596 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Dec, 



REPORT OF THE CURATORS. 



During the past year the Academy received from the Common- 

 wealth of Pennsylvania an appropriation of $75,000 for the purpose 

 of completing the alterations and additions to the building outlined 

 in the plans prepared several years ago, and intended to safe- 

 guard the institution against fire and to render more complete the 

 library, museum, and teaching plant. 



The alterations now under way comprise a brick casing to the 

 south wall of the old green stone building, the addition of two stories 

 to the connecting building on Nineteenth Street, containing the 

 local museum, and the addition of granite and terra-cotta trimmings 

 to make it uniform with the other buildings; the complete remodel- 

 ling of the old library hall for museum purposes, the walling off of the 

 herbarium rooms, recoating of the roof of the main museum and the 

 addition of new skylights; also the fireproofing of exposed iron work, 

 the substitution of concrete for wooden floors, improvement of the 

 old cellar, and the extension of the electric lighting and plumbing 

 systems. Metal cases are also to be provided in the hall formerly 

 used for the library. 



The work was begun in October, and is to be finished in time for 

 the Academy's Centennial Celebration, in March. The preparations 

 for the alterations involved the closing of the entire museum except 

 the Archaeological and Mineralogical and the Mammal floors and 

 the removal of most of the exhibits, as well as the entire Entomo- 

 logical Department to temporary quarters. It has therefore been 

 impossible to institute any improvements in the arrangement of 

 the exhibition collections, although certain important additions 

 have been made to them. 



A large amount of research and routine work has, however, been 

 accomplished by the members of the scientific staff, as outlined in 

 the accompanying special reports. In addition, Dr. J. Percy Moore 

 has continued his studies on the deep-sea Annelids dredged in the 

 North Pacific by expeditions of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, and the University of California, and on 

 collections made by several persons along the coast of California. 

 Descriptions of new forms have been published in the Proceedings 

 and cotypes and duplicates reserved for the Academy's collection. 

 The collections of worms have been cared for as usual and assistance 

 has been rendered to various individuals and institutions in the 

 identification of specimens and in giving information. 



