REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 17 



1. The commission does not undertake to act as a bibliographic or nomen- 

 clatural bureau, but rather as an adviser in connection with the more difficult 

 and disputed cases of nomenclature. 



2. All cases submitted should be accompanied by (a) a concise statement 

 of the point at issue, (&) the full arguments on both sides in case a disputed 

 point is involved, and (c) complete and exact bibliographic references to every 

 book or article bearing on the point at issue. 



The more complete the data when the case is submitted the more promptly 

 can it be acted upon. 



3. Of necessity, cases submitted with incomplete bibliographic references 

 can not be studied and must be returned by the commission to the sender. 



4. Cases upon which an opinion is desired may be sent to any member of 

 the commission, but — 



5. In order that the work of the commission may be confined as much as 

 possible to the more difficult and the disputed cases, it is urged that zoologists 

 study the code and settle for themselves as many cases as possible. 



Museum publications. — There were published during the year the 

 annual report of the assistant secretary in charge of the National 

 Museum for 1911, 50 miscellaneous papers of the Proceedings, 3 

 Bulletins, and 5 parts of Contributions from the National Herbarium. 



Ethnological publications. — The Bureau of American Ethnology 

 published the Twenty-seventh Annual Keport, containing a paper on 

 "The Omaha Tribe," and Bulletin 47 on the Biloxi and Ofo 

 languages. 



Reports of historical and patriotic societies. — In accordance with 

 the national charters of the American Historical Association and 

 the National Society of the Daughters of the American Kevolution, 

 annual reports of those organizations were submitted to the Institu- 

 tion and communicated to Congress. 



Committee on printing and publication. — The advisory committee 

 on printing and publication under the Smithsonian Institution has 

 continued to examine manuscripts proposed for publication by the 

 branches of the Institution and has considered various questions 

 concerning public printing and binding. Twenty-one meetings of 

 the committee were held during the year and 156 manuscripts were 

 passed upon. The personnel of the committee is as follows: Dr. 

 Frederick W. True, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, chairman; Mr. C. G. Abbot, Director of the Astrophysical 

 Observatory ; Mr. W. I. Adams, disbursing officer of the Smithsonian 

 Institution; Dr. Frank Baker, superintendent of the National 

 Zoological Park; Mr. A. Howard Clark, editor of the Smithsonian 

 Institution; Mr. F. W. Hodge, ethnologist in charge of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology; Dr. George P. Merrill, head curator of 

 geology, United States National Museum; and Dr. Leonhard 

 Stejneger, head curator of biology, United States National Museum. 



Allotments for printing. — The allotments to the Institution and its 

 branches, under the head of " Public printing and binding," during 

 the past fiscal year, aggregating $72,900, were, as far as practicable, 



