(309) 
Managers and the Scientific Directors have also authorized 
the publication of a monthly journal, beginning January, 
1900, and the first number of this journal is in press. 
Temporary Office. 
The house on Suburban street, Bedford Park, rented as a 
temporary office in November, 1898, has been since used con- 
tinuously, and I deem it desirable to retain it until spring. 
Botanical Exploration of Puerto Rico. 
As recorded in my last annual report, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. 
Heller were sent to Puerto Rico, by means of funds provided 
by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, to collect specimens illustrating 
the flora of that island. They returned in June, with nearly 
8,000 specimens, and copious notes referring to them. A set 
of the herbarium specimens have been mounted for the pur- 
pose of determining the species, and some study has been 
given to them; the museum material secured is being ar- 
ranged for exhibition; many duplicates were obtained which 
will be valuable for exchange purposes. 
Supplementing this collection I have been able to examine 
the collections made about the same time in Puerto Rico by 
Dr. C. F. Millspaugh of the Field Columbian Museum of 
Chicago, who has also provided us with such of his speci- 
mens as were in duplicate, and I have recently secured 
through Professor Urban of the Berlin Botanical Garden, a 
considerable collection made some years ago on the island 
by Herr Sintenis. These collections, together with a set col- 
lected there in 1852 by Blauner, and contained in the Colum- 
bia Herbarium, together with a few specimens obtained by 
Wydler early in the century and our practically complete 
literature relating to the botany of the West Indies, will en- 
able me, as opportunity offers, to prepare a moderately com- 
plete account of the flora. Mr. Heller purposes returning to 
Puerto Rico this winter to explore parts of the island unvisited 
by him on his former trip. 
Mr. Henshaw spent about a month in Puerto Rico late in 
the winter by the aid of the same fund, and secured a desir- 
