(12) 
The report of the Curator of the Museums and Herbarium, 
hereto appended, describes in detail all the work of this 
department. 
Laboratories 
The uses of the laboratories and the work of students and 
of visiting investigators who have been given facilities for 
study, are described in the appended report of the Assistant 
Director. 
Lectures 
The system of public lectures delivered in the lecture 
hall of the museum building on Saturday afternoons during 
the spring and autumn, has been continued with satisfactory 
results, the audiences numbering from fifty to somewhat over 
five hundred persons. It is desirable to increase the number 
of lectures as rapidly as the means therefor can be obtained ; 
the Saturday afternoon series might profitably be extended 
to every Saturday in the year, and other lectures, designed 
with special reference to the needs of teachers and their 
pupils, might be given with advantage. 
Exploration 
The policy of sending members of the staff, or special 
agents, to various parts of the world for the purpose of col- 
lecting living plants, seeds and specimens, has been con- 
tinued, with great advantage to the collections, and the 
addition of a very large amount of important information to 
the sciences of botany and horticulture. During the year 
this part of our work has been accomplished by means of 
appropriations from four general fund and by the following 
contributions of money credited to our special exploration 
fund 
W. Bayard Cutting $320.45 
J. Pierpont Morgan........ 300.00 
D. O. Mills 200.00 
Mrs. Matilda W. Bruce 200.00 
James B. Ford 150.00 
Geo. W. Perkins 150.00 
James Speyer 150.00 
