REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 43 



He has published several niiiior papers on mammals during- the year. 

 Dr. T. II. Beau has continued work on the collections oflishes made by 

 the Fish Commission steamer Albatross in South American waters, 

 and has made investigations in the waters of New York with special 

 reference to fish life. Mr. Barton A, Bean has continued investiga- 

 tions on the. collections of Mexican lishes and has completed one portion 

 of the work, the results of which are now in liand ibr publication. He 

 also nmde a study of the fishes of Wallowa Lake, Oregon, for the U. S. 

 Fish Commission, the results of which are given in a report already in 

 the hands of the Commissioner. Mr. W. H. Dall has devoted consid- 

 erable time to a revision of the bivalve shells in connection with his 

 work on the Tertiary invertebrate fanna, and has made various minor 

 investigations. The study of the fresh-water mussels has been con- 

 tinued by Mr. C. II. Simpson with important results. Dr. L. O. How- 

 aid has continued studies on the parasitic insects of the family Encyr- 

 tiiiiie, especially those parasitic on the Ooccidic, and has completed one 

 paper on that group. Mr. W. H. Ashmead has nearly completed his 

 monograph of the insects of the family Braconidiie, which he has had in 

 hand for several years, and has worked up four large collections of 

 Hymenoptera. The collections of insects made by Messrs. Stejneger 

 and Barrett-Hamilton, of the Fur Seal Commission, on the Commander 

 Islands, have been worked up and reported upon by Messrs. Schwarz, 

 Dyar, Coquillett, Banks, and Cook. The results will be published in 

 the report of the Fur Seal Commission. Mr. Coipiillett completed his 

 monograph of the Hies of the family Tachiiiida' and his revision of the 

 Simulidte, and both have been published. He also worked up the 

 Japanese Diptera, received from Professor Mitsukuii, and completed a 

 revision of the family Scatophagidie. He has nnder hand revisions of 

 the HelomyzidiB and Sapromyzida'. Prof. O. F. Cook has continued 

 studies on the Myriapoda and the Orthopteran insects of the families 

 Mantidie and Phasmid.e. Mr. J. B. Benedict has completed his studies 

 of several groups of Isopod Crustaceans and i)ublished reports on the 

 ArcturidcC and the genera Synidotea and Idotca. He has continued 

 work on the Galatheid* and has in preparation a paper on the genus 

 Munidopsis. Miss M. J. Kathbnn completed a paper on the Decapod 

 Crustaceans of Jamaica and on the Brachyurau Crustacea collected by 

 the Iowa University expedition of ISO i to the Florida Keys and Baha- 

 mas. She also completed three minor papers on Crustaceans and made 

 otlier studies in that group. 



Mr. J. N. Eose, assistant curator in the Division of Plants, has 

 devoted a considerable ])ortion of the year to the determination of the 

 botanical material colle(;ted by him in Mexico, with a view to the pub- 

 lication of the results of his observations. 



The collections of the de[)artment have been made use of extensively 

 by luituralists throughout the country and abroad, various series and 

 single specimens being loaned, as in previous years, for investigation. 



