PREFACE 



Much of our present knowleds^e of the races of man, of animal and 

 l)lant Hfe, and of the face of the earth itself, has come directly from the 

 field notes and collections of scientific men and ex])lorers who have 

 gone out to the far corners of the earth with definite problems to solve. 

 Tt is a ]iaradox of the search for knowledge that the more is learned, 

 the more unforeseen problems present themselves for study, so that the 

 ]>ursuit of knowledge in the field and in the laboratory goes on with 

 an ever-widening front. The Smithsonian endeavors to carrv its sector 

 in this advance through researches in the laboratories at the Institu- 

 tion and throtigh field ex])editions in the sciences of geology, biology, 

 anthropology, and astrophysics. 



The ]:)resent pamphlet presents some of the researches ui)on which 

 the Smithsonian is working and some of the interesting aspects of 

 the expeditions which sought during 1929 to advance these researches. 

 The Institution is able from its income to pay the expenses of but a 

 very few exj^editions each year; for the rest it is indebted to its 

 friends and to various other institutions whose coojieration in various 

 wavs has made theiu possible. 



W. ]'. Truk. 

 n.ditor. Siiiitlisoniaii I iistit iilion. 



