404 



THE AMEJUCAX Mi' SEC M JOUEyAL 



himself for fifty years, and of his friendly 

 spirit of cooijeration, which has materially 

 assisted the American Museum in developing 

 its educational work. 



The National Academy of Sciences at its 

 April meeting awarded to Dr. Frank M. 

 Chapman, curator of ornithology at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, the 

 first Daniel Giraud Elliot medal and hono- 

 rarium. These are to be bestowed annually 

 for preeminence in zoology or palaeontology 

 under the terms of the gift to the Academy, 

 in 1916, of $8000 by Miss Margaret Hender- 

 son Elliot to establish a fund in memory of 



scientific research will act as judges, it is 

 the wish of the said Margaret Henderson 

 Elliot that no person acting as such judge 

 shall be deemed on that account ineligible 

 to receive this annual gift. . . . 



The result of Dr. Chapman's valuable 

 contribution to zoology, "The Distribution of 

 Bird Life in Colondiia; A Contribution to a 

 Biological Survey of South America," was 

 published in 1917 as Volume XXXVI of the 

 Bulletin of the Amer-ican Museum of Nat- 

 ural History. Although Dr. Chapman de- 

 scribed therein a very large number of 

 species and subspecies of South American 

 birds, it was for the scientific value of his 



her father. The conditions governing the 

 administration of the gift are: 



One such medal and diploma shall be given 

 in each year and they, with any unexpended 

 balance of income for the year, shall be 

 awarded by the said National Academy of 

 Sciences to the author of such paper, essay 

 or other work upon some branch of zoology 

 or palaeontology published during the year as 

 in the opinion of the persons, or a majority 

 of the persons, hereinafter appointed to be 

 the judges in that regard, shall be the most 

 meritorious and worthy of honor. The medal 

 and diploma and surplus income shall not, 

 however, for more than two years succes- 

 sively, be awarded for treatises upon any 

 one branch of either of the sciences above 

 mentioned. Professor Henry Fairfield Os- 

 bom, of New York, the scientific director of 

 the American Museum of Natural History 

 in New York City, and the secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution at Washington for 

 the time being, are appointed as such 

 judges. . . . 



As science is not national the medal and 

 diploma and surplus income may be con- 

 ferred upon naturalists of any country, and 

 as men eminent in their respective lines of 



deductions and the establishment of zonal 

 and faunal boundaries over a wide geograph- 

 ical range that the decision was made in his 

 favor. 



The annual garden party of the New 

 York Zoological Society, which included the 

 reception of the Board of Managers and of 

 the Ladies' and Junior Auxiliaries, took 

 place on May 16 in the Zoological Park. Of 

 the special exhibits arranged to translate 

 into concrete form some phases of the war, 

 probably the chief in interest was one of the 

 latest type anti-aircraft guns from the 

 Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was loaned 

 through the courtesy of the Secretary of the 

 Navy and Eear Admiral McDonald, Com- 

 mandant of the Navy Yard. Three members 

 of its crew explained its purpose and opera- 

 tion. A second exhibit consisted of war 

 relics gathered on the battlefields of France 

 by Mr. William Beebe. One hundred and 

 fifteen books on natural history, including 

 many rare and costly editions representing 



