640 Progress and Condition of the 



be done. Thus out of twenty small excreta picked up at 

 raiulom in the Cliirinda Forest and containing various 

 remains^ eighteen (a proportion that astounded me) proved 

 to contain the scales and small wing-fragments of 

 Lepidoptera, and in several cases these were indistinguishable 

 under the microscope from those of Mycalesis campina, a 

 butterfly that was present at the moment in considerable 

 numbers. The examination of large numbers of excreta, 

 particularly when, as at the nest, the bird can be identified, 

 appears to me as likely to be a somewhat useful line of 

 research. 



XXXI. — The Pkogress and Condition of the 

 United States National Museum at Washington.* 



The final accession of birds in 1910-11 from the Smith- 

 sonian African Expedition comprised 1,379 dried skins and 

 213 alcoholic specimens, skeletons, and eggs, and supplied 

 many desiderata, of which the most important was the Shoe- 

 bill, Balcmiceps rex, a form not hitherto represented in any 

 American museum. It also contained examples of other 

 genera new to the collection, including Anastomus, Dicrocerus, 

 Macrodrpteryx, Scotornis, Cryptorhina, Sorella, and Ebninia, 

 and of numerous species and subspecies now first obtained 

 from this source. Ninety skins of Chinese birds were received 

 from the Museum of Comparative Zoology in exchange; and 

 83 skins from Luzon, Piiilippine Islands, were presented 

 by Dr. H. C. Curl, United States Navy. The last consign- 

 ment from the Java Expedition of Mr. Owen Bryant, 

 consisting of skins, nests, and eggs, contained several 

 examples of the interesting Weaver-birds (Ploceidae). 

 Skins of North and Central American species to the number 

 of 1,240, among which are many well-prepared specimens 



* Extracted froDi the " Report aud Coudition of the U.S. National 

 Museum for the year ending June 30, 1911." Washington: Government 

 Printino- Office. 1911. 



