REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 27 



tion halls on the first floor, extending from the center of the north 

 hall around east through the southern section of the west hall, pro- 

 viding accommodations for 3,059 employees. This occupancy nec- 

 essarily involved many changes and inconveniences, including the 

 closing of the auditorium, with the cancellation of meetings and 

 congresses. The importance of the work with which the bureau 

 is charged — not only of providing insurance for the soldier and sailor, 

 but of paying to their dependent families the allotments made by 

 them and by the Government — more than justified any and all sac- 

 rifices required, and the heartiest cooperation and assistance was 

 cheerfully rendered by the entire staff of the Museum. 



On July 16, 1918, at the further request of the President, the 

 Board of Regents closed the natural history building to the public, 

 in order to make every foot of space in the exhibition halls available 

 for the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. 



COLLECTIONS. 



The additions to the collections, received in 1,288 accessions, aggre- 

 gated approximately 142,902 specimens and articles, classified by sub- 

 jects as follows: Anthropology, ll,0t>8; zoology, 61,537; botany, 

 38,123; geology and mineralogy, 11,370; paleontology, 17,896; tex- 

 tiles, woods, medicines, and other miscellaneous animal and vege- 

 table products, 1,532 ; mineral technology, 308 ; and National Gallery 

 of Art, 1,078. Seven hundred and eighty-one lots of material were 

 received from various parts of the country for examination and 

 report. 



Space here permits the mention only of some of the important 

 additions of the year. 



Anthropology. — The ethnological collections were increased by 

 some 400 specimens collected in Celebes by Mr. H. C. Raven and pre- 

 sented by Dr. W. L. Abbott ; examples of the work of the Dyaks of 

 Borneo, donated by Mr. Alfred M. Erskine; African, Chinese, Fili- 

 pino, and Porto Rican ethnologica from Miss Josephine A. Rohrer ; 

 baskets from the Koasati Indians, a pottery-making series of the 

 Catawba Indians, Sioux and Chippewa objects, and Voodoo drums. 

 and charms from Haiti. 



Through explorations under the Smithsonian Institution came 

 relics from ancient cliff and cavern dwellings in New Mexico col- 

 lected by Dr. Walter Hough, and archeological objects from Utah 

 gathered by Mr. Neil M. Judd. The Museum of the American 

 Indian, Heye Foundation, sent an exchange of ancient Indian relics 

 from the Virgin Islands, including stone implements and pottery. 

 Stone implements were also received from Mr. J. G. Braecklein, and 

 prehistoric implements gathered in Mexico from the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology. Effigy earthen vessels from the Casas 



