REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 27 



to a group of Venezuelan scientists, and had opportunity to visit 

 the new Museo Nacional and the Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias 

 Naturales. 



Mr. Carriker, whose expenses for this work in Colombia were 

 carried by the W. L. Abbott fund of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 continued in the field in the Guajira until late in June to finish the 

 investigations. At the end of the fiscal year he was located in the 

 Sierra Negra in the northern section of the Perija Mountains, a 

 region previously unknown to naturalists. 



The collecting expeditions by W. M. Perrygo, scientific aid, to 

 obtain much-needed material for the study of the vertebrate fauna 

 of the Appalachian region, were continued with good results. Accom- 

 panied by John S. Webb, of the division of birds, he left for South 

 Carolina on September 14, 1940, working first along the Catawba 

 River and in the wooded regions of the Piedmont region and later 

 collecting in the swamps along the Pee Dee River. The middle of 

 October he continued southward to Allendale to complete work begun 

 in the spring months along the Savannah River. Two weeks were 

 spent in collecting along the Lynches River, a tributary of the Pee 

 Dee, and the final stay centered around McClellanville for work in 

 the salt marshes near the Cape Romaine Wildlife Sanctuary, The 

 expedition returned December 3. This work also was financed 

 through the W. L. Abbott fund of the Smithsonian. 



Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, curator of marine invertebrates, during 

 the latter part of 1940 served as biologist and leader of the field party 

 organized by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for the 

 purpose of investigating the biology of the king crab in Alaska. 

 He left Seattle on August 28 and on September 12 established head- 

 quarters at Canoe Bay, off the northwest corner of Pavlof Bay, where 

 investigations were carried on successfully for 5 weeks. Later on 

 operations were transferred to Alitak at the western end of Kodiak. 

 Work at a final base on the north side of Shelikof Strait, east of 

 Kukak Bay, from November 15 to 20 ended the investigations for 

 the season, which in addition to observations on the distribution and 

 biology of the king crab yielded an extensive collection of marine 

 animals of interest to the Museum. 



Clarence R. Shoemaker, assistant curator of marine invertebrates, 

 in company with T. Kenneth Ellis, undertook a 2-weeks' collecting 

 trip for fresh-water amphipods through Virginia and the Carolinas. 

 The expedition returned with much interesting material to the 

 Museum, the particular object being to extend the study series of 

 certain rare species from this region. 



The Smithsonian-Firestone Expedition to Liberia under the leader- 

 ship of Dr. W. M. Mann, Director of the National Zoological Park, 



