\ large number of Elon College
lumni is expected to return to
:,e campus on Saturday of this
,eelc for the annual mid-winter
’eeting of the General Alumni
issociation of the college.
Plans for the alumni gathering,
.hicli will set underway with a
■■isiness session in Whitley Audi-
onutn at 3 o'clock Saturday after-
oon. have been formulated under
he leadership of Mrs. Ruth Boyd,
secretary of the association.
special effort is being made
his year to get as many of Elon's
lid grads back for the occasion as
n^ible. with the Elon Booster
;lub backing a special attendance
•ffort. This club, which was first
ormed to support the Elon ath-
etic program, is contact,ing a
arge number of alumni and urg-
ng their attendance.
A special feature of the day's
jrogrant will be a bantjutjt ses-
iion. which is to be held in the
oilege dining hall at 6;30 o'clock;
ind the Booster Club is featuring
double ticket arrangement that
lill include both the banquet and
ittendance at the Elon-Catawba
lasketball game that is set for
Uumni Memorial Gymnasium at
o'clock. '
The business session Saturday
fternoon will feature a report
rom President Leon E. Smith on
he plans for the two new dormi-
ories and the new dining hall
hat are to be erected this year,
he alumni will also hear reports
rom other phases of college ac-
ivity and will hear nominations
or the alumni officers, who are
be elected this year.
Let's Push Those
Christians
To A Championship
MAROON AND GOLD
Everybody Out
For Kvery
Basketball Game
,OLlME 34
ELON COLLE(;p;, .N. C.
WEDNESDAY, .lANl .ATtV 12, 1955
NUMBER
4liiinni Plan Mid-Winter
Gathering Here Saturday
Night School
Opens Neil'
Term Soon
The Elon Evening School, which
operates under the semester sys
tem rather than by the quarter
schedule, will begin its second
semester on Monday night, Jan
uary 24th, and new students may
enroll at that time.
In announcing the opening of
a new series of classes. Field
Secretary Roger Gibbs pointed out
that new students should file their
applications immediately in order
to have their transcripts on file
before the regi^'tration on the
opening night of the new term.
He also pointed out that a student
may enroll for five nights each
week or elect a part-time schedule
of less than five nights.
A n attractive schedule of
courses is to be offered, includ
ing business law, chemistry, edu
cation, English grammar and liter
ature, French German, home eco
nomics, mathematics, psychology,
physical education, public finance,
religion, Spanish and typing.
STUDENT DISPLAYS TROl’HY OF HOLIDAY TKIP
F
■
IKK
tf w« 4* \v
Aiiiiiial Higli School Day
Is Set For Pehriiarv 16
Making like a snake charmer phove is Dave Hardy, Elon College student from liiiiiimuif, Md..
with one of the Cuban boas that were taken by him a field trip companion curing a
Christmas vacation jaunt to Cuba. The snake pictured in such a chummy pose with Hardy is only
one of more than twenty such specimans that were brought back to the campus at the end of the
trip. Also pictured on the table is^art of the equipment which the Elon student and his compan
ion carried with them on the Brin :-Em-Back-Alive expedition.
Winter Meet
Oi Trustees
Next Tuesday
The board of trustees of Elon
College will hold its annual mid
winter meeting on the campus
next Tuesday, January 18th. ac
cording to an announcement from
l^resident Leon E. Smith, who
stated that a majority of the
trustees are expected lo be in
;,ttendance for the session.
The meeting, which will be held
in the office of President Smith,
will get underway at 10 o'clock
that morning and will continue
through an afternoon session. Tlie
trustees will be the guests of the
college at a luncheon, which will
be served at noon that day.
Important items on the agenda
for the annual mid-year gathering
will include reports from the
president and business manager
and also reports from the trustees'
committees on faculty and budget.
Also to be considered are plans
for the two new dormitories and
the new dining hall, which are
slated for construction this year.
It’s A New Way Po Spend (Christmas Holidays....
Try Taking Boa Constrictors With Bare Hands
!
Elon Profs
Receive Aids
hi Research
Dr. H. H. Cunningham and Dr.
’aul Cheek, members of the Elon
College faculty in the fields of
listory and chemistry, have re-
ently been voted financial grants-
r.-aid by interested organizations,
“le purpose being to assist the
Ion men in research in their re-
pective fields.
The United Daughters of the
Wifederacy, at the organization’s
hnual convention in Roa-
loke, 'Va., voted to Dr. Cunning-
lam a $500 grant-in-aid, which is
assist him in the publication
if his research findings concern-
ng medical service in the Confed-
rste States of America. They also
ivited Dr. Cunningham to speak
■" the subject at the next U.D.C.
ohvention in San Antonio, Texas.
The North Carolina Academy of
't'ience has just notified Dr.
•heek that he is to receive a cash
irant of $95 to be used in the
'Mchase of materials for a re-
!arch project that involves pre
paration of fluoro derivatives of
'*>enoxyacetic acid. Dr. Cheek,
ho has been working on this pro-
■tt for sometime, states that such
'®pounds have interesting ef-
^cts in the regulation of plant
Vowth.
The sixth annual "High School
Day " on the Elon College campus
!.as been set for Wednesday, Feb
ruary 16th, according to prelim-
'.arv platis laid at a meeting of a
faculty committee held on Monday
The committee session, presided
ever by Field Secretary Roger
Gibbs, planned to begin promo
tional activities at once, with let
ters, cards and posters to go out
within a few days to more than
■;00 high schools, most of the
".chools being located in North
Carolina and Virginia.
The annual high school inogram
will for the third straight year
leature a scholarship contest, with
boys and girls from various high
j-chool.s competing for eight free
scholarships, with a total value of
$4,400. The scholarships will be
open to both boys and girls.
The scholarship awards will in-
t elude top awards of $1,000 for the
winning boy and girl, with two
second place awards in the amount
of $()00 each, two third-place
awards ot $400, and two fourth-
place awards of $200 each,
i’he annual "High School Day"
was inaugurated on the Elon cam
pus in 1950. with 43 schools send
ing delegations of high school
seniors. The number of schools
represented has grown constantly
since that time. The 1951 event
drew groups from 61 schools, and
the 1952 observance had 62
schools, and the 1952 observance
had 62 schools represented. In
1953 there were 69 different
schools sending senior delegations,
and last year saw 75 schools with
seniors in attendance.
The contestants for the eight
scholarships will come to Elon
f^t’aniatic Group
^tls Members
Two new members were ad-
to the Elon College chapter
^ Alpha Psi Omega, national
famatic fraternity, at the final
meeting prior to Christmas holi-
‘J's- Membership In the group
by work in student
Se shows, either as actors or
ack-stage workers.
^ Wost recent additions to the
■■rfup are Ann Stoddard, of
'I'aintree, Mass., ,and Margaret
arpe, of Bear Creek, each of
om has appeared in a number
shows during their campus
By DAVE HARDY
Going to Cuba in quest of bio
logical specimans and material for
scientific articles. Bill Batts and
I left Key West, Fla., by boat on
December 9th. enroute to Car
denas. Cuba. The water was a bit
rough, and Bill became quite sea
sick in spite of doses of preventive
pills.
Upon arrival in Cuba we took
Bill’s car on the Central Highway,
which took us to the Atkins Gard
ens and Research Laboratory. This
laboratory is operated by Harvard
University. Here we met and stud
ied with Dr. Albert Swartz, who
is from the Charleston Museum
in South Carolina.
We slept in jungle hammocks
and sleeping bags, and we also
cooked our own meals for ten
days here. The other nights we
stayed in a cheap hotel. The beds
were supplied with mosquito nets,
since malaria is prevalent in this
area. Cuban foods consist of king
fish, red snapper, squid with rice,
lobster, Cuban coffee, and a de
licious drink made of sugar cane
and lemon.
Bill and I visited Cardenas,
Mantanzas, Havana, Cienfuegos,
Soledad, and Trinidad. Cuba's
countryside is quite beautiful, with
palm forests, deep and clear rivers,
mountain ranges, and cane plan
tations. There are caves every
where, due to limestone forma
tions underground.
CUBANS ARE FRIENDLY
The Cuban peopoie are very
friendly and interested in Ameri-
j cans. Havana is an interesting
metropolis, being the capital,
the largest city, and chief port
of Cuba. It is a noisy place, with
lively night-life and many tourists.
The roads, with the exception
of the Central Highway, are very
poor, making driving difficult.
There are only a few traffic laws,
and those that they do have are
variable. The Cuban drivers them
selves are daring and dangerous.
Gasoline only costs 90c a gallon!
This was my second trip to
Cuba since I entered Elon College.
In 1948, Yono Mork, an Elon stud
ent at that time, went with me
on a trip in the same section that
Batts and I visited.
The greatest difficulty we met
was the language barrier, and it
v/as actually more fun than
trouble. We found that we could
converse very well with sign lang
uage. On one occasion it took us
an hour of sign language to put
across to the natives that we want
ed to buy alcohol. We thought we'd
never get over to them the chem
ical formula.
FOUND IN A CAVE
One of the best locations, where
we had some significant finds,
was a cave near Trinidad. The
cave was at least 100-yards long,
with various chambers, holes, and
passage ways. We saw some beau
tiful stalagtites. The temperature
varied from 90 to 100 degrees.
Millions of tropical roaches, which
made a cracking sound as they
moved, were found on the floor
of the cave.
Land crabs hid in the cracks
ai'd crevices where we hunted
our biggest Cuban boas. There was
also a species of click beetle liv
ing in the cave, with two limines-
cent blue spots that shined in the
dark like giant eyes.
The caves were also inhabited
by a huge long-legged, long-necked
bird, which came squaking from
her roost as we entered the cave.
Many rats and frogs were found
deep in the cavern.
We caught twenty-four boas,
ranging from five to eight feet
in length. This is a species of
boa that may attain the length of
twelve feet. The first boa, caught
by Batts at Soledad, was found
crossing the road. The remainder,
however, were caught in the cave
near Trinidad. This cave was
called "The Cave of the Boas” and
was feared by the local natives.
We visited it five times in all,
three visits being at night. To
get to the cave, we had too walk
a mile through tropical scrub for
ests in the foothills of the Trini
dad Mountains.
The boas were caught on three
different trips at night or just
after dark. At this particular time,
they feed on bats which fly out
3f the cave by the thousands.
Ours was the first actual record
of boas feeding on bats.
SNAKES CAUGHT BY HAND
The snakes were all caught by
hand, and usually spotted out in
EDITOK’S NOTE
This in'Iteresting account
rf experiences during a recent
biological trip to Cuba is told
first-hard, for Dave Hardy has
just ileturned to the Elon cam
pus after spending twenty-two
days on an expedition in quest
of specimans for Elon College.
N. C. State College and the
United States National Museum
in Washington. I). C. He and
his companion brought back a
number of Cuban boas and other
specimans. which have been
viewed by many students in the
Elon Biology Department.)
the open by our miner light. Twice
we caughV two at the same time,
holding one head in each hand.
Sometimes the snakes were found
in crevices, into which we thrust
our arms to see what could be
found. This resulted in several
.snake-bites. Snakes of this type
have tremendous strength, and
both of us worked for a long per
iod in an effort to get one boa,
which had wedged itself behind
a rock. The snake would not re
lease the short wedge that he had
behind the rock, and we thought
we would never get him loose,
I have hunted snakes tor years,
collecting in Europe, North Africa,
and in both eastern and south
western United States, and 1 must
say that this was one of the most
.successful trips.
We both experienced minor in
juries, including boa bites, var
ious cuts and bruises, and several
bumps on our heads from crawl
ing through narrow passages. Com
ing in from the field one night
we found our sleeping equipment
rainsoaked, which resulted in a
miserable night.
Several types of ground boas
were also added to our collection.
These were brightly colored little
snakes, which are never more than
twenty inches in length, yet they
are true boas: Other snakes among
cur findings were the jubos, a
snake similar to the American
blacksnake, although the have
brighter markings. Laboratory re
search may prove the jubos mildly
poisonous, for they have tiny fangs
in the rear of the jaw.
We plan to sell the boas to var
ious zoos and snake farms in the
United States. The Philadelphia
Zoo wrote us recently and asked
for three of our catch. Three
snakes have been sent, weighing
approximately 50 pounds.
CHAMELEONS TOO
Chameleons are numerous,
along with a large number of liz
ards found on the island. We col
lected many and purchased others
from kids, who brought them by
the dozens to our hotel each night.
This type of lizard is the most
common in Cuba, and being mark
ed by its changes of color, ac
cording to the mood of the animal
or surrounding conditions.
Another member of the lizard
family is the curl-talled lizard.
This reptile is large, with a lemon
yellow tail that curls over its back
3s-1t runs on the sand. They are
found on the beaches and are ex
tremely difficult to catch.
The Cuban geckos is an ex
tremely rare lizard, with padded
feet somewhat similar to a tree
frog. These lizards were found
by Bill and me around the en-
tiances of two caves. The small
of two caves. The small ground
ground boas enjoy eating them.
One of the most unusual lizards
found was the amphisbaena, a
rare tropical, limbless lizard, with
head and tail nearly indistinguish
able.
MANY TYPES OF FROGS
We found a number of differ
ent types of frogs. Among our
findings was one very small
species with a big name, Eleuther-
odactylus. They are abundant, and
some are beautifully colored.
Cuba not only produces the
smallest living reptiles and birds
in the worldj but it has the small
est living amphibian, the phyl-
lobate. This type of frog is rare
and hard to catch, but we brought
back several.
The Cuban toad is large with
glaring eyes. In fact, they actually
look stupid. We found this type
up and down various creeks and
on pond banks at night, where we
also caught several boas. We also
caught several tree frogs. These
are palm-size, brightly colored,
with great agility and capable of
hanging onto anything.
The island has numerous bats
and nearly three hundred birds.
Among the bats caught by us were
some with gigantic ears, pig faces,
leaf noses and long free-tails, and
the very rare and tiny mahogany-
colored, inch-long bat. We caught
them with nets or by picking them
off the walls of the caves while
they were getting a little shut-
eye.
HUNTING UNDER WATER
In Cuban waters one finds over
seven hundred species of fish and
crustaceans. We collected many
different species by diving off
the southern coast of Cuba in an
area inhabited by moray eels,
giant sea turtles, sharks, octopl
and barracuda. It actually isn't as
dangerous as it may sound. We
used face masks and snorkel tubes
and were able to stay in deep
water for hours without tiring.
Among our findings were sea fans,
star fish, brittle stars, sea squirts,
sea anemones, and a small sea
worm which stung me through a
thick canvas glove. Bill later wore
the glove and was stung by the
poison that remained in the glove.
The sting is similar to the burn
of acid.
Spiders, tarantulas and scorp
ions are prevalent all over the
island. We collected one hand-
size tarantula which had lived
in a rock crevice at our Soledad
camp. We had observed him for
a week before capturing him. We
caught several Lutia, a mammal
similar to our opossum. These ani-|
mals are trapped and eaten by;
the natives, but the one which we j
caught is now at State College in
Raleigh.
MET WITH CUROSITY
Other interesting phases of our
on Monday, February 14th, and
on that day they will compete in
a series of tests that will determ
ine the winners in both the boys’
and girls' decisions. The contest
ants will then return with their
own senior groups on Wednesday,
and the winners will be announced
during the regular “High School
Day " event.
Dean Danielex
Finds Paper •
In Demand
Dr. J. Earl Danieley, dean of
students at Elon College, who re
cently had a research paper on
liquid-liquid extraction apparatus
published in the Journal of Chem
ical Education, has been receiving
requests for reprints of the article
from all parts of the world.
The article, entitled " A Con
tinuous Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Apparatus,” describes an easy
method of constructing such an
apparatus for use in the school
college or industrial laboratory.
Dr. Danieley has already mailed
reprints of the material to points
in six states, including California,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, Massachusetts and Illinois,
and has filled foreign requests
from Spain, Argentina, Jugoslavia,
Czechoslovakia and Mexico.
trip took place at various places.!
We were continually mobbed byj
curious people at our hotel, andj
we were almost thrown out of the;
hotel when the manager saw ouri
collection. He refused to clean our
room and make our beds. On an- i
other occasion, we were stopped
by three amazed policemen in
one night.
Speaking of policemen, we had
a bit of difficulty upon arrival,
having our rifle, knives, and khaki
(Continued on Page Four)
Five (ira(hiate!
Ill Fail (Quarter
Five students completed re
quirements for graduation at
the end of the Fall Quarter, ac
cording to an announcement
from the office of Miss Hazel
Walker, college registrar. The
five will receive their diplomas
and degrees at the regular 1955
commencement late in May.
Those who completed their
work at Thanksgiving included
Douglas Edward.s, Middleboro,
Mass.; Eugene McDaniel, Kin
ston; Jack Mitchell, Lyndhurst,
N. J.; Raynard Nance, Reids-
ville; and Leon Taylor, Thoma»-
ville, Ga.
i