down which it descends. Work was commenced on this road toward the close of the fiscal year.

At the edge of the stream near the site of the old mill the two roads are to unite in one, which a short distance above will cross the creek on a rustic bridge (marked B on map), thus reaching the main body of the park near the principal animal house.

Among the most satisfactory of the works undertaken in the park for beautifying and secluding the grounds is the restoration of the area between the seal pond and Rock Creek to something approaching its primitive wildness. This region had been connected with the body of the park by high embankments meant to restrain the stream and prevent it from destroying the seal pond. This object has now been effected by removing the embankments and sinking under the ground at each end of the pond a substantial wall of masonry.

Through the courtesy of the Fish Commission the park was enabled during the year to acquire the plant for an aquarium which was used at the Atlanta Exposition. It is intended to establish this in a suitable structure, thereby effecting an important addition to the zoological resources of the park.

As the Yellowstone National Park is the source from which many wild animals are supplied to the park here, and as great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in properly confining and caring for animals. within that preserve, it has seemed desirable that an inclosure of considerable extent should be fenced off in some suitable portion of that park into which animals could be driven for the purpose of capture and where they could be preserved indefinitely while becoming partially tamed and awaiting transportation to the East. A site for such an inclosure has been selected in the Hayden Valley, and during the summer of 1895 a strong corral inclosing a considerable tract was erected there. It was hoped that most of the few bison still remaining in the Yellowstone Park might be brought into this corral, and here protected from marauders. In this particular, however, my expectations have not been realized. The pursuit of the bison by poachers has continued, and it is understood from the superintendent of the park that there are now but very few remaining.

ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY.

The operations of the Astrophysical Observatory during the past. year, as detailed more at length in the appendix, have been very successful in reducing prejudicial disturbances to the work. It is expected to make within a few months a publication of the results of the long investigation of the infra-red spectrum which has thus far occupied so much of the attention of the observatory. In this publication it is believed that the degree of accuracy in the position of absorption lines, which was mentioned in the report of last year as the aim of the investigation, will be fully realized.

Notwithstanding the gratifying progress in removing sources of error

which has been made during the past year, it must again be remarked that the full degree of satisfaction to be obtained in the investigation can not be hoped for in the present site of the observatory. During the past year plans have been prepared for the construction of a more suitable building, and some experiments have been made looking to the determination of a site more free from magnetic and other disturbances, but no steps have yet been taken to remove to such a situation.

It is proper to add that administrative duties have occupied too much of my time in the past year to permit my giving the personal attention I should have wished to the conduct of the observatory, and that for the improvements above described credit is due chiefly to Mr. C. G. Abbot, who efficiently aids me in its charge.

NECROLOGY.

GEORGE BROWN GOODE.

Since the close of the fiscal year the Institution has suffered the irreparable loss of its assistant secretary, Dr. George Brown Goode, who died on September 6, 1896, at his home in this city. A sketch of his life will more properly be given in my next report, but I can not refrain from saying a word at this time about one with whom I was not only officially intimate, but who was a very dear personal friend.

Dr. Goode was born at New Albany, Ind., on February 13, 1851. He was first associated with the Institution in 1873, and from that time until his death was thoroughly devoted to the work he so loved-the building up and development, under the charge of the Regents, of a great National Museum. In 1887 he was appointed assistant secretary of the Institution in charge of the National Museum, which, as it exists to-day, is perhaps the most fitting monument to his memory.

He possessed an exact scientific training that made him eminent as a zoologist, but it was as a specialist in museum administration that he was perhaps skilled above all others, and he gave himself with entire devotion to the care of the Museum, which was practically his charge, refusing many advantageous offers to go elsewhere, for the peculiar value of his services was everywhere acknowledged.

Dr. Goode united with his great administrative ability singularly varied powers in other directions, and the most entire unselfishness in their use I have ever known. My own trust in him grew with every evidence of his special fitness for it, while our official relations continued to be of the most happy character, and so also were those of his associates and subordinates, for he possessed the rare art of maintaining an exact discipline without sacrificing the affections of those over whom it was administered. He is gone, and his successor is hard to find.

WILLIAM CRAWFORD WINLOCK.

After the conclusion of the transactions of the Exchange Bureau for the fiscal year, and before the annual report of the Institution was

ready for the press, the curator of exchanges, William Crawford Winlock, passed away.

Mr. Winlock died at Bay Head, N. J., September 20, 1896, having but a few days before returned from a journey to London, Leipsic, and Paris, whence he had gone in the interest of the affairs of the Bureau.

Mr. Winlock, already well known as an astronomer, having been attached to the United States Naval Observatory, continued to exercise the functions of his profession after associating himself with the Institution, and, in addition to his onerous duties as curator of exchanges, he was made honorary curator of physical apparatus in the United States National Museum. At the time of his death he occupied the chairs of astronomy in the Corcoran and Graduate schools of the Columbian University.

In the death of Mr. Winlock the Institution has lost not only one of its most efficient officers, and one to whom the exchange service was specially indebted, but one whose personal character endeared him in an uncommon degree to his associates.

GEORGE HANS BOEHMER.

George Hans Boehmer died at Gaithersburg, Md., November 20, 1895. Mr. Boehmer was born in Berlin, Germany, May 6, 1842, and in 1868 came to the United States.

In 1876 he was appointed on the staff of the Smithsonian Institution, and after various promotions became chief clerk of the Exchange Bureau, which position he held at the time of his death. He was an accomplished linguist, and his efforts aided greatly in bringing the Exchange Bureau to its present efficient standing.

Respectfully submitted.

S. P. LANGLEY,

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

APPENDIX TO SECRETARY'S REPORT.

APPENDIX I.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.

SIR: The following statement constitutes a résumé of the most important operations of the National Museum during the fiscal year which ended on June 30, 1896: Accessions.-The records show the receipt of 1,299 separate accessions during the year. These represent a total of more than 70,000 specimens of all kinds.

The following accessions are of special interest: From Dr. William L. Abbott, to whom more than any other individual the Museum is indebted for contributions from Africa and Asia, collections of natural-history specimens, ethnological objects, and musical instruments, gathered in Kashmir, India, and Madagascar; from Mr. A. Boncard, Isle of Wight, England, large and exceedingly valuable collections of birds' skins from different parts of the world, containing many species and several genera new to the Museum collection; from Dr. L. T. Chamberlain, New York City, a valuable collection of southern gems and gem minerals, native silver from Arizona, an especially fine specimen of green tourmaline from Mount Mica, Paris, Me., and shells from New Zealand and various localities in Texas; from John Brenton Copp, New Haven, Conn., a very interesting addition to the collection of household goods, wearing apparel, pottery, glass, pewter jewelry, and other specimens transmitted by him in a previous year; from Dr. A. Fenyés, Hélouan, Egypt, a fine collection of natural-history specimens, fossils, Greek and Roman coins, and antiquities from Egypt and the Transvaal; from Mr. R. D. Lacoe, Pittston, Pa., collections of Dakota group fossils and Paleozoic animal fossils, also specimens from a Sigillarian stump. These collections will form part of the famous "Lacoe Collection." Col. Charles Coote Grant, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has transmitted a large collection of Clinton and Niagara group fossils from the vicinity of Hamilton. Dr. William L. Ralph, Utica, N. Y., to whom the Museum is so deeply indebted, has presented some very valuable and interesting collections of birds' skins. Among them is a skin of a Philip Island parrot, now an extinct species. Lieut. Wirt Robinson, U. S. A., Hubbard Park, Cambridge, Mass., transmitted collections of birds' eggs from Virginia, birds' skins, including several new species, from Margarita Island and Venezuela, as well as some natural-history specimens from the West Indies. Some very beautiful specimens of the Tiffany Favrile glass, made under the personal supervision of Mr. Charles L. Tiffany, have been deposited in the Museum by Messrs. Tiffany & Co. Special mention may also be made of a number of pieces of beautifully decorated chinaware, pottery, etc., presented by Messrs. William and Edward Lycett, Atlanta, Ga., including vases, cups, and saucers of Japanese eggshell porcelain.

The scientific staff.-The vacancy created by the death of Prof. C. V. Riley, honorary curator, on September 14, 1895, has been filled by the appointment of Mr. L. O. Howard, who also succeeded Professor Riley as Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture. Custodians of special groups in the Department of Insects have been appointed, as follows: Mr. D. W. Coquillett, custodian of the Diptera; Mr. W. H. Ashmead, custodian of the Hymenoptera; Mr. E. A. Schwarz, custodian of Coleopterous larvæ, and Mr. O. F. Cook, of Huntington, Long Island, custodian of the Myriapoda.

Mr. George C. Maynard has accepted the custodianship of the collection of electrical apparatus. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has been enrolled upon the list of associates in zoology.

Distribution of specimens.-Nearly 30,000 specimens of all kinds have been distributed during the year. About four-fifths of this number were donated to institutions. The total also includes a large number of specimens which were transmitted in exchange to institutions and individuals. Specimens are in no case given to individuals. Of the entire number of specimens distributed, probably two-thirds consisted of fishes and invertebrate forms of marine life. More than 2,300 geological specimens and about half as many casts of prehistoric implements are also included in the total number.

Visitors.-The number of visitors to the Smithsonian building during the year was 103,650, and to the Museum building 180,505.

Specimens received for determination.-There has been a noticeable increase in the number of "lots" of material received for identification. This is readily accounted for by the encouragement which the Museum has always given in this direction. A stone or insect, actually worthless, but believed by the sender to have some scientific or commercial value, is as carefully examined and reported upon as would be a collection having recognized value, from a correspondent known to be engaged in scientific work. The number of "lots" received during the year was 542, or an increase of 75 over the number received last year.

Foreign exchanges.-Exchanges have been made with a number of foreign museums. Among them may be mentioned the Royal Zoological Museum, Florence, Italy; Museu Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil; British Museum, London, England; Zoological Museum, Turin, Italy; Horniman Museum, London, England; Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales; La Plata Museum, La Plata, Argentina; Museum of Natural History, Paris, France; Museum of Natural History, Genoa, Italy; Royal Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark; Imperial Zoological Museum, Vienna, Austria. Exchanges of importance have also been made with individuals, among whom may be mentioned Mr. Edward Lovett, Croydon, England; Mr. Edgar J. Bradley, Happy Valley Water Works, South Australia; Dr. A. C. Haddon, Cambridge, England; Prof. Guiseppe Bellucci, Perugia, Italy; Dr. Herman Credner, Leipsic, Germany; Dr. A. Pavlow, Moscow, Russia; Col. Charles Scott Grant, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Prof. M. Stossich, Trieste, Austria.

Publications.-The Report of the National Museum for 1893 was published early in the year, and a considerable portion of the Report for 1894 is already in type. Volume 17 of Proceedings of the National Museum was received from the Government Printing Office and distributed in July. All the papers for Volume 18, excepting three, appeared as separates. This volume will probably be ready for distribution in bound form during November. Advance editions of three papers to appear in volume 18 were also received and distributed. Two of these contained descriptions of remarkable new genera and species of batrachia and crustacea obtained by the United States Fish Commission from an artesian well at San Marcos, Tex. The third contained preliminary diagnoses of new mammals from the Mexican border, collected by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U. S. A.

Bulletin 47, "The Fishes of North and Middle America," by Dr. D. S. Jordan and Prof. B. W. Evermann, will shortly be published, and Bulletin 49, "A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Philip Lutley Sclater, F. R. S." prepared by Dr. G. Brown Goode, is now in type.

A second edition of Part F of Bulletin 39, "Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects," by Prof. C. V. Riley, has been printed, to meet the unusually large demand for this pamphlet.

Special Bulletin No. 2, "Oceanic Ichthyology," by Dr. G. Brown Goode and Dr. Tarleton II. Bean, is now ready for the press. This is a treatise on the deep-sea and pelagic fishes of the world, and is based chiefly on the collections made by the steamers Blake, Albatross and Fish Hawk in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. It is an elaborate work, in quarto form, of 553 pages, with an atlas of 417 figures arranged on