96 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



grams, and an individual weighing 2,000 grams of the Plainview, Texas, 

 meteorite fall were purchased, as were also specimens of four other me- 

 teorites. Eight specimens of the peculiar glassy forms called austra- 

 lites were also purchased. By collection, about 40 specimens of 

 fossils and economic specimens were added as a result of the 

 Curator's trip to La Salle County, Illinois, and 75 specimens min- 

 erals, dendrites and rock products, from field work in Maine. The 

 Assistant Curator collected in Arizona 20 specimens of copper ores 

 and fossils. 



In the Department of Zoology the most important accession of the 

 year is a very fine and practically perfect egg of the extinct bird ^Epyor- 

 nis. It was purchased from Mr. Peter A. Bjelde who obtained it from 

 natives in Madagascar and personally brought it from there to this 

 country. The first installment of the Museum's share of the birds 

 taken on the Collins-Day expedition consisting of 215 bird skins were 

 received from the American Museum of Natural History. The mam- 

 mals of this expedition were received early in the year but have not yet 

 been accessioned. A collection of 57 mammals and 76 bird skins from 

 Argentina were presented by the Argentine Commissioners to the 

 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and deserve special mention. 

 Among them were a ntimber of species new to the collection. To the 

 collection of fishes and reptiles there were added but six specimens. 

 One of them, however, a Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, was very desirable, 

 as well as new to the Museum collection. By far the largest and most 

 important addition than can be recorded was the Hall collection of 

 shells, which was a donation from the heirs of Elihu Hall, Athens, Illi- 

 nois. This collection consists mainly of American fresh- water shells 

 and contains at least several thousand named specimens. As they 

 have not yet been gone over and sorted by a specialist, the exact number 

 of specimens that will be accessioned eventually cannot be definitely 

 given at this time. Among the insects obtained, the most desirable 

 were 63 Sphinx Moths secured, by an exchange, from Mr. B. Preston 

 Clark of Boston. Of this lot at least thirty species were new to the 

 collection. Another desirable, though smaller acquisition, was an 

 exchange whereby 1 7 rare butterflies from northern India were secured. 

 The accessions may be simimarized as follows: Purchase: 138 mam- 

 mals, 175 birds; 4 nests and eggs; By gift: 61 mammals, 306 birds, 14 

 nests and eggs, and approximately 3,000 shells; By exchange: 39 

 mammals and 80 insects. 



EXPEDITIONS AND FIELD WORK. — A fcw days wcrc spent by the Curator 

 of Geology in visiting several localities in La Salle County, Illinois, and 

 as a result specimens of a number of occurrences which had not been 



