REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 17 



The station is maintained by the subscription of a number of insti- 

 tutions in this country for the purpose of enabling accredited inves- 

 tigators to study the rich and interesting flora of the region. From 

 January 1 to the close of the year the following botanists planned 

 to avail themselves of the privileges of the station: Messrs. W. R. 

 Maxon and E. P. Killip, of the United States National Herbarium, 

 for work on the taxonomy of ferns and flowering plants ; Mr. Fred- 

 erick Boughton, of Pittsford, N. Y., for collecting fungi ; Dr. J. M. 

 Thompson, of Glasgow, for work on the ferns; and Prof. R. E. 

 Danforth, of Rutgers College, also for work on the ferns. 



EXHIBITION OF SOUTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. 



From July 28 to August 9, 1919, there was held in the Smithsonian 

 Building an exhibition of South American historical documents 

 brought together by Senor Don Jorge M. Corbacho, a member of the 

 Peruvian Parliament and delegate to the Pan American Congress. 

 The collection containing official documents signed by the Spanish 

 conquistadores, the viceroys at Lima and the revolutionary leaders 

 during the wars for independence, was one of inestimable value and 

 was shown at the Smithsonian for the first time in North America. 



RESEARCH IN TROPICAL AMERICA. 



In June, 1920, the National Research Council, of which your 

 secretary is a vice chairman, held a conference on the project of incor- 

 porating an institute for promoting research in tropical America, 

 including exploration and the establishing of laboratories and re- 

 search stations, and of effecting cooperation between the institutions 

 interested in tropical research and exploration. The membership of 

 the proposed institute was to consist of representatives (one each) 

 from institutions interested in such research, and these institutions 

 were invited by the Research Council to appoint representatives, but 

 at the close of the year replies had not been received. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The Institution and its branches issued during the year 95 volumes 

 and separate pamphlets. Of these various publications there were 

 distributed a total of 143,290 copies, which includes 157 volumes and 

 separates of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 24,949 vol- 

 umes and separates of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 16,720 

 volumes and separates of Smithsonian Annual Reports, 81,936 vol- 

 umes and separates of the various series of the National Museum, 

 16,761 publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1,958 

 special publications, 19 volumes of the Annals of the Astrophysical 

 17339°— 20 2 



