26 EEPORT OF THE SECEETAEY. 



From the large accessions of specimens received during the year, inuch 

 labor has been required merely to unpack, arrange, and catalogue thein. 

 The great importance should be borne in mind of prompt action in regard 

 to affixing some permanent mark to each article so as to presevre all the 

 data necessary to render it of value as material for scientific research. 

 The locality and date of capture of every object of natural history, the 

 name of the collector and donor, its association in place with other objects, 

 its sex and age, are all points which can rarely be learned from the spe- 

 cimen itself and must be immediately recorded. This is done by affixing 

 an ineffaceable number to the specimen and making an entry correspond- 

 ing to that number in a bound record book kept in a fire-proof room. 

 Whenever a specimen admits of it, the items above mentioned are marked 

 upon the object itself, but as long as the numbers and records are in 

 existence the identity of the article can always be verified and the facts 

 in regard to it ascertained. The determination of the exact name of the 

 specimen at the time of entry is a secondary matter, as the specialist can 

 at any time ascertain this point from the internal evidence; the other 

 data, being entirely those of association, cannot be ascertained in the 

 same way. 



Special attention has been given to the large ethnological collections 

 belonging to the Institution, and considerable progress been made towards 

 their permanent arrangement. The smaller obj ects, such as pipes, carved 

 bones, stone implements, &c, will be mounted as soon as practicable on 

 suitable tablets ; all the older articles have been washed with a solution 

 of carbolic acid, to destroy the mould produced by the water with which 

 the building was deluged at the time of the fire, and such of the new ones 

 as are liable to attacks from insects have been impregnated with poison. 

 Each object of the collection will have the name of the donor, locality, &c, 

 placed upon it, and the whole series will be completely arranged for 

 study and exhibition during the present year. The principal work in 

 this branch has been done under the direction of Prof. Baircl, by Dr. E. 

 Foreman and Dr. E. Palmer. 



Other objects that have received attention in the way of rearrange- 

 ment and improvement are those of human and other crania, shells, 

 mounted birds, nests and eggs, &c, in which labor Professor Baird has 

 been assisted by Dr. T M. Brewer, Dr. William Stimpson, Dr. E. Foreman, 

 Mr. W. H. Dall, Mr. Zeledon, and Mr. P. Ridgway. 



Among the most interesting collections received from abroad, in return 

 for specimens presented by the Institution, may be mentioned a series 

 of minerals and rocks from the K. Ober-Berg Amt, of Breslau, and a 

 skeleton of the moose of Europe, from the zoological museum, Copenha- 

 gen. The latter will furnish the means of comparing the European va- 

 riety with the closely allied if not identical moose of northern America*, 

 Of the living animals received from different parts of this country, it will 

 suffice to mention a golden eagle, from Professor II. Shinier; a number of 

 menopomas from Dr. Walker; gopher turtles from Dr. Wilson; and a 



