The second quarto memoir, published in 1878, is a paper by Mr. William H. Dall, "On the Remains of later Prehistoric Man, obtained from caves in the Catherina Archipelago, Alaska Territory, and especially from the caves of the Aleutian Islands." In the Secretary's report for 1875 (page 48) will be found a brief notice of some interesting mummified human remains from the Aleutian Islands presented by the Alaska Commercial Company. These comprised a series of nine mummies from Kagaymil Island and one from Prince William's Sound. Mr. Dall's memoir on the subject has been printed, containing the result of a careful examination of these remains and the relics found with them, an account of the tradition and history relating to them, and such explanations of the manufacture, character, and use of the various associated articles as the author's observations during eight years in that region enabled him to furnish. Ten heliotype illustrations accompany the memoir, which, though inferior to finely engraved views in an artistic point of view, offer a style better suited to convey a correct idea of the complicated details represented than any other mode of illustration at present in use.

Two remaining quarto papers now in press will be published early in the year 1879. The first of these is the memoir of Dr. S. Habel, describing "The Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cosumalwhuapa, in Guatemala." As this interesting work was quite fully described in the Secretary's last Report (for 1877, pages 13 to 16), it is unnecessary here to particularize it further.

The other paper referred to (constituting the fourth of the abovementioned series) is "A Classification and Synopsis of the Trochilidæ," by Mr. D. G. Elliot. The beautiful and brilliant-colored "metallic" plumage of the humming-birds in many instances assumes, among individuals of the same species, widely-contrasted hues, rendering the correct identification of the species by the naturalist only possible through a considerable experience or the opportunity of examining a large series of specimens. Within the past ten years a large number of new species have been discovered in this group, supplying important links between previously-known species that could not have been heretofore harmoniously ranged in the family. The vast collection which has produced the material for this work contains many types and speci-. mens of great rarity, obtained from such well-known trochilidists as Bourcier, Gould, Verreaux, &c. Of the 426 species acknowledged in the work as worthy of such rank, 380 are contained in the author's collection, represented by about 1,800 specimens. A novel feature of the work is the engraving that accompanies the diagnosis of each genus, illustrating the characteristics by which any specimen may be readily referred to its proper genus. The characters recognized as most important for determining a system of classification are taken from the male bird alone, it being found impossible to harmonize in so large a group any that should be selected from the two sexes indiscriminately. The present synopsis

will be useful both to the student and to the naturalist by enabling them to easily identify their specimens, and will assist them to a natural classification of the family.

Miscellaneous Collections published in 1878.—Among the "Collections" published in the past year have been several very important circulars intended to facilitate the collection of material for scientific research. The first of these, prepared by Prof. O. T. Mason, at the request of the Institution, relates to the various remains of American archæology scattered throughout different parts of our continent, consisting of mounds, earthworks, ditches, graves, &c. A vast amount of isolated and disconnected research has been directed toward these objects, in most cases by persons ignorant of the true method of examination or of the precise nature of the problems to be solved in connection with them. The circular referred to comprises 15 pages, indicating the features of special interest, a record of which it is desired to possess, and giving a table of symbols to be used to secure uniformity of illustration and facility of reference. It also invites contributions of notes, surveys, maps, illustrations, &c., of the objects, and also requests the contribution of such specimens as may be found in the localities described, including stone implements, pottery, bone tools, &c. Of this circular many thousand copies have been distributed, and these have elicited a vast amount of material. This is all carefully and systematically classified and arranged, and as soon as it appears to be measurably complete it will be placed in the hands of one or more specialists, by the aid of whom it is hoped the Institution may be able to prepare an exhaustive treatise on the subject which will mark as important a stage of progress in the history of American archæology as was done by its publication, in 1849, of Squier & Davis's work upon the ancient mounds of the Mississippi Valley.

The second circular published was one prepared by P. R. Uhler, of Baltimore, in reference to the collection of specimens of craw-fishes. This group of fresh-water crustaceans, which is found in most parts of the world, with some curious exceptions, furnishes an interesting field for inquiry into the modifications produced in animal forms by certain physical or other conditions, Professor Huxley, among others, having lately prepared an elaborate paper upon the subject. In previous years quite a number of new craw-fishes were described from the collections of the National Museum, by Mr. Charles Girard. The group was afterwards made the subject of a very comprehensive investigation by Dr. H. Hagen, of Cambridge. It is, however, thought that there is room for still further inquiry, and the material in possession of the Smithsonian Institution will be placed in the hands of competent specialists for investigation. In the circular an illustration of the craw-fish is given, for which the Institution is indebted to Messrs. Appleton & Co., New York.

The third circular, to form part of a forthcoming volume of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, is in reference to the living reptiles of

North America. The United States Fish Commission, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876 an extremely interesting series of plaster and papier maché casts of fishes, cetaceans, and some reptiles, all carefully colored from nature, and representing a much larger number of such objects than had ever been brought together under one roof. Since that time the artists connected with the National Museum have been diligently engaged in extending and improving the series, and for nearly two years past their efforts have been conducted especially in the line of the reptiles. The circular in question was intended to indicate precisely the forms or species desired, and it has been extensively distributed. As the result, the Institution was the recipient, in 1878, of very large numbers of living turtles, serpents, lizards, salamanders, &c., the greater portion of which has been carefully molded and reproduced in artistic style. It is believed that no museum extant can show such a series of serpents, in their natural attitudes, as is now on exhibition in the National Museum.

Another publication of 1878 is a new "List of Foreign Correspondents." The rapid increase in the number of scientific establishments in relationship with the Institution requires a new edition of this list every few years; and although the present one is much more extensive than that published in 1872 (containing 2333 numbers of titles as compared with 1919), even now arrangements are being made by the Institution for a still more complete and exhaustive edition. With this view a circular has been sent to all the names upon the present list, asking for rectifications or typographic corrections, and the addition of any addresses of public libraries, learned societies, or scientific bureaus of governments not already included. The Institution also requested secretaries of societies to furnish a list of the names and addresses of persons actively engaged in scientific or literary investigations in their respective towns, together with the particular branches of learning to which each was devoted, with the view of facilitating communication and exchanges with specialists in all parts of the world. The responses to these requests are coming in rapidly; and when all are received, a suitable arrangement and publication of the material will be made.

Twenty years ago (in 1858), the Institution published a list of the Diptera (flies, musquitoes, &c.) of North America, by Baron R. OstenSacken, at that time attached to the Russian Legation at Washington. The author, although especially a student of the order of diptera, was interested in other groups, and coming to the United States at a time when our entomologists were few and widely scattered, he devoted a considerable part of his leisure to travel over the country, making the personal acquaintance of most of those interested in this branch of natural history. In that connection he rendered a valuable aid to the extension of American entomologic science, which is entitled to public recognition. Through his efforts numerous entomologists, situated far

apart, and prosecuting studies of a similar character, without the knowledge of other labors than their own, were brought into relations of correspondence and exchange, and thus, by their mutual sympathy and support, and by the concentration of effort on the part of each to some special line of research, the common interest of science was advanced. We regret to say that after many years sojourn in this country, Baron Osten-Sacken has returned to Europe, where, however, his assistance is continually invoked by entomologists desiring information in regard to type specimens, books not procurable in the United States, &c.

The list of Diptera aforesaid (published in the Miscellaneous Collections) brought together a mass of references to the descriptions of about 1,800 species, scattered in more than one hundred different works and scientific papers. Such a publication was an indispensable preliminary step before any study of the diptera could be attempted. This formed the first of a series of works undertaken by the Institution to facilitate the study of entomology, which has included diptera, coleoptera, lepidoptera, neuroptera, and hymenoptera.

During the past year the work of Baron Osten-Sacken, much extended by his later critical studies, has been republished by the Institution. This new edition of the work is not merely a revision of the catalogue published twenty years ago; but it is an entirely new one prepared on a different plan. The difference between eleven and sixty-six, the number of species of one genus, Trypeta, represents the addition made to our knowledge during the interval between the two catalogues. Other genera give similar results. Another important difference between the old and new catalogues consists in the fact that the majority of the species enumerated in the latter are represented in a collection now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Mass., which contains over 2,000 named and described species of diptera from North America. The region embraced in the present catalogue is the whole of North America, including the West Indies. It has been the effort of the author to make sure that every name in the list should actually represent a different species. To attain this result, he visited and examined the museums in London, Paris, Lille, Berlin, Frankfort, Darmstadt, Turin, and Vienna. Of all orders of insects the diptera offer probably the most difficulties to the describer, arising from the minuteness of the characters on which generic and specific distinction are based. Each family requires a special study, and a dipterologist may be very well versed in some families, without being able to express any opinion with regard to questions concerning others. In the introduction to the catalogue, the author presents some recommendations as to the best course to be pursued in the study of diptera, and advises specialization. Amateurs may collect and name specimens, but should not publish anything until they have chosen some single family and nearly exhausted it by study and collecting. "The exhaustive study of a single family is far more remunerative both in pleasure and in usefulness S. Mis. 59-2

than the random description of numerous new species." The catalogue forms an octavo volume of 324 pages, and includes a full index.

Another paper published in 1878, to be mentioned, is a "Botanical Index," prepared by Prof. Sereno Watson, of Cambridge, Mass. The purpose of this index is to furnish references to whatever has been published respecting the plants of North America, under their Linnean specific names, in works or papers that may be classed as belonging to systematic botany. For the region west of the Mississippi and for British America, the literature of which is almost wholly fragmentary and greatly scattered, and on account of which especially the work was originally begun, it is intended to be complete. And it is essentially so also for the eastern flora, where, however, there is not the same necessity that the citations should be exhaustive. To avoid the perpetuation of errors it was desirable to eliminate false species and to correct wrong determinations wherever they had gone upon record. This could not have been thoroughly done without a complete revision of the flora itself, which was of course out of the question; nevertheless it was rendered to a considerable extent possible as respects the western flora, by the author's connection with the "Botany of California"; and in many other cases he was enabled to decide upon the validity of species, and to verify determinations or to settle doubtful synonymy by comparisons of specimens themselves in the collection of the Harvard Herbarium.

The delays that have arisen in the preparation of the volume have not been without compensation in the far more complete and satisfactory results which were only. thus made possible; and the deficiencies of the earlier portions are largely supplied by the copious appendix, which makes the whole essentially complete, up to the date of publication. The portion now printed covers the ground of Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America, which was published in 1838-1840, and is now so completely out of date as to leave this portion of our botany nearly as much in need of revision as any other. Until such revision can be made (and it must still be delayed some years), the "Index" will necessarily be a partial substitute-in some respects sufficient, inasmuch as it shows what genera and species are recognized as forming our flora, and also as concerns the synonymy, which could not be given with any such completeness, within the limits of the desired revision, and moreover sufficient in its references to all existing descriptions of those species. In any given case, these descriptions may indeed be practically inaccessible, or they may be incomplete or faulty, and it is herein that nothing can be a substitute for a "Flora," which shall bring together into one volume perfected descriptions, together with such grouping of genera and species as to indicate their natural affinities. For the preparation of such a Flora, or for the study of any special portion of the field, the present Index will meantime be an important aid, giving as it were a skeletonized history of each individual species, and affording a clue to all that is known toward the needed filling out of the outline. The