1 8953 Th^ Califof^nia Academy of Sciences 



191 1. During this period the academy pubHcations 

 were raised to a very high standard as to number, 

 scientific value, and typographical appearance. For 

 this, special credit was due Dr. Ritter, the editor; 

 and it should be added that the same level of excel- 

 lence has been continuously maintained by our 

 successors. 



In the disastrous fire which followed the earth- 

 quake of 1906, the academy lost its original build- 

 ing and most of its collections. For the next seven Ajter ike 

 years it did little but mark time until accumulated ^"'^^ fi^' 

 savings made possible a new building. During that 

 interval, however. Miss Alice Eastwood, Leverett 

 M. Loomis, and John Van Denburgh, curators 

 respectively of plants, sea birds, and reptiles, toiled 

 steadily at the restoration of the collections. In 

 191 3 the position of director was made a salaried 

 one of importance. Dr. Evermann being called to it 

 from the Bureau of Fisheries; in 1914 a fine edifice 

 \ of concrete was completed in Golden Gate Park. 

 Through the generous interest of wealthy citizens yaturai 

 Evermann soon secured experts to continue the ^^^^'^°'J 

 splendid series of habitat groups already men- 

 tioned. These feature the homes of various con- 

 spicuous birds and mammals of the Pacific Slope — 

 sea-lions of two species, the hair seal, fur seal, 

 deer, elk, mountain sheep, bear, panther, and other 

 animals of the interior, as well as birds of the desert, 

 swamp, and shore. Taken as a whole they represent 

 some of the finest work of its kind, though perhaps 

 the most impressive exhibit of the sort is at the 

 University of Iowa — namely, a superb panorama 

 of Laysan Island with its amazing variety of nest- 

 ing sea birds. This was prepared under the direction 



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