62 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 



terial from that region has been placed in duplicates. The African 

 material has been labelled and registered and then set aside await- 

 ing the return of the African collection of lands shells now in the 

 hands of Doctor Pilsbry. The handling of the Evezard collection 

 has been difficult because of the antiquated nomenclature used. 

 Species were mostly correctly identified under correct specific names 

 or well recognized synonyms but in only a few cases were the group 

 names correct. In placing the material in the collection, practically 

 all identifications, both specific and generic, had to be confirmed. In 

 addition to the general revision of land shells noted above a more 

 careful revision has been made of certain families of land shells, 

 notably the Ferussacidae, the Achatinidae (except those from 

 Africa), portions of the Helicidae, and a revision of the Cyclo- 

 phoridae and Cyclostomidae is under way. In the West Coast col- 

 lection in addition to the almost daily work done by Doctor Dall in 

 intercalating new material and retouching the classification, Doctor 

 Bartsch has entered upon the study of the material from the Gulf of 

 California and has begun to describe and figure all the groups and 

 species from that region. This work involves changes of name and 

 classification in a very large part of the West American collection 

 and as the revision proceeds Mr. Marshall standardizes the Museum 

 arrangement of the collection. An important part of the work of 

 caring for the collection has consisted of little touches here and there, 

 day in and day out, bettering the classification, identifjdng specimens 

 which has hitherto stood without name and in other small touches 

 which serve to keep a collection up to date. During the 3^ear several 

 important changes have been made in the location of various por- 

 tions of the collection. The Isaac Lea collection of pearly fresh 

 water mussels has been removed from its old location to new quarters 

 in the room of the Assistant Curator, the member of the staff most 

 interested in this group of mollusks. The foreign fossils were re- 

 moved from this room to the room thus vacated, about half filling it. 

 The part of the room left vacant was devoted to accommodating ac- 

 cumulated material of the East American and West Indian collec- 

 tions, and in addition to this the casing available for this collection 

 was considerably increased by a more economical arrangement of 

 cases already in use. The general rearrangement of these collec- 

 tions thus made necessary was the last work undertaken by Mr. 

 Henderson and was nearing completion at the time of his death. 

 Some small progress has been made in the classification and care of 

 the general collection of recent molluks. Additions have been made 

 to the duplicate collection of recent mollusks. A number of slides of 

 radulae have been made and added to the collection. The services of 

 a laborer allowed this division forty-four days annually have been 



