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9

for them.

The series for which exhibition cases are at present available will, without doubt, be completely arranged early in the course of the present year. 

Fair progress has been made in the determination of the of the mollusks of the southeastern coast of the United States and adjacent waters, for which, only at the present time have we begun to possess material which should make a thorough illustration of this area possible.

Another element of the routine work, which enters largely into the exertions required of the curator and his assistants is that of furnishing specialists, or students with names, information, objects having an important bearing on investigations in progress, or special collections for school or class purposes. This work is constant and the correspondence relating to it averages a page a day during the working days of the year. The curator has endeavored to assist, not merely those who had by contributions to the Museum or their scientific standing, an official claim upon his attention, or those to whose needs his attention had been formally called by the Museum authorities, but also all who have applied, whether considerate in their requests or otherwise, as sometimes happens. The character of this work can be judged by a reference to the list of Egressions in the