68 Report of the President 



irreplaceable type material, and, by reason of the reputation the 

 Museum is gaining among entomologists as a place where 

 types are well cared for, we may expect a substantial increase 

 in the number of type specimens entrusted to our keeping. It 

 is not practicable to catalogue the individual specimens in a 

 large entomological collection, except in the case of types or 

 specimens which are especially important for some other 

 reason. Therefore, without going to an unjustifiable expense 

 in bookkeeping, a curator of insects rarely knows, even ap- 

 proximately, how many specimens there are in the general col- 

 lection. However, during the past year an approximate census 

 of certain parts of our collections was made. According to 

 this census, we have in the general collection about 100,000 

 mounted specimens of ants, bees, wasps, etc. ; 60,000 flies ; 220,- 

 000 beetles ; 50,000 Hemiptera ; and 35,000 of the lower orders ; 

 making a total, as far as these are concerned, of nearly half a 

 million specimens. However, this total does not include our 

 large collection of butterflies and moths, the specimens on ex- 

 hibition, the material in alcohol, or about 20,000 specimens 

 which we have on deposit but which do not actually belong to 

 the Museum. The grand total is certainly well over a million 

 specimens of insects and spiders, probably representing at least 

 forty or fifty thousand species. All these specimens are now 

 as fully labeled as the data accompanying them when they were 

 obtained will permit. 



There has been no change in the regular entomological staff. 

 Mr. H. G. Barber was employed for a month to work on the 

 collection of Hemiptera. Dr. J. Bequaert has assisted with 

 the collection of Congo wasps and ants. 



In compliance with the policy adopted by the Museum in 

 general, there have been no extensive field trips in the past 

 year. During July and August, Mr. Miner spent 

 ie or six weeks at the Marine Biological Laboratory 

 in Woods Hole, Mass. He was accompanied by Messrs. Her- 

 man Mueller, Chris E. Olsen and Show Shimotori of the model- 

 ing staff, and through the courtesy of Director Frank R. Lillie 

 and Assistant Director Gilman A. Drew, succeeded in obtain- 

 ing many studies of marine life for use in connection with the 



