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_ SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
tay
_ SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION es IN 1930
eMITH SONI, N
SEP 03 1987
(PusLicaTIon 3111)
SiGBRARIES
CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1931
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD-WORK OF THE SMITHSONTAN INSTITUTION IN 1980
(PUBLICATION 3111)
CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1931
The Lord Battimore Press
BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A,
legal even ©) ah
Each year the Smithsonian Institution and certain of its branches— notably the U. S. National Museum, the Bureau of American Eth- nology, and the Astrophysical Observatory—send into the field expe- ditions for the purpose of obtaining information and collections needed in the pursuance of their researches in biology, geology, anthropology, and astrophysics. The results of these researches are published sooner or later, usually as technical papers, in one of the series issued by the Institution. In the meantime it is considered desirable to present in this annual explorations pamphlet brief articles on the field expeditions themselves. The articles, written by the field workers, tell of the purpose of the expeditions, the methods of acquiring the desired ma- terial, something of the results obtained, and perhaps a little of the interest of scientific work in the field, often in places seldom visited by man. The whole gives an idea of the wide scope of the Institution’s scientific activities, undertaken with the sole purpose of increasing knowledge and diffusing it.
W. Ps irue; Editor, Smithsonian Institution.
CONTENTS
PAGE Nlovoones (CA (Gew sSabiahiabarer nye’ Sibiilan Gog Bo aeiolee GoGo ieee cin oc ar racia niet I ANiketsicln, Jo Wile (Collkaciines 1Rihes sh wae WWEStes ono bocuboesoounoaenoboeeece 107 Bartsch, Paul. Further Explorations for Mollusks in the West Indies..... OI Bassler, IR, Sq Ieee INTOKOORSHIIS 5 cop caeeouese seu bul docUoe cousobobeE I Businell Davide leanlitamNlonacaneSitesmitin VaGodniae sca cies sceeiee seis sel: 211 Collins, Henry B., Jr. Ancient Culture of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska..... 135 Densmore, Frances. Music of the Winnebago, Chippewa, and Pueblo enh vaatin Secs hops ted sa Peto rete esac RENO 5 Eis A ager dy Sits ey 217 Friedmann, Herbert, Explorations of the Rey. David C. Graham in Saal anienn, Clarhake ys ker peters SARE a, REN yee Rae Gl OR ee emM A el Bk Tal Gidley, James W. Continuation of the Fossil Horse Round-Up on the OldwOrecontrltrailkve ms a: ce ete Ue sk Cee aoe ee eee 33 Gidley, James W. Further Investigations on Evidence of Early Man in TEL ayer bey) | 2c APS. ERA gala en eA A aes EMEC AP A gp IO ea AI Gilmore, Charles W. Fossil Hunting in the Bridger Basin of Wyoming.... 13
Harrington, John P. Studying the Indians of New Mexico and California. . 187 Henderson, Edward P. Collecting Silver Minerals in Ontario, Canada.... 45 Hewitt, J. N. B. Field Researches Among the Six Nations of the Iroquois.. 201 HintchcockepAw Ss Aw botanical Visit to South and East Atricas...as.0. 46: on}
Hrdlicka, Ales. Anthropological Work on the Kuskokwim River, Alaska.. 123
Judd, Neil M. Arizona’s Prehistoric Canals, from the Air............... TS Kellers, Henry C. Biological Collecting on “Tin-can Island”............ 67 Kellogg, Remington. Ancient Relatives of Living Whales................. 83
Krieger, Herbert W. Prehistoric Santo Domingan Kitchen-middens,
Gemectenicommean dal anthiwOtkse set py aciiae ac cear ee et revi eee 145 Michelson, Truman. Studies of the Cheyenne, Kickapoo, and Fox........ 207 Perrygo, Watson M., and Wetmore, Alexander. The Cruise of the
IES NOAM Wes AGEN IG eins seein iene cans Grito nen en OOo roa a aor 59 Resser, Charles E. The Search for Ancient Life Forms in the Rocks of
them ViestennaWimitedmStatescran sq riaccreiert cae siece cuaisesuehe ompee rein atc Ryser 21 Roberts, Frank H. H., Jr. A Prehistoric Village on the Zuni Reservation,
INTENT AICS SKC se teatoeh, 3 oie cia ctr nic or Re ers ercehe Gis ch oo cicero ont a Schmitt, Waldo L. Trawling for Crustaceans at Tortugas, Florida....... 103 Stirling, M. W. Mounds of the Vanished Calusa Indians of Florida....... 167 Stirling, M. W. Archeological Reconnaissance in Texas and Nevada..... 173 Swanton, John R. Indian Language Studies in Louisiana:..::....-...-.-- 195 Wetmore, Alexander. Afield with the Birds of Northern Spain.......... 49
Wetmore, Alexander, and Perrygo, Watson M. The Cruise of the ESAT ORDANG al HIGH, att dean SS Eo RT ERE TR DI eI On oe OG oa 50
STUDYING. TEE SUN
By GG. ABBOT, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
For many years we have operated stations on high mountains in distant desert lands making daily observations of the intensity of the sun’s rays, on which all life and weather depend. This tedious cam- paign is just reaching its victory.
As shown in figure 1, short-interval changes of solar radiation, taking four or five days in which to produce a rising or a falling sequence of solar change averaging only 0.8 per cent, obviously cause changes in the temperature and barometric pressure at Washington.’ Opposite causes in solar change plainly produce opposite effects in weather. Some of the effects are simultaneous with their solar causes. Others are delayed 10 or more days, probably drifting down in waves from distant centers of direct solar action. These delayed effects, as well as the direct ones, are often large, equalling or exceeding 5° Fahrenheit in their average values.
The conclusion is surprising. Hitherto it has commonly been sup- posed that weather is merely the fluctuation effected by local terres- trial conditions in the orderly periodic march of climate. These new results indicate, on the contrary, that weather is principally caused by frequent interventions of variations of the sun, affecting terrestrial affairs.
The delayed effects just pointed out give promise of long-range forecasting values. It would be still more promising if regular perio- dicities should be found in the solar variations. This is the case. Figure 2 shows that from 1918 to 1930 the principal variations in the solar radiation, as given by monthly mean values, are well represented as the sum of five periodicities, and five only. They are of 68, 45, 25, Ir, and 8 months, respectively, and are all closely related to the 114-year sun-spot cycle and the 33-year Bruckner cycle. The search for shorter periods is beginning, and, as curve H shows, reveals a period of 45 days and another one-eighth thereof as having continued through the year 1924.
The expected march of solar variation in the years 1931 and 1932 is shown in curve I.
1 And other stations as well.
Z SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION € DAYS ZERO 5 10 15 20 NY ya 1 es Ee Jt | N py a 4 | N TEMPS RAT URES: Coy - = Ms ~ JE ii es MARCH Sceellead =1.00 -a°b A 2 =I / paesfunes 0.00 SS 4 [S 1 Ke +1.00 is ea Ie s laaal ia He ae 4 aul rs IN T -200 4° a /{\ MI / PARAS -100 2 Z ora aN v NS a | f 000 ok Za Z ‘ TEMPERATURES cgailihass AND zie \_| PRESSURES, = eee we Ce \ APRIIL 4 Si Ie | ieee ; \ ed 00-2) Ue ee aimee PAB = s lee ==
2 Le Bl \/ Pay TEMRERATURES “AIRES d wd. % i
I*tg. 1—Average trends of temperature and pressure at Washington corresponding to average solar changes of 0.8 per cent. The solar changes culminate on the day “zero,” but weather effects sometimes occur much later. Weather effects corresponding to rising solar radiation, full lines ; to falling radiation, dotted.
SMITHSONIAN ‘EXPLORATIONS, 1930
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4 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Itc. 3—Mount Brukkaros, South West Africa. The Smithsonian solar observing station is near the top.
Tic. 4.—Observing tunnel and instruments, Mount Brukkaros, South West Africa.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930
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“BILIFY 3S9M\ YYNOS ‘soleyynig jyunoy ‘des, ysy 30jU9}}0]4 Be SUI}eI]SUOWap [YepIOG ‘sipy—'S “DIY
6) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Our three observatories in the field at Montezuma, Chile, Table Mountain, California, and Mount Brukkaros, South West Africa, have carried on as usual. The following extracts from the diary of Mrs. Sordahl, wife of the director at Mount Brukkaros, show some of the unusual incidents of life in a Hottentot reservation.
January 2, 1930. The blue cats of Mount Brukkaros celebrated the New Year by raiding our chicken house at two o’clock this morning. Adam woke us up, and Louis jumped out, grabbed his pistol and rifle and flash light and went up to the chicken house. The wild cat was still inside. Louis shot it with his .32 Luger. Adam skinned the cat and I prepared it as a flat skin. We had a chicken dinner.
January 24, 1930. During last night’s storm, the lightning had struck the tunnel. The cotton wrapping on the wires was burned, also the wires, box, shunt, resistance box and Wheatstone bridge; both strips in the bolometer were broken, lights burned out, second Wheatstone damaged, and theodolite blackened.
Alfred went to town, sent cablegram to Dr. Abbot. .... 4 January 25, 1930. The men worked all day repairing instruments. ..... January 26, 1930. The
men worked all day at the tunnel. I stood by and tried to be of help, but per- haps was more of a hindrance. They ran a plate test at 5:30 p. m. Had a ter- “stopped up” so the men had to fix that too, and the whirlwind took the sacks off the coleman lamps. Trouble never comes singly.
May 18, 1930. Went back to Berseba and waited to see the wedding. The Hottentots perform their own pagan ceremonies of marriage first, and the next day they have the missionary marry them according to Christian rites. The bride was hidden away from all the ceremony and celebration. This is done to test her faithfulness as a lover. The groom walked about with a look of loneli- ness and despair as he could not take part in the gayeties either. He wore a bright orange pair of trousers, black pointed shoes, and a felt hat, all of which made a peculiar combination of Hottentot and European styles. The groom’s relatives form a procession and go to the bride’s parents’ home with the inheri- tance. The bride’s relatives do likewise to the groom’s home. The groom’s
rific whirlwind today. The stove became
train consisted of seven yoke of oxen drawing a wagon load of food. The wagon was covered with green foliage. Behind the wagon, the men drove teams of goats. A long line of women walked on either side, carrying green branches forming an arch over the oxen and goats to conceal the gifts that the bride was to receive. The two parties met half way between the homes, crossed paths and proceeded to the opposite home. After this ceremony the celebration begins. They build a large fire to barbecue the meat and cook the mealy meal. Mr. Mutz told us that in good years they kill as many as twenty head of oxen for a wedding, but during poor years such as this one the number seldom exceeds seven. They eat, drink, dance and sing all night. The next noon the missionary marries them again.
PURSUING MICROFOSSIES
Brak sy BAS SIEHIR: Head Curator of Geology, U. S. National Museum
During the last quarter of a century the Smithsonian Institution has fostered the study of three groups of micro-organisms, the Bryozoa, Ostracoda, and Foraminifera, originally as a contribution to pure science, and later, when their value in determining oil and other zones in the earth’s crust became evident, as a distinct aid to economic progress. In this work the Institution has had the valuable assistance of two collaborators, Dr. Joseph A. Cushman of Sharon, Massachu- setts, the well-known authority on Foraminifera, and Dr. Ferdinand Canu of Versailles, France, one of the foremost students of post- Paleozoic and Recent Bryozoa. Since 1909, it has been my privilege to be associated with Doctor Canu, not only in research on the Bryozoa, but also in building up the Museum's study series of this class.
Our first extensive work, based on the Tertiary rocks of North America, was prepared under the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Geological Survey. Its purpose was to work out a classification for the group, and also to learn the strati- eraphic occurrence of the numerous American species to further their utilization in geologic work. Our later studies have included both the Mesozoic and Recent faunas, while there was recently completed a monographic study of the Philippine fauna in which many of the post- Paleozoic genera are described and illustrated.
Our collaboration has been carried on almost entirely through corre- spondence, and it was not until the past summer that Doctor Canu found an opportunity to make his first visit to the United States. Meeting in New York upon his arrival early in June, we immediately started on a field trip through the New England States, during which we combined the collecting of Recent bryozoans along the coast with explorations for suitable exhibition material from the igneous rocks of Massachusetts and Maine. We were fortunate during part of our trip in being the guests of our friends Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Cushman. They took us by automobile to the various areas we wished to study, and most kindly entertained us at their home in Sharon, also the site of the Cushman Foraminiferal Laboratory. This laboratory is of such interest to scientific students that I am including an account of its work and aims, furnished me by Doctor Cushman :
8 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Fic. 7—The Cushman Foraminiferal Laboratory.
(Photograph by Cushman. )
Stein ee ee
Fic. 8—Rocky cove along the Massachusetts coast. (Photograph by Bassler.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 9
The Laboratory was built in 1923 to serve as a private research laboratory connected with problems on the Foraminifera. Later one room was opened for graduate students of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology who received instruction here. There is also room for visiting workers on the Foraminifera. The building consists of laboratory rooms and rooms for clerical work, library, etc., on the main floor, together with a steel and con- crete addition somewhat separated from the main building but connected with it, in which are housed the collections, special library, card catalogue, etc. The basement is given up to rooms for preparation of material, photographic work, and a room for carpentry work such as building cases, etc. There is gathered together here a great deal of material from classic localities representing vari- ous parts of the world, which has been acquired through exchange, collecting, or purchase. There is a library of between 2,000 to 2,500 separates, including practically all the important works on the Foraminifera. There is also a unique card catalogue of figures and references to published records on the Foramin- ifera. These, which number at the present time about 75,000 cards, have a copy of the original figures pasted on the card with the references given, the original place of publication, formation and locality, with often times the complete description and notes. These are arranged by genera, by species under each genus, and the references under each species chronologically. In addition there is a separation of Recent, Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Paleozoic, indi- cated by colored tab cards. This makes it possible to very quickly find the original figure of any species, or the records for a given formation. There are also collections containing many thousand slides of identified species, many of which are from the original type localities, together with a very consider- able number of actual holotypes and figured specimens. These collections are being augmented rapidly, and are eventually to go to the U. S. National Museum where it is hoped active work will be continued on the group for a long time as is now being done here.
After several days at the Laboratory spent in reviewing past work and planning for the future, and studying Doctor Cushman’s methods, we motored north along the Atlantic Coast from Cape Cod to Portland, Maine. On this trip my attention was given over to the location of outcrops of igneous rocks from which large specimens showing geo- logical phenomena could be quarried for exhibition at the Museum. Doctor Canu’s interest, on the other hand, was concerned with the collecting of Recent Bryozoa, which he found encrusting pebbles of the igneous rocks or attached to the seaweed. Our present studies were therefore far apart in time, his relating to the present while mine dated back millions of years—almost to the beginning of earth history. Figure 8 illustrates how a small area can serve such widely divergent interests. Doctors Canu and Cushman are seen collecting Recent bryo- zoans in the rocky cove (near Scituate, Mass.), while nearby can be observed a dike of dark igneous rock cutting through the light colored granite.
10 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Fic. 9.—Outcrop of Paleozoic glacial tillite at Squantum Head, Boston Bay. (Photograph by W. S. Cole.)
Fic. 10.—Quarry at Vincentown, New Jersey, showing the well developed unconformity (indicated by ink line) between Vincentown bryozoan marl, below, and Tertiary sands, above. (Photograph by Bassler.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 Te
Proceeding northward along the coast, the Boston Basin, one of the classic geologic areas of America, was next in order. Here Doctor Cushman pointed out the complicated structure of the Paleozoic rocks, particularly the Roxbury conglomerate and the associated beds of tillite. The origin of these two formations was much in doubt until, in 1910, a resemblance of the tillite to present day glacial bowlder clay was recognized by Dr. R. W. Sayles. This tillite, now known to be of Upper Paleozoic age, is especially well exposed at Squantum Head (fig. 9), the peninsula jutting out into the southern part of Boston Bay. The outcrops here are of such interest that the area has been presented to the city as a public park. Consequently no exhibition specimens could be collected, but Doctor Sayles, who is much interested in having a display of the conglomerate and associated bowlder clays in the National Museum, holds out a hope that permission may be granted for obtaining such an exhibit in the near future.
Since two of the main building stones of our Natural History building came from adjacent areas—the granite used in the construc- tion of the basement from Milford, Massachusetts, and the white mica granite used in the first and second stories from Bethel, Vermont, | was naturally interested in spending some time in a study of their characteristics and occurrence.
Continuing north, other regions along the coast were explored, the last being the Leda clay district of Maine where the possibility of securing a considerable section of this interesting laminated clay was investigated.
On the return trip we took the route through the White Mountain district and the peneplain area of lower New England, securing photo- graphs illustrative of the physiographic development of these regions.
Leaving New England, where we had enjoyed such pleasant associa- tions and gained important geological information, Doctor Canu and | proceeded to Washington. After spending several weeks together at the Museum in preliminary work on our next bryozoan monograph, several short trips were made to Atlantic Coastal Plain areas to study at first hand the geological relationships of faunas under consideration. Our particular interest lay in the bryozoan fauna of the so-called Vincentown, New Jersey, marl, whose close faunal relation to the Upper Mesozoic of Europe is most striking. Until recently this marl has been regarded as marking the top of the Mesozoic era, but Ameri- can students who have investigated the other classes of fossils of this fauna and associated strata, now question the Cretaceous age of the deposit, believing it to be Middle Eocene, a much younger formation. As the Vincentown marl is at the boundary between two great eras of
2
12 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
geologic time, the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, and apparently shows rela-~ tionship—at least in its bryozoan fauna—to certain strata in Europe, it is desirable that a detailed study be made, not merely to present descriptions of the species, but to bring out principles involved in intercontinental correlation. Our collections of Bryozoa secured from Vincentown, New Jersey (fig. 10), and other points along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, assure us of abundant material from which to obtain tangible results. The work had progressed so far by July, the time of Doctor Canu’s return to France, that completion of the monograph
is practically assured.
POSSIE HUNTING IN THE BRIDGER BASIN OF WYOMING
By CHARLES W. GILMORE, Curator, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, U. S. National Museum
In the southwestern part of Wyoming an extensive area of badland country known as the Bridger Basin has long been a fertile collecting field for those in quest of the remains of fossil vertebrates. This basin, the formation, and the early military post called Fort Bridger were all named in honor of Jim Bridger, that intrepid frontiersman, scout, and Indian fighter who pioneered this region.
The first collection of fossils from the Bridger formation was made in 1870 by a Yale party under the leadership of Prof. O. C. Marsh, and it marked the beginning of a long series of expeditions which have disclosed the varied and abundant animal life that existed here in Eocene times. The need of an adequate representation of this impor- tant fauna in the National Museum collections has been long felt, and it was to supply this need that in the spring of 1930 plans were consummated for an expedition into the Bridger area.
In the latter part of May, I left Washington for Green River, Wyo- ming, the base of operations, where I was joined by Messrs. George F. Sternberg and George B. Pearce, both of Hays, Kansas; the former as field assistant and the latter as cook for the party. From Green River we proceeded almost immediately to Fort Bridger in the southwestern part of the Basin where supplies were obtained, and our first camp was established on Smith’s Fork, near the small town of Mountain View.
Prior to entering the field my tentative plan of operations was to begin in the southwestern part of the Basin and work eastward, searching in succession the exposures which are to be found paralleling the courses of the several creeks that flow northward into the Basin from the foothills of the Uinta Mountains to the south. In the main this plan was adhered to.
Failing to find much of interest along Smith’s Fork, we soon moved camp to the head of Little Dry Creek where better success awaited us. Several weeks were spent here in systematically searching the denuded breaks and hills that form the escarpment along this creek and our work was well rewarded. In the first few days here an incident occurred that is so unusual as to seem worth relating. One day in crossing a small water course the car became stalled in the soft mud of the creek
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lic. 11.—Bridger badland exposures along Little Dry Creek, Bridger Basin, Wyoming. Lower half of formation. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.)
Frc. 12.—Badland exposures south of Sage Creek Mountain, Bridger Basin, Wyoming. Upper half of Bridger formation. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 15
bottom. Looking about for stones with which to block up the wheels, we noticed a rocky layer protruding from the bank and Pearce was instructed to get the pick and pry out some of it for ballast. A stroke or two with the pick brought an exclamation of surprise, for on the under side of the first slab detached was the complete skull of a croco- dile in excellent preservation. A most happy surprise and a valued addition to our then small accumulation of fossils.
On June Ir, camp was moved to a site on Leavitt Creek and here we were successful in finding some of the best collecting ground yet encountered. Four weeks of collecting here brought us past the middle of the season and inasmuch as all of our work had been in the lower half of the formation, it was decided to move to a locality where the upper measures offered good collecting ground. Accordingly on July 16 our fourth and last camp was established on Henry’s Fork, about a mile north of Lone Tree postoffice and here the remaining weeks of the season were profitably spent.
As a result of this work a great mass of material was accumulated which is thought to contain much of scientific interest and importance, in addition to some few specimens of an outstanding character. The collection filled 24 large cases having a combined weight of 7,430 pounds.
Among the specimens of outstanding interest are an almost complete articulated skeleton of Hyrachyus, a rhinoceros-like animal about the size of the modern tapir ; a skeleton slightly less complete of Orohip pus, a small primitive horse; two partial skeletons of Palacosyops and two crocodile skeletons that are more or less complete. At least four mount- able skeletons for the exhibition series will result from the above mentioned materials. In addition there are many parts of skeletons, i. ¢., skulls, jaws, articulated limbs and feet of both large and small mammals.
Irom a scientific point of view, the small mammal material such as tooth-filled jaws and parts of skulls in some instances associated with parts of skeletons, may prove to be the more important part of the collection. In all there were nearly 200 such specimens coming from all horizons, ranging from near the base to the top of the formation, representing beds of not less than 1,000 feet in thickness.
In this connection it is of interest that in two instances we definitely located the source of certain elements of this micro-fauna by finding a considerable number of specimens actually in situ. The importance of thus locating them may be better appreciated if I explain that perhaps 50 were thus located, whereas 150 others were collected from
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Fic. 13.—Skeleton of the primitive rhinoceros Hyrachyus partly uncovered and as it lay in the ground. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.)
Mic. 14—Hyrachyus skeleton swathed in plaster bandages, preparatory to removing it from the ground. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 W7,
Fria. 15.—Collecting the shell of a large land tortoise. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.)
18 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
the weathered surfaces and their precise position in the geological section could not be accurately determined.
Thirty-eight turtle specimens representing several genera and species and varying in size from those with shells a few inches in length to giant tortoises nearly a yard long are also included in the collection. In two instances complete skulls and other bones of the skeleton were found associated with the carapace and plastron. Turtle skulls are extremely rare, and both of those obtained appear to be perfect with the lower jaws in place. Perhaps in no other formation of North America is there such an abundance of turtle specimens as are found in the Bridger. They occur almost everywhere in the formation both horizontally and vertically. In one locality we found an outcropping layer 50 feet or more in length that was composed almost exclusively of turtle shells. These were packed together so closely that it was impossible to remove one specimen from the mass without damaging a number of others. So far as could be determined in the field all appeared to pertain to a single genus.
Although there can never be more than surmise as to the catas- trophe that brought about this great destruction of chelonian life, several possibilities might be mentioned. A shower of volcanic ashes, any one of
noxious gases, or a sudden flow of superheated water these would be capable of destroying these animals. That volcanoes were active in Bridger times is abundantly proved by the well estab- lished fact that many of the layers of this formation are composed exclusively of volcanic ash.
The concentrated accumulation of so many turtles in this one spot may possibly be explained as having been brought about by current action. A flowing stream during a freshet may have assembled the shells from a considerable area and floating down stream these were caught in an eddy or were stranded on a sandbar and thus were brought together in this one spot. The many broken shells and the manner of their overlapping, one shell upon another, would make such an explanation plausible.
Despite their abundance, however, well preserved turtle specimens, while not rare, are found only occasionally. Crocodiles are also com- mon and in the collection made there are no less than nine skulls, two of which are associated with much of their skeletons. A considerable variety of lizards is known from the Bridger and of these small reptiles several specimens of a fragmentary nature were collected.
The value of the collection was greatly increased through the coop- eration of Dr. W. H. Bradley of the United States Geological Sur- vey, who secured the necessary field data from which he will prepare
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930
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a scale map on which all of the more important finds will be accu- rately located. This mapping, combined with the several geological sections measured by him, insures the accurate placement both geo- logically and geographically of the specimens collected. This phase of the work should be of the utmost importance in making this a basic collection for the more exact determination of the faunal zones as well as assisting in a more precise correlation of the horizons with those of the other Tertiary basins of the Rocky Mountain region. So far as I am aware never before in the work on the Bridger formation has a paleontologist had the cooperation of a trained geologist in these determinations, and it is felt that the final results will prove of great importance.
THE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT LIFE FORMS IN THE ROCKS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
By CHARLES: E: RESSER; Curator of Stratigraphic Paleontology, U. S. National Museum
The geologist, in his endeavors to obtain the minutiae that will even- tually yield an understanding of the laws of his science, must spend many hours of patient toil climbing steep mountains, penetrating deep canyons, or tramping the bare expanses of deserts. From year to year he must take advantage of favorable weather and of every other oppor- tunity to seek details for completing the picture he is attempting to draw.
My quest for facts to assist in depicting earth conditions that pre- vailed when the earliest life record was in the making took me over a considerable part of the western United States during the field sea- son of 1930. Two general problems were chosen for attack. In view of the increasing interest of geologists in the earliest forms of life on the earth as well as the role played by algae as rock makers, the purpose of the first explorations of the season was to study the ancient sedimentary rocks exposed in the Grand Canyon of the Colo- rado River. The search for organic remains in these old, relatively unmetamorphosed sediments was particularly desired by Dr. David White, Research Associate of the Carnegie Institution, in conjunction with his studies at the Grand Canyon, and it was through his arrange- ments with the Carnegie Institution and the National Park Service that the trip was made possible.
The second general field of inquiry to be given consideration was Cambrian geology, in which I am especially interested and which I had previously studied in the Great Basin and the Rocky Mountains to the north. As I had never seen the geology of Arizona, it was with eagerness that I seized the opportunity to make a hurried visit to most of the more important Cambrian exposures in that state.
In order to do the contemplated work in the Grand Canyon before hot summer weather, I left Washington May 13. At the Grand Can- yon, I found everything in readiness. The party consisted of Dr. A. A. Stoyanow, of the University of Arizona, and myself as geologists, with Ernest Appling as guide and Howard Childers as packer. Upon the arrival of Doctor Stoyanow we immediately crossed the Canyon to the North Rim. We planned to traverse the narrow peninsula which
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Fic. 17—Museum at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park. Inter- esting geologic exhibits have recently been installed both within the build- ing and on the porch. (Photograph by Resser.)
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Fic. 18.—View from the Tonto Platform up the Bright Angel Trail. Indian Gardens is situated under the big trees. The fault that makes this trail possible is apparent in the offsetting of the beds near the top of the trail. (Photograph by Resser.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 23
separates the head of Bright Angel Creek, up which the Kaibab trail leads to the North Rim, from the pass into Nankoweap Creek, where our field investigations were to be conducted. However, as the winter snow still lay deep in the woods, offering too much difficulty for laden pack animals, our plans had to be changed. Doctor Stoyanow and J, with food and equipment, were transported by a Park Service auto- mobile 90 miles to South Canyon. Meanwhile our riding and unladen pack animals were driven by a straighter route through the forest to the rendezvous.
In order to understand this narrative more fully, both the geography and the geologic structure of the Grand Canyon must be called to mind. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado is developed where the river cuts deeply into almost horizontal strata on the flanks of the Kaibab Plateau, the higher portions of which attain an elevation of 9,500 feet above sea-level. As this mountainous mass was bowed up, the river, which previously probably followed a rather straight south- west course, was forced to make a wide sweep to the east, where, after notching into the surface, it cut the canyon. As a consequence, the Grand Canyon is now a great curved gorge.
Work in the canyon is very difficult. Besides the obstacle of its vast depth, the harder horizontal strata everywhere form cliffs, and since several of the geologic formations are rather thick, these vertical faces often reach several thousand feet in height. However, a thou-
sand foot cliff is not needed to stop one’s progress—a vertical wall
only a few feet high, adjacent to steep slopes, becomes unscalable when the footing is insecure. The uplift of the Kaibab Plateau having occurred rather gently, few breaks in the horizontal formations re- sulted, and therefore weathering has not torn the rocks to pieces to form talus slopes over which trails might be made. Furthermore, in this dry region few side streams enter the river, particularly on the south rim where the gentle dip of the beds carries all water southward from the margins of the uplift. Therefore trails in the Grand Canyon exist only where advantage can be taken of slight natural breaks, and there only by the expenditure of considerable sums of money.
South Canyon, just east of the Park boundary and south of House Rock Valley, is a small dry valley cutting into the Kaibab Plateau and draining into the Marble Canyon. Our camp was made in the former home of “ Uncle” Jim Owen; now a subsidiary National Forest ranger station
and some of the claws of the 2,200 cougars he is said to have killed are still seen tacked to the barn. In the cool Kaibab forest nearby, deer as well as the big cats are exceedingly plentiful.
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Fic. 19.—South Canyon Ranger Station. Note the cougar claws on the barn in the rear, and the juniper forest. (Photograph by Resser.)
Fic. 20.—View across upper portion of Nankoweap Valley into Kwagunt Valley, Grand Canyon. (Photograph by Resser.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 25
We noted many scores of hoofs and other parts of deer killed in the great slaughter of the previous fall.
The morning following our arrival, our pack train was organized and we made our way through the juniper forests up into the pines of the higher levels to the peculiar gap that breaks through most of the thickness of the massive Kaibab limestone and Coconino sand- stone which form the unscalable cliffs just under the rim of the Can- yon. From this point into the Nankoweap Basin, we traversed a trail built in 1881 by Major John W. Powell, then Director of the United States Geological Survey, and used the following winter by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, who succeeded Major Powell and who later became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Today there stands on the South River a finely executed monument commemorating Major Powell’s successful navigation of the Colorado River throughout the Grand Canyon.
It is assumed by the general public, and even by most students, that the geological history of the major national parks is well known. Thousands of people from all over the world who visit these parks each year seek an explanation of the things seen—rocks, fossils, ero- sional features, or plants and animals. Notwithstanding this wide- spread interest, little has been accomplished toward mastering the geologic history of the Grand Canyon since the studies that resulted from Major Powell’s and Doctor Walcott’s explorations 50 years ago.
As the Nankoweap trail has not been repaired since it was first constructed, except casually by a prospector or two, travel was quite precarious and at places even dangerous, especially for the pack ani- mals. Fortunately no accidents happened, although several of the animals had very narrow escapes from falling over the cliffs, which at places drop away from the trail-side 3,000 feet. Nankoweap Creek is the most easterly in the Grand Canyon National Park and hence lies below Point Imperial. Its valley is variously referred to as a valley or a basin, the latter designation being unusual for a tributary to the Colorado in the canyon country. Nankoweap valley like its near neighbors is basinlike in its openness, which simply reflects the local structure. With the uplift of the Kaibab plateau, some faulting— slipping of the strata along lines of weakness—took place. These basins lie inside the row of buttes margining the river for many miles, beginning at the up-river edge of the Kaibab Plateau and extending below the mouth of the Little Colorado. The Colorado River cut its channel beyond the fault, and erosion, operating in the usual manner along the fault, produced a high ridge in the intervening space, which was cut into rectangular buttes by the side washes. Nankoweap Creek,
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Fic. 21.—Pack train on the Nankoweap Trail. Note how advantage is taken of a softer bed to locate the trail. (Photograph by Resser.)
Fic. 22—One of the large algal masses found in the shales of the Nankoweap Valley. (Photograph by Resser.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 27
where it cuts across this block, has the usual steep canyon, but up- stream it widens into a basin where softer rocks have been removed. Doctor Walcott’s interpretation of this unorthodox fault is sometimes questioned, but Doctor Stoyanow and I, after considerable discussion of several alternatives, think Doctor Walcott is correct; in fact, we found further corroborative evidence not mentioned in his publica- tions.
Our chief task on this expedition was to search the rocks thoroughly for traces of animal remains. As expected we found abundant im- prints of delicate plant tissues and rather large masses of algal lime- stones, but nothing that can really be regarded as animal, though the limey and carbonaceous shales are fitted in every way to preserve a record of the life extant in the waters by which the sediments were deposited. Just what significance the barrenness of these sediments has, 1s not yet apparent. We camped, without tents, in the channel of Nankoweap Creek under a cutbank where one of the half-dozen siz- able trees in the basin is located at the only campsite in the valley near water. Each day the search for fossils was extended to new ground so that almost every exposed bed was investigated in the eight days we remained in this basin.
When we prepared to climb out of the Nankoweap basin, I did not care to trust my notes or photographs to the mule but carried them in my pack. Fourteen hours of strenuous work were required to climb the vertical mile between our camp and the north rim, and to traverse the 15 miles of trail to the point on the road where the Park Service auto- mobile could pick us up. Within the Canyon the last few days had become quite hot, but on the north rim we found early spring, with the snow bank just shoveled from the hotel porch and spread in the sun for quicker melting. The crossing to the South Rim, which was completed in a snow storm, seemed very cold, since we were outfitted for the heat of the canyon depths.
Now that the Nankoweap trip was completed, Doctor Stoyanow kindly arranged for use of the State Geological Survey automobile to afford us means for a brief examination of other Arizona Cambrian outcrops. This interesting journey began with the study of the Music Mountain section west of Peach Springs. A day here showed us how this section, which offhand would be assumed to coincide exactly with its apparent continuation northward in the Grand Canyon, differs in lithologic detail and relative thickness of beds. From Peach Springs our course naturally led southeastward diagonally across the State, for the older strata outcrop only along the northeastern edge of the old basement rock mass forming the southwestern portion of the State.
3
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Frc. 23.—Another view of the large algal masses found in the shales of the Nankoweap Valley. The pictures represent masses washed into the gullies; it is not possible to photograph entire colonies in position. (Photograph by Resser. )
Geological Survey, standing by a cholla or jumping cactus, so called because the smaller branches cling so easily and persistently to shoes and clothing. In fact the heat or moisture of one’s hand held close causes the branches to turn toward it. (Photograph by Resser.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 29
The rocks in this old land mass are quite similar to the gneisses in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon, and must have furnished the material now composing much of the Cambrian and subsequent strata offshore to the north.
The Cambrian series exposed in Music Mountain outcrops south- eastward for a short distance, extending perhaps to the vicinity of Seligman. In the middle portion of the above-mentioned diagonal boundary of the sedimentary plateaus, no Cambrian is present, and a much younger series of beds rests directly on the ancient weathered rock surface. Southeastward from Globe, however, Cambrian sedi- ments reappear, but contain no beds correlative with the Grand Canyon sequence. Doctor Stoyanow had worked out these general strati- graphic facts by years of patient work and it was a great privilege and pleasure to have him point out the evidence on which he based his conclusions.
In a trip across Arizona, it is interesting, especially to one who has not previously seen the southwest, to note how very sensitive the flora is to elevation. The various cacti seem to have exact physiologic re- quirements, and therefore even a low hill will often rise above the level required by a conspicuous cactus. Another exceedingly interest- ing experience was a visit to Natural Bridge, which is situated not far from the villages of Pine and Payson. Here one finds both unusual geologic features and interesting human activities. A deep, V-shaped canyon was cut by a small stream flowing apparently along a fault zone, as the rock series in the two walls of the canyon are not the same. Several large springs issue from the east side of the canyon several hundred feet above its bottom. Algae living in the abundant waters from these springs have precipitated enormous quantities of lime, until a level fill several hundred feet deep and 25 acres in extent was formed across the canyon. Subsequently, the creek dissolved a channel through this fill, thereby forming a large natural bridge. More than 50 years ago a Scotch family occupied this level tract which is naturally very fertile but almost completely shut off from the world. Mrs. Goodfellow, the wife of the original settler, is still living, and it is very interesting to hear her accounts of the early days. Fruit trees of many sorts were planted when the Goodfellows first arrived. An apricot tree planted 52 years ago beside one of the irrigation ditches apparently found its situation most favorable. Its trunk is now more than 3 feet in diameter, with a spread of branches exceeding 100 feet, and this summer the tree bore approximately 100 bushels of fruit. After an extended survey the Los Angeles papers are reported to have admitted that this is the largest apricot tree in the world!
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About the middle of June I returned to the Grand Canyon, where the Park Service again kindly put at my disposal equipment and ani- mals. I now had the pleasure of studying the well exposed rocks along the Kaibab and Bright Angel Trails. This work was done in conjunc- tion with Edwin McKee, the efficient Park Naturalist, who is carrying forward investigations that will contribute much to our deficient knowledge of Grand Canyon geology.
My journey to Salt Lake City was made via San Francisco, where I examined certain type specimens in the University of California collections.
At Salt Lake City, I was joined by Dr. Riuji Endo of Mukden, Manchuria, who was to accompany me during the remainder of the season. After organizing for camping, we went to Delta, Utah, pre- paratory to a trip into the Utah desert. Here we were joined by Mr. Frank Beckwith, editor of the local paper, who is greatly inter- ested in the geology of his country. At this point the unusual weather of the season began to impress itself upon us. During May and June rains fell when none were due, but the departure from normal was not so great as to attract more than passing notice. The past several years had been dry throughout all the west and consequently rain was greatly desired. At Delta much rejoicing was apparent when heavy rain began to fall particularly on the watersheds that fed the irriga- tion canals. Cloudy, threatening weather attended our departure into the desert, making the temperatures very comfortable where we ex- pected to experience the usual burning heat.
In the House Range Mr. Beckwith took us to Antelope Springs, a small permanent flow of water near the fossiliferous outcrops studied many years ago by Doctor Walcott. After reviewing these sections we crossed the range by Marjum Pass and then followed the usual rough desert track that by courtesy is called a road. Travel was exceedingly rough as heavy showers had either washed ridges of dirt and stones across the road or cut parallel grooves.
Saturday evening we reached Ibex in the Confusion Range. Mr. Beckwith introduced us to Jack Watson who has lived there for many years, mostly alone. No springs or streams occur here, as the nearby ranges do not attain the height of 10,000 feet necessary to cause sufficient precipitation to insure springs. Consequently Mr. Watson must depend solely on rain water captured in tanks formed by dams across gullies. When we arrived we found that he had no water left in his tanks, since the regular spring showers had not materialized, nor had the rains that began ten days previously in the higher mountains to the east yet spread this far into the desert. He was particularly
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 ou
Fic. 25-—View down stream across Natural Bridge, Arizona. The flat cultivated land is merely a fill of algal limestones under which a huge natural bridge was subsequently dissolved by the creek. The flower stem of a century plant stands in the immediate foreground. (Photograph by Resser.)
es Bes
Fic. 26.—One of the excellent new mud volcanoes that developed last spring near the Dragon’s Mouth, Yellowstone National Park. (Photograph by Resser.)
32 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
annoyed a few days earlier by having a heavy shower pass within a few miles of the bare rock expanse that catches most of his water. Consequently he had to get up each morning at 2:30 and haul water in barrels on a truck from Wah-Wah Spring, 31 miles away for 33 head of cattle! Information he was able to give us and the fact that our engine was functioning perfectly caused us to risk a reduction of our car’s water supply and we gave one of the cows 9 gallons.
Upon returning from our investigations in the desert ranges, we decided to visit the nearby Zion National Park. Quite unexpectedly we found that, as in the Algonkian rocks of the Grand Canyon, the much younger sediments in Zion Canyon also lack fossils except algal limestones.
The final field for investigations before beginning our homeward journey lay in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Park plateaus. Conse- quently we went north from Zion by way of Bryce Canyon and the Sevier Valley through the Salt Lake region, then by way of Star Val- ley to the Tetons.
From about the 24th of July onward the rains that had been increas- ing in frequency all summer began to interfere with our travel and work. In the Teton Range, where last season not a drop of rain fell all summer, it was almost continuous. Our tents were wet for weeks at a time. Finally rain became so frequent and so violent that few roads remained open. For this reason we abandoned our attempts to reach several localities and went northward away from the high regions. During our investigations in the Tetons and the Yellowstone we were accompanied by Dr. Curt Teichert and Mrs. Teichert of Freiburg, Germany.
Our final studies in the Rocky Mountains were in the Beartooth Range near Red Lodge, Montana, where Princeton University has begun geologic studies. Scarcely another region in North America exhibits such varied geology, and if researches are continued for a sufficient length of time, important results may be expected. This appears to be the focal point where the Rocky Mountains change their general type of structure, and the extensive Yellowstone Plateau with its lava flows ends, joining both the central and northern types of ranges, and where the results of glacial, erosional, and other geologic processes are clearly exhibited.
CONTINUATION OF CHE POSSIL HORSE ROUND=UP ON RAE sOED OREGON “DRAIE
By JAMES W. GIDLEY, Assistant Curator of Mammalhan Fossils, U. S. National Museum
The results of the Smithsonian expedition to the Snake River Val- ley, Idaho, in 1929, were so encouraging that it was decided to con- tinue operations for another season or two. Accordingly, early in May, 1930, preparations were made to resume work at the site of our former collecting ground.
For five days, rain, snow, and general bad weather held our party in the little town of Hagerman, Idaho. But on May 9, high winds and a brilliant sun gave promise of drying up the county roads sufficiently to make possible a move into camp, and no time was lost in loading a two ton truck with camp equipment, a week’s supply of rations, boxes, lumber, and about 30 gallons of water. Our trusty Ford was also loaded with baggage and lighter material, and we were soon on our way. Our objective, a camp site at the edge of the desert near the fossil bone deposit worked last year, was only two miles in an air line from Hagerman, but there intervened the canyon of the deep and swiftly flowing Snake River, and on its bank to the west a sloping sandy escarpment of over 600 feet elevation above the river bed. To reach this camp, therefore, it was necessary to cross the river on the main highway bridge about four miles south of Hagerman and make a detour of about 25 miles over a hilly and little-used country road through the border of the desert country. Part of this route was over a portion of the picturesque Old Oregon Trail, hallowed by the strug- gles and privations of a pioneer people opposed by the stubbornly waged warfare of the Indians, who were fighting for their beloved lands and hunting grounds. Over this trail during the following weeks we made our biweekly trips to town for water, supply provisions, and materials as they were needed. I learned from the early settlers in the region that this was a particularly hazardous stretch of trail in the early days. Here the old trail left the river to wind its way up the steep divides to the top of the plain about 5 miles to the west, whence it continued westward over a dry sage-brush-covered desert to the next place where water was to be found, a total distance between watering places of over 20 miles. In these days of automobiles this journey is so easily accomplished that the word hardship does not occur in connection with it.
33
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3ut not so with the early users of the trail. To them it was a real hardship to be overcome. [ven for the stage coach, drawn by four or occasionally six light horses, it was a long and tedious day’s travel. And for the heavier loaded and slower moving emigrant and freight outfits a single day did not suffice for the journey. It was their cus- tom, I was told, to divide their wagon trains at the Snake River, tak- ing one half up the first five miles of heavy climb to the top of the divide and leaving them there for the night, while the oxen or horses
Fic. 27.—A bit of the Old Oregon Trail, looking east toward Snake River from the top of the Plain, near which an Indian attack is reported to have taken place.
were taken back to the river to bring on the remainder of the wagons early the next morning, when the journey through the sandy sage brush country to the next water hole was resumed. The necessity of breaking up the wagon trains at this point naturally weakened their defense against attack by hostile Indians. This fact was evidently recognized and taken advantage of by the latter, for it was here some of their most successful attacks were made. It was said that here one whole emigrant train was surrounded and burned. Mute evidence of the tragedy is still perceptible in the form of occasional pieces of wagon irons that may be found scattered through the sage brush near
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930
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36 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
the top of the hill. I here secured for the National Museum’s histori- cal collection three of the old cast iron hub-thimbles.
Our party this year included Mr. C. P. Singleton, chief field assis- tant; Mr. S. P. Welles, graduate student of the University of Cali- fornia; Mr. Frank Garnier, cook and camp assistant ; and as occasion permitted Mr. Elmer Cook, the discoverer of the fossil bone deposit. After a week’s service Mr. Garnier was replaced by Mr. J. Young Rogers as camp man.
Camp established, the work of the summer began where we left off the previous season in the development of the fossil bone deposit. This deposit is situated at the southern extremity of a short hill or spur that juts out from the border of the plain, about a quarter of a mile from our camp and about 45 to 60 feet below the top of the hill. (See fig. 28.) It is evidently the remnant of a stream channel deposit made up of cross-bedded layers of coarse and fine sand with occasional pebbles and here and there patches and lenses of almost pure clay, forming a part of the horizontally laminated beds of the Idaho formation. hese beds reached a thickness of several hundred feet and at one time extended many miles in every direction, completely occupy- ing the area now excavated by erosion to form the Snake River Valley of this region, and the present day rough terrain to the west and south of Hagerman. The bone deposit was evidently at the time of its formation a boggy, springy terrain, perhaps a drinking place for wild animals in a semi-arid country where water holes were not abun- dant. This assumption is based on the general character of the de- posits as stated, and the fact that it contains the bones of literally hundreds of animals, mostly belonging to an extinct species of horse. For the most part the bones are disarticulated, intermingled, and scattered in a way to suggest that they represent the slow accumula- tion of many years rather than the sudden overwhelming of a large herd in one grand catastrophe. Springs and swampy conditions are indicated from the fact that there are in the deposits the remains of frogs, fish, swamp turtles, beavers, and other water living animals, and abundant evidence of vegetation as shown by remnants of coarse grass stems, leaves, and even small pieces of wood. The best evidence of the former presence of springs is the fact that numerous pebbles are found scattered throughout many of the layers of both coarse and fine sand, although there are no distinct layers of gravel. In the lower stratum of this deposit the sand is heavily stained and many of the fossil bones are encrusted and stained with light accumulations of bog iron.
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ios) N
Frc. 30.—Fossil bones in situ. At left center is a skull and jaws of a horse, Plesippus shoshonensis, still articulated with the entire neck and the anterior portion of the thorax.
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Regardless of its origin, two seasons’ work has developed the fact that this fossil bone deposit is one of the important discoveries in the field of vertebrate paleontology of recent years. The outcome of these operations by the Smithsonian Institution parties has been most grati- fying. As already stated the principal yield of the deposit consists of abundant remains of a hitherto unknown species of horse belonging to the rare genus Plesippus, an animal which stands directly intermedi- ate between the horses of the Pleistocene and present day, and the three-toed kinds of still more ancient time. The material collected from this deposit in the two seasons includes more than 40 more or less complete skulls and sufficient bones of other parts of the body to restore at least three or four entire skeletons. The bones collected represent all stages of growth of both sexes from embryo to old age. Thus they afford an unusual opportunity for a systematic study of the species, especially in reference to the limits of individual and sex variations.
Other fossil remains found associated with the much more abundant horse material were those of a large beaver, an otter, a mastodon, a large peccary, a rodent of the muskrat group, a frog, a swamp turtle, and a small fish. From exposures of the same formation in the gen- eral vicinity were also collected remains of these and additional extinct species of mammals, the latter including several species of rodents, a large cat, two species of camel, and a small ground sloth. These, together with the animal remains of the fossil bone deposit, when studied, will give rather definite evidence regarding the true age of this mass of sedimentary accumulation to which has been given the name Idaho formation. Vhis formation has hitherto been regarded by some authorities as belonging to the Pleistocene, or so-called Ice Age, and by others as representing the upper member of the next older geologic period, the Pliocene. The preliminary study of the fossils collected by our party in the Hagerman locality seems strongly to favor the placing of their age as Upper Pliocene. This marks their time of deposition as not less than a million years ago.
To the fossil hunter such a deposit as the one here described is of much more than passing interest. First there is a satisfaction in work- ing out a successful technique for collecting and preparing the bones for shipment to the laboratory; and there is the added keen pleasure of anticipation and expectation, as foot after foot and yard after yard of undisturbed ground is worked over, that the next bone to be dis- covered and developed will prove to be new to science or at least a better specimen than has before been found of an already known species. Such collecting also has its monotonous and prosaic side. At
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 39
eke Cat
Fic. 32—Close-up of section in excavation showing the general character of the deposit. The shovel point rests on the bottom of the bone bed which here is about 2 feet thick.
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the Hagerman locality it is often necessary to spend hours and even days in just plain shoveling of many cubic yards of sand to come to the bone-bearing layer. Once reached the bones are for the most part well mineralized, or petrified, and although more or less scattered are usually complete. But often the separate bones are much broken or cracked up, especially where they have lain for a long time near the surface of the sloping hillside from which they outcrop. This neces- sitates working very carefully around each bone, as developed, and giving many of them special treatment to prevent their being pulled apart in removing them from the loose sandy bed.
The first care, therefore, was to make long strippings to remove the overburden from the bone bearing layers. Then as the bones were uncovered one by one or in groups and brushed clean on top and sides, the cracks and soft places were saturated with a thin solution of gum arabic (acasia). Following this treatment, as their condition and the collector’s experience suggested, they had to be still further protected by pasting them with strips of burlap dipped in raw flour paste or thin plaster of paris. This, when dry, forms a light, tough jacket which securely holds each piece in its original position, and the speci- men then may be turned over and the jacket completed on the lower side to finish its preparation for packing and shipping. For skulls and articulated sections this method had to be followed in nearly every case. In certain sections in the deposit the bones instead of being sur- rounded by a soft sandy mass, were completely incased with a nodular or concretionary formation of varying thickness of very hard sand- stone that is very tenacious and most difficult to break free from the bone without injuring its surface. Sometimes the bones were thus so deeply and solidly embedded as to make them almost worthless as specimens.
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ON EVIDENCE OF BAREY MAN IN FLORIDA
By JAMES W. GIDLEY,
Assistant Curator of Mammalian Fossils, U. S. National Museum
Following the controversy raised in scientific circles several years ago by the discoveries of Dr. E. H. Sellards at Vero, Florida, regard- ing the antiquity of man in that region, the Smithsonian Institution has conducted a series of investigations at various localities along the east coast of Florida, but principally at Melbourne and Vero. The results of these expeditions, which were placed under my charge, have been reported on from season to season, the last report appearing in last year’s number of this publication, Thanks to an extension of the kind generosity of Mr. Childs Frick, who for the past few seasons has shared with the Smithsonian the expenses of these expeditions, work in Florida was continued this year.
Melbourne was again chosen as the base of operations, and during the greater part of February and March Mr. C. P. Singleton, my chief field assistant of former years, and I carried on explorations, excavat- ing considerable areas especially at Melbourne and other nearby locali- ties. Fair success crowned our efforts, though perhaps not to the same degree as on some of our former expeditions. The most impor- tant discoveries of the season at the Melbourne locality included the finding of two artifacts under circumstances that constitute additional evidence of early man in Florida. The first of these is a crudely formed arrow or spear point found by Mr. Singleton in situ in the undisturbed upper layer of the fossil-bone-bearing deposit known as “bed No. 2” of Sellards. It was lying directly under one of the large bones of a poorly preserved skeleton of a mastodon.
The other artifact is a small bone awl taken from the undisturbed sand of the No. 2 bed somewhat below its middle section. In both instances the excavated areas were originally covered with a few feet of loose but characteristically stratified swamp deposit composed of alternating layers of sand, leaf mould, and swamp muck, positive evi- dence that the artifacts were a part of the formation in which they were found and not to be accounted for on the assumption of later intrusions. Several good specimens also were added to our growing collection of fossil mammal bones from this locality.
*Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 19209, p. 37.
4I
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Fic. 33.—Following a lead near the old canal bank. Locality, a few hun- dred feet south of the Country Club Golf Links, 1930 expedition. Melbourne, Florida.
Fre. 34.—Searching for fossil bones in the lower stratum of the “ No. 2 bed’ ( Pleistocene). Locality just below Golf Links. Melbourne, Florida.
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Fic. 35.—Inlet to the St. Lucie Canal near where mammoth remains were found at the Indiantown locality.
Fic. 36.—Excavating in ‘“ No. 2 bed” for remains of mammoth discovered at the Indiantown locality, just back from point shown at extreme right foreground in Figure 35.
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During the season we had occasion to examine a reported find of mammoth and mastodon bones on a truck farm near the ocean below St. Augustine. Here we found that the workmen, under the direction of the son of the farm foreman, had excavated the large part of a skeleton of the mammoth, but as they then planned to keep the speci- men for private exhibit we did no excavating there and returned to Melbourne. The most important work done other than at Melbourne was along the St. Lucie Canal, about 12 miles east of Lake Okeechobee near Indiantown. Here we secured a well preserved pair of lower jaws and a few other parts of a mammoth, and did sufficient develop- ment work to determine that the general geologic structure is the same as that at Vero and Melbourne. The formation underlying the No. 2 bed in the Indiantown locality, however, seems to vary in character more than at Melbourne, where marine shells form the greater part of the mass. At Indiantown large masses of sand under- lie thin layers of shells or in certain areas replace them entirely. The item of greatest value, perhaps, resulting from our work in this lo- cality, was the finding of a molar tooth of one of the more primitive mastodons. This tooth came from a consolidated bed of sand about 20 feet below the present surface of the land and underlying a thin shell layer of supposedly older age than our fossil-bearing beds known as the Melbourne or No. 2 bed formation. The mastodon tooth in question is of the type of those found commonly in the Pliocene, and thus implies either that the lower strata of the fossil beds at Indian- town are Pliocene in age, or that here in Florida this particular species of mastodon lived on into the Pleistocene, or still more probably, the tooth may have been redeposited, in the place where found, from an older deposit of Pliocene age.
This and other interesting problems in connection with the early history of Florida remain still to be solved, and it is only by a con- tinuation of systematic work similar to that which the Smithsonian Institution has been carrying on for the past few years that this can be done.
COLERPCHING SILVER’ MINERALS IN ONLARIO; CANADA
By EDWARD P. HENDERSON, Assistant Curator of Geology, U. S. National Museum
For the purpose of acquiring a series of silver minerals for exhibi- tion, I left Washington late in August on a collecting trip into the Province of Ontario, Canada, the National Museum’s collections being badly in need of material from the rich silver camps of this nearby region. Practically the entire month of September was spent in north- ern Ontario, and it would be difficult to select a more delightful sea- son in which to visit this magnificent country.
At Toronto I spent several days in inspecting the collections at the Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy, selecting exchange material, and consulting with the mineralogists of the staff as to the best areas and mines to visit.
Leaving Toronto, I first visited the Cobalt district some 300 miles north, where the country in general is rather rough with many rocky ridges, between which are lakes, swampy wastes, or agricultural low- lands. These lowlands and therefore the streams, lakes, and high- ways generally lie in a north and south direction. There is abundant timber, mostly spruce, birch, balsam, and jack pine. Many forests have been swept by devastating fires leaving only charred stumps stand- ing; in other areas, where more time has elapsed since the fires or original clearing for lumber, a dense, almost jungle-like growth has taken possession, the new growth being less suitable for lumber than the original stand of virgin timber.
Previous to 1903 the area around Cobalt consisted of wooded land which served as a source for lumber and constituted a natural bar- rier to the agricultural lands farther north, but in that year, during the excavating for the Temiskaming and Northern Railroad, narrow veins of phenomenally high silver values were discovered. The silver content was so great that trained engineers who came to examine the find thought that the quantity could not be large because of its rich quality but time has proved these conclusions to be erroneous. The history of this celebrated silver camp is very dramatic and has been told so often that it need not be repeated here.
The silver veins vary from minute seams up to a thickness of ten inches. In places the veins are almost solid silver and again the metal
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Fic. 37.—Silver mass from Keeley Mines, Silver Centre, Ontario. Weight 263 pounds, estimated to be 80 per cent pure silver.
Itc. 38.—The vein here shown varies in width from 6 to 25 centimeters, consisting of silver and calcite,
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 47
occurs as a fine network of delicate veins or small irregular masses in both calcite and cobaltite.
As simple a statement of the geology as can be given is that when this basic rock, called Nipissing diabase, was intruded into the older rocks, fractures were developed along the contacts and in these frac- tures the ore was undoubtedly deposited by solution originating in the cdiabase.
A large irregular mass of silver found at the Keeley Mines, Silver Centre, Ontario, was exactly the type of material needed for our exhi- bition, provided some of the ragged appendages which marred the symmetry of the specimen could be removed. This operation developed into a thrilling experience. Hammering, even with a sledge, made no impression except a small bruise on account of the toughness of the silver. Finally, in despair, the mine captain suggested a shot of dyna- mite. Two sticks were plastered on the side of the specimen under a damp blanket of sand, the fuse was lighted, and we retreated to safe quarters to await the report. And what a report it was! Strangely enough very little silver was removed. One small fragment made a non-stop flight through the side of the mill house and several windows in nearby buildings were shattered, but most important, from my point of view at least, was the small crack which had just started through the specimen. Smaller charges of dynamite were carefully placed and exploded and little by little the irregular silver prongs were removed. Perhaps few geologists have had the experience of trimming such a precious sample by so unique and striking a method.
The next district visited was Sudbury, the most important nickel district in the world. Much of the region surrounding the city of Sud- bury is practically barren of vegetation and perhaps to the tourist appears as a desolate waste, but to the geologist it is an admirable ex- posure of a series of interesting rocks. The igneous rock in which the nickel ore is found is a norite, this intruded rock forming a laccolithic sheet some 36 miles long and approximately 17 miles wide. This nickel eruptive was intruded under a thick blanket of older sediments and the slow cooling permitted the ore minerals to separate out towards the bottom of the laccolith. The ore is monotonously uni- form in character over much of the district. It consists of pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite, and appreciable quantities of platinum metals are also recovered from the ore body.
A rather rapid series of visits was made to a number of the different pegmatite dykes in this province, resulting in the acquisition of sev- eral rather recently described minerals which were lacking in the
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National Museum’s collections. These pegmatite dykes are located in two rather widely separated districts surrounding Parry Sound and farther east toward Bancroft. Several large and a few small specimens were collected which are now in the Museum’s exhibit.
The success of the trip was due in a large measure to the hearty cooperation of mining companies, quarry owners, and of the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy.
APL ED RWitih, ik BIRDS OF NORTHERN, SPAIN By ALEXANDER WETMORE,
Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution
Landing in the little seaport of Vigo in northwestern Spain late in the evening of April 23, 1930, I was awakened at dawn the following morning by the cheerful twittering of swallows at my window, the first species of living bird seen on a continent whose life was entirely new to me. Formalities for the entry of my scientific equipment were soon completed, thanks to arrangements made by the American Am- bassador to Spain, the Honorable Irwin B. Laughlin, a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and ina few hours I was en route for Madrid, where through the same interested official necessary permits for field collecting were granted.
As an introduction to what was in store for me, friends at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales arranged an excursion into the nearby pine forests of the Sierra de Guadarrama where I spent three days quartered in the Estacion Alpina de Biologia at a little more than 5,000 feet above the sea. In spite of almost continuous snow and rain I found here numerous birds, including among others two species of titmice, the nuthatch, robin, stone-chat, hedge sparrow, and goldcrest, all common birds but of keen interest to one who had not before seen them alive.
Field work began in earnest on arrival at the little town of Puente de los Fierros at an elevation of 1,800 feet above the sea on the north slope of the Sierra Cantabrica, the great range of rugged mountains that as a continuation of the Pyrenees extends across northern Spain. The town lay in a deep valley that led up to the Pajares Pass, with the lower slopes divided by stone fences or lines of brush into pastures and cultivated fields frequently pitched at an angle of 45°, while wind- ing lanes crossing the hill slopes led to higher levels grown with brush and occasional groves of trees. The country people told me that I had brought spring, as the grass became green, fruit trees blossomed, and violets and other spring flowers appeared during the few days that I was there.
Trees in Spain are as much a crop as grass, and impress one as having a hard and cheerless life. The forests in the Cantabrians are principally of oak and chestnut, growing to a diameter of four to six feet, there being no native pine in this range of mountains. The tops
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Itc. 39.—Estacion Alpina de Biologia in the Sierra de Guadarrama.
Fic. 40.—Near Puente de los Fierros. Note pollarded trees.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 51
and larger limbs are cut off 20 to 30 feet from the ground, leaving the huge trunks grotesquely gnarled and twisted to stand in irrregular array, a hobgoblin woodland that often appears dark and gloomy with little animal life in evidence. When new shoots grow from the pol- larded trunks these are cut at intervals of a few years until with the passing of time decay creeps in through these repeated wounds, the tree trunk gives up the uneven battle with man, and is finally cut down and made into fire wood, Extensive forests are distant from the towns and in the better settled regions are of little area.
Travel along the numerous footpaths at Fierros ordinarily was not difficult, except that one was continually climbing or descending, but the intervening slopes were steep and high so that collecting speci- mens was attended with considerable labor. The higher slopes had huge exposures of massive rock while far beyond were peaks covered with snow. Trees and bushes along the rushing streams of the lower valleys were half in leaf but a thousand feet above on exposed slopes the winds blew chill and buds were barely opening.
Small birds were common, particularly in the shrubbery along the lower footpaths. The wren, a counterpart of our winter wren, sang gaily from tangles of weeds and brush, searching for holes in which to place its nest. The chiff-chaff, an Old World warbler of tiny size, sang its insistent song from low trees while hunting busily for insects in company with the black-cap, a larger species of the same family, with more musical song and quieter movements. The meadow bunt- ing, a sparrow with gray and black streaked head, was found in pairs through the open pastures, and on occasion I found its more brilliant relative, the yellow-hammer. Both are like our crowned sparrows in habit. Titmice were found in profusion ranging from the delicately colored blue tit to the slender bodied long-tailed tit, five species rang- ing through the same thickets and woodlands.
Boarding the Mixrto one morning—a train that carried both pas- sengers and freight—I arrived within a short time at the little village of Busdongo on the northern side of the Pajares Pass at an elevation of about 4,300 feet with the summit of the pass a few hundred feet above. In the valleys here were little squares of cultivated fields and pastures separated by rock fences, and above, slopes covered with green grass or mats of heather and gorse. Banks of snow lay every- where, their melting feeding the little streams, and the higher hills were entirely white except where naked rock projected in rough, angular spires and massive blocks of cold, blue-gray stone. Flowers. dotted the meadows, clear bird notes and songs came to the ear, and over all
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Fic. 41.—The mountain village of Busdongo.
Fic. 42.—The Pajares Pass above Busdongo, one of the principal thoroughfares through the Cantabrian Mountains,
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 53
Fic. 43.—Valley of the Rio Esla below Riafio.
Fic. 44.—A channel of the Esla in the village of Riafo.
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lay a golden sunshine bathing the world with a warm light that miti- gated the chill of breezes blowing over the snowbanks. Pajares Pass, the frontier of the ancient kingdom of Asturias from which I had just come, was a sharply cut dividing line between the better watered brush- and tree-grown slopes descending steeply to the northern coastal plain toward Oviedo, and the more arid gradual decline toward the broad plains of Leon on the north with scattered mats of low brush as the principal woody vegetation.
In this world of open mountain slopes and meadows, birds were abundant. Chaffinches, pipits, and yellow-hammers were everywhere. Whin-chats and stone-chats were common, and skylarks sang above the higher meadows, appearing as tiny specks hovering high against a sky of the clearest blue. Wheat-ears followed stone fences or rocky ledges, and white wagtails were found along the rough stream beds. The latter, called locally Javanderas (washerwomen) because like the native laundresses they had their principal activities along the streams, on alighting after a short flight twitched their long tails rapidly a dozen times and then stood motionless. On the rocky slopes above were found occasional rock thrushes singing clearly from open ledges, and approached only by arduous climbing. With them were alpine accentors, cousins of the little hedge sparrows that abounded in the matted brush above the valleys. One morning among the higher ridges a curious birdeall came for a time without visible source, until finally I located a black shadow moving along the mountain slope far below and, tracing it to its source toward the sun, saw a crowlike bird sweep- ing in bounds and circles over the mountain ridges. The binoculars revealed the curved red bill of a chough, and I watched its graceful evolutions for some time with keen delight.
The heat of the city of Leén in the lowlands was almost oppressive after the sharper air of the mountains, and after a day during which I visited the cathedral, with jackdaws and merlins flying about its huge tower, I was pleased to continue by auto to Cistierna and from there to the inland village of Riano located in an open valley among mountains at an elevation of 3,500 feet. The little fonda where I obtained quarters was clean and comfortable, the people of the village were friendly, and the weather was pleasant ; and I was told again that spring had arrived in my company. Buds were already opening on the trees near the village, and during the next two weeks leaves grew apace until the lower slopes were entirely green and buds were burst- ing on the trees at the upper edge of the forests.
At Riafo the Esla and Yuso rivers joined in a large stream abound- ing in trout. The open valleys were cultivated, while the slopes of the
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Fic. 45.—Beech forest near the summit of the Collado de Terguena.
Fic. 46.—A storehouse for grain in Riafio. Note the flat stones at the corners to prevent entry of rats.
56 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION hills were given to the grazing of herds of sheep, goats, and cattle. On many of the lower slopes were extensive forests of oak, beech, and chestnut, while above were open meadows dotted with low mats of gorse, and beyond, bare, rocky peaks rising to an elevation of 6,000
=e
Fic. 47.—-Stork’s nest on a church tower near Riafio.
feet or more. As in other sections in northern Spain the people lived clustered in little towns and villages, where their houses of stone with roofs of tile and slate huddled closely together. Daily men and women went out to tend their flocks or work their fields so that there were few country habitations.
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qn N
Fic. 48.— View in the village of Riafo.
Fic. 49.—View down the valley below the Ponton Pass in the Sierra del Ponton.
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In the village, storks built huge nests in poplar trees, with one on the tower of a little church, wagtails nested under loose tiles in the roofs, and chaffinches and bright colored linnets chattered gaily. Northward migration among the smaller birds was in full course so that daily there were new arrivals. The song of the cuckoo—of which the striking of the cuckoo clock is so exact an imitation—was heard through the hills, with the rolling calls of the green woodpecker and the harsh notes of jays that inhabited the scrub and seldom came into the open.
As days passed excursions were made steadily farther afield. Below the pass known as the Collado de Terguena was a fine forest of beech with the trees so heavily hung with moss that small birds were seen among the branches with difficulty. In the Sierra de Ormas was a great woodland of oak and chestnut as yet largely untouched by the ax of the woodchopper. From the snow-covered slopes above there was a wonderful view across wild, uninhabited mountain country in which wolves, wild boars, and bears were reputed to range. From the more distant Sierra del Ponton I had a view of the jagged Picos de Europa, the highest points in the Cantabrian Range, inaccessible however until later in the season because of the depth of snow in the intervening mountain passes. Work here was finally concluded because of the necessities of a schedule including other duties, though another month might have been profitably spent in this area.
From Riafo I continued by motor to Cangas de Onis toward the north, passing through a remarkably deep and narrow defile, cut in places to a depth of more than 1,500 feet, at times with barely room for a stream and the auto road at the bottom, with cliffs rising precipi- tously on either hand. Field work was at an end; the interesting col- lections of specimens included a number of local races of birds new to the collections of the National Museum, where the birds of Spain had been previously almost unrepresented, and I came finally to Santander and the French frontier with the hope that some future journey might let me see more of the pleasant lands of Spain.
(iE CNUIStsOr AV ES PE RANT A BO IAL DL
By ALEXANDER WETMORE, Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution,
AND
WATSON M. PERRYGO Assistant Scientific Aid, U. S. National Museum
The Parish-Smithsonian Expedition to Haiti, organized by the late Lee H. Parish, with the financial assistance and cooperation of his father S. W. Parish, left Miami, Florida, in the 80-foot ketch- rigged auxiliary yacht Esperanza, on February 15, 1930. In addition to the two mentioned the party included Mrs. S. W. Parish, who assisted in radio communication, in photography, and in other ways, and Watson M. Perrygo of the staff of taxidermists of the United States National Museum. Lee Parish served as captain and navigator and head of the party, and in addition assisted his father and Perrygo in collecting specimens, being indefatigable in his efforts to promote the success of the work. The work of the expedition was concerned with the collection of zoological material, particularly of birds and reptiles. The Esperanza, thoroughly seaworthy, offered an excep- tional opportunity for work on islands lying off the Haitian coast, and it was to these little-worked areas that the major part of the time in the field was directed.
The route to Haiti led along the north coast of Cuba with stops for the collection of specimens at Gibara, Port Tanamo, and finally at Baracoa. The first specimen of the expedition was a migrant Maryland yellowthroat obtained as the Esperanza passed near Bimini in the Bahamas. Numerous birds were obtained at Gibara, and in the better watered region about Port Tanamo, with its dense forests, col- lecting continued apace. Cayo Grande de Moa and the Moa and Fabrico River were fruitful spots. Birds abounded, with trogons, parrots, todies, and others of brilliant plumage giving a touch of color to the daily bags of the collectors.
On March 9 after a delightful trip through waters where imagina- tion might picture the passage of pirate ships and Spanish galleons of earlier days, the Esperanza anchored in the harbor of the quaint tropi- cal town of Baracoa. Bananas and cocoa-beans are the two chief products here and the plantations from which they come are well worth seeing. The party again set sail two nights later by the light
5 59
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en t *
© inh 2)
- —
Fic. 50.—The Esperanza under sail.
Fic. 51—The rocky shore of Petite Gonave Island.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 61
of a tropical moon, passed into the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti, and then on March 13 anchored in the harbor at Port- au-Prince.
After obtaining the necessary permits for scientific collecting through the kind offices of Gen. J. H. Russell, American High Com- missioner, and others, the Esperanza with Col. and Mrs. Coyle and Lieut. Wirkus added to the party, crossed to Gonave Island, working first at Petite Gonave, where the anchor was dropped in crystal clear water in which schools of brilliantly colored fish swam among beauti- ful coral formations.
Petite Gonave, east of La Gonave Island, has an area of approxi- mately 15 acres, most of which is of a very sharply eroded limestone formation, with the center a mangrove swamp. Dozens of rhinoceros iguanas sunned themselves on the rocks, and when approached bobbed their heads up and down, swelling their throats like the Anolis before disappearing clumsily in the crevices of the rocks.
Gonave Island proper, more than 30 miles long and from 7 to 8 miles wide at the widest point, in general is arid and open, rising in hills like those of Haiti opposite. Collections were made at the western end and at Anse-a-Galets, the headquarters of the Gendarmerie for the island. Native dances executed to the barbaric rhythm of wooden drums with heads of hide stretched while green, and the weird and mournful accompaniment of bamboo flutes added to the interest of the work.
On March 23 the party returned to Port-au-Prince for supplies and then, reduced to the original personnel, sailed for the Cayemite Islands on the northern coast of the southern peninsula.
Ién route they anchored for a time in Baraderes Bay. After show- ing credentials to the chief of the section at Grand Boucan, the collec- tors crossed Baraderes Bay in one of the small boats to Mapou te explore two caves for extinct animal bones. The first one was small and very dry, and several tests there produced nothing. A barn owl was shot, and ona shelf some human remains were found. The other proved to be equally barren; it was a deep cave with water seeping through the ceiling, the moisture destroying any bones that might have been preserved there. Many birds were seen in the banana, cocoanut. and mango trees.
An expedition on horseback up the fertile valley of Petite Trou de Nippes, grown with royal and cocoanut palms, high bush cotton, bananas and coffee, with the chief of the section as guide led to an- other very large cave containing a pool of crystal-clear water, which was said to have been used by natives as a place of worship. Birds,
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Fic. 52.—View on the Baraderes River.
Fic. 53.—A group on Grande Cayemite Island.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 63
reptiles, and mollusks were collected, and the natives captured 100 live lizards for exhibition in the National Zoological Park in Wash- ington.
Grand Cayemite, the next stop, is a rather large island, rough and rocky, with large patches of Madame Michel grass. Parrots and white- winged doves were abundant. More detailed work was done on Petite Cayemite, little or no collecting having been done there previously. Petite Cayemite is a small island of roughly eroded limestone covered with Madame Michel grass, which grows densely in some sections. Travel was difficult, but the collectors were persistent, securing excel- lent series of birds and reptiles, with some fine specimens of fish and crustaceans.
On April 19 the Esperanza left for Ile 4 Vache, stopping for mail at Jéremie, an old French town, and then sailed west along the coast to Dame Marie. A rough sea forced the yacht to anchor for two days in Bigie Bay, a small indentation on the extreme western end of the peninsula. Fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic creatures were col- lected at night by lowering a light over the side of the boat, attract- ing hundreds to the surface where they were easily secured with a net.
After a brief lay-over at Aux Cayes for supplies, the Esperanza anchored in Feret Bay, Ile a Vache Island, on April 27. This island is approximately 8 miles long and 4 miles wide. Feret Bay is on the west end, surrounded by sandy beaches, behind which large cocoanut palms, cashew, and mango trees grow. The natives as a whole are much healthier looking than the average Haitian of other regions and are well-to-do through their crops of bananas, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes as well as their cattle. Crocodiles were obtained from one of the two lagoons on the western end of the island; lizards, boas and vine snakes were very common; and over one hundred birds were obtained. The island had previously been unknown zoologically.
Returning to Bigie Bay, under favorable weather conditions, the Esperanza sailed 30 miles west to Navassa, an island seldom visited by naturalists, or for that matter by others, except for the lighthouse tender that comes to it periodically. Navassa is a rocky mass about 14 miles long, a 20-foot cliff around its entire shoreline making it inaccessible except in Lulu Bay, a small indentation in the rocky wall where there is a steel ladder leading down to the water. Because it is exposed to the open sea, this little bay is unsafe for ships except in the quiet seas of the early morning. The Esperanza anchored there in the calm of the morning of May to. The island itself is uninhabited, and is covered with low trees and thorny bushes. The rough, eroded
64 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
cae &
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Fic. 55.—Crocodiles from the lagoon on Tle a Vache.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930
i | i
Fic. 56.—A shark on board ship.
qn
Fic. 57—The Esperanza at anchor off Navassa Island.
66 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
surface rock makes travel extremely difficult. Multitudes of red- footed boobies and frigate birds nested and roosted everywhere, and doves and a vireo were the common land birds. Lizards abounded, and black marine iguanas were reported but were not found. A very fair collection was made in the few hours that it was possible to remain, though the blazing sun over the dry scrub nearly prostrated the collectors.
On the return to Port-au-Prince a second stop was made at Petite Gonave to secure living iguanas for the National Zoological Park. The native fishermen who live there are very much afraid of these great lizards, but said that they could be captured by putting rum in hollows in the rocks where the iguanas would drink it, making it an easy matter to catch and handle them, The six obtained however were captured by hand, the dangerous attributes of these animals being wholly imaginary.
The Esperanza sailed from Port-au-Prince for Miami on May 24, leaving Mr. Perrygo to return a few days later on the steamer Ancon to New York.
In its objective of collecting specimens on remote islands little known zoologically the expedition was singularly successful, the many specimens obtained, particularly of birds and reptiles, forming a valu- able addition to the Haitian collections of the United States National Museum. The birds will be the subject of a special report, and the notes on the reptiles will be included in a complete account of the herpetology of this region. The success of the work was due largely to Mr. Lee H. Parish, who was responsible for the organization and plan, and whose skill as a navigator, and resourcefulness under the trying conditions of this type of travel in waters remote from facili- ties and assistance, made possible the itinerary followed. He assisted constantly in the zoological work, both in collecting and preparation, in addition to his other duties. His untimely death a few months after the close of the trip, on the eve of development of plans for further work of a similar nature, is mourned by his many friends.
BIOLOGICAL -COELECTING ON ~ TEN-CAN: ISEAND”
BY HENRY (C) KELEERS; Umted States Navy
Niuafoou Island in the Toga Archipelago, nicknamed “ Tin-Can Island” for reasons explained later, the last independent kingdom in the South Seas, was the site selected for the operations of the 1930 United States Naval Observatory Eclipse Expedition. Through the courtesy of the Naval Observatory and the friendly cooperation of the Navy Department, I was again detailed to act as representative of the Smithsonian Institution for the purpose of making biological collections. The expedition left San Francisco July 31 and arrived at Tutuila, American Samoa, August 13. We remained at Samoa four days while the U. S. S. Tanager was loaded with the 60 tons of stores and scientific apparatus, and the 12,000 feet of lumber required in setting up the various cameras and astronomical instruments. Leaving Samoa August 18, we arrived off Niuafoou Island August 21. The shore is rocky, with lava benches backed by cliffs 70 to 100 feet high rising abruptly from the ocean. Landing on the lava rocks at the village of Angaha was a most difficult feat, but luck was with us, and the sea was calm for 48 hours, a very rare occurrence. All the equipment, including the tube of the Einstein camera which weighed T100 pounds, was transferred from the small boats to the lava rocks with the assistance of the natives without accident. The equipment was then hauled up a steep trail to the top of the cliff 70 feet high and the camp site was located on the summit near the village of Angaha.
Niuafoou Island, pronounced New-ah-fo-oh, latitude 15° 33’ 52” S., and longitude 175° 37’ 46” W., was discovered by Captain Edwards in the British Naval vessel Pandora, August 3, 1791, and named by him Proby Island; it was afterwards named Good Hope Island by the Dutch navigator Schouten, and is still so designated on the hydro- graphic charts. The nickname “ Tin-Can Island” was given to it from the unique method by which mail is delivered there. The mail steamer, which comes about every six weeks, throws the mail over- board in a sealed can and the natives swim out and tow it to the shore. The outgoing mail is carried out to the steamer by the swim- mers, who hold it on poles above the water. Niuafoou Island, one of the Toga Archipelago, is the last independent kingdom in the South Seas, ruled over by Queen Salote Tabou and a parliament, foreign
67
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 69
affairs being looked after by the New Zealand Government under the mandate.
Niuafoou is one of the world’s famous volcanoes. It is a crater island 44 by 5 miles in size, inclosing a circular lalze about 2 miles in diameter. The narrow circular ridge of land around the lake is 200 to 800 feet high, forming steep cliffs facing the lake. The lake has three small wooded islands in it, one of which contains two smaller crater lakes. The island is the peak of a volcano rising 6,500 feet from the ocean floor, which in that vicinity 1s formed by a flat shoulder of the Australian continent about 6,000 feet below the surface. Upon this the volcano rises as an immense cone 25 miles in diameter at the base.
Fic. 60.—General view of the astronomical camp, showing the 63-foot direct view camera, the 65-foot reflecting camera, and the Einstein double camera on the right. (Photograph by Kellers. )
The known eruptions occurred in 1853, 1886, 1912, and 1929. All started with the splitting of the mountain across its flank except that of 1886, which was in the old crater lake, explosive in type, and mostly of ash, forming sand hills and lagoons. These ash hills are being gradually covered with a dense growth of ironwood trees, the only trees that appear to grow and thrive in the volcanic ash of the island.
The 1929 eruption was on the western side of the island, the fis- sure system bursting open at 3 a. m., July 25, 1929, near the south- west corner of the island, and line northward in a series of fissures until it nearly reached the shore at the northwest. The cracks were more than 33 miles long, requiring several hours in opening the full length of the line of fracture. This delay gave the natives of the village of Futu time to escape to the ridge. The sick and the aged were
70 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Fic. 61.—The S. S. Tofua of the Union Steamship Company, which passes the island every six weeks. The mail for the island is thrown overboard from the steamer in a sealed can. (Photograph by Kellers.)
Fic. 62.—Natives swimming in with the mail in the sealed can. Hence the popular name ““Tin-Can Island.’’ The swimmers use long poles as life preservers. (Photograph by George Finau.)
Fic. 63.—After the volcanic eruption of 1929 the walls of the Catholic Church is all that remains of the village of Futu, on the western shore of the island. The natives had a miraculous escape. (Photograph by Kellers.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 al
bundled up and many fled naked, a drizzling rain adding to their misery. Over all hung the pall of smoke from the oncoming fire at the south, the trade winds bringing the menacing odor of deadly sul- phurous fumes. The Futu-ites got across the northern crack before it opened, but when it did open, what a flood of fiery lava poured down on the ill-fated village! Two-thirds of the village was com- pletely wiped out by the lava, and at least ten lava flows reached the sea along a three-mile front. The chasms are 30 feet across where the lava came in greatest volume. Cocoanut trees by thousands were molded in lava casing, some of which were measured and found to be 13 feet high. They stand now in groves of rocky sentinels, the largest field of tree molds anywhere in the world. The eruption lasted until 10 a.m. on that day, and many of the fissures are still smoking and giving off sulphurous fumes. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and the natives of Futu have now settled near the village of Angaha.
As soon as we were settled in camp intensive collecting began. Using the lure of candy, chewing gum, and bead necklaces, I soon had all of the children and many of the grown folks of the island working for me as collectors, and numerous specimens of crustacea, shells, lizards, and insects were brought in that I could not otherwise have obtained in the eight weeks allowed for collecting. Owing to the rough and rugged coast line, only three outrigger canoes were used about the island, and consequently the natives do very little fishing. The large seine I had with me was a curiosity to them, and as no beaches suitable for hauling it were found, it could not be used.
When the native does go fishing he uses a large pole called Vaca- IKauhaga, which has two small pieces of wood lashed to the sides at the end, on which the catch of fish is strung. The native dives into the ocean with the pole, swims out for some distance and rests on the pole, fishing with a hand line often for hours at a time. The natives are good swimmers and divers; one boy was adept in diving and pick- ing starfish off the rocks in water four and five fathoms deep. Each time he emerged with a number of specimens he was rewarded with a corncob pipe and tobacco, which meant as much to him as the star- fish did to me.
Dragonflies were very numerous, and many were collected. Only one kind of butterfly—a world-wide species, Anosia plexippus seen, and several were collected. All the birds, 20 in number, noted
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by Hubner in 1876, were seen except Puffinus obscurus, a dusty shear- water, and all but two were collected.
A large series of the interesting Megapod was obtained. This genus contains many species; the one found on this island is known as
bo
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Fic. 64.—One of the fumaroles still smoking from the 1929 eruption. The lava on cooling takes on fantastic shapes; the large mass to the left appears to have had the face of “Santa Claus” carved in it. (Photograph by Kellers. )
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Fic. 65.—Doctor Kellers examining a morning catch of fish. Strange as it may seem, these South Sea Islanders are not expert fishermen. (Photograph by T. A. Jaggar, Jr.
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Fic. 66.—Digging for the eggs of the “ Melau.’ the scratchings of the bird Lower, the boy has found the egg,
white hat is the son of the trader and by Kellers.)
on the side of the hill. and all are rewarded with cigarettes. my able assistant on collecting trips.
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* Upper, a nest has been discovered by Middle, going down head foremost. The lad with the (Photograph
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74. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Megapodius pritchardi, and is among the smallest of the genus but lays a very large egg. The average measurements of the bird are: length 304 mm., circumference 228 mm., and spread of wings 609 mm. The average measurements of the light buff-colored egg are: long diameter 70 mm., short diameter 45 mm. The bird lays its egg in the ash hills of the 1886 eruption on the western side of the lake shore. It then buries the egg I to 2 meters deep in the ash and fills up the hole all the way to the surface. The temperature of the ash at the spot where the egg is laid is 98.1° F.; this heat is not connected with the heat of the volcano, but is rather a Dutch-oven effect. When the chick is hatched it scratches its way out of the ash and is ready to begin life’s battles. I could not find any evidence of the male bird tending the young chicks, as is usual with this genus in Australia and the Philippines.
The most important product of the soil is the cocoanut. The island is a veritable paradise for cocoanut palms, for they have never been attacked by the rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinosccrae, the scourge of the South Sea Islands. It is one of the few islands in the Pacific free of that pest, probably because of its isolated position and consequent lack of communication with other islands. The trees here grow very tall, the roots forming a dense network extending out in all directions for many feet, enabling them to withstand the intense trade winds. This tree gives the natives shelter and food; it also furnishes a wel- come substitute for drinking water, as there is no fresh water on the island except the rain water that is caught in small tanks, which is quickly used up in the dry season. The water of the green cocoanuts is therefore the natives’ only beverage, and on the warmest days it is found to be cool and a very refreshing and wholesome drink. The extensive use of cocoanuts for domestic purposes by the natives does not seem to decrease the crop to any extent, for copra (the meat of the ripe cocoanut) 1s the one and only export from the island.
There 1s evidence that the western side of the island is rising. The western shore of the lake shows an uplift and the lava is covered with lime deposits in the shape of large blisters, probably formed by blue- green algae. Under these blisters were found numerous small crabs of the genus A/etasesarma. Vow-net hauls were made from time to time in the lake with good results, one of the interesting specimens thus collected being a small shrimp of the genus Caridina, but no fish were found in the lake The water is no doubt accumulated rain water, and its alkalinity is due to the volcanic gases bubbling up from below. Five small sulphur lakes are located on the southern end of the island near the crater lake, one a bubbling lake giving off sulphuretted hydro- gen gas, the temperature of which was 98° F. Samples of water from all the lakes and craters were collected and brought back for analysis.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930
75
Fic. 67-—A buxom Niuafoouite maiden combing her lustrous black hair. (Photograph by Kellers.)
an
Fic, 68—Natives roofing a house with the fronds of the cocoanut palm. Very little sugar cane, the leaves of which are generally used by the South Sea Islanders as thatch, is grown on Niaufoou. (Photograph by Kellers.)
6
76 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
The natives are true Polynesians, light reddish-brown in color, well formed, erect in bearing, and handsome in features. The women in early womanhood have beautiful figures, but like all native women of the tropics, they soon lose them as they grow older. Their eyes are dark, with an expression of gentleness. They do not like to work, their wants are few, and little clothing is worn, although foreign clothing adapted to the climate is being worn more and more by both the men and the women. The men consider it undignified to appear without a shirt or coat, and always wear them on ceremonial occasions.
The natives are expert weavers of rough baskets, taking from three to five minutes according to size to weave a basket out of the frond of a cocoanut palm. They are also adept in making fire by the primi- tive method of rubbing two sticks of wood together, 30 seconds being the time required to perform the feat.
The natives were friendly, hospitable, and curious ; they were in and around the camp at all hours of the day or night, except when attend- ing one of the missionary churches, where they sang interminable hymns with much gusto, but very pleasing harmony. They were at all times quiet, dignified, and extremely interested in all the eclipse activi- ties, and they had offered many prayers for our success. A few of the ‘‘ Doubting Thomases ” wagered a pig against a shirt with the son of one of the traders that nothing would happen and that the sun would not be darkened, so that the young lad now owns more than his share of pork, which, next to roast dog, is their favorite food. Among other good qualities, these natives are absolutely honest and extremely virtuous.
Towards the end of our stay on the island they brought in presents of many fine grass mats—Falas—and Tapa cloths. Finally on the morning of our departure, at least half of the population of the island including the High Chief Fotofili, his son-in-law and future successor, and the Magistrate, with their families, were down to bid us farewell. They all expressed genuine regret and many sincere Tofas (goodbyes ) at our departure, and were particular to inform us through the trader interpreter how much they had enjoyed having our party honor Niua- foou with such a noteworthy visit.
The collections which have been forwarded to the National Museum as its share of the results of this expedition include 100 bird skins and over 7,000 alcoholic specimens of various kinds, as well as numerous geologic specimens, stalactites of lava, lava tree molds, and water sam- ples from the alkaline and sulphur lakes on the island.
EXPLORATIONS, OFTHE REV. DAVID 'C.:.GRAHAM IND SZECHUAN, CHINA
By HERBERT FRIEDMANN, Curator, Division of Birds, U. S. National Museum
The Rev. David C. Graham has continued his missionary work in the province of Szechuan, western China, during the past year, and as usual has utilized his spare time in collecting for the Smithsonian Institution. Although no outstanding trip was made during the year, much material of value was gathered at or near Graham’s station at Suifu, all of which supplements previous collections from that area. During the year something over 62,000 specimens were received by the National Museum. Dr. Graham has also made plans and already taken care of the advance details for two trips of importance which he hopes to be able to realize next year—one to eastern Tibet, and the other to Tatsienlu.
Just as last year the excessive rains made the journey to Moupin unusually arduous, so in the beginning of this year a prolonged gen- eral drought made collecting rather disappointing for a while at Suifu, and it was not until later in the year that rains began to fall and condi- tions were much improved. The drought caused a general scarcity of insects and other forms, and this scarcity considerably increased the effort involved in making collections.
As in previous years, the hordes of bandits and robbers have been the greatest obstacles to travel and collecting. Thus, Graham writes in his diary on August 24, “. . . . we took a boat from Suifu to San Kuang, crossed overland at San Kuang, and went sixty li up the San Kuang River to Yo Keo. We could have gone farther, but there is a place between Yo Keo and Sa Ho where robbers constantly appeals seus) ;
That robbers are not the only source of annoyance is evidenced by the following entry on September 4. “ When we were coming down the high mountain towards Tsanglinshien, I noticed that there was no one else on that road either going or coming. After reaching this city I learned that both leopards and robbers are fierce at the top of the high mountain between here and Tseo-Jia-Geo. Leopards were fiercer and more common over a wide territory than they have been known to be before, and probably hundreds are killed every year
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 79
Fie. 71.—Artificial hill or mound near Chengtu, Szechuan, China, said to have been erected 700 B. C. as the burial mounds of an aborigine king and his queen. (Photograph by D. C. Graham.)
Fic. 72.—The new modernized streets of Suifu, Szechuan, China. No auto- mobiles or horse carriages or street cars bump into the pedestrians. (Photo- graph by D. C. Graham.)
80 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
in the country south of Suifu, called the Lan Lut Shien District.” The country around Tsanglinshien is described by Graham as a beautiful district with high mountains, perpendicular limestone cliffs, and great forests. Coal, iron, and sulphur occur plentifully and all are being mined, although by crude methods. A phase of natural-history col- lecting in out-of-the-way places that probably would not occur to anyone not familiar with such work is hinted at in the following notes jotted down by Graham on September 3 at Tseo-Jia-Geo. “ One of
Fic. 73.—A famous cliff, called by some foreigners ‘“ The Ribbon Counter,” on the north side of the Min River, about 60 li above Suifu. (Photograph by D. C. Graham.)
the most trying experiences to a foreigner in West China, when travel- ling, comes from the fact that a foreigner expects and loves privacy when sleeping, studying, and working. It is nearly impossible to get privacy in Chinese homes (as a guest) and in Chinese inns, The Chinese have little conception of it. You try to work in a Chinese inn, and the first thing you know the room is packed, and crowds are peek- ing through the cracks and looking through the windows.”
The great bulk of the collections sent in this year is made up of fine
series of insects of all orders. Among these are many species new
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EXPLORATIONS,
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82 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
to the National Museum and others new to science. The best results of this year’s explorations and collections are undoubtedly in the field of entomology. Other groups, both of vertebrate and of invertebrate animals, are also represented, as well as a number of interesting and important ethnological objects, such as rock carvings, vases, ete.
ANGIE ND REECATIVIES OF LIVING WHALES
By REMINGTON KELLOGG Assistant Curator, Division of Mammals, U. S. National Museum
Nearly one hundred years have elapsed since the attention of the readers of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society was directed to the finding of an extinct relative of living whales in a marl bank within the present boundaries of the State of Louisiana. In the ensuing years numerous dissertations have been written in regard to this animal and yet many details of its bodily construction remained unknown. Notwithstanding the rather wide distribution of deposits in which such fossil remains occur, there still exists a sur- prising scarcity of material suitable for critical study of the peculiari- ties of this animal. In connection with a general interpretation of the geological history of the cetaceans, an effort has been made to augment available evidence by further field work in areas that gave some prom- ise of increasing our knowledge of these animals. Accordingly plans were made for a visit to one of these fossil bearing deposits and on October 2, 1929, the writer and Mr. Norman H. Boss left Wash- ington for Alabama under the joint auspices of the Carnegie Institu- tion of Washington and the Smithsonian Institution.
The Jackson formation of the Gulf Coastal Plain, which consists of calcareous fossiliferous sands and clays of marine origin, outcrops in eastern Texas in the region between Trinity and Sabine Rivers, and also extends eastward across central Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ala- bama. This formation extends up the Mississippi embayment to near Forrest City in St. Francis County, Arkansas. In northern Louisiana the Jackson formation is concealed over a large area by swamp de- posits, but crops out in southern Caldwell Parish. It was in this parish that Judge H. Bree in 1832 found a partial skeleton of an at that time unknown colossal animal. Some 28 vertebrae were exposed by the slump of a hill near the Ouachita River after long continued rains. One of these vertebrae was sent to Dr. Richard Harlan at Philadelphia who hastened to publish an account of the discovery. On account of its supposed reptilian affinities, Harlan proposed to call this animal the king of lizards, Basilosaurus. The supposed affinities of Basilosaurus immediately aroused a world wide controversy. It was not until January, 1839, when Dr. Harlan arrived in London, England, with additional fossil remains which had been found on the plantation
83
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84 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
ay Coes nfite Uj ;
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Itc. 76.—Fossil bones of a gigantic zeuglodont, Basilosaurus, partially exposed in a prairie field.
Fic. 77,—A damaged head of the gigantic zeuglodont, Basilosaurus, was found on the hardened ledge in the background.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 85 of Judge J. G. Creagh in Clark County, Alabama, in 1834 that the precise relationships of Basilosaurus were recognized. Included among the fossil bones that Dr. Harlan brought with him were teeth which Professor Richard Owen was permitted to section and study. On the basis of a microscopic examination of these teeth, Professor Owen was enabled to demonstrate conclusively the mammalian nature of the animal. Consequently, Owen proposed to substitute for Basilosaurus the name Zeuglodon cetoides, in allusion to the yoke-like appearance of the cheek teeth.
The next important discovery was made on the plantation of Judge Creagh in Clark County, Alabama, in 1842 by Mr. S. B. Buckley, who excavated a skeleton of Basilosaurus that consisted of portions of the head and of the fore limbs, and a vertebral column extending to a length of 65 feet. These remains were shipped to the office of the Geological Survey of New York at Albany where they were studied and described by Ibenezer Emmons. The subsequent history of this particular specimen is somewhat interesting in that some time later it passed into the possession of the Warren Museum at Boston. In time the Warren Museum passed out of existence and some years past this skeleton along with other vertebrate fossils was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The interest aroused by these discoveries induced Dr. Albert Koch, a German collector, to visit Alabama. Koch arrived at Claiborne, Ala- bama, in January, 1845, and after a brief reconnaissance in that vicin- ity moved his headquarters three weeks later to Clarksville. He was not entirely successful there, although portions of a zeuglodont were found nearby. While at Clarksville, however, Koch received the news that remains of this animal were rather plentiful near the Old Court House in Washington County. Arriving at the Old Court House on March 16, 1845, Koch immediately commenced excavating a skeleton that was found in the same neighborhood. Several wagon loads of bones were assembled at Washington Old Court House, from which Koch reconstructed an animal measuring 114 feet in length, but com- posed of five or more individuals. This composite skeleton of Basilo- saurus was exhibited for some weeks as a sea serpent in the Apollo Rooms on Broadway in New York City.
Later on this skeleton was shipped to Germany and exhibited in the principal cities of Europe. The King of Prussia having purchased this skeleton for the Anatomical Museum in Berlin, Dr. Koch with the proceeds of the sale was enabled to visit Alabama again in 1848 and to resume his search for zeuglodont remains. A second skeleton was assembled in the vicinity of Washington Old Court House and
86 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
shipped to Dresden where the work of preparation for exhibition was begun. This zeuglodont was exhibited for some weeks at Vienna, Austria, and later, although the exact details are unknown, it was sold to the Chicago Academy of Sciences where it remained until destroyed during the Chicago fire of 1875.
These discoveries and current stories in regard to the unusual abun- dance of remains of zeuglodonts in the Gulf states led the United States National Museum in 1894 to consider field work 1n this region. Accordingly Professor Charles Schuchert was detailed to investigate these occurrences and to collect if possible a specimen for the exhib1- tion series. On arrival at Cocoa, Choctaw County, Alabama, on November 2, 1894, Schuchert began his search and within a short time successfully excavated the head of one individual and twenty- four consecutive vertebrae of another, beginning with the atlas and ending with the third lumbar vertebra, in addition to the ribs and the major elements of the fore limbs. This material formed the basis for the restoration of the asilosaurus skeleton exhibited at the At- lanta Exposition in 1895. Inasmuch as the assembled skeleton was incomplete, Schuchert again returned to Alabama and in November, 1896, found near Fail in Choctaw County the tail portion of another zeuglodont which consisted of thirty-five consecutive vertebrae count- ing from the penultimate one forward, as well as the pelvis and one vestigial thigh bone (femur). This material was prepared for exhibi- tion in the laboratory of the United States National Museum and for some years this mounted skeleton has been on exhibition in the hall of fossil animals.
After a rather hasty trip through Clark County, Alabama, Mr. 30ss and [| arrived at Silas, where we began our paleontological ex- ploration of the Jackson exposures in Choctaw and the adjoining Washington County. Inasmuch as we were unsuccessful in our search for well preserved specimens of zeuglodonts in this area, we departed for Melvin, also in Choctaw County. In that vicinity and under the guidance of Mr. Robert Land, we were shown the places where Schuchert had excavated the major portion of the material now in the United States National Museum.
Associated with the gigantic Basilosaurus cetoides, which attained a length of from 50 to 70 feet and whose skull measured approxi- mately 5 feet from extremity of snout to back of braincase, was the little short bodied Zygorhiza kochii, which may have had a maximum length of from 12 to 15 feet. In the vicinity of Melvin and across the line in Clarke County, Mississippi, we were fortunate enough to
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l"1c. 78.—Typical view of Jackson exposures in a “ washed-out ” prairie field near Melvin, Alabama.
Fic. 79.—The head and neck of the little zeuglodont, Zygorhiza, was dug out of indurated elevation in the foreground.
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locate an exceptionally well preserved skull and both lower jaws of one individual, and other portions of the skeleton of five additional indi- viduals of the little zeuglodont, Zygorhiza, which was our chief objec- tive on this trip. In many places remains of this little zeuglodont are almost as numerous as its larger relative. Among the contem- porary inhabitants of the same coastal seas were a large aquatic snake and a large tortoise-like turtle. Fish vertebrae measuring two or more inches in diameter, teeth of sharks, and the curiously ridged rod-like beaks of an extinct sword fish (Cylindracanthus ornatus) are fre- quently noticed in the washes. An abundance of rounded shells of small sea-urchins (Schizaster armiger and Macropneustes mortont), a small scallop (Pecten perplanus), a little oyster (Ostrea falco), with a thin shell fancied to resemble a hawk, and a large nautilus (Aturia alabamensis), the chambers of which are locally known as ‘ goat’s heads,” occur in the “ Zeuglodon ”’ horizon.
The yellowish or gray marl, in which these zeuglodonts occur, 1s often hardened around the bones. From two to four hard ledges, a few inches in thickness and separated by layers of this marl, are also gen- erally present in the “ Zeuglodon”’ horizon. These ledges are quite resistent to the effects of erosion. Bones found in such ledges are generally difficult to extricate on account of the hardness of the matrix and the rather soft consistency of the bones themselves.
The typical outcrop of the Jackson formation is located near Jack- son, Mississippi, from which locality it takes its name. The exposures of this formation in the prairie region of central Mississippi occupy an irregular belt that ranges in width from about 6 miles near the Ala- bama line in Clarke County to a maximum of more than 35 miles 1n the region west of Jackson. The total thickness of the basal member, consisting of quartz sand and glauconite, and the overlying clay mem- ber is approximately 150 feet in eastern Clarke County. This forma- tion increases in depth in a westerly direction and attains a thickness of more than 600 feet in Yazoo County. Inasmuch as the “ Zeuglo- don” horizon is relatively thin and is situated near the base of the upper clay member, which attains a total thickness of 70 feet in Clarke County, one usually has to locate deeply eroded prairies to be successful in a search for this fossil-bearing horizon. Several skele- tons of the gigantic Basilosaurus were located along the eastern border of Clarke County, but erosion and cultivation of the land had de- stroyed whatever value they may have originally possessed for paleontological study. Portions of two skeletons of the diminutive zeuglodont, Zygorhiza, were excavated in this area.
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In central Alabama, the Jackson formation occupies the prairie region 1n Choctaw, Clark, Monroe, and Conecuh counties, but the exposures are often restricted to narrow belts by the overlapping of more recent formations. Although most of the territory, which was settled by the early pioneers, was at that time covered with coniferous and deciduous woods, there were small treeless tracts here and there which were called “ prairies.’ These open spaces were the first to be farmed and upon them flourished fields of cotton, which were culti- vated with the assistance of slaves. In time the natural fertility of the soil was greatly depleted and many of these prairie fields were allowed to revert to their natural condition. Others became impos- sible to cultivate because in plowing the furrows were thrown in such a way that the fields were subjected to severe erosion during long con- tinued rains. [ach drainage path in time became a deep gully and ultimately the field was so cut up that further cultivation was 1mpos- sible. For years the destructive action of erosion has been allowed to continue without any serious effort being made to check its ravages until now many of these fields are criss-crossed in every direction by deep gullies. In some places the * Zeuglodon ”’ horizon was so close to the surface that the skeletons were thrown out by the plow. These bones were gathered up by the negroes and dumped along the edges of the fields where occasionally they may now be found partially buried in the accumulated debris. Some twenty occurrences of remains of the gigantic zeuglodont that had been destroyed either by the plow or by erosion and weathering were observed in Choctaw County dur- ing the period of our visit. It is in these so-called ‘* washed-out ” prairie fields that one finds today numerous exposures of the “ Zeu- glodon ” horizon. In such fields were found a number of more or less complete skeletons of the small zeuglodont, Zygorhiza, and various portions of the skeleton of the gigantic Basilosaurus. In one instance various fragments of a skeleton of Zygorhiza were found scattered along an abandoned logging road. This skeleton has been exposed by the iron-rimmed wheels of lumber trucks and subsequently destroyed by the same agency. At another place a skeleton of another individual lay in a cow-path where it had been trampled on for many years by the feet of innumerable cattle.
POUR TER EXPLORATIONS FOR MOLLUSKS IN (ele, MVS ONDINE
By PAU BART SGEH: Curator, Division of Mollusks, U. S. National Museum
The granting of the Walter Rathbone Bacon Travelling Scholarship to me for the third year made it possible to explore some of the West Indian territory much in need of investigation. Two years ago this same scholarship made it possible to subject all the provinces of Cuba, except Oriente, to a close scrutiny for land mollusks. The three and one-half months spent in this island, which supports a greater land shell fauna than any other equivalent area in the world, yielded an enormous amount of material. The same grant made it possible to spend the summer of last year in an exploration of Porto Rico and the Lesser Antilles lying between this and the island of Trini- dad, as well as the islands of Margarita, Orchilla and the Dutch West Indies lying off the coast of Venezuela. This year our efforts were focused on the southern Bahamas, the islands off the south coast of Cuba, and the Caymans.
After a futile attempt to obtain a suitable vessel in northern waters to take the expedition to the Bahamas, contracts were finally closed in Mianu, Florida, for the use of the Jsland Home, a boat that seemed to meet our needs. The reason for again securing a vessel for this cruise was the fact that commercial transportation in the area to be visited was non-existent, for most of the territory to be explored con- sists of islands rarely visited by man. For this reason also, it became necessary to provide food for the trip at the outset. The large territory to be covered—some 2500 miles—made it desirable to secure sufficient assistants to reduce to a minimum the time spent upon each of the many islands visited. For this reason I tendered an invitation to Mr. Harold Chittick, one of my students at the George Washington Uni- versity, and to two Washington Boy Scouts, Ray Greenfield, who ac- companied me to Cuba two years ago, and Alva G. Nye, Jr.; also to Mr. Harold S. Peters of the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture. To this staff were added the Cap- tain of the [sland Home, E. Roberts, and the engineer, B. E. Lowe.
The Island Home was a 33-ton vessel, flat bottomed. 59 feet in length, with a 21 foot beam, and a draft of 44 feet, and provided with
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Fic. 81.—Loading fuel oil on the Jsland Home at the Naval Station, Key West, Florida.
Fic. 82.—My scientific associates: right, Peters; next, Greenfield, Chittick, and Nye.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 93
a 60 H. P. engine. Leaving Miami June 9, we reached Key West after a two-day interval in which engine trouble developed, which, combined with fueling, delayed our sailing for the Bahamas until June 16. Here should be mentioned the kind assistance rendered our expedition by the United States Navy Department. Not only were we permitted to draw fuel and other supplies needed, but the engine shop made the necessary repairs to our engine and rendered every possible assistance to have us adequately equipped for the cruise.
Leaving Key West June 16, we headed for the Cay Sal Bank, an irregular, pear-shaped submarine flat, a little more than 60 miles in length in a southeasterly and northwesterly direction. This bank is covered by a shallow sea, ranging from 34 to 15 fathoms, and fringed by a chain of cays on all but the southern side. The bank, while only some 20 miles from the central portion of the north coast of Cuba, is, nevertheless, separated from that island by very deep water—the Nicholas Channel—ranging from 212 to 534 fathoms. This great depth does not bespeak land connections with Cuba. From Florida it is separated by some 50 miles of equally deep water, and since the whole bank slopes abruptly on all sides to great depth, the land mol- luscan fauna was looked for with considerable interest.
Each of the cays, beginning with Cay Sal on the southwestern edge of the bank and ending with Anguilla Cay, was explored, and the many interesting things thus obtained are now resting in the Museum, await- ing analysis. How little visited some of these cays are may be in- ferred from the fact that on one of the Damas Cays we found an ele- vated stake and curled about its base the white bleached bones of a man who had evidently been shipwrecked here and perished.
On June 24 we left the Cay Sal Bank and crossed the deep Santaren Channel to the Great Bahama Bank. The 25th and half of the 26th were spent sailing some 180 miles over an almost calm shallow sea, out of sight of land but with the glaringly white calcareous sand of the bottom constantly in view. Like the northern Bahama Bank, this reach appears almost devoid of life
at least visible life. We came to anchor at about 11 a. m. in the snug little harbor formed by islets, collectively known as Jamaica Cays.
From this date until the evening of July 3 we explored the cays which stretch in an open looped chain southeastward to Great Ragged Island. These islands, which mark the western limit of another deep, are all composed of elevated reef rock less than 100 feet in height, and vary in size from mere rock points to miles in extent. They are
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very rugged and may be barren or covered in spots with a growth of Sesuvium or Portulaca or a dense, almost impenetrable, thicket of Platopuntia or other cacti.
Some of the larger cays, on the other hand, bear tangles of brush, or even what might be called trees, all of the vegetation, however, being of the drought-resistant type, save here and there where tangles of mangrove jut into shallow bays. On these cays the most conspicu- ous elements were the land mollusks of the genus Cerion, of which we gathered thousands, though these were by no means the only land mol- lusks of the region as evidenced by the collection now resting in the National Museum.
Early on July 4 we left our anchorage in the Great Ragged Island harbor and headed for Cay Verde. All along our course we had met with many breeding colonies of sea birds, but Cay Verde is the only cay boasting a breeding colony of Man-o’-War birds in the Bahamas. Dull skies, squalls and heavy seas constantly breaking over our decks, somewhat modified our looked-for celebration of the day. Our ship soon had the putty, which had been used to close the seams of the ves- sel in place of oakum, pounded out by the waves, and a call to man the pump was in order. To make a short story of the longest day of our cruise, I will say, simply, that the ship slipped entirely off the Colum- bus Bank upon which Cay Verde is located, and we failed to sight Cay Verde, but were greeted about 2 o’clock the next morning by the welcome faint flashes of Castle Island lighthouse.
The next two days were spent in an attempt to repair our ship, which was only in part successful, since we were unable to careen her on account of her flat bottom. From this time until August II we were forced to pump one hour out of every three, day and night, to keep the ship habitable, and even then the leaky decks soaked most of our belongings stored below.
July 5 to 15 we spent exploring the Crooked Island group, a tri- angular bank about 45 miles in a north and south direction, and 35 miles east and west. This bank consists of Castle, Aklin, Crooked, Fortune Islands, and the Fish Cays. Here again the sea drops imme- diately off shore to a great depth, in places to almost 3,000 fathoms.
The group is isolated from all the adjacent groups of islands by more than 1,000 fathoms. Some of its hills attain an elevation of 200 feet and habitats for our mollusks vary from bleak and barren sand spits to mangrove tangles, and from dense grass flats and brush land to small timber, as well as cultivated fields. The days spent here again proved worth while and very profitable.
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Fic. 83.—Three stages in the development of Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus 'herminieri) from the Cay Sal group, Bahamas.
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July 16 we sailed for the Plana Islands from Jamaica Bay, Aklin Island, reaching our destination late in the afternoon. The evening of this day and the next day were spent collecting on the westernmost of the two cays. July 18 we attempted a landing on the eastern cay, being particularly anxious to do so because this cay appears to be the only one in all the Bahamas upon which Hutias, the large West Indian rodents are present, and we had been asked especially to secure a series of these for the National Museum. High seas and a very effective bar- rier reef frustrated all our attempts at landing, and as there are no residents on the Plana Islands who might have guided us through some narrow passage in the reef, we were compelled, very reluctantly, to forego an exploration of this island. The Plana Islands are also bounded by deep water.
We next headed for Mariguana Island, a large cay some 25 miles in length and 8 in its largest diameter, with a shallow flat at the eastern extremity. This cay rises to an elevation of 80 feet at Abraham’s Hill, and presents all the varied habitats listed for the Crooked Island group. Here again we have deep sea on all sides immediately off shore. Mariguana and Booby Cay on its southern flat yielded many interest- ing mollusks, as well as a fine collection of birds, bats, and reptiles.
At the crack of dawn July 22 we headed for the Caicos Bank, cross- ing the long stretch of the Caicos Island passage with some apprehen- sion, but we reached Malcolm Bay without mishap. From then until July 30 we explored the various cays bordering the Caicos Bank on the north and east side between Blue Hills and Cockburn Harbor. The Caicos Bank, like the other banks examined, rises abruptly from the sea, practically forming an atoll. It is some 72 miles in a southeast by northwestern direction, and about 58 miles in its widest east to west diameter. Its highest hill is said to be 280 feet. The same diver- sity of habitat mentioned for previous groups exists here, but in addi- tion, at least one cay—Pine Cay—of the Fort George group, west of North Caicos, boasts a fine stand of pine. The group as a whole yielded a fine series of mollusks, as well as many other things.
July 30 we crossed the deep narrow channel known as Turk’s Island passage, and from then until August 2 devoted our time to an explo- ration of the cays situated upon the Turk’s Island Bank. The Turk’s Island Bank is the easternmost bank of the Bahamas that has habitable land projecting above the sea. Most of its cays proved rich in mol- lusks. On the afternoon of the second of August we re-crossed the Turk’s Island passage and explored the small cays at the southern
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 Q7
Fic. 84.—The José Enrique in Cuban waters.
Fic. 85.—The stern of the José Enrique: central figure Captain Andre de Leon and the rest his crew.
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end of the southeast Caicos group. We then crossed the Caicos Bank and devoted August 3 and 4 to an exploration of the cays off the south coast of Providentiales and of West Caicos, all of which yielded rich collections. August 5 we crossed the deep channel between west Caicos and Little Inagua, and the remainder of this day and part of the next were spent in a search for the mollusks which it harbors.
On the afternoon of August 6 we headed for Great Inagua Island, which is by far the largest of the southern Bahamas. It has a length of almost 45 miles in a southwest by a northwesterly direction, and a north by south width of about 18 miles in its largest diameter. In reality it is another atoll which has emerged from the sea. Its high- est hill is said to be 132 feet. Its shores slope precipitously into the great depths of the sea on all sides. This island, as its wonderful molluscan fauna indicates, in reality represents a host of cays fused by elevation. We explored not only the ocean rim in our boat, but also the interior of the island, in a Ford truck. Inagua proved by far the richest of all the Bahamas in diversity of molluscan fauna.
The barometer indicating fine weather, we put to sea at 4 p. m. on August 10 from Matthewstown for our naval station at Guantanamo, southeastern Cuba, a distance of some 120 miles. We selected a night run for its calmer sea. Favorable winds enabled us to sight the Cape Macy light in eastern Cuba a little after 10 o’clock, and we rounded the Cape at 2:30 in the morning of the 11th of August, reaching Guantanamo about 1:30 in the afternoon.
The Naval authorities, at my request, examined the [sland Home and pronounced her unseaworthy and recommended her abandon- ment until suitable repairs could be made. Since it was impossible to obtain the necessary repairs for some weeks at the Station, other ves- sels being on the ways, I informed the owners in Miami of the fact and set about finding another suitable vessel in Cuban waters.
The José Enrique, a 35-ton sailing bark, equipped with a 22 H. P. gasoline motor, carrying a complement of five men, was finally chart- ered at Santiago, Cuba, and after fueling at the Naval base we set sail for Santiago. On August 28 we again set sail westward, stopping at convenient intervals along the south coast of Cuba and exploring the many low keys in the embayment between Cabo Cruz and Bretton Cay, the westernmost of that labyrinth of keys in that part of Cuba, which we reached September 10. While these keys did not yield an enormous catch, many of them proving entirely barren of land mol- lusks, the specimens obtained nevertheless furnished information very desirable to our studies.
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Fic. 86.—Three views showing abundance of Cerion landshells on the island of Great Inagua.
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On September 10 we headed southward for the Cayman Islands, a group of three peaks whose molluscan fauna proclaims them a con- tinuation of the Sierra Maestra range of southeastern Cuba, from which they are separated by about 115 miles. About noon the follow- ing day we reached Cayman Brac, which looks like a block of honey- comb limestone elevated out of the sea to a height of about 130 feet. It is 10} miles long and about 14 broad. The top of the block is rough and covered with brush, and its sides are almost perpendicular. A coastal plain strip on the north and west furnishes arable land and good roads. We engaged an automobile and soon covered all parts sufficiently to get a representative collection of its molluscan and other faunas by the end of the next day.
On the evening of September 11 we sailed for Little Cayman some 4 miles west of Cayman Brac. Engine trouble caught us at sea after dark. Approaching the northeastern end of Little Cayman we almost came to grief on a fringing reef. The coolheadedness and good seamanship of our captain, however, saved the day. Little Cayman, to which we devoted September 11 to 13, is about 9 miles long and 1 mile wide. Its highest peak is said to be about 100 feet. As a whole, it appears much lower than Cayman Brac and has less tillable land than that island and only a very scant population. Most of the island is covered with brush and timber. We found it splendid collecting ground for mollusks and other things, and made a large catch.
On September 13, we left our anchorage in Blossom Village harbor and proceeded west toward Grand Cayman, which is about 60 miles distant. This is the largest of the three Caymans, having a length of about 20 miles and a breadth of about 8 miles. Its highest point is said to be only about 50 feet. Much of the island consists of sand dunes. North Sound, a great bay on the northwestern end, is man- erove-fringed.
At Georgetown, the capital of Grand Cayman, we were met by one of my former students, Dr. Overton, the Chief Medical Officer of the Cayman Island, and thanks to his assistance and the kind helpful- ness of the Commissioner, we were enabled to explore the island thoroughly and to secure a large amount of material in the short time allotted to us. September 18, at 4a. m., we set sail for the Cuban coast, and reached the shores of Sandy Cay at about 9 a. m., on the roth, after sailing 145 miles. From this time until September 24 we cruised along and collected on the keys between Cayo Largo and the Isle of (Pines.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 IOT
At dusk on the 24th we tied up against the dock of the Customs House at Nueva Gerona, Isle of Pines, where we were graciously and helpfully received by the Government officials. By the use of an automobile we were able to visit all the desirable parts of the island, securing a magnificent catch of much needed material.
On September 27 we headed for our final port, Batabano, which we reached on the morning of the 29th with all things packed ready for transmission to Havana. The Port officials here, as elsewhere, had been apprised of our coming, which made it possible to have all things aboard a freight car within two hours after docking. A motor bus carried our party to Havana where we were met by Cuba’s grand old naturalist, Dr. Carlos de la Torre, who helped me with all my needs and gave to the rest of my staff a real glimpse of Havana.
All things settled, we left Havana September 1 with 4 young, live tortoise-shell turtles purchased at Cayman Brac, 2 huge live iguanas captured on Cayo Rosario, and 120 huge hermit crabs caught on one of the Doce Leguas Cays as our chief baggage. These live animals were intended for the Zoological Park at Washington. In this connec- tion it might also be mentioned that I shipped by parcel-post from Guantanamo to the same institution 22 live iguanas which we had caught on various cays in the Bahamas. All of these animals arrived in good condition. Our main collection was shipped by freight, in part from Fortune Island, in part from: Guantanamo, and the rest from Cuba. We returned to Washington on October 3.
This cruise has yielded a larger amount of molluscan material than any other in which I have had a part, excepting the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries expedition in the Philippines in 1907-1910. We obtained some 250,000 specimens of mollusks, and in addition 925 bird skins and 596 reptiles and batrachians ; likewise some mammals, fish, insects, and marine invertebrates.
Great credit for the securing of these splendid collections is due to my energetic associates mentioned at the beginning of this article. The Cuban crew of the José Enrique also deserves special mention, from the captain to the cabin boy. Foremost of all, however, thanks are due to our Department of State for having secured not only free entry to all foreign ports for our expedition, but also that good will and helpfulness on the part of all officials in the places visited that makes an expedition of this kind a real joy. It would take more space than all these notes to adequately express thanks for all the favors
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received. To the officers of our Navy at Key West and Guantanamo great credit is due not only for the assistance rendered in equipping both vessels, but the kindly way in which hospitalities were extended to us, which will always leave a pleasant memory of the occasion,
RAVING HOR, CRUSTACEANS Ad PORTUGAS, FLORIDA
By WALDO Ly SCHMITT,
Curator of Marine Invertebrates, U. S. National Museum
The richness of the crustacean fauna at Tortugas, Florida, and its importance in relation to the food habits and movements of certain fishes, led me to continue investigations at the Carnegie Marine Bio- logical Station from July 9 to August 8, 1930, through the kindness of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. It is planned as a point of departure for further studies on the crustacea to complete a survey of their kinds and distribution. Judging from the results already obtained, it is anticipated that at least 200 species will be found to occur at Tortugas and vicinity.
This year was the first in which a preliminary investigation of the deeper waters readily accessible to the laboratory was undertaken. In the course of some 20 hauls made with the 30-foot otter trawl, two hauls between 180 and 237 fathoms brought to light 16 species of “deep sea’’ crustacea. Most noteworthy among these were eight specimens of that giant among isopods, Bathynomus, and a new Portunid crab of the genus Benthocascon, heretofore known only from a single specimen taken between 185 and 440 fathoms in the Andaman Sea.
Three specimens of Bathynomus were obtained from the first haul in 180 to 220 fathoms, and five specimens in the second haul in 220 to 237 fathoms. The largest specimen measures 10$ inches long by 44 inches broad. In length it is only an eighth of an inch shorter than the record specimen taken at a depth between 225 and 594 fathoms off the northeast coast of Ceylon. The species is comparatively rare in col- lections. Between 1890 and 1906 nine specimens were taken by the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship /nvestigator in Indian Seas in the course of six hauls in from 195 to 740 fathoms, while seventeen speci- mens have been secured by various American vessels. The first speci- men known to science was taken by the Blake in 1878 from 955 fathoms in the Caribbean Sea; two specimens were secured by the Albatross in 1885 and 1888 in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas in 730 and 1,186 fathoms respectively; six specimens were taken by the Bingham Oceanographic Expedition of 1925 off the coast of Brit- ish Honduras north of Glover Reef in 366 fathoms and, finally, the
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Fic. 87—The yacht Anton Dohrn of the Carnegie Institution. (Photograph by Schmitt.)
Fic. 88.—Cocoanut palms shading the entrance to the main laboratory building. (Photograph by J. W. Manter.)
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 105
Fic. 89.—A glimpse of Bird Key, Dry Tortugas, Florida, showing the vast numbers of noddy and sooty terns, an estimated total of 75,000 to 80,000 birds. Due to the shifting of the coral sand forming the key, the house which
was located approximately at the center of the island is all but submerged. (Photograph by Schmitt.)
Fic. 90.—A few of the Greek spongers at Tarpon Springs. (Photograph by Schmitt.)
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eight specimens recorded above were taken by the Yacht Anton Dohrn of the Carnegie Institution on July 31, 1930.
Many species of corals flourish in these semitropical waters, and as a result dredging is carried on with considerable hazard to one’s gear, nets on occasion becoming hopelessly torn or caught on the huge coral heads. On one occasion our steel cable parted in ten fathoms of water, and the only large net seemed irrevocably lost. The swift run of tidal currents so stirs up the sediment in these otherwise unusually clear waters that the bottom can be seen only with difficulty. The buoy which marked the net was carried away in rough weather a day or two after its loss, but a week later, just at slack water when the sedi- ment disturbance was practically at a standstill, Captain Mills of the Laboratory’s yacht with rare good fortune saw the mud-covered meshes of the net on the bottom with the aid of a water glass. It was caught by several grapnels but could not be raised, and Captain Mills with the aid of only a metal diving hood descended in the 60 feet of water to affix a line to a strategic point of the net. He found that the net had at the time of towing brought up under a coral head not less than 12 feet high and thick and solid in proportion. Even a steel cable had to give way before such a mass of coral. It was with this net, after its recovery, that the most notable of the dredge hauls ever made by the Anton Dohrn were accomplished.
I returned to Washington by way of Tampa and Tarpon Springs for the purpose of visiting this headquarters of the Gulf sponge fish- ery. It is conducted almost entirely by Greek spongers, who, with their families, form a considerable percentage of the population of Tarpon Springs. On the way to Tortugas, I called upon Mr. Robert Ranson of St. Augustine, Florida, and upon Will Wallis at Braden- ton, both of whom have contributed a number of interesting speci- mens to the invertebrate collections of the Museum from time to time. Iam very grateful to them for the many courtesies shown me in their respective cities, and to the Carnegie Institution for the opportunity afforded for studying the Decapod Crustacea of the Tortugas region.
COVER CHING REIS IN THE WESt
By J. M. ALDRICH, Associate Curator, Division of Insects, U. S. National Museum
Continuing work which has now extended over a period of 40 years, I spent part of June and July, 1930, in making collections of flies in Idaho, Washington, California, and Colorado.
The vicinity of Lewiston, Idaho, offers a great variety of climate, the city being situated in a deep valley only about 800 feet in altitude while nearby are foothills and mountains rising to about 5,000 feet. The low altitude has a warm climate, with sage-brush and other plants characteristic of the plains region, as well as some which occur much farther south. The higher altitudes are cooler, with more rainfall, and above 3,000 feet are generally forested. Thus there is a wide range of plant life, and a correspondingly great diversity in the insect inhabi- tants. Having lived for 20 years at Moscow, Idaho, altitude 2,700 feet, I have collected extensively over the region; but there were many flies that I had found only once in the whole time, and undoubtedly others yet undiscovered. In the recent visit I endeavored to collect in as many places as possible in the time at my disposal, with especial attention to those which previous experience had shown to be richest in flies.
Across the Snake River west of Lewiston Hes the city of Clarkston, Washington, at the same altitude. In this warm climate the collecting is better early in the season, and only the late species were obtainable in June. I visited the canyon of Asotin Creek, above the town of Asotin, Washington, on several days, with fair results. Two visits were made to Lake Waha, a small mountain lake 25 miles south of Lewiston at 3,500 feet elevation, among coniferous forests, where many interesting species of flies were found; this is one of the best places in the region in June. Lapwai Creek ten miles south of Lapwai, Idaho, at an elevation of about 1,500 feet, yielded some valuable infor- mation about the distribution of species and also about their habits. Juliaetta, Idaho, elevation 1,200 feet, in a deep, rocky valley with tim- ber on the precipitous sides, was not so good as on some former visits, the best time for collecting having passed. About 12 miles northeast of Moscow, Idaho, is a small mountain range called Thatuna Hills on government maps, in which the main peak is called Cedar Mountain, but is locally known as Moscow Mountain. This is about 4,900 feet in
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Fic. 91—Moscow Mountain and adjacent range, back of Moscow, Idaho. A celebrated “type” locality for flies.
Fic. 92—Collecting the fly with mandibles, Smith River, California.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 109
altitude, and a splendid place for collecting in June. I visited the summit twice. It is becoming well known to students of the flies from the considerable number of new species which have been described from specimens captured there. Entomologists stationed at the Uni- versity of Idaho (in Moscow) and those at the Washington State College (in Pullman, Washington, only ten miles west of Moscow) have done a great deal of collecting on Moscow Mountain, which is the “type locality’ of the new species just mentioned. Some 20 years ago I collected a new species of flesh fly at the summit, described afterward as Sarcophaga thatuna; curiously enough it has never been found anywhere except at the extreme summit of this mountain, and was common there on both my visits this year.
The vicinity of Spokane, Washington, is also a diversified, semi- forested region lower in altitude than Moscow, but with many fine streams and lakes, which improve the collecting, as flies are generally fond of moist places. I collected at several places along streams in the outskirts of Spokane, and twice ascended Mount Spokane, the summit of which reaches an altitude of 5,808 feet. Little or no collect- ing of flies has been done on this mountain hitherto. The species are mostly the same as found on Mount Moscow, but there is a much larger alpine area. There is a fine road to the summit, and I should have spent more time there but for the fact that the mountain is 35 miles from Spokane. Moreover, I found the summit to be decidedly colder than that of Moscow Mountain, so that bright sunshine was necessary to make collecting of flies successful, as these insects are very sensitive to cold and disappear when the sun clouds over, even on warm afternoons. The total time that I was able to collect near the summit was much reduced by cloudy intervals during the two days I was there. There are a number of kinds of large, showy flies here, which are very characteristic of alpine situations in western North America, the same ones with some exceptions being found on many different mountains over a wide area. It is always thrilling to the entomologist to attain the altitude where they occur, even though many of them are well represented in collections and are therefore not especially desirable to collect.
Leaving the region in which many years of collecting had made me rather familiar with the species, I devoted a week to collecting in the vicinity of the town of Smith River, California, situated on the shore of the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Smith River, about six miles south of the Oregon state line. Being at sea level this locality might be thought to compare with Lewiston, Idaho, in its insect population ; but this is not at all the case, as the narrow coastal strip is notably cool
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Fic. 93.—Sea beach near Smith River, California.
Fic. 94—Redwood Highway near Smith River, California.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 IU4
in its summer climate, so that the vegetation and insect life are very unlike those of the interior. They are in fact largely a continuation southward of a flora and fauna which extend in some of its members all the way to Alaska. A few species of flies of more southern coastal distribution also come up this far. The forms characteristic of the seashore, living in the larval stage on seaweeds, coastal species of plants, or on other coastal species of animals, are by far the most important and interesting of the flies which I collected here.
On seaweed-covered rocks washed by the ocean waves, I found the two known species of the singular genus Paraclunio. It belongs to the midge family, but is robust and strong. Its leathery wings are unaf- fected by sea-water; coming out of the receding wave it runs with fluttering wings over the wet rock until submerged again. One of the species has a range extending to Alaska, the other one being more local along the Oregon and California shores. The larvae live in the seaweeds on the rocks, but I could not find any present at the time of my visit.
Another remarkable fly that I found is Melanderia mandibulata, previously known only from the Washington Coast immediately north of the mouth of the Columbia River. In this fly, the mouth is de- veloped into a pair of pincers for holding its prey—a_ structure unknown in other Diptera, as the real mandibles or pincers, such as occur in lower orders of insects, are reduced in other flies to small blades or needles, or more often to rudiments hardly recognizable. In Melanderia the organs are derived by modification of other mouth- parts, and only imitate true mandibles. Professor Melander, for many years connected with the Washington State College, is the only col- lector who had previously found this species. One of his specimens which I took to Europe last year and showed to many entomologists, excited the liveliest interest there. I found this species on the wet rocks above the ocean, where it finds its prey among the soft-bodied organisms occurring there. By spending much time for several days I obtained a large enough supply to enable me to present the species as a gift from the National Museum to several of the principal museums of the Old World, as well as those in North America; one went to Australia. This species was the principal find of my trip.
Returning through Colorado, I stopped as I have done several times at Tennessee Pass, on the divide of the Rocky Mountains at 10,290 feet altitude. Being on one of the main railroad lines, this is a very convenient stopping-place. There is no hotel, but as before I was indebted to Mr. L. E. Maupin, a pioneer who arrived at the Pass in
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1879, for accommodations and pleasant intercourse. The evenings by his fireside were, as in previous years, a memorable part of my trip. The coldness of the nights makes a fire always necessary; there was a heavy frost on one of the nights. The climate in midsummer com- pares with that of the far north, and the insects also are very similar
Fic. 95.—Collecting place at Tennessee Pass, Colorado. Cabin of L. E. Maupin.
to those occurring at lower levels near the Arctic Circle. My visit was at an earlier date in the summer than my former ones; conse- quently I was able to get some species not before collected here.
While the total number of flies collected on my trip was not impres- sive as such things go—about two thousand—the collection included a larger number of interesting kinds than I have ever obtained before in the United States in a single season.
Pp bOnANiCM Visit tO SOUTH AND HAST ABRICA:
Bye JN, Sy JaUM Clay COXON Custodian, Section of Grasses, U. S. National Museum
In June, 1929, I started for London on my way to South Africa to attend the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The sessions were held partly in Capetown (July 22-27) and partly at Johannesburg (July 30-August 5). Leaving London on the Llandovery Castle the latter part of June we arrived in Cape- town July 19. The passengers included 160 scientists bound for the meetings, and other boats brought their quota. We stopped a few hours each at Teneriffe, Ascension, and St. Helena but did not land at Ascension. Certainly good old St. Helena never saw such a swarming of scientists over her hills and valleys as took place on that day.
Every effort was made by those in charge of arrangements in South Africa to make the visitors comfortable. Excursions permitted an examination of the local flora. Though it was winter many plants were in bloom. A two-day excursion on a special train through the Karoo allowed botanists to examine the curious xerophytic flora of this arid region. A stop was made at Kimberley to inspect the diamond mines. There the members saw the method of mining, the separating of the diamonds from the pebbles and gravel by means of “ grease tables,” and great piles of the diamonds themselves worth hundreds of thou- sands of dollars.
After the conclusion of the meetings I joined an excursion to Vic- toria Falls and other points in Southern Rhodesia. We lived on a special train for 12 days, visiting points of interest to botanists, zoolo- gists, geologists, and archeologists. At Bulawayo motor cars took our party to a cave to inspect Bushmen drawings and to Motopos Hills to see the grave of Cecil Rhodes, for whom Rhodesia was named. On a high round-topped hill overlooking the country for many miles around lies the grave surrounded by huge boulders.
The Victoria Falls of the Zambesi River are one of the wonders of the world. The river flows through a great lava bed and the surface of the surrounding country is the same above and below the falls. The
* Although this trip took place in 1929 the author returned to America so late in the year that his article could not be included in Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1929.—Eprror.
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Fic. 96.—Longwood, the house in which Napoleon lived during his exile on St. Helena (1816-1821).
Fic. 97.—Victoria Falls on the Zambesi River. A small section near one side. It is very difficult to obtain a picture of the magnificent falls because of the contour and the spray.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I9Q30 II5
Fic. 98.—Zimbabwe Ruins, Southern Rhodesia. The ruins are in part well preserved and indicate that an earlier race extracted gold here.
Fic. 99.—Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. The Kibo peak (19,710 ft.) as seen from about 14,000 feet.
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falls are 420 feet high and about a mile and a quarter wide, thus ex- ceeding Niagara Falls by a considerable margin. But the view of Niagara is much more impressive because the whole of the falls may be seen at once and the volume of water is little obscured by spray. The Victoria Falls can be seen in their entirety only from the air and, especially at high water, the view is almost obliterated by the spray.
One other point of particular interest in the province, especially to the archeologists, was the Zimbabwe Ruins, about 12 miles south of Fort Victoria, the nearest railroad station. The ruins are in part well preserved and indicate that an earlier race extracted gold here and used the stone structures for defense.
The excursion ended at Beira in Portuguese East Africa, where the party embarked for home. It was interesting to note that four important food plants in South Africa came originally from America, maize (called mealies in Africa), white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava. The last is a Brazilian plant whose fleshy starchy roots yield the tapioca of our markets.
Some of the party went directly to London; others left the boat at Mombasa and spent two weeks at Nairobi. In company with Mr. Cotton, Keeper of the Herbarium at Kew, and a few others I disembarked at Tanga in northern Tanganyika. On the way from Beira we stopped a few hours at Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar.
Mr. Cotton and I first went to Amani where is located the Amani Agricultural Institute. This was previously a scientific station in Ger- man East Africa. There are here good laboratories and a herbarium. We next went by rail to Moshi for the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro but found that the most favorable starting point was Marangu, a village 10 miles to the northeast. From Marangu we had an easy climb on mule back by a good trail, taking a cook and four porters. The first night was spent at Bismark Hut, a resthouse near the upper limit of the forest at about 8,000 feet. The second and third nights were spent at Peters Hut, a resthouse in the alpine region at about 12,000 feet. On the third day I ascended to the limit of vegetation at about 14,000 feet where there was a good view of Kibo, the western rounded snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro (17,910 feet). The alpine grasses belong to such temperate genera as Festuca, Poa, Trisetum, and Deschampsia. On the fourth day we descended to Marangu.
Our next stop was Nairobi which we reached by rail from Taveta via Voi. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, lies on a grassy plateau at an altitude of 5,500 feet, inland from Mombasa 330 miles. This is the point from which parties start on the big game hunts to the surround- ing territory.
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118 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Vic. 103.—Giant senecio (Senecio johnstonii) near Peters Hut on Kiliman- jaro at about 11,400 feet. Mr. Cotton is seen standing in the tall grass.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 119
A two-day trip by motor car was made to the vicinity of Mount Kenya (17,000 ft.), but there was not time for the ascent. Through the courtesy of Government officials a trip through Uganda was ar- ranged. The route was by rail to Kisumu, by steamer across Lake Victoria (26,828 sq. mi.; altitude 3,700 ft.) to Entebbe, the adminis- trative center for Uganda, by motor car to Kampala, the center of agricultural and botanical research, by motor car to Jinja, the term1- nus of the Uganda railroad, by rail back to Nairobi, with one-day stops at Eldoret, Nakuru, and Naivasha in Kenya.
On September 28 I sailed from Mombasa for London via the Red Sea. Although I left the boat at Marseilles, crossed France and made close connections with a fast Atlantic liner, it took nearly a month to reach New York.
The collecting (grasses only) in the Union of South Africa was meager because I was there in the winter season (112 numbers col- lected here). Through Southern Rhodesia the collecting was re- stricted because it was the dry season, though at Victoria Falls the spray from the falls gave moisture in the immediate vicinity (204 numbers in Southern Rhodesia, including 87 numbers at Victoria Falls). At Beira on the coast the collecting was better (56 numbers). The stops at Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar were short, but by going immediately beyond the limits of the town one and one-half hours were utilized for collecting at each place (Dar-es-Salaam 27 numbers, Zanzibar 23 numbers). At Amani the collecting was good (63 num- bers) and at Moshi also, except on the open ground where it was too dry (41 numbers). On Kilimanjaro the grasses were of much inter- est, especially in the alpine regions (89 numbers).
In Kenya and Uganda the collecting was good though it was the dry season around Nairobi. At Eldoret and Nakuru the grasses were abundant and in fine condition (the numbers were as follows: Nairobi 117, Kisumu 35, Entebbe 52, Kampala 22, Jinja 50, Eldoret 51, at stations between Eldoret and Nakuru 35, Nakuru 42, Naivasha, in a much-erazed region, 19, Mombasa in about one hour’s collecting 40). The numbers for each locality represent for the most part differ- ent species.
So far as collecting was concerned my attention was given exclu- sively to the grasses. But my interest, of course, extended to other plants. The peculiar flora of the Cape region, so rich in Proteaceae, was of interest to all the botanists present. The many succulent plants
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Frc. 104.—Native huts near Jinja on Lake Victoria (the source of the Nile).
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Fic. 105.—Massai women, wives of a chief. Spirals of brass wire are worn around the neck and a heavy load is wound around the forearms. Heavy ornaments hang from the distended earlobes, supported by a band over the head.
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930
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122 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
of the Karoo reminded me of our own arid regions of the West. The grotesque baobab tree with its great trunk all out of proportion to the branches was photographed by everyone who had a camera.
Altogether the trip was noteworthy because of the opportunity to meet the South African botanists, to renew acquaintance with the British botanists, to gain first-hand information concerning the floristic conditions of another continent, and to obtain a fine collection of grasses for the National Herbarium.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK ON THE KUSKOKWIM RVR Ae Se
By ALES HRDLICKA, Curator of Physical Anthropology, U. S. National Museum
The work of the summer of 1930 was devoted principally to the Kuskokwim River, the second largest stream of Alaska and hitherto unknown to physical anthropology. The Kuskokwim flows to the south of the Yukon, from the McKinley range of mountains to the Kuskokwim bay or bight; and like the Yukon it has been partly peo- pled by the Indian and partly by the Eskimo. In the thirties of the last century it was discovered and sparsely colonized by the Russians. It has at present a fairly large native and a small white population, the latter consisting almost exclusively of traders, Government employees, and, in the upper parts of the river, miners. It can only be reached by the costly airplane, or over a broad and at times difficult portage from the Yukon, or twice a year by a freight steamer from Seattle.
The route chosen was that across the portage. The trip from Wash- ington took a whole month, due partly to the delayed season. Head- quarters were established at Bethel, and from there two trips were made, one down the bay as far as Apogak, the other upstream as far as Stony River. The rapidity and success of the work were due largely to the long days, and to aid received through the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries and the Government Bureau of Education.’
The natives themselves were all that could be desired. To make the work on the living more intelligible and sympathetic to them, it was combined with examination of the lungs and heart, which led to the learning of collateral facts of decided value. And the pathological factor was accentuated with much benefit also in making the skeletal
* Special grateful acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Calvin F. Townsend and Charles MacGonagal of the Bureau of Fisheries; to Mrs. Lulu A. Heron, nurse, and Miss Anne Martin, teacher, Bethel, of the Bureau of Education: to the fine men and women of the Moravian Missions; to the President and traders of the Northern Commercial Company; to Mr. Clark M. Garber, Superintendent of the Bureau of Education Schools, at Akiak; to Messrs. Samuelson, Brown, Parent, and all the other traders along the river as far as this was covered; to Game Warden Hollson and Postmaster Link of Bethel; to Mr. Jacobsen in the same place; and to Messrs. Hofstedt, Frederickson, Sergei, and all those other friendly people of the river, white and also native, who aided me in my endeavors.
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 TZ
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collections. The latter was carried on with the full knowledge of the natives and often in their view and with their assistance. They were told that I wanted only the old ‘* heathen ” remains, in which no living person had any interest; that the bones were needed for studies and for comparisons of the development, the type, and the diseases of the old with those of the present people; and that they would be treated with all possible consideration. The results both with the living and with the skeletal remains were very gratifying. They comprise the measurements of every fullblood male that could be found along the lower 400 miles of the river and bay; observations on many of the women, children, and mixedbloods; and collections filling over 50 boxes of precious old skeletal material. An unexpected but welcome feature was the willingness of all the natives to be photographed, but unfortunately the prevalent drizzles and cold weather of this year pre- vented full success in this direction.
At Bethel, thanks especially to Mrs. Heron and Miss Martin, con- tingents of Eskimo were obtained from a much larger territory than could be visited. There were numerous individuals from the “ tundra ”’ (Johnson River) and some from as far as Nelson Island and Good- news Bay. This gave valuable insight into conditions over a large and hitherto unknown region.
More in detail, the results of the work were manifold. They may briefly be enumerated as follows:
Population.—The native population of the Kuskokwim River is re- stricted to the lower 350 miles of the stream with its affluents and to its bay. It is estimated collectively at 3,000 individuals. It extends up to the Stony River. In the 200 miles between the Stony and McGrath there live now but three families of about 25 persons, a large proportion of whom are young children, with very few if any of the adults native to that region.
Race.—The entire region, up to near the Stony River and includ- ing the Hoolitna River, is now and has apparently always been occu- pied by the Eskimo. Only three Indians were encountered in this region, all close to Stony River and all from elsewhere. The current notion that the Eskimo reached to Sleitmute and the Indians began above that was not borne out by the finds; the present extension of the IXskimo certainly reaches to and includes the Hoolitna, and there are no old sites between this and the Stony River which would show a previous existence here of the Indian. The Indian territory if it may be so called—for there are hardly any of them there—begins close to the Stony River. But an occasional Indian type of face may be noticed as far down as Napaimute and there are indications that
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 127
some Eskimo-Indian mixture has taken place in these reaches. The Kuskokwim Indian below McGrath has practically vanished. The strong probability is that he was never over this part of the river in any larger groups or numbers and that the Kuskokwim was not an old home of the Indian. From Napaimute down to the bight there is no trace of anything Indian excepting a few individuals (one a Cherokee, another a Cree) who came here accidentally and merged with the Eskimo.
The Eskimo.—tThe Eskimo of the Kuskokwim and the neighboring regions are of a remarkably homogeneous and interesting type. This type is characterized by short to medium stature, meso- to subbrachy- cephalic head, mostly a rather short and broad face, large malars, small prominence of the not very narrow nose, mongoloid eyes, full, dusky red cheeks in the children and young, black straight to broadly wavy hair, light brown (tan to submedium brown) skin, full chest, and often relatively short limbs.
From Akiachok and especially Napaimute up the river, this type shows a somewhat higher stature and greater robustness. It is poor- est in the tundra region and in the coast villages towards Nelson Island. Those differences correspond directly to differences in environment and food—the worse these are, the lower in general is the physique and also the energy of the people.
In the upper half of the Eskimo territory on the Kuskokwim, there are numerous traces of Russian admixture. This is generally easy to recognize by a greater stature and robustness, by the physiognomy, by lighter eye color, by nearly white color of the skin of the body (the face may be much as in fullbloods), and by greater and more white- man-like beard. In some of the native fullbloods of the lower river and the tundra the face is quite hairy, but the beard is not so thick and soft as in whites. A few mixedbloods were seen on the upper river that looked like Mexicans, indicating some Mediterranean admixture. In but one case was there an indication of negro blood; the Eskimo as a whole have been more fortunate in this respect than some of our Indians.
Skeletal remains—The skeletal remains along the Kuskokwim occur in two forms. The old burials, from the pre-Russian to about the mid-Russian times, were all above or on the ground, in boxes or “ houses of the dead ”’ made of roughhewn thick slabs, joined in dove- tailed manner without nails. The bodies in these boxes lay invariably in the contracted position, on their side, and with the head in generally the same direction in one burial place, though this was not always the same as that in other burial grounds. The boxes were constructed
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SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I930 I29
Fic. 114.—A narrow ditch between two lakes—a part of the Yukon-Kus- kokwim Portage. In places the boat has to be pushed or pulled through by the occupants.
Fic. 115.—On the Lakes, a part of the “ Portage” between the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, May 31, 1930.
130 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
much as were those on the Yukon, and many were evidently decorated by paint and even with animal and human figures. The body was covered with caribou skin, or laid in with just what little it had on. In some instances earth was placed about the corpse, but mostly there was no earth in contact with the body. A clay dish (lamp) was placed inverted in one corner, generally at the head but occasionally at the feet, especially with the males; and there was nothing else of value left or placed with the body. Above Bogus Creek, where the lamps must have been scarce, even they were usually absent in the burials.
Above the body in the box was a “ roof” of supports, in some in- stances thick wooden slabs, and these were covered with birch bark; or there was only a birch bark cover, taken generally from a canoe and showing the sewing of the strips together. Then came 6 to 12 inches of earth; perhaps another birch bark layer and more earth; and finally slabs or flat rafters, forming the top of the box burial, the whole being supported by two side posts set in the ground and held together by cross-pieces.
The details of the burials differed at different villages, but in any one burial place there was great similarity, suggesting that all or most of the burials at a given site were made by some one individual, an “undertaker.” The nature of the burial in these cases had a great ef- fect on the preservation of the remains, some of these being in excel- lent condition, some crushed more or less and rotted. The burials under Russian influence were all ground burials, with simple, nailed coffins, two to three feet of earth and a sod or plank covering on the top, headed by a Russian cross.
The skeletal remains from the older box burials have proved to be of much more than usual interest from both the anthropological and the medical points of view. Over one hundred of the older skeletons were collected and more examined. They showed the following prin- cipal features :
1. The type of the skull and the stature are about the same as those of the people of today on the river. No marked change has taken place in these respects evidently within many generations of these people. The nature of the type, its sameness over a large ter- ritory, and its extension well into the pre-Russian times, are facts of much anthropological importance.
2. There is a remarkable freedom from fractures. There were found no wounds of the skull or face, no fracture of the ribs, and only two breaks of the long and other bones. These surely were no fighting people or people given to violent exercise or sports.
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132 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
3. There is no trace in the older burials of tuberculosis. Two cases that were encountered, were from burials of late Russian or earlier post-Russian times (near or after 1867). It is positive therefore that tuberculosis had not existed among these people before the contact with whites. It was evidently brought here by the Russians. This explains the present general lack of immunity against this scourge. Every one of these people must be regarded as predisposed to the disease, which is of consequence in dealing with them medically, in schools and otherwise.
4. None of the bones collected or seen showed any trace of cancer, tumors, inflammation, syphilis, or rachitis; and there were no signs of Scurvy.
5. The prevailing pathological conditions in the older individuals were those of the spine, accompanied occasionally with those of the joints, and were arthritic in nature. All grades of arthritis deformans were seen in the spine, from the beginning of marginal exostoses in the lumbar and lower dorsal region to an ankylosis of the whole spine due to fusion of those exostoses. In several cases two and in one instance three of the cervicals were fused, with the rest of the spine not much affected; in these cases there may have been some special factor at play.
6. There were but a few really old people in these burials, show- ing that real old age was rare; on the other hand there were but few young adolescents or adults of both sexes, indicating lower mortality among especially the young women than was found last year to have prevailed on the Yukon. This indicates the absence on the Kuskokwim of some pernicious habit that was present on the other river and that probably related to the period of child bearing in the young women.
7. There were no perceptible traces in the burials of any Indian influence or admixture.
The whole study shows the presence, along the 400 miles of the lower Kuskokwim River and its bay, of a rather large and, in many parts of the region, still mostly fullblood population, of remarkably homogeneous character, and constituting the bulk of the western Eskimo. It makes it certain that this type did not arise through mix- ture with the Indian, but that it represents a pure old Eskimo strain, to which conform a large majority of the Eskimo people in the Bering Sea together with such important groups as those of Point Hope, Smith Sound and elsewhere. This is, according to present indications, the parental or basic type, from which the narrower and more keel- shaped skull type of parts of the Seward Peninsula and the Arctic, and
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134 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
especially that of southeastern Greenland and of Labrador, has been developed.
Thus the work of the last few years throws a new light on the whole Eskimo problem and brings it near, it would seem, to its final solution.
The work of the last two years indicates also much as to the future of the Alaska Eskimo. He has a high mortality, but even higher fecundity. He is not dying out and will not do so. But he is becoming rapidly admixed with white blood. Part of this came from the Rus- sians, part from marriages or unions of later whites with the attrac- tive native women; and the mixedbloods are diffusing the blood among the rest of the people. In all probability no pureblood Eskimo will be born a century from now. Thus as a pureblood the western Alaska Eskimo will in a few generations become largely if not entirely a matter of scientific history. But the Eskimo-white population promises to increase rather than decrease. The tuberculous troubles are already frequently assuming a chronic form, and there are many cases of partial and even complete recovery. With increasing knowledge the people will also be able to better care for themselves. Thus it may safely be expected that the Eskimo population, though more or less altered in blood, will remain to form the human backbone of these far away coasts and rivers. With this in view, everything possible should be done towards curing and safeguarding this good, happy, tractable, and already fairly civilized people, from their one great scourge, tuberculosis, which is of white man’s introduction.
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Bie IEUSINURAY 185 (COMILIUNS, Jie. Assistant Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum
On May 13 Mr. J. A. Ford and I sailed from Seattle on the Coast Guard Cutter Northland for the purpose of conducting archeological investigations on St. Lawrence Island, near Bering Strait. This was my third consecutive cruise on the Northland and again I wish to thank Capt. E. D. Jones and the officers and men of the ship, especially Lieut. Comdr. N. R. Stiles, and Mr. H. Berg, for the many courtesies shown us.
In 1928 and 1929 my excavations on Punuk and St. Lawrence Islands had revealed the existence of a prehistoric phase of Eskimo culture ancestral to the modern in that region and derived apparently from a still earlier phase, the only evidence of which was a few elabo- rately decorated artifacts of walrus ivory that had been found at various old sites in the vicinity of Bering Strait. This oldest phase of Alaskan Eskimo culture, the Old Bering Sea culture, appears to be the oldest that has been found anywhere in the Eskimo regions. It also possessed an art richer and more complex than that of any later Arctic culture. The intermediate or Punuk stage showed similar implement types, but the decorative designs, while they bore sufficient resem- blances to those of the Old Bering Sea culture to warrant the assump- tion that they had been derived therefrom, had become less flowing and profuse and had taken on a rigidity more like that of modern Eskimo aides
While such a development of Alaskan Eskimo culture seemed cer- tainly to have taken place, much of the evidence was of an indirect nature, for at the sites excavated in 1928 and 1929 I had found an abundance of the Punuk art but hardly more than traces of that of the Old Bering Sea period—not enough to afford evidence of the exact relationship at these particular sites of the two old art styles. It was very desirable, therefore, to find some old site at which occurred
'The Ancient Eskimo Culture of Northwestern Alaska. Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1928, pp. 141-150, 1920.
Prehistoric Eskimo Culture of Alaska. Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1929, pp. 147-156, 1930.
Prehistoric Art of the Alaskan Eskimo. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 81, No. 14, 1920.
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136 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
both the Old Bering Sea and the Punuk cultures, so that by strati- graphic excavation their relationship might be determined definitely.
In 1928 and again in 1929 the Northland stopped for a day at Gam- bell (Sevuokok) at the northwestern end of St. Lawrence Island and I had an opportunity to examine several deserted village sites in the immediate vicinity. From the nature of the artifacts that had been excavated from them—some collected for me by Paul Silook, an Es- kimo at Gambell, and some shown to me by Mr. Otto Wm. Geist, who had been collecting for the Alaska Agricultural College—it was plain that these villages were of different ages. Only one of them had yielded artifacts bearing the Old Bering Sea ornamentation, and this was also the site which from its position in relation to former beach lines appeared to be the most ancient. Here then, at Gambell, was a series of old sites which gave promise of yielding the precise information needed as to the cultural changes that had taken place on St. Lawrence Island in prehistoric times, and it was accordingly selected as a place for investigation.
Situated at the northwestern extremity of St. Lawrence Island, the Eskimo village of Gambell is only 40 miles from the Siberian coast which on any clear day is plainly visible. The 200 inhabitants live dur- ing the winter in domed skin-covered houses with inner skin sleeping room such as are also used by their Eskimo kinsmen in Siberia and by the coast dwelling Chukchee ; the smaller skin structures formerly used as summer dwellings have been almost entirely replaced by neat lumber houses, outward evidence of the-prosperity that has lately come to these Eskimo, principally from furs.
The present houses are built at the far end of a flat gravel spit which extends westward for three-quarters of a mile from the base of the low Gambell Mountain. From the top of this mountain one has a clear view of the old beach lines, which, extending east and west on the gravel spit below, show the manner in which the spit has been built up. At the base of the mountain is the old village of Miyowagha- meet, enclosed within the first and second (the earliest) beach lines, and at the present time three-fourths, and half of a mile distant from the sea. Since all maritime Eskimo villages are built close to the sea it is only reasonable to assume that when Miyowaghameet was occupied the sea was much nearer and that the greater part of the present gravel spit has been built up subsequently.
Some 200 yards to the northward is a smaller village site, levog- hiyogameet, its grass covered midden rising like a small island from the flat gravel plain. This village is separated from Miyowaghameet by four old beach lines, while to the northward six more beach lines
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lie between it and the sea. Its position would thus indicate that it had been built later than Miyowaghameet and that during the time of its occupancy and after its abandonment the sea had receded still fur- ther, piling up still more gravel ridges.
Toward the end of the spit, behind the present village is the third old village, Seklowaghayaget, but its position with reference to the old beach lines is not so clear. Finally, immediately to the south of the present village are the ruins of the semi-subterranean houses of wood and whale bones, the last of which were occupied as late as 40 years ago.
In the kitchen-middens and house pits of these old villages we and our Eskimo helpers excavated from June 20 to October 20. Our method of excavation was to sink pits 12 feet square at various places in the middens, taking them down in sections of a few inches thick- ness as the frozen ground slowly thawed upon exposure to the atmos- phere. As the work progressed we began to uncover a great variety of objects—ivory, bone, stone, pottery, wood, baleen—representing the hunting implements, tools, household equipment, ornaments and other possessions of a people who were seen to have been uncommonly skillful in shaping to their ends the material resources at their com- mand. The objects excavated number several thousand, and repre- sent a complete cross section of Eskimo culture at this one spot from the earliest known period down to the present.
We had been excavating about a week when almost by accident we made a discovery that added greatly to the significance of these old villages as landmarks of Eskimo chronology. Just back of Miyo- waghameet, on the lower part of the mountain slope, we found a site of pure Old Bering Sea culture. The trail to the top of the mountain passed over the surface of this old village and although many genera- tions of Eskimo had followed it not one of those now living had sus- pected that anything lay beneath the moss and rocks. But this is easy to understand for the surface showed not the slightest irregularity, nor were there any timbers or whale bones or shallow depressions of house pits, such as usually mark the sites of old Eskimo villages. Only at one place was any refuse visible and this a small patch less than two feet square which by weathering had become exposed in a rock crev- ice. The rest of the midden for many yards around was so completely covered with moss and sod and fallen rocks that it blended perfectly into the hillside. As our work progressed it became clear that this site had been both settled and abandoned within the period of the Old Bering Sea culture, for from top to bottom of the small midden the about 30—were all of the Old Bering Sea style
decorated objects
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 139
Fic. 121.—Gravel spit at Gambell on which are situated the present village, at the far end, and four abandoned villages. Miyowaghameet, the oldest of these is shown in the foreground. The lines of snow follow the old beach lines.
Fic. 122.—Excavating a recent house ruin at Gambell. This type, with wooden floor and walls and roof of wood and whale bones, was occupied as late as 40 years ago.
10
I40 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
with no trace of the later Punuk art. Many undecorated objects were also found, revealing for the first time the common implement types of the Old Bering Sea culture. Harpoon heads were of various types: with closed and open shaft sockets, with one, two, or three spurs, with end blades and with side blades.’
At Miyowaghameet, the next oldest site, the eastern and southern parts of the midden were found to continue deep below the sod and to be practically continuous with the old hillside midden. The deco- rated objects from this section of Miyowaghameet belonged also to the Old Bering Sea period, but already a change was noticeable; the designs, while still very elaborate, were somewhat uniform, in con- trast to those of the hillside site which displayed more freedom in the utilization of the various design elements. However, the most beautiful objects were those belonging to this later stage of the Old Bering Sea Culture. At the upper levels of the eastern and southern sections of the Miyowaghameet midden were found a few scattered objects bearing the simple line and dot ornamentation of the Punuk period. At the opposite or northern and western parts of the midden Punuk art was found from the surface to a depth of about 5 feet, but below that Old Bering Sea pieces were the prevailing forms. A similar condition was found in regard to harpoon heads. Those from the older sections were mostly of the complicated Old Bering Sea types while the later ones, of Punuk age, were simpler in form as well as decoration.
It is evident, therefore, that when the first settlers came to Miyo- waghameet—no doubt from the hillside village—they brought the Old Bering Sea culture with them. Somewhat later, as the village expanded to the northward and westward the rich old art had been replaced by the simplified art of the Punuk period. New types of harpoon heads appeared and some of the old types were discontinued. There were likewise changes in some of the other implement types but on the whole the material culture was not greatly altered.
The Punuk art, which had appeared in the later sections of Miyo- waghameet, had continued to flourish at the next oldest village, now represented by the levoghiyogameet midden. But here it underwent certain changes ; the lines became straighter and deeper, and mechani- cally made circles appeared. Harpoon heads became simpler in form
*Harpoon heads are seen to have assumed a wide variety of forms on St. Lawrence Island in prehistoric times but their development was along lines that to a considerable degree can be traced; there is reason to believe that these implements will have relatively as important a role in the elucidation of problems of Eskimo prehistory as pottery has had in the Southwest.
SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1930 I41I
Fic. 123.—Eskimos hauling up a dead walrus on the beach.
Fic. 124.--Ruined house, probably 200 to 300 years old. In foreground is shown the oval antechamber, connected by a narrow passage with the square inner room. Constructed of stones and whale and walrus bones.
142 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
and included a few examples typical of the Thule culture, an extinct Eskimo culture which formerly centered about Hudson’s Bay.
At Seklowaghayaget we found again only the Punuk art. The harpoon heads from the lower levels of the midden were of the type found at levoghiyogameet but the simplification that had been in proc- ess at that place had here gone still further, for those found in the upper levels of the Seklowaghayaget midden were mainly of two types, one, evidently local, a small flat undecorated head with open shaft socket which in cross section approaches a triangular shape, and the other a small open socket head of Thule type without end blade.
As Seklowaghayaget became abandoned, houses were built near by, immediately to the south of the present village, and these and the mid- dens about them represent the latest of the five abandoned sites in the vicinity of Gambell. The two types of harpoon heads last mentioned had continued in use but the local type with almost triangular socket underwent a series of rather rapid changes and emerged as the thick, iron-bladed, closed-socketed form of the present time. The refuse about these latest ruins yielded a few examples of Punuk