REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 43 



Mr. James O, Maloney, aide in the division of marine invertebrates, 

 while on a vacation tour at his own expense, secured many valuable 

 specimens of terrestrial isopods in Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, 

 and Mississijjpi. 



At the invitation of Mr. Copley Amory, of Washington, D. C, 

 Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bowman of George Washington University, and 

 Doctor Bartsch, curator of mollusks, proceeded in June, 1927, to Mr. 

 Amory's summer home on Matamek River on the north shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, where Doctor Bartsch initiated plans for a 

 study of the local flora and fauna which were continued by Mr. and 

 Mrs. Bowman until September. Mr. Amory placed a laboratory pro- 

 vided with the needed equipment for research and other facilities 

 at the disposal of the party, and was ever ready to give the benefit 

 of his knowledge of local conditions acquired through many years 

 of residence, as well as personal helj). In addition to marine dredg- 

 ing, careful collecting was done along the beaches, in the shallow 

 lagoons and tide pools, and in the inland pools, lakes, and streams 

 of the region for fresh-water organisms. Collections were secured 

 of the ectoparasites and endoparasites of fishes and careful analyses 

 of the stomach contents of fishes were made. Mr. Bowman devoted 

 time to the plants, covering all groups from marine and fresh-water 

 algae to the flowering groups. Serial cores of the peat bogs w^ere 

 taken and the samples shipped to Washington for microscopic study. 

 A large amount of material, both animals and plants, was collected 

 which is to be worked up later. 



In continuation of Cerion studies mentioned in previous reports, 

 Doctor Bartsch visited the laboratory of the Carnegie Institution 

 at the Tortugas from August 16 to 27, 1927. The year had been an 

 unusually dry one at the Tortugas, affecting adversely some of the 

 groups of Cerions under observation. Visits were made to all the 

 colonies of Cerions in the Tortugas, and material collected for study 

 in Washington. A series of specimens of Cerion viaregis from the 

 Tortugas and Cerion incanuni from Key West, and of a hybrid 

 Cerion from Newfound Harbor Key, were gathered and sent to Prof. 

 Edward C. Jeffrey, Harvard University, for a comparative study 

 of their chromosomes. 



Botanical field work during the year 1927-28 has been conducted 

 in Honduras by Mr. Paul C. Standley, associate curator; in the 

 islands of Formosa and Sumatra by Prof. H. H. Bartlett, col- 

 laborator; in Texas by the late Dr. J. N. Rose, associate curator; in 

 Oregon and Washington by Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, custodian of grasses ; 

 and in California by Mr. J. R. Swallen, assistant in the grass herba- 

 rium. Mr. Standley's botanical exploration in Honduras was made 

 possible by the generous cooperation of Prof. Oakes Ames, of Har- 

 vard University, and the United Fruit Co, Work began in December 



