REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 79 



Dumber of specimeus received and added to the Herbarium during- the 

 year was 10,81)7. For the last half of the year the curator has included 

 only those specimens which were actually placed in the collection. 

 Previously all specimens received had been counted. 



The space now occupied by the Herbarium is the east balcony of the 

 Museum building, with a floor area of lU by 02 feet, (bur tower rooms, 

 each 12 by 10 feet, and two anterooms, each 8 by 10 feet. Mr. Charles 

 Louis Pollard, of the Department of Agriculture, assists the curator 

 and assistant curator in the administration of the collection. 



A complete revision of the Herbarium has been found necessary 

 since the transfer to the Museum buildiug was made. New labels have 

 been added, and the determinations of species have been carefully 

 examined with a view to the correction of any errors. This revision 

 has already extended to the Rubiaceii?, and it is expected that it will be 

 completed during the coming fiscal year. 



The transfer to the main Herbarium of the collection hitherto stored 

 on the south balcony of the Museum building has also been com- 

 menced. The dicotyledonous trees and shrubs, geuera represented 

 in a fossil state, and the plants collected personally by Prof. Lester F. 

 Ward, who is in charge of the collection of fossil plants, will, however, 

 be retained for use in the department of paleontology. 



A series illustrating the flora of the District of Columbia will be 

 placed in a separate case, where it will be generally accessible to 

 students. 



Dr. Rose has undertaken the work of selecting and marking all the 

 type and cotype specimens in the Herbarium. The sheets to which 

 these specimens are attached are taken out, marked with a red label, 

 placed in a red folded cover, and then returned to their proper place in 

 the collection. During the year 16,505 specimens have been mounted. 

 A large part of this number consisted of specimens received in pre- 

 vious years, but not before mounted on account of lack of facilities for 

 the work. 



A revision of Prof. Lester F. Ward's "Gruide to the Flora of Wash- 

 ington and Vicinity" has been commenced by Professor Ward and Mr. 

 Pollard. Other Washington botanists will assist in special groups. 

 Monographic work for the " Systematic Botany of I^orth America" has 

 been commenced by the curator, Dr. Kose, and Mr. Pollard. Dr. Kose 

 has completed and published a report on the Mexican collections gath- 

 ered by Mr. Edward Palmer in 1890 and 1891. He has also continued 

 the identification of parts of the collections obtained by Mr. 0. G. 

 Pringle and Mr. E. W. Xelson in Mexico. Mr. Coville, in cooperation 

 with Mr. John B. Leiberg, has identified a large collection of plants 

 made by the latter in 1891 on the plains of eastern Oregon. 



The field agents of the Department of Agriculture have contributed 

 a large amount of material from Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and 

 Alaska. 



