[Proceedings United states National Museum, 1881. Ajipeudix.] 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



TJN'ITEr) ST^^TES H^ A.'TION j^JL. jMTJSEUM:, 



No. 4. 



CIRCUIiAB C'OIV€EKNIIVCJ THE DEPARTMENT OF INSECTS. 



Prof. C. Y. Eiley has deposited in tbis Museum liis extensive private 

 collection of insects. The collection comprises some 30,000 species and 

 upward of 150,000 specimens of all orders, and is contained in some 300 

 double folding-boxes in large book form and in two cabinets of 80 glass- 

 covered draAvers. The specimens are all in admirable condition, and 

 the determined species duly labeled and classified. The collection is 

 chiefly valuable, however, for the large amoiint of material illustrating 

 the life-histories, habits, and economy of species, 3,000 of which are rep- 

 resented in one or all of the preparatory siates, either in liquid in sep- 

 arate boxes, or blown and mounted dry with the imagines. Fifteen blan k 

 books are filled with notes and descriptions of these species, most of 

 them yet unpublished. Though several special collections surpass it in 

 a single order, few, if any, general collections of North American insects 

 equal it, and perhaps none from the biological point of view. 



The Museum is now i^repared to joroperly care for such collections, 

 under direction of Professor Eiley, who has been appointed honorary 

 curator of insects, and it is hoped that in time, with so good a beginning, 

 a truly national exposition of the insect fauna of the country will be 

 brought together. The Museum building is entirely fire-proof, and there 

 is every facility for the safe preservation of specimens or collections that 

 may be donated. I would especially request that cori'espondents send 

 the adolescent states in connection with mature forms whenever possi- 

 ble, together with all material exemplifying the transformations, archi- 

 tecture, and economy of species. I would also invite those engaged in 

 descriptive entomology to deposit in the Museum types or duplicates of 

 their described species, it being my intention not only to build up a 

 systematic national collection that students may profitably consult, and 

 which will be kept in secure cabinets to be used only by such students, 

 but to have in connection therewith a more popular exhibit for the in- 

 struction and edification of the public. 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, 



Secretary Sm'itlisonian Institution, 



and Director United States National Museum. . 



January 1, 1882. 



