150 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



On the evening of April 5, the American Geographical Society and the 

 American Museum of Natural History celebrated in the auditorium of 

 the Museum the third anniversary of the reaching of the north pole by 

 Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, as well as the attainment of the south 

 pole l)y Captain Roald Amunflsen and the recent inauguration of the 

 Crocker Land expedition. At the same time the Peary Arctic Club, which 

 has for so many years given its loyalty and support to the discoverer of 

 the north pole, publich^ pronounced its appreciation of his work by present- 

 ing him with its medal of honor. This medal, a five-pointed star three and 

 one-fourth inches in diameter, is of unusual interest because made of sec- 

 tions of the great Ahnighito meteorite brought by Admiral Peary from Cape 

 York in 1897. The sections have been treated with acid to bring out the 

 Widmanstiitten lines which prove meteoric origin. 



The afternoon of April 10 was set apart by the Museum as a time to 

 give honor to John Burroughs, naturalist and author. Invitations were 

 issued for an informal reception, at which friends gave personal greeting to 

 Mr. Burroughs on his seventy-fifth birthday and congratulations for his 

 share in awakening America to an appreciation of her wild animal life. 



The subscriptions to the Crocker Land expedition have reached an 

 amount that has justified the chartering of the five-hundred-ton steamship 

 Diana of previous Arctic fame to carry the exploring party to Flagler Bay. 

 Additional subscriptions are now needed that the expedition may be equipped 

 for the most efficient work. 



Mr. Roy C. Andrews writes from Urusan, Korea, of his unusual success 

 in the expedition for whales. His latest letter contains an enthusiastic 

 account of all-night work in preparation of a skeleton of a hump-back 48| 

 feet long. This specimen was chosen from three which had come in during 

 the twenty-four hours, whereas only that number have been taken in all the 

 fifteen other whaling stations during the entire year. Blue whales almost 

 unknown in the region have been secured, as also a killer-whale of unusual 

 size (27^ ft. long). The growing scarcity of humpbacks indicates that the 

 effects of shore whaling are making themselves felt. 



An unusually instructive new group has been installed in the hall of 

 insect biology. It demonstrates the life history and habits of the cicada 

 or seventeen-year locust, wliich is of especial interest because last year 

 was a "locust year" in the xicinity of New York City. The long period 

 of seventeen years is rcfiuircii for the underground development of a cicada 

 brf)od, but there are many broods or sub-races and the history and dis- 

 tribution of each are on record, so that not only may the appearance of the 

 insects above ground be at inore frecjuent intervals than seventeen years 

 but also each so-called "locust year" is accurately foretold. The cicada 

 group will be described and illustrated in a later issue of the Journal. 



