140 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



time to time by gift or exchange, in addition to keeping order among that originally 

 on hand, might reckon himself fortunate. 



The original collection was mounted with cement on glass plates by the late Dr. 

 Philip P. Carpenter. Twice the writer replaced the twelve or fifteen thousand spec- 

 imens upon their tablets, from which the extremes of winter cold and summer heat 

 had detached them. When the third winter passed and the effect of the temperature 

 was again apparent, I spent a month experimenting with cements, found none reli- 

 able, and proceeded to relabel and place in paper trays the entire collection. 



From July, 1871, to January, 1875, I was detailed on field work in Alaska by the 

 United States Coast Survey, and again in 1880. During these periods the curator- 

 ship remained practically vacant. While engaged in the above-mentioned field work, 

 dredgings were carried on over nearly the whole coast of Alaska, and of invertebrates 

 aloue, from 1871 to 1875, not less than 100,000 specimens were forwarded to the 

 Museum. On my return in 1875, the question of representation at tbe Centennial Ex- 

 hibition was mooted, and the curator of moUusks devoted, with the exception of his 

 Sundays, every spare hour of his time for six months in preparing a collection of eco- 

 nomic invertebrates for that occasion. 



The funds available for this purpose indirectly benefited the collection by the 

 duplicates which came in with specimens collected for exhibition and which were 

 administered upon simultaneously. 



At this time the valuable services of Mr. F. G. Sanborn were temporarily obtained, 

 and by hard and constant work the general collection of the Museum was labeled, 

 cleaned, and systematically arranged. The policy of the curator from that time for- 

 ward has been simple. 



Specimens of a general character coming in are carefully registered and boxed- and 

 put in store. A collection prepared by the late Dr. James Lewis, for the Centennial, 

 of the land and fresh-water shells of the United States, carefully labeled, catalogued, 

 and packed, has been retained in its original boxes. Everything of value or not ad- 

 ministered upon has been put away, packed and secluded, safe from harm at least, 

 until better times for the colection should arrive. In this way only could the progress 

 made be held good. Until skilled assistance and a constant guardianship are availa- 

 ble, it w^ould be very unwise to expose to the inevitable injuries of dust, accident, or 

 carelessness, collections whose value could not be estimated in money. Meanwhile the 

 curator has bent his energies and employed his leisure in putting into shape for future 

 reference special groups, one by one. In this way something has been accomplished. 

 This has been done especially with the brachiopods, limpets, and chitons, but unfortu- 

 nately, owing to defects of the only cases available, mice and dust have since made 

 such effectual inroads upon the chitonidse that the labor of months has been lost and 

 that part of the collection practically ruined. - 



The immense collection of Alaskan mollusks, however, has been registered and sys- 

 tematically arranged, compared, and studied in a preliminary way, h,nd has suffered 

 from nothing worse than dust. The administration upon some thirty or forty thou- 

 sand specimens has taken several years, and has been carried on wholly out of ordi- 

 nary office hours. 



During the last year the curator has been engaged during spare moments in re- 

 porting upon the very interesting mollusks of the deep sea obt.ained by various United 

 States vessels, especially the party on the Coast Survey steamer Blake, under the 

 supervision of Prof. A. Agassiz ; and the mollusks of the northwest coast have been 

 temporarily laid aside, to be returned to hereafter. The latter are in a forward state 

 and will take comparatively little labor to prepare a proper monograph and cata- 

 logue of them for publication. 



The jiresent state of the collection may be summarized as follows: 



1. Labeled in order and accessible for reference, the general collection of molluska 

 prepared by Dr. Carpenter, and of which jiart was originally mounted on glass, ex- 

 cept two boxes as hereafter mentioned. 



