32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



lections compares favorably with and probably exceeds that of the 

 average. 



No single collection stands out prominently, except perhaps the 

 Evezard collection of recent mollusks, which was purchased and 

 presented to the Museum by the late John B. Henderson. Another 

 collection of great scientific interest is the series of Opalinid ciliate 

 infusorians prepared by Professor Maynard M. Metcalf, of Oberlin, 

 Ohio, which forms the basis of his monograph published during the 

 year by the Museum as its Bulletin No. 120. The most significant 

 feature of the year's accessions is the fact that some of the more im- 

 portant ones are from China, as a result of deliberate efforts at im- 

 proving systematically the study material from the Palearctic region 

 which is of such a fundamental importance for a full understanding 

 of our North American fauna. 



This tendency toward a more conscious development of the weak 

 portions of our collections was made possible by the explorations 

 now on the way in China undertaken by friends of the Museum, such 

 as Mr. Charles M. Hoy's trip financed by Dr. W. L. Abbott, and Mr. 

 A. de C. Sowerby's by Col. Kobert S. Clark. Rev. D. C. Graham's 

 explorations in the Province of Szechuen were also fruitful of scien- 

 tifically valuable material, while an expedition recently sent into the 

 field by the National Geographic Society under the leadership of Mr. 

 Frederick R. Wulsin holds great promise for the future. Many im- 

 portant gaps in our South American collections were also filled by 

 Dr. Hugh M. Smith as a result of his expedition to Uruguay. Dr. 

 W. L. Abbott's visit to the Dominican Republic added materially 

 to our botanical and herpetological series. Secretary Walcott's ex- 

 plorations in the Canadian Rockies, as well as Dr. Paul Bartsch's 

 trip to the West Indies, and that of Dr. Leonard Stejneger to the 

 Commander Islands were also productive of desirable material. The 

 botanical expedition to Colombia by Dr. F. W. Pennell and Mr. 

 Ellsworth P. Killip, undertaken in cooperation with the Phila- 

 delphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the New York Botanical 

 Garden, and the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, brought 

 home one of the largest and most important plant collections ever 

 obtained in that country. Dr. William R. Maxon had not returned 

 from Central America at the end of the fiscal year. 



The Australian mammal exhibit has been further strengthened by 

 the addition of several species, and a Malay tapir was incorporated 

 in the Oriental region exhibit. Several other large mammals were 

 likewise mounted and placed on exhibition, among which the gorilla 

 mounted by Brown and Aschemeier from a specimen collected by the 

 latter a few years ago while attached to the Collins-Garner Expe- 

 dition to French Congo, deserves special mention. Good progress 



