8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
fragments and recemented together into a hard rock. In one case this re- 
cementation had been caused by silica and in another bj' iron ore. Large ex- 
amples of both kinds of this fault breccia were collected. Photographs of these 
specimens in situ were secured so that explanatory exhibition labels can be 
illustrated. 
THE COLLINS-GARNER FRENCH CONGO EXPEDITION. 
In December, 1916, an expedition known as the " Ck)llins- Garner 
Expedition in the interests of the Smithsonian Institution" sailed 
from New York for Bordeaux and from there to Africa, with the 
object of procuring a general collection of vertebrates and especially 
the great apes. The expedition encountered many difficulties and 
delays owing to the war, but by the summer of 1918 they had estab- 
lished permanent headquarters near Fernan Vaz, French Congo. 
A letter from Mr. R. L. Garner, who has the general management 
of the expedition, states in part : 
Our domicile is located on the edge of a vast plain, traversed here and there 
by belts and spurs of forest. In those plots of bush live great numbers of 
chimpanzees, and for the first time in my long experience among them I have 
seen whole families of them out on the open plain. Frequently they cross the 
plain from one belt of bush to another, in some places a mile or so in width, 
and not a tree or bush in that distance to shelter them from attack. They 
often come within 200 to 300 yards of my house and sometimes manifest deep 
interest in trying to find out what this new thing is set up in their midst. I 
have seen as many as four or five different groups of them in the same day, 
and one of these contained 11 members. 
Mr. Aschemeier has collected well on to 2,000 specimens, and nearly all of 
them he has killed with his own gun. Some of these specimens are exceed-' 
ingly rare and valuable. When you recall the fact that he came as taxi- 
dermist of the expedition and not as chasseur, he was not expected to provide 
the specimens that he was to preserve. 
We have forwarded six consignments of specimens to the Museum and have 
a seventh well on the way ; but we find great difficulty in getting the steamers 
to take them from Port Gentil (Cap Lopez), because they are all under the 
direction of the French military authorities. Two of our last shipments were 
still at Port Gentil last month, where one of them has been lying since last 
January and all steamers declined to take it. Once both shipments were 
taken aboard the steamer and bill of lading signed when the captain changed 
his mind and sent the whole lot back on shore, with the accumulated charges 
of 40 francs for embarkation and debarkation. 
We have sent 12 or 13 specimens of buffalo, several specimens and species of 
antelope, and two or three fine specimeus of the " red river hog," beside a 
large collection of monkeys, representing six or seven species of both sexes and 
various ages. I think in all we have sent over 1,500 up to this time. Of 
course, this includes birds, etc., not insects, and we have on hand a goodly 
number. 
War conditions seriously interfered with the shipment of the 
material collected, but later on a large number of interesting speci- 
mens were received by the Museum. 
