46 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1908. 
of the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, sent a collec- 
tion of Australian species, and Mr. Henry Suter, of Auckland, New 
Zealand, one of New Zealand species, both consisting largely of co- 
types. An excellent lot of land shelis from Mexico, including new 
species, was presented by Dr. Edward Palmer, of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, and some important Californian specimens 
were received from Dr. R. H. Tremper, of Ontario, California. 
Dr. Paul Bartsch, the assistant curator of the division, was detailed 
to accompany the Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross to the 
Philippine Islands, for the purpose of making zoological collections 
for the Museum. He left Washington on October 9, 1907, and had 
not returned at the close of the year. While no material has yet 
been received from this source, it is understood that a large amount, 
consisting chiefly of marine invertebrates, land shells, and birds, has 
been obtained. On account of the absence of Doctor Bartsch, the 
routine work of the division was greatly handicapped. The most 
important result in this direction was the completion of the labeling 
and cataloguing of the Jeffreys collection, comprising about 110,000 
specimens, concerning which the curator, Dr. William H. Dall, 
reports as follows: 
The event which is most prominent in the operations of the year, is the 
conclusion of the labeling and registering of the Jeffreys collection of British, 
Mediterranean, North Atlantic, and North Kuropean shells. As a very large 
proportion of the collection las served as a basis for publications by Turton, 
Bean, Clark, Jeffreys, Weinkauff, and other more modern authors, the material 
partakes so much of the nature of types, when the specimens are not the actual 
figured types (as is the case in a multitude of instances), that the utmost care 
has been necessary to preserve the identity and the data connected with each 
lot of specimens. As many abbreviations were used and, in the case of the 
Poreupine and other deep-sea explorations, offen merely the station number 
was given as locality, the work had to be done with extreme care and very 
slowly, for the most part when not hurried by other more urgent duties. 
This work was begun in 1SS3 by Miss Nicholson, who completed the registra- 
tion and arrangement of the land and fresh-water shells; it bas been carried 
on subsequently under my supervision by others, chiefly by Mr. W. B. Marshall, 
to whose care, assiduity, and perseverance the satisfactory completion of the 
work is finally due. The entries in the register, representing single lots of 
specimens from a single locality, number 27,490; the largest number registered 
and labeled in any one season was about 4,000 lots. Owing to my absence in 
the field during some years, nothing was done, as I have supervised every stage 
of the work personally. The collection occupies the equivalent space in drawers 
afforded by seven standard table cases, and contains approximately 110,000 
specimens. 
The further work upon the collection involves writing slips indicating the 
species present for each half-unit tray, the cards indicating the genera in each 
unit drawer, and the card catalogue of species contained in the collection with 
reference to the case and drawer in which they may be found. This work, now 
that the registration of the species and data is safely completed, involves com- 
paratively little difficulty and no more than the ordinary care required in 
handling any part of the study collection, 
