REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 17 



sonian and Miiseuni volumes of the 1898 Report were put in typo, but 

 it was impossible to issue them in liound form before the year closed. 



In order to meet the demand for information in regard to the abo- 

 riginal antiquities of the West Indies, the Institution reprinted from 

 the Reports for 1876 and 1881, descriptions of the Latimer Collection 

 from Porto Rico and of the Guesde Collection in Pointe-a-Pitre, 

 Guadaloupe. 



Of the Proceedings of the National Museum, Volume XXI was 

 published in bound form, and 28 papers included in Volume XXII 

 were issued as pamphlets. 



As the principal paper in the Museum Report for 1898, it seemed 

 advisable to publish an exhaustive monographic treatise by the late 

 Professor Cope on the Crocodilians, Lizards, and Snakes of North 

 America. 



The elaborate work b^^ Drs. Jordan and Evermann on the Fishes of 

 North and Middle America was brought to completion by the publi- 

 cation of Part 4: of Bulletin 1:7 of the Museum, this part consisting of 

 392 plates, with explanations, and a general table of contents of the 

 four parts of the work. 



The Bureau of American Ethnology issued Part 2 of the Sevententh 

 Annual Report, but Part 1 has been delayed. The Eighteenth and 

 Nineteenth Reports are also in the hands of the Government Printer, 

 and some progress has been made in the printing of the first bulletin 

 of a new series authorized by Congress. 



LIBRARY. 



The number of volumes, parts of volumes, pamphlets, and charts 

 added to tiie library has aggregated 25,701. As this appears to show 

 a decrease over previous j^ears, it seems well to record the fact that 

 the decrease is apparent and not real. From the inception of the 

 Institution each item, even a periodical issued weekly, was separately 

 entered in the accession book. Last jeav the number of such items 

 aggregated over 36,000, and the clerical labor involved was very great. 

 Inasmuch as the separate parts were checked upon cards, it seemed 

 advisable to give up the old system which, while affording an abso- 

 lutely permanent record of each item, involved an expenditure of 

 energy disproportionate to the result. The Librarian of Congress 

 and the librarian of the Institution joined in recommending this 

 change. 



From January 1, 1900, only completed volumes were entered in the 

 accession book. 



INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



The third and final conference on an International Catalogue of 

 Scientilic Literature was held in London June 12 and 13, 1900, and the 

 United States Government was invited to participate, through the 

 SM 1900 2 



