22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Caswell, manuscript containing additional observations for sixteen years 

 ^nd a half, or to the end of the year 1876, was placed at the disposal of 

 the Institution. It was accordingly decided to publish summaries of 

 the entire series of observations, and the necessary reductions, arrange- 

 anent, and revision were placed under the direction of Messrs. Charles 

 A. Schott and E. H. Courtenay. 



The result, a condensed epitome of continuous records for forty-five 

 years, of observations of the barometer and thermometer, of winds, 

 clouds, rain, snow, &c., has been published during the year, forming 

 ii quarto volume of 38 pages, entitled "Results of Meteorological Obser- 

 "vations made at Providence, R. I., extending over a period of forty-five 

 years." This will doubtless j^rove a useful work of reference, not merely 

 for students of meteorology, but for engineers and others. 



Miscellaneous Collections. — Two volumes of this series have been com- 

 pleted during the past year. Vol. XXII and Vol. XXIII. The former 

 is composed of the Proceedings of the United States National Museum 

 for 1880 and 1881, and forms an octavo volume of 1200 pages, with 18 

 wood-cuts and 4 plates. 



The twenty-third volume is made up of the following papers: 



Bibliography of Fishes of the Pacific coast of the United States. By 

 Theodore Gill. 



On the Distribution of Fishes of the Alleghany Region of South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Tennessee, with a synopsis of the family Catosto- 

 7)iidce. By D. S. Jordan and A. W. Brayton. 



Flora of Saint Croix and the Virgin Islands. By H. F. A. Eggers. 



Catalogue of the Collection to illustrate the animal resources and the 

 fisheries of the United States, exhibited at Philadelphia in 1876 by the 

 Smithsonian Institution and the United States Fish Commission, and 

 forming a part of the United States National Museum. By G. Brown 

 Ooode. 



Contributions to the natural history of Arctic America, made in con- 

 nection with the Howgate Polar Expedition, 1877-'78. By L. Kumlien. 



These five articles formed Bulletins of the ISTatioual Museum, Xos. 11 

 to 15, and are now collected in one volume of 1003 pages. 



Mr. F. W. Clarke has prepared for the Institution another of the 

 series devoted to the discussion and more precise determination of 

 ■various constants of nature, forming the fifth contribution to that sub- 

 ject i^ublished in the Smithsonian series. It is entitled 'A Recalculation 

 of the Atomic Weights," and forms an octavo volume of 293 pages. It 

 may be regarded as practically sui)plementary to the " Digest of Atomic 

 Weights," by Mr. Geo. F. Becker, published by the Institution in 1«80, 

 and of which an account was given in the report for that year. 



Une of the articles of the Miscellaneous Collections (No. 469, Smith- 

 sonian series), is a list of the foreign correspondents of the Institution, 

 corrected to January, 1882. It was prepared by Mr. Geo. H. Boehmer, in 



