24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 194 5 



cotype material of 10 new forms, 13 specimens from New Guinea, and 

 101 specimens from the Perlas Islands. 



Among the echinoderms received was an example of the starfish 

 Linckia rosenbergi from the South Pacific, not seen since originally 

 described in 1866, and 85 other specimens from Biak Island, the first 

 echinoderms ever received by the Museum from that part of the world. 

 Thirty-four corals were received from five servicemen in the Pacific 

 region. 



Botanical material came from many parts of the world and in vary- 

 ing lots and quantities. Perhaps the most important accession in this 

 field was a set of 8,000 photographs of plant types in European her- 

 baria (mostly in the Berlin Herbarium), purchased from the Chicago 

 Natural History Museum. Other important accessions included two 

 lots of plants from Colombia, totaling 3,720 specimens; about 1,400 

 plants transferred from the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 of which 1,360 are from northern Brazil ; 111 specimens and nearly 300 

 photographs of type material of Crepis and related genera ; 622 speci- 

 mens of Ecuadorian trees; several sizable lots of plants from Vene- 

 zuela, Mexico, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Cuba, and Texas; and 172 

 specimens of ferns, mostly from Pacific islands. In addition, about 

 6,400 plant specimens of many kinds were received in exchange with 

 other institutions, both North and South American. Diatom material 

 was received from two remote places : 10 samples from various deposits 

 at Oamaru, New Zealand, and 2 samples of planktonic species from 

 near Attu Island in the Aleutians. 



Geology. — Income from the Canfield and Roebling funds continued 

 to supply rare and valuable gems and minerals for the collections. 

 The finest specimen so far recovered of the new mineral brazilianite, 

 from Arrasuahy, Brazil, was among the four accessions credited to 

 the Canfield fund during the year. Through the Roebling fund 10 

 accessions of minerals and gems were recorded. Among the many 

 gifts were 16 different-colored jade rings and a synthetic emerald of 

 90 points, and from the United States Customs Service came a series 

 of 160 cut stones. The mineral collections also benefited by a number 

 of very fine gifts, outstanding among which were the James Douglas 

 collection of copper minerals from Bisbee, Ariz., and the T. Sterry 

 Hunt mineral collection. Several meteorites were added, including 

 the 1,164-pound Drum Mountain, Millard County, Utah, meteorite 

 (through the Roebling fund) and an 81 -pound mass of the Odessa 

 meteorite. A suite of 22 nickel ores came from New Caledonia. 



In the field of invertebrate paleontology and paleobotany seven times 

 as many specimens were received as for the previous year, and several 

 accessions were noteworthy. Transferred from the United States 



