76 REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



keeping nor giving away, it is confidently believed that instead of an 

 unmanageable accumulation of material in the store-rooms its bulk 

 will be reduced to at least one fourth, or more, of the present amount. 



In accordance with the policy adopted by you, the efforts of the In- 

 stitution have been directed mainly to the completion of its series of 

 sjDecimens illustrating the natural history of North America. At the 

 present time it is believed, upon the whole, to have accomplished this 

 aim to an extent greater than any other museum in the world. As 

 far as regards mammals and their skulls and skeletons, birds and their 

 eggs, reptiles, fishes, shells, crustaceans, and invertebrates generally, 

 except certain orders of insects, (vertebrate fossils, and plants,) from the 

 regions west of the Mississippi; it is probably not exceeded by any mu- 

 seum in the number of species and extent of the series, few additions 

 remaining to be made to the list. At the same time, as successive 

 groups are elaborated and labeled, and the duplicates distributed, the 

 bulk of the whole becomes less and less, so that it is quite reasonable 

 to assume that the present number of specimens will be reduced in a 

 few years to less than half their present amount. 



In addition to its American collection, derived from all the different 

 sources, and including specimens from adjacent regions, necessary 

 properly to illustrate it, the bulk of the Smithsonian museum consists 

 of materials gathered by various Government expeditions in different 

 parts of the world, and deposited here in compliance with the act of 

 Congress. Other than as derived from this source, the exotic collec- 

 tions not relating to American natural history, are very small in 

 amount, although usually of much interest from embracing numbers of 

 new species. Among the exotic collections, the series of South Amer- 

 ican birds is believed to be among the first extant, while that of Crus- 

 tacea, annalids, corals, and certain families of radiata and mollusca, 

 generally, are perhaps surpassed by very few. 



As distributions of duplicates for the exotic collections are made, it is 

 believed that the mass at present within the building will be so much 

 reduced that the present accommodations will always be found ample 

 for whatever may hereafter be added, as long as the present scope of 

 the collections is adhered to. Of course, should Congress at any future 

 time authorize an extension of the plan, the addition of exotic mounted 

 mammals, birds, &c, would require much more space, and must be 

 provided for by additional accommodations; these, however, would 

 otherwise not be needed. 



The great value of the museum of the Institution at the present 

 time consists in its being the depository of so many type specimens, or 

 those upon which the first description of species has been established. 

 These constitute the great attraction to the scientific investigators, as, 

 however carefully prepared the published description or figures of any 

 species may be, there is almost always some doubtful point to be set- 

 tled alone by an examination of the types. For this reason these are 

 always guarded with jealous care, and considered of much more value 

 than new and undescribed materials. 



There are few collections embracing more original type specimens, 

 or specimens relating to a large number of important works, than that 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. Besides the reports of the United 



