REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 
the preparation of a series of moulds from which casts are made for 
distribution and exchange. In carrying on this work we have been 
favored with a large collection of specimens of Mexican art, principally 
images and masks, by the American Philosophical Society, of Phila- 
delphia, from which moulds have been taken. The prosecution of 
this work has been temporarily suspended, but will be resumed as soon 
as facilities and means for its prosecution can be provided. In this 
connexion we would renew the request which we have made in pre- 
vious reports, that descriptions of all mounds or aboriginal earthworks 
which may be discovered may be sent to the Institution for the pur- 
pose of furnishing the materials for a work at some future time on the 
distribution and migration of the ancient inhabitants of this continent. 
In order to preserve and render generally accessible the information 
which may be obtained in this way, it will be published in the ap- 
pendix to the next succeeding annual report after its reception. 
Meteorology.—It has been mentioned in previous reports that the 
second volume of the results of meteorological observations made under 
the direction of the Smithsonian Institution and the Patent Office, from 
the year 1854 to 1859, was in press, and that its completion was de- 
layed by the unusual amount of printing required by the necessities 
of the public service to be executed at the Government Printing 
Office. It was thought best, therefore, to issue the portion already 
printed, without waiting longer for the other material which it had 
been intended to embrace in the volume. This portion, forming a 
quarto volume of more than five hundred pages, was consequently 
bound and distributed during the past year. It is divided into two 
parts, each occupying about half the volume. The first relates to 
the periodical phenomena of plants and animals from 1851 to 1859, 
inclusive, embracing observations upon the foliation of eighty-seven 
species, the blossoming of ninety-two, the ripening :of fruit of ten, 
and the defoliation of eighteen species of plants, and upon the first 
appearance of sixteen species of birds, one of reptiles, three of fishes, 
and two of insects. These results have a direct application to me- 
teorological science, by indicating the progress of the seasons in dif- 
ferent localities, and their relative variability in different years. To 
these have been added several tables of the opening and closing of 
lakes, rivers, canals, and harbors, collected from various sources, 
and tending to illustrate the same leading features of climate as the 
records of organic phenomena. The materials were furnished chiefly 
by the regular Smithsonian observers, and were arranged and pre- 
pared for publication by Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of Albany, N. Y. 
