102 KEPORT OF NATION AT. MUSEUM, 1914, 



and of expeditions to various localities, and included the types of 

 many new species. The museum of Leland Stanford Junior Univer- 

 sity contributed a large number of desirable specimens, obtained in 

 Japan and California by Dr. David S. Jordan, Prof. J. O. Snyder, 

 and others; and Mr. Robert Tweedlie, of Balboa, Canal Zone, pre- 

 sented an especially fine collection, including the young of rare forms, 

 from the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama. Many well pre- 

 served and interesting fishes were collected for the Museum at the 

 Philippine Islands and in the inner lagoon of Fanning Island by Dr. 

 Fred Baker, of Point Loma, Cal. ; and at the Philippine Islands, by 

 Dr. Albert M. Reese, of the University of West Virginia. 



The general revision of the collections of this division, the need 

 of which was alluded to in the last report, was begim during the 

 year. As indicated in that connection, recent accessions had left the 

 division with an accumulation of material the proper arrangement 

 and disposition of which taxed to the utmost the energies of its small 

 staff. The great danger to be apprehended in reducing the bulk of 

 the collection, which could only be done by relieving it of all dupli- 

 cates and condemning such material as was not suitable for further 

 preservation, was that valuable specimens, even types, might be 

 discarded unless the greatest care was exercised and the work under- 

 taken by some one having a broad and thorough knowledge of the 

 group. No other course was open than to obtain for this revision 

 the services of an acknowledged expert in ichthyology who could 

 give his entire time and energy to the task, unhampered by any 

 routine duties. It was fortunately found possible to secure for this 

 important work the cooperation of Prof. J. O. Snyder, of Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, who arrived in Washington in the first 

 part of January, 1914, and has labored unceasingly to place the 

 collection in order. The specific direction of his work has been to 

 determine whether any species was more abundantly represented in 

 the collection than necessary, to cull out such specimens as were too 

 poorly preserved to be of further use, and to separate such types 

 and other especially valuable specimens as might be recognized. 

 Beginning with the larger class of containers, he had by the close 

 of the year examined the contents of more than 400 large storage 

 jars, of which a considerable number of poorly preserved specimens 

 were condemned, though some were saved for their skeletons, and 

 many specimens were set aside as duplicates. Fifty or more types 

 were segregated, and rare or otherwise exceptionally valuable speci- 

 mens were placed in separate bottles. The revision of material 

 belonging to 15 unassorted collections, the most of which had not 

 yet been studied, was also completed. It was often found necessary 

 to identify collections or to determine whether published investiga- 

 tions were based on particular specimens, which would make their 



