298 Field Museum or Natural History — - Reports, Vol. IV. 



and for containing an appreciable quantity of platinum. The Assistant 

 Curator of Paleontology secured by a trip to Grovertown, Indiana, a 

 well preserved skull and nearly complete lower jaw of the extinct giant 

 beaver, Castoroides. By using previously obtained remains of this 

 species in connection with this skull it is probable that a mounted 

 skeleton of this rare and interesting animal can be prepared. The 

 Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology collected 182 specimens 

 of invertebrate fossils at Little Traverse Bay, Michigan. 



Field work in South America in the interest of the Department of 

 Zoology was continued with excellent results. Through co-operation 

 with a Brazilian government expedition in charge of Roderic Crandall, 

 the collectors in the field, M. P. Anderson and R. H. Becker, were enabled 

 to reach, and work at small expense, regions difficult of access; namely, 

 the upper parts of the Rio Branco and the Mountains of the Moon near 

 the boundary between Brazil and British Guiana. Important collec- 

 tions of birds and mammals were made and several fine examples of 

 large mammals were obtained which will be used for habitat groups 

 already planned. Mr. Anderson returned to the Museum in May, 

 and Mr. Becker continued work in Brazil on the lower Amazon River 

 and subsequently in the arid region of extreme eastern Brazil, in the 

 Province of Ceara, whence he proceeded southward to Bahia and inland 

 to the San Francisco River. The results of this work are mainly the 

 acquisition of typical forms of vertebrate life, fresh material represent- 

 ing species many of which were described by early explorers and ab- 

 solutely essential to any accurate knowledge of the fauna. Mr. Ander- 

 son, after a needed change in a northern climate, again entered the 

 field, leaving here in October, commencing work in the little known 

 Catatumbo region in northwestern Venezuela. An expedition to 

 Alaska by Taxidermist Friesser proved highly successful. By permis- 

 sion of the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Friesser secured four selected 

 specimens of the Alaskan Moose, the skins and skeletons being carefully 

 prepared. Samples of vegetation, photographs, and all needed acces- 

 sories for a striking group of these animals were obtained, as well as 

 desirable specimens of birds and the smaller mammals, including Alaskan 

 Porcupines, Squirrels, Ptarmigan, Owls, etc. Some local field work was 

 done by the Curator of Zoology including a short trip to Vilas County, 

 Wisconsin, where photographs for studies in group work, and migration 

 notes to be used in maps illustrating the range of various species, were 

 secured. In addition to the expeditions named above mention is made 

 of the African expedition undertaken by Mr. Brent Altscheler of Louis- 

 ville, Kentucky, in the interest of the Department of Zoology, to whose 

 generosity in this particular reference is made elsewhere in this report. 



