Jan., 1920. Annual Report of the Director. 



321 



left on exhibition in their regular places in each case. These will remain 

 so installed until the moving force begins operations. The work of the 

 staff of the Mrs. Stanley Field Laboratories has not been interrupted. 

 The first four and a half months of the year were spent in Miami, 

 Florida, where the laboratory and garden of the Plant Introduction 

 Station of the U. S. Department of Agriculture served as headquarters 

 and furnished facilities and accommodation. For this the Musetim is 

 indebted to Mr. David Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in charge of the 

 Plant Introduction Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington, and to 

 Mr. Edward Simmonds, Superintendent of the Garden and Field Station 

 in Miami, to the former for liberally extending to the Museum the privi- 

 leges of the laboratory and station, and to the latter for innumerable 

 acts of kindness and assistance, which made it possible to pursue the 

 work successfully here. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Simmonds and the 

 members of the staff of the Department of Agriculture who were 

 stationed at the Laboratory during the past winter, viz., Dr. J. Rosen- 

 baum, plant pathologist, Mr. Chas. E. Sando, plant physiologist, and 

 Mr. Max KisHuk, entomologist. The friendly and helpful attitude of 

 all these men was a matter greatly to be appreciated in the rather 

 narrow quarters of the laboratory. The main object of transferring the 

 work to Florida for the winter was to secure studies and material for 

 certain desirable plants which could be had and handled there more 

 readily and economically than anywhere, namely : the Cocoanut palm, 

 the Banana, the Pineapple, the Florida Cycad (Zamid), etc. The 

 material needed for the reproduction of the specimens was secured. 

 The most perishable parts were cast and colored and plaster moulds 

 were made of other parts, formalin material packed and sent to the 

 Museum, and photographs, color sketches and detail studies secured 

 for use after return. At the same time there were found in the Plant 

 Introduction Garden a number of interesting plants which fitted exactly 

 into the plans for the Musetmi botanical exhibits. Such were, for in- 

 stance, the South African Carissa or Natal Plimi, introduced into the 

 United States in 1901 by Mr. Fairchild and now grown as a hedge plant 

 in many places in southern Florida. This is an excellent example of the 

 type of plant which can scarcely be reproduced successfully except in 

 the field, where it can be studied from day to day as the work progresses. 

 The Silk Cotton tree, BombaXj with its large crimson flowers furnishes 

 another such illustration. One of these flowers was made on the spot 

 during the week or ten days the tree was in blossom. On the strength 

 of this and the moulds which were made at the same time, a splendid 

 branch of the Silk Cotton tree has been added to the exhibits. Another 

 introduced South African plant of much interest found growing in the 



