REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 55 



Prof. C. V. Shepard, of Summerville, South Carolina, has deposited the private 

 collection of minerals which had belonged to his father, containing about 5,000 speci- 

 mens, some of which are very choice. This collection was accompanied by a number 

 of books, pamphlets, and manuscript notes. 



Three fine opals have been added to the gem collection, and three Japanese beryls 

 have been cut from rough specimens Ijclonging to the Museum. 



Explomiions. — Although having very limited means for field investigations, at least 

 a few members of the scientific staff spend a month or more during every year in 

 adding to the collections, making their trips independently or in connection with 

 expeditions sent out by other Government bureaus or under private auspices. Much 

 important material is obtained in this way. 



Dr. F. W. True spent several weeks of the summer of 1899 at the station of the 

 Caljot Steam Whaling Company, in Newfoundland, studying the finback and hump- 

 back whales, which are the objects of the fishery in that locality. Anthnjpological 

 researches were carried on in Cuba and Jamaica during the sjirmg of 1900 by Maj. 

 J. W. Powell and Mr. W. H. Holmes. Extensive zoological and botanical collec- 

 tions were made in Cuba and Porto Rico for the Pan-American Exposition by Dr. 

 Leonhard Stejneger, Dr. Charles W. Richmond, Mr. William Palmer, and Mr. J. H. 

 Rile}', of the ^Museum staff. The Philippine Islands were visited by Col. H. H. 

 Hilder, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in the interests of the same exposition. 



The expedition to ^Mexico by Dr. J. X. Rose and Dr. Walter Hough, which started 

 in the spring of 1899, as noted in the last report, continued during a part of the sum- 

 mer and was very successful. Its object was the collection of both botanical and 

 ethno-botanical specimens. At the close of the year Mr. Marcus W. Lyon, jr., was 

 in Venezuela, having been detailed to accompany Lieut. Wirt Robinson, U. S. A., 

 for the purpose of making collections of the higher vertebrates. 



During the summer of 1899 Mr. Charles Schuchert accompanied an expedition 

 under the auspices of the L^nion Pacific Railroad Company to the fossil beds of 

 Wyoming, and he was also associated with Prof. Lester F. Ward in an examination 

 of the region in Wyoming where fossil cycads abound. 



On the Harriman expedition to Alaska, which was absent during June and July, 

 1899, the National Museum was represented by Dr. William H. Dall, Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, and Mr. F. V. Coville. Before returning to Wash- 

 ington Dr. Dall visited Hawaii for the purpose of studying its molluscan fauna. 



The Government explorations which contribute most constantly and most exten- 

 sively to the Museum ai-e those conducted by the Geological Survey, the Fish Com- 

 mission, and the scientific bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, in all of which 

 there was much activity during the past year. The cruise of the Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross to the South Pacific Ocean offered an opportunity for securing eth- 

 nological objects from many interesting islands, and, through the courtesy of the 

 Commissioner, two of the naturalists attached to the expedition, Mr. C. H. Townsend 

 and Mr. H. F. Moore, were authorized to collect in this field. 



Exchanges. — The exchange of duplicate specimens as a means of acquiring new 

 material for its collections, authorized by the fundamental act establishing the Insti- 

 tution, has been carried on from the beginning and with much profit. The exchange 

 may have reference to any number of specimens from one upward, and may be 

 conducted with an individual, a museum of natural history, or any other character 

 of establishment, provided, only, that a proper equivalent be sent in return. The 

 domestic exchanges were many during the past year, though none was of large extent. 

 The parties to exchanges from abroad were as follows: Great Britain — the British 

 Museum of Natural History at London, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Uni- 

 versity College at Dundee, the Horniman Museum at London, ^Nlr. G. E. Mason, of 

 Fulham, and Mr. E. Lovett, of Croydon; France — the Museum of Natural History at 

 Paris, and Mr. Jean Miguel, of Barrubio, Herault; Germany — the Royal Zoological 



