REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 17 



Nearly lo,000 specimens have been set aside for arrangement into sets 

 for distribution ami exchaui^e. Durin;^ the year, G()2 entries have been 

 made in tlie catalogue, bringing the total number of entries up to 37,- 

 81)3. 



Much of the curat(u-'s time has been consumed by his work as editor 

 of the Proceedings and IJulletins, and during the year bulletins 23, 28, 

 21), 30, and 31, were sent to press under his editorial supervision. 



The customary amount of special research has been carried on, and 

 several reports upon special collections have been made. Considerable 

 time has been devoted by Dr. Bean and myself to the preparation of 

 a report upon the extensive deei)-sea collections of the U. S. Fish Com. 

 mission, and those obtained b}' Mr. Alexander Agassiz in connection 

 with the work of the U. S. Coast Survey. 



The work of this department was, during the months of August and 

 Septend)er, 1SS5, transferred to the Fish Commission headquarters at 

 Wood's IIoll, where all of the deep-sea collections were concentrated, 

 overliauled, classified, and catalogued, and a considerable amount of 

 systematic investigation carried on, a portion of the results of which 

 have already been made public, and tlie remainder, it is hoped, will soon 

 appear in a monograph of the deep-sea fish fauna of the Eastern At- 

 lantic, now for some years in preparation. 



The ease with which this extensive collection was handled in the large 

 rooms which were available for the purpose at Wood's Holl, offers an 

 illustration of the great need for the better accommodation of the fish 

 collection in Washington. Work was finished in a few weeks at Wood's 

 IIoll which would have occupied four or five months in the cramped 

 work-rooms in the Museum. 



DEI'AUTMENT OF MOLLUSKS (IXCLUDIXG CENOZOIC IXVPIRTEBRATE FOSSILS). 



Under the curatorship of Mr. W. H. Dall, the department of mollusks 

 has made extensive progress during the year, especially in tiie matter 

 of cataloguing and arranging material which has accumulated in past 

 years. The number of catalogue entries was 18,G38, representing be- 

 tween fifty and sixty thousand si.ecimens. Only about four times as 

 many entries had been made during the preceding twenty years. 



The classiti(4ation and systematic arrangement of accessions received 

 in previous years, esi)ecially the Jeffries and Stearns collections, have 

 received special attention. 



Among the named species received, which were found to be of more 

 than ordinary interest, were 71 from Bering Sea, a small series of land 

 and fresh-water shells from Manitoba, and a very fine series of ^lada- 

 gascar land shells. As in previous years, the U. S. Fish Commission 

 made by far the most important contributions to the collection. 



A beginning has been made in public exhibition, by placing on view 

 an experimental case containing the chief types of Cephalopods, pearls 

 U. Mis. 170, pt. 2 2 



