MUSEUM NOTES 



:i 



The inotlol whit-li has lu'oii iiiaile of tli»^ 

 Mttiila or "(U'villish" captiuTil in Florida for 

 till' Aiiiorican Musemn soiiii' time a«j;o l).v Mr. 

 l{iissi'll J. (\)los, lias Itooii woikcil into final 



I'lUiii ill till' lii'i'.-irt mcnt ut' pii'iia i;it inn aihl 

 will sddii ill' on ]inlilir view. Maiiv nii'i-iiaiii 

 ral ilitVnMill ii's liail to lie i>\ rn-oiiu' tn priiiliiri' 

 a tlioroui^lily sat isfai'tory rxliiliit inn s|n'i-i 

 nun of this groat dianioml slia|M'i| ray, wliiiii 

 is moro than eitrhteen foot across. Tiir loin 

 ]>lototl inodol, howovor, \vill bo not only tlio 

 first of its kind to bo jtlai'od on exhiliition 

 ill any nuisouni, but also of an oxci'llonco 

 which must remain unsurpassod for years. 

 Mdiitu. moaninj; "blanket," first appliod to 

 this soa inonstor by Spanish-speaking poo- 

 l>los on account of its great breadth, is in 

 many respects more desirable than the Eng- 

 lish name "devilfish," to which tlie giant 

 octopus has prior claim. 



The library of the American Museum of 

 Natural History reports an exchange rela- 

 tionship with the Straits Branch of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society. With the establishment of 

 the exchange, the library has acquired a 

 complete file of the valuable Journal of this 

 society, treating of the natural history and 

 anthropology of the general locality of the 

 Malay States. The field is one which has 

 been long in need of material, and the Li- 

 brary is particularly glad that, in spite of 

 the war, the exchange has been established at 

 this time. Another recent accession is Traite 

 f:Iimcntaire d'EntomuJogie by Maurice Gi- 

 rard, vokmies 1-3 and atlas, published in 

 I'aris 1873-1885. 



The American Museum has imrchased 

 from Mr. Charles I^. Romaine one hundred 

 and fifty prehistoric pottery vessels from the 

 shore of Charco Azul, David, Province of 

 Chiriqui, Panama. 



Among the semi-annual additions to the 

 collections of the department of mineralogy 

 are a number of very interesting specimens, 

 notable for size, scientific interest, or l)eauty. 

 Worthy of mention are : a large group of 

 translucent brown barite crystals, from Cum- 

 berland, England; a very beautiful inter- 

 crystallization of white quartz and amethys- 

 tine fluorite from Durham, England; a 

 singular tubular group of smithsonite from 

 Xow Mexico; crystals of wavellite; a broad 

 crystallized plate of sphalerite from Colo- 

 rado ; a remarkable honey -colored crystal of 

 scheelite (calcium tungstate), being a pyra- 

 mid of unusual size, from Sonora, Mexico; a 



striking spocimon of calainiiio from Leail- 

 villo, ('(dorado, forinod of gray-white blades 

 III till' iiiiiirial ill a mass of shining spheres; 

 ■A ili'i'p i>r.iii;.;i' hall of diadtxdiifo; two niam- 

 iiiotli rrystals of ln't.-ilil r froiii Ma(l;i;^ascar ; 

 am! many otiirrs. Tlir most rrm,-i lUalilo ad- 

 ilition to till- coliri'lioii li;is Imtm llir largo 

 lump of iiatisi' antimony, weighing ninety 



1 Is, ami wliirli so far as our knowledge 



goes is iinii|ue. It was taken from Kern 

 County, California. It is hoped that the de- 

 partment will be permitted in the near future 

 to begin an installation of artificial mineral 

 crystallizations, such as are fornieil in tlic 

 arts. A small beginning has already been 

 made, and chalcanthite, alunite, gyi)sum, and 

 borax, all synthetic ])roductions, fine in color 

 and perfect in crystallization, have been 

 ]ini-cliaseil. 



Dk. Hekjian K. Haeuerlin, who visit oil 

 the state of Washington in pursuance of eth- 

 nological work on a Columbia fellowship, 

 gathered for the American Museum a consid- 

 erable collection of specimens from the fast 

 disappearing Indian tribes of that state. 

 Baskets, bows and arrows, beaded skin gar- 

 ments, gambling sticks, and ceremonial ob- 

 jects are among the articles received by the 

 department of anthropology. A unique piece 

 is a blanket of mountain goat's wool from 

 the Tulalip Reservation. 



A I'AINTING of a herd of liulValo, with 

 Pike's Peak in the background, by Titian 

 Ramsay Peale (an account of whose career and 

 works appeared in the March, 1917, number 

 of the Journal), is a recent accession of the 

 Museum through the generosity of Mr. John 

 M. Hoffmire, of Newark, N. J., and Mr. 

 Charles W. MacMullen, of New York City, 

 nephews of Mr. Peale. The picture was 

 painted in 18.j4 from a sketch made by the 

 artist in 1819, when he was naturalist on 

 Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 

 It is the largest of his paintings, and is of 

 interest as representing what is perhaps the 

 earliest sketch of Pike's Peak. 



A HANDBOOK of Peruvian art, prepared by 

 Mr. Charles W. Mead, has been in greater 

 demand by the public since its recent i.ssue 

 than any other handbook of the American 

 Museum except the one on butterflies. The 

 pamphlet contains five plates illustrating the 

 fish, bird, puma, human, and mythological 

 designs to be found on Peruvian pottery 

 and textiles. A full explanation of each of 

 these designs is given in the text. 



