Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-15
HUNT TROPHIES FINE
Roosevelt Collection Display
ed to Smithsonian Regents.
IN BEST OF CONDITION
243 Large and 1900 Small Nam
mails and 1855 Birds.
HUMAN SKULLS AMONG THEM
Picked UP Along Slave Trail and
Not Victims of Ex-President's
Deadly Gun.

Many mammal skulls and bird skins
| collected by the Roosevelt hunting expe-
| dition in East Africa were shown to
| regents of the Smithsonian Institution
after the annual meeting yesterday. One
| Of the most interesting exhibits was
| collection of almost dozen skulls of the
dik-dik, the little antelope, about which
a good deal has been said in print. There
was also large collection Of other ante
lope skulls. hippopotami and rhinoceri
and the skulls Of giraffes and Of wild
| boars. The birds skins included very
large number of highly colored small
| birds. besides specimen of the rosy
pelican and rare herons and the secre-
tary bird.
| The collection is one of the finest that
the institution has ever been able to
| make.
There were two tables covered with
the skulls of rhinocerii, hippos, immense
skulls of giraffes and specimens of boars'
skulls with murderous-looking tusks. One
of the most interesting questions that pre-
sented itself to the regents was how a
giraffe, with neck ten feet long. could
ever manage to handle the immense skull
which was at the end of this great
lever.
There was one skull of rhinoceros shot
by Col. Roosevelt that nicely displayed
brute force. The bullet had entered just
above the right eye and had blown out
| the top of the skull, leaving the brain
cavity exposed. This was just big enough
Brain Capacity Question.
1t raised the question anew whether
quantity or quality was necessary in the
brain development of animals. The
rhin0carnc
stupid animal. At the same time the
elephant has almost as small brain
cavity and is rated as one of the most
intelligent of animals.
The skull of the ,dik-dik was scarcely
as large as that of a small terrier dog
When placed alongside the immense skull
of an African buffalo it was altogether
lost by comparison. There were many
other antelope skulls and skulls of other
horned cattle.
The bird skins included specimens of
rare herons and a species Of pelican that
is not now in the museum collection.
There were on view several cases of
small birds collected by DR.. Mearns. al
though the larger specimens were nearly
all shot by Col. Roosevelt.
1t was said that the collection Of skins
and skulls was the best that the Smith
sonian ever received. All the specimens
were received in better condition than
any previous collection. The selection of
specimens had been made with great skill.
It is possible that one of the first things
that will be done is to arrange an ex-
hibt of the various varieties of some
single species with view to showing
how completely the ground has been
covered.
Trophies Of Expedition.
The secretary Of the board reported that
6.6sa skins had been taken by. the ex-
petition up to December 10. of which
rather less than one-half had been re-
ceived at the institution.
Those now here are divided briefly as
follows: Large mammals. 243: small
mammals. about 1900; birds, 1856. In
addition to these there have been about
$500 sheets Of plants collected whose
importance to the National Herbarium
was very great, as no material had pre-
viously been received from this part of
Africa. The collection has a series of
human skulls picked up along the line
Of an ancient slave trail. These are of