Oct.  1897. 
Annual  Report  of  the  Director. 
.83 
able  gifts  appear  in  the  list  of  accessions.  The  department  collected 
in  Florida,  Texas  and  southern  Illinois  nearly  1,000  skins  during  the 
year.  The  African  expedition  contributed  296  specimens  from  Somali- 
Land  and  Ogaden.  There  have  been  added  by  purchase  from  ditler 
ent  collectors  over  1,300  skins,  about  equally  divided  in  number 
between  North  America  and  Central  and  South  America.  In  the 
Department  of  Zoology  there  have  been  added  since  the  last  report 
193  mammal  skins  and  22  skeletons,  115  specimens  of  fishes  and  30 
specimens  of  reptilia,  collected  by  the  African  expedition.  The  depart- 
ment has  also  received  by  collection  for  its  division  of  Entomology 
about  6,000  specimens,  mostly  from  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Florida.  By  exchange  with  the  Natural  History  Museums  of  Paris 
and  London  some  very  rare  mammals  have  been  obtained  and  valu- 
able collections  have  been  presented  to  the  division  of  Ichthyology 
by  the  Assistant  Curator  of  the  department.  The  valuable  series  of 
fishes  obtained  by  the  African  expedition  contained  some  species 
which  were  new  to  science  and  others  very  rare.  The  Museum  has, 
also  purchased  a  number  of  very  rare  mammal  skins  and  two  collec- 
tions of  shells,  corals,  etc.  Ringling  Brothers  presented  the  Museum 
with  several  skins  and  skeletons,  and  a  large  amount  of  miscellaneous 
material  has  been  added  to  the  possessions  of  this  department  from 
various  sources.  Among  the  notable  collections  obtained  by  the 
Botanical  Department  during  the  past  year  are  Pringle's  Mexican 
Plants,  Palmer's  Durango  collection,  Nash's  and  Pollard's  Florida 
and  Mississippi  plants,  the  Sandberg  Idaho  collection,  Gaumer's 
last  Yucatan  species,  Jenman's  British  Guiana  and  Rusby's  Orinoco 
collections  ;  Schlechter's  South  African  species,  the  complete  lichen 
herbarium  of  Calkins  and  the  important  personal  herbarium  of  the 
late  Dr.  Schott  The  herbarium  of  Dr.  Schott,  as  the  mounting  and 
distribution  proceeds,  proves  to  be  of  far  greater  value  and  interest 
than  was  at  first  supposed.  Beside  the  Yucatan  plants  (some  960 
numbers  collected  by  him  during  the  years  1884  and  1886,  and  as  yet 
unpublished)  are  his  Panama  Canal  survey  and  Mexican  boundary 
survey  collections,  both  of  the  greatest  value  to  botanists  and  stu- 
dents. The  Old  World  plants  in  his  herbarium  also  prove  of  great 
value,  being  very  abundant  in  the  Flora  of  Eastern  and  Mediterra- 
nean Europe.  The  Austro-Hungarian  [section  contain  many  series 
of  type  plants,  with  manuscript  labels,  described  by  Wierzbicki, 
Hoffman,  Opiz,  Heuffel  and  other  distinguished  authorities.  The 
Gaumer  collections  from  Yucatan,  with  Dr.  Schott's  plants,  yield 
over  500  additional  species  to  the  Flora,  which  have  been  collated  in 
manuscript  for  a  third  contribution  to  the  Flora  of  that  region,  now 
nearly  ready  for  the  printer. 
