REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. I i 



Papaveraceae, and Mr. Theodor Holm, the Cariccs. Dr. L. M. Under- 

 wood, of Columbia Universit}', examined the collections of ferns. 



Inquiries were received from Stanford Universit}^ concerning the 

 methods of cataloguing and labeling employed in the Department, and 

 Avere answered as fully as circumstances would permit. 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES AND PUBLICATIONS. 



This veiy important l)ranch of the work of the Department, the founda- 

 tion, indeed, and the tinal aim of all its other activities, was carried on with 

 no less ardor than in previous years. The segregation of work on the 

 exhibition series, explained in a preceding page, left the scientific 

 staff somewhat more time in which to pursue investigations, while the 

 activity of systematists in various parts of the country, involving the 

 use of the Government collections, showed no abatement. 



It is only possible in this place to mention some of the more impor- 

 tant investigations carried on by the members of the scientific staff of 

 the Museum. A complete list of all papers based on the Museum col- 

 lections published by the staff for the year will be found in Appendix II 

 of this volume. It is interesting to note that the articles exceed 150 

 in number, and appeared in about thirt}^ different journals, including 

 the following: Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, Bulletin of 

 the U. S. National Museum, Proceedings of the Biological Society of 

 Washington, Proceedings of the Philadelphia Acadeni}^ of Natural 

 Sciences, Science Yearbook of the Carnegie Institution, The Auk, 

 Naturen, Nautilus, American Journal of Pharmacy, Journal of Con- 

 chology, Smithsonian Report, Biographical Memoirs of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, Canadian Entomologist, Journal of the New 

 York Entomological Society, Psyche, Proceedings of the Entomolog- 

 ical Society of Washington, Entomological News, Transactions of the 

 Entomological Society, Country Life in America, Bulletin of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Zoologischer Anzeiger, Public 

 Health Report, Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, American Medicine, Bulletin of the 

 Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public Health Service, Journal of Com- 

 parative Medicine, Contributions from the National Herbarium, Annals 

 of Botany, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Plant World, and 

 Fern Bulletin. 



The second volume of Mr. Robert Ridgway's extensive manual of 

 North and Central American birds, containing 854 pages of text and 

 22 plates, was published during the year. It deals with the families 

 of Tanagers, Troupials, Honey Creepers, and Wood Warblers (Tana- 

 grida?, Icteridic, Coerebida>, and Mniotiltida?), comprising 77 genera 

 and 433 species and subspecies. 



The preparation of the third volume, covering 15 families, was in an 

 advanced stage at the close of the year, about 400 pages being already 



