'report of assistant secretary. 87 



are encountered. The entering- of the specimens returned to the 

 Museum from the estate of E. D. Cope was completed. 



In the division of fishes, the regular routine occupied most of the 

 time. The equipment was improved by the addition of some new 

 tanks, and a number of type-specimens were rebottled and placed with 

 the special series of types. 



In the division of mollusks, the arrangement of several families 

 was revised, and a separate series was established for the fauna of 

 the District of Columbia. The collection as a whole is reported as 

 thoroughly accessible and in a good state of preservation. 



The honorary curator of the division of insects, Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard, reports as follows regarding the insect collections: 



The insect collections were never before so admirably arranged or so well pre- 

 served as they are to-day. This is due principally to the liberality shown the Divi- 

 sion in furnishing so many of the standard insect drawers, and the specialists are 

 now arranging the several orders as rapidly as possible in these drawers. 



Doctor Dyar continues his excellent work in naming, arranging, and increasing the 

 Lepidoptera, and deserves special mention for the great work he is doing for this 

 order. It is mainly due to him that the national collection of these insects is now so 

 large and in such splendid systematic order. 



Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, is another who has 

 contributed more than anyone else to increasing the insect collections in all orders. 

 The Coleoptera, now under his charge, are probably not surpassed in any other 

 museum in this country. 



Mr. D. W. Coquillett, of the Department of Agriculture, continues his work on the 

 Diptera and has made many additions to the collection of the past year. The Culi- 

 cida?, or the mosquitoes, in the collection are worthy of special mention, as they have 

 been enormously increased the past year in all stages of their development — from 

 egg to wings — and the collection of these insects in the National Museum is probably 

 unequaled in any other museum, except the British Museum. 



Mr. Kolla P. Currie, during the present year, has been fully occupied in superin- 

 tending and perfecting the collection of insects sent to the St. Louis Exposition, and 

 should receive credit for the excellence of that exhibit. Such time, however, as he 

 could spare from this and other work he has devoted to the Neuropteroid insects — 

 Odonata, Neuroptera, and Trichoptera — and the collections of these insects will 

 before a great while be in excellent order and arranged in the standard insect 

 drawers. 



Mr. A. N. Caudell, of the Department of Agriculture, has done some excellent 

 work in arranging the Orthoptera, removed last year to Doctor Dyar's room, and now 

 virtually under his charge. 



Doctor Ashmead continues his work on the Hymenoptera, and in the coming year 

 hopes to have the whole order arranged in the standard insect drawers. He has 

 published his generic revision of the order, except the ants, or the superfamily 

 Formicoidea. The generic revision of the ants will probably be completed this 

 autumn. He has also worked up all the Japanese and Philippine Hymenoptera now 

 in the National Museum, and papers on these subjects will appear in the Proceedings 

 of the Museum. 



The great order Rhynchota still remains without a specialist to take care of it, 

 and almost nothing has been done toward arranging and determining the rich collec- 

 tion of these insects now in the Museum. 



