46 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



and Southern Athapascans? ' by Dr. Goddard; 

 "Phratries, Clans, Moieties," Dr. Robert H. 

 Lowie; "The Social, Political and Religious 

 Organization of the Tewa," Dr. H. J. Spinden; 

 "The Cultural Position of the Plains Ojib- 

 way," Mr. Alanson Skinner; "The Crow 

 Sun Dance," Dr. Robert H. Lowie; "Home 

 Songs of the Tewa Indians," Dr. H. J. 

 Spinden; "Some Aspects of the Folklore 

 of the Central Algonkin," Mr. Alanson 

 Skinner. 



Among the noted anthropologists who at- 

 tended the meetings of the American Anthro- 

 pological Association at the Museum in 

 December were Professor Roland B. Dixon 

 of Harvard, Dr. Berthold Laufer of the Field 

 Museum, Chicago, Professor Hiram Bingham 

 and Professor George Grant MacCurdy of 

 Yale University, and Dr. John R. Swanton, 

 Dr. T. Michelson, Dr. William H. Holmes, 

 Dr. Walter Hough and Dr. A. Hrdlicka of 

 Washington. 



Dr. E. O. Hovey and Dr. Chester A. 

 Reeds represented the department of geology 

 at the annual meetings of the Geological 

 Society of America and the Palseontological 

 Society which were held at Princeton Uni- 

 versity in December. 



At the December meeting of the Section of 

 Biology, New York Academy of Sciences, 

 Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn led a dis- 

 cussion on unit characters as they appear to 

 the palaeontologist. His researches on the 

 extinct Titanotheres and on the recent and 

 extinct horses had revealed two kinds of char- 

 acters: first, allometrons, progressive changes 

 of proportion occurring through long periods, 

 resulting for example in very long skulls or 

 very broad skulls or in the lengthening of one 

 part as compared with another; second, 

 rectigradations, characters which appear in 

 an almost invisible degree as new characters, 

 such as the additional cusps which develop 

 in the molar teeth of herbivorous animals; 

 these characters generally advance steadily 

 toward a culminating or extreme form. 

 These he thought possibly of the same nature 

 as unit characters of the experimentalist and 

 inherited according to the Mendelian ratio. 

 A discussion followed in which Professors 

 Morgan, Broom, Davenport and Osborn took 

 part. 



Dr. E. O. Hovey and Dr. G. Clyde 

 Fisher were the delegates representing the 

 Museum in Albany at the inauguration of 

 Dr. John H. Finley as president of the Uni- 

 versity of the State of New York and State 

 Commissioner of Education. 



Through Dr. Ambrosetti the American 

 Museum has acquired a very considerable 

 archaeological collection from Argentina, 

 representing the ancient culture known as 

 Calchaqul or Diaguito-Calchaqul. The col- 

 lection comes from two localities. That from 

 the valley of Santa Maria, Province of Cata- 

 marca, contains about fifty pieces of pottery 

 including six of the large and beautiful burial 

 jars characteristic of that region. The bal- 

 ance is from ruins on the island of Tilcara, 

 Province of Jujuy, and consists of pottery 

 vessels and many implements of stone and 

 bone. The collection comes as an exchange 

 with the Museo Ethnografico de la Facultad 

 de Filosofia y Letras of Buenos Aires. 



Dr. John C. Merriam, head of the depart- 

 ment of palaeontology of the University of 

 California, visited the Museum during Janu- 

 ary for the purpose of comparative study of 

 some of our fossil vertebrate collections. 



Dr. Merriam has forwarded to the Museum 

 a valuable installment of the series of skulls 

 and skeletons from the asphalt deposits of 

 Rancho-la-Brea, near Los Angeles, which we 

 are to receive in exchange from the University 

 of California. The first installments received 

 some time ago have enabled us to illustrate 

 in the "asphalt group" the extraordinary 

 manner in which these animals came to be 

 preserved as fossils. The present installment 

 is intended for the series showing the various 

 kinds of animals (all extinct species) pre- 

 served. It consists of complete skeletons of 

 the great wolf {Canis dirus) and sabre-tooth 

 tiger {Smilodon californicus) and skulls of the 

 lion {Felix atrox var. bebhi) and horse {Equus 

 occidentalis). The wolf is notably larger 

 than the largest living timber wolves to which 

 it is nearly related. The sabre-tooth tiger, 

 one of the most remarkable of all extinct 

 beasts of prey, is considerably smaller than 

 the great Pampean species of South America, 

 but equals the existing lions and tigers in size, 

 although very different in appearance and 

 habits. It was especially adapted to prey 

 upon large powerful and thick-skinned beasts, 

 using its great dagger-tusks to pieice through 



