28 Report of the President 



Of continued promise is the natural history survey of Porto 

 Rico, undertaken in cooperation with the New York Academy 

 of Sciences and the Government of Porto Rico. The plan, 

 begun in 19 13, is to make a complete survey of the island, its 

 insect life, its botany, forests, plant and animal resources, its 

 coast and fisheries. Several discoveries of very great interest 

 have already been made and we look forward to the publication 

 of a full series of three volumes of natural history reports by 

 the New York Academy of Sciences, under the general direc- 

 tion of Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton, Director of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



The chief event of the year in the prosecution of our scien- 

 tific survey of South America was the publication of "The 

 Distribution of Bird-Life in Colombia" by 

 Dr. Frank M. Chapman, constituting Volume 

 XXXVI of the Bulletin of The American Museum of Natural 

 History. This contribution to the biological survey of South 

 America represents the very highest standard of modern field 

 exploration. It is the first completed scientific work of the 

 intensive zoological survey of South America inaugurated in 

 December, 1910, and conducted by Messrs. Chapman, Cherrie, 

 Miller, Boyle, Richardson and Fuertes, under funds contrib- 

 uted by the Museum from the Jesup Fund, by Colonel Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt, Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge and other friends of 

 the Museum. The Museum also gratefully acknowledges the 

 courtesies extended to it by the Colombian Government through 

 its representatives in this country, and its administrators at the 

 ports of Barranquilla, Buenaventura and Tumaco. Dr. Chap- 

 man's volume is a credit not only to the Museum but to Amer- 

 ican science. It sets a standard for all our work, not only in 

 South America but in Africa and in other countries. The 

 courtesy, integrity and tact which our explorers carried into 

 their South American work give promise of the establishment 

 of new and friendly scientific relations with our sister republics 

 of the south. 



The next report to be issued in the South American series 

 will be that by Mr. George K. Cherrie of the Roosevelt Expedi- 

 tion of 1916-1917. 



