388 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



May departed for extensive field work in the Philippine Islands for the 

 Standard Oil Company. 



The present curator was appointed in April, 1919, but did not assume 

 active duty until the first of November. This was due to engagement in 

 work on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, for the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries. When not otherwise engaged the time was spent in gathering 

 specimens of various kinds for the Academy, In this way large collections 

 of shells and bird eggs were secured as well as material to complete the 

 fur-seal group, and miscellaneous plants, birds, mammals, and invertebrates. 



After his arrival at the Academy his attention has been given chiefly 

 to the distribution of the large numbers of recent mollusks which have 

 accumulated in the collection. These are an indispensable aid to the study 

 of the paleontology of the state and it seems desirable to have them placed 

 in the most accessible manner for comparison and consultation. Consider- 

 able study has been given to the fossil land and freshwater mollusks in 

 the collection and those received from correspondents. This phase of the 

 paleontology of the Pacific Coast has not received a great deal of attention 

 in the past. The former existence of many large lakes is known however. 

 Considerable collections of shells from the old beds have accumulated and 

 are available for study in the Academy and neighboring institutions whose 

 cooperation has been assured. 



The study of the fossil land and freshwater shells has necessitated a 

 review of all of the literature on the recent forms, a task of no little 

 magnitude in itself. Over two thousand references have already been in- 

 dexed. Fortunately the collections are extensive and the various accessible 

 libraries are well represented with desirable publications. The work, it is 

 hoped, will enable the various faunal areas on the Pacific side of the Rocky 

 Mountains to be plotted as they exist today as well as the age and other 

 features of the numerous fossil deposits. It is also expected that this work 

 will enable the curator to assemble the complete synonymy of the land and 

 freshwater species of the Rocky Mountain region. Such a work has not 

 been attempted for about forty years and the result is, there is great un- 

 certainty regarding many of the species. 



Students of paleontology continue to find the collection of the Academy 

 of value in their researches. Professor Bruce L. Clark of the University of 

 California has consulted the material here in his study of the Oligocene of 

 California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island. A considerable 

 number of specimens has been loaned to him and in return he has favored 

 the curator with the land and freshwater mollusks in his charge. One of 

 his graduate students has been assigned as thesis work the preparation of a 

 monograph on the recent and fossil mollusks of the family Turritellidae 

 of the Pacific Coast. Miss Richardson, who is making the study, has 

 found in the Academy's collection, numerous species which otherwise would 

 not have been accessible for her work. Such monographs are greatly 

 desired by all active geologists and paleontologists and it is to be hoped that 

 this group which is so poorly understood will at last be clearly discussed. 



Dr. Earl S. Packard of the University of Oregon (temporarily on duty 

 with the Standard Oil Company) has done some field work for the 

 Academy in the Cretaceous deposits of northern California and in Oregon. 



