INTRODUCTORY 



possess such delicate shades of coloration that the 

 most carefully taken color notes of the collector 

 in the field fail to furnish the preparator with the 

 exact data required for the high standard set by 

 the museum. To meet this difficulty Dr. Bartsch 

 proposed taking a skilled preparator along, who, 

 with his paints and brushes, should be on hand 

 ready to treat desirable specimens before their 

 colors could fade. George W. Gill, of the museum 

 staff, was detailed for this work. 



An invitation was also accepted by Charles T. 

 Simpson of Miami, Florida, to join us in Havana. 

 He was a valuable addition to our company in 

 that he is an expert in two specialties. He was 

 formerly, for many years, connected with the 

 Division of Mollusks in the Smithsonian at 

 Washington and is a collector of wide experience. 

 He is especially conversant with the land shells of 

 the Antilles, gained by several collecting trips, 

 with the writer, to Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba. As 

 a botanist, it may be said that his private grounds 

 near Miami contain a greater collection of tropical 

 plants and trees than is to be found in any botani- 

 cal garden in the United States — a fact now 

 claiming considerable attention by our Agricult- 



