﻿NO. I SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I925 3I 



road, water and sewer arrangements, etc. Still, it could not have been 

 accomplished without the cordial cooperation of the Commissioners 

 of the Los Angeles County Park in which the new observatory lies. 



Finally, the National Geographic Society, realizing that the rela- 

 tions of solar radiation to weather constitute a highly important world 

 problem, has made to Dr. Abbot a grant of $55,000 to enable him to 

 locate a new station in the best possible site in the Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere, and in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution to pur- 

 chase the outfit and carry on the observations for several years. There 

 should be still a fourth station, and it is hoped that eventually means 

 may be found to erect and maintain it. 



Dr. Abbot, accompanied by Mrs. Abbot, is now making the recon- 

 naissance in Algeria, Beluchistan and Southwest Africa which seem 

 to be the most favorable locations, considering cloudlessness, high 

 altitudes, stable government and convenient transportation. 



Four important papers on these researches have been published dur- 

 ing the year as Numbers 3. 5. 6, and 7 of Volume jy, Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections. In addition Dr. Abbot has given a radio 

 talk and contributed two papers to science and one to the National 

 Geographic Magazine giving special aspects of the matter. 



BIOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN WESTERN CHINA 



The Rev. David C. Graham continued his natural history explora- 

 tions in the province of Szechwan, China, during the year 1925, 

 collecting material locally in the vicinity of Suifu and occasionally 

 sending his native hunters to points at some distance from his station. 

 He had projected a trip to the region of Moupin, a place he was unable 

 to visit the previous year, but again the presence of bandits in that 

 vicinity caused him to alter his plans. In fact, his movements during 

 the year were largely dependent upon civil war and bandit conditions. 



After giving up the Moupin project, Mr. Graham decided to go to 

 Mount Omei, southeast of Kiating, and had begun to pack his outfit 

 for this trip, when his insect netter returned from a collecting foray 

 with the information that a band of 80 armed robbers were operating 

 on the Min River between Suifu and Mount Omei. While again unde- 

 cided as to his summer's plans, Mr. Graham was notified about the 

 middle of June that the local military authority requested all foreign- 

 ers to go to Kiating together, with a heavy escort for safety. In his 

 diary, Mr. Graham writes : " The General says that possibly 500 

 soldiers will have to be sent along with us. Conditions between here 



