REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 

 FOR THE YEAR 1903-04. 



By Frederick W. Trie. 

 Head t 'urator. 



The principal event of the year covered by this report was the com- 

 pletion of the exhibit for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and its 

 installation in St. Louis. Fully two years were occupied in assembling 

 and preparing this exhibit, and the staff of every division of the 

 department, except that of plants, shared in the work to a greater or 

 less extent. The Head Curator, having been placed in charge of the 

 entire exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution, found it impossible to 

 attend at the same time to the regular work of the department, and 

 for about live months the general management devolved upon one of 

 the curators, Dr. L. Stejneger. A full report on the. St. Louis exhibit 

 will lie submitted next year after the close of the exposition. 



The Museum had the good fortune to receive on deposit for ten 

 years the herbarium and botanical library of Prof. E. L. Greene. The 

 herbarium comprises about 60,000 sheets, and is believed to be one of 

 the finest private botanical collections in existence. A detailed state- 

 ment of the conditions of this deposit will be found in the earlier 

 pages of this Report. 



Dr. William L. Abbott continued his generous donations of valuable 

 zoological material collected by him in the East Indies. 



The accessions show a substantial increase in most classes, and in 

 mollusks the number of lots received was double that of last year. 

 While it is often difficult to estimate with exactness the scientific value 

 of material received, the additions of the }'ear as a whole may be con- 

 sidered as comparing favorably with those of previous years. The 

 principal exceptions were among the lower invertebrates, where the 

 accessions, though more numerous than last year, are reported to be 

 much less important. The birds' eggs were 1 fewer in number and- less 

 noteworthy. 



About 108,000 zoological specimens and 44,000 botanical specimens 

 were received during the year. The former included about 59. < urn 

 insects. Marked improvement was made in the condition of the gen- 

 eral collections of mammals and reptiles. 



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