REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATE FOSSILS (PALEO- 

 ZOIC) IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



By C. D. Walcott, Honorary Curator. 



The main object of the year's work has been to prepare and place on 

 exhibition a representative series of fossils from each of the larger di- 

 visions of the Paleozoic group of strata. This was accomplished in 

 the preliminary arrangement of material in fifteen exhibition cases. 

 The labeling of the species is tentative, as the material has not been 

 critically reviewed owing to the desire to first nave it all recorded and 

 labeled as originally indentified by the various parties who have had 

 it in charge, either in private collections or in the collections of the Geo- 

 logical Surveys and those of the Smithsonian Institution. With few 

 exceptions all of the old collections have been thus labeled. 



There are now 10,955 specimens on exhibition, some of which will be 

 replaced by better specimens ; and new material will also be added from 

 time to time. 



The addition to the collections, as given in the list of accessions, 

 Section v of the Eeport, shows a good growth, but not in proportion to 

 the increase which will be secured from the Geological Survey the pres- 

 ent year. There are now over ten thousand specimens to be studied 

 and transferred. Over five thousand specimens were collected from 

 typical localities of the Lower Silurian System, in New York and Ver- 

 mont. As the Museum collections are very deficient in the fauna 

 from this system of rocks, the addition will be of great value. A series 

 of the specimens have, however, been placed in the exhibition cases, 

 although not yet transferred from the Geological Survey to the Museum. 



Dr. E. E. Gurley was absent in the field during the early part of the 

 year collecting fossils in Tennessee. After his return and recovery 

 from illness he worked on the collections until the close of the year. 



In connection with the work of the Geological Survey I was absent 

 from the city seven months of the year. When in the city my time 



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