REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37 



Smithsonan Insititution, through the courtesy of the State Department, 

 has issued circuhirs to the foreign representatives of the United States, 

 asking lirst, whether there is a national pharmacopceia in the country 

 to which accredited, and second, requesting that copies if published be 

 sent to the Institution. Eesponses have very generally been received, 

 and a very complete collection of liliarmacopoeias is at present in Doctor 

 Flint's possession, from which to prepare the list referred to. 



Special Contributions. — The explorations of the United States Fish 

 Commission have added greatly to the material at the command of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, both for research and distribution. The many 

 new and rare species of fishes collected by the commission constitute 

 a very important advance in our knowledge of the deep seas. Besides 

 enriching the National Museum, the large mass of duplicate specimens 

 will enable the Institution to continue its distribution of labeled suites 

 of species to a large number of educational establishments in the 

 country. 



Prof. Felipe Poey, of Havana, furnishes a supply of living reptiles for 

 the use of the modelers, and also rare fishes, types of many new species 

 described by himself. 



Mr. Livingston Stone has furnished large important collections of 

 fossils as well as of recent animals, from the United States Fish hatch- 

 ery, on the McCloud River, California, a region of very great ethnolog- 

 ical and zoological interest. 



Hon. John M. Langston, United States minister to Hayti, has con- 

 tributed some valuable collections of the corals of the islands, quite a 

 number of which were new to the collection. 



Mr. C. C. Leslie, an extensive fish dealer of Charleston, S. C, lias con- 

 tinued his collections in the line of ichthyology from the shores of his 

 State. 



Mr. Silas Stearns, a fish dealer in Pensacola, has also added mate- 

 rially to the very large number of fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, previ- 

 ously presented by him. To Mr. Stearns we are indebted for quite a 

 number of entirely new species, which have been or will be described in 

 the i>rocedings of the National Museum. 



In addition to the collections of fishes and marine invertebrates by 

 the main parties of the United States Fish Commission, Col. M. Mc- 

 Donald, in charge of the station for hatching Spanish mackerel at 

 Cherrystone, in Chesapeake Bay, made a large collection, embracing 

 many rarities. 



In the earlier volumes of the reports of the Institution frequent men- 

 tion is made of contributions to the National Museum by Mr. R. Mac- 

 Farlane, of the Hudson Bay service, while stationed at Fort Yucon, 

 Fort Anderson, and elsewhere ; and even to the present time the early 

 collections of Mr. MacFarlane stand pre-eminent. To him is due more 



