The agents of the Institution still continue to be Dr. FELIX FLUGEL, Leipsic, GUSTAVE BOSSANGE, Paris, WM. WESLEY, London, FREDERIC MULLER, Amsterdam.

Besides these gentlemen, Mr. JAMES SWAIM, now residing in Paris, has been appointed a special scientific agent for the purchase of philosophical apparatus and the transaction of other business, the duties of which he discharges gratuitously and to the great advantage of the Institution. We regret that notice of this fact was inadvertent ly omitted in the last annual report.

Explorations and collections.—As has been stated in previous reports, it is an important part of the operations of the Institution to encourage, assist and organize explorations for such portions of North and South America as have not been thoroughly investigated in regard to physical geography, climate and natural history. During the past year this part of the operations has been prosecuted with unabated energy, principally under the immediate supervision of Prof. Baird.

Those which have been made directly or indirectly under the guid ance of the Institution, and more or less at its expense, are as follows:

British America.-Explorations and collections of specimens by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company in continuation of those of former years, especially those of Mr. Robert MacFarlane on the Anderson river, and of Mr. W. Brass, at Fort Halkett; Jas. Flett, at La Pierre's House; C. P. Gaudet, at Fort Good Hope; William L Hardisty, at Fort Simpson; Strachan Jones, at Fort Rae; Jas. Lockhart, at Resolution; John Reed, at Big Island; Jas. Sibbiston and Rev. Jas. MacDonald, at Fort Yukon, and Donald Gunn, west of Lake Winnipeg; also in Labrador by Messrs. Henry Connolly and Donald A. Smith.

Russian America.-The explorations of the Collins extension of the Western Union Telegraph Company under Col. Charles L. Bulkley have been continued, and a large amount of interesting matter in regard to the ethnology, topography, and natural history of the country, collected principally by the following gentlemen has been received:

Colonel Bulkley, Captain Scammon, Dr. Fisher, Captain Sands, R. Kennicott, W. H. Dall, H. M. Bannister, J. T. Rothrock, Charles Pease, F. Bischoff, Lt. Davison, &c. Some of the collections in natural history were made by the members of this company Kamtschatka and the western side of Behring straits.

in

Pacific Coast of the United States.-The explorations of J. G. Swan at Neeah bay, Puget sound, have also been continued with interesting results, as also those of Dr. C. A. Canfield at Monterey. Other explorations have been those of W. F. Schwartz, San Luis Obispo, Dr. Elliot Coues, San Pedro, and W. H. Dall, at Monterey. Rocky Mountain Region of the United States.-The explorations of Dr. Coues and Dr. E. Palmer, in Arizona, mentioned in the last report, have been continued and completed. Dr. J. R. McKee, in New Mexico, Dr. Wernigk, in Colorado, have also made collections.

Eastern United States.-The explorations by Dr. H. B. Butcher on the lower Rio Grande, at Laredo, Texas, and by Dr. Redfield Sharp, at San Antonio; J. T. Cleu, at the Louisiana Salt Mines of Petit Anse island; in Illinois, by Joel Reeves, Robert Ridgway and Professor Henry Shimer, have all furnished interesting results.

West Indies.-The explorations here have been those of Charles Wright, in Cuba; A. E. Younglove, in Hayti; Mr. Geo. Latimer and Dr. Henry Bryant, in Porto Rico; Dr. Bryant, in the Bahamas; W. T. March, in Jamaica, and Mr. Allen, in Bermuda.

Mexico. The explorations in this country have been those of Col. A. J. Grayson about Mazatlan and on the west coast; Dr. Charles Sartorius and Mr. Floretin Sartorius, at Mirador; Professor Sumichrast and M. Botteri, at Orizaba; Dr. Strebel, at Vera Cruz.

Yucatan.-The explorations in Yucatan of Governor Salazar, under direction of Dr. Arthur Schott, have been continued and completed. Explorations have been made in Honduras by Dr. H. Berendt and D. B. Parsons; in Guatemala, by Mr. Henry Hague, about San Geronimo; in Nicaragua, by Dr. Earl Flint; in Costa Rica, by Dr. A. Von Frantzius, Hon. C. N. Riotte, Julian Carmiol, Juan Cooper and A. Zeledon; in Panama, by Captain J. M. Dow, J. and T. Rhoads, Dr. Totten and Dr. J. P. Kluge; in the Sandwich Islands, by Mr. Valdimar Knudsen. In South America, explorations have been made and collections transmitted by Mr. W. H. Hudson, in Buenos Ayres; Mr. A. De Lacerda, at Bahia, and Hon. A. A. Burton, at Bogota,

It should be stated in this connection that the expenses of the exploration in Honduras of Dr. Berendt have been principally met by contribution from the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, Dr. Henry Bryant, and Messrs. Geo. W. Riggs, W. A. Haines, H. Van Nostrand, C. M. Wheatly, R. L. Stuart, Prof. B. Silliman, Robt. L. Swift, J. H. Redfield and Thos. Bland.

For a more particular account of the nature of the contributions in natural history and ethnology reference may be made to the lists

and tables furnished by Prof. Baird in the Appendix. From these it appears that the number of entries during the year in the catalogues of specimens received is 7,254, which is about the usual annual aver age. Of these, nearly 4,500 were of birds.

As has frequently been stated in previous reports, the collections which are the result of the explorations made by the Institution or by the voluntary contributions of individuals, are not, primarily, intended to enlarge its museum, but for distribution to all the principal museums in the world and to furnish the materials for special researches. In accordance with this policy a distribution of over one hundred thousand labelled specimens, including 53,166 species, has been made during the year 1866 to museums and colleges where they were required for comparative investigation or as materials for instruction. Besides these distributions a large number of specimens have been intrusted to individuals for special study, viz: the insects to Baron Ostensacken, Dr. G. H. Horn, Edw. Norton, esq., W. H. Edwards, esq., and H. Ulke, esq.; the shells to P. P. Carpenter, esq., Thomas Bland, esq., Isaac Lea, esq., and George W. Tryon, esq.; the minerals to Prof. T. Egleston; the plants to Dr. John Torry; the bats to Dr. H. Allen; infusorial earths to S. A. Bailey, esq.; birds to Jno. Cassin, esq., Geo. N. Lawrence, esq., and D. G. Elliot, esq.; nests and eggs to Dr. T. M. Brewer; reptiles to Prof. E. D. Cope; fossils to Dr. Jos. Leidy and F. B. Meek, esq.

In all cases in which specimens are presented to institutions or to individuals for investigation, full credit is required to be given to the name of Smithson for the benefits thus conferred.

Library. During the past year the library has received from exchange and donation

Showing a large increase over the receipts during the previous year.

The following are some of the larger donations received in 1866: From the Genevese National Institute, Geneva, 17 volumes, completing the "Memoirs" and "Bulletin;"

Royal Statistical Bureau, Munich, "Contributions to the Statistics of the Kingdom of Bavaria," vols. 2-15;

Society of Emulation for the study of the History and Antiquities of Flanders, Bruges-23 volumes of their publications;

Numismatic Society, London, "The Numismatic Chronicle," 21 volumes;

Ministry of Public Instruction, Paris, "Description of Egypt, published by order of Napoleon the Great," 21 volumes folio, and several other valuable works;

Library of the Parliament, Melbourne, 51 official documents, 1st volume of Plants Indigenous to Victoria, Australian Mosses, No. 1," and other works;

Society of Agriculture, Sciences, Arts, and Belles-Lettres, of the Department of Indre and Loire, "Annals," 12 volumes;

Friesland Society of History, Antiquities, and Philology, Leuwarden, 10 volumes and 25 pamphlets;

Government of the Netherlands, 34 volumes and 45 pamphlets; Belgian Entomological Society, Brussels, "Annals," vols. 1-8; University of Chili, Santiago, 10 volumes;

Charles Kessler, Reading, Pa., "The Naturalist," vols. 1-22, 1774-1787;

Dr. G. J. Fisher, Sing Sing, N. Y., medical journals and other medical books, 77 volumes;

Dr. K. Koch, Berlin, 5 volumes and 336 pamphlets;

Professor C. J. Tornberg, Lund, Sweden, 11 volumes and 8 pamphlets.

From the Royal Library of Dresden we have received a series of 232 original discourses or theses and tracts, most of which were written by Luther, and the remainder by his contemporaries, and nearly all of which were published during the lifetime of the great reformer. These tracts were referred to Rev. Dr. Morris, librarian of the Peabody Institute of Baltimore, for a translation of the catalogue, to whom we are indebted for the following remarks in regard to them: "The majority of these brief treatises can be found in almost any entire edition of Luther's works, and are therefore not rare; but what renders this collection interesting to the bibliographer is, that they are all first impressions, and not reprints. The proofs were doubtless revised and corrected by his own hand, as most of them

were printed at places where he resided. They present specimens of paper and printing which are very creditable to the artisans of that day, ranging as they do from 1518, the year after the Reformation began, to 1546, the year of Luther's death. These writings have come to us in the same type and paper in which they were distributed by thousands over the land at the dawn of the Reformation. While the language in which they are written, both German and Latin, is not as refined as that employed by scholars of the present day, and while the pictorial illustrations are coarse, yet these productions show the extraordinary progress which the typographic art had already made in the early part of the 16th century. Many of them have the title pages ornamented with a broad margin of wood-cut figures, most of them mythological and grotesque, and all curious. They are speci mens of the engraving of that day, exceedingly interesting to the student of the history of art, for these are undoubted originals, which collectors of ancient prints prize so highly. A few of them are unskilfully illuminated, probably executed by some incipient artist, who tried his hand on these coarse and cheap wood-cuts. The subjects of the pamphlets are diverse and curious, and the titles of many of those which are controversial, as was the general custom of that day, are expressed in language more forcible than refined."

Under the act of Congress mentioned in the last report, previously alluded to, the Smithsonian books have been transferred to one of the fire-proof rooms in the extension of the library of Congress, where they will be catalogued under the direction of Mr. Spofford, the librarian, and the large number of volumes in sheets will be bound at the government bindery. The continued new accessions to the library from foreign exchanges and otherwise are received and recorded at the Institution as formerly. The accessions from abroad do not alone consist of transactions of societies, but also, as has been shown in this and previous reports, of some of the most costly publications of foreign governments, and rare duplicates in the older libraries of Europe.

Correspondence.-A large amount of labor connected with the operations of the Institution is devoted to correspondence. Besides those relating to official business, hundreds of letters are received in the course of a year, containing inquiries relative to the various subjects on which the writers desire information. If these cannot be

forthwith answered, without much research in the Smithsonian library, they are referred to our collaborators, who are experts in the different branches of knowledge, and who can readily supply trustworthy information in regard to the subjects within the range of their special studies.