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additions to Period furniture collections, including a French cabinet of Louis XYI style purchased with the aid of donations from the Wellington Harbour Board and Mr. Raymond Eder. Technological material of historical interest also has been acquired by gift and loan. In the course of housing the Oldman material the whole of the foreign ethnological collections have been removed to new storage or prepared for exhibition. Entirely new display is planned in this as well as the Maori section, and Mr. Phillipps has had to supervise the work of several temporary assistants. In spite of having to undergo a serious operation involving the loss of one eye, he was able to continue some research on Maori houses and had published in the course of the year:— Carved Houses of Te Arawa," Part 2 (with J. M. McEwen). Dominion Museum Records in Ethnology, Vol. I, No. 2. An Introduction to the Study of Tattooing Chisels of the Maori." Dominion Museum Records in Ethnology, Vol. I, No. 3. " Maori Carving for Beginners." Dominion Museum Handbook. Entomological Section In the early part of the period the staff was engaged in the treatment of new material from field collecting and in routine cataloguing and rearrangement of the main collections. Identification services were maintained, lectures given to students, and natural history clubs supervised. After the resignations of Mr. R. R. Forster and Miss P. Wilton, Dr. J. T. Salmon supervised the installation of the collections, files, and books in their permanent quarters, and prior to his own resignation on 31st March gave some general direction to Miss N. Fitchett in the preparation of labels for the exhibition galleries. Dr. Salmon also supervised the planning and layout of a special exhibit of biology and museum work which was part of a science exhibition arranged in the Town Hall by the Wellington Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Several papers were prepared during the year, and the following were published : " Collembola from the Three Kings Islands," by Dr. J. T. Salmon. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. " The Sub-order Cyphopthalmi in New Zealand," by R. R. Forster. Dominion Museum Records in Entomology, Yol. I, No. 7. Molluscan and Marine Invertebrate Section With the exception of one gift from Mr. Cornwall of five cases of specimens, and one parcel received in exchange from South Africa, all of the new material was obtained by field collecting carried out mainly by the Conchologist, Mr. R. K. Dell. In addition to work in the Wellington district, he spent four days in the Marlborough Sounds, two weeks at Stewart Island, and two weeks at Caswell Sound as a member of the New Zealand - American Fiordland Expedition. Mr. A. C. O'Connor assisted the Conchologist with transport for several local trips. The greater part of the reference collection has been housed in one room, but some overflow spirit material and groups other than mollusca are on shelves in the basement. Mr. Dell has planned all the display for invertebrates other than insects and arachnids, and has completed three papers for publication. Vertebrate Collections The study collection of New Zealand fishes has been overhauled and checked by Mr. Phillipps, and systematic collecting of shore fishes in the vicinity of Wellington commenced by Mr. Dell and Mr. J. Moreland, of the Wanganui Museum. The New Zealand lizards have been checked by Mr. McCann, collections borrowed from other museums,

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