62 BEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1924 



The greater amount of Doctor Bartsch's available time for re- 

 search has been given to the monographing of the mollusks of the 

 Mazatlantic faunal area. When completed, this work will cover 

 several volumes. It is largely based upon the collections obtained 

 by the American Museum expedition of the United States Fisheries 

 steamer Albatross to the Gulf of California, in 1911, on which ex- 

 pedition Doctor Bartsch was present and stressed the gathering of 

 material from this region. The work, however, is not confined to 

 this alone, but embraces all the material in the National Museum 

 collection, as well as that previously reported. He has completed 

 the monograph on the Philippine land shells of the genus H&mi- 

 glypta, and has nearly completed a monograph on the genera Hemi- 

 trichia, Hemiplecta, and Physota. The report on these genera will 

 furnish a volume to Bulletin 100 of " Contributions to the Biology 

 of the Philippine Archipelago and adjacent regions." The entire 

 collection of Cerions has been overhauled, and the classification and 

 nomenclature revised. Thomas S. Creighton of Monterey Circle, 

 Blue Eidge Summit, Pa., and Washington, D. C, has graciously 

 volunteered his help during the past winter and, with the help of 

 John A. Mirguet, has measured and counted the number of whorls 

 of each specimen of each race, when their number did not exceed 

 100. Where larger series were present, 100 specimens were treated. 

 This enormous mass of data will help materially in the preparation 

 of a monograph on this family. A. short paper was prepared on 

 "New mollusks from Santa Elena Bay, Ecuador," which will be 

 published in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 

 William B. Marshall, assistant curator, last year began a study of 

 the microscopical characters of the periostracum of the pearly fresh- 

 water mussels. This study has been continued during the present 

 year, and 'a paper has been prepared giving the results of the in- 

 vestigation. Difficulty in photographing microscopic details*has 

 delayed the submitting of the paper for publication. A paper on 

 New Uruguayan mollusks of the genus Corbicula, which was practi- 

 cally completed two years ago, has been somewhat revised and sub- 

 mitted for publication. New material of the South American fresh- 

 water gastropod genus Ghilina has yielded six new species and one 

 new subspecies which have been described in a paper entitled " New 

 species of mollusks of the genus Chilina" now in the hands of the 

 printer. At present Mr. Marshall is preparing a report on the 

 mussels gathered in the summer of 1907 in the Mississippi, Ohio, and 

 Tennessee rivers by Dr. Paul Bartsch while engaged on the pearl 

 mussel inquiry of the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Dr. 

 Charles Wardell Stiles, custodian of the helminthological collec- 

 tions, and Dr. B. H. Ransom, assistant custodian, have continued 

 their study of the parasites of man and other animals. Dr. T. Way- 



