FIFTIETH CONGRESS, 1887-1889. 1135 
Sometimes specimens are collected by persons not connected with the Survey, and 
are transmitted either as gifts or with requests for identification or for more extended 
information. When it is believed that the public interest will be subserved thereby, 
all such inquiries are answered as fully as seems to be desirable. If it is requested, 
the specimens are returned; but if no such request is made, they are either destroyed 
or, if of sufficient value, labeled by the collaborator by whom they are examined, and 
thus become Survey property subject to the regulations controlling the collections 
made by its employees. . 
The material collected by the specialists employed upon the Survey is of exceedingly 
diverse value and character; the specific purposes for which it is employed are also 
diverse; and it is therefore inexpedient to prescribe regulations for the use and dis- 
position of the material so long as it remains in the hands of the collector. Fre- 
quently there is no record oi the material produced by the collector, except in his own 
notebooks, lists, and catalogues, and he is not charged with it upon any of the general 
records of the Survey. If, however, the material in the possession of an employee 
has been acquired by gift through the Director, or has been transferred to him by 
another officer of the Survey for examination, a record of his acquisition of the prop- 
erty is contained in the correspondence files of the Survey, and he is held accountable 
for it. Moreover, when the collections are shipped at the expense of the Government 
they become subjects of record, and their custodians are accountable for them in a 
general way. , 
There are three ways in which collectors dispose of their acquisitions: First, if the 
material is worthless except for immediate study, it is preserved as long as may be 
required for that purpose and is then destroyed. In this case there is no account of 
the production and disposition of the naa except in the records of the collector, 
and in the transportation records if it has been shipped as public property. Second, 
if the material is of value for museum purposes, if it promises to be useful in subsequent 
researches, or if for any other reason it is deemed wise to preserve it in the National 
Museum, it is transferred to that institution by one of the two methods described in 
a subsequent paragraph; and there isa record of such transfer both in the Geological 
Survey and in the National Museum. Third, if the maker of the collection is, for any 
reason, unable to investigate the material in the desired manner, it is transferred, 
through the Director, to some specialist, generally within but sometimes without the 
Survey, for the requisite examination; and the material thus becomes a subject of 
general record in the Survey. 
The person to whom material is transferred, either from collectors or from outside 
parties, disposes of it after investigation in one of these ways; but since there is a 
record of his custody of the material, greater caution is always exercised in disposing 
of it when so obtained than when it is obtained by collection. 
There are two modes of transferring material collected in the progress of the work 
of the Survey to the National Museum: (1) Certain of the collaborators of the Survey 
are honorary curators of the National Museum, and have charge in the Museum of 
the classes of objects which, as members of the Survey, they are engaged in investi- 
gating. When a collaborator has completed his investigation of a specimen or collec- 
tion; and has prepared, identified, and suitably labeled it, he formally transfers it to 
the National Museum through the accessions clerk of that institution, and receives 
from him a Museum number which is inscribed upon the label or labels. The material 
then becomes the property of the Museum, and is arranged upon the shelves, or in the 
drawers provided for the purpose. To facilitate such transfer, some of these collab- 
orators keep in their offices parts of the catalogue of the Museum, upon which there 
is a duplicate record of the transfer. The principal record of transfer is, however, 
that of the accessions clerk of the National Museum. (2) When acollaborator of the 
Survey who is not a curator of the National Museum desires to transfer specimens or 
collections to that institution, they are prepared, labeled, and packed, a suitable list 
