46 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The reptiles have beeu placed in the hands of Prof. E. D. Cope for 

 investigation. 



The fishes have been elaborated by Prof. Theodore Gill, Mr. G. Brown 

 Goode, Dr. T. H. Bean, and Professor Jordan. The latter gentleman 

 has i:)repared some important monographs relating to the fresh-water 

 fishes of the United States from the specimens of the National Museum, 

 describing many new species. 



Mr. William H. Dall has had charge of the Mollusca, and has described 

 some new species. Others have been submitted to Mr. Thomas Bland. 



The marine invertebrates collected by the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion are in the hands of Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale College, the special 

 collaborator of the Commission. In their examination he has been 

 assisted by Prof. Sidney I. Smith, of the same institution. Extensive 

 monographs are in preparation by them, to be published by the Com- 

 mission. 



The sponges have been sent to Professor Hyatt, of Boston, our chief 

 authority on that subject. 



The fossil invertebrates have been investigated by Prof. C. A. White, 

 the palaeontologist of Dr. Hayden's survey. 



In accordance with an arrangement of several years' standing, the 

 collections of all vegetable substances, and of insects, have been trans- 

 ferred, as received, to the Department of Agriculture, and these have 

 been properly elaborated by the officers in charge of the several depart- 

 ments of its museum. 



The ethnological specimens have been studied carefally by Dr. Eau 

 and Mr. Gushing, in charge of the department of the ethnological col- 

 lection, Prof. O. T. Mason, and others. Professor Mason has published 

 a paper, with numerous illustrations, upon the collections from Porto 

 Rico, in the Smithsonian Eeport for 1876. 



Worlc done in the museum. — The force in the museum occupied in the 

 arrangement of the collections was necessarily diminished on account 

 of the reduction of the Congressional appropriation, but all those re- 

 tained have been diligently occupied in cataloguing the collections, in 

 preparing and arranging them for exhibition, and in identifying and 

 describing them. 



As will be seen by a table in the appendix, the total number of entries 

 of specimens during the year amounted to 11,398. Although this is 

 not quite equal to the number recorded in 1876, it is considerably in 

 excess of the receipts of any previous year. 



The labor of receiving the specimens, ascertaining their exact origin, 

 distributing them among the various departments, giving to them the 

 treatment necessary for their permanent preservation, and finally their 

 identification and entry, and deposit in a suitable place, is very great; 

 no single day passing without some fresh addition of material requir- 

 ing all these precautions. It is, however, believed that the National 

 Museum will compare favorably with any establishment of its kind 

 in the accomplishment of this necessary work with its actual force. 



