64 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



tions. None of them had, however, any direct duty in connec 

 tion with the Lepidoptera, which remained with Mr. Linell as a 

 side issue. The collection gradually relatively declined till it was 

 surpassed by that of many a private collector. Still the number 

 of specimens continued to gradually increase. From the 100,000 

 in 1886 it rose to about 117,000 in 1887, 119,000 in iSSS, and 

 120,000 in 1889; but in 1894 the estimate is only a trifle over 

 121,000. The effects of the unavoidable deterioration and waste 

 had begun to be felt, and were scarcely overbalanced by the acces 

 sions. During his administration, Dr. Smith had prepared an 

 exhibition series of some extent with much care. This suffered 

 the ultimate fate of all material exposed to the light, and so much 

 of the Government's material disappeared. Other specimens 

 were rendered worthless through sending them to the Tennessee 

 Centennial Exposition in 1897. Besides, over half the number of 

 specimens in the collection had all along consisted of duplicates, 

 and some of these were naturally gradually disposed of. 



Mr. Linell died in 1897, and the same year the writer was ap 

 pointed custodian of the Lepidoptera. The collection was found 

 in general well preserved, though many duplicates were seriously 

 infested with museum pests and had to be thrown away. In 

 number of specimens the aggregate probably did not greatly ex 

 ceed that of 1894. For a while the custodian worked alone, but 

 later Mr. A. N. Caudell was assigned to assist during after 

 noons. A separate room was provided by the Museum authori 

 ties for the collection of Lepidoptera, and a complete rearrange 

 ment was begun. 



Very considerable accessions of material now began to come 

 in. American collectors became aware that a Lepidopterist was 

 again in charge and they could give scope to their natural patri 

 otic desires to see the national collection increased with the ex 

 pectation that their donations would be received with interest and 

 promptly labeled and arranged. The custodian brought a col 

 lection of 15,000 specimens containing both native and exotic 

 material with many inflated larvae and an amount of alcoholic 

 material. This latter we have never counted, for the reason that 

 it is practically a dead loss. Larvae in fluid soon become un 

 recognizable from shrinking, hardening and discoloration ; the 

 material is awkward to handle, dangerous to the collection from ac- 



