MUSEUM NEWS 



{Continued from page 5) 



WHALE STUDY 

 COMPLETED 



X he Curator of Mammals, Dr. Joseph 



C. Moore, left Chicago flying east, bound 

 non-stop for London, on September 15, 

 and returned from the west on March 14. 



The intervening six months were the 

 culmination of a dream he had enter- 

 tained for several years: to travel to 

 other museums around the world where 

 specimens of a certain genus of rare 

 beaked whales were available for study. 

 He had already studied the specimens 

 in North American institutions. The 

 six-month trip, made possible by a grant 

 from the National Science Foundation, 

 extends the scope of his study world-wide. 



After six weeks of work in the British 

 Museum, exploring the largest collection 

 of these whales in the world, to discover 

 new taxonomic characters, Dr. Moore 

 went on to eight other institutions in 

 Europe, two in South Africa, one in 

 Ceylon, five in Australia, six in New 

 Zealand, two in Japan, and one in Ha- 

 waii. In California, he tested his dis- 

 coveries on specimens in two museums. 



This route, incidentally, enabled him 

 to drop in for dinner with the Muse- 

 um's Curator of Comparative Anatomy, 



D. Dwight Davis, in Kuala Lumpur, 

 Malaysia, and to enjoy the delights of 

 satay at a sidewalk cafe. Dr. Moore also 

 met with the Associate Curator of Fossil 

 Mammals, William D. Turnbull, in 

 Melbourne, Australia. 



Back in Chicago, with many pages of 

 data, Dr. Moore is delighted with the 

 results of his trip. The people in other 

 institutions around the world were most 

 helpful, it was possible to visit more 

 museums than he had hoped, and there 

 proved to be more specimens than he 

 had dared to expect. The data now be- 

 ing plotted reveal significant differences 

 between the eleven species of beaked 

 whales, and it will soon be possible, for 

 the first time, for zoologists to identify 

 with confidence new specimens of this 

 difficult genus. 



Page 8 JULY 



LOOK A NEW WHALE SPECIES IN THE FACE! 



This is the skull of the type specimen of a new whale, Mesoplodon carl- 

 hubbsi, just recently distinguished and described by CNHM's Curator of Mam- 

 mals. So far it is known with certainty only from six specimens, one each from 

 La Jolla, Drakes Bay, San Simeon Bay, and San Francisco Bay, California; 

 from Oyhut, Washington; and from Ayukawa, Japan. 



In the photograph the skull is facing you. The two teeth stand up, tusk-like, 

 from the lower jaw. Between them is the long beak extending straight toward you. 

 Above the beak is a large double hole opening upward: it is the blow-hole through 

 which a whale breathes out of the top of its head. The eyes would be located at the 

 outermost extent of the bone on each side of the head. 



Dr. Moore calls this whale the "arch-beaked whale" to distinguish it from 

 other species of the beaked whale family Ziphiidae. The five adult males studied 

 have teeth like this; the teeth of one immature female did not protrude above the gum. 



STAFF 

 ACTIVITIES 



At a symposium held during recent 

 meetings of the Central States Anthro- 

 pological Society, Dr. Donald Collier 

 and Mr. George I. Quimby, Curators in 

 the Department of Anthropology, dis- 

 cussed the role of the museum in com- 

 municating anthropological concepts to 

 the general public. Mr. Phillip H. 

 Lewis, Curator of Primitive Art in the 

 Department, described a very rare sculp- 

 tured figure from New Ireland, which is 

 in the Museum's collections. 



A paper on wooden trade objects of 

 the Upper Great Lakes was also pre- 

 sented by Quimby at a symposium on 

 historic archaeology held during meet- 

 ings of the Society for American Archae- 

 ology. 



In august, the Tenth International Bo- 

 tanical Congress is to be held in Edin- 

 burgh, Scotland. Congresses are usually 

 held each four years, permitting bota- 

 nists to get together to discuss problems, 

 research, and progress. The systematists 

 meet during the Congress period to dis- 

 cuss and legislate the international rules 

 that regulate and make uniform the no- 

 menclature of plants. In these sessions, 

 Dr. Louis O. Williams, Chief Curator of 

 Botany, will represent the Museum, the 

 University of Wyoming, Escuela Agri- 

 cola Panamericana, Museo Nacional de 

 Costa Rica, and Museo de Historia Nat- 

 ural "Javier Prado" of Lima, Peru. Dr. 

 Williams plans to visit the Conservatoire 

 et Jardin Botaniques in Geneva and In- 

 stituto Antonio Jose Cavanilles in Ma- 

 drid before the Congress opens. 



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