REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATE FOSSILS (MESOZOIC) 

 IN THE U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM *FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 

 1886. 



By 0. A. White, Honorary Curator. 



The principal additions which have been made to the collections of 

 Mcsozoic invertebrates during the past year are those which have been 

 sent to the Museum by the U. S. Geological Survey. Only a small part 

 of these have been registered in the records of the Museum ; all the 

 others having been cleansed, ticketed, and placed in cases in the north 

 balcony of the Smithsonian Building. Our records show tha*t eight 

 accessions have been received through the Museum, all but two of 

 which are small and unimportant. One of these is a small lot of Creta- 

 ceous fossils from Mexico, all new species, the gift of Senor Jos6 G. 

 Aguilera, of the Mexican Geographical and Exploring Commission. 



The other is a collection of about two hundred specimens, represent- 

 ing about seventy species, from M. Charpy, Director of the Museum at 

 Annecy, Ilaute-Savoy, France. They are of Jurassic and lower Creta- 

 ceous age. 



The work of arranging and classifying the collections of the Museum 

 lias progressed during the year, and has reached a condition in which 

 the collections are all accessible for convenient study, but nothing has 

 been done with reference to their installation, or their separation into 

 reserve, exhibition and exchange series. 



The work of arranging and classifying has embraced the numerous 

 collections which have been for many years in possession of the Mu- 

 seum, some of which had been damaged and their labels destroyed by 

 the fire which occurred in the Smithsonian Building many years ago. 



To identify and arrange these collections has required much labor. 

 Each specimen has undergone the process of identification, cleansing, 

 recording upon the Museum register, being numbered in paint, labelled, 

 and finally arranged in trays, drawers, and cases suitable for conven- 

 ient reference. All of this has been done, as far as possible, in accord- 

 ance with the prescribed usages of the Museum, but often, in the absence 

 of precedent, it has been found necessary to devise new methods of ar- 



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