Maech 10, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



255 



season, when a sub-station will be established 

 upriver at Kaieteur Falls for the study of this 

 elevated fauna, which differs considerably from 

 that of the coast. 



The researches of Director Beebe on the 

 syrinx of birds will be continued, as well as 

 intensive studies on primitive living types in 

 their environment, especially Peripatus, the 

 hoatzins, the armored eatfishes, and on the en- 

 tire environmental complex. The remaining 

 hoatzin material for the American Museum 

 group will be collected and data completed for 

 one hundred large colored plates to be issued 

 in a series of volumes uniform in size with 

 Director Beebe's "Monograph of the Pheas- 

 ants." It is hoped that the Station may be kept 

 open throughout the year and through the suc- 

 ceeding winter of 1922-1923, to permit a num- 

 ber of British zoologists to come from England 

 and begin work at the Station. Moving pic- 

 tures of mammals, birds, and reptiles will be 

 taken of all the subjects studied, and large 

 mirrors have been secured for photographing 

 in the deep jungle. 



The work in the Tropical Research Station 

 during the year 1921 may be best presented in 

 calendar form. From January 1 to March 15 

 the expedition continued in the field, each mem- 

 ber pursuing his or her particular line of re- 

 search. Unusual discoveries were made in the 

 Director's study of the syrinx of birds, for 

 example, that in certain decapitated birds every 

 note can be reproduced by manipulation of the 

 lungs and trachea. On February 12 an im- 

 portant trip was made to Kaieteur Falls, the 

 party including Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and 

 four members of the Station's staff. Many new 

 and interesting specimens were collected and the 

 ground thoroughly surveyed for the establish- 

 ment of a sub-station another year. The Falls 

 are the highest in the world, eight hundred and 

 ten feet in all, about five times as high as 

 Niagara. Upon return to Kartabo the regular 

 exploration and research were resumed. The 

 expedition returned to New York in April. 

 Owing to a very serious fire on board the 

 steamer at St. Kitts, the entire collection, in- 



struments and equipment required a thorough 

 overhauling and repairing. The photographic 

 negatives especially had to be removed from 

 their envelopes and washed, and the micro- 

 scope boxes reconstructed. The collection of 

 live animals brought to the Zoological Park in- 

 cluded the Crested Curassow, South American 

 Rattlesnake, Boa, Giant Anteater, Capuchin 

 Monkey and Caiman. The most notable was a 

 young Red Howling Monkey, George by name, 

 the first ever brought up successfully and es- 

 tablished in the collections of the Zoological ' 

 Society. 



The members of the 1921 expedition are now 

 widely scattered. Professor J. P. M. Floyd 

 returned to liis department in the University 

 of Glasgow; Dr. Alfred Emerson now holds the 

 position of Assistant Professor in the Univer- 

 sity of Pittsburgh, and Clifford Pope is engaged 

 in herpetologieal work in central China with 

 the American Museum Asiatic Expedition. 

 During the period of May to December Director 

 Beebe completed the manuscript and proof of 

 Volume III of the Pheasant Monograph, and 

 completely finished the manuscript of Volume 

 IV. The entire British Guiana collections were 

 catalogued, index files established, and much of 

 the vast quantity of material arranged and cor- 

 related ready for publication after another 

 season's accretions. Several weeks were de- 

 voted to perfecting a new method of hand- 

 colored lithography, which will be put into 

 operation next year in issuing the series of 

 one hundred large colored plates, together with 

 life histories. During October to December, in 

 aid of publicity. Director Beebe gave about 

 twenty-five lectures in various cities, dealing 

 with the work and activities of the Tropical 

 Research Station. Addresses were also made 

 before the New York Academy of Sciences, the 

 American Geographical Society and the Annual 

 Meeting of the Trustees of the New York 

 Zoological Society. During the year twenti,'- 

 six publications were issued. 



H. P. 0. 

 Zoological Society, 



Febeu.'VKT 17, 1922 



