11 
DIVISION OF BIOLOGY 
R. M. Anderson, Chief of the Division, reports: 
Progress has been made in detailed study and identification of the 
accumulated reserve collections of the National Museum of Canada, At 
the end of the year the catalogued specimens of birds in the museum 
numbered 25,010, and of mammals 11,427. In connexion with the system- 
atic studies, several consignments of specimens were determined for various 
collectors and institutions. The museum specialists are always glad to 
examine and determine specimens of mammals and birds from any part 
of the country for the information of collectors, and to receive authentic 
records of the distribution and spread of species. In some cases new 
records of occurrences of species in various provinces, and even new records 
for the Dominion of Canada, have been secured in this manner. 
Various lots of specimens have been received on loan from: Royal 
Ontario Museum of Zoology, Toronto; Provincial Museum, Victoria, B.C.; 
Provincial Museum, Regina, Sask.; Museum of Comparative Zoology, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 
University of California, Berkeley; California Academy of Sciences, San 
Francisco; Bureau of the Biological Survey, United States Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D.C.; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; 
and the Charles P. Connor Museum, State College of Washington, Pullman, 
Washington; also from Mr. Stuart Criddle, Treesbank, Man.; Mr. Kenneth 
Racey, Vancouver, B.C.; Mr. Eli Davis, London, Ont.; and Mr. Wm. H. 
Moore, Scotch Lake, N.B. 
Mr. Anderson was delegated by the department to attend a biological 
conference held at Matamek, Moisie bay, Saguenay county, Que., from 
July 24 to August 1, under the auspices of Mr. Copley Amory, of Washing- 
ton, D.C. Mr. Amory has been a summer resident on the north shore of 
the gulf of St. Lawrence for over twenty-five years and has observed the 
ebb and flow of animal and plant life of both land and sea, and the far-reach- 
ing effects of these cycles or fluctuations in abundance on the health, 
economic status, and general well-being of the human population. These 
problems have been studied in a more or less detached way by scientists in 
different countries, and Mr. Amory conceived the idea of gathering specia- 
lists in many more or less allied subjects — mammalogy, ornithology, 
entomology, ichthyology, marine biology, forestry, meteorology, climat- 
ology, and general ecology — for a round table conference where the problems 
could be discussed from various angles. About thirty people from five 
different countries — Canada, the United States, England, Scotland, and 
Germany — accepted Mr. Amory’s hospitable invitation, and both the 
Federal Government and the Quebec Provincial Government sent delegates 
to take part in the conference. Mr. Charles Camsell, Deputy Minister of 
Mines, acted as Chairman of the conference. 
Papers were presented on fluctuations in wild life in various aspects, 
reports on the ruffed grouse investigations that have been carried on for 
several years, salmon investigations, cod fisheries, the whaling industry, 
climate in relation to forestry, astronomical cycles, fur-farming, and 
epidemic diseases of animals in a wild state and in captivity, and the 
