42 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



specimens have been received from the officers, especially from Oapt. 

 C. M. Scammon, Captain Hodgden, Captain White, Capt. J. G. Baker, 

 Captain Howard, and numerous others. Indeed, there is scarcely an 

 annual list of contributions to the National Museum that does not em- 

 brace a donation of greater or less magnitude from that office, and the 

 archives of the Smithsonian Institution have further been enriched by 

 valuable communications on natural history and ethnological subjects. 



As another example of co-operation, mention may be made of the help 

 extended by the Institution to the two Doctors Kraus, gentlemen sent 

 to America in the early part of the year 1881 by the Geographical 

 Society of Bremen for the purpose of carrying on ethnological and bio- 

 logical researches on the Asiatic shores of Behrings Straits. Com- 

 mended to the Institution by Dr. Lindeman, and others, letters of in- 

 troduction were furnished to persons in San Francisco, and a permit 

 was obtained from the Secretary of the Treasury authorizing the ship- 

 ment of ammunition and supplies for making natural history collections. 

 The Smithsonian Institution also furnished a quantity of alcohol for the 

 I)reservation of fishes and marine invertebrates. 



These gentlemen embarked on a schooner at San Francisco, and were 

 last heard from at St. Lawrence Bay in Siberia. At that time they had 

 secured quite a number of specimens, and were prosecuting their re- 

 searches among the Tschuches. 



The Coast and Geodetic Survey, also a bureau of the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, has continued its favors in authorizing the officers in charge of 

 shore parties or of hydrographic work to utilize any convenient oppor- 

 tunity at their command in collecting specimens for the National Mu- 

 seum. Very valuable collections were made during the year bj'- Com- 

 mander Nichols, in charge of the Coast Survey steamer " Hassler.'' 

 These embraced fishes and reptiles from ^lazatlan and elsewhere, along 

 the coast of Lower California, from Upper California, and from Alaska. 

 Quite a number of new species of fishes have already been described 

 from this collection. 



In previous years many contributions were made by Lieut. Wm. P. 

 Trowbridge, Mr. Wm. H. Dall, and others of the Coast Survey, which 

 are among the most important accessions to the National Museum. 



In this connection it should not be forgotten that the recent explora- 

 tions by Mr. Alexander Agassiz, in connection with the physical and 

 natural history of the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, have been 

 made under the direct patronage of thet]!oast Survey, and that the first 

 series of all collections, embracing many new and rare species, are, by 

 law, the property of the National Museum. 



The Light-House Board of the Treasury Department has also contin- 

 ued its aid. This has been extended more particularly in the way of 

 instructions to keepers of light-houses and light-ships to make observa- 

 tions in regard to the temperature of the air and of the water and of the 

 occurrence of the phenomena of migrations of marine animals. With 



