1 6 Report of the President. 



investigation of the tribes inhabiting the coasts of the North 

 Pacific Ocean, and the acquisition of information disclosing their 

 historical development. In the same report a map was annexed 

 showing the region which it was proposed to cover in the course 

 of the research. The details of the plan were arranged in the 

 beginning of this year in order to enter upon the work at the 

 earliest practicable moment. Your President thereupon decided 

 to assume the expense involved in prosecuting the research, and 

 a revised map is incorporated in the present report showing the 

 localities to be visited during the next four years. 



The plans for the work for the second year have been decided, 

 and reports will be made from time to time of the operations of 

 the parties in the field. Occasional articles, which have appeared 

 in the public press, have furnished a brief and popular narrative 

 of the progress made by the explorers up to the close of the first 

 season. 



Thanks are due to the Imperial Russian Government for assur- 

 ances of its cooperation in the work to be undertaken on the 

 coast of Northeastern Siberia, and the State Department of our 

 own country has also given valuable assistance and counsel, in 

 relation to the movements of the explorers. 



Our parties engaged in the field received important aid from 

 some of the transcontinental lines, and it is very gratifying to 

 record this manifestation of continued interest in the Museum's 

 work. In this regard, the Board is indebted to Mr. C. P. Hunt- 

 ington, Mr. George J. Gould, Mr. Eben B. Thomas, Sir William 

 C. Van Home, Mr. Edward D. Adams, Mr. James J. Hill, and 

 Mr. E. T. Jeffrey. The Wisconsin Central Railroad and branches 

 have aided the Museum in the transmission of freight, and the 

 New York & Cuban Mail S. S. Company, and the Panama R. R. 

 Company, have granted special rates on shipments from Mexico 

 and Peru. 



Department of Vertebrate Zoology. — Additional room 

 and larger facilities were provided for the Study Collection, which 

 was rearranged during the year. A beginning has been made 

 toward gathering material to represent by means of casts, or 

 mounted specimens, the fish and reptile fauna of the State. 



