26 Director's Annual Report. 



form of ethnological specimens. The first was for the purpose of 

 securing fresh specimens of the Hawaiian rat, which, it was 

 generally believed, was extinct. Altogether nine were secured 

 in the flesh, with fragments of many skeletons, and all the material 

 on hand, except two live rats, were sent to Dr. Witmer vStone, of 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for description. 

 Several petrels, crustaceans and lizards were secured at the same 

 time. The second trip was mainly for the purpose of aiding 

 Mr. T. G. Thrum in the completion of his list of Hawaiian heiau. 

 Mr. Thrum's work has been of great value to us in our own heiau 

 researches. 



"Of other work. Dr. W. D. Alexander's unfinished manuscript 

 of "A Critical History of the Hawaiian People" was handed to 

 me for the insertion, if possible, of the names of the authorities 

 quoted. It is highly probable that had Dr. Alexander lived to 

 complete his work, these authorities would have been exactly 

 quoted as a matter of course, and no one would be better able 

 than the doctor. Several months were spent among the books of 

 Dr. Alexander, the Historical Society and the Museum, and the 

 manuscript put in the best possible order for publication. I will 

 prepare an index after the work is in type. As authorized by the 

 Trustees, I engaged Mr. Y. E. Tseu to continue the platting of 

 the heiau from my measurements taken some years ago, and as 

 the platting continues I am writing out the descriptions. The 

 w^ork is progressing, but not so rapidh^ as I expected, as the lapse 

 of time has necessarily made it difficult to recollect detail." 



Bntoinolog"y. "The Helms collection of insects, purchased 

 from the heirs of the late Dr. Richard Helms, arrived from Aus- 

 tralia in June, 1915, and the work of the Honorary Curator since 

 then has been devoted exclusively to it, cleaning and repinning 

 specimens where necessary, repairing those that were broken in 

 transit, and getting the whole in readiness for transferring to the 

 Museum cabinets. The collection was contained in ninety-two 

 insect boxes of several sizes, some of which are ver^- undesirable 

 for insect preservation, and the collection will be transferred to the 

 new steel cabinets as soon as possible. 



"All the chief orders of insects are represented in this collec- 

 tion, but by far the greater number of specimens belong to the 



[142] 



