916 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 678 



years old, many large pieces of bronze, and a 

 very rare sistrum. Objects of gold or those 

 containing precious stones, including those 

 from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia, Italy, 

 Egypt and India, are found in hall No. 32, 

 which may be entered from the West Court. 



The Departmext of Botany occupies the 

 g-alleries of the North, South, East and West 

 Courts of the main building and may be 

 reached by any o i: the four flights of stairs near 

 the central rotunda, or by the stairs at one 

 side of the east and west main doorways. The 

 department is now being reinstalled. The old 

 geographic arrangement, established in the be- 

 ginning, is being replaced as rapidly as pos- 

 sible by a consecutive, systematic series: the 

 «arly installation being on that account in a 

 more or less chaotic and depleted state need 

 not be visited. 



The visitor should ascend the left stairway 

 at the rotunda and on reaching the top of the 

 ■stairs bear to the right to the transept gallery. 

 Case I. begins the systematic installation with 

 the Pines (9 cases), followed to the right 

 by the Cycads, Typhacess, etc. The grasses 

 (15J cases) begin with a very interesting 

 series of bamboos (3 cases) and end with a 

 complete illustration of maize in all its forms 

 and products (the door at this point leads to 

 the herbarium). Bear to the right past the 

 Cyperaceje and the Palm^ (11 cases), noting 

 the large and interesting series devoted to the 

 Cocoanut; again to the right, following 

 through the various orders (9 cases) ; to the 

 Oaks (3 cases). Pass through the archway 

 ahead containing the Moraceffi, etc. (5 cases) 

 and bear to the right across the transept (6 

 cases Linaoeas). Bear again to the right 

 through the archway (3 cases TJrticacese) and 

 turn to the right across the transept (Legu- 

 minosse — 5 eases), noting the large amount of 

 products and interesting fruits of this order 

 to the Baurels and Sumacs at the end of the 

 transept. Again bear to the right through 

 the transept arch to the Eubiacese, noting the 

 complete installation of coffee, and still bear 

 to the right along the transept (11 cases) to 

 the Malvaceae (4 cases), noting the exhaustive 

 installation of cotton, illustrating its history 

 and uses. To the right are two cases : the 



Tiliacete to 01eace», then turn to the left to 

 view the 7 cases, so far installed, containing 

 the dendrological series, noting particularly 

 the very exhaustive illustration of the timber 

 products of Japan. 



The curator's office and the herbarium are 

 immediately above the main entrance to the 

 museum. The most interesting feature of the 

 herbarium, beyond its valuable collections of 

 250,000 sheets, is the systematic catalogue of 

 every collection composing it. It is probably 

 the only herbariiun extant in which the series 

 of plants of any collector can be reassembled 

 for study at any time. 



The collections of the Departjient of Geol- 

 ogy occupy chiefly the West Annex of the 

 building. They may be reached from the 

 West Court or by turning to the right upon 

 entering the building and passing through the 

 reading room and hall 34. From the West 

 Court, hall 32, containing a remarkable collec- 

 tion of gems and jewels, should be noted. The 

 next six halls passing westward are devoted 

 to paleontology. These are arranged in strati- 

 graphic order, passing from Paleozoic to 

 Genozoic. Plall 33 contains the Paleozoic 

 fossils, also series illustrating the mode of 

 origin of fossils and comparative forms. 

 Hall 35 is at present closed. Hall 36, devoted 

 to Mesozoic fossils, contains, among other 

 notable specimens, the largest skull of Tricera- 

 tops, a great horned lizard, that is known. 

 A femur of Brachiosaurus, also shown here, is 

 probably the largest single bone ever discov- 

 ered. In hall 59 may be noted an excellent 

 series of Ichthyosaurus remains, one of the 

 most perfect skeletons of a flying lizard ever 

 discovered, and a representative series of 

 White River mammals. The problematic 

 Dsemonelix is shown in hall 60, and in hall 61 

 the extensive series of Titanotherium remains 

 and a complete skeleton of Promerycochoerus 

 are worthy of especial note. 



The next hall, 62, contains the collection 

 of meteorites, which is one of the largest in 

 the world. It contains representatives of 300 

 falls, some of them complete. Perhaps the 

 most important specimen is the meteorite of 

 Long Island, Kansas, over 1,100 pounds of 

 which are shown and which is the largest 



