ROOSEVELT AFRICAN HALL 257 
open windows into an African out-of-doors, for the 
other great animals of the continent in their natural 
environment of forest, plain, river, or mountain, will 
surround the central hall. The position of these 
habitat groups in a kind of annex has a double ad- 
vantage: it permits them to be carefully protected 
against atmospheric conditions and prevents any 
infringement upon the measurements of the hall 
proper. There will be forty of these realistic groups 
—twenty viewed from the main floor and twenty 
more, similarly executed, but displaying the smaller 
animals, viewed from the gallery. 
The forty canvases used as backgrounds will be 
painted by the best artists available. Each will 
be an accurate portrayal of a definite type of African 
scenery, usually showing some feature of importance 
—Mt. Kenia on the equator, the waterless plains of 
Somaliland, or the gorilla forests of the Kivu country. 
Together they will give a comprehensive idea of the 
geographical aspect of Africa from the Mediterranean 
on the north to Table Mountain at Cape Town, and 
from the east coast to the west coast. 
The mounted specimens in the foreground will 
combine to represent in the most comprehensive way 
the animal life of the continent. These groups 
will be composite—that is, as many species will be 
associated in each of them as is consistent with 
scientific fact. For example, one of the large cor- 
ner groups will represent a scene on the equatorial 
river Tana, showing perhaps all told a dozen species 
in their natural surroundings with stories of the ani- 
