REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 11 



1941 



Army and Navy Uniforms Mar. 1 



The Nation's New Art Gallery Mar. 8 



300 Years of Chemistry Mar. 15 



Coins of America Mar. 22 



Fifty Centuries of Silk Mar. 29 



Champlain in New England Apr. 5 



Smithsonian Field Expeditions Apr. 12 



Brazil, Land of Gems Apr. 19 



Ancient Crete May 3 



Birds of the Sea May 10 



The Saga of the Norsemen May 17 



Oliver Evans — Early American Engineer May 24 



Exploring Alaska May 31 



Platinum June 7 



Five Years of The World Is Yours (anniversary program) June 14 



Calendars of all Times June 21 



How Plants Grow June 28 



The Institution wag unable, because of lack of funds to employ 

 additional personnel, to resume publication of the supplementary 

 articles, or "listener-aids," which up to June 30, 1940, contributed 

 greatly to the educational value of "The World is Yours" programs. 

 It is hoped that a way will be found to reestablish this part of the 

 project during the coming year. 



WALTER RATHBONE BACON SCHOLARSHIP 



A bequest made to the Institution in 1919 in the will of Mrs. Vir- 

 ginia Purdy Bacon, of New York, provided for the establishment 

 of a traveling scholarship, to be known as the Walter Rathbone 

 Bacon scholarship for the study of the fauna of countries other 

 than the United States of America. 



For the past 2 years the Bacon scholarship has been held by Dr. 

 Hobart M. Smith, whose purpose was the accumulation of specimens 

 of reptiles and amphibians from Mexico, on the basis of which a 

 herpetology of Mexico might be compiled and the biotic provinces 

 of the country more accurately defined. 



During the year 1940-41, the some 20,500 specimens of reptiles 

 and amphibians obtained during the 2 preceding years were sorted 

 and a portion studied and entered in the permanent collections of 

 the National Museum. The collection requires study that could not 

 be completed within the year, and as a result certain groups must 

 be reserved for study at a later date. 



A total of 1,421 specimens of snakes was obtained, representing 170 

 species and subspecies, of which 23 appear unnamed. These com- 

 prise about half the species known from Mexico. Nineteen specimens 



