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able herbarium material and considerably reducing the still 

 partially inaccessible portion. 



All specimens subject to the attacks of insects, that now 

 find their way into the permanent collections, are thoroughly 

 poisoned with an alcoholic solution of mercuric chloride. Ex- 

 perience has demonstrated that this is the safest and most 

 economical way of preserving the specimens. 



3. Disposition of Bulky Herbarium Material. Dur- 

 ing the past few months it has been possible to take the pre- 

 liminary steps toward the final arrangement of this important 

 part of the collections. A system of multiple-size boxes has 

 been adopted for containing all specimens that cannot be 

 mounted on the regular herbarium sheets, such as fruits and 

 seeds or other bulky parts of plants, that are not required for 

 the public museum series. Accordingly durable pasteboard 

 boxes of the following sizes have been added to the herbarium 

 equipment : 



Dimensions of boxes. Number of boxes. 



1% x 2^4 X4 inches. 2,000 



2^x2^x4 k ' 400 



1^x4 x 5 y 2 " 500 



2^x4 x 514 " 400 



2^x5^ x8 " 200 



Total, 3,500 



These boxes accommodate a portion of the collection of 

 bulky fungi, crustaceous lichens, fruits and seeds. The 

 fungi and lichens are temporarily arranged in a store room 

 near the main herbarium room, while the fruits and seeds are 

 shelved at the southern end of the herbarium room. Both 

 collections are accessible for comparison or study. 



4. Arrangement of the Herbaria. The general plan 

 of arrangement adopted last year has been essentially main- 

 tained. However a definite plan looking toward the best 

 conservation and greatest usefulness of the specimens be- 

 longing to the Columbia University and Garden herbaria has 

 been worked out and put into operation. The details of this 

 plan are expressed in the following schedule : 



