REPORT OP ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 73 



will require many more drawers before his task is completed. In a few days he will 

 begin arranging the material from the Philippines, West Indies, and South America. 



Dr. Ashmead is almost continuously at work on the Hymenoptera, and has rear- 

 ranged the ChaVcidoidea and part of the Cynipoidea. If room No. 3, now occupied by 

 him, is fitted up with racks to contain standard insect drawers he could, the com- 

 ing year, rearrange this whole order in these drawers. He considers it important 

 that this be done immediately to more securely conserve the many hundreds of val- 

 uable types and cotypes represented in the collection. 



The Schmidt boxes, in which many types are still kept, he considers unsafe for 

 keeping valuable types. Hundreds of types and cotypes are now being sent to us 

 from all over the world and proi^er facilities must be provided for the present pres- 

 ervation of all types intrusted to the Museum. 



Mr. Currie still continues his work on the Neuropteroid insects and has made some 

 important additions to the orders Odonata, Neuroptera, and Trichoptera. 



The Orthoptera have been removed to Dr. Dyar's room and have l)een rearranged 

 into the standard insect drawers by Mr. Caudeli, who has done much work on these 

 insects, made large additions of specimens, and is substantially in charge of the order. 



Mr. Coquillett also continues his work on the Diptera with indefatigable industry 

 and has worked up, named, and rearranged several families. The additions to the 

 family Culicidae, or the mosquitoes, are especially large and noteworthy. 



Very little work is being done in the other orders of insects not mentioned, 

 although Mr. Heidemann finds time to do something occasionally with the Rhynchota. 



Our collection of Rhynchota, or bugs (Hemiptera and Homoptera), is large and 

 valuable, and should be placed immediately in charge of a competent specialist. 



In the Division of Marine Invertebrates a special cataloo-uer was 

 emplo3'ed for four months to bring up the cataloguing of the crusta- 

 ceans, holothurians, etc. , which had fallen behind on account of lack of 

 sufficient clerical assistance. One hundred new sets of duplicate inver- 

 tebrates were prepared for distribution to accademical establishments. 

 Some small sets were also prepared to meet special demands. The 

 extensive collections in alcohol were thoroughh^ overhauled, the bot- 

 tles replenished and new labels added where necessary. This impor- 

 tant part of the zoological collections is now in good condition. 

 Additional shelving was provided for the collection of anomuran crus- 

 taceans and worms in the rooms assigned in the north tower of the 

 Smithsonian building. The Museum benefited by the gratuitous 

 services of Mr. T. W. Vaughan, of the U. S. Geological Survey, who 

 rearranged the collection of corals so as to make room for the reception 

 of recent additions. 



The scope of the Section of Helminthological Collections, under the 

 custodianship of Dr. C. W. Stiles, was enlarged during the year by 

 the introduction into the catalogues of the collections of the U. S. 

 Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service. The collections of the 

 Division of Zoology, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, are also catalogued in this section of the Museum. 



The need of enlarging the quarters for the National Herbarium was 

 so urgent that the space allotted for an exhibition on the east hall bal- 

 cony was, as already stated, added to the laboratory. One hundred 

 and eleven new standard insect-proof cases were added during the year, 



