REPOET OF ASSISTANT DIEECTOR. 



19 



Subjects. 



^ o 



Arts and industries : 



Foods 



Textiles 



Materia medica 



Etlinolog-y 



Antiquities 



Mammals 



Birds 



Reptiles and batrachians 



Fishes 



Mollusks (including crustaceans). 



Insects 



Invertebrates 



Plants. 



Mineralogy 



Litbology and physidal geology. . . 



Geography and exploration...' 



Chemistry 



Fisheries and fishing grounds 



Metallurgy 



Physiology and histology 



Taxidermy 



Administration 



Biography 



General 



Total. 



180 



93 



273 



A comparison of this table with that included in the report for 1884* 

 shows a decided increase in the line of original research during the first 

 half of 1885, the total number of papers published during 1884 being 335. 



In the report for 1884, Part III, are published six papers t based upon 

 Museum collections. The following is a list of their titles, accompanied 

 by a brief synopsis : 



I. Throwing-sticks in the National Museum. By Otis T. Mason. — This deals 

 "with the throwing-sticks used in the hyperborean regions of North America. In this 

 paper the author applies zoological methods to a specific human art, studying the 

 case of each specimen, structure, function, and geographical distribution. 



II. Basket-work of the North American aborigines. By Otis T. Mason. — In 

 order to test the value of human art as evidences of race, the author has made an ex- 

 haustive collection of the basketry of the world ; has analyzed the methods of fabrica- 

 tion, materials used, forms, and decorations. The result of this study is very satis- 

 factory, showing that by comparison the products of that art can be exactly traced to 

 the authors when no definite information exists. 



III. A STUDY OF THE ESKIMO BOWS IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. By John 



Murdoch. — This paper points out the fact that the bows stiffened by cords of sinew on 



' Page 31. 



t Since at the time of sending to press the present report, the report for 1884 had not 

 been published, it is deemed not inappropriate to refer to these in this place as forming 

 part of the current work of the'Museum. In continuation of this plan of devoting 

 one part of each Museum report to original papers bearing upon Museum collections, 

 an extensive and illustrated paper by Mr. Thomas Donaldson, entitled " The George 

 Catlin Indian Gallery in the U. S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution), with 

 Memoir and Statistics," is published in Part V of the report now presented. 



