\ 



97 



D 



BIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE 



AMAZON BASIN 



F 



-. O. E. White, curator of plant breeding on the Botanic 

 Garden staff, has been granted leave of absence for the purpose 

 of joining the Mulford Expedition for the biological exploration 

 of the Amazon basin. Prof. H. H. Rushy, dean of the College 

 of Pharmacy, Columbia University, is director of the expedition, 

 and is admirably equipped for such leadership through his previ- 

 ous experience in South American exploration. In 1885-87 he 

 explored the Medeira river valley and Bolivia, and in 1896 the 

 delta of the Orinoco. 



The party sailed on June i, on the steamship Santa Elisa of 

 the Grace hne, for Arica, Chili. From La Paz they will proceed 



y 



westward into the 



terra incognita, crossing 



the Andes at an 



elevation of over 19,000 feet. The base for the explorations will 

 be Calomar. 



r 



The membership of the party includes Dr. Frederick L. Hoff- 

 man, statistician and vice-president of the Prudential Insurance 

 Company, anthropologist, who will study sanitary conditions 

 and public health in the regions visited ; Dr. William M. Mann, 

 assistant entomologist, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, entomologist of the party ; Dr. Everett Pearson, 

 University of Indiana, representing Dean Eigenmann of that 

 University, as Ichthyologist; Mr. George S. ^IcCarty, W^ood- 

 bury, N. J., stenographer and taxidermist; Mr. Gordon Mc- 

 Creagh and Mr. Owen Cattell, photographers. Dr. White goes 

 as representative of both the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the 

 Bussey Institution of Harvard University, these two institutions 

 cooperating in the expense of the trip. LUs collections will in- 

 clude both living and preserved specimens of plants, with special 

 emphasis on orchids, plants and seeds of possible economic use, 

 and plant diseases. It is anticipated that the Botanic Garden 

 collections will be greatly enriched as a result of this work, and 

 that the exploration will yield results of great scientific im- 

 portance. The party expects to be absent about fifteen months. 



