REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 



to the service of the Navy Department at its request. The vessel was 

 also engaged in making soundings between the south side of the West 

 Indies and the north coast of South America, resulting in determin- 

 ing the character of the sea bottom with great precision and establish- 

 ing the existence of a number of unexpected reefs and shoals of great 

 depths, which have been indicated in a model of the bottom of the Ca- 

 ribbean, made by direction of Captain Bartlett, of the Hydrographic 

 Office of the Navy. General collections were made of the laud fauna 

 as well as of the marine, resulting in the addition of a very great num- 

 ber of species to the National Museum, of which a noted proi)ortion are 

 of scientific interest. Among these may be mentioned eight new si)e- 

 cies of birds found on the islands of Curagoa and Old Providence. 



Professor Poey has continued his contributions of fishes from Cuba, 

 and has, in all, supplied a noteworthy proportion of the hundreds of 

 species known to occur in the vicinity of that island.- 



Dr. Nichols, of Dominica, has continued his donations of birds, mol- 

 lusks, &c., while from Mr. Morris, director of the public gardens and 

 plantations in Jamaica, many samples of valuable fibers have been 

 secured. 



Mexico and Central America. — Professor Alfred Duges, of Guanajuato, 

 Mexico, has continued his transmissions of objects of natural history, 

 among them being some rare species of birds, &c. Mr. McLeod, of 

 Jesus Maria, in Mexico, has also furnished some rare birds. 



As an ethnological contribution, Mr. Romero, the Mexican minister, 

 supplied a series of the playing cards and other gambling implements 

 of the Mexican Indians. 



The services of Mr. Aym^, late consul at Merida, were secured to 

 prosecute some investigations into the ethnology of Yucatan and West- 

 ern Mexico, especially with a view of showing the relationships between 

 the habits and manufactures of the Indians of those regions and those 

 of the southern portion of the United States. Several large collections 

 have already been received from him, and others of still greater moment 

 are on the way. 



Other collections, especially of birds, from Yucatan have been fur- 

 nished by Mr. Gaumer. 



On the occasion of establishing the boundary line between Guate- 

 mala and Mexico, the services of Prof. Miles Rock, of the Washington 

 Observatory, as astronomer, were secured by Guatemala, and he was 

 provided with a photographic apparatus, furnished by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and many interesting views of scenery were obtained and 

 forwarded to the Institution. 



Among the least known portions of Central America is the region 

 along the eastern coast of Honduras and the adjacent islands, and the 

 offer of Mr. Allstrom, an American engaged in mining researches in 

 that country, to make collections of natural history, &c., was gladly 

 accei)ted. No returns, however, have yet been received fiom hiua. 



