REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1924 77 



species secured from Prof. A. Pelloux, Genoa, and Prof. Henri 

 Buttgenbach, Brussels, Belgium; a type specimen of chlorophoeni- 

 cite and other Franklin Furnace minerals from E. B. Gage, Trenton, 

 N. J.; and a number of Canadian types from the Royal Ontario 

 Museum of Mineralogy. 



A quantity of the rare mineral serendibite from an American 

 locality, which has proved of great value as exchange material, was 

 transferred by the United States Geological Survey, and three lots, 

 including anhydrite from Germany, anglesite from Mexico, and 

 tourmaline with associated minerals from Maine, were acquired by 

 purchase. 



The acquisitions to the gem collection through the Frances Lea 

 Chamberlain fund are comprised in 12 accessions representing 51 

 objects. These include an Australian so-called black opal, weighing 

 24.3 carats; a diamond of a peculiar green-yellow color; 2 large cut 

 gems of kunzite; 4 Madagascar beryls, pink, golden, and golden- 

 green; 6 zircons, colorless and various shades of brown; 1 rare gem 

 of willemite; 15 Chinese carvings, chiefly in pendant form, of jade, 

 amethyst, turquoise, rock crystal, chalcedony, and amber; and a 

 small collection of 21 stones cut from pebbles picked up in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia. Individual contributions to this collection con- 

 sist of a necklace of coral from H. P. Petersen and a large cut' citrine 

 quartz deposited by Benjamin Butler Cain, jr. 



An accession of great importance to the study collections is the 

 petrographic reference series of rocks. This is an assemblage of all 

 of the rocks and many of the rock- forming minerals that have been 

 analyzed and the subject of special investigation by the United States 

 Geological Survey petrographers and others. It consists of approxi- 

 mately 2,000 hand specimens, domestic and foreign, with thin sec- 

 tions, and is accompanied by card catalogues giving the detailed rec- 

 ords. It is, without doubt, the most important collection of rocks, 

 from a scientific standpoint, now in existence. For some years, ow- 

 ing to lack of space at the Geological Survey, it has been stored and 

 hence not available. For this reason it was decided to transfer it to 

 the National Museum where it now occupies 61 standard drawers 

 in a well-lighted room, and is readily accessible to all properly ac- 

 credited students. 



The Edgar E. Teller geological library and collection of over 

 100,000 specimens of Paleozoic fossils, received through the Smith- 

 sonian Institution as a gift from Mrs. Teller in memory of her hus- 

 band, is the most valuable accession to the division of invertebrate 

 paleontology for many years. In, addition to a most extensive series 

 of Devonian fishes from Wisconsin, it contains numerous beautifully 

 preserved and well prepared invertebrates from localities which are 

 in many cases exhausted, and which were poorly represented in the 



