REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 135 



tiful blue princess Morpho, and of course, the coatis. My still photo- 

 graphs include many of the above subjects. 



"As I mentioned on my arrival in the Zone, my trip was one of 

 examination to discover material for a full-length educational film. 

 In Chiriqui Province at the foot of El Volcan de Chiriqui, I found 

 what I was looking for in the quetzal bird — they breed in March in 

 that region and are said to be easily accessible at that time. So far, 1 

 believe only two persons have photographed them in color — Wolfgang 

 von Hagen and Luis Marden of the National Geographic. I hope to 

 make a complete film in color on the nesting habits of this beautiful 

 bird. 



"Returning to the film which I made last summer, I have presented 

 it to several clubs and groups along with my own narration, and it 

 has been very well received. It has aroused a great deal of interest 

 in Panama in general and in Barro Colorado in particular." 



E. L. MiDDLESWAKT, technologist of the Forest Products Laboratory 

 at Madison, Wis., and at present with the State Commission of 

 Forestry of South Carolina, showed an intense interest in the life 

 of the island. His report follows, and it must be understood that it is 

 still too early for final conclusions. The fact remains that the island 

 certainly has all that is needed for tests of this sort. 



"We were endeavoring to find a plywood which would withstand 

 tropical jungle conditions. We had some 1,500 samples of plywood 

 14 inches square made of 4 different species of wood (red gum, douglas 

 fir, Cottonwood, and birch) glued with 12 different glues and glue 

 mixtures, and given 5 different surface treatments on exposure on the 

 island. One-half of the samples were placed on racks in the sunlight 

 and the other half were placed on racks in the deep jungle to give a 

 comparison between the two conditions. The samples were made at 

 the laboratory in Madison, Wis., and flown to the Zone by the Army 

 Air Forces. They were placed on exposure in January 1946. 



"The laboratory also sent the plywood wing-section panels for 

 exposure on B. C. L, which came shortly after I left the Canal Zone. 

 These wing sections were also sample sections of plywood used in 

 studying the effects of tropical weather conditions upon various glues 

 and woods used in making the plywoods and to find which glues and 

 woods are the most satisfactory for use in the Tropics. 



"This covers the high points of our work there. I might add that 

 the conditions were most nearly ideal on B. C. I. for this study. It will 

 be some time before the results are compiled." 



William E. Lundy, of the paymaster's office of the Panama Canal, 

 and also secretary-treasurer of the Panama Canal Natural History 

 Society, spent 3 days during the rainy season on the island, and being 

 deeply interested in natural history, and a keen observer, his brief 



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