50 REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 



douors, is liow iu the Metallurgical Department, a conspicuous and 

 attractive portion of the Museum. 



A very important service has been rendered to the Institution during 

 the year by Capt. Charles Bendire, of the First Cavalry. This officer 

 was detailed on an Army Board, and utilized the opportunity of his 

 abode in Washington for a number of months by completely reorganiz- 

 ing and rearranging the collection of eggs of birds contained in the 

 National Museum. In the course of this operation he presented and 

 interpolated the whole of his own collection of eggs, which was the finest 

 extant, so far as western America is concerned, and well supplied with 

 the species of the Eastern States, as well as those of Europe. Dr. J, C. 

 Merrill, of the Army, was prevailed upon to present his very fine col- 

 lection, which filled some of the few gaps in Captain Bendire's series. 



The National Museu-n and Smithsonian Institution are not only 

 greatly indebted to Captain Bendire for the douation of one of the.most 

 important contributions it has ever received butralso for the scientific 

 service rendered and for the accurate identification, labelling, and ar- 

 rangement, in an extremely attractive and novel manner, of the entire 

 series. The collection is now considered, to be iu excellent order, and 

 occupies one of the small rooms adjacent to the northeastern pavilion. 



Among the desiderata of the National Museum, and one necessary to 

 complete its material for study and exhibition, is that of a collection of 

 plants from the different regions of the globe, and for obtaining which 

 no opportunity has hitherto presented itself. A very satisfactory ar- 

 rangement was made with Prof. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, to secure 

 the duplicates of what is known as the Joad Herbarium. Mr. Joad was 

 a botanist and much interested in the subject, and, having the means at 

 his command, brought together, iu the course of his long life, one of 

 the most extensive private collections of plants known to men of science. 

 This collection went at his death,, by bequest, to the Eoyal-Gardens at 

 Kew, London, and as that establishment had the greater number of 

 the species represented on its shelves, it transferred the collection to 

 the Herbarium at Cambridge, Mass. This collection also was uearly 

 complete, and after selecting coml^aratively few desiderata, Professor 

 Gray, in charge, offered to the Smithsonian Institution the remainder 

 on condition of payment of freight from London, agreeing, at the same 

 time, to attend without cost, to the poisoniug of the specimens, their 

 arrangement and proper labelling in suitable ^lortfolios. All this was 

 accomplished at a cost of a little over $500, and a collection of over 

 10,000 species is now in the Museum and at the seryice of students. 



At the close, in 1884, of the foreign exhibition he?d in Boston, which 

 opened in 1883, a large number of exhibits were contributed to the lu- 

 scitution by foreign governments and commercial exhibitors. These, 

 with other donations of greater or less interest, will be noted in the-re- 

 port of Mr. Goode, the assistant director. I may mention here, how- 

 ever, that among the contributions of this character were the greater 



