32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



Institution, were continued from January through March. The work 

 began with 10 days devoted mainly to water birds on tlie lower Rio 

 Chagres at Juan JVlina. Following this Dr. Wetmore accompanied a 

 party from the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory for Tropical Medicine 

 to eastern Darien. Tlii'ough cooperation of the air arm of the U.S. 

 Army, the men with their equipment were transferred by helicopter 

 from the town of El Real, on the lower Rio Tuira, to Cerro Pirre, 

 where camp was established on the headwaters of the Rio Seteganti 

 about 10 kilometers from the Colombian bomidary. Birds collected 

 for study skins served also as a source of blood samples to be checked 

 for disease, and of ectoparasites, particularly mites, by other members 

 of the party. The area is one of special interest as the mountain is 

 isolated and has a number of species of South American affinity little 

 known in Panama. 



Most of the remainder of the time available this year was given to 

 studies in the upper basin of the Rio Chagres. In mid-February 

 Dr. and Mrs. Wetmore, with two assistants from the Gorgas Labora- 

 tory, crossed to the head of Madden Lake by dugout canoe and 

 continued up the Rio Boqueron to the mouth of the Quebrada Peluca 

 near the base of Cerro Bruja. Through the kindness of W. H. 

 Esslinger, chief hydrographer, Meteorological and Hydrographic 

 Branch of the Canal Zone, quarters were available here, and also 

 later at Candelaria, in small buildings housing stream gauge equip- 

 ment for record of rmioff waters that feed Madden Lake. At the end 

 of 2 weeks the party moved to the Rio Pequeni for further studies. 

 Both areas were still heavily forested, with few human inhabitants 

 and fewer trails. Travel was mainly by walking and wading along 

 the beds of streams. Although this was the dry season, rain fell 

 daily. The specimens and notes obtained are especially valuable since 

 this is an intermediate area between the eastern and w^estern sections 

 of the isthmus that has been little known from the standpoint of its 

 biology. The men from the Gorgas Laboratory prepared a consider- 

 able series of blood smears and also made collections of biting insects 

 of interest as possible carriers of disease. The season closed with a 

 week at La Jagua in the savanna region east of Pacora. 



The division of birds lent the services of Bernard R. Feinstein, 

 museum aide, to the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development 

 Command for much of the year. Mr. Feinstein has been spending 

 the year in South Vietnam collecting with an expedition that is 

 partially sponsored by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, of Honolulu. 

 In June, William D. Field, associate curator of insects, spent 2 

 weeks in field research in the Great Smol^ Mountains National Park 

 and other areas of Georgia and South Carolina. Among many valu- 

 able additions he made to the national collection of butterflies during 

 the trip, special mention should be made of the very rare species 



