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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION   1236

the Museum. It was the opinion that these could be determined only after a complete survey of material of value for the Museum.

The Chairman was instructed to prepare estimates for the $50,000 authorized by the act for a survey, this to cover the end of the fiscal year 1947, and the year 1948, and to include travel funds and necessary assistance.

In view of the great growth in aviation the new agency is one of major importance for preservation of historical material in aeronautics that it may be available either for public display, or, more importantly, for study and examination by engineers and students of aerodynamics.

CANAL ZONE BIOLOGICAL AREA

The Secretary presented the following report:

Under Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1946, which became effective July 16, 1946, the President has placed under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution a biological laboratory called the Canal Zone Biological Area located in he Canal Zone, Panama. 

When Gatun Lake was formed during construction of the Panama Canal the impounded waters flowed around hills that stood in the valley, changing certain of them to islands. One of these, which became known as Barro Colorado Island, was notable for its fine stand of primitive tropical forest, and for the animal life confined on it by the waters of the lake. On April 17, 1923, Governor Jay J. Morrow of the Canal Zone set aside Barro Colorado Island as a reserve, and on it there was established a field laboratory at which investigators might live and work on scientific problems concerned with a tropical jungle. This laboratory was supported by small contributions from various agencies, including Harvard college, the University of Michigan, 

A.W.