REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 133 
by the tariff act of 1918, was deposited by the Division of Cus- 
toms of the Treasury Department. For samples of gums and resins 
collected in the market of Aden, British Arabia, by American Consul 
Walter H. Schulz, the Museum is indebted to the Bureau of Foreign 
and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce. These 
substances constitute an important item in the trade of Aden, the 
principal varieties being gum arabic, myrrh, gum benjamin or ben- 
zoin, and frankincense or olibanum; and the possession of such au- 
thentic commercial specimens will serve a useful purpose for the 
identification of unnamed material. A number of specimens of tan 
barks collected in the Philippine Islands, together with a record of 
their chemical analysis, which shows a high percentage of tannin, 
were transferred from the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 
A collection of Panama woods, accompanied by botanical speci- 
mens from the same trees, obtained by purchase, supplements a 
larger one previously made by Mr. H. Pittier while a member of 
the Smithsonian Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone. 
These samples, which have been determined by Mr. Pittier and 
their structure studied by the Bureau of Forestry, will form the 
basis of a reference collection for the identification of future wood 
samples from this region. Two beautifully mottled boards of the 
finest grade of cypress lumber, 30 inches wide, 16 feet long, and 
carefully kiln dried, were obtained by purchase from the Lyon 
Cypress Lumber Co., of Garyville, La. <A large section of the 
trunk of an empress tree, Paulownia tomentosa, growing in the 
Smithsonian grounds, which was destroyed by the severe storm of 
July 30, 1913, was received from the Office of Public Buildings and 
Grounds. It is a unique specimen of this beautiful wood, illustrat- 
ing the great size attained by this Japanese tree. 
As the time of the curator and preparators was practically all 
occupied in connection with the solicitation, cataloguing and in- 
stallation of new material and the improvement of the exhibition 
series, but little progress was made in the arrangement of the study 
series. All accessions were promptly catalogued, and most of the 
specimens placed on exhibition were at once supplied with type- 
written labels, to be replaced later with printed ones. The main 
series of the principal textile fabrics—cotton, wool, silk, and flax— 
have been installed in the south hall of the older building, and 
represent a more or less permanent arrangement. The animal prod- 
ucts have been temporarily placed in the southwest gallery, their 
final disposition being delayed in order to complete certain por- 
tions of the series. While the collections of vegetable products, 
including examples of the various kinds of woods, were added to 
considerably during the year, no attempt has been made to exhibit 
them, owing to their incompleteness. 
