Oct. 1898. Annual Report of the Director. 27^ 



lead ores of the Kootenai District from R. I. Kirkwood, and a collec- 

 tion of Colorado ores from Mrs. E. F. Dyche. Many valuable speci- 

 mens, illustrating Western ores and minerals, were secured by the 

 Curator and Assistant Curator while visiting the Omaha Exposition, 

 and other specimens have been promised by the exhibitors there. In 

 the Department of Zoology the largest contribution of material has 

 come from the expedition of its Curator to the Olympian Mountains 

 and the Northwest, comprising about 520 specimens. President Ayer 

 presented the department with thirty-four rare mammal skins with 

 their skeletons, from Madagascar, collected by Dr. Forsyth-Major. 

 The American Museum of Natural History presented a very valuable 

 amount of exchange material, including buffaloes, greenland seals, 

 walruses, etc., etc. Mr. Frank C. Bestock presented a valuable lot of 

 material. Mr. Chope, an assistant in the Division of Entomology, 

 collected several thousand specimens during the year. Dr. Meek, 

 Assistant Curator of Ichthyology, was very successful in two expedi- 

 tions. By purchase the department has acquired numerous specimens 

 of fishes and many very valuable skins, as will appear from the detail 

 list of accessions elsewhere. The Department of Ornithology has had 

 a number of desirable accessions during the year, mostly resulting 

 from the local expeditions of the department. It will be observed 

 from the list elsev/here that many valuable specimens were also 

 obtained by purchase. An important and interesting collection of 

 folk-lore of precious stones was purchased for Higinbotham Hall of 

 Mr. George F. Kunz. Following is a table showing the amount 

 expended on collections and articles purchased during the year for 

 the different departments: 



Department of Anthropology, $1,272.10 



Higinbotham Hall 1,150.00 



Department of Geology : . . . . 905.65 



Department of Zoology, 301.17 



Department of Botany, 5,807.32 



Department of Ornithology 47.89 



Total, $9,484.13 



The amount expended for collections in the Department of Botany 

 represents the price paid for the Bebb collection, $5,000, and half the 

 amount due on the Gaumer collection, $650. 



Exchanges. — Reference is made elsewhere to the system of 

 exchanges adopted by the Museum, and in its proper place will be 

 found a list of the materials received through this medium. The 



