REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. a 
a year, being detailed as a member of the scientific staff of that vessel. A 
part of the collections obtained on this expedition, including over 100,000 speci- 
mens of mollusks and other groups of marine invertebrates, was transferred 
directly to the Museum for working up. Doctor Bartsch was also enabled 
to make some important collections of birds and reptiles. The same bureau 
likewise turned over to the Museum other important collections of marine 
invertebrates and fishes, chiefly from explorations in various parts of the 
Pacific Ocean. 
Among important gifts were about 1,200 Huropean mammals presented by 
Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the British Museum, and Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr.; 
about 700 mammals and 200 birds collected in Borneo by Dr. W. L. Abboit; 
about 600 specimens, mainly of invertebrate animals obtained in Labrador, by 
Mr. Owen Bryant; and a large collection of Peruvian reptiles, mollusks, crusta- 
ceans, and sponges from the Peruvian Government. The large collection 
of birds secured during the expedition of Mr. Robert Ridgway to Costa Rica 
was received in the summer of 1908. Besides those mentioned above the prin- 
cipal accessions of reptiles came from the Philippines and Panama, and of 
fishes from New South Wales and Florida. 
The division of insects received over 32,000 specimens, including several 
accessions of special value. Mr. William Schaus added to his previous note- 
worthy donations about 16,000 specimens of Lepidoptera from Costa Rica and 
other tropical countries. Mr. H. L. Viereck, of the Bureau of Entomology, and 
Mr. J. C. Crawford, of the National Museum, presented their private collec- 
tions of Hymenoptera, amounting to over 5,000 specimens in all. Lord Wal- 
singham and Mr. F. D. Codman contributed many Central American species 
described in the Biologia Centrali Americana. The balance of the accessions 
consisted mainly of transfers from the Department of Agriculture, and repre- 
sented many parts of the United States. 
The additions to the collections of mollusks and other marine invertebrates 
were mainly derived from the explorations of the Bureau of Fisheries, as else- 
where described. A notable gift from the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, 
Denmark, consisted of several hundred crabs from the Gulf of Siam, including 
20 genera and 66 species new to the Museum. 
The herbarium received extensive collections, coming mostly from Mexico, 
New Mexico, Oregon, and the Philippines. 
Department of Geology.—Nine series of rock specimens, the results of field 
work in as many parts of the United States, were transferred by the Geological 
Survey. In invertebrate paleontology the more noteworthy additions were a 
large series of Cambrian fossils from the Rocky Mountain region, resulting 
from the explorations of Secretary Walcott during the summer of 1908; a large 
collection of Paleozoic fossils from the Appalachian Valley and central Ten- 
nessee, made by the curator of the division; and a collection of Tertiary fossils 
from the Coalinga district, California, received from the Geological Survey. A 
large amount of material from the Fort Union beds of Sweet Grass County, 
Mont., representing many new and little known mammalian species, constituted 
the principal accession in vertebrate paleontology. 
CARB AND PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS. 
The collections have been maintained in good condition notwithstanding the 
overcrowding in all the divisions. Much of the routine work was planned with 
the view of placing the collections in such shape as to permit of their removal 
to the new building in systematic order, but the delay in the completion of 
the building has made this part of the task especially difficult. With the assur- 
