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7

the steamers. The work of drying so much material has taken much time, but it will relieve us of a great deal of trouble in the future; and for the ordinary purpose of observation, dried specimens are often preferable to alcoholic ones. A sufficient number of specimens of each species dried, [[crossed-out]] for all possible requirements [[/crossed-out]] are, however, retained in alcohol.

All collections have been catalogued as soon as received, and sorted, whether identified or not, and in this manner, a continuous record is kept of the approximate numbers of specimens on hand, their origin and description. For identified collections, the card catalogues have been continued to permit of a systematic record of species being kept. A statement of the amount of cataloguing done during the past six months is given further on  The other records of the department for the previous five years has also been put in as complete order as was possible considering the fact that they are contained on separate sheets. It is proposed to transfer all that are permanent value to book form as soon as time will allow.

All of the objects of pottery remaining in the invertebrate exhibition hall, except the large center piece, were removed in March, giving us some additional room, which has long been much needed for storage. This hall was kept closed to the public until the latter part of June, and was used as a general storage and work room, especially for the dried collections, all of which were brought in from the floor of the bird hall, in order to concentrate them and render them more convenient for reference. Four of the standard half-unit