2G8 



THE AMERICAX MUSEUM JOURNAL 



is a fine specimen of greeiiisli-j-cllow liniiii 

 coral, above which swims the black and yel- 

 low fish, rock beaut}^ {Holacanthus tricolor). 

 The coral-red base and fringe-crowned disk 

 of the passion flower anemone {Condyladis 

 passifloru) appear on different portions of 

 the reef. Wax models of the more delicate 

 animals and color studies of all the group 

 material, were made in the field, and the 

 effect of real sea water, with its depth and 

 jjerspective, has been obtained by using two 

 panes of plate glass, three inches apart, in 

 front of the group, each coated on the inner 

 side with a delicate invisible stain of gelatin. 



Sir Douglas Mawson, on his way through 

 New York recently, reported that he had 

 made a renewed attempt to secure for the 

 American Museum a full series of the skins 

 of the Antarctic penguins from Macquarie 

 Island. The few skins however, brought 

 back by the party sent there in 1915, were 

 useless because so poorly prepared. Sir 

 Douglas Mawson is making efforts to estab- 

 lish Macquarie Island as a national reserve 

 for wild life and thinks that the Common- 

 wealth of Australia is likely to take favorable 

 action. There has been great difficulty in 

 relieving the small colony on the island, and 

 at Christmas the government station there 

 was abandoned, 'but may lie resumed after 

 the close of the war. 



A MEETING of those members of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of 

 Science who live in or near New York was 

 held in the American Museum of Natural 

 History on the afternoon of May 5, to arrange 

 for the annual meeting of the Association, 

 which is to take place this year in New York 

 City on December 26-31, inclusive. Presi- 

 dent Henry Fairfield Osborn, of the American 

 Museum, presided at the conference, and a 

 motion was adopted to make Columbia Uni- 

 versity the official headquarters of the meet- 

 ing, which is expected to be the largest and 

 most important gathering of scientists ever 

 bfifore convened. About two thousand dele- 

 gates are expected, and a reception committee 

 is to be appointed consisting of prominent 

 citizens of New York interested in scientific 

 work. 



(Jn Friday evening, May 2(), in the audi- 

 torium of the Mus(!um, Mr. Charles Crawford 

 (lorst, of Cambridge, Mass., will give a special 

 eiitertainiiient for the adult Wliud of New 



^'urk City and vicinity. Tlie program will 

 consist of two whistling solos, Mendelssohn's 

 "Spring Song," and the waltz from Gounod's 

 "Faust," as well as some unusual feats of 

 whistling, and the imitation of about sixty 

 common bird songs. Mr. Gorst imitates 

 such complicated songs as those of the wood 

 thrush, bobolink, and mocking bird with 

 much exactness. His work along this line 

 is approved by naturalists and ornithologists, 

 by whom he is generally regarded as the best 

 imitator of the wild bird songs of our country. 

 In his lecture Mr. Gorst will touch upon bird 

 songs compared with human music, descrip- 

 tive quality of l)ird music, and the language of 

 birds. The lecture will begin at 8:15, but 

 the memorial hall will be open at 7:30 to give 

 the blind an ojiportunity of handling speci- 

 mens of the birds whose songs are to l)e imi- 

 tated. This lecture is the last for the adult 

 blind given at the Museum this season. 



Mr. George Shosbree, taxidermist of the 

 Public Museum of Milwaukee, is spending a 

 month at the American Museum, studying 

 the new processes in taxidermy under Mr. 

 Carl E. Akeley. 



Mr. Walter Winans, of Surrenden Park, 

 England, has presented to the American 

 Museum the skin and skull of a Chillingham 

 wild bull, a specimen of the famous white 

 cattle, long supposed to be descended from 

 the wild stock that once inhabited Britain. 

 After much discussion of the subject it now 

 seems evident that the Chillingham cattle 

 are not descended from indigenous wild 

 ancestors, but from white cattle originally 

 introduced into the island by the Romans for 

 sacrificial purposes. 



According to cablegrams received from 

 the Crocker Liand Expedition, and from Dr. 

 E. O. Hovey of the relief expedition, both 

 parties are safe and well. Arrangements are 

 being considered for their transport to New 

 York either by Mr. Rasmussen's ship "Kap 

 York," or by a special relief ship to be sent 

 out by the American Museum. 



An exhibit showing the principal birds 

 mentioned in Shakespeare's plays has been 

 installed in the west corridor as the Museum's 

 contribution to the Shakespeare Tercente- 

 nary Celebration. Each specimen is accom- 

 panied by a quotation in which the bird is 

 mentioned. The exhibit has been prepared 

 by Ml'. Charles H. Rogers. 



