214 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. X 



Although more than three thousand birds were catalogued, this 

 was incidental to a thorough rearrangement of the collection made 

 possible by the acquisition of new storage cases delivered late in 

 1933. This rearrangement involved the overhauling of the entire 

 collection, which now numbers more than 100,000 specimens. 

 Everything was placed in systematic order with the exception of 

 several uncatalogued collections which were segregated to be classi- 

 fied and later incorporated in the general collection. Cases containing 

 the birds of prey — eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, and vultures — were 

 arranged so as to be readily accessible and convenient for the studies 

 undertaken by Trustee Leslie Wheeler, whose interest in this subject 

 resulted in his associating himself with the Department of Zoology, 

 taking active charge of this section of the bird collections. 



All collections of amphibians and reptiles received during the 

 year were catalogued and much progress was made in the labeling 

 and shelving of identified material. The number of entries made 

 was 1,776, of which 206 were for osteological specimens which were 

 catalogued and placed in order by Assistant D. D wight Davis. 

 Much help was received from relief workers. 



The assistance of relief workers made it possible to catalogue 

 large accumulations of fishes that had been in storage and unavail- 

 able for many years. The largest group so handled was the 

 remainder of the extensive collection from Panama and the Canal 

 Zone made in 1911 and 1912. A total of 8,667 entries was made and 

 all specimens catalogued were correctly labeled and assigned to their 

 proper places on the shelves of the reference collection. 



Another project carried out in the Division of Fishes was the 

 preparation of a card index of colored plates of fishes contained in 

 the Museum Library. Cards to the number of 7,243 were written, 

 and it is estimated that 1,200 more will complete the index, which 

 will save much time in answering the many calls for information on 

 this subject. 



As in the past, for convenience in the Division of Insects, the 

 preceding year's accessions were recorded and indexed for reference 

 by locality, collector, and donor. For the permanent arrangement 

 of the North American beetles, on which the work of assembling, 

 determining, and repinning specimens was continued, 908 name 

 labels were written, and, by means of thirteen new drawers, four 

 families of these insects were made more accessible and useful. 



Most of the accessioned insects that required such attention, 

 as well as a number of butterflies that were stored away in papers 



