52 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1924 



lombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras, by which the Museum 

 has profited greatly not only in insects, but also in specimens of 

 other classes. 



Dr. Paul Bartsch, curator of mollusks, made a trip to the little 

 island of San Salvador, Bahamas, last August. The Army transport 

 service was kind enough to give him transportation on the United 

 States Army transport San Mihiel, landing him at Cockburntown. 

 Through the kindness of the Navy, the United States Navy trans- 

 port Kittery picked him up later and landed him at the naval sta- 

 tion at Guantanamo Bay, southeastern Cuba. During his stay on 

 San Salvador, he secured about 2,300 specimens of land and marine 

 mollusks, birds, reptiles, batrachians, fish, marine invertebrates, and 

 other natural history objects. During June, Doctor Bartsch visited 

 Cuba and the Florida Keys in connection with his experiments in 

 heredity which are being conducted under the joint auspices of the 

 Carnegie and Smithsonian Institutions. He secured a lot of breed- 

 ing material which had been planted in the Tortugas group of the 

 Florida Keys, and also a lot of specimens for the United States; 

 National Museum. The Museum is indebted to the authorities of 

 the United States Navy and Army, for furnishing transportation to 

 San Salvador and Cuba to Doctor Bartsch, and also to Andrew S. 

 M. O'Brien, commissioner, Watling Island, Bahamas, for rendering 

 every assistance possible to make the expedition a success. 



Gerrit S. Miller, jr., curator of mammals, undertook during the 

 early part of 1924 a trip to the island of Granada, British West 

 Indies, during which he made extensive collections of animals and 

 plants which are now in the Museum. He was able to collect at vari- 

 ous other islands on the way, notably in Barbados and also in Ber- 

 muda, securing for the Museum a large amount of valuable mate- 

 rial. 



The geological expedition of Dr. C. D. Walcott into the Canadian 

 Rockies, as usual, resulted in the addition of many interesting speci- 

 mens. 



Three major expeditions besides Dr. W. L. Abbott's trip to Santo 

 Domingo already alluded to, undertaken during the fiscal year have 

 enriched the National Herbarium. Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, custodian 

 of the grass herbarium, was absent from May 25, 1923, to 

 February 17, 1924, on a trip of botanical exploration in northern 

 South America conducted under the auspices of the Department of 

 Agriculture, the Gray Herbarium, and the New York Botanical 

 Garden. Four months was spent in Ecuador, two months in Peru, 

 about six weeks in Bolivia, and a few days in Panama. Large col- 

 lections were obtained, of which a set of approximately 1,700 speci- 

 mens, exclusive of grasses, have been deposited in the National Her- 



