324 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



share of the scientific publications of the curators of the Museum, 

 whose investigations have very naturally been based for the most part 

 on the collections under their care. The " Proceedings " is a great store- 

 house of facts relating to natural history, and especially in the field of 

 systematic zoloogy, but the work of every department of the Museum 

 is refiected in its pages. 



A few years before the establishment of the " Proceedings," in 1875, 

 the Museum began the publication of a series of monographic works, 

 under the general title of the "Bulletin of the United States National 

 Museum," which in 1895 had reached 49 numbers. This series does not 

 difi'er essentially in character from the " Proceedings," but comprises 

 for the most part works too large to be conveniently included in the 

 latter journal and generally of a more comprehensive scope. 



The regular series of both "Proceedings" and "Bulletin" are in 

 octavo, but the Museum has also published three numbers of the latter 

 series, as "Special Bulletins," in quarto. Two of these contain "Life 

 Histories of North American Birds, with special reference to their 

 breeding habits and eggs," by Major Beudire, and the third, a treatise 

 on "Oceanic Ichthyology," by Dr. Goode and Dr. Tarleton II. Bean. 



The report of the Board of Eegents of the Smithsonian Institution 

 until 1884 consisted each year of a single volume in which was included 

 a statement of the operations of the National Museum. The report of 

 1884, however, and those of subsequent years have been published in 

 two volumes, of which one is devoted exclusively to a statement of the 

 work of the Museum. In connection with the administrative reports 

 contained in these volumes has been published a series of illustrated 

 papers of a nontechnical character descriptive of various collections in 

 the Museum. These papers have the same interest for nonprofessional 

 readers that the technical papers in the "Proceedings" have for inves- 

 tigators, and the demand for them reveals a widespread interest in 

 zoology, botany, anthropology, and those other subjects with which 

 the work of the Museum has been most closely connected. 



