REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 29 
At the beginning of March, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution, accompanied by W. M. Perrygo, scien- 
tific aid, went to Panama where they were occupied briefly in check- 
ing on the fauna on San José Island in the Perlas group, where the 
Smithsonian made extended studies in 1944. Following this they 
examined the Canal Zone Biological Area on Barro Colorado Island in 
Gatin Lake, an agency for which Dr. Wetmore serves as executive 
oflicer. They proceeded on March 14, through the assistance of Maj. 
Gen. H. R. Harmon, Commanding General of the Sixth Air Force, by 
plane to the auxiliary airfield at Jaqué in eastern Darién. Here they 
remained until April 16 making detailed collections and studies of the 
bird life of the coastal area. Ranges of broken hills and the lowlands 
along the Rio Jaqué were a fertile field, so that the 640 specimens ob- 
tained during 30 days of field work include representatives of 170 
species. These supplement excellently earlier collections under 
Smithsonian auspices in eastern Darién. The party returned to 
Washington on April 21, 
M. A. Carriker, Jr., traveling under the W. L. Abbott fund of the 
Smithsonian Institution, this season covered the high paramos of the 
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, entering the area in January 
through San José and San Sebastian de Rabago. Traveling in part 
with pack oxen, Mr. Carriker worked first at Chinchicua where there 
was some forest in addition to the open slopes. At the beginning of 
February he camped at Siminchucua at a higher elevation where morn- 
ing temperatures were frequently near freezing, with ice not uncom- 
mon. The next camp called Mamancanaca was at 10,500 feet in a 
region of glaciated valleys and old moraines. Four lakes at suc- 
cessively higher levels lay below the snow fields at 15,350 feet. Birds 
in the main were found below 12,000 feet. A further camp was located 
early in March at 10,000 feet on the headwaters of the Rio Guatipuri, 
and in April still another, farther down the same river at the little 
Indian hamlet of Chendicua. The expedition was highly successful, 
obtaining fine series of the high-mountain birds, including many not 
previously represented in the Museum and several that are new to 
science. Other collections made at lower elevations give representa- 
tion of the better-known Santa Marta races that make a highly desir- 
able addition to our series from northern Colombia. 
In the department of geology Dr. G. A. Cooper, curator of inverte- 
brate paleontology and paleobotany, accompanied by Dr. J. Brookes 
Knight, research associate, left on June 12 for Austin, Tex., and from 
there proceeded by auto to the Glass Mountains in west Texas. At 
that point the party was joined by Dr. R. C. Moore, of the University 
of Kansas. The three cooperated in collecting blocks of Permian 
