226 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



mens, and during the past five months has been employed in making 

 dummies for the display of various costumes in the possession of the 

 Museum. 



Accessions. — The number of packages received by the Eegistrar dur- 

 ing the year was 10,045, of which 5,401 were cases and parts of cases 

 paid for from the "furniture and fixtures" appropriation, while 1,287 

 were received through Mr. Thomas Donaldson from the permanent ex- 

 hibition on the Centennial grounds at Philadelphia, having been trans- 

 ported hither in December in seventeen freight-cars. The remaining 

 3,357 were packages received in the ordinary course of administration. 



Number of Visitors. — Since the 8th of February the janitors at the 

 doors of both buildings have registered the number of visitors by means 

 of a tally machine, and it has been ascertained that the average daily 

 number of visitors to the Museum building has been 535, and to the 

 Smithsonian building, 488. The total number of visitors for the year, 

 calculated upon this basis, has been, for the Museum, 167,455; for the 

 Smithsonian building, 152,744. 



Lectures. — During the year the Biological Society has held its meet- 

 ings regularly in the lecture-room of the Museum, and two courses of 

 lectures have been delivered in the same apartment. 



The first of these, the Saturday lectures, under the direction of a com- 

 mittee of the Biological and Anthropological Societies, were given on 

 Saturday afternoons in March and April. These lectures, eight in num- 

 ber, were attended by audiences of 500 to 900 people. In December a 

 course of "young folks'" lectures, under the same auspices, was begun, 

 and twelve lectures were delivered. These were attended chiefly by 

 teachers and advanced scholars of the public schools and seminaries of 

 the city. Many of these lectures were illustrated by specimens from 

 the Museum, or have had a definite bearing upon its work, and it is 

 hoped that they have increased its popularity and efficiency. 



The first lectures were delivered in the northwest range, which was 

 fitted up with considerable care as a lecture-room ; but it was soon dis- 

 covered that this was not large enough to accommodate the audiences 

 in attendance, and accordingly the west-north range, which is 26 feet 

 longer, was fitted up, and the old lecture-room abandoned. 



The Extent of the Museum. — An attempt has been made by the curators 

 of the several departments to estimate the total number of specimens 

 in the Museum. This estimate is at present only a partial one, but it 

 may not be amiss to quote its results for the departments which are 

 sufficiently organized to permit it. 



Specimens. 



Department of antiquities 35, 512 



Department of mammals 8, 265 



Dejiartment of birds 44, 354 



Department of reptiles 26,258 



Department of fishes 50, 000 



Department of mollusks (catalogue entries, it being impossible to estimate 



tbe number of specimens) 33, 375 



