REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



CHARLES D. WALCOTT, 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1912. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith a report show- 

 ing the operations of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches 

 during the year ending June 30, 1912, including the Avork placed by 

 Congress under the direction of the Board of Regents in the United 

 States National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the 

 International Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the Astro- 

 physical Observatory, and the United States Bureau of the Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



The general report reviews the affairs of the Institution proper, 

 with brief paragraphs relating to the several branches, while the 

 appendix presents detailed reports by those in direct charge of the 

 work. Independently of the present report, the operations of the 

 National Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology are fully 

 treated of in separate volumes. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 



The Smithsonian Institution was created an establishment by act 

 of Congress approved August 10, 1846. Its statutory members are 

 the President of the United States, 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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