6 Director's Annual Report. 
‘“Twelve thousand six hundred and seven shells were cata- 
logued, the same being distributed over 1300 catalogue numbers. 
The bulk of the material catalogued has been of fresh material. 
Several lots of fossil earth are in the laboratory, but your Curator 
has not had time to pick out and sort the material. The number 
of shells contained in these lots cannot be less than 100,coo. It is 
only at odd times that these fossil lots can be tended to, as the 
strain on the eyes is too severe to be continued several days in 
succession. It is hoped that some progress can be made with the 
fossil material during the coming year. 
‘‘Among our visitors Dr. H. A. Pillsbry of Philadelphia, for 
whose trip the Trustees generously provided the funds, was natur- 
ally the most interesting. Dr. Pilsbry brought out his manuscript 
of the volume of the Manual of Conchology now appearing, and 
your Curator worked over this with him, supplying data, etc., on 
the distribution, variation, and synonymy of the species dealt 
with in this volume. Dr. Pilsbry has very generously made your 
Curator co-author of this volume. Several trips were taken by 
Dr. Pilsbry and the Curator to study problems of distribution and 
variation in the field so that the Doctor would have a first hand 
knowledge of the problem. These trips were taken on Oahu, 
Molokai, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii. 
‘The trips on Oahu were undertaken to study the distribution 
of some of the well-known Oahuan species and were planned to 
settle some of the vexing problems of synonymy. These trips also 
included some of the fossil beds in order that, from their contents, 
a knowledge of the former (more or less ancient) character of 
these islands might be obtained. 
‘“The same problems were undertaken on the island of Molo- 
kai. The trip to Kahoolawe was in the nature of an exploring ex- 
pedition. Fortunately the trip resulted in finding two fossil beds 
of land-shells. Messrs. Stokes and Forbes later discovered two or 
three very rich beds. The trip to Hawaii was primarily to study 
the valuable collection of Mr. Thaanum. During this trip a visit 
was made to the volcano. 
