REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 99 



balance of $3.21 remaining from the allotment of $24,250 for the prepa- 

 ration, installation, maintenance, and return of the exhibit. 



Mr. Oox assumed charge of the exhibit at Atlanta from November 

 9 to December 10, 1895, during the absence of Mr. E. E. Earll. 



CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS. 



This division remains under the charge of Mr. R. I. Geare. The 

 ofiice force includes two stenographers, one accession clerk, four index 

 and record clerks, one tile clerk, one comi)iler and proofreader, two 

 typewriters, and one messenger. The technical correspondence of the 

 Museum has steadily increased each year, and in 1895-9G more than 

 12,000 letters and other official papers were prepared in this office. 

 The formal acknowledgment of, and official correspondence connected 

 with, accessions to the Museum collections forms a special feature. 

 This division is also cliarged with the preparation and proof reading of 

 the administrative portion of the Annual Report of the Museum and 

 the proofreading and general editorial supervision of the pajiers in the 

 Appendix. For several years also the distribution of all Museum 

 publications has formed part of the work of this office. This entails a 

 large amount of routine work, such as tlie preparation of labels, the 

 revision of the mailing lists, etc. As a rule, about 15,000 volumes and 

 40,000 separates are distributed each year to libraries and individuals 

 on tlie regular mailing lists. In addition, ;),000 to 4,000 applications 

 for special papers and volumes are received annually. 



During the year were distributed the Report of the Museum for 1893, 

 Volume XVII of Proceedings of the ISTational Museum, the separate 

 papers iu Volume xviii (No. 1033 to 1082, excepting three papers which 

 were delayed), and the last paper (No. 1032) in Volume xvii. Advance 

 sheets of two papers containing descriptions of remarkable new genera 

 and species of batrachians and crustaceans obtained by the United 

 States Fish Commission from an artesian well at San Marcos, Tex., and 

 a third, containing preliminary diagnoses of new mammals from the 

 Mexican border of the United States, collected by Dr. E. A. Mearns, 

 United States Army, of the International Boundary Commission, have 

 been printed and distributed. These papers will appear in Volume 

 xviii of Proceedings. 



A supplemental edition of Part "F" of Bulletin No. 39, ''Directions 

 for Collecting and Preserving Insects," by the late Prof. C. Y. Riley, 

 was received from the printer in September, and hardly a day passes 

 in which several requests for it are not received; nearly 4,000 copies 

 have been already distributed. 



Circular No. 47 was issued during the year. The purpose of this 

 pamphlet is to specify the conditions upon which the Museum will 

 undertake the examination of mollusks sent for identification. The 

 sending of material of this kind to the Museum has increased very 

 greatly during recent years, and as in almost every instance its return 



