REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 55 



and the verification of references in the Bibliography of Dr. P. L. Sclater, 

 wliieh ^Yill shortly be published by the Museani as No. 49 of tlio Bulletin. 



A number of additional cases for the storage of specimens have been 

 provided. Several of these cases will be placed in the west basement, 

 and the remainder in the gallery. The extensive additions to the col- 

 lections during the last two or three years have rendered an entire 

 rearrangement necessary. Such a readjustment is made the more 

 urgent by the fact that the collections in the west basement are more 

 or less inaccessible, and to some extent exposed to the ravages of 

 insects. Tliat portion of the study series which is installed in the 

 bird gallery is in good condition. 



The material exhibited at the Cotton States and International Expo- 

 sition at Atlanta was returned and placed in position during the year. 



Mr. Richmond made a collecting trip to Smiths Island, Va., and Mr. 

 William Palmer, chief taxidermist, collected birds in Florida. Exjdo- 

 rations resulting in additions to the collections have also been under- 

 taken by twenty-four other persons, the names of some of them having 

 already been mentioned in this review. The names of the others will 

 be found in the accession list (Appendix ii). 



Material for investigation has been sent to thirteen different individ- 

 uals and establishments, and eight persons not connected with the 

 ^luseum have visited the building and made use of the collections. 



Thirty-six ])apers based ui)on material in this department have been 

 published during the year by the curator, assistant curator, and other 

 collaborators. In these pa])ers one new family, four new genera, and 

 thirty-four new species and subspecies are described. 



The number of specimens received, including those added to the 

 Department of Agriculture collection, was 8,488. This is the first year 

 in which any large number of specimens from the Department of Agri- 

 culture' have been entered. Although the material is the property of 

 the Museum, it is, as a matter of convenience, installed and catalogued 

 separately for the present. The total number of specimens in the col- 

 lection is now over 80,000. The addition of the duplicates would bring 

 the figures uj) to about 100,000. 



The catalogue entries for the year were as follows: 



IJogular catalogue 



Departnient of Agriculture catalogue. 

 Catalogue of the Boucai'd collection . . 



Last entry Last entry 

 June, 1895. June, 1896. 



150721 

 136130 

 146766 



152825 

 139687 

 149593 



DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS' EGGS. 



The honorary curator of this department, Maj. Charles Bendire, 

 states that the number of accessions was slightly less than during the 

 preceding year, but that the scientific value of the material received 



