REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



69 



mounted and put in place — such as two grizzly bears, a cinnamon 

 bear, an antelope, a pair of mule deer, several wolves, &c. 



The labor of cataloguing, entering, and arranging the collections 

 has also been diligently continued during the year, as shown by the 

 accompanying table. Much assistance in this has been derived from 

 the voluntary services of Mr. Robert Kennicott, Mr. E. Coues, Mr. 

 Prentice, Mr. A. J. Falls, and others. 



Table exhibiting the entries in the record boohs of the Smithsonian Museum 

 in 1859, in continuation of previous years. 



The actual number of entries during the year amounts to 11,691, 

 being the difference between the aggregates of 1858 and 1859, and 

 2,343 more than the entries of 1858. As explained in previous re- 

 ports, these numbers are far from exhibiting the aggregate of speci- 

 mens catalogued, except in the case of mammals, birds, and osteolo- 

 gical preparations. 



Each entry generally includes all specimens of the same species re- 

 ceived at one time from a given locality, and may embrace hundreds 

 of individual objects. Thus in the oological catalogue, one number 

 covers 242 eggs of the white ibis, Ibis alba, received from Dr. Bean. 

 In a similar manner one entry of shells may embrace hundreds or 

 even thousands of specimens. It will not be too high an estimate, 

 probably far below it, to assume 5 specimens as the average to each 

 number, making 185,985 as the aggregate of objects entered on 

 the record books. 



At the present time there remain to be catalogued as many, proba- 

 bly, as 10,000 jars of fishes and other alcoholic specimens, independ- 

 ently of the entire series of the Crustacea, radiates, &c, collected by the 

 North Pacific andBehring Straits Expedition; the fishes of the Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition, in the hands of Professor Agassiz, embracing 

 over a thousand species; the skins of the birds of the same expedition; 

 and the shells, radiates, &c; many thousand series of fossils, vegeta- 

 ble and animal, both vertebrate and invertebrate; all the insects. 



