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FIELD MUSEUM NEWS 



June, 19SS 



THE EXHIBIT OF FOSSIL SLOTHS 



By Elmer S. Riggs 

 Associate Curator of Paleontology 



In Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38) a 

 collection of skulls of fossil sloths, repre- 

 senting almost every branch of the family, 

 was recently installed. Some are only a 

 few thousand years old; others are from 

 animals that lived thirty million years ago. 

 Most of these specimens were collected by 

 two Marshall Field Paleontological Expedi- 

 tions to South America. 



The sloths are one of the oldest families 

 of South American mammals. Some lived 

 in trees, as do modern sloths which still 

 survive in the Amazon forests. The greater 

 number, however, lived upon the ground, 

 and all of the ground sloths are extinct. 



The earliest sloth represented in this 

 collection was about as large as the common 

 badger. It lived during the Oligocene period 

 in swamp lands in the region which is now 

 southern Argentina. Six of the smaller 

 specimens are skulls of sloths that lived in 

 the next later period, the Miocene. They 

 were found along the Atlantic coast of 

 Argentina where the sea is steadily cutting 

 away the plains and exposing fossils more 

 abundantly. Some of these were apparently 

 tree-sloths; others were larger and had prob- 

 ably acquired the habits of ground-sloths. 



Specimens from the next later geological 

 period, the Pliocene, were found in northern 

 Argentina where hardened ledges of sand- 

 stone, in steep cliffs, crop out along the 

 valleys of streams. Among fossil animals 

 of many kinds are found here the remains 

 of larger and more recent sloths. Three 

 specimens in the exhibited series belong to 

 this period, seven million years ago. The 

 two continents of America had by this time 

 joined at the isthmus, and sloths and other 

 land animals had found a way to move 

 northward by that route to new territory. 



Seven of the larger specimens in this 

 collection are skulls of sloths which lived 

 during the last geological period extending 

 back one million years. These animals 

 varied in size from that of a hippopotamus 

 to that of an elephant. Four of the speci- 

 mens are from a valley in southern Bolivia 

 where they had been covered by sediments 

 washed down from the mountains. Three 

 others are from the famous pampa formation 

 of central Argentina consisting of low, flat 

 lands, often overflowed by rivers. As these 

 streams later cut their channels deeper and 

 wider through the accumulated sands and 

 •clays, the fossils were laid bare. 



A single specimen in this series represents 

 one of the various species of sloths which 

 migrated northward and found a home in 

 California. This one is from the famous 

 "asphaltum pools" of Rancho la Brea near 

 Los Angeles. There the animal had 

 wandered into a trap set by nature, 

 floundered and sunk into the tar-filled pool, 

 and had been preserved as a fossil by the 

 tarry mass. 



The sloths were all plant-eaters. They 

 reared upon their stout hind legs, pulled 

 down branches of bushes and trees, and 

 fed upon the leaves and fruit. A group 

 near the serial collection shows an articulated 

 ground-sloth skeleton in position for feeding 

 in this way. A second skeleton in the 

 group is postured to use the great, hooked 

 claws of the fore foot to dig in the ground 

 for roots and tubers. 



The life and religious practices of the 

 Potawatomi Indians, who formerly inhab- 

 ited the Chicago region, are illustrated by 

 exhibits in the Department of Anthropology. 



No Parking During Exposition 



Under regulations made by the South 

 Park Commissioners to avoid congestion of 

 traffic, there will be no parking of auto- 

 mobiles permitted in the vicinity of Field 

 Museum or other institutions in Grant Park 

 during the period of A Century of Progress 

 exposition. 



THE WOLF HERRING 



By Au'red C. Weed 

 Assistant Curator of Fishes 



Nearly all members of the great group of 

 herring-like fishes are small, delicate crea- 

 tures, whose mission in life seems to be to 

 provide other inhabitants of the sea, and 

 mankind, with food. Man, mammals, birds 

 and fish all take heavy toll of the immense 

 schools of herring, sprats, anchovies and 

 whitebait. Fishermen spend fortunes in 

 preparing gear to catch fish so small that 

 it takes dozens of them to fill an ordinary 

 teacup. However, there are larger forms, 

 and the range in size between a whitebait 

 an inch or so in length and a tarpon that 

 weighs three hundred pounds is very impres- 

 sive. Many of these larger species spend 

 much of their time seeking their own smaller 

 relatives, to devour them. 



In the warm waters of the Red Sea, Indian 

 Ocean and eastward through most of the 

 tropical islands of the Pacific we find a 

 large herring-like fish called "dorab" by the 

 Arabs. Native fishermen give it various 

 names in their own languages. English- 

 speaking people usually call it by the native 

 name most familiar to them. A few writers 

 from Australia have called it "wolf herring," 

 a name well suited to the fish. 



This fish is much like a herring in general 

 appearance, except that it is much longer 

 for its width and height. The head is like 

 that of a herring, but tips upward until the 

 lower jaw is almost vertical. The mouth 

 is filled with sharp, strong fangs so long 

 that the mouth can hardly be closed far 

 enough to hide them. The mouth is so 

 nearly vertical that the chin is part of the 

 top of the head. 



The wolf herring, like our bluefish, is a 

 strong, swift swimmer, living in the open 

 sea, mostly not far from shore. Its food is 

 found in the schools of small herring-like 

 fishes, which it follows as the bluefish follows 

 the schools of sardines and menhaden. 



Although this fish has been well known 

 to scientists for years, little has been pub- 

 lished about its habits. Many writers have 

 had something to say about its value as 

 food. Some consider it good while others 

 say that only the lowest classes of people 

 eat it at all. In most places it seems to be 

 taken only accidentally in fishing for other 

 species. One author reported that there was, 

 in his time, a fishery for it in the Red Sea. 



Not much is known about the size to 

 which this fish grows. The older writers 

 thought it reached a length of twelve feet 

 and that size has been quoted by some recent 

 authors. As we come to more recent writings 

 we find one man who says, "Individuals of 

 six feet in length are at Pinang of rare 

 occurrence." Still more recently writers 

 say that they have seldom seen one more 

 than three feet long. Even one that size 

 on light tackle should be as sporting a fish 

 as our bluefish. 



A celluloid reproduction of a wolf herring 

 has been prepared by Staff Taxidermist 

 A. G. Rueckert from specimens collected 

 by various expeditions to the Pacific and is 

 now on exhibition in Albert W. Harris Hall 

 (Hall 18). 



JUNE GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS 



Conducted tours of exhibits, under the 

 guidance of staff lecturers, are made every 

 afternoon at 3 P.M., except Saturdays, 

 Sundays, and certain holidays. Following 

 is the schedule of subjects and dates for 

 June: 



Thursday, June 1 — General Tour; Friday — Pewter, 

 Jade and Gems. 



Week beginning June 5: Monday — Peat, Coal and 

 Iron; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednesday — Egyptian 

 Hall; Thursday — General Tour; Friday— Plant Life. 



Week beginning June 12: Monday — Birds of Many 

 Lands; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednesday — Chinese 

 Exhibits; Thursday — General Tour; Friday — Pre- 

 historic Life. 



Week beginning June 19: Monday — Indians and 

 Eskimos; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednesday — Trees 

 and Wood Products; Thursday— General Tour; Fri- 

 day — American Archaeology. 



Week beginning June 26: Monday — Moon, Meteor- 

 ites and Minerals; Tuesday — General Tour; Wednes- 

 day — Animal Groups; Thursday — General Tour; Fri- 

 day — Reptiles, Past and Present. 



Persons wishing to participate should 

 apply at North Entrance. Tours are free 

 and no gratuities are to be proffered. A new 

 schedule will appear each month in Field 

 Museum News. Guide-lecturers' services 

 for special tours by parties of ten or more 

 are available free of charge by arrangement 

 with the Director a week in advance. 



Gifts to the Museum 



Following is a list of some of the principal 

 gifts received during the last month: 



From Mrs. William H. Moore — 15 metal mirrors 

 and other archaeological material, China; from Miss 

 Lucy D. Plummer — 13 specimens of glazed and painted 

 pottery of Chama Indians, Peru; from Companhia 

 Ford Industrial do Brasil — 25 herbarium specimens 

 with accompanying wood specimens, Brazil; from 

 Emilio Kauffmann — trunk of a rubber tree, lower 

 Brazilian Amazon; from William A. Schipp — 204 

 herbarium specimens, British Honduras; from Dr. 

 B. E. Dahlgren — 210 herbarium specimens, Brazil; 

 from Uriiversitetets Botaniske Museum, Norway — 

 474 duplicate and fragmentary herbarium specimens, 

 Ecuador; from School of Forestry, Yale University — 

 71 herbariimi specimens, Colombia; from Herbert C. 

 Walther — 4 specimens of rare elements, Kansas and 

 California; from Ernest E. Halvorsen — a specimen of 

 calcareous tufa and a Yokuta stone mortar, California; 

 from L. H. Phillips — 402 insects. Philippine Islands; 

 from Jonathan Williams — 2 specimens of Graham's 

 water snake, Illinois; from J. A. Sanchez Antunano — 

 2 bobwhite skins; from Dr. Charles E. Burt — 53 

 specimens of frogs, snakes, and lizards; from Mrs. 

 Henry Birkholz — a long-tailed shrew, Indiana. 



NEW MEMBERS 



The following persons were elected to 

 membership in Field Museum during the 

 period from April 18 to May 15: 



Associate Members 

 Mrs. J. Russell Forgan, Mrs. William A. Nitze, 

 John W. O'Leary, Mrs. R. J. Raney. 



Annual Members 



Mrs. William Grant .\gar, William L. Ayers, John 

 A. Carter, Jr., Samuel A. Ettelson, Joseph R. Gibson, 

 J. M. Hall, Mrs. Frank K. Hoover, J. S. Jordan, Joseph 

 P. Langford, Thomas B. Lantry, Mrs. Roswell C. 

 Mower, Miss Sara A. Randick, Mrs. Helen Schymanski, 

 J. G. Smithwick, William L. Stensgaard, Mrs. Martin 

 Strand, Miss Victoria Wamesson, Morton Weiiu^ss, 

 Mrs. H. Gideon Wells. 



New Britain Canoe Ornaments 



Interesting examples of the care and skill 

 exercised in their work by the South Sea 

 designers and artisans are the prow and 

 stem ornaments of a ceremonial canoe from 

 New Britain on exhibition in Joseph N. 

 Field Hall (Hall A). The two together 

 nearly fill one side of a case. Each is 

 carved from a single piece of wood. The 

 great number of slender rods and points, 

 running in all directions from the grain, 

 show the extreme care necessary. 



Sands of the Arabian desert are included 

 in the soil collection in Hall 36. 



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