PROCEEDINGS OF THE REGENTS. 133 



The party sailed from Seattle on June 26, 1914, and after an ex- 

 jiloration of the territory about the Kolyma Eiver region, Mr. 

 Amory returned during the summer of 1915 bringing 365 mammals 

 and 264 birds. This collection was obtained at the nominal cost of 

 an outfit and the transportation from Nome, Alaska, to Washington, 

 and is a very important contribution to the National Museum. 



Biological vjork in North ChiTia. — Mr. A. de C. Sowerby is con- 

 tinuing his work in Manchuria and northeastern China through the 

 generosity of a friend of the Smithsonian, whose identity, as here- 

 tofore reported, is withheld. Tavo wapiti bucks and a roe deer have 

 been received, but the main collections have been *^elayed in transit. 



Montana and Wyoming. — The secretarj'' continued his work of 

 exploration among the fossil beds of Montana in connection with 

 his studies of the early life of the earth. In the Yellowstone Na- 

 tional Park he observed the character and method of deposition 

 of the hot spring and geyser deposits by the primitive blue-green 

 alga?, and supervised the collecting of siliceous geyserite, silicified 

 wood, and volcanic rocks. Over 5 tons of material were shipped 

 to the National Museum during the summer of 1915. 



On leaving the park the canyon of the West Gallatin Kiver was 

 followed for a distance of 30 miles, and the valley of the upper 

 Missouri River was crossed at Townsend, Mont., en route to the Belt 

 Mountains. A collection of very ancient fossil algal remains was 

 made there, of which one and a half tons of specimens were selected 

 for study in connection with the material obtained during the field 

 season of 1914. These specimens contain the oldest fossil bacteria 

 known, as well as deposits similar to those made by the blue-green 

 algne in the Yellowstone National Park hot springs. 



Throughout the trip Dr. Walcott was assisted by Mrs. Walcott, 

 who is an enthusiastic photographer and collector. 



Dr. Hrdlicka^s yro^posed Asiatic expedition. — The object of the 

 contemplated expedition is to trace in eastern Asia, as far as may be 

 possible, the origin of the American aborigines, which is now one of 

 the foremost problems before the anthropologists of the world. A 

 preliminary survey of parts of Siberia and Mongolia, made by 

 Dr. Hrdlicka under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution in 

 1912, yielded results of the most interesting nature, and the evidence, 

 ethnological and archeological, encouraged the belief that further 

 research would lead to determinations of great scientific value. The 

 primitive tribes visited by Dr. Hrdlicka are, in their physical 

 characteristics, hardly to be distinguished from the typical American 

 Indian and the traces of prehistoric culture give almost equally close 

 analogies, and it seems most desirable that further explorations 

 should be undertaken. 



73830°— SM 1916 10 



