KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 65 



of large game heads were received from the White House for repair 

 prejDaratory to storing, upon which work he was still engaged at 

 the end of the year. Altogether there were cleaned 105 mammal 

 skeletons and 156 large mammal skulls, except those of whales, 28-1 

 bird skeletons and 154 bird skulls which were all prepared by Mr. 

 Scollick, the osteologist, in addition to one batrachian skeleton. 

 Mr. Mirguet spent considerable time repairing for another depart- 

 ment of the Museum the old mounted horse of General Sheridan, a 

 difficult and slow work. Another difficult work undertaken was the 

 cast of the skull of a bottle-nose whale to replace in the exhibition 

 series the skull of the skeleton, which was urgently needed in the 

 study series. Besides cleaning a large amount of skeleton material 

 of whales, he made a number of herpetological preparations, skins, 

 and skulls for the division of reptiles and batrachians. Consider- 

 able time was spent on the mounting of an unusually large spiny 

 lobster. Early in the spring of 1923 a finback whale stranded near 

 Walnut Point, Va. Mr. Mirguet and Mr. Poole, of the division of 

 mammals, were sent down to secure the skeleton for the Museum, 

 if possible. This they accomplished during a stay of three days, 

 during which the skeleton was roughed out and buried in the sand, 

 to be transported to the Museum some time during the coming fiscal 

 year, while the smaller bones and the anterior extremities were 

 brought back to the Museum for better safekeeping. 



RESEARCHES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MUSEUM. 



Under this heading is reported in the first line the researches 

 undertaken during the year by members of the staff on material in 

 the museum collections, but obviously researches on museum mate- 

 rial by outside investigators belong in the same category. A report 

 on the progress of their studies within the same period is very often 

 impracticable, as it is only with the publication of their labors that 

 the museum benefit is finally realized. Reference to Bulletin 100, 

 vol. 5, Ophiurans of the Philippine Seas and adjacent waters, by 

 Rene Koehler, professor of zoology in the University of Lyon, 

 France (486 pp. + 103 plates), to Bulletin 120, the Opalinid Ciliate 

 Infusorians, by Maynard M. Metcalf, of the Orchard Laboratory, 

 Oberlin, Ohio (484 pp.), and to Bulletin 123, Revision of the North 

 American Moths of the Subfamily Eucosminae of the Family Ole- 

 threutidae by Carl Heinrich, of the Bureau of Entomology (298 

 pp. + 59 pis.), make the point clear, as it is clear that the production 

 of such extensive works requires years of research. 



In the divisions the research work, which is reflected in the bibli- 

 ography appended only to a limited extent, may be summarized as 

 follows : 



