REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 71 



Other collections, especially of birds, from Yucatan have been fur- 

 Dished by Mr, Gaumer. 



Valuable illustrations of the animal and vegetable kingdoms of Gua- 

 temala and Salvador were secured from the Government commissioners 

 of those countries to the foreign exhibition held in Boston in the autumn 

 of 1883. These, with similar collections under similar auspices obtained 

 from Venezuela and Brazil, were transferred to the National .Museum 

 early in 1884. 



Costa Rica. — Mr. J, 0. Zeledon has transmitted specimens of medici- 

 nal plants, of birds, of vertebrated animals, ami of ethnology. 



Mr. B. [glesias, of Ohiriqui, has contributed antiquities and modern 

 pottery. 



South Ann run i uteresting collections representing the natural prod- 

 ucts of the animal and vegetable kingdoms of Venezuela and Brazil were 

 secured from the Governments of Venezuela and Brazil. Dr. William 



II. Jones, ( T . S. N., has contributed some extremely important collec- 

 tions of the antiquities and natural history of the coast of Peru and 

 Chili, and to some extent of the Galapagos Islands. 



Mr. Kiefer, of lama, lias also made similar contributions. 



Professor Nation has sent types of rare and undescribed species of 

 birds of Peru. 



Dr. William Crawford, U. S. N., has contributed some fine shells 

 from the west coast of Terra del Fnegoand the Straits of Magellan. 



The magnificent collection of recent and fossil shells of Europe, be- 

 longing to Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffries, of London, has been acquired by 

 the National Museum and in large part received. This is by far the 

 most valuable private collection of European shells in existence, and 

 especially important in possessing so many types of the deep-sea spe- 

 cies dredged in the North Atlantic. 



Among contributors to the European collections may be mentioned 

 the Royal College of Surgeons, the South Kensington Museum, the Brit- 

 ish Museum, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in England; the Muse- 

 ums of Berlin and Dresden, in Germany ; of Copenhagen, in Denmark ; 

 of Bergen, in Norway, &c. 



Asia. — The collections from Asia have been of unusual significance 

 and importance. Keference has been made to the accessions from 

 Kamtschatka and the Commander Islands obtained through the efforts 

 of Dr. Stejneger. 



Mr. P. L. Jouy has continued his researches in Japan, and has sup- 

 plied a large number of species of mammals and birds of that region, 

 together with other species of animals. The collection of birds being 

 taken in connection with a series presented by Mr. Thomas Blackiston, 

 who spent many years in Japan, gives to the National Museum one of 

 the most complete collections of Japanese birds in existence, and one 

 great in value in view of their relationships to the birds of Western 

 North America. 



