The vouchers for the expenditures from the appropriations are passed upon by the executive committee of the Board of Regents with the exception of those for ethnological researches. The disbursements from the latter appropriation are made under the direction of Major Powell. The estimates prepared to be submitted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, were as follows:

Of the first of these items, that of international exchanges, urgent representations were made to Congress to the effect that though it had assumed the charge of this, the expenditures of the Bureau (whose work largely consists of the transportation of Government documents) continue to be met, in part, from the private fund of the Institution, but, as will be seen, no change in this respect has been made.

The estimates prepared to be submitted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, were as follows:

International exchanges.-Twenty-seven thousand and five hundred dollars was asked for; the House committee reported $15,000; the Senate committee $20,000; and the amount finally appropriated was 15,000.

North American Ethnology.-The appropriation asked for this service was $50,000. The House reported $40,000; the Senate made no change and the amount of the appropriation remained as reported by the House.

Preservation of Collections, U. S. National Museum.--The appropriation asked for this service was $160,000. The House committee reported $135,000; the Senate committee $145,000. The amount finally appropriated was $140,000.

Furniture and Fixtures, U. S. National Museum.-An estimate of $35,000 was submitted. The House committee reported $30,000; the Senate committee also reported $30,000 and this amount was appropriated.

Heating and Lighting, U. S. National Museum.--The appropriation asked for this purpose was $12,000. This amount was agreed to by the House and Senate committees. There is a deficiency of $1,000 for the purchase of coal.

Living Animals, U. S. National Museum.—An estimate of $5,000 was submitted for this service. The House did not report the same.

Postage Stamps and Foreign Postal-Cards, U. S. National Museum.-An appropriation of $1,000 was asked for this service. The same was reported from the Senate favorably, where it originated, and passed the House.

Publications, U. S. National Museum.-An estimate of $15,000 was submitted for this service. The House reported $10,000; the Senate

committee reported $12,000; and in conference the amount as reported by the House was agreed upon.

In my last report I stated that it was desirable that the appropriations for the Museum should be made under the direction of the Institution, and no longer under the Department of the Interior, and I gave a correspondence with the honorable the Secretary of the Interior upon the subject. I am happy to state that the Secretary's assent being given the appropriations were transferred by Congress to the care of the Institution, and are now disbursed under direction of the Regents by a disbursing clerk in the Institution, whose bonds have been accepted by the Treasury Department.

A detailed statement of the expenditures for the fiscal year 1889, under appropriations for International Exchanges, North American Ethnology, and the National Museum is given in the report of the Executive Committee.

BUILDINGS.

It will be remembered that the Board of Regents in their meeting January 17, 1883, recommended to Congress the erection of a new building planned exclusively for museum purposes, and the steps taken in pursuance of their instructions were laid before the Regents in my last report, but I regret now to be unable to report any further progress. The necessity for additional space for the storage of collections, independent of that demanded for exhibition purposes, is constantly becoming greater, while the assignment by the last Congress to the Fish Commission of the principal parts of the rooms occupied by the Museum in the Armory building has still further aggravated the crowded condition of the Museum exhibition halls and storage rooms, and I deem it my duty again to urge the necessity of the erection of a new building, if only for such requirements of storage as may be inferred from the following statements:

Since the erection of the present Museum building there have been nearly 14,000 accessions to the Museum, chiefly by gifts, such " accessions" representing frequently collections, and the collections including, in many cases, thousands of specimens. From the year 1859 to 1880 the accessions numbered 8,475. It is thus evident that during the last nine years the accessions have exceeded by more than 5,000 those of the previous twenty-one years.

Among the more recent collections are several of very great extent, such as the bequest of the late Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, which contains 20,000 specimens of shells, besides minerals and other objects; the Jeffries collection of fossil and recent shells of Europe, including 40,000 specimens; the Stearns collection of mollusks, numbering 100,000 specimens; the Riley collection of insects, containing 150,000 specimens; the Catlin collection of Indian paintings, about 500 in number; the collection of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, for the

transportation of which to Washington several freight-cars were required; the Shepard collection of meteorites; the Wilson collection of archæological objects, more than 12,000 specimens; the Lorrillard col lection of Central American antiquities, and very many others nearly as extensive.

In addition to these are the extensive collections obtained at the close of the exhibition in Berlin, London, and New Orleans, the annually increasing collections transferred to the Museum by the U. S. Geological Survey, the U. S. Fish Commission, and the Bureau of Ethnology, besides numerous contributions resulting from Government expeditions as well as those made by officers of the Army and Navy, and other Government officials.

The storage sheds contain many hundreds of boxes of valuable material which we have not room to unpack, and the great vaults under the Smithsonian building, and many of the attic and tower rooms are similarly crowded.

The growth of several of the most important departments in the Museum is seriously retarded owing to the fact that no exhibition space is available for the collections, and that there is not even storage room where incoming material can be properly cared for.

The collection of birds, which so far as North America is concerned, is the finest in the world, and now numbers nearly 60,000 specimens, is very inadequately shown, and requires double the case room now available.

The collection of mollusks, which is one of the most complete in the world, and contains nearly 470,000 specimens, is at present almost entirely unprovided for.

The collection of insects, now numbering over 600,000 specimens, is so far as North America is concerned, equally perfect, but is practically without any exhibition space.

The same is equally true in regard to the collections of birds' eggs (more than 50,000 specimens), of reptiles (nearly 30,000 specimens), of marine invertebrates (more than 515,000 specimens), of invertebrate fossils (more than 160,000 specimens), and of fossil and recent plants (nearly 50,000 specimens).

Many valuable collections elsewhere than in Washington are at the service of the Museum, but lack of space has compelled us to decline to receive them.

It should be borne in mind that under the roofs of the Smithsonian and the new Museum buildings are grouped together collections which, in London, Paris, or any other of the European capitals, are provided for in different museums, for the accommodation of which a much larger number of equally commodious buildings is found needful.

The necessity for additional space then is constantly becoming greater, and there is the further reason that by the action of the last Congress the Armory building, assigned to the uses of the Museum in 1876, and

for several years past occupied in part by the U. S. Fish Commission, as a fish-hatching station, was assigned to this Commission for headquarters. It has been refitted as an office building, and is now almost entirely relinquished by the Museum, four apartments on the third floor being retained for the use of a part of the Museum taxidermists.

From the inadequate exposition of our needs just made, it will be apparent that an extensive additional building is needed, if only for storage, and where purposes of immediate exhibition are not in question.

Irrespective of the construction of this proposed building, however, I beg to urge the necessity of improving the lighting of the second floor of the main hall of the Smithsonian building, and more particularly the indispensability of fire-proofing the west wing, which I have already urged upon the attention of the Regents, and concerning the latter of which, one of their number, Senator Morrill, introduced a bill in the Senate on June 12, 1888, which is referred to in my last report, and on which no further action has been taken by Congress.

In regard to erections of minor importance, it may be mentioned that it is intended to put up a small wooden building of one story, of a temporary character, immediately south of the main building, as a cover for the instruments, which at the same time will render it possible to make certain observations pending the building of the proposed physical observatory, and this is more particularly alluded to under the following head of Research.

RESEARCH.

In my last report I spoke of the preparations made by the late Secretary for securing an astro-physical observatory and laboratory of research, and I mentioned that through his action some friends of the Institution had already offered to give the means for the erection of the simple structure needed for the accommodation of such a special observatory. I added that the site would necessarily be suburban on account of the special need of seclusion and the absence of tremor in the soil.

I have elsewhere referred to the collections of the Institution in connection with the purchase by Congress of a zoological park, which it would appear to have been the first intent of Congress to place under the care of the Regents. It had been my hope in that case to place this observatory somewhere in the park, but in view of the long delay which has already arisen, and of the indefinite further delay which may occur, I have thought it better to put a wooden structure of the simplest and most temporary character in grounds immediately south of the Institution, although this site is quite unsuitable for a permanent building. Such a shelter will probably be erected before the coming winter, and will, while serving as a store-house for the apparatus, enable observations to be commenced.

The promotion of original research has always in the history of the Institution been regarded as one of its most important functions, and the proper object of the personal attention of the Secretary; and I shall be very glad to do something in this direction on the most modest scale, rather than incur the chance of indefinite further delay.

In this connection I desire to say that a valuable collection of recently constructed apparatus, most of it exactly suited to the wants of the proposed laboratory, and which was the property of the late William Thaw, of Pittsburgh, has been, by his wish and the consent of his executors, loaned to the Institution for use in this direction.

Comparatively few of the collections of the Institution or of the Museum have reference to the physical sciences. The apparatus collected by Professor Henry, together with some few archaic instruments illustrating the early history of methods of precision which I have added, are now being placed in the south hall of the main building, and it will gratify me to see this lead to accessions in illustration of the history of research in all branches of science.

EXPLORATIONS.

The Smithsonian Institution has during the year enjoyed the valuable assistance of several persons who have expressed their willingness to prosecute special researches in its behalf, or have generously offered to allow the Museum to share in their results.

In embracing these opportunities it has been the policy of the Institution to endeavor to obtain information and, when possible, to secure specimens, in regard to subjects in which the Museum collections were most deficient, and thus to fill some of the most important gaps in special collections rather than to obtain large collections of miscel laneous material.

Mr. Talcott Williams, of Philadelphia, visited the northern part of Africa early in the present year, and, before going, kindly offered to make special inquiries in regard to the civilization of the modern Arabs and the natural history of the region, and to collect, if possible, linguistic specimens. It was his intention to journey direct to Tangiers, thence to Fez and Mequinez, continuing, if time permitted, as far as Mogador and Morocco. Mr. Williams is familiar with the Arabic language, which will greatly facilitate his investigations in that country. The region has rarely been visited by naturalists, and the Smithsonian Institution will no doubt obtain very important information, and probably also some valuable collections. The special studies to which Mr. Williams intends to devote himself are botany, geology, and archæology. At the time of his arrival the North African flora was in flower, so that his opportunities in the first direction were excellent. The geology of Northern Africa is poorly represented in the National Museum, and characteristic rocks and photographs of feature of physical geology will be very acceptable. The subject of most importance to the Smith