REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 49 



mode of occurrence. Much new material was obtained at the Calvert 

 Cliffs, some of which throws an important light on the relation of the 

 American forms to those described from the Tertiary formations of 

 Europe. 



In the autumn of 1904 Mr. Robert Ridgway, curator of birds, pro- 

 ceeded to Costa Rica, where he remained several months studying the 

 collection of birds in the national museum of that country, collecting 

 in various places to supply desiderata in the museum here, and inves- 

 tigating the distribution and natural environment of many species. 

 The results of this expedition have been of material aid to Mr. 

 Ridgway in continuing his work on the birds of North and Middle 

 America and also to the national collections. In the beginning recon- 

 naissances were made in the San Jose Valley, on the surrounding 

 mountains, and about Turrucares, on the Pacific Railroad, at Santo 

 Domingo, the present terminus of the railroad, about the volcano of 

 Poas, and at Pigres, an Indian village at the mouth of the Rio Grande 

 de Tarcoles. At the latter place ten specimens were obtained of the 

 rare humming bird, Arinia houcardi, previously only known from the 

 single type-specimen. Later a trip was made to the hacienda Monte 

 Redonde, on the south side of the Cerro de la Caudelaria. After the 

 arrival of the collecting outfit, which had been delayed, Mr. Ridgway 

 revisited Pigres, stopping at several places on the way from San Jose, 

 and collected at Turrialba, on the railroad connecting with the Atlantic 

 side; at Bonilla, a stock farm situated about 1,000 feet above the 

 railroad; at Coleblanco, between the volcanoes of Irazu and Turrialba, 

 elevated about 7,000 feet, and on the volcanoes themselves. The 

 total number of specimens of birds obtained, not including those pre- 

 sented by the national museum of Costa Rica, was 1,359. 



Birds and reptiles were collected in Jamaica and Guatemala by 

 Mr. W. H. Maxon, of the division of plants. The division of birds 

 was benefited by the explorations in China of Messrs. Willis and 

 Blackwelder, in North Borneo of Mr. G. A. Goss and H. D. Dodge, 

 and*on Kyska Island, Alaska, of Dr. J. Hobart Egbert, of the U. S. 

 Coast Survey. The investigations in Cuba of Mr. E. A. Schw^arz, of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and also custodian of the Coleop- 

 tera in the Museum, resulted in the acquisition of a large and impor- 

 tant collection of insects, especially rich in Coleoptera. Mr. H. S. 

 Barber, aid in insects, collected extensively in the Dismal Swamp 

 region in the spring. 



The explorations of the Bureau of Fisheries have added much mate- 

 rial in the line of fishes and marine invertebrates. The most impor- 

 tant expedition was by the steamer Albatross, which under the scien- 

 tific direction of Dr. Alexander Agassiz made extensive investigations 

 in the eastern Pacific Ocean between October, 1904, and March, 1905. 

 The vessel touched at Panama, the Galapagos, Callao, Easter Island, 



