136 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



who is continuing his extensive studies on the variation and (Hstribution 

 of terrestrial snails in the islands of the south Pacific is now in Samoa, 

 after spending ten weeks in the Society Islands and about a month in 

 New Zealand. Under date of July 18 he wrote from Tahiti saying that 

 the survey of the islands of Tahiti and ]\Ioorea had then been completed 

 with gratifying results, since several new varietal forms had been dis- 

 covered, connecting types and localities previously unrelated. The 

 ethnological results of the expedition were satisfactory also, on account 

 of friendly reception from the old chiefs of the native tribes and through 

 the occurrence of a great annual feast that brought together many groups 

 of people from different districts. 



During the summer word came from Mr. V. Stefansson under date 

 of February 8 giving a brief resume of his trip westward from Flaxman 

 Island along the coast to Wainwright Inlet, which is a week's journey, 

 say about one hundred miles, southwest of Point Barrow and back again 

 to Cape Smythe near Point Barrow, where he spent a large part of the 

 winter, while the sun was l)elow the horizon. Not much can be done 

 during the dark days of winter, but Mr. Stefansson improved the time 

 at Cape Smythe, where he was the guest of Mr. Charles Brower, Director 

 of the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Company's station, by making 

 physical measurements of the Point Barrow Eskimo, compiling notes 

 on their dialect and transcribing their folk-lore tales, in all of which much 

 valuable assistance was received from Rev. H. R. Marsh, M. 1)., Presby- 

 terian missionary and physician of the U. S. Bureau of Education, and 

 Mr. C. W. Hawksworth, the resident school master. At the time of 

 writing, Mr. Stefansson was planning to leave Point Barrow the latter 

 part of February to go eastward to Cape Bathurst and beyond and was 

 expecting to send a report from INIacPherson near the mouth of the 

 Mackenzie about the middle of July. 



Messrs. Herbert Lang and James Chapin of the Department of 

 Mammalogy sailed from New York INIay 8 for iVntwerp, whence they 

 proceeded on June 3 for the upper Congo district for the purpose of 

 making a zoological survey of the l)asin of the Congo for the benefit of 

 this Museum. The Belgian authorities have provided every facility 

 possible for the assistance of the expedition in attaining its objects and 

 Messrs. Lang and Chapin with their outfit reached Matadi in the Belgian 



