Show NEWS ir A THIS W K by LEMUEL F PARTON EW YORK this writer has always NEW N thought it would be a good idea for the newspapers of a city to make an award every year to the person who had dr ditmars provided t them h e m superlative with the most news source good booi copy in new york I 1 would nominate dr raymond L ditmars for 39 years curator of mammals and reptiles at the bronx zoo almost any year he has just left for trinidad to catch some parasol ants which he has been craving for a long time it has been generally supposed that the ants pack leaves and petals for shade dr ditmars puts us right on that they gather them only for food the curator has exploded many myths but usually substitutes something even more interesting reptiles the slightest interest in sweet music and arent soothed by it monkeys will return to cleared jungle if it grows again the mother snake does not swallow the little ones in times of danger but being thus disillusioned we learn from dr ditmars that there are sea serpents great schools of them in the indian ocean and the western tropical pacific they are as gaudy as an elks parade with cold beady eyes and emit a dreadful venom dr ditmars carries them on the books as there are flying snakes fish that climb trees fish that shoot down bugs out of the air by expelling pellets of water like an air gun frogs that can swallow rats frogs with vocal power 1000 times that of a man insects which are carried by jungle people for flash lamps animals which can travel 60 miles an hour and animals which aich never lie down dr ditmars is 62 years old at the age of 15 he began gathering insects for the museum of natural history he had a year of newspaper work before joining the staff of the zoo which may account for his being a friendly santa claus to reporters 0 IT T IS recalled that homer martin the fighting parson who contends with john L lewis in a faustian struggle for the body and soul of the automobile union homer martin mart in was the world hop may still be skip and jump world champ champion just a few years ago and may be still it is only three years ago that he quit the pastorate of the leeds baptist church in kansas city got a job in the fisher plant organized the local of the united automobile workers union and became its first international president his battle soon turned from the bosses to the left wingers of the union and the issue of his hii contention with mr bir lewis getting under way he eloquently plastered william green of the A F of L and it is not clear where he would be headed in case of a final break with the C 1 I 0 leadership he is tall athletic once a track star for the illinois athletic club with a wide ready smile and shell rimmed glasses he gets a year for a whole lot of trouble and strife but seems to enjoy it he is 3 36 6 y years rs old born and reared on a ern south southern illinois farm 0 0 T HIS writer knew quite a number i of early day aviators including lincoln beachey art smith bob fowler si Chri and others and he always col turner wondered why in n splashes none of them ever of gay colors dressed the part they all were as drab as so many gray moths while their role certainly called for a dash of color one thought of the sartorial dash of dartagnan porthos and athos if they had been riding the skies col roscoe turner who recently lifted the thompson trophy at cleveland for the second time winning satisfies a longfelt long felt want his flying togs are modeled on the old time bousse cafe calculated t to 0 give him protective coloring against a flaming sunset but high visibility from below for years off and on he has been picking up records in pink pants and a lavender tunic or in an ensemble blending many shades of blue cerise and henna with a rakish english officers cap ruddy face grover whalen wax tipped mustache and a couple of octaves of fine teeth here as the old books on decorum would have it is an outfit which would take you around the world colonel turner is is of california background the title being a dispensation sr tion of the governor of that also colorful state D consolidated news features service |