PEOCEEDINGS OF THE EEGENTS. 125 



therefore, been doubled in extent, and its value has been increased 

 far beyond all earlier expectations. 



The secretary added that Mr, Freer was considering the matter 

 of erecting the building to house his gift, and that the question of a 

 site was now an important one, and he suggested that a committee 

 be appointed to take the matter up. 



Dr. White offered the following resolution, which was adopted : 



Resolved, That four members of the board and the secretary be appointed 

 by the chancellor as a committee on the securing of a site for the Freer Art 

 Gallery. 



The chancellor appointed the following as the committee : Senator 

 Lodge, Senator Hollis, Judge Gray, Representative Connolly, and 

 Secretary Walcott. 



WORK UNDER THE HARRIMAN TRUST FUND. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam, research associate under the special fund 

 established by Mrs. E. H. Harriman, has continued his studies of 

 the big bears of America and has practically completed the research 

 work. 



In addition to the technical studies, the literature of early explora- 

 tion and hunting in the western and northern parts of the continent 

 has been searched for records concerning the former ranges and 

 habits of the grizzlies and big brown bears, and it was now possible 

 to determine the relations of most of the species and to arrange them 

 in definite groups. Of the true grizzlies there appear to be about 

 38 species and subspecies, representing a dozen groups; of the big 

 brown bears, about 10 species, representing five groups. 



REPAIRS, SMITHSONIAN BUILDING. 



The appropriation of $16,000 for the repairs to the exterior of 

 the Smithsonian Building became available on August 1, 1911. These 

 repairs are now practically completed, well within the limits of the 

 appropriation, the balance remaining being set aside for exterior 

 painting and some further minor repairs which will be undertaken 

 in the spring. 



EXPEDITIONS. 



Borneo expedition. — For over two years an expedition has been 

 engaged in Borneo through the generosity of Dr. W. L. Abbott, a 

 collaborator of the National Museum, who had at the time of the last 

 meeting contributed $8,000 for this purpose. Dr. Abbott has since 

 added $3,000 to this sum for the completion of the work in Borneo 

 and the further work of collecting in Celebes, the fauna of which is 

 practically unrepresented here. Mr. H. C. Eaven, who has been 



