REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 5 



STUDIES IN CAMBRIAN GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



During- the field season of 1910 I continued the study of the Cam- 

 brian strata of the section of the Rocky Mountains adjacent to the 

 main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, special attention being 

 given to the Stephen formation. The outcrop of this formation was 

 carefully examined for many miles along the mountain sides, with the 

 hope of finding a locality where conditions had been favorable for 

 the preservation of the life of the epoch. The famous trilobite 

 locality on the slope of Mount Stephen above Field had long been 

 known and many species of fossils collected from it, but even there 

 the conditions had not been favorable for the presence and preserva- 

 tion of examples of much of the life that, from what was known of 

 older faunas and the advanced stage of development of the Upper 

 Cambrian fauna, must have existed in the Middle Cambrian seas. 

 The finding, during the season of 1909, of a block of fossiliferous 

 siliceous shale that had been brought down by a snowslide on the 

 slope between Mount Field and Mount Wapta led us to make a 

 thorough examination of the section above in 1910. Every layer of 

 limestone and shale above was examined, until we finally located the 

 fossil-bearing band. After that for 30 days we quarried the shale, 

 slid it down the mountain side in blocks to a trail, and transported 

 it to camp on pack horses, where the shale was split, trimmed, and 

 packed and then taken down to the railway station at Field, 3,000 

 feet below. 



A number of sections of the Cambrian rocks were studied and 

 measured in the mountains north and south of Laggan, Alberta, and 

 many beautiful panoramic photographs secured. 



BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE. 



At the date of my last annual report the Institution contemplated 

 an exhaustive biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone, and it 

 was then hoped that definite plans would soon be completed and the 

 survey undertaken within a few months. I am glad now to report 

 that chiefly through the generosity of friends of the Institution the 

 necessary funds for carrying on the work became available. With 

 the cooperation of several of the executive departments, and of the 

 Field Museum of Natural History, a party of about 10 naturalists 

 was accordingly sent to the zone, and the results so far accomplished 

 have been very satisfactory. Large collections of biological material 

 have been received, including specimens of a considerable number of 

 genera and species new to science. 



Much interest is manifest in the survey both here and in the zone. 

 The Republic of Panama was so impressed with the importance of 

 the work that it invited the Institution to extend the survey within 



