108 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM} 1020. 



without a head. The most pressing work, therefore, was to relieve 

 the congestion in the recorder's office. This involved the unpacking 

 of a la roe collection transferred from the II. S. Naval Academy 

 some months before, which, while of a very miscellaneous nature, 

 yielded a considerable quantity of very good material, in part from 

 localities long- since abandoned and hence of some prospective value. 

 These accumulations disposed of, attention was turned to the segre- 

 gation of all such minerals as have been the subject of special inves- 

 tigation or which represent the original materials upon which new 

 species or varieties have been founded, thus forming a collection 

 which corresponds to types in a paleontological series. 



The principal work on the petrographical collections has been the 

 breaking up and assorting of lots which have been held for many 

 years as local collections. In cases where their usefulness as such no 

 longer exists, these have been condemned as sets, the more desirable 

 material held for incorporation in the study series, some held as 

 duplicate, and some discarded. 



Much attention has been devoted to the exhibition series in the 

 section of invertebrate paleontology. The collections illustrating 

 stratigraphic geology have been increased by large slab's illustrating 

 the occurrence of fossils in the matrix; the exhibits of rocks and 

 characteristic fossils illustrating the Archeozoic and Proterozoic eras 

 of geology have been completed; and the preparation and installation 

 of specimens illustrating the cephalopods, echinoids, and other classes 

 in the biological series have been continued. 



The Cambrian collections in the charge of Secretary Walcott have 

 been examined and rearranged by him personally, and the material 

 collected during his field season of 1919 has been recorded and worked 

 out, preliminary examination being given the individual specimens. 

 Assistant Curator Resser has cared for the Cambrian material housed 

 in the Museum building. 



The work of identification and distribution into the biological 

 series of the unstudied material and the elimination of duplicates 

 has been continued. Many thousands of specimens have been han- 

 dled in this way during the year. These study collections arc now 

 so extensive that much time must be devoted each year simply to the 

 manual labor involved in providing space for new materials. The 

 past year has been no exception, as it has been necessary to rearrange 

 the three molluscan groups, cephalopods, pelecypods, and gastropods. 



Doctor LTrich and his assistants have, as before, cared for the 

 extensive series of Ozarkian and Canadian fossils, the higher divi- 

 sions of the Paleozoic remaining under the immediate care, of the 

 curator. Mr. Frank Springer has devoted his time to the study of 

 the echinoderms, and Dr. T. W. Stanton, with the aid of Mr. T. E. 

 AVilliard, has continued his care of the Mesozoic series. 



