REPORT OF THE SECRETARY: NATIONAL MUSEUM 71 



Washington, D.C., under an appropriation of $10,000 in the second 

 deficiency bill of 1931 and have been approved by the Fine Arts 

 Commission. The building of these wings has been submitted as the 

 principal construction project recommended for the Smithsonian 

 Institution under the National Industrial Recovery Act. If the 

 required funds are allotted, the first major step in the plan for ade- 

 quate museums and galleries under the Institution will be under way, 

 and work can begin on the construction without delay. 



COLLECTIONS 



Steady addition of excellent material to the collections continued 

 throughout the year, the new accessions including hundreds of speci- 

 mens of the most valuable land. They came in 1,698 separate 

 accessions, with a total of 348,012 specimens, divided among the 

 various departments as follows: Anthropology, 4,877 ; biology, 295,782 ; 

 geology, 37,555; arts and industries, 4,261 ; history, 5,537. Statement 

 regarding some of the important additions will be found in the reports 

 of the departments that follow, and they are all included in the acces- 

 sion list. The total increase for the previous year was 157,870 speci- 

 mens of all kinds. 



For examination and report 1,575 lots of material were received, 

 including much of a botanical and geological nature, and many indi- 

 vidual specimens. Part was returned by request to the senders, 

 when it was not consumed during analysis, and part retained for the 

 collections under arrangement with the donors. 



Gifts of specimens to schools and other educational organizations 

 numbered 5,558 specimens, including collections of mollusks and 

 fishes, sets to illustrate rock weathering and soils, and illustrative 

 groups of rocks, ores, and minerals. Exchanges of duplicate materials 

 with other institutions and individuals totaled 45,872 specimens, and 

 12 specimens were transferred to other departments. Loans to 

 workers outside of Washington numbered 24,552 individual specimens. 



Following is a summary of specimens now covered in the Museum 

 catalogs: 



AnthropoloRj' 672, 022 



Biology 10,815,307 



Geology 2, 127,718 



Arts and industries 115, 467 



History 488, 788 



Total 14,219,302 



EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD WORK 



Investigations in the field covered the usual wide range of interests 

 connected with man, the lower animals, and plants, both living and 

 extinct. The work was carried on mainly through grants from the 



