The Appeal., 1911-01-28
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to the museums collection. Finally got shot
and down went the monster turned with a
shout Of rejoicing to Heller, who was near me
Heller went over and examined the elephant and
then turned to me with grave face and said
Colonel this elephant died of apopexy, You
missed him mile Heller keeps on telling that
story and I am willing, for he gets lots of fun
out Of it. All have to say is if the elephant
dropped dead of apoplexy at the instant l fired
1t was the most considerate elephant that ever
roamed Africa"
In the African fields there are thirty or forty
species Of antelopes one, the giant eland Is big
ger than an OK, and it 1nhabits fever stricken
territory in which only few hunters and those
Of the hardest kind will venture The colonel is
exceedingly proud of the giant Glands which he
secured and which in possession of the
museum and in perfect condition for eventual
mounting for show purposes.
One of the antelopes which the expedition Sc
cured has remarkable hide Colonel Roosevelt
spent long time examining and admiring this
specimen. The skin is iridescent and as you
turn it at different angles to the light it sent
forth colors of blue, green, red and purple. It
has watered silk effect, but perhaps no watered
silk that woman ever wore held such marvel
combination of hues.
DR.. c. Hart Merriam, who is now, as has been
said, the head of the Hartman Geological Foun-
dat1on, was the first man to suggest to Theodore
Roosevelt that after he retired from the presi-
dency he ought to 60 to Africa to collect speci.
mems for the National Museum. Credit for the
suggestion was given Dr. Merriam by Mr. Roose-
welt in his lecture before the National Geographic
Society. 1t is probable that Dr. Merriam is the
foremost authority in the United States. on sew
eral branches of natural science. He is particu-
larly interested in bears and it was by him that
comparisons were made of bear skulls by which
recently a separation Of species was made where
1t was not known definitely that a difference
existed
It must have been fully century ago that an
English scientist hunter who had secured a speci-
men of the cane brake bear declared that II was
species distinct from the ordinary black bear
of the eastern United States. the bear known to
every dweller in the eastern region remote from
the populous centers.
There was dispute among scientists about
the matter and 1t never definitely was settled
the general opinion remaining that the cane
brake bear was simply the ordinary black bear
of the Aleghenies, the Adirondacks and the
woods Of Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine. When
Colonel Roosevelt killed his specimens of the
cane brake bear he examined them and came to
the conclusion that the Englishman who had
separated it species was right. The colonel
to put the matter to the test sent the skulls of
the bears he had killed to DR.. Merriam, who put
In lot Of painstaking study comparing them
with the skulls Of the ordinary black bear and
1t was found the Englishman who had contended
Tor separate species was right. II it had not
been for the Roosevelt study and his determine
ton to submit the matter to the test science
probably would still be holding to the belief that
the eastern United States have only one species
of the bruin tribe.
In the bear room of the museum Mr. Roose-
velt saw the skulls Of the species which he was
instrumental In giving separate place to and
he saw the skulls Of every bear known to the
world. To the laymen present these skulls were
nothing but skulls and originally they might have
formed the head bones of any kind of an animal,
but scientists can pick up bone Of any kind and
not only tell what it game from, but from it can
construct the entire naimal
In the room set aside for the present as
storage place for the collection of African birds