40 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



those of ethnology and of various branches of natural history. Similar 

 credit to be given in this case as is required in the former. 



Horace Capron, 

 Commissioner of ArjriciUture. 

 Joseph Henry, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 



The following is an account of the more important additions which 

 have been made to the collection in the Agricultural Department by the 

 Institution since the transfer of the general herbarium in 1808 : 



1. A set of European plants, numbering about four hundred species, 

 presented by Professor Paul Eeintz, of Germany, in exchange, at h,is 

 request, for specimens of American plants. 



2. A second very extensive collection of plants from the Imperial 

 Academy of St. Petersburg, in return for donations from the Institution. 

 This present, like all of those we have received from the Imperial Academy, 

 is of a most valuable character. It consists of eleven hundred species 

 from Russia, Siberia, Western Europe, and Japan. 



3. Another large collection is from the widow of the late ]\[r. James 

 McMinn, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, principally of plants from the 

 mountainous regions of Pennsylvania, but also comprising specimens 

 from other parts of this country and different localities in Europe. Mr. 

 McMinn was a civil engineer, and in the practice of his profession in 

 surveying lines for railways and canals became interested in the variety 

 of plants which were presented to his notice, and as a means of recre- 

 ation, as well as of intellectual improvement, commenced the study of 

 botany. It would appear from the examination of his herbarium, that he 

 had entered into extensive correspondence with some of the principal 

 botanists of this country and Europe, and had enriched his collection 

 by exchanges. His herbarium contained about live thousand species, 

 among v>^hich is aninteresting series of plants from the Alps. The special 

 thanks of the Institution are due to Mrs. McMinn for the judicious dis- 

 position she has made of the results of the labors of her lamented hus- 

 band, which we trust will be preserved among the collections of the 

 Government, as a ])ermanent memorial of his devotion to science and 

 of her enlightened liberality. 



Besules the foregoing there have been added several hundred bottles 

 of samples of agricultural materials and products, numerous specimens 

 of seeds, roots, fibers, fungi, sections of wood, &c. 



Work done in connection with the collections. — Professor Baird, during 

 the past year, in addition to his services in regard to the exchanges, 

 natural history, and assistance in correspondence, has completed the 

 systematic description of the land birds of the Pacific States, forming 

 the first volume of ornithology published, in connection with its geo- 

 logical survey, by the State of California. The materials for this work 



