10 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
small collection of insects from British Guiana; a series of Coleop- 
tera and Lepidoptera (Geometridae) taken in the Black Moun- 
tains of North Carolina by Mr. William Beutenmiiller, and 
additional series of Rotifera prepared by Mr. C. F. Rousselet. 
The disastrous fire at Wellesley College in March 1914 destroyed 
the collection of Bryozoa obtained during the cruise of the ALBA- 
TROSS in the Eastern Pacific during the years 1904-1905. Miss 
Alice Robertson, who was engaged in the study of this material, 
lost her private library, together with all her notes and drawings, 
covering the work of many years. Regrettable as this loss must 
always be, it is not irreparable, as the results were unpublished, 
and new explorations, with renewed energies, will in time replace 
both collections and results. 
A second loss of material which can only be termed irreparable 
must also be recorded, namely, a very large part of the Comatulae 
obtained chiefly by the U. S. C. S. S. Biaxe during the several 
cruises of the years from 1877 to 1880. This valuable material, 
which was originally entrusted to Dr. P. H. Carpenter for study 
and report, was, owing to his death in 1891, sent by Mr. Agassiz 
to Dr. Cl. Hartlaub. Because of other duties, Dr. Hartlaub’s 
study of these specimens was subject to many interruptions, so that 
his results were not published until April, 1912, (Mem. M. C. Z. 
27, no. 4), though several of the plates had been prepared and 
printed many years earlier. After the issuance of Dr. Hartlaub’s 
Memoir, he was asked in September, 1912, to return the collections 
on which his report was based, and later, in November, 1912, the 
specimens of Actinometra echinoptera, listed on p. 416-417, 440- 
443 of his Memoir, were, with few exceptions, received. Several 
later appeals for the return of the balance of the collection have 
proved ineffective, Dr. Hartlaub stating that his return included 
all that he had any knowledge of, though he is wholly unable to 
offer any very satisfactory reason for this unfortunate state of 
affairs. It is especially to be regretted that Dr. Hartlaub, when 
forwarding his manuscript for publication, did not make known 
that the material entrusted to him and upon which his report was 
based was not in his possession. Had he done so, the description 
of his many new species would have been withheld, and future 
investigators would have been spared the annoyance and uncer- 
tainty that will arise from the loss of the types of his new species. 
The types of three of the five species of Antedon, described by 
Pourtalés and referred to by Hartlaub in his Memoir, are also 
unfortunately missing from the collection of the Museum, a loss 
without doubt due to Dr. Hartlaub’s neglect. 
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