46 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and Great Britain, and made himself familiar with the arrangements 

 prevalent therein. The result has been to su^jply many imi)ortant ideas, 

 which will be carried out in connection with the new National Museum 

 at Washington. 



In the necessary reorganization of the whole force of the museum, in 

 connection with the new departure, occasion was taken to reiterate and 

 enforce the rule which is adopted in most public museums through- 

 out the world, namely, that the officers connected with the museum 

 shall make no collections of any kind whatever for themselves 

 during the period of their connection with it. Although in most 

 cases a mere matter of form, it has been thought well to make such 

 a rule a condition of acceptance of a position and salary, as thereby 

 preventing any misunderstanding and removing any danger of making 

 an official position the means of promoting private interest. Persons 

 in charge of a collection have many opportunities of securing speci- 

 mens from visitors, who offer objects of more or less interest, and who 

 are sometimes inclined to give them to the officer rather than to the 

 coUeciion. 



Increase of the Museum. — The additions to the National Museum dur- 

 ing the year 1880 have been fully up to the average, indeed scarcely 

 inferior to those of any previous year, with the exception of that of the 

 Centeufiial Exhibition at Philadelphia. The collections of marine 

 animals, especially fishes and invertebrates from the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts of the United States, far exceed in value and extent those ever 

 before obtained. The most important sources of supply have been (1) 

 the collections of the United States Fish Commission, made on the 

 south coast of New England, and of the Gloucester fishermen, obtained 

 for the most part oft" the eastern banks, and transmitted through the 

 commission; (2) the collections made by Profs. D. S. Jordan and Charles 

 H. Gilbert, of fishes and invetebrates, between San Diego and Paget 

 Sounds ; (3) the collections of Dr. T. H. Bean and Mr. William H. Dall 

 in Alaskan w.iters of the North Pacific and in the Arctic Ocean ; (4) 

 collections of marine animals made by Dr. White, Surgeon of the United 

 States revenue steamer Corwin^ and by Captain Hooper commanding ; 

 (5) the general ethnological and zoological collections of Mr. E. H. 

 Nelson, of the United States Signal Service; (6) collection of arehoeo- 

 logical objects made by Mr. James Stevenson, assisted by Mr. F. G. Gal- 

 braith. While, however, these are the most noteworthy there are many 

 others of great interest that will be referred to hereafter. The catalogue 

 of donations accompanying the report will give fuller details on this 

 subject, bearing in mind that no small number of contributions have 

 been received without indications of their origin, so that it becomes impos- 

 sible to make the proper acknowledgments to their contributors. 



The regions covered by these contributions relate almost exclusively 

 to North America, a few collections only coming from Mexico or the 



