The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-22
ROOSeOet Is Soon To
 LeaUe On African Trip
Retiring President Will Have Very Complete Outfit for Hunt ing and Preserving Specimens of Animals for Scientific Purposes and Experienced
 Hunters To Guide Him.

tion is the museum to which his collec- tion should go While he would pay the expenses of himself and his son, he felt that he had not the means that would enable him to pay for the naturalsts and their kit and the curing and transport of the specimens for the museum. All he desired to keep would be few personal trophies of little scientific value which for some reason he might like to keep. He said the actual hunting of big game he would want to do himself or have his son do.
 Seeing the value of the Presidents proposition Secretary Walcott immediate ly set to work selecting men to form the party. He decided that three men should form the Smithsonian Institutions DOT tion of the party. The necessary funds for the Smithsonians share of the ex- pense were secured from a source which has not been revealed. It is stated that no part of these funds was derived from any government appropriation or the in- come of the Smithsonian Institution. That it was advanced by some one interested in science there is no doubt, and there have been reports that it was donated by MT. Andrew Carnegie.
 In selecting the four men to accompany MT. Roosevelt the best men in the scores of naturalists of the country were se lected It was decided that Major Edgar A. Mearns of the medical corps of the United States army, a retired officer who has had 25 years experience as a doctor in the army, should have charge of the Smithsonian portion of the party. His professional services as physician to the expedition undoubtedly will be of the greatest value, not to speak of his ability as a well-known naturalist and collector of natural history specimens. As an or nithologist Major Mearns probably is one of the highest authorities, having made q iaIAx ,f The major was one of the founders of 1 the American Ornithologists' union and has written widely on bird subjects. He is member of the Linnaean Society of Natural History of New York of the National Geographical society, of the Biological society of Washington, of the American Association for the Advance inent of Science and a patron of the American Museum of Natural History of New York. He is 53 years of age.
 As field naturalist MT. J. Loring AL den is probably the most efficient and ex- perienced man in the party. He has made speciality of the smaller mammals and it is said of him that, where other traps and baits fail, he can devise a trap and select bait that will lure any of the smaller creatures into captivity. His training comprises service in the bilogical survey of the United States department of agriculture and in the New York Geological Gardens in Bronx park, New York city, as well as on numerous eol- lecting trips through British America, Mexico and the United States. He Is | about 3s years old, of ardent tempera- ment, and intensely enegetlc. In Au- gust, September and October, 1908 he
 made the highest record for travelling collector, having sent to the United States National Museum 900 we'll prepared spec iments of small mammals in the three months journey from London; through 1 Sweden, Germanq, Switzerland and Bel gium His home is in Oswego, N. Y.
 Of the party the only one who has
 had previous experience in that section
 of Africa through which the expedition
 versity of California and is a thorough ly trained naturalist, whose special
 work with this expedition will be t-e
 preparation and preservation of the | specimens of large animals.
 ! Kermit Roosevelt, the Presidents 1 second son, young man of 19 years,
 IS to be the official photographer of the