38 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



of Barcelona, Dr. Gazin visited important localities where strata are 

 exposed from the Eocene to the Pliocene. Although the local collec- 

 tions are essentially from the Upper Tertiary, a surprising amount of 

 Eocene, generally regarded as barren, is exposed in the area. 



A party consisting of Dr. Nicholas Hotton, 3d, associate curator 

 of vertebrate paleontology, Kurt Hauschildt, museum aide, and Dr. 

 Frank C. Whitmore, of the U.S. Geological Survey, made two ex- 

 peditions during the year to Hampton, Va., to collect portions of a 

 whale skeleton from the Yorktown formation. They collected the 

 following parts of the whale : Right mandible, right maxilla, two com- 

 plete ribs, about 15 vertebrae representing thoracic, lumbar, and 

 caudal regions, and assorted small bones, mostly chevrons. This 

 skeleton has been tentatively identified as that of a species of Balaenop- 

 tera. It lay about 8 feet below the top of the Yorktown (Miocene) 

 formation as exposed at the site. 



In November, Dr. Hotton collected vertebrates of Mississippian age 

 and prospected other Mississippian localities at Greer, W. Va., and 

 vicinity. He was accompanied by William E. Moran, formerly a 

 member of the staff of the division of vertebrate paleontology. The 

 Mississippian Period is of critical importance in the study of tetrapod 

 evolution, since it marks the time of the initial radiation of the am- 

 phibians and the probable origins of the reptiles. Unfortunately, most 

 Mississippian sediments are of marine origin, so that the rarity of 

 terrestrial deposits of that age makes them doubly important. Three 

 quarries were visited and much material of significance was obtained, 

 including a partial skeleton of an embolomerous amphibian. In 

 February Dr. Hotton left for South Africa for a collecting season in 

 the famous Permian Karroo beds. In this work he was furnished 

 every accommodation by his colleagues at the University of Witwaters- 

 rand in Johannesburg. Considerable success was achieved in obtain- 

 ing many skulls and other skeletal portions of a variety of Permian 

 and Triassic vertebrate forms, none of which were previously repre- 

 sented in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Staff members of the Museum of History and Teclinology visited 

 many musemns in the United States and abroad during the year, 

 mostly to observe exhibit techniques or to procure materials for 

 exhibition in the new building. The fieldwork of these staff members 

 generally involves trips of this sort, or visits to numerous individ- 

 uals and institutions about the country in an attempt to procure ex- 

 hibit materials or to learn something about developments that will be 

 useful in the Smithsonian's expanding efforts. 



For a week in September, John C. Ewers, Assistant Director of 

 the Museum of History and Technology, was able to renew his re- 

 search interests in the Blackfeet Indians in Montana. Many changes 

 have taken place since he last visited the Blackfeet Reservation in 



