10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 194 5 



pleted early in the coming year. The editorial costs of the Handbook, 

 which will appear as a Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 have been defrayed by the Department of State. 



The Institute of Social Anthropology, set up in 1943 under the 

 directorship of Dr. Steward to carry out cooperative training in an- 

 thropological teaching and research with the other American re- 

 publics, continued its work in Mexico jointly with the Escuela 

 Nacional de Antropologia of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e 

 Historia. Two members of the Institute's staff taught at the Escuela 

 and, during the last half of the year, directed field research among the 

 Tarascan Indians. In Peru, staff members studied Moche, an Indian 

 community on the north coast, and supervised a field survey of the 

 central Highlands of Peru by representatives of the Museos Historicos. 

 In Brazil, teaching and research in Brazilian social anthropology 

 were planned in cooperation with the Escola Livre de Sociologia e 

 Politica of Sao Paulo. 



The third part of a "Checklist of the Coleopterous Insects of Mexico, 

 Central America, the West Indies, and South America," by Dr. R. E. 

 Biackwelder, appeared during the year. As stated in previous re- 

 ports, this published list of one of the largest and most important 

 groups of insects will be an invaluable aid in future entomological 

 research in the Americas. 



In addition to these major projects several members of the staff 

 conducted field work in various South and Central American coun- 

 tries in cooperation with scientists of those countries. 



Return of evacuated collectiotis. — Early in the war many of the 

 priceless and irreplaceable historical and scientific materials in the 

 national collections were removed to a place of safety in anticipation 

 of possible bombings of American cities. By November 1944 this 

 potential danger was considered to be negligible, and all the evacuated 

 material was brought back to the Institution. The specimens so 

 handled occupied 21,000 cubic feet of space and weighed some 117,500 

 pounds. The transfer was made without damage in spite of the fact 

 that many of the specimens were fragile and difficult to pack and to 

 handle. Among the materials safely transported both ways were 

 thousands of type specimens of mammals, birds, fishes, insects, plants, 

 and other life forms, which are of vital importance to science. Other 

 priceless specimens to make the trip were the original Star Spangled 

 Banner, George Washington's field kit, and many other tangible 

 evidences of America's past struggles to win and preserve her freedom. 

 The scientific and historical collections in American institutions and 

 museums assume an ever greater importance in view of the destruction 

 of a great many such collections in Europe. 



