4 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1925 



COLLECTIONS 



Satisfactory growth of the collections of the Museum is recorded 

 in the accessions or separate lots of material received during the 

 year, and in the number of specimens that these represent. There 

 were 2,020 accessions during the year, an increase of 294 over the 

 previous year, comprising 363,490 specimens, or 385 more than dur- 

 ing the year 1924, a total well over the average for the past several 

 years. The specimens received were divided among the various de- 

 partments or divisions as follows: Anthropology, 4,444; geology, 

 79,674; biology, 262,365 (of which 116,636 were plants) ; arts and 

 industries, and history, 17,007, of which 145 were assigned to me- 

 chanical technology, 33 to mineral technology, 271 to textiles, 7,493 

 to organic chemistry, 425 to wood teclinology, 17 to foods, 635 to 

 medicine, 802 to graphic arts, 616 to the Loeb collection of chemical 

 types, and 6,570 to history. Additional material to the extent of 

 1,232 lots, was received from various sources, mainly from private 

 individuals, for examination, identification and report. The ma- 

 terial identified as always has been of a highly miscellaneous char- 

 acter. Of the specimens submitted for this purpose the Museum 

 has been permitted to retain certain things of value to it, while others 

 have been returned to the senders. 



As in previous years, duplicate specimens available, to the number 

 of 23,244, were distributed as gifts to educational institutions, or 

 were utilized in exchanges for specimens needed toward completion 

 of our own collections. The gifts distributed totaling 2,099 speci- 

 mens included 5 of the sets of mollusks prepared for distribution 

 to schools, each of which contained approximately 149 carefully 

 labeled shells; the remainder were sent in response to special re- 

 quests and to meet particular needs. Many desirable specimens 

 were secured through the distribution of the 21,145 specimens sent 

 out as exchanges. A third class of distributed material comprised 

 specimens forwarded by request to specialists and students for study 

 in which connection 33,966 specimens were sent out as loans during 

 the year. 



The additions to the collections during the year contained many 

 things of special importance, the details of which are given in the 

 departmental reports forming part of this volume. 



The anthropological collections were materially increased during 

 the year both from private and governmental sources. As a result 

 of the Marsh-Darien expedition, there was received through R. 0. 

 Marsh, of Brockport, N. Y., an exceptional collection of ethnological 

 material which is supplemented by a collection from the same 

 general region presented by William Markham. The addition of 

 124 California Indian baskets, bequeathed by the late Miss Ella F. 



