American Museum Journal V51

NATURAL HISTORY THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME LI January-lS/iay 1945 TEN ISSUES A YEAR Published by THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NEW YORK, N Y CONTENTS OF VOLUME January, No Letters LI ' ' '.'.,' ', Staff With the Norwegian Sealers Hollow of God s Hand The American Egret to Fingerprint a Snowstorm wu"' Where Do Insects Go in Winter? Birds 01 New '.Huci'H Schroeder Vincent Edwin ••••.• t.skimo Girl Builds a Snowhouse Test Information ''.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' ' Ton n Eric Hill '.'.'.' Etii'""^! Letters 57 East 64 La'ngdon Kihn John Eric Hill A Loveridge Josef Muench 72 75 76 78 Jitn W, ' gi '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.!;'.'.' A L This Greenland the Sea ',' '.' '!.'.'.' ; ••••• Ivan and Abdudla How Science Deciphers Man s La Bostwick JFl'ace Albert E Parr Clifford H Pope Past March Madness Getting Close to Nature's Surfaces What Good Are Dogfish Our Desert Yuccas A Troubled Family of Stilts Birds of New Gumea Information Test ;.';:: ' Clark Wissler John Eric Hill iviWcENT J Schaefer Elon Jessup Rockwood Muench Karl and Edna Maslowski Josef and Joyce _ Your New Books \ Letters ^ ^ ' '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' ' Editorial Letters Albert From Rock to Canvas John Business °* ^" ^" ' g^j^ '.'.'.'.'.y.'.".]'.'.]]'.'.'.'.'.'.'.]'.'.'.' '.'.' ! :.;.::::;'.: !'.V.V.'.V.V.V.V.'.'.'.V.'.'.'.'.V.V.V.'.V.','.V.'.' J.' Environment and Locomotion Shellfish Poison ••.•• in Mammals ' .'.'.' Insect Gardeners Your New Books _ ' , E Frank Parr Dob'ie ToM Hughes William L The Only American Stork The Greatest Explosion of All Time East John Eric Hill Albert Letters Te Ata ' Down The Conquering Mesquite The Morning People One of the World's Smallest Baskets Parr Loveridge ' ' '.', '.'.'.'.'.' ' ,".' '.,' '.' ' " '.'.' ^1'°"="' E Germann C A Birds of the Fiji Islands w?jS''^'i:°^ ^i"'""" Wildlife of Tanganyika Uncle Sam's Prize Fur Factory Closes Bat Fishermen Your New Books Inde Rand Vilhjalmue Stefansson Curtis Zahn Freaks among Fresh-Water Pearls Your New Books Monkey Albert E Parr 5g '.','.' ,' Have Known I Rattlesnake of Editorial Way ] Sea Bird Cities of the Aleutians Aleut Faces Rationing Bush Babies— Wild and Tame Winter through the Camera s Eye Land Birds Down Under The Great Barrier^ Reef Do You Know Schaefer Teale J Frank DiiiE The Venerable D B Marsh ' ' '.' ' ' '.J Seeing Nature through the Camera's Eye Winter Sports Your New Books Papuans ' Per HflST Xom Hughes ,\] Caledonia The Teepy Jackrabbit An '.'.'.' ' [ Gregory H Fowler K.' Richard Rough Hobart E Stocking John Eric Hill 82 84 95 100 102 IQ7 113 116 12(J 135 136 140 142 146 j50 J54 155 159 161 jg2 166 176 j7g 180 jgg 188 197 jgg 201 20t 208 218 220 222 228 230 236 24(7 241 245 INDEX TO VOLUME TITLES, SUBJECTS, Afr 'ildlife of 1S5 Aleut Faces, W Langdon Kihn, illustrated, 72 American Egret, The, Hugo H Schroder, photographic Archaeology, methods of, series, 18 120 LI AND AUTHORS Structural Geology, 55 Systematics and tlie Origin of Species, 110 This Green World, 52 Victory Gardens of 1942 and 1943, The, 244 Ways of the Weather, 109 Wildlife Portfolio of the Western National Parks, 54 Wildlife Refuge, 155 Wolf-Children and Feral Man, 52 Freaks among Fresh-water Pearls, Artist, scientific, at work, 166 Bostwick, LaPlace: Auklets, three kinds in Alaska, 68 Bush Babies Baskets, of Porno Indians, 220 Cercopithecus aethiops johnstoni, Bat Fishermen, John Eric Conquering Mesouite, The, Hill, illustrated, 197 —Wild and Tame, A Loveridge, 176 Frank Dobie, J Bats, fishing, 197 Creation of an Indian Jar, The, Te Ata, Birds, Australian, 81 Dobie, J 102 illustrated, 76 208 illustrated, illustrated, 180 Frank: The Conquering Mesquite, 208; The Jeepy Jack Rabbit, 40 Birds, Australian coral reef, 82 Dogfish, use of, New Birds of New Birds of Caledonia, a Whitney Hall Group, 38 140 Do You Know This Greenland, Guinea, a Whitney Hall Group, 150 Vilhjalmur Stefansson, illus- 95 trated, Ben: Sea Birds of the Aleutians, 64; Uncle Sam's Prize Fur Factory Closes Down, 188 East, Birds of the Fiji Islands, a Whitney Hall Group, 178 Book Reviews: icaii Garden Flo7i Arrows Into the Sun, 157 Editorials: Albert E Farr 243 Atoms, Stars and Nebulae, 243 Biological Symposia, Vol IX, 55 Bird DisDlay An Introduction to the Study of Bird Psy- chology, 108 Copper, 242 Carnivoroics Plants, 199-200 Cats and all About Them, 109 Chile, 241 Boom The The The The Aim of Museum Teaching, 201 Museum Meets the Public, 161 Time and Place for Teaching 113 Wartime Role of Beauty in the Museum, 57 Egret, American, 18 Environment and Locomotion Edible Mushrooms, 158 and 160 Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas, 110 • Darkness and the Deep, 243 Diaty of a Journey Through the CaroHnas, Georgia, illustrated article Commmi in Mammals, William K Gregory and chart, 222 Eskimo Girl Builds a Snowhouse, An, The Venerable D and Marsh, B 46 illustrated, Florida, 1765-1766, 200 Earth's Adventures: The Story of Geology for Young Peo- Farming, Greenland, 96 53 ple, Ecuador, 156 Ficldbook of Native Illinois Shrubs, 243 Forward With Science, 241 Garment of God, The, 200 Fiji Island Birds, 178 Fowler, L H., Shellfish Poison, 228 General Entomology, 156 George Washington Carver, 243 Greatest Eye in the World, The, 160 Green Fire, 51 Freaks among Fresh-Water Pearls, LaPlace Bostwick, Greenland, 52 From Rock Headhunting Here in the Solomon Islands, 108 Alaska, 155 is Hiking, Camping, and Mountaineering, 242 Indian Experiences, 241 Indian Speaks, The, 198-199 Insect Invaders, 242 Key to the Nests of Pacific Coast Birds, 198 Latin America Countrysides and United Regions, 108 Lightinn up Liberia, 155 Mans Poor Relations, 107-108 Mathematical Recrcatiojts, 107 My Adventures in Zuni, 51 Natural History with a Camera, 51 Nicholas Copernicus, 241 Now That We Have To Walk, 198 Oceans, The: Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology, no Old Bay Paths, The, 198 Outlines of Entomology, 157 Pacific Game to Canvas, John C Germann, illustrated, 166 Galago, 77 Germann, John C, From Rock Getting Nature's to Close to Canvas, 166 Surfaces, Vincent J Schaefer illustrated, 136 Great Barrier Reef, The, A Whitney Hall Group, 82 Greatest Explosion of All Time, The, Hobart E Stocking, illustrated, 236 Greenland, 95 Gregory, William Environment K and Locomotion in Mam- mals, 322 Fishing 54-55 Physics and Philosophy, 155-156 Pirotcehnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio, The, 107 Polyncsians—E.rplorers of the Pacific, 156-157 Race, Reason and Rubbish, 54 Rediscovering South America, 198 Roseate Spoonbill, Tlw, 109-110 Santa Fc New Mexico, 158 Science in Progress, 53-54 Science Remakes Our World 51-52 Story of the Moon, The, 107 illus- 102 trated, Guenon 176 Hares, in JIarch 135 Hi'l John Eric: Bat March Madness Hollow 197: Insect Gardeners 240; Rationing, 75; Winter Sports, 50 Fishermen 135; of God's Hand Tom Hughes, illustrated 16 INDEX TO VOLUME With Host, Per, Norwegian the LI Prehistoric Animal, rock to canvas, Sealers, Puffin 166 67 Raccoons, albino, 116 How TO Fingerprint a Snowstorm, Vincent trated, J Schaefer, illus- 20 Rand, A Hughes, Tom: Hollow of God's Hand, 16: The JMorning People, 218 Indian Jar, creation of an, ISO illustrated, Hill, 240 San Ivan and Abdulla, Clifford H Pope, Jack Rabbit, plague of, Hill, illustrated, 75 illustrated, illustrated, 116 Ildefonso, pottery-making in, ISO Schaefer, Vincent T.: Getting Close To Nature's ilow To Fingerprint a Snowstorm, 20 Jeepy Jack Raebit, The, J Hugo Frank Dobie, illustrated, The American Egret, H., Under, An Exhibit Loveridge, A.: Bush ness, 176 Kihn, W illustrated, 64 Dogfish, 140 Norwegian; Sealers, Landbirds 136; 18 40 Sea Birds of the Aleutians, Ben East, What Good Are Down Surfaces, 40 Schroder, Jessup, Elon, 100 Salton Sea, 17 winter, 29 in Have Known, 84 I I^attlesnake of the Sea, Curtis Zahn, Insect Gardeners, John Eric Insects, P'apuans L., Rationing (animal), John Eric Babies—Wild of Australian Birds, the in -Vrctic, SI Seals, fur seals and their breeding, Seals, fur seals on the Pribilofs, 189 1S9 ; Langdon, Aleut Faces, 72 Seals, harp; breeding, Kittiwake, 65 Seeing Nature Through the Camera's Eve, some winter scenes 48 Komba, 77 Serranos, 218 Krakatoa, 236 Mammals, environment and locomotion March Madness, John in, Shellfish Poison, L SnowHake 20 H Fowler, 228 illustrated, 222 replicas, Eric Hill, illustrated, 135 Snowhouse, how to build, 46 Maringayam, 218 Snowshoes, animals and, 50 Marsh, D B (The Venerable), An Eskimo Girl Builds a S house, 46 Maslowski, Karl and Edna, A Troubled Family of Stilts, 146 Mesquite, 208 Stilts, Mission Indians, 218 Monkey Do Yoi Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, habits nesting of, This Greenland, 95 146 Sting Ray, 100 Business, A Loveridge, illustrated, 176 Morning People, The, Tom Hughes, illustrated, The Stocking, Hobart E., 218 Teale, Greatest Explosion of All Time, 236 Edwin Way, Where Do Insects Go in Winter, 28 Muench, Josef and Joyce Rockwood, Our Desert Yuccas, 142 Te Ata, The Mu Troubled Family of Stilts, A, Karl and Edna Maslowski, mch, Josef, Winter Through the Camera's Eye, 78; Our De Yuccas, 142 graphic Creation of series, an Indian Jar, 180 Uncle Sam's Prize Fur Factory Closes Down, Ben Mu photo- 146 East, illus- trated, 188 Nature's surfaces, resin material New in microscopic reproduction, 136 Guinea Birds, 150 What Good Are Dogfish, Elon Where Do Insects Go in Jessup, illustrated, Winter, Edwin Way 140 Teale illus- trated, 28 New Guinea, people One of the World's Smallest Baskets, 220 of, S4 Wildlife of Tanganyika, Scenes from Akcley African Winter, animal scenes Only American Stork, Richard Pough, illustrated, in, Hall, 186 48 230 Winter, a photographic series, 78 Our Desert Yucc trated, Owl, as a Winter Sports 142 pet, (animals), John Eric Hill, illustrated, 50 Winter Through the Camera's Eye, 112 Josef Muench, a photo- graphic series, 78 Papuans Pearls, I Have Known, fresh-water freaks, A L Kand, illustrated, 84 102 Poisoning, shellfish, 228 Wissler, Clark, How Science Deciphers Man's Past, 120 With the Norwegian Wood Ibis, Sealers, Per Host, illustrated, 230 Pope, Clifford H., Ivan and Abdulla, 116 Yuccas, 143 Pough, Richard, Only American Stork, 230 Zahn, Curtis, Rattlesnake of the Sea, 100 MTURAL HISTORY unu.r, Seals • Snow VOLUME LI, Birds of Crystals No • New Caledonia Jackrabbit • • Insects in JVinte\ Egrets • Snowhous FIFTY CENT D BOOKS PICTURES CARDS A FIELD GUIDE TO THE BIRDS A FIELD GUIDE TO WESTERN BIRDS by Roger Tory Peterson S2.75 each Recognized standard guides; convenient aids to identification, and size, excellent small but clear illustrations books essential make these $3.95 large and beautiful book, with 106 fine color illustrations and bird of many which describes North America and in black virtually every by T text S Roberts shown are species book only form on the subject in popular of sea birds of the world; notes on their habits, and guides to their identification in 92 by Donald Culross Peatlie Audubon's paintings; a book which all Audubon's admirers and all interested in American natural history will wish to own SETS OF BIRD PICTURES 60 cents a set by Jacob Bates Walter A Weber Each Abbott and $3.50 beautiful SETS OF BIRD CARDS HOME BIRDS AT by Margherite Henry set contains An full-page color plates, for readers to II TRAVELLING WITH THE BIRDS $1.00 set by Rudyerd Boulton Winter Birds known Spring Birds The whys and hows Summer simply told, and illustrated etc., Such well Fuertes, Brooks, Weber, are represented Birds color plates WHAT BIRD IS fine book markings 301 birds American birds, reproduced from paintings by well-known tive ?1.5fl for beginners; the color of Ages of bird to $1.25 migrations with large 12 100 cards in color of representa- THAT by Frank M Chapman A $1.25 introduction to familiar birds, with paintings reproduced in color artists as $2.95 Audubon's own story of his life and monumental works, edited by the naturelover and author, Donald Culross Peattie Beautifully illustrated with reproductions 12 large pictures of familiar birds, in full color Excellent for classroom use BIRD PORTRAITS IN COLOR 295 the of BIRDS OF AMERICA white, Practically AUDUBON'S AMERICA $3.50 to every bird lover T Gilbert Pearson, editor in chief A BIRDS OF THE OCEAN by W B Alexander are and bird artists Descriptive AROUND NEW YORK CITY by Allan D Cruickshank Distribution, pictured winter and Chiefly for birds east of the Rockies The BIRDS text on back of each card description summer and bird residents Book Shop THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 77th STREET AND CENTRAL PARK WEST, NEW YORK CITY $1.75 habits of — LETTERS I want magazine is to the add that I think your most interesting one of was introduced I friend, whites "Sailors much too taste of to- to it by a very dear and several teachers at school are very much interested in it The covers are always a great thrill to us, and some day I plan to frame them Your articles on archaeology and natives of Africa, the Solomons, etc., hold special interest for me Keep up the good work Dorothy A Hildreth I " ever ate had too salty a flavor One wishes every American voter could become a reader of your magazine It would make our citizenry biologicallyminded This eventually would be reflected in wiser legislation are available at on any total order I best May I take this opportunity to say consider your magazine one of the available today, both as regards reader interest and in be borrowed from the information regarding the films avail- Mathew "P- F McNerny My name is John Ely Burchard Jr I nearly eleven years of age and have been a member of the American Museum my of Natural History for almost three years So far, my and principal interests have been But once in a while some other interesting animal comes our reptiles w ay We Kindly let me take the opportunity upon the very high standard of printing maintained in Natural History Magazine I have feU many times that most readers express complimentary remarks upon the interesting features of the magazine, overlooking the exceptionally fine printing which has always been maintained and which is difof congratulating you ficult because of the varied demands occasioned by various types of photographs P- C Boston, Mass Holden write All of Frederick Pough's Strategic articles are on exhibit here anybody has written, It is so far as know A C Burrill, Curator, Missouri Resources Museum Jefferson City, Mo It has been some time since I have written you of my enthusiasm and loyal support for Natural History Magazine American Museum of the of Natural His- tory New Jersey, and some weeks ago my father brought home from the fields a mammal which he had at first thought to be a mole and later thought to be some strange form of field live in Princeton, mouse Thanks Natural was able to idenit readily as a pigmy short-tailed shrew The article was in the issue for May, 1942 and was by Mr George Goodwin JoHX Ely Burchard, Jr to the History Magazine, article in I tify Princeton, N J The subjects treated in the are issues becoming more varied and vitally interesting as the months pass The illustrations are superb and the color ensemble in the texts beautifully rendered, which is no doubt to the credit of Art and Production under the guidance of Frederick L Hahn The articles which have particularly appealed to me for some time are those Strategic Metals by Frederick and those describing our natural wonders, such as "Rainbows of Rock Our Natural Bridges'' in the Ocentitled Pough H — and "Devil's Tower" in the November number, by H E Yokes I tober issue, Sirs: I have read a copy or two magazine and like it very much Please start my subscription of this with the January, 1943, issue, as I bind the magazines into a book at the end of the year and wish to have a complete year's subscription Albert C Loomis have been very much interested in the article, "Design for Swimming," in the October issue and have used it effectively I biology classes in I the wisli there same type, might be other especially relation to birds Do you have sound Sirs: use outside of Your current Solomon Islands article J Elizabeth Jacks Lower Merion Senior High strumental in Ardmore, Pa sionaries the then cannibalistic folk furlough he recounted the dietary idiosvncrasies of an old Solomons to or silent movies for City? ago our family was insending one of the first mis- On one New York recalls that long sincerely hope that Yokes will here at home Our people should know more about them, for they teach us to appreciate this great United States the more Your Letters column and BoV i' is means clearly as a to an end Because of a vulture's-feeding habits, must it of necessity spend a great deal of time aloft search in wood should climbing to But why food of spend hours slowly thousand feet ibis five or six only to descend at once and repeat the performance? No seems explanation possible except that they enjoy it Like a small boy with a sled on a snow- covered a mud hill, or an otter at on its slide bank, they are willing to spend hours climbing in order to enjoy a few brief moments These known nets, of headlong descent interesting birds variously as ironheads, tlintheads, or gan- because of their bare, featherless heads, ness in reveal their inherent playful- many other ways are, for instance, that will fly Wood ibis one of the few birds upside down Not as part * • * THE ONLY AMERICAN STORK of a loop, like a marsh hawk • N in nuptial that tliis is not the easiest thing in the during ordinary flight In some cases they have been observed to continue sailing upside down for several hun- world to Nor is the wood ibis by any means always successful at the game An observer sometimes wonders that they don't kill themselves Never- dred yards before righting themselves Tightrope dancing is another favorite wood flight, but as a deliberate wing-over trick of the wood ibis Instead of pick- ing a substantial perch like any sensible bird, an ibis will teeter endlessly on the top of a vertical snag or on a slim, swaying branch that is barely capable of sustaining Even its weight the gathering of material tor pick up twigs They • * Wood feeding have developed what ap- Possibly it is manner because of they time and energj- to engage in play Feeding, in- ibis ha\e solved the problem of getting a living so successfully that they have roosting, from the ground but continue to gather their nest- pears to be a very efficient disdain to on plucking them from a tree while in full flight If, as a child, you ever tried grabbing rings from a merry-go-round, you can appreciat sist ibis ing material the hard way on their not too substantial nest takes the aspects of a game theless generation after generation of like is soaring, nesting, and with them a community activity Their favorite feeding grounds are shallow ponds in open grasslands or marshes A whole flock descend together on such a pool, and ach bird at once goes to work stirring * • 233 A The male wood ibis is a much.lacger and heavier bird than its mate Bothare active in the care of the solemn-faced young ^ -"> j:^^ ~^^m^ '.fX'^X Along the southwest Florida coast the wood ibis nests in the low tangled red and black mangrove thickets lining the waterways Many years of complete freedom from molestation under the watchful eye of Audubon wardens has dispelled much of their traditional wariness Red mangrove is one of the few trees that takes root and grows in shallow difficulty salt water A person can penetrate it fsilfVJ only with the greatest j„„„ Crnickshank photos mud with its feet The performance has very much the appearup the ance of a dance Its apparent purpose is water and force small and other aquatic ani- to rile the fish, tadpoles, mals to the top Whenever one of these comes to the surface, the nearest bird kills it with a snap of its bill This snap produces a loud clacking sound, and a whole makes flock of feeding ibis a noise that carries for quite a distance After a while the dance subsides and the flock then, but not until then, Frequently more food starts to feed dead on the surface than the flock can eat However, it is not is floating wasted as turtles quickly clean No these and other scavengers up it know one seems to birds Actually came they to are be storks just called — ibis only the North American representative how of this ancient and honorable family of birds The wood ibis is a common, wide- ranging species found from our southern states south all the way to Argentina Thanks to a natural wariness and a highly unpalatable flesh, they have been able to survive remarkably NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 Lacking any very beautiful well plumes, they were not persecuted by the plume hunters as were the egrets, with which they frequently share their rookeries A visit to one of these wood nesting colonies By preference ibis an exciting event is they choose dense a strand of cypress composed of mature trees one hundred or more feet high located in a region of open glades or pine lands Here they build constructed loosely and their such fpr a large bird rather small nests, in the topmost branches Often each tree will contain ten to twenty nests, which will be 80 many of more above the swamp One feet or the shallow water of such rookery occupying an area about two miles long and a half mile in the Big Cypress of Florida mated to contain wide is esti- an average of 40,000 breeding birds Snakebirds, as well as American egrets, commonly share these rookeries with the the lovely roseate nested in some of the rookeries of the wood spoonbill more southern ibis There is apparently a definite affinity between two species, the ranges of which almost completely overlap, as even in these feeding they frequently associate with each other or rookery as it is usually and noise The adults make a hoarse croak, the young a loud squeal The roar made by the wings of returning groups is a scene of constant activity of foraging birds continually adds to the din ibis Before their virtual extirpation from Florida A A BREEDING COLONY called GouRDHEAD is another of the many names by which the wood ibis is known Like most of its other names, this one comes from the peculiar roughened appearance of the dark naked skin of its head and neck The indulging in a typical on the top of an insecure dead branch bird at right is teetering performance < I TWILL TAKE these four rather drolllooking young wood ibis four years to mature Until then their heads will be more or less feathered this During period they avoid the adults and form flocks their with others of age own Ulan Cniickshank f>liclos 235 in the sea A column of steam and cinhurled to a height of 1000 feet, as old Krakatoa's youthful offspring, "Anak Krakatoa," growls and threat"^ ^ The scene of the world's greatest explosion: connecting the Indian Ocean (on the left) with the Java Sea This map shows the outlines of Krakatoa before the volcanic eruption Sunda Cauldron ders Strait, ens the neighborhood A view of the eruption of 1930 I The greatest Webster, master of "Hawarden CAPTAIN is the mail steamer anchored off Port South Africa, was a methodical man, and with the brevity Castle" Elizabeth, Exactly 60 years ago the mightiest spectacle of all recorded history gave notice of itself on every one of the 197 million square miles of the earth's surface master mariners he characteristic of recorded the bare facts of a puzzling incident: At eight-thirty wind (1883) P.M moderate, on August 27th southeast, with ship riding head to wind Suddenly ship swung head to northeast, bringing wind and sea abeam Thought cable had parted but on going forward found heavy strain on cable caused by anchor still bearing southeast from ship Dropped second anchor At eight hours, fifty minutes P.M ship turned head to wind Remained minutes then swung in this position eight again with head to northeast From this time until midnight occasionally headed wind and sea but remained most of time heading northeast with moderate wind and sea abeam Six 4000 miles to an Agent of Eastern hours earlier, the northeast, Province, Ceylon, sat facing the win- dow of his office overlooking Argam sea The was moving shoreward swell with the speed and silence of an arrow In the shallows on the seaward slope of the bar the mass of water rose swiftly as might the entire ocean itself on every one of the 197 million square miles of the earth's surface It was not the eruption of first Krakatoa nor was it to be the last in our time, though nothing since has In Sunda Strait by some incredible catastrophe It en- equaled gulfed the terrified group on the bar the closely grouped islands of Verla- and ten, filled Even the harbor with confusion as the Agent observed ing scene, the flood reached est, moment, and poised a amaz- the its high- svi^ung sea- ward laden with flotsam snatched from far above the mark of high tide Captain Webster at Port Elizabeth and the Agent on Ceylon had witnessed a remarkable phenomenon Neither, however, was omniscient and neither recognized the sea — wave for it in violence Lang, and Krakatoa are but small bumps in and 'around the crater of an immense volcano 25 miles in circumference The existence of such a cone, diagrammatically shown in the accom- panying illustrations, in itself ade- is quate proof that this was not the first outburst Native legends of the region an eruption lost in antiquity, and recorded history gives meager ac- refer to count of a mild outburst in 1681 Commercial duties, never arduous, were less pressing than usual, and with a drowsy eye he saw a group of natives on the offshore bar Pre- what cisely at P.M he lifted a heavy eyeand what he saw galvanized him instantly into complete and astounded trophic burst that had eviscerated the this month lid, volcano of Krakatoa at ten o'clock the opposite morning in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra The wave had spread from an outburst of energy cosmic in its dimensions, one which booming sounds like the discharge of artillery," and windows rattled periodically all day Not until two days Bay consciousness Half a mile offshore a small boat — on an ocean swell a single broad bulge in an otherwise smooth rose high 23b it actually chaos, death, was a messenger of and destruction It was impressive within mal in itself but infinitesicomparison with the catas- that in one way or another gave notice of After two centuries of silence these most recent paroxysms of Krakatoa began as they ended in violence Exactly 60 years ago on the 20th of — residents of side of Batavia, later did a passing ship bring on "heard Java, word of the onset of activity at Krakatoa It NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 ^ Gathering force: another airplane photograph of the hole in the ocean at the site of the most violent cataclysm in the history of man In the background is seen one of the islands left after Krakatoa's major explosions in 1883 V Unpredictable Whenever Krakatoa restless, the catastrophe of 1883 a cubic mile of rock the air is and 36,000 persons lost their lives Explosion of all time By HOBART reported explosions on the island and This was indeed news Within the same week an excursion from Batavia visited the volcano and ascended the blackened slope of hot At the top of the highest peak saw a crater 3000 feet in diamefrom the center of which there cinders ter, issued with a terrific roar a great column of steam, carrying volcanic dust 10,000 feet into the Follow- air come ing this report few cared to to with the seething volcano, and thereafter information came only close grips by passing ships Late in June a second column appeared more nearly in the center of the ancient cone There followed a month of increasing violence and a third gigantic jet broke forth, throwing skyward immense clouds of dust and pumice, which settled in vast rafts on the surrounding sea Shortly thereafter eleven smaller jets appeared, down and Krakatoa settled to the deadly business of self- destruction Passing ships reported constant detonations on the island, but none of this was news to the residents of BaHeavy clouds obscured most of tavia Krakatoa, and continual flashed in the darkness lightning hanging over > Lying between Java and Sumatra, Krakatoa is on the fringe of the territory now occupied by the Japanese A view from STOCKING Department of Geology, West Virginia University into the air they E a near-by island when was hurled 17 miles into Ewing a tower of dust reaching 36,000 feet appears recalled, GalliKuay photo ; AFTER A The ancient volcano as it A The same region after the eruption Most of Krakatoa has disappeared Verlaten and Lang hli appeared before the eruption of The portions projeaing above the ocean are: Verlaten Island (on the left), Lang Island (background), and Krakatoa (center) 1883 For miles around, the was heavy with sulphurous odors, the volcano air and meticulous ship com- captains plained that merely passing through the area gave adequate time for gases to corrode and blacken every inch of must have poured The vast Indian Ocean, but little disturbed, was dousing the small glow on its fringe, but the battle was not won Superheated steam was being developed under terrific pressures The Ocean exposed brasswork On Sunday afternoon, August 26th, there was no ship closer than ten miles from Krakatoa, but judging from the account of Captain Watson of British ship "Charles Bal," this the dis- have been enlarged by the addition of volcanic did not quench the in- of steam and molten merely fastened down the safety valve of Krakatoa, while subterranean fires of Vulcan's forge raged credible rock; heat it The The the air roar was plainly audible on the island of Rodriguez, 3100 miles to the east A gust of compressed air blow out lamps, windows, even blow down walls in Batavia nearly 100 miles away, and the same gust encircled the shot through space to blow in earth to oscillate barometers in York The roar of chaos, clearly audible more than 3000 for New City miles, gave in- result of this dead- stantaneous birth to a mighty wall of was exactly what might happen man-made boiler under similar in full fury and there was a continual rain circumstances: there followed a period water which, like concentric ripples from a pebble tossed into a quiet pond, spread out from Krakatoa as a of volcanic debris, such that all hands of relative quiet as internal pressure center The mounted to astronomical heights It was the same sort of build-up that oc- proportoins: 50 to 100 feet high was tance row seat dust, fell-to to the equivalent of a front The air was choked with keep the decks cleared lock to a "Loudon," at anchor in the Bay of Lampong 50 miles from the vol- curs in a geyser, but far greater cano, reported that "lightning struck external the mainmast conductor forces had been appalling up to now with but brief frustration they were to reach proportions never before or since witnessed by man There was a mighty explosion at 5:30 and another at 6:44 a.m., but ship five or six times" and that there was a constant rain of phosphorescent mud Natives crew were terrified by this disand stokers deserted the engine room to assist the deck hands as they rushed madly about extinguishing the glow with their hands, pleading that if any spark of this cold fire found its way below decks it would, somehow, in the play, scuttle the ship Shortly after midnight there came a lull in the volcanic tempest Kraka- toa was not a large island nor did it stand much above dian Ocean Such violent and con- the level of the In- these manifestations of The internal were merely preliminary throatwhich brought the inhabi- As fee for Strait and rippled the entire Beneath the impenetrable shroud of dust a mighty thunderbolt of Jove was in the making, and at Krakatoa a few more hours of relative peace came as this At 10:02 A.M Krakatoa exploded A opened fissures below sea level, and into some of these deep cracks water cubic mile of rock, pulverized in the a gigantic, explosion, shot catastrophic seventeen burst miles into Pacific Westward, with diminishing amplitude, it raced across the Indian Ocean the in Vulcan's spectacular fan- the and with a prelude to evisceration of the vol- At wave claimed 36,000 lives The wave ripped through Sunda tasy, tants of Batavia upright in their beds cano ripples of cosmic 350 miles an hour they roared onto adjacent coasts and with incredible speed spread death and destruction over hundreds of miles of shore line clearings, tinued explosions must certainly have 238 These were a last lethal fillip astonished Agent on Cejdon Six hours later and succeeding ripples puzzled Captain Webster at Port Elizabeth by swinging his anchored ship broadside to moderate wind and light sea It raced past Good Hope, swung northward into the Atlantic, and gently lifted tidal gauges on the shores of Britain It spanned the South Atlantic and met its other half from across the Pacific some- NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 cl where curtain fell spectacle mightiest Ocean from Cape Horn northward Cape Horn on the in the vicinity of The along the coasts of slowly of and North America recorded all California time with a blaze of glory Bizarre sunsets were seen at Calcutta, Alex- in Washington, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, as the The Rome, andria, made recognizable the circuits of it settled is majority are concentrated in a bordering belt the United States westward through westward extension of the belt Mediterranean, including Vesuvius and Stromboli in Italian territory Embattled Malta is a mass of volcanic debris, and strategic Pantelleria, midway between Sicily and There narrow a into every continent of the earth The belt continues include Fujiyama, and continues on to the region of Krakatoa There gently on are nearly 600 of Krakakinsmen scattered over the earth Lassen to earth toa's Mount the solitary represen- the chain of the Aleutians, bends south eight of a violence never before wit- Born nessed by man, Central, tative of the clan in the Paris, vast cloud of volcanic dust is South, the North Africa, Pacific is a volcanic fragment Outside the narrow belt there are a few mighty cones rising in mid ocean, and of these Mauna Loa of the Hawaiians, 29,000 feet above the floor of the sea, is one of the better known Some volcanoes remain in constant and mild eruption for decades, and so accustomed are the near-by inhabino one is tants to such vagaries that much disturbed Mauna Loa is of this Others may be quiescent for centuries and support on their slopes cultivated fields, the owners of benevolent class which are completely unaware of the potentialities of the mass on which they live until it erupts in sudden vioContinucd on page 244 In Nl were oscillated by the concussion almost 12,000 miles from the explosion (August 27 1883) ters In BRITAIN tidal gauges were lifted by the wove sent out by cubic mile of pulverixed rock was shot seventeen miles into the air It made eight recoanixoble circuits of the earth, producing unusual sunset/ in Calcutta, Alexandria, Rotne, Pari*, Washington Francisco, and mud" and was touched or six times by lightking en August 26, 1883 cent five Krakatoa which rounded Cope of Goo* Hope A the BAY OF LAMPONG the ship "Loudon" underwent a bombardment of "phosphoresIn V CALCUTTA BATAVIA were blown in, lamps Hong Kong of out, San i MILES AWAY Captain Watson of the "Charles Bal" went through o terrifylag hall of volcanic debris on August TEN 26 1883 ^^r / ^^ ^ > The roor wos plainly heard on island 3100 miles years 20th, residents of Botovla heard explosions which mode their windows rattle On August 27 windows In ARGAM BAY Ceylon, great oceanic swell swept over o group of natives on an offshore bar and filled the entire harbor with confusion (August 27 1883) the — Exoctly M ogo en Moy * RODRIGUEZ away (August 27 1883) KRAKATOA The volcano which shook the wond with the greatest explosion nnan has ever known, on August 27, \ At I / PORT ELIZABETH South Africa Captain Webster of the "Howarden Castle" saw his ship da^ the normal winds and currents (August 27, 1883) THE GREATEST EXPLOSION OF ALL TIME Somewhere IRipie region CAPE HORN ^o circling the earth direetioi^ met waves, enopposite in 239 INSECT n A RDENERS United By John Eric Hill Drawing by garden leaf-cutting or parasol ants, have an leaves, that go them carry The or cultivate, a victory below the surface On the floor of these garden rooms are beds of chewed-up leaves, looking like flattened sponges and covered with the white fungus growths on which the from enemies are still larger and are provided with powerful jaws Workers weed and take care of the gardens and also feed and look after the larval ants feed colony Growing food system gives the The gardener often thinks the workers, imperfect females as eral kinds Those Programs of the American Museum and Hayden Planetarium, Spring, 1943 WEDNESDAYS from 3:30 dens of with much did These are the fungus-growing ants, a tropical American group that has sevin the WNYC M from 10:45 southern The A new over WNYC to 11:00 A M Stars Will Tell quiz program, broadcast directly from the Hayden Planetarium, boys and girls attending the morning show in wliich may participate ants soldiers that defend the colony — grublike, helpless babies of the When the young queen leaves her parental nest for her marriage flight, she carries a small pocketful of the fungus (the pocket is below her mouth and the pellet is the remains of her last meal in the home nest) After mating, the queen alights on the ground and begins to dig She soon excavates a small nest chamber and in this she plants the small fungus mass She then begins to lay eggs for the new colony and takes care of the young garden Until the first workers have matured, the fungus o SATURDAYS in- all his efforts were for But some ants have gartheir own, which they tend representatives over to 3:45 P Science for the Seven Million if man that tend the gar- ON YOUR RADIO their benefit care as ever of ant world generally, are of sev- in the of great importance in this task 140 The workers three times as large as the gardeners pansion, and to feed the armed forces and the starving people of Europe when victory is won Gardens will be eral the extent and often eight feet or more an urgent need to increase food production in order to sustain workers in our great industrial ex- as cut readers will is sects act as to underground of the later achievements of mankind Although food plants were grown in the Middle East and Egypt much earlier, the first European gardens were planted only about 5,000 years ago, and in many parts of the world people still depend on hunting or the keeping of herds, or on the natural produce of the forest and field Now The dens are small out elaborate gardener a feeling of accomplishment, perhaps because agriculture was one there highly spe- chambers, each several square feet in Mason month many in, The most home, and chew them to the pulpy mass used in the garden are almost G Frederick THIS put States cialized of these gardening insects, the is grown on excretia, and the larval ants feed on the eggs laid by the queen Once the workers have reached the adult form they take over the care of the young and go out to gather leaves for the fungus garden The queen works no more, but becomes an egg-laying machine NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 YOUR NEW BOOKS COPPER • • CHILE 4HILE by Erna Fergusson INSECTS tivity, sistent with its intriguing geography and diversity of climate, its history, and mixed population offers an inspiring challenge to any writer Miss Fergusson lias very successfully met this with unusual fairness, common sense, and discernment The result is an excellent and NICHOLAS COPERNICUS • energy, quantum theory, and relativity In reference to the general theory of rela- matics Alfred A Knopf, $3.50 INDIANS • Doctor Rusk says, "The mathecomplicated but, contrary to perrumor, the ideas can be put into is of not too many syllables." He then proceeds to give us one of the clearest, nontechnical discussions that this reviewer has read, of "the greatest one-man revolution since the time of Galileo." The closing chapters, written from the CHILE words entertaining point of view of society in relation to scientific development, are most illuminating and people, analysis of the their problems, country, its which refutes common idea that only long residence in a country qualifies one to write about it If all writers on Latin America were the to take the same care to familiarize themselves as thoroughly with the history and literature of the countries they visit as she has we would all benefit and there would be less complaint from the people written about No country is so perfect that a skillful writer who lacks understanding or is content with half truths cannot find something sions may appear ridiculous or may even give such impresTo accurately por- which offensive —he unintentionally tray a people showing both their virtues and their faults without rancor or bias is a rare accomplishment The reader is left with the feeling that not only are the Chileans and their country worth knowing, but that the author herself must be a thoroughly worth-while person The ment, proved that we live in a pagan world where brute force can only too easily gain ascendancy, and it has not yet been demonstrated that man can situation in which he can control it, it finally control can only be through the The science Rogers D Rusk PliriTpton Press, $3.75 AS attempts stated in the preface Doctor Rusk to show not only what recent developments in physical science are of most importance today, but in this volume how the wave of science is related to the present engulfing social tide, and he has succeeded magnificently in this broad and sweeping survey He has given us a story of the development of science that is as fascinating as a novel The author is a college physics, but he professor of has the rare facility of popularizing the physical sciences in a way that reminds one of Sir James Jeans and Professor George Gamow, and in the biological sciences of Professor Thomas H Huxley A few of his chapter headings are: "The Wave of Science," "Newly Discovered Particles," "The Amazing Electron Microscope," "Keeping Up with X-rays," "Man-made Radioactivity," and "Harnessing Atomic Energy." He discusses cosmic rays, origin of the solar system, age of the earth, Bethe's carbon-cycle theorv for the conservation of the sun's YOUR NEW BOOKS of Institute illustrations add much to the human interest of the book, which is a thing of beauty and literally muttum in I"'"""- Clyde Fisher Indian experiences - finds himself If he by De Cost Smith Caxton Printers, $4.00 DE COST SMITH was (1864-1939) development of a social conscience, which must more and more supplant the ritual of religion, and through the integration of good artist and a scholarly man His boyhood was spent on the borders of the the scientific aspect of life with that social Iroquois conscience." ern ^j^^de Fisher by Stephen P The Kosciuszko Foundation, 75(f Mizwa brochure bound; $1.50 cloth bound HERE is a beautiful booklet, prepared with great care by Doctor Mizwa famous book, Dc Rei'olulioitiOrbium Coclestium, which set forth Copernican system of astronomy It is also a memorial to the great Polish astronomer, who died in the same year in which his epoch-making book was published Memorial meetings will be held in hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country These demonstrations will be climaxed by a meeting of tribute in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on May 24, the date of the death of the Copernicus Dr Harlow Shapley, Director Harvard College Observatory and President of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, is chairman of the national committee, and will preside at of the the meeting in Carnegie Hall The booklet is much more than a soucommemoration It has of this permanent value as a dependable biogvenir raphy of one of the greatest astronomers all time The author has taken triple of and historically accurate While the monograph was in manuscript form he had the careful criticism of Dr Henry Noble McCracken, President of Vassar College pains to have it both scientifically of the Kosciuszko Foundation, of Oscar Halecki the outstanding contemporary Polish historian, Professor of Histnrv at the Universitv of Warsaw and and Dr Onondaga Reservation New York, so his interest was second began Nicholas copernicus hiu - -by abundant the tion of the Forward with Director of the Polish Arts and Sciences in New York, and of Dr Edward Rosen of the College of the City of New York, leading Copernican scholar The exquisite frontispiece design in color was contributed by a refugee Polish artist, Arthur Szyk, "perhaps the greatest living miniaturist working in the technique of illuminated medieval manuscripts." The author makes this provocative state"The phenomenon of war has for the 400th anniversary of the publica- Junius Bird now to nature to visit the make When still a westIndians in in a youth he Missouri River country notes and sketches, giving special attention to the history of exploration in that area In middle life he descended the Missouri by canoe from Fort Benton to St Louis, with a copy of the Original Journals of Lewis and Clark, checking and identifying the narrative of those famous explorers, making photographs and sketches as he went along After his death in 1939 the manuscript for this book was found among his papers So far as we know, it is his only book The reader will find it no ordinary volume, scholarly in spots but again thrilling in interest and narrative There a sec- is upon the technique of Indian art, comprehensive and convincing, demonstrating the influence of white man's drawing upon tion the work of the Indian The other outstanding contributions are character studies of Rain-in-the-Face and Sitting Bull These are masterpieces in analysis and historical interpretation, based upon close acquaintance with these two important Indians and supported by documentary materials Others have taken turns in interpreting Sitting Bull but none we have read are so convincing and consistent as the 30-page discussion in this book We see Sitting moron as some writers seek to prove him, nor as the great miliBull not as a lucky tary genius others would have us believe, but as a clever, wise prophet who by superior salesmanship and self-advertisement among white people achieved lasting fame The study of Rain-in-the-Face is equally thorough and painstaking Though his historic position Bull, this is inferior to that of Sitting chapter increases the reader's confidence in the author's insight C W 241 , Hiking, camping and "EARNEST _-. -._ Hooton once more hits the stride of 'Up From the Ape'; strides factual volume he the present in with the seven-league boots of knowledge and warm under- standing words of one In syllable: a swell book." // is M KROGMAN Secretary, Section on Anthropology, American Association for the Advancement of HERE is an outdoor, "how to it" book that brings fond recollections of Dan Beard, Horace Kephart, and Ernest Thompson Seton, the masters in this field It is all very enlightening, and up-to-date but in and the physical oddities, the grimaces and antics, the idiosyncracies personality of and sex life that distinguish monkeys chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and all the rest of ape-and- m ikey society, the utho told guihng MAN'S POOR RELATIONS by Earnest Hooton bookseller's • S 5.00 • Doubleday, Doran it of presenting, in concise the how, when, and where of open air-living along forest trails In a chapter on, "Hiking and Walking in Gen- from author describes everything "goose step" and competitive, the the athletic walking to walking backward and "tiptoe walking." It is related that, "Strong, tough feet are the result of walking bare- walk barefoot whenever good idea, no doubt Excellent advice is given on outdoot clothing and equipment, how to plan a hike, behavior on the trail, general aspects of camping, camp equipment, and how to set up, maintain, and break a camp Sound information on fires, cooking, and food is also made available in eminently worthwhile fashion Some 72 pages are devoted foot; therefore, possible" — a fails to understand refers what the There is to copper by Angus The Macmillan glamor THE Mother Lode, of Comstock, the and Murdoch Co., $3.00 the the Mesabi Range Fully illustrated, 52 pages has been so often written about, pictured, or broadcast that almost everyone is familiar with some aspects of their history The thin finger of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula projecting up into Lake Superior has had few chroniclers, and although geologists the world over are familiar with its unique copper deposits, they have not attracted the popular in- Price: 40^ plus 5^ postage terest for this generation that other NEW explanation of the many close relationships between birds and mankind and other minerals have Perhaps because it is so camps trailer to: 77th Street and Central Park City New York 242 West summer is to be hoped help may one day visitors former prosperity, now that the mines are so deep that they no longer can be worked at a profit Both the traditions and the scenery to bring back some of its a visit worth-while, and all who are interested in copper mines and in the make specimens unique that one finds in all collections will surely enjoy this book The author has done considerable research and seems to have written a reliable book as well as an interesting one However, copper in its native state (that is, uncombined with non-metallic elements, not "pure" as Mr Murdoch defines is not nearly as rare as the author it) thinks, nor is it necessary to envisage long trade routes to explain the copper in Mexico, as a visit to any large mineral collection would have shown him But In their day, should be consulted for references to the geology of the area rather than the spotty bibliography at the close of the book F few from before the H POUGH Insect invaders by Anthony Standen Houghton Mifflin Co., $3.50 very much about volume, but the aucover the field of economic entomology very well Two unfortunate features about the book are the title and the "blurbs" on the jacket The book deals with much more than "Insect Invaders," and one might gather from reading the "advertising" that the author was on the verge of madness Despite this book very interesting I have found the The material is presented in a thoroughly readable manner and the facts are accurate in almost all instances It is not true, however, that citrus scales "can impossible to ITinsects in a single is managed tell to only be dealt with by a gas attack." In view of the field covered by the book it is at once apparent that the author has stressed the damages caused by insects while relegating to an unnecessarily brief space their great value In reading about insects we find that a fly scatters its eggs over the grass and that they will not hatch unless eaten by a caterpillar This is true, except that there are more kinds of these flies in North America than there are serious imported This pests end of World War I, the peninsula was as important as any mining region of the West, and millions of understatement occurs many times In stating that flies live in barnyard manure it is implied that all flies do, were distributed in dividends All of the legends of sudden wealth and equally sudden poverty, which are so fa- whereas the author is referring only to the housefly, which also breeds in garbage Even with its shortcomings the book is Civil Office of Popular Publications American Museum of Natural History that good isolated, travelers visit the region, and the mines had passed their spectacular period long before the era of the tourist and the Mall your order when people remote Michigan country again are free to travel It thor has Boom l\ surely increase the tourist's interest in the reviewer "new youth movement" and D Mr Murdoch has made their history an and lively account, which will interesting good history of the Keweenaw Peninsula and its denizens The bibliographies of Survey United States Geological the William Carr Sc viduality to the mining of these deposits what does it matter if the geology of Boom Copper is a little weak; it is a science of mountaineering says that, "Both hiking and camping are an integral part of the new youth movement here and abroad." This exact the with or without the aid of "movements." Man anything the western deserts can produce, while the hazards of the Lake Superior storms add an element of indi- The author to no explanation provided Youth always moves, and walking and camping have been part of the American heritage for many years, greatly encouraged by State and National Parks and by numerous youth organizations, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and innumerable educational institutions and groups Happily the national urge to spend added free hours in the out-of-doors is increasing year by year, Birds By Frank M Chapman, mo- original the woodland philosophy and feeling process the loses fashion, eral," in word HERE,picture, are At your be duplicated in northern Michigan The winter hardships of the country can rival by Roland C Geist Harper and Brothers, $3.00 tivating —PROFESSOR W I miliar in connection with the West, can mountaineering War of dollars up to the same type NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 — for which work he had recommended by his old valuable, and anyone wishing to obtain general knowledge of insect problems and the methods employed in solving them (but not insect control) may so here But we are not losing the "insect war" and we shall not lose it so long as other insects are around to the major of a been part of control work Morris K Jesup, former President of the ^ ^ ^^^^^^ agriculture, strongly Wilson and Wallace This move was in response to an invitation from the Principal, Booker T Washington The building for the Agricultural Department teachers, of the Wagon, FlELDBOOK OF NATIVE ^HIS is I Tehon 3, ments $1.25 books issued by the Illinois Natural History Survey (the first was on wild flowers and the second on land snails) intended primarily for amateur naturalists and 27 varieties, with a paragraph on the distribution of each The line-drawings by Miss Kathryn M Sommerman are distinguished service in the field of printed is on very in well chosen, legible type, a fine piece of bookmaking It is a careprepared handbook that will surely prove most useful to the ever-increasing fully number of nature-lovers Clyde Fisher George Washington carver, an american biography by Rackham Holt story fine of American great truly a & Co., $3.50 in Missouri He up an orphan, and was early taught a log cabin in western grew by his foster mother to wash; it was almost entirely by his laundry work that he earned his livelihood during his youth and - - At 25 he was admitted to Simpson ColIowa, and from here he went to Iowa State College at Ames, where he had two great teachers who appreciated his marked ability and became his loyal friends These teachers were James G Wilson, who became Secretary of Agriculture under McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft; and Henry C Wallace, who held the same post under Harding and Coolidge The latter's son, Henry lege, Agard Wallace, now Vice-President of tramped the and woods about Ames with Carver, the United States, as a boy, fields whom he gives credit for introducing him to the mysteries of fertilization in plants and for teaching him to identify to i - - - the grasses From Ames, Carver went to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to take charge YOUR NEW BOOKS fellow by Vardis Fisher if she garden so the These plant's white of cycle parts, subjects, scientist to the section that is and seed which the usually makes seem flower layman, are here ex- the graphical!}' that the is flowerentirely Particularly fine are the black illustrations on the margins of the pages devoted to these discussions No one looking at the illustrations of corm, tuber, and rhizome could again confuse the terms Rudolf Freund is to be congratulated on his bulb, The Vanguard ever Press, $2.50 attempts to reconINstruct book the author the steps by which the anthropoid rose through the fringe of limitations separating him from man There is an introductory sketch of 47 pages outlining the formation of the world and the appearance of life, ending with what may pass for men The reader may find this introduction dull and trying to the eyes because it is printed in slanting type, but he will miss little if he skips it The remainder of the book is a narrative of how man may have groped his way from an anthropoid existence into a human one For methodological reasons the whole projected is individual One ates into the and life of a family associ- his recognizes influence the of Freud's philosophy in the characterization of the hero, a "culture leader," as a vic- tim of type The and a neurotic frustration early other leading characters are a a female, the practical and dominant male, and two or obvious influence is from the data on chimpanzee behavior, presented in the report emanating from the Yerkes Laboratory in Florida By skillfully welding these together in a Freudian framework, the author produces a gripping narrative, an imaginary reconstruction of the beginnings of language, knowledge, invention, and social brilliant leader of her three college days plained and single «ARVER'S GEORGE," as he was '^ known as~a boy, was born a slave pollination, dispelled lose the as lover's fear of technical terms Clyde Fisher Darkness and the deep transition Doubleday, Doran explains clearly laboratory formidable a her us, to Exceedingly valuable so life, honored itself by conferring on him an honorary doctorate degree Mrs Holt has written Lynwall enthusiasts distribution and helpful, and the keys volume little culture We science In 1941 the University of Roches- this The its Gladys English, were speaking a fellow of the Royal England In 1923 he was awarded the Spingarn Medal for distinguished service in agricultural chemistry In 1939 he received the Roosevelt Medal by the author are unusually complete and usable For example, five characters are given to distinguish the two species of alder flowing of to species good paper and quite often hints for was made ter 210 In 1916 he held the title of Botanist of the Survey, has produced an excellent guide to the shrubs of this mid-western state includes him Society and nature-lovers The author, Doctor Tehon, who has for more than 20 years especially clear remarkable collection of information in regard to a well-selected list of our best known garden shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants The original home of each plant is given, the origin of its common and scientific names, Pratt describes each species sensation of reading and feel for section have come honors Rudolf Freund House, $1.00 A TRULY In Many the third in a series of field- descriptive Random peanut A The Tuskegee is his epoch-making upon the sweet potato and the at research Natural History Survey, Manual ' hy Leo R on college wheels, used by Carver as Agricultural Collaborator of the U S Department of Agriculture Among his many achieve- ILLINOIS SHRUBS Illinois also paid for the farmers' a by Gladys Lynwall Pratt Illustrated by by financed partly American Museum, who Jesup - was Institute A-merican garden flowers stupid co-operative morons kind, The other narrative is rather the reader with the feeling that he has been let down or that the curtain falls unexpectedly in the midst a fascinating experiment Seemingly the purpose of the long introduction condition the tality of the ease him A quotation from the description of the a flower so greatly loved through the ages, will serve to show how simply and charmingly the text has been handled: "When you look at stately lilies in a garden or greenhouse and smell the magnificent flowers which fill the air with Lily, sweet perfume, it is difficult to remem- ber that these flowers are closely related to the lowly cooking onion The fragrant odor of lilies was once thought to be injurious to health, and people were warned that in time of Plague they must be avoided However, lilies were considered beneficial in some circumstances, for they were supposed to cure 'byles' ears,' and 'faint heart'." The different plants (boils), 'dull discussed are all in full color by the talented Rudolf Freund The shrubs shown on the front end-sheets and the vines on the back ones are particularly lovely in color They are combined in an exceedingly artistic manner illustrated artist, NLargaret McKexnv Atoms, stars and nebulae by Leo Goldberg and Lawrence H Aller life The ending to the abrupt and may leave of technique is to bloody bru- reader to evolutionary process and so into the toleration for the brutal, murderous, vociferous, erotic behavior of the dawn man p ^y The Blakiston Company, $2.50 Harvard Books on THE provide most readable Astronomy and at the same time instructive, up-to-date, and authoritative survey of the whole field of a astronomy The complete series comprises volumes, five of which have been published The books are edited by Harlow Shapley and Bart J Bok of the Harvard College Observatory The first four, which were recently reviewed in nine THE EARTHQUAKE RECORDER ENVIRONMENT AND LOCOMOTION IN MAMMALS Natural History, are as follows: Earth, Moon and Planets by Fred L Whipple, Betv-een the Planets by Fletcher G Watson, The Milky H'ay by Bart J Bok and Priscilla F Bok, and The Story of Variable Stars by Leon Campbell and Luigi solves its own problems in its own way, many have shown similar re- Jacchia sponses to similar tasks The present volume, Atoms, Stars Nebulae, which has just appeared, The and is the chapter is an excellent introduction to stars and nebulae Then follow fascinating discussions of stellar '"rainbows" or spectra, atoms, and molecules (stellar building blocks), the climate in a stellar atmosphere, dwarfs, giants, and supergiants, analyzing the stars, pulsating stars, exploding stars, planetary nebulae, "between the stars," fifth in the series what makes a star first shine, and related subjects There are altogether 150 illustrations, the majority of which have never before appeared in print They include excellent star-clusters, photographs of nebulae, various types of spectra, and portraits of a number of astronomers who have made significant contributions astrophysics to Also there are many helpful diagrams scattered throughout the book This volume is up to the high standard set by the four preceding ones, and students and teachers of astronomy will be on the lookout for the remaining ones which have been projected Clyde Fisher The OF AND The New York A WORTHY 1943 by T H Everett Botanical Garden, loiji report and prospectus of demonstration plot maintained at the New York Botanical Garden Comprehensive suggestions are given for home growers: planning and preparing the garden, seasonal schedule, do's and KRAKATOA —Continued from page 2S9 Krakatoa was one of these peacefully malevolent cones, although no inducement to habitaabounding with more suitable localities for man it offered tion in a region The tor apparatus most mammals can develop and spend great stores of energy in moving quickly and in traveling over long distances Following their prede- mammals seem to have explored and exploited all possible types of environment, from the burning sands of the desert to the icy waters of the polar seas, and from the rarified air of high mountains to the enormous pressures met by deep-diving whales After man had evolved from the lower mammals he first compelled them In contrast to the violence of some that we know today, they are not only peaceful but in many stances exceedingly profitable to in- man- material which volcanoes extrude, either placidly or violently, exceedingly complex It is not only melted rock: it contains vast amounts of liquids and gases, and in the complex solution there may be notable amounts of gold and silver A volcano becomes extinct when its throat has congealed to a pipe of solid rock this At time hot waters rising from great depths carry in solution derived from the original 244 to loan him their of: By Chester A Reeds 16 pages, illustrated; 1934 13 cents in stamps or coin limbs; fleet then he began to produce more still powerful locomotor machines, which have culminated in the stratosphere Mail your order to: Popular American Museum of Office 77th and Street Natural Central New York and submarines of the present period civilization that produced these super-engines of locomotion and destruction might eventually be exterminated through the abuse of their power but it seems more probable Publications of planes and flying ships, in the tanks that a sufficient majority of the History West Park City U R G E X T The Museum Library of back issues of human is in need Natural His- them for the benefit of mankind as a whole and as legitimate aids in overcoming the still tory, particularly the first four issues for 1942 Copies sent to the Librarian, Natural History, New York, will be greatly ap- serious handicaps of the world's far- preciated race will learn to use molten rock As the waters find their cracks and crevices in the solidified throat of a volcano they de- way along posit, compounds magma, or with other materials, a part of their load of precious metals The ple is Order a copy the the The been sent to New York before the tremor itself arrived? cessors of other classes of vertebrates, rocks of continents contain evi- kind a descrip- might have disaster tebrates, dence of countless prehistoric volcanoes Being hot-blooded ver- the of flung environments etc lence of adaptive branching of the locomo- DO YOU KNOW HOW tion ; the don't's, Thus the mammals have added new versions of the old theme their on view in the American Museum of Natural History was seen to shake on April when the shock of an earthquake far away in Chile reached New York City The victory gardens 1942 Continued from page 227 cient that the rich gold-silver lodes of Crip- Creek, Colorado, are throat of an all ancient Here the very ultimate stage of vol- A mixture of nitrogen and car- bon dioxide seeps into drifts and tunnels from minute pores and fractures in the volcanic debris These lethal gasses have frequently brought a halt mining operations by literally filling drifts, tunnels, and shafts up to the to level of the In rare instances the may magma solidi- waning vol- contain an abundance of the elements which, when combined under great heat and pressure, form precious stones The There whole encylopedias of are the lore of volcanoes, and yet their remains one of the incom- activity pletely solved mysteries of the inor- ganic world rock is heat is That "pipe" of Kim- they contain melted obvious, but the source of the unknown That the erupted material comes from within the earth is certain, but more to the from what depth? And point —what circum- stances initiate a volcanic eruption Once begun, what ground fying in the throat of a cano slow process of erosion has completely leveled the cone within volcano canic activity becomes a mining hazard South Africa, which has produced an incredible wealth in diamonds, is simply the congealed conduit of a long extinct volcano, one so an- berly brings it ? to a close? Science continues to investigate these mysteries and may some day deduce a clear picture of the earth sional we as what goes on indicated inside by the occa- but spectacular manifestations see at the surface NATURAL HISTORY, MAY, 943 ... 241 Boom The The The The Aim of Museum Teaching, 201 Museum Meets the Public, 161 Time and Place for Teaching 113 Wartime Role of Beauty in the Museum, 57 Egret, American, 18 Environment and Locomotion... Frederick should American Museum History, Seventy-ninth Street at Central Park West, should applications, he sent to York, Y (except July aiiJ August) at New York N V., Ijy The American Museum of... superb photographs Rene D.^niels the Film Division, The American Museum Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, N Y I Sirs: Museum by schools and other organizations for a nominal