REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MOLLUSKS IN THE U. S. NATIONAL 



MUSEUM, 1885. 



By William Healey Dall, Honorary Curator. 



The force of the Department of Mollusks, besides the curator, con- 

 sists of Dr. E. E. C. Stearns, U. S. Geological Survey, adjunct curator, 

 Mr. J. B. Crowe, and Miss Agnes Nicholson, clerical assistants, whose 

 fidelity to the work has enabled the department to make satisfactory 

 progress daring the half year. 



ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION. 



The mass of the additions to the collection is detailed in the list of 

 accessions forming Part IV of this report, both as regards character and 

 number of specimens. 



The accessions of exceptional interest or importance are not numer- 

 ous, but perhaps make up for their small number in other ways. 



We have been indebted to Dr. Isaac Lea for a valuable and interest- 

 ing series of land shells, especially some of particular beauty from the 

 Philippine Islands. Dr. Lea has also presented some American and 

 exotic fresh-water shells which will form a welcome addition to the col- 

 lection. 



Mr. Uchimura, of Japan, presented a small lot of Japanese shells con- 

 taining several great rarities from that region. This is the most valu- 

 able collection of its size which the Museum has received for a long 

 time. 



The concluding portions of the Jeffreys collection have be^in received 

 from the executor of the estate of the late Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys. The ex- 

 traordinary value of this collection has been before referred to. In Brit- 

 ish shells and especially historical type specimens it stands unrivaled. 

 With the exception of the British Museum series, no other collection 

 approaches it in its deep-sea material, much of which is and will always 

 remain practically unique. For North Atlantic, North European, and 

 Arctic shells generally, it is conceded to be the finest single collection 

 extant. Joined with the Arctic material already collected by American 

 explorers, it will form a representation of the Polar Mollusk fauna, 

 which can have no superior, and for many years probably no equal. 



The collections of Mr. Henry Hemphill in Florida have been continued 



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