REPORT UN THE DEPARTMENT OF MOLLUSKS 



(INCLUDING CENOZOIC FOSSILS) 



IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, L892. 



By William H. Dall, Honorary Curator. 



The force of the Department of Mollusks during the past year has 

 comprised, besides the honorary curator, Mr. Charles Torrey Simpson, 

 aid, Mr. S. Hazen Bond, copyist, and Miss .N. C. Beard, copyist. Dr. 

 B. E. C. Stearns, of the U. S. Geological Survey, honorary adjunct 

 curator, has been absent on sick leave during nearly the whole year, 

 so that we have not had the advantage of his valuable aid and advice 

 in the work of the department. The three persons mentioned above 

 have comprised the salaried force of the department. Mr. Gilbert D. 

 Harris and Mr. Frank Burns, of the U. S. Geological Survey, in the 

 course of their work on the tertiary invertebrate fossils, have rendered 

 incidental assistance on that part of the collection. The writer, with 

 the permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, has con- 

 thmed to act as honorary curator. 



The members of the force have been diligent, faithful, and accurate 

 in their work, and Mr. Simpson especially has devoted much time out- 

 side of ordinary office hours to forwarding the work of the department 

 and assisting its numerous correspondents. 



GENERAL OPERATIONS. 



The routine work of the year has made considerable progress. The 

 number of registrations which are tabulated in another place in this 

 report is less numerous than for some years previous, because more time 

 has been devoted to putting the collection of duplicates in order and to 

 other matters set forth below. As the arrears of material not admin- 

 istered upon have been reduced, the number of duplicates has increased, 

 and it has for some time been obvious that in order to make the ex- 

 changes often called for, and to keep informed as to the state of duplicate 

 material, it was urgently required that the latter should be put in order 

 for reference. Much of the time of Mr. Simpson and Mr. Bond has been 

 devoted to sorting, naming, cataloguing, and putting away the duplicate 



163 



