52 REPORT OE^ THE SECRETARY. 



The only noteworthy Ijuilding alterations during the year were the substitution of 

 a terrazzo pavement for wood in two of the halls and the flooring over one of the 

 ranges, so as to obtain a second-story room for laboratory use by the Divisions of IVIam- 

 mals and Plants. The furniture acquired consisted of 40 exhibition cases and 250 

 storage cases, many of these being for the new galleries ])uilt during the preceding 

 year. 



Collections. — The increase in the collections has amounted to 206,617 specimens, 

 bringing the total number now in the Museum up to 4,819,836. The additions, com- 

 prised in 1,467 different lots or accessions, represent the results of Government and 

 other explorations, gifts, exchanges, purchases, and deposits. 



The acquisitions by the Department of Anthropology have been especially numerous 

 and important. Admiral Dewey has presented two antique brass cannon from the 

 Spanish armament captured at INIanila, and among other historical contriliutions have 

 been the following: Many objects relating to the Spanish-American war, including 

 uniforms, small arms, and cannon, from the Navy Department; military and personal 

 relics of the Ord family, from Lieut. James T. Ord, U. S. A. ; personal relics of Gen. 

 Thomas Sword, from Miss E. H. Cotheal; a collection of cuttings from 33 flags of 

 historic interest, from the Library of Congress; a series of autograph letters of men 

 prominent in the civil war, from Mrs. L. O. Mason, and additions to the deposits of 

 the Society of Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution. 



During the cruise of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross among the islands 

 of the South Pacific Ocean, Mr. C. H. Townsend and Mr. H. F. Moore kindly gave 

 attention on behalf of the Museum to the utensils and costumes of the natives, of 

 which they secured a large collection. Man)' relics of the ancient peoples of Cuba 

 and Jamaica were obtained by INIaj. J. W. Powell and Mr. W. H. Holmes during a 

 visit to those islands, and Dr. Walter Hough brought back from Mexico an interesting 

 ethno-botanical collection, including many plants used in the native arts, ancient and 

 modern, specimens of native handiwork, and a series of photographs. 



The Hon. Perry M. de Leon, United States consul-general at Guayaquil, presented 

 two ancient stone chairs from Ecuador, which, with other chairs surroianding a large 

 stone table, were found in what appeared to be an ancient council chamber, brought 

 to light aljout thirty years ago by the action of a freshet. A mummy from the 

 valley of Cuzco, Peru, was contributed by Dr. C. H. Russell, U. S. N., of the U. S. S. 

 Newark, and a collection of weapons of Australian aborigines, by the Hon. F. W. 

 Goding, United States consul at Newcastle, New South AVales. 



The Bureau of Ethnology has transmitted a collection of Indian skulls and other 

 ethnological material obtained by Prof. J. B. Hatcher in Tierra del Fuego, Patago- 

 nia; a series of copper implements from Houghton County, Michigan; many stone 

 implements from the West Indies, and a collection of baskets of the Washoe Indians. 

 A collection of stone implements was deposited by Dr. Roland Steiner, of Grove- 

 town, Georgia, and a collection of vases by the Grueby-Faience Company, of Boston, 

 Massachusetts. 



The following were obtained by purchase: A large series of objects illustrating the 

 arts of the peoples of the Congo Valley of Africa, from the Rev. Samuel Phillips 

 Verner, and a collection of ethnological specimens from the tribes of Angola, Africa, 

 from the Rev. AY. P. Dodson. 



In the Department of Biology practically every branch has received additions of 

 greater or less value. Dr. W. L. Abbott, whose explorations have enriched the 

 Museum for many years, jiresented a large and im]iortant collection of zoological and 

 ethnological material from the iNIalay Archipelago and other eastern localities, including 

 Trong, Lower Siam, and Singapore, the zoological specimens comprising mammals, 

 birds, batrachians, insects, and other groups of invertebrates. 



From the Harriman Alaskan Expedition of 1899 the Museum has received the 

 collections made in three groups, as follows: The birds by Mr. Robert Ridgway, the 



