46 .REPORT OF THE ACTING SECKETARY. 



lu zoology tlie uiaiuuuils sent from Malaysia by Doctor Abbott were the sub- 

 ject of much attention, the manuscript for the fourth volume of Riclgway's 

 Birds of North ami INIiddle America was brought nearly to completion, and 

 a large work on the herpetology of Japan was finished. Extensive studies 

 were made on the large collections of fishes from Japan, the Philippine Islands, 

 the Amazon River, and the deeper waters of the Pacific Ocean. Contributions 

 were prepared on several families and faunal collections of mollusks, on the 

 higher crus-tacea from Hawaii, the fresh-water crabs from different parts of 

 the world, the isopod crustaceans of the North American coasts, and the corals 

 from several localities. The soundings made by the U. S. S. T<lero in the course 

 of its cable surveys in the Pacific Ocean were the subject of a careful study and 

 an instructive reix>rt. The researches completed in the division of insects are 

 represented by 33 separate papers. 



The investigations in geology have related mainly to the description of 

 meteorites and of their structure and composition. Several important contribu- 

 tions in paleontology on both vertebrates and invertebrates were submitted. 



EXHIBITION COLLECTIONS. 



The entire renovation and reari'angement of the collections of prehistoric 

 archeology, with some additions, have made it possible to reopen the large 

 upper hall in the Smithsonian building long devoted to this subject. The trans- 

 fer to storage of some of the older collections in the Museum building has 

 afforded the opiX)rtunity of presenting to the public some of the more recent 

 and interesting acquisitions in ethnology. Otherwise but few changes were 

 made in the exhibition collections beyond providing for the larger and more 

 important exhibits ret\irned from the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and 

 Clark expositions. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Of duplicate specimens recently separated from the reserve collections, 

 over 19,000 were distributed in 261 sets to educational establishments, and 

 17,500 were used in exchanges, from which valuable returns have been 

 received. I'he number of specimens sent to specialists for study, to be 

 returned again to the ^Museum, was nearly 20,000. 



The publications issued during the year comprised the annual report of 

 the Museum for 1904; volumes 28, 29, and 30 of the Proceedings, the first 

 mentioned having been nearly completed the previous year ; bulletins num- 

 bered 54 and 55. the former on the isopod crustaceans of North America, the 

 latter on the oceanography of the Pacific Ocean ; and part 1 of Volume X of 

 the Contributions from the National Herbarium. The number of publica- 

 tions distributed, including full volumes and separate papers, was approxi- 

 mately 103.000. 



The library of the Museum received 3,556 books and 5,432 pamphlets and 

 periodicals, increasing the total contents of the library to 27.726 volumes and 

 44,075 unbound papers. 



At the Lewis and Clark Exposition, in which the Institution and its several 

 bureaus participated, the Museum collection consisted almost entirely of 

 objects selected from the exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, only 

 a few additions being made thereto. 



Richard Rathbun, 

 Assistant Secretary in charne of National Museum. 



