REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 27 



from its mouth to the Grand Dalles, a distance of about one hundred 

 and seventy miles, and was, as is usual among the sedentary Indians 

 of the west, broken up into numerous bands. Mr. Hale, in his Eth- 

 nography of the United States Exploring. Expedition, has divided 

 these into the Upper and Lower Chinook. The present vocabulary 

 belongs to those nearest the mouth of the river, of which there were 

 five principal bands. The language of the bands further up the river 

 departs more and more widely from the Chinook proper ; indeed, so 

 much so that the lower Indians could not have understood the upper 

 ones without an interpreter. This vocabulary is not as full as could 

 be wished, and the only reason for publishing it in its present condition 

 is that the Indians speaking the language are so nearly extinct that 

 no better digest is likely to be made in future. 



In regard to the 5th article of the above series, the Monograph of 

 Bats of North America, it may be stated that the mammalia of this 

 continent have been studied and described generally by Audubon, 

 Bacliman, and also b}^ Professor Baird of this Institution. These 

 authors, however, have not included in their descriptions the cheirop- 

 tera, or bats. • To supply this deficiency, Dr. Allen, of Philadelphia, 

 has given his attention for several years to the careful study of 

 the specimens of this animal in the principal museums of this country, 

 and has presented the result of his labors to the Institution in the 

 form of the monograph above mentioned. In this a detailed descrip- 

 tion is given of each of the genera and species with wood-cut figures of 

 the skulls, heads, ea*s, and tails of such species as require this mode of 

 illustration. The wood-cuts of this paper have been completed and 

 the manuscript is now in the hands of the printer. 



I may mention that the Institution is indebted to Mr. Figaniere, 

 Portugese minister, for a very graphic account of an immense assem- 

 blage of bats which had been colonized for years in the upper part 

 of a mansion house which he had purchased in Marjdand. This ac- 

 count will be republished in the appendix to this report, as well as 

 in the paper of Dr. Allen just described. 



Heports. — The annual reports to Congress are printed at the ex- 

 pense of the government as public documents, with the exception of 

 the wood-cuts, the cost of which is paid by the Institution. Previous 

 to 1853 the reports were principally confined to an exposition of the 

 operations of the Institution, and were published in pamphlet formj 

 but since that date an appendix has been added to each report, which, 

 with the other matter, has increased the size to that of a volume of 

 four hundred and fifty pages. These reports now form a series of ten 



