84 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Tue evolution of the vertebrates is set 
forth in a general way in the exhibition halls 
of the Museum, but the subject covers such 
an extended field of detail that the casual 
visitor would hardly be likely to grasp the 
main outlines. Indeed it requires consider- 
able technical training to give an accurate 
account of the general stages in the evolution 
of the skull of vertebrates from the lowest 
fishes to man or to follow the transformation 
of the teeth and jaws as they are diversely 
modified for different functions from primitive 
or generalized types. Perhaps it is still a 
matter of general interest and it is deemed 
still worth while that a few specially equipped 
students should work out for themselves and 
in detail the steps by which the human back- 
bone and limbs have been evolved from lower 
types. Such topics are developed in the 
Columbia University graduate courses which 
are given at this Museum under Dr. W. K. 
Gregory. A _ study collection comprising 
over one thousand selected specimens of 
recent and fossil vertebrates has been brought 
together through the codperation of Museum 
curators and others. This collection has 
proved of constantly increasing value in the 
past few years not only to the graduate stu- 
dents in the courses mentioned but also to 
Museum curators and other investigators. 
A class from Hunter’s College also makes 
constant use of this collection. The resources 
of the Osborn Library and of the Museum 
library are likewise used in these courses. 
Dr. E. O. Hovey will sail February 5 
for the West Indies to continue the studies on 
the volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles, which he 
began some years ago when the great erup- 
tions on the islands of Martinique and St. 
Vincent occurred. He will be absent about 
three months and will devote his time particu- 
larly to the Grande Soufriére of Guadeloupe, 
Mount Pelé of Martinique, the Soufriére 
of St. Vincent and the boiling lake of Domin- 
ica, collecting gases from the fumeroles and 
making temperature observations, and taking 
note of the changes which have occurred 
since his visit in 1908. The expedition is 
undertaken through the aid given to the Mu- 
seum by the Angelo Heilprin Exploration 
Fund established by Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. 
Sachs. 
An exhibition of photographs of North 
American Indians is to be held at the Museum 
from February 1 to 27. These photographs 
were made by Mr. Edward S. Curtis, under 
the patronage of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, 
and include some of the largest and most 
striking of his recent pictures taken on the 
North Pacific Coast. Many of them will 
appear in the coming volume (Volume X) 
of Mr. Curtis’s life work on the North Ameri- 
can Indians. 
Tue autochrome plates, as exhibited by 
Mr. Frank M. Byerly in the Museum audi- 
torium, January 7, proved to be a decided 
evidence of the success of obtaining nature’s 
colorings by automatically absorbing the 
color directly from the object or the land- 
scape. The exhibition was particularly in- 
teresting to practical workers in photography 
as showing the progress that has been made 
in the rapidity of autochrome plates and in 
their adaptability to use by non-professionals. 
Two of the most pleasing pictures were com- 
panion pieces, the first showing the clouds 
of a gathering storm, the second the rainbow 
stretching over the valley after the cloud- 
burst. A series of flower pictures illustrated 
the extreme value of this art in that it loses 
no detail of the coloring of the original. 
THE formal opening at the Metropolitan 
Museum of the Riggs Collection of Armor, 
installed under the supervision of Bashford 
Dean, curator of arms and armor, took place 
on the evening of January 25. This collection 
forms the most considerable gift that the 
Metropolitan Museum has ever received 
aside from the famous Rogers bequest. 
Combined with the collection of armor al- 
ready in the Museum’s possession and supple- 
mented by loans from Dr. Dean’s private col- 
lection, it makes a very full and instructive 
exhibit. Mr. Riggs is one of few collectors 
who wish their collections arranged chrono- 
logically as well as for artistic effect. It thus 
happens that from the present installation 
the student can get an excellent idea of the 
history of the development of armor and of its 
decadence and disappearance as gunpowder 
came in and firearms improved. 
Two reels of motion picture films showing 
Blackfoot Indian life were exhibited to the 
Museum staff January 22, by Mr. E. W. 
Deming, who during the past summer lived 
in a lodge near the Blackfoot Indian camps 
in”Glacier National Park. The pictures in- 
clude"various” tribal dances’ and’ the ceremo- 
nies with which these dances" are connected 
