KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



Africa, still further contributing to the excellency of our series from 

 the dark continent. 



Among the large collections of insects acquired, the following are 

 especially noteworthy : Mr. B. Preston Clark presented 5,500 lepidop- 

 tera of the Hawaiian Islands and South America. Similarly Dr. 

 William Barnes donated 2,000 moths, including 60 types, and 150 

 butterflies. From Dr. W. M. Mann, through the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, the Museum received 6,000 insects of various orders, collected 

 by him in Honduras, and similarly from Dr. E. A, Schwarz a collec- 

 tion made in Florida of 5,770 miscellaneous insects. Besides 6,930 

 specimens transferred by the Department of Agriculture, numerous 

 accessions were received from Costa Rica, Australia, South Africa, 

 Mexico, etc. 



The mollusk collection was the recipient of two particularly val- 

 uable and important gifts, namely, the collection of Hawaiian marine 

 shells donated by Mr. D. Thaanum and a part of the William F. 

 Clapp collection of New England land and fresh-water mollusks, 

 about 10,000 specimens purchased and presented by Mr. John B. 

 Henderson. The former, consisting of about 5,000 'specimens col- 

 lected by Mr. Thaanum and Mr. J. B. Langford, has long been known 

 as the best existing collection of authentically located marine Ha- 

 waiian shells. As in previous years, the Bureau of Fisheries forms 

 one of the chief sources of our material of marine invertebrates, in- 

 cluding specimens collected during the cruises of the Albatross and 

 the Bache reported on by Mr. Sasaki, Dr. A. L. Treadwell, and Dr. 

 H. B. Bigelow. Numerous other accessions from collectors and 

 collaborators. were remarkable for the great number of types of new 

 species added during the year. 



The botanical collections accessioned include highly valuable mate- 

 rial from all over the world. Besides important North American col- 

 lections, there are represented plants from Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica, Colombia, British Guiana, Brazil, Argentina, Europe, Africa, 

 China, Sumatra, etc. The Department of Agriculture transferred 

 8,190 specimens, mostly the result of field work of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. The Forestry Commission of the Mexican State of 

 Sinaloa transmitted 887 specimens from little known parts of that 

 State. A large number of plants were obtained in exchange, the 

 largest lot consisting of 2,398 specimens received from the New York 

 Botanical Garden, mostly plants collected in Colombia by Rusby 

 and Pennell. Likewise in exchange there were acquired from the 

 Botanical Museum of the University at Copenhagen 923 specimens 

 of Mexican and Central American plants, chiefly material collected 

 a long time ago by Liebmann and Oersted, and therefore of unusual 

 historical interest and value. 



