EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD-WORK OF THE SMITH- 

 SONIAN INSTITUTION IN 1918 



INTRODUCTION 



The more important of the explorations and researches in the 

 field conducted or participated in by the Smithsonian Institution 

 during the year 1918, are herein briefly described. While in many 

 cases the work was considerably restricted by the world war. never- 

 theless results of importance to science were accomplished and 

 considerable material was added to the natural history and ethno- 

 logical collections in the United States National Museum. Nearly 

 every branch of science is represented among these researches, 

 including anthropology, ethnology, geology, botany, zoology, and 

 astrophysics. 



The work of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 

 measuring the amount of radiation from the sun is of increasing 

 importance, as it is expected to make these measurements the basis 

 of a new method of forecasting temperatures on the earth. The 

 ethnological studies among the tribes of American Indians are of 

 special interest as certain of these tribes are fast disappearing, in 

 some cases only a very few persons surviving who remember the 

 language, customs, and traditions of a once powerful people. This 

 ethnological material is being recorded from the Indians themselves 

 by members of the Bureau of American Ethnology and so preserved 

 for future generations. 



The brief accounts contained herein are largely written and the 

 photographs taken by the investigators themselves. 



GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



The geological explorations carried on in the Canadian Rocky 

 Mountains by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, which have been mentioned in the Exploration Pam])hlet 

 of the Institution for the years 1916 and 1917, were continued during 

 the field season of 1918 for the purpose of ascertaining the geological 

 structure of the Copper Bow \'alley north of Lake Louise, Alberta, 

 and later at the head waters of the Cascade River at Sawback Lake, 

 and also to locate any possible occurrence of unusual beds of fossils 

 at these places. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 70, No. 2 



