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which have accumulated in the storage of the National Museum during the past six or eight years. As, for the uses of the student of paleontology and malacology it is absolutely necessary to have reference series of named and classified fossil and recent shells, so the Curator has felt that, whatever was done in other directions, his first duty in regard to the accumulated material was to put it into shape for reference. This has been steadily prosecuted, interrupted only by calls for the immediate determination of, or report upon, new material sent by the Director of the Museum or the Geological Survey at the request of their correspondents or collectors. This latter work has in all cases been attended to at once and there are no arrears in it. The classification of the material previously on hand has gone on steadily, but is always a slow process and, from our inability to procure skilled assistants, will probably be a matter of several years in accomplishment.

A large number of specimens of shells has been sent out in exchange or by way of donation from the National Museum during the period. A list of these sendings is appended following the list of