EEPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 15 



dignified, and accessible, with extensive halls and ample accommodations 

 for its collections and activities. Such a house provided, it may take 

 its proper place among the great museums of the world. The inter- 

 ests of the Government and of research will be promoted, the public 

 will secure its proper measure of advantages, educational establish- 

 ments throughout the country will be benefited, and a museum worthy 

 of the generous people all over the United States who have lavished 

 gifts upon it, of the patient toil of the man}" scientific men who have 

 given it the best years of their lives, often without hope of reward, 

 and of this great, prosperous, and enlightened nation will grace the 

 national capital. 



IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS AND WORK OF THE YEAR. 



The additions to the collections in the various departments aggrega- 

 ted considerably over 200,000 objects. The most important accession 

 was the so-called Marsh collection of fossil vertebrates received from 

 the United States Geological Survey. Its contents can not as yet be 

 fully determined, as the matrix still hides many of the specimens, but the 

 latter range from small teeth to more or less perfect skeletons weigh- 

 ing from 500 to 2,000 pounds apiece. The total weight of the collection 

 is over 80 tons, and its value, at a rough estimate, has been placed at 

 not less than $150,000. Another noteworthy acquisition b}" the Depart- 

 ment of Geology was the collection of minerals belonging to the late 

 Prof. C. U. Shepard, consisting of over 5,000 specimens, among which 

 are many rareties and much of historical value, including a large num- 

 ber of Professor Shepard's types. The meteorite collection, which has- 

 been increased to 742 specimens, now ranks among the largest in the 

 world, while in the field of paleobotany the National Museum has 

 become the center of S3'stematic work. 



Dr. William L. Abbott, in continuation of many past favors, has con- 

 tributed nearly 1,200 specimens of mammals, birds, and batrachians, 

 besides a large quantity of material in other groups, the results of his 

 explorations among the islands of the China Sea, and in Trong, Lower 

 Siam, and Singapore. Other large and valuable additions have been 

 the birds, mollusks, insects, and plants of the E. H. Harriman Alaskan 

 Expedition; the unique collection of spiders belonging to the late Dr. 

 George Marx; many birds from Hawaii and Colombia; large numbers 

 of bats from the West Indian region; and fishes from both sides of 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



The additions to the herbarium numbered over 27,000 specimens, 

 mainly from the Southern and Western States, Alaska, Mexico, and 

 Europe. 



In anthropology over 33,716 objects Avere received, among them 

 many of great scientific and historical value. A large number of these 



