re 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



tendered a reception and luncheon on Thurs- 

 day, January 13, by the president, trustees 

 and scientific staff of the American Museum 

 of Natural History. The guests were re- 

 ceived in the reptile hall on the second floor, 

 from whence, under escort of members of the 

 Museum staflf, they undertook a tour of 

 inspection of South and Central American 

 and other exhibits. The Museum's South 

 American archaeological, mineral, and fossil 

 vertebrate collections are especially valuable; 

 its South American study collection of mam- 

 mals is the largest in the world and its South 

 American study collection of birds the largest 

 in North America. 



Among distinguished members of the 

 Congress present were Dr. Ernesto Quesada 

 and Dr. Juan B. Ambrosetti of Argentina; 

 Antonio Carlos Simoens da Silva of Brazil; 

 Le General Legitime, Ex-President of Haiti; 

 Excellentissimo Senor Federico A. Pezet and 

 Dr. Julio Tello, of Peru, and Dr. Aristides 

 Agramonte of Cuba. 



A JOINT archaeological expedition of the 

 American Museum and the University of 

 Colorado, in charge of Mr. Earl H. Morris 

 of the latter institution, closed its four 

 months' field operations in the San Juan 

 district on December 20, 1915. Mr. Morris 

 spent the early part of the summer assisting 

 Mr. Nelson with his work in the Rio Grande 

 Valley, and in September Mr. Nelson ac- 

 companied Mr. Morris to the northern field. 

 Their first joint undertaking was the excava- 

 tion of a small seven-room cliff house on a 

 branch of Johnson Canon on the southern 

 border of the Mesa Verde. This cliff house 

 had never before been entered by a white 

 man but the difficult undertaking was not 

 rewarded by any finds of especial importance. 

 Some of the very numerous small-house ruins 

 on the adjacent mesas were tried out with 

 better results. These ruins antedate the 

 cliff dwellings and are often overgrown by 

 large trees, sections of which were taken for 

 the purpose of determining their age. 



The main part of the season's work how- 

 ever was devoted to the examination and par- 

 tial excavation of ruins in tributary valleys 

 of the upper San Juan including the La Plata, 

 Kootch, Carriso, Frances and Gobernador 

 canons. Several of the worked ruins belong 

 to the earliest Pueblo period, while others 

 toward the east are of a date falling within 

 the time of the Spanish occupation and sug- 



gest Zuni affiliations. A considerable collec- 

 tion of pottery and other specimens were 

 obtained. Mr. Morris is now at the mu- 

 seum of the University of Colorado at 

 Boulder, working over his data. 



An exhibition of paintings by Mr. F. W. 

 Stokes of scenes in the Arctic and Antarctic 

 is now on view in the west assembly hall of 

 the American Museum. On February 13 to 

 27 an exhibition of bird pictures in water color 

 by Mr. H. C. Denslow will occupy the same 

 hall. 



The American Scenic and Historic Preser- 

 vation Society held its twenty-first annual 

 meeting on the evening of January 21,: in 

 the American Museum of Natural History. 

 The Honorable George W. Perkins, a vice 

 president of the society, and president of 

 the Palisades Inter-State Park Commission, 

 delivered the address of the evening on the 

 progress made in the development of the 

 Inter-State Park and the plans for its future. 

 With funds provided in part by the states of 

 New York and New Jersey but more largely 

 by private generosity, the Commission has 

 purchased the twelve and a half miles of the 

 Palisades between Grant's Tomb and Nyack 

 and has accomplished a great deal toward 

 rendering it a convenient recreation ground. 

 Roads have been built, beaches made, docks, 

 boat houses and restaurants established and 

 in 1915, upwards of a million people crossed 

 the Hudson to walk, camp' or picnic, while 

 tenting privileges were enjoyed by twelve to 

 fifteen thousand. Extensive plans for further 

 improvement are in contemplation by the 

 Commission. 



At the Second Pan-American Scientific 

 Congress held in Washington December 27, 

 1915 to January 8, 1916, Dr. Frank M. 

 Chapman and Dr. Herbert J. Spinden repre- 

 sented the American Museum. Dr. Frank 

 E. Lutz also attended the Congress as dele- 

 gate of the New York Entomological Society 

 and Dr. P. E. Goddard as delegate of the 

 American Ethnological Society. At a special 

 meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science held in connection 

 with the Pan-American Congress, Dr. Frank 

 M. Chapman delivered an address giving an 

 account of the zoological survey of South 

 America conducted for the last five years 

 under the auspices of the American Museum. 



