REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 43 



pelago, and along the cofist and on the islands east of Sumatra. In connection with 

 the investigations of the Bureau of Fisheries, Dr. Hugh M. Smith has visited Japan, 

 and Dr. B. W. Evermann, Prof. Ch&rles H. Gilbert, and Prof. O. P. Jenkins have 

 made extensive explorations' in Hawaii. The natural history bureaus of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and especially the Biological Survey, have made important col- 

 lections in different parts of the United States. 



Field work under the Bureau of American Ethnology, productive of collections, 

 has been carried on by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, in the West Indies, and by Mr. James 

 Mooney, Mr. Gerard Fowke, Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, and Mr. J. R. Swanton, in the 

 West. Reference should also be made to the important work conducted in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U. S. Army, one of the most frequent contribu- 

 tors to the Museum collections. 



Researches. — Of the material which reaches the Museum, a part has previously been 

 studied and a part not, but the proportion either way would be difficult to state and 

 varies from year to year. The act founding the establishment provides that the 

 collections shall be arranged and classified, and therefore in selecting the caretakers, 

 persons skilled in the various branches represented are chosen to the extent of the 

 funds available. It is recognized that their first obligation is to look out for the 

 safety of the specimens in their charge, and as the technical staff under pay is rela- 

 tively small, attention to this duty consumes the greater part of tlieir time. About 

 one-half of the scientific staff, moreover, consists of volunteers, on whom the same 

 demands can not be made, though some of these are equally attentive to the routine 

 work. The scientific results accomplished each year by the Museum staff as a whole 

 is, nevertheless, relatively extensive, comprising mainly the identification, labeling 

 and description of specimens, and their classified arrangement in cases and drawers, 

 so as to make them convenient for reference. 



For a large part of tlie scientific work, however, assistance must be obtained from 

 experts connected with other establishments. Entire groups of specimens may be 

 assigned to individuals for working up, or advantage may be taken of researches in 

 progress elsewhere to have material of greater or less extent identified, and visiting 

 scientific men are often willing to spend some time upon such parts of the collections 

 as come within their knowledge. It is impossible within the limits of this report to 

 account for all the work of this character carried on during the past year, but the 

 number of persons concerned, not including those on the Museum staff, was in the 

 neighborhood of 200, and over 20,000 specimens were sent away for study. The coop- 

 eration with persons living elsewhere is far greatest in connection with the Depart- 

 ment of Biology, whose varied collections have long attracted widespread interest, 

 and have led to many extensive and important investigations. 



Exchanges. — Many exchanges of duplicate specimens with other institutions and 

 with individuals have been made with satisfactory results for the Museum. The 

 establishments abroad with which such transactions were most extensively carried 

 on were the Albany Museum at Grahamstown, South Africa; the K. K. Naturhis- 

 torisches Hof museum at Vienna; the Zoological Institute of the Imperial University 

 at Vienna; the Botanical Museum at Berlin; the Museum of Natural History at 

 Paris; the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen; the Royal Frederick 

 University of Christiania, and the Royal Botanic (harden at Sibpur, Calcutta. 



The distribution of duplicates to colleges and other educational institutions through- 

 out the country has been limited during the year to fishes, marine invertebrates, and 

 geological specimens illustrating rock weathering and soil formation, of which 97 sets 

 have been sent out. Some duplicate sets of fossils are now being prepared for the 

 same purpose. The applications for such material to aid in the teaching of natural 

 history are far more nun\erous than can be supplied, the assistants qualified to select 

 and label the specimens being generally too busily occupied in other ways. The 



