18 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



under three principal heads which are readily distinguished by their 

 general color. 



They are as follows : 



1. MelanospermeaB — plants of an olive-green or olive-brown color. 



2. Bhodospermeas, or plants of a rosy-red or purple color. 



3. ChlorospermeaB, or plants of a grass, rarely of a livid purple 

 color. 



The numbers of the work already published relate to the first two 

 divisions, and the third, now about to be issued, will contain the last, 

 with an appendix describing new species discovered since the date of 

 the former parts. 



The text of the first part of the work on Oology, mentioned in pre- 

 ceding reports, has been printed ; but the publication of the plates to 

 accompany it will be so expensive that we were obliged to defer it 

 until the present year. In the meantime the author will proceed with 

 the preparation of the other parts of the memoir, and the whole will 

 be completed as soon as the funds of the Institution will permit. 

 From an accidental oversight in the preparation of the last Keport, I 

 neglected to mention the fact that the author of this interesting work 

 is Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, of Boston. The omission of his name in 

 the reports would not only be unjust to himself, but might also pre- 

 vent him from receiving in some cases additional information relative 

 to his labors from correspondents who are engaged in the same line of 

 research. The announcement of the fact of the intended publication 

 of this memoir has induced a number of persons to enter into corre- 

 spondence with the Institution on the subject, and we doubt not that 

 these remarks will tend to call forth other additions to our knowledge 

 of this branch of natural history. 



Since the date of the last Beport a grammar and dictionary of the 

 Yoruba language of Africa have been accepted for publication. Thi 

 work is another contribution from the missionary enterprise of the 

 present day, and has been prepared by the Bev. Thos. J. Bowen, of 

 the Southern Baptist Missionary Board, from materials collected 

 during a residence of six years in Africa, and revised and rewritten with 

 the aid of W. W. Turner, esq., of Washington. The grammar and 

 dictionary are prefaced by a brief account of the country and its inhab- 

 itants. The long residence of the author in this part of the interior 

 of Africa has enabled him to gather more minute knowledge of its 

 topography, climate, and productions, and of the political, social, and 

 moral relations of its inhabitants than has before been obtained. He 



