REPOKT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. (i9 



groatly increased and improved. AN'ork on the Diptera was continued 

 hy Mr. Coquillett, and at present the colhu-tion of insiH'ts ol" thai order 

 is probably at least as good as any otlici' similar collection in the 

 country. The Diptera are still in old style boxes. In all other orders. 

 "except the Rhynchota. the collections are in good condition, thouo-h 

 less work has been done on them. The Rhynchota is a large order 

 of great e<-onomic importance and should have th(^ care of a projierlv 

 qua'Htied specialist. 



The accessions to the Division of Marine Invertebrates wen^ for the 

 most part cared for as soon as received, l)ut the large collection of 

 Philippine corals purchased from Professor Steere was not all unpacked 

 for want of room. With the ]iresent force the specimens can not l)e 

 catalogued as fast as identitied, but a large amount was accomplished 

 during the year. 



It has been fully recogiHzed that the collections of the Di\ ision of 

 Plants, also known as the National H<n"barium, are not housed as sat- 

 isfactorily as could be desired, while the offices and laboi'atories are 

 cramped almost beyond suft'erance, and it has been necessary to resort 

 to many ingenious devices to accommodate the working force. 



When the Herbarium was transferred from the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture to the National Museum, the old cases in which it had l)ecn 

 kept were also brought over and when set up were riMuodeled and 

 improved as far as possible. It was obvious, however, that they could 

 not be made tight enough to a]>soIutely exclude dust and insects with- 

 out a greater expenditure of money than would b(^ justified. Al)out 

 three years ago a new form of case was devised, and at the l)egimiing 

 of the present liscal year 104 of these new cases were in use. During 

 the past year -to additional cases were constructed, making Itf-t in all. 

 It is estimated that a])out 200 additional cases will still l)e re([uired to 

 replace the old ones. Congress was asked to supply funds for these 

 much-needed cases, and it is hoped that the amount appropriated for 

 mechanical work will enalde the jNIuseum to construct the greater part 

 of them, if not all, during the coming year. 



Mr. F. V. Coville, Honorary Curator, repoj-ts as follows r(\uarding 

 the cataloguing of specimens: 



At tlie time the herl)arium was actually traiisferreil to the National Muf^euui, in 

 1894, we l)egan to stamp and record the accessions. It was assumed tluit there were 

 then about 200,000 sheets in the Irerbarium, and the stamp was set at 200,001. 



The number of specimens catalogued during tiie ])ast eight years is 202,945. Of 

 tliese 15,975 were added last year. 



The work of I'ecording the old part of the her1)arium has almost ceased and speci- 

 mens are only stamped when they are to be sent away as a loan. Tliis record runs 

 from 1 to 26346. In addition to this, specimens have been stanii)e<l with numbers 

 from 125000 to 156409. 



The Division of Plants has been rather more favorably situated as 

 regards funds than any other division of the Museum. Since its trans- 



