REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 55 



44. Collections made at Fort Tejon, Cal., by Mr, John Xantus. 



45. Collections made in Wisconsin and Missouri, by Dr. P. R. Hoy. 



46. Collections made in Wisconsin, by Eev. A. 0. Barry. 



47. Collections made in Illinois and Minnesota, by Robert Ken- 

 nicott. 



48. Collections made on the New England coast, by W. Stimpson. 



49. Greneral collections, deposited by IS. F. Baird. 

 Together with very many others of greater or less note. 



As the result of combining all tlie collections referred to in the 

 preceding notices, it may be said that the museum of the Smithsonian 

 Institution is entitled to no mean rank among similar establishments 

 elsewhere. It is certainly superior to any other in the United States 

 as a general collection, although in the specialities of exotic birds, 

 shells, fossils, and minerals it is surpassed by the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences. The material is not even now wanting to 

 give it a first class position; only the means to properly determine, 

 arrange, and exhibit the collections already within the walls of the 

 Institution. With the enormous amount of duplicates of rare and 

 new species on hand, it will be possible, after the determinations have 

 been completed, to make additions by exchange to any conceivable 

 extent, almost without the expenditure of a single dollar in the way 

 of purchase. It must be remembered, too, that the collections in the 

 building have been made since 1850, (with the exception of most of 

 thosebrought from the Patent Office, which hardly form one-fifth part of 

 the whole museum,) and that the additions of the past year, independ- 

 ently of those just mentioned, have exceeded those of any previous 

 one. 



There are many departments of natural history in which the collec- 

 tions of the Smithsonian Institution are believed to be superior to any 

 others extant, not merely to those of the United States. In all that 

 relates to North America, and perhaps to South America, also, it has 

 no equal anywhere. The collection of Crustacea of the world is said 

 to be superior even to that of the Paris museum; and the same may, 

 possibly, be said of the recent corals. And yet no special attempts 

 have been made to this end. With the general interest of Americans 

 in such subjects, nothing would be easier than to excite the zeal of 

 officers of the naval and mercantile marine, government officials 

 abroad, and travellers, to such a pitch as to yield vast results every 

 year. Unfortunately the Smithsonian Institution has neither space 

 for such extensive exotic collections nor funds to devote to their pre- 

 paration and arrangement, all the appropriation of Congress being 

 required for the preservation of the specimens belonging to the United 

 States, and for the arrangement and exhibition of the contemplated 

 North American mliseum. This latter it is proposed to make as com- 

 plete as possible, so as to exhibit to visitors from all parts of the Union 

 a full series of natural objects belonging to each State. 



In view of the importance of having some one public museum, illus- 

 trating as fully as possible the natural history of the world, and 

 taking rank with those of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and others, 

 and considering that so excellent a foundation has already been laid 

 by the collections now in the Smithsonian Institution, and the ease 



