REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 185 



V. Department of Birds. 



In the department of birds, under the care of Mr. Bobert Bidgway, 

 the work of the year has necessarily been confined to the laboratory, all 

 the space in the ornithological galleries outside of the cases having been 

 occupied by the offices of the Smithsonian Institution during the re-con- 

 struction of the eastern end of the bnilding. There has been, however, 

 very much important work accomplished in the rearrangement of the 

 study series, and valuable collections have been received, especially 

 from Dr. Stejneger, Mr. Ridgway, Mr. Nutting, Captain Bendire, and 

 Mr. Belding. 



The total number of specimens in the custody of the curator is esti- 

 mated at 47,246, of which 6,000 are on exhibition, 13,000 are duplicates, 

 and 28,246 are in the reserved skin series. 



VI. Department of Reptiles and Batrachians. 



Under charge of Dr. H. C. Yarrow, honorary curator, the usual ad- 

 ministrative work has been accomplished, and an annotated catalogue 

 of the American specimens belonging to the Museum has been pub- 

 lished. 



A considerable number of species lacking in the Museum series has 

 been added during the year, chiefly by B. W. Shufeldt, Mr. George 

 Shoemaker, Mr. Bobert Bidgway, Col. Nicholas Pike, Mr. S. Belding, and 

 Mr. G. W. Mamorly, and the work of assorting and arranging the col- 

 lections of exotic reptiles has been pushed nearly to completion. No 

 exhibition space has as yet been assigned to this department. 



VII. Department of Fishes. 



This department is perhaps one of the most unmanageable in the 

 Museum, its material being for the most part alcoholic. From 1865, 

 when it was thoroughly disorganized by the fire in the Smithsonian 

 building, up to 1878, this department was without a curator, though 

 subsequently to 1881 the bulk of the collection was largely increased 

 every year by the work of the U. S. Fish Commission. For two years 

 Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the curator, assisted by Messrs. Parker, Dresel, 

 Miner, and Bean, has been engaged in rearranging the entire material 

 and preparing a card catalogue, a task which has been doubly difficult 

 owing to the lack of sufficient room in which to work. The collection 

 is, however, now very well under control, and several thousand bottles 

 have been set aside for the exhibition series. From June to October 

 of this year Dr. Bean was detailed for special service in connection with 

 the International Fisheries Exhibition, and devoted a considerable por- 

 tion of this period to the study of the ichthyological collections in Lon- 

 don, Paris, Genoa, Vienna, Berlin, and Liverpool, establishing addi- 

 tional relations of exchange in those cities. This department has been, 

 as usual, enriched by the work of the U. S. Fish Commission, whereby 



