REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES 

 IN THE U. S, NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



By Eichard Kathbun, Honorary Curator. 



The curator is able to report increased activity in his Department 

 during the past year, resulting chiefly from the appointment of an 

 assistant curator, whose time belongs exclusively to the Museum. Mr. 

 James E. Benedict, who was assigned to this position in January last, 

 is especially well qualified for the duties of the office, having served for 

 several years as chief naturalist on the Fish Commission steamer Alba- 

 tross. He is best known as an authority on marine annelids, but since 

 he entered the service of the Museum he has turned his attention to the 

 higher groups of crustaceans, on which he has already accomplished 

 much original work. The exhibition hall remains as it was a year ago, 

 except for the addition of several storage-cases, which will serve as the 

 bases for display cases as soon as the alterations to the west hall have 

 been completed. The gallery in the main hall belonging to this depart- 

 ment has been transformed, so far as possible, into a convenient labora- 

 tory, where the overhauling of collections is principally carried on. 

 The department is, however, still cramped for storage-room for both 

 dried and alcoholic specimens, and consequently the working space is 

 altogether too small. The west basement room has been set apart for 

 the arrangement of alcoholic type collections for convenience in mak- 

 ing identifications, and several of the larger groups are now represented 

 there. The general alcoholic collections in the main storage-room have 

 been maintained in good condition, and the same can be said of all the 

 material in the charge of this department. The accessions have been 

 greater in number and of more importance than during 1888-'89, but the 

 amount of material received has been much less than when the Fish 

 Commission collections were transferred directly to the Museum from 

 the steamers and other field parties. 



There has been the customary amount of cleaning, replenishing of 

 alcohol, sorting of collections, labeling, and cataloguing, as described 

 further on. The assistant curator has several reports in progress 

 based upon his studies of the Crustacea, and some of the recent addi- 

 tions among the echinoderrns have been examined by the curator. 

 There are several collaborators, outside of the Museum staff, at work 



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