l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



In furtherance of this project additional field work is contem- 

 plated in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, official 

 support of the undertaking being assured in several quarters. 



Studies in West Indian Ferns. — During several months in three 

 years, Mr. William Maxon, associate curator of the National Her- 

 barium, collected pteridophyta extensively in Jamaica, in 1903 in 

 company with Prof. L. M. Underwood of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, in 1904 for the National Herbarium alone, and in 1920 in 

 company with Mr. E. P. Killip on behalf of the National Her- 

 barium, the New York Botanical Garden, the Gray Herbarium, the 

 Field Museum, and the University of Illinois. The material thus 

 assembled afifords the basis of a descriptive volume on the pterido- 

 phyta of Jamaica, which will be published by the British Museum 

 (Natural History) as one of the series on the Flora of Jamaica by 

 Fawcett and Rendle. 



North American Flora. — About twenty years ago the New York 

 Botanical Garden undertook the publication of a descriptive work 

 upon the flora of North America, intended to cover all the plants 

 growing independently of cultivation in continental North America 

 (including Panama), Greenland, and all but the southernmost of the 

 West Indian islands. This work, entitled " North American Flora," 

 is to be complete in 34 volumes. Botanists of many American insti- 

 tutions, including those of the National Herbarium, are cooperating 

 in this work. 



Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone. — Beginning in 1910, 

 the Smithsonian Institution, with the assistance of several Govern- 

 ment departments and outside institutions, undertook to sponsor a 

 biological exploration of the Canal Zone and adjacent parts of 

 Panama, the expenses of the field work being met by a special fund 

 contributed by patrons of the Institution. For the botanical work 

 Prof. H. Pittier and Dr. A. S. Hitchcock were detailed by the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, and Mr. William R. Maxon, by the National 

 Museum. Partial results of the work have been published. 



Flora of the District of Columbia. — In connection with a study of 

 the local flora for 40 years past there has grown up at the National 

 Herbarium a collection known as the District Herbarium, to which 

 many students of local natural history have contributed. To replace 

 Museum Bulletin 26, known as Ward's Flora, and long out of print, 

 local botanists joined about ten years ago in an effort to prepare a 

 new manual of the local flora. In all, about 25 individuals 

 actively participated, mainly members of the staffs of the National 

 Herbarium and the Bureau of Plant Industry. The outcome was 



