These thumbless monkeys (Colobus abyssinicus roosevelti) are perhaps the most beautiful of their race, and for this they have paid the inevitable penalty of being hunted by African natives and by Europeans for the sake of their fur. The Abyssinians employ the skins as ornaments for their large rawhide shields and have traded at times extensively in the pelts. Colobus monkeys dwell in the tallest trees among the remote forests of East Africa where they find their main sustenance in leaves which they eat in large quantities. For digesting this unusual diet they are provided with large sacculated stomachs. They are relatively slow travelers for arboreal monkeys, even when swinging from branch to branch in their forest homes; but they can make long flying leaps (thirty feet or more) and the white "manes" and tails float out on the air as the creatures proceed from tree to tree or plunge headlong to the ground. When born these monkeys are pure white (see young in arms of monkey at the right and front view of same on opposite page), but they rapidly take on the black and white coloration of the adult. In setting up this group at the American Museum, reproductions were made of leaves and air plants brought from their African habitat by the Congo Expedition 223 CROWNED LEMURS FROM MADAGASCAR Among the unique fauna of the island of Madagascar are found the only extant species of true lemurs. The lemurs, which are the lowest of the ape tribe, resemble monkeys chiefly in their hands and feet, having an opposing thumb like most man-like apes. "Lemur" is Latin for ghost and these animals were so called because of their nocturnal and seminocturnal habits. They sleep during the heat of the day and come out in the evening and early morn ing to feed on fruits and romp in the trees in small bands of six or eight. This American Museum group, of which but a corner is shown, contains two species (Propithecus rerreauxi and P. diadema) set in a reproduction of Madagascar foliage with a background painted from a scene out of Milne Edwards' great work on that island The spider monkeys (Ateles), so called from their unusually long arms and legs, are a thumbless genus from the New World. They are very timid and rather stupid animals and live on such fruits as are found in the tropical forests of the two Americas. Their most notable character is the prehensile tail which serves them so remarkably well that the Indians of Brazil claim they catch fish with it. This tail, the under side of which is smooth-skinned at the tip, is always moving here and there grasping branches or objects otherwise out of reach, and is sufficiently strong to suspend the weight of the monkey's body. The number of things a monkey of this type can do at one time is quite astounding. THE AFRICAN RED GROUND MONKEY The Erythrocebus whitei of Africa is a very Owing to Its food consists chiefly of grubs and insects, which it obtains by rolling back the sheets of moss covering the rocks-much as one might roll up a rug. The large baboon (Papio doguera) at the right in the group is a representative of one of the most brutal of the genera of manlike apes. The baboons roam 226 Notes THE geographical and historical basis for a permanent world peace has been the subject of research since the latter part of 1917 by an American organization known as the "Inquiry." This organization has been under the direction of Col. E. M. House, and has maintained its headquarters at the building of the American Geographical Society in New York City, receiving cordial coöperation from every scientific bureau of the United States Government, and being visited in person by President Wilson and Secretary Lansing. Its complete personnel of about 150 persons, carrying with them all prepared effects, sailed for France on the "George Washington" December 4, 1918. The work has been of so confidential a nature that the story in detail is told for the first time in the Geographical Review for January, 1919. The Inquiry has, broadly speaking, investigated the political and diplomatic history, the political and economie geography, of all the nationalities in any way affected by the coming treaty of peace, together with the bearings of international law upon these questions. This work has been accomplished through close coöperation of specialists and in consultation with similar commissions in Europe and with representatives of every important nationality of Europe and Western Asia. Among the members of the Inquiry are: S. E. Mezes, President of the College of Allyn A. Young, Head of the Department School of Harvard University, Specialist on Alsace-Lorraine and Belgium Clive Day, Head of the Department of Economics at Yale University, Specialist on the Balkans W. E. Lunt, Professor of History, Haverford College, Specialist on Northern Italy R. H. Lord, Professor of History at Harvard University, Specialist on Russia and Poland G. L. Beer, formerly of Columbia Univer- Roland B. Dixon, Professor of Anthropol ogy at Harvard University Four officers from the Military Intelligence Division were also attached for special study of problems on strategy, economics, and ethnography: Major D. W. Johnson, Columbia University, Major Lawrence Martin, University of Wisconsin, Captain W. C. Farabee, The University Museum, Philadelphia, and Captain Stanley K. Hornbeck, University of Wisconsin. In connection with the research carried on by the Inquiry, the cartographers of the American Geographical Society, together with a Government staff, began a great map making program, showing the distribution of peoples and of natural resources, and location of strategic points. The Society prepared a series of base and block maps showing drainage, railways, and relief, of Europe, Asia, and Africa. These maps were later furnished to each unit of the Students Army Training Corps. A small scale edition also has been printed, available for desk use by the students in conjunction with the wall map in the hands of the instructor. JOHN BURROUGHS visited the American Museum on January 24 and was entertained by moving pictures in which he had acted the leading rôle. Mr. Burroughs was pictured with several of his family, and with friends, including Mr. Henry Ford and Mr. Thomas A. Edison. The groups had been "filmed" in West Park at "Riverby," "Slabsides," and "Woodchuck Lodge." In conneetion with this reel, about one hundred colored slides were also displayed. Among them were several of his birthplace in the western Catskills, many were from photographs, by Dr. G. Clyde Fisher of the American Mu |