REPOET OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 7 



Table showing yearly increase in the collections in the National Museum, etc. — Continued. 



Name of department. 



1882. 



1883. 



1884. 



1885. 



1885-'86. 



18S6-'87. 



Fossil plants 





4,624 



!7,291 





2 7, 429 

 30, 000 



lb, 401 



20,647 

 48, 000 . 



8,462 



Recent plants 





3 32, 000 



Minerals 





14, 550 

 12, 500 



30, 000 



16,610 

 18, 000 

 40, 000 





18,601 



Lithology and. physical ge- 



4 9, 075 



n 21, 500 



Metallurgy and economic 



3 49, 000 



Living animals. 









193, 362 



263, 143 



1,472,600 









Total 





2, 420, 944 



2, 666, 335 







1 Fossil and recent. 



2 Exclusive of Professor Ward's collection. 



CATALOGUE ENTRIES. 



3 Estimated. 



4 In reserve series. 



The words "accession," "specimen," and "catalogue entry" are by 

 no means synonymous. An accession may consist of several classes of 

 objects, or may be a single specimen, or may include several specimens 

 of only one class. A specimen is a single object. A catalogue entry rep- 

 resents one or more specimens of a class, and may include hundreds of 

 individual objects. The number of catalogue entries during the year, 

 as shown in tbe following table, is perhaps the best criterion of the im- 

 portance of the accessions to the collections, since they represent the 

 number of separate "lots" not only received but of sufficient value to 

 bo added to the collections. It frequently happens that material is re- 

 ceived which is of no value and is therefore not entered on the catalogue. 



Number and name of depart- 

 ment. 



Total 



number of 



entries. 



Number and name of depart- 

 ment. 



Total 



number of 



entries. 





73 



59 



55 



* 425 



1 



324 



2 



17 



3,122 



2,308 



1, 022 



3,863 

 417 



2,393 

 355 

 130 



1, 225 

 13 



IX. Mollusks 



10, 530 



Textile industries 



I. Insects 



XI. Marine invertebrates . . 

 XII. Comparative anatomy : 



101 

 5,252 



Animal products 



Philosophical instru- 



^1 



\ 812 



Birds 



Reptiles and batra- 

 chians 







Chemical products 



Musical instruments .. 



Fishes 



J 



1,036 



XIII. Invertebrate fossils: 





c. Cenozoic. * 

 XIV. Fossil plants 



1,033 







American aboriginal pot- 



9 



XV. Recent plants 



30 





XVI. Minerals 



875 



IV. Mammals . 



XVII. Lithology and physical 

 geologv - 







442 





XVIII. Metallurgy and eco- 

 nomic geology 



Total 





VI. Reptiles and batrachians 

 VII Fishes 



671 





36, 695 









* Included under " Mollusks." 



