SMITHSONIAN LIBRARY teal ed r ,. aH, "ah ee al . Ce 4 it ee Uf nit 4 fw ee ‘ail %o, Hl te ON pe "5 ih iW s , hi 7S st a Vor ™~ = : : ey ‘ seh IHR be a % YY ry Z eg k SS VS (Sy lee psf ey : er 1 ig ? " Papo ce, es & oa < iti Pe “n 43 h -o ff a, > ‘ie v £ < 4 ij i e ae ue) 5) “nell: if ane “@, " | Tt ) i i jl we Sy Se Fae 6g <5 rin ae abe eal Si ; ; cae y a + = oh iat herent eoormm Pas of a p i ! Q% Al ed | i Hl iit bt il oy > } o4 iH NG f ryt “g,; i i al wy in pire ie ee ies ee Tee! 4, cs = ff OQ “% ie ee ht >: ar 4 ap OY 1) iii “ : I i 105, ge \s as a. > (| ™ Co» & >" 7 7 -) o 4 = “i o ‘ aa 1 hey i fl t > f i of me } ha! ie) r A t x i Lj ie ey ya > i Aun uate Ava Pk ; D av ta REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 1943 ee: INCAS oy LEVIES Sense ANio oy iy @ SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON oC, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1943 WZ AgTHSOSSS,,.U, aa Try Tes S00 AN GT or o- C) @esqgees’= UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1944 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D, C. Price 20 cents Unitep States Nationat Museum, Unptr DIRECTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, D. C., October 1, 1943. Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a report upon the present condition of the United States National Museum and upon the work accomplished in its various departments during the fiscal year ended June 30, 19438. Very respectfully, . ALEXANDER WETMORE, Assistant Secretary; Director, U. S. National Museum. Dr. CHarRLes G. ABBOT, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. Cy CONTENTS Page SEXED AHO TOUS OUR. Ti YS 2 IMR A a cA ed SS a nag n 8 p a 1 EMISPHIGH RENE TOMS aie oS LE ce CEO I I aos eben JE 1 HEU BYR OSL sR CG IR eat MP OTN PAN A aR eS eA 3 PeamlonaniOnseanG tela works: 8 ee sol a a ee 4 HCE VaESeCMrION. Wartime. 2s i a ee nN oe 7 7 TESTU SERS). 2 Lis I OR a) ge pa pec OM Rg aL ca ) CST SUPE TET sy 2 SI RS ASS © A AAR Ma Ns CN BL a 10 Rep hMerpons and printing 22) eM sae ee ey 12 BMG LOPra phic TADOKatOLy ve se ek ee 13 DOainecrnOve UnpMent 2-20 wea a a 13 Meena crancsspecial Exhibits. US 2l sel As ee 14 Shancessn orranization and states). 20k Pe oye oi) a a eee 15 Beraledmreporis.on the collections. (2 liu l Sool eu Soe ee a 17 Wenanementyor anthropology... 2 22s ye a A eee oe 17 WED AGEIMEMIONOIOLO RY 2. ek ae ok I 28 Same RON EZ COLO RY <1 ose ee btn a as a ae) OS ae 48 Department of engineering and industries__................_------ 59 TELS V@N GIN] US GPay wie a ON eg Mp LO MEO 71 et RO ETE COONS Mee rt AO EN a te Ne eh ek 77 Pacioue isc PUDNCAtIONS 222 28s 2 ee ek 107 REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1943. By ALEXANDER WETMORE Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Director of the United States National Museum OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR APPROPRIATIONS Funps for the operation of the United States National Museum for the year ended June 30, 1943, were made available in the Executive and Independent Offices Act for the fiscal year 1943 approved June 27, 1942. Salaries for the administrative and technical staff, the sub- professional staff, and the clerical, watch, labor, and char forces were covered by the appropriation ‘‘Preservation of Collections, Smith- sonian Institution,’ the amount available for these purposes being increased by Public Law 132, approved July 12, 1943. Moneys for the maintenance and operation of the Museum buildings were provided by an allotment under the appropriation ‘‘General Expenses, Smith- sonian Institution,” and printing and binding for the Museum were covered by an allotment from the appropriation ‘‘Printing and Bind- ing, Smithsonian Institution.”” The appropriation and allotments for the work of the Museum, including maintenance and operation of the buildings, are summarized as follows: Preservation of collections (appropriation)___. $646, 206 Public Law No. 132, approved July 12,1948. 53, 040 Available foriexpenditures. sje eye ee ee ai $699, 246 Maintenance and operation (allotment) ._____._____---- 150, 384 EnbinevanG, binding, (allotment) =. 22 ..el eee) ee 43, 000 Total availabletfor. years ae wy aime eyes 892, 630 Changes in the various items are explained as follows: In the appropriation for Preservation of Collections the funds exceeding those of the preceding year included $10,088 to cover added salary costs resulting from the operation of Public Law 200 (Ramspeck Act). Public Law 132 provided an additional $53,040 for added cost of overtime and increased salaries resulting from the operation of Public Law 694 (the custodial pay bill), which changed the basic salaries of the char force from 50 cents to 65 cents an hour, of unskilled laborers from $1,080 to $1,200 per annum, of guards from $1,200 to $1,500 per annum, of guard sergeants from $1,320 to $1,680 per 1 2 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 annum, and of guard lieutenants from $1,500 to $1,860 per annum, with miscellaneous small increases for members of the mechanical staff. This new schedule of salaries was a most welcome change, since it has operated to decrease the turn-over in personnel that has been one of our continuing troubles for many years. For Maintenance and Operation there was an increase of $524 to provide for salary increases under Public Law 200. The miscellaneous expenditures for the Museum dropped sharply during the year from a 3-year average of about $92,000 to $65,000. This decrease was occasioned by the difficulty of obtaining supplies and materials under the existing priorities required by the wartime economy of the Nation. During the year a ceiling was placed on the number of employees for the Smithsonian Institution, reducing these from 478 to 408. Part of this reduction was absorbed by changing the char hours from 20 to 48 hours a week, and a large part of the remainder was covered by existing vacancies. ® It was necessary further than this to drop four guard and six laborer positions. Under normal conditions this would | have affected the Museum most seriously, but owing to the fact that the present manpower shortage has made it impossible at the moment | to fill many positions in which scientific skill is required the actual loss — for the time being was not so great as the figures would indicate. The | Museum is operating, however, with greatly restricted personnel, and | while it may be possible to do this for the period of the war the im- | mediate rebuilding of our staff will be an urgent matter after the war, unless our work is to suffer permanently. The allotment for printing and binding available was the same as in | the preceding year, and under present conditions this is adequate, since the Institution has adopted the policy of restricting its publica- | tions almost entirely to studies that relate to the war effort, to knowl- | edge of strategic areas, or to its work in cooperation with the scientists | of the other American republics. Following the war, however, when | the scientific staff of the Institution resumes its full-scale research pro- gram, more printing funds will be required to make the results of their | investigations available to the public and to other research workers. | The need for more space for the Museum’s collections remains one | of our most difficult immediate problems, though it is one that cannot | be remedied during the war. While the Institution has discontinued | its usual extensive program of field explorations for the duration of | hostilities, specimens that must be given adequate protection continue | to come to us constantly as gifts. It is becoming apparent also that | men in the armed forces will contribute a great deal of material to our | collections, especially in the fields of anthropology and biology. In | fact, such collections, doubly important since they carry both scien- tific and sentimental value, are now beginning to come to hand. Itis | entirely fitting that these things secured by our men who are abroad | OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 3 should find a permanent home in the National Museum. There is also a certainty that the collections in American history, especially in the departments relating to military and naval affairs, will receive large accretions. The present disturbed world conditions place upon the Museum the necessity for giving added care to its collections. Destruction and damage to museums abroad are constantly adding to the value of our own great collections. The military occupation of wide areas, with the great disturbance of natural conditions that ensues, also indicates that we must give constant thought to the materials we now possess, since any possibility of their replacement becomes increasingly jeop- ardized. Our responsibilities in this connection are such that a state- ment made in the report of the preceding year deserves repetition: “Onder such circumstances our treasures in plant and animal life, living and fossil, in anthropology, in history, in art, and in engineering and the industries demand the most detailed and specific care so that, under the stress of the moment, they may not suffer neglect and damage. They comprise a trust that must be preserved for the cul- ture and life of future generations in our nation.”’ Plans for additional housing are kept under current consideration in order that they may be ready for presentation in any postwar building program that may be developed. COLLECTIONS In spite of the war, additions to the collections continued to come through gifts from interested individuals and by exchanges and at about the usual rate for recent years. The total number received, in fact, has been surprisingly large in view of curtailment in field work on the part of our staff that ordinarily brings large series of specimens. Though less than last year the total is within the usual recent range of variation from year to year. New material came in 1,177 separate accessions, with a total of 230,231 specimens, distributed among the five departments as follows: Anthropology, 2,514; biology, 213,823; geology, 9,725; engineering and industries, 2,266; and history, 1,903. The last shows an actual in- crease over the fiscal year 1942. For examination and report 681 lots of specimens were received, a large part of these being botanical and geological in nature, with many specimens, however, in other groups. A part of these the Museum returned to the senders when examination was concluded, some were consumed or otherwise destroyed during identification and analysis, and some were presented by the senders as additions to our permanent collections. Gifts of duplicates to schools, museums, and other institutions numbered 2,317 specimens. Exchanges of duplicate materials with other institutions and individuals amounted to 3,689 specimens, and 4 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 752 specimens were transferred to other governmental agencies. Loans for scientific study by investigators outside of Washington totaled 19,600 specimens. The summary that follows, of entries now included in the Museum catalogs in all departments, has been adjusted in the case of the division of history to include some materials not previously counted: Anthropology!) 3s 0. i 2040 0 he Pease hod Sa Mie | AA ap SAR ee TIL Ua Biology: i. L200 a Beh rea Ta Vee oso ea 13, 752, 348 GeOlOS Vici oe ae ea PE ES eG RR le) NOR a, 2 a 2, 683, 608 Engineering amd amdustriese asim ase ae rea 138, 129 ERIS COT Ys ss Lp Se 7 es od 525, 045 fay HH Nee Onur Uy ieee DORN ae RYE! 8 YVAN 17, 810, 247 EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD WORK Field explorations for the year were concerned in the main with matters connected with the war effort, or with commitments dating back to the pre-war period. With our usual program curtailed, the scope of the investigations has been changed measurably, though as always valuable results in a variety of directions have been achieved. In pursuance of the program for the furtherance of cultural relations with scientists in the Latin American Republics in cooperation with the Department of State, three members of the department of biology, Dr. Remington Kellogg, curator of mammals, Ellsworth P. Kaullip, associate curator of plants, and Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, curator of marine invertebrates, visited South America for periods of approxi- mately 3 months each. Dr. Kellogg left Washington on March 2, proceeding to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and returned on May 15, 1948. In Brazil he spent most of his time working in collaboration with members of the staff at the Museu Nacional at Rio de Janeiro, with additional contacts made at the Departamento de Zoologia at So Paulo and at the Museu Goeldi at Belém. The work of field stations and laboratories engaged in the study and control of tropical diseases was observed, particular attention being paid to research work involving Brazilian mammals suspected of being, or known to be, the hosts of vectors of transmis- sible diseases. Through the friendly cooperation of the Fundacao Rockefeller, Dr. Kellogg was enabled to spend a week at its yellow- fever field station near Terezopolis in the Serra dos Org4os. Mr. Killip was occupied during March, April, and most of May in Venezuela. Part of the time was given to field work and part to work with Dr. Henri Pittier, Director of the Servicio Botdénico, and his associates, in the identification of large plant collections recently made in little-known parts of the republic. Short collecting trips were made to Santa Lucia in the State of Miranda, Rancho Grande in the Parque Nacional, Barquisimeto in the State of Lara, and El Junquito in the mountains near Caracas. At the invitation of O. E. Nelson, in charge of the Venezuelan office of the Rubber Reserve OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 5 Corporation, Mr. Killip accompanied a rubber-investigation party to the Rio Paragua, a river rising in the Pacaraima Mountains and flowing northward and then eastward to the Rio Caroni. Most of the plant collecting, aggregating about 500 numbers, was done between the town of La Paragua and the Cerro Guaiquinima, a region never before explored botanically. Dr. Schmitt, after some delay due to congested air travel, left Miami, Fla., on April 13 for Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, and returned to Washington on June 30, 1943. In these countries he con- sulted with members of the staffs of various scientific institutions and spent some time examining collections, particularly of fresh-water crustaceans, some of which have considerable economic importance. In Brazil he visited the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, the Uni- versity of Sao Paulo and the Departamento de Zoologia at Sao Paulo, and the Museu Paranaense in Curityba. In Uruguay his itinerary included the Museo Nacional, the Museo Instituto Geoldégico del Uruguay, the Museo de Pedagégico, and the Museo de Ensefiaza Secundaria de Universidad, all in Montevideo, and also the museum of the Liceo in Paysandi. In Argentina he examined collections and visited the staff of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales and the University at Buenos Aires, the La Plata Museum at La Plata, the Museo Cornelio Moyano and the Universidad de Cuyo, both at Mendoza, the Universidad de Cérdoba at Cordoba, and the Univer- sidad de Tucum4n at Tucuman. ‘The director and staff members of the laboratories of the Direccién Regional de Paludismo assisted him on numerous occasions throughout northern Argentina, particularly in Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy. His field work, accomplished when time and other obligations permitted, included studies in Brazil at Alto da Serra, S40 Paulo, and at several localities in the vicinity of Curityba, Parana, in Uruguay at Paso de los Toros, Salto, and Paysandiu, and in Argentina at Mendoza, Tucumin, Salta, San Lorenzo, and Quijano. Philip Hershkovitz, present incumbent of the Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship, which had been granted before the outbreak of war, between June 30, 1942, and April 16, 1943, worked mainly in northeastern Colombia, establishing camps successively at El Salado, at Aguas Blancas, Aguas Verdes, and Palmarito on the Rio Guaimaral, at Guacamayo on the Rio César, at Villanueva in the Sierra Negra, at Fonseca and Padilla in the Sierra de las Marimondas of the eastern Andes, and lastly near El Orinoco on the Rio César, all in the Department of Magdalena, Colombia. More recently Mr. Hershkovitz moved camp to Norosi at the north end of the Cerros de la Honda in the Department of Bolivar. Under the W. L. Abbott fund of the Smithsonian Institution, M. A. Carriker, Jr., continued work in northeastern Colombia, and Walter A. Weber, assistant curator of birds, accompanied the archeological expedition sponsored jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the 6 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 National Geographic Society to Tabasco, southeastern Mexico. While in Mexico City Mr. Weber availed himself of the opportunity of visiting the Instituto de Biologia. Dr. W. F. Foshag, curator of mineralogy and petrology, continued work in Mexico, where he is in charge of the strategic mineral program for the U. S. Geological Survey. In the course of these investiga- tions he has obtained materials for our collection, some of which have been delivered to the Museum. The bulk, however, remains in Mexico pending shipment to Washington after the emergency. Late in July, Prof. A.S. Warthin, Jr., of Vassar College, and Dr. G. A. Cooper, associate curator of invertebrate paleontology, left for the Midwest to study Devonian rocks in Illinois and adjacent States. The purpose of the trip was to correlate isolated areas of Devonian ex- posures in southern, central, and northern Illinois with the better- known sequences in central Missouri and eastern Iowa. About 10 days were spent in Jackson and Union Counties, Ill., making sections and collecting fossils, after which the party moved to Ste. Genevieve County in southeastern Missouri. From this area they went to Calhoun County, Ill., to see the thin stratum of Middle Devonian rocks exposed there. Thence they moved to central Missouri to the vicinity of Fulton and Columbia. ‘The next areas studied were those in northeastern Missouri in Ralls County, the section in eastern Iowa from Muscatine to Davenport, and the adjacent sequence in the vicinity of Rock Island, Ill. Early in September, following the return of Dr. Warthin to the East, Dr. Cooper visited the University of Iowa and from there continued to the University of Wisconsin. While at Madison he made a short trip to Port Washington and Milwaukee to examine Devonian outcrops in these neighborhoods, thence returning to Urbana, IIl., to study fossils and confer with the Illinois State geologists. He was ordered then to southeastern Missouri not far from Cape Girardeau to report on a deposit from which several bones of a dinosaur had been taken. Later in the year under the cooperative work between the Depart- ment of State and the Smithsonian Institution, and as the result of a special request by Ing. Luis Flores C., of the Instituto Geolégico de México in Mexico City, Dr. Cooper was detailed to confer with Mexican geologists and then to investigate Paleozoic sequences in the neighborhood of Caborca in northwestern Sonora. He arrived in Mexico City on March 28 and for 3 weeks was occupied with prepara- tions for the trip north. On April 17 Dr. Cooper and Ing. Arellano left Mexico City for Caborca, arriving 3 dayslater. The next 5 weeks were devoted to stratigraphic studies in the small hills lying chiefly to the west of Caborca and extending as far as El Antimonio. During these investigations they discovered several long sequences of Cam- brian rocks and good sections of Mississippian and Permian strata. On May 28 they left Caborca and returned to Mexico City, where 3 OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 7 weeks were devoted to conferences with Mexican geologists. Five days were given to a visit to the new volcano, Paricutin. Only brief mention was made in last year’s report of the field expedition of the Smithsonian to Wyoming under the direction of Curator C. W. Gilmore, since it extended well into the present fiscal year. Accompanied by George I. Sternberg, George B. Pearce, and Alfonso Segura, the latter of the Museo Nacional, San José, Costa Rica, the party spent nearly 2% months in the systematic search of the Hat Creek Basin area, Niobrara County, Wyo., for Oligocene vertebrate fossils. ‘This work resulted in assembling a collection of 236 lots of specimens having a weight of 6,050 pounds, among which were several specimens of outstanding merit. Combined with the collection made here in 1932, this gives the Museum for the first time an adequate representation of this important fauna. Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, associate curator, division of archeology, was detailed to the Bureau of American Ethnology from January 16 to June 1, 1943, in order to assist M. W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureau, in archeological excavations near La Venta, in the State of Tabasco, Mexico. These excavations, constituting an important program of research among the Pan American republics, were sponsored jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society. THE MUSEUM IN WARTIME In the 12 months covered in the present account the continuance of our public exhibitions and the change in hours to allow our public halls to be open all day Sunday have been abundantly justified. Although naturally there has been a decrease in the total number of visitors below that normal for times of peace, the 1,355,269 persons recorded at our doors during the year indicate the great interest that exists in our public displays. The number is decidedly more than the total population of the Greater Washington area, indicating that, at the present time when gasoline rationing and crowded travel lines prevent ordinary journeys, the National Museum has been a favored spot by those who now are in Washington. Among our visitors an average of more than 1,000 each day are men and women in uniform, the number being especially large on Saturday and Sunday when many are in the city on week-end furloughs. Last year’s report indicated steps taken for adequate safeguard for our collections and operations during the period that the Nation will be at war. These precautions have gone forward. The work of safeguarding employees, visitors, and the buildings and their contents was started under the supervision of Carl W. Mitman, head curator of engineering and industries, soon after the United States entered the war. On August 17, 1942, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution appointed Frank M. Setzler as general defense coordinator of all Smithsonian buildings on the Mall, 8 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 excluding the National Gallery of Art. Since the declaration of war, service units have been organized, a program of training has been initiated among the various groups of employees, air-raid alarm systems have been installed, fire-fighting, air-raid, and first- aid equipment procured, air-raid shelters designated, and complete blackout facilities where necessary established. During the year, in cooperation with the District of Columbia, 5 practice air-raid drills were held during the daytime, and 10 practice blackout drills were held at night. A few practice drills were held independently of the city-wide drills. Twice during the year our air-raid defense organization, consisting of approximately 212 employees, was given instructions in the use of the fire hoses, chemical fire extinguishers, and the portable fire pumps. Numerous incidents were prescribed during the daytime air-raid drills which provided practice for the stretcher and first-aid squads. All appropriate protective measures as outlined in the official ‘‘Air Raid Protection Code” under stages A and B have been fulfilled. All these arrangements have naturally imposed an extra amount of labor on the staff; without their willing cooperation much of this work could not have been accomplished. Mention was made in the last report of the removal of certain col- lections for storage outside our buildings. Some additional materials have been added to these. Throughout the year members of the staff have been occupied with considerable work connected with the war effort, either through direct contact, with various war agencies or through the Ethnogeographic Board. This has included “spot’’ information in various fields, re- search, and experiment. The variety of these matters is indicated by the following enumeration of some of the items on which data were requested: Camouflage plants; natural vegetation of specific regions; illustrations of poisonous plants and of emergency food plants and data regarding them; destruction of mosquito-harboring epiphytes; dis- tribution of certain plants of known economic importance; botanical exploration; the use of land, fresh-water, and marine animals for food, the palatability of the flesh thereof, and methods of capture; the serviceability of hides and skins for various purposes; disease transmis- sion; noxious, poisonous, or otherwise dangerous animals; intermediate hosts of animal and human parasites; aid in the preparation of survival manuals and other military and naval handbooks; distributional lists of insects and other animals of medical importance; outlines for insect surveys in foreign areas; instruction in mosquito identification; col- lection and preservation of specimens, especially those of medical importance; supplying duplicate sets of insect material not otherwise readily obtainable for the use of Army and Naval medical schools; biological and oceanographic problems; marine fouling organisms; bibliographic surveys; recommendations regarding personnel. Assistance has been given in the identification of tribal culture OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 9 patterns chiefly of the island peoples of the west Pacific area and of continental southeastern Asia. Other information provided, in this instance cbtained from our photographic files, related to the need of our aviators and soldiers to recognize religious caste markings and, to assist in the orientation of aviators, the types of house construction in various parts of southern Asia. A mass of information directly based on our collections was given to such agencies as the Board of Economic Warfare and the War Production Board, bearing directly on the de- velopment of the use of substitute materials for civilian use. Various articles describing the more remote peoples and their cultures were prepared and published. Though it cannot be told here or now, the story of the Museum’s participation in this war is one in which we can all take pride. VISITORS Visitors to the Museum buildings during the year totaled 1,355,269, somewhat less than the number recorded for the previous year, 2,042,817. This clecrease can, of course, be attributed to the ration- ing of gasoline, including the curtailment of pleasure driving and vaca- tion travel, the elimination of sightseeing busses, all resulting from the war, and the application of the American public to its wartime ac- tivities. The largest monthly attendance was during August 1942, with 163,413 visitors, and the second largest was during July 1942, with 136,111. In table 1 will be found the number of visitors during ' each month of the year. From November 1, 1942, to June 30, 1943, a separate count was made of members of the armed forces who visited the buildings during the first 7 days of each month. This count served to show that attendance by service people averaged 25 to 35 percent of the total number of visitors. TaBLE 1.—Visitors to the Museum buildings during the year ended June 30, 1943 Museum buildings Smithsonian Year and month Building HIS Ee Natural Ninorake Total inoue | ive, | Ballaing 1942 “| UE? ele el 25, 782 54, 960 39, 841 15, 528 136, 111 PUPS eae ee. 30, 797 64, 1387 49, 594 18, 885 163, 413 Bepvcmiber. 224 2.5: 25, 230 49, 981 42, 184 12, 987 130, 382 Microwen sos 21, 766 43, 001 38, 622 11, 031 114, 420 iNovemibenmss 2s. 22°! 21,118 eel Oe 33, 809 11, 663 107, 604 Wecembers 2.2. 3. 12, 499 24, 875 22, 432 7, 076 66, 882 1948 LI SDTUE NS (eae esha eg 16, 229 33, 652 29, 911 9, 010 88, 802 epuuanyes! 18, 232 31, 439 29, 406 9, 660 88, 737 NHI) OT ia Sea 21, 696 41, 391 31, 087 12, 519 106, 693 Beiter ok 26, 399 51, 102 38, 062 15, 348 130, 911 1) 2 ee 24, 576 45, 164 36, 393 14, 000 120, 133 "LG 8. St eee 19, 793 36, 194 32, 714 12, 480 101, 181 Totaly sosst 264, 117 | 516,910 | ! 424,055 150, 187 | 1, 355, 269 1 Not including 2,860 persons attending meetings after 4:30 p. m. 10 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 LIBRARY In much the same way that industrial byproducts are often found to have unexpected values and uses, the books and periodicals ac- cumulated through the years to serve the curators of the Museum in their care and study of the collections in their custody have been discovered to contain information useful and sometimes of unique importance to the war agencies. During the present fiscal year the Museum library has probably been used for more different kinds of research, and has answered questions on a greater variety of subjects, than at any other period in its history, but in almost every case with an identical ultimate objective—the winning of the war. The exact nature of the reference questions asked and answered, the subjects of the bibliographical lists made for special purposes, and the reasons why certain books were borrowed cannot, for obvious reasons, be given, but the list would be an interesting and a surprising one. Representatives of about 35 different branches of the war agencies have called for assistance or have come in person to do re- search, and two-thirds of the 687 loans of books to outside libraries were made to war-agency libraries. Most of the use of the library by the members of the curatorial staff of the Museum, too, was con- nected in some way with the war, either for war projects in which they themselves were engaged, or in which, as special consultants, they were giving help to others. Outside the processes involved in the acquisition, cataloging, and other preparation of books and peri- odicals for use, which cannot be neglected without serious crippling of library service, a very large part of the time of the library staff may be said to have been devoted to giving aid in the war effort. | One painstaking and useful piece of bibliographical work fortu- nately can be given special mention. In connection with the proposed union list of Russian serial publications to be compiled by the Special Libraries Association, Mrs. Elisabeth H. Gazin, associate librarian, prepared a list of the 157 titles of Russian periodical sets in the library, giving the exact holdings of the library in each set. There were a number of especially notable accessions during the year. One of the largest and most important gifts was a collection of 350 books, many of them rare and beautiful volumes, on arms and armor, presented by Ralph G. Packard, of Morristown, N. J., to accompany the collection of arms and armor that he gave to the Museum. Another special collection of great usefulness was the late Dr. Frank Smith’s bequest of his working library of oligochaete literature, 1,103 pieces in all. This has been assigned to the sectional library in the division of marine invertebrates, where it is particularly valuable because it so well supplements the slide and specimen collection that Dr. Smith gave to the Museum during his lifetime. OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR nl The library was also so fortunate as to be able to secure about 250 volumes and 2,300 pamphlets, mostly on the subject of reptiles, from the library of the late Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, formerly head curator of the department of biology. From the library of the late George P. Engelhardt came 45 volumes and 7 pamphlets as a gift to the sectional library in the division of insects. A unique gift presented by Dr. Stuart H. Perry was a five-volume set of photomicrographs of meteoric irons, to accompany the photo- graphic plates in the division of minerals. Deposited in the Museum library was the invaluable gift from the Linnean Society of London to the Smithsonian Institution of the microfilm records of the Linnean collections and manuscripts. All the actual specimens in the Linnean herbarium are covered in the 60,000 exposures of this set, as well as records of the mollusks, fishes, and insects, of various manuscripts, and of those of Linnaeus’s own publications to which he had added corrections or emendations. An important transfer of material from the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior was the collection of manuscript records of the dredging and hydrographic stations of the scientifically famous ship Albatross and other Bureau of Fisheries vessels. Accessions of books and periodicals by purchase and by regular and special exchange were much as in the preceding year, with a fairly well stabilized flow of material continuing to come from allied and neutral countries abroad. As always, there were many generous gifts of books and pamphlets from members of the staff of the Institution and from other friends. Current work was everywhere well kept up in spite of heavier duties, the loss of one position, and some unavoidable time-lag in filling other vacancies. The fine spirit of the staff in taking on extra work and in meeting emergencies deserves comment. Much thought and a great deal of hard work went into the problem of relieving the serious overcrowding of the shelves in the Natural History Building. The extensive shifting and rearrangement neces- sary to make the best use of the 12 new sections of shelving added last year was continued and finished on the first floor. About 1,500 volumes were selected for transfer to the stacks in the Arts and Industries Building, where further extensive shifting was necessary to make room for them and where their orderly arrangement and their recording in the catalog was completed. It was particularly gratify- ing to be able to prepare and send to the bindery this year 1,650 volumes, mostly periodicals. Changes on the staff were as follows: Miss Minna Gill was ap- pointed assistant librarian on September 2, 1942. On December 9, 1942, Miss Elizabeth G. Moseley was promoted from the position of under library assistant to that of junior librarian. Mrs. Daisy F, 12 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 Bishop was appointed under library assistant on February 17, 1948. Miss Marjorie R. Kunze was promoted on February 24, 1943, from the position of under library assistant to that of library assistant. Statistics Accessions (volumes and pamphlets) cataloged__._.___.___ 2, 678 Volumes added by binding periodicals222 == 2 22 ae eo Periodicals entered a. ocean wel a one ee Cards added to catalogs and shelf-lists_ =. 2. =22220 2. 2-22 Vy fer New exchanges arranee dia kiwi he Oe) hd aes ae cee 101 Circulation of books and periodicals____.____.__.__._.__.___. 10, 154 Exclusive of incomplete volumes of periodicals, and of uncataloged material, the Museum Library now numbers 226,967 volumes and pamphlets. PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTING A total of $43,000 was allotted for National Museum publication requirements for the fiscal year 1942-43, the same amount as for the previous year. An apportionment of $27,750 of this allotment was made for the printing of Museum Bulletins, Proceedings, and the Annual Report. Of the balance, $12,000 was allotted for binding and $3,250 for the salary of the Museum printer. Publications issued numbered 30—the Annual Report, 3 Bulletins, 1 Contribution from the National Herbarium, and 25 Proceedings. A list of these publi- cations is given on page 111. Volumes bound totaled 1,865. The distribution of volumes and separates to libraries and individ- uals on the regular mailing lists aggregated 49,818 copies, while in addition 5,813 copies of publications issued during this and previous years were supplied in response to special requests. The mailing lists have been carefully revised to avoid loss in distribution. Paul H. Oehser, the Museum editor, continued during the year as editor of the Proceedings of the Eighth American Scientific Congress, working in collaboration with the Division of International Confer- ences of the Department of State. At the close of the year nine volumes of these Proceedings had been published, the remaining three volumes of the series being in the process of binding, so that it was possible to bring the actual editorial work to a close by June 30. The editor served also as chairman of the Efficiency Rating Committee of the Smithsonian Institution and devoted considerable time to the administration of efficiency ratings as required by Civil Service reculations. Indexing.—Work on the comprehensive index to Museum publi- cations, consisting this year of indexing the Annual Reports from 1882 to 1886, was carried on by Miss Gladys O. Visel, editorial clerk, and Mrs. Marguerite W. Poole, information clerk. Indexes to volumes 91 and 92 of the Proceedings were also prepared for printing. Museum print shop.— As in former years, F. W. Bright was detailed from the United States Government Printing Office to print museum OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 13 and herbarium labels and special forms at the Museum print shop, a branch of the Government Printing Office. Of the 125 requisitions that were submitted for printing, Mr. Bright completed 109; in addi- tion 3 that were submitted during the previous fiscal year were finished, a total for the year of 112. Five of the uncompleted requisitions represent specimen labels or large exhibition labels, involving long press runs or much hand setting of type. The remainder were sub- mitted too late in the year for completing before June 30. With the exception of these, the work of the print shop is nearly up to date. PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY The Bureau of American Ethnology, the National Collection of Fine Arts, and the National Museum have continued their cooperative arrangement with the photographic laboratory. Under this plan the laboratory has made 3,766 negatives (including 138 photomicrographs), 13,986 prints, 168 lantern slides Gncluding 41 kodachrome slides), 518 enlargements, and 98 transparencies (including 8 kodachromes). It has also developed 14 rolls of film, 26 film packs, and 77 cut films and has mounted 74 prints. These figures show a substantial increase over the work accomplished last year. About one-third of this year’s work in the laboratory, especially that of making negatives and prints, was in connection with illustrations for the Smithsonian War Backeround Series of publications and in furtherance of the work of the Ethnogeographic Board and the Smithsonian War Committee. BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT Repairs and alterations —Besides the routine repairs necessary to the upkeep of the various Museum buildings, one important instal- lation was made during the year. A fumatorium for the fumigation of Museum specimens was installed in the shipping room of the Natural History Building and placed under the supervision of the property officer. In the absence of an appropriation to resurface in toto the private road that serves the Natural History Building, it was decided to repair the worst-worn sections and to postpone the widening and replacement of this road. On June 30, this repair work was about three-quarters completed. Scrap-metal salvage.—Special efforts were made during the year to collect metal as a contribution to the war. All supervisors were instructed to make special surveys and to gather all available waste metal. This drive resulted in turning over to the Procurement Division 50,461 pounds of scrap metal between August 13, 1942, and May 21, 1943, in addition to 300 pounds of salvaged tin cans collected in boxes placed at the private entrances to the several Museum buildings, and in the north lobby of the Natural History Building, for the convenience of Museum employees. 553751432 14 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 Heat, light, and power.—Electric current used during the year amounted to 1,359,000 kilowatt-hours. The amount of steam used during the year, furnished entirely by the Central Heating Plant of the Government, was 54,856,000 pounds, 272,000 pounds more than for the previous year. Ice production.—Ice manufactured by the refrigerating machine for the Museum buildings amounted to 215 tons, at a cost of $1.42 a ton. The reduction in the amount of ice produced this year from the 276 tons for last year was due to the elimination of most of the | bottle-type water coolers from the third floor of the Natural History Building. No ice was purchased. Fire protection. —Four additional soda and acid fire extinguishers were installed in the Natural History Building during the year, and periodic tests and inspections were made of those already installed. Some of these inspections included demonstrations in the handling of this equipment for the benefit of the Museum air-raid wardens and > newly appointed guards. Several tetrachloride extinguishers of the | one-quart hand type were installed in the several buildings. | Air-raid alarms were tested once each week during the year. | Furniture and fixtures—Furniture added during the year consisted _ of 4 exhibition cases and bases and 85 pieces of storage, laboratory, | office, and other furniture. Condemned and disposed of were 42 exhibition cases and bases and 16 items of storage cases, laboratory, | office, and other furniture. An inventory as of June 30, 1943, showed © on hand: 3,545 exhibition cases; 20,201 pieces of storage, office, labo- ratory, and other furniture; 114,206 drawers, boxes, and wing frames. MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS As in former years, the auditorium and lecture room of the Natural History Building were made available for meetings of educational, scientific, welfare, and governmental organizations and groups, with assistance from the Museum when cooperation was possible; 128 such meetings were held during the year. Because of wartime conditions the regularly scheduled Arthur Lecture of the Smithsonian Institu- tion was suspended. | The foyer and adjacent space of the Natural History Building, | allotted to special exhibits, were in almost continuous use. ‘Twelve | such exhibits were held, as follows: | July 1 to 27, 1942: Exhibition of paintings by Sefiorita Carmen Madrigal Nieto, i of Costa Rica. | July 1 to September 15; October 1 to 31, 1942: Exhibit arranged by the Manone q Museum showing evel ee of firearms. | September 15 to October 1, 1942: Exhibition of paintings by Sefiorita Pachita Crespi, of Costa Rica. | November 5 to 29, 1942: Exhibition of paintings by Frank C. Kirk, of New York. December 1, 1942, to January 4, 1943: Exhibit of war materials, sponsored by the National Museum. | OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR 15 January 8 to 31, 1943: Exhibition of paintings and designs on Lenox vases and platters by Simon Lissim, of New York. _ February 5 to 28, 1943: Exhibition of water colors by Leonora Quarterman, of Savannah, Ga. March 1 to 31, 1948. Exhibition of photographs, by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. April 1 to 30, 1948: Exhibition of photographs—‘‘Our Navy in Action’’—spon- sored by the Navy Department. May 1 to 31, 19438: Exhibition of photographs, sponsored by the Arlington Camera, Club. June 1 to 30, 1943: Exhibition of landscapes in oil, by Walter King Stone, of Ithaca, N. Y. June 1 to 30, 1943: Exhibit of shells and marine specimens from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, arranged by the National Museum. CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION AND STAFF In accordance with the terms of Public Law 821 and Executive Order 9289, the service for the regular personnel of the National Museum was increased to 48 hours a week by addition of one hour a day and the elimination of the Saturday half-holiday. It was required that this increased individual service be accompanied by a reduction in force to free manpower for other use, in which all necessary separa- tions were taken care of by transfer to other agencies. ‘This reduction brought about a reorganization of the char force by increasing the period of duty from 20 hours to 48 hours a week. Unclassified employees were given classified status under the Ramspeck Act and and Executive Order 8743. To afford a more usual description of the functions of his position, on January 16, 1943, Dr. Alexander Wetmore’s title was changed to assistant secretary, Smithsonian Institution, director, United States National Museum. In the department of anthropology, Dr. Joseph E. Weckler, Jr., associate curator in the division of ethnology, resigned on January 6, 1943. Following the death of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, head of the depart- ment of biology for many years, Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, curator in the division of marine invertebrates, was advanced to the position of head curator of the department on June 16, 1943. Dr. Doris M. Cochran’s title was changed on March 27, 1943, to associate curator in charge of the division of reptiles and amphibians. In the division of mollusks, Dr. Harald A. Rehder was reallocated to associate curator and Dr. Joseph P. E. Morrison to assistant curator on Septem- ber 1, 1942. On July 1, 1948, Walter A. Weber was appointed assist- ant curator on the staff of the division of birds to succeed S. Dillon Ripley, 2d. During the absence of Frank A. Taylor, who is now on military duty, the head curator of the department of engineering and industries, Carl W. Mitman, assumed charge of the division. In the division of 16 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 engineering, Fred C. Reed was appointed acting associate curator on August 1, 1942, while Paul E. Garber is on military furlough. Other division of engineering staff appointments, to be effective only for the duration of the war, are: Kenneth M. Perry, advanced from exhibits worker to senior scientific aide, August 1, 1942; Burlie Parks, trans- ferred from the Museum property office to the position of exhibits worker formerly held by Mr. Perry. Dr. Wallace E. Duncan, assist- ant curator, section of chemical industries, resigned on July 31, 1942. The yacancy caused by his resignation was filled November 2, 1942, by the transfer of Joseph W. Schutz from the Social Security Board. An honorary appointment was conferred on Dr. Walter K. Fisher as associate in zoology on June 25, 1948. The honorary title of Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan was changed on July 28, 1942, from associate in marine sediments, department of biology, to associate in paleontol- ogy in the department of geology, to represent his existing activities more accurately. Employees furloughed for military duty during the year were as follows: Everett A. Altizer, on July 6, 1942; Paul E. Garber, on July 6, 1942; Samuel T. Fetterman, on July 20, 1942; Dr. Charles L. Gazin, on July 20, 1942; Preston L. Travers, on July 22, 1942; John iu. Theunissen, on August 24, 1942; Ernest Desantis, on September 30, 1942; John B. J. Peck, on September 30, 1942; Glen P. Shephard, on October 15, 1942; Dr. Marshall T. Newman, on December 3, 1942; Harold W. McGiverin, on December 11, 1942; and Frank A. Taylor, on April 14, 1943. Furloughed for duty in private industry were: Edward Zuranski, on January 23, 1948, and Charles F. Huselstein, on May 28, 1948. Through the operation of the retirement act, Joseph A. Boswell, principal guard (sergeant), retired on June 30, 1943, at his own | option, with 17 years of service. The year was marked by the death of several staff members long | connected with the Museum. The death of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger | on February 28, 1943, deprived the Museum of one of its most inter- _ nationally known scientists. Harry S. Jones, principal mechanic, | foreman of electricians, died suddenly on September 11, 1942; John D. Ray, junior laborer, died on October 28, 1942; and Jennie T. — Jackson, charwoman, on August 29, 1942. In addition to these the | honorary staff lost Dr. Samuel W. Woodhouse, collaborator, section — of ceramics, department of anthropology, by death on February 2, | 1943, and Dr. Mary J. Rathbun, associate in zoology, department of | biology, whose death occurred on April 4, 1943. | DETAILED REPORTS ON THE COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY (Frank M. Serzurer, Head Curaior) GLoBAL warfare, especially in the more remote areas of the earth, has focused attention on our knowledge of the aboriginal peoples and their culture. Numerous specimens, resulting from anthropological investigations of primitive cultures, as well as those collected by early explorers, have provided many pertinent details of value to our armed forces. Investigators from the various military organizations have searched our collections, analyzed specimens, and described and illustrated the diagnostic features of native inhabitants, such as houses, weapons, food plants and animals, wearing apparel, and religious obiects. The well-preserved condition of these specimens, some of which were collected over 75 years ago, as well as the classification of the data, reflects the care and method of preservation employed by preceding and present staff members. This is especially significant in the division of ethnology, where 80 percent of the collections are of a * perishablenature. The department has given priority to all requests from war agencies, the Smithsonian War Committee, and the Ethnogeographic Board. Several temporary exhibitions dealing with war topics were installed in the foyer of the Natural History Building under the supervision of the staff. Owing to the rearrangement of our study collections, neces- sitated by defense precautions, considerable time has been devoted to the inspection of the collections and supplying the requisite amount of poisoning for the preservation of perishable objects. Soon after January 1943 the department gave up 25 percent of its employees, some for the duration of the war and others for a period of 6 months. This reduction in manpower has been partly overcome by an increase in the hours of work and by additional responsibilities assumed by the remaining staff. Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, associate curator of archeology, was detailed to the Bureau of American Ethnology for approximately 6 months in order to assist M. W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in the Smithsonian Institution-National Geographic Society archeological excavations near La Venta, in the State of Tabasco, Mexico. Dr. T. Dale Stewart, curator of physical anthro- pology, supervised the leveling of a supposed Indian mound near West Point, Va. Dr. Samuel W. Woodhouse, Jr., collaborator in the section of ceramics, died in Philadelphia, Pa., on February 2, 1943. Dr. Wood- - 17 18 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 house was given honorary appointment as collaborator in ceramics on January 11, 1928, and for some time prior to that date had been associated with the Institution in connection with the art collection presented by the late Alfred Duane Pell to the former National Gallery of Art, now the National Collection of Fine Arts. ACCESSIONS Accessions received by the department during the year totaled | 78 (2,514 specimens, a reduction of 486 as compared to the previous year). The classification and cataloging of several large collections accessioned in former years were completed. The 78 new accessions | were assigned within the department as follows: 1 loan assigned to the head curator’s office consisted of specimens from the British Informa- | tion Services for a temporary exhibition pertaining to ‘“Britain’s | Offensive’; archeology, 16 (1,546 specimens); ethnology, 33 (420 | specimens); ceramics, 11 (185 specimens); musical instruments, 2 — (3 specimens); period art and textiles, 6 (48 specimens); physical — anthropology, 9 (312 specimens). Archeology.—The following are among the more important of the © new acquisitions: 1,359 specimens, chiefly earthenware vessels, — potsherds, and figurine fragments, from Tres Zapotes, on the Arroyo | Hueyapa, Tuxtla District, southern Veracruz, Mexico, collected during — the winters of 1938-39 and 1939-40 by the Smithsonian Institution- | National Geographic Society expeditions under the leadership of | M. W. Stirling, received as a transfer from the Bureau of American © Ethnology; 51 stone, bone, shell, and earthenware objects from the — Irene Mound site, 5 miles above Savannah, Chatham County, Ga., collected under the sponsorship of the Chatham County Commis- sioners and the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, transferred by the Work Projects Administration; 24 earthenware vessels, clay heads, projectile points, etc., gathered adjacent to the ruins of Calixtlahuaca (Temple of the Wind), near the city of Toluca, State of Mexico, Mexico, | and donated by Charles Burton; 2 wooden figurines, one unfinished, | from Belle Glade, Palm Beach County, Fla., exhumed and presented by H. H. Hart; 1 obsidian mirror, found in a stream bed at Olmedo, about 20 kilometers south of Santa Ana, Manabi Province, Ecuador, | received as a gift from O. L. Haught; 33 reconstructed earthenware | vessels and representative potsherds from Ocmulgee National Monu- | ment, Bibb County, Ga., transferred by the National Park Service. as the Smithsonian Institution’s share of the materials recovered under |) various relief projects since December 1933. Ethnology.—The most unique and interesting specimen received in the division of ethnology is a ceremonial mace of serpentine from the Island of Maré, east of New Caledonia in the Loyalty group of islands, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 19 which was presented by Maj. Gen. A. M. Patch, U.S. Army. The mace was originally given to the donor by Henri Naisseline, grand chief of Maré, in whose family the specimen had long been treasured as an heirloom. Although the mace is new to our ethnological col- lections, it has been possible to obtain excellent information regarding this type of ceremonial weapon from French scientific literature on New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. This ceremonial mace ranks as the outstanding accession of the year and has been placed on special exhibition. An important collection, consisting of 259 specimens from the Aleut, Alaskan Eskimo, Tlingit, and Haida of southeast Alaska, and the Salish of British Columbia, was donated by Mrs. Joseph Stanley- Brown. This material had been collected by the donor’s husband when he was stationed at Dutch Harbor from 1890 to 1898 while in charge of the Pribilof Island seal fisheries. ‘Thirty-four weapons and pieces of armor from the Mindanao Moro, collected in 1900, were received as a gift from Col. James A. Wheeler, U. S. Army (Rtd.). A small collection of inscriptions on bamboo from the southern Mangyan, and a similar inscription from the Buhil-Mangyan, Mindoro, P. I., together with four musical instruments from the same peoples, were presented by Maj. Fletcher Gardner, U.S. Army (Rtd.). Fishing paraphernalia, tools, utensils, and other objects used in the daily life of the Payamino Indians, eastern Ecuador, originally col- lected by C. Spencer, also five ceremonial dance masks fashioned by the Kobeua (Cubeo) Indians, of the Department of Vaupés, south- east Colombia, were received by transfer from the Bureau of American Ethnology. A small number of specimens from the Canelos Indians, who live along the Rio Bobonaza, Oriente Province, Ecuador, among which is a feathered dance headdress outstanding for its artistry of design and beauty of color, were donated by Ford Fishback. ‘Two hand-woven costumes from a male and a female Chamula Indian, a tribe found in the vicinity of San Cristébal, Chiapas, Mexico, were presented by Richard Ceough. The collection of historic religions was enlarged through the gift by Mrs. Wilbur J. Carr of a Biblical widow’s-mite, a bronze coin of the Roman, Alexander Jannaeus (105-78 B. C.). Among the collections assigned to the section of ceramics the following are worthy of note: A Staffordshire, England, stoneware plate with paneled painting of the burning of the New York Stock Exchange in 1835 was presented by Stephen B. McDaniel. Two porcelain vases and plates from Capo di Monte molds, made at the Florence, Italy, factory of Marquis Ginori about 1821, were added to the collection of early Italian wares by the late William Evelyn Jones. Included in a gift by Mrs. Raymond T. Holden were four 20 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 interesting examples of ancient Greek painted terra cotta consisting of pitchers and lamp fillers excavated at Pompeii and made presumably by Greek colonists at Apulia, southern Italy, during the fourth cen- tury, B. C. A large collection of American glass made during the late 1880’s and including excellent examples of ‘‘Burmese’”’ blown glass made by the Mount Washington Glass Co., New Bedford, Mass., and ‘‘Peachblow” glass from the Boston & Sandwich Factory, Sandwich, Mass., ‘‘case’”’ glass, a product of a Wheeling, W. Va., factory, and specimens illustrating the type of colored glass produced by the New England Glass Co., Cambridge, Mass., mostly of a greenish yellow, shading into a delicate rose color, was received as a gift from the estate of Mrs. Emma Caroline Schenck Cecil. Among the various accessions assigned to the section of period art and textiles, the most noteworthy was a collection of antique jewelry from Scotland, Hungary, Portugal, France, Egypt, China, Ceylon, and the Philippine Islands, consisting of gold necklaces, bracelets, and brooches jeweled with star sapphires, opals, emeralds, and diamonds, collected and presented by Miss Mary E. Maxwell. A chased and embossed ornamental snuffbox, with amethyst sur- rounded with brilliants inset in a lozenge of blue enamel, and bearing the registry mark of Bergen, Norway, was donated by Mrs. Leonhard Stejneger at the expressed wish of her husband, the late Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, for many years head curator of the department of biology. Also noteworthy of mention is a collection of 12 eighteenth and nineteenth century Spanish, French, and Chinese antique, hand- painted ornamental fans with filigreed and inlaid staves of ivory and mother-of-pearl, received as a gift from S. L. Israel. A French bagpipe assigned to the section of musical instruments was included in the gift of numerous objects of Swedish and other European national folk art by Mrs. W. Duncan McKim. Physical anthropology.—Included in the accessions of this division are Indian skeletal remains from two ossuaries on the farm of Mrs. | Alice L. L. Ferguson, near Accokeek, Prince Georges County, Md. | Previously we had received the remains from ossuaries Nos. 1 and 3, | and now by the receipt of those from Nos. 2 and 4 the gift is com- | pleted. Altogether this collection represents one of the largest — samples of the aboriginal population from along the Atlantic coast. Another interesting item is a midget’s skull from Peru, donated by | J. Robert Wells. The capacity of this skull is only 485 cc., which | seems to be the smallest human adult skull thus far reported. INSTALLATION AND PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS Several temporary exhibitions were installed, under the direction of the head curator, in the foyer of the Natural History Building. Through the cooperation of Capt. Charles Carey, assistant curator of history, and Herbert W. Krieger, curator of ethnology, an interest- DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 21 ing exhibition was prepared illustrating the ‘‘ Evolution of Firearms,”’ which traced the development cf weapons from the earliest type of sling through the throwing stick, Chinese whistling arrows similar to those used by Genghis Khan, Chinese and European crossbows, prototypes of pistols, rifles, and machine guns, culminating in the Garand rifle, modern machine gun, and models of tanks now used by the United Nations and Axis forces. This display remained on exhi- bition throughout September, October, and November 1942. During December 1942, in cooperation with the British Information Services, a special exhibition portrayed ‘‘Britain’s Offensive.’ A ceremonial mace presented to General A. M. Patch, U. S. Army, by Henri Naisseline, grand chief of Maré, in the Loyalty Islands group east of New Caledonia, was placed on special exhibition. The mace was donated to the national collections by General Patch at the time of his visit to the National Museum. With the operation of the new fumatorium the task of thoroughly poisoning perishable specimens has been lessened and the operation standardized. As time and personnel permit, all our specimens liable to infestation will be subjected to this procedure. The transfer of numerous objects now in open racks into standard storage cases will simplify the assignment, classification, and the keeping of our speci- mens in good condition. Archeology.—During the year 14 new and revised archeological ex- hibits were installed, covering the following subjects: Peruvian pot- tery and textiles; miscellaneous materials from South American re- publics; ornaments, amulets, and religious objects, alabaster vases, earthenware wine vessels, and plaster casts of statuettes, all from ancient Egypt; and Roman, Greek, and Syrian lamps. Four addi- tional cases were arranged for special display in the foyer. More than 2 months were devoted to the cleaning and repair of prehistoric Peruvian pottery in anticipation of the exhibits mentioned above. ‘Three American cases were lined with monk’s cloth; loose glass was tightened on 50 other cases; 100 quarter units of new storage cases replaced the old racks in the east corridor of the north wing on the third floor. The division’s correspondence files were rearranged and put in order, and the card catalog was condensed to save space. The new fumatorium was used to poison all the Aleutian mummy bundles and other prehistoric perishable materials. The cleaning, sorting, and listing of the 1939 and 1940 collections brceught back by the Smithsonian Institution-National Geographic Society expeditions to Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico, occupied members of the staff from August 1942 until early in March 1943. Catalog cards have been typed, but at least 6 months more will be required for marking the individual specimens. All minor accessions have been cataloged. 22 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 Ethnology.—The division of ethnology cooperated with the division of history in the installation of specimens illustrating the evolution of firearms. Ethnology displayed primitive weapons such as were in general use up to the introduction of firearms and gunpowder, while history exhibited specimens illustrating the advance of projectile weapons from that period up to the present. Display cases depleted or emptied through evacuation of specimens have been provided with new or auxiliary exhibits for the duration of the war. The ceramic gallery in the Arts and Industries Building has been redecorated. All shelving and backs of cases were covered with monk’s cloth after | minor changes were made in cabinet work in certain deep wall cases, making for neatness of display and increased visibility. All material exhibited has been cleaned and each exhibit rearranged. The wooden bases supporting the bronze statuary of the Herbert Ward collection from the Congo have been repaired. Ceiling and walls of the hall housing this invaluable collection have been repainted. Painting of the ceiling and walls of hall 7, Natural History Building, has enlivened the exhibits of African, Melanesian, Micronesian, Polynesian, and Indonesian ethnology. Repairs of 10 of the key- board instruments of the Hugo Worch collection included the re- draping of front panels with wine-colored rayon. A new exhibit illustrating the artistic and ornamental use of silver in the handi- crafts of various South American peoples was installed in the hall devoted to South American ethnology. This display shows a pleasing combination of colonial Spanish and native Indian techniques in metal working. | All current accessions and those from previous years have been classified and cataloged. The tribal index for the many thousands of specimens of the Victor J. Evans accession, a major collection of the division, has been completed by Mrs. Jessie S. Shaw, clerk- stenographer. She has also undertaken an inventory and the recata- loging of laces now included in the study series of the section of period art and textiles. The entire collection is being reclassified according to type, with cross references to donors and collectors. It is thought when this work is completed that most of the more important laces from the study series can be assembled in glass- covered trays in the hall of period art and textiles for reference use | by Museum visitors. This arrangement should supplement the | limited number of display cases now on exhibition. The work per- formed by the laboratory of the department in the restoration and repair of specimens, particularly in the field of southwestern Pueblo pottery, has made many additional specimens available for study purposes. Physical anthropology.—The exhibition illustrating artificial cranial deformity was reorganized so as to show in one large flat-top case DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY ras examples from North America and in another those from South America. The small flat-top case previously containing this exhibit now illustrates sex differences in the skeleton, while another case shows variations in head size, including the smallest and largest known human skulls. The addition of an under scientific helper to the staff on July 16, 1942, made it possible to rearrange much of the storage section. He took up the work where the W. P. A. workers had left off— checking contents of drawers with labels, making new labels, and bringing together separated parts of individual skeletons. As a result, most of the study collections now are more easily available than ever before. The extensive revision of the division’s catalog, begun last year, was carried to completion by Mrs. M. B. Murphy, clerk-stenographer, early in the fall. Following the revision of the catalog, work was begun on the index to the Hrdliéka collection of reprints. These reprints, which Dr. Ales Hrdliéka, associate in anthropology, donated to the divisional library, are now filed in boxes of uniform size, num- bered consecutively. Thus far attention has been given only to reprints pertaining to Latin America. Anthropological laboratory.—The chief preparator, Andreas J. Andrews, supervised the modeling, casting, repair, and restoration of the many anthropological specimens. In collaboration with the division of physical anthropology he completed a bust and piece mold of an average 18-year-old white male derived from the composite measurements furnished by the division of physical anthropology. The casts were used in our laboratory for experimental purposes by the Bureau of Aeronautics, Equipment and Materials Section, of the Navy Department, for designing a combination pilot’s helmet, goggles, and oxygen mask. Subsequently other casts of this bust were furnished to the National Bureau of Standards. For the division of archeology Mr. Andrews repaired and restored several large prehistoric pottery vessels and a Mexican sculpture. Nine aboriginal baskets from caves and pueblo ruins were cleaned and repaired and several stone objects were repaired. For the division of ethnology the bronze statues in the Herbert Ward alcove were waxed and polished; two suits of armor were repaired, polished, and a preservative applied; a ceremonial mace from New Caledonia and 15 metal knives and spears were cleaned and treated with a pre- servative; crossbows and an Indian bandolier were repaired; 56 broken earthenware vessels from the American Southwest were restored; and considerable assistance was given in the poisoning of specimens in storage cases. For the division of physical anthropology two Teton Sioux busts were modeled from facial masks and cast; 24 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 and 19 new bases with raised inscriptions for Indian busts were | completed. A plaster cast of a life-sized model was completed for the division of history in connection with its exhibition of period costumes. A bust of Benjamin Franklin was cast for the division of graphic arts. Other casts and repairs were made for the division of invertebrate paleontology and the National Collection of Fine Arts. INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH Considerable research was required of the staff in the department of anthropology in order to supply the information requested by various military agencies, the Smithsonian War Committee, and the Ethnogeographic Board, in addition to the time required for the identification of specimens submitted to the department. At the same time several anthropological manuscripts were completed for publication. An article entitled ‘‘Archeological Accomplishments dur- ing the Past Decade in the United States,” by the head curator, was published during the year in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. He also prepared an article entitled ‘‘Archae- ology: Western Hemisphere” for the 1943 Britannica Book of the Year. G. D. McCoy, clerk-stenographer in the office of the head curator, summarized the W. P. A. archeological quarterly reports that had been turned over to the Smithsonian Institution, covering the W. P. A. archeological investigations on more than 567 sites in 254 counties within 24 States. As secretary of the Advisory Board of the National Park Service, the head curator attended two conferences of the Board at the new Park Service headquarters in Chicago, Ill. On August 17, 1942, he was appointed genera! defense coordinator of the Smithsonian group of buildings excluding the National Gallery of Art. More than 60 lots of specimens were submitted to the department for identification and subsequently returned to the owners. During the year 476 replies were made to letters requesting anthropological data. In addition to the identification of anthropological material, many visitors and correspondents were supplied with information in connection with old china, silver, and musical instruments. Archeology.—Besides the studies connected with the installation of archeological exhibitions, the curator of archeology, Neil M. Judd, completed his analysis of basketry, matting, and other fabrics from prehistoric Pueblo Bonito, N. Mex., and made considerable progress with the bone artifacts. Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, associate curator, early in the fiscal year began study of his 1939 collections from Scott County, Kans., but put this aside in order to accompany M. W. Stirlmg on the 1943 Smithsonian Institution-National Geographic Society Expedition to La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. For the Atlas DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 29 of American History Dr. Wedel reviewed his data relative to Coro- , nado’s route in 1541 from Pecos, N. Mex., to Quivira, in central Kansas; in addition, he read the proofs of Bulletin 183 of the U. S. - National Museum, entitled “Archeological Investigations in Platte and Clay Counties, Missouri.” As in previous years, Associate Curator Wedel has conferred with various institutions and individuals who submitted directly to him archeological material from the Great Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley, in addition to material from nearby Maryland and Virginia. The curator likewise has been asked to assist both Government bureaus and individuals. Twelve lots of archeological material were received for examination and report and subsequently returned to the senders. : Hihnology—The classifying and cataloging of ethnographic and auxiliary collections and supplying information requested by individu- _als, organizations of a private or public character, the several war agencies, and the armed forces involved considerable compilation of anthropological data. This type of research continuously occupied the staff to the almost complete exclusion of a second and more original type of research that has for its aim the verification or revi- sion of accepted conclusions regarding man and culture. The curator, H. W. Krieger, prepared a manuscript on the peoples of Micronesia and Melanesia for one of the Smithsonian War Background Studies. Governmental departments and agencies used the division’s re- sources continuously throughout the year. Many classes of speci- mens were examined and sketched. Skin garments and footgear of Arctic peoples were singled out for special study by the Quarter- master Corps of the U. S. Army, as well as by several scientific divi- sions of the Government. The division’s library was combed for every available scrap of information constructive to the war effort. The demand by individual correspondents and visitors as well as other Government bureaus for photographs from our negative files is steadily increasing. This involves the assembling of appropriate pictures for selection, as well as of specimens to be photographed, and the identification and captioning of the prints. Eighteen written reports were made pertaining to the examination and identification of a total of 41 specimens for private individuals. The number of visitors to the offices of the division seeking informa- tion or an informal report on specimens brought for examination and identification exceeded that for the previous year. The study of ceramics, silver, and pewter is of never-failing interest to the public and involves considerable assistance on the part of the staff in addi- tion to the compilation of information for distribution to interested correspondents. Visitors and correspondents show an increasing 26 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 interest in the care and preservation of antiques and family heirlooms and request advice regarding technical methods of repair and preservation. Physical anthropology —Curator T. Dale Stewart continued his research throughout the year on the physical anthropology of South © American Indians. This project, which is intended to summarize our information on the human skeleton for the Handbook of the Indians | of South America, has necessitated the examination and verification of several hundred references. It has involved also the collecting of measurements and their statistical analysis, where adequate. These data show a clear-cut geographical segregation of skull size among the Indians of South America that roughly parallels the distribution | of stature: the largest peoples in the East and Southeast and the | smallest in the West and Northwest. Skull shape, however, except relative head height, fails to show definite segregation. Low-headed | skulls are localized in the northern part of the continent, a fact that may be significant historically in view of the occurrence of this feature in western North America and probably in Middle America. | The curator prepared an article on ‘‘Food and Physique” for the volume of ‘‘The Annals” (American Academy of Political and Social — Sciences) devoted to “Nutrition and Food Supply: The War and — After.’’ Other articles prepared by him during the year are: “Skeletal _ Remains from Paracas, Peru,” ‘Distribution of Cranial Height in — South America,” “Relative Variability of Indian and White Cranial | Series,” and ‘‘Natives of the Indo-Pacific Islands.’’ The first three of © these articles were prepared for the American Journal of Physical | Anthropology; the last for the U.S. Navy. The associate curator of physical anthropology, Dr. Marshall T. | Newman, also was engaged, up to the beginning of his military furlough, in research pertaining to South America. Having prepared a manuscript while in Peru on the skeletal remains that he had collected there, he undertook during his short stay in Washington | to synthesize all the published data on undeformed Peruvian crania. | As a further contribution to this subject he measured all the crania | in the national collections from San Damian, in the central highlands. | The results of this work were published in an article entitled “A Metric Study of Undeformed Crania from Peru.” The former curator, Dr. Ale’ Hrdlitka, now associate in anthro-— pology, worked on his Alaskan reports during most of the year. — When they were completed and in press, he began to analyze his assembled data on human tibia. The curator furnished reports in a form for publication on skeletal remains from Mancos Canyon, in southwestern Colorado, which represents the late Basket-Maker and early Pueblo cultural periods, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY PA sent in by Erik K. Reed, of the National Park Service; as well as a report on material from the Sugar Run site in northwestern Penn- sylvania, associated with an eastern Hopewellian cultural period, sent in by C. E. Schaeffer, of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission. On four occasions Dr. Hrdlitka or Dr. Stewart identified skeletal remains brought in by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investiga- tion. ‘Two lots of bones were submitted by private individuals for examination and report. DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS During the year the department distributed 354 items, including plaster models, photographs, and specimens, as loans, transfers, and gifts to other Government bureaus, museums, schools, colleges, and private organizations, for exhibitions and other educational purposes. Two miniature plaster models of the Aztec Calendar Stone were made for the Office of Education, Department of the Interior. NUMBER .OF SPECIMENS UNDER DEPARTMENT At the close of the fiscal year, the department of anthropology was credited with a total of 711,117 cataloged specimens, representing a net increase of 2,481. ‘The following summary indicates the distribu- tion of specimens as assigned to the various divisions and sections within the department: PERU OOO Nath ee SLIT SIT ON ade ye, Od VS Le TAO 205 FEET Oyen ee i RA ade re oy eager ed Mn ah Sei ee LBD OG @eramiCs es ee a a ie eR OS WiSTemINStrUIMeN tS... oo ree ae Nr ee eee ee Ali Renodeart, and textiles! o2 Sak wn a ae a De 20a inciealv ant arOwOlag yeas at Ue aS as ene bne Sy ead ea 3726 £1 Noy 2 Vc aM a ar tO ale AVUORY alter se as aa (UW I LY DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY (Watpo L. Scumitt, Head Curator) Ar a period when the Nation is dedicated to war a decrease in the number of accessions to the collections of the National Museum is expected, but as a result there is more time available to our staff for concentration on the Museum’s contribution to the war effort. The role that the department of biology plays in this war is far from a passive one, though, by their nature, the services rendered must at this time remain in part at least confidential. Much information, the more valuable because so much of it is first-hand, of people, places, and natural resources has been furnished to our armed forces and active war agencies. In the furtherance of the aims of the Division of Cultural Relations of the Department of State, three members of our scientific staff have recently completed successful missions to Latin America: Ellsworth P. Killip spent the months of March and April and most of May in Venezuela assisting Dr. Henri Pittier, director of the Servicio Bo- tanico, and his associates in Caracas in the identification of large collections of plants from little-known parts of the republic. Several short collecting trips were undertaken, of which the most important was in company with a party of investigation from the Rubber Reserve Corporation to the Rio Paragua in Venezuelan Guyana. Dr. | Remington Kellogg spent the greater part of the period from March to mid-May in Brazil, giving particular attention to research work involving Brazilian mammals suspected of being or known to be the hosts of vectors of transmissible diseases, and collaborating with members of the staffs of the Museu Nacional at Rio de Janeiro, the Departamento de Zoologia at SAo Paulo, and the Museu Goeldi at Belém. Considerable time was devoted to the editing of a folio memoir on certain groups of mammals of Amazonia prepared by Dr. Eladio da Cruz Lima. Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, during April, May, and June, visited Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, where he consulted with members of the staffs of a number of the leading museums interested in the study of invertebrates, discussing research problems of mutual interest, particularly those affected by the war, and examining collections of fresh-water Crustacea. In the course of his travels he gave eight lectures before university, museum, and other scientific groups. Generously assisted by state officials, museum staff members, and members of the sanitary and malarial control services, he was enabled to make collections of fresh-water crustaceans in several localities in each of the countries visited. The present holder of the Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Schol- 28 DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 29 arship, Philip Hershkovitz, continued his mammal collecting in north- - eastern Colombia with gratifying success. Under the W. L. Abbott fund, M. A. Carriker, Jr., was in the field from July to September 1941 and began another expedition in May 1942, making further col- lections of the Colombian avifauna. W. A. Weber, also traveling under the Abbott fund, secured some 600 bird skins during a four months’ trip to Tabasco, southeastern Mexico, while accompanying an archeological expedition sponsored jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society. Locally, Dr. L. P. Schultz devoted several days to the collection of fossil fish remains at Scientists Cliffs, Md. Some field work was undertaken in and about the District of Columbia by various members of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine who are located in the Museum, principally by Dr. W. H. Anderson and Louise M. Russell, for the purpose of securing beetle larvae. As a result, a very extensive collection was obtained, and the larvae and adults of 25 species were definitely associated. Fifteen species of larvae obtained were previously unrepresented in the Museum collec- tion. Dr. Paul Bartsch, assisted by members of his staff, continued his field studies on the breeding of the fresh-water snail Goniobasis in the Shenandoah and Potomac Valleys. Field work in connection with the survey of the butterflies of Virginia, which has been carried on in past years by Austin H. Clark, was this year restricted to 2 weeks in the vicinity of Mount Solon. With the death of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger on February 28, the Department and the Museum suffered an irreparable loss. He had been head curator of the department of biology for the past 32 years. As man and as scientist, he was noted for his breadth of knowledge, depth of understanding, and, above all, for his clear thinking. In him we have lost a good friend and a wise counselor. Dr. Mary J. Rathbun, for more than half a century associated with the National Museum as the chief organizer and for many years the active head of the division of marine invertebrates, died on April 4. The present high standard of excellence of the invertebrate collections and the system of record-keeping that she instituted are themselves heritage enough, without the generous provision in her will bequeath- ing $10,000 to the division for the purpose of continuing the scientific work on Crustacea which she began. The microfilming of the Museum’s catalogs by the National Archives as a safeguard against wartime hazards is one of the noteworthy accomplishments of the year. It is also of great interest to note here the transfer of the valuable study collection of fishes of the former U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to the Museum, coincident with the removal of the Fish and Wildlife Service, with which the Bureau was merged, 553751—43——3 30 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 to Chicago. In all, about 50,000 specimens of fishes were involved in the transfer, including the Bureau of Fisheries reserve series, totaling 2,143 catalog entries, among which are listed 104 types. | ACCESSIONS Accessions for the year aggregated 704, with a total of 213,823 specimens. The marked falling off in the number of accessions is a direct result of the stepping up of the war and of the Nation’s whole- hearted support of all that pertains to it. There are 236 fewer acces- sions this year than last, accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the number of specimens received by each division in the depart- ment except one. Only the division of fishes showed an increase in the number of specimens received, this as a result of the removal of | the Fish and Wildlife Service to Chicago, as noted above. The more noteworthy accessions are listed under the various divisions as follows: Mammals.—Important mammalian specimens include the follow- | ing: The first complete skeleton of the African bush elephant, Lozo- donta cyclotis, to come to the national collections, a gift from the Philadelphia Zoological Garden; 5 Virginia deer collected in the Virgin | Islands by Harry A. Beatty and donated by him to the Museum; 27 mammals collected by the George Vanderbilt Sumatran Expedition, | on Sumatra and Nias, a gift from the Academy of Natural Sciences | of Philadelphia; 24 small mammals, principally from the Maracaibo | Basin, Venezuela, collected by Dr. L. P. Schultz; 37 mammals col-. lected by Walter A. Weber in Tabasco, Mexico; 10 pinniped and 8 porpoise skulls from the Pacific coast, a transfer from the Fish and Wildlife Service; 42 Missouri coyotes and dogs, a transfer from the) Fish and Wildlife Service; 4 small rodents collected in the endemic | plague area in the Province of Tomina, Department of Chuquisaca, | Bolivia, a transfer from the Pan American Sanitary Bureau; and 58) | ancaeenile from the National Zoological Park. 2 specimens of another form new to the collections, the black-lored| grass warbler, Cisticola nigrilora, an exchange from the Museum of) Comparative Zoélogy; and the skins of 65 species of Ecuadorian birds! heretofore not represented in our collections, obtained by purchase.) Birds.—Various items of the widely scattered oollacuene of the } United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 continue to come’ to hand from time to time. A number were included in a collection) of 149 birds from various parts of the world recently presented to the National Museum by Georgetown University. Particularly welcome) among the year’s accessions are three skins, representing the pheasant’ genus Anurophasis and the shrike genus Eulacestoma, of New Guinea) birds new to our collections, obtained in exchange from the American) Museum of Natural History; the type of the warbler Prinia flaviven-| tris delacouri, an exchange from the Princeton Museum of Zoology; cent DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 3l Other important ornithological material accessioned includes Col. L. R. Wolfe’s gift of 8 bird skins and the head of 1 bird from Eritrea, a locality unrepresented in the Museum collections; 80 bird skins and 1 bird skeleton from the late J. H. Riley; a gift of 56 bird skins from Georgia and Florida from H. L. Stoddard; 593 bird skins and 14 bird skeletons from Tabasco, Mexico, collected for the Museum by Walter A. Weber under the W. L. Abbott fund; 29 bird skins from Venezuela, a gift from the Carnegie Museum; 74 bird skins from North Africa, given to the Museum by Dr. A. J. Tacquin, of Safi, Morocco, and received through the kind intermediation of Ensign A. G. Humes; 63 bird skins collected by Harry Malleis in Guatemala, transferred from the Fish and Wildlife Service; and 6 lots containing 86 skeletons, 18 skins, and 2 eggs from the National Zoological Park. Reptiles and amphibians.—An especially fine series of Haitian rep- tiles and amphibians received from Anthony Curtiss contained the second known specimen of a rare genus and species of snake, Darling- tonia haetiana Cochran. From Venezuela Dr. L. P. Schultz brought back an exceptionally fine series of the dwarf Surinam toad, Pipa parva, showing free-swimming tadpoles in all stages and adults with the eggs encysted in the thickened skin of the back, where they are kept until a fairly advanced stage of development is reached. Harry A. Beatty sent in a very complete collection of the frogs, lizards, and snakes of the Virgin Islands area, including two specimens of the rare blindsnake Typhlops richardvi from St. Thomas. Fishes.—The outstanding event of the year in the division of fishes was the transfer to the Museum of the extensive collection of fishes maintained by the former U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, now merged with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Another large collection accessioned this year consisted of 34,700 specimens brought to the Museum by Dr. L. P. Schultz from the Lake Maracaibo region of Venezuela in the spring of 1942. Type and equally valuable material was received as follows: From the Fish and Wildlife Service 49 gobies, comprising 3 holotypes and 46 paratypes; from the California Academy of Sciences an exchange of 21 specimens, including 6 paratypes; a gift of 2 paratypes of Notolepidomyzon intermedius Tanner from Dr. Vasco M. Tanner; 2 rare South American fishes, Ochmacanthus rein- hardia and Urinophilus erythrurus, received in exchange from the Natural History Museum of Stanford University; from the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy 6 cotypes of Cynopotamus biserialis Garman as well as 564 South American fishes collected by the Thayer Expe- dition; 286 fishes from Texas and Florida presented by J. L. Baugh- man; 37 fishes from Colombia from Cecil Miles; and 61 fishes, mostly from the Rio Cauca, Colombia, from the Escuela Superior de Agri- cultura Tropical, through Mr. Miles. 32 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 Insects.—Foremost among the year’s entomological accessions were the following: The balance of the private collection of the late George P. Engelhardt, long a generous friend of the Museum, comprising 4,300 miscellaneous insects, accompanied by his extensive and valuable personal entomological library; a gift of six very rare trap-door spiders, Cyclocosmia truncata (Hentz), from Tennessee, collected by the donors, William M. Wheeler, Jr., and Paul Wheeler, the third known occurrence of this species since its discovery a century ago; and a collection of over 300 insects obtained by Maj. W. L. Jellison in Yunnan Province, China, brought out by mule, truck, and finally by air to India, and from there to the United States by ship. From the Department of Agriculture approximately 46,000 miscellaneous insects were received by transfer during the year. A large part of this material was supplied by South American investigators of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, while other desirable lots came from the bureau’s Division of Foreign Plant Quarantines, the result of interceptions at various ports of entry. Marine wnvertebrates.—This year five accessions brought much valu- | able type material to the Museum’s collections of marine inverte- _ brates, viz: Types, allotypes, and paratypes of 13 new species of | crayfishes from Dr. Horton H. Hobbs, Jr.; types and paratypes of 7 — new species of echiurid worms from Dr. Walter K. Fisher; the holo- types of 4 branchiobdellid worms from Dr. Clarence J. Goodnight; holotypes, allotypes, and paratypes of 4 new ostracods from C. | Clayton Hoff; cotypes of 3 species of fresh-water amphipods from | Leslie Hubricht; and from Prof. Robert W. Pennak the cotypes of a | new crustacean, Derocheilocaris typrcus, upon which a new genus, new — family, and new order were based. A noteworthy transfer was re- _ ceived from the New Orleans laboratory of the shrimp investigations of the Fish and Wildlife Service, consisting of about 700 specimens of | well-preserved, well-sorted, and partly identified invertebrates, — chiefly from the Gulf of Mexico. Capt. Robert A. Bartlett again © brought back from northern waters a miscellaneous collection of — marine invertebrates, in continuation of his annual donations of the | past decade. Mollusks.—One of the important mollusk collections of North | America was left to the Museum by the late Dr. Frank C. Baker, | together with 17 bound volumes of his own published writings. This — collection comprises approximately 10,000 specimens and includes the > types of many species described by the donor. Collections including type material were received from Miss Marie E. Bourgeois, Dr. B. R. Bales, A. Sorensen, Maxwell Smith, V. D. P. Spicer, Museum of Comparative Zoédlogy, Miguel L. Jaume, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and Capt. William Osment. By purchase, in part through the Frances Lea Chamberlain fund, 264 operculate land DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 33 shells were obtained from Mrs. Weena C. Fulton, of England. Other sizable collections were received as follows: From Oscar Haught, 4,000 specimens from Ecuador; 175 Arctic mollusks from Capt. R. A. Bartlett; 377 specimens collected in Venezuela for the Museum by Dr. L. P. Schultz; 300 mollusks resulting from the Peruvian investi- gations cooperatively carried on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Peruvian Government; and 1,700 specimens from the Gulf of Mexico shrimp investigations of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Of special interest is a donation of 1,500 shells from the island of New Caledonia, received from the National Geographic Society and Maj. Gen. A. M. Patch. This material is the first of any consequence received from this now important part of the world in many years. Helminths.—Twelve of the 17 helminthological accessions received during the year contained type material, as follows: From Ralph F. Annereaux, type specimen of Opecoelina pharynmagna Annereaux; from Prof. Dr. Eduardo Caballero y C., Instituto de Biologia, Uni- versidad Nacional Auténoma de México, cotypes of Parallintoshius tadaridae; from Miss Maria Cristina Cerecero, of the same school, cotype of HKuparyphium ochoterenar; from Ellsworth C. Dougherty, University of California, holotype and allotype of Halocercus kirbyt Dougherty; from Dr. Ralph F. Honess, University of Wyoming, type and paratype of Protostrongylus frosti; from Prof. R. Chester Hughes, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 8 slides bearing cotype specimens of Hymenolepis parvisaccata and 39 slides represent- ing four new species; from Arthur W. Jones, University of Virginia, types of Protogynella blarinae and Diorchis reynoldsi; from Prof. David Richard Lincicome, University of Kentucky, paratypes of Corynosoma obtuscens; from Dr. H. J. Van Cleave, University of Illinois, paratypes of Acanthocephala; and from Prof. Richard N. Winger, University of Wyoming, type of Protostrongylus agertert. Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, chief of the Zoological Division, U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, also reports the receipt of 280 new lots of speci- mens. Corals —Among the material accessioned by the section of corals were the types of six corals transferred to the Museum by the Fish and Wildlife Service and 50 corals from New Caledonia received from Maj. Gen. A. M. Patch and the National Geographic Society. Echanoderms.—The New Caledonia echinoderms received through the National Geographic Society and Maj. Gen. A. M. Patch con- stitute the most interesting of the current accessions. A small collection presented by Capt. R. A. Bartlett form the basis of a recently published report by the curator, A. H. Clark, and Gordon J. Lockley, of the British Museum. Plants—Among the more important botanical accessions is an ample and well-prepared series of 2,353 plants from little-explored 34 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 parts of Colombia received in continuation of exchanges with the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Bogota, with which we are cooper- ating on a descriptive Flora of Colombia. Other exchanges include: 1,957 specimens from various regions, from the Gray Herbarium; 3,405 specimens from many sources, from the Arnold Arboretum; 1,754 specimens, mostly from Panama, from the Missouri Botanical Garden; 1,546 specimens, mostly from Florida, Bolivia, and Papua, from the New York Botanical Garden; 1,500 specimens, mostly from Guatemala, from the Field Museum of Natural History; 2,102 specimens, mostly from Texas, Mexico, and Haiti, from the University of Michigan; 585 specimens from northern Mexico, from Stanford University; 301 specimens from the western United States, from the University of California; 285 specimens, mostly from California, from the California Academy of Sciences; 400 specimens from Kentucky, from the University of Kentucky. Ten noteworthy accessions con- sist of plants presented to the National Herbarium by their respective donors, the first five of these with requests for identifications, as follows: 729 specimens of Venezuelan plants from Prof. H. Pittier; 536 specimens, mostly from Haiti, from L. R. Holdridge; 2,100 speci- mens from Virginia and West Virginia from H. A. Allard; 750 speci- mens from Martinique from Dr. H. Stehlé; 512 specimens from the Hawaiian Islands from Otto Degener; 902 specimens, mostly from the western United States and eastern Asia, from Dr. R. Kent Beattie; 401 grasses from many regions from Mrs. Agnes Chase, custodian of srasses; 515 specimens from California and Colorado from EK. P. Killip, associate curator; 450 specimens from the eastern United States from C. V. Morton, assistant curator; 764 specimens from the eastern United States and eastern Canada from Dr. E. H. Walker, assistant curator. ‘Two other valuable collections are 1,355 speci- mens, mostly grasses, received as a transfer from the Department of Agriculture, and 947 Mexican plants obtained by purchase. INSTALLATION AND PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS The removal of the types from all biological collections in the build- — ing to safer storage elsewhere, when this could be done without detri- ment to the specimens concerned, has been virtually completed. All reasonable precautions have been taken to safeguard the materials _ still remaining in the building against the threat of bomb damage. — With these two vitally important tasks now behind us, we can again — turn to those things which, in the ordinary course of events, are more | properly Museum functions. On the whole, because of lack of time and manpower, few changes have been made in the exhibition series. However, 13 specimens of various kinds, birds, fish, and a ground squirrel, were mounted and ° DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 35 placed on exhibit. The old moose group in the west main hall was dismantled, and the North American small-mammal exhibition cases were rearranged as the result of the space so released. Behind the scenes considerable progress was made on several larger groups in preparation. Eight large birds, chiefly penguins, and the mold and cast of a crab-eater seal were completed for the Antarctic group, three handsome beavers for the beaver group, and many of the ac- cessories for the Virginia deer group. In addition, considerable work was done for the Pan American Union on its exhibits of South American birds, and the biological section of the Smithsonian Index Exhibit was dismantled, overhauled, rearranged, and reinstalled. The division of mammals, despite the acquisition of new cases, is still having difficulty in finding storage space for its ever-growing and valuable skull collection. The skin and alcoholic collections continue in satisfactory shape. For the study series the taxidermist force has skinned, made up, or remade a total of 122 skins, of which more than a fifth were of large size. The osteologists cleaned 99 skeletons and 994 skulls and removed 3 alcoholics; 18 skeletons were roughed out; 3 sets of leg bones, an African bush elephant skeleton, and one set of whale ribs were cleaned; and 6 young whale skulls were assembled. The division of birds has energetically continued the rearrange- ment, reidentification, and labeling of its study series of bird skins, this year covering in whole or in part the material of nine families: Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Compsothlypidae, Coerebidae, Turdidae, Troglodytidae, Alaudidae, and Tetraonidae. A checking of specimens for types and inadequate labels has accompanied the reworking of the collection. The catalogs of the scientific names and of published illustrations of birds have been continued. During the year 73 birds were skinned and made up by the taxidermist force, 54 degreased and made up, 10 degreased, 267 skeletons cleaned, 78 roughed out, and 3 eggs blown. The already crowded alcoholic stack and dry storage of the division of reptiles and amphibians is now taxed to capacity with the recent intercalation of the material held in his office by Dr. Stejneger. It became necessary to encroach upon space formerly occupied by the superintendent of the building in order to accommodate 50 quarter- unit cases of turtle skins. This year the taxidermists tanned and made up 18 turtles and skinned 18 more, 15 turtle skulls were cleaned, 5 others were alcoholically preserved, and 4 lizard skeletons and 11 lizard skulls were cleaned. The transfer of the large fish collections of the Fish and Wildlife Service to the National Museum threw a considerable burden of work on the division of fishes. Of the 50,000 specimens involved the old 36 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries reserve series of 2,148 jars and more than 1,000 large fishes in tanks have been cataloged. This reserve series, © so-called, contained a great deal of valuable material, including 13 holotypes, 91 jars of cotypes, and 32 jars of paratypes. The condi- tion of all collections continues satisfactory. The osteological col- lections, however, are in need of rearrangement. As a result of arrangements recently concluded with the Surgeon | General of the Army, the division of insects will receive for study and housing material of medical importance collected by the Sanitary | Corps. In order to facilitate study, additional space has been pro- vided for the use of visiting Army, Navy, and Public Health Service entomologists. 3 The division of insects is also overhauling its collections as time permits. This year the family Nitidulidae was entirely rearranged | and expanded to take care of a considerable accumulation of identified _ specimens. Work on the Coccinellidae was continued, and additional dissections of males and females were completed. | A serious effort was made by both the Museum and the Bureau of | Entomology and Plant Quarantine specialists to finish the segregation | of all holotypes in the insect collections, and a great deal of progress was _ made. About half of the types of Lepidoptera, half of those of Dip- | tera, virtually all the Homoptera (except the aphids and aleyrodids), © and a small section of the Coleoptera remain. Work is being continued © with each of these groups except the Homoptera, for which there is at present no specialist available. For this group a specialist is — needed particularly to single out the types because in many cases they | were none too well marked. Otherwise, the segregation of the insect types has been completed. The condition of the insect collection as a whole continues good—excellent in those portions that have been rearranged in the past several years and most satisfactory in the case of the types that had been moved to a safe storage, where they were very recently inspected by the curator in charge of the division. The lack of slide storage equipment, especially needed for the section of | ectoparasites and Acarina among others, continues to be one of the division’s most pressing problems and is again emphasized. In other directions, particularly with the Lepidoptera, work of the division has | been handicapped by the inadequacy of available space and lack of | drawers and cork-lined trays. More space and sufficient supplies, when it is possible to secure them, will yield handsome returns in the | improvement of the arrangement of all collections. | The redetermining and rearranging of the collections under the | supervision of the specialists of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant | Quarantine were materially advanced in most insect groups. The) shifting of approximately 1,200 drawers brought the members of the | respective families and orders of the Orthoptera and neuropterid | DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 37 insects closely together. Formerly most of these insect groups were distributed through several collections. All the Museum specimens of the order Embioptera, except for undeterminable nymphs and females, have been identified by Lt. Edward 8. Ross, of the California Academy of Sciences. Of the families of the Coleoptera, Dr. M. W. Blackman completely rearranged the several subfamilies of the Scolytidae, placing special emphasis on the groups predominant in the Neotropical region; he also made a beginning on the sorting and arrangement of the Oriental Seolytidae. Preparatory to a comprehensive study of the Bostrichi- dae, W.S. Fisher completely rearranged the family in accordance with the most recent classification. Among Dr. J. M. Valentine’s assign- ments, the Pyrochroidae, Paussidae, and Rhyssodidae were completely rearranged, as were also several economically important genera of the Elateridae and minor sections of the Carabidae, Anthicidae, and Oedemeridae. Dr. Valentine has pointed out that, although the Museum collection of Elateridae contains a good representation of the Nearctic species, the fauna of central and western Canada is very poorly represented, and that an effort should be made to obtain Elateridae from those areas. Following the completion of his studies on the genus Phyllophaga, Dr. A. G. Béving re-sorted all the larval material belonging to this genus and arranged it in proper systematic sequence. The task of incorporating the very large and valuable Barnes, Owens, Blackmore, and Brooklyn Museum collections of Lepidoptera with those of the National Museum is an important one upon which the lepidopterists of the Bureau have been working as their other responsibilities permitted. Despite the fact that progress has at times appeared discouragingly slow, some commendable progress has been made. During the past year H. W. Capps completed the incorporation of the North American Geometridae of the Barnes, Blackmore, and National Museum collections into one unit. He also rearranged the larvae of the family Oecophoridae in accordance with J. F. G. Clarke’s recent revision. W. D. Field completed the tremendous task of in- corporating and rearranging all the material in the several subfamilies of Arctiidae, including the large group of Lithosiinae, and the family Satyridae, and began similar work on seven or eight other families of Macrolepidoptera. This has almost been completed for the Pieridae, Danaidae, Hesperiidae, and Megathimidae, in which families the work involved the transfer of nearly 75,000 specimens. The family Cicadellidae of the Hemiptera was completely rear- ranged by Dr. P. W. Oman to conform with his manuscript revision of the group before leaving to take a commission with the Sanitary Corps of the Army on October 1, 1942. The family Psyllidae was transferred to Louise M. Russell for supervision. H. G. Barber’s re- 38 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 tirement interrupted the work on the Heteroptera. His successor, Dr. R. I. Sailer, has, since his appointment in September, identified and placed in labeled trays approximately 500 specimens of Corixidae — and 1,300 specimens of the pentatomid genus Chlorochroa. Approxi- mately 1,000 specimens of Anthocoridae, mostly undetermined, have likewise been reviewed and transferred from drawers to named trays; and some definite improvement was made in the arrangement of the pentatomid genus Solubea and the mirid genus Lygus. With the addi- tion of the McAtee collection of reprints, the Museum’s library of reprints dealing with Hemiptera has become probably one of the most complete in the world. The entire collection of aphids is now in excellent order, having been expanded since it had become congested at certain points. The mosquitoes, among the Diptera, received a great deal of attention during the year from Dr. Alan Stone because of their medical importance. Nearly all undetermined Anopheles in the Museum were named, a great deal of material from the Orient was critically studied, the determinations checked, and the whole lot sorted geographically. Most of the accumulated tabanid material was identified and arranged to conform with the latest generic classi- fication. M.'T. James, who succeeded D. G. Hall, has already checked over and rearranged more than half of the collection of the Stratiomyi- idae and the Scopeumatidae, of which he is an outstanding authority, correcting numerous misidentifications and naming a rather large accumulation of undetermined material in the process. Work on aculeate Hymenoptera, since Dr. Karl Krombein’s appointment to the Sanitary Corps, has been virtually at a standstill except for the identification of more important material. In the collections of parasitic Hymenoptera R. A. Cushman arranged the material belonging to the Ophionini in accordance with his revisionary study of the group, and A. B. Gahan did the same for certain groups of Eupelmidae and Callimomidae. ‘The collection of Braconidae belong- ing to the subfamily Aphidiinae was completely reworked by Dr. Clyde F. Smith, of North Carolina State College, and since its return has been rearranged in accordance with Dr. Smith’s scheme of classifi- cation. The genus Atanycolus is now arranged to correspond with the classification of Dr. Roy D. Shenefelt, of Washington State College, who has recently studied the group. Many improvements have been made in the ant collection, the material of various economic genera being restudied and rearranged. It is gratifying to record that the card catalogs of the Hymenoptera have been brought reasonably up to date after a lapse of almost 15 years. The thrips genus Frankliniella was revised by Dudley Moulton, of Redwood City, Calif., in the course of a 6 months’ appointment, Lee DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 39 during which he reviewed and reclassified approximately 1,800 slide preparations. On its return, the entire materia] was properly arranged in the Museum’s collection of Thysanoptera by J. C. Crawford. Inthe section of ectoparasites the slide preparations of chiggermites were rearranged to correspond with the generic revision developed this year by Dr. H. E. Ewing. During the past year new labels were made for practically the whole of the preserved Collembola material, which has now been expanded and arranged in accordance with the most recently published classification. An overhaul of the alcoholic and dry study collections of the division of marine invertebrates has recently been completed, and as a result the study collections are in very good shape. The work continues in the echinoderm collections in similar fashion. In the division of mollusks the care of collections, by virtue of the magnitude of the task, has been confined largely to the segregation of types. The helminthological collection is kept in excellent shape by members of the staff of the zoological division of the Bureau of Animal Industry. In the division of echinoderms a rechecking of the dry types has been nearly completed. In the division of plants 16,678 specimens of flowcring plants and ferns were mounted, wholly by adhesive straps, 11,198 of these by contract and 5,480 by Mrs. Eleanor C. White, who, in addition, repaired 3,225 specimens and mounted about 3,600 photographs, typed pr printed descriptions, and reference labels on herbarium sheets. During the year 28,856 specimens were stamped and recorded and thus made ready for the Herbarium, leaving only about 2,500 still un- stamped. An accumulation of nearly 18,000 specimens awaits mount- ing. Because of lack of help, about 10,000 fewer specimens were mounted than during the preceding year. This is a condition for which some remedy needs to be found if the Herbarium is to function efficiently and render maximum service. Of mounted, stamped, and recorded specimens, including sheets bearing descriptions, there are about 60,000 awaiting incorporation in the Herbarium, of which about 50,000 are from continental America. Their distribution has been facilitated by the availability of the 40 cases vacated when the type specimens were sent to a safer storage. Because of the great increase of South American material received for identification since the threat of war arose in 1939, amounting to 23,800 specimens in four years, E. P. Killip has found it expedient to combine such identification work, family by family, with the distribution of mounted specimens into the Herbarium. This plan worked so well that C. V. Morton is following it in working up large collections from the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. The task of segregating type specimens is being continued with excellent results, the number 40 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 now segregated totaling 42,834. Nearly one-half of this increase of 14,514 specimens over last year’s total consists of ferns and Philippine flowering plants. The remainder consists of 7,485 grass types, which had been carefully segregated over a period of many years but never included in previous totals of the so-called Type Herbarium. K. C. Leonard, in charge of the cryptogamic collections, incorporated a large series of mosses and hepatics from Virginia and a considerable number of lichens and algae in those collections. The C. G. Lloyd mycological collections, in charge of John A. Stevenson, honorary curator, have been removed to new fireproof quarters at the Bureau of Plant Industry Field Station at Beltsville, Md. INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH The curator of mammals, Dr. Remington Kellogg, reports further progress with his accounts of the fossil whalebone whales of the family | Cetotheriidae, with his studies of several extinct cetaceans from the Miocene and Pliocene of Florida, and on the taxonomy of South American porpoises, particularly the genera Sotalia, Stenella, and Cephalorhynchus. During his visit to Brazil and subsequently Dr. Kellogg assisted with the editing of a large folio memoir prepared by | Dr. Eladio da Cruz Lima on the monkeys of Amazonia. Dr. David — H. Johnson, associate curator, is making a study of variation in the | dwarf buffaloes, genus Anoa, and continues his investigations on the — taxonomy of the North American squirrels. The identification of | quantities of mammal bones found during the excavation of numerous © archeological sites in seven different States and in caves in Coahuila, Mexico, occupied a great deal of the associate curator’s time. Gerrit | S. Miller, Jr., research associate, was engaged during the year revising | his ‘‘North American Recent Mammals.”’ | The curator of birds, Dr. Herbert Friedmann, continued work on the gallinaceous birds for part 10 of Ridgway’s unfinished monograph, | ‘The Birds of North and Middle America.’”’ In this connection he pub- | lished three papers on as many genera of game birds, one jointly with | Dr. J. W. Aldrich on the complicated variations of the ruffed grouse. | He also completed a study of the birds collected in the Antarctic by the | United States Antarctic Service Expedition under Admiral Byrd and | continued the study of the Venezuelan-Brazilian collection made by — BH. G. Holt, besides writing a number of critical reviews of recent | ornithological literature. His account of the natural-history back- _ ground of camouflage written for the Smithsonian’s War Background — Studies is in demand both in civilian and in military circles. Some West African honey-guides were studied for the Carnegie Museum. | Furthermore, he published two papers on South American birds, one in conjunction with the associate curator. The associate curator, H. G. Deignan, divided his time between work on the birds of northern DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 41 Siam, now approaching completion, and what has proved to be a _ most profitable research into the records and catalogs of the collec- tions, uncovering many unexpected types and correcting many errors. He published a number of papers dealing, respectively, with the bibliog- raphy of Thai ornithology, a revision of the difficult warbler genus Prinia, on a little-known pheasant, Gennaeus crawfurdui, and a number of short notes on local birds. He was also joint author with the curator of a paper on South American birds, and contributed a paper on Thailand to the Smithsonian’s War Background Studies. The assistant curator, Walter A. Weber, though away in the field for a third of the year, devoted considerable time to problems associated with the exhibition collection. Dr. Wetmore completed and published a report on the birds of southern Veracruz and in connection with this published descriptions of several new birds from the region. Besides describing a new form of the curious helmeted curassow Pauxi from Venezuela with W.H. Phelps, of Caracas, he published several shorter notes on bird bones, recent and fossil, and prepared a biographical memoir on the late J. H. Riley. Dr. Doris M. Cochran continued studies on South American frogs, and completed one of the most popular of the Smithsonian’s War Background Studies, on the poisonous reptiles of the world. Subse- quent to Dr. Stejneger’s death on February 28, she prepared for publication the section dealing with the soft-shelled turtles of his uncompleted studies on American turtles. The curator of fishes, Dr. L. P. Schultz, devoted the greater part of the year to a study of the fishes he collected in Venezuela the year previous, completing an important manuscript on the catfishes of that country. Two other manuscripts have been submitted for pub- lication; three others resulting from earlier studies appeared in print. The curator of insects, Dr. E. A. Chapin, continued his investiga- tions on the genus Hippodamia and on certain other groups of Coc- cinellidae. Dr. R. E. Blackwelder, associate curator, is serving for the duration with the Air Track Corporation, College Park, Md. Before leaving the Museum to begin his war-work assignment, Dr. Blackwelder turned in for publication Part 1 of his ‘‘Checklist of the Coleopterous Insects of Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and South America” and made arrangements to devote his spare time toward the completion of this huge task, which was undertaken at the instigation of the Smithsonian War Committee. Taxonomic research by members of the staff of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine was greatly restricted, principally because of reductions in personnel. In the Orthoptera and neurop- teroid insects, Dr. H. K. Townes, recently appointed to take over Dr. Gurney’s assignments when the latter entered the Army, spent some time familiarizing himself with these groups and so has had 42 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 little opportunity for research. Before being transferred to this sec- tion, however, he did accomplish a great deal of work on the Diptera, particularly the Ichneumonidae. Dr. M. W. Blackman’s current studies on the Coleoptera resulted in the completion of four papers on new genera and species of Scolytidae, chiefly Neotropical, based in part on Museum material and in part on specimens intercepted at Mexican border ports. This year Dr. J. M. Valentine gave special attention to the North American Elateridae of the genera Aeolus and Drasterius, collecting important data that have a significant bearing on the problem of speciation. He has virtually completed the taxonomic analysis, the distribution, and most of the required illustrations. W. S. Fisher | gave his research time during the year mainly to the Bostrichidae, nearly completing a revisional paper classifying the North American species. The problem proved to be an especially difficult one, as a number of exotic species seem to have become established in the | United States. In the Chrysomelidae, H. S. Barber devoted some | time to a restudy of various groups in the large and complex genus | Diabrotica and in the genera Lema and Rhabdopterus and began a study of the genus Rhabdopterus because of reports of injury to cul- | tivated plants. He completed a paper describing a remarkable wing- | less hispine beetle from Cuba and completed and published a synopsis | of the species of Rhabdopterus occurring in America north of Mexico. | L. L. Buchanan pursued further the intricate taxonomic problems | presented by the so-called white-fringed beetles comprising the sub- genus Graphognathus of the genus Pantomorus. Several distinct | species or forms of this large South American group have become established in the United States and have become pests of importance. | All the species of the subgenus appear to be parthenogenetic, com- plicating the taxonomic problems involved. As it has been extremely difficult to define the limits of the supposed segregates that have become established in this country, Mr. Buchanan has undertaken a statistical analysis of several of these forms. Dr. W. H. Anderson continued his critical studies of rhynchophorous larvae, and com- pleted characterizations of the tribes and genera of the subfamily Curculioninae, preparing keys to these groups and to the genera of the Otiorhynchinae. Since this study on rhynchophorous larvae was begun in 1940, approximately 140 genera have been investigated in detail. Dr. A. G. Béving, who had retired, was reinstated when Dr. | B. E. Rees joined the Army, and devoted much of his time during the year to a detailed study of the larvae of the family Anobiidae. A key to the genera was prepared and numerous illustrations were completed. Taxonomic research in the Lepidoptera was much curtailed this year. W. D. Field made some further progress with his studies on the Lithosiinae. Some attention was given to the large revisional DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 43 study of the family Phycitidae begun by Carl Heinrich several years ago. H. W. Capps continued with his work on the classification of the family Geometridae. In connection with the classification of lepidopterous larvae begun about a year ago by Mr. Heinrich and Mr. Capps as a joint project, all the available larvae of the families Gelechiidae, Cosmopterygidae, Oecophoridae, Blastobasidae, Steno- midae, Xyloryctidae, Ethmiidae, Momphidae, Epermeniidae, Blasto- dacnidae, and Scythrididae were thoroughly restudied and the characters of each species charted. In November 1942, August Busck, who had retired, was reinstated to complete the monograph of the Aegeriidae upon which the late George P. Engelhardt had worked for many years. In the Hemiptera Dr. R. I. Sailer, seeking to determine the specific limits in the pentatomid genera Chlorochroa and Solubea, reviewed the extensive material in the national collections and in collections borrowed from other institutions. The results of the study of Solubea are virtually ready for publication. Some time was devoted to the completion of a paper on the Thvreocorinae of the United States. Dr. P. W. Oman completed a reexamination of the available material in the leafhopper genus Macropsis, with special reference to the distributional limits of the species. Louise M. Russell initiated re- visional work on the world fauna of the aleyrodid genera Aleuro- glandulus and Dhialeurodes. Besides describing a® new economic species of psyllid from the Belgian Congo, Miss Russell completed a large paper entitled ““The North American Spccies of the White Flies of the Genus Trialeurodes.’’ As other duties have permitted, Dr. P. W. Mason has been revising the aphid genus Macrosiphum, the second largest genus of aphids known, with representatives in all the major zoogeographical regions. This study has developed the fact that entirely new sets of characters will have to be discovered before a satisfactory key to the members of this very difficult genus can be constructed. Dr. Alan Stone’s principal long-time research problem covers a revision of the Nearctic Simuliidae. A large amount of material from various sources was determined, assisting the definition of specific limits within the group. Brief periods of time have also been devoted to the Tabanidae of Venezuela. The results of Dr. Stone’s studies have been extensively used by the Army in the prepara- tion of a guide to the identification, distribution, habits, and relation to malaria of the anopheline mosquitoes of the world. Several Army officers, as well as Dr. Lloyd E. Rozeboom, of the Johns Hopkins University, participated in the undertaking, which is being published under the authorship of Russell, Rozeboom, and Stone. A study of the most injurious leafminers of the agromyzid genus Liriomyza was undertaken by C. T. Greene. He also did some work on dipterous 44 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 larvae found to occur abundantly in corn ears in the Southern States | and Mexico. A critical study of definitely associated larval material has enabled Mr. Greene to distinguish clearly between two forms of larvae. Lately he has been working on the phorid genus Megaselia with the object of defining the species and preparing a synopsis of the North American forms. M. T. James completed a synopsis of the Nearctic species of the stratiomyiid genus Adoromyia and made definite progress on a study of the North American species of Cordilura and related genera in the Scopeumatidae. Before taking over the Orthoptera and neuropteroid families, Dr. H. K. Townes gave considerable attention to the family Tendipedidae, completing a revision of the Nearctic species of the tribe Tendipedini. | In the Hymenoptera comparatively little research was carried on except in the ants. R. A. Cushman continued his studies on the ichneumonid tribe Ophionini, completing a revisional key to the genera included in this group. In this connection, he worked up a large | collection of Hawaiian material belonging to the genus Hnicospilus. A. B. Gahan completed revisions of the chalcidoid genera Arachno- phaga and Encyrtaspis. He also gave considerable time to a reclassi- fication of the families of Chalcidoidea, an important undertaking, | as nothing of the sort had been published since the classification of | Ashmead of 1904. Dr. H. K. Townes, who has accumulated one of the best collections of North American Ichneumonidae in existence, | completed a catalog of the Nearctic species. Dr. M. R. Smith com- | pleted and published several short papers describing isolated new species of ants of more than ordinary interest. He also completed | a generic and subgeneric classification of the male ants, in itself a large and important contribution, as the classifications heretofore | have been based almost entirely on the worker caste. He also com- pleted synopses for the ants of the genera Tetramorwum and Thauma- tomyrmer. In the Thysanoptera J. C. Crawford made further progress in working over the eastern species of the important genera Thrips and | Sericothrips, and did a good deal of work on Dudley Moulton’s revision — of the North American species of the genus Frankliniella, preparing it for publication. j Dr. H. E. Ewing’s research work on ectoparasites, Acarina, and | minor orders was this year confined almost exclusively to the study | of the chiggers, as the military establishments were concerned with | the control of chiggers at Army camps and desired to have a taxo- | nomic treatment of this group available. Two preliminary papers | on the taxonomy of certain American chiggers were completed and | published, and an improved technique for the slide preparation of | chiggers developed. DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 45 As aresult of military operations in many mosquito-infested regions, there has been a greatly intensified interest in these insect pests. R. E. Snodgrass therefore undertook and completed a critical anatomical study of mosquito mouthparts and then expanded the work to include the feeding apparatus of all principal biting and disease-carrying flies. Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, curator of marine invertebrates, spent some time reorganizing the collections of lithodid crabs in preparation of a taxonomic study of the North Pacific forms of economic importance. During the last 3 months of the year he visited museums and other scientific institutions in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, examining collections of Crustacea, making a special study of the species of Aegla, and determining unidentified material. Clarence R. Shoe- maker, associate curator, brought to completion his comprehensive report on the very large collection of bathypelagic amphipods amassed by the Bermuda Oceanographic Expeditions of the New York Zoo- logical Society from 1929 to 1931. A large collection of amphipods from the Bay of Fundy, belonging to the Canadian Government, was worked on as time permitted, and the sorting into genera of the large collection of amphipods of the Hancock Pacific Expeditions was continued preparatory to more intensive study of this material. J. O. Maloney, aide, continued the identifications of isopods taken from plant importations by the United States Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. In connection with his studies on the bryozoan collections, Dr. R. 8. Bassler reports considerable progress in picking out the Bryozoa, Ostracoda, small corals, and several other groups from the washings stored in the attic. The entire set of Philippine dredgings was completed, and the material in these several lines is © now in shape for detailed study. Dr. J. A. Cushman, honorary collaborator, this year devoted himself largely to stratigraphic prob- lems of prime importance to the successful prosecution of the war. He also completed a short manuscript on the Foraminifera of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition. The curator of mollusks, Dr. Paul Bartsch, and Dr. Carlos de la Torre, of Habana, after several years of intensive effort, have almost completed their joint study of the Cuban urocoptid land shells. Dr. Harald A. Rehder, associate curator, continued his researches on the Hawaiian gastropods, and also spent considerable time on other problems, especially those dealing with the west Atlantic marine fauna. Dr. J. P. E. Morrison, assistant curator, is carrying forward anatomical studies of the Bulimidae and during the year also com- pleted the descriptions of some new fresh-water bivalves from South America. Researches on the helminthological material were under- taken by various members of the zoological division of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan and Dr. John W. Wells continued their studies on the corals. 553751—43——4 46 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 The curator of echinoderms, Austin H. Clark, continued work on | Bulletin 82, ““A Monograph of the [xisting Crinoids,’’ completing another part of the fourth volume, which includes the account of the remaining family, Colobometridae, of the superfamily Mariametrida, and the accounts of the families Tropiometridae, Calometridae, Ptilometridae, and Asterometridae of the superfamily Tropiometrida. The third part of this volume is nearly completed. . Because of its importance and its magnitude, the completion of the task of segregating all types in the National Herbarium received first attention of all members of the staff of the division of plants. Nevertheless, the curator, Dr. W. R. Maxon, found some time to pursue his study of numerous fern collections from many tropical South American localities. The associate curator, E. P. Killip, made considerable progress with the program he is conducting in collaboration with Colombian and Venezuelan botanists for the thorough study of the flora of their respective countries, identifying } a great deal of material in the course of this comprehensive work. E. C. Leonard, assistant curator, completed several papers in con- tinuation of his studies of American Acanthaceae, and nearly com- pleted another on the shale-barren plants of the Massanutten Moun- tains, Va., in collaboration with H. A. Allard. In connection with | extended studies on collections of Cuban plants, largely collected by himself, C. V. Morton, assistant curator, made considerable progress with a synoptic list of vascular plants of that island. Dr. HE. H. | Walker, assistant curator, published three short papers and began a study of tropical American Myrsinaceae. Mrs. Agnes Chase, | custodian of grasses, continued her studies of grasses, especially those of Brazil. The number of lots of specimens sent in with requests for identifi- cation was as follows: Mammals, 41; birds, 41; reptiles and amphib- ians, 13; fishes, 19; insects, 65; marine invertebrates, 37; mollusks, 49; helminths, 4; echinoderms, 2; plants, 160; a total of 431. There has been a decided number of requests for information other than for identifications. ‘The number of specimens from all sources identified during the year by all divisions approximated 28,000. The division of insect identification of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine received over 18,000 lots of insects for determination and 50,000 identifications were made. DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS Duplicate zoological specimens distributed to museums, colleges, | high schools, and similar institutions aggregated 1,430 specimens, | 1,422 specimens were sent out in exchange, and 689 specimens were | transferred to military and naval centers. The 2,026 plants dis- | DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 47 tributed were sent out as exchanges to 27 institutions and correspond- ents. This is but a small fraction of the number of plants usually sent out each year. The marked decrease is due partly to the fact that communication with foreign institutions has mostly been cut off, and in large measure also to lack of time, preference having been given to the segregation, cataloging, and safe storage of type specimens and to various war effort activities, including field work and the prompt identification of critical plant materials. NUMBER OF SPECIMENS UNDER DEPARTMENT The summary of specimens given below is based on the numbers estimated for the previous fiscal year, with the addition of the speci- mens accessioned during the present year and the deduction of specimens removed during the same period. The figures of the early estimates were approximate and have been revised from time to time. No estimate has as yet been made for the corals, nor does the number of plants include the lower cryptogams and duplicates. Jn several of the divisions lots consisting of minute organisms are frequently counted as single specimens, though they may contain hundreds and even thousands of individuals, the enumeration of which could serve no useful purpose. 1M SSS TNE] PG ER PS CINE fl SP al Va 245, 272 Birds: SUSE CIS AUS, dire age a Se ree PU 284, 749 Js) (5(0)18\ 0) FICS PRN Sab AER HI A Ror SG NE 10, 068 SUS AO) 0S ae Oe ee OE a Cc 18, 047 1 SHCA) 2— ei SRN li Ween IO NC ag A 90, 389 - — 403, 253 Repulespand amphibians 22 Li) Sse ee Be iy 126, 974 ishesemmee cy!) anh.) Cat don ys a hl vend ey ape! dele) 24 1, 299, 303 HTESE OLSEN 0 AS EIEN ane NCES ah rn Gn Ge UAE MM 5, 461, 470 Mibmeniny CrueDraves te Uo a ee a 1, 041, 152 NEOTEL) IA A i I oi ea cn OAT CRC eC UN TST 3, 010, 654 1B SVD aU O A OSS ay Ri tas sigh cA eel ot RR OMOEA ph 146, 248 HEMMOGerING He Ls EE PT ae Se 169, 422 1 ELESWCi Ss Wien 5 2s We, ne Ba i MI dehy go Dae gM 6 ADs We 1, 848, 600 ALOR Eau, OE bid yee Rea: BR a 13, 752, 348 DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY (R. 8. BassteR, Head Curator) Tue past year has been marked by special effort toward placing the reference collections of minerals and fossils in the best order for ready consultation. ‘This is with a view to the near future when more than ever before they will be needed to help in stratigraphic and other geologic studies already planned for the discovery of new deposits of oil, minerals, ores, and other economically important substances. With the war occupying the time and energy of so many people, there was naturally a decrease in the receipt of specimens. It there- fore behooved us to take advantage of this condition to bring our work up-to-date and put our house in order for the postwar period, when undoubtedly there will be many additions to the study series through transfers from Government agencies and through gifts of the geologic materials now under study by others as a part of their war work. The collections in general have as usual been under study by vari- ous research workers. ‘The minerals especially have been consulted frequently, particularly by representatives of the war agencies with reference to promising localities for those of strategic use. The size, scope, and quality of our mineral and ore collections have amazed many of the new workers in this field unfamiliar with the Museum. The staff also has been consulted often for information by various branches of the armed forces and other war agencies. This assistance has covered a wide field, ranging, for example, from instruction in geology and mineralogy for those entering specific areas to advice on the hard-rock resources of hitherto little-known regions of the world. While field work for upbuilding the exhibits has been curtailed, re- searches in general geology were increased. An economic survey was made in northern Mexico by Dr. G. Arthur Cooper under the auspices of this Institution and the Mexican Geological Survey authorities. This field work, which was conducted in connection with search for war minerals, resulted in the discovery of a long new sequence of Cambrian rocks associated with ore deposits in western Sonora. Dr. Cooper also spent some time in Illinois and adjacent States, where for the first time correlations of Devonian rocks were established in that promising area for new oilfields. Supplementing this work, the publication of Dr. Cooper’s correlation of North American Devonian sedimentary formations, upon which he had labored in his spare time for several years, marked an important advance in stratigraphy. C. W. Gilmore, early in the year, successfully completed his explora- tions for fossil vertebrates in the Brule division of the Oligocene in Niobrara County, Wyo. He was accompanied by Alfonso Segura, of the staff of the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, who was 48 DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 49 invited to join the party for the field experience and training in meth- ods that he wished to apply to his own work in Costa Rica. Dr. W. F. Foshag, on detail from the Museum, spent the entire year in continuation of his work in Mexico supervising surveys for strategic minerals. Dr. C. Lewis Gazin since July 20, 1942, has been on military detail in the service of the United States Army. ACCESSIONS FOR THE YEAR The accessions of new materials for the year number 133, compris- ing approximately 9,725 specimens. ‘The individual records for the several divisions are as follows: Mineralogy and petrology, 72 acces- sions (1,686 specimens); invertebrate paleontology and paleobotany, 46 accessions (7,789 specimens) ; vertebrate paleontology, 15 accessions (250 specimens). Mineralogy and petrology.—The income from the Roebling fund was responsible for ten accessions pertaining to minerals. Among these were an unusually large scheelite crystal from Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico; a number of well-crystallized chrysoberyls from near Col- lintina, Espirito Santo, Brazil; a group of phenacites from Pariciciaba, Minas Geraes, Brazil; a green tourmaline group from Figueira, Minas Geraes; a large crystal of aquamarine from Spitskopje, Africa; neph- rite from Lander, Wyo.; a group of pyrolusite crystals from Silver City, N. Mex.; some zeolites from Benton County and cinnabar crystals from Jefferson County, Oreg.; sahlinite from Langban, Sweden; and a specimen of ardealite from Transylvania, Rumania. The largest single accession of minerals was the gift of the John W. Langsdale mineral collection belonging to Georgetown University, whereby many good examples from old American and European localities were added to the collections. This afforded opportunity to improve the quality of our specimens from some of these old inaccessible places. Through the generosity of Calvin Foun a number of Chinese- Turkestan jades were received. The Cranbrook Institute of Science presented a number of minerals, the most important of which were well-formed native copper crystals from Michigan and some unusual fluorites from Clay Center, Ohio. Arthur Montgomery continued his interest in the mineral series by donating specimens of microlite from New Mexico. Dr. John P. Marble presented a specimen of thortveitite from Norway and three allanites analyzed in the course of his work on radioactivity. Henry G. Savage donated a specimen of the newly described mineral brodrickite. F. A. Rapp, of the Mer- chant Marine, forwarded some very good columbite and tantalite specimens, as well as a few crystals of amazonite from Amelia, Va. The following members of the Geological Survey were instrumental in obtaining valuable sets of ores and minerals, which were contained in various transfers from that institution: W. T. Schaller, T. B. Nolan, Miss J. J. Glass, F. C. Calkins, W. B. Lang, and J. Bridge. 50 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 The outstanding addition to the gem collection was the 316-carat star sapphire known as the Star of Artaban, a gift of W. Frank Ingram. This most welcome gift ranks with the finest of our individual gems. Another notable gem stone was a 54-carat blue Brazilian topaz ob- tained through the Frances Lea Chamberlain fund. A strand of Turkestan turquoise beads and several synthetic rubies, reported to have resulted from the first successful experiment of Prof. Henri Moissan, were received as a gift of J. Morgan Clements. Ten meteorites hitherto unrepresented in our collections were added this year. These comprise a slice of the Somervell County, Tex., meteorite received in exchange from Oscar E. Monnig, and nine other slices purchased through the income of the Roebling fund, as follows: Abernathy and Sanderson from Texas; Atlanta, La.; Aurora, N. Mex.; Hardwick, Minn.; and the Brewster, Garnett, and Otis from Kansas. An additional 1,842-gram individual of the Harrisonville, Mo., fall was also purchased through this fund. Dr. Stuart H. Perry, associate in mineralogy, presented a 4,640- gram specimen of the Modoc, Kans., meteorite, an example larger than others we had of this meteoritic shower. Dr. Perry also donated an album of five volumes containing nearly 1,500 photomicrographs of the structures in meteoritic irons. Last year he gave the entire set _of negatives of this work to the division, so that through the research and generosity of Dr. Perry the most complete existing file of the metal- lurgy of meteoritic irons is now available in this Museum. Among the ores received during the past year were two specimens containing free gold from Larco mine, Santander Province, Colombia, donated by Joseph Ulmer. The Stevens Institute of Technology presented two samples of graphite, one from Korea and the other from Madagascar. Ores of tungsten and other metals were obtained from F. W. Horton, of the Bureau of Mines, by exchange for duplicate minerals. Wilham A. Riggs, in continuance of his interest, con- tributed specimens of mercury and zinc ores from the Arkansas area in which he has been working the past year. Transfers from the Geological Survey included an unusually large bauxite from Wilkin- son County, Ga.; tin ore from Cima, Calif.; a large specimen of tung- sten ore from aunpeponin! Nev., ana another from near Fairbanks, Alaska; and copper ores from South Strafford, Vt. The most noteworthy addition to the rock collection was a set of unusual concretions containing dufrenite from near Greenbelt, Md., presented by Frank L. Hess and KE. E. ‘Fairbanks, of the Butdat ee Mines. Two important additions to the geological collections were received as transfers: One, the rock specimens from southern Edsel Ford Range and Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, from the United States Antarctic Service, Department of the Interior, and the other, a set of rocks and minerals from the Cottonwood-American Forks area, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY Sil - Utah, from the United States Geological Survey. Both series have _ been studied and contain described material. Invertebrate paleontology and paleobotany.—Sixteen of the accessions in this division record many interesting specimens of invertebrate fossils from the Lower Devonian of Tennessee, Devonian of the Mid- west, Missouri, Michigan, Mississippi, Utah, and Ontario, and early Devonian of West Virginia. Of these the most important are the Devonian invertebrates collected in the Mississippi Valley States by Prof. A. S. Warthin, Jr., of Vassar College, and Dr. G. A. Cooper during their investigations in that area. Next in importance were 118 lots of Devonian tossils occurring in cores of deep wells drilled in Illinois by the Shell Oil Co., the donor of the material. Mention should be made here of the results of a former field trip. The etching of 1,400 pounds of fossiliferous Permian limestone blocks from Texas, lent Dr. Norman D. Newell at the University of Wisconsin for study, yielded an abundance of fossils so delicate that it was necessary for them to be transported personally to the National Museum by Dr. Cooper. Among them were unusual sponges of delicate structure and a large number of pelecypods. The latter were left with Dr. Newell for the preparation of a monograph on this subject. Early Devonian fossils from the Huntersville chert of West Virginia and Virginia for the stratigraphic series formed a gift from Dr. E. E. Rehn, of the Ohio State University. Three other lots totaling 750 specimens from the Devonian formations of West Tennessee were presented by P. P. Fox. Other gifts of Devonian fossils consisted of mollusks and brachiopods from W. A. Kelley and topotypes of Bryo- zoa from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, all from the Traverse formation. In return for assistance by Dr. C. E. Resser, Dr. Franco Rasetti, of Lava] University, presented a splendid set of fossils and casts of types from the classic locality at Levis opposite Quebec City, Canada. The specimens, photographs, and casts thus far received from Dr. Rasetti facilitate the identification of our old collections and form such an excellent supplement to them that the National Museum now possesses an extensive representation of these interesting faurfas. Casts made by Dr. Resser of the types of Cambrian fossils in the collections at the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, and Columbia Univer- sity, supplied fine reproductions of some 200 species for our study series. The transfer from the Tennessee Valley Authority of a collection of peculiar crustaceans found in strata of unknown relationship in the Douglas Dam area brought an accession of particular scientific interest. After complete excavation of the dam, the geologists present con- cluded that these rocks filled an ancient sink hole. 52 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 The fossil echinoderm collection was enriched by the purchase of 12 specimens of Devonian crinoids from Ontario through the income of the Springer fund; by the gift of Dr. D. K. Gregor of 50 crinoids from the Silurian of southeast Missouri; by giitt of H. L. Strimple of 11 specimens of crinoids from the Mississippian of Jowa and Oklahoma; by gift of Raymond E. Peck of paratypes of 22 species of Lower Cretaceous crinoids from Texas; and by 53 Lower eget: echinoids from Gayle Scott. In the series of Mesozoic fossils a valuable accession was the gift of Francis N. Johnston of about-2,000 Triassic fossils from the New Pass Mountains, Nev. Many types will result when the study of these fossils has been completed. In the section of Cenozoic invertebrates, 11 lots of specimens were accessioned, aggregating 2,370 specimens, a considerable in- crease over last year’s total. The most outstanding of these are as follows: A collection of about 50 types of Miocene Ostracoda from the Duplin marl of North Carolina, received from Richard A. Ed- wards; about 25 specimens (topotypes) of the foraminifer Pseudo- phragmina (Proporoculina) peruviana (Cushman), from northwestern Peru, received from Dr. Don L. Frizzell; holotype and paratypes of the foraminifer Paranonion venezuelanum Logue and Haas from the Upper Miocene of Venezuela, received from L. L. Logue and Merrill W. Haas; and about 1,000 specimens of Tertiary Foraminifera and Kchinoidea from Camagiiey Province, Cuba, received from Mrs. Dorothy K. Palmer. Paratypes of 31 species of Eocene Foraminifera from the Lodo formation of Fresno County, Calif., were obtained in exchange from Stanford University. The Pleistocene collections were enriched by the transfer from the U. S. Geological Survey of 230 fossil mollusks from New Mexico; 500 specimens from Golconda, Ill., gift of Charles Butts; and 506 land and fresh-water shells from Winona County, Minn., gift of Dr. S. C. Happ. A large petrified conifer log from the Cretaceous formation near Berwyn, Md., was the gift of J. C. Stewart. This interesting fossil is now exhibited in its proper geological setting in the wildfowl exhibit of the National Zoological Park, where a résumé of the Dis- trict of Columbia geology has been reproduced. Opalized wood specimens from Plumas County, Calif., gift of Mrs. Faye I. Cameron, | and a section of a petrified tree trunk from James A. Tatum, were other accessions in paleobotany. Vertebrate paleontology.—The outstanding accession of the year in this division was the collection resulting from the field expedition of the past summer in the Oligocene beds of Niobrara County, Wyo. The party secured a good representative series of the fauna, com- prising some 236 lots in all. Specimens worthy of special mention are nearly complete articulated skeletons of the various mammals known as Merycoidodon, Leptomeryx, Pseudocynodictis, Deinictis, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 53 and Hoplophoneus. Good series of skulls and partial skeletons of the fossil horse Mesohippus, the small camel Poebrotherium, the early rhinoceros Hyracodon, the squirrel Ischromys, and the rabbit Palaeolagus were also collected. Through exchange with the Carnegie Museum a nearly complete skeleton of the primitive deer Hypertragulus calcaratus Cope was added to the collection. This specimen is being mounted for the exhibition series. A skull and lower jaws of the Miocene horse Parahippus leonensis and a right ramus of P. blackberqm, both from Florida, were received in exchange with the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. A fragmentary but unique reptilian specimen, consisting of 14 caudal vertebrae of a dinosaur, the first to be found in the Upper Cretaceous of Missouri, was obtained by purchase. The distal end of a femur of the sauropod dinosaur (Pleurocoelus), found in the Cretaceous Potomac gravels in the District of Columbia and trans- ferred bz the War Department, was interesting for its occurrence. The collection of fossil birds was enriched by a small lot of bones, including the type of Geochen rhuax Wetmore, from Hawaii, received as a transfer from the United States Geological Survey. One lot of 297 teeth of the pavement-toothed shark Plychodus mortoni, from the Upper Cretaceous of Kansas, was received in exchange with George F. Sternberg. : The cetacean part of the collection was increased by some incom- plete specimens from the Calvert, Miocene, of the Chesapeake Bay region, obtained from various sources. INSTALLATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE COLLECTIONS The completion of the necessary construction work in converting the western half of the physical-geology exhibition hall into three large alcoves allowed Associate Curator Henderson to proceed with exhibition work there. As a result the entire meteorite display has been reinstalled in the middle alcove, especially designed for the purpose. The cases are illuminated from within, and series of trans- parencies of photomicrographs are displayed to show details of struc- ture in both the stone and iron meteorites. A large map on the wall shows the locations of the recorded falls and finds for meteorites within the United States. Steady progress was made in the consolidation of the department’s three large mineral study collections into a single series. In the grinding and polishing laboratory, B. O. Reberholt prepared 708 thin sections of rocks and fossils, cut and polished 10 meteorites, and polished sections of 119 minerals, rocks, and ores, and 23 large specimens for the Geological Survey. The work for the Geological Survey was done upon request of their strategic mineral division which required the preparation of polished surfaces of their larger specimens because of their lack of facilities to do this work. In all cases this 54 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 material is cither at present in our collections or will be transferred later. Exhibition work in the invertebrate paleontology halls included, besides the usual servicing of the collections, the rearrangement of the case in the foyer to bring it up-to-date. In paleobotany, Dr. C. E. Resser condensed the exhibits so that one large case could be removed to provide space for the growing vertebrate exhibits. Just before the close of last year Dr. Resser made molds of many Cambrian types from Vermont, eastern Canada, Wyoming, and Nevada contained in the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy, Peabody Museum, and Columbia University. About five weeks were required to cast these types and install them in the collections, and later six weeks were devoted to their photography and study so that they could be understood and coordinated with species from other beds of the same age. Associate Curator Cooper replaced 150 three-inch drawers with the two-inch size, thereby gaining additional storage space for the ever- erowing brachiopod collections. Most of the large collections of | Pennsylvanian fossils from north-central Texas were cared for during | the year. These collections, according to the usual practice in the | division, were sorted into three groups, the first consisting of the choice specimens, which were placed in the biological collections, the second a representative stratigraphic lot, and the third numerous specimens for exchange. About two months were devoted to the preparation, arrangement, and partial study of the Devonian fossils collected in the Mississippi Valley. These yielded a small number of exceptionally fine biological specimens, but the bulk of the material remains in the stratigraphic series. During the year the etching program, which has been a feature of Dr. Cooper’s work for some years, was carried on rather slowly because of the difficulty in obtaining acid. In the latter part of the year, however, several carboys were used to good advantage, resulting in about six drawers of choice silicified material most of which was | obtained from blocks of the Word limestone of Permian age. In order to care for this silicified material more safely, all specimens of these | fragile fossils were moved into one room where adequate facilities have | been made for housing them properly. While awaiting completion of | arrangements for his Mexican trip, Dr. Cooper sorted and mounted | the many delicate silicified trilobites from the Ordovician rocks of | Virginia. | The head curator’s work on the collections was as follows: Finding _ that portions of the graptolite collection had been misplaced in last | year’s transfer, he prepared and reduced the additional material so | that the entire stratigraphic series is now contained in 120 standard | drawers. A further condensation of collections was accomplished by picking Ostracoda, small corals, and Bryozoa from dredgings from the DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 55 Philippines, Gulf of Lower California, and Gulf of Mexico and segre- gating them in their proper places in the study series. He prepared about 30 drawers of shale fragments, representing ten Paleozoic formations and crowded with the microscopic fish teeth known as conodonts, and either identified or roughly classified the resulting specimens for future studies. Several six-foot tiers of Silurian fossils from England, Sweden, and the Mississippi Valley were greatly reduced by proper preparation and the resulting specimens assigned to biologic and stratigraphic sets. More than 650 thin sections of corals and Bryozoa, prepared with Mr. Reberholt’s assistance, and the addition of many species determined from their study, record the work accomplished in these two divisions of the biologic series. Lloyd G. Henbest continued the organization and general care of the Foraminifera collections. A new kind of storage tray developed from existing materials was found advantageous. Curator C. W. Gilmore, in reporting for the division of vertebrate paleontology, states that mounting of the composite skeleton of the Permian reptile Edaphosaurus boanerges, mentioned in last year’s report, was completed and the specimen installed in the exhibition series. The same can be said for the massive skeleton of Uvniathe- rium robustum, a large primitive mammal. Norman H. Boss, chief preparator, in addition’ to supervising pre- paratory work in the laboratory, has nearly completed mounting the small deerlike Hypertragulus. When not engaged in the articulation of skeletons for exhibition, Mr. Boss prepared numerous specimens from the 1942 collections and a number of delicate fossils from other sources. Preparators Thomas J. Horne and Arlton Murray were continuously employed in the preparation of various specimens, especially those of the 1942 summer’s collection, with the result that more than one-half of this collection has now been prepared and placed in the study series. — Assignment to this division of exhibition space formerly occupied by the paleobotanical collections has permitted a limited rearrange- ment of the overcrowded east range. These changes, with the addi- tion of several important skeletons, have resulted not only in a more logical arrangement of the specimens involved but also in a much improved appearance of the exhibition as a whole. INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH The head curator completed a paper on the Siberian corals known as Parafavosites, for publication by the Journal of Paleontology, and another on the Ordovician cystids of Oklahoma now in press by the American Journal of Science. He was occupied for several weeks in reading proof on the “Bibliographic and Faunal Index of Paleozoic Pelmatozoan Echinoderms,” published later in the year as Special Paper No. 45 of the Geological Society of America. Research work 56 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 on his monographic study of Lower Paleozoic corals proceeded in connection with upbuilding the collection of thin sections of fossil corals in general. Dr. C. E. Resser reports further advance in several research projects. About three months were devoted to production of fina) manuscript on his Cambrian summary, following which nearly seven months were spent on the descriptions of Upper Cambrian trilobites, and finally several smaller papers were advanced toward completion. Dr. Cooper had to postpone certain other matters to concentrate on the study of the Illinois Devonian, a subject designed to perfect correla- tions of the Devonian in I\linois and elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley and also to identify Devonian subsurface strata as a part of the war program. After preparing the fossils and starting their study he was interrupted by the assignment to Mexico on another stratigraphic problem. Although most of his time in the office was spent on the Illinois work, some days were devoted to illustration of the Chazyan brachiopod monograph and to adding descriptions to the manuscript. Forty plates for this research were made, but it is estimated that sxx months more will be required for its completion. Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan, associate in marine sediments, has car- ried on his studies on the Cenozoic faunas and corals. In joint author- ship with Dr. John W. Wells, he published a volume of importance to all students, a résumé of post-Paleozoic coral genera, as Special Paper No. 44 of the Geological Society of America. Curator Gilmore completed and submitted for publication a manu- script entitled ‘‘On the Osteology of Testudo praeextans Lambe, with Notes on Other Species of Testudo, all from the Oligocene of Wyo- ming.’’? A short manuscript entitled ‘Notes on Two Newly Mounted Fossil Vertebrate Skeletons in the United States National Museum” was nearly finished and a beginning was made on a “‘Review of the Two Medicine Fauna, Upper Cretaceous of Montana.” As time permitted, the type catalog was kept current. As a result of the investigations in Mexico being conducted for the U.S. Geological Survey by Dr. W. F. Foshag, curator of mineralogy and petrology, there was published during the year a paper entitled “Tin Deposits of the Republic of Mexico,” by Dr. Foshag and Carl Fries, Jr. (U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 935-C). This report includes five geologic maps of mines and placer areas and forms the third chap- ter of the series ‘‘Geologic Investigations in the American Republics.” E. P. Henderson, associate curator, has checked the meteorite literature, kept the records current, and also indexed the large file of photomicrograph negatives. He gave also some time to revising Dr. George P. Merrill’s portion of ‘‘Minerals from the Earth and Sky” in the Smithsonian Scientific Series soon to appear in a new edition. Dr. Stuart H. Perry, associate in mineralogy, completed his DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 57 report on “‘The Metallography of Meteoric Iron,” which is being _ published as a bulletin of the National Museum. James H. Benn has under preparation a card index of all the min- — erals and their varieties now in the collections, a file that when com- pleted will be of real service to the division. A card index of described and discredited minerals is under compilation from the literature. The completion of these two files will furnish a complete check list. of all the minerals now in the collection as well as those still needed. Members of the Geological Survey with offices in the Museum, who were not otherwise occupied with war duties, pursued their studies and research upon the collections throughout the year as usual. Dr. R. W. Brown completed and published two papers upon interest- ing fossil plants, one on a fossil grapevine occurring with the opal deposits in the Virgin Creek Valley of Nevada, and the other on a climbing fern. A field trip along the Paleocene-Kocene contact. in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi made for the purpose of identifying the age of bauxite beds resulted in some excellent fossil plants new to the collections. Studies of the Springer echinoderm collection proceeded during the year with Dr. Edwin Kirk specializing upon this work and the head curator occupied with the illustration and description of Ordovi- cian crinoids and cystids whenever other duties permitted. Three publications by Dr. Kirk were issued, while manuscripts of three papers on the Upper Paleozoic Inadunata crinoids were completed. Dr. Charles Butts spent the field season of 1942 in the northern end of the Valley of Virginia, where he prepared a detailed geologic map in the course oi his studies. In the office he was occupied with the study of the fossils collected and the preparation of a volume on the subject. Dr. L. W. Stephenson spent some months on the study of the Lewisville fauna of the Upper Woodbine formation in continua- tion of his researches on the Cretaceous faunas of Texas. Dr. Ralph Imlay continued his studies of the Jurassic collections and centered his attention on the subsurface geology of the Gulf coast region in order to discover the eastward extent of the possible oilfields. He has nearly completed the correlation charts for the Jurassic of the Southern States and has in preparation two reports, one on the Cretaceous formations of the Greater Antilles, Central America, and Mexico and the other on the subsurface Lower Cretaceous Comanche rocks. Most of the specialists in the study of the Cenozoic collections have been engaged in war duties the greater part of the year. Drs. Julia A. Gardner, C. Wythe Cooke, and W. P. Woodring were occupied with the collections during short intervals in their field operations. There were 164 lots of material referred officially to the department for examination and report, these made up in some instances of large numbers of specimens requiring attention. The division of mineralogy 58 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 and petrology was responsible for 69 of these reports, and general | geology for 74, while the remainder were assigned to the other divi- sions. Many inquiries were answered directly by members of the } staff and numerous reports were made on specimens brought in person to the divisions. In invertebrate paleontology assistance was given to the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U. S. Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Illinois, Michigan State College, and the University of Chicago. Curator Gilmore reports that the chief aid rendered to outsiders other than the loan of specimens has been the identification of ma- terials sent in for determination. He has also cooperated with other Government bureaus in matters of opinion pertaining to paleontologi- cal matters. Associate Curator Henderson spent some time with a committee preparing a classification and index list for natural, manufactured, and synthetic gem and ornamental stones, a cooperative task with the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and the Tariff Com- mission. Several collections of minerals were prepared for foreign | use, namely for the Instituto de Ciencias del Estado, Mexico; the | Science Museum of the Institute of Jamaica; and the Seminario Conciliar Metropolitano, the National University and the Centro | Cultural Paraguayo-Americano, all of Asuncién, Paraguay. During the year 79 persons interviewed Mr. Henderson for the determination of gem stones. | DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS Geological materials distributed during the year to various edu- | cational and research institutions and war agencies, as well as to | individuals engaged upon scientific investigations, were as follows: | Gifts, 874 specimens; exchanges, 121 specimens; and loans for study, | 712 specimens. These include mineralogical and invertebrate and | vertebrate paleontological specimens, but four mineral and rock | collections sent as gifts to South American and Mexican institutions, | through the Division of Cultural Relations of the Department of | State, should be noted. NUMBER OF SPECIMENS UNDER DEPARTMENT The estimated total number of specimens indicated below as assigned | to the three divisions of the department is computed by adding to the | figures of last year the number representing the difference between | the number of specimens received and those sent out. The early | estimates were approximate so that the present sums are likewise. | Mineralogy and petrology 26a. Pee ea eee ce 256, 058 Invertebrate paleontology and paleobotany_._.-.__-. 2, 398, 120 Vertebrate paleontology. 22220 S22 Ne eee 29, 430 Totaloe) aekis 2 ee eee Bee 2 Ooo DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES (Cart W. Mirman, Head Curator) TuoucuH the operation of the department under war conditions became more difficult as the year progressed, the general condition of the collections is good. ‘The war has affected the work in a variety of ways. Although the total accessions recorded by the department were greater in number than in any one of the previous five years, one-fifth of them were increments to a war poster collection being assembled by the division of graphic arts. The engineering division experienced a drop in accessions as compared with the preceding year, due mainly to the absence of two experienced staff members, both serving with the armed forces. Again, the time consumed in research and furnishing information to war agencies, assistance in the training of war-agency personnel, and the department’s experimental model construction contracts with war agencies curtailed the work planned for the improvement of the study collection. The head curator, Carl W. Mitman, carried forward during the year several special assignments. One of these covered the work of directing the transportation and storage outside of Washington of about 120,000 pounds of the most valuable and irreplaceable specimens and materials in the Museum’s collections. This task included also the organization of a 24-hour custodial service to guard and protect the stored material, which continues in charge of Mr. Mitman for the duration of the war. He directed also the work of the Smithsonian War Committee, of which he is chairman. This committee, charged with the coordination of Smithsonian activities toward the war effort held weekly meetings throughout the year. A statement of its work appears in the Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In February 1943 Frank A. Taylor, curator of the division of en- gineering, was granted military furlough, was commissioned captain in the Army, and is serving with the Anti-aircraft Branch of the Coast Artillery. The loss of his stimulating leadership is felt keenly by the division. Until his return the head curator will endeavor to carry on Captain Taylor’s duties. On August 1, 1942, Fred C. Reed, senior scientific aide of the division of engineering, was appointed to the position of associate curator, vice Lt. Pau] E. Garber, now serving with the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department. Kenneth M. Perry at the same time was advanced from exhibits worker to senior scientific aide in this division. On December 1, 1942, Burlie Parks was transferred from the Museum property office to the position of exhibits worker formerly held by Mr. Perry. All these division staff appointments are for the duration of the war only. 59 60 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 On July 31, 1942, Dr. Wallace E. Duncan, assistant curator, section of chemical industries, resigned. ‘The vacancy caused by his resigna- tion was filled November 2, 1942, by the transfer of Joseph W. Schutz from the Social Security Board. ACCESSIONS Accessions for the year totaled 216, comprising 2,266 specimens. This is an increase of 34 accessions and a decrease of 149 specimens com- pared with the previous year. The accessions were distributed as follows: Engineering, 25 (438 specimens); crafts and industries, 74 — (856 specimens) ; and graphic arts, 117 (972 specimens). Of these the | following are worthy of special mention: | Engineering.—From the viewpoint of engineering history’: in the | United States, the most interesting and valuable accession was an — original truss of an iron railroad bridge designed, constructed, and — erected by the Reading Railroad Co. in 1845. The specimen, ap- — proximately 34 feet long, is the only remaining part of the first iron- | truss, double-track railroad bridge built in America, which is also | believed to be the first iron-truss bridge erected in the United States. — The bridge spanned a small stream and highway near Manayunk, — Pa., and continued in service until 1901. The truss is a combination of cast and wrought iron, the compression members being of cast iron, — and all tension members of hand-forged wrought iron. It was pre- | sented by the Reading Co. | Early in the war there was instituted as part of the training program | of our armed forces the use of sets of accurately made scale models of the types of airplanes used by the United Nations and the Axis, for the purpose of teaching recognition at sight of both friend and enemy. Lt. Paul E. Garber, formerly of this division, was actively engaged in | the development of this program, and through him the Museum was fortunate in receiving two groups of these models for addition to the aircraft collection. One set of 39 all-metal models was presented by | the Bronzart Metals Co., and a second series of 82 plastic models, distributed throughout the Navy and used in training for recognition, range estimation, and gunnery practice, was presented by the Cruver | Manufacturing Co. Toward the close of the first World War, aircraft-propeller manu- | facturers turned their attention to the manufacture of all-metal pro- | pellers in substitution for wooden propellers then in use. The late Dr. S. Albert Reed was active in this work and in due time invented an aluminum-alloy propeller that today is recognized as one of the early successful types. This first full-size model, known as the D-1, now forms part of the Museum’s extensive propeller collection, hav- ing been bequeathed to the Museum by Dr. Reed. DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES 61 Of current interest is the accession from the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey of a scale model of the Bayway Unit Polymer Plant for producing high-grade motor fuel and aviation-gasoline blending stock. Die casting today is one of America’s great industries, following many years of intensive research and experiment. One of the pioneers in this field was H. H. Franklin, maker of the Franklin air-cooled automobile, who personally presented four die castings made by him in his plant at Syracuse, N. Y., before 1900. The specimens constitute excellent examples of the early attempts to produce finished castings in metal dies. For many years the section of mineral technology of this division has contained educational exhibits on abrasives, one of which was that of the Norton Co. During the year this company modernized the entire exhibit, making an entirely new installation of 178 speci- mens. The exhibit includes grinding wheels, sharpening stones, laboratory apparatus, specimens of work accomplished, and colored transparencies of grinding machine operations of many sorts. The exhibit is highly interesting and instructive and has been frequently studied by the personnel of war agencies. Crafis and industries —Additions to the collections of this division totaled 856 new specimens, which were distributed as follows: Textiles, 210; woods and wood technology, 84; chemical industries, 214; medicine and public health, 473. Several of the accessions deserve special comment: In connection with gifts of previous years the Cotton-Textile Institute presented specimens of American cotton fabrics selected by a committee of experts as the most representative materials for the spring and summer seasons of 1943. William Skinner & Sons gave a cap ribbon of a new type adopted by the U. S. Navy, in which letters in gold leaf are fused into a cut ribbon of acetate rayon, instead of the silk ribbon embroidered with gold thread formerly used; the American Viscose Corporation contributed a large panel illustrating the manufacture of rayon from wood and cotton by the viscose, cuprammonium, and acetate processes, and specimens of viscose rayon fabrics woven from filament and spun yarns; and the American Bemberg Corporation added to its former gifts skeins and cones of cuprammonium rayon yarn and fabrics woven with this yarn alone and in combinations with silk, spun silk, spun rayon, viscose rayon, and cotton. The Singer Sewing Machine Co. added to its contributions, begun in 1897, a new surgical stitching instru- ment complete with extra needles and case and a felt sampler showing numerous types of surgical suturing. To the exhibits of wartime parachute fabrics there were added specimens of Nylon and cotton woven webbings used for the harness connecting the aviator to his parachute, a gift of the Phoenix Trim- 553751—483——5 } 62 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 ming Co. Dr. H. L. Shantz contributed fine specimens of bark cloth, and a mat and bags woven from the fiber obtained from the leaves of a species of Raphia, which were collected by him in Kast Africa and the Belgian Congo in 1920. One of the specimens of bark cloth is remarkable in size, being 8 feet wide and 22 feet long. Pieces of the bark cloth are used as wiping cloths or waste by locomotive engineers in the Belgian Congo, while the larger raffia bags are used for transporting kernels of the oil palm. The collection of old-time needlework and textile handicrafts was increased by six gifts. Samplers were presented by Miss Florence W. Layton, Mrs. M.S. Eakin, and Mrs. Marion J. McLean. Miss Mary E. Johnston presented an all-white, homespun, embroidered, cotton counterpane dated 1822; Mrs. E. G. McFadden, a bordered, cotton applique quilt, made by her great-grandmother at Charleston, S. C., in the early 1800’s; and Mrs. Hannah Field Vosper, one length of a single-width homespun carpeting, hand-woven in a stripe pattern using tie-dyed wool warp and cotton weft. New specimens from 17 contributors were received for an exhibit of alternates and substitutes arranged by the section of chemical indus- tries. This exhibit is of particular interest at this time since it is made up of various materials and techniques developed recently to cope with shortages of war materials. Many of the substitutes will find extreme- ly useful peacetime application later, for often they are better than the substances they were developed to replace. The most valuable pharmacy additions were as follows: Medicines for glandular diseases; a collection of surgical sutures; a series of speci- mens which depicts how typhus vaccine is made and used; early American medicine bottles; and a sugar analysis outfit. Historical objects of importance received during the year include the following: A model illustrating chemical transitional steps in the original Ameri- can synthesis of vitamin B,; old medical and pharmaceutical relics; contact eyeglasses in plastic, glass, and a combination of plastic and glass; and the latest American medical standards. The public health additions were a collection of food models arranged to show the daily food requirement; dangerous disease and vital statistics placards; glass statistical charts pertaining to cancer; food value charts; and specimens of North American and South American | lypholized anti-snake-bite serum. The section of materia medica | received crude drugs and pharmaceuticals to replenish those used for | study and tests. Important additions to the wood collection included 20 micro- | scopic mounts of specimens of woods belonging to the genus Casearia, prepared from authentic wood specimens in the Museum’s collection | that had been sent to the Department of Botany, University of Toronto, where they were prepared by, or under the direction of, Dr. | DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES 63 M. W. Bannon. J. L. Stearns presented an attractive set of 20 common woods indigenous to South Africa. This region produces a number of truly fine timbers, samples of which are included in the set. The Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, transferred to the Museum 13 samples of tropical American woods that they had received for testing in some phase of their wartime shipbuilding program. Graphic arts—An unprecedented total of 117 accessions, surpassing that of any previous year, was received by this division. Of these, 82 (859 specimens) were assigned to the graphic-arts section and 35 (115 specimens) to the section of photography. A collection of 651 war posters from Government agencies and pri- vate industries, still in the process of growth, constitutes a valuable addition to the pictorial and historical record of our participation in the war. Many were designed by outstanding American artists in both the fine art and commercial fields, a fact that enhances their purely historical value. Three Russian posters, the gift of Dr. Ale’ Hrdliéka, are interesting examples of the hand-stenciled method utilized by artists in territories where printing facilities may be limited. Russian guerrilla artists produce posters by this method. Another gift from Dr. Hrdlitka was a set of 40 cartoons by Russian artists, all anti-Nazi lampoons published in offset lithography by VOKS, the Soviet organ- ization for promoting cultural relations with foreign countries. One of the handsomest gifts of the year consists of 11 drypoints of figure studies presented by George T. Tobin, a professional illustrator who began working in drypoint in 1931. His work is characterized by a delicacy and suavity most unusual in the drypoint medium. Four- teen wood engravings and a bookplate (wood engraving) by the late James Bann, with a photographic enlargement of one print to illus- trate the wood-engraving technique, were received as a gift from Miss Helen Bann. The technique of Mr. Bann was very simple and clear- cut, and provides a clear explanation of this method of printmaking. One of the most deceptive of art objects is the transfer print, which, to the untutored eye, appears to be a miniature painting on glass. One of these prints, a portrait of Maj. Gen. Zachary Taylor, was given to the division by Miss Esther Karst, of the John Karst Museum. In this process, popular about 125 years ago, a small engraving or etching was securely attached with a varnish face downward to a piece of glass. When the varnish was thoroughly dry, the paper was ‘rubbed away from the back of the print, leaving the lines of the engraving on the glass. The next step was to apply oil colors over the engraved lines. The final result is viewed from the unpainted side of the glass. This process is not to be confused with direct painting on the back of glass, another method that was practiced extensively. A fine mezzotint, ‘“Thunderhead. Crest,’’ was presented by the artist, 64 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 Reynold H. Widener. An interesting feature of this print is the fact that the plate was prepared in the manner of the early mezzotints, by using the roulette wheel to roughen the plate rather than the more © modern rocker. Mezzotint requires a plate systematically roughened © and pitted, so that, if inked, the plate would print asa solid black. | By scraping away the ink-holding pits so that the amount of printing © ink is dependent upon the depth of the pits, it is possible to obtain | the subtlest gradations of tone from black to white. Once a very © popular method of printmaking, particularly in England, this process © is seldom used at the present time, although fine results are obtainable. © Among other accessions of interest are ‘Back to Earth,” an etching by George H. Wright, the associate members’ print of the Society of | American Etchers; a hthograph made in 1835 by Fra Pagliusto after | a self-portrait by Bartolomeo Pinelli, the gift of Miss Josepha Whitney; — and a photomechanical reproduction in offset lithography of a water — color, ‘Charles Street Meeting House,’”’ by Dwight C. Shepler. This — print, made in seven colors, is a remarkable example of printing that | resembles a water color so closely that only a trained eye can detect the fact that it isa print. This reproduction is the gift of the American — Writing Paper Corporation. | The most important accession received by the section of photography | was a Woodward Solar Camera secured from Miss Edna Billings. No other is known to exist, and this one came to light largely as a result of the nation-wide drive for scrap metal. This type of camera was | manufactured in Baltimore, Md., under patents dated between 1857 and 1877, and was the very first means available to commercial pho- | tographers during the latter half of the nineteenth century for making photographic enlargements on the then slow bromide paper, using the sun as a source of illumination. Pere. so made were known as solar prints. Another noteworthy accession was a collection of 26 pieces of photo- graphic equipment presented by A. C. Stebbins. The material came from the studio of his brother, the late A. B. Stebbins, and includes a tintype camera with four lenses, plate holders dating from 1881, the time of the general introduction of the dry plate, and an apothecary’s” scale used to weigh photographic chemicals. Of historical importance was the construction of a Cassegrain camera in the Museum’s shop from drawings by Dr. A. J. Olmsted, from parts received as a gift from Henry G. Fitz. This type of camera was used experimentally in the early daguerreotype days, but, as the image was small, it was never popular. The design was that of the reflecting telescope built by Cassegrain, an early French astronomer. Ransom Matthews pre- sented 11 pieces of historical motion-picture film from the Earl Thiesen collection, and 10 hand-made lantern slides in color of 1860, were the DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES 65 gift of Keith and Dione Brady. Forty-four pictorial photographs were added to the permanent collection. These include eight dog portraits by Arthur S. Mawhinney, one of the country’s outstanding dog photographers. His “Champions on Parade,”’ as his pictures are called, represent a prize winner of each breed. Frank R. Fraprie, owner and editor of American Photography, presented eight pictorial photographs from his collection, all splendid examples of his work, and Will Towles, the well-known teacher and demonstrator of photogra- phy, gave the section 10 portraits representative of his work over the past 20 years. The marine photographer John R. Hogan presented six prints in his particular style, and Mrs. Patricia MacDonald Tutch- ings donated seven framed portraits made by her celebrated father, the late Pirie MacDonald. The portraits are of Joseph Pennell, Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick W. MacMonnies, John Masefield, ‘Elihu Root, Roald Amundsen, and a self-portrait of Pirie MacDonald. INSTALLATION AND PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS The major task accomplished on the care of the collections was the rearrangement and reinstallation following the evacuation of irre- placeable materials. From the present appearance of the exhibition halls the average visitor is not aware that 130 boxes and crates con- taining approximately 2,000 specimens have been removed, the majority of which had been on exhibition. A second major activity was the installation of new accessions, the removal of obsolete educa- tional exhibits, and the rearrangement and classification of stored collections in modern fireproof storage cases. The more important work in these various categories accomplished by the several divisions and sections is here described: Engineering.—The early part of the year was devoted to packing the heavier and bulkier engineering specimens marked for evacuation. The great variety of materials and the great differences in their size and weight made the task a difficult one, the specimens ranging from a unique watch movement to a full-sized airplane. The boxes and crates when packed were stored by necessity in the exhibition halls until removed from Washington, and when they had been shipped much work was required to rearrange and reinstall the collections remaining. Work on improving the arrangement of collections in the Aircraft Building undertaken the previous year continued. Some of the propellers in the large propeller collection were reinstalled, but there are still many not placed because of the impossibility of obtain- ing suitable metal fittings. In the section of mineral technology there have been on display for 25 or more years educational exhibits pertaining to the technology of certain mineral industries, particu- larly lime, cement plaster, and coal. While these constituted accurate expositions of the technology in vogue at the time of their accession, 66 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 technologic changes since then have made these exhibits obsolete. The large models pertaining to the lime and cement plaster industries were therefore removed from exhibition. For a similar reason the large coal-mine model, which for the past 30 years has occupied the central portion of the coal court, was also dismantled. The model | had been constructed originally for exhibition at the Louisiana | Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., in 1904. | Crafts and industries —Thirteen new installations and 25 reinstalla- tions and rearrangements of the textile collections were carried out during the year. Most of the reinstallations came as a result of the | removal of all irreplaceable materials to safe quarters outside of | Washington. On the galleries devoted to chemical industries, five new installations and four new rearrangements were made, and three | exhibits were removed and stored. Four of the new installations | were of newly acquired material relating directly to the war effort. In the division of medicine and public health, the principal installation — was the placing of a gigantic chemical equation showing the steps in > the synthetic manufacture of vitamin B,. The exhibit is about 20. feet long and 5 feet high, with the center portion illuminated. Other installations were those illustrating the location, appearance, and functions of endocrine glands and the manufacture of vaccines. In the public-health section new exhibits were installed relating to the | part diet plays in the maintenance of health. | Throughout this division deteriorated specimens were replaced by | new ones, or if this could not be done, they were retired to storage for | possible future reference. There was periodic examination and fumigation of perishable materials and many new labels were prepared. Graphic arts.—The most important activity in this division was the completion of the entrance hall to the graphic-arts exhibitions, formerly a dark, confusing, and unsightly corridor unsuitable for exhibition purposes. It is planned to use the area for the special monthly exhibitions arranged annually by this division. In all other | respects the major work on the collections had to do with the improve- | ment of exhibition technique. Special exhibitions.—In addition to these various activities, special exhibitions were prepared or arranged as follows: ENGINEERING Two special exhibitions pertaining to engineering were held during the year. During the month of January, the Washington Ship Model | Society held its annual exhibition in the boat hall in the Arts and) Industries Building. The display was widely attended and attracted considerable attention. In April, the Metropolitan Society of Model Engineers held its annual exhibition of model railways. This was installed in the east hall of the Arts and Industries Building and continued for a month. DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES 607 CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES A special exhibit was prepared in celebration of Pan American Day, April 14, to show specimens of the principal exports of the republics comprised in the Pan American Union. This is to be continued on exhibition indefinitely in the south hall of the Arts and Industries Building. GraPuHic ARTS Ten monthly special exhibitions were held in the foyer of the Natural History Building and two in the Smithsonian Building, as follows: NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING July 15-August 30: “Prints by 24 Masters,” selected from the collection of the division of graphic arts. September: Prints by ‘‘Pop’’ Hart, selected from the collection of the division of graphic arts. October: 37 pencil drawings by Mrs. Beatrice Field, of Winchester, Mass. November: 35 wood cuts and linoleum cuts by Norman Kent, of Geneva, N. Y. December: 35 etchings by Ralph Fabri, of New York, N. Y. January: Color prints by the American Color Print Society. February: 18 lithographs by Peter Hurd, of San Patricio, N. Mex. March: 27 etchings and 7 pen drawings by Mrs. Helen Miller, of New York, N. Y. April: 35 etchings by James McBey, of New York, N. Y. May: 12 drypoints and 20 wax-pencil drawings by George T. Tobin, of New Rochelle, N. Y. SMITHSONIAN BUILDING May: 40 anti-Nazi cartoons in offset lithography by Russian artists. June: 35 prints by the National Association of Women Artists, Inc., of New York, INGA Y! PHOTOGRAPHY Fifteen special photographic exhibitions were held, twelve in the Arts and Industries Building and three in the foyer of the Natural History Building: ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING July: 70 prints by Gustav Anderson, of Amityville, N. Y.° August: 60 prints by the Revenue Camera Club, of Washington, D. C. September: 30 prints by Alajos Schuszler, of Arlington, Va. October: 50 piints by Axel Bahnsen, of Yellow Springs, Ohio. November: 60 prints by John R. Hogan, of Ardmore, Pa. December: 54 prints by the Camera Club, of New York, N. Y. January: 100 prints from the Metropolitan Camera Club Council, of Rockville Center, N. Y. February: 74 prints from the American Photographic Publishing Co., of Boston, Mass. ‘These prints are the originals from which the illustrations in the “American Annual” are made. March: 66 prints from the Telephone Camera Club of Manhattan, New York, IN OY April: 60 prints by the late Thomas O. Scheckell, of East Orange, N. J. May: 99 prints from ‘‘Popular Photography,” Chicago, III. June: 61 prints by Edward F. Raynolds, of Central Valley, N. Y. 68 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING March: 204 prints from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, of Washington, D. C. April: 31 prints ‘‘Our Navy in Action” from the Office of Public Relations, Navy Department, Washington, D. C. May: 118 prints, Arlington Camera Club, of Arlington, Va. INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH Investigation or research by the staff was largely that required to furnish information to correspondents and to students calling on staff members, or the identification of materials submitted to the Museum by private individuals and Government bureaus. As time permitted, individual staff members pursued their continuing studies in specific fields of industrial and engineering history. Hardly a day passed during the year that assistance was not ren- dered by a member of the staff to outside investigators through the use of Museum material. In engineering this was largely in the transpor- tation field and was especially voluminous in aeronautics. In crafts and industries, assistance ranged from furnishing drawings and advice on the adaptation of common and automatic loom shuttles to a mili- tary device, to the furnishing of wood specimens and drugs for wartime studies. Assistance rendered other Government bureaus was considerably greater in volume than in the previous year. The majority of requests for aid originated with war agencies and covered practically every field of engineering and industry with which the staff is competent to deal. For example, the rubber-plant investigation project of the Agricultural Research Administration of the Department of Agricul- ture was aided by a detailed study of cross sections of ‘‘chilte’”’ trees from Mexico. For the Quartermaster Corps, Marine Design and Con- struction Division, studies were conducted on the suitability of loblolly pine for Army boat construction. Again, special courses of instruction on the identification of the various methods of printing were prepared and given to classes of document inspectors, Federal Bureau of Investi- gation, Department of Justice. Positive identification was made for this bureau of the source of rotogravure printing of an Axis propaganda pamphlet. For the purpose of furthering cooperation with the Latin American republics, the department rendered specific aid to the Board of Economic Warfare and to the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, both in the field of handcraft and handcraft tools and in steam auto- mobile design. The information given to private correspondents and visitors ranged from advice on the growing of medicinal herbs and the preservation of leather objects to the demonstration of rubber synthesis. It is esti- mated that the department gave attention to 1,000 requests of this nature during the year. DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES 69 DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS Materials distributed from the department included specimens, photographs, and prints totaling over 4,000 items. The great majority of these were the specimens composing seven traveling exhibits relating to the graphic arts that were on circuit throughout the year and were lent for display 43 times. Specific loans of 502 items were made to educational institutions for exhibitions, demonstrations, and experimental purposes; 98 specimens of wood were exchanged with forestry schools and students of woods; 22 photographic specimens were exchanged for equally valuable specimens; and 9 specimens were given war agencies for investigation and experiment. During the year, too, 196 copies of drawings and photographs of the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey, preserved in the division of engineering, were made and distributed to private purchasers. This brings the total of such material distributed since the completion of the survey in 1938 to 3,522 copies. NUMBER OF SPECIMENS UNDER DEPARTMENT IN CAVE CHIT Wh SECO a RAEN Epes DOE) See 17, 425 Membileameces apse eli Tea BN hee Vek yar ra aL iy a 15, 802 Moods and wood technology 222 e225 3 okey ee ee 13, 034 Chemicalindustries 22S. Sew Ree eek SCS 22, 938 Agricultural industries, including foods____________-_--_- 2, 239 Meciemeryand public health=25.0 2 see e Sas ee ee 19, 815 Craphicarts: including photography #2222 2 vasa? 46, 876 DIVISION OF HISTORY (THEODORE T. BEetotsz, Curator) THE past year in the division of history was a very active one. Among the many projects that have engaged the attention of the members of the staff are: The reinstallation of the exhibits in the north and west halls; a review of the status of the storage collections; the installation of a special collection of firearms, swords, and daggers presented by Ralph G. Packard; the installation of a special exhibition of firearms in the Natural History Building; the cataloging of a special collection of coins and medals presented by the Honorable Frederic A. Delano; and the packing of especially valuable material for pro- tection from possible air raids. The division lost, by transfer to another Government Department, the services of Miss Bertha L. Ferguson, clerk-stenographer, who for 15 years faithfully performed not only the routine clerical tasks of the division, but also many duties not usually associated with a purely clerical assignment. The position made vacant by Miss Ferguson’s transfer was filled by the appointment of Miss Virginia Galt. ACCESSIONS The number of accessions received was 46, which aggregated 1,903 specimens. In addition, there are included 11,899 specimens that had been in the collections for some years but had never been formally accessioned. ‘These appear for the first time in the total given at the end of this report. The three most important accessions of the year were in the fields of art, arms, and numismatics. The first of these, received by bequest, consisted of only five specimens, but they were of unusual interest not only because of their artistic and historical value but also because they completed the collection of paintings by J. L. G. Ferris, of Phila- delphia, 71 of which were presented by Mrs. Ferris in 1932, 2 years after her husband’s death. ‘These five paintings are: ‘San Salvador,” representing the first landing of Columbus in the New World in 1492; “The Knight of the Double Cross,’ depicting the ships of Henry Morgan on the high seas in 1671; ‘‘Here Comes the Bride,”’ illustrating the marriage of Martha Custis and George Washington in 1759; ‘“‘Mount Vernon and Peace,’ a portrayal of General and Mrs. Wash- ington at home with guests in 1784; and ‘‘Painter and President,’ representing General Washington sitting for a portrait by Gilbert Stuart in 1795. The finest accession of firearms, swords, and daggers received by the National Museum in recent years came as a gift from Ralph G. 70 DIVISION OF HISTORY 71 Packard, of Morristown, N. J. The collection illustrates the evolu- _ tion of firearms from the matchlock to the automatic of the present day and includes all the methods of ignition used during the past 350 years. The history of the sword and dagger is also well represented, among the edged weapons included being several knights’ battle swords, Spanish, Italian, German, Scottish, and Swiss swords and rapiers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, and Scottish broadswords of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. _ Also in the collection are two fine sixteenth-century German cross- bows. The firearms collection, beginning with the matchlock type, includes an elaborately inlaid Italian piece of the sixteenth century and a German wall piece dated 1612, likewise beautifully inlaid. Wheel locks, some of which are exceptionally fine, include a seven- teenth-century light wheel-lock saddle gun of blunderbuss type, with saddle hook, probably of French origin. An American colonial matchlock has the name ‘‘Newtowne” burned on both sides of the stock. ‘This piece can be dated definitely prior to 1636, as the name of Newtowne was changed to Cambridge in 1636, with the founding of Harvard College. There is a very fine specimen of the Snaphaunce type, while the fiintlocks include both single- and double-barreled varieties, and an early Brown Bess, the regulation musket of the British services during the early eighteenth century. Among the many rifles and muskets are Kentucky single-barreled rifles and the double-barreled type known as ‘‘over and under’’; a Committee- of-Safety musket of 1775-1776; a Charleville musket of 1763, illustrat- ing the pattern from which the first United States muskets were made; the first type of United States pattern musket; a British rampart or boat gun; a 4-barreled American carbine, with the barrels turned by hand; a breech-loading flintlock rifle by Warsop, a forerunner of the Ferguson rifle; a breech-loading rifle designed by Maj. Patrick Fer- guson used in the American Revolution by the British; a smooth-bore flintlock repeating gun of the Cookson type; a Forsythe rifle, one of the original Forsythe patents, having an interchangeable smooth- bore barrel. Among the pistols are wheel locks of the seventeenth century by Lazarino Cominazzo and representative pistols of German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese origin. Sporting pieces are represented by a breech-loading smooth-bore piece akin to the Ferguson rifle and one of Spanish origin similar to the Forsythe. Included in the collection are many other fine pistols, rifles, and revolvers, ranging through the matchlock, wheel lock, flintlock, and percussion pieces to the Colt automatic. The four finest rifles in the collection were made under the supervision of Mr. Packard, who has used them in hunting game, both big and small, in many parts of the world. One of these rifles is equipped with telescopic sight and another with a specially designated thumb trigger. In addition to 72 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 the great collection of arms, Mr. Packard presented more than 300 publications, many of them old and rare, on the history of arms, armor, and firearms. The accession of most importance to the numismatic collection was the large collection of coms, medals, medalets, and tokens pre- sented by the Honorable Frederic A. Delano, of Washington, D. C., a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Of particular interest among the coins were several examples of the Graeco-Roman or Imperial Greek coins struck in western Asia and northern Africa at the time of the political domination of these territories by the Romans, from the first to the third centuries A. D., and examples of Roman coins, and of silver denarii, struck during the last two centuries of the Roman Republic. Representative of the Roman Empire are bronze coins struck during the period from Augustus to Honorius, 27 B. C. to A. D. 428; likewise portrait coins of the various Roman emperors and bronze coins of the Byzantine Empire struck during the period A. D. 490 to 640. Modern European coins include speci- mens struck between 1660 and 1900 for circulation in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland; also included | are interesting coins of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States. | Most of the medals in the collection originated in France or the United States and may be divided into three groups: Art, historical, and portrait medals. While the French art medals were struck | largely during the period of World War I, the subjects included are — not all martial in character, those of religious and artistic interest being also well represented. The art medals of the United States have as subjects not only art, but history, valor, and civics as well. French medals in the series of historical significance range from the Capture of Besancon in 1674 to the Signing of the Armistice in 1918. Portrait medals depict personages of importance not only to France, | but to the United States. ‘These include two of Benjamin Franklin, one by Godel and one by Dupres. Historical medals and medallions of the United States series range from the Founding of Norwalk, Conn., in 1649 to the Tercentennial Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims in 1920. United States tokens includes series struck during the Civil War and during World War I. | The collection of mementos of famous personages was increased by the accession of a diamond and platinum bracelet that was presented by Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, to Mrs. Brand Whitlock, the wife of the United States Ambassador to Belgium during World War I. This bequest will be installed with the large collection of associated objects presented by Mrs. Whitlock in 1936. DIVISION OF HISTORY te The stamp collection was increased during the year by the addition of 826 specimens, transferred from the Post Office Department. Of special interest were stamps of Great Britain overprinted ‘‘M. EK. F.” (Middle East Force) for use in the former Italian territory of Eritrea, and recent issues of the Bahamas, Ceylon, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, Newfoundland, Nyasaland, and Tonga;stampsissued by the Norwegian Government in London (used on letters carried by Norwegian war- ships and merchant vessels), and by the exiled Jugoslavian Govern- ment in England; and recent issues of the Soviet Union. INSTALLATION AND PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS The division was represented in two temporary exhibitions of un- usual interest and importance during the year. The small portable writing desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was lent by special arrangement to the Library of Congress in April for exhibition during the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jefferson. A small reproduction of a United States flag of the period of the Revolution was lent for exhibition with the writing desk. This material was returned to the custody of the Museum at the close of the celebration. Under the auspices of the department of anthropology an exhibition of historical firearms was arranged by Capt. Charles Carey, assistant curator of the division, and shown in the foyer of the Natural History Building from August to October 1942. Its purpose was the delinea- tion of major changes that have taken place in firearms during the past three centuries. For comparison, a model of the 1800 United States military musket was shown beside a Garand M1 rifle, a current weapon of our fighting forces. A double-barreled flintlock fowling piece of the era of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 was placed in juxtaposition with an auto-loading shotgun of the present day. The evolution of the rifle and revolver was illustrated by numerous specimens ranging from the Brown Bess of the British Army in the American Revolution, through the military and machine rifles and machine guns of World War I, to the automatic pistols of the present day. Several cases of modern sporting arms were displayed, as well as handsome scale models of the 14-inch naval guns used by the United States Navy ashore in France during World War I, a model of the 7-inch field gun used by the United States Marines in France during that period, and 12 scale models of tanks and armored vehicles used by the German Army in the present war. In addition to the firearms mentioned, the exhibit included original patent models of certain inventions that proved to be more ingenious than practicable. Likewise furnished by the division for this exhibit were a related series of oil paintings iulustrating the historical development of the United 74 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1943 States flag and a series of United States Army swords indicative of the historical development of the swords of this type made during the period 1776 to 1925. Satisfactory progress was made during the year on the installation of the permanent exhibition series. For the past several years the staff has been building up in each of the division’s exhibition halls a series of exhibits relating to one or two phases of the work of the | division, rather than to miscellaneous subjects. As a result of such specialization, arms, costumes, naval equipment, military equipment, | and numismatics each has its separate hall. The latest space to be so assigned was the west hall, where progress was made during the | year in the installation of civil mementos. Four large floor cases | contain mementos of the careers of the four secretaries of the Smith- | sonian Institution who guided its destiny during the period 1846 to. 1927. Exhibited in this hall also are collections of china, glassware, | silverware, and furniture, much of which was owned by leading | American statesmen, including George Washington, Thomas Jeffer-| son, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Clay. Other materials in this. hall have no personal significance but are of public interest from the | standpoint of the development of the American home. The remain- | ing space will be occupied by cases containing mementos of the lives. and careers of other distinguished American citizens. In order to. make space for the changes in the west hall, it was necessary to remove: the entire series of military exhibits, most of which were reinstalled | on the east side of the navy court. Certain of the civil exhibits were! moved from the north hall to the wall cases on the north side of the: navy court. This is a temporary arrangement that will be changed. as soon as the wall cases on the south side of the hall have been: renovated. An improvement was made in the numismatic exhibition series during the year by the arrangement of the Moritz Wormser Memorial Collection, lent by the American Numismatic Association, in three’ cases in a corner of the coin and medal hall. A typical series of Greek and Roman coins was also installed in this hall. Improvement in the arrangement of medals was accomplished by the installation in the center of the hall of seven table cases containing a series of American medals representing the entire period of American numismatic history. Various phases of American history are now illustrated by medals, including Army and Navy medals, national and local medals of award, commemorative medals, Indian peace medals, and Presidential and portrait medals. | Except for the most recent issues received, the cataloging of postage stamps was practically up to date at the close of the year. The exhibition series has been kept current and the study series made readily accessible to philatelists and collectors desiring to see them. DIVISION OF HISTORY 75 Closely related in importance to the preservation of the collections are the careful preparation, the arrangement, and the preservation of the records. gine Ba \ OP er Se / t ae - x Ss PO Ty, Wee > %y Bh a 7 ve 1” eee” re i ( M | ba i | i a7 or Pl af ! 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