xxxviii Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



ever, we sincerely hope to overcome this obstacle, as we have 

 others, with the kind and liberal assistance of our worth)'- 

 members. 



In 1900 the Academy purchased the Yandell Collection, 

 consisting of about ten thousand palaeontological specimens, 

 containing many of Yandell's own type specimens and of 

 those described by Shumard, whose collection is now in the 

 possession of Washington University. This collection is 

 especially rich in crinoids of the Devonian Age and many rare 

 types contained in it are described in the first volume of the 

 Transactions. The purchase of this collection by the Academy 

 placed in St. Louis two of the best fossil collections in exist- 

 ence to which students may well refer in their scientific re- 

 searches for typical specimens characteristic of this section of 

 the country. 



In 1901, through the efforts of Mrs. Wm. L. Bouton, the 

 Academy acquired a collection of 635 butterflies, mostly tropi- 

 cal, beautifully mounted on Denton tablets. 



When the Academy moved into its own home two years 

 ago — the magnificent gift of Mrs. William McMillan and her 

 son, Mr. William N. McMillan — new efforts were made to 

 again establish a museum of natural history worthy of the 

 name. The entire third floor of the spacious home has been 

 devoted to this purpose, and beside the Yandell and butterfly 

 collections, we now have on exhibition a fine collection of 

 mound builder pottery and some forty human skulls from the 

 mounds near New Madrid, Missouri; many minerals from all 

 parts of the United States ; a small collection of fossil leaves ; 

 quite a large number of small shells ; many specimens of the 

 different kinds of wood of our countr}^ ; a collection of twenty- 

 five meteorites, among which is a section of the Fort Pierre 

 Meteorite, which originally weighed thirty-five pounds and is 

 the gift of Mr. Charles P. Chouteau ; and a remnant of the 

 first museum — some fine fossiliferous slabs, mostly from St. 

 Louis limestone and of great value ; some of the fossils of the 

 Hay den Survey, containing the type of Titanotherium Prouii; 

 a good specimen of Bos cavifrons (a species of fossil ox) ; a 

 burnt brick from the ruins of Nineveh, described in Volume I. 



