66 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 



The curator of mammals, Gerrit S. Miller, jr., has contimied his 

 studies of the whales mentioned in the last annual report as the main 

 subject of his investigations which are now essentially finished. The 

 manuscript of a " List of North American recent mammals, 1922 " 

 has been completed and submitted for publication. Dr. Robert Ridg- 

 way, curator of birds, continued his work on volumes 9 and 10 of 

 Bulletin No. 50, the Birds of Middle and North America. He 

 reports that volume 9 is practically done and that he is now putting 

 the " finishing touches " on the manuscript, while very much work 

 has also been done on volume 10, the remainder of which it is believed 

 can be done in a few months' time. He also prepared an article for 

 the appendix to the annual report of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 The Associate Curator, Dr. C. W. Richmond, and the aid, Mr. J. H. 

 Riley, prepared a bibliography of Chinese birds at the request of 

 Arthur de C. Sowerby and other students of Chinese birds ; this was 

 published during the year, and a supplement was furnished for pub- 

 lication later. They also furnished assistance to Dr. George D. 

 Wilder and N. Gist Gee, both stationed in China, by correcting 

 manuscripts and supplying various data on the birds of that 

 region. Dr. Richmond furnished various data for C. Davies Sher- 

 born's " Index Animalium," now in course of publication, verifying 

 data in rare publications not accessible in England. He also com- 

 pleted a fourth supplement to Waterhouse's " Index Generum 

 Avium", bringing the work down from 1915 to 1922, inclusive. 

 With B. H. Swales, honorary assistant curator of birds, he worked 

 on the list of types of birds in the National Museum, although the 

 work was not brought nearly to the point of publication. Progress 

 was also made on the memoir on the birds of Haiti and Santo Do- 

 mingo, without advancing it as yet to a final manuscript stage. 

 Mr. Riley investigated and reported upon the status of a certain 

 species of Chinese warbler, and also revised and submitted for pub- 

 lication a report on the Museum collections of birds from Celebes. 



In the division of reptiles, the curator was absent on other duty 

 part of the year, and during the remainder was too much occupied 

 with other work, especially his report on the fur seals of the Com- 

 mander Islands and Robben Island, to give much attention to the 

 monograph in hand on the turtles of Middle and North America. 

 The aid. Miss Doris M. Cochran, prepared a preliminary manu- 

 script list of reptiles and amphibians of China. In addition, she 

 continued her work on a monograph of the herpetology of the island 

 of Santo Domingo. She also described and published a number of 

 new species in the Museum, as shown by the bibliography. 



In the division of fishes, B. A. Bean, assistant curator, completed 

 during the year an annotated list of the fishes of Maryland, based 



