MUSEUM XOTES 



79 



The department of anthropology lias re- 

 cently received from Mrs. E. H. Harriman 

 a brown sable parka from Alaska, and by 

 gift of Justice Nathan Bijur a fine moose- 

 hide war shirt from the Tlingit of Alaska. 

 The department has purchased from C. O. 

 Sachs a number of specimens of Indian ma- 

 terial, relics of the battle of Sand Creek in 

 1864, and of the famous chiefs Gaul, Rain- 

 in-the-face, Spotted Tail, and White Ante- 

 lope. 



The Museum has recently received as a 

 gift from the Hon. Francis B. Harrison, of 

 Manila, the skin and skull of a timarau from 

 the Philijjpine Islands. Other recent gifts are 

 five hundred bird skins collected in Ecuador 

 by Mr. William B. Eichardson; and birds 

 and the skeletons of a giraffe and a kanga- 

 roo presented by the New York Zoological 

 Society. 



Mrs. Paul Morton has made gifts to the 

 Museum of baskets from the Northwest, a 

 valuable Navajo blanket, and a bronze statu- 

 ette, "The Moqui's Prayer for Rain," by 

 H. A. MacNeal. This last represents one of 

 the participants in the snake dance speed- 

 ing away after the ceremony, bearing in his 

 hands numerous snakes which he is to set 

 free in the open country. 



Dr. Malcolm A. Smith, of Bangkok, 

 Siam, has made a unique and valuable addi- 

 tion to the Museum's herpetological re- 

 sources in the gift of twenty-two snakes, four 

 burrowing salamanders, and sixteen frogs, 

 all from Siam. Several of the specimens 

 are new to the Museum collection as to spe- 

 cies, and some as to genus. Mr. Mahoto 

 Nishimura has presented thirty-six speci- 

 mens from Manchuria, representing thirteen 

 species new to the collections. 



]\[r. Leo E. Miller has returned to the 

 ]\ruseum after two years spent as leader of 

 an expedition to South America. He and his 

 associate, Mr. Howarth S. Boyle, left Oc- 

 tober 21, 1914, for Puerto Colombia. From 

 this point they went up the Magdalena River 

 to Puerto Berrio, and thence overland to the 

 highlands of Antioquia, where they spent 

 approximately five months. One excursion, 

 an exploration of the Paramillo region, has 

 already been described in the Journal— 

 November, 191.5. Other excursions were to 

 the Atrato River drainage on the west coast 

 of Colombia, and to the Lower Cauca River 



where, at Puerto Valdavia, large collections 

 were made. 



On completing the work in Colombia, the 

 party went to Panama, crossed to the Pacific 

 side, and took a steamer to Peru. Landing 

 at Mollendo, they proceeded by train to Lake 

 Titicaea, which they crossed by steamer, and 

 went on to La Paz for a brief stay. Head- 

 quarters for a number of months were made 

 at Cochabamba. From this point excur- 

 sions were undertaken to the Beni district; 

 large collections were made on the Chimore 

 and Chapare rivers. The explorers worked 

 for a month at the Mission among the Ura- 

 care Indians. The high country between 

 Cochabamba and the Beni was also explored. 

 The men next journeyed to Sucre by way 

 of the Santa Cruz trail, and explored the 

 country about the Upper Pilcomayo River, 

 after which they proceeded overland to the 

 Argentine Republic, covering the more than 

 three hundred miles on muleback. This is 

 all high arid country where the temperature 

 varies one hundred degrees Fahrenheit every 

 twenty-four hours. 



About nine months were spent in the Ar- 

 gentine, in which time many of the northern 

 provinces of the country were visited. Ex- 

 cursions were undertaken from the high 

 Andean peaks in the west to the sweltering 

 chaco of the east. The desert regions of 

 Santiago del Estero were also visited. The 

 last work was done in the lake region near 

 San Juan, where large collections of water- 

 fowl were made. Altogether the expedition, 

 during its two years spent in the field, col- 

 lected between eight thousand and nine thou- 

 sand birds, about fifteen hundred mammals, 

 made hundreds of photographs, and recorded 

 a number of volumes of data concerning the 

 life histories of animals, types of country, 

 faunal zones, and people. 



A SPECIAL exhibition of the motion pic- 

 ture film entitled "How Life Begins" was 

 given in the American Museum auditorium 

 on Saturday morning, January 20, for the 

 teachers of the public schools of Greater 

 New York. The pictures were made by Mr. 

 George E. Stone in collaboration with Dr. 

 J. A. Long, of the University of California, 

 and were shown through the courtesy of the 

 Exhibitors* Booking Agency of New York. 

 They illustrate the story of how plants and 

 animals come into existence. The film con- 

 sists of the proper combination of actual 



