262 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



bladder and screen to protect the sailor and deceive the seal. And 

 to add to the interest of the visitor the donor has taken pains to label 

 each article, and the part it is to take is clearly pointed out. 



A noteworthy accession was made to the museum by a gift from 

 Mrs. Dr. Parry, comprising nearly fifty different articles. They may 

 be classed under the head of minerals, shells from the California sea- 

 coast, handiwork of the western Indians in their money, basket work, 

 shell work, textile fabrics and products of the farm, with archaeological 

 and ethnological specimens. It is needless to say they were uniformly 

 well selected and carefully labelled with name and locality. 



In the same month Mrs. Major McClelland presented two beautiful, 

 exquisitely delicate corals gathered on the Bermuda Islands. 



Through Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Underbill of Buffalo, N. Y., has sent 

 to us a series of silver pins, once the property of the Tuscarora Indi- 

 ans of Western New York. It is claimed the art of working them was 

 lost two hundred years ago. They become more scarce every year. 

 The Indians part with them only when compelled to do so through 

 their needs. Each form has for them a mystical meaning. The 

 Academy had nothing of the kind in its collection, Mrs. Underbill 

 kindly proffered to increase the number already sent. This gift is in 

 keeping with the ethnological character distinguishing those of the 

 present year. 



Captain Hall sent iiis third collection at the close of the year. It 

 comprises one remarkably large grooved stone axe, one small axe, one 

 celt, two hematite miniature stone axes, twenty-three flint implements 

 and two small arrow points. Ray Willard of Rapids City contributing 

 a fine celt to the collection. 



It is a remarkable fact that of the sixteen donations received this 

 year no less than eleven have been more or less connected with eth- 

 nology and archaeology. Our own government has published through 

 the Bureau of Ethnology fifteen large (piarto volumes on the subject. 

 Other governments have shown a like interest. Universities and 

 Acadamies of Science have formed associations to advance the science. 

 Magazines in this country are devoted exclusively to the study. Our 

 foreign exchanges supply us with their papers on the subject. The 

 world seems to be moving in that direction, gathering up from every 

 source material to throw new light upon the history, habits, customs, 

 languages, arts and sciences of nations that have long passed away or 

 have been overlooked. 



We are in line with the work being done, not so much through 

 what we have done this year, but because of what has been done in 

 former years. Egypt, Greenland, Mexico, Florida, California — the 

 Mound-builder of yesterday — the Indians of the west, as well as the 

 east, have contributed to the enrichment of our arch^ological collec- 

 tion — one of the most notable features of this Academy. 



W. H. Barris, Curator. 



