48 REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



were accompanied, as usual, by the publications of all the American 

 societies, and filled 36 large boxes. The Institution did not receive 

 enough copies of its separate memoirs for distribution at that time, 

 and the transmission to minor societies and individuals was deferred 

 until the begining of 1857. The statistics of the whole will be pre- 

 sented altogether in the next report. 



III.— MUSEUM. 



A. — Increase of the Museum. 



In my last report I had occasion to call attention to the very large 

 increase in magnitude of the collections received in 1855 compared 

 with those of preceding years. As many of these had been gathered 

 hj parties engaged in government surveys, of which few were in the 

 field in 1856, it was not expected that this year would equal the last 

 in the extent of additions to the museum of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. On the contrary, however, there has been no year in which so 

 many valuable accessions have been made ; the pre-eminence consist- 

 ing not only in the number of specimens, but in their intrinsic value 

 and variety. For details on this subject I must refer to subsequent 

 portions of my report, and shall here only present a comparative table 

 of receipts for the three past years : 



1854. 1855. 1856. 



Number of articles received — 



Barrels and kegs 35 26 19 



Cans 26 18 23 



Jars 175 187 127 



Boxes 94 159 234 



Bales — 7 1 



Packages , 32 79 87 



Total 362 476 491 



Separate donations 130 229 274 



Donors 85 130 160 



From the above table it will be seen that the increase in the number 

 of packages of donations, and of donors, during 1856, has been almost 

 as marked as that of 1855 over 1854. I shall now proceed to advert 

 briefly to the most important sources whence these collections were 

 derived, and then mention the principal additions in the different 

 branches of the museum. As in past years, the bulk of the specimens 

 received were collected by government parties, and deposited with the 

 Smithsonian Institution in pursuance of the act of Congress which 

 directs this disposition of all natural history property of the United 

 States which may be in the city of Washington. 



a. — THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY LINE. 



Survey of the boundary line behveen the United States and Mexico — 

 Major W. H. Emory, U. S. A., commissioner. — In my last report the 



