Oct., 1904. Annual Report of the Director. 



269 



Falls, collections of crinoids, brachiopods, trilobites, bryozoans, and 

 plant remains were made in the Niagara shales and Medina sandstones. 

 The series of crinoids procured here was especially fine, some specimens 

 being the best the localities have ever afforded. All the collections 

 were made with a view to representing faunas as well as individual 

 species, and hence have increased value on this account. The quality 

 of the material obtained, as a whole, was excellent, and the large 

 amount collected will afford much available for exchange. A number 

 of specimens of economic interest were also procured. The Depart- 

 ment of Botany had three important expeditions in the field during the 

 year. These were planned in order to gain collections and a better 

 knowledge of the northward extension of the Greater Antillean Flora, 

 of which the Curator is making a special study. In March the Curator 

 proceeded to Miami, Florida, thence to New Providence, Bahama, 

 where he spent six days in the exploration of that island in company 

 with Dr. N. J. Britton, Director of the New York Botanical Garden. 

 Hiring, then, a small sloop, he explored the Joulter Cays and the 

 Bimini Islands (seven in number), and crossing the Gulf Stream, re- 

 turned via Miami. On the same line of investigation, Mr. O. E. 

 Lansing, Jr., of the department, proceeded in February to Miami, 

 whence he took ship to Key West. He collected on this island, then 

 hiring a sloop, visited and collected on the twenty-five islands of the 

 Marquesas Group. Returning to Key West, he secured passage on 

 the U. S. Government lighthouse tender to the Dry Tortugas Group, 

 and there succeeded in thoroughly collecting on five islands of this 

 farthest western extension of the Florida Keys. In March, Mr. 

 Allan B. Burgess, also of the department, was commissioned to ex- 

 plore the east coast of Florida, from New Smyrna to Miami. He pro- 

 ceeded direct to New Smyrna, collecting there and at Cape Canaveral, 

 Eau Gallie, Fort Pierce, Fort Worth, and West Jupiter, giving atten- 

 tion to the coastal flora only. Field work in the Department of 

 Ornithology has been limited to an expedition to Nicaragua by Mr. 

 George F. Breninger, and numerous short trips to the environs of 

 Chicago by the Assistant Curator. Mr. Breninger 's trip was emi- 

 nently successful, as noted elsewhere. Reference is made elsewhere 

 to the various expeditions conducted by the Department of Anthro- 

 pology. Mr. Alleyne Ireland, however, completed his work for the 

 department in the British East Indies and in the Malayan Archipelago, 

 and it is gratifying to announce that his mission was highly successful. 

 Mr. Edmund Heller, who was accompanied on this trip by Mr. C. M. 

 Barber, secured much valuable zoological material in southern Mexico. 



