NATIONAL MUSEUM.

For many years after the Institution took charge of the National Museum only $4,000 was allowed by Congress for the annual expense on account of this duty. In 1871 the appropriation for this purpose was increased to $10,000, and in 1872 to $15,000, and for the last year to $20,000; the last-mentioned sum being sufficient for the present to defray the annual expense without encroachment on the income of the Smithson fund, nothing being charged on account of rent of the building. In addition to this, $10,000 was appropriated for the completion of the cases in the large room of the second story, devoted to ethnology. This money was expended in procuring cases in the form of tables with glass tops and sides for the exhibition of smaller articles.

The following report from Professor BAIRD gives an account of the additions to the museum and the various operations connected with it during the past year:

Increase of the National Museum.

As in previous years, nearly every region in North America, and a considerable number of localities in Central and South America, as well as in other parts of the world, have been represented in the collections of 1874; the following summary showing, in a general way, the more important of the acquisitions from a geographical point of view:

From Greenland has been received a collection of articles of Esquimaux dress and other interesting curiosities, including the skeleton of a polar bear.

The arctic main land of North America is represented by perfect skins, with the skeletons complete, of adult male and female musk-oxen, forming an acquisition that any museum would consider of great importance.

Alaska has been richly represented during the year by a good series of ethnological material of the Thlinket tribes of Sitka and the adjoining region, including a number of the stone implements which are now entirely gone out of use and very rare; also, from the Maglemut Esquimaux of the island of Nunivak, Behring Sea, a remarkably full series of their utensils, weapons, and carvings. This addition, with what had previously been obtained, gives to the National Museum a finer collection of Western Esquimaux material thau exists in all other ethnological museums combined.

A series of dredgings has also been received, made in the Northern Ocean, in the vicinity of Kotzebue Sound, and in other portions of Behring Sea; a large collection of birds with their eggs, among them specimens of the Sterna aleutica and other rare species, and series of skins and skeletons of the fur-seals, &c.

Queen Charlotte's Island and Washington Territory. From these we

have received ethnological objects, consisting principally of elaborate carvings made by the Haidah Indians, a race excelling any other aboriginal people on the continent in the skill and variety of the designs which they engrave on bone and wood.

Oregon is represented very satisfactorily by a series of prehistoric remains obtained from shell-heaps. These are of extreme beauty of finish, and constitute a highly-prized addition to the ethnological collections of the Institution.

California, as usual, occupies a prominent place in the record of addi tions to the museum, more particularly in the line of archæology, including prehistoric remains from the shell-heaps, some of them opening a new page in American archæology in the variety and complexity of the objects, and in their great beauty of finish. The applications and uses of many of them constitute puzzling problems in ethnology.

From the Pacific coast we have also received specimens of the cetaceans, and an interesting and valuable collection of eggs.

Arizona, Utah, and Colorado are richly illustrated by the specimens. collected by the various Government exploring expeditions, in all the departments of natural history and ethnology. These regions may almost be considered as more fully represented in the National Museum than any other portion of the continent, with the exception of Alaska. A collection of eggs from Arizona challenges competition for beauty of preparation and variety of species; also ethnological objects of much interest.

From Montana, specimens of the grayling fishes have been received, among which a new species has been described by Mr. Milner, Thymallus montaniensis; a collection of birds, and a fine specimen of mule-deer.

New Mexico is represented principally by specimens of Navajo workmanship, fossil remains, and minerals in much variety.

Dakota.-As in previous years, large collections, especially in natural history, have been received from this Territory, particularly from the officers of the Northern Boundary Survey.

Central portion of the United States.-The collections from this region have consisted principally of crania, stone implements, pottery, worked bones, &c., from Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa; minerals and rocks from Tennessee; skins of salmonidæ of Lake Superior; specimens of the Michigan grayling, and of the giant snapping-turtle from Louisi

ana.

Eastern portion of the United States.-We have received specimens of bone implements and other ethnologica from New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; fresh-water and land shells and Otsego bass from New York; young California salmon from the Susquehanna River; fossil ferns and a specimen of the Arkansas fly-catcher from Maryland; and fishes from Virginia.

Florida is well represented by human crania, shell-heap remains, and other ethnological objects, living alligators, fishes, shells, and reptiles;

among the latter a specimen of Elaps distans, a serpent previously unknown excepting in Arizona.

From Newfoundland we have had a series of stuffed skins of several species of seals of different ages.

From Mexico a collection of reptiles and fishes.

From Cuba a continuation of the complete series of species of fish, which the Institution has received from its correspondents on that island.

Central America, as usual, has furnished very important collections, among them birds and reptiles from the isthmus of Tehuantepec; specimens of the musical instruments of the aborigines of Guatemala; poisonous serpents of Nicaragua, and, above all, a series of mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, shells, insects, and ethnology from Costa Rica.

South America.-The receipts from this part of the western hemisphere have not been very large, consisting principally of some casts of stone implements from ancient mines in Chili, and ethnological objects, birds, mammals, and serpents from Brazil, as well as a specimen of sealion from Patagonia.

Europe. The additions of the year consist of marine shells, cretaceous fossils from Sweden, and skeleton of the white porpoise from Norway; also models of the common form of weir used in Denmark for the capture of fishes; minerals from Saxony; highly valuable specimens of crania and pottery belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period of British history; prehistoric objects from the celebrated locality of Solutré, among them numerous bones of the horse, the remains of which, to the number of many thousands of individuals, have been accumulated in a single depository.

Other parts of the world.-Among the most noteworthy of the collections received are those of fishes, crustaceans, seeds, bulbs, shells, &c., from the island of Mauritius; models of dwellings, articles of dress, specimens of fishes, crustaceans, corals, &c., &c., from the Samoan Islands; and fishes from Kamtschatka.

Not the least interesting and important of the collections of the year are "squeezes" from Egyptian antiquities, and a perfect copy of the Tanis or Canopus stone, from the museum at Boulak, of which a much inferior copy was already in possession of the Institution.

Miscellaneous.-The Navy of the United States has very largely contributed specimens collected during the voyages of the Portsmouth among the Pacific Islands; of the Narragansett in the Gulf of Califor nia and vicinity, embracing shells, fishes, birds, and ethnology; and of the Tuscarora in the Pacific Ocean, between the United States and the Sandwich Islands and Japan, consisting of the soundings taken while selecting a suitable line for a trans-Pacific telegraphic cable.

Systematic summary.-Having described the principal additions to the National Museum in 1874 in geographical order, it may not be amiss)

to refer briefly to them again in their systematic sequence, as likely to give a better idea of the actual increase in the scientific value of the collections.

Of the various additions received during the year, those which are most varied and comprehensive in their nature, and of most importance, have been derived from the labors of Mr. W. H. Dall and Mr. H. W. Elliott, in Alaska; of Mr. Archibald Campbell, Major Twining, and Dr. E. Coues, of the Northern Boundary Survey, in Dakota; of Major Powell, Lieutenant Wheeler, and Dr. Hayden, in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado; of the United States steamers Portsmouth and Narragansett, in the Pacific Ocean; of Capt. Nicholas Pike, in the Mauritius; of the United States Fish-Commission on the eastern coast of the United States; and of Professor Gabb, in Costa Rica.

Ethnology.-The Smithsonian Institution has been, for several years past, especially interested in extending the ethnological collections of the National Museum, desirous that this should embrace as full an illustration of American archæology as possible. The results of its efforts in this direction have been very satisfactory, few days elapsing without the receipt of one or more packages of specimens. These collections are so numerous, indeed, as to render it impossible to mention them all here; and we can only specify a few, referring to the list of donations for a statement in full.

By far the most important of these collections were those received from Alaska and the west coast of America and from Costa Rica, already referred to in general terms. The specimens procured by Mr. Dall furnish a full representation of the prehistoric antiquities of the islands and the main land of Alaska, as also of many of the objects at present in use among the Esquimaux, the Aleutians, &c. Mr. Elliott's collections relate more especially to Saint Lawrence Island, Behring Sea, a region previously unrepresented in any collection.

The collections made in Oregon by Mr. A. W. Chase and Mr. Paul Schumacher relate to the shell-heap deposits, and are quite unique in their character. Still more so are the gatherings made by Mr. Dall and Mr. Schumacher from the islands and main land of Southern California. The carvings by the Haidah Indians, collected by Mr. J. G. Swan, are of great interest and beauty.

The collections of Doctor Gabb, of both modern and prehistoric ethnology in Costa Rica, are of very great extent and of extreme value, and are supplemented by a collection of aboriginal musical instruments from Guatemala, furnished by Mr. Henry Hague.

Large numbers of stone implements, pipes, pottery, &c., have been received from the expeditions of Major Powell, Doctor Hayden, and Lieutenant Wheeler, from Governor Arny, of New Mexico, and from many localities in the interior and in the east, all together forming an aggregate of very great extent. Conspicuous among these are speci

mens of bone implements obtained by Mr. Frank H. Cutting in Central New York. Mr. J. H. Jenkins, of Northumberland, Pa., has increased the extent of his deposits by numerous additional objects. General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General United States Army, has furnished ethnological specimens from Arizona of much interest.

Among the articles obtained from the Mississippi Valley is a remarkable stone pestle, or muller, from the Rev. Joshua Hailes, senior. This is stirrup-shaped, and quite unique in North America; although similarlyshaped objects, with the same function, are known in Central America and the Sandwich Islands.

A noteworthy article in this department consists of a specimen of ancient cloth from a rock-dwelling near Montezuma Wells, in Arizona, presented by Lieut. E. B. Hubbard. Dr. J. F. Snyder, of Illinois, has furnished a large number of disk-shaped, chipped stones, of great beauty. Of Old World collections we have mentioned a copy of the Tanis or Canopus stone, presented by the Khedive of Egypt, and, through General Charles P. Stone, numerous "squeezes" of Egyptian antiquities, contributed by the latter gentleman; a series of Saxon crania, and other antiquities, from Professor Rolleston, of Oxford; specimens from the prehistoric burial-places near Solutré, presented by Professor Lartet, and valuable collections from the Samoan Islands, by A. B. Steinberger, esq.

Under the head of Mammals, an important acquisition is that of a perfect pair of skins and skeletons of musk-oxen, from Mr. Hardisty, of the Hudson's Bay service, in arctic North America.

Mr. P. T. Barnum, in pursuance of his liberal offer to place at the disposal of the Institution, for the use of the National Museum, all such animals from his menagerie as might die on his hands, has furnished specimens of the nylghau, the manatee, the dromedary, the sun-bear, and other species. A specimen of the sea-lion of Patagonia has been received from Doctor Burmeister, of Buenos Ayres. Henry W. Elliott has procured for us a series of skins and skeletons of the fur-seals. Doctor Gabb has furnished complete collections of nearly all the known mammals of Costa Rica, in great number. Professor Pagenstecker presented skins of various European mammals. A series of the seals of Newfoundland was received from Rev. M. Harvey; and Captain Scalamon has contributed additions to the series of cetaceans of the Pacific Coast, especially that of California, it being his intention to render the collection of the National Museum as complete as he can make it. The objects received illustrate his important work on the marine mammals of the western coast of the United States.

The Vienna Museum has supplied skins and skeletons of several species of Old World mammalia. From Doctor Bessels has been received a skeleton of the polar bear, and from Doctor Yates casts of the teeth of the fossil elephant of California. Señor Albuquerque, of Brazil, has