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Routine Work.

Many of the alcoholic collections in the Department have been gone over during the past month for the purpose of changing the alcohol the strength of which on most of the specimens has never been known, making their preservation uncertain. This work has been rendered possible by the recent distillation of large quantities of old alcohol in storage. The redistilled alcohol has an average strength of 75%, which is sufficient for most purposes. It is proposed to go through the entire collection in this manner, and the old alcohol from the bottles can be redistilled for future use. We are using this same alcohol for collections received and for collecting outfits sent out.

Four of the table cases with drawers have been temporarily moved into the West Hall from the bird hall for purposes of storage, and all the dried specimens recently stored in the bird hall, excepting a few corals, have