REPOKT OF ASSISTANT SECEETAKY. 65 



of the Geographical Society of Baltimore, Messrs. B. A. Bean and 

 J. H. Riley accompanied the expedition of the society to the Bahamas 

 to collect aquatic and land vertebrates. By invitation of Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, Dr. H. G. Dyar, accompanied by Mr. R. B. Currie, of the 

 National Museum, and Mr. A. N. Caudell, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, made an expedition to British Columbia to collect insects, and 

 especiall}^ mosquitoes, under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution. 

 Mr. G. S. Miller, jr., spent a few weeks in collecting small mammals 

 in the vicinit}^ of Hampton, Virginia. Messrs. Richmond, Ashmead, 

 Bartsch, and Currie spent some days in Philadelphia in the study of 

 the zoological collections of the Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Rose 

 visited the Museum of the New York Botanical Garden. Mr. W. R. 

 Maxon spent two months in Jamaica (April and May, 1903), where 

 he made a very large collection of plants, and especially of ferns. 

 He also obtained some line examples of the large white ant nests found 

 in the island. 



ACCESSIONS. 



The accessions of the year, considered as separate lots of varying 

 sizes received from different sources, were considerably less than last 

 year, except in. the Division of Plants and the Section of Birds' Eggs. 

 The accessions of plants were greater in number than in any year since 

 1895, being in all 575, but the number of specimens comprised in them 

 was less than in the previous year, viz, about 53,500 specimens ii\ 

 1902, and about 35,000 in 1903. The accessions of birds' eggs, on the 

 contrary, aggregated more specimens than in 1902. The whole num- 

 ber of zoological specimens received during the 3"ear was, as already 

 stated, about 70,000; of plants about 35,000 specimens. A notable and 

 most important feature of the accessions was an increase in the num- 

 ber of types and cotypes presented, wdiich comprise insects, fishes, 

 birds, and crustaceans. Among the largest zoological accessions 

 received w^ere a collection of" al)out 19,000 gall wasps and parasites 

 made in Canada, and transmitted by the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture; about 4,000 Costa Rican insects, purchased from Mr. P. Schild, 

 of Hamburg, Germany; a))out 2,000 Chilean insects, presented by 

 Mr. E. C. Reed, of Concepcion; a collection of about 2,000 tish, birds' 

 eggs, mollusks, and other marine invertebrates from the Hawaiian 

 Islands, transmitted by the U. S. Fish Commission; a collection com- 

 prising about 1,500 birds' eggs, insects and mammals from Paraguay; 

 the East Indian collections of Dr. Abbott, consisting of more than 

 1,200 mammals, birds, reptiles, etc. Considering the character of Dr. 

 Abbott's collections, which contain hundreds of mammals, they should 

 perhaps have been mentioned first, as it is obviousl}^ more difficult to 

 assemble large numbers of these animals than of any other class. The 

 largest collection of plants received during the year was one made by 



NAT MUS 1903 5 



