REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 13 



During the year 1877, a paper has been published iu the "Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge" on the " Internal structure of the earth considered 

 as affecting the phenomena of precession and nutation," by General J. 

 G-. Barnard, United States Army. This is a supplementary article to 

 one by the same author published in the nineteenth volume of Contribu- 

 tions, and was read before the National Academy of Sciences at its ses- 

 sion in April, 1877. 



For several years past Mr. P. P. Carpenter, author of the "Lectures 

 on Mollusca," and the " Mollusks of Western North America," published 

 by the Institution, has been engaged in the preparation of a monograph 

 of the Chitonidw, or coat-of-mail shells, a remarkable group of shell-fish. 

 An appropriation was made in 1877 to enable him to have drawings pre- 

 pared of rare type-specimens in Europe. We regret to state, however, 

 that before his work was completed Mr. Carpenter died at Montreal, on 

 the 21th May, 1877. He was the son of the well-known Dr. Lant Carpenter, 

 and a member of a family distinguished by great gifts. He was born in 

 Bristol, England, in 1819, and after graduating at the University of Edin- 

 burgh became a minister of the gospel. He early manifested a taste 

 for natural history, particularly of the mollusks, which he made his 

 special study during his life. He presented to the British Museum his 

 own collection of shells, consisting of 8,873 specimens, all determined, 

 and many of them described by himself. In 1859 he visited America, 

 where he was engaged in determining the collections of shells in the 

 Smithsonian Institution and other museums. His manuscripts were 

 left in an imperfect condition, and partly written in an obsolete phono- 

 graphic short-hand. An attempt at having this short-hand deciphered 

 is being made, by the help of his brother, the Bev. Bussell L. Car- 

 penter, of Bridport, England. A large number of beautiful drawings 

 of the shells and soft parts of the various genera had been prepared 

 at the cost of the Institution, and the manuscript, or such portions of it 

 as may be made available, have been placed in the hands of Mr. W. H. 

 Dall for revision, with a view to their ultimate publication. It is 

 believed that this monograph will form a valuable contribution to the 

 knowledge of the invertebrate animals of the world. 



In the report for 1875 it was stated that 184 pages had been stereo- 

 typed of the Botanical Index prepared by Prof. Sereno Watson. This 

 work is intended to facilitate the labors of botanists, especially in the 

 study of the plants of the western portions of the United States, by 

 furnishing references to all the published descriptions of species of the 

 flora of North America with lists of synonyms. The search for what 

 has been writteu frequently consumes more time and labor than all 

 the rest of a botanical investigation, and the present work has been 

 undertaken at the urgent solicitation of some of the principal botanists 

 of the country, who have also contributed to the expense of its prepara- 

 tion. Other duties of Professor Watson have been so engrossing that 



