FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 



Trip to the American Museum of Natural History 

 ON March 4, 1939 



Thirty-two members and friends of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club arrived Saturday morning at ten o'clock for a visit to the 

 laboratories of the American Museum of Natural History. 



In the Paleontological laboratory they observed some partial 

 skeletons of prehistoric animals in situ, or partially set up for 

 exhibit. The most recent acquisitions there, were the casts of 

 footprints of a dinosaur which were discovered by Mr. Roland 

 T. Bird along a stream in Texas this last December. These 

 were made by the largest animal (yet discovered) that has ever 

 lived. When comparing it with other large creatures even the 

 sulphur-bottom whale, that has held the record for size up to 

 the time these tracks were discovered, has been put into the 

 "small in comparison" class. From these footprints of the larg- 

 est of creatures we went to the laboratory where the minute 

 creatures take on visible size. Here the world-famous glass 

 blower, Herman O. Mueller, demonstrated how, as by magic 

 plus a blow torch and a puff of breath, tiny tubes of glass can 

 be fashioned into likenesses of intricately formed animals of the 

 sea. Here too, Dr. Childs show-ed the group some of the objects 

 that are being prepared in wax for a miniature habitat group, 

 portraying the life of the pearl diver. This group is to form a 

 portion of the Museum exhibit at the World's Fair. From this 

 very modern activity we were again whisked back into the 

 "millions of years ago, before the time of man" by Dr. Barnum 

 Brown's fascinating discussion of the new Museum halls show- 

 ing dinosaurs of different eras, many of these dinosaur remains 

 being those found by Dr. Brown on his recent expeditions in 

 western U. S. 



A hurried trip to the laboratory where the botanical repro- 

 ductions are made for the Museum habitat groups was made 

 and the trip was concluded with luncheon in the Museum dining 

 room where w^e are glad to state that items on the menu were 

 not in the millions-of-years-ago class. 



Farida a. Wiley 

 83 



