(418) 
Washington. A further display of specimens could be 
made by constructing additional wall cases. 
4. Herbarium 
The vast collection of herbarium specimens on the upper 
floor of the museum building has been conserved and con- 
siderably increased. It has become one of the most im- 
portant collections in the world and is the most valuable 
scientific possession of the institution, being a mine of 
information about all kinds of plants. It is stored in 233 
cases, and enough valuable specimens to fill at least 20 
more cases are held in storage; we hoped to obtain addi- 
tional cases for the herbarium during the past year but we 
did not succeed in this, and they are still urgently needed 
in order to bring the valuable material in storage to con- 
venient access of students and investigators. The long 
series of fruits and seeds and other bulky specimens not 
susceptible of incorporation in the herbarium proper, is 
stored in drawers. 
Details of work upon the museum and herbarium col- 
lections are given in the report of the Head Curator hereto 
appended. 
5. The Collection of Lantern Slides and Photographic 
Negatives 
Accumulation of lantern slides for lecture purposes has 
gone on continuously during the entire history of the insti- 
tution, and photographic negatives made for the produc- 
tion of lantern slides and other purposes have also accumu- 
lated, both as glass negatives and as films. This collection 
of illustrative material has now become very valuable an 
important. 
The colored lantern slides include primarily those made 
by Mr. and Mrs. Van Brunt, which have been designated 
as the Van Brunt Collection; to these other colored slides 
have been added from time to time, the total number being 
now 2,809. The uncolored lantern slides number 7,015, 
