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have been taken by him to secure exhibits, and for his ener- 
getic codperation in this work I am very grateful. 
It is hoped that by the time the Museum Building is ready 
for occupancy, that at least a temporary exhibit of much in- 
terest may be at once set up inseveral of the halls. About 
22,000 specimens have been mounted for the Herbarium dur- 
ing the year, and arranged for reference at the Bedford Park 
office, the mounted herbarium now numbering over 30,000 
specimens. 
Insurance, 
Fire Insurance Policies on property of the Garden are held 
as follows: 
1. On museum and herbarium specimens in Terminal Stor- 
age Warehouse, $10,000.00. 
2. On stable equipment, $1,000.00. 
3. On Library, museum specimens, herbarium specimens 
and office furniture and fixings at Bedford Park office, 
$4,000.00. 
Botanical Exploration of Porto Rico. 
Through the kind liberality of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Heller have been sent to the island of 
Porto Rico to collect specimens illustrating the flora and 
natural vegetable resources of the new colony. Transportation 
to and from San Juan, and a letter to the General command- 
ing the United States forces in Porto Rico, were obtained for 
the expedition from the War Department by Mr. Mills, and 
a complete outfit for collecting and for photography was pro- 
vided. Mr. Heller has been instructed to keep careful field 
notes on all the plants collected, and it is expected that the 
work will yield results of much scientific and practical im- 
portance. 
Botany of TMontana. 
The collections made in Montana during the summer of 
1897 by Messrs. P. A. Rydberg and Ernst Bessey, by means 
of funds generously supplied by Mr. W. E. Dodge, have 
