SECRETARY'S REPORT 43 



electrical equipment, winches, etc., and difficulties in obtaining fresh 

 water caused changes in schedules and restricted the activities of the 

 biologists aboard. As a result, Dr. Taylor late in April left the sliip 

 at Vizagapatam. The collections obtained were limited to the An- 

 daman Sea and offshore areas west of Burma. 



From early in March to late in May Dr. J. A. F. Garrick, research 

 associate in the division of fishes, visited several museums and other 

 institutions in Europe and Africa primarily to examine type material 

 of the shark genus Carcharhinus for his revision of the group. He 

 also wished to obtain additional locality records and to ascertain if 

 any species had been overlooked or are not represented m the collections 

 of U.S. musemns thus far seen. Dr. Garrick's findings show that 

 much of the current nomenclature for the group is in error, particu- 

 larly in regard to species of the Indo-Pacific, based primarily on the 

 literature rather than on examination of types. As a result of tliis 

 fieldwork, locality records for many species were greatly extended, and 

 in several cases species thought to be restricted to one ocean were 

 found to occur in other oceans or to be worldwide m distribution. The 

 number of recorded species was increased by two. Because of the 

 value of vertebral counts in identifymg shark species. Dr. Garrick 

 X-rayed critical specimens whenever possible. About 90 specimens 

 were so examined. In this and all other respects he received the fullest 

 cooperation from the staffs of the institutions visited. 



From the middle of July through August Dr. J. F. Gates Clarke, 

 curator of insects, conducted extensive field studies in Oregon and 

 Washington. Wliile in Oregon he had the company of a colleague, 

 James Baker, of Burns, Oreg. From numerous stations set up for 

 collecting purposes at various altitudes, they obtained over 7,000 

 specimens, including many novelties, which eventually will contribute 

 much to our knowledge of the ecology and distribution of Microlepi- 

 doptera of the Pacific Northwest. 



From the beginning of June until the end of September Dr. Ralph 

 E. CrabiD, Jr., associate curator of insects, conducted further studies 

 of myriapods, particularly in museums in Munich, Vienna, Hamburg, 

 Copenhagen, and London. He was able to locate and examine pre- 

 viously miknown material. He also spent a couple of weeks in the 

 Bavarian Alps collecting topotypical specimens of centipedes for the 

 national collections. 



Since joining the staff as associate curator of the division of insects 

 this year, Dr. Paul J. Spangler, a specialist in aquatic beetles, has 

 made several collecting trips, the longest of which, December 15-Janu- 

 ary 26, took him to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Although 

 the insect fauna from Puerto Rico is better known than that from other 

 Caribbean islands, he fomid numerous new records and new species 



