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search through the records and the literature, a work involving considerable labor and consuming much time, though the results have well paid for the trouble.  The greatest need of the collection, however, is additional room, as the great majority of the specimens with the present facilities are wholly inaccessible, while the handling of those more or less accessible is attended with difficulty and expose is then to great danger of being destroyed or lost.  The office of the department is now so crowded, that a great many of the largest and most valuable specimens have to be placed on the floor leaving but little room for the occupants to move