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THE AMEBIC AS MUSEUM JOURNAL 



bills now before Congress providing for the 

 establishment of game sanctuaries, claiming 

 that by this plan it would be possible to 

 furnish for the nation 's consumption not 

 only vast numbers of wild fowl, but also two 

 million deer annually. At the Waldorf meet- 

 ing the life of migratory birds in Louisiana 

 was shown in motion pictures, and Mr. M. 

 L. Alexander, conservation commissioner, 

 told what that state is doing to presei-ve the 

 migratory birds within its borders. Other 

 means suggested by different members of 

 the association for the preservation of game 

 in the United States were a shorter open 

 season and smaller bag limits. 



Another mounted figure for the African 

 hall has been completed in the studio of Mr. 

 Carl E. Akeley at the American Museum — 

 the giraffe-like okapi from the Congo re- 

 gion. The same process of mounting has 

 been followed as in the ease of the young 

 bull elephant shown in the accompanying 

 illustration, and with the usual lifelike re- 

 sult. The okapi, standing more than five feet 

 to the shoulder, has head uplifted and large 

 ears thrown forward as if alert for the 

 sound which will cause it to plunge into the 

 depths of the underwood — its natural habi- 

 tat. With its purplish brown body so nearly 

 tlie color of the tree trunks, and its white 

 legs barred with black, simulating alter- 

 nate streaks of light and shadow amid the 

 gloom of the forest, this animal may be con- 

 sidered a good example of protective colora- 

 tion. In structure it resembles the giraffe 

 in having only two toes on each foot, and in 

 the shape of its teeth; it differs in being 

 smaller and shorter of leg and neck, and in 

 having the fore and hind legs about equal in 

 length. The long muzzle is well adapted for 

 feeding on the low forest underwood and 

 swamp vegetation, and the short horns are 

 probably also an adaptation to life in the 

 forest. This animal was first discovered by 

 Sir Henry Johnston in 1901, in the Semliki 

 forest of Uganda, East Africa, and so far as 

 is known, it is confined to that region. 



Dr. Herman K. Haeberlin, who was ap- 

 pointed last summer as assistant in the de- 

 partment of anthropology at the American 

 Museum, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 February 12, 1918. Dr. Haeberlin was a 

 young man of great promise, peculiarly 

 fitted for anthropological investigation, and 

 his death is a decided loss not only to the 



Museum but also to anthropology in gen- 

 eral. 



A series of monthly meetings is being 

 held at the American Museum, under the 

 auspices of the New York Academy of Sci- 

 ences and the American Ethnological So- 

 ciety, for the purpose of reviewing the 

 results of the Museum's explorations in the 

 Southwest under the grant from Mr. Archer 

 M. Huntington. Dr. Clark Wissler, curator 

 of anthropology, introduced the series in 

 January by a general discussion of "The 

 Cultural Problems of the Southwest." On 

 February 25, Mr. N. C. Nelson dealt with 

 "Southwest Archaeology," with especial refer- 

 ence to the chronology of the Pueblo ruins. 

 The March meeting will be devoted to an 

 illustrated talk by Mr. Earl H. Morris on the 

 X)rogress of the investigations being carried 

 on at the famous Aztec ruin in New Mexico. 



Mr. Earl H. Morris, in charge of the 

 American Museum's explorations at Aztec, 

 New Mexico, arrived in New York about 

 the middle of February. Between June 10 

 and November 2.5, 1917, seventy rectangular 

 living rooms and eight circular ceremonial 

 chambers were cleared of debris. This neces- 

 sitated the removal of more than six thou- 

 sand wagonloads of earth and stone. The 

 excavated part constitutes the east wing of 

 a quadrangular structure 359 by 280 feet, 

 whose solidly built sandstone walls rise to a 

 height of twenty feet above the surrounding 

 plain. Although the mound of earth result- 

 ing from the disintegration of the upper 

 stories of the dwelling had preserved the 

 walls which it covered to a surprising de- 

 gree, the adobe mortar, wherever moisture 

 had penetrated, had lost its cohesive prop- 

 erties, and, in addition, parts of the walls 

 had been too much weakened by strains 

 developed before the collapse of the struc- 

 ture to pennit them to stand long after the 

 removal of the jjrotecting soil. Where such 

 was the case, the walls were torn down and 

 rebuilt in a manner to withstand for many 

 years the action of the elements. 



An excellent collection of specimens was 

 obtained during the process of excavation. 

 Burial chambers yielded pottery vessels of 

 varied form and ornamentation, and thou- 

 sands of beads and articles of personal 

 adornment. From refuse deposits were 

 taken many discarded weapons and imple- 

 ments, besides a surprising representation 

 of textiles, and articles made of hide. 



