24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



dians. The field party obtained transport from Paitilla Airport, 

 Panama City, via Cessna-180 four-passenger plane to Mandinga in the 

 San Bias where camp was established midway between the foothills of 

 the Cerro Azul and the sea. While much of the land had been cleared 

 for farming, original forest remained in the swampy woodlands near 

 the coast and over the inland hills. During a period of four weeks 

 observations were made on approximately 200 species of birds with 

 series of specimens prepared of those desired for special study. 

 Friendly Indian neighbors were almost daily visitors, the colorful 

 dress of the women being especially attractive. As this is the first col- 

 lection of any extent to be made on the Caribbean coast between the 

 Canal Zone and Puerto Obaldia on the Colombian frontier, the work 

 has afforded especially valuable information. 



Following return to the Canal Zone Dr. Wetmore spent from Febru- 

 ary 25 to 28 in the launch Sea Raider, Richard E. Parker of Colon, 

 skipper, in work along the western side of the Gulf of Panama. Col- 

 lections were made especially at Ensenada Venado, west of Punta 

 Mala, and on Isla Iguana, to the north of that point, localities acces- 

 sible only by boat. This year sea birds had not yet arrived to nest on 

 the rocky islets of Los Frailes off Punta Mala, though they had been 

 abundant there on February 6, 1956. On the return trip he examined 

 the rocky islets of Isla Villa and Farallon de Chiru. 



After a day on Cerro Azul and another near the base of Cerro Bruja, 

 the party left by jeep for the lower end of the Azuero Peninsula. 

 Here, from quarters obtained in the friendly village of Pedasi, studies 

 were made in the valleys of the Rio Caldera and the Rio Oria, the latter 

 accessible over a rough track practicable only in the dry season and by 

 means of the 4- wheel drive of the jeep. Following two weeks here Dr. 

 Wetmore crossed on March 22 by Cessna-180 plane from Las Tablas to 

 the isolated village of Tonosi for examination of the valley of the Rio 

 Tonosi. Here he and Mrs. Wetmore were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. 

 Harry L. Peck, long resident in the valley, who afforded all needed 

 facilities for the work. This concluded the work for this season, ex- 

 cept for a two-day visit to the Barro Colorado Island field station on 

 April 2 and 3. The collections made have added definitely to our 

 knowledge as the work centered on areas that previously had not been 

 investigated. 



During July 1956 Dr. C. L. Gazin, curator of vertebrate paleon- 

 tology, accompanied by preparators Franklin L. Pearce and Theodore 

 B. Ruhoff, proceeded to Shoshoni, Wyo., to prospect for fossil remains 

 in several upper Eocene localities on the north side of the Wind River 

 Basin. This field work was financed by the income from the Walcott 

 bequest. The exposures on Badwater Creek yielded additional 

 artiodactyl remains. Subsequently a search was made for skeletal 

 material of the Oligocene horse Mesohippus, in the Chadron beds 



