Viewing page 2 of 25

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

General Review of the Year's Work.

During the past year the Curator has been able to give less attention than usual to the affairs of this department, in consequence of his increased duties in connection with the Fish Commission. The repairs in progress during most of the year at the western end of the Smithsonian Institution, where all the specimens under his charge are stored, have also tended to interfere with the work upon collections, and necessitated the closing of the exhibition hall to the public. The accessions have been fewer in number, and the quantity of material received has been much less than for several years past. This was due in large part to the fact that comparatively few explorations were made by the Fish Commission during the spring and summer, and that since the re-organization of the latter bureau in the winter, the collections of marine invertebrates made by the field parties have been retained by the Commission pending their examination and description. The current work of the department has, however, been kept up and the collections have