MUSEUM NOTES 119 



Thel)es, a black-capped petrel found in Central Park, an apteryx presented 

 by Robert Hill and Sons, and forty-fi\e birdskins from Samoa presented 

 by IVIr. J. T. Lloyd and includinfi' two tooth-billed pigeons. 



The International Congress of Hygiene and Demography which meets 

 in Wasliington next September has invited the Museum to contribute its 

 pul)lic health exhibits dealing with bacteria, water supply and waste dis- 

 posal to the exhibition which is to be held in connection with the Congress. 

 Mr. Felix M. ^Yarburg will defray the expense of transportation and 

 installation. 



Among recent accessions in herpetology is a specimen of the curious 

 South American toad, Pipa americana, whose eggs are carried and hatched 

 in pouches on the back. While the toad itself is not uncommon in collec- 

 tions, a perfect specimen carrying eggs or young is rare. A series of alligator 

 embryos has also been received as a gift from Professor Albert M. Reese. 



TVIk. a. I). Gabay has presented to the department of invertebrate 

 zoology a valuable series of sponges from the Mediterranean Sea and from 

 the Bahama Islands. The collection numbers more than a score of un- 

 usually fine types showing characteristic methods of growth and other 

 significant details. Certain valuable Crustacea have also been donated by 

 IVIr. Gabay. 



In view of his valuable services Mr. Harlan I. Smith has been elected 

 honorary curator of archaeology. 



Dr. John W. Churchman of Johns Hopkins University has been spend- 

 ing two weeks at the IVIuseum, using the collection of bacterial cultures for 

 special studies in which it was necessary to test the comparative l)eha\ior 

 of a large series of forms. 



Mr. Edward Payson Mathewson, general manager of the Anaconda 

 Copper Company, and a life member of this Museum, has been presented 

 with the gold medal of the Institution of Alining and Metallurgy, London. 

 This medal was given "in recognition of his eminent services in the 

 ad\anc('ment of metallurgy generally and especially in regard to copper." 



Only once in several years is there such attendance as was brought 

 out by the lecture on Februar\' 29 by Paul Rainey, when more than four 

 thousand people were not able to gain entrance to the lecture hall. L'sually 

 this hall's seating capacity of fourteen hundred is sufficient notwithstanding 

 the fact that each member recei\es four tickets, making a total issue of 

 some twelve thousand. The Museum regrets that all its members could 

 not secure seats and arrangements have been made for a repetition of the 

 lecture on March 13. 



