4 DireHor' s 'Annua/ Report. 



locally arranged and of which each card contains as much informa- 

 tion about the specimen that it represents as is available. In ad- 

 dition many of the cards bear a photograph or in some cases a 

 drawing of the specimen, so that in consulting this catalogue one 

 can see at a glance the nature of the specimen. As almost every- 

 thing of importance has been photographed this plan has been 

 easily carried out, and in any case it is very eas}' to make a group 

 photograph of which the print can be cut to furnish the small pic- 

 tures needed for the cards. By using the platinotype or bromide 

 processes the print is as durable as the card. In some cases, as for 

 example with poi pounders of which there are dozens much alike, 

 the photograph shows a differentiation that no concise description 

 could. Wherever the Museum publications furnish illustrations of 

 objects in the colledtions these can be imprinted on the card as well. 

 The card catalogue is thus in a way to become a fully illustrated 

 record of the contents of the Museum. A new system of recording 

 accessions has also been adopted, which it is thought will simplify 

 the work. Hitherto the shells and plants have had a separate 

 series of numbers in order to keep the label numbers as small as 

 possible, the species of shells alone approaching 10,000, and now 

 the birds and fishes have also been separated and the one in charge 

 of each of these departments has an independent accession book for 

 which he is responsible. Mr. Stokes has done much work on the 

 manuscript of the catalogue of the collecflion of shells, which it is 

 hoped may soon be ready for printing. 



Mr. Walcott and myself made a hurried visit to Kauai, at the 

 request of the Trustees to examine some private collections of 

 Hawaiian antiquities, which had been offered to the Museum, but 

 while the specimens were often desirable, there were very many 

 duplicates and the prices asked were too high for duplicates. We 

 found in the valley of Hanalei where sugar was largely cultivated, 

 rice had taken its place, but elsewhere the canefields seemed to have 

 taken all available land on that part of Kauai, even the grand grove 

 of kukui trees near Kilauea, a grove of such antiquity that tradition 



