MUSEUM NOTES 
A croup of king penguins recently in- 
stalled in the Museum (central pavilion, 
second floor) is the first of a series of habitat 
bird groups of the world, planned by Dr. 
Chapman to round out the systematic series 
of birds shown in the adjoining hall. The 
plan contemplates flooring over the central 
section to insure the necessary darkness and 
permit these habitat groups, like those of 
the birds of North America, to be illuminated 
entirely by controlled artificial light. This 
construction at the same time makes pro- 
vision for groups of monkeys and lemurs 
on the floor above. The heterogeneous as- 
semblage of animals now in this central sec- 
tion of the second floor is to be variously 
provided for: the groups of reptiles in a hall 
in the projected east wing; the seals and sea 
elephants with other marine mammals in 
the attached court building, and the Asiatic 
mammals in a hall of their own. Unfortu- 
nately these improvements and changes, 
long contemplated and planned for, require 
extensive funds, and the resources of the city 
for the past three years have not been 
sufficient to permit the erection of the much 
needed new wing. Meanwhile, the unsat- 
isfactory condition of the central pavilion 
is keenly felt by the Museum and it has been 
necessary to announce by means of labels 
that various groups are “placed here awaiting 
the construction of a new wing.” 
Durine the last six months an entirely 
new process in taxidermy has been invented 
and tried out by Mr. Carl E. Akeley of the 
American Museum. Mr. Akeley’s -previ- 
ously worked out processes have hitherto 
represented the high water mark of attain- 
ment in this direction, and although they 
did not reach his own ideal they came as 
near it as he thought practice would ever 
permit. The new idea which came to him 
last summer however, and which has now 
been thoroughly tested, produces results 
which for softness of modeling, accuracy in 
reproducing the individual animal and degree 
of permanence, are far ahead of anything 
heretofore possible, and which are achieved 
at infinitely less cost of labor, money and 
time. It is a conservative statement to say 
that this invention will reduce the cost of 
the projected new African hall of the Museum 
by at least one hundred thousand dollars, 
while the value of the exhibits will be in- 
creased to an inestimable degree. Not only 
431 
so, but the infinite trouble, worry, and neces- 
sity for some compromise involved in the 
mounting of specimens hitherto is reduced 
by this method quite eighty-five per cent. 
Two buffalo heads have already been mounted 
by the new process and a lion’s head is now 
in hand. 
In addition to the splendid collection of 
20,000 vertebrate and 140,000 invertebrate 
specimens brought from Africa by the Lang- 
Chapin expedition, the evidence in the shape 
of photographs by Mr. Lang and accurate 
colored drawings by Mr. Chapin is unusually 
varied and complete. No less than 7000 
photographs help to set forth the animal life 
of the Congo, as well as the industries, 
customs, art, ceremonies, amusements and 
mode of life of the natives; while the ethno- 
logical value of the work is further supple- 
mented by some seventy casts of heads which 
Mr. Lang was able to make through the 
consent of a tribe of Pygmies. 
On Friday evening, December 17, Mr. 
Ernest Harold Baynes will lecture at the 
American Museum to the adult blind of 
New York City and Brooklyn on “Wild 
Animal Friends of Mine.’ Mr. Baynes is 
widely known as a friend of the birds; this 
lecture will tell how he has improved ac- 
quaintance also with the fox, skunk, bear, 
wolf and other creatures. Doors will be 
open at 7.30, to permit of inspection by the 
blind of specimens of the animals, the lecture 
following at 8.15, P.M. 
The lecture to the blind on November 19, 
attracted over three hundred blind persons 
and their attendants and acknowledgment is 
due to the excellent work of the boy scouts 
in this connection, who for some time past 
have convoyed to and from the lectures such 
of the blind as were in need of an attendant. 
One of the interesting papers read at the 
recent meeting of the National Academy of 
Sciences at the Museum was by Professor 
Herbert S. Jennings on ‘“‘Can we Observe 
Organic Evolution in Progress?” 
In most breeding experiments the original 
stock is usually not a “pure line,’ but a 
mixture containing various strains due to 
the fact that each individual is the offspring 
of two parents, each with more or less differ- 
ent hereditary tendencies. Breeding experi- 
ments on such ‘‘biparental’’ organisms 
