124 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1912. 



WORK UNDER THE HARRIMAN TRUST FUND. 



The secretary said that the board had been informed of the trust 

 fund established by Mrs. Edward H. Harriman, to be administered 

 under the direction of the Institution, for the purpose of an exhaust- 

 ive study of the life of North American mammals by Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, an eminent biologist, who is thus occupying a position 

 which has been previously designated as a Smithsonian research asso- 

 ciateship. 



Pie stated that Dr. Merriam was engaged in the preparation of a 

 comprehensive work and was also continuing field studies on the dis- 

 tribution of animals and plants, particularly on the Pacific coast; 

 that during the past year he had gone over his voluminous notes and 

 manuscript accumulations of a lifetime and brought them together 

 in convenient form for ready reference. 



He had been informed by Dr. Merriam that the first volume of his 

 w^ork on the mammals of North America, treating of the bears, was 

 nearly read}?^ for publication, and would probably go to press in a 

 short time ; that the second volume, treating of the wolves, coyotes, 

 and foxes, was well in hand and would follow as early as practicable. 

 The secretary said that in this connection it was gratifying to note 

 that Dr. Merriam was receiving the cordial support of naturalists 

 and museums throughout the United States and Canada, so that prac- 

 tically all the museum material known to exist in American collec- 

 tions had been placed at his disposal. 



It was further remarked that Dr. Merriam was also conducting cer- 

 tain ethnological investigations among the little known and rapidly 

 disappearing Indian tribes of California and Nevada; that from 

 these he had already collected a large fund of original material, relat- 

 ing chiefly to distribution, languages, and mythology, and had, in ad- 

 vanced preparation, a book of creation stories and other tales, ar- 

 ranged on the plan adopted in his volume on the myths of the Mewan 

 Tribes of California, already published. 



REPORT ON EXPEDITIONS. 



The secretary then made the following statement regarding expe- 

 ditions and other matters of general interest : 



"The Smithsonian African expedition under Col. Roosevelt un- 

 doubtedly created a wide interest among the friends of the Institu- 

 tion, and opportunities have occurred to benefit by similar expedi- 

 tions undertaken by private initiative." 



" Biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone. — Mention has been 

 made to the board and in the secretary's reports of the biological sur- 

 vey of the Canal Zone. The work has been under way about a year 

 and is not expected to be concluded until about the middle of the com- 



