REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 69 



son, IT. S. Na\\y, presented a small l)ut interesting collection of fishes 

 from the Dry Tortiig-as, Florida. The accessions from the U. S. 

 Fish Commission and from JVIr. H. H. Brimley have been alread}' 

 mentioned. (See pp. 65 and 67.) 



Jfollusks. — In addition to the collections of the U. 8. Fish Commis- 

 sion, already referred to, mention should be made of the donations of 

 two constant contributors to the Museum, Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd and 

 Rev. H. Loomis. Mrs. Oldroyd presented about 150 marine shells 

 from California in exceptionally line condition, and Mr. Loomis's 

 specimens of about 50 species from Japan and the Loochoo Islands 

 included man}^ desiderata. California shells were also presented by 

 Mr. F. A. Woodworth, of San Francisco, and Hawaiian land shells 

 by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, of Hilo, Hawaii. A second consignment of 

 land and fresh-water shells from central Asia was received from the 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg-, Kussia. Among single 

 specimens of special value should be mentioned a tine Voluta mamilla^ 

 a large and very rare shell from Tasmania. A collection of Australian 

 land and fresh-water shells, comprising species not previously repre- 

 sented in the Museum, was purchased. 



Insects. — The three largest accessions of insects — the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture collection from Canada (18,947 specimens), the 

 Costa Rican collection purchased of P. Schild (4,000 specimens), and 

 the collection from Chili presented by Mr. E. C. Reed (2,021 speci- 

 mens) — have already been mentioned. Man}^ of the remaining acces- 

 sions, 254 in number, contain material of great interest and value, but 

 it is obviously impossible to refer in detail to more than a few of 

 them in this report. (For a complete list see Appendix II.) One 

 of the most important was a collection of African butterflies received 

 in exchange from the Royal Natural History Museum, Stockholm, 

 which included examples of many species described by Doctor Auri- 

 villius. Another important exchange was efl^'ected with the American 

 Entomological Society, through which the Museum received examples 

 of about 100 species of Mexican and Central American Hymenoptera, 

 many of them cotypes of species descri])ed by Mr. Cresson. Prof. 

 Charles Robertson, of Carlenville, Illinois, presented cotypes of 19 

 species of Hymenoptera described ])y him. A similar collection of 

 Coleoptera, presented by Prof. H. C. Fall, of Pasadena, California, 

 contained 34 cotj^pes of his species. A collection of mites, containing 

 types and cot3^pes, was presented by Prof. Ro])ert H. Wolcott, of the 

 University of Nebraska. 



L&icer invertebrates. — The accessions of lower invertebrates, like 

 those of fishes, are noteworthy on account of the number of types and 

 cotypes included among them. The collections transmitted by the 

 U. S. Fish Commission have been alread3" mentioned. From the 

 Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, was received a valuable 



