REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 48 



to Dr. Charles B. Wilson; the Pycnogonidse to Dr. Leon J. Cole, of 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Schizopoda t<> Dr. A. K. Qrtniann, of 

 the Carnegie Museum; the Amphipoda to Dr. .1. S. Holmes, of the 

 University of Michigan; and the Cirripedia to Prof. H. A. Pilsbury, 

 of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. A large numberof Bering 

 Sea and arctic starfishes have been supplied to Prof. A. E. Verrill, of 

 Yale University, for examination in connection with a report on the 

 starfishes of the Harriman Alaska Expedition: several lots of actinians 

 to Dr. J. E. Duerden. of the University of Michigan, who i- prepar- 

 ing- a report on the Hawaiian species for the Bureau of Fisheries; and 

 specimens of echini and isopods to Dr. T. H. Mortensen and Dr. 

 H. J. Nansen, respectively, of the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, 

 Denmark. 



Mr. F. A'. Coville. curator of the division of plants, has published 

 several papers which are cited in Appendix III. Dr. J. N. Rose, 

 assistant curator, has continued his studies on Mexican and Central 

 American plants. He has also, in conjunction with Dr. X. L. Britton, 

 director of the New York Botanical Garden, conducted investigations 

 relative to the North American Crassulacese and has begun to work up 

 the cacti of North America, a research which is expected to occupy 

 four or five years. A preliminary paper on the Crassulaeese and one 

 by Doctor Rose on a new species of Begonia have appeared during the 

 year. Mr. W. K. Maxon, aid. has given special attention to the speci- 

 mens of ferns received from the Philippine Islands, and Mr. E. S. 

 Steele, to the genus Laciniaria. Dr. E. L. Greene, appointed associate 

 in botany near the close of the year, has engaged in various lines of 

 systematic work. The Carices have been the subject of study by Mr. 

 Theodor Holm, of Brookland, District of Columbia, and the speci- 

 mens of the genus Plantago by Prof. E. L. Morris, of the Washing- 

 ton High School. The collections have been frequently consulted 

 by several members of the botanical staff of the Department of 

 Agriculture. 



There were 43 loans of plants, aggregating 2,873 specimens, the prin- 

 cipal ones being as follows: A large collection from the Philippine 

 Islands to Dr. Janet Perkins. Berlin Botanical Gardens; a collection of 

 Mexican plants to Dr. B. L. Robinson, of the Gray Herbarium. Har- 

 vard University: specimens of pines to Mr. George R. Shaw, of the 

 Arnold Arboretum.^Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts; and specimens of 

 orchids to Mr. Oakes Ames, of the Ames Botanical Laboratory. North 

 Easton, Massachusetts. 



The Head Curator of Geology. Doctor Merrill, has supervised the 

 work of an economic survey relating to the building and ornamental 

 stones of North Carolina, and as an expert special agent of the last 

 census has completed a report on stone quarries. A collection id" rocks 

 brought from the Nugsuaks Peninsula, Greenland, and the occurrence 



