ADVERTISEMENT. 



This work (Bulletin No. 53) is one of a series of papers intended to 

 illustrate the collections belonging to or placed under the charge of the 

 Smithsonian Institution and deposited in the United States National 

 Museum. 



The publications of the National Museum consist of two series — the 

 Bulletin and the Proceedings. 



The Bulletin, publication of which was commenced in 1875, is a series 

 of elaborate papers issued separately and based for the most part upon 

 collections in the National Museum. They are monographic in scope 

 and are devoted .principally to the discussion of large zoological groups, 

 bibliographies of eminent naturalists, reports of expeditions, etc. The 

 bulletins, issued only as volumes with one exception, are of octavo size, 

 although a quarto form, known as the Special Bulletin, has been adopted 

 in a few instances in which a larger page was deemed indispensable. 



The Proceedings (octavo), the first volume of which was issued in 

 1878, are- intended primarily as a medium of publication for newly 

 acquired facts in biology, anthropology, and geology, descriptions of new 

 forms of animals and plants, discussions of nomenclature, etc. A volume 

 of about 1,000 pages is issued annually for distribution to libraries, while 

 a limited edition of each paper in the volume is printed and distributed 

 in pamphlet form in advance. 



In addition, there are printed each year in the second volume of the 

 Smithsonian Report (known as the Report of the U. S. National 

 Museum) papers, chiefly of an ethnological character, describing collec- 

 tions in the National Museum. 



Papers intended for publication by the National Museum are usually 

 referred to an advisory committee, composed as follows: Frederick W. 

 True (chairman), William H. Holmes, George P. Merrill, James E. 

 Benedict, Otis T. Mason, Leoiihard Stejueger, Lester F. Ward, and 

 Marcus Benjamin (editor). 



S. P. Laxglev, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Washington, U. S. A. .June 1, ipoj. 



