SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 83 



photographs showing- different phases of the metamorphosis of 

 this insect. 



While the spiders, centipedes and scorpions cannot be rated 

 mider 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 dithcult 

 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 w^alls, 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 



