Fossils. A collection of cretaceous fossils presented by President David S. Jordan, of Indiana State University; a large series of Lower Cambrian fossils from Conception Bay, Newfoundland, including the types of thirteen species, collected and transferred to the Museum by Mr. C. D. Walcott, of the U. S. Geological Survey.

Botany.-Herbarium specimens from Dr. Ferdinand von Müller, of Melbourne, Australia; a series of specimens of algae from the New England coast, presented by Mr. F. S. Collins, of Malden, Mass.; agatized wood from the Drake Manufacturing Company, Sioux Falls, Dak.; fossil leaves from Constantine von Ettingshausen, of the University of Gratz, Austria-Hungary.

Geology.-Specimens of ancient and modern marbles from Europe and Africa received in exchange from the Museum of Natural History in Paris; a series of metamorphic and eruptive rocks, presented by Prof. U. A. Derby, of the National Museum of Brazil; a collection of minerals consisting of nearly 1,400 specimens, and obtained by Prof. S. L. Penfield, of the U. S. Geological Survey, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y.; a similar collection gathered by Mr. W. F. Hillebrand, of the U. S. Geological Survey, in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona; a series of petroleums and related material collected by Prof. S. F. Peckham, of Providence, R. I., in connection with his work for the Tenth Census.

Miscellaneous.-The following specially important collections have also been added to the collections during the year: A collection of drugs, from Dr. J. W. Jewett, examiner of drugs, custom-house, New York City, and a collection of similar material transmitted by the royal gardens at Kew; a valuable collection of photo-mechanical process work presented by Prof. Charles F. Chandler, of Columbia College, New York; General Washington's toilet-table deposited by Mrs. Thomas C. Cox, of Washington; account-book belonging to General Washington, together with a number of engravings and other personal property of General Washington, deposited by Mr. Lawrence Washington, of Virginia; an interesting collection of coins, including specimens of the "hook money" and other coins of the native princes of India, from Hon. W. T. Rice, United States consul at Horgen, Switzerland; a model of the locomotive "Old Ironsides," built by Matthias Ballwin in 1832, and presented by the Baldwin Locomotive Works; a model of Trevithick's locomotive, built in 1804 by Mr. D. Ballauf, from drawings lent to the Museum; a stereoscope with examples of the daguerreotype process, and the old albumen process on glass received from Mrs. E. J. Stone, of Washington; a valuable series of prints in carbon and other processes presented by Mr. J. W. Osborne, of Washington. Some of

the most valuable collections received during the year were obtained through the co-operation of Government officials, and are referred to at length in the report on the Museum for this year.

Co-operation of Departments and Bureaus of the Government.-The Museum has received, as in past years, many valuable contributions from United State consuls, officers of the Army and the Navy, and through the co-operation of the Departments and Bureaus of the Government. Through the courtesy of the Department of State the work of collectors in foreign countries has been greatly facilitated. The Secretary of the Treasury has issued several permits for the free entry of Museum material.

The Secretary of Agriculture has expressed his willingness to cooperate with the National Museum in the matter of making a forestry exhibit, and Dr. B. E. Fernow has been appointed honorary curator of the collection.

By direction of the Postmaster-General the Superintendent of the Dead Letter Office has been instructed to inform the Museum of the receipt in his office of specimens which might be of value for addition to the collections.

The Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey has, as in previous years, aided our work in many ways.

Photographic exhibit.-A collection intended to show the uses of photography was prepared by Mr. T. W. Smillie, of the National Museum, for exhibition at the Cincinnati Exposition. This collection included valuable contributions of photographs from Prof. E. C. Pickering, of Harvard University, Mr. J. W. Osborne, of Washington, and from several officers connected with the Government service, notably the Light-House Board, the Army Medical Museum, and the proving ground at Annapolis. At the close of the Exposition this collection was returned to the Museum, and is now being prepared, in connection with additional material which has since been received, for permanent exhibition. It is intended that the scope of this exhibit shall be enlarged so as to take the form of a historical collection in which shall be shown examples of every photographic process that has been invented, together with the appliances used, beginning with the photograph of the solar spectrum as made by Sheele in 1777. Considerable material has been already gathered which will be incorporated in this collection. The first camera made in the United States has been acquired by purchase. A stereoscope containing daguerreotypes and transparencies by the old albumen process on glass has been presented by Mrs. E. J. Stone. The Scoville Manufacturing Company of New York has presented a series of cameras showing the latest improvements, and from the Eastman Dry Plate Company, of Rochester, N. Y.,

has been received a Kodak camera, together with a series of enlarged photographs illustrating its use.

Distribution of duplicate specimens.-Duplicate specimens, to the num per of 11,382, were distributed during the year among museums, colleges, and individuals. The following table shows the character and extent of these distributions:

The decrease in the number of specimens thus given away, as com pared with last year, is accounted for by the fact that only 2,072 specimens of marine invertebrates have been distributed this year, while last year 24,750 specimens of this class were presented to applicants. Eliminating this class of specimens, the number distributed this year is double that of last year. The number of requests for duplicate specimens increase yearly. It is hoped that in the future it may be possible for the Museum to extend its usefulness in this important part of the work. The material now available for distributi on is quite inadequate to supply the demand. The curators of mineralogy and of geology obtained a large quantity of material during the past summer for this special purpose. As soon as it has been classified and arranged into sets, an endeavor will be made to fill the many applications for mineralogical and litho logical material now awaiting action. The matter of making up sets of duplicate bird-skins is now receiving careful attention, there being much of such material available for distribution.

Labels. During the year, 3,991 labels were printed, chiefly for use in the departments of metallurgy, materia medica, and birds,

Accessions to the library.-The number of publications added to the library during the year is 6,052, of which 618 are volumes of more than 100 pages, 903 are pamphlets, 4,343 are parts of regular serials, and 158 charts. The most important accession was the gift by the heirs of the late Dr. Isaac Lea, consisting of 137 volumes, 276 "parts," and 693 pamphlets, and including a nearly complete series of the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London." There are now nineteen sectional libraries attached to the several curatorships in the Museum.

Publications of the Museum.-The issue of Museum publications during the year has been unusually small, owing to the pressure of Congres sional work at the Printing Office during the Yong Congressional session of 1888, which caused the Museum work to be set aside. A number of special publications are partially completed, and will be issued soon after the beginning of the next fiscal year.

During the year volume 10 of Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum (1887) was issued. This contains viii + 771 pages and 39 plates. It includes 78 papers by 26 authors, 10 of whom are officers of the Museum. Nearly three-fourths of the papers relate to birds and fishes. In the appendix is printed a catalogue of the exhibit prepared by Mr. S. R. Koehler, in charge of the section of graphic arts, for the Ohio Valley Centenial Exposition. Special papers were prepared by the curators of several departments, in connection with the exhibits for this exposition, which will be reprinted in Section III of the Museum report for the present year.

Bulletin 33 of the United States National Museum, "A catalogue of minerals and their synomyms alphabetically arranged for the use of museums" by Prof. T. Egleston, Ph. D., of Columbia College, was issued in May. This volume contains a complete catalogue of the names of minerals and their synonyms, and will be of much value to students of mineralogy and others interested in this science.

The assistant secretary in charge of the Museum has submitted a statement reviewing the history of the publications of the Museum, and making certain suggestions with a view to increasing the extent of the editions and to the establishment of a systematic method of distribution. From this statement I quote the following remarks and recommendations relating to the Proceedings and Bulletin:

"The Proceedings was established for the purpose of securing prompt publication of the discoveries in the Museum. In order to secure this object the printing has been done, signature by signature, as fast as matter was prepared. A certain number of signatures has always been distributed, as soon as published, to scientific institutions and specialists. The number of sets of signatures thus distributed has been in the neighborhood of 200.

"This method of publication has seemed to be to some extent wasteful, and it is thought that equally good results may be secured by distributing a certain number of the advance copies in the form of authors' extras. In making arrangements for the printing of Volume XII it

was decided that out of the edition of 1,200 copies, 100 should be delivered in signatures as fast as printed, and 300 in extras or reprints, in paper covers, of which 50 are to be given to the authors and the remainder distributed to specialists in the various departments to which the papers relate, who are not otherwise provided with the publication; while the 800 remaining volumes are to be bound previous to distribution.

"In special instances, where a given paper in the Proceedings is believed to possess great general interest, it has been customary to print a considerable number of extra copies.

"The publication of the Proceedings and the Bulletin was at first paid for from the printing fund of the Interior Department, with which the Museum was at that time in close relations in respect to financial matters. Subsequently it was paid for from the fund for the printing of Museum labels, estimates for which were annually submitted by the Secretary of the Institution. The amount asked for was usually $10,000. In the Book of Estimates the Museum appeared as asking a certain sum for printing, though the money was actually included in the gross sum allotted to the Interior Department as a printing fund.

"In 1882, a separate appropriation was made for the first time, in these words: 'For the National Museum, for printing labels and blanks and for the Bulletins and annual volumes of the Proceedings of the Museum, ten thousand dollars.'

"In 1888 the appropriation for the fiscal year 1888-9 was made in the same words, but was not included, as heretofore, in the appropriations for the Department of the Interior.

"The edition of the earlier volumes of the Proceedings and Bulletins was usually only 1,000, of which a portion was distributed by the Department of the Interior and a portion by the Museum. The number received by the Museum being sometimes 500 and sometimes as few as 250. The edition placed at the disposal of the Museum being so small, and withal so uncertain as to extent, the distribution was always of necessity informal, and no effort was made to supply a regular list of institutions and specialists. A considerable number was expended in the work of the Museum, and the remainder were sent to correspondents of the Museum in exchange for publications, for specimens, and incidentally to such institutions as might apply for copies, as well as to individuals, especially students who made it evident that they were in a position to make good use of the books.

"Formal publication was undertaken by the Smithsonian Institution, it being the intention that the first cost of composition and electrotyping having been provided for by the special Congressional appropriation, the Smithsonian Institution should avail itself of the electrotype plates and use them in making up certain volumes of the Miscellaneous Collections. The papers published in the Proceedings and Bulletins of the Museum were of precisely the same character which, since 1862, had made up the great majority of the most important papers in the Miscellaneous Collections. The Institution undertook to print an edition of 1,200 copies in the form of volumes of the Miscellaneous Collections and to distribute them to the principal libraries of the world. This was, at the time, regarded as advantageous, since the cost of composition and electrotyping made up at least two-thirds of the cost of the edition of 1,200, while the miscellaneous distribution, for which the Institution, in the case of similar publications printed at its own expense, had been accustomed to provide, was now already arranged for out of the preliminary issue of several hundred copies paid for from the Museum fund,