192 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw donated a valuable set of the ferns, asters, and 

 golden-rods of the District of Columbia. 



Mr. Gerald McCarthy presented a series of between three and four 

 thousand specimens of duplicate North Carolina plants. 



A very valuable collection of the woods of North America for micro- 

 scopical study was presented by Prof. S. P. Sharpless, of Boston, Mas- 

 sachusetts. There are about twelve hundred specimens representing 

 over four hundred species, collected by special agents for the Tenth 

 Census of the United States. The specimens presented were small 

 pieces cut from the specimens used by Prof. C. S. Sargent in the prep- 

 aration of his elaborate report on the Forests of North America for the 

 Census Board. 



Other donations of greater or less magnitude have been received 

 from Messrs. Sturtevant, Echfeldt, Wood, Duges, Hunter, Schuette, 

 Eeardon, Toner, etc. 



A large part of the routine work has been devoted to caring for the 

 collections. Mr. McCarthy has thoroughly poisoned all the material 

 now on hand, including the duplicates and the specimens collected 

 about the District. The six thousand specimens of duplicates that 

 have accumulated during the past year have been incorporated with 

 the main series of duplicates and the whole rearranged. The genera, 

 or where large the species also, have been placed in covers and the 

 whole labeled with strips of paper which project beyond the packages 

 as they are placed in the cases. The whole duplicate series is arranged 

 alphabetically^ for convenience of exchanging. 



The leaf collection, which was commenced as early as 1888 for pur- 

 poses of comparison with fossil plants, has been thoroughly rearranged 

 and mounted on ordinary herbarium paper. They have also been ar- 

 ranged alphabetically. There are somewhat over one thousand species 

 in this series. 



During the month of February the long-contemplated exhibition 

 series was begun. Five wall-cases were placed at the disposal of the 

 Department, and two of them were immediately filled with miscella- 

 neous botanical objects, such as fruits, seeds, plant products, etc. 

 Most of the material at first placed on exhibition was selected from a 

 lot sent to the National Museum from Kew some years ago. Subse- 

 quently considerable other material, such as species of Polyporus, 

 woods of Canada, seeds and fruits of Australia, etc., was placed on 

 exhibition. 



The flowering plants collected in the Yellowstone National Park were 

 worked up by Professor Knowlton, as was also the collection made by 

 Messrs. Lucas and Palmer on the Labrador coast. 



The mosses collected in the Yellowstone National Park were identified 

 by Prof. Chas. K. Barnes, of the University of Wisconsin. Professor 

 Barnes also identified the mosses collected by Lucas and Palmer. There 

 were seyen species, one of which, a beautiful Bryum, was new to science. 



