As far as I know thats the old name for what we now consider the Nat. Mus
of Nat. History, as in "Proceedings of the USNM" which was the annual
publication of the USNM for many years.  I also understand that the
Nat.Mus of NH is still abbreviated in scientific circles as USNM to avoid
confusion with other "national" museums.

Gregory Scheib                            ~     ~
The George Washington University        (<O>   <O>)
[log in to unmask]             (     ^     )
                                           / | \
                                          (_____)
                                            ___

On Wed, 27 Mar 1996, Hank Burchard wrote:

>      I'm embarrassed to have to ask this, but the references I have at
> hand, including the WWWeb, have failed me:
>      In a biography of naturalist Georg Steller, who sailed with Vitus
> Bering, there is a reference to the United States National Museum. That
> sounds familiar to me, but I can't place it and haven't been able to
> trace it.
>      So (blush), can somebody tell me where 'tis?
>
>      Hank Burchard * <[log in to unmask]> * Washington DC
>