REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1907. 33 



and (he constant use made of it l)y many persons, the niatei'ial i-c- 

 mains in good condition. 



In the several divisions of reptiles, lislies, niollnsks, and (jtlier 

 aqnatic invertebrates, the alcoholic specimens, which fill many thou- 

 sands of cans, jars, and vials, and recpiire unremitting oversight to 

 insure their j)reservation, have received the prop^'r amount of atten- 

 tion. Work (111 (he systematic arrangement of tiie reserve series of 

 fishes has been conliniied. and seveial thousand specimens have been 

 assigned their appropriate places on (he slielves. Many duplicates 

 Avere separatcnl out and numerous miscellaneous lots of specimens 

 were identilied. Nearly 1!),000 specimens were catalogued, and a 

 considerable amount of time was spent on the card catalogue of type 

 specimens, of which the Museimi has a very noteworthy series. 



The collections of insects have been maintained in good condition, 

 although, outside of the Lepidoptera and Orthoptera, they are mainly 

 contained in drawers of a temporary and insecure character. New 

 drawers of hardwood with hermetically closing covers, fitting in 

 steel racks, are being supplied as rapidly as the funds permit, and a 

 large number have already been installed. Under the present con- 

 ditions, however, the work of classifying and arranging the immense 

 collections in this division must consume many years, and relatively 

 little progress could be made except for the cooperation of the 

 Bureau of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture. 



In the division of mollusks much was accomplished in the direc- 

 tion of labeling, registering, and adding to the reserve series. This 

 applies as well to the Jeffreys collection, obtained some years ago, of 

 which the identification of all specimens is being verified, and the 

 final installation is now about two-thirds completed. A system of 

 card catalogues has been started for convenience in referring to col- 

 lections and in providing information as to the representation of 

 species from especialh^ interesting geographical areas. The study 

 series is completely labeled and readily accessible by means of index 

 cards. The identified specimens which have accumulated in the 

 division of marine invertebrates during recent years, and also the 

 general collections of actinians, hydroids, and ascidians were entirely 

 catalogued. The large catalogue cards on which the starfishes and 

 ophiurans Avere originally recorded were discarded for the smaller 

 library size, to which the data were transferred. 



Under an arrangement made by Professor Baird, Avhen United 

 States Commissioner of Fisheries, Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale Uni- 

 versity, was placed in charge of the working up of the collections of 

 marine invertebrates secured during the seacoast investigations of 

 the Fish Commission from 1871 to 1887. In lieu of a regular salary 

 Professor Verrill was to receive the first set of duplicates, while the 



18014—07 3 



