REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 15 
time as the fireproof furnishings were received. The construction of 
exhibition furniture for the new building has thus far been limited, 
the current needs having been mostly supplied from the older build- 
ings, but during the present year it will be actively taken up. 
The moving of the natural history specimens from the older build- 
ings was begun on August 11, 1909, and could readily have been fin- 
ished within the year had the necessary furniture been on hand. As 
it was, such of the laboratories and reserve collections as were trans- 
ferred were at once installed in their new quarters, however adverse 
the conditions might be. In respect to some divisions, however, the 
accommodations were so incomplete that no changes were attempted. 
The only exhibitions installed consisted of certain ethnological groups 
and historical cases arranged in the middle hall and adjacent ranges, 
in conjunction with the paintings of the National Gallery of Art, as 
described under that head. All other exhibition collections taken 
over were temporarily stored in their old cases. 
The reserve collections transferred either wholly or in greater part 
were of the following subjects: Ethnology, prehistoric and _ historic 
archeology, physical anthropology, mammals, birds, insects, mol- 
lusks, geology generally, minerals, fossil vertebrates and inverte- 
brates, and paleobotany. Those still remaining in their old quarters 
consisted of the reptiles and batrachians, fishes, marine invertebrates, 
and plants. The division of plants, for which sufficient space is not 
available in the new building, will be accommodated in the upper 
story of the main part of the Smithsonian building. 
The exhibition collections destined for the new building, which 
at the close of the year were still displayed in the halls which they 
have hitherto occupied, comprised the birds and marine invertebrates 
in the Smithsonian building; and the American mammals, osteo- 
logical specimens, invertebrate and plant fossils, minerals and gems, 
a considerable part of the collection of applied geology, the material 
illustrating historic religions and some branches of ethnology, in the 
older Museum building. The other exhibits in the latter building, 
including history, technology, art fabrics, ceramics, graphic arts, 
medicine, musical instruments, etc., will be kept there permanently. 
The removal of collections and laboratories included the abandon- 
ment of the entire double north tower of the Smithsonian building 
above the main floor, thus relinquishing several suites of excellent 
rooms to which the Bureau of American Ethnology was transferred 
in December, 1909. 
A supplemental appropriation by Congress made near the close of 
its last session provided for two important matters in connection with 
the new building. One of these was the grading of the grounds about 
the building and the construction of roads and paths leading to its 
entrances. The other was the painting of the interior walls, required 
