20 REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 



edge, Miscellaneous Collections, Annual Reports, publications not 



included in the regular series, and publications not Smithsonian." 



The Proceedings of the United Slates National Museum, the first 

 volume of which was issued in 1878, are intended as a medium for the 

 publication of original papers based on the collections of the Museum, 

 setting forth newly acquired facts in biology, anthropology, and 

 geology, or containing descriptions of new forms and revisions of 

 limited groups. A volume is issued annually or oftener for distri- 

 bution to libraries and scientific establishments, and in view of the 

 importance of the more prompt dissemination of new facts a limited 

 edition of each paper is printed in pamphlet form in advance. The 

 dates at which these separate papers are published are recorded in 

 the table of contents of the volume. The Museum Bulletin, publica- 

 tion of which was begun in 1875, comprises a series of more elaborate 

 papers issued separately, and, like the Proceedings, is based chiefly, 

 if not wholly, on the collections of the Museum. A quarto form of 

 the Bulletin, known as the " Special Bulletin," has been adopted in a 

 few instances in which a larger size of page was deemed indispen- 

 sable. Since 1902 the volumes of the series known as " Contributions 

 from the National Herbarium," and containing papers relating to the 

 botanical collections of the Museum, have been published in the 

 Bulletin series. 



The Annual Report of the Museum is printed as a separate volume 

 of the report of the Board of Regents to Congress. 



The publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, consisting 

 of annual reports and bulletins, relate to the operations of the Bureau 

 in its various branches of exploration and research. Part I of the 

 Handbook of American Indians (A to M) was issued in March and 

 the main portion of Part II is in type. The Twenty-fourth Annual 

 Report has been published and much progress made on the Twenty- 

 fifth Report. Several Bulletins have been issued. 



The Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the 

 year 1905 was transmitted to Congress in May, 1906, under the re- 

 quirements of the act of incorporation of the association, but only one 

 of the two volumes had been completed at the close of the fiscal year. 

 The Smithsonian Institution is by law allowed a number of copies of 

 reports of this association, which are distributed in exchange for the 

 publications of various fore : gn and American historical societies. 



There was also forwarded to Congress on February 25, 1907, the 

 ninth report of the National Society of the Daughters of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution, in accordance with the act of incorporation of that 

 organization. 



<* Contributions to Knowledge, 775 ; Miscellaneous Collections, 10,059 ; Reports, 

 18,490 ; publications not in regular series, 2.890 ; publications not Smithsonian, 

 709. 



