6 
RECENT VISITORS 
During the past month the 
department of zoology had the 
pleasure of visits from two 
zoologists from Europe on their 
way to the symposium on marine 
biology at the Scripps Institu- 
tion of Oceanography at La Jolla, 
Calif - 
Dr. H. Caspers, of the Zoolo- 
gisches Museum und Institut, 
Hamburg, Germany, is a marine 
ecologist who at the moment is 
principally interested in the 
ecology of the estuary of the 
Elbe River in the vicinity of 
Hamburg . 
Dr. Gunnar Thor son, of the 
Zoologiske Museum in Copenhagen, 
Denmark, is well known for his 
work on marine bottom communities 
and on the larval stages and de- 
velopment of marine invertebrates, 
especially mollusks. 
The division of mollusks re- 
cently had visits from Dr. William 
K. Emerson, who has recently been 
placed in charge of the inverte- 
brate collections (outside of in- 
sects) of the American Museum of 
Natural History in New York, and 
Dr. John W. Wells, professor of 
geology at Cornell University and 
one of the country's leading 
authorities on corals. 
STUDIES SKULL OF INDIAN CHIEF 
When Lewis and Clark arrived 
at the mouth of the Columbia 
River in 1805, they met Comcomly, 
chief of the Chinook tribe. This 
chief figures in the founding of 
Fort Astoria and is mentioned by 
various travelers to this region 
in the early years of the 19th 
century. 
After Comcomly died, some- 
time before 1835* his skull was 
obtained by Dr. Meredith Gairdner 
and sent to England where it 
ultimately was placed in the 
Royal Naval Hospital Museum in 
Gosport, Portsmouth, England. 
Recently the Clatsop County 
Historical Society in Astoria, 
Oreg., arranged to have Comcomly 's 
skull returned to this country. 
Stanley P. Young of the Fish and 
Wildlife Service, who is stationed 
in the National Museum, learned 
about this skull and suggested to 
Dr. T. D. Stewart that it might 
be possible to obtain it on loan 
for study purposes. 
Dr. Stewart followed up this 
suggestion and is now studying 
the specimen, which arrived at 
the Museum on March 23. He points 
out that it is unusual to have such 
full documentation of the skull of 
an Indian, let alone that of such 
a famous Indian chief. 
MARRIED 
Miss Hilda C. Schmaltz and 
Dr. Ernest R. Sohns were married 
on March 24 in Scranton, Pa. Dr. 
Sohns is associate curator of 
grasses. Mrs. Sohns is a former 
employee of the Smithsonian. 
Miss Elaine Joy Smith be- 
came the bride of John E. Knott 
on February 18 . Mrs. Knott works 
at the sales desk in the Freer 
Gallery. Miss Patsy Stanley, 
of the Freer office, was maid of 
honor at the wedding. 
