48 



Material for study has been loaned to Dr. W. Giesbrecht of 

 Naples, Dr. H. J. Hansen of Copenhagen, and Miss M. J. Rath- 

 bun of the U. S. National Museum in Washington. A set of 

 deep-sea Crustacea from the "Albatross" Expedition of 1891 

 lias been presented, with the permission of Colonel Marshall 

 McDonald, U. S. Fish Commisioner, to Dr. Carl Chun of Breslau, 

 and another to Oxford University. 



Our collections have been visited by several specialists during 

 the year just closed. Professor C. E. Nutting, in particular, 

 spent considerable time in examining the Hydroids, in view of 

 a monographic treatment of the Hydroids of the West Indian 

 seas. Miss M. J. Rath bun spent two weeks in studying the Crus- 

 tacea, her special purpose being a critical examination of A. Milne 

 Edwards's types of West Indian Brachyura. 



The work in the Exhibition Rooms of the Museum has been 

 seriously delayed through failure to procure slate tablets of a 

 suitable quality to replace the old and faded cardboards. In the 

 mean time Miss Hannah Clark has employed a part of her time in 

 restoring faded and discolored labels, thereby improving in a 

 marked degree the appearance of some of the older exhibition col- 

 lections. Dr. R. T. Jackson has been of great assistance to me in 

 selecting certain fossil species for the systematic collections. The 

 Department has especially profited by the good will of Dr. W. 

 McM. Wood worth, who has selected and artfully prepared a collec- 

 tion of Worms for exhibition, more particularly for the Atlantic 

 and Systematic Rooms. 



A good deal of time was spent last winter in reviewing the 

 alcoholic collections stored in the basement, which in some de- 

 partments, from lack of systematic arrangement and a plain 

 system of labelling, were in danger of becoming inaccessible. 



The condition of the Conchological Collection has been a source 

 of anxiety to me ever since it was placed in my charge. This is 

 probably one of the largest collections of shells in the country, 

 and has acquired an especial value from the number of types it 

 contains, and from the fact that almost all of the specimens are 

 identified. The determination of such a large number of shells 

 represents a vast amount of labor bestowed upon the collection in 

 the past by Mr. J. G. Anthony and Professor C. E. Hamlin. But 

 the labors of both of these conchologists were closed by death be- 

 fore anything like a final systematic arrangement of the collection 



