REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 59 



impossible to give any definite statistics in relation thereto. It would be an 

 advanta,i;e if this collection could be moved into one of the tower rooms, atlordiug 

 more liglit for microscopic study, but there is, unfortunately, no room ou the balcony 

 floor available for the ])reparator8 now at work in the tower. 



In alludiiio- to explorations, the honorary curator states that valu- 

 able collections have in several instances been obtained by employees 

 of the Museum sent out to obtain materials in other groups. Mr. 

 Charles Schuchert made collections during a tri}) to Alabama and ]\[is- 

 sissippi in October, I.SIX), and Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, during- his trip 

 to the islands of Bering Sea, obtained a number of specimens. Mr. 

 Pollard, assistant curator, collected a quantity of material while on 

 leave from the Museum. Full sets of the specimens collected in Mexico 

 by ^Messrs. Xelson and Pringle have been purchased. These are of 

 great value. The explorations of the field agents of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and the Fish Commission have also resulted in the 

 acquisition of much important material. 



Specimens for study and determination have been sent to fourteen 

 specialists daring the year, and a number of persons have made deter- 

 minations and prosecuted investigations in the department. A more 

 extended reference to these matters will be found in another place. 



The following i)aragraphs, from the report of the honorary curator, 

 relating to the scientific work of the members of the staff, are of 

 interest : 



Mr. Coville has been engaged, in connection with Mr. John B. Leiberg, tield- 

 agont of the Department of Agriculture, in preparing a synopsis of the botany of 

 the northwest, based ou the collections made in that region under the auspices 

 of the Department and deposited in the National Herbarium. Mr. Coville has also 

 continued work on the Pan-American Medicinal Flora, which is now in satisfactory 

 condition, due in part to the cooperation of Drs. Havard and Rusby. 



Mr. Hose has made determinations of the Polypetahe in the Me.\ican collections 

 of Messrs. Nelson, Pringle, and others, and has also begun the determination of 

 Dr. Palmer's large collection from the vicinity of Durango, Mexico. He has pub- 

 lished several reports on this work from time to time. In the fall of 1896 he was 

 commissioned by the Museum to visit the herbaria of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Sciences, Columbia University in New York, and Harvard University for the jjur- 

 pose of studying the types of Mexican species. In addition, he has revised the 

 genus Chnjmsj)lfinium in North America, and, in connection with Prof. John M. 

 Coulter, the genus IJIaopsh (Crantzia). 



Mr. Pollard has continued his work on the new edition of The Flora of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, which it is proposed to publish as a bulletin of the National 

 Museum. In .January Mr. Pollard was commissioned by the Museum to visit the 

 herbarium of Columbia University in New York City, wh(sre he spent a week with 

 Dr. N. L. Hritton preparing the manuscript for the treatment of the family Cypera- 

 cea". for the work above referred to. Mr. Pollard has also coutiiuusd work on the 

 Violacea- and Gentianaceie for the Systematic P>otany of North America. 



More than thirty papers, based upon Museum material, have been 

 published during the year by members of the staff of the department 

 and other specialists. The titles of these papers will be found in the 

 Bibliography (Appendix IV). 



The thanks of the Museum are due to Mrs. O. F. Cook, who spent 



