DEPARTMENT OF MARINE INVERTEI?KATES. 201 



lection of .specimens of tliat group lias now been placed in perfect order 

 up to date. 



Important cbauges have been made during the year in the arrange- 

 ment of all the collections in the department, which arc now in better 

 condition than ever before, notwithstanding that niucli time was neces- 

 sarily occupied in caring lor the new material received. The west hall 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, intended for the exhibition of marine 

 invertebrates, was used, as during 18S4 and 1885, as a general work-room 

 and store-room, but in June last it was permanently opened to the public. 

 The display series contained in the wall cases surrounding this hall re- 

 mains in the same condition as heretofore, but four additional upright 

 cases and four table cases have been supplied, and these are now tempo- 

 rarily filled with corals, criuoids, echinoderms, and other showy and in- 

 structive forms. All of the dried specimens of the general collection that 

 could not be stored under the exhibition cases liave been transferred to 

 the northwest gallery of the bird hall, where tbey are mostly contained 

 in unit trays piled upon the floor. This gallery will be used Lereafter 

 as the main work-room for the examination of the collections of dried 

 materials, which are growing rapidly in size and value every year, but 

 the lack of suitable cases prevents a permanent and satisfactory ar- 

 rangement of the specimens. Temporary wall cases at one end of the 

 gallery are still used for storing bottles and jars of alcoholic specimens, 

 and a large number of the homeopathic ^■i.a]s are also cared for here. 



The alcoholic collections hitherto contained in the wall cases on the 

 southwest floor of the bird hall Lave been transferred to the basement. 



The additional space in the basement allotted to this department for 

 the storage of alcoholic specimens has been a great convenience and 

 has permitted a satisfactory disposition of the collections, but there 

 is little room for expansion, and further accommodations will probably 

 be necessary in the course of a year or two. The new quarters consist 

 of the western half of the old general storage-room under the main 

 part of the building, which has been fitted up with plain shelving, oc- 

 cu])ying all available space. The alcoholic collections are now dis- 

 tributed as follows : The small room originally assigned to this depart- 

 ment contains the identified collections of Crustacea and parts of those 

 of other groups, and serves as an alcoholic work-room. The cases in 

 the adjoining hall are used for the alcoholic Echini, while theOphiurans 

 and star- fishes are stored in the next connecting hall lending to the new 

 store-room. The latter is filled mainly with unidentified collections and 

 the duplicates. The rearrangement of the alcoholic collections in the 

 above order occupied several months, and advantage was taken of the 

 general overhauling to renew the alcohol in nearly all the jars and bot- 

 tles. The old alcohol was at once redistilled and used again, and new 

 alcohol was employed only where full strength was required. 



All of the accessions received during the year have been assorted and 

 catalogued, and some of the groups sent away to si)ecialists for study. 



