REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 99 



The Survey also deposited specimens of biotite and calcite, from Port Henry, and 

 specimens of calcite on dolomite aud magnetite ; also copies of two models of Mount 

 Shasta, California. Sis slabs of stone exhibiting glacial stri;e were received. Two 

 of these were collected by Mr. G. K. Gilbert, in Canada ; the remainder by Prof. T. C. 

 Chamberlin. 



Several officers of the Geological Survey are officially connected with 

 the Museum iu the capacity of honorary curators. These are: Dr. C. 

 A. White, in charge of Mesozoic Fossils; Mr. C. D. Walcott, in charge 

 of Paleozoic Fossils; Mr. William H. Dall, in charge of Mollusks aud 

 Tertiary Fossils, with Dr. E. E. C. Stearns as adjunct curator; Prof. 

 O. 0. Marsh, in charge of Vertebrate Fossils; Prof. Lester F. Ward, in 

 charge of Fossil Plants ; Prof. F. W. Clarke, in charge of Minerals. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Hon. Edwin Willits, Assistant Secretary, transmitted a living Otter, 

 obtained by Dr. Allen Stuart, of Beaufort, South Carolina. 



The extensive collections of small mammals made by the Division of 

 Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, have been deposited in the 

 Museum building. A considerable number of cases especially con- 

 structed for their reception, and of trays, have been provided by the 

 Museum. The specimens have been entered promptly by clerks em- 

 ployed by the Museum exclusively for that purpose, and the skulls have 

 been cleaned as fast as received, so far as this was found to be possible. 

 This latter work has made it necessary to employ from time to time a 

 number of additional preparators. More than three thousand speci- 

 mens, comprising skins and skulls, were deposited during the year, and 

 entered upon our catalogues and numbered. The cleaning of the skulls, 

 with a view to putting them into condition for preservation and exhi- 

 bition, was a task of considerable magnitude. The Museum has also 

 provided glass vials and preservatives, aud has printed a certain number 

 of special labels for these specimens. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam has presented an interesting collection of rep- 

 tiles from Arizona; two living Canada Porcupines {Eretlirizon dorsatus) 

 from northern Minnesota ; a Horned Toad (Phrynosoma brevirostre) with 

 a sample of the earth upon which it was living, from Bridger's Pass, 

 Wyoming; nests and eggs of Spizella bretveri, Sturnella magna neglecta, 

 and Falco richardsoni. 



Prof. C. V. Riley, entomologist of the Department, has added to the 

 collection of insects a large series, comprising 1,158 specimens, repre- 

 senting 342 species of Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera, gathered 

 in Australia and New Zealand by Mr. A. Koebele, agent of the Depart- 

 ment. Professor Riley has also deposited the collection of insects of 

 the late Dr. Asa Fitch. 



Mr. L. O. Howard, assistant entomologist of the Department, sent 

 a tussa silk-moth reared by him from a cocoon sent to the National 



