REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1911. 35 



The curator of the division, Mr. Robert Ridgway, completed the 

 manuscript of part 5 of Museum Bulletin 50, entitled " The Birds of 

 North and Middle America," and by the close of the year the print- 

 ing; of this volume was well advanced. He also made considerable 

 progress in the arrangement of data for part 6 of the same work. 

 Dr. E. A. Mearns continued the preparation of his report on the 

 birds collected by the Smithsonian African Expedition, and Mr. 

 William Palmer devoted some time to working up the birds obtained 

 in Java by Mr. Owen Bryant and himself. Mr. A. C. Bent, of 

 Taunton, Massachusetts, who, at his own expense, is proceeding with 

 the work on the " Life Histories of North American Birds," begun 

 by Major Bendire and continued by Doctor Ralph, examined mate- 

 rial at the Museum and made one or more field trips during the year. 



The collections of the division were consulted by members of the 

 staff of the Biological Survey and by many ornithologists from differ- 

 ent parts of the country and from abroad. Among the latter may be 

 mentioned Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, of the Carnegie Museum; Mr. 

 Witmer Stone, curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia; Mr. Frank M. Chapman and Mr. W. cle W. Miller, 

 of the American Museum of Natural History ; Dr. Glover M. Allen 

 and Mr. William Brewster, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology; 

 Mr. Charles B. Cory and Mr. W. H. Osgood, of the Field Museum of 

 Natural History; Mr. B. H. Swales, of Grosse He, Michigan; Dr. 

 L. C. Sanford, of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, 

 of Monadnock, New Hampshire; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, and Rear 

 Admiral R. E. Peary, United States Navy, of Washington; Hon. 

 Dean C. Worcester, secretary of the interior of the Philippine 

 Islands; Mr. Anastasio Alfaro, director of the Museo Nacional, San 

 Jose, Costa Rica ; and Mr. J. H. Fleming, of Toronto, Canada. 



Reptiles and hatrachians. — The acquisitions by this division were 

 especially important and supplied many species new to science as 

 well as many others new to the collection. The largest accession, 

 received by transfer from the Biological Survey of the Department 

 of Agriculture, comprised 3,707 specimens from various localities in 

 the United States and Mexico, and furnished the second specimen of 

 Ascaphus truei. The working up of the Mexican material is expected 

 to add very extensively to our knowledge of the herpetology of that 

 country. The Javan collection made by Mr. Bryant and Mr. Palmer 

 and determined by Mr. Thomas Barbour, of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, added a large number of specimens and the type 

 of a new species of snake. From the Smithsonian African Expedi- 

 tion 399 additional specimens were received, making the total number 

 of reptiles and batrachians obtained from that source 2,223. The' 

 Bureau of Fisheries transmitted 330 specimens collected partly in 

 different sections of the United States and partly during the cruise 



