REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 51 



In pursuance of this object, full sets of the specimens collected 

 have been submitted to a large number of naturalists, both in this 

 country and abroad, for critical study and description, and it is not 

 too much to say that scarcely a monographic investigation has been 

 conducted for ten years past in any branch of American zoology which 

 has not derived part or the whole of its material from the Smithsonian 

 collections. Duplicates of the specimens, when described, have been 

 made up into series for distribution, always accurately labelled, and 

 are usually types of some published investigation. The average of 

 such distribution has, for the last ten years, been at least ten thousand 

 specimens annually, while the distribution of 18G4 amounted to nearly 

 five thousand species and seventeen thousand specimens. In this 

 way, besides supplying the principal museums of Europe with speci- 

 mens, all the older museums in this country as well as Canada have 

 been largely increased, and the foundation for several new establish- 

 ments of a similar kind has been furnished. As an illustration of 

 what has been done in the way last mentioned, I may cite the large 

 donatiou of labelled specimens which has been made to the museum 

 of the University of Michigan, and the co-operation which has been 

 afforded the liberal-minded citizens of Chicago in founding a museum 

 and establishing a society of natural history, which, under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. Kennicott and Dr. Stimpson, is diffusing a taste for the 

 study of nature in that city of unparalleled growth, which cannot be 

 otherwise than highly salutary in ameliorating the sensual effects of 

 great material prosperity. 



The Institution has also done good service in promoting and assist- 

 ing the formation of local societies in rural districts for the collection 

 of specimens and the recording of natural phenomena. To all socie- 

 ties of this kind, as well as to colleges and academies making special 

 application, labelled specimens have been presented. 



This distribution of specimens is very different from the ordinary 

 exchanges conducted between institutions or individuals, which usually 

 involve the return of an equivalent. The question with the Smith- 

 sonian Institution is, not what can be had in return, but where a par- 

 ticular specimen or series of specimens can be placed so as best to 

 advance the cause of science, by being most accessible to the largest 

 number of students engaged in original investigations. 



Palceontology, geology, physical geography, &c. — Appropriations have 

 been made for investigations of the surface formation of the Con- 

 necticut valley by Professor E. Hitchcock, and for the collection of 

 materials for the illustration of the geology and palasontology of par- 



