42 REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 



gratifying to note that, in comparison with last year, more than double the number 

 of specimens has been thus clistributetl. Of the 27,168 specimens thus disposed of, a 

 large proportion represent invertebrate forms of marine life. Several sets of rocks 

 and ores, minerals, and casts of prehistoric objects, as well as a few special collec- 

 tions of insects, fishes, birds, mollusks, and other material, were included. In addi- 

 tion, 1,448 specimens were lent to investigators for special study. 



It has for many years been the intention of the Museum to make up a niiml)cr of 

 duplicate sets in all the departments of the Museum, to be used in supplying educa- 

 tional institutions. Ai^plications for specimens are received almost every day. 

 That valuable service could be rendered to colleges and schools in this way does not 

 admit of doubt, but it is impossible to carry out such a plan until the curators can 

 be supplied with the services of competent assistants to relieve them of the work of 

 sorting out the duiilicates and arranging them into sets for distribution. And this 

 can not be arranged until Congress sees fit to make a large increase in the Museum 

 appropriation. 



In order to give an idea of the extent to which this branch of the Museum work 

 has been carried on, even with the very limited facilities now at hand, it may be 

 stated that since 1871 about 370,000 specimens have thus been distributed. 



Visitors. — The total number of visitors to the Smithsonian building during the 

 year was 103,910, and to the Museum building 195,748. 



riiblications. — The report of the Museum for 1891 was published during the year, 

 and also, in the form of separates, a limited edition of each paper in the appendix. 

 The report for 1892 is nearly ready for delivery, and the sei)arate editions of the 

 jiapers in the appendix have already been issued. Volumes 15 and 16 of the Pro- 

 ceedings have appeared in bound form, and a few papers included in volume 17 have 

 been published as separates. Of the Bulletin, the following numbers have been 

 published: No. 43, A Monograph of the Bats of North America, by Harrison Allen, 

 M. I).; No. 44, Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Superfamily Noctuid;o found in 

 Boreal America, by John B. Smith ; No. 45, The Myriapoda of North America, by 

 Charles Harvey Bollman; No. 46, Monograjih of the North American Proctotryjiida;, 

 by William H. Ashmead. 



Special Bulletin No. 2, Oceanic Ichthyology, by the writer and Tarleton H. Bean, 

 is in type. This work constitutes a monograph of the deep-sea and pelagic fishes 

 of the world. The material for No. 3 of this series is in course of iire])aration by 

 Maj. Charles Bendire. It will be a continuation of the subject of No. 1, Life 

 Histories of North American Birds, and will treat of the cuckoos, woodpeckers, 

 goat suckers, swifts, humming birds, fiycatchers, horned larks, crows, jays, mag- 

 pies, blackbirds, orioles, and grackles. 



I have elsewhere referred to the pressing necessity of an increase in the ai)propria- 

 tion for printing. 



Specimens transmitted to the Museum for identification. — During the year 478 lots of 

 specimens were received fordetermination. Very little of this material can be advan- 

 tageously incorporated with the collections, and therefore the Museum receives but 

 little actual gain from this work, which occupies a large proportion of the time of 

 several of the curators, notably in the Department of Geology. Requests for exami- 

 nation and report are, however, invariably complied with. Quantitative analyses, 

 however, can not be undertaken. 



Foreign exchanges. — A number of exchanges have been aff'ected with museums and 

 individuals in dilfei'ent parts of the world, and the National Museum has in this 

 manner acquired much valuable material. Among the institutions with which 

 these transactions have proved most advantageous to the Museum are the Australian 

 Museum, Sydney ; Queensland Museum ; Technological Museum of New South Wales ; 

 Natioual Museum of Costa Rica; Museumof Natural History, Paris j Imperial Royal 

 M^seuiH of Vienna, 



