monkeys, bats, and hoofed animals are all in final form. Work has 

 been interrupted periodically by the necessity of identifying African 

 mammals for scientists in various other institutions who are study- 

 ing the ectoparasites that were collected with the mammals. Tem- 

 porary Assistant A. Stanley Rand helped for five months with this 

 African work. Taxonomic research on New World mammals re- 

 sulted in several short papers, including a revision of the arboreal 

 rice rats of the genus Oryzomys. A revision of the galagos, or bush 

 babies, of Africa is almost completed. 



The co-operative project with Harvard University, the comple- 

 tion of Peters' Check-list of Birds of the World, has been carried a 

 step forward by completion of the manuscript on the New World 

 jays and crows (family Corvidae) by Curator Emmet R. Blake and 

 of the shrike family (Laniidae) by Chief Curator Austin L. Rand, in 

 the course of which studies several short papers were prepared. A 

 recent comprehensive well-illustrated work on American wood-war- 

 blers (family Parulidae) contains two chapters by Curator Blake on 

 the wood-warblers of Mexico and those of South America, areas in 

 which he is a specialist (see page 96), Study by Curator Blake of 

 the systematics of South American birds brought discovery of a new 

 species of antbird and publication of its description (see page 91). 

 Work with the collection of birds of Japan donated by John T. Moyer 

 (see page 113) resulted in a short paper by Assistant Curator Mel- 

 vin A. Traylor, Jr., who also completed a report on the great horned 

 owls of South America and prepared sections dealing with nine species 

 of birds for the Check-List of North American Birds (American Orni- 

 thologists' Union). Most of his time, however, was spent in prepar- 

 ing a report, with Chief Curator Rand, on the Museum's collection 

 of Gabon birds. Associate Ellen T. Smith, with the collaboration of 

 Dr. William J. Beecher, of Chicago, has devoted much time to prep- 

 aration of a condensed guide to the birds of the Chicago area. Re- 

 search on Philippine birds received impetus with the arrival from 

 the Philippines of Field Associate Rabor (see page 60), who, with 

 Chief Curator Rand, wrote several short taxonomic papers and one 

 paper on the relationships of domestic and jungle fowl in the Philip- 

 pines. Chief Curator Rand also prepared a short paper on left and 

 right in animals. 



Study of the huge collection of Congo frogs and toads, 74,934 

 specimens, a joint undertaking of Curator Robert F. Inger and the 

 late Curator Emeritus Karl P. Schmidt, is nearing completion (see 

 Annual Report 1955, page 58). The material obtained in Borneo in 

 1956 is being studied by Curator Inger and a paper on temperature 

 responses of two lizards has been prepared. A small genus of North 



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