48 EEROET ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1885. 



portant iDJurious insects were also used. A catalogue of this exhibit 

 has been published under the direction of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, giving a full and detailed statement of its contents. 



The routine work of the department has consisted in answering let- 

 ters, and in acknowledging and determining accessions. A good deal 

 of work has also been done in the proper arrangement and classifying 

 of mat^'rial, particularly in the Micro-Lepidoptera and in the Lepidoptera 

 generally. In this work Prof. Eiley was assisted by Mr. Albert Koebele, 

 who was detailed from the Department of Agriculture for the purpose. 



The researches in entomology have been carried on chiefly in con- 

 nection with the work of the curator for the Department of Agriculture. 

 Some of the results have been published in the bulletins and publications 

 of that Department. 



{li) Department of Marine Invertebrates. 



Mr. Eichard Eathbun, curator, reports that the most important addi- 

 tion to this department was made by the TJ. S. Fish Commission steamer 

 Albatross in April, on her return from a three months' cruise in the Gulf 

 of Mexico, mainly spent in investigating the grouper and red-snapper 

 fishing grounds off our southern coast. The collection turned over to 

 the Museum was much larger and contained many more novelties than 

 that made by the Albatross in the same region and the Caribbean Sea 

 the previous year, and the unassorted materials filled nearly 1,000 pack- 

 ages of all sizes. Of peculiar interest was a series of several hundred 

 specimens of sea-lilies, mostly collected off Havana, Cuba, and repre- 

 senting the various stages of growth of two species of Fentacrinus and 

 one of RMzocrinus. Over thirty species of Echini or sea-urchins were 

 also contained in the collection, and other divisions of the Echinoder- 

 mata, as well as the Coelenterata, Crustacea, and Mollusca were very 

 fully represented. The bathymetrical range covered by these explora- 

 tions extended from the shore level to a depth of 1,467 fathoms. 



Prof. A. E. Verrill, of New Haven, has transferred to the Museum 

 over 1,000 packages of identified specimens resulting from the explora- 

 tions of the Fish Commission in former years. 



Mr. Henry Hemphill continued his collecting on the Florida coast, 

 begun the previous winter, until March of this year, and has contrib- 

 ut<?d several cases of specimens belonging to many gToups. 



The other principal accessions have been a fine series of the sea-urchins 

 and star-fishes of the west coast of Mexico, from Mr. A. Forrer; numer- 

 ous specimens of Pacific corals and echinoderms from Prof. E. E. C. 

 Steams, and the collection of marine invertebrates made by Lieut. 

 George M. Stoney, U. S. K., in Alaska, in 1884. 



Much progress has been made in the determination and cataloguing 

 of specimens. 



Prof. Walter Faxon has completed his studies of the collection of 



