REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 9 



from the Department of Agriculture to Panama and Central 

 America. Unfortunately rains interfered seriously with field work 

 in both Panama and Nicaragua, but in spite of this handicap, a gen- 

 eral botanical collection of about 4,500 specimens was made, about 

 equally divided among Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. In 

 his report on the expedition. Doctor Maxon says : 



Aside from two days given to collecting In the interesting Juan Diaz region, 

 east of Panama City, work in Panama was mostly confined to the Canal Zone, 

 being conducted chiefly from headquarters on the Pacific side, at Balboa, with 

 the courteous assistance of the Panama Canal authorities. Of particular in- 

 terest were trips to Barro Colorado, a large wooded island in Gatun Lake 

 opposite Frijoles, recently set aside as a wild reserve upon representation of 

 the Institute for Research in Tropical America ; the virgin forest region at the 

 headwaters of the Rio Chinilla, above Monte Lirio ; and the Fort Sherman 

 Military Reservation, which includes the famous old Spanish stronghold, Fort 

 San Lorenzo, at tlie mouth of the Chagres. All these localities are forested 

 and are rich in palms, and special attention was directed to obtaining material 

 in this difficult group. With the steady clearing of leased land for planting 

 bananas the original forest in the Canal Zone is rapidly disappearing, and with 

 it its characteristic palm associations. * * * 



About three weeks were spent in Nicaragua, wholly in the region west of Lake 

 Nicaragua and mainly working from Managua, the capital, which lies pic- 

 turesquely at a new elevation 90 miles inland from the Pacific coast, flanked 

 by numerous volcanoes. Except for the volcanoes and the low range called the 

 Sierra, given over to coifee production, western Nicaragua is low and almost 

 entirely cleared of forest. Cane and grazing are the main industries. The 

 soil is largely a rich black loam of volcanic origin, and supports a luxuriant 

 growth of tall grasses, the arborescent vegetation being mainly confined to 

 roadsides and abandoned " potrero." The most interesting trips were to the 

 region of Casa Colorado in the Sierra, and to Mombacho and Santiago vol- 

 canoes. The material collected indicates a rich flora for the higher mountain 

 slopes, one that would amply repay extended exploration. 



From Corinto Doctor Maxon proceeded by steamer to Puntarenas, the Pa- 

 cific port of Costa Rica. The ascent by rail from this port in the semiarid 

 coastal plain to the capital, San Josg, lying at an altitude of 1,140 meters in 

 the cool meseta central, is through a region remarkably diverse as to physiog- 

 raphy. From San Jos6 three principal trips were made: First, to La Palma, 

 a classical botanical locality on the cloud-drenched southwestern slopes of 

 IrazG volcano; next to Santa Clara in the mountains a few leagues south of 

 Cartago; then to Vara Blanca lying high up in an almost unexplored region 

 between the volcanoes Pofls and Barba. Special attention waa here given to 

 ferns and orchids, both groups being extremely abundant both as to species 

 and individuals, and many new and interesting species in these and other 

 groups were collected. 



STUDIES ON EARLY MAN IN EUROPE 



During the summer and early fall of 1923, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, 

 curator of physical anthropology, National Museum, revisited the 

 important sites of early man in western and central Europe, as well 

 as the institutions in which are preserved the skeletal remains of 



