ADVERTISEMENT, 
The publications of the National Museum consist of two series: 
Proceedings and Bulletins. 
The Proceedings, the first volume of which was issued in 1878, are 
intended primarily as a medium of publication for newly-acquired 
facts in biology, anthropology, and geology, descriptions of new forms 
of animals and plants acquired by the National Museum, discussions 
of nomenclature, etc. A volume is issued annually for distribution to 
libraries, while in view of the importance to science of the prompt 
publication of descriptions of new species, a limited edition of each 
paper is printed in pamphlet fooii in advance. 
The present volume is the twenty-fourth of the series. 
The Bulletin, publication of which was begun in 187.5, is a series of 
elaborate papers, issued sepa/rately and based for the most part upon 
collections in the National Museum, They are monographic in scope, 
and are devoted principally to the discussion-of large zoological groups, 
bibliographies of eminent naturalists, reports of expeditions, etc. 
A quarto form of the Bulletin, known as the "Special Bulletin," has 
been adopted in a few instances in which a larger page was deemed 
indispensable. 
The Annual Report of the National Museum (being the second vol- 
ume of the Smithsonian Report) contains papers chiefly of an ethno- 
logical character, describing collections in the National Museum. 
Papers intended for publication by the National Museum ^are usually 
referred to an advisory committee, composed as follows: Frederick 
W. True (chairman), William H. Holmes, George P. Merrill, James 
E. Benedict, Otis T. Mason, Leonhard Stejneger, Lester F. Ward, and 
Marcus Benjamin (editor). 
S. P. Langley, 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Ill 
