MUSEUM NOTES 



149 



giving an outline of the plan of the hall of 

 insect life, and designed not only to give 

 information about insects and the biological 

 problems which they illustrate, but also to 

 interest the visitor in the subject of entomol- 

 ogy. The exhibits have been arranged as 

 far as possible to tell a connected story. 

 Some of the headings of the series are "The 

 Importance of Insects," "What is an In- 

 sect," "Ontogeny, Anatomy, and Physiol- 

 ogy," "Taxonomy," "Phylogeny," "The Four 

 Ages and the Seasons," "Insect Associa- 

 tions," "Enemies of Insects," "Evolution," 

 and "Social Insects." 



The Museum has purchased from Mr. E. 

 L. Troxell a massive mastodon skeleton from 

 the Pliocene of Texas. It is unfortunately 

 incomplete; the hind limbs are missing, and 

 of the skull there are preserved only the 

 lower jaws, one upper tusk, and a few frag- 

 ments. It is finely preserved, however, and 

 represents a remarkable race of Tertiary 

 mastodons which seems to have reached its 

 climax in North America. It is distin- 

 guished especially by the immense length of 

 the jaw, by the bulky body, and very short 

 legs. In this specimen the body and fore 

 legs are as bulky as those of the great War- 

 ren mastodon, but the fore limb bones are 

 only about three quarters as long; the hind 

 feet and presumably the hind limbs are 

 smaller, while the lower jaw exceeds six 

 feet in length, more than twice as long as 

 in the Warren mastodon. Its geological age 

 is much greater. 



The Museum has received an important 

 Alaskan Eskimo collection from Lieutenant 

 George T. Emmons, one of the most distin- 

 guished anthropological collectors in Amer- 

 ica, noted for the precision and accuracy of 

 his field notes. The collection comes from 

 the mouth of the Kuskokwim Eiver and 

 northward. This is a region hitherto not 

 well represented in the Museum's collections, 

 but with this acquisition there is now a good 

 study collection for the whole stretch of 

 Alaskan coast. The material covers all 

 phases of Eskimo culture that can be repre- 

 sented in a collection, but is particularly 

 strong on hunting and industrial objects. Al- 

 together the collection contains about seven 

 hundred and fifty pieces. 



In recognition of his services to the Amer- 

 ican Museum in scientific research and in the 



painting of South American birds, the trus- 

 tees of the Museum elected Louis Agassiz 

 Fuertes a Life Member at the annual meet- 

 ing on February 5. 



The second annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetolo- 

 gists, which was organized at the American 

 Museum of Natural History a year ago, was 

 held at Philadelphia, March 8. The Museum 

 was represented on the program by the fol- 

 lowing papers: "On the Fishes of the Amer- 

 ican Museum Congo Expedition," John T. 

 Nichols; "Illustrations of Fish in Mediagval 

 Manuscripts and Early Printed Books," 

 Charles E. Eastman ; "A Eeconstruction of 

 the Musculature of the Permian Eeptile 

 Cynognathus," Charles L. Camp; "On Cer- 

 tain Congo Eeptiles," Herbert Lang; and 

 "Notes on the Types of West African Spe- 

 cies of Lizards described by Dr. Edward 

 Hallowell," Karl P. Schmidt. 



Mk. W. De Witt Miller, assistant cura- 

 tor of ornithology in the American Museum, 

 started February 18, via New Orleans, 

 Colon, and Costa Eica, for Nicaragua, where 

 he will spend three months or more in mak- 

 ing ornithological collections. Mr. Miller's 

 perfect acquaintance with the Museum's 

 series of tropical birds will enable him to 

 fill gaps in the collection. He is to bring 

 back not only bird skins, but also alcoholic 

 specimens, together with data on nests and 

 feeding habits of birds, studies of faunal 

 zones, and other matters frequently neglected 

 by collectors, but invaluable for an adequate 

 understanding of the specimens. Mr. Miller 

 is accompanied by Mr. Ludlow Griscom, who, 

 although going on a private venture, will 

 nevertheless collect for the Museum. In 

 Nicaragua Mr. Miller and Mr. Griscom will 

 meet Mr. William B. Eichardson, of Mata- 

 galpa, who has done much collecting for the 

 Museum, and whose advice and experience 

 will be invaluable. 



Mr. Frank W, Kitching has contributed 

 to the general endowment of the American 

 Museum, shares of stock of the Anaconda 

 Mining Company valued at more than $10,- 

 000, the income of which is to be devoted to 

 general nuiseum purposes. In recognition 

 of his generosity, the trustees of the institu- 

 tion at their annual meeting elected Mr. 

 Kitching an Associate Benefactor of the 

 Museum. 



