14 ANNUAL BEPOBT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



tion, too-other with series of skeletal and embryological material; 



570 bird skins, with 24 additional examples in alcohol, and smaller 

 collections of reptiles, amphibians, insects, marine specimens, etc. 



MALACOLOGICAL FIELD-WORK IX CALIFORNIA AND THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



On the way to the First Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress, held in 

 Honolulu, August 2 to 20, 1020, Dr. Paul Bartsch, curator of mol- 

 lusks, United States National Museum, spent one day on shipworm 

 investigation at Mare Island. Calif. A tug was placed at his dis- 

 posal by the commandant of the station in order to make every 

 minute of the brief visit count, and the investigation resulted in the 

 discovery that the mollusk which caused damage to the extent of 

 some $25,000,000 last year is a new species of Teredo, which Dr. 

 Bartsch named Teredo beachi, in honor of the commandant of Mare 

 Island. 



In the Hawaiian Islands, collections of mollusks were made at 

 several localities, and dredgings were made in Pearl Harbor, where 

 the commandant placed a dredge at the disposal of Dr. Bartsch and 

 Mr. John B. Henderson. Here also a new species of shipworm was 

 discovered, which was named Teredo parksi in honor of Admiral 

 Parks. 



An interesting observation made at the southeast point of Ha- 

 nouma Bay was the finding of an existing marine flora and fauna 

 at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea. Regarding 

 this occurrence, Dr. Bartsch says: 



This flora and fauna consist of algae, quite a number of species of mollusks, 

 crustaceans, echinoderms, and other marine organisms, which occupy pools 

 and puddles kept ever moist and supplied with fresh water by the spray from 

 the breaking surf, which incessantly pounds that shore. I consider this an 

 important observation, since the occurrence of fossiliferous laminae bearing 

 marine organisms between sheets of lava has been held to indicate that they 

 were deposited at or below sea level, and their occurrence above this has- 

 been held as evidence of elevation. We have here an instance which indicates 

 that this is not necessarily the case, for such a lamina would be produced if 

 a new outpouring of lava were to cover up the place mentioned. 



BOTANICAL RESEARCHES IN THE ORIENT. 



Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, custodian, section of grasses. United States 

 National Museum, left Washington the lasti of April for several 

 months' botanical work in the Orient under the auspices of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. This journey was un- 

 dertaken with two main objects in view: (1) To study the grasses 

 of the Philippine Islands in response to a request from the director 

 of the Philippine Bureau of Science (Dr. E. D. Merrill) to prepare 

 the manuscript on the grasses for a flora of the Philippine Islands; 

 (2) to study the native and cultivated bamboos of the Philippines. 



