^8 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



to institutions and libraries, but this method of reprinting and distri- 

 bution lias been discontinued. 



The Special BulletiH.s.— The "Special Bulletin of the U. S. National 

 Museum," a series in (piarto, corresponding to the " memoirs" of many 

 similar establishments, was established in 1892 for the publication of 

 elaborate, illustrated monographs. 



LIST OK SIMXIAL BlI.l.ETINS. 



No. 1. Life Histories of North American Birds, with special reference to their 

 breeding habits and eggs. By Maj. Charles Bendire, U. 8. Army., pp. i-viii, l-44(;. 

 Plates i-xii. 1892. This -work treats of the game birds, pigeons, and birds ot prey, 

 the arrangement adopted being that of the American Ornithologists' Union. 



No. 2. Oceanic Ichthyology. By O. Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean. (lu 

 press.) An exhaustive monograph of the deep sea fishes of the world. The volume 

 will contain upward of 600 pages and will be accompanied by an atlas of 123 plates, 

 with more than 400 figures of deep-sea fi.shes. 



At the time of sending the present volume of the annual report to 

 press the papers published in the Proceeding.s (including those belong- 

 ing to the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes, which have been issued 

 in separate form or are in type) have reached the number of 1,000, and 

 it is intended in a later report to print a list of all papers, with annota- 

 tions and indexes, based upon Museum material, which have been jnib- 

 lished by the Museum, as well as by other departments and bureaus of 

 the Government. 



TYPE SPECIMENS. 



Thosespeciinens which have been actually in the hands of investigators 

 engaged in original researcli, and especially those which have been 

 described in the establishment of new species and genera, and have 

 furnished the material for illustration, are recognized by all museums 

 as the most precious among their possessions. They form a part of 

 the archives of science; they are the vouchers for the accuracy of the 

 investigator who has studied the material, and are invaluable to sub- 

 sequent students as a means for testing the accuracy of his conclusions. 

 They are, therefore, the foundation stones of the fabric of natural 

 science, and it is impossible to be too careful in i)reserving them. 



The value of types is at present diftereutly estimated in the several 

 brandies of natural liistory, but with the adoption of the stricter 

 methods of modern work, and of more strenuous rules in regard to 

 priority in nomenclature, the value of types will constantly be more 

 highly api)re('iated. Fnique specimens are, by common consent, price- 

 less. It often happens that investigators in other cities need to refer 

 to types, and applications are often made for their loan from our col- 

 lection. The Museum has always endeavored to aid its collaborators 

 in their researches by placing collections at their disposal for study, 

 and it seems ungracious to refuse such re(iuests, especially when they 

 come from those who have lent types to us and are willing to do so in 

 the future. Still, the subject is a serious one, and it seems time that a 



