50 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Thioiigb the ageucy of one of your body tliis ivS likely to be providetl. 

 The particulars have already been stated uuder the subject of "Building.^' 



I may add in tliifs couiiectiou that the preseut Museum building is 

 not more than large enough for the ethnological and technological 

 material already available. The proposed new building will aftbrd ac- 

 commodation for the natural history collections which are at present 

 very inadequately housed. For instance, the amount of space assigned 

 to the collection of mammals is about G,500 feet. At least double that 

 amount of space will be needed to accommodate the material now on 

 hand, as soon as the taxidermists of the Museum shall have been able 

 to prepare it for exhibition, it being our desire to have mounted groups, 

 similar to the buffalo family recently finished, in order to i^reserve for 

 future generations representations of the large quadrupeds native to 

 this continent, which are on the verge of extinction. 



At the close of the last fiscal year (June 30, 1887), a very careful esti- 

 mate showed that the collections were about fifteen times as great in 

 number of specimens as in the year 1882. I desire to call your attention 

 especially to the inclosed statement bearing upon this point. 



The Museum is growing, as it is fitting that the National Museum of 

 a great country should grow ; and it is not only necessary to care for 

 what is already here, but to provide for the reception and display of 

 what is certain to be placed in our hands within the next few years. 



Since the erection of the preseut Museum building there have been 

 more than 12,000 groups or lots of specimens added to the collection, 

 chiefly by gifts. From the year 1859 to 1880 the accessions numbered 

 8,475. It is thus evident that within the last eight years the number 

 of accessions has been half as large again as during the previous twenty- 

 one. 



Many of the more recent accessions are of very great extent, as for 

 instance the bequest of the late Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, Avhich con 

 tains 20,000 specimens of shells, besides minerals and other objects ; 

 the Jefireys collection of fossil and recent shells of Europe, including 

 40,000 specimens; the Stearns collections of mollusks, numbering 100,000 

 specimens; the liiley collection of insects, containing 150,000 specimens; 

 the Catlin collection of Indian paintings, about 500 iu number ; the col- 

 lection of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, for the transpor- 

 tation of which to Washington several freight-cars were required. 



There are also the extensive collections obtained at the Fisheries 

 Exhibition at Berlin and London and at the close of the New Orleans 

 Cotton Centennial ; the Shepard collection of meteorites ; the Wilson 

 collection of archaeological objects (more than 12,0. .0 specimens); the 

 Lorrillard collection of Central American antiquities, and very many 

 others nearly as extensive. In addition to these are the annual accre- 

 tions from the work of the U. S. Fish Commission, the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, and the Bureau of Ethnology, as well as the contributions from 

 several expeditions of the Government, from Army and Navy offlcers, 



