° " 1911 J Notes and News. 391 



while the deep-sea dredgings, carried out to depth? of 1760 fathoms (2 

 miles), were rich in new and interesting forms. Among the more striking 

 products of the cruise for museum purposes, were the numerous plaster 

 casts made of deep-sea fishes. The most picturesque feature was the 

 re-discovery at Guadelupe Island of the supposed extinct elephant seal. 

 Three males, each 16 feet long, were killed, and six yearlings were shipped 

 alive to the Xew York Aquarium. Moving rapidly from point to point, 

 as we did, the ornithological and other shore work could not be carried very 

 far inland, nor could the work of collecting be made as thorough as was 

 desirable. The naturalists however made the best possible use of each 

 day ashore, and slept comfortably on board at night while the ship was 

 under way to the next anchorage." 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, Curator of Birds in the American Museum 

 of Natural History, who, with Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Mr. Leo 

 Miller, sailed from Xew York City for Colombia on March 13 (see antea, 

 p. 291), returned on June 15. He landed at Buenaventura, on the west 

 coast of Colombia, on March 24, where he connected with Mr. W. B. 

 Richardson,, who had for some months been collecting for the Museum 

 on the west slope of the coast range. The first camp was established on 

 the summit of the coast range, and here material was collected for a Habitat 

 Group, illustrating the bird life of the humid forests, and showing, in the 

 background, the Cauca Valley and the central range of the Andes. The 

 second camp was made in the Cauca valley near Palmira. From this 

 point the expedition ascended the main chain of the Andes, returning 

 thence to other points in the Cauca Valley, and finally to Cali, which 

 formed the base of operations. On May 13, Mr. Richardson, with Mr. 

 Leo Miller, as assistant, was despatched southward to the vicinity of 

 Popayan, while Mr. Chapman and Mr. Fuertes went down the Cauca 

 River to Cartago, thence across the central range of the Andes to Giradot on 

 the Magdalena. The Magdalena was then descended to Barranquilla, 

 and from Barranquilla a short trip was made through the marshes to Santa 

 Marta, from which port a steamer was taken for Xew York. In addition 

 to collecting material for a Habitat Group, Mr. Chapman's work was 

 designed primarily to be a reconnaisance to secure information which 

 would enable the Museum more effectively to prosecute the biological 

 work it has in view in Western Colombia. 



As previously announced (antea, p. 150), on December 26, 1909, Mr. 

 and Mrs. C. William Beebe left New York for Europe for the purpose of 

 studying the pheasants, pea-fowl and jungle fowl in Asia and the East 

 Indies. This undertaking, known as the Kuser Asiatic Pheasant Expedi- 

 tion under the auspicies of the New York Zoological Society, was initiated 

 and financed by Col. Anthony R. Kuser. The work has now been suc- 

 cessfully completed after seventeen months spent in the field. The 

 itinerary covered Ceylon, the Eastern and the Western Himalayas, the 



