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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



the birds good fishing. The breeding range 

 of these birds extends from the tropics as far 

 north as Virginia, but after the breeding 

 season it is not unusual for wanderers to 

 travel north, and at one time they might be 

 found as far north as New Brunswick, return- 

 ing south in the autumn. The three birds 

 noted near the city came to the pond on July 

 16, and remained until August 3, when two 

 of them left. The remaining bird was seen 

 alone daQy untU August 8, when another 

 joined it and both remained until August 20. 



The cast of the white shark or "man- 

 eater," which was shown for several weeks 

 last summer in a temporary shark exhibit in 

 the Museum foyer, has been hung with the 

 systematic collection of fishes on the sec- 

 ond floor. The blue shark model from the 

 same exhibit will be used in a blue shark 

 group now being prepared under the direction 

 of Dr. Bashford Dean. The Museum has 

 recently received, from Mr. F. M. Dyer of 

 New York, the jaws of two blue sharks. 

 These sharks were taken off Provincetown, 

 Cape Cod, by the Bay State Fishing Com- 

 pany and are said to have been thirteen feet 

 in length. The blue shark seems to be 

 common offshore although it is seldom re- 

 ported from the coast. A sand shark, be- 

 tween seven and eight feet in length, has 

 been received from the New York Aquarium. 

 This species rarely reaches so large a size in 

 this latitude. 



Courses of lectures open to school children 

 will be given at the American Museum at 

 four o'clock in the afternoon on Mondays, 

 beginning October 16 and lasting through 

 NovemVjer 20; Wednesdays, beginning Octo- 

 ber 18 and lasting through November 22, 

 Fridays, beginning October 20 and lasting 

 through November 24, and Tuesdays and Fri- 

 days, beginning November 21 and lasting 

 through December 15. A people's course 

 will be given on Tuesday and Saturday 

 evenings at 8.15, in conjunction with the 

 department of education, beginning October 

 31 and lasting through December 23. 



\ The most recent addition to the series of 

 life-size figures illustrating the races of man- 

 kind in the Primate hall of the American 

 Museum is a model of the native African, 

 Manziga, chief of the Azande. The model 

 has been made from studies and photographs 

 takenj^in Africa by Mr, Herbert Lang. The 



Azande are typical negroes, tall and dark- 

 skinned; and with this figure and the two 

 already completed, those of a Norwegian girl 

 and of a Cantonese laborer, the three great 

 races, yellow, black, and white, are now rep- 

 resented in the series — which will be supple- 

 mented later by skulls and skeletons for 

 comparative study. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman returned to New 

 York on November 11, from his tour of the 

 South American countries, where he had been 

 engaged in continuing the biological survey 

 of these regions, which has been in progress 

 for the past six years. Dr. Chapman was 

 everywhere received with the greatest cour- 

 tesy by government officials as well as by 

 local scientists, and in addition to making val- 

 uable collections of birds and carrying out the 

 scientific work of the expedition, he estab- 

 lished friendly relations with South American 

 museums, which will facilitate exchanges and 

 yield important results in the future for the 

 American Museum. 



A COLLECTION of One hundred and three 

 pottery vessels purchased by the department 

 of anthropology ffom Mr. E. D. Osborn, of 

 Deming, New Mexico, show animal and 

 human figures of a type not found on other 

 black and white pottery so far discovered. 

 The pottery belonged to the prehistoric 

 pueblo peoples of New Mexico and represents 

 the oldest period of prehistoric pueblo life. 



Two interesting lots of fossils from the 

 phosphate beds of Florida have recently 

 been presented to the Museum. The first 

 includes a skull of the extinct Florida gavial 

 {Tomistoma americana) recently described 

 from parts of the jaws by Doctor Sellards. 

 Both alligators and true crocodiles still sur- 

 vive in Plorida; the gavials differ from them 

 in the long slender "panhandle" snout and 

 are now found only in East Indian waters. 

 The specimens were presented by the Amal- 

 gamated Phosphate Company, through cour- 

 tesy of Mr. Anton Schneider, general mana- 

 ger. The second lot consists of a number of 

 bones and fragments believed to be from Zolf o, 

 Florida, but collected many years ago. They 

 are chiefly bones of a Megatherium, and not- 

 able for their gigantic size^ about one-fourth 

 larger than those of the great skeleton in the 

 British Museum. They may perhaps claim 

 to represent the largest known land mammal. 

 The donor is Mr. J. F. Heller. 



