24 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1881. 



it may be expected that our uext year's report will show a great increase 

 iu the amount of work directly ccmcerued with the preparation of the 

 exhibition series, of final labels, of catalogues and hand books, and the 

 prosecution and ])ubIic'ition of original researches. 



The activity of 1884 may best be gauged by the following table, whicli 

 shows the totfil number of entries made iu the Museum registers of the 

 several curatorships: 



No. of 

 dept. 



n 



llla 

 nib 



IV 



Ya 



Yb 



VI 

 VII 

 VIII 



IX 



X 



Name of dopartmeut. 



No. of 



1 entrie.s 



tliiriiig 



1884. 



Arts and Industries (general) . 



Materia Medica 



Textile. Industries 



Foods 



Historical Kclics 



Etbnoloft-y 



Antiquities 



Americnn PreliiKtoric Pottery 



Mammals 



Birds 



Birds' Eggs 



Reptiles 



Fishes 



Comparative Anatomy 



Mollusks 



Insects 



4,429 

 :!il8 



1, (;8:j 



420 



200 



1,184 



4,367 



603 



711 



8,142 



3,222 



584 



3, 01.5 



547 



5,231 



53 



No. of 

 dept. 



XI 



Xlld 



xn6 



XIII 

 XIV 

 XV 

 XVI 



Name of dcpaitment. 



Marine InverteLrates : 



Crustacea 



Worms 



Tunicates and Bryozoa 



Radiates ' 



Protozoa and Sponges 



Invertebrate Fossils (Paleozoic) 

 Invertebiato Fossils (Mesozoic 



Cenozoic) 



Fossil Plants 



Mineralogy 



Litliology 



Metallurgy 



Total 



No. of 



entries 



during 



1884. 



,924 

 151 

 80 



, 858 

 045 

 5G4 



, 1.^.9 

 97 

 ,307 

 ,541 

 ,021 



(b) Development of the exhibition and study series. 



The " reserve series " in the Museum includes all the specimens which 

 are retained for purposes of study, the exhibition series consisting of 

 objects which are suitable to be exposed to public view in glass cases, 

 selected from the reserve series of which it forms a iiart. The study 

 series is formed by the residue, which are kept compactly stored cither in 

 cases in the laboratories or iu the closed tables which serve as pedestals 

 for the smaller show-cases in the exhibition halls. 



The study series for any special group may generally be largely re- 

 duced in extent after an exhaustive monograph has been j^ublished 

 upon that grouj), it being the long-established policy of the Museum to 

 reserve only a sufficient number of specimens to permit the author of 

 such monograph to entirely rewrite it, should the manuscript of his 

 essay be destroyed. 



Much progress has been made during the year in many departments 

 in the work of separating the duplicate from the reserve series, and 

 in many of the others in the work of preliminary clnssification, which 

 is the necessary preparation for this task. The development of the 

 exhibition series is necessarily slow, since it is not considered desir- 

 able to place on exhibition specimens which are not fully explained by 

 printed labels. It is, to be sure, often necessary to expose to view 

 large objects which have not been labeled. The extent and nature of the 

 work of the Museum is not appreciated by persons who are not familiar 

 with the character of the laboratory work and who have not access to 

 the reserve stores. In the various departments of ethnology and indus- 



