MUSEUM NOTES 



151 



in the Paraguayan cJiaco. Here about two 

 months were spent in making collections. 

 Three months were spent in field work in 

 the Panateles, vast alluvial plains, entirely 

 submerged during the rainy season, and the 

 home of many species of water birds. As 

 a result of the work Mr. Cherrie brings to 

 the American Museum a collection of three 

 thousand bird skins and four hundred skins 

 of mammals, together with fifteen hundred 

 photographs and a wealth of valuable data. 



For several years about one hundred and 

 fifty textile pupils and students of design 

 a month have been making use of the Mu- 

 seum collection of ancient Peruvian textiles 

 and pottery vessels. This number has been 

 doubled of late since trade has discovered 

 the value and fine state of preservation of 

 the Museum collection. For the benefit of 

 conmiercial workers in textiles, who have 

 felt the dearth in design due to the cutting 

 off of new ideas from abroad by the Euro- 

 pean war, the department of anthropology 

 of the American Museum offered in Febru- 

 ary a series of lectures, illustrated by lan- 

 tern slides of objects in the Museum, on 

 primitive decorative design in the New 

 World. The subjects discussed were: Feb- 

 ruary 5, "Indian Pottery and Decorative 

 Art," February 19, "Costume and Costume 

 Decoration," both by Dr. Herbert J. Spin- 

 den, and February 26, "Primitive American 

 Textiles," by Mr. M. D. C. Crawford. These 

 lectures supplement an earlier series on 

 primitive textile art in ancient and modern 

 times, given at the Museum by the depart- 

 ment of anthropology during October, 1916. 

 There has recently been installed on the 

 main floor of the Museum, through the cour- 

 tesy of several silk manufacturing compa- 

 nies, an exhibit of silk fabrics and ribbons 

 with designs inspired by the Museum's Mex- 

 ican, Peruvian, and Amur River collections. 

 The exhibit represents only a fraction of 

 what has already been accomplished in de- 

 sign through the study of Indian art. Not 

 only have the silk designers been busy, but 

 cotton fabric and costume designers are be- 

 coming interested, and fabrics lately sent 

 over from Paris show that the new note in 

 American textile art may be expected to 

 produce results in Europe after the war. 

 The numlier of pieces of ancient Ameri- 

 can textiles in the Museum available for use 

 of designers and others has been very 

 largely increased by the donations of Mr. 



A. D. Juilliard. One of his gifts, a beauti- 

 ful shawl-like garment found in a prehis- 

 toric grave near lea, Peru, has recently 

 been put on exhibition at the head of the 

 stairway on the third floor of the Museum. 



There is on view in the west assembly 

 hall of the American Museum an interest- 

 ing exhibit of paintings by William de la 

 Montague Cary, showing the West as it ap- 

 peared during the years 1861 to 1874. The 

 pictures, with their abundance of detail and 

 local flavor, give intimate glimpses of In- 

 dians, traders, and settlers, of wolf packs 

 and buffalo herds, the vanished features of 

 a wonderland of life and adventure long 

 since swept away by the westward spread of 

 population. 



The American Museum expedition to 

 Nicaragua for collections of reptiles and 

 fishes has returned from the field. The 

 expedition left New York on May 31, 1916, 

 for Bluefields on the eastern coast of Nica- 

 ragua, going via New Orleans. Two weeks 

 were spent collecting at Maselina Creek 

 near Bluefields. On July 1 a trip was 

 started up the Rio Grande and one of 

 its tributaries, Sixicuas Creek. In August 

 the expedition moved to the coastal belt 

 and collected near Pearl Lagoon, midway 

 between Bluefields and the mouth of the 

 Rio Grande. In September the members of 

 the expedition parted,— Mr. L. Alfred Mann- 

 hardt to operate near the mining regions 

 of the north, Mr. Clarence R. Halter to go 

 southward and to the west coast. Mr. 

 Mannhardt sailed for the mouth of the Prin- 

 zapolka River, up which he proceeded one 

 hundred miles, exploring the Yoyo and Pia 

 creeks as far as the dugout pitpans could 

 be poled. On the first of November an over- 

 land trip was begun, the equipment being 

 forwarded by Indian pack carriers to the 

 town of Tunky at the junction of the Tunky 

 and Banbana rivers. In order to find a 

 favorable field for collecting, a scouting trip 

 was undertaken through Siuna and San 

 Pedro, ending at Eden Mine in the heart of 

 the gold district. Mr. Halter, in charge of 

 the other division, went south to Barra del 

 Colorado, Costa Rica, and up the San Juan 

 River, collecting at La Hunter, Machuca, El 

 Castillo, and San Carlos on Lake Nica- 

 ragua. Thence he continued up the lake to 

 San Miguelito. Collections and studies were 

 made along Tule Creek to its source; then 

 followed an overland excursion in a north- 

 easterlv direction in the Chontales Moun- 



