44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



under these conditions that the liberality of the Philadelphia, Wilming- 

 ton and Baltimore Eailroad, in furnishing, as far as they could be used, 

 hay-cars of extra size, was of so much importance, as it enabled us to 

 pack in a portion of the cars at least 50 per cent, more than in ordinary 

 freight-cars. The remissions of the freights to Philadelphia from vari- 

 ous points are due largely to the efforts of Mr. John S. Wilson, of the 

 Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Eailroad Company, acting 

 under the authority of Mr. Isaac Hinckley, president of the road, and 

 to those of Mr. Kingston, of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 



ScientiJiGinvestigaUon of collections.— In view of the constant labor re- 

 quired in receiving the collections and putting them in proper form for 

 the Philadelphia exhibition, it was impossible to devote much effort to 

 the critical investigation of the collections and their use as material for 

 scientific purposes, although a number of the specimens were placed in 

 the hands of correspondents and collaborators for careful examination, 

 among which are the following : 



Mr. Eobt. Eidgway, in charge of the department of mounted animals, 

 has continued his investigation of the birds in the National Museum, and 

 has arranged and labeled the entire American collection, involving the 

 handling of over 30,000 specimens. 



Mr. George N. Lawrence has examined certain obscure species of the 

 ornithological collection, new to science. 



The Eodentia have been investigated by Br. Elliott Coues, who has 

 j)repared therefrom material for an elaborate monograph to be published 

 in Professor Hayden's series of reports. Several new species have re- 

 warded his labors. A preliminary report has lately been made by him 

 of the shrews, which will form the subject of a second work by the same 

 author. 



Prof. Edward Cope has received various collections of reptiles from 

 the Institution, and has submitted them to careful examination. 



Dr. Thomas H. Streets, surgeon United States Navy, has been en- 

 gaged during the year in investigating the collection of vertebrates and 

 other animals obtained by him during a recent United States survey of 

 the South Pacific and the Gulf of California made by the United States 

 ships Portsmouth and Narragansett. He has discovered several new 

 species, an account of which, with his other notes, will be published in 

 the Bulletins of the National Museum. 



Professor Gill has continued his labors upon the general and sys- 

 tematic arrangement of the mammals and fishes. 



The ethnological collection has also been the subject of considerable 

 inquiry. Professor O. T. Mason, of Washington, has undertaken a 

 memoir upon a remarkable collection of stone implements from Porto 

 Eico, presented to the National Museum by the late Mr. George Latimer. 

 This will be fully illustrated and form part of the report of the Institu- 

 tion for 1876. 



