272 



REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 

 Accessions. 



The accessions for 1883 surpassed in number those of the precediug 

 year. The following table shows the proportion of quarto and larger 

 books, to the octavos and those of smaller size, and the total for the year: 



Table showing the number of accessions in 1883. 



Sizes. 



Volumes. 



Parts. 



Pam- 

 phlets. 



Total. 



Quartos and larger . 

 Octavos and smaller 



Total 



17 

 147 



7 

 44 



73 



389 



97 

 580 



164 



51 



462 



677 



*Any -work of less than 100 pages is regarded as a pamphlet. 



The accessions of public documents, except those relating to the 

 natural sciences, are not included in this table. The majority are not 

 properly within the scope of the library, and if entered and put upon 

 the shelves, would occupy space which should be devoted to works 

 more directly of use. The works included in the table were received 

 from 73 societies, museums, and other organizations, and from 74 indi- 

 viduals. Only 14 were obtained by purchase. The following persons 

 and institutions have contributed four or more works during the year : 



Contributors. 



Octavo 

 volumes. 



Quarto 

 volumes. 



Octavo 

 pam- 

 phlets. 



Quarto 

 pam- 

 phlets. 



Prof. S. F. Baird 



Geological Survey of Great Britain and 

 Ireland 



Dr. Francis Day, London 



Prof. William H. Flower, London 



Dr. Charles A. White, U. S. Geolog. Survey. 



Portland Society of Natural History 



Mr. Walter Faxon, Cambridge, Mass 



Royal Society of New South Wales 



52 

 49 



367 



61 

 16 

 7 

 10 

 9 

 7 

 4 



5 

 14 

 "5 



Late in the year, the United States Fish Commissioner deposited in 

 thelibrary 140 volumes upon ichthyology and kindred subjects. A com- 

 plete set of the reports upon the scientific results of the Challenger Ex- 

 pedition and other equally important works are included in this series. 



Loan and return of books. — For the record of these most important 

 transactions of the library, two large record-books are in use. In 

 one of these the books borrowed are entered by the names of the 

 authors, with cross-reference to the name of the person borrowing and 

 the date of the loan. In the second record all the books borrowed by 

 each person are recorded under his name. This system, which might 

 be impracticable in a large library, is very useful and desirable in a 



