The Jackson herald., 1910-08-04


the environment of each season is reproduced
perfectly One group OF deer was secured In
summer another in fall. another In winter and
another In spring, and II is possible In walking
about the groups 10 see three OF the animals. the
buck the doe and the young. as they appear at
the four seasons or course the fawn is seen In
a variation Of sizes until It becomes a iusty
yearling
This illustration OF deer group from the
Field Museum OF Natural History is given In
order to show what may be expected In the Ma
tional museum at Washington when the larger
mammals OF the Roosevelt collection are placed
on exhibition. OF course instead or the American
red deer the visitor will see elephants. lions, leop
ards and several OF the many families OF ante
lopes which inhabit the African country. There
will be similar groups OF the smaller animals
while for the purposes of the student OF animal
life there will be in drawers and In cases
throughout the museum the skins and the skulls
of the smaller mammals which are Invaluable
for purposes OF comparison.
The trophies which former President Roose
welt has presented to the National museum are
not the only gifts Of value which he has made TO
the institution. Some years ago when the
colonel was hunting In Oklahoma, he secured o
specimen OF what at first was thought to be
coyote The colonel had remembered that Wood
house n hunter-naturalist OF sixty years previous,
had obtained an animal In about the same part
of the country which II was held was neither a
wolf nor a coyote. but sort OF connecting link
between the two, larger than the true coyote
and smaller than the true wolf.
Colonel Roosevelt knew that there was some
DISPUTE as to the validity OF the account OF this
species. He obtained an animal which was not
full grown, but he concluded that II was different
from either the coyote or the wolf and he thought
II might he of the species variety that Wood
house had obtained. He sent the animal TO the
scientists in Washington and they became con
vinced after n study OF the Woodhouse and the
Roosevelt specimens that there no longer could
be any doubt OF the existence OF q family inter
mediate between the coyotes and the wolves.
The result was that an expedition was de
spatched TO tho scene OF the Roosevelt hunting
and success crowned it's efforts. The knowledge
which the former president had OF the Wood
house specimen and the study which he gave the
specimen Of his own taking led to the estab
lishment OF a scientific fact OF considerable
value. There is now a fine series OF the inter
mediate wolves In the possession OF the ma
tional authorities
Nearly one hundred years ago an Englishmar
claimed that the bear OF the Gulf states Lousi
ana and Mississippi. was a different species from
the ordinary black bear. The matter was In dis
pute for years among the scientists. FINAL.
Theodore Roosevelt secured some specimens o
the Louisiana bear and sent them to DIR. c. Har
Merriam, then the chief Of the biological surve!
in Washington. Dr. Merriam recently has beel
given charge of the natural history foundation
made possible by the generosity of Mrs. e.
Hartman.
Dr. Merriam took the Roosevelt bear spec
mems In hand. and after long anad painstakin
study proved that the ordinary black bear o
America and the bear Of the cane brakes ar
different Species thus settling a point that ha
been In doubt for nearly n century 1t was tn
Roosevelt interest In the study of natural histor
which led to the establishment of fact OF mt
ment to the scientific world.