REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1919. 91 



Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri. The same condition which 

 prevailed during the previous years resulted in the sending out for 

 study a smaller number of specimens than usual, namely, 2,394, in 

 39 lots. The following deserve special notice: 136 specimens of 

 South American orchids, lent to Mr. Oakes Ames, North Easton, 

 Massachusetts, in connection with his monogi-aphic study of this 

 group; 235 specimens of Salix lent to the Arnold Arboretum, Ja- 

 maica Plain, Massachusetts, for the use of Dr. Camillo Schneider 

 in connection with his extended treatment of North American wil- 

 lows; 61 specimens of African mosses sent to Mr. H. N. Dixon, 

 Northampton, England, for identification, this material including 

 many new species, will form the basis of a forthcoming paper; 

 155 specimens of ferns of the genus Pityrogramma lent to the 

 Gray Herbarium, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for study by Mr. C. A. 

 Weatherby in connection with a revision of the southwestern repre- 

 sentatives of this genus ; 85 specimens of Vemonieae lent to the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for monographic study 

 by Prof. H. A. Gleason. During the year 14 persons connected with 

 the Department of Agriculture have borrowed from the National 

 Herbarium 66 lots of plants, aggregating 1,918 specimens. 



Work of prepar'ators. — ^The storing away of the whole exhibition 

 series at the beginning of the year and its later partial reinstallation 

 with the incidental cleaning and repair has occupied a great amount 

 of the time and labor of the preparators. The removal of the work 

 shop of the osteologist and of the bird taxidermist due to the evacu- 

 ation of their former quarter in the stable; the further removal of 

 the mammal taxidermists and the modeler from the south shed to 

 the building in the east court of the Natural History Building ; and 

 the transfer of the bone cleaners' shops from the south to the north 

 side of the south shed further reduced the time available for work 

 on specimens. Finally, the absence of several of the men during 

 part of the year due to sickness and temporary detail to another de- 

 partment contributed to the comparative lack of progress in this 

 division. Under those circumstances but little new work was ac- 

 complished. On the other hand, this release of the preparators 

 from work on the exhibition material has been of great benefit to 

 the study series, both of mammals, birds, and reptiles. Again, the 

 receipt of the large consignments of material from the Collins- 

 Garner expedition to the French Coiigo, which on account of trans- 

 portation difficulties had been long on the way and exposed to most 

 untoward conditions, necessitated the concentration of the prepara- 

 tory force on the work of saving this exceptionally valuable ma- 

 terial. Thanks to the originally excellent preparation of the speci- 

 mens and to the timely interference of the taxidermists on their 

 arrival, the condition of these valuable collections is now very 



