60 REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



will, however, be a comparatively easy matter to complete the defi- 

 ciencies of the Smithsonian collection so as to furnish, in a few years, 

 as perfect a collection of the natural productions of North America 

 generally as could reasonably be expected. In most cases, it will be 

 merely necessary ibr the Institution to express a desire to possess such 

 collections from the Atlantic and middle portions of the continent to 

 have them offered spontaneously. Hitherto it has not been consid- 

 ered expedient to throw the doors open very wide for the reception of 

 the more common and better known species. 



Of collections from other parts of the world, the Institution possesses 

 excellent series in many branches of natural history from Paraguay, 

 Chili, Europe, Siberia, China, Japan, South Africa, and the Pacific 

 ocean generally. The results of the Paraguay expedition under Cap- 

 tain Page, United States navy, and the Behring Straits expedition, 

 first under command of Captain Ringgold, and then under Captain 

 Rodgers, are of pre-eminent magnitude and value, far exceeding, in 

 many respects, those of any previous exploring parties to the same 

 region. 



In illustration of the preceding remarks respecting collections in 

 North American zoology, it may be stated that the series of verte- 

 brata is almost complete, very few known species being wanting. 

 Skins of all the more prominent mammals, as buffalo, elk, deer of 

 five species, antelopes, mountain goats, bighorn or mountain sheep, 

 black, cinnamon, and grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, beaver, badger, 

 otters, prairie dogs, and marmots, peccaries, panther, jaguar, ocelot 

 or tiger cat, lynxes of four species, wolverine or carcajou, &c , are 

 now packed away within the walls of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 ready at any time to be mounted. All the species interesting to the 

 hunter, the traveller, the farmer, or the man of science can here be 

 examined or studied. The total number of North American species 

 cannot be less than two hundred, exclusive of bats, seals, and ceta- 

 ceans. Messrs. Audubon and Bach man describe about one hundred 

 and fifty North American species of mammals. This Institution pos- 

 sesses about one hundred and thirty of these ; and about fifty addi- 

 tional species have already been detected, although the examination 

 of the entire collection has not yet been completed. 



Of North American birds, the Institution possesses nearly all de- 

 scribed by Audubon, and at least one hundred and fifty additional 

 sjjecies. 



The registered and catalogued specimens of quadrupeds amount to 

 2,040, of birds to 6,055, of skeletons and skulls to 3,060, nearly all 

 North American. To these, however, must be added at least 2,000 

 North American quadrupeds in alcohol, and 1,200 birds not yet entered 



Of reptiles, tlie North American species in the museum of the 

 Smithsonian Institution amount to between 350 and 400. Of the 

 150 species described in Holbrook's North American Herpetology, the 

 latest authority on the subject, it possesses every genuine species, 

 with one or two exceptions, and at least two hundred additional ones. 

 It has about 130 species of North American serpents for the 49 de- 

 scribed by Holbrook. 



