SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 83 
photographs showing different phases of the metamorphosis of 
this insect. 
While the spiders, centipedes and scorpions cannot be rated 
under the head of true insects, they are near allies of this class 
of invertebrates, and so closely associated with them in popular 
literature that we place them in our insect collection. Thus the 
poisonous “insects,” such as the big tropical spiders of northern 
South America, the African scorpions and the like, were much 
in evidence. Our big spiders are alert, but not particularly 
vicious, and in the series of cages enclosing them, there are 
several interesting studies of the tube-building skill of the South 
American specimens. Nearly every one of the cages contains 
a strong silk tunnel in one corner, from the top to the bottom, 
the walls of which are extremely white and strong, and difficult 
to tear with one’s fingers. 
During the winter the census of the Insect Collection is much 
reduced, and all the cages, with the exception of those contain- 
ing cocoons, are removed to the Reptile House. As the collection 
now stands, there are several thousand cocoons on hand, a fine 
display of the poisonous species and a number of aquatic insects. 
With the arrival of the spring, a few collecting trips will place 
this collection on the same basis as last summer. 
HEADS AND HORNS COLLECTION 
In its present quarters the National Collection of Heads and 
Horns is so densely crowded together upon the walls, and, 
therefore, so badly arranged, that constant apologies for its 
appearance have become necessary. Interest in the collection 
continues unabated, but the necessity for more adequate accom- 
modations is constantly remarked. It is no longer possible to 
hang anything more in the two picture galleries of the Adminis- 
tration Building, and already the walls of the smoking-room and 
the main stairway have been completely filled by the additions of 
the past year. 
There is good reason for the belief that in order to make this 
collection available to the millions of visitors who come to the 
Park, the City of New York will grant an appropriation of 
$75,000 for the erection of a heads and horns building. In view 
of the length of time that necessarily must elapse between the 
granting of the appropriation and the occupancy of the building, 
it is desirable that the fund should be secured at the earliest 
possible moment. The lapse of time, and the rapid disappearance 
of the most important wild-animal species of the world, only 
