26 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



Gotha, Germany; caboniferous brachiopods from Dr. E. Schellwien, 

 Konigsberg, Prussia; complete costume of a Tyrolean peasant and 

 other articles from Mr. Carl Wohlgemuth, Bozen, Tyrol, Austria; 

 fragment of meteorite from Dr. F. Berwerth, Vienna, Austria; exotic 

 coleoptera from Mr. (i. van Roori, Rotterdam, Holland; mammal skins 

 and skulls from Mr. Paul Narbel, Cour, Lausanne, Switzerland; speci- 

 mens of Carabus mulleri from Dr. I. Comabella, Barcelona, Spain; 



minerals fr Prof. W. C. Brogger, Christiania, Norway; plants from 



Mr. ('. Conzatti, Oaxaca, Mexico; birds' skins from Mr. Eugene Cou- 

 beaux, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territory, Canada. 



RESEARCHES. 



Research work by members of the Museum staff is necessarily sub- 

 ordinated to the care of the collections and the development of its edu- 

 cational features as exemplified in the exhibition halls, leaving them 

 comparatively little time for original investigations. Notwithstanding 

 this fact, however, they have contributed extensively each year toward 

 the advancement of science, as will be seen by reference to the Pro- 

 ceedings, Bulletins, and Annual Reports of the Museum, in which their 

 productions are mainly published. The services of scientific men not 

 connected with the Museum have also been availed of in working up 

 and reporting upon special groups of objects, but as such assistance can 

 rarely he paid for. the results accomplished through this means have 

 been relatively inconsiderable. There is frequent demand for the use 

 of specimens in conducting researches at the various scientific estab- 

 lishments throughout the country, and such requests are always com- 

 plied with so far as possible. It is insisted, however, that the exam- 

 inations be made in Washington when practicable, and type specimens 

 or choice objects are only allowed to be taken from the city in excep- 

 tional cases and when their safety can be absolutely assured. In its 

 present crowded condition the Museum has very scanty accommoda- 

 tions for visiting students who desire to work upon its collections, 

 though a year never passes without a number being given such facili- 

 ties as exist, and the addition of commodious laboratories would serve 

 an important purpose in the advancement of research as well as of 

 • scientific education in general. 



In the Department of Anthropology the head curator, Mr. Holmes, 

 has completed a report based on his own ethnological and archaeolog- 

 ical observations in the far West during several years past; he has also 

 nearly finished the manuscript and illustrations for a large work on 

 the ancient pottery of the United States, begun some time ago, and has 

 commenced an exhaustive report on the industries of mining and 

 quarrying among the native tribes. The Curator of Ethnology, Prof. 

 O. T. Mason, has continued his investigations on the basketry tech- 



