376 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



coast of Lower California and shows the lizards of the locality, the chuckawallas, 

 iguanas and other smaller species. The reptiles of the group were collected by Dr. 

 Charles H. Townsend on the "Albatross" expedition of 1911, which was made 

 possible through the courtesy of the Department of Commerce and Labor at Wash- 

 ington and the generosity of Mr. Arthur Curtiss James. 



Dr. Clark Wissler has been elected vice-president of the Section of Anthropol- 

 ogy and Psychology of the New York Academy of Sciences and Dr. Robert H. Lowie 

 has been reelected secretary of the Section. 



In the alcove of the North American archaeology hall of the Museum a mural 

 series of unusual interest has recently been completed. It consists of five polychrome 

 frescoes, three of which are enlarged copies of the frescoes on the walls of the cavern 

 of Font-de-Gaume in France and two are enlarged copies from the ceiling of Altamiar 

 in Spain, the latter having been reproduced in color in this magazine for December, 

 1912. The originals of these are handed down to us from the Old Stone Age and 

 represent palaeolithic art at its highest point of perfection. The date of these cavern 

 paintings is problematical but it is safe to say that they were painted at least twenty- 

 five thousand years ago. The copies in the Museum were made by Mr. Albert Operti. 



Dr. C. V. Hartman, curator of ethnology of the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseum of 

 Stockholm, who is well known to American investigators for his researches in Costa 

 Rica, recently spent several days at the Museum. 



The Museum has taken this year a step in the direction of practical public ser- 

 vice by including in its members' courses a series of lectures on the "Principles of 

 Healthy Living," which have been greatly appreciated by the teachers in the public 

 schools and by those interested in public-health work. 



The first lecture on November 12 was by Walter B. James, trustee of the Museum 

 and professor of clinical medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, on the 

 "Body and its Surroundings"; the second lecture, November 19, was by H. C. 

 Sherman, professor of food chemistry at Columbia University, on "Food"; the 

 third, November 26, by T. A. Storey, professor of hygiene at the College of the 

 City of New York, on "Exercise and Rest"; the fourth, December 3, is to be by 

 Frederic S. Lee, professor of physiology at Columbia University, on "Fresh Air"; 

 and the fifth, December 10, will be given by C.-E. A. Winslow, curator of public 

 health at the American Museum, on "Control of Germ Diseases in the Household." 

 The lectures are to be printed in book form by G. P. Putnam's Sons. 



An eight or nine foot specimen of the peculiar nurse shark, Ginglyviostoma cirra- 

 tum, from Florida has recently been received at the Museum, having been brought 

 alive to the New York Aquarium. Plaster molds of it have been made and a cast 

 will be placed on exhibition. 



The department of anthropology has recently purchased from Mr. G. A. Paul 

 of Oldtown, Maine, a collection from the Micmac Indians. The Museum has 

 hitherto possessed very few specimens from this tribe and such specimens are rare 

 in most institutions. The collection includes some old specimens of beadwork and 

 various utensils showing carving similar to the characteristic work of the northeastern 

 New England tribes. 



During the latter part of December and throughout the coming January, there 

 will be a special exhibit of photographs of the Indians of the Southwest, by Mr. 

 Frederick Monsen, well-known for his artistic work. The pictures will be hung 

 in the west assembly room and in the aisle of the hall of the Woodlands Indians 



