REPOET OF NATIONAL IMUSEUM, 1921. 6*7 



whale skeleton was being put in shape for photographing, measur- 

 ing, and description as preliminaries for an extensive monograph, 

 after wliich it will be hung in the exhibition whale hall. In addi- 

 tion he prepared a large number of reptile skins and skeletons for 

 the study series, besides plaster casts, repairs, etc., Mr. C. R. W. 

 Aschemeier has been assisting Mr. Brown in the mammal mounting 

 when required, has worked up 105 mammal and 21 bird skins and 

 gone over the entire exhibition collection of alcoholic invertebrates, 

 refilling and otherwise caring for 672 jars. Mr. Palmers work, up 

 to his death, was mostly on the faunal exhibit of the District of 

 Columbia. 



Unfortunately the crowding of the collections in many of the divi- 

 sions must of necessity increase from year to year until additional 

 space shall be allotted to the department of biology. To that extent 

 the condition of the collections must be considered unsatisfactory and 

 must gradually grow worse. In other respects the conditions must 

 be pronounced as generally good. Nevertheless, the results of the 

 greater activity of the Museum since the stagnation period of the war, 

 which were presaged in my previous report, are already beginning 

 to make themselves manifest, inasmuch as the greater influx of mate- 

 rial is consuming more and more of the time and efforts of the staff, 

 which has remained practically stationary during the last 20 years. 

 The mere physical care of the collections is all that can be accom- 

 plished in many instances. 



The practice of sending the large mammal skins to the professional 

 tanneries to be tanned has had to be given up because of definite losses 

 and the general poor results. A rotary drum has been built in the 

 taxidermist shop ; and when the necessary motor shall have been re- 

 ceived, it will be possible to handle the work and insure perfect 

 results. 



The reports of the various divisions generally emphasize the free- 

 dom the collections are now enjoying from the usual destructive 

 museum pests. This is undoubtedly due to the systematic fumigation 

 with bisulphide of carbon. 



The crowding alluded to above might be relieved, as far as the 

 division of plants is concerned, by the building of a balcony as advo- 

 cated on previous occasions. The plan, although approved and ac- 

 cepted as the only practical solution of a nearly intolerable condition, 

 awaits only the appropriation of sufficient means to be carried out. 

 Otherwise the condition of the National Herbarium is satisfactory, 

 but as far as the cryptogamic section is concerned it has been impos- 

 sible with the small staff to incorporate in it the material received 

 during the past year, and for several years past, though the speci- 

 mens have been pocketed and prepared for the herbarium as soon as 



