26 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



well as contribiitious from Dr. Vou Fiantzius, from Captain J. M. Dow, 

 Mr. Henry Hag'ae, Mr. George Latimer, Dr. Destruges, and otlier cor- 

 respondents mentioned in tlie list of donors. A series of birds of the 

 Galapagos islands lias been presented by tlie Swedish Academy of 

 Sciences through Professor Sundevall, furnishing us with the first illus- 

 trations of the fauna of that group, so remarkable for its land and marine 

 animals. Mr. W. H. Hudson has continued to make collections of birds 

 in the Argentine provinces, and Mr. Albuquerque and Dr. Smith have 

 rendered the same service in regard to those of Brazil. Specimens from 

 Peru have been received from Dr. Sclater, while Mr. Salviu has sent 

 types of several new species from Veragua, on the isthmus of Panama. 



Uxplomfions and collections in ethnology. — During the past year greater 

 effort has been made than ever before to collect specimens to illustrate 

 the ethnology and archaiology of the i^orth American continent. This 

 subject, it is true, has from the first been an object of interest to the 

 Institution, as being a common ground on which the cultivators of 

 science and of literature might harmoniously co-oi)erate. It embraces 

 not only the natural history and peculiarities of the different races of 

 men- as they now exist upon the globe, but also their atJiiliations, their 

 changes in mental and moral dev^elopment, and also the question of the 

 geological epoch of the appearance of man upon the earth. So much 

 interest has been awakened in the general subject, that Mr. George Pea- 

 body, with an enlightened liberality, has presented 8130,000 to Harvard 

 University, at Cambridge, for the foundation and maintenance of a 

 museum and professorship of American ethnology and archaeology, 

 Although the funds of that establishment are not yet fully available. 

 measures have been taken, under the direction of Professor Jeffries 

 Wyman, to secure European specimens for comparison, and also to com- 

 mence the collection of original records of the races of our continent. 

 The Smithsonian Institution having inaugurated a number of special 

 explorations, embracing ethnology as well as natural history, has 

 invited the Peabody museum to co-operate in the enterprises, by con- 

 tributing funds, with a view to sharing the results of the expeditions. 

 This proposition has been fiivorably entertained, and an appropriation 

 been made to assist an important exploration of ancient mounds in 

 Kentucky, under the direction of Mr. Sidney S. L^yon. We cherish the 

 hope that, as the funds of the Peabody museum become more and more 

 available, our union of effort to extensively examine the monuments 

 and collect all the relics, to illustrate as fully as possible the archiieology 

 and ethnology of the American continent, will be crowned with success. 

 The interest in the archeeological remains of America is by no means 

 confined to this country. They are considered of much importance in 

 Europe in the way of comparison with those of the old world, and speci- 

 mens have been diligently sought for by collectors from abroad. Mr. 

 William Blackmore, of Liverpool, in piirticular, a gentleman of wealth 



