MUSEUM NOTES 



73 



THRoron the courtesy of the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries there has been added to 

 the exhibits of the shell hall of the American 

 Museum a full series of photographic en- 

 largements illustrating the button industry 

 ■ — from the work of the pearl mussel fisheries 

 of the Mississippi Rivor to the finished but- 

 tons. The pictures show mussel dredges of 

 various types at work; the shelters' camp; 

 transportation of the shells by scow to the 

 button factories; and scenes within the fac- 

 tories. From the shells are cut the "blanks," 

 the foundations of buttons. The finishing 

 process includes grinding to obtain an even 

 surface, turning to form the button and de- 

 press its center, drilling the holes, polishing 

 in kegs of chemicals to give luster, washing, 

 sorting, and packing. Some factories have 

 been known to reach an output of one hun- 

 dred and forty-four thousand buttons a day. 

 Button manufacture from shells began in 

 the United States about 1890, and rapidly 

 increased in scope owing to the high tariff 

 on imported buttons. The fishing season for 

 the mussel (N^aiades) was formerly restricted 

 to August and December but is now contin- 

 ued througliout the year. 



There has also been installed in the hall 

 of shells an extensive series of objects show- 

 ing the commercial uses of shells and liow 

 they are employed by Japanese craftsmen in 

 the construction of toys, utensils, jewelry, 

 charms, and ornaments of great delicacy and 

 beauty. Included with this collection are 

 gay shell baskets from the Bahama Islands, 

 and others in which shells are combined into 

 flowers, made for the tourist trade by the 

 Seri Indian women of Lower California. 



The rare red ground monkey (Erythruce- 

 hus u'hitei) of Africa is the subject of a 

 new habitat group in the American Museum. 

 This species is shy and has habits of watch- 

 fulness and great activity which make its 

 capture very difficult. Native hunters sel- 

 dom get a chance to kill it. They therefore 

 attribute to it the power of rendering itself 

 invisible, and the Azande believe that the 

 skull of the red monkey imparts this power 

 to the fortunate possessor, who thereby is 

 enabled to approach and slay his enemies un- 

 seen. The large baboon (Papm doguera) 

 shown in the center of the new group is one 

 of nineteen species found in Africa. This 

 jtarticular species ranges from the plains 

 and forests of Uganda westward through the 

 Congo Basin and is here displayed in con- 



nection with the red monkey because the two 

 species live in harmony, having similar feed- 

 ing habits. Like the red monkey, it is a 

 swift runner and very difficult to catch. 

 Most of the animals of this group were col- 

 lected personally by Mr. Jenness Richardson, 

 working under the direction of Dr. William 

 S. Rainsford, who headed an exploring ex- 

 pedition to Central Africa in 1912-13. The 

 mounting was done bj' Mr. Frederick 

 Blaschke, a i)reparator of the Museum, and 

 the background was painted by Mr. Albert 

 Operti. 



A second monkey group is completed. This 

 shows the spider monkey, likewise a rare 

 species. Spider monkeys are dark brown, 

 with small bodies and long slender legs, ap- 

 pearing, when seen at a distance in a tropi- 

 cal jungle, like huge spiders. They are slug- 

 gish in movement, timid, good-natured, and 

 very quiet. They have no thumb, but make 

 up for this deficiency by having a prehensile 

 tail which serves the purpose of an addi- 

 tional hand. The variety shown in the group 

 is found throughout the greater part of 

 Guatemala and northward, east of the 

 mountains, through the state of Vera Cruz, 

 Mexico. The group is the joint work of 

 Messrs. Frederick Blaschke and William B. 

 Peters. These two groups, representing the 

 Old World and the New, mark progress in 

 the making over of the hall of Primates. 



The report on the collection of lizards, 

 made by the American Museum Congo Expe- 

 dition during its six years' stay in Africa, 

 is Hearing completion. This collection of 

 fifteen hundred lizards is the largest ever 

 brought from Africa by a single expedition, 

 although collections from the richer lacer- 

 tilian fauna of South Africa and from the 

 West African islands have exceeded it in 

 number of species. In the 18 genera and 44 

 species recorded, all of the central African 

 families of lizards are represented, with the 

 exception of the Amphisbsenidse. Nine forms 

 are described as new, of which three are 

 geckos, three lacertids, and two chameleons. 

 Three others of the species have each been 

 known previously from a single type speci- 

 men, and an additional ten are rare in col- 

 lections. The large series of the Scincidae, 

 making jiossible a careful delimitation of the 

 sfiecies in that group, and the great exten- 

 sions of the range of many sjiecies probably 

 are of even greater value and interest than 

 the new forms. Among tlie turtles and 



