REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 33 



forming the basis of the practical methods of electric arc and incandescent lighting. 

 Duplicates of few, if any, of these machines exist. 



Biology. — Among the additions to the collections in the department of biology the 

 largest and one of the most important is a collection of about 200,000 specimens of 

 Coleoptera, presented by Messrs. H. G. Hubbard and E. A. Schwarz, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The addition of this material places the collection of insects 

 in the National Museum ahead of all others as regards North American Coleoptera. 

 Dr. W. L. Abbott has presented during tbe year large collections of birds, mammals, 

 reptiles, and insects from Lower Siam and Kashmir. The material which Dr. Abbott 

 has collected and donated to the National Museum during a period of several years 

 past now constitutes the most valuable portion of the Old World collections in its 

 custody. Valuable specimens of birds' eggs have been received from Dr. W. L. 

 Ralph, of Utica, N. Y., another generous contributor to tbe national collections. 

 Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Ann Arbor, Mich., presented 600 bird skins, 900 eggs, 

 and 250 nests, all from the Philippine Islands. Large additions to the collection of 

 fresh-water mussels have been made through the cooperation of Dr. L. T. Chamber- 

 lain, of New York City. A collection of more than 80,000 specimens of land and 

 fresh-water shells was presented by Dr. R. Ellsworth Call, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

 Mr. Outram Bangs, Boston, Mass., presented an interesting series of bird skins from 

 Santa Marta, Colombia. Valuable accessions from the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion, the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture, and other Government 

 bureaus, have been received. A collection of invertebrates obtained by the natu- 

 ralists of the steamer Albatross in 1896 from the coasts of California, Japan, Kam- 

 chatka, and in the Bering Sea, and a quantity of material, conrprising more than 

 600 lots, collected by the assistants of the Commission during the past thirteen 

 years, deserve special notice. A number of valuable types and cotypes of fishes 

 have also been transmitted by the commission. A large lot of land shells collected 

 by the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture, was received during the 

 year. This collection is regarded as the most intrinsically valuable acquisition of 

 the year in the division of mollusks, comprising as it does an unusual number of 

 undescribed species and others not before represented in the collection. A series 

 of about 240 specimens of rodents from Patagonia was obtained by purchase. 



Geology. — The department of geology has been enriched by the addition of a con- 

 siderable quantity of important and interesting material. Through the bequest of 

 the late I. H. Harris, of Waynesville, Ohio, a valuable collection, consisting of more 

 than 20,000 specimens of fossils, has been received. This is one of the finest collec- 

 tions of fossils of the Cincinnati group in existence. It is particularly rich in 

 starfishes, crinoids, and trilobites. Mr. R. D. Lacoe, Pittston, Pa., has added to his 

 previous magnificent contributions by the donation of his collection of fossil insects, 

 comprising over 4,600 specimens, of which more than 200 are types. Six hundred 

 specimens of Kinderhook crinoids, corals, and mollusca were received from the 

 United States Geological Survey. A large amount of vertebrate paleontological 

 material, collected under the direction of Prof. O. C. Marsh during his connection 

 with the United States Geological Survey, has been turned over to the Museum 

 during the year. A valuable collection of Mosasaurs from the Cretaceous of western 

 Kansas, two collections of Elasmobrauch teeth and spines from the Carboniferous of 

 Iowa, and an unusually fine skull and some bones of Claosaurus were obtained by 

 purchase. 



Specimens of many new minerals were received during the year and added to the 

 collections. The division of physical and chemical geology has been enriched by 

 the acquisition of a large cluster of basaltic columns from near Bonn, Prussia, some 

 large masses of beautiful orbicular granite from Sweden, fulgurites on Andesite 

 from Little Ararat in Armenia, and a large amount of petrographic material from 

 the United States Geological Survey and other sources. The head curator of the 

 department of geology collected some beautiful, clear masses of rock salt at Heil- 



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