REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 21 



collection of marine invertebrates taken in the course of the Alaska 

 king crab investigations of the Fish and Wildlife Service. From this 

 same Service there was transferred a lot of nemertean worms collected 

 by the Albatross and Fish Hawk. Outstanding also was a large col- 

 lection of moUusks, echinoderms, crustaceans, miscellaneous inverte- 

 brates, and 182 bottom samples obtained by Russell Hawkins, Jr., on 

 1939 and 1940 cruises along the west coast of Baja California and in 

 the Gulf of California. Over 3,000 selected molluscan specimens were 

 obtained by purchase through the Frances Lea Chamberlain Fund. A 

 remarkably fine collection of over 3,000 Samoan shells was contributed, 

 as well as 1,000 land and fresh-water shells from Texas. Several inter- 

 esting lots of echinoderms were added, chiefly from the Antarctic 

 region, from Greenland, and from the Abrolhos Islands, Western 

 Australia. 



About 25,000 plants from many sources were added to the collections 

 of the National Herbarium. 



Geology. — Many choice minerals and gems were acquired through 

 the Canfield, Eoebling, and Chamberlain funds of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The finest mineral specimen is an 1,800-carat aqua- 

 marine crystal from Agua Preta, Brazil, showing the rare berylloid 

 form. The extensive Diaz collection of Mexican cassiterites and 

 valuable sets of minerals from Bolivia also are noteworthy. Gems 

 added included a brilliant cut purple enclase of 46 carats from Cey- 

 lon, and a greenish-yellow 9-carat enclase from Brazil. Another 

 important acquisition consisted of 620 Brazilian gem stones trans- 

 ferred from the United States Treasury Department. The out- 

 standing addition to the meteorite series was the Sardis, Ga., speci- 

 men, an altered iron, weighing 1,760 pounds, the fifth largest single 

 meteorite ever found in the United States. Four meteoritic falls, 

 all American, were represented in specimens presented by Dr. Stuart 

 H. Perry, associate in mineralogy. A valuable series of tin ores 

 resulted from Curator W. F. Foshag's studies for defense purposes 

 of the tin resources of Mexico. 



Field work by members of the staff yielded the bulk of the in- 

 vertebrate fossils accessioned: About 8,000 Cambrian brachiopods 

 and trilobites from the Rocky Mountain region, Missouri, and the 

 Appalachian Valley; 20,000 post-Cambrian specimens from west 

 Tennessee and Texas; and 15,000 Devonian fossils from the various 

 counties in the geologically classic Lower Peninsula of Michigan. 

 Much valuable type material was contained in other miscellaneous 

 accessions, mostly gifts, including Upper Cambrian invertebrates 

 from Texas and southeastern Missouri, Ordovician Bryozoa from 

 Oklahoma, Upper Triassic ammonites from Nevada, and type fos- 

 sils from the Kaibab formation of the Grand Canyon. Important 



