State Museum of Natural History. 13 



When the present and proposed arrangements have been completed, 

 the Museum will have the most convenient and ample working rooms of 

 any similar institution in the country. 



The Gould types of shells, and some other rare forms may be trans- 

 ferred to a safe position in the State Hall, and unless the Museum were 

 to engage in some special biological work, there appears no reason to 

 recommend the appointment of any special assistant in the department 

 of Zoology. 



Since the State Museum of Natural History was placed in charge of 

 the present Director, workers in this department have increased more 

 than a hundred fold, and a very large number of them are afforded 

 facilities for investigation, from the various organizations sustained 

 either by the general government or by richly endowed institutions, 

 such as our limited means could neyer afford. • 



Professor A. Agassiz, the Director of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology at Cambridge, presents in his last report some very important 

 considerations regarding the management of museums and their collec- 

 tions. In the course of his discussions he remarks that " since the 

 foundation of this Museum the conditions for scientific research in this 

 country, have greatly changed. The general government has now un- 

 dertaken, in connection with the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, with the Geological Survey, with the National Museum, and 

 with the United States Fish Commission, an amount of scientific inves- 

 tigation in various directions which makes it a mere waste of time for 

 those not officially connected with these government establishments to 

 undertake certain lines of work. Recognizing this, it becomes at once 

 apparent that it is a mere waste of time and money for us to continue 

 accumulations of collections which will most certainly be duplicated at 

 Washington or New York, and that, beyond a very limited appeal to the 

 public in the collections placed on exhibition, we should expend our 

 resources only in the direction of fostering such original work as may 

 most efficiently be conducted by the professors holding endowed chairs 

 in our University." 



In this matter I would advise that the present collections be rear- 

 ranged and relabeled, and that the only special efforts in this depart- 

 ment be directed toward a full representation of the Zoology of the 

 State of New York, in its principal divisions, which could be done at a 

 moderate cost, and thus leave the resources of the Museum to be used 

 in sustaining those departments wherever original research is required 

 to be carried on. 



Since we have dispensed with the services of a special assistant in the 

 department of Zoology, and the services of a special taxidermist, the 

 collection have been cared for and preserved in as good condition as 



