44 iJEPORf OF THE SECRETARY. 



the Asiatic iiud European continents. Ultimately by means of the am- 

 ple collection of Jeffreys in Great Britain and Northern Europe, of Dall 

 in Alaska and the North Pacific, of Stearns' West American and gen- 

 eral collection, and the accumulations of molluscan forms received from 

 the U. S. Fish Commission, the student will be enabled to pursue the 

 biological history and connections of the two great oceans which bound 

 the North American continent, as well as the opposite regions of Eu- 

 rope and Asia. 



Among the most imj)ortant investigations in progress is that of Mr. 

 Dall upon the deep-sea mollusks, and his studies upon the Quaternary 

 molluscan fauna of the United States, and the continuation of j)revious 

 investigations by Mr. Stearns on the geographical' distribution of the 

 land and fresh-water mollusks of North America and the variation of 

 the same, as related to and affected by the physical characters of their 

 environment. 



X. Department of Entomology. — Although the department of insects 

 in the National Museum was organized three years ago, little has hitherto 

 been attempted beyond the care-taking necessary for the preservation 

 of the material already on hand ; the honorary (or unpaid) curator of 

 the department, Dr. 0. Y. Riley, having had comparatively little aid 

 from the ]\Tuseum appropriation in the matter of construction of cases 

 or the employment of assistants. At the beginning of the present 

 fiscal year a salaried assistant-curatorship was established, to which 

 Mr. John B. Smith was appointed. Additional accommodations in the. 

 laboratory and exhibition hall had been provided, and the study-col- 

 lections and the exhibition series are now being rapidly extended. 



In October, Dr. C. V. Eiley formally presented to the Museum his 

 private collection of North American insects, representing the fruits of 

 his own labors in collecting and study for over twenty-five years. This 

 collection contains over 115,000 pinned specimens, and much additional 

 material unpinned and in alcohol. 



This generous gift to the Government has long been contemplated by 

 Dr. Riley, whose ambition it is to be, so far as possible, instrumental 

 in forming a national collection of insects, and who is satisfied that his 

 collection will form an excellent nucleus for future accumulations. In 

 his letter of i^resentation he remarks : 



.''While the future of any institution dependent on Congressional 

 support may not bo so certain as that of one sui^ported by endowment, 

 I make this donation in the firm belief and full confidence that the Na- 

 tional Museum is already so well established in public estimation that 

 it must inevitably grow until it shall rival and ultimately surpass other 

 institutions in this country, or the world, as a repository of natural- 

 history collections. 



''If there shall in the future result the concentration here at the na- 

 tional capital of the extensive entomological material which naturally 

 comes here, and which in the past has been scattered amoug specialists 

 in all parts of the country, so tliat in the future the student may find 



