106 REPORT OF natio:nai. MUSEUIM, 1&20. 



Four accessions of paleobotanical material may be especially men- 

 tioned. These are : A collection of fossil leaves from Venezuela, gift 

 of C. F. Bowen, New York City; three large exhibition slabs A\dth 

 fossil plants, collected by Dr. R. S. Bassler; a large trunk of fossil 

 wood from the early Carboniferous of Kentucky, acquired by pur- 

 chase; and an interesting specimen of a pyrite filled caA'ity of a 

 stem of the fossil plant Calamites, showing a curious phase of fossili- 

 zation, transferred from the U. S. Geological Survey. 



Explorations. — With the exception of the work carried on by 

 Secretary Walcott in the Canadian Rockies, little in the way of ex- 

 tended field work has been accomplished by any of the divisions of 

 the department. During the summer of 1919, a new geological sec- 

 tion of more than 6,400 feet w^as discovered by the Secretary in the 

 region of Glacier Lake, about 50 miles northwest of Lake Louise 

 Station on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Extensive collections and 

 many photographs were secured, and the fossils have been correlated 

 by preliminar}^ study Avith the Upper Cambrian formations of Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, and western Idaho. 



Four short but profitable trips were made by Curator Bassler of 

 the division of paleontology. The first was by motor boat to the 

 well known Aquia cliffs along the Potomac River, 40 miles below 

 Washington. Here was found a single stratum in the Eocene con- 

 sisting almost entirely of an elongated turret-like gastropod shell 

 {TunnteUa mortoni Conrad) embedded in hard sandstone. F'rom 

 this was secured a slab 3 feet wide by 5 feet in length which is now 

 on exhibition in the division of stratigraphic geology. A trip to 

 southeastern Indiana resulted in the acquisition of a number of lime- 

 stone slabs containing Early Silurian plant and animal remains in 

 an excellent state of preservation for exhibition purposes. In Octo- 

 ber, Doctor Bassler was detailed to proceed to Dayton, Ohio, where 

 he prepared and shipped the large and unique specimen of trilobite 

 Avhich had been uncovered in the excavations in connection with 

 the Conservancy dam. In June, 1920, Doctor Bassler also visited 

 Cincinnati to arrange for the acquisition of the fossil skull of an 

 elephant recently discovered there, from whence he proceeded to 

 Chicago for the purpose of making casts of types in the University 

 museum. This latter work resulted in a great increase in the value 

 of the National collections in the addition of hundi'eds of unique 

 specimens which, although only plaster casts of the original tjq^es, 

 serve admirably for purposes of comparison and study. The Na- 

 tional Museum should possess either the originals or casts of all 

 described species, and it was with this end in view that the present 

 expedition was undertaken. 



The field researches of Doctor ITlrich of the Survey and associate 

 in paleontology, were directed especially to the study of the stratig- 



