42 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



however, no part of the world is really unrepresented, as shown bj the 

 enumeration of foreign commissions which presented either the whole 

 or a considerable portion of the objects they exhibited from the aninia], 

 vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, or as illustrating their ethnology or 

 industries. 



It is quite impossible to give, in the limited pages allotted to the 

 present report, anything like a complete statement of the objects thus 

 added to the treasures of the iNTational Museum from the five principal 

 sources thus mentioned. In the Appendix, however, will be found a. 

 general statement of the more important objects presented by foreign 

 commissions, arranged alphabetically by countries, the remaining addi- 

 tions being given under an alphabetical list of donors. The catalogue 

 of the display made by the Smithsonian Institution and Fish Commis- 

 sion at the Centennial, for the publication of which it is hoped Congress 

 •will shortly make provision, will give a minute enumeration, of all 

 objects obtained on that occasion. 



Worlc done in the Museum and at Philadelphia. — As might have been 

 expected, the numerous additions to the collections, resulting from the 

 various donations above referred to, required a corresponding increase 

 of the personnel of the Museum, and a very large force was temporarily 

 employed in receiving and uni^acking collections, in i)reparing them 

 properly for exhibition, in mounting them for suitable display, in cat- 

 aloguing, entering, and labeling them, in packing for shipment to Phil- 

 adelphia, in unpacking and arranging there, in caring for them during 

 the exhibition, in repacking and shipping to Washington, and in dis- 

 posing of them properly at the end of their journey. The funds for this 

 additional service were derived from the special appropriation made 

 by Congress for the purpose. To facilitate the work, several divisions 

 were organized; that of ethnology, under the charge of Dr. Charles 

 Eau, assisted by Dr. Edward Foreman and Mr. Frank H. Cushiug; 

 the mineral department, under Prof. William P. Blake, assisted by Mr. 

 Thomas Donaldson; the animal and fisheries divisions were in charge 

 of Mr. G. Brown Goode, assisted by Mr. T. H. Beau and Mr. U. C. 

 Chester. 



A series of plaster casts of the fishes, reptiles, and cetaceans of North 

 America was prepared and painted to represent the colors of the living 

 animal. The preparation of the skeletons ^f whales and other animals 

 of economical interest was done partly at the establishment of Henry 

 A. Ward at Rochester, and partly at the Institution. 



The aggregate of the entries of specimens in .187G amounted to 23,075, 

 showing a very large increase over the entries of 1875 (12,578) and still 

 more over those of 1874, (10,332.) 



An accompanying report upon the operations of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, as connected with the centennial display, will give the necessary 

 details in regard to the operations at Philadelphia during the summer, 



