54 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 



in fact, to an extension of the field work conducted by Dr. Hrdlicka 

 in 1910. Its main objects were to trace the distribution of the prin- 

 cipal native types in pre-Columbian times, and to determine, as far 

 as was possible from skeletal remains, the prevalent diseases and in- 

 juries and their effect, if any, on the constitution of the people. The 

 work was carried along the coast for 600 miles, and two trips were 

 made into the mountains. Approximately 200 ancient cemeteries 

 and burial caves were explored, affording opportunity for examining 

 over 4,800 crania and a great quantity of other human bones. Im- 

 portant selections from these, including remarkable examples of tre- 

 phining and rare pathological conditions, were forwarded to the 

 Museum for further study. A somewhat detailed report of this expe- 

 dition was submitted, and the preparation of a more extensive iUus- 

 trated account was approaching conclusion at the end of the year. 

 Under the same joint auspices. Dr. R. D. Moore, aid in the division 

 of physical anthropology, spent the summer of 1912 on St. Lawrence 

 Island, Alaska, observing and collecting among the Eskimo. He 

 was successful in obtaining numerous measurements, photographs, 

 casts and skeletal remains, as well as other material, the majority 

 of wliich it was necessary to leave on the island, to be brought do^vn 

 the following season by one of the steamers of the Revenue Service. 



DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY. 



From only a few sources were the acquisitions received by this 

 department during last year sufficiently diversified to relate to two 

 or more divisions. Most noteworthy among the general collections 

 were those contributed by Dr. W. L. Abbott, resulting from his own 

 explorations in Kashmir, and those of Mr. H. C. Raven, conducted 

 at Dr. Abbott's expense, in northeastern Borneo, embracing mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, and batrachians. Several other expeditions, however, 

 also furnished mixed collections, as described further on, the most 

 important having been one to the Altai Mountains in Asia by Dr. 

 Theodore Lyman. The divisions of fishes, mollusks, and marine 

 invertebrates profited largely, as usual, by the scientific explorations 

 of the Bureau of Fisheries, not only as to number and variety of speci- 

 mens, but by the receipt of much material, including types, that had 

 been studied and described by experts. 



Mammals. — The series of mammals sent from Kashmir by Dr. 

 Abbott and from Borneo by Mr. Raven were both of much value, that 

 from the latter region containing a specimen of the very rare and 

 conspicuous squirrel, Reithrosciurus, and two specimens of the hith- 

 erto ''lost" tree shrew, Tupaia mulleri. Of exceptional importance 

 was the collection of mammals, numbering 346 specimens, made by 

 Mr. N. HoDister, assistant curator of the division, on the expedition of 



