Recent and Extinct Fishes 73 



across the top of the case. A subsidiary group will show lesser 

 characteristically pelagic fishes. 



As usual there have been additions in the cases of fishes 

 arranged systematically and many labels have been printed, so 

 that the entire exhibition of fishes is now adequately supplied 

 with permanent labels. 



The installation of a new system of racks for the alcoholic 

 collections necessitated the rearrangement of this entire ma- 

 terial (more than 7,000 separately catalogued speci- 



§, tu .? y . mens) and corresponding revision of the reference 

 Collections J _,,. r , f ° . . 



catalogue. This task has been completed, but certain 



improvements, notably in ventilation and lighting, will have to 



be made in the storage room before the collection reaches its 



maximum availability for study. 



Owing to war conditions, the department has not attempted 

 to carry on field work during the past year. It should be men- 

 tioned, however, that, during a short trip to Japan 

 in the spring, Dr. Dean was able to purchase sev- 

 eral specimens of especial value to the department, and that Dr. 

 Eastman, who left for South America in June primarily in the 

 interests of the Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology, has 

 also been making collections of fishes as opportunity offered. 



In late March the Assistant Curator took advantage of an 

 offer to accompany Mr. Herman Armour Nichols of Chicago on 

 a three weeks' cruise in southern Florida, as this afforded him 

 the opportunity to further investigate certain problems relating 

 to Ground Sharks (Car char hinus) in which the department 

 became interested during the preceding summer. This short 

 trip proved well worth while, and its results have been pub- 

 lished in the Museum Bulletin. 



The systematic report on the fresh-water fishes of the Congo 

 Expedition, by Mr. John Treadwell Nichols and Mr. Ludlow 

 Griscom, appeared in the Bulletin. It is doubtless 

 P^Hc^t? 3nd ^ e most i m P ortant paper on a collection of Afri- 

 can fishes ever published. This marks the com- 

 pletion of the necessary initial systematic study of the material, 

 and it is hoped that a short paper, published later by Dr. East- 



