Dr. Paul Bartsch, Washington, D. C., two common crows. Miss M. B. Cole, Washington, D. C., an alligator. Mrs. Mary F. Crown, Washington, D. C., a yellow-headed Amazon parrot. Boris de Street, Washington, D. C., an alligator. J. R. Eddy, Lamedeer, Mont., an American badger. Mr. Eustis, Leesburg, Va., a red-tailed hawk. Dr. Cecil French, Washington, D. C., four Hungarian quail. Mr. C. A. Holland, Fenwick, Va., a bittern. Clarence Howard, Washington, D. C., a copperhead snake. W. H. Kelly, Sandusky, Ohio, two bald eagles. Mr. Lansdale, Washington, D. C., two common opossums. Carvel Leary, Washington, D. C., a guinea pig. Miss Frances McMullen, Largo, Fla., an alligator snapping turtle. C. W. Marks, Berryville, Va., a black snake. S. S. Paschals, Chevy Chase, Md., two zebra finches. L. E. Perry, Gorgona, Canal Zone, a spider monkey. F. W. Pilling, Washington, D. C., 10 common canaries, a red-crested cardinal and 2 white Java sparrows. Mrs. J. E. Pleitner, Washington, D. C., a green Amazon parrot. N. Schutz, Washington, D. C., a screech owl. John B. Smith, Renovo, Pa., a banded rattlesnake. Mrs. H. Clay Stewart, Washington, D. C., two common canaries. J. P. Taylor, Washington, D. C., a copperhead snake and a black snake. Dr. James R. Tubman, Washington, D. C., a great horned owl. United States Bureau of Fisheries, two northern fur seals. James Worcester, Washington, D. C., an alligator. Unknown donors, a hawk, a parrakeet, and a woodchuck. LOSSES OF ANIMALS. The most important losses during the year were a pair of clouded leopards, a lion, and a young Alaskan brown bear from parasitism; a leucoryx, a water buck, and a nilgai, from tuberculosis; a female American bison and a caribou, in the collection for 10 years, from peritonitis; two solenodons from septicemia, and two young fur seals from enteritis and heat stroke. Dead animals, to the number of 142, were transferred to the United States National Museum. Autopsies were made, as usual, by the Pathological Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.1 The causes of death were as follows: Pneumonia, 10; tuberculosis, 8; pulmonary edema, 1; aspergillosis, 7; pseudomembranous tracheitis, 1; enteritis, 9; gastritis, 1; gastroenteritis, 7; pneumoenteritis, 1; intestinal coccidiosis, 7; peritonitis, 6; nephritis, 2; fatty degeneration of liver, 1; parasitism, 3; stomatitis, 2; strangulated hernia, 1; rupture of gizzard, 1; internal hemorrhage, 1; abscess of scrotum, 1; abscess of head, 1; unable to deliver young, 1; duodenitis, 1; colitis, 1; echinococcosis, 1; necrobacillosis, 1; pyoscianeusbacillosis, 1; porocephalosis, 1; septicemia, 3; enterotoxism, 1; cystitis, 1; endocarditis, 1; visceral gout, 1; sarcomatosis, 2; cancer of pouch, 1; leukemia, 1; icterus, 1; impaction, 3; duodenal obstruction, 1; starvation, 2; accidents and injuries, 13; killed because unfit for exhibition, 4; result of autopsy indeterminate, 3; no cause found, 4. Deduct loss (by exchange, death, and returning of animals) ----- VISITORS. The number of visitors to the park during the year was 521,440, a daily average of 1,428. The largest number in any one month was 95,535, in April, 1911, a daily average for the month of 3,184. During the year there visited the park 169 schools, Sunday schools, classes, etc., with 4,966 pupils, a monthly average of 414 pupils. This number is an increase over the previous year of 14 schools, 1,083 pupils, and an increase in the monthly average of 90 pupils. While most of the classes were from the District of Columbia, 47 of them were from neighboring States, and classes came from Meriden, Hopedale, Norton, North Attleboro, Clinton, Hudson, and Whitman, Massachusetts; Dover, Peterboro, Lancaster, and Exeter, New Hampshire; Bath, Augusta, Biddeford, Gardiner, and Sanford, Maine; Bellows Falls, Vermont; Raleigh, North Carolina; Middleport (two) and Penn Yan, New York; Waynesburg, Pennsylvania; and Hartford, Connecticut. IMPROVEMENTS. A house for zebras, a frame building 35 feet square, was constructed, providing four good-sized stalls with yards attached. This is now occupied by a male Grant's zebra, the male Grevy's zebra, which was returned from the experiment station of the Bureau of Animal Industry at Bethesda, Maryland, after use there in breeding, and a hybrid from the latter animal and a domestic ass. The existing yards on the west side of the antelope house were too small, and the fences around them, which were of temporary character, had seriously deteriorated. The construction of new steel fences was begun, inclosing a considerably larger area than the former yards, and was nearly completed by the close of the year. The yards on the north and east sides of the antelope house, which had been begun during the previous year, were completed. The temporary bird house, which had been in very bad condition, was extensively repaired. New roof covering was put on, and the wooden floor, some of the walls and cages, and much other interior work were renewed. Some alterations were made in the large cages in the lion house to permit more convenient handling of the animals during feeding and the cleaning of the cages. The woodwork of this portion of the building was also refinished. The public comfort room for women, which was in a very dilapidated condition, was removed to make way for the yards of the antelope house, and a new comfort room was constructed beneath the outdoor cages of the small mammal house. A small frame building for the same purpose was erected near the Adams Mill Road entrance, that portion of the park being a much frequented resort for women with young children. A new public comfort room for men was also constructed in the basement of the antelope house, providing permanent conveniences, which are much better and more adequate than have existed heretofore. The drainage culvert in the beaver valley was extended to the flying cage, a distance of 800 feet, thus providing sewerage, as well as for the carrying away of surface water without the erosion which had occurred previously. Foundations were laid for cages on the east side of the small mammal house, and a concrete walk was constructed there. Various small improvements and repairs were made. A cage was built in the lion house with a pool for the young hippopotamus, which was received in May; a paddock with shelter was built for the chamois; an inclosure and pool for fur seals; the condor cage and cage for horned owls were extensively repaired; an inclosure with shelter was built for kangaroos; an additional watch house was built; new wagon scales were set near the shop and coal vault; and the heating conduit and mains from the central heating plant were extended to the elephant house and zebra house. The cost of this work was: House for zebras‒‒‒‒‒‒ $2,500 New yards on west side of antelope house___. 1,775 Completing yards on north and east sides of antelope house. 250 New concrete walk and cage foundations at small mammal house, with ROADWAYS AND WALKS. From the appropriation for reconstructing and repairing roadways and walks 4,770 linear feet, or nine-tenths of a mile of road, was treated, from 10 to 45 feet wide, averaging slightly more than 20 feet, a total of 10,700 square yards. The work varied from merely reshaping and supplying a top layer of stone to furnishing the entire thickness of roadbed material, with considerable cxcavating and filling in some places where the existing grades were too steep. One thousand six hundred square yards (the concourse") were finished with tarvia. The work cost from 22 cents to $1 per square yard, and the total amount expended for roads was $7,220. 66 During the year 9,260 linear feet, or 1 miles, of walks were laid or repaired. They were from 6 to 16 feet wide, or an average width of about 9 feet, comprising in all 9,230 square yards. Of this about 6,500 square yards was old macadam walk, the remainder gravel or dirt walks. A considerable amount of excavation and filling had to be done in certain places in order to secure reasonably uniform grades, and steps were constructed at points where the grade had before been too steep. The walks are of stone macadam, the surface treated with tarvia by the penetration method. The cost of laying them was from 35 cents to 85 cents per square yard. A considerable amount of work had to be done also in providing proper drainage. The total expenditure for walks was $7,780. Respectfully submitted. Dr. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. FRANK BAKER, Superintendent. APPENDIX V. REPORT ON THE ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. SIR: I have the honor to present the following report on the operations of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for the year ending June 30, 1911: EQUIPMENT. The equipment of the observatory is as follows: (a) At Washington there is an inclosure of about 16,000 square feet, containing five small frame buildings used for observing and computing purposes, three movable frame shelters covering several out-of-door pieces of apparatus, and also one small brick building containing a storage battery and electrical distribution apparatus. (b) At Mount Wilson, California, upon a leased plat of ground 100 feet square in horizontal projection, are located a one-story cement observing structure, designed especially for solar-constant measurements, and also a little frame cottage, 21 feet by 25 feet, for observer's quarters. There were no important additions to the instrument equipment of the observatory during the year. In 1909 the Smithsonian Institution, at the expense of the Hodgkins fund, erected on the summit of Mount Whitney, California (height 14,502 feet), a stone and steel house to shelter observers who might apply to the Institution for the use of the house to promote investigations in any branch of science. While this structure is not the actual property of the Astrophysical Observatory, it affords an excellent opportunity for observations in connection with those taken on Mount Wilson. WORK OF THE YEAR. In order to thoroughly confirm the results obtained on the summit of Mount Whitney (4,420 meters or 14,502 feet) in 1909, discussed in my last annual report, an expedition again occupied that place in August, 1910. The personnel consisted of the director and Mr. G. F. Marsh, of Lone Pine, California. Nearly all of the equipment for spectrobolometric work had been left on Mount Whitney through the winter and was found in good condition. Additional apparatus for measuring the brightness of the sky by day and by night was carried up by pack train under the care of Mr. Elder, of Lone Pine. The good fortune which had attended the 1909 expedition failed for a moment in 1910, and one mule, carrying the silver-disk pyrheliometer and other loading, rolled off among the rocks and was killed. The pyrheliometer fortunately received no injury. Solar-constant measurements were made successfully on Mount Whitney in 1910 on three successive days. Mr. Fowle made solar-constant observations |