14 ANKUAL -REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



return trip in February the islands of Trinidad and Grenada were visited. Col- 

 lections of grasses were made on all the islands. In British Guiana a general 

 collection of flowering plants was made, a set going to each of the contributing 

 institutions. 



My headquarters were at Georgetown, the capital and only large city of the 

 colony. Here there is a good botanical garden and a herbarium of British 

 Guiana plants, known as the Jenman Herbarium. Prof. J. B. Harrison, the 

 director of science and agriculture, is in charge of the scientific activities of 

 the colony and rendered me very efficient aid. 



The greater part of British Guiana is covered with virgin forest. The vast 

 .savannas of Venezuela extend into the southern part of the colony. The tempera- 

 ture is high, 75° to 8.5°, according to the season, and the rainfall at Georgetown 

 is about 90 inches. The settlements are mainly along the coast, and travel in 

 the interior is by boat along the numerous rivers. The country for some dis- 

 tance back of the coast is low and wet. The chief industry Is the raising of 

 sugar cane. Th6 health of the colony is fairly good, though there is much 

 malaria. 



The botanical results were very satisfactory. About 1,200 numbers of plants 

 were collected. Especial attention was given to the grasses, of which 171 species 

 are now known to grow in the colony. 



BOTANICAL EXPLORATION IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONT. 



Mr. Paul C. Standley, assistant curator in the Division of Plants, 

 United States National Museum, spent about 10 weeks, from July to 

 September, 1919, in Glacier National Park, Mont., under the au- 

 thority of the National Park Service, for the purpose of studying the 

 vegetation of the region. A large series of photographs and about 

 4,000 specimens, representing over 900 species of plants, were ob- 

 tained, which will serve as the basis of a popular illustrated account 

 of the plants to be published by the Park Service, and a more com- 

 plete technical paper on the flora, in process of publication by the 

 National Museum. The zonal distribution of the plants, which is of 

 extreme interest, is discussed briefly by Mr. Standley, as follows : 



The Continental Divide, which traverses the park, has a marked influence 

 upon plant distribution. On the east slope, whose drainage is partly into the 

 Missouri River and partly. into Hudson Bay, the flora is of the Rocky Mountain 

 type, like that of Wyoming and Colorado ; while on the west slope, whose 

 streams drain into the Columbia River, the flora is more obviously related to 

 that of the Pacific coast. The forests about Lake INIcDonald are very dense 

 and are composed of unusually large trees. Although not nearly so extensive, 

 they are much like those of the humid regions of Oregon and Washington. 



In the vegetation there are represented four of the life zones recognized by 

 biologists. The transition zone is indicated on the west slope by small areas of 

 yellow-pine timber, and east of the park are the prairies of the Blackfoot 

 Indian Reservation, which extend also within the park boundaries along the 

 stream valleys. The plants here are chiefly herbs, with a few shrubs, and they 

 belong mostly to species which have a wide distribution over the Great Plains. 

 By far the largest portion of the park is covered with the characteristic vegeta- 

 tion of the Canadian zone, which is the heavily forested area. Above the 

 Canadian zone, around timber line (6,000 to 7,500 feet), lies a narrow belt 



