2 34 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



An extended investigation as to the geographical range of this type 

 of pipes, and the sources of the material out of which they are made 

 has been in progress for several years, and is still apparently far from 

 being complete, the result in regard to the latter point especially 

 being as yet unsatisfactory, though with some prospect of reaching a 

 solution. 



Over two hundred s])ecimens of the ancient pottery from the south- 

 ern mounds have also been sent in by Captain Hall. A considerable 

 number of broken and fragmentary specimens have been restored, the 

 whole series registered and labeled, and photographs have been made 

 of ninety of the most important and unicjue, for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing wood-cuts, which the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian 

 Institution offered to furnish free of cost to the Academy, they having 

 the privilege of using them afterward in their publications. 



A few of the implements, utensils, and ornaments of the modern 

 Indians have come to hand, but this department is very meagerly rep- 

 resented, and some effort should be made to procure that class of spec- 

 imens. This might, perhaps, be accomplished by the aid of friends 

 and correspondents residing or traveling in the territories and Pacific 

 states. 



No museum cases have been added during the year, and we have 

 not much space for more, except in the basement. It seems very de- 

 sirable to add there the cases required to complete the alcove arrange- 

 ment in the west room, and to make the changes necessary to improve 

 the drainage and ventilation and the draft of the furnace, and to finish 

 the south room so that the basement may be utilized to much better 

 advantage than at present. 



Suitable provision should by all means be made for the proper care 

 of the valuable entomological collection left in the Academy by our 

 late associate and co-worker, Mr. J. Duncan Putnam, as well as for 

 additions thereto. 



I have only to add a few suggestions as to our work in the immediate 

 future. While no opportunity should be omitted to continue the explo- 

 ration of the mounds — in which, through the persistent zeal of one or 

 two members, we have had so much success hitherto — I would suggest 

 that our efforts to make additions to the museum should be more espe- 

 cially in the direction of local collections — endeavoring to complete 

 the series of fishes, reptiles, birds, and insects of our own neighborhood, 

 .as well as perfecting the representation of the geology, palieontology, 

 and mineralogy of this district, thus making our work more especially 

 a home work — a prime duty of every natural science association, and 

 one in which we are deficient. 



A carefully conducted local geological survey is not too much for us 

 to undertake, and would be of interest and value as a contribution to 

 the general work in that department, and would redound to the credit 

 of our association. 



It seems to me particularly important that all this work should be 

 carried on in connection with lectures and classes for the study of these 

 several subjects, thereby awakening the interest, enlisting the influ- 



