Considerable progress has been made in arranging the large quantities of natural-history specimens collected by the Smithsonian African expedition and the Smithsonian biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone. Some of the African mammals of greatest public interest have been mounted in groups.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.

The Bureau of American Ethnology has been engaged for a number of years in scientific studies of the American aborigines, including their arts and industries, government, religious and sociological systems, and languages, as well as their mental and physical characteristics, their history, and antiquities. Much has been accomplished in this direction, and many of the results have been permanently recorded and disseminated by means of publication; but a large body of material still awaits final study and arrangement, and much work remains to be done both in the field and in the office.

The investigations of the bureau have, however, reached a stage at which it has been found possible to summarize some of the results in the form of handbooks, designed especially for the use of schools and unprofessional students. The demand for those already issued, or about to be published, is very large. Many changes are taking place among the Indians, owing to their advance in civilization, and for that reason the researches are being pressed with all possible speed while knowledge of primitive conditions is still available. The Indians form one of the great races of mankind, and the world properly looks to our Government to gather and record accurate knowledge of this branch of the human family, while by many the work of the Bureau of American Ethnology is regarded as the basis of American history.

One of the immediate demands upon the bureau is vigorous activity in the exploration and preservation of antiquities, especially in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, before these important and most interesting ruins are entirely destroyed by vandalism or the elements.

Another important work that should speedily be undertaken is an ethnological study of the Indians and Eskimo of Alaska before the advent of greater numbers of white people shall have so modified them as to destroy their primitive character. So also there is need of further activity in the study of the few survivors of Indian tribes in the Middle West.

The bureau has conducted various lines of field work among the tribes which composed the Creek Confederacy of the Southern States; the Tewa Indians of the Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico;

the Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin and Nebraska; the Piegan, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Menominee Indians of the Algonquian family; the Chippewa Indians, especially with reference to their music; the Osage Indians, now in Oklahoma, and the Iroquois in New York.

A study of the past and present population of the Indians, with the various causes of their decrease is being conducted.

Some very interesting studies were made in Cuba, indicating that the western end of the island, including the Isle of Pines, was once inhabited by a cave-dwelling people of low culture and without agriculture. It is believed that these people were in that condition at the time of the visit of Columbus, and that they were the survivors of a cave-dwelling population once occupying all of Cuba and represented in Porto Rico and elsewhere in the West Indies.

The Smithsonian Institution, through its Bureau of American Ethnology in cooperation with the Archæological Institute of America, has carried on excavations in prehistoric cliff dwellings and pueblo ruins in New Mexico. In one locality these dwellings extend along the walls of a canyon for about 2 miles. In cooperation with the Colorado Cliff Dwellers' Association, the Institution excavated and repaired the celebrated Balcony House in Colorado. Excavations have also been made in newly discovered cliff dwellings and other archeological remains in northwestern Arizona.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES.

An idea of the magnitude of the work conducted by this branch of the Institution may be obtained from the statement that 228,698 packages were handled during the year, an increase over the number for the preceding 12 months of 7,073. The weight of these packages was 560,808 pounds, a gain of 76,124 pounds.

The total available resources for carrying on this work were $36,954.99, $32,200 of which was appropriated by Congress, and $4,754.99 was derived from the exchange repayments to the Institution.

Several changes made during the year in the routine of the Exchange Office have resulted in a more economical and efficient administration of the service.

It was stated in the last report that the German authorities had under consideration the founding in Berlin of an establishment to promote cultural relations between Germany and the United States, and that one of its functions would be to conduct on behalf of Germany the international exchange of publications which the Smithsonian Institution carries on for the United States. This establishment, which is known as the Amerika-Institut, was organized in the fall of 1910 and the exchange duties were assumed by it on January

1, 1911. The exchange agency maintained by the Smithsonian Institution in Leipzig was discontinued on the latter date.

Packages for Luxemburg and Roumania have heretofore been distributed through the Leipzig agency. Since its discontinuance the Amerika-Institut has been good enough to assume charge of the distribution of packages in Luxemburg, and the Academia Romana at Bucharest has been asked to act as the Roumanian exchange intermediary.

The Japanese Government has transferred the exchange agency of that country from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Imperial Library at Tokyo. The regular series of United States official documents, which had been sent to the former for a number of years, has also been deposited in the Imperial Library.

The Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Allahabad, India, has, at its request, been listed to receive a partial set of United States official publications, the total number of such depositories being now 34. The number of depositories of full sets of governmental documents remains the same as at the close of last year, namely, 55.

The Governments of the Argentine Republic, Denmark, and Great Britain have entered into the immediate exchange of their parliamentary record during the past year, 29 countries now taking part in this exchange with the United States.

Important collections of foreign publications have, through the efforts of the Exchange Office, been obtained during the past year for the Library of Congress and for several other establishments of the Government.

NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

The accessions to the Zoological Park during the past year were 335 animals, and the total number of animals on hand June 30, 1911, was 1,414, representing 376 species of mammals, birds, and reptiles, about 20 species being new to the park.

Among the important additions to the collections I may mention a pair of northern fur seals from Alaska, a hippopotamus, an East African buffalo, three prong-horn antelopes, a pair of reindeer, and a large Asiatic macaque monkey.

The number of visitors was 521,440, or a daily average of 1,428. As an indication of the educational value of the park, it may be mentioned that it was visited by 169 schools, classes, etc., with 4,966 pupils, an increase of about a thousand over the year preceding. While most of the classes were from the District of Columbia, some of them belonged in various parts of the country, including all the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

The equipment of the Zoological Park, both as regards the accommodations for the collections and facilities for visitors, is still inadequate and is inferior to that of other establishments of the kind of equal importance.

Many of the animals are kept in temporary quarters that are insufficient in size, more or less insanitary, and quite costly to maintain. This is particularly true of the fine series of birds, which includes some of exceptional interest and rarity. The rough temporary building in which they are now kept is too small for the exhibition of the entire collection and the conditions are such that it is difficult to keep the birds in a good state of health. In a suitable structure the bird collection would be one of the most attractive features of the park.

Permanent paddocks are also needed for the hardy deer, wild sheep, goats, and cattle, which are now scattered in temporary inclosures, some of them altogether unsuitable.

A new bridge across Rock Creek is urgently needed to replace the present temporary log structure, and it should be of a permanent character and sufficiently wide to provide for the greatly increased travel when the valley of Rock Creek is fully developed.

The roadways and walks in the park were greatly improved at the cost of a special appropriation for that purpose. Nearly a mile of the roads were treated either by reshaping and supplying a top layer of stone or by regrading and furnishing the entire thickness of roadbed metal. About 13 miles of walks were also laid or repaired and steps were constructed where grades had before been too steep. A considerable amount of work was also done to provide proper drainage.

ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY.

The Astrophysical Observatory has been engaged in three principal lines of work during the year.

Observations by the spectrobolometric method were continued in order to confirm the view referred to in last year's report that the determinations of the intensity of the solar radiation outside the earth's atmosphere are independent of the observer's altitude above sea level, provided the conditions are otherwise good. Observations for the "solar constant" were accordingly taken on Mount Whitney in the summer of 1910, where opportunity was afforded also for measurements of the brightness of the sky by day and by night, the influence of the water vapor on the sun's spectrum, and the distribution of the sun's energy spectrum outside the atmosphere. The results of these observations show no discrepancy due to altitude between Mount Wilson (5,840 feet) and Mount Whitney (14,502 feet). It also seemed important to confirm by further observation the variability of the solar constant of radiation. Observations were accordingly continued daily at Mount Wilson until November 10, 1910,

and renewed again on June 11, 1911, which tend to confirm the conclusion that the sun's output of radiation varies from day to day in a manner irregular in period and quantity. Assurance seems now complete that this latter result will be tested during the next fiscal year by long-continued daily observations taken simultaneously at two widely separated stations, where the atmosphere is believed to be specially favorable for such research. The definite determination of the laws governing the apparent variability of the "solar constant it is expected will be of much value in the probable forecast of climatic conditions from year to year.

Measurements have also been made of the transparency, for long wave radiation, of columns of air containing known quantities of water vapor. This line of research promises highly interesting results. As mentioned on another page, arrangements have been made with several observatories, widely separated through the world, for the use of the standard silver-disk secondary pyrheliometer designed by the director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. It is hoped to thus secure not only uniformity of radiation measures, but also a more exact knowledge of solar radiation and the influence of the terrestrial atmosphere upon it.

INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC
LITERATURE.

The International Catalogue of Scientific Literature publishes, through the cooperation of countries in all parts of the world, a current classified index to the literature of science. Seventeen volumes have been published annually, beginning with the literature of 1901. The organization consists of a central bureau in London and regional bureaus established in and supported by the 32 countries taking part in the enterprise. Supreme control of the catalogue is vested in an international convention, which met in London July, 1905, and July, 1910, and is to meet every tenth year hereafter. The second international convention met in London at the rooms of the Royal Society on July 12 and 13, 1910, and Mr. Leonard C. Gunnell, assistant in charge of the United States regional bureau, was sent by the Institution as the delegate from the United States. The convention decided that on account of the success already achieved by the International Catalogue and the great importance of the objects promoted, the enterprise would be continued. Attention was called to the urgent need of a permanent fund to aid in carrying on and extending the work. It was pointed out that although various regional bureaus for the collection of material were supported by the countries in which they were located, the maintenance of the central bureau for general administration and actual publication of the 17 annual volumes was dependent entirely on the funds derived from the sub