NOTES 
61 
An obvious gap in botanical knowledge of the 
Pacific is found in the lack of collections of fungi, 
algae, lichens, and bryophytes. Except for certain 
parasitic families which have been studied in Ha¬ 
waii, the fungi of the main Pacific area are quite 
unknown. Identification of the forms collected 
should be a welcome contribution to mycology and 
should eventually add to present knowledge of 
distribution patterns of Pacific fungi and perhaps 
raise new problems in comparative morphology. 
For algae the region has been almost equally terra 
incognita, and the bryophytes and lichens, except 
those of Hawaii, have not previously been col¬ 
lected. The results of the summer expedition 
should eventually lead to the publication of sev¬ 
eral studies on the fungi and other cryptogams of 
the Marshall Islands. 
Some 625 collections of higher plants and 500 
of lower plants were brought back for further 
study at the University. These specimens will 
eventually be placed in the Bishop Museum for 
permanent record. Many photographs from the 
islands, both black and white pictures and color, 
were taken, as well as a number of 8-mm. motion 
picture films. 
ZOOLOGY AND BACTERIOLOGY 
A party consisting of Dr. Robert Hiatt, chair¬ 
man of the Department of Zoology and Entomol¬ 
ogy, Dr. Harvey I. Fisher, assistant professor of 
zoology. Dr. Floyd W. Hartmann, acting chair¬ 
man of the Department of Bacteriology, and two 
assistants, Leo Fortess and Eveni Levi, left by air 
from Honolulu on July 17, and after a 5-day stay 
at Guam, went to the island of Yap by LCI. After 
a stay of almost a month, they left Yap on August 
22 by air and returned, via Saipan and Guam, to 
Honolulu on August 28. Dr. Fisher collected ver¬ 
tebrate specimens and Dr. Hiatt collected inver¬ 
tebrate specimens. 
The ornithology, mammalogy, and herpetology 
of the Micronesian chain have been virtually un¬ 
known to English-speaking students. Study of the 
vertebrate fauna in this area is of interest from the 
viewpoints of taxonomy, distribution, and natural 
history, because detailed studies are available for 
certain surrounding regions. One purpose of the 
survey was to note the movement of bird species 
from the Asiatic continent southward and also 
eastward into the Palaus and the Marianas chain, 
as well as movement northward within this chain; 
in other words, to compare the avifauna of Yap 
with that of Peleliu and Guam. A complete zoolo¬ 
gical exploration of the Yap islands was made. 
About 150 skins of birds and mammals and some 
50 alcoholic and skeletal specimens were brought 
back for further study. In addition, a number of 
reptiles were collected. It is hoped that present 
investigations may demonstrate means of saving 
from extinction some of the particular endemic 
vertebrate species now isolated on small groups 
of islands or on individual islands; certainly the 
work will provide much new material for studies 
in morphology, natural history, ecology, and dis¬ 
tribution. 
No comprehensive survey of the invertebrate 
fauna of the Pacific islands formerly mandated to 
Japan has previously been made; indeed, the dis¬ 
tribution of species west of Hawaii is virtually 
unknown. Studies of the specimens collected will 
provide information concerning the taxonomy, 
ecology, and distribution of these invertebrates. 
Thousands of marine invertebrates were collected 
and placed in preservatives for shipment to the 
University for further examination. Subtidal areas 
were explored with the aid of "skin” diving and 
"self-contained” diving techniques. The aim in 
exploring Pacific invertebrate life was not merely 
to identify and map the distribution of inverte¬ 
brates in the Yap group, but also to compare these 
results with the dispersal of species previously 
known to exist in the Philippine and Indo-China 
area to the west and with that of species from the 
Great Barrier Reef of Australia to the south. Such 
studies might reveal the main routes of dispersal 
of species from the Asiatic mainland east into the 
Pacific. It is expected that future explorations will 
concentrate on island groups lying between Yap 
and the Hawaiian Islands. 
Dr. Hartmann, in addition to collecting a num¬ 
ber of autopsy specimens from rats in co-operation 
with Dr. Alicata on a study of the incidence of 
leptospirosis in the Carolines (see next section), 
carried on research on dental caries among the 
school children of Yap. Duplicate saliva speci¬ 
mens for several hundred children whose physical 
examinations and dental records were made avail¬ 
able by Navy personnel were submitted to bac¬ 
teriological examination. The Yap leper colony 
was visited, and observations were there made on 
administration, sanitation problems, and progress 
in rebuilding dwellings. A number of important 
bacteriological problems present themselves in the 
Caroline Islands, and these problems will have to 
be faced by the new American administration. 
A large number of black and white photo¬ 
graphs, as well as 200 colored 35-mm. slides and 
2,000 feet of 16-mm. color motion pictures, were 
brought back as records of the 6-week visit to 
Micronesia. 
PARASITOLOGY 
Dr. Joseph E. Alicata, head of the Department 
of Parasitology, University of Hawaii Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station, left by air on July 18 
on a visit to Truk and Ponape in the eastern 
Carolines, and returned August 31. 
Parasitic diseases are of paramount concern in 
the Pacific area and are responsible for retardation 
in the development of island areas and in the 
