142 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



and California. Dr. Merriam also presented a valuable collection of 

 birds' skins from the old world. 



The Secretary of Agriculture has expressed his willingness to co-op- 

 erate with the Museum in the establishment of a Department of For- 

 estry, and, as already stated, the collection will be under the charge of 

 Dr. B. E. Feruow. 



The Department purchased from Dr. Taylor Townsend a large series 

 of insects. This has been incorporated in the Museum collection. 



Through the courtesy of the Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. George 

 Vasey has been appointed Honorary Curator of the Department of 

 Botany in the National Museum, in connection with his duties as bot- 

 anist of the Department of Agriculture. 



UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The chief source of material contributed during the year by the Fish 

 Commission has been from the cruise of the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross in the West Indies and on the Pacific coast. The 

 most important accessions to the Museum resulting from the expedi- 

 tion are : a large collection of geological and archaeological specimens, 

 coins, mammals, reptiles, batrachians, insects, arachnids and ruyrio- 

 pods, birds'-eggs, skeletons of birds, mammals, fossils, plants, lichens, 

 mosses, fungi, and fossil woods. These were collected during the voyage 

 from Norfolk, Virginia, to California, in 1887 and 1888. A collection 

 of birds, reptiles, stone implements, plants, ethnological objects, and 

 fossil woods was gathered in Alaskan waters. Several reports on these 

 collections are being prepared by curators in the Museum and will be 

 published as separate papers, forming parts of Vol. xn, Proceedings 

 of the National Museum. These will be issued in advance of the bound 

 volume. 



The Commission also transmitted to the Museum twelve living ele- 

 phant tortoises from the Galapagos Islands, seven living amblystomas, 

 three painted terrapins, and three specimens of sting- ray fish (Trygon 

 Centura) from Chesapeake Bay; a collection of fishes made by Prof. C. 

 U. Gilbert and Dr. J. A. Heushall, from the tributaries of the Ohio 

 Biver; three Marble cat-fish, collected by Mr. Bogan, of Bussellville, 

 Tennessee, through Col. Marshall McDonald, U. S. Commissioner, two 

 living opossums, and six living turtles; a skin and skeleton of Spotted 

 porpoise, collected by the Fish Commission schooner Grampus. 



Mr. J. Frank Ellis presented four living alligators from Tampa, 

 Florida. 



The valuable services of Mr. Bichard Bathbun, as Houorary Curator 

 of Marine Invertebrates; Dr.T. H. Beau, as Honorary Curator of Fishes; 

 and Capt. J. W. Collins, as Honorary Curator of Naval Architecture, 

 have been continued through the courtesy of the Commissioner, and a 

 grateful acknowledgment oi the, same is here made. 



