REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 75 



in deterniinino; the California forms of D. aestiva. Dr. Jonathan 

 Dwight, jr., obtained tlie loan of 29 specimens of plovers (genus 

 Aeglalitls) for use in connection with his studies of the molting- of 

 birds. All the lots sent out, with one exception, were returned dur- 

 ing the year. The loans of mammals were more numerous, amounting 

 in all to 29 lots, comprising about 300 specimens. Dr. J. A. Allen 

 obtained the use of 110 specimens of seals and other mammals for use 

 in his work on the mammals of eastern Siberia. Fortj^-one specimens 

 were sent to Mr. J. A. G. Rehn to assist him in the preparation of a 

 report on the mammals of southern New Mexico and western Texas, 

 and 14 bats, of the genus ]Sfyctlno7rmH, for use in identifying bats of that 

 genus from the Bahama Islands. Dr. D. G. Elliot, of the Field Colum- 

 bian Museum, borrowed 35 specimens in connection with his work on 

 Central American mammals. Other loans were chiefly to the scientific 

 assistants in the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture. The 

 majority of the material was returned during the year. The mollusks, 

 of the family AchatmeUidx^ loaned to the late Alpheus Hyatt, were 

 transferred after his death to Prof. A. T. Mayer, who is engaged in 

 completing the work left unfinished by Professor H3^att. Of insects, 

 9 loans were made, the most important being a collection of 626 

 Orthoptera and Dermaptera, which was sent to Mr. J. A. G. Rehn, of 

 Philadelphia. Dr. Philip P. Calvert, of Philadelphia, received 285 

 specimens of dragon flies (Odonata), and Dr. E. P. Felt, of Albany, 

 New York, 106 specimens of ophionid hj^menoptera. The material 

 loaned was, for the most part, still in the hands of the specialists at the 

 close of the year. Of marine invertebrates, exclusive of mollusks, 9 

 loans were made, 2 of which deserve mention. Prof. H. Coutiere, of 

 the Ecole Superieure de Pharmacie, Paris, received the crustaceans of 

 the family Alpheidse collected by the Hawaiian and Samoan expedi- 

 tions of the Fish Conmiission steamer A/hatrosfi, and also the general 

 Museum collections of that family for report. All the specimens of 

 the so-called Holotliuria atra were sent to Prof. Charles L. Edwards, 

 of Trinit}" College, in connection with his studies of variation. The 

 stomatopod crustaceans, collected by the stafl' of the steamer Albatross 

 in Hawaii and Samoa, were sent to Dr. R. P. Bigelow, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, who volunteered to report on them. 

 Three lots of ostracoda were sent to Mr. R. W. Sharpe, of Wilmette, 

 Illinois, who has undertaken to report on this group for the Museum. 

 A number of skulls of mammals were sent to Dr. J. M. Ingersoll, 

 of New York, who is engaged in a comparative study of the sinuses of 

 the nose. Plants were loaned during the year, chiefl}' to the botanists 

 of the Ames Botanical Laboratory, North Easton, Massachusetts, the 

 Biltmore Herbarium, the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, the 

 New York Botanical Garden, and to Dr. C. E. Waters, Mr. Karl W. 

 W'iegand, and Mrs. Caroline W. Harris. 



