EEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



The collections iu Stratigrapliic Paleontology were mainly increased through 

 transfers from the Geological Survey, of which the principal ones consisted of 

 large numbers of Niagaran fossils from Tennessee, of Ordovician fossils from 

 the slates at Arvonia, Va., and of Devonian and Carboniferous fossils from 

 Colorado. A very valuable acquisition was the gift by Mr. E. O. Ulrich and 

 Dr. R. S. Bassler of the type and figured specimens of 6.5 species. The Section 

 of Vertebrate Paleontology received two large collections from the Geological 

 Survey, one made in the Wasatch Eocene of the Big Horn basin, Wyoming, the 

 other from the Oligocene of Oelrichs, S. Dak. In Paleobotany, the most 

 important additions were about 400 specimens from the coal fields of Sao 

 Paulo and Santa Catharina, Brazil, and about the same number from the 

 higher beds of the anthracite series in the vicinity of Pottsville, Pa. 



Explorations. — As custodian of the national collections, the Museum depends 

 chiefly for its increment upon the Government explorations conducted by such 

 establishments as the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Fisheries, several of the 

 bureaus of the Department of Agriculture charged with biological research, 

 and the Bureau of American Ethnology, though in the history of the Museum 

 both the Army and Navy have figured conspicuously. The very limited means 

 available for the purpose prevents any extended amount of field work by 

 members of the Museum staff. 



From October, 1904, to March, 1905, the steamer Albatross, of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries, made extensive explorations in the eastern part of the Central Pacific 

 Ocean, under the scientific direction of* Dr. Alexander Agassiz. For the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology Dr. .J. Walter Fewkes investigated the sites of ancient 

 Totonac semicivilization in southern Mexico, and Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson 

 continued her studies among the Zuni Indians of New Mexico, both of these 

 expeditions being productive of important collections. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, 

 who visited Cuba for the Department of Agriculture, brought back a large collec- 

 tion of insects which is especially rich in Coleoptera. Mr. A. G. Maddren, 

 under a grant from the Smithsonian Institution, made a reconnoissance of a 

 part of the Yukon River basin of Alaska, during which he secured fragmentary 

 remains of several interesting Pleistocene mammals. 



Reference should also be made to the movements of two of the most generous 

 benefactors of the Museum, Dr. W. L. Abbott and Maj. Edgar A. Mearns. sur- 

 geon, U. S. Army, from both of whom important contributions were received 

 during the j-ear. The former, with headquarters at Singapore, has recently been 

 working in the Mergui Archipelago and on the islands of Banka, Billiton, and 

 Karimata, where his detailed and painstaking inquiries have furnished most 

 important results in both zoology and ethnology ; the latter, who was with the 

 army of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood on the island of Mindanao, has collected in 

 the same lines and with the same care. 



Of field woi'k conducted by assistants of the Museum, the following may be 

 mentioned : Dr. Al^s Hrdlicka, during his investigations among the Apaches and 

 Pimas of Arizona in the spring of 1905, obtained an important series of ethno- 

 logical specimens, and Dr. Frederick W. True made several short trips to near-by 

 places in Maryland and Virginia for the purpose of securing remains of the 

 cetaceans which occurred in this region during the Cretaceous period. Dr. 

 Leonhard Stejneger and Mr. Ggrrit S. Miller, jr., collected animals and plants in 

 Switzerland, France, and Italy during the summer of 1904. Mr. Robert Ridg- 

 way, who was in Costa Rica from November, 1904, to June, 1905, obtained a 

 large series of the birds of that country, and was instrumental in securing 

 a most important donation from the national museum at San Jose. Dr. W. L. 

 Ralph visited the Dismal Swamp, Virginia, and the Adirondack region of New 



