REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1924 45 



Africa. Another genus and family new to the collection, Mesites 

 variegata, from Madagascar, was secured from a dealer. A notable 

 addition was donated to the Museum by Dr. Casey A. Wood, Chi- 

 cago, 111., consisting of 229 skins from the Fiji Islands, among which 

 three species of fruit pigeons of a genus {Ghrysaena) as well as a 

 honey eater of the genus Amoromyza not before represented in the 

 Museum. The Chinese collections alluded to above contained 882 

 birds from Szechwan, collected by Rev. D. C. Graham, including 

 many novelties; 451 skins collected by A. de C. Sowerby, mostly 

 from the vicinity of Shanghai and Nanking, are of importance for 

 comparison with the increasing material in the Museum from other 

 parts of China. An owl (Otus gldb.ripes) is new to the collection. 

 The birds collected by the late Charles M. Hoy in the vicinity of 

 Yochow, 83 specimens, contained a new species named Pycnonotus 

 hoyi after the discoverer. The first installment of a shipment of 700 

 birds from F. R. Wulsin, containing 51 specimens, mostly from 

 Kiangsu, was received before the end of the fiscal year. The Bio- 

 logical Survey of the Department of Agriculture transferred to the 

 Museum 84 eggs, 15 nests, and 709 alcoholics and skeletons, the lat- 

 ter chiefly from Laysan, Midway, and other islands in the Pacific. 

 The material also contained nest and four eggs of the wandering 

 tattler {Heteroscelus incanus) from Alaska, the first of this species 

 brought to light by naturalists, collected by O. J. Murie, of the 

 Biological Survey. Among the specimens received from the Na- 

 tional Zoological Park deserving of notice is that of Rhynochetos 

 juhatus, as it represents a family not previously in the skin collection 

 of the Museum, and also the downy young and two eggs of the 

 greater snow goose {CHen ~hyper~boreas nivalis). Dr. Hugh M. Smith, 

 Washington, D. C, presented 26 skins from Siam, not yet critically 

 examined, but possibly containing novelties. . From the Bureau of 

 Science, Manila, P. I., 19 specimens, including three genera and 

 species new to the Museum were obtained in exchange. The 105 

 skins brought home by Mr. Aschemeier from the Amazon River 

 region, Brazil, included three species and three genera new to us. 



Reptiles and hatrachians. — The collection of reptiles and amphi- 

 bians made by Dr. W. L. Abbott in Santo Domingo, consisting of 107 

 specimens, was of particular value, as it supplements his earlier col- 

 lections which are now being worked up by Miss Cochran. The 

 Chinese material has been very important, consisting as it does of 

 128 specimens collected by Mr. Sowerby, 100 by Mr. Wulsin, and 68 

 by Rev. D. C. Graham, as they contained a large number of new 

 species, now being described, and species new to the collection. . Other 

 interesting collections received were from the Biological Survey, in- 

 cluding specimens from the United States and various small islands 

 in the Pacific Ocean; 91 specimens from Dr. Hugh M. Smith, col- 



