REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 37 



Hitherto the Museam has had no botanical exhibition series, except 

 a small collectiou of specimens of native and foreign woods, pictures of 

 trees, etc., intended to illustrate the siibject of forestry. This collection 

 was withdrawn from exhibition some years ago. To form a really 

 significant botanical exhibit it is recognized that it will be necessary to 

 begin de novo. Any advance in this direction is hedged about by dif- 

 ficulties because of iusnfficient space. A beginning has, however, been 

 made by mounting under glass a representative series of seaweeds. 

 To these it is the intention to add outline series representing other 

 groups of plants, and to supplement these by special exhibits, such as 

 illustrations of poisonous plants, models of poisonous and edible fungi, 

 etc. The plans for these are, however, subject to modification in the 

 coming months, and it is even jwssible that the construction of galleries 

 in the ranges, and in particular in tlie southeast range, for which pro- 

 vision was made by Congress, will prevent any further installation of 

 exhibition collections during the coming year. 



The additions to the zoological and botanical collections during the 

 year have been very numerous, and in some directions unusually 

 important. First should be mentioned the donation by Messrs. Henry 

 G. Hubbard and E. A. Schwarz of their collection of Coleoptera, 

 principally North American, comprising about 200,000 specimen^, and 

 representing, approximately, 12,000 species. The addition of this great 

 and important collectiou places the National Museum in advance of all 

 others as regards North American Coleoptera, and the generosity of 

 the donors in presenting this vast amount of material, which they 

 have accumulated with so much labor and expense, can not be too 

 highly extolled. 



The labors of Dr. W. L. Abbott, who for so many years has been a 

 most generous benefactor of the Museum, demand liberal commenda- 

 tion. During the past year this indefatigable collector presented to 

 the Museum large collections of birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and 

 other animals from Lower Siam and Kashmir. The Abbott collection 

 comprises the larger portion of the most valuable Old World material of 

 the Museum. Dr. W. L. Ralph has continued his valuable gratuitous 

 additions to the collection of birds' eggs, and in this connection should 

 also be mentioned the gift of Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Ann Arbor, 

 Michigan, comprising more than 600 bird skins, 900 eggs, and 250 

 birds' nests from the Philippine Islands. The friendly cooperation of 

 Dr. L. T. Chamberlain has resulted in large additions to the collection 

 of fresh- water mussels. The largest acquisition of the year in this direc- 

 tion was the gift of Dr. R. Ellsworth Call, of Cincinnati, comprising 

 over 86,000 specimens. Mr. Outram Bangs, of Boston, Massachusetts, 

 presented a very interesting series of bird skins, 170 in number, from 

 Santa Marta, Colombia. 



The additions to the herbarium for the year exceed 40,000 specimens, 

 of which about one-half were obtained by purchase. Gifts of plants 



