REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 43 



ness, perfection of mounting and preservation, scientific exactness, and 

 popular instruct! veness" this collection "was superior to any other or- 

 nithological exhibit at the Exposition." The colleciion filled two double 

 Museum cases, fitted with two rows of terraced shelves, the exhibition 

 surface amounting to a little over COO square feet. Each specimen was 

 mounted on a stand of polished black walnut, and provided with a 

 printed label, on which were printed in large, clear type both the scien- 

 tific and popular names. 



The curator in his report calls attention to the "American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union," which was formed at the urgent request of the various or- 

 nithological interests of the country -for the main purpose of harmonizing 

 existing differences in the nomenclature of North American birds, and 

 thereby removing the most serious obstacle to the study of ornithology. 

 At the meeting of organization in New York City, a "committee on clas- 

 sification and nomenclature" was formed, of which the curator of the 

 Department of Birds in the United States National Museum was made 

 a member; and this committee, in pursuance of a call from the chair- 

 man, held a meeting in Washington, from April 15 to 23, inclusive, 

 in the office of the bird department, the collections of which were 

 appealed to in all cases where there was a difference of opinion among 

 members of the committee, and many perplexing problems were thus 

 settled to the satisfaction of the committee as a whole. The importance 

 to ornithology of this meeting, together with one held the previous 

 year in the office of the bird department, can scarcely be overstated, 

 the whole subject of zoological nomenclature having been exhaust- 

 ively reviewed, and a carefully prepared code adopted, in which the 

 satisfactory rules of the existing codes were maintained and their un- 

 wieldy provisions rejected. This new code has been the guide of the 

 committee in the preparation of a new list of North American birds, 

 and will, without much doubt, be adopted by zoologists generally. 

 The curator having been charged by the above-mentioned commit- 

 tee with the determination of names of North American birds, ac- 

 cording to the new code of nomenclature, this duty has been very 

 carefully performed, and the copy for the new list put in the hands 

 of the president of the union. At this date the list is being printed, 



The naturalists of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross hav- 

 ing made an extensive collection of birds on the almost unknown island 

 of Cozumel, off the coast of Yucatan, it became the duty of the curator, 

 as a part of his official work, to determine the species and describe those 

 which proved new to science. The latter were no less than nineteen in 

 number, the greater part of which have already been published, while 

 the remainder are described in a full report upon the collection now 

 being printed as a part of Volume VIII of the Proceedings of the Na- 

 tional Museum. 



The offer of the mounted birds which had for some years been on ex- 

 hibition ki the museum of the Department of Agriculture having been 



