DEPARTMENT OF MOLLllSKS. 215 



Having noticed in the newspapers that an excitement relative to fresh- 

 water pearl- mussels prevailed in many parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illi- 

 nois, and the Upper Mississippi drainage area, Dr. Stearns prepared a 

 typewritten circular which was sent to various parties in the region, 

 requesting specimens of mussels from which pearls had been obtained. 

 In response to this, several parcels of shells were forwarded to the Mu- 

 seum and are now awaiting identification, after which Dr. Stearns will 

 prepare a review of the subject with such comments as it may seem to 

 require. 



The collectors of the Department of Agriculture, under the direction 

 of Dr. 0. Hart Merriatu, have forwarded several interesting packages of 

 shells which have been studied by Dr. Stearns with the result of finding 

 several new things. The manuscript relating to the latter is now in the 

 hands of the printer. An allotment for making drawings of interesting 

 or new forms of shells was granted at the beginning of the year, at the 

 suggestion of the Assistant Secretary. Excellent use has been made 

 of it, admirable drawings of many critical, little known, or uufigured 

 species being now in our hands. These may be regarded as a beginning 

 toward an iconography, which, it is to be hoped, may eventually include 

 all our species. 



The elimination of duplicates has proceeded pari passu with the 

 revision of the general collection and the incorporation of new mate- 

 rial. These duplicates have been in large part boxed, numbered, 

 labeled, and stamped, so as to be in a state for storage until they can 

 be distributed or put in sets for educational purposes, our force being 

 entirely inadequate at present to any such undertaking. With the 

 assistance of Mr. Greegor, a beginning has been made in sectioning 

 and preparing for exhibition a certain number of large forms, so as to 

 exhibit their internal formation or subsurface coloration. 



A pathologic series has also been started by Dr. Stearns to exhibit 

 the anomalies of structure occasionally presented by these animals. 



LIBRARY. 



The donation of valuable books, germane to the study of mollusks, 

 by the heirs of the late Dr. Isaac Lea, though doubtless referred to in 

 the report of the Librarian, deserves special mention here, as also the 

 donation by the Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, of a 

 nearly complete copy of Kiener's " Iconographie," a work totally absent 

 from all libraries accessible in Washington, and containing some of the 

 finest illustrations of shells ever puolished. 



SPECIAL RESEARCHES. 



In section iv of the Report will be found the bibliographical notices 

 of papers published by the curator, adjunct curator, and others inter- 

 ested in the conchological w..rk of the Museum. 



