REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 29 



given to securing as complete a series of archaeological specimens 

 as possible for preservation in the National Mnseum. For several 

 years past Dr. Ran, the curator of the Department of Archaeology, has 

 been working in the direction of further publications on this subject; 

 a valnable paper prepared by him having been printed in 1876, for use 

 in connection with the Centennial Exhibition, and which has since 

 then been the principal manual of information on the subject. 



Dr. Ran is also superintending the i)reparation of drawings, by Mr. 

 V. F. Trill and others, of all the typical forms of stone implements and 

 objects not already figured in tbe Smithsonian pnblications. This is a 

 work of great magnitude, but it is hoped to commence the publication 

 of a new and systematic memoir at an early date. 



Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. — Of the quarto series of pub- 

 lications no volume has been actuallj' i)ublished during the year. A 

 memoir by Dr. Charles Ran on " Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and 

 North America," as illustrated by the archaeological specimens collected 

 by the Institution, comprising about 350 quarto pages, has, however, 

 been put entirely into type, and, en the completion of an index, will be 

 issued. 



The title of this work sufficiently explains its purport. The descrip- 

 tive portion is altogether based on existing antiquities bearing either 

 unmistakably or presumably on fishing in prehistoric times, and no con- 

 clusions whatever have been drawn exceeding the somewhat narrow 

 compass limited, as it were, by those tangible tokens. If the work had 

 been exclusively designed for persons well acquainted with the results 

 of prehistoric investigation in Europe, the author might have consid- 

 erably abbreviated its first part by excluding much introductive and 

 descriptive matter. But as it also may be read by nonarchteologists, 

 he has deemed it proper to dwell on the difierences between the palaeo- 

 lithic and neolithic ages, to give accounts of the tool and bone bearing 

 drift-beds, the cave-habitations, artificial shell-deposits, lake-dwellings, 

 and, finally, to present a brief characterization of the bronze age. IMost 

 of these introductions are followed by a section, or sections, devoted to 

 notices of fish-remains, descriptions of fishing implements and utensils, 

 and suggestions in regard to the probable methods of fishing during the 

 period under consideration. The curious tracings of fishes and aquatic 

 mammals, characteristic of the reindeer-period, are treated in a sepa- 

 rate division. 



In the first section of the second i)art, relating to prehistoric fishing 

 in North America, the available relics bearing on fishing, such as 

 straight bait holders, fish-hooks, harpoon and arrow heads, nets, sinkers, 

 and fish-cutters, are described and figured, most of the objects being 

 si)ecimens in the United States National Museum. Boats and their ap- 

 purtenances are next considered, and then follows an account of some 

 jirehistoric structures connected with fishing. In the subsequent di- 



