REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 19 



tributors, many additional specimens were received. Foremost among 

 the expeditions was Operation Crossroads under the auspices of the 

 United States Navy to the northern Marshall Islands and Bikini. 

 Taking part in the biological investigations of this operation and rep- 

 resenting the Smithsonian Institution were Drs. Leonard P. Schultz 

 and J. P. E. Morrison, curator of fishes and associate curator of mol- 

 lusks, respectively, and Capt. Earl S. Herald, whose detail the Navy 

 requested from the Army to relieve Dr. Schultz. Dr. Schultz re- 

 turned to Washington by plane on July 22, having left Washington on 

 the preceding February 13. Captain Herald returned to Washington 

 in mid-September. As ichthyologists, Dr. Schultz and Captain Herald 

 were especially concerned with the relative abundance of fishes on the 

 reefs and in the tidal zone before and after dropping the experimental 

 atomic bombs. In connection with the investigation they preserved 

 over 38,000 specimens for study and for the national collections. Dr. 

 Morrison, who left Washington on February 20 and returned August 

 25, gave his attention to both the vertebrate and invertebrate animal 

 life of the area, excepting the fish. He obtained specimens and data 

 concerning the arboreal, terrestrial, and intertidal animal communi- 

 ties and populations. Particularly complete was the series of birds 

 frequenting Bikini and the collections of mollusks of this and other of 

 the Marshall Islands group. On June 28, 1947, 2 days before the close 

 of the fiscal year, Drs. Schultz and Morrison accompanied by Frederick 

 M. Bayer, assistant curator of marine invertebrates, started on a re- 

 turn trip to Bikini for a resurvey of the faunal elements of the area 

 with which they were particularly concerned. 



In continuation of the survey of the fishery resources of Guatemala 

 begun last year under the joint auspices of the Guatemalan Govern- 

 ment, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, Dr. Robert R. Miller, associate curator of fishes, 

 spent some 10 weeks, March 7 to May 17, in Guatemala. Extensive 

 series of fish and associated animal life were obtained, the fish collected 

 to form the basis of an account of the fishes of that country. 



On March 15, 1947, C. V. Morton, associate curator of plants, left 

 for a 12-week trip to St. Vincent, British West Indies, on a botanical 

 survey of that island with funds generously provided by Ernest May, 

 of Wilmington, Del. Although St. Vincent has an interesting flora, 

 it has been relatively neglected by collectors. Owing to the moun- 

 tainous terrain, there is still a great deal of untouched forested land 

 which provided ideal conditions for plant collecting. Mr. Morton 

 obtained 4,800 specimens on which he plans to base a checklist of the 

 flowering plants and ferns of the island. 



The W. L. Abbott fund financed three different field parties during 

 the past year : M. A. Carriker, Jr., continuing field work in Colombia, 

 working for half the year in areas complementary to those already 



