REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 43 



of minerals from Missouri and Arkansas, collected by Mr, W. P. Jenney, 

 and a collection of Arizona minerals, collected by Dr. W. F. Hillebrand 

 and transmitted by the U. S. Geological Survey. Specimens often me- 

 teorites have been received during the year, six of which were acquired 

 by exchange with the British Museum and the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory in Paris. 



Department of Geology. — Mr. Merrill, curator of this department, 

 states that a very large portion of his time since October, 1880, has 

 been devoted to the assorting of collections, the preparation of labels, 

 and the identification of material sent to the Museum for examination 

 and report. Sixty-nine lots of material have thus been named and re- 

 ported upon during the year. Mr. Merrill has prepared in his report 

 a careful synopsis of the plan which he has devised for the rearrange- 

 ment of the exhibition series. The number of specimens now in the 

 exhibition series is estimated at 16,762. The entries in the catalogue 

 of the Department of Metallurgy during the year were 501 in number. 

 In the catalogue heretofore devoted to the Department of Lithology 

 and Physical Geology 2,268 entries have been made. 



G.— REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE WORK. 



PROGRESS OF GENERAL AND INCIDENTAL WORK. 



Registration and Storage. 



Mr. S. C. Brown, registrar, has prepared the tabulated statement 

 here printed, showing the number of packages received at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution during the year : 



Books, number of volumes 41, :?00 



Miscellaneous packages for Smithsonian Institution 7,716 



Loads of specimens and supplies 42 



Packages containing Museum specimens 827 



Packages containing Museum supplies 1, 688 



Personal packages 506 



Total number of packages received 52, 079 



The number of packages sent out both from the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion and the National Museum was 2,154. 



Distribution of Duplicates. 



The distribution of duplicate specimens has been continued, and 308 

 packages of specimens, as shown in the accompanying table, have been 

 sent out during the year. The larger part of these contained specimens 

 presented to schools and colleges for use in connection with their scien- 

 tific work. 



