REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY, 



11 



collection made by the Fish Commission in Porto Rico was also assorted 

 and identitied. The whole study series is in excellent condition. 



The same remark applies to the collections of insects, which are now 

 almost entirely free from pests. More stantlard insect drawers ai^e, 

 however, needed. Many thousand insects were pinned and laKded by 

 the prepanitors durinir the year, but much of this material is still 

 unidentitied. The collections of all orders of insects are now arranged 

 tentatively and are available for study and comparison. Spoci-al men- 

 tion should be made of the Lepidoptera. which has been brought into 

 excellent condition through the unremunerated labor of Dr. H. G. 

 Dyar, custodian. The division has not only had the bonetit of the 

 gratuitous services of the honorary curator. Dr. L. O. Howard, but of 

 several other members of the entomological staff of the Department 

 of Agriculture and also of Mr. E. A. Schwarz. 



Mr. W. H. Ashmead, assistant curator, animged and identitied most 

 of the African and Asiatic Hymenoptera during the year, together 

 with some material from Central and South America. The dragon 

 flies and Neuropterous insects were rearranged by Mr. Currie, aid. 



In the Division of Marine Invertebrates the card catalogue of 

 Brachyuran crustaceans, comprising about 5,000 titles, was revised 

 and transferred to standard library-bureau cards. The ccdlection of 

 Hexactinellid sponges, which has been for some time in the hands 

 of Professor Shulz for study, was catalogued. Dr. J. E. Benedit-t and 

 Miss Rathbun, assistant curators, identitied the crabs collected in Porto 

 Rico by the U. S. Fish Commission. 



The rearrangement of the exhibition series, necessitated by the 

 erection of galleries, occupied a large share of the time of the statl of 

 the Department of Comparative Anatomy. In connection with that 

 work, the skeleton of the extinct Arctic sea i-ow. liht/tina, and of ihe 

 tinback whale, were cleaned and remounted. The time of the curati)r 

 and assistants was divided between this division and that oi ^^>rtcbrate 

 Paleontology. 



The following passage from the report of the honorary lurator of 

 the Division of Plants. Mr. F. V. Coville, gives a condensed statiMu.Mit 

 of the work accomplished in that division during the year: 



The collection of plantt* fonuerly .stored on the soutli balcony of tlie Mnscnm. which 

 was referred to in the report of la.«it year as having been transferred to the National 

 Herbarium, has greatly taxed the present capacity of our cases, and it is doubtful 

 whether the accunuilation of mounted material, Mexican and otherwise, now on 

 hand can be distributed until the new ailjoining bah-ony is lifted up. This collec- 

 tion, when linally arranged, listed, and stamped, numbered over oO.OOO spo^-imcus, 

 being particularly rich in European material. The work of stamping the gi-neral 

 series, with a view to ascertaining the total nund^er of specimens in the herbarium, 

 has been carried forward at intervals. Thus far 21, (US sheets have been stamped. 



Three preparators have been engaged in mounting, labeling, and lepairing speci- 

 mens during the year. The total number of specimens is 22,55!), of which l;>,ol4 

 have been stamped and distribtUed. The large collection presented by Trof. AV. II. 



