of the season. 



Farther west along the latitude of 

 Chicago, we discover that when spring 

 — by the calendar — comes to the eastern 

 base of the Snowy Range in Wyoming, 

 the countryside is still held tightly in 

 winter's grasp. If we put on skiis and 

 travel toward the pass across the Snowy 

 Range we will go over snow perhaps five, 

 six or even ten feet deep. Heavy snow- 

 falls are still possible, and even probable, 

 in the high mountains during March 

 and April, and sometimes even into 

 May. 



By late July and early August, how- 

 ever, the road is free of snow and we 

 may travel in a half hour, along a beau- 

 tiful route, from summer upward to 

 early spring. 



I 



f at some point on the road we stop 

 the car, we will look out at a scene very 

 much like that depicted in this month's 

 featured exhibit. Spring is arriving at 

 this very moment along the edge of the 

 snow bank to the left of the diorama 

 before us. As we look at the spring 

 flowers along the ridge, and our eyes 

 travel to the right as far as the cliff 

 where the paint brushes grow, we have 

 progressed far into spring. Thus we 

 find at the same place different phases 

 of a single season. 



Some of the plants in the diorama 

 belong to the polar world and extend 

 southward only in high mountains. The 



moss campion {Silene acaulis), with its 

 purple flowers, surrounds the polar re- 

 gions and grows at near sea level in 

 Alaska, Greenland, Labrador, and Nor- 

 thern Europe. When it comes south- 

 ward it chooses the high mountains as 

 its pathway. 



The columbine (Aquilegia caerulea), 

 which is near the stunted juniper and 

 spruce along the ridge in the diorama, 

 represents quite the opposite kind of 

 distribution among plants. This col- 

 umbine is native to and endemic in the 

 Rockies. Here it is at the upper limit of 

 its altitudinal range and very much re- 

 duced in size. It reaches its best de- 

 velopment perhaps in the valley seen 

 in the distance. The columbine has 

 merely been following spring up the 

 mountain slopes. 



Spring is of short duration at this ele- 

 vation. Spring, summer, and fall may 

 be telescoped into a period hardly long- 

 er than a month and even during this 

 time perhaps not a night passes when 

 the temperature does not drop to freez- 

 ing. Thus the plants that we see in the 

 diorama are, in a sense, very special 

 ones which have reacted to the temper- 

 ature, the wind, and the short growing 

 season. Although the spruce and the 

 juniper may be fifty years old, they are 

 still very small — dwarfed by the wind, 

 the short growing season, and the tem- 

 perature. Most of the flowers that we 

 see are relatively large and brightly 



MUSEUM NEWS- 



{Continued from page 2) 



during her childhood in California. She 

 attended Wellesley College and then 

 married. When her husband's business 

 interests brought the family to Chicago 

 Mrs. Grey renewed her interest in biol- 

 ogy through the Museum, where she 

 usually worked one day a week. 



Her research started with the pre- 

 paration of a "Catalogue of Type Spec- 

 imens of Fishes in Chicago Natural His- 

 tory Museum" published in 1947. Later 

 she specialized in the study of deep sea 

 fishes. One of her most important 

 scientific contributions is "The Distri- 

 bution of Fishes Found Below a Depth 

 of 2,000 Meters" published in 1956. 



Page 8 MAY 



Another important paper, "Revision of 

 the Family Gonostomatidae," which is 

 to appear in Part IV of the Fishes of 

 the Western North Atlantic, is now in 

 press. At the time of her death she 

 was working on the genus Anoplogaster 

 for the Dana Report. 



Mrs. Grey was an amateur ichthyolo- 

 gist whose work was of professional 

 quality. She was particularly conver- 

 sant with the literature of deep sea fishes 

 and taught herself Russian to keep up 

 with current Russian publications in 

 this field. From this knowledge she al- 

 ways was glad to help beginning student 

 and advanced colleague alike. Hers was 

 a warm, generous personality that will 

 be greatly missed. 



A. L. Rand, Chief Curator of ^oology 



colored; such flowers attract pollinators 

 more effectively than if they were small 

 and dull-colored. Nature selects rigor- 

 ously those plants permitted to grow 

 here. There are not many kinds that 

 can withstand the rigors of the locality 

 and have flowers that attract pollinators 

 quickly; or that can grow, flower, and 

 produce seeds in a "spring-summer-fall" 

 which may be but a month or two long. 

 Before leaving the diorama, look 

 across the way, to the high, snow-cov- 

 ered mountains on the other side of the 

 valley. They are two or three thousand 

 feet higher than our look-out into this 

 alpine world. Fresh snow already cov- 

 ers their upper slopes, and from the chill 

 in the air we feel that winter may not 

 be too long in returning to this flower- 

 covered ridge. 



Chicago Natural History Museum 



Founded by Marshall Field, 1893 



Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive 



Chicago, Illinois 60605 



Telephone: 922-9410 



THE BOARD 

 Lester Armour 

 Wm. McCormick Blair 

 Bowen Blair 

 Walter J. Cummings 

 Joseph N. Field 

 Marshall Field, Jr. 

 Stanley Field 

 Clifford C. Gregg 

 Samuel Insult, Jr. 

 Henry P. Isham 

 William V. Kahler 



OF TRUSTEES 



Hughston M. McBain 

 J. Roscoe Miller 

 William H. Mitchell 

 James L. Palmer 

 John T. Pirie, Jr. 

 John Shedd Reed 

 John G. Searle 

 John M. Simpson 

 Edward Byron Smith 

 Louis Ware 

 J. Howard Wood 



OFFICERS 

 Stanley Field. Chairman of the Board 



Clifford C. Gregg, President 



James L. Palmer, First Vice-President 



Joseph N. Field, Second Vice-President 



Bowen Blair, Third Vice-President 



Edward Byron Smith, Treasurer 



and Assistant Secretary 



E. Leland Webber, Secretary 



THE BULLETIN 



EDITOR 

 E. Leland Webber, Director of the Museum 



CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 



Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator of Anthropology 



Louis O. Williams, Chief Curator of Botany 



Rainer Zangerl, Chief Curator of Geology 



Austin L. Rand, Chief Curator of Zoology 



MANAGING EDITOR 



Paula R. Nelson, Public Relations Counsel 



ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

 Marilyn J. Arado, Associate in Public Relations 



Members are requested to inform the Museum 

 promptly of changes of address. 



PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS 



