BEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 43 



and Kit Carson, obtained succor for a band of American soldiers surrounded by 

 the enemy. This tablet, which measures 11 feet high by 7 feet wide, was erected 

 in the north entrance hall of the new building, and unveiled, with simple cere- 

 monies, on May 31, 1910. 



ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS. 



The total number of specimens received during the year was approximately 

 970,698, of which 933,998 were zoological and botanical, 17,979 were geological 

 and paleontological, and 18,721 belonged to the several divisions comprised in 

 the department of anthropology. The unprecedented record for biology resulted 

 from the transfer of a special large collection from one of the government depart- 

 ments, as explained below. While North America was, as usual, most exten- 

 sively represented in the additions, the accessions from abroad were exception- 

 ally numerous and valuable, and in a notable degree furnished material for 

 important contributions to science. 



The most noteworthy accession was that received from the Smithsonian 

 African Expedition under the direction of Col. Theodore Roosevelt, who was 

 accompanied by his son, Mr. Kermit Roosevelt, and, on the part of the Institution, 

 by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. Army, Mr. Edmund Heller, and Mr. J. Alden 

 Loring. This expedition, which was entirely financed from private sources, 

 reached Mombasa on April 21, 1909, spent eight months in British East Africa, 

 and thence proceeded through Uganda and down the White Nile to Khartum, 

 where it arrived on March 14, 1910. Field work was energetically prosecuted 

 in all parts of the region visited and ample notes were made. The resultant 

 collection, sent in several installments, reached Washington in excellent condi- 

 tion, and constitutes the largest and most important single gift of natural history 

 objects ever received by the Museum. A preliminary census indicates that it 

 comprises about 4,897 mammals, 4,000 birds, 2,000 reptiles and batrachians, and 

 500 fishes, besides large numbers of mollusks, insects, crustaceans, and other 

 invertebrates, and several thousand plants. The series of large and small mam- 

 mals from East Africa is, collectively, probably more valuable than is to be found 

 in any other museum in the world, its importance depending not so much on the 

 number of new forms as on the fact that it affords an adequate basis for a critical 

 study of the mammal fauna of East Africa and the establishment or rejection of 

 the large number of forms which have been described, especially in recent years, 

 from insufficient material. The series of birds, reptiles, and plants are also 

 exceedingly valuable, and the material representing other groups is certain to 

 furnish interesting results when studied. 



An exploration of certain parts of Java by and at the expense of Mr. Owen 

 Bryant, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, assisted by Mr. William Palmer, of the 

 Museum staff, resulted in the acquisition of a large and valuable collection, in 

 which mammals and birds figure most prominently, though reptiles, insects, and 

 marine invertebrates are extensively represented. Dr. William L. Abbott pre- 

 sented an important collection of ethnological objects, together with interesting 

 specimens of mammals, birds, and reptiles, obtained by him in Borneo. Nearly 

 400 specimens, representing 85 species of birds from the Polynesian Islands, 

 were received as a gift from Mr. Charles H. Townsend, of New York, by whom 

 they were collected several years ago. 



The transfers made by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, consisting 

 mainly of material which had been studied and described, and containing a 

 large number of types, were of great value. Of fishes there were about 30,000 

 specimens, of marine invertebrates about 8,000 specimens, and of reptiles and 

 batrachians about 600 specimens. Except for many fishes from the fresh 

 waters of the United States, the collections were derived almost wholly from 

 the explorations of the steamer Albatross in different parts of the Pacific Ocean. 



