to8 Field Cm.iMr.i \n Misi.um — Rkports, Vol. i. 



the re arrangement of the Zoological halls. The Museum now has 

 two very handsome bird rooms and several groups and uniquely 

 mounted set pieces. The birch cases have all been mahoganized, 

 and new mahogany cases provided for a duck group, horn-bill group, 

 ostrich group, etc. New oological cases have been purchased, and 

 this material re-arranged and re-installed. Room 27 in this Depart- 

 ment contains North American species only, while Room 26 will con- 

 tain the remainder of the collection. The Department in a number 

 of directions has been noticeably improved. 



A New Department. — With the assent of the Curators whose 

 departments would be drawn upon for some of the material, a 

 new Department named, "The Department of Monographic 

 Collections," has been organized for the purpose of bringing 

 together for illustrating particular phases of culture, material 

 that had appropriate place in two or more of the departments 

 of the Museum, the general scheme being upon chronological 

 or evolutionarv lines. Two divisions have been established in this 

 Department, Printing and Graphic Arts, and Musical Instruments. 

 The purpose of the first division is to show the history, the evolution 

 and the practical processes of the arts employed in printing and illus- 

 tration. The subjects are treated from the modern point of view, 

 that is to say, as technical processes of the useful and fine 

 arts of today, dating back to the fourteenth century, previous 

 to which time they are purely of archeologic interest. The 

 section of Graphic Arts has a large field. The arrangement 

 of the specimens is according to the classification of Koehler, 

 that is, first the old processes, including wood engraving, 

 steel and copper line engraving, etching and mezzo-tint, and the 

 lithographic and substitute processes. The modern methods are to 

 be shown by themselves, and include all of the applications of pho- 

 tography to the graphic arts. In the line of older processes, several 

 interesting accessions have been made. A small fund has been 

 expended in prints that illustrate in an excellent manner the results 

 of the different older processes, both plain and in color. They are 

 at the same time good specimens of fine art, worthy to be placed upon 

 the walls of the Museum. In the line of the modern processes there 

 has been added recently an excellent series of specimens illustrating 

 the half tone process, and the Museum section of Photography is 

 now preparing a collection that will illustrate the history and develop- 

 ment of photography, which will be included under this group. In 

 the division of Musical Instruments, the installation at this time is far 

 from satisfactory, owing to the crowded condition of the un-related 



