4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1947 



authorized by the act for a survey, this to cover the latter part of the 

 fiscal year 1947, and the year 1948, and to include travel funds and 

 necessary assistance. In view of the great growth in aviation the new 

 agency is one of major importance for preservation of historical ma- 

 terial in aeronautics, both for public display and for study and exam- 

 ination by engineers and students of aerodynamics. 



Under Keorganization Plan No. 3 of 1946, which became effective 

 July 16, 1946, the President placed under the direction of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution the biological laboratory known as the Canal Zone 

 Biological Area located in the Canal Zone, Panama. When Gatun 

 Lake was formed during construction of the Panama Canal, the im- 

 pounded waters flowed around hills that stood in the valley, changing 

 certain of them to islands. One of these, which became known as 

 Barro Colorado Island, was notable for its fine stand of primitive 

 tropical forest, and for the animal life confined on it by the waters 

 of the lake. On April 17, 1923, Gov. Jay J. Morrow of the Canal 

 Zone set aside Barro Colorado Island as a reserve, and on it there was 

 established a field laboratory at which investigators might live and 

 work on scientific problems concerned with a tropical jungle. This 

 laboratory has been supported by small contributions from various 

 agencies, including Harvard College, the University of Michigan, the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and various others. 



So much valuable scientific work came from this laboratory that the 

 Congress set it aside permanently as a reserve under the name Canal 

 Zone Biological Area, in an act effective July 2, 1940, as an independ- 

 ent agency under a Board of Directors composed of the Secretaries of 

 War, Agriculture, Interior, and the Smithsonian Institution, the 

 President of the National Academy of Sciences, and three distin- 

 guished biologists appointed by the President of the National Academy 

 as Chairman of the Board. In the process of unification of govern- 

 mental agencies, the Canal Zone Biological Area has now become a 

 part of the Smithsonian, where it will be administered under the office 

 of the Secretary. The reorganization plan abolished the former Board 

 as the controlling body, but it has seemed desirable to continue this 

 as an advisory board composed of representatives of the departments 

 originally concerned, to secure desired support and cooperation for 

 the activity. 



Barro Colorado Island has been the site of a wide variety of studies 

 and tests under tropical conditions. Those under way at the present 

 time include an extensive set-up for testing termite-proofing of wood 

 samples, tropical deterioration of plywoods, textiles, and packaging 

 containers, and the effect of fungi on optical glass. Biologists come 

 regularly to the island to make studies of the fauna and flora. Some 

 400 publications have been issued on research carried on here in the 



