REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 49 



BOTANY. 



Botanical specimens have been received from the Auckland Museum, 

 Auckland, New Zealand (through Prof. T. F. Cheeseman, director), 

 for which an equivalent lias been scut. 



MINERALS. 



Prof. A. Streng, G-iessen, Germany, transmitted minerals, for which 

 an equivalent will be sent. 



GKOLOGt ■ 



Mr. II. N'. Worth, Plymouth. England, transmitted ores and geologi- 

 cal material in exchange for specimens already sent. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The public demand for the publications of the Museum is constantly in- 

 creasing, but comparatively few applications can be favorably considered 



on account of the very limited appropriation for printing. Some years 

 ago both the Proceedings and Bulletins of the Museum Mere reprinted 

 by the Smithsonian Institution in its Miscellaneous Collections. By this 

 means it was possible to supply a large number of libraries with these 

 publications. The Institution has, however, for several years ceased to 

 do this. The entire distribution of these publications now falls upon 

 the Museum, and with an edition of only 3,000 copies of the Proceed- 

 ings and of the Bulletins, it is evident that a large number of deserving 

 libraries must be excluded from the mailing-list, as well as many stu- 

 dents to whom these volumes would be of great assistance, 



REPORTS <>F THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



During the year the Report for 1889 was distributed. This volume 

 contains the following papers: 



1. The museums of the future. By G. Brown Goode. 



2. Te Pito Te Henna, or Easter Island. By William J. Thomson, paymaster, 

 U. S. Navy. 



3. Aboriginal skin dressing ; a study based on material in the 1". S. National 

 Museum. By Otis T. Mason. 



4. The puma, or American lion (Felis concolqr <>f Linnaeus). Bj Frederick W. 

 True. 



">. Animals recently extinct, or threatened with extermination, as represented in 

 the collection of the U. s. National Museum. By Frederic A. Lucas. 



6. The development of the American rail and track, as illustrated by the collection 

 in the U. S. National Museum. By J. Elfreth Watkins. 



7. Explorations in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1887, made in connection with 

 the cruise of the U. S. Fish Commission Schooner Grampus. By Frederic A. Lucas. 



8. (>n a bronze Buddha in the Q. S. National Museum (repriut). By Charles De 

 Kay. 



The manuscript of the reports for 1890 and 1891 has been transmitted 

 to the Public Printer. 



H. Mis. 114, pt. 2 4 



