REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 



the year 1882. This additional labor was cheerfully undertaken by the 

 author, and it is hoped that the work will be completed during the year 

 1883. It will contain geographical, chronological, and subject-matter 

 indexes, and also — what is regarded as a valuable feature in a biblio- 

 graphical work of the kind — an appendix stating the American libra- 

 ries in which any of the periodicals catalogued (and indicated by a num- 

 ber) are to be found. To attain this information, circulars have been 

 prepared and will be sent to some two hundred librarians (including 

 twelve in Canada), explaining the project and soliciting their co-opera- 

 tion in this particular. It is probable that this proposed bibliographical 

 aid to scientific students will embrace references to at least a hundred 

 libraries. The work when completed will form an octavo volume of 

 probably somewhere between 700 and 800 pages. 



For the purpose of ascertaining the methods employed in various 

 public and private offices, of indexing and filing letters and other 

 papers, and of thenc© determining by a comparative review the most 

 convenient and practical system, a circular was issued in January, 1882, 

 requesting our correspondents to furnish the institution with a detailed 

 account of the method employed by each. Thankful acknowledgments 

 are due to the various Government officials and to a large number of 

 others who have courteously responded to this inquiry. A large amount 

 of interesting information on this subject has been thus collected, which 

 will be properly digested and published by the Institution hereafter. 



The usual activity in the preparation and publication (through the 

 agency of the Interior Department) of the "Bulletins" and "Proceed- 

 ings" of the United States National Museum has been displayed during 

 the past year. 



Bulletin No. 24 of the Museum has been issued, and cqpsists of a 

 " Check-list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia, with catalogue 

 of specimens in the United States National Museum, by H. C. Yarrow, 

 M. D., honorary curator of the department of reptiles." This work 

 may be regarded as a revision and extension of the excellent list pre- 

 pared for the Museum by Prof. Edward D. Cope, and published in 1875 

 in Bulletin No. 1. The material selected as a reserve stock for the Mu- 

 seum, including typical forms heretofore described, those identified by 

 Professor Cope in his original study of the museum reptiles, those of the 

 same species found in diflferent geographical areas, and those character- 

 ized by any abnormality in parts, coloration, or scale covering, forms a 

 collection of over 4,000 specimens, illustrating 469 species, and is be- 

 lieved to form a series unrivaled by that of any American museum. 

 The large extension of material here indicated is mainly due to the dis- 

 covery of new species and subspecies in California and Lower Califor- 

 nia by Messrs. Gustav Eisen and L. Belding, and in Texas by Professor 

 Cope and Mr. Marnock. 



The first part of the work consists of a simple " check-list" of the 469 

 species, in which an attempt has been made to introduce some kind of 



