(M7) 



the fleshy fungi. Work in the same direction is now in 

 progress by Dr. Murrill, in Mexico, and by Dr. Howe, with 

 special reference to Algae, in Panama. Dr. Britton and 

 Mr. Shafer will continue work in Cuba this year. 



Our herbarium and museum collections have been greatly 

 enriched by these explorations, and it is worthy of note that 

 these collections have in nearly all cases been promptly 

 studied and determined. One of the most common short- 

 comings in herbaria is the accumulation of large amounts of 

 unstudied material, an evil which we have to a great extent 

 found it possible to avoid. For the purpose of some criti- 

 cal work in the furtherance of this object, Dr. Britton spent 

 some time at Kew and the British Museum, during August 

 and September. 



The economic museum has been enriched by very con- 

 siderable collections, chiefly of drugs and fleshy fruits, 

 collected by the Chairman in many states of the Union. 

 It is proposed to continue this work during the coming year 

 in Mexico. While the special value of these collections is 

 economic, the possession of such a class of material, in for- 

 malin, is incidentally found to be of no little value in scien- 

 tific study. The study of the economic material collected 

 for us by Messrs. Weiss and Schmidt in northern Brazil 

 has been found to consist almost wholly of species not pre- 

 viously represented in either our museum or herbarium. 



Considerable work of importance has been done in the 

 study of our local flora, comprising the territory within a 

 radius of one hundred miles. It is felt that, owing to the 

 rapid extension of building operations, our records of this 

 flora must be completed promptly, if it is to be done at all. 



In this connection, we should note the segregation, in 

 two separate cases, of our collections of fossil plants of New 

 York and vicinity, as part of the general rearrangement of 

 our paleobotanical museum. One of the most important 

 publications of the year has been the report of Messrs. 

 Hollick and Jeffrey, on the morphology of Cretaceous 

 plants, based upon specimens collected on Staten Island. 



