REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 23 



Biology. — Important collections of mammals came from the Indo- 

 Pacific region, including species heretofore unrepresented in the col- 

 lections from Australia and the Philippines, and from Panama. 



A collection of nearly 600 birds came from Panama, 500 from Ceylon, 

 and about 100 from Admiralty Islands, the last being a region here- 

 tofore unrepresented in the Museum's collections. Other avian mate- 

 rial received included 45 bird skins from Nissan Island, Solomons ; 8 

 specimens of Venezuelan birds ; the type of a new subspecies of black- 

 bird, Agelaius xanthomus monensis, from Puerto Rico; and 62 bird 

 skins from extreme eastern Brazil. 



Noteworthy additions to the herpetological collections came from 

 Panama, Haiti, Trinidad, Sierra Leone, Virgin Islands, Ceylon, and 

 New Guinea. Four accessions, comprising about 700 specimens of 

 reptiles and amphibians from the Indo-Pacific region, were received 

 from the Naval Medical School, Bethesda, Md. 



A bramble shark received during the year represents, so far as 

 known, the only specimen of this shark in any North American mu- 

 seum; it was washed ashore on the California coast. Exchanges 

 brought many valuable fish specimens to the collections, including 12 

 paratypes of Venezuelan fishes. Fifty-eight Cuban fishes, including 

 43 paratypes, were received as a gift. The largest single ichthyological 

 addition of the year comprised 1,180 specimens collected for the 

 Museum from the Perlas Islands, Panama. 



Most important of the year's insect accessions was the large amount 

 of mosquito material received from various units of the Army and 

 Navy. Aside from this, the outstanding addition of the year was the 

 Dayton Stoner collection of Scutelleroidea, accompanied by a consid- 

 erable series of Coleoptera and other insects. In addition, about 3,000 

 insects of all orders were collected for the Museum from the Perlas 

 Islands, Panama, and 1,500 from Chile. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture transferred 72,000 insects to the Museum. 



Six of the year's accessions brought type material of marine inverte- 

 brates, representing new species of parasitic copepods, crayfish, a para- 

 sitic isopod, and a turbellarian worm. Besides, a large collection of 

 marine invertebrates came from the Perlas Islands, Panama. 



In mollusks, the year's largest accession, 25,000 specimens, was col- 

 lected for the Museum in the Perlas Islands, Panama. Other note- 

 worthy molluscan additions were 200 specimens of shipworms from 

 the Canal Zone, about 300 Mexican land, fresh-water, and marine 

 shells, 385 land shells from Panama, more than 600 shells from the 

 Pacific region from the Naval Medical School, and nearly 2,900 shells 

 from various Pacific localities received from 13 members of the armed 

 services. Helminths added during the year included paratype and 



