attracted marked attention from naturalists. It forms an octavo of 51 pages.

Bulletin No. 18 is a pamphlet of 278 pages, and is entitled "Exhibit of the fisheries and fish culture of the United States of America, made at Berlin in 1880, prepared under the direction of G. Brown Goode, deputy commissioner."

This work is a catalogue of the articles brought together by the United States Fish Commission for exhibition at the International Fishery Exhibition held in Berlin in April, May, and June, 1880. An account of this exhibition and of the display made by the United States, with the awards to exhibitors, will be found in another place in this report.

The bulletin or catalogue was used as the official list or guide to the American part of the exhibition, was republished in Berlin, translated into German, and on account of its extent, classification, detail, and accuracy, elicited much praise.

The work is arranged under six sections or heads, viz:

A. Aquatic animals and plants of North America beneficial or injurious to man.

B. Fishing-grounds of North America.

C. Means of pursuit and capture.

D. Methods of preparation.

E. Animal products and their applications.

F. Research, protection, and culture.

Under each of these sections, subdivisions are made for the purpose of systematic classification.

Proceedings of the National Museum.-As stated in the reports for 1878 and 1879, another series of publications relating to the Museum has been introduced, designed to furnish to naturalists early announcements and descriptions of specimens received, particularly when of new species, together with such other matters of zoological interest as may be furnished by correspondents, to which series the title of "Proceedings of the National Museum” has been given. Of the articles published in the Proceedings for the year 1880, Mr. R. Ridgway has furnished the following:

(1) Revisions of Nomenclature of certain North American Birds. This paper is an explanatory list of the names of North American birds which, in accordance with the recognized rules of nomenclature, have been changed or amended since the publication (in 1873) of the latest catalogue of the species-Coues's "Check List." Thirty-one specific or subspecific and twenty-five generic names are given as changed or amended since that date, from the form given in the above-named catalogue, while nineteen species given therein as geographical races or varieties are raised to full specific rank, seven others being reduced to the rank of subspecies.

(2) A Catalogue of the Birds of North America.-This catalogue is pre

pared with the view to supply the wide-spread demand for a catalogue of North American birds which shall be complete up to date as regards the enumeration of species known to occur in North America, and at the same time includes a thorough though condensed digest, with references of the additions to the fauna and changes of nomenclature which have been made during the period of twenty-one years which has elapsed since the publication of the last Smithsonian catalogue, in 1859. This new catalogue, with numerous revisions and additions, is now (December, 1880) being printed for publication in pamphlet form.

(3) Catalogue of Trochilidæ in the collection of the United States National Museum.-This is a list of the species of humming birds contained in the National Collection, all the localities represented by the specimens being given with each species. The chief object of this list is to call attention to the desiderata, so that correspondents may be able to furnish species which are lacking to the collection, and thus render it more complete.

Dr. Tarleton H. Bean has furnished among other papers:

A list of European fishes in the collection of the United States National Museum.-About 350 nominal species are mentioned. As this list is intended simply to facilitate exchanges with museums in Europe, the names under which the fishes were received are retained without reference to our latest knowledge concerning the classification and specific identity of certain species.

Other articles have been supplied by Messrs. S. T. Cattie, F. M. Endlich, S. Garman, C. H. Gilbert, T. Gill, G. B. Goode, O. P. Hay, A. Heilprin, D. S. Jordan, G. N. Lawrence, W. N. Lockington, R. Rathbun, J. A. Ryder, R. Smith, J. J. Smith, J. G. Swan, A. E. Verrill, and C. A. White.

Systematic Nomenclature.-In carrying out investigations in systematic natural history a large part of the labor consists in determining the priority of names, especially those of the genera employed or proposed; and for many years each inquirer was obliged to repeat the labors of others and to waste a vast amount of his time thereby. In 1846. the late Prof. Louis Agassiz prepared a list of all names of genera that had been proposed in zoology, giving the dates, references to place of publication, and the group of the animal kingdom to which they belonged. No greater boon could have been extended to students than this compilation, which answered its purpose fully for a number of years. In 1873, Mr. Marschall prepared a supplement to the work of Professor Agassiz, which was also of very great moment. For many years past, however, no convenient digest has been available to cover more recent researches, as the spirit of scientific investigation is increasing in almost geometrical ratio, and the need of a new nomenclature has been apparent. Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Cambridge, Mass., has devoted a large portion of time lately to the preparation of a second supplement to Professor

Agassiz's work, to include a general index to the whole; and by this means, when published, the naturalist will be able to reduce the time and trouble of a given research enormously. Mr. Scudder offered this memoir to the Smithsonian Institution for publication, but as its own funds were required for the other memoirs previously in hand, it was accepted by the Department of the Interior, as a bulletin, and work begun upon it. Some hundreds of pages have already been printed, and it is hoped that the whole will be completed in the course of 1881.

Smithsonian Annual Report.-In consequence of the delay at the Government Printing Office, referred to in the last report, the Report for 1878 was not ready for distribution until March of the past year. Being the first issued after the death of the låte Secretary of the Institution, Professor Henry, it was deemed proper to devote considerable of its space to a presentation of his life and scientific work. For this purpose, the biographical memoir prepared, at the request of the Board of Regents, by Dr. Asa Gray was appended to the Proceedings of the Board, while in the General Appendix were inserted the accounts of his researches on sound with reference to fog-signaling-his latest scientific work-reprinted from the several reports of the Light-House Board, in which they originally appeared, the whole being arranged in a connected article. With the same view, also, an article prepared by W. B. Taylor on Prof. Henry's connection with the telegraph was inserted, presenting his, as yet, imperfectly recognized contributions to the scientific basis of that invention.

The other articles in the Appendix are: Accounts of explorations in Greenland by L. Kumlien, and in the Caribbee Islands by F. A. Ober; a table of some physical constants by J. Le Conte-a contribution to the proposed collection of all the constants of Nature and Art; an account of some experiments on the effect of irritation of a sensitive nerve by B. F. Lautenbach; translations of Arago's biography of Condorcet, and of Favre's biographical notice of Agassiz; an abstract of the results of the researches on Fever, made, with the co-operation of the Institution, by Dr. H. C. Wood; and a republication of a list of the apparatus in various institutions in the United States available for scientific research. The whole forms a volume of 575 pages with 12 illustrations.

A number of ethnological articles, intended for this report, were unavoidably thrown over to the next.

The report for 1879 was presented to Congress on the 10th of March, 1880, and an edition of 15,500 copies were ordered, 2,500 for the use of the Senate, 6,000 for the use of the House of Representatives, and 7,000 for the Institution. It is again a matter of regret that the publication of this work has been so long delayed. The amount of work ordered to be done at the Public Printing Office is enormous and increases every year, while the facilities for doing it remain very much the same. As an evidence of the increase of work in this office, the Public Printer

states that the number of blanks printed during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, exceeded those printed during the previous year by 25,000,000. The number of copies of unfinished works on December 1, 1880, ordered by Congress was 922,107. It is absolutely impossible to satisfy all the requirements of the Departments and of Congress in a reasonable time, and unfortunately the Smithsonian report is delayed much beyond the desire and intention of the Institution.

In this report an unusually large space of the Appendix is devoted to anthropology—all but four of the papers, in fact, coming under that head. This was due, in part, to the increased attention given to that branch of science within the past few years, and in part to the fact that the ethnological articles prepared for the report of 1878 were unavoidably thrown over to this.

The full list of titles comprises: A study of the savage weapons at the Centennial Exhibition, by E. H. Knight; reports of American observatories, prepared by E. S. Holden from the answers to the Smithsonian circular asking for information in regard to the equipment and operations of the observatories in the United States; translations of Pisko's lecture on the present fundamental principles of physics; of Baumhauer's account of his proposed universal meteorograph for detached observatories; and of Worsaae's statement of the measures taken for the preservation of antiquities and national monuments in Denmark; abstracts of replies to the Smithsonian archæological circular; and a statement of the anthropological investigations pursued in 1879, both prepared by Otis T. Mason; an Index to the Papers on Anthropology, published by the Smithsonian Institution from 1847 to 1878, prepared by George H. Boehmer, and the following papers on local ethnology and anthropology: The French Half-Breeds of the Northwest, by V. Havard; Prehistoric Remains in Montana, between Fort Ellis and the Yellowstone River, by P. W. Norris; the Shoshonee or Snake Indians, their religion, superstitions, and manners, by Albert G. Brackett; Ruins in White River Cañon, Pima County, Arizona, by R. T. Burr; Mounds in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, by Thomas Armstrong; Mounds near Quincy, Ill., and in Wisconsin, by William Gilbert Anderson; Notes on some of the principal mounds in the Des Moines Valley, by Samuel B. Evans; Composition of ancient pottery, found near the mouth of Chequest Creek, at Pittsburg, on the Des Moines River, by Robert N. and Charles L. Dahlberg; Prehistoric evidences in Missouri, by G. C. Broadhead; Mounds in Franklin County, Indiana, by Edgar R. Quick; Mounds and earthworks of Rush County, Indiana, by F. Jackman; Primitive manufacture of spear and arrow points along the line of the Savannah River, by Charles C. Jones, jr.; Mica beds in Alabama, by William Gesner; Mounds in Washington County, Mississippi, by James Hough; Mounds in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, by Benjamin H. Brodnax; Wampum belts of the Six Nations, by W. M. Beauchamp; Indian relics from Schoharie, N. Y., by Frank D. Andrews; Preliminary Explorations

among Indian mounds in Southern Florida, by S. T. Walker; Report on the shell-heaps of Tampa Bay, Florida, by S. T. Walker; and Mounds on Gideon's farm, near Excelsior, Hennepin County, Minnesota, by Frank H. Nutter.

The whole forms a volume of 631 pages, with 205 illustrations.

Of the documents published annually by the United States Government, those of the Agricultural Department and of the Smithsonian Institution are most in demand, as furnishing general information, much sought after by various classes of the community. There is no person of general literary or scientific taste who does not find in the Smithsonian Reports something of interest, especially in the copious store of archæological information and the statements of the present condition and progress of science. The demand for the Smithsonian Reports has been responded to by the publication of quite large editions and the occasional reprints from the authorized stereotype plates. It has been found, however, impossible of late years to meet the demands in the increasing amount of interest manifested by the growing population of the United States; and although a liberal edition is published by Congress, of which about 6,500 have been assigned to the Institution for years, copies of the Report for 1877 are entirely exhausted.

Fully realizing this fact, Senator Hamlin, a Regent of the Institution, introduced a resolution providing for the increase of the printing of the number of copies to 15,500, of which 7,000 were to be distributed to the Institution. This resolution became a law, and it is hoped that the demand for the volume for 1879 now about being delivered by the Public Printer will be met.

The series of the stereotype plates of the volumes begins with 1862, and it is proposed to make application to Congress for the printing of a small edition of the volumes extending from that year to 1878, inclusive, so that sets can be furnished to the many new public libraries which have made their appearance wlthin the last few years.

NATIONAL MUSEUM.

The reasons for asking Congress for a museum building of suitable magnitude, and the steps by which this end was accomplished, have been duly presented in the preceding reports. I am happy to announce at the present time that the edifice has been substantially completed, and that preparations are being made to occupy it. In the accompanying report of the architect of the building commission all the necessary details of the plan, cost, &c., will be found.

The magnitude of the edifice, and the complexity of the organization necessary to fully occupy it, it is expected will require a considerable time, but it is hoped that the work will be complete by the end of the year 1881, and that the establishment will thereafter be in full tide of

success.