Three members of the Depart iiient of Invertebrate ZciuloK.v fording a stream in Dominica 



FAST VANISHING RECORDS 



Bfl Frederic A. Liie(i.s 



THE many expeditions sent out under the auspices of the ^Museum 

 represent a most important hraneh of its work; they not only seek 

 tlie n-cords of the past, hut also endeavor to secure for posterity 

 the records of tlie present, which are in even jjreater danjjjer of heinji lost. 



Not only is man changing the entire face of nature, mowing down its 

 forests and sweeping out of existence their inhabitants, hut he is also 

 blotting out with the sponge of civilization the e\eryday customs of the most 

 secluded and isolated races of mankind. It is not so long ago that Sir John 

 Franklin and his crew disappeared amid the Arctic ice and all traces of his 

 ill-fated expedition were sought in vain for years; it is only yesterday that 

 Livingstone was "lost" in Central Africa and Stanley dispatched to seek 

 him. To-day an enterprising firm i)uts up a sj)ecial brand of baking powder 

 for the western Kskitiio; Stefansson deems it worthy of note that after three 

 years' search he has found natives who have never seen a white man; and 

 excursion trains are run to the falls of the Zambesi. 



The public looks upon the mastodon as a rare animal, but more than a 

 dozen skeletons are preserved in our museums and others are continually 

 coming to light, while there is not in all the I'nited States the skeleton of an 

 adult wild African elephant. And ]\Ir. Carl E. Akeley tells us that in a 

 very few years not a single really old elephant will be left in the length and 

 breadth of Africa, so keen is the hunt for ivory. Mr. A. Kadclyffe Dugmore 

 shows a photograph of a herd of hippos and tells us that since the picture 

 was taken the herd has been exterminated. 



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