REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 65 



from rivers in Micbigaii. He also transmitted some Oniscidnc. Impor- 

 tant accessions were secured in excliange from the Indian Museum, 

 Calcutta; jVIanchester Museum, Mancliester, England; University of 

 California, Berkeley, Cal.; State University of Iowa; Leland Stanford 

 Junior University ; Glen Island Museum, Glen Island, Xew York; Can- 

 terbury Museum, Cbristchurcb, New Zealand; Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., and from several individuals. 



The room at the west end of the Smithsonian building, known as tlie 

 " Chapel," is at present used as the exhibition hall for objects belong- 

 ing to this department. The s])ace being so limited, it is necessary to 

 use great care in selecting from the mass of material the most suitable 

 specimens for exhibition. The result is as pleasing as is possible 

 under the circumstances, and much has been done during the year 

 to maintain and increase the interest of visitors. The work accom- 

 l^lished in the preservation and installation of the collections, includ- 

 ing not only the limited number of objects which are on exhibition, 

 but also the much larger portions of the collections which form the 

 reserve and study series, will be best understood from the following 

 paragraphs taken from the annual report submitted by Mr. Benedict: 



The exhibition series does not ditier essentially from its condition a year ago. 

 Five old-fashioned llat ebony cases in the west hall have been replaced by mahogany 

 ones. The systematic series has been removed from tlie center to the north end of 

 the hall, and two of tl:e table cases from near the center to the alcove. Labels for 

 the collection of nionnted commercial sponges have been prepared for the printer, 

 basement room formerly nsed by the department of reptiles was early in the 

 assigned to this department, and with the aid of the additional storage thus 



orded it Avas jiroposed to make a more systematic arrangement of the alcoholics 

 stored in the basement. But later this room was transferred to another department, 

 and the contents were moved to a small and dark tower room leading from the gal- 

 lery used as a workroom. 



The collection of annelids has been rearranged in a drawer stack in the gallery. 

 The collections stored in homeopathic vials in the gallery'have been gone over, and 

 alcohol and new stoppers added where necessary. The large collection of Alaskan 

 sponges recently retiuued by Mr. Lambe has been entered in the catalogue and 

 duplicates selected. In the winter it became necessary to overhaul thiity of the 

 duplicate sets put up a year before, as many of the tin cases were rusted. These 

 were renewed or the specimens transferred to jars. 



By far the most important work in the way of adding to the study series was the 

 return of vast collections of material received from the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion between the years 1871 and 1887, and stored at the Pcabody IMuseum, New- 

 Haven, Conn., in charge of Prof. A. E. Yerrill, pending a report upon the same. 

 In order that the return of the specimens might be facilitated, Mr. Benedict spent 

 about three months of the i)ast year in New Haven, assisting in sorting and pack- 

 ing under 'the direction of Professor Yerrill, the first set of duplicates being set 

 aside for Professor Yerrill, and the remaining duplicates and the reserve set being 

 returned to the National Museum. Much of the unidentified material has been 

 treated as if named, a division being made and one set returned to the National 

 Museum. The unnamed sponges were catalogued before their return, and occupy 

 nearly 100 numbers in the catalogue book. Miss K. J. Bush has been employed 

 tlironghout the year in dividing the jMolInsca into three sets, the third set being 

 for Mr. Sanderson I. Smith. After the arrival of the material in Wa.shiugtou, an 

 NAT MUS 95 5 



