REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 61 



tera to pasteboard trays began about ten years ago and has been 

 continued as rapidly as time and the supply of trays permitted. 

 There is still however a good deal to do in all these orders, and a 

 larger and more continuous supply of trays is much to be desired, as 

 the tray system of installation is very satisfactory, having many ad- 

 vantages. In the Diptera Mr. Greene has rearranged the extensive 

 collection of larvae and placed them in uniform vials and racks, 

 greatly improving the appearance and accessibility of the collection. 

 Both Mr. Greene and Doctor Aldrich have transferred several 

 families to trays, passing the cork-lined drawers on to Macrolepi- 

 doptera, where the supply is always stinted. The present condition 

 of the collection is excellent in regard to safety of installation and 

 freedom from museum pests. 



In spite of the handicap due to lack of sufficient assistance in the 

 division of marine invertebrates, the cataloguing of determined ma- 

 terial has been almost holding its own. The naming up during the 

 year of a great deal of the earlier Fish Commission material, in addi- 

 tion to the regular yearly and routine increment had nearly swamped 

 the cataloguing facilities. All lots of specimens catalogued to date 

 have been intercalated in the regular study series, and the catalogue 

 cards in the regular reference series. As the result of the careful 

 systematic overhauling to which the alcoholic stack has been sub- 

 jected, about one-fifth of the collection therein contained is un- 

 doubtedly in better condition than it has been in many years. The 

 remaining fourth-fifths are thus one more year behind what should 

 be the regular filling schedule. Although the collections are grow- 

 ing steadily greater as has the volume of other work, routine and 

 otherwise, yet as far as actual hours of labor available to care for 

 these responsibilities, the conditions are considerably less favorable 

 than they were some years ago. 



The chief work on the collections of the division of mollusks during 

 the year consisted in labelling and classifying the great Evezard col- 

 lection of land shells received through the generosity of the late John 

 B. Henderson. Just before his death, Mr. Henderson attended to 

 intercalating the West Indian material in the West Indian collec- 

 tion. Doctor Bartsch distributed the material of Philippine origin 

 and Mr. Marshall attended to the material from South America, 

 Europe, East Indies, Hawaiian Islands, and Oceanica. This work, 

 although not yet entirely finished, is nearing an end. Because of the 

 great number of species and groups not hitherto represented in the 

 collections from the regions mentioned, it has involved a pretty 

 general revision of the entire collection of land shells with the ex- 

 ception of North America and Africa. The North American species 

 were already well represented in the collection so the Evezard ma- 



