REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 37 



The Bureau of Entomology was the principal contributor of 

 insects, transferring about 3,000 specimens of various orders. The 

 material from American Consul Dyer in Honduras has already been 

 mentioned. The other more important accessions comprised Lepi- 

 doptera from Peru, Mexico, and Alaska ; Hymenoptera from western 

 Argentina, and a collection of miscellaneous insects from Mount 

 Kinabalu, British North Borneo. 



The additions to the botanical collections exceeded 79,000 speci- 

 mens, including about 25,000 specimens from the Vanderbilt Herb- 

 arium at Biltmore, N. C, comprising all that were saved from the 

 disastrous flood of July 15, 16, 1916. This valuable herbarium, which 

 was established and maintained for many years by the late George 

 W. Vanderbilt, contained at the time of the flood upward of 100,000 

 specimens, and was especially noteworthy for its representation of 

 the plants of the southeastern United States. This accession, which 

 was accompanied by the remnant of the botanical library attached 

 to the herbarium, was a gift from Mrs. Vanderbilt. 



Another notable accession consisted of about 15,000 specimens of 

 cryptogams, mainly mosses, hepatics, fungi, and myxomycetes, from 

 the northeastern United States and Liberia, presented by Prof. O. F. 

 Cook. The Department of Agriculture deposited over 5,800 speci- 

 mens, resulting principally from field work of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry and including many tropical American palms and Alaskan 

 and Hawaiian plants, Through exchanges, important collections 

 were obtained from the New York Botanical Garden, the Gray 

 Herbarium of Harvard University, the Missouri Botanical Garden, 

 the British Museum, and the Bureau of Science at Manila. A gift of 

 about 1,000 Venezuelan plants was received from the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of Washington, and about 5,000 specimens were collected in 

 New Mexico for the Museum by Mr. Paul C. Standley, assistant 

 curator. 



Geology. — The Charles U. Shepard collection of meteorites, the 

 bequest of which was announced in the last report, was formally 

 transferred to the Museum during the year, and constitutes one of 

 the most important accessions ever acquired by the department of 

 geology. It comprises 238 falls and finds. Additional specimens of 

 meteorites to the number of 26 were obtained by gift and exchange, 

 and there were many acquisitions of valuable ores and rocks from 

 various localities. 



The more prominent accessions of minerals, as also of petrological 

 material, were from the Geological Survey. Among the former, 

 were a fine large series illustrating the occurrence of turquoise, a 

 number of amethyst crystals, many semiprecious stones, and a large 

 number of minerals and rocks collected in connection with studies 

 of the gem deposits of southern California. Among the latter were 



