338 FitLD Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



in the prepaxatioo ol plant munmoheB for the several large nMmmai 

 f^roupet still unoompleted, the Olympic elk jrroiip, the bison RTOup, and 

 the capybara (roup. The taxidermists have finished the prdiminary 

 models and manikins for a single Alaska moose. A ^raffe and a hippo- 

 potamus are partly finished and practically ready for installation. The 

 entire collection of the Division of Ichthyolo^ and Herpetolofn^ was 

 packed diirinj: the year and is now ready for shipment to the new build- 

 inR. The Section of Taxidermy has prepared the a cceaa o ri es for a 

 numlxn- of small groups of local fishes and has been engaf;cd in mounting 

 certain fishes to fill in Raps in the s>'Tioptic scries, which it is plamied to 

 make comparatively complete. In the Di\nsion of Entomology over 

 three months at the bej^nning of the year were devoted to preparations 

 for moving. As the entomological collections can be packed rather 

 expeditiously and as it was unwise to render them inaccessible for any 

 great length of time, the members of this Division assisted in the prepa- 

 ration of other material for removal. A large part of the year has been 

 devoted to the making of two insect groups for a new case that was 

 designed and built to accommodate them. One of the groups will repre- 

 sent the most conspicuous and cliaracteristic insects of the sand dune 

 region at Miller, Indiana, and the other vnW show the well known and 

 destructive tomato worm in all its sta;;es and with wax reproductions 

 of its natural surroundings, etc. For specimens, casts of burrows, 

 leaves and other accessory material, local field trips were made whenever 

 they were considered necessary. While neither of the two groups has 

 yet been finu;hed, both have been so far advanced toward completion 

 that they will be ready for installation by the latter part of January. 

 The Division of Osteology p>acked fifteen exhibition cases with mounted 

 skeletons and eighty-nine crates and boxes of various sixes, such as those 

 for the whale, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and camel, including 

 small ones for small ligamcntary skeletons and skulls, which are now 

 ready for removal. The skeletons, numlxrring twenty-seven (mostly 

 Ugamentary), that could not be packed in the condition they were io, 

 were remounted. 



Thi n. w. Harris Public School ExrcNtiON of Ficlo Museum of natural History. 

 — At the dose ol the year there were 646 cases available for circulation 

 amon^ the public schools of Chicago. In view of the painstaking me- 

 thods employed in the taxidermy and accessory work of all zoological 

 groups, it is with pride and pleasure that attention is called to the fact 

 that of the total cases available for circulation, fifty-eight zoological 

 cases were completed during the past year. 



When plans were being formulated for the actual loaning of cases to 

 the pubUc schools, it was the opinion of a committee composed of school 



