62 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 
drawers, thereby guarding against the deterioration of the collec- 
tion by continuous exposure to the light. This collection is not 
labeled as yet, but the work is a slow one, and the time which the 
custodian can give to this work so limited that it may be some time 
before the task can be completed. 
The curatorial work in the various divisions has progressed as 
usual. In the division of mammals no cases for skins were received 
during the year, so that this part of the collection is rather over- 
crowded at the present time. The skulls are in much better condi- 
tion, the improvement in the attic being notable. Additional cases 
in the latter storage have also been furnished for the rearrangement 
of the skeletons there, and considerable headway in their proper in- 
stallation has been accomplished during the year. The alcoholic 
collection has been gone over and the condition, like that of the rest 
of the collections in this division, is considered good. All of the 
larger cetacean material, formerly stored in the northeast basement 
of the old museum has been removed to the new museum, where 
portions of it are now stored. The valuable collection of small and 
medium-sized cetaceans has been reinstalled in 30 quarter-unit cases, 
arranged and labeled, and is now in good condition. 
The rearrangement in the division of birds, due to the respacing 
made necessary, was continued during the present year; that of the 
parrots being completed. The weaver birds (Ploceidae) were also 
rearranged. Otherwise most of the time has been occupied in label- 
ing and distributing collections received during the year. A matter 
causing a great deal of work is the poor quality of the cards 
furnished for case labels, necessitating frequent renewals. Dur- 
ing the year 260 cases thus requiring relabeling. One of the most 
important works of the associate curator consists in posting the old 
records for data, supplying missing data to entries in the old cata- 
logues, searching out lost types and work of similar character, but the 
work is of necessity slow, and but little time is available from daily 
routine work. The search for old types was rewarded by finding 
the type of one of Peale’s specimens, a nightjar (Caprimulgus aequi- 
cauda), and possibly also one of the Polynesian kingfishers, but its 
absolute identity has not yet been established. Some of the skins 
have been remade by the taxidermists, but more work of this character 
is needed. The accessioning this year of the large Richards egg col- 
lection of 8,354 specimens, with the necessary cataloguing and label- 
ing, has occupied a good deal of the time of the division, but as yet 
it has been found impossible to number the individual eggs, a work 
absolutely necessary and for which special provision has been asked, 
as it can not be handled with the present force. The unusually large 
number of alcoholics and skeletons received this year also received 
proper attention, being catalogued and tin tagged, but the labeling 
