REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, 37 



director and during the last 3 of the 10 months of the expedition 

 was in charge, on account of the illness of Doctor Rusby. 



Dr. Paul Bartsch continued his experiments in heredity on land 

 mollusks of the genus Cerion, under the joint auspices of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution and the Carnegie Institution, of Washington. He 

 has been working upon a survey of the distribution of the native 

 species in the Florida Keys. By the use of a seaplane, detailed for 

 the purpose by the Navy Department, Doctor Bartsch was able in 

 four days to fly at low altitude over the entire region and note on 

 charts all the visible grass plots — the habitat of the Cerions. It will 

 now be j^ossible by means of the charts to examine the native colonies 

 without loss of time in locating them. Mr. John B. Henderson^ 

 Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, made a rather hurried trip 

 to Jamaica to personally collect living specimens of the Helicid 

 genus Thysanophora for anatomical study toward a proposed mono- 

 graph of the group. This little expedition proved unusually success- 

 ful and of great benefit to the work in hand, as well as to the mollusk 

 collections. 



Mr. Paul C. Standley carried on botanical exploration in Central 

 America, through cooperation with the Gray Herbarium, the New 

 York Botanical Garden, the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and Mr. Oakes Ames, the latter being interested 

 in the orchids of this region. About five months were spent in EI 

 Salvador, and nearly a month in Guatemala. The collections, over 

 6,000 botanical specimens, will be divided among the contributing 

 institutions. 



Another botanical expedition was in the field at the close of the 

 year. Dr. F. W. Pennell, of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, accompanied by Mrs. Pennell, and Mr. E. P. Killip, of the 

 Museum, is conducting a six months' exploration of western Colombia, 

 on behalf of the Gray Herbarium, the New York Botanical Garden, 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Museum. 

 Mr. Oakes Ames is contributing also to the expense of the expedition. 

 This is one of a series toward a complete study of the flora of north- 

 ern South America. 



The biological expedition alluded to as the only one under the 

 exclusive control of the Museum Avas a trip to the interior of Alaska 

 undertaken by Dr. John M. Alclrich, associate curator of insects. 

 The Alaska Engineering Commission of the Department of the In- 

 terior furnished Doctor Aldrich with horses and their subsistence and 

 with transportation on the Alaskan Railroad. About 10,000 speci- 

 mens were collected, consisting mainly of Diptera and Hymenoptera. 

 with a fair number of Hemiptera. 



The expedition of the Museum of the American Indian (Heye 

 Foundation) to New Mexico under Mr. F. W. Hodge furnished 



