REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



CHARLES D. WALCOTT, 



FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1909. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit a report showing the oper- 

 ations of the Institution during the year ending June 30, 1909, 

 including the work placed under its direction by Congress in the 

 United States National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 the International Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the 

 Astrophysical Observatory, and the regional bureau of the Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



In the body of this report there is given a general account of the 

 affairs of the Institution, while the appendix presents more detailed 

 statements by those in direct charge of the different branches of the 

 work. Independently of this the operations of the National Museum 

 and of the Bureau of American Ethnology are fully treated in 

 separate volumes. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 



By act of Congress approved August 10, 1846, the Smithsonian 

 Institution was created an establishment. Its statutory members are 

 " the President, the Vice-President, the Chief Justice, and the heads 

 of the executive departments." 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



The Board of Regents consists of the Vice-President and the Chief 

 Justice of the United States as ex officio members, three members of 

 the Senate, three Members of the House of Representatives, and six 

 citizens, " two of whom shall be resident in the city of Washington, 

 and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State, but no two 

 of them of the same State." 



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