THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



scientific data regarding their surroundings and life-histories. 

 The results of the expedition are highly satisfactory and demon- 

 strate the desirability of carrying the work on to completion. 

 About 3500 specimens were collected on this trip, supplement- 

 ing the 3000 which were obtained in the same region last year. 

 The insect fauna of the mountainous region of western North 

 Carolina is very distinct from that of the surrounding country, 

 and many of the species show northern affinities. Mr. Beuten- 

 miiller obtained on this trip many new as well as many very rare 

 species, and he has in preparation a monograph on "The Insect 

 Fauna of the Black Mountains, North Carolina," which it is to 

 be hoped he will be enabled to bring to satisfactory completion 

 by material to be obtained on future expeditions. The Black 

 mountains are a transverse chain forming the principal link of 

 connection between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky mountains, 

 and rise in a region which is very interesting from a geographical 

 and geological as well as from a faunal standpoint. It is the 

 culminating portion of the Appalachian system, the united chains 

 containing, in the district under consideration, twenty-five great 

 peaks, twenty of which are more than 6000 feet in elevation 

 above the sea. Most of these mountains are practically unex- 

 plored territory, which furnishes an additional argument for the 

 speedy completion of this entomological survey of it. 



The Department of Anthropology has received the first in- 

 stallment of Chinese clothing, baskets and tools used by the tailor 

 and artificers in allied trades, collected by Dr. Berthold Laufer 

 on his expedition to China, recently undertaken through the gener- 

 osity of a friend of the Museum. The most striking feature of 

 the consignment just received is the clothing, which represents 

 completely the costumes of various classes of the people and in- 

 cludes a number of magnificently embroidered garments. A por- 

 tion of this Chinese collection is on exhibition in hall No. 106, 

 on the ground-floor of the building. 



In the same hall (No. 106) will be found the famous Briggs 

 collection, representing the basketry of the Indians of the Pacific 

 coast of the United States, which has been recently received as a 



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