REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRKTARY. 165 



exbibitiou series, consists of a large number of beautiful preparations 

 obtained by ])urchaso from the /.()()lo,iii<'al station at Xa])les, Italy. 

 These will add an interest inf>- feature to the display collection, as the 

 specimens are chietly soft and delicate organizations, whi(;h few Jnive 

 learned the art of i)reservinji,' in a manner at all presentable to the gen- 

 eral public. Many groups are represented. From the I'. S. Fish Com- 

 mission have been received the collection of actinians made during the 

 voyage of the steamer .4. /ia/ross from Xorfolk to San Francisco, and 

 described by Prof, J. Playfair McMurrich, and a series of crustaceans 

 resulting chietly from recent explorations of the same vessel in the 

 North Pacific Ocean. 



jVIr. W. L. Abbott has contributed a tine series of crustaceans, echin- 

 oderms, corals, and sponges from the Indian Ocean; llev. H. Loomis, 

 of Yokohama, crustaceans, echinoderms, and hydroids from Jai)an; 

 Mr. Lewis Dexter, U. S. consul at Fayal, crustaceans, worms, and echin- 

 oderms from the Azores; Mr. H. R. Saunders, of Nassau, Xew Provi- 

 dence, 7() siiecimens of commercial sponges, representing the ditferent 

 Bahama grades; and Mr. Harlan I. Smith, many crayfishes and other 

 fresh-water crustaceans from Ohio and Michigan. Other collections 

 which also deserve mention here are specimens of crustaceans and 

 leeches from the fresh waters of Mexico, presented by Mr. P. L. Jouy; 

 crustaceans and worms obtained in Nicaragua by ]Mr. Uharles W. Pich- 

 mond; bird parasites from Mr. Walter Brett, of Lakeport, Cal. ; blind 

 crayfishes, including a new variety, from caves in Indiana, presented 

 by Mr. W. P. Hay; microscopic slides of fresh-water crustaceans from 

 Wisconsin, contributed by Prof. C. Dwight Marsh; crustaceans and 

 worms collected in East Africa, from Mr. Wdliam Astor Chanler; and 

 a number of starfishes and ophiurans from Canterbury Museum, Christ- 

 church, New Zealand. While the remaining accessions are of smaller 

 size than those above mentioned, containing only one or a few spec- 

 imens each, they add altogether many interesting features to our 

 collections. 



The completion of the repairs in the west hall of the Sn)ithsonian 

 Institution during the summer of 1892 permitted the temporary cov- 

 erings of the cases to be removed, and steps were at once taken to 

 place the display collection in presentable condition, in order that the 

 room might be reopened to the jjublic. This was soon accomplished, 

 but not without considerable work and a general overhauling of the 

 specimens. At the beginning of the repairs, the large wall cases 

 which surrounded the hall were boarded over and covered with a 

 sloping metal top, which it was supposed would i)revent the entrance 

 of any moisture. Considering, therefore, that no harm could come to 

 them, the stony and large gorgonian corals, the sponges, and some of 

 the other groups were allowed to retain their ])laces upon the shelves, 

 as no other safe means of storing them could be provided. This sup- 

 posed ])rotection, however, proved entirely inadequate, and when the 



