Volume 44, Number 1 January 1973 ^ .^^P^\ Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 1 January 1973 2 Volunteers Lend a Hand Carolyn Blackmon they are major contributors to Field Museum's work, and more are needed 5 Calendar 6 Members what the Museum means to them and what they mean to the Museum 8 Capital Campaign a report on work accomplished and in progress Appointment Calendar for 1973 Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber Editor Elizabeth Monger; Editorial Assistant Vicki Wilson; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans. The Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their ow/n and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Un- solicited manuscripts are welcome. Printed by Field Museum Press, Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Postmaster; Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Field Museum Bulletin 1 2 January 1973 Volunteers Lend a Hand Carolyn Blachrnon Throughout the history of Field Museum, volunteers have provided much-needed and greatly appreciated assistance. In 1971, for example, 71 volunteers gave 1,732 days of work. This year the Museum has enlarged its volunteer enrollment to 115, w/ith the assistance of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. The funds are used in part to provide administrative and secretarial support for the growing program. What do volunteers do? Their jobs are as diverse as the Museum's collections. More than 13 million specimens need to be cataloged, preserved, and maintained. Numerous clerical and technical tasks must be performed to facilitate the research activities of the scientific staff. School groups need instruction, and materials must be prepared for exhibition. Some tasks take a short time; others are long-term. Not long ago the Geology Department needed someone to help in the paleontology laboratory removing the rock that encases fossil specimens brought in from expeditions. A likely prospect appeared, and her eyes sparkled when asked if she would like to start with a turtle. She thought that sounded fine — a little turtle should be an easy beginning. She had been shown the techniques and how to use the tools, and the preparator or a curator would always be around to supervise and answer questions or give help. The specimen was brought in from storage — a giant sea turtle, 40 million years old, his shell five feet in circumference, weighing fifty pounds. One and a half years, hundreds of hours of picking, and innumerable cups of coffee later, a fine Eocene specimen emerged to be placed in the study collection. Many continuing tasks involve collection maintenance, such as oiling rare books, changing faded identification tags on specimens, or removing dust from stored artifacts. Records must be kept as well, since inaccurate information renders specimens and artifacts almost useless for scientific study. With training and staff supervision, volunteers perform many of these important tasks. Some have even developed their Sherlock Holmes instincts and, through diligent research, have found new data or better ways for organizing materials. Volunteer instructors lead tours for groups of school children, using Museum exhibits, specimens, and artifacts. Since staff and volunteers can provide tours to only 20 percent of the 350,000 school children who come to the Museum every year, more volunteer instructors are needed to help the Museum expand its educational offerings. Who are Museum volunteers? They are people who have time to give — maybe one or two days a week, or maybe even five. They may have a hobby or interest they would like to put to use, related to birds, rocks, pottery, history, flowers, mushrooms, or model-making. Such a list could go on and on because a wide variety of skills and interests are needed in museum work. Retirees, college students, and mothers with grown children or easy access to sitters also serve as volunteers. Almost any job experience may have some relationship to museum work. Librarians, secretaries, doctors, «» Field Museum Bulletin carpenters, bookkeepers, and countless others have skills that can be utilized. Most of all, volunteers are curious, want to learn something new, and have time and some basic skills to give. The Museum can offer them an appropriate niche where, after training in professional procedures and standards, they can continue to expand their interests and knowledge. How does one become a volunteer? An interview is held to determine whether an opening is available that matches a candidate's skills and 1^^ T^ l^v^J mm ^i^^ Mt '^^^^1 ■' . * *. ■ ■ 1^ ^n^^" t^^ .,^^^^^^pi ^^^ ^^Hitt£'*''^ ■ - .-. -.-^ \^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^/£i^^-^ l^^B^^^ interests. If an assignment is made, Museum staff provide on-the-job training in the areas of science, administration, and exhibition. For volunteer instructors, a formal training ■^ program is held one day a week for twelve weeks, spring and fall. There are now more than fifty openings for volunteers. Among the many needs: a gardener to take care of plants in Stanley Field Hall, typists and catalogers in virtually every department, furniture refinishers, cabinet makers, photographers, illustrators, upholsterers. ■m-^:,£^ A comprehensive list of volunteer opportunities is available. If you would like to arrange for an interview to learn more about our volunteer program, please call or write me. An introductory tour can be arranged for groups whose members might be interested in learning about volunteer opportunities at the Museum. Carolyn Blackmon, a former Field Museum volunteer, is Coordinator ot Special Educational Services in the Department ol Education, Field Museum. January 1973 CALENDAR Exhibits Through January 21 Paracas Whistling Jar from the lea Valley of Peru, Ocucaje Phase II (ca. 700 B.C.), is featured in the South Lounge. The unique pottery jug, which makes a whistling sound when water is poured out of it, is the earliest known of its type. It is the gift of IVIr. and IVIrs. Raymond J. Wielgus. Continuing Greenland: Arctic Denmark, a major exhibition covering all aspects of the history and culture of the world's largest island. The extensive collection of archaeological and ethnological material is supplemented by photographs and a daily film program to illustrate various areas of economic development and social change in modern Greenland. The exhibition is sponsored by the Royal Danish Embassy and is shown under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Through March 8. Hall 27. A New Spirit In Search of the Past: Archaeology and Ecology in the Lower Illinois River Valley, an exhibit explaining the "new" archaeology as reflected in the Illinois Valley Archaeological Program's excavation of the Koster Site, directed by Dr. Stuart Struever of Northwestern University. Through March 25. Hall 9. Color In Nature, an exhibit examining the nature and variety of color in the physical and living world and how it functions in plants and animals. Continues indefinitely. Hall 25. Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit continues indefinitely. "A Sense of Wonder" offers thought-provoking prose and poetry associated with the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of nature; "A Sense of History" presents a graphic portrayal of the Museum's past; and "A Sense of Discovery" shows examples of research conducted by Museum scientists. Hall 3. Musical Program Sunday, January 21 Metropolitan Youth Symphony presents a free concert at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. Film Program A series of films relating to the "Greenland: Arctic Denmark" exhibit is shown continuously beginning at the following times: Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday: 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. IVIeetings January 9: 8 p.m., Chicagoland Glider Council January 10: 7:30 p.m., Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society January 11:8 p.m., Chicago Mountaineering Club January 14: 2 p.m., Chicago Shell Club Children's Program Continuing Winter Journey for Children, "Dog Meets Man," a free self-guided tour exploring the many aspects of man's partnership with "his best friend" since prehistoric times. Youngsters are provided with a questionnaire which routes them through Museum exhibit areas. All boys and girls who can read and write may join in the activity. Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. Through February 28. Coming in February Opens February 14 Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds, an exhibit exploring the world of details in common objects and familiar plants and animals, and offering glimpses into current research activities. Over 200 photographs, displayed at up to 200,000 times life size, introduce a previously unseen world. Through July 15. Hall 18. January Hours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed New Year's Day. The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please obtain pass at reception desk, main floor north. '^ Field Museum Bulletin EMBERS Field Museum Members are a special group of people. They have special concern and interest in the world around them — in learning more about it themselves and in helping their children and grandchildren learn about it. A youngster once informed his parents that his visit to the Museum couldn't have been "educational" because it was fun. The wise parents knew otherwise — that it was "educational" because it was fun — but kept that to themselves. Field Museum Members are interested in the diversity of human ways of life. They like to cross the barriers of time and distance to learn about other cultures, or about the very beginnings of culture itself among the remote ancestors of us all. They are interested in the animal life throughout the world, and in the plant life that is the ultimate sustenance of all other life. They are interested in geologic history and in the physical nature of our own and other planets. These are some of the reasons they are Field Museum Members — because the Museum brings all these aspects of the world almost to their doorstep. Field Museum membership alv^ays includes all members of the family, so any or all of them can visit whenever they wish, free, and bring guests too. There is so much to see that no matter how often one comes, there is always something new — a part of the Museum not yet discovered, or a new exhibit to be seen. Special events throughout the year are arranged for Members. In the gala atmosphere of the annual Members' Nights they (and their guests) are invited behind the scenes into the scientific research, education, and exhibition departments to see what the Museum staff are working on. They are invited to special Members' previews of new exhibits. The children's workshop programs, soon to be increased in frequency, offer young people the opportunity to work directly with Museum specimens as they learn about a subject that particularly interests them. And even if Members cannot come to the Museum often, it goes out to them monthly between the covers of the Bulletin. Articles ranging from A(nfhropology) to Z{oology) might give background for a new exhibit; or describe the ecological dilemma posed by use of our park lands; or expose the destructive and dangerous trafficking in antiquities; or report some exciting finds of a fieldwork expedition. The Bulletin also keeps them informed of activities and special events at the Museum. If you are already a Field Museum Member, we hope you take full advantage of all these benefits, and also invite your friends to share them with you. We would like them to become our friends too. We would be especially pleased if you wished to give one or more of them a gift membership. An announcement greeting card will be sent in your name. For each new membership we also send a portfolio of four color reproductions of bird paintings done by the distinguished American artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes on a Field Museum expedition to East Africa. If you are not a Field Museum Member, you are probably one of those special, concerned people who should be. The Museum is a private institution whose activities and scientific work are largely dependent for financial support on memberships, contributions, and endowments from people like you. January 1973 Photo by Fred Huysmans. Clip and mail to: Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Rd- at Lk, Shore Dr., Chicago, III. 60605 Please send the lollowing Gift Membership D Annual $15 D Associate $150 D Lite $500 in my name to: Gift recipient's name City State Zip D Check enclosed payable to Field Museum n Please bill me as tollows: My name City State Zip G Send bird prints to gift recipient Q Send bird prints to me Please put information for additional gift memberships on a separate sheet Clip and mail to: Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Rd. at Lk Shore Dr., Chicago, III. 60605 Please send the lollowing Gitt Membership n Annual $15 D Associate $150 □ Lite $500 in my name lo: Gift recipient's name City State Zip D Check enclosed payable to Field Museum n Please bill me as tollows: My name City State Zip Q Send bird prints to gitt recipient n Send bird prints to me Please put information for additional gift memberships on a separate sheet Clip and mail to: Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Rd. at Lk. Shore Dr., Chicago, III. 60605 Please send the lollowing Gitt Membership a Annual $15 O Associate $150 O Lite $500 in my name to: Gift recipient's name City State Zip D Check enclosed payable lo Field Museum n Please bill me as tollows: My name City State Zip n Send bird prints to gilt recipient n Send bird prints to me Please put information for additional gift memberships on a separate sheet Field Museum Bulletin .^tm"^. % *^h,^2<^ We appreciated Jimmy's letter, as we appreciate all of the thousands of letters that come in during the year from people who have enjoyed a visit to Field Museum. Jimmy raises a good question — "I wonder how you can keep it in good shape." So, for Jimmy and all other friends of Field Ivluseum, here is an answer. How we "can keep it in good shape" for all the different kinds of people who use and enjoy the Museum is a big problem. That is why we are conducting a $25,000,000 Capital Campaign. The money is sorely needed for many rehabilitation projects to keep the Museum a usable facility. Some of this building improvement and renovation work has already been completed. Other projects are now being started. Almost $3,000,000 of advance gifts already received has been allocated for projects which have just been completed or are presently underway. The completed work, representing an investment of $861 ,000, includes quarters for the Exhibition Department and additional space created for the Zoology Department by filling in a light well, both on the fourfh floor; the new Hall of Jades on the second floor; and the Malvina Hoffman Gallery overlooking Stanley Field Hall. Projects in progress, at an estimated cost of $1 ,920,500, include the following rehabilitation and modernization work: Exterior tuckpointing (partial) $ 77,000 Interior freight elevator 65,000 Fire pump 25,000 Zoology laboratories 375,000 Boiler conversion 145,000 Painting Stanley Field Hall 55,000 Electrical system 980,000 Emergency generator 8,500 Renovation of taxidermy area 45,000 Plumbing, drainage, and toilet system 120,000 Scanning electron microscope laboratory 25,000 Other projects also underway to upgrade the physical plant include a security survey, a climate control study, and improvement of ventilating and lighting in Halls 18 and 19. Projected further improvements not yet begun include replacement of more than 1 ,000 large exterior windows; rebuilding of exterior stairs and entrances; modernized food service facilities; installation of sound- deadening materials in several areas; air conditioning plus a totally modern air treatment system; installation of elevators to the public and non-public areas of the Museum; and modernization of the Lecture Hall and the James Simpson Theatre. This first Capital Campaign in Field Museum's 79-year history was launched in September 1971. The $25,000,000 goal should be reached by September 1974. Half of the funds must be collected by the Museum from private sources. The other half will be in matching public funds generated through the bonding authority of the Chicago Park District. The Museum is seeking to raise its share through corporate, foundation, and individual gifts. In its behalf, corporation executives as well as other individuals have been explaining the Museum's needs throughout the community. To date, gifts and pledges totaling approximately $8,000,000 have been received. That leaves $4,500,000 remaining to be raised by the Museum. This need presents a once-in-a-lifetime challenge and opportunity for our friends. We need their help to ensure that our building is adequate for the increasingly important role of Field Museum in the educational, cultural, and recreational life of our community. January 1973 -ur^zx^' y>?^iLch ci^vo^ ^cZr ^•^iyvL4/ 1/ ^ 'iS^ir »,< V ^ -2?^1N^ .J J3 .ii — o sz ^ S^ 6 o ^- c CD ■£ (0 -c= ra 00 CM O 0) m-^ E E ^ 3 T o OJ 2 o in 5 ou- (U LU iZ Z a* CO CM CM in CM CM (O U) zl; ii_ cm o) (d CO 1— '- CO l/l CM 1-CM N_ > r^Tt 1-0 I > i-CMC < . CO CO o r 31- -i-CMC a; _ locvj O) c mi t-i-c LU If 1- CO c tl. CO .-i-C UJ > in Q CO CD CO O h~ T- CM CM CO CO CM CM CM CM O CO Ui tn ga_gD.Q.>. ^■*t I— en in TD 5 o^ o o § SEgEE" Q) c3 t: ra CO ^ 'u_ O) £ 01 01 P3 ^ O) CM 00 CM (0 CO a: < UJ >■ Hi X o CM a> (O 00 in •^S^CO 5 o c yi ^ o 01 m o 0) 3 o c 03 Q. O TO X UJ '(/) E 3 c o 3 uj>gg5 (O CO in CM z< -J Q OX O h- 2E -J CO CM CO CM CM CM CM O CM a> o l< So IX 5m 00 00 CM CM CM in CM CO C/) CO O h- -^ 1- 1- T- CNJCO O) LJ_CMO)COCO O i-CMCO l-r -eoiocNj CJ5 i-CMCVJ 5 ■*-CM CM X K coco O h^ ■.-cy csj o cc S incNj CJJCD T- T- OJ < CO 1- 1- C\J CO (/3 uDcoo r^ ■.-CMOJ o> ^ T- CJ (- 'a- T-COm T- 1- CNJ >- < >C0 ON-TT -^ > T- t-cy CO . CO OJtDCO o ^^ '- cgco ^ ■-- CO in eg CJi < -0 1^ TT -.-co CO T-c\jCNj il; ■o m *- 3 c to" U.CO O o 2 TO E E if) E E tf) Q. 3 n ao. ra T3 o^ o o ^ E O EE CO a> ra ra R3 ii-cn SI 0>0) c ro C' (0 CO OE E "■ Q 3 o ■D O CO E 0>CM O c W O 3 £ i2 c 0) s 5 1^ TD o 0) O II Jt: "D 0) (0 D_ "oj 3 U. 0) (0 m t 5 E (J EE Q) o d o 3 QJ LU CO 3 5 CM > m Q) _c E C 'cn 3 3 tu 0) o JD y) -D c 3 cn SE >- CM _ ^ . 0) o Ul 0> m 3 E to 2 m "D i^ < (1> 0) 0) 5 CD L. uIZ "co (O 00 (O in t CM < aJroS S:-.= TO 5 Ul T3 o lI CO ^ CMCSJ Oi T W T F 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 13 17 18 19 20 24 25 26 27 E — .CM OJtO coo S ^CM CO D- < 1- 00 incM oi t/3 ^ CM CVJ o CO C/3C0 or- -^ ■»- t- CM U_CM cn (DCO r- CM 1— T-co in CM > > 1-CM CM < . toco Oh- f^ 1-CM CM CD 5 »- 1-CM UJ -"tf 1-00 in CO 1- 1-CM O) CM CM O CM Oi CO CM CM CM m CM « E 3 >^ CL 2 EOS tZ O) Q) Ll- 9 f.l (O 3l3U. -an ■cir iSEE J ».yoS e6r U-: cn5 li.v-5 (O U) CO CM OJU. *- - 3 W ro- ; ro i = w ra o — U.: 05 CO CO CM o> CM "i) S E ^ CNJ {D (J .. « 7 §E5 =3 w --3 00 ;o in . CD- E CO CD Q. to 2 I- (0 Qj-.- o Q) en CD CO 5 <^6.2 00 CM CM CM CM CM CO CM CM CM QC UJ O CO o> CM r^ T- T- CM T- T- cy >- < coco Oh- -^ T- 1- T- OJ CO u. cj c:) CO CO o r- CM CO \- T - DO LO CM Ol T- CM C\J 5 X H cono r^ ■t- CM CM o 5 T- r- CM < 5 CO ■^ 1- 00 in ■^ t- CM m E 3 >.Q. 2 E»5 ^ ^•. 0) o (/) "5 0) D_ •> lie 0) m (U oi ra ™ c ra c ^- o i3 dj b >(n 0.3 QJ O OJ "- ra 5 S ^-o > lUOCOli. S2 eo 2e 25 CM C«J O) 00 (O o> 00 (O m CO >- < Q CO a: m X I- o 5 CM in CM CM CO CM CM CM CM cQ-; XJ c ^_ E "5 (0 3 JD O o 0) CO < Q < o CM CO CO CM O) (D CO O »~ eg CO O) ILT - CO ifi CM Ol *- CMCNJ H ^ CNjCvJ 5 1- cy (M H in CM G)<0 T- f- CM UJ 5 "if ^ CO in 1- ^CM 3 -3 CO CO O 1^ -v T- t- CM CO C/3 h- TT ^ CO r- »- CM CM tl. CDCO o r^ f- CM CM J- incMcncD ■<- ^ CM >■*» T- 00 in > ^ ^ CM . COOh- ■<}■ •^ ^ ^CM —J ^ CM O) CO CO O i ^CM CO DC Q. T-ODinCM CD < CO ^ CM CM yi E 3 >.C1 O '5 O) ^ TD o E 8 o. CD 3 Si E 3 en 5 o s '■ ^. r^.A f^t'M 1 t)^r«;» ro ro >^^ V) c oo (O in CO CM CM CO CM CO CO U) CM o CN CM c^ CO r^ •<*■ T- CO ^ LLtDcn or^ ^ C«J CM K U^ Cvi 0>(D »- T- OJ gTj- »- CO ID r- T- r\i CO CN CM < 5 CO M E O w 3 >.a « O o o o c E 3 E Q. CD E (0 'c ■o c ra o o ra 2 O U) Q. Q. >» e CO c ra iZcTi 03 ulo o> (O CM in CM CO CM >- < Q to UJ I ^, CO eg (O m « o 00 eg o E 2 If) .9 o o c (U E o (D ■D E £ ^ d U- O T- eo o E 2 ^ to .5? o > o c nj E 0)2 E L- Ot- o> 00 CM a> eo E C4 ■o = c -^ o cs Ee (u'o E Szi U- Or- CO CO-** T-COU-) ■T- 1- OJ o L1.C0 or^*^ -^ t- i~- 30< CLOD (O CO CO CNJ CT) to CO O r^ I- CM CO ^ li_ 1- 00 LO cvj en 1- eg c\j ^5 n3 « w ° ° ,„ •^2 2 •2 >- 2EgE-g = .5; " 5 ■» ^ ro ii.a>i-oiS(/3 CO CO CM in o CO 9 eg CM CM CO CTJ .9- ra 0) Ui m CM CO CO CM o> (O CO CM o CO O (0- *~ Cvj C\J 2 ti- l- er to CO Oh- S5 incj 05 to T- ,-c\j £2 3 4 10 11 17 18 24 25 UJ CO CO CM O) to CO ■I-CMC3 CO (0 h- "^ <- CO r- T-CM cvj 2 U. COCO Oh- ■•- CJ CM 1- in CM O) CD 1- ^ CM g ■3" -^ CO in ^ 1- CM 1- n or- -^ T- 1- -r- CM CO i2 "NJ CT) CD CO i-CMCO io, ^ CO in CM e:> t- CM CM si 3 C days; idays, ays •=5 Thurs pm ys, Fri , Sund ii Field Mus( 9 am to 6 Tuesdays, 9 am to 9 Wednesda Saturdays, in CM CM CM CM CO CM (O CO o CM CM m CM a> CM K\ £ E ■ - c ra — ' >■ c ■ en CD IB Q. o = m ° I >■ > a o £ >« O) 3 Q) Q) 0) C^ (/) 3 o 0) 3 *^ ^■o ^ COJZ Li. uLi- oo in CM CM (O ie> CO CM V) CO >- < Q o CM CM at CM l-"3-' CO IT) oo CM o CM O) o> 00 CM X < < I CO < X X 03 O a: CM > CO o r-- -^T -- CC -^ T- »- CM CO y l_ C\J C3HO CO O CD f^ T- C\J CO P .^ T- CO ID CVJ CJ> Hi 1- CM cy !^ ,„ h- -^ — CD O CO T- cgcvj CO CO "^ '- 00 ID r^ T- T- csj ^ li.CO Of^-^ ^ 1- T- CM CO < CO Q) e 2 racn-g^o ■a o 0)- 5 o^ COCM g U-Ol Qj tl. ^CO in CM o o o 2 2 incvj CDCD 1- ^ CM w Tj- ■.- CO un 1- ■.- CM m eg o> CM CO CO' -osincNj O) T-C\J c\j U. r- -^r >~ CO 1- eg c\j [E H to CO o h- T- eg CM 5 tOCVJ 05CD T- T- CM 5 LU 1- Q- 2 3 4 10 11 17 18 24 25 LU to CM en CD coo t- CM CO 00 in CM 3 E >.Q. o TO (J^ sz ■a o E E Q. 3 8 E 3 O) 2 O T3 0) E CO o2 >c >- U. C75 Oil. m CM CO 2 111 o < X CM o> CM (0 CM 00 CM Cv (0 CO I- O 2 UJ Q CO CM O) (O CO CM O CO > o o r- ■*»■ ^ cvj cj) CD en o CQ H'" *- CNJ CO 25- 00 in c\j oi ^ OJ CM O O CO h- -^ ■^ CO ■^ CM (M tn CM CM >- < Q CD z > C3 CO z < X CM c/l ■^5-Dlj.cO l^f °.ci>. 5 o j: o o i 2EgeE^ _^ CO 1:^ ro CO ^ Lt- C35£ cj) en ca CM 00 CM '■^ CO o CM CM in CM O) CM <0 CO in CM CO ^ > u. (/} «£ E _ (D a> ^ 0)2 (/> CO (O U) CO CM IT) m CM CM CM CM CM o Si £< U.X o> CM » CM CM (D CM in TJ CM O « O >- O < Q E 3 03 > CM O) ton o -* 1- C\j CO < i_ T- CO lO CM CD '^ 1-OJ CM 5 h- 2 in CM CT> to 1- »- CM O CO '^t T-co in 1- 1- CM « ; ™ ga.f Q.a>- 2 o^ o o T 2EiEE!^ QJ CO t. to CO ^ CO CO c^ ^x>%^v^VAV**'V#V»\V_VV.^a>\V/^Va>V/J:v*%>V.V,'^V4^.>V^^^ Volume 44. Num February 1973 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin t t „»£'■ Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 2 February 1973 Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds Alan Solem using the scanning electron microscope, the structure of things can be revealed at magnifications up to 100,000 times life-size 8 The Most Stupendous Earthquake of Them All Edward J. Olsen it happened here in the midwest, 162 years ago; could it happen again? 11 Thismia Louis O. Williams an important gift to the botany collections recalls the mystery of this rare plant Cover: Scanning electron microscope view of a fev* of tfie 4,000 facets on tfie compound eye of a housefly; sfiown 7,550 times life-size on the cover, 2,100 X here. Specimen preparation for SEM viewing involves coating it in a high vacuum with a few-molecules-thick layer of gold or other conductive metal. Dirt panicles are pollutants from Chicago air that settled on the specimen while it was being prepared for photography. 12 Printing Alexander Wilson's Copper Plates Richard A. Davis a print-maker "discovers" some of these early-1800s engraved copper plates in Field Museum's Library 16 Capital Campaign gifts from Women's Committee for Capital Campaign Hearing $1 Million Calendar Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber Managing Editor G. Henry Ottery; Editor Elizabetti Munger; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans. The Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions; $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Un- solicited manuscripts are welcome. Printed by Field Museum Press. Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Field Museum Bulletin electronic windows to unseen worlds Scheduled for mid-February opening, the exhibit "Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds" presents almost 300 pictures of a world that is hidden from man's unaided eye. Whether its focus was on a common object such as a torn piece of paper or sugar crystal, or details from the body of a housefly, a beam of electrons produced images that were photographed and then displayed at 50 to 200,000 times life-size. The instrument responsible for this is the scanning electron microscope. Perfected only in the mid-1960s, it permits inquiring minds to explore not only far beyond the limits of light microscopes, but to perform photographic miracles. Using this microscope, one can study objects at anywhere between 10 and 100,000 times life-size. Clicking a dial changes the magnification. At the same time, the specimen can be tilted, rotated, moved back and forth, and the "lighting" altered in various ways. When adjustments are completed, a photograph can be made. The depth of field — that part of the picture in sharp focus — will be 500 times as great as with an optical microscope at the same magnification. Most people have peered briefly through a microscope in a school biology class, delving into the guts of a grasshopper, worm, or frog. Perhaps they looked at a glass slide with living protozoans or bits of plant tissue. A major problem in all these situations is that only part of the object could be seen easily at any one time. If a near section was in sharp focus, the rear portion was fuzzy in outline, and vice versa. The problem was that the depth of field (area in sharp focus) was less than the thickness of the object being studied. Photographers have the same problem. Everybody has snapshots of family affairs in which one member near the camera has a blurred face, those in the middle of the group can be seen without difficulty, and a few in the background also are unrecognizable blurs. The lenses of cameras and optical microscopes have a depth of field that is only a fraction of the picture width. With electronic viewing, this problem is almost eliminated. In a picture area one-fifth of an inch February 1973 square, for example, the area in sharp focus is more than one inch deep. In practical terms, the difference in depth of field is seen in the photos on the next page of a one-thirtieth inch long beetle. The optical photograph, taken with the best available microscope equipment, shows only a small part of the beetle's belly in sharp focus. Details even on this surface are obscure and the "halo" effect of the light is distracting to the viewer. In contrast, the scanning electron microscope shows the whole beetle in sharp focus, the hairs in each pit on the surface are clearly visible, and the "lighting" on the specimen Is close to natural daylight. This ability of the scanning electron microscope to illustrate well is causing as great a revolution as is its ability to see details that could not be seen before. Communicating what has been seen to other scientists always has been a major problem. Man first began to use microscopes in the study of small objects during the early to mid-1600s. The scientists of this time had to be artists or else hire artists to illustrate their studies. A part of the exhibit "Below Man's Vision" shows samples of their work. The anatomy of plants, details of insects, and glimpses of bacteria by Dutch and English 17th century scientists are impressive as art. They become awe inspiring when one realizes the simple equipment available to these workers. An exact copy of a microscope used by Anton von Leeuwenhoek, perhaps the most famous of the Dutch microscopists, was loaned by the Rijksmuseum voor de Geschiedenis der Natuurwetenschappen. The whvole instrument is 2% inches long. The specimen is mounted on a pin point. Three screws adjust its place before the lens, which is a bead of glass embedded in the brass plate of the microscope. Held in a bright shaft of summer sunlight, this simple looking device let Leeuwenhoek see bacteria in 1683. Even the best optical microscopes today can penetrate but little further into the world of unseen detail. Photography partly replaced artists in communicating details to other scientists, but the depth of field was limited, more so with the compound than the dissecting microscope. The compound microscope is used in studying protozoa or other specimens mounted on glass slides. The light source is below the object, and waves of light are transmitted through a thin specimen into the microscope and then to the eye of the viewer. The dissecting microscope uses another pattern of viewing. The light source is above the object, and light is reflected off the surface into the microscope and then to the eyes of the viewer. Electrons can be used for viewing both transmitted and reflected modes. The transmission electron microscope (TEM), in use since the 1930s, transmits beams of electrons through a very thin object. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) hits the surface of the object with a beam of electrons, then uses electrons emitted from the object to form a picture. Thus the SEM is comparable to the dissecting Alan Solem Lett: A lew ol the large rod-like setae and fine hairs on the edge of a fly's wing, 2,175 times life-size. Right: Drawing of Musca domestica, the common housefly, 13 times life-size. Small boxes over parts of eye. wing, tongue, foot, and halter (a balancing organism located underneath wing) show where scanning electron microscope was focused to obtain pictures reproduced in this article and on cover. Field Museum Bulletin A 1/30-inch-long beetle seen through an optical microscope. 'JiiPii- ^^pflsr* " ■ i 1 i ■-'/ . 1 *»*- — 1,,^^^ Sri pr; M ^^T"''*'*'^^^os^ W *' 4M '<3P^^^^^^^^ • ■ • 1 tv^^^^^^^^Ht * Same kind of beetle seen through a scanning electron microscope. microscope, and the TEM compares with the compound microscope. For many scientists, their first use of the SEM in research ranks as one of the greatest thrills of their lives. Scientists continually bump up against limits in their work. The needed specimens aren't available, or the details just aren't quite visible with their optical microscopes. The SEM removes this second problem completely. My own feelings on first using the SEM were chronicled in an earlier Bulletin (March 1969). During the preparation of "Below Man's Vision" I had the chance to help several colleagues go through similar experiences. For the past two years, the American Dental Association Research Institute (ADARI) and Field Museum of Natural History have had a cooperative research project on feeding mechanisms and tooth structures in primitive organisms. Studies of fish teeth, beetle mouth parts, and snail dentition were carried out with the invaluable aid of Dr. Harvey Lyon, Mr. John Lenke, and Mr. George Najarin of ADARI. A growing flood of scientific papers in all fields began to use scanning microscope photographs. This fact, combined with my own missionary efforts, made it apparent that the Museum's research program needed such an instrument. A funding request to the National Science Foundation was approved in mid-1972, and sometime this summer a scanning electron microscope will be in operation at Field Museum. This will allow extending the very preliminary studies shown in part of the exhibit and will lead to hundreds of observations and many research publications. Nearly all the SEM photographs in "Below Man's Vision" were made especially for this exhibit or during research, with the idea of using them for both purposes. ADARI provided one part of the exhibit and allowed me to photograph a number of subjects for the section of the exhibit entitled "Unseen Worlds of the Commonplace." While the things seen by scientists in their studies may include items of beauty and strangeness, the organisms usually are unknown to our visitors. Hence a major part of preparing "Below Man's Vision" required taking common objects and well known organisms, then exploring details of their structures. In this way we hope to impress visitors with the wonders in their surroundings and to demonstrate the versatility of the scanning electron microscope. With nearly 300 photographs displayed, it was very difficult to select appropriate pictures for this article. We could have presented an art display of spectacular photographs, but thought that it would be more meaningful to show several features of one organism. After a bit of hesitation between a flea and a fly, the portraits of a housefly were selected. February 1973 Top left: The "tongue" or oral disc of a housefly at 92 times life-size. Top right: Each edge of the "tongue" has a series of projections and ridges used to soak up food. The photograph is reproduced at 805 times life-size. Bottom: The balancing organ (halter) of a housefly at 98 times life-size. It vibrates 200 times a second and acts as a gyroscope. These were prepared from three different specimens collected late last summer and preserved in alcohol. One fly was given a special treatment called "critical point drying" so that details of the soft tongue and foot pads could be seen. The others were air dried and then mounted for SEM study. The housefly, Musca domestica, occurs almost everywhere that man dwells. Few of us have not swatted at a fly — and missed — or been annoyed with their buzzing around our dinner, or idly speculated how they can cling to ceilings or panes of glass. The drawing of the fly on page 3 was made from a pinned specimen, so that its legs and wings are not in a natural position. Small boxes over parts of the wing, eye, tongue, foot, and halter (a balancing organ) show where the SEM was focused in making these pictures. Eighteenth century scientists had seen that the edge of the wing had many tiny hairs, but their structure and variety could not be appreciated. The picture at the top of page 2 shows the front edge of the wing with parts of four large setae (sensory organs set in sockets) and many smaller trichia (projections from the surface). These are sensitive to both touch and changes in air pressure. At the top of this page are two pictures of a fly's tongue. The outer lobes are used to soak up semi-liquid or liquid food, which then is carried to the actual mouth opening. The edges of the lobes are covered with a complex set of grooves edged with blunt projections. The resulting "tire tread" pattern is highly effective in feeding. It also makes an interesting design for the artistic viewer who prefers not to think about feeding flies! A peculiar looking club-like structure at bottom right is the halter. The vast majority of insects have two pairs of wings, like butterflies, grasshoppers. Field Museum Bulletin and bees. Flies are unique in that they have only a single pair of functioning wings. Apparently each of the two halters is the remnant of former rear wings. The halter is a gyroscope or balancing organ that vibrates 160-210 times each second while the fly is in flight. Its club-like head is covered with tiny hairs, and the slits near its base are part of the halter's chordotonal organ, a sensory device common in insects. Equally remarkable is the complexity of a fly's foot. The three photographs on these pages show the versatility of the SEM in seeing finer and finer details as a specimen is studied. The lower left photograph shows the whole foot in front view. For technical reasons, the leg had to be removed from the preserved specimen, then embedded in rubber cement. The cracks and creases in the background are in the rubber cement. A look at the foot shows two large claws, used for gripping rough surfaces, a long sensory "hair" in the middle of the lower side, and two large pads that extend laterally underneath each claw. The pad on the left has a piece of dirt stuck to it. These pads enable a fly to settle on a smooth ceiling or a window. The pads are called pulvilli and are covered with rows of projections called tenant liairs. Seen at intermediate magnification in the middle picture, a pulvillus shows how the tenant hairs sit in regular rows. The critical point drying technique let me see these in extended position. If the fly had been allowed to shrivel and dry out slowly, these hairs would have been distorted. Far less information would have been available from the specimen. When viewed at high magnification (the largest picture), the reflexed tips of individual hairs are clearly visible. Some sticky substance is secreted by these hairs onto the tips. It is the adhesive power of these hundreds upon hundreds of individual hairs that holds the fly to a smooth surface. Often it will be a combination of gripping with the claws and partial use of these adhesive hairs, but on very smooth surfaces the hairs are indispensible. Flight, feeding, and holding onto surfaces are only sanjples of the fly's versatility. In our exhibit we also look at an organ called the arista. This feathery, short, branched organ on each side of the head permits the fly to escape a swatting hand. Air pressure in front of the descending hand warns the fly in advance of the blow. The cover of this issue shows a small portion of a fly's eye at 7,550 times life-size. Each "eye" of a fly has about 4,000 separate facets that form images separately. A few of these are shown Left: The foot of a fiousefly at 250 times life-size. Above: One of tfie pads on ttie underside of a fly's foot at 825 times life-size. Right: Ttiese fiairs on tfie fly's foot secrete a sticky substance tfiat enables tfie fly to cling to smootti surfaces. They are shown at 7,750 times life-size. February 1973 on the cover. Bits of dirt from the polluted air of Chicago became attached to the surface while the eye was being mounted for study. In life the surface probably would be very much cleaner. Similar peeks at a flea, snail teeth, Queen Anne's Lace, pollen grains, the adult "chigger," and even a piece of paper very similar to that used in this Bulletin are among the variety of objects and organisms examined in "Below Man's Vision." The idea for this exhibit came out of my experiences with the scanning electron microscope during the past few years. In the process of preparing the grant proposal for establishing a scanning microscope laboratory at Field Museum, research proposals by other staff members suggested many possibilities for use in an exhibit. Hence the idea of "Below Man's Vision" gradually developed and was expanded into its present form. Support received from Kent-Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co. and Cambridge Scientific Instruments Ltd., plus the cooperation of ADARI and its staff, have made this project possible. In years to come the scanning microscope will be as well known as is the optical microscope. The latter has been used by thousands of scientists since the mid-1600s. In all this time, the world opened by its extension of man's vision has been only partly explored. Optical microscopes will continue to be used by scientists in research, by workers in industry, by students in classrooms. But the scanning electron microscope has opened up a world for investigation that is just as large, just as marvelous, and just as unexplored. The first microscopists in the Netherlands and England explored with verve and joy the new world they entered. Scientists today are using the scanning electron microscope with the same sense of anticipation and pleasure. While a few scanning microscope photographs now appear in popular magazines and even newspapers, the potential of the SEM and the significance of its advantages are little known. As both an illustration tool and a means of seeing whole rough- surfaced objects, it has added a new dimension to low magnification studies. As a means of seeing details that were below the level of optical microscopy, it has opened a new world. "Below Man's Vision" lets you accompany some of Field Museum's staff into an uncharted world of detail. We hope you enjoy your visit as much as we are enjoying our explorations with the scanning electron microscope. Dr. Alan Solem is Curator, Division of Invertebrates, Field Museum. Field Museum Bulletin Edward J. Olsen The most stupendous earthquake of them all It has been called the most stupendous earthquake in the recorded history of the North Annerican continent. It began in the early hours of December 16, 1811, in and around the small settler's community of New Madrid, in the far southeastern corner or Missouri. About 2 a.m. a series of creaks and rumblings were felt in a gradually increasing crescendo. House timbers cracked and walls broke away from each other; furniture tumbled around and shelves were emptied onto floors. Sharp shock waves shattered the area at short intervals. Houses tottered and chimneys fell. By dawn all the inhabitants stood out in the cold morning air, away from their houses. Heavy shocks were repeated and earth waves were seen to roll across the landscape, lifting and lowering everything as they passed, like long low swells seen on the open ocean. Trees swung back and forth as the waves passed under them, frequently locking together their branches as they tipped toward each other, and ripping themselves apart as they then tilted the other way. Landslides broke loose on steeper slopes and poured into adjacent valleys. Ground water, disrupted from its normal flow patterns, popped up as instant springs in unlikely places and filled low-lying areas. Some large areas sank several feet while others were bucked upward into small impromptu hills. Along the adjacent Mississippi River, high banks slumped into the water, carrying away trees and creating huge waves that smashed the opposite shore, destroying more trees and swamping boats in their path. Small islands sank out of sight under the roiled waters. On land, long fissures — 600 to 700 feet wide, 20 feet deep, and up to several miles long — suddenly opened in the soil, some people tumbling in, to be rescued with difficulty. Sand geysers 10 to 100 feet across formed as the churning dirt ejected underlying sands and sulfurous decaying organic matter The rumblings continued, but no more sharp shocks were experienced — until January 23rd, over a month later, when a new shock hit the area, fully as intense as those in December. Then all became relatively quiet — until February 7th, when a series of shocks repeated all the former destruction with, some thought, greater intensity than the earlier episodes. The rumblings and aftershocks continued at moderate intensities for days, gradually fading, but not ceasing. Distinct aftershocks, almost 2,000 of them, were felt for over a period of a year, and minor ones up to two years later! As far as any historical records show there has never been another earthquake of such magnitude and duration on the North American continent. Compared to large earthquakes elsewhere in the world, it was certainly on a par with the devastating ones in Shensi, China in 1556 and the Tokyo quake of 1923. The damage created by the New Madrid earthquakes was large in terms of the natural environment. Approximately 150,000 acres of forests were destroyed. Two lakes were February 1973 created as land sank and filled with inrushing river and ground water: Reelfoot Lake, 18 miles long and 3 miles wide, and Lake St. Francis, 40 miles long and half a mile wide. Certainly thousands of animals were drowned by these sudden inundations. In terms of the settlers, however, losses were small. In the 1811-1813 period the population of the region was still low. Many of the dwellings were log cabins, which became disjointed by the shock waves, but did not always tumble. Only one person was known to have been killed in a falling building. An unknown small number drowned when river banks caved in and when boats were swamped by churned river waters. Although the town was damaged badly enough that the site had to be abandoned, it was not a major catastrophe at that time. Perhaps of greater significance is the damage suffered in other, more populous areas, and the great distances at which the shocks were felt. About 50,000 square miles were hit the hardest — which means that points up to 130 miles from New Madrid could have suffered severe damage had there been any great population centers within that radius at the time. St. Louis lay just beyond this range. It was then still a small trading town and suffered mainly from fallen chimneys and cracked walls. Farther afield, chimneys also tumbled in Cincinnati, Ohio, 350 miles awayl Along the river below Vicksburg, Mississippi, 300 miles to the south, river banks caved in. In Charleston, South Carolina, 650 miles away, some buildings were cracked and chimneys fell, and Washington, D.C., 700 miles away, was severely shaken! Noticeable tremors were felt in Baltimore, Maryland, 750 miles away, and in Boston, Massachusetts, 1,100 miles away! Weak vibrations were also felt in Montreal, along the Gulf coast at New Orleans, and northwestward along the upper reaches of the Missouri River. All in all, an area approximately 2,500 miles in diameter, centered on southeastern Missouri, was affected to varying degrees depending on local geological substructures. created this lake... Cypress along the shore of Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Tennessee Department of Conservation. Field Museum Bulletin earthquakes. A sobering question arises. What if we were to see a repeat performance in tfiat area today? Aitiiougfi the western portion of California is much publicized as a high earthquake area, mid-westerners are probably not aware that a region that registers a high frequency of weak to moderate earthquakes includes southeastern Missouri, western Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Illinois, and northeastern Arkansas. The map here shows, in a much generalized way, the mam zones of Chicago lies a bare 350 miles from this region. Within the past four years, tremors from two earthquakes have been felt here. The one September 15, 1972 originated near Amboy in northern Illinois. The other, a moderate strength quake November 9, 1968, was centered over 300 miles south of Chicago near (\/lcLeansboro. A series of strong quakes from southern Illinois or southeastern I\/lissouri could have damaging effects on so populous an area as Chicago. This city was not built with earthquakes m mind. faults (breaks in the bedrock) along which earthquakes occur. The most significant feature is that there are so many intersecting faults. This is especially dangerous, for quake movement on one fault can initiate movement on others, compounding the shock effects. Large portions of the Chicago area consist of landfill, covering old swamps and glacial lakebeds that dotted the region before the city existed. Virtually all of the smaller business and residential buildings are constructed on this landfill or on soil. Even some of the taller buildings are not built on piles that go down to bedrock, but rather "float" on caissons sunk into the glacial sands and clays that overlie bedrock to an average thickness of seventy feet. It has been observed in other regions — as for example during the medium-strength earthquake in the St. Lawrence Valley February 28, 1925 —that buildings constructed on soil or landfill suffered more damage than ones built on bedrock. There is, of course, no way to predict the effect on Chicago. It would depend on the magnitudes of the shocks and the spacing between them. Nevertheless, a repeat of the New Madrid episode, which was capable of causing damage in Cincinnati, Ohio, and as far away as South Carolina, would not leave Chicago unaffected. Closer cities, such as St. Louis and Memphis, would suffer major destructive effects. The geologic substructure of the western California region is pretty well understood, and we know with certainty that a major earthquake will devastate some portion of California in the near future. A great deal of current research in the discipline called geophysics is focused on measuring and gauging fault movement activity in California, hopefully to provide a means to predict the time of the next major quake, and minimize the loss of life that will occur. Far less is known about the midwestern region. Yet midwesterners cannot indulge themselves in a feeling of complacence with respect to their less fortunate California cousins. No major quakes have occurred in the midwest since the area has been built up. There is no reason to believe that a repeat of the magnitude of the 1811-1813 earthquakes will ever occur again — nor any reason to believe it will not! Dr. Edward J. Olsen is Curator ot Mineraiogy, Department of Geoiogy. Field Museum. February 1973 LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS Sixty years ago, in what were tlien prairies near Chicago, now a suburban area, one of the nnost curious plants of the world was first discovered by Norma E. Pfieffer when she was a student at the University of Chicago. It excited the curiosity of botanists around the world and has been an enigma to Chicago's professional and amateur botanists ever since. The reason is that the plant — Thismia americana it was named — belongs to the family Burmanniaceae, which is almost entirely tropical. There are about 125 species, found principally in the tropics of the world. Three or four kinds reach barely Into temperate regions. Even today, Thismia americana is known from only about a dozen collections, made over a period of six years by Dr. Pfieffer. Ttiismia americana is a tiny plant. The part above ground, the flower, is barely V2 inch long. It is a saprophyte living from decaying plant material. The nearest relative to Chicagoland's own thismia is Thismia rodwayi, a plant known only from Tasmania and North Island of New Zealand. Dr. Fredrik Pieter Jonker, who described the Burmanniaceae family in a monograph in 1938, speculated that the two species are closely related: "It is very desirable that 7. americana will be again collected, no American species of this affinity is known. The differences with 7. rodwayi are very small, by examining more material it will appear perhaps that the two species are identical. It is hard to believe that Chicago is the normal area for this species, but I cannot give a satisfactory explanation why it occurs there." How did a plant of tropical affinities get into the prairie near Chicago? It was not a fluke, for the plant is known to have been present for at least six years where it was originally found, so it withstood the cold winters. How to account for two closely related species at nearly opposite poles on the earth? I have no theory. It is possible that our Thismia americana was or perhaps still is widespread on the prairies and similar ecological areas and that someday an astute collector may find this tiny little plant again. We have in our collection what we assume is the type specimen, carefully preserved in liquid. Dr. Pfeiffer did not specify in her publication where the type was deposited. We have exhibited that specimen on Members' Nights along with a part of the story about it, so perhaps you have seen the plant 1 Above: A specimen of Thismia americana collected in liquid by Dr. Norma A. Pfieffer about 1912 and presented to Field Museum in 1972, along witti its original storage container. Left: Enlarged drawings from specimen. Entire plant is at rigtit; its stem-like structure lies below ground surface, with only ttie flowers above ground. In circle is a flower dissected to show the six tepals and six stamens with the short pistil at the base, plus one stamen drawn to show anthers on the inner face. Below at lett is a flower as seen f om above, the tepals spread to show the ring (annulus) formed by the base of the filaments. write about, one of the rarest in the world. Recently we received a letter from Dr. Pfeiffer saying: "There are still in my possession bits and pieces of the Burmanniaceous Thismia americana which I found in the Chicago area years ago." Would we like to have it? Would we! A few days later Dr. Pfeiffer, now a spry octogenarian, came in with a carton and two old coffee cans containing the research material that had been the basis for her studies published in the Botanical Gazette in 1914. Her "bits and pieces" are certainly a grand gift. They increase the known material available to researchers twentyfold! Dr. Louis O. Williams is Chairman of the Department ot Botany. Field /Museum. Field Museum Bulletin ^I^chard-yt. 'Davis I first visited tlie Field Museum Library because tlie Irwin Library of Butler University hias been collecting early zoological prints as original source material for teaching the history of the biological sciences. The prints in the Butler Collection are engravings made for 17th and 18th century books on natural history. Such illustrations were printed separately from their textual accompaniments and were often also issued separately rather than bound into the books. Thus, separated from to America in 1794, was one of those singular men in the early history of our country whose deep appreciation of nature and latent artistic talents bloomed m the unexplored vastness of the New World. Wilson's pioneer work, which paved the way for Audubon, stands as a unique and monumental achievement. In fact, nothing like it in any branch of science had appeared in America up to that time. the first native American botanist, John Bartram, became renowned as a naturalist and nature artist and the author of a book (Travels, 1791) which influenced English romanticism. Lawsor was a well known engraver and did 51 of the 76 plates that the completed nine-volume Ornithology contained. He has been described as "Wilson's chief reliance, since he worked with equal fidelity and facility from the finished drawing or from mere outlines and the actual specimen." And, "in time of Printing ryllexander "Wilsons Copper l^lates their contexts, in many cases there is no information identifying the works of which they were originally a part. Field Museum kindly granted me permission to use their resources to try to identify these prints. My excitement mounted as Mr. W. Peyton Fawcett, the librarian at Field Museum, most accommodatingly brought me old masterpieces of printing from the Museum's collection of rare books. With this help I was able to find much of the information needed. A reader's enthusiasm is very contagious to a librarian, and Mr. Fawcett responded generously with the resources of the library. He disappeared into the rare book room for several minutes and emerged carrying some flat and obviously heavy objects wrapped in brown paper. They turned out to be ten of the original engraved copper plates used to illustrate Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. Alexander Wilson, the weaver and poet from Paisley, Scotland who immigrated Wilson wrote in his Introduction in Volume I of American Ornithology: "As to the nature of the work, if is intended to comprehend a description and representation of every species of our native birds, from the shores of St. Laurence to the mouths of the Mississippi, and from the Atlantic ocean to the interior of Louisiana; these will be engraved in a style superior to any thing of the kind hitherto published; and colored from nature with the most scrupulous adherence to the true tints of the original. ... It is also my design to enter more largely than usual into the manners and disposition of each respective species; to become, as it were, their faithful biographer, and to delineate their various peculiarities, in character, song, building, economy, etc. as far as my own observations have extended, or the kindness of others may furnish me with materials." Two people who had befriended and then encouraged Wilson in this work which was to occupy him for the rest of his life were William Bartram and Alexander Lawson. Bartram, the son of stress he was a most efficient and faithful friend of Wilson." Under the imprint of Bradford and Inskeep, Philadelphia, in 1808 appeared Wilson's first volume of the projected ten volumes of American Ornithology: or, The Natural History of the Birds ol the United States: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original drawings taken from Nature. The publishers underwrote the cost of printing 200 copies of this first volume with the understanding that unless Wilson could secure that many subscribers for the series, at $120 a set, the project would be dropped. Wilson solicited subscribers with his first volume in hand and also with a "direct mail advertising" brochure that was sent to 2,500 prominent people in the United States. It included a colored plate to show the quality of the work. The names of 450 original subscribers were listed in the last volume. Plate 55 in Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology, "drawn from nature by A. Wilson,' engraved by J. G. Warnicke. 12 February 1973 '*"• \~.':r."»"r'«i': "»*.»-»^ ; . . . k». *-r J I ▼ ^M.* r^- e-"^?'i*L' Field Museum Bulletin 13 By 1813, the year of Wilson's death, seven volumes had been published. The work was completed in two additional volumes published by George Ord from Wilson's manuscripts. The ten Field Museum plates had been stored in the library for many years. Realizing the full historical and scientific significance of this treasure, I expressed Author cleaning a plate. a wish to be granted permission to take proofs from them. I had taken a Master of Fine Arts degree in print- making at the University of Iowa several years ago, and the desire to make prints from these plates was overwhelming. After due consideration, the Museum's administration approved the idea, and the project took place in the Print Studio at Albion College, Albion, Michigan, with the cooperation of Professor Vernon L. Bobbitt, Chairman of the Visual Arts Department, and Professor Paul Stewart, head of the Print Studio. Mr. George McCullough, painter and printmaker on the faculty of the Fort Wayne Art Institute, assisted me in the actual printing. The technique of printing from intaglio plates has not changed since the 15th century. Except for a more sophisticated gearing system and the fact that early presses were made of wood instead of steel, the press used by us was essentially the same as those used in 1808. The first step in printing each plate was to clean it with kerosene and a toothbrush to remove old ink and accumulations of grease or any other substances it had collected over the years. The cleaned plate was then placed on an electric hotplate and the ink applied to its entire surface with a felt dauber. A twisting motion was used to make sure that the engraved lines were well filled with ink. Ordinarily an inked plate is wiped clean with a wad of tarlatan cloth and wiped again with the heel of the hand before printing. In this case, however, because some of the plates are so worn, a thin film of ink was left on the plate in order to pick up as much detail as possible. When the surface was perfectly clean, the printed result was very pale and watery with much of the delicate detailing of the feathers completely missing. To take a proof, the paper was placed on top of the heated plate and covered with two thicknesses of felt to cushion the pressure of the rollers. I used BFK Rives paper that had been dampened several hours before. This preparation allows the paper to absorb the maximum amount of ink. The plate was then rolled through the press, the felts pulled back, and the 14 February 1973 After the plate is rolled through the press, the felt cushioning is pulled back and the print is carefully lifted off. Photos by Douglas R. Ensor. print carefully lifted off the plate and studied for quality before being placed between blotters to dry. Four proofs were pulled from eachi of these ten Wilson plates belonging to Field Museum (they are plates 52 through 61). One set was presented to the Museum; one to the Albion College Print Collection in commemoration of the dedication of the W. W. Whitehouse Nature Center in Albion; one for the printers; and one was added to Butler University's Irwin Library Zoological Print Collection — in which cause I had sought out the resources of the Museum's fine library and because of that "discovered" the plates. Five of these plates were engraved by Alexander Lawson; the other five were done by J. G. Wernicke. There is a striking contrast between them. Lawson's work has been accorded much appreciation, and he has even been described as "the father of the art of engraving in this country." Nevertheless, to me, some of his plates seem stiff and artificial, the birds appearing to be stuffed toys arranged in a mere suggestion of a background. In contrast, the Warnicke plates are composed and engraved with great vigor as well as scrupulous attention to fidelity of detail — as, for instance, the one reproduced here, plate 55, showing the "Ring-tail Eagle" and "Sea Eagle." It would be interesting to see if the differences relate to Wilson's original drawings. Wilson himself said of the relationship between his drav^ings and the engravings: "Every person who is acquainted with the extreme accuracy of eminent engravers, must likewise be sensible of the advantage of having the imperfections of the pencil corrected by the excellence of the graver. Every improvement of this kind the author has studiously availed himself of; and has frequently furnished the artist with the living or newly-killed subject itself to assist his ideas." The following articles are recommended for biographical and technical information concerning Wilson and the printing and engraving of the original edition of the American Ornithology. FOR FURTHER READING Frank L. Bums. "The Mechanical Execution of Wilson's 'American Ornithology,' " The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 41, pp. 19-23, March 1929. Robert Cantwell. Alexander Wilson: Naturalist and Pioneer. Lippincott, 7967. Bayard H. Christy. "Alexander Lawson's Bird Engravings," The Auk. vol. 43, pp. 47-61, January 1926. Richard A. Davis is Head Librarian at Butler University in Indianapolis. The copper plates, proofs pulled Irom them by Mr. Davis and Mr. McCullough, and a volume ol the original edition ol Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology, lor which the plates were engraved, are on display in Field Museum's South Lounge through May 31. Field fuluseum Bulletin IS ^tAjCfl-lta z *^hf^c^ Gifts from Women's Committee for Capital Campaign Nearing $1 IVIillion The spirit of Field Museum's "Age of Renovation" is contagious. Many new people in private and public life are daily joining the push toward the $25 million goal of the Museum's Capital Campaign. The Museum's Women's Board, in a significant departure from its stated purpose when it was formed in 1966, has decided that its intangible support is no longer enough during this period of great need for renovation of the Museum's physical plant. As announced in last December's Bulletin, it has formed the Women's Committee for the Capital Campaign, chaired by Mrs. Corwith Hamill of Wayne, Illinois. The committee turned first to the Board's 200 members, to give them and their husbands the opportunity to join in the spirit. Charter Board Member Mrs. R. Winfield Ellis of Chicago, also a member of the Women's Committee for the Capital Campaign, points out that the raising of funds is not an official Board project, and that giving is strictly voluntary. "We are asking members to consider whether they will get a true feeling of happiness from seeing what their gifts will make possible for the Museum," she states. "Board members are being offered the opportunity actually to see the Museum's needs and then to experience a personal joy by seeing these needs fulfilled." Mrs. R. Winfield Ellis visits "Pump Room — of Field fvluseum. Cfiester Grenda, Building Superintendent, sfiows tier ttie fire pump which supplies water under high pressure for fire protection, installed when building was built 52 years ago. Whole system, including worn out electrical control board at left, will be replaced with a modern, larger capacity system with funds from $25 million Capital Campaign. The response to date has been immensely gratifying. As of January 9, the committee has recorded $812,600 in gifts, including a single contribution of $365,000. In stating her philosophy regarding her very generous gift of $100,000, Mrs. Ellis probably reflects the thinking of many contributors: "The Museum's capital needs are quite obvious even to the casual visitor — not only to Women's Board members, trustees, and staff. My husband and I are regular attendees of the Saturday film and lecture programs and are well acquainted, therefore, with the need for renovating the Lecture Hall and the James Simpson Theatre, to cite just two examples." Mrs. Ellis also speaks of the more personal satisfaction she expects to derive from her gift: "I made an appointment with our lawyer, specifically to explore the advantages of making a gift to the Museum at this time. I particularly wanted to see some major project completed during my lifetime, so when he pointed out that mainly because of inheritance taxes one cannot leave all his money to heirs — whoever or whatever they may be — my husband and I saw a gift to the Museum as an opportunity for deriving not only immense personal joy, but also the satisfaction of knowing we will be helping millions of future visitors, especially children, experience a sense of wonder and delight in all that Field Museum has to offer. 'We feel that our gift will do the greatest good for the greatest number of people — now." February 1973 CALENDAR Exhibits Opens February 1 Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. Copper-plate engravings made for American Ornithology (1808), a nine-volume work by the father of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson. Also shown are proofs from the plates recently pulled by Richard A. Davis, Butler University, and George McCullough. Fort Wayne Art Institute, alongside examples of first edition prints of the same engravings in Field l^useum's rare book collection. Through May 31. Opens February 14 Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds, an exhibit exploring the world of details in common objects and familiar plants and animals, and offering glimpses into current research activities. Nearly 300 photographs, displayed at up to 200,000 times life-size, introduce a previously unseen world. Through July 15. Hall 18. Continuing Greenland: Arctic Denmark, a major exhibition covering all aspects of the history and culture of the world's largest island. The extensive collection of archaeological and ethnological material is supplemented by photographs and a daily film program to illustrate various areas of economic development and social change in modern Greenland. The exhibition is sponsored by the Royal Danish Embassy and is shown under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Through Ivlarch 8. Hall 27. A New Spirit in Search of the Past: Archaeology and Ecology in the Lower Illinois River Valley, an exhibit explaining the "new" archaeology as reflected in the Illinois Valley Archaeological Program's excavation of the Koster Site, directed by Dr. Stuart Struever of Northwestern University. Through IVIarch 25. Hall 9. Color in Nature, an exhibit examining the nature and variety of color in the physical and living world and how it functions in plants and animals. Continues indefinitely. Hall 25. Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit continues indefinitely. "A Sense of Wonder" offers thought-provoking prose and poetry associated with the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of nature; "A Sense of History" presents a graphic portrayal of the Museum's past; and "A Sense of Discovery" shows examples of research conducted by Museum scientists. Hall 3. Film Program A series of films relating to the "Greenland; Arctic Denmark" exhibit is shown daily beginning at the following times; Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, February 4 "The Land No One Wanted," wildlife film narrated by Buzz Moss, offered by the Illinois Audubon Society at 2;30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. Sunday, February 11 and 18 The 28th Chicago International Exhibition of Nature Photography projects winning and accepted transparency materials at 2;30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. February Hours 9 am. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 am. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and February 12 (Lincoln's Birthday) and February 19 {Washington's Birthday). The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please obtain pass at reception desk, mam floor nonh. Children's Program Through February 28 Winter Journey for Children, Dog Meets Man," a free self-guided tour exploring the many aspects of man's partnership with his "best friend" since prehistoric times. Youngsters are provided with a questionnaire which routes them through Museum exhibit areas. All boys and girls who can read and write may join in the activity. Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. Meetings February 8: 8 p.m., Chicago Mountaineering Club February 11; 2 p.m., Chicago Shell Club February 13: 8 p.m., Chicagoland Glider Council Coming in March Begins March 1 Spring Journey for Children, "Life in the Tropical Rain Forest," a self-guided tour which encourages youngsters to learn about the inhabitants of the little-known Amazonian region of South America by exploring Museum exhibit areas. Through May 31. Ayer Adult Film Lecture Series, 230 p.m. Saturdays in the James Simpson Theatre. March 3; "Golden Kingdoms of the Orient," narrated by John Nicholls Booth, March 10; "Exotic West Pakistan," narrated by Renee Taylor. March 17: "The New Alaska," narrated by Leo and Dorothy Eckman. March 24; "All Around Australia," narrated by Edgar T. Jones. March 31; "Yugoslavia," narrated by Frank Klicar. Volume 44, Number 3 March 1973 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 3 March 1973 Cover tulips are from an engraving in this 1601 volume in Field Museum's rare book collection 2 When Tulips Were Securities Max Plaut the 17th century tulipomania in Holland viewed from a new perspective 8 International Nature Photography Exhibition William Burger some pictures selected from the over 3,000 submitted 12 The Goto Dofiana Barbara Brown a vignette of this important European nature reserve 14 Capital Campaign the Kresge Foundation pledges $1 million to Field Museum 15 Field Briefs 16 Letters Calendar Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber Managing Editor G Henry Ottery; Editor Elizabetti Munger; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs; Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans. The Field Museum ol Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions; $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Un- solicited manuscripts are welcome. Printed by Field Museum Press. Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Postmaster; Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Field Museum Bulletin When Tulips were Securities Max Plaut Luxurious man, to bring his vice in use, Did after tiim the world seduce. And from the fields the flowers and plants allure, Where Nature was most plain and pure. With strange perfumes he did the roses taint; And flowers themselves were taught to paint. The tulip white did for complexion seek, And learned to interline its cheek; Its onion roof they then so high did hold. That one was for a meadow sold: "The IVlower, against Gardens," Andrew Marvel! 2 March 1973 Engravings In Livre de Fleurs. by Francois I'Anglois, published in Paris, 1620. Photos courtesy of Hunt Botanical Library, Carnegie-Mellon University. According to some accounts, thie Dutch tulip speculation in thie early 17th century brought the United Provinces of the Netherlands to the brink of national bankruptcy. The best- known account is a chapter in a book by Reverend Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness ot Crowds, published in 1841. Bernard Baruch cherished the book as a classic of stock market psychology, and thanks to his interest it was reprinted in recent years. But too often the Tulipomania story is retold as a mere anecdote of human cupidity. Now, thanks to research since 1841, the story can be placed in historical context. As a result, we can begin to appreciate how important the preoccupation with this flower has been in the making of modern Western society. According to Wilfrid Blunt, no classical author mentions a flower which can with any degree of probability be identified with the tulip; and no Western painting, pottery, or textile earlier than the end of the 16th century shows it. It has a much longer history in the East, and figures in religious cults from Turkey to Japan. Its spectacular entry into the gardens of Western Europe began in 1554. In that year the Flemish scholar Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq reported tulips cultivated by Turks near Adrianople. He was at the time ambassador to Suleyman the Magnificent from Ferdinand I (who then, before he became Holy Roman Emperor, was regent for the Empire when Charles V was in Spain). Busbecq's interpreter compared the shape of the petals to a turban {dulban in Turkish), and from this comparison the various forms of the name tulip in Western languages are derived. Although tulips may have been observed some years earlier by a French traveler to the Levant, Pierre Belon, his description makes the identification doubtful. Field Museum Bulletin Busbecq returned to Prague with seeds, perhaps also with bulbs. And then, in 1561, appeared the first description and illustration of a tulip published in Europe, by Konrad Gesner, naturalist, bibliographer, and town physician of Zurich, in his work De Hortis Germaniae. A cargo of bulbs from Constantinople that arrived in Antwerp in 1562 marked the beginning of a new horticultural industry. By 1565 they were being cultivated in Augsburg in the garden of one of the Fuggers, that great merchant-banker family. In 1576 the first monograph on garden tulips was published, by Charles de I'Ecluse. His name appears as Caroli Clusi on the title page of his 1601 book Rariorum plantarum historia, a copy of which is in Field Museum's rare book collection. The cover of this Bulletin is derived from one of his drawings in that book. New varieties were soon bred from the 1562 cargo, especially in Holland at Haarlem and Alkmaar, which became pre-eminent centers of tulip cultivation. Demand exceeded supply, and plant breeding was profitable. Beautiful new varieties brought high prices. There are reports of a single tulip bulb being traded for a brewery, for a grist mill, or making a rich bride's dowry (the last a detail that Alexander Dumas adapted for a poor bride in his 1850 novel The Black Tulip). Later, people began to speculate in tulips, before there was a stock exGhange or commodity exchange or futures market, and before Europeans speculated in South Sea islands or Mississippi real estate. In fact, tulips came to play a role in the rise of modern science and in the emergence of modern social, economic, and legal life. Our story, therefore, will take us from the horticultural and botanical realm into law and economics, but first we shall interpose some background of that age. The frenzied speculation in tulip bulbs would clearly have been impossible had there not been a genuine widespread interest in gardening. But during the Middle Ages, and even into the 16th century, gardens enjoyed an ambivalent position. The two described in Spenser's Faerie Oueene. the Garden of Adonis and the Bower of Bliss, are at times condemned as too seductive because of their appeal to the senses (all five!) and at times favored as reminiscent of Eden and a place of innocent delight. But by the 17th century gardens had won acceptance simply as pleasant places. Bacon wrote about the delights of gardens, and Rubens painted his second wife in her new tulip garden. In 1626 the Jardin du Roi — forerunner of the Mus6e nationale de I'histoire naturelle — was founded. In 1656 the Lutheran German hymn-writer Paul Gerhardt gave thanks for summer in the words (translated by Margarete Munsterberg): The trees with spreading leaves are blessed, The earth her dusty rind has dressed In green so young and tender. Narcissus and the tulip fair Are clothed in raiment far more rare Than Solomon in splendor. As God's creation, the natural world is a cause for joy, the tulip along with the narcissus especially so. And, as if philosophic justification were needed, gardens came to be considered the best place for contemplation — an idea expressed by Marvell in his famous poem "The Garden." Until the Reformation period, botany was considered part of medicine, of materia medics, and flowers were thought to heal by virtue of their occult meaning. The medicinal garden was successor of the monastery garden. It became the botanical garden at the university, beginning with Padua in 1543 and then Leyden in 1577, which was where I'Ecluse was professor of botany when he published the 1601 volume mentioned earlier. With the arrival of the telescope and the microscope, plants became a major object of the measuring, counting, differentiating, and cataloging mind. Scientists were universal scholars then, not specialists, and scientific — especially botanical — collecting became part of the high culture of the great and fashionable. To be a gentleman one had to be concerned with botanical problems. Frankfort on the Main, the city of the book fair, added a flower market where the latest acquisitions were exchanged with learned enthusiasm. One of the villainies prompted by jealousy in Dumas' Black Tulip — tying two cats together and tossing them into a tulip garden in order to destroy It — may have been suggested by an incident suffered by I'Ecluse at Leyden. He is said to have conducted his studies of the tulip in great secrecy, which led to a raid on his bulb garden, ruining it and breaking his heart. In any event, though the book is set in a somewhat later period (1672-73), it captures the spirit of the earlier half of the century in the reflection of its tulip- breeder hero that a man of competence seeks immortality by giving his name to a child, a book, or a flower. Some writers have wondered that tulip cultivation and Tulipomania should have taken place in the Netherlands. It IS surprising that the moist climate and the level land near Haarlem turned out to be so ideal for growing a plant whose wild ancestors are believed to have originated in the very different habitat southeast of the Black Sea and the Caspian. In other areas of Europe Photo opposite: The folly of the tulip trade in Holland caricatured in a black chalk drawing by Pieter Noipe (b. ca. 1613, d. ca. 1652). Inside the large fool's cap are a nurnber of men sifting at tables negotiating tulip contracts; one man is holding a pair of scales. Behind the cap to the left Flora is riding on an ass accompanied by a group of people; two are striking her with rods. In the right foreground a man is wheeling a barrow full of bulbs and blossoms towa'd a muck pile. In the right middleground the devil is holding an hourglass in one hand and a long staff in the other, a fool's cap on its end and bills of sale hanging from it. The laughing man next to him is supposed to be a landlord who has done well. Photo courtesy of Epstein Archive, University of Chicago. IVlarch 1973 where a rising middle class might have grown — and speculated in — tulips, there was war or, as in Catalonia, great political turmoil. Stephen Usherwood, a British writer, sees the Tulipomania as a crowd reaction of relief after the victories of Gustavus Adolphus had rescued the Dutch from being hemmed in by the Catholic Imperial forces to the south and east. As the two I'Anglois engravings suggest, the tulip had become a costly fashion flower by 1610, first in France and very soon in the rest of western Europe. At that time some growers accidentally produced bulbs with swirly yellow and white stripes. This effect is now known to be due to a virus disease transmitted by aphids but then was considered to be of scientific interest. The striped tulips were also the costliest and an impetus to cultivation. Their owners reaped great profits. As the price rose more and more, people high and low came to think of them as investments. The first mention of the speculation is that of Velius in his Chronicle ot the City of Hoorn (1633). By 1634, the passion for tulips had caught all social classes of the Netherlands. Everyone who owned a few square yards of land grew bulbs. Before long the bulbs were bought not so much with the aim of cultivating them or displaying them in bloom, but for resale at a profit, and this trade became the full-time occupation of many. Large fortunes, some old, some newly made in the spice trade, were invested in tulips. Thousands of people mortgaged their possessions to buy bulbs. There also were many who scoffed at the speculation, among them writers and artists. Steven Teunisz van der Lust wrote a long poem enumerating the occupations of those engaged in tulip trading: nobles, seamen, peat diggers, vintners, masons, court criers, and so forth — at least ninety occupations. It also describes their religious range: "Arminians [i.e., Remonstrants], Geuses, Papists, Freethinkers, Lutherans, fVlennonites, the devout and the indifferent." Of any man who spent his time dealing in tulips it was said, "He is in the Kap" (capuche or hood), and he was called a Kappist. The significance of the term is illustrated by Pieter Nolpe's satirical picture "Flora's Foolscap, or illustration of the marvelous year of 1637 when one fool outdid the other." Jan Bruegel the Younger painted a picture entitled "Persiflage of the tulip trade: monkeys trading in tulips." Field Museum Bulletin A Dutch sail carriage carrying the tulipomaniacs, who are wearing fool's caps on their heads. Flora, the goddess of horticulture, has tulips in her hands. Copper engraving, 1650. Photo courtesy of the Bettmann Archive, Inc. In a book of the time, The Dialogue between Waermondt and Gaergodt, who are two weavers, Gaergodt offers to set Waermondt up in the tulip business. He will sell him a bulb, guarantee him a profit, and show him how to find a tavern in which a tulip- trading club operates — there was one in most Dutch towns. Waermondt is to ask for florists and will be admitted to their club room. "Because you are a stranger some will quack like a duck; others will say, 'I spy a stranger!' But do not take any notice. Your name will be written on a slate . . ." Records of tulip sales and barters are a mine of information to economic historians. Tulip bulbs were traded by variety and weight; the weight unit was .05 grams. A 200-unit (Va ounce) bulb of the most precious variety. Semper Augustus, sold as high as 5,500 florins (it was one of the striped variants mentioned earlier); there were only two bulbs and they were frequently traded. Barter records list as a few of the items going in trade for a single bulb: a silver goblet at 60 fl., a fine suit of clothes at 80 fl., 12 fat sheep at 10 fl. each, and a ton of cheese at 240 fl. But the main significance of such records is that they are the first "paper transactions," well before the first stock exchange or commodity exchange was established. Tulip prices always rose — until February 3, 1637, when a purchaser offered only 1,000 fl. for a bulb for which the vendor had paid 1,250 fl. News of this quickly spread through the United Provinces, creating panic in its wake. The would-be sellers attempted to restore confidence by holding mock auctions, but, with the market suddenly gone, to no avail. They then formed a nation-wide association and elected delegates to an assembly that was to convene in Amsterdam February 27. A majority of this assembly proposed that all contracts made before November 30, 1636 were to be kept. Those made later the buyer could cancel by paying the seller ten percent of the November price. This was thought to be fair to the established traders and to penalize only the late-comers. But the florists of Amsterdam objected, and this proposal and the assembly came to naught. Many sellers then sued their buyers, but the courts declared the tulip contracts void. The judges are said to have considered them illicit gambling. The sellers with defaulting buyers now sought relief by petition to the Estates General of Holland and West Friesland. March 1973 They remonstrated that there was great confusion in the country, that the finding of total invalidity was intolerable in view of both the present situation and the toleration of the trade for several years. There were petitioners from all over the Netherlands, often influential nobles and burghers. The Estates General referred the matter to the Provincial Council at The Hague for investigation and report. In a short time the Council wrote an opinion which became the basis of the Act of the Estates General of April 27, 1637. The preamble of this Act provided that there was to be no general settlement of these cases. First, the number of contracts, the name of each party to each contract, and the increase in tulip prices were to be recorded with precision. The magistrates — who were not remunerated for their services and did not have to be learned in the Roman law — were instructed to attempt to induce the parlies to come to terms amicably. Where such attempts failed, they were to report to the Provincial Council and further evidence was to be sought. Meanwhile, it was left to each seller to make a formal offer of delivery of tulips to his buyer at the contracted price. Should the buyer refuse delivery, the seller could either keep them or resell them and demand any price difference from the originally contracting buyer. At that point the disputed contracts were due to be examined further as to equity. Until then, concluded the Act, the unfulfilled tulip contracts remained in suspense et sine praeiudicio. In most cases the seller had no promised bulbs to deliver, for he was in turn a buyer from some other seller. If he did, he would gain nothing from simply keeping them. If he sold at the depressed market price and sued for the difference, the courts might void the contract. Most frequently the parties lost all desire to bring their transactions to court, and the sellers accepted between five and ten percent of the contracted price in settlement. The Act was a compromise between two conflicting interpretations of the tulip transactions under the Roman law. The first was that aleatory contracts - — those in which what is to be performed is contingent upon events not within the power of the contracting parties, such as insurance, bottomry bonds (a kind of maritime lien), futures contracts, gambling — were under certain conditions legally possible. According to the other interpretation, mere paper transactions in which there was no exchange of goods or services were void in private law and not punishable. The Act of the Estates General of Holland and West Friesland favored a free and increasing commerce; it held any actual exchange of goods — but not mere speculation — to be legitimate. It has been said that in the administration of the Roman law the judges seek to preserve contracts made — which, if defective, are to be improved according to the intention of the parties. Under Anglo-Saxon law, on the other hand, contracts are either binding as written or void because of legal defects. Rudolf Stammler in his legal analysis of the Tulipomania aftermath holds that the application of the Roman law in the 17th century was often thus defective in adjudication of cases of gambling by people of quality, but that the Estates General was legislatively and judicially wise in not legitimizing the tulip contracts, thus keeping the court dockets from being overcrowded by litigation over them. Probably statements that the tulip craze brought Holland to the brink of national bankruptcy are exaggerations. But it did cause the ruin of several great fortunes. At that time state and economy were not so closely linked as they later came to be. The years of the Tulipomania were also the best of the brilliant and successful Stadtholdership of Prince Frederick Henry and did not take the spotlight from either Dutch participation in the Thirty Years' War — the Prince reconquered Breda in 1637 — or colonial expansion — the Dutch were then establishing themselves in parts of Brazil and in the West Indies. The East Indian islands already were in the Dutch sphere, and trade with them had enriched many Dutch and caused the inflation indicated by the tulip barter records. Finally, the Tulipomania did not keep the Dutch East India Company from beginning the conquest of Ceylon in 1638. In fact, the most important consequences of the tulip craze were much more positive as well as long- term. The Tulipomania was the first manifestation of several modern phenomena: trade associations; middle-class gardening; adaptation of the Institutes of Justinian to emerging conditions; the mechanics of speculation in commodity futures; paper transactions; and active participation of a broad public in trade and finance. Max Plaut is Reference Librarian at Field Museum. Field Museum Bulletin international nature photography exhibition The Nature Camera Club of Chicago and Field Museum sponsored their 28th International Exhibition of Nature Photography with the public showing of about 700 slides on the 11th and 18th of February. The accepted slides were chosen from a total of over 3,000 by a panel of five judges. In this way an amateur nature photographer from anywhere in the world can see how his or her best efforts compare with the work of others. A catalog is sent to all entrants listing the accepted slides and their makers. The catalog and careful processing of all slides are not the only services provided for entrants. Fifty slides are selected and, with the maker's permission, reproduced to make traveling sets. These fifty-slide sets are chosen to be representative of the show and are loaned to individuals and groups in distant areas who could not see the exhibition itself. Another service is analysis of slides by those who request it after having none of their slides accepted. (Each entry is restricted to four slides.) Club members who have been photographing for many years provide these analyses. Often a beginning photographer will enter slides that are of poor quality or with obvious flaws in composition. Here commentary can be explicit and helpful. But there are times when slides that are technically and esthetically excellent have not been accepted. Here commentary is often reduced to, "Well, I guess the judges didn't like it — try again next year." William Burger President, Nature Camera Club of Chicago March 1973 Field Museum Bulletin 9 Photos; (page 8) "Devoted Mother," by Laurie Kriz. Apache J jnction, Arizona; (page 9) "Snowy Egret Alerted." by Daniel H. Lee, Rochester, New York: (page 10, top) "Polyorchis Jelly," by Mrs. Alice Kessler, Sacramento. Caliiornia; (page 10. bottom) "Enhanced with Dew," by Louis R. Paxton, Zanesville, Ohio; (page 11) "Pacific Wave," by Nelson H. Martin. Santa Barbara, California. Field Museum Bulletin The Goto Donana Barbara Brown Mrs. Barbara Brown is a Museum Member and has been a volunteer technical assistant in the Mammal Division for several years. She vi/rote to us about her visit to one of the most important nature reserves in Europe — an unguided detour oft the beaten travelers' track. During a business trip that called us to Spain, my husband Roger and I requested and were granted permission to visit the Goto Donana, one of the most important nature reserves in Europe. More than half of all European bird species stop here during their migrations between Europe and Africa. It was too early to witness the spring migrations, but even so v^/e didn't want to miss this rare opportunity. The year-round variety of herons, ducks, larks, warblers, and particularly diurnal birds of prey is impressive. Large animals such as the imperial eagle and the Spanish lynx, now rare in other parts of Spain, live protected in the Goto. Many characteristic North African animals combined with subtropical vegetation attest to the proximity of Morocco. The Goto Dofiana forms a part of the Rio Guadalquiver delta. The delta has an area of 620 square miles, of which 120 are sand dunes. These dunes, called the Arenas Gordas, line the coast, extending inland from 21/2 to 7y2 miles, and separate the Goto fro the sea. In the dry parts of the Goto the soil is sandy with stunted vegetation. The marshy parts, or marismas. are flooded semi-annually by the Rio Guadalquiver, leaving sticky, slimy sediments that are saline and barren. This unique complex of habitats, one of the two main western European flyways for migrating birds, had been the private preserve of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia for five centuries. In 1934 the World Wildlife Fund in collaboration with the Spanish Scientific Gouncil acquired about 25 square miles of the original Goto Donana for a nature reserve. The area was then ceded to the Spanish government for control and maintenance. The 300,000 acres of marismas adjoining the Goto are not protected, however. Projected large-scale drainage of these swamps would drastically alter the ecology of the entire region, including the parts of the marismas that extend into the Goto. We arrived at the locked gates of the reserve in our rented car and followed American robin (a thrush) March 1973 instructions given us by the authorities for locating the key. It was indeed, as described, buried in the sand under the third post. After opening the gate and driving the car through, we of course reburied the key. The journey continued over fifteen miles of washboard road across the sandy plain to what was called the Palacio. Along the way, insect-hunting kestrels filled the sky, magpies flew from one shrub to another, and lapwings strutted along the side of the road. Martin Brandt, a young Norwegian naturalist-ranger, greeted us as we pulled into the cobbled courtyard of the Palacio. He explained that we could explore the Goto by Land Rover, but we assured him we preferred to make the excursion on foot. The Palacio is a 300-year-old white stucco hunting lodge built in the form of a square. The walls in the entrance hall are covered with photographs of hunting parties of Spanish nobility. In the adjacent courtyard are barns, hen houses, tool sheds, and the cultivated gardens of the guardas. or wardens. In front is a wire enclosure with two captive ferrets, a desert fox, a few deer, and a Spanish lynx. Many small land birds can be found in the vicinity of the Palacio, the cultivated gardens, the work buildings of the guardas, and the thickets of trees adjacent to the edge of the marismas. Stonechats, chiffchaffs, chaffinches, and serins were common. Most exciting for us, however, was the sight of a small brown bird with a bright orange-red breast, the common European robin. Now we understand why English colonists in America called our much larger thrush a robin. We saw representatives of most of the reserve's avifauna along the grasses, sedges, and reeds bordering the edge of the marismas. Predators were soaring overhead constantly, hunting small mammals and reptiles concealed in the rushes. Fallow deer and red deer browsed nearby, and feral descendants of horses and cattle, escaped from herds on privately owned estates, grazed unconcerned by our presence. Cattle egrets accompanied the herds. Thousands of resident greylag geese filled the sky above the flooded marismas. Evidence of the nightly rooting and digging of wild boars was seen all along the edges of the marshes. A snake-eagle was seen aloft clutching a snake in one of its talons. This eagle prefers the dry, sandy areas, where its prey is more abundant. Trees along the edges of the sand provide nesting sites. Kestrels were abundant in all the habitat types we explored. Away from the edge of the marismas is a sandy plain covered with halimium, gorse, broom, and scattered cork oaks. The several small freshwater lakes distributed over the plain are fed by a stream called Madre de las Marismas. Small islands, or vetas, which dot the lakes serve as breeding areas for ground-nesting birds. The stunted vegetation and scarcity of animals on the arid plain contrast sharply with the lagoons and marshes teeming with life. Nevertheless, here in the desert and the depressions between the sand dunes is where myriads of migratory birds stop to rest. Until they come, it belongs to the great numbers of butterflies, the occasional rabbit we saw darting behind a shrub, and the red fox we glimpsed running across the plain. Drawings by Zbigniew Jastrzebski. Field Museum Bulletin 13 Kresge Foundation Pledges $1 Million to Capital Campaign ■'One of the greatest institutions of our country." That IS how Stanley S, Kresge, chairman of the foundation established by his father, described Field tvluseum during a press conference February 15 to announce the foundation's $1 million pledge to the lyluseum's $25 million Capital Campaign. Museum Director E. Leiand Webber expressed gratitude for the grant, explaining that It will be used to help build an educational center in the Museum's west wing. Included will be a bus ramp entry at ground level to serve the more than 350,000 school children who annually visit the Museum in organized groups, as well as adequate entry, orientation, checking, and restroom facilities for them. The entry will also serve visitors confined to wheelchairs or otherwise unable to climb stairs. Dr. Alice Games, coordinator of teacher training at Field Museum, described how educational facilities, now scattered throughout the museum, will also be centrally located to better serve visiting school groups and teachers, community groups, college students, and persons working on specialized research. Others participating in the press conference were William Baldwin, president of the Kresge Foundation, of Birmingham, Michigan; Blaine Yarrlngton, Museum trustee and chairman of the Capital Campaign's corporate and foundation division; Illinois Lieutenant Governor Nell Hartigan; and Mrs. Judith Allen, principal of Harvard-St. George's Lower School, In Chicago. The Kresge gift brings the Museum's share of the Capital Campaign to $9.4 million, leaving $3.1 million still to be raised by the Museum before the deadline of September, 1974. This sum of $12.5 million will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Chicago Park District through funds raised by Its bonding authority, granted by the Illinois General Assembly. Lieutenant Governor Hartigan praised the matchlng-funds concept as exemplifying "intelligent relationship between the private sector and government." Left to right, Blaine Yarrlngton and E. Leiand Webber show Stanley S. Kresge and William Baldwin plans for educational center in Field Museum's west wing. 14 March 1973 Natural History Field Trips Offered Three weekend natural history field trips are being offered this spring by Field Museum's Department of Education in cooperation with the University of Chicago Downtown Center. One objective of the trips is to investigate the correlation between the geology of the areas and spring flowers, especially effects of the geologic history on flowering plants. Dr. Matthew Nitecki, geologist, and Dr. William Burger, botanist, both of Field Museum, will lead the groups. May 5 (10:30-12 noon): Introductory lecture. May 12 (8 a.m.)-May 13 (6 p.m.): Starved Rock area. Starved Rock, a bluff cut by a glacial river and standing some 100 feet above the surrounding glaciated plain, contains a rich variety of flora characteristic of our area. Leaders: Drs. Nitecki and Burger. May 19 (8 a.m.)-May 20 (6 p.m.): Galena and its environs. In the 1840s Galena was a major lead-producing district of the U.S. The area was not covered by glaciers, and therefore the landscape is much different from the flat, glaciated topography of the rest of Illinois. Leader: Dr. Nitecki. June 2 (8 a.m.)-June 3 (7 p.m.): Devil's Lake, Wisconsin. The Baraboo Range supports a unique flora, some of which has apparently been undisturbed since the end of the last glaciation. The range, about one billion years old, consists of quartzite folded into vertical position. Leaders: Drs. Nitecki and Burger. Tuition for the series is $80 ($75 for Museum Members), or $30 for each trip ($28 for Museum Members), and includes transportation on a chartered bus. Overnight accommodations are not included, but advance reservations at reasonable rates will be made for all participants. Anyone interested in joining one or more of the groups should call Mrs. Maria Matyas for further information, Fl 6-8300. Two 30- Year-Plus Staff Members Retire James R. Shouba joined the Museum staff in 1939. As Superintendent of Maintenance beginning in 1947 and Building Superintendent from 1962, he doctored every ailment the building, in its advancing age, succumbed to, and supervised every structural alteration required by new exhibits and changing work space needs. Once he was even called upon to dispose of the remains of a camel. But more in his line was overseeing the major construction projects of filling in two of the building's light wells in order to add 35,000 square feet of much needed working and storage space. Because of his intimate knowledge of the building's pathology, Mr. Shouba will continue to serve the Museum as a part- time consultant to help with the major renovations being made possible by funds from the Capital Campaign. Joseph B Krstolich and "friend" (who IS now in a diorama in Hall C). When Joseph B. Krstolich worked at Field Museum in 1939 on an art project, he was already a well known animal sculptor with 20 years of accomplishment and acclaim to his credit. He became a full-time Museum employee in 1941, and for the next 31 years, as staff artist, applied his talents to such diverse things as underwater photography of marine life off Bermuda; a model of a crocodile brain; a cat carved on a sheet of plexiglass to show its internal organs (part of our This is a Mammal exhibit); the famous gorilla Bushman (presently in the 75th Anniversary exhibit); and, most recently, the four new figures in our Neanderthal Man diorama. An uncounted number of Museum exhibits have been enhanced by Mr. Krstolich's creative skills. He can't say which he enjoyed working on most because, as he remarked, "Every exhibit was a new challenge." James R. Shouba Training Program in Anthropology Offered High Schiool Juniors Twenty-seven high-ability high school juniors will be chosen to participate in Field Museum's Student Science Training Program in Anthropology this summer. This intensive course offers young people an unusual opportunity to learn about the various fields of anthropology and thus test their career interest in the subject. Monday through Friday sessions, from June 25 through August 3, will feature lectures by outstanding authorities, supervised research projects, workshops, study of museum specimens, and archaeological field work at a nearby site. The program, one of only a few of Its kind in this country, is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. It is under the direction of Miss Harriet Smith, lecturer in anthropology in Field Museum's Department of Education. Students interested in joining the program may obtain application forms from either high school officials or Miss Smith. Completed applications must be returned to Field Museum no later than March 26. Participants will be selected on the basis of academic achievement, recommendations of teachers, and personal interviews. Ownership and Circulation Filing date: 9/26/72. Title: Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, Frequency of publication: monthly except combined July/August issue. Office: Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, III. 60605. Publisher: Field Museum of Natural History. Editor: Elizabeth Munger. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders: none. Nonprofit status has not changed during preceding 12 months. Av. No. Actual No. Copies Copies Each Issue Single Issue . Preceding Nearest to 12 Months Filing Date Total copies printed 26,666 26,700 Total paid circulation 21,850 22,287 mail subscriptions 21,850 22,287 Free distribution 1,743 2,095 Total distribution 23,593 24,382 Office use, left-over 3,073 2,318 Total 26,666 26.700 1 certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete. — Norman W. Nelson, Asst. Dir., Admin. Field Museum Bulletin ETTERS To the editor: The story "The Mystery of Maize" by George W. Beadle in the November 1972 issue of the Bulletin, about his theory that teosinte is the wild ancestor of corn, is readable and entertaining. It does, however, contain a number of errors of fact, interpretalion, and omission. At least four of my own views are misrepresented in the story. 1) In the author's so-called "cob quiz" I did not classify a single second-generation (F2) cob as that of "good" corn and I have yet to see one that is. 2) My present idea that teosinte is the progeny of a corn-like ancestor is not a "dramatic reversal" but rather the result of continuing research in which I have participated with my colleagues. This work, concerned with the characteristics of the pollen grains, has provided convincing evidence that Tripsacum can be eliminated as one of teosinte's progenitors, leaving corn as its only ancestor. 3) There is no "curious inconsistency" in my idea that teosinte evolved from corn while doubting that cultivated corn could have evolved from teosinte. The former would have occurred over millions of years: the latter in three thousand years or less. 4)1 have never described the earliest cobs from the Tehuacan Caves as "brittle," a characteristic of teosinte. Instead they are "fragile," which in proper botanical context is quite different. The author errs, I think, in placing too much reliance on the cytogenetic evidence. This has long been accepted as showing a close relationship of corn and teosinte but it falls far short of proving that corn evolved from teosinte under domestication. His own experiments, involving 50,000 plants, have added little if anything to what was already known from the earlier studies of Collins and Kempton (1920) and Mangelsdorf and Reeves (1939). His conviction that the differences between corn and teosinte are few and are simple in their inheritance may have prevented him from seeing what these earlier workers had obsen/ed: that the differences between the two species are numerous and complex and that in their second-generation hybrids all characteristics of each parent are associated with one or more others. The story mentions, but does not do justice to, the extensive archaeological collections of prehistoric corn that have been assembled during the past twenty-five years through the congenial and effective collaboration of botanists and archaeologists. Genetic experiments can do no more than provide a basis for speculating about the past; archaeological remains are the past. I have had the exciting and rewarding experience of analyzing, with others, the collections from fourteen once-inhabited caves in Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico. Perhaps the most impressive feature of these collections is the consistency with which they all point to the same conclusion; the earliest corn, except for its smaller size, has all of the principal botanical characteristics of modern corn and shows no evidence of having evolved from teosinte. Especially significant Is the earliest prehistoric corn from two caves, San Marcos and Coxcatlan in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico, excavated by Richard S. MacNeish. The earliest cobs, dated at about 5000 B.C., we regard for a number of reasons (six, not two as stated by Beadle) as those of wild corn. The resemblances that Beadle claims to see between this early corn and teosinte simply do not exist. With these comments I have included photographs of an "ear" of teosinte and a cob of the 7,000-year-old corn. The reader need not be a trained botanist to see that the two are quite distinct. Supplementing the archaeological evidence is the paleobotanical evidence represented by fossil pollen grains of corn found in drill cores taken from a site in Mexico City in preparation for the construction of Mexico's first skyscraper. Please address all letters to the editor to Bulletin Field Museum of Natural History Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60605 The editors reserve the right to edit letters for length. Lett: An "ear" of leosinle (actual size). Because of tfie hard, bony sfiells in wfiicfi its seeds are enclosed and ttie tendency for ttie ears to fall apart before tfiey can be tiarvested, teosinte fias generally been considered unpromising as a food plant. Right: A cob of ttie earliest known corn (actual size) dated at 5000 B.C. from a once-inliabited cave in f^exico. Except for size, it fias all of ttie principal cfiaracteristics of modern corn, and it sfiows no evidence of tiaving evolved from teosinte. I regard it as wild corn. These occurred at depths of more than 200 feet and are estimated to be at least 80,000 years old. They were identified by Professor Elso S. Barghoorn, one of the world's foremost paleobotanists. Beadle does not mention this critical evidence, which, if accepted, represents a fatal blow to his teosinte theory, and I find his failure to do so almost incredible. Certainly It is an essential part of the corn story. Knowing the circumstances under which the drill cores were collected and the pollen isolated and identified, I regard the fossil corn pollen as authentic and, like the prehistoric cobs of the Tehuaccin Valley, showing that the ancestor of cultivated corn was corn. Paul C. Mangelsdorl Chapel Hill, North Carolina To the editor: Thank you for permitting me to note Professor Mangelsdorf's criticism of my November article. I am not persuaded by the objections he makes to teosinte as a direct ancestor of maize, but agree with you that an adequate response requires technical considerations and references not wholly appropriate to the Field Museum Bulletin. I shall therefore respond elsewhere in due course. George W. Beadle University of Chicago fviarch 1973 CALENDAR Exhibits Closes March 25 A New Spirit in Searcli of the Past: Archaeology and Ecology in the Lower Illinois River Valley, an exhibit explaining the "new" archaeology as reflected in the Illinois Valley Archaeological Program's excavation of the Koster Site, directed by Dr. Stuart Struever of Northwestern University. Hall 9. Continuing Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds, an exhibit exploring the world of details in common objects and familiar plants and animals, and offering glimpses into current research activities. Nearly 300 photographs, displayed at up to 200,000 times life-size, introduce a previously unseen world. Through July 15. Hall 18. Color in Nature, an exhibit examining the nature and variety of color in the physical and living world and how it functions in plants and animals. Continues indefinitely. Hall 25. Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit continues indefinitely. "A Sense of Wonder" offers thought-provoking prose and poetry associated with the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of nature; "A Sense of History" presents a graphic portrayal of the Museum's past; and "A Sense of Discovery" shows examples of research conducted by Museum scientists. Hall 3. Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. Copper-plate engravings made for American Ornithology (1808), a nine-volume work by the father of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson. Also shown are proofs from the plates recently pulled by Richard A. Davis, Butler University, and George McCullough, Fort Wayne Art Institute, alongside examples of first edition prints of the same engravings in Field Museum's rare book collection. Through May 31. South Lounge. Film Program Sunday, March 11 "Yosemite: An Ecological Visit," wildlife film narrated by Eben McMillan, is offered by the Illinois Audubon Society at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. Ayer Adult Film Lecture Series, 2:30 p.m. Saturdays in the James Simpson Theatre. March 3: "Golden Kingdoms of the Orient," narrated by John Nicholls Booth. March 10: "Exotic West Pakistan," narrated by Renee Taylor. March 17: "The New Alaska," narrated by Leo and Dorothy Eckman. March 24: "All Around Australia," narrated by Edgar T. Jones. March 31: "Yugoslavia," narrated by Frank Klicar. Children's Program Begins March 1 Spring Journey for Children, Life in the Tropical Rain Forest," a self-guided tour encouraging youngsters to learn about the inhabitants of the little-known Amazonian region of South America by exploring Museum exhibit areas. Youngsters are provided with a questionnaire which routes them through Museum exhibit areas. All boys and girls who can read and write may join in the activity. Journey sheets are available at Museum entrances. Through May 31. Meetings March 8: 8 p.m., Chicago Mountaineering Club March 11:2 p.m., Chicago Shell Club March 13: 7:30 p.m.. Nature Camera Club of Chicago March 13: 8 p.m., Chicagoland Glider Council March 14: 7:30 p.m.. Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society March 27: 7:30 p.m., Nature Camera Club of Chicago. Coming in April Ayer Adult Film Lecture Series, 2:30 p.m. Saturdays in the James Simpson Theatre. April 7: "Michigan Odyssey," narrated by Edward M. Bingham, Jr. April 14: "Russia," narrated by Dr. Arthur C. Twomey. April 21: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," narrated by Richard Linde. April 28: "The Open Arms of Portugal," narrated by James Metcalf. Spring Film Series for Children, 10:30 a.m. Saturdays in the James Simpson Theatre. April 7: Fiesta-Cub Scout Day; "Exciting Latin America." April 14: Egypt, pyramids, and mummies; "Ancient Land of the Pharoahs." April 28: Museum Traveler Day; annual presentation of Field Museum Journey awards and color film. March Hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday thirough Ttiursday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. The Museum Library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please obtain pass at reception desk, main floor north. Aoril 1973 Education is finding windows to the world; Field Museum has thousands of them. Cover photo and design by Clifford Abrams. Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 4 April 1973 2 New Directions for the Education Department educational programs have always been important at Field Museum; now they are expanding into new dimensions 14 Capital Campaign how leadership grants are pushing it toward its goal 15 Field Briefs 16 Members' Nights: The Inside Story a sneak preview of some of the activities planned for the annual spring open house, May 3 and 4, 6 to 10 p.m. Calendar Managing Editor G. Fred Huysmans. Henry Ottery; Editor Elizabetfi Monger; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs: Production Russ Becker; Photograpliy John Bayalis, The Field Museum ol Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions; $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Un- solicited manuscripts are welcome. Printed by Field Museum Press. Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, f^ostmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Field Museum Bulletin 2 Aorll 1973 New directions for the Education Department Editor Robert Matthai Ed. Robert Matthai Mr. Matthai, last year the Bulletin devoted separate issues to the Museum's four scientific departments. Now we want to focus on the Education Department. Would you as Chairman of that department lead off by telling us what its role is. Our job is to reach out to the public — children and adults — and help them learn from the vast array of scientific information the Museum has "in stock," so to speak. This means selecting and organizing information. It also often means translating what is esoteric and technical into forms and activities that can be understood — and enjoyed — by people of different ages and different interests. How is the Education Department related to the others in the Museum — the scientific and exhibition departments? They generate the information and help create background materials for us to work with. We would have nothing to purvey if there were no exhibits and no scientific staff. On the other hand, the fact that the Education Department has so many special services for students and adults does help attract public and private support necessary to pay for scientific research and new exhibits. The relationship is truly symbiotic — education, exhibition, and scientific research are Intertwined in a museum like ours. Any one part would mean little without the other two. Our educational programs relate closely to exhibits; our staff help in the planning of new exhibits; and the scientific Education Department staff — Front row: Marie Svoboda, Coordinator, Raymond Foundation; Marttia Lussentiop, Instructor, Raymond Foundation; Julie Castrop, Instructor, Raymond Foundation; Priscilla Byrne, Departmental Secretary. Back row: Ronald Lambert, Preparator, Harris Extension; Edith Fleming, Instructor, Raymond Foundation; Nancy Simpson, Research Assistant, Teacher Training; J. L. Williams, Instructor, Outreach; Alice Games. Coordinator, Outreach/Teacher Training; Susan Kaye, Assistant to Chairman; Cynthia Mark, Research Assistant, Outreach/Harris Extension; Robert Matthai, Chairman; Gail Downey, Secretary, Raymond Foundation; Harriet Smith, Instructor, Raymond Foundation; James Bland, Instructor, Raymond Foundation/ Outreach; David Pressler, Coordinator, Harris Extension; Carolyn Blackmon, Coordinator, Outreach/Special Educational Services. Holding pennant: Mary Talley, Secrela:y, Outreach. Not in picture: Barbara Young. Secretary, Raymond Foundation, and John Dykstra, Driver, Harris Extension. Ed. Robert Matthai Ed. Robert Matthai Ed. Robert Matthai Staff provide the "raw material" for our programs and help us keep them accurate. Is museum education different from school education? The strong suit of a museum is that it offers people experience with three-dimensional "real things," not just two-dimensional representations of reality. Thus museum education stresses exposure to objects, both those that are man-made, called artifacts, and those that are made by nature, called specimens. These objects are usually intrinsically interesting to students because of their high "reality quotient." Many schools are using innovative teaching techniques these days. Is museum education keeping pace? A major criticism leveled at museum education is that it often lags behind educational techniques current in schools. One complaint is that too many facts are crammed into a brief visit to a museum. Another is that students' exploration and curiosity are hampered by glass-covered cases or rope barriers. Museums, particularly those of the natural history variety, also often suffer from a "musty-dusty" image in many people's minds. What are you doing about these criticisms? Can modern educational philosophy fit into an old and venerable institution? Yes indeed, educational progress and museum traditions can be compatible! For example, even though Field Museum will no doubt always have glassed-in cases, we have devised educational activities to be carried out in classrooms or learning centers, and we are doing more here in the Museum, and especially in schools, to satisfy the human need to explore and manipulate objects. To be sure, it will always be inappropriate for fragile and precious objects to be handled by children, or adults, but there are plenty of sturdy and less valuable objects that can be made a direct part of the educational experience. And as new exhibits are planned, there will be opportunities to make visitor participation part of the design. Field Museum Bulletin Ed. Robert Matthai Making museum teaching techniques more like methods now used in schools — or on TV, as represented by Sesame Street, for example — is a more difficult problem. But having workshops for our teaching staff, encouraging them to attend professional conferences, and offering sabbaticals can close this gap. Just who are the people the Education Department serves? You mentioned children and adults earlier. Unquestionably the largest group are school-age children and young people. We serve them directly at the Museum as well as indirectly at their schools through their classroom teachers. Last year, for instance, more than 340,000 student visitors came to the Museum in organized groups — over 6,700 such groups. We were able to present a special instructional teaching program for about 20 percent of them through the Raymond Foundation division of the Education Department. Through the Harris Extension division we circulate small exhibit cases among almost 450 city schools on a rotational basis. Just a few months ago we began an ambitious project which involves taking a wide range of educational services out to communities in the Chicago area. Then there are some special year-long course programs offered by the Chicago Board of Education which involve close cooperation and participation by the Museum. They are held right here at the Museum. One is the museology course for gifted high school students (described in the July/August 1971 Bulletin). Another is an anthropology course for students of the "Metro High School Without Walls." And a special art class for talented public high school students meets here on Saturdays and uses Museum exhibits and materials to learn about form and design. Besides all these student-oriented programs, there are the film and lecture series for the general public at the Museum, and we and the University of Chicago Downtown Center co-sponsor evening and weekend non-technical courses. I want to say more about special programs for adults later when I talk about plans for the future. But first, the Education Department staff people who are designing and carrying out the programs now in progress want to describe them in some detail. Ed. Marie Svoboda Ed. Marie Svoboda Ed. Marie Svoboda Marie Svoboda Programs tor school groups Let's start with the section of the department that presently serves the largest number of young people, through the programs for school groups. That's your division. Miss Svoboda. These programs have been operating for a long time haven't they? I remember special bus trips to Field Museum from my own elementary school days in the Chicago area. The Museum began offering tours and workshops to the school children of Chicago in 1925, thanks to a gift from Mrs. Anna Louise Raymond. Since then the Raymond Foundation has subsidized the instruction of just under six million children. Bob Matthai said that your staff offered instructional programs to about 20 percent of the some 6,700 organized groups of young people who came to the Museum last year. That's more than 1,300 groups. Who does all this? Our regular staff are three full-time and two half-time instructors. They all have a master's degree in some area of natural history and are qualified to teach in other areas as well. But we also have 29 part-time specially trained volunteer instructors who help conduct tours for school groups. All these people have in common a talent for communicating effectively and spontaneously with children. Would you describe these instructional programs? We offer three kinds — Museum tours, study-unit programs, and workshops. You could think of them as increasingly intense exposure to the particular theme or topic each one is organized around. And of course the topics themselves as well as the teachers' presentations are offered at levels appropriate to the age of the group. Some of the most popular topics are "Indians of North America," "Dinosaurs," "Ancient Egypt," and "Animals Around the World." New programs are added whenever appropriate and where Museum exhibits and collections can be used to advantage. Some new topics added this year are "Endangered and Vanishing April 1973 Animals," "Ecology," "Monkeys and Apes," "Cultural Anthropology," and "Microscopic Life. Ed. How is this instruction handled? Marie Svoboda The tone is always informal in order to encourage the children to participate. Our instructors use thought-provoking questions to focus attention and interest, and that leads into using exhibits and individual specimens and artifacts to illustrate key concepts. The children are always eager to handle the real objects that are used in study-unit programs and workshops especially. They are then usually full of spontaneous questions, and that develops into the kind of interaction that shows the experience has taken on meaning for them. Marie Svoboda Ed. We are always pleased to get these letters, and we keep every one. Countless teachers have commented to us on the effectiveness of this style of teaching. They show their appreciation also by returning year after year with new classes. Another program that your division originated is the self-guiding Journey for Children, isn't it? How does it work? Ed. I have seen many folders of appreciative letters in your office from both the students and their teachers. They certainly testify to what you've just said. Marie Svoboda Ed. Marie Svoboda Ed. Marie Svoboda Top: Students in a workshop led by Edith Fleming try their hand at reproducing African rhythms on African instruments. Bottom: Students in the special summer anthropology program learn about archaeological field work by doing it at a site near Chicago. Photos by Ed Jarecfci. Every three months a new Journey tour is written around a theme — such as "Archaeology in the Midwest" or "Dog Meets Man" — and printed on single sheets which are available at the Museum entrances. Questions devised to stimulate the children's observation guide them to various exhibits to find the answers so they can write them on the sheet, which they turn in when they finish the tour — at their own pace. Every spring we have a Museum Travelers' Day and present awards to the boys and girls who have accurately completed all four Journeys during the year. What is the Museum's special summer anthropology program that so many high school juniors apply for every year? This is an intensive, formally structured program six weeks long, five days a week, which introduces highly motivated and talented students to the various aspects of anthropology. The group hears lectures by outstanding authorities in different fields of anthropology. It has seminars and workshops, which involve direct use and study of Museum collections. Participants report on an investigation of their own communities. And they spend a short but intensive period doing archaeological field work at a nearby site and make formal reports on their findings. Harriet Smith and Edith Fleming organized the program eight years ago, and we have been able to offer it every summer since thanks to renewed grants from the National Science Foundation. Students usually apply for admission to this program through their schools, don't they? They may, or they can get application forms directly from the Museum. The application period, which closes in March, is announced every year in the Bulletin and in newspapers as well as through schools. Field fkiuseum Bulletin Ed. David Pressler Ed. David Pressler Extension Service to Schools Mr. Pressler, as coordinator of the Education Department's extension service, would you describe the program and perhaps some of its background? Our basic purpose is to offer school children and teachers of Chicago materials and experiences that are not ordinarily encountered in the classroom. In essence, we extend Field Museum into the classroom by sending materials and Information from our own Harris collection. Harris Extension was created by Norman Wait Harris in 1911 through a foundation for this purpose. In 1912 a committee composed of school principals, members of the Chicago Board of Education, and representatives from the four scientific departments at Field Museum recommended a unique format which would permit the safe circulation of materials from school to school. These are the familiar mahogany and glass exhibit cases with pull-out information plaques. The first of these cases, depicting a variety of animals in simulated natural environments, were circulated to 50 schools in 1914. Today a different exhibit is delivered to nearly 450 schools every 20 days, at no cost to the schools. In other words, we currently deliver approximately 7,600 exhibits during the school year. In addition to these traditional exhibits, we have some exciting new ideas for changing the format of our materials to encourage children to interact more directly with objects. I had noticed that you were assembling an interesting array of African artifacts in the anthropology conservation room. Yes, those materials are being selected to give us specific information about artifacts we hope to purchase from Africa for inclusion in our new "kits." These will be self-contained educational exhibit packages which will present several topics that we believe will be both interesting to children and useful to teachers. The presentation will include artifacts, specimens, and photographs — and possibly filmstrips and cassette recordings. Each kit will include concise background information which will enable the teacher to make maximum use Ed. David Pressler Ed. David Pressler of the kit, even if he or she is unfamiliar with the subject. This sounds like a more complete form of the so-called multi-media approach that has gained popularity in the last few years. The similarity, of course, would be the use of filmstrips. However, I believe our kits will be much more dynamic and comprehensive because they will motivate students to interact directly with the materials. These materials will be selected for high visual and tactile appeal. We also expect to encourage participation through class discussion and specific activities designed to promote personal discovery and creative expression. We want children to learn about ttiemselves in relation to the subject matter as well about the subject matter itself. What are some of the topics that these kits will be concerned with? The kits already being developed will stimulate exploration of a variety of African arts from an esthetic as well as anthropological point of view. These will be separate kits on African sculpture, textiles, musical instruments, jewelry, leatherwork, basketry, and architecture. They will stress, for instance, the concept that African art, besides having great beauty, is often highly functional and tied to people's everyday needs as well as their cultural heritage. They will also demonstrate the concept that environmental conditions affect the choice of materials used by the many David Pressler and Cynthia Mark (center) consult Maude Wahlman about authentic African specimens that could be photographed (or new educational "kits" being designed (or circulation to schools. Photo by Herta Newton. April 1973 Ed. David Pressler Ed. Robert Matthai different peoples who live on the African continent. Though these concepts are developed from the African context, they obviously have much broader application. We will suggest that students and teachers compare objects from different cultures, including our own, in order to develop a greater appreciation for the many ways of doing similar things. What other exhibits are you planning in this new way? A kit based on the Scanning Electron Microscope exhibit is one — to introduce children to the exciting microscopic world. Through observation, discussion, and activities, we plan to strengthen children's awareness of and sensitivity to their environment. This kit will include high magnification photographs and activities using various magnification equipment to create a structured but a spontaneous series of personal experiences. Other kits will be about man in his environment, based on the major Museum exhibit now being planned; color in nature; masks, exploring the use of masks from cultures all over the world, including our own Halloween masks; stone tools, with actual stone implements compared with hand tools today. We may also design several different kits about ethnic America, each representing aspects of the cultural heritage of ethnic groups in the Chicago area. Board of Education Courses Mr. Matthai, you mentioned some Board of Education courses that involve the Museum. How do they work? One is an anthropology course offered by the Metro High School Without Walls. Metro is an exciting and innovative idea that took shape in Chicago in 1970. Its purpose is to utilize community cultural and business resources for a kind of alternative education — alternative, that is, to the traditional high school classroom education. It is an option that any Chicago high school student may apply for — and they do apply from all over the city. The course that uses Field Museum as its community resource is called Origins of Humanness. The name comes from the core materials used, which are a book of readings plus "evidence materials" developed by the recently completed Anthropology Curriculum Study Project that was sponsored by the American Anthropological Association. In fact, the director of that project was Dr. Malcolm Collier, wife of Dr. Donald Collier, Curator of Anthropology at the Museum. The Metro teacher for the course is Steve Everett. This year's class of 15 students come together every Friday afternoon at the Museum for discussion, to see films and study exhibits related to the course, and to learn directly from Museum curators and preparators. As for the Museology course, Sue Maxwell, from the Chicago Board of Education Programs for Gifted Children, is now teaching it for the third year. Usually about 12 to 16 students are enrolled. They become acquainted with all aspects of the Museum — the research, collections, educational facilities, and exhibition techniques — and each student works in one-to- one relationships with members of the staff. Maybe the best kind of testimonial for such a course would be the students' evaluations, like this one, for instance: "Museology gave me the experience of learning for learning's sake, not learning only to pass an exam. It also provided me with a taste of learning by experience, not simply taking someone's word for it that this is the way it is. There should be more programs of this type open to all students." Museology students Susan Grobstein, Sullivan High School, and Sydney Ross, Lindblom High School, working on scientific illustration of a vi/olf's jaw, get help from Samuel Grove, senior illustrator in Exhibition Department. Photo by Herta Newton. Field Museum Bulletin Ed. Alice Carnes creative ways and learn what they are doing. This is the idea behind a research project currently funded by the National Science Foundation. Barbara Reque at the Howland School here in Chicago is one teacher we are learning from. She is curriculum assistant there for Project Follow-Through, a federal program to improve the education of inner-city children. We are making a case study of a project she is working on cooperatively with two kindergarten teachers and their classes. They planned a visit to Field Museum to examine a series of human habitats, including the King's House from the Cameroons and the Hopi apartment. The teachers hope the children will learn something about how materials at hand influence the lives of people — the houses they build, the food they eat. Some of the things they did in the classroom before the visit were grinding corn into meal with stone tools and baking cornbread with it and constructing houses with materials like sticks and straw and stones. Then they toured the exhibits — in groups of just five or six children with an adult who asked them questions and encouraged them to record their impressions in on-the-spot drawings. Back in the classroom the children constructed model houses and tools with "modern" materials like metal and cardboard. What should other teachers who want to get involved with your workshops or case studies do? Just write or call me at the Museum. And let me emphasize again that we want to learn as well as teach. Ed. Carolyn Blackmon Ed. Carolyn Blackmon Barbara Reque, curriculum assistant for Project Follow-Through at Howland School, works with children on learning projects that prepare them for a visit to Field l^useum to examine human habitats. Photo by Herta Newton. Carolyn Blackmon Special Educational Services Mrs. Blackmon, you described our expanded volunteer recruitment and training program in the January Bulletin. Would you tell us now about the other special services you are working on? Before I do I'd like to get another plug in for the volunteer program, because there was such gratifying response to that article from prospective new volunteers. For those who are interested in volunteer teaching for school groups, a 12-week training program will be given this fall. There are still many opportunities available in all departments. We especially need volunteers with specialized skills, such as translating, woodworking, and cataloging specimens. Master craftsmen such as weavers and potters and carvers are needed to give demonstrations for the public. These demonstrations will be part of new programs we are developing for Museum visitors to show how materials in our exhibits were made. We also have plans for mini-festivals that will present crafts, music, and dances of various cultures and ethnic groups. And more weekend film programs that relate to permanent as well as special exhibits and programs are being planned. What's the new format for the Ayer film-lecture series that Bob Matthai mentioned? Customarily there have been a spring and a fall series every year. In fact, 1972 was the 50th year of continuous programming for the Ayer series. For the 1973-74 season there will be the usual October-November and March-April programs (depending on the availability of the James Simpson Theatre because of possible rehabilitation work in spring 1974). Some programs will be given both Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, and additional programs 10 April 1973 Ed. will be presented during the winter. Distinguished speakers will lecture on natural history topics. This new format will allow greater variety of programs and also opportunity for more people to take advantage of them. Carolyn, since your plug for recruiting volunteers was so productive in January, let's note your fvluseum phone number this time — 922-9410, extension 361. Ed. James Bland 1 ^*>^= r-^^7^^--esLmam^^^i^^ James Bland and some of the materials he uses in his environmental workshop. Anthropologists and archaeologists frequently use the garbage left by particular cultures to reconstruct what that culture was like. In this case, some garbage of a modern culture is compared with that of a Neanderthal site to demonstrate modern man's enormously greater demands on his environment. Photo by George Olson. Ed. Workshops for City Children Mr. Bland, would you tell us about the environmental workshop you have developed? This particular workshop, designed for students from the sixth grade through high school, is thematically related to the major new "Man In His Environment" exhibit and program that the Museum is working on. Actually, "Man in His Environment" is being called a "program" because so much more than an exhibit will be involved. The purpose of the workshop is to acquaint students with the complexity of ecological problems and get them iriterested and involved in solving the problems. I start off by showing what an ecosystem is. Then we examine Neanderthal stone tools to discover what they can tell us about Neanderthal man's adaptation to the environment. Next we examine a selected sample of modern garbage, which leads us into considering our own impact on the environment — and its reciprocal effect on us. We learn about lung capacity and other anatomical details as they are affected by various pollutants. I'll be offering this workshop at schools and community centers as well as at the Museum. I find that kids who live in the inner city come up with some provocative thoughts about their own environments when we try to define the dimensions of the problem for city-dwellers. Questions like "What exactly is the urban environment?" "Does it include poverty as well as air pollution?" "Should an environmental 'casualty count' include the number of people killed by handguns as well as the deleterious effects of carbon monoxide in the air?" You've been talking about your pilot workshop. Are there other environmental education programs planned? James Bland I have presented a workshop for teachers in conjunction with the Chicago Board of Education, and for this summer a workshop on ecology is being planned jointly with the Shedd Aquarium. Julie Castrop and Martha Lussenhop and I are working on this together. Something I would especially like to do is organize a program to teach urban school children how to monitor air and water pollution in their own communities. Field Museum Bulletin J. L. Williams Ed. J. L. Williams Ed. Ms. Williams, you are working on very different workshops for city cfiildren — built around Nigerian games and songs and dance. Would you describe what you do? I start with a story about the well known African folk tale character Anansi the Spider, who thinks he knows it all. The children mime the actions of the characters in the story as I read, using things I have brought along, like authentic African hats, rooster feathers, sheepskins, horsehair fly whips, and woven fabrics. Almost all kids love to act out stories, especially with real props. Then I teach them a game and a song from each of three Nigerian tribes — Yoruba, Hausa, and Ibo — and also the contemporary dance called the High-Life, which is so popular in urban Africa. Playing games, singing, and dancing are things children especially respond to. How do you learn these games and songs and dances? J. L. Williams Ed. J. L. Williams From interviews with Africans living in the Chicago area. I'm workmg on a Zulu program now for the grade schools. I would like to offer an eight-week summer workshop of African dances and songs for high school students at the Museum. Your own special talent as a dancer is certainly an apt background for these programs. Dancing has always been your avocation, hasn't it? I started to dance in college. Five years ago I joined the Julian Swain Inner City Dance Troupe. We perform Afro, modern, and Afro- Cuban dances at schools, jails, clubs, and concerts around the city. I have also studied Flamenco and East Indian dance, Tai-Chi- Chuan, and Yoga. And I'm presently teaching Arabian dance at Central YMCA Community College (under my professional name, Djalal). I have always been fascinated by the ways different cultures emphasize different parts of the body, different movements, and different rhythms. Children at Louis Wirlh School in Chicago became so excited about Ms. Williams' workshop that they put on an African festival for parents and friends. Photo by Ed Jarecki. 12 April 1973 Ed. Mr. Matthai, these descriptions of the beginnings of the Education Department's workshops for city children sound exciting — especially because they are designed to go out to the youngsters as well as bring them into the Museum. Could you just mention some of the others that are still in the planning stage? Robert Matthai Two other workshops we plan to develop will focus on American Indians and Latin cultures. For the latter, we'll have presentations in both English and Spanish. And I'd like to say more about other future plans and prospects for the whole department now. Ed. What has already been said clearly shows that the Education Department has entered a period of dynamic growth and development. The floor is yours now to give us a glimpse of what else might be happening in the next few years. Roben Matthai Robert Matthai Future Prospects The $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation will provide a consolidated physical facility with adequate and contiguous office space and a fine variety of classrooms, laboratories, and other areas where educational innovations can be carried out. Meanwhile, the next two or three years will see expansion and refinement of the programs that have been described here plus development of some others that I'd like to list. One is a "sense gallery" where sighted and non-sighted people can explore the worlds of natural history through sound and touch. Another is a series of radio and TV programs on natural history topics — perhaps on the Sesame Street model — directed particularly toward young children. A third is a series of evening courses for adults, on such subjects as anthropology, nature photography, natural science, and the arts and crafts of various cultures. We are also going to design a research project to discover how people learn from various types of exhibits. We have even more new educational programs in store, but my great enthusiasm must be tempered by a dose of reality. The Kresge grant will take care of the necessary new and expanded physical facilities that these programs must have, but the costs of developing and establishing the programs are something else. Most of my new staff and our new educational programs are currently supported by grant money that must be renewed each year. And all of the future programs I've just mentioned will require new funds as well. I'm optimistic that the money can be found because I have such confidence in the quality of our educational ideas and the resources of knowledge and expertise in the Museum's scientific and exhibition departments. The creative interrelationship of these three parts of the Museum is, after all, what the Museum is all about. The products of our combined efforts are what attract public interest and public support. Field Museum Bulletin 13 Members' Nights May 3 and 4, 1973 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Annual spring open house featuring Field Museum: The Inside Story Just as surely as May and balmy weather roll around each spring, so do Field Museum's Members' Nights. A once-a-year occasion, this is an opportunity to go behind the scenes and meet members of the scientific, education, and exhibition departments and become acquainted with their work. Focusing on the whole wide scope of Field Museum, this year's program also includes many special events, films and slides, entertainment, and a preview of a new temporary exhibit, "The Seventeen-Year Cicada: A Strategy for Survival." Here are just a few of the things you can do: Learn about Nature's plant dispersal methods. Participate in an educational contest, "Spot the Fake," designed to help develop a critical eye in authenticating an artifact. Tour the Department of Exhibition and see the extent and variety of artistic skills and processes utilized to prepare exhibits and graphic projects at the Museum. Appreciate "We ShEII Overcome" (hundreds and thousands and millions of specimens!) View "Glimpses of an Unknown World," a slide presentation, and hear the story behind "Below Man's Vision," a photographic exhibit exploring minute details in familiar plants and animals and common objects. See "The Web of Life in a Gallon Jar — How to Construct a Balanced Terrarium or Aquarium." Explore plate tectonics, a revolutionary geological theory explaining drifting continents, earthquakes, volcanoes, and the formation of mountains and minerals through a display and film. Among the activities the Department ot Education is planning is a self- guiding tour for youngsters, which will include a surprise at the finish line. Roberta Carnagio. Jane Lamlein, and Alfreida Rehling, Department of Botany, working on their project, "The Garden of Eatin'," which will show the large variety of attractive and useful plants that can be grown from kitchen cast-offs. Keith Carson, tanner. Department of Zoology, will demonstrate the preparation of large mammal skins. 16 April 1973 CALENDAR Exhibits Opens April 11 Adaptations of Amphibians and Reptiles, an exhibit of pliotograplis portraying the natural beauty and esthetic qualities ot these animals, as well as illustrating some of their often remarkable and unique adaptations which help them survive. They were taken by Dr. Nathan W. Cohen, Chairman, Department of Continuing Education in Sciences and l^athematics. University of California, Berkeley. Through September 30. Hall 27. Continuing Below Man's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds, an exhibit exploring the world of details in common objects and familiar plants and animals, and offering glimpses into current research activities. Nearly 300 photographs, displayed at up to 200,000 times life-size, introduce a previously unseen world. Through July 15. Hall 18. Color in Nature, an exhibit examining the nature and variety of color in the physical and living world and how it functions in plants and animals. Continues indefinitely. Hall 25. Field Museum's 75th Anniversary Exhibit continues indefinitely. "A Sense of Wonder" offers thought-provoking prose and poetry associated with the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of nature; "A Sense of History" presents a graphic portrayal of the Museum's past; and "A Sense of Discovery" shows examples of research conducted by l^useum scientists. Hall 3. Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. Copper-plate engravings made for American Ornithology (1808), a nine-volume work by the father of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson. Also shown are proofs from the plates recently pulled by Richard A. Davis, Butler University, and George McCullough, Fort Wayne Art Institute, alongside examples of first-edition prints of the same engravings in Field l^useum's rare book collection. Through l^ay 31. South Lounge. Film Program Saturdays Ayer Adult Film Lecture Series at 2:30 p.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. April 7: "Michigan Odyssey," narrated by Edward IVl. Bingham, Jr. April 14: "Russia," narrated by Dr. Arthur C. Twomey. April 21: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," narrated by Richard Linde. April 28: "The Open Arms of Portugal," narrated by James Metcalf. Saturdays and Sundays "Patterns for Survival" (A Study of Mimicry), motion picture presentation at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the second floor North Meeting Room Children's Programs Continuing Spring Journey for Children, "Life in the Tropical Rain Forest," a self-guided tour, encourages youngsters to learn about the inhabitants of the little-known Amazonian region by exploring Museum exhibit areas. Journey sheets are available at entrances. Through May 31. Spring Film Series for Children at 1 030 a.m. in the James Simpson Theatre. April 7: Fiesta-Cub Scout Day; "Exciting Latin America." April 14: Egypt, Pyramids and Mummies: "Ancient Land of the Pharoahs." April 28: Museum Traveler Day; annual presentation of Field Museum Journey awards and color film. Coming in May Opens May 5 Seventeen-Year Cicada: A Strategy for Survival, a multi-media exhibit describing and interpreting the adaptive significance of the unusual life cycle of these strange insects. Millions of cicadas (locusts) are scheduled to make their noisy appearance above ground in the Chicago area in late May or early June of this year. Through July 29. Hall 9. Meetings April 8: 2 p.m., Chicago Shell Club April 10: 7:30 p.m., Nature Camera Club of Chicago April 10: 8 p.m., Chicagoland Glider Council April 11:7 p.m., Chicago Ornithological Society April 11: 7:30 p.m.. Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society April 12: 8 p.m., Chicago Mountaineering Club April 20: 7:30 p.m., Chicago Anthropological Society April 24: 7:30 p.m.. Nature Camera Club of Chicago April Hours Saturday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Museum Library Is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please obtain pass at reception desk, main floor north. olume 44, Number 5 lay 1973 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin ^>-i Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 5 May 1973 Cover: An adult 17-year cicada. Photo and design by Clifford Abrams. 2 It's the Year of the Cicada — in These Parts Henry Dybas our local 17-year periodical cicadas are due to do their thing this spring 9 Animals, Earthquakes, and Eruptions Caroline J. Anderson according to folklore — and some documentation — ■ animals have early warning perceptions of impending geologic disasters 12 A Showcase of Adaptations in Amphibians and Reptiles Joyce Marshall Brukoff some choice facts and photos from a new temporary exhibit 16 Field Briefs Calendar Field Museum of Natural History Director, E. Leiand Webber Managing Editor G. Henry Ottery; Editor Elizabetti Munger; Staff Writer Madge Jacobs: Production Russ Becker; Photography John Bayalis, Fred Huysmans. The Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions; $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Un- solicited manuscripts are welcome. Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. ISSN: 0015-0703. Field Museum Bulletin It's the year of the cicada Henry Dybas One warm night in lafe May or early June ttie cicada nymphs of Brood XIII will emerge from the ground in enormous numbers to enjoy a few short weeks of adulthood as they mate and produce offspring they will not live to see hatch. A cicada emergence is a busy, noisy affair that attracts a great deal of popular attention and interest. Brood XIII is the name by whidh entomologists identify our local northern Illinois population of 17-year cicadas, thereby distinguishing it from other populations of periodical cicadas in the United States. Periodical cicadas are found only in the deciduous forest areas of the eastern third of the country and their extensions into the plains states. Though all 17-year cicadas have the same long lifespan from egg to adult, different populations are on different calendar-year schedules. In northern Illinois, including the Chicago region, there is only one population, or brood, of periodical cicadas. We saw the previous generation of them in 1956. Periodical cicadas should not be confused with the annual "dog day" cicadas (also called harvest flies), which produce their own characteristic buzz-saw sound in the tree tops on hot summer days. These are predominantly black and green and do not have the red eyes and orange wings of the periodical cicadas. They are annual in the sense that some individuals appear every year but require a number of years, presently unknown, to develop underground. It is easy to predict the year of emergence of 17-year cicadas in any one place because each brood has remained precisely on its own particular 17-year schedule as far back as the records go. Thomas Jefferson mentioned the appearance of the Virginia brood of 17-year cicadas in 1775 in his account book for that year and recalled their earlier emergence in 1758, also referring to previous emergences in 1741 and 1724 on the testimony of a Dr. Walker; "it appears Author went into the field last winter to dig up cicada nymphs and study their preparations for emergence this spring. Sliced-open view of a nymph escape tunnel capped by a turret. May 1973 in these parts then that they come periodically once in 17 years," he concluded. Nearly two centuries later, Professor Monte Lloyd of the University of Chicago and I planned field studies of this same brood of cicadas in Virginia for 1962 with absolute confidence that it would still be right on schedule — and of course it was. The distinctively colored adult 17-year cicadas are large as insects go — about IVz inches long. They begin as eggs which the adult female lays in slits that she cuts in twigs of trees and bushes with a blade-like organ called ovipositor. There may be as many as 15 to 20 eggs deposited in one slit, and the female continues to lay throughout her short-lived maturity. The eggs hatch in about seven weeks, and the tiny white nymphs crawl out of the slit and drop off to the ground. Each nymph is only about 1/12-inch long at this stage. Once on the ground the nymph works its way into the soil and attaches its beak to a tree rootlet to sustain itself by sucking the sap as it grows slowly in its solitary underground cell for the next 17 years. If the root dies, the nymph must make its way to another site. It does this by scraping soil with its powerful front legs from one side of the cell and plastering it on the other side. Thus the nymph perambulates its intact cell as a mobile home until it encounters another root. Late in its 16th year the nymph begins to construct a vertical escape tunnel which by early spring of the 17th year has reached the ground surface. Sometimes the tunnel is capped by a turret one to three inches high. In any case, the tunnel remains closed until some warm night in May or early June, and then the nymph crawls out of the ground about dusk along with thousands of others. Each brown nymph climbs up a nearby tree trunk or other plant stem, leaving a smooth round exit hole in the ground about y2-inch in diameter. Nymph emerging from the ground "■*• — -J ~*u: ,)k^ > 'Ji^^ \^ /-^, V The cicada escape holes shown here represent a moderately dense emergence. Field Museum Bulletin The cicada nymph begins its transformation by fixing its claws firmly in the plant tissue. Its skin splits down the middle of the back and a soft white adult with red eyes begins to emerge. The nymph fixes the claws of its legs firmly into the plant tissue, its skin splits down the middle of its back, and a soft white adult with red eyes begins to emerge. It pulls its head and legs out of the nymph skin first, then the abdomen. Meanwhile, blood pressure pumps up its crumpled wing pads until they are fully expanded. This entire process of ecloslon, as entomologists call it, takes place in about 30 to 90 minutes. It is one of nature's commonplace miracles. The body gradually colors and hardens, and in the morning the newly matured adult seeks a sunny spot on a leaf to bask until its body is warm, and then it flies up into the tree tops. A few days later the males begin to form large singing choruses. Females are attracted to these choruses and mating and egg-laying follow. Adults live only about three weeks even if birds and other enemies don't get them, so by late June or early July they have disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. Only exit holes, empty nymph skins, and browning twigs from egg-slit damage remain as evidence of the emergence. The fact that adult cicadas are commonly called "locusts" invites confusion with the true locusts, or grasshoppers, which chew green leaves. Cicadas do not. Cicadas feed by inserting their beaks into thin bark on tree trunks and sucking the sap, which causes no detectable harm to the plants. The damage attributed to cicadas comes from the egg-laying activities of the females. If a lot of slits are made in a twig, the twig may die. Thus an oak-hickory forest which hosts a dense emergence of cicadas may acquire a scorched appearance, but this kind of natural pruning does not seem to harm larger trees. Some twigs may die as a result of egg-slit damage but this kind of natural pruning does not seem to harm larger trees. May 1973 It pulls its head and legs out of the nymph skin first. The cicada then reaches forward, grasps the nymph skin by its legs, and pulls the rest of its body out of the skin. However, newly planted tree saplings or small shrubs can be severely damaged if there is a dense cicada emergence nearby. Plantings can be protected by covering them with netting to keep out egg-laying female cicadas. Cicadas are also responsible for a problem called "orchard decline." In some heavily sprayed apple orchards there are so many cicada nymphs sucking sap from the roots underground that the trees do not produce much fruit and they put on little new growth. The numbers of cicadas in an emergence can be astonishing. After an emergence is completely over, the numbers can be quite accurately estimated by counting the characteristic smooth, round exit holes of the nymphs in a unit area and applying proper statistical procedures. The walls of the holes are tightly compacted and remain intact for months unless obscured at the surface by mole activity or some other disturbance. Professor Lloyd and I have made censuses of a number of different areas and broods in this way over the years. The record density was in a floodplain forest near Chicago in the 1956 emergence of our local brood. At peak chorusing in mid-afternoon the sound was so intense that two persons face to face in this woods could not hear each other talk. We found an average of 311 holes per square yard, or about 1,500,000 per acre in this habitat. (For purposes of visualization, there are about SVb acres in an average city block in Chicago. However, cicadas do not emerge in the city proper to any extent. One must go out to the suburbs or forest preserves to find them.) The weight (biomass) of this density of cicadas was calculated at about a ton per acre, which appears to be the highest recorded per unit of habitat for a terrestrial animal under natural conditions. Herds of African game animals temporarily achieve greater biomass per unit area, but of course they need much larger areas to support them over a full year. Indeed, the weight of cicada protoplasm produced in that floodplain compares Blood pressure pumps up the wings of the new adult until they are fully expanded. Field Museum Bulletin ABOVE-GROUND PREDATORS Adults mate- lay eggs-die Eggs hotch- tiny nymphs enter ground Temporary build-up of "**••. above-ground predotors NYMPHS UNDER«ROUNO PREDATORS *CA. 2-MONTM pehk ct*5^'' ^-"■i 17 YEARS Above; In a forest opening, a screen cage is being constructed around living trees for an experiment involving cross-mating of 17- and 13-year cicadas. Leit: Diagram of predator-prey relationships ttiroughout life cycle of 17-year cicadas; linear distances are not in proportion to time spans represented. May 1973 favorably with the best annual yield in weight of beef cattle that man can produce on carefully managed pastures. In the adjacent upland forest, the density of cicadas was about 27 per square yard, or about 133,000 per acre. These numbers are more like those usually encountered in a cicada emergence. They are much less than in the floodplain but still represent an enormous population for insects of this size. During a periodical cicada emergence all kinds of predators turn from their normal sources of food to cicadas. Crows, grackles, skunks, raccoons, copperhead snakes, caterpillar-searcher beetles, and a host of other animals appreciate and feast on them. One night when I was working on cicadas in the woods I noticed my dog gorging himself on emerging nymphs to the point where I became concerned for him. It was impossible to make him stop eating, and I finally had to lock him up in the car. Cicadas are reported to have been eaten by Indians also. Those of us who have tried them describe the taste as something like that of a raw potato with a touch of avocado or clam juice. Even though periodical cicadas are so palatable and easy to capture, their appearance is so sudden and in such great numbers that the birds and other predators can eat only a part of the population before the rest have reproduced and died a natural death. Even after flocks of grackles scour the woods at the end of an emergence, there always are left on the ground a lot of spent, intact bodies of cicadas that have lived out their full natural life. All this suggests that the 17-year cicadas have evolved a very successful strategy for foiling their predators and perpetuating their species — by the combination of their overwhelming numbers and their extraordinarily long life cycle. Seventeen years represent the longest life cycle by far of any insects. Cicadas spend about 99 percent of this 17 years in a highly protected environment underground, and then when they emerge their numbers swamp the consumption capacity of the predators. This pattern is quite unlike that of any other insect species, especially the many which have specialized enemies whose life cycles are synchronized with those of their prey. We do not know of a single predator that is synchronized with periodical cicadas, probably because none has been able to evolve a 17-year life cycle. One can speculate that periodical cicadas did have synchronized predators in their early history, before the cicadas evolved their present long life cycle. If so, those cicadas that possessed the ability to delay emergence — by one year, say — would emerge above ground after their predators had come and gone, and thus they would be favored by natural selection — at least until the predators caught up. This could have initiated a contest as to which had the physiological ability to extend dormancy the longest — an evolutionary race that the cicadas won and the predators lost, with consequent extinction of the latter. This speculation may be too neat, and the hypothetical predators too conveniently disposed of, but it is hard to imagine any other plausible reason for the evolution of such an improbably long life cycle. Incidentally, the precise timing of emergence at the end of 17 years is not due to a uniform growth rate of the nympths. We have dug up nymphs at intervals and found that by the 5th or 6th year some may be as much as eight times bigger than others. Most nymphs reach their full growth the 12th year and mark time till the 17th year, which in effect allows the laggards time to catch up. The synchronized emergence, therefore, is very probably due to some physiological mechanism which "counts" 17 years (perhaps 17 winter periods when no sap circulates in the roots). Whatever the timing mechanism is, it is unusually precise, but it is not infallible. Almost every year there are some stragglers, though these constitute a trivial fraction of the main population. But in 1969 there was an extensive premature emergence, four years too soon, of periodical cicadas scheduled to emerge in 1973 in the Chicago region. Nothing of this magnitude had ever been reported before in the writings on these insects. There are 13-year periodical cicadas in the southern states that are the same as the 17-year cicadas (as far as anyone can tell by looking at them or listening to them) except for the length of the life cycle. (No 14-year, 15-year, or 16-year cycles have ever been reported.) Lloyd and I had earlier postulated, on theoretical grounds, that 17-year cicadas evolved from 13-year cicadas (or vice versa) by a quantum jump of four years somewhere back in the evolutionary history of the group. However, we never expected to have a ringside seat to observe a repeat performance of such an evolutionary event. Three facts may explain this event. One is that 13-year cicadas live in warmer climates than their 17-year relatives. Another is that all the premature cicadas reported in 1969 came from a ring of suburbs around the city of Chicago. The third is the well-known fact that large metropolitan areas form "heat islands" with a climate appreciably warmer than the surrounding countryside. Could we have observed a natural "experiment" by which 17-year cicadas, having been in effect "transplanted" to a warmer climate, thus became 13-year cicadas? We made sample census counts of the premature cicadas on certain plots in 1969 and have kept these plots under observation since then for signs of stragglers. Therefore, when the 1973 emergence is over and Field Museum Bulletin Colored plastic spoons are useful in a cicada field study to show density and spacing of emergence holes in the forest floor. censused, we shall have a good idea as to what percentage of the underground population was involved in the "mistal» v.v# ^■.~»~i"VT.'k'»»'^ THE ORB-WEAVING SPIDER begins its web (1) by letting a strand of silk drift over to another twig. (2) The connection is reinforced by nnore strands. (3) A vertical strand is dropped from the middle. (4) A horizontal strand is pulled down to form a triangle. (5) The web takes shape, with spokes being added. (6, 7) Spokes completed, spiraling strands are laid outward from the hub. do not make their own webs but invade the webs of orb-weavers and comb- footed spiders, killing the rightful owner. Some pirate spiders of the genus Ero quietly enter the web of an intended victim, clear a space among the threads and then pull on the prey's web in the same manner as a courting male. The aroused occupant scurries out, hoping to encounter a new mate, only to become a meal for Ero! Versatility of silk In addition to making webs, spiders use silk in a variety of other ways. Once a victim is ensnared in a web, the spider may completely wrap it with silk and save it to be eaten later. Males make silken packets in which they transfer sperm to the female. Eggs are often protected by special sacs constructed of silk. Some young spiders use a strand of silk as a "sail." They crawl to the top of a leaf or twig, spin a trail of silk, then are blown aloft. When the wind catches the thread, the spider may be carried for hundreds of miles on wind currents. This is one of nature's unique ways of species dispersal. Jumping spiders of the family Salticidae do not make webs but search for prey on the ground or in vegetation. When a jumping spider is above ground and spies an insect below, she first secures a drag line to the twig and then jumps. If she misses her prey, the drag line stops her fall, and she scampers back up the line to try another time. Stories of such persistence, patience, and industry among spiders are legion. Scottish hero Robert "the Bruce" (1274-1329) allegedly was inspired to renew his struggles against the English by watching a persevering spider. Spitting spiders of the family Scytodicae capture their prey in a more sedate manner. When a potential victim is about half an inch away, the spider shoots a blob of sticky silk onto the prey, pinning it to the surface. She then leisurely strolls over to her meal. Some of the cribellate spiders actually carry their webs to the victim (usually a moth). The spider constructs a small rectangular web and attaches the corners to her four front legs. When an insect lands nearby, the spider leaps on the victim and covers it with the net. Field Museum Bulletin The notorious black widow has a painful bite, but victims usually recover within several hours. Actual body size is about V2 inch Photo courtesy of John H. Gerard. Cannibalism Nearly all of the social or gregarious spider species are cribellates. Male cribellates have a less precarious marriage than males of most other groups. During mating, the female allows him to remain in the same web, and will tolerate his presence there for several months afterward. The killing and eating of the male by the female spider after mating is one of the common misconceptions about spiders. Actually, the fate of the male depends upon a great many highly variable conditions. If the female has recently eaten, or if the male gives the proper identifying cues, he stands a very good chance of escaping after mating. Giants and midgets One of the largest spiders found in the United States is a species of tarantula, or hairy mygalomorph, Dugesiella hentzi, common to the southwest. It easily covers the palm of the hand with its outstretched legs. The tarantula also holds the record for longevity among spiders. Some captive females have lived almost 30 years. Most true spiders, however, live only 12 to 18 months, producing one or two batches The bite of the brown recluse spider ulcerates and IS slow to heal. Actual body size is about Vi inch. of young. Dwarf spiders (Linyphiidae) are the midgets of the spider world. Several would fit comfortably inside this letter 0. Venomous spiders Although most spiders are quite harmless, the entire group is often eyed with suspicion because of a few notoriously poisonous species. In the United States there are two groups of species that one should learn to recognize and regard with caution; the widows, or hourglass spiders {Latrodectus, especially L. mactans), and the brown spiders {Loxosceles. especially L. reclusa and L. laeta). Latrodectus mactans occurs virtually throughout the United States, with the exception of Hawaii and Alaska. Relatively uncommon in nature, it is most frequently discovered in trash piles, under boards, and in outbuildings. The body and legs of the adult female are shiny black and there is a characteristic red hourglass on the lower abdomen; the total leg span is about iy2 inches. The male — a fraction the size of the female — does not bite. The female is actually not very aggressive and must be provoked before she will bite. She is most apt to bite when guarding an egg sac. The venom of the black widow is a nerve poison, causing severe pain, nausea, and muscular weakness, but recovery generally follows in a matter of hours. The brown recluse (L. reclusa) occurs primarily in the Midwest, and like the black widow is quite comfortable in man's dwellings. The characteristic "fiddle" marking is found on the upper part of the body that bears the legs. The venom of the brown recluse causes an ulcerous wound that is slow to heal. The bite of the brown spider {Loxosceles laeta) has a similar action to that of L. reclusa but is considerably more potent. This spider is native to South America but has become established in the United States. The large tarantulas of the southwest are greatly feared, but this fear is totally without foundation. A tarantula will not bite unless it is abused. Even then, the fangs usually do not penetrate the skin. If penetration does occur it is hardly more painful than a pin prick; other than this slight discomfort the effect of the venom is nil. Spiders are victims, too Just as most spiders are aggressive predators, they too, are preyed upon by other creatures. Certain species of mud-daubers and digger wasps seek out spiders, stinging them with a paralyzing venom, then dragging the stunned spider off to their nests to provide food for their own growing young. A notable example of such a predator is the tarantula hawk, Pepsis, that searches for female tarantulas. Rarely does this giant spider win battle with the intrepid wasp. Many insects are parasites of spider egg sacs. The larvae of mantid flies are known to develop only in the egg sacs of ground spiders. The larvae of small-headed flies of the family Acroceridae are internal parasites of adult spiders. The most common enemies of spiders, however, are birds and other spiders. Between its alternate roles as predator and victim the spider manages to hold on to its own delicate foothold in the ecological scheme of things. Like man, the spider has so far been "successful." This article was published with the permission ot National Wildlite magazine. July/August 1973 WELCOME TO THE STONE AGE The Museums Stone Age Hall Revisited Forty years ago, while a "century of progress" was being celebrated in Chicago, Field Museum was celebrating 5,000 centuries of less energetic progress by opening Hall C, which depicts, in eight dramatic groups, human prehistory from an early stage in the Pleistocene period down to the dawn of the historical period. This reconstruction of 500,000 years of man's past was a spectacle never before attempted by any museum in the world. Since that day in July 1933 millions of visitors to the "Hall of the Stone Age of the Old World" have stood in awe before the life-like groups of prehistoric man, and wondered at the nearby cases of artifacts from the periods represented in the dioramas. The exhibit's unusual human interest, tinged with overtones of adventure and romance, has placed it consistently among the fvluseum's most famous and popular attractions. Preparations for the presentation had begun many years before its completion, and involved extensive travel and research, and the acquisition of archaeological collections from Europe as well as other parts of the world. The general plan was the result of many hours of intense collaboration between Henry Field, assistant curator of physical anthropology, and Dr. Berthold Laufer, curator of anthropology, with the cooperation of Abbe Henri Breuil, professor at the College de France in Paris and corresponding member of Field Museum. Their guiding purpose was to present the most complete and interesting picture that scientific knowledge then permitted of the lives, cultures, and physical characters of prehistoric members of the human race. To obtain data for accurate exhibits, it was necessary to visit many prehistoric sites. In June 1927 Field, Breuil, and well-known American sculptor Frederick Blaschke visited prehistoric sites in Europe to conduct studies for the dioramas. They were accompanied by a photographer, Henri Barreyre, and an artist, Pierre Gatier. For each site scale models were built, and motion and still pictures, as well as paintings, were prepared. This expedition and three more were financed by Marshall Field. From data collected on these field trips, Blaschke was able to make the life-size human figures, under the direction of Sir Arthur Keith, Prof. G. Elliot Smith, and Breuil. The brushes of Museum staff artist Charles A. Corwin lent dramatic interest and realism to the painted backgrounds. The resulting dioramas reflect a perfect blend of scholarship, imagination, talent, and labor, for the resource material was, at best, fragmentary — literally. Well-preserved skeletal material of Neanderthalers and Cro-Magnons has often been found, but rarely does the material represent an appreciable part of the complete skeleton. In addition, as pointed out by Dr. Glen Cole, associate curator of prehistory in the Museum's anthropology department, in the October 1972 Bulletin: ". . . when such unpreserved aspects of Neanderthal man's appearance as clothing, skin color, and hair form, length, and style are concerned, much guesswork is involved. . . ." The guesswork, of course, is attributable to early man's inability to keep permanent records of his civilization and pass them down through his ancestors. Although in 1690 a pear- shaped tool, associated with the bones of an extinct elephant, was found near Gray's Inn Lake in London and aroused a little interest, the study of prehistory did not really begin until much later. In 1847 Boucher de Perthes published an account of worked flints collected by him from the alluvial deposits of the Somme River in northern France, triggering, perhaps, the first serious attempts by man to delve into his distant past. Laufer once wrote, about attempts to reconstruct prehistory, "I would gladly sacrifice all medieval local chronicles of European towns and monasteries and throw the lives of the emperors and Field Museum Bulletin 1. The first diorama depicts Homo ereclus in Europe about 500,000 years ago, although early forms of man also lived in Asia and Africa. These men had a language, made stone tools, and used fire. martyrs for good measure into the bargain in exchange for one contemporaneous motion picture reel taken of the life of the Neanderthalers and Cro-f^agnons and a dozen dictaphone records of their speech and songs, not to speak of the gain that v^ould have accrued to our knowledge of history and anthropology if Alexander the Great, on his conquest of Asia, had been accompanied by an army of camera men." But, Laufer continued, probably with a sigh, "The next best thing to the motion pictures of which we unfortunately are deprived is the drama in eight acts represented by the eight groups of prehistoric man and his culture. . . ." Act I — 500,000 years ago Imagine the outrage of people born just a century or two ago had they come across the Ivluseum's diorama of men of the Pleistocene period, for many of their most learned believed that the world was created in 4004 B.C., according to the chronology of Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656), and that man was the result of special creation. It would have been incomprehensible to them that billions of years had passed before any animal that could be definitely recognized as human had evolved upon the earth, and that it happened so long ago. The figures in the first diorama, depicting a scene in the middle part of the Pleistocene period in northern France some 500,000 years ago, would, in their minds, have been of questionable similarity to humans. Homo ereclus appears rugged, has powerful jaws, is covered with coarse, thick hair, and looks quite frightening from our point of view. Because of the meagerness of data on this period, Henry Field and his assistants decided to present the scene in the approximated dimness of silvery moonlight. In the foreground, squatting beside a fire in the shelter of a large rock, are two hunters. One is chipping flakes from a crude flint hand ax, preparing for tomorrow's hunt. On the opposite bank of a meandering river, the fire drives three elephants from their watering place. Farther upstream a hippopotamus can be seen on the bank. Near the skyline a magnificent stag watches the flickering light, while a pack of wolves steals through the underbrush. During this warm interval in the Ice Age, great varieties of animals dominated the earth. Man, small in numbers and physically weak in comparison, was forced to use ingenuity and his powers of reason. He had knowledge of fire, enabling him to keep away marauding animals. He was becoming sophisticated in the manufacture of stone tools and weapons. The tools he produced are called Acheulean. It is interesting to note that these primitive men could 2. Homo sapiens was distributed over much of the Old World by around 100,000 years ago. This second diorama depicts a Neanderthal family on Gibraltar approximately 50,000 years ago. July/August 1973 have walked from France to England to hunt during colder times In the Pleistocene period, when the English Channel did not exist. At the close of this period, the climate was becoming colder, and the mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, and other cold-loving fauna moved into western Europe. Act II — 50,000 years ago Gibralter, the home of the Neanderthal family of the period depicted in the second diorama, during the most recent cold period of the Ice Age, was far enough south to be among the European Homo sapiens' milder habitats; but unlike its northern neighbors this family enjoyed meals of shellfteh from the Mediterranean. The family is shown at the entrance to Devil's Tower rock shelter at Gibralter. Silhouetted against the deep blue of the Mediterranean stands a young man with a wooden club, bringing a rabbit he has killed, as other members of the family go about their daily activities. The father crouches beside the fire waiting for mussels to open as the heat penetrates the shells. His five-year-old son, wishing to help, is bringing twigs to replenish the fire. Within the rock cleft, the mother is carrying her baby on her hip. In addition to finding new uses for fire and inventing a variety of new tools for scraping skins for clothes and removing meat from bones, observed examples of ceremonial interment of the dead seem evidence that the larger-set (by comparison with Homo erectus) Neanderthaler revered his dead and believed in a future life. (This diorama recently underwent a revision, to reflect recent scientific opinion. See the October 1972 Bulletin, page 6.) Act III — 35,000 years ago About 35,000 years ago, while the climate of western Europe was still extremely cold, a new race, the Cro- Magnons, entered Europe from Asia. 3. Gargas cave in southwestern France is ttie scene of many cave paintings and friezes, and one of its cfiambers is reproduced for the third diorama. A second Cro-IVIagnon is out of the picture to the right. They seem to have replaced completely the Neanderthal population, whether due to competition, war, inbreeding, or other causes. No Neanderthal remains are found after this time. The differences in physical appearance between them and the Neanderthalers is apparent to visitors standing before the third diorama in the Museum's drama of stone age men. In general, the Gro- Magnons were taller in stature than the Neanderthalers. Their most important differences, however, are found in their cultures, for here is the dawn of art, and a significant advance in toolmaking. Two modern theories to explain the emergence of this artistic expression differ, though both connect the Cro- Magnon's art to his food supply. The popular theory contends that art was considered necessary to a successful hunt, that man's art was a form of "hunting magic" that would ensure the artist a good hunt through this ceremonial killing on the cave walls. The other theory, held by many practicing anthropologists, is that these drawings were a form of "fertility magic" that was meant to ensure an abundant game supply. As can be seen in the third diorama, artistic expression took the form of engravings and paintings in the Gro- Magnon's cave. His depictions of animals are natural, accented with scratches made with tools, or applications of some colored pigment. And, like the creators of the Museum's stone age dioramas, the Gro-Magnon often created models to simplify the faithful and accurate reproduction of the animals. These models were in the form of carvings upon bone, ivory, or stone. The Gro-Magnon man in the diorama is working by fire and lamplight — animal fat was burned in stone lamps. He is resting on his left knee, his left hand held firmly against the wall with fingers outspread. In his right hand he holds a hollow bone tube prepared from the leg bone of a reindeer. Through this tube he is blowing powdered red ocher around the outlines of his fingers, so that when his hand is removed from the wall an imprint remains. This frieze of hands is reproduced from Gargas Gave in southwestern France. On the ground Field Museum Bulletin nearby are a pestle and mortar used for powdering the ocher, and the shoulder blade of a cave bear upon which part of the coloring material has been mixed with grease. Overhead the stalactites glisten in the glow of the fire. From the back of the cave another Cro-Magnon is coming toward the sanctuary, his face illuminated by the sandstone lamp that he carries. This scene shows the dawn of art. Art appears to have been an instrument for the practice of magic and religion; at that time, according to Field, there was very little difference between them. Also new during this period was the use of personal ornamentation. Necklaces of reindeer teeth, seashells, or fish vertebrae were worn. The Cro-Magnon hunters may have painted their bodies with red ocher, as their dead have been found buried with a coating of this material. It seems possible that this custom was connected with the belief that blood was synonymous with life, and if so that they were buried thus, along with their finest ornaments and most useful tools and weapons, to make an imposing appearance in the new life beyond the grave. Act IV — 20.000 years ago The scene: Roc de Sers, southwestern France, in a valley bounded on each side by cliffs. In the cliff above the right bank there is a cave with a broad platform below. On this platform are a quantity of burned bones, ashes, and calcined pebbles; flint tools and rejects suggest that part of the platform was used as a workshop. At the back of the platform are large blocks arranged in a semicircle. The time: early in the 20th century. Enter: Archaeologist Henri Martin and members of his expedition. In order to excavate underneath the semicircle of large blocks, the scientists remove them — and in so doing throw an entirely new light on the art of the Solutrean period of 20,000 years ago. When the first block was overturned, sculptures of two animals were discovered on the side which had been lying face down. The remaining blocks were disengaged and set back in position on a natural ledge from which they had fallen or been thrown, and the scientists gazed upon a magnificent frieze. Looking from left to right, they observed on the first block a figure representing a masked human in an attitude suggestive of dancing. On the other blocks are seen two small horses and another animal with an elongated muzzle; a musk-ox, his head lowered, in the act of charging a man, who is fleeing in terror; a short-legged horse and traces of an ox destroyed by the sculptor; and a small horse preceded by a fantastic animal with a head like that of a boar or a carnivore, an elliptical eye, and elongated muzzle, pointed ears, and no horns. The animals are represented as walking and the precision of movement reveals an accurate power of observation. A detailed study of the frieze suggests that it was executed by several artists. This scene is recreated in the fourth diorama in the Hall of the Stone Age of 4. A Solutrean sculptor of 20,000 years ago carves a horse on a block ot stone. On the shell behind him are reproductions of the other stone carvings found by Henri Martin's expedition to Le Roc, France. b Ihe most prominent example oi Magaaienian art France. The skeleton of a young girl (represented by a July/August 1973 the Old World, through the courtesy of Dr. Martin, who made casts from the live original sculptures to create the scene as it must have appeared 200 centuries ago. The blocks have been placed in the position in w/hich they were arranged by the Solutrean artists. Museum visitors who look closely at these blocks will note that all of the animals, sculptured in high relief, are pregnant. The questions arises: was the original site a sanctuary for the practice of "fertility magic?" During the period depicted in this diorama, which shows a Solutrean sculpting a horse on a block of stone, the climate grew colder and the horse and wild reindeer were the chief sources of food. The Solulreans developed new tools, including flint spearheads shaped like laurel leaves. Other new forms of tools show that these people were masters of a flint-knapping technique that had not appeared previously. They also made javelin points of bone and a slender, notched dart that would remain in the flesh of an animal. Act V — 15,000 years ago In 1865, a new prehistoric culture, subsequently named Magdalenian, was excavated at the base of an overhanging limestone cliff, where the great rock shelter of La Madeleine, France, is located. Many years later, in a small rock shelter called Cap-Blanc in southwestern France, what may still be the most prominent example of Magdalenian sculpture was found, and it is this shelter that has been reproduced as the fifth diorama in the stone age hall. During the course of excavation at Cap-Blanc, a workman accidentally drove his pickaxe into a human skull, and a complete skeleton was unearthed. It was determined that it belonged to an 18-year-old girl. The original skeleton, the only Magdalenian skeleton in the United States, is one of Field Museum's unique treasures, and lies in a case near the diorama; a modern skeleton has been placed in the diorama in the same position in which the original was found. During the Magdalenian period, Europe was still cold and man continued to vie with bears and other animals for possession of caves. But food was abundant, and new weapons assured more successful hunting and fishing. The men of this period produced the finest naturalistic representation of prehistoric times. The frieze reproduced in the Museum's diorama is copied from the Cap-Blanc shelter. Since the drawings were placed far from the entrances of shelters or caves, often upon almost inaccessible walls, the artist was not merely giving expression to his aesthetic emotions, wrote Field, but rather to some quasi-magicoreligious symbolism. Act VI — 12,000 years ago Ice sheets had almost completely melted in much of the Northern Hemisphere. The arctic flora was replaced by the birch and the pine. Modern fauna, characterized by the red deer, took the place of the cold-loving mammoth and reindeer. The mammoth became extinct. And old human culture D years ago was found at Cap-Blanc, I skeleton in the diorama) was also found 6. A boar hunt with spears and dogs depicts how the Cro-Magnon of 12,000 years ago had turned from larger herd animals to small game. A fifth dog lies dead, out of the photograph to the right. Field Museum Bulletin began the transition from the old to the new stone age. This transitional period is called the Mesolithic period. Of the several cultures identified with this time in history, the Azilian culture of about 10.000 B.C. was chosen to represent the era in the sixth diorama, and this diorama is the most dramatic of the entire series. An example of one of the later hunting peoples who roamed the soil of Europe during this period is recreated for Museum visitors with a wild boar hunt at the entrance to the cavern of the Mas d'Azil, near Toulouse. One important step in man's advance toward civilization Is immediately apparent: he has tamed dogs to assist in the hunting of his quarry. The scene shows two Azilians at close quarters with an enraged wild boar defending his mate and two young pigs. The hunters have wooden spears armed with flint points. Three of the five dogs shown in the group are restrained with rawhide straps held by one of the hunters. One dog is lying dead near the water, the result of coming within range of the sharp tusks of the male boar, which is being kept at bay. The assistance of man's faithful companion, the dog, in the hunt might well compensate for the inferior quality of the hunting weapons. But the Azilians were inferior in their art, also, which, when compared to the Magdalenians, is degenerate. They made neither engravings nor sculptures, and their painting was limited to simple designs in red ocher on flat pebbles. Act VII — The new stone age The moving religious experience of the next diorama provides a sharp contrast to the excitement of the Azilian hunt. Man has moved into the Neolithic period, or new stone age, and brought with him the new culture upon which our modern civilization rests. Among the contributions of Neolithic man is the practice of agriculture; the true domestication of animals, which involves breeding in captivity; pottery- 7. Farming was becoming the way of life for people in parts of Europe by about 4000 B.C. Tfiis reproduction of a stone alignment in nortfiwestern France suggests they also worshipped the sun. making; the development of settled village life; tool-making by grinding and polishing; and the sophistication of the ideas of law, government, and religion, which were to reach culmination in the succeeding "civilized" societies. A form of worship originating during this period is depicted in the seventh diorama. These early farmers placed single standing stones, known as menhirs, in parallel lines. These constructions are found in Europe, Africa, and Asia, but the most important is at Carnac in Brittany. Upright stones, from two to twenty-one feet in height, are lined up in parallel rows in three sections. The largest section is eleven lines wide. At the ends of two sections are large rings of stones. At one point the lines cross a collective grave. The line of menhirs in the diorama, reproduced from Carnac, running east and west, may have been a place of worship of the sun, possibly connected in some way with the cult of the dead. The priest is shown with his hands outstretched toward the rising sun. which casts long, dark shadows behind the great blocks of weathered granite. He is welcoming the new day, and the emotion of the scene is often translated by its modern viewers as the welcoming of civilization as they know it. Act VIII — Dawn of Historical Period During the winter of 1853-54 the water in Lake Zurich, Switzerland, receded to an unusually low level, and revealed the first evidence of pile villages — buildings constructed on piles — which had originally been on the lake's shore. The Swiss Lake Dwellers of this late Neolithic period had discovered, as had their relatives throughout Europe, that huts constructed on platforms enabled them to live on already cleared, though wet and boggy, land. Sometimes these platforms were raised or supported on piles. The ends of the poles — trunks of oak, beech, fir, pine, and birch trees — were pointed with the aid of stone axes and driven into the swampy ground with heavy stones or crude mallets. To make 10 July/August 1973 the platform, trunks of trees were laid across the piles and secured to them by wooden pins. The rectangular huts were thatched with bark, straw, reeds, or rushes. The sides, made of wattles, were covered inside and out with a thick layer of clay. The Lake Dwellers were an industrious people. They raised cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, and cultivated crops; they were successful hunters: they practiced weaving of vegetable fibers. They imported, through trade, copper and bronze with which to fashion their implements, elaborate jewelry, bits for their horses, and knives and swords. Their civilization developed quickly, but Henry Field noted that when a people who understood the use of iron came among them, probably as conquerors, the Swiss Lake Dwellers, as representatives of an individual culture, virtually disappeared. Within a few centuries, Rome became the dominant power. The final diorama in the Hall of the Stone Age of the Old World is a large group showing a calm early morning scene on Lake Neuchatel, about 2800 B.C. In the foreground two fishermen are hauling in their seine, which contains the first catch of the day. The water reflects the pink glow of the dawn, which gives the snow-clad Alpine peaks a roseate hue. On the right is the village with its thatched houses. The villagers are beginning their daily tasks. The dawn of the historical period is at hand. Concluding observations ■ Dioramas," noted the October 1933 edition of Fortune magazine, "are a 20th-century improvement in museum technique. Instead of the old-fashioned cases of placarded specimens they offer mounted animals or plaster figures surrounded by carefully imitated stones and trees, all arranged to melt imperceptibly into a painted background . . . Field Museum, always progressive, is the first to offer such reconstructions of prehistoric man. The dioramas . . . are life-size, cost $150,000 to make." Nearly 3.3 million perscr:s visited Field Museum in 1933, and a large portion of them paused in the stone age hall. Viewing their ancient ancestors must have been a personal experience for each of them. Henry Field wrote, in Anthropology Leaflet 31, that the Hall of Stone Age Man of the Old World allows us "to turn our thoughts longingly back to eons of time that were still a sealed book to the preceding generation. . . . No one who will spend only a few minutes in front of each of these groups will ever forget them; they live and endure in our memory, and their memory will always urge us with irresistible force to return to them. A new world has been opened here to all of us with plenty of food for thought and study." 8. During the third millenium B.C. Swiss villages were built on the soft, wet shores of lakes. This final diorama depicts a late Neolithic period just before the dawn of history. Field Museum Bulletin 11 "^-^^'f: ..j,^ ' .v^.? ■ ^i ^ \^'. I ^'^^■■ ^:*r'- ,> • * ■vpl^r Our Tiotani§ts ^cour Qntral zyimerica ''^^ ^^^ ^'^ v*> ^ Dr. Louis Williams studies the growth above a tranquil forest pool. Since the Museum's first txjtanical expedition — a collecting trip to the Yucatan in 1894-96 by the first botany curator and founder of the herbarium, Dr. Charles F. Millspaugh — more than 60 such expeditions have been made to the American tropics. During the early months of 1973 several botanical trips were made to this region. Dr. Louis Williams, chairman of the department, was in Guatemala: Dr. William Burger, associate curator, and Dr. Johnnie L. Gentry, Jr., assistant curator, were in Costa Rica, as were Robert Stolze. custodian of the fern collection, and Dr. John J. Engel, Donald Richards assistant curator of bryology (the study of mosses and liverworts). While these men were investigating the flora of Central America Dr. Rolf Singer, visiting research curator in mycology (the study of fungi), was in Ecuador. Prof. Antonio Molina R., curator of the herbarium at the Escuela Agricola Panamericana in Honduras and Roy Lent in Costa Rica assist Museum staff on field trips and independently collect materials in these regions where they are permanent residents. In Guatemala The purpose of Dr. Williams' trip — which lasted from November 1972 to January of this year — was to increase the representation in our collections of those groups of plants still to be written up for Flora of Guatemala, a project that will engage him for at least another three years. In preparing the work he will be assisted by Mrs. Dorothy Gibson, supervisor of the John G. Searle Herbarium and associate in the Flora of Guatemala project. This work will complete the Flora of Guatemala, totaling more than 7,000 pages. (A "flora" in this sense is an encyclopedic inventory of plants.) While on his Guatemala trip, Williams was also particularly interested in collecting members of the enormous Compositae (the family consisting of daisies, asters, and their kin), whose members usually flower in greatest abundance toward the end of the rainy season. A very large assemblage of these plants was made and they are now being processed at the Museum. Dr. Williams was assisted in the field by Mrs. Williams and by Prof. Molina. Most of their work was done in the western highlands of Guatemala. They also did some collecting in the central high region, in cloud forests, and along the humid Atlantic coastal plain. In Costa Rica Former curator of the herbarium Dr. Paul C. Standley was the first Field Museum botanist to work in Costa Rica, spending several months there from 1924 to 1926. On the basis of the botanical materials he collected in the country and his experiences there, Standley prepared a Flora of Costa Rica. Since 1945 Dr. Williams and Prof. Molina have made a dozen or more collecting trips to the country. More recently, Dr. Burger has taken up the Museum's botanical research interest in Costa Rica and has just completed his third field trip there, accompanied by Dr. Gentry for whom this was an introduction to tropical regions. Specialists in taxonomy (classification). Burger and Gentry visited Costa Rica in March and April, primarily to obtain additional botanical materials for the preparation of a flora of the plants of that country. Although usually of just a few weeks' duration, the several trips to the region have together covered almost the entire year, thus enabling the Museum botanists to collect plants that flower during each of the seasonal periods. Smaller than West Virginia, Costa Rica has exceedingly rich and varied flora; the country has more kinds of ferns than all of temperate North America and five or six times as many orchids. (Interestingly enough, the lush vegetation of tropical regions ordinarily is not characterized by the kind of mass floral displays that are common to Illinois woodlands in the spring or to prairie meadows in the summer.) A plant specimen is trimmed and placed in a newspaper prior to drying and shipment. After being labeled, identified, and mounted, it will become part of ttie John G. Searle Herbarium, which contains more than 2,500,000 specimens. Field Museum Bulletin 13 Z'Ti'^'^^.j: In addition to making general collections, Burger concentrated on members of the mulberry family (Moraceae) and the nettle family (Urticaceae). Gentry collected material of the potato family (Solanaceae) and borage family (Boraginaceae) and took samples of immature flowering buds, of seeds, and of root tips. These were placed in a special fixative, or preservative, which allows the integrity of the chromosomes to be retained indefinitely. Later, in the Field Museum laboratory, tissues of these samples are to be studied microscopically and chromosome counts taken. (These counts are often invaluable in classification. Two similar plants can frequently be recognized as discreet species by differences in the chromosome counts of their respective cells.) The March-April trip was particularly successful, reports Dr. Burger, because he and his colleagues were able to collect from a wide variety of habitats, including a leafless deciduous forest (during the height of the dry season) and several lowland rain forests. They also worked in the central highland forests up to elevations of 1 1 ,000 feet. This season the work was hampered by Dr. Gentry examines a giant leaf of an aroid. Sucfi leaves are sometimes used as umbrellas. unusually severe conditions. Low water levels in the reservoirs resulted in an acute electricity shortage. In the city of San Jose, where they were headquartered, all electricity was cut off from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for several weeks. The most serious effect of this shortage, as far as Museum workers were concerned, was the difficulty it created in the drying of collected specimens at the expedition's laboratory in the National Museum of Costa Rica. Mr. Stolze and Dr. Engel had looked forward to a collecting trip in March and April to Cocos Island, a volcanic island some 400 miles southwest of Costa Rica. The uninhabited island is remarkably rich in ferns, mosses, and liverworts, and little scientific collecting of any sort has ever been done there. Stolze's and Engel's plans had to be aborted, however, when the fishing boat that was to take them to the island was severely damaged in port. Fortunately, they were able to shift their collecting activities to the Costa Rican mainland. They succeeded in bringing back an outstanding collection as the result of a month's work. Among their findings were a number of extremely rare and possibly new fern species and several liverwort species never before collected in Central America. The Field Museum's Central American floristic studies are funded for the most part by National Science Foundation grants. All expenses of these field trips are borne by the grants. The grants also support the ongoing field activities of Roy Lent and Prof. Antonio Molina. ALL IN A DAY'S WORK Collecting in the field is no vocation tor tenderloots or lor starry- eyed seekers ot adventure, as attested by this recent letter Irom Roy Lent, a Costa Rica resident who does field work lor the Museum. Well I made it to Burica [Costa Rica], and what's more im- portant, I got back!! By telephone I made arrangements through a series of middlemen tor an "expert" launch m,an to take us out to Burica. When we arrived in Golfito he started frantically hunting for someone who knew the area as before he had been lying about his experience. He finally found the police agent of Burica who, naturally, knew the area. We left in a 9 yard long dugout with an outboard, at 2:00 a.m. After five hours in the open Pacific much of the time, we began to see the Burica Peninsula. At that time it was announced that there was not enough gas to get to the end of the peninsula so we would have to be landed hallway down. We headed lor the shore and then began to realize how big the breakers were! The police agent took the motor and yelled, "Hold on, we're going in!" while the owner was yelling "NO, NO, we can't make it!" Just before we hit the beach a wave overtook us, killing the motor and swamping the launch. We all jumped overboard and managed to get the thing to the beach. Al- though everything was packed in plastic bags, many things were wet, including all the newspapers [for packing plant specimens]. While the two men got the launch back in con- dition to return we set up camp near a thatched farm "house." By moving the launch down the beach to a better area and waiting for a change ot the tide the men got the launch back out to sea and left . . . I later found out that while we were in Burica, the owner ot the launch announced that he was not going back to get us in spite of his verbal contract nor would he allow his boat to be used because the area was too dan- gerous. The police agent and another involved had him taken to the local police station and there he was told to allow someone to take his boat for us or he would be jailed for breach of contract! July/August 1973 L^fliJfc^ ^f^ $10-Million mark reached! The Museum s three-year capital campaign, begun in September 1971. for renovation of its building has reached the SlO-million mark with a $50,000 gift from the Allstate Foundation. "This gift and all others received are extremely gratifying to those persons serving on the various campaign committees as well as the entire Museum staff," said Museum Director E. Leiand Webber. "With Allstate's gift we have achieved 80 percent of our goal." Gifts from foundations, corporations, and individuals will provide half of the $25 million the Museum is seeking for renovation of its 52-year-old building. Bonding authority of the Chicago Park District is providing the other SI 2.5 million on a matching basis. The Museum has recorded many corporate gifts, such as Allstate's. this spring. According to Nicholas Galitzine. Museum trustee and general chairman of the campaign, "Sizable gifts last fall, climaxed by a million-dollar Kresge Foundation grant in February, seem to have given renewed emphasis to our capital needs." Among other gifts pledged during the past three months are $30,000 from Western Electric: $25,000 each from General Motors Corp. and United Air Lines; $20,000 from Ernst & Ernst; $15,000 each from Arthur Andersen & Co., Harry Weese & Associates, General Mills, J. C. Penney Co., and Union Oil Co. of California; and $10,000 each from Burlington Northern Foundation, Chicago Bridge and Iron Foundation. Kirkland & Ellis, U.S. Steel, and Xerox Corp. Individuals Division expanded An intensified effort to reach many more key members of the Chicagoland community was begun with the expansion recently of the capital campaign's Individuals Division, co-chaired by Marshall Field and William H. Mitchell. According to Messrs. Field and Mitchell. S226.000 in individual gifts, including a $106,000 anonymous contribution, was pledged during the first five months of this year. Field, publisher of the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun- Times, and (Vlitchell, honorary chairman of Mitchell Hutchins & Co., and members of the committee will invite community leaders to luncheons at the Museum, where they will view a slide program outlining the Museum's purposes, activities, and needs, followed by a tour of the Museum's facilities. Committee members of the Individuals Division include Bowen Blair, partner, William Blair & Co.; Edward F. Blettner. honorary director. First National Bank of Chicago; R.E. Brooker, chairman of executive committee, Marcor, Inc.; Cameron Brown, chairman and president. Interstate National Corp.; James R. Coulter, vice-president of transportation. Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago; Thomas E. Donnelley II, R.R. Donnelley & Sons; R. Winfield Ellis, Blunt Ellis & Simmons; Donald M. Graham, chairman, Mayer, Brown & Piatt; Mrs. Corwith Hamill; Gerald Hollins. Harris Upham & Co., Inc.; Robert L. Raclin, partner, Paine Webber, Jackson & Curtis; Joseph E. Rich, vice president for foreign operations, Morton-Norwich Products, Inc.; John S. Runnells, investor; William L. Searle, chairman, G.D. Searle & Co.; Leonard Spacek, senior partner, Arthur Andersen & Co.; Gardner H. Stern, Sr., chairman of finance, Hillman's, Inc.; John W. Sullivan, chairman, Skil Corp.; and Morrison Waud of Gardner, Carton, Douglas, Chilgren & Waud. Blair Blettner Brooke r Grown Coulter Ellis Graham Raclin Rich Runnells Searle Spacek Sullivan Field Museum Bulletin 15 Illinois Arts Council Grant For African Exhibition The Illinois Arts Council has recently awarded a $4,500 grant for planning and development of ttie Contemporary African Arts Exhibition, scheduled to open at Field Museum in the spring of 1974. The grant is funded jointly by the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Illinois Arts Council. an agency of the state. Herpetologlst Joins Staff Dr Harold K, Voris. a native of Chicago, has recently been appointed assistant curator of reptiles. Formerly a faculty member of Dickenson College. Carlisle. Pa., he holds an AB degree from Hanover College and a PhD from the University of Chicago. Dr. Voris has done special work on snake venom, on sea snake ecology, and on the population biology of frogs. Dr. Robert F. Betz Honored Dr Robert F. Betz. research associate of the department of botany, was honored recently by the Illinois Audubon Society, In recognition of his outstanding work in conservation. Dr. Betz was declared Illinois Audubon Man of the Year. A professor of biology at Northeastern Illinois University, in Chicago, Dr. Betz has been affiliated with the Museum since 1971, He also serves as consultant to the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and is coordinator of the Gensburg-Markham Prairie, a tract of virgin land just outside of Chicago. Dr. Betz was among the first to recognize the unique worth of Markham Prairie and has worked for its conservation for more than a decade. Grade Schoolers Select Indian Studies When sixth graders at the Chippewa School in Bensenville were asked to choose the program they would most like to study at Field Ivluseum, they unanimously selected the cultures of the Woodland and Plains Indians. Two of the youngsters. Beth Cowling and Steve Craig, who are of Indian ancestry, are shown looking at one of the exhibits they saw during their recent visit. Incidentally. Steve is the great-grandson of Sitting Bull, famous American Indian warrior and tiibal leader. Dr. Phillip Lewis (left), curator of primitive art and (VIelanesian ethnology, is shown with IVlrs. Danielle Demelz of France. Richard B. Nunoo of Ghana, and Gregorio B. Folgar of Guatemala as they view a group of Malvina Hoffman sculptures m the President's Room. The visitors were members ot a group of fore.gn museum profess. onals, here to study museum operations. New Building Superintendent Named Field Museum's new building superintendent IS Norman P. Radtke, a Chicago native. In addition to being fully responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Museum's physical plant, Mr. Radtke has important responsibilities coordinating the many construction projects under the museum's S25 million rehabilitation and modernization programs now in progress. Foreign Museum Professionals Visit Field Museum Professional staff personnel of museums in 21 foreign countries made a special visit to Field Museum on June 1. The visit was sponsored by the American Association of fv/1useums in cooperation with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department Of State and was part of a tour that included major U.S. museums. The purpose of the tour was to acquaint the foreign professionals with museum operations in our country. Museums in Europe, Asia, Africa. Australasia, and Central and South America were represented. 16 July/Augusl 1973 African Osteologist Visits Recently Mrs, D. Margaret Leakey of the National Museums of Kenya visited Dr. William D. Turnbull, associate curator of the Field Museum's department of geology, for two days to examine the Museum's specimen storage facilities and to advance her osteological (bone) studies. The former daughter-in-law of Mary and the late L.S.B, Leakey of Olduvai Gorge (fossil man) fame, she holds the position of osteologist at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi. She has studied under and collaborated with Mary Leakey. While in Chicago, Mrs. Leakey acquainted herself with some of the ongoing research at Field Museum of Natural History. Here Dr. Turnbull shows her the skull of Thylacosmilus, the remarkable, extinct, carnivorous South American saber-toothed marsupial, whose jaw muscles he has just reconstructed and studied. Trustees of Field Museum Mrs. B Edward Bensinger Gordon Bent Harry O, Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook William R, Dickinson. Jr. Thomas E, Donnelley II Marshall Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W, Goodrich Remick McDowell Hugo J. Melvoin J. Roscoe Miller William H. Mitchell Charles F, Murphy, Jr. Harry M. Oliver, Jr. John T. Pirie, Jr. John S. Runnells William L. Searle John M. Simpson Edward Byron Smith Mrs. Hermon Dunlap Smith John W. Sullivan William G Swarlchild, Jr. E. Leiand Webber Julian B. Wilkins Blaine J. Yarringlon Lite Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field CliHord C. Gregg Samuel Insult, Jr. William V. Kahler Hughston M. McBain James L. Palmer John G Searle Louis Ware J. Howard Wood CALENDAR Exhibits Closes July 15 Below (Plan's Vision: Electronic Windows to Unseen Worlds, an exhibit exploring the world of details in common objects and familiar plants and animals, and offering glimpses into current research activities. Nearly 300 photographs, displayed at up to 200,000 times life-size, introduce a previously unseen world. Hall 18. Closes July 29 Seventeen-Year Cicada: A Strategy for Survival, a multi-media exhibit describing and interpreting the adaptive significance of the unusual life cycle of these strange insects. Millions of cicadas made their noisy appearance above ground in the Chicago area early in June. Hall 9. Continuing Adaptations of Amphibians and Reptiles, an exhibit of photographs portraying the natural beauty and aesthetic qualities of these animals, as well as illustrating some of their often remarkable and unique adaptations which help them survive. They were taken by Dr. Nathan W. Cohen, Chairman, Department of Continuing Education in Sciences and Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley. Through September 30. Hall 27. Color in Nature, an exhibit examining the nature and variety of color in the physical and living world and how it functions in plants and animals. Continues indefinitely. Hall 25. Field Museum's 7Sth Anniversary Exhibit continues indefinitely. "A Sense of Wonder" offers thought-provoking prose and poetry associated with the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of nature; "A Sense of History" presents a graphic portrayal of the Museum's past; and "A Sense of Discovery" shows examples of research conducted by Museum scientists. Hall 3. Children's Programs Movies at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., James Simpson Theatre July 5: "In the Bush" The kit fox and Australian animals. July 12: "Lapland" A visit to a fascinating northern land. July 19: "The Mixed-Up Hound Dog" The exciting adventures of a hunting dog. July 26; "The Merry-Go-Round Horse" (A Fantasy) The love of a boy for a wooden horse. Continuing Summer Journey for Children, "Nature Invented It First," a self-guided tour highlighting animals and plants which possess "innovative" features duplicated in human inventions. Youngsters are provided wtih a questionnaire which routes them through Museum exhibit areas. All boys and girls who can read and write may join in the activity. Journey sheets available at entrances. Through August 31. Meetings July 11: 7i30 p.m.. Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society. August 8; 7:30 p.m.. Windy City Grotto, National Speleological Society. July and August hours 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: Museum cafeteria open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 9 a.m to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; Museum cafeteria open 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m The Museum Library is open 9 am. to 4:30 p m. Monday through Friday. Please obtain pass at reception desk, main floor north. Museum telephone: 922-9410 Volume 44, Number 8 September 1973 Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin :»%^^wr^v,'A\v^>^^n^vi>v/r^>N%Vv:/,^ Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Volume 44, Number 8 September 1973 contents ART IN AFRICA TODAY Preview of a forthcoming exhibit By Maude Wahlman THESE BIRDS WERE ONCE ENDANGERED SPECIES Extinct birds of North America By David M. Walsten 8 Managing Editor G. Henry Ottery Editor David M. Walsten Staff Writer Madge Jacobs Production Russ Becker Photography John Bayalis WINDIGO Cannibal myth of North American Indians By Charles A. Bishop ROBERT KENNICOTT Chicago's first naturalist By W. J. Beecher 12 17 LETTERS 19 FIELD BRIEFS 20 CAPITAL CAMPAIGN 22 CALENDAR 23 Field Museum of Natural History Director E. Leiand Webber Board of Trustees Remick McDowell, President Mrs. B, Edward Bensinger Gordon Bent Harry O Bercher Bowen Blair Stanton R. Cook William R. Dickinson. Jr. Thomas E. Donnelley II Marshall Field Nicholas Galitzine Paul W. Goodrich Hugo J. Melvoin J. Roscoe Miller William H. Mitchell Charles F. Murphy, Jr. Harry M. Oliver, Jr. John T. Pirie. Jr. John S. Runnells William L. Searle John M. Simpson Edward Byron Smith Mrs. Hermon Dunlap Smith John W. Sullivan William G Swartchild. Jr. E. Leiand Webber Julian B. Wiikins Blaine J. Yarrington Life Trustees William McCormick Blair Joseph N. Field Clifford C. Gregg Samuel Insull. Jr. William V. Kahler Hughston M. McBain James L. Palmer John G. Searle Louis Ware J. Howard Wood cover Bead painting by Nigerian artist Jimoh Buriamoh; from the collection of Dr. Robert P. Armstrong, Evanston, III. The Field Museum ol Natural History Bulletin is published monthly, except combined July/August issue, by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Subscriptions: $6 a year; $3 a year for schools. Members of the Museum subscribe through Museum membership. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. Postmaster: Please send form 3579 to Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Dnve, Chicago. Illinois 60605. ISSN: 0015-0703 ART IN AFRICA TODAY preview to a forthcoming exhibit •^ MOROCCO > J ^ CASABLANCA ^ ^.-^ M APRIL 7/ EGYPT # \ (OEPAHTBO «(flO\ \ MAY?) \ \ ffi^SENEGAL \\ ^kSIERRA LEONE ETHIOPIA ■ / X^Nfc^ GHANA _- NIGERIA j / KENYA# /^ ZAIRE / / \ RHODESIA m \ \ SOU Th\/^^^ SWAZILAND \ AFRICA IJ^^^^ \ /LESOTHO Itinerary of Maude and James Wahlman's African trip By Maude Wahlman A FESTIVAL on contemporary African arts is scheduled to have its opening at Field Museum in the spring of 1974. The festival includes an exhibit of contemporary African arts, educational programs, and an African arts shop. Plans for the festival followed a showing to Museum staff in 1971 of "New Images of Oshogbo," a film produced by Frank Speed about a small town in Nigeria. The movie shows the continuity between the town's traditional ceremonies and its contemporary artists. When the movie was over, Lothar Witteborg (chairman, department of exhibition) asked if any of the contemporary art shown in the movie had ever been exhibited in the United States. I replied that there had been a few exhibits of Nigerian art, but never a major show of contemporary African Maude (Mrs. James P.) Wahlman is consultant in African ethnology at Field Museum. art in the United States. Major exhibits have been held in England and Europe, however. As a result of that conversation, I began thinking about the merits of such an exhibit for Field Museum. With encouragement from my colleagues, I submitted a proposal for an exhibit-planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Museum was awarded the grant in April 1971. After a lengthy investigation, a number of ideas for an African arts exhibit were discussed with staff members of other departments at Field A gaily decorated compound of a Ndebele village near Pretoria, South Africa ^^:^^^^^^•;^^•^^??z^^^^^^>?^vAVAv,^ Museum. We decided on a traveling exhibit. It became apparent that some aspects of contemporary African culture could best be conveyed through films, lectures, and performances. Thus, we started thinking in terms of a festival for the six months the exhibit would be in Chicago, with series of demonstrations, lectures, films, and performances. It was also apparent that the various materials of contemporary African arts could be adapted to the Museum's Harris Extension kits which are sent out to Chicago schools. These small exhibit kits are being planned as a means of introducing children to the subject of African arts before they see the large exhibit at the Museum. After one has become involved in planning educational materials in conjunction with an exhibit, the possibilities seem limitless. One idea was a catalog-textbook on contemporary African arts. Such a text does not yet exist; in fact, the last major book on the subject was published in 1960. Another idea was a set of slides or a filmstrip that could be sold with the catalog as illustrative material for teaching a course on contemporary African arts. Other ideas are an African arts workshop and an African dance workshop. Funds for making realities of these ideas are still needed. Only the exhibit itself is now fully funded. Community participation One goal which was formulated during the planning process for this festival was to involve individuals from the Chicago community in the planning and promotional activities. We now have work volunteers; other persons have volunteered to lend art works for the exhibit. An advisory committee is expected to be formed in the near future. This group will be made up of persons interested in Africa, in art, and in the impact this exhibit can have on the Chicago community. Volunteers Research for the program involved an extensive task of locating numerous references to contemporary African arts in obscure publications. The investigation of these references would have been an endless project had it not been for the help of many volunteers. Much of the program's progress is due to their faithful concern. In the summer of 1972 there was one volunteer for the program. Now there are 20. Some volunteers are students, some are housewives; others are employed persons with wide interests. Each one selected an academic or artistic discipline and proceeded to make basic investigations — developing a bibliography, locating articles in the Museum library and other libraries, and copying the most important articles for a master file on the subject. Our forthcoming catalog is now in the preliminary stage of card files and Rhodesian sculptor Thomas Mucarobgwa folders that grow fatter every week. These repositories will also provide material for labels to be used on exhibited materials and for the educational components. African arts shop One reason that I personally looked forward to being involved in such an exhibit was that during my years as a graduate fellow at Field IVIuseum, I had been exposed to many dealers bringing African "art" to Chicago for sale. Some dealers had good art, but one always wondered if their artifacts might not have been stolen from an ancestral shrine. Other dealers were just deceiving the public with fake antiquities — artifacts made within the past six months, then covered with kola butter and buried in the ground for several months so that ants and Nigerian woodcarver Michael Odekunle is an apprentice to Lamidi Fakeye, Nigeria's foremost sculptor who demonstrated techniques at Field Museum in 1972. termites would eat away the butter and rapidly age the "art." Dealers were getting high prices for these pieces, mostly because African antiques are very rare, and because most people cannot distinguish between the real and the imitation. Africans have access to the same African art books as we do, and those few dishonest dealers can very cleverly fake almost anything. It takes years of seeing hundreds of objects to be able to recognize a fake, and even the experts are fooled now and then. "Don't buy African art as an investment — it's too risky," they advise. "Buy only what you like and want to live with." There is also a problem of ethics in buying antiquities. Many African countries have laws that prohibit export of their most valued cultural artifacts. And many museums have established policies like that adopted by Field Museum in July 1972, which states that it will not authenticate, accept as gifts, or purchase any artifacts that are not accompanied by legal export papers. But it is hard to advise people not to buy antiquities when there is so little else available in this country. Airport art — that is, African art made in factories for tourists only — is no better than fake art. I was aware that good art existed in Africa — I had seen it everywhere in 1970 while doing field work for a dissertation. I had gone to Africa to collect contemporary pottery for Field Museum and wound up collecting pots and much more: baskets, textiles, jewelry, and leatherwork. It was with this experience in mind that I felt we should try to make many arts available to the public. Thus, we have planned an African arts shop, which will make available a greater variety of items for public purchase than we will try to cover in the exhibit. Role of the artist in African society One myth that we hope to correct in this festival is that the African artist is anonymous; he never has been anonymous nor is he today. Traditionally, the artist was known to his own society. He did not need to sign his works, because societies were small enough so that everyone knew his work. One cannot generalize for all of Africa, for the artist in different cultures plays different roles — sometimes he is a person of status, sometimes not — but in any case he is known. Traditionally, most art was made for religious cults — as ancestor figures, representations of deities, worshippers of deities, or as receptacles for ritual objects. Other works of art fulfilled secular functions. But whether religious or secular, all art was intended to be useful, either to decorate everyday utensils or wearing apparel, or to be employed for special occasions. Art was and is an important aspect of daily life — for the common man as well Field tvluseum Bulletin "Mama Kadi," famed textile designer of Sierra Leone, does batik (above) as well as tie-dyeing. as the king. For these reasons the festival is designed without the traditional western dichotomy of "art" versus "crafts" — a distinction that is not to be found in African vocabularies. Today the picture is modifying. The local religious cults are no longer followed as much as in the past, as Christianity and Islam have had their influences. No one can say this is wrong, for every culture evolves, and every culture has outside influences at some time or another. But some artists find themselves in a difficult position during the period of transition. They must find new patrons. Many find their patrons among a new educated class of Africans. Some appeal only to tourists. Some teach for a living and do their art in their spare time. Art is also commissioned by African governments and by international religious groups. Art is still very much a part of daily cultural life. For this exhibit it seemed that the different personalities and different roles the artist plays in changing societies might best be shown by examining the worlds of individual artists — revealing how the artist creates his art, and what he does when he is not being an artist. The exhibit should tell something about the artist's family, his friends, and how he believes art should function today. For each of the African artistic disciplines I tried to locate one outstanding artist as a representative. This was often difficult, because there is very little up-to-date information on contemporary African artists. The trip to Africa Actual interviews with artists — getting their views on tape about contemporary Africa — seemed a most logical means of documenting this information. It also seemed that the best way to purchase contemporary arts for a shop to go with the exhibit was to go to Africa and buy them there. In the spring of 1973 Field Museum received a planning grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and another grant from the National Endowment for the Arts — this time for the exhibit itself. On April 6 my husband James and I left for Africa to photograph, record, and collect contemporary African art. We landed in Casablanca (Morocco), and flew from there to Dakar (Senegal); Freetown (Sierra Leone); Accra (Ghana); Lagos, Ibadan, Ife, Oshogbo and Oyo (Nigeria); Johannesberg, Pretoria, Zululand, Xhosaland (South Africa); Meseru (Lesotho); Mbabane (Swaziland); Salisbury (Rhodesia); Nairobe (Kenya); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); and Cairo (Egypt). My reaction to what I observed is that a real renaissance is now occurring in African art. A much greater diversity was apparent than what 1 had seen in 1970, and 1 found an even greater vitality, I would like to share with you some of the highlights of that trip: A young Ndebele girl of South Africa, Mary Msiza, fashions a belt of colorful glass beads. Around her neck she wears one of her own creations. Sculpture Sculpture is a very old art form in Africa, whether it be in wood, stone, or clay. Lamidi Fakeye, the foremost Nigerian sculptor, gave a woodcarving demonstration of his techniques on October 1972 at Field Museum. While I was in Nigeria I discovered that many of his apprentices have now set up their own shops and are also producing very fine work. September 1973 Across the continent, in Salisbury, Rhodesia, we photographed the stone sculptor, Thomas Mukarobgwa, while he was working on a large stone sculpture. Examples of his monumental work are to be found in private collections in the United States; for the exhibit we hope to borrow some of these pieces. Textiles I went to Sierra Leone to photograph the dyer, Mrs. Kadiato Kamara, better known as Mama Kadi, famous for her tie-dyed and batiked textiles. Among her outstanding tie-dyed patterns is the cloud pattern. It is the most difficult design to create as it is done by gently folding satin into very delicate but distinct folds which compress into each other until the entire cloth is folded into a small package. This must be bound with twine without losing its composition. The bundle is soaked in indigo (blue) dye for about 20 minutes and put on a line to dry. It may later be refolded and redyed either in indigo again or perhaps in a kola nut dye which produces a rich brown. Synthetic dyes are also used. Once the excess dye is washed out, the colors are fast. For batik dyeing. Mama Kadi uses wooden stamps, made by local craftsmen, which she dips in a pot of hot wax and stamps onto a damask cotton. The cotton is then dyed with indigo, dried, redyed, and dried. After that it is dipped several times in boiling water to remove the wax. Finally it is rinsed in cold water and again dried. Aluminum panels Asiru Olatunde is a well known Nigerian artist who creates aluminum panels depicting scenes of Yoruba life and history. His is a unique art, for although scenes of Yoruba life have been and still are depicted in wood (usually for palace doors) there has been no traditional use of aluminum for art. Olatunde uses a counter-repousse technique — all the work is done from the front of the panel. Beadwork Beadwork is another of the traditional arts that is still being practiced in Africa. The art was perfected in earlier times by the Zulu, Ndebele, and Xhosa peoples of South Africa. In the Museum's permanent collections are many old examples which will be shown in the exhibit along with the new. Beadwork was also a high art among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Traditionally it was commissioned in the form of ceremonial objects for use by priests. Today, a very talented young man, Jimoh Buriamoh, has transformed the art into a new form, that of bead paintings. One of his creations is shown on the cover of this Bulletin. He glues beads onto a wooden base, but in such a way that at a distance it is difficult to distinguish the beaded areas from the painted areas. His compositions depict contemporary Nigerian life as well as mythological figures. This is just a sample of the continent as we saw it: people of various African cultures being creative in their individual ways. The exhibit will try to communicate the same feeling. The festival will also attempt to show (1) all the arts: music, dance, film, literature, and the visual arts (painting, sculpture, graphics, pottery, calabash carving, leatherwork, basketwork, and metalwork); (2) arts from all over Africa; (3) the relationships between the contemporary and the traditional arts; (4) the interrelationships of the arts to each other; and (5) an African aesthetic as distinct from the Euro-American or Far Eastern aesthetic. Funding is not yet complete for all aspects of the festival, but we continue to plan, knowing that when the money comes, we will be ready. Nigerian metalworker Asiru Olatunde (below) recreates contemporary and historical scenes on thin aluminum panels. Paneled church doors at the University of Ibadan (above) are an example of his unique art form. >%.%.#. fTV/>'*^*V-WA\V*?? y*'*y/.*jAS*^\^o\yj.s\\'riry^^^^^^ These Birds were once Endangered Species now there are none By David M. Walsten IN LESS THAN 100 years, four species of continental Nortti American birds — tfie passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, the heath hen, and the Labrador duck — have vanished forever. A fifth species, the Eskimo curlew, may very likely be extinct, since few have been sighted in recent decades and none at all for several years. The great auk, which vanished from North America in the late 1700s, disappeared from the last of its North Atlantic habitats in the mid-19th century. Man, the interloper, played a significant role in the depletion of each of these species. THE GREAT AUK (Mca impennis), once common in the North Atlantic, was exterminated largely because it was unfortunate to have flavorful meat, fat that yielded oil useful as fuel in lamps, and soft feathers that made good mattress and pillow stuffing. The flightless bird was slow and ungainly on land and was easily run down by hunters and beaten to death. A few men armed with clubs could, in a short time, wipe out an island's entire auk population. On June 3, 1844, the last two specimens Great Auk were taken on Eldey Rock, off the coast of Iceland. Their bodies were sold to a collector. Nineteen years later several dozen great auks were discovered in frozen peat beds of Penguin Island, off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Many of these carcasses, too, were sold to collectors at fancy prices. The great auk stood about two feet tall; like the penguin, it had tiny wings that functioned only as flippers. Though awkward afoot, the birds were marvelous swimmers and migrated great distances in the stormy northern seas. Ornithologists believe that the auk disappeared from the coastal islands of North America in the late 1700s. Skeletal remains in various places along the New England coast indicate that they once lived as far south as Massachusetts. A few bones have been found on the Florida coast. It is thought that these were not from resident auks, but from lost birds driven southward by storms. The species also ranged eastward over the Atlantic as far as the northernmost coast of Norway. In 1966, the Field Museum acquired a great auk from the Royal Institute in Brussels, Belgium. The bird arrived in z box marked penguin, (the French September 1973 word for "great auk"), which caused some consternation until the bird was examined and its true identity established. (For a full account of the acquisition of this specimen, see the Bulletin, February. 1967.) THE LABRADOR DUCK {Camptorhynchus labradorius), which lived mainly in coastal areas from New Jersey northward to Labrador, has been extinct for nearly a century, the last recorded specimen having been shot on Long Island, New York, in 1875. None other had been seen since 1871. The male Labrador duck was a handsome bird, with a white head and a black stripe running back across the top. A velvety black collar encircled the white neck. The rest of the body was mostly black and white. The female was brownish. The species was apparently never common, and it was not very good eating; occasionally, however, the duck was to be found in food markets in New York and other eastern cities. The preferred habitat was sandy coastal areas, inlets, and bays; the bird was extremely wary and difficult to approach. The reasons for the Labrador duck's eventual demise are not understood, but some authorities believe that unusual feeding habits may have been a factor — a theory suggested by unique features of its bill structure. Labrador Duck Carolina Parakeet THE LAST CAPTIVE Carolina parakeet — like the last passenger pigeon — died in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in September 1914. The last specimen taken in the wild was captured in Brevard County, Florida, in 1901, but authentic sightings of this species occurred in that state as late as 1904. Eight years later, reliable sightings of the bird were also reported in Missouri. There were two subspecies, Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis (the eastern subspecies) and Conuropsis carolinensis ludoviciana (the western subspecies, sometimes called the Louisiana parakeet). Both were about a foot long — much of this in tall feathers. The head was orange and yellow, the body green and yellow. The wing feathers were also trimmed in yellow. The tail was green. The western subspecies was somewhat paler than the eastern, and parts of the back had a bluish cast. Before the coming of the white man, the Carolina parakeet commonly occurred in deciduous forests from Virginia to Florida, westward to Texas and northward to Nebraska. Sometimes it strayed as far north as the Great Lakes region. The theory has been advanced that the bird's disappearance was the direct result of human activity — too many were captured or shot; but since the bird commonly lived in relatively inaccessible swamp forests, it would be unfair to say that man was entirely responsible. AN OBITUARY that appeared in newspapers around the world on Sept. 1, 1914, caused many readers to pause and reflect, for it not only reported the quiet, uneventful death of "Martha," a 29-year-old passenger pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, it also marked the extinction of what possibly had once been the most populous of all bird species on the face of the earth. Less than a century earlier (1810) ornithologist Alexander Wilson had observed near Shelbyville, Kentucky, a flock that numbered — by his estimate — nearly 2.25 billion birds. "Martha," born in the zoo in 1885, was the final known survivor. Field Museum Bulletin 9 ^«x?>^^^?^<•^^^v••^.':•^:^:v:s^^?wA^^^^^^ The passenger pigeon {Ectopistes migratorlus) was an uncommonly beautiful bird, 12 to 18 inches long. The wing and back feathers of the male were a rich glossy blue. The breast was burgundy, fading to white near the tail. The neck was mottled with green and bronze: the eyes were fiery orange, the feet red. The main habitat was the hardwood forests of central North America. A migratory bird, it journeyed in the autumn to southeastern United States and the Gulf Coast area. The flesh of this bird was very good to eat and it had been hunted by Indians long before the Europeans arrived. But the white man made a commercial enterprise of pigeon hunts and the birds were shipped in great quantities to markets in the cities. It is incredible that hunters — numbered in the thousands — could, in the space of a century or so, deplete a bird population that had totalled in the billions. Yet, this is precisely what happened. The last great pigeon hunt occurred in 1878 near Petoskey, Michigan. In a month's time about 300 Passenger Pigeon tons of birds were slaughtered — filling 150 freight cars. After that their numbers rapidly dwindled to the extent that commercial hunting was no longer profitable. The last passenger pigeon captured in the wild was taken at Babcocl<, Wisconsin, in 1899. An idiosyncrasy of this species, apparently, was its inability to perpetuate itself except in enormous flocks. In small groups the birds often seemed bewildered, and it is probable that their reproductive habits were likewise affected. — Heath Hen THE HEATH HEN {Tympanuchus cupido cupido), an eastern relative of the prairie chicken, was last seen alive on Martha's Vineyard Island, Mass., in 1932. The tiny island had been the bird's last holdout for half a century. The final survivor was an eight-year-old bird that had been banded the year before. Prior to that, no official sightings had been made since 1928. At one time the bird's habitat may have ranged from Maine as far south as the Carolinas. In some New England areas it had once been extremely common, but settlers soon discovered that the heath hen made a very tasty dish. Its numbers steadily dwindled as woodlands — its natural habitat — were turned into farmland and more and more birds fell to the guns of hunters. As early as 1824 a law was passed to 10 September 1973 protect ttie birds on Martina's Vineyard, to which the species had probably been introduced by colonists much earlier. Annually from 1906 a census was taken of the island's heath hen population. Almost 2,000 were counted in 1916. Thereafter the population dropped swiftly; by 1925 only three birds remained. Special efforts were made to control predators such as dogs and cats on Martha's Vineyard, but this last-ditch effort to save the birds was too late. Other environmental hazards also took their toll: excessive inbreeding, disease, an excess of males (a large brush fire in 1916 exterminated many nesting females on Martha's Vineyard), and perhaps the diminishing natural habitat. THE LAST RECORDED SPECIMEN of an Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis) was taken at Battle Harbour, Newfoundland, in 1932. It had then been 17 years since any were taken in the United States; one was collected at Norfolk, Nebraska, in 1915. Occasionally, since 1932, there have been reports of others. In 1937 there were reliable sightings in Argentina, the bird's wintering ground. In the 1960s individual sightings were made on the Texas coast, but several years have now elapsed since any authoritative report. If any Eskimo curlews remain alive, it is unlikely that these few can perpetuate the species much longer. At 13 to 14 inches long, the Eskimo curlew was the smallest of the American curlews — shore birds related to snipes, woodcocks, and sandpipers. It closely resembled the still extant Hudsonian curlew {Numenius hudsonicus), which has often been mistaken for it. The primary feathers of the Eskimo curlew, however, are clearly barred with light brown — a feature noticeable on the under surface of the wing. The summer breeding ground was the Canadian tundra; occasionally the bird ranged into Alaska. The curlew's migration route to South America usually took it past the vicinity of New York City, then out over the Atlantic. A few traveled southward over the Great Plains. Overkill is believed to have been the main reason for the decline of the curlew, which was still common enough Eskimo Curlew into the late 1800s. But natural catastrophe, such as epidemics and hurricanes obliterating entire flights of migrating birds, may have contributed to their disappearance. The curlew population may thus have been lowered to the extent that its capacity to reproduce was offset by the usual adversities, such as bird and animal predators and endemic disease. North American Birds on the Endangered List Common Name Scientific Name Range Bald Eagle Haliaetus leucocephalus U.S., Canada Masked Bobwhite Colinus virginianus ridgwayi U.S.. Mexico California Condor Gymnogyps calitornianus Southern California Whooping Crane Grus americana U.S., Canada American Peregrine Falcon Faico peregrinus anatum Canada to Mexico Arctic Peregrine Falcon FaIco peregrinus tundrius Canada to Mexico Aleutian Canada Goose Branta canadensis leucopareia U.S. to Japan Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidenlaiis Canada to Panama Attwater's Greater Prairie Chicken Tympanuciius cupido attwateri U.S. Bachman's Warbler Vermivora baciimani Southeastern U.S., Cuba KIrtland's Warbler Dendroica l^irtiandi Michigan, Bahamas Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Campeptiilus principalis Southeastern U.S., Cuba Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Field Museum Bulletin A? -% M ByC. A. Bishop FOR SOME INDIAN TRIBES of the Great Lakes region the most terrifying of all woodland creatures was the Windigo . . . that terrible, grinning ice-slc\s^^ Cannibal Devil of the North out to her children. "You all look like beavers to me!" Approaching madness, even in the summer months, caused many an old grandparent to demand death trom his children. "Kill me quick with the hammer and burn me in my wigwam, or next winter I shall surely eat you." The Windigo could be killed, really killed, only by fire. It was the one murder no one wanted to avenge.* Belief in this cannibal devil — and the act of cannibalism itself — antedated the coming of the first white men to North America. After their arrival, with the consequent depletion of game animals, famine as well as cannibalism became more prevalent. The Windigo was not always associated with famine conditions, since Indians were sometimes possessed by this creature even in times of plenty. The Montagnais Windigo By the 1630s the subsistence of the Montagnais Indians near the St. Lawrence settlements of Tadoussac and Three Rivers had been seriously disturbed by the depletion of game — processes that had their inception •From NEW WORLD BEGINNINGS: Indian Cultures in the Americas by Olivia Vlahos. Copyright ©1970 by Olivia Vlahos. Reprinted by permission of The Viking Press, Inc. J _^^ HUDSON BAY 1 YORK FORT X FORT SEVERN/'^Vi,^ J -«. y FORT ALBANY rV^ J • MOOSE FACTORY X TADOUSSAC •(/ 5lake V^__^_^ ^(^^UPERIOR ^\ X ^^ < // ^^ if ^ f^ 1 Sf QUEBEC »^^ » MANITOULIN mullc .^^ \ \ISLAND RIVERS Af<^ jp -\ MONTREAL ^^if f -'=/ .^'"-^ 1 LAKE / 1 5 \ ^ V/ ^.^i^ ^ 1 UJ 1 1 ^ / \< f tly^ ^ERIE fi^ The Hudson Bay-Great Lakes region, showing the location of trading posts where Montagnais, Cree, and Ojibwa Indians exchanged hides and meat for European wares Field Ivluseum Bulletin 13 "TTTTsm^'rfuJs^^r/ij^yx^^^^^ more than a century earlier. The fur trade was of minor importance during the late 16th century, but by 1550 Tadoussac had become the site of an annual "trade fair" where Algonquins and Montagnais exchanged furs for European wares. Trade continued off and on for another five decades. By the time Champlain and Pontgrave arrived at Tadoussac in 1603, European goods had already been conveyed far beyond the territories of those Indians in direct contact with the French. Tribal boundaries had been blurred and different groups vied with one another for key positions in the flow of trade goods. The middleman position of the Montagnais along the St. Lawrence was partly disrupted when trading centers were set up at Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. To these settlements were attracted — like bees to nectar — great numbers of Indians from many miles around. Local Indian groups were meanwhile becoming more and more dependent on European wares and foodstuffs. By the 1610s many had acquired a taste for "exotic" foods such as peas, beans, prunes, and bread. Many materials of their aboriginal culture fell into disuse, and they came to rely on French substitutes. The Indians were able to remain somewhat independent with respect to their economy and livelihood only as long as they could obtain large game. During the summer months of the 1620s the Montagnais around Tadoussac lived on smoked moose meat supplemented by European foods. Moose, caribou, and beaver, however, were being sought by the French for their meat and hides so that by the 1630s these animals had become scarce in some areas. By 1610 the trade in beaver pelts was already thriving, between 12,000 and 15,000 skins being traded annually, and the supply of these animals near the trading centers was rapidly depleted. Indians who were accustomed to donations of foodstuffs from the French, and who were dependent on the fur trade were 14 September 1973 hard pressed to sustain themselves on local game. Death by starvation was the fate of many Montagnais in the Three Rivers region during the winter of 1633-34, In that winter, Fr. Le Jeune, a Jesuit, lived with a band of Montagnais who had gone to hunt south of the St. Lawrence. Here — so they had been led to believe — game would be more plentiful. According to Fr. Le Jeune, the Montagnais reported that 7wo or three families of Savages had been devoured by large unknown animals which they believed were devils: and that the Montagnais. fearing them, did not wish to go hunting in the neighborhood of Cape de Tourmente and Tadoussac these monsters having appeared in that neighborhood.' The fact that the animals were "unknown" to the Indians suggests that a specifically named cannibal giant was not involved. It is conceivable that those who initiated the rumor were merely trying to keep the dwindling game supply near Tadoussac for themselves. Starvation had thus become a serious threat to Indians around the white settlements; already there were reports of cannibalism. Some Indians near Tadoussac allegedly had eaten human flesh, while others were described as "fleshless as skeletons." There is also evidence that the social organization of the Montagnais had been modified by the altered ecology and by the drain on food resources. Groups of various sizes appear to have roamed about the woodlands at random in search of food. Meanwhile, the time-honored customs of hospitality and food-sharing were disregarded in times of stress. From within this setting Fr. Le Jeune described what has been termed by modern investigators "Windigo psychosis." He relates that the wife of Manitou ("the great spirit") is "a real she-devil" who feeds upon the flesh of men, "gnawing them upon the inside, which causes them to become emaciated in their illnesses." Another legendary creature was Gougou, a Cree weapons: a 59-inch bow and bone-tipped arrows. The quiver and bow case are made of deerskin. These were among the first American Indian artifacts to be acquired by Field Museum after it was organized in 1893. female monster "taller than the masts of ships," who carried off and devoured men. However, for the psychosociologists the central idea of the Windigo psychosis is not that of a giant who literally eats people, but the belief that people are devoured spiritually and then become living vehicles for the cannibalistic spirit. The Cree Windigo The development of a similar Windigo concept is evident among the Cree Indians who lived near the Hudson's Bay Company coastal posts, especially Fort Albany, York Fort, and Moose Factory — points of convergence for large numbers of Indians. The local game, sought by Indians and traders alike, was greatly depleted soon after the posts were established in the late 17th century. The relative poverty of the coastal area Cree — except during goose-hunting season — and their dependence on trade goods and store foods in winter restricted many to game-poor areas. In aboriginal times these same impoverished areas might have been abandoned in winter. Starving Indians who camped near the post during the cold months were kept alive on oatmeal, peas, surplus goose, and fish, but in spite of such provisioning starvation among these people was still relatively common. The first clear instance of a devil known as "Windigo" appears among the York Fort Cree. The following account suggestive of Windigo behavior was recorded by William Falconer at nearby Fort Severn in 1774: (A Cree) threatened to stab his wife last night, and would have kill'd some of the other natives had they not bound him both hand and foot: he has appeared melancholy tor some time past, and the Natives say he has several times been insane of late.^ The other Indians asked that the traders put the man to death to prevent his going on a murdering spree. The request was denied but the traders did tie him up. The following day the man escaped and "frightened the Steel tomahawk-pipe of European manufacture traded to the Ojibwa during the Late Historic period (after 1760). The handle is hollow: the small end of the head serves as the pipe bowl. The above specimen, 12 inches long, was acquired by Field fvluseum in 1893. Other natives out of the tent." He was recaptured, however, and put to death by his relatives. When Falconer asked why they killed him, the relatives said they feared he would escape. But now that he was dead they were afraid he would get out of his Grave and come back and kill them .... Their Superstition leads them so far as to Imagine People deprived of reason stalk about after death, and Prey upon human flesh, such as they say are WItiko's (i.e. Divils) .... The above unhappy man was so distress'd tor food that he kill'd his own Sister and her Child.' Assuming that the above murders were cannibalistic, a cause and effect relationship may be noted between the scarcity of food and the original cannibalistic act. It is significant that the man became a Windigo only after he had eaten human flesh. But the act of cannibalism is not in itself evidence of Windigo behavior; it is the craving for human flesh which indicates that one is possessed by this devil. Nonetheless, the belief that a human could become a Windigo seems to appear and intensify simultaneously with the fear of starvation in cases where food was being depleted, and under trade conditions where the quest for pelts stressed individualism over cooperative kinship bonds. Under these conditions (which began in the late 1600s among the coastal Cree) the belief in, and fear of the Windigo was so intense that the potential for becoming such a monster was strong indeed. But the catalyst for the development of Windigo behavior was the decimation of game and dependency on the trading post; thus, the phenomenon had a firm ecological basis. The Ojibwa Windigo The Windigo myth of the Ojibwa appears to have had somewhat the same development as those of the Montagnais and the Cree. In aboriginal times and for a considerable period after contact with Europeans there was never a threat of starvation for most Ojibwa. They subsisted on a variety of foods in summer and on large animals in winter. Game was everywhere abundant. In 1660, for example, more than 600 moose were killed by Ojibwa in the region immediately south of Lake Superior. One French observer reported that 2,400 moose were killed on Manitoulin Island (in Lake Huron) in 1670-71. Such devastation eventually affected the game supply, so that by the mid-1 8th century, the area near Lake Superior had been virtually stripped of large game. Field Museum Bulletin 15 Further north the big animals lasted somewhat longer. They were sufficiently plentiful so that groups of 30 to 50 Ojibwa could remain together throughout the year. The marked decline in big game that finally did occur in northern Ontario resulted directly from the intensive competition between the Northwest Company and Hudson's Bay Company from the 1780s to 1821. During this time, game of all sorts was reduced through overhunting in an effort to supply traders as well as Indians. By the time the two companies merged in 1821, large animals as well as beaver had become extremely scarce. The relatively large groups of Indians that remained together during the 1700s had now separated into smaller family units for most of the year as the search for food and fur became more of a struggle. At the same time, the Indians became more and more dependent on provisions from the trading post. After 1810, starvation for the Northern Ojibwa became a real threat. Cooperative sharing that had been the custom among large kinship groups became impossible in cases where families had to separate and spread out in quest of hare and other small nonmigratory animals. It was during this time that the earliest cases of famine cannibalism among the Northern Ojibwa were reported. It was also within this context during the 19th century that the classic examples of Windigo behavior were recorded among these Indians. In July 1837 more than 100 Ojibwa arrived at the Lac Seul post after fleeing in terror from a Windigo which several had reported seeing at their summer camp.^' They set up their new camp next to the store and posted sentries. For a week the medicine men engaged in conjuring to ward off the evil monster The trading post, then, where food could be obtained in time of need, had become a haven and a symbol of protection against the dread giant. Some disagreement existed among the Ojibwa hunters concerning the physical features of the Windigo, suggesting perhaps that the Windigo myth had been relatively insignificant in earlier times. There is every reason to believe that cannibalism among these Indians was a normal response within the abnormal situation of starvation. But the distinction must be made between cannibalism as a consequence of famine conditions and Windigo cannibalism: The former occurred only in times of extreme food shortage, while the unspeakable terror of Windigo cannibalism could strike in times of plenty as well as during periods of famine. References Cited 1. Thwaites. R, G,, editor; 1896-1901. The Jesuit relations and allied documents. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers. 2. Hudson's Bay Company Archives. 1870. MSS in Public Archives of Canada, Ottaw/a, B198/a/19. 3. Ibid., B1D7/a/16. The author wishes to thank the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company for permission to cite from their arctiival sources, "Windigo — Cannibal Devil of the North" is adapted from Dr. Bishop's paper "Ojibwa Cannibalism," presented at the IXth International Congress of Anthropological Sciences, which convened in Chicago Aug. 28-Sept. 8, 1973. The paper is subsequently to be published by fvlouton & Co. of The Netherlands. Ojibwa birchbark wigwam. Probable date of photograph: 1893. 16 September 1973 /g„i.-^