KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19 



fossils, plants, &c, which filled twenty-sis boxes, and were presented 

 to the Institution to be used as it might deem best for the interest of 

 science. Many of the specimens are duplicates, but are valuable as 

 material for distribution. 



To Mr. George A. Boardman the Institution is indebted for extensive 

 collections of birds and skeletons from Florida, and also three complete 

 skeletons of the moose from Nova Scotia. 



To his son, Mr. Charles A. Boardman, and to Mr. S. W. Smith we 

 owe acknowledgments for fine specimens of the moose and caribou. 



Dr. Yarrow, assistant surgeon United States Army, Fort Macon, 

 North Carolina, has sent a large collection of skulls and skeletons of 

 the porpoises of the southern coast, as well as many Indian relics, 

 fishes, shells, &c. 



From Professor Sumichrast we have received additional collections of 

 birds, reptiles, &c, illustrative of the natural history of Tehuantepec. 

 The name of this gentleman has frequently been mentioned in previous 

 reports as a large contributor to the Smithsonian Collections. 



Captain Charles Bryant, in charge of the fur-seal islands of Alaska, 

 has contributed full series of skins, skulls, and skeletons of seals, 

 walrus, &c, abounding in that region. 



To the Army Medical Museum the Institution is indebted, as hereto- 

 fore, for numerous specimens in ethnology and natural history, in ac- 

 cordance with an arrangement made several years ago, by which, in 

 consideration of the transfer to it from the Institution of human crania, 

 all other objects of an anthropological character received by that mu- 

 seum were to be placed in the Smithsonian Collection. 



Some interesting specimens have also been received from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture under a similar arrangement of exchange. 



Dr. Destruges has contributed the skeleton of a sloth, and Mr. Henry 

 Hague that of a Guatemalan tapir ; Professor Poey a skeleton, and Dr. 

 Gundlach a specimen in alcohol of solenodon, a rare insectivorous 

 mammal of Cuba; Mr. Hernberg and Colonel Gibson, skeletons of 

 buffalo ; Mr. Isaac H. Taylor, of Boston, crania of South African mam- 

 mals ; Captain Scammon, of the United States revenue-service, skulls 

 of whales and other cetaceans. 



Although but few birds have been received, some valuable specimens 

 from Veragua were contributed by Mr. Salvin ; from Brazil, by Mr. 

 Albuquerque: from Buenos Ayres, from the national museum under the 

 charge of Professor Baumeister ; from Labrador, from C. G. Brewster. 



Mr. Strachan Jones has furnished a number of eggs from the Lower 

 Slave Lake, and Mr. Charles B. Bree specimens of eggs of the Larus 

 gelastes from Turkey. 



The reptiles received have been principally specimens gathered by 

 the naturalists of the Tehuantepec and Darien expedition. 



Fine specimens of the celebrated Eozoon canadense have been re- 



