58 REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 



December. The second volume of this Report, still in course of printing, will con- 

 tain a Inographical account of Dr. George Brown Cloodw, the late x\ssistant Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of the National Museum, and rej^rints of sev- 

 eral of his most important papers on museums and on the history of scientific progress 

 in the United States. It is expected that the Report for 1898 will be ready for distri- 

 bution early in the coming liscal year. The appendix to this Report will consist of 

 only one paper — a monographic treatise on the Crocodilians, Lizards, and Snakes of 

 North America, by the late Prof. Edward Drinker Cope. Part 4 of Bulletin No. 47, 

 entitled "The Fishes of North and Middle America," by Dr. David Starr Jordan and 

 Dr. Barton W. Evermann, was issued just before the close of the year. This volume, 

 consisting of 392 plates, with their explanations and a general table of contents, com- 

 pletes one of the most important works thus far published by the Museum. Three 

 additional pamphlets containing instructions to collectors, etc., were issued during 

 the year as parts M, N, and O, of Bulletin 39. The titles of these are: "The meth- 

 ods employed at the Naples Zoological Station for the preservation of marine ani- 

 mals," by Dr. Salvatore Lo Bianco (translated by E. O. Hovey, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History); "Directions for preparing study specimens of small 

 mammals," by Gerrit S. Miller, jr., and "Directions for collecting and rearing 

 dragon flies, stone flies, and May flies," by James G. Needham. 



Library. — Three hundred and thirty-seven books, 728 pamphlets, and 4,298 parts 

 of periodicals have been added to the library, wliich now contains over 15,000 

 bound volumes and 27,000 unbound papers. 



Respectfully submitted. Richard Rathbun, 



Assistant Secretary. 



Mr. S. P. Langley, 



Secretary Smithsonbm Institution. 



August 1, 1900. 



