REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATES. 131 



have been submitted for publication in the Proceedings of the Museum 

 That upon the Madrepora has already been issued j the second one, 

 upon Porites and Synarwa, is accompanied by several figures of the ex- 

 ceedingly variable West Indian branching forms, Porites furcata and 

 P. clavaria. The old coral collection of the Museum consisted mainly of 

 the very valuable types described by Prof. James D. Dana, from the 

 collections of the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-'42, ami by 

 Prof. A. E. Yerrill, from the smaller collections made by the North 

 Pacific Exploring Expedition, 1853-'57. As explained in previous re- 

 ports, the specimens received from the former expedition did not come 

 into the possession of the Museum until some time after they had been 

 returned to the Government, and in the interval many specimens were 

 lost or badly injured, and numerous labels were displaced. About 

 twenty years ago Professor Yerrill made a partial revision of the col. 

 lection, but the manner in which it was stored at the time did not per- 

 mit of its being placed in satisfactory condition. Within the past few 

 years, however, nearly all the specimens have been remounted and ar- 

 ranged in the exhibition cases, where they may be regarded as safe for 

 all time, and are also convenient for reference. In view of this fact it 

 becomes a labor of great satisfaction to undertake a second revision of 

 the specimens in connection with the identification of similar materials 

 more recently received ; and as each group is gone over, it is proposed 

 to publish catalogues of the species, like those above mentioned. This 

 work has been rendered more easy by the discovery among Professor 

 YerrilPs papers during the past year of a copy of the coral catalogue of 

 the National Museum, the original having been destroyed probably in 

 the Smithsonian fire of 1865. Type specimens of all the species of 

 Madrepora described by Dana and Verrill have been found in the col- 

 lection, and of Porites the types of only one or two species are now 

 missing. Work upon the family Oculinidce had been nearly completed 

 at the close of the year. 



The collection of Star fishes belonging to the genus Asterias and al- 

 lied genera is also being revised in a similar manner, and a short paper 

 descriptive of the species of Heliaster, with photographic plates of all 

 the known forms, has already been offered for publication in the Pro- 

 ceedings. Stimpson's types of the species of Asterias are all preserved 

 in good condition, and have recently been supplemented by very large 

 collections from the western and northwestern coasts of North America. 



The elaboration of collections belonging to the Museum, or soon to 

 come into its possession, elsewhere than in Washington has been con- 

 tinued about as in former years. Professor Yerrill, of Yale College, 

 has retained general control of the Fish Commission invertebrates col- 

 lected on the Atlantic coast north of Cape Hatteras, but has been occu- 

 pied mainly with the study of the Moll u sea, Echinodermata, Coelente- 

 rata, and Annelidas, assisted by Mr. Sanderson Smith, Miss A. J. 

 Bush, and Miss C. E. Bush. Prof. S. I. Smith, of Yale College, has. 



