40 ANNUAL. REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



being that Mr. Aschemeier should devote his time to making collec- 

 tions of the vertebrates for the National Museum, with particular 

 reference to river dolphins and seacows. He left New York late in 

 April and no collections have been received as yet. 



Dr. William M. Mann, assistant custodian, section of Hymenoptera, 

 undertook for the Department of Agriculture a trip to Mexico be- 

 tween January 19 and June 7, 1923, for the purpose of collecting and 

 studying certain fruit flies. As far as possible general collections of 

 insects were made and some reptiles and a few ethnological speci- 

 mens secured. The material has not as yet been accessioned, but 

 enough is known of it to prove its value, although owing to the 

 extreme dryness of the season collecting was very poor. From 

 Nogales he went down the west coast of Mexico as far as Tepic, 

 making a 10-day side trip to Lower California in the district between 

 Loreto and Comondu. Afterwards the States of Jalisco and Colima 

 were visited and then a rather hurried trip was made to the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec and in Chiapas as far as Tapachula. He returned 

 by way of Loredo, Tex. 



Secretary Charles D. Walcott's expedition to the Canadian Rockies 

 was productive of valuable additions to tha mammal collection, as 

 already mentioned. 



The botanical explorations during the year have added materially 

 to the collections of the National Herbarium. Dr. W: L. Abbott's 

 visit to the Dominican Republic has already been mentioned. 



Mrs. Agnes Chase visited Europe from March until July, 1922, for 

 the purpose of studying the grass collections in the herbaria at 

 Vienna, Munich, Florence, Pisa, Geneva, Berlin, Leiden, Brussels, 

 Paris, and London, and many type specimens of American grasses 

 were examined. A large number of valuable specimens of grasses 

 also was obtained for deposit in the National Herbarium, including 

 fragments of many types and duplicates of early South American 

 collections. 



Dr. William R. Maxon, associate curator of the division of plants, 

 left Washington in May, 1923, accompanying a party directed by 

 Mr. O. F. Cook, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 whose purpose is to investigate the rubber resources of Central 

 America. At the time of preparation of this report the party was 

 in Panama and it was expected that two months additional would 

 be spent in Central America. 



Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, custodian of the grass herbarium, left Wash- 

 ington in May, 1923, with the expectation of spending six months in 

 Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, where he intends to devote particular 

 attention to the study of grasses, but will also make collections of 

 other groups of plants. The expedition is supported jointly by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, New York Botanical 

 Garden, and Gray Herbarium. 



