68 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



has published a full account in his report to the Regents of the Insti- 

 tution, pages 13-28. 



An abstract of this report, giving special references to the additions 

 made to the collections through the efforts of explorers, is here pre- 

 sented. 



Greenland. — Considering that the whole energy of the Greely Relief 

 Expedition had to be devoted to the rescue of the Lady Franklin Bay 

 party, the natural history collections are richer than might have been 

 expected 5 the numerous photographs of the country, of the natives, 

 and the ice, in its various shapes and formations, will be of lasting value. 



The physical observations during the course of the expedition were 

 made part of the regular routine of the vessels. The. natural histo^ 

 work was prosecuted by naval ensigns who had been sent by the Navy 

 Department to the Smithsouian Institution specially for the purpose of 

 being trained for such duty. Among these were Messrs. 0. A. Harlow, 

 A. A. Ackerman, and 0. S. McClain. These gentlemen had all been 

 trained at the Institution in the methods of instantaneous photography, 

 in taxidermy, and in the collecting of minerals and fossils ; and although 

 the time occupied by the expedition was very much less than had been 

 anticipated, very interesting and desirable collections of rock specimens, 

 minerals, fossils, numerous birds, and of fishes and marine invertebrates 

 in alcohol, were made by the gentlemen mentioned. 



The Greely Relief Expedition fully and entirely carried out its mis- 

 sion of restoring the survivors of the Greely party to their friends in 

 the United States. By far the greater part, however, of the apparatus 

 and collections made in the several years of absence was left behind at 

 Fort Conger, and may never be recovered. A few specimens were 

 brought home by Lieutenant Greely, but have not been received at the 

 National Museum. 



Labrador. — The reports of 1882 and 1883 give full details of the work 

 prosecuted by Mr. L. M. Turner at Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, in North- 

 ern Labrador. Mr. Turner's two years of detail expiring in 1884, he 

 returned to Washington and is now engaged in preparing his report. 

 His collections are described by him as consisting : 



"Of birds, 1,800 specimens ; eggs, 1,800 specimens ; fishes, 1,000 speci- 

 mens; mammals, 200 specimens; ethnological, 600 articles; plants, a 

 great number; insects, over 200,000; geological specimens, a great 

 variety; Eskimo linguistics, over 500 pages of manuscript, embracing 

 thousands of words and over 800 sentences, which were obtained dur- 

 ing the winter nights and at other times when outdoor work could not 

 be done." 



Reference was made in a preceding report to the work accomplished 

 by Dr. C. Hart Merriam in the investigation of the natural history of 

 the seals of the coast of Labrador; the arrangements made by him in 

 Newfoundland and Labrador have furnished additional material in the 

 way of skins and skeletons of several species of seals, the results of 

 which he has shared with the National Museum. 



