722 The Smithsonian Institution 



It was not till 1876 that systematic provision was made for 

 curators for the museum. The history from that period has 

 been given in the chapter on the United States National 

 Museum, to which reference may be made for the history of 

 its subsequent development. 



PUBLICATIONS 

 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTORS AND ADJUNCTS 



AN important service has been rendered by the Institution 

 in inducing naturalists of eminence to prepare manuals or 

 guides for the determination of species belonging to various 

 classes or other groups of the animal kingdom. 



The activity of many naturalists, ever increasing, not only 

 in the United States but elsewhere, had largely added to the 

 numbers of known species of many classes of animals, but 

 the literature was very scattered and to many students quite 

 inaccessible. The labor devolved upon the person who 

 would identify a species had become most onerous, and even 

 after long search it would often be doubtful whether he had 

 exhausted the sources of information. Thus, on the one 

 hand the Charybdis of imperfect knowledge and slovenly 

 work threatened, and on the other the Scylla of forced in- 

 activity. The time had come when the scattered informa- 

 tion should be collected and an abundant literature systemati- 

 cally indexed. The Secretary of the Institution received with 

 favor propositions to compile guides for the identification of 

 the species of various groups of animals. 



As early as 1851 Doctor Charles Girard had published "A 

 Monograph of the Cottoids " as the first and only published 

 part of " Contributions to the Natural History of the Fresh- 

 water Fishes of North America." This was so well done that 

 regret must be entertained that it was not followed by others 



