26 REPORT 01' NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



processes invented by Mr. J. W. Osborne; a (jollection of Japanese 

 color-prints and illustrated books, received from Mr. T. Tokuno, Tokio, 

 Japan; and an impression from a heliogravure plate made by Nice- 

 plion Niepce in 1824. Among the gifts to the collection were also 

 artists' tools and material from F. W. Devoe & Co., New York, and Mr. 

 J. M. Falconer, Brooklyn, IST. Y» During the year the cataloguing of 

 the Osborne collection was completed. 



The number of catalogue entries made during the year was 1,326, the 

 total numljer of specimens received being about 1,500, embracing 952 

 specimens in the Osborne collection received several years ago. The 

 entries rei^resenting entirely new material are 374 in number. The 

 Bibliography (Section iv) contains notices of the papers, x^blished by 

 Mr, Koehler during the year. 



FORESTRY. 



Dr. B, E. Fernow, honorary curator, reports that the forestry collec- 

 tions are being gradually increased by gifts. A systematic display of 

 the more important lumber trees by means of maps, showing their dis- 

 tribution, photographs of typical trees, and photomicrographs of the 

 structure of the wood, has been begun. The most valuable accession 

 during the year was a very complete collection of the woods of the Ar- 

 gentine Republic, donated by tbe Museo de Productos Argentinos at 

 Buenos Ayres. 



AMERICAN PREHISTORIC POTTERY. 



Mr. W. H. Holmes, of the IT. S. (xeological Survey, is in charge of 

 this department. The most important accession during the year was a 

 collection of p ottery fragments transmitted by the Bureau of Ethnology. 

 The. researches conducted by the curator relate mainly to collections 

 made by the Bureau of Ethnology during the past few years in the 

 Mississiyypi Valley and along the Alantic Coast. They will be embodied 

 in a forthcoming volume of '* Contributions." References are made in 

 tlie Bibliogra]ihy (Section iv) to papers published by the curator dur- 

 ing the year, relating to excavations in an ancient soapstone quarry 

 in the District of Columbia and to the Thrustou Tablet. The catalogue 

 entries for the year were 820 in number. 



PHYSICAL APPARATITS. 



The nucleus of the collection of physical apparatus consists chiefly 

 of pieces jjrocured by Prof Henry for researches in electricity and 

 sound. This collection is in charge of Mr. W. C. Winlock, honorary 

 curator. The principal accession is a collection of ancient watch- 

 movements obtained by Mr. S. P. Laugley, secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, during a visit to London and Paris in the summer of 1890. 

 A collection of old surveying instruments was received from the sur- 

 veyor general of Florida through the General Laud Office of the 



