42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



sisted of Mr. and Mrs. Beach, Mr. Marcus Daly, and Mr. Osgood 

 Field. Sailing from Hoboken on January 4 on the S. S. George 

 Washmgton, Mr. Bro\Yn and Mr. Field proceeded to Cherbourg, 

 France, and from there continued by rail to Marseilles, where they 

 joined the rest of the party and took steamer to Port Sudan, continu- 

 ing from there by train to Khartoum. In a chartered boat, the Lord 

 Cromer^ they navigated as far as Malakal, about 50 miles up the 

 White Nile, where the sudden illness of Mr. Beach made it necessary 

 to return to Khartoum and prevented his continuing with the party. 

 The others proceeded, working the territory between Khartoum and 

 Kejaf. During 20 days in the field Mr. Daly, Mr. Field, and Mr. 

 Brown collected many scientific specimens, as well as material for 

 an exhibition group of gazelles, with all necessary accessories of 

 earth, ant hills, thorn bushes, and other vegetation. Apart from the 

 specimens obtained for the Museum collections, Mr. Brown observed 

 in a wild state, elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, wart hogs, buffa- 

 loes, giraffes, zebras, several cats, monkeys, crocodiles, and birds of 

 many varieties, including the shoe-bill stork — experience of great 

 profit to a taxidermist. He returned to Washington in April. The 

 collections brought home included 49 mammals, 83 bird skins, 103 

 alcoholic birds and skeletons, and a large number of reptiles and 

 fishes. 



In November, 1927, following a stay in this country, Dr. Hugh M. 

 Smith, director of fisheries of Siam and associate curator in zoology 

 of the National Museum, returned to Bangkok, where he resumed 

 active collecting of zoological materials. Word has already come of 

 large gatherings of specimens. 



In spite of the political situation in China, Mr. A. de C. Sowerby, 

 under the auspices of Col. R. S. Clark, continued his researches and 

 collecting. A large consignment of reptiles, fishes, and marine 

 invertebrates has come from him during the year. 



Dr. D. C. Graham, who has forwarded such splendid collections 

 from western Szechuan, China, returned in the late fall of 1927 to 

 Suifu, where he began at once his zoological studies. The first fruits 

 of his endeavors have been received and include interesting collec- 

 tions of birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. 



Dr. J. M. Aldrich, associate curator of insects, who at his own 

 expense was in the field at the end of June, 1927, continued entomo- 

 logical collecting during the months of July and August at various 

 points in the West, eastern Nevada, the higher parts of the Sierra 

 Nevada in California, and the Yellowstone Park, which proved to be 

 localities of greatest interest. While the principal object of his work 

 was the collecting of Diptera, valuable material in other orders of 

 insects was secured. 



