REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 69 



Arctic coast. — Captain EToaly and oflBcers of the revenue steamer ('or- 

 win Lave supi»lied collections of minerals, birds, fish, invertebrates, &c., 

 from Hotham Inlet and other points along the coast. 



Lieut. George M. Stoney, U. S. N., of the schooner Ounalaska, who 

 liad visited Arctic America and explored Hotham Inlet and the rivers 

 entering into it, obtained an interesting series of rocks from the volcano 

 in Behring's Sea. The collections made by him have not, however, yet 

 come to hand. 



Both Captain Hcaly and Lieutenant Stoney have furnished specimens 

 of some minerals which were sujjposed to be jade, but which proved to 

 be serpentine and gieen quartzite. 



The I'acitic Steam Whaling Company established during the year a 

 tlepot at Cape Lisburne, with Mr. D. Woolfe in command, for the i)ur- 

 pose of mining coal for the use of the whalers, and si^ecimens of this 

 coal and of the associated fossils have been furnished. 



The North Facijic. — Keference was made in a previous report to the 

 very important work accomplished by Dr. L. Stejneger in Kamtschatka 

 and the adjacent group of the Commander Islands. Through the cour- 

 tesy of Governor Grebnitski, in command of these islands, a number of 

 additional collections were received. 



Dr. Stejneger also received from Captain Hunter some skins and 

 skeletons of the mountain sheep of Kamtschatka. 



Alasl-o. — The Signal Service station at IN^ushagak, on Bristol Bay, has 

 been re-established by Mr. J. W. Johnson, from whom a collection of 

 birds was lately received, which was specially noteworthy as containing 

 sjiecimens of the Alaska willow wren and of the yellow wagtail, repre- 

 senting a locality many hundreds of miles further south than Saint 

 Michael's, the place of previous record. 



Mr. John J. ]\IcLean, of the Signal Service, stationed at Sitka, has 

 secured many ethnological objects of great rarity. 



Mr. W. J. Fischer, who is stationed by the Coast Survey at Kodiak, 

 has used many opportunities both there and in the adjacent regions to 

 continue his important work; this including much information in re- 

 gard to the manners and characteristics of the native tribes. 



From the Rev. J. Loomis Gould a collection of Indian carvings and 

 other articles of ethnology was obtained, representing some quite new 

 forms of aboriginal construction. 



Oregon and California. — From Oregon the most noteworthy collec- 

 tions are those furnished by Capt. Charles Bendire, at Fort Klamath. 



The returns from California consist of numerous collections of shells, 

 minerals, fossils, and archaeological objects from Mr. R. E. C. Stearns. 



Other specimens are birds from Mr, L. Beltling, and fossils from Mr. 

 C. R. Orcutt. 



Mr. Charles H. Townsend, of the United States Fish Commission, 

 has supplied the most extensive collection of mammals ever received 

 from California. The collection also embraces numerous skins, skele- 



