40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



with the projected archeological work to be taken up by the National 

 Geographic Society, resulting in valuable accessions to the Museum. 

 At the date of this report he was in the field conducting explorations 

 in the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, N. Mex., for that society. 

 Good results are reported in the preliminary stages of this work, 

 which is expected to cover five summers. Under the arrangement 

 with the society most of the specimens obtained will come to the 

 National Museum. 



Australian expedition. — Mr. Charles M. Hoy, who has been col- 

 lecting vertebrates in Australia since June, 1919, supported by a 

 fund placed at the disposition of the institution by Dr. W. L. Abbott r 

 continued his field-work during the year. He collected at several 

 stations in South Australia, where he also visited Kangaroo Island, 

 at two stations in West Australia, and in the Northern Territory. 

 Forty- four days were spent in working an area of 30 miles in extent. 

 Later on two camps were established in New South Wales, one near 

 the highest point on the northern tableland at an elevation of 5,000 

 feet and one 1,000 feet lower. Altogether, the year's work was very 

 successful. The two shipments received during the year totaled 571 

 mammals and 534 birds, well prepared, many of which were hitherto 

 unrepresented in our collections. A number of interesting reptiles, 

 amphibians, and marine invertebrates were also included. 



Dr. Ahbotfs explorations in Santo Domingo. — Late in 1920 Dr. 

 W. L. Abbott undertook personally another expedition, this time 

 visiting the north side of Santo Domingo (Villa Riva, Pimentel, 

 Catui, Mao, in the Yaqui Valley, and several points on the Samana 

 Peninsula) and returning in May, 1921. He brought back a small 

 but select collection of birds, but his main efforts were devoted to 

 the collecting of plants, approximately 4,000 of which have been 

 received and will doubtless prove of great value. 



The Smithsonian African expedition. — The expedition mentioned 

 in last year's report as having been sent out in conjunction with the 

 Universal Film Manufacturing Co. to South and Central Africa 

 concluded its biological work on July 14, 1920, after which Mr. H. C. 

 Raven, the Smithsonian collector and naturalist, returned to the 

 United States. Though not numerically large, the -collections 

 brought home are of unusual interest on account of the manner in 

 which they supplement those obtained by other expeditions in which 

 the Smithsonian Institution has been interested. 



Field-%oorh in vertebrate paleontology. — Early in the year Assist- 

 ant Curator J. W. Gidley was detailed to visit Williamsburg, Va., 

 to investigate a reported find of some fossil bones in that vicinity. 

 These proved to be the remains of an extinct species of whale of 

 Miocene age, but were incomplete and too badly damaged to make 

 possible the recovery of a sufficient number for an exhibition mount. 



