REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 167 



It is hoped that Congress may order the preparation and publication 

 of a special report upon the work of the Museum, which, if the necessary 

 provision is made for illustrations, will afford the means of publishing, 

 more fully than has hitherto been possible, the archives of the Museum. 



The preparation of printed labels has been a work of considerable 

 magnitude during the year, and over four thousand labels, the average 

 length of which is about one-sixth of an octavo page, have been prepared 

 at the Government Printing Office. In addition also a large number of 

 special labels iu black and gold for the outside of cases, have been pre- 

 pared by the Museum printer. Important additions have been made 

 to the stock of the Museum printing office, which is now thoroughly 

 equipped for all kinds of job-work. 



Mr. A. Howard Clark has been temporarily placed in charge of the 

 printing and general administration and section of labels. 



Department F: Duplicates and exchanges. — The distribution of speci- 

 mens to Museums, colleges, and individuals for the year is represented, 

 in the table appended hereto, viz : 



Boxes and packages. 



Minerals, ores and rocks 21 



Invertebrates 73 



Marine invertebrates (duplicate sets) 59 



Bird-skins 57 



Ethnological objects 28 



Insects 7 



Plants 17 



Fossils 7 



Mammals 9 



Building stoues - 2 



Fishes H 



Reptiles 19 



Skeletons 1 



251 



Including an aggregate of about 16,270 specimens. 



During the year 84 applications for specimens of general natural his- 

 tory, from museums, schools, and individuals in the United States and 

 Territories, have been filed, and. many of them have already been filled. 



The shipments of miscellaneous packages to the great International 

 Fisheries Exhibition at Loudon, England, consisted, of 917 packages of 

 all kinds. Considerable returns have been received iu the way of ex- 

 changes for specimens distributed. These are referred to in the reports 

 of the several curators. 



Department G: Property and supplies. — In this department a large 

 number of exhibition and storage cases have been made during the year, 

 chiefly by contract as hitherto. Cases to the value of about $10,000 

 were provided at the expense of the appropriation for the Loudon Fish- 

 eries Exhibition j these have been returned to the Museum and will be 



