139 



their present condition, for the preservation of insects on 

 exhibition until they are made, so far as possible, air-tight. 

 Strips of rubber must be placed entirely around the case 

 where the lid meets it, and fastenings must be placed at 

 either end to j^revent any springing of the lid ; the light, too, 

 is so powerful that it would take but a short time to bleach 

 the highly colored specimens, and some darkening curtain or 

 shutter must be contrived to exclude the light, or other 

 means taken to darken sufficiently the light coming from the 

 lantern roof above. 



The additions to this collection during the year have been 

 very important on account of the bequest of Mr. Shurtleff. 

 Including this, they number 10,750 specimens of which 42 are 

 Arachnids and 46 Mp-iapods. Besides Mr. Shurtleif, the 

 donors have been Drs. S. A. Bemis, H. Bryant, B. S. Shaw, 

 and C. F. Winslow ; and Messrs. N. Bishop, W. H. Dall, 

 J. Fairbanks, A. L. Miller, W. L. Parker, J. Robertson, 

 S. H. Scudder and C. J. Sprague; some were obtained by 

 purchase. 



The Curator is authorized to say for the gentlemen who 

 have so kindly given him their assistance in the arrange- 

 ment of the Coleoptera that they are ready, so soon as boxes 

 are provided for them, and the cases are made sufficiently 

 secure to insure the safety of insects deposited there, to 

 supply as many as 1,500 species of Coleoptera from the 

 United States which they will arrange and label carefully; 

 these, with the collection of New England Coleoptera now 

 being arranged by them, would occupy nearly one half of the 

 railing cases around the entire upper gallery. 



With a few general remarks upon the Museum the Custo- 

 dian will bring to an end this already too prolonged report. 



There is one class of the animal kingdom, that of Worms, 

 which is not at present assigned to any department ; there 

 are, to be sure, but few specimens in the collection, but it 

 would be hardly fitting, even were there none, that it should 

 not find a place. It is suggested that they could be most 

 ap})ropriately given to the charge of the Curator of Crustacea. 



There are some defects in the arrangements of the building 



