Painting 



us, and the noise of our footsteps on the 

 hard-packed, sandy floor, were familiar 

 sounds in the strange, deep silence. 

 Now here, now there, our guide lifted 

 his lamp, illuminating line drawings — 

 elegant, or clumsy; some engraved, 

 others painted in red, yellow, or black. 

 Wild horses, ibexes, cows, bison, deer, 

 and even an elephant graced the walls 

 of this labyrinthian underworld. Most 

 of the drawings belonged to the Aurig- 

 nacian epoch. But one painting — a 

 bison in La Pasiega, seemed familiar. 

 Hadn't I seen it before? 



Not until I returned to the United 

 States and compared various reproduc- 

 tions of cave drawings with each other, 

 did I discover that the La Pasiega bison 

 bore a striking resemblance to one of the 

 paintings from Lascaux. Had there 



Superimposed Lascaux and La Pasiega bison 



been, then, an early school of art flour- 

 ishing in both localities? Or a traveling 

 artist? Or was it mere coincidence? 

 I could only conjecture. 



F 

 R 

 O 



M 



HE 



Book Shop 



The Care of Pet Turtles by Herndon G. 

 Dowling and Stephen Spencook. New 

 York Zoological Society. 16 pages. 25 

 cents. 



For the last few years the New York 

 Zoological Society, which operates the 

 Bronx Zoo, has been running experi- 

 ments designed to solve the problems of 

 raising young turtles. The results of 

 these experiments have been summarized 

 in this popular, illustrated leaflet. It in- 

 cludes sections on housing, feeding, and 

 identification of the turtles likely to be 

 purchased in American pet shops. The 

 instructions are simple and easy to carry 

 out. There are also brief discussions of 

 the growth, development, and health 

 problems of turtles. 



As a large proportion of the telephone 

 inquiries to the Division of Amphibians 

 and Reptiles concerns the care of pet 

 turtles, we propose to keep a copy of this 

 leaflet next to our telephone. We advise 

 every parent of a would-be turtle raiser 

 to purchase one; for twenty-five cents 

 parents can avoid one of life's minor 

 concerns. 



Robert F. Inger 

 Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles 



The Lower Animals, Living Invertebrates 

 of the World. Ralph Buchsbaum and 

 Lorus J. Milne. Doubleday & Co., Inc., 

 Garden City, New York. 1960. 303 

 pages, 315 illustrations, including 144 in 

 full color. $12.50. (A previous volume 

 in this series, Living Reptiles of the World, 

 was written by the Museum's former 

 Chief Curator of Zoology, Karl P. 

 Schmidt, and Robert F. Inger, Curator 

 of Amphibians and Reptiles.) 



Here, between the covers of a single, 

 manageable volume, are marshaled the 

 salient facts on the natural history of 

 invertebrates exclusive of insects. The 

 authors cover 27 phyla of the animal 

 kingdom, ranging from the smallest and 

 simplest to the largest and most complex 

 of animals without backbones. The text 

 is readable and non-technical. Where 



necessary scientific names are given with- 

 out apology, which is as it should be 

 when common names are lacking. A 

 bibliography of 53 titles leads the reader 

 to more detailed popular and technical 

 literature. 



An outstanding feature of the book is 

 the beautiful photographs, many in nat- 

 ural color, which portray the animals as 

 they appear in their native haunts, from 

 the depths of tropical seas to the fields 

 and forests of northern climes. Except 

 for the inclusion of certain arthropod 

 groups — centipedes, millipedes, and the 



Photo from Living Invertebrates of the World 



spiders and their kin — the scope of this 

 book is the same as that of the Museum's 

 Division of Lower Invertebrates. Thus 

 the interested reader may regard it as an 

 expanded guide book to the invertebrate 

 exhibits in Hall M. 



In the chapter on Mollusks, an un- 

 fortunate omission of the heading Pul- 

 monata, following the third paragraph 

 on page 182, causes the pulmonates, or 

 air breathing land and fresh-water snails, 

 to be discussed under the heading Opis- 

 thobranchs, which are marine gastro- 

 pods. 



The volume provides fascinating 

 browsing, and will prove a very useful 

 reference work. 



Ernest J. Roscoe 

 Division of Lower Invertebrates 



Page 7 



