60 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



.Department of Insects. — Prof. 0. V. Eiley has, as in previous years, 

 voluntarily assumed the care of the entomological material ^hich has 

 come in, and his own valuable and constantly increasing- collection re- 

 mains a deposit in the Museum. A collection of insects injurious to 

 forest trees, mounted in Museum cases, in the style which it is pro- 

 posed by Professor Eiley to adopt in the arrangement of our exhibition 

 series when the opportunity comes, was sent to the International For- 

 estry Exhibition in Edinburgh and received a gold medal. Fifty-five 

 accession lots were received during the year, the most valuable being 

 the collection made by L. M. Turner at Ungava Bay, H. B. T. It is 

 hoped that the financial condition of the Museum will soon warrant the 

 placing of this very important and long- neglected department upon a 

 footing of equality with the others. 



Department of Marine Invertebrates. — In the Department of Marine 

 Invertebrates, exclusive of the Mollusca, under the charge of Mr. Eath- 

 bun, 240 cases of specimens, enumerated in 72 accessions, have been 

 added during the year. Of these, the most important have been re- 

 ceived from the United States Fish Commission, from Dr. Edward Pal- 

 mer, a collector employed in the interest of the New Orleans Exhibition, 

 and from various naval sources. The Fish Commission collections are 

 mainly illustrative of the recent deep-sea explorations of the steamer 

 "Albatross" off' the eastern coast of the United States and in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and Caribbean Sea, and contain many new additions to science, 

 which have been worked up only in part. They fill several thousand 

 jars and vials. The collection of Dr. Palmer was made for the purpose 

 of representing at the World's Fair, in New Orleans, the varied animal 

 resources of the coral reef and sponge regions of Southern and West- 

 ern Florida. It consisted for the most part of finely prepared specimens 

 of commercial and other sponges, ornamental corals, and the larger spe- 

 cies of Crustaceans and Mollusks used as food, and required G5 large 

 shipping cases to transi)ort it to Washington. Su])plemental to this is 

 an extensive collection made by Mr. Henry Hemphill on the western 

 coast of Florida. 



Among the more interesting of the naval contributions are several 

 collections of Crustaceans and Echinoderms, obtained by Dr. W. H. 

 Jones, U. S. N., in diflerent parts of the Pacific Ocean. A number of 

 valuable collections, carefully identified, have also been received from 

 competent European authorities, and will be of great service in the 

 elaboration of new materials contained in the Museum. 



The increase of accessions to this department has been so great dur- 

 ing the year, especially by reason of the material furnished by the 

 Fish Commission, that, even with the aid of three or four assistants, 

 little more could be done than to take care of the new material. 



Department of Invertebrate Fossils {Paleozoic). — The collections of this 

 department are arranged in 13 unit table cases and in office trays equiv- 

 alent in capacity to as many more. Mr. Walcott estimates the total num- 



