6 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1940 



National Zoological Park. — A new restaurant building was begun 

 during the year under an allotment of $90,000 from the P. W. A. It 

 is expected to be completed during the fall of 1940. Other improve- 

 ments included the construction of 9 new paddocks for various ani- 

 mals; a series of waterfowl ponds; an enclosure for lizards, snakes, 

 crocodilians, and turtles ; construction of 9,000 feet of curbing and 2,050 

 square feet of walks; and extensive planting of trees and shrubs in 

 newly developed areas. Dr. Mann directed the Smithsonian-Firestone 

 Expedition to Liberia, bringing back nearly 200 animals for the col- 

 lections, including many rare forms. Malcolm Davis brought back 

 a number of animals from India, including an Indian rhinoceros, 

 the first to be shown at the Zoo. He also accompanied Admiral Byrd's 

 Antarctic Expedition, bringing back a number of penguins for ex- 

 hibition at the Zoo. Visitors for the year totaled 2,129,600, including 

 classes from 628 different schools from 21 States and the District 

 of Columbia. Of particular interest among the many gifts of the 

 year were a pair of black bears from the Pennsylvania Game Com- 

 mission, obtained through Carl La Barre, of Portland, Pa.; three 

 Finsches' tree kangaroos from Kichard Archbold, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York ; a pair of yak from the De- 

 partment of Mines and Resources, Dominion of Canada, through 

 Hoyes Lloyd ; and a group of pheasants from Carlo Zeimet, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. There were 55 mammals born, 28 birds hatched, and 

 22 reptiles born or hatched during the year. The total number of 

 animals in the collection was 2,550, representing 762 different species. 

 The Zoo's greatest need is for three new buildings to replace antiquated 

 structures now in use. 



Astrophysical Ohservatory. — The work of the Observatory in study- 

 ing the radiation of the sun has been continued during the year at 

 Washington and at the three observing stations at Tyrone, N. Mex., 

 Table Mountain, Calif., and Montezuma, Chile. Work has been con- 

 tinued throughout the year on the complete revision of all results 

 on the solar constant of radiation from all stations and from 1923 

 to the present time. Many small inconsistencies requiring extensive 

 study made progress slow in preparing final tables of mean values 

 of the solar constant. It is now hoped to publish these tables as 

 volume 6 of the Annals of the Observatory during the coming year. 

 Mathematical investigations at Harvard and at the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology tend to confirm the reality of periodicities 

 in solar variation as found by Dr. Abbot. Six lectures on his studies 

 of solar radiation were given by Dr. Abbot at the Harvard College 

 Observatory, and the first four are in course of publication in the 

 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. H. Arctowski, 

 eminent meteorologist of Poland, who was in Washington when his 



