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FIELD MUSEUM NEWS 



July, 19SS 



NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 

 EXHIBITS ARE REOPENED 



The Museum's North American archaeo- 

 logical collections, which have not been on 

 exhibition for the past several months due 

 to the work of transferring them from Hall 3 

 and reinstaUing them in Hall B on the 

 ground floor, may now be seen again in their 

 new location. 



The exhibits in the hall represent the 

 twelve archaeological culture areas of North 

 America, and are arranged as far as possible 

 in geographical order. They include pot- 

 tery, weaving, stone and copper artifacts, 

 burials and houses from the north and south 

 Atlantic regions, eastern Canada, and the 

 Iroquoian and Mississippi regions. There 

 is a good collection of material from the 

 famous Hopewell Mounds of Ohio. Another 

 feature is a reproduction of an Illinois burial 

 mound. 



The exhibits relating to the archaeology 

 of the southwestern United States remain in 

 their separate location in Hall 7. 



PRIMITIVE MAMMALS OF TODAY 



By D. Dwight Davis 

 Assistant in Osteology 



Skeletons of the most primitive extant 

 mammals have been placed on exhibition 

 in Hall 19. The cunous monotremes, or 

 egg-laying mammals, are represented by the 

 duckbill and echidna, only surviving repre- 

 sentatives of this ancient group. The 

 skeletons of these animals have retained 

 many reptile-Uke features which, in con- 

 junction with abundant fossil evidence, 

 indicate the derivation of mammals from 

 extinct reptilian forms known as therapsids. 



The marsupials, or pouched mammals, 

 while not so primitive in structure as the 

 monotremes, differ, nevertheless, from the 

 higher mammals in many respects. One 

 of their most characteristic features is a 

 pair of bones which projects forward from 

 the pelvis. These epipubic or "marsupial" 

 bones, lacking in all other mammals, support 

 the pouch in which the young are carried. 

 The best-known marsupials are the Ameri- 

 can opossum and the kangaroo. The 

 opossum and the rare caenolestes are the 

 only marsupials found outside the Australian 

 region. 



Australia became separated from the 

 mainland of Asia at a very early geologic 

 date. Marsupials seem to have been the 

 only mammal forms then inhabiting the 

 Indo-Australian region. Thus they were 

 isolated in a vast natural laboratory where 

 they could develop unhampered by the 

 later, more active and intelligent animals, 

 which in other parts of the world soon 

 replaced their slower-witted cousins. 



A remarkable thing took place in Australia. 

 The early, generalized marsupials developed 

 to fill the available "ecologic niches"; that 

 is, they took to life in the trees, to various 

 environments on the ground, and to others 

 beneath the surface of the ground. In each 

 case they acquired specialized feeding habits. 

 A group of animals is anatomically elastic. 

 Changes in environment or habits result in 

 modification of the structure of the animal 

 to adapt it to the new conditions. 



Considering the infinite types of variation 

 possible, the resulting animals in Australia 

 might be expected to be quite different from 

 those in other parts of the world, as in some 

 cases they are. However, while a kangaroo 

 and a buffalo bear little resemblance to one 

 another, the kangaroo is the Australian 

 counterpart of the grazing animals found 

 elsewhere. The phalangers are surprisingly 

 squirrel-like in structure and habits; the 



dasyures are flesh-eaters, and closely resem- 

 ble civets or weasels, even in the modified 

 structure of their teeth; the wombat is like 

 an unusually clumsy wood chuck; while 

 other Australian animals are remarkably 

 like rats, shrews and moles. This is one of 

 the most striking examples ever observed of 

 parallel development or "convergence" 

 between animals in one part of the world 

 and others entirely separated from them. 

 Of special interest in the Museum exhibit 

 is a skeleton of the rare shrew-like caeno- 

 lestes obtained in Venezuela by a Museum 

 expedition. The exhibit was prepared by 

 Edmond N. Gueret, Assistant Curator of 

 Osteology, assisted by the writer. 



SCIENCE CONVENTION AT MUSEUM 



Field Museum was one of the various 

 Chicago institutions acting as hosts last 

 month to the convention of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 which was attended by scientists from all 

 parts of the United States, and by many 

 from foreign countries as well. 



Various sections of the association, among 

 them the botanists, zoologists, geologists, 

 anthropologists, and geographers, held meet- 

 ings in the James Simpson Theatre and also 

 in the small lecture hall of the Museum on 

 June 20, 21, 22 and 23. On the evening 

 of June 23, after the pubUc visiting hours, 

 a special "open house" was held for the 

 members of the association. Several thousand 

 delegates to the convention on that evening 

 made a private inspection of the Museum. 



Earlier in the month the American Associ- 

 ation of Museums likewise held its con- 

 vention at various institutions, the June 15 

 meeting taking place at Field Museum. 

 More than one hundred museum officials 

 from all over the country had luncheon at 

 the cafeteria, and then held a panel dis- 

 cussion in the small lecture hall on the sub- 

 ject of adult education. 



Trophy Heads 



In southern New Guinea, in the neighbor- 

 hood of the Dutch-British boundary, the 

 natives are not satisfied with merely killing 

 an enemy, but preserve his head as a trophy. 

 The skin is carefully removed from the head 

 and neck, the skull is taken off and cleaned, 

 leaves and fiber are substituted for the flesh, 

 and the skin is put back over this and 

 laced in place. The whole is then carefully 

 smoked and dried. Three such trophies, one 

 cut open to show its preparation, may be 

 seen in the exhibit of material from the Fly 

 River region in Joseph N. Field Hall (Hall A). 



Dendrites 



Dendrites are branching figures which 

 look as if they were painted in some dark 

 pigment on the surface of the rock in which 

 they form. They are caused by water 

 with minerals in solution penetrating narrow 

 seams in rock. There the minerals carried 

 by the water crystallize in forms resembling 

 in appearance the frost crystals which occur 

 on windows in cold weather. Some of the 

 dendrites exhibited in Clarence Buckingham 

 Hall (Hall 35) resemble pictures of wooded 

 landscapes, and others are often mistaken 

 for fos.sil plants. 



A curious dendrite was obtained from 

 the Chilean Desert by the Marshall Field 

 Brazilian Expedition. It formed on a 

 rubber gasket in a large water pip* in the 

 mill of a copper mine at Chuquicamata. 

 Little imagination is required to see it as 

 a picture of a landscape with the peculiar 

 desert vegetation of that region. 



GUIDE-LECTURE TOURS 



During July and August the conducted 

 tours of the exhibits under the guidance of 

 staff lecturers will be given on a special 

 schedule, as follows: 



Mondays: 10 a.m., General Tour; 11 A.M., Halls 

 Showing Plant Life; 3 p.m.. General Tour. 



Tuesdays: 10 A.M., General Tour; 11 A.M., Halls of 

 Primitive and Civilized Peoples; 3 P.M., General Tour. 



Wednesdays: 10 a.m.. General Tour; 11 A.M., Animal 

 Groups; 3 P.M., General Tour. 



Thursdays: 10 aji., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m.. General 

 Tours. 



Fridays: 10 A.M., General Tour; 11 a.m.. Minerals 

 and Prehistoric Exhibits; 3 P.M., General Tour. 



There are no tours on Saturdays, Sundays, 

 or on the July Fourth holiday. 



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. Charles H. Schweppe — a bronze group 

 of three figures beneath a terrestrial globe symbolizing 

 the unity of mankind, and a stone bead of a Rajput 

 woman, Jaipur, a black marble head of an .\byssinian 

 woman, Africa, and a stone bust of a Chinese woman; 

 from Miss Malvina Hoffman — sculptured stone head 

 of a Chinese youth, Shanghai; from William Becker 

 — a clay tobacco-pipe, Bali tribe, Africa; from The 

 American Museum of Natural History — 7 reels of the 

 Martin Johnson feature film "Simba"; from Arthur 

 S. Vemay — 2 com[)lete reels of the film "India" and 

 3 cans of small strips of film; from Companhia Ford 

 Industrial do Brasil — 58 herbarium specimens and 8 

 wood specimens, Brazil; from Sr. Ing. J^sus G. Ortega 

 — 190 herbarium specimens, Mexico; from Robert 

 Runyon — 44 herbarium specimens, Texas; from Palm 

 Oil Company — 14 samples of palm nuts and oil, and 

 3 photographs. Central and South America; from 

 Standard Oil Company (Indiana) — 61 specimens 

 petroleum products, Indiana; from Crystal Fluorspar 

 Company — a specimen of fluorite, Illinois; from James 

 Quinn — a lower jaw of Aelurodon sp. and a lower jaw 

 of Hemicyon sp., Nebraska; from Robert R. Lipman —  

 a specimen of native lead, Colorado; from Dr. Emil 

 Witschi — a salamander and 4 toads; from Thomas 

 Quantock — a domestic horse, Illinois; from Stewart 

 Springer — 47 fish specimens. Gulf of Mexico; from 

 Watson Bartlett — an adult albino ovenbird, Illinois; 

 from Dwight Davis and Walter Necker — 22 sala- 

 manders, 22 frogs, 4 lizards, 13 snakes, and 21 turtles, 

 southern Illinois; from A. A. Dunbar Brander — 4 game 

 birds; from John G. Shedd Aquarium— 61 fish speci- 

 mens from various parts of the Pacific; from University 

 of California — 137 herbarium specimens, Mexico. 



NEW MEMBERS 



The following persons were elected to 

 membership in Field Museum during the 

 period from May 16 to June 15: 



Patrons 

 G. Allan Hancock, Dr. Harry M. W^geforth. 



Aasociate Members 



Mrs. Nathaniel Allison, Mrs. George I. Keefe, Rev, 

 Thaddeus Ligman, Rev. Stanley Radniecki, Paul G. 

 Warren. 



Annual Members 



Mrs. H. G. B. Alexander, Mrs. C. B. Carter, Eari M. 

 Converse, Charles S. Davis, Edgar C. Fowler, C. Duff 

 Henry, Mrs. Marvin Hughitt, Mrs. Samuel I. Karger, 

 Joseph J. Kelly, Grant S. Meara, Mrs. Frank G. 

 Nicholson, W. M. Scudder, Charles Herbert Smith, 

 Dr. C. E. Stanbury, C. F. M. Tinling, C. M. Varde, 

 Lawrence Williams. 



"Monkey Puzzle" 



A branch of an Araucaria, a conifer known 

 as the "monkey puzzle" or Chilean pine, is 

 on exhibition in the Department of Botany. 

 Its branches are covered with hundreds of 

 small stiff leaves growing at very regular 

 intervals and giving an effect of scaly armor. 

 Its seeds are used as food by Indians of the 

 western Andes region. 



