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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



November 22 serves to show the progress of 

 discover}', especially in the last few years 

 with regard to the primitive races of man 

 which inhabited Europe during and since 

 the Great Ice Age. In addition to the casts 

 of the more important skulls and other re- 

 mains, there are weapons and other imple- 

 ments illustrating the successive cultural 

 stages and illustrations of the remarkable 

 drawings and sculptures preserved in the 

 caverns of France and Sijain. Reconstruc- 

 tions by Dr. J. H. McGregor of the heads of 

 the three principal ancestral types of man, 

 the Pithecanthropus or Ape-Man of Java, the 

 Eoanthropus or Piltdown Man, and the 

 Neanderthal Man {Homo neanderthalensis) 

 are believed to be as nearly accurate as it is 

 possible to make them. Two of Mr. Charles 

 R. Knight's brilliant restorations further 

 illustrate the appearance and habits of the 

 most important types of palaeolithic man, 

 the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon races. 

 A series of skulls and other remains of living 

 and extinct primates, lemurs, monkeys and 

 anthropoid apes, serves for comparison with 

 man's nearest relatives and collateral ances- 

 tors among the lower animals. The subject 

 of prehistoric man, his ancestry, environment, 

 habits and culture, will be fully and authori- 

 tatively treated in Professor Osborn's forth- 

 coming book. 



Although the City did not make the de- 

 sired appropriation for the extension of the 

 Museum's educational work, so many urgent 

 requests have been received from teachers of 

 the lower east side for the opening of a lecture 

 center to accommodate the pupils who can- 

 not come to the Museum that a local lecture 

 center has been opened at the Washington 

 Irving High School. The courtesy of the 

 high school in placing its hall at the disposal 

 of the Museum is greatly appreciated and 

 marks an iitiportant step in the cooperation 

 of pubhc schools and the Museum. 



Mr. James Barnes of the Barnes-Kearton 

 expedition opened the series of lectures in the 

 members' course on November 12 with one of 

 the most interesting sets of motion pictures 

 that has ever been shown at the Museum. 

 Mr. Barnes has very kindly presented a set 

 of his films to the Museum that they may be 

 preserved as permanent records. 



During the summer the scientific survey of 

 Porto Rico made considerable progress. In 



this work several departments of the Museum 

 are cooperating with the New York Academy 

 of Sciences, under whose general auspices 

 the survey is being prosecuted. Following 

 the preliminary work last spring by Professor 

 Crampton and Dr. Lutz more detailed investi- 

 gations were made during July and August. 

 Mr. Roy W. Miner devoted several weeks to 

 the study of marine invertebrates, especially 

 those of the harbor of San Juan. He also 

 made investigations at Ponce, Mayaguez and 

 in some inland situations. Mr. John T. 

 Nichols of the department of ichthyology and 

 herpetology began the investigation of the 

 fishes with very satisfactory results in the way 

 of an extensive series of types and in the addi- 

 tion of new records to the little-known fish 

 fauna of this island. Mr. F. E. Watson of 

 the Museum with Mr. H. B. Barber of the 

 Academy carried forward the entomological 

 investigations on the island, making extensive 

 collections in a number of the characteristic 

 ecological localities. 



In December Professor Crampton will 

 make another visit to the island in order to 

 present a report of progress to the Governor 

 and Legislature of Porto Rico and to take 

 back a series of named specimens which may 

 serve as a nucleus for an island museum. 

 He will also carry on field work in the region 

 of Guanica Harbor and in the arid southwest- 

 ern portion of the island where a typical desert 

 locality is to be found. 



Mr. William B. Peters of the department 

 of preparation and Mr. Prentice B. Hill, 

 assistant in the department of geology, have 

 returned from Weyer's Cave, Virginia, where 

 they secured a quantity of material from 

 grottoes which have lately been discovered in 

 the cave. This is to be used, together with 

 the collection made last year, in the reproduc- 

 tion of a typical grotto in the Museum, work 

 on which is progressing rapidly. 



Mr. a. J. MuTCHLER and Mr. F. E. Wat- 

 son of the department of invertebrate zool- 

 ogy have recently returned from four weeks' 

 work in Florida, where they have been making 

 a survey of the insect life of the northern part 

 of the state. In spite of the unfavorable 

 weather conditions, more than eight thousand 

 specimens of insects were secured. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman has just returned 

 from Heron Lake, Minnesota, where he made 

 studies for a group of the birds of that region. 



