EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 43 



tion: Mammals, both large and small, 4,897; birds, about 4,000; 

 reptiles and batrachians, about 2,000; fishes, about 500; making the 

 total number of vertebrates about 11,397, The invertebrates include 

 insects; marine, land, and fresh-water mollusks; crustaceans; and 

 representatives of other groups. Several thousand plants were also 

 collected and a few anthropological objects. 



It may be remarked that through this expedition the National 

 Museum has acquired a series of the large and small mammals of 

 east Africa, which, collectively, is probably more valuable than is 

 to be found in any other museum in the world. Its importance lies 

 not so much in the number of new forms as in the fact that it affords 

 an adequate basis for a critical study of the mammal fauna of east 

 Africa and the establishment or rejection of the large number of 

 forms which have been described, especially in recent years, from 

 insufficient material. The collection of birds is also noteworthy; 

 the plants should form the basis of a valuable report; the reptiles 

 and batrachians include large series of individuals of the same species, 

 and will be useful for studies of variation; and other parts of the 

 collection contain groups of specimens and single specimens of much 

 interest. 



Mr. Owen Bryant, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, announced, in the 

 winter of 1908-9, his intention of spending a year or more in Java, 

 and offered, in case the Museum would detail a naturahst to accom- 

 pany him, to turn over to the Museum half of such collections as 

 might be obtained. In accepting this proposition, ]\Ir. WilHam 

 Palmer was assigned to the service and left Washington in January, 

 1909. Field work was carried on until last spring, and at the close 

 of the year both naturalists were on their way home. The collections, 

 which are elsewhere referred to and are important, were mainly 

 obtained at the western end of Java, about Buitenzorg and on Mount 

 Gede and other mountains. The series of mammals and birds, 

 wliich are the most extensive, are of great interest for comparison 

 with east Indian and Philippine specimens contributed by Dr. W. L. 

 Abbott and Dr. E. A. Mearns. 



The only considerable biological expedition sent out by the Museum 

 itself was a botanical one under Dr. J. N. Rose, who was accom- 

 panied by IVIr. P. C. Standley and Mr. P. G. Russell. This party was 

 absent 10 weeks, during wliich it visited western Texas, southern 

 New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and western Mexico, and made a 

 very important collection of plants, comprising about 10,000 speci- 

 mens, including representatives of many undescribed species. The 

 head curator, Dr. True, spent a few weeks in collecting vertebrate 

 remains from the shell heaps in the vicinity of Penobscot Bay, Maine, 

 and secured material which, taken in connection with that obtained 



