i8 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. Ill, 



given to cataloguing, and a card catalogue of the general collection 

 is almost completed. The identification and cataloguing of the 

 various collections in the divisions of Ichthyology and Herpetology 

 has been continued, bringing this phase of the work nearly up-to- 

 date. The services of one of the collectors has been thus employed. 

 The year's work in the Museum on catalogues and inventories is 

 shown in detail below: 



Department of Anthropology, 

 Department of Botany, 

 Department of Geology, 

 Department of Zoology, 



The Library 



Section of Photography, 



Accessions. — The most important accessions in the Department 

 of Anthropology during the year have been acquired by purchase ; 

 the largest being a collection of several thousand objects from certain 

 islands of the South Pacific, purchased from a dealer in Hamburg. A 

 small collection, numbering about one thousand objects, was also 

 purchased, most of the specimens representing the ethnology of the 

 Polynesian Islands, and Benin, Africa. The benefaction of Mr. 

 Robert F. Cummings made possible the purchase of two small, but 

 exceedingly interesting, ethnological collections from the Philippine 

 Islands. Either directly or indirectly, a considerable amount of material 

 has been obtained through Museum expeditions. Such is the material 

 from the Cheyenne, collected by Mr. James Mooney; from certain 

 tribes of the Northwest Coast, collected by Dr. C. F. Xewcombe; 

 from Borneo, collected by Mr. Alleyne Ireland ; from the Pawnee, 

 collected by the Curator; and a large collection from the Mission 

 Indians of Southern California, collected by the Assistant Curator of 

 Archaeology. Among the important gifts to the Department during 

 the year are those of Mr. Edward E. Ayer from Mexico, India, and the 

 Philippine Islands; from Mr. Martin A. Ryerson, an excellent collec- 

 tion of Swiss Lake relics, and a very interesting ancient Roman silver 

 service from Mrs. Chauncey J. Blair. 



In the Department of Botany, the herbarium has been augmented 

 during the past year by several important collections. Some of the 



♦This department does not use a card catalogue. 



