REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



Schuchert also made collecting trips to Missouri and northern New York. Dr. George 

 P. Merrill brought home some interesting geological material collected during his 

 visit to Russia in 1897. 



Visitors. — During the year 177,254 persons visited the Museum building and 99,273 

 were admitted to the Smithsonian building, making a total of 276,527. 



Publications. — The Annual Report of the National Museum for 1895 has been pub- 

 lished, the Report for 1896 was nearly all in type at the close of the fiscal year, and 

 the proof reading of the administrative portion of the volume for 1897 has been fin- 

 ished. The papers in the appendix of the volume for 1895 have been issued in separate 

 form. The nineteenth volume of Proceedings appeared during the year, and papers 

 1124 to 1139, inclusive, constituting Volume XX, have been distributed. Part L 

 of Bulletin 39, containing instructions for the collection of scale insects, by Prof. 

 T. D. A. Cockerell, and Circular 48, relating to the collection and preservation of 

 the bones and teeth of the mastodon and mammoth, have been printed. 



By your direction 5,800 copies of the Report of the National Museum are now dis- 

 tributed direct from the Museum, out of a total of 7,000 copies allotted by Congress 

 to the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum. 



Tennessee Centennial Exposition. — As stated in the last Annual Report, the Museum 

 participated in the exposition held at Nashville from May 1 to October 31, 1897, for 

 the purpose of celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of the 

 State of Tennessee into the Union. Eighteen of the divisions and sections of the 

 Museum prepared exhibits for this occasion. A description of these exhibits will be 

 given in detail in the full report of the National Museum for the present year. 



Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. — An exhibit was prepared by the 

 Museum for the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition which opened at 

 Cmaha on June 1, 1898. For this exposition Congress appropriated $62,500 for the 

 erection of Government buildings and $137,500 for the exhibits of the various Execu- 

 tive Departments and Bureaus. Of the latter amount the sum of $19,491.71 was 

 allotted to the Smithsonian Institution and its dependencies. Dr. F. W. True repre- 

 sents the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum on the Government 

 board of management, and Mr. W. V. Cox acts as special agent in charge of the 

 exhibit. The report for the coming fiscal year will contain a complete description 

 of the collections which have been sent to Omaha by the Museum. 



It was with no little regret that I advised you of the necessity of my relinquishing 

 the charge of the National Museum at the close of the present fiscal year. The tem- 

 porary appointment which you tendered me early in 1897 was accepted with mingled 

 feelings of satisfaction and hesitation. My admiration for the late Dr. Goode and 

 my long and pleasant acquaintance with him and his associates rendered the diffi- 

 cult task lighter than I anticipated, and now, in resigning the charge of the Museum — 

 although I gladly retain the honorary curatorship of the collections in stratigraphic 

 paleontology — I desire to express my senso of indebtedness for the honor which you 

 have conferred upon me and my wish for the ever-increasing prosperity of the 

 National Museum. 



Respectfully submitted. 



Chas. D. Walcott, 

 Acting Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum. 



Mr. S. P. Langley, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



June 30, 1898. 



