REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1925 57 



specimens from the alcoholic to the dry series. All of the material 

 received in current accessions has been determined and added to 

 the study collections. The curator has no assistant of any kind, 

 and much of his time is necessarily consumed in typewriting, cata- 

 loguing, and similar occupations. Lack of available space for lay- 

 ing our specimens for comparison and of shelf room for the neces- 

 sary books is also a great handicap. The present condition of the 

 collections is better than it was last year. 



Curatorial work in connection with the upkeep and increase of 

 the National Herbarium has continued satisfactorily during the 

 past year, considering the serious restrictions imposed by lack of 

 space and the fact 'that from September to December, inclusive, 

 the replacement of the plaster ceiling by metal, with attendant dust 

 and disorder, made curatorial work extremely difficult. As oppor- 

 tunity offered, Dr. W. A. Maxon rearranged a considerable part 

 of the fern collection, in connection with his studies of tropical 

 American species and the distribution of new material into the 

 herbarium. Mr. Standley has identified and distributed a large num- 

 ber of Mexican and Central American phanerogams; Mr. Killop 

 has distributed upwards of 8,000 mounted specimens of South 

 American phanerogams, and Mr. Leonard a smaller number of West 

 Indian specimens. 



Mr. Standley is engaged in the determination of the remaining 

 specimens of his recent collections in Panama and Central America, 

 all of which have been mounted. Of material from South America 

 about 3,000 mounted and identified specimens of Compositae and 

 Rubiaceae are ready for distribution into the herbarium, and about 

 4,000 in many other families await identification before being incor- 

 porated. Of miscellaneous mounted specimens that have been iden- 

 tified, there are some 8,000 chiefly from the United States and the 

 Old World, but the congestion in the herbarium is now so great 

 that incorporation of this material has not been attempted. The 

 condition of the cryptogamic herbarium remains substantially as 

 reported last year. Mr. Leonard has given some attention to the 

 mosses, of which a very large number have been incorporated in 

 recent years. The collections of hepaticae, algae, and fungi are 

 seriously in need of attention, if only that recent material may be 

 added ; but the special curatorial assistance required for their upkeep 

 has not been available, though urged repeatedly in recent reports. 

 Much of the unmounted material on hand a year ago has since been 

 prepared. Also, the accumulation of glued specimens has been 

 strapped by contract, in addition to 20,755 specimens that have been 

 glued during the year. Besides the 30,176 glued specimens thus 

 strapped approximately 12,368 have been mounted wholly by adhe- 



