REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. H 



Corca; iucludiiig large numbers of etlmologieal objects and specimens 

 in alcohol almost entirely new to the Muscuin. 



A very important collection illustrating the life history of the Ja- 

 panese has been received from the department of education of Japan, 

 and is suitably displayed in one of the main halls of the Museum, where 

 it tills a case of about GO feet in length, and attracts much interest. 



The Japanese series is rai)idly acquiring a distinguished pre-eminence, 

 and every year becomes more and more complete. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



Of the different classes of works issued bj' the Institution, the first 

 place is naturally assigned to the quarto " Contributions to Knowledge." 



Second in order are the octavo "Miscellaneous Collections," which, 

 by reason of their various sources, form the most voluminous series 

 The classes of productions going to swell the same may be specified as 

 follows: 1st, the numerous collections of physical, statistical, chemical, 

 biological, and ethnological researches i^rosecuted directly by the Insti- 

 tution itself or under its immediate auspices ; 2d, the occasional " Toner 

 Lectures," delivered under the encouragement of the fund established 

 by Dr. Joseph Toner, but published by this Institution ; 3d, the special 

 annual reports on the latest advances in the leading departments of 

 science, maintained at the expense of the Institution, though first given 

 to the i^ublic through the medium of the oflicial annual reports of the 

 Regents. Theise are all issued sei)arately in pamphlet formj and proba- 

 bly will ultimately be collected in volumes, each devoted to its partic- 

 ular subject; 4th, the "proceedings" of various societies for the ad- 

 vancement of science, stereotyped and published by the Institution ; 

 includjug at present the Bulletins of the Philosophical Society of 

 Washington, the Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Wash- 

 ington, and the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington j 

 5th, the Bulletins, Proceedings, Circulars, and Instructions of the TJ. S. 

 National Museum, published primarily under the direction of the hon- 

 orable Secretary of the Interior, but re-issued by the Institution. 



The third series comprises the annual reports of the Regents of the 

 Institution to Congress, in octavo volumes. 



The fourth series comprises the publications of the Bureau of Ethnol- 

 ogy, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. This is issued 

 in larger or imperial octavo volumes. 



Smithsonian Gontrihutions to Knoivledge. — A work entitled " Re- 

 searches upon the venoms of Poisonous Serpents," by S. Weir Mitchell, 

 M. D., and Edward T. Reichert, M. D., has been printed during the past 

 year, and will soon be ^ready for distribution. This is a continuation 

 of the investigations on this important subject undertaken by Dr. Mitch- 

 ell some twenty-five years ago, and published by the Institution, in 

 the same series, at the beginning of the year 18G1. The present supple- 



