284  Field  Columbian  Museum — Reports,  Vol.  i. 
improvements  have  been  made,  and  every  facility  given  for  carrying 
out  the  plans  outlined  by  the  Curator  of  that  department.  Ten  large 
air-tight  tin  cases  have  been  added,  in  which  duplicates  may  be 
kept  secure  from  dust  in  an  atmosphere  of  carbon  bi-sulphide. 
These  cases  are  divided  into  fifteen  compartments,  and  contain  at 
the  present  the  large  duplicate  collection  of  Yucatan  plants  just 
acquired,  which  are  being  rapidly  arranged  for  distribution  in 
exchange  with  several  institutions  in  this  country  and  Europe.  In 
his  report  Mr.  Millspaugh  says:  "In  these  cases  the  plants  are 
arranged  on  sheets  of  light  manilla  paper,  plainly  numbered,  and  the 
fascicle  of  each  number  placed  in  a  folded  sheet  used  as  a  genus 
cover.  These  are  arranged  consecutively,  and  from  them  a  plant  of 
any  special  number,  or  a  number  of  plants  of  any  special  number, 
century,  or  set,  can  be  quickly  assembled  for  distribution  at  any 
time,  meanwhile  being  thoroughly  protected  from  insect  depreda- 
tions. Eighteen  similar  tin  cases,  having  chiefly  racks  and  tin  trays 
instead  of  compartments,  have  been  placed  in  the  herbarium  for  the 
storage  of  seeds,  fruits,  fungi,  and  other  material  which  needs 
protection  from  pests.  These,  like  the  cases  previously  mentioned, 
can  be  bi-sulphided  at  any  time.  The  capacity  for  storage  of 
material  in  a  manner  convenient  for  quick  and  ready  reference  has 
been  considerably  augmented  by  the  original  cases  that  contain 
the  Bebb  herbarium,  fourteen  in  all."  With  reference  to  the  meth- 
ods of  the  herbarium,  the  Curator,  in  a  most  interesting  report,  says  : 
"Upon  the  arrival  of  a  package  of  plants  destined  for  the  herbarium,, 
an  accession  card  is  filled  out  and  sent  to  the  Recorder  of  the 
Museum.  This  card  states  from  whom  the  package  was  received, 
how  it  was  acquired  by  the  Museum,  the  collector's  name,  the  date 
of  the  collection,  locality,  and  number  of  specimens  contained.  The 
plants  are  then  poisoned  and  laid  out  upon  mounting  sheets,  to  which 
labels  are  immediately  attached.  These  sheets  are  placed  in  boxes 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  plants  cannot  possibly  shift  or  mix,  and  are 
turned  over  for  mounting.  After  mounting,  each  sheet  is  impressed 
with  the  seal  of  the  herbarium,  which  includes  a  space  for  the  con- 
secutive catalogue  number  of  the  department.  The  collection  is  then 
arranged  in  the  order  of  the  collector's  numbers,  each  species  is 
entered  in  the  continuous  inventory  book  or  department  catalogue, 
and  the  catalogue  number  of  each  sheet  is  written  in  the  seal,  after 
which  the  sheets  are  distributed  to  their  proper  genera  or  orders  in 
the  herbarium.  Thus  a  complete  record  of  all  species,  localities,  col- 
lectors, and  collections  is  always  ready  at  hand  for  reference,  but  any 
collection  can  be  reassembled  for  reference  as  a  whole  by  monograph- 
