94 Report of the President 



search, including geological, archaeological and anthropological 

 as well as zoological explorations, and will be organized with 

 expert investigators in each of these fields. Its financial sup- 

 port seems already guaranteed through the cooperation of 

 the American Asiatic Association and its magazine Asia, and 

 other liberal friends of the Museum. 



In November, 19 19, Mr. H. E. Anthony, Associate Curator 

 of Mammals of the Western Hemisphere, went to Jamaica for 

 four months to investigate the cave fauna of this island. He 

 was accompanied by Mr. Charles Falkenbach, of the Depart- 

 ment of Palaeontology, as an assistant, and the expedition was 

 financed jointly by the two Departments thus represented. 

 The main purpose was the exploration of the caves of the 

 island for vertebrate fossils, for comparison with similar mate- 

 rial already secured from the caves of Porto Rico and Cuba. 

 Some seventy caves were explored, and a large amount of 

 fossil material was obtained, most of it in the form of limestone 

 breccia. The most conspicuous element of this material con- 

 sists of the remains of a large hystricomorph rodent, and a 

 smaller rodent allied to the species of Geocapromys still living 

 on the island. In addition to fossil material, some 600 bats 

 were collected, and nine specimens of the nearly extinct Geoca- 

 promys, thus greatly increasing our collection of the existing 

 West Indian mammal fauna. 



In June, Mr. Anthony, in company with Mr. George K. 

 Cherrie, of the Department of Ornithology, left New York 

 on an expedition to Ecuador and adjoining parts of South 

 America, to collect mammals and birds. Frequent letters 

 from Mr. Anthony indicate that their work has been highly 

 successful, but no material has yet been transmitted to the 

 Museum. As both are experts of long experience in tropical 

 field work, the ultimate results must prove of great scientific 

 value to the Museum. The work will be continued through 

 the early months of 192 1. Mr. Anthony will thus acquire first- 

 hand knowledge of the varied ecological conditions of the 

 country that will be of immense value to him in working out 

 the interrelationships of the mammal forms of different areas. 



