THIS MONTH'S COVER 



SURVEY 

 FISHES OF 

 INDIAN OCEAN 



Museum 



xVfter half a year on the least known 

 of all oceans, the Indian Ocean, Loren 

 Woods is back home again at Chicago 

 Natural History Museum. 



The Museum's Curator of Fishes left 

 Chicago in November, 1963, to join the 

 International Indian Ocean Expedition, 

 a cooperative scientific venture spon- 

 sored by UNESCO and the United 

 States Program in Biology. For this un- 

 dertaking the efforts of 12 nations have 

 been enlisted in a two-year survey of the 

 entire Indian Ocean. 



Almost as large as the north and 

 south Atlantic Oceans combined, the 

 Indian Ocean is considered a mystery 

 from the standpoint of scientific knowl- 

 edge. This situation carries commercial 

 implications, since the countries border- 

 ing on the Indian Ocean depend on fish 

 as a major source of food. Any knowl- 

 edge that will make possible an increase 

 in the harvest from the sea will greatly 

 aid the economies of these countries. It 

 is hoped, therefore, that the expedition 

 will uncover information that will ex- 

 pand the effectiveness of the fishing in- 

 dustries. 



Woods joined the Indian Ocean sur- 

 vey in Bombay, India, where he boarded 

 the research vessel, Anton Bruun. From 

 Bombay, the Bruun charted a zig-zag 

 course along the continental shelf to Ka- 

 rachi, continued to the Gulf of Oman, 

 then south along the Arabian coast, and 

 back again to Karachi. From Karachi 

 Woods flew back to Bombay to study 

 fishes previously taken by the expedi- 

 tion, and then proceeded to Mandapam 

 Camp. 



Located on an Indian peninsula that 

 juts out toward Ceylon, Mandapam 

 Camp is maintained by the Central Ma- 

 rine Fisheries Research Institute and is 

 equipped with a laboratory, library, and 

 other research facilities. Woods spent 



Page i JULY 



two and one-half months there, collect- 

 ing shore fishes, studying specimens, and 

 recording his findings. 



At the end of February, he departed 

 for Colombo, Ceylon, to meet another 

 of the expedition's research vessels, the 

 Te Vega. On this ship he traversed parts 

 of the central and southern Indian Ocean 

 with stops at Galle, Ceylon; various 

 atolls of the Maldive Archipelago; Co- 

 chin, India; and Mauritius. 



Many of the fishes collected by Woods 

 are now beginning to arrive at the 

 Museum. If the first part of the scien- 

 tific project was demanding physically 

 — requiring months of diving, trawling, 

 and specimen-preserving on a seven-day- 

 a-week schedule — the second part is just 

 as demanding mentally. For Woods, 

 the arrival of the Indian Ocean collec- 

 tion marks the start of months of care- 

 ful sorting and identification of speci- 

 mens. This is the spade work that must 

 be accomplished before further research 

 can be begun. 



New Exhibit 

 Reveals Beauty 

 of Weeds 



W, 



eeds, the unwanted guests of our 

 gardens and cultivated fields, rarely are 

 appreciated for their beauty. 



An exhibition of water color paint- 

 ings of weeds opening at the Museum on 

 August 1 reveals the unsuspected love- 

 liness of even the most common varieties 

 found in backyards and along waysides. 



The paintings are by Mary Virginia 

 Roberts, a San Francisco artist, who 

 hopes through her art to dispell the 

 notion that weeds are ugly. 



Miss Roberts has shown her water 

 colors at the California Academy of 

 Sciences, the Los Angeles County Mu- 

 seum, the Hall of Flowers in Golden 

 Gate Park, the Pacific Coast Club, and 

 a number of other galleries on the West 

 Coast. 



The exhibition will be displayed 

 through September in Hall 9 on the 

 ground floor. 



SUMMER 

 VISITORS 



Oummertime always brings to the Mu- 

 seum many distinguished visitors from 

 all over the world. Last month, Mr. 

 John Ngu Foncha, Vice President of the 

 Republic of Cameroon, made Chicago 

 Natural History Museum one of the few 

 stops on his brief tour of Chicago. He 

 came with a delegation of officials from 

 the Cameroon government to see the 

 Museum's African exhibits. Museum 

 Director E. Leland Webber and Phillip 

 Lewis, Curator of Primitive Art, greeted 

 Vice President Foncha and accompa- 

 nied him on his tour of the exhibition 

 halls. 



A few days later, Sultan Seidou Njoya 

 Njimouluh and Queen Ramatou Ngam- 

 domboue of Foumban, Cameroon, ar- 

 rived in the city. This contemporary 

 African ruler and his queen were partic- 



