60 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



This matter is thus referred to by Dr. Dall: 



The outry of additions to the collection in the register of the department has been 

 carried on as usual. The principal item of work accomplished during the year has 

 been the tliorough revision of the basement storage room, in which alcoholics and 

 duplicates are kept. All the bottles have been cleaned and filled up, when necessary, 

 with additional alcohol, the contents catalogued, and each bottle given a number 

 reierring to the catalogue, which has been made on cards arranged alphabetically, 

 so that by reference to the cards it can at once be seen whether any particular species 

 is on hand in spirits. If so, the bottle can be reached in a moment, the jars being 

 arranged in numerical order on the shelves. In cases Avhere there was an excessive 

 amount of material in alcohol, the excess has been removed, dried, and cleaned, and 

 placed in the series of dry duplicates, of which a similar card catalogue has been 

 made, the specimens being placed in numbered covered boxes, so that by reference 

 to the cards any species can be reached in a few moments. 



The iHimber of jars of alcoholic specimens catalogued so far is 2,002. 



The number of dry duplicates in boxes, catalogued, is 4,174 species or lots. All 

 are in perfect order, and with a view to preserving the jars better from dust, which 

 soils them and obscures the labels, the shelves have been provided with covers of 

 enameled cloth. 



There is also a considerable namber of jars of alcoholics in the north tower, which 

 it is hoped to catalogue and label in a similar manner during the coming year. 

 When these are completed, the entire collection of alcoholics and duplicate recent 

 shells will have been put into excellent order. 



Various installments of specimens have been received from Prof. A. E. Verrill dur- 

 ing the year. These, as they were received, have been checked off on the lists, the 

 species segregated, and transferred to the standard sizes of tubes and paper trays. I 

 have deferred incorporating them with the reserve collection until the whole series 

 shall be received, so as to make one job of the transfer, which even then will 

 involve a great amount of work. 



The series of mounted specimens, illustrating the chief families of mollusks, which 

 was prepared by Mr. Mars&all and Mr. Simpson for exhibition as part of tlie Museum 

 material at the Atlanta Exposition, has beeu placed in one of the exhibition cases in 

 the main hall. 



We have still a large amount of unregistered material, especially in the Jeffreys 

 collection, which will be handled from timn to time, as opportunity serves, until all 

 arrearages are made up ; but in the absence of expert assistance the progress in this 

 direction will necessarily be slow. 



lu order to make sure that each specimen in the collection is cor- 

 rectly identified, and to unify the nomenclature, a large amount of work 

 will eventually be required. Work of this character must be per- 

 formed by a specialist in each group. 



Dr. Dall states that he has completed a report upon the collections 

 of land shells made during the progress of the Mexican Boundary 

 Survey, by Dr. E. A. Mearns, United States Army. This collection 

 contains the largest additions to our fauna of this region for many 

 years. A number of additions to the fauna of the coast of Texas, col- 

 lected by Hon. J. D. Mitchell, have been described or elucidated; also 

 collections made at San Pedro, Cal., by Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd, and 

 in Puget Sound and vicinity, by Messrs. P. B. Randolph, of Seattle, 

 and Dr. C. F. Newcombe, of A^ictoria, British Columbia. 



A discussion of the land shell faunas of volcanic oceanic islands, 

 forming a report on the collections made at the Galapagos Islands, by 



