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REPORT OF THE HONORARY CURATOR OF 
THE ECONOMIC COLLECTIONS 
Dr. N. L. Brirron, DrrectTor-1n-CHIEF. 
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report for 
the year 1905. 
The most important work of the year has been the deter- 
mination of a large number of unnamed specimens which had 
gradually accumulated in the cases, and the labeling of the 
same. I am now able to report that practically every speci- 
men in our cases bears a printed label. 
Descriptive labels have been prepared for a number of the 
more important articles, or series of articles, and the printing 
of such labels is being continued. 
The new material acquired during the year includes a con- 
siderable number of tropical fruits, from various sources, 
many having been donated by exhibitors at the fall meeting 
of the New York Horticultural Society. Many have also 
been purchased in the New York market. 
Other acquisitions worthy of special notice are the following : 
More than 100 additional specimens of drugs have been 
donated by Messrs. Parke, Davis & Co. 
More than 4o specimens of drugs, many of them rare or 
unusual, have been donated by Messrs. Lehn & F 
The India Rubber World, which last year ae an im- 
portant collection of rubber products, has added materially to 
that collection during the present year. 
Mr. John Lane Beck has also made important contribu- 
tions to the rubber collections, including a bottle of the milk 
of the rubber tree in its natural liquid condition, and a set of 
the apparatus employed in the collection and preparation of 
rubber. 
A small collection of fibers has been received from the 
United States Bureau of Plant Industry. 
Mr. Shafer has continued his collection of winter twigs of 
trees and shrubs, practically completing the representation of 
the flora of this immediate vicinity. 
