KEPORT OF ASSISTANT SEOKETAKV. 43 



Revolutiou, tlicn in .session in tlie city. Tlie PresicUuit-oencnil and 

 other officers of the society received in the lecture hall. As th(>. build- 

 ing is a public one, no one who applied was denied admission, though 

 the attendance was chiefly made up of mem])ers of the society. The 

 total number present was 2,087. 



The meetings of the National Academy of Sciences were also held 

 this year in the Museum building* on April IT), K), and IT. Th<> offices 

 of the assistant secretary were used for the l)usiii('ss meetings of the 

 academy and eouncil, while the reading of [)ai)ers took })la<'e in the 

 lecture hall. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Museum correspondence, which has always been very hetivy, 

 increases in volume from year to year. Outside of ordiu'iry routine 

 matters, it is occasioned for the most part 1)y requests for informa- 

 tion, coming" from all parts of the world and relating to a wide range 

 of sul)jects. Specimens, often in large lots, are transmitted for iden- 

 titication, and (juestions are sul)mitted in regard to all branches of 

 knowledge falling within the Museum's scc^pe. The requests also 

 have reference to Museum administration, the building up and main- 

 tenance of collections, the construction of cases, the installation, label- 

 ing, and cataloguing of spec-imens, and, in fact, no topic connect(Hl 

 with a great museimi or suggested by its existence escapes notice. In 

 accordance with the time-honored custom of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, every comnuuiication made in good taitli and a[)pi"opriate to t)e 

 considered is fully answered, even though this necessitates incessant 

 demands upon the niendjers of the scientitic stafl', whose regular duties 

 are quite sufficient to occupy their entires time. The muuber of lots 

 of specimens determined and reported upon during the year at the 

 requ<'st of correspondents was nearly TOO. 



A considerable proportion of the work of furnishing information is 

 accomplished through the medium of Museum })ul)lications, of which 

 more than 2U,00(» volumes and pamphlets wen^ distributed during the 

 year, besides the sendings to regular correspondents. 



As the Museum has no facilities for making chemical analyses, 

 requests for work of this kind have to be refused. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The most noteworthy publication of the year was the first volume 

 of a monographic series by Mr. Robert Ridgway on the Birds of 

 North and Middle America, which appeared in the autumn of 11)01. 

 This volume describes the species of the family Fringillida' or Finches. 

 The families Tanagridae, Icteridie, Coerebidaj, and Mniotiltida', or 

 Tanagers, Troupials, Honey-creepers, and Wood-warblers will })e cov 



