Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-09
SOME QUEER FINDS
Interesting Discoveries by
American Scientists.
NATIONAL MUSEUMS BOOK
Filled With Important and New
Information.
IS STIMULATING TO INQUIRY
Shadowings of the Dim and Fas-
+ cinating Borderland of
Partial knowledge.

The National Museum has Just issued
the fortieth volume Of its proceedings
These books are always Of the strongest
interest to the natural history world
since they are filled from cover to cover
with important and absolutely new in
formation regarding animals, plants
rocks and minerals. and the native tribes
Of mankind from all parts Of the world
Not only are the facts new or just dis
covered, but they present shadowings of
the dim yet fascinating borderland of
partial knowledge; truths suspected. but
not yet demonstrated; the guesses of to-
day, which may become established facts
tomorrow. No one can peruse the articles
which this National Museum volume con.
tains without wishing tn know more
about the strange things with which they
deal
Facts About Borneo.
The mammals collected by DIR. w. l..
Abbott in Borneo and the neighborng
islands are described by DR.. Marcus W.
Lyon, jr., who writes as we'll of the coun-
try, nhab itants and its life. Dr. Abbott
is one of those wonderful Americans who
spend their lives in the tropical wilds of
the old world and know more about the
The article contains an interesting &C
count Of how the sun bears OF the Tan
iong Pamukang country destroy the palm
trees. by climbing to the top and eating
out the heart OF the palm At one
place, in grove of about ninety trees,
it was discovered that more than hair
had been destroyed IN this manner:
There is no way for the natives TO put
a stop to this destruction however as
the Dutch authorities took away all thelr
guns some time ago.
A fight between Il hawk and f1ylng le-
muir. resulting in the capture OF both par
Elephants, is recorded in an interesting
manner.
The Dyaks of southwestern Borneo hunt
nearly all the game in the vicinity of their
settlements with spears, except III the
case OF the orang-outans, when Is hunted
with guns 1T seems that these wild peo-
pie are very fond of the meat or the
orang, and consequently those animals
are very scarce in the neighborhOod Of
Dyak camps.
The Long-Tailed Shrews.
n. HOLSTER. assistant curator. division
of mammals, United States National Mu-
scum, also has a paper on the long-tailed
shrews Of the eastern United states. with
descriptions Of new species. For the Den
eft Of the unenlightened, 1t might De re-
marked. that the shrew resembles closely
III appearance ITO III d. NcoSist' 'NS AAAoi'
In fable one finds that to this little ami
NAL there is superstitiously attributed
malady due to it's bite OF even contact.
and one so affected is said to De shreW
struck Nowadays we see in the shreW
only IL tiny mOlelike creature when reeds
on insects. worms, ,moilushs ana me ilhe.
When Hoffman Phillips was minister to
Abyssinia and lived at the capltai OF
King Menelek at Adds Adeba he got to-
gether a remarkable collection or writ
ings utensils ornaments, art OBJECTS, cos
TUNES, etc, of the Abyssinians. which
later came into the possession OF the Ma
tional Museum. AS this is probably the
first collection of this kind brought to
Of it, by Dr. Walter Hough, is decidedly
worth reading. especially as he points out
the singular survivals Of the ancient Gull
ture of northern Africa. the adjoining
part Of Asia and eastern Europe which
linger on in Abysslnia and are discernible
in the various objects of this collection.
Several articles of interest come under
entomology. the scientihc STUDY or IN
sects One of the collection of bees Of the
National Museum by T. D.. A. Cockerell
of the University of Colorado deals
chiefly with the study of Asiatic bees
collected by DR.. w. l.. ABBOTT. and rorms
the second paper IN series pelng pFepdi
ed by DR.. Cockerell
There are papers on millipeds. members
Of the same class Of many-footed insects
as the centipeds: also wasps, moths ana
icheneumon flies.
Masses of Natural Glass.
DR.. George p Merrill, head curator Of
geology of the National Museum. dis
cusses the supposed origin Of some eX
traordinary masses Of natural glass,
called moldavites. These strange CLASSY
pebbles are about the size and shape of
walnuts and the color Of dark green bot
tie glass, but resembles pieces of lava,
strangely marked and etched. Whether
they came from volcanoes or fell down
from the sky is question no one can
eanswer at present. While this subject
IS not exactly new DIR. Merrill is the first