28 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
more than 1,900 zoologists from all over the world, marked the cen- 
tenary of the first announcement of the theory of evolution by natural 
selection by Darwin and Wallace. Dr. Friedmann presented a paper 
on some of his current work on wax digestion in honeyguides and its 
microbiological implications. In October 1958 Dr. Friedmann repre- 
sented the Museum of Natural History at a conference bringing to- 
gether the directors of systematic collections, held at the New York 
State Museum in Albany. 
On January 21, 1959, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, honorary research 
associate and retired Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, re- 
turned to Panama to continue the survey of the birdlife of the Isthmus. 
The first few days, at Juan Mina, on the Rio Chagres, he devoted 
to study of limpkins, tropical yellow rails, least bitterns, and other 
water birds concerning which little information has been available. 
On February 6 he left Panama City for El Real in eastern Darién, 
where, through the kind assistance of Frank L. Greene, resident man- 
ager of the oil company, Panamanian Delhi Petrolera, Inc., in Panama 
City, and Heinz Meyer, in charge at El Real, storage for part of the 
field outfit and other facilities were made available. On February 
9 he continued by dugout canoe (piragua) up the Rio Tuira and the 
following day reached the point where the Rio Paya, which has its 
headwaters in Colombia, enters the larger stream. This is a region 
of high forest with few small, scattered clearings, made by Chocé 
Indians or an occasional pioneer settler from elsewhere. Tropical- 
zone forest birds were present in great variety of species, but so widely 
scattered through the vast forests of huge, tall trees that much search 
was required to find the more unusual kinds. Many are of South 
American affinity, as there is only a low divide between the upper 
Paya drainage and the lower Atrato Basin of northwestern Colombia. 
The collections and notes obtained here were thus of especial 
importance. 
On March 18 Dr. Wetmore returned to El Real, to continue by 
dugout the following morning up the Rio Chucunaque in company 
with the engineer, William Sun, to a camp of the oil company above 
the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa. This also is a region of vast primitive 
forest, with a few Indian families living along the streams. Birds 
were common, with numbers of unusual kinds not found on the Tuira, 
so that the work here added much of value, particularly since the 
region worked between the Tuquesa and Ucurganti Rivers was one 
that scientifically had been unknown. Im addition, there was the 
advantage of the engineer camp, with its small screened houses, elec- 
tric light at night, and other facilities. The work closed on April 
3 with return to El Real and from there to the Canal Zone on April 
6 and to Washington on April 14. 
