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THE AMERICAN MUSETM JOURNAL 



in comparison with the httle four-toed horse 

 (Eohippus borealis) its contemporary, whose 

 remains are common in the same formation. 

 The fossil skeleton is now being prepared 

 in the jMuseum's department of vertebrate 

 palaeontology and will be ready for exhibi- 

 tion, it is hoped, some time during the winter. 



Dr. Robert H. Lowie has recently re- 

 turned from an expedition of several months' 

 duration to the West. Much of the time he 

 spent among the Hopi Indians of northern Ari- 

 zona in a study of their social organization and 

 ceremonials. Dr. Lowie was permitted to 

 witness two of the extraordinary snake dances 

 of this tribe in the villages of Oraibi and 

 Shungopavi, as well as the flute ceremony, 

 performed this year at Walpi. The signifi- 

 cance of the clan system in ceremonial life 

 was especially studied among the Hopi. Dr. 

 Lowie also visited the Arapaho Indians, of 

 central Wyoming, to secure supplementary 

 data for the comparative survey of the so- 

 cieties of the Plains Indians which has now 

 been completed by the department of anthro- 

 pology. 



An extensive collection of fossil mammals, 

 obtained this summer in Porto Rico by Mr. 

 H. E. Anthony of the Museum's department 

 of mammalogy, has peculiar interest in view 

 of the fact that today bats are the only 

 mammals found on the island. The fossil 

 specimens include some large rodents about 

 the size of a beaver, distantly related perhaps 

 to the agoutis of Central America and also, 

 perhaps, to the climbing rats of Cuba and 

 Santo Domingo. A ground sloth found in- 

 dicates a smaller animal than the ground 

 sloths of Cuba, South America, and Patagonia; 

 it may possibly prove a connecting link 

 between ground sloths and tree sloths. Re- 

 mains of a very interesting insectivorous 

 mammal, distantly related to the common 

 shrew of North America, were also discovered. 

 This creature has so many primitive charac- 

 ters that it seems as though it might have 

 outlived all of its relatives on the mainland. 

 The discovery of these fossils suggests that 

 the fauna of Porto Rico may formerly have 

 l^een much more extensive than we now have 

 any idea of. The problem is to determine 

 how these animals arrived there. The large 

 size of several of the fossil mammals, notably 

 the large rodent and the ground sloth, would 

 make it appear doubtful that these animals 



came into the Greater Antilles on a floating 

 raft from the region of the Orinoco and 

 Amazon. A former mainland connection with 

 Florida or Yucatan may have existed at one 

 time. Before anything can be determined 

 certainly, further exploration of the island 

 will be necessary and careful comparison of 

 the fossil forms with the animals of other 

 land areas. All the animals found are quite 

 distinct from those of Santo Domingo and 

 Cuba. Twelve species of bats were found, 

 one of which is a rediscovery of a species 

 {Stenoderma rufum) known before only by a 

 single specimen, which moreover was lost, 

 so that only a plate and description of the 

 animal is extant. This occurs in a book on 

 the mammals of Egypt written by E. Geoff roy 

 Saint-Hilaire in 1813. A large number of 

 fossil specimens of this bat were found. 



A NEW exhibit in the North American mam- 

 mal hall on the second floor of the Museum is 

 a large group illustrating the color phases of 

 the common black bear, Ursus americanus. 

 The general color of this bear, which never 

 varies in the Eastern States, is black; in the 

 Rocky Mountains a cinnamon bear occurs, 

 black and cinnamon cubs being often found 

 in the same litter; at Gribbell Island off the 

 coast of British Columbia and on certain 

 parts of the mainland there is found a white 

 bear, tinged with orange on head and back; 

 while a bluish bear ranging in color from black 

 to light gray, lives on the icy heights of Mount 

 Saint Elias in southeastern Alaska. These 

 distinct color phases were at one time looked 

 upon as constituting different species but it 

 is now certain that this is simply a case of 

 polychromatism of the black bear, not un- 

 like the dichromatism of the screech owl, 

 where brown or gray phases may occur in the 

 same nest. The specimen of the blue bear 

 shown in the group was presented to the 

 Museum by Mr. G. Frederick Norton of 

 Goshen, New York, and it is through his 

 interest and by study of the many specimens 

 obtained by him, that it has been possible 

 definitely to determine that the glacier bear 

 is only a phase of the black bear. The back- 

 ground for this group has been painted by 

 Mr. Albert Operti. 



The first complete skeletons ever dis- 

 covered of the fo.ssil horse PHohippus have 

 recently been purchased by the Museum and 

 constitute a very important acquisition. 



