22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



Conrad V. Morton, curator of cryptogams, during August 1956, 

 participated in a field trip organized by the American Fern Society 

 on the Gaspe Peninsula, Canada. On the return trip Mr. Morton at- 

 tended the meetings of the American Institute of Biological Sciences 

 at Storrs, Comi. 



From October 1956 to April 1957, Dr. Lyman B. Smith, curator of 

 phanerogams, conducted field studies of the flora of southern Brazil 

 under a grant from the National Science Foundation and in col- 

 laboration with the Herbario "Barbosa Rodrigues." Over 5,000 

 plants were collected on the planalto of Santa Catarina and adjacent 

 regions for phytogeographical research on the origin of the flora of 

 southern Brazil. 



During February 1957, Dr. Herbert Friedmann, curator of birds, 

 was selected to inaugurate the recently endowed "Lida Scott Brown 

 Lectureship" at the University of California at Los Angeles. Pre- 

 viously, in August, he studied the African parasitic weaverbirds in 

 the Chicago Museum of Natural History in furtherance of a mono- 

 graph now in course of preparation. 



On April 30, 1957, Dr. Charles O. Handley, Jr., associate curator 

 of mammals, was detailed to conduct preliminary mammal surveys 

 in eastern Panama in cooperation with the yellow-fever project of 

 the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory. Fieldwork continued through the 

 month of June and Dr. Handley returned to the Museum on June 28, 

 1957. 



At the invitation of Dr. William McD. Hammon, chief of the de- 

 partment of epidemiology and microbiology, Graduate School of 

 Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Dr. David H. Johnson, 

 curator of mammals, joined a virus-research group from July 24 to 

 October 2, 1956, in the vicinity of Manila and Clark Airbase, Luzon, 

 Philippine Islands. This survey of the mosquito-borne virus diseases 

 affecting wild animals and man was supported by the Armed Forces 

 Epidemiological Board, U. S. Department of Defense. 



On July 27, 1956, Dr. Ernest A. Lachner, associate curator of fishes, 

 returned to Washington following completion of his studies under a 

 fellowship awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foun- 

 dation. Dr. Lachner is preparing monographic studies of the cir- 

 cumtropical marine fish families Apogonidae (cardinalnshes) and 

 Mullidae (goatfishes) and found it necessary to examine the collec- 

 lections preserved in the British Museum (Natural History), Lon- 

 don; the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam; the Rijksmuseum van 

 Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden; Naturhistorische Museum, Vienna; 

 Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Frankfurt; Zoo- 

 logisches Museum, Hamburg; Zoological Museum, Copenhagen; the 

 Museum of Belgian Congo, Tervuren; and the Museum National 



