Lafayette Park during the year and made some very interesting and constructive criticisms of conditions in that park which will profoundly influence its improvement.

In December, 1918, Mr. Jens Jensen, landscape architect of Chicago, made a trip to Hot Springs Reservation, and gave his time, without charge, to the Government in supervising the planting of a large quantity of tulip, narcissus, hyacinth, and other bulbs on the Reservation area. He also made several valuable suggestions relating to landscape improvement of the Reservation and the city of Hot Springs.

AEROPLANES IN THE NATIONAL PARKS.

The close of the war brought no decrease in the public interest in the construction and operation of aircraft. The minds of the people merely turned more definitely to the use of the aeroplane for pleasure and for commercial purposes. It was natural, therefore, that during the past season the aeroplane should have appeared in the national parks.

On May 27 Lieut. J. S. Krull, flight commander at Mather Field, near Sacramento, Calif., landed in Yosemite Valley after a successful flight from Mather Field. This is the first aeroplane to fly into the famous valley. Later Lieut. Neubig, also of Mather Field, landed in the valley with a passenger, after a nonstop flight of 2 hours and 40 minutes, coming from San Francisco, a distance of approximately 180 miles.

The first aeroplane to fly over Rocky Mountain National Park landed near the Stanley Hotel on August 8, 1919. It was piloted by Mr. I. B. Humphreys, who was accompanied by Mr. A. M. Lendrum. The machine used was a Curtis-Oriole biplane.

Tentative proposals to operate aircraft in the national parks for the purpose of transporting passengers have been made from time to time during the year, but as yet no complete proposition has been submitted to the National Park Service. Among the tentative proposals were suggestions that an aeroplane line be established between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, with side trips through the parks themselves, and that aeroplanes be used as means of connecting the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. While the former proposal is believed to be partly feasible, the latter is probably wholly impracticable, because of the fact that it would be necessary to rise to a great altitude above the Grand Canyon in order to obtain the proper factor of safety. This would necessitate taking passengers to an altitude of from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the sea, which would result in occasional distress and injury, and, of course, the Grand Canyon from such an altitude would be indistinct. I am of the opinion, however, that aeroplanes can be used to great advantage in several of the national parks, and undoubtedly the time is not far distant when service between the parks can be maintained by the use of heavier-than-air machines.

Experiments conducted during the past year in California, particularly from the base at Mather Field, have determined the practicability of using the aeroplane for fire patrols over forested areas. Patrols have been made in the national forests in the State of California with great effectiveness, and during the recent ex

tensive forest fires they rendered much aid in detecting and controlling the flames. It is to be hoped, as Yosemite and Sequoia Parks are not far distant from Mather Field, that some arrangements can be made next year for regular fire patrols by aeroplane over these park areas. Owing to the expense of maintaining aeroplanes near other parks, we may not be able to utilize them for fire patrols at present, but they could be used to great advantage in all of the parks of the Rocky Mountains where the fire hazard is often great and where during the past summer there were unusually large fires to contend with.

THE NATIONAL PARKS IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION.

In my report for last year and in statements issued from time to time from the National Park Service I have called attention to the fact that the national parks and monuments have educational advantages of value which have not as yet been utilized to any appreciable extent either by the colleges and universities of the Nation or by individual scholars and scientists unassociated with particular institutions. As I have gone about the parks this year, their usefulness as fields for practical summer investigations in numerous branches of scientific and historic research have impressed me more forcibly than ever before, and I am extremely anxious that steps should be taken in several of the largest parks next year to demonstrate the practicability of conducting studies of the natural features at reasonable expense to students availing themselves of the opportunities for the field laboratory work that the parks afford.

NATIONAL PARKS STUDIED AT COLUMBIA.

I have not intended to convey the idea that there is not a deep interest in this proposed educational use of the national parks outside of the National Park Service. There are many far-seeing educators, public officials, and men and women in several very different walks of life who are thoroughly alive to this enlarged opportunity. Several associations with high public aims have also become interested in the subject. Columbia University has definitely opened the field of national parks study as a distinct feature of its curriculum. It has announced, and is actually conducting, a course in the scenery of the national parks, with special emphasis on its production or formation by the forces of nature that have developed the surface of the earth and are to-day modifying and changing it. It is not unlikely that Columbia will follow this course with a field expedition of faculty members and students to one of the national parks.

THE LE CONTE MEMORIAL LECTURES.

Meanwhile the University of California, through its extension division, has established courses of lectures on the national parks which are to be given each year in Yosemite Valley. These are to be known as the Le Conte Memorial Lectures, in commemoration of the late Prof. Joseph Le Conte's devotion to Yosemite National Park and his contributions to science.

The first course of these lectures was delivered in Yosemite Valley this season, in accordance with the following program:

I. Willis L. Jepson, professor of botany, University of California:

1. The History and Origin of the Buttercup Family in Yosemite. Tuesday, June 24.

2. The Biology of the Chaparral, Thursday, June 26.

3. The Ancestry of the Yosemite Pines and Sequoias. Friday, June 27. II. William Frederic Badè, literary executor of John Muir:

1. John Muir, Nature, and Yosemite. Tuesday, July 1.

2. Muir's View of the Valley's Origin. Thursday, July 3.
3. Muirs Services to the Nation. Friday, July 4.

III. François Emile Matthes, geologist, United States Geological Survey:
1. Origin of Yosemite Valley, as Indicated in the History of its Water-
falls. Tuesday, July 8.

2. The Highest Ice Flood in the Yosemite Valley. Wednesday, July 9. (To be delivered at Glacier Point.)

3. The Origin of the Granite Domes of Yosemite.

Saturday, July 12.

IV. A. L. Kroeber, professor of anthropology, University of California:
Friday, July 11.
Saturday, July 12.
Sunday, July 13.

1. Tribes of the Sierra.
2. Indians of Yosemite.
3. Folk-lore of Yosemite.

The 1920 series will probably include lectures by Dr. C. Hart Merriam on anthropological subjects-by Dr. J. C. Merriam on the Philosophy of Le Conte; by Dr. Joseph Grinnell on zoology; and by Dr. A. C. Lawson on geology.

CAMP FIRE EDUCATIONAL TALKS.

Dr. Matthes, of the Geological Survey, who delivered some of the Le Conte lectures during the past season, remained in the park for a considerable time and delivered many talks and addresses at the public camps and at the Sierra Club camp fires. Likewise, in Yellowstone National Park, Mr. M. P. Skinner, who has studied the wild flowers, mammals, and birds of that park for many years, gave talks on the features of the park to Howard Eaton's big trail party at its camp fires and to other interested groups of visitors. He is now engaged in collecting specimens for the new Yellowstone museum. Informal talks on Yellowstone Park were also given by Mr. Frank Reedy, of the Southern Methodist University, who has been visiting the park each summer for many years.

While the Brooklyn Eagle party was visiting Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Miss Isabel D. Bassett, formerly of the faculty of the department of geology at Wellesley, gave interesting and instructive talks on the geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone Park and the peculiar geological formation of Glacier Park.

In Mesa Verde National Park, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, chief of the Bureau of Ethnology, continued his archæological work by excavating Square Tower House, one of the finest cliff dwellings of the park, and likewise he followed his custom, established some years ago, of telling around the camp fire the story of the cliff dwellers and their customs and works.

In the far Southwest, Dr. Byron S. Cummings conducted a class of students in archæology and ethnology to the Grand Canyon National Park and to the remote Navajo National Monument in northern

Arizona.

Nature guides in Mount Rainier and Rocky Mountain Parks have done much to stimulate interest in the wild flowers, trees, and animal

life of these reservations, as well as in the glaciers and the mountains themselves. Still, in mentioning these instances of the newest use of the national parks, I do not by any means touch upon all of the educational work that has been accomplished this year.

MUSEUMS TO BE ESTABLISHED.

Last year I mentioned the establishment of a museum in Mesa Verde National Park to house relics taken from the cliff dwellings and other prehistoric ruins. This museum has become one of the most interesting features of the reservation and has been thoroughly enjoyed by the traveling public. Dr. Fewkes used it for his talks on archæology.

A new administration building has been planned for Yosemite National Park, and in designing this structure provision was made for a large museum, to be constructed with every modern appliance for effective exhibitions. The lighting methods for habitat groups adopted by the California Academy of Sciences for its new museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, will be utilized in this building if authorized.

In Yellowstone National Park a large room in a building formerly a part of Fort Yellowstone, which has been selected for park headquarters, will be developed as a museum to house specimens of the hundreds of different objects of interest that the park contains. These specimens are now being collected and marked for exhibition. It will take several years to complete the display, but ultimately it will be complete in every particular.

In Casa Grande National Monument a collection of prehistoric implements and other relics of interest to the visitor has been made available by Custodian Pinkley, who has also assembled a library on archæology and ethnology that is quite comprehensive. A suitable museum to house this collection is now under consideration.

The superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park has assembled a vast number of specimens of wild flowers and some exhibits of mounted birds and animals that are attracting considerable attention. I do not know of any work that the National Park Service is undertaking that is of more value to the public than this use of the resources of the parks for the enlightenment of their visitors.

NATURAL HISTORY SERIES OF PUBLICATIONS.

Last year we published "Wild Animals of Glacier National Park," a volume on the mammals of the park by Mr. Vernon Bailey, chief field naturalist of the Biological Survey, and on the birds, by Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey, and this book was so favorably received that the edition was soon exhausted. A second edition is in course of publication. Continuing the preparation of this natural history series, we were fortunate in securing the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution in assembling data for a book on the wild flowers and trees of Glacier Park. Dr. P. C. Standley, of the Smithsonian Institution, was sent to the park to gather the necessary data, and he will write a popular book which the Service will publish early next year. Technical papers will also be prepared for the use of the National Museum and other scientific institutions.

Under a similar cooperative arrangement, the Biological Survey, the State College of Washington, and the National Park Service are conducting investigations in Mount Rainier National Park for the purpose of gathering data for a popular volume on the wild life of that park. Dr. W. P. Taylor of the Biological Survey is in charge of the party, and Dr. William L. Finley, State biologist of Oregon, is doing the photographic work, which will include motion pictures of the mammals and birds.

THE NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION.

That the Service might be supported by outside institutions and individuals in its advancement of the educational use of the national parks, a group of men and women in June, 1918, organized the National Parks Educational Committee, under the leadership of Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. This organization was noted in my last report. Its activities were limited during the war, but its opportunities broadened and increased with the dawn of peace, and it was decided early in the year to establish a national organization to promote the aims of its founders. On May 29, 1919, such an organization was formed. It was called the National Parks Association, and its objects can be best conveyed to the reader by quoting direct from a bulletin issued from its headquarters at Room 914, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. They are as follows:

1. To interpret the natural sciences which are illustrated in the scenic features, flora and fauna of the national parks and monuments, and to circulate popular information concerning them in text and picture.

2. To encourage the popular study of the history, exploration, tradition, and folk lore of the national parks and monuments.

3. To encourage art with national park subjects, and the literature of national parks travel, wild life and wilderness living, and the interpretation of scenery.

4. To encourage the extension of the national parks system to represent by consistently great examples the full range of American scenery, flora, and fauna, yet confined to areas of significance so extraordinary that they shall make the name national park an American trade-mark in the competition for the world's travel; and the development of the national monuments into a system illustrative of the range of prehistoric civilization and early exploration and history, land forms, American forest types, wild life, etc.

5. To enlist the personal services of individuals and the cooperation of societies, organizations, schools, universities, and institutions in the cause of the national parks and monuments.

Henry B. F. Macfarland, of Washington, D. C., is the president of the new association. The vice presidents are Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University; John Mason Clarke, chairman of the section of geology and paleontology, National Academy of Sciences; William Kent, of California; and Henry Suzzallo, president of the University of the State of Washington. The executive secretary is Robert Sterling Yard, formerly chief of the educational division of the National Park Service. Huston Thompson, member of the Federal Trade Commission, is chairman of the ways and means committee, which is composed of all of the charter members of the association. Charles J. Bell is treasurer.