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REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SCIENTIFIC 
DIRECTORS 
To THE Boarp or Manacers or THE New Yorx Bo- 
TANICAL GARDEN. 
Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit the following 
report from the Scientific Directors for the year 1914. 
We have held the four stated meetings of the year, 
which have been well attended. At one of them, we had 
the pleasure of the company of our President. At our last 
meeting, Provost Carpenter, of Columbia University, was 
present as the accredited representative of President Butler, 
and we understand that we may look for his presence in 
this capacity at our future meetings. 
The only change in the personnel of the staff since our 
last report, is the appointment of Dr. Francis W. Pennell, 
as Associate Curator, to succeed Dr. Robinson, deceased. 
The readjustment of salaries which was accomplished last 
year has fully justified itself and has been a source of great 
satisfaction to all concerned. 
The work under our charge has proceeded steadily and 
is of the usual volume and character; some of it of ex- 
ceptional importance. 
First in importance, probably, is the expedition to the 
West Andean region, for the study and collection of 
Cactaceae, undertaken in cooperation with the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington and the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. This work has been executed as 
proposed to you in our last report, except that Dr. J. N. 
Rose, of the National Herbarium, who is associated with 
Dr. Britton in this study, found it possible to make the 
journey himself, instead of sending Dr. Shafer. Mrs. Rose 
accompanied and assisted her husband in his difficult and 
laborious undertaking. The results, from a scientific stand- 
point, are of the richest description. It is believed that 
most of the species of Cactaceae growing on the Pacific 
side of the Andes are now represented in our collection, both 
