"Yeti Scalp" Identified 



As all Chicagoans know, the so-called 

 •'yeti scalp" discovered in Nepal by the 

 World Book Encyclopedia Himalayan 

 expedition was recently brought to Chi- 

 cago to be identified by scientists at 

 Chicago Natural History Museum. Mr. 

 Philip Hershkovitz, Curator of Mam- 

 mals, made the first correct identifica- 

 tion of this object, which had been the 

 target of much speculation and which 

 was an important good luck charm for 

 the Nepalese villagers to whom it be- 

 longs. The headgear was pin-pointed 

 by Mr. Hershkovitz as an artifact made 

 from the hide of a serow, an Asiatic goat- 

 antelope. 



After the problem of identification had 

 been solved, Sir Edmund Hillary, leader 

 of the Himalayan expedition, Mr. Des- 

 mond Doig, its official reporter, and 



Kumja Chumji, Sherpa villager who 

 accompanied the "scalp" to Chicago, 

 toured the Museum. The exotic display 

 from Tibet (see featured exhibit for Feb- 

 ruary, page 8) was a special delight to 

 the Sherpa, who hurried excitedly from 

 case to case, pointing out familiar ob- 

 jects. When he broke into a dance and 

 chant at the sight of one festival costume, 

 he and the other members of the expe- 

 dition were invited to return to the Mu- 

 seum the next day, when his dance was 

 color-filmed and sound-recorded for the 

 files of the Department of Anthropology. 



Scientific Meetings 



Mr. D. Dwight Davis, Curator of Ver- 

 tebrate Anatomy, at the annual meeting 



Right 



Mr. Philip Hershkovitz 

 (left), Curator of 

 Mammals, and Dr 

 Kenneth Starr, Curator 

 of Asiatic Archaeology 

 and Ethnology, leave 

 the Division of Pho- 

 tography after filming 

 and recording Kumja 

 Chumji's dance. 



Below Left 



Kumja Chumji, Sherpa 

 villager who accompan- 

 ied the antelope cap to 

 Chicago, pays his re- 

 spects to the Tibetan God 

 of War, February's fea- 

 tured exhibit (seepageS). 



of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science last month, was 

 elected managing editor of the journal, 

 Evolution. In addition, he was appointed 

 chairman of the Morphology Section of 

 the American Society of Zoologists. 



An important part of the science meet- 

 ing was a symposium on "The Evolution 

 of Feeding Mechanisms in Vertebrates," 

 in which Mr. Davis, and Dr. Robert H. 

 Denison, Curator of Fossil Fishes, partici- 

 pated. 



Expedition 



Chicago Natural History Museum has 

 launched a scientific expedition to Suri- 

 name. Purpose of the Museum's expe- 

 dition is to study and collect the little 

 known animals — principally mammals 

 and birds — of the interior. The expedi- 

 tion began last fall and will remain in 

 the field for approximately one year. 



Suriname is one of the countries of the 

 Guianan region, a vast territory lying be- 

 tween the Orinoco, Negro, and Amazon 

 Rivers in northeastern South America. 

 Studies that have been made of the ani- 

 mals of Suriname are based on speci- 

 mens observed and collected along the 

 coast only. 



The primary focus of the Museum's 

 expedition, therefore, will be on the in- 

 terior, particularly the highlands and 

 along the Brazilian border. On the basis 



of an adequate and representative collec- 

 tion of specimens, as well as information 

 about them recorded in the field, re- 

 search will be carried out on the classifi- 

 cation, distribution, and life histories of 

 Suriname mammals and birds. 



The first member of the expeditionary 

 party to take to the field was Harry A. 

 Beatty of New York. Beatty is an expe- 

 rienced bird collector who has already 

 made many collections, particularly from 

 Africa, for the Museum. He arrived in 

 Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, 

 in September, and is proceeding to the 

 headwaters of the Suriname River. 



Philip Hershkovitz, Curator of Mam- 

 mals will follow later this winter and will 

 remain in the field for several months, 

 taking personal charge of the expedi- 

 tion's activities. 



The research on mammals undertaken 

 by the expedition is being aided by a 

 grant from the National Science Foun- 

 dation; the bird studies are being sup- 

 ported by the Museum's Boardman 

 Conover Fund. 



Audubon Lecture 



"The Shandon Hills," a color motion 

 picture on the changing seasons in cen- 

 tral California, will be presented free on 

 Sunday, February 19 (2:30 p.m.), in the 

 James Simpson Theatre by the Illinois 

 Audubon Society. 



PageS 



