1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 423 



ous offers were received in response, and from them a number of 

 selections have been made which have greatly enriched our 

 geographical and varietal suites. The Singapore series (referred 

 to in the last annual report) has been completed by Mr. Archer; 

 Messrs. Bailey, Bed wall, Dupuy and Marie have added suites 

 from Australia and New Caledonia ; interesting collections from 

 England, France and Sicily have been received from a number of 

 collectors ; our Florida series has been greatly enlarged by an 

 important invoice from Mr. Henry Hemphill, who has spent two 

 winters in dredging on the west coast of that State, and from 

 other sources ; many other American suites and specimens have 

 been obtained, including particularly, a very fine suite of the 

 shells of Philadelphia, presented by Mr. John Ford, and exhibited 

 in our collection illustrative of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 

 natural history. 



" The additions for the year have all been labelled and mounted, 

 mainly by Mr. Frank Stout, who has very satisfactorily per- 

 formed this duty. 



" The work of redetermining and arranging the collection, 

 which goes on in connection with the publication of monographs 

 of the genera in the ' Manual of Conchology,' progresses. The 

 Cassididae, Doliidae, Ovulidae, Strombidae, Naticidae, Vitrinidae, 

 Limacidae, and a portion of the Zonitidae, have thus been care- 

 fully studied by your conservator, and the Cypraeidae by Mr. 

 S. R Roberts. 



" In the last report attention was called to the overcrowding of 

 the shell cases, as seriously interfering with the exhibition of all 

 the species to the public. Having recently secured the assistance 

 of Mr. Wm. B. Marshall, an enthusiastic student of conchology, 

 your conservator has been able to commence the realization of 

 plans, long since matured, b} r which this overcrowding will be 

 remedied. All duplicates will be removed from the cases to the 

 drawers under them, where they will be rearranged to constitute 

 what may be called the Geographical Collection, illustrative of 

 the distribution and variation of the several species. Part of the 

 space thus gained in the cases will be occupied by colored 

 figures (from the l Manual of Conchology ') of all the species of 

 which we have no specimens. These figures, mounted and 

 labeled like the specimens, will, together with the latter, repre- 

 sent all the species and varieties of shells and mollusks known to 



