42 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



ART TEXTILES. 



The lace exhibit now embraces a fairly connected series both in 

 respect to the varieties of laces and the development of the industry, 

 and it also contains some important examples which from their 

 quality and rarity form striking museum pieces. Though smaller 

 and less conspicuous in the matter of display material than some 

 others, it ranks high among the museum collections of the country. 

 The work during the year was mainly in the direction of securing 

 a more systematic arrangement of the collection and of more fully 

 labeling both specimens and cases. The collection at present consists 

 chiefly of loans, which have increased in number from year to year, 

 with the expectation of soon making the collection more permanent in 

 character. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Duplicate specimens to the number of about 7,300 were distributed 

 to schools and colleges for teaching purposes, the subjects represented 

 being mainly fishes, insects, marine invertebrates, rocks, ores, min- 

 erals, and fossils. Some 1,500 pounds of material suitable for blow- 

 pipe and assay work by students was also similarly disposed of. 

 Over 21,000 duj^licates were used in making exchanges, about 85 

 per cent of this number being plants. Two hundred and six lots of 

 specimens were sent to specialists for working up both on behalf 

 of the Museum and in the interest of the advancement of researches 

 by other institutions. They comprised over 12,700 individual speci- 

 mens, besides several hundred packages of unassorted material, 

 principally of animals, plants, and fossils. 



The aggregate number of visitors to the new building on week 

 days during the year was 261,636, a daily average of 836, and on 

 Sundays 58,170, a daily average of 1,118. The attendance at the 

 older Museum building was 173,858, and at the Smithsonian build- 

 ing 142,420, these figures representing a daily average of 555 for 

 the former and of 455 for the latter. During inaugural week in 

 March, 1913, the daily average for the new building was increased 

 to 5,325 persons, the largest attendance for any single day having 

 been 13,236 on March 5. 



The publications consisted of Bulletins 79 and 81 and volumes 42 

 and 43 of the Proceedings, besides 105 papers issued in separate 

 form, of which 96 belonged to the series of Proceedings and 9 to the 

 Contributions from the National Herbarium. Thirty-five papers on 

 Museum subjects, mainly descriptive of new additions to the collec- 

 tions, "Were also published in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions. The number of copies of Museum publications distributed, 

 including earlier issues as well as those of the year, was about 71,600. 



