40 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1918. 



made around Vancouver Island, British Columbia, by Dr. John 

 Macoun and Mr. C. H. Young. The collections have been utilized 

 by the following specialists : Dr. O. P. Hay, of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion, for comparison with fossil remains from Florida and other 

 localities; Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the Biological Survey, in connec- 

 tion with the determination of contents of birds' stomachs; Mr. 

 Alvin Seale, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, studying ex- 

 tensively the herring family for his proposed monograph of the 

 group. Specimens were lent to Prof. E. C. Starks, of Leland Stan- 

 ford Junior University; Mr. Carl L. Hubbs, Field Museum of 

 Natural History, Chicago; Dr. A. G. Euthven, director of the 

 University of Michigan ; the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York; and the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture. 



Insects. — Preeminently among this year's accessions to this divi- 

 sion stands the gift from Dr. H. G. Dyar, custodian of Lepidoptera, 

 of at least 35,000 insects. It should be noted particularly that no 

 less than 15,000 named Lepidoptera are contained in this collection, as 

 well as about 1,000 named sawflies. Mr. B. Preston Clark, of Boston, 

 Massachusetts, collaborator in entomology, enriched the butterflies 

 still further by the gift of 1,125 specimens, mostly from Yucatan 

 and the Philippine Islands. The Department of Agriculture, during 

 the year, transferred about 3,265 miscellaneous insects. 



Not much progress was made since the last report in transferring 

 collections to a systematic installation in standard drawers for ready 

 reference, owing largely to the fact that the time of the employees 

 of the Bureau of Entomology had been consumed by work for the 

 bureau. In the preparation of new material a good start was made 

 on the great collections received in recent years from Consul Francis 

 J. Dyer by the aid of a preparator temporarily employed, but the 

 task is of considerable magnitude and alone will consume months. 



The year has not been marked by the publication or completion of 

 any general work of monographic or revisional character, researches 

 having resulted only in miscellaneous descriptive papers primarily 

 due to the pressure for determination of material for the Bureau o^f 

 Entomology or for official entomologists of other institutions. At- 

 tention, however, is called to the series of articles by Prof. T. D. A. 

 Cockerell, of the University of Colorado, on exotic bees, which is in 

 continuation of the work undertaken by him last year in revising and 

 arranging the Museum collection of these insects. A third install- 

 ment of his " Bees in the collection of the United States National 

 Museum " was submitted for publication during the year. In addi- 

 tion to the scientific staff of the Bureau of Entomology, who at all 

 times have free access to the collections for the purposes of identifi- 

 cation and study, entomologists from out-of-town institutions con- 

 sulted the collections during brief visits to the Capital, as follows: 



