34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Institution have been given in several of the preceding reports, and it 

 will be sufficient, at this time, to repeat that they are intended to 

 exhibit the distribution and development of the plants and animals, as 

 well as to illustrate the geological and mineralogical character of the 

 North American continent. The number of specimens required for 

 these purposes is great, since all the varieties from every locality re- 

 quire attention. During the past year specimens have been collected 

 by ten government expeditions and six private exploration parties. 

 Some of the returns from these are now on the way, and will greatly 

 enhance the number and value of the materials before received. Ac- 

 cording to the statement of Professor Baird, hereto appended, the 

 catalogued specimens of animals at the end of the year 1857, amount- 

 ed to: mammals, 3,200; birds, 8,766; skeletons and skulls, 3,340; 

 reptiles, 239 ; fishes, 613. 



During the year several persons have availed themselves of the use 

 of the collections and library in the prosecution of original researches, 

 and, as usual, several government expeditions, which have been sentout 

 for surveys, the construction of roads and for military purposes, have 

 been provided with instructions as to the mode of collecting specimens 

 and observing meteorological and other natural phenomena. No oppor- 

 tunity of adding to our store of information, in regard to the physical 

 geography and natural history of the western portion of this continent, 

 has been suffered to pass without being improved, and I may safely 

 say, that since the establishment of the Institution more has been 

 done to ascertain and make known the character of the less inhabited 

 portion of our continent than all which had been previously accom- 

 plished in this line. The survey of routes from the G-ulf of Mexico 

 to the Pacific has served of late to add much to our knowledge of 

 Central America, and during the past year the British government 

 has sent out a party for the exploration of the country north of the 

 limits of the United States and between the great lakes and the Pacific 

 ocean. This survey, in connexion with that along the 49th parallel of 

 latitude, now in progress for determining the boundary line between 

 the United States and the British possessions, will add to the natural 

 history of the northern portion of our territory, and will furnish the 

 data necessary to delineate more accurately the great mountain 

 system which determines the climate and physical peculiarities of the 

 western portion of this continent. 



Smithson' 's personal effects. — The bequest of James Smithson included 

 all his personal effects, and these were obtained by Hon. Richard Rush, 





