REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 13 



$12,000 a year, which is placed under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution for the specific purpose of carrying on scientific studies, 

 particularly of American mammals and other animals, the donor 

 specifying Dr. C. Hart Merriam as the investigator to carry on the 

 work during his lifetime. 



BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE. 



The Institution has had in contemplation for some time several 

 important scientific explorations, and it is gratifying to state that it 

 now seems possible that one of them — an exhaustive biological sur- 

 vey of the Panama Canal Zone — will be undertaken in the winter of 

 1910-11. Definite plans for this survey have not been decided 

 upon at present, but these are now under consideration and it is 

 hoped that all the arrangements may be completed and the work 

 put in hand in a few months. 



It is particularly important to science that a biological survey of 

 the Canal Zone be made at this time, as it appears without question 

 that it would yield important scientific results, both as regards ad- 

 ditions to knowledge and to the collections of the United States 

 National Museum and other museums. While the Isthmus is not 

 so well endowed with large forms as the great continental areas, such 

 as Africa, southern Asia, and some other regions, yet its fauna and 

 flora are rich and diversified. The collecting which has been carried 

 on there has been on such a rather limited scale, and chiefly along 

 trade routes, that an extensive and thorough survey would surely 

 produce new scientific information of great value. 



A part of the fresh-water streams of the Isthmus of Panama empty 

 into the Atlantic Ocean and others into the Pacific Ocean. It is 

 known that a certain number of animals and plants in the streams on 

 the Atlantic side are different from those of the Pacific side, but as 

 no exact biological survey has ever been undertaken the extent and 

 magnitude of these differences have yet to be learned. It is also of 

 the utmost scientific importance to determine exactly the geograph- 

 ical distribution of the various organisms inhabiting those waters, 

 as the Isthmus is one of the routes by which the animals and plants 

 of South America have entered North America and vice versa. 

 When the canal is completed the organisms of the various watersheds 

 will be offered a ready means of mingling together, the natural dis- 

 tinctions now existing will be obliterated, and the data for a true un- 

 derstanding of the fauna and flora placed forever out of reach. 



By the construction of the Gatun dam a vast fresh-water lake will 

 be created, which will drive away or drown the majority of the 

 animals and plants now inhabiting the locality, and quite possibly 

 exterminate some species before they become known to science. 



