6 Piirdor's Annua/ Report. 



"Twelve thousand six hundred and seven shells were cata- 

 logued, the same being distributed over 1300 catalogue numbers. 

 The bulk of the material catalogued has beeu of fresh material. 

 Several lots of fossil earth are in the laboratory, l)ut your Curator 

 has not had time to ]-)ick out and sort the material. The number 

 of shells contained in these lots cannot be less than 100,000. It is 

 only at odd times that these fossil lots can be tended to, as the 

 strain on the eyes is too severe to be continued several days in 

 succession. It is hoped that sonie progress can be made with the 

 fossil material during the coming year. 



"Among our visitors Dr. H. A. Pillsbry of Philadelphia, for 

 whose trip the Trustees generously provided the funds, was natur- 

 ally the most interesting. Dr. Pilsbry brought out his manuscript 

 of the volume of the Manual of Conchology now appearing, and 

 your Curator worked over this with him, supplying data, etc., on 

 the distribution, variation, and synonymy of the .species dealt 

 wdth in this volume. Dr. Pilsbry has very generously made your 

 Curator co-author of this volume. Several trips were taken by 

 Dr. Pilsbry and the Curator to study problems of distribution and 

 variation in the field so that the Doctor would have a first hand 

 knowledge of the problem. These trips were taken on Oahu, 

 Molokai, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii. 



"The trips on Oahu were undertaken to study the distribution 

 of some of the well-known Oahuan species and were planned to 

 settle some of the vexing problems of synonymy. These trips also 

 included some of the fossil beds in order that, from their contents, 

 a knowledge of the former (more or less ancient) character of 

 these islands might be obtained. 



"The same problems were undertaken on the island of Molo- 

 kai. The trip to Kahoolawe was in the nature of an exploring ex- 

 pedition. Fortunatel}' the trip resulted in finding two fossil beds 

 of land-shells. Messrs. Stokes and Forbes later discovered two or 

 three very rich beds. The trip to Hawaii was primarily to study 

 the valuable collection of Mr. Thaanum. During this trip a visit 

 was made to the volcano. 



