164 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



shells iii numbered boxes. A large proportion of the duplicates is now 

 packed in small boxes in the storage-room, each bearing its catalogue 

 number, the last box entry being No. 2035, while a card-catalogue, 

 alphabetically arranged under the names of the species, makes it possi- 

 ble to refer at a moment's notice to any duplicates in the collection. 

 Some few marine collections remain to be reviewed and the duplicates 

 eliminated, but the great mass of duplicate recent and fossil shells are 

 now arranged in orderly and accessible condition, occupying over 1,700 

 boxes, each plainly marked with its registration number ami name. 



The drawings, published and unpublished, are becoming so numer- 

 ous that here also cataloguing and arrangement have become necessary. 

 A list, in the form of a card catalogue, had been made of all the wood 

 cuts and stereotypes of mollusks illustrated in the Smithsonian Reports 

 and in the Proceedings and Bulletins of the Museum (with certain excep- 

 ts ms). Stout mauilla envelopes, of the same size as the standard library 

 card, have been used to contain original drawings, whether published 

 or unpublished, while in a blank form, stamped on the outside of the 

 envelope, is noted the catalogue number of the drawing, the registra- 

 tion number (in the Museum register), name, and provenance of the 

 specimen from which the drawing was made, together with the publi- 

 cation, volume, plate, figure, number, and page reference of the engrav- 

 ing made from the drawing, if published. The latter data are entered 

 on library cards in cases where the engraving exists, but the drawing 

 is not extant. These cards and envelopes are arranged together alpha- 

 betically under the name of the species, in two series, one comprising 

 the published and the other the unpublished drawings, so that refer- 

 ence can be had immediately to the data relating to any species which 

 have been drawn, or of which a figure has been published in the publi- 

 cations of the Museum or of the Smithsonian Institution. The excep- 

 tions to this comprise the figures which have appeared in Bulletin 37, 

 V. S. National Museum, which contains over a thousand figures; those 

 figures which are contained in the series of Smithsonian manuals of 

 land and fresh-water shells in the Miscellaneous Collections of the Insti- 

 tution, and a set of stereotype figures derived from the British Museum 

 publications. As the cuts above named arc indexed in the publications 

 referred to, and thus easily reached, it was not thought worth while 

 to undertake the considerable labor of adding them to the catalogue 

 until other more pressing matters are out of the way. 



The amount of labor involved in these various directions can be 

 better appreciated if placed in tabular form as follows: 



Species of duplicates registered 1, 708 



Card-catalogue of the same 1, 70S 



1 drawings registered 576 



Envelopes for the same tilled out 576 



Cards cataloguing published figures 603 



Total entries 5, 171 



