284 FiKii) CoiiMiUAN MrsKiM — Ri-POKis, Vol. i. 



improvements have been made, and every facility given for carrying 

 out the plans outlined by the Curator of that department. Tun large 

 air-tight tin cases have been added, in which duplicates may be 

 kept secure from dust in an atmosphere of carbon bi-sulphide. 

 These cases are divided into fifteen compartments, and contain at 

 the present the large duplicate collection of Yucatan plants just 

 acquired, which are being rapidly arranged for distribution in 

 exchange with several institutions in this country and Europe. In 

 his report Mr. Millspaugh says: "In these cases the plant.s are 

 arranged on sheets of light manilla paper, plainly numbered, and the 

 fascicle of each number placed in a folded sheet used as a genus 

 cover. These are arranged consecutively, and from them a plant of 

 any special number, or a number of plants of any special number, 

 century, or set, can be quickly assembled for distribution at any 

 time, meanwhile being thoroughly protected from insect depreda- 

 tions. Eighteen similar tin cases, having chiefly racks and tin trays 

 instead of compartments, have been placed in the herbarium for the 

 storage of seeds, fruits, fungi, and other material which needs 

 protection from pests. These, like the cases previousl}' mentioned, 

 can be bi-sulphided at any time. The capacity for storage of 

 material in a manner convenient for quick and read\' reference has 

 been considerably augmented by the original cases that contain 

 the Bebb herbarium, fourteen in all." With reference to the meth- 

 ods of the herbarium, the Curator, in a most interesting report, says : 

 "Upon the arrival of a package of plants destined for the herbarium, 

 an accession card is filled out and sent to the Recorder of the 

 Museum. This card states from whom the package was received, 

 how it was acquired by the Museum, the collector's name, the date 

 of the collection, localit}', and number of specimens contained. The 

 plants are then poisoned and laid out upon mounting sheets, to which 

 labels are immediately attached. These sheets are placed in boxes 

 in such a manner that the plants cannot possibly shift or mix, and are 

 turned over for mounting. After mounting, each sheet is impressed 

 with the seal of the herbarium, which includes a space for the con- 

 secutive catalogue number of the department. The collection is then 

 arranged in the order of the collector's numbers, each species is 

 entered in the continuous inventory book or department catalogue, 

 and the catalogue number of each sheet is written in the seal, after 

 which the sheets are distributed to their proper genera or orders in 

 the herbarium. Thus a complete record of all species, localities, col- 

 lectors, and collections is always ready at hand for reference, but any 

 collection can be reassembled for reference as a whole by monograph- 



