38 ANNUAXi REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 30 



Mattogrosso. More than 2,500 collection numbers were obtained, 

 with an average of five specimens to each number. 



For four months of the last fiscal year and extending into the 

 early part of this, Dr. W. F. Foshag was engaged in field work 

 in the borax regions of California, Nevada, and Oregon, collecting 

 under the Roebling fund of the Smithsonian Institution with the 

 collaboration of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum. The purposes 

 of the expedition were to study the mineralogy and geology of the 

 borax dejDOsits, with particular regard to their origin, and to obtain 

 for the Museum a comprehensive collection of typical minerals and 

 ores. It was thought desirable to undertake the work at this time 

 since changes in the borax industry have rendered obsolete many of 

 the most interesting of the deposits. Some very fine exhibition speci- 

 mens, a comprehensive series illustrating the geology and mineralogy 

 of the deposits, and much duplicate material resulted. 



In the latter part of April Doctor Foshag was detailed to examine 

 some mineral localities in North Carolina. Through the courtesy of 

 Messrs. Burnham S. Colburn and Will Colburn of Biltmore Forest, 

 he was enabled to visit Spruce Pine, Balsam Gap, Mason's Mountain, 

 Webster, and Statesville, and to collect rare uranium and other 

 minerals. 



In order to carry out an expressed wish of the late Dr. Frank 

 Springer, Dr. R. S. Bassler visited Europe for the purpose of making 

 casts of various type specimens of crinoids preserved in foreign 

 museums. His chief object was to obtain facsimiles of the specimens 

 described by Barrande, which, with many other mementoes of that 

 famous paleontologist, are preserved in the National Museum at 

 Prague, Bohemia, this having been the scene of his greatest work. 

 Under most pleasant conditions and with the hearty cooperation of 

 the authorities at the museum, this work was carried to a successful 

 conclusion. Doctor Bassler was also enabled to visit other European 

 museums and various collecting fields. At the museums the paleon- 

 tological collections were studied and personal contact established 

 with the authorities; the time at the collecting fields was devoted 

 mainly to a study of the stratigraphy, in order to secure data for 

 the furtherance of work on our collections. 



Late in the year. Doctor Bassler, accompanied by Dr. Ferdinand 

 Canu, made brief field trips in New England and along the Atlantic 

 coast in furtherance of their studies on Bryozoa. 



Dr. C. E. Resser continued researches on the Cambrian of the 

 Rocky Mountain region under the Smithsonian Institution. For 

 a portion of the time he was accompanied by Dr. L. J. Moraes of 

 the Brazilian Geological Survey, who was interested in similar 

 problems. Doctor Resser's chosen field was in Montana, with a 

 stop in the Yellowstone National Park to examine certain peculiar 



