212 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



as soon as practicable. Few of the exhibits of the biological depart- 

 ments of the Museum seem to have the attractiveness for the general 

 public possessed by shells, and the small exhibit hitherto made and 

 lately necessarily disturbed, has attracted considerable attention. 



GENERAL OPERATIONS. 



The general operations of the Department during the past year, as in 

 previous years, have consisted (1) in the determination, labeling, proper 

 assorting and registration of material, old and new ; and (2) in the 

 preparation of special reports on Government collections made by other 

 branches of the Executive Departments, as the U. S. Fish Commission, 

 the Navy, the Eevenue Marine, the Department of Agriculture, and 

 special expeditions. 



As will be seen in the special table showing the number of registra- 

 tions, they have amounted to about the same as in the year preceding, 

 but it is proper to observe that a much greater amount of systematiz- 

 ing of the registered material has gone on than for many years, now 

 that Mr. Simpson, with his knowledge of the subject, has been availa- 

 ble. Another six months will see a vast clearance of material which 

 has been almost but not quite ready for incorporation in the general 

 series, but such steps in our progress make no changes on the registers. 



In the second class of work, a preliminary report on the collections 

 made during the voyage of the Albatross to California has been made 

 and printed. A report on the collections made on the Eclipse Expedition 

 of 1890 is nearly ready, and a large number of reports on collections 

 submitted for examination have been attended to during the year. 



The unregistered collections of tertiary fossils have been cleaned and 

 arranged by Mr. Burns, so that they are ready for study at any time 

 and also for reference. A report has been in progress by the curator 

 on the PlioMiocene Mollusk fauna of Florida, of which the first part 

 is now being printed by the Wagner Free Institute of Science in Phil- 

 adelphia, which has cooperated in the work. 



ACCESSIONS DURING THE YEAR. 



The number of accessions for the year is 87. In the preceding year 

 the number was 46. The amount of material received in toto during 

 the year is, however, considerably less than during last year, since in 

 1889 were included the collections made by the Albatross on her voyage 

 from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Francisco, which, under one accession 

 number, included a multitude of specimens. It is fortunate for the 

 curator that the Department of Mollusks does not receive such an ac- 

 cession every year, since, if it did, there would be no hope of overcom- 

 ing the arrears of the last 15 years. 



None of the collections represented by the accessions of the year 

 were particularly valuable, while on the other hand none, or very few, 

 were without interest, The total number of specimens received will 



