46 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
bition of Jewish religious rites and ceremonials, which is probably the finest in 
the country. 
Some changes and improvements are to be noted in the storage and classifi- 
eation of several groups of mammals and birds. The systematic arrangement of 
the reserve series of fishes has been continued, and fair progress has been made 
in the installation of the new system of steel racks and hard-wood drawers 
for insects. The labeling and registering of marine invertebrates has kept 
pace as nearly as possible with the receipt of maferial, and much has been done 
toward completing the card catalogue of identified specimens. In April, 1907, 
two assistants were detailed to the Yale University Museum to engage in 
separating the large collection of marine invertebrates from the earlier Fish 
Commission explorations, which have remained in the charge of Prof. A. E. 
Verrill. The first set of duplicates will become the property of Professor 
Verrill, the reserve series and other duplicates coming to the National Museum. 
The researches by members of the zoological staff and others were extensive 
and varied, the principal subjects being briefly as follows: Fossil cetaceans, by 
Doctor True; the birds of North and Middle America, by Mr. Ridgway; and 
those of Malaysia and the China Sea, by Mr. Oberholser; the reptiles of Japan, 
the Philippines, West Indies, and Costa Rica, by Doctor Stejneger; fishes from 
Argentina, the Philippines, and the west coast of North America, by Professor 
HKvermann; from the Philippines, by Mr. Bean and Mr. Seale; and from the 
Pacific region generally by Doctor Jordan and Doctor Gilbert; a monograph 
of the mosquitoes by Doctor Dyar; the Pyramidellidx of Oregon, by Doctor 
Dail and Doctor Bartsch; crabs of North America, the North Pacific Ocean, and 
the Gulf of Siam, by Miss Rathbun; isopods of the North Pacific Ocean, by 
Doctor Richardson; the entire Museum collection of stalked barnacles, by 
Doctor Pilsbry; the crinoids from the North Pacific Ocean and elsewhere, by 
Doctor Clark. 
The systematic rearrangement of the herbarium, which has been in progress 
for several years, was nearly completed, and experiments were carried on look- 
ing to the construction of fireproof herbarium cases for the new building. 
Doctor Rose continued studies on Mexican plants and the cacti, Mr. Maxon on 
American ferns, and Mr. Painter on water lilies. 
The principal routine work in the department of geology comprised the 
systematizing of the petrographic material recently received, the separation of 
duplicates from the reserve series, the renovation of the exhibition series of 
minerals and gems, the arrangement of the Pate and Ulrich collections of fossil 
invertebrates, and the working out of specimens, and the designation of types 
and illustrated specimens of fossil vertebrates. Doctor Merrill, in collaboration 
with Mr. Tassin, made studies upon meteorites and associated phenomena, and 
many specimens of minerals were identified. The investigations by Doctor 
Bassler related mainly to the bryozoa and ostracoda of several geological 
horizons, and those of Mr. Gidley and Mr. Gilmore to both mammalian and 
reptilian forms. 
EXHIBITION COLLECTIONS. 
The crowded condition of the public halls has rendered it impossible for 
several years past to make any material additions to the exhibition collections, 
and practically nothing more can be done in this direction until the new build- 
ing has been completed. During the past year, however, an interesting series 
of specimens has been made accessible to the intelligent visitor in the laboratory 
of physical anthropology. A group of Roumanian peasants has been installed 
in the west hall, and a number of recently acquired antiquities have been pro- 
vided for in the hall of archeology. The entire collection of firearms has been 
brought together in the east hall, in which also one of the original Lilienthal 
