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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



has lived in Nicaragua for twenty-five years, 

 met the expedition at Corinto and remained 

 with it throughout the trip. The various 

 faunal regions of Nicaragua were visited, in- 

 cluding the pine forest of the northern higii- 

 lands, the tropical forest, and two volcanoes, 

 Mombacho and El Viejo. A collection of 

 1170 bird skins was made. This adds about 

 ninety species to the Nicaragua collections 

 in the American Museum, received in former 

 years from Mr. Kichardson, and includes 

 thirty species not heretofore recorded from 

 Nicaragua. The American Museum now has 

 the most complete collection of Nicaragua 

 birds in the world. 



Mr. Eoy C. Andrews reports to the Amer- 

 ican Museum that the Asiatic Zoological Ex- 

 pedition will return to New York about the 

 end of September, bringing the largest col- 

 lection of rare aninmls which has ever been 

 assembled from China. Special features of 

 the collections are the gorals and serows, 

 strange mammals resembling tlie goat and 

 the antelope. The expedition, of which Mr. 

 Andrews is in charge, has been working in 

 the province of Yunnan, China — in remote 

 regions where no white man had ever been 

 seen before the explorer and his party ar- 

 rived. In Y'unnan, two thousand miles 

 have been covered on horseback and camps 

 have been made in 107 different localities, 

 varying from fifteen hundred to seventeen 

 thousand feet elevation. Mrs. Andrews, who 

 accom[>anied the expedition as the official 

 photographer, has obtained natural color 

 ])hotographs, including views of the great 

 gorge of the Yangtze Eiver, Avhich in some 

 parts can be compared for grandeur with the 

 Grand Canon of North America. 



Dr. J. Bequaekt has resumed his former 

 work in the department of invertebrate zool- 

 ogy, after an absence of three months, dur- 

 ing which he crossed the continent as a mem- 

 ber of the Cornell Biological Expedition. 

 This transcontinental tour was arranged by 

 Prof. J. Chester Bradley of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, with the cooi^cration of Dr. A. H. 

 Wright, for the purpose of collecting and 

 studying the fauna and flora of the country. 

 The expedition was unique inasmuch as it 

 Avas the first attempt to use automobile 

 transportation for a collecting trip on a 

 large scale. The expedition left Ithaca, New 

 York, May 2-1, and reached San Diego, Cali- 



fornia, August 1-1. More than six thousand 

 miles were covered by the three cars and the 

 two-wheel trailer of the expedition. The 

 party included, at its maximum, thirteen 

 members. 



Dr. Herman K. IIaeberltn has been ap- 

 pointed assistant in anthrojiology in the 

 American Museum. He liolds at the same 

 time a position in the department of anthro- 

 pology of Columbia University and is to act 

 as guide to the Museum for anthropological 

 students at Columbia and Barnard. The ap- 

 ])ointment was made through a desire to 

 l)ring about a closer cooperation between 

 anthropological instruction in the two insti- 

 tutions and a wider use of the wealth of 

 illustrative material in tlie American Mu- 

 seum. 



The initial number of the International 

 Journal of American Linguistics, a quar- 

 terly edited by Franz Boas and Pliny Earle 

 Goddard, appeared in July. This journal, 

 which is of particular importance to students 

 of linguistics, will be devoted to the study 

 of Amei'ican al)original languages. 



A SERIES of lectures delivered by Dr. Eob- 

 ert H. Lowie for the department of anthro- 

 pology of the American Museum during the 

 early part of 1917 has been published in 

 book form under the title Culture and Eth- 

 nology. The object of the work is to ac- 

 quaint the layman Avith some of the results 

 of modern ethnological work. 



In recognition of his gifts of moving pic- 

 ture films covering zoological subjects, Mr. 

 Raymond L. Ditmars was elected by the 

 board of trustees as a life member of the 

 American Museum. Mr. George B. Hopkins 

 was made a patron for his generous con- 

 tribution to the building fund. 



A COMPLETE revision of the lecture courses 

 given under the direction of the department 

 of public education of the American Mu- 

 seum is planned for this season. Instead of 

 condensing the Avork into the short period of 

 six Aveeks according to previous practice, lec- 

 tures will be given tAvice a Aveek through a 

 period extending from the middle of Octo- 

 ber to the middle of January. On Mondays 

 the subjects Avill be taken from geography 

 and natural history, on Thursdays from 



