44 REPORT l)F NATIONAT. MUSEUM, 1907. 



south slope of the 8ierra Maostra. to a heio^ht of 8,500 feet: at Dai- 

 (luiri, about IS uiiles east of Sautiairo. esi)eeially iuterest iu<2; for its 

 cacti; ou the (iran Piecha, to a height of 4,000 feet: ou the Yateras 

 IJauire, '20 to "25 ujiles south of (luantaiuuno, to a height of 2,100 feet, 

 and at .\o\ aliches, a cactus re«jioti, () niih>s soutli of (iruantananio. He 

 collected altoiU 8,000 dried specimens and alxnit K'.O livino; cacti and 

 orchids. The former were mostly ferns. i-e|)resentin<; about two- 

 tliir(l> of the kn(>\vn sjx'cics of Ciilia. many l)('in<i' rare. Tic aNo made 

 observations re<>arding the distribution of the rare insectivorous 

 mammal, Solcnodoti o/hatii/s, and secured several specimens of the 

 Ilutia rat. ('(ipronii/.s, and one specimen of the rai-e ('ul)an ivory- 

 billed '\voodj)ecker, Catv pephiliis Ixiird't. 



Explorations by other branches of tlie (lovernment and by indi- 

 viduals resulted, as in prc\ious years, in extensive additions to the 

 collections of biology. The work of the Bureau of Fishciies in the 

 Northwestern Pacific Ocean, of the Biological Survey in the West, 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry in Mexico, of Doctor Mearns in the 

 Philippines, of Prof. C. H. Eigennuimi in Cuba, and of Dr. H. 

 Pittier and Dr. Edward Palmer in ('(Mitral America and Mexico are 

 deserving of special mention. \^duable material was also received 

 as the result of explorations by the Costa Rican National Museum. 



During May, 1907, Dr. (leorge P. Merrill, head curator of geologv, 

 spent a week at Coon Butte crater, Arizona, conducting investigations 

 under a grant from the Smithsonian Institution, and another week 

 in collecting specimens of fossil wood in the P^ossil Poorest reserva- 

 tion near Adamana, in the same Territory, 



Mr. G. W. (iilmore, also under the auspices of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, left AVashington on May 22, 1007, for Alaska, where he 

 will explore several regions in which the remains of the mammoth 

 and other. large mammals are likely to occur. Under the joint aus- 

 pices of the U. S. Geological Survey and the Museum, geological 

 investigations were carried on in the Mississippi Valley by Dr. R. S. 

 Bassler, and on June 17. ]!K)7. Dr. A. C Peale was detailed to ac- 

 company Di'. F. 11. Knowlton, of the Survey, for the purpose of 

 studying certain [)roblems regardinix the fossil flora of the Laramie 

 region. 



DISTRTBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS. 



There were lent for stiuly to specialists not connected with the 

 Museum over O.OOO specimens. About 2r),0()0 du]dicate specimens 

 were used in making exchanges, and some 16,000 were distributed for 

 teaching purposes to educational establishments throughout the 

 country. The latter were mostly contained in 199 sets, as follows: 

 44 of marine invertebrates, 21 of fishes, 51 of rocks, 48 of nonmetallic 

 minerals and orcb. 2 of iiiinerult. and 29 of invertebrate fossils; and 



