36 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



In the division of plants much activity has prevailed. Eighty -six 

 insect-proof cases were installed, increasing the entire number of this 

 kind to 341, all of which have been found to answer their purpose 

 perfectty. These additions and changes in furniture, which afford 

 secure storage for a very large proportion of the collection, have 

 necessitated an extended rearrangement of specimens, which is still in 

 progress. The number of specimens mounted during the year was 

 29,700; of sheets stamped and recorded, 21,000. 



The collections generally in the Department of Geology are reported 

 to be in a fairly satisfactory condition, and not less than 100,000 speci- 

 mens have been put away in final Museum shape, but large accessions 

 have rendered it impossible to keep the numbering, complete labeling, 

 and cataloguing of material up to date. The working out of fossil 

 vertebrates from the rocks in which they are embedded has received 

 continued attention, but the progress in this direction has been neces- 

 sarily slow, and it is evident that the staff of preparators must be 

 increased if prompt results are desired. The entire lithological study 

 series has been overhauled and catalogued in card form, and upward of 

 300 thin rock sections have been made. Card catalogues of the entire 

 mineralogical and of other geological collections are in course of prep- 

 aration, and an annotated list of the types belonging to the Depart- 

 ment of Geology, several thousand in number, is also under way. 



The preparation of 500 duplicate sets of fossil invertebrates, in 

 which not less than 60,000 specimens will be used for distribution to 

 educational establishments in the United States, was nearing comple- 

 tion at the close of the j 7 ear. 



THE EXHIBITION COLLECTIONS. 



In the Department of Anthropology a few cases have been added in 

 the northwest court gallery for an exhibit of Indian baskets, this sub- 

 ject having gained special prominence through the publication of Prof. 

 O. T. Mason's recent paper on "Aboriginal American Basketiy." The 

 series of lamps, illustrating the development of means of illumination, 

 has also been extended. A beginning has been made toward illustrat- 

 ing the ethnology of the Philippines, in which has been utilized the 

 collection recently obtained by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U. S. Army, on the 

 island of Mindanao, and the ethnolog} 7 of Malaysia through the import- 

 ant contributions of Dr. W. L.. Abbott. The collection of musical 

 instruments, now. one of the most important in the world, has been 

 partly reinstalled. A typical series of muskets, rifles, and carbines, 

 mostly deposited by the War Department, and three tabic cases of 

 revolvers and pistols of various makes and dates, have been arranged 

 in the east hall. 



A new mahogany case has been provided for the original Francis 

 life-saving car, an object of deep interest to all visitors, and in auothe?" 

 suitable case has been installed the cylinder of the Hornblower engine. 



