REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1923. 55 



and Yokohama. A more detailed account of the trip has already 

 been given in the Smithsonian Exploration Pamphlet for 1922.^ 

 Unfavorable weather interfered greatly with collecting, but a fair 

 collection of plants and insects was made on Bering Island. 



During the spring of 1923 C. R. Aschemeier, one of the taxi- 

 dermists of the Department, was given permission to accompany 

 A. H. Fisher on an expedition to the lower Amazon River, Brazil, 

 the understanding being that Mr. Aschemeier should devote his time 

 to making collections for the National Museum of the vertebrates 

 with particular reference to river dolphins and sea cows. He left 

 New York on April 21, 1923, in the Lloyd Brasiliero S. S. Pocone^ 

 for Para, Brazil, arriving on May 4. About two weeks after the 

 arrival he boarded the steamer Sao Salvador for Santarem, about 

 400 miles up the river. He had not returned at the end of the fiscal 

 year, and no collections have been received as yet. 



Dr. William M. Mann, Assistant Custodian, Section of Hymenop- 

 tera, imdertook for the Department of Agriculture a trip to Mexico 

 between January 19 and June 7, 1923, for the purpose of collecting 

 and studying certain fruit flies. As far as possible, general collec- 

 tions of insects were made and some reptiles secured. The material 

 has not as yet been accessioned, but enough is known of it to prove 

 its value, although owing to the extreme dryness of the season col- 

 lecting was very poor. From Nogales he went down the west coast 

 of Mexico as far as Tepic, making a ten days side trip to Lower 

 California in the district between Loreto and Comondu. After- 

 wards the states of Jalisco and Colima were visited and then a rather 

 hurried trip was made to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and in Chiapas 

 as far as Tapachula. He returned by way of Laredo, Texas. 



As usual. Dr. C. D. Walcott's expedition to the Canadian Rockies 

 was productive of valuable additions to the mammal collection as 

 already mentioned. 



The botanical explorations during the year have added materially 

 to the collections of the National Herbarium. Dr. W. L. Alibott's 

 visit to the Dominican Republic has already been mentioned. 



From April to October, 1922, Dr. F. W. Pennell, Curator of the 

 Herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and 

 Ellsworth P. Killip, Aid in the Divison of Plants, carried on botani- 

 cal field work in the Republic of Colombia. The expedition was 

 organized by the New York Botanical Garden, the Gray Herbarium 

 of Harvard University, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences, and the National Museum as part of a general plan, adopted 

 in 1918, for botanical research in northern South America. Finan- 



1 Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 74, no. 5, pp. 30—40. 

 67132—23 5 



