Ki:roRr of the .secretary. 47 



Accessions to the liljrary. — The iiuinbcr of publications added to the 

 library during- the year its 0,052, of which G18 are volumes of more than 

 100 pagtis, 9();> are pani[)hlets, 4,')1.'> are [)arts of regular serial •, and 158 

 charts. The most important accession was the gift by the heirs of the 

 late Dr. Isaac Lea, consisting of 137 volumes, 270 " parts," and 093 

 pamphlets, and including a nearly complete series of the " Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society of London." There are now nineteen sectional 

 libraries attached to the several curatorships iu the Museum. 



Puhlications of the Musenm. — The issue of Museum publications during 

 the year has been unusually small, owing to the pressure of Congres- 

 sional work at the Printing OfBce during the long Congressional session 

 of 1888, which caused the Museum work to be set aside. A number of 

 special publications are partially completed, and will be issued soon 

 after the beginning of the next fiscal year. 



During the year volume 10 of Proceedings of the U. S. National 

 Museum (1887) was Issued. This contains viii + 771 pages and 39 

 plates. It includes 78 ])apers by 20 authors, 10 of whom are officers of 

 the Museum. Nearly three-fourths of the papers relate to birds and 

 fishes. In the appendix is printed a catalogue of the exhibit prepared 

 by Mr. S. K. Koehler, in charge of the section of graphic arts, for the 

 Ohio Valley Centenial Exposition. Special papers were prepared by 

 the curators of several departments, in connection with the exhibits for 

 this exposition, which will be reprinted iu Section III of the Museum 

 report lor the present year. 



Bulletin 33 of the United States National Museum, "A catalogue of 

 minerals aiul their synomyms alphabetically arranged for the use of 

 museums" by Prof. T. Egleston, Ph. D., of Columbia College, was issued 

 in May. This volume contains a complete catalogue of the names of 

 minerals and their synonyms, and will be of much value to students 

 of mineralogy and others interested in this science. 



The assistant secretary in charge of the Museum has submitted a 

 statement reviewing the history of the publications of the Museum, and 

 making certain suggestions with a view to increasing the extent of the 

 editions and to the establishment of a systematic method of distribu- 

 tion. From this statement I quote the following remarks and recom- 

 mendations relating to the Proceedings and Bulletin: 



"The Proceedings was established for the purpose of securing prompt 

 publication of the discoveries in the Museum. In order to secure this 

 object the printing has been done, signature by signature, as fast as mat- 

 ter was prepared. A certain number of signatures has always been dis- 

 tributed, as soon as published, to scientitic institutions and specialists. 

 The lunnber of sets of signatures thus distributed has been in the neigh- 

 borhood of 200. 



'• Tills method of publication has seemed to be to some extent waste- 

 ful, and it is thought that e(pially good results may be secured by dis- 

 tributing a certain number of the advance copies in'the form of authors' 

 extras. In making arrangements lor the printing of Volume XII it 



