June, 1933 



FIELD MUSEUM NEWS 



Page 3 



NEW LION GROUP: COLLECTED BY 



MR. AND MRS. MARSHALL FIELD 



By Wii.fbed H. Osgood 

 Curator, Department of Zoology 



It might be expected that a group of 

 typical lions would be one of the first exhibits 

 to be obtained for the Museum's hall of 

 African mammals. The very fact of the 

 animal's importance, however, and the 

 exacting requirements made as to the quality 

 of the material to be used have heretofore 

 operated for postponement. For some years 

 the lion has been represented in the Museum 

 only by an individual specimen among the 

 systematic collections in Hall 15, and by a 

 group of two maneless males — the famous 

 man-eating lions of Tsavo which are reputed 

 to have killed and devoured 135 native 

 laborers during the construction of the 

 Uganda railroad. While the Tsavo lions 

 are thus of great interest, they are not 

 thoroughly characteristic of Felis leo. 



It has remained for Mr. and Mrs. Marshall 

 Field to provide specimens which do justice 

 to the "king of beasts," and these have now 

 been prepared in a striking 

 group displayed in Carl E. ^ 

 Akeley Memorial Hall (Hall 

 22 ) . They were secured dur- 

 ing the trip which Mr. and 

 Mrs. Field made by air to 

 central Africa in 1930. 



The group includes an 

 exceptionally large male lion 

 shot by Mr. Field, an equally 

 fine lioness shot by Mrs. 

 Field, and four small kittens. 

 The composition is simple 

 but impressive and charac- 

 teristic. The male stands at 

 attention on the smooth sur- 

 face of a rocky eminence 

 and the female lies peacefully 

 below, while the kittens, so 

 young their eyes are barely 

 open, are gathered between 

 her paws. The rocky setting 

 illustrates the well-known 

 habitat of lions in the 

 Serengetti Plains of Tan- 

 ganyika, where the animals 

 were killed. 



Popular conception of the 

 lion is based on the lion of 

 the zoo, of the moving 

 picture and also, it must be 

 said, of sculpture and 

 heraldry. This lion is quite 

 different from the wild one, 

 which never has such a heavy 

 mane as the captive one, and 

 which is more lithe in general form. There- 

 fore, this faithful representation of the 

 monarch and his family as they appear in 

 the natural state may not fulfill general 

 expectations. To the naturalist and the 

 hunter, however, the lion is rarely disap- 

 pointing and it is universally granted that 

 he deserves his far-flung reputation for 

 dignified appearance and commanding dis- 

 position. He is conceded to be one of the 

 most dangerous of all animals to hunt and, 

 although he has learned to avoid man, he 

 is bold and aggressive in attacking him 

 when provoked. Many hunters have been 

 killed or seriously mauled by lions. 



There is only one species of lion, although 

 several minor geographic varieties can be 

 distinguished. Within historic times lions 

 inhabited eastern Europe, Persia and India, 

 but now they are practically confined to 

 Africa. A few remain in the Gir Forest 

 of western India, but their continued exist- 

 ence there depends upon careful protection. 



The male lion in the Museum's group has 

 a length of nine feet seven inches, which is 

 large enough to be worthy of mention in a 

 book of records, since the maximum figures 

 rarely exceed ten feet. Weights up to 500 

 pounds are claimed in some cases, but these 

 are exceptional. 



The group was designed and prepared by 

 Staff "Taxidermist C. J. Albrecht, who 

 brought to his task a field experience with 

 lions, gained while a member of the Harold 

 White-John Coats African Expedition of 

 1929-30. 



A SOUTH SEA HALL OF FAME 



A peculiar illustration of the general 

 desire of mankind to keep at hand some 

 relic or reminder of the great who have 

 departed may be seen in Joseph N. Field 

 Hall (Hall A). 



In southern Malekula, one of the New 

 Hebrides Islands, the natives model on the 

 skull of a deceased important man of the 

 community his face and features. This is 

 done with a plastic mass made of coconut 



New group of lions in Carl E. Akeley Memorial Hall, 

 by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field. 



Monarchs of the Animal Kingdom 



These excellent specimens were collected 



fiber, clay, and a gummy sap. The aim is 

 to make this a real portrait, and often 

 the man's hair is attached to the top and 

 back. The face is painted with designs 

 indicating the man's rank. These heads 

 are placed on the tops of carved posts and 

 kept in the men's clubhouse. 



If the man is of very high rank, a body 

 is also often made out of bamboo sticks 

 and leaves, covered with the same plastic 

 mass, and painted with the proper designs. 

 The head is attached to this body. One 

 such figure and several of the portrait heads 

 are on exhibition at the Museum. — A.B.L. 



The insect-catching plant known as Venus' 

 fly trap makes an interesting exhibit in the 

 Hall of Plant Life. 



HOW PANAMA HATS ARE MADE 



SHOWN IN EXHIBIT 



By Llewelyn Williams 

 Assistant in Wood Technology 



Popular materials for making hats are 

 obtained from the stems of reeds, rushes or 

 grasses, palm leaves, coarse tree basts, etc. 

 Straw plaits made from wheat, rye, barley 

 and rice straw furnish material for the 

 greater part of the summer hats manu- 

 factured for wear in the temperate zone. 

 Splints prepared from finely divided leaves 

 of palms and allied forms of vegetation are 

 also widely utilized. In the Orient splints 

 of bamboo are commonly used. Manila 

 hemp, from the leaf sheaths of a non-edible 

 banana {Musa textilis), is also employed for 

 this purpose. Screw pine leaves, cut into 

 strips, also provide material. Within recent 

 years manufactured cellulose material has 

 come into use as a substitute for natural 

 straw. 



An exhibit installed in Hall 28 shows the 



various steps in the manufacture of Panama 



hats, as well as a series of hats made from 



different plant materials in 



1 China, Java, Philippine 



I Islands, India, and Brazil, 



I and one made by North 



i American Indians of Alaska. 



The material used for 



making genuine Panama 



hats is obtained from the 



young, unopened leaves, 



which have not yet developed 



green color, of the so-called 



Panama hat palm {Carlu- 



dovica palmata), occurring in 



northwestern South America. 



The folded leaf lamina is cut 



into fine splints or strips of 



uniform width. These are 



boiled in water, hung up in 



an airy place to dry, and then 



bleached in the sun. For 



plaiting, the splints are 



moistened, but throughout 



the subsequent operations 



they are guarded from the 



sun in order to preserve the 



moisture and to prevent 



unequal bleaching. 



The manufacture of Pan- 

 ama hats is the principal 

 industry of certain regions 

 in Ecuador, Colombia and 

 northeastern Peru. Formerly 

 these hats reached the 

 market by way of the 

 Isthmus of Panama, whence 

 comes the name that still 

 erroneously attaches to them. Leghorn 

 hats are made from the upper and finer 

 portions of wheat straw grown for the pur- 

 pose in Tuscany, Italy. They are woven 

 by hand into hat shape and then stiffened 

 with gelatin. 



Death of Dr. W. H. Holmes 



News of the death of Dr. William Henry 

 Holmes on April 20 was received at Field 

 Museum with keen regret. Dr. Holmes was 

 the first Curator of Anthropology at this 

 institution, having joined the staff in 1894 

 and served for several years. Later he 

 became successively head curator of anthro- 

 pology of the United States National Mu- 

 seum, and director of the National Art 

 Gallery in Washington. He was eighty-six 

 years old at the time of his death. 



Products from forty different plants go 

 into the making of Indian curry powder. 

 The raw ingredients are displayed in the 

 Department of Botany. 



Suits of armor, cannon, and other weapons 

 of the Moro tribes of the Philippines are 

 included among the exhibits in Hall H. 



