PROPOSED EXPLORATIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS 26 1 



such work would be expected to elaborate their results for publica- 

 tion on their return from the field and while yet in the employ of 

 the survey. 



3. Organisation of office force. — At the beginning of the work 

 the office force would be small ; probably a typewriter, a laborer, and 

 a taxidermist would be sufficient in addition to the directors. Prepa- 

 ration of outfits would be attended to by the field agents, aided by 

 the taxidermist. The latter would thus be quickly trained to carry 

 on this part of the work, and to superintend it during the re- 

 mainder of the survey. Material might be expected to arrive within 

 three or four months, and this would necessitate the services of an- 

 other man to attend to cataloguing and labeling. When the full 

 number of agents are in the field, an addition to the cataloguing 

 force will be required ; exactly how much can not be estimated, but 

 probably two or even three men. The reception of specimens will 

 also call for an addition to the taxidermist's force, as well as for the 

 employment of one and later more preparators for cleaning skulls, 

 mounting plants, etc. As soon as large mammals begin to ac- 

 cumulate, the services of a tanner will be required for putting the 

 specimens in a condition of safety. 



The force thus outlined will doubtless be sufficient for running the 

 work during the first five or six years. Later, as publication of re- 

 sults increases in importance, and extensive work is being done on 

 the collections, an increase will be needed. Just what this will 

 amount to can not be foreseen, but the lessening of the amount of 

 field work will doubtless compensate for it, so far as total expense 

 is concerned. 



4. Relationship to other institutions. — The activities of the force 

 of field naturalists which it is hoped would be organized should re- 

 sult in the bringing together yearly of from 10,000 to 20,000 speci- 

 mens of vertebrates alone, in addition to which there will be large 

 quantities of invertebrates, plants, etc. Provided it be not the 

 policy of the Carnegie Institution to establish a museum of its own, 

 the disposition of this material will demand careful consideration. 

 The plan to which we would direct the attention of the Executive 

 Committee is that temporary quarters for the collections be estab- 

 lished in Washington, where they may be kept for elaboration and 

 study during the course of the survey. Eventually the collections 

 and sets of duplicates may be distributed, at the discretion of the di- 

 rectors of the survey and under the approval of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution, to other institutions and to specialists who may have aided in 

 the elaboration of material. 



