"... Through the activities of its various vessels and laboratories the has been able to transfer to the vast accumulations from nearly all the coasts of America. The amount of work accomplished by the steamers ' and ' and the schooner ', as well as by other vessels of the commission in earlier years, is indicated in the detailed lists of specimens. Other Government explorations that have yielded considerable results are those constantly carried on by the of the Department of Agriculture and those occasional expeditions under the auspices of the National Museum itself and the . Of the obtained by the and by the very little remains, owing to the inadequate housing of the former collection before the existence of a National Museum building, and to the destruction of the latter collection in the while it was in the custody of Dr. ."