6Q REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



invoice is made aud the mollnsks are turned ov^er to the department of moilnsks. 

 During the year 1894-95, 68 cases of invertebrates have been shipped, coutain'ug 

 about 7,500 lots of specimens. A beginning has been made in card-cataloguing the 

 specimens received from this source. 



In connection with the jn-eparation of an exhibit for the Atlanta 

 Exposition, it is proposed to make a series of mountings of dried si>eci- 

 mens, especially dee] » sea corals, echinoderms, etc. These will later 

 form a part of the i>ermaiient exhibit of the department. 



Notwithstanding the necessarily great ex})enditure of time in the 

 routine work, Mr. Benedict has continued his studies of Anomura, 

 especially of the large forms of the family Litliodida', resulting in a 

 pai)er, describing many new genera and species, which has recently been 

 published in the Proceedings of the National Museum. He has also 

 devoted sucli time as he could spare to the study of the Pagurida^ 



Miss Kathbuu completed her study of the genus CoUinecte.s, and a 

 report upon the same is now in press, as is also a paper containing 

 descriptions of new species of fresh- water crabs. Work on the genera^ 

 subject of American brachyuraus has been continued. Miss llathi 

 spent about two weeks at the Museum of Comparative Zoolop' 

 making comparisons of sj)ecimens, and in examining Prof. A, 

 Edwards's types of West Indian crabs. 



Besides the large collections obtained from the dredgings c/ 

 U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross off the west c 

 Mexico, Central and South America, and off the Galapagos 

 under the charge of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, and from other ex^^^^ 

 tions made by the Albatross, several other explorations in this\ 

 previous years have resulted in the acquisition of valuable mater^ 

 such, for instance, as the deep-sea dredgings in the Indian Ocean 1, 

 Her Majesty's Indian marine survey steamer Jwre.s//</^(#o/', which brought 

 to the Museum a valuable collection of crustaceans and corals; t' 

 natural history work of the Mexican Boundary Commission, througn 

 the efforts of Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. A., and the dredgings made by 

 Mr. William E. Hoyle, chieflyin the Firth of Clyde, which were deposited 

 in the Manchester Museum, whence an interesting collection was trans- 

 mitted to the National Museum in exchange. The Museum was the 

 recipient of important collections obtained through explorations under 

 the ausjuces of the Leland Stanford Junior University and the Univer- 

 sity of ('alifornia, along the coast of California. The collecting expedi- 

 tion of Mr. L. M.McCormick, curator of the Glen Island Museum, Glen 

 Island, New York, in the vicinity of Aden, Arabia, also yielded some 

 very interesting material, a part of which was secured in exchange. 



Assistance has been extended to several specialists by the loan of 

 material belonging to this department. The Museum is under many 

 obligations to Mr. Lawrence M. Lambe, of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada, for his generous aid in the study and determinati(m of 

 a large collection of sponges from the North Atlantic Ocean, and of a 

 smaller collection of mounted Alaskan sponges. Prof. Edward Potts, 



