MUSEUM NOTES 



215 



pleuieiits a siiiiilar exchange from the 

 Durban Museum, Natal, iu giviug an iusight 

 into the extraordinarily interesting and va- 

 ried herpetological fauna of Soutli Africa. 



The twenty-first annual entertainment of 

 the City History Club of New York was held 

 at the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory on the morning of Washington's Birth- 

 day, Dr. George F. Kunz, first vice-presi- 

 dent of the club, presided. The program 

 included selections by the orchestra of the 

 De Witt Clinton High School, songs, his- 

 torical playlets, and dances by the Catherine 

 Abbe, Joan of Arc, Elsie Kutgers, and 

 Colonial Dames clubs, addresses by the of- 

 ficers of the City History Club and by the 

 Honorable Robert Adamson, commissioner 

 of the fire department, a letter from Presi- 

 dent Wilson, and motion pictures of the fire 

 department of New York and of scenes from 

 American history from Columbus to Lincoln. 

 The audience joined in patriotic songs. 



The Chinese and Siberian hall of the 

 American Museum has recently been reor- 

 ganized. The cases, which before stood in 

 isolated and rather confusing positions, have 

 been set together so that they wall in the 

 open space in the center of the hall. Visitors 

 may now view the whole exhibit easily by 

 following the course of the circle of cases. 

 The present arrangement also makes better 

 use of the windows in the hall. The exhibits 

 themselves have been rearranged, and much 

 new material has been added, particularlj' 

 a number of specimens from Korea and 

 Tiljet. On both the Chinese and the Siberian 

 sides of the hall, attention has been given 

 to the display of textiles and embroideries, 

 in consideration of the needs of the design- 

 ers who are now turning to the Museum in 

 search of new ideas. 



The Jesup collection of building and or- 

 namental stones of North America, consist- 

 ing of over one thousand specimens, has 

 lately been rearranged according to the 

 kinds of stones, instead of by states as in 

 the old classification. This collection is in 

 part a duplicate of the very extensive series 

 in the National Museum, which Avas pre- 

 l)ared under the direction of the officers of 

 the tenth census of the United States, and 

 Avas exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition 

 at Philadelphia in 1876. 



The department of anthropology has 

 purchased from Mr. David I, Bushnell a 



series of valuable objects, including one 

 hundred baskets, the work of the Alibanm, 

 Attacapa, Chitimacha, and Choctaw Indians 

 of the lower Mississippi region. The baskets 

 are made of a peculiar type of split reed, and 

 are now so scarce as to be difficult to 

 obtain. Other recent acquisitions of Indian 

 material are a painted buffalo robe, prob- 

 ably from the Plains Ojibway, purchased 

 from Mr, J, Alden Loring; ethnological 

 specimens of the Micmac and other eastern 

 tribes, purchased from Dr. Frank G. Speck; 

 and a Blackfoot beaver bundle, purchased 

 from Arthur J, Walters. The department 

 has also purchased an unusually large and 

 fine piece of Hawaiian tapa, a fabric which 

 has been rendered rare by the rapidity with 

 which the people of the Hawaiian Islands 

 have given up their native ways. 



A SPECIAL illustrated lecture for Museum 

 members and invited guests, which attracted 

 a large audience, was given at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, Wednesday 

 evening, March 28, under the joint auspices 

 of the American Museum and the American 

 Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. Mr. 

 Samuel Christopher Lancaster, highway en- 

 gineer and author, and a forceful and fluent 

 speaker, delivered an address on "The Scenic 

 Beauty of Oregon," illustrating his descrip- 

 tion with pictures from photographs taken 

 by himself and two other enthusiastic moun- 

 tain-climbers, and views made direct from 

 nature by the Paget process. Mr. Lancaster 

 was consulting engineer in the location and 

 construction of the remarkable highway 

 built by Multnomah County, Oregon, and 

 dedicated in 1916, This highway, Avhich 

 extends for a distance of forty-two miles 

 from Portland along the gorge of the Colum- 

 bia River, through some of the most wonder- 

 ful scenery in the United States, Avas 

 characterized by General George Goethals, 

 who passed over it in 1915, as "absolutely 

 without equal in America for scenic inter- 

 est," The purpose of Mr. Lancaster's ad- 

 dress Avas to illustrate the great possibilities 

 of scenic highAvays in America, Avhen under- 

 taken by enlightened and api)reciative pub- 

 lic authorities, as Avell as to depict upon the 

 screen some of the extraordinary landscape 

 beauties of the Cascade Range, 



Mr, H. E. Anthony has returned from 

 the expedition to Cuba, The rcA^olution 

 there cut short his search for fossil mammal 

 material, and small guerrilla bands of rebels 



