44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The division of technology was especially enriched in the subject of firearms, 

 mainly through the courtesy of the War Department. This division now pos- 

 sesses the finest historical collection in existence of the rifles, muskets, carbines, 

 pistols, etc., of the colonial period and the military service of the National Gov- 

 ernment. The collection is supplemented by extensive data gathered as a basis 

 for a comprehensive study of the subject. Other noteworthy contributions to 

 the division included a series of models from the Department of the Interior, 

 representing important historical inventions, the earliest dating from before the 

 Christian Era ; a number of pieces of apparatus devised by Mr. Emile Berliner, 

 illustrating important early steps in the development of the telephone ; and the 

 Santos Dumont airship No. 9. The division of ceramics received many fine 

 specimens of pottery from Japan and the United States ; the division of graphic- 

 arts, examples of binding by the St. Hubert Guild of Art Craftsmen and of color 

 photography ; the section of musical instruments, one of the earliest church 

 organs brought to this country ; and the section of medicine, a series of en- 

 larged photographs of the more eminent of American physicians and surgeons. 



The historical collections were increased by a number of important gifts and 

 loans, the most noteworthy consisting of some of the early physical apparatus 

 devised by the late Secretary Langley, and the many medals and diplomas 

 awarded him for his distinguished services in the advancement of science, all 

 of which have been installed in an appropriate case in the hall of history. The 

 principal additions to the division of historic religions consisted of two loans, 

 comprising a collection of lamps, amulets, and embroideries used in Jewish 

 religious life, and a large series of Chinese and Japanese rosaries. 



The transfers from the Bureau of Fisheries constituted in the aggregate the 

 principal accesion to the department of biology. They comprised a large collec- 

 tion of marine fishes and invertebrates, with some land animals, from the 

 Albatross cruise of 1906 in the North Pacific Ocean and Okhotsk Sea ; extensive 

 collections of Japanese fishes and Hawaiian corals and hydroids, including 

 many rare and recently described species ; over 3,000 specimens of fishes from 

 the fresh waters of West Virginia, and other valuable material. Maj. E. A. 

 Mearns. surgeon, U. S. Army, who has been stationed in the Philippine Islands, 

 forwarded an extensive series of mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and mollusks, 

 obtained mainly on certain of the smaller and less known islands, and contain- 

 ing some new genera and many new species. 



Noteworthy contributions of mammals were received from Venezuela. Cuba, 

 and the Kan-su Province of China ; of birds and birds' eggs from Costa Rica 

 and elsewhere ; of reptiles and batrachians from Europe, Patagonia, Cuba, and 

 Virginia : and of fishes from Australia and the Philippines, the latter through 

 the Philippine Commission to the St. Louis Exposition. The total number of 

 specimens of fishes acquired was about 25,000. The division of mollusks 

 obtained some 600 species from the Philippines and Eastern Asia, many being 

 cotypes of species described by Mollendorf ; a large collection of fresh-water 

 forms from the vicinity of Wilmington, N. C, including a good series of the 

 rare Planorbis inagniflcus : and many interesting land shells from Central 

 America. The additions in entomology comprised about 44,000 specimens, 

 including 20,000 of Hemiptera from Dr. P. R. Uhler, of Baltimore; 8,000 of 

 Lepidoptera from Mr. William Schaus, and over 6,000, representing various 

 groups, from the Department of Agriculture. Besides the transfers from the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, the division of marine invertebrates received extensive 

 series of corals from Hawaii and French Somaliland, and 238 microscopic slides 

 of deep-sea sponges from Doctor Von Lendenfeld. The helminthological collec- 

 tion was increased by over 500 specimens from the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 and the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service. 



