30 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



of the genera Depressaria and Agoropterix^ as well as experimental 

 observations on their host specificity and host relationships. Field- 

 work was commenced in Wyoming and carried on subsequently in 

 Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, and 

 Minnesota. 



Frederick M. Bayer, associate curator, division of marine inverte- 

 brates, under a cooperative arrangement witli the Marine Laboratory 

 of the University of Miami, conducted a search from August 20 to 

 September 14, 1954, for a reef among the Florida Keys suitable for 

 reproduction, in part at least, as a coral reef group in the projected 

 Hall of Ocean Life. An unusually luxuriant, actively growing 

 Acropora reef with conspicuous sea-fans and other gorgonians was 

 located, and will furnish all the materials needed for an instructive dis- 

 play. Underwater pictures were taken of the reef and some material 

 was collected for use in the preparation of this exhibit. On June 21, 

 1955, Mr. Bayer was detailed to join an expedition to the Palau 

 Islands sponsored jointly by the George Vanderbilt Foundation and 

 the Office of Naval Research. 



Mendel L. Peterson, acting head cui-ator, department of history, 

 participated in a cruise sponsored by Edwin A. Link, of Binghamton, 

 N. Y., to the Bahamas, Haiti, and Cuba from May 1 to July 7, 1955. 

 The objective of this cruise was to investigate Spanish wreck sites on 

 Silver Bank and to retrace the probable route followed by Columbus 

 in the Bahamas during his first voyage to America, as well as to in- 

 vestigate the marlring and decoration of muzzle-loading cannon. 

 Photographs and measurements were taken of cannon in the old forts 

 at Nassau in the Bahamas, at Turks Island, at the Citadelle of Henri 

 Christophe at Port au Prince, and those in Morro Castlo and the 

 Cabana Fortress in Havana. Cuba. 



Between December 12 and 16, 1954, Margaret W. Brown, associate 

 curator, division of civil history, visited New York City and vicinity 

 for consultations relative to the installation of materials in the First 

 Ladies Hall. Franklin R. Bruns, Jr., associate curator, division of 

 philately, participated during the past year in first-day ceremonies 

 for postage-stamp issues and in exhibitions containing portions of 

 the national postage stamp collections at Chicago, New York, and 

 Philadelphia. 



To obtain three bison for display in the North American Mammal 

 Hall, W. L. Brown, chief taxidermist, proceeded on October 11, 1954, 

 from Washington to the National Bison Range at Moiese, Mont., 

 where arrangements had been made Avith the National Park Service 

 for skins of three suitable surplus animals. Subsequently, Mr. Brown 

 traveled to Amidon, Slope County, and to Bismarck, N. Dak., to obtain 

 Rocky Mountain and columnar cedars, willow, dwarf jimiper, sage- 

 brush, and grassas for use as background materials in this exhibit. 



