REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 1] 



The research is an important one and it is hoped by means of it to 

 increase our knowledge of the extinct fauna of the country, and to 

 add valuable and interesting specimens to the collection of the 

 Museum. 



FOSSIL FISHES OF BRAZIL. 



A moderate grant was approved for the preparation of an illus- 

 trated article, to be prepared in collaboration by Dr. David Starr 

 Jordan and Dr. J. C. Branner, on a unique collection of fossil fishes 

 from the Barra do Jardin, a locality near Ceara, Brazil. 



About 1834 a collection of these fossil fishes was received by Louis 

 Agassiz, and from it he described seven new species, some of which 

 have never been seen since his time. Some species from the same lo- 

 cality are now in the British Museum, and Stanford University has 

 recently received nodules containing specimens of all those heretofore 

 described and probably several additional ones not before noted. 

 Doctors Jordan and Branner are thus enabled to give information 

 supplementary to any heretofore recorded in regard to this interest- 

 ing species of fossil fishes. An article describing the research will be 

 submitted to the Institution for publication when completed. 



ARIZONA METEORITES. 



In April, 1907, Dr. George P. Merrill, head curator of geology in 

 the National Museum, received a limited grant for the purpose of ex- 

 amining the remarkable craterform depression known as Coon Butte, 

 near Canyon Diablo, Arizona, with a view to determining whether it 

 was caused by explosive volcanic action, as assumed by some investi- 

 gators, or due to the impact of a mass of meteoric iron, as asserted by 

 others. In conducting the research a general survey was made of the 

 amount and distribution of meteoric irons and associated materials of 

 the locality. 



Two preliminary papers, one describing a hitherto unrecognized 

 type of meteoric iron, and the other a peculiar form of metamorph- 

 ism in the siliceous sandstone of the Butte, have been submitted and 

 published in the Proceedings of the National Museum and the Smith- 

 sonian Miscellaneous Collections. The entire investigation will be 

 reported on in detail after the results are collated and arranged. 



At the conclusion of the work at Coon Butte, Doctor Merrill visited 

 the fossil forest, near Adamana, Ariz., under the authorization of the 

 Department of the Interior, and made collections of the silicified 

 woods for the purpose of supplying the numerous applications re- 

 ceived from schools and colleges for such materials. 



GEOLOGY OF THE ALPS. 



The problem of the structure of the Alps, always a question of 

 intense interest, has been the subject of more than usual attention 



