1872.] 3 hee [Annual Report. 
port has been made upon the work, but I am able to say that 
about one-third of all the Univalves in the collection are 
finished, excluding all those previously mounted and labelled 
by Prof. Morse. Including these, about one-half are mounted 
and labelled, so that it is reasonable to expect that Dr. Carpen- 
ter, if he can be retained in our service, will be able to finish 
and catalogue the whole during the coming year. I have in- 
structed Dr. Carpenter to divide the duplicates into complete 
sets for exchange, and sets of types suitable for presentation 
to educational institutions. 
INSECTS. i 
The beginning of the present year was occupied by Mr. 
Sprague in completing the general collection of Coleoptera 
_ now contained in the railing cases of the upper gallery. In 
this were incorporated all the species from his own, Mr. San- 
born’s private collection, acd our miscellaneous collections. 
There were about one hundred species in all, including the: 
entire family of Scolytidz, which had to be worked out from 
Dr. Le Conte’s monograph. All of the Coleoptera have been 
placed in a safe condition, and with a little care can be so 
maintained. They number about 10,000 specimens, and are 
contained in the improved style of box adopted by the Coun- 
cil. The New England Collection is progressing rapidly, 
The Cicindelide are completed, and the Carabide nearly 
finished. 
“Many species of Coleoptera have been described in our 
publications, espécially the Journal, and Mr. Sprague has 
been, during a portion of his time, employed in making up a 
separate collection of species corresponding to these descrip- 
tions. This will be when completed an exceedingly valuable 
addition to our Museum, and should be followed in other de- 
partments. During this work he has found quite a number 
of Randall’s, and some of Say’s types, the latter especially hav- 
ing been considered lost. They are badly damaged, but still 
capable of identification, and therefore very valuable. The 
PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XIV. 12 NOVEMBER, 1872. 
