EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 19 



lery, the balcony ceilings in the south pavilion, and the outer ap- 

 proaches to the north entrance. 



The principal expenditure under the appropriation for furniture 

 and fixtures was for exhibition cases, of which 550 were added to the 

 equipment. The other more important additions of furniture com- 

 prised 491 storage cases and pieces of laboratory furniture, 263 pieces 

 of office and miscellaneous furniture, 3,205 unit specimen drawers of 

 wood, 500 insect drawers, and 1,842 miscellaneous specimen drawers. 

 The greater part of the furniture was obtained on contract and was 

 constructed to meet special requirements, although a large amount of 

 work, including much of a miscellaneous character, was done in the 

 Museum shops. Awnings were provided for all of the windows in 

 the ground and third stories except on the north side of the building, 

 and experiments were continued with reference to devising a form of 

 curtain for the windows in the exhibition stories that could be 

 handled satisfactorily. The ground glass in these windows has been 

 found not to afford adequate protection on bright days for the colors 

 of specimens exposed in the exhibition cases, and the problem of in- 

 troducing movable shades is rendered difficult by the large size of 

 the windows in conjunction with the fact that each contains two 

 ventilating openings. Less trouble has been encountered in providing 

 cloth screens for the several skylights to subserve the same purpose. 



According to the inventory of Museum property made at the close 

 of the year there were on hand at that time 3,239 exhibition cases, 

 6,456 storage cases and pieces of laboratory furniture, 3,021 pieces of 

 office and miscellaneous furniture, 36,106 unit specimen drawers of 

 wood, 4,712 unit specimen drawers of steel, 7,339 insect drawers and 

 15,090 miscellaneous specimen drawers and boxes of various sizes. 



COLLECTIONS. 



The permanent acquisitions for the year embraced approximately 

 238,072 specimens, of which 5,956 were assigned to the several di- 

 visions of the department of anthropology ; 168,595 were biological 

 and 63,521 geological and paleontological ; and 45 consisted of paint- 

 ings, engravings, and sculpture presented to the National Gallery of 

 Art. The loans coniprised a single large collection of fossils, num- 

 bering about 75,000 specimens, besides 1,217 objects accepted for ex- 

 hibition in the department of anthropology, and 56 paintings and 

 pieces of sculpture for the National Gallery of Art. A detailed list 

 of the accessions will be found in the latter part of this report. 



DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Ethnology. — The most important accession of the year consisted of 

 a collection of relics of the southern Alaskan Indians assembled by 

 ex-Gov. John Green Brady, and purchased and generously presented 



