RUSSIAN SCIENTIST TELLS ADVENTURES

"For 45 days we saw no other human being in the Alti Mountains," said Professor Peter Sushkin, of the Academy of Science in Petrograd, and leader of the Russian Zoological expedition into that descried area in the Russian Empire, to a CRIMSON reporter yesterday.

Professor Sushkin, who is a distinguished looking Russian, speaks English with only a slight accent although he left. Russia only last September. He was describing the dangerous trip into the Alti which yielded scientific results of the greatest importance to the world.

Saved Once by Native Village

"We had only our pack horses, and the rain, which was with us all but seven days. This made it very difficult for us as we had to preserve all our specimens and photographic plates from the moisture. At one time we were in a very dangerous position because half of our pack horses gave out under the weight of our specimens, but we managed to struggle on to a little village where the natives saved us.

In reply to a question about the number of the specimens and plates which he had collected, professor Sushkin replied calmly, "Oh, we collected about 8,000 files and beetles of various sorts, 2500 bird specimens and over 900 photographs."

Impeded by Poor Trails

Professor Sushkin made light of the difficulties entailed in bringing the specimens to the United States. "That," said Professor Sushkin, "was not difficult at all. But to get them safely away from the Alti mountains, that was the task. There were no roads, only narrow trails, surrounded by swamps which extended up to the snowline. It was very difficult to collect and transport those specimens. Many of them were formerly entirely unknown to the world, and I have added to museums here and in England some of these specimens we obtained in the Alti mountains."

Wild Cats Sometimes Savage

Professor Sushkin went on to describe some of the animals which the expedition encountered.

"There were large numbers of wild cats roaming the swamps and forests, but they were not like your cats. They looked like the Persian variety you see domesticated all over the world, with long silky hair and tails. But they are not easily tamed," he said laughing, an another question. "I tried to, and got scratched and bitten too many times."