The Washington times., 1911-12-17
NATIONAL \ MUSEUM
annual VOLUME IS
!: OF GREAT INTEREST
Much New Information
Presented in Report of
. Proceedings.

New Information of great interest to
the scientific world on animals, plants,
rocks, and minerals, as well as on ma
tive tribes of mankind in all parts of
the world. is contained in the National
Museums annual volume of its pro-
ceedings. ......-
Not only are the facts new, but they
present shadowings OF the dim yet fas-
cinating borderland of partial knowl-
edge. truths suspected but not yet
demonstrated, the guesses of today
which may be established facts tomor-
row. .. -
The mammals collected by DR.. w. L.
Abbott in Borneo and the neighboring
islands are described by DR.. Marcus w.
Lyon, jr., who writes as well on the
country. inhabitants. life. and SO forth
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 jungle than the
natives themselves.
The article contains an interesting
account of how the sun bears of the
Tan1ong Pamukang country destroy the
palm trees by climbing to the top and
eating out the heart of the palm.
Hunting BY Dyaks.
tThe Dyaks of southwestern Bornco
hunt nearly all the game in the vicinity
of their settlements with spears, ex-
cept in the case of the orans-outar g,
which Is hunted with guns. 1t seems
that these wild people are fond of the
meat of the orang, and consequently
those animals are very scarce in the
neighborhood of Dyak camps
u N. HOLSTER, assistant curator, divi-
sion of mammals, United States Nation
al Museum, also has a mammal paper
on the long-tailed shrews of the eastern
United States, with descriptions of new
species. For the benefit of the unen-
lightened 1t might be remarked that
the shrew is one of the smaller insect
tvores, resembling closely in appearance
Its first cousin, the mole. In fable one
tinds that to this little animal Their
Is superstitiously attributed malady
Que to Its bite or even contact, and one
50 affected is said to be shrewstruck.
Nowadays We know better and see In
the shrew only a tiny molel,ke creature
which feeds on insects, worms, mol
luscs, and the like.
When HOFFMAN Phillips was minister
King Menelik at Adds Abeba he got
together remarkable collection of writ
ings. utensils, ornaments, art objects.
costumes, etc, Of the Abyssinians which
iater came into the possession of the
As this is probably the first collection
or this kind brought to America, the
well illustrated description of 1t by DR..
Walter Hough is interesting.
Papers on Entomology.
Several articles of interest come under
entomology, the scientific study of in
sects. One on the collection Of bees Of
the National Museum. BY T. d. A. Cock
<telEsgsf the yrniverBitY OF Colorado.
deal Schi9hv. with the study Of the Ash
attic Fees feolle1ted by DR.. w. L. Abbott.
and forms the second paper in series
being prepared by DR. Cockerell.
Dr. George P.'MerriN, head curator Of
geologyGof the National Museum, dis
Cussed the supposed origin of some ex-
traordiuary masses of natural glass,
ca lied moIdavites. These strange CLASSY
pebbles are about the size and shape Of
vEalnuts and the color of dark green bot
tie glass. but resemble pieces Of lava
strangely marked and etched. Whether
they clmS from volcanoes or fell down
from ithe sky Is question no one can
answer at present. While this subject
is not exactly new. DR.. Merrill Is the
first in this country to write upon It.
Z On the subject of Ash there are several
articles, including one by Hugh H.
smith and Lewis. Radcliffe, both of the
Bureau Of Fisheries.
The volume also contains other articles
on fishes. birds, insects. crinoids, crus-
taceans, shells, etc. These are chiefly
tcchnical and describe new forms in
the collections Of the National Museum