20 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



C— THE CONDITION OF THE COLLECTIONS. 



The custodiausliii) of the specimens of the several departriieilts has 

 been coiiscieutiously fiiliilled by the curators with the assistance of the 

 various preparators. I am couiident that the material in the i)ossessiou 

 of the Museum has never been in better condition than it is at the 

 present time. 



i). A PROVISIONAL CENSUS OF THE COLLECTIONS. 



Estimated namljvr of fipi'timcns now in the several departments of the National Museum.* 



Ko. of specimeus. 

 Department of Arts and Industries : 



(a) Materia mcdica 4, 442 



(6) Textile industries .: 2,000 



(c) Fisheries 5, 000 



(d) Animal products 1,000 



(e) Na%'al architecture 600 



(/) Foods 1,580 



Department of Ethnology 200,000 



Department of Antiquities 45,252 



Department of Prehistoric Pottery 12,000 



Department of Mammals j ^^^"^ ^^'^ alcoholic specnnens 5, 694 ? ^ g^g 



^ < Skulls and skeletons 4,214 i 



Department of Birds 50, 350 



Department of Birds' Eggs 40,072 



Department of Reptiles and Batrachians ...... 23, 495 



Department of Fishes 68, 000 



Dei)artnient of Comparative Anatomy (department not organized) 3,000 



Department of Mollusks 400,000 



Department of Insects 150, 000 



Department of Marine Invertebrates 200,000 



Department of Invertebrate Fossils (Paleozoic). -^ 73,000 



Department of Invertebrate Fossils (Mesozoic and Cenozoic) 100, 000 



Department of Plants, fossil and recent 7, 291 



Department of Mineralogy 16, 610 



Department of Lithology and Physical Geology 18, 000 



Department of Metallurgy and Econonuc Geology 40, 000 



Total 1,471,000 



10. ASSIGNMENT OF SPACE. 



There hfls been made no material change in the assignment of exhi- 

 bition space, as described on page 2 of my report for 1883. The north- 

 west court will probably be opened during 1885 with the collections of 

 North American pottery. The exhibition space for the collections of 

 the metallurgical department will shortly be increased by the opening 

 of the southwest court. 



In the Smithsonian building the four main halls are occupied as they 

 were in 1883, and as follows: Main ball, Ornithology; upper main 



"These estimates do not take into account the actual number of specimens, but 

 refer to "lots" of specimens, which nniy include <me or several hundred, but which 

 fire incln(hMl in a single entry of the Museum register. 



