MUSEUM NOTES 



139 



attention of soino of the many thousands 

 unconnected with the Museum who are 

 nevertheless interested in natural science. 



The cost of publishing the Journal is 

 considerable, and the same expenditure might 

 easily benefit a much larger circle of readers. 

 The collaboration of present friends is asketl 

 in making it known. 



A SERIES of color pictures, taken by Messrs. 

 Henry Berger, Jr., and Frank Ives Jones, 

 showing the Columbia Highway, Rainier 

 Park, and mountain scenery of the Northwest, 

 will be shown in the auditorium of the Ameri- 

 can Museum on Thursday evening, Febru 

 ary 24, at 8.15 o'clock. The pictures have 

 been taken by the new Paget process of 

 direct color photography. 



Mr. Alanson Skinner has resigned his 

 position as assistant curator in the depart- 

 ment of anthropology of the American Mu- 

 seum, to accept a position where he will con- 

 tinue in similar work. Mr. Skinner has been 

 connected with the Museum since 1902, when 

 as a boy, he accompanied local field parties 

 engaged in archaeological work. 



The Zufii Indian collection, made for the 

 American Museum last summer by Pro- 

 fessor A. L. Kroeber, is now on exhibition in 

 the hall of the Indians of the Southwest. 



successful explorations for fossil vertebrates 

 in the caves of the Mediterranean Islands. 

 One of her recent discoveries is an interesting 

 extinct type of antelope found in caves of the 

 Balearic Islands a few years ago and named 

 M ijolragus. It is a relative of the chamois 

 but is distinguished by enlarged lower front 

 teeth like the incisors of rodents and had 

 very short legs and feet. Miss Bate has sent 

 to the Museum a series of specimens of this 

 animal — incomplete skulls, jaws, limb and 

 foot bones, which are on exhibition in a table 

 case in the hall of the age of mammals. 



Explorations for fossil vertebrates in caves 

 and other localities in the West Indian 

 islands are yielding results no less remarkable 

 than tho.se obtained by Miss Bate from the 

 islands of the Mediterranean and of especial 

 interest to Americans. The explorations of 

 Professor de la Torre and Mr. Barnum Brown 

 in Cuba have already been noticed in the 

 Journal. More recently the zoological 

 survey of Porto Rico, conducted by the New 

 York Academy of Sciences, has secured 

 remains of several new and remarkable 

 extinct animals from that island. It seems 

 certain that systematic and thorough explora- 

 tions in all the Antilles would yield results 

 of great scientific value, which would go far 

 toward settling the much disputed questions 

 as to their geologic history and connections 

 with one another and with the mainland. 



The recent death of the Siberian tiger in 

 the zoological collection at Bronx Park has 

 provided the Museum with a splendid skin 

 for mounting. This will be used in construct- 

 ing a group for the Asiatic hall when the 

 hoped-for new wing of the Museum shall have 

 become an actuality. 



Considerable improvements are being 

 made in the exhibits on the south side of the 

 dinosaur hall of the Museum. The prepara- 

 tion of new exhibits has for some time inter- 

 fered with the opening of this i)art of the hall, 

 which contains the various kinds of fossil rep- 

 tiles other than dinosaurs. The fine series of 

 ancient Permian reptiles from Texas and 

 South Africa has now been rearranged with 

 important additions and the fossil turtles 

 are being partly rearranged so as to provide 

 more space for new exhibits. 



For several years past Miss Dorothea Bate 

 has been engaged in systematic and very 



Twenty-five ancient pottery vessels ex- 

 hibiting unusually fantastic and effective 

 decorative designs and obtained in the 

 Mimbres Valley, New Mexico, have recently 

 been purchased by the Museum from Mr. 

 E. D. Osborn. Also a varied collection of 

 specimens obtained in the neighborhood of 

 Oldtown, Maine, and representing the culture 

 of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Malecite 

 and Micmac Indians, has been purchased 

 from Mr. G. A. Paul. 



There will shortly be installed in the hall 

 of public health of the American Museum 

 an exhibit illustrating the comparative food 

 values of a number of common articles of 

 diet. The exhibit consists of a series of one- 

 hundred-calorie portions of various raw foods; 

 the percentage of heat-giving, energy-pro- 

 ducing and muscle-building elements they 

 contain being indicated beside each. In this 

 series perishable foods will be shown by means 

 of models, the less perishable, as rice or oat- 



