17;-) 



branch of the Survey w nk has been executed, and the publications 

 on this subject are regarded as of the greatest value by the learned 

 societies, both of ICurope and America. Equally inconspicuous with 

 the botanical collection in the rooms of the Museum building are the 

 magnificent collections, illustrative of the insect life of our country ; and 

 probably most of those who wander through the corridors of that 

 building are unaware that such beautiful specimens are there stored. 

 These have been brought together in various ways, since the resources 

 of the Survey have not yet permitted the employment of a regular 

 entomologist. The great importance of this branch of science is, how- 

 ever, acknowledged by the Government, and at the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm the study of the insect life, ot cert;iiii areas at least, is 

 carried out and their benefit or injury to plant life carefully ascertained ; 

 but while these studies are of the greatest practical importance to the 

 agriculturist they cannot, of course, fill the place which the science of 

 entomology requires in a purely scientific department. 



In the division of ethnology also much work has been done. 

 Extensive collections, illustrative of the manneis, customs and institu- 

 tions of the various Indian tribes which now inhabit our country, have 

 been made, as well as large quantities of remains and relics of former 

 races. The ornithology and to a certain extent the zoology also of the 

 Dominion are well illustrated by means of a good collection of the 

 principal birds and mammals, the further expansion of which is sadly 

 hindered by a lack of space for their display. The various species of 

 land and marine shells are exhibited and though in but few of these are 

 the collections by any means exhaustive, and though the Museum 

 space at the disposal of such branches of the dei)artment's work is of 

 necessity utterly inadequate, sufficient has been done to show that the 

 comparatively newer branch of natural history has not only not been 

 neglected, but that the results already obtained are large and im- 

 portant. 



But while the main purpose of a geological department may be 

 held to lie in the work of the geologist, very frequently that work is so 

 dearly associated with the investigations of his confrere, the paleontolo 

 gist, that the work of the one generally involves the assistance of the 

 other. In this branch, and in mineralogy also, the Geological Survey of 



