongest witness is the vast 
population of the earth to which we 
are a burden and she scarcely can 
provide for our needs; as our 
demands grow greater, our 
complaints against nature's 
inadequacy are heard by all. The 
scourges of pestilence, famine, wars, 
and earthquakes have come to be 
regarded as a blessing to 
overcrowded nations, since they 
serve to prune away the luxuriant 
growth of the human race." 

Tertullian (ca. 160-230) in De Anima 

It may be surprising to persons in the 
20th century that their concern about 
overpopulation is not a new one. 
Scholars, many centuries belore Christ, 
and in all parts of the world, discoursed 
on the problem of overpopulation. But 
not until the late 18th and the early 19th 
centuries were scholars systematically 
analyzing the overpopulation problem, 
and graphically portraying its 
consequences. One of the most 
articulate of population theorists was 
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), 
an English economist and sociologist. 



Malthus' theories covered a wide range 
of overpopulation problems; and it has 
since been shown that not everything 
Malthus said was true. But Malthus' 
influence on scientists of his time, 
including Darwin, is profound. Malthus 
is often credited with influencing 
Darwin's theory of natural selection. 

The following excerpts from Malthus' 
work are taken from the original 1803 
An Essay on the Principle of 
Population, or, A View of its Past and 
Present Effects on Human Happiness, 
which is a greatly expanded version of 
his 1798 essay on overpopulation. 

. . . But as, by that law of our nature 
which nnakes food necessary to the life 
of man, population can never actually 
increase beyond the lowest 
nourishment capable of supporting it; 
a strong check on population, from the 
difficulty of acquiring food, must be 
constantly in operation. This difficulty 
must fall somewhere; and must 
necessarily be severely felt in some or 
other of the various forms of misery, or 
the fear of misery, by a large portion 
of mankind. 

... we will take the slowest of these 
rates of [population] increase; a rate, 
in which all concurring testimonies 
agree, and which has been repeatedly 
ascertained to be from procreation only. 
It may safely be pronounced therefore, 
that population when unchecked goes 
on doubling itself every twenty-five 
years, or increases in a geometrical 
ratio. 

The rate according to which the 
productions of the earth may be 
supposed to increase, it will not be so 
easy to determine. Of this, however, 
we may be perfectly certain, that the 
ratio of their increase must be totally 
of a different nature from the ratio of 
the increase of population. A thousand 
millions are just as easily doubled 
every twenty-five years by the power of 
population as a thousand. But the food 
to support the increase from the greater 
number will by no means be obtained 
with the same facility. Man is 
necessarily confined in room. When 
acre has been added to acre till all the 



fertile land is occupied, the yearly 
increase of food must depend upon 
the amelioration of the land already in 
possession. This is a stream, which, 
from the nature of all soils, instead of 
increasing must be gradually 
diminishing. But population, could it be 
supplied with food, would go on with 
unexhausted vigour; and the increase 
of one period would furnish the power 
of a greater increase the next, and 
this, without any limit. 

... If America continue increasing, 
which she certainly will do, though not 
with the same rapidity as formerly, the 
Indians will be driven further and further 
back into the country, till the whole 
race is ultimately exterminated. 

. . . The necessary effects of these two 
different rates of [population and 
production] increase, when brought 
together, will be very striking. Let us 
call the population of this island eleven 
millions; and suppose the present 
produce equal to the easy support of 
such a number. In the first twenty-five 
years the population would be 
twenty-two millions, and the food being 
also doubled, the means of subsistence 
would be equal to this increase. In the 
next twenty-five years, the population 
would be forty-four millions, and the 
means of subsistence only equal to the 
support of thirty-three millions. In the 
next period the population would be 
eighty-eight millions, and the means of 
subsistence just equal to the support 
of half that number. And at the 
conclusion of the first century, the 
population would be a hundred and 
seventy-six millions, and the means of 
subsistence only equal to the support 
of fifty-five millions; leaving a population 
of a hundred and twenty-one millions 
totally unprovided for. 

Taking the whole earth instead of this 
island, . . . supposing the present 
population equal to a thousand millions, 
the human species would increase as 
the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 
256, and subsistence as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
6, 7, 8, 9. In two centuries the 
population would be to the means of 
subsistence as 256 to 9; in three 
centuries as 4096 to 13, and in two 



Bulletin October 1970 



It 



thousand years the difference would 
be almost incalculable. 

In this supposition no limits whatever 
are placed to the produce of the earth. 
It may increase forever and be greater 
than any assignable quantity; yet still 
the power of population being in every 
period so much superior, the increase 
of the human species can only be kept 
down to the level of the means of 
subsistence by the constant operation 
of the strong law of necessity acting as 
a check upon the greater power . . . 

A 

'^^M^A 

. . . The power of the earth to produce 
subsistence is certainly not unlimited, 
but it Is strictly speaking indefinite, that 
is, its limits are not defined, and the 
time will probably never arrive when 
we shall be able to say, that no farther 
labour or ingenuity of man could make 
further additions to it. But the power of 
obtaining an additional quantity of food 
from the earth by proper management, 
and in a certain time, has the most 
remote relation imaginable to the 
power of keeping pace with an 
unrestricted increase of population . . . 

... If it be really true, that without a 
diminished proportion of births we 
cannot attain any permanent 
improvement in the health and 
happiness of the mass of the people, 
and secure that description of 
population, which, by containing a 
larger share of adults is best calculated 
to create fresh resources, and 
consequently to encourage a continued 
increase of efficient population, it is 
surely of the highest importance that 
this should be known . . . 



. . . The preventive check is peculiar to 
man, and arises from that distinctive 
superiority in his reasoning faculties, 
which enables him to calculate distant 
consequences. Plants and animals 
have apparently no doubts about the 
future support of their offspring. The 
checks to their indefinite increase, 
therefore, are all positive. But man 
cannot look around him, and see the 
distress which frequently presses upon 
those who have large families; he 
cannot contemplate his present 
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 
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 
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? 
Will he not be unable to transmit to his 
children the same advantages of 
education and improvement that he 
had himself possessed? Does he even 
feel secure that, should he have a large 
family, his utmost exertions can save 
them from rags, and squalid poverty, 
and their consequent degradation in 
the community? And may he not be 
reduced to the grating necessity of 
forfeiting his independence, and of 
being obliged to the sparing hand of 
charity for support? . . . 

. . . The positive checks to population 
are extremely various, and include 
every cause, whether arising from vice 
or misery, which in any degree 
contributes to shorten the natural 
duration of human life. Under this head 
therefore may be enumerated, all 
unwholesome occupations, severe 
labour and exposure to the seasons, 
extreme poverty, bad nursing of 
children, great towns, excesses of all 
kinds, the whole train of common 
diseases and epidemics, wars, 



pestilence, plague, and famine ... 

... In a country whose resources will 
not permanently admit of an increase 
of population more rapid than the 
existing rate, no improvement in the 
condition of the people which would 
tend to diminish mortality could possibly 
take place without being accompanied 
by a smaller proportion of births . . . 



12 



Bulletin October 1970 



fall color 

One of the most spectacular sights 
that nature has to offer is the spectacle 
of tall color. This is found only in 
those broad-leaved trees and shrubs 
that lose their leaves as the cold 
season approaches. These plants 
"sense" approaching cold weather not 
by temperature but by the shortening 
of day-length in late summer. 
Preparations must be made in advance 
— the leaves cannot just fall off. 

An abscission layer must first be 
formed at the base of the leaf-stalk. 
This abscission layer will allow the leaf 
to break off easily and it will seal off 
the small veins that carried water and 
nutrients in and out of the leaf. These 
veins must be sealed off to prevent 
water-loss and invasion by fungus or 
insects. As the abscission layer is 
formed the leaf continues to produce 
sugars which now, unable to leave the 
leaf, build up in concentration. This 
build-up of sugars is, in part, 
responsible for the production of 
anthocyanin pigments, which produce 
the dark reds and purplish colors. 
There are yellow pigments also present 



by Dr. William C. Burger 



in the leaf. These are usually hidden 
by the bright green of chlorophyll in 
summer. As chlorophyll breaks down 
in early fall, these carotenoid pigments 
become visible and produce the yellow 
and orange colors of fall. 

There are other factors contributing to 
the presence and intensity of fall color 
in a given plant. Heredity is very 
important. Some species produce deep 
brilliant reds such as the sour gum 
{Hyssa) and sugar maple, others bright 
yellow as in the tulip tree 
(Liriodendron). Light itself can play a 
role. Leaves in bright light often exhibit 
more intense colors than those in the 
shade. And, in addition, some people 
claim that cool weather is important. 
However, frost can cause the leaves to 
turn brown more quickly. Damaged 
branches or trees often turn color early. 

There are only a few areas in the 
world where fall color gives a truly 
spectacular display. These areas are 
the northeastern United States and 
adjacent Canada and northeastern 
Asia. The reasons for this are several. 



Both these areas have broad-leaved 
forests with many different kinds of 
trees giving a great variety of colors. 
Another reason is the tendency for the 
weather to be clear and cool in late 
September. In Europe the weather is 
often cloudy and not as cold at this 
time — and the colors are usually much 
less intense. We are lucky to be so 
close to one of the best areas for 
seeing the display of fall color. 

Fall color begins at first in the north 
and then "travels" south. In 
northernmost Wisconsin and adjacent 
Michigan the first week of October is 
usually the peak of color-intensity. 
Coming southward, the second week 
of October is usually best for central 
and southern Wisconsin, and the last 
two weeks of October for Illinois and 
Indiana. The color show can vary 
greatly from year to year — depending 
on conditions. Let's hope that this will 
be a good year — and if it is, don't 
miss it! 

Dr William C. Burger is Assistant Curator, 
Vascular Plants in the Department of Botany at 
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: 
issues in Human Ecology 

by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich 
San Francisco, W. H. Freeman and 
Company, 1970 ($8.95) 

This book was designed by the authors 
to provide a "reasonably comprehensive 
and reliable sourcebook for the study 
of questions relating to population, 
resources and environment" and was 
written for the layman as well as 
teachers and students. The Ehrlichs 
believe that our earth is already grossly 
overpopulated and that the upper limit 
of food production by conventional 
means has very nearly been reached. 
Ten to twenty million people are 
starving to death every year and further 
attempts to increase food production 
will only tend to accelerate the 
deterioration of the environment and 
result in a reduction of the earth's 
capacity to produce food. They argue 
that this situation and the rate of 
population growth may result in 
worldwide war and/or disease unless 
efforts are made now for population 
control. 

As a general reader, with small 
competence in many of the areas 
discussed, I cannot review the facts 
used by the authors in illustrating their 
theses. I can say, however, that the 
book is well-written and documented 
and that the facts are presented clearly, 
thoughtfully, and calmly. The Ehrlichs' 
aim is to convince us of the nature and 
scope of the present crisis, not to 
frighten us, and they have succeeded 
admirably. 

Implicit in the writing of the book is the 
belief that these problems can be 



solved. But their solution will require 
rapid and dramatic changes in our 
attitudes, "especially those relating to 
reproductive behavior, economic 
growth, technology, the environment, 
and conflict resolution." Some of the 
authors' recommendations seem, as 
they point out, unrealistic; I very much 
doubt, for example, that a program to 
"de-develop the United States" has 
much chance of success. However, 
something must be done if our 
civilization and species are to survive 
and this book can do much to focus 
our attentions on these problems. It 
should have the widest possible 
distribution. 

by W. Peyton Fawcett, head librarian, 
Field Museum 



Animals in IMigration 

by Robert T. Orr 

Macmillan Co., New York, 1970 ($12.50) 

Animals in Migration attempts to cover 
all aspects of migration, causes, 
movements and mechanics, for all 
forms of animal life. Dr. Orr is to be 
congratulated on how well he achieved 
his objective in a scant 300 pages. 
While no one subject is covered in any 
depth, he does provide an introduction 
to a wide range of knowledge. 

Dr. Orr begins his book with a general 
discussion of animal population 
movements, not all of which can be 
called migrations, and then goes on to 
discuss the reasons for migration 
within the economy of the organism, 
the influence of environment, and the 
physiological features. He follows this 
with the migration patterns of selected 



species from most of the better known 
animal groups, insects, fishes, 
amphibians, reptiles, birds and 
mammals. The preponderance of these 
reports are taken from the birds, which 
have always been the best known and 
most studied class, but most readers 
will be surprised to find out how many 
species of other groups also perform 
extensive migrations. He concludes 
with chapters on orientation, hazards, 
and the problems of observing and 
studying migration. 

This is a difficult book to quote from, 
or rather a difficult book to stop 
quoting from. Dr. Orr not only includes 
the classic examples of bird migration, 
such as the Arctic Tern, that nests in 
the North American arctic, migrates 
down the east side of the Atlantic to 
winter in south polar seas and then 
returns up the west side of the Atlantic, 
a round trip of 25,000 miles, but tells 
as well of the green sea turtles, who 
every two or three years make the 
1500 mile trip from the coast of South 
America to Ascension Island to lay 
their eggs. How these turtles orient 
themselves has yet to be demonstrated, 
and it is one of the virtues of this book 
that speculation concerning the whys 
and hows of migration receives as 
much emphasis as the description of 
various migration patterns. 

Animals in Migration provides a good 

introduction to the general problem of 

migration. For those wishing to delve 

more deeply into special problems, 

there is an 18 page Bibliography at 

the end, up to date through 1968. 

by Melvin A, Traylor, assistant curator ot 
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 



■' 


2 


 


 


 


 


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22 


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20 


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14 


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27 


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17 




18 






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19 




23 




24 






 


25 




 


26 














28 






29 


30 




31 


32 


33 




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34 




 


35 


 




36 








37 






 


38 




39 




40 




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41 




42 






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45 


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43 






44 






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48 




49 


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57 


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60 


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63 


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71 


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12. 
14. 
15. 
17. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 

24. 
27. 
29. 
31. 
32. 
43. 
45. 
48. 
49. 
51. 
53. 
56. 
57. 
58. 
59. 
60. 
61. 
62. 
64. 
67. 
68. 
71. 
72. 
74. 
76. 
73. 



Crossword by Lenore Perlove 



South Pacific islander 

Atom bomb effect 

Edges 

A mineral spring 

An Indian tribe 

Form of greeting, (reversed) 

Kinship grouping 

Branch of linguistics (study of 

meanings) 

King of Huns (Scandinavian legend) 

A dry fruit or seed 

Nucleic acid found in genes (abbrev.) 

Pronoun 

World organization (abbrev.) 

Vessel used by chemists 

Wife of Charlie Chaplin 

Seal of a letter 

Prefix denoting a negative 

Yes (Span.) 

Inhabitant of Arctic Coasts 

Seaweed 

Stains 

Shining or clear 

Central American Republic (abbrev.) 

Exclamation 

A carbonyl compound (Chem.) 

Loose sediment 

Wears away 

Neither 

Acid isolated from proteins (Chem.) 

Ebenezer (abbrev.) 

A promontory or cape 

Digit of the foot 

Neither 

Exclamation of surprise 



Answer to last month's crossword 



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Bulletin October 1970 



15 




Dr. Austin L. Rand Retires 

"I've been fortunate in being able to 
earn a living at something I'm very 
interested in," says Dr. Austin L. Rand, 
Field Museum's chief curator of 
zoology. Dr. Rand, who will retire on 
October 31, has been interested in 
animals and, particularly in birds, as 
long as he can remember. 

Standing six feet six inches tall and 
weighing 250 pounds. Dr. Rand has 
been described as looking more like a 
retired lineman for the Green Bay 
Packers than a soon-to-retire museum 
curator. 

A native of Nova Scotia, Dr. Rand 
received his bachelors degree from 
Acadia University in Canada and then 
took two years out to go on an 
international expedition to Madagascar 
before getting his doctorate at Cornell 
University. 

Dr. Rand joined Field Museum staff as 
Curator of Birds in 1947. He has 
served as Chief Curator of Zoology 
since 1955. Prior to 1947, he was on 
the staffs of the American Museum of 
Natural History in New York and the 
National Museum of Canada at Ottawa. 

Expeditions to study and collect birds 
and mammals have taken Dr. Rand to 
such diverse places as New Guinea, 
Northwest Canada, Central America 
and the Philippine Islands. 

Dr. Rand is responsible for tens of 
thousands of bird specimens which 
have been added to the Museum's 
collection. One of the most important 
collections which he acquired for the 
Museum was the van Someren 
Collection which numbers some 17,000 
specimens, mostly from eastern Africa. 



This collection, from which original 
descriptions of at least 37 kinds of 
birds have been based, was brought 
together by Dr. V. G. L. van Someren 
during a period of more than 40 years. 
Dr. Rand remembers the excitement in 
the Museum the day the collection 
arrived from Nairobi. "Nine huge cases 
arrived in bond at the Museum," said 
Dr. Rand. "There was not enough room 
in the bird range to open them so we 
put them in the fourth floor paint shop. 
There, under the watchful eyes of two 
United States customs officers, the 
paint shop hummed with activity as 
everyone vied for a crowbar, nail- 
puller, hammer, screwdriver or tin 
shears to get a look at the Guinea 
fowls, hawks, hornbills, mousebirds, 
honey-guides and many other species 
which lay side by side, row upon row, 
layer upon layer, in perfect condition." 

Running parallel with his interest in 
researching and exhibiting birds has 
been Dr. Rand's passion for writing 
about birds on all levels, for all 
persons— young and old, scientist and 
layman. He has authored over 350 
books and articles on birds, mammals 
and even some on travel. A few of the 
books for which he is well-known are: 
The Handbook of New Guinea Birds 
(co-authored with E. Thomas Gilliard), 
Ornitiiology: an introduction, Stray 
Featliers From a Bird Man's Desk, 
A Midwestern Almanac, Pageant of tine 
Seasons (co-authored with his wife, 
Rheua M. Rand), New Guinea 
Expedition (co-authored with Richard 
Archbold) and The Birds in Summer 

Dr. Austin L. Rand 




(which has been translated into French 
and Italian). 

Dr. Rand has recently completed the 
manuscript for a lavishly color- 
illustrated book on the birds of North 
America to be published by Doubleday 
in 1971. 



Air Pollution Workshop 

A one-day workshop to discuss the 
problems of air pollution and 
alternative methods of financing a 
Cook County flood control program will 
be held in James Simpson Theatre 
Thursday, October 15. 

Sponsored by the League of Women 
Voters of Cook County, the seminar is 
open free to the public. Non-members 
of the Museum will be admitted to the 
theatre only at the West entrance 
without charge. 

Winter Tour 

Dr. Carlos R. Margain, a prominent 
Mexican archaeologist with Mexico's 
Museo Nacional de Antropologia, will 
be the specialist accompanying the 
first section (December 31 -January 29) 
of Field Museum's winter tour, "The 
Inca's Empire and Danwin's 
Galapagos." Dr. Margain's writings 
and research in both Andean and 
Mexican archaeology and anthropology 
are widely recognized. He is the 
author of "Las Colecciones del Museo 
del Oro" and "La Arqueologia de 
Esmeraldas". 

Dr. Donald E. Thompson, Associate 
Professor of Anthropology at the 
University of Wisconsin, will serve as a 
specialist on the archaeology of the 
Incan area on the second section of 
the tour, which departs February 4 and 
returns March 5. Dr. Thompson is 
presently doing field work in Peru. 

Francisco Leon Rodriguez of the 
Zoology Department of Universidad 
Catolica del Ecuador will be the 
specialist on birds, plants and wild life 
with both tour sections. Leon has 
been associated with the Charles 
Darwin Research Station on the 
Galapagos. For the past five years he 
has been doing research with the 
Universidad. 

Phil Clark, chief of Museum tours, will 
lead both sections. 



16 



Bulletin October 1970 



CALENDAR 



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 



Through October 25 

Illinois By the Sea: A Coal Age 
Environment, a geological exhibit. Events 
that occurred 300 million years ago at two 
local sites are graphically explored. Hall 9. 

Through October 26 

Aurantia argiope, a large, garden-variety 
spider, on exhibit in the South Lounge. 
Because of its conspicuous color, many 
inquiries are received about this harmless 
insect at this time of year. 

Continuing 

75th Anniversary Exhibit: A Sense of 
Wonder, A Sense of History, A Sense of 
Discovery. Exciting display techniques 
examine man and his world, the history of 
Field Museum and some of its current 
research projects. Hall 3. 

John James Audubon's elephant folio, The 

Birds of America, on display in the North 
Lounge. A different plate of this rare, 
first-edition copy, published by the author 
in 1827-38, is shown daily. 

Fall Journey for Children, "Eye" Spy, a 

free, self-guided tour designed to test their 
powers of observation. The program offers 
boys and girls who can read and write an 
incentive to learn. Journey sheets are 
available at Museum entrances. 

October 11 

Free film presented by the Illinois Audubon 
Society, 2:30 p.m., James Simpson Theatre. 

Fall Film-Lecture Series 

Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. 
James Simpson Theatre 

October 10 

"Scotland Afore Ye" 

by Jonathan Hagar 

A many-dimensioned view of this rugged 

and beautiful land includes the Lowlands 

and Highlands, the Hebrides and a search 

for the Loch Ness Monster. 



October 17 

"Russia" 

by Dick Reddy 

Aspects of city and country life, sightseeing 

in Moscow and Leningrad, and glimpses of 

the Russian people on vacation. 

October 24 

"Green Guianas" 

by Arthur Erickson 

A look at three small countries in South 

America between the Amazon and Orinoco 

rivers, Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana. 

October 31 

"Across Wilderness Canada" 

by Dr. John D. Bulger 

Attention is focused on nature and the 

outdoors, from Newfoundland westward to 

British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. 

November 7 

"High Himalaya" 

by Russ Potter 

A visit to West Pakistan, Gilgit, Hunza and 

Nagar, located in a spectacular mountainous 

setting, for an off-the-beaten-path film 

adventure. 




Field Museum's 
Natural History 
Tours 

Gardens 

Wild Flowers 

Birds 

Archaeology 

Congenial Travel 

Companions 

Interpretations by Experts 

The Unhurried Approach 

Travel With All 

Dimensions 

GUATEMALA 

LAND OF COLOR & CONTRAST 

Oct. 24-Nov. 8 

$1,280 includes $400 donation 

Gardens at Guatemala City, Antigua, 
Volcan Fuego, Quezaltenango. Ruins of 
Tikal, Iximche, Kaminaljuyu. Chichicas- 
lenango on All Saints Day. Lake Atitlan. 

THE INCA'S EIMPIRE 

& DARWIN'S GALAPAGOS 

Two sections: Dec. 31-Jan. 29, 1971, 

& Feb. 4-March 5. 

$2,807 includes $600 donation. 

(22 days of Andes, S2.457; 11 days of 
Galapagos cruise & Quito, $1,190 — 
separately) Gardens in Bogota, Lima, 
La Paz, Quito. Ruins of Machu Picchu, 
Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Caiamarquilla, 
Ollantaytambo. Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, 
Tiahuanaco. Spanish Colonial art & 
architecture in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia 
and Ecuador. 

LEADER ON ALL TQURS, PHIL CLARK, 
former Editor of Horticulture magazine; 
former Garden Editor of The News, 
Mexico; author. "A Guide to Mexican 
Flora"; Field Museum Natural History 
Tours Chief; accompanied by 
Archaeologists specialized in the areas. 

All donations to Field Museum are 
tax deductible. 

Rates are from Chicago; may be adjusted 
from other points. 

Write: Field Museum 
Natural History Tours 
Roosevelt Rd. at Lal(e Shore Dr. 
Chicago, III. 60605 



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. 

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 November 1970 




A Russian Trading Post in Southwestern Alaska 





,:x^ SEWARD 
n-^ PENINSULA 



NORTON SOUND 






kolayevsky. 
-'Redoubt / 



OF ALASKA 




by James W. VanStone 

According to an historical anecdote, 
Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, during 
his journey abroad in 1697-98, was 
chagrined to learn that while other 
European monarchs were only too clearly 
aware of the boundaries of their realms, 
he did not know the extent of his 
immense homeland. Determined to 
ascertain the eastern limits of the lands 
under his rule, Peter commissioned. In 
1 725, the first of two momentous 
expeditions to the unknown wastes of 
the North Pacific Ocean. Both were 
under the command of the Danish 
navigator Vitus Bering, one of the many 
foreign mariners drawn into the newly 
created Russian Navy. After years of 
arduous and dangerous travels, Bering 
succeeded not only in traversing the 
eastern reaches of the Russian Empire, 
but he also, in 1741-42, crossed the sea 
which today bears his name. 

Following Bering's explorations and 
discoveries, Russian fur traders began 
to exploit those areas of Alaska where 
fabulous riches in furs — seals, sea 
otters, foxes — had been reported. 
Rivalry among these early entrepreneurs 
was intense, but in 1799 the 
Russian-American Company secured a 
monopoly of the Alaskan trade and the 
capital of the new Russian possession 
was established at Sitka. 

Early in the nineteenth century, as 
fur-bearing animals began to decline in 
the Aleutians and other traditionally 
exploited areas, the Company turned to 
southwestern Alaska where it hoped 
to reap new profits through trade with 
the Eskimos for beaver pelts. A number 
of fortified trading posts, or "redoubts," 
were established north of the Alaska 
Peninsula, the first of which was named 
Aleksandrovskiy Redoubt In honor of 
Tsar Alexander I. Located on a high bluff 
at the mouth of the Nushagak River 
opposite the present-day town of 
Dillingham, it afforded a commanding 



Air photo of Nushagak (opposite page) 
talfen in 1963. (U. S. Dept. ot Interior, 
Bureau ol Land Management) 

Dr. James W. VanStone is 
Curator, North American Archaeology and 
Ethnology in Field Museum's Department 
of Anthropology. 



view of the entire bay and no one 
approaching the mouth of the river could 
do so unobserved by personnel at the 
post (see map). Using the new 
redoubt, later to be called Nushagak 
by Anglo-Americans, as a base 
of operations. Company employees 
explored the Nushagak and Kuskokwim 
rivers and opened the interior regions 
of southwestern Alaska to the fur trade. 

Today the grassy slopes of Nushagak 
are virtually deserted. An air photograph 
(page 2) taken in 1963 shows only an 
abandoned Russian Orthodox church, 
a few dilapidated houses, and twenty 
to thirty rectangular depressions in 
the earth indicating former Eskimo 
dwellings. This is all that remains of 
what was once a busy trading and 
missionary center with a population of 
150-175 Russians, Eskimos, and people 
of mixed ancestry. 

The redoubt got off to a promising start 
in 1818 under the direction of Fedor 
Kolmakov, an energetic and personable 
trader who quickly established trade 
relations with the neighboring Eskimos 
and generally helped to spread the 
Company's influence in the region. 
Kolmakov successfully guided the affairs 
of the post until his death in 1840. He 
was buried in the Nushagak cemetery on 
top of a small hill above the settlement, 
and a twenty foot cylindrical wooden 
shaft with a globe on top was erected 
to his memory. 

During Kolmakov's sojourn a small 
chapel, mill, new barracks and a 
kashgee or Eskimo ceremonial house, 
probably built to entertain visitors 
trading at the post, were added to the 
original buildings which consisted 
simply of a small fort and barracks 
house. About 1857 a priest's house was 
built, and in 1860 the Company, at the 
request of church authorities, ordered 
the construction of a new church to 
replace the small chapel built earlier. 
This structure, the last of importance 
to be constructed at Aleksandrovskiy 
Redoubt during the Russian period, was 
conceived on a comparatively grand 
scale with such materials as nails, roof 
tiles, doors and windows to be sent 
from Sitka. 

Business at the redoubt generally was 
good. Eskimos from interior and coastal 
settlements brought pelts to exchange 
for such items as tobacco, tea, hard 



biscuits, glass beads, cast iron kettles, 
needles, combs, pipes, mirrors, axes, 
canvas tent cloth, flannel blankets, 
cloth dresses, buttons and small bells. 
Indeed, the earliest recorded population 
figures for Aleksandrovskiy in 1849 
indicate that 168 persons lived at the 
post. Thus the village was probably the 
largest on Nushagak Bay, even during 
the period after 1846 when, for reasons 
of economy and administrative 
convenience, a decision was made to 
reduce Aleksandrovskiy from a redoubt 
to an odinochka or trail house 
subordinate to Nikolayevsky Redoubt 
on Cook Inlet. 

In 1867 Alaska was sold to the United 
States, and in June 1868, Captain 
J. W. White, in command of the United 
States Revenue Steamer Wayanda visited 
"Nushagak," as it is usually known in 
sources of the American period. White 
mentions the decaying buildings and 
notes that the assets of the 
Russian-American Company had been 
transferred to Hutchinson, Kohl and 
Company of San Francisco. This firm, 
which ran the Nushagak station for at 
least a year and possibly two, was soon 
reorganized to form the Alaska 
Commercial Company which dominated 
trade in southwestern Alaska throughout 
the rest of the nineteenth century and 
well into the twentieth. 

Sometime between 1872 and 1874, 
during three seasons of work in Alaska, 
the historian and naturalist Henry W. 
Elliott visited Nushagak. He has left a 
colorful description of the settlement. 

The village itself is located on the abrupt 
slopes of a steep, grassy hillside which rises 
from the river's edge. The trading-stores 
and the residences of the priest, the church, 
log-huts of the natives and their baraboras 
are planted on a succession of three earthen 
terraces, one rising immediately behind the 
other. All communication from flat to flat is 
by slippery staircases, which are fraught 
with danger to a thoughtless pedestrian, 
especially when fogs moisten the steps and 
darkness obscures his vision. 

The red-roofed, yellow painted walls of the 
old Russian buildings, the smarter, sprucer 
dwellings of our traders, with lazy, curling 
wreaths of bluish smoke, are brought into 
very picturesque relief by the verdant slopes 
of Nooshagak's hillside, caught up and 
reflected deeply by the swiftly moving current 
of the river below. The natives have 
festooned their long drying-frames with the 
crimson-tinted flesh of salmon; bleached 
drift-logs are scattered in profusion upon a 
bare sandy high-water bench that stretches 
like a buff-tinted ribbon just beneath them, 



Bulletin November 1970 



r 



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im: 




Nushagak around 1900. (National 
Archives photo) 



iij- -• ■•' - -I 



— I"! 




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




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I 



Some Eskimo houses at Nushagak, 
around the turn ol the century. 
(National Archives photo) 



and above, the dark, turbid whirl of flood 
and eddy so characteristic of a booming, 
rising river. 

Elliott also drew a sketch of the village 
(page 5), in the proportions of w^hich 
are such that it is difficult to relate the 
location of the structures shown to the 
site as it appears at the present tinne. 
In this drawing six buildings can be 
easily distinguished and there would 
appear to be two or three more. Those 
closest to the beach are almost 
certainly associated with the Alaska 
Commercial Company, while those on 
the bluff would appear to be 
church-related buildings. Most of the 
semi-subterranean earth-covered 
Eskimo residences were southwest of 
the church in the area where the 
drawing shows three elevated storage 
caches. The monument erected to the 
memory of Fedor Kolmakov, long since 
fallen, can be seen in the upper right 
hand corner of Elliott's drawing. 

At the very end of the nineteenth century 
the flourishing settlement was influenced 
by the salmon fishing industry, one of 
the most significant commercial 
innovations in Alaska's history. Although 
the Alaska Commercial Company had 
exported barrels of salted salmon as 
early as 1880, it was the invention of the 
canning process that provided the 
means by which the Alaska salmon runs 
could be profitably harvested. In 1883 
the first cannery on Bristol Bay was 
constructed about two miles north of 
Nushagak and in 1899 the Pacific Steam 
Whaling Company and Alaska 
Fisherman's Packing Company erected 
canneries directly in front of the 
settlement. The companies imported 
Chinese workers to can the fish and the 
fishermen represented many nationalities 
and ethnic groups. With its exotic 
personnel and new and strange material 
culture, the fishing industry acted as 



an effective agent of change into the 
orbit of which even the most retiring 
Eskimo at Nushagak, visitor or resident, 
must have been drawn. When the 
canneries closed down at the end of 
each summer after the brief, exciting 
salmon runs, the villagers were left with 
a store of new ideas about the outside 
world and probably a few material 
items not obtainable at the store, but 
available through trade with a friendly 
fisherman from San Francisco or 
homesick cannery worker from Hong 
Kong. The attraction of the canneries is 
doubtless reflected in the population 
figures which by 1900 had soared to 324. 

During the summers of 1900 and 1901 
the United States Fish Commission 
Steamer Albatross visited Nushagak and 
a member of the crew took a number 
of photographs. One of these pictures 
(top, page 4), taken in front of the 
village, shows four structures on the 
beach up against the bluff. The large 
frame building in the center is the 
Alaska Commercial Company, while one 
of the log houses, probably the one 
immediately to the left of the store, was 
the trader's residence. The other two 
log structures may have been 
storehouses. According to older 
residents of Dillingham, the fenced-in 
area in front of these buildings at one 
time enclosed gardens maintained by 
John W. Clark, agent for the Alaska 
Commercial Company at Nushagak from 
the middle 1880's until his death in 
1897. It is probable that the original 
Russian buildings stood in the same 
location as those just described, and it 
is possible that one or more of the log 
structures shown in this photograph 
was actually built during the Russian 
period. 

Several wooden buildings on the edge 
of the bluff show up better in another 
Albatross photograph (center, p. 4) 
taken from that area and looking to the 



northeast. Eskimo houses and caches 
are shown along with three frame 
houses, a church, and an uncompleted 
frame structure. The largest house with 
a four-sided roof situated on the edge 
of the bluff just above the store may 
have been the priest's residence. The 
church building is almost certainly the 
one built in 1860 and shown in Elliott's 
drawing of the settlement. This building 
must have been torn down shortly after 
these photographs were taken, as a 
new church, located to the southwest 
of the old one and visible in the air 
photograph, was constructed in 1904. 
It was in use until about 1963. 

A third Albatross photograph (bottom, 
p. 4) shows typical Eskimo houses at 
Nushagak. These semi-subterranean 
earth and log structures were in use 
in the area until the 1920's. Certain 
modifications in traditional construction, 
notably glass windows, frame doors and 
stove pipes, can be seen in this picture. 

Nushagak had reached its peak at about 
the time these photographs were taken. 
In 1918-19 a serious influenza epidemic 
swept much of Alaska and took a severe 
toll at the settlement. So many people 
died that bodies were placed in a 
number of houses and these structures 
caved in. The two salmon canneries 
were abandoned during the 1930's as 
declining salmon runs forced the 
industry to consolidate its operations. 
Of much greater significance, however, 
were the attractions of Dillingham which 
drew population away from Nushagak 
and emerged as a cosmopolitan 
commercial center for the area in the 
1920'sand 1930's. 

After 1930 the village is no longer listed 
in census reports. In 1964 there were 
two families with houses at Nushagak 
and even they did not spend the 
entire year there. In 1969 only one 
family remained. 



Bulletin November 1970 



a child goes forth 



The time between infancy and 
adulthood is a time of becoming, of 
reaching out, of expanding awareness. 
It is perhaps the most important and 
fragile time of all. 

There was a child went forth every day, 

And the first object he look'd upon 
that object he became 

And that object became part of him 
for the day or a certain part 
of the day 

Or for many years or stretching 
cycles of years. 

"There Was A Child Went Forth" 
Walt Whitman 

Playthings, usually miniature copies 



toys — are explored as indicators of 
the cultures which produced them. 

The first part of the exhibit, arranged 
in cultural groups, is designed to 
build an awareness of how toys can 
give information about a people, 
their way of life and their values. For 
example, the way a toy is fashioned 
often indicates the technological 
advancement of a society, while the 
material it is made of can reflect the 
environment. Toys which take the form 
of familiar animals can represent a 
vital concern with the natural 
environment; action toys or games 
may reveal cooperative or competitive 



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




of familiar things, animals, people, 
play a very important role in a child's 
world. These playthings are made by 
adults and represent adult ideas, 
tastes and values. Whether consciously 
or unconsciously, the objects a parent 
gives a child are indicative of the 
way the adult perceives of the world, 
and are instrumental in developing 
the child's social awareness. 

In Field Museum's exhibit, "A Child 
Goes Forth," opening November 18, 
these instruments of enculturation — 



attitudes of a society. For instance, 
American Indian cultures contain a 
predominance of physical, active 
games and toys — various ball and dart 
games are most popular. On the other 
hand, in the Japanese culture, one 
can see a deep concern for social 
structure. Japanese dolls reflect this 
concern; they are used for teaching 
etiquette, protocol and other social 
amenities. 

Before leaving this section of the 
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, 
technology and social concerns of 
America as reflected in a large 
collection of contemporary American 
toys. 

But what exactly is a toy? Are stones, 
sticks, small boxes, keys — things 
children play with — toys? The exhibit 
explores the fascinating fact that 
children often abstract objects from 
their environment and infuse them 
with new meaning; a common object 
may become a precious plaything. 

Equally fascinating is the development 



of seemingly universal toys. Balls, 
dolls, tops, animal toys, ball and cup 
games are among the playthings that 
have transcended time and crossed 
cultural borders. A comparative study 
of the designs and materials of these 
toys reveals some interesting 
differences among cultures. 

Ultimately, "A Child Goes Forth" 
demonstrates the very important 
nature and function of playthings in 
the past, and silently asks the question 
whether some of our contemporary 
American toys properly prepare our 
children for a meaningful adulthood. 




>iafe_ - -f 



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



Bulletin November 1970 





Turtle Lore: 

Fact and Fiction by Karen Ramey 





Bulletin November 1970 



Two hundred million years before the 
first sit-in or love-in, before the advent 
of Yoga or other such philosophies, the 
great granddaddy of passive resistance 
and meditation was born, or rather, 
hatched. This exemplary old fellow was 
well-established on planet Earth when 
the first dinosaur pipped his eggshell 
and began to see how big he could 
grow. While the living creatures of the 
earth battled for space and food, peace 
was the very keynote of turtle evolution. 
Whereas the turtle's relatives, both 
extant and extinct, the lizard, snake, 
alligator, and crocodile, as well as the 
dinosaur, bring horror to the eyes of 
many, the gentle turtle usually evokes 
only friendly feelings. His secret to 
success lies in his cumbersome, if not 
comical, shell, a truly spectacular 
adaptation. 

The first ancestors of the turtle are 
generally presumed to be the 
cotylosaurs, a group of early reptiles 
with bony plates set in their skin. Over 
a period of perhaps forty million years, 
these bony plates, or dermal bone, 
enlarged. At the same time, the ribs 
widened and fused with the backbone 
and the dermal plates. Thus a carapace, 
or upper shell, was produced. The 
lower shell or plastron was 
simultaneously created through the 
enlargement and fusion of the primitive 
reptilian abdominal ribs, and parts of 
the shoulder girdle. 

As the bony-box building project 
continued, more and more problems 
were exposed. For one, the legs 
couldn't be left to dangle outside 
unprotected. Somehow the pelvic and 
shoulder girdles had to be drawn inside 
the modified ribs so that when 
retracted, the legs could be secure in 
the shell rather than merely squashed 



The Chinese clay tile (shown on p. 1) 
represents the Four Quarters of the 
Universe. The black tortoise entwined by 
the serpent, known as the "Sombre 
Warrior" occupies the lower place on this 
map ot the heavens, and is the symbol 
ot winter. 

One theory why the tortoise and serpent 
are otten associated is that this 
pair ol reptiles, appearing in a deadly 
embrace, represent the tactics ot warlare. 
Neither ot the opponents is able to 
attack the other; the serpent is unable to 
crush the shell ot the tortoise, while the 
tortoise, because ol its short neck, cannot 
reach the serpent. 



against the outside. No easy job, but the 
inventive turtle nevertheless succeeded. 
But now another vital problem had to 
be encountered, since immobile ribs 
make for very poor breathing. The 
method of inflating and deflating the 
lungs with the diaphragm as practiced 
by other vertebrates just wouldn't work. 
So the turtle established a new method 
of breathing which utilizes two separate 
groups of muscles in the abdominal 
area and the viscera. 

One must realize, of course, that none 
of these fancy adaptations happened 
overnight. Epoch after epoch of turtle 
evolution produced large numbers of 
bizarre turtle-types. A fine example is 
Archelon, which lived during the 
Carboniferous Period, and was perhaps 
the largest turtle ever to exist. He was 
1 1 feet long and 12 feet across at the 
flippers. Another ancient turtle, 
Meiolania, was equipped with a horned 
skull two feet wide. The approximately 
250 species of turtles living today are 
survivors of a much more numerous 
group in the past. 

The survivors, however, should not be 
considered commonplace. Extremes 
and oddities are the rule rather than the 
exception in turtle lore. For instance, 
the familiar tale of the tortoise and the 
hare is built around the "common 
knowledge" that the turtle is a 
slow-poke. But sea turtles are capable 
of attaining the greatest speeds of any 
modern reptiles. The leatherback turtle, 
Dermochelys, can swim as fast as the 
best human runner can pound out the 
hundred yard dash. This massive reptile, 




In Hindu mythology, the tortoise is 
extremely important. In one myth, the 
universe is conceived of resting on four 
elephants, which in turn stood on the back 
ot a tortoise with a serpent enveloping it. 



by the way, reaches a length of nine 
feet and a weight of 1500 pounds. 

Land turtles do not compare with this 
marine giant in size, let alone in speed, 
but they are sometimes enormous in 
their own right. The famous Galapagos 
tortoise {Testudo) and its counterpart on 
islands of the Indian Ocean (also 
Testudo) can reach a length of four feet 
and a weight of 500 to 800 pounds. In 
North America, the largest turtle is the 
alligator snapper {Macroclemys 
temmincki), which weighs as much as 
two hundred pounds. The alligator 
snapper's size is not quite so startling 
as his craggy carapace and peculiar 
tongue. His tongue sports a curious 
appendage shaped like a worm. The 
alligator snapper is capable of 
wriggling his little "worm" convincingly 
enough to lure hungry fish right where 
he wants them! 

Among other curiosities, questions about 
a turtle's age are frequent. Although 
stories about the age of a turtle are 
often greatly exaggerated, turtles are 
nevertheless the longest-lived 
vertebrates in existence. They are the 
only group to exceed man in this 
capacity. The very fact that they often 
live longer than man makes longevity 
records difficult to maintain. The longest 
turtle life for which there is an authentic 
record is that of "Marion's Tortoise," a 
Testudo gigantea of the Indian Ocean. 
In 1766, this particular turtle was taken 
by the French explorer, Marion de 
Fresne, from its native island to the 
island of Mauritius where there are no 
native tortoises. The British captured 
Mauritius in 1810 and Marion's Tortoise 
was handed over to British troops by the 
surrendering French forces. It then lived 
in the artillery barracks at Port Louis 
until 1918 when it fell through a gun 
emplacement to its death. The authentic 
record of this turtle is a full 152 years. 
Add to that approximately thirty years, 
since it was an adult when captured, 
and it could not have been younger 
than 180 years. 

Among the more commonplace 
creatures, the little box turtle, Terrapene, 
also has its age records. There is good 
evidence that a box turtle has a life 
expectancy of forty to fifty years. Quite 
reliable records also indicate that some 
box turtles have spanned as many as 
123 years. 



Bulletin November 1970 



Turtles have sparked the imaginations 
of men the world over regardless of 
time or culture. Turtles have been found 
in cave paintings dating from pre-history. 
Perhaps turtles appealed to the early 
artists and craftsmen because of their 
very odd appearance or because of the 
designs on many carapaces, evoking 
kaleidoscope-like fascination. The turtle 
has played an important role in the 
folklore of groups as widely divergent as 
the Hindus, Burmese Buddhists, 
Chinese. Greeks, and American Indians. 

The Onondaga Indians of America, for 
example, believed the Chief of Heaven 
created the world when he became 
jealous of his wife. He uprooted the 
Tree of Life in Heaven and thrust his 
wife down through the hole in the sky. 
As the Sky Woman fell, the waterfowl 
soared up to catch her. The Loon 
instructed the water animals to bring 
soil from the sea so Sky Woman could 




The Iroquois Indians make rattles out 
ot snapping turtles. The head and neck of 
the turtle is stretched over a stick inserted 
to form the handle. They are used in the 
Great Feather Dance and the Dance ot 
the False Faces. 



land. The Muskrat put the soil on the 
back of a snapping turtle so that it made 
a little island above the water. Sky 
Woman was then gently taken to the 
ground by the birds. She became the 
Great Earth Mother in Indian legends. 

In Chinese legend, the tortoise played 
a different, though equally important role 
in creation. The tortoise, Kwei, Lord of 
the Northern Quadrangle, was the 
longest-lived, wisest and most 
experienced creature. Therefore, he 
became the advisor to the creator of 
the world and accompanied the creator 
in his great work. It is said that the first 
characters were traced from segments 
of Kwei's carapace, thus giving rise to 
the art of writing. The carapace of 
Kwei's descendant was also invaluable 
in that it carried instructions in the form 



of maps for drain ditches, irrigation 
and navigation channels. These 
instructions were used by the first of 
five mythological emperors as he 
directed the development of the land. 

Perhaps because of Kwei and his 
descendants the Chinese believe 
that the turtle carries on its carapace 
knowledge of the past and the future. 
Through this knowledge, they think that 
the turtle may be able to influence the 
future, or at least give advice. Kwei was 
attributed not only with knowledge, but 
also with good luck, for he controlled 
the first of the five most precious things 
in the life of human beings, the gift of 
longevity. Even today, stone carvings of 
turtles, erected by decree of Chinese 
emperors, stand in front of government 
offices, by waterways, channels and 
dikes to protect them. 

Other Far Eastern civilizations also 
utilize the turtle in legend and ceremony. 
The Hindus as well as the American 
Indians use the turtle to symbolize the 
universe. Its dome-shaped back 
represents the vault of the sky; its belly 
represents the earth which moves upon 
the waters. The Buddhists elevate the 
turtle's status by maintaining tanks of 
live turtles in their temples. It is 
considered meritorious to feed them or 
to add to their numbers by purchasing 
them alive from the streets where they 
are sold as food. 

In ancient Greece, the turtle was the 
badge of the island city-state Aegina, 
and was sacred to Aphrodite, whose 
temple stood near the harbor of Aegina. 
Long before Athenians took to the sea, 
the commercial enterprises of Aegina 
reached as far as Asia Minor and 
northern Greece. The Aeginetans issued 




the earliest coinage of European 
Greece, stamped, of course, with the 
symbol of the turtle. These "turtles" 
served as the currency of the entire 
Peloponnesus until the defeat of Aegina 
by Athens. Interestingly enough, the 
earliest coins from Aegina show the sea 
turtle, whereas the later coins are 
stamped with the image of the land 
tortoise, but no explanation for the 
change is known. 

There is no question that the turtle has 
played a substantial role in the history 
of man. In his docile, mild-mannered 
way, he has found his way into the 
minds and imaginations of story-tellers 
and artists in societies the world over. 

New uses for turtles are developing with 
the space age. Howard Campbell of 
the University of Florida writes of the 
amazing adaptability of the turtle in 
stress situations. Turtles are capable of 
varying the distribution of blood in the 
body thereby increasing its efficiency 
in times of oxygen shortage. They are 
able to maintain metabolic activities 
for considerable periods of time without 
taking in fresh oxygen. Some can 
utilize the oxygen in water through 
processes known as pharyngeal and 
anal breathing, which serve to lengthen 
the time spent under water. Turtles 
have been known to endure conditions 
from anaerobic to one hundred percent 
O2, high to low pressures (as low as 
1/10 earth's air pressure at sea level), 
ultraviolet radiation, and low 
temperatures. Campbell writes in 
International Turtle & Tortoise (Vol. 1, 
No. 2), "Such adaptability in stress 
situations, and their proven ability to 
recuperate from extended surgical 
operations, makes them prime subjects 
in studies of stress. Perhaps a turtle 
will be one of the first earthlings to make 
the trip to Mars and report back via 
telemetered information of its 
physiological state, some idea of the 
conditions it finds there." 

Thus the turtle has plodded from the 
Age of Dinosaurs to the Space Age. He 
has stubbornly resisted violence and 
capitalized on unobtrusiveness. If any 
animal can endure the throes of man's 
conquest of the earth, the turtle should. 
Let's wish him luck. 



Karen Ramey is Assistant, Division of 
Amphibians and Reptiles in the Department 
of Zoology at Field Museum. 



10 



Bulletin November 1970 



Museums in a 
Changing World 



by Lothar P. Witteborg 

Alvin Toffler, in his recent book Future 
Shock states that Western society and 
especially the United States is suffering 
from a malady defined as "the dizzying 
disorientation brought on by the 
premature arrival of the future." What 
brings on this future shock is a rate of 
social change that has beco