THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. JUNE 30, 1911. Presiding officer ex officio.-WILLIAM H. TAFT, President of the United States. Members of the Institution: WILLIAM H. TAFT, President of the United States. JAMES S. SHERMAN, Vice President of the United States. EDWARD DOUGLASS WHITE, Chief Justice of the United States. PHILANDER C. KNOX, Secretary of State. FRANKLIN MACVEAGH, Secretary of the Treasury. HENRY L. STIMSON, Secretary of War. GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM, Attorney General. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, Postmaster General. GEORGE VON L. MEYER, Secretary of the Navy. WALTER L. FISHER, Secretary of the Interior. JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture. CHARLES NAGEL, Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Regents of the Institution: JAMES S. SHERMAN, Vice President of the United States, Chancellor. SHELBY M. CULLOM, Member of the Senate. HENRY CABOT LODGE, Member of the Senate. AUGUSTUS O. BACON, Member of the Senate. JOHN DALZELL, Member of the House of Representatives. JAMES R. MANN, Member of the House of Representatives. WILLIAM M. HOWARD, former Member of the House of Representatives. Regent until December 27, 1911. JAMES B. ANGELL, citizen of Michigan. ANDREW D. WHITE, citizen of New York. JOHN B. HENDERSON, Jr., citizen of Washington, D. C. Alexander GrAHAM BELL, citizen of Washington, D. C. GEORGE GRAY, citizen of Delaware. CHARLES F. CHOATE, Jr., citizen of Massachusetts. Executive Committee.—A. O. BACON, ALEXANder Graham Bell, John Dalzell. Secretary of the Institution.-CHARLES D. WALCOTT. Assistant Secretary in charge of National Museum.-RICHARD RATHBUN. Assistant Secretary in charge of Library and Exchanges.—FREDERICK W. TRUE. Accountant and Disbursing Agent.-W. I. ADAMS. Editor.-A. HOWARD CLARK. ΧΙ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. Keeper ex officio.-CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Assistant Secretary in charge.-RICHARD RATHBUN. Administrative Assistant.-W. DE C. RAVENEL. Head Curators.-WILLIAM H. HOLMES, LEONHARD STEJNEGER, G. P. MERRILL. Curators.-R. S. BASSLER, A. HOWARD CLARK, F. W. CLARKE, F. V. COVILLE, W. H. DALL, B. W. EVERMANN, J. M. FLINT, U. S. N. (retired), W. H. HOLMES, WALTER HOUGH, L. O. Howard, ALES HRDLIČKA, G. P. Merrill, Gerrit S. MILLER, Jr., RICHARD RATHBUN, ROBERT RIDGWAY, LEONHARD Stejneger, CHARLES D. WALCOTT. Associate Curators.-J. N. ROSE, DAVID WHITE. Curator, National Gallery of Art.-W. H. HOLMES. Chief of Correspondence and Documents.-RANDOLPH I. GEARE. Editor.-MARCUS BENJAMIN. Photographer.-T. W. SMILLIE. Registrar.-S. C. BROWN. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. Ethnologist in charge.-F. W. HODGE. Ethnologists.-J. WALTER FEWKES, J. N. B. HEWITT, FRANCIS LA FLESCHe, TruMAN MICHELSON, JAMES MOONEY, MATILDA COXE STEVENSON, JOHN R. SWANTON. Philologist.-FRANZ BOAS. Editor. JOSEPH G. GURLEY. Illustrator.-DE LANCEY W. GILL. INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. Assistant Secretary in charge.—FREDERICK W. TRUE. Chief Clerk.-C. W. SHOEMAKER. NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. Superintendent.-FRANK BAKER. Assistant Superintendent.-A. B. BAKER. ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. Director.-C. G. ABBOT. Aid.-F. E. FOWLE, Jr. REGIONAL BUREAU FOR THE UNITED STATES, INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. Assistant in charge.-L. C. GUNNELL. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION CHARLES D. WALCOTT, FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1911. To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit a report showing the operations of the Institution and its branches during the year ending June 30, 1911, including the work placed by Congress under the direction of the Board of Regents in the United States National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, and the United States Bureau of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. The general report reviews the affairs of the Institution proper, with brief paragraphs relating to the several branches, while the appendix presents detailed reports by those in direct charge of the work. Independently of the present report, the operations of the National Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology are fully treated of in separate volumes. THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. THE ESTABLISHMENT. The Smithsonian Institution was created an establishment by act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. Its statutory members are the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the executive departments. THE BOARD OF REGENTS. The Board of Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States as ex officio members, three Members of the Senate, three Members of the House of Representatives, and six citizens," two of whom shall be resident in the city of Washington, and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State, but no two of them of the same State." 38734°-SM 1911 -1 1 On July 4, 1910, Chief Justice Fuller died and was succeeded on December 19 by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White as ex officio member of the board. At a meeting of the Board of Regents on December 8, 1910, the Hon. James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States, was elected Chancellor. The personnel of the board has been further changed by the resignation of Hon. John B. Henderson and the appointment of John B. Henderson, jr., as a Regent. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. The Smithsonian Institution has had a powerful influence for more than 60 years in the development of science in the United States. Its achievements in many lines of research and exploration have been of great good in the promotion of the welfare of the human race. The Institution and its branches continue to be engaged in a wide range of activities, covering practically the entire field of natural and physical science, as well as anthropological and archeological researches. In my last report I referred to the establishment of a trust fund, through the generosity of Mrs. E. H. Harriman, which yields an annual income of $12,000, to be devoted to the definite purpose of carrying on scientific studies, particularly of American mammals and other animals, the donor specifying Dr. C. Hart Merriam as the investigator to carry on the work during his lifetime. I believe it desirable to establish a number of such research associateships, whereby especially capable men in other branches of science may be afforded opportunities for research work without the care and burden of administrative duties, and with full assurance that as long as their work is properly conducted it will be continued and that provision will be made for them when incapacitated for active service. The field for scientific investigation is extensive, and there are numbers of worthy projects that can not now be undertaken because of lack of means-projects that could not properly be carried on through Government appropriation, but which the Smithsonian Institution could readily undertake were the means available. Friends of the Institution have from time to time generously provided funds for carrying on important explorations and researches, as in the case of the Smithsonian African expedition, and more recently by largely supporting the Smithsonian biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone. It seems proper that I should here call special attention to the motive which led the late George W. Poore, of Lowell, Massachusetts, who died December 17, 1910, to make the Smithsonian Institution his residual legatee. By the terms of the will the estate, esti |