REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 67 
whale skeleton was being put in shape for photographing, measur- 
ing, and description as preliminaries for an extensive monograph, 
after which it will be hung in the exhibition whale hall. In addi- 
tion he prepared a large number of reptile skins and skeletons for 
the study series, besides plaster casts, repairs, etc., Mr. C. R. W. 
Aschemeier has been assisting Mr. Brown in the mammal mounting 
when required, has worked up 105 mammal and 21 bird skins and 
gone over the entire exhibition collection of alcoholic invertebrates, 
refilling and otherwise caring for 672 jars. Mr. Palmer’s work, up 
to his death, was mostly on the faunal exhibit of the District of 
Columbia. 
Unfortunately the crowding of the collections in many of the divi- 
sions must of necessity increase from year to year until additional 
space shall be allotted to the department of biology. To that extent 
the condition of the collections must be considered unsatisfactory and 
must gradually grow worse. In other respects the conditions must 
be pronounced as generally good. Nevertheless, the results of the 
greater activity of the Museum since the stagnation period of the war, 
which were presaged in my previous report, are already beginning 
to make themselves manifest, inasmuch as the greater influx of mate- 
rial ‘is consuming more and more of the time and efforts of the staff, 
which has remained practically stationary during the last 20 years. 
The mere physical care of the collections is all that can be accom- 
plished in many instances. 
The practice of sending the large mammal skins to the professional 
tanneries to be tanned has had to be given up because of definite losses 
and the general poor results. A rotary drum has been built in the 
taxidermist shop; and when the necessary motor shall have been re- 
ceived, it will be possible to handle the work and insure perfect 
results. 
The reports of the various divisions generally emphasize the free- 
dom the collections are now enjoying from the usual destructive 
museum pests. This is undoubtedly due to the systematic fumigation 
with bisulphide of carbon. 
The crowding alluded to above might be relieved, as far as the 
division of plants is concerned, by the building of a balcony as advo- 
cated on previous occasions. The plan, although approved and ac- 
cepted as the only practical solution of a nearly intolerable condition, 
awaits only the appropriation of sufficient means to be carried out. 
Otherwise the condition of the National Herbarium is satisfactory, 
but as far as the cryptogamic section is concerned it has been impos- 
sible with the small staff to incorporate in it the material received 
during the past year. and for several years past, though the speci- 
mens have been pocketed and prepared for the herbarium as soon as 
