REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



25 wild species are represented and are of interest for comparing 

 the Alaskan species with their nearest Asiatic relatives. 



EXPEDITION TO ST. THOMAS, DANISH WEST INDIES. 



Mr. C. R. Shoemaker, of the division of marine invertebrates in 

 the National Museum, spent the two months from the middle of 

 June to the middle of August, 1915, in the Danish West Indies, 

 under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C, 

 securing collections of corals and other marine invertebrates. This 

 expedition has enriched the collections of the National Museum by 

 about 5,000 specimens, which it is hoped will throw considerable 

 light on the correlation of these islands in the West Indian complex. 



The collecting was done in the open water, bays, and channels at 

 St. Thomas, St. John, and St. James. The deeper waters were ex- 

 plored by means of dredging from a motor boat, while native divers, 

 working from the heavy West Indian row boats, were used for 

 collecting in the shallow waters. In addition to this, much shore 

 collecting was done. Owing to the very strong and constant trade 

 wind, work on exposed reefs was in many cases made impossible by 

 the heavy surf. Collecting in the protected bays, however, was most 

 successful, as a great variety of bottom was to be found in many 

 of them. 



While the chief aim of the expedition was to secure as complete 

 a representation of the coral fauna as possible — and this aim met 

 with considerable success — fine collections of other marine inverte- 

 brates were also obtained, including protozoa, sponges, hydroids, 

 medusae, alc3^onarians, anemones, bryozoans, starfish, sea urchins, holo- 

 thurians, annelids, crustaceans, mollusks, and ascidians. Collections 

 were also made on land whenever opportunities offered, including 

 insects, mollusks, reptiles, and batrachians. 



CACTUS INVESTIGATIONS IN BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA. 



Dr. J. N. Rose, associate in Botany, United States National 

 Museum (at present connected with the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington in the preparation of a monograph of the Cactacese of 

 America ) , accompanied by Mr. Paul G. Russell, of the United States 

 National Museum, continued the botanical exploration of South 

 America during the summer of 1915, spending over five months in 

 travel and field work in Brazil and Argentina. 



In addition to the good-sized collections of cactuses, consisting of 

 living, herbarium, and formalin specimens, moderately large collec- 

 tions of insects, shells, diatoms, and other natural-history specimens 

 were obtained. In all about 8,000 herbarium speciinens were ob- 

 tained and over 90 cases, large and small, of living plants were sent 

 68663°— 16 2 



