EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 13 



opportunity of seeing much of the work in progress, and for only 

 a very short period has any considerable part of the collections been 

 withheld from view. 



The new building was first opened to visitors on March IT, 1910, 

 at which time only the main floor of the north wing was available. 

 In the large central hall were assembled the paintings of the National 

 Gallery of xVrt, which had been tentatively assigned this place as fur- 

 nishing better lighting than could be obtained in the older buildings, 

 while the surrounding area contained a temporary arrangement of 

 ethnological groups and objects, which has since been improved and 

 made practically permanent. During the following year, ending 

 June 30, 1911, only the remaining part of the space allotted to ethnol- 

 ogy and consisting of the northern sections of the east and west 

 ranges on the same floor was made accessible, but last year much 

 greater progress was shown and additional areas were opened up as 

 follows: The second story of the north wing containing the col- 

 lections of archeology other than North American; the entire east 

 wing, which in the first story is occupied by the several divisions of 

 paleontology, namely, vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant, and in the 

 second story by mineralogy and applied geology ; the eastern section 

 of the east range, devoted to systematic geology; and the north hall 

 in both stories of the west wing, the western section of the west range 

 in the first story, and the entire west range in the second story, in 

 which various biological subjects are installed. At the end of the 

 year, therefore, the only exhibition space remaining closed consisted 

 of the west wing aside from its two north halls, and the second floor 

 of the east range, the former assigned to biology, the latter to North 

 American archeology. 



The plans for the biological exhibitions, as far as matured, relate 

 only to zoology. The greater delays with the installations in this 

 department as compared with the other departments have been due 

 to several causes. A much larger proportion of the older collections 

 was found to be undesirable, and in some branches the amount of 

 material required to be discarded was so great that the exhibits are 

 being built up almost wholly anew. Furthermore, practically every 

 zoological specimen designed for exhibition must be subjected to 

 some special form of treatment, which, especially with the higher 

 animals, involves slow and painstaking processes, while with regard 

 to certain groups of aquatic animals it is only recently that the 

 methods of jDreparation have been perfected to a degree promising 

 the satisfactory presentation of natural colors and effects. Utilizing 

 the best skill obtainable, the work upon these collections has been so 

 energetically pushed, however, that the current year should see the 

 opening of the remaining halls with many striking and noteworthy 

 features. 



