REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



of two species, some young Busy con perversa^ and a valve of Gardium 

 robustum — a somewhat startling association of species. 



Then there was the open sea, which here presumably differs in no 

 manner from other open-sea stations along the 200 miles or more of 

 this coast. The bottom drops off very gradually to the edge of the 

 continental shelf, some 75 or 100 miles out. The open-sea stations 

 which they occupied were, as might be expected, very poor. The 

 smooth, hard sand bottom seemed almost barren of life, and the 

 softer patches that were explored contained only many dead shells, 

 mostly small bivalves. The work in the open sea was scarcely a 

 good test, although they made probably 20 hauls, reaching out from 

 the shore some 4 or 5 miles, but the chart soundings indicated more 

 promising areas of pebbly bottom a few miles beyond what they con- 

 sidered the safety zone for a small motor boat. 



The inner waters of the sound were found to be unexpectedly 

 rich in molluscan life, the species, for the most part, not having been 

 taken outside or in the bight. 



EXPEDITION TO DUTCH EAST BORNEO AND CASHMERE. 



In continuation of the exploration and collection carried on 

 through the generosity of Dr. W. L. Abbott, by Mr. H. C. Raven, in 

 Dutch East Borneo it may be said that the work is going forward 

 with excellent results. Dr. Abbott is continuing his personal ex- 

 plorations in Cashmere and has forwarded some valuable specimens 

 of mammals, including a queer little silvery gray shrew about 74 

 millimeters long, and a magnificent snow leopard, with its complete 

 skeleton. In Baltistan, northwestern Cashmere, Dr. Abbott secured 

 about 289 skins, which have been presented to the National Museum. 

 After a sojourn in England he expected to return to Cashmere and 

 march to Ladak. He also intended to visit Nubra and go east along 

 the frontier to the Dipsang Plains, where he hoped to secure speci- 

 mens of a certain vole from Kara Korum Pass, as well as the little 

 Tibetan fox, known to the Cashmere furriers as the " king fox." 



LIFE ZONES IN THE ALPS. 



Aided by a small grant from the funds of the Institution, Dr. 

 Stejneger, head curator of biology in the National Museum, visited 

 the eastern Alps toward the close of the last fiscal year, to make 

 further observations toward a determination of the limits of the 

 life zones, which in that part of Europe might correspond to those 

 established in North America. That' a system of such life zones 

 exists in Europe has long been more or less vaguely stated by authors, 

 but although a definite correlation was established by Dr. Stejneger 

 and Mr. Miller in 1904, certain points, especially the interrelation of 



