18 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



It is estimated that there are now in the Museum 2,592,732 "lots" of 

 specimens, an increase of 1,121,732 during the last two and a half years. 

 The catalogues of the various departments show that in the aggregate 

 36,595 entries of accession " lots" have been made during the year. In 

 speaking of the accessions to the Museum, I desire to present the cordial 

 thanks of the Smithsonian Institution to the various Departments and 

 Bureaus of the Government through whose valuable cooperation a 

 great deal of interesting material has been received. 



The increased popularity of the Museum is plainly evidenced by the 

 fact that during the year it has beei.. visited by 216,562 persons, while 

 98,592 visitors were registered in the Smithsonian building, giving a 

 total of 315,114 visitors to both buildings during the year. This is an 

 increase of 51,929 over the number recorded for the last fiscal j-ear. 



Mr. A. H. Clark has been appointed editor of the Proceedings and 

 Bulletins in place of Dr. T. H. Bean, who for many years has carried 

 on this work with great ability. This change was made at Dr. Bean's 

 request, since the demands on his time as curator of fishes, left very 

 little opportunity for him to attend to editorial work. During the year 

 the Museum report for 1881 was issued, and the manuscripts for both 

 the 1885 and 1886 reports are now in the hands of the printer. Vol. 

 VIII of the "Proceedings of the National Museum" was issued iu Oc- 

 tober, and the signatures of Vol. IX are all in print. In addition 6 

 signatures of Vol. X were distributed before the close of the fiscal year. 

 Bulletin 31, "Synopsis of the North America Syrphidse," by Dr. Samuel 

 M. Williston, appeared in May. Bulletin 32, "Catalogue of theBatra- 

 chia and Eeptiles of Central America and Mexico," by Prof. E. D. Cope, 

 is now in type. The manuscript for Bulletin 33, "Catalogue of Minerals 

 and Synonyms," by Mr. Thomas Egleston, as well as that for Bulletin 

 34, "Catalogue of the Batrachia and Eeptiles of North America," by 

 Prof. E. D. Cope, has gone to the Government Printing Oifice. A bib- 

 liography of papers i^ubliehed by officers of the Museum and by co-op- 

 erators in Museum work is included in the report of the assistant 

 secretary. This embraces 345 titles by 84 authors, 33 of whom are 

 officially connected with the Museum. 



In the library, the total number of publications received during the 

 year, exclusive of regular periodicals, was 1,511. The most valuable 

 contributions to the library were those made by the Secretary of the 

 Institution. 



There were received 2,055 forms of labels, from the Government Print- 

 ign Office, each form containing 24 copies, 12 of which are printed on 

 card-board and 12 on paper. 



As in previous years, several students in various branches of natural 

 history have enjoyed the privilege of access to the collections in which 

 they were especially interested. Courtesies of this kind have been ex- 

 tended notably by the departments of birds, insects, moUusks, marine 



