File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17973273470).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Steller's sea lion (Eumetopias stelleri), subject of the above group in the new Museum of tlie Cali- fornia Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, ranges from Aiio Nuevo Island, near Santa Cruz (on wliich this rookery is located), northward to Bering Strait. The large male in the center of the group weighed 1810 pounds. Although most fishermen believe sea lions to be very destructive to commercial fisheries, investi- gations have proved the contrary, and they should be protected at least to some extent. A second species, the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), is common from San Francisco southward. It is an in- telligent animal and is frequently seen in captivity in zoological parks Although the position of the Aztec ruin in the chronological sequence of the South- west marks it as relatively ancient, its ex- cellent masonry and the manufactured articles collected in last year's work show that its inhabitants had developed a wealth of material culture which the Pueblos never surpassed in later times. In its new museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, the California Academy of Sciences has recently installed a number of habitat groups illustrating the most inter- esting species of California mammals and birds in their natural environment. Both the taxidermist and the artist visited the various regions where the animals were obtained, in order to make the settings, 244 whether painted or natural, as realistic as possible. The case for each group is twenty- five feet long, thirteen feet deep, and eight- een feet high, with a forty-foot curving background. As there are no windows in the exhibition halls, the lighting being from above, reflections in the front glass of the groups are almost entirely avoided. The northern mule deer and black-tailed deer, found in the coast mountains of California, form the subjects of two groups showing the beautiful scenery of that region, while the elk and antelope, of northeastern California, are no less charmingly presented. In con- trast with these is the desert-like region in southern California, in the vicinity of San Jacinto Peak, where mountain sheep are fairly common. The barrel cactus, which

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