bEPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY 



23 



It will be seen, from this table that the number of specimens at the 

 Close of 1882 was approximately 193,362, and that this total has been in- 

 creased during the next five and a half years to nearly 3,000,000. In 

 other words, for twenty-two years (1859-1881) the average number of 

 specimens received annually was less than 8,800 ; while during the last 

 five years and a half the average number of specimens received annually 

 has been nearly 475,000. 



CATALOaUE ENTRIES. 



The cataloguing of specimens is attended to by the curators of the 

 several departments in the Museum. Each department has its book or 

 set of books for this purpose, and until thecatalogue entry has been 

 made, the routine of recording the receipt of specimens is not complete. 

 A catalogue entry may relate to a single specimen or to a large number 

 of specimens, as, for instance, frequently happens in connection with 

 marine invertebrates, insects, fossils, and other groujjs of objects. The 

 number of catalogue entries during the year is, therefore, no indication 

 of the total number of specimens added to the Museum collections. 



As shown in the following table, the total number of catalogue entries 

 for the year covered by this report is 26,891, while the total number of 

 specimens received is estimated at more than 137,000. 



Table shoiving the number of catalogue entries made during the year. 



Name of deijartment. 



Total 

 No. of 

 entries. 



Arts and industries : 

 Materia medica . . 



Textiles 



Animal products 



Fisheries 



Historical relics, coins, badges, etc 



Ethnology 



American aboriginal pottery 



Prehistoric anthropology 



Mammals 



Birds 



Birds' eggs 



Keptiles and batrachians 



Fishes 



Vertebrate fossils - 



Mollusks (including Cenozoic fossils) 



Insects 



Marine invertebrates (exclusive of mollusks) . 



"Comparative anatomy 



Invertebrate fossils: 



Paleozoic 



Mesozoic , 



Fossil plants 



Recent plants 



Minerals - 



Lithology and physical geology 



Metallurgy and economic geology 



Living animals 



Total. 



246 



21 



26 



445 



552 



790 



1,542 



2,696 



337 



2,206 



487 



83 



450 



22 



11,-799 



56 



1,021 



536 



350 



30 



19 



45 



347 



1,203 



1,413 



169 



26, 891 



