26 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



the M. melodia. Actodromas acuminata was again captured at Port 

 Clarence, farther north than ever before in Alaska. 



A single reptile — a toad caught by Miss Sallie Ball near Sitka — forms 

 a part of the collection. 



Mr. Dall was fortunate in procuring a perfect skin and skeleton of the 

 banded seal {Histriophoca equestris) in spite of the determination of its 

 Eskimo captors to carry off at least a piece of the nose! A very large 

 number of skulls of Eskimo dog was gathered at Plover Bay. A few 

 good bones of fossil mammals were brought from Eschscholtz Bay. 



On the island of Unalashka many skulls and implements of prehistoric 

 Aleuts were found in cliff burial-places. At Iliuliuk, Mr. Dall obtained a 

 great prize in the skull of a prehistoric Aleut dog from a village-site 

 near Ulakhta Head. Throughout the Territory large collections of 

 implements of bone, ivory, stone, wood, copper, &c., were made, some 

 of the Eskimo north of the Arctic Circle furnishing many really valu- 

 able articles of ivory and stone. 



Dr. Bean is now preparing a detailed report upon the fishes j and this, 

 in connection with some notes on the birds, and lists of the coleoptera, 

 lichens, &c., will form material for a Bulletin of the Museum. 



Mr. H. H. Eusby, a well-known botanist of Xew Jersey, has been en- 

 gaged for some time in investigatiug the botany, natural history, and 

 archaeology of New Mexico, and it gave the Institution much j^leasure 

 to be able to obtain for him certain facilities from the War Department, 

 to aid him in his researches. His special attention has been given to 

 botany, and he has already addressed to the Institution a number of 

 interesting collections in this department. In archaeology his i)rinci- 

 pal work has- been the investigation of a cave, near Silver City, New 

 Mexico, filled with aboriginal relics, many of which he has succeeded in 

 securing. Kone of these collections have, so far, come to handj but 

 they will probably be received in the early part of 1881. Mr. Busby, 

 with the true zeal of the explorer, finding his means inadequate to the 

 carrying out of his i)lans, entered into certain business relations with 

 parties in i*few Mexico, by means of which he earned enough to con- 

 tinue his labors. 



An exploring trip to the remarkable natural cave at Luray, in Virginia, 

 was made by a party from the Institution in the month of July last. An 

 account of this visit is given in the General Appendix to this Report. 



Ever since the return of the schooner Florence from her exi)edition to 

 Arctic America, Captain Howgate, of the Signal Office, has been en- 

 deavoring to secure the interest of Congress in a second expedition ; 

 and to that end he purchased in Scotland the steamer Gulnare, and had 

 it brought to Washington and placed in a condition of thorough repair. 

 Additional timbers were placed in the vessel and it was overhauled and 

 placed in an effective condition. 



In connection with the same enterprise Congress passed a law author- 

 izing her acceptance, by the Navy Department, and her equipment for 

 the purpose, should she be considered seaworthy. The Secretary of 



