88 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



(3) To prevent attacks of insect enemies in the future. 



(4) To reduce the dange- to the curator and others to the lowest 

 amount. 



In this department the curator has been greatly aided by the studies 

 of Mr. Walter Hough, who has discovered the following insects at active 

 work destroying museum material : Four species of Tinea, the carpet, fur, 

 cloth, and grain moths ; Anthrenus varius and A. lepidus, the all-devouring 

 "Buffalo bug;" Anobium panieeum, which destrojvs wood and basketry ; 

 and Lepisma domestica, which destroys gummed labels. The work of 

 research in this direction is not quite finished, but the following con- 

 clusions have been ' practically reached : 



(1) It is not safe to trust to camphor, pepper, turpentine, etc., in the 

 case of valuable material. 



(2) Insect powder soils ermine and other delicate furs and fabrics, and 

 can be used only in certain cases. 



(3) Objects soaked in benzine and other light coal-oil products have 

 the larva3 and eggs destroyed, but they are liable to future attacks. 



(4) Naphthaline proves efficacious so far in preventing the ravages of 

 insects, but complaints are made of its deleterious efiects on the health 

 of laborators. 



(5) Insects and larvae of all kinds are destroyed in furs and fabrics 

 when they are hung in a tight closet exposed to the evaporation of bi- 

 suli)hide of carbon. But this effect is only temporary. 



(6) Corrosive sublimate or arsenious acid dissolved in alcohol or 

 water in proportion not exceeding 3 per cent, of the poison, may be 

 applied to furs by spraying, provided the skin is constantly worked 

 while drying. This should be done in open air and with caution. Deer 

 hair is very easily rotted, and should be cautiously treated on the 

 leather side chiefly. 



The specimens are then stored in the grand series chiefly by form and 

 use ; that is, clothing, tools, household articles, weapons, and examples 

 of higher intellectual activities are grouped together. 



Whenever occasion demands, the specimens of a particular tribe, na- 

 tion, or class of people are stored apart. The effort is thus made to 

 give to each object all the scientific value which it possesses from the 

 very start, and to render it accessible at once for the exhibition, the 

 study or type, and the exchange series. 



Convinced that a great national collection should not be forcibly 

 strained into subjection to any one scheme, the exhibition series, so far 

 as they are completed, have been selected to illustrate all the lines of 

 study pursued by anthropologists upon human activities so far as they 

 can be set forth by things, pictures, or graphic tables. 



The dominant ideas according to which anthropologists in various 

 parts of the world arrange their specimens may be called the concepts 

 of classification. These concepts are race or tribe, material, structure, 

 and function, i)rogress of invention, and geographical distribution. Ko 

 perfect scheme can omit any one of these concepts. Methods can differ 



