18 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The latter (No. 12) comprises the third part of Contributions to North 

 American Ichthyology, including the distribution of the fishes of the 

 Allegheny region of South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, with de- 

 scriptions of new or little known species; by David S. Jordan and 

 Alembert W. Bray ton. This paper is based primarily on the collections 

 made by the authors and a party of students of Butler University, 

 Ohio, during the summer of 1877, in various streams in the Southern 

 States, classified under the following basins : 1, Santee; 2, Savannah; 

 3, Altamaha ^ 4, Chattahoochie; 5, Alabama; 6, Tennessee; 7, Cum- 

 berland. In the course of the investigations detailed in this paper some 

 light has been thrown on the laws which govern the distribution of fresh- 

 water fishes in general. A synopsis is also given of the family Catosto- 

 mida3 ; by David S. Jordan, and a bibliography is given of all the known 

 works on Catostomidse. 



Proceedings of the National Museum. — In imitation of the practice of 

 those learned societies which publish periodically descriptions of new 

 species, &c, in the form of proceedings of weekly or monthly meetings, 

 and thus present to the world the discoveries connected with the estab- 

 lishment at the earliest practicable moment, it appeared to be very desir- 

 able that the National Museum should have some medium of prompt 

 publication for announcing descriptions of specimens received (many of 

 which are new species), as well as other interesting facts relative to 

 natural history furnished by the correspondents of the Institution. To 

 meet this want, an order was obtained from the honorable Secretary of 

 the Interior, authorizing the publication of a volume of "Proceedings 

 of the National Museum" for the year 1878, not to exceed 500 pages. 



The publication of the u Proceedings of the National Museum " has 

 accordingly been commenced, the work comprising short descriptions of 

 the additions to the Museum, and accounts of new species, or illustra- 

 tions of species collected in particular regions of country. It is printed 

 in successive signatures, as fast as copy sufficient for 16 pages is pre- 

 pared, each signature having printed at the bottom of its first page the 

 date of actual issue, for settling any questions as to priority of publica- 

 tion. It is at once distributed to scientific societies and leading natu- 

 ralists in this country and in Europe. A large number of important 

 articles of greater or less length have already been printed, to form the 

 volume for 1878, now nearly completed. They consist of articles 

 on new species of fishes collected by the United States Fish Commission ; 

 papers on the birds of the West Indies, collected under the auspices of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, &c. Of this series, about 250 pages have 

 been printed during the year 1878, being produced (as in the case of 

 " Bulletins") at the expense of the Interior Department, by which all the 

 disbursements connected with the service of the National Museum are 

 made. 



Reports of the United States Fish Commission. — A series of publications 

 which may be considered as in some respects connected with the work 

 of the Institution not only in the personnel, but in the subjects of natu- 



