88 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1920. 



least not immediately. It is very rarely that any of the members of 

 the staff can devote himself exclusively to one subject at the time, 

 and many of their investigations require years of accumulation of 

 specimens and observations before they can be finished. 



Division by division the scientific work of the staff which has 

 resulted in or is expected to result in publication may be summa- 

 rized as follows: 



Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr., found it impracticable to devote much 

 time to original investigation during the past year. Dr. Robert 

 Ridgway, curator of birds, who had been detailed for the purpose, 

 continued his work on the uncompleted portion of Bulletin 50, 

 The Birds of North and Middle America. Volume 9 is now in 

 preparation and of the groups included the Phasianidae and Odon- 

 tophoridae have received special attention, while the synonymy and 

 references to literature relating to the rest of the volume have 

 demanded an unusual proportion of the time. It is hoped that 

 very soon the remaining groups to be included in this part may 

 lie taken in hand and the volume completed. Dr. Charles TV. Rich- 

 mond, associate curator, in collaboration with Mr. B. H. Swales, 

 continued to gather data for a report on the birds of the Island 

 of Haiti. Much time and study was also devoted to the type speci- 

 mens with the view of preparing, also with the assistance of Mr. 

 Swales, a list of the type specimens of birds in the National Mu- 

 seum. Mr. J. H. Riley, aid, continued his studies of the Celebes 

 collection made by Mr. H. C. Raven. In the division of reptiles, 

 Dr. Leonhard Stejneger continued his study of the turtles, espe- 

 cially those of Mexico. Dr. F. X. Blanchard, aid, completed his 

 monograph of the king snakes during the year, and the manu- 

 script is now in the hands of the Public Printer. 



Mr. B. A. Bean, assistant curator of fishes, has devoted some time 

 to the study of the fishes of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, in 

 conjunction with Mr. Henry W. Fowler, of the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a paper by them on 

 a collection of Chinese fishes made by Dr. N. Gist Gee has been 

 submitted and is now in press for the Museum Proceedings. 



In the division of insects the associate curator, Dr. J. M. Aldrich, 

 has studied the genera and species of the dipterous family Antho- 

 myiidae more than any other during the year. He has several 

 incomplete papers on hand, the principal one having been de- 

 layed by the attempt to get some information regarding types in 

 foreign museums. Mr. A. N. Caudell, custodian of Orthoptera 

 has prepared and published a study of structure of the rare order 

 Zoraptera. Other members of the honorary staff have been study- 

 ing the classification of the .groups committed to them, and nearly 

 all have published descriptions of new genera and species. 



