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THE NEEDLES: STONE SENTINELS IN CUSTER STATE PARK These jagged pinnacles of limestone, with sturdy, dark pines fringing their bases, seem from a distance like small models of the world-famous Dolomites of northern Italy. They sweep in a curve around the base of granite Harney Peak, thus disclosing their origin (see page 323).

cluding a 13-foot fish. One of the most. valuable specimens is the skull of a huge brontotherium, the largest animal found in the White River region. This creature, similar in appearance to a rhinoceros, reached the size of a full-grown elephant.

BAD LANDS DESERVE A BETTER NAME

The Bad Lands received their name from the Indians, who called them Mako Sica. The early French trappers translated this into Mauvaises Terres; and the first American immigrants, preserving the original idea, dubbed them "Bad Lands."

To the Indians, whose imagination peopled any region of unusual appearance

with evil spirits, the name was natural, as it was to early travelers impressed with the difficulty of passage through the heavily eroded country. But to present-day lovers of the picturesque and magnificent in Nature, the name seems inept. For some years there has been a movement in South Dakota to save this unique scenic area by making it into a park, either under Federal or State protection, and there have even. been suggestions that a more appropriate name be found. Many of the most striking formations are already reasonably accessible from the railroads and highways that strike westward to the Black Hills.

The Bad Lands have never been a totally

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DEVIL'S TOWER: A PROTRUDING RIB OF THE EARTH This remarkable projection, in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills country, is known to the Indians as Mato Tepee. It strikingly demonstrates Nature's methods in molding and reshaping the earth's surface (see text, page 305).

abandoned territory. The greater portion of the area is level and fertile and supports an excellent growth of grass. Thousands of cattle and horses have grazed in the region in the past, and in recent years farming and dairying have been carried on successfully in many sections. The discovery of good supplies of water through the sinking of shallow wells has done much to facilitate settlement. Close by regions once considered desolate infernos, homes have now been established. One of the best vantage points from which to view the strange panorama which

the Bad Lands presents is the cedarcovered top of Sheep Mountain. In one direction is a grassy flat with its browsing cattle. On all other sides Nature has crammed foreground and background with a jumble of weird but magnificent carvings. An outstanding feature is the Great Wall, all that is left of one level of the deep gravels and clays at which the forces of erosion have gnawed for ages. Flanking it is an intricate network of cliffs, domes, wedge slopes, and buttresses. Along the Wall itself rises an interminable series of towers and spires.

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HE TOOK HIS OWN PICTURE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Only the clouded leopard of Sumatra rivals the ocelot as the most beautifully ornamented of four-footed beasts. Against a smoky pearl background, the black markings develop from mere dots and speckles on feet and legs to the large, varishaped ocelli on flanks and back.

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AN OCELOT FOLLOWING A TRAIL THROUGH THE JUNGLE

This most beautiful of the medium-sized cats is a nocturnal forest dweller that subsists largely on birds and monkeys. Although a few have been tamed, ocelots are not usually dependable in captivity. They revert too frequently for comfort to their primitive habits.

A Camera Trapper Describes His Experiences on an Island in the Canal Zone, a Natural-History Laboratory in the American Tropics

BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN

Curator of Birds, American Museum of Natural History

AUTHOR OF "OVER THE ANDES TO BOGOTÁ," "A NATURALIST'S JOURNEY AROUND VERA CRUZ AND TAMPICO," ETC., IN THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

I'

With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author

F THERE be any sport in which the joys of anticipation are more prolonged, the pleasures of realization more enduring, than that of camera trapping in the Tropics I have yet to find it! From the moment when, after consideration of all the possibilities, you select a place in which to set your trap until the developments of the dark room show you what you have, or have not, captured, imagination keeps pace with expectation.

The result is often complete disappointment. But it may bring such elation that, so narrow is the boundary line between the manifestations of uncontrolled enthusiasm and dementia, it is safe to give full expression to your feelings only when you are alone!

It is well, also, to temper your exultation when in the presence of a big-game hunter. He tells of hardship in the pursuit of his prey and of more or less risk to life and limb in the killing of it. But I am usually asleep when my game is "bagged" and desire to kill nothing. Yet, so far as personal danger is concerned, I expect to blow my head off every time I set a camera. Furthermore, the rifle bearer may be reminded that, armed only with a field glass, I invade the haunts of large predatory mammals which are so aggressive that on Barro Colorado Island we have yet to see them!

BARRO COLORADO ISLAND IS A NATURAL TROPICAL LABORATORY

But whatever the decision as to ways and means, final judgment in the case of camera v. rifle will be based on results. So herewith I submit my winter's bag, together with a brief description of the

place in which it was made, certain details in regard to the manner in which it was secured, and such further comments as seem desirable.

Barro Colorado is an island of about six square miles in area in the Canal Zone. With many others it was created by the closing of Gatun Dam and the subsequent overflow of 165 square miles of lowlands. Its summit is 537 feet above the sea, 452 feet above the lake. With the exception of a few acres, it is densely forested. Thanks to the enthusiasm and foresightedness of a number of naturalists and the support of a sympathetic administration, it has been set aside by our Government as a sanctuary for the conservation and study of tropical life.

The fact that the Canal Zone is the only bit of continental Tropics under our flag. and that Barro Colorado is the largest as well as the most nearly primitive island in the Zone, show clearly that it is an area of exceptional value.

The preservation and use of this natural laboratory have been entrusted to the Institute for Research in Tropical America. This organization, which is supported by small annual payments from several colleges and museums, students' fees and private contributions, has erected several buildings which afford naturalists comfortable living quarters and facilities for the pursuit of their investigations.

Its first aim is the preservation of natural conditions. The ground has been cleared only around the laboratory. About ten miles of trails have been cut, but without the loss of a single large tree. One may examine the accompanying airplane photographs, which clearly show the roof

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BARRO COLORADO IS THE LARGEST ISLAND IN THE CANAL ZONE (SEE PAGE 331)

of the forest, without detecting any evidence of the paths that permit of easy and noiseless passage through the dense growth below (see illustrations, pages 334 and 335).

These trails have not brought with them the devastation that usually follows the path of man. The neighboring mainland contains far wilder-looking ways, but they have been traveled for centuries. Animals large enough to rank as game have long since disappeared from or become rare near them. But our trails were made for purposes of observation, not destruction, and it is improbable that they have in any way interfered with the natural life of the island. On the other hand, they have greatly facilitated the observation of it (see page 336).

Who treads these trails with us? The sudder. rush through the undergrowth or the half-seen figures may be only coatis; the startling call of alarm may be only an agouti's, but it is the thought of the potential jaguar or puma which springs to mind when one hears these smaller

animals. In spite of their assumed presence, these, and some other large mammals, have never been definitely recorded from the island.

How could we establish the fact of their residence? We might use dogs and the methods of the chase; we might employ skilled trappers; we might even resort to poisoned bait. But the motto of Barro Colorado is "Live and let live." We want a census of the living, not a record of the dead. How then could we make it? The answer is, by that type of autophotography with which George Shiras, 3d,*

*See, also, the following articles, and others, by George Shiras, 3d, in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE: "Nature's Transformation at Panama: Remarkable Changes in Faunal and Physical Conditions in the Gatun Lake Region," August, 1915; "Photographing Wild Game with Flashlight and Camera," July, 1906; "Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist," May, 1909; "Wild Animals That Took Their Own Pictures by Day and by Night," July, 1913; "The Wild Life of Lake Superior, Past and Present: The Habits of Deer, Moose, Wolves, Beavers, Muskrats, Trout, and Feathered Wood-Folk Studied with Camera and Flashlight," August, 1921; etc.

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