REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 51 



and from other Government officials. These are very extensive, and 

 are yearly increasing in bulk and value. 



In the Armory building are stored many hundreds of boxes of valu- 

 able material which we have not room to unpack, and the great vaults 

 under the Smithsonian building and many of tlie attic and tower rooms 

 are similarly occupied. 



For several important departments of the Museum no exhibition 

 space whatever is available, and no portion of the collection can be 

 publicly displayed. Indeed, the growth of many of the departments is 

 in large measnre prevented by the fact that we have no room for addi- 

 tional exhibition cases, or even for storage. Many valuable collections 

 elsewhere than in Washington are at the service of the Museum, but 

 we have no space for their reception. 



The collection of birds, which, so far as North America is concerned, 

 is the finest in the world, is very inadequately shown, and requires 

 double the case room now available. 



The collection of mollusks, which is one of the most complete in the 

 world and contains more than 450,000 specimens, is at present almost 

 entirely unprovided for. 



The collection of insects, which, though smaller, is, so far as North 

 America is concerned, equally perfect, is also practically without any 

 exhibition space. And so I might continue. 



It should be borne in mind that under the roofs of the Smithsonian 

 and new Museum buildings are grouped together collections which in 

 London, Paris, or any other of the European capitals, are provided for 

 in a group of museums, for the accommodation of which a much larger 

 number of equally commodious buildings is found needful. 



One of the most striking features in connection with the affairs of 

 the Museum is the remarkable increase in the extent of its collections, 

 which each year becomes greater. This increase is in a large degree 

 spontaneous, only a very small sum of money being available for the 

 purchase of new material. As might be supposed, a considerable pro- 

 portion of the objects given dui)licate material already on hand, and 

 although these contributions can, with the utmost advantage, bo used 

 for distribution to other museums and schools, they do not increase as 

 much as is desired the value of the collections for study by specialists, 

 and for general educational purposes. The need of a larger fund for 

 the purchase of specimens is yearly more manifest. Exceedingly im- 

 portant material is constantly offered to us at prices very much below 

 what it would cost to obtain it by collecting, and in many instances, 

 when refused, it is eagerly taken by the museums and institutions of 

 Europe. The extent and character of the recent additions to the collec- 

 tions may, perhaps, be better shown by the appended table than in any 

 other way. This table shows com[»aratively the results of a census of 

 the collections, taken for the past six years, and from it appears that 

 the number of specimens or of lots of specimens on hand at the close of 



