SECRETARY'S REPORT 33 



ments of shipboard use were French, while the gold bar, cakes of gold, 

 gold buttons, and silver coins were Spanish. 



From June 21 to November 24, 1955, Frederick M. Bayer, associate 

 curator of marine invertebrates, participated in a biological survey 

 of the coral reef and other marine habitats found in the Palau Islands 

 Archipelago, sponsored jointly by the Office of Naval Kesearch, the 

 Pacific Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the George 

 Vanderbilt Foundation of Stanford University, and the Trust Ter- 

 ritory of the Pacific Islands, and directed by Dr. R. R. Harry of 

 Stanford University. An ecological resurvey was made of Iwayama 

 Bay, Koror Island, to supplement the survey made 20 years previously 

 by members of the Japanese Palao Tropical Biological Station. Cir- 

 cumscribed problems of more specific interest, such as epizootic asso- 

 ciates of gorgonian corals, parasitic mollusks, crustaceans associated 

 with coelenterates, sea anemones and their biological associates, and 

 the relationship of hole-dwelling gobies with burrowing shrimps, 

 were selected for thorough investigation. The team cooperated in 

 obtaining information on the injurious, poisonous, and noxious ani- 

 mals of the reef complex. In September Dr. Harry and Mr. Bayer 

 visited Japan to consult with former members in regard to the re- 

 search of the Palau station and to trace the location of biological 

 collections obtained there before War II. They returned to Koror on 

 October 7 and terminated field work there on November 15. 



Dr. Harald A. Render, curator of mollusks, was given a detail 

 September 19-29, 1955, to pack up and arrange for transportation of 

 a collection of mollusks at the New York State Museum that had been 

 transferred to the Museum on an exchange basis. 



Dr. David PI. Johnson, acting curator of mammals, and John L. 

 Paradiso, aide, were engaged from September 12 to 15, 1955, in mov- 

 ing and loading whale skeletons at the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia for transfer to the Museum. 



Under an Office of Naval Research contract, Dr. Henry W. Setzer, 

 associate curator of mammals, left Washington on September 16, 1955, 

 for Tripoli, Libya, to conduct the field study requested by Naval 

 Medical Research Unit No. 3. Fieldwork was carried on from 18 

 different camps ranging from Tripoli to Derma and to Sebha Oasis 

 in the interior. Ectoparasites and mammals were collected. 



As part of a long-term project on the zoogeography of the southern 

 Appalachian Highlands, Dr. Charles O. Handley, Jr., associate cura- 

 tor of mammals, devoted the period from September 12 to 26, 1955, 

 to collecting mammals near Mountain Lake, Giles County, Va. Taxo- 

 nomic problems involving southern African and neotropical mam- 

 mals necessitated an examination of pertinent comparative specimens 

 by Dr. Handley at the Chicago Natural History Museum, January 



