290 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



unfavorable for triangulating. Second section : From Shih-ch'uan 

 hsien to Hsing-an fu by boat, 100 miles ; directions by compass and 

 distances by time, with estimate of rate of progress. Third section: 

 From Hsing-an fu, on the Han, to Wu-shan, on the Yangtse River, 

 175 miles; by stadia traverse, with topographic sketching. The 

 whole was checked throughout by observations for latitude. These 

 three sections furnish a map along routes not previously surveyed, 

 except that the third section coincided with a military reconnois- 

 sance executed a few weeks earlier by the British party under Colonel 

 Manifold, of whose plans we were not aware in selecting a way 

 across the mountains. From the Wei Valley to the Yangtse is a 

 mountainous region, scarcely known as to general features and not 

 at all as to details which express physiographic history or the diffi- 

 culties opposed to engineering ; the Han is an important route of 

 commercial exchange of which our traverse covers a stretch hitherto 

 not mapped ; the contribution to geographic knowledge is one of 

 definite facts where previous information was vague or lacking. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY. 



Mamvials, Birds, and Reptiles. — Through the special knowledge 

 of natural history possessed by Mr. Blackwelder, and especially of 

 birds, the scientific results secured hy the expedition are enriched 

 by his observations on the distribution and habits of mammals, birds, 

 and reptiles. His notes cover, of mammals, 11 species, i specimen ; 

 of birds, 150 species, 64 specimens; of reptiles and amphibians, 10 

 species, 10 specimens. Those species not represented by specimens 

 are described from notes taken in the field. Among the data is a daily 

 roll-call of the birds seen from October to June in the widely sepa- 

 rated districts of plain and mountain which we traversed. 



ARTESIAN WATERS. 



Peking and Vicinity. — At the request of the American minister, 

 Hon. E. H. Conger, and by the authority of the Director of the 

 Carnegie Institution, I made an investigation of the artesian water 

 conditions in the vicinity of Peking, and reported favorably. The re- 

 port was addressed to Mr. Conger, was by him forwarded to the 

 State Department, and thence referred to the United States Geolog- 

 ical Survey for suggestions in regard to well boring. 



The water-supply of Pekin is very inadequate and seriously con- 

 taminated. Should a successful well be drilled it will lead to ma- 

 terial benefit to the American Legation, to the foreign community, 

 and in time possibly to the Chinese population. 



