REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 29 



ix-f-458 pages. A new feature of this report was the inclusion of scien- 

 tific papers based upon collections in the Museum. These are six in 

 number and bear the following titles : 



I. Tkrowing-sticks in the National Museum ; by Otis T. Mason ; 12 pages ; 17 plates. 

 II. Basket-work of the North American Aborigines; by Otis T. Mason; 16 pages; 64 

 plates. 



III. A study of the Eskimo bow in the U. S. National Museum ; by John Murdoch ; 



10 pages ; 12 plates. 



IV. On a Spotted Dolphin, apparently identical with the Prodetyhinus doris, Gray ; by 



Frederick W. True; 8 pages; 6 plates. 

 V. The Florida Muskrat, Neofiber Alleni, True ; by Frederick W. True; 6 pages; 3 



plates. 

 VI. On the West Indian Seal, Monachus tropicalis, Gray; by Frederick W. True and 

 F. A. Lucas; 5 pages; 3 plates. 



The manuscript of the report for 1885-'S6, the first report embracing 

 an entire fiscal year, has been sent to the Printing Office. 



Mr. A. Howard Clark has been appointed editor of Proceedings and 

 Bulletins. This work has for many years been well performed by Dr. 

 T. H. Bean, in addition to his regular duties as curator of fishes. 



The eighth volume of the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 

 for the year 1885, appeared in October. It contains 78 contributions in 

 40 signatures by 36 authors, 14 of whom are officers of the Museum. 

 Twenty- five of the papers related to fishes, 22 to birds, 12 to marine in- 

 vertebrates, 6 to mammals, 3 to rocks and minerals, 3 to physiological 

 subjects, 2 to botany, and 1 each to ethnology, entomology, paleontology, 

 metallurgy, and materia medica. The report is illustrated by 25 plates 

 and 15 cuts. The Appendix contains circulars 32 and 33 of the National 

 Museum, the former being "A classification of the materia medica col- 

 lection of the U. S. National Museum" previously published by Dr. 

 James M. Flint, U. S. Navy, and extended by Dr. Henry G. Beyer, IT. 

 S. Navy, and the latter entitled "Notes on the Preparation of liough 

 Skeletons, by Frederic A. Lucas." 



The ninth volume of the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 

 18S6, has been issued only in signatures, of which a list is published in 

 Section iv of this report. The bound volume will soon be ready for 

 distribution. 



Of the tenth volume of Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 

 for the year 1887, only six signatures (the sixth dated May 17) had 

 appeared up to the close of the fiscal year now being reported upon. 



Bulletin 31, Synopsis of the North American Syrphidje, by 

 Samuel W. Williston, M. D., Ph. D., was issued in May, 1887, and con- 

 tains xxx+335 pages. It is illustrated by 12 plates. The subject is 

 discussed in three parts, of which the first is devoted to classification, 

 the second to descriptions, and the third to habits, structural characters, 

 geographical and geological distribution, and chronological list of gen- 

 era. 



