REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATE FOSSILS (MESOZOIC) 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



By Dr. C. A. White, Honorary Curator. 



The accessions to the collections, other than the material transferred 

 from the U. S. Geological Survey to the Museum, have been compar- 

 atively few, the most important being accession 20525, part of the 

 valuable collection of the late Dr. Isaac Lea. This accession has not 

 yet been arranged or entered on the catalogue. It contains several 

 hundred excellent specimens representing, perhaps, three hundred 

 species. The fossils are mostly European, and many genera and 

 species characteristic of the European Mesozoic are embraced in this 

 collection. 



Most of the time of the honorary curator and his assistant, Mr. C. 

 B. Boyle, has been devoted to the work of the U. S. Geological Survey, 

 both being connected with that bureau. Much work has been done, 

 however, in the way of identification of material sent in by different 

 persons interested in paleontology, and many letters have been written 

 in answer to inquiries addressed directly to the Honorary Curator. 



A card catalogue of the collections has been made, giving the name, 

 number, and location in the collections of all the identified specimens. 

 The usefulness of this catalogue will depend largely upon a permanent 

 arrangement of the collections. 



No material has yet been put on exhibition, but a good representa- 

 tion of the Mesozoic formations of North America can be put out as 

 soon as exhibition cases are provided. 



The published works of the honorary curator have been based 

 mostly on material collected by himself and assistants, but the collec- 

 tions of the Museum have been frequently and advantageously con- 

 sulted. In the Bibliography (section iv) will be found a list of papers 

 by the curator which have been published during the year. The fol- 

 lowing papers were also written, but have not yet been published: 



Bulletin 51, U. S. Geological Survey, embracing five articles: 



(1) New Fossil MoUusca from the Chico-Tejon series of California. 



(2) On the occurrence of equivalents of the Chico-Tejon series in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington Territory. 



(3) Cretaceous Fossils from the Vancouver Island region. 



(4) The Molluscan Fauna of the Puget Group. 



(5) Mesozoic Mollusca from the southern coast of the Alaskan Peninsula, 



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