EEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 39 



of them embracing specimens of very great interest, and adding largely 

 to our knowledge of the distribution of animal life in the waters off the 

 coast of New England. As the result of these contributions, together 

 with the gatherings of the Fish Commission itself, many species of fishes 

 and of marine invertebrates have been added to the fauna of the coun- 

 try, several of them being entirely new ; others were previously found 

 only in the deep waters off the European coast or in those of Spits- 

 bergen and Greenland. 



Reference is, of course, quite impossible to even a small percentage of 

 those collections added to the National Museum during the year covered 

 by the present report, and they will be found under the names of the 

 donors, alphabetically arranged, in the appendix. Even this, however, 

 fails to give a complete idea of the magditude of the additions, as a 

 •collection embracing from five to twenty or more boxes may be included 

 in a single line of the record. The books of the Institution, in which all 

 these articles are entered systematically, give a more detailed statement; 

 and the fact that a portion of these has required 9,973 entries, will fur- 

 nish some idea of the aggregate. 



Among the more important general collections received are those 

 made by the United States Fish Commission at Gloucester, as already 

 referred to, embracing a complete and exhaustive series of the marine 

 animals of the ocean between the New England coast and that of Nova 

 Scotia, Newfoundland, and the outer Banks, including the Georges, the 

 Grand Banks, Flemish Cap, Le Have, Bank Quero, &c. This material 

 embraces a great many duplicate specimens, which will, in time, be 

 distributed to the educational and scientific establishments of the United 

 States. 



Next to this in importance and magnitude are two collections from the 

 tar North, one from E. W. Nelson, Signal Office observer at St. Michaels, 

 in Alaska, consisting very largely of ethnological articles and birds ; the 

 other made by Mr. L. Kumlien, while a member of the Howgate expedi- 

 tion to Arctic America, this embracing much the same class of objects 

 as those sent by Mr. Nelson. 



The collection of birds and ethnological articles, gathered by Mr. Ober 

 in the islands of the West Indies, to which further reference will be 

 made, has also been of great moment. Mr. J. Zeledon, formerly an as- 

 sistant in the Institution, and for many years resident in Costa Bica, 

 visited Washington in the spring of 1878, bringing a very large collec- 

 tion of birds, mammals, &c, of his country. 



Large collections have also been received from Lieut. George M. 

 Wheeler, the proceeds of the expeditions of 1877 and of earlier years, 

 transmitted by him in accordance with the law of Congress requiring 

 their deposit in the National Museum. 



In another part of the report will be given a more detailed account 

 of some of the explorations to which reference has been made. 



Following the plan of previous reports, we shall now proceed to indi- 



