REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY, 25 



hibitiou a series of Coleoptera, Nuiueroiis additioas to the exhibition 

 series of osteolooical material have been made. The inineralogical col- 

 lection has steadily increased, and additions have been made to the ex- 

 hibition series of meteorites and to tlie gem collection. The cases con- 

 taining the exhibition material of this department are very attractive 

 and excite much interest on the part of visitors. More than two mouths 

 were spent by the curator of lithology and his assistants in rearranging 

 the exhibition material belonging to the department. The arrangement 

 decided upon was such that the movingof nearly every specimen in the 

 hall was made necessary. Since this rearrangement many iraportatJt 

 additions to the series have been made. A change in the space occu- 

 pied by the Department of Metallurgy was made early in the year, the 

 whole of the southwest court being assigned to the department, and the 

 time and energy of the curator and his assistants, during the greater 

 part of the year, have been devoted to the work of rearranging the 

 exhibition material. 



The Department of Living Animals, recently organized, has created 

 wide interest. Many interesting specimens have already been obtained. 

 The most important of these is a pair of buffaloes, j)resented by Hon. B. 

 G-. Blackford, of I^ew Yorli City. 



Several important changes have been made in the assignment of space 

 in the exhibition halls. The collection of modern ceramics and several 

 special collections, such as the Capron collection of Japanese objects 

 and the Hippisley collection of Chinese porcelains, have been placed on 

 the west side of the north hall. A wall case, extending along the en- 

 tire west side of the north hall, is devoted to collections representing 

 the races of men and their domestic life. The ocope of the collection 

 belonging to the section of steam transportation has been enlarged to 

 include transportation generally, and also to embrace the subject of 

 engineering. The space assigned to these collections is the eastern end 

 of the 6ast hall. 



The collections of prehistoric anthropology, of marine invertebrates, 

 of fishes, of mollusks, and of reptiles are still retained in the Smithso- 

 nian building. 



The north end of the west hall, from which the collection of modern 

 pottery has been removed, is devoted to the section of Oriental Antiqui- 

 ties. The collection of metallurgy, including that portion of it which 

 occupies the west end of the west hall, has been removed to the south- 

 west court, the collection of minerals having been transferred to the 

 southwest range in lieu of the metallurgical collection. In the south- 

 east court, space has been assigned to the vertebrate and invertebrate 

 fossil collections and to the Department of Botany. 



