REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 143^ 



Professor Eiley has deposited his own private collection of insects^ 

 which comprises about 30,000 species of all orders, mostly from North 

 America, arranged in some 350 double folding boxes, and in two cabinets 

 with eight glass-covered drawers, the specimens being all in good 

 condition and classified so far as determined. In addition to this col- 

 lection. Professor Riley has deposited a large amount of material pre- 

 served in alcohol, mounted on microscopic slides, or blown and mounted 

 dry, illustrating the life, history, and economy of more than 3,000 spe- 

 cies. This collection is illustrated by a large quantity of notes and 

 descriptions, in large part still unpublished. 



The Eiley collection now on deposit represents about all that is val- 

 uable in this departmen t of the Museum. 



Mr. Albert Koebble was assigned as an aid to the curator during a por- 

 tion of the year. The actual work has consisted chiefly in the answering 

 of inquiries made regarding insects, from correspondents of the Museum 

 and the Smithsonian Institution, and in taking care of and mounting" 

 the material received. The collection has been constantly used in th& 

 work of the Department of Agriculture by specialists who have found 

 occasion to refer to it. All investigations in entomology made by the 

 curator during the year were for the Department of Agriculture, and a 

 statement of the various lines of investigation pursued will be found in 

 his annual report for that Department. A list of papers by him printed 

 during the year is also given in the bibliography appended. 



The following suggestions are extracted from the curator's report: 



Repeatedly during the year collections have been offered but necessarily declined,, 

 because there was no fund for their purchase. I would strongly recommend, therefore^ 

 that provision be made, 1st, for the purchase of such collections as are of sufficient 

 value and which maj be from time to time offered or obtainable; 2d, that a com- 

 petent assistant be permanently engaged in the general work of the Department and. 

 in the preparation of the exhibit collection. 



Hitherto no attempt has been made to preserve and keep together the entomologi- 

 cal material that has been gathered and brought to Washington by officers of the 

 Government. Such material has generally been turned over to the Department of 

 Agriculture and either distributed among specialists or neglected and lost sight of. 

 While my present work as curator is a labor of love, and very little can be accom- 

 plished without means, yet I shall strive to at least properly care for the specimens 

 that accumulate from various sources until such time as their importance shall war- 

 rant more means and labor being devoted to them. 



DEPARTMENT OF MARESTE INVERTEBRATES. 



The collection of marine invertebrates under the direction of the cura- 

 tor, Mr. Richard Rathbun, is rapidly being reduced to order ; the ar- 

 rearages of many years fast being made up. This has been a task of 

 considerable magnitude, from the fact that in the decade ending 1880 

 very little attention had been paid to this department, and that the best 

 part of the material was destroyed in the burning of the Chicago Acad- 

 emy of Sciences. The amount of space assigned to this department is 

 very small, consisting of the western work-room south of the corridor 



