tions in the field or to maintain a corps of collectors, it is compelled to concentrate its efforts on special work of limited scope, but of such a character that the results shall, as far as possible, have an immediate bearing on the progress of science. In recent years, as in the whole of its past history, the Institution has had the aid of public-spirited citizens and the cooperation of other institutions and of the several branches of the United States Government. It has, in turn, cooperated with other organizations in the explorations which they have conducted, being itself benefited thereby and benefiting those with which it has been associated.

In recent years opportunities have been afforded for participating in a number of exploring and hunting expeditions organized by private enterprise, whereby scientific collections of great importance have been obtained. These collections, with those from other sources, are preserved in the National Museum for exhibition to the public or for promoting scientific studies.

The field of these activities of the Institution has been world-wide, but attention has been recently concentrated on Africa and the Panama Canal Zone rather more than on other regions.

STUDIES IN CAMBRIAN GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.

During the field season of the fiscal year 1911-12, or the spring and summer of 1912, I continued the collecting of Cambrian fossils from the famous fossil locality above Burgess Pass, north of Field, British Columbia, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, for the first two weeks of July and three weeks in September.

On the way to the Canadian Northwest I stopped off for a few days to examine the locality on Steep Rock Lake, 140 miles west of Port Arthur, where the oldest pre-Cambrian fossiliferous rocks occur. I had made a small collection, when, by the swamping of the canoe in which we were working in the rapids of the Seine River, a short distance from the lake, Dr. J. W. Truman, my guide and fellow geologist, of the Canadian Survey, was drowned, and the work thus most unfortunately brought to a close.

Outfitting at Fitzhugh, on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, I went with a well-equipped party over the Yellowhead Pass on the Continental Divide, leaving the line of the railway at Moose River, 17 miles west of the Pass. The Moose River was followed up to its head at Moose Pass, where we passed over into the drainage of the Smoky River, making several camps en route. The final camp was made at Robson Pass, between Berg and Adolphus Lakes. A reconnaissance of the geological section from Moose Pass to the summit of Mount Robson gave approximately 12,000 feet in thickness of the Cambrian formations and 3,000 feet of Lower Ordovician strata. Fossil beds were found at several localities in this section, and one

of them on the east side of Mural Glacier promises to give the finest specimens from the Lower Cambrian rocks of the western side of the continent.

Many photographs were taken both by myself and Mr. R. C. W. Lett, of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, who accompanied the party for two weeks.

The scenery about Mount Robson is probably the finest in the Canadian Rockies, as far as now known. The glaciers are on a grand scale, and the geology presents many large problems for solution. My object in visiting the Mount Robson region was to secure data for comparison of the section of Cambrian rocks there with that on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 150 miles to the south.

RAINEY AFRICAN EXPEDITION.

The Smithsonian African expedition, under Col. Roosevelt, had scarcely returned from the field when the Institution received invitations to participate in two others, organized to explore the same general region.

The first was Mr. Paul J. Rainey's hunting trip to British East Africa and southern Abyssinia, where Mr. Rainey especially planned to hunt lions with a pack of American hounds. The natural-history collections that might be secured were offered to the Smithsonian Institution, provided an expert field naturalist be sent to accompany him and prepare such of the game collected as was desired for exhibition or scientific study. Mr. Edmund Heller, who had accompanied the Smithsonian African expedition in such a capacity, was selected and departed with Mr. Rainey in February, 1911. The collection made has been estimated to contain some 4,700 skins of mammals, together with many birds, reptiles, and other animals, making very valuable additions to the present African collection in the Museum. Nearly all of the material is from localities not covered by earlier expeditions, and some of it comes from points never before visited by naturalists. The collection includes the famous series of lions taken by Mr. Rainey with his American hounds, as described in his well-known lectures. There are also many specimens of different kinds of antelopes, including the hartebeests, wildebeestes, and waterbucks, as well as buffaloes, zebras, cheetahs, monkeys, and rodents. A few hippopotamus and rhinoceros skins and one elephant were also collected.

A large number of birds were secured, including some of the rarest species. Many are game birds, among them guinea fowls and francolins (which resemble our partridges), and plantain eaters, crows, bustards, vultures, vulturine guinea fowl, owls, hawks, kites, secretary birds, hornbills, pigeons, parrots, sun birds, flycatchers, etc., are represented. There are also four ostrich eggs.

The party remained in the field nearly a year, having sailed from New York for Mombasa on February 18, 1911, and dispersing about February 15, 1912, at Nairobi.

The territory traversed was mostly to the north and east of that covered by the Smithsonian expedition, and included the country lying between the northern part of British East Africa and southern Abyssinia.

FRICK AFRICAN EXPEDITION.

A further natural-history expedition to Africa was that of Mr. Childs Frick, of New York, whose object was to secure a collection of animals from the territory lying to the north of the regions visited by Col. Roosevelt and Mr. Rainey, covering at the same time certain parts of Abyssinia, northern British East Africa, and the country lying about Lake Rudolf. As naturalist of this party, Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, of the Smithsonian African expedition, was chosen. A portion of the collection of birds is to be donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Frick, and already several hundred specimens have been received.

BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE.

As mentioned in my last report, the Institution organized in 1910 a biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone, with the cooperation of the Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, and War. At first it was intended to confine the collections to the Canal Zone proper, but as the faunal and floral areas extended to the north and south of this region, it was decided to carry the work into the Republic of Panama, a step which met with the hearty approval of that Republic. The work accomplished has been very valuable to science, including collections and observations of vertebrate animals, land and fresh water mollusks, and plants, including flowering plants, grasses, and ferns.

During the past year the botanists have continued their studies, and collections have been made of fishes, reptiles, and amphibians, birds, and mammals, and special studies and collections have been made of the microscopic plant and animal life of the fresh waters of the zone.

As can readily be imagined, the life areas on the zone will become confused as soon as the canal is opened and the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds are intermingled. It is particularly important on that account that the present geographical distribution of animals and plants be recorded prior to that time, and this is especially true as regards the life of the fresh waters and the seacoasts.

Pamphlets have been issued from time to time descriptive of some of the new or specially interesting forms of animals and plants collected by the survey, and as soon as the mass of material has been worked up it is proposed to publish general accounts of all the various collections, and also one or more volumes containing a summary of the whole fauna and flora of the Canal Zone.

As an indication of the biological value of the survey of the zone I may mention that of grasses alone about 150 species were collected. being four to five times as many as were previously known from that region. In the collections of birds and mammals there are likewise many forms new to science.

SIBERIAN EXPEDITION.

Through the liberality of a friend, Mr. Theodore Lyman, of Cambridge, Mass., the Institution has been enabled to participate in a zoological expedition to the Altai Mountain region of the SiberiaMongolian border, Central Asia, an exceedingly interesting territory, from which the National Museum at present has no collections. A Museum naturalist was detailed to accompany him, the expenses of the expedition being borne by Mr. Lyman, and the natural-history collections obtained to be deposited in the National Museum. Although this expedition had not completed its work at the close of the fiscal year, yet I may here anticipate some of its results by stating that the Museum will probably be enriched by a large number of interesting specimens of birds and mammals.

The scene of the survey and exploration, the Altai Mountain region, is a particularly wild country and quite unsettled, although it is well stocked with game. These mountains are inhabited by the largest of the wild sheep, which, with the ibex, will form the principal big game animals sought by the party, but a general collection of smaller mammals and of birds will also be made.

BORNEO EXPEDITION.

For more than 10 years past Dr. W. L. Abbott, of Philadelphia, has been exploring the Malay Archipelago and has given all his naturalhistory and ethnological collections to the Smithsonian Institution for the United States National Museum. These collections, so far as the vertebrates are concerned, are the most important ever received by the Museum from any one person. Through illness, Dr. Abbott has been obliged to abandon his exploration, but his interest in the Institution has not abated. He has engaged the services of a collector and placed at the disposal of the Institution funds for continuing the explorations he had begun in Borneo.

The field work will be carried on in eastern Dutch Borneo, the natural history of which is practically unknown. Nothing relating

to it has been published, and there are no collections from this region in the United States, although the National Museum has some from the west and south coasts of Borneo. The Institution is fortunate in having this opportunity to study a country practically unknown to zoologists. It is hoped to secure a quantity of interesting material, including the characteristic mammals of the country, such as orangs, deer, wild pigs, squirrels and smaller rodents, and possibly specimens of the rhinoceros and tapir.

BIOLOGICAL SURVEY IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES.

Through the courtesy of the Canadian Government and of Dr. A. O. Wheeler, president of the Alpine Club of Canada, the Smithsonian Institution was enabled, in the summer of 1911, to send a small party of naturalists to accompany Dr. Wheeler on his topographical survey of the British Columbia and Alberta boundary line and the Mount Robson region. The party started in June and returned in October, 1911. The expedition was very successful in obtaining a collection covering practically all the birds and mammals inhabiting this previously unworked territory, together with many insects and botanical specimens. The land surveyed included the territory lying about this mountain in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, comprising the most rugged and broken country imaginable. Amid this wonderful scenery Mount Robson rises in titanic outline, the highest peak in Canada, probably between 14,500 and 15,000 feet high, and surrounding it for a distance of 50 miles in all directions lies the field of the survey. In this wild and unclaimed country the party of naturalists remained nearly four months, protected by special permits from the Canadian Government. The collection includes some 900 specimens of birds and mammals, the latter being of all kinds from tiny shrews to caribou and bears. One enormous grizzly bear was obtained by a fortunate shot. Much fine material for exhibition groups was secured, including a series of caribou, mountain goats, mountain sheep, beavers, and many varieties of smaller animals.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN SIBERIA AND MONGOLIA.

Toward the close of the fiscal year arrangements were made, in connection with the authorities of the Panama-California Exposition of San Diego, to carry on, by or under the direction of Dr. Hrdlička, certain researches in anthropology, among others, those bearing on the origin of the American Indians. In accordance with these plans Dr. Hrdlička left for eastern Asia to search for and, if found, to trace, at least in a preliminary way, any possible remnants