14 Dircoflr' s Annual Report. 



fair to surpass anj-thing of a like construcftiou in the United States. 

 The plans were on a scale which should make it the beau-ideal of 

 a zoological park. 



Remaining within the confines of Bronx Park, a short visit 

 was paid to the New York Botanical Museum, Gardens and Con- 

 servatory. The interior of the museum had lately been completed, 

 and some of the space for exhibition still waited to be filled. The 

 botanical specimens were arranged for the convenience of students 

 of botain' and commercial people, in the latter connecSlion most 

 vegetable produ(5ls used in manufacftures being shown in the raw 

 state with, near-by, the sketches and names of the plants producing 

 them . A very nice arrangement was made for the young student — 

 about a dozen good microscopes were placed in a room, showing 

 portions of various plants, the slides being changed from time to 

 time. B}- this arrangement, any one interested in botany, unable 

 to afford the cost of a good microscope, could glean a pracftical 

 knowledge difficult to obtain in other ways. The system of pro- 

 viding microscopes for the public in this way might advantageousl)^ 

 be adopted by other institutions. In the portion laid out as the 

 garden, a classification of the beds was made according to the 

 families and genera of the plants, thus giving a student the text- 

 book illustrated by Nature. The conservatories, just completed, 

 were being prepared for the reception of the plants allotted to them . 

 This institution has alread}' commenced to publish botanical in- 

 formation, six bulletins having left the printer's hands. 



The next institution to be visited was the American Museum 

 of Natural Histor}-, in Central Park. This museum will, when 

 completed, be the largest in the United States, and though but 

 one-third of its plan has been carried out, it now approaches in 

 size the National Museum in Washington, the collections however 

 not being as valuable as in the latter institution, excepting those 

 of vertebrate, paleontology, mammals and birds. These last three 

 collecftions in the Museum of Natural History deserve particular 

 notice, not only on account of their value scientifically, but also of 

 the skilled and artistic methods adopted in their mountings. The 

 expeditions which the Department of Paleontology has been en- 

 abled to send out for dinosaurs and fossil mammals, have been 

 doing excellent work, and the number of new species thus obtained 

 was verv considerable. The needs of the working student have 



