REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY, 



FOR THE YEAR 1887. 



The present year, like those which have gone before, has seen 

 the librar}' very much augmented and the available funds all 

 expended. The list appended to this report will give the titles 

 of accessions, and it is, therefore, not necessary to specify many 

 of them here. It may be well, however, to call attention to the 

 well-known naturalist, Robert Ridgway's " Nomenclature of Color." 

 This book, which was written more especially for ornithologists, 

 will probably be of use to those who desire to describe the colors 

 of flowers or fruit with accuracy. The greatest care has been 

 taken in the preparation of this work to select, for the standard 

 colors, pigments which are likely to resist the action of time and 

 exposure. How valuable a feature this is will be appreciated by 

 those who remember the present state of the earlier colored plates, 

 in which all hues have faded, and some of them, notably the more 

 intense, such as crimson, scarlet, and orange, are now simply 

 blotches of gray or black. 



The Card Catalogue of Plates has increased at the usual rate ; 

 that is, many thousand cards have been written and a great num- 

 ber have been put into their proper places in the drawers. It is 

 found, on arranging these, that there are very many duplicates ; 

 in these cases the several references are entered upon one card to 

 save space, and the duplicate cards are put away for future use. 



It will be neccssar}' before a great while to make a new cata- 

 logue of the library. The Committee advise that this be on cards, 

 thereb}' greatly increasing its elliciency and convenience, while 

 greatly diminisliing its cost. They do not, however, recommend 

 that this be undertaken until a very considerable increase is made 



