1871.] SENATE— No. 327. 23 



stated in my last report that specimens of North American 

 Lepidoptera were a desideratum for the Museum. As Mr. J. Boll 

 is a very experienced collector, and a considerable part of his 

 Lepidoptera were raised either from the caterpillar or from the 

 chrysalis, the Museum possesses now a stock of unsurpassed 

 beauty even for Microlepidoptera. As a greater part of the 

 Texan Lepidoptera are to be found living in the Middle States 

 and in New England, the collection of Mr. Boll is a very 

 important addition, giving beautiful specimens for many species 

 before badly represented. Mr. Boll has added some remarks 

 about the plants on which the caterpillars were found, the time 

 of transformation, and similar notes of scientific value. The 

 Coleoptera collected by him are almost equally important for 

 the Museum. The Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, 

 Hemiptera, form, together with the addition of those collected 

 in Waco, Texas, by Mr. Belfrage, a valuable stock. The whole 

 collection of Mr.* Boll, made in a certain limited region and in 

 the course of only one year, affords from its unsurpassed beauty 

 of arrangement a very high testimonial to the collector's abil- 

 ity, and furnishes a model of the way in which insects should 

 be handled and arranged for a collection. 



The department has made great progress in European in- 

 sects. The Lepidoptera, by the beautiful specimens of Micros 

 from Messrs. Boll, Mann and Zeller, will nearly represent three- 

 fourths of the species known, perhaps a little more. The 

 Coleoptera, by the additions before enumerated, will give be- 

 tween two-thirds and one-half of the species enumerated in the 

 newest catalogue of European Coleoptera. I believe this to be 

 a very fair relation. 



As to the Crustacea, nothing has been done except the addi- 

 tions above related. The monograph of the Astacidas of North 

 America, by the curator, is published and now ready for dis- 

 tribution. In the meantime some new species have been re- 

 ceived by the Museum. 



Dr. Stimpson has completed the examination of the Decapoda 

 brachyura from the deep sea dredgings of Count Pourtales, and 

 his account of them has been published in the " Bulletin " ; 

 but the specimens themselves are not yet incorporated into the 

 collection. 



Our Annelids still remain in the hands of Professor Ehlers. 



