EEPOET OF XATIOXAL MrSEUM, 1915. 37 



The dwellings were mere earth-covered lodges which seem to have 

 given place to single-room houses with adobe walls and well-con- 

 structed roofs, and it is not unlikely that the people were ancestral 

 tribes of some of the Pueblos of todav. 



ft/ 



DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY. 



The additions in biology, though less extensive as a whole than 

 in the previous year, included much material of particular scientific 

 value. Of general contributions, those relating to the subjects of 

 two or more divisions, there were several of a noteworthy character. 

 The list may be headed with a benefaction from Dr. "W. L. Abbott, 

 consisting of a large and diverse collection made by Mr. H. C. Raven 

 in continuation of his explorations in Dutch East Borneo at the ex- 

 pense of the donor. Of no less importance were immense collec- 

 tions from the Tomas Barrera expedition to the northwest coast of 

 Cuba, comprising at least 10,000 moUusks and other invertebrates, 

 nearly 3.000 fishes, and many reptiles and batrachians, for which 

 the Museum is indebted to the generosity of Mr. John B. Hender- 

 son, a Eegent of the Institution, who was assisted by Dr. Paul 

 Bartsch of the Museum staff. The Bureau of Fisheries transmitted 

 extensive series of marine invertebrates, 67 types of recently de- 

 scribed fishes mostly from the Philippine Islands, and 172 fur 

 seal skulls obtained by the naturalists who visited the Pribilof 

 Islands in 1914 to study and report upon the condition of the seal 

 herd. From Mr. Arthur de C. Sowerby were received numerous 

 and noteworthy contributions of mammals, birds, reptiles and batra- 

 chians, fishes and insects, from little known districts in China, the 

 fauna of which is but scantily represented in the Museum. Very 

 acceptable, as coming from a region in which the Institution has 

 recently undertaken investigations, were a series of birds, reptiles, 

 batrachians, fishes and marine invertebrates from Panama, the gift 

 of Mr. James Zetek. Through the generosity of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of "Washington large collections of plants and marine in- 

 vertebrates have been secured to the 3iluseum, and acknowledgments 

 are also due to the Biological Survey of the Department of Agi'icul- 

 ture for the transfer at various times of miscellaneous material, such 

 as reptiles, birds' eggs, nests and skeletons. 



MammctJs. — The mammals obtained in Dutch East Borneo by Mr. 

 Kaven have not yet been carefully studied, but they evidently con- 

 stitute a very important complement to those previously gathered by 

 Dr. Abbott in the resfion immediately south of that in which Mr. 

 Eaven worked. Dr. Abbott also presented 225 mammals from Kash- 

 mir, British East India, collected by himself. Several accessions 

 transmitted bv Mr. Ai'thur de C. Sowerby from northeastern China 



