REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



CHARLES D. WALCOTT, 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30. 1916. 



To the Board of Regents of the Sinithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith the customar}'' 

 annual report on the operations of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 its branches during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, including 

 ■work placed by Congress under the direction of the Board of Regents 

 in the United States National Museum, the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the National Zoological 

 Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, and the United States Bureau 

 of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



The general report reviews the affairs of the Institution proper and 

 briefly summarizes the operations of its several branches, while the ap- 

 pendices contain detailed reports by the assistant secretary and others 

 directly in charge of various activities. The reports on operations of 

 the National Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnolog^'^ will 

 also be published as independent volumes. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 



The Smithsonian Institution was created an establishment by act 

 of Congress approved August 10, 1846. Its statutory members are 

 the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Chief 

 Justice, and the heads of the executive departments. 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



The Board of Regents, which is charged with the administration of 

 the Institution, consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of 

 the United States as ex officio members, three Members of the Senate, 

 three Members of the House of Representatives, and six citizens, " two 

 of whom shall be residents in the city of Washington and the other 

 four shall be inhabitants of some State, but no two of them from the 



same State." 



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