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* ^. Saving Ontario's Natural Resources G. C. TONER Federation of Ontario Angler* (NO. 25) MUSEUM EXHIBITS In my article last week I told kow the Royal Ontario Museum •f Zoology was developed with the aid of the collections ol the University of Toronto and the Normal School. Other institu- tions and individuals contributed •]so to the gn.owth of the R. O. M. Z. An important collection «f Canadian material came from Dr. J. H, Gamier, a naturalist- yhysician of Lucknow, Ontario. This collection, received by the University of Toronto Museum in 1891, was especially rich in amphibians and reptiles, but con- tained some birds and mammals aa well. Just last week I exam- ined some of the reptiles collect- ad by Dr. Garnier, in connection with work I am doing. This illus- trates how important these old collections are to present day atndents for in his material are creatures now almost extinct in Ontario. Canadian Animals Preferred The -ftoya! Canadian Institute was another important contribu- tor to t\ie Royal Ontario Museum. This institution was founded in 1849 and built up a collection of natural history objects which were g:i'eat!y increased in 1885 >«lren tne amalgamation of the Natural History Society of To- ronto occurred. This society had â-  considerable collection of birds and manmials that were added to the Museum of the Institute and the whole transferred to the R. 0. M. in 1924. In 1914 when the Royal On- tario Museum of Zoology was created the zoological collections were given a gallery on the top iloor of the original museum building on Bloor street, Toron- to, and the staff started to build sp the exhibits. In the selection •f material, preference was given to Canadian animals, although many exotics such as parrots, birds of paradise and foreign game birds wei'e included. The Klhibit, as finally assembled, in- eluded a fairly representative collection of the birds of Cana- da, a much less adequate repre- icntation of Canadian mammals and a very poor collection of -fishes, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. It whs soon found that a public museum needed more •xhibits so taxidei-niists were em- ployed to add many animals to the mounted groups. Dr. E. M. Walker, now head of the De- l>artment of Biology at the Uni- â- Â»ersity of Toronto, prepared a scriefi of exhibits of the inverte- brates, the insects, worms, spid- •r« and other creatures of the waters and soils. Air-Conditioned Doghouse Made Kow comes the air-conditioned doghouse. Milton Worth, Deal, N.J., fire track driver, spent $65 and three weeks of spare time building the canine cottage for a pair of bounds he expecta to buy. Fea- tures of the house, which is four by three by four feet in dimen- •ions, include plate gla.=s wind- ows with eastern and northern exposure, a screened ventilator tower, walls insulated with rock wool, asbesloc shiffpl^s, and a pMTch. The windows can be tak- en out in summer and submitted for with SL'i-eena and Venetian blinds, says Mr. Worth. The Book Shelf •WORLD-S END" By Upton Sinclair "World's End" is tlie story of Lanny Budd, a yount' American, moving in the hiKliest aud most dangerous society in thft Kiirope of only yesterday. The son of a beau- tiful and impulsive woman and a powerful miin'.tlousklng, he was Kivllcged to live behind the •cenea of worUi events â€" In Illv- lera villas, feudal castiM, Parisian •alous. and Thames-side mauor.s. His path crossed the threads of Sir Basil Zaharoffs wi'b; he took Vart in the Peace Conference and watched VVoodrow Wilson try to remake the map of Buro])e; he ia'ikeil with Lincoln Steffens and learned through him of Soviet Riis- ala. The story of I.duinv Budd niudes a novel tu the great narrative tra- dition, but more thnn that It sum- marices an era. It is the intimate record â€" told frequently in terras •f the rfallife particiynnig â€" of a great world which (ell Octim to ita own r.lvllUatinn and whose death raai'cfa was the overture tn a new world about to be bofo. "Wortd'a End" ... by Upton tllKlalr . . . Toronto: MacMlllan Company of Canada . . . %3J00. Canadian Engineers at Work in Britain Canadian troops who rallied to the fUlc of the motherland are shown here in training somewhere in England. At TOP, Canadian engineers are getting boats into position as the -first step in the building of a bridge across a river. BELOW, outposts in pneumatic boat keep watch while the bridge-building opsration is carried on by comrades. In the event of the long-thieatoncd invasion becoming reality, almost every bridge in certai;, sections of i'^n.iiland would be demolished im- mediately. THE WAR. WEE Kâ€" Commentary on Current Events Roosevelt Asks U. S. To Risk War For Democracies "We Americans are vitally concerned in your defence of freedom . . . We shall send you, in ever-increasing num- bers, ships, planes, tanks, guns. This is our purpose and our pledge." At a moment "unprecedented in the history of the Union," Presi- dent Roosevelt last week made his initial address to the new seventy- seventh Congress of the United States in which he called for full material aid to the embattled de- mocracies (Britain, Greece, China â€"but chiefly Britain), asked for "authority and funds" to produce more munitions and war supplies to be "leased-lent" to countries fighting the Axis. U. 8. Involvement Likely The face of the United Stales was now set In the direction of war. It Congress should grant the Preeident's pleas, the U. S. rapidly would find itself on a war fooling with increased chances of the na- tion becoming; a belligerent. Speaking at the University of North Carolina, former U. S. Am- bassador to France William C. Bull- itt declai-ed that the United States In aiding Britain, Greece aud (."hina would be taking the risk of war, but, he said, "we know what the consequences of totalitarian vic- tory would be for us" â€" there would be a tougher war to light later. Sea Power, The Hub Sea power would contlnun to be the hub upon which the British cause revolved. Obviously active steps would have to be taken very soon to protect transport to Bri- tain of American production. The United States would have, in sorao way, to furnish more trana-Atlantlc shipping aid â€" most likely through American naval escorts for con- Toys. In all likelihood it would be accomplished by the division of the U. S. Navy Into three fleetsâ€" At- lantic, Pacific and Asiaticâ€" only •n« of which would be involved directly in aiding Britain. Long War Liktiy The possibility strengUiened dur- ing the week that the war would develop into a long one. A quick decision, an early end to the con- flict could come in only two ways: through a successful invaskm of England by Hitler â€" but neutral milUary experts believed the odds were too heavily against him; through a negotiated peace â€" but Prtsideut Roosevelt categorized .such an eventuality as "nonsense." • « * Germany Takes Over As a potent factor in the war, Italy, by virtue of the sweeping British victories In North Africa and the Greek counter-attacks in Albania, would soon be 'out,' It was believed in moat quarters last week. But quickly as Italian military power was fading In the Mediter- ranean, just as swiftly were Ger- man strategists, diplomats, tech- nicians preparing to take over Italy's Job of cleaning up on the Balkans, driving towards the Near East and Suez. Putting On The Screws First, the .N'azis set going a gl- gaullo propaganda movement la southeastern Kurope, designed, ac- cording to New York Times' cor- lespandent Gedye, to keep the populations of the Balkan states in a state of Jitters. Then they sent troops by the hundreds of thousands to line practically every Balkan border â€" from the Black Sen along the Bulgarian border; up the Yugoslav frontier and con- <:entrated In the southern prov- inces of Rustrla; along the Rus- sian frontiers ot Rumania and In Hungary. Then they re-opened with Increasing force their diplomatic offensive against Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, to draw them Into signing a pact with the Axis and permitting passage of troops down Into Greece. Simultaneously, the Germans sent tanks Into Albania to stem the Greek advance; poured thous- ands of troops Into Italy to be ready to take over should the Fas- cist regime of Mussolini tall. * • • Farmers Meet The eyes of the peoiile- ot Outarlo were fixed during the week upon two events of major political Im- portance In the Dominion â€" the Conference in Ottawa on the Row- ell-Slrals Report; aud the meeting in London, Ontario, of Federal Mlr- ister of Agriculture Gardiner wltli Ontario farm representatives to confer on a minimum price for but- ter. The formation of a non-parti.siui farmers' union under provincial ftovernment auspices was expected at ;m early date. (Thp Gov- ernment is alarmed about the situ- ation In Ontario, where fiirmerg, resentful over the reduction of pric es for hogs, butter, milk, cream and other products, are liquldafing their herds and selling their b:eed- ,lng stock). No New Provincial Taxes Good news for Ontarloans: In a New Year's message to The Wind- sor Star, Premier Mitchell F. Hep- burn declared that the best con- tribution to the war effort the province could make was to main- tain Ontario's sound financial post- tk)n. At the same time he pledged that his budget for the fiscal year commencing April 1 next, would Inclide no new taxes, no increas- es in present taxation and no low- ering of existing taxation exemp- tions. Ontario-Born Artists' Show Paintings of Tom Thomson and Horatio Walker Are Being Shown tn a Special Exhibition at the Art Gal- lery of Toronto In January The Art Gallery of Toronto is featuring during the month of January special exhibitions of the paintings of Tom Thomson and Horatio Walker. These two men, both born in Ontario small towns, had very different careers. Both started in commercial art houses in To- ronto and left them to devote all their time to painting. Walk- er Iravelled in Europe and the United States: Thomson stuck to Algonquin Park and the north country. Walker settled on the Island of Orleans and painted the life of the habitants: Thomson did not bring people into his pic- tures but was always completely absorbed in nature, expressing the brilliant colour and forceful impact he felt in the Canadian wilderness,- Both were self- taught but the influences affect- them, the friends they made, the artistic forces which moulded them, were completely unrelated. Walker painted in the tradition of the Barbizon school , while Thomson worked out a highly decorative and stylized form of expression all his own. Walker was one of the most successful painters in America and his can- vasses, many of them purchased in his lifetime, come to the ex- hibition from different sources, from public and private coll^pt- ions in Washington, New York, Pittsburgr, St. Louis and various Canadian cities. He died at the age of 82 in 1938. Before his untimely death in 1917 Thomson was known only to a few artists, but his reputation has continued to grow until now there ia no Canadian painter who is more universally admired. City of Caverns Old London, in these tintes, would be fortunate if the city were constructed as Paris is, for the French capital is built largely of stone brought, not from far distant provinces, but from under the very ground on which it stands. Because of this, there is a ready- made underground city about one-tenth the size of Paris. One section of this cave contains the Catacombs, where rest the bones of some six million. Another zone consists of vast layers of gypsum or plaster stone. The Quarry Service has cut into this sector tunnels which follow ac- curately the courses of the aven- ues above. Ordance maps have been made of this system, show- ing springs, galledes, rooms, arches, pillars and reinforcements. Had the government of France decided to defend the city, the people could have occupied this underground fortress and defied Hitler's bombers till Doomsday. VOICE OF THE PRESS GRIM HUMOR Pfr'aaps It was a grim sense ol liumor which led the Department uf .National Revenue to choose Christmas Day tor a statemtul about the 1941 income tax, and a 1- vlce on how to meet lis higher scliPilules. â€" Ottawa Journal. â€" o â€" AGE LIMIT FOR GUNS Two boys aged 13 were out hunt- ing near Sudbury, and one of t.heiu, who thought his rifle was empty, accidentally shot the other dead. There should be an age limit for carrying guns. Just as there Is nn age limit for driving cars. â€"Stratford Beacon-HeraW. â€" oâ€" SHOULD DRESS FOR IT The arrival of sub-Arctic spells each Winter would not msan a thing to us It we only ha<l a little more foresight. For It Is a simpler matter to be comfortable in ex- tremes of cold than lu extremes of heat, because heat Is hnrder to get away from. As someone once put It â€" it Is easier to warm o'.ic- self up than to cool oneself down. One reason why we do not ex- actly welcome our annual spells of below-zero weather is that we have not yet learned to dress properly. In the Northwest Ter- ritories and in Siberia 50 below is not uncommon. Yet travelei"s tell us that people In those places suf- fer far less discomfort than we do when it is a mere five below. That Is because they dress for it. Walking down the main street of any Canadian city with the ther- mometer registering minus 30, the average city-bred Canadian looks pretty much like the average Lon- doner or New Yorker. Following the fashions set elsewhere we wear clothes never designed to ward oft the extremes of frigidity we know we must expect. â€"Winnipeg Tribune. Sleep for Months If you want to sleep all through the winter, run along to a special- ist and have your pituitiiry glands cut out. Men who have made glands their life study say that it is mere- ly a lack of pituitary secretion which causes certain animals to hibernate through the dark months, and that if they are given injec- tions of pituitary extract they would wake up and become live- ly. All experiments so far have been conducted on hibernating ani- mals, and It Is not known for cer- tain whether the same effect would be produced on human beings suf- fering from sleepy sickness. It is thought unlikely, for this sickness is the result ot a germ. Pituitary extracts, however, have worked wondei-8 for people who are un- nat .rally sluggish and find it dif- ficult to concentrate. Cote: Canada's Na 1 AtMete Quebec Marathon Runner Win* Official Award Made By Board of Prominent Sportsmen â€" N o r a h Mo- Carthy, Figure Skater, Sec- ond Oerard Cole, one of the great- e.-;t marathon runners ever de- \'eioped in North America, was announced a.? winner of the Lou n. Marsh Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the out- standing Canadian athlete, male or female, picked by a board of prominent Canadian spoi-tsmen. NOT CANADIAN CHAMPION The 27-year-oId St. Hyaclnthc, Que., runner was only beaten once in 1940 and his other vic- tories over-balanced that one de- feat â€" in the Canadian cham- pionship marathon at Toironto. His methods of training, hi* al- most unparallelled stamina ami, through all his triumphs, his mo- desty made him almost unani- mous choice of the boarjj of •.â- se- lection. Runner-up was Norah MeCnr- thy of Noi-th Bay, Ont., and Ot- tawa, who early this year de- throned Mary Rose Thacker of Winnipeg as Canadian figure- skating champion. So Cote joins that illustrious group of Canadian athletes who each year since 1936 have boen chosen as reciijients of the award commemorating the late Loa K. Marsh, former Toronto Sl.'iv sports editor and widely-rt'ad columnist. WEIGHS ONLY 125 POUNDS First winner, in 1936, was Dr. Phil Edwards, Canadian Olympic runner in 1932 and 1936. Other winners were: Bob Poarcc, Ham- ilton, Ont., sculler, 1937; Marshal Cleland, Toronto horseman and equine authority, 1938; aud Bob Pirie, swimmer, formerly of To- ronto, 1939. The little French-Canadian â€" he is less than five feet, five inches tall and vreighs about 125 pounds â€" was known mainly by name only when he won the Bos- ton^ Marathon early last summer. Snake Tannery Snakes from many parts of the world go up the Thames in Eng- land to a tannery near London Bridge as a raw material for a bus- iness which is thriving in spite of V •'•. Reptile skins, tanned, dyed oud polished, sail across the North Sea and eventually becomo hand- bags, shoes and belts for the fash- ionable women of Sweden and her neutral neighbor fouutries. More thau 1,000,000 snake and lizard skins reach the factory In a year. Germany, one of the chief reptils skin tanulng countries, has) been cut off from supplies, and the Bri- tish business with Scandanaviau countries, hni notably increased. UFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher "If I let you on with thit load will you pay for the ipring if it break*? ! <" REG'LAR FELLERS â€" For Emergencies Only By GENE BYRNES