1 Vial containing salamander larvæ, 42 living salamanders, 1 frog, 12 living snakes, 11 specimens of young salamanders. Collected by J. S. Alexander at Gainesville, Fla. 70 Snakes, 1 cæcilian, 5 lizards, 9 frogs, 2 amphisbænians. Collected by Enrique Feyer in Ecuador. 79 Lizards and 3 snakes. Collected by Dwight Franklin in Arizona. 1 Giant frog, 6 lizards, 1 cæcilian, and 1 frog, from Efulen, Cameroon, Africa. 5 Snakes, about 30 lizards, 88 preserved frogs, 6 living lizards, 1 THROUGH MUSEUM 2 Snakes, 10 lizards and 1 frog. Collected in India by Barnum Brown. ARTHUR S. VERNAY INDIAN EX PEDITION. 2 Crocodile heads, 1 monitor skin, 1 turtle shell. Collected in Siam. LOCAL FIELD WORK. 55 Salamanders, 10 frogs, 1 bunch of salamander eggs, toads, 10 fence lizards, 1 batch of tadpoles. Collected by Dr. G. K. Noble in New Jersey. 5 Leopard frogs, 1 bullfrog, 20 spring peepers, from Leonia, N. J.; 23 salamanders, 2 snakes, 4 bunch of lizard eggs. Collected by John King near Samanà, D.R. 1 Living loggerhead turtle from New York Harbor. 203 Amphibians and 39 reptiles from Ecuador. 2 Adult amphiumas from Louisiana. 2 Vials containing Pelodytes punc tatus eggs and larva from Ospitaletto, Italy. 4 Living adult Salamandra maculosa from Germany. 1 Developmental series of Triton palmatus and 1 developmental series of Triton vulgaris from Germany. EXPEDITIONS turtles, 1 bunch of tadpoles, 8 frogs, from vicinity of Bear Mountain, N. Y. Collected by Dr. G. K. Noble and W. Hassler. MARSH-DARIEN EXPEDITION. 10 living geckos, 918 amphibians, 152 vials of amphibian larvæ and eggs, 205 reptiles, 12 vials of young lizards and turtles, 50 lizard and turtle eggs, 11 vials of reptile eggs. Collected by C. M. Breder, Jr., in Panama. WHITNEY SOUTH SEA EXPEDITION. 47 Lizards from the Samoan Islands. Collected by R. H. Beck. BIRDS FRANK M. CHAPMAN, Curator-in-Chief The work of the Department of Birds for 1924 has progressed most satisfactorily. Increased space has not only permitted the rearrangement of collections in a more accessible form, but has very greatly improved our facilities for research work, each member of the department having now a place in which he may work to advantage. The Department of Birds and the Public One of the results of the close contact which this Museum has with the public is the number of calls which are made upon us for information in regard to all matters pertaining to ornithology. In short, this department has become a bureau of information for the press and public concerning every phase of bird life, including not only the identification of species, but advice as to where they may be found, data concerning the bird laws and their enforcement, and various other questions affecting the relation of birds to man. For several months lists were kept of our callers, the nature of the information desired, and the time required to give it. A careful examination of these lists shows that in very few instances have we been called upon unnecessarily. Field work has been prosecuted in various parts of the world. The Arthur S. Vernay Expedition in Burma and Siam secured for us, in addition to its large mammal collections, many birds not before represented in this department. Field Work The Whitney South Sea Expedition, in charge of Rollo H. Beck, with the cordial consent of the government, has made thorough collections in the Fiji Islands. The Curator of the department, with Mr. F. C. Walcott, visited Argentina and southern Chile, securing numbers of specimens, much information in connection with our biological survey of the Andes, and material for Habitat Groups illustrating the bird-life of the high Andes at the base of Aconcagua and the Pampas region of Argentina, south of Buenos Aires. Mr. Ludlow Griscom conducted a most fruitful reconnaissance in western Panama, in continuation of our biological survey of that Republic. DEPARTMENT OF ORNITHOLOGY THE GREAT INDIAN HORNBILL A male bird presented by Mr. Arthur S. Vernay, who collected it in Tenasserim |