Curator's Report. 



In the present report for 1909, we are endeavoring to present 

 a subject that will be on the line of education, as in the previous 

 reports. It is a subject that every person in New Jersey should 

 be interested in and study. It follows the Report on Birds, as 

 they are the destroyers of the insects. 



Unless the people of New Jersey study insects and how to 

 destroy them, it will cost the State many thousand dollars to 

 prevent the destruction of the crops, trees, etc. 



Massachusetts has spent, it is said, over a million dollars in 

 trying- to destroy two imported insects, the Gypsy Moth and 

 the Brown-Tail Moth, which are sure to invade New Jersey as 

 they have every New England State. 



In selecting Prof. John B. Smith, of the New Jersey Experi- 

 mental Station, at Rutgers College, we know no better man in 

 the United States could have been procured. He has a reputation 

 as one of the best entomologists, not only in this country, but in 

 Europe. His success is known to every one. We feel sure that 

 no former report of the State Museum has done more good than 

 this one will do. 



THE NEEDS OF THE MUSEUM. 



The one thing we need most is more room. It is impossible 

 to display many of our specimens, and those that are on exhibi- 

 tion are so crowded that they are not shown to advantage, 

 while others cannot be displayed. Our exhibits of school work 

 cannot be seen to any advantage on account of a proper place to 

 install them. There should be rooms especially for this depart- 

 ment of the Museum, where it could be made one of the most 

 interesting and educational parts of the whole Museum. There 

 is, in this department, work that was exhibited at seven great 



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