﻿30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 'J 2 



to procure it was considered worth while. However, the few days 

 spent here met with little success, and owing to the great inconvenience 

 of continuing it further without more complete field equipment, the 

 project was abandoned. On the morning of April 2, we left Feldman, 

 returning to Benson via Tucson, and the next morning began a 

 systematic search for fossils at a locality about two to three miles 

 south of the town. During our earlier stay at the Curtis ranch we had 

 made one short visit to this locality, the material obtained then sug- 

 gesting a slight difference in age, or phase, between these deposits 

 and those of the Curtis locality. The material obtained at this place 

 is fragmentary and abounds mostly in remains of mammals of small 

 size, intermixed with which were bones of birds of several species 

 sufficiently well preserved for their determination, and a new species 

 of box turtle. Here remains of thirty-four species of vertebrates were 

 recovered. This collection, together with the material obtained at 

 the Curtis ranch locality, in which 26 species are represented, makes 

 up a very considerable fauna which should not only do much toward 

 definitely determining the age of the beds of the San Pedro Valley, 

 but will also throw valuable added light on the at present very little- 

 known animal life of the upper Pliocene of America." 



From Arizona, Mr. Gidley proceeded to Los Angeles, California, 

 where he passed a week studying the museum of the southern branch 

 of the University of California and in examining the well-known 

 asphalt bone deposits of the Rancho la Brea. From Los Angeles, he 

 proceeded on the i6th of April to Agate, Nebraska, prepared to carry 

 out a second detail of field-work mentioned above. He was unfortu- 

 nate here in encountering bad weather, but succeeded in securing for 

 the museum a block of the bone-bearing sandstone some 3^ by 5^ feet 

 and 14 inches in thickness. This was shipped to the museum and 

 preparation for exhibition is now under way. 



ASTROPHYSICAL FIELD-WORK IN ARIZONA AND IN CHILE 



As stated in last year's Exploration pamphlet,' the solar radiation 

 work of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was removed 

 from Mount Wilson, California, to Mount Harqua Hala, Arizona, in 

 September, 1920, in order to observe under better sky conditions, 

 and in a more favorable place for continuing the observing the whole 

 year round. Under the charge of Dr. C. G. Abbot the work was 



Smithsonian Misc. Coll., \'ol. ^2, No. 6. 



