REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



fully prepared code adopted, in which the satisfactory rules of the exist- 

 ing codes were adopted and their unwieldy provisions rejected. This 

 new code has been the guide of the committee in the preparation of a 

 new list of North American birds, and will, without much doubt, be 

 adopted by zoologists generally. The curator having been charged by 

 the above mentioned committee with the determination of names of 

 North American birds according to the new code of nomenclature, this 

 duty has been carefully performed, and the copy for the new list put in 

 the hands of the president of the union. At this date the list is being 

 printed. The naturalists of the United States Fish Commission steamer 

 Albatross having made an extensive collection of birds on the almost 

 unknown island of Cozumel, off the coast of Yucatan, it became the 

 duty of the curator, as a part of his official work, to determine the spe- 

 cies and describe those which proved new to science. The latter were 

 no less than nineteen in number, of which the greater part have already 

 been published, while the remainder are described in a full report upon 

 the collection now being printed as a part of Volume VIII of the "Pro- 

 ceedings of the National Museum." The ofi'er of the mounted birds — 

 which had for some years been on exhibition in the museum of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, having been accepted by the National Museum, 

 the transfer of the specimens to the Smithsonian building was effected 

 during the month of May. Tbis collection, numbering 712 specimens, con- 

 sisted largely of common North American birds, the mounting of which 

 was not up to the standard required for exhibition in the Museum col- 

 lection. Being however suitable for purely educational purposes, this 

 surplus stock is at present being made up into sets for distribution to 

 schools or other public educational establishments which may require 

 such material. ■ The remainder of the collection, consisting of a very 

 good series of the different varieties of the domesticated fowl and a 

 smaller number of specimens of exotic Phasianidse, has been properly 

 arranged for exhibition in the Museum cases. Mr. Eidgway reports the 

 accession of 3,681 specimens of birds and 185 specimens of nests and 

 eggs. 



Department of Fishes. — Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, curator of the department 

 of fishes, reports 297 entries on the catalogue. The most important collec- 

 tions were made, as usual, by the vessels of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. The Albatross collections which are discussed in the Museum 

 report are very large and important. The curator was aboard this 

 steamer from the 3d of January to the 20th of February, during her work 

 off the southern coast, and in the West Indies, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf 

 of Mexico, up to the time of her arrival at New Orleans. He was sent out 

 to make observations upon the living specimens of the deep-sea fishes 

 and upon the southward range of the east coast food fishes. During the 

 week spent at the island of Cozumel he had opportunity, incidentally, 

 of aiding Mr. Benedict in securing a large series of the birds of that 



