22 Report of the President 



fund of $2,000,000. The Trustees have decided that efforts shall 

 be made to raise this $2,000,000 during the present year. It is 

 probable that the Museum will receive $250,000 from the Amos 

 F. Eno Bequest, which will leave $1,750,000 to be raised by pub- 

 lic contributions. Towards this amount, one of our Trustees has 

 agreed to contribute $250,000, provided that three other contribu- 

 tions of the same amount are secured. This new General En- 

 dowment of $2,000,000 will not only restore the Museum to its 

 full-time efficiency, which is temporarily arrested this year, but 

 will enable us to more adequately prepare to keep our promise 

 to the City Government that when Sections p — Asiatic — and io 

 — Oceanic — are completed, the Museum will be in a position to 

 completely fill them with specimens which are now in store-rooms, 

 including many large and beautiful groups and mounts already 

 prepared, and others awaiting preparation. This renders neces- 

 sary a concise review of the present state of our collections and 

 the sources from which they have been derived. 



Arctic and Antarctic Collections 



The Crocker Land Expedition (1913-1917) achieved its main 



objective in the attainment of 82° 30' north latitude on the Polar 



Sea, through the intrepid work of Donald B. 

 Crocker 

 , . ' MacMillan and Fitzhugh Green. Crocker Land 



Exoeditio was not discovered because it did not exist. There 

 is no doubt that Admiral Peary, who was convinced 

 of its existence to the last moment of the departure of the ex- 

 pedition, was deceived by a mirage. The narrative of the ex- 

 pedition appears in the leader's volume, "Four Years in the 

 White North," published in 1918 by Harper and Brothers. Ac- 

 cording to agreement, Mr. MacMillan's Geographical Report and 

 the scientific observations have been handed over to the Ameri- 

 can Geographical Society, but they have not been published. We 

 have not yet been able to secure the reports of Mr. W. Elmer 

 Ekblaw, one of the most able members of the expedition. 



If Crocker Land had existed, the expedition would have been 

 acclaimecf a brilliant success, would have attained world-wide 

 fame, and no difficulty would have been experienced in meeting 

 the heavy financial losses caused by the shipwreck of the first 

 steamer, the failure of the first and second relief vessels to reach 



