33 6 The Smithsonian Institution 



To describe in detail all the more important objects in the 

 National Museum would require more space than can be de- 

 voted to such an enumeration in this volume, but it will be of 

 interest to point out the chief excellences of the collections 

 and to mention some of the treasures. 



The collections are at present divided among the following 

 Departments and Sections : 



Zoological Departments : Mammals, Birds (with a Section 

 of Birds' Eggs), Reptiles and Batrachians, Fishes, Mollusks, 

 Insects, Marine Invertebrates (with a Section of Parasitic 

 Worms), Comparative Anatomy. 



A Botanical Department. 



Geological Departments : Geology, Mineralogy, and Pale- 

 ontology. 



Anthropological Departments : Prehistoric Anthropology, 

 Ethnology (with a section of American Pueblo Collections), 

 Oriental Antiquities. 



A Department of " Arts and Industries," with the following 

 sections at present: Historical Relics, Transportation and 

 Engineering, Naval Architecture, Physical Apparatus, Elec- 

 trical Collections, Technological Collections, Materia Medica, 

 Forestry, and Graphic Arts. 



The Department of Mammals comprises the collection of 

 the Wilkes Exploring Expedition and of the numerous geo- 

 graphical and geological surveys of the public domain, in- 

 cluding the type-specimens of species described by Baird in 

 his great work on North American mammals, and numerous 

 types of J. A. Allen, Elliott Coues, Harrison Allen, and other 

 American naturalists. The collections from the Mexican 

 boundary recently made by Doctor E. A. Mearns, U. S. A., 

 are large and of high scientific value. 1 



1 The very extensive series of North Amer- Hart Merriam, the finest ever assembled, is 

 ican mammals made by the United States deposited in the Museum building and cata- 

 Department of Agriculture under Doctor C. logued in its registers. 



