18 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



Products, in charge of R. Edward Earll, as acting curator. Mr. Earll 

 lias also been acting as curator of the section of Fisheries. For greater 

 convenience the section of Foods and Textiles has been reorganized in 

 two divisions: (i) Textile Industries, Mr. Bomyii Hitchcock as acting 

 curator, and (2) Foods, under the direction of" Prof. W. O. Atwater. 



To the Division of Anthropology has been added the Department of 

 American Aboriginal Pottery, under the honorary supervision of Mr. 

 W. H. Holmes, of the Bureau of Ethnology. The Department of 

 Ethnology lias been organized under the curatorship of Prof. Otis T. 

 Mason, taking the place of the Department of Races of Men in the 

 classification as given in the report; for last year. 



The Division of Zoology has been increased by the addition of (1) 

 the Department *~of Birds' Eggs, Oapt. Charles Bendire, U. S. A., 

 serving, as honorary curator • and (2) the Department of Compara- 

 tive Anatomy under Mr. F. W. True, assisted by Mr. F. A. Lucas. 

 The three Departments of Crustaceans, Worms, and Radiates and Pro 

 tozoans, as classified in 1883, have been merged in one, the Department 

 of Marine Invertebrates, under Mr. Richard Rathbun. Department 

 XVI, Physical Geology, under the old classification, is now an adjunct 

 of the Department (XV) of Lithology under the direction of Mr. George 

 P. Merrill ; and the Department of Mineralogy, which was in 1883 con- 

 nected with that of Lithology, is now classified separately. 



8. THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF. 



The classification of the departments iu the Division of Administra- 

 tion remains essentially the same as detailed in the report for last year, 

 and is as follows: 



Department A. — Direction. This department is under the immediate 

 charge of the Assistant Director, who, as executive officer to the Di- 

 rector, has general supervision of the routine work in all the depart- 

 ments, the care of the installation of specimens, the construction of 

 cases, &c.j the purchase of supplies, &c, the assignment of work and of 

 apartments, leaves of absence, curators' reports, and routine correspond- 

 ence. The organization of the offices of the Director and Assistant 

 Director has not been materially changed during the year, except that, 

 on account of the increase in efficiency of the other departments of the 

 Division of Administration, a considerable amount of routine work, with 

 its accompanying responsibilities, has beeir transferred from the Assist- 

 ant Director to the heads of these departments. During the absence of 

 the Assistant Director for five weeks during the summer, on business 

 connected with the preparation of the Smithsonian exhibit at the World's 

 Exposition in New Orleans, Mr. F. W. True was designated to act in his 

 place. Mr. 11. 1. Geare, executive clerk, has rendered most efficient 

 service in (he Assistant Director's office. 



