REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF PALEOZOIC INVERTEBRATE FOSSILS 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 1892. 



By ('. 1>. W'AIX'OTT, Honorary Curator. 



The year's work, in its bearings upon the collections, has been very 

 much the same as for 1890-'91, when I reported that it was indirect 

 rather than direct, owing to the necessity for niy completing certain 

 work for the U. S. Geological Survey. Large quantities of material 

 have been received from the collectors of the Survey, much of which 

 has been placed in storage awaiting an opportunity to have it elaborated 

 and transferred to the Museum. During the month of duly, 1891, the 

 collection of Cambrian and Ordovician fossils, belonging to the exhibi- 

 tion series, was completed and placed on exhibition and a large number 

 of labels written for it. And at various times during the year addi- 

 tions of individual specimens were made to the exhibition series. 



In the laboratory considerable time was given to painting the record 

 numbers on the specimens belonging to the accessions of previous 

 years that had not been fully recorded, and in the preparation for study 

 of a large amount of material obtained by the collectors of the Geo- 

 logical Survey. Owing to the crowded condition of the laboratoryand 

 the want of exhibition space, more attention was given to the prepara- 

 tion of material for future study and exhibition than to the immediate 

 incorporating of it into the exhibition series. 



Mr. Oscar Hinrichs, jr., was employed during the year in his various 

 duties connected with the laboratory and the exhibition series — enter- 

 ing, numbering, and labeling the accessions, writing cards for the exhi- 

 bition specimens, etc. 



Dining the week of the meeting of the International Congress of 

 Geologists (in August) many of the leading paleontologists and geol- 

 ogists of Europe visited and examined the collections of fossils in the 

 Museum. They commented most favorably on the Museum exhibition 

 and also on the large amount of line material in the various labora- 

 tories. 



Reference to the papers published by me during the year is made in 

 the Bibliography (Section iv). 



During the year 29 accessions were received. A list of them is here 

 given. 



191 



