Report of the President 19 



The superb collection of Chinese bronzes, the gift of mem- 

 bers of the East Asiatic Committee during the years 1901- 

 1904, has recently been installed in the South - 

 west Tower Hall. The collection was made by 

 Berthold Laufer in 1903, and so rare have these 

 bronzes become, that it would probably be impossible to 

 assemble a similar collection; indeed, the value of the collec- 

 tion has increased tenfold in the past decade. A Guide 

 Leaflet, describing the Chinese collections, is in preparation 

 by Doctor Laufer, who, after another trip to China in the 

 interests of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 

 will be prepared to write a descriptive Monograph of the 

 bronzes. 



Development of the biology and chemistry of the sea has 

 been stimulated in the past two years through special addresses 

 by the distinguished oceanographers Sir 

 John Murray and the Prince of Monaco. 

 The carrying out of the exhibition plans in this department, 

 however, is necessarily delayed until the East Wing, facing 

 Central Park, is constructed, at which time the Prince of 

 Monaco has promised to furnish extensive series of duplicates 

 of the rare collections now contained in the Oceanographic 

 Museum of Monaco. 



The expedition to the Gulf of Mexico, in the U. S. S. 

 " iVlbatross," under Charles H. Townsend, in the year 1911, 

 was undertaken through the generosity of Arthur Curtiss 

 James and in cooperation with the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries. A superb collection was secured both of the life of 

 the sea and of the islands and mainland along the southern 

 California coast, and the several reports on the material col- 

 lected, including fishes, reptiles, birds, mammals, especially 

 the Elephant Seals, mollusks, echinoderms and other inverte- 

 brates, as well as a special report on deep-sea fishes, will be 

 brought together in a single volume. Parts II to IV 

 have already appeared in the Bulletin of the Museum, while 

 Parts V to VII are in preparation. This expedition added 

 many new types to the Museum collections in every depart 

 ment. 



