REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL MUSEUM. 109 



There have been fifty-seven accessions of i)aleontological specunens. 

 Except in the department of invertebrate paleontology, under the di- 

 rection of Dr. 0. A. White, curator, there has been little attention paid 

 during the year to work upon the collections of fossils. 



FOSSIL INVERTEBRATES : C. A. WHITE. 



The collections in invertebrate paleontology have received consider- 

 able attention from Dr. White, who has, however, been absent for a 

 great part of the year, occupied in work for tlie Geological Survey and 

 as a member of the artesian wells commission, under the direction of 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture. Material progress has, however, 

 been made in the final arrangement of the tertiary and cretaceous fossils, 

 valuable from having been so thoroughly reported upon by the late 

 Prof. r. B. Meek. Among the most important accessions to this collec- 

 tion have been the first series of duplicates from the Hall collection of 

 fossils, the gift of the American Museum of Natural History, of Kew 

 York City, a collection of cretaceous and Laramie fossils, gathered in 

 Colorado by Dr. White, and a large collection of European tertiary 

 and cretaceous fossils from M. J. J. M. De Morgan, of Paris. 



FOSSIL BOTANY: LESTER F. WARD. 



Prof. L. F. Ward, fossil botanist of the Geological Survey, has been 

 appointed honorary curator of the department of fossil botany; but, 

 at the beginning of the present calendar year, he had not entered upon 

 active duties. The extensive collection of fossil-plants gathered in 

 past years by the government exploring expeditions aud geological 

 surveys, and which has for many years been in the custody of Prof. Leo 

 Lesquereux, of Columbus, Ohio, one of the finest collections of fossil- 

 plants in the world, having been re-arranged and labeled by Professor 

 Lesquereux, has been placed in the final custody of the museum. Cases 

 have been prepared for its reception, and during the present year it 

 will be arranged for the use of students. The collection of fossil verte- 

 brates, filling hundreds of boxes, is still in the storage-rooms. No steps 

 have yet been taken to provide for their rearrangement. 



PLANTS: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In accordance with an arrangement made many years ago with the 

 Department of Agriculture, all botanical specimens received by the 

 National Museum are placed in the custody of the botanist of that es- 

 tablishment, and the very extensive herbaria of the Museum are on de- 

 posit in the Agricultural Buildings, under the charge of Dr. Geo. A. 

 Vasey. 



Fourteen accession lots of plants have been received during the year. 



