PROCEEDINGS OF THE REGENTS. 125 



ing summer. Data of much importance have been secured, and the 

 results of the expedition will be certain to justify its organization. 

 Many courtesies have been received from the Departments of Agri- 

 culture, War, and Commerce and Labor in the assignment of special- 

 ists for the work, and from the Panama Steamship & Railway Co. in 

 providing for their transportation, and due acknowledgment has 

 been made by the Institution. 



" 7'he Paul J. Ralney expedition, — The board was informed at the 

 meeting on February 9, 1911, of the intention of Mr. Rainey to make 

 an exj)edition into British East Africa for the collection of birds and 

 mammals, and of his invitation to the Institution to send a naturalist 

 with him, who would prepare these collections which would be pre- 

 sented to the Institution. Mr. Edmund Heller, who accompanied 

 the Smithsonian African expedition, was designated for this duty, 

 and left Washington on February 17 last. A brief report of the 

 work was made to the board at the December meet ing. The expedition 

 is now completed, with results most satisfactory to Mr. Heller, who 

 is at present in London studying types of mammals. He will shortly 

 return to Washington to put the collection in order, and a report on 

 the expedition will be made later. 



" The Childs Frick expedition. — No information has been received 

 from this expedition later than that presented to the board at the 

 December meeting. 



''''Borneo expedition. — During the past 10 or 12 years Dr. W. L. 

 Abbott, of Philadelphia, has been exploring the Mala}^ Archipelago 

 and has given all of his collections of vertebrates and ethnological 

 material to the Institution for the United States National Museum. 

 These contributions, so far as vertebrates are concerned, are undoubt- 

 erly the most important ever received by the Museum from any one 

 person. Illness has recently put an end to Dr. Abbott's personal 

 work, but his interest in the Institution does not seem to have abated. 

 He has recently offered to pay the salary and expenses of a suitable 

 man to continue the exploration of eastern Borneo, with the inten- 

 tion of further adding to his generous gifts to the Institution. Upon 

 acceptance of the offer he engaged the services of Mr. Harry C. 

 Raven, of New York, and placed at the disposal of the Institution 

 (he sum of $3,000 for the purpose of beginning the work. A ver^^ 

 recent letter from Dr. Abbott, who is now in England, contains the 

 information that he will transmit to the Institution a further sum of 

 $2,000 in order to meet a total expenditure of $5,000 if necessary in 

 the conduct of the expedition. The outfitting for the trip is now 

 under way. 



" Sihenan expedition. — Dr. Theodore Lyman, of Cambridge, Mass., 

 has recently invited the cooperation of the Institution in an expedi- 

 tion to the Altai Mountains, Siberia, during the coming summer. 



