4 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
ety, the staff of the Museum and other scientists and educators of the 
City and vicinity met Mr. Peary in the Board Room of the Museum by 
invitation of Mr. Jesup, while after the lecture Mr. Peary held an in- 
formal public reception in the. auditorium. 
The great desire of the people of New York to see, hear and shake 
hands with the intrepid explorer was manifested by the attendance at 
the Museum of thousands of visitors, who packed not only the auditorium 
but also the adjacent exhibition halls with a multitude that greeted 
Mr. Peary enthusiastically when he was introduced to his audience by 
the President and as he walked through the Museum after the lecture 
under the escort of the Director. 
A ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 
URING last July and August Dr. Alexander V. Ruthven 
of Michigan University made a trip in the interests of 
the American Museum to southein New Mexico and 
Arizona, for the purpose of studying the reptiles and 
~- batrachians of those regions. He was accompanied 
by Mr. G. von Krochow of the Museum staff. ‘The 
territory about Alamogordo, New Mexico, and ‘Tuscon, Arizona, was 
explored in detail. In each of these localities there is a variety of habi- 
tats, ranging from the lower, arid deserts to the more humid, forest- 
crowned summits of the adjacent mountain ranges. Field stations 
under different environmental conditions were established, where, after 
noting the physical factors and vegetation of each habitat, the reptile 
and amphibian life was determined by careful collecting. 
As a result of this work it was established that the reptile and amphi- 
bian life of each habitat was characteristic, as has been shown for some 
other animals and for plants. Notes were made on the habits of the 
different forms to determine their relationship to the environment with 
which they have been found associated, observations on food habits 
being supplemented by examinations of the contents of many stom- 
achs, which have been carefully labeled and preserved. 
About 1,000 specimens of cold-blooded vertebrates were secured 
for the Museum, besides a small collection of invertebrates, consisting 
principally of ants, molluscs and parasitic worms. Several valuable 
