REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



Albany, January, 1879. 



To the Honorable the Board of Regents of the University of the State of 

 New York: 



Gentlemen — I have the honor to communicate herewith the Annual Report 

 of the State Museum of Natural History, giving some general account of the 

 conditions of the collections in the several departments, the additions which have 

 been made, and the work done in the Institution during the past year ; together 

 with special communications upon subjects under investigation by persons con- 

 nected with the Museum. 



I am able to report that the collections of the Museum in every department 

 are in good condition, and satisfactorily arranged for the purposes of examination 

 and study. The labeling and rearrangement of the geological collection, which 

 in my last report I mentioned as in progress, has been completed, and the entire 

 series is now presented in satisfactory order. 



The want of room for the arrangement of the rapidly increasing collections in 

 geology and palaeontology is every year more severely felt by the Director and 

 by those aiding in the work. Under existing circumstances it is quite impossible 

 to present any tangible evidence of the progress of our work, and it is nearly 

 impracticable to find the means of putting on exhibition any portion of the collec- 

 tions which have been made, or specimens which have been specially prepared 

 for the Museum daring several years past. We are also suffering many incon- 

 veniences for the want of proper working rooms attached to the Museum, where 

 the work of progress in all departments could be witnessed by the trustees, and 

 by any parties interested in the prosperity of the Institution. 



I beg to repeat what I have said in a previous report, that we need at this 

 time, for the proper exhibition of the geological and palseontological collections 

 acquired during the past few years, a space equal to another story or floor of the 

 same area as those of the present Museum ; while also the crowded condition of 

 the skeletons and osteological collections is such that we need as much more 

 space as is now occupied by them. 



I call attention to these points, while knowing that it is not, at present, in the 

 power of the Regents to grant any relief, but in order that they may appreciate 

 the necessity which exists of doing much of the work beyond the walls of the 

 Museum building. 



In the general zoological arrangement, it is a matter of very great interest 

 and importance that the collection of birds should be rearranged, the wanting 

 species supplied, and the whole collection labeled according to the present state 

 of our knowledge of the subject. Beyond this, moreover, some new information 

 is desirable regarding the general and local distribution, the migration, habits, 

 breeding, etc., of the birds which are known as the birds of New York, as well 

 as of those which only pass through the State in their migrations north and south. 

 While so much attention is being given to this subject in some of the States, 

 and especially in the Western States and territories, it is scarcely becoming that 

 a State which gave the lead in such investigations, and in the diffusion of a knowl- 

 edge of natural history, should any longer remain inert in this special depart- 

 ment of natural science. 



