EEPORT OF NATIONAL. MUSEUM, 1&20. 71 



every group of insects, and to furnish identifications and other aid 

 to entomologists and other workers in everj'^ State." The statements 

 by these committees as to the limitations of the Museum with regard 

 to the insect collections apply with equal force to the other inverte- 

 brates. There is a crying need for more investigators, for more 

 specialists. For the better development of the collections it is 

 urgently required that the different groups of the invertebrates 

 should be in the immediate care of responsible experts. 



As a step, however slight, in the right direction, it is therefore 

 Avith great satisfaction that I place on record the establisliment on 

 April 1, 1920, of a separate division of echinoclerms with Mr. Austin 

 H. Clark, formerly assistant curator of marine invertebrates, as 

 curator. As Mr. Clark has also devoted considerable study to the 

 Onychophores, they were also placed in his care. It is to be hoped 

 that in the near future other large classes and phyla, such as the 

 crustaceans, coelenterates, annulates, mollusks, etc., may be segre- 

 gated as independent divisions. 



The other changes in the organization and staff consist of the resig- 

 nation of Dr. Frank N. Blanchard on October 31, 1919, as aid in the 

 division of reptiles and the appointment, until a register can l)e 

 esta1)lished by the Civil Service Commission, of Miss Doris M. Coch- 

 ran to fill the vacancy. In the division of insects, Mr. J. C. Crawford 

 resigned the honorary' custodianship of Hj-menoptera, and Mr. S. H. 

 Kohwer, of the Bureau of Entomology, was appointed in his place. 

 Mr. Waldo L. Schmitt, assistant curator in the division of marine 

 invertebrates, was given the title of associate curator from April 1, 

 1920. In the division of plants Mr. Emery C. Leonard, who had been 

 f urloughed for military service, resumed his duties as aid on Jidy 18, 

 1919, and on July 7, 1919, Mr. Ellsworth P. Killip Avas appointed 

 temporarily as aid pending the establishment of a register of eligibles 

 b}' Civil Service examination. 



COMPARISOX OF INCREMENT OF SPECIMENS OF 1D19-20 WITH THAT OF 1918-10. 



While the number of specimens receiA'ed in any one 3'ear is not a 

 reliable criterion as to the progressiA"e or regressive activity of a 

 museum, neA'ertheless it furnishes a good index for an estimate of the 

 Avork of a purely curatorial character expended by the staff as com- 

 pared Avitli other years. That is to say, if the staff has to liandle 

 tAvice as many incoming specimens in one year as compared Avith 

 another, the inference is that the additional time spent in handling, 

 classifying, and generalh' caring for the material in excess must haAe 

 been taken from the time AA'hich Avould other Avise haA'e been avail- 

 able for the scientific study of the collections and the reports thereon. 



