48 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 



Mr. Paul C. Standley, on detail from the Museum, collected some 

 2,800 plants, principally in New Mexico, and also presented 550 

 specimens from southern Missouri. About 200 specimens obtained 

 on the expedition to the Mount Robson region of western Canada 

 were deposited by the Smithsonian Institution. Two important col- 

 lections were acquired by exchange. The first was from the New 

 York Botanical Garden, and consisted of about 6,000 specimens from 

 various sources, but principally from South America, the West Indies, 

 and Panama. The other was from the Arnold Arboretum, of Har- 

 vard University, and contained about 500 specimens, chiefly from 

 the United States. About as many Chinese plants were purchased 

 from the same establishment, and small collections from Santo Do- 

 mingo, Mexico, Bolivia, and the Philippine Islands were also 

 purchased. 



Over 27,000 plants, comprising practically all of the specimens 

 received during the year and some remaining from the previous 

 year, were mounted and added to the herbarium. A beginning was 

 made townrd segregating the types and cotypes, which will hereafter 

 be aiTanged apart from the general collection, to permit of their 

 receiving better attention than was possible before. 



Mr. F. V. Coville, curator of the division, continued his studies 

 on the Vacciniacece. Dr. J. N. Rose, associate curator, worked 

 mainly upon the plants of Mexico and Central America, giving spe- 

 cial attention, as heretofore, to the Cactaceoe, and jointly with Mr. 

 Paul C. Standley, assistant curator, reported upon the collection made 

 by the expedition of the steamer Alhatross to Lower California in 

 1911. On February 1, 1912, Dr. Eose was gi-anted a furlough to per- 

 mit him, in conjunction with Dr. N. L. Britton, to undertake for the 

 Carnegie Institution of AYashington an extended investigation of the 

 Cactace?e. under an arrangement which will make the Museum a 

 beneficiary in the matter of the material to be collected. ]\Ir. W. R. 

 Maxon, assistant curator^ published several papers on tropical Amer- 

 ican ferns, and gave some tune toward the completion of a manuscript 

 for the second part of volume 16 of the " North American Flora," 

 to include descriptions of the Pteridophyta. He also began the prep- 

 aration of a fern flora of Panama, and wrote a popular article on the 

 tree ferns of North America for the Smithsonian Annual Report for 

 1911. Mr. Standley, in addition to studies relative to several groups 

 of Panama plants, had in hand the completion of a manuscript on 

 the flora of Alaska, and, in collaboration with Prof. E. O. Wooton, 

 finished a paper on the flora of New Mexico. Mr. E. S. Steele con- 

 tinued his researches on plants of the genus Laciniana. 



Dr. Edward L. Greene, associate in botany, had in preparation a 

 second part of his " Botanical Landmarks." He published a number 

 of papers on North American plants, and made many determinations 



