REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT Si:CRETARY. 25 



There were i)rinte(l on the Museum press 120,727 labels, representing 

 2,480 forms; 103,352 blanks, representing 73 forms; 30,500 letter heads, 

 representing 7 t'orins; 15,575 envelopes, representing 10 forms, and 

 50,258 copies of miscellaneous matter, representing 31 forms; total, 

 332,412 items, representing 2,010 forms. Of the labels printed, 40,701, 

 representing 1,045 forms, were for the exhibit of the Museum at the 

 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. 



LIBRARY. 



Tlie librarian. Dr. Cyrus Adler, states that tlie increase in tlie library 

 has been larger than in any previous year, that more books have been 

 withdrawn, and that the work of the library is progressing satisfactorily 

 in all its branches. 



The accessions for the year were as follows: Books, 707; pamphlets, 

 1,852; parts of periodicals, 13,035; total, 10.194. These ligures include 

 the publications retained from the accessions to the library of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, which were as follows: Books, 373; pamphlecs, 

 1,303 ; periodicals, 8,11 7. One thousand books belonging to the Smith- 

 sonian deposit were bound at the Covernnient bindery, and 178 were 

 bound at the expense of the ^luseum appropriation. 



More than 9,000 books were borrowed during the year, of which 4,000 

 were assigned to sectional libraries. 



The Smithsonian Institution has, as heretofore, rendered aid in secur- 

 ing the loan of books from the Library of Congress needed for reference 

 in the Museum. 



There are n<nv twenty-one authorized sectional libraries, as follows: 



Aduiiuistratiou. Materia iiiodica. 



Birds. Meso/oic fossils. 



Botany. Mineralogy. 



Comparative anatomy. Mollnsks. 



Ethnology. Oriental antif|nities. 



Fishes. Paleobotany. 



Geology. Parasites. 



History. Photography. 



Insects. Prehistoric anthropology. 



Mammals. Reptiles. 



Marine invertebrates. 



An examination has been made of all these sectional libraries, and 

 with a few exceptions they are in good condition and well cared for. 



A list of the accessions to the library by gift and exchange, during 

 the hscal year ending June 30, 1897, is printed in Appendix III. 



CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE YEAR TO SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



Many important monographs and papers, based upon Museum 

 material, have been ]>ublislied during the year. The titles of these 

 papers, together with abstracts of their contents, are printed in full in 



