REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 63 



Museum Bulletins 165, 175, 180 and 186. Portions of a mono- 

 graphic account of a large and important family, the American 

 forms of which, prior to these studies, were practically unknown. 

 Insects Affecting Park and Woodland Trees, by the Entomolo- 

 gist, Museum Memoir 8. Contains many New York records relat- 

 ing to forest and shade tree insects and is the only comprehensive 

 and moderately recent work dealing with this very important group. 

 Collections. The insect collections- of the State Museum, 

 more than those of any other institution of the State of New 

 York, should contain an adequate representation of our rich and 

 economically important fauna. There are probably 20,000 different 

 species of insects in the State, each represented by at least four 

 stages and these, with varieties, specimens of their work and other 

 desirable illustrative material, would mean a collection of some 

 100,000 different specimens in order to represent properly this 

 great and fascinating complex. The development of this one 

 feature is an enormous undertaking and one utterly beyond the 

 limited tim.e which can be devoted to such work under present 

 conditions. 



The assembling and preparation of the enlarged exhibit of 

 insects extended well into 1916 and, owing to the great amount of 

 time required, necessarily prevented very desirable work in the 

 arrangement and classification of the reference collections. Addi- 

 tions to these are constantly being made, especially of specimens 

 representing the early stages and work of various injurious forms, 

 since biological material of this character greatly facilitates identi- 

 fication of the different insects and is indispensable in a well- 

 prepared exhibit illustrating the life histories of different species. 

 Several special collecting trips in connection with grasshopper or 

 other investigations were made by Mr D. B. Young and resulted in 

 securing a considerable number of very desirable specimens. The 

 identification of this material, especially of the crane flies or 

 Tipulidae, has been taken advantage of to rearrange this interest- 

 ing and hitherto largely neglected family. The state collections 

 now contain a large amount of material iwhich is invaluable because 

 of the associated data. Numerous microscopic preparations of 

 smaller insects have been made and incorporated in the collections 

 as in earlier years. 



A number of very desirable additions have been made by 

 exchange, notably those from Mr Paul B. Sears, Columbus, Ohio, 

 Mr W. J. Chamberlin, Corvallis, Ore., and Mr J. R. Malloch, 



