REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



The division of plants received about 47,000 specimens, mainly from the fol- 

 lowing sources: The West Indies, and especially Cuba, over 0,000 specimens; 

 Central America, about 1,400 specimens; Mexico, -2,200 specimens; the Philippine 

 Islands, 5,571 specimens ; District of Columbia, about 5,000 specimens ; from 

 different localities, through the Department of Agriculture, over 4,000 speci- 

 mens ; the private herbarium of Mrs. J. N. Milligan. of Jacksonville, 111., com- 

 prising about 2,200 specimens; and the collection of the late Prof. T. A. 

 Williams, numbering about 4,400 specimens. 



One of the most noteworthy accessions in geology consisted of a large amount 

 of material obtained by the head curator during an investigation of Coon Butte, 

 Arizona. The Geological Survey transmitted a large number of rocks and ores 

 from Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, and Maine, and material of 

 the same character as well as minerals were obtained from other sources. The 

 collection of meteorites was increased by seven specimens. 



The additions in paleontology were exceptionally large and valuable, the 

 more important comprising about 45,000 specimens from the Pre-Cambrian, 

 Cambrian, and Ordovician horizons in the United States, transferred by the 

 Geological Survey ; the Pate collection of about 50,000 specimens from the 

 Paleozoic rocks of the Mississippi Valley, and several hundred specimens from 

 the Devonian of Missouri, both presented by the Hon. Frank Springer; the 

 Nettleroth collection, containing practically all of the many types figured in 

 that author's Kentucky Fossil Shells : and an especially fine representation of 

 the Silurian and Devonian faunas of Indiana and Kentucky. 



EXPLORATIONS. 



While no extensive field work was carried on directly by the Museum, sev- 

 eral expeditions, both for collecting and observation, were made by members of 

 the staff, as follows : Doctor True in Maryland, Doctor Stejneger in Virginia, 

 Doctor Bartsch in North Carolina, Mr. Bean in Florida, Mr. Halm in Indiana. 

 Doctor Dyar and Mr. Caudell in California, Doctor Rose in Mexico, Mr. Maxon 

 in Cuba, and Doctor Merrill in Arizona. Mr. Charles W. Gilmore, of the depart- 

 ment of geology, was sent by the Smithsonian Institution to Alaska to search 

 for the remains of large fossil mammals, while Doctor Bassler and Doctor 

 Peale were detailed to field work in conjunction with the Geological Survey. 

 The explorations by which the Museum was mainly benefited were, as hereto 

 fore, those of the Geological Survey, the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau 

 of Fisheries, and the Bureau of American Ethnology. Mention should also be 

 made of the personal field work in the Philippines of Doctor Mearns, of the 

 Army, and in Malaysia of Dr. W. L. Abbott; and also of the excavations by 

 Doctor Fewkes at Casa Grande, Arizona, under a special act of Congress. 



CARE AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLLECTIONS. 



The reorganization of the osteological collection in physical anthropology, 

 which comprises parts of about 8,000 skeletons, was completed during the year. 

 Doctor Hrdlicka, the assistant curator in charge of this division, has carried 

 on investigations relating to the crania and skeletons of Indians and the 

 orang, and to the brain in the higher vertebrates, including man. An exten- 

 sion of storage space has permitted the classified arrangement of a much greater 

 number of objects of ethnology than heretofore. Professor Mason and Doctor 

 Hough were mainly occupied in working up the ethnological collections from 

 Malaysia, and the latter also continued the pi-eparation of his report ou the 

 Museum-Gates expedition of 1905 in Arizona, and on the Pueblo collections in 

 the Museum. Doctor Casanowicz lias begun a descriptive account of the exhi- 



L6097— 07— 4 



