62 BEPORT OF l^ATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 



drawers, thereb}' guarding against the deterioration of the collec- 

 tion by continuous exposure to the light. This collection is not 

 labeled as yet, but the work is a slow one, and the time which the 

 custodian can give to this work so limited that it may be some time 

 before the task can be completed. 



The curatorial work in the various divisions has progressed as- 

 usual. In the division of mammals no cases for skins were received 

 during the year, so that this part of the collection is rather over- 

 crowded at the present time. The skulls are in much better condi- 

 tion, the improvement in the attic being notable. Additional cases 

 in the latter storage have also been furnished for the rearrangement 

 of the skeletons there, and considerable headway in their proper in- 

 stallation has been accomplished during the year. The alcoholic 

 collection has been gone over and the condition, like that of the rest 

 of the collections in this division, is considered good. All of the 

 larger cetacean material, formerly stored in the northeast basement 

 of the old museum has been removed to tlie new museum, where 

 portions of it are now stored. The valuable collection of small and 

 medium-sized cetaceans has been reinstalled in 30 quarter-unit cases, 

 arranged and labeled, and is now in good condition. 



The rearrangement in the division of birds, due to the respacing 

 made necessary, was continued during the present year; that of the 

 parrots being completed. The weaver birds (Ploceidae) were also 

 rearranged. Otherwise most of the time has been occupied in label- 

 ing and distributing collections received during the year. A matter 

 causing a great deal of work is the poor quality of the cards 

 furnished for case labels, necessitating frequent renewals. Dur- 

 ing the year 260 cases thus requiring relabeling. One of the most 

 important works of the associate curator consists in posting the old 

 records for data, supplying missing data to entries in the old cata- 

 logues, searching out lost types and work of similar character, but the 

 work is of necessity slow, and but little time is available from daily 

 routine work. The search for old types was rewarded by finding 

 the type of one of Peale's specimens, a nightjar {^CapTimulgus aequi- 

 cavda), and possibly also one of the Polynesian kingfishers, but its 

 absolute identity has not yet been established. Some of the skins 

 have been remade by the taxidermists, but more work of this character 

 is needed. The accessioning this 3^ear of the large Richards egg col- 

 lection of 8,354 specimens, with the necessary cataloguing and label- 

 ing, has occupied a good deal of the time of the division, but as yet 

 it has been found impossible to number the individual eggs, a work 

 absolutely necessary and for which special provision has been asked, 

 as it can not be handled with the present force. The unusually large 

 number of alcoholics and skeletons received this year also received 

 proper attention, being catalogued and tin tagged, but the labeling 



