16 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



the zones corresponding to the so-called Canadian and Hiidsonian 

 life zones in America, were greatly obscured by the long-continued 

 interference of man and animals with nature, such as the grazing of 

 cattle in the high Alps, deforestation, and more recently, artificial 

 reforestation. 



It was thought that the eastern Alps might show more primitive 

 conditions. Dr. Stejneger visited the mountain region between 

 Switzerland and the head of the Adriatic. Arrived at the town ot 

 Bassano, at the foot of the Venetian Alps, he began to study the life 

 zones of the Val Sugana and the plateau of the Sette Comuni from 

 that point. This plateau descends abruptly to the Venetian plain 

 on the south, while to the east and north it is separated from the mass 

 of the eastern Alps by the Val Sugana, or the valley of the River 

 Brenta, and on the west by the lower part of the valley of the 

 Adige, or Etsch. It is intersected by the boundary line between 

 Italy and Austrian Tyrol. 



He made a series of excursions from Bassano, Levico, and Trento 

 as successive headquarters, during which time he completely circled 

 the territory, and crossed the plateau once on foot. He was able 

 to trace the boundaries of the Austral life zones in considerable 

 detail, as well as to gather data which connect with the previous 

 correlation of these zones in the western Alps and with the corre- 

 sponding zones in North America. It was found that the bottom of 

 the entire Val Sugana belongs to the upper Austral zone. Owing 

 to the rainy and inclement weather the results were less satisfactory 

 in the higher regions, though some important data corroborating pre- 

 vious conclusions were obtained. 



Observations were also made on the Etsch Valley in Tyrol, from 

 Trento to Schlanders, and on its tributary, the Eisak, from Bozen 

 to its source on the Brenner Pass. 



The elaboration of the detailed observations will be incorporated 

 with a general report on the biological reconnoissance of the western 

 Alps. 



RESEARCHES UNDER HARRIMAN TRUST FUND. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam continued during the year to carry on cer- 

 tain natural history and ethnological investigations provided for by 

 a special trust fund established by Mrs. E. H. Harriman for that 

 purpose. His principal work during the year was on the big bears 

 of America, a group he has been studying for more than 20 years and 

 concerning which he now has a monograph in preparation. In 

 furtherance of this study, specimens have been placed at his disposal 

 by numerous sportsmen and hunters and by the larger museums of 

 the United States and Canada. In the course of his investigations a 

 transcontinental line was run across the country to the coast of Cali- 

 fornia by which the easternmost limits of range were determined for 



