grass, and a waterfern, represented as they exist in their natural 

 environment in the backwaters and side channels of the Amazon (see 

 Fig. 11). This group of aquatics is the fourth of a series of six life- 

 size landscape dioramas to be completed for Martin A. and Carrie 

 Ryerson Hall (Plant Life — Hall 29). A fifth such habitat group, 

 representing the plant life of the South African desert, is well 

 advanced. 



Fig. 11. A new habitat group showing a typical community of freslvwater 

 plants, including Victoria regia and a water hyacinth, in a channel off the Amazon 

 (Hall 29). 



The synoptic exhibit of families of flowering plants in the same 

 hall received a few new additions. One of these is a reproduction 

 of a flowering branch of a screw pine, a Madagascar species of 

 pandanus. Although the material for this was collected in 1919, 

 difficulties of technique for years have stood in the way of its satis- 

 factory handling. The screw pines are a group of woody-stemmed 

 marsh plants growing throughout the Pacific islands. They are 

 remarkable for the large proproots that support their stems and 

 branches, and the spiral arrangement of their large grass-like 

 leaves. 



44 



