20 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



year may be cited, along with the monograph on the Sal ton Sea 

 reforrod to above, the instructive volume bj' Dr. Forrest Shreve, 

 of the departmental staff, on ''A ]\Iontane Rain-Forest" (Pub- 

 lication 199 of the Institution). Favorable progress has been 

 made by Messrs. Britton and Rose, Research Associates of the 

 department, in their elaborate investigation of the distribution 

 and relationships of the Cactacese. The facilities of the Desert 

 Laboratory have been enlarged during the year by the comple- 

 tion and equipment of a specially designed small building for 

 studies in phyto-chemistry, which has been proved to play a 

 highly significant role in desert life. 



The work of this department has been confined in recent years 



to the preparation of divisional monographs, as explained in 



previous reports. Dr. Victor S. Clark, in charge 



Department of ...... „ „ , , , 



Economics and of the divisiou of mauufacturcs, has been able to 

 cioogy. (devote his time exclusively to this work and has 

 been furnished office quarters for this purpose in the Administra- 

 tion Building at Washington. Other heads of divisions have 

 been able to give half or less time to their divisional work, which 

 is thus progressing somewhat more favorably than hitherto. 

 It is hoped, therefore, that some of the monographs under way 

 may be ready for publication during the coming year. Of the 

 comprehensive ^' Index of Economic Material in the Documents 

 of the States" projected by the department and prepared under 

 the direction of Miss A. R. Hasse, the volume for New Jersey is 

 now in press. Volumes of this index for eleven difTerent States 

 have already been issued. 



The observational, statistical, and physical methods applied 



by this department are constantly adding to the sum of facts 



_ , and of inductions essential to advances in biologi- 



Department of t • i 



Experimental cal kuowlcdge. The range of application extends 

 from the lowest organisms, like fungi, up to the 

 highest, as typified in the race to which the investigators them- 

 selves belong. Thus, during the past year, observations and 

 experiments have been made on mucors, plants, pigeons, poultry, 

 and seeds, while the Director has continued his fruitful statistical 



