REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 27 



Rocky mountain salamander from Mr. J. C. Brevoort. It will be recol- 

 lected that the living animals of a larger size heretofore presented to 

 the Institution have been transferred to the National Asylum for the 

 Insane, under the care of Dr. Nichols. 



Distribution of specimens. — The distribution of duplicate specimens to 

 public museums and in exchange has been prosecuted as extensively 

 during the year as was compatible with the large additions continually 

 coming in and requiring immediate attention. The surplus material of 

 plants, shells, minerals, and fossils has been, however, to a considerable 

 extent, made up into sets, and supplied as far as they would go to the 

 parties having the first claim. Other collections, however, will be ready 

 for similar distribution as soon as the investigations connected with them 

 and their arrangement into sets can be completed. The great amount 

 of labor required for this will be evident when it is recollected that every 

 specimen sent out is numbered and accompanied by a label giving the 

 name, locality, and donor. Professor Baird, who has the special charge 

 of this branch of the operations, has been assisted in his labors by a 

 number of young gentlemen, who having been engaged during the sum- 

 mer in explorations, avail themselves in the winter season of the facili- 

 ties of the library, the collections, and apartments furnished by the Insti- 

 tution to prepare their reports for publication. Those who are at present 

 rendering service of the kind above mentioned are Messrs. Meek, Dall, 

 Palmer, Zeledon, Bannister, and Bidgway. 



Agreeably to the resolutions adopted by the Board of Regents at its last 

 session, that "the distribution of specimens to foreign establishments, car- 

 ried on by the Smithsonian Institution, be continued and extended, but 

 that at the same time proper returns be required," we have applied to 

 the leading foreign museums which have been favored by our contribu- 

 tions for desiderata especially heeded in this country, and have the assur- 

 ance that in due time valuable collections will be transmitted to us from 

 all parts of the world. 



Among the establishments to which application has thus been made 

 and a favorable response received, are : The British Museum and Royal 

 College of Surgeons, London ; Archaeological Museum, Zurich ; Public Mu- 

 seum, Berne; Museum of Lausanne ; Academy of Sciences, and Botanical 

 Garden, St. Petersburg ; Royal Museum, Lisbon ; Ethnological Museum, 

 Moscow; Ethnological Museum of University of Christiauia; Zoological 

 Museum, Copenhagen; Zoological Museum of University of Berlin; 

 Academy of Sciences and National Museum of Antiquity, Stockholm; 

 Imperial Geological Institute, Vienna; University of Chile; Philosophical 

 Society, Leeds; Ethnological Museum, Paris; Melbourne Museum, Aus- 

 tralia. 



Investigations. — It has always been the policy of the Institution to furnish 

 specimens for special study and investigation to naturalists of established 

 reputation, either in this country or abroad. The use of these specimens is 



