10 REPORT OF The secretary. 



(linavian antiquities, and as the author of the English translation of 

 the Finish epic " The Kalevala." His appointment as consul-general 

 at St. Petersburg was made with a special view to enable him to 

 carry on his studies of the traditions and antiquities of the Finish race 

 and related peoples. He has oifered to make collections for the National 

 Museum, and in order to facilitate his work, the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion has provided him with letters of introduction to several of its cor- 

 respondents in Kussia and Finland. These will no doubt be of great 

 service to him in enabling him to carry out the object which he desires 

 to further. 



Eev. Frederick H. Post, an Episcopal clergyman of Salem, Oregon, 

 has recently undertaken missionary work in Alaska, and has taken up 

 his residence at Anvik, on the Yukon River. He has entered into cor- 

 respondence with the Smithsonian Institution, and has offered to col- 

 lect information relating to the tribes of the Upper Yukon. He has 

 also proposed to make meteorological observations at Anvik. This 

 offer has been referred to the Signal OfQce. It is probable that an out- 

 fit of alcohol, guns, and ammunition will be sent to Mr. Post next year 

 to enable him to ccfllect the mammals and birds of that region. 



Lieut. J. F. Moser, commanding the U. S. Coast Survey steamer 

 Bache has continued his exi)lorations for the Museum, and has trans- 

 mitted a collection of fishes, mollusks, insects, and marine invertebrates 

 from the vicinity of Cape Sable, Florida. 



Prof. O. P. Jenkins, of De Pauw University, Indiana, has made 

 arrangements to visit the Hawaiian Islands for the purpose of col- 

 lecting fishes, and has expressed his intention of presenting a duplicate 

 series of specimens to the National Museum. The Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion has supplied him with seines and has furnished him with a letter 

 of introduction to the curator of the national museum in Honolulu. 



Ensign W. L. Howard, U. S. Navy, has kindly offered to collect 

 zoological and ethnological material in Alaska, and has been supplied 

 with collecting apparatus and supj)lies for use in trading with the In- 

 dians. 



A large outfit of tanks, bottles, and alcohol was supijlied to Mr. "W. 

 A. Stearns, of Cambridgeport, Mass., for use in collecting specimens of 

 natural history in northern Labrador. No" collections have yet been 

 received from him. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



Under an arrangement made by the late Secretary, Prof. E. D. Cope 

 was engaged at the time of my last report in completing and preparing 

 for publication an investigation upon the Reptilia and Batrachia of 

 North America, which has been in progress, under the direction of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, for more than twenty years. The monograph 

 on the Batrachia, mentioned in my last report as having been received, 

 is now in type, though not yet published, but that on the Reptilia is still 



