REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



151 



best to select a reserve series of the Carboniferous plants, and have prepared the" 

 ■vrhole collection for exhibition in the cases below. It still remains on the balcony 

 waiting the completion of the necessary cases. 



Very little was done during the year in the way of original research or towards the 

 elaboration of new material, owing to the time required in making these prepara- 

 tions. 



Fifty-nine specimens of Alaskan fossils were sent in September by your instructions 

 to Mr. Lesquereux to be figured. These have been returned. One specimen (No, 556) ■ 

 was sent, August 15, to Dr. J. S. Newberry, to be used in connection with a report to 

 be published by the Geological Survey. 



The following is a summary exhibit of the state of the collection so far as regards 

 specimens which have been specifically determined : 



The nndetermined material consists chiefly of the thirty-one boxes collected by my- 

 self in 1881, and seven boxes collected by Captain Bendire. 



DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS. 



The classification of the departments of the Museum provides for three 

 departments in the division of geology : (xvi) physical geology, in which 

 branch no work has as yet beeu attempted; (xvii) minerals and rocks; 

 and (xviii) metallurgy and economic geology. The two latter were for 

 nearly two years under the charge of Dr. George W. Hawes, whose 

 death on the 22d of June has been in many ways an irreparable loss to 

 the Museum.* Mr. William S. Yeates, aid in the staff of the Museum, 

 has during the year had special charge of the department of minerals, 

 and with the assistance of Messrs. E. E. Hayden, Henry S. Chase, and 

 E. Wilkinson, midshipmen in the United States Navy, has been pressing 

 forward the work of unpacking and cataloguing the accumulated mass 

 of material. The number of entries on the Museum register has been 

 2,528, representing 3,437 specimens ; of these 1,370, have been assigned to 

 the exhibition and reserve series, and 417 to the duplicate series ; 155 

 have been rejected, and the remainder assigned, according to their nature, 

 either to the collection of rocks or ores and metallurgical products. 

 The card catalogue in the duplicate series has beeu increased during 

 the year by 1,261 cards. Mr. Yeates reports that such work as has been 

 done is that of putting in order the specimens in the old collection, a 

 large number of which have never been entered on the register. The 



* A short biographical notice of Dr. Hawes is given at the close of this report, 

 together with a list of his scientific publications ; and also an account of the work 

 planned and commenced by him in relation to the collection of building-stones. 



