REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I919 2/ 



Localities selected for field work have included regions of diverse 

 topography in Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties, and collec- 

 tions of considerable extent have been brought together. Concern- . 

 ing these it is proposed to prepare a separate report. 



The report on the molluscan fauna of the State v^hich has received 

 the particular attention of Dr H. A. Pilsbry of the Philadelphia 

 Academy, is now ready for the printer. Doctor Pilsbry's account 

 is monographic in extent and illustrated with many beautiful plates 

 executed in color and in black and white by Helen Winchester. 



Dr Roy Miner, of the staff of the American Museum, whose 

 researches on the myriapods of the State were interrupted by war 

 activities, reports considerable progress in the preparation of his 

 memoir. 



New groups. The limitations of space in Zoology Hall prohibits 

 the addition of many large habitat groups without a general rear- 

 rangement of the existing cases ; but small groups of skunks and 

 opossums designed to occupy limited floor space have been installed 

 and other groups are in the course of preparation. 



Through the interest and cooperation of the Conservation Com- 

 mission, the State Museum has received by legislative appropria- 

 tion, $1500 which will materially increase the collection of fashes 

 from the fresh waters of the State. 



The proper care and arrangement of the lesser invertebrates which 

 are usually preserved in alcohol has always been of great concern to 

 the museum curator. With the idea of making such specimens 

 readily accessible and at the sam^e time conserve storage space, n 

 system of suspending small vials on vertical wire screens has been 

 adopted. The supporting screens are filed in specially constructed 

 cases of uniform size but adapted to receive vials of varying dimen- 

 sions. By this method the handling of individual specimens or 

 groups of specimens is facilitated, and the flexibility of the scheme 

 permits indefinite expansion. Beneath the vertical files, drawer 

 spaces provide room for larger jars of specimens and biological 

 material. 



Accessions. Benjamin W. Arnold of Albany, whose extensive 

 collection of birds' eggs was presented to the Museum in 1917, has 

 added an important series of specimens from the Falkland islands. 

 The Henry A. Slack collection of birds' nests and eggs from the 

 vicinity of Albany has recently been acquired through the courtesy 

 of Miss E. Cary. The Museum has also purchased the skull of the 

 extinct great auk to supplement the Shufeldt collection of avian 

 skdetons already in its possession. 



