REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31 



In connection with tlie Baldwin-Ziegler expedition to tlie Polar regions, a small 

 collection of natural-history specimens obtained aliout Franz Josef I^and was i)re- 

 sentecl to the Museum by Mr. Ziegler. It is hoped that the second expedition now 

 in progress under the same auspices will result in additional accessions from that 

 little-known region. 



Researches. — The Museum collections serve as the basis for a large amount of 

 scientific work, as detailed each year in the full reports of the Museum, wliich also 

 contain lists of the papers resulting from these studies. These investigations are car- 

 ried on both in Washington and at different establishments throughout the country. 

 The ]\Iuseum assistants give to the classification of the collections as much time as 

 can be s])ared from their duties as custodians. Spet'ialists from the scientific bureaus 

 in Washington and from elsewhere are frequent visitors at the Museum, coming for 

 the purpose of consulting the collections or of conducting researches of greater or 

 less extent. The numl:)er of specimens sent out to investigators during the year has 

 amounted to more than 12,000. 



Among those now engaged in the study of special groups in the direct interest of the 

 Museum are Prof. Charles L. Edwards, of Trinity College, Hartford, who is at work 

 upon the pedate holothurians; Prof. Hubert Lyman Clark, of Olivet College, Michi- 

 gan, who has the apodal holothurians; Prof. C. C. Nutting, of the University of Iowa, 

 who has nearly completed a monograph on the Sertularian hydroids; Dr. Charles 

 B. Wilson, of the State Normal School, Westfield, Mass., who is studying the para- 

 sitic copepoda, and one of whose papers on the family Argulid;e was pul)lished 

 during the year; and Prof. A. G. Mayer, scientific director of the museum of the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, who is finishing the uncompleted studies of 

 the late Prof. Alpheus Hyatt on the Museum collection of Achatinellidse. 



Among other well-known specialists to whom zoological material has been lent are 

 Dr. J. A. Allen and Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York City; Mr. AVitmer Stone and Mr. J. A. G. Rehn, of the Philadel- 

 phia Academy of Natural Sciences, and Dr. D. G. Elliot, of the Field Columbian 

 Museum. 



About 400 orchids were sent to Mr. Oakes Ames, of North Easton, Mass., and 

 about 300 specimens of Jludbccl-ia and the same number of Coreopsis to Mr. C. D. 

 Beadle, of Biltmore, X. C. 



The Department of Geology has contributed material to the United States ( Jeolog- 

 ical Survey and to various Bureaus of the Department of Agriculture for use in con- 

 nection with current investigations; specimens of radio-active minerals have l)een 

 furnished to Prof. George F. Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania; about 260 

 Tertiary insects were lent to Prof. S. W. Williston, of the University of Chicago, and 

 500 Carboniferous insects to Dr. Anton Handlirsch, of the Royal Austrian Museum, 

 Viemia. 



Excltanges. — In the act of 1846 founding the Smithsonian Institution, the exchange 

 of dui)licate specimens with other institutions was authorized as a means of enlarging 

 the collections in the Smithsonian Museum. This practice was begun at an early 

 date, and has been continued down to the present time. It has not, however, been 

 carried on to the extent that the collections would permit, for the reason that the 

 staff has never been large enough to classify the specimens to such a degree that 

 even a fair part of the duplicates could be set aside from those which must remain 

 as permanent records in the Museum. Nevertheless, very much has been done in 

 this way and numerous exchanges were made during the past year. Furthermore, 

 in accordance with acts of Congress, duplicate specimens not reijuired for exchange, 

 have been made up into sets and distrilnited to educaticmal establishments throughout 

 the country, thus promoting educational interests at a distance from the .Museum. 



TJtc c.rJilbitio I, lia/l.t. — A nundx'r of collectitms and specimens recently received 

 have been placed on exhibition, ])ut, as intimated in previous reports, the installa- 



