REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 149 



of the most important ami most beautifully {)iei)are(l in existence, 

 is esjiecially valuable to the student on account of the thorough and 

 scholarly manner in which it is catalogued and labeled, has been given 

 by him to the Smithsonian Institution, and nearlyhalf of it, numbering 

 about 3,-.">0 eggs, has already been transferred to the custody of the 

 curator. 



The collection is being constantly increased, and Dv. Italph spares 

 no expense in obtaining representatives of rare species. By this agency 

 ah)ne at least sixty species, either not atall re]>resented or represented 

 by AYorthless specimens, have up to the present time been added. 



A large number of other gifts have been received, of which those of 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher, Dr. E. A. Mearns, U. S. Army, Lieut. 11. C. Benson, 

 r. S. Army, and Walter F. AVebb are the most extensive, including each 

 over tifty specimens. 



The curator prints the following statistical memorandum: 



Present state of the rollectioii. 



Si>et'imen.s iu >y ortb Aiuericaii series 37^ 338 



Specimeus in Xorth American duplicates 11, 759 



Specimens on exhibition 1, 491 



Total 50, 588 



Species and snbspecies in the North American series 781 



Specimens in foreign series 4, 419 



Specimens in foreign duplicates 231 



Total 4, 650 



Species in foreign series (i24 



Nests iu North American reserve series 1 2, 656 



Nests on exhibition 235 



Total :i. S91 



Last catalogue entry in June, 1892, 25,170. 

 Last catalogue entry in June, 1893, 25,935. 



DEPARTMENT OF REPTILES AND EATRArill ANS. 



Dr. Leojihard Stejneger, the curator of these collections, reports that 

 if the progress of the department be measured by the number of speci- 

 mens received and entered ui)on the books, the activity of the past 

 year has been unprecedented, no less than 12,.{02 si)ecimens having 

 been catalogued.* Some of these have furnished types for quite a num- 

 ber of recently described si)ecies, both from this country and abroad. 



As a {!onsequencft of the greatly increased number of specimens 

 received during the present year, the routine work of installing, identi- 

 fying, caring for, labeling, and reporting upon them has been more 

 than twice as great sta during any previous year. The department has 



* For comparison it may be mentioned that the number of entries in 189l-'92 was 

 1,055; in 1890-'9L 908; iu 1889-90. 705: in 1888-89. 784 ; in 1887-'88, 19; in 188r)-'87. 138. 



