THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 41 



period at which the new hall intended to receive the collections was 

 completed, and this year, it is earnestly hoped, will not pass without 

 an improvement in this respect. The new hall is quite large enough 

 to contain all the collections hitherto made, as well as such others 

 belonging to the government as may be assigned to it. No single room 

 in the country is, perhaps, equal to it in capacity or adaptation to its 

 purposes, as, by the proposed arrangement, it is capable of receiving 

 twice as large a surface of cases as the old Patent Office hall, and 

 three times that of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 

 In this room, then, there will be abundant opportunity to arrange all the 

 collections which have been made or may be expected for some time to 

 come in the order best suited to the wants of the student and most inter- 

 esting to the casual visitor. In the mean time, under the conditions of 

 the past year, everything has been done to render the collections as 

 available and accessible as circumstances would allow ; all the North 

 American mammalia, amounting to over 500 specimens in skins, have 

 been arranged systematically in drawers of dust and insects-proof 

 walnut cases. The birds have been similarly treated, while the 

 reptiles and fishes (each species from each locality in a separate jar) 

 have been assorted as systematically as the over crowding of the 

 present confined space would allow. During the year several thou- 

 sand jars have been filled with alcholic specimens, which are illy 

 accommodated on shelves, nearly every square inch of which was 

 , occupied at the beginning of the year. The shells of mollusca with 

 the minerals and fossils, have generally been repacked after entry and 

 stored away for the present, requiring as they do a less vigilant super- 

 vision. This has, to a certain extent, likewise been done with the 

 plants. 



d — Distribution of Collections. 



In accordance with the spirit of the Institution, quite a large number 

 of specimens, in sets varying in magnitude, have been distributed 

 during the past year to various institutions and individuals desiring 

 them for purposes of special investigation. Some of these may be 

 looked upon in the light of returns for similar favors received or 

 promised, but they have generally been furnished without reference to 

 an equivalent of any kind. As the facilities of the Institution for re- 

 ceiving and properly arranging its collections increase and the du- 

 plicates are ascertained, by a proper examination of the specimens, 

 this system of distribution may be carried to an extent that shall ma- 

 terially affect the progress of science throughout this country and the 

 world. 



To the investigator who has heretofore been obliged to spend the 

 best years of his life in collecting together the materials of his labor, 

 gathered amid toils and privations to which, in the end, he may be 

 forced to succumb, the advantage of finding all he needs ready to his 

 hand, and in greater extent and variety than he could singly hope to 

 obtain, are beyond all calculation. For this reason it is that the accu- 

 mulation of a large amount of duplicate material becomes necessary, 



