44 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



DISTRIBUTION OF DUPLICATES. 



The demand for zoological material 1 ) y educational institutions showed 

 no abatement during the year. Nearl}^ all the sets of duplicate speci- 

 mens prepared some years ago have now been distributed, and it will 

 be Jieccssary to form additional series at no distant date. Eighteen of 

 the educational sets of marine invertebrates and eleven special sets were 

 distriljuted. 



TREPARATIONS FOR THE PATs'^-AMERICAX EXPOSITION. 



The head curator of the department was appointed representative of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum for the Pan-Ameri- 

 can Exposition, to be held at Buffalo, in 1901. A plan for the exhibi- 

 tion of an outline series representing the vertebrate fauna of America 

 was formed at an early date, and in February, 1900, Doctors Stejneger 

 and Richmond were detailed to make collections in Porto Rico and other 

 islands of the Antilles, and Messrs. William Palmer and J. H. Riley in 

 Cuba. As already mentioned, a large amount of valuable zoological 

 and botanical material was ol)tained. Taxidermic work for the expo- 

 sition has been carried on during the year. 



PERSONNEL. 



On July 10, 1899, Mr. W. R. Maxon received temporary appoint- 

 ment as aid in the Division of Plants, and on November 16, 1899, he 

 was regularly added to the staff and was assigned to the section of 

 Cryptogamic collections. Mr. Sidney I. Wilson, of St. Joseph, Mo., 

 spent several months in the Division of Birds as a volunteer assistant, 

 with the purpose of increasing his knowledge of ornithology. The 

 Museum has profited b}^ the cooperation of Mr. H. C. Oberholser, who 

 determined several collections of birds during the year. Professor 

 Greene contributed valua])le expert services in the preparation of sets 

 of herbarium specimens of the various species of violets. 



