NO. 3 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I915 63 



made to .the fine suburb of La Plata, where resides Dr. Carlos 

 Spegazzini, the leading authority on Argentine cactuses. 



From Buenos Aires a trip was taken across Argentina to Men- 

 doza, a city situated near the foot of the Andes, in a region favorable 

 to the growth of succulent plants. From there a short excursion 

 was made to Portrerillos, Argentina, on the railway which leads to 

 Valparaiso, Chile. Many very interesting plants were found in both 

 these places. 



In the city of Cordova, Argentina, northwest of Buenos Aires, 

 the cactus collection of Dr. Frederick Kurtz was found to contain 

 some rare types, which were very kindly submitted for examination 

 and study. In this vicinity, as well as in the neig'hboring town 

 of Cosquin, many cactuses were collected on the semiarid peneplain. 



In addition to good sized collections of cactuses, consisting of 

 living, herbarium, and formalin specimens, moderately large collec- 

 tions of insects, shells, diatoms, and other natural history speci- 

 mens were obtained. In all about 8,000 herbarium specimens were 

 obtained and over 90 cases, large and small, of living plants were 

 sent back to the United States. The living collection is now on 

 exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden. 



The expenses of this expedition were chiefly borne by the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington and the Xew York Botanical ( larden. 



SHELL MOUNDS ON THE PACIFIC COAST 



While serving as representative in charge of the exhibit of the 

 Institution at the Panama- Pacific International Exposition, Dr. Wal- 

 ter Hough had an opportunity to examine some of the shell mounds 

 which are numerous around San Francisco Bay. In this work he 

 was aided by Prof. T. T. Waterman and Mr. E. W. Gififord of the 

 University of California. A large mound in West Berkeley which 

 had been sectioned by grading for factory sites, leaving a mass which 

 appeared to be the central portion, and presenting a face 12 feet in 

 height, was selected for operations and enough work was done to 

 secure data as to its strata of accumulation, human, animal, and art 

 contents. Within three feet of the base under ashes were found 

 the skeletons of several infants. This find was considered note- 

 worthy, a similar rleposit not having been found before. Artifacts 

 were not common in this section of the mound. There were found 

 plummets, sinkers, hammers, grinding stones, awls, antler wedges, 

 and rarely obsidian blades. 



