28 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



granted under the express condition that they are to form the subject of 

 investigation, the results of which are to he published by the Institution 

 or some other establishment, and that in all cases full credit is to be 

 given to the Institution for the assistance it has ren dered. Furthermore, 

 in the case of the preparation of a monograph, a full set of the type 

 specimens, correctly labeled, is to be put aside for the National Museum, 

 and the remainder of the specimens made up into sets for distribution. 

 The following list presents the more important cases of the loan or 

 assignment of materials during the past year. Some of the specimens 

 have already been returned, while the remainder are still in the hands 

 of the parties to whom they were intrusted : 



Crania of the recent and fossil bison, musk ox, &c, to Professor L. 

 Agassiz, of Cambridge, Mass. ; land shells of Central and South America 

 to Thomas Bland, of New York ; land and fresh water shells of North 

 America to W. G. Binney, Burlington, N. J.; nests and eggs of North 

 American birds to Dr. T. M. Brewer, Boston; birds of South America and 

 Alaska to John Cassin, Philadelphia; Alcadae of North America to Br. 

 Elliott Coues, United States army; collections of American and foreign 

 reptiles to Professor E. D. Cope, Philadelphia; fungi from the Indian 

 territory to the Bev. M. A. Curtis, Hillsborough, N. C. ; unfigured species 

 of North American birds to D. G. Elliott, New York; diatomaceous 

 earths and deep-sea soundings to Arthur M.Edwards, New York; Lep- 

 idoptera from various North American localities to W. H. Edwards, 

 Coalburg, Va.; seeds of Boehmeria, received from the Department of 

 Agriculture, to Dr. Earl Flint, Nicaragua; plants collected in Ecuador 

 by the expeditiou under Professor Orton to Dr. Asa Gray, Cambridge ; 

 miscellaneous specimens of North American insects to Professor T. Glover, 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington ; general collection of birds of 

 Costa Bica and Yucatan to George N. Lawrence, New York; American 

 Unionidoe to Isaac Lea, Philadelphia; series of North American salaman- 

 ders to St. George Mivart, London; American Diptera to Baron R. 

 Ostensacken, New York ; Lepidoptera of Ecuador and Yucatan to Try on 

 Beakirt, Philadelphia; plants collected in Alaska by various expedi- 

 tions to Dr. J. T. Bothrock, McVeytown, Pa. ; birds of Buenos Ayres, 

 received from W. H. Hudson, and a series of small American owls, to 

 Dr. P. L. Sclate-r and Osbert Salvin, Loudon ; miscellaneous collections of 

 American Orthoptera to S. H. Scudder, Boston; collections of American 

 Hemiptera to P. B. Uhler, Baltimore ; American myriapods and spiders 

 to Dr. H. C. Wood, Philadelphia; human crania from northwestern 

 America and the ancient mounds of Kentucky, also collections from the 

 ancient shell-heaps of Massachusetts and New Brunswick, to Dr. Jeffreys 

 Wyman, Cambridge. 



Few persons are aware of the great extent to which this Smithsonian 

 material has been used by American and foreign naturalists, or the 

 number of new facts and new species which have been contributed to 

 natural history through its means. A complete bibliography of the titles 



